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well known, and consequently the generat benesit of such a cardiac maybe rea nably supposed. 86. As the body is se id to clothe the foui, so the nerves may be Didio constitute her inner garment. An d as the Dul animates the whole, What nearly to uches the foui relates to ali. Therofore the asperi ty of tartarous salis, and the siery acrimony of alcatine salis, irrita ting and wound ing the nerVes, produce nascent passions and anxieties in the foui: which both aggravate distempers, and render mens lives resti ess and wretched, even when they a re affli e ted with no apparent distemper. This is the latent spring of much woe, spleen, and taedium Citae. Smallim percepti ble irritations of the minutest si bres or fila ments caused by the pungent salts of wines and sauces, do sh ahe and disturi, the microcotas of high livers, as osten to rat se tempests in couris and senates. Whereas the gentie vibrations that a re rat sed in the nerves, hy a sine subtile acid,
nervous vesseis and si bres, promoteS a due circulation and secretion of
the animal juices, and creates a calm satisfied sense of health. Andaccordingly I have osten linown tar Water procure fleep and composethe spiriis in cruei vigils, occasioned ei ther by siclinest or by too intense application of mind.87. In distases semetimes accidenis happen stom without by mi Lmanagement, some times latent causes operate within, jointly with thospecific laint or peculiar cause of the malady. The causes of distem persare osten complicated, and there may be something in the idiosyncrasy of the patient that puggles the physician. It may there re be presumed that no medicine is infalli ble, not even in any one di sorder. But as tar vater possesieth the virtu es of forti sying the stomach, as Neli as puri*ing and in vigora ting the blood, beyond any medicine that I know, it may
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be presumed os great and generat emeacy in ali those numerous il inesses, Which take their rise frona foui or vapid blood, or stom a bad digestion.
The animal spiriis are elaborated Dom the blood. Such there re as theblood is, such will be the animal spiri, more or lesi, wealier or stronger. This sheweth the useisinest of tar water in ali hysteric and hypochondri ac cases: Whicli together with the maladies Dom indigestion compri se almost the whole tribe of chronical distases. 88. The scurvy may be rechon ed in these climates an universat maist ady, as peopte in generat a re subject to it, and as it miges more or tessin almost ali di ases. Whether this proceeds fio m want of elastici ty in our air, inpon Whicli the tone of the vesseis depends, and upon that theseverat secretions: or Whether it proceeds Dom the moisture of our climate, or the grossnest of our Dod, or the salis in Our atmosphere, orsrom ali these together. Thus much at least seems not absurd to suppose, that us physicians in Spain and Italy a re apt to suspect the venereal ta intio be a latent principie, and bear a part in every ill ness, so far as good re ason the scurvy should be considered by our physicians as having sonae stare in mos di sorders and constitutions that tali in their way. It is certain our perspiration is not so Dee as in clearer air and warmer climates. Perspirable humours not discliarged wili stagnate and putrisy. A die tof animal food will be api to render the juices of our bodies alcalescent. Hence ichorous and corrosive humours and many di sorders. Moisi atrina hes viscid blood; and saline air inflames this viscit hlood. Hencebrohen capillari es, extravasa ted bl Ood, spois and ulcers, and other scoria butic sympto in s. The body of a mari attracts and imbibes the moistureand salts of the air, and whate ver Boais in the atmosphere, whicli as itis common to ali, so it assedis ali more or less. 80. Doctor Musgrave thiniis the Dcvo iam re seu rvy a relique of thel 'pro sy, and that it is not o ing to the qualities of the air. But as these insulars
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insulars in generat live in a gross saline air, and their vesiels being Iesselastic, a re consequently less able to subdue and cast off what their hodie qas sponges dra in , one would be tempted to suspee t the air not a litile concerned, e specialty in such a sit uation as that os Devoras hire. In allthese Brit isti issands we e oy a great mediocri ty of climate, the esse diwhereos is, that we have ne i ther heat enough to exalt and dissipate thegrosi vapOUrs, as in Italy, nor coid enough to condense and precipitate them, as in Sweden. So they are test Boating in the air, which ive constantly breathe, and imbibe through the whole sur face of our hodies. And this together with exhalations frona coal fires, and the various fossi is wherein we abound, doth greatly contribute to render us scorbutio annhypochondriac. so. There a re some who derixe ali discases si om the scurvy, Whichin deed must he allowed to create or mimic most other maladies. Boer baave telis us, it produceth pleuritic, colic, ne phritic, hepatic pains, varicius severs, hol, malignant, intermitting dysenteries, Dintings, anxie-ties, dropsies, consumptiosas, convulsions, palsies, fluxes of blood. In aword, it may be said to contain the sceds and origin os almost ali distem pers. In much that a medicine Whicli cures ali foris of scurvy, may be presumed good sor most other mala dies. 9 I. The scurvy, doth not only in varie ty of symptoms imitate most distem pers, but also when come to a height, in degree of virulencaequat the mos malignant. Os this we have a re markable proos, in that horribie description of the scorbutic patienis in the hospita is of Paris,gi ven by monsi eur Poupari, in the me moirs of the royal academ y of sciences, for the year one thous and si x hundred and n inely nine. That author illi salis he Dis some resemblance tu it to the plague of Athens. It is bard to imagine any thing more dre adfui than the case of thos e men, rot-
