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Footnote 1:
The College of Physicians may now be said to possess one of the most
complete collections of Materia Medica in Europe. That collected by
Dr. Burgess, and presented to the College after his death by Mr.
Brande, to whom it was bequeathed, has lately been collated with the
cabinet of Dr. Coombe, purchased for that purpose. Its arrangement has
been directed by a feeling of convenience for reference, rather than
by any theoretical views relative to the natural, chemical, and
medicinal histories of its constituent parts. Under proper
regulations, it is accessible to the studious and respectable members
of the profession.
Footnote 2:
A late foreign writer impressed with this sentiment has given the
following flattering definition of our profession. ‘Physic is the art
of amusing the patient, while Nature cures the disease.’ This is a
sarcasm which can only be equalled by the churlish and ill-humoured
apostrophe of our own Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, in speaking of the
profession of physic, exclaims ‘It is a melancholy attendance on
misery; a mean submission to peevishness; and a continual interruption
of pleasure.’
Footnote 3:
Observation, says professor Leslie, is the close inspection and
attentive examination of those phenomena which arise in the course of
Nature; Experiment, as the term implies, consists in a kind of trial,
or artificial selection and combination of circumstances, for the
purpose of searching after the remote results.
Footnote 4:
The refractive power of an inflammable body bears also a proportion to
its perfection, whence it may be sometimes used as a test of its
purity; thus Dr. Wollaston found that genuine Oil of Cloves had a
refractive power of 1.535, while that of an inferior quality did not
exceed 1.498.
Footnote 5:
Elizabeth Woodcock, who was buried in the snow for the space of eight
days, in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and whom I frequently
visited, died in consequence of the stimulants which she could not
resist, and which in her peculiar state of excitement she was unable
to bear. In the first volume of the Memoirs of the Philosophical
Society of Manchester, a case of a Miner is recorded, who after
remaining for eight days without food, was killed by being placed in a
warm bed, and fed with chicken-broth.
Footnote 6:
For this purpose it appears that the toad was baked alive. The
following is the receipt in Colborne’s Dispensatory; ‘Bufo
Præparatus.’ “Put the toads alive into an earthen pot, and dry them in
an oven moderately heated, till they become fit to be powdered.”!
Footnote 7:
The application of the reeking entrails of a recently slain animal,
appears to have been one of the earliest methods adopted for the
relief of pain.
Footnote 8:
The words ‘Incantation,’ and ‘Charm,’ appear to have been derived from
the ancient practice of curing diseases by Poetry and Music. (Carmen)
Thus Cœlius Aurelianus, decantare loca Dolentia. Democritus says that
many diseases are capable of being cured by the sound of a flute, when
properly played. Marianus Capellus assures us, that fevers may be
cured by appropriate songs; Asclepiades actually employed the trumpet,
for the relief of Sciatica, and tells us that it is to be continued
until the fibres of the part begin to palpitate, when the pain will
vanish.
Footnote 9:
similar superstition is still practised by the Indians. There is a
species of green jasper found in many parts of America, particularly
in New Spain, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Piedra de
la Hyada, and is used for curing the Cholic by being applied to the
navel.
Footnote 10:
Lib. viii. c. 2. 5.
Footnote 11:
From this Art of Solomon, exhibited through the medium of a ring, or
seal, we have the eastern stories which celebrate the SEAL OF SOLOMON,
and record the potency of its sway over the various orders of Demons,
or of Genii, who are supposed to be the invisible tormentors or
benefactors of the human race.
Footnote 12:
Let the tradition respecting the discovery of the virtues of the bark
serve as an illustration. We are told, that an Indian being ill of a
fever, quenched his thirst at a pool of water, strongly impregnated
with the bark from some trees having accidentally fallen into it, and
that he was in consequence cured.
Footnote 13:
As these persons were ambitious to pass for the descendants of
Esculapius, they assumed the name of The ASCLEPIADES. The writings of
Pausanius, Philostratus, and Plutarch, abound with the artifices of
those early physicians. Aristophanes describes in a truly comic manner
the craft and pious avarice of these godly men, and mentions the
dexterity and promptitude with which they collected, and put into
their bags, the offerings on the altar. The patients, during this
period, reposed on the skins of sacrificed rams, in order that they
might procure celestial visions. As soon as they were believed to be
asleep, a priest, clothed in the dress of Esculapius, imitating his
manners, and accompanied by the daughters of the god, that is, by
young actresses, thoroughly instructed in their parts, entered, and
delivered a medical opinion.
Footnote 14:
Odyss Δ.
Footnote 15:
Hence, the Tincture of Opium has been called _Thebaic_ Tincture.
Footnote 16:
The Laurel was sacred to Apollo, with plantations of which his temples
were surrounded. Lucan informs us (Pharsal. lib. v.) that the speedy
death of the priestess was often occasioned by the ceremony.
Footnote 17:
Allusions to this plant frequently occur in the medical writings of
antiquity; we are told that Galen, in the decline of life, suffered
much from morbid vigilance, until he had recourse to eating a lettuce
every evening, which cured him.
Footnote 18:
Iliad Δ.
