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Title: A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays Author: Richard Mead Release date: October 3, 2016 [eBook #53202] Most recently updated: June 13, 2020 Language: English Credits: E-text prepared by RichardW and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MECHANICAL ACCOUNT OF POISONS IN SEVERAL ESSAYS *** E-text prepared by RichardW and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 53202-h.htm or 53202-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/53202/pg53202-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/53202/53202-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/mechanicalaccoun00mead Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Upright text within a block of italic text is enclosed by parenthesis marks [example: 〈Poisons)]. A carat character is used to denote superscription. A single character following the carat is superscripted (example: M^r). A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays. BY RICHARD MEAD, M.D.F.R.S. And Physician to St. _Thomas_’s Hospital. _The Second Edition, Revised, with Additions._ _LONDON_: Printed by _J. M._ for RALPH SMITH at the _Bible_, under the _Piazza’s_, of the _Royal Exchange, Cornhill_. 1708. THE PREFACE _〈To〉 give an exact and particular Account of the Nature and Manner of acting of 〈Poisons〉, is no easie Matter; but to Discourse more intelligibly of 〈Them〉 than Authors have hitherto done, not very difficult. One may without much Pains shew their Effects to be owing to something more than the bare Qualities of Heat or Cold; and Discover the Footsteps of 〈Mechanism〉 in those surprizing 〈Phænomena〉 which are commonly ascribed to some 〈Occult〉 or Unknown Principle. But to Unravel the Springs of the several Motions upon which such 〈Appearances〉 do depend, and Trace up all the Symptoms to their First Causes, requires some Art as well as Labour; and that both upon the account of the Exquisite Fineness, and marvellous Composition, of the Animal Machine in which they are Transacted, and of the Minuteness of those Bodies which have the force to induce in it such Sudden and Violent Alterations._ _I have attempted somewhat this way in the following 〈Essays〉; in which I do not promise Methodical, and Finish’d Treatises, but only some short Hints of Natural History, and Rude Strokes of Reasoning; which, if put together, and rightly Improved, may perhaps serve to furnish out a more tolerable SPECIMEN of the DOCTRINE of POISONS, than has yet been Published._ _The First Draught of this small Piece, I made some Years since, Entertaining my self at Leisure Hours, with Experiments on 〈Vipers〉, and other 〈Venomous Creatures〉; Examining now and then the Texture of 〈Arsenic〉, 〈Mercury Sublimate〉, and the like Malignant Substances; Turning over what Authors had said on the several Subjects, and making such Remarks as from Time to Time Occurr’d._ _There continued Enquiries made up at last, Three or Four short Discourses; which, when I began to Digest into Order, the Increase of Business contracted the Intervals of my spare Time; and the Diversion of such Studies quickly giving way to the Severity of more Necessary Labours, They were quite thrown by, Till Talking not long since with Dr. 〈Areskine〉, concerning the 〈Viper〉, I took Occasion to review my scattered Papers, and confirm my Reasonings by New Experiments. He very readily offered Me His 〈Anatomical Observations〉; These I have put at the End of the First 〈Essay〉; Which do not promise a 〈Complete Dissection〉 of the 〈Animal〉, but chiefly shew the Make of those Parts which are concern’d in the 〈Poison〉._ _My Design, in Thinking of These Matters, was, to Try how far I could carry 〈Mechanical Considerations〉 in Accounting for those Surprizing Changes, which 〈Poisons〉 make in an 〈Animal Body〉; Concluding (as I think, fairly) that if so abstruse 〈Phænomena〉 as These did come under the known Laws of Motion, It might very well be taken for granted, that the more obvious Appearances in the same Fabrick are owing to such Causes as are within the 〈Reach〉 of Geometrical Reasoning; And that therefore as the first Step towards the Removal of a Disease is to know Its Origin, so he is likely to be the best Physician, who having the same assistance of Observations and Histories with Others, does best understand the 〈Humane Oeconomy〉, the Texture of the Parts, Motions of the Fluids, and the Power which other Bodies have to make Alterations in any of These._ _Nor indeed ought any One to Doubt of This, who considers that the 〈Animal Compages〉 is not an irregular Mass, and disorderly Jumble of Atoms, but the Contrivance of Infinite Wisdom, and Master-piece of that Creating Power, who has been pleased to do all Things by Establish’d Laws and Rules, and that Harmony and Proportion should be the Beauty of all his Works._ _It were therefore heartily to be wish’d, that those Gentlemen who are so much afraid of Introducing 〈Mathematical Studies〉, that is, Demonstration and Truth, into the Practice of Physick, were so far at least Instructed in the necessary Disciplines, as to be able to pass a true Judgment, what Progress and Advances may be made this way; They would not then perhaps Decry an Attempt of so much Moment to the Wellfare of Mankind, as vain and impossible, because it is difficult, and requires Application and Pains._ _It is very evident, that all other Methods of Improving Medicine have been found Ineffectual, by the Stand it has been at these two or three Thousand Years; and that since of late 〈Mathematicians〉 have set Themselves to the Study of it, Men do already begin to Talk so Intelligibly and Comprehensibly, even about abstruse Matters, that it may be hop’d in a short time, if Those who are Design’d for this 〈Profession〉, are early, while their Minds and Bodies are Patient of Labour and Toil, Initiated in the Knowledge of 〈Numbers〉 and 〈Geometry〉, that 〈Mathematical〉 Learning will be the Distinguishing Mark of a Physician from a Quack; and that He who wants this necessary Qualification, will be as Ridiculous as one without 〈Greek〉 or 〈Latin〉._ _I have, as to what regards the 〈Animal Oeconomy〉, Referr’d as much as I could to the Works of 〈Bellini〉, which have brought great Light into the Dark Regions of Physick, and Taught Us to argue clearly and consistently, instead of Amusing our selves with Unintelligible Words or Precarious 〈Hypotheses〉. The 〈Dissertations〉 of Dr. 〈Pitcarne〉, who is the Honour of his Profession in 〈Scotland〉, are a Convincing Proof of the Advantage of such a Mechanical Way of Reasoning; nor could 〈Malice〉 it self deny This, were not 〈Ignorance〉 in Confederacy with it, which will secure any One from being Benefitted by the most useful Demonstrations._ _Notwithstanding This, I have been forced now and then to make Digressions from my Subject, to clear some Doctrines necessary to be known which have not been Explained by others. For indeed the 〈Data〉 from which We argue in these Matters are by many too few. Dr. 〈Cheyne〉, the Author of the 〈New Theory of Fevers〉, has enumerated several Particulars in which the 〈Theoretic〉 Part of Medicine still wants Improvement. If these 〈Deficiencies〉 were made good, We might with more Ease Proceed in our Enquiries into Human Nature, and should soon Convince the World, that the most useful of Arts, if duly Cultivated, is more than meer 〈Conjecture〉, or base 〈Empiricism〉._ _As to the Authors I have made use of, who have Treated of 〈Poisons〉, I have Quoted only those who Furnished me with Matter of Fact; For there are but few 〈Originals〉; and very large Volumes on this Subject do many times contain little more than a Collection of 〈Vulgar Errors〉._ _I had once Thought to have carried these 〈Searches〉 farther; in Particular, besides what is occasionally mention’d in the last 〈Essay〉 concerning 〈Infection〉 in acute Diseases, to have enquired into the Nature of 〈Contagious〉 and 〈Hereditary Distempers〉. But the Humour of Scribling would not hold out; And some perhaps will say, ’Tis well enough it didn’t; For I am not Ignorant how Few I am like to Please; If it be hard to Think and Write Justly, ’tis harder yet to Bring Others to one’s own 〈Taste〉; Nor shall I be at all Angry, if to Many I have afforded Matter of 〈Satyr〉 and 〈Invective〉; Less Wit suffices for These than for the Discovery of Useful Truths. They who have no Smattering of 〈Mathematical〉 Knowledge, are incompetent Judges of what Service I have done towards the Improvement of the 〈Theory〉, or 〈Practice〉 of 〈Medicine〉, and Those who are acquainted with these Matters, will, it may be, think it something to Talk Intelligibly on such difficult and abstruse Points. I neither want 〈Applause〉, nor fear 〈Censure〉; and therefore be the Fate of These Papers what it will, as they were first Penn’d for my own 〈Satisfaction〉, and Innocent 〈Entertainment〉; so I am resolved They shall never Ingage me in the Trouble of 〈Quarrels〉 or 〈Disputes〉._ THE CONTENTS. ESSAY I. _Of the Viper._ _An Appendix containing Anatomical Observations, and an Account of some other Venomous Animals._ ESSAY II. _Of the 〈Tarantula〉 and Mad Dog._ ESSAY III. _Of Poisonous Minerals and Plants._ ESSAY IV. _Of Opium._ ESSAY V. _Of Venomous Exhalations from the Earth, Poisonous Airs and Waters._ [Illustration] ESSAY. I. OF THE VIPER. The Viper has always been so Notorious for its Venom, that the most remote Antiquity made it an Emblem of what is Hurtful and Destructive. Nay, so terrible was the Nature of these Creatures, that they were very commonly thought to be sent as Executioners of Divine Vengeance upon Mankind for Enormous Crimes, which had escaped the Course of Common Justice. Thus _Herodotus_ (1) and _Ælian_ (2) do both take notice that Adders were sacred among the _Ægyptians_; that they affirmed of one sort of ’em particularly, that they were made to be Ministers of the Will of the Gods, by averting Evil from Good Men, and punishing the Bad. And _Pausanias_ (3) observes of the _Arabians_, that they forbore to offer any Violence to the Vipers which were found near to the Balsam-Tree, as reputing ’em Holy. The Footsteps of which Superstition do still remain among these People to this very Day, for _Veslingius_ (4) saw many of ’em take these Creatures into their Houses, feed ’em, and worship them as the _Genii_ of the Place. The same odd Fancy obtains in the _East-Indies_, for the King of _Calicut_ causes Cottages to be set up for Serpents to keep them from the Rain, and makes it Death to any that shall hurt one of ’em; thinking them to be Heavenly Spirits, because they can so suddenly Kill Men (5). A Remarkable Instance of such an Opinion as this we have in the History of St. _Paul_ (6), whom the People of _Malta_ when they saw the Viper leap upon his Hand, presently concluded to be a Murderer, and as readily made a God of him, when instead of having his Hand Inflamed, or falling down Dead, (one or other of which is usually the Effect of those Bites) he without any harm shook the Beast into the Fire. It being Obvious enough to imagine, that He must stand in a near Relation at least to the Gods themselves, who could thus Command the Messengers of their Vengeance, and Counterwork the Effects of such powerful Agents. And this, after the many Conjectures upon the Matter, seems to be the true Reason why Antiquity not only Represented the First Masters of Physick, _Hermes_, _Æsculapius_, _Hippocrates_, &c. in their Statues and Medals, with a Viper added to their Figure, but also Worshipped them under this Form, for Diseases in those Days, especially the most Violent, Plagues, Fevers, _&c._ were in like manner, as these Creatures, reputed the Commission’d Messengers of Divine Anger and Displeasure (7). They therefore who by their Art could Cure and Stop the Course of these, as they were supposed to do this by the particular Leave and Assistance of Heaven, so had Honours paid to Them accordingly, and this Representation was in the Nature of an Hieroglyphick Character; for as the Learned _Spanhem_ observes, (8) the Viper was a Symbol or Emblem of Divine Power. _Macrobius_ indeed gives us another account of this Custom, and that is from the Property which all Serpents have of casting their _Exuviæ_, or Upper-Skin, every Year, which makes ’em fit Emblems or Representations of Health; the Recovery of which from Sickness and Diseases may justly be looked upon as the beginning of a fresh Period of Life, and (as the throwing off the _Senectus_ of these Creatures seems to be) the Renewing of Age (9). Whether one or the other of these Reasons be allow’d of, or both thought good, certain it is that such fond and superstitious Fancies concerning the Viper, together with the mistaken Opinion that few of its Parts were exempt from Poison, did not suffer the Ancients to make any Curious Enquiries into its Nature by Anatomy and Experiments, and this is the Cause of the many Errors they have delivered down to us in these Points, which by gradual Advances have since been rectified, and the inward Make, Properties, and Generation of this Animal, largely treated of; more especially M. _Redi_ (10), _Charas_ (11), and Dr. _Tyson_ in his Dissection of the _Rattle-Snake_ (12), which is a larger Species of a Viper, have taken Pains on this Subject, to whose Discoveries, what is yet wanting, we shall add at the End of this Essay. The Symptoms which follow upon the Bite of a Viper, when it fastens either one or both its greater Teeth in any Part of the Body, are an acute Pain in the Place Wounded, with a Swelling at first Red, but afterwards Livid, which by degrees spreads farther to the Neighbouring Parts with great Faintness, and a Quick, tho’ Low, and sometimes Interrupted Pulse, great Sickness at the Stomach, with Bilious, Convulsive Vomitings, Cold Sweats, and sometimes Pains about the Navel; and if the Cure be not speedy, Death it self, unless the Strength of Nature prove sufficient to overcome these Disorders; and tho’ it does, the Swelling still continues inflamed for some time; nay, in some Cases more considerably upon the abating of the other Symptoms, than at the beginning; and often from the small Wound runs a sanious Liquor, and little Pustules are raised about it; the colour of the whole Skin is changed Yellow, as if the Patient had the _Jaundice_. These Mischiefs, altho’ different Climates, Season of the Year more or less Hot, the greater or lesser Rage of the Viper, the Beast it self of a larger or smaller Size, and consequently able to communicate more or less Venom, and the like Circumstances, may variously heighten or abate ’em, yet do usually discover themselves much after the same manner in all; unless the Bite happen not to be accompanied with the Effusion of that _Liquor_, which is the main Instrument and Cause of this violent and shocking Disturbance. But before I proceed to enquire into the Nature and Manner of Acting of this _Juice_, it may be worth the while to take Notice, that this is not made on purpose to be deadly and destructive to _Mankind_; but that the true Design of it is (tho’ Authors have not regarded it) to perform an Office and Service of so great Moment, to the Preservation of the Individual, that without it this Creature could not subsist. For Vipers live chiefly upon Lizzards, Frogs, Toads, Mice, Moles, and the like Animals, which they do not chew, but swallow down whole, and they lie in the Stomach; or if that be not big enough to receive them, partly in that, and partly in the Œsophagus, which is membranous and capable of great Distension, till by the Salival Juices of those Parts, together with the Help of the Fibres of the Stomach, and the Contraction of the Muscles of the Abdomen, they are gradually dissolved into a Fluid Substance, fit for the Nourishment of their Bodies, which is the Work of many Days; this is _one_ Reason why these Creatures can live so long without taking any fresh Food, which I have known them to do Three or Four Months; as _another_ is, that their Blood is a grosser and more viscid Fluid than that of most other Animals; so that there is but a very little expence of it by Transpiration, and consequently less need of Recruit; this not only _Microscopes_ discover, but Reason teaches; because there is but very little Muscular Force in the Stomach to comminute the Food, and make a Chyle of fine Parts, and therefore the Blood must accordingly be of a Tough and Clammy Consistence. Besides, the Heart of a Viper has properly but one Ventricle, and the Circulation of the Blood is performed after the same Manner as it is in a Frog and Tortoise, in which not above one Third of it passes thro’ the Lungs; upon which Account its Comminution in them by the Air is proportionably lesser than in other Animals. Now such a manner of Feeding as _this_ does necessarily require, that the Prey should upon the first Catching be immediately kill’d, otherwise it were by no means fit to be let into the Stomach; for we are not to think that the Force of this Part would be alone sufficient to destroy it, the Subtilty of a living Creature (besides the Consideration of the Weakness of the Fibres) being in a great Measure able to elude _that_, as indeed we do every Day find live Animals in the Ventricles of others; and therefore to do _this_ is the proper Use both of the Teeth and their Poison; for which being designed and adapted, it is no wonder if the Viper, this same Way by which it destroys its Prey, proves sometimes mischievous to any other Creatures besides, when it happens to be enraged, or by any Provocation stirr’d up to bite. The Description of the Poisonous _Fangs_, their Make, Articulation and Motion, as also of the Glands that separate the Yellowish Liquor, and the Bags that contain it; I shall give, together with some Anatomical Observations, at the End of this Discourse. This Venomous Juice it self is of so inconsiderable a quantity, that it is no more than one good _Drop_ that does the Execution; and for this reason Authors have contented themselves with Trials of the Bite upon several Animals, never Essaying to examine the Texture and Make of the Liquor it self; for which purpose I have oftentimes by holding a Viper advantageously, and inraging it till it struck out its Teeth, made it to bite upon somewhat solid, so as to void its Poison; which carefully putting upon a Glass Plate, I have with a Microscope, as nicely as I could, viewed its Parts and Composition. Upon the first Sight I could discover nothing but a Parcel of small Salts nimbly floating in the Liquor, but in a very short time the Appearance was changed, and these saline Particles were now shot out as it were into _Crystals_ of an incredible Tenuity and Sharpness, with something like Knots here and there, from which they seemed to proceed, so that the whole Texture did in a manner represent a _Spider’s Webb_, tho’ infinitely Finer, and more Minute; and yet withal so rigid were these pellucid _Spicula_, or _Darts_, that they remained unaltered upon my Glass for several Months (13). I have made several Trials with this _Juice_ in order to find out under what Tribe of Salts these Crystals are to be ranged; and not without some difficulty, by reason of the Minute Quantity of the Liquor, and the Hazard of Experiments of this Nature, have plainly seen that it does, as an _Acid_, turn the blue Tincture of _Heliotropium_ to a Red Colour. I did not succeed so well in mixing it with Syrup of Violets, and yet it did really seem to induce in this a _Reddish Hue_; but I am very certain it did not at all change it to a _Greenish_ Colour, as it would have done if any ways _Alcalious_. This may suffice in their own way of arguing, to convince those Gentlemen, who without the Assistance of any Experiments, meerly to serve an _Hypothesis_ which they have too fondly taken up, have with great Assurance told the World, that the Viperine Venom is an _Alcali_, and consequently to be cured by _Acid_ Remedies. But it is by far more easie to Spin out a false Notion into precarious Reasonings, than to make faithful Experiments, and fairly improve ’em by just and necessary Consequences. To proceed, this Discovery agrees very well with a Relation communicated by an Ingenious Person to Dr. _Tyson_, which does so much illustrate this Matter, that I shall transcribe it in his own Words, out of the before cited _Philosophical Transactions_; he says then, That being in the _Indies_, there came to him an _Indian_ with several Sorts of _Serpents_, offering to shew him some Experiments about the Force of their Poison; having therefore first pulled out a large One, the _Indian_ told him this would do no Harm; and making a Ligature on his Arm as in letting Blood, he exposed it naked to the Serpent, being first irritated to make him bite it; the Blood that came out of the Wound made by his Teeth, he gathered with his Finger, and laid it on his Thigh, till he had got near a Spoonful, after this he takes out another called _Cobra de Capelo_, which was lesser, and inlarges much upon the Greatness of his Poison; to shew an Instance of it, grasping it out about the Neck, he expresses some of the Liquor in the Bags of the Gums, about the Quantity of half a Grain, and this he puts to the coagulated Bleed on his Thigh, which immediately put it into a great _Fermentation_, and working like _Barme_, changed it into a _Yellowish_ Liquor. This I say does well enough accord with what we have been advancing concerning the Nature of this _Juice_, for Mr. _Boyle_ has long since proved by Experiments, that there is nothing of Acid in human Blood; and Dr. _Pitcarn_ (14) has demonstrated, that the _Acid Substances_ of Vegetables taken into the Stomach, are by the Action of this Part, the Lungs and Heart, when they come into the Blood-Vessels, turn’d to _Alcalious_; so that the Arterial Fluid must necessarily be considered as an _Alcali_; and therefore according to the known Principles of Chymistry, its mixture with such a Liquor as we have discovered the Viperine _Sanies_ to be, will always exhibit some such appearance as this now related. But not to engage any farther in these sort of Controversies, we may perhaps from the foregoing Observations receive some Light in order to understand the Nature and Reason of all those Symptoms which attend the Bite of this Creature. For the pungent Salts of this Venom, when with Force thrown into the Wound, will not only as so many _Stimuli_, irritate and fret the sensile Membranes, whereupon there necessarily follows a greater Afflux than ordinary of the Animal Juices that way, (as is manifest from the _Bellinian_ Doctrine, _De Stimulis_) so that the wounded Part must be Swelled, Inflamed, Livid, _&c._ but also these _Spicula_ being mixt with the Blood, will so disjoin and disunite the Parts of it, that its Mixture must be quite alter’d; and from the various _Cohæsion_ of its _Globules_ will arise such different Degrees of _Fluidity_ and _Impulse_ towards the Parts, _&c._ from what this Liquor had before, that its very Nature will be changed, or in the common way of speaking, it will be truly and really _Fermented_. To understand aright how all this is done, it is necessary to hint somewhat concerning the Nature of _Fluids_ in General, and those Alterations in them which we call _Fermentations_; for I shall retain this known Word, tho’ in the proper Sense in which ’tis commonly used, there can be no _Fermenting_ of the Liquors in the Animal Body. And here I must refer to the Treatise of _Bellini de Fermentis_, who has with great Clearness shewn, that there is in all _Fluids_ not only a simple _Contact_ of their Parts, but also a _nisus in Contactum_, or _Cohæsion_, and this of a certain _Degree_ or _Force_, and besides, of a particular _Direction_; which is indeed, tho’ express’d in other words, the very same thing with the _Attraction_ of the Particles one to another; This Mr. _Newton_ has demonstrated to be the great Principle of Action in the Universe, has taught us the Laws of it in the greater Quantities and Collections of _Matter_; and he who rightly Studies his Philosophy will understand that the same obtains in the most Minute and Finest Corpuscles, which do unite into Bodies of different _Solidity_ and _Make_, according to the Degree with which they do mutually _attract_ each other, and to the _Superficies_, by which, when drawn, they do _touch_ and _adhere_. To this if we add a _Pression_ of the several Parts of the Fluid every way, and consider withal, that this _Uniform_ Attraction of the Parts to one another must be variously changed by the different Attraction of Heterogeneous Bodies mixt with them, we have the great Principles of all Fluids, upon which their several _Phænomena_ do depend. And hence it follows, that whatsoever _Power_ is sufficient to make a Change in this Attraction, or Cohæsion of the Parts, makes an Alteration of the Nature of the Fluid; that is, as the Chymists express it, puts it into a _Fermentation_. And if any one shall think it necessary to enquire into the particular Manner of producing such an Effect, we may perhaps in so abstruse a Matter not improbably Conjecture _thus_, That our Blood consisting chiefly of Two Parts, a simple _Lymph_, and an infinite Number of small _Globules_, containing a very subtle and elastic Fluid, these acute Salts, when mingled with it, do prick those Globules, or _Vesiculæ_, and so let out their imprisoned active Substance, which expanding it self every way, must necessarily be the Instrument of this speedy Alteration and Change (15). From such an _Hypothesis_ as this (and, it may be, not very easily from any other) we may account for many of the surprizing Phænomena in the Fermentations of Liquors; and as precarious as it seems, its Simplicity, and Plainness, and Agreement with the forementioned Doctrine, will, I believe, recommend it before any other to those who are not unacquainted with _Geometrical_ Reasonings. But I wave these Considerations at present, and shall only add One Remark or Two with Relation to the purpose in Hand, and so proceed. In the first place then, we may from this _Theory_, learn, how it comes to pass that so small a Portion of Juice should infect so great a quantity of Liquor; for in order to do this, it is not necessary that the Venom should be at the very first mixt with all its Parts; but it is sufficient that it prick some of the _Bladders_, and the elastic Matter of these being let out, will be a nimble _Vehicle_ to the acute Salts, and not only by its activity disperse them thro’ the Fluid, but restore to them their decreasing _Force_, and thus continue their Effects, till a great part of the Liquor undergoes at least, in some Degree, the like Alteration. And this will the more easily happen in the present Case, because the _Force_ with which this Poison is thrown into the Blood, as appears from the Mechanism of the discharging Organs, is very