Transcriber’s notes:
Apart from the corrections listed below, the text of this e-book
has been preserved as in the original. Italic text is denoted by
_underscores_.
universa → universal
Digeston → Digestion
liqours → liquors
hydochondriac → hypochondriac
childdren → children
loosenese → looseness
watet → water
appply → apply
rhey → they
absoltue → absolute
or → of
yest → yeast
distilation → distillation
mettalic → metallic
Leediensis → Leodiensis
sudirifics → sudorifics
primative → primitive
closs → close
it → is
decripedness → decrepidness
THE
VIRTUES
OF
COMMON WATER:
OR,
_THE ADVANTAGES THEREOF_,
IN
PREVENTING AND CURING MANY DISTEMPERS.
GATHERED
_From the writings of several eminent Physicians, and also from
more than forty years experience_.
By JOHN SMITH, C. M.
To which is added,
SOME RULES FOR PRESERVING HEALTH BY DIET.
_That’s the best physic, which doth cure our ills
Without the charge of ’pothecaries bills._
_THE TENTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS._
[Illustration]
COMMUNICATED BY
_Mr RALPH THORESBY, F. R. S. and Others_.
[Illustration]
DUNDEE,
_PRINTED BY T. COLVILL AND SON_,
FOR
G. MILLN, BOOKSELLER.
1799.
THE
VIRTUES
OF
COMMON WATER.
[Illustration]
For the benefit of mankind in general, I have taken pains to give the
world an account of what I have found written in the works of the most
eminent physicians, concerning the good that mankind may receive from
the use of Common Water; and of the informations I have had concerning
the benefits thereof from others by word of mouth; and of what I have
discovered by my own experience, from frequent trials, during a time
that hath intervened from that of thirty to seventy-four years of
age: which is sufficient to confirm the stupendious effects thereof;
especially in the many particulars that shall be mentioned as my own
discovery with respect to this excellent remedy, which will perform
cures with very little trouble, and without any charge, and is also to
be had wherever there are any habitations, which can hardly be said
of any other: So that in some sense water may be truly stiled, _an
universal remedy_, since the diseases it either prevents or cures may
have this remedy applied to all persons, and in all places where men
inhabit.
[Sidenote: _Excellency of Water._]
The first commendation of Common Water I shall mention, is that
of Dr Manwaring, in his _Method and means of enjoying health_;
wherein he saith, that water is a wholesome drink, or rather the
most wholesome--being appointed for man in his best state; which
doth strongly argue that drink to be the most suitable for human
nature--answering all the intentions of common drinks; for it cools,
moistens, and quencheth thirsts; ’tis clear, thin, and fit to convey
the nourishment through the smallest vessels of the body--and it is a
drink that is a rule to itself, and requires little caution in the use
of it, since none will be tempted to drink of it more than needs: And
that, in the primitive ages of the world, water-drinkers, he says, were
the longest livers by some hundreds of years--not so often sick and
complaining as we are.
[Sidenote: _Digestion to help._]
Dr Keill, treating of the stomach, in his _Abridgment of the anatomy
of human bodies_, saith, that water seems the fittest to promote the
digestion of food; all spirituous liquors having a property by which
they hurt, rather than help digestion; the sad effects of which they
are sensible of, he saith, who by a long use thereof have lost their
appetites, hardly ever to be restored without drinking water, which
seldom faileth of procuring a good appetite and a strong digestion.
With which Dr. Baynard agrees, affirming, “That water liquifies and
concocts our food better than any fermented liquor whatever.” _Hist. of
cold bathing_, p. 440.
[Sidenote: _Diseases to prevent._]
Dr. Prat, in his _treatise of mineral waters_, shews it to be his
judgment, that, if people would accustom themselves to drink water,
they would be more free from many diseases; such as tremblings,
palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the head, gout, stone, dropsy,
rheumatism, piles, and such like: which diseases are most common among
them that drink strong drinks, and which water generally would prevent.
Moreover, he saith, that water plentifully drank, strengthens the
stomach, causeth an appetite, preserves the sight, maketh the senses
lively, and cleanseth all the passages of the body, especially those of
the kidneys and bladder.
[Sidenote: _Health to procure by Water._]
’Tis also said by Dr. Duncan, in his _treatise of hot liquors_, that,
when men contented themselves with water, they had more health and
strength; and that at this day those who drink nothing but water are
more healthy, and live longer, than those who drink strong liquors,
which raise the heat of the stomach to excess, whereas water keeps it
in a due temper. And he adds in another part of the book, that by hot
liquor the blood is inflamed; and such whose blood is inflamed, live
not so long as those who are of a cooler temper; a hot blood being
commonly the cause of fluxes, rheums, ill digestion, pains in the
limbs, head-ach, dimness of sight, and especially of hysteric vapours.
He also imputes the cause of ulcers to a hot blood, and declares, that
if men kept their blood cool and sweet, by a moderate and cooling diet,
they would never be troubled with ulcers, or other breakings-out.
