_The Generality of Men, have for a long time had too Narrow Thoughts
of Physick, as if it were in a manner Confin’d to little more than
Internals, without allowing themselves the Liberty of common Reasoning,
by which they easily might have found that the Humane Body is liable to,
and requires several Administrations of a very Different Nature, and
that it is very unreasonable to suppose, that since there are so many
ways for Diseases to enter upon us, there should be so few for Health
to return by. Internals do indeed make up the far greatest part of the
Means of Cure, but yet there are Considerable Cases, where the very
Nature of the thing requires other Methods; and this would appear very
obvious, if it were not for our too Partial Consideration of the Body
of Man, by attributing too much to the Fluids, and too little to the
Solids, both which, tho’ they have a Mutual Dependance upon one another,
yet have each of ’em some Proprieties, and if out of Order, require
something particular in the Application to restore ’em again. Consent
in the Solids, answers to Mixture in the Fluids; and as an ill Ferment,
as soon as it comes into the Blood, diffuses and mixes it self with the
whole Mass, and cannot often be extirpated, till the Medicine given for
that end, has been taken so long as to be diffus’d and intimately mix’d
with the Blood likewise; so a Violent Seizure in one of the Solid Parts,
commonly draws all the rest into Consent, and a particular Application
to the Place primarily affected shall do no good, when a Universal one
shall Cure; and a thing which would be trivial and Vain, if us’d as
a Topick, shall by a Universal Administration prove of the greatest
Importance. We see Contraries often prove Remedies to one another in the
Juices, and Poisons become Beneficial, when oppos’d to certain Humours,
why should we not then allow of the same Rule, in the Containing Parts of
the Body? If by a Supine Course of Life, the Nervous parts are weakned
and relax’d, why should we not suppose the contrary way of Living, the
most likely to repair ’em? Since the Vigour of those parts is acquir’d by
Use; they are the Active part of the Man, and not always liable to the
Impressions of the Fluids, for tho’ you invigorate the Blood ever so much
by the most generous Medicines, the Nerves may remain Effete and Languid
notwithstanding; but if the Nervous parts are extended and exercis’d,
the Blood and the Humours must necessarily partake of the Benefit, and
soon discover it by the Increase of their Heat and Motion. There is so
much of a Relative Nature in every thing, that can concern the Health
or Distemperature of the Individual, that there is scarce any thing so
prejudicial, or seemingly Absurd, but may in different Circumstances
prove as Advantageous. The World has lately had full Evidence of the
good Effects of an Intense Cold, equally apply’d to all the Parts of
the Body at once, which Method of Curing would, not many Years agoe,
have been thought very Extravagant, and certainly Destructive. On the
contrary, there are other Cases, where a Warm Bath is only prevalent; and
though some People have suppos’d it to be only a kind of a last Resort,
when other things have been try’d in Vain, yet it is quite otherwise,
it being impossible to remove some Diseases of the Limbs, without an
universal equal Relaxation. Again, quite different from this is the equal
Distribution of a greater Degree of Heat throughout the whole Body, which
is procur’d by Habitual Exercise; in the former Method, the Parts are
relax’d, in this they are strengthned, and in every Respect the Effects
are widely different, tho’ in both ways there is a considerable Encrease
of Heat. But to carry this enquiry farther, there are some Distempers,
and those not altogether so rare neither, in the Cure of which no
Positive Physick of any sort whatsoever, can be serviceable, nothing
but a gradual Substraction of the Cause, an Alterative abstinence, if
I may so speak, being necessary; as there have been some Gouts in some
temperate Persons, of a strong and rank Constitution, which nothing
could remove but a very low Diet, and an entire Abstinence from Flesh;
to them Flesh being as Wine is to others, who Contract that Distemper
by their Excess: and the same Observation holds good likewise in the
~Opthalmia~, and some other Cases of the Eyes, as any that will duly
weigh the Circumstances of some Persons often subject to ’em, will find
Reason to believe, so that some Men are by their Constitutions condemn’d
to an Antidiluvian Diet of Roots and Vegetables, or else to suffer worse
Inconveniences; and when those happen, it is absurd to expect, by the
most Celebrated Remedy to cure the Disease, when the Cause continues.