great, and consequently its Effects will be proportionably violent, or the Mischief more large and diffused. The want of this may be one Reason why the Experiment of first making a Wound in the Flesh with any sharp Instrument, and then dropping in the _Sanies_, may not always succeed so well in killing Animals, as one would from the preceeding Doctrine be ready to expect. Tho’ if some amends be made for this Defect, by taking a greater quantity of the Juice, and carefully instilling it, It proves equally Fatal this way, as when immediately discharg’d from the Viper it self. Thus it might happen that those Trials of this kind, which were happily made by S^r _Redi_, might not however convince M^r _Charas_, in as much as there is oftentimes a great deal of difference in the Event of Experiments, when made with Purpose, and a Design that they should succeed, and when Timorously and Cautiously managed, lest they should unluckily overthrow a darling _Hypothesis_. The other Observation I shall draw from the foregoing Theory, is this, That it appears from hence what a vast _variety_ there may be in the Fermentations even of one and the same Fluid; for these being no other than _Changes_ made in the _Cohæsion_ of the compounding Particles, are capable of as many Alterations as _Motion_ in its _Degrees_ and _Directions_ can admit of, which are really Infinite. This I mention with regard to some of the following _Essays_, in which, if we ascribe many Symptoms seemingly very different, to a Ferment rais’d in the Blood, it may be consider’d, that the Nature of this Cause is such, as according to the several Properties of the _Primum Agens_, or _Fermenting Power_, to bear by far more Varieties than any one can be aware of. To return to the Viper; the Effects of such an Agitation of the Blood, as we have been describing, must not only be whatever are the Consequences of a disturbed _Circulation_, and irregular and interrupted _Secretion_ of the Spirits, as low Pulse, Faintings, Sickness, Palpitation of the Heart, Convulsive Vomitings, Tremblings of the Body, _&c._ but also the _Texture_ of this Fluid being thus broken, those Parts of it which are of the slowest Motion, and greatest Viscidity, will be easily separated from the others; such they are, which when united together do compound the _Bile_, and therefore these will tinge the Capillary Vessels, and fine _Ducts_ in the Skin, with a Yellowish Colour; that is, will induce an _Icterus_, or Jaundice. For it is not only (if at all _Primarily_) from an Obstruction of the _Biliary Canals_ that this Symptom does proceed, but also from any Cause whatsoever, which either destroys the Saline Part of the Bile, by the means of which its Oil is kept mixt with the Water of the Blood, or else increases the Oily and Sulphureous Part to that Degree, that tho’ it be duly impregnated with Salt, yet the Watery Part of the Blood, which can only take up a certain Proportion of it, being already _Saturated_, can receive no more; or lastly, does, by _disuniting_ the compounding Particles of the Blood, alter that _Intestine_ Motion and Agitation which is necessary to carry along thro’ the Vessels, together with the more volatile Parts, those which are more Clammy and Glutinous. For in all these Cases ’tis plain that the Bilious Corpuscles must be _præcipitated_ upon those Parts of the Body where there is least Motion, that is, upon the extreme Superficies. And tho’ this Theory may perhaps appear extravagant, because new and uncommon, yet it will not, I believe, seem ill grounded or irrational to those who understand the Doctrine of the _Mixture_ of Heterogene Fluids, and their _Separation_; and who withal know, that the Vessels are rarely obstructed, unless it be from the fault of the Liquid they carry, and consequently that a Defect in the Bile it self must be (excepting some extraordinary Cases) antecedent to the Obstruction of the Biliary Ducts. In short, the different Cure of this Disease confirms these Notions; for an _Icterus_ from the first Cause assign’d, which is generally owing to a sedentary Life, want of Exercise, _&c._ and attended with an extreme Costiveness and white _Fæces_, is cured by Volatile, Acrimonious, and Bitter Salts. From the Second produced oftentimes by drinking strong Liquors, Spirits, _&c._ and accompanied with a _Diarrhœa_, partly by Diluting and Temperating, partly by Stomachic and Strenghning Medicines. As the last Species of it (for the sake of which we have mention’d the other) is removed by such _Antidotes_ as overcome and destroy the Venomous Ferment, corrupting the Blood, and breaking its _Compages_. But to have hinted these things may abundantly suffice for the present. We must however take Notice, That _tho’_ the _main_ Alterations made by this Poison be in the Fluid of the Arteries, _yet_ that _That_ of the Nerves may hereby be considerably _changed_ too; for _This_ consisting, as well as the Blood of differing Parts, and being dispersed in small _Tubes_ all over the Body, is not only very capable of _various_ Degrees of _Force_, _Impulse_, _&c._ but _Undulating_ continually towards the Brain, and being the chief Instrument of Motion and Action, may perhaps sometimes more immediately convey the Mischief to the sensile Membranes, and thus be the Cause of those violent Pains, Convulsions, Sickness, _&c_ with which Those who are Bitten are presently seiz’d. Many are the Experiments I could relate to evince the Truth of this Reasoning concerning the Viperine Venom, which do entirely agree with those made by S^r _Redi_, whose Judgment and Sincerity in Observations of this Nature no Body ever called in Question, till Monsieur _Charas_ having espous’d a Notion, that this Poison does not lie in the Yellow Liquor of the Gums, but in the enraged Spirits of the Viper, rais’d new Difficulties about the Success of some Trials made in _France_, endeavouring thereby to invalidate the Force and Authority of those made in _Italy_. I shall therefore, in order to put this Matter out of all doubt, mention Two or Three Experiments made by Dr. _Areskine_, when at _Paris_, that it may appear how defective those of Mr. _Charas_ are, and that the Difference of the Climate does not (as some began to imagine (16)) make any considerable Alteration in the Effects of this Venom, or its manner of Killing. First then, having got a large Female Viper, he made it to Bite Six Pigeons, one after another; the First and Second that were bit, died within about half an Hour, one a little Time before the other; the third liv’d about two Hours; the Fourth seem’d to be very sick, but recovered; the Fifth and Sixth were no more hurt than if they had been prick’d with a Pin or Needle. Then he cut off the Head of a brisk Viper, and let it lie twenty four Hours, with the Fangs of which he wounded One Pigeon in the Breast, and another in the Thigh, which both expired as soon after, as if they had been biten by a living Viper. After this, having got a great many Vipers together, he made them bite upon a peice of Glass of a Cylindrical Figure, by this means preserving the Yellow Juice which they emitted, and slightly wounding two Pigeons, he first let the Bleeding be stopt, then put some of this Liquor into the Wounds, upon which both the Pigeons died about two Hours after. The same Ingenious Person tells me, that Monsieur _du Verney_ made not only These, but also several other Experiments of the same Nature, in the _Royal Acamy_, with the like Success. These Proofs are so convincing and full, that no one, I think, can desire more; but they will receive yet a farther Confirmation from the _Apparatus_ or Mechanism of the Organs, with admirable Nicety contrived for the Discharge of this Venom, of which more by and by. Nor is it any Objection against all _This_, that the _Liquor_ is innocent and harmless in the Mouth or Stomach of any one, so as that it may be safely tasted or sucked out of the Wound, and swallowed; for, _as_ we observ’d before, that many _Acid_ Substances taken into the Stomach are by the Action of that Part turned to _Alcalious_, so there is no Question but these Saline _Spicula_ are partly by the Muscular Force of the Fibres, partly by the Salival Juice, all broken and dissolved; or if any can pass into the Intestines, the Balsam of the _Bile_ will be an _Antidote_ for Them; the Reason of which will appear when we come to the Cure. In the mean time it may not be amiss to Remark, That even the Ancients seem to have known thus much concerning the Nature of this Poison; of this _Galen_ gives us Testimony in severl Places; particularly in his Book _de Temperamentis_ (17), where he takes notice, that _nothing has the same Power upon the human Body outwardly as inwardly; Thus_ (says he) _neither the Venom of the Viper, nor of the Asp nor frothy Spittle of the Mad Dog, are alike Mischievous when they fall upon the Skin, or enter into the Stomach, as when outwardly communicated by a Wound._ The chief of the _Latin_ Physicians (18), _Celsus_ has elegantly express’d the Matter in few Words, when advising to _Suck_ the Wound made by the Bite; he adds, _Neq; Hercules Scientiam præcipuam habent hi qui Psilli nominantur, sed audaciam usu ipso confirmatam, nam Venenum Serpentis, ut quædam etiam Venatoria Venena, quibus Galli præcipuè utuntur, non gustu sed in vulnere nocent_. And therefore brave _Cato_, when marching the Remains of _Pompey_’s Army thro’ _Africa_, very wisely told the Soldiers, almost choak’d with Thirst, yet afraid to drink of a Spring they came to, because full of Serpents (19), _Noxia Serpentum est admisto sanguine Pestis, Morsu Virus habent, & Fatum Dente minantur, Pocula Morte carent_―― In the like manner it was in those times also known, that the virulent Juice had the same bad Effects, when mixt with the Blood, by means of a common Wound, as when communicated by the Venomous Bite. This made _Celsus_ (20) advise in sucking out the Poison, to take care there be no Ulcer in the Mouth; tho’ this Caution be rather slighted and ridiculed by _Severinus_ (21), and others; who do hereby discover how little they understood of the Seat and Nature of this Poison. And _Galen_ (22) mentioning the Story of _Cleopatra_, relates from other Authors, that she killed her self _by pouring the_ Virus _of an Asp into a Wound made in her Arm by her own Teeth_. In short, it is upon this Foundation, that _Pliny_ (23) assures us, the _Scythians_ Poison’d their Arrows with the _Sanies_ of Vipers mixt with human Blood; the way of doing it _Aristotle_ (24) has at large related; and the _Tartars_ are said to use the like Trick to this Day. After the same manner the _Indians_ make use of the Venom of the Lizard, called _Gecco_; this Creature they hang up by the Tail, and by Whipping exasperate till it discharge its _Virus_, in which they tinge their Darts; and a very slight Wound with these Weapons is speedy Death (25). It is worth the while in the next Place to consider the Cure of this Mischief, which without all doubt ought to be by such External Mannagement of the Wound as may immediately destroy the infused Venom. Mr. _Boyle_ (26) experienced a hot Iron held as near the Place as the Patient could possibly endure it very effectual to this Purpose. But the same Method did not answer Expectation in the famous Case related by Monsieur _Charas_ (27). An extraordinary Virtue against this and other venomous Bites is ascribed to the _Snake-stones_ brought from the _East-Indies_, one of which is to be presently apply’d to the Part, and let stick till it drop off; these are said to be taken out of the Head of the Serpent called by the _Portugueze_, _Cobra de Capelo_; and to suck the Poison out of the Wound. S^r _Redi_ (28) made Trials with several of them, but found no Service from any. Yet _Baglivi_ (29) tells us of a terrible Bite of a Scorpion cured this way. Monsieur _Charas_ (30) his Pigeons all died, tho’ _these_ were immediately clapped on, and stuck close to the Wound: But Dr. _Havers_ saw a good Effect of _one_ upon a Dog, who tho’ severely bitten, suffered no Harm, nor any farther Mark of the Poison than a livid Circle round the Place. In plain Truth, _as_ these celebrated _Stones_ do not seem to be what it is pretended they are, but rather Factitious Bodies compounded, it may be, of Calcined Bones, and some Testaceous Matters mixt together; _so_ by Reason of their spongy and porous Texture, they do very readily adhere to any moistened Part of the Flesh, and imbibe whatsoever humidity they meet with. This their Quality any one may experience by holding one of them to the Roof of his Mouth; and it is upon this Score, that when put into Water, Bubbles are raised by the Air in their Interstices, which some have too fondly thought to be the Effects of their throwing out the Venom they had sucked in. Their _make_ being thus, some Part at least of the Poisonous Juice may easily be drawn out of the Wound by such an Application, and yet so much of _it_ may sometimes happen to remain in the Flesh, as may make the Bite however to prove Mortal. And thus it fared with a Pigeon, to the Thigh of which, first bitten by a Viper, I applied one of the Stones; for tho’ it stuck fast to the Wound, and thus saved the Life for about four Hours; (whereas others usually died in about half an Hour) yet after this the Mortification of the Part prevailed to that Degree as to become fatal to the tender Creature. But our _Viper-Catchers_ have a Remedy far beyond all these, in which They do place so great Confidence, as to be no more afraid of a Bite than of a common Puncture, immediately curing themselves by the Application of their _Specifick_. This, tho’ they keep as a great Secret, I have however upon strict Enquiry found out to be no other than the _Axungia Viperina_ presently rubbed into the Wound. And to convince my self of its good Effects, I inraged a Viper to bite a young Dog in the Nose; both the Teeth were struck deep in; he howled bitterly, and the Part began to swell; I diligently applied some of the _Axungia_ I had ready at Hand, and he was very well the next Day. But because some Gentlemen who saw this Experiment were apt to impute the Cure rather to the Dog’s Spittle, (he licking the Wound) than to the Virtue of the _Fat_, we made him to be bit again in the Tongue, forbearing the Use of our Remedy, and he died within four or five Hours. At another time I made the like Trial with the same Success. _As_ this _Axungia_ consists of Clammy and Viscid Parts, which are withal more Penetrating and Active than most other Oily Substances, _so_ these, without all doubt, do involve, and as it were sheath the Volatile Salts of the Venemous Liquor, and thus prevent their Shooting out into those Crystalline _Spicula_, which we have observ’d to be the main Instruments of that deadly Mischief which attends the Bite. By this means it comes to pass, that this Cure, if rightly manag’d, is so easie and certain, as not to need the help of any _Internal_ Medicines to forward it; but _These_ however must take place, where, thro’ Want of the other, the Poison is spread farther, and has tainted the whole Mass of Blood. Nor yet is it necessary even in this Case to fatigue the Patient with a _Farrago_ of _Theriacas_, _Antidotes_, &c. for the _Volatile Salt_ of Vipers is alone sufficient to do the Work, if given in just Quantities, and duly repeated; provided moderate Sweats be incouraged in Bed; thus it succeeded with Monsieur _Charas_ in the before cited Case, and in some others I could relate; in one of which the Mischief had gone so far as to induce an universal _Icterus_. This leads me last of all to hint something concerning the Use of the Viper in _Physick_; because Authors are very large in enumerating its Virtues against many, and those too some of ’em very obstinate, Distempers. One of the first whom we find in Antiquity to have made use of the Flesh of this Creature to Medicinal Purposes, was, I think, _Antonius Musa_, the Famons Physician to _Octavius Cæsar_; of whom _Pliny_ (31) tells us, That _when he met with incurable Ulcers, he ordered the eating of Vipers, and by this means they were quickly Healed_. It is not improbable that he might have learned this from the Great _Greek_ Physician _Craterus_, mention’d often by _Cicero_ in his Epistles to _Atticus_, who, as _Porphyrius_ (32) relates, _very happily cured a miserable Slave, whose Skin in a strange manner fell off from his Bones, by advising him to feed upon Vipers dressed after the manner of fish_. Be this as it will, in _Galen_’s time the profitable Qualities of the Viper were very commonly known; himself relating (33) very remarkable Stories of the Cures of the _Elephantiasis_, or _Lepra_, done by the Viper Wine. _Aretæus_, who most probably liv’d about the same time with _Galen_, and of all the Ancients has most accurately described the _Elephantiasis_, commends, as _Craterus_ did, the eating of Vipers instead of Fish in the same Diseases (34). And to this purpose I remember, that _as Lopes_ (35) in his Relations of the Kingdom of _Congo_ in _Africa_, takes notice how greedily the _Negroes_ eat _Adders_, roasting them, and esteeming them as the most delicious Food; _so Dampier_ (36) also informs us, that the Natives of _Tonquin_ in the _East Indies_ do treat their Friends with _Arack_, in which _Snakes_ and _Scorpions_ have been infus’d, accounting this not only a great Cordial, but also an Antidote against the _Leprosie_, and all other sorts of Poison. The Physicians in _Italy_ and _France_ do very commonly prescribe the Broth and Gelly of Vipers Flesh for much the same Uses, that is, to invigorate and purifie the Mass of Blood exhausted with Diseases, or tainted with some Vicious and Obstinate _Ferment_. From all this it appears, That the main Efficacy of the Viperine Flesh is to quicken the Circle of the Blood, promote its due Mixture, and by this means cleanse and scoure the _Glands_ of those stagnating Juices, which, turning to Acidity, are the Origine of many, at least, of those troublesome Distempers in the Surface of the Body, which go under the Names of _Scrophulous_, _Leprous_, &c. These good Effects are owing to that penetrating, strong _Salt_, with which the Substance of these Creatures does, in a very great Proportion, abound; and the Reason of _this_ is from the Food they live on, which we have observ’d before to be Lizzards, Moles, _&c._ whose Nature every one knows to be such as must necessarily, when they are dissolv’d in the Stomach, supply the Blood with a great Quantity of Active and Volatile Parts. And herein lies the Difference between the Flesh of Vipers, and _that_ of other Innocent Serpents, which feeding upon Grass, Herbs, _&c._ do not recommend themselves to us by any of those Properties which are in so Eminent a Degree found in the former. Whosoever reflects on what has been said on this Head, will very readily Acknowledge, That our Physicians deal too Cautiously or Sparingly with a Remedy which may be apply’d to very good Purposes, when they prescribe a few Grains of the _Pouder_ of dried Vipers, or make up a small Quantity of their Flesh into _Troches_; whereas, if Service be really to be done this Way, the Patient ought to eat frequently of Viper-Gelly, or Broth; or rather, as the ancient manner was, to boil Vipers, and eat them like Fish; if this Food will not go down, (tho’ really very Good and Delicious Fare) to make use at least of Wine, in which Vipers have for a long time been infused, by which I know a very obstinate _Lepra_ has been removed; or lastly, in some Cases, especially where Wine is not Convenient, to take good Quantities of their _Volatile Salt_, in which alone the Virtue of the before-named Medicines does principally reside. [Illustration] An APPENDIX to the Foregoing Essay; Containing _Some Anatomical Observations on the VIPER, and an Account of some other_ Venomous Animals. In repeated Dissections of the _Viper_, comparing the _Descriptions_ given Us by Authors with the _Parts_ themselves, I have found them in many Particulars to be very Defective. I shall however at present confine my self to some Observations made chiefly on those Organs which serve to prepare and emit the _Poison_. To begin therefore with the Head. The _Skull_ (_Fig. 2._) is composed of several Bones, joined together by _Sutures_, as in _Man_, but with this Difference, that the _Os Frontis_ in the Viper consists of Two Bones united by a Rectilinear _Suture_, and the _Parietal_ Bones are entire; whereas in Man the _Parietal_ Bones have _Sutures_, and the _Os Frontis_ is entire. (_a_) Shews Two small Semicircular Bones, which form the inferior Part of the _Nostrils_. (_b_) The Two Bones which make the upper Part of the _Nose_, from the latter pass down two thin _Laminæ_, which touching one another, and falling perpendicular upon the _Ossa Palati_, compose the _Septum_ of the Nose. (_e e_) Point out the _Ossa Frontis_, which form the upper Part of the _Orbits_ of the Eyes. And (_c c_) the _Orbits_ themselves. The _Parietal Bones_ (_d_) make a large Cavity, in which the greatest Part of the Brain is contained, and _this_ we may call the _Sinciput_. Behind this Bone are placed the _Ossa Temporum_ (_f f_) in which lye the Organs of _Hearring_; and behind Them a Bone (_g_) which, we may call the _Os Occipitis_, covers the posterior Part of the Brain. This is joined to the first _Vertebra_ of the Neck (_h_), by a Spherical Articulation, as all the _Vertebræ_ are to one another; and this is the Reason why this Creature can turn its Head and Body so much, and so nimbly, every way. To some of _These_ there are Two other Bones Articulated for particular Uses. The First of _Them_, which serves as a _Basis_ to the Articulation of the Rest (_a_, _Fig. 4._), is fastned by one Extremity to a small Proturberance (_i_, _Fig. 2._) in the middle and lateral Part of the _Os Sincipitis_, and running back towards the _Vertebræ_, lyes in the same Plain with the _Sinciput_. This Bone has a Motion, tho’ very inconsiderable, both upwards and downwards. By means of This, the opening of the Mouth is somewhat inlarged in the Time of _Deglutition_. That End of this Bone, which is next to the _Vertebræ_, is articulated at oblique Angles with _Another_ (_b_) placed Horizontally, and whose Motion is forwards and backwards, being made chiefly for moving the Bones of the upper and lower Jaw, into which the Teeth are inserted. By reason of this kind of Articulation, It cannot contribute any thing towards widening the Mouth for Swallowing. This Bone, and That with which it is joined, I call the _Common Bones_. The _Upper Jaw_ (_Fig. 3._) is, besides the Teeth, composed on each side of _three_ Bones. The _First_ (_a_), into which the Poisonous _Fangs_ are fixt, is articulated with the Anterior Protuberance of the _Orbit_ of the Eye; and has a Motion of Flexion and Extension, that is, forwards and backwards, by which the _Fangs_ are Erected or Depress’d. It is small at the Joint, but grows broader by degrees, to a pretty large _Basis_, the better to contain a considerable Number of _Teeth_. It is _Spongy_ like the Substance of the _Vertebræ_, and no ways fit to be the immediate Organ of _Hearing_, as Mr. _Charas_ and some others have imagined. The _Second_ (_c_), is a broad thin Bone, Articulated by _one_ Extreme to the _Former_, (_f_), and by the _other_ firmly fixt to the middle of the _third_ Bone. When _this_ is thrust forwards, it likewise pushes the _First_, and by this means the _Erection_ of the _Fangs_ is helped; and when it is pull’d backwards, they are _depressed_. The _third_ Bone (_e d_), is join’d by one Extremity (_e_), to the End of one of the Bones of the Lower Jaw (_c_, _Fig. 4._), And being somewhat crooked, turns in a little towards the _Basis_ of the _Cranium_, and running along the Inferior Part of it towards the _Nose_, terminates near the Internal and Anterior Part of the _first_ Bone. The _Lower Jaw_ (_c d e f g_, _Fig. 4._) on each side is made up of two Bones, but firmly united, the Extremity of the _one_ entring within the _other_ (_f_). The First (_c d e_) articulates with the _Second_ of the _Common Bones_ (_b_), where it is broad, and sends off an _Apophysis_, into which there is a _Muscle_ inserted, which helps to open the _Jaw_. There is in _this_ is a _Hole_ (_d_), for the Entrance of the Branch of the _Nerve_, which passing thro’ a _Canal_ in the middle of it, goes to the Extremity of the _Second_ Bone, and in its way sends off several Branches which go to the _Teeth_; and also a very considerable one, which goes out at (_e_), and is wholly spent upon the Neighbouring _Muscles_. The _Second_ Bone (_f g_) serves chiefly to receive the small _Teeth_, which answer to _those_ in the upper Jaw. As for the _Teeth_, they are of two Sorts, the _Great_, or poisonous _Fangs_, and the _Small_. The _Great_ (_b_, _Fig. 3._), being fixt in the First Bone of the _Upper Jaw_, are Crooked and Bent, like the _Dentes Canini_ in most _Carnivorous_ Animals. They are manifestly hollow from their Root a considerable way, not to the very _Apex_ or Point, (which is solid and sharp, the better to pierce the Skin) but to a small distance from it, as is plainly seen by splitting the Tooth thro’ the middle (_Vid. Fig. 6._). This Cavity ends at the Convex Part in a visible _Slit_, very well resembling the _Nip_ or _Cut_ of a _Pen_ (_Fig. 9. d_), which is the _Emissary_ or Outlet to the Poyson. _Galen_ (37) has given us a considerable Hint of this Make of the Tooth: For, _The Mountebanks_ (He says) _used to suffer themselves to be bit by Vipers, having first with some Pastes stopt the Holes of their Teeth, that the Venom being thus kept in, the Spectators might think they did by their Antidote secure themselves from its dangerous Effects_. The Reason why these Teeth are _Crooked_, is, That the _Point_ of the Tooth, when the Viper bites, may be _Perpendicular_ to the Part to be Wounded; for the Head being raised back in the Time of Biting, and the Tooth erected, if _this_ were strait, It would not, by reason of its oblique Situation to the part, enter with so much Force, nor so deep into the Flesh. As for the _Number_ of the Poisonous Fangs, I have observed, that there are, for the most part, besides One, Two or Three on each side, fixt Perpendicularly to the first Bone of the Upper Jaw, some others which are Young, and of a smaller Size, adhering to the same Bone: Their _Points_ are hardened, and they have their _Fissures_ formed as in the other, but their _Roots_ are Soft and Mucilaginous, like the Roots of the Teeth in Infants, and so they lye always depress’d at the _Bottoms_ of the _Former_, as may be seen _Fig. 10. c_. They drop off from the Bone at the least Touch; and therefore some Anatomists have imagined them to be fastened to Muscles or Tendons, which would have rendred Them altogether Useless. For they are made to supply the Place