Which coolness of the blood will be well attained to by drinking a
large draught of water in the morning, which also will carry off the
bilious and salt recrements by urine. And, if water is drank also after
dinner, it will cool a hot stomach, and prevent the rising of those
fermentations which cause wind and belching after meat. So that if
persons who are liable to these disorders will leave off strong liquors
and a hot diet, and drink water, they will procure better health to
themselves than they had before.
[Sidenote: _Some of the good properties of Water._]
Sir John Floyer also, in his _treatise of cold baths_, p. 109, edit.
5, affirms, that water-drinkers are temperate in their actions,
prudent and ingenious; they live safe from those diseases which affect
the head, such as apoplexies, palsies, pain, blindness, deafness,
gout, convulsions, trembling, madness: And the drinking of water
cures the hiccough, fætor of the mouth, and of the whole body; it
resists putrefaction, and cools burning heats and thirsts, and after
dinner it helps digestion.--And if the virtues of cold water were
seriously considered, all persons would value it as a great medicine,
in preventing the stone, asthma, and hysteric fits; and to the use
of this, children ought to be bred up from their cradles. And, in
page 434, he saith, That as water is in chief the universal drink of
the world--so it is the best, and most salubrious. And, in page 434.
That he hath known where a regular drinking of spring-water hath done
considerable cures by washing off the acrid, scorbutic salts from
the blood, and strengthening the coats and fibres of the stomach and
bowels, and hath brought on a good appetite, and a strong digestion.
And I add, that it will infallibly do it in all curable cases.
[Sidenote: _Cold Water strengthening._]
Having read over an old book written by Sir Thomas Elliot, intituled,
_The castle of health_, he there declared from his own experience,
that in the county of Cornwall, tho’ it was a very cold quarter, the
poorer sort, which in his time did never, or but very seldom, drink any
other drinks but water, were strong of body, and lived to a very great
age. To which relation that of Sir Henry Blunt’s is very agreeable,
who affirmed, in his book of travels into the Levant, (where under the
Turkish government the use of wine was forbid, and where the common
drink is water) that he then had a better stomach to his food, and
digested it more kindly than he ever did before or since.
[Sidenote: _Digestion considered._]
And in the _treatise of the vanity of philosophy_, written by Dr.
Gideon Harvey, it is affirmed, that it is not heat that causeth a good
digestion, but a proper ferment, or liquor provided by nature, to
dissolve the food into a substance like unto pap made with fine flour;
which dissolvent, he saith, is much depraved by hot spirituous liquors;
and therefore he commends water above all other drinks to promote
digestion.
[Sidenote: _Gout and Hypochondriac Melancholy._]
Water-drinking is also said by Dr. Allen to be good to prevent two
deplorable distempers, the gout and the hypochondriac melancholy;
For, says he, the gout is generally caused by too great drinking of
fermented liquors, and is never said to have assaulted any drinker of
water; and he saith also, that melancholy hypochondriac is kept off
longest by drinking water instead of strong drink. To which let me
add, that I once knew a gouty gentleman, who, to avoid his drinking
companions in London, retired to New Brentford, where I then lived; in
which town, by a very temperate diet of one meal a day, and drinking
only water, he lived two whole years free from pain: But being visited
by one who came that way, and invited to drink but one bottle of Claret
between them, he fell next day into a terrible fit of the gout, which
held above a month after; of which being recovered, he by the same
course continued well till I left the place, which was about a year and
an half after.
[Sidenote: _Gravel._]
The good properties of water are further manifested in preventing the
breeding of gravel in the kidneys; for Zechias, in _Consult._ 17. as
quoted by Salmon, affirms, that nothing so much abates the heat of the
kidneys, and frees them from those recrements which cause pain in the
back, one great sign of gravel, as water does; but he adviseth to drink
it warm. By the use of which, he saith, the unnatural heat in time will
be so extinguished, that no more of that matter causing gravel will be
produced in the body. Which assertion by experience I have found to
be true; for observing much gravel to be voided by me, also abundance
of matter floating in the urine like bran; with a great number of
recrements like cuttings of hair, some above an inch long, which
substances were found in all the water that I made in above twelve
months; for which I could get no remedy: I was advised to drink water,
which in about half a year did entirely free me from those symptoms,
which some out of ignorance imputed to witchcraft, so that from that
time to this I never have been troubled with it.
[Sidenote: _Stone in the Bladder._]
Water also is commended as efficacious to prevent the breeding of the
stone in the bladder; for it hath been observed, that in some who
have been cut for the stone, that new stones have been engendered, so
that some young persons have been cut several times. Now, to prevent
this, the drinking water hath been advised with success; for by this
that intemperate heat in the body was abated, which did occasion
the distemper. Some have advised to drink it warm, and others cold,
particularly Van Heyden, a physician of Ghent in Flanders, in his book
intituled, _Help for the rich and poor_; which, he saith, in p. 40, is
sufficiently insinuated by Piso and Alexander, who assure us, that the
taking a draught of cold water in the morning hath done so much good,
that several, after the voiding of a stone, never had any more stones
grew in them.
[Sidenote: _Stone to dissolve._]
Which experiment may give light to the discovery of a way to cure
the stone without cutting: For if the growing of new stones can be
prevented by drinking water, let it be hot or cold, it may prevent
a stone from growing bigger when begun; and if the adding matter to
increase a stone new begun, can be prevented, nature in time may waste
that which is begun, especially if some drops of sweet spirit of nitre
be added to all the water drank, which will powerfully help to cool,
and is known to be an admirable mover or provoker of urine, and will
waste a stone, and make it crumble like fuller’s earth, if applied
to a stone taken from the body. Or the water may be sweetened with
honey, which is now much in use among the gentry, as I am informed by
an ingenious apothecary; who told me, that, among them at present,
pump-water and honey are in great repute to give ease in gravel: And
there is so near an affinity between gravel and the stone, that what
is proper for one, will doubtless be suitable for the other, and will
prevent the growth of both.
[Sidenote: _Beneficial in child-bearing._]
Water is also stiled in Senertus’ works, _The balsam of children_, the
drinking of it by the mother being one of those things whereby children
will be strengthened in the womb, and will prevent those injuries that
are done them by womens drinking strong liquors; which Samson’s mother
was not allowed to do, for she was commanded not to drink wine or
strong drink, Judg. xiii. 4. But I will not say, if all women should do
this, their children shall be as strong as Samson was; yet this I will
say, if they would do this, they would find their children more free
from distempers and frowardness, and so much more easy to nurse and
bring up, and be less liable to an immature death; the want of which
abstinence from strong drinks, is the cause why so many rich people
find it hard to bring up children, in comparison to what is done by the
poor: For these last are born of mothers who not only are prevented
from being gluttons by their want of dainties, which are deceitful
meat, Prov. xxiii. 3. but they seldom taste wine or strong drink;
whereas the rich not only feed high, but also drink strong drinks,
which in most constitutions do overheat and corrupt the humours of
the body, and that blood by which their children are nourished during
their pregnancy: which injury to unborn infants would be prevented, if
the mother would be temperate in diet, and drink water, especially at
meals, by which the blood of the mother would be kept cool and clean;
which must needs communicate a healthful substance to the child within
her, and prevent all those distempers which infants bring with them
into the world.
[Sidenote: _Increases milk in women._]
And here it may be proper to add, what by divers experiments it hath
been found to be true, that the drinking water by nurses, while
they give suck to children, will wonderfully increase milk in those
that want it, as every one will find, who can be persuaded to make
use thereof. I have advised many to use it, who have found that, by
drinking a large draught of water at bed-time, they have been supplied
with milk sufficient for that night; when before they wanted it, and
could not be supplied by any other means: And besides, they who have
found their children restless, by reason of too much heat in their
milk, do find them much more quiet after their milk is cooled by
water-drinking.
[Sidenote: _Stays hunger, and prevents starving._]
By drinking water also the want of food for a time may be suffered
without starving: For I have been informed by a credible friend, who
was an officer at sea, that being sent down to Stafford to see some men
conveyed on shipboard, that had been pressed by act of Parliament for
the sea-service; he found in the prison where they were kept a lusty
fellow, who had declared he would starve himself rather than go to
sea; and, taking particular notice thereof, he found upon due enquiry,
that for twenty days he had refused to eat any manner of food, only he
drank each day about three pints or two quarts of water, hoping thereby
to get himself discharged: But when he found his pretensions to be in
vain, and that in or about two days they should all march for London,
he condescended to eat some food, beginning with a little; and in the
march he was observed to travel as well as the best man. I find also an
account in Dr. Car’s letters, of a certain crack-brained person, who
at Leyden, when the doctor resided in that university, pretended he
could fast as long as Christ did; and it was found he held out the time
of forty days without eating any food, only he drank water and smoked
tobacco. And I once had a sad complaint from a poor old woman of the
greatness of her want, affirming, that oftentimes she had not eaten any
food for two or three days; upon which I asked her, if she did not then
suffer much uneasiness in her stomach? she said she did; but found a
way at last to asswage her hunger by drinking water, which satisfied
her appetite.
[Sidenote: _Strengthens weak children._]
Water is also of great use to strengthen weak children; For we are
informed by Dr Joseph Brown, in his _treatise of cures performed by
cold baths_, that the Welsh women do preserve their children from the
rickets, by washing them night and morning in cold water, till they are
three quarters of a year old, p. 79. And ’tis said by Sir John Floyer,
in his _treatise on cold baths_, that a lady in Scotland, who had lost
several children thro’ weakness, did, by the advice of a Highland
beggar woman, preserve those she had afterwards, by washing them daily
in cold water. And I myself advised a neighbour, whose child began to
be ricketty, to treat the child in the same manner; but she, instead
of washing, dipped it over head and ears every morning, it being then
in the summer-time: The event of which was, the child became strong,
and had a good countenance, tho’ before it was very pale and wan:
Which shews how great the power of water is, when used outwardly, to
invigorate the spirits, and strengthen nature.
