SEYMOUR DURST 'When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said " Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library THE BEST CURE for FEVERS, And probably for the «F*L»A»G»U*E» *By John Hancocke, D^D. Reftot of St. Margaret'.* Lothbury, London, Trebenda- ry of Canterbury, and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Bedford. i : : : PerfeBiJJtma jit fudoribus febfh fo.'utio. .4ftVledus de Imp. Solis, Sic Dejideratum, "Medic&vnienXum quod Jiatim tollat fangu'tntsrarefcentiam, ££? mc-. turn imminuatj nftUo fero fymptomate fubfeqttente. Pi tear- ^ftijfs in Pnnc Htm. Med.'&c. lib. i.e. I. §. ;-. Mdteborumfrujira cum jam cutis . * Peru Sat. # ;^ raJ>czr lo N D o ?rir * y, in St. Michaels Church- Sold^ by J. Roberts, near whk-Lane. MDCCXXII. )nc Shilling. The PRETAC E. Have now done, tvbat for above this Twenty Tears I have intend- ed to do fometime before I die, on- 2j?§t9SXS^3SS h delay* A it to inlarge my Experi- P&%0f »3^ | /^ ence. If cold Water in the begin- ning of Fevers will t do, what I from long Experience verily think it will, the common Benefit it will be to Mankind, will fuffici- ently excafe my divulging my Experience. If up- on a fair Tryal (which ts all I defirej irbe found to fail, Imufl bear the Difgrace of amuftng the World with fuch a Propofal. 1 doubt not, .1 {hall eafily find excufe with reafonable People, when the greatefi Phyftcians confejs, there is nothing yet found out, that will certainly, and at once take off a Fever, as I think I am fure, cold Water will do. ADVERTISEMENT. WHereas I fay, Page 24. That I had ne- ver tried Water beyond the firfi or fecond. Day of the Fever, but for ought I knew it might do the third or fourth, I had ^uite forgotten (till put in mind of it by fome in my Family) an Inftance, where I ufed it with Succefs the fifth Day. I had fifteen, or near twenty Years ago, a Relation an hundred and fifty Miles off, that came to Town, he fell into a violent Fever, and took early Advice. He had been ill four Days, before he let me know he was in Town. I went to the Inn to fee him, and perfwaded him to come in a Coach with me to my Houfe. Houfe. He immediately went to Bed, I gave him a Dofe of Water. ' He fweat profufely for as I remember twenty four Hours, and his Fever went off immediately. I think it is indifferent,whether we ufePump, or Well, or River Water, fo it be clear and fweet. I generally ufe Pump Water, beeaufe neareft, and eafieft to be had, and the new River Water is often not fo clear and fweet. As to the Quantity, I find half a Pint will generally ferve to fweat a grown Child. A Pint, a Man, or Woman, tho' if they take a Quart, I believe it not the worfe, but rather better.' In Fevers with Eruptions, as the Scarlet Fever, Small Pox, Meafles, the Wa- ter will not make the Patient fweat, but will fo quell, and keep under the Fever, that the Eruptions will more eafily and kindly come out. I do not reckon the Plague among thofe Fevers, that are always attended with Erup- tions (but as moft Phyficians do) among the malignant Fevers, only in an higher Degree. And therefore (tho* I never had Opportunity to try) I verily believe cold Water will cauic a Sweat (if given at the beginning) in that, as I know it will in other malignant Fevers. Written by the jame Author, ARianifm not the Primitive Chriftianity ; Or the Antent- cene Fathers Vindicated, from the Imputation of being favourable to that Herefy. Defign'd as an Anfwer (in Parr,) to Mr. Whifljns Primitive Chriftianity Reviv'd. By John Han- cocke, D. D. ReQor of St. Margaret's LctUnry, Lorden, Pre- bendary of Cnntefhtiry, and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Bedford. Second Edition. London ; Printed for R. Halfty, in St^ M'ubatV% Church -Porch in CornblU. Price One Shilling. 