While both ancient and modern physiologists were of opinion that the
various phenomena of organized bodies were influenced by lunar phases, the
power of the solar rays was not less active in regulating our functions
both in health and in disease. The name of Phoebus signified the torch
of life, and Apollo was the father of medicine and the fine arts. The sun
was considered as a deity in most countries, the Supreme Being,--the
father of light, Diespiter,--Jupiter, Jehovah, the creator of all living
matter,--the residence of the Most High--_In sole posuit tabernaculum
suum_, said the Psalmist;--and in Egypt three hundred and sixty-five
priests were ordained to watch its heavenly movements during the year,
while many philosophers attributed the propagation of the human race to
the union of man with the orb of day. The disciples of Plato and
Pythagoras considered it as possessing a soul; and Origenus, in his
Periarchon, maintained that it displayed both virtues and vices,--an
heretical doctrine very properly condemned by the second Synod of
Constantinople; and, although St. Augustin was of that opinion, it was
warmly combated by St. Basil and St. Ambrose, and many other beatified
divines. Anaxagoras, on the contrary, considered this luminary to be a
burning stone; Plato called it a compact fire; Aristotle maintained that
it was formed of one-fifth of the elements that constitute the planets;
Epicurus, a mass of lava, or ignited pumice-stone; Xenophon asserted that
it was fed by exhalations, and Zeno by watery vapours; Empedocles
considered it a translucent body; Philolaus, a concave mirror,
concentrating the rays of light from every part of the universe to reflect
it upon nature. Kepler was of a similar opinion, and further insisted that
the sun was composed of a limpid fluid upon which a luminous aether was
reflected, whence its centre was blue, while the limbs were yellow. A
modern philosopher, Woodward, attempts to show that the sun and fixed
stars are masses of electric fluid, requiring no alimentation, yielding no
smoke, and the light that emanates from them offers the bluish brilliancy
of the electric spark. It has been justly observed, that if, like Eudoxus,
we endeavoured to approach this luminary, the better to study and
describe its nature, we should still remain in impenetrable darkness,--in
which I must leave the matter, to confine myself to those influences which
experience seems to show that the sun actually exercises on the animal
economy.
The genial and invigorating glow that moderate solar heat produces has
ever been considered as tending to prolong our life. Hippocrates observed,
that old men are double their age in winter, and younger in summer. To
enjoy this reviving influence, the ancients had terraces on their
house-tops called _solaria_, in which, to use their own expression, they
took a solar air-bath. Pliny the younger, in speaking of his uncle, tells
us, _Post cibum, aestate, si quid otii, jacebat in sole_. The ancients
fancied that when the sun rose diseases declined, and _Levato sole levatur
morbus_ became a medical axiom. Aristotle records the case of an innkeeper
of Tarentum, who, although able to attend to his business by day, became
insane so soon as the sun had set. The moderns relate many similar
instances of derangement brought on by the absence of solar influence.
Bouillon mentions a woman who lost her senses at sunset, but who recovered
them at break of day. Other cases are recorded of a different nature, when
maladies were aggravated by this influence. Sauvage tells us of a woman
who became maniacal whenever the sun was at its zenith; an influence that
could not be prevented even by various stratagems, such as keeping her in
a dark room, and deceiving her in regard to the hour. Humboldt knew a
Spanish lady in Madrid who lost her voice the moment the sun dipped in the
horizon, but the paralysis of the nerves of the tongue ceased the
following morning. A removal to Naples cured this singular affection.
Parham relates the cases of several individuals who were deprived of
vision when the sun had set. In a former paper I have alluded to the
effects of a vivid flood of light upon the Italian peasantry, as observed
by Ramazzini. Daily practice shows us that the paroxysms of fever and
various maladies are under a similar influence; and the evening gun in our
garrisons is often the signal of severe exacerbation in certain febrile
cases, while the _reveillee_ develops acute aggravation in others.
Sydenham and Floyer had observed that the gout and asthma were usually
ushered in after our first sleep; and I have noticed that, during the
prevalence of the cholera, the invasion of this fatal disorder generally
occurred towards daybreak. The ancients divided their elementary
predominance according to the diurnal cycle: thus, morning regulated the
blood, noon the bile, evening the atrabile, and night the cold phlegmatic
influence. Nor was this arrangement unnatural; we more or less observe it
in a state of health, when man awakes refreshed and active at morn;
towards noon his train of thoughts becomes more serious and busy; in the
evening his mind is more gloomy and susceptible of unpleasant impressions;
until night either sheds its poppies o'er his couch, or agitates his frame
with its fearful dreams. The repose of night is ever more refreshing than
that of day, however we may have changed the natural applications of our
hours, and find, as Seneca said of Roman civilization, that _antipodes
habemus in urbe_. The influence of night and day is equally observable in
animals. Towards evening myriads of insects, who had shunned the solar
heat, hum around us; while night calls forth its choristers; and as they
cease to sing other creatures proclaim the dawn. Some animals, such as the
_simia beelzebud_, and the _simia seniculus_, salute both the setting and
the rising sun with fearful howls; and it may be considered as a law of
nature, that we cannot turn night into day with impunity.
Dr. Balfour's opinion on the influence of the heavenly bodies is of great
weight: he conceives that the influence of the sun and moon when in a
state of conjunction, which he names solar-lunar influence, produces
paroxysms or exacerbations in continued fever, in all cases at least where
paroxysms are observable. As this influence declines in consequence of the
gradual separation of these luminaries from each other, and their getting
into a state of opposition, a way is left open for a critical and
beneficial change; in other words, that paroxysms and exacerbations in
fever may be expected to take place at spring-tides, and crises at
neap-tides.
It has been observed in intermitting fevers, that paroxysms of the
quotidian recur in the morning, the tertian at noon, and the quartan in
the afternoon; in no instance do they take place at night.
There can be no doubt that lunation, more especially in tropical climes,
influences diseases; but the effects of insolation are every where
observable. One of the most serious accidents resulting from this exposure
is the _ictus solis_, the _coup de soleil_ of the French, and the [Greek:
siriasis] of the Greeks, from the star _Sirius_, to whose influence they
attributed the scorching heat of the dog-days. This attack is in general
sudden, and the patient falls down as if struck with a blow on the head.
Troops on a march, and labourers in the field, frequently are the victims
of this solar power, which usually kills them on the spot. It has been
known to destroy great numbers. In Pekin, from the 14th of July to the
25th, in the year 1743, it is related that eleven thousand persons were
struck dead. On a hot day's march in Portugal, I lost six men in a brigade
under my charge. They first reeled as if under the influence of liquor,
and then fell dead with a slight convulsive struggle. One of them, the
batman of the paymaster of the 3rd foot, or Buffs, was struck dead while
speaking to me. A great number of greyhounds perished on the same march;
but no other species of dog seemed to suffer, although we had many
pointers and spaniels with us. Horses, mules, and cattle were also exempt
from the attack, though it proved fatal to some weak donkeys who were
following the troops. The shakos worn by our army are well calculated to
preserve the soldier from these accidents, to which troops are constantly
exposed during summer operations.