of the _Greater_, when they fall away, or are pulled out by Accident, and in order to do this, they do by degrees harden, and rise more and more, till at last they stand upright, and come to a Perpendicular Situation in the Bone. They are not all of the same _Growth_, for in some we can only discern the Shape of a Tooth without any Hardness, in _others_ the Point, and in the _next_ somewhat more is hardened, and so on to the greatest Fang. Their Number is very uncertain, there being sometimes six or seven in each side of the Jaw, sometimes fewer. These seem to have occasioned the Disputes among the Ancients concerning the Number of the Viperine Teeth. The Poysonous Fangs have small Holes at the Internal Part of their Root, thro’ which the Vessels pass which carry their Nourishment (_Fig. 5. a_). It is remarkable, that Nature has provided Young Vipers with Poisonous Teeth grown to their Perfection, that so they may kill their Prey as soon as they come into the World. The _Second_ Kind of Teeth, or the _Small_, are hooked, and bent, as well as the former, but without any _Slit_ or Opening. Of These there are Four Rows, Two on each side of the Mouth. They are fixt in the _third_ Bone of the Upper Jaw, and in the _Second_ in the Lower, as exhibited to view in the _Figures_. Their Use is to hold the Prey fast while Execution is done by the Bite, lest in struggling to get away, It should pull out the Fangs. The Instruments that _Emit_ the Venom being thus describ’d, we come next to _those_ which serve to _Prepare_ and _Contain_ it. This _Liquor_ is separated from the Blood by a _Gland_ on each side of the Head, placed in the Anterior and Lateral Part of the _Os Sincipitis_, just behind the Orbit of the Eye (_Fig. 9. a_); It lies immediately under that Muscle which helps to depress the Fangs, so that by the Action of _this_ it is Press’d; which is an admirable Contrivance to forward the _Secretion_ of the Juice out of it. ’Tis a _Conglomerated_ Gland, composed of many smaller ones contained in a common Membrane; each of These sends off an Excretory Vessel, all which do afterwards Unite and Form one _Duct_ (_b_), which running towards the Roots of the Fangs, discharges the Yellow Liquor into a _Bag_. This _Bag_ is fixt to the _Basis_ of the _first_ Bone of the Upper Jaw, and also to the Extremity of the _Second_, covering the Fangs near the Root (_d_, _Fig. 10._). To the upper Part of this _Vesicula_ there is joined _another_ (_a_), in the Anterior Part of which there is a Passage for the Poisonous Teeth. This consists of Muscular Fibres, both _Longitudinal_ and _Circular_, by Means of which it can _Contract_ it self when the Fangs are erected; and by this Contraction the _Venom_ is press’d into the Hole at the Root of the Tooth, and forced out at the Fissure near the Point. That this is so done, I have frequently observed with the naked Eye, having cut off the Head of a Viper, and immediately pinching the Neck to make it open the Mouth wide; for by this means the Venom was _Squirted_ out as from a _Syringe_. When the Viper lyes quiet with its Mouth shut, the Fangs are depress’d and covered with the _External Bag_; when it intends to bite, it opens the Mouth very wide, at the same time the lower Extremity of the _Second_ of the _Common_ Bones (_Fig. 4. b_) is moved forwards by proper Muscles, and turns as it were upon the fixt Centre (_b_), thus pushing forward the Upper and Lower Jaws, whose Extremes are united at (_c_). By this means the Lower Part of the First Bone of the Upper Jaw (_Fig. 3. a_) is thrust forwards, the other Extremity turning in the Cavity of its Articulation, where it is fastned by _Ligaments_; the Fangs being by this Mechanism Erected, the Bags which covered them, by the Contraction of their _Longitudinal_ Fibres, are pulled back, and the Action of the _Circular Ones_ does at the same Time straiten the _Internal_ Bag, and force the _Juice_ into the Teeth. Besides this, when the Viper bites, It strikes in the Fangs to the very Root; and thus the _Vesiculæ_ are still more squeezed for the Discharge of the Liquor. It is worthy our Observation, that the Viper can move the Jaw Bones on _one_ side without moving Those on the _other_, for they are not joined together at the Extremes as in other Animals; which Contrivance is very beneficial to it in the _swallowing_ its Prey; in that, while the Teeth on one side stand unmoved, and fixt in the Flesh to hold it, _Those_ on the other side are brought forward, to draw it in farther, then they keep it fast till the former Jaws advance again in their _Turn_. Thus they act successively, and force the Animal intire (there being no _Dentes Incisivi_ or _Molares_ to divide it) into the _Œsophagus_, whose Muscular Fibres are very Weak, and can help but little in the Business. It may not be amiss to conclude these _Remarks_ with a short _Hint_ concerning the _Organs of Hearing_; Mr. _Charas_ (who is however followed by others in _it_) having, as we mention’d before, Entertain’d a very absurd Opinion about _Them_. _These_ then are placed in the _Temporal_ Bones, as in other Animals, and consist of _One_ long, small _Bone_ (_Vid._ _Fig. 11._), like _that_ of _Birds_, whose Extremity is broad, like the _Basis_ of the _Stapes_ in _Man_, and situated upon a little _Hole_ which opens into the _Labyrinth_; and besides of _three Demicircular Canals_ (_Fig. 12. a b_) which also open into the _Labyrinth_. This _Labyrinth_ (_Fig. 13._) has a great many _Eminencies_ in it of no determin’d Regular Figure (_Fig. 14._), and is covered with a _Membrane_ full of _Nerves_ and _Blood Vessels_. The _Nerve_ enters from the Brain at a Hole in the middle of this _Cavity_ (_a_, _Fig. 15._). There is no _Cochlea_ in the Ear of the Viper; but the Anterior _Demicircular Canal_ opens into a _Semicanal_, which makes some _Spiral Turns_ in the Fore-part of the _Labyrinth_; in like manner as it is in _Fish_. The _Passage_ for the Air to these Organs is not _Outward_, but, as in some Fish, thro’ the Mouth, between the Upper and Under Jaws, running below the _Second_ of the _Common Bones_. But of _This_, and also of the True Mechanic _Use_ of the aforesaid _Parts_, more hereafter. [Illustration] _Poisonous Animals._ As the _Viper_ is Hurtful by Instilling a Liquid _Poison_ into the Wound made by its Teeth; so likewise are all _Venomous_ Creatures whatsoever, whether they _Bite_ or _Sting_, tho’ there be some difference in the Contrivance of their _Organs_, Mischievous after much the same _Manner_; and mostly for the same good _Use_ and Purpose, that is, in order to Kill their _Prey_. This will fully appear, by Examining the _Instruments_ of Death in several of _Them_. First then, The _Spider_ wh_i_ch lives upon Flies, Wasps, and the like _Insects_, is provided with a hooked _Forceps_, placed just by the Mouth, very sharp and fine; with _this_ he pierces the Flesh of little Creatures caught in his _Webb_, and at the same time infuses a _Juice_ into the Puncture, by which means the Animal being Killed, He sucks out the Moisture from the Body, and leaves it a dry husky Carkass. M^r _Van Leewenhoek_, in his Account of _Spiders_, lately publish’d (38), has, together with the other Parts, by the help of his Glasses, describ’d these _Weapons_, which He finds to lie couched on each side the Mouth, in a Row of Teeth, till they are raised to do Execution. These Rows of Small _Teeth_ are design’d to hold the Prey, that It may not escape the Force of the Bite. And in the Convex Part, towards the Point of each _Claw_, He has delineated a little Aperture or _Slit_, thro’ which he supposes the Poison issues out at the same time the Wound is made. This _Situation_ and _Motion_ of these Parts, I have several times view’d; but was never able to discern the _Exit_ or Opening; which, having a just Deference to the Industry and Application of so Nice an Observer in Things of this Nature, I, at first, imputed to my own Unskilfulness in such Enquiries, knowing my _Microscope_ to be very good; till at last, after repeated Trials, I very plainly saw, That nothing dropt out of the _Claws_, which were always dry while the Spider Bit, but that a short, white _Proboscis_ was at the same time thrust out of the Mouth, which instilled a _Liquor_ into the Wound. Then I concluded, That M^r _Leewenhoek_ had Delineated the _Apertures_ in these _Weapons_, only from the _Analogy_ which he thought they must bear to the Viperine _Fangs_, the _Sting_ of the _Scorpion_, _Bee_, &c. And I was confirmed in this Opinion by examining a _Claw_ of the great _American_ Spider, described (tho’ but lamely) by _Piso_ (39), and called _Nhamdu_; this was given Me by M^r. _Pettiver_, and being above fifty Times bigger than _that_ of the largest _Europæan_ Spider (40), if there had been any Slit in it, my Glass would no doubt have discover’d it, but yet I found it to be quite Solid. And indeed the Quantity of _Liquor_ emitted by our common Spiders when they kill their Prey, is visibly so Great, and the wounding _Weapons_ so Minute, that they could contain but a very inconsiderable Portion thereof, if it were to be discharged that Way. To this purpose, I remember Mr. _Boyle_ somewhere tells a Story of a Person blinded by a Spider dropping its Venom into his Eye, which tho’ it can hardly find Credit with some, is however confirmed by what _Piso_ relates of his _Nhamdu_, _Viz._ That in catching it great heed is to be taken, lest its Poison fall into the _Eye_, This causing a total Loss of the _Sight_. What Mr. _Leewenhoek_ observes of the Enmity these Creatures bear to one another I have often seen; for if Four, Five, or more be put together into a Glass, they immediately fall to _Fighting_ with all the Fury imaginable; _Limbs_ struck off are usually the _Præludes_ to the terrible Slaughter, which continues till all are killed, the _Surviving Conqueror_ himself most commonly Dying of his Wounds. * * * * * The _Weapons_ of Mischief in the _Scolopendra_ are much the same with Those of the Spider, only larger. One of these Creatures I had brought to Me alive out of a Ship which came from the _East-Indies_, where _Bontius_ (41) says, Their Bite is so painful, that it makes People almost mad; but it died before I had an opportunity of making Trial of its Poison; however, I very diligently looked upon the Claws (42), and found them to have no more _Cavity_ than is necessary for the Insertion of their Muscles, nor any _Exit_ or Out-let towards their _Apex_; these therefore serve only to _pierce_ the Flesh, and the Venom is infused from a _Proboscis_ out of the Mouth; tho’ _This_ I could not very well discern, because the Parts had been kept too long dry before I examined Them. * * * * * The Case is much the same with _Stinging_ Animals; of These the _Scorpion_ is the Chief, whose _Virus_ in different Countries is more or less dangerous, according as ’tis exalted by various Degrees of _Heat_; thus in _Africa_ particularly its Effects are so dreadful, that as _Joann. Leo_ (43) tells Us, the Town of _Pescara_ there is in a manner left desolate by the Inhabitants in the Summer Time, by Reason of the great Abundance of these Creatures, certain Death following their _Sting_. Some of this deadly kind (the same, tho’ not so large with _That_ in the _East-Indies_, of which _Swammerdam_ (44) has given a very accurate Description and Figure) S^r _Redi_ had sent him from _Tunis_ (45); and it being _November_, irritated them to _Sting_ Pigeons, Pullets, _&c._ without any bad Effect at all of their _Poison_; but upon the approaching Spring, One of them which had been kept all the Winter, nay, eight Months, without any Food, and the Wound of whose Sting before was harmless, stung to Death two Pigeons successively; but a Third and Fourth wounded in like manner, suffered no Hurt. Yet having let the _Scorpion_ rest all Night, He killed another Pigeon the next Morning. At the _Point_ of the _Sting_ he very often could discern a small drop of white _Liquor_, which when the Wound was made, entered into the Flesh. _As_ this _Liquid Venom_ is either not separated from the Blood into the Cavity of the Sting, during the cold of Winter, or at least the Scorpion wants Strength at that Time to throw it out with Force and Energy. _So_ even in the hot Months, after it is exhausted by two or three _Attacks_, the _Sting_ is no longer hurtful, till the Expence of this _Juice_ is recruited by Time. ’Tis very remarkable concerning this _Insect_, what an ingenious Gentleman who lived several Years in _Barbary_ told Me, he had many times tried; That if it be surrounded with a Circle of _Burning Coals_, It does, upon the Sense of the _Heat_, turn it self violently every way to make an Escape; but finding it impossible, and the _Pain_ from the Fire increasing, it strikes it self Twice or Thrice with the _Sting_ on the _Back_, and immediately dies of the Wounds. Others may make what Reflections They please on this _Self-Murder_, it is to Me beyond all Dispute sufficient to decide the _Controversie_ between Writers, whether Poisonous Animals of the same _Species_ can kill each other. Which is not only confirmed by what we before observed of the _Spider_, but is likewise true of _Vipers_; for D^r. _Herman_ bringing from the _Indies_ Three of the _Cobras de Capelo_ all in one Glass, Two of them were killed in the Voyage by _Fighting_. As the _Viperine Venom_ is the _Quintessence_ and most active Part of those _Animal Juices_ with which the Viper is nourished, so is also _That_ of the Scorpion; for this Insect lives chiefly upon _Locusts_, _&c._ and the same Person from _Barbary_ inform’d Me, That seeing oftentimes _Locusts_ sticking up in the Ground as if they were _Set_ there, by looking he found that some Part of them was always eat away, and that these Places were the _Holes_ of Scorpions, who had dragg’d their Prey thither, and fed on it as they had Occasion. In like manner, as the _Axungia Viperina_ cures the Bite of the Viper, _so_ also the _Oleum Scorpionum_, or Oil in which Scorpions have been infused, is a present Remedy for the Sting of this Creature. * * * * * The Mechanism of the Sting of a _Bee_, D^r. _Hooke_ has very accurately described (46). One may with the naked Eye sometimes see it discharge the _Venom_; and in _this_, by the help of a _Glass_, I can easily discover a great Number of Minute _Salts_ Floating. And indeed this _Apparatus_ or Contrivance is so universal, that we find even in _Vegetables_ something Analogous hereunto; for the last mention’d Author (47), has shewn Us, That the pricking Points of _Nettles_ do at the same time they pierce the Skin, instil a Venomous _Juice_ into the Wound. FOOTNOTES to Essay I. (1) _Lib. 2. Cap. 74._ (2) _De Animalib. lib. 17. c. 5._ (3) _Bœotic._ p. m. 303. (4) _Not. in Alpin. de Plant. Ægypt._ Cap. 14. (5) _Purchase_’s Pilgrimage, _l. 5. c. 12._ (6) Act. Apost. _Chap. 28._ (7) _Leg. Cornel. Cels. præfat. in Medicin Morbos ait vetustissimis temporib. ad Iram Deorum immortalium relatos esse, & ab iisdem opem posci solitam._ (8) _Divinæ Potentiæ Symbolum. Vid. Ezec. Spanhem. De Vsu Numismat. p. m. 125, 126, & 181, & seq;_ (9) _Saturnal. Lib. 1. c. 20. Ideo Simulachris Eorum (Æsculapii & Salutis) junguntur figuræ Draconum quia præstant ut humana Corpora velut infirmitatis pelle depositâ, ad pristinum revirescant vigorem, ut virescunt Dracones per annos singulos pelle senectutis exutâ._ (10) _Osservazioni intorno alle Vipere._ (11) _Nouvelles Experiences sur la Vipere._ (12) Philosophical Transactions, _Vol. XII. No. 144._ (13) _Vid. Fig. 19._ (14) _Dissertatio de Opera quam præstant Corpora Acida vel Alcalica in Curatione Morborum._ (15) _Vid. Bernoulli de Effervescentia & Fermentatione._ (16) _Vid. Redi Lettera sopra alcune oppositioni_, &c. (17) _Lib. 3. Cap. 2._ (18) _Medicin._ Lib. 5. c. 27. (19) _Lucan. Pharsal._ 1. 9. (20) _Loc. ante citat._ (21) _Vipera Pythia_, p. 361. (22) _De Theriac. ad Pison._ lib. 1. c. 8. _Vid. etiam_ c. 10. (23) _Nat. Hist._ lib. 11. c. 53. _Scythæ Sagittas tingunt Viperinâ Sanie & humano Sanguine; irremediabile id Scelus._ (24) _De Mirabilibus._ (25) _Bontii Histor. Ind._ lib. 5. c. 5. (26) Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, _Part 2. p. 50._ (27) p. m. 66. (28) _Esperienze intorno a diverse Cose Naturali._ (29) _Dissert. de Tarantula Histor._ 5 (30) _Pag. 88._ (31) _Lib. 30. c. 13._ (32) _De Abstinent. ab animal._ lib. 1. p. m. 16. (33) _De simpl. Medit. Facult._ lib. 11. c. 1. (34) _Curat. Diuturn._ lib. 2. c. 13. (35) _Vid. Purchas._ Pilgrims, Part 2. l. 7. c. 9. (36) Voyages, _Vol. 2. Part 1. p. 53._ (37) _De Theriac. ad Pison._ Cap. 12. (38) _Philos. Transact._ N^o. 271. (39) _Nat. Hist._ lib. 5. cap. 10. (40) _Vid._ _Fig. 18._ (41) _Hist. Ind._ p. m. 56. (42) _Vid._ _Fig. 17._ (43) _Histor. Afric._ lib. 6. (44) _Hist. Insect._ p. 147. (45) _Generazione degli Inserti_, p. 15. (46) _Micrograph. Observ._ 34. (47) _Ibid. Obs._ 25. ESSAY II. OF THE BITE OF THE _TARANTULA_ AND MAD DOG. I Join these Two _Poisons_ together, because tho’ they differ very much in their Effects, yet both do agree in this, that they induce a particular _Delirium sui generis_, attended partly with _Maniacal_, partly with _Melancholy_ Symptoms. The _Tarantula_ (of which the Figure may be seen in _Baglivi_’s Dissertation (48),) is a _Spider_ of _Apulia_ of the _Octonocular_ kind; that is of that _Species_ that has eight Eyes, and spins Webbs; it has eight Legs, four on each side, and in each Leg three Joints; from the Mouth proceed two Darts, in Shape just like to a hooked _Forceps_, or Crab’s Claws; these are solid, and very sharp, so that they can easily pierce the Skin; and between these and the Fore-Legs there are two little Horns, which I suppose do answer to those Bodies call’d from their Use in _Flies_ the _Feelers_; because as they do, so this Creature is observed to move ’em very briskly when it approaches to its Prey. This, as other Spiders do, propagates its _Species_ by laying Eggs, which are very numerous; so that there are found sometimes in the Female, when dissected, a hundred or more; and these are hatched partly by the Heat of the Mother, partly by that of the Sun, in about twenty or thirty Days Time. There is also a Spider of the like Nature with the _Tarantula_ in the _West-Indies_, which _Fr. Hernandez_ (49) describes by the Name of _Hoitztocatl_, or the _Pricking Spider_; and says, that its Bite induces Madness. In the Summer Months, especially when the Heats are greatest, as in the Dog-Days, the _Tarantula_ creeping among the Corn in the Fields, bites the Mowers and Passengers; in the Winter it lurks in Holes, and is scarcely seen; and if it does bite then, it is not venomous, neither does it induce any ill Symptoms. But in the hot Weather, altho’ the Pain of its Bite is at first no greater than what is caused by the Sting of a Bee, yet the Part quickly after is discoloured with a Livid, Black, or Yellowish Circle, and raised to an inflam’d Swelling; the Patient within a few Hours is seized with a violent Sickness, Difficulty of Breathing, universal Faintness, and sometimes Trembling, with a Weakness of the Head; being asked what the Ail is, makes no Reply, or with a querulous Voice, and melancholy Look, points to his Breast, as if the Heart was most affected. During this mournful Scene, all the usual _Alexipharmick_ and _Cordial_ Medicines are of no Service; for notwithstanding their repeated Use, the Patient growing by degrees more melancholy, stupid, and strangely timorous, in a short Time expires, unless _Musick_ be called to his Assistance, which alone, without the Help of Medicine, performs the _Cure_. For at the first Sound of the _Musical Instrument_, altho’ the Sick lie, as it were, in an Apoplectick Fit, they begin by Degrees to move their Hands and Feet, till at last they get up, and fall to Dancing with wonderful Vigour, at first for three or four Hours, then they are put to Bed, refreshed from their sweating, for a short time, and repeat the Exercise with the same Vehemence, perceiving no Weariness or Weakness from it, but professing they grow stronger and nimbler the more they dance. At this Sport they usually spend Twelve Hours a Day, and it continues Three or Four Days; by which time they are generally freed from all their Symptoms, which do nevertheless attack ’em again about the same time the next Year; and if they do not take Care to prevent this Relapse by Musick, they fall into a _Jaundice_, Want of Appetite, universal Weakness, and such like Diseases; which are every Year increased, if Dancing be neglected, till at last they prove incurable. As Musick is the common _Cure_, so they who are bitten are pleas’d some with one Sort of it, some with another; one is raised with a Pipe, another with a Tymbrel; one with a Harp, another with a Fiddle; so that the Musicians make sometimes several Essays before they can accommodate their Art to the Venom; but this is constant and certain, not withstanding this Variety, that they all require the quickest and briskest Tunes, and are never moved by a slow, dull _Harmony_. While the _Tarantati_, or Affected, are Dancing, they lose in a manner the Use of all their Senses, like so many Drunkards, do many Ridiculous and Foolish Tricks, talk and act obscenely and rudely, take great Pleasure in playing with Vine-Leaves, with naked Swords, red Cloths, and the like; and on the other Hand can’t bear the Sight of any thing black; so that if any By-stander happen to appear in that _Colour_, he must immediately withdraw, otherwise they relapse into their Symptoms with as much Violence as ever. It may afford some Light towards Understanding the Nature of this Poison, to observe that _Apulia_ is the hottest Part of all _Italy_, lying _Eastward_, and having all the Summer long but very little Rain to temper the Heats, so that the Inhabitants, as one of that Country observes (50), do breath an Air, as it were, out of a fiery Furnace; hence their Temperament is dry, and adust, as appears by their being generally lean, passionate, impatient, ready to Action, quick-witted, very subject to inflammatory Distempers, Phrensies, Melancholy, and the like, upon which Account there are more mad People in this, than in all the other Parts of _Italy_; nay, what in other Countries is but a light Melancholy, arises here to a great Heigth; for Women in a _Chlorosis_ do suffer almost the same Symptoms as Persons poisoned by the _Tarantula_ do, and are cured the same Way; and in like manner the Venom of the _Scorpion_ does here in Effects and Cure agree very much with that of this _Spider_. From all this History it sufficiently appears, that those that are bitten by a _Tarantula_, do thereupon become _Delirous_, and that in order to account for their surprizing Symptoms; the Nature of a _Delirium_, from which many of them proceed, ought to be understood. Such is the Constitution of the _Human Œconomy_, that _as_ upon the Impression of outward _Objects_ made upon the _Organs_, and by the Fluid of the Nerves conveyed to the _Common Sensory_; different _Species_ are excited there, and represented to the Mind; _so_ likewise upon this Representation, at the Command and Pleasure of the Soul, part of the same Fluid is determin’d into the Muscles, and mixing with the Arterial Blood there, performs all the Variety of Voluntary Motions and Actions. This Order has been always so constant in Us, that at length by a kind of natural Habitude, without the Intervention of the Reasoning Faculty, Representations made to the Mind do immediately and necessarily produce suitable Motions in the Bodily Organs. When therefore these Representations are irregular, the Actions consequent to them must necessarily be so too. This being premis’d, it may perhaps be probably said, that a _Delirium_ is the Representation and various Composition of several _Species_ to the Mind, without any Order or Coherence; together, at least most commonly, with irregular, or, as it were, undesigned Motions of the Body; that is, such a wandring and irregular Motion of the Nervous Fluid, whereby several Objects are represented to the Mind, and upon this Representation divers Operations perform’d by the Body, tho’ those Objects are not impress’d upon the Organs, nor those Operations or Motions deliberately commanded by the Soul. The Mind indeed is the first Principle of all Muscular Motion; but in such Cases as these, its Promptitude to Action or Habit being so great, it is in a manner surpriz’d, and cannot recover it self after the Spirits are with violent Force determin’d pursuant to the Representation of the _Species_. For, _as_ in the former State of Things a Man is said to act Rationally, _so_ this latter Case is call’d a _Perturbation of Mind_, that is, a _Delirium_; tho’ it is very manifest, that in reality the Defect is not in the _Rational_, but _Corporeal_ Part; such _Species_ being really presented to the Mind, upon which by the Order of our Constitution such Motions ought to follow in the Body. Thus, for Instance, if the Liquor of the Nerves is, without the Presence of any thing hurtful, put into a Motion like unto that which a painful Impression makes in it, the same Bodily Actions must insue as proceed from Fear, Anger, or the like Passion, determining the Spirits towards the Muscular Parts; and a By-stander, who sees no reason for such a Representation made to the Mind, will presently conclude that the Person thus acting acts without or besides his Reason, that is, is _Delirous_; especially if the Hurry and Confusion of the Spirits be such, that not only _one_, but _several_ different _Species_ be at the same time presented to the Mind; for a Man in this Case may act the Part of one Joyful, Angry, Timorous, or the like, without any appearing Reason, and all this almost in the same Moment of Time. In one Word, _Deliria_ are the _Dreams_ of those who are _Awake_; and _as these_ in Us _Sleeping_ are infinitely various and wonderfully Compounded, and all from the same common _Cause_, diversely pressing the Orifices of the Nerves, and thus making different _Repercussions_ of their Fluid; and _as_ we all know that this Confusion making the Representation of several _Species_ to the Mind, there do hereupon follow, tho’ the Body seem now at Rest and in perfect Repose, such Motions in the Organs as are usually the Effect of the Arbitrary Determination of the Spirits thither; _so_ We are now to enquire what Alteration of the Body made by this Venom, can be the Occasion of this Disorder and Tumult in the Nervous Fluid, which excites in the Party infected such surprizing, and almost contradictory, Representations. Most of the Symptoms of those who are bitten by the _Tarantula_ are at the first, that is, before they rise to a _Delirium_, plainly the same with those which the Bite of a Viper induces; without doubt therefore, as we have before observed of the common Spider, that it