1 3 i Febrifugum Magnum, &cl |T may (and perhaps juftly) be ' wonder'd, that I who am not ] a Phyfician, fliould pretend to give any Directions about the Cure of any Diftemper ; much more Fevers, which have hi- therto nonpluft the Skill of the greateft and beft Phyficians, both ancient and modern, in- fomuch that there has not yet been found out any Remedy that will certainly take off a Fe- ver. f Borelli i in his Short 'Difcourfe of Fevers, tells us, That many learned Phyficians have confefled, they did not underftand either the Caufe or Cure of Fevers : And therefore it would be no Wonder if he himfelf fliould be miftaken in his Account of them. Almoft all A 2 Writers ^ Febrifugum Magnum. Writers in Phyfick tacitly own this. Dr. Tit- cairne, EL Med. p. 88. fpeaking of the Re- medies againft Fevers, and particularly Bleed- ing, and in effefl: owning the InfufBciency and Uncertainty of them, IF ever it happen, faith he, that any one knows a Medicine that will fpeedily take off the Rarefcence of the Blood, and leflen its Motion, without any dangerous Symptom following, then Blooding will be needlefs. Indeed he fays juft after, That Su- dorificks are not eafily and too foon to be gi- ven, 'till the Signs of Concoction appear in the Urine ; becaufe they fo much increafe the Motion and Rarefcence of the Blood, that it will not foon be got off. And the fame Cau- tion is given by many other Phyficians. But I find they had no Notion of any but hot Su- dorificks ; and of them the Obfervation is very true : And lam afraid they have kill'd more than they have cured in Fevers, fince the Ara- bian Phyficians bi ought them in, for there is little in Galen and Hippocrates about them. Dr. Sydenham complains of the Boldnefs and Indifcretion of Nurfes, and fome Phyficians, in giving fo many hot Cordials in all Sort of Fevers, in Forty Places of his Works ; and im- putes the moft dangerous Symptoms in all Sorts of Fevers, to the too common Ufe of them. Dr. Friend, in Hipp, de Morb. Vulg. fays, They are not yet fufficiently difcarded ; and that only the more moderate Sudorificks and Cordials fhould be ufed. Dr. Mead. cap. uh. Febrifugum Magnum. 5 T)e Jmf. Sol. &c. in the Cafe of Nephritick Pains, fays, We muft have a Care of hot Things that irritate the Blood, propter febri- culam comitantem, becaufe jomething of a Fever comes with them. And therefore I think that great Man does well, in his laft Chapter of the Plague, to declare at leaft that he is nor fond of thofe flaming hot Cordials and Sudorificks, when he advifes the Boiling of Virginian Snakeroot in a good Quantity of common Wa- ter, for a Sudorifick in the Plague. For tho' the Root be very hor, yet it may be good and fafe, when given in a Quantity of a cooling Liquid. I could eafily prove there are fuch Cautions interfpers'd on feveral Occafions, in the great- eft Phyficians that have wrote, from Riverius down to Dr. Sydenham ; who, as far as I know, broke the Ice, as to the cool Regimen. This makes me wonder that no Body fliould be jea- lous of them in the Plague. I think I can dive into the Myftery. Moft Phyficians in their Writings (and particularly Dr. Willis moft exprefsly) diftinguifh between the Fever and the Malignity, or Poifon, or Venom ; and that the laft is chiefly to be attended to, in all malignant Fevers : And that thofe hot Medi- cines, tho' they may be dangerous, as Sudo- rificks, and increafe the Fever, yet they are abfolutely neceffary, as Cardiacks, Alexite- rials, Alexipharmicks, to refift and quell the Poifon. But I fancy I fliall make it probable, That 6 Febrifugum Magnum, That the Poifon in malignant Fevers, is eafier and fafer to be drowned and abforbed in pro- per cooling Liquids, than burnt up with hot fiery Medicines. And that the Fever, if not look'd after (and which will certainly be in- creafed by thefc hot Medicines, and unlefs they be attended with fome confiderable Evacua- tion) may turn the Juices of the Body to lit- tle better than Poifon. For as of all corrupted Juices that turn to Poifon, Animal Juices are the worfr ; fo I firmly believe, that the Hu- mours of our Bodies, fome of them at leaft, by long Stagnation, and particularly in violent Fevers, may be raifed to that Degree of Pu- trefaction, as to be as bad as the Poifon of Toads or Serpents. And that almoft any Fe- ver, may either by the ill Difpofitior* of the Humours of the Body, or by Mifrmnagement, be raifed to an high Degree of Malignity ; nay, fometimesto the Plague it felf. Many Writers confefs the Ancients gave Water in Fevers : But their wifer Sons left it off. Riverius fays it muft be ufed with Cau- tion. And fome object:, That fuch cooling Things beget Obitructions : Which is, I think, only quite contrary to Truth. For I fear moft of the Obstructions of the Canals, in the Bo- dies both of Men, and thofe that are peculiar to Women tco, come from a preternatural Heat, and Dry nefs of the Blood and Juices. For Li- quids muft promote Circulation more than their Contraries. And the Blood would not circu- late Febrifugum Magnum. 