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92. It is the received opinion that the animal salts of a' und bodyare os a neutral, bland, and benign nature : that is, the salis in the juices past the primae Uine, are net ther acid nor alcatine, having been subdued by the constitution, and changed into a third nature. Where the constitution wanis sorce to do this, the aliment is not dialy assimila ted , and so far as the salis reta in their pristine qualities, si chly symptonas ensue, acids and ali alies not persectly subdued, producing weali ferments in thejuices. Hence scurvy, cacheXy, and a long train of ills.
Proceeds Dom the fame causes and is attended with like symptotias, whichare so mani id and various, that the scurvy may weli be looked on as a generat cache xy, insecting the whole habit and vitiating ali the digestions. Some have rechoned as many soris of the scurvy, as there a re differentiaints of the blood. Others have supposed it a collection os ali itinesses together. Some suppo se it an accumulation os severat diseases in seri. Others talae it sor an assem blage of the reliques of old distem pers. 9 . But thus much is certain, the cure of the scurvy is no more to beat tempted by strongly active medicines than sto use the similitude of an ingenious Writer,) a thorn in the fles , or pitch on siilli to be removed by force. The viscid humo ur must be gently resolved and diluted, the tone of the vesseis reco vered by a moderate stimulation, and the tender fibres and capillary vesseis gradu atly cleared frona the concreted si uir that adheres and obstrucis them. Alt whicli is in the aptest manner performed by a watery diluent, containing a sine vegetable se ap. Aiad although a complete cure by alteratives, operat ing on the sinali capillari es, and by insensibio
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Siris. 5 II insensi ble di harges, must require tengili os time, yet the good essest of this medicine on cachetic and scor butic persons, is seon perceived, by thechange it produceth in their pale discoloured loolis, giving a florid healthycounten ance in te sis time than perhaps any other medicine. 93. It is supposed by physicians, that the immediate cause of the scur-vy lies in the blood, the fibrous part of whicli is too thicli and the serumtoo th in and marp: and that he nce aris eth the great difficulty in the cure,
hecause in the correcting of one pari, regard must he had to the other. It is weli linown, how extrem ely difficult it is to cure an inveterate scur-vy: hois many scor butic patients have grown wor se by an injudiciolis Course of evacuations: ho many are even rendered in curabie by the treat ment of inconsiderate physicians: and how dissiculi, tedio us and uncerta in the cure is in the hands even of the best, Who a re obliged tota se such variety and change of medicines, in the di fierent flages of that malady : whicli nevertheless may be cured is Ι may j adge by what Iliave experienced) by the sole, regular, constant, copious use of tar
96. Tar water moderately inspis ales With iis balsamic viriue, and renders mi id the thin and mar p part of the blood. The fame, as a soapymedicine, dissolves the grumous concretions of the fibro us pari. As a balsam it destroys the ulcerous acrimo ny of the humo urs, and as a de- obstruent it opens and cleans the vesseis, restores their tone, and strengthcns the digestion, Whose desecis are the principat cause of scurvy and
97. In the cure os the scurvy, the principat aim is to subdue the acrimo ny of the bl ood and juice S. But as this acrimony proceeds Dona di serent causes, or even opposite, as ac id and alhaline, what is good in onosori os scurvy Proves dan gerous, Or even mortal, in another. It is well
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Siris. known, that hol antiscorbulics, where the juices os the body a re alcales.cent, increa se the di a se. And four fruits and vegetabies produce a like effect in the scurvy, caused by an acid acrimony. Hence fatal btundersare committed by Un ary practitioners, who, not distinguiming the nature of the dis ea se, do frequently aggravate, instead os curing it. Is Imay trust what trials I have been able to make, this water is good in theseverat hinds of scurvy, acid, aikaline, and muriatio, and I belle ve it theon ly medicine that cures them ait without doing huri to any. As it contains a volatile acid with a fine volatile o i, why may not a medicine
Cool in orae pari and warm in another be a remedy to ei ther extreme f.
