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.