7 late at all, if the Principles of its Compofition, whatever they are, did not flote in a due Quantity of Serum. And 'tis the Drying up of this by the feverifti Heat in all Fevers (whatever there may be more in malignant ones) that makes the Blood vifcid, and To un- apt for a free and natural Circulation. 'Tis certain* that the Ancients prefcribed Water in Fevers. Galen advifes to let Blood 'till the Patient faints, and to drink Water 'till he look pale with drinking it. Neither of which I believe is good ; as to the fecond, 'tis very fure, the Blood may be too much diluted, as well as too little. And I have found by long Experience, That no moie than a Pint of cold Water, given in Bed, the firft or fecond Day of the Fever (efpecially if the Perfon have not been much ufed to drink Water, if he have, more muft be given) will procure as plentiful a Sweat as is needful ; and with much more Eafe than any of the hot Sudorificks. But of that more hereafter. Hipocrates, lib. De viffus ratione, fays, If the Fever proceed from a Plethora, or Ful- nefs of Blood and Humours, nothing but Wa- ter is to be given for Three Days. This I believe would do more to reduce the Blood to its natural State of Circulation, than taking away Six or Eight Ounces of Blood. Tho' Dr. Titcairne fays, Blooding both promotes the Circulation, and takes away the Vifcidity of the Blood. It promotes the Circulation, indeed, 8 Febrifugum Magnum. indeed, while the Blood is flowing, but lie himfelf is forced to confefs it flags the more afterward. And as to curing its Vifcidity, I confefs I have no Notion, how parting with Six, Eight, or Ten Ounces of Blood, can much affecl: the Vifcidity of the Blocd, all over the Body. But of that too more here- after. Here 'tis neceffary, that I who pretend to ground my Account of the Cure of Fevers, on- ly upon a chance and accidental Experience, that happened to my felf (as I fhall fhew more in the Account it felf) fbould fay fomething of the great Hope, that fome very great Men feem to have, from the Principles of the new- eft Philofophv, of reducing Phyfiek to a pro- per and true Science, grounded upon as certain Demonftration as is to be had in Geometrv, or Arithmetick ; and of making this the di'ftin- guifhing Character of a learned from an ordi- nary Phyfician. Mechanic^ a Mechanical Account, &rc. is the Word. "BeUim, indeed, is mcdeft, and puts his run- ning Title only De Febrtbus ; but his Tranfla- tor, to humour the Age, and I fuppofe to make his Tranflation fell the better, makes his run- ning Title, A Mechanical Account; of Fevers. Indeed- I can fee nothing mechanical in all *Bellin?s Difcourfe of Fevers, but a long and dark Difcourfe of a certain Lentor (another fine new Word) fomething he knows not what, that in Fevers obftru&s the Circulation of the Blood. He does not tell us what it is, whether the Vifcidity, or (as fom •• r uppofe the Cafe to be in malignant Fevers^the Grumofity of the Blood. Nor does he tell us plainly whence he thinks ft comes, only in one Place he feems to hint, that he thinks it comes from the Bile. This Lentor,be it what it will, though it in fome Mealure (ticks to the fides of the Canals, yet moves by a flow Motion, and when it comes to the Capillary Arteries, makes the Parcxyfm in intermitting Fevers, and according to its more or lefs Fluxility, is more or lefs time before it returns again to the Capillary Arteries, to caufe another Paroxyfm, while the more Fluxil Part of the Blood in the Canals makes many Circulations. This is a very dark Account, and has little of Mechanifm in it but what depends on the known Circulation of the Blood, as indeed every Account I have yet ieen, of the regu« lar return of the Fits in intermixing Fevers, is to me very dark. Bellmi indeed gives the largefl: Account to be found perhaps any where, of the Ante- cedents, Concomitants', and' Cdhfeqijerits of Fevers; but with fo little Diiiinclion, that there is no knowing this or that particu- lar fort of Fevers from them, And every one can tell in general by the Heat and , Motion of the Blood, when they are in a Fever. I do not blame him for this, for I