pierces the Flesh with its hooked _Forceps_, and at the same time instils from the _Proboscis_ in the Mouth a liquid Venom into the Wound; so the like _Claws_ in _This_ (of which I have taken the Figure (51) out of _P. Bonanni,_ very much magnified (52),) do serve to make Way for an active and penetrating Juice emitted from the same Part. Of the Nature of which we may probably conjecture, that it is, when mixed with the Blood, being exalted by the Heat of the Climate, of so great Force and Energy, that it immediately raises an extraordinary Fermentation in the whole Arterial Fluid, by which its Texture and _Crasis_ is very considerably altered; the Consequent of which Alteration, when the Ebullition is over, must necessarily be a Change in the _Cohæsion_ of its Parts, by which the _Globules_, which did before with equal Force press each other, have now a very differing and irregular _Nisus_ or Action, so that some of ’em do so firmly cohere together, as to compose _Moleculæ_, or small Clusters; upon which Account there being now a greater number of _Globules_ contained in the same Space than before, and besides, the _Impulse_ of many of these when united together differing according to the Conditions of their _Cohæsion_, as to Magnitude, Figure, _&c._ not only will the _Impetus_, with which this Fluid is drove towards the Parts, be at some Strokes at least greater than ordinary; but the Pressure upon the Blood Vessels must be very unequal and irregular; and this more especially will be felt in them which are most easily distended; such are those of the Brain, _&c._ And hereupon the Fluid of the Nerves must necessarily be put into various _Undulatory_ Motions, some of which will be like unto those which different _Objects_ acting upon the Organs or Passions of the Mind, do naturally excite in _It_, whereupon such Actions must follow in the Body, as are usually the Consequents of the several _Species_ of Sadns, Joy, Despair, or the like Determinations of the Thoughts; and we shall readily pronounce one in this Condition, _Sad_, _Joyful_, _Timorous_, _&c._ and all without any apparent Reason or Cause; that is, in one Word, we shall say he is _Delirous_. This is in some Degree a _Coagulation_ of the Blood, which will the more certainly, when attended with an extraordinary Heat, as in the present Case, produce such like Effects as these, because the _Spirits_ separated from the Blood thus Inflamed, and Compounded of hard, fixt and dry Particles, must unavoidably share in this Alteration; that is, whereas their Fluid consists of two Parts, _One_ more active and Volatile, the _Other_ more Viscid and Glutinous, which is a kind of Vehicle to the former; their _Active_ Part will bear too great a Proportion to the _Viscid_; and thus they must necessarily be of more than ordinary Volatility and Force, and will therefore, upon the least Occasion imaginable, be irregularly determin’d to every Part; and hereupon will follow Tremblings of the Body, Anger or Fear upon a light or no Cause, extream Pleasure at what is but a Trivial Entertainment, as Red, Green Colours, or the like; and on the other hand, wonderful Sadness at any thing not agreeable to the Eyes, as dark and black Things; nay, ridiculous Laughter, obscene Talk and Actions, and such like Symptoms; because in this Constitution of the Nervous Fluid, the most light Occasion will make as real a _Reflux_ and _Undulation_ of it to the Brain; that is, will present as lively and vivid _Species_ there, as the strongest Cause and Impression can produce in its natural State and Condition; nay, in such a Confusion, the Spirits cannot but sometimes, without any manifest Cause at all, be hurried towards those Organs, to which at other times they have been most frequently determined; and every one knows which they are in hot Countries and Constitutions. We must however here remember what in the former Essay we mention’d of the Fluid of the Nerves, being _immediately_ altered by the venomous Juice. It will perhaps make this Theory more than probable, to consider that _Baglivi_ (53), in the Dissection of a _Rabbit_ kill’d by a _Tarantula_, found the Blood Vessels of the Brain very turgid, and the Substance of the Brain it self, that is, the Beginning of the Nerves, lightly inflamed, and with livid Spots here and there, the _Lungs_ and other _Viscera_ distended, with concrete glotted Blood, and large Grumes of Blood with _Polypous_ Branches in the Heart, a large Quantity of extravasated _Serum_ upon the Brain, which is (as he takes Notice) mostly observed in those Subjects which died by a Coagulation of the Blood. Neither is it amiss to remark, that in a _Chlorosis_ there is nothing preternatural but an _infarctus_ of the Arteries, and hence a retarded _Circulation_, from an Evacuation suppress’d; and in this Country too much Heat; that is, a beginning _Coagulation_, together with an Inflammatory Disposition. In short, _Bellini_ has at large demonstrated, how _Deliria_, as well as _Melancholic_ as _Manaical_, do proceed from a State of the Blood and Spirits, not unlike to that I have here described. But no less a Confirmation of these Notions may we have from the _Cure_; as to which it is observable, that the _Tarantati_ have no Inclination to _dance_ before they hear the Musick; for being ask’d to do it, they answer, it is impossible, they have no Strengh. As for the Reason therefore of their starting up at the first Noise of the Instrument, we must reflect upon what we have just now been saying concerning the Cause of the Motions of the Body in a _Delirium_; and consider withal, that muscular Motion is no other than a Contraction of the Fibres from the Arterial Fluid making an Effervescence with the Nervous Juice, which by the light Vibration and Tremor of the Nerve, is derived into the Muscle. And thus we have a twofold Effect and Operation of Musick, that is, both upon the Mind and Body. For a brisk Harmony excites lively _Species_ of _Joy_ and _Gladness_, which are always accompany’d with a more frequent and stronger Pulse, or an increased influx of the Liquor of the Nerves into the Muscles, upon which suitable Actions must immediately follow; and if we remember what we before hinted, that People in this Country are sprightly and ready to Exercise, and that in such a state of the Fluids as we have describ’d, a slight Occasion presents as strong _Species_, as a greater can at another time: The Influence of Musick on the _Mind_ will appear to be so much the more powerful and certain. As for the _Body_, since it is sufficient for the purpose of putting the Muscles into Action, to cause those _Tremors_ of the Nerves by which their Fluid is alternately dropt into the moving Fibres; it is all one whether this be done by the determination of the Will, or the outward _Impulsions_ of an _Elastic_ Fluid; such is the _Air_; and that Sounds are the _Vibrations_ of It, is beyond dispute. _These_ therefore rightly modulated may shake the Nerves as really as the _Imperium Voluntatis_ can do, and consequently produce the like Effects. That This is so, besides what we shall add anon, we may be convinced by a Story which M^r. _Boyle_ (54) relates out of _Scaliger_, of a Knight of _Gascony_ whom the sound of a _Bagpipe_ would unavoidably force to make Water; for this Secretion we know is regularly the Effect of an Arbitrary Contraction of the Muscle of the Bladder. The obstinate continuing of the _Tarantati_ in this Exercise, is doubtless in a great Measure owing to the strong Opinion they have of receiving Advantage from it, being incouraged by the By-standers, and having always believed, and been told, that it was the only Cure in these Cases. The _Benefit_ from Musick is not only their Dancing to It, and so evacuating by _Sweat_ a great Part of the Inflammatory Fluid; but besides this, the repeated Percussions of the Air hereby made, by immediate Contact shaking the Contractile Fibres of the Membranes of the Body, especially those of the Ear, which being continuous to the Brain, do communicate their Tremblings to its Membranes and Vessels; by these continued Succussions and Vibrations, the _Cohæsion_ of the Parts of the Blood is perfectly broken, and its _Coagulation_ prevented; so that the Heat being removed by Sweating, and the Coagulation by the Contraction of the Muscular _Fibrillæ_, the wounded Person is restored to his former Condition. If any one doubts of this force of the _Air_, let him consider that it is in _Mechanics_ (55) Demonstrated, that the smallest _Percussion_ of the smallest Body, can overcome the resistance of any great Weight which is in Rest; and that the Languid Tremor of the Air, which is made by the Sound of a Drum or Trumpet, may shake the vastest and strongest Edifices. But besides all this, We must allow a great deal to the _determinate Force_, and particular _Modulation_, of these trembling Percussions; for contractile Bodies may be acted upon by one certain Degree of Motion in the ambient Fluid, tho’ a greater Degree of it differently qualified may produce nothing at all of the like Effect; this is not only very apparent in the common Experiment of Two String’d Musical Instruments tuned both to the same Heigth, the Strings of the one being struck upon, those of the other will found, and yet a much greater Motion of the Air may not Cause any sensible Vibration at all in the same Chords; but also by the _Trick_ which many have of finding the Tone or Note peculiarly belonging to any _Wine Glass_, and by accommodating their _Voice_ exactly to that Tone, and yet making it loud and lasting, they will make the Vessel tho’ not touch’d, first to Tremble, and then Burst; which it will not do if their Voice be but a little eithet too low or too high. This last Consideration makes it no very difficult matter to conceive the reason, why different Persons, infected with this Venom, do require oftentimes a different sort of Musick in order to their Cure, in as much as their Nerves and _Distractile_ Membranes have differing _Tensions_, and consequently are not in like manner to be acted upon by the same _Vibrations_. Nor are We to wonder at the Oddness of this Method and Practice; for _Musick_, altho’ it be Now-a-days applied to quite different Purposes, was anciently made great Use of for the removing of many, and those too some of the most difficult and obstinate Diseases. For this we have a Famous Testimony in _Galen_ himself, (56) who tells us, that _Æsculapius used to recover Those in whom violent Motions of the Mind had induced a hot Temperament of Body, by Melody and Songs_. _Pindar_ (57) mentions the same thing; and indeed from hence not only the Notion, but the very Name of _Charming_ (58) seems to have taken its Origine. _Athenæus_ (59) relates that _Theophrastus_ in his Book of _Enthusiasm_ says, _Ischiadic Pains are Cured by the Phrygian Harmony_. This sort of Musick was upon a _Pipe_, and the most vehement and brisk, of all the Ancients knew; so that indeed it was said to raise those who heard it to downright Fury and Madness (60): And such we have observed to be required to the Venom of the _Tarantula_. But what is besides in this last Authority very observable to our Purpose, is the manner of using this Remedy, and that was (61) by _Playing upon the part affected_, which confirms what we have just now advanced concerning the Effect of the _Percussion_ of the Air upon the Contractile Fibres of the _Brain_, for _Piping upon_ any Member of the Body, cannot be suppos’d to do Service any other way, than by such Succussions and Modulated Vibrations as we before mention’d. And this indeed _Cælius Aurelianus_ (62) agrees to, who calls this Practice, _Decantare Loca dolentia_; and says, that the _Pain is mitigated and discuss’d by the Tremblings and Palpitations of the Part_. _Aulus Gellius_ (63) not only relates this same Cure of _Ischiadic_ Ails as a thing notorious enough, but adds besides out of _Theophrastus_, that _the Musick of a Pipe rightly managed healed the Bites of Vipers_. And not only does _Apollonius_ (64) mention the Cure of Distractions of the Mind, Epilepsies, and several other Distempers this same way; but _Democritus_ (65) in his Treatise of Plagues, taught, that _the Musick of Pipes was the Medicine for most Diseases_; which _Thales_ of _Crete_ confirmed by his Practice, when sent for by the _Lacedæmonians_ to remove from them the Pestilence, he did it by the help of Musick (66). All which Instances do evince this Remedy to have been very ancient in many Cases; and indeed as _Cælius-Aurelianus_ (67), takes notice that the first use of it was ascrib’d to _Pythagoras_ himself, so He having settled and founded his Sect in those very Parts of _Italy_ which are the Country of the _Tarantulæ_, going then under the Name of _Græcia magna_, now _Calabria_, it is not, I think, at all improbable that he may have been the Author and Inventor of this Practice there, which has continued ever since. Especially since _Jamblichus_ affirms (68), not only that he made use of Musick in Physick, but particularly that he found out and contrived some Harmonies to ease the Passions of the Mind, and others for the _Cure of Bites_: But of Musick enough. To conclude with this Poison, we may take notice that, as to the _Return_ of the Symptomes the next Year, That is owing to the same excessive Heat in those Months, acting again upon the small remains of the Venomous _Ferment_; thus _Bartholin_ (69) relates a Story of a Melancholy Physician at _Venice_ who suffer’d the Attacks of his Disease only during the Dog-days, which yearly ended and return’d with them. A convincing proof how great a share Heat has in all these Cases. [Illustration] _Of the Mad DOG._ More difficult and terrifying are the Symptoms from the Bite of a _Mad Dog_, whose Venom has this also surprising in it, that the bad Effects do not appear oftentimes till the Cause of ’em is forgot; for the Wound is as easily cured as a common Bite is; but nevertheless a considerable time after, a melancholy Tragedy succeeds, sometimes sooner, sometimes later; for there are Instances of its being deferred to Two, (70) Six Months, nay, a Year, and longer, tho’ the attack is generally within Forty Days after the Wound; about that time, the Patient complains of Running Pains all over his Body, especially near the Part wounded, like unto those in a Rheumatism, grows pensive and sad, prone to Anger upon little or no Occasion, with an intermitting Pulse, Tremblings and Contractions of the Nerves, with a great inward Heat and Thirst; and yet in a few Days (when the Disease is come to its height) a Dread and Fear of Water, and any Liquor whatsoever; so that at the very sight of it he falls into dismal Convulsions and Agonies, and cannot drink the least drop; and this _Hydrophobia_, or _Aquæ Timor_, has been always accounted the surest Sign and Mark of this Poison, as distinguishing it from all others. The Ancients have at large described these Symptoms, as _Galen_, _Dioscorides_, _Aetius_, _Ægineta_, but most particularly of all, _Cælius Aurelianus_ (71); and later Writers have given us several Instances of the _Hydrophobia_; Two Histories of it published, the one by Dr. _Lister_ (72), the other by Dr. _Howman_ (73), I shall more especially take Notice of, and refer to, as containing the most exact and large Account of any I have met with; he that desires more, may consult the several Authors cited by that diligent Observer, _Stalpart van der Wiel_ (74). That this Disease is accompany’d with a _Delirium_, is almost the common Opinion both of Ancients and Moderns; _Damocrates_ called it the barking Phrensie (75); but Dr. _Lister_ agrees in this Point with _Petrus Salius Diversus_ (76), and will not allow a _Delirium_ to be the necessary consequent of this Venom; and yet at the same time he tells us, that his Patient barked like a Dog, and bit at the By-standers; that he threw into his Mouth what was given him more hastily and suddenly than it is Natural or Customary for Men to do. From such Actions as these, together with those mentioned before in relating the Symptoms, it is obvious enough to conclude, that Persons thus affected are in a proper Sence _Delirous_. Tho’ at the same time I do think that the _Hydrophobia_ it self (whatever is commonly believed) does not at all proceed from this _Delirium_, as will by and by appear. I know indeed that the main and plausible _Objection_ against a _Delirium_ is this, that the Patient himself does Reason against his Timorousness, tho’ he cannot overcome it, forewarns the Standers-by of his Outrageous Fits, desires them to take care of themselves, and the like. Which from what I have already said concerning a _Delirium_, appears to be very consistent with it, nay, convinces that there is the greatest Degree of it in this Case; in as much as that it is not a Distemper of the Mind but of the Body. And to this purpose I remember to have seen my self an Instance of one in a Fever, who foretold some time before any signs of a _Delirium_ were discovered, how raving and unruly He should be, and made good his _Prognostick_ to that degree, that it was very hard Work to tame and master him; tho’, as he told me afterwards, he reason’d as much as he could against that groundless Jealousie of his Friends designing to Murder him, which put him upon his Mad Actions, but was not able to Conquer the prevailing _Species_ of Fear and Anger. This _Delirium_ therefore, as _Cælius Aurelianus_ (77) says, _Proceeds intirely from an indisposition of the Body_, which is without all doubt owing to the alteration made in the Blood by the _Saliva_ of the _Mad Dog_, instill’d into the Wound inflicted by the Bite. That we may rightly understand this, we must take Notice, that the _Rabies_ or Madness in a Dog is the effect of a Violent Fever; and therefore it is most common in excessive Hot Weather, tho’ sometimes intense Cold maybe the Cause of it; That no Dog in this Case ever sweats; from whence it follows, that when his Blood is in a Ferment, it cannot, as in other Creatures, discharge it self upon the surface of the Body, and therefore must of necessity throw out a great many _Saline_ and Active Particles upon those Parts, where there is the most constant and easie Secretion; and such, next to the _Miliary_ in the Skin in Us, are the _Salival_ Glands; for this reason much more Spittle is separated in a Dog when Mad, than at any other time, and that very frothy, or impregnated with Hot, Subtil Parts. Now as we every Day observe, that what is thrown out from Liquors in a Ferment, is capable of inducing the like Motion in another Liquor of the same kind, when duly mixed with it; so we may very well suppose in the present Case, that the _Saliva_, which is it self one of the most Fermentative Juices in Nature, being turgid with Fiery, Saline Particles thrown into it out of the boiling Blood, when it comes by means of a Wound to be Incorporated with the Arterial Fluid of any One, does by Degrees raise a preternatural Effervescence in it; the Effects of which will necessarily be most felt in those Parts which being tender, are the least able to refill the distension of the Blood Vessels; such are the Stomach, and especially the Brain; and hereupon _Deliria_, with _Maniacal_, and such like Symptoms, will easily insue. A Person thus affected may be said in a Degree to have put on the _Canine_ Nature, tho’ his Reason be all this time untouch’d and intire, may Bite, Howl, _&c._ because the _like_ violent Agitation of the Blood in Him as was in the Dog will present like _Species_, and consequently (so far as their different Natures will allow) produce like Actions; just as it has been observed, that _Sheep_ bitten by a Mad Dog, have run at the Shepherd like so many Dogs to Bite him; so much can an Alteration of the Blood and Spirits do. And as a Timorous Creature may be imboldened, so we oftentimes see Persons Courageous enough by a change made in the Blood by Evacuations, that is, by want of Force and Motion in that Fluid, made sheepish Cowards, in despight of their Reason, so long as that Defect is continued. But the main difficulties in this matter are, the Mischief discovering it self so long after the Bite, and the _Hydrophobia_. As to the former, we are to consider, that Fermentation being a Change made in the Cohæsion of the compounding Parts of a Fluid, it is sometimes a longer, sometimes a shorter time before this Alteration is wrought; which variety may proceed either from the different Nature and Constitution of the Ferment, or of the Liquor Fermented, and a great Number of Circumstances besides. So that this Venom may be all the while doing its Work, tho’ the change made by it may not be so considerable as to be sensibly taken Notice of till a long time after. Nay, it may so happen, that the _Ferment_ being Weak may not raise in the Blood any remarkable Agitation at all, till some accidental Alteration in the Body unluckily gives it an additional Force. As we before observed, how much external Heat concurrs to heighten the Symptoms from the Bite of the _Tarantula_. And this probably may be the Case of Those in whom this Malignity has not appear’d till Six, or Twelve Months after the Wound. That we may understand the Reason of the _Hydrophobia_, it is to be Remarked, that this dread of Water does not come on till the latter end of the Disease, Three or Four Days before Death; that is, not till this preternatural _Fermentation_ in the Blood is come to its Heigth; and as in the Dog, so in the Patient, a great quantity of Fermentative Particles is thrown off upon the Glands of the Mouth and Stomach, as appears by his Foaming at the Mouth, _&c_. As also, that this _Fear_ is not from a sight _of_, or any imaginary appearance _in_ the Water, for if the Vessel be close shut, and the Patient bid to suck thro’ a Quill, as soon as he has tasted, he falls into Anguish and Convulsions, as Dr. _Lister_ observed. It is therefore highly probable, if not certain, that this surprising Symptom proceeds from the intolerable _Pain_ which any Liquor at this time taken induces, partly by hurting the inflamed Membranes of the _Fauces_ in Deglutition; partly by fermenting with these Active Particles discharged by the Blood upon the _Stomachic_ Glands, and thus twitching and irritating the Nervous Membranes; the very memory of which _grievous Sence_, after it is once felt, is so terrible, that the affected Person chuses any thing rather than to undergo it a second time. The Effects of this _Irritation_ are manifest in the Convulsions of the Stomach, and frequent _Singultus_, with which the Patient is continually oppress’d. And we all know by how necessary a kind of _Mechanism_ we do fly from and abhor those things which have proved disagreeable to the _Animal Œconomy_, to which nothing is so contrary and repugnant as _Pain_; at the first Approaches of which, Nature Starts and Recoils, tho’ Reason be arm’d with never so much Courage and Resolution to undergo the Shock. Nor will any Body wonder how this _Ferment_ should cause such _Torment_, who considers how often, even in _Colical_ Cases, Persons are downright distracted by excessive Pain, from a Cause not unlike to this we are treating of, that is, from a corrosive Ferment in the Bowels, rarefying the Juices there into _Flatus_, and by this means irritating and stimulating those tender Membranes into Spasmodic and Convulsive Motions. And indeed Dr. _Lister_’s Patient told him, that the very swallowing of his own Spittle put him to such Torture in his Stomach, that Death it self was not so Terrible as the Inexpressible Agony. It may serve both to Illustrate and Confirm this Theory, to take Notice, that not only may (according to these Principles) other Bites besides that of a _Dog_ happen to induce the like Symptoms; thus _Malpighi_ (78) relates a Story of a Mother made _Hydrophoba_ by the Bite of her _Epileptic_ Daughter; but that there are other Cases, without any Bite at all, which are attended with an _Hydrophobia_. Thus _Schenkius_ (79), _Salmuth_ (80) and others have observ’d a _Dread of Water_, without any Suspicion of a Bite, from _Malignant Fevers_. Now in _These_ there is doubtless a Hot, Putrid _Ferment_ in the Blood; and it is no wonder if Part of it be discharged upon the Throat and Stomach, which we do evidently find in these Distempers to be more particularly affected by It, especially towards the latter End, from the _Aphthæ_, _Singultus_, and the like usual Symptoms of a fatal Malignity. Nay, _Hippocrates_ (81) himself seems more than once to have remarked something like this Symptom in Fevers, and to call those who were thus affected Βραχυπόται, or little Drinkers; for I cannot assent to Dr. _Lister_, (tho’ _Cælius Aurelianus_ be on his side) who thinks that the Βραχυπόται are ὑδροφόβοι, from the Bite of a Mad Dog; as well for other Reasons, as because _Plutarch_ (82) assures Us, that the _Hydrophobia_ and _Elephantiasis_ were both first taken Notice of in the time of _Asclepiades_ the Physician; who liv’d in the Days of _Pompey_ the Great, many Years later than either _Hippocrates_ or _Aristotle_. Neither is it amiss to add, that _Ioannes Faber_ (83) in the Dissection of one who dy’d at _Rome_ of the Bite of a Mad Dog, and a _Hydrophobia_ succeeding it, found the Blood _Coagulated_ in the right Ventricle of the Heart, the Lungs wonderfully _Red_ and _Tumefied_; but especially the _Throat_, _Stomach_, and _Bowels_, bearing the Marks of the Inflammatory Venom. The same Observation has been made by others in Bodies Dead of this Disease. Thus the _Acta Medica Hafniensia_ (84) relate one Case, in which, part of the Liver was _Inflamed_, the Lungs Parched and Dry, and the inner Coat of the _Stomach_ so _Mortified_, that it might be abraded with one’s Fingers. _Bonetus_ (85) tells _another_, where all the _Viscera_ were found quite _arid_, without any Juice at all. And in a very particular History of an _Hydrophobia_, lately published at _Ulm_, (86) We are informed, that the _Stomach_, when opened, discover’d the Marks of an _Erosion_ or Excoriation, with something like a Gangrene, and Suffusion of Blood here and there. Which does very well agree with the Observations in the _German Ephemerides_ (87), where we find several _Footsteps_ of a _Sphacelus_ or Mortification in the Bodies of Those who died _Hydrophobi_. The Cure of this Poison is either immediately upon the Wound made, or some Days after, before the Fear of Water is discover’d; for at that time all Authors do agree the Malady to be Incurable; and the Reason is plain from what has been already deliver’d. As in other Venomous Bites, so in this, _Galen_ (88) very wisely advises to inlarge the Wound, by making a round Incision about it, to Cauterise it with a hot Iron, and apply drawing Medicines, so as to keep it a running Ulcer at least Forty Days. (89) _Scarifying_ and _Cupping_ may answer where this Severity is not allow’d: And however, the Dressing it with _Unguentum Ægyptiacum_ (or the like) Scalding Hot, must not be omitted; by which alone, timely applied, I am assured that one Bitten was happily preserved. But where these Means of destroying the Ferment in the beginning are omitted, the dangerous Consequences of its being mixed with the Blood is by all possible Care to be prevented. To this purpose, to say nothing of the many Inconsiderate Jumbles of _Antidotes_, _Theriacas_, &c. nor of such vulgar Trifles as the _Liver_ of the Mad Dog, of which _Galen_ (90) observed, that tho’ some who made use of it, together with other good Medicines, recover’d, yet that they who trusted to it alone died; one of the greatest Remedies commended to us by Antiquity, is the _Cineres Cancrorum Fluviatilium_; which _Galen_ (91) says, no Body ever made use of, and miscarried; and before Him _Dioscorides_ (92) assured, that ’tis a Medicine may be rely’d on. These were given in large Quantities, _viz._ a good Spoonful or Two every Day for Forty Days together, either alone, or rather mix’d with the Powder of _Gentian Root_ and _Frankincense_. The _Vehicle_ was either Water or Wine. In like manner at this Day the Remedy in the greatest Repute of any against most Poisons in the _West-Indies_, is a kind of a _River-Craw-Fish_, call’d _Aratu_ (93). This is manifestly an _Absorbent_, and very _Diuretic_ Medicine, especially when prepared after the right manner, which was by Burning the Craw-Fish alive upon a _Copper-Plate_, with a Fire made of the Cuttings or Twigs of _White Briony_: For whether the latter part of the Management signifies much or no, the former most certainly does; and the _Salt_ of the _Copper_, which powerfully provokes Urine, being mix’d with that of the _Ashes_, may very much exalt their Virtue. And it is upon this same Score, that the _Spongia_ of the _Cynnorrhodos_ or _Rosa Sylvestris_ is so Celebrated an Antidote, not only for this Poison, but also for that of the Viper, _Tarantula_, and others too, that ’tis call’d in _Sicily Sanatodos_, or All-heal; this being not a _Vegetable_, as _P. Boccone_ (94) who has wrote a whole Letter of its wondrous Virtues, terms it, but an _Animal Alkali_, as well as the former; for as Mr. _Ray_ (95) has observed, this Spongy Excrescence, if it be cut, is found full of White Worms; Being the Nest of these Insects, which lodging here all the Winter, do in the beginning of the Spring turn to Flies, and quit their Quarters. Indeed this Remedy was antiently too of so great Esteem, that _Pliny_ recommends it as the only Cure of an _Hydrophobia_, divinely discovered by an Oracle (96). As all Insects abound with a Diuretick Salt, so _Cantharides_ more than any others; therefore the Learned _Bacchius_ (97) goes farther, and from the Authority of _Rhazes_ and _Joannes Damascenus_, advises to give these in Substance for many Days together. The Preparation of this Antidote, (so he calls it) is by infusing the _Cantharides_ in Soure Butter-milk Twenty Four Hours, then drying them, and with the Flower of Lentils and Wine making them up into _Troches_ of a Scruple Weight, of which one is to be taken every Day, By which means he assures us, that tho’ the Patient make bloody Urine, yet that Milk largely drank will abate that Symptom, and that an _Hydrophobia_ will be happily prevented. _Boccone_ (98) tells Us, That in _Upper Hungary_ They give _Cantharides_ to Men bitten by a Mad Dog, _Five_ to a Dose; and to _Beasts_ in greater Quantity. But of the inward Use of these Flies more in its proper Place. In short, all the _Specifics_ in this Case are such as do either absorb a peccant _Acidity_ in the Stomach, or carry it off by Urine; as _Terra Lemnia_, highly commended by _Galen_ (99), _Garlick_, _Agrimony_, _Oxylapathum_, and many others, of which a Catalogue may be seen in _S. Ardoynus_. So the _Alyssum_ or Madwort, celebrated for this use by the Ancient Physicians, as well _that_ described by _Diascorides_, which is a Species of _Leucoium_, as the other of _Galen_, which is a _Marrubium_, is very manifestly a Bitter, Stomachic, and Diuretic Plant (100). The _Lichen cinereus terrestris_, recommended in the Philosophical Transactions (101), Operates the same way. But the greatest and surest Cure of all, is frequent _Submerging_ or Ducking the Patient in Water. The first mention I find of this is in _Cornelius Celsus_ (102); whether he had it from the Ancient _Grecian_ Physicians, or it was the Discovery of his own Age, matters but little to our Purpose; certain it is, that he collected his Principal Rules of Bathing from _Cleophantus_, who, as _Pliny_ says (103), did, besides many other delightful things, first introduce the Use of Baths; As appears by comparing the Writings of the _One_ with the Fragments of the _Other_, preserv’d in the Works of _Galen_. And that from _Asclepiades_, who afterwards so far improved this Part of Physick, that he discarded almost all inward Medicines, he might learn this Management, is not improbable; for the _Hydrophobia_ (as we before took Notice) having been first regarded in the time of this great Physician, ’tis very likely that among other Advantages of his new Method, he might commend it for the Cure of so deplorable a Malady. However it be, This Practice was in this last Age with great Authority revived by the Ingenious _Baron Van Helmont_ (104), who having in his own Country seen how great Service it did, has at large set down both the manner of the Operation; and, Consonant to the Principles of his own Philosophy, shewn the Reason of its good Effects. Since him _Tulpius_ (105), an Observer of very good Credit, takes notice, that tho’ he saw many, yet that never one miscarry’d, where it was in time made use of. As all Baths do chiefly act by the sensible Qualities of Heat and Cold, and the Gravity of their Fluid; so we need go no farther to fetch the Reason of the great Advantage of this Method in the present Case, than to the Pressure of the Water upon the Body of the Patient. Every one knows how plentifully plunging into cold Water provokes Urine, which proceeds no doubt from the constriction hereby made of the Fibres of the Skin and Vessels. Thus this outward Cure differs not much in effect from the inward Medicines beforementioned, but must necessarily have the better of them in this Respect, that when the Fermenting Blood stretches its Vessels, the exceeding weight of the ambient Fluid resists and represses this Distension, and so prevents the Effects of It. For this Reason the Salt Water of the Sea is especially chosen for this Business, because its greater Gravity than that of Fresh does more powerfully do all this, and break the beginning Cohæsion of the Parts of the Blood. Thus we may, without having recourse to the _Fright_ and _Terror_, with which this Method, when rightly practis’d, (by keeping the Party under Water for a considerable time, till he is almost quite drowned) is usually accompanied, probably enough account for the Advantages of this Immersion. Tho’ it is not unlikely that this new Fear may have some good Effect in the Case too, for not only Convulsions, but Agues, and other Diseases, have oftentimes been happily Cured, merely by terrifying and surprising the Patient. The Reason of this will easily be understood by him who knows what Alterations the Passions of the Mind do make in the Fluid of the Nerves and Arteries; of which in another Place. It may for our present purpose suffice to take Notice, That as in Consideration of the last mentioned Effect upon the Mind, _Van Helmont_ commends this same Practice in all Sorts of Madness, and Chronical _Deliria_; so upon the account of the before hinted Alterations on the Body, Bathing was, among the Ancients, the common Cure of Melancholy, and such like Distempers (106). And as the younger _Van Helmont_ (107) to confirm his Father’s Notions, tells Us, that one Dr. _Richardson_ did with wonderful Success make use of this Management in these Cases, so in like manner _Prosper Alpinus_ (108) takes Notice, that the _Egyptians_ do at this Day perfectly recover Melancholy Persons by the same Method, only with this Difference, that they make their Baths warm. He that compares what has been already advanc’d concerning _Deliria_, with the _Bellinian_ Theory of Melancholy and Maniacal Distempers, and reflects upon the Nature of Baths, and their manner of Acting, will see so much Reason in this Practice, as to be sorry that ’tis now-a-days almost quite laid aside and neglected. For we must observe, that altho’ there be some Difference in the Treatment and Cure of _Deliria_, whether Maniacal or Melancholy, when they are Originally from the Mind, as the Effects of Care, Trouble, or the like, and when from an Indisposition of the Body; yet that both do agree in this, that they require an Alteration to be made in the Blood and Spirits; inasmuch as the Mind, by often, nay, almost continually, renewing to it self any one _Idea_, of Love, Sorrow, _&c._ does so constantly determine the Spirits and Blood, one and the same way, that the Body does at last as much share in the Alteration, as if it had been primarily affected, and consequently must have, in some manner, the same Amendment. Upon this Score _Baccius_ (109) asserts the admirable Use of Temperate Baths, in all kind of Distractions; and assures us, that not only common _Deliria_, but even the _Dæmoniaci_, _Phanatici_, _Lycanthropi_ themselves, _&c._ are cured by frequent Washings in fresh Water, and a moist and Nourishing Diet. But to insist upon this Subject is foreign to our purpose; only in regard that the most usual Methods of Cure in these Cases are so very tedious, and oftentimes unsuccessful at the last, I thought it not amiss to hint thus much, in order to the advancing something more Certain and Effectual towards the Removal of the greatest Unhappiness to which Mankind is liable. To conclude with the _Hydrophobia_; where these Remedies fail, or are Administred too late, the Patient, from the prevailing inflammatory Disposition of the Blood, grows more and more _Delirous_, and by Degrees downright raving Mad, at last (as it most commonly happens in Maniacal People) suffers a total Resolution of Strength, and Dies. Thus Dr. _Howna_’s Case ended in a perfect universal _Paralysis_. FOOTNOTES to Essay II. (48) _De Tarantul._ (49) _Histor. Animal. Nov. Hispan._ Tract 4. c. 5 (50) _Baglivi_, p. 11. (51) _Vid. Fig. 16._ (52) _Micrograph. Curios._ p. 69. (53) Pag. 40. (54) Of Languid and unheeded Motion. (55) _Borelli De Vi Percussion._ Prop. 90, _and_ 111. (56) _De Sanitate Tuenda_, lib. 1. c. 8. (57) _Pythior. Od._ 3. μαλακαῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς. _Vid. ibid. Scholia._ (58) _A Carmine._ (59) _Deipnosoph._ l. 14. p. m. 624. (60) _Vid. Bartholin. de Tibiis Veter._ l. 1. c. 9. (61) εἰ καταυλήσοι τις τοῦ τόπου τῇ φρυγιστὶ ἁρμονίᾳ. (62) _Morb. chronic._ l. 5. c. 1. _Qua cum saltum sumerent palpitando discusso dolore mitescerent._ (63) _Nect. Atticar._ l. 4. c. 13. (64) _Histor. Mirabil._ (65) _Apud Aul. Gell. loc. citat. Plurimis hominum Morbis Medicinam suisse Incentiones Tibiarum._ (66) _Plutarc. de Musica._ (67) _Loc. ante cit._ (68) _De Vit. Pythagor. cap._ 25. πρὸς δηγμοὺς Βοηθητικώτατα μέλη. (69) _Histor. Anatom._ Cent. 2. H. 26. (70) _S. Ardoyn de Venen._ pag. 381. (71) _De Morb. Acut._ lib. 3. (72) _Exercitat. de Hydrophob._ (73) Philosoph. Transact. N^o. 169. (74) _Observ. Rarior. Centur._ 2. _obs._ 100. (75) Παρακοπὰν ὑλακτικὰν, _apud Galen de Antidot._ lib. 2. cap. 15. (76) _De Hydroph._ (77) _Loc. citat. Tota oritur ex Corporis ipsius mala Affectione._ (78) _Oper. Posthum._ p. 55. (79) _Obser. de Venen. Animal._ (80) _Obser._ Cent. 2. Obs. 52. (81) _In Prorrhetic. & coac. & alibi._ (82) _Sympiosiac._ 5. 9. (83) _Apud Hernand. & Recch. Plantar. & Anim. Mexicanor. Histor._ p. 494. (84) Vol. 5. Obs. 114. (85) _Sepulcret._ Lib. 1. Sect. 8. Obs. 8. (86) _Rossini Lentilii Dissertatio de Hydrophobiæ Causa & Cura._ (87) _Eph. Cur._ Dec. 3. Ann. 2. Obs. 104. (88) _De Theriac. ad Pison._ l. 1. c. 16. (89) _Vid. Aetium._ .6: c. 24. (90) _Simpl. Medic. Facult._ l. 11. c. 1. (91) _Ibid._ l. 11. c. 34. (92) _Theriac._ Cap. 2. (93) _Vid. Pison. Histor. Nat. & Med. Ind._ lib. 5. c. 16. (94) _Museo di Piante rare_, Osservaz. 2. (95) _Hist. Plant. Tom._ 2. p. 1471. (96) _Histor. Natur._ l. 8. c. 41. & l. 25. cap. 2. (97) _De Venen._ p. 80. (98) _Museo di Fisica_, Osservaz. 21. (99) _Medicam. facult._ lib. 9. C. 1. (100) _Fab. column. Phytobasan._ pag. 27. (101) No. 237. (102) _Lib._ 5. c. 27. (103) _Nat. Hist._ l. 26. c. 3. (104) _Tr. Demens_ Idea. (105) Observ. 20. (106) Vid. _Aretæum Cappad. Cur. Diut._ lib. 1. cap. 5. Et _Aetium_ l. 6. c. 11. (107) Tr. Man and his Diseases. (108) _Medicin. Ægyptior._ l. 3. c. 19. (109) De Therm. _l. 7. c._ 22. ESSAY III. of Poisonous Minerals and PLANTS. Altho’ there be a great Variety of Internal _Poisons_, as well _Mineral_ as _Vegetable_; yet they do all of ’em seem to agree in their Primary Effects, and Manner of Operation; and as the Teeth or Stings of _Venomous_ Animals do constantly infuse a Juice into the Wound they make, by which the Mass of Blood is infected; so the Force of _These_ is chiefly confined to the Stomach and _Primæ Viæ_; and tho’ it may in some Cases be Communicated Farther, yet the Principal Mischief is done in These Parts. _Deleterious Medicines_, says Dioscorides, _are many, but the Alterations made by them in the Body, common, and but few_ (110). Of all this kind, those of a _Mineral_ Nature are the most violent and deadly, the greater Gravity and Solidity of their Parts giving to these a Force and Action surpassing the mischief of _Vegetable_ Juices; and therefore whereas noxious Plants do vary their Effects in different Creatures, so as to prove harmless, nay, perhaps Beneficial and Nutritive to some, as Hemlock they say is to Goats (111) and Starlings (112), and Henbane to Hogs (113), the Strength of the Stomach in These Animals being sufficient to Conquer and Divide such Corrosive Substances, and their Blood perhaps requiring to be recruited by such warm and active Particles; A Mineral Malignity is not, at least so far as we know, conquerable by any, but becomes universally hurtful and destructive. We shall here give the first Place to _Mercury Sublimate_. This is no other than a Mixture of _Quicksilver_ with _common Salt_. The way of preparing it, as ’tis made at _Venice_, from whence great quantities are sent into other Countries, _Tachenius_ has given Us in his _Hippocrates Chymicus_ (114); as to which we must observe, that tho’ there be always added a proportion of _Salt-Petre_, and _Calcin’d Vitriol_ to the other Ingredients, yet these do not enter into the Composition, but only serve to facilitate the Work; as abundantly appears from this Experiment, That Mercury sublim’d with the same Proportion of Nitre and Vitriol without _Marine Salt_, neither receives any increase of its Weight, nor acquires any malignant Quality. The Effects of this _Poison_ when taken are, violent Griping Pains, with a Distension of the Belly, Vomiting of a slimy, frothy Matter, sometimes mixt with Blood, and Stools of the same, an intolerable Heat and Thirst, with cold Sweats, Tremblings, Convulsions, _&c._ as will appear from the following History (115). To a large Dog was given a Drachm of _Mercury Sublimate_, mixt with a little Bread; within a quarter of an Hour He fell into terrible Vomitings, casting up frequently a Viscid, frothy _Mucus_, every time more and more Bloody, and purged the same downwards; till tired and spent with this hard Service, He lay down quietly as it were to Sleep, but Died the next Morning. The _Abdomen_ being opened, a great quantity of extravasated Blood was found between the Liver and Stomach, and between the duplicature of the _Omentum_ about the Stomach; the Guts as well as the Stomach were distended, and full of a frothy Bloody _Mucus_; on the outside they were of a livid Colour, within all over red, and inflamed down to the very _Rectum_; The Fibrous Coat of the Stomach being taken off, between that and the Nervous one, grumous Blood was found in several Places; the like was discovered here and there in the Intestins between the same Coats. The same _Symptoms_ with these, and manifest Signs of a burning Corrosion followed with _Ulcers_ in the Bowels, _Baccius_ (116) observ’d in a young Man Poison’d by _Sublimate_, mixt with his Meat. What we are here chiefly to examine is, how from Ingredients singly Innocent and Harmless, so Mischievous a Compound can result; for as the Case is very plain with respect to _Salt_, so is it likewise now Notorious enough, that _Quick-silver_ it self, which the Ancients, _Dioscorides_, _Galen_, _Pliny_, &c. have unjustly rank’d among Poisons, is in many Diseases inwardly taken of very safe and beneficial Use; and that not only when disguised with _Sulphur_, _Sugar_, &c. but _Crude_, without any Correction, or vainly pretended Mortification. This the _Arabian_ Physicians first gave the hint of; _Avicen_, (117) having observ’d, that _They who drink It in a large quantity receive no hurt, its weight making a free Passage thro’ the Body_. This was Incouragement enough for the Practice of giving whole Pounds of It in the _Iliac Passion_; which is oftentimes done with good Success, without any frightful Symptom accompanying the Advantage receiv’d from its Ponderosity. Afterwards it plainly appear’d that this Mineral, tho’ not taken in so great a Dose as could immediately force its way thro’ the Intestins, even when it was lodged for some time in this or that Part, was not at all hurtful by any Corrosive or Malignant Quality. And _Fallopius_ (118), _Brasavolus_ (119), with others of great Note, confirmed its harmless Efficacy in the Cure of the _Worms_, not only in adult Persons, but even in the more tender Constitutions of Children. Nor are these the only Cases in which good Service may be had from this Weighty Fluid; he that rightly considers the State of the Animal _Oeconomy_, the various Alterations it suffers from the Stagnation of its more Viscid Juices in the smallest Canals, and how much the Impulse and Force of the Circling Blood, by which Obstructions are to be removed, must be increased by its carrying along with it such Particles as the _Mercurial Globuli_, will perhaps see good Reason to allow, that the prudent and cautious Management of _Quicksilver_ may do that in some obstinate and dangerous Diseases, which we cannot promise our selves from any other of our known Medicines whatsoever. But I am not to insist on this Head; and the learned _Author_ of the _New Theory of Fevers_ (120), has already most ingeniously explain’d the _Mechanism_ by which such Effects as these are produced in the humane Body. It suffices to my present purpose, to have proved that pure _Mercury_ is not Poisonous or Corrosive; and therefore not only have I seen Two Ounces of It given every Day for One and Twenty Days together, without any Inconvenience at all; but found once some quantity of It in the _Perinæum_ of a Subject I took from the Gallows for a Dissection (whose rotten Bones quickly discovered what Disease it was had required the Use of it, and that I suppose chiefly in External Application by Unction) without any Marks of Corrosion of the Part where it was lodged. Tho’ withal we may upon this Occasion remark, that the extreme Gravity of this Mineral alone, however serviceable it may be in other Respects; yet when it happens in so great a Quantity to Obstruct the Capillary Ducts, as that the Force of the Circling Fluid is not sufficient to Wash it away, must necessarily induce Symptoms troublesome and bad enough, as _Spasms_, _Contractions_, _Palsies_, &c. which They do commonly Experience, who have either been too often dawbed with _Mercurial Ointments_, or for a long time imploy’d in rubbing the _Quicksilver_ upon _Looking-Glasses_; for the Internal Use of It will never produce any such Mischiefs. As for _Sublimate_ then, most certain it is, that the _Saline_ Particles do impart to the _Mercury_ this Malignant Quality; or to speak more properly, That the _Salt_ receives from the _Mercurial Corpuscles_ such an Increase of its Gravity and _Momentum_, as renders its Cutting Corrosion more Effectual and Penetrating; for the manner after which this Matter is done, is plainly this. The _Globules_ of the _Mercury_, tho’ so minutely divided by the Action of the Fire, as to rise in the form of a _Fume_, yet are still Solid and Ponderous Bodies; ’tis all one to the present purpose, whether We suppose ’em perfectly _Sphærical_, or with the Learned _Gulielmini_ (121) _Sphæroidical_, for in both Cases, by reason of their extreme Parvity, being perhaps Simple and Elementary Bodies, they will easily be lodg’d in the Pores and Interstices of the _Saline Crystals_; which being compos’d of the _Atoms_ of _Salt_, variously by _Sublimation_ combin’d and united, are a kind of Cutting _Lamellæ_ or Blades; the force of which could never have been very penetrating, upon the account of their Lightness and easie Dissolution, if the _Mercury_, without blunting their Edge, or breaking their Figure, did not lend ’em an Additional Weight, and thus at the same time strengthen their Action, and prevent their quick Solution by the Juices of the Stomach; which cannot now disjoin their Compounding Parts, because the Vacuities into which they should, in order to do this, insinuate themselves, are already possess’d, and taken up by the _Mercurial Globules_. In short, These _Crystals_, which are to be considered as so many sharp Knives or Daggers, Wounding and Stabbing the tender Coats of the Stomach, and thus causing excessive Pains, with an Abrasion of their Natural _Mucus_, and (upon the constant Sense of Irritation) continual Vomitings, _&c._ must of necessity, sticking here and there in the capillary Vessels, stop the Passage of the Blood in several Places, whereupon it Stagnates, and there follow little Inflammations, which growing higher and higher, terminate quickly in perfect Ulcers and Gangrenes; and these though singly very small, yet many in number, do all together make up one continued and incurable Mortification. This being the Nature of _Sublim’d Mercury_, it may not be amiss to enquire, how it comes to pass, That This same Compound resublim’d with _live Mercury_ in the Proportion of Four Parts to Three, (for the _Sublimate_ will not take up an equal quantity) especially if the work be repeated Three or Four times, looses its Corrosiveness to that Degree as to become not only a Safe, but in many Cases, a Noble _Medicine_. For I do not see that any of the Chymical Writers have hit upon the true Solution of this _Phænomenon_. Here then it is to be considered, That the Action of the _Saline Crystals_ depending upon their Solidity and Largeness, these must necessarily, by every subsequent Sublimation, be broken into smaller and smaller Parts; the _Mercurial Globules_ (for the Reasons given by the _Author_ (122) of the forementioned _Theory of Fevers_) arising more quickly and easily than the _Salts_, quit the Interstices in which they were lodged, and the _Crystalline_ Blades are divided every time more and more by the force of the Fire; whereupon a new Combination of Parts succeeds; and although there be a greater Proportion of the _Mineral_ to the _Salts_ than before, which makes _Dulcify’d Mercury_ Specifically heavier than the _Corrosive_; yet the broken pieces of the _Crystals_ uniting into little Masses of differing Figures from their former Make, those Cutting _Points_ which were before so sharp, are now either quite lost, or at least, by reason of their Bluntness, cannot make Wounds deep enough to be equally mischievous and deadly; and therefore do only Vellicate and Twitch the sensible Membranes of the Stomach to that Degree, as excites them to an Excretion of their Contents and Glandular Juices, upwards or downwards, according as the force of Irritation is greater or less. Thus a violent _Poison_ is mitigated into a _Vomit_ or _Purge_; nay, it may easily happen (especially in Robust Constitutions, and if the Bowels be at the same time by any means defended against the Stimulating Power of the Medicine) that this Twitching may be so slight, as to be almost insensible, and hardly troublesome; and then the _Mercurial Globules_ being freed indeed from most of the _Saline Parts_ in their Passage thro’ the _Primæ Viæ_, but still having a mixture of some few of them, are quickly conveyed into the Blood, where by their Motion and Weight they must necessarily dissolve the Preternatural Cohæsions of all the Liquors, particularly of Those which Circulate in the smallest Canals, and are most Viscid and Tenacious, making ’em more Fluxile and Thin, or of more easie Secretion; whereupon all the Glands of the Body are, as it were, set to Work, and Scoured of their Contents; but the _Salival_ Ones especially, being many in Number, very large and wide, and the Juice they separate of a Tough and Ropy Substance, so that a considerable quantity of It is accumulated before it is forced out at the Orifices of the Ducts. These Effects will be most remarkable in _Them_, and a _Salivation_ or Spitting must continue so long, till the Active Mineral Particles are thro’ these and the other Passages discharged out of the Body. As the Difference between Mercury _Corrosive_ and _Dulcified_ lies in a greater and lesser Degree of Operation and Force, so this same Consideration distinguishes the several _Preparations_ of this Mineral from each other; which tho’ very many, yet do all vary their Effects in the Body, only according as the _Mercurial Globules_ are differently combined with _Salts_, and the _Points_ of _These_ more or less broken by the Action of the Fire, in the Burning of Spirits upon Them, and such like Managements: And therefore however dignified with the great Names of _Arcana_, _Panacææ_, _Princes Powders_, &c. They do not afford Us any thing Singular and Extraordinary, beyond what we may with equal Advantage promise our selves from some or other of the most common and usual _Processes_. We may also fairly conclude from this Reasoning, that the safest way of raising a _Salivation_ is by _Internal_ Medicines; since whatever Mischiefs can be apprehended from _These_, may in a greater degree follow from the _External_ Use of _Mercury_; not only because, as We have already hinted, the Mineral _Globules_ being intimately combined with Salts in the several Preparations given inwardly, will by the Irritation of These, be easily and fully thrown out at the Organs of Secretions, till the Blood is quite discharged of its Load; whereas, in all the Dawbings with Mercurial Ointments, We can never be certain that none of the heavy Particles are left lodg’d in the _Interstices_ of the _Fibres_ or _Cells_ of the _Bones_; But also, in as much as by computing the Portion of _Mercury_ in all the Doses necessarily to promote a Spitting, and the Weight of the same Mineral usually apply’d when this is done by Unction, it will appear, that the quantity in the latter Case vastly exceeds that in the former, and consequently that the Inconveniencies to be feared will be in the same proportion. Therefore this External Management of _Mercury_ is only to be allow’d of, where either the Case will bear the Violence of such a Method, or outward _Ulcers_ and _Tumors_ require a particular Cure by _Liniments_, &c. Nor is it improper to Remark that, We do hereby see how the Use of this Mineral comes to produce that Effect so often complain’d of, (tho’ not always with Reason) of making the Bones Foul or Carious. For, if the _Laminæ_ or _Fibres_ of These are already so much broken and spoiled by a Disease, as that the Circulation of the Fluids thro’ ’em can’t be maintain’d, they must necessarily be corrupted more by the Weight of the _Mercurial Globules_; tho’ here also it is plain, that the _outward_ Use of this Remedy will be more to be blamed than the _inward_. And indeed, as the earliest Use of _Mercury_ was in _Unguents_ and _Emplasters_, so most of the Prejudices and Out-cries against It are owing to Effects produced this way. For the first attempts of the Cure of _Venereal Maladies_ by this Remedy, were learned from the _Arabians_ (123), who having recommended _Mercurial_ Ointments in the _Lepra_ or _Scabies_, gave a handle to the _Italian_ Physicians to try their Efficacy, in removing the Foulness of the Skin from a new and terrible Contagion; neither were they sparing of their Liniments, which they continued to rub in for 12, 15, nay, sometimes for above 30 Days together (124). So that it is no wonder if they often met with very untoward Symptoms from so severe a Treatment, and if, (as some of them (125) do affirm) they now and then found _Mercury_ in the rotten Bones of their Patients, who had, it may be, suffered too much both from their Disease and their Physician. * * * * * Thus much of _Mercury_. Let Us in the next place examine _Arsenick_, about the Nature and Composition of which Authors are very much puzzled. This, in short, is either _Native_ or _Factitious_, and each of Three sorts, _Yellow_, _Red_, and _White_. The _Native Yellow_ is what the Latins call’d _Auripigmentum_; and this _Olaus Wormius_ (126) makes Threefold. The _Red_ is the _Sandaracha_ of the _Greeks_. The _White_ was not known to the Ancients; and indeed _Theophrastus_ seems only to have known the _Red_; but _Dioscorides_ describes both _Red_ and _Yellow_; _Nicander_ had no Knowledge of either; The only Mineral Poisons He mentions are _Litharge_ and _Ceruss_. _Orpiment_ and _Sandaracha_ differ only by their greater or lesser Concoction in the Earth; and therefore from _Orpiment_ Boiled in a close Pot Five Hours in a Furnace Fire, is made the _Factitious Sandaracha_, as perfect as the _Natural_ (127). The _Factitious Yellow_ is made from the Crusts of the _Natural Orpiment_ (128). The _Native White_ is more rare, but found plentifully in some Silver Mines in _Germany_ (129). But the _White Factitious_ is of the most common Use of all; and it is, as _Agricola_ tells us, no other than _Orpiment_ again and again sublimed with an equal part of _Fossile Salt_, till it is brought to a Whiteness. _Orpiment_ and _Sandaracha_ are mostly found in Mines of God; and all Metallic Writers do agree them to be the best Signs of the Richness of the Vein. This is Ground sufficient for the _Chymists_ to take _Arsenick_ for the Subject Matter of their great Work, as they call It; and they have very fondly accommodated some Ænigmatical Lines in the _Sibylline Oracles_ (130) to this _Mineral_. Tho’ the Interpretation be strained, and not fairly made out, (the _Author_ of these Verses, whatever he might mean, being indeed Discoursing of the Name of the _Divine Power_ it self) yet very true it is, that this great Expectation from _Arsenick_ is as old at least as _Caligula_; that is, of more ancient Date considerably than the far greatest part of those Suppositious and Ill-contrived Compositions which do now bear the Name of _Oracles_: For that Covetous Emperor, as _Pliny_ relates (131), ordered a great quantity of _Orpiment_ to be wrought upon, that He might extract _Gold_ out of It, and made some; but as it usually happens in such like Attempts, the quantity did not answer the Expence. It is more to our purpose to take notice, that the later _Pretenders_ to this _Philosophy_, by finding their three _Principles_, _Salt_, _Sulphur_, and _Mercury_ in this Body, will lead Us into its true Nature and Composition. For whether We take _Orpiment_ or _Sandaracha_, either of them will afford a _Regulus_ or Mercurial Substance, more pure than that of _Antimony_. The manner of extracting It _Lemery_ (132) has taught; and to This indeed the Mineral owes its great Ponderosity. The Inflammability and Smell of _Arsenick_ are sufficient Proofs of its abounding _Sulphur_, which may without much difficulty be separated from It (133). That it consists of some _Saline Parts_ we are assured by Its Solution in common Water (134); and it is upon the account of These that It does more happily promote the _Flowing_ of Metals than any other _Salt-Pouders_ which the Workmen make use of: Wherefore some have called It a coagulated _Aqua Fortis_. From all this it appears, that Authors do vainly Dispute wherein the Noxious quality of _Arsenick_ resides, since the Case here is plainly much the same with that of _Sublimate Corrosive_; and as the Salts there, together with the Mercurial Particles, do compose pungent _Crystals_, so without all doubt the _Regulus_ of this Mineral gives a like force to the _Saline Bodies_, which without this weight could be but of small Effect. The main difference is, that in _Arsenick_ we have an addition of _Sulphur_, which does not only strengthen the Action of the other Parts, in that as a _Vinculum_ it keeps them united together; but consisting besides of many hot and fiery Corpuscles, promotes the Inflammation of those Wounds which the Crystalline _Spicula_ make in the Membranes of the Stomach. Upon the Score of such a Texture and Make as this, _Arsenick_ makes no Ebullition either with _Alcalies_ or _Acids_ (135); and _as_ the _Regulus_ of It being cleared from most of its Salts, is by much less hurtful than the crude Mineral it self; _so_ on the other Hand, the _Factitious White_, in which there is a much greater Proportion of the Saline to the Metallic Parts, is the most Violent of all the kinds, superiour in Force to _Mercury Sublimate_. The several Histories related by _Wepfer_ (136) do put this out of Question; It is sufficient to our Purpose to mention One. A Dog having eat some Fat mixt with _White Arsenic_, died the next Day; The upper Part of the Stomach, when opened, was red and inflamed, the Coats thinner than ordinary, the bottom of It was covered with a fætid Slime, and some Pieces of Fat; the Thin Guts were so Corroded as to be Pervious in Three Places, Two of the Ulcers so large that they would easily admit a _Bean_. The Cavity of the _Abdomen_ contained a yellowish _Ichor_ tinged with Blood. The Case being thus, one would wonder what should induce Authors to prescribe so Corrosive a Mineral to be worn upon the Pit of the Stomach, as an _Amulet_ against the Plague. This Trick we may well believe to be Dangerous, when _Lionardo di Capo_ (137) tells Us of a Child a kill’d by the Violent Vomiting and Purging, occasion’d from a slight Wound made in the Head by a _Comb_ wet with Oil in which _Arsenick_ had been infused; for the Pores of the Body being opened by Heat and Exercise, some of the Noxious _Effluvia_ may easily Insinuate themselvs into the Part; accordingly _Crato_ (138) observ’d an Ulcer of the Breast caused by this Application; _Verzascha_ (139) Violent Pains, and fainting Fits; _Diemerbrock_ (140), and Dr. _Hodges_ (141), Death it self. The Truth of the Matter is, This Practice seems to owe its Origine to a Mistake (142), some of the _Arabian_ Physicians had commended _Darsini_ worn in a Bag for a Preservative in Plague time; This in their Language signifies _Cinnamom_; but the _Latin_ Interpreters retaining the same Word in their Translations (as was frequently done), one or other afterwards not understanding its meaning, and deceived by the likeness of the sound, substituted in its Place _De Arsenico_, as if _Darsini_ were all one with _Zarnich_. The Authority of the first Author served to propagate the Error; nor were Those wanting who reason’d upon the Matter, and found it agreable to their Philosophy, that this Mineral should draw to it self and concenter the _Arsenical Effluvia_ out of the Air, and thus secure the Body from their Infection; These being, as they imagined, the Common Cause of Pestilential Diseases. Having thus particularly Discoursed of the Nature of these Two Poisons, I shall not need to insist upon any more out of the _Mineral Kingdom_. All of _Them_ bear some Analogy to the former, and are more or less Dangerous, according as their _Salts_ receive a differing Force from the _Metallic_ Particles. For this Reason as we have observed, that the most Virulent may be mitigated by breaking the _Points_ of the _Saline Crystals_; so on the other Hand, the most Innocent Minerals may become Corrosive, by combining Them with _Salts_, as we see in the several Preparations of _Silver_, _Antimony_, _Iron_, &c. Poisonous Plants. To Proceed therefore to _Vegetables_; the most Notorious of _These_ for Venomous Juices among the Ancients were _Cicuta_ and _Aconitum_. Our _Œnanthe Cicutæ facie_, _succo viroso_, which _Wepfer_ has described by the Name of _Cicuta Aquatica_, and of the dismal Effects of which in some Children, who by mistake did Eat of It, He has wrote a large Volume, was very probably the _Cicuta_ so much in use of old, especially at _Athens_, for _Killing_. At least the Violence of _This_ makes It a much fitter Instrument of Death than the common _Hemlock_, which is not by far of so Malignant a quality. Tho’ we must withal allow differing _Climates_ very considerably to heighten or abate the _Virtues_ of _Plants_. And it is not altogether Improbable, that the Poison with which the _Athenians_ took away the Lives of Malefactors was an inspissated Juice compounded of _That_ of _Cicuta_ and other Corrosive Herbs (143). But be this as it will; The Alterations which _Wepfer_ observed the Roots of _Œnanthe_ to make in the Body, were a Violent Pain and Heat in the Stomach, Terrible Convulsions, with the Loss of all the Senses, Distorsion of the Eyes, and flowing of Blood out at the Ears, the Mouth so fast shut that no Art could open It, Efforts to Vomit, but nothing thrown up, frequent Hick-Coughs, with a great Distension and Swelling, especially at the Pit of the Stomach; and when Death had concluded the Tragedy, a continued Running of green Froth at the Mouth. _Stalpart van der Wiel_ gives Us the like account of Two Persons kill’d at the _Hague_ by the same _Roots_ (144). In a _Dog_, who for Experiment’s sake died by this _Poison_, The Stomach when opened was found quite _Constringed_, and shut up at both _Orifices_, Its inward Surface red, with livid Spots here and there; The Intestines were empty; only the _Rectum_ contained a little greenish _Mucus_. Thus it appears, that this Plant consists of Hot, Acrious and Corrosive Parts, which by Rarefying the Juices of the Stomach, and Wounding Its Nervous Membrane, are the Cause of all those Disorders which do immediately follow. For upon the Sense of a violent _Irritation_ and _Pain_, the Fluid of the Nerves is presently in large quantities determined to the Part affected; and this, if the _Stimulus_ be not over great, will be only to such a Degree as is sufficient, by contracting the Fibres of the Stomach, and Muscles of the _Abdomen_, to throw off the Cause of the Disagreable _Sensation_; but the uneasie _Twitching_ being too terrible to be born, the Mind, by a kind of surprize, does with _Haste_ and _Fury_ as it were Command the Spirits thither; Thus the Business is over-done, and the Action of the Fibres becomes so strong, that the Orifices of the Stomach are quite closed; so that instead of discharging the Noxious Matter, The _Torment_ is made greater, and the whole _Œconomy_ put into Confusion. This forcible Contraction of the Muscles was the Reason that one of the Children which _Wepfer_ saw, made _Urine_ in the midst of the Agony, to the height of Five or Six Foot, with a strength and violence Surprising to the Spectators. Nor is it any wonder, if in these _Circumstances_ all Sense be lost, Blood gush out at the _Ears_, _Nostrils_, &c. the Parts being all torn and broke by the Violence of the _Convulsions_; which tho’ they began in the Muscles of the Belly, must at last prevail in the Members too, till the whole Fabrick is shock’d and overturn’d; and some of the _Corrosive Salts_ perhaps getting into the Blood, and by the Rarefaction of It Distending the Vessels, The Membranous Coats of which being already overstretched, will the more easily give way, and let out their Fluid. The Case of _Aconitum_ is much the same; this is our _Napellus_ or _Monkshood_; and its Effects do so nearly agree with those now related of _Œnanthe_, that I shall not need to recite Them; the Experiments of _Wepfer_ (145) are full and convincing. And indeed _as_ all the _Histories_ which this same _Author_ has so carefully given Us of Trials made with several Vegetable Poisons, _Solanum_, _Nux Vomica_, _Coculus Indicus_, &c. on different Creatures, do put it out of all doubt, that the common Mischief of _These_ is a Twitching and Inflammation of the Stomach; _so_ it appears from hence, that _Virulent Plants_, although they may be distinguished even from one another by _particular Virtues_, do however _Kill_ by a like Operation and Force, which differs chiefly in Degree from _That_ of Noxious Minerals. And therefore in order to know what the _Specifick Qualities_ of any such _Herbs_ are, they must be given only in very small _Doses_; and then perhaps it would appear, that they are not made (as some do imagine) to be Deleterious and Destructive, but for very Good and Beneficial Uses; as we do particularly Experience in the Case of _Opium_. Nor is it at all strange, that the _Symptoms_ from a _Vegetable_, and from a _Mineral_ Virulency, should be so different, although of the same kind, and only of unequal force; for the more solid Parts of _Minerals_, eroding the Coats of the Stomach, induce a perfect Mortification and Gangrene, and thus do their Work at once; whereas the weaker Salts of _Plants_ can make but a slighter _Excoriation_, upon the painful Sense of which those Agonies and Convulsions that follow do rather gradually exhaust the Strength; and thus the Animal is not kill’d so speedily, nor with the same _Appearances_. Upon this Score, tho’ Mineral Poisons do not pass the _Primæ Viæ_, Vegetable ones in some Cases possibly may; just as We find Those Medicines which have a great Degree of Irritation presently to induce a _Vomiting_; whereas the same _Twitching_ a little weakened suffers them to pass into the Intestines, and _Work_ downwards by Stools. By this We may perhaps give some Guess at the Nature of those _Poisons_, with which They tell Us the _Natives_ in some Parts of _Africa_ and _India_ are so expert at Killing, that they can do It in a longer or shorter time as they please. These are most probably either the _Fruits_, or the Inspissated _Juices_ of Corrosive Plants, which inflaming the Bowels, may cause little Ulcers there, whose Fatal Consequences, we know, may very well be slow and lingering. This I am the rather induced to believe, because an Ingenious _Surgeon_, who liv’d in _Guinea_, told Me, that the _Antidote_ by which the _Negroes_ would sometimes Cure Those who were _poisoned_, was the _Leaf_ of an _Herb_ which purged both upwards and downwards. For by this means the Stomach might be cleared from the adhering Corrosive Parts of the Venom. Yet I can hardly think it possible at the same time that they should be able, by varying the Composition or Quantity of the _Dose_, to ascertain the Time in which It shall Kill, to a Week, Month, _&c._ nor indeed have I ever met with any Person who could Attest This, to be Matter of Fact. Tho’ repeated Trials and Observations may help one well practised in such Tricks to give notable Conjectures in this Point. The Ancients indeed pretended much the same thing with their _Aconitum_, of which They seem to have made a kind of Secret and Mystery; as we learn from _Theophrastus_ (146), who says, _The ordering of this Poison was different, according as It was designed to Kill in Two, Three Months, or a Year_: But this he relates only as a common _Tale_ or _Opinion_, and not as a Story to which Himself gave any manner of Credit. It is very plain; that the common _Cure_ of all _Poisons_ of this kind, must be by freeing the Stomach, as soon as possible, from the Corrosive Vellicating Particles, and defending the Membranes from their Acrimony, by such Things as are of a a Smooth, Oily and Lubricating Substance. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES to Essay III. (110) Ποικίλα μὲν γὰρ τὰ δηλητήρια φάρμακα, κοιναὶ δὲ καὶ οὐ πολλαὶ ἐξ ἀυτῶν γινόμεναι διαθέσεις. _Alexiph._ pag. 399. (111) _Lucret._ lib. 5. (112) _Galen. Simp. Medic._ l. 3. cap. 18. (113) _Sext. Empiric. Hypoth. Empiric._ 1. (114) _Cap. 24._ (115) _Wepfer de Cicut. Aquatic._ pag. 300. (116) _De Venen._ pag. 21. (117) _Can. Medic._ l. 4. Fen. 6. _Argentum Vivum plurimum qui bibunt non læduntur eo; egreditur enim cum dissositione suâ per inferiorem regionem._ (118) _De Morb. Gallic. cap._ 76. (119) _De Morb. Gall. inter Autores de Morb. Gall._ pag. 599. (120) Pag. 91. _& seq._ (121) _Trattato de Fiumi._ Cap. 1. (122) Pag. 93. (123) _Vid. Jaan. Baptist. Montan. Tract. de Morb. Gallic. inter Autor. de Morb. Gall._ p. m. 482. _Et Fallop. de Morb. Gall. Cap. 76._ (124) _Nicol. Mass. de Morb. Gall. Tract. 4. Cap. 2._ (125) _Argentum vivum accepi ex Osse Cujusdam corrupto, quem perunctum ab Empyricis plus decies ferebant, non semel emanavisse._ Anton. Gall. in Lib. de Ligno Sancto non permiscendo. _Non semel in Sepulchris Argentum Vivum in Mortuorum Capitibus reperi._ Anton. Musa Brasavolus in Tract. de Morb. Gallic. (126) _Museum_, p. 28. (127) _Agricola de Natura Fossil._ p. m. 592. (128) _Idem, Ibid._ (129) _Block Scrutinum Arsenici_, §. XIV. (130) _Lib._ [smudge]. Εννέα γράμματ᾽ ἔχω, τετρασυλλαβός είμι, νόει με. Αἱ τρεῖς αἱ πρῶται δύο γράμματ᾽ ἔχουσιν ἐκάση, Η λοιπὴ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ, καὶ εἰσὶν ἄφωνα τά πέντε. Τοῦ παντός δ᾽ ἀριθμοῦ ἑκατοντάδες εἰσὶ δὶς ὀκτω, Καὶ τρεῖς τρὶς δεκάδες. (131) Nat. Hist. _l. 33. c. 4._ (132) _Cours de Chymie_, Part 1. Chap. 10. (133) _Lemery_, ibid. (134) _Vid. Eman. Konig Regn. Mineral._ and _Boyle_ History of Mineral Waters. (135) _Grew_ of Mixture, _pag. m._ 246. (136) _Cicut. aquat._ pag. 274. _& seq._ (137) _Incertezza de Medicament_, p. m. 82. (138) _Epistol._ 68. (139) Observation 66. (140) _De Peste_, Histor. 99. (141) _De Peste Londinens._ p. 239. (142) _A. Deusingius de Peste_, Part 4. Sect. 3. c. 3. (143) _Vide_ Wepfer, _Pag. 60._ (144) _Observat. Centur._ 1. Obs. 43. (145) Pag. 176. _seq._ (146) _Hist. Plant._ l. 9. c. 16. ESSAY IV. OF OPIUM. The Ancients having Experienced that _Opium_ would oftentimes Kill, though taken in no large quantity, ranked It with _Poisons_, and gave It the first place among Those, which from their Stupefying Quality They call’d _Narcotic_. True indeed it is, that We do every Day find This to be, in a small Dose, one of the most Noble Remedies in the World. But it is not worth the while to engage in the Controversie warmly debated by some _Authors_, how far _Poisons_ are Medicinal; since it is notorious enough, that Medicines do sometimes prove _Poisonous_. And take the Matter as We please, it may serve to very good Purposes to understand the manner of Operation of so Celebrated a _Drug_, and help Us in a great Measure to ascertain Its Use in different Cases, if we are beforehand rightly apprised of Its Nature and Way of Acting. In order hereunto, it is necessary, besides some other _Præcognita_, since one of the chief Virtues of this Medicine Is _Hypnotic_, to Define distinctly what _Sleep_ is, or rather, (to avoid Confusion and Disputes about Words) what Difference there is between an Animal Body when _asleep_ and when _awake_. For I suppose the _History_, _Manner of Preparing_, &c. of _Opium_, to be already sufficiently known. First then, There is no One but knows that in _Sleep_ there is a Cessation from Action. When _Waking_, We Walk, Discourse, Move this or that Limb, _&c._ but in natural and undisturbed _Rest_ there is nothing of all These; that is, whereas being awake, We do perform several Motions by the _voluntary_ Contraction of our Muscles; when asleep, those Muscles only are Contracted, whose Action is in a manner _Involuntary_, or to which the Mind has always so constantly determin’d the Spirits, that It does it by a _Habit_, without the Intervention of the Reasoning Faculty; such are _Those_ of the Heart and Breast. So that there is at this time a kind of _Relaxation_ or Loosness of the moving Fibres of the several Members; or at least such a quiet Position and State of them, by which all the _Antagonist_ Muscles are in an _Æquilbrium_ and Equality of Action, not overpowering one another. For this indeed seems to be one great Design of Sleep, to recover to the Parts overstretched by Labour their former _Tone_ and Force; and therefore we do naturally, when composing our selves to _Rest_, put our Body into that Posture which does most Favour the _particularly_ wearied Limbs, and conduce to this end. In the next place, it is very plain that there is in _Sleep_ not only a Rest and Suspension from Acting of most of our Bodily Organs, but even of our _Thinking Faculty_ too. That is (for I would prevent Cavils) a ceasing from such _Thoughts_ as when Waking We are exercised about, which we do _Reflect_ upon, and _Will_ to employ our Mind with. For though _Dreams_ are Thoughts, yet they are but imperfect and incoherent Ones, and are indeed either so faint and languid _Representations_, as to be consistent with our _Sleep_, as some may be; or else if they be strong and lively, they are, as every one knows, the _Interruption_ and Disturbance of It. From hence It will follow, That the _Motion_ of the Arterial Fluid must be, _Ceteris Paribus_, more sedate, even and regular, in the time of _Sleeping_ than _Waking_; For, besides the various Alterations which in the latter State this receives from the several _Passions_ of the Mind, the very _Contractions_ of the Muscles themselves in Exercises of the Body do differently forward its Course; whereas in _Sleep_ the force of the Heart and Pectoral Muscles being more constant and uniform, gives it a more calm and equally continued Impulse. Hence also it will come to pass, that the _Influx_ of the _Liquor_ of the Nerves into the Organs of the Body, as also Its _Reflux_ towards the _Brain_, is in Sleep either none, or very inconsiderable; that is, that this Fluid has at this time but little or no _Motion_. For ’tis Muscular _Action_ and _Sensation_ that require It to be thus determin’d, this way or that, which are now hardly any. And yet by the arrival of Blood at the Brain, this _Juice_ will still be separated there, fit to be derived into its Canals or Tubes. So that by this means there will be a kind of _Accumulation_, or laying up in Store, of _Spirits_ for the Offices and Requirements of _Waking_. Thus We may in short look upon the time of _Watching_, as the time of Wearing out, or the Destruction of the Animal Fabrick; and the time of _Sleep_, as that in which it is repaired and recruited; not only upon the account of what We have just mentioned concerning the _Nervous Liquor_, but also with respect to all the other Parts, as well Fluid as Solid. For _Action_ does necessarily by Degrees impair the Springs and Organs; and in _Motion_ something is continually abraded and struck off from the Distractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be restored than by their being at rest from _Tension_. Besides that, such a regular and steady _Course_ of the Blood, as we have observed to be in _Sleep_, is by far more fit and proper for Nutrition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Vessels, which an uneven _Hurry_ of It is more apt to tear off and wash away. The Case being thus, it is very plain that whatsoever can induce such a Disposition of the Fluids and Muscular Parts of the Body, as this We have described, will so far cause _Sleepiness_. And in like manner, when any thing interposes and hinders this Composedness and Tranquillity, the removing of the _Impediment_ will be the causing of _Sleep_; inasmuch as this is only reducing the Animal _Œconomy_ to its right State, in which by natural Order there must be a Succession of Sleeping and Waking. Thus it appears how necessarily continued Exercises do make Us _Sleepy_, since These do exhaust the Juice of the Nerves; that is, both lessen its Influx into the Organs of Motion, and incline the Mind not to determine it any longer that way, upon the account of the Pain and Uneasiness, with which too violent a Tension of the Parst is always attended; which therefore we must needs desire to Relax, or lay to _Rest_. That _Sleepiness_ which follows upon a fulness of the Stomach after Eating or Drinking, is owing to a different Cause; and does indeed so nearly fall in with the Effects of _Opiate_ Medicines, that it requires a particular Consideration. As _Hunger_, or the Emptiness of the Stomach, is a painful Sensation; so the satisfying or removing of _This_, is a pleasing or agreeable One. Now all _Pain_ is a _Stimulus_ upon the Part affected; and This, we all know, being attended with Contractions of the pained Membranes, causes a greater Afflux than ordinary of the Nervous Juice that way. On the other Hand, _Pleasure_, or a delightful Sensation in any part, is accompanied with a smooth Undulation, and easie Reflux of the Liquor of the Nerves towards the Brain. This is, as it were, the _Entertainment_ of the Mind, with which being _Taken up_, it does not Determine the Spirits to the Organs of Motion; That is, there is such a _Relaxation_ of the Muscular Fibres, and such a Disposition of the Nervous Fluid, as we have observed to be necessary to Sleep. This is the Reason of that _Chilliness_ in the Limbs, which we commonly Complain of after a good Feast. If it seem strange that a Pleasure in the Stomach should so powerfully Influence the Mind; let it be considered, on the other Hand, how violent Effects, an uneasie and disagreeable