Footnote 19:
The Plague of London was supposed to have arisen from such a cause, as
we learn from the writers of that period. I shall quote a passage from
a pamphlet by W. Kemp, M. A. dedicated to Charles the Second. ‘One
cause of breeding the pestilence is that corruption of the air, which
is occasioned by the influence of the Stars, by the aspects,
conjunctions, and oppositions of the Planets, by the eclipses of the
Sun and Moon, and by the consequences of Comets.’ ‘Astra regunt
homines, sed regit astra Deus.’ Hippocrates advises his son Thessalus
to study numbers and geometry, (‘Epist. ad Thessalum.’) because, says
he, the rising and setting of the Stars have a great effect upon
Distempers. Citois, the historian of the celebrated Colic of Poitou
(Colica Pictonum), which raged with such epidemic fury in that
province during the Sixteenth century, drops a hint, apparently with a
view to account for the origin of the disease, viz. that to the great
astonishment of Astrologers, ‘a new Star had, in the same year made
its appearance in the constellation of Cassiopeia’.—(Diatriba de novo
et populari, apud Pictones, dolore colico bilioso.)
Footnote 20:
The precious stones were, at first, only used as Amulets, or external
charms, but like many other articles of the Materia Medica, they
passed, by a mistake in the mode of their application, from the
outside to the inside of the body, and they were accordingly powdered
and administered as specifics. An analogous case of the perverted
administration of a popular remedy is afforded in the history of the
Tench; which Sennertus describes as a remedy capable of curing the
Jaundice, which he allows is effected ‘by secret attraction, and the
power of Amulets.’ In the course of time, it became a reputed food in
the cure of that disease, and Tench broth was prescribed upon all such
occasions.
Footnote 21:
Mystery is the very soul of Empiricism; withdraw the veil, and the
confidence of the patient instantly languishes; thus Pliny, ‘Minus
credunt quæ ad suam salutem pertinent, si intelligunt.’
Footnote 22:
It was this historian who said, that Medicine was invented by Apollo,
improved by Esculapius, and brought to perfection by the physician of
Cos.
Footnote 23:
Paracelsus exclaims, ‘Stellas terrenes esse Plantas, quæ celestes
plantas, i. e. Stellas, respiciant, ita ut quævis planta suam habeat
stellam specificam.’
The Druids of Gaul and Britain, who were both priests and physicians,
gathered and cut the _Missletoe_ with a golden knife, only when the
Moon was six days old, and being afterwards consecrated by certain
forms, it was considered as an antidote to poisons, and a preventive
of sterility. Plinii. Lib. xvi, c. 44.
The _Vervain_, (Verbena Officinalis,) after libations of honey, was to
be gathered at the rising of the dog-star, when neither sun nor moon
shone, with the left hand only; when thus prepared, it was said to
vanquish fevers, and other distempers, was an antidote to the bite of
serpents, and a charm to conciliate friendship. Plin. Lib. xxv. c. 9.
I shall however hereafter shew that the medicinal reputation of this
herb derived its origin from a source more ancient even than that of
Druidism. Magnenus (Exercitat. de Tabaco,) has given us the following
precept,—‘Tabacum seratur luna _crescente_, colligatur autem
_decrescente_ luna.’
Footnote 24:
In later times these heathen symbols were dropped, and others were
adopted to propitiate the favour and assistance of heaven; for this
purpose the Alchemists stamped the figure of the cross upon the vessel
in which they were to obtain their long sought for prize; a
superstitious practice, from which the term _crucible_ derived its
origin. I am well aware that another explanation has been given, and
that the word has been derived from _Crucio_, since in the language of
the Alchemists, the crucible was the vessel in which the metals were
_tortured_ to force them to assume the form of gold.
Footnote 25:
Mr. Boyle was pre-eminently credulous with respect to _specifics_, and
contributed very greatly to the encouragement and diffusion of
empiricism, by publishing many prescriptions as affording infallible
remedies, which were communicated to him by a variety of persons, who
either from ignorance or design vouched for their efficacy.
Footnote 26:
The Soothsayers attributed many mystic properties to the Coral, and it
was believed to be capable of giving protection against the influence
of ‘_Evil Eyes_;’ it was even supposed that Coral would drive away
Devils and Evil Spirits; hence arose the custom of wearing amulets
composed of it, around the neck, and of making crowns of it. Pliny and
Dioscorides are very loud in their praises of the medicinal properties
of this substance, and Paracelsus says that it should be worn around
the necks of infants as an admirable preservative against fits,
sorcery, charms, and even against poison. It is a curious
circumstance, that the same superstitious belief should exist among
the Negroes of the West Indies, who affirm that the colour of Coral is
always affected by the state of health of the wearer, it becoming
paler in disease. In Sicily it is also commonly worn as an amulet.
Footnote 27:
See “Sir Kenelm Digby’s Discourse upon the Cure by Sympathy,
pronounced at Montpellier, before an assembly of Nobles and learned
men. Translated into English, by R. White, Gentleman, and published in
1658.” King James the First obtained from Sir Kenelm the discovery of
his secret, which he pretended had been taught him by a Carmelite
Friar, who had learned it in America or Persia.
The _Sympathetic Powder_ was, as we learn from cotemporary physicians,
‘_calcined green vitriol_.’
Footnote 28:
This superstitious practice is repeatedly alluded to by the poets:
thus Sir Walter Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel—
“But she has ta’en the broken lance,
And wash’d it from the clotted gore,
And salved the splinter o’er and o’er.
William of Deloraine, in trance,
Whene’er she turn’d it round and round,
Twisted, as if she gall’d his wound,
Then to her maidens she did say,
That he should be whole man and sound.”—_Canto_ iii. _St._ xxiii.
Dryden has also introduced the same superstition in his Enchanted
Island. Act. v. Scene ii.
_Ariel._ Anoint the sword which pierced him with this