I have observed it to produce a Lindly geniat war mlh without heat, athing to be at med at in ali foris of scurvy. Bessi des, the balsam in tarwater meatiis ali scor butic salis at ille: and iis great virtu es as a digesterand deobstruent are os generat use in ali scorbutic, and I may add, in all
98. I cannot be stare that I have tried it in a scrotalous case, though Iliave aried ii successsulty in one that i suspected to be Q. And I apprehend it would be very serviceable in such di sorders. For although Dr. Gibbs in his treati se oti the tang's evit derives that di a se Dom a CoagU lating ac id, whicli is also agreeable to the opinion of me other physi- CianS, and although tar water contain an acid, yet, as it is a Bap t, it resolves instead os coagula ting the juices of the body. 99. For hysterical and hypochondriacat di sorders so frequent among us, it is common ly supposed that ali aci is a re bad. But I will venture to except the acid soap of tar water, having found by my own eXperience an lethat of many others, that it raises the spiriis, and is an excellent anti- hysterie, nor test innocent than potent, whicli cannot be se id of those
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Ioo. In a high degree of scurvy a mercurial salivation is looked on by many as the only cure. Which by the vehement shoch it gives thewhole frame, and the sensii ble secretion it produceth may be thought more adequale to suci, an effect. But the disorder occasioned by that violent process, it is to be seared, may ne Ver be got over. The immediate danger, the frequent bad effectS, the extreme troubie and nice care attending such a course do very deservedly mahe peopte afraid of it. An dithough the sensi, ble secretion thereia be so great, yet in a longer tract of time the use of tar Mater may produce as great a discliarge of scorbutio salts by urine and by perspiration, the effect of Which last, though not so sensibie, may yet be greater than that of salivation , especialty is it botrue, that in common life insensibie perspiration is to nutrition, and alisensibie excretions as fi ve to three. IOI. Many hysteric and scorbutic alimenis, many tainis contracted by themselves, or inherited stom their ancestors, amict the people of condition in these istunds, osten rendering them, Upon the whOle, much moreunhappy than those Whom po verty and labour have ranked in the lowest tot of lik, whicli aliments might be fasely removed or relicued by the sole use of tar water: and those lives which seem hardly worth living sorbad appetite, low spiriis, remest nighis, viasting pains and anxieties, borendered casy and comfortabie. Ioet. As the nerves are instruments os sensation, it sollows that spatas in the nerves may produce ali symptoms, and there re a di sorder in thener usus system mali imitate ali distem pers, and occasion, in appea ranco, an asthma sor instance, a pleurisy, or a fit of the stone. Now Whatever
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siris. tar Water, as it includes in an eminent degree the viriues of warm gum sand re siris, is of great use sor com rting and strengthening the nerves curing twitches in the nervous fibres, cramps also, and numbrae se in thelimbs, removing anxieties and promoting neep, in ali whicli cases Ι have known it very successsul. Ioa. This sese and cheap medicine sutis ali circumstances and ali constitutions, opera ting ea si ly, cur ing without disturbing, rai sing the spirit swithout depressing them, a circumstance that deserves repea ted attention, especialty in these climates, where strong liquors so fatally and so frequently produce those very distresses they a re designed to remedy, and , is I am not misinformed, even among the la dies them selves, who aretru ly much to be pili ed. Their condition os ii se malies them a prey tot maginary woes, whicli ne ver Dil to gro up in minds unexerci sed an dunem ployed. To get rid of these, it is sa id, there a re, Who heta ke them-selves to distilled spiriis. And it is not improbabie, they a re led gradu- atly to the use of tho se pol fons by a certa in complaisant pharmacy, too much used in the modern practice, palij drops, poppy cordial, plague-water, and such like, which being in truth nothing but drams di ut sed, yet coming from the apothecaries, are considered ora ly as medicines. 1o . The foui of man was supposed by many ancient seges, to bethrust in to the human body as into a prison, for punistament of past offences. But the worst prison is the body of an indolent epicure, whosehlood is infla med by fermented liquors ' and hi gli fauces, or rendered putrid, marp, and corrosive, by a stagnation of the animal juices through1loth and indole tace; whose membranes a re irrita ted by pungent salis; whose mirad is agitat ed by pa insul oscillations of the nervous et system, and whose nerves are mutuatly assected by the irregular pastions of his
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mind. This serment in the animal oeconomy dartiens and conso an is the intellech. It produceth vain terrors and vain conceiis, and stimulates theso ut with mad destres, whicli, not being naturat, nothing in nature cansatis sy. No wonder, there re, there a re so many fine persoris of both sexes, mining them selves, and shone on by fortune, who a re in arillymiserable and sicli of lila. Ios. The hard ne si os flabbed vulgar constitutiora S, renders them insensibie of a thousand things, that s rei and gail tho se delicate peoplo, who, as is their si in was peeled os feel to the qui cli every thing thattouches them. The remedy for this exquisite and painsul sensibili ty is commoraly sought nona fermen led, perhaps frona distilled liquors, whichrender many lives wretched, that would other i se have been only ridi culo us. The tender nerves, and low spirits of such poor creatures, wouldbe much reli eved by the use of tar Gater, Whicli might prolong and cheer their lives. I do there re recommend to them the use of a cordial, not only sese and innocent, but giving health and spirit as furely asother cordials destroy them. 1o6. I do verily thin k, there is not any other medicine what ever, so Tectual to restore a cra gy constitution, and cheer a d reary mind, or soli hely to subvert that gloomy empire of the spleen ' whicli tyranni se tho ver the bellor sori fas they are calle d) of these free nations; and maketh them, in spite of their liber ty and Properi y, more Wretched flaves
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1o . The public virtve and spirit of the Britim legislature, ne verme ed it is more conspicuous in any act, than in that for suppressing the immoderate use of distilled spiriis among the people, whose strengiliand numbers constitute the true wealth of a nation: though evasive aris
Will, it is feared, prevali se long as distilled spirits of any kind a re allowed, the character of Englis limen in generat, being that of Brutus, Quicquid
Cult valde vult. But why mould such a canker be tolera ted in the vitalsos a state, under any preten ce or in any shape What e ver i Bet ter by far, the whole present set os distillers were pensioners of the public, and their trade aboli med bylaw; since ali the bene sit thereos put together Wouldi Dot balance the hundredili part of iis misclites 1o8. To prove the destructive essects of such spirits with regard both to the human species and individuals, we need not go Q far as our coloni es, or the fa vage natives of America. Pla in proos may be had n ea rerho me. For, albeit there is in every town or district throughout England , me tough dram-drinher, set up as the devit's decoy, to drais in proselytes; yet the ruined health and morais, and the heggary of such num hers evidently shew that we need no other enem y to complete our destrUC tion, than this cheap luxury at the lower end of the state, and that a na-1ion lighted up ut both erads must soon he consumed. 1o9. It is much to be lamented that our insulars, who act and thini se much for them lues, mould yet froni grossiae si of air and diei, gro stupid or doat seoner than other people, who by viritie of elastic air, mater-drini in g, and light od preserve their faculties to extreme oldage; an ad vantage Which may perhaps be approached, is not equali ed, even in these regions, by tar water; temperance, and early hours; thelast is a stire addition to lise, not only in regard of time, whicli, heingtaken Dom neep, the image of death, is ad ded to the wahing hours, hut also in regard os longevi ty and duration in the vulgar sense. I may