better, at least not so pernicious, as those whereunto he was led by
Physicians. But the Physicians in _London_ might not have advised the
shutting up of Houses, if they had remember’d the fatal Experiments of
it in other Countries, recorded in Books of Physick. _Mercurialis_ tells
us, how the Houses were shut up in _Milan_ on this Occasion, but that
the Magistrates found their Mistake in a Week, and set them open again,
very much to the Comfort of the Healthy, and Relief of the Sick. The
same learned Author informs us, that burning _infected Goods_ was found
to do great Mischief in a Plague in _Padua_, and what then shall we
think of our celebrated Physician, who [15]recommends this Method of
Burning? [16]_Quapropter_, says the famous _Mercurialis_, _non possum
commendare eos, qui hisce temporibus infectas supellectiles in urbibus
cremant, propterea quod_, &c. We may surely say, that this Error is not
only _owing to his Ignorance of the true Nature of Contagion_, but even
of his Ignorance of what Physicians do Abroad.
[Footnote 15: Page 40.]
[Footnote 16: _Cap._ 21.]
I think the Doctor has made a little too free with the Civil Magistrate,
and his Brethren of the Faculty; especially, that he has no where told
us any Thing of the Nature of Contagion; not so much as what we may read
in many Books of Physick. And therefore his further inveighing against
_Physick_ and _Physicians_, is the most surprizing, unaccountable
Indiscretion that Man ever was guilty of: A Man that has done nothing,
but to corrupt it: For thus he puts an End to a great deal of rambling
Stuff, about shutting up Houses. [17]_The Management in former Times
neither answers the Purpose of discovering the beginning of the
Infection, nor of putting a stop to it when discovered; other Measures
are certainly to be taken, which I think should be of this Nature._
[Footnote 17: Page 37.]
Here begins an Account of Things to be done in a _new_ Manner, and what
will be found _agreeable_ to Reason. _Imprimis_, Then, _instead of
ignorant old Women, we ought to have understanding and diligent Men_.
There is nothing New in this, nor very _Unreasonable_; but as the Doctor
has enhansed the whole Knowledge of Physick in his own Person, and made
_old Women_ of his _Brethren_, I hope he will allow these _Officers_ of
_Health_ to consist of discarded Physicians. _Secondly, When the sick
Families are gone_ (whether?) _all the Goods of the Houses, in which
they were, should be burnt; nay, the Houses themselves, if that can
conveniently be done._ A very good Advice, and, I hope, the City of
_London_ will erect another _Monument_ for the Doctor, after they have
burned their City, upon so _reasonable_ Advice. But as this Advice has
been found hurtful in Experience, so neither is it _New_, because it has
been practised Two Hundred Years ago; as I lately observed. He has now
the late Fire of _London_ in view, and recommends another general
Conflagration of our City, from the great Good, he fancies, accrued
thereby: But the Reason he brings is admirable. _For nothing approaches
so near to the first Original of Contagion, as Air pent up, loaded with
Damps._ This is the very Reason, why _Hippocrates_, and all other
Physicians after him, have advised making Fires for preventing the
Plague; neither spared they any _Expence_ in _Scents_, _sweet_ and
_aromatick Woods_; and even they put _sacred_ Things to that very Use.
Yet, according to Custom, the Doctor [18]contradicts himself, on this
Article, at the small distance of four Pages; where Fires again are
condemned as pernicious. The Reason alledged for this later Experiment
is absolutely false; for Dr. _Hodges_ assures us, that the Weather was
not Hot in that Summer. But, I believe, the true Reason of the
Contradiction is, that the Doctor will, at any Time, venture being found
in a Contradiction, three Doors off, as well as four Pages off, to save
his Bacon, or for a merry Conceit. But there is, _even in this_, nothing
New, for there was one _Raymundus_, who is noted for this Singularity by
other Authors, whose Words our Doctor seems to translate. _Pestilentes
Febres_, says _Raymundus_, _Ardentes sunt, & idcirco ab aere fervido, &
calente augentur_. I must beg leave to crowd in another Conclusion,
because I follow the Doctor; that as Fires are thus hurtful, so, and for
that Reason, is the _firing_ of Guns. The Word _Fire_ is common in both
Expressions, but it was never the _Heat_ of great Guns, but their
_Noise_ that was recommended, and that is a sort of _Wind_, so much
recommended formerly, by Dr. _Mead_; _but what some have too rashly
advised. Mira vis verbis._
[Footnote 18: Page 45.]
But to return to _Damps_; he allows they approach the first Original of
Contagion, so that if they are not the first, they may very well be the
second Original of Contagion; for where there is a first, there is
always a second in every Order and Number of Things. Now, as _Fires_ are
manifestly useful in the Damps of Coal Pits, and Goals, why not in the
raw Damps of Contagion? And if that is a true Experiment, why does Dr.
_Mead_ forsake _Hippocrates_, and the antient Sages of Physick, for an
Error that is not new; and, perhaps, not agreeable to Reason? And _Ovid_
tells us, _Temporibus Medicina valet_. As to the Story of the _Black
Assize_ at _Oxford_, it shall not be carelessly neglected.
The last Member of Novelty mentioned, is the keeping our _Houses and
Streets clean from Filth, Carrion, and all manner of Nusances_; and I
hope every Body will readily admit, that this was never done before,
neither _here_ at Home, nor _Abroad_ in other Countries; and I’ll swear
for him, this Time, that it is highly _necessary_. His Inference is
strong; for if all these _new_ and _reasonable_ Instructions _take
effect, there will be no need of any Methods, for _CORRECTING_ the
_AIR_, _PURIFYING HOUSES_, or of Rules for _PRESERVING PARTICULAR
PERSONS_ from _INFECTION_._ Yet in this very instant there follows a
fresh Contradiction, if I understand him; but least I do not, I shall
give you his own Words, in order to be better inform’d. _To all which,
if the Plague get head, so that the Sick are too many to be removed,
Regard must be had._ Now, as far as I understand the Doctor, the Plague
may get Head against all these infallible Methods, but I cannot for my
Life tell, what we are to Regard; but as these Methods are both fallible
and infallible, at the same Time, the Doctor has fallen into another
gross _Contradiction_.
But, which is a more melancholy Story, this seems to be the whole of
_Preventing_ we have hitherto expected; so that all the Philosophy he
brought forth, in the first Part of his Discourse, has only been to make
us _Constables_ and _Scavengers_, to set the Watch, and clean the
Streets. A fine Account, indeed, of _Preventing_.
This Discourse never look’d as if it were to live long, its first
_Stamina_ were so rotten, and defective; and any one, with half an Eye,
might see it would die of an Apoplexy, or first die and then have an
Apoplexy, as the Fashion of Dying has been of late.
When I formerly observed the great Neglect of the _Disposition_ and
_Aptness_ of a Subject to receive and cherish the Disease, I was then
very much afraid that the celebrated Dr. _Mead_ must suffer, when it was
his Business to teach us how to preserve our selves from Infection;
which has, at this Time, befallen him with a witness; for now our
Security consists in the former. But if the Plague should chance to
force his Lines, it is very plain, that we must surrender at Discretion
to this most cruel Enemy. Our Generals taught the _French_, some Years
ago, how slender a Defence Lines were; and the Plague has taught them,
to their sad Experience, how insufficient they are to restrain its
Violence; for it has nor only marched over their Lines in Defiance of
their Guards, but even _Eastwards_ and _Southwards_, to the Contempt of
_Matthæus Villanus_, and our Doctor, his zealous Follower.
But I am, again, afraid that the Case at present is much the same as it
was in the beginning of his _short Discourse_; for he then proposed to
treat of _Contagion_, but he quickly dropp’d it, without so much as
telling us what is meant by the Word. Here now we should _prevent_, but
he knows as little of this as he did formerly of Contagion: For when he
[19]_is to consider by what Means particular Persons may best defend
themselves against Contagion_; he adds, _for the effectual doing of
which it would be necessary to put the Humors of the Body into such a
State, as not to be alterable by the Matter of Infection_. What
Physician ever said so before Dr. _Mead_? And if an Impossibility of
this Nature was expected from the Faculty of Physick, I hope they would
acknowledge and confess their Ignorance. It is the same Thing, as if the
Government should expect, that Physicians are to cure the Subjects of
any one Disease, so that they should never feel it hereafter; the
_Curative_ Part of _Physick_, in that Sense, must be as impossible as
the _Preservative_. Mankind is more easy, and not only bears with what
is not possible, but even with Blunders, that proceed from Ignorance and
Stupidity. All that is expected from Physicians, is to have such Rules,
whereby our Health may be secured to them, as far as it is consistent
with Human Nature, and the known Means: And if Dr. _Mead_ would have
communicated some of those wise Rules, that are to be found in Books of
Physick, even without deducing them from any Principle of Reason, he
then had done them the greatest Good, and what they seem to want and
desire.
[Footnote 19: Page 48.]
That we may see, how little Doctor _Mead_ understands the Method of
_Preventing_, and also how practicable it is: We find _Hippocrates_
values himself for being the first that foresaw a Disease; and he tells
us, That [20]_Diseases do not come upon Men of a sudden; but being
collected by degrees, shew themselves afterwards in the bulk_. And
[21]_Galen_ says, That _all Physicians are agreed, that there must be
some Time for breeding a Distemper_. Now, if Diseases take a Time before
they are bred; then it is an obvious Consequence, that Diseases may be
prevented. Surely this is consonant to common Sense; for an _Embryo_
Disease must be far more easily cured, than a Disease after it is
formed, and settled upon any Person; and thereby his Strength, or
Constitution, destroyed: For however _Curative_ Method, and
_Preservative_, are different Words, they only signify the same Thing at
different Times. Curing a nascent Disease is _preserving_ us from being
hurt by it; and curing a settled Disease, where the Instruments of
Action are hurt, is curing it in the common Acceptation.
[Footnote 20: Lib. 1. _De Vict. rat._ Lib. 3. _De Diæta_.]
[Footnote 21: Lib. 1. _De loc. affect._ Pag. 13. Junt.]
And therefore our Doctor seems to have no manner of Notion of these
Words, when he would tell us that it is as impossible to prevent the
Plague; as to have a _Specifick Preservative from the Small Pox_; which
we find is far from being impossible. But why a _Specifick_? Must he
have a Specifick, because Dr. _Anodyne Necklace_ has one? I cannot find
any other Reason, especially, that it now plainly appears, and is
evident, that curing a Disease, and preventing it, is the same Action,
and may be done with the same Tools, whether they are Common, or
Specifick, in the strictest Sense Physicians use those Words. This his
Misunderstanding the Doctrine of Physicians is further manifest from the
last Paragraph of his Discourse; that his Directions may _be of Use
towards establishing a better Method of Cure_, than Authors have
commonly taught, which might be true, if that Doctrine had been drawn
from the Nature of _Infection_ or _Contagion_; but, at present, he knows
as little of the grammatical Sense of these Terms, as he does of the
Things themselves.
Let us cease, then, to wonder why so great Care is had to keep our
_Houses_ cool, at _Page 47_, and so little for our _Persons_, at _Page
49_ of the _Discourse_; and in Consequence to that, we find more
Receipts for a House than for a Man. He mentions _Vinegar_ upon the
Authority of _Rhazes_, which is no more for a Person that affects an
Opinion for being learned, than if he had recommended it from Dr
_Hodges_; since Physicians know, how much it has been esteemed by the
most antient Physicians of _Greece_ and _Italy_: But this its Virtue in
the Plague of Pestilence is not contrary to what Authors advise, in
making Fumes of hot Things on that Occasion. This is very manifest, if
the Doctor will consider what the great _Celsus_ has said of it.
But it will not be difficult to give a very probable Conjecture, why our
Doctor gives so trifling, and contradictory Account of those Medicines,
recommended for preserving us against the Plague; even, when there is
not so great a Store for any other Disease, and some of them come well
recommended for the Purpose of _Preventing_; if we remember the common
Method of our Author through all this Book; for he constantly tells us,
in the end of one Paragraph, what he offers to our Belief in the next.
He has all along thrown mighty Contempt upon Physicians, when he would
recommend himself; and now he disparages their Medicines; and surely,
upon no other Design, but to set up his own. But what in the Name of
Wonder are they? In this consists the great Mystery of State. If so,
then there is an end of our wondering.
His Medicines are of two Sorts; one Set of them published in a very
small Book, tho’ there is a large Account of their _Virtues_ and _Uses_.
There is a second Sort, which some worthy Gentlemen of great Families,
and great Estates, have told us of, and these were the _Secrets_ of an
eminent Physician. But how do Gentlemen know Secrets in Physick? It is
not hard to guess who were chiefly concern’d in their Information, and
who have made a goodly _Income_ from a pretended _Inheritance_ to
pretended _Secrets_. This is the _Shrine_ of the great _Diana_, to which
every Thing must not only submit, but for it every other Shrine must be
removed, even Truth it self; so that we may quickly hear of Doctor
_R——f_’s Secrets for the Plague, if it should be the Will of God to send
it us for a Punishment of our Sins.
How easy a Matter is it to become a great Physician, but how difficult
to a Man of Education and Honour? Hence it is that we find in all Times,
tho’ never more than in the present, that Physick is the common Resort
of all indigent Men, that no other Arts can provide with a Living. Here
Doctor _Rosary_ has made a better Market for his Beads, than ever was in
any _Roman Catholick Country_, _Spain_ and _Portugal_ not excepted. At
this Time too, he is among the chief Writers on the Plague, and with
insufferable Assurance, dedicates that Trifle to the _President_ of the
_College_ of _Physicians_, where, in the end, he tells the World, how
useful _his Necklace_ is for the _Plague_.
_Amulets_, indeed, have been in great _Esteem_ in Times of the Plague,
and I hope some great _Physician_ will lend his Name to one, that may
frighten away this terrible Disease.
_FINIS._
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s note:
Page 6, ‘preceeded’ changed to ‘preceded,’ “Air to have preceded it”
Page 12, ‘suffient’ changed to ‘sufficient,’ “and self-sufficient Person
that ever”
Page 17, ‘Philosophers’ changed to ‘Philosopher’s,’ “make the
Philosopher’s Stone, and”
Page 27, italics removed from around ‘and,’ “_Wool_, _Feathers_, _Hair_,
and _Skins_”
Page 33, ‘shown’ changed to ‘shewn,’ “to have shewn the _Disposition_”
Page 34, ‘succeding’ changed to ‘succeeding,’ “good Author of succeeding
Ages”
Page 55, full stop changed to comma after ‘Women,’ “ignorant old Women,
we ought to have”
Page 57, ‘tell’ changed to ‘tells,’ “And _Ovid_ tells us”