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Title: The virtues of common water [Tenth Edition] : or, The advantages thereof, in preventing and curing many distempers : gathered from the writings of several eminent physicians, and also from more than forty years experience
Author: Smith, John Bernhard
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The virtues of common water [Tenth Edition] : or, The advantages thereof, in preventing and curing many distempers : gathered from the writings of several eminent physicians, and also from more than forty years experience" ***
Transcriber’s notes:
Apart from the corrections listed below, the text of this e-book
has been preserved as in the original. Italic text is denoted by
_underscores_.
universa → universal
Digeston → Digestion
liqours → liquors
hydochondriac → hypochondriac
childdren → children
loosenese → looseness
watet → water
appply → apply
rhey → they
absoltue → absolute
or → of
yest → yeast
distilation → distillation
mettalic → metallic
Leediensis → Leodiensis
sudirifics → sudorifics
primative → primitive
closs → close
it → is
decripedness → decrepidness
THE
VIRTUES
OF
COMMON WATER:
_THE ADVANTAGES THEREOF_,
IN
PREVENTING AND CURING MANY DISTEMPERS.
GATHERED
_From the writings of several eminent Physicians, and also from
more than forty years experience_.
By JOHN SMITH, C. M.
To which is added,
SOME RULES FOR PRESERVING HEALTH BY DIET.
_That’s the best physic, which doth cure our ills
Without the charge of ’pothecaries bills._
_THE TENTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS._
[Illustration]
COMMUNICATED BY
_Mr RALPH THORESBY, F. R. S. and Others_.
[Illustration]
DUNDEE,
_PRINTED BY T. COLVILL AND SON_,
FOR
G. MILLN, BOOKSELLER.
1799.
THE
VIRTUES
OF
COMMON WATER.
[Illustration]
For the benefit of mankind in general, I have taken pains to give the
world an account of what I have found written in the works of the most
eminent physicians, concerning the good that mankind may receive from
the use of Common Water; and of the informations I have had concerning
the benefits thereof from others by word of mouth; and of what I have
discovered by my own experience, from frequent trials, during a time
that hath intervened from that of thirty to seventy-four years of
age: which is sufficient to confirm the stupendious effects thereof;
especially in the many particulars that shall be mentioned as my own
discovery with respect to this excellent remedy, which will perform
cures with very little trouble, and without any charge, and is also to
be had wherever there are any habitations, which can hardly be said
of any other: So that in some sense water may be truly stiled, _an
universal remedy_, since the diseases it either prevents or cures may
have this remedy applied to all persons, and in all places where men
inhabit.
[Sidenote: _Excellency of Water._]
The first commendation of Common Water I shall mention, is that
of Dr Manwaring, in his _Method and means of enjoying health_;
wherein he saith, that water is a wholesome drink, or rather the
most wholesome--being appointed for man in his best state; which
doth strongly argue that drink to be the most suitable for human
nature--answering all the intentions of common drinks; for it cools,
moistens, and quencheth thirsts; ’tis clear, thin, and fit to convey
the nourishment through the smallest vessels of the body--and it is a
drink that is a rule to itself, and requires little caution in the use
of it, since none will be tempted to drink of it more than needs: And
that, in the primitive ages of the world, water-drinkers, he says, were
the longest livers by some hundreds of years--not so often sick and
complaining as we are.
[Sidenote: _Digestion to help._]
Dr Keill, treating of the stomach, in his _Abridgment of the anatomy
of human bodies_, saith, that water seems the fittest to promote the
digestion of food; all spirituous liquors having a property by which
they hurt, rather than help digestion; the sad effects of which they
are sensible of, he saith, who by a long use thereof have lost their
appetites, hardly ever to be restored without drinking water, which
seldom faileth of procuring a good appetite and a strong digestion.
With which Dr. Baynard agrees, affirming, “That water liquifies and
concocts our food better than any fermented liquor whatever.” _Hist. of
cold bathing_, p. 440.
[Sidenote: _Diseases to prevent._]
Dr. Prat, in his _treatise of mineral waters_, shews it to be his
judgment, that, if people would accustom themselves to drink water,
they would be more free from many diseases; such as tremblings,
palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the head, gout, stone, dropsy,
rheumatism, piles, and such like: which diseases are most common among
them that drink strong drinks, and which water generally would prevent.
Moreover, he saith, that water plentifully drank, strengthens the
stomach, causeth an appetite, preserves the sight, maketh the senses
lively, and cleanseth all the passages of the body, especially those of
the kidneys and bladder.
[Sidenote: _Health to procure by Water._]
’Tis also said by Dr. Duncan, in his _treatise of hot liquors_, that,
when men contented themselves with water, they had more health and
strength; and that at this day those who drink nothing but water are
more healthy, and live longer, than those who drink strong liquors,
which raise the heat of the stomach to excess, whereas water keeps it
in a due temper. And he adds in another part of the book, that by hot
liquor the blood is inflamed; and such whose blood is inflamed, live
not so long as those who are of a cooler temper; a hot blood being
commonly the cause of fluxes, rheums, ill digestion, pains in the
limbs, head-ach, dimness of sight, and especially of hysteric vapours.
He also imputes the cause of ulcers to a hot blood, and declares, that
if men kept their blood cool and sweet, by a moderate and cooling diet,
they would never be troubled with ulcers, or other breakings-out.
Which coolness of the blood will be well attained to by drinking a
large draught of water in the morning, which also will carry off the
bilious and salt recrements by urine. And, if water is drank also after
dinner, it will cool a hot stomach, and prevent the rising of those
fermentations which cause wind and belching after meat. So that if
persons who are liable to these disorders will leave off strong liquors
and a hot diet, and drink water, they will procure better health to
themselves than they had before.
[Sidenote: _Some of the good properties of Water._]
Sir John Floyer also, in his _treatise of cold baths_, p. 109, edit.
5, affirms, that water-drinkers are temperate in their actions,
prudent and ingenious; they live safe from those diseases which affect
the head, such as apoplexies, palsies, pain, blindness, deafness,
gout, convulsions, trembling, madness: And the drinking of water
cures the hiccough, fætor of the mouth, and of the whole body; it
resists putrefaction, and cools burning heats and thirsts, and after
dinner it helps digestion.--And if the virtues of cold water were
seriously considered, all persons would value it as a great medicine,
in preventing the stone, asthma, and hysteric fits; and to the use
of this, children ought to be bred up from their cradles. And, in
page 434, he saith, That as water is in chief the universal drink of
the world--so it is the best, and most salubrious. And, in page 434.
That he hath known where a regular drinking of spring-water hath done
considerable cures by washing off the acrid, scorbutic salts from
the blood, and strengthening the coats and fibres of the stomach and
bowels, and hath brought on a good appetite, and a strong digestion.
And I add, that it will infallibly do it in all curable cases.
[Sidenote: _Cold Water strengthening._]
Having read over an old book written by Sir Thomas Elliot, intituled,
_The castle of health_, he there declared from his own experience,
that in the county of Cornwall, tho’ it was a very cold quarter, the
poorer sort, which in his time did never, or but very seldom, drink any
other drinks but water, were strong of body, and lived to a very great
age. To which relation that of Sir Henry Blunt’s is very agreeable,
who affirmed, in his book of travels into the Levant, (where under the
Turkish government the use of wine was forbid, and where the common
drink is water) that he then had a better stomach to his food, and
digested it more kindly than he ever did before or since.
[Sidenote: _Digestion considered._]
And in the _treatise of the vanity of philosophy_, written by Dr.
Gideon Harvey, it is affirmed, that it is not heat that causeth a good
digestion, but a proper ferment, or liquor provided by nature, to
dissolve the food into a substance like unto pap made with fine flour;
which dissolvent, he saith, is much depraved by hot spirituous liquors;
and therefore he commends water above all other drinks to promote
digestion.
[Sidenote: _Gout and Hypochondriac Melancholy._]
Water-drinking is also said by Dr. Allen to be good to prevent two
deplorable distempers, the gout and the hypochondriac melancholy;
For, says he, the gout is generally caused by too great drinking of
fermented liquors, and is never said to have assaulted any drinker of
water; and he saith also, that melancholy hypochondriac is kept off
longest by drinking water instead of strong drink. To which let me
add, that I once knew a gouty gentleman, who, to avoid his drinking
companions in London, retired to New Brentford, where I then lived; in
which town, by a very temperate diet of one meal a day, and drinking
only water, he lived two whole years free from pain: But being visited
by one who came that way, and invited to drink but one bottle of Claret
between them, he fell next day into a terrible fit of the gout, which
held above a month after; of which being recovered, he by the same
course continued well till I left the place, which was about a year and
an half after.
[Sidenote: _Gravel._]
The good properties of water are further manifested in preventing the
breeding of gravel in the kidneys; for Zechias, in _Consult._ 17. as
quoted by Salmon, affirms, that nothing so much abates the heat of the
kidneys, and frees them from those recrements which cause pain in the
back, one great sign of gravel, as water does; but he adviseth to drink
it warm. By the use of which, he saith, the unnatural heat in time will
be so extinguished, that no more of that matter causing gravel will be
produced in the body. Which assertion by experience I have found to
be true; for observing much gravel to be voided by me, also abundance
of matter floating in the urine like bran; with a great number of
recrements like cuttings of hair, some above an inch long, which
substances were found in all the water that I made in above twelve
months; for which I could get no remedy: I was advised to drink water,
which in about half a year did entirely free me from those symptoms,
which some out of ignorance imputed to witchcraft, so that from that
time to this I never have been troubled with it.
[Sidenote: _Stone in the Bladder._]
Water also is commended as efficacious to prevent the breeding of the
stone in the bladder; for it hath been observed, that in some who
have been cut for the stone, that new stones have been engendered, so
that some young persons have been cut several times. Now, to prevent
this, the drinking water hath been advised with success; for by this
that intemperate heat in the body was abated, which did occasion
the distemper. Some have advised to drink it warm, and others cold,
particularly Van Heyden, a physician of Ghent in Flanders, in his book
intituled, _Help for the rich and poor_; which, he saith, in p. 40, is
sufficiently insinuated by Piso and Alexander, who assure us, that the
taking a draught of cold water in the morning hath done so much good,
that several, after the voiding of a stone, never had any more stones
grew in them.
[Sidenote: _Stone to dissolve._]
Which experiment may give light to the discovery of a way to cure
the stone without cutting: For if the growing of new stones can be
prevented by drinking water, let it be hot or cold, it may prevent
a stone from growing bigger when begun; and if the adding matter to
increase a stone new begun, can be prevented, nature in time may waste
that which is begun, especially if some drops of sweet spirit of nitre
be added to all the water drank, which will powerfully help to cool,
and is known to be an admirable mover or provoker of urine, and will
waste a stone, and make it crumble like fuller’s earth, if applied
to a stone taken from the body. Or the water may be sweetened with
honey, which is now much in use among the gentry, as I am informed by
an ingenious apothecary; who told me, that, among them at present,
pump-water and honey are in great repute to give ease in gravel: And
there is so near an affinity between gravel and the stone, that what
is proper for one, will doubtless be suitable for the other, and will
prevent the growth of both.
[Sidenote: _Beneficial in child-bearing._]
Water is also stiled in Senertus’ works, _The balsam of children_, the
drinking of it by the mother being one of those things whereby children
will be strengthened in the womb, and will prevent those injuries that
are done them by womens drinking strong liquors; which Samson’s mother
was not allowed to do, for she was commanded not to drink wine or
strong drink, Judg. xiii. 4. But I will not say, if all women should do
this, their children shall be as strong as Samson was; yet this I will
say, if they would do this, they would find their children more free
from distempers and frowardness, and so much more easy to nurse and
bring up, and be less liable to an immature death; the want of which
abstinence from strong drinks, is the cause why so many rich people
find it hard to bring up children, in comparison to what is done by the
poor: For these last are born of mothers who not only are prevented
from being gluttons by their want of dainties, which are deceitful
meat, Prov. xxiii. 3. but they seldom taste wine or strong drink;
whereas the rich not only feed high, but also drink strong drinks,
which in most constitutions do overheat and corrupt the humours of
the body, and that blood by which their children are nourished during
their pregnancy: which injury to unborn infants would be prevented, if
the mother would be temperate in diet, and drink water, especially at
meals, by which the blood of the mother would be kept cool and clean;
which must needs communicate a healthful substance to the child within
her, and prevent all those distempers which infants bring with them
into the world.
[Sidenote: _Increases milk in women._]
And here it may be proper to add, what by divers experiments it hath
been found to be true, that the drinking water by nurses, while
they give suck to children, will wonderfully increase milk in those
that want it, as every one will find, who can be persuaded to make
use thereof. I have advised many to use it, who have found that, by
drinking a large draught of water at bed-time, they have been supplied
with milk sufficient for that night; when before they wanted it, and
could not be supplied by any other means: And besides, they who have
found their children restless, by reason of too much heat in their
milk, do find them much more quiet after their milk is cooled by
water-drinking.
[Sidenote: _Stays hunger, and prevents starving._]
By drinking water also the want of food for a time may be suffered
without starving: For I have been informed by a credible friend, who
was an officer at sea, that being sent down to Stafford to see some men
conveyed on shipboard, that had been pressed by act of Parliament for
the sea-service; he found in the prison where they were kept a lusty
fellow, who had declared he would starve himself rather than go to
sea; and, taking particular notice thereof, he found upon due enquiry,
that for twenty days he had refused to eat any manner of food, only he
drank each day about three pints or two quarts of water, hoping thereby
to get himself discharged: But when he found his pretensions to be in
vain, and that in or about two days they should all march for London,
he condescended to eat some food, beginning with a little; and in the
march he was observed to travel as well as the best man. I find also an
account in Dr. Car’s letters, of a certain crack-brained person, who
at Leyden, when the doctor resided in that university, pretended he
could fast as long as Christ did; and it was found he held out the time
of forty days without eating any food, only he drank water and smoked
tobacco. And I once had a sad complaint from a poor old woman of the
greatness of her want, affirming, that oftentimes she had not eaten any
food for two or three days; upon which I asked her, if she did not then
suffer much uneasiness in her stomach? she said she did; but found a
way at last to asswage her hunger by drinking water, which satisfied
her appetite.
[Sidenote: _Strengthens weak children._]
Water is also of great use to strengthen weak children; For we are
informed by Dr Joseph Brown, in his _treatise of cures performed by
cold baths_, that the Welsh women do preserve their children from the
rickets, by washing them night and morning in cold water, till they are
three quarters of a year old, p. 79. And ’tis said by Sir John Floyer,
in his _treatise on cold baths_, that a lady in Scotland, who had lost
several children thro’ weakness, did, by the advice of a Highland
beggar woman, preserve those she had afterwards, by washing them daily
in cold water. And I myself advised a neighbour, whose child began to
be ricketty, to treat the child in the same manner; but she, instead
of washing, dipped it over head and ears every morning, it being then
in the summer-time: The event of which was, the child became strong,
and had a good countenance, tho’ before it was very pale and wan:
Which shews how great the power of water is, when used outwardly, to
invigorate the spirits, and strengthen nature.
[Sidenote: _Swellings from bruises._]
It is also a known custom, to prevent the swellings that follow bruises
in the faces of children, by immediately applying thereunto a linen
cloth four or six times double, dipped in cold water, and new dipped as
it begins to grow warm; for the cold repels or prevents the flowing of
humours to the part, which otherwise would cause great swelling, and
after turn blackish: And if upon neglecting to do so, a swelling should
succeed, it may be discussed by fomenting night and morning, for an
hour at a time, with water as hot as can be endured; for that will give
vent to the humours to transpire through the skin, or dissolve them, so
as to make them capable of returning back.
[Sidenote: _All sickness at the stomach to cure._]
Moreover, by means of water all sickness at the stomach may be cured,
which is done thus: Take four quarts of water, make it as hot over the
fire as you can drink it: of which water let a quart be taken down
at several draughts; then wrap a rag round a small piece of stick,
till it is about the bigness of a man’s thumb; tie it fast with some
thread; and with this, by endeavouring gently to put it a little way
down your throat, provoke yourself to vomit up again most of the water:
Then drink another quart, and vomit up that, and repeat the same the
third and fourth time, if once or twice is not sufficient. You may
also provoke vomiting by tickling your throat with your finger, or the
feather-end of a goose quill; but the cloth round a skewer maketh one
vomit with more ease, which is done with no trouble when the stomach
is full. And by this way of vomiting, which will be all performed in
an hour’s time, that viscous and ropy phlegm in the stomach, which
causeth the sickness, will be cast up, so that the party in that time
will be free from all that inward disturbance, if you use the remedy at
first; but, if the sickness hath continued for a time, it will require
the same course once or twice more, which may be done in three or four
hours, one after another, without any other inconvenience, besides that
of being a little sore in the breast the next day, which will soon go
off by the force of nature. Which remedy, by forty years experience, I
look upon to be infallible in all sickness at the stomach, from what
cause soever, and for all pains in the belly which seem to be above
the navel; for these are all in the stomach, as by long experience
I have found: Which pains are generally counted the cholic; but it
is not so; for true cholics are always below the navel, in the gut
colon. And by this means I have eased very great pains caused by
eating mussels that were poisonous; and it is also a certain cure for
all surfeits or disorders that follow after much eating. So that the
lives of multitudes might be saved by this means, who, for want of
expelling what offends, often die in misery: For, by thus cleansing the
stomach at the first, the root of diseases proceeding from surfeiting,
or unwholsome food, or any viscous humours from a bad digestion, are
prevented; the stomach being the place in which all distempers at first
begin. No man was more subject to sickness than myself before thirty
years of age; but since I found out the way of vomiting with water,
which is now above forty years, I never have been sick for two days
together: For, when I find myself ill to any great degree, I betake
myself to this way of vomiting, which in an hour’s time restores me
to ease, and perfectly removes my illness. And the same benefit all
my family find in it, as do others also whom I can persuade to try
the experiment, which is such, that no physician whatever can advise
a better to the king himself, should he fall sick. For, in the first
place, it is not a nauseous remedy, it does not make the patient sick,
as the best of all other vomits do; and then it is a vomit which is
at our own command, since we can leave off when we please: And it
infallibly works a cure to all sick stomachs, from whatever cause.
[Sidenote: _Digestion to cause._]
Some few indeed pretend they are not able to vomit by this means:
Now, if they cannot vomit, let them take a pint of water when they
find themselves ill from eating, and do so every three or four hours,
eating no more till they are hungry; and they will find the water
digest and carry off what was offensive. The ingenious Dr. Cheyne, in
his _Treatise of the gout_, affirms, that warm water drank freely in a
morning fasting, and at meals, (and I say cold water is as good) hath
a sovereign remedy for restoring left appetites, and strengthening
weak digestions, when other more pompous medicines have failed. And he
adviseth gouty persons, after excess either in meat or drink, to swill
down as much fair water, as their stomach will bear, before they go
to bed, whereby they will reap these advantages, either the contents
of the stomach will be thrown up, or both meat and drink will be much
diluted, and the labour and expence of spirits in digestion much saved,
p. 44. ed. 4: And indeed I have found by long experience, that nothing
causeth so good a digestion as fair water; but this requires time to
free us from the uneasiness that an ill digestion causeth, whereas
vomiting is an immediate remedy, and frees a man from it upon the spot.
[Sidenote: _Other benefits of vomiting with water._]
We are told by Sir John Floyer, in his _Treatise of bath and mineral
springs_, that vomiting with water is very useful in the gout,
sciatica, wind, shortness of breath, hypochondriac melancholy, and
falling-sickness; which distempers are generally derived from evil
matter contained in the stomach, as is likewise giddiness in the head,
and apoplexies, with which myself once seemed to be threatened: For,
after eating a plentiful dinner, I was seized with giddiness, and the
sight of my eyes became so depraved, that things seemed double, which
was accompanied with a strange consternation of spirit; and having
read, that apoplexies generally seize after eating, I immediately
called for water, and, net daring to stay till it was warmed, I drank
it cold, and by the help of my finger provoked vomiting: Upon which I
did immediately overcome the evils I was threatened with, the symptoms
before-mentioned being the same as did precede the fit of an apoplexy
in another person, as himself afterwards told me, who died of it the
third fit, about a year after.
[Sidenote: _Shortness of breath._]
As for people who are troubled with shortness of breath, it is certain
from experience, that vomiting with warm water three or four times,
will afford certain relief. And the same may be prevented by drinking
nothing but water afterwards, either cold or warmed with a toast. For,
upon doing this, the difficulty of breathing will apparently abate;
which water, if you please, may be boiled with honey. And I knew one,
who by this means, as he was advised by me, lived comfortably in this
city two or three winters, but, having undertaken business which did
occasion drinking strong drinks, was the next winter carried off by
the distemper: Wine, ale, or brandy, being as bad as poison to people
troubled with shortness of breath. So that nothing but water ought to
be drank in that distemper.
[Sidenote: _Vomiting to cure._]
Some people are taken with violent vomiting, and the excess thereof in
some hath been so great as to endanger their lives, yea, cause death:
In which case water will be very helpful; for, if a pint of it warmed
be drank after every vomit, it will prevent that violent straining,
wherein lieth the danger of all vomiting, because to strain violently,
when but little will come up, endangers the breaking of some inward
vessel. And, besides this, the offending matter will be sooner loosened
from the internal part of the stomach, and cast out, upon which the
vomiting will sooner cease: For after this manner the famous Sydenham,
a most honest writer, did overcome the cholera morbus, or vomiting and
looseness, so common in his time, and was found by the weekly bill
to kill more than now die of convulsions; for his way was to boil a
chicken in four gallons of water, which made a broth not such differing
from water, of which he ordered large draughts to be given, and some of
it to be taken by clyster, till the whole quantity was spent, if the
vomiting did not stop before; which did so take off the sharpness of
the matter offending, and wash it out, that the party in a little time
became well. And the same was the practice of Sigismundus Grafius, who
commends pure water in a vomiting or looseness to be drank in large
quantities; for thereby, he saith, the corrosive and sharp humours will
be so weakened, that they will no more offend: And he saith, it may be
drank cold if the patient be strong, otherwise let it be warmed.
[Sidenote: _Fluxes._]
And in common fluxes without vomiting, a quart or more of warm water
drank, will so weaken the sharpness whereby the distemper is caused,
that is will soon be overcome, and the gripings eased. And in the
bloody flux, which is the most dangerous of all fluxes, the ingenious
Cornelius Celsus adviseth a large drinking of cold water as the best of
remedies: But then no other substance must be taken till the disease
is cured. And Lusitanus, another great physician, affirms, _Cent. 1.
Obser. 46._ that he knew one, who, being in the summer-time afflicted
with the bloody flux, drank a large quantity of cold water, and
thereby recovered. This large quantity of water, in these fluxes,
doth so correct the sharpness of the humour offending, that it can
have no power to cause pain, or corrode the vessels, and cause bloody
digestions or stools.
[Sidenote: _Consumptions._]
Water also is a drink that conduceth above all things to cure
consumptive people; for the digestion being weakened, is the cause
of producing a hot fretting nourishment, which is injurious to the
tender substance of the lungs, and which constringes and stops up
the lymphatic vessels thro’ which the nourishment is to pass to all
the parts, so that by degrees the body for want of due supplies
consumes: Which obstructions, and that acrimony which causeth them,
will be opened and sweetened by the plentiful use of water, if
taken before the lungs become ulcerous. Which cure of consumptions
by water is recommended in the writings of Dr. Couch, who, in his
_Praxis Catholica_, tells us, that he knew a man cured very soon of a
consumption by drinking pure water. And it is said by another, that
some have been cured of consumptions by drinking no other drink but
water, avoiding all malt liquors, and sharp wines: For wine or any
other strong liquor is pernicious in this distemper, whose original
is affirmed by Dr Coward to be always in the stomach, from some
intemperance in meat or drink.
[Sidenote: _Flushes in the face._]
Some there are who are much troubled with flushing heat in the face,
and others with a heat in the back; in both which cases, water used
as common drink is the best remedy, with a spare cooling diet: And it
is also excellent for such as have red blotches in their face, which
proceed from a hot fretting blood, which by water-drinking, and a
moderate diet, will be kept under: For as Dr. Duncan, before quoted,
doth affirm, those who keep their blood cool and clean, are never
troubled with breakings-out, like many others, who may be known to be
drinkers of hot drinks, and to use a hot full diet, by their faces
being full of blotches.
[Sidenote: _Cholic._]
Water is also commended by the learned for the cholic; large drinking
of water hath been found to be an excellent remedy. And it is said by
Fortis, that when he practised at Venice, he often gave cold water
in the cholic, with good success. With whom an English physician,
Dr. Wainwright, in his _Mechanical account of the six non-naturals_,
concurs; for he saith, that water-drinkers are never troubled with the
cholic, and that many thereby have been cured, when all other remedies
failed: But in this case a quart at least is required.
[Sidenote: _Small Pox._]
And, in the Small Pox, water hath also been proved to be an excellent
drink. Salmon, in his _Synopsis Medicinæ_, saith, that in this
distemper you may safely give the sick fair water, of which, says he,
they may drink liberally to quench thirst; the want of which plenty of
drink, hath been the death of many a patient. Which opinion of his was
right, as by experience I have found in two of my own children, when
sick of this distemper; to whom, after I had given a gentle vomit of
emetic tartar, I gave no other drink but water, and they both recovered
safely, and were not in the least light-headed, as two others before
were in the same distemper, when treated otherwise. And I remember that
one Dr. Betts, being consulted in a case where the eruption did not
come out kindly, ordered two quarts of cold water to be drank as soon
as could be, upon which they came out according to expectation, and the
party did well.
[Sidenote: _Burning fevers._]
It is also certain, that, in what we call burning fevers, water is
found to be a safe and effectual remedy. It is said by Dr. Primrose,
in his _Popular Errors_, that many great physicians have commended the
drinking cold water in diseases, and they attribute to it the chief
place in fevers, where the sick must drink largely; for thus taken it
will quench all heat, p. 374. And Galen is said, by an English author,
to reprove Crasistratus for denying cold water in burning fevers; and
says, that this is a remedy for any fever, provided it be drank in
great abundance. With which opinion I find Dr. Oliver to agree, who, in
his _Essay on Fevers_, says, that in fevers we must drink oftner than
thirst calls for it, and such draughts as are plentiful; and the drink
he prescribes is either cold water or barley-water. Dr. Wainwright
affirms also, that water is proper in fevers, and that the ancients
gave as much of it as the patient could drink. And by another it is
said, that if you give the patient nothing but water for three days,
that in the third day the fever will be cured generally; but, if it
is not, give for food a little barley-broth, and the fever will not
exceed the seventh day. And by another we are informed, how one in a
fever, that was past hope, being forbidden to drink water, which he
greatly desired, did find means, in the absence of his nurse, to get
a large potfull, which he drank off, and lay down again, being well
cooled; after which he fell into a sweat, and so was cured. Dr. Cook of
Warwick, in his book of _Observations on English bodies_, prescribes
for the cure of fevers, first a vomit, and afterwards as much cold
water as the patient can drink; and he saith, that, if he sweat upon
it, the sweat must be continued as long as can be. And it is said by
another, that it is an excellent remedy in fevers to drink a quart of
hot water, and sweat upon it, being covered warm. Dr. Quinton, in his
book of _Observations_, writes, that to one in a malignant fever, whose
pulse was so low it could scarcely be felt, there were three quarts of
water given, at several draughts, to make him vomit; but it did not
operate that way, yet the event was this: It refreshed him much, raised
his pulse, brought him into a breathing sweat, and passed off by urine;
which lowness of the pulse I have often found to be raised in other
cases, by drinking water plentifully. And I know a woman, who, tho’
she in a fever had the advice of two doctors, yet became distracted;
I bid the nurse give her a pint of cold water, which she drank up,
and in three or four minutes came to her right senses; and desiring to
drink more, she recovered. And I have observed, that when in fevers
the patient can relish no other drink, yet water is always drank with
pleasure, as it also will always be after the eating of sweet things,
that spoil the relish of other drinks; which is one excellence peculiar
to water, and shews it to be most agreeable to the nature of mankind,
tho’ now so much slighted. And, besides this, it is a drink that will
not turn sour in the stomach, as all fermented drinks will do, to the
increase of distempers already begun there, by acidity or sourness.
[Sidenote: _Gout._]
And as for the gout, which Dr. Harris saith, in his _Anti Empiric_, is
gotten either by high feeding or drinking much wine, or other strong
drink; it may be cured, as that author affirms, by a very spare diet,
and drinking water: According to what is said also by Sir Theodore
Mayhern, who, in his _Medicinal Counsels_, adviseth to leave off all
strong drinks in this disease, and drink only water. And Van Heyden
saith also, in his _Treatise of help for the rich and poor_, that there
is not any greater remedy for the gout than drinking water, not only
by young, but old men; many of whom, he saith, have drank cold water
for many weeks, which hath succeeded so well, though they were far gone
in years, that they found great ease thereby, without that offence to
the stomach, or hindrance of digestion, which some did not seem to
fear. And he also commends the large drinking of water in the sciatica
or hip-gout, he having often cured that distemper, by this means, in
less time than could reasonably be expected. And the same I have found
to be effectual in a pain in the shoulder, which had continued very
bad for three months: For, being taken with a fever, I drank in one
day about four quarts of water; which tho’ it did not make me sweat,
because I lay not in my bed, yet it cured me so that I slept well
that night; and, in the morning when I rose, the pain in my shoulder
was not felt, neither did it ever return. And the same success I have
had in the pains of other parts; whereby, I judge, that, in all pains
whatever, the drinking of water is proper, as well as in the gout: And
accordingly I find cold water advised to be drank largely for the cure
of the head-ach from hard drinking; that pain proceeding from the same
cause the gout does, namely, from heat, as all pains do, that are not
from bruises.
[Sidenote: _Inflammatory distempers & wind._]
It is said also by Dr. Wainwright, that in the itch, scurvy, leprosy,
and all hot inflammatory distempers, such as pleurisies, rheumatisms,
and St. Anthony’s fire, water is a proper remedy; but he adviseth
to drink it hot in some cases, as doubtless it ought to be done in
pleurisies. He also saith, that water is proper in head-achs, catarrhs,
vapours, falling-sickness, dulness of sight, melancholy, shortness of
breath, scurvy in the mouth, and windiness in the stomach: And for
this wind in the stomach, I, by long experience, have found it the
best remedy, who in the former part of my life, through a disorderly
diet, and drinking strong drink like others, was never free from windy
belchings, and sometimes very sickish qualms after meals; from which at
length I was delivered, by drinking only water at meals; so that for
above forty years I have been seldom troubled: And, if I find myself
troubled, a pint or more of cold water, in less than half an hour will
set me free, by drinking of it.
[Sidenote: _Hard drinking._]
And that water is the best remedy for the mischiefs that come by hard
drinking, experience teacheth; there being nothing that so effectually
frees from these nauseating and reaching qualms the next morning, as
the drinking a pint or more of fair water; which effectually allays
the inflammation of the bowels, occasioned by strong or hot drink,
which spoils the strength of the stomach, and of all other parts;
nothing being a greater enemy to the vigour of the nerves and sinews,
since by much drinking, men make themselves unable to stand or go;
which effect would never follow, if liquors that abound with spirits
were strengthening; nor would the fibres of the stomach be so weakened
after drinking strong drinks, as to make men sick; which sickness will
soonest be recovered by the drinking cold water, this being also the
best remedy, if taken largely, for that heat of urine often occasioned
by hard drinking.
[Sidenote: _Colds and bad digestion._]
In colds, water is the best of all drinks to prevent floods of rheum
from the nose and mouth, as my long experience testifies, and therefore
will prevent coughs; for a cough will seldom succeed a cold, if water
is used from the first as common drink: And if, through neglect, a
cough should become troublesome, the use of water, avoiding all wine
and strong drink, will contribute much to the cure. Some order the
water to be drank warm, but others say, that the drinking it cold
vastly excells the using it hot in a cough. It is said by Van Heydon,
that some may think it strange to advise water in such diseases, which
most account to proceed from crudity or indigestion; but he says, that,
in any disease where the case is dangerous, the use of water is the
only friend to nature; cold being a preventer rather than a cause of
crudity; since by all experience it is proved to be a promoter of good
digestion. And at this time I know a woman, seventy-eight years of age,
who for ten years past hath had a great cough, and spit much tough
phlegm, that this present winter 1722, hath been persuaded to leave
off both strong and small fermented liquor, and drink only water at
meals, and sometimes a dish or two of tea; and hath found herself much
less subject to cough than before, and scarce coughs at all in bed,
tho’ subject before to cough very much in the night: She also drinks
at bed-time half a pint of cold water, and the same quantity first in
the morning, and finds more comfort by it at so great an age, than wine
hath at any time afforded, Moreover, drinking of water is a certain
cure for the heart-burning; as some affirm.
[Sidenote: _Heart burn._]
[Sidenote: _Strong drinks hurtful to children._]
It is generally the opinion of most physicians, that wine and strong
drinks are not proper for children; and that the smaller and cooler
their drink is, the better it will be with them; and that nothing
conduceth more to the health of children than drinking water, which
will prevent the foundation of those diseases that are caused in many
by strong drink, and shew themselves in their more advanced age,
wherein many also suffer much by the mother’s ill custom of making them
gluttons, by constantly cramming their stomachs with food, many being
thereby destroyed among the children of the rich, before they come to
the years of maturity; when the children of poor country people, who
fare hard, stand their ground till full grown: For fewer children die
in the country than in great cities, where luxury in diet doth more
abound; which is one reason why so few house-keepers in London were
born in it, the great supply of inhabitants being from the country,
children being brought up more hardy there than in London, where
great numbers are killed by over-eating or pleasing their palates.
Which mischief would be in a great measure prevented by their being
accustomed to eat less, and drink water; this by experience being found
to make young children free from that frowardness, which is commonly
caused by a sharp, and hot, or feverish blood, which engendereth
wind, and causeth pain and gripes: for there is no pain but is the
consequence of heat, or inward as well as outward inflammations.
[Sidenote: _Fair water equal to that at Tunbridge._]
To what hath been said may be added this consideration, that, when
the best physicians are baffled by some distempers, they advise their
patients to use the water of some mineral spring, tacitly acknowledging
thereby, that all their prescription may be excelled by water. They
pretend indeed to ascribe its effects to some minerals with which the
waters are tinctured: But Dr. Baynard, in p. 438, of Sir John Floyer’s
_Cold bathing_, tells of a certain person who used to frequent
Tunbridge, by which he found much benefit; but, being hindered from
going thither one season, drank the same quantity of water taken from
the pump of a spring in his own yard, which did him as much service:
whereupon he wrote thus upon his pump:
_Steel is a cheat;
’Tis Water does the feat._
And, indeed, if we consider how many diseases and pains proceed from
a sizey, thick blood, which cannot pass as it ought to do through the
finest pipes that convey the blood to the parts, pure water, without
minerals, drank to the quantity of a quart or three pints in a morning,
will attenuate or thin the blood sufficiently: Nothing, as Boerhaave
affirms, being a greater diluter of thick blood, than warm water
drank in great quantity. Which to thin the blood may be best, tho’ to
strengthen the stomach it is best drank cold, having the same effect
inwardly, in some cases, as cold bathing hath outwardly; its use this
way being also great.
[Sidenote: _Burns and Scalds._]
For water I have found, by long experience, to be of excellent use in
burns and scalds; for in all burns and scalds, that are slight, if the
part is plunged immediately into cold water, the colder the better, the
pain will instantly be taken off; and it will fetch out the fire, if
continued so long as will be required to do it by any other remedy. And
if the burn be so considerable, that other remedies must be applied,
none of which will take off the smart of themselves in less than two
or three hours; yet if you apply cold water presently, after other
applications are made to the part, the pain will immediately cease,
till the remedy becomes effectual: So that the ease water will give in
such cases, makes it of good use. Which remedy, as it hath not been
discovered till now, appears to transcend all other remedies in this
case; because, in a moment, the greatest smart will eased, if the water
is cold, and will be felt no more, if the part afflicted be kept
immersed in it till the fire is extinguished, either by the water, or
the medicine applied. Besides, it is a remedy every-where ready at
hand, which cannot be said of any other; which generally requires so
much time to get it ready, that much pain will be endured, if blisters
do not arise, which do much increase the trouble. If the part burnt,
or scalded, cannot be dipped in water, you may apply water to it,
with double linen cloths dipped therein, and new dipped as they grow
warm; by which means I have cured burns and scalds in the face without
blistering, when applied immediately before blisters did arise.
[Sidenote: _Ulcers from burnings._]
I once knew a large ulcer in the foot, made by the running of melted
brass into the shoe, that was kept in hand by a surgeon nine weeks,
without any probability of healing, because of the great inflammation
that attended it; but the party, being a lover of angling, was
persuaded to go with some others to Hackney-river: Some of them went
bare-legged into the water, to come at a certain hole where much fish
was sometimes found. The sport was so good, that the lame man having
pulled off his stockings and plaisters, went in also, where he staid
above two hours, and coming out again, the ulcer, which appeared very
red and angry when he went in, looked pale; he put on his dressings,
and came home, and in less than a fortnight his ulcers healed up;
which doubtless was occasioned by the abating of the inflammation by
the coldness of the water. And I have had an account also from an
acquaintance, that was a surgeon to a merchant ship, that their gunner,
at a time when the captain treated some friends on board, going to
charge a gun that just before had been fired off, the cartridge he
was ramming down took fire, whereby he was blown into the water, and
had some of his fingers torn off, and it was about an hour before a
boat could be got to take him up: But they found that the coldness of
the water had almost stopt the bleeding, and the cure was effected so
speedily, that other surgeons wondered at it; which he imputed to
the water, which kept back the humours, by its coldness, from flowing
to the part at the first: So that there was no impediment, from
inflammation, to hinder healing; for the chief impediment to healing,
is inflammation in wounds or ulcers. Moreover, to bathe with cold
water, is affirmed by Dr. Lower to be a sovereign remedy for any hot
swelling, if continued a due time at the first beginning; and it is
affirmed also to be a good cure for the cramp.
[Sidenote: _Hot swellings._]
[Sidenote: _Sprains and hot swellings._]
And as for strains and sprains in the joints, cold water affords the
best and most speedy remedy, as Van Heydon affirms; who saith, that,
by bathing in cold water, all harm so received may by this remedy be
cured more safely and more speedily than by any other, without loss
of time, cost or trouble; for no more is to be done, as I have often
found, than, as soon as can be, to put the part into a vessel of cold
water for about two hours, which will prevent all swelling and pain, by
repelling or keeping back the humours that otherwise would flow to the
part. And if it should be the shoulder, or any other part, which is so
hurt, that cannot well be immersed in water after this manner; water
may be applied, by dipping towels folded up into it, and laying them
to the part, as is done, in effect, to the wrenched joints of horses,
about which, if you wind oftentimes a thick rope made of hay, and then
cast upon it divers times a pail of cold water, the wrench will be
cured; which experiment is now commonly practised by those concerned
about horses.
[Sidenote: _Sprains in horses._]
[Sidenote: _Weakness of the joints._]
Bathing in cold water hath also been found to be a good remedy to
strengthen weakness in the joints, as Sir John Floyer, in his treatise
of _Cold Bathing_, hath shewed; and which by experience I found to be
true on a certain woman, who complained of great weakness and pain in
her ancles: I advised her to dip the part in cold water every morning
for a quarter of an hour, and do the same at night; and in about twenty
days she became as strong in that part as she was in the other. And Sir
John tells us of a boy who could not stand, his limbs were so weak,
that, by bathing in cold water, perfectly recovered his strength in a
little time.
[Sidenote: _Pain in the head._]
Great pain in the head hath been also cured by this means; for we
are told by Van Heydon, that Sir Toby Matthews had for twenty years
been troubled with great pain in one side of his head, and a great
defluxion of rheum from his nose: but he at last was cured, by applying
cold water to the part every day for about a quarter of an hour: Upon
reading of which, I tried the experiment upon myself, who for a long
time had been troubled with the running of much clear water from my
nose, with great spitting of thin rheum; for I let a water-cock run
upon the mould of my head every morning, by which, in about six weeks
time, I was eased of my trouble. And since that, I had a credible
information of a certain servant maid, who was afflicted greatly with
a rheumatism, and an intolerable pain in the head, who being put into
St. Thomas’s Hospital, her nurse was ordered by the doctor to apply
to her head towels four times double, dipt in cold water, changing
them as they became warm, which she was to continue doing four or five
hours; in which time she was freed from that pain in the head, and was
afterwards cured of the rheumatism by other means.
[Sidenote: _Want of sleep in fevers._]
The want of sleep in fevers, may be cured likewise by the application
of cold water: For to a near relation in a fever, who could not sleep
for three days and three nights, I ordered a towel to be several times
folded up, then to be dipped in water, and a little wrung out, and so
laid upon her forehead, and to be new dipped as it grew hot; which in
about two hours time so cooled her head, that she fell into a sleep,
and continued in it five hours: And I ordered the same to be done the
next night, with the same success. Dr. Cockburn, in his treatise of
_Sea-diseases_, orders, for the want of sleep in fevers, to dip a towel
four times doubled in oxycrat, which is six parts water and one part
vinegar, to be bound about the head and temples; which, he saith, will
cause sleep with wonderful success. But cold water only will have the
same effect, as I often have proved.
[Sidenote: _Swoonings._]
And that the use of cold water, in swooning, is of great effect, common
experience teacheth: For, if a dish or cup of cold water is thrown
strongly upon the face, the person in an instant will recover, tho’
for a time he seemeth dead, and perhaps might not have recovered in
some cases, if cold water had not been so applied; such faintings being
sometimes deadly, which proceed from poisonous vapours ascending up to
the brain from a foul stomach: For such effects there are, as I have
found by experience, who in my young days did swoon away twice; at
both which times I was sensible of a collection of wind in my stomach,
from whence I plainly felt a fume or vapour ascend to the head, that
in an instant deprived me of all sense: But being both times in the
company of a person who had seen the thing tried, he dashed some cold
water against my face, which I remember made me start, as if I had been
suddenly awaked. And I am apt to think, that some die in such a fit,
when none are near to help them; and especially when so taken in their
sleep, which I believe none need fear, who live temperately, or that
eat no suppers; none who have refrained from suppers; having been ever
found to die in their sleep.
[Sidenote: _Bleedings at the nose._]
Dangerous bleedings at the nose have also been cured with cold water
largely drank, syringing cold water up their nostrils, and applying
towels round their necks dipt in cold water, changing them as they grow
warm; for it is said by a good writer, that this will so cool the
heat of the blood, and by the coldness of the water syringed, up the
nose, so contract the mouths of the veins which bleed, that it will
put a stop to the bleeding. Such bleedings have also been stopt by
dashing cold water often in the face, as a French writer hath affirmed,
whose name was Flammand; and the same also is asserted by Cook, in his
_Marrow of Surgery_.
[Sidenote: _Small cuts._]
Cold water is an absolute cure for all small cuts, in the fingers, or
other parts; for if you close the cut up with the thumb of your other
hand, keeping it so closed for a quarter or half an hour, this will
infallibly stop the bleeding: After which, if you double up a linen-rag
five or six times, dip it in cold water, and apply it to the part,
binding it on; this, by preventing inflammation and a flux of humours,
will give nature time soon to heal it without any other application, as
is seen in the common practice of surgeons when they let a man blood;
for all the application they make to the vein so cut, is a pledget of
linen dipped in cold water, and bound on with a fillet: For all wounds,
without loss of substance, will heal of themselves, if inflammation be
prevented, and the lips of the wound are kept close together.
[Sidenote: _Bitings of a mad dog._]
We are also informed by Van Heydon, that in his time some were of
an opinion, that a person bit by a mad dog might be preserved from
that symptom, called, the fear of water, which generally follows, and
proves so mortal, by applying cold water to the place bitten: And
this, he says, they conceive to be no unlikely thing, if there is any
credit to be given to what Cornelius Celsus writes, who saith, that
the only remedy in this case is, to throw the party who hath the fear
of water upon him, into a pond or river, and, when plunged over head
and ears, to keep him in the water till filled with it, whether he
will or no; and by this means both his thirst and dread of water will
be cured. For, if this immersion be of use when the person is so far
gone, why should it not be of greater force in preserving from it, if
speedily applied, and repeated? Now, tho’ this is mentioned by him as a
probable opinion, yet experience in our days shews, that the plunging
the patient into the salt water, either of the river of Thames about
Gravesend, or in the salt springs in Cheshire, is the best means to
prevent any evil succeeding the bite of a mad dog; they must indeed be
dipped so often, as to be almost drowned before the danger is over:
But it is a question whether the saltness of the water contributes any
thing to this cure, since Boerhaave, the present professor at Leyden,
affirms, that when men bitten by a mad dog are arrived to the fear
of water, called an hydrophobia, they may be cured by blinding the
patient’s eyes, and throwing of him into a pond of water often, till he
seems not to be afraid of it, or but very little, and then force him to
drink large quantities.
[Sidenote: _Falling-sickness._]
And we are told by Dr. Edward Browne, that a person troubled with the
falling-sickness, by happening to fall into a cold spring, (I suppose
it was in the time of his fit) was freed from his distemper all his
life after: And he saith, there is no need of preparing the body for
it in this, as in some other cases. But the patient, when plunged into
a cold bath, ought to continue in the bath each time about three or
four minutes; for, in plunging over head and ears at his first entrance
into a cold bath, the brain will be so sensibly affected, as to be
relieved from the distemper, which is a kind of convulsion proceeding
from an inflammation, or some other cause; but we want more experiments
to confirm this notion: which notion may be worth noticing, that the
thing may be tried in others, to see if it will succeed as it did in
this person. For it is said by the ingenious Dr. Pitcairn, a Scotsman,
sometime professor at Leyden, that there is no such thing as the art of
curing, but only the practice; remedies were found out by chance, p.
264, of his works. For when remedies thus happen to be discovered, and
prove often to be effectual, the remembering that remedy, to apply it
in a like case of practice, brings reputation to the prescriber; but,
if it fails, some other experiment must be tried, which, were physic an
art, need not be done, because the rules of art are certain, and men
depend upon them as such.
[Sidenote: _Madness & melancholy._]
It is also said by the same Dr. Browne, that madness and melancholy,
with all their retinue, may find better effects from the use of bathing
in cold water, than from other violent methods, with which people so
afflicted are now treated; for, says he, that which will make a drunken
man sober in a minute, will certainly go a great way towards the cure
of a madman in a month. Now it is most certain, to my own knowledge,
that, if a drunken man be plunged over head and ears in cold water, he
will come out of it perfectly sober: And some I have known, that in
such cases have been recovered by barely washing their heads in cold
water. Which fore-mentioned opinion of Dr. Browne is confirmed by the
practice of Dr. Blair, who, in a letter to Dr. Baynard, declares, that
he cured a man raving mad, who being bound in a cart, stript off his
clothes, and blindfolded, that the surprise might be the greater; he on
a sudden had a great fall of water let down upon him from the height
of twenty foot, under which he continued so long as his strength would
permit: And, after his return home, he fell into a sleep, and slept
twenty-nine hours, and awaked in as quiet a state of mind as ever, and
so had continued to the time of writing that letter, which was twelve
months. Distraction also in fevers, of which there are divers instances
in the history of _Cold Baths_, has been cured by being plunged in cold
water. _See p. 226._
Which relation seems to make that a more probable truth, which was
related in a letter from Sir John Floyer, to Dr. Browne, and printed
by that doctor; that in Normandy they immerse fools, or dip them in
cold water to cure them: A hot brain being the cause, perhaps, of
several disorders in the understanding, and is in great part found to
be true in the ridiculous behaviour of some drunken men, which, when
their heads are become cool, abhor what they before did or said. Now,
if such dipping would cure fools among us, great numbers might be made
more happy than they are by being so dipped, before they have beggared
themselves by imprudence.
[Sidenote: _King’s-evil._]
Dr. Browne, in his discourse of _Cold Baths_, affirms, that to bathe in
cold water hath been found to be the quickest, safest, and pleasantest
cure for the king-evil; and he tells us, in p. 85, of a Yorkshire
gentleman, who was grievously afflicted with this distemper, having
great ulcers in the glands of his neck, which were so much inflamed,
as to bring him very low; but, being advised by Dr. Baynard to bathe
in the cold bath, he in a month’s time was perfectly cured, his ulcers
being healed up, contrary to the opinion of the most learned physicians.
[Sidenote: _Jaundice, swelling, inflamed eyes, and pains in the
joints._]
We also find mention, in the description of the Scottish Islands, of
an odd remedy commonly made use of there for the cure of the Jaundice;
which is this: They strip the party naked, lay him upon the ground on
his belly, and pour unawares upon his back a pail of cold water. And
also pains in the joints, as Dr. Curtis tells us, will be cured, by
holding the part under the stream of a pump or cock; and fomenting with
cold water, is commended as good to assuage hot swellings. And I know a
person who had often been subject to blood-shot or inflamed eyes, who
afterwards, upon the beginning of the same distemper, took, by advice,
a ball of linen rags, dipped them in cold water, and applied them to
the part, cooling them by new-dipping as oft as they grew hot: Which
application was continued three hours, in which time the humour was so
repelled, as to be troublesome no more; for the party, to my knowledge,
hath had no sign of that distemper since, tho’ the same had been very
troublesome many times before: And the same others have tried with the
like success.
[Sidenote: _Defluxions on the eyes._]
It is also advised by Dr. Gideon Harvey to wash the eyes well twice a
day in cold water, as the best remedy to prevent defluxions on them,
and preserve the eye-sight, which it greatly comforts. And this I
have found true for many years, my eyes being often apt to be dim and
stiff, so that I could scarce open my eye-lids; which, upon washing
for a minute with fair water, hath been felt no more for a good while
after. Besides which benefit to the eyes, authors say, it is also good
to preserve the memory, if the whole forehead be washed twice a day;
and it is also a certain cure for itching in the eyes. And indeed,
washing with water will free mankind from a troublesome itching in
any other part of the body, let it be never so private; as Cook, in
his _Observations on English bodies_, doth expresly declare from
experience. And Wedelius affirms, that violent itching in a man’s cod
was so cured by him; and, if the other sex would make use of it, a
single life would be less uneasy than it seems to be to some.
[Sidenote: _Callosity & sore feet._]
Some people are troubled with a callosity, or hardness of the bottom
of their feet, which is so troublesome, as to be a hindrance to their
easy walking; for which a cure is prescribed by Dr. Cook, that is, to
soak them well in warm water, till the hardness is softened, and then
scrape it off with the edge of a knife: And if the feet burn with any
unnatural heat, and are tender, it was advised by Mr. Rumsey, in his
_Organon Salutis_, to bathe them daily in cold water. Others affirm,
that to bathe tender feet often in hot water will cool them, by giving
vent to that which is offensive; and it is useful in a cough.
[Sidenote: _Scurvy._]
The plentiful drinking of water is commended in the scurvy, whether hot
or cold, by Dr. Pitcairn, to dissolve the scorbutic salts, and carry
them out by urine; but this is a distemper that Dr. Cheyne affirms is
difficult to cure, that nothing but a total abstinence from flesh,
fish, and strong liquor, will overcome the scurvy, p. 127, whether
they are acids or alkalies. But tho’ weakness and faintness commonly
attends on this distemper, yet myself, who have been formerly extremely
troubled with the scurvy, which often made me faint and weak, and my
pulse so low as scarcely to be felt, found at last that the pulse would
infallibly rise upon drinking a pint or more of cold water, and in a
little time I should again become brisk and strong: for I have often
observed, that, upon a disorder of the stomach, the strength of the
bodily members soon would fail, and as easily be recovered when the
disorder of the stomach was removed; which requires temperance and
cooling diet, when distempered, especially in drink.
[Sidenote: _Asthma & consumption._]
To what hath been already said, I will add an account, taken from
a credible person, of a man in the parish of Shoreditch, who was
desperately ill of an asthma, or shortness of breath, and deep
consumption, for which he had tried many remedies to no purpose. At
length he was advised by a physician, being poor, to drink no drink but
water, and eat no other food but water-gruel, without salt or sugar;
which course of diet he continued for three months, finding himself
at first to be somewhat better, and at the three months end he was
perfectly cured; but, for security’s sake, he continued in that diet
a month longer, and grew fat and strong upon it. But his diet he had
no mind to till he was thoroughly hungry, and then he did eat it with
pleasure; in which perhaps consisted the best part of his cure, it
being an advantage to health never to eat till hunger calls for food.
[Sidenote: _Cough cured._]
And I remember a young woman, a burnisher of silver, who had a
desperate cough, for which she had taken many things of an apothecary
to no purpose; at length the journeyman told her, his master said, he
could do no more:
But, said the fellow, I would advise you every morning to wash behind
your ears, and upon your temples, and on the mould of your head, with
cold water: which she told me she did, and was perfectly cured of her
cough by that means. And for a hoarseness that comes upon a cold, the
dipping of a handkerchief five times double in very hot water, and
holding it to the mouth and nose, new-dipping it as it becomes cold, is
commended by Dr. Alexander Read as a good remedy.
[Sidenote: _Hoarseness._]
[Sidenote: _Difficulty in making water._]
There are divers other cases wherein the use of water hath done much
good. An ancient practiser in physic told me, that in many difficulties
of making water, he had advised the party to put his yard into water
as hot as he could endure it, which in a minute did cause him to make
water; and that women have had the same benefit by sitting over hot
water. And he often had advised them who were costive, and went to
stool with great difficulty, to sit over a pot with hot water in it;
which soon was attended with an easy dejection of stool, the body
drawing up the vapour, which provoked expulsion of the excrements
without much straining.
[Sidenote: _Costiveness._]
[Sidenote: _Children unquiet._]
And it hath been observed, that froward children have been made much
more quiet, by washing their lower parts every morning with water, to
wash off the salts of their urine, which usually stick in the pores of
the skin, and are fretful and uneasy; and nothing cures their soreness
about those parts like it. Nor is there any thing more effectual to
cure men who are gauled by riding, than to wash themselves well when
they go to bed with cold water; and washing the bare breast every
morning with cold water, will make those hardy who before were apt at
every turn to take cold. To which I will add what Sir Theodore Mayhern
affirms in his _Medicinal Counsels_, that in most diseases
[Sidenote: _Head diseases._]
[Sidenote: _Pains in the ear._]
of the head, there is nothing better than to bathe it with cold water.
Which, in a desperate pain of the ear upon taking cold, I have found to
be true; for the pain did vanish upon applying to it about 30 minutes
a towel doubled up often, and wet often in cold water; and tho’ it
returned again, yet ease was soon obtained the same way, and the cure
perfected in four times doing: Which cure of a pain gotten with cold,
by a cold application, will not seem so strange, when we consider,
that, in the northern countries, mortifications from cold are nowise
to be cured but by applying cold snow; as travellers into Denmark and
Sweden do affirm.
[Sidenote: _Curtis’s opinion of water._]
In short, water, when rightly made use of, appears, from the accounts
before-mentioned, very effectual to prevent and cure many diseases; but
more especially the inward use thereof: For to use the words of the
ingenious Dr. Curtis, in his _Essay for the preservation and recovery
of Health_; the habitual use of water for common drink, preserves the
native ferment of the stomach in due order, keeps the blood temperate,
and helps to spin out the thread of life to the longest extent of
nature; it makes the rest at night more quiet and refreshing, the
reason and understanding more clear, the passions less disorderly;
and, in case of eating too much, a large draught of cold water vastly
exceeds any other cordial to cause digestion: water being not so cold
and lifeless, he saith, as many imagine. Besides which commendation of
it by this doctor, it is certainly a drink that will not ferment in
the stomach, nor turn sour, as wine and strong malt-drinks will, to
the hindering of a good digestion, which all acidity in the stomach
certainly doth, when it abounds there; and is best corrected by
weakening or making it less sour, by drinking good store of water, as
the experience of above forty years practice hath assured myself, and
many others. For tho’ water is accounted a contemptible drink, yet by
beginning to make use of it about thirty years of age, before which
I was often out of order, and continuing the use of it ever since,
drinking very little wine or strong drink, I have attained to the age
of seventy-four years, when thousands in the meantime, who delighted
only in drinking strong beer, wine, and brandy, have not lived half so
long: which makes good that saying in the Scriptures, that _Wine is
a mocker, and strong drink is raging, and he who is deceived thereby
is not wise_, Prov. xx. 1., since it noway contributes to long life;
for it is certain, that thousands in the world live as long who drink
no strong drink, as any drinkers of it do. Some indeed, from an
extraordinary strength of nature, have been hard drinkers, and yet die
old; but for one who does this, perhaps an hundred are destroyed by
it before they come to half the time of life: and generally we shall
find, that very strong and healthy constitutions, at the long-run, are
ruined by riot and excess, there being no certain safety in any way
of living, but that of temperance and moderation. Nature in some may,
a long time, withstand the abuses offered to it, but at last it will
yield to its enemies; and those who live the longest in an intemperate
course, might, from the strength of their constitution, have lived much
longer, had they ate less, and used themselves to drink more water;
which drink, as it is most friendly, and longest will preserve the life
of a strong constitution, so it is absolutely necessary for those that
are weak and sickly, and are naturally subject to the gout, the stone,
shortness of breath, wind, ill digestion, and such like.
[Sidenote: _Useful in Vomiting._]
But the chief use of water, in preserving of health, is by using of it
as a vomit, as before was shewn, which is an infallible and the most
speedy remedy that was ever found out for any stomach sickness, or pain
there; for to vomit with warm water, will effectually remove it in one
hour, and be a means to prevent great fits of sickness, and preserve
the lives of many thousands to old age, by cleansing the stomach from
that tough, slimy, or corrupt matter that offends, and is the cause of
all mortal diseases, especially of an apoplexy, which, tho’ counted a
disease of the head, yet hath its original from a foul stomach, which
nothing doth so effectually cleanse as vomits; according to Dr. Curtis,
who saith, that vomiting with warm water, or carduus-tea, is very
beneficial to bring up that which fluctuates in the stomach, and that
tough, ropy phlegm, which sticks fast to the wrinkles and folds of that
bowel, and which purges do often pass over, and cannot remove. Which
way of vomiting with warm water, is ten times more easy and pleasant
than that which is effected by the use of nauseous tea made of carduus,
which physicians sometimes advise; and it is also such as can do no
harm by violence, as other vomits made from antimony sometimes do, for
want of drinking after each vomit a pint or more of water-gruel, or
warm water, when you vomit with water.
And here it may not be amiss to relate what I some years ago
discovered, in order to mens freeing themselves from sickness that may
happen after eating; for being invited to dine at a certain table,
where there were several good dishes of meat, I was over-persuaded
to eat more than I should, and in a little time after dinner found
myself began to be sick. I went out, and in a private place attempted
to vomit, by tickling my throat with my finger, but could not vomit
as I designed; only by this means I raised up two or three mouthfuls
of thick, tough phlegm, upon which I found myself better, and my
sick qualm went off. I took the hint it gave me, and have done the
same several times since, and find that the getting up the phlegm,
which, like yeast upon beer, works up to the mouth of the stomach, a
man may free himself from some kinds of sickness after eating. And I
remember it is an advice given by one Vaughan, in a book long since
printed, intituled, _Directions for Health_, for men who feed high,
to put their finger in their throat when they rise in the morning, to
make themselves puke, or void the phlegm which can be raised, as an
excellent way to preserve health; and it is said also to be an absolute
preservative from the gout, by a good writer.
[Sidenote: _The quantity of water needful._]
I will conclude with this note, that, in such distemper where
water-drinking will be available for a cure, the same must not be drank
sparingly, but plentifully; as (for instance) to ease the gripings in
a looseness or flux: for, if but a pint of water should be drank, ease
would hardly succeed; but, drinking in about an hours time a quart or
three pints, the sharpness and evil quality of the humour offending,
will be so far diluted or weakened, that immediate ease will follow. If
the season be too cold to drink cold water, you may warm it a little
upon the fire, or put a hot toast of bread into every pint. And the
same is true in fevers, or in pains from gravel or the cholic: A small
quantity will not be effectual in these cases; for in the cholic a
quart is necessary, which ought to be carefully noted; and, in a fever,
a little water will rather increase the burning, which large draughts,
often drank, will soon take off. Rest, fasting, and drinking much
water, after a vomit or two, is a course that never yet hath failed
to cure fevers, by clearing the stomach of that sordid filthiness
which causeth the distemper: for a happy issue will certainly follow
such a course, if the fever is simple, and not complicated with such
other distempers which will resist all remedies: For in many cases
nothing can prevent mortality, as is evident by the death of the best
physicians themselves, and by the death of many who consulted with them
for a cure, since many die under the hands of the most able doctors, as
well as quacks.
[Sidenote: _Grief and frights._]
I will add to what hath been said, one experiment more, that is very
material: And that is, being very hypochondriacal, and of a melancholy
temper, I have often been strangely dejected in mind when under grief
for some misfortunes, which sometimes have been so great, as to
threaten danger to life; in which fits of grief I always found the
parts within my breast very uneasy, and sometimes continued long: But
now I have found a good remedy; for, upon drinking a pint or more of
cold water, I find ease in two or three minutes, so that no grief
seems to afflict. Which experience I discover for the sake of others in
the same circumstances, being certain, that the stomach sympathizeth
with the mind, and this becomes the cause of that uneasy sensation
perceived there, for which, cold water I have found to be the best
remedy in myself, and I believe others may find the same benefit, who
wilt make use thereof upon the like occasion. And it gives also relief
to people under frights, which sometimes have been very fatal, even
unto death.
[Sidenote: _Vapours._]
There is also another experiment that I have often seen of good effect;
and that is, that if persons, subject to what is called vapours,
or that are afflicted with fits, commonly called _the fits of the
mother_, will but drink water when they find their fits approach,
it will immediately yield relief. There is in this case a mealy
julep, prescribed by Dr. Bates, which is, to take a spoonful of fine
wheat-flour, an ounce of fine sugar, and a pint of water, brew them
together, and drink it off: This is pleasanter than water alone; but
water of itself will be as effectual, or rather better, as hath been
often proved upon persons in those fits.
[Sidenote: _How to distinguish Water._]
Some perhaps may desire to know how to distinguish good from bad water.
And the way to do this is, by the taste and scent; for being purely
fresh, not salt, nor sweetish, nor ill-scented, it is good, provided it
be pure and clear: Of which kind is the common water used in London,
when well settled, or in fair weather. As for those who are curious,
and will be at the charge, they may procure the best water for drink by
distillation, either in an alembick, or in a cold still used in drawing
any cold water from herbs; for no earthly or metallic substance, nor
any kind of salt will rise in distillation: So that the water so
distilled will be pure, and admirable to drink when cold, and will
keep as long from stinking as any of the cold distilled water in the
apothecaries shops; according to what Dr. Quincy hath affirmed about
it in his _Dispensatory_.
Those who have not the conveniency of distillation, may boil it a
little as they do for tea; for then, when kept a while after it is
cold, it will become more fine, by suffering any mixture contained in
it to settle to the bottom of the vessel, and that will render it still
more pure: In short, all water that will make a good lather with soap,
is wholesome to drink without boiling, but none else.
[Sidenote: _Pains in the stomach._]
Since the collecting together the fore-mentioned accounts, I have met
with a book written by Dr. Boerhaave, the present professor of physic
at Leyden in Holland, who affirms that drinking water, made very warm,
is a good remedy to pacify griping pains in the stomach; and that it is
proper to bathe wounds in the face with it, when they come to be just
healed, so that the place be kept continually wet, which I conceive is
best done by applying often linen cloths wet, and binding them on till
they begin to be dry, for this will prevent scars: And he saith, that
warm water is better to attenuate or thin the blood than cold.
[Sidenote: _Fevers._]
There is published lately a book of experiments made with water, by Dr.
Hancock, a divine, called _Febrifugum Magnum_; wherein he saith, that
drinking a pint or a quart of cold water in bed will raise a copious
sweat, and cure all burning fevers, which at once taking hath done
the business: It will raise a sweat without much more covering than
ordinary. And he further affirms, that the same taken at the beginning
of the cold fit of an ague, and sweating upon it, at two or three
times taking, will cure that distemper. A large quantity of hot water,
I know, hath been advised to take off the cold fit of agues, but the
party was not ordered to sweat. Which discovery of the reverend doctor
about fevers, is confirmed by the following accounts, which I received
from a worthy gentleman, Mr. Ralph Thoresby, F. R. S.[1] to whom they
were transmitted by Mr. Lucas, a pious and learned gentleman of Leeds
in Yorkshire, who says, that
[1] Author of _Ducatus Leodiensis_, or Topography of Leeds, which the
present learned Bishop of London, in his preface to the new edition
of Cambden’s Britannia, stiles, _An useful and accurate Treatise_.
‘One Captain Rosier fell into a violent fever, which as soon as he
perceived, he said he must have some cold water. The gentlewoman, at
whose house he lodged, not thinking that proper, boiled the water
(unknown to him) and put some spirits therein, and sent it up cold;
but he smelt it before it came to his head, and refused to drink
it, saying, he knew what he did, for he had several times tried
it. Afterwards, some clear water being brought, he drank it, sweat
profusely, and was well the next day.
‘Another captain of a ship also took the same method, when he, or any
of his men, fell into a fever; which had the desired success.’
Mr. Lucas adds, in another letter to the same gentleman, ‘That his own
wife fell very ill of a fever; she drank water, sweat very much, and
thereby recovered.’
[Sidenote: _Colds._]
All which instances corroborate the new way of curing fevers, so lately
discovered in this city by Dr. Hancock; who also saith, he has had long
experience of curing common colds with cold water; and this is done
by drinking a large draught of water at going to bed, another in the
night, and another in the morning: which, he saith, will soon thicken
and sweeten, and digest that thin sharp rheum that provokes coughing to
no purpose; for the rheum, when thin, is hard to be brought up; but,
when thickened, it will come up easily, and the cough will soon go off.
Which agrees with what I before affirmed from my own long experience.
[Sidenote: _Good for the breath._]
He also affirms from his own experience, that using sometimes to take
a walk of eight or ten miles in a morning, he found that water gave
twice as good breath for that purpose as wine or ale; and, if it would
do this for a man who had no asthma, he doubts not but it would do the
same in a person troubled with one. And he also affirms water to be the
best remedy for a surfeit; to the truth of which I can testify by long
experience.
[Sidenote: _Rheumatism._]
He also affirms, that drinking cold water hath been found good in
rheumatisms, and that to one so afflicted he had advised to drink it as
he lay in his bed, and it took off the fit; but if hot water attenuates
the blood most, as Boerhaave affirms it is then best to drink of it
warm daily to a good quantity: For, as Pitcairn observes, it is then
the best dissolver of all kinds of salts in the body, which it will
carry off in the urine, if drank plentifully; for by urine salts are
evacuated, as is evident by the taste.
[Sidenote: _Gout in the stomach._]
And it is his opinion, from the long experience he hath had of the
effect of water in keeping the stomach in order, and making it tight
and strong to perform its operations, and digest all humours, that it
will cure the gout in the stomach; and perhaps it may do it better than
wine, which I have known to fail. And I do not wonder that the same
liquor, which is the principal cause of the gout in other parts, should
not be a help in that part, but rather kill, as it often is found to
do, tho’ the strongest wine is drank.
[Sidenote: _What sweating most natural._]
In short, he affirms, and that with great reason, that sweating in
fevers, by drinking cold water, is more natural than to do it with hot
sudorifics, which often do harm in the beginning of fevers, except good
store of cooling moistning liquors are drank with them, they being more
apt to inflame than cool and quench heat in the body; and for that
reason sweating hath not been often advised by physicians, because they
were ignorant of this way of sweating to cure fevers, by drinking cold
water.
Which cure, he said, did succeed in one who was his relation, at the
fifth day after his falling sick; to whom he gave a dose of water
after he was in bed, and he sweated profusely for twenty-four hours,
and thereby was cured. Half a pint, he saith, is enough for a grown
child; a pint to a man or woman, tho’ if they drink a quart, it will be
better. And in scarlet fevers, small pox, or measles, tho’ the water
will not cause sweat, yet it will so quell and keep under the fever,
that the eruptions will come out more kindly; which is a confirmation
of what before was said about Dr. Bett’s prescribing two quarts of
water, when the small pox did not come out kindly; the water afforded
matter to fill them up, according to what the author observes of a
certain person, in the history of _Cold Bathing_, p. 347., that he
could give an hundred instances where people of all ages have been
lost, by being denied drink in the small pox,----for it hinders the
filling of the pustules.
[Sidenote: _Plague._]
And Dr. Hancock sets down an account of the author of the
_Free-thinker_, concerning a woman, who in the last great plague fell
ill of that distemper, who got her husband to fetch her a pitcher
of water from Lambs-conduit; she drank plentifully of it, but did
not avoid the cold, and so did not sweat, however she was cured. And
he gives us another relation of an Englishman, formerly resident at
Morocco, that fell ill of the plague at that place, and, getting
water to drink, fell into a violent sweat, and recovered: From whence
the doctor concludes, that water is good in the plague; agreeable to
what is related in Sir John Floyer’s book of _Cold Baths_, wherein
it is said, that but two died of the plague who lived over the water
upon London bridge, p. 223, the coolness of the air being supposed to
contribute to their health who inhabited on the water in that manner,
their blood being cooler than others: It is said also, the watermen
escaped better than others.
[Sidenote: right pointing finger icon]
I will here add to what the doctor hath said before, concerning the
cure of fevers, that if the fever be accompanied in the beginning with
any great illness at the stomach, nauseating or vomiting, it will be
the surest and safest practice to clear the stomach first, by vomiting
with warm water, as before directed; for I cannot believe it possible
for the stomach to be cleared from foul humours by sweating. It may do,
if no great sense of disorder is perceived there; but it will certainly
be safest to cleanse the stomach first, which is the place where
all diseases have their original; for then sweating with cold water
afterwards may turn to good account. Indeed I have not made any trial
of it since the doctor’s book was published, but I have a very good
opinion of his accounts therein given concerning the benefit of water,
having had so much experience thereof in my own practice for above
forty years; for so long it is since I first began to collect those
accounts, and make those experiments, which are herein made public
for the benefit of all. I will only add, that in a book, intituled,
_Organum Salutis_, p. 50. written by Judge Rumsey, he saith, he never
found any thing more useful for the health of man, than to drink first
in the morning half a pint of cold water; and this will contribute much
to the cure of blood-shotten eyes.
[Sidenote: _Pag._ 42, 43, 44.]
Since the last edition of this work, there hath been published _An
Essay of Health and long Life_, by Dr. Cheyne, wherein this truth is
asserted too, ‘That water was the primitive, original beverage--(and
happy had it been for the race of mankind, if other mixt and artificial
liquors had never been invented) and that water alone is sufficient
and effectual for all the purposes of human wants in drink. Strong
liquors were never designed for common use, tho’ now we see the better
sort scarce ever dilute their food with any other liquor: And thereby
we see their blood becomes inflamed into gout, stone, rheumatisms,
raging fevers, and pleurisies; and their passions enraged into
quarrels, murders, and blasphemies; their juices dried up; and their
solids scorched and shriveled.’ This author, p. 46., exclaims against
strong drinks, as the root of one half of all the human miseries; but
finds they are unwilling to leave them off, pretending the danger of
all sudden changes. But he alledgeth, ‘That he hath known good and
constant effects from leaving off suddenly great quantities of wine,
and flesh-meats too, by those accustomed to both; and never observed
any ill consequences from it in any case whatsoever; but that broken
constitutions have thereby lived longer, and grown better, by so doing.’
Some few, and but very few, have pretended, that by leaving off wine
and strong drink, and using only water, they found their bodies
weakened: But this perhaps may proceed only from the same fancy which
made the lady believe her doctor could not cure her, because he did not
keep a coach. There may be some constitutions that water doth not agree
with, even as cheese will not agree with some: Nay, I once met with an
ancient woman, who affirmed, she could not, and never did eat bread.
And there are so few in comparison to them who have found benefit by
the use of water, to those who have not, that no wise man will refrain
on their account, till, upon trial, he really finds it will not agree
with him.
One of the most ingenious watch-makers in London, very lately, from
a long continued flux, was very much weakened, and entirely lost his
appetite, so far that he could eat no food whatsoever: He had the
advice of an able physician, his intimate acquaintance, who could not
give him any relief: He, upon reading my book, came to ask me, whether
I thought he might venture to drink water? I thereupon prevailed with
him to drink half a pint of cold water going to bed, and half a pint in
the morning: He, tho’ an immoderate drinker of wine before, was so far
from being injured by it, that in a fortnight he began to eat, and in
about a month recovered as good a date of health and countenance as he
had before.
It hath been objected by some few, that drinking of water maketh them
costive: which well considered, is an argument that it strengthens
the bowels; for all fluxes proceed from weak bowels, and are an enemy
to the strength of the bodily members, no persons being in health, as
Dr. Baynard affirms, but those who evacuate figured excrements, which
weak bowels never do; so that firm excrements tend most to strength,
provided there be an evacuation one in a day, which is enough for them
who through temperance live wisely, and do not destroy themselves by
gluttony.
_SOME_
RULES
FOR
Preserving Health by Diet,
_Collected from Physical Authors._
[Sidenote: _Diet will cure diseases._]
In a little treatise, intituled, _Kitchen-physic_, written by Dr. Cook,
the author declares, he can hardly be told of any disease which he
cannot relieve or cure by a proper diet, p. 39. And in the same book
we find his opinion to be this, that all tender sickly people, and all
aged and decrepid persons, ought to eat often, and but a little at
a time, because weak and wasted bodies are to be restored by little
and little; and by moist and liquid food also, rather than by solid,
because moist and liquid diet does nourish soonest, and digest easiest.
[Sidenote: _Feeding much, bad for weak people._]
Those, he saith, that eat much, and get little strength by eating,
shew, that they have used themselves to too full a diet; and the more
you cram such bodies, the less they thrive by it, but rather grow worse
and worse: Because by much feeding you do but add to the bad humours
wherewith the body is already filled, which should rather be wasted by
purging, and using a spare diet.
[Sidenote: _A spare diet, what._]
And a spare diet he describes to be this, that we never eat at once
till the appetite is fully satisfied, and never to eat till we have
an appetite; and men never have a true appetite till they can eat any
ordinary food: And he adviseth to keep constantly to a plain diet,
for those, he says, enjoy most health, and live longest, that avoid
curiosity and variety of meats and drinks, which only serve to entice
to gluttony, and so work our ruin.
[Sidenote: _Sick, to recover soonest._]
Another saith, that the less food the sick person eats, the sooner he
will recover; for it is a true saying, _the more you fill foul bodies,
the more you hurt them_. The stomach being the place where diseases
have their origin, when that part therefore is weak, and out of order,
and cannot make a good digestion, if much is eaten, raw and crude
humours must needs be bred, and bad humours cannot produce good blood.
[Sidenote: _The evil of full meals._]
All men find by experience, that, in the morning before they have
eaten, they are light and pleasantly easy in their bodies; but, after
they have indulged their appetites with plenty of food, they find
themselves heavy and dull, and often sleepy: which sufficiently shews,
that those full meals are prejudicial to the welfare of the body; for
a moderate meal would have continued the ease and lightsomeness they
before found in themselves, and would have refreshed any faintness that
emptiness might occasion. And he certainly, who useth the most simple
meats and drinks, avoideth the snare of provoking his appetite beyond
the necessities of nature; whereas variety enticeth to a fresh desire
of every dainty, till at last the stomach is gorged, and made uncapable
of performing a good digestion; and this produceth those crudities
which are the cause of all diseases, and of so many sudden deaths.
[Sidenote: _The evil of high feeding._]
It is generally observed, that the most unhealthy are found among
those who feed high upon the most delicious dainties, and drink nothing
but the strongest and most spirituous liquors; whereas others who want
this delicate fare, are seldom sick, except they have such unsatiable
appetites as to eat too much; which a man may do of the plainest diet,
whose _belly is his god_, as an apostle expresses it. Phil. iii 19.
But tho’ men may glut themselves with coarse food, yet coarse food,
and long life are very confident, as appears by John Bill, mentioned
in the history of _Cold Baths_, p. 408. whose food was bread, cheese,
and butter; and drink, whey, butter-milk, or water; and yet he lived
133 years, and was a strong, strait, upright man. And the food of John
Bailes, whose age amounted to 128, was for the most part brown bread
and cheese; and his drink, water, or small beer and milk, _Cold Bath_,
p. 416. He had buried the whole town of Northampton twenty times over,
except three or four, and said, _Strong drink killed them all_.
[Sidenote: _Small suppers best._]
Dr. Pratt adviseth to sup sparingly; for to sup sparingly, he saith,
is most healthful, because of the experience of an infinite number of
persons who have received the greatest benefit from light suppers.
For the stomach being not overburdened, the sleep is more pleasant;
and from sparing suppers the breeding of those humours it prevented,
which cause defluxions, rheumatisms, gouts, dropsies, giddiness, and
corruption in the mouth from the scurvy: And from light suppers a
freedom from sickness and reaching in the morning is obtained, and
concoction is made perfect, which prevents obstructions.
[Sidenote: _Fasting, its benefit._]
Another saith, it is well known, that many indispositions are cured
by fasting, or a very spare diet; for what is taken into the stomach
being no more than can be well digested, the chylous juice, so rightly
prepared, is conveyed into the lacteal vessels, and from thence into
the blood; so that, nature being duly supplied with well-concocted
nourishment, the corrupted blood will free itself from that corruption
in time, by throwing it out, through the pores of the skin, in
perspiration, and supply itself with the purer juices; and, in this
way, consumptions and scurvies, and other chronical distempers, will be
overcome. Which way of curing diseases by fasting, swine do naturally
betake themselves to, who, when sick, will eat nothing till they
recover, as they always do after they injure themselves by over-eating;
in which over-eating they are imitated by all who delight in gluttony,
tho’ not in using the same means of recovery, by fasting; so that hogs
are wiser in that particular than such people.
[Sidenote: _A rule in eating._]
That men in health may prevent diseases, it was advised, that one meal
should not be eaten, till the other, which was eaten before, was passed
off clean out of the stomach; which never is done till the appetite of
hunger is found to call for another supply: By means of which constant
observation, the food will be converted to good chyle, and from good
chyle, which is a milk-like substance, good blood will be bred, and
from good blood generous spirits will be produced, on which a healthy
constitution will ensue; but, on the contrary, when too great a
quantity of food is taken for pleasure only, which the stomach cannot
well digest, the chyle will be raw and corrupt, which will foul the
blood, and render the body disordered and unhealthy.
[Sidenote: _Benefits of sobriety._]
Others say, that abstinence and sobriety free from most diseases,
especially catarrhs, coughs, wheesings, giddiness, pain in the head
and stomach, sudden death, lethargies, gout and sciatica, an ill
digestion being the cause of all these; it also prevents pains in the
splene, stone, and gravel, and a dry itch; it makes the body vigorous
and nimble, maintains the five senses in a good state, preserveth the
memory, quickens the wit; and quencheth all undue lust in mankind; and,
in short, all misers, who eat and drink but little, do live long.
[Sidenote: _Rule for diet after fifty._]
Two meals a day is said to be sufficient for all persons after fifty
years of age, and all weak people; and the omitting of suppers does
always conduce much to the health of the weak and aged: since, if no
supper be eaten, the stomach will soon free itself from all tough,
slimy humours wherewith it is slabbered over on the inside, and thereby
the appetite will be renewed, and digestion made more strong. Moreover,
all that are troubled with sweating in the night, any ill taste in
their mouths, belching and troublesome dreams, must avoid suppers; for
in sleep the fibres of the stomach relax, and are not able to contract
themselves so strongly, as when awake, to embrace the food, and by
tituration reduce it into a pap fit to pass into the intestines, out of
which the nourishment is sent to other parts.
[Sidenote: _Temperance prolongs life._]
It was said by Dr. Curtis, that tho’ those who use a spare diet
cannot well bear long labour; yet such people, when their exercise
is suitable to their strength, do live longer than those of a robust
constitution, that think large feeding adds strength; especially such
as, being strong, use no exercise proportionable to it, to consume the
superfluities which a full feeding doth occasion: So that the only way
for those to live long, who have much wealth, and need not labour for a
livelihood, is to live temperately; and this temperance doth consist in
not letting the common custom of meals invite you to eat, except your
appetite concur with those times. We must not indulge the cravings of a
depraved appetite, as those do who eat to please their fancy, and not
the necessities of nature; and, when we do eat, we must not think that
the more plentifully we eat, we shall be the more strengthened; for it
will not prove so: A little well digested will make the body stronger
then the being glutted with superfluity, most of which will be turned
into a corrupt juice, and must be cast out by physic, or else sickness
will ensue. The easiest physic is that which the Germans call the
_Hunger-cure_, if continued a due time.
[Sidenote: _Children, when ill managed._]
It is the opinion of learned men, that the early distemper of the
bodies of children, called the rickets, proceeds from the faults of
their mothers, in making them gluttons from their cradles, gorging them
with food till they lothe it, out of a mistaken opinion, that this is
the way to make them thrive and grow strong: which excess is not only
the cause of this disease, but of the immature death of many; and in
others it lays the foundation of many distempers, which afflict those
afterwards who live to years of maturity. And as they gorge them with
food, so they vainly think to cherish them with strong drink, than
which nothing can be more pernicious to the health of children, whose
diet should be little and often, and their drink cooling. As it also
should be when men arrive at the time of becoming children again in
old age, that is, in an helpless state, which should be prevented as
much as can be, by a cooling, moistening diet, in opposition to the
hot, dry, and withered state of age; for it is heat and dryness that
are the cause of most old men’s miseries, especially the wasting of
the substance that fills the parts with moisture, and keeps the body
plump and smooth; they who stile wine the old man’s milk, being greatly
mistaken, for milk cools and wine heats.
[Sidenote: _Rules for sickness._]
It was the opinion of Dr Pitt, who was formerly physician to St.
Bartholomew’s hospital, that fasting, rest, and drinking water, would
cure most diseases. And there seemeth to be a great deal of reason in
what he asserts: for fasting will give time to the stomach to unload
itself of the cause of distempers, the cause of all diseases being
begun in that bowel only: to which cleansing, the drinking of water
plentifully will much contribute; which also will keep the action of
the stomach upon the hinges, by filling of it when empty, at which time
there will be need of rest, for thereby the body will be less fit for
business: Tho’ the mere drinking of water, which affords nourishment
sufficient for the growth and support of all vegetables, will, in some
measure, supply the want of food; as hath been shewn in the example
of two, who were supported a long time by nothing else. In short, the
best way for a sick man to recover, is to eat little or no food till he
finds an appetite, according to that saying,
_Spare diet will the most diseases cure,
If a due time the same you can endure._
And fasting from food may be continued long enough to be a remedy for
many diseases, with the assistance of common water; by the drinking of
which warm, in a due quantity, without a total fasting, two persons, I
am informed, were recovered out of consumptions, with which they were
extremely weakened, and that in about six weeks time; as another by
drinking milk and whey, equal parts, made blood hot, without using any
other diet, which is thought to be far more effectual than asses milk,
whose virtue consists in being thinner than other milk.
[Sidenote: _Air, its benefit._]
But, besides a spare diet, cool dry air is also very helpful to
preserve men in health, who are not sick; for it mixes with the
blood, and without it the motion of the blood and spirits can never
be preserved; as appears by diving vessels, in which men cannot live
when the air therein is made hot by their own body and breath: And is
proved also by an experiment of Dr. Croone’s, who stifled a chicken
till it seemed quite dead; and yet, by blowing cool air into the lungs
with a small pair of bellows, it revived. Hence it appears, that the
common custom of managing sick people is very pernicious, and so far
from helping them to recover, that it is sufficient to make a healthy
person sick: For were a person, who was not sick, confined for three
or four weeks in a room made hot like a stove, and kept in his bed,
with the curtains drawn, and all the windows close shut, and the room
made unpleasant with the nauseous fumes of physic and a close-stool,
which will almost make a healthy man sick when he enters into it; we
can never think that this is the way to recover one that really is
sick, and wants the fresh air and reviving scents to cherish his blood;
a fresh, open, sweet air being one principal means to strengthen the
body, make a good appetite and digestion, and render the spirits brisk
and lively: which advantage should be allowed to all but childbed
women, and those who are afflicted with the small pox: for the fresh
air can be prejudicial to no other, whose bodies are clothed warm,
either in bed, or sitting in a chair in their chamber.
[Sidenote: _A fever suddenly cured._]
Some years since, a neighbour became very feverish, and his wife
persuaded him to go to bed; and hearing of it soon after, I gave him
a visit where I found the windows close shut, the curtains of the bed
drawn, and the room very hot, for it was in July: He was burning hot,
and complained for want of breath. I drew open the curtains, covered
him warm, and then opened the windows, and the wind blew into the room;
upon which he soon told me, his shortness of breath had left him. I
persuaded him to drink water, which he found did much refresh him;
and, after I had taken my leave of him, he called for more water: and,
while he had the cup in his hand, an apothecary came in, whom his wife
had sent for, who, finding him about to drink the water, told him, if
he did it, he was a dead man; but, instead of forbearing, he drank it
up in his presence: upon which the other took his leave, and told him,
he would say no more to him. However, before night, the person got
up, went abroad, and was cured of his fever. Which is one instance,
among many others that might be given, of the benefit of fresh air to
a person who is kept warm in his bed; for thereby his body was cooled
inwardly, and his breathing made more free, by the air which was drawn
into his lungs to refresh and comfort the blood as it passed through
them.
[Sidenote: _A cool and low diet._]
I shall only add, that by keeping the blood cool as well as clean,
is to be understood, not only moderation in diet, but to feed most on
cooling food made of wheat, barley, oat-meal, rice, and ripe apples,
as also on milk, which, joined with oat-meal, is the chief food of
those lusty and strong men, the Highlanders of Scotland, who abound
in children, as Dr. Cheyne tells us in his _Treatise of the Gout_,
p. 108. edit. 4. which demonstrates milk and oat-meal to be a most
strengthening food, and such as keeps the blood in due order; so that
therewith men may subsist, tho’ they abstain from beef, pork and
venison, and all other meats hard to digest, and drink water as the
highlanders do: Of the efficacy of which cooling milk-diet the said Dr.
Cheyne gives a notable instance in a doctor that lived at Croyden, p.
103. who had long been afflicted with the falling-evil; for, by slow
observation, he found the lighter his meals were, the lighter were
his fits. At last he also cast off all liquids but water, and found
his fits weaker, and the intervals longer; and finding his disease
mend, as its fewel was withdrawn, he took to vegetable food, and water
only, which put an entire period to his fits without any relapse: But
finding that food windy to him, he took to milk, of which he drank a
pint for a breakfast, a quart at dinner, and a pint for supper, without
fish, flesh, bread, or any strong or spirituous liquor, or any drink
but water, with which he lived afterwards for fourteen years, without
the least interruption in his health, strength or vigour, but died
afterwards of a pleurisy. Which is a confirmation of what Dr. Cook did
affirm, of the possibility of curing diseases by a diet only, that
is temperate and cooling; of which milk is a part, as are also the
roots and seeds of vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, wheat, rice,
barley, oat-meal, and full ripe fruit.
In short, temperance or a spare diet, void of dainties, never was
injurious to the strongest constitution; and, without it, such as are
weak and sickly cannot long subsist; for the more such persons eat and
drink, the more weak and disordered they will still find themselves
to be: so that if the strong despise temperance, yet the comfort
of weak, sickly and pining people, does depend entirely upon their
constantly observing it; which, when they are accustomed to it, will
be easy to do: So that they will deny all intemperate desires with as
great pleasure, as they before delighted in what is falsely stiled good
eating and drinking; for nothing of that is good, which is injurious
to health. It is custom only that makes men hanker after gluttony and
drunkenness, and a contrary custom will make men abhor it as much: And
therefore it is a wonder the rich do not strive to attain to it; for
_A fatal error ’tis in men of wealth,
To feed so high as will destroy their health._
Temperance being that which will enable them to live most at ease, and
enjoy their wealth the longest; this, and water-drinking, being the
surest way to bring men to old age, tho’ it hath not power to make
those young who are aged, yet it will make the aged more free from
decripedness, and die with most ease, if the deathbed hath been well
prepared for by a good life.
_FINIS._
_PRICE EIGHTPENCE._
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