These are Instances of several Methods, widely differing from one
another, and yet of absolute Necessity in their particular Cases, which
shews us, that we ought not to be so eager after Courses of Pharmacy in
all Cases, without distinguishing where other ways are most rational. It
is one thing to dispose Nature to collect her own Strength, and throw
off her Enemy; and it is another to assist her by the ~Corpuscula~, the
Minute parts of a Medicine given inwardly; the first way has Regard to
the whole Animal Oeconomy; the second reflects the Blood and Juices
chiefly; the first may succeed, where the second cannot, because here the
Laws of Motion, and the Rules of the Oeconomy are enforc’d, and brought
to be assisting to a Recovery of Health, which in some few Cases can’t be
effected by a private and simple Attempt upon the Blood only._
_These are Notices which don’t lie so far out of the reach of any Man,
that will give himself leave to animadvert upon the Misfortunes of
his Neighbours, but that they may discern’d; and if they were duly
considered, there could be no room for Empiricism, for that is founded
on the Folly, or Negligence of Mankind; and if Men will give themselves
up to Expectation, and resolve to be always alike Passive, in Hopes the
Miracle will be wrought upon ’em, without any Concurrence on their part,
it is but just they should suffer something from the Pedantry, the little
things of the Profession, which they are so dispos’d to receive._
_As for the Exercise of the Body, which is the Subject of this ensuing
Discourse, if People would not think so superficially of it, if they
would but abstract the Benefit got by it, from the Means by which it is
got, they would set a great Value upon it; if some of the Advantages
accruing from Exercise, were to be procur’d by any one Medicine, nothing
in the World would be in more Esteem, than that Medicine would be; but
as those Advantages are to be obtain’d another way, and by taking some
Pains, Mens Heads are turn’d to overlook and slight ’em. The habitual
increasing of the Natural Heat of the Body, as I took Notice above, is
not to be despis’d; but if we consider that it is done without charging
Nature with any subsequent Load, it ought to be more valuable, for I may
by some generous Medicine, or a Glass of Wine, raise Nature to a great
Pitch for a time, but then when these Ingredients come to be digested and
resolv’d into their Principles, Nature may be more oppress’d with the
Remains of the Medicine, than she was at first reliev’d by it: Therefore
if any Drug could cause such an Effect, as the Motion of the Bodies
does, in this Respect, it would be of singular Use, in some tender Cases
upon this very Account; but then add to this the great Strength, which
the Muscular and Nervous parts acquire by Exercises, if that could be
adequately obtain’d likewise by the same Internal Means, what a Value,
what an extravagant Esteem, would Mankind have for that Remedy, which
could produce such wonderful Effects? But since those Benefits are to be
procur’d another way, how difficult is it to bring People to conceive it?