[Sidenote: _Swellings from bruises._]
It is also a known custom, to prevent the swellings that follow bruises
in the faces of children, by immediately applying thereunto a linen
cloth four or six times double, dipped in cold water, and new dipped as
it begins to grow warm; for the cold repels or prevents the flowing of
humours to the part, which otherwise would cause great swelling, and
after turn blackish: And if upon neglecting to do so, a swelling should
succeed, it may be discussed by fomenting night and morning, for an
hour at a time, with water as hot as can be endured; for that will give
vent to the humours to transpire through the skin, or dissolve them, so
as to make them capable of returning back.
[Sidenote: _All sickness at the stomach to cure._]
Moreover, by means of water all sickness at the stomach may be cured,
which is done thus: Take four quarts of water, make it as hot over the
fire as you can drink it: of which water let a quart be taken down
at several draughts; then wrap a rag round a small piece of stick,
till it is about the bigness of a man’s thumb; tie it fast with some
thread; and with this, by endeavouring gently to put it a little way
down your throat, provoke yourself to vomit up again most of the water:
Then drink another quart, and vomit up that, and repeat the same the
third and fourth time, if once or twice is not sufficient. You may
also provoke vomiting by tickling your throat with your finger, or the
feather-end of a goose quill; but the cloth round a skewer maketh one
vomit with more ease, which is done with no trouble when the stomach
is full. And by this way of vomiting, which will be all performed in
an hour’s time, that viscous and ropy phlegm in the stomach, which
causeth the sickness, will be cast up, so that the party in that time
will be free from all that inward disturbance, if you use the remedy at
first; but, if the sickness hath continued for a time, it will require
the same course once or twice more, which may be done in three or four
hours, one after another, without any other inconvenience, besides that
of being a little sore in the breast the next day, which will soon go
off by the force of nature. Which remedy, by forty years experience, I
look upon to be infallible in all sickness at the stomach, from what
cause soever, and for all pains in the belly which seem to be above
the navel; for these are all in the stomach, as by long experience
I have found: Which pains are generally counted the cholic; but it
is not so; for true cholics are always below the navel, in the gut
colon. And by this means I have eased very great pains caused by
eating mussels that were poisonous; and it is also a certain cure for
all surfeits or disorders that follow after much eating. So that the
lives of multitudes might be saved by this means, who, for want of
expelling what offends, often die in misery: For, by thus cleansing the
stomach at the first, the root of diseases proceeding from surfeiting,
or unwholsome food, or any viscous humours from a bad digestion, are
prevented; the stomach being the place in which all distempers at first
begin. No man was more subject to sickness than myself before thirty
years of age; but since I found out the way of vomiting with water,
which is now above forty years, I never have been sick for two days
together: For, when I find myself ill to any great degree, I betake
myself to this way of vomiting, which in an hour’s time restores me
to ease, and perfectly removes my illness. And the same benefit all
my family find in it, as do others also whom I can persuade to try
the experiment, which is such, that no physician whatever can advise
a better to the king himself, should he fall sick. For, in the first
place, it is not a nauseous remedy, it does not make the patient sick,
as the best of all other vomits do; and then it is a vomit which is
at our own command, since we can leave off when we please: And it
infallibly works a cure to all sick stomachs, from whatever cause.
[Sidenote: _Digestion to cause._]
Some few indeed pretend they are not able to vomit by this means:
Now, if they cannot vomit, let them take a pint of water when they
find themselves ill from eating, and do so every three or four hours,
eating no more till they are hungry; and they will find the water
digest and carry off what was offensive. The ingenious Dr. Cheyne, in
his _Treatise of the gout_, affirms, that warm water drank freely in a
morning fasting, and at meals, (and I say cold water is as good) hath
a sovereign remedy for restoring left appetites, and strengthening
weak digestions, when other more pompous medicines have failed. And he
adviseth gouty persons, after excess either in meat or drink, to swill
down as much fair water, as their stomach will bear, before they go
to bed, whereby they will reap these advantages, either the contents
of the stomach will be thrown up, or both meat and drink will be much
diluted, and the labour and expence of spirits in digestion much saved,
p. 44. ed. 4: And indeed I have found by long experience, that nothing
causeth so good a digestion as fair water; but this requires time to
free us from the uneasiness that an ill digestion causeth, whereas
vomiting is an immediate remedy, and frees a man from it upon the spot.
[Sidenote: _Other benefits of vomiting with water._]
We are told by Sir John Floyer, in his _Treatise of bath and mineral
springs_, that vomiting with water is very useful in the gout,
sciatica, wind, shortness of breath, hypochondriac melancholy, and
falling-sickness; which distempers are generally derived from evil
matter contained in the stomach, as is likewise giddiness in the head,
and apoplexies, with which myself once seemed to be threatened: For,
after eating a plentiful dinner, I was seized with giddiness, and the
sight of my eyes became so depraved, that things seemed double, which
was accompanied with a strange consternation of spirit; and having
read, that apoplexies generally seize after eating, I immediately
called for water, and, net daring to stay till it was warmed, I drank
it cold, and by the help of my finger provoked vomiting: Upon which I
did immediately overcome the evils I was threatened with, the symptoms
before-mentioned being the same as did precede the fit of an apoplexy
in another person, as himself afterwards told me, who died of it the
third fit, about a year after.