Sense in the same Part does produce; what a terrible Agony Two or Three Grains of _Crocus Metallorum_ throws the whole Fabrick into; how readily the Fluid of the Nerves is with a more than Ordinary _Impetus_ determin’d and commanded into the Muscles of the Stomach and _Abdomen_, in order to throw off the Enemy, and remove the ungrateful Sensation. Now the Consequences which we have ascribed to a pleasing Sense in this Part, are only just the contrary of these we find the opposite Affection of Pain induces. And indeed _Pleasure_ and _Pain_ are Two great Springs of Action in the Animal Œconomy; The Changes they make in the Fabrick are the Causes of many Effects which seem surprising, because we do not regard the Mechanism by which they are produced: but these must be more considerable in the Stomach than any where else; This Part being, for very wise Purposes, of so acute a _Feeling_, that some Philosophers have for this Reason thought It to be the Seat of the Soul. Besides this Consideration, We must take notice that, the Stomach being distended with Food, presses upon the descending _Trunk_ of the _Aorta_, and thus causes a greater Fulness of the Vessels in the upper Parts; whereupon the Brain is loaded, or the Derivation of Spirits into the Nerves diminished, and _Unactivity_ or _Drowsiness_ insues. From hence proceed Those _Flushings_ in the Face, Redness, _&c._ after plentiful Eating or Drinking, most Visible in Those whose Vessels are Lax and Weak, as in Exhausted and Hectick Persons they more especially are. Thus we may, without the Assistance of the _New Chyle_ entring into the Vessels, account for that Inclination to Sleep which follows upon a full Stomach; Tho’ we must also allow the Distension from _This_ to be a considerable Cause of the same Effect; But this does not happen immediately, nay, sometimes perhaps not within Two or Three Hours after Eating; and therefore the sudden _Drowsiness_ must (as well as the present Refreshment and Reviving which Meat gives) be chiefly owing to some more speedy Alteration. We come then in the next Place to _Opium_ it self; The Chymical _Analysis_ of which (147) does out of One Pound afford of a Volatile _Spirit_ of the like Nature with that drawn from Harts-horn, Five Ounces and Five Drachms; of a fætid _Oil_, One Ounce Two Drachms and a half; of _Caput Mortuum_, smelling like Spirit of Harts-horn, Seven Ounces and Six Drachms. The Virtues therefore of _Opium_ are owing to a volatile _Alcaline_ Salt, intimately mixt and combin’d with an Oily, Sulphureous Substance. The Effects of which We must consider, first of all upon the Stomach, and afterwards, when they have passed the _Primæ Viæ_, upon the Arterial Fluid it self. An agreeable Sensation produced in the Stomach, together with a Distension of Its Membranes, we observed before to be the Cause of that Sleepiness to which we are so prone after Eating. The _One_ of These ingages the Mind, the _Other_ acts upon the Body. For Pleasure amuses the Soul, as it were, so that It does not Think, or exercise it self about any outward Objects; that is, Is inclined to Rest. And the Fulness of the Vessels in the Brain Checks and Hinders, in some Measure, the Derivation of the Nervous Juice into the Organs, _&c._ Now They who take a moderate Dose of _Opium_, especially if not long accustomed to It, are so Transported with the pleasing Sense It induces, that They are, as They oftentimes express themselves, in Heaven; and tho’ They do not always Sleep, (which proceeds from the Presentation of pleasing Images to the Mind being so strong, that like Dreams they do over-ingage the Fancy, and so interrupt the State of Rest) yet they do however injoy so perfect an Indolence and Quiet, that no Happiness in the World can surpass the Charms of this agreable Extasie. Thus We have from this Medicine, but in a far more eminent Degree, all those Effects which we observed to follow upon that grateful Sense in the Stomach, which a moderate Fulness produces. For no Bodies are so fit and able pleasingly to affect our sensile Membranes, as Those which consist of Volatile Parts, whose activity is tempered and allayed by the smoothness of some Lubricating and Oily ones; which by lightly Rarefying the Juices of the Stomach, and causing a pleasant Titillation of Its Nervous Coat, will induce an agreable _Plenitude_, and entertain the Mind with Ideas of Satisfaction and Delight. The Case being thus, We easily see upon what Mechanism the other Virtues of _Opium_ do depend, Its Easing Pains, Checking Evacuations, _&c._ not only in that the Mind being taken up with a pleasing Sense, is diverted from a disagreable _One_; But all Pain being attended with a Contraction of the Part, That Relaxation of the Fibres which is now caused, eludes and destroys the Force of the _Stimulus_. In like manner in immoderate Secretions there is most commonly an Irritation of the Organs, the Removal of which will abate the Discharge. And herein lies the _Incrassating_ Quality of this Medicine, in that the Twitching Sense upon the Membranes of the Lungs, Bowels, _&c._ being now lessened, the sharp Humor is suffered to lodge there in a greater quantity, before it is so troublesome as to be thrown off and expell’d; it being all one as if there were no Irritation of the Part, if the uneasie Sense thereof be not regarded by the Mind. These Effects will all be heightened by the Mixture of the _Opiate_ Particles with the _Blood_; Which is hereupon Rarefied, and Distends its Vessels, especially those of the Brain; and thus does still to a greater Degree lessen the Influx of the Nervous Fluid to the Parts, by pressing upon the little _Tubuli_, or Canals, thro’ which it is derived. This is the Reason of that _Difficulty of Breathing_, which they do for a time Experience who take these kind of Medicines; This Symptom being inseparable from the Rarefaction of the Blood in the Lungs. From hence it appears, that the Action of _Opium_ is very Analogous to that of other Volatile Spirits, only that a small Portion of It has a force equal to that of a greater quantity of most of Them. This is very evident in Those who accustom Themselves to take large Doses of It; as the _Turks_ and _Persians_ do to that Degree, that it is no uncommon thing there to Eat a Drachm or Two at a time; for the Effects of It in Them are no other than downright _Drunkenness_; upon which account (148) it is as common a Saying with Them, and on the same Occasion, _He has eat Opium_; as with Us, _He has drank too much Wine_. Neither indeed do They otherwise bear such large quantities of It, than our _Tipplers_ will a great deal of _Brandy_; that is, by habituating themselves to It by degrees, beginning with small Doses, and requiring still more and more to raise themselves to the same _Pitch_. Just as _Galen_ (149) tells Us of a Woman at _Athens_, who by a gradual Use had brought her self to Take, without any hurt, a considerable quantity of _Cicuta_ or Hemlock. Which Instance is the more to our Purpose, because _Nic. Fontanus_ (150) knew one who being Recovered of the Plague, and wanting Sleep, did, with very good Effect, eat _Hemlock_ for some time, till falling Ill again of a Fever, and having left off the Use of this Remedy, He indeavoured to procure Rest by repeated Doses of _Opium_, which (Nature having been accustomed to a stronger Alterative) had no Operation, till the help of _Cicuta_ was again call’d in with desired Success. It is a sufficient Confirmation of all this Reasoning, that _Prosper Alpinus_ (151) observed among the _Egyptians_, those who had been accustom’d to _Opium_, and were faint and languid thro’ want of It, (as Drinkers are if they have not their _Spirits_) to be recovered, and put into the same State of Indolence and Pleasure, by large Doses of _Cretic Wine_ made hotter by the Infusion of _Pepper_, and the like strong _Aromatics_. Nor is it perhaps amiss to remark, that in _Maniacal_ People, as is frequently observ’d, a Quadruple Dose of _Opium_ will scarce produce any considerable Effect: Now in Persons so affected, the Mind is deeply ingaged and taken up with some _Images_ or other, as Love, Anger, _&c._ so that it is not to be so easily moved or diverted by those pleasing Representations which it would attend to at another time, and upon which the Virtues of this Medicine do in a great measure depend. Besides this, those who are _Maniacal_ do to a Wonder bear the Injuries of Cold, Hunger, _&c._ and have a prodigious degree of Muscular Force, which argues the Texture of their _Blood_ to be very strong, and the Cohæsion of its _Globules_ great; so that the Spirituous Parts of the _Opiate_ cannot make that Disjunction and Rarefaction of this Fluid in Them, which it does in ordinary Bodies and Constitutions. Many are the Immprovements which might be made of this Theory, with relation to the Practice of Physick; but these will be obvious enough to one instructed in the Animal _Œconomy_. To conclude then as to the Subject in Hand, it is very plain that there needs no more to make _Opium_ prove Destructive or a _Poison_, than to take too great a quantity of It; for then It must Inflame the Stomach, and Rarefie the Blood to such a Degree, that the Vessels cannot again recover their Tone, whereupon Apoplectic Symptoms, _&c._ will insue. To be convinced of this, I forced into the Stomach of a small Dog about half a Drachm of Crude _Opium_ dissolved in Boiling Water. He quickly Vomited It up with a great quantity of Frothy Spittle; but repeating the Trial, by holding up his Head, and beating him, I made him retain Three or Four Doses, intermitting between each about a quarter of an Hour; when he had thus taken, as I could guess, near Two Drachms, I watch’d him about an Hour, then he began to Sleep, but presently started up with Convulsions, fell into universal Tremblings, his Head constantly twitch’d and shaking, he breath’d short and with labour, lost intirely the Use first of his hinder Legs, and then of the fore ones, which were stiff and rigid like Sticks. As he lay Snorting, to hasten his End, I was giving him more of the Solution, but on a sudden his Limbs grew limber, and He Died. Opening his _Stomach_, I found It wonderfully distended, tho’ empty of every thing but some Water and _Opium_; parcels of Frothy _Mucus_ swimming in It; the inside was as clean as if scraped and washed from all the Slime of the Glands, with some Redness here and there, as in a beginning Inflammation. The _Pylorus_ was Contracted. The Blood-Vessels of the Brain were very full; and I took out a large Grume of Concrete Blood from the upper part of It, cutting into the _Sinus Longitudinalis_, as is not uncommon in Apoplectic Carcasses; but found no extravasated _Serum_ in the _Ventricles_, nor among any of the Membranes. As to the Cure of such a Case; besides other Evacuations, Acid Medicines and Lixivial Salts must certainly do Service; these by their _Diuretic_ force causing a Depletion of the Vessels. This is the Foundation upon which _Starky_ compounded his _Pacific Pill_. Generous _Wine_, which the Ancients gave for an Antidote, can be no other ways useful, than as It dissolves the _Resinous_ Clammy Part of the _Opium_ sticking to the Coats of the Stomach, and so forwards its Expulsion by other Helps, which cause a Contraction of the Muscular Fibres. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES to Essay IV. (147) Vid. _Pitcarn. de Circulasione Sanguinis in animalibus_, §. 20. (148) Vid. _Belon. Voyag._ lib. 3. c. 15. (149) _Simpl. Medicam. Facult._ l. 3. c. 18. (150) _Respons. & Curat. Medic._ p. 162. (151) _Medicin. Ægypt._ l. 4. c. 1. ESSAY V. Of Venomous Exhalations from the EARTH, Poisonous Airs and Waters. Besides these already treated of, there is yet another way of being _Poisoned_, and that is by _Venomous Steams_ and _Exhalations_, or a _Poisonous Air_ taken into the Body by the Breath. This is notorious enough, and Authors do upon many Occasions make mention of it; but when they come to explain the particular manner how this Kills, they most commonly reduce it to some of the _Poisons_ which prove destructive by being admitted into the Stomach, alledging that Malignant Fumes and Airs are therefore fatal, because impregnated with _Arsenical Mercurial_, and the like, Deleterious Μιάσματα or Particles, they do convey these into the Blood; which being of a very Corrosive Nature, must necessarily do hurt both to the Fluid and Solid Parts. And indeed that the _Fumes_ of these same Minerals are very pernicious, and Air fill’d with their Atoms very unfit for Respiration, is most certain; but to argue from hence, that all deadly _Vapours_ and Malignant _Airs_ owe their Mischief to these only, is too fond and ill-grounded a Conceit; since upon a due Enquiry it will appear, that there may be, and are, _Mortiferous Exhalations_ from the Earth, infecting the Air, of a Nature so different from any of those _Poisons_, that the very Substance from which they arise may not be at all hurtful, tho’ taken into the Stomach it self. _Venomous Steams and Damps_ from the Earth the _Latins_ in one Word call’d _Mephites_ (152). This, as many other _Tuscan_ Words, comes from a _Syriac_ Theme, which signifies to blow or breathe (153). And in ancient times several Places were notorious for ’em; so the _Mephitis_ of _Hierapolis_ was very Famous, of which _Cicero_, _Galen_, but more particularly, and from his own Sight and Knowledge _Strabo_ (154) makes mention. Such another was the _Specus Corycius_ in _Cilicia_, which upon the account of its stinking deadly Air, such as is thought to proceed from the Mouth of _Dragons_, which the Poets give to _Typhon_, was call’d _Cubile Typhonis_. This _Pompon. Mela_ (155) describes; and it is indeed as ancient as _Homer_ (156); for _Arima_, in which he places it, was, as _Eustathius_ says, a Mountain of _Cilicia_. Neither are such _Fumes_ as these infrequent Now-a-days; and though mostly taken notice of in Mines, Pits, and other Subterraneous Places, yet they are sometimes met with in the Surface of the Earth too, especially in Countries fruitful of Minerals, or pregnant with Imbowelled Fires; such are _Hungary_ and _Italy_, which latter (as _Seneca_ (157) observes) has always been more than any other remarkable for ’em. I shall therefore, having had the opportunity of making some Remarks upon One the most Famous of all in those Parts, give as good an account as I can of _That_, and its manner of Killing; which tho’ I dare not affirm to be universally applicable to any _Mephitis_ whatsoever, yet seems plainly to be the Case of most of ’em; and where it is not, this simple Mischief will only be found to be complicated with another; and then some extraordinary Symptoms or Appearances in the Animals kill’d, will easily make a Discovery of the Additional Venom and Malignity. This Celebrated _Mofeta_ taken notice of, (or at least some other hereabouts) even in the time of _Pliny_ (158), is about Two Miles distant from _Naples_, just by the _Lago d’ Agnano_, in the way to _Pozzoli_ or _Puteoli_, and is commonly call’d _la Grotta de Cani_, because the Experiment of its deadly Nature is frequently made upon _Dogs_; tho’ it be as certainly fatal to any other Animal, if it come within the reach of its Vapour; for _Charles the Eighth of_ France prov’d it so upon an _Ass_; and two _Slaves_ put into it by order of _D. Pietro di Toledo_, Viceroy of _Naples_, with their Heads held down to the Earth, were both kill’d (159). ’Tis a small _Grotta_ at the Foot of a little Hill, about Eight Foot high, Twelve long, and Six broad; from the Ground arises a thin, subtle, warm _Fume_, visible enough to a discerning Eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here and there, but is one continued Steam, covering the whole Surface of the bottom of the Cave; and has this remarkable difference from common Vapours, that it does not, like Smoak, disperse it self into the Air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, and returns to the Earth; the Colour of the sides of the _Grotta_ being the measure of its Ascent; for so far it is of a darkish Green, but higher, only common Earth, and this is about Ten Inches. And therefore as my self found no Inconvenience by standing in it, so no Animal if its Head be kept above this Mark is in the least injured: But when (as the manner is) a Dog, or any other Creature, is forcibly held below it, or by reason of its smalness can’t hold its Head above it, It presently, like one stunn’d, loses all Motion, falls down as Dead, or in a Swoon, the Limbs convuls’d and trembling, till at last no more sign of Life appears than a very weak and almost Insensible beating of the Heart and Arteries, which if the Animal be left there a little longer, quickly ceases too, and then the Case is Irrecoverable; But if snatch’d out, and laid in the open Air, soon comes to Life again, and sooner if thrown into the adjacent _Lake_. In this short, but accurate, History of the _Grotta de Cani_, I have set dow those Particulars which do not only distinguish _Mephitical_ Exhalations from common and innocent Fumes, but also give hints sufficient, I think, Mechanically to determine the Reason and Manner of their surprising Effects. And not to spend time in refuting the Opinions of Others, I shall only take Notice, that here can be no suspicion of any true _Venom_ or real Poison; if there was, it were impossible that Animals taken out of the _Grotta_, should so immediately recover the Effects of it, without any remaining appearance of Faintness and Sickness, or such like Symptoms as those suffer who have been breathing in an Air impregnated with malignant corrosive _Effluvia_. Besides, that the Venomous Corpuscles would certainly, in some Degree at least, infect the Air in the upper Part of the Cave, which continues pure, and fit for Respiration. Neither indeed after what manner soever this Poison be imagin’d to Act, whether by dissolving or coagulating the Blood, could its Efficacy be so sudden and momentaneous, without some Marks of it in the Creatures kill’d, when opened, which yet do discover nothing of this Nature extraordinary, neither in the Fluid, nor in the Solid Parts. In order therefore to understand wherein this deadly quality Consists; I say in the first Place, that Life, so far as it respects the Body, is, in one Word, the _Circulation_ of the Blood; that is, its Motion in _Conical_ Distractile Vessels from the Heart to the Extreme Parts, and its Return to the Heart again by the same Canals inverted; For ’tis upon this that all Animal Functions, all Sense and Motion Voluntary and Involuntary, do depend; so that the Regularity of this Course is the Measure of Health, or the most perfect Life, as its various Irregularities are the Occasions of Sickness and Diseases, or a beginning Death. Now all the Animal Operations and Offices which proceed from this Circulation, are the Effects of several Secretions of Liquors of very different Natures out of the same Fluid Mass; It was therefore absolutely necessary that the Blood, before It be distributed to the Organs, should be so comminuted and broken, as that no Cohæsion of its Parts should hinder the Separation of these _Juices_ from It, when it Arrives with a determinate Force at the Orifices of the Secretory Vessels. This Work is done in Its Passage thro’ the _Lungs_, by the repeated Compression of the Air in those _Bladders_ upon the Arteries, with wonderful Contrivance dispers’d among ’em (160). Herein lies the Use and Necessity of _Respiration_; and the sudden Mischief of Stopping it, in that the whole Mass of Blood being to pass this way, upon a Check here, there presently insues a Stagnation, that is, a Cessation of all Animal Functions, or Death; Which will be the more speedy, if not only no Air is inspired, but a Fluid of a quite different Nature from It succeeds in its Place. Wherefore it must be observed, that this good Effect of the Air is performed by its _Elasticity_; And that no Fluid whatsoever, that we know besides, is _Elastic_, at least to any considerable Degree, that is, has a faculty of expanding and dilating it self when compressed; No, not _Water_, as near as That is thought to approach to Air in its Nature. And now as to the present Case, I took notice before that this _Vapour_ is one continued and uninterrupted _Steam_, and that quickly after Its rise it falls down again; that is, that it has little or no mixture of Air with It, or no Elasticity; and is, on the other Hand, very heavy, when forsaken by the Force of _Heat_ that drove it upwards. So that I make no Question, but that Animals in this Place do instead of Air inspire _Mineral Fumes_, that is, a thin watery Vapour, impregnated with such Particles as do, when united together, compose solid and heavy Masses; which is so far from helping the Course of the Blood thro’ the _Lungs_, that it rather expels the Air out of the _Vesiculæ_, and straitens the Passage of the Blood Vessels, by its too great Gravity; whereupon the _Bladders_ are relaxed and subside, and the Circulation is immediately Interrupted. But if the Animal be in time removed out of this _Steam_, that small Portion of Air which does after every Exspiration remain in the _Vesiculæ_, may be powerful enough to drive out this Noxious Fluid; especially if the Head of the Creature be held downwards, that so its Gravity may forward its Expulsion; or It be thrown into Water, which by assisting, upon the account of its Coldness, the Contraction of the Fibres, promotes the retarded Circle of the Blood; as we every Day experience in a _Deliquium Animi_, or Swooning Fit. Tho’ if this Stagnation be continued too long, no Art can renew Life, no more than in One perfectly strangled; nor will the _Lake of Agnano_ it self be of any Service; which shews that there is no singular Virtue in That Water beyond any other; nor is it, as some have fondly Imagin’d, a Peculiar Antidote to the Poison of the _Grotta_. The bad Effects of such _Fumes_ as This will be the more certain, because the inspired Mineral Particles twitch and irritate the Membranes, which are hereupon contracted to that Degree, as not to be able to recover their Tone, and so the Force and Action of the _Lungs_ is quite lost. It appears from all This not to be at all necessary to make any farther Enquiry into the particular Nature of these Mineral Particles, since they do in this Case act chiefly by their _Gravity_, which is common to ’em all. Tho’ indeed the _Greenish_ Colour of the Earth, together with its _Subacid_ Taste, very much (as _L. di Capoa_ observes) like to that of the _Phlegm_ of _Vitriol_, seem to declare them, if not altogether, yet principally at least, to be _Vitriolick_. To conclude this Part of our Discourse; I think it a sufficient Confirmation of this Reasoning, that in _Frogs_ kill’d in this _Grotta_, the _Bladders_ of the Lungs (more visible otherwise and distinct in these Creatures than in most others), were found subsided, and quite empty of Air (161). But if any one desires a farther Proof, he may, according to these Principles, make (as _Lionardo di Capoa_ (162) did) an Artificial _Mephitis_; for if _Antimony_, _Bismuth_, or any other such Mineral be finely powdered, and moistened with _Aqua Fortis_, or _Spirit_ of _Nitre_, there will arise a great Heat, and a thick dark Smoak, in which, as in the _Grotta de Cani_, Torches are extinguish’d, and Animals, tho’ but slowly, stifled and kill’d. And this Effect will be more sensible, and equal to the most Violent _Mephites_, if the _Antimony_ or _Marcasite_ be mix’d with _Bitumen_, and the _Spirit_ of _Nitre_, or _Aqua Fortis_, intirely depurated from all its _Phlegm_. * * * * * And thus I have shewn how Death may enter at the Nostrils, tho’ nothing properly _Venomous_ be inspired. It were perhaps no difficult Matter to make it appear, how a lesser Degree of this Mischief may produce Effects, tho’ seemingly very different from these now mention’d, yet in reality of the same Pernicious Nature; I mean, how such an alteration of the common Air as renders it in a manner _Mephitical_, that is, increases its _Gravity_, and lessens its _Elasticity_, (which is done by too much Heat, and at the same time too great a Proportion of watery and other grosser Particles mixt with it) may be the Cause of _Epidemic_ Diseases, and, it may be, more especially of those, which by Reason of their untoward Symptoms, are usually call’d _Malignant_. For it is very Remarkable, that _Hippocrates_ (163) observ’d the Constitution of the Air, which preceded _Pestilential_ Fevers, to be great _Heats_, attended with much _Rain_ and Southern Winds; and _Galen_ (164) takes Notice, that no other than a _moist_ and _hot_ Temperament of the Air brings the _Plague_ it self; and that the Duration of this Constitution is the Measure of the Violence of the Pestilence. _Lucretius_ (165) is of the same Mind, for in his admirable Description of the _Plague_ of _Athens_, These _Diseases_, says He, _either come from the Air, or arise from the Earth_, ――_Ubi_ Putrorem humida _nacta est Intempestivis_ Pluviisq; _&_ Solibus _icta_. In short, the general _Histories_ of _Epidemic_ Distempers, do almost constantly Confirm thus much, and would have done it more, if the vain Notion of _Occult Venoms_ had not prepossess’d the Minds of Authors, and made Them regardless of the manifest Causes. And this is notorious enough in those Countries where _Malignant_ Diseases are most rife; Thus it is a very common Observation in the _East-Indies_, that during the dry Heats the Season is Healthful, but when the Rains fall immediately upon the Hot Weather, then _untoward Fevers_ begin to threaten. The same is observ’d in _Africa_; for (as _Joan_, _Leo_ (166) relates) if _Showers_ fall there during the Sultry _Heats_ of _July_ and _August_, the _Plague_ and Pestilential Fevers insue thereupon, with which whosoever is infected hardly escapes. And here I might, by Reflecting on the Use and Necessity of _Respiration_, and the particular manner of performing It, (of which I have hinted something already) and considering withal the true Nature of _Fevers_, easily shew how such a Constitution of the Air, as this is, must necessarily produce such Effects; might run over the _Propositions_ of _Bellini_; which _as_ they do plainly evince _Malignant_ and _Pestilential Fevers_ to be owing to a viscid and tenacious _Lentor_ or Slime, which at first obstructs the Capillary Arteries, and afterwards being dissolved by Heat, Ferments with the Blood, and changes it into a Mass unequally Fluid and Glutinous, and therefore unfit for all the Operations of the Animal OEconomy; _so_ it would be no uneasie Task to prove, that Air at the same time _Hot_ and _Moist_, being less able to comminute and break the Arterial Fluid in the _Lungs_ than is necessary, in order to prepare it for Secretions, it is no wonder, if when the