Your humble Servant,
_Edw. Baynard_.
I shall here insert a Relation of a very strange Cure by Riding, which
was communicated to me by Dr. _Sydenham_, the Son of the Eminent Writer
of that Name; who was likewise pleas’d to acquaint me, That he himself
took a Journey into _Scotland_, that he might get rid of a Cough, which
seem’d to threaten a Consumption, and that his Journey took it off.
But the Cure I am going to mention, was of a Gentleman who is related
to the Dr. and now living in _Dorsetshire_, who was brought so low by
a Consumption, that there seem’d to be no Possibility of a Recovery,
either by Medicine or Exercise; but it being too late for the first
to do any good, all that was to be done, was to be expected from the
latter, tho’ the Dr. did not think that Riding would then do. However the
poor Gentleman, seeing there were no other Hopes left, was resolv’d to
attempt to ride into the Country; but was so extremely far gone, that at
his setting out of Town, he was forc’d to be held up upon his Horse by
two Porters; and when he got to _Branford_ or _Hounslow_, the People of
the Inn, into which he put, were unwilling to receive him, as thinking
he would die there, and they should have the Trouble of a Funeral;
but notwithstanding, he persisted in his Riding by small Journeys to
_Exeter_, and got so much Strength by the way, that tho’ one Day his
Horse as he was drinking, lay down with him in the Water, and he was
forc’d to ride part of the Day in that wet Condition, yet he got no Harm
by it, but came to the abovemention’d place considerably recovered; where
thinking he had then gain’d his Point, he neglected to ride any more for
some time; but finding himself relapsing, he remember’d the Caution which
Dr. _Sydenham_ had given him at his setting out, That if he should be so
happy as to begin to recover, he should not leave off Riding too soon,
for he would infallibly relapse and die, if he did not carry on those
Measures long enough; so he betook himself to his Horse again, and rode
till he obtain’d a perfect Recovery.
And I have lately met with a Gentleman of this City, who upon the Advice
of the same Physician, set upon a Course of Riding, and recovered of
a Consumption, in which he was very far advanc’d; and had try’d a
Milk-Diet, and other proper means to no purpose, and all along spit Blood
very much. This Gentleman set out on a Journey to _York_, and by Riding
close Day after Day for about Ten Weeks; in which space of time, he rode
by Computation a Thousand Mile, he return’d healthy and well to Town.
It is to be consider’d from these two last Cases, that the Riding
through Variety of Airs in a long journey, is of great Consequence to
Consumptive People, and is much better than riding constantly in one Air;
besides the new Scenes that appear every Day in a long Journey, create
some sort of Amusement in the Minds of Sick Persons, that is not to be
thought altogether contemptible.
But I have been the more willing to insert these two last Cases, because
they do manifestly justifie that well-grounded Distinction, or as I
think, I may rather call it, Discovery of that Excellent Physician,
whom I have so often cited, _viz._ That it may be too late to force any
one Secretion to good purpose; and yet it may not be too late to move
all the Secretions of the Body at once, equally and gently by moderate
Riding; which I doubt not will be found, by all who shall try it, to be
a real Truth, and of the greatest Importance, tho’ it happens to be so
difficult of Access to the Understandings of some People, and so cross
to the Expectations of this Age, that there are Thousands of _Naaman_’s
Opinion to be found, who will choose to suffer any thing, rather than be
convinc’d, that there can be so much Healing in the _Waters of Jordan_.
I could give several more Instances of this Nature; I could bring the
Example of a Young Lady, the Heiress of a very Eminent Family, who ow’d
what ease she had under a certain Distemper, chiefly to frequent Riding
on Horseback, and to whom the being put out of that Method prov’d Fatal,
when Her ordinary Physician being out of the way, another, who mistook
her Case, took wrong Measures. But I only mention this, to shew that it
may not be so incongruous a thing, and altogether without Precedent,
to recommend these Measures in some pressing Circumstances, even to
that tender Sex; who if they knew the surprising Advantages, that may
sometimes be obtain’d by this Exercise, would I doubt not break through
the Mode to come at ’em: No Woman living would bear some of the severer
Hysterick Symptoms, if she knew any way to get rid of ’em; and I am
widely mistaken if some of those Symptoms, do not as it were point out
to us the clearest Indications for these Measures; as in those Women
who have been long distress’d and broke with this Distemper, we may
observe sometimes, that their Spirits are so scatter’d, or the Nerves so
impair’d, that they can’t well bear any thing that pleases, or displeases
very much, without some disorder; if they happen to desire a Thing very
earnestly, they can’t wait a little while for it, without some visible
uneasiness; and tho’ they are sensible of this, and their Reason is as
strong as ever, yet they can’t command themselves, because the Animal
Spirits, the _Medium_ by which the Rational Soul exerts it self, are so
broke and confounded. The same is likewise indicated by those intense
Hysterick Shiverings, which sometimes tho’ more rarely are to be met
with. Now if Women, who happen to be thus Tormented, believ’d that a
Recourse to this Exercise would relieve ’em, I leave it to any one to
judge, whether they would dispute the putting it in Practice.
What I have said concerning Exercise, I hope may suffice to convince any
Man, that the Power of Healing is not confin’d to the Drug only, but
that this course may come in for a share also, and be esteem’d upon a
Level in due place with common Physick. And if I should venture to say
something greater of it, I should not speak my own Fondness or Phancy,
but the Opinion of one who is known to have been a very Ample Judge of
the Demands of Nature, I mean Dr. _Sydenham_, with whose Encomium on this
very Exercise, as he has given it us in his _Dissertatio Epistolaris_,
and his Treatise of the Gout, I shall conclude. In the first of those
abovecited Places he has these Words. _At verò nihil ex omnibus quæ mihi
hactenus innotuere, adeo impensè sanguinem spiritusque fovet firmatque,
ac diu multumque singulis fere diebus Equo Vehi. Cum enim in hac
Gymnasticæ specie impetus fermè omnis in Ventrem inferiorem fiat, in quo
Vasa Excretoria (quotquot fœculentiis, in sanguinis massa stabulantibus,
educendis à naturâ instituuntur) sita sint, quæ tanta functionum
perversio, aliáve Organorum Naturalis impotentia vel fingi potest, cui
tot succussionum millia eodem die ingeminata, idque, sub dio, opem non
attulerint? Cujus Calidum innatum usq; adeò deferbuerit, ut hoc motu non
excitetur & denuo effervescat? Quæ verò sive præternaturalis substantia,
sive succus depravatus in aliquo harum partium sinu recondi potest, qui
non hoc Corporis Exercitio, vel in statum naturæ consentaneum perducatur,
vel quaquaversùm dissipetur elimineturque? Quid quod sanguis perpetuo hoc
motu indefinenter agitatus ac permistus quasi renovatur ac vigescit._
And in his Treatise of the Gout, he thus expresses himself with some
Exultation. _Sanè diu multumq; mecum reputavi, quod si cui innotesceret
Medicamentum, quòd & celare vellet, æquè efficax in hoc Morbo_ (scilicet
Podagrâ) _ut & in Chronicis plerisque, ac est Equitatio constans &
assidua, opes ille exinde amplissimas facilè accumulare posset._