To build up such a Belief in the Minds of Men, is to raise a Structure,
the Foundations of which, can be laid with no less Difficulty, than the
removing of the Rubbish of a Vulgar Error._
_As for what I have said, relating to the Balsamick Method in the Cure of
Consumptions, tho’ I may perhaps give Offence to many, yet I am sure I
speak the Thoughts of some of the greatest of the Profession, if not of
the generality of Physicians, who have for a great while, had a secret
Regret, at the ill Success of those Means, which nothing could have
stifl’d and suppress’d, but the Difficulty of agreeing to substitute
better. This I do not pretend to do neither, this would be too daring
an Enterprize for me; I only point out some few Mistakes, which one of
my little Consideration, may sometimes discern in the Actions of those
of greater Condition. And perhaps when these Mistakes are rectified,
the Business is done, as well as if I had discovered to the World, some
wondrous Medicine, dignifi’d with as many and as swelling Titles, as an
Eastern Monarch; for it seems to me to be a great Mistake, to wait for
some Medicine of a great Character, to be the Specifick, or Certain or
Adequate Remedy of this Disease. I am inclin’d to think, that the Cure
must result as much from some Circumstances of Management, as from any
Medicine. ~I~ believe we have the best of Medicines for this Case, in
our Hands, if we did but take Pains to obviate some minute Circumstances,
that make those Medicines often prove deficient; if the Success did
not vary by Reason of such small Emergencies, ~I~ don’t know how we
should account for what we find to be true, ~viz.~ that some common and
despicable Medicines shall in one Person produce a wonderful Cure, and
in another do nothing at all, tho’ as far as Humane Wisdom can discern,
the Case is exactly the same in both; and why should it seem strange,
if this should happen in Cases, so fine as those of the Lungs, when we
see in several Manufactures the Accuracy and Perfection of an Operation
shall depend upon a certain ~Finesse~, the ~Criterion~ of which is scarce
to be describ’d, but to be learn’d only by Numerous Repetitions. A Man
may be told the Ingredients of a Composition, and the way of working
’em up; may see it done, and not be able to distinguish the Nicety of
the Circumstances, which conspire to make the Work consummate. Do not
we know, that in the ~Dyers~ Trade, (to give but one Instance) their
Mixtures shall sometimes miscarry, and the best Artist not be able to
shew a Reason for it; now if it is thus in matters of Artifice, I think
we may with great reason suspect something of a like Nature, in some few
Cases of the Humane Body; in these Maladies of the Breath, there is a
~Finesse~ peculiarly distinguish’d from the Circumstances of any other
Diseases, as is apparent from the Power of so fine a Body as the Air; and
therefore we need not think it so strange, that a little matter should
be able to give a good or bad turn. And if this will be allow’d to be
good Reasoning; what can be so likely to obviate such Miscarriages, as
a due application to that most moderate and easie Exercise, which I
have apply’d to the Cure of this Distemper? That a mild Exercise will
do something like this, may be learnt from the Effects of those which
are more violent; we know very well what has follow’d upon going into
the ~Bagnio~, after violent Exercises, the Blood of those Persons who
have done so, has so been exalted in its Crasis, as to be upon that
very account, fatally Preternatural; tho’ upon the first Thought, One
would be apt to conclude, that such violent Perspirations should rather
impoverish the Blood; but it is quite contrary, just as in Hot Climates,
tho’ People Sweat profusely, yet they are rather the more Brisk and
Lively for it. And thus Moderate Exercise, by Augmenting the Natural Heat
of the Body, will enrich the Fluids, and by encreasing the Velocity of
the Circulation, every the minutest Particle will be brought much oftner
to the Test of the Strainers, than otherwise it would have been; so that
both the Venous Fluid and the Spirits will after an Eminent Manner be
exalted, and as it were Rectifi’d in the making. Therefore it cannot be
a doubt, that these means may improve a Medicine, when it comes into the
Blood, supply its deficiency, and remove the Inscrutable Inpediments in
the Cure of so nice a Disease, as this I am speaking of._
_These things are not owing to Notion and Speculation, but to Practical
Observation; I cannot tell otherwise how to explain what I have seen
to be the Effects of such means; I have seen a Poor Gentleman at
~Hampstead~, in the most deplorable extremity of a Consumption, betake
himself to Riding twice or thrice a day, upon his Waters, put a stop for
a time to his Distemper, and keep Death as it were at a Bay for some