Blood passing thro’ the Capillary Vessels arrives at the Secretory Organs, the Cohæsion of its Parts not being sufficiently removed, instead of deriving several Juices out of it into the Glands, it leaves its most Glutinous and Viscid Parts sticking about the Orifices of these Vessels; which tho’ they may at first be wash’d away by the repeated Impulses of the succeeding Blood, yet the Cause continuing, and these Strokes growing still Weaker and Weaker, (from a lesser quantity of Spirits being separated, and hence a more languid Contraction of the Heart) These Obstructions are increas’d to that Degree as not to be remov’d, till by the Violent Agitation of a greater Heat, this _Slimy Mucus_ is thrown into the Blood again, and there in the Nature of a _Ferment_ so disturbs its _Mixture_, and changes its _Compages_, as to make it a Fluid of quite different Properties, that is, altogether unfit for the same Functions or Offices. This Effect will be the more certain, because a damp Air upon the surface of the Body checks insensible Perspiration, so that a great quantity of this being detained, the Obstructions are still greater in the small Tubes; whereas indeed upon the Account of a more than ordinary Heat, this Discharge ought now to be in an increased Proportion. Such a Disposition of the Blood as this the Ancients call’d _Putrid_; and to speak plainly, it is a Beginning Stagnation, with a Succeeding Heat and Fermentation. Nor would it be amiss here to take notice, how unjustly some Authors, having quitted the Consideration of _plain Causes_, for _Occult Venoms_ and _Deleterium quid_, have brought in the θεῖον τὶ (_something Divine_) of _Hippocrates_ (167) to favour their fond _Hypothesis_; tho’ His best Interpreter _Galen_, understood by this Expression no such thing as they mean; but on the other Hand, only the _manifest Constitution of the ambient Air_, such as himself has described in his _Aphorisms_ (168), and which is exactly the same with That We have been discoursing of. And therefore not only does _Minadous_ (169) rightly Remark, that in his whole _Epidemics, Hippocrates_ never once mentions any _Venom_ or Poison as the Cause of _Malignant_ Diseases; But the Divine Old Man himself in another _Treatise_ (170) expresly teaches Us, that _All Maladies do equally, or one as much as another, proceed from the Gods, there being nothing more Divine in this than in that, each acknowledging its own Natural and Manifest Cause_. But I willingly wave insisting upon these Heads, as well as the Hints which might be taken from this Theory, of some Use perhaps in the Cure of these Distempers; and leave it to our Physicians to judge upon how good Grounds They do, in Cases of this Nature, under the Notion of _Alexipharmics_, give such Medicines as raise a great Heat both in the Stomach and Blood; only praying Them to take Care, least while They are ingaging the Animal Spirits in War with _Malignities_, They do send Treacherous _Auxiliaries_ to the supposed weak _Party_; that is, that they either raise new Tumults and Disorders of worse Consequence than the Original Mischief; or at least, by clogging the Wheels, and throwing Dust upon the Springs of the finest Machine in the Creation, do check and interrupt the Action of Nature (171), when ’tis imploy’d about the most Nice and _Critical_ Work. Neither can I, tho’ an occasion be fairly offer’d, by any means be induced to intermeddle in the Controversie of those Gentlemen, who by the help of Two Words are made Masters both of Philosophy and Physick; I mean, the Violent Assertors of _Acid_ and _Alkali_. These scanty Principles fall infinitely short of that vast Variety there is in the Works of Nature; However, for Their Sakes who are as yet Advanc’d no farther, I will advise the Contending Parties, (because little good is got by Quarrelling) to Think of an Union, and if They can find no Remedies but out of these Two Tribes, to make Use of such as result from a prudent Mixture of some out of Each. If this _Project_ does not take, to Resolve however on both sides, To Distinguish the differing Times of the same Disease, and know, that _as_, on the one Hand, _Acid_ Medicines are oftentimes as certainly hurtful in the latter End, as they do service in the Beginning of the Fever; _so_, on the other, those which are _Alcalious_ must necessarily for the same Reason do mischief in the first Periods, for which they are profitable in the last Days of the Distemper. By what Mechanism this comes to pass, They will easily understand, when they have learn’d what Alteration such things as these are do make in the humane Body; nor will it then be a difficult Matter to convince Them, That He is equally a fond Slave to an _Hypothesis_, who because _Acids_ are sometimes of great Service in Fevers, concludes that their Origine is _Alcalious_; as He who knowing that Stagnating and Fermenting Juices do easily turn to _Acidity_, from thence Argues that _Alcalies_ are the only Cure of this Stagnation and Ferment. But Dr. _Pitcarne_ (172) has abundantly demonstrated the Weakness of These Men’s Reasonings, and the Vanity of such Immechanical Theories. And here I would put a Period to this Part of the Discourse, were it not that these Distempers being sometimes _Contagious_, and _Contagion_ being justly reputed a real _Poison_, it may be worth the while to examine a little what This is, and wherein it consists; more especially, because some may perhaps be apt to think This to be an Argument of an _Occult Venom_’s being the First and Original Cause. We are therefore to take Notice, that when a _Fever_ is communicated by way of _Infection_ from one already Diseased, this most commonly happens in the latter End of the Distemper, that is, (as we before discoursed concerning the Hydrophobia) when the Fermenting Blood is throwing off great quantities of its Active Fermentative Particles upon the Glands of the most constant and easie Secretion; such are those in the Surface of the Body, and the Mouth and Stomach; By this means therefore the Liquid of insensible Perspiration, and the Sweat is impregnated with these μιάσματα, and thus the ambient Air becomes fill’d with ’em; so that not only, (as _Bellini_ Argues (173),) may some of these _Effluvia_ insinuate themselves into the Blood of a sound Person thro’ the Pores of the outward Skin, but also in Inspiration thro’ the Membrane of the Lungs; for He has in another Place (174) demonstrated how the Air, or something from It, may this way come to be mix’d with the Arterial Fluid; And thus the like _Ferment_ will be rais’d Here, as was in the Originally Distemper’d Subject. This may be _One_, but there is perhaps _another_ yet more dangerous manner of _Infection_, and that is, by the Breath of the Diseased taken in by a By-stander, especially in the last Moments, seizing the _Stomach_, and fixing a _Malignity_ There. For it is upon this Score, that Those who are _Infected_ do presently complain of an extreme Pain and _Nausea_ in the upper Orifice of the Stomach; and that all Authors do agree in the admirable Use of _Vomits_ timely given in this Case; These by their Stimulating Force removing the very _Minera_ of the Disease; and likewise that, oftentimes in _Pestilential_ Illnesses, the _Stomach_ when open’d has been found Gangren’d and Mortify’d. This made _Van Helmont_ (175), who had observ’d this Part in one kill’d by a _Plague Infection_, perforated and eroded in several Places, no otherwise than He had seen in one Poison’d by _Arsenick_, conclude, that the Plague for the most Part begins in the Stomach from a coagulated _Tartar_ there. Herein lies the difference of _Contagion_, from the first Invasion of Malignant Distempers; The Effects of the _One_ are the Cause and Beginning of the _Other_; and therefore it is no wonder, if tho’ the Symptoms in the former are by a gradual Increase wrought up to their height, they do however in the latter, even at the very first, discover their ill Nature and Violence, and, like a reinforc’d Enemy, by surer Strokes make quicker Dispatch. And this also is the Reason of the great Increase of _Funerals_ in Plague Time, in that One Death is thus added to Another. If it be difficult to explain the particular manner how the _Stomach_ comes to be thus affected, We must not therefore deny Matter of Fact; and may however probably Conjecture, that the last _Breath_ of one Dying of a Malignant Distemper, proves thus pernicious, in that Those fermenting active Particles, which, as we just now observ’d, the Blood discharges upon the Glands of the _Mouth_, _Stomach_, _Lungs_, &c. impregnating the Air in its Passage thro’ these; when the same happens to be immediately inspired by a sound Person, it may easily taint the _Salival_ Juices in the Mouth, which are very Glutinous, and of a fermenting Nature, and therefore susceptible enough of _Contagious Effluvia_, but especially of such as proceed from the same Liquor infected in the Sick Party. Now the _Spittle_ is continually swallow’d down into the Stomach, and so will quickly impress its _Labes_, or ill Quality, on so tender and sensible a Part; that is, will lodge these Corrosive _Salts_, (for such We may suppose the Particles of Infection) in the Secretory Ducts; whereupon the Glands being obstructed, little _Tumors_ are by the Afflux of their Fluid rais’d here and there, which breaking become small _Ulcers_, and produce that dismal Train of Symptoms which we have already related. And here it may not be amiss to take notice, that all Authors do agree, One great Cause of _Pestilential_ Distempers, especially in Armies and Camps, to be dead Bodies lying expos’d and rotting in the open Air; The Reason of which is plain from what we have been advancing; For Battels being generally fought in the Summer Time, it is no wonder, if the Heat acting upon the unbury’d _Carcasses_, and _Fermenting_ the Juices, draws forth those active Particles, which in great quantities filling the Atmosphere, when they are inspired and let into the Stomach, do affect It after the manner already described. To illustrate this Matter, I shall relate a remarkable Story told Me by the learned Dr. _Baynard_. The Body of a Malefactor was Hung up in Chains in the Country; after a few Months, in very hot Weather it was Sport and Pastime to some Boys, Playing thereabouts to Swing the Carcass up and down; One more bold than the Rest struck It with his Fist upon the naked Belly, which being outwardly parch’d and dry, and from the falling down of the Humours Swell’d and Tense, was easily burst by the Blow; out gush’d a Water so Corrosive and Fiery, that running down the poor Lad’s Arm, it caus’d a Violent _Excoriation_, and a very hard Matter it was to preserve It from being truly mortified. What this _Serum_ could do upon the outward Skin, the more Volatile Parts of It would, without all doubt, Effect upon the more tender and sensible Membranes of the _Stomach_, if a considerable number of them were fixt there. The Fluids of Humane Bodies being Ranker and more abounding in active Salts than those of other Creatures, which are not continually repaired and nourish’d by the Juices of Animals. The Way by which _Bad Food_, _ill ripened Fruits_ of the Earth, _&c._ do oftentimes produce _Malignant_ and _Pestilential_ Diseases, is not very different from _That_ by which We have observ’d Unwholesome Airs to be the Cause of the like Effects. For the Juices with which Those do supply the Blood being Corrupted, must necessarily make a Fluid of quite other Properties than what the Animal Œconomy requires, that is, neither Fit for Nutrition, nor for the Secretion of those Liquors which in the several Organs are to be derived from It; whereupon the small _Tubes_ are obstructed by an unequally Glutinous _Slime_; and it is therefore no wonder, if besides the other Symptoms insuing, _Sore Pustules_, _Inflammations_, _Ulcers_, &c. (more common in Fevers from this Cause than in any other,) are raised in the Surface of the Body. This is the Ground of the common Observation, that a _Famine_ is very often succeeded by a _Pestilence_. And This _Calamity_ generally begins among the Poorer sort of People, whose Diet to be sure is the worst. The City of _Surat_ in the _East-Indies_ is seldom or never free from the Plague; and yet it is observ’d, that the _English_ who Trade there are in no danger of being Infected thereby. Now the Chief of the Natives in this Place are _Banians_, who neither Eat Flesh, nor Drink Wine, but Live very Poorly upon _Herbs_, _Rice_, _Water_, &c. and most of the Inhabitants do the like, except Foreigners; This Poor Fare, together with the Heat of the Climate, makes them so liable to Malignant Distempers; from the Attacks of which Those who Feed well are more Safe and Secure. * * * * * Thus much concerning _Poisonous Exhalations and Airs_, so far as the Consideration of the _Grotta de’ Cani_ has led Us on to enquire into their Effects; for tho’ there may be other Alterations of this same Element, differing in their Nature from this we have insisted upon, and yet equally Pernicious and Hurtful, yet We take no Notice of any of them, in regard that those which are from _Arsenical_, _Mercurial_, and the like _Fumes_, are reducible to a foregoing _Essay_; and those which are owing to a Change of the known Properties of the Air, may be easily explain’d by what has been already delivered in _This_. I shall therefore rather chuse to make some Remarks on the Mischief of another _Fluid_, which _as_ It is the next in use to This we have been treating of, _so_ the bad Qualities of it, when it comes to be altered, must necessarily be almost equally Fatal and Dangerous. I mean _Water_, which is of so constant Service, not only for our Drinks, but also in preparing of our Flesh and Bread, that it may justly be said to be the _Vehicle_ of all our Nourishment; so that whenever this happens to put on other Properties than are necessary to fit it for this Purpose, it is no wonder if in its Passage thro’ the Body these do make suitable Impressions there. Thus at _Paris_ (176), where the Water of the River _Seine_ is so full of Stony Corpuscles, that even the Pipes through which it is carried, in time are incrusted and stopt up by ’em, The Inhabitants are more Subject to the _Stone_ in the Bladder than in most other Cities. The same I observed in the _Baths_ of _Abano_, a few Miles from _Padua_, to that Degree, that it is necessary very frequently to clear the Wheel of a Mill driven by the Current of these Springs, from the great quantity of _petrify’d_ Matter with which it is from time to time incumbered. In like manner, let the gross Particles with which the _Water_ is saturated be of any other Nature, _Metallick_, _Salts_, &c. these, according to their various Gravity, the Capacity of Canals, and such like Circumstances, will, when they come to circulate in the Animal Body, be by the Laws of Motion deposited in one Part or other. So those Mineral Bodies, and Nitrous Salts, which abound in the Snowy Waters of the _Alps_, do so certainly Stuff and Inlarge the Glands of the Throat in Those who Drink ’em, that scarce any who live there are exempted from this Inconvenience (177). For this Reason, the Choice of _Water_ for Drink among the Ancients was by Weight, the lightest being preferr’d, as, most free from all Heterogeneous Bodies. The Case therefore of _Poisonous Springs_ is, their having Corrosive Corpuscles mixt with their Water, which cannot fail when forsaken in the Canals of the Body of their Vehicle, to do the same mischief as they would if taken by themselves undiluted; only with this difference, that they may in this form be carried sometimes farther into the Animal Œconomy, and so having pass’d the _Primæ Viæ_, discover their Malignity in some of the inmost Recesses. Thus the _Fons Ruber_ in _Æthiopia_, mention’d by _Pliny_ (178), about which abundance of native _Minium_ or _Cinnabar_ was found, shew’d its ill Effects chiefly on the Brain; and therefore _Ovid_ (179) says of it, ――_Si quis Faucibus hausit Aut Furit aut patitur mirum gravitate Soporem._ We shall not need then to inlarge on this Matter, since any of the foremention’d _Mineral Poisons_ may thus impart their deadly quality to Waters; and accordingly there are Instances of _Arsenical_, _Mercurial_, &c. Fountains, of which the Histories may be seen in the Collections of the Learned _Baccius_ (180). And one very remarkable in the _Philosophical Transactions_ (181). But as We before took Notice concerning _Airs_, so it may be worth the while to observe of _Waters_; that there are some Alterations of them, which tho’ not properly _Poisonous_, yet are of so great Consequence in their Effects, that they may very well deserve to be regarded. This I shall do with respect to a great Abuse, committed in this kind about the City; and that is, In the chusing of stagnating impure _Well-Water_ for the _Brewing_ of _Beer_, and making other Drinks. Such a Fluid indeed has oftentimes a greater Force and Aptness to extract the Tincture out of _Malt_, than is to be had in the more innocent and soft Liquor of Rivers; but for this very Reason it ought not, unless upon meer Necessity, to be made use of; this quality being owing to the _Mineral_ Particles and _Aluminous_ Salts with which it is impregnated. A late _Author_ (182) by searching into the first Accounts of the Distemper we call the _Scurvy_, describ’d by _Pliny_ (183) and _Strabo_ (184), under the promiscuous Names of _Stomacace_ and _Scelotyrbe_; and examining the Authentick Histories of It in later Years, made by the most observing Physicians in those Countries where it was unhappily revived, as _Olaus Magnus_, _Balduinus Ronseus_, _J. Wierus_, _Solomon Albertus_, &c. finds that the Origine of It was in all times and places charged upon the use of unwholesome stagnating _Waters_. Then by comparing together the _Clayie Strata_ of the Earth about the Cities of _London_, _Paris_, and _Amsterdam_, He shews that where the Water is worst, there this Malady is most rife. So that He has put it out of all doubt, that most of the perplex’d and complicated Symptoms which are ranged under this one general Name, if they do not entirely owe their Birth to the Malignity of this Element, do however acknowledge it to be their main and principal Cause. And indeed _Hippocrates_ himself, as He has very plainly decipher’d this Disease (185), by the Title of σπλῆνες μέγαλοι, or _great Milts_; so he does very particularly in another _Treatise_ (186), take notice, that Drinking of _Stagnating Well-Waters_ must necessarily induce an ill Disposition both of the _Milt_ and Belly. If we enquire into the Reason of such ill Effects, we must consider, that _Clay_ is a _Mineral Glebe_, and that the gross Particles and Metallick Salts with which Waters passing thro’ such a Bottom do abound, are, as Dr. _Lister_ (187) observes, not to be mastered, that is, indigestible in the Humane Body. Not only therefore will these Cause, as He very well Argues, calculous Concretions in the _Kidneys_, _Bladder_, and _Joints_; and as _Hippocrates_ experienced, hard Swellings in the _Spleen_; but they must necessarily oftentimes by their Corrosive quality twitch and irritate the sensible Membranes of the Stomach and Bowels, and thus hinder and interrupt the Digestion of our Food. Nay, besides all this, when they come into the Blood, it is no wonder if the small Canals of insensible Perspiration are frequently stopt and obstructed by ’em; for it is upon this Score that _Sanctorius_ (188) teaches Us, that _heavy Water converts the Matter of Transpiration into an_ Ichor, _which being retained, induces a_ Cachexy. What Mischiefs will insue hereupon every one sees; not only Pains in the Limbs, livid Spots in the Surface of the Body, Ulcers, _&c._ from the Acrimony of the undischarged Moisture; but many besides of those perplexing Symptoms which go by the Name of _Hysterical_ and _Hypochondriacal_, may take their rise from the same Source; for the before cited _Sanctorius_ (189) has remark’d, that the _Flatus or Wind_ so inseparable from those Cases, is no other than _the Fluid of Perspiration rude and unfinished_. If these Inconveniencies are oftentimes not felt, at least not till towards the declining Age, in strong and active Habits of Body; yet I am, from very good Experience, assured, that they deserve Consideration in weaker Constitutions, and a Sedentary Life, especially of the more tender Sex. I have the honour to be nearly related to a worthy Person, who led formerly an afflicted Life from the frequent returns of Violent _Colick Pains_, till she was with happy Success advised by the Noble _Van Helmont_ not to Drink (as she then did) Beer Brewed with _Well-Water_; and her Health is even now so far owing to this Management, that an Error in It is unavoidably follow’d with the wonted Complaints. For these Reasons _Pliny_ (190) tells Us, that _Those Waters are Condemn’d in the first Place, which when Boiled do incrustate the sides of the Vessels_; And that our _Well-Waters_ do this, no Body who looks into the _Tea-Kettles_ of our Gentlewomen can be Ignorant. And indeed in Ancient Times, when Physick was more a Science, which is now more a Trade, as that Part of It, which relates to _Diet_ was more carefully studied, than it is Now-a-days; so this Point particularly of which we are Treating was of so great Moment, that _Hippocrates_, who wrote the best Book (191) on the Subject that ever was Publish’d, has in a great Measure accounted not only for the Diseases, but even for the Temper and Disposition of the People of several Countries, from the Difference of the _Waters_ with which Nature has supplied Them. FOOTNOTES to ESSAY V. (152) _Virgil_ Æn. 7. v. 8. ―― _Sævamq; exhalat. opaca Mephitim._ _Vid. Servium, ibid._ (153) _Scaliger. Conject. in Varron._ (154) Lib. 13. (155) _De Situ Orb._ l. 1. c. 13. (156) Ἐιν Ἀρίμοις ὅθι φασὶ Τυφώεος ἔμμθυαι ἐυνάς. Il. Β. v. 783. (157) _Nat. Quæst._ l. 6. c. 28. (158) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 93. (159) _L. di Capoa delle Mofet._ pag. 37. (160) Vid. _Malpigh. de Pulmon._ (161) _Vid. L. di Capoa Mofet._ pag. 40. (162) Pag. 128. (163) _Epidem._ l. 2, & 3. (164) _De Temperament._ l. 1. c. 4. & _Commentar. in Epidem._ l. 3. (165) L. 6. v. 1098. (166) Histor. Afric. _l._ 1. _c._ 1. Vid. Purchas’s _Pilgrims_, _l._ 6. _c._ 1. (167) _Prognostic._ 1. & _Galen. Comment_. (168) Sect. 3. Aph. 11. (169) _De Febre Malign_ l. 1. c. 11. (170) _De Aere, Locis, & Aquis._ (171) Φύσιες Νούσων ἰητροἰ. _Hippocr._ Epid. 6. (172) _Dissertatio de opera quam præstant corpora acida vel alcalica in Curatione Morborum._ (173) _De Febrib._ Prop. 27. (174) _De Motu Cordis_, Prop. 9. (175) _Tumulus Pestis_, pag. m. 163, & 172. (176) _Vid. Lister_’s Voyage to _Paris_. (177) _Quis tumidum Guttur miratur in Alpibus._ Juvenal Satyr. 13. (178) Lib. 31. cap. 2. (179) _Metam._ lib. 15. (180) _De Therm._ lib. 6. (181) _N^o. 8._ (182) Dr. _J. H. Scelera Aquarum_: Or, a Supplement to Mr. _Graunt_ on the Bills of Mortality. (183) Lib. 25. c. 3. (184) _Geogr._ lib. 6. (185) _Prorrhet._ l. 2. c. 16. (186) _De Aere Aquis & Locis_, _sub finem_. (187) _De Fontib. Med. Angl._ _P._ 2. pag. 75. _At fossilia sive Metallica salix aliæ atq; alia sunt, & nobis & pene igni dixeram indomabilia._ (188) _Medicin. Static._ Sect. 2. Aphor. 6. (189) _Ibid._ Sect. 3. Ap. 13. _Flatus nil aliud est quam rude perspirabile._ (190) _Lib._ 31. c. 3. _Damnantur imprimis Fontes quorum Aquæ decoctæ crassis obducunt Vasa crustis._ (191) _De Aere, Locis, & Aquis._ _FINIS._ _The Explication of Those Figures which are not Explained in the Treatise._ [Illustration: Figs. 1–19. _M. Vander Gucht Sculp._] _Fig. 1._ Represents the Head of the _Viper_ in its Natural Bigness, with the Mouth open, and Fangs Erected. (_a_) Marks the Poisonous _Fang_. (_b_) The Eye. (_c_) The Hole of one Nostril. (_d_) The _Larynx_. (_e_) The Forked Tongue. _All the Other Figures relating to the 〈Viper〉 are drawn larger than the Life._ _Fig. 7, & 8._ Exhibit some Muscles, which serve for the Motion of the Jaws. (_a, Fig. 7._) _Elevator Maxillæ Inferioris._ (_b_) _Depressor ejusdem._ (_c_) _Depressor Dentis Venenosi._ (_d_) A Strong Ligament fastened by one Extremity to the Spinal _Apophysis_ of the Second _Vertebra_ of the Neck, and by the other to the end of the _Elevator Maxillæ Inferioris_. (_a, Fig. 8._) A Muscle, which being fixt to the Extremity of both Jaws, serves to pull them backwards, and may be call’d _Retractor_. (_b_) The Internal side of the _Depressor Dentis Venenosi_. (_c_) _Elevator Dentis Venenosi._ (_d_) The Extremity of the Lower Jaw. (_e e_) _Flexores Capitis._ (_f_) The Internal Part of the Skin covered with some Muscular Fibres. _Fig. 17._ Shews the Head of the _Scolopendra_. (_a a_) The Wounding Claws. (_b_) The Mouth. (_c c_) The Two First Feet. _Fig. 18._ The Weapons of the _Nhamdu_ in their Natural Bigness. [Illustration] * * * * * * Transcriber's note: Footnotes were moved to the ends of chapters and renumbered 1–191. Original spelling and grammar are generally retained, with a few exceptions noted below. Page viii. The phrase "Which do no not promise a" was changed to "Which do not promise a". Page 19. Changed _impregdated_ to _impregnated_ in the phrase “tho’ it be duly impregdated with Salt”. Page 20. “Strenghning” is retained. Page 23. “Royal Acamy” is retained. Page 26n. “Sanie & hnmano Sanguine” to “Sanie & humano Sanguine”. Page 83. In this discussion, the footnote designators are the original printed ones, which have been changed to numbers in this edition. There were four footnote anchors [a, b, c, c] on the page, which begins with “Nerves, with a great inward”, and four distinct footnotes labeled [a b c c]. The fourth has been herein given its own distinct anchor and label. Then on page 84, which begins “That this Disease is accompany’d with a _Delirium_”, there were two printed footnote anchors [e, f], and three footnotes [d, e, f]. The footnote originally labeled “d” is herein eliminated from page 84; it said “_Vid. Galen. de Theriac. ad Pison_, l. 1. cap. 16.”. Page 94. The third footnote (now numbered 89) originally read approximately thus: “(f) _Vid. Aetium._ .6: c. 24.” but there is a smudge preceding the “.6:”, possibly a number or some other character. Page 97. There were three footnotes [f g h] on this page, which begins with “this Spongy Excrescence, if it be”, and only two footnote anchors [g h]. The first footnote (f) is a duplicate of the third and last footnote from page 96, and so has been removed from this edition. Page 120. Changed _Treament_ to _Treatment_, in “Symptoms from so severe a Treament”. Page 122. The phrase “found in Mines of God” is retained, but is perhaps wrong. The first footnote, now labeled 130, beginning “(f) _Lib._ [smudge]” is partly illegible. Page 127. 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