[Sidenote: _Shortness of breath._]
As for people who are troubled with shortness of breath, it is certain
from experience, that vomiting with warm water three or four times,
will afford certain relief. And the same may be prevented by drinking
nothing but water afterwards, either cold or warmed with a toast. For,
upon doing this, the difficulty of breathing will apparently abate;
which water, if you please, may be boiled with honey. And I knew one,
who by this means, as he was advised by me, lived comfortably in this
city two or three winters, but, having undertaken business which did
occasion drinking strong drinks, was the next winter carried off by
the distemper: Wine, ale, or brandy, being as bad as poison to people
troubled with shortness of breath. So that nothing but water ought to
be drank in that distemper.
[Sidenote: _Vomiting to cure._]
Some people are taken with violent vomiting, and the excess thereof in
some hath been so great as to endanger their lives, yea, cause death:
In which case water will be very helpful; for, if a pint of it warmed
be drank after every vomit, it will prevent that violent straining,
wherein lieth the danger of all vomiting, because to strain violently,
when but little will come up, endangers the breaking of some inward
vessel. And, besides this, the offending matter will be sooner loosened
from the internal part of the stomach, and cast out, upon which the
vomiting will sooner cease: For after this manner the famous Sydenham,
a most honest writer, did overcome the cholera morbus, or vomiting and
looseness, so common in his time, and was found by the weekly bill
to kill more than now die of convulsions; for his way was to boil a
chicken in four gallons of water, which made a broth not such differing
from water, of which he ordered large draughts to be given, and some of
it to be taken by clyster, till the whole quantity was spent, if the
vomiting did not stop before; which did so take off the sharpness of
the matter offending, and wash it out, that the party in a little time
became well. And the same was the practice of Sigismundus Grafius, who
commends pure water in a vomiting or looseness to be drank in large
quantities; for thereby, he saith, the corrosive and sharp humours will
be so weakened, that they will no more offend: And he saith, it may be
drank cold if the patient be strong, otherwise let it be warmed.
[Sidenote: _Fluxes._]
And in common fluxes without vomiting, a quart or more of warm water
drank, will so weaken the sharpness whereby the distemper is caused,
that is will soon be overcome, and the gripings eased. And in the
bloody flux, which is the most dangerous of all fluxes, the ingenious
Cornelius Celsus adviseth a large drinking of cold water as the best of
remedies: But then no other substance must be taken till the disease
is cured. And Lusitanus, another great physician, affirms, _Cent. 1.
Obser. 46._ that he knew one, who, being in the summer-time afflicted
with the bloody flux, drank a large quantity of cold water, and
thereby recovered. This large quantity of water, in these fluxes,
doth so correct the sharpness of the humour offending, that it can
have no power to cause pain, or corrode the vessels, and cause bloody
digestions or stools.
[Sidenote: _Consumptions._]
Water also is a drink that conduceth above all things to cure
consumptive people; for the digestion being weakened, is the cause
of producing a hot fretting nourishment, which is injurious to the
tender substance of the lungs, and which constringes and stops up
the lymphatic vessels thro’ which the nourishment is to pass to all
the parts, so that by degrees the body for want of due supplies
consumes: Which obstructions, and that acrimony which causeth them,
will be opened and sweetened by the plentiful use of water, if
taken before the lungs become ulcerous. Which cure of consumptions
by water is recommended in the writings of Dr. Couch, who, in his
_Praxis Catholica_, tells us, that he knew a man cured very soon of a
consumption by drinking pure water. And it is said by another, that
some have been cured of consumptions by drinking no other drink but
water, avoiding all malt liquors, and sharp wines: For wine or any
other strong liquor is pernicious in this distemper, whose original
is affirmed by Dr Coward to be always in the stomach, from some
intemperance in meat or drink.
[Sidenote: _Flushes in the face._]
Some there are who are much troubled with flushing heat in the face,
and others with a heat in the back; in both which cases, water used
as common drink is the best remedy, with a spare cooling diet: And it
is also excellent for such as have red blotches in their face, which
proceed from a hot fretting blood, which by water-drinking, and a
moderate diet, will be kept under: For as Dr. Duncan, before quoted,
doth affirm, those who keep their blood cool and clean, are never
troubled with breakings-out, like many others, who may be known to be
drinkers of hot drinks, and to use a hot full diet, by their faces
being full of blotches.
[Sidenote: _Cholic._]
Water is also commended by the learned for the cholic; large drinking
of water hath been found to be an excellent remedy. And it is said by
Fortis, that when he practised at Venice, he often gave cold water
in the cholic, with good success. With whom an English physician,
Dr. Wainwright, in his _Mechanical account of the six non-naturals_,
concurs; for he saith, that water-drinkers are never troubled with the
cholic, and that many thereby have been cured, when all other remedies
failed: But in this case a quart at least is required.
[Sidenote: _Small Pox._]
And, in the Small Pox, water hath also been proved to be an excellent
drink. Salmon, in his _Synopsis Medicinæ_, saith, that in this
distemper you may safely give the sick fair water, of which, says he,
they may drink liberally to quench thirst; the want of which plenty of
drink, hath been the death of many a patient. Which opinion of his was
right, as by experience I have found in two of my own children, when
sick of this distemper; to whom, after I had given a gentle vomit of
emetic tartar, I gave no other drink but water, and they both recovered
safely, and were not in the least light-headed, as two others before
were in the same distemper, when treated otherwise. And I remember that
one Dr. Betts, being consulted in a case where the eruption did not
come out kindly, ordered two quarts of cold water to be drank as soon
as could be, upon which they came out according to expectation, and the
party did well.
[Sidenote: _Burning fevers._]
It is also certain, that, in what we call burning fevers, water is
found to be a safe and effectual remedy. It is said by Dr. Primrose,
in his _Popular Errors_, that many great physicians have commended the
drinking cold water in diseases, and they attribute to it the chief
place in fevers, where the sick must drink largely; for thus taken it
will quench all heat, p. 374. And Galen is said, by an English author,
to reprove Crasistratus for denying cold water in burning fevers; and
says, that this is a remedy for any fever, provided it be drank in
great abundance. With which opinion I find Dr. Oliver to agree, who, in
his _Essay on Fevers_, says, that in fevers we must drink oftner than
thirst calls for it, and such draughts as are plentiful; and the drink
he prescribes is either cold water or barley-water. Dr. Wainwright
affirms also, that water is proper in fevers, and that the ancients
gave as much of it as the patient could drink. And by another it is
said, that if you give the patient nothing but water for three days,
that in the third day the fever will be cured generally; but, if it
is not, give for food a little barley-broth, and the fever will not
exceed the seventh day. And by another we are informed, how one in a
fever, that was past hope, being forbidden to drink water, which he
greatly desired, did find means, in the absence of his nurse, to get
a large potfull, which he drank off, and lay down again, being well
cooled; after which he fell into a sweat, and so was cured. Dr. Cook of
Warwick, in his book of _Observations on English bodies_, prescribes
for the cure of fevers, first a vomit, and afterwards as much cold
water as the patient can drink; and he saith, that, if he sweat upon
it, the sweat must be continued as long as can be. And it is said by
another, that it is an excellent remedy in fevers to drink a quart of
hot water, and sweat upon it, being covered warm. Dr. Quinton, in his
book of _Observations_, writes, that to one in a malignant fever, whose
pulse was so low it could scarcely be felt, there were three quarts of
water given, at several draughts, to make him vomit; but it did not
operate that way, yet the event was this: It refreshed him much, raised
his pulse, brought him into a breathing sweat, and passed off by urine;
which lowness of the pulse I have often found to be raised in other
cases, by drinking water plentifully. And I know a woman, who, tho’
she in a fever had the advice of two doctors, yet became distracted;
I bid the nurse give her a pint of cold water, which she drank up,
and in three or four minutes came to her right senses; and desiring to
drink more, she recovered. And I have observed, that when in fevers
the patient can relish no other drink, yet water is always drank with
pleasure, as it also will always be after the eating of sweet things,
that spoil the relish of other drinks; which is one excellence peculiar
to water, and shews it to be most agreeable to the nature of mankind,
tho’ now so much slighted. And, besides this, it is a drink that will
not turn sour in the stomach, as all fermented drinks will do, to the
increase of distempers already begun there, by acidity or sourness.
[Sidenote: _Gout._]
And as for the gout, which Dr. Harris saith, in his _Anti Empiric_, is
gotten either by high feeding or drinking much wine, or other strong
drink; it may be cured, as that author affirms, by a very spare diet,
and drinking water: According to what is said also by Sir Theodore
Mayhern, who, in his _Medicinal Counsels_, adviseth to leave off all
strong drinks in this disease, and drink only water. And Van Heyden
saith also, in his _Treatise of help for the rich and poor_, that there
is not any greater remedy for the gout than drinking water, not only
by young, but old men; many of whom, he saith, have drank cold water
for many weeks, which hath succeeded so well, though they were far gone
in years, that they found great ease thereby, without that offence to
the stomach, or hindrance of digestion, which some did not seem to
fear. And he also commends the large drinking of water in the sciatica
or hip-gout, he having often cured that distemper, by this means, in
less time than could reasonably be expected. And the same I have found
to be effectual in a pain in the shoulder, which had continued very
bad for three months: For, being taken with a fever, I drank in one
day about four quarts of water; which tho’ it did not make me sweat,
because I lay not in my bed, yet it cured me so that I slept well
that night; and, in the morning when I rose, the pain in my shoulder
was not felt, neither did it ever return. And the same success I have
had in the pains of other parts; whereby, I judge, that, in all pains
whatever, the drinking of water is proper, as well as in the gout: And
accordingly I find cold water advised to be drank largely for the cure
of the head-ach from hard drinking; that pain proceeding from the same
cause the gout does, namely, from heat, as all pains do, that are not
from bruises.
[Sidenote: _Inflammatory distempers & wind._]
It is said also by Dr. Wainwright, that in the itch, scurvy, leprosy,
and all hot inflammatory distempers, such as pleurisies, rheumatisms,
and St. Anthony’s fire, water is a proper remedy; but he adviseth
to drink it hot in some cases, as doubtless it ought to be done in
pleurisies. He also saith, that water is proper in head-achs, catarrhs,
vapours, falling-sickness, dulness of sight, melancholy, shortness of
breath, scurvy in the mouth, and windiness in the stomach: And for
this wind in the stomach, I, by long experience, have found it the
best remedy, who in the former part of my life, through a disorderly
diet, and drinking strong drink like others, was never free from windy
belchings, and sometimes very sickish qualms after meals; from which at
length I was delivered, by drinking only water at meals; so that for
above forty years I have been seldom troubled: And, if I find myself
troubled, a pint or more of cold water, in less than half an hour will
set me free, by drinking of it.
[Sidenote: _Hard drinking._]
And that water is the best remedy for the mischiefs that come by hard
drinking, experience teacheth; there being nothing that so effectually
frees from these nauseating and reaching qualms the next morning, as
the drinking a pint or more of fair water; which effectually allays
the inflammation of the bowels, occasioned by strong or hot drink,
which spoils the strength of the stomach, and of all other parts;
nothing being a greater enemy to the vigour of the nerves and sinews,
since by much drinking, men make themselves unable to stand or go;
which effect would never follow, if liquors that abound with spirits
were strengthening; nor would the fibres of the stomach be so weakened
after drinking strong drinks, as to make men sick; which sickness will
soonest be recovered by the drinking cold water, this being also the
best remedy, if taken largely, for that heat of urine often occasioned
by hard drinking.
[Sidenote: _Colds and bad digestion._]
In colds, water is the best of all drinks to prevent floods of rheum
from the nose and mouth, as my long experience testifies, and therefore
will prevent coughs; for a cough will seldom succeed a cold, if water
is used from the first as common drink: And if, through neglect, a
cough should become troublesome, the use of water, avoiding all wine
and strong drink, will contribute much to the cure. Some order the
water to be drank warm, but others say, that the drinking it cold
vastly excells the using it hot in a cough. It is said by Van Heydon,
that some may think it strange to advise water in such diseases, which
most account to proceed from crudity or indigestion; but he says, that,
in any disease where the case is dangerous, the use of water is the
only friend to nature; cold being a preventer rather than a cause of
crudity; since by all experience it is proved to be a promoter of good
digestion. And at this time I know a woman, seventy-eight years of age,
who for ten years past hath had a great cough, and spit much tough
phlegm, that this present winter 1722, hath been persuaded to leave
off both strong and small fermented liquor, and drink only water at
meals, and sometimes a dish or two of tea; and hath found herself much
less subject to cough than before, and scarce coughs at all in bed,
tho’ subject before to cough very much in the night: She also drinks
at bed-time half a pint of cold water, and the same quantity first in
the morning, and finds more comfort by it at so great an age, than wine
hath at any time afforded, Moreover, drinking of water is a certain
cure for the heart-burning; as some affirm.
[Sidenote: _Heart burn._]
[Sidenote: _Strong drinks hurtful to children._]
It is generally the opinion of most physicians, that wine and strong
drinks are not proper for children; and that the smaller and cooler
their drink is, the better it will be with them; and that nothing
conduceth more to the health of children than drinking water, which
will prevent the foundation of those diseases that are caused in many
by strong drink, and shew themselves in their more advanced age,
wherein many also suffer much by the mother’s ill custom of making them
gluttons, by constantly cramming their stomachs with food, many being
thereby destroyed among the children of the rich, before they come to
the years of maturity; when the children of poor country people, who
fare hard, stand their ground till full grown: For fewer children die
in the country than in great cities, where luxury in diet doth more
abound; which is one reason why so few house-keepers in London were
born in it, the great supply of inhabitants being from the country,
children being brought up more hardy there than in London, where
great numbers are killed by over-eating or pleasing their palates.
Which mischief would be in a great measure prevented by their being
accustomed to eat less, and drink water; this by experience being found
to make young children free from that frowardness, which is commonly
caused by a sharp, and hot, or feverish blood, which engendereth
wind, and causeth pain and gripes: for there is no pain but is the
consequence of heat, or inward as well as outward inflammations.
[Sidenote: _Fair water equal to that at Tunbridge._]
To what hath been said may be added this consideration, that, when
the best physicians are baffled by some distempers, they advise their
patients to use the water of some mineral spring, tacitly acknowledging
thereby, that all their prescription may be excelled by water. They
pretend indeed to ascribe its effects to some minerals with which the
waters are tinctured: But Dr. Baynard, in p. 438, of Sir John Floyer’s
_Cold bathing_, tells of a certain person who used to frequent
Tunbridge, by which he found much benefit; but, being hindered from
going thither one season, drank the same quantity of water taken from
the pump of a spring in his own yard, which did him as much service:
whereupon he wrote thus upon his pump:
_Steel is a cheat;
’Tis Water does the feat._
And, indeed, if we consider how many diseases and pains proceed from
a sizey, thick blood, which cannot pass as it ought to do through the
finest pipes that convey the blood to the parts, pure water, without
minerals, drank to the quantity of a quart or three pints in a morning,
will attenuate or thin the blood sufficiently: Nothing, as Boerhaave
affirms, being a greater diluter of thick blood, than warm water
drank in great quantity. Which to thin the blood may be best, tho’ to
strengthen the stomach it is best drank cold, having the same effect
inwardly, in some cases, as cold bathing hath outwardly; its use this
way being also great.
[Sidenote: _Burns and Scalds._]
For water I have found, by long experience, to be of excellent use in
burns and scalds; for in all burns and scalds, that are slight, if the
part is plunged immediately into cold water, the colder the better, the
pain will instantly be taken off; and it will fetch out the fire, if
continued so long as will be required to do it by any other remedy. And
if the burn be so considerable, that other remedies must be applied,
none of which will take off the smart of themselves in less than two
or three hours; yet if you apply cold water presently, after other
applications are made to the part, the pain will immediately cease,
till the remedy becomes effectual: So that the ease water will give in
such cases, makes it of good use. Which remedy, as it hath not been
discovered till now, appears to transcend all other remedies in this
case; because, in a moment, the greatest smart will eased, if the water
is cold, and will be felt no more, if the part afflicted be kept
immersed in it till the fire is extinguished, either by the water, or
the medicine applied. Besides, it is a remedy every-where ready at
hand, which cannot be said of any other; which generally requires so
much time to get it ready, that much pain will be endured, if blisters
do not arise, which do much increase the trouble. If the part burnt,
or scalded, cannot be dipped in water, you may apply water to it,
with double linen cloths dipped therein, and new dipped as they grow
warm; by which means I have cured burns and scalds in the face without
blistering, when applied immediately before blisters did arise.
[Sidenote: _Ulcers from burnings._]
I once knew a large ulcer in the foot, made by the running of melted
brass into the shoe, that was kept in hand by a surgeon nine weeks,
without any probability of healing, because of the great inflammation
that attended it; but the party, being a lover of angling, was
persuaded to go with some others to Hackney-river: Some of them went
bare-legged into the water, to come at a certain hole where much fish
was sometimes found. The sport was so good, that the lame man having
pulled off his stockings and plaisters, went in also, where he staid
above two hours, and coming out again, the ulcer, which appeared very
red and angry when he went in, looked pale; he put on his dressings,
and came home, and in less than a fortnight his ulcers healed up;
which doubtless was occasioned by the abating of the inflammation by
the coldness of the water. And I have had an account also from an
acquaintance, that was a surgeon to a merchant ship, that their gunner,
at a time when the captain treated some friends on board, going to
charge a gun that just before had been fired off, the cartridge he
was ramming down took fire, whereby he was blown into the water, and
had some of his fingers torn off, and it was about an hour before a
boat could be got to take him up: But they found that the coldness of
the water had almost stopt the bleeding, and the cure was effected so
speedily, that other surgeons wondered at it; which he imputed to
the water, which kept back the humours, by its coldness, from flowing
to the part at the first: So that there was no impediment, from
inflammation, to hinder healing; for the chief impediment to healing,
is inflammation in wounds or ulcers. Moreover, to bathe with cold
water, is affirmed by Dr. Lower to be a sovereign remedy for any hot
swelling, if continued a due time at the first beginning; and it is
affirmed also to be a good cure for the cramp.
[Sidenote: _Hot swellings._]
[Sidenote: _Sprains and hot swellings._]
And as for strains and sprains in the joints, cold water affords the
best and most speedy remedy, as Van Heydon affirms; who saith, that,
by bathing in cold water, all harm so received may by this remedy be
cured more safely and more speedily than by any other, without loss
of time, cost or trouble; for no more is to be done, as I have often
found, than, as soon as can be, to put the part into a vessel of cold
water for about two hours, which will prevent all swelling and pain, by
repelling or keeping back the humours that otherwise would flow to the
part. And if it should be the shoulder, or any other part, which is so
hurt, that cannot well be immersed in water after this manner; water
may be applied, by dipping towels folded up into it, and laying them
to the part, as is done, in effect, to the wrenched joints of horses,
about which, if you wind oftentimes a thick rope made of hay, and then
cast upon it divers times a pail of cold water, the wrench will be
cured; which experiment is now commonly practised by those concerned
about horses.
[Sidenote: _Sprains in horses._]
[Sidenote: _Weakness of the joints._]
Bathing in cold water hath also been found to be a good remedy to
strengthen weakness in the joints, as Sir John Floyer, in his treatise
of _Cold Bathing_, hath shewed; and which by experience I found to be
true on a certain woman, who complained of great weakness and pain in
her ancles: I advised her to dip the part in cold water every morning
for a quarter of an hour, and do the same at night; and in about twenty
days she became as strong in that part as she was in the other. And Sir
John tells us of a boy who could not stand, his limbs were so weak,
that, by bathing in cold water, perfectly recovered his strength in a
little time.
[Sidenote: _Pain in the head._]