Weeks; which plainly shew’d, that if he had done so sooner, his former
Medicines would undoubtedly have took effect; and how shall I account
for this, but after some such manner as I have here insisted on? This
is the Sum of my Thoughts on this Case, and if it does not strike the
Imaginations of some People with so much Surprize, as other Pharmaceutick
Discourses, I cannot help it; nay, if any should be so hard upon me, as
to alledge that I am quite mistaken in the Cure of this Disease, when far
advanc’d, let it be so; yet I hope they will allow me thus much, that it
appears plain enough, for the Nature and Power of Exercise, that we ought
to distinguish in this Distemper in like manner, as we do in another,
which it would not be good Manners to mention, at the same time with the
Consumption of the Lungs; in which latter Case, if a Young ~Debauchee~
happens to get a Misfortune, he does not let it run on till it come under
another Denomination, but looks out for a present Cure, which may then
be certainly obtain’d; and so I think it is no less obvious, if Exercises
be as efficacious as I assert, that it is our Choice, whether a Cough
shall run on to a Consumption; that is, I understand, that when a Cough
comes to last above a Month, and begins to chop in its Indications, to
require one while incrassating Medicines, another while attenuating ones;
I say it is high time to look out, and set upon a resolute Course of
Riding; that by a Series of Journeys, continued Day after Day without
intermission, the obstructed Perspirations may be restor’d, which may
then be easily effected, because the Body not being then much impair’d,
so many Millions of Succussions coming close upon one another, must
affect both the Strainers of the whole Body, and the Juices to be
strain’d; and he who can oppose a Truth so manifest, must fly in the Face
of Nature, and deny the Principles of the Oeconomy._
_Having had some Occasion to mention the Ancients, and since Gymnastick
Courses made a great part of their Physick, perhaps some will think I am
setting up for one of those who cry up the Ancients upon all occasions,
out of pure Enmity to the Authors of Modern Discoveries, but they will
find themselves mistaken; I neither affect to be of a Party in Physick,
or Singular; I seldom yet knew any one, who cry’d up ~Acids~, or cry’d
down ~Bleeding~, who extoll’d the ~Ancients~ universally, and vilifi’d
the ~Moderns~, but if he really understood what he pretended to, had
some By-end to serve in so doing. I owe the Ancients no more Respect,
than what is due to those upon whose Shoulders we stand, and upon whose
Rudiments we have Built; we know their Ætiology was all wrong, their
Pharmacy in general was Rough and Barbarous. (I say in General, for
there are some few Cases in which their Medicine will perhaps last for
ever,) but yet the ways they took to supply their want of Medicine
were very commendable, and may shame us; their exquisite diligence
in establishing certain Diagnosticks, and their Recourse to various
Exercises, to help out what they wanted in other means; ’tis the last of
these which has given me occasion to take Notice of ’em, and I think it
will appear in the following Discourse to be of so much Importance, that
not only in their days, but in ours also, the Art of Curing may be said
to be in some Measure imperfect without it, there being some Cases in
which the Use of Exercises will be absolutely necessary as long as Nature
shall last._
_I have this more to add, that I did not take this Subject out of Choice
but Necessity, ’tis not owing to Theory and Speculation, but Experience;
the severest Experience, which my own Misfortunes have given me but too
much occasion to make in a Distemper, which some Years ago I happen’d to
be afflicted with, as I have related in the ~Appendix~ to this Treatise;
’twas under that severe Discipline I made most of the Observations of
this Treatise; and tho’ mine was an Anomalous and singular Case, yet
from what I perceiv’d to be the immediate Effects of that Exercise in
common to all, and from the manner by which it caus’d my Distemper to
give way, I could not but discern in what other Cases it was likely to
be of the same Consequence, and I have had so very many Serious and Calm
hours to confirm me in these Notions, that I cannot think I have extended
’em too far._
_As for what Reception these Papers are like to meet with, tho’ ~I~
have ventur’d abroad in a Cause so obsolete, in an Age so fruitful in
Pharmacy, and abounding in Splendid Discoveries; and tho’ I am destitute
of a New Hypothesis, that Specious Image of Truth, that Idol to which
the Learned all bow down; yet, if what I have advanc’d be strictly
Conformable to Truth, and of real Necessity in some few Extremities, I
hope I may pass, upon the Merits of my Subject, tho’ without Flourish and
Ornament._
_Medicina Gymnastica_: