A 
GUIDE to HEALTH
THROUGH THE 
Various Stages of LIFE. 
Wherein are Explained,
I. The different Degrees and 
Changes of Age, the prin- 
cipal and inevitable Causes 
of OLD AGE, and finally 
of our Dissolution; with 
a Chronological and Hi- 
storical brief Account of 
long LIVES from before 
the FLOOD to this present 
Time. 
II. The Nature, Properties, 
Qualities, and Influence of 
AIR. Of Aliments; the 
Choice of them; their 
Power upon Human Bo- 
dies, with their good and 
bad Effects. Of Sleeping 
and Waking; of Motion and 
Rest; of Retention and Ex-
cretion; and of the Passions 
of the Mind. 
III. Of the Definitions, Di- 
agnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
Curative Indications, both 
Medicinal and Dietetical;
of Acute and Chronical Dis- 
eases incident to Human 
Bodies; with the Nature 
and Use of BATHING and 
FRICTIONS.
The whole illustrated with useful ANNOTATIONS,
methodically and succinctly digested, and con- 
firmed by the Authority of the most celebrated 
Authors, both Ancient and Modern. 
By BERNARD LYNCH, M. D. 
Pugnandum tanquam contra Morbum, sic contra Senectutem. 
Crc. de Senectute 
Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi 
Prima fugit: subeunt Morbi, tristisque Senectus: 
Et labor. & duræ rapit inclementia mortis. 
VIRG. Lib. III. Georg.
THE SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON: 
Printed for M. COOPER in Pater-noster-Row. 1754. 




TO 
Dr. JOHN BEAUFORD. 
Sir,
THE Friendshlp you shew'd
gd me in the Infancy of my 
Practice has been too essen- 
tially useful to me ever to 
be forgotten; and it is with great 
Self-Satisfaction that I take this pub- 
lick Opportunity of acknowledg- 
ing the Obligations I lie under to 
you. My Interest in Town was not 
A2 only


iv DEDICATION. 
only strengthened and extended by 
the Share you were seen to take in it, 
but my Knowledge was enlarged by 
my Converse with you, and my Prac- 
tice was formed by my Observation 
of yours. 
I carefully examined the Modus 
of Practice here, of the most Emi- 
nent of the Profession, when I first
came to Town, intending to shape 
my own with that which should 
seem to me the most conformable to 
the Sentiments of the Great Hippo- 
crates; and finding none more na- 
tural and uniform than Yours, I took 
it for my Model, and have continued 
it ever since with all the Success I 
could hope for. 
The Profession of Physick is held 
in higher Esteem in this, than any
other Country in Europe; and no 
wonder; because none can produce 
so learned a Body of Physicians. But 
among that Body, more learned and 
skillful than any other in the World, 
your

v DEDICATION. 
Your long Experience, Sir, sets you 
in the first Class of it. This is a 
Truth unquestioned, not only by the 
Publick, but even by those of the 
Profession. 
You have a natural Right to the 
Patronage of the following Work, 
being founded chiefly on your own 
Maxims, and originally begun that I 
might have a publick Opportunity of
owning your Favours, and doing 
Justice to your Merit. How I have 
succeeded in the Choice and Con- 
texture of my Subject, I submit to 
the Publick with the utmost Defe- 
rence; but however I may have fail'd
in the Opinion of other learned Men, 
I have too often experienced your In- 
dulgence, not to flatter myself that 
you will view all Inaccuracy of Stile 
and Diction, and other as minute 
Imperfections, with your usual Can- 
dour and Good-nature. As for more 
capital Errors, I shall most readily
own and reform any such, and most 
A3 grate-

vi DEDICATION. 
gratefully thank any friendly Hand 
that shall be at the Pains of pointing
them out to me. I am, with the 
greatest Sincerity,
SIR,
Your obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant, 
Stanhope-street, 
June, 1744. 
BERNARD LYNCH.

(VII)
PREFACE. 
WHERE a Title-Page is so expres- 
sive of the Contents of a Book as 
the foregoing, a Preface might 
seem unnecessary; and I should 
think it so, if Custom did not 
seem to exact that a Bill of Fare should be 
serv'd up to the Company before they sat 
down to Table. To comply then with the 
Humour of this modern Tyrant, I must in- 
form the courteous Reader, that the sole End 
of my Labour was to inform the Uninform'd
and to erect such Lights as might help them 
to form such a Judgment of their own Con- 
stitutions, as should prevent their fancying
themselves in a worse State of Health than 
they are, and running after every Empirick, 
who pretends to the Knowledge of Catholi- 
cons, or universal Remedies. These are the 
Bane of all Societies; and tho' Quacks are 
soon detected, yet as the Succession of them 
is so very constant and rapid, the Commonal- 
ty for the most part, see not the Injury done 
to them, nor the Wrong they suffer. This 
is a Misfortune to be lamented, but diffi- 
cult to be removed, whilst Man is prejudic'd
A4 in



viii The PREFACE. 
in Favour of Novelty, and in Disfavour of 
the Regular Physician, who can't afford to 
bellow the Fruits of his hard Labours on the 
Public promiscuously. 
There is one Thing in the following Sheets 
which the Author owns to have labour'd more 
than any Part of his Subject, which is the 
Doctrine of Non-naturals, the Knowledge 
of which, he thinks, no reasonable Man who 
values his own Health should be ignorant of; 
and which he presumes to say, has been more 
obscurely treated heretofore, than it ought to 
have been, or indeed he believes it was de- 
sign'd it should be. 
In treating of acute and chronical Diseases, 
there are general Remedies, but except in one 
or two Occasions, such as the Bite of a mad 
Dog, and some Consumptions, there are no 
formal Recipes, which, it is found by Expe- 
rience, are generally productive of more Evil 
than Good. For the general Ignorance, I 
may say Infatuation, is such, that the Vulgar 
too often make material Mistakes in the Pre- 
paration of the most plain and simple Reci- 
pes. Besides, that as the Nature of Diseases and 
Constitutions is so various and different, not 
to mention the Climate, Air, Season, Age, 
and a thousand other differing Circumstan- 
ces, it would be too presuming for the Au- 
thor to take upon him to prescribe for every 
particular Distemper. He would not do so 
great a Wrong to the Illiterate, nor, to use 
the learned Boerhaave'ss Words, Would do 
any



ix The PREFACE. 
any thing so prejudicial to the noble and ge- 
nerous Science of Physick, or expose it to Re- 
proach, as they must inevitably do, who pre- 
tend to adapt a particular Remedy to gene- 
ral Diseases. 
Having mention'd the ever-famous and-to- 
be-rever'd Boerhaave, the Author takes this 
Opportunity of owning his Obligations to him, 
not only in his Practice, but in this Work 
particularly. He has all along kept that 
Great Man in his View, nor has he been un- 
mindful or neglected any other eminent Wri- 
ter in Physick, either ancient or modern. He 
has frequently quoted their Words, and al- 
ways endeavour'd to conform himself to the 
Sentiments of the most approv'd Authors. 
And that his Gratitude to all such great Men 
as well as Justice may be seen, he has an- 
nex'd a Catalogue of such Authors as he owns 
himself indebted to in the Compilation of 
the following Treatise, thinking this Method 
more orderly and eligible than a constant 
Quotation.
A



A LIST of the Authors. 
Ægineta, Paulus. 
Anhornius. 
Arbuthnot. 
Boerhaave. 
Boyle. 
Borelli. 
Baglivius.
Blondell. 
Bonetus.
Baynard. 
Boutius.
Barlow.
Celsus, Aurel. Cornel.
Celius Aurelianus.
Cheyne. 
Duretus. 
Diodorus Siculus. 
Default. 
Etmuller.
Floyer, Sir John.
Galen. 
Hippocrates. 
Hugens. 
Hales. 
Halley.
Hook. 
Keil.
Lommius.
Laurentius.
Leeuwenhoek. 
Lister.
Livy.
Malpighi.
Mead, Richard.
Morton.
Newton, Sir Isaac.
Oribassius.
Paree, Ambrose.
Prosper, Alpinus.
Pliny.
Quincy.
Ruyschius
Riverius.
Romer.
Rowning.
Ramazini.
Robinson, Tancred.
Solomon.
Sydenbam.
Seneca.
Sanctorius.
Suetonius.
Torricellius.
Van Helmont.
Verulam.
Willis.
Wainright.
Waldschmidius.
A



A
LIS of the SUBSCRIBERS. 
A.
ARundel, the Rt. Hon. 
Lord 
Arundel, the Hon. Tho- 
mas, Esq;
Aston, the Hon. James, Esq; 
Astley, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books 
Aston, George Joseph, Esq;
Andree, M. D. 
Addis, Mr. Apothecary 
Asbridge, Mr. 
Adean, Mr. James 
Allanson, William, Esq;
B.
Beaufort, His Grace the 
Duke of 
Butler, the Hon. John, Esq; 
Bartholomew, M. D. 
Bennet, Philip, Esq; Mem- 
ber for Bath 
Burnham, Mr. 
Boult, Mr. Attorney at Law 
Boudon, Mr. Apothecary 
Benion, Mr. Apothecary 
Beauford, John, M. D. 
Butler, M. D. 
Bodkin, Mr. Valentine 
Brown, William, Esq; 
Barrabee, Mr. 
Bird, Edward, Esq; 
Bostock, M. D. 
Beaumont, Mr. Apothecary 
Beetenson, Mr. Surgeon 
Brewerster, Tho. M. D. 
Brett, Mr. Nathanael 
Bernardeau, Mr. 3 Books
Bradshaw, James, Mr. 
Button, Mrs.  
Barwell, Mr. 
Bolney, Mr. Henry 
Blake, Andrew, Esq;
Blake, D. Esq; 
Barry, M. D. 
Buckeridge, the Rev. Mr. 
Thomas 
Bateman, the Hon. Capt. 
Boswell, Mr. Thomas 
Backas, Mr. Apothecary 
Betts, Mr. John 
Bostock, Mr. Henry 
Bradley, Mr. 
Boyle, Henry, Esq; 
Butcher, Mr. Apothecary 
Bannister, Mr. Charles 
Bower, Archibald, Esq;
Bridgen, Mr. Robert 
Bridgen, Mr. Thomas 
C.
Cavendish, The Rt. Hon.
Lord James 
Clarke, Mr. 




xii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS. 
Carrol, Mr. 
Corless, Mr. Alexander 
Carmault, Mr. 
Coleman, Mr. 
Constable, Mr. John 
Cary, Esquire, Surgeon. 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cibber, Colley, Esq; 
Caldwell, Mr. Robert 
Chittick, Mr. Surgeon 
Clempson, Mr. 
Coughlan, Mr. 
Cumming, Rev Mr. Wil- 
liam, A. M. 
Chettey, Mr. William 
Connel, Michael, M. D. 
Cooper, Mr. Apothecary 
Clarke, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books. 
Currer, Mr. Jun.
D. 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Frances Viscountess 
Dowager 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Bridget, Viscountess
Dowager 
Dawkins, Esq; Member for 
Woodstock 
Davis, Mr. William, Sur-
geon 
Dorrel, Mr. 
Daffy, the Hon. Capt. 
Draper, Mr. Apothecary 
Death, Mr. Apothecary 
Deschamps, Mr. 
Doyley, Mr. Edward, At- 
torney at Law. 
Delany, the Revd. Mr.
Duggin, Mr. John 
Dumbleton, Mr. Daniel 
Duggin, Mrs.
Davis, Mr. 
E. 
Ewer, Mr. 
Eliott, Mr. Apothecary 
Eyre, Mr. Edward 
Ebrall, Mr. Apothecary 
Emet, Mrs. 
Egan, Mr. 
F. 
Fairfax, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Viscountess 
Firebrace, Sir Cordell,Bart. 
Kt. of the Shire for Suf- 
folk  
Fisher, Mr. Thomas 
Fowler, Mr. Apothecary 
Foot, Mr. Asher, Apothe- 
cary
Firmin, Mr. 
Farrel, Mr. 
Francis, Mr. George 
Frazier, Mr. Apothecary 
Farrel, Mrs. 
Farrel, Mr. Apothecary 
Fort, Mr. Francis 
Firmer, Mrs. Hellena
Farrin, Mr. John 
Freeman, Samuel, Esq; 
Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
G. 
Graham, the Reverend Mr. 
3 Books 
Gammon, Mr. Robert, 
Apothecary 
Goodacre,




xiii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Goodacre, Mr. Apothecary 
Godfrey, Mr. Ambrose, 
Chemist 
Gardiner, Mr. Thomas 
Griffin, Mr. Philip 
Garvan, Francis, Esq;
Gibbon, The Rev. Dr. 
John 
H. 
Hemet, Mr. Operator for the 
Teeth to his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Wales 
Harrison, Mr. Apothecary 
Hoddy, Edward, M. D. 
Hodgson, Mr. Apothecary 
Hernon, Mr. Apothecary, 
4 Books 
Hudson, Mr. Apothecary 
Henley, the Rev. Mr. A. M. 
Harriott, Mr. Surgeon 
Hawkins, Mr. Barnaby 
H—M—Mrs. 
Harrow, Mr. Robert 
Hibber, Mr. 
Haward, Mr. Watkinson, 
Attorney at Law 
Hayrick, Mr. Apothecary 
Horseman, M. D. 
Hall, Mr. 
I. 
Jones, Mr. Tho. 2 Books 
Jayer, Mr. Apothecary, 2 
Books 
Izard, Mr. 
James, M. D. 
Jernegan, M. D. 
Jernegan, Henry, Esq;
K. 
Kilby, Robert, Esq; 
Kirwood, Mr. William, 
Surgeon 
Kingsley, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. 
King, Mr. Maynard 
Kitchen, Mr. 
L. 
Litchfield, The Rt. Hon. the 
Earl of 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
Lord Viscount 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
the Lady Viscountess 
Lynch, Sir Henry, Bart. 
Lynch, Robert, Esq; 
Lynch, The Rev. John. 
S. T. P. Dean of Can- 
terbury 
Lynch, George, M. D. 
Lynch, Robert, A. B. 
Lynch, Francis, Esq; 
Lynch, Mr. Nicholas 
Lynch, Mr. Isiodore 
Lynch, Mr. William 
Lynch, Mr. Thomas 
Lloyd, the Hon. Capt. 
Lyster, Mr. Apothecary 
Leake, Mr. 
Langley, Mr. 
L'Herondell, the Rev. Mr.
Lawley, George, Esq; 
Littlejohn, Alexander, Esq;
Lister, Richard, Esq; Kt. 
of the Shire for Salop 
Loukup, George, Esq; 
Lewis, Mr. 
Lucas, 




xiv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Lucas, Mr. Jeremiah 
Lane, James, Esq;
Lawson, Esq; 
M. 
Mannington, Mr. 
Monins, The Rev. Mr. Ri- 
chard, A. M. 
Middleton, Capt. Christo- 
pher, Esq; 
Maul, Mr. Apothecary 
Marshal, Mr. Surgeon 
Macdonough, D. D. 
Montague, Mrs. 
Morgan, Mr. Apothecary 
Mills, John, Esq; 
Maud, Mr. Apothecary 
Maud, Mr. William 
Monkeman, Mr. Attorney 
at Law. 
Manby, Mr. Apothecary 
Mann, Mr. Thomas 
Macket, Wilmer, Esq; 
Mills, John, Esq; 20 Books 
Martin, Thomas, Esq; 
Metcalf, Mrs. 2 Books 
Morehead, William, Esq; 
Maurin, Mr. 
Metcalf, Mr.Roger, Surgeon 
Mayfield, Mr. Thomas 
Mitchel, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchell, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchel, Mr. Francis, Sur- 
geen 
Macartey, Alexander, Esq;
Manley, Apothecary 
N. 
Nebot, Mr. Balthazar 
Nevil, Mr. John, Apothecary 
Noone, Mr. John 
Nesbit, Mrs. 
Nelson, Rev, Mr. Rector of 
Oakley 
O. 
Orton, Mr.
Oliver, Mr. Nicholas 
P. 
Parsons, Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. 
Pack, Mr. Daniel 
Pile, George, M. D. 
Pearson, Mr. 
Poulson, John, Esq;
Prude, Mr. Apothecary 
Palmer, Mr. Benjamin 
Popham, Edward, Esq; 
Member for Wilts 
Pakington, John, Esq; 
Pakington, the Hon. Capt. 
R. 
Rust, Mr. 
Rawlins, Mr. Apothecary 
Rossel, The Rev. Mr. Sa- 
muel 
Raikes, Mr. Apothecary 
Richardson, Mr. 
Radford, Mr. William 
Reynolds, Mr. Christopher, 
2 Books 
Robinson, Tancred, M. D. 
Rivett, Thomas, Esq; 
Raoult, Mr. Surgeon 
Rankin, Mr. Thomas 
Redfern, Mr. 
S.




xv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
S. 
Sweet, Mrs. Rebecca 
Street, Mr. jun. 
Scott, Mrs. 
Sadler, Daniel, Esq; 
Smith, Mr. 
Sedgwick, James, Apothe- 
cary 
Scrooby, Mrs. Elizabeth
Savage, Mrs, Anne 
Savage, Mr. George 
Savage, Mr. William 
Smith, Mr. Edward 
Sherwood, Mr. Noah, Sur-
geon 
Simmons, Mr. Edward 
SherifFe, Mr. 
Shepard, Mr. 
Smithson, William, M. D. 
Sams, Mr. Henry 
Smith, Thomas, Efq; 
Schamberg, Mayer, M. D. 
Schamberg, Isaac, M. D.
Seed, Mr. 
Shelton, Mr. Richard 
Stubbs, Mr. William, At- 
torney at Law. 
Snowden, Mr. 
Stuart, James, Esq;
Stuart, Simeon, Esq; 
Shaw, Mr. 
Smith, Mr. John 
Shipton, John, Esq; 
Stainforth, Mr, George, 
Merchant 
T. 
Tash, Mr. 
Thompson, Thomas, M. D.
Turbut, Mr. Benjamin 
Thompson, Francis, sen. 
Esq; 
Turnball, Mr. William 
Thomas, James, Esq; 
Thompson, John, Esq; 
Thompson, Francis, Esq; 
Turner, Mr.
Tonge, Mr. 
Trant, James, Esq; 
Trant, John, Esq; 
V. 
Venables, Mr. 
Vaughan, Mr. Attorney at
Law 
Umfreville, Edward, Esq; 
W. 
Wharton, Her Grace the 
Dutchess of 
Whiteall, Mrs. 
Wilton, Mr. 
Wilford, Mr. 
West, Lewis, Esq; 
Wilson, Edward, Merchant 
Williams, Mrs. 
Walker, Mr. 
Wilson, Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wells, Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wilson, Mr. Edward 
Webb, Thomas, Esq; 
Westby, Robert, Esq;
Wilmot, Mr. 
Z. 
Zincke, C. F. Esq; 
ERRA-

ERRATA.
Page 35. Line 17, after wholsome Food, add, probably
they might. 
Page 214. Line 21, for immediately read intimately. 

(xvii)
THE 
CONTENTS. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes of Age;
the principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age; 
and, finally, of our Dissolution; with a brief 
chronological and historical Account of long 
Lives, from the Creation to this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's Life,
with a Description and Definition of Old Age. 
OUR Bodies subject to 
Changes page 1 
Man's Life divided into se- 
veral Periods ib. 
The Egyptians Opinion of 
Ages 2 
The Pythagoreans Doctrine 
of Numbers ib. 
Five remarkable Changes in
Man's Temperament, viz. 
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood, and old Age ib
Temperament what, Note *,
ib.
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood described 3
Old Age begins at fifty, and
is divided into three Pe- 
riods ib. 
The first is called Verdant 3
The second begins at Seven- 
ty 4 
The third is called Decrepid
ib.
The Pains and Miseries of de- 
crepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Prophet ib. 
An allegorical Description of
decrepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Author, So- 
lomon 5 
The same explained 6 
Some Men old at forty 7 
A great many young at sixty
ib. 
The different Qualities of 
Constitutions ib.
a The

xviii The CONTENTS. 
The melancholick Constitu-       
tion grows old sooner than        
any of the rest—p. 8              
Females grow old sooner than      
the Males—ib.                     
Hippocrates's Opinion con-     
cerning the same—ib.              
Sloth and Idleness soon bring
on old Age—ib.                     
The Causes of different Tem-      
pers or Constitutions—ib.         
The Proportion of the Parts         
of the Body, and their Con-       
formation, contribute to the        
Difference of Constitutions       
9
The different Tempers of the  
Parts of the Body, in re-           
spect of one another—10            
Sexes and Age make a Diffe-         
rence in Constitutions ib.         
Women colder than Men—ib.          
Infants and Children hot and  
moist—ib.                          
Heat decreases in old Age—ib.      
Different Climates, and the         
Manner of living, are               
Causes of different Consti-
tutions—11
The Definition of Old Age—ib.
The same explained—ib.
The great Secret and sole
Method of long Life, is, 
to preserve the Blood and 
Juices in a due State of 
Fluidity and Thinness—12
Nothing will bring a Person
to the State of universal 
Hardness and Stiffness of
the Fibres, and a Viscosity 
and Thickness of the Juices,
than indulging in strong 
high Meats and strong Li-
quors—13 
The only Method of pro-
curing a contrary State of 
the Solids and Fluids—14 
All the Parts constituting a
human Body are made up 
of small Fibres—ib. 
The Divison of the Fibres 
becomes so small at last, as 
to exceed the Power of
Imagination—15
CHAP. II
The principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age, and 
of our Dissolution. 
The Causes of the Alteration 
of our Bodies, and of our 
Dissolution, are either ex- 
ternal or internal—16 
The internal Causes are two—ib. 
The internal Causes what—ib.
The Principles of our Com- 
position what—17 
Animal Actions distinguish- 
ed into vital, natural, and 
animal—ib.
Vital what—ib. 
Natural actions what—ib. 
Animal Functions what—ib. 
The Principles of our Com- 
position being duly distri- 
buted through the whole 
Body, may be called an E- 
quilibrium between the So- 
lids and Fluids—18
Their Alliance is of short 
Duration, and why—ib. 
The






xix The CONTENTS. 
The inevitable Causes of 
Old Age, and of our Disso- 
lotion—p. 19 
Farther Particulars necessary 
to be considered to prove 
the same, concerning the 
Nutrition, Growth, and De- 
crease of the Body—ib. to 28 
The internal Causes of our 
Dissolution are born, grow, 
and are nouristied with us, 
and will bring on gradually 
and inevitably old Age, and 
destroy the Body at last—28 
All the great Promises made 
with Assurance, as to the 
Prolongation of Life for 
many hundred Years, are 
vain and imaginary, being 
unsupported both by Rea- 
son and Experience—ib. 
External Causes of our Disso- 
lution, which are likewise 
inevitable—ib. 
Other external Causes, which 
are accidental, as Wounds, 
Fractures, &c.—29 
CHAP. III.
An historical Account of Long Lives, from the 
Creation to the present Time. 
Men lived many hundred 
Years before the Flood—30 
None of the Fathers attained 
to the Age of a thousand—ib. 
This Length of Life was not 
peculiar to Grace or the 
holy Line only—ib. 
There are eleven Generations 
of the Fathers to the Flood 
31 
Of the Sons of Adam by Cain, 
eight Generations only—ib. 
The Length of Life was re-
duced to one half imme- 
diately after the Flood, in 
the Post-nati only—ib. 
Noah and Sem, who were 
born before the Flood, 
each of them liv'd 600
Years—ib. 
Of the Ages of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Ismael, and Sarah 
ib.
Of Joseph, Levi, Moses, Aaron, 
and Phineas, Grand-child 
of Aaron—32
Of Joshua, Caleb, and Job—33
Of Isaiah the Prophet, and 
Tobias the Elder and the 
Younger—34
Of Epimenides the Cretan, and 
Xenophanes the Colophonian 
36
Of Gorgias the Sicilian, and 
Democritus of Abdera—37 
Of Terentia, Cicero's Wife—39 
Of Simeon the Son of Cleophas, 
called the Brother of our 
Lord, and Bishop of Hie- 
rusalem; and Aquilla and 
Priscilla, St. Paul's Fellow- 
helpers—42 
Of St. Paul the Hermit, and 
St. Anthony the Monk—43 
The Popes of Rome, and their 
Number to this Time—44. 
Dando of Illyrinm, reported 
to have liv'd 500 Years—45 
Hippocrates of Cos, the Prince 
of Physicians, Euphrenor 
the Grammarian Seneca and
a2 Joannes




xx The CONTENTS. 
Joannes de Temporibus, a 
Native of France p. 46 
Of Cornaro the Venetian, and 
William Postell, a crazy 
Frenchman 47 
The surprizing Age of Henry 
Jenkins, a Yorkshireman ib.
Of Thomas Parr, a Shropshire- 
man 48 
Francisco Lupatsoli, Venetian 
Consul at Smyrna 49 
Remarkable Instances of Ab- 
stemiousness, Continency, 
and many other Virtues in 
the Life of Aurenzebe, one 
of the late Great Moguls 
ib. to 52 
Richard Lloyd, born within 
two Miles of Montgomery 
ib. 
John Bailes of Northampton 
53 
The Western Islands of Scot- 
land remarkable for long 
Lives ib. 
Mrs. Hudson's abstemious Life 
described ib. 
Mr Johnston's Life 54
A remarkable Inscription on 
the Tomb-stone of Mar- 
garet Scot, who liv'd 125 
Years ib. 
Of Margaret Paten's great 
Age 55 
—Bright, of Ludlow in 
Shropshire, likewise ib. 
Mrs. Agnes Milbourn's long 
Life, very remarkable for 
the great Number of Chil- 
dren she had by one Hus- 
band ib.
Instance manifestly proving
Milk to be of salubrious,
safe, and sweet Nourish-
ment ib. 
Temperance and a cool Diet 
are absolutely necessary to 
the Prolongation of Life 
56
Man' Life has stood much a- 
about the same Standard 
of Years, from the Time of 
Moses to our Days ib. 
The Continuation and Num- 
bers of Successions of Ge- 
nerations make nothing as 
to the Length or Brevity of 
Man's Life ib. 
People live longer when the 
Times are barbarous, and 
they fare less deliciously, 
and are more given to Bo- 
dily Exercises; but shorter 
in civiliz'd Times, People 
abandoning themselves to 
Luxury and Ease ib. 
The great Abridger of Age 
was undoubtedly the De- 
luge 57 
There were Men of Gigantick 
Stature before the Flood; 
but no such have been pro- 
duced any where since ib. 
The immediate Condition of 
the Parents conduces very 
much to the Length or 
Shortness of the Life of 
their Offspring 58 
The best Rule is to use mo-
deration in all things 59
Conjugal Love more condu- 
cive to Health and long 
Life than an unlawful one 
ib. 
The best Time for Genera- 
tion ib. 
PART


xxi The CONTENTS.
PART II.
Introduction to the Six Nonnaturals.
CHAP. I.
Of the Nature of Air.
Air defin’d—p. 60 
Air the principal Instrument
of Nature in all its Opera- 
tions—62
The Lower Parts of the Air
are impregnated of particles
ib.
Air is differently impregnated
in different places of the 
Surface of the Earth, which
must considerably alter its
State—ib.
Water, Earth, and Salts of
all Kinds, are Ingredients
of Air—63
Other Contents of Air—ib.
Vegetables of all Kinds per-
spire Particles, which float
in the Air—64
Animal Perspiration and the
Effluvia of all their other
Excrements, are Ingredi-
ents of the Air, which of-
ten infect that Part of the
Atmosphere, and produce
pestilential Disease—ib.
Doctor Hale's computation
of Animal Perspiration, and
how it may infect the Air—ib.
The Air in great populous
Cities, in Camps, or near
Numbers of dead Carcasses,
in a hot fultry Season, may
be infected so far as to dis-
posed the People to putrid
and malignant Fevers—6;
the Inhabitants of Countries
where great Numberss have
been slain in Battle, and
left unburied, were soon
after infested with pestilen-
tial Distempers—ib.
Several Instances to prove the 
same—66
It is of the utmost Consequence
to every one, to take care
what kind of Air they live
in—ib.
The first Consideration in 
building Houses and Cities
67
All high Hills and Mountains
are damp, and Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for
Reservoirs of Rain-water—ib.
Rain the Origin of Rivers,
and Fresh-water Springs—ib.
Dew is not mere Water, but
a Collection of watry, oily,
faline and volatile Sub-
stances exhaling from the
Earth—68
Dews of different Places are
of a different Nature—ib.
Why Air soon corrodes the 
Bricks and Tiles of House,
and rots the very Hangings
of Rooms in some Coun-
tries—69
Air in some Places impregnat-
ed with arsenical Steams—ib.
The Steams of Sulphurs and 
Charcoals extremely per-
nicious to human Bodies—ib.
a3 Sul-






xxii The CONTENTS.
Sulphureous Vapours infest 
Vegetables, and render the 
Grass pernicious to Cattle 
70 
How the sulphureous Steams 
and Vapours of Mines affect
the Miners—ib. 
Why Diseases are more fre- 
quent and more dangerous 
in Cities than in the Coun- 
try—ib.
Why the close and confin'd 
Air of Prisons, Bays, and 
Harbours, often produces 
mortal Diseases—71
To what the great Mortality 
that is so often in Camps, 
and Sieges, is chiefly owing 
ib. 
Infects and their Eggs often 
float in the Air we breathe 
in—ib. 
Why Infects floating in the 
Air are often the Cause of 
many grievous Diseases—72 
There are Showers of Rain 
sometimes in Africk, affect- 
ing the Inhabitants with 
Shivering?, a ltd Infects 
found in the Drops of these 
Showers—ib. 
Air in most Places contains 
near the same Quantity of 
Water—73 
All the different Ingredients 
of the Air are digested and 
attenuated ly the Heat of 
the Sun, and constantly agi- 
tated by Winds, which mix 
the Air of different Regions 
together—74 
The particular Causes of 
Thunder and Lightning—ib. 
The wonderful Effects of 
Lightning—75 
The Opinion of Philosophers 
upon these strange Effects 
ib. 
A Thunderbolt what, Note * 
ib.  
The Rays of the Sun are the 
true Cause of infinite varie- 
ty of Ingredients contained 
and floating in the Air—77 
Light is not above ten Minutes 
in passing from the Sun to 
the Earth—ib. 
The Earth is 10,000 of its 
own Diameters distant from 
the Sun—ib. 
The Velocity of Light to that 
of a Cannon Ball, will be 
as 25 Years to 10 Minutes 
ib. 
The Effects of the Rays of 
the Sun collected in the Fo- 
cus of a burning Glass upon 
Gold, which is unalterable 
by any artificial Fire—ib.
The Rays of the Sun are ca-
pable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies,
small Particles lighter when 
separate than the least com- 
pounding Particle of Air 
78 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of Air. 
The Properties of Air what 
p. 78 
Galileus was the first Lisco- 
verer of the Gravity of Air
79
The specifick Gravity of Air 
according to Sir Isaac New- 
ton and Dr. Halley—ib. 
Specifick Gravity what—ib. 
Note *





xxiii The CONTENTS. 
Air may possess a Space 520, 
000 times greater at one 
time than another 80 
The Specifick Gravity of the 
Air cannot be exactly de- 
termined ib. 
Air readily enters into the 
Vessels of Animal Bodies 
82
The same Thing happens in 
Vegetables and Liquids 83 
The Globules of the Blood 
contain Air 85 
Elasticity is a Property in Air 
which it never loses 89 
The Solids and Fluids of Ani- 
mals contain more Air in 
them in Proportion than 
any other Substances—90 
Fluidity is a Property in Air 
which cannot be destroy'd
91  
Air a Fluid in constant Mo- 
tion 92 
The difference between Flui- 
dity and Liquidity ib. 
Air is compressible and dila- 
table 93
Divisibility a Property of Air 
94 
CHAP. III.
Of the Qualities of Air. 
The Qualities of Air what 
95 
Heat is a Quality relative to 
our Senses 96 
The Spirit of Wine in Weather- 
Glasses is affected with the 
least Alerations of Heat or 
Cold 97
Why Languid and Hysterick 
People suffer in hot Wea- 
ther ib 
Excessive hot Air capable of 
reducing animal Substances 
to a State of Putrefaction 
98 
Dr. Boerhaave's Experiment 
upon a Sparrow and a Dog
ib.
Perspiration what 99 
Air not cool'd by the Motion 
of Winds 102 
Great Mischief arising from 
keeping the Air of the 
Rooms of People in Fevers 
too hot 103  
Cold condenses the Air in Pro- 
portion to the Degrees of 
it 104 
Cold suppresses Perspiration 
105 
The fatal Extremities of Cold 
in Greenland ib. 
The Effects of extreme Cold 
or extreme Heat 106 
The Effects of moist Air ib. 
Dryness, a Quality in Air 
producing different Effects 
to those of moist Air 109 
The Doctrine of absorbing 
Air thro' the Pores of the 
Skins of living Creatures 
demonstrated 111 
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of Air upon human Bodies. 
Hippocrates knew more of the 
Influence of Air than all 
his Predecessors and Suc- 
cessors 113 


xxiv The CONTENTS. 
Hipocrates's Advice concern- 
ing Air—ib. 
—Could foretell the 
Diseases from ths Weather 
115
The Affair of Generation is 
influenc'd by Air—116 
The different Shapes, Com- 
plexion, and Tempers of 
Mankind influenc'd by Air 
117
The different Forms of Go- 
vernment, and even the 
Courage of People, is ow- 
ing to the Influence of Air 
ib.
Air the Cause of most Dis- 
eases—118 
Astronomy useful in Physick 
119 
The Constitution of the Air 
according to Hippocrates 
120
Dr. Arhuthnot's Explanation 
of Hippocrates and others, 
concerning the Influence of 
Air—124  
The whole Constitution of 
the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends upon 
Air—147  
What we are to do when the 
Air is corrupted—148 
What regards ancient People 
concerning Air—ib. 
CHAP. V. 
Of Aliments in general. 
The first Stage of Digestion, 
and how it is perform'd 
150 
The second Stage of Diges- 
tion—155 
The most subtil Parts of the
Food pass immediately in- 
to the Blood by the absor- 
bent Vessels of the Inte- 
stines—156 
The last Stage of Digestion
161  
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of Aliments. 
All Animals are made either 
immediately or mediately 
of Vegetables—p. 164 
Vegetables consist of Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, and 
Earth—165
Of different Tastes—ib.
Of the properest Food of the 
vegetable Kingdom.—166 
Of the Qualities of Barley, 
Wheat, Oats, Rice, Rye, 
Millet, Panick and Maise 
167 
Of Peas, Beans, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricocks, Plumbs, 
and Mulberries—168, 169 
Of Gooseberries, Currants, 
Cherries, Strawberries, O- 
ranges. Citrons, Limons, 
Grapes and Figs—170  
Of Quinces, Pomegranates, 
Tamarinds, Capers, Olives, 
Almonds, Walnuts, Hazle- 
Nuts, Chesnuts, Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and 
Melons—171 
Of Pot-Herbs—172
Of Artichokes, Asparagus, 
Parsley, and Celery—ib. 
Of Spinage, Beet, Sallads, 




xxv The CONTENTS. 
Potatoes, Turnips, Car- 
rots, Parsnips—173 
Of Garlick, Onions, Rock-  
ambole, Shalot, Leeks, 
Radishes, Horse-radishes, 
Cresses, Mustard, Truffles,
Morelles, and Mushrooms 
174 
Of Marjoram, Basil, Savory,  
Thyme, Rosermary, Sage 
175  
Of the Qualities of Tea, 
Coffee, and Chocolate—175, 
176, 177, 178
Animal Food more nourish- 
ing than Vegetable—ib. 
Animal Diet is anti-acid—179
Animal Flesh differs accord- 
ing as the Animal is terre- 
strial, aquatick, or am- 
phibious, and Fishes abound 
with more alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial animals 
ib.
The only Way of having 
found and healthful animal 
Food—180
The Flesh of Animals too 
old, unwholsome—181 
Salt Fish produces gress Hu- 
mours, and bad Juices—ib. 
Why the Flesh of wild Ani- 
mals keeps longer uncor- 
rupted than that of tame 
ones—182
Flesh boiled, wholsomer for 
weak Stomachs than roasted 
ib. 
Why Meats bak'd or fry'd,
are bad—183
Of Lamb, Veal, Kid, and 
Beef—ib.
Of Mutton, Rabies, young 
Hares, Pork and Bacon 
184
Of Brawn, Deer, Cream,
Butter. Marrow and Cheese 
185 
Milk, a most noble, nourish- 
ing, and wholsome Food 
l66 
A proper Diet for Women 
that give suck, or Nurses 
187 
Whey, good for hot Consti- 
tutions and Scurvies 188 
How to know the different 
Nature and Qualities of 
Birds or Fowls in general 
ib.  
Of Duck, Capon, Pigeons, 
Pheasants, Pullets, and 
Geese—189 
Of Turkey, Partridges, Plo- 
vers, Blackbirds, Larks, 
Sparrows, Peacocks, and 
Starts—190 
Of Thrushes, Quails, Turtle 
Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, 
and all other long-billed 
Birds—191
Of Fish in respect of Flesh, 
and why it is in general 
hard of Digestion ib. 
General Rules concerning Fish
192 
Of Eels, Carp, Lampreys, 
Pike, and Sturgeon—193 
Of Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, 
Turbut, Soles, Place, 
Perch, Tench, Gudgeons, 
and Smelts—194. 
Of Flounders, Salmon, Trout, 
Cod-fish, Haddock, Skate, 
Thornback, Barbel, Mac- 
karel, Herrings and Sprats
195, 196 
Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity 
are lightest of Digestion. 
ib. 
The larger and bigger the 
Vege-




xxvi The CONTENTS. 
Vegetable, or Animal is 
in its Kind, the Food made 
thereof is the stronger, and 
harder to be digested 197 
Sea Fish or Animals harder to 
be digested than Land Ani- 
mals 198
Vegetables and Animals a- 
bounding with oily, fat,
and viscid Substance, are 
harder to digest than those 
of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance ib. 
Of the Nature and Effects of 
Rock and Sea Salt 199 
Of Honey, Oil and Vinegar 
201, 202  
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bodies, with 
their good and bad Effects. 
Aliment what 203 
The Art of preserving Health 
consists in a Mediocrity of 
Diet 204
Substances which stimulate 
the folid Parts, produce 
the greatest Alterations in 
animal Bodies. 205 
The solid Parts of animal 
Bodies may be contracted 
variously by Diet 206
The more sulphurous or chy- 
mical Oil any Spirit con- 
tains, the more destructive 
it proves to the Constitu- 
uon, as Rum and distill'd
Spirits of Annifeeds, &c. 
ib.
Austere acid Vegetables have 
a Quality of contracting, 
and strengthening the Fi- 
bres without a great many 
of the bad Effects of di- 
stilled Spirits 207 
Warm Water the best Liquid 
for relaxing the Fibres ib.
How the Qualities and Quan-
tity of the Fluids of a hu- 
man Body may be chang'd 
by Diet 208 
Acrimony or Sharpness is not 
natural, but introduc'd into 
the Fluids of animal Bodies 
either by Food or Sickness
210 
The Juices of found Animals 
consist of Salts of a pe- 
culiar Nature, neither quite 
fix'd, nor quite volatile, 
nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline ib. 
Acrimony in the Blood con- 
sists of three Sorts, acid, 
alkaline, and muriatic or 
briny 211  
The proper Diet for the Cure 
of the acid Acrimony 212 
The Diet proper in the alka- 
line and briny Acrimony 
ib. 
Several Sorts of Antiscorbu- 
ticks proper in an alkale- 
scent State of the Fluids 
213 
Drink, an essential Part of 
our Food, and the chief In- 
tentions of it 214. 
Pure Water answers all the 
Intentions of Drink, best 
of any Liquor ib. 
The Usefulness of Water for 
the Purposes of human 
Life 215 
Water the best and most 
wholsome


xxvii The CONTENTS. 
wholsome Drink in gene- 
ral, some few Cases ex- 
cepted—ib.
Of Malt Liquors—216
Of strong Beer—ib. 
Of the Nature of fine Ales, 
or Home-brew'd, and how 
they are fin'd, which is 
pernicious, if not poison- 
ous to Health—ib.
Yorkshire, Nottingham, Welch,
and all fine Ales brew'd 
for Sale, destrudlive to 
Health—217
The frequent Use and Excess 
of distilled spirituous Li- 
quors, is become a Vice of 
so shocking a Nature among 
the People in general—ib.
The poisonous Qualities of di-
stilled Spirits consider'd—218
The direful Effects of the fre- 
quent Use of Dram-drink- 
ing explain'd—219 
The great Calamity of Dram- 
drinking farther consider'd 
220  
Next to Drams, no Liquor de- 
serves to be stigmatized and 
more detested than Punch 
ib.  
The principal Ingredients of 
Punch separately consider'd 
221 
When a Cordial may be use- 
ful 222 
A Sot the most contemptible 
Character in human Life—ib. 
The melancholy Effects of
Drunkenness explain'd—223 
A short Account of different
Wines in general—224 
Strong made Country Wines 
prejudicial—225  
The Conclusion, concerning 
Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors—ib. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, and the Diet proper for 
each. 
A general Method as to Diet, 
without Regard to parti- 
cular Constitutions absurd 
226 
Enumeration of the several 
Sorts of Constitutions 227 
Qf the Debility of the Fibres
ib.
The Causes and Signs of weak 
and lax Fibres assign'd—228
A Regimen for those of weak 
fibres—229 
The Effects of too rigid a 
state of the Fibres—230
Rigidity what, and likewise 
the Signs of such a consti- 
tution—ib.
The Regimen in such a State 
231 
The Definition, Cause, and 
proper Diet of plethorick 
Constitutions—232  
Of sanguinecus Constitutions 
and their Diagnostick Signs 
233 
The Diet proper for such Con- 
stitutions—235 
A saline Constitution of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, is 
either acid, alkaline, muria- 
tick, or briny—ib. 
Of acid Constitutions and their 
Effects—236 
Of Constitutions subject to an 
alkaline Acrimony—237



xxviii The CONTENTS. 
The Causes and Symptoms of 
such Constitutions—238, 239 
The Regimen for such—240 
The Causes and proper Diet 
for the muriatick or briny 
Scurvy—ib. 
Of phlegmatick Constitutions, 
their Causes, Signs, and 
proper Diet—241, 242 
Of fat or oily Constitutions, 
their Causes, Symptoms and 
proper Diet—243, 244, 245
Of atrabilarian or melancholy 
Constitutions, their Signs, 
Causes, Effects, and proper 
Diet—246 to 250 
The grand Secret of Health 
consists in keeping an Equi- 
librium between the Solids 
and Fluids—ib. 
Aphoristical Rules of Diet in 
the various Stages of Life 
251 to 258
CHAP. IX.
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
Sleep, what—258 
The Use, Benefit, and Causes 
of Sleep—261 
The natural Cause of Sleep 
263 
The Effects of two much 
Watching—ib. 
Late Meat suppers prejudicial 
to Health—264 
The Effects of too much 
Sleep—266 
Of sleeping in the Day-time, 
or after Dinner—267 
The ordinary Time allowed 
for Sleep—268 
The properest Time for sleep- 
ing 268 
Nothing more pernicious to 
the Constitution, than 
watching by Night and 
sleeping by Day—ib. 
Rules to be observ'd in regard 
to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed—270 
CHAP. X.
Of Motion and Rest.
The use of Motion and Rest 
271 
The Necessity of Motion 
or Exercise mechanically 
proved—273 to 282
Of the Effects of Musick—283
Its wonderful Effects in cur- 
ing the Bite of the Taran- 
tula, Note *—ib. 
The Effects of too much
Rest—286
The absolute Necessity of La- 
bour and Exercise for the
Preservation of Health far- 
ther consider'd—ib. 
The bad Effects of too much 
Labour or Exercise—287 
Of general Exercises—ib. 
Riding of all Exercises the 
best—ib.  
Of particular Exercises ap- 
propriated to certain Parts 
of the Body—28  
Conditions to be observ'd what
regard to Exercise—29
CHAP. 



xxix The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of Retention and Excretion.
What Things are to be ex- 
creted or evacuated, and 
what retain'd—291 
The Cause of costive Stools 
292
The best Proportion of the
gross Evacuations to the 
Quantity of Food taken in 
ib. 
Purging Stools how they dis- 
cover the Badness of the 
Regimen we use—293 
The Reason why Mercury 
will purge instead of sali- 
vating—294 
That the same Reason will 
make appear why Restrin- 
gents and Opiates prove
purgative—ib. 
A dangerous Mistake in rear- 
ing up Children—ib. 
Loose and purgative Stools 
discover intemperate Eat- 
ing—295 
The Mischief arising to Hy- 
sterical and Vapourish Peo- 
ple, by perpetually cram- 
ming and gobbling the 
richest and strongest Food, 
and highest Cordials—ib. 
The common Cause of Head-
Aches, Stomack-Aches, 
and Colicks—296 
The right Method of bracing
relax'd Nerves—ib. 
An uncommon Evacuation 
both by Stool and Urine, 
and the Causes of it—297 
Urine, and what it con- 
sists of—299 
Unite of a bright Amber Co- 
lour the best—300 
The Effects of Urine too long 
retained—ib. 
The Effects of too great an 
Evacuation of Urine—301 
Of the different Tastes, Smell, 
Colour, and Quantity of 
Urine—ib.
Of high-colour'd, foul, and 
turbid Urine—302
Of dark-brown, or dirty red- 
colour'd Urine—ib. 
Of bloody, mattery, or whey- 
ish Urine—303 
Obstructed Perspiration the 
Cause of most acute Di- 
seases, and the Effect of 
chronical ones—ib.
Catching of Cold what, and 
how dangerous—ib. 
A present, easy Remedy a- 
gainst it—304 
Certain Indications of Per- 
spiration's being deficient 
or obstructed, with Direc- 
tions how to remedy the 
same—ib. 
The Semen what, and the 
Effects of moderate Coition
305 
Immoderate Coition and its 
bad Effects—306 
The Menses a necessary Eva- 
cuation, and what,—307 
Of Sweat and the Nature of 
it—308 
Sweat different from insensible 
Perspiration—ib. 
Of the Saliva, or Spittle, and 
the Use of it—309 
Of Tobacco and its Effects 
310 
Of the Mucus or Snot, and 
Tears—311
Of Ear Wax and its Use—312 
CHAP. 

xxx The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
The Essence and Causes of 
the Passions not consider'd, 
but their Effects and Influ- 
ence upon Human Bodies 
312
The Manner how the Mind 
operates upon the Body 
313 
How the Passions of the Mind
consume the Spirits and 
disorder the Body—ib. 
Joy and Anger render 
Body lighter—314
Fear and Sorrow increase the 
Weight of the Body—315 
The Passions to be consider'd
as physical Agents ib. 
An Enumeration of the chief 
Passions of the Mind—ib. 
Of Love (properly distinguish
ed into three Kinds) and 
its Effects—317 
Of Hatred and its Effects—320 
Of Shame, Hope, Despair, 
and their Effects—321
The Passions are properly di- 
vided into acute and chro- 
nical—323 
The Effects of acute Passions 
ib. 
The Cause of Blushing—ib. 
The Cause of Sighing—324 
The Effects of the Suddenness 
of the Passions when ex- 
treme—ib.
Of chronical Passions—ib. 
The Effects of chronical Pas- 
sions—325  
The Passions have a very great 
Influence upon Health—ib. 
The Advantages of Spiritu-
al Love with regard to 
Health—326 
It banishes all those Vices 
winch must ruin Health, 
and gives continual Joy and 
Serenity, inseparable from 
Health—ib.  
The Conclusion—327 
PART III. 
CONTAINING, 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
curative Indications both Medicinal and Dietetical 
of acute and chronical Diseases; with the Nature 
and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
The Introduction—329 
CHAP. 

xxxi The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. I. 
Of Fevers, both in general and particular. 
A Fever, what—333 
Sydenham's Definition—ib. 
Boerhaave's Sentiments—ib. 
The Symptoms of Fevers in 
general—ib.
The general Cure of Fevers
334 
Of the Symptoms—ib. 
The Benefit of giving a Vo- 
mit in Fevers—335
When a Purge may be given 
with Advantage—336 
The Cause of Fevers accord- 
ing to Hippocrates—ib. 
A Rule of Diet in Fevers—337 
A Division of Fevers—ib. 
Of an Ephemera and putrid 
Fever, what—338
The Causes of a putrid Fever 
ib.
The Diagnosticks and Prog- 
nosticks—339 
Of a continent or remitting
Fever—340 
Of a spurious remitting Fever, 
and its Prognosticks—341
Of a simple remitting Fever—ib. 
The Method of Cure—342 
A Division of continual Fevers
into Burning and Slow Fe- 
vers, with the chief Symp- 
toms and Prognosticks—343
The Regimen—344 
The Method of Cure—345 
Of a Calenture, and of Slow 
Fevers—346
Of Catarrhal Fevers—ib. 
The Method of Cure—347 
Of Intermitting Fevers—348 
The Method of Cure—349 
Of Spurious intermitting Fe- 
vers, and the Cure—351 
The proximate Cause of In- 
termitting Fevers—352  
Of Burning Fevers—ib. 
Great Variety of Malignant 
Fevers—353 
Prognosticks and Cure of Ma- 
lignant Fevers—354  
Of Spotted fevers; their 
Symptoms, Prognosticks, 
and Cure—357 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms attending 
Fevers. 
Of Rigor or Shivering in Fe- 
vers—358
Of Feverish Heat, and the 
Cure—359
Of Thirst, Anxieties, and Vo-
miting in Fevers—360, 361 
Of a Looseness in Fevers—363 
Of a Strangury, and profuse
Sweats in Fevers—364, 365 
Of a Pain in the Head, Watch-
fulness, Coma, and Deliri- 
ums in Fevers—366, 367 
Of Convulsions in Fevers—368 
Of Weakness in Fevers—369 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in 
Fevers—370 
Of the Small-Pox; its diffe- 
rent Stages and Cure, from 
371 to 380. 
CHAP.

xxxii the CONTENTS. 
CHAP. III. 
Of inflammatory Diseases attended with a Fever. 
Of a Phrensy, or Inflamma- 
tion of the Brain—382 
Of a Quinsy; its different 
Sorts, and Cure—384 
Of a Pleurisy—386
Of a Peripneumony, or In- 
flammation of the Lungs 
389 
An Empyema, what—391 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or Inflam- 
mation of the Diaphragm 
393 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Stomach—ib.
Of an Inflammation of the 
Liver—395
Of an Inflammation of the 
Mesentery—400 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Guts, Symptoms and Cure 
402 
Inflammations of the Kidneys
405 
Of an Apoplexy—409 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers. 
Of a Palsy—413 
Of an Hemiplegia, and a Pa- 
raplegia—415 
The Cure—416
Of an Epilepsy, or Falling- 
Sickness—417
The Causes Various—ib. 
Of Melancholy Madness, and
the Causes—421 
Of Madness from the Bite of
a Mad-Dog—425 
A new and sure Method of
Cure—429
Of the Scurvy—432 
The Cause—433
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of 
Body—435 
The Signs, and Cure—436 
Of a Consumption—439 
Of the concomitant Cause of a 
Consumption—441 
The Method of Cure, from 
449 to 452  
Of a Dropsy—452 
Of the Gout—456 
The Effects of Abstinence in 
the Gout—461 
Of Rheumatism—ib. 
The Cause and Cure—462  
Of the Stone and Gravel—463 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
Of Cold Bathing—467 
Necessary Rules to be observ'd 
before Cold Bathing—470 
Wherein Cold Bathing is in- 
jurious—471 
The Use of warm Bathing—473 
The Use and Effects of hot 
Mineral Baths, such as that 
famous one in Somersetshire
474 
Of Frictions and their good 
and bad Effects—476 
A

(1)
A 
Guide to Health, &c. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age; the principal and inevita- 
ble Causes of Old Age; and, final- 
ly, of our Dissolution. 
To which is annex'd 
A brief, chronological, and historical Account
of LONG LIVES, from before the Flood to 
this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's 
Life; with a Description and Definition of 
Old Age. 
As our Bodies are subject to Changes 
and Alterations, from the Minute 
we come into the World; so the 
Physicians, regarding the most ap- 
parent and sensible Changes only, have divided
man's whole Life into several Periods, which  
A they

2 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
they call Ages: The Egyptians reckon'd as 
many as there are ‡ Septenaries in a hundred; 
for they were of Opinion, that Man's Life 
could not exceed that Term. 
The Pythagoreans, who were very super- 
stitious in the Doctrine of Numbers, have 
publish'd in their Writings, that we undergo 
remarkable Changes every seven Years, as well 
in regard to the Temperature of the Body, as 
the Qualities of the Soul; all which must be 
referr'd to the Excellency and Perfection of 
the Number Seven.
But I will not enter into Disquisitions upon 
Numbers in this Place; it is enough for me to
have the Concurrence of all the most cele- 
brated Authors, that Man, according to the 
natural Course of Life, undergoes five remark- 
able Changes in his * Temperament, and passes 
five Ages or Periods; that is, Infancy, Ado- 
lescency, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. 
Infancy is hot and moist; but the Moisture 
is predominant, and keeps the Heat in such 
Subjection, that it can no way shew its Effects. 
It
‡ Septenarius, or Septennium, containing the Space of seven 
Years. Some of the Antients reckon'd every Constitution 
underwent some remarkable Change in every such Revolution, 
whence the seventh Year was call'd critical, or climacterick
Year. 
* Temperament is that Diversity in the Blood of different 
Persons, whereby it is apt to fall into some certain Combina- 
tions more in one Body than another, whether into Sanguine, 
Choler, Phlegm, or Melancholy; from whence Persons are said 
to be of a sanguine, cholerick, phlegmatick, or melancholy Tem- 
perament or Constitution. Of all which I shall speak more at 
large hereafter. 

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 3 
It continues to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
Year. 
Adolescency follows, which is likewise hot 
and moist, but the Heat begins to be predo- 
minant; for we see its Sparks shine and lighten 
every where. 
In Males the Voice then begins to grow 
loud and hoarse; they spread and dilate every
way, and cast their first Downs. In Females 
the Breasts grow visibly harder and larger, the 
Blood is in Motion thro' the whole Body, and 
pushes on all Sides till it finds Passage. This 
Period extends to the Age of four or five and 
twenty, which is the Term limited by Nature 
for Growth. 
This is succeeded by Youth, which is full of 
Heat, Vigour, and Agility: It runs to thirty- 
five or forty. In this Age the Body comes to 
its full State, and the Fibres, Membranes, and 
Bones to their due Solidity. This is what is 
call'd Manhood, and is the most temperate of 
the Ages of Man, participating of the four 
Extremes equally, and extending to the fiftieth
Year; where Old Age begins, which com- 
prises the Remainder of our Lives. 
Now this last Period of Man's Life may be 
divided into three Stages; but I pass over that 
which is call'd Senium ex morbo, that is, Old 
Age brough on by Sickness.
The first is call'd Verdant: It is accompa- 
nie with Prudence, and is full of Experience, 
and fit for governing Commonwealths, and 
managing Affairs of Importance. The se- 
A2 cond

4 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
cond begins at Seventy, and is attended with 
several little Ailments, and is cold and dry. 
As to the first, there are such apparent Marks 
of it, that none ever doubted it; for if we 
touch old Men of those Years, we shall find 
them generally very cold in all their Muscles; 
they have no lively or Vermillion Colour; all 
their Senses are weaken'd, and they are subject
to a great many cold Distempers: But as to 
the other Quality, Dryness, some have endea- 
vour'd to dispute it, saying that this Period is 
moist, but not dry. To this Galen replies, 
in his first Book de Sanitate Tuenda, that old
Men have all those Parts dry which are moist 
in Children; that is, the solid Parts, upon 
which the whole Constitution depends. This 
is even the Opinion of the Moderns, and what 
we should follow; for Leanness, Wrinkles, 
Hardness of the Nerves and Skin, the Stiff- 
ness of the Joints, are sufficient Demonstra- 
tions of this dry Temperament at that Age. 
At length comes the last Step of Old Age, 
and is call'd Decrepit; in which, according 
to the Royal Prophet, there is nothing but 
Pains and Grief; for all the Faculties of the
Soul and Body are weaken'd, the Sentiments 
dull and heavy, the Memory lost, the Judg- 
ment defective. 
This Last Period of Old Age is describ'd in 
the twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, under so 
beautiful an Allegory, that nothing can excel 
it; and as the Royal Author was the greatest 
Philosopher and Naturalist that ever wrote, I  
will


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 5
will therefore present the Reader with his 
Description of this Stage of Life at large, 
which, besides its Beauty, will likewise serve 
Us for Instruction and Counsel.
Remember, says he, thy Creator in the Days 
of thy Youth, while the Sun, or the Lights or 
the moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor 
the Clouds return after the Rain. 
In the Day when the Keepers of the House 
shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow 
themselves, and the Grinders cease, because 
they are few; and those that look out of Win- 
dows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut
in the Streets, when the Sound of the Grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the
Bird, and all the Daughters of Musick shall 
be brought low.  
And when they shall be afraid of that which 
is high, and Fears shall be in the way, and the 
Almond-tree shall flourish, and the Grashopper 
shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners 
go about the Streets. 
Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as 
it was: and the Spirit shall return to God that
gave it.
This is the Description of Stage of 
man's Life, which is admirable. In decrepit 
old Age, the Sun and the Stars are darken'd;
that is, the Eyes of Man, which are grown
dim; nor the Clouds return after the Rain;
A3 that


6 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
that is, after they have been weeping a long 
time, they seem to have thick Clouds before 
their Eyes. The Keepers of the House shall 
tremble; that signifies the Hands and Arms, 
which have been given to Man for the Defence 
of his whole Body. And the strong Men shall 
bow themselves; that is, the Legs, which are 
the Columns that support the whole Building. 
And the Grinders cease; that is, the Teeth, 
which grind and chew the Aliments. And 
those that look out of the Windows be darken'd; 
that is, the Eyes, which are troubled with 
Cataracts, and several other Disorders incident
to the Sight of decrepit old People. And the 
Door shall be shut in the Streets, when the 
Sound of the Grinding is low; those are the 
Chops, which cannot open to chew, or the 
Canals thro' which the Aliment us'd to pass, 
but are now grown straight and narrow. And 
be shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird; that
is, decrepit old People cannot sleep, and are 
always awaken'd by the Cock's Crowing. 
And all the Daughters of Musick shall be 
brought low; that is, their Voice, which fails 
them. And the Almond-tree shall flourish; 
that is, the Head, which is all white. And 
the Grashopper shall be a Burden; that is, the
Legs, which are swoln, &c. 
Having now describ'd the Ages terminated 
by Years, I would not however be so far con- 
fin'd to the usual Number into which Man's 
Life is divided, as if Youth and Old Age must
intirely depend upon it; We ought rather to
regu-

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 7
regulate ourselves by the * Temperament, or 
Nature of our Constitution: for we may 
call every Man that is cold and dry, an old
man; there are a great many such at forty, 
and a great number of young Men at sixty. 
some Complexions fail sooner, and others later. 
The sanguine are of long Duration, be- 
cause they have a deal of Heat and Moisture, 
which Constitution or Temper is most com- 
modious to Mankind, and qualifies them best
for Action, and is therefore most consistent with
Health and long Life; whereas the contrary 
Temper, viz. cold and dry, soon tends to 
Decay and Death; for the sooner a Body wi- 
thers and dries away, the sooner it grows old, 
and draws near its Dissolution. This Heat 
and Moisture hath also its several Degrees, 
but these Qualities are best when moderate; 
those which differ and recede from that Me- 
diocrity, are called hot and moist, hot and dry, 
or cold and moist, and cold and dry, tho' all 
in general are hot and moist in some Degree. 
These differences of Tempers are com- 
monly distinguish'd by the Denominations,
which I have observ'd already of Sanguine,
Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic Con-
stitutions, according tothe Nature and Dis-
position of the Juices in the several Bodies,
where the excrementitious Discharges answer
thereto. They whose Blood is of a mode-
rate Templer, between hot and moist, are
called sanguine; those who exceed in beat,
A4 and 
* Temperament, See Pag. 2. Note *

8 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
and whose Blood is dryer, are called Choleric; 
those who are cold and moist, Phlegmatic;
and lastly, those who are cold and dry, Me- 
lancholic; and this last Temper or Constitu- 
tion grows old sooner than any of the rest. 
As to what regards the Sexes, the Fe- 
male, generally speaking, grows old sooner 
than the Male, which Hippocrates justly ob- 
serves, in his Book concerning those Chil- 
dren who are born at the End of the seventh 
Month. The Females, says he, are later in 
forming and growing in the Womb than the 
Males; but when they are out of it, they 
grow faster, have earlier Understanding, and 
are sooner old, on account of the weakness of
their Bodies, and their manner of living. 
Weakness hastens their Growth, and brings 
them likewise sooner to old Age; for as the 
Plants which are short-liv'd grow in a few 
Minutes, so the Bodies which have no long 
Duration, soon come to their Perfection. 
Their manner of living likewise contributes 
very much to their growing old soon, as they
most commonly lead an unactive life; for 
nothing brings us sooner to old Age than 
Sloth and Idleness. 
As to the different Tempers and Constitu- 
tions of Men, they depend, in a great mea- 
sure, not only upon the various Dispositions 
of the Humours contain'd in the Body, but 
also on the peculiar Conformation and Struc- 
ture of the noble Parts, and their various 
Proportions in respect to each other, which 
disposes

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 9
disposes them to breed Humours of diffe- 
rent Kinds and Dispositions; and endows 
them with various Qualities, according to 
the several Alterations they undergo in diffe- 
rent Bodies, and the Proportion of such ani- 
mal Fluids differently fermented, exceeding 
or falling short in Degrees of Digestion; or 
being variously vitiated by the assimilating
Qualities of Humours already contain'd, or 
of fresh Food taken into the Body, which 
may pervert the Disposition of the Fluids al- 
ready contain'd in the Blood Vessels. 
The Proportion of the Parts of the Body, 
and their Conformation, may contribute to 
the difference of Constitution, as they sepa- 
rate and discharge Humours, not only diffe- 
rently prepar'd, but in greater or less Quan- 
tities: Thus, if the Heart be larger in Pro- 
portion to the Body than the rest of the 
Parts, the Blood must circulate more briskly, 
and with greater Force; if the Liver be 
large, and separate a great Quantity of Bile, 
the Chyle and Blood must be more bilious; 
and as the Stomach digests differently, the 
blood must be supplied with Nourishment 
in greater or less Quantities, more or less di- 
gested, and so occasion Sanguine, Choleric, 
or Phlegmatic Constitutions. Thus the noble 
parts contribute to the different Temper of 
the whole, as well as other particular Parts
themselves. 
Hence it is; that different Parts of the 
Body are, in respect of one another, esteem'd 
to

10 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
to be of different Tempers; as the Heart, up- 
on account of its Situation and constant Mo- 
tion, may be reckon'd one of the hottest 
Parts of the Body. The others reckon'd of 
a hot Temper, are the Liver, the musculous 
Flesh, the Spleen, the Kidneys, Lungs, Veins, 
Arteries, and Fat. The cold Parts are, the 
Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, Tendons, Nerves, 
Membranes, Spinal Marrow, and the Brain. 
Those which are accounted moist, are the
Fat, Marrow, Brain, Breasts, Testicles, 
Lungs, Spleen, Kidneys, musculous Flesh, 
Tongue, Heart, and the softer Nerves. The 
dry Parts are, Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, 
Tendons, Membranes, Arteries, Veins, and 
hard Nerves. 
There is moreover another difference in 
the Tempers or Constitutions of human Bodies, 
in respect of Age and Sexes; thus Women 
are naturally colder than Men, too much 
Heat being supposed apt to consume and vi- 
tiate the tender Nourishment of Infants, 
which is to be prepar'd in the Mother. Age 
likewise alters Constitutions, according to
the several Stages and Periods, as I have ob- 
serv'd before; thus Infants and Children are 
hot and moist. Youth more temperate, Men 
and full-grown Persons hot and dry; where-
as in old Age the Heat decreases, and Nou- 
rishment is dry'd up for want of its usual 
Supplies. 
Another thing that makes Constitutions 
differ, is the difference of Climates, the
manner

Part I. 11 thro' the various Stages of Life. 11
manner of living, the nature of the Food 
they use, and the Liquors wherewith the 
more solid Parts of the Food are diluted; but 
for a more particular Account of different 
Constitutions, see Part II. Chap. IX. where 
I treat of the Diet proper for each respe- 
ctively. 
Having hitherto given the Reader an Ac- 
count of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age, as likewise a Description of decrepit
old Age, supported by the Authority of the 
wise Solomon; and lastly, of the Causes and 
Nature of different Constitutions, I shall 
now finish this Chapter with the Definition 
of it, which will be of singular Use to such 
as will observe the Precepts hereafter men- 
tion'd, in order to preserve Health and long
Life. 
The incomparable Sanctorius, most ele- 
gantly and concisely defining old Age, says in
Aphorism xxxv. Sect. v. Senectus est univer- 
salis fibrarum durities, &c. that is, old Age is 
an universal Hardness of the Fibres, &c. which 
implies; that when there is a greater Waste 
of the nervous Fluid than can be repair'd, 
then the component Machinulœ * of all the 
Fibres of  the human Body, for want of a 
Sufficiency of this animal Oil or Fluidt are 
harden'd and dry'd, the Pores are thereby 
straiten'd
* Machinulœ signifies in Anatomyy the various Textures, 
Combinations and Decussations of the Fibres, compounding
the Muscles, Nerves, and Membranes of the Body; which is 
only a Diminutive from the Word Machine. 


12 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
straiten'd and obstructed, by which means the 
natural Heat is stifled, and at last Death en- 
sues; hence it is, that the nearer a Person is 
brought to this State of an universal Hard- 
ness of the Fibres, &c. by any means what- 
ever, the farther such a Person may be said 
to be advanc'd towards old Age. 
Wherefore the great Secret and sole Me- 
thod of long Life, is to preserve the Blood 
and Juices in a due State of Fluidity and 
Thinness whereby they may be capable of 
making all those Circulations and Rounds 
thro' the animal Fibres, wherein Health and 
Life consist, with the fewest Rubs, and least 
Resistance that can be. But notwithstanding 
all our Efforts, Time and old Age will 
stiffen and fix our Solids at last; for Age 
and Time, by weakening the Appetite and 
Concoctions, impairing the natural Heat, 
which consists in a brisk and extended Circu- 
lation of the Fluids to all the Parts of the 
Body, by the converting those Juices into 
solid Substances, and thereby fixing and 
hardening these Solids, and depriving them of
their due Elasticity; so the remaining Fluids 
circulate slower, and with less Force, and 
seldom reach the Extremities and smallest Ves- 
sels, but only pass slowly through the larger 
Vessels..And tho' with all these unavoidable 
Circumstances, both the nutritious Juices, 
the serous and globular Part of the Blood be- 
come viscid, thick, and gluey, so that the 
Circulation must stop, and come to an end 
at last; yet it is certainly in a great measure 
in

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 13 
in our own Power to put a Stop to the too 
quick Approaches of such an irremediable 
Period, by keeping our Juices in a due State 
of Fluidity and Thinness, and to render them 
such, if they are not corrupted to an extreme 
Degree; so that the remainder of Life be 
not too short to undertake such a Work; for 
it is very certain, that we may dilute and 
thin any Fluid, that has an Inlet and Outlet. 
And the smaller and finer the Parts of any 
circulating Liquor are, the less Force it will 
require to set it a going, and to continue its
Motion: And it is just even so in animal 
Bodies; for the more fluid and thinner the 
Juices are, they will not only circulate with
less Force, and with less Resistance or Pain, 
but they will likewise preserve, by their Cir- 
culation, the Solids the longer from harden- 
ing and stiffening. 
Now, as nothing brings a Person sooner 
to that State of universal Hardness and Stiff- 
ness of the Fibres, and a Viscosity and Thick- 
ness of the Juices, than indulging in strong high
Meats, which the concoctive Powers cannot 
divide small enough to be converted into red
Globules of Blood, or circulate thro' the 
small Vessels, but overload them with corro- 
sive urinous Salts, which run into Clusters, 
and first obstruct, and afterwards tear and 
break these small vessels, and likewise in 
swilling of strong Liquors, which by their 
caustick Quality dry up, burn, and destroy 
the tender and delicate Fibres of the Solids; 
I therefore


14 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
therefore I say, as nothing but such an Indul- 
gence, and such long-continued Excesses, and 
obstinately persisted in, can so soon produce 
such a State of the Fluids and Solids, and 
consequently bring on many fatal chronical 
Diseases, according to the particular Habit, 
Make, and Constitution of the Person: So 
it is evident, that the only Method and most 
effectual means that can solidly and thorough- 
ly accomplish the contrary State of the Blood
and Juices, is to render them thin, sweet, 
and in a continual flowing Condition, by 
taking the contrary Measures, in keeping to 
a strict Regimen of a fluid, thin, spare, plain, 
and lean Diet; for as Dr. Cheyne justly ob- 
serves, No voluptuous and lazy Person, unless 
be had an original Constitution of BRASS, 
ever liv'd to a great Age; and even then, 
as his Life has been more Misery and Pain, 
than ever a SOBER GALLY-SLAVE endur'd, 
his End, and the latter Part of his Days has
been RACK and TORTURE, HORROR and 
DESPAIR. So that Longœvity is scarce ever 
found but among the abstemious. 
As all the Parts of the human Body are 
made up of Fibres, which are small, trans- 
parent, solid, and elastick, or springy Threads
or Filaments, of which mention is made in 
the foregoing Definition of old Age, and 
which have been sufficiently demonstrated by 
Physician and Anatomists already; yet it will 
not be improper to give some Account of them 
here, for the sake of as many of the English
I Readers 


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 15
Readers as may be unacquainted with either 
Physick or Anatomy, and for whose Benefit I 
have chiefly compiled this Treatise. 
Therefore these Fibres, or small Threads, 
that constitute the human Body, are of diffe- 
rent Sorts; some are soft, flexible, and a lit- 
tle elastick ‡, and these are hollow like small 
Pipes, or spongious, and full of little Cells, as 
the nervous and fleshy Fibres. There are 
others more solid and flexible, but with a 
strong Elasticity, as the membranous and car- 
tilaginous Fibres; and a third Sort hard and 
inflexible, as the Fibres of the Bones. And 
of all these some are very sensible, as those of
the Nerves, Blood-vessels, Membranes, Ten- 
dons, and Muscles; and others are destitute 
of all Sense, as those of the Bones; some so 
very small as not to be easily perceiv'd; and 
others, on the contrary, so big as to be plain- 
ly seen; but most of them, when examin'd 
with a Microscope, appear to be composed of 
still smaller Fibres, and may be divided still 
into less; and indeed this Division proceeds so
far, that at last they become so incredibly 
small as to exceed all the Power of Imagina- 
tion; but Reason will shew us, there must be
an End. 
Now these simple Fibres do first constitute 
the Substance of the Bones, Cartilages, Liga- 
ments,
‡ Elastick or springy, signifies a Force in Bodies, by which
they endeavour to restore themselves to the Posture from
whence they were displace by any external Force. 

16 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
ments, Membranes, Nerves, Veins, Arteries, 
and Muscles. And again, by the various 
Texture and different Combinations of some, 
or all these Parts, the more compound Organs 
are fram'd, such as the Lungs, Stomach, 
Liver, Legs, and Arms, the Sum of all which
makes the human Body. 
CHAP. II. 
The principal and inevitable Causes of OLD 
AGE, and of our DISSOLUTION.
I Shall shew in this Chapter, with what has 
been already said, such things as alter our 
Bodies, and whatever makes them grow old, 
and brings us at last to our Dissolution. 
The Causes, then, of the Alterations of 
our Bodies, and likewise of our Dissolution, 
are either external or internal: These last are
born with us, and always attend us, even to 
the Grave: The others come from without 
us, surround us on all Sides, and, tho' we can
guard ourselves against some of them, there is
however an infinite Number of them which 
we cannot escape. 
The internal Causes which come into the 
World with us, are two, viz. the Contrariety
of the Principles of which our Bodies are 
composed, and the Animal Actions or Func- 
tions of the human Body
The

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 17
The Principles of our Composition are, 
1. A Water or Phlegm. 2. A volatile Fluid 
or Spirit. 3. A saline Matter or Salt, both 
Volatile and fix'd. 4. A fat Substance or Oil, 
otherwise call'd Sulphur. 5. An Earth, or 
Caput Mortuum. But the Spirit being only 
a Mixture of Phlegm and Salt, these five may
be properly reduced to four †. 
The Animal Actions, or Functions, which 
happen in all the Parts of human Bodies, by 
the Motion of the Humours in their distinct
Vessels, and the Effects they have upon one 
another, are distinguish'd into vital, natural, 
and animal, Those call'd vital so much con- 
duce to preserve Life, that they are of abso- 
lute Necessity; as the muscular Action of the 
Heart, the secretory Action of the Brain, that 
of the Lungs, and of the Blood and Spirits, 
with their Motions thro' their proper Organs; 
and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves. 
The Natural Actions are those that so alter 
our Aliment, as that it may become Part of 
our Substance; and such are the Actions of the
Bowels, vessels and Humours that receive, re-
tain, move, change, mix, separate, apply, 
discharge, and consume. 
The Animal Functions are such as, when 
perform'd, the Understanding conceives Ideas 
of Things, united to that Action; or the Will 
is either concern'd in exciting such Actions, 
or mov'd by them when excited: Such are 
B the
† Boerhaave Institutiones Medic. de Natura & Part. Sang.  


18 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing, Per- 
ception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, 
Reason, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary 
Motions. From hence we may know, that 
Health is such a Disposition of the Body as fits 
it to exercise all its Actions, and that all the
Effects of those Actions respect determinate 
Motions, and the Change made in our Ali- 
ment. 
The Principles of our Composition just now 
mention'd, being duly distributed thro' the 
whole Body, may be call'd an Equilibrium 
between the Solids and Fluids of a Person in 
Health; or, which is the same thing, an exact 
Ballance of Contrarieties, making a kind of 
Agreement or Harmony amongst themselves, 
in order to mix and unite; wherein each of 
them quits something of its Sovereignty, and 
reduces itself to a Mediocrity, which is call'd 
Temperament. But this Alliance is of short 
Duration; for the Body, by the Actions inse- 
parable from Life, suffers such a gradual 
Change, that the smallest Vessels become stiff, 
and the minutest grow together into Fibres, 
unfit for the Humours to pass thro' them; the 
greater Vessels become hard and narrow, and 
all are contracted, and, being compress'd, grow 
together, which occasions Dryness, and Un- 
aptness to Motion in old People. By this 
means the Actions of the small Vessels are de- 
stroy'd, and the Humours stagnate and grow 
thick in them, and the Fibres adhere toge- 
ther: Thus the most subtile Parts of the 
Juices

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 19
Juices are wanting and dissipated, Digestion is
weaken'd, Nourishment is deficient, and the 
grosser Humours only circulate thro' the large 
vessels slowly, and  support Life alone, with- 
out the Animal Action till at last these 
Changes bring on Death from Old Age, the 
Successor of perfect Health; which happens 
sooner if the Actions of Life have been violent, 
but later if moderate; and this is one of the 
Causes of our Dissolution: It is inevitable, 
and we bring it with us from the Womb, 
But, in order to make this more evidently ap- 
pear, it is necessary to consider the following 
Particulars concerning Nutrition, Growth, 
and Decrease of the Body. 
As there is an Aptness to Motion requisite 
in the Vessels, Muscles, and Fibres of the hu- 
man Body, in order to enable it to make due 
Use of all the Motions of its Humours, Ves- 
sels, and Muscles, without Detriment there- 
unto; So, for this Purpose, the Parts which 
are coherent, should be partly free from Con- 
tact, and partly remain in it, which cannot 
be, unless the greater Parts consist of the 
smallest, thinest, and shortest ones; nor will 
that happen again, unless a renovating Hu- 
mour passes continually betwixt them, to hin- 
der their growing together; therefore, as the 
whole human Body is flexile, and subject to 
Changes from Contact, of Necessity it ought 
to consist of small Vessels.
But this very Motion, being continually 
and violently perform'd, in Vessels of such a 
B2 tender

20 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
tender Fabrick, the least Parts must of neces- 
sity be thereby worn off from the Solids; and 
thence, being mix'd with the Liquids, be 
mov'd round by the perpetual Circulation of
the Juices, as well as by the Action of the 
Muscles, and exhale. In the mean while the 
Fluids, being ground small by the continual 
Attrition of their Parts, and drove to the Ves- 
sels thro' which they exhale or transpire, are 
quite excluded out of the Body; and thus the 
Animal Body, from the very Condition of its 
Frame, is soon destroy'd. 
Therefore it is requisite, for the due Con- 
tinuance of Life, that as much Matter, and 
of the same Kind, should be continually re- 
stored to the Humours and solid Parts, as was 
lost by those Motions, which Action is call'd 
Nutrition. 
The Humours that are worn away, are 
again supplied, as to their Matter, by Air, 
Meat, and Drink. As to the Qualities re- 
quir'd, those are produced by the concurring 
Assistance of all the Parts of the Body, and by
means thereof applied to the Vessels where 
they are wanting. 
Every solid Part of the Body is composed of 
other less Solids, very like the greater; the 
Vessels, of smaller Vessels; and the Bones, of
smaller Bones. And this manner of Structure 
proceeds beyond all the Limits of Sense, as- 
sisted by what Art soever, as Malpighi, 
Ruysche, Leeuwenhoek, and Hook, have de- 
monstrated by accurate Experiments: yet this
Divi-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 21
Division scarce seems to proceed ad Infinitum, 
as appears by the Nature of the Nourishment 
and Fluids themselves. 
Moreover Microscopes, Injections, the least 
imaginable Wounds, Vesicatories, Comsump-
tions, and the withering away of the Body, 
inform us, that our solid Parts, in respect of
the Humours, are but very small; for it is al- 
most demonstrable, from the Consideration of 
the Rise and Generation of the Vessels, and 
the Resolution of the greater Canals into their 
least constituent Parts, that the whole solid
Mass of our Bodies is almost wholly compos'd 
of mere Nerves, consider'd in their primary
Composition and Communication. 
And truly all that Mass, except an incre- 
dible small Particle, at first grew together, 
from those which were before the most sub- 
tile Liquid of the Colliquamentum or Fluid, 
almost all which goes to compound the Body, 
being much like the nervous Fluid, according
to Malpighi; for the White of an Egg does 
not nourish, before it has been long brooded
upon, till that thick clammy Humour has 
pass'd thro' a vast many Degrees of Fluidity, 
by several Changes, to fit it at last for the 
Purposes requir'd; but even then, when it 
comes to supply the Embryo, it is very thick, 
and must be much more subtiliz'd in its Ves- 
sels and Bowels. 
The first tender solid Parts being made out 
of this most subtile Humour, which are then 
almost fluid, they pass again thro' a vast many
B3 diffe-

22 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
different Degrees of Solidity, before they ar- 
rive at the Perfection of solid Parts; as ap- 
pears from Malpighi's Experiments upon 
Eggs, and the incomparable Ruysche's upon 
Embryos and Fœtuses, and even from the differ 
rent Parts themselves. 
Hence it appears, that the solid Parts, in 
their first Origin, differ only from Liquids, 
whence they spring, by Rest, Cohesion, and 
their Figure; therefore such a Particle, while 
fluid, will become Part of Solid, to be form'd 
thereof, as soon as the Power that causes it to 
cohere with the other solid Parts, shall act, by
what means soever it be. 
This Cohesion of the Parts is best pro- 
duc'd in a Fibre already form'd, if there be 
a sufficient Place in the Solid, left by that 
Particle which was lost, and at the same time, 
another Particle in the Fluid of equal Bulk, 
Figure and Nature, and endow'd with suffi- 
cient Force to thrust it in, or fit it to that
Place. 
Therefore there will be a true Nutrition 
of the Solids in the smallest Vessels, which, 
by Addition, become greater; that is, in the 
Nerves or Vessels like them; which, since it 
cannot be perform'd without a Liquid be 
brought into those Vessels, seems very plain, 
that the most immediate matter of Nourish- 
ment is the most subtle, nervous Fluid, or 
some other like it; and therefore appears to
be perform'd and produc'd from the last and 
most refin'd Actions of Nature; and that it 
may


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 23  
may be well perform'd, all the preceding 
Actions ought to be perfect. 
The Chyle therefore may fill the greater 
Vessels, but cannot recruit the solid Parts;
but being attenuated, alter'd, rarefied, mix'd, 
and made fit to pass thro' some Vessels, by 
the force of Respiration in the Lungs, it is 
render'd the more proper indeed, but still not
fit Matter for this Purpose. 
However, by the repeated Effects of the 
Lungs, Bowels, and Vessels, it becomes a 
white, tenacious, forming Liquor, almost
Without Smell, thickens by the Heat of the 
Fire, or in Spirit of Wine; being then like 
the White of an Egg, and called Serum; and 
therefore is such a Fluid, as has all the requi- 
sites which ought to be in that Humour; 
whereof Experience teaches us, that all the 
solid Parts of an animal Body are constantly 
made or form'd, only by Incubation, or a 
constant Heat and Digestion. Thus then the 
Matter is brought a Degree nearer, but yet 
is not quite fit for Nutrition; much less is 
red Blood, which never enters the smallest
Vessels. 
But as the Heat of Incubation, so the 
action of the Viscera and Vessels, occasions 
divers Changes on this circulating Serum, till 
Part of it is turn'd into such a subtle Humour 
as is here requir'd; and being consumed, it 
is again supplied, and this at length becomes 
the true and immediate Matter of Nourish- 
ment; which, how simple it is, how insipid, 
B4 or

24 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
or without Smell, will appear from the Fire, 
Putrefaction, or the Art of Chymistry, for 
it leaves behind but a pure and exceedingly 
light Earth. 
Nor can this Matter be prepar'd, without 
undergoing the foremention'd Alterations: 
But the same Humour may, by too often and 
repeated turns of Circulation, grow sharper, 
or lose its Liquidity, and become thick; be- 
ing drain'd of its oily Parts, and render'd pun- 
gent by Salts, and then it is unfit for this 
Use; which may, perhaps, be partly dis- 
charg'd by Perspiration, and partly by Urine. 
Therefore there is a necessity of new Chyle, 
and consequently of Aliment, to supply this 
Nourishment. As to the Manner how, and 
the Cause why Nutrition is perform'd, that 
will appear from what follows. 
The Humour being forced forwards, thro' 
a full, conical, cylindrical, elastic, or stiff 
and rigid Tube, if it flows from a broad Part 
into an narrower, or with a Resistance against
its Motion, it will endeavour to extend the 
Sides of the Canal, according to its longer 
Axis; and this happens all over the Body, ex- 
cept in the Veins, and the Cavity of the Re- 
ceptacles. And by this Force, tho' small, be- 
ing constant and repeated, the Vessels will by
Degrees, and insensibly be lengthen'd; and 
by growing longer, will become thinner, and 
soon be more and more attenuated: By this 
means, the utmost Extremities of the Vessels, 
which are smallest, will be less coherent, and 
next

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 25
next to a State of Dissolution. And thus 
the Extremities of the Vessels will be ren- 
der'd much finer and weaker, and little 
different from Fluids. 
Whilst therefore this Motion perpetually 
proceeds in a continual Propulsion, it must
necessarily happen, that the last Particles of 
these very fine Tubes being worn away, will 
again put on the form of a Liquid, in what- 
ever Part of the Body they remain; and then 
the smallest Parts, which compose the finest
Fibres, by their Union will be so mutually 
separated from one another, as to leave small 
Intervals in those Places where they before 
grew together; and this will constantly hap- 
pen every where, as long as Life continues, 
especially where it is strong, and the Action
of the Body violent. 
But the same Humour wherein all this 
happens, contains a great many such Particles 
as were separated or lost, which it carries, ap- 
plies, and adapts to these very Intervals, with 
that very Force with which it endeavours to 
break the Vessels, and then fixes, fits and 
fastens those intercepted Particles in these 
Cavities; so that they grow together as the 
former: for the Matter, the Preparation and 
Application thereof, with the Force of Mo- 
tion, will always continue the same; and 
therefore what is lost will be easily restor'd, 
and so the solid Parts remain as they were, 
that is, they are nourish'd and preserv'd con- 
tinually,
And 

26 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
And this shews the wonderful Wisdom of 
our Maker, that the same Cause which in- 
evitably destroys, shall also at the same time 
repair the Structure of our Frame; and that 
too according to this Rule, that the greater 
the Loss, the larger shall be the Supply; and 
that those Parts, which by the Actions of the 
Body are first worn, are always the first sup- 
plied. 
It is plain then, that the more tender those
Vessels are, the newer, and the nearer to 
the moving Cause, so much the easier they 
are stretch'd, distended, destroy'd, and re- 
new'd; and consequently, the nearer our 
Bodies are to their Origin, the more they 
grow and increase. 
Whilst this Action goes forwards, the 
greater Vessels are more distended by the Li- 
quor they contain; but at the same time, the 
small Vessels, which being interwoven, com- 
pose the Membranes of the greater, are more 
compressed, dried, and grow nearer together 
which adds Strength to the Fibres, at the 
Expence of vascular Property; so that in 
time our Vessels turn to hard Ligaments, and
the Humours become firm and solid. By a 
Concurrence of these Causes, the Solids be- 
come strong, hard, stiff and thick. There- 
fore the vast number of Vessels that are in an 
Embryo, gradually decrease as Age comes on; 
and for the same reason, on the other hand, 
as Weakness decreases, Strength increases; 
and so in young Persons, the Quantity and 
Vigour

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 27   
Vigour of the Humours exceed that of the 
Solids; but in old People, the Solids in 
Quantity and Strength exceed the Liquids; 
from whence plainly appears the manner of 
the Increase, Decrease, and Death of the 
Body, merely from old Age, with the Causes
and different Appearances thereof. 
Whoever therefore considers this whole 
Account, and then compares these Accidents 
which happen to the Body therewith, will 
clearly perceive this to be the State of the 
Case; for the whole Cuticle every where per- 
petually scales off, perishes, and renews again; 
the Hair, Nails, Teeth, shav'd, par'd, cut 
off or wore, grow afresh; and Parts of the 
Vessels and Bones taken away, in a short 
time return on every side; and if the Filth 
in the Extremities of the Vessels throughout
the whole Body, that is either worn off, 
or collected there by Exhalation, be view'd 
in Water with a Microscope, after being eva- 
porated or diluted, it appears to consist of
Solids and Fluids; and the same when ob- 
tain'd by Washing, Rubbing, or Abrasion, ex- 
hibit the like Appearance. 
From hence appears the Reason why the 
Fabric of our Solids is not dissolv'd by the 
liquid Contents; and why our Machine con- 
tinues so long fit for Motion; why, when 
the Nerves are by any means corrupted, the 
Part to which they lead, loses its Nourish- 
ment; why in an Embryo there are no So- 
lids, in a Fœtus few, and in very old People 
a

28 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
a vast many; so that even the Nerves, Ten- 
dons, Arteries, and Receptacles in those, first 
become cartilaginous, and then bony. 
It is therefore evident from the foregoing 
Particulars, that the two internal Causes of 
our Dissolution already mention'd, viz. The 
Contrariety of the Principles of our Fabric, 
and the animal Actions or Functions of the 
human Body, are born, grow, and are nou- 
rish'd with us, and that, gradually and in- 
evitably, they bring on Old Age, and destroy
the Body at last: nor can all the Physicians 
in the World guard us against them; for the 
great Promises made with Assurance, as to 
the Prolongation of Life for so many hun- 
dreds of Years, are vain and imaginary, be- 
ing unsupported both by Reason and Expe- 
rience: Of this Tribe are Van Helmont's 
Primum Ens, Paracelsus's Elixir Proprie- 
tatis; the Primum Ens of Animals; all 
those precious Liquors, that potable Gold, 
those Conserves of Rubies, Emeralds, Elixirs 
of Life; that fabulous Fountain, that was 
reported to make People grow young, can- 
not hinder us from Decay and Old Age. Nor 
is it likely that Life should be prolong'd even
by the best Methods in Nature, so many 
Years as the Chymists pretend by their Art; 
but their own Experience is a Proof of their 
Temerity and Inability herein. 
There are other Causes of our Dissolution, 
which are external, and likewise inevitable; 
for as our Bodies consist of three dissipable 
Sub-


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 29  
Substances, one of which is subtile and airy, 
the second liquid, and the third solid; so we 
must necessarily have something that pro- 
ceeds from without us, in order to repair 
them, otherwise our Lives could subsist but a 
few Minutes. 
That which repairs our Substance is called 
Aliment, and is threefold. Air, Meat, and 
Drink; the first nourishes the spirituous Sub- 
stance, the second the Liquid, and the 
third the solid Substance. But this triple 
Aliment, tho' never so pure, has yet always 
something unlike our Nature, which can 
never be assimilated to either our Juices or 
Solids, which must then become excremen- 
titious; and where an Excrement is genera- 
ted, and being detain'd in the Body, con- 
sequently alters it, and causes an infinite
number of Diseases; by which means our 
Bodies are variously chang'd and affected, 
and often finally brought to an intire Disso- 
lution. 
I pass over all the other external Causes, 
such as too violent Exercises, an unactive and
sedentary Life, long and continual Watch- 
ings, those Passions of the Mind which are 
most capable of making us grow old, as Fear 
and Sadness, &c. I say nothing likewise of all 
accidental Causes, such as Wounds, Fractures, 
&c. I have only endeavour'd to demonstrate, 
that the living Creature must necessarily grow 
old and decay; that he nourishes the natural 
Causes of Death in himself, and that there 
I are


30 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
are likewise some external ones, which are 
inevitable. 
I thought proper to insert in this Place a 
Chronological and Historical succinct Account 
of long Lives, from before the Flood down 
to the present time; with a true and short 
Character or Elogy of each, faithfully col- 
lected from the Records of both sacred and 
profane History; which perhaps, may prove 
useful as well as entertaining to the Reader. 
Herein he will observe, not only the Ne- 
cessity of Temperance towards attaining long 
Life, but that the length of Life by the running
on of Ages, or Succession of Generations, has 
not in the least abated, from the Time of 
Moses to our present Days; for the Term of 
Man's Life has stood near about fourscore Years 
of Age ever since, as will appear by the 
following Account. 
CHAP. III. 
An Historical Account of Long Lives from 
the Creation to the present Lime. 
BEFORE the Flood, Men liv'd many 
hundred Years, as the Holy Scriptures 
relate; yet none of the Fathers attained to 
the Age of a thousand. Neither was this 
length of Life peculiar only to Grace, or 
I the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 31  
the holy Line; for there are eleven Genera- 
tions of the Fathers reckon'd to the Flood,
but of the Sons of Adam by Cain, only 
eight Generations; so that the Posterity of 
Cain seems to have liv'd longer. But this 
length of Life, immediately after the Flood was 
reduc'd to one half, in the Post-nati only:
for Noah, who was born before the Flood, 
equalled the Age of his Ancestors; Shem 
also lived six hundred Years. Afterwards, 
three Generations from the Flood being ran, 
the length of Man's Life was brought down 
to a fourth Part of the Primitive Age, that 
is, to about two hundred Years. 
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five 
Years, a Man of great Virtue, and was ab- 
stemious, and prosperous in all things. Isaac
arriv'd at the Age of an hundred and eighty 
Years; a chaste Man, who enjoy'd more 
Quietness than his Father. But Jacob, after 
many Crosses, and a numerous Progeny, liv'd 
a hundred and forty-seven Years; a patient, 
gentle, religious, and wise Man. Ishmael, a 
military Man, liv'd an hundred thirty-seven 
Years, and always observ'd Temperance to 
be his only Guide for obtaining Health and 
long Life. 
Sarah, whose Years only amongst her Sex 
are recorded, died in the hundred and twenty- 
seventh Year of her Age: she was a beautiful 
and virtuous Woman, a singular good Mo- 
ther and Wife, and yet no less famous for 
the Liberty from, than Obsequiousness towards  
her

32 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
her Husband. Joseph also, a prudent and 
politick Man, passing his Youth in Affliction, 
afterwards advanc'd to the Height of Ho- 
nour and Prosperity, liv'd an hundred and 
ten Years; he was sober, chaste, and reli- 
gious Man. But his Brother Levi, who was 
older than him, attain'd to an hundred thirty- 
seven Years; he was a Man that was revenge- 
ful, and impatient of Reproach or Affront, 
yet always temperate and moderate in his eat- 
ing and drinking. His Son liv'd almost to the
same Age, as also his Grand-child, the Fa- 
ther of Aaron and Moses: they were both 
strictly moderate in their way of living. 
Moses liv'd an hundred and twenty Years; 
a stout and virtuous Man, yet the meekest 
upon Earth, but of very slow Speech; how- 
ever he pronounces, that the Life of Man is 
but seventy Years; but if of a more than or- 
dinary Strength, eighty; which seems gene- 
rally to be the Term of Man's Life even at 
this Day. 
Aaron, who was three years elder, died 
the same Year with his Brother Moses: he 
was a Man of a readier Speech, and of a more 
easy Disposition, but less constant; he was 
religious, abstemious, and moderate in his 
Actions of Life. Phineas, Grand-child of 
Aaron, out of extraordinary Grace, may be 
collected to have liv'd three hundred years;
if so be that the War of the Israelites against
the Tribe of Benjamin, in which Expedi- 
tion Phineas was consulted, was perform'd in 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 33 
the same order of Time in which the Hi- 
story has ranked it; he was a Man of most
eminent Zeal and Virtue. 
Joshua, a martial Man, and an excellent 
Commander, and always victorious; yet he 
was religiously sober and moderate, and lived
to be an hundred and twenty Years of Age. 
Caleb, who observ'd Temperance, was his 
Contemporary, and seems to have lived as 
long as he did. Ehud the Judge, liv'd to 
the Age of an hundred Years; for after the 
Victory over the Moabites, the Holy Land 
remain'd under his Government eighty Years; 
he was a bold and an undaunted Man, and one 
that in a great measure neglected his own 
Life for the good of his People, and was like- 
wise a strict Observer of Temperance. 
Job liv'd after the Restauration of his 
Happiness, an hundred and forty Years, being 
before his Afflictions of such an Age, as to 
have Sons at Man's Estate; he was a politick
Man, eloquent and charitable, and the true 
Emblem of Patience. 
Eli the Priest liv'd ninety-eight Years; a 
corpulent Man, and of a calm Disposition, 
and indulgent to his Children. But Elizeus
the Prophet seems to have died when he 
was above an hundred Years old; for he is 
found to have liv'd after the Assumption of
Elias sixty Years, and at the time of that 
Assumption he was of those Years, that the 
Boys mock'd him, by the Name of Bald- 
head; he was a severe and vehement Man 
C against


34 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
against Vice and Luxury, and a Contemner 
of Riches. Isaiah the Prophet seems to 
have liv'd to the Age of an hundred Years;
for he is found to have exercised the Function 
of a Prophet seventy Years together, the 
Years both of his beginning to prophecy, and 
of his Death, being uncertain; he was a Man 
of admirable Eloquence, and an evangelical 
Prophet, full of the Promises of God, and 
of the New Testament, as a Bottle with 
sweet Wine. 
Tobias the elder, liv'd an hundred fifty- 
eight Years; the younger, an hundred and 
twenty-seven; both of them were merciful 
Men, and great Alms-givers; they were like- 
wise abstemious and moderate in all their 
Actions. 
It seems, that in the Time of the Capti- 
vity, many of the Jews who return'd out 
of Babylon, liv'd to great Ages, seeing they
could remember both the Temples, there be- 
ing no less than seventy Years between them, 
and wept for the Unlikeness of them. Many 
Ages after that, in the Time of our Saviour, 
liv'd old Simeon, to the Age of ninety Years; 
a devout Man, and full both of Hope and 
Expectation. Also Anna the Prophetess, 
who could not possibly be less than an hun- 
dred Years old; for she had been seven Years 
a Wife, about eighty-four years a Widow, 
besides the Years of her Virginity, and the 
Time that she liv'd after her Prophecy of
our

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 35
our Saviour; she was a holy Woman, and 
passed her Days in Fasting and Prayer. 
As to the long Lives mention'd in Heathen 
Authors, they have no Certainty in them, 
both for the intermixture of Fables, to which 
these kind of Relations were very liable, and 
for their false Calculation of Years. And we 
find nothing of Moment of the Egyptians in 
those Works that are extant, concerning the 
length of Lives; for their Kings, who reign'd 
longest, did not exceed fifty, or live and fifty 
Years, which is no great Matter, since many 
at this Day live to those Years. 
But the Arcadian Kings are fabulously re- 
ported to have liv'd very long; and, as that 
Country was Mountainous, full of Flocks of 
Sheep, and produc'd most wholsome Food; 
but when Fable is the only Guide, there can
be no Certainty. 
Numa King of the Romans liv'd to the 
Age of eighty; he was a peaceable and con- 
templative Man, and much devoted to Reli- 
gion. Marcus Valerius Corvinus compleated 
an hundred Years, there being forty-six Years
between his first and sixth Consulship; he 
was a Man full of Courage, affable, popu- 
lar, and always fortunate and sober, observ- 
ing constantly a cool and moderate Diet. 
Solon of Athens, the Law-giver, and one 
of the seven Wise Men, liv'd above eighty 
Years; a Man of high Courage, popular, and 
well affected to his Country; he was also 
C2 learned,


36 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
learned, given to Pleasures, but always mo- 
derate in his Diet. Epimenides the Cretan is 
reported to have lived an hundred and fifty- 
seven Years: this Matter is mix'd with a 
prodigious odd Relation; for he is said to 
have slept fifty-seven of those Years in a Cave. 
Half an Age after, Xenophanes the Colopho- 
nian lived an hundred and two Years, or ra- 
ther more; for at the Age of twenty five 
Years he left his Country, seventy-seven com- 
plete Years he travel'd, and after that return'd: 
A Man no less wandering in Mind than in 
Body; for his Name was chang'd, for the 
Madness of his Opinions, from Xenophanes, to
Xenomanes; a Man no doubt of a vast Conceit, 
and that minded nothing but Infinitums. 
Pindarus, the Theban, lived to eighty 
Years. He was a Poet of an high Fancy, 
singular in his Conceits, and a great Adorer 
of the Gods, but a sober Man. Sophocles, 
the Athenian, attain'd to the like Age; a lofty
tragick Poet, given over wholly to Writing, 
and neglectful of his own Family. 
Artaxerxes, King of Persia, lived ninety- 
four Years; a Man of dull Wit, averse from 
the Dispatch of Business, desirous of Glory, 
but rather of Ease. At the same time lived 
Agesilaus, King of Sparta, to eighty-four 
Years of Age; a moderate Prince, as being a 
Philosopher amongst Kings; but notwith- 
standing ambitious, and a Warrior, and no 
less stout in War than in Business. 
Gorgias,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 37
Gorgias, the Sicilian, was an hundred and 
eight Years old. He was a Rhetorician, and 
a great Boaster of his Faculty, one that 
taught Youth for Profit. He had seen many 
Countries; and, a little before his Death, 
said, that he had done nothing worthy of 
Blame since he was an old Man. Protagoras 
of Abdera lived ninety Years: This Man was 
likewise a Rhetorician; but profess'd not to 
teach so much the liberal Arts, as the Art of
governing Commonwealths and States; not- 
withstanding he was no less a Wanderer in 
the World than Gorgias already mention'd. 
Isocrates, the Athenian, lived ninety-eight 
Years: He was likewise a Rhetorician, but 
an exceeding modest Man, one that shun'd 
the publick Light, and open'd his School only
in his own House. Democritus, of Abdera, 
reach'd to an hundred and nine Years: He 
was a great Philosopher, and, if ever any Man 
amongst the Grecians, a true Naturalist; a 
Surveyor of many Countries, but much more 
of Nature. He was also a diligent Searcher 
into Experiments, and, as Aristotle objected 
against him, one that follow'd Similitudes 
more than the Laws of Arguments. 
Diogenes, the Sinopean, lived ninety Years, 
was a Man that used Liberty towards others, 
but Tyranny over himself; he lived upon a 
coarse Diet, and was a Pattern of Patience. 
Zeno, of Citium, wanted but two Years of 
an hundred; a Man of high Mind, and a 
Contemner of other Men's Opinions. He 
C3 was

38 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
was also a Man of great Acuteness, but yet 
not troublesome, chusing rather to take Men's 
Minds than to enforce them; the like where- 
of happen'd afterwards in Seneca. 
Plato, the Athenian; attain'd to eighty-one 
Years; a Man of great Courage, but yet a 
Lover of Ease. He was in his Notions sub- 
lime and full of Fancy, neat and delicate in 
his Life, rather calm than merry, and one 
that carried a kind of Majesty in his Counte- 
nance, and a strict Observer of Moderation in 
his Diet. 
Theophrastus, the Ethesian, lived eighty 
Years; a Man of sweet Eloquence, and sweet 
also for the Variety of his Subjects, and who
selected the pleasant Things of Philosophy, 
and let the bitter and harsh go. Carneades of 
Cyrene, many Years after, attain'd to the like 
Age; a Man of fluent Eloquence, and one 
who, by the acceptable and pleasant Variety 
of his Knowledge, delighted himself and 
others. But Orbilius, who lived in Cicero's 
time, no Philosopher nor Rhetorician, but a 
Grammarian, lived to the Age of an hundred 
Years. He was first a Soldier, then a School- 
master; a Man by Nature tart both in his 
Tongue and Pen, and severe towards his 
Scholars. 
Quintus Fabius Maximus was Augur sixty- 
three Years, which shew'd him to be above 
eighty Years of Age at his Death; tho' it is 
true, that in the Augurship Nobility was 
more respected than Age. He was a wise 
Man,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 39
Man, and a great Deliberator, and in all his 
Proceedings moderate, not without Affability, 
severe. Masinissa, King of Numidia, lived 
ninety Years; and, being more than eighty-
five, got a Son. He was a daring Man, and 
trusting to his Fortune, who in his youthful 
Days had tasted of her Inconstancy; but in 
his succeeding Age was constantly happy. 
But Marcus Porcius Cato lived above ninety
Years of Age; a Man of an Iron Body and 
Mind. He had a bitter Tongue, and loved 
to cherish Factions. He was given to Hus- 
bandry, and was, to himself and his Family, 
a Physician. 
Terentia, Cicero's Wife, lived an hundred 
and three Years. She was a Woman afflicted 
with many Crosses; first with the Banish- 
ment of her Husband, then with the Diffe- 
rence betwixt them, and lastly with his last
fatal Misfortune. She was also very often 
troubled with the Gout. 
Luccica, the Actress, must needs exceed an 
hundred by many Years; for it is said, that 
she acted a whole hundred Years upon the 
Stage; at first perhaps representing the Person
some young Girl, and at last of some old 
decrepit Woman. 
Galeria Copiola, a Player also and Dancer, 
was brought upon the Stage very young, but 
in what Year of her Age is not known; and 
ninety-nine Years after, at the Dedication of
the Theatre by Pompey the Great, she was 
shewn upon the Stage again; not now for 
C4 an

40 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
an Actress, but for a Wonder; neither was 
this all, for after that she was shewn a third 
time upon the Stage in the Solemnities ce- 
lebrated for the Health and Life of Augustus. 
She is reckon'd to have liv'd sober and vir- 
tuous from her Youth. 
There was another Actress somewhat in- 
ferior in Age, but much superior in Dignity, 
who liv'd very near ninety Years, I mean 
Livia Julia Augusta, Wife of Augustus 
Cæsar, and Mother to Tiberius (for if Au- 
gustus's Life was a Play, as he himself would
have it, as when upon his Death-bed he 
charg'd his Friends that they would give him 
a Plaudite after he was dead) certainly this 
Lady was an excellent Actress, who could 
carry it so well with her Husband, by a dis- 
sembled Obedience, and with her Son, by 
Power and Authority; she was an affable 
Woman, and yet of a Motherly Carriage, 
pragmatical, and upholding her Power. But 
Junia, the Wife of Caius Cassius, Sister to
Marcus Brutus, was also ninety Years old; 
for she surviv'd the Philippic Battle sixty- 
four Years. She was a magnanimous Woman, 
in her great Wealth happy; in the Calamity 
of her Husband and near Relations, and in 
a long- Widowhood, unhappy; yet much ho- 
nour'd by all, for her Sobriety and Virtue. 
The Year of our Lord seventy-six, hap- 
pening in the time of Vespasian, is memora- 
ble, in which we shall find as it were a Ca- 
lendar of long Lives; for that Year there 
was

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 41  
was a Taxing; (now Taxing is the most au- 
thentic and truest Informer as to People's
Ages) and in that Part of Italy which lies 
between the Apennine Mountains and the 
River Po, there were found an hundred and 
twenty-four Persons, that each of them ei- 
ther equalled or exceeded an hundred Years of
Age; namely, fifty-four Persons of an hun- 
dred Years each; fifty-seven Persons of an 
hundred and ten; two only of an hundred 
and twenty-five; four Men of an hundred 
and thirty; four more of an hundred and 
thirty-five or seven; three Men of an hun- 
dred and forty. 
Besides these, Parma in particular pro- 
duc'd five, whereof three fulfilled an hun- 
dred and twenty years each, and two an 
hundred and thirty. Bruxels produc'd one 
of an hundred and twenty-five years old, 
Placentia one aged an hundred and thirty- 
two. Faventia one Woman, aged an hun- 
dred and thirty-two. A certain Town situ- 
ated in the Hills about Placentia, then called
Velleiacium, afforded ten, whereof fix ful- 
filled an hundred and ten Years each, and 
four an hundred and twenty Years of Age 
each. Lastly, Rimino one of an hundred 
and fifty years, whose Name was Marcus 
Aponius. And it will not be amiss to ac- 
quaint the Reader here, that all upon this 
foregoing List observ'd Temperance and So-
briety during most part of their Lives. 
As 

42 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
As there are but few found among all the 
Grecian, Roman, Gallick and German Em- 
perors to our Days, that have lived to the 
Age of fourscore Years, and none that ex- 
ceeded ninety; I will not therefore trouble 
the Reader with any farther Account of 
them, but proceed to the Princes of the 
Church. 
St. John, an Apostle of our Saviour, and 
the beloved Disciple, liv'd ninety-three Years; 
he was rightly denoted under the Emblem of 
the Eagle, for his piercing Sight into the 
Divinity, and was as a Seraphim among the 
Apostles, in respect of his burning Love. 
St. Luke the Evangelist compleated eighty- 
four Years; an eloquent Man, and a Tra- 
veller; St. Paul's inseparable Companion, 
and a Physician. Simeon the Son of Cleo- 
phas, called the Brother of our Lord, and 
Bishop of Hierusalem, liv'd an hundred and 
twenty Years, tho' he was cut off at last by
Martyrdom; he was a stout Man, constant, 
and full of good Works. 
Dionysius Areopagita, Contemporary to 
St. Paul the Apostle, liv'd ninety Years; he 
was called the Bird of Heaven for his sub- 
lime Divinity, and was famous as well for 
his holy Life, as for his Meditations. Aquila 
and Priscilla, first St. Paul's Hosts, and 
afterwards his Fellow-helpers, lived together 
in happy Wedlock at least to an hundred 
Years of Age apiece; for they were both 
alive under Pope Xystus the first; a noble
Pair,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 43  
Pair, and prone to all kinds of Charity, who
among their other Comforts, which doubt- 
less were great to the first Founders of the
Church, had this added, to enjoy each other 
so long in a happy married State. 
St. Paul the Hermit lived an hundred 
and thirteen Years; his Diet was so slender 
and strict, that it was thought almost im- 
possible to support human Nature therewith; 
he passed his Days in a Cave, only in Medi- 
tations and Soliloquies, yet he was not illi- 
terate, or an Idiot, but learned. St. Hie- 
rome, by the Consent of most Writers, ex- 
ceeded ninety Years of Age; a Man power- 
ful in his Pen, and of a manly Eloquence, 
variously learn'd, both in the Languages and 
Sciences, also a Traveller, and lived strictly to- 
wards his old Age in a private State, and not 
dignified; he had high Spirits, and shined far 
out of Obscurity. 
St. Anthony the Monk lived to the Age of 
an hundred and five Years; his Life was au- 
stere and mortifying, notwithstanding he 
lived in a kind of glorious Solitude, and ex- 
ercised a Command, having his Monks under 
him, and besides many Christians and Phi- 
losophers came to visit him as a living Image
worthy of their Veneration, on account of 
his holy Life and pious Works. 
St. Athanasius exceeded the Term of eighty 
Years; he was a Man of invincible Constancy,
commanding Fame, and not yielding to the 
Frowns of Fortune; he was free towards the 
Great,

44 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Great, gracious and acceptable to the People, 
wise and couragious in delivering himself from 
Oppositions, and always leading an abstemi- 
ous and religious Life. 
The Popes of Rome are in number to this 
Day 246; but of so great a number, few 
only have attain'd to the Age of 80, or up- 
wards, as I could find recorded in History: 
yet the full Age of twenty-eight of the first
Popes was intercepted by the Prerogative and
Crown of Martyrdom. 
John, the twenty-third Pope of Rome, ful- 
filled the ninetieth Year of his Age; he was
abstemious and frugal, an Enemy to Luxury, 
and acquir'd a good deal of Riches and Trea- 
sure for the Support of the Church; he al- 
ter'd many Things much for the better. 
Gregory the twelfth, created in Schism, 
and not fully acknowledg'd Pope, died ninety
Years old; of him, in respect of his short 
Papacy, there is nothing found in History to
make a Judgment upon, but that he liv'd 
strictly virtuous and abstemious. 
Paul the third lived eighty-one Years; he 
was a temperate Man, and of profound Wis- 
dom and Learning, greatly skill'd in Astro- 
nomy, and always careful of his own Health. 
Paul the fourth liv'd eighty-three Years; 
he was a Man naturally tart, and somewhat 
severe, and a little prone to Anger; his Speech 
was eloquent and ready, his Diet was always 
lean, thin, and cool, by which means he 
kept

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 45  
kept his Passions under Subjection, and ar- 
riv'd at that good old Age with all his Senses. 
Gregory the thirteenth liv'd to the same 
Age, and was absolutely a good and great 
Man, found in Mind and Body, politick, tem- 
perate, religious, full of good Works, and a 
great Alms-giver. 
The following Instances are more promis- 
cuous in their Order, and more doubtful as 
to the Certainty of their Ages. King Argan- 
thonius, who reigned at Cadiz in Spain, live
an hundred and forty Years, according to 
some Historians, of which he reigned eighty 
Years. Cyniras King of Cyprus, living in the 
Island then called the happy and pleasant 
Island, is affirmed to have lived an hundred 
and sixty Years. Two Latin Kings in Italy, 
the Father and Son, are reported to have 
lived, the one eight hundred Years, and the 
other six hundred: But this Account is de- 
liver'd unto us by certain Philologists, who
tho' otherwise credulous enough, yet they 
themselves have suspected the Veracity of this 
matter. Others record some Arcadian Kings 
to have lived three hundred Years; the Coun- 
try no doubt is a Place apt for long Life, but 
the Relation is justly suspected to be fabu- 
lous. 
One Dando, in Illyrium, is reported to 
have lived without the Inconveniency of 
Old-Age, to five hundred Years; but the ju- 
dicious Reader will make the necessary Al- 
lowance.  
Hippocrates


46 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Hippocrates of Côs, the Prince of Physici-
ans, lived an hundred and four Years, or ac- 
cording to some, an hundred and nine: He 
was skill'd in the several Particulars requisite 
for the Knowledge of Physick, and provided 
with numerous Observations of his own, 
composed out of the whole a System of 
Physick, and was the first that truly deserved
the Title of Physician; He joined Learning 
and Wisdom together, was most conver- 
sant in Experience and Observation, and did 
not hunt after Words, but severed the very 
Nerves of Science, and so taught them. 
Enphrtœnor the Grammarian grew old in 
his School, and taught when he was an hun- 
dred Years old. Seneca, according to some 
accounts, lived to an hundred and fourteen
Years of Age. But Joannes de Temporibus, 
among all the Men of our latter Ages, 
according to common Fame and vulgar Opi- 
nion, lived the longest, even to a Miracle; 
his Age being reputed to be above three 
hundred Years: He was a Native of France, 
and followed the Wars under Charles the 
Great. 
Among the Venetians there have been 
found a great many long Livers, and those 
of the more eminent fort of the People;
but the most memorable is that of Cornaro, 
who being in his Youth a sickly Person, be- 
gan first to eat and drink by measure, to a 
certain Weight, to recover his Health there- 
by; this Cure, by Use, turn'd into a Diet, 
that

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 47 
that Diet into an extraordinary long Life, 
even of an hundred Years and better, with- 
out any Decay in his Senses, and a constant 
Enjoyment of his Health. 
In latter times, William Postell, a French 
Man, lived to an hundred and twenty Years; 
he was a Man somewhat crazy, and of a 
Fancy not altogether sound, a great Travel- 
ler and Mathematician. 
Henry Jenkins, a Yorkshire Man, attain'd 
the Age of one hundred sixty-nine Years; he
was twelve Years old when the Battle of 
Flowden-field was fought, which happen'd 
upon the 9th of September, in the Year of 
our Lord 1513, and departed this Life the 
8th of December 1670, at Ellerton upon 
Swale, This Henry Jenkins was a poor 
Man, could neither Read nor Write; there 
were also four or five in the same Parish 
where he then liv'd, that were reputed all of
them to be an hundred Years old, or within 
two or three Years of it, and they all affirm'd 
he was an elderly Man ever since they knew 
him, for he was born in another Parish, and 
before any Registers were in Churches, as it 
is thought. In the last Century of his Life 
be was a Fisherman, and used to wade in 
the Streams. His Diet was coarse and sower, 
but towards the latter End of his Days, he 
begg'd up and down. He hath sworn in 
Chancery and other Courts to above 140 
Years Memory, and was often at the Affixes 
at York, whither he generally went on foot. 
It

48 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
It was likewise affirm'd by some of the 
Country Gentlemen, that he frequently swam
in the Rivers after he was past the Age of
an hundred years. * 
Thomas Parr was a poor Countryman of 
Shropshire, whence he was brought up to 
London by Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 
and died at the Age of 152 Years, 9 Months, 
after surviving nine Princes. Nov. 6, 1635, 
being open'd after his Death by Dr. Harvey,
his Body was found still very fleshy, his 
Breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, and
they served to confirm the Report of his 
having undergone public Censures for his In- 
continency. At the Age of one hundred and 
twenty he married a Widow, who owned he 
acted the Part of a Man, and that for twelve
Years after. He had a large Breast, Lungs 
not fungous, but sticking to his Ribs, and 
distended with much Blood; his Face livid, 
having had a Difficulty of breathing a little
before his Death, and a lasting Warmth in 
his Arm-pits and Breast after it. His Heart 
was great, thick, fibrous and fat; the Blood 
in the Heart blackish and diluted, the Carti- 
lages of the Sternum not more boney than 
in others, but flexible and soft; his Viscera 
were sound and strong, especially his Stomach; 
and it was observ'd of him, that he used to 
eat often both by Day and by Night, taking 
up with old Cheese, Milk, coarse Bread, 
* An Abstract of Dr. Tancred Robinson's Letter, giving an 
Account of Jenkins's Age. 
Small-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 49 
Small-beer, and Whey; and which is more 
remarkable, he eat at Midnight a little be- 
fore he died. All his inward Parts appear'd 
so sound, that if he had not chang'd his Diet 
and Air, he might in all Probability have 
liv'd a great while longer. His Brain was en- 
tire and firm; and tho' he had not the Use 
of his Sight, or of his Memory, several Years 
before he died, yet he had his Hearing and 
Apprehension very well, and was able, to the
130th Year of his Age, to do any Husband- 
man's Work, even Threshing of Corn. * 
Francisco Lupatsoli, a Venetian Consul at 
Smyrna, lived 113 Years, and had by his 
Wives and other Women, fifty Children; he
drank nothing but Water and Milk, some- 
times a small Sherbet; his usual Diet was 
small Soups of Flesh, sometimes of Bread, 
Water and Figs. He saw at that Age with- 
out Spectacles, and could bear well; he 
drank neither Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, nor 
any fermented Liquor, as Mr. Ray, then En- 
glish Consul there, relates; and farther adds, 
that he saw a Tooth cut in his upper Gum 
that great Age. 
In the Life of the great Aurengzebe, one 
of the late Moguls, we have such a nota- 
ble and shining Example of Abstemiousness, 
Continency, and many other Virtues, as may 
well recommend this Royal Infidel to the 
Admiration and Imitation of all Christian 
Princes upon Earth; wherefore I make no 
D Doubt
* Phil. Trans. No. 44. p. 886.  


50 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part I.
Doubt but the following Account of that 
Emperor will no less instruct, than entertain 
the Reader. 
There was no Part then of this great 
Prince's Time, which he did not assign to 
some useful Purpose; for early in the Morn- 
ing, before break of Day, he bathed, and spent 
some Hours at his Devotions; then having 
eaten a little Rice or Sweat-meats, he shut 
himself up with his Secretaries, and before 
Noon he gave publick Audience to his Sub- 
jects; after which he pray'd again, and then 
went to Dinner, his Table being furnish'd 
only with Rice, Herbs, Fruits, or Sweet- 
meats, for neither Flesh or Fish, or any strong
Liquors were ever brought before him. In 
the Afternoon he gave Audience again, which 
being over, he prayed a third and a fourth 
time; and the remainder of the Day, till 
two Hours after it was dark, he spent in the 
private Concerns of his own Family; then 
he supp'd, and slept afterwards only three 
Hours, after which, it is said, he read the Al- 
coran, and pray'd all the remaining Part of 
the Night. And here we have a remarkable 
Instance of what vast Advantage an abste- 
mious regular Course of Life is towards pro- 
curing Health and long Life, and rendering 
a Prince always fit for the most important 
and intricate Affairs; for this Emperor, not- 
withstanding he was an indefatigable Hearer 
of Causes, and constantly directed the Af- 
fairs of so vast an Empire, and conquer'd se- 
veral

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 51
veral large Kingdoms, lived without con- 
tracting any Distemper; neither his Judg- 
ment, Memory, or other Senses, were at all 
impair'd when he was ninety Years of Age. 
Aurengzebe, it is true, had several hundreds 
of fine blooming Girls in his Haram, or 
Seraglio, as all Eastern Princes have; but 
these seem to have been kept only for State, 
or in Conformity with the Custom of the 
Country; for it is related of him, that even 
in his Youth, having singled out a young 
Lady in the Haram to lie with him one 
Night, and she had dressed and prepar'd 
herself to receive her Royal Lover, the King
coming into the Apartment at the appointed 
Hour, instead of going to Bed, fell to read- 
ing, and between his Books and his Devoti- 
ons he passed the whole Night, without ever 
taking Notice of the expecting Lady. 
When the Eunuch came the next Morn- 
ing to acquaint the Emperor that his Bath 
was ready, which is ever used by the Maho-
metans when they have been with their Wo- 
men, the Lady answer'd, There was no need 
of a Bath, for the Sultan, had not broke 
Wind, intimating that he had been at his 
Prayers; for if a Mahometan has the Mis- 
fortune to break Wind at his Prayers, then 
he immediately bathes, looking upon himself 
to be too much polluted to go on with his 
Devotions, till he has washed off the Impu- 
rity contracted by such an Accident. 
D2 From

52 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
From this short Account of the Life of a 
Mahometan Prince, we may learn an exceeding 
useful Lesson, worthy of being imitated by 
all Christian Princes and others, who value 
Health and long Life; for notwithstanding 
he was depriv'd of the Light of Gospel 
Truth, yet so strong were his Notions of a 
Supreme Being, that he most constantly and, 
fervently adored that Being, by which means 
he led a Life religiously abstemious, conquer'd 
and regulated the Surges of the rest of his Pas- 
sions, amidst so many Allurements and Temp- 
tations of numbers of fine blooming Ladies, 
vast Riches, Power and Grandeur, which he 
always had at his Will without Controul, and 
like a true Christian Hero, preferr'd the Ado- 
ration of his Creator, and the Preservation of
his Health, to all the Pleasures which his 
vast Dominions and great Power could afford 
him. 
Richard Lloyd, born within two Miles of 
Montgomery, was aged 133 Years within two 
Months; he was a strong, strait, and upright
Man, wanted no Teeth, had no grey Hairs, 
could hear well, and read without Glasses; 
he was fleshy, and full cheek'd, and the 
Calves of his Legs not wasted or shrunk, 
could talk well, and was of a tall Stature: 
his Food was Bread, Cheese, and Butter, for 
the most Part, and his Drink Whey, But- 
ter-milk, or Water, and nothing else; but 
being persuaded by a neighbouring Gentle- 
woman to eat Flesh Meat, and drink Malt
Liquors,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 53
Liquors, soon fell off and died. He was a 
poor labouring Man in Husbandry, and the 
Truth of his great Age has been confirm'd 
to Dr. Baynard and others, by a produc'd 
Copy of the Register. 
John Bailes of Northampton, was 128 
Years and a half old when Dr. Baynard ex- 
amin'd him: he was a short broad-breasted 
Man; his Food was for the most part brown 
Bread and Cheese; he cared not much for 
Flesh Meats; he was never drunk in his Life, 
and his Drink was Water, Small-beer, and 
Milk. He told the Dr. that he had buried 
the whole Town of Northampton, except 
three or four, twenty times over; strong 
Drink, says the old Man, kills them all. He 
was a sensible old Fellow, and had no Dis- 
ease but Blindness, which Misfortune he did
not experience above four or five Years be- 
fore his Death. 
Mr. Martin, in his Description of the 
Western Islands of Scotland, says, that Do- 
nald Roy, who lived in the Island of Sand, 
where they have neither Physic nor Physi- 
cian, died lately in the hundredth Year of his
Age, and was able to travel and manage his 
Affairs till about two Years before his Death. 
He makes mention of one that died some 
Years before, aged one hundred and forty; 
and of another, who, they said, died at one 
hundred and eighty Years of Age. 
Mrs. Hudson, Mother to Mr. George Hud- 
son, a Sollicitor in Chancery, lived an hundred 
D3 and

54 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
and five Years, and then died of an acute 
Disease, by catching Cold: her Eyes were so
very good, that she could see to thread a 
Needle at that great Age; her Food was 
little or nothing else all her Life-time, but
Bread and Milk. 
Mr. Johnston, the Father of Dr. Johnston 
of Warwick, who was always a strong and 
lusty Man, died at an hundred and eleven 
Years: his usual Drink was Milk and Ale, 
or Milk and Small-beer mix'd together. 
An Inscription on the Tomb-stone of Margaret
Scot, who died at Dalkeith, twelve Miles 
from Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1738. 
Stop, Passenger, until my Life you've read, 
The Living may get Knowledge by the Dead. 
Five times five Years I liv'd a Virgin Life, 
Ten times five Years I was a virtuous Wife;
Ten times five Years I liv'd a Widow chaste,
Now, tir'd of this mortal Life, I rest. 
I, from my Cradle to my Grave, have seen 
Eight mighty Kings of Scotland, and a Queen. 
Four times five Years the Common-wealth I saw. 
Ten times the Subjects rose against the Law. 
Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 
And twice the Cloak was humbl'd by the Gown. 
An End of Stuart's Race I saw: no more, 
I saw my Country fold for English Ore. 
Such Desolations in my Time have been, 
I have an End of all Perfection seen.
2 Margaret

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 55
Margaret Paten, born at Locknugh near 
Paisly in Scotland, died in St. Margaret's 
Workhouse Westminster, June 26, 1739, at 
the Age of one hundred thirty-eight Years, 
and enjoy'd the Use of all her Senses to her 
very last Hours. She lived the most Part of 
her Life upon Oat-bread, Butter, Milk, and 
Roots, especially in her own Country; but 
here in England she indulg'd herself with 
the moderate Use of Flesh, and fermented
Liquors. 
January 1743, died at Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, one Bright, aged one hundred and five, 
who had his Memory and Eye-sight to the 
last, insomuch that he could discern to pick
a Pin off the Ground. He was called the se- 
cond old Parr, and was born and always
liv'd in the same County; his Food was, 
for the most part, coarse Bread, Cheese, 
Milk, Butter, Small-Beer, of Water. 
February 1743, died in St. Luke's Work- 
house, London, Mrs. Agnes Milbourn, one 
hundred and six Years of Age; she had 29 
Sons and a Daughter by one Husband, 20 of 
whom she has had following her to Church 
at a time for several Years, but out-lived all 
her Children and Grand-children, save only 
one Grand-son. She religiously observ'd 
Temperance, and always avoided the Use of 
Spirituous Liquors as Poison; her usual Drink 
was Milk, Ale, or Small-Beer. 
From these Instances it is manifest, that 
Milk is of a salubrious, safe and sweet Nou- 
D4 rishment,

56 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
rishment, as also by the many Nations be- 
fore and since the Flood, that eat much of 
it, and lived to great Ages, of which num- 
berless Examples may be found both in sa- 
cred and profane History, to confirm the 
Doctrine of Temperance and a cool Diet, 
as absolutely necessary to the Prolongation of
Life; but, as Dr. Baynard rightly observes, if 
an Angel from Heaven should come down 
and preach it, one Bottle of Burgundy, or a 
full flowing Bowl of Bunchy would be of 
more Force with this Claret-stew'd d Gene- 
ration, than ten Ton of Arguments to 
the contrary, tho' never so demonstrable and
divine. 
By what has been said thro' the Course of 
this Chapter, we see, that from the Time of
Moses to our Days, the Term of Man's Life 
has stood much about the same Standard of 
Years, (a few Lives here and there being ex- 
cepted:) so it evidently appears, that the Con- 
tinuation and Number of Successions of Ge- 
nerations, make nothing to the Length or 
Shortness of Life, tho' a great many People 
imagine the contrary. It is certain however, 
that there are Times in all Countries, where- 
in People are longer or shorter liv'd: longer, 
for the most part, when the Times are barba- 
rous, and Men fare less deliciously, and are
more given to bodily Exercises: shorter, 
when the Times are more civiliz'd, and
People abandon themselves to Luxury and 
Ease. Therefore from what has been hither-
to


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 57
to advanc'd, it is likewise evident to a De- 
monstration, that Temperance, moderate Ex-
ercise, and a cool Diet, are absolutely requi- 
site for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, as I shall shew more at large in the 
Sequel. 
The same, no doubt, happens in other li- 
ving Creatures; for neither Horses, Oxen, 
nor Sheep, are abridg'd of their usual Ages, 
even at this Day; and therefore the great 
Abridger of Age was certainly the Deluge; 
and perhaps some notable Accidents, such as 
Inundations, universal Droughts, Earthquakes, 
or the like, may produce the same Effect again. 
And the like Reason may be given, in re- 
gard of the Dimension and Stature of hu- 
man Bodies; for they are not lessen'd by the 
Succession of Generations, notwithstanding 
what Virgil (led by the vulgar Opinion) di- 
vin'd, that After-ages would bring forth less 
Bodies than those in his time; whereupon he 
says, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa Se- 
pulchris; that is, After-ages shall admire the
great Bones dug out of ancient Sepulchers. 
But tho' it is not denied that there were, some 
time before the Flood, Men of Gigantic Stature, 
(the Bones of such as, for certain, have been 
found in ancient Sepulchers and Caves in 
Sicily, and else where:) yet for these last three 
thousand Years, a Time whereof we have 
authentic Records, no such have been produc'd 
in those Places, nor indeed any where else; 
for which Reason it is evident, that they are 
very

58 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
very much mistaken, who are wholly carried 
away with an Opinion, that (by Succession 
of Ages) there is a continual Decay, as well 
in the Term of Man's Life, as in the Stature 
and Strength of his Body; and that all things
decline, and change to the worse. 
Therefore, as the Succession of Generations 
contributes little or nothing, either to the
Length or Brevity of Life, as appears from 
what has been said already, yet the imme- 
diate Condition of the Parents, without doubt, 
conduces very much to it; for some are be- 
gotten of old Men, some of young Men, 
some of middle-aged Men; again, some are 
begotten of healthful Fathers, and well dis- 
posed, others of diseased and languishing ones; 
again, some of Fathers after Repletion, or 
when they are drunk; others after Sleeping, 
or in the Morning; others again, after along
Intermission of Venus, some upon the Act
repeated; again, some in the Fervency of the 
Father's Love; others after the cooling of it, 
as happens in long-married People. 
The same things ought to be consider'd on 
the Part of the Mother; to which we must 
add her Condition during her Pregnancy, as 
concerning her Health, her Diet, and man- 
ner of living; the time of her bearing in the 
Womb, as to the seventh, eighth, ninth, or 
tenth Month. But to reduce all these things 
to a Rule, how far they concern long Life, 
is difficult; for those things which we often 
conceive to be the best fall out to the con- 
trary;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 59
trary; as for Instance, that Alacrity in a 
Generation that begets lusty and lively Chil- 
dren, will be less profitable to long Life, be- 
cause of the Acrimony and inflaming of the 
Spirits, which soon dissipate, and leave the 
Body dry and wither'd: so that the best Rule
is to use Moderation in all things, conjugal 
Love rather than an unlawful one; the best 
time for Generation being in the Morning, 
or after a due Concoction of our Aliments, 
and after Sleep, but never when the Body is 
in a languishing or sickly or too much 
fatigued. 
A GUIDE


(60)
A GUIDE to HEALTH, &c.
Part II.
INTRODUCTION.
AS the principal and inevitable Causes of
Old Age, and finally of our Dissolu- 
tion, are three, viz.* the Contrariety of the
Principles of our Composition, the Actions in- 
separable from Life, called Animal Actions, 
and the Excrements, which are unavoidably 
engender'd by Aliment in our Bodies; there- 
fore we must (if we would preserve the 
Body in a good State, and guard ourselves 
against the too quick Approaches of old Age) 
dispose these three things in such a manner, 
that the Harmony and Union of our Princi- 
ples, which are called Temperament, be well 
Supported, that the Spirits which are dissi- 
pated every Moment be repair'd, and the 
Excrements retain'd in the Body be expell'd. 
All this may be easily obtain' by the 
means of a good Regimen, without the Assi- 
stance of any Medicine: and this Regimen com- 
prehends many things, which are all reduc'd 
* See the Explication of these three things at large, in 
Chap. II. Part. I. 

INTRODUCTION. 61 
to fix general Heads. They are called, by
the Physicians, Nonnaturals; because, if we 
manage them with Dexterity, and make 
proper use of them, they preserve Health, 
and may be called Naturals; but if they 
are abused, or fall short, or exceed a just
Proportion in the least, they cause Distem- 
pers, and, in that Sense, may be said to 
be against Nature. These Nonnaturals are,
Air, Meat and Drink, Sleeping and Watch-
ing, Motion and Rest, Retention and Excre- 
tion, and the Passions of the Mind; of which
I shall now discourse in order. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the Nature of AIR.
IN order to account for the different Ef- 
fects, and Influence of Air upon Hu- 
man Bodies, in the following Discourse, it 
is necessary to premise in this Place, that Air, 
(according to its Nature, and the Idea we 
can form of it) is, that thin and invisible 
Fluid, in constant Motion, wherein we 
breathe and move, encompassing the Earth 
and Seas on every side, and containing the 
Vapours, Clouds, and other Meteors; the 
whole Body of which is called the * Atmo- 
sphere;
* From the Greek Words, 'AΓμòs a Vapour, and εφûeα., 
a sphere; so that Atmosphere in English, is a round Body of
Vapours; and such is the Air surrounding the Earth, as 
being constantly repleat with Vapours exhaled by the Rays 
Of the Sun. 

62 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sphere; and that it is the principal Instrument 
of Nature in all its Operations: for no Ve- 
getable, Animal, Terrestrial, or Aquatic can 
be produced, live, or grow without it: So that 
Air is the chief Instrument in the Genera- 
tion, Resolution, Accretion and Corruption 
of all terrestrial Bodies; for it is certainly
true, that it enters into every Composition, 
more or less, of all Fluids and Solids, all 
which produce great Quantities of Air. 
The lower Parts of the Air, in which all 
Animals live and breathe, are impregnated 
with an infinite Variety of the Effluvia, Steams, 
and Particles of terrestrial, aqueous, metal- 
line, vegetable and animal Substances, which, 
by Attrition, become so small and light as to 
float in it. Hence it is evident, that the Air 
must be differently impregnated in different 
Places of the Surface of the Earth, which 
produce considerable Alterations in its State, 
whereby human Bodies are differently affect- 
ed, as will plainly appear heareafter. 
Water being an Ingredient of the Air, is 
continually exhaled, and as continually de- 
scends; for when the Air is overcharged with 
it, it returns again, and falls upon the Surface of
the Earth, in Rain, Hail, Snow or Dew; but 
the Dew falls chiefly when the Sun is down. 
Earth, when calcined, flies off into the 
Air; and the Ashes of Vulcanos or burning 
Mountains: Likewise Salts of all kinds are 
ingredients of Air; for even fixed fossil Salts
may

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 63 
may be digested, and thereby rendered volatile, 
and evaporate into the Air. There are besides 
Particles of all Minerals whatever in the Air;
even Gold, the most compact and heaviest of 
them, can be evaporated and exhaled into Air, 
as will be made appear in the latter End of 
this Chapter. 
The Smoke and Fumes which are raised 
by natural or artificial Fires, all vanish into
the Air. The Steams of fermenting Liquors, 
and the poisonous Fumes of Mines, impreg- 
nated with sulphureous Exhalations, and 
combin'd with different Salts, or Metalline 
Particles, which are stinking, oily, and in- 
flammable, evaporate into the Air, and make 
up part of its Contents; which must neces- 
sarily so alter its Constitution, as to render 
it not only insalubrious, but even pernicious 
to every Animal that breathes in it. 
The watery Exhalations, with the fragrant 
and volatile Spirit of all Vegetables, being 
Ingredients of the Air, contribute very much 
towards its Salubrity, or Insalubrity, as well 
when growing, as when cut down and in a 
decaying State; for the most volatile parts of
Vegetables will evaporate into the Air, by a 
Degree of Heat much less than that of Sum- 
mer; as is evident both by Chymistry* and 
the sense of our own Smelling; for spicy 
Odours are smelt at a great Distance from 
the Countries where the Spices grow; so that 
the Quantity of vegetable Perspiration must
be very considerable in Summer-time; and 
by
* Boerhaave Chem. vol. 2. Process. I. 

64 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by the Reverend Dr. Hale's * Experiments 
we are farther convinced, that Vegetables 
of all kinds perspire Particles which float in 
the Air, and are either wholsome or destruc- 
tive to human Bodies, according to their dif- 
ferent Qualities. Hence we may infer, that 
upon the account of the Perspiration of 
Vegetables, the Summer Air must be very 
different from that of the Winter. 
Animal Perspiration is another Ingredi- 
ent of the Air, as well as the Effluvia of all 
their other Excrements, which oftentimes in- 
fect that Part of the Atmosphere, as to pro- 
duce pestilential Diseases. The Perspiration 
of a human Body, according to Mr. Hale's, ‡
Computation, is about I-50 Part of a Inch in
24 Hours all over the Surface of the Body; 
and the Quantity of the Moisture, by Respi- 
ration from the Lungs, he computes at 9792 
Grains, or I. 39, in 24 Hours; § the Surface 
of the Body he computes at 2160 square Inches, 
or 15 square Feet consequently the Surface of the
Skins of 2904 such Bodies, would cover an Acre 
of Ground, and would make an Atmosphere 
of the Steams of their own Bodies about 
71 Foot high in 34 Days, which would be- 
come Pestiferous in a Moment, if not dis-
persed by Winds.
The great Quantity of Animal Substances 
imbibed into the Air, farther appears from this, 
I that
* Hale's Veg. Stat. p. 49, 50.
‡ Veg. Stat. p. II. Exp I. 
§ Hæmast. p. 326. p. 328.


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 65
that all the Excrements of all the Carcasses 
of Animals, such as those that are burnt, 
those that are exposed later, and those that 
Are buried, in length of Time all vanish in- 
to Air at last, except a small Quantity of
Bones, which turn into Earth. From 
hence we may infer, that living in great 
and populous Cities, or in Camps, or near 
Numbers of dead Carcasses in a hot or sultry
Season, may infect that Air so far, as to 
dispose the People to putrid and malignant 
Fevers, of which we have several instances in 
History, too tedious to insert in this Place. 
And though Nature makes use of all pos- 
sible Means to preserve the Mass of this he- 
terogeneous Fluid, wherein we breathe, in a 
wholsome State; yet it must necessarily hap- 
pen, that the Air of particular Regions, Sea- 
sons and Places may differ very much in the 
Proportions of the Mixture of Ingredients 
already mentioned; so that such Air must 
affect human Bodies variously, by such Ex- 
cesses or Defects; For Air, when too moist, 
affects us with one Class of Diseases; and 
when too dry, with another. Air impreg- 
nated with the Effluvia of Animals, espe- 
cially of such as are rotting, has often pro- 
duced pestilential Diseases in that Place, as 
we find by Experience: for the Inhabitants 
of such Countries, where great Numbers 
of Men have been slain in Battle, and left 
unburied, were soon after infested with 
pestilential Distempers; as that which hap- 
E pened

66 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
pened * at Massanissa, where 80,000 Persons 
were destroyed, and at Utica, wherein 30,000 
Persons died of the Plague. That menti- 
oned by ‡ Livy, which invaded the greatest 
Part of Italy, owed its rise to the dead 
Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left 
unburied in the Field of Battle. The Plague 
mentioned by Ambrose Paree, 1562 §, was 
occasioned by Carcasses thrown into a Ditch. 
Great Quantities of dead Locusts driven into 
the Sea, by Winds, and from thence cast up in
Heaps on the Shore by the Waves, produced 
the same Effects, as Diodorus Siculus relates: 
And likewise the Steams of great Quantities 
of corrupted Vegetables have produced the 
like Effects in their Neighbourhood. The 
Steams and Effluvia of human living Crea- 
tures are extremely corruptible, as has been
observed already; and likewise the Water 
in which human Bodies wash and bathe, by 
keeping, smells cadaverous, a great part of
which evaporates into the Air.
From hence we may conclude, that it will 
be of the utmost Consequence to every one, 
to take care what kind of Air it is they sleep
and wake, breathe and live in, and are per- 
petually receiving into the most intimate 
Union with the Principles of Life; for as 
the Air being attracted, received into our 
Bodies, and mixed with our Fluids every 
Instant
* Sane. August, lib. 3. de Civit. Dei Cap. 31. 
‡ Histor. Roman. 
§ Lib. 21. de Peste. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 67
Instant of our Lives, any ill Quality abounding 
in it, so continually introduced, must in Time 
cause fatal Effects in the Animal Oeconomy. 
The first Consideration then, in Building 
of Houses and Cities, should be* to make 
them open and airy, and well perflated;
therefore we should never build upon 
high Hills, very near any great Confluence 
of Water, or in the Neighbourhood of any 
great Mines, near Beds of Minerals, or on 
marshy or mossy Foundations; but either 
in a champaign Country, or on the side of
some small Eminence, sheltered from the 
North and East Winds, or upon a light 
gravelly Soil. The best Method of finding 
out the Nature of the Soil, will be known 
from the Plants and Herbs that it produces,
and from the Nature of the Waters that spring
out of it, which ought to be sweet, clear, 
light, soft and tasteless. 
All high Hills or Mountains are damp, 
for it is common to see it rain or snow on 
Mountains, when the Valleys below are clear, 
dry, and serene. All great Hills are Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for Reservoirs of Rain- 
Water, and the Clouds are only great Fleeces 
of ratified Water floating in the Air, and 
these high Hills intercepting them, are com- 
pressed into Rain or Dew, and are con- 
stantly straining down the Chinks of the 
Mountains into the Sea and other Reser- 
voirs of Water; and Rain is allowed to be 
the Origin of Rivers and Fresh-Water 
E2 springs.


68 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Springs. Moreover, these Mountainous Places 
are always exposed to great and almost con- 
tinual Winds; and where any great Con- 
course of Water is, the Air must needs be 
always damp there, because the Sun is per- 
petually exhaling Dews and Vapours from 
these Waters. 
Dew is another Ingredient of the Air, 
which is not mere Water, but a Collection 
of the watry, oily, saline, and volatile Sub- 
stances, exhaling and transpiring from the 
Earth, and are not to be seen, as long as 
they are agitated by the Sun, but in its Ab- 
sence, and as soon as the Air cools, they 
become visible; and as the Air is a thin or 
rare Body, it cools much sooner than the 
Earth, which continues to transpire this 
Substance after Sun-set; and a great deal 
of it falls down again in the Form of Wa- 
ter, by the Cold of the Night; for it is ob- 
servable, that when there is no Wind, there 
is a Coat of this Vapour generally to be 
seen Surface of the Earth. 
Dew then, being a Composition of all 
the Substances that are exhaled from that
Tract of Earth, must of consequence be ve- 
ry different in different Tracts of Ground, 
for which Reason, according to the learned 
Boerhaave ‡, the Chymists can never agree 
about the component Parts of it; be- 
cause they make their Experiments upon 
Dows of different Places, and consequently 
of a different Nature of Ingredients; for 
in
‡ Chym. vol. I. pag. 471. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 69 
in some Places it produces such volatile and 
explosive Salts, as to break Glasses in Distil- 
lation; in others it stains the Glass like the 
Colours of the Rain-bow, which nothing can 
efface. 
In some Countries, as in Bermuda *, the 
Air being impregnated with corrosive Salts 
of different kinds, will corrode the Bricks 
and Tiles of Houses, and even rot the very
Hangings in Rooms, as has been observed 
by many. The Perspiration of metalline 
acid Salts from certain Places of the Earth, 
which, upon the account of their Gravity, 
rise only to a certain Degree of Height, are 
exceedingly offensive when taken in by the 
Breath; for they either contract the Vesicles, or 
immediately coagulate the Blood in the smaller 
Vessels, which creep along the Surfaces of 
the little Aërial Bladders of the Lungs, that 
Are in immediate Contact with the outward 
Air; and such are those arsenical Steams in 
the Grotto Del Cane near Naples, and in 
some Mines in Carniola, Campania, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
Of all the Collection of Ingredients in the 
Air, none are more pernicious to human Bo- 
dies, than Sulphurs; and also Charcoal Steams 
confined in close Places, such as Cellars and 
Caverns under-ground, will suffocate Ani- 
mals in a Moment; but when sulphureous 
Vapours abound too much, then kind Nature 
fets them on Fire by Lightning. Sulphureous 
E3 Vapours
* Boerhaave Chym. vol. I. p. 494. 

70 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Vapours likewise infect Vegetables, and ren- 
der the Grass and Herbs very pernicious to 
the Cattle that feed upon it, as Mr. Jones * 
and others relate. 
The † Observations of the Learned made 
on several Mines, give an Account, how the 
sulphureous Steams and Vapours differently 
affect and frequently destroy the Miners who
work in them; some fall into Convulsions, 
Faintings, Palsies, and apoplexies; others are 
instantly suffocated; and others again are kill'd 
by Explosion, resembling in its Nature that 
of Thunder or Gunpowder, as soon as the 
sulphureous Matter takes Fire: yet it must be 
allow'd, that Sulphur in itself, is neither un- 
wholsome nor unfriendly to the Lungs; for 
the Exhalations from Tracts of Earth abounds 
ing with Sulphur, are esteem'd wholsome in 
the open Air, such as those about the City of
Naples; but it must be observ'd, that these 
Exhalations are in the free and open Air, 
and not in too great Abundance, and in all 
Probability unmix'd with any other perni- 
cious Salts, which those in Mines must be im- 
pregnated with. 
From what has been said already, in Page 
65 and 66, it must follow, that the Air 
in great and populous Cities differs very 
much from that in the Country, and that it 
is from offensive Smells and Fumes, among 
other things, that Diseases are more fre- 
quent
* Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 101. and likewise Philos. Trans. 
abridg. vol. 2. p. 180. 
‡ Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 575. 


Ch. I. thro' the various, Stages of Life. 71
quent and more dangerous in the former than 
they are in the latter. Great Calms have often 
preceded the pestilential Constitutions of the 
Seasons; hence the close and confined Air of 
Prisons often produces mortal Diseases; and in 
Bays and Harbours,the Crews of Ships turn 
sickly, that would be healthy in the open Seas; 
and the great Mortality that is so often in 
Camps is chiefly owing to offensive Smells and 
Steams; for nothing contributes more to the 
Production of Distempers than the infected 
Air that they breathe in, occasion'd by the 
Filth which is the necessary Attendant of such 
Places; especially at Sieges, where the cor- 
rupted Particles of dead Bodies, both of Men 
and Beasts, fill the Air with an intolerable 
Stench. Besides, the Effluvia and Steams of 
Perspiration exhal'd into the Air, from the 
Bodies of Men and other Animals, must so 
charge that Air, as to encrease its Weight very
much; and at the same time the Heat of the 
Camp will weaken its Spring so considerably, 
as to render it very unfit for Respiration; for 
thereby the Blood will remain unbroken in 
the Lungs, and so dispose the People to those 
Distempers, occasion'd by a Viscidity in the 
Blood; such as malignant Fevers, Dysenteries
and Agues. 
According to the learned Boerhaave and 
others, the Eggs of Infects, and even Infects 
themselves very often are floating in the Air, 
and are so small as to be generally invisible 
by the Assistance of the best Microscopes, 
E4 which

72 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
which render the Air very unwholsome, 
and are often times the Cause of many 
grievous Diseases, being suck'd in with our 
Breath, and swallow' down with our Food; 
and the low and marshy Grounds are most
commonly subject to be infected with them; 
for there we always find great Quantities of
Flies and other Infects. Caterpillars and o- 
ther Infects, which eat up and destroy the 
Leaves of Trees and Plants, are proba- 
bly produced by the Eggs of those Infects 
floating in the Air; otherwise we cannot 
easily conceive how they can be generated in 
the Plants themselves. Historians relate, that 
there are Showers of Rain sometimes in 
Africk which affect the Inhabitants with 
Shiverings, and that there are Infects found in 
the Drops of these Showers; hence it appears 
that there are Infects in the Air, though not 
visible to the naked Eye: for it has been ob- 
serv'd, by the Help of Glasses, that in part of
a Room illuminated with the Beams of the 
Sun, Flies are seen sometimes darting like 
Hawks upon a Prey. 
Tho' the Air on or near the Surface of the 
Earth is impregnated with an infinite Num- 
ber of heterogeneous Particles, as appears evi- 
dently by what has been said already; yet the 
wise Author of the Universe has so temper'd 
this Mixture, as to render it wholsome to all 
the Animals that live and breathe in it, except
in some few accidental Cases; for doubtless 
pure Air without any such Ingredients would 
be

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 73
be very unfit for Animals and Vegetables to 
subsist in; therefore, in order to render salubri- 
ous this Element wherein we breathe, infinite 
Wisdom has so ordained, that the whole Mass 
is never overcharged with these Contents; for 
as human Creatures are unable to bear Ex- 
cesses of any kind, such as too much Heat, 
too much Dryness or Moisture, there is a con- 
tinual Circulation of Water and other Ingre- 
dients in the Air, and in mostPlaces the 
Air contains near the same Quantity of Wa- 
ter: for as the Sum of all the Force of the Sun
upon the same Surface of Land and Water, 
and the Heat of the Surface of Earth within 
the Year is very near uniform, consequently 
the Quantity of Exhalation is the same: And 
as the Air has a Power of imbibing and su- 
staining only certain Quantities of Water with
other Ingredients, and the Sum of all the 
Quantity that falls from the Air over the 
Surface of the Earth in Rain, Hail, Snow, 
and Dew, is the same; yet, by accidental 
Causes, such as Winds, the Stoppage of the 
Clouds by Tracts of Mountains, more of these 
Exhalations or Vapours may be carried and 
fall in one Place than another. 
This Water is again carried, by its natural Gra- 
vity, in Streams into the Sea, and other Reser- 
voirs of Water, and from thence again exhal'd, 
of which there is only left a sufficient Quantity 
for the Nourishment of Plants and Animals, 
the Perspiration of whose Bodies is again 
exhaled; and this Circulation is constantly 
main-

74 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
maintained and directed by the wise Order of 
Divine Providence. And all these different 
Ingredients of the Air are digested and atte- 
nuated by the Heat of the Sun, and they are 
constantly stirr'd and agitated by Winds, which
mix the Air of different Regions together. 
There are likewise Fermentations in the Air, 
which are succeeded by violent Motions and 
Explosions in Thunder and Lightning; by 
which Means the redundant sulphureous 
Steams, and other pernicious Particles are 
destroyed and consumed in those Storms. 
The particular Causes of Thunder and 
Lightning seem to be nothing else than the 
Sun exhaling moist Particles into the Air, 
these condense and gather into Clouds, and 
when these inclose a Quantity of sulphureous, 
nitrous and bituminous Exhalations, and like- 
wise Salts of various Sorts, Acids and Alka-
lies, extracted both from the Earth and Ocean, 
which being violently agitated by the Oppo- 
sition of Heat and Cold, and the Motion of 
the Air, operating upon those sulphureous and 
nitrous Particles, together with a watery Mat- 
ter, till at last they ferment and are kindled; 
then the Fire bursts open the Cloud with Ex- 
plosion in Thunder and Lightning, where the 
Passage is most easy, and the Cloud not able 
to make any farther Resistance: Sometimes 
the Opening is very wide, and stands a smali 
time, with a firey Edge about it; the Cloud 
is then dash'd with great Violence, the Air 
assisting with its Motion, and the sulphureous
Matter

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 75
Matter breaks out again in various Sounds:
the first Discharge being over, presently suc- 
ceeds a second, and this is back'd with a thirds 
fourth, fifth, &c. as long as the Store of 
combustible Matter holds out to maintain the 
Fire, till at last the Equilibrium of the Air is 
perfectly restored. 
The Effects of Lightning are wonderful; 
it being a most subtile and refin'd Matter, 
will sometimes burn a Person's Cloaths, while
his Body remains unhurt; and on the con- 
trary, it will sometimes break a Man's Bones, 
while his Cloaths and Flesh receive no 
Harm. In like manner it will sometimes 
melt or break the Blade of a Sword in the 
Scabbard, and the Scabbard remain un- 
touch'd. It has drank up Vessels of Water, 
the Cover being left untouch'd and no other 
Token remain'd. Gold, Silver, and Brass, 
have been melted, and the Bags wherein they 
were contain'd not burnt, nor even the Seal 
off Wax defac'd. Marcia, Queen of the 
Romans, was Thunder-struck when she was 
big with Child, which was killed in her 
Womb, and she receiv'd no Harm. 
The Reason of these strange and contrary 
Effects, Philosophers can but conjecture at, 
imputing it to the different Figure and Qua- 
lity of the Particles of the * Lightning, as 
2 to
* There is a fort of Stone or Mineral, which is vulgarly 
called a Thunder-bolt, and it is thought, that it falls from the 
Clouds in a Clap of Thunder, and thereby great Mischief is
done many times. But this is a vulgar Error; for the Stone 
seems to resemble more an artificial than a natural Producti- 
on,


76 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
to the Rarity and Thickness of the Fire; for 
the more subtile penetrates more easily, and 
the thicker with more Difficulty; whence 
the latter does more Harm than the former; 
and tho' it produces various and wonderful 
Effects, yet it is of such singular Use to the
Inhabitants of the Earth, that they could 
scarce subsist without it; for it clears the Air, 
destroys and consumes all the redundant and 
noxious Steams and Particles that float in it, 
breaks the Clouds, and sends down Rain up- 
on the Earth. 
* It is certain, from undoubted Experiments, 
that the Air near the Surface of the Earth 
is more or less impregnated with all those 
Heterogeneous Particles already mention'd, 
and a great many more not possible to enu- 
merate. And in truth it cannot be otherwise, 
by the known Laws of Nature; for by 
what means soever a Body becomes divided, 
till some of the Particles become less than the 
component Particles of Airy and by that 
means become lighter, they will be elevated 
into the Air, until by their * Coalescence, 
their Gravity be so much encreased, as to 
fink
on, by the Make and Figure of it; and being most common- 
ly found where Sepulchers have been, makes the Learned in- 
cline to think, that they are some Remains of Antiquity, and 
were formerly of Use in War and Arms, which was cu- 
stomary with the Ancients to bury with their Ashes. See
Rowning's Comp. System, p 146. Part II. and Philos. Trans. 
No. 313, 316, 319, 331. 
* Coalescence, is the gathering together and uniting into a 
sensible Mass, those minute Particles floating in a Fluid, which 
were not before visible in it. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 77
sink them again to the Earth. And for the 
Production of such wonderful Effects, even 
in the hardest and most solid Bodies, we need
have Recourse to no other Cause than the 
Rays of the Sun; for as it has been demon- 
strated by † Astronomical Observations, that 
Light is not above ten Minutes in passing 
from the Sun to the Earth, and as the Earth 
is at least 10,000 of its own Diameters distant
from the Sun; therefore it must run 1000 of 
these Diameters in a Minute, which is above 
100,000 Miles in a Second. So that if a 
Bullet, moving with the same Velocity with 
which it leaves the Muzzle of a Cannon, re- 
quires 25 Years to pass from the Earth to 
the Sun, as Huygens ‡ has computed it, then 
the Velocity of Light, to that of a Cannon- 
Ball, will be as 25 Years to 10 Minutes; 
therefore we may expect proportionable Ef- 
fects from such Particles, notwithstanding 
their exceeding Smallness. And we may guess 
at the Effects of the Rays of Light separate- 
ly, by what we can observe when collected in 
the Focus of a burning Glass; for no Body, 
tho' ever so hard and compact, is able to 
resist their Force: even Gold, which is un- 
alterable by any artificial Fire, may be * * vi- 
trified by the concenter'd Rays of the Sun, 
one
† Mr. Romer's Observations on the Eclipses of the Satellites 
Of Jupiter. 
‡ Huygens in his Treatise upon Light and Gravity. He was 
a celebrated Mathematician. 
** Vitrified, made or chang'd into Glass by the Force of 
Fire 

78 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
one Part of it exhaling into the Air, as 
the other is turned into Glass; and that in a 
few Seconds of Time, according to Mr. 
Blundel and others. 
Hence it appears, that the Rays of the Sun 
are not only capable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies, such small Par- 
ticles as will be render'd lighter when sepa- 
rate, than the least compounding Particle of 
Air, but also by the Celerity with which 
they will be reflected, will thereby be capa- 
ble to carry into the Air such little Collec- 
tions of Matter, as are in Fact heavier than 
the Air they mount up in, which, when the 
Force impressed becomes less than will im- 
pel them higher, they must necessarily fall 
down to the Earth again, which will vari- 
ously affect human Bodies, both in their As- 
cent and Descent, according to their different
Nature and Properties. 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of AIR. 
THE Properties of Air are, Gravity, 
Elasticity, Fluidity, and Divisbility. 
They are so called, because they constantly
remain in the whole Mass and in every part 
of it. 
The


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 79 
The Gravity of the Air was first dis- 
cover'd by Galileus, by trying to what Height
Water might be raised by pumping; and 
when he found it could not be raised higher 
than 33 feet, justly concluded, that it was 
from the Counter-ballance of the Weight of 
the Air that it was raised so high. 
The * specifick Gravity then of Air, 
when the Barometer † stands at 30 Inches, 
according to Sir Isaac Newton's Observations, 
and Dr. Halley s, is to that of Water, about 
1 to 800, and to that of Mercury as 1 
to 10,800; So that the Air we breathe 
in,
*Specifick Gravity, is the appropriate and peculiar Gravity or 
Weight which any Species of natural Bodies have, and by which 
they are plainly distinguishable from all other Bodies of diffe- 
rent Kinds, when compared with them: And it is not im- 
properly called relative Gravity, to distinguish it from absolute 
Gravity, which encreases according to the Proportion of the 
Bulk or Bigness of the Body weighed. Thus, if a Body 
weighs a Pound, one as big again will weigh two Pounds; and 
let the Bodies be of what Nature or Degree of Specifick Gra- 
vity soever, a Pound of one will be as much as a Pound of 
the other absolutely considered. Thus a Pound of Feathers is 
as heavy as a Pound of Lead; but if we consider Lead and 
Feathers relatively, the specifick Gravity of the former will be 
much greater than the later; or Lead, Bulk for Bulk, will be 
much heavier than Feathers, and Gold heavier than Lead. 
† Barometer is a Glass Tube or Instrument to measure the 
height of the Atmosphere by; it is about three Feet in Length, 
and 1/16 or 2/10 of an Inch bore, seal'd up at one End, and at 
the other End it is fill'd quite full of Quicksilver, and thus 
immersed in a small Vessel of Quicksilver, that will fink 
down in the Tube, or run out into the Vessel, till it remains 
in the Tube between 28 and 31 Inches perpendicular height; 
and this Column of Mercury in the Tube, is equal in Weight 
to a Column of Air of the same Basis, and of the Height 
of the Atmosphere, and consequently is suspended by it; 
which therefore by its rising higher or falling lower, shews 
the proportionally greater or lesser Weight or Pressure of the 
Atmosphere 

80 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in, takes up 10,800 times the Space that the 
like Quantity of Mercury would. And the 
Honourable Mr. Boyle proves by Experi- 
ments †, that the Air without any adven- 
titious Heat, may, by the Force of its own
Spring, possess 13,000 times the Space it 
does when pressed by the incumbent Atmo- 
sphere; and therefore may possess a Space 
one hundred forty-five Millions, and six hun- 
dred thousand times greater than the same 
Weight of Mercury; and that by the Ad- 
dition of Heat, it may be forced to fill a 
Space much larger. And if we consider that 
the Air we breathe in, may be compressed 
into 40 times less Space than that which it 
now fills; therefore Air may possess a Space
520,000 times greater at one time than ano- 
ther. 
The Gravity of Air counterpoises a Co- 
lumn of Mercury from 27 1/2 Inches to 30 1/2,
the Gravity of the Atmosphere varying some- 
times 1/10, which are its utmost Limits, so 
that the specifick Gravity of the Air cannot 
be exactly determined. And the Account that 
Dr. Halley gives of the Causes of the Variation
of the Gravity of the Air, seems very clear and
conclusive; for they must either proceed 
from the Air's being more or less charged 
with Quantities of ponderous Ingredients in 
one Time and Place, which, as has been said in 
the former Chapter, arc plentifully exhaled 
into
‡ Boyle's Tracts about the wonderful Rarefication of the 
Air. 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 81
into it, or by its being accumulated more in 
one Place than in another by Currents of 
Winds; thus contrary Currents of Air com- 
ing to the same Place, must accumulate the 
Air in that Place, and consequently raise the
Mercury in the Barometer; but two Currents 
of Air from the same Place, must link the 
Air in that Place, and consequently the Mer- 
cury in the Barometer. 
This is very possible in Liquids, and hap- 
pens even in the Motion of the Tides; for 
if there was a perfect Calm always, the Equi-
librium could only be charged by the greater 
or smaller Quantity of ponderous Ingredi- 
ents in the Air; in Confirmation of which 
it is discovered, that where the Winds are 
not variable, as near the Line, the Al- 
terations of the Barometer are very small; 
And these Variations of the Air's Weight 
cannot proceed from letting its ponderous In- 
gredients fall, as in great and heavy Showers: 
Tho' it is certain, that a heavy Body falling 
through a Fluid, during its Descent, does not 
press upon it, but by the Resistance which the
fluid gives to its Motion in Descent; but the 
Decrease of the Atmosphere's Weight during 
the fall of Rain, Snow, or Hail, is not pro- 
portionable to this Cause, therefore cannot be 
accounted for from it. 
As the incumbent Atmosphere is fluid and 
heavy, it presses equally upon the Surface 
of a human Body, with a Weight equal 
to a Column of Mercury, whose Basis is 
F equal

82 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
equal to the Surface of a Human Body; and 
Altitude, that of the Barometer, as in a mid- 
dle-siz'd Man, with a Weight of 32,000 
Pounds; for as it is possible for the Air to 
vary 1/10 in its Weight, so that such a human
Body must sustain a Weight of 3,200 Pounds 
Weight more at one Time than at another; 
and if the Mercury varies only one Inch in 
Height, there will be a Difference of about
1000 Pounds Weight: Such Alterations would 
affect both the Solids and Fluids of hu- 
man Bodies very much, were it not that 
the Ballance between the Air within and that 
without the Body is quickly restor'd, by the 
free Communication that is between them; 
so that these Changes are suffered without 
any sensible Inconvenience to healthful Peo- 
ple. 
This proves the ready Admission of the 
Air into the Vessels of human Bodies, and 
the Egress of aërial Particles from within the 
Body, in each Case of the Variation of the 
Weight of the external Air, from less to 
more, or from more to less; for if this Bal- 
lance between the external Air, and that 
within the Body was not kept, the Fibres 
and Fluids being elastick, in case of an In- 
crease of the Weight of the external Air,
both the Fluids and Solids would be too much 
compress'd; and in case of a Decrease of 
this Weight, they would be dilated with a 
painful Sensation, and endanger the Life of 
the Individual; for the Fall of the Mercury 
in

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 83
in the Barometer is the same with the Ex- 
suction of so much Air in the Air-pump; 
and the Rise of the Mercury the contrary. 
This Alteration happens in Vegetables and
in fermenting Liquors, as well as in Animals; 
and how these considerable Changes are made 
by Heat, Cold, or great Winds in fermenting 
Liquors, is an Observation of every one con- 
versant with them; for all these Changes 
are brought about by altering either the
Weight or Spring of the circumambient 
Air: It is for this Reason like wise, that se- 
veral People, by their Akings and Pains, can 
foretell any considerable Change of the Wea- 
ther; for their Blood being more rarefied at
the approach of wet Weather, or high 
Winds, will more forcibly press upon the 
sensible Membranes of the Body, so as to 
cause Pains that they were free from before: 
And this the rather happens, because the 
Blood hereby becomes not in the least the 
more fluid; for Froth, which is only Water 
blown into Bubbles by Air, is less fluid than 
Water itself; and the Globules of the Blood be- 
ing blown larger by the contained Air, when 
the Pressure of the external Air is removed, 
the Blood then is rendered less fluid, and 
will pass through the Capillaries with great 
Difficulty. 
A Fluid must have its Parts small, smooth, 
spherical, or approaching thereunto, and of 
equal Density, if the Fluid be homogeneal *, 
F2 accord-
* homogeneal is such Particles as are pure, entire, un- 
mixed, and altogether like one another.

84 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
according to Borelli ‡: and it is not neces- 
sary that the Parts of a Fluid should be in 
Motion, because it is neither apparent that 
the Parts of all Fluids are so, nor that the 
Parts of some solid Bodies are not so; there- 
fore, the Blood in this rarefied State is rather 
less, than more fluid, in which Condition it 
will remain, whenever the Gravity of the 
Air is lessen'd, or its Spring weakened, by 
any Cause whatever. 
There is no Liquor that can be blown up 
into Bubbles, but what is somewhat viscid, and
the more tenacious the Parts of any Liquids 
are, the fitter it is for this Use; for the Bubbles 
will be both larger and more lasting; for 
Example, a Mixture of Soap and Water may 
be blown into Spheres or Bubbles above six 
Inches in Diameter; and human Blood con- 
sists of Parts like what is in such a Mix- 
ture; for there are watry, oily, and saline 
Particles in the Blood, as is evident to our 
Senses: And that the Blood is blown into 
such little Spherulœ beyond dispute, is what 
may be observed with a Microscope in the 
Tail of a Fish; for the Globules of Blood 
being too large to pass through the smallest
Arteries, they change their spherical* Fi- 
gure to a spheroidal † one; and when they 
come into a wider Channel, they recover 
their former Figure again. Now as it is the 
Property
‡ Borelli de motibus à gravitate factis, Præpos. p. 142. 
* Spherical, round like a Ball.
† Spheroidal, an oblong Sphere or Ball. 


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 85
Property of an Elastick Body alone, that 
when its Figure is changed, to recover it again;
and nothing being Elastick but Air, or at 
least, what contains Air in it; it is a 
plain Reason that the Globules of the Blood 
must contain Air in them. 
From what has been said, it appears, that 
whenever the Blood is too viscid, so that the 
Force of Cohesion be not greater than that by
which the Air contained in the Blood endea- 
vours to expand itself, in such a Case the 
Person will be more sensibly affected by the 
Alteration of Weather; from hence better 
Indications may be taken both for the Cure 
and Prevention of those Diseases that pro- 
ceed from a Viscidity in the Blood, than from
any other Source whatever. 
Human Species can live in Air of very dif- 
ferent Gravity; for the Air in the same 
Place may differ 1/10 in Weight, the Variation 
of the Mercury in the Barometer being so 
much; but what is still more extraordinary, 
human Creatures can live in Airs, where the 
difference of the Weight is double; for Exam- 
ple, in the Bottom of deep Mines, where the 
Mercury stands in the Barometer at 32 Inches, 
and at the Top of the highest Mountains, 
supposing 'em to be 3 Miles high, the Mercury 
then mud stand at a little above sixteen 
inches. 
Notwithstanding human Creatures can sus- 
tain such a Difference of Weight or Pressure 
of Air, as (in the common Variation of Gra- 
F3 vity

86 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vity in the same Place) makes the Difference 
of Pressure upon a Person of a middle Size 
3600 Pounds Weight, and in the Difference 
of Height in the Bottoms of Mines, and at 
the Tops of the highest Mountains the Dif- 
ference of 18000 Weight; which Difference 
of Pressure or Weight must produce great 
Alterations in the bending or stretching of the 
Fibres, and in dilating the Fluids of a Human 
Body: For in the case of a greater Weight, 
the Fibres will be more strongly braced, and
the Fluids will be rendered more compact; 
and, as has been observed already, were there 
not a free Communication between the outward 
Air, and that within the Animal Fluids, these 
Alterations would be insupportable; for the 
Animal would be, in such a Case, as in an 
Air-pump with the Exsuction of half the 
Air; in which Case the Blood would boil 
up and expand itself to a very great Degree, 
by having so much of the Pressure of the 
outward Air taken off. 
And it seems very reasonable, that in di- 
minishing the Force of the Pressure of 
the outward Air upon human Bodies, the 
Fibres thereby will be rendered more un- 
braced, and consequently must create a 
Weakness in Muscular Motion; which is the 
Reason, in a great Measure, that People 
breathe shorter and with more Difficulty 
than usual, in going up to the Tops of high 
Hills and Mountains; for the Air in ascend- 
ing is a great deal lighter than at the Bot- 
2 tom,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 87 
tom, and by the Diminution of the Pressure 
of the Air upon the Muscles, less Exercise 
puts People out of Breath; and likewise the 
Over-ballance of the Air contained in the 
Cavity of the Breast, may help to produce 
this Effect But then perhaps it will be said, 
that the Inhabitants of Mountains are not 
weaker nor less active than those of lower 
Situations: In answer to which it must be 
observed, that the Excess of Coldness of the 
Air on the Tops of Mountains above that 
of the low Countries, counter-ballance the less 
Weight of the Air, and braces the Fibres 
more strongly: Another Reason is, that such 
as live in a rarer or lighter Air, as on high
Mountains, are accustomed to the Exercise 
of a greater muscular Strength; as in the 
Case of Birds performing their Motions in a 
thinner Fluid, must always use a greater 
muscular Strength, which, though Nature 
has accustomed them to the Use of this Ele- 
ment, must strengthen their Fibres; for 
which Reason tame Birds cannot fly so well 
as wild ones. 
The Alterations of the Pressure of the 
Air in its Gravity and Elasticity, must pro- 
duce proportional vibrating Motions, both in
the Solids and Fluids of human Bodies; and 
when these Variations are frequent and ex- 
treme, such violent Motions of the Fluids 
and Solids must cause great Changes in hu- 
man Bodies; for which there was no Ne- 
cessity of having recourse to any occult or 
F4 hidden

88 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hidden Qualities in the Air, as a great ma- 
ny have imagined; and though the Air does 
not much hurt the Animal Fibres, by the 
Softness of its Contact; yet the alternate 
bracing and unbracing of the Fibres strongly, 
may produce these Changes; and such Al- 
terations are not only producible by the Va- 
riations of the Air's Gravity and Elasticity, 
but likewise by its Qualities, such as Heat, 
Cold, Moisture and Dryness, which will be 
the Subject of the next Chapter. 
* Elasticity is another Property of the 
Air, which is a Force equal to its Gravity; 
for, as the Honourable Boyle and others have
proved by Experiments, the smallest Bubble 
of Air by its Elasticity or Spring can bal- 
ance, resist, and equiponderate the whole 
Atmosphere of equal Density, as far as it is
exposed thereunto; for otherwise it would 
be more compressed than in Fact it is; and 
by these two Qualities of Gravity and E- 
lasticity, and the Alterations of them, the 
Air produces great Effects in living Creatures; 
for by these, Respiration is performed, and 
the Equilibrium or Ballance is kept between
the outward Air and that contain'd in the 
Vessels of the Body. 
True
* Elasticity or Springiness, which most Bodies have more 
or less, is a Power in a Body to return to its first Place and 
Condition, as a Stick which is forcibly bent; and the Air 
has it in a very remarkable manner, which being compressed, 
it endeavours with a very great Force to restore itself to its 
former State.

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 89  
True Air never loses its Elasticity, as 
Steel, Wood and other Bodies do; yet it exerts
it only when it is collected into a Mass;  
which is confirmed by the Air-Gun; for 
Mons. De Roberval of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, having let his Air-Gun remain 
charged for the Space of 16 Years, found on 
discharging it, that the Air's Elastick Force 
was not at all abated, but produced the same 
Effect as at first *. By this Elastick Force 
the Air insinuates itself into the Spaces of 
Liquors not sufficiently filled with it already; 
there it remains divided in its minutest Par- 
ticles, and as it were in a fixed State, till it is
expanded by Heat, or the incumbent Pres- 
sure is taken off, and then it is collected in- 
to greater Masses, and exerts its Elasticity 
in Proportion to the Diminution of the in- 
cumbent Pressure. 
The Elasticity of the Air has been suffi- 
ciently demonstrated by various Experiments 
of the Air-pump, and otherwise: One very 
plain is this; an empty Bladder, the Neck of 
which being tied round fast, that no Air 
could either get in or out, and being put into
the Receiver of an Air-pump, and the ex- 
ternal Air therein exhausted, the small mat- 
ter of inclosed Air in the Bladder, will, by 
its own proper Spring or Elasticity, gradual- 
ly expand itself, and at last will so extend 
the Bladder as to burst it: Thus also the Air 
compressed in a Wind-Gun, will, by its Elas- 
tick
* Hist. de l'Academ. Roy. 1695. p. 368. 

90 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tick Force (being discharged) drive a Ball 
through a Board at several Yards Distance, 
in the same manner as with Gun-powder. 
The Solids and Fluids of Animals contain 
more Air in them in Proportion, than any 
other Substances; and Animal Solids contain 
more Air than Fluids; and they contain a 
greater Proportion of Air than any other watery 
Fluid: For example, Blood contains 1/27 Part 
of its Weight in Air, and 33 times its Bulk; 
whereas 54 Inches of Well-water yield only 
1 Inch of Air; but Spaw and Pyrmont Wa- 
ters yield double the Quantity of Air, to 
that of common Water; and therefore 
the Activity of Steel and Mineral Waters is 
owing to some aërial Particles in them; 
for when these are evaporated, the Waters 
become insipid, and without any Virtue, by 
the Quantity of Air lost, which the Blood 
and other Fluids of Animals contain, as has
been often demonstrated by Experiments of 
the Air-pump; for they will expand them- 
selves in an exhausted Receiver to a great 
Degree, in the same Manner as in the Ex- 
periment of the Bladder just now mention'd. 
Hence the Alteration of the Weight and Spring, 
or elastick Force of the Air, which dilates 
and expands proportionably the Liquors, with
which the external Air communicates, must
produce sensible Effects in animal Fluids; 
for as Air is a principal Instrument in the 
Animal Oeconomy, and consequently a prin- 
cipal Ingredient in the Composition of all 
animal

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 91
animal Substances, it must in a particular man- 
ner affect animal Bodies, and by its Changes 
differently influence all their Operations. 
Fluidity is a Property of Air, which can- 
not be destroy'd or congealed like Water or 
other Fluids, by any Power of Art or Na- 
ture hitherto known: and this Property of 
Fluids arises from the exceeding Tenuity or 
Smallness of the constituent Particles of such
Bodies, and their Disposition to Motion, 
from the Sphericity or Roundness, and Lubri- 
city or smooth Slipperiness of their Figures, 
whereby they can easily slide over one ano- 
ther's Surfaces all manner of Ways, and can 
touch but in few Points; so that Particles 
thus modified, must always produce a fluid
Body or Substance, as Water, Fire, &c. No 
Coagulation, Fermentation, or Condensation 
of any Mixtures where Air resides, have 
ever destroy'd its Fluidity; for it preserves it 
in Cold 44 Degrees greater than any natural 
Cold, which Property is absolutely necessary 
to an Element, in which both Animals and 
Vegetables live and grow. 
As Water is a Fluid much denser or thicker 
than Air, it supports and keeps together the
Bodies of larger Animals than Air can do. 
The Air is pellucid or transparent to such a 
Degree as not to be discernible even by the 
best Microscopes, by reason of the great Po- 
rosity thereof; for the Pores and Interstices of
the Air being so very great and large, it not 
only admits the Light in right Lines, but in 
such


92 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
such great plentiful Rays, that the Brightness 
and universal Lustre thereof, not only renders 
the Air diaphanous or transparent, but en- 
tirely hinders the Opacity or Darkness of the 
very small Particles of Air from being at all 
seen; and the whole Body of the Air must
consequently be invisible. But notwithstand- 
ing the Minuteness of the Particles of Air, 
many thicker Fluids will pass where it can- 
not; for Oil, Water, and Liquids will enter 
thro' Leather, which will exclude Air. 
That Air is a Fluid in constant Motion, 
may be easily perceiv'd in that Part of a 
Room illuminated by the Rays of the Sun, 
entering at a small Hole or Crevice, where- 
in the visible and floating Corpuscles or Atoms
are in continual Motion; likewise a constant 
undulatory Motion in the Air may be seen 
by the help of a Telescope; and these Undu- 
lations or Wavings of the Air to and fro, 
affect small and tender Bodies, but not so much 
as to alter their Figure. 
The Difference between Fluidity and Li- 
quidity is, that the former is a general Name 
for all Bodies whose Parts yield to the small- 
est Force or Impression; and thus a Quan- 
tity of Sand as well as Water, is called a 
Fluid: But what is properly called a Liquid 
or Liquor, is only that Kind or Species of 
Fluids which cleaves to the Touch, or sticks 
to the Finger, &c. or, as may be said, wets 
it, as Water, or any kind of Juices do: 
And the Reason of this Difference is owing 
to


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 93
to the exceeding Smallness of the Particles 
of Liquids above those of fluid Bodies; and 
also to their Ponderosity or Weight: for by 
these means, the Particles of Liquids enter 
the Pores of the Body which touches them, 
and by their Gravity or Weight, cohere or 
stick to, and abide therein, and cause Wetness. 
Air is compressible as well as dilatable; for it 
can be compressed into a less Compass, and 
smaller Volume, like a Fleece or Lock of 
Wool, either by its own Weight, or by any 
other Force; which Weight or Force being 
remov'd, it immediately recovers its former 
Bulk and Dimensions again by its Spring. 
Heat will encrease the Force of the Elasti- 
city of the Air to a prodigious Degree, accord- 
ing to the Experiments of Mr. Boyle, as has 
been observ'd in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter. To prove which by an easy Experiment, 
take a Bladder entirely empty as you think, 
and tie the Neck of it very well with a Pack- 
thread, and lay it before the Fire, the Heat 
will presently so dilate and rarefy the little 
Air inclosed, as to make it extend the Blad- 
der to its utmost Stretch, and if continued, 
will break through it with a Report like 
that of a Pistol. That Air also may be com- 
pressed by Art, so as to take up but 1/60 Part
of the Space it possessed before, has been 
prov'd by Numbers of Experiments made by 
Boyle and others; for farther Proof and Sa- 
tisfaction thereof, see Sir Isaac Newton's Op- 
tics, p. 342.  
Divisi-

94 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Divisibility is a Property of Air, by which 
living Creatures move in it without much 
Resistance; for it is always divisible by the 
smallest Force imaginable. Fishes and Birds 
move thro' their respective Element after the
same manner; and Fishes may be called the 
Birds of the Water; they pass thro' an Ele- 
ment which is 800 times thicker than Air, 
as has been observ'd in p. 71; for which 
Reason Fishes must employ a Force propor- 
tional to the greater Resistance of the Fluid. 
On the other Hand, a great deal of the Force 
of Birds is employ'd to support themselves in 
a much thinner Fluid; but the Bodies of 
Fishes are poised or equilibrated with the 
Water in which they swim. However Air 
has some Degree of Tenacity or Adhesion, by 
which its Parts attract one another, as is ma- 
nifest by the round Figure of Water-Bubbles, 
which attract and run into one another; and 
at the same Time the Particles of Air, by 
their Elasticity, have a Power in other Cir- 
cumstances, of flying off from one another, 
which two Properties are consistent, as may 
be seen in Light. 
The Resistance of Air is very considera-
ble in Bodies swiftly moving thro' it, or by 
its swift Motion against Bodies. In the first 
Case, the Resistance increases in the dupli- 
cate Proportion of the Swiftness of the mov- 
ing Body; that is, the Resistance is a hun- 
dred times greater when the Velocity is but 
ten times; so that for this Reason, if light 
Bodies are moved with great Swiftness, the 
Air's

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 95
Air's Resistance will throw them back in 
another Direction. 
Air moving with Rapidity, as in violent 
Storms or Winds, produces very sensible Ef- 
fects in human Bodies, to which if we add 
the Motion of the Person moving opposite, 
then the Pressure will be very considerable; 
hence Walking or Riding against great 
Winds is a great and laborious Exercise, the 
Effects of which are a Redness and Inflamma- 
tion of all the Parts exposed to the Air, be- 
ing like the Effects produc'd by a soft Press
or Stripes, Heat and Drowziness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of the Qualities of Air. 
THE Qualities of Air are Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture; they are called 
Qualities of the Air, because they are change- 
able, and do not constantly reside in the 
whole Mass, nor in the Parts thereof. 
By these variable Qualities of Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture, the Air must of Ne- 
cessity produce various Alterations in human 
Bodies. For if we consider, that human 
Blood is a Fluid continually warm, and in- 
closed in a Composition of thin and flexible 
Tubes, to which the outward Air has Admit- 
tance

96 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tance or Entrance by the innumerable Pas- 
sages of the Pores of the Body: Again, if 
we consider this Machine, with its inclosed
Fluids steaming and reaking hot thro' num- 
berless Pores, and often changing Situation, 
sometimes within, sometimes without Doors, 
and exposed to the hot, cold, dry, or moist
Air, and all the various Alterations that oc- 
cur in that Element; the Changes which 
must happen to a human Body in such Cir- 
cumstances, must be very considerable, and 
far greater than we generally suppose or ima- 
gine; for besides the real Influence of the 
circumambient Air, human Bodies are affect- 
ed by these Changes with a painful or plea- 
sant Sensation, which they have not always 
in their Power either to escape or possess. 
Heat is a Quality relative to our Senses 
excited in the Mind, by a great and swift 
Agitation of Particles of the hot Body ex- 
erting its Action or Influence on us; so that 
Heat in us is only the Idea thereof; and in 
the hot Body, Activity and Motion, and no- 
thing else: for no Heat is sensible, unless the
Particles of the Body which act upon us, be 
greater than the Motion of the Organ or Part 
of the Body acted upon. But when the 
Motion of the Particles of the Body acting, 
is less than that of our Organs of feeling, 
then it causes in us the Sensation or Idea of 
Cold, which is only a Privation or less Degree 
of Heat or Motion. 
The


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 97
The Spirit of Wine in Thermometers * or 
Weather-Glasses, is affected with the least 
Alterations of Heat and Cold; and therefore 
is the best Guide to know the Variations of 
the Weather, tho' the Degrees marked in the 
Tubes of them do not exactly measure their 
Quantity. The natural Heat of a grown 
Person is 92, and of Children 94 Degrees;
but no Animal can live long in Air of 90 
Degrees, or near the natural Heat of the 
Body. 
The Rarity or Thinness of the Air ren- 
ders it more sensible of the Alterations of
Heat and Cold, than any other Fluid what- 
ever; for the least Increase of Heat dilates 
it, but a Diminution thereof contracts it im- 
mediately. The Degrees of Expansion of 
the Air cannot be determin'd; for the great- 
est Heat will not totally expel it, but by 
this continual Expansion and Contraction, by 
different Degrees of Heat, it is kept in con- 
stant Motion. 
Heat, but not so great as to destroy ani- 
mal Solids, relaxes the Fibres, and rarifies the
Humours; whence proceeds the Sensation of 
Faintness and Weakness, and whence lan- 
quid and hysteric People suffer in a hot Day; 
for the Fluids are dilated, as is manifest to 
both the Sight and Touch, and the external 
G Parts
* Thermometer or Weather-Glass, is a Glass Tube filled 
with Spirit of Wine of a red Tincture: It is an Instrument of 
great Use in the Hands of skilful Persons, in discovering the 
Degrees of Heat and Cold in Air, animal and vegetable Bo- 
dies, Liquids, Hot-Beds, &c. 

98 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Parts swell, and are plumper in hot than in 
cold Weather. 
Excessive hot Air is capable to reduce ani- 
mal Substances to a State of Putrefaction, and
therefore very hurtful to the Lungs in parti- 
cular; for the Blood, by its Circulation thro'
the Lungs, is heated to a degree so as to render 
it spumous; and the Surface of the Vehicles 
of the Lungs being exposed to the external 
Air, which has a free Communication to it; 
so that Refrigeration by cool Air is one, tho' 
not the principal Use of Air in Respiration: 
but when the outward Air is many Degrees 
hotter than the Substance of the Lungs, it 
must necessarily destroy and putrify the Solids 
and Fluids: Which is confirm'd by an Ex- 
periment of the learned Dr. Boerhaave, who 
relates, that he put a Sparrow into a Sugar- 
Baker's drying Stove, where the Air was 
heated 54 Degrees more than the natural Heat 
of Human Blood, which died in two Mi- 
nutes; a Dog being put in began to pant very
much for Breath in seven Minutes, and in a 
Quarter of an Hour express'd very great Un- 
easiness; soon after he grew very faint, and ex- 
pired in 28 Minutes; he drivell'd a great Quan- 
tity of red Foam most part of the Time, which 
stunk so intolerably that a labouring Man 
that went near it was almost struck down in- 
stantly with the Stench. Dr. Boerhaave ob- 
serves in this Experiment the direful Effects of
this Degree of Heat, how soon it occasion'd 
a most acute Disease, with violent and mortal 
Symptoms;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 99
Symptoms; and how suddenly the Humours 
were changed and thoroughly putrified in 28 
Minutes: He moreover observes, that these 
were not the mere Effects of the Heat of the 
Stove; for if the Flesh of a dead Animal had 
been hung up there, it would have dried, and 
not turn to a pestilential Corruption; which 
must arise from the Friction caused by the 
Circulation of the Blood through the Lungs, 
and being not in the least refrigerated, as in
this Case. 
By the Degrees of the Heat of the Air act- 
ing upon Human Bodies, the Quantity of 
* Perspiration both sensible and insensible is 
regulated; for, by the Journals of the industri-
cus
* Perspiration is twofold, sensible and insensible; by the 
first is meant what we discharge by Spittle, Sweat, Urine 
and Stool; by the latter is understood what is imperceptibly
exhaled or expell'd through the whole external Skin of the 
Body, as also from that of the Mouth, Nose, Jaws, Larynx, 
Lungs, Gullet, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder and Womb; so 
that the Quantity of it exceeds that of all other Excretions 
join'd together; for when the Body is strong and healthy, and 
after moderate living, especially in a warm Climate, such as 
Italy, that which is discharged insensibly by the Pores of the 
external Skin, Mouth, Nostrils, &c. is five Eighths of what is 
taken into the Body in Meat and Drink. It will not appear 
incredible, that animated Bodies should thus perspire, when 
we find by Mr. Boyle's Experiments, that he has observ'd the 
like even in the most solid and inanimate Substances. Besides, 
we see the Air, when return'd in Respiration from the Lungs,
brings along with it a Vapour, which in cold Weather con- 
denses into considerable Drops. We likewise find that a Fin- 
ger, or any other Part of the Body, or our Breath, applied to 
a Glass, or polish'd Metal, will presently moisten and tarnish 
it. This perspirable Matter, according to the learned Boer- 
haave, is a Mixture of Phlegm, volatile Salt, and Oil, in cer- 
tain Proportions; and after a long Course of Circulations in 
G2 all

100 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ous and learned Dr. James Keil of Northamp- 
ton, it appears, that the Perspiration in Eng- 
land scarcely equals all the other Excretions, 
and that in Summer it is near double to that 
in Winter; whereas we find, by the incom- 
parable Sactorius's Aphorisms, that the Per- 
spiration in Italy the Year round is to all the
other Evacuations as five to three, and pro- 
bably the Proportion may be still greater in 
hotter Climates; and yet the same Author 
tells us in Aphorism vii. Sect. I. that the 
Quantity of insensible Perspiration varies ac- 
cording
all the Forms of the Animal Fluids, is deprived of all that can 
be of farther Use to any Part of the Human Body; and is 
secreted by the capillary Arteries, and passes off insensibly and
almost invisibly through the Pores of the Skin, and other Parts 
of the Body. But whenever this Evacuation is either dimi- 
nish'd or obstructed, it is almost an infallible Indication of Dis- 
eases, and probably the Cause of them, likewise. And Nature 
has so provided, that if by any external Cause this Evacuation 
is hinder'd in any one Part, it is always increased in another, 
or otherwise a Distemper will ensue; for which Reason when 
the Coldness of the Air, which more immediately affects the 
outward Skin, or any thing else lessens the Discharge of insen- 
sible Perspiration that Way, either the sensible Evacuations are 
increased, as commonly the Urine, or greater Quantities are 
carried off by Respiration from the Lungs and Parts about the 
Mouth, as we see in frosty Weather, like Smoak out of the 
Mouth; or else it is perspir'd into the Cavities of the Stomach 
and Guts, which afterwards is discharged by breaking of 
Wind either upwards or downwards: For as long as the Im- 
pulse within remains the same, wherever there is the least Re- 
sistance, there will be always the greatest Derivation of the 
perspirable Matter. And from hence it is, that we so fre- 
quently find, when the Body is more than usually exposed to 
the external Cold, Gripings, Loosnesses, Colics, and great 
Uneasinesses in the Bowels, which is nothing else but some 
Part of the perspirable Matter, that ought to have passed the 
outward Skin, check'd by the Cold, and by an opener Pas- 
sage


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 101 
cording to the Differences of Constitution,
Ages, and Countries, Seasons, Distempers,
Diet, and the rest of the Non-naturals:
Which must occasion a great Diversity of 
Constitutions and Distempers, according to 
the different Climates; for the serous Part of
the Blood is carried off by Sweats or sensible 
Perspiration, in far greater Quantities in hot 
Countries, than in cold or temperate Cli- 
mates, which must consequently render the 
Crassamentum or fibrous red Cake of the Blood
larger; hence we may know the Reason why 
the Blood of People residing in those hot 
G3 Coun-
sage within thrown off that Way. Leeuwenhoek by the Help 
of Glasses, has discover'd the Texture of the Scarf-Skin to be 
scaly; and that those Scales cover one another in several Lays, 
more or less, according to the different Thickness of the Scarf- 
Skin in the several Parts of the Body; and that in the Com- 
pass of one cuticular Scale he reckons there may be 500 
Excretory Channels, and that one Grain of Sand will cover 
125000 Orifices; and that from these a most subtile Humour 
continually transpires in all the Parts of the Body; which was 
first observ'd by the incomparable Sanctorius, to whom alone 
the Glory and Perfection of this Discovery is entirely owing. 
Insensible Perspiration therefore, both as to the Matter and 
Quantity of it, is so absolutely necessary to the Health of a 
human Body, that a Distemper can neither be removed, nor 
Health preserv'd, unless it be rightly digested and discharg'd; 
For which Reason it ought to be of the utmost Concern to a 
Physician not only thoroughly to acquaint himself with the 
Nature of this Evacuation, but likewise thoroughly to know by 
what Means it is to be promoted or lessen'd, according to the 
several Exigencies of his Patients, either for the Preservation
or Recovery of their Health: For according to the last men- 
tion'd Author, in Aphorism ii. Sect. I. ' If a Physician who 
' has the Care of another's Health is acquainted only with 
' the sensible Supplies and Evacuations, and knows nothing of
' the Waste that is daily made by insensible Perspiration, he
' will only deceive his Patient, and never cure him unless by
' Accident.'

102 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Countries is commonly thick and black when 
drawn from any Part of a human Body, as 
Experience teaches. 
Air is not cooled by the Motion of Winds, 
but by the Air of cooler Regions that they 
bring along with them; for the Thermometer 
will not change by Winds or by the strongest 
Blasts of Bellows, unless it is blown through 
Ice or some other Body colder than Air, ac- 
cording to Mr. Boyle's Experiments, but then 
such a Blast will sink it considerably. Winds
cool animal Bodies by driving away the hot 
Steams that surround them; for if we sup- 
pose that the Heat of a human Body is 90 
Degrees, and the Heat of the Air 48, by 
blowing off the hot Steam, then the animal 
Body will be surrounded with an Atmosphere 
of 48 Degrees, and consequently near the one 
half of its natural Heat taken off in a Second
of Time. Therefore, if immediately after Ex- 
ercise we rest in a cold Air, we run a great 
Hazard of falling into great Diseases, of which
there has been frequently woeful Instances, 
especially such Distempers as affect the Lungs, 
as Inflammations, Asthmas, Pleurisies and Ca- 
tarrhs; for this Change of their Atmosphere 
happening every Second of Time, is, much 
the same thing as putting on a cold Suit of 
Cloaths every such Time. 
Therefore, as human Bodies may be cool'd 
by Air cooler than their own Temperament, 
so there may be great Use made of tempera- 
ting feverish Heat by the outward Air, pro- 
2 vided

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 103 
vided it be done with Caution; which is very 
well known by Experience, as in inflamma- 
tory Diseases, such as the Small-Pox, Measles, 
&c. scarcely can any Liquor taken inwardly 
cool human Blood sooner than cool Air; for, 
by its Admission into the Pores of the Skin, 
and its being in immediate Contact with the 
Vesicles upon the Surface of the Lungs, it cools 
the Blood in a very little Time: So that great 
Mischief frequently happens by keeping the 
Air of the Rooms of People in Fevers too 
hot, by depriving them, in the first Place, of 
the Benefit of being refresh'd by it, and in 
the next, by the bad Effects of animal Steams 
pent up in the Room, which spoil the Air 
and destroy its Elasticity or Spring. Therefore
it is the Opinion of the most celebrated Phy- 
sicians, that renewing and cooling the Air in 
a Patient's Room, by giving it a free Admis- 
sion, in opening the Door sometimes, the Bed- 
Curtains, and in some Cases the Windows, 
or letting it in by Tubes or Pipes, in order to
change the hot Atmosphere about the Patient, 
(provided the Intention of keeping up a due 
Quantity of Perspiration is not disappointed) 
and in general the right Use and Manage- 
ment of the Air, is one of the principal Parts 
of a Regimen in all inflammatory Diseases; 
but, through the Ignorance and scrupulous 
Care of Nurses, in so material a Point as this, 
the Distemper is frequently increas'd, lengths 
en'd, and at last proves fatal; and this Mi- 
stake proves far more dangerous to strong, 
G4 vigorous.

104 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vigorous, compact, and heavy Constitutions, 
than to lax ones; according to this Axiom, 
Heat is detain'd in proportion to the Density
of Bodies. 
Cold is a Privation or Diminution of so 
many Degrees of Heat, as I have observ'd al- 
ready in Page 96, and it produces a propor- 
tionable Abatement of the Effects of Heat; 
so that, from what has been said already con- 
cerning hot Air, the Effects of cold Air may 
be inferr'd. Cold Air, according to Philoso- 
phers and Naturalists, is the immediate 
Cause of freezing; it first begins in the Air, 
by congealing the watery Particles in it; but 
the Effects of this Cold sometimes do not 
reach so far as to freeze the Water on the Sur- 
face of the Earth; as in Summer Hail and 
Icy Showers. 
Cold condenses the Air in proportion to the 
Degrees of it; and likewise contracts animal 
Fibres and Fluids, which are denser; for as 
Cold braces the Fibres, not only by its con- 
densing Quality, but likewise by congealing
the Moisture of the Air which relaxes; so 
for this Reason Animals in cold Weather. 
are of less Dimensions than in hot Weather. 
Extreme Cold produces at first a pricking 
Sensation in human Bodies, and afterwards a 
glowing Heat, or a small Degree of Inflam- 
mation in all the Parts of the Body exposed to
it; and by bracing the Fibres more strongly, 
thickening the Fluids, and stimulating, it pro- 
duces Strength and Activity in human Bodies, 
of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 105 
of which healthy People are very sensible in
clear and frosty weather.
Now, if the Effects of cold Air be so con-
siderable upon the Surface of the Body, why
may not they be much more so upon the 
Lungs, wherein the Blood is much hotter,
and the Membranes or Coats very thin, and
in immediate Contact with the external Air?
But were it not that the warm Air is not alto-
gether expell'd out of the Lungs in Expira-
tion, the Contact of the cold Air would be
insupportable to human Creatures; and the
Effects of cold Air in producing Inflammations
of the Lungs in all Nations is common, espe-
cially upon the blowing of cold north-easterly
Winds in Europe, or north-westerly Winds in
America.
Cold suppresses some of the grosser Parts of 
the perspirable Matter, by which Means a
great many Salts, that would b exhaled in
warm Weather, are detain'd, by contracting
the Pores of the Skin, and cooling the Blood
too much in the Vessels that are exposed to the
Air; as also by Stimulus the cold Air vel-
licates and inflames these Vessels, as has been
obser'd already, and at the same time pro-
ducing Scurvies with dismal Symptoms, being
a Distemper of cold Climates; the fatal Ex-
remities of which we may see in Captain
James's Journals, in Gerat de Veer'd a Hol-
lander, and in Captain Middleton's, and in
those of many others, who have win-
ter'd in Greenland, and other cold Coun-
tries; for the Cold that froze their spirituous
I Liquors


106 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Liquors produc'd almost the same Effect in 
their Blood, by reducing the animal Substan- 
ces of some to a gangrenous State, with Mor- 
tifications of their Limbs and Gums, being 
oblig'd to cut off the putrid or rotten Flesh; 
a total Incapacity of chewing, not capable to 
move themselves, and intolerable Pains in 
many Parts of the Body, with black and blue 
Spots and Blisters on their Skins; and by sup- 
pressing Perspiration, and retarding the Cir- 
culation of the Blood, others were seiz'd with 
Giddiness, Sleepiness, Pains in the Bowels, 
Looseness, Bloody-Fluxes, Iliack Passions, and
a Mortification in the Guts; but seldom any 
Loss of Appetite, which is very surprizing: 
All such dismal Symptoms could not be attri- 
buted to the Effects of Salt Provisions, in as 
much as they frequently had fresh both ani-
mal and vegetable. 
Extreme Cold or extreme Heat will de- 
stroy animal Substances, or reduce them to a 
gangrenous State, but with this Difference, 
that a Degree of Cold that will produce a 
Mortification in living Bodies, will preserve 
those that are dead from Putrefaction; and 
in order to produce such a Change, there must
be a Concurrence of Heat and Motion in the 
animal Fluids with the Stimulus of the Cold 
to produce the Change; for which Reason, 
Blisters cannot be raised on dead Bodies by the 
strongest blistering Plaisters imaginable. 
Moisture is a Quality of Air which affects
animal Bodies in relaxing and lengthening
their


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 107
their Fibres; for it has been often demon- 
strated by Experiments, that the single Fibres 
both of Animals and Vegetables are lengthen'd 
by moist Air, and that it relaxes is likewise 
evident from daily Experience upon Leather, 
Vellum, Paper, and a Drum. By cold Bath- 
ing there is a momentary Contraction of 
the Fibres of the Body effected by the Cold- 
ness of the Water only, and the Sensation of
which works as a Stimulus in human Bodies; 
but the Water in its own Nature would re- 
lax, and continually does so, if we remain 
too long in it; which is the Reason that Peo- 
ple using the Cold Bath are order'd not to 
stay in above half a Minute, or a Minute: 
and warm Water relaxes a great deal sooner 
than cold, and Swimming fatigues and dispi- 
rits more by relaxing the Fibres than Exer- 
cise. 
Air, by the Assistance of Moisture, will 
sooner insinuate itself into the Pores of Bo- 
dies than otherwise; for a dry Bladder will 
sooner burst than let Air pass thro' it, but 
when it is moisten'd it easily passes. Yet Moi- 
sture diminishes the Elasticity of Air, for 
in rainy Weather it is less Elastic; so that
Moisture relaxes human Fibres, by weaken- 
the Spring of the Air; but dry Air will 
lessen those Effects, or produce their Con- 
traries, such as bracing and contracting the
animal Fibres, which were before both re- 
lax'd and lengthen'd by too much Moisture. 
And a great many Symptoms which People 
are

108 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
are sensible of in moist or rainy Weather, 
are chiefly owing to the Relaxation of the 
Fibres by moist Air, by which means they 
lose some Degree of their elastic Force for cir- 
culating the Fluids; hence arise those Aches 
and Pains which are felt in the Parts of the 
Body, where the Circulation of the Fluids is 
not perfect, as in Cicatrices, or Scars of 
Wounds, old Sprains, Dislocations, or bruised 
Parts. Likewise a moist and foggy Air, espe- 
cially where the Country is low and marshy, 
will so weaken the Tone of the Vessels, as to
hinder a proper Discharge of what ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, ac- 
cording to Sanctorius *; and particularly 
weaken those of the Lungs, by which means 
the Viscidity of the Blood will be increased; 
hence arise Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions,
Asthmas, Pleurisies, Head-aches, Dulness, 
and Stupidity, Epilepsies, Hoarseness, cuta- 
neous Eruptions, pale and languid Complexions: 
and such People are also subject to scorbutic 
Habits, weak Appetites, Fevers of different 
kinds, Diarrhœas, Dysenteries, and Drop- 
sies.†
When the Air is overcharg'd with Va- 
pours near the Surface of the Earth, and 
when
* Med. Stat. Sect. 2. Aphor. 8. 
† Hippoc. Aph. 16. lib. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aqua & Lo- 
cis; in which last Book Hippocrates tells us, that the Phasians, 
who inhabited a low and marshy Country, were frequently 
subject to the above-mention'd Distempers, and which is 
commonly, and almost always the Fate of all such Situations, 
as both History and Experience teach. 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 109
when those Vapours are more in a falling 
than in an ascending State, it is then properly
called moist Air; tho' the Body of the Air 
may contain more Water in it at other 
times; but then the Water and Air are more 
intimately mix'd, and the Vapours are higher, 
and a less Quantity of them in contact with 
our Bodies; so that Air in such a State may 
be justly called dry; and sometimes the Air 
may be said to be in a State of exhaling and
imbibing, and at other times in a State of 
precipitating its Waters and other Contents. 
Dryness is another Quality of Air, by 
which it produces Effects contrary to those 
of moist Air: and as dry Air exhales and 
imbibes volatile Spirits, and Oils of animal 
Bodies, so it does consequently influence 
Perspiration. But great Dryness is capable of 
changing the very Texture, as well as the Si- 
tuation of the Pores of the Skin of human 
Bodies; and either extreme Dryness, or ex- 
treme Moisture have very often proved dan- 
gerous, if not fatal to human Bodies; and 
tho' our Bodies are not capable of bearing 
Excesses of any kind, yet of the two, ex- 
treme Dryness has been found most destru- 
ctive to animal Bodies. 
By the Properties and Qualities hitherto 
enumerated and explain'd, Air must pro- 
duce very great Alterations in human Bodies; 
for it does not only operate by outward 
Contact, but we likewise imbibe it at all the 
Pores of the Body, as is evident by what has 
been

110 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
been said already; otherwise the Air could 
not have a free and constant Admittance in- 
to the Body, and consequently the Ballance 
between the outward Air, and that within 
the Vessels, could not be so quickly restor'd; 
and it is upon the due Ballance of the Air 
within and without the Body, that the Life 
of ail Animals depends. 
The Skins of Animals dry'd exclude Air;
but those of living Creatures being moist and 
oily, it will easily pass thro' them; for where- 
ever there are Emissaries, there are also ab- 
sorbing Vessels: And to prove this Assertion 
farther, many Bodies a great deal thicker and 
heavier than Air, such as Mercury, Spanish 
Flies, and Garlick, &c. readily enter the 
Pores of the Skins of animal Bodies. So that
while we perspire, at the same time we ab- 
sorb part of the outward Air; and the Quan- 
tity of perspir'd Matter, discover'd by the 
Method of weighing, is only the Difference 
between that and the Air absorb'd; therefore 
after great Labour and Abstinence, which 
produces an Emptiness in the Vessels, and 
consequently a great Diminution of Perspi- 
ration, it is very probable, that in such a 
Case, the Quantity of the Air absorb'd may 
exceed that of the perspir'd Matter: which 
must be true, if Sanctorius's and Dr. Keil's 
Journals of Perspiration be faithful and ex- 
act; for there is an Instance in the Doctor's
Journals, of a Person's growing 18 Ounces 
heavier by absorbing Air. The Doctrine of
absorbing 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 111
absorbing Air thro' the Pores of the Skins of 
living Creatures, was taken for granted both 
by Hippocrates, Galen, and their Followers, 
which has been since confirm'd and demon- 
strated by that accurate and most ingenious 
Observer of Nature, Mr. Hales, in many 
Bodies, particularly in Vegetables, by plain
and easy Experiments; by which it appears, 
that Air freely enters thro' the Bark, Stem, 
Leaves, and all the Surface of Vegetables. 
By absorbing external Air, with all its Qua- 
lities and Contents, many great Effects must
necessarily follow, and many sudden Altera- 
tions happen in human Bodies; and nothing 
can account more clearly for epidemical 
Distempers seizing People inhabiting the same 
District of Land, and who have nothing else 
in common that affects them, except Air, 
which is confirm'd by * Hippocrates, † Sy- 
denham, and many others. 
* Hippocrates, Epid. lib. 3. Sect. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aq. & 
Locis. 
† De Febribus Intermit. Thucydid. lib. 2. p. 130. 147. 
Diod. Sicul. p. 101, 102. 
Hallerius libel. de Peste, p. 577. 
Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297. & lib. 6. de Morb. po- 
pular. Sect. 8. p. 1199.
CHAP.

112 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of AIR upon Human 
Bodies. 
THE Influence or Power of the Air up- 
on human Bodies is as different as the 
Diversity of the Weather, Seasons, Climates 
and Countries; but the true Knowledge of it 
is very obscure and imperfect, especially in 
that Part which will be always difficult to 
find out, that is, the different Qualities of the 
Air, and the manner of their acting upon 
human Bodies; yet if Journals of Diseases, 
compar'd with the Weather, had been kept 
for some Centuries in many Places and 
Kingdoms, we should at last have come to 
more than a conjectural Knowledge of this 
important Matter. 
The divine Hippocrates, after a Series 
of many Years indefatigable Practice and just
Observations, has left us in his Books of 
Epidemics, and third Section of Aphorisms, 
an inestimable Treasure of Golden Rules to 
go by for this Purpose; and tho' he had nei- 
ther * Barometer, † Thermometer, nor ‡ Hy-
groscope
* Barometer, See Page 79. Note ‡.
† Thermometer, vid. p. 97. Note *. 
‡ Hygroscope is a useful Instrument to be made several Ways, 
for-measuring the Moisture and Dryness of the Air.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 113
groscope, to measure either the Weight, Heat, 
Cold or Moisture of the Air by, yet knew 
more of the Influence of Air on human 
Bodies, than all his Predecessors and Succes- 
sors put together; for none of them ever 
made such just and curious Observations up- 
on Airy and its Effects, as he did, which 
plainly appears in his Works: he judg'd only
according to Reason and his Senses, which 
are surer Guides than the Thermometer, in re- 
spect to the Effects of Heat and Cold upon 
our Bodies; for by the Thermometer, stagnant 
Water is of the same Degree of Heat as the 
ambient Air, but if apply'd to our Bodies, 
we shall feel it much colder; therefore, Air 
abounding with more or less watery Particles, 
is colder or hotter to our Senses, tho' the 
Thermometer still remains at the same Height.* 
This sagacious Great Man tells us, that ‖ 
Whoever would understand Physic, it is first
necessary to understand the Seasons of the Year, 
and then their Effects on our Bodies; and that 
† we ought to know the Constitutions of the 
Air, what they are, and in what Times and 
Regions they mostly appear. He says likewise, 
‡ That Distempers seldom arise from any other 
H Cause
* According to Lord Verulam's Observations, Water seems
colder than Air; and the Froth of any Liquor seems warmer 
than the Liquor itself; and the Powder of any solid Body, 
warmer than that solid Body, tho' the Thermometer still proves 
the same Degree of Heat in each to be alike. Hist. Nat 
& Experiment. de Ventis, cap. de forma Callidi, p. 143. 
‖ Hippoc. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis, p. 280. 
† Hip. lib. 4. p. 1138. de morb. Epidem.
‡ Hip. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297 


114 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cause than the Air; for either it is too much
or too little, or abounds with infectious Filth. 
He tells us in another Place ‖, That the Air 
is to he consider'd as to its Heat or Cold, 
Thickness or Thinness, Dryness or Moisture, 
and their several Changes. 
According to his Instructions, we are like- 
wise § to consider the Situation, Air, and 
Water of a City, in order to come at the 
Knowledge of their popular Diseases, and 
their Seasons: for Instance, that Cities ex- 
posed to the ‡ hot Winds, such as blow be- 
tween the rising and setting of the Sun in 
Winter, to which Situation such Winds are 
peculiar, and at the same time are defended
from the Northerly Winds, abound with 
Water of a saltish Taste, which as it comes
from above, must needs be warm in Sum- 
mer, and cold in Winter; but Cities that are
well situated as to the Sun and Winds, and 
at the same time supply'd with wholsome 
Water, are free from many Distempers, 
which those in different Circumstances are 
subject to, as has been already mention'd: 
that if the Summer proves dry, the Diseases
are of a shorter Duration than in a wet one
in which they prove obstinate, and apt to de- 
generate into Suppurations, Heat and Moi- 
sture in the Air producing Putrefaction: that 
Defluxions,
‖ Idem de morb. popular, lib. 6. p. 1199. 
§ Hip. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis. 
‡ Hippocrates means in this Place a Southerly Situation, 
and the Winds that blow from thence. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 115
Defluxions, much Phlegm, and Hoarseness 
are occasion'd by cold Weather: that Deflu- 
xions from the Head, and Disorders of the 
Belly, from Phlegm distilling downwards, 
producing Fluxes, were the Effects of the 
Winter, which made Women subject to 
Miscarriages, and Children to Convulsions; 
likewise such as were exposed to Cold, sub- 
ject to Inflammations of the Eyes and Lungs. 
This great Man could foretell the Diseases 
from the Weather, and says, that Heat 
coming upon a wet Season will produce se- 
rous Defluxions upon the Head and Belly, 
and acute Fevers. That cool Weather, about, 
the Dog-Days, if not succeeded by a tem- 
perate Autumn, is dangerous for Women 
and Children, producing Quartan Fevers, 
and from these they fall into Dropsies: if the 
Winter is mild and rainy, and succeeded by 
Northerly Winds in the Spring, it will be 
dangerous for Women that happen to be with 
Child, producing Abortions, likewise Deflu- 
xions upon the Lungs, Dysenteries and Co- 
licks in the Phlegmatick, and Inflammations 
in those that are Bilious, because of the Heat
and Dryness of their Flesh; and that Ob- 
structions after Relaxations produce Palsies, 
and sometimes sudden Death in old People. 
A rainy Summer and Autumn must; needs 
make a sickly Winter; burning Fevers will 
happen in People above 40 and Phlegmatic;
in the Bilious, Pleurisies, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs: but if the Summer be dry with
H2 Northerly

116 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Northerly Winds, succeeded by a wet Au- 
tumn with Southerly Winds, Head-aches and 
paralytick Diseases are likely to happen in 
the Winter; likewise Hoarseness, Stuffings 
in the Head, Coughs and Consumption: but 
a dry Autumn with Northerly Winds is pro- 
fitable to phlegmatic Constitutions, and ex- 
tremely hurtful to the Bilious, the watery
Parts which dilute the Gaul being exhaled. 
He says farther, that whoever considers 
these Things, may know before-hand the 
greatest Part of what will happen from the 
Changes of the Seasons, and advises to con- 
sider the Constitution of the Air in Opera- 
tions of Surgery; excepts against cutting for 
the Stone in the Solstices *, especially in the 
Summer Solstice. 
The divine old Man goes still farther, and 
says, that the Affair of Generation is influ- 
enc'd by the Difference of the Constitutions 
of the Air, and that such a Variety should 
thus happen in the Formation or Mixture of 
the Semen, which is not always the same in 
the same Person, in Summer and Winter, in 
wet Weather and dry, that it is oftener cor- 
rupted in the Formation or Mixture of it, 
where the Seasons change frequently, than 
where
* Solstice is the Time when the Sun being come to either 
of the Tropical Points, is got farthest from the Equator, and 
seems to be at a stand for some Days before it returns back, 
which happens twice a Year in the Summer and Winter. The 
Summer Solstice is when the Sun entering the Tropick of 
Cancer on June 11, makes the longest Day, and the shortest
Night. 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 117
where they remain pretty near alike. He 
likewise attributes the different Shapes, Com-
plexions, Tempers of Mankind, and even 
their different Forms of Government, to the 
Influence of the Air: that the fertile Coun- 
tries of Asia, upon the account of moderate 
Heat and Moisture, produce large and hand- 
some Animals; and that the Softness of 
their Climate disposes them to Mildness and
Effeminacy, not enduring Labour or Hard- 
ships of any Kind, like the Greeks, frequent 
Changes in the Body, produced by Labour 
and the Alterations of the Weather exercis- 
ing both Body and Mind; for which Reason 
the Asiaticks are less bold and couragious, 
they are slavish and subject to Masters, and 
tho' they are forc'd, yer they are not willing
to quit their Ease and Families, or to endan- 
der their Lives for the Power and Wealth of 
others, in Expeditions from which they are 
to reap no Advantage to themselves: that on 
the contrary, the Greeks and Northern Asi- 
aticks were bold, hardy, and full of Courage;
and that, being at their own Disposals, wil- 
lingly underwent Dangers and the greatest 
difficulties, because the Reward of the Vic- 
tory was to be their own. 
He says besides, that as the Equality of
the Temperature of the Seasons render'd the 
Asiaticks indolent and lazy; so the great va- 
riety of Heat and Cold, by differently affect- 
ing Body and Mind, render'd the Europeans 
couragious and active; Activity, Labour, and 
H3 Exercise

118 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Exercise begetting Bravery, and Bravery 
begetting Laws to secure Property; and 
being govern'd by such, they were enabl'd 
to reap the Benefit of the Fruits of their In- 
dustry, which those that live under Abso- 
lute Monarchy are not capable to enjoy: 
Here this great and wise Man expresses his 
Dislike to Despotick Government. 
The Phasians *, says he, are tall, soft, 
bloated and pale, on account of the excessive
Moisture of the Air they breathe; for their 
Country is marshy, hot, watery, woody, and 
subject to violent Showers at all Seasons, and
such Effects proceed from lax Fibres occasi- 
oned by excessive Moisture; but such as in- 
habit Mountainous Places, where they are of 
a large Make, have a variety of Weather, 
and are bold, fierce and active; and the Inha- 
bitants of fertile Plains, with stagnating Waters, 
are the reverse; for a fat Soil produces dull 
and heavy Understandings. The Inhabitants 
of barren and dry Soils, with cold Winters, 
are passionate, warm in their Tempers, posi- 
tive, proud, and of a quick Understanding. 
In one of his Books ‡, he attributes the 
Causes of all Diseases, especially of the Pesti- 
lential, to proceed from the Influence of
the Air: And in another Place †, he far- 
ther
* The Phasians were Inhabitants of the City Phasis, in the 
ancient Kingdom of Colchis, upon the eastermost Side of the 
Black Sea, between Georgia and Circassia, not far from the 
ancient Sauromatœ. 
‡ Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus. 
† Hippoc. lib. de Morbo Sacro. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 119
ther affirms, that Air gives Sensation, Life 
and Motion to all the Members of Animal 
Bodies; for which Reason he strenuously re- 
commends Astronomy as an essential Part of 
the true Knowledge of the Art of Healing; 
and says, that if any one should think it to
be only Meteorological Speculations, he may 
soon learn, if he can part with his Opinion, 
that Astronomy is so far from being of little 
Use in Physick, as to be of the greatest; for 
as the Seasons change, so do the Constitutions 
of Men likewise §: And to prove the Useful- 
ness of Hippocrates's Doctrine and Opinion in 
this Particular, we need only consult a Treatise
of a Cotemporary learned Author, who is not 
only an Honour to his Country, but likewise an 
Ornament to his Profession, wherein we shall 
find not only the Usefulness of Astronomy in 
the Art of Physick, but likewise the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies geometrically de-
monstrated †.
Hippocrates goes on still farther in the 
same Book, and says, that where the Variety
of the Weather is oftenest, and the Diffe- 
rence between the Seasons greatest, there 
the Nature, Customs, and Habits of the 
People will be found most different, which 
are the principal Causes of all the Changes in
Nature; and next to these, the Country 
wherein we are brought up, and the 
Waters we are obliged to drink; for we 
H4 shall
§ Hippoc. in his Book of Water, Air, and Situation. 
† Richardus Mead de Imperio Solis & Lunæ in Corp. Hum. 


120 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
shall generally find that the Complexions 
and Manners of the People correspond with
the Nature of their Country. 
He has left us a curious History of 
Diseases, and the Weather, in his valuable
Books of Epidemics, from whence he drew 
many useful and nice Observations; and 
where we may see a vast Conformity between 
the Constitution of the Air, and that of Dis- 
tempers, throughout the whole Work. 
The Constitution mentioned in his 1st Sec- 
tion, was a wet Autumn, the Winter dry, 
with southerly Winds and very little norther- 
ly, the Spring cold, with southerly Winds, a 
little wet, a cloudy and dry Summer, with 
little or no northerly Winds to cool the Air; 
in this Constitution he observ'd some few 
burning Fevers of a good sort, some with 
Hæmorrhages; a great many had Swellings 
behind both or one Ear, but generally with- 
out a Fever, and disappear'd without much 
Inconvenience or Suppuration.
The Constitution of the next Year, related
in Section the Second, was a wet Autumn, 
with northerly and southerly Winds; the Win- 
ter was moist and affected with cold norther- 
ly Winds, attended with great and heavy 
Showers of Rain and Snow, and a cold and 
northerly Spring, both watery and cloudy; 
the Summer not very Scorching, and was 
continually affected with northerly Winds, 
and a great deal of Rain fell again sudden- 
ly; so that the whole Year being cold and 
moist,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 121
moist, and attended with northerly Winds for 
the most part, produced Inflammations of the 
Eyes in the Spring, and in the Summer, Co- 
licks, Fluxes of the Belly, with Bilious Purg- 
ings, and sometimes Bilious Vomitings with 
Phlegm and indigested Food, some with Cat- 
tarrhous Fevers, others again without Fe- 
ver or Confinement; but they all in gene- 
neral sweated, Moisture being then so redun- 
dant every where. 
In the Autumn and Winter continual Fe- 
vers appear'd; there were likewise diurnal, 
nocturnal, tertians, semitertians, some quar- 
tans and erratick Fevers; besides some were 
afflicted with Catarrhs and Defluxions upon 
their Joints; Convulsions were also frequent
among Children; all such Diseases being the 
natural Product of a Cold and Moist Year, 
affected by too much Moisture in the Air, 
which human Bodies continually breathe and 
imbibe. 
He tells us in his third Section, that the 
Constitution of that Year was a cold dry
Winter attended with northerly Winds, as 
was likewise the Spring and Summer till to- 
wards the beginning of the Dog-Days, then 
scorching Heats and Droughts continu'd till 
Autumn, which prov'd to be moist and rainy: 
This Year was remarkable for Paraplegias or 
Palsies, which were epidemical in the Winter; 
likewise Hæmorrhages of all Kinds and Dy- 
senteries reign'd in the Spring and Summer, be- 
ing the Effects of a Constriction of the Fibres, 
oc-


122 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
occasion'd by too much Cold and Drought;
burning Fevers with Delirium and Thirst, be- 
ginning with Shiverings, Watchings, Nauseas, 
and Anxiety continued, which were most dan- 
gerous and fatal to young and vigorous Peo- 
ple, especially in the Autumn, but most of all 
in the Winter, when the Hæmorrhages ceas'd. 
In his Second Book he attributes the great 
Frequency of Carbuncles and other large 
Pustules of the putrid kind in Summer to 
the great suffocating Heats attended with 
Calms and Moisture; and that Sweats suc- 
ceeded Showers, because Moisture relaxes the 
Fibres of the Body; that inflammatory Dis- 
cases, such as burning Fevers, Pleurisies, &c. 
are most violent in a dry and hot Summer; that 
in constant and settled Weather and Seasons, 
the Distempers will be more equal and of a 
good Sort and easily determined; but that if 
the Weather is variable they will likewise 
be irregular and resolv'd with difficulty; that
the Diseases of the Spring are least destruc- 
tive of any of the other Seasons: He like- 
wise remarks that a mild Winter, attended 
with southerly Winds, a dry Spring, and a 
moist Summer with small Rains, produced 
Fevers, and Tumours or Swellings behind the
Ears. 
In his third Book he observes a kind of a 
Pestilential Season, which proceeded from a 
hard Winter, a rainy warm Spring, succeed- 
ed by an excessive hot Summer with little 
or no Winds; it was notable for all inflam- 
matory



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 123
matory Pimples and Eruptions upon the 
Skin, and likewise for all Distempers of the
putrid Kind, such as Erysipelas, Aphtas and 
Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat, burning 
Fevers with Deliriums, Tubercles upon the 
Private Parts, Inf animations of the Eyes, 
Carbuncles, Swellings in the Groins, Abscesses
and Defluxions upon the Joints, some with 
Suppurations of Pus well digested, and others
again with a copious Running of putrified 
Matter of different sorts. 
He remarks in his sixth Book, that the 
frequent Alterations of the Winds from 
South to North, are very often the Cause of 
Inflammations of the Lungs and other Parts 
of the Body; and that, generally speaking, the
Nature of the Diseases is determined by the 
Seasonableness of the Weather, as it happens 
sooner or later, either dry, cold, hot, moist, 
and attended with Winds or otherwise. 
From these few Instances, we may easily 
discover the great Genius, Sagacity, and In- 
dustry of this Divine old Man, as likewise 
with what Assiduity and Integrity he apply'd 
himself to study the Nature and Influence of
the Air upon human Bodies; wherein he suc- 
ceeded better than any one of his Profession: 
And if his Successors had laid aside all their ri- 
diculous, and, as I may fay, absurd Hypotheses, 
together with their useless metaphysical Specu- 
lations, and followed the same Method with the 
same Perspicuity and Honesty as he did, to this 
present Time, we then should have had more  
than



124 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than a conjectural Knowledge, both of the 
Nature and true Causes of Diseases, especial- 
ly of Epidemics, which at this Time puzzle 
even the greatest Physicians. Therefore Rea- 
son join'd with Observation is the only cer- 
tain Method we should pursue in order to 
come at the true Knowledge of Diseases 
and their Cure; for it evidently appears in 
the Annals of Physick, that the small Num- 
ber of Physician who have happily attended 
to it, made so considerable a Figure in their 
Profession, that they will always shine, even
to the latest Posterity. 
The ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot having ex- 
plain'd Hippocrates and others upon the Sub- 
ject of the Influence of Air on human Bo- 
dies and Diseases, so accurately well, accord- 
ing to Mechanical Principles, that nothing 
can excell it; therefore, I thought it not 
only proper, but likewise very useful and 
necessary to give the Reader an Abstract of 
what he says upon that Head in this 
Place. 
He observes, that as this Subject has not 
been treated of by modern Physicians with 
that Accuracy it deserves, Observations of 
that kind are but few, and there is no Series 
of them in any Country: What would give 
most Light in this Matter, is a Collection of 
Observations in Countries where both the 
Qualities of the Air have great Excursions 
towards Extremes, where the Seasons and 
these Excursions, and the Diseases depending 
upon

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 125
upon them are regular. Egypt is a Coun- 
try which answers all these Intentions in 
some Degree: It is situated between Ethi- 
opia, the Mediterranean Sea, Arabia and 
Barbary, which lie, in the Order mention'd. 
South, North, East, and West of it. Grand 
Cairo, where Prosper Alpinus, a very emi- 
nent Physician, practis'd and made his Ob- 
servations, lies in 30 Degrees Northern La- 
titude, as Ptolomy says, 6 Degrees beyond 
the Tropick of Cancer. This great City 
is situated at the Foot of the Mountains 
of the Stony Arabia, which lie towards 
the East. It is quite expos'd to the north- 
erly Winds which blow over the Mediter- 
ranean: Southerly of it there is a hot 
sandy Soil; so that the Alterations of Heat
and Cold, as the Winds blow North and 
South, over the Mediterranean, or over this 
hot Sand are excessive, and the Alterations 
of Heat and Cold from the other Winds 
but small, lying near the Tropick; and as 
it is a sandy Soil, fructify'd only by the 
Slime of the River Nile, without Rain, 
there is hardly any humid Perspiration from 
the Ground itself, the Air receiving Mois- 
ture only from the watery Surface of the 
Nile during the Inundation, or from the 
Vapours brought from the Mediterranean 
by the northerly Winds. 
From these Causes the Air is extremely 
hot, and the tropical Heats would be insuffe- 
rable, were it not for the Northerly Winds. 
And

126 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
And in fact, the Heats are sometimes so ve- 
hement, that the Inhabitants defend them- 
selves from them by many Contrivances, 
such as Fountains in the middle of their 
Houses, Pipes to convey fresh Air by Grottos, 
and high Edifices, by which their Streets are 
shelter'd from the Sun, and a temperate 
Diet. During the tropical Heats *, the Air 
is sometimes so much moisten'd and cool'd by 
the Notherly Winds, and the watery Surface 
of the Nile, that the acute and pestilential 
Distempers are check'd by this Constitution 
of the Air: the Inhabitants often suffer from
Catarrhous Distempers, more than in North- 
ern Countries, their Bodies being more de- 
licate, and their Pores more open by the pre-
ceding Heat. 
As to their Seasons, their Spring lasts from 
the Beginning of January to March; their 
Summer is double, the first, from the Begin- 
ning of March to the Solstice †, and the se- 
cond, from the Solstice to the Beginning of 
September; and this second Summer is more 
constant, healthy, and less scorching than the 
first, by reason of the difference of the Winds,
and other Causes hereafter mention'd. Their 
Autumn lasts September and October; and 
their Winter, November and December. 
The extreme Heat of the first Summer 
proceeds from the hot Winds which blow 
from
* Tropical Heat, see p. 116. Note *. 
† Solstice is likewise explain'd in the same Note.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 127
from the South and South-East, called by 
the Inhabitants Campsin from their Conti- 
nuance of fifty Days; tho' they have no 
determin'd Time, but last sometimes more 
than three Months, and reign March, April, 
and May; they blow over the Sands, which 
they raise in Clouds, sometimes so as to darken
the Sun: during this Time, many epidemi-
cal Diseases rage, especially Inflammations of 
the Eyes, a Fever, which the Inhabitants 
call Demelmuia, attended with a Delirium, 
and proves often mortal in a few Hours, and 
even the Plague itself. And this extreme Heat 
has sudden Interruptions of Cold, which 
renders the Inhabitants still more unhealthy, 
and they live under Ground during the 
Campsin. 
The Heat during the Months of June 
and July, which by the Course of the Sun 
should be the greatest, is so moderated by
the Northerly and moist Winds blowing over 
the Mediterranean, and by the overflowing 
of the Nile, that the Inhabitants grow heal- 
thy, and sow their Seed in the Months of 
September and October, Their Winter has 
seldom any Snow, Frost, or Rain, or any 
thing besides Dew, unless in some Places 
bordering upon the Mediterranean, and re- 
ceiving Clouds from thence. So that the 
reigning Winds in Egypt are the Southerly, 
blowing as it were from an Oven; and the 
Northerly, moist and cold over the Mediter- 
ranean, and this last perhaps two Thirds of 
2 the



128 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Year, and during the greatest Solar 
Heats. 
Another Cause by which both the Heat 
and Drought of the Air is temper'd, is the 
overflowing of the Nile, which rising in the 
Mountains of Ethiopia, bends its Course 
Northerly thro' a Tract of Land near 30 
Degrees. By the Rains falling in those 
Mountains, the Nile has ever since the Me- 
mory of Man begun to swell the 17th of 
June New Stile; and it rises every Day about
8 or 10 Inches, and begins to fail in August,
and decreases till May, when it is in a man- 
ner stagnating. The Limits of its Height 
are, from 26 the highest of all, to 18 the 
lowest, in Cubits; the middle 24; 18 is a 
Height barely sufficient to make an Inunda- 
tion. Its Water not only refreshes the Air 
with a kindly Moisture, but is the most de- 
licious Drink in the World, when purify'd 
by the Deposition of its Sediment, being of 
itself a Cure for most Distempers, where 
Dilution, a Diuresis or Sweating is necessary, 
as Prosper Alpinus found by Experience. 
There are several remarkable Things in 
the Constitution of the Egyptian Air; for 
the Perspiration of the Soil, which is sandy 
and barren, cannot affect the Air very much, 
the Exhalations being mostly either from the 
Surface of the Inundation, or the Mud and 
Slime after it is over. The natural Heat 
and Dryness of the Air, and the Change 
from that to cooler Moisture; the Abate- 
ment

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 129
ment of the Tropical Heats by Northerly 
Winds; the Extremity of Heat and Drought, 
by the Southerly Winds blowing over Sands, 
and the Moisture again induc'd by the Clouds
from the Mediterranean, and the Inundation; 
the Exhalations from stagnating and putrid 
Water, when the Inundation is quite over;
and lastly, the Temperance and regular Diet 
of most of the Inhabitants, must give a fair 
Experiment of the Effects of Air upon hu- 
man Constitutions. And accordingly, those 
who labour and live hard, and cannot defend
themselves from the Injuries of the Wind, 
mostly hot and dry, are extreamly lean and 
squalid. The Rich, by a plentiful and nourish- 
ing Diet, and preserving themselves from the 
Heat and Drought, by Bathing, Relaxation 
of their Fibres by drinking the Water of the 
Nile, are often fat. 
The Air of Egypt having no noxious
Qualities from the Perspiration of the Ground, 
Were it not from the accidental ones above- 
mention'd, would be extremely wholsome; 
and the People who know how to defend 
themselves from those Accidents, live to great
Ages. The frequent Changes of Heat and 
Cold, Moisture and Drought, produce all 
the Distempers of the Catarrhous Kind, and 
Arthritick Diseases; and by the strong Per- 
spiration, Leprosies, even Elephantiasis, The 
Effects of a hot dry Air by a Southerly 
Wind, blowing over a sandy Country, are 
felt strongly; inflammatory Distempers, es- 
I pecially

130 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
pecially a raging Fever with a Phrenzy, called 
Demelmuia, mortal in a few Hours: they 
feel likewise all the good Effects of the A- 
batement of this Heat and Drought by Nor- 
therly Winds, and the overflowing of the 
Nile. They are likewise subject to all the 
Diseases from putrid and stagnating Water, 
and Exhalations from Heat after the Inunda- 
tion is over, and these are often pestilential. 
Pestilential Distempers are frequent in 
Egypt, and what I think demonstrates the 
Plague to be Endemial * to that Country, 
is its regular Invasion and going off at cer- 
tain Seasons, beginning about September, the
time of the Subsidence of the Nile, and end- 
ing in June the time of the Inundations. In 
the first Case, are all the Causes productive
of Putrefaction, Heat, and putrid Exhala- 
tions, and no Winter Frost to check them. 
But what is wonderful, the Plague, and the 
Fevers from the Heat of the Campsin, go 
off by the Northerly Winds, and the over- 
flowing of the Nile: and the wholsome Qua- 
lity of Northerly Winds for checking pesti- 
lential Distempers, has been observ'd by all 
ancient Physicians, And to shew that the 
Plague depends upon the Temperature of the 
Air, Prosper Alpinus takes Notice, that up- 
on the swelling of the Nile, the Infection, 
and
* Endemial or Endemick, is a Disease that infects a great
many in the same Country, proceeding from some Cause pe- 
culiar to the Country, or the Place where it reigns, such as 
the Scurvy to the Northern Climes, the Plague to Turkey and
Egypt.

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 131
and even the Danger from infected Cloath
and Furniture goes off; besides the cooling of
the Air, the Northerly Winds may dissipate 
the stagnating Vapours, and the running of 
the Nile the stagnating Waters. Hippocrates 
and Galen have both observ'd, that the 
Etesiæ, or Northerly Winds blowing in Sum- 
mer, made a wholsome Season; but this Ob- 
servation is more sensible in hot Countries 
than in ours. 
Boutius, a very learned and sagacious Phy- 
sician, has left us a Description of the Air 
and Diseases of the Inhabitants of Java: it 
is situated under the Line, and is very hot;
it is likewise moist, from the great Quantities 
of Rain and stagnant Waters; and from Heat 
and Moisture, and Salts produc'd from those 
Qualities, the putrifying Quality of the Air 
is very manifest in rotting of Cloaths, and 
rusting of Metals. From these Qualities the 
Air feels to human Bodies piercing and active; 
and as all the Inhabitants of hot Countries have 
that  Sensation of the penetrating Qualities of 
Air, Cold after great Heats, which proceeds 
chiefly from the Pores of their Skin being 
relaxed before by Heat, such Bodies must
imbibe Air faster. 
In Java, as in Egypt, the Northerly 
Winds render the Air wholsome, by abating 
The extreme Heat; some Land Winds carry- 
ing along with them the stagnant Vapours, 
are often otherwise. The Soil being here 
fruitful and rich, emits Steams, consisting of 
I2 volatile





132 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
volatile and active Parts, which fructify the 
Soil, but are hurtful to human Bodies. 
The Seasons here cannot be distinguish'd 
by their Heat, by reason of the Smallness of 
their Latitude: there are only two, what may 
be called Winter is the rainy Season; this 
Season is attended with Diseases which de- 
pend upon Putrefaction. The Inhabitants 
measure their Seasons of Heat and Cold by 
the times of the Day; the Mornings and 
Evenings are cooler by the Absence of the Sun, 
and by the Sea Breezes; the scorching Heat 
of the middle of the Day makes that Time 
unfit for Business. 
The popular Diseases here are, a kind of 
Palsy, called by the Inhabitants Beriberium, 
the Cause of which is evidently cold Air, 
imbib'd by the Pores of the Skin, extreamly 
relaxed by Heat before, and therefore in- 
vades such as incautiously expose themselves 
to the Morning Air, or throw their Bed- 
clothes off in the Night. Another Disease, 
called * Catalepsis, is likewise popular in this 
Country, proceeding from the penetrating 
Qualities of the Air imbib'd by relax'd 
Bodies, which renders the Patient rigid like a 
Statue, and dies in a few Hours. Diarrhœas 
and Dysenteries are common from the same 
Cause, by sudden Suppression of Perspiration. 
It is a Matter of Observation, that great 
Heats exalt the Bile, by exhaling the watery 
Particles which dilute it, by a strong sensible 
Per-
* Catalepsis, is a convulsive Disease like an Apoplexy. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 133
Perspiration; and therefore the Cholera Mor- 
bus †, and other Diseases of the Liver, are 
common and fatal in the East-Indies; and 
from diseased Livers, Dropsies and Atrophies 
are frequent in Java: and in this Country 
Fevers are seldom intermitting, but conti- 
nual, with Phrensies, and other dreadful 
Symptoms, as during the Campsin in Egypt,
proving mortal in a short time. 
It seems agreeable to Reason and Expe- 
rience, that the Air operates sensibly in 
forming the Constitutions of Mankind, the 
Specialities of Features, Complexion, Tem- 
per, and consequently the Manners of Man- 
kind, which are found to vary much in dif- 
ferent Countries and Climates. As to Fea- 
tures, what an infinite Variety arises from the 
Combination of the Parts of a human Face! 
so that since the Creation of the World, per- 
haps there were never two, upon a narrow 
Inspection, that perfectly resembled one ano- 
ther; for there are Faces not only individual, 
but Gentilitious and National; European, 
Asiatick, Chinese, African, Grecian Faces, 
are characteris'd: and this Diversity of Na- 
tional Features and Shapes is not altogether 
the Effect of Propagation from the same ori- 
ginal Stock; for it is known by Experience, 
that Transplantation, changes the Stature and 
outward Shape both of Plants and Animals. 
I3 Hippo-
† Cholera Morbus, is a convulsive Motion of the Stomach 
and Guts, whereby the bilious Excrements are discharg'd in 
great Plenty, both upwards and downwards.  





134 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part II.
Hippocrates makes great Account of the 
Influence of the Air upon the Fœtus, both 
before and after Birth. He is of Opinion, 
that the great variety of European Faces, is 
owing to that of the Air and Seasons, as has 
been observ'd in another Place, there being 
such great Excursions in the Extremities of 
Heat and Cold, that their Offspring is as it 
were begot and brought forth in different 
Climates. 
That the Shape of Animals should be modi- 
fy'd by the Air, is in no Ways unaccountable; 
for an Animal growing, expands its Fibres in 
the Air as a Fluid, which by a gentle Pres- 
sure resists the Motion of the Heart in the 
Expansion and Elongation * of the Fibres; 
and tho' the Fibres of several Animals shoot 
as it were in this Fluid, according to their 
original Shapes, yet such a Fluid resisting by 
its Pressure, is, in respect to the Animal, like 
a soft Mold, in which the Body is form'd; 
and therefore, according to the Quantity of
its Pressure, depending upon its most perma- 
nent State of dense, rare, hot, cold, dry, 
moist, must have some Influence in forming 
the outward Figure of such a Body in a State 
of Acretion or Growing : besides this out- 
ward Pressure, the Air being mix'd with the 
Animal Fluids, determines their Condition 
as to Rarity, Density, Viscosity, Tenuity, 
and several other Qualities.
That
* Lengthening. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 135
That the Complexion depends much upon 
the Air, is plain from Experience; the Com- 
plexion of the Inhabitants of several Coun- 
tries being fair, swarthy, black or adust, ac- 
cording to the Degrees of Heat, Drought, 
Moisture, or Coolness of the Air they live 
in; for the Inhabitants of Countries in great 
Latitudes are generally fairer than those that 
live nearer the Sun. 
That the Temper and Passions are influ- 
enc'd by the Air, is no less certain: People 
of delicate Nerves and moveable Spirits, are 
often joyful, sullen, sprightly, dejected, hope- 
ful, despairing, according to the Weather; 
and these Changes happen in stronger Con- 
stitutions, but pass unobserv'd. 
There are Days in which the intellectual 
Faculties of Memory, Imagination, Judg- 
ment, are more vigorous; therefore it seems 
probable, that the Genius of Nations de- 
pends upon that of their Air; for Arts and 
Sciences have hardly ever appear'd in very 
great or very small Latitudes. The Inhabitants 
of some Countries succeed best in those Arts 
which require Industry and great Application 
of Mind; others in such as require Imagi- 
nation: from hence some Countries produce 
better Mathematicians, Philosophers, and 
Mechanics; others better Poets, which be- 
sides the Rules of Art, require Imagination; 
and it seems, that Labour is more tolerable 
to the Inhabitants of colder Climates, and 
Liveliness of Imagination to those of hot.
I4 There






136 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
There are two Things common to all 
Mankind, Air and Aliment, and both differ 
very much in their Qualities, in different
Countries and Climates but those of the 
Air perhaps are more different than those 
of the Aliment or Food. In perusing the 
Accounts of the Temper and Genius of the 
Inhabitants of different Countries, we dis- 
cover in them a great Uniformity, even tho' 
the Race has been chang'd; for the Temper 
of the Gauls, describ'd by Cæsar and other 
Writers, is much the same with that of the 
present French, of which there is a remark- 
able Instance in the Misopogon of the Em- 
peror Julian; he tells us, that he had passed
a Winter at Paris, where there were more 
Comedians, Dancers, and Fiddlers, than there 
were Citizens besides. And I believe if a Race 
of Laplanders were transported thither, in a 
few Years they would be found in the Con- 
dition describ'd by the Emperor Julian. 
If we consider the Causes assign'd by Hip- 
pocrates, of the different Temper of the 
Inhabitants of different Climates, we shall 
find them sufficiently proportion'd to their 
Effects. In Northern Countries, where the 
Alterations of the Height of the Mercury in 
the Barometer, and consequently of the 
Weight of the Air, are frequent and great, 
the Fibres of human Bodies are in a continual 
oscillatory * Motion from a Pressure of 1200, 
1800,
* Oscillatory Motion is properly the Swing or Motion of a 
Pendulum of a Clock, and thence comes to be used for all 
tremulous or undulating Motions having Resemblance thereto. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 137
1800, nay, 3600 more at one time than 
another; and tho' this, by the Softness and 
Rarity of the Fluid, is insensible, and not 
painful, it is a sort of Exercise, which the 
Inhabitants of Countries where the Variation 
of the Height of the Mercury is small or no- 
thing, do not feel. 
By the Difference of the Tension of the 
Fibres, the whole nervous System and the 
animal Spirits are in some manner affected; 
And let us consider again the Extremes of 
Heat and Cold in great Latitudes, operating 
after the same manner, relaxing and con- 
stringing the Fibres by turns, and the ex- 
treme Cold acting likewise as a Stimulus, in
consequence of which we find an Activity 
and Tolerance of Motion and Labour in 
dry frosty Weather, more than in hot; 
whereas the People within the Tropicks are 
constantly in the State of our hottest 
Weather. 
Therefore, whoever considers Mankind in 
such different Circumstances, will find, that 
the Temper both of their Body and Mind 
must be different, and that a greater Varie- 
ty in the Oscillatory Motion of the Fibres of 
Northern People, must produce the same in 
their Spirits; and therefore a proportional 
Inequality in their Passions, and consequent- 
ly greater Activity and Courage. 
That the Inhabitants of Climates, where 
the Difference of the Weight, Heat and 
Cold of the Air is but small, feel only the 
Changes

138 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Changes of the Tension of their Fibres pro- 
ceeding from Drought and Moisture, being 
free from the Agitations and uneasy Sensa- 
tions of northern People, proceeding from 
the Causes above-mention'd; and the Mo- 
tions of their Fibres and Spirits being more 
uniform, they may be for that Reason, and 
from excessive Heats, lazy and indolent. 
That the Constitutions of Mankind differ 
according to the Qualities of the Air in 
which they live, is an uncontested Matter of
Fact, and depends upon obvious Causes: 
For as Hippocrates observed, that the In- 
habitants of moist Countries were bloated, 
leucophlegmatic, and dull, from the Rela- 
xation of their Fibres, and the Moisture im- 
bib'd with the Air; and contrary Causes 
must; produce contrary Effects: Heat indeed
relaxes the Fibres, but by absorbing the 
Moisture may likewise harden, and render 
them more solid: For the Bones of Ani- 
mals in hot Countries are more solid, and 
specifically heavier than those in cold Cli- 
mates, as may be seen in comparing the 
Bones of the Limbs of African Horses with
those of northern Countries. 
The Blood likewise in hot Countries is 
thicker and blacker, by the Dissipation of 
the serous Part by sensible Perspiration, 
which is Matter of Fact well attested by 
Physicians who have practised in those hot 
Countries: And from this black adust State 
of their Blood, they are Atrabilarious; for 
great

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 139
great Heats exalt the Bile, by dissipating the 
Moisture which dilates it; but Bile, of 
itself, is the most unperspirable of Animal 
Fluids, for it stops at the Surface of the Skin, 
and discolours it. 
There is some Anology * between Plants 
and Animals, and both are longer in coming
to Maturity in cold and moist Air; for the 
prolifick Age of Mankind is much earlier 
in hot than cold Countries, the Females be- 
ing in that State at ten Years of Age. And 
the Inhabitants of warm Countries are not 
subject to be fat, for a strong Perspiration
keeps an Animal from being so; yet a copi- 
ous Diet and Inactivity will always occa- 
sion Exceptions from the general Rule. 
Cold and moist Air must necessarily pro- 
duce phlegmatic and lax Constitutions, and 
by stopping Perspiration, with a copious Diet, 
accumulate the Animal Oil: But dry and 
cold Air in a Degree tolerable to human 
Bodies, which is a state of our Winter 
Frosts, creates a strict or tight Constitution 
of the Fibres, and all the Effects thereon 
depending, as Vigour and Activity, &c. 
As the Force of human Bodies is limited, 
they are not capable of bearing Extremities 
of any kind, of too great Rarety, Density, 
Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought in the 
Air. From the same cause human Bodies 
do
* Analogy is the Relation which one Thing bears to ano- 
ther.


140 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
do not easily sustain violent and sudden 
Changes, which agitate the Fluids and Solids
too much; for as the State of our Fluids 
and Solids change with the Air, violent Alte- 
rations in the latter produce the same in 
the former. For Example: Suppose such 
a State of the Air as makes a great Stric-
ture of all the external parts of the Body, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Cir- 
culation in the Vessels exposed to the Air, 
and in those which immediately communi- 
cate with them: Suppose again, the Air is
suddenly changed from this State to one 
which violently relaxes the Fibres; by their 
Relaxation it is possible that the Vessels which
were destin'd before to carry the Serum or 
Lymph, may admit the Blood, which is an 
inflammatory State: Accordingly we find, 
that inflammatory Distempers of several 
kinds are rise in moist and warm Weather, 
preceded by hard and lasting Frosts: Frosts
stop the Perspiration of the Earth, which 
being restored by Thaw, fills the Air 
with an unusual Quantity of Vapours, 
which affect human Bodies, not only by 
Relaxation, but as they imbibe them with
the Air. 
Cold both congeals the Fluids and con- 
stringes the Solids; for it acts like a small Li- 
gature upon the Vessels affected with it, by 
which the Circulation through the Vessels 
is retarded; the natural Effect of which is a 
greater Secretion of Serosity through the 
Glands




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 141
Glands contiguous; for the Extremities of
the Vessels near the Glands being press'd, 
they cannot so plentifully carry off the re- 
fluent Fluid, by which there must be a 
greater Flux of Liquor towards the Glands, 
and consequently a greater from its Emuncto-
ries; therefore Catarrhs, or serous Defluxions 
upon all the Parts of the Body, but especially
from the Glands of the Head and Throat, 
are a natural Effect of Cold. 
Obstructions by Cold in the outward Parts 
of the Body, drive the Blood pressing with 
greater Force upon the inward Parts, and in- 
crease Heat, and likewise may occasion a 
Siziness in the Blood: And Cold, by sup- 
pressing the Perspiration of Salts in the Blood, 
by congealing the Blood, and likewise by a 
painful Stimulus corroding the Skin, is apt to
produce Scurvies, and other cutaneous Erup- 
tions, and in extremity is capable of freezing
the Fluids, and reducing Animal Substances 
to a gangrenous State. 
Cold Air is also capable of rendering in- 
flammatory Distempers with cutaneous E- 
tuptions more dangerous, by hindering the 
Relaxation of the Skin; as the Small-pox is
found to be most fatal during hard Frosts, 
and cold north-easterly Winds. Cold Air 
likewise, by its immediate Contact with the 
Surface of the Lungs, is capable of abating 
or stopping the Circulation of the Blood, 
and bringing them into an inflammatory 
State, and by producing Catarrhs and Coughs, 
is


142 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is productive of all the Effects of such De- 
fluxions upon the Lungs, as Ulcerations, and
all Sorts of Pulmonick Consumptions. 
Hot and moist Air producing Relaxations, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Force 
of the Solids in propelling the Fluids, must
produce Stagnation, Tumours, and Putrefac- 
tion in the Liquids, and all the other Diseases 
depending upon a lax State of the Fibres: 
Hippocrates observed such Diseases always 
consequent upon a moist Constitution of 
Air with southerly Winds, which are warm; 
and the same has been often observed here in 
England. 
As Perspiration is the last Action of per- 
fect Animal Digestion, that Constitution of 
Air which suppresses Perspiration, must
hinder Digestion; therefore cold and moist
Air must be hurtful to the Stomach:
And as Catarrhs and Coughs are the Effects
of cold and moist Air, and those habitually 
affecting the Lungs, they often produce pul- 
monick Consumptions; yet it seems probable, 
that where those Consumptions are a po- 
pular Disease, they proceed from some par- 
ticular Acrimony in the Air of that Country, 
affecting that tender Organ by immediate 
Contact, and perhaps most of the Glands 
of the Body; for our Consumptions are for 
the most part scrophulous, and scrophulous
Distempers are common in this Country.
And where the Air is charg'd with any 
saline acrid Particles, they will naturally co- 
agulate

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 143
agulate the Fluid where they touch; and 
from the abundance of Mineral Waters of all 
Sorts in England, it may be inferr'd, that 
there are abundance of Mineral Steams, which
are capable of producing such Distempers. 
From what has been said on the Subject 
of the Influence of Air upon human Bo- 
dies, it is plain that no vitious State, either 
of the Solids or Fluids, but is producible 
by the common Properties and Qualities of 
Air, and their Changes and Combinations. 
By the Qualities of the Air, the solid Parts 
may be stimulated: For example, the Sti- 
mulus of extreme cold Air is very sensible. 
Heat, or any Quality of Air, so excessive
as to produce a painful Sensation, acts as a 
Stimulus: And what obstructs the Passages 
of the Vessels which communicate with the 
Air, is stimulating, by increasing the Force
of the Heart and Fibres to overcome the 
Obstruction; this either Cold or Moisture 
may do, which often produce, first a Chil- 
ness, and then a succeeding Heat, which are 
feverish Symptoms. Many volatile Particles 
floating in the Air, as the Odoriferous Ve- 
getables, act as a Stimulus, and produce 
Heach-Achs, as we often find. 
That the Fibres are constring'd and re- 
lax'd by the Alterations of the Properties and 
Qualities of the Air, has been already de- 
monstrated; and that the Fluids may be 
Vitiated in the same manner, is no less 
plain: That the Blood may be condensed 
by



144 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by Heat, by absorbing the most fluid Part; 
That a certain Degree of Heat will attenuate, 
and a greater coagulate the Serum; and that 
Heat in general is capable of producing great 
Acrimony and putrid Fevers of all Sorts, is true 
from Experience: And any Degree of Heat 
greater than that of a human Body will do 
so; for our natural Heat is near the Degree 
of Coagulation. Cold likewises condenses 
the Fluids in immediate Contact with it; 
and is capable of producing Siziness and 
Viscosity of the Blood: And by the same 
Causes Acrimony of all Sorts, to the De- 
gree of Putrefaction, is producible by Air. 
Evacuations of all Sorts, from all the 
glandulous Parts of the Body, are producible 
by the Stoppage of Perspiration by Cold; 
for there is no diuretick Medicine that works
so strong in a Flux of Urine, as a Suppression
of the perspirable Matter in hysterical Cases. 
Cold likewise promotes all Catarrhs and 
Coughs; and moist Air, Diarrhœas, and 
copious Secretions from the Glands of the 
Guts, without which Evacuations, Stoppage 
of Perspiration produces a Plethora or Ac- 
cumulation of the Humours in the Vessels. 
From these Considerations it appears, that 
die Diseases, especially the Acute of any Sea- 
son, chiefly depend upon the Constitution of 
the Air, by which they are modified as 
to their Rifeness, Duration, Degrees of 
Danger, their particular Symptoms, Circula- 
sons and Periods; In which we must not
only



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 145 
only consider the present, but likewise the 
preceding State of the Air; because, as
they are more similar, or contrary, so the 
Alterations produced in human Bodies are 
more or less violent; particularly it will be 
found, that sudden Changes from the Ex- 
tremes of Cold and Dry, to Heat and Mois- 
ture, are Causes which operate strongly in 
modifying the Diseases of that Season. 
That long and excessive Heats, by inducing 
Weakness, are apt to stamp the Succeeding 
Fevers with nervous Symptoms: That such 
a dry Constitution of Air, as is apt to con- 
tract the Skin, and obstruct its Pores, makes 
the Crisis by sweating more difficult; and 
perhaps the different Periods of Fevers, Quo- 
tidian, Tertian and Quartan, may depend 
upon a preceding greater Viscosity, or Ob- 
struction in the Vessels, produced by the 
Constitution of the Air: That the more 
dangerous State of the Small pox, and other 
inflammatory cutaneous Eruptions, depends 
upon the Air; and it seems very plain, as it 
induces a greater Laxity or Stricture of the 
Fibres, or creates Obstruction in the Vessels 
of the Skin. 
That Diseases of the Lungs, as far as they 
are not the product of bad Diet, depend 
chiefly upon the Qualities of the Air, seems
evident; for the Lungs are expos'd to the 
outward Air, which has an immediate Ad- 
mission into the Air-bladders, and perhaps 
into the Blood-vessels; and whatever Effect
K the


146 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Air has upon the Skin, this must be ex- 
pected upon the Lungs in a particular Man- 
ner. Thus far I thought necessary to give 
the Reader an Abstract of the ingenious Dr. 
Arhurthnot's Explanations of Hippocrates,
and others, on the Subject of the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies. 
But to conclude, I shall only add; that 
of all the Causes that are capable of altering
our Bodies, no one is so necessary and so 
sudden as the Air; the Necessity of which 
is evident from the use of Air in Respiration; 
for if it happens, that any of the chief Or- 
gans appropriated either for the Entrance or 
Reception of Air receive any great Injury, 
the Animal dies suddenly by Suffocation; 
whereby it manifestly appears, that Air and
Life in perfect living Creatures are insepe- 
rable. 
According to Hippocrates, natural Heat is 
preserv'd by moderate cool Air; for if you 
take away the Air from Fire, it will not
burn, but will immediately be extinguish'd: 
and our Spirits, which are the principal In- 
struments of the Soul, are generated and 
nourish'd by Air, and supported by its going 
in and out; and it is principally for this Rea- 
son that our Bodies are every where perfora- 
ted or porous, that our Arteries are continu- 
ally beating, and that Nature has made such 
admirable fine Mouths to the two Vessels 
called the Lungs; so that the Air is as ne-
cessary

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 147 
cessary to a living Creature as the Soul it- 
self. 
As to the Suddenness of the Air, we feel 
it every Moment; for it instantly ascends to 
the Brains by the Nose, and traversing almost 
an infinite number of minute Passages, which 
are to be seen in the admirable Net-work of
animal Bodies; proceeds to the inmost Re- 
cesses of the Body, and descends with incre- 
dible Velocity into the Lungs by the Mouth, 
and thence to the Heart: it likewise pene- 
trates the Pores of the Skin insensibly, and 
enters the Arteries by Transpiration, as far as 
the deepest Cavities of our Bodies; it sur- 
rounds us always, and never abandons us one 
Minute; so that we must constantly imbibe 
or suck it in whether we will or not. 
The Divine Hippocrates, being thoroughly 
acquainted with the Power of Air upon hu- 
man Bodies, tells us in his Epidemicks, and
in the second Book of Diet, that the whole 
Constitution of the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends entirely upon the Air. 
Therefore the Choice of good Air, and a 
pleasant Habitation, must always claim the 
first Rank in the Regimen of Health; so 
that such as would preserve their Health, and 
obtain a long Life, ought to know the Good- 
ness of the Air, as well in regard to its Sub- 
stance as to its Qualities. 
As to its Substance, when it is pure and 
has no Seeds of Corruption, and that it is 
K2 not

148 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
not impregnated with malignant Vapours pro- 
ceeding from dead Bodies, or from the Sinks
or common Shores of great Cities, or stand- 
ing Waters; or from the sulphureous Exha- 
lations of Mines, combin'd with different 
Salts, or metalline Particles, which are stink- 
ing, oily, and inflammable, of which I 
treated at large already in Part II. Chap. I. 
But if the Air happens to be corrupted or 
infected, and that we cannot remove as soon 
as we would, it must be purified with artifi- 
cial Fires made of Rosemary, Juniper, Lau- 
rel, Cyprus, and Perfumes made of Aloes- 
wood, Juniper-berries, and other Aromatics; 
likewise the Steams of Vinegar correct the 
Malignity of the Air in a surprizing man- 
ner. 
As to the Qualities of the Air, all Ex- 
cesses of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, 
are pernicious; for which Reason we should 
chuse moderate Air if possible; therefore 
serene Air moderately hot and dry, blowing
from clear inland Places, or from Rivers 
with a gentle Breeze, free from sudden and 
great Changes, open and rural, purg'd of salt 
and oily Exhalations, is generally the best
to preserve Health. 
As to what regards ancient People, a warm 
Air is certainly the best for them, and their 
Chambers should never be without Fire, es- 
pecially in the cold Seasons of the Year; for 
it is experimentally true, that their State of 
Health is much better in Summer than in 
Winter;

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 149
Winter; because they always carry the Win- 
ter along with them. Their Bed-Chambers 
should be in the upper Apartments, and their 
Houses open to the East, that the Morning 
Sun might enter their Rooms: there should 
likewise be an opening on the North Side, in
order to let in Air from that Side, and by 
that Means to purify the Air, and expel all 
noxious or offensive Steams and Vapours out 
of their Chambers. 
CHAP. V. 
OF ALIMENTS in general.
ALIMENT includes all that is taken
in as Meats and Drinks, from whence 
Nourishment is expected, which is what sup- 
plies Nutrition. And what comes under this 
Term is threefold: First, all that passes in 
the first Stage from Mastication, or Chewing, 
the Chyles's Entry into the Blood is so call'd. 
And Secondly, the Apposition of new Parts 
in the Room of those wore off by Action. 
Thirdly, when the Chyle after various Circu- 
lations with the Blood, is deprived of all that
can be of farther Use to any Part of the Body, 
it is carried both sensibly and insensibly 
through the Emunctories of the Body. 
K3 The

150 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The first State
of Digestion.
The first is carried on in the 
following Manner: The Parts of
Food being divided by Chewing, 
and moisten'd with Spittle, that it may be 
render'd softer in order to undergo a farther 
Comminution, is thrust down into the Sto- 
mach; wherein, by the Assistance of the con- 
tinual Motion arising from the musculous 
Coats of the Stomach, and of Respiration, 
by which the * Diaphragma alternately presses
the Stomach downwards, the Parts of the 
Food soften'd by the Saliva or Spittle, and
other serous Liquors from the Glands, is 
shook about, ground and divided into yet 
smaller Parts, until it acquires such a Fine- 
ness as is requisite, together with the glandu- 
lous Fluids and Liquors drank down, for 
composing that milky Fluid call'd Chyle ‡. 
But here we are to observe, that the Parts of
the Food are not dissolv'd into essential Parts, 
or Elements, whether chymical or any other, 
by the Assistance of any Ferment in the Sto- 
mach; that is to say, by a Separation of some 
Parts of different Kinds combined together, 
and an Union of other Parts that were before 
separated, as it happens in all Fermentation 
of Wine, wherein tartarous Particles, before 
united
* Diaphragma, or Midriff, is a transverse Muscle which 
separates the Thorax or Chest from the Abdomen or Belly; in 
the Middle it is membranous; the Gullet, the great Artery, 
and the great hollow Vein all pass through it: It conduces to 
Respiration with other Muscles, and pressing upon the Guts 
helps forward the Secretion of the Excrements. 
‡ Chyle is that milky or Emulsion-like Juice, which the 
Food is immediately converted into by Digestion. 


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 151  
united with others, are separated; and Parti- 
cles of Phlegm and Oil, before in Separation, 
are brought nearer together, and form a true 
Spirit. 
But by the Concoction that is perform'd in 
the Stomach, the Food is divided into integral 
Parts, not differing from what they were be- 
fore, only in obtaining a lesser Bulk; altoge- 
ther in the same Manner as Coral is grinded 
upon a Marble with Water, and reduced to 
an impalpable Powder, whose Parts are only 
small Pieces of Coral, and not any Principled
into which Coral is resolv'd. For the Proof 
of which there is no need of any other Argu- 
ment, than that in the Stomach and the In- 
testines of the larger Fish, that devour and 
digest the lesser, the Chyle is nothing else but
a Liquor filled with the Fibres of the devour- 
ed Fish, as may be easily discerned with a 
Microscope; or the small Parts of Fibres no 
way differing from the larger, only in Magni- 
tude, that is, indigested Pieces of Flesh.
The Chyle being thus elaborated in the 
Stomach by its alternate Contractions, and 
the Force of the neighbouring Muscles, is 
thrown out into the Intestines, at its Entrance
into which it is diluted with the Bile and 
pancreatic Juice: which Liquors undergo 
no manner of Effervescence * with the Chyle, 
or with one another, but are smoothly and 
K4 quietly
* Effervescence signifies an intestine Commotion produced 
by mixing two Bodies together that lay at rest before; attend- 
ed sometimes with a hissing Noise, Frothing, and Ebullition
For

152 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quietly mixed therewith, and with each other, 
as appears by many Experiments; and by their 
Means the Chyle is render'd more fluid. 
Hence it follows, that the Parts of the Food, 
in some measure dissolved by the Motion of 
the Stomach, but not sufficiently separated
from each other, thro' want of a due Quan- 
tity of Fluid, every one yet being in some 
measure in Contact with one another, pass 
over the Pylorus * into the Guts; and when 
these greater or less digested Particles cannot
be strain'd in any considerable Quantity into 
the Lacteals † by reason of their Magni- 
tude, they are yet thrust farther into the in- 
testinal Tube ‡, and therein putrify, as they 
are out of the Limit of Circulation, which 
begins at the Lacteals: For all Things, such
as the Flesh of dead Creatures, Herbs, &c.
that are capable of Putrefaction out of the 
Animal, are capable of Digestion in it. 
Hence
For Example, Acids, such as Juice of Limons, Spirit of
Nitre, &c. and Salt of Wormwood, Tartar, or other Alka- 
line Substances, being mixed together, will produce an Efferve- 
scence or Ebullition, 
* Pylorus, or Janitor, the right Orifice of the Ventricle or 
Stomach, which sends the Food into the Guts. 
† Lacteals are long and pellucid Vessels or Veins, which 
arise from all Parts of the small Guts, from whence they re- 
ceive the Chyle, and run to the Glands of the Mesentery. They 
are call'd Lacteals of the first Sort, being so very small; and 
from thence they convey the Chyle to the common Receptacle, 
and being larger are call'd Lacteals of the second Sort, and 
thence it is carried into the Thoracick Duct, and from that into 
the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein. 
‡ Intestinal Tube, the hollow Pipe of the Guts from one
End to the other, which is divided into six Parts.



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 153
Hence it is certain, that Digestion is much 
more effectually and expeditiously perform'd 
in the Day-time, or when we are awake, 
than in the Night, or during Sleep; because 
while we wake we breathe thicker, and the 
Diaphragma and Muscles of the Belly, and 
even the whole Body is more exercised, and 
consequently the Stomach is oftener com- 
press'd. It also follows, that by gentle walk- 
ing, or while we exercise ourselves in any mo- 
derate Motion, Digestion is more effectually 
and expeditiously performed, than while we 
fit in Idleness and without Motion; and still 
much better than when we fit hard at Study, 
because by this Means the Mind is so diverted, 
that our Respiration then is rarer, even than 
in our Sleep, and the Muscles are thereby less 
contracted: And that we digest better in 
Winter than in Summer, is a Confirmation 
hereof; because in the Winter, to drive away 
the Sense of Cold, we are oftener put upon 
Exercises and greater Activity of Body than in 
the Summer Season; as likewise, because the 
Muscles and solid Parts are more tense, and 
consequently stronger in their Contractions and
Attritions *. 
But as for a Ferment in the Stomach, ac- 
cording to the wrong Notions of some, whe- 
ther it be Spittle or Serum ouzing out from 
the Glands of the Stomach, it cannot contri- 
bute any thing to the Digestion of the Food, 
any farther than by softening it, whereby it 
is
* Rubbing, grinding. 



154 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is capable of being farther divided. Neither 
do any Liquors flow into the Stomach in order 
to promote Digestion; but Digestion, that is, 
the Motion of Chewing, Swallowing, and of 
the Stomach, are the Cause why these Li- 
quors are press'd out, and that they drain into
the Stomach: For that those Liquors contri- 
bute nothing farther to Digestion than by 
softening the Food, is manifest from hence, 
that if Herbs or Meat be mixed with them in 
any convenient warm Place as warm as the 
Stomach, but without Motion, they will 
never be changed into Chyle; so that it is sur- 
prizing that any should ascribe to the Serum 
of the Blood, as it is excerned by the Glands, 
a Faculty of changing solid Meats into the 
Form of Chyle, when it is evident that Serum 
is not a fit * Menstruum for the Solution of 
Bread, Meat, or Herbs. But this whole Af- 
fair will be much better understood from con- 
sidering Boyle's Machine for Digestion, where- 
in, without the Help of any Ferment, but by 
the Assistance only of Warmth, and the Pres- 
sure of rarefy'd Air confined, Bones and 
Flesh, with the Addition of a small Portion 
of Water, are turned into a Jelly; where no- 
thing is wanting to its being made real Chyle, 
but the rough Superficies of a Body to grind 
and often shake it about. 
The
* All Liquors are so call'd which are used as Dissolvents to 
extract the Virtues of Ingredients by Distillation, Infusion
Decoction, &c.


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 155
The Chyle being thus made, 
washes over the Pylorus into the 
intestinal Tube, where, by its 
peristaltic Motion *, and by the Pressure of
the Diaphragma, and the Muscles of the 
Abdomen †, the thinner Parts are strained 
through the narrow Orifices of the Lacteal 
Veins, while the grosser Parts continue their 
Progress downwards until they are quite eject- 
ed by Stool. What passes through the Lacte- 
als is carried by them into the Glands of the 
Mesentery ‡,  where they receive a fine thin 
Lymph from the ‖ Lymphaticks, whereby the 
Chyle is diluted so as to pass easier the rest of
its Course: For beyond the first Glands they 
unite in larger Canals, and those in still larger, 
until at last it enters the common Receptacle 
of the Chyle, which is a kind of Bason form'd 
for it by the Union of the Lacteal and Lym- 
tick Vessels. From thence it ascends thro'
the Thoracick † Duct, and is thence discharg- 
ed into the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein, 
and therewith descends into the right Ventri- 
cle of the Heart, where it is but imperfect- 
The second stage
of Digestion.
ly
* Alternate Motion of Contraction and Dilatation, com- 
monly tending downwards. 
† The Belly, which contains the Stomach, Guts, Liver, 
Spleen and Bladder. 
‡ A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 
‖  Are slender pellucid Tubes arising in all Parts of the 
Body, which permit a thin transparent Liquor to pass through 
towards the Heart, which shut like Flood-Gates upon its re- 
turning. 
† A Canal through which the Chyle passeth from the Lac- 
teals the Blood.



156 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ly mixed; and in its Passage it receives the
Lympha from all the upper Parts of the 
Body. 
But here I must observe, that the most 
subtil Parts of the Chyle pass immediately into
the Blood by the Absorbent * Vessels of the 
Intestines, which discharge their Contents into
the Mesaraick Veins, the Largeness and Number 
of which demonstrate the same, for they are 
numerous and vastly larger than their corre- 
spondent Arteries; and wherever there are 
† Emissaries, there are likewise Absorbent 
Vessels: for Example, by the Absorbent Ves- 
sels of the Skin, Mercury will pass into the 
Blood. But Mr. Hale's ‡ Experiment proves 
this beyond despute; and if we consider the
Straitness of the Thoracick Duct, and the 
Slowness of the Passage of the Chyle by the 
Lacteals thro' it, and at the same time the 
great Quantity of some Liquors and several 
other Things, which pass in a very small Time 
by Urine, and give it a Flavour and Taste; 
by an easy Calculation we may be able to de- 
monstrate, that such a Quantity could not pass, 
into the Blood by the Thoracick Duct in so 
short a Time. 
For which Reason, thin and liquid Ali- 
ments are-most proper, when immediate Re- 
freshment is requir'd, to cheer up the Spirits 
after great Abstinence and Fatigue; and the 
same
* Which suck in. 
† Vessels which throw out a Liquid.
‡ Hœmast. Pag. 123. Exp. 14.

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 157
same Reason may be likewise given, why 
Chalybeat Waters are a proper Remedy in 
Hypochondrical Disorders, and in most Ob- 
structions in the Mesenterick Glands, Liver, 
and Spleen; for their subtle Parts are taken 
immediately into the Mesaraick Vessels, and 
from thence carried directly into the Liver 
and Spleen. 
The Chyle first mixes with the Blood in the 
lest Subclavian Vein, as I have already men- 
tioned, and enters with it into the right Ven- 
tricle of the Heart, where they are very im- 
perfectly mixed; from thence they are pro- 
pelled * into the Lungs, which are the chief
and first Instrument of Sanguification, or 
making Blood: For the Wind-pipe is divid- 
ed into a great Number of Branches, call'd 
Bronchia, and these end in small Air-Blad- 
ders dilatable and contractible, which are ca- 
pable to be inflated by the Admission of 
Air, and subside at the Expulsion of it. The 
Pulmonary Artery and Vein pass along the 
Surfaces of these Air-Bladders in an infinite 
Number of Ramifications or Branchings, like 
a Net-work ‡. A great Number of those 
Air-Bladders form what are call'd Lobuli, 
which hang upon the Bronchia like Bunches 
of Grapes upon a Stalk; and these Lobuli 
constitute the Lobes of the Lungs, which al- 
ways sink in Water before they have been 
in-
* Driven forwards. 
‡ Malphig. de Pulmon. Epist. 1, 2. Tab. I. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 



158 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
inflated with Air, but after it has once enter- 
ed them, they will always swim in it; by 
which Means we may know whether Children 
are born dead or alive. 
The crude Mixture of the Blood and Chyle 
passes from the right Ventricle of the Heart, 
through all the Ramifications of the Pulmo- 
nary Artery; and the more Ramifications 
there are, the Mixture will still be render'd 
the more perfect; yet this is not all, for as this
Mixture of the Blood and Chyle passes through 
the arterial Branches, it is press'd by two con- 
trary Forces; first, that of the Heart driving
it forward against the Tubes; secondly, the 
Elastick Force of the Air pressing it on the 
opposite Side of those Air-Bladders, along
the Surface of which this arterial Tube 
creeps. 
By these two opposite Forces the Parts of
the Liquor are more intimately mix'd and 
compress'd together, and by the Ingress and 
Egress of the Air the Vessels are alternately
compress'd and dilated, by which Means the 
Liquor is still farther attenuated, dissolv'd, 
mixed, and almost assimilated with the Blood, 
but not so perfectly as to serve the animal 
Purposes; for it is very well known by Experi- 
ments of Blood-letting, that sometimes eight 
Hours after eating, some of the Chyle remain'd 
unmixed with the Blood, swimming a-top 
like an oily Substanee. 
The wonderful Mechanism of Nature in 
converting our Aliment into animal Sub- 
stances,


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 159
stances, consists principally in two Things; 
first, in mixing constantly with it animal 
Juices already prepar'd; and secondly, in the 
Action of the solid Parts, as it were churning
them together. This is evident, considering 
the vast Quantity of Saliva * mix'd with 
the Aliment in chewing, the Liquor of 
the Stomach, the Bile †, and Pancreatick 
Juice ‡, the Quantity of the Lymph § from
the Mesenterick Glands, and from the Lym- 
phatick Vessels of the whole Body; so that 
the Juices of an animal Body are as it were 
new distill'd, being excreted out of their 
respective
* Saliva or Spittle, is a thin Liquor secreted immediately 
from the arterial Blood: it is of a soapy Nature, and conse- 
quently is attenuating, resolving, penetrating, and cleansing, 
being composed of Salt, Oil, Water, and Spirit, all which 
can be extracted from it. Too great a Discharge of it by 
smoaking or chewing of Tobacco has often prov'd fatal to 
People of thin Habits of Body, by falling into Decays. 
† Bile or Gall is of two Sorts; the Cystick, or that con- 
tain'd in the Gall-Bladder, and the Hepatick, which flows 
immediately from the Liver. The Cystick Gall is thick, of a 
yellow Colour, and intensely bitter. The Hepatick Gall is 
more fluid, and not so bitter; both Sorts are saponaceous, and 
like Soap, take out Spots from Wool or Silk. Its Use is 
to sheath or blunt the Acids of the Chyle descending from the 
Stomach into the Intestines; likewise it is the principal Dis- 
solvent of the Aliment, and when it is peccant or deficient, 
there can be no right Digestion. 
‡ Is an Humour like the Saliva or Spittle, secreted from 
a conglomerate Gland called the Pancreas or Sweet-bread, 
situated at the bottom of the Stomach, and lies across the 
Belly, reaching from the Liver to the Spleen, separating 
about a Pound of Liquor in 12 Hours. Its Use is to dilute 
the Gall, and to temper its Bitterness and Acrimony after it 
has done its Office, and likewise to dilute the Chyle, with 
other Liquors in the Guts. 
§ Lymph is the most spirituous and elaborated Part of the 
Blood, continually flowing from the lymphatick Vessels. 



160 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
respective Glands and Vessels, and admitted 
again into the Blood with the fresh Aliment: 
during which time the solid Parts act upon 
the Mixture of Aliment and animal Juices, 
in order to make the Mixture still more in- 
timate and compleat; so that we may com- 
pute that our Aliment, before it gets into 
the Blood, is mix'd probably with four times 
the Quantity of animal Juices. 
From whence we may conclude, that an 
Animal whose Juices are unsound, or solid 
Parts weak, can never be duly nourish'd; for 
unsound Juices can never duly repair the Fluids
and Solids of an animal Body, and without 
a due Action of the solid Parts, they can 
never be well mixed; and as the Stomach, 
the Intestines, the Muscles of the lower 
Belly, all act upon the Aliment: Besides, as 
the Chyle is not suck'd, but squeez'd into the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by the Action of 
the Fibres of the Guts, it is evident, that 
the Chyle is peccant in Quantity or Quality, 
when these Actions and Organs are too weak; 
and whatever strengthens the Solids, must 
help Digestion. 
Hence it appears, that Diarrhœas and 
strong Purgings must spoil the first Digestion, 
because of the great Quantities of animal 
Fluids which are thereby expell'd the Body, 
such as, the Saliva, Mucus *, and all the 
Liquors
* Mucus, is that slimy Liquor or Moisture, which daubs 
over and guards the Bowels, and all the chief Passages in 
the Body; and it is separated by the mucilaginous Glands in
most Parts of the Body. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 161
Liquors that are separated in the Glands of
the alimentary Duct †, both Sorts of Gall, 
the Pancreatic Juice, Lymph, and sometimes 
Blood. Considering therefore the Quantity 
of these Secretions, it will plainly appear, 
that almost the whole Juices may be carried 
off by purging; and when those Liquors, 
destin'd by Nature to mix and convert the 
Aliment into an animal Liquid, are expell'd 
out of the Body, the Digestion cannot be so 
Well perform'd. Hence follow Consump- 
tions, Dropsies, and often an Obstruction of
the Mesenterick Glands, which is a great Im- 
pediment to Nutrition; for the Lymph in 
those Glands is a necessary Constiuent of the 
Aliment before it mixes with the Blood. 
The Mixture of the Blood and 
Chyle, after its Circulation thro'
the Lungs by the pulmonary Arteries, being 
brought back into the left Ventricle of the 
Heart, is thence, by the Force of the Heart, 
drove into the Aorta ‖ quite thro' the whole 
The last Stage 
of Digstion.
L Body:
† The whole Passage from the Mouth to the Fundament. 
‖ Aorta, is the great Artery which proceeds from the left 
Ventricle of the Heart, and carries the Blood thro' the Body, 
and every Particle of the Body receives some Branch from it, 
except some of the solid Parts of the Liver, which receive 
the blood from the Vena Portœ. The Arteries are elastick 
Channels or Tubes, endued with a contractile Force, by which 
they drive the Blood still forward, it being hinder'd to go 
backward by the Valves of the Heart. They are also coni- 
cal Vessels, that is, tapering and diminishing by Degrees, 
with their Bases or upper and broader Part towards the Heart; 
and as they pass on, their Diameters grow still less and less, 
and consequently the Celerity of the Motion diminishes by 
the Increase of the Friction of the Fluid against the Sides of
the



162 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Body: and thus the Aliment, circulating thro'
the animal Body, is at last reduc'd almost to
an imperceptible Tenuity or Thinness, before 
it can serve the animal Purposes, in nourish- 
ing both the Fluids and Solids; and after 
various Circulations, and when it is depriv'd 
of all that can be of farther Use to any Part 
of the Body, it is carried off, both sensibly
and insensibly, by the Emunctories * of the 
Body. But for farther Satisfaction concern- 
ing Nutrition, Growth, and Decrease of the 
Body, turn to Part I. Page 19, to 28. 
By the foregoing Doctrine it is evident, 
that Acrimony and Tenacity or Glewiness, 
are the two Qualities in what we take in- 
wardly most to be avoided; for Acrimony or 
Sharpness destroys the capillary Vessels, and 
when it is so great as to affect the solid Parts, 
the Sensation of Pain is intolerable. 
As
the Tubes; and without this Motion, both the Blood and 
Chyle would soon be converted into one solid Mass; but on 
the contrary, by its Continuance, the Fluid being compressed
by the Sides of the Tube, especially in the small Vessels, 
where the Points of Contact are more, the Blood and Chyle 
are still more intimately mix'd, and by Friction attenuated;
by which means the Mixture acquires a greater Degree of 
Fluidity and Similitude of Parts. Hence appears the Neces- 
sity of Exercise to promote a good Digestion. And the Strength 
of the Aliment ought to be proportion'd to the Strength of
the solid Parts of tire Body; for as Animals that use a great 
deal of Labour and Exercise, have their solid Parts more
elastick and strong, they can bear, and ought to have stron- 
ger Food, too thin Nourishment being quickly dissipated by 
the vigorous Action of the solid Parts. 
* Are those Parts of the Body where any thing excremen- 
titious is seperated, and collected to be in readiness to be ejected. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 163
As to the Viscidity or Glewiness of what is 
taken inwardly, when the peristaltick Motion 
of the Guts is so weak, as not to be able to propel 
or drive it forward, the Consequence is dange- 
rous, and often fatal to the Life of the Indi- 
vidual; for when the Tenacity of any Sub- 
stance exceeds the Powers of Digestion, it 
will neither pass, nor be converted into Ali- 
ment; whereas hard Substances will pass 
undissolv'd. Moreover, the Mouths of the La- 
cteals in People of weak and lax Constitutions
may permit Aliment too acrimonious, or not 
sufficiently attenuated, to enter; but the 
Sphincters † in such as have strong Fibres will 
shut against them. 
Besides, a viscid Mucus may shut up the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by which means the 
Chyle will pass by Stool, and the Person falls 
into an Atrophy or Decay of Flesh. Wind 
with Distention of the Bowels are Signs of 
bad Digestion in the Intestines, and likewise 
Diarrhœas, which proceed from Acrimony, 
Laxity of the Bowels, or Obstructions of the 
Lacteals. 
Those Parts of the Body where the Circu- 
lation of the Fluids, and the elastick Force of 
the Fibres are both smallest, must be most 
subject to Obstructions; and such are the 
Glands, which are the Extremities of Arte- 
L2 ries
† Sphincter, is a Name ascrib'd to such Muscles as draw 
up, strengthen, and keep shut the Parts, such as the Sphinc- 
ter of the Bladder, Womb, Anus, &c.


164 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ries form'd into cylindrical ‡ Vessels. Hence 
we may easily perceive, that too solid or vis- 
cid Aliment must be very hurtful to scrophu- 
lous and consumptive Persons. 
Having endeavour'd to give the Reader an 
Idea of animal Digestion, by shewing how 
our Aliment is converted into animal Substance, 
in as succinct a manner as could be in so nar- 
row a Compass: I shall now proceed in the 
same manner to give an Account of the 
Choice of them, that what is either beneficial 
or hurtful may be easily seen, according to
the Nature and Difference of Constitutions. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of ALIMENTS.
AS all Animals are made either immediate- 
ly or mediately of Vegetables §, that is, 
by feeding on them, or on Animals that are 
fed on Vegetables: I shall therefore begin
with the Vegetable Kind. 
Vegetables
‡ Cylindrical, in Anatomy, signifies Vessels that are so 
shaped, as not to be narrower at one End than another, but 
that all their Parts are equally distant in all Places from their 
Center; or which is the same thing, that they are of the 
same Diameter in all Places, contrary to conical Vessels, which 
are tapering and growing narrower. 
§ Vegetables are such natural Bodies as grow and increase 
from Parts organically form'd, as Trees, Plants, and Roots, 
&c. but have no proper Life or Sensation.



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 165
Vegetables are proper Food enough to re- 
pair Animals, as they consist of the same 
Parts with animal Substances, such as Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, Water, and Earth, all which 
are contain'd in them, and may be extracted 
from them. Their Salts are capable of re- 
solving the coagulated Humors of a human 
Body; and of attenuating, by stimulating the 
Solids, and dissolving the Fluids: Salts like- 
wise promote Secretion. Oils also relax the 
Fibres, and are Lenient, Balsamick, and abate 
Acrimony in the Blood; and by Virtue of 
this Oil, Vegetables are nutrimental; for this
Oil is extracted by animal Digestion, as an 
Emulsion from Seeds by a Pestle and Mortar. 
But Aromatick Plants, tho' they abound with 
Oil, yet it is not soft and nutritious, and
when mix'd with a Spirit, is too heating. 
Tastes are Indexes or Marks of the different 
Qualities of all Sorts of Aliment; and diffe- 
rent Tastes proceed from different Mixtures 
of Salt, Oil, Water, and Earth, but princi- 
pally from the Spirit and Oil, mix'd with 
some Salt of a particular Nature. A Mu-
riatick or briny Taste, is produc'd by a 
Mixture of an acid and alkaline Salt; for 
Spirit of Salt being an Acid, and Salt of Tar- 
tar, which is an Alkali * when they are 
L3 mix'd
* The Word Alkali comes from an Herb called by the 
Egyptians Kali. This Herb they burnt to Ashes, and boiled 
them in Water, and after having evaporated the Water, there 
remain'd a white Salt, which they called Alkali. It is cor- 
rosive, and will produce Putrefaction if apply'd to the Flesh,
and 



166 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
mix'd, produce a Salt like Sea-Salt, bitter and 
acrid, differing only by the sharp Particles of 
the first being intangled or involv'd in a 
greater Quantity of Oil than those of the 
last. 
Acid or four, proceeds from a Salt of the 
same Nature without a Mixture of Oil; 
and in austere Tastes, the oily Particles have 
not disentangl'd themselves from the Salts and 
earthy Parts, for such is the Tastes of unripe 
Fruits. In sweet Tastes, the acid Particles are 
so attenuated and dissolv'd in the Oil, as to 
produce only a small and grateful Sensation 
and Titillation; but in oily Tastes, the Salts
seem to be entirely disentangled. As Vege- 
tables contain acid or alkaline Salts, so they
produce different Effects upon human Bodies, 
and are to be used according to the different
Constitution of the Body at that time, as 
will appear by what I shall say hereafter. 
The properest Food of the vegetable King- 
dom that Mankind make Use of, is taken 
from the mealy Seeds of some culmiferous or 
Stalk-bearing Plants, as Barley, Wheat, Oats, 
Rice, Rye, Mays, Panick, and Millet; or 
from some of the Pulse or Leguminous Kind, 
such as Pease and Beans, &c. and as those 
are Seeds containing the most elaborate Part 
of
and ferments with Acids, as all lixiviate Salts will do, which 
are Anti-acids, that is, contrary to Acidity. 
As for acid or four Salts, one has a Notion of from Taste, 
Sourness being one of those simple Ideas which one cannot 
more plainly describe; so that whatever being mix'd with an 
Acid, causes an Effervescence or Ebullition, is called Alkali. 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 167
of the Plant, they are oily, and consequent- 
ly proper to be converted readily into an 
animal Emulsion or Chyle: Besides, their Oil 
is not highly exhalted and hot, as that of 
the aromatical and acrid Plants, but on the 
contrary, mild, benign, and nourishing to 
the human Body. 
Barley is detergent, emollient, and expe- 
ctorating, and it was first chosen by Hippo- 
crates as proper Food in inflammatory Dis- 
eases. 
Wheat is the properest of any Grain for 
Bread, which, if not entirely purg'd from 
the Bran, is laxative and stimulating to the
Bowels. 
Oats are cleansing, resolving and pectoral, 
which being outwardly apply'd mix'd with 
Batter, will dry Scabs on the Head. 
Rice, which two thirds of Mankind per- 
haps feed on, is most kindly nourishing and
benign, good in Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes of
Blood, and proper for consumptive Persons; 
but the Bread made of it is more acid and 
tess nourishing than that of Wheat. 
Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nou- 
rishing than Wheat. 
Millet is cleansing, diuretic, and therefore 
good in Distempers of the Kidneys. 
Panick is opening, and boil'd with Milk 
temperates Acrimony. 
Mays affords strong Nourishment, but not 
being so easily brought to a Fermentation as 
other Grains, is more viscous or glewy, and 
L4 conse-


168 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
consequently harder to digest. All the fore- 
mention'd Plants are highly Acescent †, ex- 
cept Pease and Beans. 
Pease are mild, and demulcent in a great 
Degree, being depriv'd of all aromatick Parts. 
Green Pease are very pleasant to the Taste, and
provoke Appetite; but they are injurious to 
many, being full of aërial Particles, creating
Flatulency when dissolv'd by Digestion. 
They are alkalescent §. 
Beans cleanse and fatten, and resemble
Pease in most of their Qualities, but are more 
windy, and occasion sometimes Colic Pains, 
and disturb the Head. The French or Kid- 
ney-Beans are best, being less windy. People 
that live a sedentary Life should not feed 
much upon Pease or Beans, by reason of their 
Viscosity creating top much Flatulency. 
The mealy Parts of the above-mention'd 
Plants dissolv'd in Water for constant Food, 
is too viscid an Aliment, and for that Reason 
justly condemn'd by Hippocrates; and upon 
that Account, Mankind have found the 
means to make them more easy of Digestion, 
by fermenting and making some of them in- 
to Bread, which is the lightest and properest 
for
† See Note following. 
§ Substances which are not perfectly Acid, but naturally 
turn so, are called Acescent; and Substances that are not per- 
fectly Alkaline, but naturally turn so, are called Alkalescent. 
See the Explanation of Alkali in Note *, p. 165. 
These two Qualities in Bodies are not merely imaginary, 
but have very different and contrary Effects upon human 
Bodies. 

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 169
for human Food; for the Leaven, by its acid 
Salt, divides the slimy and oily Parts of the 
Meal. 
The next Sort of vegetable Substances that
Mankind feed upon, are Fruits of Trees and 
Shrubs: They all contain an essential Salt, 
combin'd with Earth, Water, and Oil, much 
elaborated; and their different Qualities are 
known by their sharp, sweet, four, or styptic 
Taste. 
Apples are pectoral, cooling, laxative, and 
open the Breast; they differ considerably in 
Kind, and their Qualities are easily known by 
their Taste. 
Pears have most of the same Qualities, 
but they are more cordial, by their high Fla- 
vour, than Apples. 
Peaches are likewise cordial and pectoral; 
the best are those that are odoriferous, well 
colour'd, and full ripe. 
Apricocks quench Thirst, excite Appetite, 
provoke Urine; their Kernels are good against
Worms, and excellent for the Heart-burning: 
unless they are mellow and full ripe, they are 
rather somewhat styptick. 
Plumbs purge Choler, extinguish Heat, 
take away Thirst in Fevers; but they are bad 
for weak and cold Stomachs, and for phlegma- 
tic Persons, and such as are subject to Colics. 
Those of the austere Kind are astringent. 
Mulberries are pectoral, and correct a bi- 
lious Alkali.
Gooseberries

170 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Gooseberries extreamly ripe are lenient; 
but unripe, they are both sour and astrin- 
gent. 
Currants are good in spitting of Blood, ex- 
treamly cooling, and somewhat astringent. 
The Jelly or Rob of Currants mix'd with 
Water, is an excellent Drink in bilious Fevers. 
Cherries are cooling and laxative, and their 
Kernels are good for the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys. 
Strawberries, by their fragrant Smell are 
Cordial. Their Juice mix'd with that of Li- 
mons in Spring-Water is an admirable Drink 
in bilious Fevers. 
Oranges that are sweet are more relaxing 
than the Seville Oranges; but these last are 
an excellent Remedy for the hot Scurvy. The 
sweet Oranges increase Choler. 
Citrons or Limons excite Appetite, stop 
Vomiting, cut gross Humours, are good in 
Fevers, and their Juices are more cooling
and astringent than those of Oranges. 
Grapes taken in moderate Quantities when 
ripe, help the Appetite and Digestion; but 
in great Quantities, they dissolve the Gall too 
much, and produce Fluxes; and dry'd they 
are pectoral. 
Figs are great Correctors of Acrimony, 
they are good in Coughs and Hoarseness; 
they are likewise extremely emollient, relax- 
ing the urinary Passages, diuretick, and good
in bloody Urine. 
Quinces

Ch. VI. 171 thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
Quinces are often useful to weak Stomachs, 
and good in stopping Fluxes of Blood. 
Pomegranates likewise, containing an astrin- 
gent Juice, are extremely cooling. 
Barberries and Medlars are useful in 
Bloody-Fluxes. 
Tamarinds are cooling and astringent, yet
laxative to the lower Belly. 
Capers are astringent and diuretick; they 
excite the Appetite, and are good for phleg- 
matic and melancholy People. 
Olives are Anti-acids, or contrary to Aci- 
dity by their Oil; but all oily Substances be- 
get an Acrimony of another Sort. 
Almonds are pectoral, especially the Oil. 
Walnuts are cordial and Anti-hysteric, and 
promote Perspiration in a small Degree. 
Hazle-Nuts are in some Degree good 
against spitting of Blood; but they are very 
hard to be digested, they cause Wind, Coughs, 
and Pains in the Head. 
Chesnuts are good against some Female 
Weaknesses, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment. 
There are other Fruits of the low pomise- 
rous Kind, which contain a great deal of 
cooling and viscid Juice, combin'd with a ni- 
trous Salt, which renders them often offen- 
sive to the Stomach; and such are Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and Melons; tho' the 
last, when good, have a rich Juice, and some- 
what aromatick; they are diuretick, and 
there are Instances when eaten in great Quan- 
tities,



172 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tities, to have thrown People into bloody 
Urine: they are likewise cooling and refreshing, 
good for hot Stomachs, and the Kidneys; they 
ought to be taken fasting. The Juice of Cu- 
cumbers is too cold for weak Stomachs, and 
ought not to be taken by such as have thin 
and poor Blood. 
Among the alimentary Leaves, the Pot- 
Herbs afford an excellent Nourishment: Of 
those are all the Cole or Cabbage Kind, which 
are emollient, laxative, and resolvent, and 
for that Reason proper against Acidity. There 
are likewise amongst the Pot-Herbs some * 
Lactescent Plants, as Lettuce, Endive, Ci- 
chory, and Dandelion, which contain a milky 
Juice extremely wholsome, resolvent of the 
Bile, anodyne, cooling and diuretick, and 
very useful in the Distempers of the Liver. 
Artichokes are pleasant to the Taste, pro- 
voke Urine, and contain a rich, nutritious and 
stimulating Juice; they are good against Aci- 
dity. 
Asparagus is opening and diuretic; by the 
fœtid Smell it gives the Urine, it is suspected 
to be hurtful to the Kidneys; it is likewise 
good against Acidity. 
Parsley provokes Urine, the Courses, 
cleanses the Kidneys, and removes Obstru- 
ction and Wind; but it is bad in Bloody- 
Fluxes. 
Celery contains a pungent Salt and Oil; it 
is diuretick and aperient, and exceeding good 
for cold Constitutions. 
Spinage
* Vegetables containing a milky Juice. 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 173
Spinage is emollient or opening, good in 
Inflammations. 
Beet is emollient, nutritive, and relaxing, 
good in hot and bilious Constitutions. 
Sallads of all Sorts, mix'd with sweet Oil 
and Vinegar, are good for hot and strong 
Constitutions; because they are cooling, diu- 
retick, and emollient; but they are not pro- 
per for phlegmatick or weak Constitutions, or 
those that are subject to Colics or Indige- 
stion. 
Of the alimentary Roots, some are pulpy, 
and very nutritious; as Potatoes, Turnips, 
and Carrots, &c. 
Potatoes, of all Roots in general, are the 
best and most nourishing for healthy People, 
and there are Instances enough to prove the 
same both in Ireland, and in other Provinces, 
where two Thirds of the Husbandmen, and 
meaner Sort of People, constantly feed upon 
them, and are the principal Part of their 
Food; yet they are healthy, active, and vi- 
gorous, and for the most Part live long. 
Turnips are very nutritious, good in Con- 
sumptions, Asthmas, and all Diseases of the 
Breast; they are emollient and diuretick. 
Carrots are fattening, they provoke Urine, 
and the Menses, and likewise help to open 
Obstructions; but they are windy, and there- 
fore not proper for colicky or weak Sto- 
machs. 
Parnisp is a very nourishing and palatable 
Root; it fattens, and is a Provocative; it 
opens,




174 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
opens, attenuates, and cleanses; but it is 
hard to digest, and not good for asthmatick 
and consumptive People. 
There are other Roots which abound with 
an acrid, volatile Salt; as Garlick, Onion, 
Rockambole, Shalot, Leeks, Radishes, and 
Horse-radishes: They contain a pungent, vola- 
tile Salt and Oil; they are extremely diure- 
tick, and when stimulating Diureticks can 
be safely used, they are very effectual. 
Experience teaches, that Garlick is a very 
excellent Remedy in Dropsies, Jaundices, 
and in Asthmas proceeding from a cold and 
viscid Phlegm. 
Cresses and Mustard contain likewise, in 
their Degrees, a pungent Salt and Oil, as well 
as the last mention'sd Roots; and as all of 
them subdue Acidity, they are very improper 
in Cases where the Blood is too much dissol- 
ved, as in spitting of Blood, and bloody 
Urine, or where the Blood or Juices have a 
Tendency to a State of alkaline Putrefaction; 
and in general they are fitter for cold Con- 
stitutions and old People, than for the young 
and sanguine. Mustard indeed is a very 
powerful Remedy in viscid and cold phleg- 
matick Cases. 
The Fungous Kind, as Truffles, Morelles 
and Mushrooms, contain an Alkaline volatile 
Salt, and an exalted Oil of a grateful Savour; 
but are heating, and the best Method of cor- 
recting them is by Vinegar: Some of them 
being poisonous, render the rest justly suspi-
cious;





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 175
cious; the poisonous Sort operate in a suffo- 
cating Manner, in which Case the best Re- 
medy is Wine, or Vinegar and Salt, and vo- 
miting as soon as possible. 
There are Vegetables used by Mankind in 
Seasonings, which afford an exalted aroma- 
tick Oil, and of a spicy Nature, as Marjoram, 
Basil, Savory, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage and 
Mint: They are heating, and most of them 
hard to digest: Other Spices of a more power- 
ful Nature, as Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, 
Cloves, Ginger and Pepper, abound with a 
high exalted Oil and volatile Salt, by which 
Principles they are heating, and act powerfully 
upon the Fluids and Solids, by stimulating the 
Solids and resolving glutinous and fat Sub- 
stances: They are all proper in phlegmatick 
cold Constitutions. But Sage being a stimu- 
lating, drying, and astringent Plant, when used 
in great Quantities will produce Disorders like 
Drunkenness; therefore the Infusion or Tea 
made of it is very improper in all inflamma- 
tory Fevers as a Diluter. 
Of Tea, Coffee, 
and Chocolate.
As the Infusions and Deco- 
ctions  make so considerable a Part 
of Aliment at present, especially among the 
Female Sex, it will not be improper to say 
something of their Qualities in particular. 
Of Tea, Coffee,
and Chocolate.
Tea, by its Manner of affecting the Organs 
of Taste and Smell, affords very little of a vo- 
latile Spirit its bitter and astringent Rosin or 
fix'd Oil cannot be extracted by Water, but 
requires






176 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
requires rectify'd Spirit of Wine for that Pur- 
pose. The most active Principles of it that 
can be extracted by Infusion are the most se-
parable Parts of its Oil or Gum, and Salt. 
Its Salt and Gum are astringent, as appears by
mixing it with Chalybeat-Waters, which will 
produce a Tincture of the same Colour as that 
of Oak-leaves; it is * Acescent, as appears by 
its affecting Stomachs troubled with Acidity, 
which Disorder it will rather promote than 
correct: By its astringent Quality it moderate- 
ly helps to correct the relaxing Quality of the 
warm Water; and by its styptick and stimu- 
lating Quality, it affects the Nerves, very of- 
ten producing Tremors. By the frequent 
drinking too great Quantities of it, as is now 
become a common Practice, it will relax and 
weaken the Tone of the Stomach; from 
whence proceed an Inappetency, Nausea, 
Reachings or Vomitings, Indigestion and 
Sickness at the Stomach; and generally speak- 
ing, a pale and wan Complexion, with a 
Weakness of the Nerves and Flabbiness of the 
Flesh, the Solids and Fluids being thereby 
deprived of their proper Nourishment. 
Hence we may easily perceive, how perni- 
cious Tea-drinking may prove to the Seden- 
tary, especially the Female Sex, who for the 
Generality have weak and tender Nerves; 
but as Milk abates some of the fore-mention- 
ed bad Qualities, by rendering it softer and nu- 
tritious, and Sugar as a Salt, encreases it stimu- 
lating
* See Note §, Page 168. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 177
lating Quality, it may be a proper Breakfast e- 
nough, as a Diluent, to those who are strong, and 
live full and free, in order to cleanse the alimen- 
tary Passages, and wash off the scorbutick and 
urinous Salts from the Kidneys and Bladder. 
But Persons of weak and tender Nerves, as 
I have just now observ'd, ought carefully to 
avoid and abstain from it, as from Drams and 
cordial Drops; for such fall into Lowness, 
Trembling and Vapours, upon using it with 
any Freedom, by its Irritation on the tender 
and delicate Fibres of the Stomach *. 
As to Coffee, it is a meer Calx, or a kind of 
burnt Horse-Bean, but lighter on the Sto- 
mach and somewhat of a better Flavour; and 
what is extracted from it by hot Water, is 
the most separable Parts of its Oil, which of- 
ten appears at the Top of the Decoction. This 
Oil is volatile, and affords very little Nourish- 
ment, producing all the bad Effects of a vola- 
tile Oil and aromatic Acrimony, such as Heat, 
Dryness, Stimulation, Tremors of the Nerves; 
for which Reason, it has been deem'd to cause 
Palsies, Watchfulness, Leanness, and destroy 
masculine Vigour: Hence it is very plain, 
that it must; be pernicious to hot, dry, and 
bilious Constitutions, and only beneficial to 
Phlegmaticks, if moderately us'd; but when 
drank in too great a Degree of Strength or 
M Qua-
* For further Satisfaction herein, see Dr. Thomas Short's 
learned and elaborate Dissertation upon Tea, in which the 
Author has not only given us the Natural History of the Plant, 
but likewise its Analysis, with great Skill and Industry.



178 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quantity, it will prove destructive even to 
phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Chocolate is undoubtedly much the best of 
the three; for its Oil appears to be both rich, 
nutritious and anodyne *, and is as soft as that 
of Sweet-Almonds: This Oil combin'd with 
its own Salt and Sugar renders it saponaceous † 
and detergent; by this Quality it often helps 
Digestion and excites the Appetite; and is only 
proper for some of the leaner and stronger 
Sort of phlegmatick Constitutions, and some 
ancient healthy People, who are accustom'd 
to bodily Exercise. 
There are other Preparations of Vegetables 
by Fermentation, whereby they are changed 
into spirituous Liquors, which are, or may be 
called by the general Name of Wines; Such 
fermented Liquors have different Qualities 
from the Plants that produce them; for no 
Fruit taken crude has the intoxicating Quality 
of Wine. Of these Liquors I shall take par- 
ticular Notice, after I have given the Reader 
a short Account of the Nature of animal 
Diet, as far as it regards the Nourishment of 
Human Bodies. 
Animal Food is more easily converted into 
animal Substance than Vegetables; and there- 
fore more nourishing to human Bodies: And 
the
† Easing, or taking away Pain. 
‡ Sope is a Mixture of Oil and fix'd alkaline Salt, and in 
common Use its Virtues are cleansing, penetrating, attenuat- 
ing, and resolving; so that any Mixture of an oily Substance 
with Salt maybe call'd a Sope; hence Bodies of this Nature 
are call'd Saponaceous.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 179
the Nature of Animal Diet must depend up- 
on the Nature, Age, Food, and other Cir- 
cumstances of the Animal we feed upon. 
The Animal as well as Vegetable Juices are 
in their greatest Perfection, when the Ani- 
mal is full grown; for young Animals par- 
take of the Nature of their tender Food, as 
Sucklings of Milk, &c. 
All Animal Diet in general is anti-acid, 
or contrary to Acidity or Sourness; because 
no found Animal has any acid Salt in it, as 
has been often prov'd by Experiments. Those 
Animals that feed upon other Animals have 
their Flesh and Juices more alkalescent, that 
is, more anti-acid than those that live upon 
Vegetables; such are most Fishes, all Birds 
which feed upon Worms and Infects, several 
kinds of Water-Fowls, Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and several kinds of small Birds; which, for 
that Reason, afford a more exalted Nou- 
rishment than those that feed upon Grain or 
other Vegetables. 
Animal Flesh differs according as the Ani- 
mal is terrestrial, aquatick, or amphibious;
and the same Species of Animals differs accord- 
ing to the Soil and Air it lives in, and the 
Food which it takes; as those that live in 
Mountains and Marshes; the Flesh of Oxen, 
Sheep, Deer and Hogs in different Pastur- 
age. 
Fishes abound more with alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial Animals; for which Rea- 
son they are sooner corrupted: And amphibi-
ous Animals partake somewhat of their Na- 
M2 ture





180 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ture by feeding upon them, and are therefore 
oily; and notwithstanding the Redundancy of 
Oil in Fishes, yet they do not increase Fat 
so much as Flesh-meat, by Reason of their 
watery Quality; and as Fish and Water- 
Fowls are highly alkalescent, and abound 
with a great deal of rancid Oil, they should 
be always qualified by a due Quantity of Salt 
and Vinegar. 
The most healthy Animals afford the best
Aliment, and the Castrated are better than 
those that are not so; and the only Way of 
having found and healthful animal Food, is 
to leave them to their own natural Liberty in 
the free and open Air, and in their own pro- 
per Element, with Plenty of Food and due 
Cleanness, and a Shelter from the Inclemency 
of the Weather when they have a Mind to 
retire to it. Therefore we should never make 
Choice of cramm'd Poultry, or stall-fed Butch- 
er's Meat for our Food, did we consider the 
foul, gross, and filthy Manner in which they 
are confin'd, and the stinking, putrid, and 
unwholsome Food with which they are fed, 
especially Poultry and Hogs; for we may be 
well assured, that perpetual Foulness and 
Cramming, gross Food and Filthiness will 
rot the Juices, and mortify the muscular Sub- 
stance of human Creatures, and consequently 
can do no less in Brute Animals, and thus 
make even our Food Poison. Besides, stall-fed 
Cattle and cramm'd Fowls are often diseas'd 
in their Livers. The same may be likewise 
said





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 181 
said of Plants and Vegetables, forc'd and pro- 
duced by Hot-beds. 
Animals, Herbs, Fruits and Corn are to 
be chosen in high Places, such as are refresh'd 
with wholsome Winds and cherish'd with 
the warm Beams of the Sun, and where there 
are no Marshes, Lakes, and standing Waters; 
for in such Places they are quickly corrupted; 
and likewise the Flesh of all Animals that live 
in Fens and standing Pools are to be avoided, 
such as Ducks, Geese, &c. 
The Flesh of Animals too old is unwhol- 
some, being hard, dry, sinewy, and of little 
Nourishment, and hard to be digested; and 
on the contrary, such as are too young abound 
with too much Moisture, and are full of Su- 
perfluities, and therefore cannot nourish so 
well as an Animal full grown, in as much as 
they partake of the Nature of their tender 
Food, as I have observ'd already. 
Salt Fish produces gross Humours, and 
had Juices in the human Body; for it dries 
much, and breeds many Superfluities, and is 
of little Nourishment; it occasions Thirst, 
Hoarseness, Acrimony, or Sharpness in the 
Blood, and Erosion of the small Fibres, Pains, 
and all the Symptoms of the Muriatick or 
briny Scurvy, upon account of the Salt, 
which is unalterable in all the Circulations of 
the human Body, and therefore very improper 
Food for all Constitutions, except some strong 
labouring People, and even in those it will pro- 
duce very bad Effects, if they feed upon it 
M3 for





182 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
for a Constancy, as we see in Sea-faring Peo- 
ple. The same may be said of Salt Flesh. 
The Flesh of Birds is lighter, drier, and 
easier digested than that of four-footed Beasts,
and for that Reason, more agreeable to those 
of a studious Profession, who exercise the 
Mind more than the Body; for as they are 
more easily digested, so they breed better 
Blood, that is, clear, clean, and full of Spi- 
rits, which is fit for the Exercises of the 
Mind. 
The Flesh of the wild Kind of Animals, 
such as frequent Woods, high open Places, 
and Mountains, is better than that of tame 
ones, having more Exercise and no Confine- 
ment, have their Juices more elaborated, and 
their Flesh will keep longer uncorrupted; be- 
cause they live in a better Air, and feed upon 
what they like best without Constraint; for 
the same Reason their Fibres are harder, es- 
pecially when old. This Rule in some mea- 
sure holds true with Fishes; for Sea-fish and 
River-fish living in an Element more agitated, 
are better than those in Ponds. For these Reasons 
Hippocrates commends the Flesh of the wild 
Sow preferable to the tame; and doubtless the 
Animal is more or less healthy, according to 
the Air it lives in; for the Flesh of the same 
Species differs very much, as the Animal 
lives in Marshes or Mountains. 
Flesh boil'd is more wholsome (especially 
for weak Stomachs) than roasted; for boiling 
draws more of the rank and strong Juices
from




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 183
from it, and renders it more diluted, lighter, 
and easier of Digestion, tho' not so nutritive; 
but on the other hand, roasting leaves it ful- 
ler of the strong nutritive Juices, harder to 
digest, and wanting more Dilution *; there- 
fore those who eat the Flesh of full-grown 
Animals, ought to eat it well boil'd, if their 
Digestion is weak. They who live upon 
young animal Food, which is best for weak 
Stomachs, ought to eat it roasted, and lessen 
the Quantity in respect of the same Food 
boil'd, but they must dilute it more; for as 
roast Meat has a stronger Flavour, more 
Nourishment, and lies more compact in the 
Stomach; so it will require to be more di- 
luted with some small Liquors to soften its 
more rigid and crisp Fibres. 
Meats bak'd, fry'd, and broil'd, generate 
nauseous Humours and Crudities in the Sto- 
mach, and are very difficult to be digested, 
tho' they are very nourishing. 
Lamb, Veal, and Kid, afford excellent 
Nourishment, and are easy to be digested, 
and therefore proper Food for those of a se-
dentary Life and studious Professions. 
Beef affords great Nourishment to those 
that labour and exercise much, and generates 
much Blood; but it is too strong for tender, 
weak, and sedentary People, especially when 
Stall-fed, and very large; for Grass Beef and 
M4 Mutton
* Dissolving or making thinner any Substance, with the 
addition of Fluids or Liquids, which are called Diluents or
Diluters.




184 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Mutton are lighter than Stall-fed Oxen and 
Sheep. 
Mutton breeds good Blood, nourishes ex- 
ceeding well, and is easily digested; and by 
Experiment is found the most perspirable of all 
animal Food, and Hogs-Flesh and Oysters the 
least. 
Rabits are of a good Nourishment, they 
consume the superfluous Moisture and Phlegm 
in the Stomach, and the Flesh is not near so 
dry as that of a Hare, and therefore nou- 
rishes better, and is much easier to be di- 
gested. 
Young Hares are very sweet and pleasant 
to the Stomach when well dressed, they 
are good for such as are too fat. It is said, 
that the Blood of a Hare fry'd and eaten, is 
good against the Bloody-Flux, inward Im- 
postumations, and the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys; and that the Brains of a roasted Hare 
cures Tremors, and facilitates the breeding of 
Teeth in Children; but the Moderns justly 
despise such whimsical and groundless Pra- 
ctice. 
Pork and Bacon afford great Nourishment, 
but as they feed the foulest of any Creature, 
and their Juices are the rankest, their Sub- 
stance is the most surfeiting; and as they are 
the most subject to † cutaneous Diseases and 
Putrefaction of any Creature, they are highly 
injurious to valetudinary, sedentary, and stu- 
dious People; for they cause the Gout and 
Stone
† Diseases of the Skin, such as Pimples, Scabs, Mange, &c. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 185
Stone in Kidneys, Scurvy, and cutaneous 
Eruptions. The Flesh of sucking Pigs is 
endued with the same bad Qualities, tho' 
not in so great a Degree. 
Brawn made of the Flesh of young Boars 
is tolerable good eating, having not so much 
Slime and excrementitious Moisture as Pork, 
Pig, and Bacon; but the hard and horny Part 
is very difficultly digested. 
Deer affords good Nourishment, and is 
apt to make lean such as are too fat, accord- 
ing to the Observations of some Authors, but 
I very much doubt the Veracity of such As- 
sertions, for it seems even contradictory to 
say, that whatever affords good Nourish- 
ment, shou'd render corpulent and fat People, 
thin or lean. 
Of all the Parts of Birds and other Beasts, 
some are better than others; for all the Ex- 
tremities, as the Head, Neck, Feet, and Tail, 
in respect of the rest, are of a hard, viscid, 
and gross Nourishment; but the Parts about 
the Wings, Back and Breast, are better, and 
more savoury. 
Cream, Butter, and Marrow, are all leni- 
ent and nourishing: Marrow is excellent in 
the dry Scurvy with crackling of the Bones, 
where it performs its natural Office in moisten- 
ing them. 
Cheese that is new fattens, tastes pleasant- 
ly, and is not very injurious to the Stomach, 
especially Cream-Cheese, which is the best
and most wholsome when newly made. 
Cheese





186 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cheese of no kind is good for Children or 
weak People, for it lies too heavy in the 
Stomach, is apt to breed Slime and Worms 
in Children, and it ought to be eaten only 
after Meals, to close up the Mouth of the 
Stomach at such times; but too much of it 
is bad at any time, especially old Cheese, for 
it occasions Thirst, inflames the Blood, and 
is often the Cause of the Gravel and Stone 
in the Kidneys or Bladder; therefore it is 
only proper for Mechanics and labouring 
People, or those that are strong and healthy, 
and use much Exercise. 
Milk is a most noble, nourishing, and 
wholsome Food; it is neither Acid nor Al- 
kaline; but when there is an Acid and Al- 
kali mix'd in it, they presently manifest 
themselves by their Fermentation and Con- 
flict. Milk, after standing some Time, na- 
turally separates into an oily Substance called 
Cream, and a thinner, blue, and more pon- 
derous Liquor called skimm'd Milk, and nei- 
ther of these Parts is naturally acid or alka- 
line, nor in the least acrimonious; for being 
dropp'd into the Eye, they cause no manner 
of Pain or Sensation of Sharpness; but by 
standing too long, they will turn both sharp 
and four. Milk is a kind of Emulsion, or 
white animal Liquor, resembling Chyle, after 
it has been mixed with the Spittle, Bile, and 
pancreatick Juices, &c. is easily separated 
from them again in the Breasts.
A




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 187
A Nurse that would abstain from all acid 
vegetable Food, from Wine, and Malt Li- 
quors, and feed only upon Flesh, and drink 
Water, her Milk, instead of turning sour, 
would become putrid, and smell like Urine; 
so that an alkalescent Diet †, (as is often the 
Case of Nurses in great Families) Subjects 
the Child to Fevers; but on the other hand, 
the Milk of poor People that feed upon an 
§ acescent vegetable Diet, subjects the Child
to Diseases that proceed from Acidity in the 
Bowels, such as Colics, Gripes; the Symp- 
toms of such a Constitution are a four Smell 
in their Excrements, four Belchings, Disten- 
sions or Swellings of the Bowels, and Pale- 
ness of the Flesh. 
The Cure of both Diseases is effected by 
a Change of Diet in the Nurse, that is, from 
Alkalescent to Acescent, or contrary ways, as 
the Case requires. But the best Diet for Nurses 
is a Mixture of both, and no Nurse should 
give Suck after twelve Hours fasting;
for then her Milk is apt to turn yellow, which 
is an early Sign of a Fever in the Nurse. 
It appears from the fore-mention'd Quali-
ties, that Milk is a very proper Diet for hu- 
man Bodies, especially for thin, hectical, and 
emaciated
† Alkalescent Diet is the Flesh, Broths, and Juices of all 
Animals, both Terrestrial and Aquatick, which in a found 
State have no manner of Acid in them, as is very well 
known by Experiments. 
§ An Acescent vegetable Diet, is taken from Plants, Fruits, 
and their Juices, and all fermented Liquors, which are either 
actually acid, or naturally turn so. 



188 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
emaciated People, and where Acrimony in 
the Blood and Juices is to be subdued or 
avoided; but it is not proper for those that 
are troubled with the Colic or Stone, neither 
is it proper in Obstructions of the Vessels, it 
being void of all saline Quality. 
Whey is good for such as are of a hot Con- 
stitution, it quenches Thirst, promotes Sleep, 
and of all Drinks is the most relaxing, and 
is a powerful Remedy in the hot Scurvy. 
The different Nature of Birds is known by 
the Time, Age, Food, Place, and Air they 
live in; because Domestick as well as Wild 
Fowl, grow lean, and feed little at the Time 
of their coupling. And some Birds are best in
Spring or in Summer, at which Time they 
feed upon Corn; others in Autumn, because 
they eat Grapes, Figs, Apples, Berries, and
such like. Others again are best in Winter, 
such as Thrushes. Blackbirds, wild Geese, 
Cranes, and all Water Fowl. 
Some live on Worms, Infects, and Fish, as 
Woodcocks, Snipes, &c. but most feed on 
Grain, as Pigeons, Doves, and all Dome- 
stick Fowls, and the like: Some are nourish'd 
on Land, others in Rivers, Lakes, and in 
the Sea, and a great many Birds feed upon 
Herbs; and it is very remarkable, that the 
Flesh of wild Fowl has always the Taste of 
such Things as they feed on, as Fish, Slime, 
Mud, Worms, and other Infects. 
Mountain Fowls are always preferable to 
the rest; besides, castrating or cutting a Fowl,
renders

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 189
renders it fat and sweet, as appears in the 
Flesh of Capons; and the Flesh of young 
Birds is always better than that of old ones. 
Duck is the hottest of all tame Fowl; the 
Wings and Liver are the best, but of hard 
Digestion, and gross Nourishment; it is good
in cold Weather for strong Stomachs, and 
such as labour much. 
Capon nourishes better than all other tame 
Fowl, and breeds good Blood and Juices in 
the human Body. 
Pigeons afford good Nourishment; they 
are very hot, and therefore only proper for 
old and phlegmatic People, or such as labour 
much, who generally speaking, will digest 
any Food without any Trouble or much Dan- 
ger.
Pheasants are very agreeable to human Na- 
ture; they comfort and strengthen the Sto- 
mach, afford great Nourishment, and fatten 
very much. 
Pullets nourish exceeding well, are easily
digested, and generate good Blood and found 
Juices; but old Hens are dry, hard to be di- 
gested, and afford little Nourishment; and 
the Flesh of a Cock is drier, hot, and sul- 
phurous, and therefore very improper Food 
for any Body, and fit for nothing else than to
make Broth of it, with a little Mutton, Veal, 
or both. 
Geese, especially the young Geese, afford 
good Nourishment; but old ones, that feed 
and live in Fenny Places, are coarse, and 
hard

190 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hard to be digested, and not fit Food for 
tender People, or weak Stomachs. 
Turkey is good Food, and affords good 
Nourishment, but harder to be digested than 
Capon or Pullet; yet a Turkey-Pout is deli- 
cate eating, breeds good Blood, and is easily
digested. 
Partridges afford good and sweet Nourish- 
ment, and are easily digested; they fatten, 
and likewise dry up the superfluous Moisture 
of the Stomach, and contribute much to the 
Preservation of Health, their Flesh being bet- 
ter than that of Pullets. 
Plovers, especially the Grey Sort, are good
wholsome Food, and afford good Nourish- 
ment, only they are somewhat of melan- 
choly Juice, according to some Writers. 
Blackbirds nourish sufficiently when they 
are fat and young; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion. 
Larks, if they are fat, nourish well, and 
are easily digested; they are best in Autumn 
and Winter. 
Sparrows, when young, afford good Nou- 
rishment, and are reckon'd to be Provoca- 
tives; but they are not easily digested. 
Peacocks nourish poorly, and are of a hard 
and slow Digestion, and breed melancholy 
Blood, therefore not worth any Body's eat- 
ing. 
Stares, if young and fat, nourish pretty well, 
but old ones are good for nothing. 
Thrushes

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 191
Thrushes nourish very well, and are easily 
digested, and the Mountain Thrushes are the 
best. 
Quails are very nourishing, and pleasant to 
the Taste, they are likewise good for melan- 
choly People; but some Authors say, that 
they cause the Cramp, and falling Sickness, 
with which it is said, this Bird is troubled. 
This, by the by, I take to be only the ground- 
less Opinion of some credulous and whimsi- 
cal Writers. 
Turtle Doves nourish exceeding well, and
are easily digested; they are good for the 
Stomach, and, according to some Authors, 
quicken the Understanding. 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all other long-billed
Birds that suck only animal Juices, or that 
feed upon Worms and other Infects, have their 
Juices more elaborate and exalted than those 
of Pullets, Turkeys, Pheasant or Partridge; 
and for that Reason they are much harder to be
digested, tho' they are very nourishing. 
Fish in respect of Flesh is less nourishing, 
because it is gross, phlegmatic, cold, and full 
of watery Superfluities. The old nourish 
better than the young, and those that live 
among Stones, Rocks and Gravel, are best. 
Fish in general are hard of Digestion; for 
they feed upon one another, and their Juices
abound with an alkaline Salt, that corrupts 
the Blood and causes chronical Diseases; for 
it is very remarkable, that those who live
much

192 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
much on Fish are afflicted with the Scurvy, 
Breakings-out upon the Skin, and other Dis- 
eases of a foul Blood: Besides, a true Sign of 
their Indigestion is, that every Body finds him- 
self more thirsty and heavier than usual after 
a full Meal of Fish, tho' ever so fresh; and is 
commonly forc'd to have Recourse to a Dram 
of some Spirit or other to carry them off. 
The following Rules concerning Fish may 
be of use to the Reader. 
First, That all fresh Fish should be eaten 
hot, and to eat less of Fish than of Flesh- 
meat. 2dly, Not to eat them too often, nor 
after great Labour and Exercise; for then 
they easily corrupt; neither should they be 
eaten after other solid Food. 3dly, Fish and 
Milk are not proper together; nor are Eggs 
to be used unless with Salt-Fish. 4thly, Great 
and slimy Fish are better pickled than fresh; 
and observe, that the clearer and deeper the 
Water is, the better are the Fish that are 
nourish'd therein. 5thly, Sea-Fish are whol- 
somer than fresh water Fish; for they are 
hotter and not so moist, and their Nourish- 
ment comes near that of Flesh-meat. 6thly, 
Of all Sea and River Fish, those are best that 
live in rocky Places; next to these, in gravel- 
ly or sandy Places, in sweet, clear, and run- 
ning Water, where there is no Filth: but 
those Fish are bad that live in Pools, muddy 
Lakes, Marshes, and in any still or muddy 
Water. 7thly, Amongst all the Fish both 
Sea






Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 193
Sea and River, those which are not too large 
are the best, and which have not hard and 
dry Flesh, that taste and smell well, and are 
crisp and tender, and have many Scales and 
Fins. 8thly, Fish are bad for cold and 
phlegmatic Constitutions, and only proper for 
hot and choleric People. The best Way of 
dressing Fish is to broil it; to boil it is the 
next, and to fry it is the worst.
Eels for want of Exercise are fat and 
slimy; they are of a delicate Taste, and nou- 
rish very much; but they offend the Sto- 
mach, and are hard to be digested, and be- 
ing used too often, are apt to breed the Stone 
in the Kidneys and Bladder, and occasion 
the Gout and Spasmodic Disorders; therefore 
whoever eats much of them, and often, en- 
dangers his Health. 
Carp of all Pond-fish is certainly the best, 
and the most noble, being of a very pleasant 
and grateful Taste, and nourishes well, in 
whatsoever manner it is eaten. 
Lampreys are of great Nourishment; they 
are of a most delicate Taste, and are al- 
so Provocatives; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion, and bad for gouty People, and such 
as ate troubled with Convulsive Disorders. 
Pike is a clean, sound Fish, and nourishes
very much; but is of hard Digestion. 
Sturgeon nourishes well, and excites Ve- 
nery; but is very hard to be digested. Of 
the Spawn or Row of this Fish pickled, is
N made




194 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
made what is called Caveer, which excites 
Appetite, and makes Liquor relish well. 
Crabs and Lobsters are much of the same 
Nature; the Broth of them is good for thin 
and emaciated People, for they nourish very 
much; but they are, like all other Shell-Fish, 
hard to be digested. 
Oysters are very nourishing, and preferable 
to all Shell-Fish, and ought to be eaten al- 
ways before Dinner, and never to drink spi- 
rituous Liquors upon them, which harden 
them in the Stomach, and prevent their being 
digested. They are likewise very hard of Di- 
gestion when stew'd; therefore the Substance 
of them dressed in that manner is very im- 
proper for weak Stomachs. They cure the 
Heart-burn proceeding from Acidity or Sour- 
ness in the Stomach, and are proper Food in 
such, and many other Cases. 
Turbut, Soles, and Plaice, are highly com- 
mended among Sea-Fish; for they have de- 
licate Flesh, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment, are not easily corrupted, nor hard to 
be digested. 
Pearch are reckon'd fine Fish; but they 
have soft, moist, and tender Flesh; they 
nourish but little, and are full of Excremen- 
titious Juices, therefore they are not near so 
good as People imagine them to be. 
Tench are very nourishing, but hard of Di- 
gestion.
Gudgeons and Smelts, of all small Fish are 
the best; they are wholsome Aliment, easily 
digested,




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 195
digested, and may be as safely given to sick 
People as Whitings unless they are fry'd. 
Flounders are good wholsome Aliment 
enough, and proper now and then as a Change 
for sickly People, and weak Stomachs, as 
they are not hard to be digested. 
Salmon is grateful to the Palate, and very 
nourishing, affords good Juices, but is too 
luscious to make a hearty Meal upon it, or 
live on it for any considerable Time. 
Trout is delicate eating, nourishes very 
well; the biggest, and such as is bred in gra- 
velly Rivers, and sweet running Waters, is 
best. Trout is good for hot and young Peo- 
ple, but bad for those that are decrepid, and 
for phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Cod-Fish, when fresh and in Season, is very 
good Nourishment, and not hard to be di- 
gested; but if it be dry or Salt, it is gross 
Food, and of hard Digestion. 
Haddock is much of the same Nature, but 
drier, yet it affords very good Nourishment. 
Skate and Thornback are Fish of good 
Nourishment, and delicate eating, when 
rightly manag'd; for if they are newly taken 
and dressed, they are scarcely digestable even 
by the strongest Stomachs; but if they are 
too stale, then they smell Urinous, and are in 
a State of Putrefaction. 
Barbel is very pleasant to the Palate, and 
the little ones are better than the great, and 
such as live in stony Places, and clear running 
N2 Waters;




196 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Waters; but their Flesh being hard, are not 
easily digested. The Roe of this Fish is care- 
fully to be avoided, it having the Quality of 
a strong Cathartick. 
Mackarel are very agreeable to the Taste; 
but their Flesh being hard, dry, and easily cor- 
rupted, is of little Nourishment, hard of Di- 
gestion, and therefore not proper Food for 
tender, weak, or sickly People. 
Herrings afford a great deal more Nou- 
rishment than the former; but their being 
so very hard of Digestion, renders them im- 
proper for every Body, except some hard la- 
bouring People. 
Sprats newly catch'd, and being either 
boiled or broil'd, afford good Nourishment, 
and are very agreeable to the Taste; but 
they are windy, and for that Reason not pro- 
per for such as are subject to Flatulency. 
Here it will be very necessary to give At- 
tention to the following Particulars in the 
Choice of our Aliments. 
1. That those Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity, are lightest of Di- 
gestion: thus the Spring Vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, some Sorts of Sallading, and 
Strawberries, are more easily digested than 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, and Nectarines;
because they have less of the Solar or Sun-Fire 
in them; for their Parts are united by a weaker 
Heat, that is, with less Velocity, and besides 
they contain little or no strong or fix'd
Salts. 
2. Among



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 197
2. Among Animals, the common Poultry,
Sheep, Kids, Hares, and Rabits, &c. which 
come to their Maturity, and propagate their 
Species in the same or a few Years, are much 
more tender, and readily digested, than Cows, 
Oxen, Boars, &c. for the Reason already 
given; and because their Parts cohere less 
firmly. And it is observable, that Vegetables 
which are longest in ripening, that is, whose 
Juices contain most of the Solar Heat in 
them, their fermented Juices produce the 
strongest vinous Spirits, such as Grapes, El- 
der-Berries, and the like: and that Animals, 
which are longest coming to Maturity, their 
Juices yield the most rank and most fœtid 
Urinous Salts. 
3. That the larger and bigger the Vege- 
table, or Animal is in its Kind, the Food 
made thereof is the stronger, and harder to 
be digested. Thus a large Onion, Apple, or 
pear, and large Beef and Mutton, are har- 
der to be digested than the lesser ones of the 
same Kind; not only, as their Vessels being 
stronger and more elastic, their Parts are 
brought together with a greater Force; but 
also, because the Qualities are proportionably 
more intense in great Bodies of the same 
Kind. Thus a greater Fire is proportionably 
more intensely hot than a lesser one; and 
likewise, the Wine contain'd in a larger Ves- 
sel becomes stronger than that contain'd in a 
lesser, and consequently the Juices of larger 
Vegetables and Animals are more rank 
N3 than





198 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than those of smaller ones of the same 
Kind. 
4. Sea-Fish or Animal's, are harder to di- 
gest than Land Animals; because, generally 
speaking, their Food is other Animals; and 
the Salt Element in which they live, renders 
their Flesh more firmly compact, Salts having 
a stronger Power of Cohesion † than any 
other Bodies. And for the same Reason, salt- 
water Fish is harder to digest than fresh-wa- 
ter Fish. 
5. Vegetables and Animals, that abound 
with oily, fat, and viscid Substance, are har- 
der to digest than those of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance; because oily and fat 
Substances commonly elude the Force and 
Action of animal Digestion, especially in such 
as have little Exercise and weak Stomachs; 
for their Parts attract one another, and unite 
more strongly than any other Substances, ex- 
cept Salts; inasmuch as their Softness and 
Humidity relax and weaken the Tone and 
Force of the Stomach, the Fat and Oil be- 
ing shut up in little Bladders, that are with 
Difficulty broken and separated. Thus Nuts of 
all Kinds, as they contain a great deal of Oil, 
pass thro' the Alimentary Duct almost undi- 
gested; for the same Reason, Olives are more 
difficult to digest than Pease, and fat Meat 
than the lean of the same. 
6. That all Vegetables and Animals of a 
strong, pungent, and aromatic hot Taste, are 
harder
‡ Sticking together.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 199
harder to digest than those of a softer, mild- 
er, and more insipid Taste; because such 
Substances abound with a great deal of Salts, 
or an Oil extremely active and heating; for 
high Relish comes from abundance of Salts 
and exalted Oils. A great deal of Salts sup- 
poses such Vegetables and Animals as are a 
long time coming to Maturity; and where 
Salts abound, the Fibres are dryer, harder, 
and more firmly in Contact with each other; 
for that Reason they are more difficultly sepa- 
rated, and harder to be digested. 
But however, Sea-Salt, or Rock-Salt, being 
fixed and of the same Nature, of all Season- 
ings is the best, without which no Food is 
good, and is used by Mankind in their Ali- 
ments for the following Reasons. 1. That 
thereby the Food may descend easier into the 
Stomach, and render it more savoury. 2. Be- 
cause it resists Putrefaction; consuming by its 
Dryness, that Moisture whereby Putrefaction 
might have been occasion'd. 3. It excites 
the Appetite, and digestive Faculty, and pre- 
vents Nauseating. 4. It dissolves, attenuates, 
and dries up the superfluous Moisture, pro- 
vokes the Bowels to discharge the Excrements, 
and is therefore used in Clysters and Supposi- 
tories. Besides, as all animal Substance contain 
no fix'd Salt, they want the Assistance of 
those, in order to promote Digestion, which 
preserve them both within and without the 
Body from Putrefaction; and as these fix'd 
Salts pass unalter'd thro' all the Strainers of a 
N4 human





200 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
human Body, the moderate Use of them is 
very proper to preserve Bodies through which 
they pass from Corruption. 
But on the other Hand, the immoderate 
Use of Salt produces a Multitude of woeful 
Disorders; such as Melancholy, Vapours, and 
bad Nourishment; it dries up the Blood, and 
causes the Muriatick, or Briny-Scurvy, Scab- 
biness and Itchy Ring-worms or Tetters, and 
even the Leprosy, with a great many other 
foul Humours and Eruptions in the Face 
and other Parts of the Body; and likewise it 
occasions Obstructions in the Urinary Passages, 
which oftentimes produce Ulcerations, Stone, 
and Gravel in the Kidneys and Bladder. 
And it will easily appear, that Salt can 
produce all these bad Effects, if we consider 
that Salts consist of hard and plain Surfaces, 
and in all Changes recover their Figure, and 
unite the most firmly of all Bodies whatever; 
for their plain Surfaces bring many Points in- 
to Union and Contact, and their Hardness and 
constant Figure render them durable and un- 
alterable; and thereby the active Principle, 
and Origin of the Qualities of Bodies, if in 
a Strict Sense there be any such Thing as a 
Principle; and when they approach within 
the Sphere or Limits of one another's Activity, 
they firmly unite in Clusters, all which ren- 
der the Separation of their original Particles 
the more difficult, and by that Means they 
obstruct the cuticular Glands, which are the 
Emunctories or Strainers of the whole Body, 
thro'



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 201 
thro' which not only the peccant Humours 
pass, but likewise the greatest Part of the Li- 
quors we drink, after having convey'd the 
Aliments into the Blood, being part of their 
Office, and in the next Place to dissolve the 
saline or terrestrial Particles to be carried off 
thro' the Glands of the Skin and Kidneys. So 
that when Salts adhere and unite in Clusters in 
the excretory Ducts of the Glands of the Skin, 
or the Kidneys, in the former they stop and 
pen in between the Scales of the * Scarf-skin 
the excrementious Humours, which ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, and 
thereby corrode the Skin, and produce Scur- 
vies, and other cutaneous Eruptions; in 
the latter, they cause Inflammations, Ulcera- 
tions, Suppression of Urine, and, as I have ob- 
served before, Stone and Gravel. Thus we 
may plainly see, how the immoderate Use of 
Salt is capable of producing not only all the 
disorders already mentioned, but likewise a 
great many more in the animal Oeconomy, 
Honey is the most accurate or exact Pro- 
duction of the vegetable Kind, perform'd by 
the Bee, being a most exquisite vegetable 
Soap, resolvent of the Bile, balsamick and 
pectoral: It is likewise detersive and opening, 
provokes
* It is the outermost Covering of the Body, and is that 
soft Skin which rises in a Blister upon any Burning, or the 
Application of a Blistering-Plaister. It sticks close to the 
Surface of the true Skin, to which it is tied by the Vessels 
which nourish it, tho' they are so small as not to be seen.




202 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
provokes Urine, and cleanses its Passages, and 
is excellent for old and phlegmatick People of 
a cold Constitution; for it warms the Sto- 
mach, moves the Body, resists Corruption, and 
breeds good Blood; but sometimes it causes 
Wind and Gripes in some Constitutions. 
Oil of Olives is sweet and pleasant, and 
very agreeable to Nature; and it is best when 
two Years old, and ought to be made of ripe 
Olives. 
Oil of Sweet Almonds, when fresh drawn, 
is next to it in Goodness, and much properer 
for Sick People, it being of a cooler Nature, 
and more easily digested, tho' not so agreeable 
to the Palate. 
Oil fattens, and taken in great Quantities, 
is excellent to expel Poison by vomiting, and 
by sheathing the Coats of the Stomach from 
its corrosive Salts; but eating Oil too often 
destroys the Appetite, because all Oils are very 
hard to be digested, as I have already proved. 
Vinegar: The best is that which is made 
of the best Wine: It is an Acid of very pe- 
culiar Quality, different from that of all other 
Acid; for it is cooling, and yet not coagu- 
lating; for it gently dilutes the Serum of the 
Blood, as has been often proved by Experi- 
ments. It is inciding, digestive, and opening. 
It is good against the Redundancy of Bile, 
and to extinguish the Heat of Choler and 
Thirst. It strengthens the Gums, excites the 
Appetite, removes Obstructions, helps Diges- 
tion, and is good for hot Stomachs, and re-
sists 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 203
sists Putrefaction; therefore it is very useful a-
gainst pestilential Diseases, especially in Time 
of the Plague: But too much Use of it 
breeds melancholy Humours, injures the 
Nerves, emaciates some Constitutions too 
much, offends the Breast, and makes People 
look old and withered, with pale Lips. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bo- 
dies, with their good and bad Effects.
ALL Bodies which can be changed into 
the Fluids and Solids of our Bodies by 
the animal Powers, are called Aliment, as has 
been observed in the first Paragraph of Chap. 
VI. And to take it in the largest Sense, by 
Aliment is understood every Thing which a 
human Creature takes in common Diet, as 
Meat, Drink; and Seasoning, as Salt, Spice, 
Vinegar, &c. 
Our Food therefore consists, not only of such 
Particles as are proper for the Nourishment 
and Support of the Body, but likewise contains 
in it certain active Principles, such as Salts, 
Oils, and Spirits, &c. which are endued with 
such Properties, as both to vellicate and sti- 
mulate the Solids, to quicken the Circulation, 
and by attenuating the Fluids, render them 
more




204 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
more fit to undergo the necessary Secretions of
the Body. The Art then of preserving Health, 
and obtaining long Life, chiefly consists in a 
Mediocrity of such Diet as neither increases 
the Salts and Oils, so as to produce Distem- 
pers, nor too few, so as to suffer the Solids to
become too much relaxed; and if this desirable 
Medium be attained, by following the common 
ordinary Diet of the healthiest People in any 
Country or Climate; that is then, indisputably, 
the best Method in general to prefer Health. 
For it is certainly true, that the infinitely 
wise Creator has provided Food proper and 
peculiar to every Country and Climate, which 
is best for the Support of the Creatures he has
placed therein, as may be seen by the Chear- 
fulness and Health of the middling Sort of 
People of all Nations, who use only a simple 
Diet, without lusting after voluptuous or fo- 
reign Delicacies. Yet the Diseases of human 
Bodies often require Substances of more active 
Principles than what are found in common 
Aliment, in order to produce sudden Altera- 
tions; but where such Alterations are not 
necessary, the same Effect may be obtained 
by the repeated Force of Diet, with more 
Safety to the Body, where the sudden Changes 
are less to be apprehended. The smaller Ac- 
tivity of the Aliment is compensated by its 
Quantity; for according to the Laws of Mo- 
tion, if the Bulk and Activity of Aliment and 
Medicines are in reciprocal Proportion, the Ef- 
fect will be the same; for they both only bring 
about

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 205
about the Effect, by acting either upon the So- 
lids or Fluids, or upon both; upon the first, by 
stimulating, contracting, or relaxing; upon 
the last, by attenuating, coagulating, or ren- 
dering them acrimonious or mild, or by in- 
creasing or diminishing their Motion through 
the Vessels. 
That all these Actions can be performed by
Diet as well as Medicine, is evident from
Reason, Experience, and in some Cases by 
ocular Demonstration; as in Chirurgery, in 
Wounds and Sores, where the Influence of 
Diet upon them is plainly seen; for a Diet 
too relaxing weakens the Spring of the Ves- 
sels so much, that they cannot sufficiently re- 
sist the Influx of the Liquid, and so begets a 
a Fungus, or proud Flesh; and when too as- 
tringent, it produces a Cicatrice, or callous 
Substance. The Effects of warm Water and 
mealy Substances in relaxing; of Spirits, in 
stopping Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes, and conso- 
lidating the Fibres; the Power of Alkaline 
Absorbents in subduing Acidity, and Oil in 
stopping Perspiration, is very well known to
both Physicians and Chirurgeons. 
All those Substances which stimulate the 
solid Parts, produce the greatest Alterations 
in animal Bodies; for violent Sneezing pro- 
duces Convulsions in all the Muscles of Re- 
spiration, and an universal Secretion of all the 
Humours, as Tears, Spittle, Sweat, Urine, 
&c. And even all this Alteration can be pro- 
duced by the tickling of a Straw or Feather; 
there-



206 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
therefore acrid or sharp Substances, that are 
minute enough to pass into the capillary Tubes, 
must stimulate the small Fibres, and irritate 
them into greater Contractions. And many 
Things which we take as Food, or with our 
Food, have this Quality in some Degree: Such 
as the Juices of acid Vegetables, fermented 
Liquors, especially sharp Wines, and ferment- 
ed Spirits; aromatical Vegetables, as Savory, 
Fennel, Thyme, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Mus- 
tard, all which abound with a volatile pungent 
Salt; and, in short, all Spices in general, and all 
Vegetables, which being corrupted, easily re- 
solve themselves into a fœtid, oily, alkaline 
Substance. 
The solid Parts of an animal Body may be 
contracted variously: First, by dissolving their 
Continuity. For as a Fibre is cut through, it 
contracts itself at both Ends; therefore all 
Things that are so sharp as to destroy the 
small Fibres, must contract them. Secondly, 
Whatever empties the Vessels, gives Room to 
the Fibres to contract; so that Abstinence 
produces this Effect in the best Manner: And
whatever shortens the Fibres, by insinuating
itself into their Parts, as Water in a Rope, 
contracts them; and fermented Liquors pos- 
sess this Quality in a great Degree. 
The more sulphurous or chymical Oil any 
Spirit contains, the more pernicious it proves 
to the human Body, because it is harder to be 
wash'd away by the Blood; therefore Brandy 
is more easily carried off than Spirit of Ju-
niper; 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 207 
niper; and that than Spirit of Annise-seed or 
Rum. Compound aromatical Spirits destroy, 
first, by their fermentative Heat; 2ndly, By 
their oily * Tenacity: 3dly, By a caustic 
Quality residing in all Spices apt to destroy
the solid Parts. However these Qualities may
tender them proper in some Cases, taken in 
small Quantities. 
Austere acid Vegetables have this Quality 
of contracting and strengthening the Fibres, 
without a great many of the bad Effects of 
distilled Spirits, such as all Sorts of Sorrel, 
the Virtues of which consist in an acid, astrin- 
gent Salt, which is a Sovereign Remedy a- 
gainst a putrescent, bilious Alkali; and seve- 
ral kind of Fruits, as Quinces, some Sorts of
Pears, with the Marmalades made of them; 
likewise Medlars, Capers, Barberries, Pome- 
granates, and Purslain, all such are easily
distinguish'd by a rough and styptic Taste. 
And amongst Drinks, austere Wines, unripe 
Fruits likewise have the same Quality; but 
they are apt to cause foul Eruptions on the 
Skin, to obstruct the Nerves, and occasion 
Palsies.
Relaxing the Fibres, is rendering them 
flexible, or easy to be lengthen'd without Rup- 
ture or Breaking, which is perform'd only in 
the capillary vascular Solids. 
Of all Liquids endued with this Quality of 
relaxing, warm Water is the first; and next 
to it, the watery Decoctions and Infusions of 
Mealy
* Adhering or sticking together.

208 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of Mealy Vegetables, or Grains, as Oats, Bar- 
ley, &c. likewise all sweet and mild Garden 
Fruits, and almost all Pot-Herbs, as Spinage, 
Beets, Cabbage, Coleworts, and all that Class;
lactescent Plants, such as yield a milky Juice, 
as Lettuce, Succory, and Dandelion, if un- 
fermented, for Fermentation changes their 
Nature; also fresh oils of mild Plants, or 
Nuts, Cream, Butter, Marrow, and Whey; 
all which Things help to weaken and relax 
the Fibres, and are therefore proper Reme- 
dies for a too rigid, strong, or elastic State. 
The Qualities of the Fluids of a human 
Body can be likewise chang'd by Diet; as by
attenuating or diminishing the Cohesion of 
the Particles of the Fluid: and the Cohesion 
of the Particles depends upon the Weight and
Quantity of Fluids; therefore Abstinence and 
a slender Diet attenuates or thins them, be- 
cause emptying the Vessels gives room to the 
Fluid to expand or dilate itself. Besides, 
whatever penetrates and dilutes at the same 
Time, as Water impregnated with some pe- 
netrating Salt, attenuates very powerfully; and
the great Effects of medicated Waters may 
be justly ascrib'd to this Quality; likewise 
all saponaceous Substances composed of Oil 
and Salt, such are Honey, and the Robs and 
Gellies of most Fruits; Vinegar and Honey 
mix'd is a powerful Resolvent. All stimula- 
ting Substances, by increasing the Motion of 
the Blood, attenuate, unless they increase the 
Motion

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 209
Motion so much, as at last to produce Coagu- 
lation. 
The second manner of operating upon the 
Fluids is by thickening the Blood, which is 
perform'd by dissipating the most liquid Parts 
of it by Heat, or by insinuating some Sub- 
stances which make the Parts of the Fluid 
cohere more strongly: and the acid, au- 
stere Vegetables just now mention'd, have 
this Quality of condensing the Fluids, as well 
as strengthening the Solids. 
Another manner of operating upon the 
Fluids, is by increasing or lessening their 
Quantity: and the first is effected by a plen- 
tiful Diet, and the Suppression of Evacuations; 
the latter, either by a spare Diet, or promo- 
ting the animal Secretions, that is, expelling
the Fluids out of the Body; which may be 
perform'd by Substances that are laxative, as 
animal Oils, fresh Butter, Cream, Marrow, 
or fat Broth; the Oils of mild Vegetables, as 
that of Olives, Almonds, and the Fruits 
themselves; likewise all oily and mild Fruits, 
as Figs, and most Garden Fruits, by the Salts 
they contain, lubricate the Intestines; and some 
saponaceous Substances which stimulate gent- 
ly, as Honey, Hydromel, or boil'd Honey and 
Water, and even brown Sugar. Besides, Sub- 
stances that are diuretick, are proper for this
Intention, such as Whey, and Salts of all 
Kinds, Parsley, Celery, Sorrel, Chervil, As-
paragus, Eringo, and Nutmegs, &c.
O Acrimony

210 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Acrimony or Sharpness is not natural, but 
introduc'd into the Fluids of animal Bodies, 
either by Sickness, as in Cachexies, or ill 
Habits of Bodies, and Scurvies, &c. or by 
Diet that is either briny or acid, which con- 
sists of two Sorts, that is, of Things natural- 
ly acid, or render'd so by Fermentation; or 
alkaline aromatick Substances, consisting of 
Salts, and highly exalted Oils intimately uni- 
ted, which by increasing the Velocity of the 
Blood beyond what is natural, occasions an 
Attrition of the Parts, and thereby disposes 
the Blood and Juices to an alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
But the Juices of found Animals consist of 
Water impregnated with Salts of a peculiar 
Nature, which are neither acid, nor perfect- 
ly volatile; for, in the Evaporation of hu- 
man Blood by a gentle Fire, the Salt will not 
rise, but only the Spirit and Water, nor per- 
fectly fix'd; for human Blood calcin'd, yields
no fix'd Salt, nor is it a Sal Ammoniac; for 
that remains immutable after repeated Distil- 
lations, and Distillation destroys the ammonia- 
cal Quality of animal Salts, and turns them 
alkaline. So that it is a Salt neither quite fix'd, 
nor quite volatile, nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline, nor yet quite ammoniacal; but soft 
and benign, approaching nearest to the Na- 
ture of a Sal Ammoniac. 
Hence we may easily perceive, that the 
elementary Salts of found Animals are not the 
same as they appear by Distillation; for these
Alte-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 211
rations are produc'd by Fire: and those Salts 
are of a peculiar, benign and mild Nature in 
healthy Persons, who have * vital Force to 
subdue all the Substances they feed upon; but
in such who have not that vital Force, or 
commit some Errors in their Diet, these Salts 
are not sufficiently attenuated, and retain their 
original Qualities, which they discover in 
Cachexies, or ill Habits of Bodies, Scurvies 
of several Kinds, and many other Distempers; 
the Cure of which chiefly depends upon the 
Choice of Aliment with Qualities opposite to
the Nature of these Salts. 
Acrimony in the Blood commonly consists 
of three Sorts, according to the Nature of the 
Salts in which it resides; that is, either Acid, 
Alkaline, Muriatic, or briny, as in the Sea- 
Scurvy; but this last approaches more towards
the alkaline State, and admits of the same 
Cure. Acid Acrimony resides chiefly in the 
first Passages, that is, the Stomach and Inte- 
stines, proceeding often from the Weakness 
of Digestion, and the too long Duration of 
Vegetables, and Milk, or fermented Liquors 
the Stomach. All animal Substances are 
alkalescent; and of Vegetable Substances some 
are acid, others alkalescent, and each Sort is
to be used according to the two different In- 
tentions hereafter mention'd. 
O2 The
* By vital Force, is understod the Sum of all these Pow-
ers in an animal Body, which convert; his Aliment or Food in- 
to its own Nature. 

212 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The proper Diet for the Cure of the acid 
Acrimony, are Vegetables of all Kinds, as 
Garlick, Onions, Leeks, and Celery; the an- 
tiscorbutick Plants, as Cresses, Brooklime, 
Scurvygrass, &c. Carrots, Turnips, Pota- 
toes, Eringo Roots, Asparagus, Horse-radish, 
Mustard, and Cabbage. All animal Substan- 
ces being likewise Alkalescent, or contrary to
Acidity, are also very proper Food in this 
Disorder, more particularly all Fishes of the 
Shell-kind. Water, by its diluting Quality, 
subdues Acidity very powerfully. Oils are 
Anti-acids, so far as they blunt Acrimony; but 
as they are sometimes hard of Digestion, they 
may produce Acrimony of the alkaline Sort. 
The alkaline Acrimony being opposite to 
the former, is cur'd by a proper Diet made 
of the Decoctions of farinaceous or mealy 
Substances, especially such as are made of 
Oats are proper, as having an acescent Qua- 
lity. Therefore this alkaline Acrimony requires 
a plentiful Use of Vinegar, and acid Fruits, 
such as Oranges, which contain a Juice most
effectual in the Cure of the muriatic or briny
Scurvy of Sea-faring People; the Juice of 
Lemons is likewise proper, and more cool- 
ing and astringent than that of Oranges: and 
in this Case all the mild Antiscorbuticks are 
indicated, as Sorrel, Cichory, Endive, Lettuce, 
and Apples, &c. and of Liquids Whey. On 
the contrary, all the acrid Antiscorbuticks, 
as Horse-radish, Mustard, and Scurvygrass, 
&c. are very hurtful in this, and all other hot 
Scurvies. 
Other

Ch.VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 213
Other Sorts of Antiscorbuticks proper in 
this alkalescent State of the Fluids, are called
Astringents, such as Pomegranates, Capers, 
and most of the common Pickles prepar'd 
with Vinegar, And as the Extremity of Al- 
kali is Putrefaction; so all acid Substances, 
and Sea-Salt, resist such a putrescent Quality in 
the Fluids; but as the latter is a sharp solid 
Body, and unalterable in all the Circulations 
of the animal Body, and when it is taken 
constantly in a Diet of Salt Meat in too great
Quantities, (as I have taken Notice of in the 
latter End of the preceding Chapter) it breaks 
the Vessels, produces Erosions of the solid 
Parts, and all the Symptoms of the briny 
Sea-Scurvy, which is to be cur'd by acid Ve- 
getables, and not by the hot Antiscorbutics, 
as I have just now observ'd. 
There are other Sorts of Substances which 
are proper in the Cure of both Sorts of Acri- 
mony, which are demulcent or mild, because 
they sheath these sharp Salts, as farinaceous 
or mealy Pulse, such as Pease, Beans, Len- 
tils; native Oils of Animals, as Cream, But- 
ter, Marrow. Likewise all Plants that are 
without Smell or pungent Taste are demulcent; 
and also all the alimentary Parts of found Ani- 
mals; for none of their Juices will hurt or 
smart either the Eye or a fresh Wound. 
As Liquors make a considerable Part of our 
Aliment, it will not be improper to give a 
short Account of their principal Qualities in 
O3 this

214 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
this Place, before I treat of different Consti- 
tutions, with the Diet proper for each in Par- 
ticular. 
Drink being an essential Part of our Food, 
is either Water, Milk, or Whey; or ferment- 
ed Liquors, such as Malt Liquors of different
Sorts, Cyder, Wines, or a Mixture of these: 
And as the chief Intentions of Drink are, 1st, 
To moisten and convey our Food into the 
Stomach, and the Nutriment thereof to the 
respective Parts of the Body, and to allay 
Thirst; 2dly, To dilute the Blood, that it 
may circulate through the minutest Vessels;
3dly, To dissolve and carry off; by Urine and 
Perspiration, the superfluous Salts we take in 
our Food, which are unalterable in a human 
Body, as I have observ'd in one or two Places 
already: so pure Water answers all these Intenti- 
ons best, except in some few Cases hereafter 
mentioned; for no Liquor that we drink will 
circulate so well, or mix with our Fluids so im- 
mediately as Water; because all other Liquors 
we drink are impregnated with Particles that 
act strongly either upon the Solids or Fluids, 
or both; but as Water is the only simple 
drinkable Fluid, and being altogether inac- 
tive, so it is the fittest and most innocent Li- 
quor for diluting, moistening, and cooling; 
which are the chief Ends of Drink pointed 
out to us by Nature: Besides, nothing will 
dissolve Salts and carry what is superfluous of
them out of Body, so well as pure Water, 
that


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 215
that being the proper Menstruum or Vehicle 
for dissolving all Kinds of Salts. 
The benign, mild, and other useful Qua- 
lities of Water plainly shew, that it was de- 
sign'd by the most wise Creator for our com- 
mon Drink; and, without doubt, was the 
primitive original Drink: And happy had it 
been for Mankind that other mix'd and arti- 
ficial Liquors had never been invented; for 
Water is so necessary to our Subsistence, that
we could not live a Moment without it; be- 
cause this Element furnishes all the fluid Parts 
of our Humours, without which they could 
not circulate; and it dissolves all the Salts in the 
Blood, whereby some are carried to their pro- 
per Places within the Body, and others to 
proper Emunctories for their Expulsion from 
it. It serves to prepare our Food, and then 
for a Vehicle to convey it out of the Stomach 
into every little Meander of the Body, both 
for Health and Nourishment: So that Water 
alone is sufficient and effectual for all the 
Purposes of human Wants as to Drink. 
Therefore it is evident from what has been 
said, that Water is the best and most whole- 
some Drink in general; but in some Constitu- 
tions, where something is necessary to warm 
and act as a Stimulus, then fermented Li- 
quors taken in Moderation are proper, such 
as Beer, Ale, Cyder, Wine, &c. the Quan- 
tity and Choice of which depends upon the 
Age, Constitution, and Manner of Living of 
the Drinker; for in Youth, Milk, Water, or 
O4 Whey


216 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Whey are the properest, and in a middle Age 
a little more generous Liquors may be some- 
times allow'd; but most of all in old Age; 
for according to the old Saying, Lac senûm
est Vinum, Wine is old Men's Milk. 
As to Malt Liquors, small Beer well boil- 
ed, and of a due Age, is the best for common
Drink; otherwise it must be very hurtful to 
Persons of weak Nerves and flow Digestion; 
for by fermenting anew in the Bowels it will 
fill the whole Cavity of the Belly with Fumes 
and Vapours, which will at last produce very
bad Effects in a weak Constitution. 
As for strong Beer, it should be made of 
Water that will bear Soap; be well hopp'd 
and boil'd, that it may keep till all the gross
and viscid Parts fall to the Bottom of the 
Vessel, without the Help of any pernicious 
Composition for fining Liquors, too frequent- 
ly made Use of to the Destruction of thou- 
sands; for it is very notorious, that all your 
fine Ales, or Home-brew'd, as they are call'd, 
have neither due Age or Hops enough to cla- 
rify of their own Accord, being brew'd one 
Week and drank the next, or soon after; so 
that the Seller is obliged to have Recourse to
some Art or other to fine them down, which 
is very often with unslack Lime, or at best a 
Mixture of Ising-glass *, and other Ingredients 
* Is a very strong Glew, made of a Kind of Fish catch'd in
great Quantities in Rivers in Hungary and other Parts: It is 
used by Cabinet-makers, and sometimes ordered as a Medicine to 
stop Fluxes and Seminal Weaknesses; but it is very improper 
for

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 217
very destructive, if not poisonous, to many 
Constitutions: Besides, these Liquors are of 
so agglutinating and thickening a Nature, as 
to produce Stone, Gravel, Gout, Bloatedness, 
and great Thirst, with the Loss of Appetite: 
And to prove the agglutinating Qualities of 
all such Liquors, it is experimentally known, 
that they make excellent Bird-lime; and 
when simmer'd for some Time over a slow 
Fire, make the most sticking and best Plaister 
for old Strains. 
We have likewise convincing Reasons to 
have the same Opinion of the Yorkshire, Not- 
tingham, and Welch intoxicating Ales; and, 
in short, all fine Ales brew'd for Sale: For it 
is certainly true, that all these fine Liquors, 
far fetch'd and dear bought, have always some- 
thing in their Composition hurtful to our Con- 
stitution, more than meer Water, Malt, and 
Hops; therefore I would advise all those, 
who have any Regard for their own Health or 
Lives, to avoid, as much as possible, the use
of all such Liquors, and more especially the 
valetudinary, sedentary, studious, and contem- 
plative People; and, in fine, all such as have 
weak Nerves and slow Digestion. 
As the frequent Use and Excess of Drams,
or distill'd Spirituous Liquors, is a Vice of so
horrid 
for such as are otherwise in good Health; for the constant Use 
of it will produce Gravel, Stone, Blotches, and Eruptions on the 
Skin, by glewing up as it were the Urinary Passages, and 
likewise stopping insensible Perspiration; and, in short, it will 
produce the same bad Effects in human Constitutions, as the 
common Glew used by Joyners and Carpenters.

218 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
horrid a Nature in itself, and now become 
epidemical, not only among Mechanicks and 
Tradesmen, but among Persons of the brightest
Genius, and finest Taste and Accomplish- 
ments; and, alas! even among the finest
Part of the Creation, I mean the Fair Sex; 
and those of them too, which is still more a- 
stonishing, who are in all other Respects 
blameless, and of the strictest Virtue! I say, 
as the Case is so, it will not be improper to 
explain the poisonous Qualities and direful Ef- 
fects of such pernicious Liquors, which de- 
stroy Millions, both in Body and Soul. 
Let us then consider, that distill'd Spirits are
but an Accumulation of fine Salts and light Oil, 
compacted together into the smallest Bulk; the 
Salts are so hard and solid as naturally to re- 
tain their Heat and Activity the longest, into
which Water cannot enter; the Oil † is so 
inflammable, that it most readily receives Heat 
and Fire, and by that Means defends the Salts 
from the Power of Water over them: So 
that in the continued Distillation of Spirits, 
this
† They are guilty of a gross Error, who imagine that the 
more oily any distill'd Spirit is, the more wholsome it will 
prove to the Constitution; for they do not consider that it is a 
very subtile, sulphurous, chymical, inflammable Oil, blended 
with Portions of very fine Salts, raised by the Force of Fire, 
and that it is quite different in its Nature and Quality from 
the benign and pectoral Oil of Olives or Sweet Almonds, or 
any other express'd Oils produced without Fermentation or 
Fire. Hence it is evident that Rum, or double-distill'd Spirit 
of Annise-seeds, and Spirits distill'd from aromatick Plants, are 
much more difficult to be digested and carried off than Brandy, 
or Spirit of Juniper; and that for no other Reason, than that 
they contain too great a Quantity of burning Oil. 



Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 219  
this Action of the Fire is so strong as to re- 
duce the Spirits at last into liquid Flames, 
which will, of their own accord, evaporate 
in visible Flames and Fumes. 
Besides, it is observable that every Thing 
that has pass'd the Fire so long a Time as to 
divide and penetrate its Parts as far as it pos- 
sibly can, retains ever afterwards a corrosive 
and burning Quality. This is manifest from 
the firey and burning Touch and Taste of new- 
distill'd Spirits; as also from the burning of
a Lime-stone, which retains its heating and 
drying Quality ever after, tho' extinguish'd by
Water. 
Hence it will manifestly appear, that run- 
ning into the frequent Use and Habit of Dram- 
drinking will as certainly kill as Laudanum, 
or Arsenick, tho' not so soon; for such Li- 
quors contract, harden, and consolidate many 
Fibres together, abolishing many Vessels, or 
Canals in the Body, especially where the Fi- 
bres are the tenderest, as in the Brain, by 
which Quality they destroy the Memory and 
intellectual Faculties, abrade and wear off the 
villous Coat of the Stomach, and thereby ex- 
pose its nervous Coat to the Insults of the most
firey, corroding, saline, and caustick Particles
of the Spirits; by which means the Springi- 
ness or Elasticity of the Fibres is so weakened, 
that the whole Stomach becomes at last soft, 
flabby, and relax'd. Hence a Loss of Appe- 
tite, and an Inability to digest the small Quan- 
tity of Food that is taken in; whence arise 
Cru-

220 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Crudities, Nauseas, Vomitings, Tremors, ner- 
vous Convulsions, Consumptions, Dropsies; 
likewise Gout, Stone, Rheumatism, raging Fe- 
vers and Pleurisies, which for the most part 
nothing but Death alone can remove at last. 
What a melancholy Scene do we daily be- 
hold, in all Parts of this great Capital, of
Numbers of miserable Creatures, render'd not 
only useless to themselves, to their Families, 
Friends and Relations, but likewise burthen- 
some to the Publick, and a Scandal to both Chri- 
stianity and the rest of their Fellow-Subject! 
And all this great Calamity entirely ow- 
ing to the Folly of a bewitching Habit of 
Dram-drinking. And what is still most sur- 
prising, we see even the Moral, and the Sen- 
sible, bound in these Chains and Fetters, that 
nothing less than Almighty Grace, or the un- 
relenting Grave can release them; for they 
are deaf to Reason, and to their own Experi- 
ence, and even to the express Words of the 
Scripture, which says, That the Drunkard 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 
From this Doctrine it will appear, to the 
Evidence of a Demonstration, that next to 
Drams, no Liquor deserves to be stigmatized 
and detested more than Punch; for it is a 
Composition of such Parts, that not one of 
them, except the pure Water and Sugar, is 
wholsome, or friendly to any Constitution, espe- 
cially to valetudinary, tender, weak, and studious 
People. The chief Ingredient being either 
Arrack, Rum, Brandy, or Malt-Spirits, and 
all

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 221
all of them rais'd by Fire, from the fermented 
Juices of Plants brought from hot Countries, 
or which have born the Heat of the Sun 
longest in our own Climate; for it is observable 
that Vegetables, whose Juices have most Solar 
Heat in them, their fermented Juices yield 
the strongest Spirits in Distillation. 
The other principal Part of the Composition 
being sour Juice of unripe Oranges or Li- 
mons. And if we consider, that the Juice of
a Crab-Apple, of unripe Goosberries, or 
Grapes, or even the Juice of Sorrel, would 
come up at least to their Virtue in extinguish- 
ing the Heat of the burning Spirits, if not to
their Flavour; And yet every body who is 
not depriv'd of his Senses, must know how 
destructive an Ingredient such Juices would 
be to the fine Fibres of the Stomach and 
Bowels. 
For it is evidently true, even from Experi- 
ence, that all fermenting Juices, such as these 
are in a very great Degree, must be highly 
injurious to the human Constitution; for 
meeting with Crudities in the Bowels, they 
must raise a new Struggle or Fermentation there, 
and so fill up the whole Cavities of the Body, 
with acrid Fumes and Vapours, which is ex- 
tremely prejudicial to the Bowels, especially 
when the Constitution is tender and weak. 
And in the West-Indies, where the People 
are forced to drink much Punch, by reason 
of the Violence of the Heat, and for Want of 
other proper Liquors there, tho' the Limons 
and


222 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and Oranges are in full Perfection, yet the 
Inhabitants are universally afflicted with ner- 
vous and mortal Dry-Gripes, Cramps, Pal- 
sies, and Convulsions, which kill them in a 
few Days, and all intirely owing to this 
poisonous Mixture, Punch. 
Notwithstanding what I have advanced 
against the deliterious † Qualities of Drams 
and Punch, at least when taken for any Con- 
stancy, or in any great Quantity, for some 
Poisons are only so by their Quantity, yet I 
would not be understood here to discourage 
the innocent Means of enlivening Conversa- 
tion, promoting Friendship, comforting the 
Sorrowful, and raising the drooping Spirits, 
at proper Times with a chearful Glass of 
some good wholsome Liquor or other; for the
Sober can receive no Prejudice from a mode- 
rate Use of Liquors: On the Contrary, it 
will help to invigorate and re-establish the 
Constitution, especially after the Fatigues of
Labour or Study. Neither am I against the 
taking a proper cordial Dram sometimes, as 
in an actual Fit of the Colick or Gout in the 
Stomach; or upon a full Meal of Fish, Pork, 
&c. when a Glass of good Wine cannot be 
had. 
But the Frenzy of being given to the too 
frequent Use and Excess of Liquors, is abo- 
minable; for a Sot is the lowest and the most 
contemptible Character in human Life; and 
as for the Profligate, the Sensual, and Vo- 
luptuous,
† Poisonous.


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 223
luptuous, they are past reclaiming, and there- 
fore deserve no Advice, at least they will take 
none. However, I present them here with 
a short Sketch of the Effects of Drunkenness,
to contemplate upon at their Leisure, if they
can spare any Time from the bewitching 
Folly of sotting and drinking. 
The Effects then of Drunkenness render 
the Blood inflamed into a Gout, Stone, and 
Rheumatism, raging Fevers, Pleurisies, Small- 
Pox, or Measles. 
2. The Passions are enraged into Quarrels, 
Murder, and Blasphemy; the Juices are 
dry'd up; and the solids scorched and shri- 
velled. 
3. A Resolution of the Nerves, Cramps, 
and Palsies. 
4. Inflation of the Belly and Dropsies. 
5. Redness and Rheums, with an Inflamma- 
tion in the Eyes. 
6. Tremblings in the Hands and Joynts, 
Head-Aches, Quinsies, and Scurvies of all 
Kinds. 
7. Sicknesses at the Stomach, with four 
Belchings, Reachings and Vomitings. 
8. A furious and unmanageable Disposition 
to Lust, which hurries them to the base and
sordid Company of Harlots, and impure Wo- 
men, by whose Means they most commonly 
acquire a foul Disease, under which they 
often labour for the greatest Part of the 
Remainder of their Lives, in Shame and Tor- 
ments;


224 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ments; nay some become incurable, and even 
rot by Piece-meal, before their Dissolution. 
9. A Decay of Memory and Understanding, 
Loss of Credit and Reputation. 
10. An Unfitness for Business, or the Dis- 
patch of the Affairs of Life; and a Readiness
of discovering all Secrets. 
These, with a great many more, are the 
bitter Fruits of Drunkenness, even in this
Life; and in the next, according to the 
express Words of holy Writ, will be re- 
warded with everlasting Miseries, as being
thereby excluded the Kingdom of Heaven. 
A short Account
of different
Wines in gene-
ral.
As it would be endless to enter 
into a long Account of the diffe-
rent Qualities of all Sorts of Wines, 
therefore I shall only say in gene- 
ral, that all the light Wines, of a moderate 
Strength, due Age, and full Maturity, are 
much more wholsome for the Constitution, 
and preferable for Conversation, Cheerfulness, 
and Digestion, than the rich, hot, strong and 
heavy Wines: For the light Wines inflame 
the Juices of the Body less, and go off the 
Stomach with less Difficulty; they likewise 
afford longer Time for Conversation and 
Cheerfulness, with less Danger. 
Red Port Wine is strong and astringent; 
but white Port and Spanish Wines are stimu- 
lating and attenuating. French Wines are 
lighter, and not so strong as the Portugal 
and Spanish Wines; which renders them 
2 whol-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 225
wholsomer for thin and dry Constitutions. 
Fine old Rhenish and Moselle Wines are very 
wholsome, especially the Former, which is 
exceedingly good for most Constitutions. 
Strong made Country Wines are prejudicial 
to all Constitutions, being very windy, heavy, 
and heady, taken in any considerable Quan- 
tity; therefore it is surprising the extreme 
Fondness People of the better Sort in England 
have run into, for such Liquors; and for no 
other Reason that can be thought of, than 
the only one the Vulgar give for drinking 
Brandy or Gin, that they sooner intoxicate 
them. 
The last Thing I have to say concerning 
Liquors, is, that Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors, are as hard to digest, and require as
much Labour of the concoctive Powers, as 
solid and strong Food itself; and this is not
only evident with respect to Persons of weak 
Stomachs and Digestion, but also from strong 
and healthy People, who only drink either 
water or Small Beer at their Meals, and shall 
be able to eat and digest almost double the 
Quantity of what they could, did they drink 
strong Liquors. Therefore it appears very 
Plain, that we should always drink very little
strong Liquors at our great Meals, otherwise 
we must certainly impair the Constitution, and 
load it with various Diseases at last; for such
Liquors, by their Heat and Activity, hurry 
the Food unconcocted into the Habit of the 
Body, and by that Means lay a Founda-
P tion

226 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tion for Fevers, Colicks, and several 
chronical Distempers. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, the Diet 
proper for each. 
ALthough I have given an Account of Tem- 
peraments or Constitutions in general in the 
Begining of Part I. Chapter I. of this Treatise;
yet it will be necessary to treat of them in a more 
peculiar Manner in this Place, that every one 
may easily know the Nature of his own in 
particular. And as I have explained the Na- 
ture and Qualities of Aliment, in the two
preceding Chapters, with their good and bad 
Effects upon human Bodies, it will be like- 
wise necessary to lay down Rules of Diet pro- 
per for each Constitution in particular, in this
Chapter, by which Means it will not be diffi- 
cult for any one to observe a sure and easy 
Method in regard to what may be either use- 
ful or prejudicial to his own Constitution in 
particular, in order to preserve Health and 
prolong Life; or when impair'd, to restore it
again, which are the chief Ends of the noble 
Art of Physick. 
A general Method as to Diet, without re- 
gard to particular Constitutions, is absurd. 
3 The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 227
The most common Difference of human 
Constitutions proceeds either from the solid † 
Parts, or from the different State of the 
Fluids, (as I hinted in the first Part of this
Book.) From the former, as to their different 
Degrees of Strength and Tension; for in 
some Constitutions they are too lax and weak, 
in others they are too strong and elastick; 
from the latter, as they consist of Water, Spi- 
rit, Oil, Salts, and earthy Parts, they differ 
according to the Redundance of the Whole, or 
of any of the said Ingredients in particular; 
and for which Reason they may be justly 
called either plethorick, sanguine, phlegmatick, 
saline, oily on fat, earthy or melancholick Con- 
stitutions. 
The Fibres of the Solids in a human Body 
are too weak and lax, when the Cohesion of 
their Parts is so small, that they may be re- 
solved or broken by a Force not much greater 
than what happens commonly in the Body of 
a healthy Person; and when the Weakness of 
the Vessels or Organs, proceeding from a 
too small Cohesion of their constituent Parts, 
renders them unable to discharge the com- 
mon Functions of Life, consider'd in a State 
of Health. 
And notwithstanding there is a Debility or 
Weakness of Fibres in Infants, yet it is no 
P2 Disease,
† The Solids of an animal Body are composed of small Fi- 
bres or Threads, which may be divided into still less; and this 
Division proceeds so far, as that at last they become so incre- 
dibly small, as to exceed the Power of Imagination; but 
Reason tells us that there must be an End at ast.



228 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Disease, because they lengthen by the Influx 
of the Liquids, which is the Cause of their 
Growth; but in grown Persons, when their 
Fibres cannot any more give way or stretch, 
they must either break or lose their Spring. 
The common Causes of Weakness of the 
Fibres are, either a Defect or great Loss of 
the nutritious Juices; for if there is not a 
Sufficiency of Blood, the Chyle cannot be ea- 
sily assimilated to nourish the Fibres. And 
People who lose great Quantities of Blood 
daily, by Blood-letting or otherwise, become 
dropsical; for when a Fibre, which is natu- 
rally elastick like a Bow, loses its Spring, it is
only passive, and consequently useless to the 
Individual. Likewise Nourishment too glu- 
tinous or viscid to be subdued by the concoc- 
tive Powers of Digestion. Also a sedentary 
and lazy Life; for Motion or Exercise en- 
creases the Circulation of the Fluids, and of
Course an Application of the solid Parts to- 
gether. People who live healthy in a dry Air, 
commonly fall into Diseases that depend upon 
weak and relax'd Fibres when in a moist one. 
Lastly, a natural Weakness from the Frame 
and Constitution of the Body, which is too 
often the Case. 
The Sign of weak and lax Fibres are, a weak 
Pulse, Paleness, flabby and soft Flesh, 
Palpitations of the Heart, Bloated- 
ness, Lassitude, and scorbutical Spots; 
Coldness of the Skin, four Belchings upon taking 
vegetable Food, or foul Eructations, like that of 
The Signs of
weak Fibres.
rotten

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 229
rotten Eggs, after eating animal Food, are also 
Signs of weak Fibres in the Organs of Diges- 
tion; likewise Atrophy, or a Decay of the 
Flesh, which indicates a Destruction or Ob- 
struction of the Vessels that convey the Nou- 
rishment; and Dropsies proceed from a Weak- 
ness and Laxity of the Fibres, as having lost
their Elasticity or Springiness to return the 
Fluid. And, in short, most of all the chro- 
nical Diseases proceed from Weakness and 
Laxity of the Fibres. Therefore the chief In- 
tention of Cure must be to restore the Tone 
of the solid Parts; for all other Attempts, 
without this, will prove fruitless. 
So that they who have weak Fibres ought 
to forbear all great Evacuations, especially 
Bleeding, viscid Substances, and all other Food
hard of Digestion; they Should likewise avoid 
a sedentary Life and moist Air as much as 
possible: They should eat often, but in small 
Quantites, of such Things as are nourishing, 
and of easy Digestion, as Milk, Broth, and 
Jellies made of Flesh Meat, Rice Gruel, Pa- 
nadas, &c. And their Drink should be some 
of the light Wines of due Age and Maturity, 
mix'd with Water, for Water alone is too re- 
axing; or any good Wine with acidulated 
and Steel Waters, such as Pyrmont or Spaw,
&c. They should likewise use in their Diet 
austere or acid Vegetables, if their Stomachs
can tolerably bear them; such as Pears, 
Plumbs, Quinces, Pomegranates, Barberries, 
Medlars, Sorrel, Purslain, Burnet, Tama-
P3 rinds.

230 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
rinds, Limons, Capers, or any other Pickles
they like best.
The Fibres are too strong and too elastick, 
when the Cohesion of their Parts is 
in such a Degree of Rigidity or Stiff- 
ness as renders them inflexible to the 
Causes they ought to yield to, so as to pre- 
serve the Animal in Health; for too great 
Elasticity is not only a Quality by which they 
resist against being lengthen'd, but likewise they
restore themselves, by that Means, with too 
great a Force and Pressure upon the moving 
Fluids, to the Detriment of the Ani- 
mal. 
Too strong
Fibres.
Rigidity of the Vessels or Organs is such a 
Degree of Cohesion as prevents their being ex- 
panded so far as is necessary to carry on the 
vital Functions *, as usual in a true State of
Health. And the Rigidity of the Fibres must 
necessarily produce a Rigidity of the Vessels 
and Organs, because the Fibres make up their 
constituent Parts. 
The Cause of such a State, besides the na- 
tural Frame and Constitution of the Body, 
is old Age, in which the Fibres are conspicu- 
ously rigid and dry; or too long a Course of 
such Diet as strengthens the Fibres too much; 
likewise hard Labour or Exercise. 
Signs. 
The Signs of such a Constitution 
are, a hard, dry, hairy, scraggy, and 
warm
* Vital Functions are the muscular Action of the Heath,
the secretory Action of the Brain, that of the Lungs, and of
the Blood and Spirits, with their Motions through their pro-
per Organs; and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves.



Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 231  
warm Body., without a Disease, with firm and
rigid Muscles, a strong Pulse, Activity and 
Promptness in the animal Actions *; and 
such Constitutions are most subject to inflam- 
matory Diseases. 
Their Diet should be Things contrary to 
those already mentioned in the 
State of too great Laxity of the 
Fibres; that is, of such Things as are emol- 
lient and cooling, the Pulps, Jellies, Juices, 
Mucilages, and Decoctions of Vegetables that 
are softening and relaxing; such as all Pot- 
herbs of the emollient Kinds, Lettuce, Ci- 
chory, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Barley, Rice, 
Mays, Millet, Pease, and Beans; animal Oils, 
such as Cream, Butter, Marrow, and all 
Things which relax or increase Fat, refrain- 
ing always from Things season'd with Spice, 
and with as little Salt as possible, for Salt har- 
dens the Fibres: Their animal Food should
be boil'd Meat and Broths without Seasoning, 
preferable to any other Form: Their Drink 
should be Water, Barley-water, Milk and 
Water, or Whey; avoiding all fermented 
Spirits and austere Wines, and Pickles of
all Kinds, all which are extremely hurtful to
such Constitutions. Bathing in warm Water 
The Regimen.
P4 often
* Are such, as when perform'd, the Understanding con- 
ceives Ideas of Things united to that Action; or the Will is 
either concerned in exciting such Actions, or moved by them 
when excited; such are the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, 
Hearing, Perception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, Rea- 
son, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary Motions. 

232 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
often is beneficial to such, but immoderate
Labour or Exercise very injurious. 
How the Fluids act upon the Solids of a 
human Body, so far as to cause Diversities of 
Constitutions and Diseases, is accounted for 
in the following Pages, in treating of different
Constitutions. 
The Definition.
A plethorick Constitution is such 
as abounds with too great a Quan- 
tity of laudable and good animal 
Juices; the Causes of which are 
strong Organs of Digestion and Chylification, 
a good Stomach, plenty of nourishing Diet, 
little Exercise, much Sleep, Laziness or want 
of muscular Motion, a moist Air, and a Suppres- 
sion of some of the usual Evacuations, especially
that of Perspiration. Therefore the 
Cure proper for this Constitution, is 
to avoid the Causes of it, just now mentioned, 
and use a more sparing Diet, greater Ex- 
ercise, and proper artificial Evacuations, in 
order to restore the natural ones; for 
The Cause.
The Cure.
This Constitution is subject to a Stoppage 
of the Circulation, by too great a Weight of 
Blood upon the Heart; Rupture of the Ves- 
sels, Suffocation, and sudden Death. But it 
is to be observed, that long Abstinence is not 
proper in the Cure of such a Constitution; 
for in that Case the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood fly off, and the grosser remain in the 
Vessels. Likewise frequent Bleedings, in small 
Quantities, often increases the Disorder, by 
augmenting the Force of the Organs of Di- 
gestion.

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
gestion, and by that Means promote Fatness. 
Persons of such a Constitution should al- 
ways avoid all oily and too nourishing Sub- 
stances; therefore Vegetables, being less nou- 
rishing than animal Food, are more proper; 
and, by the same Rule, to feed upon Fish pre- 
ferable to that of Flesh-meat. 
A sanguine is that Constitution is that 
which abounds with a great deal of 
good Blood; and the common outward Sign 
of such a Constitution, is a florid 
Colour in the Complexion, a Ful- 
ness and Blueness of the Veins, and 
a particular fair and lively Colour of the Skin, 
without Paleness. Those of a sanguine Con- 
stitution are subject to frequent Bleedings at
the Nose and other Parts, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs, Impostumations, and often to 
scrophulous or evily Diseases. 
Definition.
Diagnostick 
Signs. 
The Blood is the most universal Fluid in 
the animal Body, from which all the rest of 
the Juices are derived; for the red Part of it
differs from the Serum, the Serum from the 
Lymph, the Lymph from the nervous Juice, 
and that from the several other Humours that 
are separated in the Glands.
The red Globules of the Blood are elastick, 
and one Globule will break into six small ones, 
and then turn yellow; those yellow Globules 
break into others less, and so proceed till they
become white and transparent at last; for 
the Vessels which admit the smaller Globules 
to pass, cannot admit the larger without a 
Rupture,



234 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Rupture, or some other Disorder. So that 
as the Blood circulates thro' the smaller Chan- 
ness, the Redness will disappear more and more. 
A strong and free Motion of the Blood will 
occasion a Floridness upon the Skin of such 
Constitutions; for such a strong Motion will 
force the red Part of the Blood into more ca- 
pillary Vessels, Besides, another Cause com- 
monly concurring is the greater Transparency 
of the Vessels, occasioned by the Delicacy 
and Thinness of their Coats, which is evident 
from the large Veins of sanguineous Constitu- 
tions appearing blue and transparent, by the 
Colour of the Blood circulating in them. 
And if the Vessels are in a State of too 
great Rigidity, so as to be inflexible, a strong
Motion of the Blood will occasion a Rupture 
of them, with Hæmorrhages; especially in 
the Lungs, where the Blood is more abun- 
dant, and the Vessels more delicate: But if 
the Vessels yield instead of bursting, the Per- 
son is subject to the Inconveniences of a faulty
Circulation; that is, the Blood forces into 
the Vessels appointed to carry Serum or 
Lymph, from whence proceed Inflammations 
and Obstructions. And as the Delicacy and 
Thinness of the Vessels run through the whole 
Body, it must affect the Glands and Lympha- 
ticks, as well as the Blood-vessels; so that 
such Constitutions must be subject to glandu- 
lous and evily Tumours, and Ruptures of the 
Lymphaticks. 
The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 235
The Diet of such Constitutions 
should be cooling and relaxing, 
with Moderation in the Quantity of all Things, 
They ought to avoid every Thing that acce- 
lerates the Motion of the Blood, as violent 
Exercise and Watching; likewise they ought 
to abstain from the Use of all Things that a- 
bound with an acrimonious Salt, as Onions, 
Garlick, Leeks, Mustard, and the hot Herbs 
used in Seasoning, and all Spices in general; 
but Vinegar is exceeding useful to such as will 
use it constantly with their Food, for it will 
very much abate their florid Colour. 
The Regimen.
For more particular Directions, as to the 
Diet proper in this Constitution, I refer the 
Reader to the Diet prescribed for the Cure of
Rigidity and Elasticity of the Fibres, which
answers this Intention in every Particular. 
A saline Constitution of the Fluids 
in an animal Body; is either acid,
alkaline, or muriatick †. 
A Saline
Constitution
It has been proved in the foregoing Chapter, 
that the Juices of a found Animal are nei- 
ther acid nor alkaline; for all the Solids and 
Fluids of such, even fed with acescent or acid 
Substances, yield no Acid; because the vital 
Force of such Animals converts the acid Sub- 
stances they take in Food, into soft nutritious
animal Liquids of their own Nature. A Cow 
fed with Daisies, Trefoil, and Sorrel, will 
give Milk in which there is not the least Aci- 
dity; but if the vital Force is weak, it is not 
sufficient
† Briny.


236 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sufficient to subdue the Acidity of the Food 
taken in. 
Therefore as there is no Acid naturally in 
a found Animal Body, but what must be ta- 
ken in by Food; so that if it be not subdued 
in the Passages of the Chyle, it will get into 
the Blood; and if there is not a due Quantity 
of Blood, and a sufficient Strength of Circu- 
lation to subdue it, it will infect the Fluids, 
so as to produce various Distempers. 
The Effects of a Constitution subject to
Acidity, are sour Belching, a crav- 
ing Appetite, Sourness in the Sto- 
mach, with Pains; Green-sickness, 
the Case of a great many Girls craving after 
earthy Substances, such as Clay, Chalk, Meal, 
Cynders, &c. Colick Pains about the Navel, 
Dry Gripes, such as those in the West-Indies, 
chiefly occasioned by too great Quantities 
of the Acid of Lime-Juice in their Punch, 
with a great deal of other Acids in their Sea- 
sonings. The Colicks in Infants proceed 
from Acidity, and the Air expanding itself in 
the fermenting Food in the Stomach; the true 
Signs of which are a sour Smell of the Excre- 
ments, acid Sweats, Paleness of the Skin, and
oftentimes Convulsions, from Acidity passing 
into the Blood, and affecting the tender Fi- 
bres of the Brain. Eruptions of the Skin, 
such as Scurvy and Itchy, and even Leprosies, 
are produced by feeding much and often 
upon acid unripe Fruits, and mealy Substances 
that are acescent. 
Effects of an
acid Consti-
tution.
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 237
The most subject to this Disorder are Chil- 
dren, by reason of the Weakness of their 
Fibres and Digestion, and a Milk Diet; like- 
wise such as lead a sedentary Life; and others 
again, who eat and drink much Bread and 
Wine, and acid Vegetables; and lastly. Ar- 
tificers, who deal much in the Preparations
of Acids. 
As Acidity is not the natural State of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, but introduc'd into
the Habit by Food; so it is to be cur'd by 
Aliment of a contrary Quality, for which 
the Reader is referr'd to the Diet proper for 
acid Acrimony, in the foregoing Chapter, 
Page 212. 
All anti-acid Medicines being ineffectual 
without a proper and continued Diet of the 
same Nature, here I must observe, that an 
Abstinence from strong fermented Liquors is 
absolutely necessary in the Cure of this Dis- 
order; and likewise that Acidity in the In- 
fant may be cur'd by a Flesh-Diet in the 
Nurse.
An alkaline Constitution of the 
Fluids in a human Body is opposite 
to the former, and abounds with 
alkaline Salts, the Nature and 
Quality of which I have explain'd in Note *, 
Page 165, which see. And tho' no Animal 
unputrify'd, when burnt, produces any alka-
line Salt, yet being putrify'd, it produces a 
volatile Alkali; so that in a found Animal 
no true Alkali is found, as I have observ'd 
A Constitution 
subject to an
alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
in

238 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in the preceding Chapter; but when an Ani- 
mal degenerates from a true State of Health, 
by such Diseases or Food as increases the At- 
trition and Heat of the Fluids, the animal 
Salts that were before mild and benign, now 
become almost of an alkaline Nature; for 
found human Blood when first drawn, is so 
mild as not to make an Eye, or a fresh Wound
smart; but let it stand in a Degree of Heat 
equal to that of a human Body, and it will 
grow fœtid in three Days time, and produce 
a volatile rancid Oil, as likewise a volatile 
alkaline Salt, which will ferment with Acids; 
so that the Blood in the Vessels, after it has
passed thro' almost infinite Degrees of Circu- 
lation, may come to that State at last, which 
is the Case in pestilential and malignant Fe- 
vers, where neither the Strength of Nature 
or Art can prevail to save the Life of the In- 
dividual. All animal Substances being de- 
priv'd of Life, and exposed to the Air, turn 
presently alkaline of their own Accord, and
consequently will soon putrify. 
Causes.
The Causes of such a Constitution 
are commonly a plentiful and con- 
stant Use of animal Diet, such as Fish and 
Flesh, and all Vegetables which abound with 
an acrimonious Salt, such as Mustard, Onions, 
Leeks, Spices, and all hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks, &c. likewise a plentiful Use of 
Salts in general, for all animal Salts are alka- 
line; and tho' Rock and Sea-Salts are of a 
mix'd Nature, yet they increase the Disorder. 
All

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 239
All Animals that live upon other Animals 
have their Juices more alkalescent than those 
that live upon Vegetables, and for this Reason
Fishes are more alkalescent than terrestrial A- 
nimals, for they putrify sooner in the open Air; 
and no Person is able to support a Diet of 
Flesh and Water without Acids, such as Salt, 
Vinegar and Bread, without falling into a 
putrid Fever. 
Another Cause of this Distemper is a vigo- 
rous Action of the Vessels thro' which the 
Fluids circulate; for which Reason the strong 
and healthy, and young People, are more in 
danger by pestilential Fevers, than the weak 
and old; for violent animal Motion by Attri- 
tion produces this alkaline State. 
The Symptoms of such a Constitu- 
tion in any great Degree, are Heat, 
Thirst, foul Belchings, Foulness of the Tongue 
and Palate, a bitter and hot Taste in the 
Mouth, Sickness, Loathing, bilious Vomi- 
tings, Stools with a cadaverous Smell, Pains 
in the Belly. Besides, such a State dissolves the 
Blood, and disposes it to Putrefaction, hinders 
Nutrition, for no Chicken can be hatch'd of 
a rotten Egg; and likewise the Blood turning 
Acrimonious, corrodes the Vessels, producing 
Hœmorrhages. Eruptions on the Skin, dark, 
livid, Lead-colour'd, and of a gangrenous 
Nature, and likewise a hot Scurvy, and al- 
most all Distempers of the Inflammatory 
Kind.
Diagnosticks.
The

240 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Diet of such Persons ought 
to be a plentiful Use of acid Sub- 
stances, such as much Bread, and Seasoning 
of Vinegar, and all other Acids without Spi- 
ces, and live much upon Food made of 
Grain or mealy Substances; in short, they 
should live on such a Diet as is describ'd for 
an alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing Chap- 
ter. 
The Regimen.
Plethorick Constitutions are apt to fall into 
this alkaline State of the Fluids, which is more
hurtful than that which proceeds from Aci- 
dity; for the Bile being redundant, is the 
strongest Anti-acid, and when it is raised to 
a high Degree, and acrimonious, is sufficient 
to produce all the terrible Symptoms of ma- 
lignant and pestilential Fevers, as is mani- 
festly evident from the Experiments that were 
made at Marseilles in Time of the Plague;
and nothing subdues the Acrimony of the 
Bile more than the acid Diet already men- 
tion'd, so that by a timely Use and Applica- 
tion of such Remedies, many fatal and dan- 
gerous Diseases might be prevented. 
A briny State
of the Blood.
A muriatick or briny State of 
the Fluids, which is common 
among Sailors, is commonly introduc'd into 
the Habit of the Body by too great Quanti- 
ties of Sea-Salt; and its usual Symptoms are 
a Salt Taste in the Spittle, Itching, and red 
Breakings out of the Skin, a lixivial Urine 
with a fat Substance swimming on the Sur- 
face of it. 
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 241   
The Cure of this Disorder is per- 
formed by the constant Use of a 
Diet of fresh and unsalted Things, watery and
cooling Liquors acidulated; mealy and emol- 
lient Substances, with a plentiful Use of acid 
Fruits; Sower Milk, Butter-Milk, avoiding 
all Spices, and the hot Antiscorbuticks of the 
pungent Kind: In a Word, the Diet ordered 
in the Alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing 
Chapter is proper in this Case. 
The Cure.
A phlegmatick Constitution is such 
a State of the Fluids, wherein Phlegm 
or a cold, viscous watery Humour predomi- 
nates; and the Causes of it are, 
commonly viscid Food, such as 
mealy Substances unfermented, and taken in 
great Quantities; for the Flower of all Sorts
of Grain, mix'd with Water, make a Paste 
that sticks like Glue, having an Oil in them 
which causes a Cohesion of their Parts toge- 
ther; the frequent Use of unripe Fruits; like- 
wise great Loss, or Want of Blood, which 
preserves itself and the Food, by constant 
Motion, from Coagulation; a Weakness and 
Indigestion in the alimentary Passages, by 
which the Food is rendered slimy and vis- 
cous; a Defect, or Want of Bile, which is 
the principal Resolvent of the Food; and a 
Stagnation of the Fluids, from a Weakness of 
the Instruments of Excretion; for if the 
Phlegm stagnates, it must grow viscid by the 
Heat of the Body.
Definition.
The Causes.
Q Like-


242 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Likewise Tumours and Inflations of the 
Belly, with Paleness, are Signs of a phlegma- 
tick Constitution; as when a Child grows 
pale, and his Belly swells, which happens to 
those that are rickety, there must be cer- 
tainly tough Phlegm in the Intestines, which 
shuts up the Mouths of the Lacteals, and 
prevents the Nourishment from getting into 
the Blood. But no Cause whatever produces 
a Viscidity in the human Fluids, more than a 
sedentary Life, and Laziness, and no Reme- 
dy more effectual than good Labour and Ex- 
ercise. 
The Cure. 
Cold phlegmatick Constitusions 
ought to use constantly an alka- 
lescent Diet; likewise well fermented Bread, 
and fermented Liquors; for Fermentation re- 
moves the Viscidity of all mealy Substances;
and high seasoned Food is proper for them; 
likewise Spices, Salt, Garlick, Leeks, Onions, 
Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Basil, 
Mustard, and all the hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks; for all these being highly alka-
lescent, exalt the Bile, which is necessary in
this Case, whereby the Viscidity of both the 
Aliments and Fluids of the Body is dissolved. 
Their animal Food, both Fish and Flesh,
should be nourishing, and easy to be digested;
their Drink should be good fermented Li- 
quors, hot mineral Waters, and generous 
good Wines, such as will put the Blood into 
a vigorous Motion. But for farther Satisfa- 
ction herein, see what is said of alkalescent 
Sub-

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 243
Substances, both animal and vegetable, in the 
foregoing Chapter. 
A fat or oily Constitution is so 
very well known to every one, as 
to the Symptoms, that it needs no 
Description, and falls in with the pletho-
rick and phlegmatick Constitution already de- 
scrib'd; it being but one Species or Sort of Cor- 
pulency, as there is often Bulk without Fat, 
from a great Quantity of muscular Flesh, which 
is the Case of robust People; for an Animal in 
the Course of hard Labour appears to be very 
little else than Bones, Vessels and muscular 
Flesh; but let the same Animal remain long 
at Rest, with tolerable good Food, it will 
probably double almost its Weight and Bulk, 
and this additional Surplus is nothing but Fat
or Oil. 
A fat Con-
stitution.
The common Causes of this Dis- 
order, besides a particular Family 
Disposition of the Body are, first, strong Or- 
gans of the first Digestion, and a Laxity of 
the Fibres of the circulating Vessels, especi- 
ally those about the Membrana Carnosa ‡ ; for 
by the Action of those Fibres of the Vessels 
upon the Fluids, if they are duly elastick, 
the oily Parts of the Chyle are intimately 
mixed with the Blood; but when this Action 
is not strong enough, and that the Chyle is
The Cause.
Q2 ex-
* The fleshy Membrane, is a fat Sort of a Membrane, in 
some Parts thick and musculous, in other Parts thin with many 
Ducts of Fat in it, and covers all the nervous and fleshy Parts 
of the Body, and is interwoven with an infinite Number of 
Blood-Vessels.

244 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
extremely redundant, then the thicker Oil is 
never intirely subdued by Circulation, and so
turns Fat. 2dly. Great Quantities of oily 
Nourishment, Milk, Butter, and oily fer- 
mented Liquors. 3dly, All Things which pro- 
duce Coldness in the Skin, so as to stop Per-
spiration, by which Means the fat or oily 
Parts are congealed, which Heat dissolves 
and attenuates; for the Inhabitants of cold 
and moist Countries are generally fatter than 
those of warm and dry Climates. But the most 
common Cause of all is, too great Quantity 
of Food, and too little Motion or Exercise; 
that is to say, Gluttony and Laziness, for 
which a spare Diet and Labour is the best Re- 
medy. 
Fat or Oil in all Animals, in due Propor- 
tion, is very necessary for both the Motion 
and Nourishment of the Fibres; but too great 
Abundance of it is very prejudicial to the hu- 
man Constitution; for it is an Impediment to 
the Motion of the Joints, rendering them 
more heavy, by filling the Spaces occupy'd 
by the Muscles when they contract and swell; 
it subjects them to all the Distempers depend- 
ing upon a defective Motion of the Blood; and 
as the Want of a due Quantity of Motion of 
the Fluids increases Fat, so the Disease seems 
to be the Cause of itself. 
It endangers them in all inflammatory Dis- 
eases; for a Fever resolves many Things which 
do not circulate, and among others the Fat, 
which mixing with the Blood, becomes vola- 
tile,


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 245   
tile, and causes an Acrimony much more dan- 
gerous than the saline one; for Salts can be 
dissolved and diluted with Water, but Oils 
cannot: And it is manifest that Fat is 
dissolved by Fevers, if we consider the great
Loss of it which People undergo in such Dis- 
eases. But among the many Inconveniencies 
and other bad Effects of a fat or oily Consti- 
tution, there is one Advantage to such as 
arrive at an advanced Age, that they are not 
subject to a Stricture and Hardness of Fibres, 
which is the Effect of old Age. 
As Gluttony and Laziness are, for 
the most part, the Causes of a fat 
Constitution, such People ought to eat sparing- 
ly, sleep little, and use much Exercise; in 
which the Cure of such a Disorder chiefly 
consists. 
The Regimen.
Substances which heat moderately, abound- 
ing with acrid and pungent Salts, are proper 
in this Case; such as Horse-Radish, Mustard,
Garlick, Leeks, Onions, Spices, and all the 
aromatick Plants us'd in Seasoning; likewise 
Saffron, all Seeds that expel Wind, Meats 
well season'd with Salt, Pepper and Vinegar, 
are all proper to dissolve Fat, and carry it 
off by Perspiration; but the only Inconveni- 
ency they have, is, that they create Thirst, 
whereby great Quantities of Liquids are drank, 
which increase the Disorder, by diluting and 
relaxing the Solids too much. 
They should avoid all oily Nourishment, 
and use Honey, ripe Garden Fruits of an acid
Q3 Taste.

246 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Taste, and the astringent sub-acid Vegetables 
mentioned in the Cure of a weak and lax 
State of the Fibres, in the Beginning of this 
Chapter; for the Fibres of fat People are com- 
monly too lax. Their Drink should likewise 
be the same as is there mentioned, to which
I refer the Reader. 
Tea and Coffee are also useful, as they 
dilute and stimulate moderately; but the 
frequent Use of oily spirituous Liquors, as 
Rum, Anniseeds, &c. is extremely hurtful, 
because they increase Fat; a moist Air is like- 
wise prejudicial to fat People, by relaxing the 
Fibres and stopping Perspiration both sensible
and insensible. 
Definition. 
An earthy Atrabilarian, or 
melancholy Constitution, is such a 
State of the Fluids, wherein the spirituous
and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissi- 
pated, so as to leave the Salts, Earth, and 
grosser Oil in too great a Proportion in the
Body. 
Diagnosticks.
The Signs of such a State, or a 
Tendency thereto, are known by 
Darkness, or Lividness of the Complexion, 
Leanness, Dryness of the Skin, and a quick 
penetrating Genius, with a slow Pulse and 
Respiration; Obstructions of the Belly, and
a Difficulty of being purged. 
The Causes. 
The Causes of it are all such as 
expel or evaporate the most volatile 
and subtile Parts of the Blood, and fix the 
rest: As great Applications of the Mind to 
some

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 247
some Objects or other, such as may produce 
great Joy or Sadness, both which equally ex- 
pel and dissipate the Spirits; likewise great
Exercise or Labour in hot Weather, with un- 
quenched Thirst; also Food of hard Dige- 
stion, such as dry'd and salted Fish or Flesh, 
unripe Fruits, unfermented mealy Substances, 
or the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects of such a Constitu- 
tion of the Fluids are Stagnation, 
Obstructions, Acrimony, Putrefactions, Visci- 
dity, and an imperfect Secretion of the Gall, 
a defective Circulation in the Vessels, especi- 
ally in the lateral Branches appointed for the 
Separation of the more fluid Parts; hence 
arise viscid and insufficient Secretions in the 
Glands: Likewise the Motion of the Blood 
through the mesenterick and * celiack Arteries 
being too slow, produce various Disorders in 
the lower Belly and † hypochondriack Regions; 
hence Persons are denominated Hypochondria- 
cal. And the Signs of most of these Disorders of
the lower Bowels, arising from too slow a Mo- 
tion of the Blood through the said Arteries, are, 
a Sensation of Weight, Anxiety, Repletion, and 
a bad Digestion, from whence different Sorts 
of Food acquire such a State in the alimentary
The Effects.
Q4 Passages,
* Arteries in the lower Belly needless to be described in 
this Place. 
† Are the two Regions lying on each Side of the Tip or 
Extremity of the Breast-Bone or Sternum, and those of the 
Ribs; which contain in one the Liver, and in the other the
Spleen. Hence Disorders of those Viscera, especially of the 
Spleen, are called hypochondriacal Affections.



248 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Passages, as they affect of their own Nature; 
that is, acid, if the Diet be of acid Vegetables; 
and alkaline, if of animal Substances, espe- 
cially Fat, which remains rancid, so as that 
the Spittle will flame in the Fire sometimes; 
and all this Indigestion owing to the Inactivity
of the Gall, which likewise occasions a Co- 
stiveness of the Belly, and a Difficulty of be- 
ing purged. 
This State of the Fluids will at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Visci- 
dity of the Matter impacted in them, and 
thereby endanger the Imagination; and like- 
wise produce Corruption in the Bowels of the 
lower Belly at last. 
Hence it is evident, that such a Disorder is
not to be removed by active Remedies *, no 
more than Pitch or Dirt sticking to a Skain 
of Thread is to be taken away by Violence; 
but the Viscidity should be gently attenuated, 
diluted, and carried off gradually, by a pro- 
per continued Course of Diet, avoiding al- 
ways all heating Substances, which still eva- 
porate and dissipate the volatile and fluid Parts 
more; therefore Waters impregnated with 
some of the pungent Salts, as that of Nitre, 
Tartar, &c. are found to be of great Effect
in this Disorder. 
Their
* Are such Medicines as produce sudden Alterations in the 
Body, by their penetrating and stimulating Qualities, acting 
upon the Fluids or Solids, or upon both, either inwardly ta- 
ken, or outwardly applied. 


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 249
Their Diet should be light, easy of Di- 
gestion, moistening, and resolvent
of the Bile, such as Honey, the 
Juices of ripe Fruits, emollient Pot-herbs, 
light Broths of animal Food, Lettuce, Spi- 
nage, Cichory, and Dandelion; and their 
Drink ought to be Water, Barley-water, and 
Whey. For farther Instructions herein, see 
the Diet directed for the Rigidity of the 
Fibres in this Chapter, which is likewise very- 
proper in this Case. 
The Regimen. 
One Thing to be observed is, that the Diet 
ought to be contrary to the particular Acri-
mony residing in the Fluids, which might 
have occasioned the Disorder; for if it pro- 
ceeds from Acidity, then an animal Diet is 
altogether proper; if from an alkaline Acri- 
mony, the contrary Method must be used; 
which may be easily distinguish'd, by ob- 
serving what has been already said of acid and
alkaline Constitutions, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
As there is a continual Dissipation or Waste 
in all animal Bodies, insensibly; so the fre- 
quent Repetition of Meat and Drink is ne- 
cessary, not only for repairing the Fluids and 
Solids, but likewise for preserving the Fluids 
from a putrifying alkaline State, which they 
would acquire by constant Attrition, without 
being soon and sufficiently diluted with fresh 
Chyle. Hence it appears, that long Fastings 
or Abstinence may be the productive Cause 
of great Distempers, especially in hot and 
bilious


250 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
bilious Constitutions; and very prejudicial to
acid Constitutions, occasioned by the uneasy 
Sensation and Vellication produced in the 
Stomach. 
Therefore the Quantity of Food necessary 
to preserve our Bodies in a due State of Health
and Vigour, ought to be divided into Meals 
at proper Intervals of the natural Day, that 
the former Food may be digested before any 
more be taken in, and at such a Distance from
Bed-time that our Digestion may be almost 
finished before we sleep; by which Method 
neither the Organs of Digestion, nor the Blood- 
vessels will be overloaded, nor the Fluids too 
long deprived of a fresh Supply of nutritive 
Chyle, 
Hence the grand Secret of Health conists
in keeping an Æquilibrium † between the 
Fluids and Solids; for when the Fluids move 
so equally, that they do not press upon the 
Solids with a greater Force than they can bear; 
and, on the other hand, when the Solids resist 
and act upon the Fluids so equally, that there is 
no uneasy Sensation, the Person is then in 
good Health; and whatever is in our Food 
or Actions that destroys this Æquilibrium, ei- 
ther by relaxing or contracting the Solids too 
much, or by attenuating or rendering the 
Fluids too viscid or acrimonious, must pro- 
duce the Effects already mentioned under 
each of those particular Heads, which see. 
From
† An exact or due Ballance.


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 251  
From what has been hitherto said of the 
Nature and Effects of Aliment, as also of the 
Nature and Difference of Constitutions in par- 
ticular, with the Diet proper for each, it will 
be as easy to determine Rules of Diet in the 
different natural healthy States, as in the mor- 
bid or sickly States of human Bodies; there- 
fore I thought it both useful and necessary to
lay down here some general easy Rules, for 
the Benefit of those who value Health and 
long Life; but with this Caution, that Re- 
gard must be always had to the Nature of 
the Constitution in particular. 
I. Infancy requires a thin and copious nou- 
rishing Food, such as lengthens their Fibres, 
without breaking or hardening them, by rea- 
son of their Weakness and State of growing; 
so Milk answers this Intention best.
II. The Solidity, Strength, and Quantity 
of the Food, ought to be in Proportion to 
the Strength of the Solids, Labour, and Ex- 
ercise of the Body; for such as labour and 
exercise much, have their solid Parts stronger 
and more elastick; therefore they require 
stronger Food, and more in Quantity, than 
those that are in their declining Age, or those
that lead a sedentary or studious Life. 
III. Youth being still in the State of 
Growth, their Diet ought to be emollient 
and relaxing, plentiful, and without Acri- 
mony. 
IV. In the State of Manhood the Diet 
should be solid, with a sufficient Degree of 
Viscidity;

252 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Viscidity; and their chief Drink Water, with 
a Quantity of fermented Liquors at Times, 
proportioned to their natural Constitutions. 
V. Ancient People require a Diet resem- 
bling that of Children, often repeated, and 
little at a Time, emollient and diluting, with 
a little Wine sometimes; because in old Age 
the Fibres harden, many Canals or Vessels 
are abolish'd, and the Solids grow together; 
from whence arises Dryness, Weakness, Im- 
mobility, Debilty of the vital Force of Di- 
gestion, Loss of Teeth, and Depravation of 
chewing, which terminate in Death at last. 
VI. Excess in Meat and Drink is to be 
avoided; for a little Food well digested and 
assimilated, preserves the Body stronger and
more vigorous, than Superfluity. 
VII. We should not eat, because the cu- 
stomary Time for it is come, unless our Ap- 
petite be so too; for to load the Stomach with
a fresh Supply upon a Semi-digestion of the 
former Meal causes Crudities, and a foul Sto- 
mach, which must overload the Blood, and 
thereby produce Diseases. 
VIII. It is better to eat twice a Day with 
Moderation, than to make one over-large 
Meal, tho' one abstains double the usual 
Time for Compensation; however, if one 
transgresses at any Meal, let such abstain from
the next, or let it be a very slender one. 
IX. Variety of Meats, and made Dishes, 
destroy a Multitude of People; for they pro- 
long Appetite far beyond what Nature requires, 
and

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 253
and by that Means over-charge the Stomach. 
Besides, different Meats have different Quali- 
ties, and some are sooner digested than others; 
whence arise Crudities, and a depraved Di- 
gestion: Therefore we ought to avoid Feasts 
and Banquettings as much as possible; for it 
is more difficult to refrain from good and deli- 
cate Cheer when present, than from the De- 
sire of it when away. 
X. A temperate Diet preserves from 
diseases; for such are seldom ill, but when 
they are, they bear it better, and are
sooner recovered. 2dly, It lengthens Life, 
and mitigates the Agonies of Death. 3dly,
It arms the Body against external Accidents, 
such as Heat, Cold, Labour; and if afflicted 
with Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises, they 
are much sooner and easier cured. 4thly, It 
maintains the Senses intire and vigorous, and
moderates Peoples Passions and Affections. 
5thly, preserves the Memory, sharpens the 
Wit and Understanding, and allays the Heat 
of Lust. 
XI. Galen, recommending a temperate 
diet, says, that those of a weak Constitution 
from their Mother's Womb, may attain to 
an extreme old Age, by Help of a sober and 
moderate coarse Diet; and that too without 
diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; 
and says farther, that tho' he never had a 
healthy Constitution of Body from his Birth, 
yet by using a proper Diet after the 27th Year 
of his Age, he never fell into any Sickness, 
2 unless

254 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
unless now and then into an Ephemera, that 
is, one Day's Fever, occasioned by Fatigue or 
Weariness. And it is very well known, that 
Galen lived to an hundred Years of Age. 
XII. In the Winter and Spring we require 
a greater Quantity of solid Food, and less 
Drink, than in the Summer and Autumn; 
because in the cold Season our Stomachs are 
hottest, and we sleep a great deal more; for 
as the Cold increases, so our Heat for the 
most Part recedes to the central Parts of the 
Body. And the Reason we require less Drink 
in Winter is, that then our Bodies are moi- 
ster, like the Seasons; and likewise, that the
Cold hinders the watery Vapours to be per- 
spir'd, and so turn into Humours in the 
Body. But in Summer what is wanting in 
Meat or solid Food, may be taken in Drink, 
and moist cooling Nourishment; for then the 
Body is dry, and the inward Heat is distri- 
buted thro' all the Parts thereof, and Perspi- 
ration is so considerably increased by the ex- 
ternal Heat, that the watery Vapours or 
Effluvia are exhal'd and carry'd off thro' the 
Pores. 
XIII. The same Rules for eating serve al- 
so for drinking, the chief Intention of which 
is to allay Thirst, to moisten and convey the
Food in the Stomach, and the Nutriment 
thereof into the respective Parts of the Body; 
to dilute the Blood, and dissolve the super- 
fluous Salts, and carry them off both by Per- 
spiration and Urine. But for farther Satis- 
faction

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 255 
faction herein, see the Particulars of the Use 
and Intentions of Drink, in the latter End of 
the foregoing Chapter. 
Here I must observe, that moist Food, 
such as Broths, Pottage, Soop, and boiled 
Meats, require little Drink, and the solid only 
a Sufficiency to moisten and convey it into 
the Stomach, and prevent Obstructions; there- 
fore they who drink much at Meals, especial- 
ty strong Liquors, incur a double Inconveni- 
ency; for first, by causing the Food to float 
in the Stomach, which ought to reside in the 
Bottom, they hinder Digestion, and by 
moistening the upper Orifice thereof too 
much, by which means it is kept open, it 
thereby occasions Vapours and Fumes to a- 
scend and disorder the Head. Secondly, it 
causes the Aliment to pass too soon out of 
the Stomach, crude and indigested; whence 
arise Fluxes in the Bowels, and putrid Cru- 
dities of the Blood in the Veins and Arteries. 
XIV. It is very prejudicial to eat or drink 
too much, or fast too long, or do any thing 
else that is preternatural; for whoever eats or 
drinks too much, must be sick, or vitiate his 
Juices at last. 
XV. Growing Persons have a great deal 
of natural Heat; therefore they require a 
great deal of Nourishment, otherwise the 
Body will gradually waste. 
XVI. Hippocrates fays, that a Person can- 
not be healthy, and digest his Food well 
without Labour, and that the Quantity and 
Quality






256 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quality of Diet must bear a due Proportion 
to the Labour. 
XVII. Young, hot, strong, and labouring 
People, may feed on Meats that afford a 
hard and gross Juice, such as Beef, Bacon, 
powder'd Flesh and Fish, hard Cheese, Rye- 
Bread, and hard Eggs, &c. which may 
nourish slowly, and be digested by Degrees; 
for if they did eat things of light Nourish- 
ment, either their Meat would be too soon 
digested, or else converted into Choler. 
XVIII. When a Person is sick or distemper'd, 
his Meats should be of contrary Qualities to 
his Disease; for Health itself is but a kind 
of Temper gotten and preserv'd by a conve- 
nient Mixture of Contrarieties. 
XIX. Fat Meats are only good for dry 
Stomachs; for in sanguine and choleric Sto- 
machs they are soon corrupted; and in Phleg- 
matics they procure Looseness, and hinder 
Retention. 
XX. Such as are of hot Constitutions, 
should abstain from violent Exercises, use 
Bathing in tepid Water, feed upon Mays, 
Pot-Herbs, and a cooling moist Diet. 
XXL. The Quantity of Food that Is suf- 
ficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct, 
and answers to the due Nourishment of the 
Body; hence it is evident, that we may eat 
a greater Quantity of some Meats than of 
others of a more hard Digestion. 
XXII. The Difficulty lies in finding out an 
exact Measure; but eat for Necessity, and not
for




Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 257
for Pleasure, for Lust knows not where Ne- 
cessity ends. 
XXIII. If a Person is dull and heavy after 
Meat, it is a Sign he has exceeded the due 
Measure; for Meat and Drink ought to re- 
fresh the Body, and make it cheerful, and 
not to dull or oppress it. 
XXIV. If we find those ill Symptoms, we 
are to consider, whether too much Meat or 
Drink occasions them, or both, then we ought 
to abate by little and little, till this Inconve- 
nience is remov'd. 
XXV. Pass not immediately from an ir- 
regular Life to a strict; and precise one, but 
by Degrees; for ill Customs come by Degrees, 
and are to be wore off gradually; for all sud- 
den Alterations in Extremes, either of Re- 
pletion, Evacuation, Heat or Cold, are dan- 
gerous. 
XXVI. Acids taken in too great Quanti- 
ties, especially such as are austere, as unripe 
Fruits, produce too great a Constriction of 
the Fibres, and thicken the Fluids; hence 
Pains, Rheumatism, and Gout, Paleness, 
Itch, and other Eruptions of the Skin. 
XXVII. Spices taken in too great Quantities 
produce Thirst, Dryness, and Heat, quicken 
the Pulse, and accelerate the Motion of the 
Blood, and dissipate the Fluids; hence Lean- 
ness, Pains in the Stomach, Loathings, and 
Fevers. 
XXVIII, Strong Liquors, especially distill'd
spirits, taken in great Quantities, intoxicate. 
R contract,




258 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
contract, harden, dry, and stimulate the 
Fibres, and coagulate the Fluids; they like- 
wise corrode and destroy the inward Coat of 
the Stomach and Intestines. 
XXIX. A Diet of viscid Food, such as un- 
fermented mealy Substances, Peas, Beans, 
Lentils, &c. creates Flatulency, and Crudi- 
ties in the Stomach, Obstructions in the small 
Vessels of the Guts, and in the Mouths of the 
Lacteals and Glands: Hence Tumours and 
Hardness of the Belly, Paleness of the Skin, 
and Viscidity in the Fluids. 
XXX. An oily Nourishment relaxes the 
Solids, and particularly the Stomach and In- 
testines; it creates foul Belchings, Loathings, 
oily and bitter Vomitings; obstructs the ca- 
pillary Vessels, by hindering the Entrance of 
the watery and fluid Part, with which it will 
not mix; it produces Thirst and Inflamma- 
tions. 
CHAP. IX. 
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
SLEEP is a Cessation of the external 
Senses from Action; for, when waking, 
we walk, talk, move this or that Limb, &c.
but in a natural or undisturb'd Sleep, there is 
2 no-




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 259
nothing of all these Actions; that is, when 
awake we perform several Motions by the 
voluntary Contractions of our Muscles; when 
asleep, those Muscles are only contracted, 
Whose Action is involuntary, or does it by a 
Habit, without the Intervention of the Rea- 
soning Faculty; such are the muscular Actions 
of the Heart, Breast, Lungs, and Arteries, &c. 
so that at this Time there is a kind of Re- 
laxation of the moving Fibres of the several 
Members of the Body. And this is one great 
Design of Sleep, to recover their former 
Force to the Parts overstretch'd by Labour 
or Motion; for when we compose ourselves 
to Rest, we must put our Body into that Pos- 
ture which favours most the particularly 
Weary'd Limbs. 
In the next Place it is very evident, that in 
Sleep there is not only a Rest and a Suspension 
from acting in most of our bodily Organs, but 
likewise of our Thinking Faculty too: That 
is, a Cessation from such Thoughts as, when 
awake, we are exercised about, which we re- 
flect upon, and Will to imploy our Mind 
with. 
For tho' Dreams are Thoughts, yet they 
are imperfect and incoherent ones; and are 
either so faint and languid Representations, as 
to be consistent with our Sleep, or else, if 
they be strong and lively, they are the Inter- 
ruption and Disturbance of it. 
From whence it will follow, that the Mo- 
tion of the arterial Fluid must be more se- 
R2 date




260 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
date, even, and regular, in the Time of sleep- 
ing than waking; for besides the various Al- 
terations it receives in this latter State, from 
the several Passions of the Mind, the very 
Contractions of the Muscles themselves, in 
the Exercises of the Body, will forward its 
Course differently and more unequal; where- 
as in Sleep the Motion of the Heart, Arte- 
ries and Veins is stronger, slower, more equal, 
and full; likewise Respiration is deeper, stron- 
ger, slower, and more equal, by which Means 
the Blood circulates and digests more commo- 
diously, and Secretion, Perspiration, and the 
Distribution of Nourishment are more success- 
fully carried on; the Humours circulating 
quicker through the Blood-vessels and the 
Parts near the Heart, but slower through the 
Sides of the Body, and the remote Parts, as 
well as the Muscles. 
Hence it also comes to pass, that the In- 
flux of the nervous Fluid into the Organs of 
the Body, as also its Reflux towards the 
Brain, is in Sleep either none, or very in- 
considerable; for it is muscular Action and 
Sensation that required this Fluid to be thus 
determined this Way or that, which are in 
this State hardly any: And yet, by the Arri- 
val of Blood at the Brain, this Juice will still 
be separated there, fit to be deriv'd into its 
Tubes and Canals; so that by this Means 
there will be a new Production, or a kind of 
Accumulation or laying up in Store, of Spi-
I rits, 



Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 261
rits, in order to perform our animal Func- 
tions. 
Thus we may look upon the 
Time of waking as the Time of
wearing out, or the Destruction of
the animal Fabrick; and the Time 
of Sleep, as that in which it is repaired and 
recruited; not only upon account of what 
has been just mentioned concerning the ner- 
vous Fluid, but also with regard to all other 
Parts of the Body, as well fluid as solid: For 
Action must necessarily impair the Springs 
and Organs; and in Motion something is 
continually abraded or fil'd off from the con- 
tractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be 
restored, than by their being at Rest from 
Tension. Besides, the regular and steady 
Course of the Blood, as has been observ'd, in 
Sleep, is by far more fit and proper for Nu- 
trition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Ves- 
sels; which an uneven Hurry of Nourish- 
ment is more apt to tear off and wash away.
The Use and
Benefit of
Sleep 
Sleep is occasioned, promoted, and 
increased by eating and drinking, 
in removing the Stimulus or painful 
Sensation of Hunger and Thirst, when the 
Stomach is empty, or by drinking plentifully, 
especially of strong Liquors; but some can- 
not sleep for a long Time when they drink 
much, because the Spirits are thereby too 
much heated and enraged. 
It is also encouraged by much or long con- 
tinued Labour, the Spirits being too much
The Causes
of Sleep.
R3 dissapted



262 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
dissipated and exhausted. In like manner, 
after the taking of Opium, or other sleepy 
Things, we are disposed to sleep; because they 
seize the Spirits by their volatile Oleosity; 
also a quiet Disposition of Mind; a Body 
free from Motion, and unaffected by external 
Objects; by Excess of Heat, Cold, or Care; 
and by all such Causes as hinder the Protru- 
sion or Impulse of the Blood into the glandu- 
lous Part of the Brain, or its Passage through 
its Vessels, and the necessary Separation of 
Spirits, and the Derivation of them into the 
Nerves, being the Organs of Sensation, and 
the Muscles serving to voluntary Motion; and 
the Reflux of them towards the Sensorium 
Commune †. 
Sleep is hindered by a continual Mixture of 
Water, or hot Liquors, with the Blood, or 
any sharp Thing that vellicates or twinges the 
Nerves of the Brain; also by violent Pas- 
sions of the Mind, or the Brain's being di- 
sturbed by any internal or external Cause. 
Therefore it appears from what has been 
said, that Sleep is such a State of the Brain, 
wherein the Nerves do not receive from it so 
large or so strong an Influx of Spirits, as is 
required for the Organs of Sense and volun- 
tary Motions to perform their Actions with 
Ease and Quickness. 
The
† The Seat of Common Sense, is-in that Part of the Brain, 
in which the Nerves, from the Organs of all the Senses, are 
terminated, which is in the Beginning of the Medulla Oblon- 
gata, and not in the Glandula Pinealis, as Des Cartes and o- 
thers would erroneously have it. 






Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 263
The most immediate Cause here- 
of is perhaps the Defect of a subtile
Spirit, which requires a long Time 
to prepare it, and being now spent and ex- 
hausted; so that the finest Vessels being emp- 
tied and flagg'd, for a Time fall together; or 
there is too great a Flux of thicker Blood im- 
pell'd to the Cortex of the Brain, so that the 
Medullary Part is compress'd, and the Motion 
of the Spirits hindered; therefore the natu- 
ral Cause of Sleep is every thing that may 
produce these two Particulars. 
The natural 
Cause of
Sleep
Therefore if we consider the Na- 
ture, Necessities, and Advantages of 
Sleep, already mentioned, we may 
easily perceive how too much Watching will 
deprive the Solids of that due Supply of Spi- 
rits so absolutely necessary to enable them to 
perform their several Functions; and that for 
want of a good Digestion Perspiration will 
be very much obstructed, which must render 
the Body dull and heavier; for, according to 
Sanctorius, “ interrupted and unquiet Sleep 
“ lessens the Quantity usually thrown off by 
“ Perspiration about a third Part:” * And 
likewise, “ whatsoever hinders Sleep, hinders 
“ also the Perspiration of that digested Matter, 
“ which ought to exhale;” § because interrupted 
Sleep keeps the Fibres in that Degree of Ten- 
sion, which is not suitable to forward the Juices 
to the Extremities, and let the Matter of Per- 
spiration go off by the Pores of the Skin: 
The Effects
of too much
Watching
R4 For
* Aph. 5. Sect. iv. § Aph. 8. Sect. iv.





264 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
For whatsoever hinders that easy Relaxation 
necessary for found Sleep, must likewise hin- 
der Perspiration; so that full, heavy, and 
luxurious late Suppers must hinder it; be- 
cause such a Load in the Stomach will 
keep the Fibres upon the stretch, and conse- 
quently our Sleep will be uneasy and inter- 
rupted, until that be removed. 
It is therefore very certain, that according 
as our alimentary Organs are easy, quiet, and 
not overloaden with Food, our Sleep is 
found, sweet, and refreshing; for if any Per- 
son not labouring under a Disease, is restless 
in his Sleepy it must arise from his Stomach's 
being overcharg'd with indigested Food, or 
Crudities not carry'd off by proper Exercise; 
or his Intestines are filled with Wind, Choler, 
or superfluous Chyle: and the restless Nights 
which are generally ascrib'd to Vapours, are 
entirely owing to the said Causes. There- 
fore all those that would preserve their 
Health, and lengthen out their Days, ought to 
avoid large and late Meat-Suppers; especially 
the sedentary, studious, and such as have 
little or no Labour or Exercise, should eat 
very light or no Supper; if any, it ought to 
consist of some vegetable Food; neither 
ought they to go soon to Bed after any Sup- 
per whatever. And such People in general 
should give Attention to this Aphorism of 
the Schola Salernitana, 
Somnus




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 265
Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi cœna brevis:
Viz. 
That your Sleep may be sweet, let your 
Supper be light. 
Immoderate Watching and want of Sleep, 
produces Diseases of the Head, corrupts the 
Temperature of the Brain, causes sometimes 
Madness, inflames the Humours, generates 
and excites a saline Acrimony in the Blood 
and Juices; hence arise cutaneous Eruptions 
of different sorts; likewise the want of mo- 
derate Sleep occasions bad Digestion, fills the 
Stomach with Crudities, and dissipates the 
Spirits, by which means a thorough Waste
and Decay of both the Solids and Fluids suc- 
ceed at last. 
Sanctorius observes, that * “ They who 
“ sleep well and do not dream, perspire 
“ well; and on the contrary, they who 
“ dream much perspire less.” Because dream- 
ing is a State between sleeping and waking, 
therein, altho' the Mind does not exercise 
such a Power over the Body, as to direct its 
Motions in the same Degree as when awake, 
yet by its Attention to those confused Ideas 
which pass thro' it, the Solids are kept in 
some Degree of Contraction, greater than is 
agreeable with found Sleep; and therefore 
Perspiration, which depends upon a settled 
Relaxation, cannot be perform'd so well at 
such times, as when in quiet and profound 
Sleep
* Aph. 27. Sect. IV. 







266 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Sleep, neither have they that Refreshment, 
Lightness and Agility, which spreads all 
over the Body, and principally the Brain, as 
those who sleep quietly without dreaming.
The Effects of
too much Sleep. 
Long and superfluous Sleep is 
very pernicious to both the Mind 
and the Body; for it chills the 
Body, weakens the natural Heat, breeds 
phlegmatic Humours, and fills it with Crudi- 
ties; whence arise much Sloth and Lazi- 
ness, the Parent of many Diseases; it like- 
wise fixes the Spirits, and renders them flug- 
gish and stupid; it dulls the Understanding, 
hardens the Excrements, and makes the Body 
costive, which is frequently the Cause of va- 
rious Distempers. In short, superfluous Sleep 
is neither good for the Body nor the Mind, 
nor for Business; for he who sleeps too much 
is but half a Man, Sleep rendering him in all 
Points like a dead Man, except his Digestion 
and the Pulsation of his Arteries; for he nei- 
ther sees, hears, speaks, or understands, and 
is absolutely depriv'd of all Reason, which for 
the Time is a perfect Death. Besides, too much 
Sleep occasions in both found and firm Bodies 
a Shortness of Breath, and is a constant Fore- 
runner and Disposition to an Apoplexy, Le- 
thargy, Palsey, and Numbness, by hindering 
the seasonable Evacuations of the Excrements, 
causing them to remain too long in the Body. 
Sanctorius is very clear on this Head, and 
says, * in one of his Aphorisms, “ By too 
“ much
* Aph. 50. Sect. IV.








Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 267
“ much Sleep both the inward and outward 
“ Parts grow cold, the Humours are obstru- 
“ cted and render'd unperspirable, and the 
“ whole Body heavier.” So that by the 
very same means by which moderate Sleep 
is serviceable and necessary, too much of it 
proves injurious; because too much Relaxa- 
tion overcharges the Nerves with too thick 
and too great a Quantity of Juices, which 
instead of rendering them fitter for Motion, 
clogs them, and makes them less capable of 
recovering their Springs afterward; so that 
when once the Solids fail, the Fluids of 
course slacken in their Motions, by which 
means the natural Heat decays, and the 
Flesh grows cold, and they themselves be- 
come also more fizy or gluey; for which 
Reason they suffer less to pass off thro' the 
Pores by insensible Perspiration, or otherwise, 
and consequently the Body is render'd heavier. 
Sleep in the Day time, or after Dinner, is 
not to be allow'd, unless a Person has ac- 
custom'd himself to it, or has not rested
Well the Night before, or if he perceives a 
kind of Lassitude or Weariness in his Limbs; 
in such Cases, I say, one may sleep an Hour, 
or half an Hour after Dinner, and even it is 
slow Digestion; for according to Sanctorius *, 
“ An Hour's Sleep at Noon after a Meal, 
“ sometimes occasions the Body insensibly to 
“ perspire a Pound, and sometimes half a 
“ Pound:
* Aph. 37. Sect. IV. 




268 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
“ Pound: a Pound when any of the per- 
“ spirable Matter of the former Day has 
“ been retain'd; when not, but half a Pound.” 
This is recommended as a most excellent Re- 
medy in weak People for imperfect Digestion, 
and there is a great deal of Reason why it 
should be of Service; because such an addi- 
tional Help every Day, may compensate for 
the Deficiencies of the last Night's Perspi- 
ration; but they must not be too free with 
this Practice, who are inclin'd to grow fat or 
phlegmatick. For according to the same Au- 
thor *, “ Immoderate Sleep after Dinner in- 
“ jures all the Bowels, and obstructs Perspi- 
“ ration.” 
So that altho' a little Sleep at such Times, 
and in the Cases above-mention'd, upon a 
full Stomach may be of Service, by perspi- 
ring what did not sufficiently pass off the 
Night before; yet if it be continued too long, 
there will such a Quantity of indigested Mat- 
ter follow, as will be too gross to pass, and
consequently stop up the excretory Ducts of 
the Body, and thereby occasion very conside- 
rable Disorders. 
The ordinary Time allow'd for Sleep is 
seven Hours; for that Time seems sufficient 
for perfecting Digestion, and recruiting the 
Spirits; but some require more Sleep, and 
some less: So Children, antient People, Cho- 
lerick and dry Constitutions require more, be- 
cause it moistens and restores the Spirits; but
fat
* Aph. 66. Sect. IV. 




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 269
fat and phlegmatick Constitutions of all People 
should sleep the least, for Reasons already 
given. 
As nothing seems more directly pointed out
to us by Nature, than the Day for Exercise 
and Labour, and the Night for Rest; so the 
fittest Time for Sleeping † is about four 
Hours after Supper, for then the Stomach is 
not loaded with Food, the first Concoction 
being then perfected, and by this Time the 
Chyle has got into the Blood; so that such a 
a quiet and relaxed State as Sleep produces, is 
most necessary to both Nutrition and Per- 
spiration: and the fittest Time for that Pur- 
pose is in the Night; because the Damps, 
Vapours, and Exhalations, which are rare- 
fy'd by the Heat of the Sun in the Day-time, 
are now condensed, and fall down upon the 
Surface of the Earth again, which must ob- 
struct the Pores of the Body, and consequent- 
iy hinder Perspiration, if exposed to such 
Damps by Night-watchings, or unseasonable 
Sittings-up; and this is one of the principal 
Causes of various Diseases, both acute and 
chronical, which soon break and shatter the 
Constitution, shorten Life, and beget a de- 
crepid Age; so that Watching by Night, and 
sleeping by Day, is of the most pernicious 
Consequence to Health and long Life, and 
plainly contrary to the Indications or Dictates 
of Nature, and the Constitutions of our 
Body. 
Therefore
† This is conformable to Aph. 28. Sect. IV. of Sanctorius.  



270 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Therefore all those who value Health and
long Life, ought carefully to avoid Night 
Damps and Dews, and unseasonable Watch- 
ing or Sitting-up, but go to Bed by eight, 
nine, or ten, and rise betimes in the Morn- 
ing, that is, by five or six; for according to
the old Proverb, Surgere diluculo saluberri- 
mum est; that is, To rise betimes is most con- 
ducive to Health. 
The following Rules ought to be carefully 
observ'd in regard to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed. In the first Place, we 
should never lie too close or too warm, which
may obstruct the Fumes and Vapours neces- 
sary to be exhal'd from the Body; and we 
should always lie with our Heads a little 
raised, to prevent the Food from rising from
the Bottom of the Stomach, to its upper 
Orifice. 
Secondly, We should never sleep upon our 
Back; because thereby we prevent the usual 
Excrements of the Brain, which are dis- 
charg'd by the Nose and Mouth, from fall- 
ing upon the Windpipe and Back-bone; but 
if we sleep upon our Back, we over-heat the 
Reins, by being pressed between the Inte- 
stines and the Bed, and thereby oftentimes 
produce Stone and Gravel, and send many 
Fumes and Vapours to the Head. 
Thirdly, It is necessary to take our first 
Sleep upon our right Side, to prevent the 
Liver's pressing the Stomach, then replenish'd 
with the Food we took in at Supper, which 
must


Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 271 
must happen if we lie on the left Side. Be- 
sides, by sleeping first on the right Side, what 
is concocted of the Food descends gradually 
and easily out of the lower Orifice of the 
Stomach into the Intestines, and then the 
Liver comes underneath it, and is instead of 
a Chasing-Dish to it, which promotes Di- 
gestion very much. After this, we should 
turn to the left, that thereby the Steams and
Vapours retain'd on the right Side may ex- 
hale. And lastly, when we go to Rest, we 
ought not to stretch our Joints, but rather 
bend them a little; for as * Galen observes, 
The Ease of the Muscles consists in a mode- 
rate Contraction. 
CHAP. X. 
Of MOTION and REST.
BY Motion, I mean here Exercise and 
Labour, as Walking, Riding, Running, 
playing at Ball, &c. They encrease natural 
Heat and consume the Crudities of the Body; 
for it is very certain, that all Sorts of Ali- 
ment tho' never so pure, have yet always 
something in them unlike our Nature, which 
can never be assimilated to either our Juices 
or Substance; so that some Excrement must 
always
* Galenus, lib. 1. de motu Musculari. 

272 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
always then remain in every Concoction, 
which being retained in the Body, may pro- 
duce a Multitude of various Diseases: But 
the grossest Excrements are discharged by a 
sensible Evacuation, and the most subtile are 
insensibly dissipated and resolved by Exercise 
or Labour. 
This made the divine Hippocrates very 
justly say, in his Book of Diet, that “ One 
“ cannot preserve Health, except he joins 
“ Exercise with his Diet; for the one repairs 
“ what is lost, and the other dissipates what 
“ is superfluous.” Hence moderate and re- 
gular Exercise prevents Repletion, which is 
often the Parent of many Diseases; by en- 
creasing the natural Heat, it keeps all the Ca- 
nals of the Body open, and free from Ob- 
structions; it renders the Body supple; pre- 
pares and disposes all the Superfluities for both
Secretion and Excretion, as well in general as 
in particular; it likewise fortifies the Nerves, 
and strengthens all the Joints which is con- 
firm'd by the great Hippocrates, in his Epi-
demicks, saying that, “ As Sleep is proper for 
“ the Bowels, so is Exercise for strengthen- 
“ ing the Joints.” Celsus also tells us, that 
“ Idleness makes the Body dull and heavy, 
“ but Labour strengthens and renders it firm
“ and active; Laziness makes us soon grow
“ old, but Exercise preserves Youth a long
“ Time †.” 
To
† Lib. I. Caput I. 



Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 273 
To prove the Necessity of Motion or Exer- 
cise, for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, it will be necessary to observe, that a 
human Body, as it comes under the Conside- 
ration of a Physician, is merely a Machine. 
Considering it therefore in this Manner, it is
divided into Solids and Fluids; the Solids are 
vascular, and have continually propell'd thro'
them some Liquor or other necessary for the 
Purposes and Support of the Machine: And 
these circulating Fluids are of different Kinds, 
arising from the different Agitations and Ve- 
locities impress'd upon them by the Vessels 
which circulate them. 
But in this View they have a necessary De- 
pendence upon each other; for as the Disten- 
sion and Power of Restitution in the Vessels, is 
owing to their being duly moisten'd by some 
convenient Fluid, separated and dispensed to 
them from the Blood, which is the common 
Promptuary of all the animal Juices; so 
likewise that due Constitution of the Blood, 
which fits it for yielding some of its Parts for 
that Use, depends upon its certain Degrees of 
fluidity, which are always as the Contraction 
of its circulating Vessels: But yet even in 
this the Solids have the principal Share; be- 
cause, as that Power by which the Blood is 
Preserv'd in a due Crasis or Constitution is de- 
rived from itself, that is, of beflowing upon 
the Solids a Juice necessary for the Preserva- 
tion of their Springs, yet that Constitution 
enabling it to afford such a Power, being pri-
S marily


274 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
marily derived from the Actions of the Solid
upon it, the chief Spring or Rise of Motion 
is in the Solids. 
To know therefore the most ready Ways 
of altering the Constitution of the Fluids, is
to find out the most convenient and effectual 
Means of influencing the Contractions of their 
Vessels; but this cannot be done, without 
knowing first upon what Texture and Me-
chanism of Parts their Powers of Contraction 
and Distension depend. 
And in order to come to any Certainty of 
this Matter, we are to consider, that it is
very well known, that any Membrane or Ves- 
sel may be separated or divided into very 
small Fibres and Threads, when just taken 
out of the Body, and that these Threads may
be drawn out a considerable Length beyond 
what is natural to them without breaking, 
and that when such external Force which so 
distended them is removed, they will again, 
by their Elasticity, restore themselves to their 
former Dimensions. And it is farther like- 
wise known, that these Properties of Disten-
sion and Contraction are preserved in them by a 
convenient Moisture; because, if one of these 
Threads be dried, it will immediately lose it, 
so that upon the Application of any Force to 
stretch it, it will break; as also its being 
soak'd too much in Liquor will render it 
flaccid; as likewise destroy its Elasticity or 
Power of Restitution when distended. 
But

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 275
But what is exactly the constituent Tex- 
ture, or what are perfectly the Shapes and 
Arrangement of those Parts which compose 
an animal Fibre, is scarce possible to be justly
determined; because they are too fine to be 
perceived by the naked Eye, or even by the 
Help of the best Microscopes when very mi- 
nutely divided; which Division proceeds so 
far at last, that the component Fibrillœ be- 
come so incredibly small, as to exceed the 
Power of Imagination; but Reason con- 
vinces us that there must be an End. 
However, as to the present Enquiry con- 
cerning the Effects of Motion or Exercise on 
the Solids and Fluids of a human Body, it 
will be sufficient, with what has been al- 
ready said, that it is known to a Demonstra-
sion, that all the Fibres in a living Body are 
in a State of Distension; that is, they are 
drawn out into a greater Length than they 
would be in, if separated from any Part, and 
taken out of the Body; which is easily de- 
monstrated, by cutting transverse, or dividing
of a Nerve or Artery, which are intirely a 
Composition of the Threads we are now 
speaking of; for immediately we see the di- 
vided Parts run up and leave a great Distance 
between them, as in Wounds, and the Fluids 
contained in them upon such Contraction, to 
be so squeez'd out; and this also makes it ap- 
pear, that their natural Distension is owing to
some Fluid being propell'd into the Vessels 
which they compose, with a greater Force 
S2 than


276 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than their Endeavours of Restitution, so far 
as to obtain a close Contact of all their 
transverse Surfaces, but yet lesser than that 
which is necessary to distend them, so far as 
to bring them to Coincidence, for in such a 
Case the Vessels would break. 
In the next Place then, this State of Di- 
stension of the Fibres must necessarily leave 
some little Vacuities or Interstices between 
all their transverse Surfaces, which Vacuities 
will continue as long as the longitudinal Sur- 
faces of their component Parts continue so 
close to one another, as to prevent the En- 
trance of any foreign Matter between, how 
subtile soever, for the same Reason as when 
the Embolus of a Syringe is drawn, and the 
Pipe is stopp'd, there must needs be a conti- 
nual nisus restituendi, or an Endeavour of 
Contraction. There is also a farther Necessity
of being supported in such a State of Disten- 
sion; because, if they were closely in Contact 
with each other in all Parts, they could not 
be put into, and continue in those undulatory
Motions, which they are always in, in a
living Body, without being very much al- 
ter'd both in their Figures and Contextures. 
But it being manifest that all the animal 
Fibres are continued by the perpetual succes-
sive Impulse of the Fluids, in such undulatory 
Motions; besides this Necessity of their being
distended, they also must be continually moi- 
sten'd with some convenient Fluid, otherwise 
their continual Attritions against one another
would

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 277
would soon wear out, and render it difficult 
to move them. 
The Fluid likewise suited for this Purpose 
must be very fine and subtile, because other- 
wise it cannot be insinuated into all the In- 
terstices the Fibres, without separating 
their Parts so far as is inconsistent with the
Contexture and Mechanism of a Fibre, al- 
ready described; and the Parts also of this 
Fluid must not only be very subtile, but like- 
wise soft and yielding, whereby the Motions 
of the Particles against one another may be 
Maintained the better; and also as by a Ce- 
ment, that they may be prevented in their 
receding from each other in their longitudinal 
Surfaces, so far as to admit of no foreign 
Matter to insinuate itself between their trans- 
verse Surfaces, in such Quantities as to hinder 
their Re-union when Occasion may require 
it. 
From what has been said it will appear, 
that the most natural Consequence of Mo- 
tion, will be the breaking still smaller and 
smaller the component Particles of that Fluid, 
which is dispensed to the Fibres to lubricate 
and facilitate their Motions; which Commi- 
nution will be continued till it is rendered so 
fine, as to fly off at last at the Surface of the
Body, being of no farther Use to Nature, 
whenever it happens to get there, and by that 
Means must be there continually made a Waste 
of, and that merely by such an Attrition of the
Parts, as necessarily arises from their due 
S3 Dis-

278 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Discharge of the vital Functions; and that 
Matter, which thus insensibly flies off, is the 
true Matter of insensible Perspiration, the 
Exhalation of which is absolutely necessary 
for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life. 
But this Waste makes it necessary that 
there be a continual Supply of what is lost; 
and this is made from what is taken in by 
the Stomach, which, after divers Digestions 
and Alterations, at last is mixed with the 
Blood, and there fitted for some of the finest 
Parts to pass through the Glands constituted 
for that Purpose in the Brain, which from 
thence are dispens'd through the whole ner-
vous System, in such a Manner, as constantly
to keep up a due Supply of this animal 
Fluid. 
Yet there is another Way by which the 
Fibres receive fresh Supplies, and that a much 
nearer; for, according to their natural Con- 
structures, it is very likely that even in the 
Stomach, and throughout the whole Passage 
of the Food into the Blood, the most subtile 
Parts of what is taken in, which are soon se- 
parated from the rest, and ready fitted for
this Use, may, when they chance to strike 
against any of the Interstices of a Fibre, be 
laid hold on, and by Degrees convey'd into 
the Substance of the Thread; for it is certain
the most subtile Part of the Chyle passes imme- 
diately into the Blood by the absorbent Ves-
sels 

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 279  
sels * of the Intestines, as I have observed in 
another Place, which discharge themselves 
into to the Mesaraick Veins †, and from thence 
are convey'd directly into the Liver and Spleen. 
Besides, this is farther supported by com- 
mon Experience, by which it is evident, that 
the Solids are invigorated with fresh Recruits 
of Spirits, immediately upon taking into the 
Stomach such Meats and Drinks as are spiri- 
tuous, and contain in their Composition plenty 
of Particles very fine and active, and easily to
be divided from the rest: And thus every one, 
Upon eating a good Meal, or upon drinking of 
any spirituous Liquor, especially if it be after 
long fasting, or a large Expence by hard La- 
bour or Exercise, finds himself immediately, as 
soon as it is in his Stomach, raised with new 
Spirit and Vigour; which could by no Means 
happen, were the Solids to obtain these Re- 
cruits altogether from the Chyle's passing 
through the Lacteals to the Thoracick Duct, 
S4 and
* Are Vessels which suck in. 
† They are Branches of the Vena Portœ, interspersed in 
great Numbers in and upon the Laminœ of the Mesentery, 
which is a membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the
Guts are connected, and they carry the Blood back to the 
Liver: Their Largeness and Number demonstrate what 
in said above; for they are numerous and vastly larger 
than their correspondent Arteries; besides, wherever there 
are Emissaries, which are little Vessels which throw out a 
Liquid, there are likewise absorbent Vessels; for Example, 
in the Skin, by the absorbent Vessels of which Mercury will 
pass into the Blood. Moreover Birds, which have strong and 
large Breasts, small Bellies, and their Ribs upon their Backs, 
have no Lacteals nor Thoracick Duct, and their Aliment passes 
immediately into the Mesaraick Veins, by which Means they 
receive their Nourishment intirely. 


280 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
and thence into the Blood; because it is im- 
possible that what a Person finds himself so soon 
recruited by, should in so short a Time have 
gone through the usual Digestions and Cir- 
culations, which require some Hours for that 
Purpose, according to Sanctorius, and a great
many Authors of undoubted Authority. 
Upon a View of what has been said, with 
what ease may be explained, how the Body, 
by moderate Exercise, is rendered lighter up- 
on a twofold Account! Because, in the first 
Place, there is occasion'd by it a Substraction 
of its absolute Weight, as it assists Digestion, 
and by breaking the Matter to be perspired 
finer; secondly, it promotes the Discharge of
that Matter through the Pores; and because 
by the Vibration of the Solids, at the same 
Time, there is a larger Quantity of fresh Spi- 
rits taken up by them from the circulating 
Blood, both by the Secretion made of them in 
the Brain, and in the Manner they are convey'd 
by the absorbent Vessels just now explained, 
whereby the Fibres become more invigorated, 
and so much the more able to carry on a due 
Discharge of all the vital Functions, inso- 
much that the Body will not have the Sense 
or Perception of so much absolute Weight as
before. 
Moreover, the Muscles and Ligaments are 
cleared of their Excrements by Exercise; 
that is, whatever superfluous Particles of the 
digested perspirable Matter may adhere to 
them, is by Motion dislodg'd and shook of:
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 281  
And the Spirits are rendered finer; that is, 
such Parts of the nervous Fluid as are just re- 
ceived by the Fibres, are by the Actions of 
their component Threads broke smaller, and 
tendered fitter for the Purposes of the whole 
Body. 
Upon this View likewise it will be easy to 
account for some Disorders this Fluid is likely 
to fall into, or how it is most liable to be di- 
stemper'd; which is very plain, that it must 
be either by becoming too gross and sizy, or 
too fine or exhalable. 
The first may be occasioned by a want of 
sufficient Agitation or Motion in the Solids, 
whereby its Parts attract each other, and form
viscid Cohesions, in the same Manner as it 
happens in the Blood in the same Case, which 
renders the Motions of the constituent Threads
of the Fibres very difficult and troublesome, 
and sometimes so obstructs or blocks up those 
little Vacuities or Interstices between their 
transverse Surfaces, which are necessary for the 
Support of their Elasticity, as to prevent, in a 
great Measure at least, their Power of Resti- 
tution when they are distended; as happens 
in a Leucophlegmatia, Anasarca, and such like 
Disorders, where the Springs of the Fibres 
are so much destroy'd, that by any small 
Pressure upon a Muscle, the Impression will 
sometimes remain a long Time before their 
constituent Threads can recover their natural 
Dimensions; or, as it is commonly express'd, 
the Part will pit. 
The

282 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The other Disorder of this Fluid, oppo- 
site to the former, is, its being broke too fine; 
which will render it so exhalable as to fly 
off in greater Quantities than the concoctive 
Power in the Stomach is able to recruit or 
supply; and this is often brought about by 
too violent Exercise, too large Evacuations, 
or drinking too great Plenty of spirituous and 
hot Liquors, whereby the Constitution of the 
Blood is so far weaken'd, as not to give due 
Resistance to the Constractions of the Vessels
which circulate the Juices, whereupon they 
vibrate quicker, and break the nervous Juice 
too fine; which brings on a Hectick, and 
Death, if not timely remedied. 
As to the first of these Disorders, it is evi- 
dent that it is to be remedied by giving brisker 
Motions to the Solids, and encreasing the Vi- 
brations of the contractile Vessels, in which 
how far Exercise may be useful, is evident 
from what has been said already; for every 
Thing which acts as a Stimulus comes under 
this Head; and their Efficacy is chiefly to be 
determined by their greater or lesser Power of 
stimulating, shaking, and contracting the Fi- 
bres, which Exercise rightly pursued produces 
more efficaciously, and with less Danger, than
any other Method whatsoever. 
For by such Means the component Threads 
of the Fibres are so put in Motion, as to 
loosen such Parts of the animal Oil, as are 
obstructed in their Interstices, and by Degrees 
break them small enough for Expulsion; and 
a fresh

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life 283
a fresh Stock of such Spirits will be supply'd, 
as will restore them to their natural Springs. 
As to the latter Disorder, it is to be re- 
moved by a Diet that agglutinates, and gives 
a greater or stronger Consistence to all the 
Fluids, and by all such Means as check the in- 
ordinate Motions of the Solids. So that upon 
the Whole it is evident, that to keep from ei- 
ther of these Extremes, Care is to be taken to
maintain a just Ballance between the elastick 
Force of the Solids and the Resistances of the
circulating Fluids, in which true Health con- 
sists; because, if the Equilibrium is lost on 
either Side, the Body cannot but fall into 
some Distemper; and in this consists the whole
Art and Business of a rational Practice, to 
know when to add to, or substract from, the 
Resistances of the Fluids, and when to check 
or spur the Motions of the Solids; as also to 
be well acquainted with the various Methods 
by which all these Intentions may be brought 
about. 
And here I cannot omit just taking Notice, 
how wonderfully the Effects of Musick in 
some extraordinary Cases are hereby account-
ed for; and tho' Musick, strictly speaking, 
may not be deem'd Exercise, unless it be so to 
those who exercise it themselves; yet it will 
manifestly appear otherwise, if we consider, 
that according to the Nature and Contexture 
of an animal Fibre or Thread, it is very plain 
that the least Stroke imaginable upon it, 
must move its component Fibrillœ in all 
their

284 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
their Parts; therefore every Wave or Undula- 
tion of the Air, which is made by a musical 
Instrument, gives the Fibres of the whole 
Body more or less correspondent Concussions, 
according to their Degrees of Tension, where- 
by all the component Fibrillœ are successively
moved from one to another throughout the 
whole Thread; and consequently the Spirits 
are not only raised and made finer, but like- 
wise the other animal Fluids are also more 
briskly agitated, and their preternatural Co- 
hesions and Viscidities destroyed: All which 
plainly prove, that Musick is not only good 
Exercise for the Mind, but likewise very use- 
ful for the Body, by the agreeable Concus- 
sions and Thrillings we sensibly perceive from
it in all the fleshy Fibres of the Body. 
Hence Musick has this Advantage above 
any other Exercise, that those Concussions
made upon the Fibres thereby are short, 
quick, and easy, whereupon the nervous 
Fluid is not only more briskly agitated, but 
also the natural Contexture of all the animal 
Threads are better preserved, being never o- 
verstrained hereby, as they frequently are 
with other Exercises: Therefore upon this 
View the extraordinary Effects of Musick in 
several Diseases, as that of the Bite of a ta- 
rantula *, &c. ceases to be a Wonder, and 
it
* Among all the wonderful Effects ascrib'd to the Power 
of Musick, none is more surprising and important than that 
of curing the venomous Bite of the Italian Spider, called the 
Tarantula. The Part bitten is soon affected with a very acute 
Pain, 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 285
it rather comes to be admired that it is not 
much more brought into Use here for the Be- 
nefit of valetudinary and weakly Constitu- 
tions, as it is in Italy and other Countries, 
and that even by the Direction of their Phy- 
sicians. 
What has been said farther explains that 
common Effect of Exercise, in its giving al- 
ways, conformable to Hippocrates's Opinion, 
a greater Firmness and Strength to the Solids; 
for the more a Fibre is kept in Action, the 
clearer it will keep its component Parts from
the Lodgement and Adhesion of any foreign 
and superfluous Matter upon them, by which 
Means whenever it is distended or stretch'd, 
there will be the more Room for each Par- 
ticle to draw up again, and consequently its 
Return will be with greater Force; but the 
Exercise which produces this Effect, is such
only as does not exceed the Powers of the 
Con-
Pain, and a few Hours after with Numbness; upon which 
ensues a profound Sadness, and a Difficulty of Respiration; the 
Pulse grows weak, the Sight is disturbed, and the Person loses 
Knowledge, Sense, and Motion. The Doctor is in vain con- 
sulted; the Musician here alone performs the Cure; he tries 
a Variety of Airs, and when he happens to hit on that Har- 
mony that accords with the Patient, he begins to move by 
Degrees, and keeps Time with his Fingers, Arms, Legs, and 
Body; then he raises himself up and dances, increasing in 
Strength and Activity. This dancing Fit continues six Hours, 
or a Day, or sometimes two Days. When the Musick ceases, 
the Person gives over dancing, and is put to Bed. And this 
Process is repeated till the Patient is recovered, which is by 
little and little; and every sick Person has a particular Tune 
or Air, and always a very brisk or sprightly one. See Der- 
ham's Physico-Theology, Book IV. Chap. iii. and Malcolm's 
Musick, Chap. xiv. Sect. 3. &c. 


286 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Constitution; for too much Exercise destroys
the Solids, by consuming the Fluids too 
much. 
But on the contrary, by too much Rest 
and Inactivity every Part will lose its Strength, 
and the less it is mov'd, be still render'd less 
able for Motion. And upon this Account it is 
that we see daily such a very great Diffe- 
rence between active and stirring Persons, 
and such whose Circumstances of Life in- 
ures them to Labour and Exercise, and those 
whose Inclinations and Condition indulge 
them in Ease and Inactivity; for the for- 
mer are strong, hardy, and healthful, but 
the latter tender, weakly, and diseas'd. 
From the Doctrine of this Chapter, it is 
manifest to a Demonstration, that there is 
an absolute Necessity for Labour and Exer- 
cise, to preserve the Body any time in a due
State to maintain Health, and prolong Life: 
For let whatever Diet be pursued, though 
never so well adjusted both in Quantity and
Quality, and let whatever Evacuations be 
used to lessen the Disorder, or any Succeda- 
neum or Equivalent be proposed to prevent 
the ill Effects; yet our Bodies are so made, 
and the animal Oeconomy so contriv'd, that 
without due Labour or Exercise the Juices 
will thicken, the Joints will stiffen, the 
Nerves will relax, and on these Disorders, 
chronical Distempers and a shatter'd old Age 
must soon ensue.
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 287
And tho' light Food may in a great mea- 
sure prevent the thickening of the Fluids, 
yet it cannot do it sufficiently without Exer- 
cise; nor can it at all keep the Fibres in due 
Tension, for to that Purpose Exercise is ab- 
solutely necessary: Even the joint Power of
warm Air and light Food, cannot supply the 
Place of Exercise in keeping them pliant 
and moveable, and preserving them from 
growing hard and stiff. But we should al- 
ways avoid too much Labour or Exercise, as 
I have just now observ'd; for Sanctorius tells
us, “ That by too much Exercise the Fibres 
“ become hard, whence old Age proceeds, 
“ which is an universal Hardness and Stiff- 
“ ness of the Fibres *.”
There are general and particular Exercises; 
the former, which move and stir the whole 
Body, are Walking, Dancing, Fencing, Run-
ning, Leaping, Bowling, Tennis, Pumping, 
Riding a Horseback, or in a Coach, &c. of 
all which Walking is the most natural, and
would be also the most useful, if it did not
exhaust the Spirits of weakly Constitutions 
too much; but Riding is certainly the most 
manly, the most healthy, and the least labo- 
rious and expensive of the Spirits of any, 
shaking the whole Body, and thereby pro- 
moting an universal Perspiration and Secre- 
tion of all the Fluids; to which may be 
added the various Changes of the Air thro' 
which they so quickly pass, the Alterations 
of
* Aph. 35. Sect. V.


288 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of which become as it were a new Bath, 
and by that means variously stimulating the 
Fibres to brace and contract them; besides 
the different Objects or new Scenes, which at
the same Time amuse the Mind. 
The immortal Sydenham laid so great a 
Stress on Riding, that he thought he could not
only cure slight Consumptions, but an almost 
desperate Tabes, attended with nocturnal 
Sweats, and a violent Diarrhœa, by Riding 
alone; nor did he believe Mercury more ef- 
fectual in the Cure of the Venereal Disease, or 
the Bark in intermittent Fevers, than Riding 
was in a Consumption. 
Those who cannot ride may use a Coach, 
Chaise, or Chair, which is the only proper 
Method for lame, old, and decrepid Persons, 
as well as for those who are so young, that 
they are not able to manage their own Exer- 
cise. 
There are also particular Exercises appro- 
priated to certain Parts of the Body; as 
Shooting, for the Breast; Talking, Singing, 
Hollowing, Blowing the Horn, or Wind-In-
struments, for strengthening, opening, and 
clearing the Lungs; Tennis or Foot-ball, for 
those who have weak Arms or Hams; Bowl- 
ing or Skettles, for the Reins and Loins;
Riding, for weak Nerves and Digestion, and 
those troubled with Head-aches. 
In short, there is no one particular Part 
of the Body, but might be strengthen'd and 
kept in due Plight by Labour or Exercise
rightly 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 289
rightly appropriated to the particular Organ; 
for it is very remarkable, how the several 
different Limbs of labouring Men are streng- 
then'd, and render'd fleshy and nervous, as 
they happen to be most employ'd in their 
different Occupations: so the Thighs, Legs, 
and Feet of Chairmen; the Arms and Hands 
of Watermen; the Backs and Shoulders of 
Porters, grow thereby thick, strong, and 
hard in time; for it is very certain, that 
using any Organ or Member frequently and 
forcibly, brings Blood and Spirits into it, and
by that means is render'd plump and strong. 
The following Conditions ought to be ob- 
serv'd with Regard to Exercise, in order to 
render it the most beneficial that may be. 
The first, that it be upon an empty Stomach, 
for then all the Matter which is digested 
enough for Perspiration, will thereby be 
easily discharg'd; but Exercise on a full 
Meal is very pernicious, for it subverts the 
Stomach, and forces the Aliment from thence 
crude and indigested, and so hurries it into
the Veins and Habit of the Body, whereby 
Secretions are precipitated, and the found 
Juices are carried off with the corrupted Hu- 
mours; hence arise frequently putrid Fevers, 
Pleurisies, Head-achs, weak Eyes, and a 
general Cacochymy, or a vitiated Constitu- 
tion. 
Secondly, the Morning Exercise is always the 
best, for then the two Concoctions are finish'd; 
and Hippocrates is very clear upon this Head, 
T in

290 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in one of his Aphorisms, wherein he says, 
Let us exercise before eating. But it should 
be moderate and equal; I call that Exercise 
moderate which is not tiresome, and equal 
when all the Parts of the Body are equally 
mov'd. 
Thirdly, They that are lean should exer- 
cise only ad Ruborem, that is, till the Body and
Spirits are gently heated, for that will help to 
fatten them; but they who are fat may exer- 
cise ad Sudorem, that is, till they sweat, for 
that will help to melt down Part of their 
Fat, and consequently extenuate the Body. 
Fourthly, We must carefully avoid drink- 
ing any cold Liquors after violent or great 
Exercise, or when we are hot and sweating, 
which Heat and Thirst intice us to do; 
the dangerous Effects of which, are chilling 
and almost extinguishing the remainder of 
the Heat which is left in the inward Parts, 
and surfeiting the Blood and Juices, by mix- 
ing cold Drink with the Fat, which is at 
that Time partly melted and floating in the 
Body. 
Fifthly, Another great Error to be avoid- 
ed is, drinking of strong and spirituous Li- 
quors after hard Labour or Exercise, in order 
to avoid the former Inconveniencies, not con- 
sidering that we thereby incur another, which 
is over-heating and drying our Bodies, too 
much heated and dry'd before; but to avoid 
both, and to refresh the Body at the same 
time, the best Way is, first to rest a while
warm,

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 291
warm, if we can conveniently, and then to 
drink a Draught of warm Ale or Beer, with 
a little Mace and Sugar in it, or some other 
innocent Supping, analogous in Heat or 
Warmth to that of our Bodies, by which 
means the Blood and Spirits will soon settle, 
and be refresh'd, and so the Limbs after 
Rest will be enabled with Ease to undergo 
new Labour. 
Sixthly, We should carefully avoid catch- 
ing of Cold after Exercise, by retiring into a 
warm Room, or some convenient Shelter 
from the Injuries of the Weather. 
CHAP. XI.
Of RETENTION and EXCRETION.
THE Things to be excreted or evacua- 
ted, and retained, are the Excrements 
of the Belly, Urine, insensible Perspiration, 
the Semen, and the Menses; for these must
be regulated, and evacuated in due Time, 
and in due Quantity, all which conduce very
much to the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, otherwise they will injure it, and bring
on a Multitude of various Diseases. There- 
fore in a natural and healthy State, we should 
go to Stool once in 24 Hours, and the Fœces 
should be of a due Consistence, that is, some- 
T2 what


292 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
what soft, and stick together, according to 
the old Saying, Oportet sanorum sedes esse
configuratas; that is, The gross Excrements 
in healthy Persons ought to be of such a Con- 
sistence, as to take the Impression of the Guts. 
They who are costive, and otherwise not 
well, have either over-heated their Bodies 
with spirituous Liquors, or have fasted too 
long, or eaten too sparingly, or they have 
too slow a Digestion, or too great Weakness
of the Intestines; and by that means the 
Food is retain'd too long before the Mouths 
of the Lacteals, and is thereby over-drain'd 
of its Moisture, and harden'd. 
The best Proportion of the gross Eva- 
cuation to the Quantity of the Food we take 
in, is about the third Part; for they who 
much exceed that, have the Mesaraick Veins 
stopt or obstructed, and so cannot be nou- 
rish'd; and if it exceeds it, 'tis certain that
the Body wastes, unless the Matter of some 
Disease be thereby evacuated; or else, if 
they have purging Stools, they have eaten 
too much of Things too strong for their 
Powers of Digestion; for it is very certain, 
that superfluous Nourishment leaves too 
much Chyle in the gross Excrements, which 
fermenting in the Guts, stimulates them so as 
to become purgative. 
But if the Looseness be not violent, and 
the Appetite remains good, it is not to be 
suddenly and rashly stopp'd; for Nature 
thereby frequently prevents, and often times
rids




Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 293
rids herself of many a Disease, which upon 
an unadvised Astriction would be riveted in 
the Body; and therefore the Rule is, first 
cleanse and then close. But if it be too vio- 
lent and frequent, and the Stomach thereby 
decay'd it must be carefully and speedily 
remedied; and in this Case Advice is very
necessary, for it is easy to commit an Error, 
but the Consequence is dangerous. 
Here I cannot omit inserting an Abstract
of some few Passages out of Cheyne's Essay 
of Health and Long Life, which are admi- 
rable upon this Subject, and very worthy 
of every Body's Perusal. ' I have often ob- 
' serv'd, says he, that a full Meal of strong
' Meat, as Fish, Beef, Pork, baked Meat, 
' or made Dishes, in tender Persons goes off 
' with the Hurry and Irritation of a Purge, 
' leaving the Bowels instated, colick'd, grip'd, 
' and the Spirits sunk to the last Degree. 
' The Food by its various Mixture, Weight, 
' and Fermentation, Stimulating all along
' from the Stomach to the Rectum *, and 
' being scarce ever drain'd of its Chyle, 
' without affording any Nourishment to the 
' Body, runs off thus crudely, and becomes 
' equal to a total Abstinence from Food for 
' a long Time. And hence we have a most 
' infallible Rule, † a Posteriori, to judge 
' if we govern'd ourselves in our Diet in 
T3 ' Pro-
* The straight or last Gut. 
† A Posteriori, i. e. after the Trial has been made.



294 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Proportion to the Necessities of Nature, 
' and the Forces of our concoctive Powers. 
' This is the very Reason why the Bark 
' over dosed, and given to Persons of weak 
' Digestion, so constantly purges them, and
' why Mercury given either inwardly, or 
' by Frictions, runs off in violent Purging,
' and cannot be raised into a Salivation; to
' wit, the not adjusting the Doses to the 
' Strength of the stomach and nervous Fi- 
' bres; for the Bark naturally binds, and 
' Mercury naturally rises to the most § per- 
' vious Glands. 
' And in this Sense I myself have frequent- 
' ly observ'd in weak and scrophulous Bowels, 
' even Diascordium and Venice Treacle to 
' purge: whereas, had the Doses been duly 
' proportion'd, or had they begun by un- 
' der-dosing, and taken a little longer time, 
' they might have been effectually answer'd, 
' as I have often experienc'd without ever
' failing. 
' 2. There is a very great Error commit- 
' ted in Nurses and Parents in rearing up 
' young Children; the perpetual Gripes, 
' Colicks, Loosenesses, hard Bellies, Choak-
' ings, Wind and Convulsive Fits, which tor-
' ment half the Children in England, are en- 
' tirely owing to the too great Quantities of
' too strong Food, and too rank Milk, thrust 
' down their Throats by their over-laying 
' Mothers
§ Pervious, i. e. the easiest or readiest Way to be passed
through. 

295 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
' Mothers and Nurses; for what else do their 
' slimy, their gray or chylous, their blackish, 
' and cholerick Discharges, the Noise and Mo- 
' tion in their Bowels, their Wind and Choak- 
' ings imply, but Crudities from superfluous 
' Nourishment? This is so certain, that they 
' are universally and infallibly cur'd by testa- 
' ceous Powders, which only absorb sharp Cru- 
' dities; by Rhubarb Purges, which at once 
' evacuate and strengthen the Bowels; and by 
' Milk Clysters, Issues, and Blisters; and by 
' obstinately persisting in these and the like, 
' (intended to evacuate and strengthen the 
' alimentary Passages) and a thin, spare and 
' nutritive Diet; for nothing nourishes but 
' Food duly concocted. 
' 3. I have often heard valetudinary and 
' tender Persons, and those of sedentary Lives,
' and learned Professions, complain of Head- 
' achs, Sickneses at the Stomach, Colicks and
' Gripes, Lowness of Spirits, Wind and Va- 
' pours; and yet pretended they were very 
' moderate and abstemious in their Eating 
' and Drinking; but upon Enquiry, I con- 
' stantly found these very Persons pursued 
' with purging Stools, which was an evident
' Proof to me, that they had taken down 
' more than they wanted, or could digest: 
' for 'tis universally certain, that those that
' do not exceed, must have either Costive, 
' or at least Stools of a middle Consistence. 
' There is nothing more ridiculous, than 
' to see tender, hysterical and vapourish Peo-
T4 ' ple,


296 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' ple, perpetually complaining, and yet per- 
' petually cramming, crying out, they are 
' ready to sink into the Ground and faint 
' away, and yet gobbling the richest and 
' strongest Food, and highest Cordials, to 
' oppress and overlay them quite. The pro- 
' per Remedy in this Case, is first, to cleanse 
' the fœtid Abyss, and then to preserve it 
' clean, by cutting off all the Inlets of Pu- 
' trefaction. This will require a little Cou- 
' rage, Labour and Pain; but the future 
' Ease and Sweetness will more than abun- 
' dantly recompence them; for there is no- 
' thing more certain, than that the Head-achs, 
' Colicks, and nervous Pains and Disorders, of
' those born found here in England, univer- 
' sally proceed from Idleness and Fulness of
' Bread. 
4. ' Those who pretend to cure themselves 
' of nervous Disorders, or any other chroni-
' cal Diseases, or preserve themselves from
' them, or lengthen out their Days, must
' under-dose themselves, even tho' they 
' should undergo the Pain of Costiveness;
' for it is impossible the Nerves of those who 
' have slippery Bowels, should ever be braced 
' or wound up; for there the Cure must be- 
' gin where the Evil began, and must be 
' communicated thence to the rest of the 
' System; as a Rope-maker begins the Twist at 
' one End of the Rope, and communicates 
' it to all the other Parts. 
' Our

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 297
' Our Access to the Nerves of the Sto- 
' mach and Bowels, is obvious and open; to 
' the rest the Way is difficult, and far about. 
' And since a Relaxation, Weakness, and 
' want of Spring in the Fibres, is the Origin 
' of all nervous Distempers, no Medicines 
' but such as contract, stiffen, wind up, and
' Shorten them, can remedy this Evil; and 
' they must necessarily contract and bind up 
' the Fibres of the Stomach and Guts, as the 
' Parts they first approach and exert their 
' Virtue upon. And he who without firm 
' Bowels, thinks to cure a nervous Distemper, 
' labours as much in vain, as he who would 
' keep a Fiddle-string soaking in Oil and 
' Water, to make it vibrate or play off a fine
' Composition of Musick. 
5. ' There happens also an Evacuation 
' both by Stool and Urine, to some weak 
' Persons of relax'd Nerves, that extremely 
' alarms them, and is not so readily account- 
' ed for in that Part of Physick, which teaches 
' the Causes of Diseases. It is when either 
' a white transparent, viscid Substance like 
' Gelly, is constantly voided by the Bowels, 
' more or less; or when a white, milky, gluey 
' Substance like Cream or laudable Matter, 
' settles in the Urine. Both these Appearances 
' are commonly ascrib'd to an Ulcer in the 
' Guts, or in the Kidneys; and yet I am 
' very certain, there is neither Ulcer or true 
' Matter in either Case, as I propose them. 
' For where there is violent and acute Pain,
' or

298 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Matter of different Colours or Mixtures, 
' there very possibly may be, nay certainly 
' there is an Ulcer. But in the Case I here 
' intend, there is very little or no Pain, no
' hectical Paroxysms, which always attend an 
' inward Ulcer; no bloody or sanious Mix- 
' tures, which always betray the inward Sore; 
' no fœtid Smell to imply Corruption. 
' The first Case I take to be either an 
' Obstruction of some of the Lacteals, where- 
' by the Chyle cannot be carried off in any 
' sufficient Quantity, but passing thro' the 
' Guts, and its more watery Part being eva- 
' porated, it becomes thick and gelatinous, 
' and is thrown off at last with the Remains 
' of the Food; else it must be an Obstru- 
' ction of those Glands of the Guts, by 
' which a viscid Matter for lubricating of 
' them is commonly secerned, by the Im- 
' prisonment and Evaporation of which Mat- 
' ter it thickens and turns like a Gelly (as it 
' does by Cold or Over-feeding, in the Glands 
' of the Mouth, Throat, and Windpipe) and 
' at last, by squeezing of the Guts is thrown 
' off. And in the same manner, I take that 
' milky Substance subsiding in the Water, in 
' such a Case as I have mention'd, to arise 
' from a Relaxation of the Glands of the 
' Kidneys and Bladder, and other urinary 
' Passages; and that both are to be cur'd the 
' same Way as other nervous Distempers are 
' cur'd; viz. by a proper Regimen of Diet,
and 


Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 299
' and a Course of contracting, strengthening, 
' and volatile Medicines.”
The second Evacuation is by Urine, be- 
ing a serous Humour strain'd in the Kid- 
neys, which comes with the Blood (which 
it diluted) to the Reins by the Arteries of
the Kidneys, but is separated from it as ex- 
crementitious, and that continually, as Part 
of the Blood is constantly driven to the Kid- 
neys to nourish them. 
The Urine contains not only the watery 
Part of the Blood, but the sharpest Salt, 
which is most subtile and volatile, and nearly 
of an alkaline Nature, render'd exceeding 
volatile. In the watery Part there is also a 
fœtid Substance contain'd, and a viscid Oil 
so attenuated, that it readily mixes with Wa- 
ter, and is scarce separable from it; which 
may therefore in some Measure be called a 
Spirit. 
The natural Salt of Urine is of a lixivi- 
ate, soapy Disposition, and much like Sal- 
ammoniac, yet in some Respects different 
from it: It also contains a fix'd Salt, of the
Nature of Sea-salt, being composed of a li- 
xiviate one, and a nitrous; of which Nature 
is that which swims in the Blood, the nitrous 
Parts being imbibed into it thro' the Lungs 
in Inspiration; so that the Salt in Urine in a 
found State, is neither acid, alkali, ammoni- 
cal nor briny, but of a peculiar Disposi- 
tion. 
But

300 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
But as Urine is a * Lixivium of the Salts 
contained in a human Body, and the proper 
Mark of the State and Quantity of such 
Salts; therefore very certain Indications may 
be taken from the Condition of Urine, to 
discover both the State of our Constitution, 
and the Regulation of our Diet; and tho' 
the Salts of human Urine be neither acid nor 
alkaline, as I have just now observ'd, yet by 
the violent Motion of the Blood, as in burn- 
ing and putrid Fevers, &c. they may be 
turn'd alkaline, and even corrosive; and when
they begin to turn so, they affect the small 
and tender Fibres of the Brain more sensi- 
bly than any other Part of the Body. 
When the Urine is of a bright Amber 
Colour, and of a moderate Thickness, with 
a light Cloud hanging in it, and in Quantity 
of about three Quarters of the Liquor taken 
in, it is best, and a certain Sign of a due Con- 
coction, a just Proportion of Food, and a to- 
tal Riddance of Repletion and Crudities; for 
they who live moderately, use due Exercise, 
and enjoy a perfect State of Health, always 
evacuate such Urine. 
But when it is retain'd too long, either 
by the Fault of the Kidneys or Bladder, or 
because the Matter of it is not sufficiently 
separated from the Blood, or that it is kept 
too long in the Bladder thro' Laziness or Bash- 
fulness, (as is often the Case) it occasions Stone
and Gravel, and sometimes Blotches and Erup-
tions 
* Lixivium, i. e. Lye, such as that of Soap.

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 301
tions upon the Skin, Dropsy, fainting, and sleepy. 
Diseases, with a great many other Disorders, 
too tedious to enumerate in this Place. 
If there be too great an Evacuation of 
Urine from any Cause whatsoever, by taking 
away the Serum, or watry Parts of the Blood, 
it will occasion a Stagnation of the Humours, 
encrease Heat, an unextinguishable Thirst, 
Crudities, and many Evils of the like Na- 
ture; and by depriving the Blood, and carry- 
ing out of the Body the most nutritive Parts, 
produce an Atrophy, or a total Decay, as in 
a Diabetes, and Death at last. 
The Urine differs both in Taste, Smell,
Colour and Quantity, according to the Diffe- 
rence of Ages, Constitutions, Sexes, Seasons
of the Year, and Alterations of their Way 
of living, and Diversity of Medicines; so 
that they who live freely, and make Quan- 
tities of pale, or limpid and sweet Urine, it is
a manifest Sign that their Perspiration is ob- 
structed; that neither the first nor the two 
last Concoctions * have been rightly perform'd; 
and that the Chyle has not been sufficiently 
attenuated, nor the minutest Secretions duly 
made by the lesser Drains of the Body, and 
that the urinous Salts are still retain'd in the
Habit. 
The
* Concoction in an animal Body is three-fold; the find is
confin'd to what Alterations are made of the Food in the 
Stomach and Intestines; the second is applied to the Alterati- 
ons made of it in the Blood-Vessels; and that made in the 
Nerves, Fibres, and minutest Vessels, is not improperly called 
the third and last Concoction.  

302 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Cure, as to Diet, consists in living re- 
gular, that is, in eating and drinking less, 
and using more Air and Exercise, drinking 
freely of small warm White-Wine Whey; 
likewise a little Gascoign's Powder, or Sir 
Walter Raleigh's Confection will be proper 
at the same time, in order to set Perspiration
to rights again. 
High-colour'd, foul, and very turbid 
Urine in small Quantities, proceeds from 
either an immoderate Use of strong or spi- 
rituous Liquors, or from too great abundance 
of Salts retain'd in the Body; which must be 
remedied by diminishing the Quantity of 
their Flesh Meats, and drinking small Li- 
quors, or Water with their Wine, otherwise 
they will hurry themselves into some acute 
Inflammatory, or dangerous Chronical Dis- 
ease. 
Dark Brown, or dirty Red-colour'd Urine, 
without any Sediment, and in small Quan- 
tity, in acute Distempers is always a sure In- 
dication of insurmountable Crudity, high 
Inflammation tending to a Mortification, and 
a dying Weakness in Nature: But in those 
who labour not under any visible Disease at 
the Time, it is a certain Sign of almost a 
total Weakness of the digestive Powers, an 
inseparable Cohesion of the component Parts 
of the Blood, and a Deadness in all the ani- 
mal Functions; in which Case, a Physician's
Advice is highly necessary. 
A

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 306
A bloody, mattery, wheyish Urine, or that 
with Films, Bits of broken Membranes, or 
white Gravel, denote or Gravel, or 
Symptoms of an Ulcer somewhere in the 
urinary Passages. Fat, which is observ'd 
upon the Top of the Urine, especially of 
consumptive People, signifies a wasting of
the Body. 
The third Excretion or Evacuation to be 
consider'd is insensible Perspiration, which
is imperceptibly discharg'd through all the 
Pores of the Skin, and other Parts of the 
Body, being the Recrements of the second 
and third Concoctions, divested of all that 
can be of any farther Use to the Parts of the
Body; the free and full exhaling of which, 
is as necessary to Health as any of the gros- 
ser Evacuations, being in Quantity at least
equal to all that is evacuated both by Stool 
and Urine; and an Obstruction thereof is ge- 
nerally the Parent of all acute Distempers, 
as it is a Consequence of all chronical Dis- 
orders. But having fully treated of this 
Matter in another Place already, for far- 
ther Satisfaction herein, I refer the Reader to
Page 99. Note *, Part II. 
Nothing hinders and obstructs Perspiration 
more than catching of Cold, which is nothing 
but great Quantities of moist Air impreg- 
nated with nitrous Salts imbib'd through the 
Passages of Perspiration, by which means not 
only the Blood and Juices are thicken'd, but 
likewise insensible Perspiration is obstructed, 
and

304 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and immediately a small Fever, and a Hurry 
in the whole animal System succeeds; which 
oftentimes lays a Foundation for Consumptions, 
Obstructions of the great Viscera †, and an 
universal Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body. 
Therefore, in order to remedy this Disorder, 
and prevent the ill Consequences of it, we 
should lie much longer in Bed than usual, 
drinking small warm White-Wine Whey 
plentifully, with some few Hartshorn-drops, 
Posset-drink, Water-gruel, Barley-water, or 
any other warm small Liquors, taking twenty
Grains of Gascoigns Powder Night and Morn- 
ing, and at the same Time living low upon 
Spoon-meats, Pudding, Chicken, and drink- 
ing every Thing during the Height of the 
Illness warm; but if any Cough or Spitting 
should encrease, Bleeding should be perform'd, 
and to take now and then a little Sugar- 
Candy, Oil of Sweet Almonds, or a Solution 
of Sperma Ceti, to render Expectoration free 
and easy; and afterwards to be cautious of 
going abroad too soon, and without being 
well cloathed. 
Gripes, Purging, Colical Pains, much 
belching of Wind, Low-spiritedness, Yawning 
and Stretching, are sure and certain Indica- 
tions that Perspiration is deficient or ob- 
structed; therefore, in order to remove these 
Disorders, we must have recourse to a 
greater Degree of Exercise and Abstinence, 
and to some gentle Purge or other, such as 
Sena
† Viscera, signify any of the Bowels or Intrails. 


305 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
Sena and Manna, or Rhubarb, &c. to clear 
the first Passages of the Load that oppresses 
them, otherwise the Person will suffer at 
last; and, as Sanctorius observes, Wind in
the Body is nothing but Perspiration † ob- 
structed. 
The fourth Evacuation to be considered is 
the Semen, consisting of a white, hot, spiri- 
tuous, thick, clammy, and saltish Humour, 
which is elaborated in the Testicles and Epi- 
didymes, out of the purest and most spiritu- 
ous Parts of the Blood. Considering it there- 
fore in this Light, Moderation in Coition is 
absolutely necessary, both for the Preserva- 
tion of Health as well as Pleasure; for in 
Immoderation we do not consult Delight, but 
Lust, and lose the Pleasure by being too in- 
tent upon it: And it is certainly true, that 
those Parents who are most continent, have 
more and the most healthful Children; for 
they meet their Pleasure by Necessity: In 
these it cheers the Heart and Spirits, and 
makes them breath free and easy; it appeases 
Melancholy and Sadness, mitigates Anger, and 
disposes to Rest. But then that Mode- 
ration receives its Difference very much from
the different Temperature of Constitutions; 
for less is sufficient for the Melancholy and 
the Cholerick, the Old and Emaciated; but 
more for the Sanguine and Plethorick, and 
those of a middle and flourishing Age: The 
Feverish if in any kind of Constitution must a- 
U void
† Aph. xiii. Sect. 3.  



306 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
void it, and likewise they who are subject to
the Gout, and Diseases of the Joints. 
On the other Hand, the immoderate Use 
of Coition not only hinders Perspiration, by
keeping the Fibres too strait, and lessening the
Passages, and thereby giving rise to all the Dis- 
orders which attend an obstructed Perspira- 
tion, but likewise it disorders and weakens 
that due Tension and Elasticity of the Solids, 
upon which depends a right Discharge of all 
the animal Functions. I say, therefore, what- 
ever weakens this Disposition of the Solids, 
cannot but very much prejudice the whole 
Constitution. And that all violent Actions, 
such as that of immoderate Coition is, are de- 
structive to the Textures of the Solids, can- 
not be doubted; for their constituent Fibres 
or Threads will not only be much injured in 
their Contextures, but also that animal Oil or 
Spirit which nourishes them, and facilitates 
their Motions, will be so much press'd out 
and wore away, as to disable them very much 
afterwards in their natural Motions; and the 
Body will be, by that means, so weaken'd and 
dispirited, that the several Parts will not be
able to discharge their respective Offices, 
whereby Digestion, Concoction, and all the 
natural Evacuations will be disordered. 
Hence follow a Dissolution of Strength and 
Spirits, Dulness of Memory and Understand- 
ing, Dimness of Sight, Diseases of the Nerves 
and Joints, as Palsies, and all kinds of Gouts, 
Weakness of the Back, and Consumptions;
Seminal 

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 307
Seminal Weaknesses, and sometimes bloody
Urine; a deprav'd Appetite and Head-achs, 
with a great many other Disorders needless to
be mentioned here; and, to conclude, there 
is nothing that so wonderfully shortens hu- 
man Life, as the immoderate Use of Venery. 
In the fifth Place we are to consider the 
Menses as a necessary Evacuation, which are
Excretions of arterial Blood every Month 
from the Womb: They begin usually when 
young Maids grow ripe at fourteen, and 
sometimes at twelve, but very seldom before: 
They cease naturally in pregnant Women, 
and those past bearing Children, and likewise 
those that give suck; yet it happens some- 
times that pregnant and suckling Women have 
them. 
The Quantity of them ought to be in pro- 
portion to the Quantity and Heat of the 
Blood; but, generally speaking, a certain 
Quantity cannot be limited, for some have a 
great many, and some but a few; nor do 
they continue upon all alike; some have them
two Days, some three, some four, some six or 
eight Days. 
They that have them too much are weak- 
en'd, and their Blood being rendered crude, 
watery, and pale, are subject to Faintings 
and Waste: Those in whom they are sup- 
press'd, become hysterical and breath diffi- 
cultly, look pale, and lose their Appetite, 
and fall into Fevers, Inflammations, and a 
U2 great


308 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
great many Diseases, both acute and chroni- 
cal, if they are not timely remedied. 
There are other Excretions which could 
not conveniently come in under the foregoing 
general Heads; such as Sweat, Spittle, Mucus
or Snot, Tears, and the Wax in the Ears. 
Sweat is a thin serous Fluid, mix'd with 
some Sulphur, a good deal of briny, but more 
volatile Salt, and a very little Earth: And 
the same Properties being found in Urine, we 
may conclude, 1. That Sweat and Urine may 
supply each other's Defects: Accordingly we 
find, that as Sweat is promoted, the Excre- 
tion of Urine is diminished, and on the con- 
trary. 2. That they may be provoked by 
the same Remedies: Thus Diaphoreticks, 
or such Medicines as promote Sweat, fail- 
ing to answer their Intention, prove Diu-
reticks; that is, purge by Urine. 3. That 
Sweat carries off many of the sharp Salts, 
with which the Blood abounds, and by that 
means may accidentally prevent or cure many
Distempers, is not to be doubted. 
Sweat therefore differs very much from, 
insensible Perspiration; for if it be encreased, 
and its Vessels enlarged, Perspiration must 
unavoidably be diminished, and its Vessels 
compress'd. Perspiration also is turn'd into 
Sweat, by violent Motion, and too much 
Heat, tho' by moderate Motion and gentle 
Heat it is very much promoted; but nothing 
can be more serviceable to promote it than 
gentle Friction of the Skin for some Time 
Night

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 309
Night and Morning, as I shall observe in a 
another Place. 
The Saliva or Spittle, (of which I have 
given a Hint before) is a thin transparent
Humour, almost void of Smell and Taste, 
which will entirely evaporate by Heat, but 
not curdle; and when shaken affords a ropy 
Froth. It is separated from the purer Part of
the arterial Blood or Serum by the Glands;
and when a Person is hungry it flows in great 
Quantities, and is then more fluid and sharp; 
after long fasting it is very penetrating and de- 
tergent; it ferments with Bread, Meal, or Sy- 
rup, and promotes Digestion. Men, as well as 
Brutes, swallow it in Health, and likewise 
wWhen asleep: When too much of it is spit 
out, it occasions loss of Appetite, slow Dige- 
stion, and an Atrophy or Consumption. It is 
composed of Water, Salt, Oil, and Spirit, all 
which can he extracted from it, which ren- 
ders it saponaceous, or of the Nature of 
Soap. 
This Fluid then being press'd out of the 
Glands, lays the first Foundation of assimi- 
tating the Food to the Body, and promotes 
the Mixture of oily and aqueous Substances, 
and a Solution of saline ones: It also pro- 
motes Fermentation, excites an intestine Mo- 
tion of the Parts of the Food in the Stomach; 
so that Digestion could not be perform'd 
without it. 
Therefore as this Fluid is of such great Use, 
when mixed with our Food, it ought not to the
U3 lavishly 

310 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
lavishly spit away; for when it is swallow'd, 
having perform'd its Office in the Mouth, and 
being return'd into the Blood, it is still far- 
ther improved by repeated Circulation and 
Digestion; and when separated in the Glands
again, is highly amended. 
Hence it is manifest, that they who im- 
mediately upon eating fall a smoaking or 
chewing of Tobacco, as is generally the Custom
here, and that even among People of the 
better Sort, commit two very great Errors, 
highly destructive to their own Constitutions : 
1st, In diverting the Saliva or Spittle from 
its natural Offices, by spitting it away in 
smoaking or chewing, being one of the chief 
Menstruums, or Medium, for promoting Di- 
gestion, as I have just now demonstrated.
2dly, In using that stupifying American Hen-
bane upon a full Stomach, which, besides the 
great Injury it does Nature, in depriving her 
too much of that necessary Fluid the Saliva, 
has also an intoxicating opiate Quality, by 
which (as all other Opiates do) it destroys the 
Appetite and hinders Digestion, the Truth of 
which is evident to all good Practitioners in 
Physick, Therefore, I sincerely advise all 
those who have any Regard for the Preserva- 
tion of their own Health, to avoid carefully
this pernicious Custom, and never to smoak 
but upon an empty Stomach, or at least till 
the greatest Part of the Food is out of it, 
which always requires some Hours after eat- 
ing; and, even then, no Body except gross
and


311 thro' the various Stages of Life.
Ch. XI. 
and phlegmatick People, should smoak at all; 
because lean, thin, scraggy, dry, and cholerick 
Constitutions are heated and dry'd too much 
by it, which throws them oftentimes into
Consumptions or other Decays. 
Mucus, or Snot, is a clammy and viscid 
Humour, which flows from the Extremities 
of the olfactory Nerves * through the Os Cri- 
briforme † into the Nostrils and Palate: It 
also signifies that slimy Liquor, or Mucilage, 
which daubs over and guards the Bowels, and 
lubricates the chief Passages in the Body from 
being corroded by any saline or sharp Hu- 
mours; but the Superfluities of it are excreted
by the Nostrils and Intestines. 
Tears are a serous Humour, prepared out of 
the arterial Blood in the Lachrymal Gland ‡,
and are of a saline, watery, clear, and smooth
Disposition, discharged always in a small 
Quantity, but more plentifully when the Eye 
is rubbed or compressed by the Orbìcular 
Muscle ‖. This Humour serves to moisten, 
U4 wash,
* Are those Nerves which give the Sense of Smelling. 
† It is a Bone full of small Holes, like a Sieve: It is also 
called Os Ethmoides, situated in the Middle of the Basis of the 
Os Frontis, or Forehead-Bone. 
‡ It is a pretty large conglomerate Gland or Kernel, being 
broad, compress'd, rough, and placed within the Orbit, to- 
wards the outward Angle of the Eye, near the rough Chink, 
and inclosed in Fat; is endowed with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, 
Lymphaticks, and Ducts, which carry a Humour to the Eye 
prepared from the arterial Blood. 
‖ It is the Muscle which serves to join the Eye lids toge- 
gether, contracting them like a Sphincter, and by a strong 
Contraction presses the Ball of the Eye, and squeezes out Tears 
upon the external Superficies of the Eye, which is thereby 
cleansed of its Filth, and the Eye itself washed. 



312 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
wash, and render the Eye slippery, and pre- 
vents it from sticking to the Eye-lids: It like- 
wise serves to wash off any Filth or external 
Bodies, which, by adhering to the Eye, might 
cause Pain, or darken the Sight; but if this 
Humour be too much, so that it cannot be 
received by the Lachrymal Points *, it flows 
from the Eyes, and is called Tears. 
Cerumen, or Ear-wax, is the Excrement of 
the Ears, which sweats or ouzes out of the
Cartilages and Glands bordering upon the 
Ears: It consists of Abundance of Salt and 
Sulphur, which gives it its Bitterness: It 
serves to hinder Dust, Motes, cr little Ani- 
mals from getting into the Ears. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
I Shall briefly treat of the Passions here, 
not as a Natural Philosopher, but as a 
Physician; therefore I shall not consider their 
Essences and Causes, but their Effects and In- 
fluence
* They are Holes in the Bone of the Nose, by which the 
Matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils; but if these 
Holes grow hard and are stopp'd, from an Ulcer in one of 
the Glands in the Corners of the Eyes, thence arises a Fistula
Lachrymalis.



Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 313
fluence upon human Bodies, and how their 
Regulation conduces to the Preservation of
Health and long Life. For as to the Manner 
how the Mind or Thought operates upon the 
Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind, 
and what that Tye or Bond of Union is, be- 
tween the Mind and the animal Fluids, is a 
Mystery unreveal'd to Man, being, at least
mechanically, not reducible to Reason, it be- 
ing impossible to represent and delineate, as 
we do corporal Substances, the several Steps
and Ways of Procedure of those Agents, 
which can by no means be brought under the 
Notice of our Senses, only in their Effects; 
and therefore we cannot have any Notion of 
the Procedure by which they are brought a- 
bout, as we can have of all those affected by
physical Agents. But as it is certain that the 
Passions of the Mind do influence very much 
and alter the Constitution, especially when 
very sudden and intense, so far as necessarily 
to bring it under the Physician's Care, still 
the wisest must herein be contented to e- 
stablish his Rules upon Observation and Expe- 
rience only. 
There is nothing more remarkable, than 
that violent Passions of the Mind waste and 
consume the Spirits, and plunge the Consti- 
tution into great Disorders; and this they 
seem to bring about by universally stimulating,
irritating, and twitching the Nerves and 
Fibres, in such a Manner as disturbs their re- 
gular Contractions: And altho' we cannot 
positively

314 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
positively tell, either how Thought can pro- 
duce such an Alteration in the Humours of 
the Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind; 
yet if by constant Observation and Experi- 
ence it can be found, that such a Passion or 
Temper of the Mind is always attended with 
such Consequences in the Constitution; and 
that such a particular Temperature of the 
Constitution always affects the Mind with such 
particular Passions and Dispositions, it will 
very sufficiently afford a Ground of Certainty
to any considerable Person, in his Reasoning 
upon their Consequences, and in the Mea- 
sures which ought to be taken in remedying 
the Disorders of either. 
For Instance, if Joy or Anger are always 
found to render the Body lighter, tho' we 
cannot tell how these particular Passions do 
first modify any particular Parts of the Body, 
so as to produce that Effect, yet it being plain
how physical Agents do the same, it will be 
most reasonable to conclude, that these do it 
also by the same Means; that is, thus far we 
know, that an Invigoration, or an Increase 
of the contractile Force of the Solids, will 
promote Digestion, increase the Evacuations, 
and render the Body lighter. 
Therefore we have the greatest Reason to 
believe, when we see the same to be the Con- 
sequences also of a Person's being passionate- 
ly angry or very merry, that these Disposi- 
tions of the Mind (altho' we know not how) 
do

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 315
do give that particular Modification likewise, 
and Degree of Tension to the Fibres, as Cold- 
bathing, a cold clear Air, or moderate Ex- 
ercise, when we see them attended with the 
same Consequences. 
But as we know these physical Causes have 
this Effect, by contracting and shaking the 
Fibres of the Solids, and thereby promoting 
their Power of Elasticity, and breaking the 
animal Juices finer; so it ought to be con- 
cluded, that these Passions of the Mind do 
likewise give the same Modifications to the 
Fibres, by which the same Effects are pro- 
duced. 
In like Manner, if Fear and Sorrow are 
found to be attended with an Increase of 
Weight in the Body, it is reasonable to think
that they do it by the same Means as by which 
all those physical Agents produce the same 
Effect; that is, by slackening the Fibres too 
much, diminishing Digestion, and conse- 
quently by lessening the Evacuations. 
Therefore when any Passion of the Mind 
is said to have this or that Effect upon the 
Body, we ought to consider that Passion only 
as a physical Agents that is, as it contracts or 
slackens the Fibres, and as it increases or di- 
minishes the Evacuations; but in this we are 
guided only by Observation and Experience, 
which is very sufficient to a Person of any 
tolerable Judgment. 
The chief Passions of the Mind, from 
whence all the rest proceed, are Joy, Grief,
Anger,

316 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Anger, Love, Hatred, Shame, Hope, and 
Despair. 
Joy or Mirth is a Delight arising from 
some Good we suppose we have obtained; 
and this, above all the rest, conduces to 
Health, at least if it be moderate; for it keeps 
the Fibres in their natural Tension, assists the 
Secretion and Derivation of the Spirits to all 
Parts of the Body, and consequently pro- 
motes the Circulation and Digestion, and 
raises thereby a plentiful Perspiration, and
renders the Body lighter; but immoderate 
Joy is very injurious, and proves sometimes 
mortal, the Spirits being thereby too much 
raised, and by the Suddenness of the Passion 
too much rarefied beyond their natural Stan- 
dard. 
Grief or Sorrow is a troublesome Languish- 
ment afflicting the Mind, arising from the 
Apprehension of some Ill happened or befall- 
ing us: By it the Spirits in the Brain and 
Nerves move slowly and very feebly; so that 
it produces a great Weight in the Breast, Suf- 
focation, and oftentimes Death, when sud- 
den and extreme. 
Anger is the Desire of Revenge, upon the 
Apprehension of some Injury done or offer'd to 
us: By it the Spirits are violently agitated in 
the Brain and Nerves: It encreases the natu- 
ral Heat, and, if moderate, it may be useful 
sometimes, in order to stir up a brisk Circula- 
tion of the languid Fluids in a cold and 
phlegmatick Constitution, by which means 
the

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 317
the Body is rendered lighter; that is, it will 
then perspire better: But, on the contrary, 
Anger is pernicious to hot, dry, and cholerick
Constitutions; because, in such it will dissi- 
pate the Spirits and dry the Constitution too 
much. 
Love is a certain Passion of the Mind, ex- 
cited in the Soul by the Motion of the Spirits, 
arising from an Object which we judge to be 
good, convenient, delectful, and amiable; so 
that the proper Effects of Love consist in this: 
That we consider ourselves as united to the 
Object we love, and that it is, as it were, ano- 
ther Part of us. 
Love may be properly distinguished into 
three Kinds: 1. The first is spiritual, as the 
supreme Love of the blessed Author of our 
Being, (to which our Love to all other created 
Beings is subordinate, at least it ought to be 
so,) which is that Union, Tendency, Biass, and 
Impulse of the Soul and other Spirits towards 
their blessed Creator, without any indirect 
Ends, without Deceit or Dissimulation, for his 
own Sake; because he is infinitely good, infi- 
nitely amiable, and infinitely perfect, abstract- 
ing from all other Considerations, even that of 
our own Happiness, in the Enjoyment of, or 
Union with him. Yet it is certain that these 
two, our Love to God and our own Happiness, 
cannot be actually separated: And this Love
was communicated by him to them in their 
original Formation, by Virtue of which they 
constantly tend, press, and urge to unite; and,
if

318 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
if Obstacles were removed, would unite with
one another, and so be all united with their 
omnipotent Maker. But now, alas! this 
principle of the intelligent Soul, in this her 
lapsed State, being drowned in Sense, chain'd 
and setter'd by Ignorance and Perverseness, 
drawn and hurried away by the Devil, the 
World, and the Flesh, is disabled from exert- 
ing this inherent and innate Principle of Re- 
union, and wants sufficient Light on the 
Understanding, and a right Turn of the Will, 
to be put in a Capacity of exercising it; but
in its proper Vacuity, and being freed from 
these Letts and Impediments, it would unite 
with its first Author, the Centre and Rock 
out of which it was hewn, and mount to- 
wards him like an Eagle towards the Sun. 
And even in this our lapsed and forlorn 
State, there remain evident Footsteps of this
innate Principle still uneffaced; such are the 
Checks of Conscience, natural Affection, and 
the universal Desire of Immortality, and the 
Dread of Annihilation; and the Worship be- 
stow'd by all Nations, who are not sunk into 
mere Brutality, on some superior and invi- 
sible Powers: I say, these are Remains of this
Principle, and its Operations, sufficient to 
shew its Reality à posteriori, as the Laws of 
Analogy, and the Nature and Attributes of 
the first Being, shew it à priori. For the Au- 
thor of Nature, who created intelligent Beings 
only in order to make them happy, could not 
leave them to so many different Attractions, 
without

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 319
without implanting into their Essence and Sub- 
stance, as an Antidote to so many Distrac- 
tions, an infinite Tendency, Bent, and Biass to- 
wards Beings of the same Nature, and towards 
himself, who was the Cause and Object of their 
Felicity: And those, who admit of Revela- 
tion, cannot doubt of it a Moment. Moses *
calls it, a Law engraven on the Heart of Man; 
and St. Paul †, the greatest Perfection of 
human Nature; whatever Men of Self-love 
and carnal Minds may think of it otherwise. 
The Second is Human, towards particular 
Persons and Things, as Parents, Wife, Children, 
Friends, or Things. Towards the first, Love 
ought to be sincere, hearty, constant, begotten, 
continued for their Sakes, and not for our 
own; but yet it should be limited and subor- 
dinate, Submission to the Will and 
Love of God: That to Things is not to be 
fixt, but changeable, as Necessity requires 
for our Support and Use; because the Things 
themselves are so, which we are to love, as if
we loved them not, according to the Apostle. 
The third Sort of Love, is that which is 
shewn from one Sex to another, and ends in 
Matrimony: This is naturally imprest upon 
us, and it is carefully to be preserved from
Dotage and Lust; for when it takes Fire 
from the last, it is never permanent, but soon
cloys itself, and vanishes upon Satiety: Rea- 
son is here lost, which is the principal Cause 
of so many unhappy Marriages we so fre- 
quently
* Deut. xxx. 14. † 1 Cor. xiii.

320 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quently see. As to Dotage, it is an impotent 
and unreasonable placing of the Affection up- 
on another, which gradually draws all the 
Faculties, both of the Soul and Body, into a 
Languor and Consumption, oftentimes pro- 
ducing Lunacy or Madness. 
However foreign this metaphysical Specula- 
tion, concerning spiritual Love, may seem to 
a physical Treatise about Health, which I pro- 
posed to avoid in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter; yet having seriously and attentively con- 
sider'd the Matter since, I found it both use- 
ful and necessary; because, if we steadily be- 
lieve it, and reduce its natural Consequences to
Practice, it will not only become the most 
effectual Means to prevent Diseases, but also 
the most powerful of any Thing to promote 
Health and long Life, which I shall evidently
make appear, before I finish this little Chap- 
ter. 
Hatred is the Apprehension of an Object 
which we judge hurtful or inconvenient; It is 
likewise Sorrow for the Good, and Chearfulness 
for the Ill of another. It occasions a slow 
and unequal Pulse; a sharp and stinging 
Heat, intermix'd with Cold piercing the Breast; 
the Stomach ceases from its natural Office, so 
that the Food being thereby crude and indi- 
gested, produces Nauseas and Vomitings, or 
is converted into corrupted Humours in the 
Habit of the Body, which are oftentimes the 
Parent of many grievous Diseases.
Shame 

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 321
Shame is an Uneasiness of Mind upon Ac- 
count of having done something that is un- 
seemly, or that lessens one's Esteem among 
others: It is likewise a great Apprehension
of Scandal: The Humours and Spirits being 
thereby variously agitated and confounded, 
frequently plunges the Body into fatal Dis- 
orders. 
Hope is a Desire of some future Good, 
which seems difficult to be obtained, but yet 
possible. By it a great Flow of Spirits tends 
to the Heart, which quickens its Pulsation, 
and accelerates the Motion of the Blood. 
And this Affection oftentimes prevents the ill 
Effects of other Passions, such as those of 
Grief or Sorrow, Hatred and Despair, &c. 
Despair is a Passion of the Mind arising 
from the Apprehension of some Good, which 
we judge impossible to be obtained. In De- 
spair the Pulse is generally very obscure, un- 
equal, and sometimes almost lost and creep- 
ing, the spirituous and most fluid Parts of 
the Blood being dissipated, so as to leave the
Salts, Earth, and grosser Oil in too great a 
Proportion in the Body, which at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Vis- 
cidity of the Matter impacted in them, that 
thereby the Imagination is disordered. Thus 
dark Melancholy, slow and long Grief hope- 
less love, and presumptuous Pride (which is 
a violent Degree of Self-Love) impair the 
Body, by causing the proper Times of ne- 
cessary Food and Exercise to be neglected, 
X and

322 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and thereby depriving the natural Functions 
of their usual Supplies, overworking and 
wearing out some Part of the nervous System, 
and leaving the other, as it were, to rust, and
so become too rigid and stubborn for want of 
Use: Besides, some of the Passions, as Pride, 
Love, and Grief, when immoderate and in- 
tense, terminate oftentimes in Lunacy and 
Madness; nay farther, even the Frequency 
and daily Increase of wanton and common 
Self-Murderers, are chiefly produced by these 
inordinate Passions, and their blasphemous 
and frantick Apologies grafted on the Prin- 
ciples of Infidels, and propagated by their 
Disciples, scarce known or heard of, at least 
not practised, in any Christian Nation but 
this, and her Daughters; for it is a manifest 
Truth, that those who have no Notion or 
Thought of a future State, with regard to 
either Happiness Misery, cannot have the 
true Love of God; and therefore such will 
always give a full Scope to all the Excesses of 
their brutish Passions, till at last, through some 
Disappointment, or Despair in gratifying their 
Sensualities, they most atrociously lay violent 
Hands upon themselves, contrary to the very 
Dictates of both the Law of Nature and their 
own Reason, revealed Religion being always 
a mere Phantom in the Thoughts of all such 
unhappy Wretchess; and thus, alas! they 
wantonly destroy both Body and Soul at 
once. 
The

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
The Passions may be divided very properly 
into acute and chronical, in the same Manner, 
and for the same Reason, as Diseases are. The 
acute Passions, either pleasurable or painful, 
produce much the same Effect, and act much 
after the same Manner, as acute Diseases do; 
for they cause a brisk and lively Circulation
of the Fluids, and brace up and contract the 
Solids for some Time. Thus sudden Joy, 
Grief, Pleasure, or Pain, stimulate and 
contract the nervous Fibres, and the Coats 
of the animal Tubes, and thereby accelerate 
the Motion of the included Fluids, for the 
same Time; but as the Motions of the Heart 
and Lungs are involuntary, they produce their 
more immediate Effects upon them; so that 
both sudden Joy and Grief occasion short 
and quick Breathing, and a small and fre- 
quent Pulse. 
A sudden painful Idea renders a quicker 
Circulation of the Blood, whereby a greater 
Quantity of it is thrown upwards, through 
the larger Branches of the great Artery, from 
the Heart, and makes it appear in the super- 
ficial Vessels of the Face, Neck, and Breast, 
which prodcues what we call a Blush. Thus 
we see that the Reasons why we sigh upon 
some Occasions, and blush at other Times, 
depend upon the different Structure of the 
Heart and Lungs, being the Organs of Pul- 
sation and Respiration; for a quick surprizing
Pain of the Mind acts immediately upon the 
Heart, because its Motion is altogether invo- 
X2 luntary;

324 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
luntary; so that any sudden Contraction takes 
Place there directly, to accelerate the Pulse. 
On the other Hand, we have some Power o- 
ver the Breathing; for we can retain it for a 
little while; because, when we think in- 
tensely, our Attention is partly the Cause of 
retaining our Breath, from whence proceeds 
Sighing rather than Blushing. 
The Effects of the Suddenness of these 
Passions being thus accounted for; yet when 
they become extreme, they drive about the 
Blood with such Violence, that Nature is o- 
verwhelm'd, like a Mill by a very great 
Flood; insomuch that what drove it only 
brisker round before, intirely stops it now, and
renders the Complexion pale and ghastly. 
Thus sudden and great Fear or Grief so 
much convulse the whole System of the 
Nerves, that they alter the very Position of 
the Parts sometimes, and fix them in another 
Place; so that in a great Fright the Hair 
stands upright, and the whole nervous System 
becomes so stiff and rigid, that they lose their 
Elasticity; by which Means the animal 
Functions cease from all Motion, and then 
Fainting, and oftentimes Death succeeds. 
Chronical Passions are called all those slow 
Passion of a long standing, which, like chro- 
nical Diseases, waste, wear out, and con- 
sume the nervous System; for those Nerves 
which are necessary for administering Ideas to
the Imagination, being constantly employ'd, 
are impair'd, broken, and worn out; and the 
rest,


Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 325
rest, for want of being used, become stiff 
and unactive, dull and destitute of a sufficient 
Quantity of warm Blood and due Nourish- 
ment, as I have observed already; so that the 
whole Fabrick languishes, and runs into a 
total Decay at last. 
But as the Passions, when slow and long 
continued, relax, unbend, and dissolve the 
nervous Fibres too much, so the violent and 
sudden ones contract, stretch, and bend them
in too great a Degree, by which means the 
Fluids are hurried about with violent Rapi- 
dity; so that all the Secretions are either 
stopp'd by the Contractions, Cramps or Con- 
vulsions produced by those Passions, or are 
precipitated crude and indigested into the Ha- 
bit of the Body, and so beget, or at least
dispose it to, Inflammations, Fevers, and Mor- 
tifications: For Example, a sudden and high 
Degree of Anger, Hatred, and Malice, are 
but Degrees of Frenzy, and that is one kind 
of a raging Fever. Hence it is evident, that 
the violent and sudden Passions, which I call 
acute, are more dangerous to Health than 
the slow and continued chronical ones, as a- 
cute Diseases are more pernicious than chro- 
nical. 
From what has been said, it is manifest 
that the Passions have very great Influence on
Health, being of such Force as not only to 
hurry us into Numbers of Diseases, but like- 
wise to bring upon us oftentimes sudden and 
unprovided Death, But if we would prevent 
X3 the

326 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the ill Effects, and totally extirpate all the Evils 
arising from our Passions, we must necessari- 
ly lead a sober and virtuous Life; make use 
of our Reason, which, assisted with the Di- 
vine Spirit, is able to keep down the Surges 
of all our Passions, and is given us, by the in- 
finitely wise Creator, to be a Check and Bridle 
to prevent and restrain all their Extravagance: 
So that notwithstanding the great Force of 
our Passions, yet are we not left without a 
sufficient Power of Resistance; but to yield 
to them for want of exerting that Reason, by 
which we might restrain them, would be 
base Cowardice, unworthy a rational Being, 
and the blackest Ingratitude to the glorious
Author of all Happiness. Towards him all 
our Thoughts should be bent; in him all our 
Hopes should center: Nor should our Affec- 
tions cease flowing to him incessantly, not 
only as he rewards and recompences Virtue, 
but as it is a Remedy against all those various 
Diseases that are ingender'd by Excess in the 
Passions; For as the Love of God is a sove- 
reign Antidote against all other Miseries, so, 
in particular, it prevents effectually all the
bodily Disorders the Passions produce, by 
keeping them within due Bounds; and, by that 
unspeakable Joy and perfect calm Serenity 
and Tranquillity it gives the Mind, becomes 
the most powerful of all the Means of Health 
and long Life. Therefore, if thou wouldst 
enjoy good Health, love thy Creator, keep 
thyself virtuous, and regulate thy Passions. 
I shall

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 327
I shall conclude this Chapter with an ex- 
cellent Passage upon this subject, from Dr. 
Cheyney's Essay on Health and Long Life, 
which, in his own Words, is as follows. 
' If Men would but observe the Golden 
' Mean in all their Passions, Appetites, and
' Desires; if in all their Thoughts, Words, 
' and Actions, they would but mind, I will 
' not say the End of their Being and Exi- 
' stence here, but the End to which their 
' Thoughts, Words and Actions tended in 
' their last Resort; and lastly, if in the Gra- 
' tifications of their Appetites, Passions, and 
' Desires, they followed the uncorrupted 
' Dictates of Nature, and neither spurred her 
' on beyond her Craving, nor too violently 
' restrain'd her in her innocent Biass; they 
' would enjoy a greater Measure of Health 
' than they do, have their Sensations more 
' delicate, and their Pleasures more exqui- 
' site, live with less Pain, and die with less
' Horror. For had it not been for the Lewd- 
' ness, Luxury and intemperate Gratificati- 
' ons of the Passions and Appetites, which first 
' ruined and spoiled the Constitutions of the 
' Fathers, whereby they could communicate 
' only a diseased, crazy, † and untuneable 
' Carcass to their Sons; so that with the 
' World's Decay, vicious Souls and putrified
' Bodies have, in this our Age, arriv'd to 
' their highest and most exalted Degrees; I 
' say, had it not been for these Evils, there 
X4 ' never
† The Temperature of Humours in an animal Body.



328 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' never had happen'd so much Sickness, Pain 
' and Misery, so many unhappy Lives, and 
' such wretched Ends, as we now behold 
' among Men. 
' But even in this our lapsed Estate and 
' Condition, had the Dictates of Nature and
' Reason, not to say Religion, been follow- 
' ed, we might have passed our Days in In- 
' dolence (at least from chronical Distem- 
' pers) if not innocent Pleasures, arrived at 
' a good old Age, with our Senses free, and 
' our rational Faculties clear, and at last de- 
' parted in Peace, as a Lamp goes out for 
' want of Oil. And let the Gentlemen of 
' Wit and Fire, of Banter and Sneer, hug 
' themselves ever so much in their boasted 
' Tranquillity and Security, gratify their Pas- 
' sions, Appetites, and Humours to the full, 
' and despise Futurity and Whining; I dare 
' promise when the Farce is ended, and the 
' last Minutes are drawing on, they would 
' prefer a Life thus led, and an End so calm, 
' to all the Pleasures of Lewdness and Sen- 
' suality, and the Bounces of a false and ig- 
' norant Security.”
A

(329)
A 
GUIDE to HEALTH &c.
Part III.
CONTAINING 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, 
and curative Indications both Medicinal 
and Dietetical of acute and chronical 
Diseases; with the Nature and Use of 
BATHING and FRICTIONS. 
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I proceed upon Fevers, as 
mention has been so often made of 
acute and chronical Diseases, it will not be 
improper to give the English Readers a clear 
Account of their Nature and Difference in 
this Place. 
Acute Diseases then are such, as within 
some short limited Time have their Periods 
either of a perfect Crisis and subsequent Re- 
covery, or of putting an End to Life and
the





330 The INTRODUCTION. 
the Disease both together; and they are there- 
fore called quick, sharp, or acute Diseases, 
being attended with an increased Velocity of 
the Blood; the Symptoms of which are more 
violent, their Duration shorter, and their 
Periods more quick, terminating either in a 
sudden Death, or a Victory over the Distem- 
per, and they are generally limited within 
forty Days. 
But those Diseases that run out longer be- 
come chronical, whose Periods are more 
slow, their Symptoms less severe, and their 
Duration longer: and they likewise would, 
by the Course and Efforts of Nature, and 
the animal Oeconomy, have their Periods, and 
terminate at last, if fresh Fuel had not been 
frequently added to them by Intemperance 
and Debauchery; for the Viscidity of the 
Fluids, and the Laxity of the Fibres, would 
be removed in time, by proper Remedies and 
a due Regimen, and so People would recover 
in these as well as in acute Disorders. 
But as this requires long Time, much Care, 
and great Caution, Patience, and Perseve- 
rance; and so long and continual a Course of 
Self-denial, that few People are willing to 
undergo it; so that it is become the Reproach 
of both Physick and Physicians, that acute 
Cases are cured by themselves, or rather that 
Nature cures them, and that chronical Dis- 
orders are never cured, as a great many do 
falsly









The INTRODUCTION. 331
falsly assert: for in acute Cases, Art and Care 
judiciously and timely applied, will always 
asswage the Symptoms and Suffering, and like- 
wise forward Nature to the Relief she points
out, and hasten the Crisis, which it will con- 
stantly bring about if the Disease is not too 
great for the Constitution; and even then it 
will allay the Pain, and lay the Patient gently
down. 
And as for the last Case, if due Care be 
had to follow seasonably the Advice of an 
honest and experienced Physician, certainly 
a Period may be brought about in most chro- 
nical Diseases, provided the great Viscera or 
Bowels are not spoiled and destroyed. And 
the Fault is commonly in the Patient him- 
self, who will not, or cannot deny himself 
for a sufficient time to bring about the Cure. 
There are some chronical Diseases indeed, 
such as either by having been gone too far, 
or by being hereditary, and interwoven with 
the Principles of Life, are never to be radi- 
cally cur'd or got over: and these last must 
rest contented with that Measure of Health 
their original Frame will admit of. Yet I 
am morally certain, that if the Rules and 
Directions set down in this Treatise, be care- 
fully and constantly observ'd and steadily pur- 
sued, very few chronical Distempers but will 
receive such Relief and Ease by them, as to 
render the remainder of Life tolerably easy, 
and free from grievous Sufferings; and that 
is

332 The INTRODUCTION. 
is all that is left for Art to do in the above- 
mention'd Case. But in other chronical Dis- 
eases, where the Bowels are not quite vici- 
ated, and taken in due time, by observing and
steadily following the same Rules, would in- 
fallibly bring about a perfect Cure. 
In acute Diseases, a quick Pulse is a cer- 
tain and distinguishing Sign; but in chroni- 
cal Cases it is slow: and the first consumes 
the Fluids, and wears out the Solids in a 
short Time; but the last will require a lon- 
ger Time to produce the same Effects. Some 
acute Diseases terminate sometimes in chro- 
nical ones; and some chronical Distempers 
towards the last fatal Period of Life turn 
acute. 
CHAP.



(333)
CHAP. I. 
Of FEVERS, both in general and particular. 
A Fever is an inordinate Motion, 
and too great an Effervescence 
of the Blood, attended with Cold first, and
afterwards with Heat, Thirst, and other 
Symptoms, whereby the animal Oeconomy is 
variously disturb'd; or according to our En- 
glish Hippocrates, Dr. SYDENHAM, 
' A Fever is nothing else but the 
' Effort of Nature to free herself of some 
' morbifick Matter, which she finds injuri- 
' ous, in order to establish a better Health.”
A Fever 
what
Sydenham's
Definition.
The learned Boerhaave says, that 
a Fever is the most frequent Di-
stemper that happens, an inseparable Com- 
panion of Inflammations of all kinds, and 
is ever attended with a manifold variety of
Symptoms. 
Boerhaave's
Sentiments.
In every Fever from an internal 
Cause, the three chief observable 
Symptoms are, first, an universal Trembling, 
then a quick Pulse, and an increased Heat, 
various as to Time and Degrees. When the 
Symptoms are very urgent, and very hastily 
make their Progress, the Fever is called acute;
but when more mild and gentle, it is deno- 
The Symptoms.
minated


334 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
minated a slow Fever. And a Fever almost
always begins with a sort of cold Shivering, 
soon after the Pulse growing quicker, affords
the primary Diagnostick * of a Fever; so 
that an increased Velocity of the Contraction 
of the Heart, together with a greater Re- 
sistance at the capillary Vessels, make up the
Idea of an acute Distemper, which may be 
produced by an infinite number of Causes. 
The Health of the Patient seems to be the 
primary Aim of Nature in Fevers; notwith- 
standing, Fevers often end in Death, and 
sometimes they degenerate into some other 
Diseases. 
The general 
Cure. 
The general Cure of Fevers is 
summarily comprehended in con- 
sulting the Strength of Nature, in correcting
and discharging Acrimony from the Blood, in 
dissolving gross Humours, and expelling them, 
and in mitigating the Symptoms: and if we 
perceive the Symptoms to run high, and 
Nature to grow exorbitant, we moderate it 
by enjoining Abstinence, a slender and cool- 
ing Diet, drinking tepid Water a little aci- 
dulated, Bleeding, cooling Clysters, &c. But 
if Nature seems to be too sluggish, she is to 
be excited by Cordials, Aromaticks, and Vo- 
latiles, &c. 
Of the Symptoms.
The Cause of the Fever be- 
ing taken away, the Symptoms 
will cease, in as much as they primarily de- 
pend
* Is that Judgment of a Disease that is taken from the pre- 
sent Symptoms, and Condition of the Patient. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 335
pend upon it; so that if they can be born 
without Danger of Life, they scarce require 
any particular Cure, nor many times are they 
to be interrupted without great Caution; but 
if they be unseasonable, and too violent, 
they are to be mitigated with proper Reme- 
dies, due Regard being had to the Cause and 
State of the Distemper. 
In the beginning of Fevers, 
if the Stomach has a natural 
Inclination to cast, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to give a Vomit; for else in
the Progress of the Fever, a Looseness will 
be apt to break forth, which may be of dan- 
gerous Consequence: and the proper time to 
give an Emetick is indeed in the Beginning; 
however, if it should happen to have been 
omitted, it may be given at any time of 
the Distemper, provided there be sufficient 
Strength to bear the Operation, and after it
some Anodyne, or quieting Medicine. After- 
wards, if Bleeding be not indicated, and 
there be no Looseness, a Clyster may be ad- 
minister'd every other Day, until the tenth or 
twelvth, at which time Nature inclining 
towards a Crisis, in my Opinion, some warm- 
ing Medicines may be given to hasten the 
Concoction. If the feverish Ebullition pro- 
ceeds regularly, and in due order, there seems
to be no need of giving any Medicines at all; 
for as much as the Depuration of the Blood 
is wholly and solely the Work of Nature. 
The Benefit of ex- 
hibiting a Vomit. 
Commonly


336 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Purge may be 
given towards 
the End with 
Advantage. 
Commonly about the 15th 
Day, if there be a laudable Se- 
paration in the Urine, and a Re- 
mission of the Symptoms, a 
gentle Purge ought to be given, left the no-
xious Humours secreted from the Blood be- 
ing absorbed again into it, should cause a Re- 
lapse; notwithstanding it is sometimes requi- 
site to defer the purging until the 17th Day. 
From repeated Trials, I affirm, that no- 
thing does so certainly and powerfully cool 
the Body as Purging after Bleeding; and 
any one may find it in Experience true, that
it abates and allays a Fever beyond any Re- 
medies whatever, both as it cleanses the In- 
testines, and prepares the Way for an Ano- 
dyne. Sydenham in his Schedula Monitor 
ria. 
The Cause of 
Fevers. 
The Cause of a Fever, accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, De Medic. 
Vet. ' is not Heat alone, but Heat
' and Bitterness together, Heat and Acidity, 
' Heat and Saltness, and an innumerable other 
' Combinations in the Blood.' It is however 
known by Experience, that Persons from 
found and perfect Health, where there has 
been neither Plethora, nor any ill Habit of 
Body to cause it, have fallen into a Fever; 
because some very extraordinary Change in 
the Air, or an Abuse in some of the rest of 
the Non-natural have happen'd; therefore 
found Bodies on such Occasions may, and 
are seized with a Fever, in order that their 
Blood



Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 337
Blood may acquire a new State and Condi- 
tion to accommodate itself thereby to the Al- 
teration of the Air, and the Way of Living, 
&c. 
By how much the more acute a 
Fever is, by so much the more 
sparing and slender the Diet ought 
to be; for in Fevers, tho' they lie many Days 
without eating any thing, it is so much the 
better, for no one ever starv'd to Death in a 
Fever; but rather upon eating and drinking 
the Fever would be exasperated; because in 
taking of Food, the Appetite prescribes the 
Rule, the Quantity, the Quality, and the 
Time. 
A Rule of 
Diet. 
The most natural and general 
Division of Fevers is into Essential 
and Symptomatick. 
Division of 
Fevers. 
An essential Fever is such, whose primary 
Cause lies in the Blood itself, which derives 
its Original from no other Distemper of the 
solid Parts of the Body, or is any way de- 
pending on them, and this is properly called 
a Fever. 
A symptomatick Fever is a secondary Fe- 
ver, which does not properly subsist of it- 
self, but owes its Original to the Disorder of 
some particular solid Part, and most com- 
monly depends on some remarkable Inflam- 
mation, from whence the Variety of inflam- 
matory Fevers so called. 
An essential Fever is divided into a Diary 
or Ephemεra, a continual, continent or re- 
mitting, and an intermittent Fever.
Y A





338 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Diary or Ephemera, so called by the 
Greeks, is the least compound of Continual 
Fevers, which doth begin, increase, arrive at 
its Height, and decline within the Space of 
24 Hours: It is occasion'd by the scorching 
Heat of the Sun, too much Exercise, or 
by some other Error committed in the Non- 
naturals. The Cure is easily perform'd by 
Abstinence, Rest, and Diluting. But if the 
said Fever lasts several Days, it is called a 
continual, not putrid Fever: Its Causes, 
Signs, and Cure, are the same, and chiefly 
require large Bleeding, and a cooling Diet 
and Medicines. 
A continual putrid Fever, call'd 
by the Greeks, Synochos, is that 
Sort of Fever which is continual, 
without any distinct Paroxysms or Remis- 
sions, but for many Days continues much 
the same, until it has run its full Length, 
and then its Period is determin'd; and it is 
distinguished from the preceding, by its being 
* putrid: of this Kind are malignant Fevers, 
pestilential Fevers, and even the Plague it- 
self. 
A putrid Fe- 
ver what. 
It proceeds from the following 
Causes, as flight Inflammations, an 
Obstruction of the Bowels, a Constriction of 
The Causes.
the
* A Fever is said to be putrid, where the Humours or 
Part of them have so little circulatory Motion, that they fail 
into an intestine one and putrify, as is commonly the Case 
after great Evacuations, or great and excessive Heat, where 
there is such a Scarcity of Spirits, that the Solids cannot suf- 
ficiently vibrate. 




Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 339
the Pores of the Skin, a Stoppage of almost 
all the capillary Vessels, and a very sharp Acri- 
mony in the Fluids. 
It is known by an intense Heat 
even to the Touch of the Finger or 
Hand, by a Pulse not only feverish. 
but at the same time unequal and inordinate; 
a thick, red, turbid Urine, and crude with- 
out any Sediment; from a hot and sanguine 
Constitution, Age and Complexion.
Diagnostick
Signs. 
This Distemper is more dangerous 
and mortal, as the Pulse is weaker, 
quicker, more unequal in Strength, 
more irregular as to Time, and more inter- 
mitting in its Stokes; as Breathing is more 
difficult, frequent, short, with a great Mo- 
tion of the Nostrils, the more painful about 
the Vitals, and the more inordinate in its 
Time; as Weariness and Weakness are 
greater, the Tossing of the Body more fre- 
quent; as the Urine is higher colour'd, thick- 
er, muddier, with the least Sediment; or as 
the same is thinner, more watry, more spar- 
ing, and difficultly retained; as the Patient 
trembles and shakes more, chiefly in his Hands 
and Lips, shy of being felt, plays with his 
Fingers and Hands, and as it were catches at 
Flies, or some Things he fancies to see upon 
the Bed-clothes, and about him; and as his 
Eyes appear more sorrowful and moist with 
involuntary Tears. Moreover, when the Pa- 
tient labours much in his Sleep, and wakes 
worse after it; when either livid or purple 
Prognostick 
Signs.
Y2 Spots











340 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Spots appear upon the Body, the Sides of the
Belly stiff and blown up, then Death is at 
hand. 
Continual putrid Fevers commonly require 
Bleeding in the Beginning, according to the 
Strength and Constitution of the Patient; but 
Malignant and Intermitting Fevers seldom 
admit of it: And in the Progress of all Fevers, 
when they draw near the Height, Bleeding 
is prejudicial, according to the unanimous 
Opinion of the Antients: For Cœlius Aure- 
lianus, Celsus, and the rest, allowed Bleed- 
ing only in the first three Days of a Fever, 
and not after; but there is no general Rule 
without an Exception. 
As for the Cure of the Symptoms, or ra- 
ther the Mitigation of them, which are more 
than ordinary pressing, they shall be account- 
ed for in another Place, where I shall treat 
of the Symptoms of Fevers in general: But 
here I must observe, that, in a putrid Fever 
the Patient ought to dilute plentifully with 
subacid Liquors, and take such Medicines as 
resist Putrefaction, such as the Juice of Le- 
mons and Salt of Wormwood made up into 
Draughts, or Mixtures, &c. 
A continent 
or remit- 
ting Fever. 
A continent or remitting Fever, 
called by the Greeks, Synechos, is in 
fact a continual Fever in regard to its 
Duration, tho' not in Degree: For it continues
many Days together without Intermission; but 
then it has its periodical Returns of Exaspe- 
ration and Remission, either every Day, or
every


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 341
every other Day, but no thorough Intermis- 
sion; nor has it any cold Shiverings, after the
manner of Agues or Intermittents. About the 
End of every Paroxysm, when the Violence 
of the Fever begins to remit, Sweats general- 
ly ensue, and the Urine, which during the 
Height of the Fit was intensely high-colour'd, 
in these Intervals of Remission usually depo- 
sits a laudable Sediment, which is the true 
Characteristick of a continent or simple re- 
mitting Fever. 
There is likewise a spurious 
Kind of remitting Fever, which 
is attended with outrageous Symptoms of the 
nervous Kind, imitating Rheumatisms, Pleu- 
nisies, Colicks, and other inflammatory or spas- 
modick Distempers: It also often affects the 
glandulous Parts, producing from thence ma- 
nifold Excretions, causing Vomitings, Cholera 
Morbus, Diarrhœa, Bloody-flux, &c. which 
greatly obscure the fundamental Signs of this 
Fever, rendering the Paroxysms or Fits un- 
certain as to their Access and Duration: For 
by how much more the Evacuations and 
Pains, now mention'd, are augmented, by so 
much the febrile Heat is diminish'd and the 
Pulse weaken'd, and vice versa. 
Of the Spurious 
A simple remitting Fever, as such, 
and as long as it remains such, is very 
seldom, if ever, mortal; for before it be- 
comes fatal it changes its Type and Kind, and 
degenerates into a continual malignant Fever. 
But the spurious Kind, tho' it is not in its 
Prognostick.
Y3 own



342 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
own Nature mortal, yet on the Account of 
the violent Symptoms accompanying it, it 
pretty frequently proves so. The more regu- 
lar the Fits are in point of Time, and the 
longer the Remissions are, the less dangerous 
they are, and vice versa. 
The Evacuations which Nature makes in 
these Fevers seldom procure any Benefit, they
being for the most part symptomatical. But 
the critical and salutary Evacuations are ei- 
ther by Sweats or Spitting; the first is the 
quickest, tho' the latter is equally certain, 
yet slow and troublesome. During the In- 
crease of the Distemper, it is a bad Sign if 
the Urine gradually changes thin and pale, 
and the Pulse becomes quicker, weak, and 
staggering, &c. On the contrary, a strong and 
constant Pulse, Urine much tinctured with 
Redness, and full of Settlement, particularly 
when there is a laudable Sediment, and the 
Distemper is come to the State or Height, 
they are good Signs. 
The Cure. 
A simple remitting Fever gives 
way to the Bark, as certainly as an 
intermitting one: For the feverish Ferment 
in both is almost the same. The Efficacy of 
the same Medicine in curing a spurious remit- 
ting Fεver, is almost as certain as in a simple 
one, provided it be rightly administer'd, Re- 
gard being had to the more violent Symp- 
toms; but it has not so quick an Effect, be- 
cause the Distemper is greater and stronger, 
and therefore requires a greater Quantity of 
the

Ch. I. 343 thro' the various Stages of Life.  343
the Medicine: So that the radical Care of 
these Fevers consists in the regular giving and 
Repetition of the Peruvian Bark, with due 
Regard to a proper Diet in all such Diseases. 
It will be necessary, in order to establish a 
rational Method of Cure of con- 
tinual Fevers; to have Regard to 
the Division of them into burning
and slow Fevers, because the Method of 
treating each of these is vastly different. 
A Division in- 
to burning and 
slow Fevers. 
Of a Burning Fever. 
In a Burning Fever the Person is 
affected with a most ardent Heat, a 
Dryness of the whole Skin, of the 
Nostrils, Ears, Mouth, and Tongue: Respi- 
ration is thick, difficult, and quick; the 
Tongue dry, yellow, black, rough, and burnt
up; Thirst unquenchable, sometimes going 
off suddenly without any other good Sign; an 
Aversion from all Sorts of Aliment; a Nau- 
seating, Vomiting, Anguish, Uneasiness, a 
great Weariness, a little Cough, a hollow 
Voice, a Delirium, Phrensy, obstinate Wake- 
fulness, Dozing, Convulsions; and on the odd 
Days a renewing and increase of the Fever.
The chief 
Symptoms.  
A Burning Fever very often kills 
on the third or fourth Day; it seldom 
gets over the seventh, if it be a perfect 
Causus: It often goes off with an Hœmor- 
rhage, which if but small and sparing on the 
third or fourth Day, the Fever commonly 
proves mortal: This may be foretold from 
Progno- 
sticks. 
Y4 the

344 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
the Patient's complaining of a Pain in the 
Neck, Heaviness of the Temples, Dimness 
of the Sight, a Working and Labouring of 
the Heart and Lungs without any Sense of 
Pain, involuntary Tears, without any other fa- 
tal Signs, Redness of the Face, and Itching of 
the Nostrils; but if it happens on a critical 
Day, it is most advantageous. A Solution of
this Fever also on a critical Day, may be 
expected by Vomiting, Looseness, Sweating, 
much Urine, spitting thick Phlegm; but 
growing worse on the second or fourth Day 
is a very bad Sign, on the sixth not so bad: 
Black Urine, thin and small in Quantity, is 
mortal; spitting of Blood and bloody Urine, 
are mortal; a Difficulty of swallowing is a 
bad Sign; nothing worse than Coldness of the
extreme Parts; the Face red and sweaty, is 
bad; a Swelling behind the Ears and not 
ripening, is mortal; the Belly too loose, fatal; 
a Trembling turning to a Delirium, ends in 
Death. This Fever often changes to an In- 
flammation of the Lungs, with a Delirium 
attending it. 
The Regimen in such a Fever is, 
keeping the Air of the Room pure and 
cool, untainted with Fire, or Smoke, or the 
Breaths of many People; and they ought to 
have no more Bed-cloaths than barely defends 
them from Cold; their Curtains ought to be 
kept open, so as to renew the Air; and their 
Posture in lying as erect as they can well 
bear. 
Regimen.
Their

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 345
Their Drink should be cool, mild, sub- 
acid, tepid, given in moderate Quantities, 
and often, as Water with Juice of Lemon or 
Tamarinds. Their Aliment out to be light, 
of mealy Vegetables, as Water-gruel, Prepa- 
rations of Barley, with some Juice of Lemon; 
Rice boil'd in Whey and strain'd; roasted 
Apples in the Progress of the Disease; a little 
toasted Bread sometimes, with Rhenish Wine 
and Water; Jelly of Currants; Broaths and 
Jellies made of Animal Substances, and quali- 
fied with Juice of Lemon or some other Acid, 
may be sometimes allowed. 
Bleeding is requisite in the Be- 
ginning of the Distemper, if there be
the Signs of a Plethora, or of a particular In- 
flammation, or that the Heat is intolerable, 
the Sweat too great, a Revulsion be necessary, 
the Symptoms very urgent, and hardly to be 
master'd by any other Means; in these Cases 
Bleeding is of an absolute Necessity. Some- 
times also gentle and cooling Clysters are to be
given, as often as the Heat of the Distemper 
or Costiveness shall require them. Diluents 
will likewise be proper, and Nitrous Me- 
dicines, and such as very gently loosen the
Belly. 
The Cure.
Here it will not be improper to take parti- 
cular Notice of what Walschmidius says, viz. 
A malignant Fever often in the Beginning ap- 
pears in the Shape of a Causus or burning Fever;
so that a Physician ought to be cautious lest he 
should fall into a Mistake about it; therefore 
let

346 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
let him be diligent to inform himself, whether 
the Patient complains of an Anxiety or Uneasi- 
ness at his Heart, a sudden Loss of Strength, 
and other grievous Symptoms: Let him also 
examine the Urine, &c. for the Cure of these
Fevers is very different. 
A Calenture is a Fever peculiar to Mariners, 
of a high inflammatory Nature. Those that 
are seiz'd with this Distemper are affected
with a peculiar Sort of Delirium; for they 
frequently say they will walk into the green
Fields, which they always seem to have in 
View, thinking they are just going into them, 
and, unless they are kept by Force, they jump 
into the Sea; and that is an inseparable Sign 
of this Distemper. Young lusty Men, of a 
sanguine Complexion, are most subject to it. 
The Cure chiefly consists in plentiful bleed- 
ing and diluting.
Of Slow Fevers.  
Slow Fevers, tho' they are not so acute as 
the Burning or Putrid Fevers, yet they are 
however continual, as they constantly afflict
the Patient labouring under them; but they 
pass through their several Stages more slowly, 
for which reason they are of a longer Conti- 
nuance, and the Symptoms not so violent. 
Catarrhal 
Fevers. 
In the Class of Slow Fevers we 
may justly reckon Catarrhal Fe- 
vers, which in the Beginning and 
Increase are attended with a Catarrh, a Run- 
ing at the Nose, a Cough, Hoarseness, &c.
These

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 347 
These Fevers are for the most part gentle and 
slow in the Day-time, and commonly some- 
what worse in the Evening: They are also 
attended with great Weariness of the Limbs, 
and the Symptoms continue, with an Increase 
of the Running at the Nose and Cough, till 
the Distemper rises to its highest Pitch, when
the Matter of the Catarrh is ripen'd, and the 
Mucus becoming thicker, is discharged, and 
the Fever goes off. The Seat of this Disease 
is in the Conglobate Glands †, more particu- 
larly occasioned by some Obstructions in the 
Pituitous Glands. 
A Decoction of Sassafras, with Li- 
quorish-root and Raisins, is very pro- 
per in Catarrhal Fevers, on account of the 
Acrimony of the Humours; likewise the 
Juice of Turnips, with a little Sugar; Vola- 
tiles and gentle Sudorificks; a Solution of 
Gum Arabick, and whatever besides is pro- 
per in Coughs and Hoarsenesses, will be like- 
wise useful in this Case. 
The Cure.
Besides the fore-mentioned, there 
are likewise Lymphatick or Pitui- 
tous Fevers, occasioned by the Fault of the
Lymphatick 
Fever.  
Pituita
† A Conglobate Gland is a little smoofh Body or Kernel, 
wrapp'd up in a fine Skin, by which it is separated from all 
the other Parts, only admitting an Artery and Nerve to pass 
in, and giving Way to a Vein and excretory Canal to come 
out. Of this Sort are the Glands in the Brain, as the Pi- 
tuitous Gland, the Pinealis Gland, the Glands of the Mesen- 
tery, Groin, Testes, and Labia: All the rest of the Glands in 
the Body are called conglomerated Glands, being composed of 
many conglobate Glands, tied together and wrapp'd up in one 
common Membrane. 


348 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pituita of the Conglomerate Glands, which 
discharge their Juice into some certain Cavity, 
of which the Parotid Glands and the Pan-
creas are remarkable, discharging the Liquors 
separated into the Mouth and Intestines, and 
consequently into the Mass of Blood; which 
Humours, when vitiated, become viscid, salt, 
and sharp, produce these Fevers, which are 
likewise sometimes not improperly call'd Scor- 
butick Fevers. Continual Acute Fevers, and 
sometimes Intermittents, degenerate into these 
Slow Fevers, and sometimes into Hecticks; 
and the Original of these Fevers is most com- 
monly in the Stomach, proceeding from In- 
digestion and Crudities. 
The Cure 
Therefore a gentle Vomit, as well 
in the Beginning as in the Increase 
of these Slow Fevers, ought to pave the Way 
for the Cure; and afterwards the Viscidity and
Acrimony to be corrected; and the Symptoms 
are to be mitigated, and the Stomach to be 
strengthen'd, &c. for which Purpose vitro- 
lated Tartar, Testaceous Powder, Diaphore- 
ticks, and Volatile Salts, &c. are proper. 
Of Intermitting Fevers. 
An Intermitting Fever is a præ- 
ternatural Heat, kindled in the 
Blood by an unusual Expansion of the Spirits, 
returning at certain Periods. In this kind of 
Fever a Chilness, Shivering, Heat, and Sweats 
successively follow one another. The Fit is 
attended with an universal Sickness, Nause- 
The Definition.
ousness,

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 349
ousness, and Vomiting; Pain of the Head, 
Loins, &c. The Paroxysm or Fit is very 
acute, but the Distemper in itself generally 
more or less chronical. 
A simple Intermitting Fever is easily known, 
for it discovers itself of its own Accord; and
how great a Variety soever there may be of 
them, let them be either Quotidians, Tertians, 
Quartans, &c. the morbifick Ferment of all 
is the same, which certainly yields to the 
Force of the Peruvian Bark, if duly and
skillfully administer'd. 
The common Species of Intermitting Fe- 
vers are simple Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; double Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; half Tertians, half Quartans, &c. There 
are likewise Intermitting Fevers which return 
every fifth, sixth, or seventh Day. 
Intermitting Fevers in this Country are 
sometimes very obstinate, often returning in 
spite of all Remedies; and by long Continu- 
ance they degenerate into Hepatical Fevers, 
and many chronical Distempers, as Jaundice, 
Dropsy, Schirrus's, and Scurvies; therefore 
in this Disease a right Method, both of Me- 
dicines and Diet, is very necessary. 
We should begin the Cure with a Vomit, 
or Purge, according to the Strength, Age, 
and Condition of the Patient, and afterwards 
administer the Bark often between the Fits, 
in good large Doses; but if the Patient's 
Strength and present Case will not allow of a 
Vomit or Purge, then the Bark should be 
given,

350 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
given, without any previous Preparation at all; 
and there is a different Regimen to be used 
during the Continuance and Absence of the 
Paroxysm, and in the Paroxysm itself, during 
the Rigor or cold Fit, the Heat and the 
Sweat. 
During the Rigor nothing is more proper 
than a Draught of warm Water, with a little 
Rhenish Wine, or Juice of Lemon and Su- 
gar, which dilutes and relaxes at the same 
Time, and will make the Symptoms wholly 
abate, and terminate the cold Fit sooner, and
throw the Patient into a Sweat, than the 
warmest Cordial. In this Case likewise strong 
Frictions of the Extremities relieve very much; 
Proper Care must be taken to shorten the Pe- 
riod as much as possible, and by warm Dilu- 
ents a little acidulated, to bring on the Sweat 
soon, but not to push it beyond its due Mea- 
sure; because an Intermitting Fever of itself 
relaxes and weakens the Body extremely. 
Between the Fits too great Abstinence is 
hurtful, as much as too great Repletion. As 
Intermitting Fevers are often of long Conti- 
nunace, extreme Abstinence is impracticable, 
and would reduce the Patient to a Condition 
not to be able to sustain the Shock of the 
next Attack. 
Between the Fits, such Substances as tem- 
per, correct and subdue the bilious Alkali, as 
acid Substances, nitrous Salts, small thin Wines, 
Chicken-Broth with Juice of Lemon, Wine 
with Bitters infus'd, are proper. 
Ex-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 351
Exercise, to as great a Degree as the Pa- 
tient can bear, is extremely beneficial between
the Fits. Bleeding in Intermitting Fevers 
seldom does any Good, but oftentimes a great 
deal of Harm; yet the Patient's Condition is 
to be considered in this Case. 
But there are spurious Intermitting Fevers, 
as was observ'd of Remittents: Their Symp- 
toms are sometimes very urgent and violent, 
and their fundamental Signs are disguised un- 
der the Appearance of some other Distem- 
per, as Vomiting, Diarrhœa, and some great 
Pain, &c. The true and genuine Sign of 
the real primary Distemper being chiefly 
known by the Exasperation and Remission of 
those violent Symptoms, and by the Urine of 
a Brick-dust Colour; but these spurious or 
illegitimate Intermittents creating a great 
Variety of direful Symptoms, such as enor- 
mous Vomitings, Griping, Looseness, Cholera 
Morbus, Colicks, Pains in the Side like pleu- 
ritick Pains, Apoplexies, Pains on one Side of 
the Head, Spasms or Cramps, nephritick 
Pains, &c. 
Notwithstanding the great Va- 
riety there may be of these Disor- 
ders, in their manifold Shapes and Forms, 
yet they all depend upon one and the same 
Ferment, and are certainly cured with that 
one fovereign Antidote the Peruvian Bark, 
if prudently administer'd, as well as any other 
Intermitting Fever. 
The Cure.
No

352 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Prognostick.
No one has been known to die 
of an Intermitting Fever, except it 
be in the cold Fit, that Excess of Coldness 
arising from a Viscidity in the Blood, and an
absolute Oppression of the Spirits. 
The proximate 
Cause of In- 
termitting 
Fevers. 
After an accurate Examination 
into the whole History of Inter- 
termitting Fevers, the proximate 
Cause is assign'd to be the Visco- 
sity of the arterial Liquid, there happening at
the same Time some Cause or other for a 
quicker and stronger Contraction of the Heart, 
and a Dissolution of the stagnating Viscidi- 
ties. Boerhaave. 
Having thus far treated of Benign Fevers, I 
shall now proceed to give the Reader a suc- 
cinct and clear Account 
Of Malignant Fevers. 
Diagnostick.
The first Sign of a Malignant 
Fever, is a remarkable Loss of 
Strength on a sudden, without any mani- 
fest Cause, with a weak Pulse: The external 
Heat is not so violent as in some other Fevers; 
the internal Heat is rather greater. It is attend- 
ed from the very Beginning with obstinate 
Watchings, and anxious Uneasiness: The 
Sick complains and shews the Region of the 
Stomach, or the Heart; the Urine is not 
unlike that of a Person in Health; the Coun- 
tenance looks hideous sometimes, and much 
changed from the natural State, sometimes of
a livid Colour. 
The Reason why the feverish Heat and 
Ebulli-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 353
Ebullition in these Fevers, is not do great as 
in other Fevers, is entirely owing to the Ma- 
lignity which has seiz'd the Blood; and is 
rather a Sign of some great Disorder of the 
Spirits, which are greatly affected, and as it 
were sphacelated or deaden'd, than of any 
Disturbance in the Humours; or it may be 
sometimes the said Disorders may be propa- 
gated into the Humours, especially the Blood, 
from the malignant Taints; from which 
arises great Confusion, and an inordinate in- 
testine Motion, which indeed produce an in- 
ternal Heat, but is not carried so sensibly to
the external Parts. By this means Nature 
being, as it were, oppress'd, is not able to 
exert those Symptoms more regularly, which 
are agreeable to, and might attend the Dis- 
ease. 
There is a great Variety of Malignant Fe- 
vers, on account of the Diversity of their 
Symptoms: In some there are very remark- 
able cutaneous Efflorescencies; in some more
abundantly, in others less; and in some no 
such Appearances at all; others, in fine, are 
attended with other kind of Symptoms. 
Some assert, from microscopical Observa- 
tions, that in all malignant Fevers and gan- 
grenous Ulcers, there is so great a Putrefac- 
tion of the Blood, that it gives Occasion for 
the Generation of a Multitude of little Worms, 
from whence they believe the great Variety 
of Symptoms so vexatious do arise; but these 
Worms cannot be bred without a preceding 
Z Putre-

354 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Putrefaction; and the Blood in Malignant Fe- 
vers is preternaturally fluid, insomuch that 
when it is let out of the Body it will not co- 
agulate as usually; but this is the Product of
the Distemper, and not the Cause. 
The very naming a Malignant 
Fever strikes a Terror into Mankind; 
because all Malignant Fevers are very 
dangerous, and as to the Event very uncertain; 
which made Galen assert that Malignant Fe- 
vers will not admit of a Prognostick. Deaf- 
ness in the Beginning portends the greatest 
Danger, but in the Height of the Distemper 
it is a favourable Symptom; but bleeding at
the Nose and a Looseness through the whole 
Course of the Distemper, are very bad Signs: 
And it is almost always reckon'd a very bad 
Symptom when they employ their Hands as if 
they were catching Flies, or picking up Straws 
or Bits of Threads. If on or about the eleventh
Day Buboes arise in the Groin, it betokens
well, and terminates the Fever. 
The Prog- 
nosticks.
The Cure, 
according 
to Etmuller 
and others. 
Malignant Fevers by no Means 
admit of Bleeding; for the more 
malignant they are, the more Mis- 
chief it would do, and the farther 
from the Beginning the worse. Vomits in 
the very Beginning of the Distemper are a- 
bove all Things exceedingly proper; but 
then they should be given before any cuta- 
neous Eruptions appear, otherwise the Op- 
portunity is lost; and afterwards the Cure 
is to be endeavoured by Medicines, and 
Sub-


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 355
Substances that procure Sweating, Nature 
herself teaching us so much; for frequently 
Sweating carries off the Cause and Fewel of
the Distemper. 
The greater the Malignity is, the more 
Sudorificks, or sweating Medicines, are to be
employ'd, regard being always had to the 
Nature of the Distemper, and its Diversity, 
as also the Strength of the Patient. Sudori- 
ficks are to be given at least three or four 
Times in twenty-four Hours; Analepticks 
and moderate Acids are to be used in the in- 
termediate Times, amongst which dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre is very good; also Tincture of
Saffron extracted with sweet Spirit of Nitre; 
likewise the Juice of Citrons and Quinces;
&c. Camphire is a noble Alexipharmick, but 
every Body cannot bear the Use of it, espe- 
cially some Women, and studious Men, whose 
animal Spirits are easily moved and dissipated. 
Blisters are of singular Use in the State or 
Height of the Distemper. The volatile Salts 
of Hartshorn, and of Vipers, are Sudorificks, 
and resist Malignity; and here the Mistura 
Simplex of Paracelsus takes Place, as well as 
in all pestilential Fevers, being a very noble
Remedy. Its Dose is from one Dram to 
two, to be given once in six or eight Hours, 
a proper Vehicle. 
Notwithstanding Bleeding in this Disease 
has been, and is accounted dangerous by a 
great many Practitioners, it only proves so 
when it is triflingly performed; for if a large 
Z2 Quantity


356 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Quantity of Blood be taken away in the very
Beginning, it secures the Party from Danger. 
But Bleeding had better been quite omitted, 
than not to be performed to a large Quantity, 
even almost to Fainting; and to prevent 
Fainting the Patient ought to be let Blood in 
his Bed. It is to be minded, that where 
there is a Plethora, or the Patient is of a strong
Constitution, more Blood may be taken a- 
way than in a weakly or a phlegmatick Con- 
stitution. After a sufficient Evacuation by 
Bleeding, plentiful Sweating must be pro- 
cured by proper Medicines and Drinks, such 
as Venice Treacle, Mithridate, Diascordium, 
London Treacle, Camphire. Lapis Contrayerva, 
Pulvis ad Guttetam, Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Confection, Treacle-water. Plague-water, Ca- 
stor, Saffron, Cochineal, &c. Of these and 
the like many excellent Sweats may be fram'd 
into either Bolus's, Draughts, or Mixtures, 
interlac'd with nitrous Medicines and Acids, 
according to the Exigency of the Case. When 
Spots appear, neither Bleeding, Vomiting, nor 
even Glysters are to be administered, but Su- 
dorificks and Blisters. 
If the Blood tends to a Dissolution, sweat- 
ing Medicines and spirituous Cordials are very 
improper; but Emulsions, acidulated Drinks, 
and the like, with Bezoarticks, Nitre, and 
gentle astringing Remedies, in order to re- 
duce the Humours to their natural Texture 
and Firmness. Their common Drink ought 
to

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 357
to be acidulated with Juice of Lemon, Spirit 
of Sulphur, Elixir of Vitriol, &c. 
Of Spotted Fevers. 
A Spotted Fever is a very ma- 
lignant one, in which, besides the 
Symptoms common to other ma-  
lignant Fevers, there is a very remarkable 
Weariness of the whole Body, an universal 
throbbing and pricking Pain: The Spots ap- 
pear sometimes the fourth Day, but oftener 
about the seventh, especially on the Breast 
and Shoulder-blades, then on the Belly, Legs, 
Arms, and Neck, seldom in the Face. Not 
only Spots, but likewise large Marks, black 
and blue, sometimes appear; and in the De- 
clension of the Distemper sometimes a Spitting
comes on, which carries it off. 
The Symptoms 
of a Spotted 
Fever.
The Spots in the milder Sorts of 
this Fever are florid and very red, 
like Flea-bites: Afterwards they grow pale, 
yellow, and so disappear: The more red they 
are, the better: On the contrary, those that 
are of a livid or pale red, or appear blackish, 
are the worst. If they strike in again, it 
foretells a great deal of Danger. 
Prognosticks.
These Distempers are contagi- 
ous, and sometimes epidemical or 
spreading: They are very danger- 
ous; for of those that are seiz'd with it, more 
die than recover. 
They are 
contagious. 
Spotted Fevers being a Species of 
the Malignant, the same Indications
of Cure are here required as were mentioned
The Cure. 
Z3 above

358 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
above for the Cure of malignant Fevers in 
general. If the Spots strike in too soon, 
Vesicatories are to be employ'd; upon which, 
tho' we are not to expect the Spots to appear 
again, yet in some Measure the Blistering 
answers the End of their not appearing, 
and sometimes very happily prevents the dire- 
ful Symptoms in the nervous System. No 
Evacuation of the Bowels must be attempted, 
such as Vomiting or Purging, or even by 
Glysters, as long as there is any Appearance 
of the Spots. 
CHAP II.
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms
attending Fevers. 
Rigor in 
Fevers. 
THE Coldness and Shiverings 
which happen in the Beginning 
of acute Fevers, are owing to a Diminution 
of the Contraction of the Heart, the Circu- 
lation then being less quick, and the Blood 
actually stagnating in the extreme Parts, and
pressing upon the Heart, creates great Anxie- 
ties, and may produce polypose Concretions 
about the Heart, and in other Parts of the 
Body; therefore a Rigor or Coldness encreases
an Inflammation. Those who die of Quartan, 
Fevers,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 359
Fevers, die in the cold Fit; and in truth, 
there is no Mischief but what may proceed 
from a Rigor of long Duration; for if it re- 
mains long, sudden Death sometimes ensues; 
and therefore the greater and longer such 
Coldness is, the more dangerous is the Fever. 
In such Rigor or Coldness, all warm Cor- 
dials and stimulating Substances are improper; 
for the first acting with Force upon the right 
Ventricle of the Heart, may drive the Blood 
with too much Force thro' the Lungs; and 
stimulating Substances, by contracting the 
Vessels, often increase Symptoms, which are 
best reliev'd by drinking warm Water with 
a little Rhenish-Wine, wherein a little Nitre 
is dissolved; likewise strong Frictions of the 
extreme Parts are very useful in this Case. 
See farther in the Cure of intermitting Fe-
vers. 
The Degree of feverish Heat may 
be known by the Thermoscope, the 
Sensation of the Patient, the Intense- 
ness of the red Colour of the Urine, the 
Siziness of the Blood, the Dissipation of ths
fluid Parts, which renders it thicker; the 
Hardness, Strength, and Frequency of the 
Pulse, which makes the Friction or Rubbing 
the stronger, to which the Heat is proportio- 
nal, the bad Disposition of the Humours,
the Temperament of the Body. 
Feverish
Heat.
This Heat is moderated by Bleed- 
ing, by muscular Rest, by mode- 
rate Ligatures, which compress the Veins 
The Cure.
Z4 only,

360 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
only, and often remov'd from Joint to Joint, 
by a mechanical Reason retard the Circula- 
tion; of such Sort is dry Cupping, Bathing 
the lower Parts, watery Liquors for Drink, 
not cold but warm; subacid, as Jelly of Cur- 
rants dissolv'd in tepid watery Liquors, De- 
coctions of mealy Substances acidulated, Sub- 
stances that are Anodyne, Substances which 
dissolve Concretions, such as Sugar, Honey, 
and the simple Oxymel; plentiful diluting, 
and restoring as much Water to the Blood, as 
is dissipated by the Heat; all demulcent and 
relaxing Substances, cooling the Air in the 
Room, opening the Curtains, and removing 
too heavy Bed-cloaths. All stimulating and 
styptick Substances are to be avoided; because
they increase the Force of the solid Parts. 
Lenient Glysters and Emulsions are also use- 
ful to mitigate such an excessive Heat.
Caution.  
But great Care is to be taken left 
by cooling too much, the Spirits shoul'd 
receive a sudden Damp, and by that means 
be depriv'd of their Elasticity, whereby the 
burning Fever might unwarily be changed 
into a malignant one, which has been many
a time the Case. 
In Thirst, attending Fevers, the 
Liquors should not be drank quite 
cold; for cold Liquors by constringing the 
Glands of the Palate and Throat, do not 
quench Thirst so well as Liquors moderately 
warm: In this Case acidulated small Liquors
should be plentifully drank. All Salts in-
Thirst.  
crease


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 361
crease Thirst, except Nitre, and dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre mix'd with Water, or the 
Patient's common Drink, is useful in this 
Case; so are Barley-Water and Emulsions, 
except in great Weakness and Flatulencies of
the Stomach; in such Case Water mix'd with 
a small Quantity of Rhenish-Wine is best of
all. 
In these Anxieties which at- 
tend Fevers, when the cold Fit is 
over, in such a Case a warmer Re- 
gimen may be allow'd; because Anxieties in 
Fevers often happen by Spasms, or Convul- 
sions from Wind, therefore Spices are useful. 
And in those Anxieties, saponaceous Sub- 
stances which dissolve the Blood are proper, 
as ripe Fruit, and especially Honey, Sugar, 
&c. 
Anxieties in
Fevers.
Sickness and Vomiting may be 
owing to an original Surfeit, and is 
one of the most troublesome Symp- 
toms attending Fevers; because it renders 
the Patient incapable of taking any thing. It 
is often prevented by giving a gentle Vomit, or 
cur'd by promoting the Vomiting for a while 
by warm Water, or thin Chicken-Broth; 
for which Purpose likewise Carduus Tea 
drank in large Draughts may do very well;
but if it does not of itself succeed well, half
a Dram of Salt of Vitriol, or a Spoonful of 
Oxymel of Squills, may be given with the 
Posset. 
Sickness and
Vomiting.
During


362 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
During the Symptom, acid Liquors, and 
even such as are austere and astringent, are 
to be used; because such strengthen the re- 
laxed Fibres of the Stomach; for which Pur- 
pose the following Julap is very effectual. 
Take of Salt of Wormwood 4 Scruples; 
of fresh Juice of Lemon, 2 Ounces; 
mix, and when Ebullition is over, add 
to it of Barley Cinnamon Water, 3 oz. 
of Mint-Water and Nephritick Wa- 
ter, each 1 Ounce; Spirit of Saffron, 
half an Ounce; Syrup of Quinces, 1 
Ounce; mix for a Julap, of which let 
the Patient take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls every 
3 Hours, or oftner. 
Diluting, and sometimes relaxing the Belly, 
and carrying the bilious Salts downwards, 
often cures this Symptom. And Attention 
is to be given to the Appetites of Patients in 
this and many other Cases, who sometimes 
covet odd things which have relieved them, 
as Salt, Vinegar, &c. 
Vomiting from a bilious Cause is cured by 
acidulated small Liquors; and vomiting from 
some putrid Cause, by Salts of all Sorts; and 
in such a Case, Water-Gruel with Cream of 
Tartar, Rhenish Wine with Water, Jelly of 
Currants, Marmalade of Quinces, Sorrel 
boil'd in Broths well skimmed from Fat, are 
exceeding beneficial. 
But


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 363
But if the Vomiting proceeds from a 
phlegmatick Cause, Spices and Bitters will 
relieve; for the Counterpoison must be adapt- 
ed to the Cause: As for Example, in Poison 
from sublimate Corrosive and Arsenick. In  
the first, alkaline Substances are properest; 
in the second, oily Substances are fittest, in 
both Diluents are proper. It will not be dif- 
ficult to judge of the Cause by what the Pa- 
tient throws up from the Stomach, 
Whether a Vomit may be 
safely or properly given, must be 
judg'd by the Circumstances; for 
if there be any Symptoms of an Inflamma- 
tion of the Stomach or Lungs, a Vomit is 
extremely dangerous. 
A Caution in 
giving Vomits.
A Diarrhœa or Looseness some- 
times happens in Fevers, which 
proves often a dangerous and fatal 
Symptom; and this Evacuation is not the 
genuine Motion of Nature for its Relief, but 
arises rather from the Impetuosity and Vio- 
lence of the Distemper, or the stimulating 
Acrimony of the Humours, which in reality 
is a symptomatical Diarrhœa, and ought to
be stopt; for it weakens, excoriates, and in- 
flames the Bowels, occasioning bloody Fluxes, 
thickening the circulating Juices, and ex- 
hausting the Strength of the Patient very 
much; however, a critical Diarrhœa is not 
to be stopt, for fear of incurring the same 
Dangers. 
A Looseness 
in Fevers. 
2 Attention

364 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Attention should be given to the Cause: If 
it proceeds from Acidity, it is to be cured by 
Anti-acids; but as in Fevers the Cause is 
more commonly alkaline and bilious, acid or 
four things relieve best; and it happens some- 
times, that oily Substances by blunting the 
Acrimony will do a great deal of good in 
Diarrhœas; for oily Substances of themselves 
do not irritate or provoke Loosenesses, they 
only lubricate or make the Bowels slippery. 
Vomiting, by evacuating the irritating Cause, 
often cures Diarrhœas. 
Anodyne Substances are proper, and gene- 
rally speaking, solid and dry Food rather than 
liquid. 
The white Decoction of burnt Hartshorn 
is very proper for common Drink, and absor- 
bent testaceous Powders mix'd with Diapho- 
reticks, are likewise very useful in the Case; 
and lastly, we may have Recourse to Venice 
Treacle, Diascordium, &c. But it is obser- 
vable in general, that Laxness of the Body in 
the beginning of Fevers is better than over 
Costiveness, but in the Progress of the Di- 
stemper it is worse. 
Strangury 
in Fevers. 
A Dysuria or Strangury in Fe- 
vers is very troublesome. The com- 
mon Emulsions are very proper to 
mitigate the Ebullition in burning Fevers; 
and commonly they very much asswage this 
vexatious Symptom; as likewise Oil of sweet 
Almonds, with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, or 
a Solution of Sperma Ceti: also a Solution 
of

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 365
of 1 Ounce of Gum-Arabick in a Quart of 
Barley-Water for common Drink, is an ex- 
cellent Remedy, especially when this Symp- 
tom is occasion'd by Blistering. 
Profuse Sweats which happen in 
Fevers, either in the Beginning of the 
Disease, or at any other Time before 
the Crisis, and before the Signs of Concoction 
appear, are symptomatical, and oftentimes 
Colliquative: They proceed from a Laxity 
of the Vessels, and too vehement a Circula- 
tion of the Blood, and ought therefore to be 
restrain'd by Art; for they are very trouble- 
some to the Patient, and they exasperate the 
Distemper, in depriving the Blood of its most 
fluid Parts, thicken and often cause Obstru- 
ctions; so that it is a very bad Practice to 
push Sweating too much in Fevers, except 
in such as are pestilential 
Profuse 
Sweats. 
In profuse Sweats, Care should be taken 
by diluting, to restore the Liquid which the 
Blood loses, and to use the Methods advised 
already in too great Heat, by taking away 
some of the Coverings of the Bed, and ad- 
mitting of cool Air, and using a Diet mo- 
derately astringent, and mild Acids, &c. 
Tinctura Antiphthisica, on Account of the 
Sugar of Lead in the Composition, is 
esteem'd an efficacious Remedy for suppres- 
sing such Sweats; and likewise Sage is very 
good in the Case of profuse Sweats. 
A


366 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pain of the 
Head. 
A violent Pain in the Head, 
Back, or in the Limbs, especially 
in the beginning of Fevers, requires 
Bleeding; and if that does not relieve, it will 
be proper to give a gentle Vomit if the Sto- 
mach be foul, otherwise a laxative Glyster 
may suffice. 
Watchfulness is a Symptom in Fevers, 
which is sometimes called a Coma Vigil, and 
often precedes too great Sleepiness, and is 
perhaps the most ill-boding Symptom of a 
Fever; therefore the Cause is to be narrow- 
ly enquir'd into; if it proceeds from too 
great Heat and Dryness, cooling and moisten- 
ing things are to be administred; if Pain be 
the Cause, we must endeavour to asswage it 
by proper Remedies, avoiding Opiates, with- 
out an absolute Necessity, especially about 
the time of the Crisis, when the Physician 
may perceive great Restlessness and Inquie- 
tude in the Patient; for it should be always 
remember'd as a Maxim, that a Space of 
time before the Crisis happens, is the most 
troublesome, Nox ante Crisin est molestissima. 
Other Expedients in this Case are, extreme 
Care to keep the Patient from Noise, and 
whatever makes any strong Impression upon 
his Senses, and some of those Helps used in 
a Delirium, for this is an Approach towards 
it; a moist softening Diet, ail Preparations of 
Barley, Emulsions of Poppy Seeds and Al- 
monds, Aliment of Lactecescent or milky 
Plants, especially Lettuces, Decoctions of 
Scorzonera 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 367
Scorzonera Roots, Almond Cream, and what 
is called Winter-Flummery, used as Aliment; 
Tea made of Cowslip Flowers, relaxing gent- 
ly the Belly. 
Coma, or Sleepiness in Fevers, is di- 
rectly contrary to the fore-mentioned Symp- 
tom Wakefulness; the Patient has a continual 
Propensity to doze or sleep, sometimes with a 
real Sleep, and often without it. A Coma 
will proceed either from a Pressure upon the 
Original of the Nerves in the Brain, by too 
great Repletion; or from a Penury or Waste 
of Spirits by too great Inanition.
Coma. 
Old People are subject to Comas by the 
Glewiness of the Fluids circulating in the 
Brain, which being resolved by the Fever, 
obstruct the small Canals of the Brain: But 
in young People it commonly proceeds from 
Fulness, and is best cur'd by Bleeding and re-
laxing the Belly. The Sign of such a Fulness 
is, a red Countenance and inflamed Eyes; but 
if it proceeds from a glutinous Oil, it ought 
to be resolved by Water, nitrous Salts, Soaps, 
Subacid Liquors, and Blisters, not forgetting 
the Use of sharp Glysters. 
In a feverish Delirium there is a small 
Inflammation of the Brain; therefore any- 
thing which increases the Circulation in the 
Lower Parts, and diminishes the Pressure on 
the Brain, is beneficial; as bathing the Feet 
in warm Water; nothing relieves the Head 
more than the Piles, therefore Suppositories 
of Honey, Aloes, and Rock-salt ought to be
Delirium  
made 

368 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
made use of; relaxing by emollient and wa- 
tery Substances, both in Drink and Glysters, 
especially Barley, Cream, and Barley-gruel, 
are to be frequently used: Likewise Bleeding 
in the Foot, and Blisters will be of great Ser- 
vice in this Case. 
Of Convulsions in Fevers. 
Convul-
sions. 
Nothing is of more Importance 
than rightly to know the Cause and the 
Seat of this Distemper, which is com- 
monly very obscure. In Infants Convulsions 
commonly proceed from Acidity in the Sto- 
mach and Intestines, which are cured by Ab- 
sorbents, such as testaceous Powders of all sorts, 
and gentle Purges and Glysters; but in such 
indeed Convulsions attending Fevers are not 
altogether so dangerous. 
Convulsions arising from Acrimony in the 
Stomach, or from any thing vellicating a 
Nerve in its Extremity, and not in its Origi- 
nal where it rises from the Brain, are not 
very dangerous; but Convulsions, which pro- 
ceed from too great Evacuations, as great 
Hæmorrhages attending Fevers, are very dan- 
gerous, and frequently mortal. 
Convulsions proceeding from an Inflamma- 
tion of the Membranes of the Brain are com- 
monly fatal: The Symptoms attending such 
are, a great Heat and Thirst, a hard Pulse, 
and a Delirium; so that the Remedies, and 
even those from Diet, are to be used accord- 
ing to the particular Seat of the Distemper; 
for

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 369
for if it be from the Stomach, such Aliments 
as are contrary to the particular Acrimony, 
Acid, Alkaline, or Oily, impacted there, as 
in the Case of Vomiting, already described. 
But if they arise from something obstructed 
in the Brain, such Convulsions are generally 
cur'd by Diluting, Relaxing, Revulsions, and 
softening both the Fluids and Solids, and 
using such Substances especially as open the 
Belly; and in general the Regimen prescribed 
in a Delirium or Coma: For it would be a 
Folly to rely here on the Medicines, which, 
by their pompous Titles of Anti-spasmodick 
and Anti-hystericks promise a specifick Cure; 
besides, all Volatiles, spicy and cordial Sub- 
stances, are here destructive.
Of Weakness in Fevers. 
A feverish Weakness proceeds from 
too great Fulness in the Beginning, and too 
great Penury or Inanition in the latter End of 
the Distemper; for whatever stops or retards 
the Circulation of the Fluids in the smallest 
Vessels, especially those in the Brain, produces 
this Symptom, which either of the Causes now 
mentioned will certainly do; And those two 
Causes require a different Method of Cure; 
for in the first, emptying and diluting is re- 
quisite; in the latter, a more plentiful Nou- 
rishrnent, the Use of Wine diluted with Wa- 
ter, and Spices in small Quantities, Jellies, 
Broths qualified with some gentle Acid, un- 
less there be Signs of Acidity; but in that 
Weakness. 
Aa Case

370 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Case the Diet should be contrary to that 
Symptom; in which Case Viper Broth, and all 
other Broths are both anti-acid and nourishing. 
In Weakness from too great a Loss of Blood, 
Wine and Food which is easily digested and 
assimilated or converted into Blood, is pro- 
per; for a small Quantity of Blood often- 
times brings the Patient into a Dropsy. Fric- 
tions of the Limbs relieve Weaknesses, as they 
promote a Flux of Juices and Spirits in the 
Joints and Limbs, by which Means they will 
bring Nourishment to those Parts. 
Fat People are most subject to the Symp- 
tom of Weakness in Fevers; because the Fat, 
being melted by the Heat of the Fever, Part 
of it obstructs the small Canals or Vessels, and 
consequently produces this Symptom; which 
is evident from the great Loss of Fat such 
Persons sustain in Fevers, by the Laxity of 
the Fibres, and the Emptiness of the smaller 
Vessels; and therefore such should be treated 
with particular Care, for after due Evacua- 
tions they ought to dilute plentifully both by 
Drink and Glysters, avoiding all fat and oily 
Things, and using Sugar, Honey, and ripe 
Fruits. 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in Fevers. 
In all these of any Kind whatever, as Small- 
Pox, Meazles, Purples, Scarlet-fever, Ery- 
sipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire, the Intention of 
Diet ought to be, to avoid strong Sudorificks, 
or sweating Things, which push out too great 
a Quan-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
a Quantity of the Matter upon the Skin; to 
use cooling and temperate Diluters, which 
will keep the Matter moveable, so that it may 
be secreted from the Blood; to keep warm 
during the Eruption; and that the Diet be 
cool; for which Reason the moderate Use of 
Acids, as Juice of Limons, &c, are necessary; 
and above all things Bleeding must not be 
omitted. 
A due Attention to the few Rules above- 
mentioned, in the several Symptoms, will 
prove successful in the Cure of most Fevers. 
Of the Small-pox. 
Notwithstanding I have taken notice just 
now of Eruptive Fevers in general, yet as this 
is one of the most dangerous and universal 
that infests Mankind, I shall treat of it in this 
Place in particular. Therefore, the greatest 
and most important Steps for the Recovery of 
the Patient must be made at the Time of the 
Invasion, or first State of this Distemper;
wherefore it is very necessary to know the first
Symptoms of it; for many have suffer'd by 
mistaking it for another Disorder. 
In general, young People who have not 
had the Disease, ought to be very care- 
ful in avoiding Irregularities in their Diet;
because the Small-pox which seizes such Per- 
sons often proves fatal. This Disease is like- 
wise more dangerous as the Fluids are more 
heated and dissipated, and the Solids more 
Aa2 strict 

372 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strict and compacted, and consequently it is 
more so, as People are advanced in Years. 
First
Stage. 
The first Symptoms are a Chilness 
and Rigor, succeeded by a Fever and 
constant Heat, a certain Splendor or Shining- 
in the Eyes, with a little Moisture, which is 
very observable in Children; a great Pain in 
the Head, with Drowsiness, Dullness, and 
Sleepiness; a Pain in the Back in some, but 
Pains in the Limbs in all; Anxiety, Inquie- 
tude notwithstanding their Drowsiness; loath- 
ing Sickness at the Stomach, Vomiting, and 
Convulsions in Infants shortly before the E- 
ruption; and the Blood taken away the first
Time, florid; but on the second, third, and 
fourth Time it appears sizy, like that of pleu- 
ritick People. 
Therefore it is manifest that in this State 
the Distemper ought to be treated as any 
other inflammatory Disease, by such Methods 
as if it were possible to hinder any Suppuration 
at all; and to resolve and digest as much of 
the feverish Matter as possibly we can; for the 
longer the Eruption is a coming, and the fewer 
when it comes, the Disease is less dangerous; 
therefore all the Methods practised in the Be- 
ginning of inflammatory Distempers are here 
necessary and proper, with a particular Care 
of cleansing the alimentary Passage by Vomit- 
ing and Glysters, the Impurities of which 
will otherwise be carried into the Blood. 
The learned Boerhaave says, that as there is 
not yet found any particular Antidote to the 
poisonous

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 373
poisonous Quality of this Disease; but that if 
any such could be found, as he is of Opinion 
it may, it must be in Antimony and Mercury 
brought to a great Degree of Penetrability,
without being too corrosive by a Saline Acri- 
mony, but well united; for the Effects of Mer- 
cury on all Ulcerations are notorious. 
In the first Stage then of the Small-pox, the 
whole Habit of the Body ought to be relax'd 
both inwardly and outwardly, and a free 
Perspiration through the Pores of the Skin, 
without violent Sweats be promoted; the 
Viscidity or Glewiness of the Fluids taken off 
by Diluters: All these Things may be affected 
by Glysters, Fomentations and Gargles, and 
a plentiful life of Drinks often repeated, made 
of thin Water-gruel and other mealy Decoc- 
tions, and such like cooling Liquors, with 
nitrous and acid Salts, or some other acid Sub- 
stances mix'd with them, such as the Juice of 
Oranges, Limons, Tamarinds, and other sub- 
acid Fruits, &c. no Flesh to be allow'd, un- 
less some small Chicken-broth at Times; the 
Air ought not to spoiled by Heat, or the Bed- 
Clothes so thick and heavy as to produce great 
Sweats. 
For more People are lost in the Small-pox, 
by being thrown into large and violent Sweats 
in the Beginning of the Eruption, than by any 
other Errors committed at all other Times: 
The Reason is, because great Sweats drain the 
small Blood-Vessels of the necessary Fluid, 
by which Circulation is hinder'd and the Blood 
Aa3 coagu-

374 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
coagulates, by which Means the Inflamma- 
tion is hurried on into a Gangrene, without 
being able to furnish the necessary Work of 
Impostumation in the Glands of the Skin, or 
of being dissipated by other proper Means. 
Second 
Stage. 
When this Disease has run off its first 
Stage, which is call'd by the learned 
Boerhaave, that of Contagion, it enters 
into the second, in the following Manner: 
The Skin of the Head and Face first, then of 
the Hands and Arms, and lastly of the Body 
and lower Parts, are mark'd with little red 
Points like Flea-bites; thereupon the Symp- 
toms abate, and the red Pustles increase every 
Hour in Largeness and Number; they con- 
tinually rise higher and higher, inflame more, 
and the Skin is stretch'd; they begin to pain 
and to burn ; the Circulation is interrupted, 
and Perspiration hinder'd; hence a great Re- 
turn of the Humours towards the inward 
Parts; a Fever arises, with Anxieties, Diffi- 
culty of Breathing, a Pain in the Jaws, some- 
times a Quinsy, a Looseness, Bloody-flux, 
Bloody-urine, Spitting of Blood. The Parts of 
the Skin free from Pustles are red and in- 
flamed, painful and hot; all which, or most 
of which, when they have lasted four, five, 
or six Days, are now intirely suppurated, and 
converted into as many small Impostumes. 
And this is likewise call'd by the above-men- 
tioned Author, the Stage of the Inflammation 
until the Suppuration: It lasts (according to 
the Difference of the epidemical Season, and 
that


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 375
that of the Patient, the Greatness and Vio- 
lence of each particular Case, and the Regi- 
men hot or cold made use of) most times 
four or five Days; so that the Suppuration is 
compleated about the eighth Day, reckoning 
from the first Beginning; and the Blood, if 
let out of a Vein, is extremely inflamed. 
From what has been said, the Diagnosticks 
and Prognosticks of the second State of the 
Small-pox may be learned, and the Rationale 
of it, and all its Symptoms, which will be 
plainer still by observing the following Rules. 
1. The gentler the State of Contagion, that 
is, the first Stage, the easier likewise is the in- 
flammatory State, which is the second Stage 
of the Distemper. 
2. The slower the Pustles break out, the 
longer therefore the State of Contagion, so the 
easier and milder is the whole Course of the 
Disease through all its Stages. 
3. The fewer, more distant, bigger, more 
remote from the Face, whiter and afterwards 
the yellower the Pustles are, and the later 
they appear, so much the better Event they 
promise. 
4. The more in Quantity, more mix'd and 
intangled, the less in Bulk those that stand 
single, the more they appear upon the Face, 
tawny or black, and the quicker they grow, 
so much the worse. 
5. The more the Matter of the Pimples is 
like to kind and perfect Pus, the better. 
Aa4 6. The

376 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
6. The more the Matter in the Pimples 
resembles a gangrenous Ichor, the worse. 
7. The more the Space between the Pim- 
ples appears red, is hot, stretch'd, and swell'd 
about the Time of their impostumating, so 
much the greater Hopes, because it is a Sign 
of the Circulation's being preserved there. 
8. But the more that same Space looks 
paler, or grows tawny or black, so much 
the worse; for there follows a mortal Quinsy 
or Peripneumony, unless a thin Salivation, or 
a great Swelling of the Hands or Feet doth 
ensue: The Reason is, because the Circula- 
tion of the Fluids is cut off in those Parts, 
and drove back and increased in the internal 
nobler Parts. 
9. If in the Space between the Pimples 
there appear purple Spots, it is a sign that a 
mortal Gangrene is at hand or present. 
The Indication in this second State of the 
Disease, is different according to the different 
Time that the Disease has lasted, and is like 
to last: for in the Beginning of the external 
Inflammation shewing itself, it appears rea- 
sonable to endeavour to prevent its proceeding 
to an Impostumation, as has been observed 
already; or, if that be neglected, Care ought 
to be taken that the Suppuration be as lit- 
tle as possible, and promoted slowly and far 
from the Head; which may be effected, first, 
by keeping the Patient to the thinnest Diet, 
which at the same time resists Putrefaction, 
Secondly, by giving him diluting, soft and sub- 
acid


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 377
acid Drink. Thirdly, Medicines that prevent 
the making of much Pus or Matter, such as 
are opening and diluting, in great Quantities 
and often given; likewise Blisters applied to 
the Hollows of the Feet and Legs. Fourthly, 
A cool Regimen, and chiefly by the Admis- 
sion of pure and fresh Air, (as was observed 
in the first State) and at the same Time co- 
vering the Limbs and lower Parts of the 
Body warm. Fifthly, If the Distemper pro- 
ceeds too violently on the fifth Night, a 
gentle Opiate may be safely given to an Ad- 
vantage, and repeated every Night to the 
End of the Disease, if the Lungs are not too 
much oppress'd, and Respiration very diffi- 
cult. 
After the running off of the 
second Stage follows the third 
State, being that of Impostumation, during 
which it increases and arrives at its Height: 
In this the Pustles, already purulent, grow 
larger every Day; then they ripen, turn 
white, yellow, and break on the third or 
fourth Day of this State. Then the whole 
Skin, and its subjacent Fat, abound with a 
moveable Pus or Matter; it is dried exter- 
nally, and inflamed in every Part free from 
Matter or Pus: Hence, from the Impedi- 
ment of Perspiration and Circulation, from 
the Irritation of the membranous and nervous 
System, from the absorbing of the Pus into the 
Veins, there comes on a Fever of the worst 
Kind, with the worst Symptoms; and if this
Third Stage.
puru- 

378 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
purulent Matter mix'd with the Blood is 
moved long, it putrefies: Hence, according 
to its falling upon different Parts of the Body, 
it produces cruel and scarce superable Effects, 
such as Deliriums, Phrensies, Quinsies, Peri- 
pneumonies, Pleurisies, Vomitings, Bloody- 
fluxes, Inflammations of the Liver, Impos- 
tumations of the same; Boils, Tumors, Ab- 
scesses, and Stiffness of the Joints; a Wasting, 
Consumption, and a great many more Evils. 
In this third State great Care ought to be 
taken to promote the Discharge of the Pus 
to the external Part, driving it from the In- 
ternals; which may be effected by relaxing 
the Skin with lukewarm softening Fomenta- 
tions, and often; constantly walking and 
gargling the Mouth and Throat; drinking 
much of warm, cordial, detergent, and o- 
pening Decoctions, which are contrary to Pu- 
trefaction; injecting daily a gentle, diluting, 
emollient, and laxative Glyster, and to be kept 
long; or sometimes a gentle Purge with Rhu- 
barb and Manna; dieting upon thin Broths 
duely salted and acidulated; allowing now 
and then a moderate Glass of good generous 
Wine; giving also a sufficient Dose of Syrup 
of White Poppies, or some other Opiate, a- 
gainst any violent or troublesome Symptoms 
that may arise. 
If the Small-pox proves to be of the worst 
Kind, and that there is rather a gangrenous 
Ichor than laudable Pus, that almost the 
whole Skin is beset with it; hence it may 
easily

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 379
easily appear, why this Disease is often so un- 
avoidably fatal, notwithstanding all the pos- 
sible Care taken; and it will be yet much 
plainer to any one acquainted with Dissections, 
that as the external Skin is full, so the Eyes, 
all the Membranes of the Nostrils, all the 
Covers of the Mouth, the Wind-pipe, the 
Bronchia, the Stomach, the Gullet, Intes- 
tines, Liver, Spleen, and Lungs, are full of 
the like Pustles; and hence he will under- 
stand what has been said, and see what is re- 
quisite for the Cure. Thus far the Senti- 
ments of Boerhaave concerning the Small- 
pox. 
The Greatness and Danger of this Disease 
is estimated by the Quantity of Pimples on 
the Face and Head; therefore the Matter 
ought to be solicitated to the lower Parts by 
all possible Methods, especially the Legs, by 
Fomentations, Bathing, Blistering, and, thro'
the whole Course of the Disease, keeping the 
Feet and Legs warm; the Breast and Head 
not any more cover'd than to keep them from 
the Injury of the cold Air. 
During the filling and ripening of the Pustles 
the Diet may be allow'd a little more plentiful, 
but yet not hot or inflammatory, with the due 
Use of anodyne Things, or such as allay Pains 
and Restlessness. In this State every Thing 
that abates Acrimony is proper; and, where 
the Circumstances of the Patient require it, 
a Spoonful or two of good White Wine, 
twice or thrice a Day, may be likewise useful.
The

380 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Diet in this State should also be adapted 
to the particular Symptoms of the Disease, 
as cleansing, attenuating, and expectorating; 
and to promote spitting by Diureticks. 
When the Temperament, Age, high Pulse, 
and especially Watchfulness and Delirium re- 
quire Bleeding in any other Case, why not 
in this State? which is known to have been 
used with great Success; for a great many 
Vessels in this State are almost unpassable by 
the Fluids; and those who die of this Distem- 
per have inward Inflammations, especially in 
the Lungs, all which seem to justify that 
Bleeding is necessary in the Case. 
But the gangrenous Disposition which ap- 
pears in the malignant Sort, is a Reason against
it; for hardly any Thing will avail in ex- 
treme malignant Cases. In such malignant 
Kinds, all that is left, is, at least to endeavour 
to evacuate the peccant Matter by other 
Ways, as Blistering and Stools, procured by 
Lenitives not irritating, which would only 
hurry the Humours and increase the Fever. 
For farther Particulars concerning this 
dreadful Distemper, see the celebrated Sy- 
denham's Account of the Distinct, Confluent, 
and Anomalous Small-pox, which nothing can 
excel. 
The Meazles and Scarlet Fever, (tho' not 
near so dangerous) require much the same 
Regimen, and the same Method of Cure, as 
the Small-pox, the Scarlet Fever not differing 
from the Meazles, except it be in the Manner
of 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 381
of the Efflorescence only, insomuch that it 
may not improperly be called the Confluent 
Meazles, for the Efflorescence in the Meazles 
makes its Appearance in different Figures and 
Shapes, from whence the Skin is diversify'd 
with several Colours; whereas in the Scarlet 
Fever the Skin is spread all over with one con- 
tinued Inflammation and Redness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of Inflammatory Diseases with a Fever. 
NOW those inflammatory Distempers are 
to be considered, which being attended 
with an acute Fever, do besides induce a sin- 
gular Inflammation of this or that Organ of 
the Body, the depraved Function of which 
gives a Name to each particular Disease of 
that Kind; such are the Phrensy, Quinsy, 
Pleurisy, Peripneumony, the Inflammation of 
the Breast, of the Diaphragm, Stomach, Li- 
ver, Spleen, Mesentery †, Guts, Kidneys, 
Bladder; of the Joints, as in Rheumatisms; 
and of the Surface of the Body, as in the 
Meazles, Scarlet Fever, and Small-pox. 
Of
† A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 


382 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of a Phrensy, or Inflammation of the Brain. 
True or symp- 
tomatick.
A Phrensy is either essential or 
symptomatick: An essential or 
true Phrensy is when there is a 
primary Inflammation of the Brain, or ra- 
ther of the Meninges ‡, with a Delirium and 
an acute Fever. The Symptomatick Phrensy, 
or Phrenitis, is occasioned by a Translation 
of the febrile Matter or Inflammation, &c. 
from other Parts upon the Brain. 
A true Phrensy kills the third, fourth, or 
seventh Day, or else it produces Madness, a 
Lethargy, or Coma; and a Phrensy coming 
upon a Peripneumony, or the Iliack Passion,
is mortal; upon the Small-pox, is very dan- 
gerous. 
This Disease, of all others, requires the 
most powerful Remedies without any Delay, 
which are able to remove the Inflammation 
of the Arteries of the Brain, and are chiefly 
to be taken from the general Cure of Inflam- 
mations in Fevers, describ'd in the foregoing 
Chapter, observing at the same time the fol- 
lowing Rules. 
Copious Bleeding, by opening the tempo- 
ral Arteries, or more Veins at once, in the 
Foot, Throat, and Forehead, with large Ori- 
fices, are the most effectual Remedies. Great 
Quantities of cooling Decoctions ought to be 
given
‡ Are Membranes which cover and embrace the Brain, 
and they are called the Dura Mater, and the Pia Mater, or 
Meninges.



Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 383
given often and warm, with large Portions of 
Nitre. Then cooling Purges, and at the 
Time of their working, to give Draughts of 
diluting nitrous Liquors. Sometimes Glysters 
of the like Kind, with lenitive Electuary, or 
Honey, or any such Openers may be given. 
Solliciting the Blood to other Parts of the 
Body; therefore tepid Bathings of the lower 
Parts, and emptying the Piles with Leaches, 
relaxing Fomentations apply'd to the Veins, 
which carry the Blood from the Head, re- 
lieve in this Disease. We should likewise ap- 
ply Blisters and Cupping-glasses to the inferior 
Parts; Blistering the Back, and even the Head 
sometimes, in phlegmatick Constitutions espe- 
cially, has been found useful. The Body 
ought to be kept moderately cool, and set 
upright if possible, for the warm Air of the 
Bed exagitates the Blood. 
But if the Phrensy has been occasioned by 
a pre-existent inflammatory Distemper in 
some other Part, it ought to be carefully 
minded, whether the Nature of that Illness 
will bear the Applications above-mention'd;
which if not, then it ought to be cured ac- 
cording to the Method peculiar to that ori- 
ginal Distemper, always adding the Reme- 
dies that divert from the Head, and that are 
externally apply'd. 
The Diet ought to be slender, of mealy 
Substances, as Water-Gruel acidulated, or 
subacid ripe Fruits, with their Jellies, the 
Drink small, diluting and cooling, Barley- 
Water,

384 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Water, and the Decoction of Tamarinds are 
all necessary and useful. For farther Satis- 
faction herein, see the Articles of Delirium 
and Watchfulness in the preceding Chapter. 
Of a Quinsy. 
A Quinsy without 
a Tumour almost 
always mortal.
There are two Species of it; 
the first is without any sensi- 
ble Tumour either externally 
or internally; but the other Species of a 
Quinsy is attended with a Tumour. The 
first Sort is commonly the Conse- 
quence of some very long continued 
Disease, chiefly after very large and often re- 
peated Evacuations. It is accompa- 
nied with a Paleness, Dryness, and 
Thinness of the Jaws; because for the most
part the Nerves and Muscles of those Parts 
being relaxed, are most times paralytick, and 
it is a Sign almost always that Death is just- 
at hand. It is seldom cur'd, and then 
only with Remedies which fill the 
empty Vessels with good vital Nourishment, 
and things that warm and strengthen the 
Body in general. 
The Cause. 
The Signs. 
The Cure. 
A Quinsy with a 
Tumour of various 
Sorts. 
The other Species of the 
Quinsy, viz. with a Tumour in 
the Throat, occasioning a Dif- 
ficulty of Breathing and Swallowing, may 
be of various Sorts; sometimes it proceeds 
from a Serosity obstructing the Glands, which 
may be watery, œdematous, or schirrous, ac-
cording

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 385
cording to the different Degrees of the Vi- 
scidity of the Humours, sometime inflam- 
matory, which Inflammation will sometimes 
terminate in a Suppuration, or Gangrene. 
The Regimen and Cure in those 
Quinsys, which proceed merely from 
watery, œdematous, and thin catarrhous Hu- 
mours obstructing the Glands, must be first, 
to use such warm Liquors as relax gently, 
soften and moisten these Glands; Secondly, 
such Medicines as carry off the redundant 
Serum, by Stools, Sweat, and Urine; or by 
stimulating, and opening the Emunctories of 
these Glands to secern the stagnated Hu- 
mours, which may be obtained by the Ap- 
plication of Cataplasms, Gargles, Injections 
with Syringes, and by lessening the Quan- 
tity of the Lympha with Masticatories, Bli- 
sters, and smart Purges that will promote 
watery Stools. 
The Cure. 
In a mere watery Tumour, the Diet may 
be more warm than in inflammatory Kinds; 
and therefore the moderate Use of Wine of- 
ten relieves the Patient. 
But a Difficulty of Breathing and Swallow- 
ing, proceeding from Schirrosities of the 
Glands, is not to be cured any other Way 
than by extirpating the Schirrus, which 
alone will be a safe Remedy: or the Surgeon 
must with Prudence endeavour to fix a Cau- 
stick in the middle of the Tumour, to eat 
the same out; which is feasible enough when 
the Seat is near the Jaws. 
Bb In

386 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
In the inflammatory Species of a Quinsy 
we ought, by all means possible, endeavour 
to procure a Resolution: First, By large and 
repeated Bleedings. Secondly, The Belly 
must be loosened stoutly with either Purges, 
or purging Glysters frequently injected. 
Thirdly, By a very thin and slender Diet, 
such as Whey with Tamarinds boiled in it; 
Decoctions and Emulsions of farinaceous 
Vegetables moderately acidulated, and such 
as abound with a cooling nitrous Salt. Fourth- 
ly, By Medicines of the nitrous and acid 
Kind. Fifthly, By soft, warm Vapours con- 
stantly receiv'd upon the Part, bathing and 
fomenting the Feet, and Derivations by Bli- 
sters. When Swallowing is totally abolish'd, the 
Patient may be nourish'd by nourishing Gly- 
sters, which is known to have been done for 
a whole Week, after which the Tumour sup- 
purated. 
If the Inflammation ends in a Gangrene, 
the Case proves generally mortal, except it 
be only in the Tonsils, Uvula, and Palate, 
and reach no farther, which Parts may be 
separated, and the Patient recover. 
Of a Pleurisy. 
Diagnostick. 
A Pleurisy is an Inflammation 
of the Pleura, being a double Mem- 
brane which covers all the Cavity of the 
Breast; tho' that is hardly distinguishable 
from

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 387
from an Inflammation of any other Part of 
the Breast, which are all from the same 
Cause, a stagnant Blood; for there is no Part 
of the Internal Integuments of the Chest, 
which is not capable of being seized there- 
with, whether it be the Pleura or the Me- 
diastinum; and therefore the pricking Pain 
may be felt in any Part of the Breast: But 
most commonly it attacks the Sides, and this 
having a Fever join'd with it, is a true 
Pleurisy; but if such a Pain affects the su- 
perior intercostal Muscles, it is called a spu- 
rious Pleurisy. 
In a true Pleurisy, Bleeding large- 
ly, and often repeated in the Begin- 
ning ought to be perform'd, and that by a 
large Orifice; and the Rule is, to repeat Bleed- 
ing so often until there appears no longer any 
Siziness on the Top of the Blood: and at the 
same time, Fomentations and Leniments 
may be used externally. For internal Use, Di- 
luters, Resolvents, Coolers and Lenients that 
will asswage Pain, are proper; and all such 
Things should be taken warm, and in great 
Quantities. 
The Cure.
Sometimes the Part inflamed tends to a 
Suppuration, which is known by the obsti- 
nate Violence of the Pain and Fever, &c.
and continuing longer than the 4th Day. That 
an Abscess is form'd may be known by a fre- 
quent shivering, a Remission of Pain, Short- 
ness of Breath, and being able only to lie on 
one Side, which is the Side that is affected. 
Bb2 When


388 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Abscess is broken, the purulent 
Matter falls into the Cavity of the Chest, 
and increases by the Discharge from the Ul- 
cer, which produces an Empyema, of which 
I shall give an Account hereafter. But some- 
times the Part affected becomes schirrous, 
with an Adhesion of the Lungs and Pleura; 
hence an Asthma and dry Cough, an incura- 
ble Distemper, unless perhaps there may be 
some Relief had from much Exercise and 
Riding. 
Sometimes a Pleurisy turns to a Gangrene, 
which causes sudden Death; that a Gangrene 
is begun, may be known from the Delirium, 
the livid Colour of the Chest, a sort of bi- 
lious Spitting, and from a Cessation of Pain. 
The Prog- 
nosticks. 
Hippocrates observes, that if in 
Beginning of a Pleurisy, within 
the space of three Days, the Spit- 
ting is Bloody, it shews that the Distemper 
will be but short; if the Spitting of Blood 
comes on later, the Distemper will likely run 
into a greater Length. He adds, that if 
Pleuritick Persons do not expectorate, an Ab- 
scess will be form'd in fourteen Days; and 
such may be freed from that, if they can 
fully discharge the Matter by spitting in forty 
Days from the Time of the Rupture of the 
Abscess, otherwise they fall into a Consump- 
tion. 
In this Distemper the Spitting is to be regard- 
ed more than the Urine; and a Pleurisy that 
seems slight in the Beginning, and proceeding 
so

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 389
so till the fifth Day, but growing worse the 
sixth, is commonly mortal. When the Sup- 
puration is made, or Matter form'd in a 
Pleurisy, the Side must be open'd to let out 
the Matter. 
Of a Peripneumony. 
A true Peripneumony is 
an Inflammation of the bron- 
chial and pulmonary Vessels, 
or of the whole Body of the 
Lungs, or of one Lobe only. If the whole 
Lungs are affected the Case is desperate, and 
deem'd incurable; because the Circulation 
must be stopt, and no Blood can flow back 
into the Heart; the others sometimes admit 
of a Cure. It is to be treated after the same 
Manner, and with the same Remedies as a 
Pleurisy, and most commonly it has the 
same Event. 
A true Peripneumony 
or Inflammation of
the Lungs. 
If the Inflammation be not dis- 
cussed in fourteen Days Time, an 
Abscess will be formed; the Signs of which 
are Shiverings, an Abatement of the Pain, and 
a low Pulse, Difficulty of Breathing, Thirst, 
and a slight Fever still remaining in the 
Evenings, &c. Upon this sometimes a sudden 
Suffocation happens from an Eruption of the 
purulent Matter into the Wind-pipe; some- 
times it is evacuated by spitting it up in great 
Quantities; or, if the Rupture so happens, it 
falls into the Cavity of the Chest, from 
whence proceeds an Empyema, a Phthisis, &c. 
Prognostick. 
Bb3 Lastly,

390 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Lastly, the purulent Matter is absorbed by 
the pulmonary Veins, and is mix'd with the 
Blood; and by means of the Circulation, is 
deposited in some one of the Viscera, as the 
Liver, the Spleen, the Brain, &c. Hence it 
comes to pass that peripneumonick Abscesses 
happen about the Ears, Legs, or Hypochon- 
dria, where if they suddenly disappear, and 
the Peripneumony returns, the Case is mor- 
tal. 
The Type of a 
spurious Peri- 
pneumony. 
A spurious Peripneumony com- 
monly proceeds from a thick pi- 
tuitous Matter, generated in the 
Mass of Blood, which gradually settling itself 
on the Lungs, forms the Distemper. Old 
People, and such as are of pituitous, cold, 
catarrhous Constitutions, and such as are 
troubled with Defluxions of Rheums, are 
more subject to this Distemper than others. 
It creeps on unawares upon People with a 
fallacious Lenity at first; they are slightly in- 
disposed, complaining of a sort of Weariness 
and Debility; they seem to be dispirited;
they grow short-breath'd, and feel an Op-
pression of the Breast; but as the Disorder is 
hardly considerable enough to raise any great 
preternatural Heat or Fever, they are not 
apprehensive of any Danger: After a while 
however they are seiz'd with Shiverings and a 
small Fever, from whence the Difficulty of 
Breathing and great Weakness increase, and 
Death approaches, which surprizes the By-
standers,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 391
standers, the Urine and Pulse having not such 
a sudden Change. 
This Distemper is cured by the 
following Method; first, let the Pa- 
tient be blooded out of a large Vein; second- 
ly, a Glyster ought be given every Day, till 
it appears that the Lungs are eased; thirdly, 
his Diet ought to be of thin Flesh Broths, 
Jellies with some Juice of Lemon or Oranges; 
his Drink also small, of Water and Honey; 
fourthly, to use diluting, cleansing, and gently 
opening Apozems, often and in large Quan- 
tities, bathing the Legs and Feet, and ap- 
plying many Blisters, 
The Cure.
Of an Empyema. 
An Empyema is a Collection of 
purulent Matter in the Cavity of the 
Thorax most commonly occasion'd 
by the Rupture of an Abscess, produced by a 
Pleurisy or Peripneumony: It is known, if 
for twenty Days after the Beginning of the 
Inflammation there has been no Expectora- 
tion; from a dry Cough, a Weight on the 
Diaphragm *, being able to lie only on one 
Side; from a fluctuating Noise of the Pus or 
Matter upon moving the Body, a slow Fever, 
Redness in the Cheeks, Hollowness of the 
Eyes, Heat in the Tops of the Fingers, Crook- 
edness of the Nails, and a Tumor of the 
Belly.
Empyema 
what. 
Bb4 As 
* It is a tranverse Membrane, which separates the Thorax
or Chest from the Abdomen or lower Belly.
 


392 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Cure. 
As to what relates to the Cure of 
an Empyema, when it is once known 
that there is a Rupture of an Abscess of the 
Lungs, Pleura, Diaphragm, or the Mediasti- 
tium †, or Pericardium ‡, endeavours must 
be used to discharge the Matter by Expec- 
toration, by the urinary Passages, or by Stool, 
if Nature offers to do it those Ways; for if 
purulent Mttter appears in the Urine, let diu- 
retick Medicines be given; if purulent Stools 
happen, laxative Purges; if Spitting offers, 
expectorating Medicines: Some make Issues 
with Causticks betwixt the Ribs. For inter- 
nal Use, Balsamicks, Vulneraries, Decoctions 
of the Woods, Jellies of Hartshorn, and 
Ground-Ivy, are very much commended. 
But if all Remedies fail, the Cure must 
be attempted by an Aperture of the Thorax, 
with a proper Instrument on the Side affected, 
between the 4th and 5th, or 5th and 6th 
Ribs, counting from the lowermost, drawing 
off the Matter gently and gradually: From 
the Nature of the Pus, when taken out, and 
other Circumstances of the Patient, one may 
deduce a Prognostick of what may likely be 
the Event. 
If the Empyema be of a long standing, 
and the Strength of the Patient exhausted, 
the Hair of the Head falling off, and there 
be a colliquative Looseness, the Habit of the 
Body
† Is a Membrane which divides the Lungs and other Vi- 
scera of the Breast into two Parts. 
‡ A Membrane which surrounds the whole Substance of 
the Heart. 


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 393
Body tabid, &c. the Operation of the Para- 
centesis will serve only to hasten Death. 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or an Inflammation of 
the Diaphragm. 
A Paraphrenitis is a Disease much like a 
Pleurisy, wherein the Diaphragm, or at least 
part of it, is really inflamed; and this is what 
happens more frequently than is commonly- 
believed, mistaking it for another Distemper, 
It is known by a continual Fever, an exqui- 
site Pain very much increased upon Inspira- 
tion, by which it is distinguish'd from a Pleu- 
risy, in which the greateft Pain is in Expira- 
tion; besides, the Breath is fetch'd deep, 
quick, and suffocating, and seems only to be 
performed by the Motion of the Breast; It 
is likewise attended with a Delirium, Fury, 
and an involuntary Laughter, and Convul- 
sions; and altho' the Whole of the Distem- 
per is known, yet it is generally mortal. 
This Distemper terminates as Pleurifies and 
Peripneumonies, but a great deal more fatal; 
If it suppurates the Pus, it is evacuated into 
the lower Belly, where it produces Putrefac- 
tion, and a most miserable and painful Death. 
The Regimen, if any can be successful, 
ought to be the same as in Pleurisies, and the 
Cure likewise. 
Of an Inflammation of the Stomach. 
As other Parts of the Body, so 
may likewise the Stomach he seized 
The Signs.
with 


394 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a true Inflammation: The Symptoms 
and Effects are a burning, fix'd, and pungent 
Pain in the Stomach, attended with an acute 
continual Fever, a great Exacerbation of this 
Pain the Moment after swallowing any thing, 
succeeded with Vomiting, a painful Hickup 
and great Anxiety, unquenchable Thirst, 
want of Sleep, and a continual Tossing of the 
Body; these are succeeded with Deliriums, 
and most times Convulsions, ending in 
Death. 
The Causes.
The Causes of these Symptoms 
are those common to all Inflamma- 
tions in general, a natural Weakness, and 
perhaps Erosion of the Coats of the Stomach, 
by acrid Substances taken as Aliment and 
Medicines. Care must be taken rightly to 
distinguish between an Inflammation of the 
Stomach, and that of the Liver: In the for- 
mer the burning Pain and Heat seem to lie 
deeper; when the Liver is inflamed the In- 
flammation is more limited, and the Symp- 
toms are milder. 
If this Disease is not speedily cured, it 
soon proves fatal; for People commonly die 
of it the third or fourth Day; and sometimes 
indeed, tho' seldom, it tends to a Suppuration, 
and the Abscess breaks either into the Cavity 
of the Stomach or lower Belly and even then 
they hardly ever escape. 
Of all Diseases this requires most a total 
Abstinence from any Thing that has Acrimo- 
ny in it; even the nitrous cooling Salts, which 
are

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 395
are beneficial in other Inflammations, irritate 
too much in this; likewise Vomits, all Cor- 
dials of volatile and spicy Substances; spiri- 
tuous Liquors are no better than Poison, and 
Milk generally curdles. Aliments must be 
given frequently, and by Spoonfuls at a time, 
for any Distension of the Stomach increases 
the Inflammation. 
A thin Gruel of Barley, Oatmeal, Whey 
with very little Sugar, or Honey, or Chicken- 
broth, are proper Aliments; Whey, emol- 
lient Decoctions of Barley-water, and Emul- 
sions, are proper Drinks; and it has been 
found by Experience, that Chalybeat Waters 
have been agreeable to the Stomach in this 
inflammatory State. If there happens an Im- 
postume, Honey, and even Honey of Roses, 
taken inwardly, is a good Cleanser, and a De- 
coction of Comfrey Roots is healing; Speedy 
and effectual Bleeding, Fomentations, and 
Glysters have the same good Effect in this as 
in other inflammatory Distempers, Likewise 
the same Regimen and Remedies ought to be 
used in a Schirrus or Cancer of the Stomach;
tho' nothing will prove quite effectual. The 
same Method is to be pursued in the Inflam- 
mation of the Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul. 
Of the Inflammation of the Liver. 
As other Bowels and Parts of the Body are 
capable of Inflammations, so is the Liver 
likewise; but as the Hepatical or Liver Ar- 
tery, and the Vena Portæ, carry the Blood 
into

396 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
into the Liver, the first being very small, and 
the Motion of the Blood being slow in the 
last, are the Reasons that Inflammations in 
the Liver are not so frequent as in some other 
Parts of the Body; but when they happen 
they are extremely dangerous, unless they 
take up but a small Part of the Liver; 
and such happen more frequently than is 
thought of. 
Diagnostick
Signs. 
The best Cautions, both in Diet 
and Cure, may be taken from the 
Causes and Symptoms of this Di- 
stemper, which, besides the general Causes of 
Inflammations, are extreme Fatness; for Fat 
dissolved by Heat and Inflammation obstructs 
the Vessels of the Liver very suddenly; and 
Cattle fatten'd by good Pasturage, after vio- 
lent Motion or Running, sometimes die sud- 
denly, in such the Liver is found to be in- 
flamed and corrupted. An atrabilarian a-
dust Temper of the Blood and Gall, an acri- 
monious or purulent Matter, stagnating in 
some other Organ of the Body, is more easily 
deposited upon the Liver than any other Part, 
especially if it is attended with the Use of 
hot and spicy Aliments, spirituous Liquors, 
great Heat and a Fever; Erosions of the 
Vessels by the Acrimony or Sharpness of the 
Gall, or Obstructions by Viscidity; likewise 
any Callosity, Schirrus, or Stone generated in 
the Liver; Thirst long endured, being sud- 
denly chill'd by cold Air, cold Water, or 
drinking cold Liquors after great Heat; Vo- 
mits

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 397
mits given injudiciously, when the Liver is 
already unsound, which, if they do not re- 
move the Obstruction, exagitate the Liver too 
much; inveterate hypochondriacal Diseases; 
are all Causes which may produce Inflamma- 
tions of the Liver. 
In such a Case therefore, the Liver being 
swell'd, compresses the Stomach, Diaphragm, 
and all the neighbouring Viscera of the lower 
Belly, stops the Circulation of the Juices, the 
Generation and Excretion of the Gall, and 
all Digestion; produces numberless bad Symp- 
toms, as the Jaundice, with all the Distem- 
pers depending upon it; for the Liver re- 
ceives the refluent Blood almost from all the 
Parts of the Abdomen or lower Belly, and is 
the chief Instrument of all the Digestions 
which are there made. A slow Fever, which 
is more or less acute; an Inflammation and 
pungent Pain on the Region of the Liver and 
Diaphragm; a Tension of the Hypochondres 
especially on the Right Side; Yellowness of the 
Skin and Eyes, and a saffron-coloured Urine, 
are Signs of an inflammatory Disposition of 
the Liver. 
This Distemper terminates as 
other Inflammations, being cured 
either by Resolution, Concoction, and Ex- 
cretion of the morbid Matter; or it ends in 
an Abscess, Schirrus, or Gangrene: When it 
suppurates, the purulent Matter is discharged 
sometimes by Stool, sometimes by Urine, 
sometimes by Expectoration, and sometimes 
Prognostick.
it

398 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it is dischargcd by manual Operation. For 
when a Tumor rises and grows to the Peri-
toneum, and forms there an outward Impos- 
tume of the Liver, easily discernable, then it 
is opened with a burning Iron, or with Caus- 
ticks; afterwards the Wound is widen'd with 
gentle corrosive and suppurating Applica- 
tions, untill there is a Penetration made into 
the very Bag or Vomica, which is in the Body 
of the Liver; then it is treated as an Ulcer, 
and cleansing internal Medicines are duely 
administer'd at the same Time. 
Indication 
of Cure. 
But during the first State of the 
Disease, that is, before there are any 
Signs or Suspicion of Impostumation, 
the Regimen should be cooling, resolving Li- 
quors taken inwardly, as Whey with Sorrel 
boil'd in it; outward Fomentations and fre- 
quent Injection of emollient and diuretick 
Glysters, Bathing, and Frictions, relax and 
render the Matter fluid and moveable; Honey, 
with a little Rhenish Wine or Vinegar, in- 
wardly taken, is likewise proper; also the 
Juices and Jellies of some ripe Garden-Fruits 
are useful, and those of some Plants of a 
milky Juice, as Dandelion, Endive, and Let- 
tuce, are Resolvents. Bleeding in the Be- 
ginning, especially in the Foot, will not be 
improper. Violent Purges hurt, but gently 
relaxing the Belly relieves. Diluters, with 
nitrous Salts, are beneficial, and Tamarinds 
boil'd in Water or Whey: Bloody Stools, not 
in a great Degree, or when streak'd with 
Blood,


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 399
Blood, ought not to be stop'd, because they 
help to resolve the Disease; and oftentimes 
Bleeding at the Nose produces the same good 
Effect. 
The Fever attending is often carried off by 
Urine, therefore diuretick Substances, that are 
not highly pungent and stimulating, are use- 
ful in this Case; and Sweating by high Cor- 
dials ought not to be attempted; but encourag- 
ing and promoting it with warm diluting Li- 
quors is proper. 
The Case is deplorable when the Inflam- 
mation of the Liver terminates in an Abscess, 
unless it points and appears outwardly, so that 
it may be open'd; for if the Matter be eva- 
cuated into the Lower Belly, it produces 
woeful Symptoms, as Putrefaction, or an in- 
curable Bloody-flux, &c. 
When the Pus or Matter of an Ulcer in the 
Liver grows thin and ichorous, it corrodes the 
Vessels, (for the Liver, of all the Bowels, is the 
most friable, and the easiest crumbled or dis- 
solved) and it is frequently carried into the 
Mass of Blood, and rejected by vomiting, 
with a cadaverous Smell, attended with great 
Thirst; but if it is carried downwards, it 
produces a purulent colliquative Looseness: 
In which Case the constant Use of subacid 
Decoctions, and other Substances of the acid 
Kind, relieve the best. 
If this Distemper happens to produce a 
Cancer, or Schirrus, as sometimes it does; 
yet the latter is not absolutely incurable, be-
cause

400 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
cause it is experimentally known that Grass 
and fresh Pasturage has cured it in Cattle, 
and some opening Plants have produced the 
same Effect sometimes in Mankind, as those 
of the lactescent or milky Plants already men- 
tioned, with a great many other Vegetables 
too tedious to insert in this Place. 
But it is to be observed, that the Diet re- 
commended here is likewise necessary in 
the Jaundice, and all Distempers of the 
Liver; and also an Abstinence from all such 
Things as induce Putrefaction, especially 
salt Fish and Flesh, and above all strong 
Liquors. 
Of an Inflammation of the Mesentery. 
Inflammations and Tumors of the Mesen- 
tary, (being a Membrane in the Lower Belly 
to which the Guts are connected, and through 
which all our Nourishment is convey'd to the 
Blood,) are frequently the Origin and Foun- 
dation of many obscure and latent chronical 
Distempers, which greatly afflict People la- 
bouring under them, and perplex those who 
undertake their Cure as well. 
Diagno- 
stick. 
Persons affected with these Disorders 
complain of Pain about their Back and 
Loins, sometimes in the Belly about the Navel, 
with Gripings, yet these Pains are commonly 
periodical and chronical; and every now and 
then comes on a small wandering Fever, and 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 401
the Pains come and go, having their Remis- 
sions and Exacerbations. 
When an Abscess in the Mesentery 
suppurates and breaks, it causes sometimes 
remarkable Shiverings and Shakings, which 
are followed by febrile Heats, and then the 
purulent Matter is most commonly discharged 
by Stool. 
Abscess.
The Body in this Case gradually 
wastes, the Breathing grows more 
than usually difficult; and every now and 
then they complain of something that is very 
troublesome to them, which they cannot well 
explain: They tell you, that it lies deep in 
their Belly about the Navel, or below it; they 
are most commonly very much troubled with 
Wind. These Tumours oftentimes continue 
many Years, being turn'd schirrous and 
strumous. 
Prognostick.
When the Disorders of the Mesen- 
tery are of a long standing, they are 
cured as other chronical Diseases, such as 
chachectick and hypochondriack Affections: 
Yet they are to be treated with Caution, and 
gently without any Violence. Externally, Em- 
plastrum de Cicuta cum Ammoniaco, de Ranis 
cum Mercurio, &c. are convenient. Inter- 
nally, Medicines that open Obstructions, such 
as Millepedes and Preparations of Steel, &c. 
likewise Remedies against strumous Distem- 
pers are proper, and opening of the hœmor-
rhoidal Veins by Leaches; but rough Purges 
are hurtful, and Glysters are useful. 
The Cure.
Cc Of

402 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of the Inflammation of the Guts. 
The Intestines or Guts, chiefly the small 
ones, are very often seiz'd with the like acute 
Inflammation in their Membranes, as the 
Stomach, from Causes common to 
all Inflammations carried thither; 
or from the Matter of acrimonious or sharp 
Drink, Aliments, high Sauces, Medicines or 
Poisons reaching those Parts, and detain'd in 
the Foldings of the Valvules and sticking to 
them; also from a sharp, putrid and fœtid, 
purulent, ichorous, gangrenous, bilious Mat- 
ter, convey'd hither from the Gullet, Stomach, 
Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul, which 
sticks also to them and corrodes them; or 
lastly, from a Convulsion filling them with 
Wind. 
The Cause. 
Symptoms.
The Symptoms are a total Stop- 
page of the Passage, a vehement fix'd 
burning Pain, irritated by Things taken in- 
wardly; when any thing touches the Part af- 
fected, it excites Vomitings, sharp griping 
Pains, with Wind in other Parts of the 
Bowels; and the Consequences of such an 
Inflammation are the Iliac Passion, or what 
is vulgarly call'd the Twisting of the Guts, 
but in fact is either a Circumvolution or In- 
sertion of one Part of the Gut within the 
other; an Impostume, Gangrene, Schirrus, 
Cancer; a very acute Fever, with great 
Weakness from the Fierceness of the Pain, 
and a very sudden Death. 
It

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 403
It is of the utmost Importance to know 
what the Causes of Colicks are; for as they 
are various, so the Remedies in one Case are 
quite opposite and destructive in the other; 
for spicy, warm, carminative Things, which 
are given in Colicks proceeding from a 
phlegmatick or cold Cause, are Poison in an 
inflammatory one; but they may be distin- 
guished by the Fever, high Pulse, Thirst, 
and high-colour'd Urine attending the In- 
flammation. As to the Heat, tho' it is like- 
wise great by the Violence of the Pain, yet 
the Extremities grow cold; and besides, there 
is a hidden Prostration of Strength, or Weak- 
ness, attending this inflammatory Colick more 
than any other. 
This Disease requires a speedy Remedy, or 
none; for otherwise it terminates in an Iliac 
Passion, and Mortification of the Bowels very 
soon; therefore plentiful Bleeding, and fo- 
menting and relaxing the Bowels with emol- 
lient warm Liquors, both taken inwardly by 
the Mouth, and by Glyster injected hourly, 
is the most sovereign Method that can be 
made use of; yet it has been known, that 
Acids have relieved in very desperate Cases, 
as Juice of Lemons taken by the Mouth, and 
Vinegar and warm Water given in Glysters, 
have saved the Patient; by Reason of the con- 
tinual Vomiting, Opiates likewise to quiet 
the Convulsions are oftentimes necessary; also 
Warm Fomentations, even of warm Animals 
applied to the Belly, are extremely useful.  
Cc2 When

404 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Inflammation happens to be in 
the Lower Guts, it is not so dangerous; and 
even when it suppurates it will admit of a 
Cure; for then it can be come at by proper 
Medicines in the Form of Glysters; and in 
the latter End of such a Case Chalybeat Wa- 
ters are very beneficial. 
If the Patient lives three Days, the Acute- 
ness of the Pain abates; and if a Shivering or 
Chilliness affects the Body, it is a Sign of a 
Suppuration, and in some few Days the Mat- 
ter flows either into the Cavity of the Belly, 
producing all the Symptoms which happen 
in an Impostumation of the Liver, or into the 
Cavity of the Guts, and causing a purulent 
Bloody-flux, and often a Consumption, Si- 
nus's and Fistulas; in which Case Whey 
and Chalybeat Waters are proper Drinks. 
The Aliment ought to be of such Substan- 
ces as generate little or no Excrements, as 
Broths of Flesh-meat, with Scorzonera, Par- 
sley, or Fennel boil'd in them: Goat's Whey 
is likewise excellent in the Case; but fat and 
oily Substances generally do harm. 
If the Fever continue with clammy Sweats, 
Paleness, an ichorous Loosness, fœtid, black, 
or like the Washings of Flesh, a small inter- 
mitting Pulse, and at last a Cessation of Pain 
totally, they are Signs of a Gangrene, and 
Death at hand. 
But if none of the foremention'd Signs hap- 
pen, and that the Fever abates, and the Per- 
son complains of a Weight, dull Pain, Stop- 
page

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 405
page of the Excrements, a Schirrus is form- 
ing, which increases daily, and may terminate 
in a Cancer; which Purging, and indeed all 
Medicines irritate: The Patient in such a 
Case may protract a miserable Life with an 
exact thin Diet of Whey, Broths, and such 
Things as produce no Fæces, or by nourish- 
ing Glysters. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys. 
The Kidneys as well as other Parts 
of the Body are subject to Inflam- 
mations: Which may be known 
from a pungent, burning, inflammatory Pain 
in the Region of the Kidneys, a Numbness, 
or dull Pain in the Thigh on the Side affected; 
likewise Colick, Wind, Vomiting, an acute 
continual Fever, Urine sometimes totally sup- 
press'd, often made in small Quantities, high 
colour'd; and which is worse, sometimes 
very watry and quite pale without any Sedi- 
ment. As to the outward Sensation of Heat, 
the Extremity of Pain oftentimes produces a 
Coldness in the extreme Parts, which is very 
consistent with inflammatory Distempers. 
Diagnostick 
Signs.
This is produced by all the Causes 
of a general Inflammation directed 
to the Kidneys; and therefore, whatever ob- 
structs the Blood in the Extremities of the 
Arteries of the Kidneys, will produce this 
Distemper; a Wound, Bruise, Abscess, Swel- 
ling, Lying often long on the Back, too vio- 
The Cause. 
Cc3 lent

406 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
lent Motion, especially walking, or hard rid- 
ing in hot Weather; and whatever obstructs 
the Passage of the Urine into the Pelvis, Ureter, 
or Bladder, as a viscid Matter, Gravel or Stone; 
likewise every thing which forces the gross Parts 
of the Blood into the urinary Passages, as Heat, 
hard Riding, Straining, too great Fullness of 
Blood, and especially sharp and forcing Di- 
ureticks; and lastly, a convulsive and invo- 
luntary Contraction of the small Vessels of the 
Kidneys, if long continued. 
Coffee-colour'd Urine is not a dangerous 
Sign; for it proceeds from the Mixture of a 
small Portion of Blood with the Urine, and 
oftentimes it prognosticates a Resolution of 
the obstructed Matter, and the Expulsion of 
Gravel, or a Stone after great Pain; but pale 
Urine is a Symptom which portends the Di- 
stemper to be more lasting and dangerous. 
The Cure is to be perform'd by plentiful 
and repeated Bleeding, avoiding carefully at 
the same time all stimulating Diureticks, 
which in this State would increase the Dis- 
ease: Afterwards the Expulsion of the ob- 
structing Matter is to be promoted by emol- 
lient and soft Liquors plentifully drank, and 
by Glysters of the same kind frequently inject- 
ed; by Bathing and outward Fomentations, 
by opiate and anodyne Substances, which 
both ease and relax the Fibres; and those 
soft Liquors should be drank plentifully not- 
withstanding the frequent Vomitings; for 
Vomiting is an Effort of Nature in order to 
pro-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 407
promote the Expulsion of the Gravel, Stone, 
or any other obstructing Cause. 
Therefore Whey, and in a great feverish
Heat, Butter-milk; likewise Emulsions of 
Barley and Poppy Seeds, Honey in Whey and 
Water, are all very proper Liquors for this In- 
tention; also a moist and soft Diet, Rest, and 
keeping out of a warm Feather-bed, and par- 
ticularly avoiding lying upon the Back. 
If the Pains or Convulsions be very urgent, 
without waiting for the Effects of other Re- 
medies, Opiates with due Caution ought to 
be given; but when the Gravel, Stone, or 
any other obstructing Cause is separated from 
the Kidneys, soft express'd Oils, and oily 
Substances relax the Passages; and if the Pain 
proceeds only from Gravel, or a Stone, then 
oily Substances may be safely join'd with sti- 
mulating Substances, as with Juice of Lemon, 
Juniper-Water, and some diuretick Syrup, 
as that of Marsh-mallow, &c. In this Case 
the Jolting in a Coach, and such-like Motion 
may be used with Advantage. 
If the Pain is protracted beyond se- 
ven Days, an Abatement of the Pain, 
its changing into a Beating or Throb- 
bing, often-returning Shiverings, a Heaviness 
or Numbness of the Part, are Signs that 
Matter is a forming, which when made will 
appear in the Urine; in which Case, soft and 
balsamick Substances are the most beneficial; 
for if the Matter remains long, the Case is in- 
curable.
Progno- 
sticks. 
Cc4 Some-

408 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Sometimes it happens to terminate in a 
Fistula, with which the Person may live 
many Years in no great Uneasiness. All Bal- 
samicks are good in Ulcerations of the Kid- 
neys: Likewise Butter-milk not quite sour 
has been deem'd a Secret in the Cure of 
Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Steel-waters have 
proved very beneficial to some; Spruce-beer 
is also a good Balsamick in such a Case; 
and soft Malt Liquors are preferable to 
Wines. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys terminate 
sometimes in a Schirrus, or large Stone. But 
a sudden Remission of the Pain, with cold 
Sweats, a weak and intermitting Pulse, Hick- 
up, no Urine, or in very small Quantity, 
black and fœtid, are sure Signs of a Mortifica- 
tion and ensuing Death. 
Regimen.
The Regimen of those who are 
subject to nephritick Disorders may be  
in some measure collected from what has been 
above-mention'd; and such ought to be ex- 
tremely careful of the Choice of their Li- 
quors; for sharp Wines which abound with 
Tartar, are very hurtful; soft Malt Liquors, 
not stale, are certainly much better to be 
made use of, and some of the softest diure- 
tick Substances often mention'd already; and 
to avoid acrimonious Things in their Food, 
use moderate Exercise, and not lie too hot, 
soft; nor much upon the Back. 
Of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 409
Of an Apoplexy. 
This Distemper is a sudden Sus- 
pension of all the Senses, both ex-  
ternal and internal, and a Privation of all 
voluntary Motion, by the Stoppage of the 
Flux or Reflux of the animal Spirits through 
the Nerves destin'd for those Motions, com- 
monly attended with a strong Pulse, and dif-
ficult Breathing, with Snoaring, together 
with an Appearance of a deep and continual 
Sleep. 
Definition.
The most common Causes of A- 
poplexies are a particular Conforma- 
tion of the Body, as a short Neck; for there 
are some Persons who have fewer Vertebræ 
in their Necks than others; polypous Concre- 
tions of the Blood, an inflammatory Spissi- 
tude of it, a thick, glutinous, or pituitous 
Blood, and a dull Inactivity of the whole 
Mass; a gross, plethorick, fat, or phlegma- 
tick Constitntion; whatever hinders the Mo- 
tion of the Blood thro' the Arteries of the 
Brain, as Tumours arising within the Cra- 
nium, or Polypus's, especially about the 
Heart, attended most commonly with an 
unequal Pulse, a Vertigo, and sometimes a 
momentary Loss of the Eye-sight; old Age, 
attended with a glutinous, cold, catarrhous, 
leucophlegmatick Constitution; for in suck 
the Forerunners of an Apoplexy are, Dulness, 
Inactivity, Drowsiness, Sleepiness, Slowness 
The Causes.
of

410 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
of Speech, and giving Answers, Vertigoes, 
Tremblings, Oppressions in Sleeping, Night- 
Mares, Weakness, Wateryness, and Turgi- 
dity of the Eyes, a great Fulness of Blood, 
with its Velocity increased by Heat and vio- 
lent Motion, a high Diet, and Spirituous Li- 
quors, a partial and imperfect Circulation of 
the Blood towards the lower Parts; the 
Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity, or 
Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain, 
which is the most common and immediate 
Cause of Apoplexy; violent Passions and 
Affections of the Mind. The immediate Fore- 
runners of an Apoplexy are most commonly 
a Vertigo, Staggering, Loss of Memory, Stu- 
por, Sleepiness, a Noise in the Ears, and a 
deep and laborious Breathing. To these 
may be added, Extravasations of the Blood or 
Serum from Contusions or Concussions, oc- 
casion'd by external Violence, and an innu- 
merable other latent Causes. 
The Division of Apoplexies into sanguine- 
ous and pituitous is of Use, but then it is not 
an exact and perfect Division; because there 
are other Kinds, viz. serous, atrabilarious, 
and polypous Apoplexies, &c. 
Prognosticks. 
A slight Fit of an Apoplexy is 
carried off by a plentiful, warm, 
and equable Sweat, a great Discharge of thick 
Urine, a Flux of the Piles, or of the Men- 
ses, by a Looseness, or a great Fever coming 
upon it. If the Apoplexy be more severe, 
it usually terminates in a paralytick Disorder
of 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 411
of some Part of the Body, or of all one Side, 
which is called a Hemiplegia; or sometimes of 
all the Body below the Head, which is called 
Paraplegia, and is seldom curable, but al- 
ways leaves behind it a great Defect of Me- 
mory, Judgment and Motion. An exquisite 
Apoplexy soon carries off the Patient; it is 
seldom known that they live beyond the se- 
venth Day. 
The Cure is to be varied ac- 
cording to the Difference of the 
Causes; for if occasion'd by a cold 
phlegmatick Cause, we ought immediately to 
endeavour that the Pressure of the glutinous 
Siziness may be diverted from the Head, by 
Derivation into other and opposite Parts, and 
universal Evacuations: for this Intention, 
Blisters, Causticks, Frictions, Ligatures, Anti- 
phlegmaticks, sneezing Medicines, and all 
sharp and stimulating ones are to be used, as 
Emeticks, strong Purges, and sharp purging 
Glysters. 
Yet in the Use of all these the Mischief is 
oftentimes increased, the Matter being there- 
by more violently moved and afterwards fix'd, 
and the Strength sinking under the Evacua- 
tions; therefore in endeavouring a Resolu- 
tion, we ought to insist upon Evacuations and 
Revulsions, as much as the Case will bear;
whence the Rule of Hippocrates, Bleeding 
except it relieves, kills; and Celsus says, that 
it kills or cures. But if the Apoplexy pro- 
ceeds from a hot Cause, and that the Dis-
The Cure va- 
rious.
temper

412 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
temper seems inflammatory, then presently 
take a large Quantity of Blood out of the 
Jugular Veins, and repeat it as often as there 
is Occasion; by which, if the Distemper is 
curable, some Relief will arise. A Loose- 
ness is by all means to be promoted, and we 
are to give Diluters, Attenuants and Diure- 
ticks at the same time, keeping the Patient 
as much as we can out of Bed, especially 
from lying down. 
As the Applications in the Fit are of a 
medicinal Kind, it being too acute a Disease 
to admit of any Helps from Diet, yet that 
may be of great Use for Prevention; there- 
fore a thin, slender, cool, and regular Diet, 
opposite to the particular Symptoms above- 
mention'd, will be useful; so that the Regi- 
men is to be varied according to the Cause 
of the Disease, which may be collected from 
the Constitution of the Patient in these Apo- 
plexies, which depend upon a sanguineous 
Cause; the Regimen prescrib'd in a sangui- 
neous Constitution, in Part II. of this Trea- 
tise is proper. Fat and phlegmatick People, 
who are very subject to this Distemper, ought 
to give Attention to the Rules set down in 
the same Place, in their Case; and as there 
are Apoplexies from inveterate Gouts, the Re- 
gimen of such must be different from both, 
as I shall explain hereafter in treating of the 
Gout, the Intention being to translate the 
Gouty Matter upon the Extremities of the 
Body: and all those who have a Disposition
to 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 413
to this Distemper, ought never to go to Bed 
with a full Stomach, nor to lie with their 
Head low. 
CHAP IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers.
Of a Palsy. 
A Palsy is a Resolution or Relaxa- 
tion of the nervous Parts from
their natural Tone, by which means their 
Motion and Sense, either one, or both, all 
over the Body, or in some particular Part or 
Parts, are impair'd, so as to be unable to exert 
their natural Functions. 
Definition. 
The best Rules of Diet in this 
Disease are taken from the Know- 
ledge of its Causes; for whatever stops either 
the Flux of the Spirits, or that of the Blood 
to any Part, induces a Palsy, for both are 
necessary for Sensation and Motion; such are 
all the Causes of an Apoplexy, an Epilepsy, 
extreme and lasting Pains, the Suppression 
of usual Evacuations, either natural or mor- 
bid, Translations of diseased Matter in acute 
Distempers, whatever distends, distorts, com- 
presses, or contracts the Nerves; strong and 
The Causes.
strait

414 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strait Ligatures, Luxations, Fractures, any 
Inflammation in the Integument, or mem- 
branaceous Sheath of a Nerve, especially in 
the Plexus, where they are tied together; 
likewise serous Defluxions, Excess in astrin- 
gent Aliment, chiefly unripe Fruits, drink- 
ing too much warm Water, is weakening 
and relaxing; also Excess in Tea or Coffee; 
extreme Heat or Cold, poisonous Fumes of 
Arsenick or Mercury. 
This Distemper is more or less dangerous 
according to the Cause, or the Extent and 
Seat of the Disease; for when the original of 
it is in the Brain, it is most dangerous; when 
it seizes the Heart or Organs of Breathing, it 
is fatal; because Life cannot be continued a 
Moment without the Use of those Parts. 
Difficult to 
cure.
A Palsy succeeding an Apoplexy, 
Convulsions, the Colick, and 
other Affections of the Brain or 
nervous System, if it does not grow better in 
a little time, or give Way to Medicines, it 
commonly remains incurable. 
Regimen.
The Regimen in this Distemper 
should be warm, attenuating, con- 
sisting of spicy and cephalick Vegetables, such 
as produce a feverish Heat; because such are 
necessary to resolve the Viscosity of the 
Fluids. Of such as consist likewise of an 
acrid, volatile Salt and Oil, as Mustard, 
Horse-Radish, &c. stimulating by Vomits, 
sneezing, relaxing the Belly by purging, and 
diluting strongly at the same time, promoting 
Sweat


415 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
Sweat by such Motions as can be used, or 
other Means, and strong Frictions are here 
very useful; but Bleeding is to be used or 
omitted according to the Symptoms which 
affect the Brain: It relieves indeed, in any 
inflammatory Disposition of the Coat of a 
Nerve, yet it is not convenient in general for 
all Persons; for some Paralyticks are cold, 
and others of a hot Constitution; therefore 
Remedies ought to be of a different Kind, as 
is usual in the Scurvy itself. 
The most noted Medicines in this Case, 
are of Vipers, Amber, Earth-worms, Wood- 
lice, Emets, Antimonials, Mercurials, Steel 
Preparations, the Antiscorbutick Juices,
with compound Horse-radish Water, and Juice 
of Oranges, Gum Guaiacum, Tincture of 
Amber, Spirit of Hartshorn with Amber, 
Bezoar Mineral, &c. And externally, Fo- 
mentations, Liniments, Cupping-glasses, Bli- 
sters, nettling the Members affected; also 
putting the relax'd Part into Grains, after the 
Wort is drawn off, or into the Belly of a 
Beast newly killed; or lastly, an artificial or 
natural Bath, as that in Somersetshire; like- 
wise Issues and Setons are proper in this Case. 
Of an Hemiplegia and a Paraplegia. 
A Hemiplegia is when only half of the 
Head, and of the rest of the Body on that 
Side is affected, after the manner of an Apo- 
plexy.
A 


416 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Paraplegia or Paraplexia, is, when the 
whole Body, except the Head, is affected by 
reason of the Spinal Marrow's being ob- 
structed; and more commonly this and a 
Hemiplegia are secondary Distempers, tho' 
sometimes they are primary; Sense and Mo- 
tion, or both, are either entirely lost, or 
much impaired. 
When either of those Distempers imme- 
diately follow an Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and o- 
ther Diseases, they are commonly called Pal-
sies; but a Palsy is a different Distemper, as 
plainly appears by what has been said of it 
already.
The Cure. 
Vomiting and purging are proper 
in all Paraplegia's, to cleanse the 
first Passages; and Bleeding is necessary in 
plethorick Bodies. In the next Place Sudo- 
risicks are very useful, mix'd with Specificks; 
a Decoction of Sassafras with Rosemary and 
Juniper-Berries is very proper; and for the 
rest of the internal Medicines for the Cure of 
these two Distempers, use those directed in 
an Apoplexy and Palsy. A Fomentation 
made with a Decoction of Emets and their 
Hillocks in common Water, used every Day 
to paralytick Limbs, often proves very bene- 
ficial, and sometimes procures present Re- 
lief, by restoring the Parts to their natural 
Strength. 
Of

417 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Of the Epilepsy or Falling-sickness. 
An Epilepsy is a Convulsion or 
convulsive Motion of the whole 
Body, or of some of its Parts, with the Loss 
of both internal and external Senses, attended 
with violent Concussions and reciprocal invo-
luntary Motions of all or some of the Muscles,
with alternate Rest, and new Insults thereof. 
It is called the Falling-sickness, because the 
Persons affected with it fall suddenly upon the 
Ground. 
The Definition.
The Causes of this Distemper are 
various; sometimes an hereditary 
or Family Disposition from Parents; 
a sudden Fright of the Mother when with 
Child of the Patient; an ill Affection of the 
Brain by Wounds, Bruises, Blows, or Con- 
tusions; Abscesses, acrimonious Serum, bony 
Excrescencies of the Inside of the Skull, its 
pressing down upon the Brain; Inflammation, 
Corruption, or Corrosion of the Meninges or 
Membranes of the Brain; Repletion or Ful- 
ness, Heat, Drunkenness, intense Study, Ter- 
ror; all violent Affections and Irritations of the 
Nerves in any Part of the Body; especially 
by acrimonious Things in the Stomach or 
Bowels, by Worms, by Teething, and Aci-
dity in the Stomach in Infants; by some 
Contagion or purulent Matter after acute 
Diseases; likewise by Suppression of usual 
Evacuations, as the Menses, Piles, and Urine, 
&c. also by hysterical Affections contracted
The Causes 
various. 
Dd by 


418 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
by Accidents in Lying-in; and often by too 
great Inanition or Weakness, occasioned by 
want of due Nourishment; by Fragments or 
Splinters of Bones, or sharp Instruments 
hurting the Meninges or Brain, or Quicksilver 
carried thither any how; by the Caries of a 
Bone, black Choler, or venereal Ulcers cor- 
rupting or corroding the Meninges or any Part 
of the Brain.  
Hence it is evident, that different Medi- 
cines and different Indications are requisite to 
cure this Disease, according to the known 
Variety of the Cause, the peccant Matter, 
and the Place to which the Remedy ought to 
be applied, and by which the Evil is to be 
eradicated: Hence likewise is sufficiently ex- 
posed the Vanity of the celebrated Specificks 
and Methods, which boasting idle People do 
brag of in this Disease. 
And it is also evident, that the proximate 
Cause of all true Epilepsies is always the too 
great Action of the Brain upon the Nerves 
serving for Motion, and the Privation of that 
in the Nerves dedicated to Sensation; and 
that the Causes which create the reciprocal 
Paroxysms are many in Number and Va- 
riety. 
The Cure.
The Intentions in the Cure of 
this Disease must be different, ac-  
cording to the Cause, as I have just now ob- 
served: Bleeding and plentiful Evacuations, 
when there is a Plethora or inflammatory Dis- 
position in the Brain, are necessary; and Ali- 
ments


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 419
ments that are without Acrimony, demulcent, 
avoiding every thing which stimulates, and 
taking such Things as are opposite to the par- 
ticular Acrimony that causes the Distemper; 
relaxing the Belly without irritating. In acute 
and periodical Pains to take anodyne Sub- 
stances; but if the Disease be the Conser 
quence of an hysterical Disposition, a warmer 
Regimen is necessary, in which Case anti- 
hysterick Medicines are proper. If the Cause 
is in the Stomach, generally Anti-acids re- 
lieve; if they are not flatulent or windy, se- 
veral have been cured by a Milk Diet; but 
in Case of Acidity in the Stomach it will do 
Harm. When the irritating Cause is in some 
outward Part of the Body, it is proper to e- 
radicate it by Suppuration; if it proceeds 
from Gnawings and Irritations of Worms, 
Teeth, sharp Humours turning Milk sour 
and curdled like Cheese, or any other Acid 
in Infants, Diacodium or Diascordium given 
them unseasonably, or the Contagion of the 
Small-pox in the first State: Hence the tes- 
taceous Powders, Anodynes, Paregoricks, An- 
tihystericks, all Medicines against Worms, and 
a seasonable Cutting of the Gums, and car- 
rying off the acrimonious Matter from the 
Bowels by gentle Purges; then all these, I 
say, become, by their Operation, Anti-epilep-
tick Medicines. 
But if the Cause proceeds from a Stoppage 
of the usual Evacuations, as the Menses, 
Cleansings in Women, the Piles, or Urine, &c. 
Dd2 it

420 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it may be remedied by dissolving the viscid 
Matter, and opening the Obstructions: In 
this Case Blisters, Issues made with Causticks, 
Steel Preparations, forcing Medicines, such as 
provoke the Menses and open the Piles, and 
Diureticks are all proper. 
An Epilepsy from Inanition or Weakness 
may be cured by a nourishing Diet, easy of 
Digestion, and a proper Use of nervine Me- 
dines; and the following are reckon'd amongst
the anti-epileptick Specificks; Native Cinna- 
bar, Wild Valerian, Male Piony Roots and 
Seeds, Flowers of Lilies of the Vallies, Seeds 
of Rue, Misletoe of the Oak, Castor, Cam- 
phire, Rosemary, Earth-worms prepared, the 
Gum and Wood of Guaiacum, the Salt and 
Oil of Amber, Peacocks Dung, with a great 
many more too tedious to enumerate in this 
Place. 
Epilepticks ought to breath in a pure Air, 
untainted with any Steams, even such as are 
very fragrant; and their Diet should be nou- 
rishing, of easy Digestion, avoiding Hogs 
Flesh, Water Fowls, and all Vegetables that 
are pungent, windy, and, generally speaking, 
all Fruits, especially Nuts; they should use 
but little Wine, and none if they have not 
been accustomed to it; they ought not to 
turn round nor stand on Precipices, to keep 
regular Hours for Eating and Sleeping, for 
every unusual Thing is a Stimulus: But of 
all Things, the most necessary is to avoid the 
Occa-

421 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Occasions of violent Passions of the Mind, 
and keeping themselves chearful. 
Of Melancholy Madness. 
That Disease is called by Physicians a Me- 
lancholy, under which the Patient labours long, 
and is obstinately delirious without a Fever, 
and always intent upon one and the same 
Thought. 
This Disease arises from that Malignity in 
the Blood and Humours, which the Ancients 
have called Black Choler; and tho' this Dis- 
ease begins in the Mind, yet it renders the 
Choler black in the Body very soon. 
It will be therefore necessary to give a small 
Sketch of this wonderful Disease, the Doc- 
trine of which is supposed to be so obscure, 
that Antiquity is unjustly blamed for it. 
If the most fluid Parts of all the Blood be 
dissipated, and leave the less moveable united 
in the Body, then will the Blood become 
thick, black, fat, and earthy; and this Defect 
is called by the Name of an atrabilarian 
Humour, or melancholy Juice. 
The Cause whereof is whatever 
expels the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood, and fixes the rest: A violent Exercise 
of the Mind; the dwelling Night and Day 
upon one and the same Object; a constant 
Wakefulness; great Motions of the Mind, 
whether Joy or Sorrow; great and laborious 
Motions of the Body, often repeated, chiefly 
in a very hot and dry Air; to these may be 
The Causes.
Dd3 refer'd

422 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
refer'd immoderate Venery; rough, hard, 
dry, earthy Aliments, long used without 
Motion or Exercise of the Body to digest 
them; the like Drink; Parts of Animals 
dried in Smoak, Air, or Salt, chiefly of old 
and tough ones; unripe Fruits, and mealy 
and unfermented Substances; astringent coa- 
gulating, sticking, and cooling Medicines, and 
slow Poisons of the same Nature; hot Fevers 
hanging about long, often returning without 
a good Crisis, and going off without the Help 
of diluting Means. 
When this Evil, already bred in the Blood, 
and produced by the abovementioned Causes, 
does yet infect equally all the circulating Mass 
of Humours, it will produce some Diseases, 
which will appear immediately, and are most- 
ly as follow: The Colour of the Patient in- 
ternally and externally is first paler, yellower, 
and more tawny; livid, black with like 
Spots; the Pulse flower; the Circulation 
through the Blood-vessels free, more sparing 
through the Side-vessels and less free; hence 
a slower, less, and thicker Separation of all 
the secretory and excretory Humours, and a 
less Wasting of them; a lessen'd Appetite; a 
Leanness, Sorrowfulness, Love of Solitude, 
all the Affections of the Mind violent and 
lasting; an Indifferency to all other Matters;
a Laziness as to Motion, and yet a very great 
and earnest Application to any Sort of Study 
or Labour.
Its 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 423 
Its Matter therefore is the Earth and thick 
Oil of the Blood united and closed up toge- 
ther, which is worse in its Effects, and more 
difficult to cure, according to its Degrees of 
Fluidity, Softness, Dryness, Thickness, inti- 
mate Mixture, and Time of being so. Hence 
the Diagnosticks and Prognosticks are plain 
enough, and the Rationality of the Cure does 
also occur easy enough from these Principles. 
Thus far I have transcribed the learned Boer- 
haave's Sentiments of this Distemper. 
The atrahilarian Constitution, or a black, 
viscous pitchy Consistence of the Fluids, 
which most frequently produces this Disease, 
makes all the Secretions difficult and sparing; 
the Intention therefore ought to be to render 
the Humours fluid, moveable, and carry them 
out of the Body, especially the Bile, which is 
viscous; but Sudorificks are not here so pro- 
per, because they thicken. 
Therefore the Diet prescrib'd, Chap. VIII. 
Part II. in an atrabilarian Constitution, is very 
proper in this Case, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
The learned Author just now mentioned 
relates an Instance of a Patient, who, by a 
long Use of Whey, Water, and ripe Garden- 
Fruits, evacuated a great Quantity of black 
Matter, or Choler, and recover'd entirely his 
Senses. Cold Bathing, and especially a sud- 
den Immersion into the Sea, has produced 
very good Effects by acting upon the Nerves 
and Spirits. 
Dd4 Madness

424 A Guide to Health Part III. 
Madness proceeding from a Plethora, or 
too great Fulness in young, strong, hale Peo- 
ple of a hot Constitution, is cured by plenti- 
ful Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, and other 
Evacuations, with Diluters; and the Weak- 
ness which succeeds Madness requires a more 
refreshing and warm Diet, and especially the 
Use of Chalybeat or Steel Waters. 
If this Distemper continues long, it pro- 
duces Foolishness, Epilepsies, Apoplexies, fu- 
rious Madness, Convulsions, Blindness, won- 
derful Fancies; for some will imagine them- 
selves to be Beasts, or to be earthen Vessels, 
or they will fancy themselves dead; others 
will crow like a Cock, believing themselves 
to be such a Creature; others laugh, sing, 
cry, sigh, groan and belch; others obstinate- 
ly refuse to eat any Victuals, as believing they 
are actually dead; some think themselves 
Kings, Prophets; others a Grain of Wheat, 
Grass, or Wax: Sometimes they have great 
Evacuations of Urine, clear like fair Water;
at other times very thick; a Retention, 
mulation, and often a sudden Excretion of 
bloody Fæces in the Vessels of the abdominal 
Viscera or Belly; an obstinate Costiveness, 
with a thin and frequent Spitting, and they 
can endure to be without Sleep, Aliment, or 
Fire, even to a Wonder. 
This Distemper grows worse upon taking 
Medicines that weaken and evacuate roughly, 
or such as put the Fluids into a violent Mo- 
tion; therefore the curative Indications will 
be

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 425
be to bring the Fluids of the Brain and 
Nerves into a good Order; by withdrawing, 
first, the Mind from the usual Object to 
others contrary to the same, and raising art- 
fully, if possible, another Passion of the Mind, 
contrary to the melancholy one; by siding 
sometimes with them in their false and de- 
prav'd Fancies, or often opposing the same 
with great Force. 
Secondly, By opening, softening, inciding, 
and stimulating the Obstructions, or the 
Cause, or the EfFects of a false Imagination, 
with Mineral Waters, Whey, Water and 
Honey, Splanchnick, Hepatick, or Anti-hypo- 
chondriack Medicines and Decoctions; like- 
wise Waters made with the Addition of lixi~ 
vious or compound Salts, especially Nitre; 
also loosening Mercurials, Vomits, Motions, 
Exercise, and Riding; and Medicines which 
cleanse and purge the Womb, or the Piles, 
Bathings, Ointments and Plasters, and easing 
the Symptoms by Bleeding, plunging into 
cold Water, and using Carminatives and Opi- 
ates sometimes. 
Of Madness from the Bite of a Mad Dog, or 
any other Creature, called Hydrophobia. 
The Fury or Madness mostly proceeding 
from the Bite of Mad-Dogs is call'd Dog- 
Madness; and from that terrible Symptom of 
dreading Water, an Hydrophobia.
It

426 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
It almost ever arises from other Animals, 
which were first mad, and that by Contagion; 
tho' also sometimes of its own accord in some 
acute Fevers, as has been observed, and is 
well attested. Almost all sorts of Animals 
may be affected with this Evil, and by their 
Contagion infect others, and even Men. 
Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Foxes, Horses, Asses, 
Mules, Oxen, Sows, Monkies, Turkey-cocks, 
and Men, all these being first mad themselves, 
have communicated the same Madness to 
others; but it is common to none so fre- 
quently as to Dogs, Wolves and Foxes, and 
it invades these chiefly from inward Causes, 
without catching it from any others. 
A hot Country, open and exposed to vio- 
lent Heats, or to very cold raw Weather; 
hot and dry Weather long continued; the 
living upon rotten, stinking and worm-eaten 
Meat; Want of Drink; Worms grown in 
the Kidneys, Guts, Brain, or the Inside of 
the Nostrils; all these are preceding Causes 
of Madness in Animals just now mentioned. 
The Symptoms of a Person infected with 
this Poison, after different Distances of Time, 
are much in the following Manner: The 
Place where he was bit pains him; then fol- 
low wandering uncertain Pains in other, but 
chiefly the nearest Parts; a Weariness, Hea- 
viness, and Slowness succeed in the whole 
System of the Muscles; his Sleeps are disturb- 
ed, uneasy, all with Frights, Convulsions and 
Catchings in the Tendons; he is continually 
restless,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 427 
restless, sighs, looks dejected, and affects to be 
alone; and it is much after this Manner that 
this Disease begins and finishes its first Stage. 
Then all the foregoing Symptoms are in- 
creased, and there follows besides a prodigious 
Narrowness and Pressure about the Heart and 
Chest, Breathing is difficult, and accompanied 
with Sighs; he frequently shakes all over; his 
Hair stands an end, and trembles all over at 
the Sight of Water, or any sort of Liquors, 
or even at the Sight of transparent Things, or 
reflecting like Looking-Glasses; he loses his 
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow any 
thing that is very dry and solid: The Touch of 
any Moisture, chiefly with his Lips or Tongue, 
creates an incredible Anguish, Tremors, vio- 
lent Convulsions, and a Raving; he vomits 
tawny glewish Choler, or green, like Leeks;
he grows very hot, feverish, sleepless; is trou- 
bled with a Priapism; and he thinks disor- 
derly of Things quite foreign and unusual.
Thus it goes on, and here ends its Second 
Stage. 
But afterwards every thing grows constant- 
ly worse; for he soon lolls out his rough 
and dry Tongue, gapes wide, speaks hoarse, 
has a great Drought, grows raving and fu- 
rious at every Attempt to drink, and at the 
Sight or Touch of all Drinkables and Liquors; 
he gathers Froth in and about his Mouth, 
endeavouring the spitting of the same upon 
the By-standers, and that even against his 
Will; bites and snaps at every thing within 
his

428 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
his Reach, and that likewise involuntarily, 
nor yet to be witheld from those; he gnashes 
his Teeth with Froth, snarling like a Dog; 
his Pulse and Breathing begin to fail, cold 
Sweats break out on all Sides; he raves in 
the highest Degree, notwithstanding which 
he is all the while sensible, and is afraid that 
he shall unwillingly hurt the By-standers. 
Hence you may always reckon upon his 
dying (within the fourth Day from the first 
State of his Illness, convulsed with a most 
terrible Anguish upon drawing his Breath. 
As Brevity, and the want of Leisure and 
Room at present, oblige me to proceed to the 
Method of Cure without any farther Disqui- 
sition about the Nature of this dreadful Con- 
tagion, I present the Reader with the follow- 
ing short, easy, and in all Probability the most 
infallible Method hitherto discover'd. 
A French Physician of the University of 
Bourdeaux, and a Gentleman of Note and 
great Merit in his Profession, has publish'd a 
Treatise * some few Years ago, in which 
there is a Dissertation on the Hydrophobia, 
wherein he candidly communicates a very 
rational Method of curing this terrible Con- 
tagion, after a new and easy manner, of 
which he has made several Trials, and always 
with the desir'd Success, as may be seen in 
his own Treatise at large; therefore as this 
Remedy
* Dr. Desault's Treatise translated from the French, by 
John Andree, M. D. and printed for John Clarke, under the 
Royal-Exchange, Cornhill, 1738. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 429
Remedy he proposes (in all human Probabi- 
lity,) may prove successful and certain, (at 
least it bids the fairest of any hitherto known 
in the Art of Physick for that desirable End) 
I thought proper and necessary to communi- 
cate the same to my Readers, in order to 
impart it to all their Friends and Acquaint- 
ance. 
The Remedy consists of a Powder called 
Palmarius's Powder, and an Ointment made 
in the following manner. 
The Powder. 
Take of the Leaves of Rue, Vervain, 
Sage of Virtue, Plantane, Polypody, 
common Wormwood, Mint, Baum, 
Betony, St. John's Wort, lesser Cen- 
taury and Coraline, of each equal 
Parts; mix them, and reduce them 
to a Powder. 
The Ointment. 
Take one third Part of Mercury reviv'd 
from Cinnabar, one third Part of hu- 
man Fat, and as much of Hog's 
Lard, mix all very well till all the 
mercurial Globules disappear. 
Here I give you the Author's Method in 
administering the Powder and Ointment in 
his own Words.
'I

430 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'I order one Dram of the Powder (says 
he) 'in White-Wine every Morning; and 
'Persons of the fair Sex, who cannot bear 
'Wine, take it in a Draught of warm Wa- 
'ter. 
'In this Method I continue 30 Days with 
'those who have been bit in an uncover'd 
'Place, or have receiv'd some considerable 
'Wound by the Bite; but to those who have 
'been bit in a Place that was cover'd, and 
'had only a few Holes made with the Teeth, 
'I give the Powder only 20 Days. 
'From the first Day of using the Powder, 
'I make them administer a Friction of one 
'or two Drams of the Ointment upon the 
'Wound and neighbouring Part, and spread 
'the Ointment all over the Part that was 
'wounded. 
'The Friction is repeated every other Day 
'in the beginning, and after the third time, 
'every third Day; after the 6th, every 4th, 
'till two or three Ounces of the Ointment 
'have been used; the Quantity of which 
'ought to be proportion'd to the Strength, 
'Age, Temperament, Sex, the Bite, &c. 
'But when the Patient comes to me seve- 
'ral Days after the Bite, for fear of Acci- 
'dent, and to prevent the Rabies or Mad- 
'ness, I order to make the Frictions every 
'Day to four or five times, and increase the 
'Dose of the Powder sometimes to half a 
'Dram; afterwards I leave a Day or two be- 
'tween to avoid a Salivation, which might 
'ensue

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 431
'ensue from the daily use of the Ointment, 
'altho' but a particular Friction. 
'In the last Place, I let him keep his 
'usual Meals, forbidding him all Excess; for 
'Experience proves, that they increase all 
'other contagious Distempers. I let him 
'drink Wine with moderation: I take Care 
'that they be not left alone, and desire their 
'Relations and Friends to keep them Com- 
'pany, forbidding them to mention Madness 
'to them, or mad Creatures. 
A more circumstantial Account of this 
Method may be seen in the Author's own 
Observations, to which I refer the Reader; 
but here I cannot omit observing, that if 20 
or 30 Grains of native Cinnabar were added 
to every Dose of the Powder, the Cure might 
be thereby perform'd with much greater 
Certainty. As for his directing to make the 
Ointment with human Fat, &c. it is need- 
less; for the common strong salivating Oint- 
ment, which is always ready prepar'd in the 
Shops, is every bit as good, if not better. 
The Experiments of the ingenious Dr. 
James seem to confirm the Efficacy of the 
above Method, at leasst that of Mercury, in 
curing the Bite of a mad Dog; wherefore I 
beg leave to transcribe Part of the Conclusion 
to his New Method of preventing and curing 
the Madness caused by the Bite of a mad Dog, 
laid before the Royal-Society, 1741. 
'Firft I would (says he) rub into the 
'Place wounded as soon as possible, a Dram 
'of

432 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'of the Ointment recommended by Desault. 
'I would then give Turpeth Mineral by 
'Way of Vomit, in a Dose proportion'd to 
'the Age and Constitution of the Patient;
'and this I would repeat more than once, at 
'Intervals, which would secure it from rais- 
'ing a Salivation, always remembring to rub 
'the Wound once in a Day, or oftener, with 
'the Mercurial Ointment. 
'But when thro' Neglect, any Symptoms 
'of approaching Madness should appear, I 
'would increase the Quantity of Mercurial 
'Ointment, and give Mercury in some Form. 
'or other internally, in as large Doses, and 
'those as often repeated as could be done, 
'without hazarding the Patient by a Saliva- 
'tion too precipitate. 
'In both Cases I would recommend the 
'Cold-Bath, as a Thing of great Conse- 
'quence, as soon as ever the Patient can 
'make Use of it without Danger; but in 
'this Case, as in all others, many accidental 
'Circumstances will occur, for which it is 
'impossible to lay down universal Rules; it 
'must therefore be left to the Prudence of a 
'Physician to guard against, and remedy In- 
'conveniencies arising from particular Acci- 
'dents. 
Of the Scurvy. 
It is impossible to define this Distemper by 
Words, containing any simple or distinct 
Idea; for it is rather a Name used to signify 
a

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 433
a Multitude of Symptoms, different and 
sometimes opposite in their Causes and Cures. 
It is a Disease affecting the Inha- 
bitants of cold Countries, and a- 
mong those, such of them as inhabit marshy, 
fat, low, moist Soils, near stagnating Wa- 
ters, fresh or Salt; and it invades chiefly in 
the Winter Season, such as lead a sedentary 
Life, or live upon salted and smoaked Flesh 
and Fish, or Quantities of unfermented 
mealy Vegetables, and drink bad Water; and 
likewise such as are Hysterical or Hypochon- 
driacal, and sometimes such as have taken.
great Quantities of the Bark, without pro- 
per Evacuations; so that from these Causes 
the best Rules for Prevention may be taken. 
The Cause. 
The Symptoms of this Distemper are a 
spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weari- 
ness, being unrefreshed by Sleep, laborious 
Breathing upon small Motion, cold Swellings 
in the Legs, going off and returning; some- 
times Paleness, or a livid Colour in the Face, 
Spots on the Skin of various Colours, as red, 
violet-colour'd, yellow, or livid; oftentimes 
an ill Smell in the Mouth, and of the Breath, 
painful and bleeding Corrosions of the Gums, 
and by these Means the Teeth grow bare and 
loose; Fluxes of all Sorts, untractable Ul- 
cers, especially in the Legs, with a gangre- 
nous Appearance in the Skin; the Itch, dry 
and crusty Eruptions, and sometimes a small 
Degree of Leprosy; the Blood when taken 
away is black, grumous, and the red Part 
Ee without

434 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
without a due Consistence; the Serum very 
salt, and of a yellowish green; wandering 
Pains in the Limbs, increasing when warm 
in Bed, and sometimes a feverish Heat. 
These Symptoms arise from a bad Tem- 
perature of the Blood, either too thin, or too 
thick, being of a saline Constitution, either 
from an acid, alkaline, or Muriatick Cause, 
which requires very different and oftentimes 
contrary Remedies; for which Reason, See 
Part II. Chap. VIII. where I have treated of 
acid and alkaline Constitutions. 
The Scurvy of Seafaring People is generally 
cur'd by Acids, such as all Sorts of ripe 
Fruits, Lemons, Oranges, Butter-Milk; but 
all alkaline Spirits do harm; and acid Spirits, 
as that of Salt and Nitre are proper for 
them. If the Symptoms are attended with 
an ill Smell of any kind, either in the Mouth, 
Breath, or Urine, with Drought, Heat, 
Bleeding of the Gums, or of any kind, such 
a Disease will be cur'd by the Use of Acids, 
and none better than Whey; and in this Sort of 
Scurvy Steel Waters are commonly effectual. 
But if the Scurvy be muriatick or briny, 
occafion'd by a Diet of sait Flesh or Fish, the 
Plants commonly called Antiscorbutick, as 
Water-cresses, Scurvy-grass, and Brooklime, 
may be taken with Success, but always 
mix'd with Acids, as the Juice of Lemons 
and Oranges; and all the Pot-Herbs which 
are antiacid, as describ'd in Part II. Chap. VI. 
are a proper Diet in this Case; but if there 
be

435 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
be a high Degree of Heat and Inflammation,
all the hot Antiscorbuticks will be very im- 
proper. 
When a Patient is pale, cool without 
Thirst, with pale or natural colour'd Urine, 
and has made Use of an acescent Diet for any- 
time, that the Eruptions are not of a high 
inflammatory or livid Colour, then the warm 
Antiscorbuticks, animal Food, and Salts are 
necessary. 
In the Scurvy great Attention should be 
always given to the Condition of the Mouth,
Gums and Teeth, from which the Nature 
and Degree of the Distemper may be pretty 
Well known. 
All sharp and strong Purges injure scorbu- 
tick Constitutions; but Lenitives are of great 
Service, and Bleeding is not proper, unless 
where the Symptoms are urgent and inflam- 
matory.
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body.
A Cachexy is so called from an ill 
Habit of the Body. It proceeds most 
commonly from the Intemperance of the 
Person, or the ill Cure of some preceding 
Disease; from a scirrhous Tumor of the Li- 
ver or Spleen, or from a too long and pro- 
fuse Flux of the Piles, or other Fluxes;
from long continual Fevers, or intermitting 
Fevers ill cur'd; from a Surfeit, or too plen- 
tiful use of spirituous Liquors; from the 
Causes. 
Ee2 Green- 

436 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Green-Sickness, from an Obstruction, or too 
great a Flux of the Menses; from Aliments 
of unfermented mealy Substances, as Pease, 
or such as are coarse, fibrous, fat, sharp, 
watry, and rough; from Bodies that cannot 
be digested at all, as Clay, Cinders, Chalk, 
Sand, Tobacco-pipes, Lime, &c. from a 
Defect of animal Motion in lazy and idle 
People, and such as sleep too much. 
Signs. 
The Diagnostick Signs are a Paleness 
of the Face, with a livid, yellow, 
greenish, or ruddy Colour; and frequently 
with a tumid or bloated Habit of Body, a 
Sluggishness; there is also often a slow Fever, 
scarce perceivable by the Person that has it. 
Cure.
The Cure is to be begun with a Vo- 
mit; but before a Vomit it will be ad- 
viseable to make use of saline Dlgestives to 
dissolve the Viscidities, as Cream of Tartar, 
vitriolated Tartar, Salt of Wormwood, Tin- 
cture of Salt of Tartar, Elixir Proprietatis 
with Tartar, and the absorbent testaceous 
Powders; but if an Emetick be not judged 
convenient in the Beginning, a Purge may 
be given, and repeated as need requires; and 
then after these Things have been done, we 
may advantageously proceed to the Use of 
Chalybeats, and Fuller's Ecphratick Mixture 
is a powerful Remedy in this Disorder. 
This Distemper sometimes disposes to Con-
sumptions, Bloatedness, and Dropsies, and is 
attended often with Palpitations of the Heart; 
therefore


437 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
therefore the Rules of Diet must be drawn 
from the Nature of the Symptoms. 
Of a Consumption. 
A Consumption is commonly defined to be 
a Wasting of the whole Body, arising from 
an Ulcer of the Lungs, but not justly; be- 
cause I have open'd the Bodies of several who 
died of this Distemper, whose Lungs I found 
without Ulcers, but full of Tubercles, Stones, 
and fabulous Matter; wherefore a Consump- 
tion is better defined to be a Wasting of the 
whole Body from a bad Conformation of the 
Lungs. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. Part II. 
Sect. I. Chap. 6. 
A Consumption, or Marasmus, is a Wasting 
of the whole Body, or some of its Parts, aris- 
ing from a Distemperature of the Fluids, or 
from their Defection, or an unequal and dis- 
proportionate Heat. Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
in his Theatrum Tabidorum, translated by 
Quincy, Page 135.
By these two last Definitions we see, that 
an Ulcer of the Lungs is neither the Ante- 
cedent, nor Concomitant Cause of a Con- 
sumption, but only a Symptom, as will evi- 
dently appear presently, in a few Passages ab- 
stracted from a Dissertation of a modern Au- 
thor *, supported by Reason and Observation, 
the surest and best Guides: afterwards I give 
the Reader his Method of curing this Di-
Ee3 stemper, 
* Dr. Desault's Dissertation upon Consumptions.


438 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
stemper, which I found in many Instances 
to answer the Intentions he proposes. 
Before I declare the Causes of a Consump- 
tion (says he) I thought proper to give a 
Description of them in behalf of such as are 
not of the Profession who may read this Disser- 
tation. 
A Consumption attacks Youth sooner than 
other Ages; that is, from 18 till the 35th Year 
it makes its principal Havock. Hippocrates, 
Aph. 9. Sect. 5. Not that the other Ages 
are exempted from it, since we see consump- 
tive People under and above the Time set 
down in the Aphorism; but not so often. 
1. Those who have a narrow Chest, a long 
Neck, high Shoulders, like Birds Wings, are 
most subject to it; of those Hippocrates 
speaks in his first Book of Epidemicks. 
2. Those who have the Misfortune of be- 
ing born of consumptive Parents are very 
subjed to it; for this Distemper has this in 
common with many others, that it is propa- 
gated by Inheritance. 
3. Such as are obliged to live with con- 
sumptive People, to wait on them, may con- 
tract it, if they are any ways inclin'd to it, 
for it is contagious; thus Women who attend 
their consumptive Husbands catch it of them, 
and Husbands of their Wives. 
The Disorder manifests itself, and makes 
its Progress in the following manner. The 
Patient seems to have a Cold, he is seiz'd 
with a dry Cough, which fatigues him most
at

439 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
at Night: Afterwards he brings up a well- 
digested Phlegm of a sweet Taste. 
Nevertheless as this Cough continues, as 
it exceeds the Bounds of a common Cold, as 
it goes daily increasing, as the Patient's Legs 
are observ'd to waste, and the rest of the 
Body in Proportion, as his Colour changes, 
and he grows pale and yellow, as the Phlegm 
changes Taste, and becomes a little bitterish, 
as some small Quantity of Blood is mix'd 
with it, as a slow Fever associates with it, 
with a Pain in the Breast, and in short, when 
he is at the Brink of the second Stage, he is
frighted, and very much alarm'd. 
Besides these Symptoms which Authors 
have taken Notice of, and which establish
the first Degree, I have always found a con- 
siderable Disorder in the Liver, so that an 
Obstruction in this Bowel plainly appear'd 
from its Hardness, and sometimes a great 
Pain. I am surpriz'd to see, that Authors 
have not taken Notice of this, which how- 
ever is a Symptom deserving of great At- 
tention, since it is of great Importance for 
the Discovery of the Cause of Consumptions, 
and of the Agreeableness of the Remedy I 
have to propose. 
Notwithstanding all the Remedies, Se- 
crets, and other Specificks, the Patient grows 
worse, and comes to the second Stage, which 
makes itself known by the Cough being 
stronger and more frequent by Night, by 
Night Sweats, which fatigue and drain the 
Ee4 Patient,

440 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Patient, by the Quantity of Blood in his Spit-
ting, and lastly he comes to spit Matter. 
The Leanness to which he was reduced by 
the first Degree, increases considerably in the 
second; the Fever, stronger and more violent, 
has even some Returns, with cold Shiverings, 
which encourages his taking the Bark regu- 
larly, to stop at least the Returns complicated 
with the slow Fever, and to continue the 
Medicines to heal the Ulcer, the Existence 
of which is no more to be doubted. His 
Nails grow crooked, and the Distemper, be- 
comes contagious in this Stage. 
Let us observe, that it is not always ne- 
cessary the Patient should spit Blood, to die 
consumptive; neither is it even necessary for 
the Patient to spit Pus to determine the Exis- 
tence of a Consumption, as I shall prove by 
Observations made at the opening of con- 
sumptive Bodies. The Cough, the Spitting 
of certain Phlegm without Blood or Pus, 
the Wasting, the nocturnal Sweats, and last- 
ly a Looseness, put an End to Life, it not 
being essential to this Distemper to spit Blood 
or Pus. 
The Patient at last comes to the third 
Stage; his Leanness is at the last Period; he 
resembles a Skeleton covered with a human 
Skin, which is hard, wrinkled, and rough; 
his Breath smells strong, and what he expec- 
torates stinks so that he loaths it; he brings 
up almost pure Matter, and his Life termi- 
nates with a Looseness.
Let 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 441
Let us now speak of the Causes of a Con- 
sumption: We shall divide them into con- 
comitant and antecedent. The concomitant 
Cause of a Consumption, I say, consists in  
Tubercles and Concretions form'd in the Sub- 
stance of the Lungs, and which are spread 
thro' its Lobes. These Concretions are like 
Hail-stones, and of different Dimensions. 
These Tubercles in the Lungs are real, 
and fall under the Cognizance of the Senses, 
and are no Supposition invented by a System- 
monger, to explain the easier his Hypothesis. 
That great Observator Hippocrates speaks of 
them in his Book de Morbis: He makes 
them of two Sorts; some crude, which do not 
suppurate; and others which suppurate, and 
leave an Ulcer. 
Etmuller, who has compiled the Opinions 
of the Moderns, has a whole Chapter de 
Tuberculis Pulmonum, Lib. II. Part. II. 
Cap. 8. p. 436. 
Read Morton's Book upon Consumptions, 
he never open'd a consumptive Body where 
he did not find them: He mentions them in 
almost every Passage; he imputes to them 
all the Disorder, and thinks they are the 
Source of all the Symptoms of a Consump- 
tion. 
Bonetus, in his Practical Anatomy, Lib. 2. 
Sect. 7. proposes several Observations collect- 
ed from Dissections of Bodies, where the Tu- 
bercles have been deemed the true Cause of 
a Consumption, and the Pus and Ulcers only 
as

442 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
as the Consequence of these same Tubercles 
suppurated and degenerated into Ulcers. 
But why should we look for Proofs in An- 
tiquity, why employ the Evidence of Fo- 
reigners? I appeal to all the Surgeons who 
have open'd consumptive Carcasses, and to 
the Physicians who have assisted thereat: 
Have they not regularly found in all these Tu- 
bercles, tho' less in Quantity in those who 
died of a long Consumption, they having 
had Time to melt away, and be confirmed 
by Ulceration? Some however have always 
remained, Death having prevented their Sup- 
puration. This being allow'd to be the con- 
comitant Cause of a Consumption, it will be 
easy to explain all its Symptoms. 
The dry Cough in the Beginning comes 
from the Pressure of the Tubercles upon the 
Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria, dis- 
persed through the Substance of the Lungs. 
Morton, p. 36. The same Irritations which 
this Compression makes in the Aspera Ar- 
teria, squeeze at length a Phlegm out of the 
Glands, spread about the internal Membrane 
of the Trachea; and the Cough, which in the 
Beginning was dry and hard, becomes moist, 
and throws up the Matter press'd out of the 
Glands by the Strength of the Cough. Mort. 
p. 34. 
The Difficulty of Breathing comes from 
these Tubercles, which fill up part of the 
Lungs, and lessen in Proportion the Quantity 
of Air which used to enter there; besides, the 
Com-

Ch. IV. 443 thro' the various Stages of Life. 443
Compression they make upon the Ramifica- 
tions of the Aspera Arteria renders its Ad- 
mission more difficult. 
The Leanness and Wasting are the Effcts 
of these Tubercles, and not the Ulcer of the 
Lungs, as has been supposed; and as it is of 
the greatest Importance for the Indication, 
which should be pursued in this Distemper, 
to prove that the Ulcer is not the Cause of 
the Wastings, we shall insert here the follow- 
ing Proofs. 
1. Hippocrates, in his first Book of Epi- 
demicks, acknowledges a Consumption with- 
out an Ulcer of the Lungs. Ægrotabant 
macilenti citra Pulmonum Ulcus: They were 
sick and wasted without an Ulcer of the 
Lungs. 
2. Hippocrates has also observed, that Lean- 
ness has begun before the Rise of the Ulcer, 
and that it is even far gone when the Ulcer 
appears. Temporis autem progressu exaspe- 
ratur Pulmo, & intus ulceratur à Pituita 
inhœrente & putrescente, & gravitatem exhi- 
bet Pectori & Dolorem acutum ante & re- 
tro caloresque acutiores in corpus incidunt. 
It appears from these Passages of Hippo- 
crates, and especially the last, that the Wast- 
ing, Cough, Spitting, and slow Fever, have 
begun before the Ulcer comes on. Temporis 
autem progressu exulceratur Pulmo: It is only 
in the Course of the Distemper; temporis 
progressu, says he; in progress of Time. 
3. Lastly,

444 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
3. Lastly we prove by an invincible Rea- 
son, that the Ulcer of the Lungs is not the 
Cause of a Consumption. There have been 
Persons who died of a Consumption with the 
whole Train of Symptoms, yet during the 
whole Course of the Distemper never spit 
any Pus; and upon the opening of their 
Bodies no Ulcers were found in their Lungs, 
but Tubercles in great Numbers. For Proof 
of this Fact we shall introduce the Observa- 
tions † upon the Body of Mr. Clever, Mer- 
chant, of this City, and of a young Gentle- 
woman; and also Willis's Observations al- 
ready mentioned. 
The slow Fever depends as much upon 
the Obstructions of the Liver, as of the 
Lungs: When the Blood finds its Passage 
shut up in any Part, it rebounds in a greater 
Body into the other Vessels; besides, when 
the Blood, which has not been sufficiently 
broke in the Lungs, nor depurated in the Li- 
ver, does not give way, but resists the Im- 
pulse of the Heart and Arteries, it revives 
its Play, and occasions two or three Pulsa- 
tions, where one would be sufficient, if it 
did not resist, and was thin and fluid. 
The nocturnal Sweats are owing to the 
thick and gross Disposition of the Blood: 
When the Serum is not exactly mixt with 
the other Principles of the Blood, it easily 
escapes through the Pores. 
It
† Observations of the Author in his Dissertation upon 
Consumptions, which see. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 445
It is easy to comprehend the Spitting of 
Blood: Who can now be surprised, that a 
Vein squeezed between two Tubercles should 
open and furnish some Blood in the Spittle? 
We are now come to the second Stage: 
Some Tubercles come to be inflamed; Matter 
is formed there; the Fever increases, as also 
the Difficulty of Breathing; the Tubercle 
bursts, and the Pus comes away like Spittle, 
which the Patient voids in abundance. 
But as the Pus which was contained in this 
Tubercle served its Neighbours as a suppurating 
Cataplasm, they are not long before they are 
inflamed, and come to Suppuration in their 
Turn, and the Lungs are thus destroy'd and 
ulcerate every Day more and more. And 
now the Distemper becomes contagious, the 
Suppuration of the Tubercle breeds Worms, 
which institute the Characteristick of the 
Ulcer. These Worms spread themselves a- 
bout the neighbouring Tubercles, as proper 
Beds for their Nourishment and Breeding, and 
by their Means it is that the Distemper be- 
comes contagious. 
[The Author has shewn, in his Treatise on 
Venereal Disorders, that all Infection pro- 
ceeds from Worms.] 
The Looseness comes from hence, that the 
Pores are destroyed by the Dryness of the 
Skin, which has begun with effacing the 
Pores of the insensible Perspiration, and now 
even stops up those which evacuate Sweat: 
The Serum not being well mixt with the 
Blood,

446 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Blood, and finding no more its former Out- 
lets, falls upon the Feet and Legs, and after- 
wards upon the intestinal Glands, which 
brings on a Diarrhœa, and makes an End of 
Life. 
We come now to examine the antecedent 
Causes which produce Tubercles in the Lungs, 
and shall make it apppear, by an exact En- 
quiry, that they owe their Rise to eager and 
coagulating Juices, and not to sharp and cor- 
rosive ones. 
Authors tell us, and we see it confirmed 
by daily Experience, that Grief is a power- 
ful Cause to bring on a Consumption. The 
Soul being continually employ'd in Affliction 
about the Object which causes it, studies 
Night and Day to find out a Remedy: This 
continual Attention of the Soul employs the 
Spirits in the Brain, hinders their descending 
into the Stomach, the Appetite disappears, 
the Digestion suffers, the Chyle is sent gluti- 
nous and ill digested into the Blood, disposed 
to bring on Obstructions either in the Lungs 
or Liver. 
But the free Course of the animal Spirits is 
not only suspended in the Stomach, but also 
in the Organs of Respiration; for we see Per- 
sons under Affliction forget as it were to 
breathe to that Degree, that as the Blood 
stagnates in the Lungs, they are oblig'd to 
fetch at Intervals deep Sighs, which are called 
sorrowful Sighs. 
Besides,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 447
Besides, Grief suppresses the insensible 
Transpiration. Sanctorius, Aph. 2. Sect. 7. 
And Consolation restores it, Animi Consolatio 
liberam facit Perspirationem. Aph. 6. Sect. 7. 
For the same Reason Men of Letters, who 
keep their Spirits continually upon the stretch, 
by the Excess of Meditation are also subject 
to Consumptions, as Morton observes. 
The eager Wines, according to Etmuller, 
produce abundance of Consumptions in the 
Province of Moravia, as being very proper 
to form Coagulations and Concretions. 
[The Author mentions a Case in his Dis- 
sertation, which proves how apt this Cause is 
to bring on a Consumption.] 
Melancholick Persons, according to Mor- 
ton's Observation, are very subject to Con- 
sumptions, their Blood being disposed to form 
Obstructions and Tubercles: Likewise, pag. 
27, he has oserved, that Cold is always the 
Cause of Consumptions. His Observation a- 
grees with that of Hippocrates, Frigus genitor 
est phthiseos pulmonis, scilicet, venulis a fri-
gore constrictis ac convulsis. Cold is the Pa- 
rent of the Phthisis of the Lungs, viz. when 
the Veins are drawn together by Cold. 
Van Helmont has observed, that Steams of 
Spirit of Vitriol, and of Aqua Fortis, have 
sometimes occasioned Consumptions. This 
Effect proceeds from the Concretion of the 
Juices by these acid Vapours, which form the 
Tubercles.
From

448 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
From this Enquiry into the Causes which 
are capable of producing Tubercles in the 
Lungs, it appears, that they owe their Ori- 
gin to acid and coagulating Juices; and if 
afterwards the Fluids grow pungent by stag- 
nating there, it is an Effect of the Part which 
alkalises them, in like manner as we see some 
Fruits change their Taste, according as they 
come near to be ripe or rotten. 
The Question then is, to look out for Re- 
medies which can dissolve and destroy these 
Tubercles. This is the Indication which you 
ought not to lose out of Sight: They are 
the Obstacles which you must either conquer 
or die. 
The Roman Hippocrates, Baglivius, in se- 
veral Places of his practical Writings, exhorts 
us to give aperitive Medicines in all the Dis- 
orders of the Breast; and Duretus, in his 
Coac. p. 423. says, that the urinary Passages 
are the Emunctories of the Breast, the Flux 
of Urine being augmented, procures a Di- 
version of the Phlegm, which otherwise 
would take its Course to the Lungs. 
These Authors not only propose that Indi- 
cation, but also the Remedies which I make 
use of to discharge it. Read Morton, p. 81. 
I don't at all doubt, says he, but by a pru- 
dent Choice and frequent Use of a thin and 
sharp Air, and by a long Use of balsamick, 
mercurial, and chalybeat Medicines and Mil- 
lepedes, but more especially of Mineral Wa- 
ters, and other anti-scrophulous Remedies, 
those

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 449
those Tumors may as well be destroy'd in 
these Parts as any other, and the Patient 
be freed from a phthisical and scrophulous 
Disorder, as we have often found by Ex- 
perience.
This is very certain, for all the English 
Consumptions, generally speaking, proceed 
from a scrophulous Disposition; therefore, in 
the Accesses of such a Distemper, aperitive 
and deobstruent Medicines, free from much 
Acrimony, with the mild Anti-scorbuticks, 
will always prove the most effectual Reme- 
dies; but whatever heats too much, disposes 
to Suppuration; and it is upon these Princi- 
ples that the Author establishes his Method of 
Cure in the following Manner. 
'As soon as I am call'd to a consumptive 
'Person of the first Degree, fatigued with a 
'Cough, which at first was dry, and after- 
'ward is become moist, which exceeded the 
'Bounds of a common Rheum, accompanied 
'with a slow Fever, Difficulty of Breathing, 
'Leanness, &c. I examine immediately the 
'Liver, where I constantly find a conspicu- 
'ous Hardness and often a Pain. 
'I afterwards examine if any general Me- 
'dicines are indicated, in which Case I order 
'the Patient to bleed and purge; I even 
'repeat Bleeding when the Pain is violent, 
'and if the Patient is young, heated with 
'drinking of Wine, or spirituous Liquors, to 
'prevent the Inflammation of the Tubercles. 
Ff 'Then

450 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'Then I apply a great Plaster of the Empl. 
'Diabotanum upon the Region of the Liver, 
'with which Mercury revived from Cinnabar 
'is incorporated, or in default thereof the 
'Empl. Vigonis cum Mercurio. Every Night 
'I order the Plaster to be taken off, and the 
'Quantity of a Dram of the Mercurial Oint- 
'ment to be rubb'd in at the Swelling, and then 
'the Plaster is put on again, which remains 
'there Night and Day. 
'Internally I give twice a-day the follow- 
'ing Powder. 
'Take of prepared Mars, Millepedes, 
'Benjamin, red Coral and Crabs Eyes, 
'one Scruple of each; mix all well to- 
'gether to make into a Powder, to be 
'taken in the Morning and to be re- 
'eated at Night. 
'Or made up into Troches in the following 
'Manner:
'Take of Mars, Millepedes, Benjamin, 
'Coral and Crabs Eyes, of each half an 
'Ounce, Powder of Cinnamon three 
'Drams, fine Sugar half a Pound; mix 
'all together, and with the Mucilage 
'of Gum Tragacanth made with O- 
'range-flower Water, make Troches 
'of two Drams each, of which let the 
'Patient take one Night and Morning. 
'After every Dose of the Powder or Tro- 
'ches I order them to take a Draught of 
'Ptisane

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 451
'Ptisane made of Nettle-Roots, or Whey 
'well clarified, with which I mix two Oun- 
'ces of the Juice of Water-Cresses, and as 
'much of the Juice of Chervil; or some Broth 
'made of a Piece of Veal, Radishes, Cresses, 
'Brooklime and Chervil, or an Infusion of 
'Green Tea.' 
The Powder is in two great a Bulk, as he 
orders it, therefore it would be much a neater 
Way, and much easier for the Patient to take, 
if he had ordered the Steel, Millepedes, and 
Benjamin in a Bole with Syrup of Balsam, and 
the testaceous Powders in a Julap, or in an 
Emulsion of Sperma Ceti, to be taken by two 
or three Spoonfuls after each Bolus, and at 
other Intervals. This shews the Injudicious 
ness of foreign Prescribers in dosing their Me- 
dicines in a neat and proper Form, though 
otherwise never so learned. 
Our Author strenuously recommends Rid- 
ing twice a-day, in all Stages of a Consump- 
tion, if the Weather permits, the Usefulness 
of which he demonstrates from Observation,
Reason, and Experience. In the first Stage 
of a Consumption he allows light Meats of 
easy Digestion without any Seasoning; but 
in the second Stage, he orders the Medicines 
to be taken three times a-day, and makes the 
Patient live upon Cow's Milk, boil'd and 
skimm'd, and mix'd with an equal Quantity 
of Green Tea, and sometimes without it, but 
a thorough Forbearance from all manner of 
Ff2 Flesh-

452 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Flesh-meat: He likewise recommends the 
Use of Asses Milk, Chearfulness and Musick. 
Other Con-
sumptions.
As Consumptions are mostly occa- 
sioned by Tubercles in the Lungs, 
there are some also that owe their 
Origin to Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, 
Pancreas, Mesentery, Kidneys, Womb, and 
Bladder, &c. The Knowledge, Prognostick, 
Effects, Cure, and Palliation are easily drawn 
from the distinguishing Marks of each parti- 
cular Bowel, of which no good Physician 
ought to be ignorant. 
For a more ample Account of the Nature 
and Cure of this lingering Disease, I refer the 
Reader to the Author's Observations in his 
Dissertation upon Consumptions. 
Of a Dropsy. 
When a watery Serum is shed out of its 
Vessels and received into Cavities, or when 
stagnating it distends its Vessels too much, it 
is called a Dropsy. Which may take place 
consequently wherever there are such serous 
Vessels, that is, in the whole Habit of the 
Body, and in each Particular thereof. 
Therefore this Distemper may happen 
wherever there are serous Vessels; an Hydro- 
cephalus or Dropsy of the Head, which is 
only incurable when the Serum is extravasated 
into the Ventricles of the Brain; and it is 
generally fatal in Infants, when the Sutures 
are closed and the Skull will yield no more. 
A Dropsy

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 453
A Dropsy of the Breast is attended almost 
with the same Symptoms as an Empyema, 
and cured by the same Chirurgery. A 
Dropsy of the Lungs, either by Hydatides or 
Water-Bladders, or by Lympha extravasated 
in the Body of the Lungs. 
A Dropsy in the fore Part of the Windpipe 
like a Bronchocele. Likewise a Dropsy in the 
Oviarium, Testes, Scrotum, or Uterus. 
An Ascites, or Collection of Water in the 
Abdomen. First, in the Foldings of the Peri- 
toneum. Secondly, Between the Peritoneum 
and the Bowels. Thirdly, When the Water 
is contained in the membranaceous Coat of 
the Glands. 
Sometimes the Air is so rarified in the Tu- 
mor as makes it hard and tight like a Drum, 
and from thence it is call a Tympany. When 
the Tendon is from Air, it is easily distin- 
guished by the specifick Gravity of the Pa- 
tient, and so is Water. And when the Wa- 
ter or Lymph stagnates, or is extravasated
under the Skin, it is called Anasarca. What- 
ever hinders the Return of the Lymph 
into the Veins, or breaks the Lymphatick 
Vessels, or obstructs the absorbent Vessels, 
so as the Lymph cannot be absorbed, or exhal- 
ed, produces a Dropsy; likewise any Stop- 
page of the Circulation will occasion a 
Dropsy, as by strong Ligatures or Com- 
pression. 
The most of the Causes are hereditary Dis- 
positions; drinking great Quantities of wa- 
Ff3 tery


454 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
tery Liquors, which are not discharged again;
violent acute Distempers; stubborn Obstruc- 
tions of the Bowels; the Jaundice; obstinate 
intermitting Fevers; Bloody-fluxes; great 
Evacuations, especially of Blood; viscid Ali- 
ment and hard of Digestion; inveterate Scur- 
vies: But the most common and most perni- 
cious of all is the habitual and plentiful Use of 
spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects are a Swelling of the Legs at 
Night by Degrees, still rising higher; like- 
wise a Swelling of the Belly increasing; but in 
a Tympany, sounding and tense like a Drum; 
sometimes the Sensation and Noise of fluctu- 
ating Water; Shortness of Breath; Thirst; 
Urine in too small a Quantity; no Sweat; 
the stagnating Serum at last turns acrimonious, 
exulcerates and putrefies the Bowels, produc- 
ing most dismal Symptoms. 
The best Cautions and Rules of Diet may 
be drawn from the Enumeration of these 
Causes and Effects; for the Intentions to be 
pursued are in removing the Causes, as Ob- 
structions, dissolving the Viscidity or Glewy- 
ness of the Serum, and discharging it out of 
the Body. 
The Viscidity of the Serum is best correct- 
ed by such Things as contain abundance of 
alkaline and volatile Salts, Spices, acrimoni- 
ous pungent Vegetables, soapy Substances; 
and what has been prescrib'd in a phlegmatick 
Constitution, Part II. which see.
The
 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 455 
The only Contradiction in this is, too great 
Heat and Thirst, to which Attention is to be 
given, and indicates the Use of Acids, Juice 
of Lemons and Oranges, Sorrel, &c. And 
it may be taken for a general Rule, that when 
the Urine is high-colour'd Acids are proper, 
for they are contrary to that alkalescent State 
of the Humours, and resist the Putrefaction, 
which is the Product of acrimonious Serum. 
Their Drink should be sparing; but as the 
Thirst is sometimes insufferable, the Patient 
may be indulged the free Use of Spaw-water 
and Rhenish Wine: And the Aliment should 
be dry and diuretick; but Diureticks of the 
acid Kind are the best: Strong Frictions of 
the Skin are very beneficial, which attenuate 
and promote the Circulation of the stagnating 
Serum or Water. 
Vomiting in strong Constitutions has proved 
oftentimes very effectual; because the Con- 
cussion of the solid Parts dissolves and expells 
the stagnating Humours; and likewise Gly- 
sters of sharp and purgative Ingredients are 
very beneficial. 
Smart Purges are useful to carry off the 
Waters; but they should not consist of Vola- 
tiles, because such dissolve the Blood, which 
is pernicious. Abstinence from Drink is very 
beneficial, and eating dry Biscuit, which cre- 
ates no Thirst; likewise strong Frictions four 
or five Times a Day. 
When the Waters are carried off, the Diet 
ought to be such as stengthens the solid Parts,
Ff4 allow-

456 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
allowing Spices and generous Wine, but espe- 
cially the Use of Chalybeat Waters, dry Food, 
and astringent Vegetables, Exercise, especial- 
ly Riding; and in general, such a Diet as ge- 
nerates good Blood. 
When the Serum stagnates long, it turns 
acrimonious, and commonly renders the Pa- 
tient feverish and thirsty; then acid or four 
Things are properest, both to prevent and 
cure these Symptoms, as they are specifically 
proper against that alkaline Putrefaction. For 
a more circumstantial and accurate Account 
of this Distemper and its Cure in every Par- 
ticular, consult the learned Boerhaave's Apho- 
risms upon it.  
Of the Gout. 
This Distemper is a very painful Illness, 
seated principally in and about the Ligaments 
of the Bones of the Foot and its Joints, seiz- 
ing Persons mod commonly in the Spring 
and Autumn; which when undisturbed com- 
monly runs its own natural Stage, and is 
usually the Companion of People of the mid- 
dle Age, of the Male Sex, Men of acute and 
deep Sense, who exercise the same much, and 
study late by Nights, such as lead a voluptu- 
ous and debauched Life, and at Night drink 
great Quantities of Wine or spirituous Liquors: 
Such as have been much addicted to Venery 
in their younger and unripe Years; large ple- 
thorick Men; such as are much used to 
Acids

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 437
Acids, and cool their sweaty Feet too sud-  
denly; sweat in wet Stockings or Shoes;
hence such as do hunt or ride much in cold 
Weather; and finally, such as have it by 
Inheritance from Parents, or lie much with 
gouty People. 
This Distemper may affect any membra- 
nous Part, but commonly those which are 
the most remote from the Brain and Heart, 
where the Motion of the Fluids is the slow- 
ed, the Resistance, Friction, and Stricture 
of the solid Parts the greatest, and Sensation 
of Pain by the Obstruction of the small Ves- 
sels and Dilaceration of the nervous Fibres 
extreme. 
The most common Seat of it is in the 
Foot, its Tendons, Nerves, Membranes, Li- 
gaments and Periosteum, or Membranes in- 
vesting the Bones. The Patient immediate- 
ly is sensible of a stretching, tearing, strait- 
ning Pain, gradually increasing and decreas- 
ing again, with a Moistness, Redness, Tu- 
mor, ending with a breathing Sweat, an Itch- 
ing, furfuraceous Skinning, or changing into 
a chalky Substance, which breaks the Vessels. 
By all which it appears, that the proximate 
Cause of this Disease is a vitiated Temper of 
the least, and consequently the nervous Ves- 
sels in the Body; and also of the Liquid 
which waters those nervous Parts; and more- 
over, that this Liquid here is defective by its 
Acrimony and by its great Viscidity, and the 
solid Vessels by too great Rigidity and Nar- 
rowness:


458 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
rowness: Whence it shews itself in Parts 
the most remote from the Brain, as resisting 
Motion the most, because of their Solidity, 
Hardness, Exercise, and Weight incumbent 
upon them. Now the immediate Origin of 
this Defect is from an Indigestion of the 
Bowels, which do not sufficiently attenuate or 
assimilate the Aliment into a Substance fit 
to supply the Nerves with Juices proper for 
them, which require a most elaborate Con- 
coction. 
The Cure therefore is impossible, unless 
wrought by such Medicines as are able to 
mend these Defects entirely. So that the 
Gout has hitherto been reputed incurable by 
Antients as well as Moderns, if except a few 
Quacks and boasting Empiricks in all Ages. 
From the same may be known, that 
Bleeding does not reach either the Matter, 
Seat, or Cause of the Disease: yet that same 
is sometimes found not only beneficial, but 
also necessary to cause a Revulsion, and lessen 
the most urgent inflammatory Symptoms 
that often attend it. 
As one of the Causes of the Gout is the 
Suppression of Sweat and Perspiration, so 
the procuring a due Degree of these seems to 
be the best Preventative of it; and if the Feet 
could be made to sweat in due time, it would 
prevent the Gout, which invades in such 
Constitutions of the Air as suppress Perspi- 
ration.
Violent

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 459
Violent Purges in the Absence of the Fit, 
by agitating the Humours too much, often 
hurt, and may draw the Gout into the Sto- 
mach if given during the Paroxysm. 
The best Diet is Abstinence from all man- 
ner of Acids, high Sauces, and Gluttony; the 
moderate use of such things as promote Perspi- 
ration, as aromatick Substances with volatile 
Salts, which relieve Gouty People, by ren- 
dering the Body perspirable; diluting Li- 
quors, taken in such a Degree as not to in- 
jure the Stomach or Bowels, Moderation in 
Food of a nourishing light Sort, that is easily 
digested, as likewise in the use of strong 
Liquors; Exercise without Fatigue, such as 
Riding constantly in a pure, open Country 
Air, and Frictions and Motions of the Parts 
often repeated; going to Bed early, and ly- 
ing long in the Morning. 
It will be likewise necessary to restore the 
lost Vigour in the Bowels, by carrying off 
the corrupted Liquid flowing yet in the Ves- 
sels, or stagnating in the Places already as- 
sign'd. To the first relates the Us of aro- 
matick, bitter, antiscorbutick Plants, and 
chiefly the Juice with a little Honey; the use 
of lixivious fix'd Salts taken in small Doses, 
and often repeated for a long time together, 
observing at the same time the Diet as above 
directed. To the second (that is, the stag- 
nating of the Humours) will be useful, 1. 
Volatile Salts long taken and in small Quan- 
tities, in the Morning sometime before rising,
with 

460 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a large Draught of some softening Apo- 
zem, and thereby promoting a gentle breath- 
ing Sweat for about an Hour together. 2. 
Warm Frictions with dry Cloths. 3. Repeated 
Doses from time to time of such Medicines as 
purge serous or watery Humours, taking a 
gentle opiate Draught the same Night. 
In the Fit of the Gout, as temperate and 
as cool and diluent a Diet as the Patient can 
bear, abstaining from Opiates, except when 
the morbid Matter is separting, otherwise the 
constant Use of them is injurious; keeping 
the affected Part warm without the Applica- 
tion of Plasters, or Cataplasms; for even such 
as are emollient, weaken and relax too much. 
It will be of the greatest Importance to 
know if any Disease proceeds from a Trans- 
lation of the gouty Matter; for the Me- 
thods, especially Evacuations, used in an ori- 
ginal Distemper, would be very improper in 
a gouty Case, where the Intention must be 
to draw the Gout down to the Feet by Blis-
ters applied to the Thighs or Legs, and acrid 
inflammatory Cataplasms and Plasters. 
If a Person subject to the Gout, (except 
he has Chalk Stones) can bring himself en- 
tirely to a Milk Diet, he may by that means 
so change the whole Mass of the Juices of 
his Body, as to eradicate the Distemper.
The Effects
of Riding.
The English Hippocrates, Syden- 
ham, in recommending Riding in 
the Cure of this Distemper, says, 
that if a Medicine could be known to any 
one,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 461
one, and he could conceal it, that would be 
as effectual for the curing this Distemper as 
Riding on Horseback is; and not only here, but 
in most other chronical Diseases, he might get 
immense Riches by it. 
And Dr. Lister likewise says, 
that one single Golden Rule of Ab- 
stinence pleases me beyond all 
things, Parva cibatio summœ Curœ sit, viz.
Beware not to eat and drink too much, which 
is a thing every one ought to regard who has 
his Health at Heart; and this Abstinence is 
in all People's Power, in whatever State or 
Condition they are in, to be substituted in- 
stead of Exercise, when they have even lost 
the Use of their Feet. 
The Effects 
of Abstinence.
Of the Rheumatism.
This is a Distemper ally'd to the Gout and 
Scurvy, and is common in all the Northern 
Parts of Europe. 
Such are most subject to this Dis- 
ease as are of a sanguine Con- 
stitution, infected with some acrimonious De- 
fect, manly Age, plentiful Living, a sudden 
Cooling of a heated Body, Spring and Fall, 
Perspiration interrupted, an inflammatory 
Disposition, but appearing slower than in a 
Pleurisy. It begins with a continual Fever, 
causes a most terrible tearing Pain, increasing 
cruelly upon the least Motion, long continu'd 
and fix'd in one Place, seizing the Joints of 
Diagnosticks.
any


462 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
any Limbs, but most particularly trouble-
some to the Knees, Loins, and Rump-bone, 
tormenting and invading sometimes the Brain, 
Lungs and Bowels, with a Tumor and Red- 
ness of the Place, going off and returning 
again by Fits. 
The proximate 
Cause. 
The immediate Cause of this 
Distemper seems to be an Inflam- 
mation in the serous part of the 
Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries, and 
for that Reason affecting those Parts where 
the Vessels are the smallest, but not fierce 
enough to change it into an Impostumation. 
The Blood, as in other inflammatory Cases,
is sizy, the alkalescent Salts in the Serum a-
bounding with coreaceous or leathery Concre- 
tions. 
The Cure. 
The Cure consists in repeated 
Bleedings, cooling, repeated Purges, 
always allaying the Pain those Nights after 
purging with gentle Opiates join'd with mild 
Sudorificks, bathing in warm Water, and 
Fomentations apply'd to the Parts, and Bli- 
sters when it is obstinately fix'd in one Place. 
As for the Diet, it must be cooling, dilu- 
ting, and chiefly Vegetable. The constant 
Use of Whey is most effectual in rhis Disease, 
likewise a Milk Diet for changing the saline 
Constitution of the Serum of the Blood, is 
very useful and proper. 
Cream of Tartar taken either in Whey or 
Water-Gruel, for several Days together, will 
abate the Pains and Swellings considerably, 
by

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 463
by its Acidity correcting the alkaline Salts 
in the Blood. 
Of the Gravel and Stone. 
When any insoluble Matter stops in any 
Part of the Body, it gathers a Crust about it, 
which may grow into a Stone or stony 
Matter in any Part of a human Body; as a 
small Drop of concreted Blood may grow to 
be a Stone; for by the Evaporation of the 
most fluid Parts it grows hard, and by At- 
traction of new Matter it increases in Bulk. 
When these stony Concretions happen in 
the Kidneys, and are expell'd, or drop into 
the Ureters, they produce what is called Gra- 
vel; when they lodge and stick in the Body 
of the Kidneys, and grow to such a Bulk as 
not to drop into the Pelvis, or pass by the 
Ureters into the Bladder, they make the Stone 
in the Kidneys. But these Concretions hap- 
pen generally in the Kidneys and Bladder; 
and it is very certain, that if the Tartar and 
other Contents of the Urine were not con- 
stantly discharg'd, such Concretions would 
happen to all Mankind; for the Urine of 
most found Persons being inspected after it 
has stood a while with a Microscope, will 
discover a black Speck in it, which is Sand; 
and wherever this Sand sticks, it grows still 
bigger by the Apposition of new Matter.
The 

464 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The chief Signs or Symptoms of a Stone 
in the Kidneys are a fix'd Pain in the Region 
of the Loins, continually heavy like a Weight 
in the Substance of the Kidneys, with a 
kind of Numbness in the Part; but the Stone 
passing out of the Pelvis or Bason of the 
Kidneys into the Ureters, a most tormenting 
Pain follows, of all the most severe; an In- 
flexibility of the Back Bone, by the Exten- 
sion and Compression of the Nerves; a burn- 
ing Heat in the Loins, a Numbness of the 
Leg of the same Side, by means of the 
Nerves being affected; a Retraction of the 
Testicle for the same Reason; the Urine 
either bloody, upon any hidden Jolt or vio- 
lent Motion, or thin and watry, and little in 
Quantity; but after the Stone is fallen into 
the Bladder, the Urine presently becomes very 
thick, turbid, blackish, and in great Quan- 
tity. Fleshy Filaments, or Matter voided by 
Urine, are suspicious Symptoms of a Stone in 
the Kidneys, especially if the Patient has 
been subject to voiding of Gravel. 
The Symptoms of a Stone in the Bladder, 
are, a Titillation about the Neck of the Blad- 
der, and Parts thereabouts; a Sense of Weight 
in the lower Belly under the Share-bone, and 
the Region of the Groin; a perpetual Desire
of making Water, with a great Pain, espe- 
cially upon any hidden Motion, which causes 
a Concussion of the Bladder, a Dribbling dif- 
ficultly, and a hidden Suppression of Urine 
by the Stone's stopping the Orifice of the 
Bladder,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 465
Bladder, attended with great needing to go 
to Stool, and a burning Pain in the Urethra;
sometimes a white Mucus or Slime in the 
Urine; this may happen without a Stone in 
the Bladder: But the most certain Sign of all 
is, when it can be most certainly felt with 
the Finger in Ano, or by a Catheter. 
The Regimen in the Cure of the Stone in 
the Kidneys, is, by diluting and soft Diure- 
ticks, both medicinal and dietetical, to try 
to expel it, if it is small enough to pass; but 
if it is brittle, it will often crumble and pass 
in the form of Gravel by those Means: If 
the Stone is too big to pass, nor will not 
crumble, the only Method is to come to a 
sort of Composition or Truce with it, and 
use a cooling and diluting Diet constant- 
ly, to hinder, as far as possible, its Increase; 
to use Diureticks that resolve gently, as Pars- 
ley, Fennel, Scorzonera, Mallows, Tea, Dan- 
delion, Cichory, Sassafras, Oats, Barley, Honey, 
Vinegar and Honey; likewise nitrous Salts, 
and dulcify'd Spirit of Nitre; but the most 
soft and cooling Diluent of all is Whey, and 
the Emollients are Decoctions of Marshmal- 
lows and Linseed-Tea. 
Bathing in warm Water, and Glysters, are 
proper; seasoning the Food with Sea-salt 
moderately will not be amiss, for the mode- 
derate use of it is resolving and diuretick; 
and the Belly, in all Cases of the Stone, should 
be kept lax and open. In a confirm'd Stone 
in the Kidneys violent Exercise or Motion is 
dangerous. 
Gg While

466 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Stimulating 
Things not 
proper in the 
Beginning.
While the Stone is passing, we 
should avoid the Use of all forcing 
and stimulating Things at first; but 
relaxing and lubricating the Passages, 
and quieting the spasmodick Disorders by O- 
piates, is by far the safest and best Method; 
and where Bathing cannot be performed, Ox- 
bladders, half full of warm Water, constantly 
apply'd to the Part affected, may be very 
usefully substituted; and Bleeding takes off 
the Tension and prevents an Inflammation 
better than any Thing, and is therefore very 
necessary, especially when the Symptoms are 
urging and violent: When the Parts are suffi- 
ciently relaxed, forcing Diureticks joined with 
Opiates will be properly given. 
The best Way to prevent the Generating of 
a Stone, is to keep the Body open by Whey, 
Broth, and a liquid Diet, especially for all 
such as are troubled with Gravel. 
When the Stone is fallen into the Bladder, 
all Endeavours must be used to make it pass 
as soon as possible, otherwise if it should 
happen to continue there long, it would in 
Time become a large Stone, which nothing 
but the Operation could cure. 
If all the Symptoms abate without finding 
the Stone, it is not certain that it remains still 
in the Bladder, because a very small Stone 
may pass by Urine insensibly; and if the 
Stone has passed, it is not certain that the 
Affair is over, for there are often more Stones 
remaining, and therefore the usual Remedies 
ought not to be discontinued. 
When

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 467 
When the Stone stops in the Urethra, emol- 
lient Fomentations ought to be apply'd to the 
Parts, and Oil injected; or in Case of Extre- 
mity, an Instrument with a Cavity in it, dipt 
in Oil, may extract the Stone. 
Irritations in the Membranes of the Bladder, 
occasioned by a Stone, may be mitigated very 
much by an Injection of Linseed Oil, or that 
of Sweet Almonds into the Bladder.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing 
and Frictions. 
BATHING being either hot or cold, it 
will be necessary to enquire a little into 
the Nature of it, and what Alterations it 
produces in human Bodies, in order to know 
in what Cases and Constitutions the Use of it 
may be either beneficial or hurtful. There- 
fore I shall begin with Cold-Bathing, which 
was in the greatest Esteem with the Egyptians, 
Jews, Greeks and Romans, as evidently ap- 
pears by the Account given thereof in the 
Writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Pliny, Oribassius, Celsus, Ægineta, 
and others, needless to make mention of in 
this Place; But they who require to be fully 
satisfied as to that Point, may peruse Floyer 
and Baynard on Cold-Bathing, wherein they 
will likewise find a great many Instances of 
surprising Cures performed by Cold-Bathing 
Gg2 in


468 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Scurvies, Cachexies, 
Epilepsies, Gout, and Rickets, &c. 
It is experimentally known, that Cold 
contracts the Fibres, as I have observed in 
treating of the Qualities of Air, pag. 104. 
and the more suddenly it is applied to our 
Bodies, the more violently it operates: It has 
been likewise observed, pag. 87. that our 
Bodies undergo various Changes by the Al- 
terations of the Pressure of the Air, in its 
Weight and Elasticity: Now if we consider 
that Water is 800 Times heavier than Air, 
what Alterations must we not then expect
and be sensible of upon bathing or plunging all 
over into cold Water? For the Cold and 
Weight of the Water and Atmosphere acting 
all together, must consequently first brace up 
and straiten the Fibres and Vessels conside- 
rably in the Surface of the Body, and those 
Parts adjoining to it, and those at the Center 
the least and latest; so that the Blood will 
be forced in great Plenty upon the Viscera or 
Bowels, where there is the least Resistance: 
for which Reason it is never safe for those to 
bath who have weak or ulcerated Bowels, 
without endangering Life. 
But those Ends which are compassed by a 
greater Weight or Pressure, are more effec- 
tually obtained by whatever encreases the 
Weight of the Water, or contracts the Fibres 
of the Body: Thus Sea-Water, by reason 
of the Salt it contains, is heavier and more 
preferable; upon which Account all the 
Humours in the Body must be propell'd
with 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 469
with greater Force thro' the Vessels in which 
they circulate. Besides, the Tension of the 
Fibres being greater, their Vibration will be 
both quicker and stronger; so that the Blood 
and Spirits will not only move more swiftly 
through the Vessels, but also be much more 
ground and broken, digested and rendered 
fitter to pass the Glands and small Vessels: 
Moreover, as the Immersion into the Cold 
Bath mightily encreases the Blood in the Brain 
and Viscera, being forced thither where there 
is the least Resistance, whereby the Quantity 
of animal Spirits, of Urine, of Gall, of the 
pancreatick Juice, and of all other Secretions, 
will be very much encreas'd, these Humours 
being thrust forwards with greater Celerity, 
will probably remove any Obstruction that is 
not too long fixed and obstinate; for which 
Reasons, if we would have the Blood dis- 
solved, or any viscid Matter adhering to the 
Sides of the Vessels removed, or the Glands 
deterged, or a greater Quantity of Spirits se-
creted, and moved with greater Celerity thro' 
the Nerves, or would force Urine, or remove 
Obstructions in the Liver, Spleen, pancreatick 
and mesenterick Glands, if they are not grown 
too obstinate (in which Case it is very dange- 
rous) we should order Cold-bathing. In 
fine, whatever is to be effected by bracing the 
Solids, invigorating and quickening their Vi- 
brations, and accelerating the Blood's Motion, 
is with Certainty to be had from the Use of 
Cold-bathing. 
All Diseases therefore from a viscid Blood, 
Gg3 and

470 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
and a Lentor in the animal Juices (if the 
Elasticity of the Vessels is not worn out with 
Age and Debauches) will find Relief from 
this Practice. Besides, whatever Inconveni- 
ences proceed from a bad Perspiration, or 
when Humours are thrown upon the Surface 
pf the Body, which cannot get through the 
Skin, this Method will relieve; for upon 
Immersion the whole nervous System is so 
shook, that the very Capillaries feel the In- 
fluence, and the minutest Passages are forced 
open by an encreased Velocity of the circu- 
lating Fluids, whereby the Skin will be 
cleared, and instead of retaining gross and a- 
crimonious Humours in the cuticular Glands, 
will promote insensible Perspiration; and this 
is the Reason why People are so brisk and 
chearful after Bathing. 
And it is for the Reasons already given, 
that Cold-Bathing is proper in most cutane- 
ous Diseases, Scurvies, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, 
Rheumatisms, Lameness, Sciatica, Melancholy, 
Madness; some Palsies, Cachexies, Icteric and 
Hydropic Cases, before the Distempers be too, 
far advanced; it likewise stops Hæmorrhages, 
Gleets, Fluor Albus; and cures also venereal 
Impotency and nervous Disorders. 
Necessary Rules
to be observed
before Cold-
Bathing
1. To Bleed and Purge, and
use such proper Diet and Medi- 
cines, both before and after Bath- 
thing, as your Physician knows 
to be suitable to your Disease and Constitution. 
2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating, 
but cool; and not to stay in the Bath above 
two

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 471
two or three Minutes, as the Patient can bear 
it; and to go in and out immediately, on 
the first Bathing, after an Immersion of the 
whole Body, because staying in too long 
would relax the Solids too much, instead of 
contracting and strengthening them. 
3. To use the Cold-Bath before Dinner 
fasting, or in the Afternoon towards Four or 
Five o'Clock: It is dangerous to go in after 
great Drinking, or a full Stomach. 
4. To use Sweating with Cold-Bathing in 
Palsies, Rickets, and several Diseases affecting 
the Nerves with Obstructions. 
5. In Windiness or Siziness of the Hu- 
mours, no Sweating is necessary, nor where 
Bathing is used for the Preservation of Health, 
or the invigorating of the animal Spirits. 
6. Jumping in precipitantly, or throwing 
the Head foremost into the Cold-Bath, gives 
too violent a shock to Nature, and endangers 
too much the bursting some of the smaller 
Vessels; therefore the best Way is, holding 
by the Rope, to walk down the Steps as fast
as one can, and when got to the Bottom, 
bending the Hams to shorten their Length, 
so as to bring their Heads a good Way under 
Water, and then popping up again to take 
Breath; and thus alternately for two or three 
Times, and out again, rubbing themselves very 
well with a dry Cloth, before they are dress'd. 
They who have weak or little 
Heat, and are much decay'd, ought 
not to venture on Cold Bathing; nor 
they who are intemperate, and have 
Wherein 
Cold Bath-
ing is inju-
rious.
Gg4 eat


472 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
eat extraordinarily; because the Distribution 
and Consumption of an abundant Chyle being 
thereby stopp'd, must occasion Fevers or De- 
fluxions. 
If the Spirits are depress'd by Looseness, 
Vomiting, Venery, Watching, or any other 
Evacuation, we cannot well bear Cold Bath- 
ing; for the Spirits being weak, will be over- 
come by its Chilness. 
In the Fits of the Gout, Epilepsy, and in 
Inflammations of the Lungs or inward Parts, 
and in the Beginning of putrid Fevers, Iliac 
Passions, and the Gripes, Colicks, and dur- 
ing any Defluxion, Cold Baths are improper; 
for they hinder Expectoration, repell Pains, 
promote the present Defluxions, Fluxes, and 
Pains; but when these acute Diseases, or 
chronical Pains and Defluxions are ended, it 
may be safe and it is certain that Gout Pains 
are prevented by Cold Baths, and using to wash 
the Feet. 
Corpulency, unfound Viscera or Bowels, 
and inveterate Obstructions, forbid the Use of 
Cold Bathing; for first, in very fat Persons 
the Fibres are so stuffed round that they have 
not Room to vibrate or contract with the sud- 
den Squeeze of the Bath; and in unsound 
Viscera, or where any Part is much weaker 
than the rest, such an additional Force will 
press the Fluids upon that, very much to its 
Detriment, which may be either the burst- 
ing of the Vessels, or promoting the Discharge 
of some ill Humours upon that Part, which 
might otherwise drain somewhere else. 
in

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 473
inveterate Obstructions it is likewise improper, 
because the more violently the Fluids are pro- 
pelled, the more the Obstructions will be ri- 
veted and lock'd in. 
As the Pressure of Water is ren- 
dered more effectual by Cold, so its 
relaxing Power is augmented by a 
moderate Warmth; for a gentle Heat always 
relaxes the Fibres of our Body, it being plea- 
sing and agreeable to the Sense of Feeling. 
So that when we would have the Benefit of 
universal Relaxation, we ought to use a tem- 
perate Bath, which has only a mild Heat, 
like that of our Bodies, and is therefore less 
beneficial to cold Diseases, and less injurious 
to the Healthful, who use it chiefly to wash 
their Bodies, to temper the Natural Heat, 
and to take off Weariness. 
The Use
of Warm
Baths
But temperate Baths have many physical 
Uses besides Cleanliness and Pleasure, and are
observed to be beneficial in the following Cases. 
Tepid Baths moisten and warm; but if 
more hot, they heat and moisten less; they 
likewise open the Pores and promote a free 
Perspiration, and are proper in most Erup- 
tions and Foulnesses of the Skin, especially 
where the Obstructions will not yield to the 
Cold Bath; for they not only relax the Pores, 
but likewise dilute the obstructed Matter at 
the same time, in being absorbed by the cuti- 
cular Vessels. 
Warm Baths are proper in most scorbu- 
tick Habits, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Colicks, 
Gravel,

474 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Gravel, Costiveness, Gripes, Stiffness of the 
Joints and Muscles, and in most Cases pro- 
ceeding from an obstructed Perspiration. 
Temperate Baths are useful in all hot In- 
temperies, and are likewise proper in the bi- 
lious, viscid, or acrimonious State of the Blood: 
But they are injurious in Fevers, Inflamma- 
tions, and in all acute Diseases, especially be- 
fore the Concoction of the Humours. 
In using the Warm Bath, the Diet in ge- 
neral should be easy of Digestion, thin and 
diluting, and in many Cases sweating in Bed 
after warm Bathing is necessary; but in this 
and in other Circumstances which may occur, 
the Patient is to consult his Physician. 
The naturally hot Mineral Baths, such as 
that famous one at Bath in Somersetshire, 
are much more powerful in curing Diseases 
and removing Obstructions, than the Artificial; 
the Waters of the former being impregnated 
with balsamic, volatile, stimulating, and sub- 
astringent Particles, which the last can never 
have by any Art or Contrivance whatever. 
These natural hot Mineral Waters are 
like a Fomentation, which both supples and 
strengthens the Parts of the Body all over 
at once, and by gently shaking and undu- 
lating the Fibres, helps forward the vital Mo- 
tions, which are ready to be at a Stand. In 
old Pains and Aches, which have been the 
Remains of nervous Distempers, and where 
some particular Part continues contracted, or 
has any Humours fix'd upon it, which it can- 
not dislodge, these Waters pump'd upon it hot
from

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 475
from the Spring, do more towards a Cure 
than all the most efficacious Compositions of 
Medicines. 
Bathing all over in these Springs cannot but 
wonderfully open that almost infinite Number 
of secretory Orifices upon the Surface of the 
Body, and clear the cutaneous Ducts of the 
Matter which is apt to stick in them; by the 
opening of which Spiracula the Fluids of the 
whole Body have more Room to move in, and 
have proper Vents to reak out a great deal, 
which is of great Service to the Oeconomy to 
get rid of. 
These small Sulphur-Fountains likewise 
inwardly taken, to Astonishment warm and 
strengthen a decay'd Stomach, especially if 
relax'd and worn out almost with Luxury and 
Debauches: The most grievous Nauseas and 
Vomitings from these Causes have been re- 
moved by them: For they both soften again 
with proper Moisture the Fibres which have 
been render'd incapable to vibrate, by the Use 
of hot, burning, spirituous Liquors, and at 
the same time draw them into greater Tensi- 
ty; as a Cord which relaxes with over-drying, 
fills up and straitens upon the Contact and 
Attraction of a convenient Moisture. 
The small Share of fine Salt which likewise 
attends, and is as it were wrapped up in the 
Particles of Sulphur, cannot but contribute 
somewhat in restoring the Tone of such de- 
cay'd Parts. But besides the Benefit these do 
to the Stomach, they also carry along with 
them into the most remote Recesses of the 
Body


476 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Body, a Balsamic of Nature's own Prepara- 
tion; whereby such Decays in the Stomach, 
or in any of the Viscera or Bowels, from Ab- 
scesses, Ulcerations, or any like Causes, are 
with great Success reliev'd; and particularly if 
they be of the Kidneys and Urinary Passages, 
because they wash through them in more 
plenty, than where they come by the ordinary 
Course of Circulation. 
Of Frictions. 
Friction, or Rubbing with a Flesh-Brush, 
Cloth, Hand, &c. is, as it were, an alter- 
nate Compression and Relaxation of the Parts 
of the Body. A gentle Friction only com- 
presses the Veins; but by a stronger Degree, 
the Arteries are also compressed. By com- 
pressing the Veins by Friction, the Motion of 
the viscous Blood to the Heart is accelerated; 
hence the Motion of the Heart is roused: By 
which Means, the Blood is with greater Velo- 
city propell'd through all the Vessels. The 
vital Force may, therefore, be augmented to 
any Degree, by means of Frictions, without 
giving any Medicine internally; for by means 
of Frictions a burning Fever may be excited 
in the most dropsical Patients. 
In those Bodies where almost all the Or- 
gans of Digestion are so languid, as not duly 
to perform their respective Functions, Fric- 
tions with rough woolen Cloths over the 
whole Abdomen, or Belly, when the Patient 
is fasting, have been found to produce sur- 
prisingly happy Effects. Hence the Ancients
had 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 477
had Frictions in so great Veneration, not only 
for the Preservation of Health, but also for 
the Cure of Diseases, that the Grecians, Ara- 
bians, Romans, and Egyptians in general con- 
stantly practised that Method; and Galen 
wrote a whole Book, intitled de Frictionibus. 
Celsus likewise recommends the Usefulness of 
Frictions in his Works: But this Practice has 
been almost neglected among the Moderns 
till of late, and is now reviv'd again with no 
less Success than in former Days, tho' not so 
general; for it is experimentally known, that 
it will strengthen weak Limbs, and bring 
Nourishment to the Parts, and likewise cure 
the Rickets in Children, especially if Cold 
Bathing be used. 
Therefore I would recommend to all Mo- 
thers and Nurses, to rub the Back, Sides, 
Shoulders, Hips, and Limbs of their Children 
by a warm Fire Night and Morning, being 
very necessary to prevent Obstructions and 
Rickets, and to promote their Growth and Ac- 
tivity; and likewise to preserve their Limbs 
strong and straight. 
By Frictions a free and full Circulation and 
Perspiration may be usefully promoted; and 
this is performed by abiding Nature to throw 
off by Perspiration the Vapours and Recre- 
ments of the third Concoction, which are of- 
ten retained and pent in between the Scales of 
the Scarf-skin, as likewise in the Interstices 
of the outward Muscles and Membranes of the 
Body; so that by the Use of Frictions Nature 
is not only assisted in discharging by insensible 
Per-

478 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Perspiration those excrementitious Particles, 
which frequently hinder a full and free Cir- 
culation, but likewise Blood and Spirits are 
thereby attracted to those Parts mod remote 
from the Seat of Heat and Motion, by which 
Means also the natural Heat is increased, and 
the superficial Muscles are render'd plump and 
strong. 
Hence it is evident, that ancient People,
and such as have weak Nerves and lead a se- 
dentary Life, especially those who are subject 
to Numbness, Weakness, or Obstructions in 
their Joints, or are threaten'd with paralytick 
Disorders, in order to supply the Want of Ex- 
ercise of other Kinds, ought to have their 
whole Bodies, more particularly their Limbs, 
rubbed for half an Hour every Morning espe- 
cially, and at Night, with a Flesh-Brush, 
Flannel, or Napkin, till the Parts begin to 
grow red and warm. The Friction should 
be made first on the Arms, Hands, Feet, 
Legs, and Thighs, from whence we ought to 
proceed to the Shoulders, Back, and Breast; 
and the Head should be rubb'd the last of all. 
Among the Ancients there were Frictions 
of various Kinds, and subservient to different 
Purposes. Hence Hippocrates in his Treatise 
De Med. Offic. tells us, 'That Friction may 
'resolve, contract, incarn, diminish: Since 
'strong Frictions contract, gentle Friction 
'resolves, much Friction diminishes; and 
'moderate Friction condenses.' Any Part of 
the Body is render'd more lax, by being rub- 
bed with soft oleous Substances.
Nothing. 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 479
Nothing is more beneficial in curing a Weak- 
ness of the Fibres, than Frictions with rough 
warm woolen Cloths, especially if previously 
impregnated with the Smoke of burning Am- 
ber, or Mastick, that at the same time this 
aromatick and corroborating Steam may enter 
the relaxed Parts. But we are to proceed 
gradually in this Work, and not to use too 
strong Frictions at first; lest either the stag- 
nated Fluids in the preternaturally distended 
Vessels should be too copiously convey'd to the 
Heart, and by that Means overwhelm and 
suffocate it; or the tender Vessels should be 
broken by imprudently increasing the Motion 
of the Blood.
When the Ancients wanted to reduce exte- 
nuated Parts to their natural Situation, they sti- 
initiated and irritated these Parts so as to produce 
a gentle Inflammation and Swelling; for by this 
Means, the Humours being convey'd with a 
greater Impetus and a brisker Motion to the 
Parts, they distended the too rigid Vessels pro- 
portionably the more. By often repeating this 
Irritation, the top great Strength of the Ves- 
sels was so diminished, as to yield to the Hu- 
mours, which, in order to their good State of 
Health, must necessarily flow into them. 
Thus Galen, in the third Chapter of his fifth 
Book De Sanitate Tuenda, informs us, 'That 
'by Frictions with pinguious Substances, he in 
'a few Days restored the Flesh of many, who 
'had been for a long time emaciated.'
Hence Frictions with fat Substances are 
highly proper in these Cases, but only to such a 
Degree

480 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Degree as to excite a slight and gentle Redness 
of the Part; for when the Friction is violent, 
that which it attracts to the Part is discussed;
but, in this Case, a large Distension of the too 
strong Vessels is required. 
Galen, in the seventh Chap. of his seventh 
Book De Method. Medend. gives this Caution 
in the following Words: 'When, says he, we 
'intend to produce Flesh on any Part, we are 
'by Friction to heat it, so as to render it tu- 
'mid; but, when we intend to discuss and 
'evacuate, this Friction and Heat are to be 
'continued till the tumid Part subsides.' 
And in the sixteenth Chapter of his fourth 
Book De Method. Medendi, he tells us; 
'That it was customary with some to strike 
'emaciated Parts with slender Rods, slightly 
'anointed, till the Parts became moderately 
'tumid.' He also informs us, that by such 
a Percussion repeated daily, or every other Day, 
together with a moderate Friction or Stimulus, 
the diminutive and extenuated Buttocks of 
Children were wonderfully enlarged. 
Hence the Reason is obvious, why Friction 
sometimes produces opposite Effects; for a 
strong Friction with rough dry woolen Cloths, 
especially when impregnated with the Fumes 
of kindled Aromaticks, as I have observed be- 
fore, cures too weak Fibres; whereas a gentle 
Friction with pinguious Substances, by at- 
tracting the Humours, and relaxing the Solids, 
softens too rigid Fibres. 
FINIS. 

























A 
GUIDE to HEALTH
THROUGH THE 
Various Stages of LIFE. 
Wherein are Explained,
I. The different Degrees and 
Changes of Age, the prin- 
cipal and inevitable Causes 
of OLD AGE, and finally 
of our Dissolution; with 
a Chronological and Hi- 
storical brief Account of 
long LIVES from before 
the FLOOD to this present 
Time. 
II. The Nature, Properties, 
Qualities, and Influence of 
AIR. Of Aliments; the 
Choice of them; their 
Power upon Human Bo- 
dies, with their good and 
bad Effects. Of Sleeping 
and Waking; of Motion and 
Rest; of Retention and Ex-
cretion; and of the Passions 
of the Mind. 
III. Of the Definitions, Di- 
agnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
Curative Indications, both 
Medicinal and Dietetical;
of Acute and Chronical Dis- 
eases incident to Human 
Bodies; with the Nature 
and Use of BATHING and 
FRICTIONS.
The whole illustrated with useful ANNOTATIONS,
methodically and succinctly digested, and con- 
firmed by the Authority of the most celebrated 
Authors, both Ancient and Modern. 
By BERNARD LYNCH, M. D. 
Pugnandum tanquam contra Morbum, sic contra Senectutem. 
Crc. de Senectute 
Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi 
Prima fugit: subeunt Morbi, tristisque Senectus: 
Et labor. & duræ rapit inclementia mortis. 
VIRG. Lib. III. Georg.
THE SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON: 
Printed for M. COOPER in Pater-noster-Row. 1754. 




TO 
Dr. JOHN BEAUFORD. 
Sir,
THE Friendshlp you shew'd
gd me in the Infancy of my 
Practice has been too essen- 
tially useful to me ever to 
be forgotten; and it is with great 
Self-Satisfaction that I take this pub- 
lick Opportunity of acknowledg- 
ing the Obligations I lie under to 
you. My Interest in Town was not 
A2 only


iv DEDICATION. 
only strengthened and extended by 
the Share you were seen to take in it, 
but my Knowledge was enlarged by 
my Converse with you, and my Prac- 
tice was formed by my Observation 
of yours. 
I carefully examined the Modus 
of Practice here, of the most Emi- 
nent of the Profession, when I first
came to Town, intending to shape 
my own with that which should 
seem to me the most conformable to 
the Sentiments of the Great Hippo- 
crates; and finding none more na- 
tural and uniform than Yours, I took 
it for my Model, and have continued 
it ever since with all the Success I 
could hope for. 
The Profession of Physick is held 
in higher Esteem in this, than any
other Country in Europe; and no 
wonder; because none can produce 
so learned a Body of Physicians. But 
among that Body, more learned and 
skillful than any other in the World, 
your

v DEDICATION. 
Your long Experience, Sir, sets you 
in the first Class of it. This is a 
Truth unquestioned, not only by the 
Publick, but even by those of the 
Profession. 
You have a natural Right to the 
Patronage of the following Work, 
being founded chiefly on your own 
Maxims, and originally begun that I 
might have a publick Opportunity of
owning your Favours, and doing 
Justice to your Merit. How I have 
succeeded in the Choice and Con- 
texture of my Subject, I submit to 
the Publick with the utmost Defe- 
rence; but however I may have fail'd
in the Opinion of other learned Men, 
I have too often experienced your In- 
dulgence, not to flatter myself that 
you will view all Inaccuracy of Stile 
and Diction, and other as minute 
Imperfections, with your usual Can- 
dour and Good-nature. As for more 
capital Errors, I shall most readily
own and reform any such, and most 
A3 grate-

vi DEDICATION. 
gratefully thank any friendly Hand 
that shall be at the Pains of pointing
them out to me. I am, with the 
greatest Sincerity,
SIR,
Your obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant, 
Stanhope-street, 
June, 1744. 
BERNARD LYNCH.

(VII)
PREFACE. 
WHERE a Title-Page is so expres- 
sive of the Contents of a Book as 
the foregoing, a Preface might 
seem unnecessary; and I should 
think it so, if Custom did not 
seem to exact that a Bill of Fare should be 
serv'd up to the Company before they sat 
down to Table. To comply then with the 
Humour of this modern Tyrant, I must in- 
form the courteous Reader, that the sole End 
of my Labour was to inform the Uninform'd
and to erect such Lights as might help them 
to form such a Judgment of their own Con- 
stitutions, as should prevent their fancying
themselves in a worse State of Health than 
they are, and running after every Empirick, 
who pretends to the Knowledge of Catholi- 
cons, or universal Remedies. These are the 
Bane of all Societies; and tho' Quacks are 
soon detected, yet as the Succession of them 
is so very constant and rapid, the Commonal- 
ty for the most part, see not the Injury done 
to them, nor the Wrong they suffer. This 
is a Misfortune to be lamented, but diffi- 
cult to be removed, whilst Man is prejudic'd
A4 in



viii The PREFACE. 
in Favour of Novelty, and in Disfavour of 
the Regular Physician, who can't afford to 
bellow the Fruits of his hard Labours on the 
Public promiscuously. 
There is one Thing in the following Sheets 
which the Author owns to have labour'd more 
than any Part of his Subject, which is the 
Doctrine of Non-naturals, the Knowledge 
of which, he thinks, no reasonable Man who 
values his own Health should be ignorant of; 
and which he presumes to say, has been more 
obscurely treated heretofore, than it ought to 
have been, or indeed he believes it was de- 
sign'd it should be. 
In treating of acute and chronical Diseases, 
there are general Remedies, but except in one 
or two Occasions, such as the Bite of a mad 
Dog, and some Consumptions, there are no 
formal Recipes, which, it is found by Expe- 
rience, are generally productive of more Evil 
than Good. For the general Ignorance, I 
may say Infatuation, is such, that the Vulgar 
too often make material Mistakes in the Pre- 
paration of the most plain and simple Reci- 
pes. Besides, that as the Nature of Diseases and 
Constitutions is so various and different, not 
to mention the Climate, Air, Season, Age, 
and a thousand other differing Circumstan- 
ces, it would be too presuming for the Au- 
thor to take upon him to prescribe for every 
particular Distemper. He would not do so 
great a Wrong to the Illiterate, nor, to use 
the learned Boerhaave'ss Words, Would do 
any



ix The PREFACE. 
any thing so prejudicial to the noble and ge- 
nerous Science of Physick, or expose it to Re- 
proach, as they must inevitably do, who pre- 
tend to adapt a particular Remedy to gene- 
ral Diseases. 
Having mention'd the ever-famous and-to- 
be-rever'd Boerhaave, the Author takes this 
Opportunity of owning his Obligations to him, 
not only in his Practice, but in this Work 
particularly. He has all along kept that 
Great Man in his View, nor has he been un- 
mindful or neglected any other eminent Wri- 
ter in Physick, either ancient or modern. He 
has frequently quoted their Words, and al- 
ways endeavour'd to conform himself to the 
Sentiments of the most approv'd Authors. 
And that his Gratitude to all such great Men 
as well as Justice may be seen, he has an- 
nex'd a Catalogue of such Authors as he owns 
himself indebted to in the Compilation of 
the following Treatise, thinking this Method 
more orderly and eligible than a constant 
Quotation.
A



A LIST of the Authors. 
Ægineta, Paulus. 
Anhornius. 
Arbuthnot. 
Boerhaave. 
Boyle. 
Borelli. 
Baglivius.
Blondell. 
Bonetus.
Baynard. 
Boutius.
Barlow.
Celsus, Aurel. Cornel.
Celius Aurelianus.
Cheyne. 
Duretus. 
Diodorus Siculus. 
Default. 
Etmuller.
Floyer, Sir John.
Galen. 
Hippocrates. 
Hugens. 
Hales. 
Halley.
Hook. 
Keil.
Lommius.
Laurentius.
Leeuwenhoek. 
Lister.
Livy.
Malpighi.
Mead, Richard.
Morton.
Newton, Sir Isaac.
Oribassius.
Paree, Ambrose.
Prosper, Alpinus.
Pliny.
Quincy.
Ruyschius
Riverius.
Romer.
Rowning.
Ramazini.
Robinson, Tancred.
Solomon.
Sydenbam.
Seneca.
Sanctorius.
Suetonius.
Torricellius.
Van Helmont.
Verulam.
Willis.
Wainright.
Waldschmidius.
A



A
LIS of the SUBSCRIBERS. 
A.
ARundel, the Rt. Hon. 
Lord 
Arundel, the Hon. Tho- 
mas, Esq;
Aston, the Hon. James, Esq; 
Astley, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books 
Aston, George Joseph, Esq;
Andree, M. D. 
Addis, Mr. Apothecary 
Asbridge, Mr. 
Adean, Mr. James 
Allanson, William, Esq;
B.
Beaufort, His Grace the 
Duke of 
Butler, the Hon. John, Esq; 
Bartholomew, M. D. 
Bennet, Philip, Esq; Mem- 
ber for Bath 
Burnham, Mr. 
Boult, Mr. Attorney at Law 
Boudon, Mr. Apothecary 
Benion, Mr. Apothecary 
Beauford, John, M. D. 
Butler, M. D. 
Bodkin, Mr. Valentine 
Brown, William, Esq; 
Barrabee, Mr. 
Bird, Edward, Esq; 
Bostock, M. D. 
Beaumont, Mr. Apothecary 
Beetenson, Mr. Surgeon 
Brewerster, Tho. M. D. 
Brett, Mr. Nathanael 
Bernardeau, Mr. 3 Books
Bradshaw, James, Mr. 
Button, Mrs.  
Barwell, Mr. 
Bolney, Mr. Henry 
Blake, Andrew, Esq;
Blake, D. Esq; 
Barry, M. D. 
Buckeridge, the Rev. Mr. 
Thomas 
Bateman, the Hon. Capt. 
Boswell, Mr. Thomas 
Backas, Mr. Apothecary 
Betts, Mr. John 
Bostock, Mr. Henry 
Bradley, Mr. 
Boyle, Henry, Esq; 
Butcher, Mr. Apothecary 
Bannister, Mr. Charles 
Bower, Archibald, Esq;
Bridgen, Mr. Robert 
Bridgen, Mr. Thomas 
C.
Cavendish, The Rt. Hon.
Lord James 
Clarke, Mr. 




xii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS. 
Carrol, Mr. 
Corless, Mr. Alexander 
Carmault, Mr. 
Coleman, Mr. 
Constable, Mr. John 
Cary, Esquire, Surgeon. 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cibber, Colley, Esq; 
Caldwell, Mr. Robert 
Chittick, Mr. Surgeon 
Clempson, Mr. 
Coughlan, Mr. 
Cumming, Rev Mr. Wil- 
liam, A. M. 
Chettey, Mr. William 
Connel, Michael, M. D. 
Cooper, Mr. Apothecary 
Clarke, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books. 
Currer, Mr. Jun.
D. 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Frances Viscountess 
Dowager 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Bridget, Viscountess
Dowager 
Dawkins, Esq; Member for 
Woodstock 
Davis, Mr. William, Sur-
geon 
Dorrel, Mr. 
Daffy, the Hon. Capt. 
Draper, Mr. Apothecary 
Death, Mr. Apothecary 
Deschamps, Mr. 
Doyley, Mr. Edward, At- 
torney at Law. 
Delany, the Revd. Mr.
Duggin, Mr. John 
Dumbleton, Mr. Daniel 
Duggin, Mrs.
Davis, Mr. 
E. 
Ewer, Mr. 
Eliott, Mr. Apothecary 
Eyre, Mr. Edward 
Ebrall, Mr. Apothecary 
Emet, Mrs. 
Egan, Mr. 
F. 
Fairfax, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Viscountess 
Firebrace, Sir Cordell,Bart. 
Kt. of the Shire for Suf- 
folk  
Fisher, Mr. Thomas 
Fowler, Mr. Apothecary 
Foot, Mr. Asher, Apothe- 
cary
Firmin, Mr. 
Farrel, Mr. 
Francis, Mr. George 
Frazier, Mr. Apothecary 
Farrel, Mrs. 
Farrel, Mr. Apothecary 
Fort, Mr. Francis 
Firmer, Mrs. Hellena
Farrin, Mr. John 
Freeman, Samuel, Esq; 
Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
G. 
Graham, the Reverend Mr. 
3 Books 
Gammon, Mr. Robert, 
Apothecary 
Goodacre,




xiii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Goodacre, Mr. Apothecary 
Godfrey, Mr. Ambrose, 
Chemist 
Gardiner, Mr. Thomas 
Griffin, Mr. Philip 
Garvan, Francis, Esq;
Gibbon, The Rev. Dr. 
John 
H. 
Hemet, Mr. Operator for the 
Teeth to his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Wales 
Harrison, Mr. Apothecary 
Hoddy, Edward, M. D. 
Hodgson, Mr. Apothecary 
Hernon, Mr. Apothecary, 
4 Books 
Hudson, Mr. Apothecary 
Henley, the Rev. Mr. A. M. 
Harriott, Mr. Surgeon 
Hawkins, Mr. Barnaby 
H—M—Mrs. 
Harrow, Mr. Robert 
Hibber, Mr. 
Haward, Mr. Watkinson, 
Attorney at Law 
Hayrick, Mr. Apothecary 
Horseman, M. D. 
Hall, Mr. 
I. 
Jones, Mr. Tho. 2 Books 
Jayer, Mr. Apothecary, 2 
Books 
Izard, Mr. 
James, M. D. 
Jernegan, M. D. 
Jernegan, Henry, Esq;
K. 
Kilby, Robert, Esq; 
Kirwood, Mr. William, 
Surgeon 
Kingsley, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. 
King, Mr. Maynard 
Kitchen, Mr. 
L. 
Litchfield, The Rt. Hon. the 
Earl of 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
Lord Viscount 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
the Lady Viscountess 
Lynch, Sir Henry, Bart. 
Lynch, Robert, Esq; 
Lynch, The Rev. John. 
S. T. P. Dean of Can- 
terbury 
Lynch, George, M. D. 
Lynch, Robert, A. B. 
Lynch, Francis, Esq; 
Lynch, Mr. Nicholas 
Lynch, Mr. Isiodore 
Lynch, Mr. William 
Lynch, Mr. Thomas 
Lloyd, the Hon. Capt. 
Lyster, Mr. Apothecary 
Leake, Mr. 
Langley, Mr. 
L'Herondell, the Rev. Mr.
Lawley, George, Esq; 
Littlejohn, Alexander, Esq;
Lister, Richard, Esq; Kt. 
of the Shire for Salop 
Loukup, George, Esq; 
Lewis, Mr. 
Lucas, 




xiv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Lucas, Mr. Jeremiah 
Lane, James, Esq;
Lawson, Esq; 
M. 
Mannington, Mr. 
Monins, The Rev. Mr. Ri- 
chard, A. M. 
Middleton, Capt. Christo- 
pher, Esq; 
Maul, Mr. Apothecary 
Marshal, Mr. Surgeon 
Macdonough, D. D. 
Montague, Mrs. 
Morgan, Mr. Apothecary 
Mills, John, Esq; 
Maud, Mr. Apothecary 
Maud, Mr. William 
Monkeman, Mr. Attorney 
at Law. 
Manby, Mr. Apothecary 
Mann, Mr. Thomas 
Macket, Wilmer, Esq; 
Mills, John, Esq; 20 Books 
Martin, Thomas, Esq; 
Metcalf, Mrs. 2 Books 
Morehead, William, Esq; 
Maurin, Mr. 
Metcalf, Mr.Roger, Surgeon 
Mayfield, Mr. Thomas 
Mitchel, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchell, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchel, Mr. Francis, Sur- 
geen 
Macartey, Alexander, Esq;
Manley, Apothecary 
N. 
Nebot, Mr. Balthazar 
Nevil, Mr. John, Apothecary 
Noone, Mr. John 
Nesbit, Mrs. 
Nelson, Rev, Mr. Rector of 
Oakley 
O. 
Orton, Mr.
Oliver, Mr. Nicholas 
P. 
Parsons, Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. 
Pack, Mr. Daniel 
Pile, George, M. D. 
Pearson, Mr. 
Poulson, John, Esq;
Prude, Mr. Apothecary 
Palmer, Mr. Benjamin 
Popham, Edward, Esq; 
Member for Wilts 
Pakington, John, Esq; 
Pakington, the Hon. Capt. 
R. 
Rust, Mr. 
Rawlins, Mr. Apothecary 
Rossel, The Rev. Mr. Sa- 
muel 
Raikes, Mr. Apothecary 
Richardson, Mr. 
Radford, Mr. William 
Reynolds, Mr. Christopher, 
2 Books 
Robinson, Tancred, M. D. 
Rivett, Thomas, Esq; 
Raoult, Mr. Surgeon 
Rankin, Mr. Thomas 
Redfern, Mr. 
S.




xv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
S. 
Sweet, Mrs. Rebecca 
Street, Mr. jun. 
Scott, Mrs. 
Sadler, Daniel, Esq; 
Smith, Mr. 
Sedgwick, James, Apothe- 
cary 
Scrooby, Mrs. Elizabeth
Savage, Mrs, Anne 
Savage, Mr. George 
Savage, Mr. William 
Smith, Mr. Edward 
Sherwood, Mr. Noah, Sur-
geon 
Simmons, Mr. Edward 
SherifFe, Mr. 
Shepard, Mr. 
Smithson, William, M. D. 
Sams, Mr. Henry 
Smith, Thomas, Efq; 
Schamberg, Mayer, M. D. 
Schamberg, Isaac, M. D.
Seed, Mr. 
Shelton, Mr. Richard 
Stubbs, Mr. William, At- 
torney at Law. 
Snowden, Mr. 
Stuart, James, Esq;
Stuart, Simeon, Esq; 
Shaw, Mr. 
Smith, Mr. John 
Shipton, John, Esq; 
Stainforth, Mr, George, 
Merchant 
T. 
Tash, Mr. 
Thompson, Thomas, M. D.
Turbut, Mr. Benjamin 
Thompson, Francis, sen. 
Esq; 
Turnball, Mr. William 
Thomas, James, Esq; 
Thompson, John, Esq; 
Thompson, Francis, Esq; 
Turner, Mr.
Tonge, Mr. 
Trant, James, Esq; 
Trant, John, Esq; 
V. 
Venables, Mr. 
Vaughan, Mr. Attorney at
Law 
Umfreville, Edward, Esq; 
W. 
Wharton, Her Grace the 
Dutchess of 
Whiteall, Mrs. 
Wilton, Mr. 
Wilford, Mr. 
West, Lewis, Esq; 
Wilson, Edward, Merchant 
Williams, Mrs. 
Walker, Mr. 
Wilson, Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wells, Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wilson, Mr. Edward 
Webb, Thomas, Esq; 
Westby, Robert, Esq;
Wilmot, Mr. 
Z. 
Zincke, C. F. Esq; 
ERRA-

ERRATA.
Page 35. Line 17, after wholsome Food, add, probably
they might. 
Page 214. Line 21, for immediately read intimately. 

(xvii)
THE 
CONTENTS. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes of Age;
the principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age; 
and, finally, of our Dissolution; with a brief 
chronological and historical Account of long 
Lives, from the Creation to this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's Life,
with a Description and Definition of Old Age. 
OUR Bodies subject to 
Changes page 1 
Man's Life divided into se- 
veral Periods ib. 
The Egyptians Opinion of 
Ages 2 
The Pythagoreans Doctrine 
of Numbers ib. 
Five remarkable Changes in
Man's Temperament, viz. 
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood, and old Age ib
Temperament what, Note *,
ib.
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood described 3
Old Age begins at fifty, and
is divided into three Pe- 
riods ib. 
The first is called Verdant 3
The second begins at Seven- 
ty 4 
The third is called Decrepid
ib.
The Pains and Miseries of de- 
crepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Prophet ib. 
An allegorical Description of
decrepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Author, So- 
lomon 5 
The same explained 6 
Some Men old at forty 7 
A great many young at sixty
ib. 
The different Qualities of 
Constitutions ib.
a The

xviii The CONTENTS. 
The melancholick Constitu-       
tion grows old sooner than        
any of the rest—p. 8              
Females grow old sooner than      
the Males—ib.                     
Hippocrates's Opinion con-     
cerning the same—ib.              
Sloth and Idleness soon bring
on old Age—ib.                     
The Causes of different Tem-      
pers or Constitutions—ib.         
The Proportion of the Parts         
of the Body, and their Con-       
formation, contribute to the        
Difference of Constitutions       
9
The different Tempers of the  
Parts of the Body, in re-           
spect of one another—10            
Sexes and Age make a Diffe-         
rence in Constitutions ib.         
Women colder than Men—ib.          
Infants and Children hot and  
moist—ib.                          
Heat decreases in old Age—ib.      
Different Climates, and the         
Manner of living, are               
Causes of different Consti-
tutions—11
The Definition of Old Age—ib.
The same explained—ib.
The great Secret and sole
Method of long Life, is, 
to preserve the Blood and 
Juices in a due State of 
Fluidity and Thinness—12
Nothing will bring a Person
to the State of universal 
Hardness and Stiffness of
the Fibres, and a Viscosity 
and Thickness of the Juices,
than indulging in strong 
high Meats and strong Li-
quors—13 
The only Method of pro-
curing a contrary State of 
the Solids and Fluids—14 
All the Parts constituting a
human Body are made up 
of small Fibres—ib. 
The Divison of the Fibres 
becomes so small at last, as 
to exceed the Power of
Imagination—15
CHAP. II
The principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age, and 
of our Dissolution. 
The Causes of the Alteration 
of our Bodies, and of our 
Dissolution, are either ex- 
ternal or internal—16 
The internal Causes are two—ib. 
The internal Causes what—ib.
The Principles of our Com- 
position what—17 
Animal Actions distinguish- 
ed into vital, natural, and 
animal—ib.
Vital what—ib. 
Natural actions what—ib. 
Animal Functions what—ib. 
The Principles of our Com- 
position being duly distri- 
buted through the whole 
Body, may be called an E- 
quilibrium between the So- 
lids and Fluids—18
Their Alliance is of short 
Duration, and why—ib. 
The






xix The CONTENTS. 
The inevitable Causes of 
Old Age, and of our Disso- 
lotion—p. 19 
Farther Particulars necessary 
to be considered to prove 
the same, concerning the 
Nutrition, Growth, and De- 
crease of the Body—ib. to 28 
The internal Causes of our 
Dissolution are born, grow, 
and are nouristied with us, 
and will bring on gradually 
and inevitably old Age, and 
destroy the Body at last—28 
All the great Promises made 
with Assurance, as to the 
Prolongation of Life for 
many hundred Years, are 
vain and imaginary, being 
unsupported both by Rea- 
son and Experience—ib. 
External Causes of our Disso- 
lution, which are likewise 
inevitable—ib. 
Other external Causes, which 
are accidental, as Wounds, 
Fractures, &c.—29 
CHAP. III.
An historical Account of Long Lives, from the 
Creation to the present Time. 
Men lived many hundred 
Years before the Flood—30 
None of the Fathers attained 
to the Age of a thousand—ib. 
This Length of Life was not 
peculiar to Grace or the 
holy Line only—ib. 
There are eleven Generations 
of the Fathers to the Flood 
31 
Of the Sons of Adam by Cain, 
eight Generations only—ib. 
The Length of Life was re-
duced to one half imme- 
diately after the Flood, in 
the Post-nati only—ib. 
Noah and Sem, who were 
born before the Flood, 
each of them liv'd 600
Years—ib. 
Of the Ages of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Ismael, and Sarah 
ib.
Of Joseph, Levi, Moses, Aaron, 
and Phineas, Grand-child 
of Aaron—32
Of Joshua, Caleb, and Job—33
Of Isaiah the Prophet, and 
Tobias the Elder and the 
Younger—34
Of Epimenides the Cretan, and 
Xenophanes the Colophonian 
36
Of Gorgias the Sicilian, and 
Democritus of Abdera—37 
Of Terentia, Cicero's Wife—39 
Of Simeon the Son of Cleophas, 
called the Brother of our 
Lord, and Bishop of Hie- 
rusalem; and Aquilla and 
Priscilla, St. Paul's Fellow- 
helpers—42 
Of St. Paul the Hermit, and 
St. Anthony the Monk—43 
The Popes of Rome, and their 
Number to this Time—44. 
Dando of Illyrinm, reported 
to have liv'd 500 Years—45 
Hippocrates of Cos, the Prince 
of Physicians, Euphrenor 
the Grammarian Seneca and
a2 Joannes




xx The CONTENTS. 
Joannes de Temporibus, a 
Native of France p. 46 
Of Cornaro the Venetian, and 
William Postell, a crazy 
Frenchman 47 
The surprizing Age of Henry 
Jenkins, a Yorkshireman ib.
Of Thomas Parr, a Shropshire- 
man 48 
Francisco Lupatsoli, Venetian 
Consul at Smyrna 49 
Remarkable Instances of Ab- 
stemiousness, Continency, 
and many other Virtues in 
the Life of Aurenzebe, one 
of the late Great Moguls 
ib. to 52 
Richard Lloyd, born within 
two Miles of Montgomery 
ib. 
John Bailes of Northampton 
53 
The Western Islands of Scot- 
land remarkable for long 
Lives ib. 
Mrs. Hudson's abstemious Life 
described ib. 
Mr Johnston's Life 54
A remarkable Inscription on 
the Tomb-stone of Mar- 
garet Scot, who liv'd 125 
Years ib. 
Of Margaret Paten's great 
Age 55 
—Bright, of Ludlow in 
Shropshire, likewise ib. 
Mrs. Agnes Milbourn's long 
Life, very remarkable for 
the great Number of Chil- 
dren she had by one Hus- 
band ib.
Instance manifestly proving
Milk to be of salubrious,
safe, and sweet Nourish-
ment ib. 
Temperance and a cool Diet 
are absolutely necessary to 
the Prolongation of Life 
56
Man' Life has stood much a- 
about the same Standard 
of Years, from the Time of 
Moses to our Days ib. 
The Continuation and Num- 
bers of Successions of Ge- 
nerations make nothing as 
to the Length or Brevity of 
Man's Life ib. 
People live longer when the 
Times are barbarous, and 
they fare less deliciously, 
and are more given to Bo- 
dily Exercises; but shorter 
in civiliz'd Times, People 
abandoning themselves to 
Luxury and Ease ib. 
The great Abridger of Age 
was undoubtedly the De- 
luge 57 
There were Men of Gigantick 
Stature before the Flood; 
but no such have been pro- 
duced any where since ib. 
The immediate Condition of 
the Parents conduces very 
much to the Length or 
Shortness of the Life of 
their Offspring 58 
The best Rule is to use mo-
deration in all things 59
Conjugal Love more condu- 
cive to Health and long 
Life than an unlawful one 
ib. 
The best Time for Genera- 
tion ib. 
PART


xxi The CONTENTS.
PART II.
Introduction to the Six Nonnaturals.
CHAP. I.
Of the Nature of Air.
Air defin’d—p. 60 
Air the principal Instrument
of Nature in all its Opera- 
tions—62
The Lower Parts of the Air
are impregnated of particles
ib.
Air is differently impregnated
in different places of the 
Surface of the Earth, which
must considerably alter its
State—ib.
Water, Earth, and Salts of
all Kinds, are Ingredients
of Air—63
Other Contents of Air—ib.
Vegetables of all Kinds per-
spire Particles, which float
in the Air—64
Animal Perspiration and the
Effluvia of all their other
Excrements, are Ingredi-
ents of the Air, which of-
ten infect that Part of the
Atmosphere, and produce
pestilential Disease—ib.
Doctor Hale's computation
of Animal Perspiration, and
how it may infect the Air—ib.
The Air in great populous
Cities, in Camps, or near
Numbers of dead Carcasses,
in a hot fultry Season, may
be infected so far as to dis-
posed the People to putrid
and malignant Fevers—6;
the Inhabitants of Countries
where great Numberss have
been slain in Battle, and
left unburied, were soon
after infested with pestilen-
tial Distempers—ib.
Several Instances to prove the 
same—66
It is of the utmost Consequence
to every one, to take care
what kind of Air they live
in—ib.
The first Consideration in 
building Houses and Cities
67
All high Hills and Mountains
are damp, and Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for
Reservoirs of Rain-water—ib.
Rain the Origin of Rivers,
and Fresh-water Springs—ib.
Dew is not mere Water, but
a Collection of watry, oily,
faline and volatile Sub-
stances exhaling from the
Earth—68
Dews of different Places are
of a different Nature—ib.
Why Air soon corrodes the 
Bricks and Tiles of House,
and rots the very Hangings
of Rooms in some Coun-
tries—69
Air in some Places impregnat-
ed with arsenical Steams—ib.
The Steams of Sulphurs and 
Charcoals extremely per-
nicious to human Bodies—ib.
a3 Sul-






xxii The CONTENTS.
Sulphureous Vapours infest 
Vegetables, and render the 
Grass pernicious to Cattle 
70 
How the sulphureous Steams 
and Vapours of Mines affect
the Miners—ib. 
Why Diseases are more fre- 
quent and more dangerous 
in Cities than in the Coun- 
try—ib.
Why the close and confin'd 
Air of Prisons, Bays, and 
Harbours, often produces 
mortal Diseases—71
To what the great Mortality 
that is so often in Camps, 
and Sieges, is chiefly owing 
ib. 
Infects and their Eggs often 
float in the Air we breathe 
in—ib. 
Why Infects floating in the 
Air are often the Cause of 
many grievous Diseases—72 
There are Showers of Rain 
sometimes in Africk, affect- 
ing the Inhabitants with 
Shivering?, a ltd Infects 
found in the Drops of these 
Showers—ib. 
Air in most Places contains 
near the same Quantity of 
Water—73 
All the different Ingredients 
of the Air are digested and 
attenuated ly the Heat of 
the Sun, and constantly agi- 
tated by Winds, which mix 
the Air of different Regions 
together—74 
The particular Causes of 
Thunder and Lightning—ib. 
The wonderful Effects of 
Lightning—75 
The Opinion of Philosophers 
upon these strange Effects 
ib. 
A Thunderbolt what, Note * 
ib.  
The Rays of the Sun are the 
true Cause of infinite varie- 
ty of Ingredients contained 
and floating in the Air—77 
Light is not above ten Minutes 
in passing from the Sun to 
the Earth—ib. 
The Earth is 10,000 of its 
own Diameters distant from 
the Sun—ib. 
The Velocity of Light to that 
of a Cannon Ball, will be 
as 25 Years to 10 Minutes 
ib. 
The Effects of the Rays of 
the Sun collected in the Fo- 
cus of a burning Glass upon 
Gold, which is unalterable 
by any artificial Fire—ib.
The Rays of the Sun are ca-
pable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies,
small Particles lighter when 
separate than the least com- 
pounding Particle of Air 
78 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of Air. 
The Properties of Air what 
p. 78 
Galileus was the first Lisco- 
verer of the Gravity of Air
79
The specifick Gravity of Air 
according to Sir Isaac New- 
ton and Dr. Halley—ib. 
Specifick Gravity what—ib. 
Note *





xxiii The CONTENTS. 
Air may possess a Space 520, 
000 times greater at one 
time than another 80 
The Specifick Gravity of the 
Air cannot be exactly de- 
termined ib. 
Air readily enters into the 
Vessels of Animal Bodies 
82
The same Thing happens in 
Vegetables and Liquids 83 
The Globules of the Blood 
contain Air 85 
Elasticity is a Property in Air 
which it never loses 89 
The Solids and Fluids of Ani- 
mals contain more Air in 
them in Proportion than 
any other Substances—90 
Fluidity is a Property in Air 
which cannot be destroy'd
91  
Air a Fluid in constant Mo- 
tion 92 
The difference between Flui- 
dity and Liquidity ib. 
Air is compressible and dila- 
table 93
Divisibility a Property of Air 
94 
CHAP. III.
Of the Qualities of Air. 
The Qualities of Air what 
95 
Heat is a Quality relative to 
our Senses 96 
The Spirit of Wine in Weather- 
Glasses is affected with the 
least Alerations of Heat or 
Cold 97
Why Languid and Hysterick 
People suffer in hot Wea- 
ther ib 
Excessive hot Air capable of 
reducing animal Substances 
to a State of Putrefaction 
98 
Dr. Boerhaave's Experiment 
upon a Sparrow and a Dog
ib.
Perspiration what 99 
Air not cool'd by the Motion 
of Winds 102 
Great Mischief arising from 
keeping the Air of the 
Rooms of People in Fevers 
too hot 103  
Cold condenses the Air in Pro- 
portion to the Degrees of 
it 104 
Cold suppresses Perspiration 
105 
The fatal Extremities of Cold 
in Greenland ib. 
The Effects of extreme Cold 
or extreme Heat 106 
The Effects of moist Air ib. 
Dryness, a Quality in Air 
producing different Effects 
to those of moist Air 109 
The Doctrine of absorbing 
Air thro' the Pores of the 
Skins of living Creatures 
demonstrated 111 
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of Air upon human Bodies. 
Hippocrates knew more of the 
Influence of Air than all 
his Predecessors and Suc- 
cessors 113 


xxiv The CONTENTS. 
Hipocrates's Advice concern- 
ing Air—ib. 
—Could foretell the 
Diseases from ths Weather 
115
The Affair of Generation is 
influenc'd by Air—116 
The different Shapes, Com- 
plexion, and Tempers of 
Mankind influenc'd by Air 
117
The different Forms of Go- 
vernment, and even the 
Courage of People, is ow- 
ing to the Influence of Air 
ib.
Air the Cause of most Dis- 
eases—118 
Astronomy useful in Physick 
119 
The Constitution of the Air 
according to Hippocrates 
120
Dr. Arhuthnot's Explanation 
of Hippocrates and others, 
concerning the Influence of 
Air—124  
The whole Constitution of 
the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends upon 
Air—147  
What we are to do when the 
Air is corrupted—148 
What regards ancient People 
concerning Air—ib. 
CHAP. V. 
Of Aliments in general. 
The first Stage of Digestion, 
and how it is perform'd 
150 
The second Stage of Diges- 
tion—155 
The most subtil Parts of the
Food pass immediately in- 
to the Blood by the absor- 
bent Vessels of the Inte- 
stines—156 
The last Stage of Digestion
161  
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of Aliments. 
All Animals are made either 
immediately or mediately 
of Vegetables—p. 164 
Vegetables consist of Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, and 
Earth—165
Of different Tastes—ib.
Of the properest Food of the 
vegetable Kingdom.—166 
Of the Qualities of Barley, 
Wheat, Oats, Rice, Rye, 
Millet, Panick and Maise 
167 
Of Peas, Beans, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricocks, Plumbs, 
and Mulberries—168, 169 
Of Gooseberries, Currants, 
Cherries, Strawberries, O- 
ranges. Citrons, Limons, 
Grapes and Figs—170  
Of Quinces, Pomegranates, 
Tamarinds, Capers, Olives, 
Almonds, Walnuts, Hazle- 
Nuts, Chesnuts, Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and 
Melons—171 
Of Pot-Herbs—172
Of Artichokes, Asparagus, 
Parsley, and Celery—ib. 
Of Spinage, Beet, Sallads, 




xxv The CONTENTS. 
Potatoes, Turnips, Car- 
rots, Parsnips—173 
Of Garlick, Onions, Rock-  
ambole, Shalot, Leeks, 
Radishes, Horse-radishes, 
Cresses, Mustard, Truffles,
Morelles, and Mushrooms 
174 
Of Marjoram, Basil, Savory,  
Thyme, Rosermary, Sage 
175  
Of the Qualities of Tea, 
Coffee, and Chocolate—175, 
176, 177, 178
Animal Food more nourish- 
ing than Vegetable—ib. 
Animal Diet is anti-acid—179
Animal Flesh differs accord- 
ing as the Animal is terre- 
strial, aquatick, or am- 
phibious, and Fishes abound 
with more alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial animals 
ib.
The only Way of having 
found and healthful animal 
Food—180
The Flesh of Animals too 
old, unwholsome—181 
Salt Fish produces gress Hu- 
mours, and bad Juices—ib. 
Why the Flesh of wild Ani- 
mals keeps longer uncor- 
rupted than that of tame 
ones—182
Flesh boiled, wholsomer for 
weak Stomachs than roasted 
ib. 
Why Meats bak'd or fry'd,
are bad—183
Of Lamb, Veal, Kid, and 
Beef—ib.
Of Mutton, Rabies, young 
Hares, Pork and Bacon 
184
Of Brawn, Deer, Cream,
Butter. Marrow and Cheese 
185 
Milk, a most noble, nourish- 
ing, and wholsome Food 
l66 
A proper Diet for Women 
that give suck, or Nurses 
187 
Whey, good for hot Consti- 
tutions and Scurvies 188 
How to know the different 
Nature and Qualities of 
Birds or Fowls in general 
ib.  
Of Duck, Capon, Pigeons, 
Pheasants, Pullets, and 
Geese—189 
Of Turkey, Partridges, Plo- 
vers, Blackbirds, Larks, 
Sparrows, Peacocks, and 
Starts—190 
Of Thrushes, Quails, Turtle 
Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, 
and all other long-billed 
Birds—191
Of Fish in respect of Flesh, 
and why it is in general 
hard of Digestion ib. 
General Rules concerning Fish
192 
Of Eels, Carp, Lampreys, 
Pike, and Sturgeon—193 
Of Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, 
Turbut, Soles, Place, 
Perch, Tench, Gudgeons, 
and Smelts—194. 
Of Flounders, Salmon, Trout, 
Cod-fish, Haddock, Skate, 
Thornback, Barbel, Mac- 
karel, Herrings and Sprats
195, 196 
Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity 
are lightest of Digestion. 
ib. 
The larger and bigger the 
Vege-




xxvi The CONTENTS. 
Vegetable, or Animal is 
in its Kind, the Food made 
thereof is the stronger, and 
harder to be digested 197 
Sea Fish or Animals harder to 
be digested than Land Ani- 
mals 198
Vegetables and Animals a- 
bounding with oily, fat,
and viscid Substance, are 
harder to digest than those 
of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance ib. 
Of the Nature and Effects of 
Rock and Sea Salt 199 
Of Honey, Oil and Vinegar 
201, 202  
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bodies, with 
their good and bad Effects. 
Aliment what 203 
The Art of preserving Health 
consists in a Mediocrity of 
Diet 204
Substances which stimulate 
the folid Parts, produce 
the greatest Alterations in 
animal Bodies. 205 
The solid Parts of animal 
Bodies may be contracted 
variously by Diet 206
The more sulphurous or chy- 
mical Oil any Spirit con- 
tains, the more destructive 
it proves to the Constitu- 
uon, as Rum and distill'd
Spirits of Annifeeds, &c. 
ib.
Austere acid Vegetables have 
a Quality of contracting, 
and strengthening the Fi- 
bres without a great many 
of the bad Effects of di- 
stilled Spirits 207 
Warm Water the best Liquid 
for relaxing the Fibres ib.
How the Qualities and Quan-
tity of the Fluids of a hu- 
man Body may be chang'd 
by Diet 208 
Acrimony or Sharpness is not 
natural, but introduc'd into 
the Fluids of animal Bodies 
either by Food or Sickness
210 
The Juices of found Animals 
consist of Salts of a pe- 
culiar Nature, neither quite 
fix'd, nor quite volatile, 
nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline ib. 
Acrimony in the Blood con- 
sists of three Sorts, acid, 
alkaline, and muriatic or 
briny 211  
The proper Diet for the Cure 
of the acid Acrimony 212 
The Diet proper in the alka- 
line and briny Acrimony 
ib. 
Several Sorts of Antiscorbu- 
ticks proper in an alkale- 
scent State of the Fluids 
213 
Drink, an essential Part of 
our Food, and the chief In- 
tentions of it 214. 
Pure Water answers all the 
Intentions of Drink, best 
of any Liquor ib. 
The Usefulness of Water for 
the Purposes of human 
Life 215 
Water the best and most 
wholsome


xxvii The CONTENTS. 
wholsome Drink in gene- 
ral, some few Cases ex- 
cepted—ib.
Of Malt Liquors—216
Of strong Beer—ib. 
Of the Nature of fine Ales, 
or Home-brew'd, and how 
they are fin'd, which is 
pernicious, if not poison- 
ous to Health—ib.
Yorkshire, Nottingham, Welch,
and all fine Ales brew'd 
for Sale, destrudlive to 
Health—217
The frequent Use and Excess 
of distilled spirituous Li- 
quors, is become a Vice of 
so shocking a Nature among 
the People in general—ib.
The poisonous Qualities of di-
stilled Spirits consider'd—218
The direful Effects of the fre- 
quent Use of Dram-drink- 
ing explain'd—219 
The great Calamity of Dram- 
drinking farther consider'd 
220  
Next to Drams, no Liquor de- 
serves to be stigmatized and 
more detested than Punch 
ib.  
The principal Ingredients of 
Punch separately consider'd 
221 
When a Cordial may be use- 
ful 222 
A Sot the most contemptible 
Character in human Life—ib. 
The melancholy Effects of
Drunkenness explain'd—223 
A short Account of different
Wines in general—224 
Strong made Country Wines 
prejudicial—225  
The Conclusion, concerning 
Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors—ib. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, and the Diet proper for 
each. 
A general Method as to Diet, 
without Regard to parti- 
cular Constitutions absurd 
226 
Enumeration of the several 
Sorts of Constitutions 227 
Qf the Debility of the Fibres
ib.
The Causes and Signs of weak 
and lax Fibres assign'd—228
A Regimen for those of weak 
fibres—229 
The Effects of too rigid a 
state of the Fibres—230
Rigidity what, and likewise 
the Signs of such a consti- 
tution—ib.
The Regimen in such a State 
231 
The Definition, Cause, and 
proper Diet of plethorick 
Constitutions—232  
Of sanguinecus Constitutions 
and their Diagnostick Signs 
233 
The Diet proper for such Con- 
stitutions—235 
A saline Constitution of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, is 
either acid, alkaline, muria- 
tick, or briny—ib. 
Of acid Constitutions and their 
Effects—236 
Of Constitutions subject to an 
alkaline Acrimony—237



xxviii The CONTENTS. 
The Causes and Symptoms of 
such Constitutions—238, 239 
The Regimen for such—240 
The Causes and proper Diet 
for the muriatick or briny 
Scurvy—ib. 
Of phlegmatick Constitutions, 
their Causes, Signs, and 
proper Diet—241, 242 
Of fat or oily Constitutions, 
their Causes, Symptoms and 
proper Diet—243, 244, 245
Of atrabilarian or melancholy 
Constitutions, their Signs, 
Causes, Effects, and proper 
Diet—246 to 250 
The grand Secret of Health 
consists in keeping an Equi- 
librium between the Solids 
and Fluids—ib. 
Aphoristical Rules of Diet in 
the various Stages of Life 
251 to 258
CHAP. IX.
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
Sleep, what—258 
The Use, Benefit, and Causes 
of Sleep—261 
The natural Cause of Sleep 
263 
The Effects of two much 
Watching—ib. 
Late Meat suppers prejudicial 
to Health—264 
The Effects of too much 
Sleep—266 
Of sleeping in the Day-time, 
or after Dinner—267 
The ordinary Time allowed 
for Sleep—268 
The properest Time for sleep- 
ing 268 
Nothing more pernicious to 
the Constitution, than 
watching by Night and 
sleeping by Day—ib. 
Rules to be observ'd in regard 
to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed—270 
CHAP. X.
Of Motion and Rest.
The use of Motion and Rest 
271 
The Necessity of Motion 
or Exercise mechanically 
proved—273 to 282
Of the Effects of Musick—283
Its wonderful Effects in cur- 
ing the Bite of the Taran- 
tula, Note *—ib. 
The Effects of too much
Rest—286
The absolute Necessity of La- 
bour and Exercise for the
Preservation of Health far- 
ther consider'd—ib. 
The bad Effects of too much 
Labour or Exercise—287 
Of general Exercises—ib. 
Riding of all Exercises the 
best—ib.  
Of particular Exercises ap- 
propriated to certain Parts 
of the Body—28  
Conditions to be observ'd what
regard to Exercise—29
CHAP. 



xxix The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of Retention and Excretion.
What Things are to be ex- 
creted or evacuated, and 
what retain'd—291 
The Cause of costive Stools 
292
The best Proportion of the
gross Evacuations to the 
Quantity of Food taken in 
ib. 
Purging Stools how they dis- 
cover the Badness of the 
Regimen we use—293 
The Reason why Mercury 
will purge instead of sali- 
vating—294 
That the same Reason will 
make appear why Restrin- 
gents and Opiates prove
purgative—ib. 
A dangerous Mistake in rear- 
ing up Children—ib. 
Loose and purgative Stools 
discover intemperate Eat- 
ing—295 
The Mischief arising to Hy- 
sterical and Vapourish Peo- 
ple, by perpetually cram- 
ming and gobbling the 
richest and strongest Food, 
and highest Cordials—ib. 
The common Cause of Head-
Aches, Stomack-Aches, 
and Colicks—296 
The right Method of bracing
relax'd Nerves—ib. 
An uncommon Evacuation 
both by Stool and Urine, 
and the Causes of it—297 
Urine, and what it con- 
sists of—299 
Unite of a bright Amber Co- 
lour the best—300 
The Effects of Urine too long 
retained—ib. 
The Effects of too great an 
Evacuation of Urine—301 
Of the different Tastes, Smell, 
Colour, and Quantity of 
Urine—ib.
Of high-colour'd, foul, and 
turbid Urine—302
Of dark-brown, or dirty red- 
colour'd Urine—ib. 
Of bloody, mattery, or whey- 
ish Urine—303 
Obstructed Perspiration the 
Cause of most acute Di- 
seases, and the Effect of 
chronical ones—ib.
Catching of Cold what, and 
how dangerous—ib. 
A present, easy Remedy a- 
gainst it—304 
Certain Indications of Per- 
spiration's being deficient 
or obstructed, with Direc- 
tions how to remedy the 
same—ib. 
The Semen what, and the 
Effects of moderate Coition
305 
Immoderate Coition and its 
bad Effects—306 
The Menses a necessary Eva- 
cuation, and what,—307 
Of Sweat and the Nature of 
it—308 
Sweat different from insensible 
Perspiration—ib. 
Of the Saliva, or Spittle, and 
the Use of it—309 
Of Tobacco and its Effects 
310 
Of the Mucus or Snot, and 
Tears—311
Of Ear Wax and its Use—312 
CHAP. 

xxx The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
The Essence and Causes of 
the Passions not consider'd, 
but their Effects and Influ- 
ence upon Human Bodies 
312
The Manner how the Mind 
operates upon the Body 
313 
How the Passions of the Mind
consume the Spirits and 
disorder the Body—ib. 
Joy and Anger render 
Body lighter—314
Fear and Sorrow increase the 
Weight of the Body—315 
The Passions to be consider'd
as physical Agents ib. 
An Enumeration of the chief 
Passions of the Mind—ib. 
Of Love (properly distinguish
ed into three Kinds) and 
its Effects—317 
Of Hatred and its Effects—320 
Of Shame, Hope, Despair, 
and their Effects—321
The Passions are properly di- 
vided into acute and chro- 
nical—323 
The Effects of acute Passions 
ib. 
The Cause of Blushing—ib. 
The Cause of Sighing—324 
The Effects of the Suddenness 
of the Passions when ex- 
treme—ib.
Of chronical Passions—ib. 
The Effects of chronical Pas- 
sions—325  
The Passions have a very great 
Influence upon Health—ib. 
The Advantages of Spiritu-
al Love with regard to 
Health—326 
It banishes all those Vices 
winch must ruin Health, 
and gives continual Joy and 
Serenity, inseparable from 
Health—ib.  
The Conclusion—327 
PART III. 
CONTAINING, 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
curative Indications both Medicinal and Dietetical 
of acute and chronical Diseases; with the Nature 
and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
The Introduction—329 
CHAP. 

xxxi The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. I. 
Of Fevers, both in general and particular. 
A Fever, what—333 
Sydenham's Definition—ib. 
Boerhaave's Sentiments—ib. 
The Symptoms of Fevers in 
general—ib.
The general Cure of Fevers
334 
Of the Symptoms—ib. 
The Benefit of giving a Vo- 
mit in Fevers—335
When a Purge may be given 
with Advantage—336 
The Cause of Fevers accord- 
ing to Hippocrates—ib. 
A Rule of Diet in Fevers—337 
A Division of Fevers—ib. 
Of an Ephemera and putrid 
Fever, what—338
The Causes of a putrid Fever 
ib.
The Diagnosticks and Prog- 
nosticks—339 
Of a continent or remitting
Fever—340 
Of a spurious remitting Fever, 
and its Prognosticks—341
Of a simple remitting Fever—ib. 
The Method of Cure—342 
A Division of continual Fevers
into Burning and Slow Fe- 
vers, with the chief Symp- 
toms and Prognosticks—343
The Regimen—344 
The Method of Cure—345 
Of a Calenture, and of Slow 
Fevers—346
Of Catarrhal Fevers—ib. 
The Method of Cure—347 
Of Intermitting Fevers—348 
The Method of Cure—349 
Of Spurious intermitting Fe- 
vers, and the Cure—351 
The proximate Cause of In- 
termitting Fevers—352  
Of Burning Fevers—ib. 
Great Variety of Malignant 
Fevers—353 
Prognosticks and Cure of Ma- 
lignant Fevers—354  
Of Spotted fevers; their 
Symptoms, Prognosticks, 
and Cure—357 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms attending 
Fevers. 
Of Rigor or Shivering in Fe- 
vers—358
Of Feverish Heat, and the 
Cure—359
Of Thirst, Anxieties, and Vo-
miting in Fevers—360, 361 
Of a Looseness in Fevers—363 
Of a Strangury, and profuse
Sweats in Fevers—364, 365 
Of a Pain in the Head, Watch-
fulness, Coma, and Deliri- 
ums in Fevers—366, 367 
Of Convulsions in Fevers—368 
Of Weakness in Fevers—369 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in 
Fevers—370 
Of the Small-Pox; its diffe- 
rent Stages and Cure, from 
371 to 380. 
CHAP.

xxxii the CONTENTS. 
CHAP. III. 
Of inflammatory Diseases attended with a Fever. 
Of a Phrensy, or Inflamma- 
tion of the Brain—382 
Of a Quinsy; its different 
Sorts, and Cure—384 
Of a Pleurisy—386
Of a Peripneumony, or In- 
flammation of the Lungs 
389 
An Empyema, what—391 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or Inflam- 
mation of the Diaphragm 
393 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Stomach—ib.
Of an Inflammation of the 
Liver—395
Of an Inflammation of the 
Mesentery—400 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Guts, Symptoms and Cure 
402 
Inflammations of the Kidneys
405 
Of an Apoplexy—409 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers. 
Of a Palsy—413 
Of an Hemiplegia, and a Pa- 
raplegia—415 
The Cure—416
Of an Epilepsy, or Falling- 
Sickness—417
The Causes Various—ib. 
Of Melancholy Madness, and
the Causes—421 
Of Madness from the Bite of
a Mad-Dog—425 
A new and sure Method of
Cure—429
Of the Scurvy—432 
The Cause—433
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of 
Body—435 
The Signs, and Cure—436 
Of a Consumption—439 
Of the concomitant Cause of a 
Consumption—441 
The Method of Cure, from 
449 to 452  
Of a Dropsy—452 
Of the Gout—456 
The Effects of Abstinence in 
the Gout—461 
Of Rheumatism—ib. 
The Cause and Cure—462  
Of the Stone and Gravel—463 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
Of Cold Bathing—467 
Necessary Rules to be observ'd 
before Cold Bathing—470 
Wherein Cold Bathing is in- 
jurious—471 
The Use of warm Bathing—473 
The Use and Effects of hot 
Mineral Baths, such as that 
famous one in Somersetshire
474 
Of Frictions and their good 
and bad Effects—476 
A

(1)
A 
Guide to Health, &c. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age; the principal and inevita- 
ble Causes of Old Age; and, final- 
ly, of our Dissolution. 
To which is annex'd 
A brief, chronological, and historical Account
of LONG LIVES, from before the Flood to 
this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's 
Life; with a Description and Definition of 
Old Age. 
As our Bodies are subject to Changes 
and Alterations, from the Minute 
we come into the World; so the 
Physicians, regarding the most ap- 
parent and sensible Changes only, have divided
man's whole Life into several Periods, which  
A they

2 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
they call Ages: The Egyptians reckon'd as 
many as there are ‡ Septenaries in a hundred; 
for they were of Opinion, that Man's Life 
could not exceed that Term. 
The Pythagoreans, who were very super- 
stitious in the Doctrine of Numbers, have 
publish'd in their Writings, that we undergo 
remarkable Changes every seven Years, as well 
in regard to the Temperature of the Body, as 
the Qualities of the Soul; all which must be 
referr'd to the Excellency and Perfection of 
the Number Seven.
But I will not enter into Disquisitions upon 
Numbers in this Place; it is enough for me to
have the Concurrence of all the most cele- 
brated Authors, that Man, according to the 
natural Course of Life, undergoes five remark- 
able Changes in his * Temperament, and passes 
five Ages or Periods; that is, Infancy, Ado- 
lescency, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. 
Infancy is hot and moist; but the Moisture 
is predominant, and keeps the Heat in such 
Subjection, that it can no way shew its Effects. 
It
‡ Septenarius, or Septennium, containing the Space of seven 
Years. Some of the Antients reckon'd every Constitution 
underwent some remarkable Change in every such Revolution, 
whence the seventh Year was call'd critical, or climacterick
Year. 
* Temperament is that Diversity in the Blood of different 
Persons, whereby it is apt to fall into some certain Combina- 
tions more in one Body than another, whether into Sanguine, 
Choler, Phlegm, or Melancholy; from whence Persons are said 
to be of a sanguine, cholerick, phlegmatick, or melancholy Tem- 
perament or Constitution. Of all which I shall speak more at 
large hereafter. 

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 3 
It continues to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
Year. 
Adolescency follows, which is likewise hot 
and moist, but the Heat begins to be predo- 
minant; for we see its Sparks shine and lighten 
every where. 
In Males the Voice then begins to grow 
loud and hoarse; they spread and dilate every
way, and cast their first Downs. In Females 
the Breasts grow visibly harder and larger, the 
Blood is in Motion thro' the whole Body, and 
pushes on all Sides till it finds Passage. This 
Period extends to the Age of four or five and 
twenty, which is the Term limited by Nature 
for Growth. 
This is succeeded by Youth, which is full of 
Heat, Vigour, and Agility: It runs to thirty- 
five or forty. In this Age the Body comes to 
its full State, and the Fibres, Membranes, and 
Bones to their due Solidity. This is what is 
call'd Manhood, and is the most temperate of 
the Ages of Man, participating of the four 
Extremes equally, and extending to the fiftieth
Year; where Old Age begins, which com- 
prises the Remainder of our Lives. 
Now this last Period of Man's Life may be 
divided into three Stages; but I pass over that 
which is call'd Senium ex morbo, that is, Old 
Age brough on by Sickness.
The first is call'd Verdant: It is accompa- 
nie with Prudence, and is full of Experience, 
and fit for governing Commonwealths, and 
managing Affairs of Importance. The se- 
A2 cond

4 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
cond begins at Seventy, and is attended with 
several little Ailments, and is cold and dry. 
As to the first, there are such apparent Marks 
of it, that none ever doubted it; for if we 
touch old Men of those Years, we shall find 
them generally very cold in all their Muscles; 
they have no lively or Vermillion Colour; all 
their Senses are weaken'd, and they are subject
to a great many cold Distempers: But as to 
the other Quality, Dryness, some have endea- 
vour'd to dispute it, saying that this Period is 
moist, but not dry. To this Galen replies, 
in his first Book de Sanitate Tuenda, that old
Men have all those Parts dry which are moist 
in Children; that is, the solid Parts, upon 
which the whole Constitution depends. This 
is even the Opinion of the Moderns, and what 
we should follow; for Leanness, Wrinkles, 
Hardness of the Nerves and Skin, the Stiff- 
ness of the Joints, are sufficient Demonstra- 
tions of this dry Temperament at that Age. 
At length comes the last Step of Old Age, 
and is call'd Decrepit; in which, according 
to the Royal Prophet, there is nothing but 
Pains and Grief; for all the Faculties of the
Soul and Body are weaken'd, the Sentiments 
dull and heavy, the Memory lost, the Judg- 
ment defective. 
This Last Period of Old Age is describ'd in 
the twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, under so 
beautiful an Allegory, that nothing can excel 
it; and as the Royal Author was the greatest 
Philosopher and Naturalist that ever wrote, I  
will


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 5
will therefore present the Reader with his 
Description of this Stage of Life at large, 
which, besides its Beauty, will likewise serve 
Us for Instruction and Counsel.
Remember, says he, thy Creator in the Days 
of thy Youth, while the Sun, or the Lights or 
the moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor 
the Clouds return after the Rain. 
In the Day when the Keepers of the House 
shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow 
themselves, and the Grinders cease, because 
they are few; and those that look out of Win- 
dows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut
in the Streets, when the Sound of the Grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the
Bird, and all the Daughters of Musick shall 
be brought low.  
And when they shall be afraid of that which 
is high, and Fears shall be in the way, and the 
Almond-tree shall flourish, and the Grashopper 
shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners 
go about the Streets. 
Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as 
it was: and the Spirit shall return to God that
gave it.
This is the Description of Stage of 
man's Life, which is admirable. In decrepit 
old Age, the Sun and the Stars are darken'd;
that is, the Eyes of Man, which are grown
dim; nor the Clouds return after the Rain;
A3 that


6 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
that is, after they have been weeping a long 
time, they seem to have thick Clouds before 
their Eyes. The Keepers of the House shall 
tremble; that signifies the Hands and Arms, 
which have been given to Man for the Defence 
of his whole Body. And the strong Men shall 
bow themselves; that is, the Legs, which are 
the Columns that support the whole Building. 
And the Grinders cease; that is, the Teeth, 
which grind and chew the Aliments. And 
those that look out of the Windows be darken'd; 
that is, the Eyes, which are troubled with 
Cataracts, and several other Disorders incident
to the Sight of decrepit old People. And the 
Door shall be shut in the Streets, when the 
Sound of the Grinding is low; those are the 
Chops, which cannot open to chew, or the 
Canals thro' which the Aliment us'd to pass, 
but are now grown straight and narrow. And 
be shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird; that
is, decrepit old People cannot sleep, and are 
always awaken'd by the Cock's Crowing. 
And all the Daughters of Musick shall be 
brought low; that is, their Voice, which fails 
them. And the Almond-tree shall flourish; 
that is, the Head, which is all white. And 
the Grashopper shall be a Burden; that is, the
Legs, which are swoln, &c. 
Having now describ'd the Ages terminated 
by Years, I would not however be so far con- 
fin'd to the usual Number into which Man's 
Life is divided, as if Youth and Old Age must
intirely depend upon it; We ought rather to
regu-

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 7
regulate ourselves by the * Temperament, or 
Nature of our Constitution: for we may 
call every Man that is cold and dry, an old
man; there are a great many such at forty, 
and a great number of young Men at sixty. 
some Complexions fail sooner, and others later. 
The sanguine are of long Duration, be- 
cause they have a deal of Heat and Moisture, 
which Constitution or Temper is most com- 
modious to Mankind, and qualifies them best
for Action, and is therefore most consistent with
Health and long Life; whereas the contrary 
Temper, viz. cold and dry, soon tends to 
Decay and Death; for the sooner a Body wi- 
thers and dries away, the sooner it grows old, 
and draws near its Dissolution. This Heat 
and Moisture hath also its several Degrees, 
but these Qualities are best when moderate; 
those which differ and recede from that Me- 
diocrity, are called hot and moist, hot and dry, 
or cold and moist, and cold and dry, tho' all 
in general are hot and moist in some Degree. 
These differences of Tempers are com- 
monly distinguish'd by the Denominations,
which I have observ'd already of Sanguine,
Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic Con-
stitutions, according tothe Nature and Dis-
position of the Juices in the several Bodies,
where the excrementitious Discharges answer
thereto. They whose Blood is of a mode-
rate Templer, between hot and moist, are
called sanguine; those who exceed in beat,
A4 and 
* Temperament, See Pag. 2. Note *

8 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
and whose Blood is dryer, are called Choleric; 
those who are cold and moist, Phlegmatic;
and lastly, those who are cold and dry, Me- 
lancholic; and this last Temper or Constitu- 
tion grows old sooner than any of the rest. 
As to what regards the Sexes, the Fe- 
male, generally speaking, grows old sooner 
than the Male, which Hippocrates justly ob- 
serves, in his Book concerning those Chil- 
dren who are born at the End of the seventh 
Month. The Females, says he, are later in 
forming and growing in the Womb than the 
Males; but when they are out of it, they 
grow faster, have earlier Understanding, and 
are sooner old, on account of the weakness of
their Bodies, and their manner of living. 
Weakness hastens their Growth, and brings 
them likewise sooner to old Age; for as the 
Plants which are short-liv'd grow in a few 
Minutes, so the Bodies which have no long 
Duration, soon come to their Perfection. 
Their manner of living likewise contributes 
very much to their growing old soon, as they
most commonly lead an unactive life; for 
nothing brings us sooner to old Age than 
Sloth and Idleness. 
As to the different Tempers and Constitu- 
tions of Men, they depend, in a great mea- 
sure, not only upon the various Dispositions 
of the Humours contain'd in the Body, but 
also on the peculiar Conformation and Struc- 
ture of the noble Parts, and their various 
Proportions in respect to each other, which 
disposes

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 9
disposes them to breed Humours of diffe- 
rent Kinds and Dispositions; and endows 
them with various Qualities, according to 
the several Alterations they undergo in diffe- 
rent Bodies, and the Proportion of such ani- 
mal Fluids differently fermented, exceeding 
or falling short in Degrees of Digestion; or 
being variously vitiated by the assimilating
Qualities of Humours already contain'd, or 
of fresh Food taken into the Body, which 
may pervert the Disposition of the Fluids al- 
ready contain'd in the Blood Vessels. 
The Proportion of the Parts of the Body, 
and their Conformation, may contribute to 
the difference of Constitution, as they sepa- 
rate and discharge Humours, not only diffe- 
rently prepar'd, but in greater or less Quan- 
tities: Thus, if the Heart be larger in Pro- 
portion to the Body than the rest of the 
Parts, the Blood must circulate more briskly, 
and with greater Force; if the Liver be 
large, and separate a great Quantity of Bile, 
the Chyle and Blood must be more bilious; 
and as the Stomach digests differently, the 
blood must be supplied with Nourishment 
in greater or less Quantities, more or less di- 
gested, and so occasion Sanguine, Choleric, 
or Phlegmatic Constitutions. Thus the noble 
parts contribute to the different Temper of 
the whole, as well as other particular Parts
themselves. 
Hence it is; that different Parts of the 
Body are, in respect of one another, esteem'd 
to

10 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
to be of different Tempers; as the Heart, up- 
on account of its Situation and constant Mo- 
tion, may be reckon'd one of the hottest 
Parts of the Body. The others reckon'd of 
a hot Temper, are the Liver, the musculous 
Flesh, the Spleen, the Kidneys, Lungs, Veins, 
Arteries, and Fat. The cold Parts are, the 
Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, Tendons, Nerves, 
Membranes, Spinal Marrow, and the Brain. 
Those which are accounted moist, are the
Fat, Marrow, Brain, Breasts, Testicles, 
Lungs, Spleen, Kidneys, musculous Flesh, 
Tongue, Heart, and the softer Nerves. The 
dry Parts are, Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, 
Tendons, Membranes, Arteries, Veins, and 
hard Nerves. 
There is moreover another difference in 
the Tempers or Constitutions of human Bodies, 
in respect of Age and Sexes; thus Women 
are naturally colder than Men, too much 
Heat being supposed apt to consume and vi- 
tiate the tender Nourishment of Infants, 
which is to be prepar'd in the Mother. Age 
likewise alters Constitutions, according to
the several Stages and Periods, as I have ob- 
serv'd before; thus Infants and Children are 
hot and moist. Youth more temperate, Men 
and full-grown Persons hot and dry; where-
as in old Age the Heat decreases, and Nou- 
rishment is dry'd up for want of its usual 
Supplies. 
Another thing that makes Constitutions 
differ, is the difference of Climates, the
manner

Part I. 11 thro' the various Stages of Life. 11
manner of living, the nature of the Food 
they use, and the Liquors wherewith the 
more solid Parts of the Food are diluted; but 
for a more particular Account of different 
Constitutions, see Part II. Chap. IX. where 
I treat of the Diet proper for each respe- 
ctively. 
Having hitherto given the Reader an Ac- 
count of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age, as likewise a Description of decrepit
old Age, supported by the Authority of the 
wise Solomon; and lastly, of the Causes and 
Nature of different Constitutions, I shall 
now finish this Chapter with the Definition 
of it, which will be of singular Use to such 
as will observe the Precepts hereafter men- 
tion'd, in order to preserve Health and long
Life. 
The incomparable Sanctorius, most ele- 
gantly and concisely defining old Age, says in
Aphorism xxxv. Sect. v. Senectus est univer- 
salis fibrarum durities, &c. that is, old Age is 
an universal Hardness of the Fibres, &c. which 
implies; that when there is a greater Waste 
of the nervous Fluid than can be repair'd, 
then the component Machinulœ * of all the 
Fibres of  the human Body, for want of a 
Sufficiency of this animal Oil or Fluidt are 
harden'd and dry'd, the Pores are thereby 
straiten'd
* Machinulœ signifies in Anatomyy the various Textures, 
Combinations and Decussations of the Fibres, compounding
the Muscles, Nerves, and Membranes of the Body; which is 
only a Diminutive from the Word Machine. 


12 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
straiten'd and obstructed, by which means the 
natural Heat is stifled, and at last Death en- 
sues; hence it is, that the nearer a Person is 
brought to this State of an universal Hard- 
ness of the Fibres, &c. by any means what- 
ever, the farther such a Person may be said 
to be advanc'd towards old Age. 
Wherefore the great Secret and sole Me- 
thod of long Life, is to preserve the Blood 
and Juices in a due State of Fluidity and 
Thinness whereby they may be capable of 
making all those Circulations and Rounds 
thro' the animal Fibres, wherein Health and 
Life consist, with the fewest Rubs, and least 
Resistance that can be. But notwithstanding 
all our Efforts, Time and old Age will 
stiffen and fix our Solids at last; for Age 
and Time, by weakening the Appetite and 
Concoctions, impairing the natural Heat, 
which consists in a brisk and extended Circu- 
lation of the Fluids to all the Parts of the 
Body, by the converting those Juices into 
solid Substances, and thereby fixing and 
hardening these Solids, and depriving them of
their due Elasticity; so the remaining Fluids 
circulate slower, and with less Force, and 
seldom reach the Extremities and smallest Ves- 
sels, but only pass slowly through the larger 
Vessels..And tho' with all these unavoidable 
Circumstances, both the nutritious Juices, 
the serous and globular Part of the Blood be- 
come viscid, thick, and gluey, so that the 
Circulation must stop, and come to an end 
at last; yet it is certainly in a great measure 
in

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 13 
in our own Power to put a Stop to the too 
quick Approaches of such an irremediable 
Period, by keeping our Juices in a due State 
of Fluidity and Thinness, and to render them 
such, if they are not corrupted to an extreme 
Degree; so that the remainder of Life be 
not too short to undertake such a Work; for 
it is very certain, that we may dilute and 
thin any Fluid, that has an Inlet and Outlet. 
And the smaller and finer the Parts of any 
circulating Liquor are, the less Force it will 
require to set it a going, and to continue its
Motion: And it is just even so in animal 
Bodies; for the more fluid and thinner the 
Juices are, they will not only circulate with
less Force, and with less Resistance or Pain, 
but they will likewise preserve, by their Cir- 
culation, the Solids the longer from harden- 
ing and stiffening. 
Now, as nothing brings a Person sooner 
to that State of universal Hardness and Stiff- 
ness of the Fibres, and a Viscosity and Thick- 
ness of the Juices, than indulging in strong high
Meats, which the concoctive Powers cannot 
divide small enough to be converted into red
Globules of Blood, or circulate thro' the 
small Vessels, but overload them with corro- 
sive urinous Salts, which run into Clusters, 
and first obstruct, and afterwards tear and 
break these small vessels, and likewise in 
swilling of strong Liquors, which by their 
caustick Quality dry up, burn, and destroy 
the tender and delicate Fibres of the Solids; 
I therefore


14 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
therefore I say, as nothing but such an Indul- 
gence, and such long-continued Excesses, and 
obstinately persisted in, can so soon produce 
such a State of the Fluids and Solids, and 
consequently bring on many fatal chronical 
Diseases, according to the particular Habit, 
Make, and Constitution of the Person: So 
it is evident, that the only Method and most 
effectual means that can solidly and thorough- 
ly accomplish the contrary State of the Blood
and Juices, is to render them thin, sweet, 
and in a continual flowing Condition, by 
taking the contrary Measures, in keeping to 
a strict Regimen of a fluid, thin, spare, plain, 
and lean Diet; for as Dr. Cheyne justly ob- 
serves, No voluptuous and lazy Person, unless 
be had an original Constitution of BRASS, 
ever liv'd to a great Age; and even then, 
as his Life has been more Misery and Pain, 
than ever a SOBER GALLY-SLAVE endur'd, 
his End, and the latter Part of his Days has
been RACK and TORTURE, HORROR and 
DESPAIR. So that Longœvity is scarce ever 
found but among the abstemious. 
As all the Parts of the human Body are 
made up of Fibres, which are small, trans- 
parent, solid, and elastick, or springy Threads
or Filaments, of which mention is made in 
the foregoing Definition of old Age, and 
which have been sufficiently demonstrated by 
Physician and Anatomists already; yet it will 
not be improper to give some Account of them 
here, for the sake of as many of the English
I Readers 


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 15
Readers as may be unacquainted with either 
Physick or Anatomy, and for whose Benefit I 
have chiefly compiled this Treatise. 
Therefore these Fibres, or small Threads, 
that constitute the human Body, are of diffe- 
rent Sorts; some are soft, flexible, and a lit- 
tle elastick ‡, and these are hollow like small 
Pipes, or spongious, and full of little Cells, as 
the nervous and fleshy Fibres. There are 
others more solid and flexible, but with a 
strong Elasticity, as the membranous and car- 
tilaginous Fibres; and a third Sort hard and 
inflexible, as the Fibres of the Bones. And 
of all these some are very sensible, as those of
the Nerves, Blood-vessels, Membranes, Ten- 
dons, and Muscles; and others are destitute 
of all Sense, as those of the Bones; some so 
very small as not to be easily perceiv'd; and 
others, on the contrary, so big as to be plain- 
ly seen; but most of them, when examin'd 
with a Microscope, appear to be composed of 
still smaller Fibres, and may be divided still 
into less; and indeed this Division proceeds so
far, that at last they become so incredibly 
small as to exceed all the Power of Imagina- 
tion; but Reason will shew us, there must be
an End. 
Now these simple Fibres do first constitute 
the Substance of the Bones, Cartilages, Liga- 
ments,
‡ Elastick or springy, signifies a Force in Bodies, by which
they endeavour to restore themselves to the Posture from
whence they were displace by any external Force. 

16 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
ments, Membranes, Nerves, Veins, Arteries, 
and Muscles. And again, by the various 
Texture and different Combinations of some, 
or all these Parts, the more compound Organs 
are fram'd, such as the Lungs, Stomach, 
Liver, Legs, and Arms, the Sum of all which
makes the human Body. 
CHAP. II. 
The principal and inevitable Causes of OLD 
AGE, and of our DISSOLUTION.
I Shall shew in this Chapter, with what has 
been already said, such things as alter our 
Bodies, and whatever makes them grow old, 
and brings us at last to our Dissolution. 
The Causes, then, of the Alterations of 
our Bodies, and likewise of our Dissolution, 
are either external or internal: These last are
born with us, and always attend us, even to 
the Grave: The others come from without 
us, surround us on all Sides, and, tho' we can
guard ourselves against some of them, there is
however an infinite Number of them which 
we cannot escape. 
The internal Causes which come into the 
World with us, are two, viz. the Contrariety
of the Principles of which our Bodies are 
composed, and the Animal Actions or Func- 
tions of the human Body
The

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 17
The Principles of our Composition are, 
1. A Water or Phlegm. 2. A volatile Fluid 
or Spirit. 3. A saline Matter or Salt, both 
Volatile and fix'd. 4. A fat Substance or Oil, 
otherwise call'd Sulphur. 5. An Earth, or 
Caput Mortuum. But the Spirit being only 
a Mixture of Phlegm and Salt, these five may
be properly reduced to four †. 
The Animal Actions, or Functions, which 
happen in all the Parts of human Bodies, by 
the Motion of the Humours in their distinct
Vessels, and the Effects they have upon one 
another, are distinguish'd into vital, natural, 
and animal, Those call'd vital so much con- 
duce to preserve Life, that they are of abso- 
lute Necessity; as the muscular Action of the 
Heart, the secretory Action of the Brain, that 
of the Lungs, and of the Blood and Spirits, 
with their Motions thro' their proper Organs; 
and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves. 
The Natural Actions are those that so alter 
our Aliment, as that it may become Part of 
our Substance; and such are the Actions of the
Bowels, vessels and Humours that receive, re-
tain, move, change, mix, separate, apply, 
discharge, and consume. 
The Animal Functions are such as, when 
perform'd, the Understanding conceives Ideas 
of Things, united to that Action; or the Will 
is either concern'd in exciting such Actions, 
or mov'd by them when excited: Such are 
B the
† Boerhaave Institutiones Medic. de Natura & Part. Sang.  


18 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing, Per- 
ception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, 
Reason, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary 
Motions. From hence we may know, that 
Health is such a Disposition of the Body as fits 
it to exercise all its Actions, and that all the
Effects of those Actions respect determinate 
Motions, and the Change made in our Ali- 
ment. 
The Principles of our Composition just now 
mention'd, being duly distributed thro' the 
whole Body, may be call'd an Equilibrium 
between the Solids and Fluids of a Person in 
Health; or, which is the same thing, an exact 
Ballance of Contrarieties, making a kind of 
Agreement or Harmony amongst themselves, 
in order to mix and unite; wherein each of 
them quits something of its Sovereignty, and 
reduces itself to a Mediocrity, which is call'd 
Temperament. But this Alliance is of short 
Duration; for the Body, by the Actions inse- 
parable from Life, suffers such a gradual 
Change, that the smallest Vessels become stiff, 
and the minutest grow together into Fibres, 
unfit for the Humours to pass thro' them; the 
greater Vessels become hard and narrow, and 
all are contracted, and, being compress'd, grow 
together, which occasions Dryness, and Un- 
aptness to Motion in old People. By this 
means the Actions of the small Vessels are de- 
stroy'd, and the Humours stagnate and grow 
thick in them, and the Fibres adhere toge- 
ther: Thus the most subtile Parts of the 
Juices

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 19
Juices are wanting and dissipated, Digestion is
weaken'd, Nourishment is deficient, and the 
grosser Humours only circulate thro' the large 
vessels slowly, and  support Life alone, with- 
out the Animal Action till at last these 
Changes bring on Death from Old Age, the 
Successor of perfect Health; which happens 
sooner if the Actions of Life have been violent, 
but later if moderate; and this is one of the 
Causes of our Dissolution: It is inevitable, 
and we bring it with us from the Womb, 
But, in order to make this more evidently ap- 
pear, it is necessary to consider the following 
Particulars concerning Nutrition, Growth, 
and Decrease of the Body. 
As there is an Aptness to Motion requisite 
in the Vessels, Muscles, and Fibres of the hu- 
man Body, in order to enable it to make due 
Use of all the Motions of its Humours, Ves- 
sels, and Muscles, without Detriment there- 
unto; So, for this Purpose, the Parts which 
are coherent, should be partly free from Con- 
tact, and partly remain in it, which cannot 
be, unless the greater Parts consist of the 
smallest, thinest, and shortest ones; nor will 
that happen again, unless a renovating Hu- 
mour passes continually betwixt them, to hin- 
der their growing together; therefore, as the 
whole human Body is flexile, and subject to 
Changes from Contact, of Necessity it ought 
to consist of small Vessels.
But this very Motion, being continually 
and violently perform'd, in Vessels of such a 
B2 tender

20 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
tender Fabrick, the least Parts must of neces- 
sity be thereby worn off from the Solids; and 
thence, being mix'd with the Liquids, be 
mov'd round by the perpetual Circulation of
the Juices, as well as by the Action of the 
Muscles, and exhale. In the mean while the 
Fluids, being ground small by the continual 
Attrition of their Parts, and drove to the Ves- 
sels thro' which they exhale or transpire, are 
quite excluded out of the Body; and thus the 
Animal Body, from the very Condition of its 
Frame, is soon destroy'd. 
Therefore it is requisite, for the due Con- 
tinuance of Life, that as much Matter, and 
of the same Kind, should be continually re- 
stored to the Humours and solid Parts, as was 
lost by those Motions, which Action is call'd 
Nutrition. 
The Humours that are worn away, are 
again supplied, as to their Matter, by Air, 
Meat, and Drink. As to the Qualities re- 
quir'd, those are produced by the concurring 
Assistance of all the Parts of the Body, and by
means thereof applied to the Vessels where 
they are wanting. 
Every solid Part of the Body is composed of 
other less Solids, very like the greater; the 
Vessels, of smaller Vessels; and the Bones, of
smaller Bones. And this manner of Structure 
proceeds beyond all the Limits of Sense, as- 
sisted by what Art soever, as Malpighi, 
Ruysche, Leeuwenhoek, and Hook, have de- 
monstrated by accurate Experiments: yet this
Divi-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 21
Division scarce seems to proceed ad Infinitum, 
as appears by the Nature of the Nourishment 
and Fluids themselves. 
Moreover Microscopes, Injections, the least 
imaginable Wounds, Vesicatories, Comsump-
tions, and the withering away of the Body, 
inform us, that our solid Parts, in respect of
the Humours, are but very small; for it is al- 
most demonstrable, from the Consideration of 
the Rise and Generation of the Vessels, and 
the Resolution of the greater Canals into their 
least constituent Parts, that the whole solid
Mass of our Bodies is almost wholly compos'd 
of mere Nerves, consider'd in their primary
Composition and Communication. 
And truly all that Mass, except an incre- 
dible small Particle, at first grew together, 
from those which were before the most sub- 
tile Liquid of the Colliquamentum or Fluid, 
almost all which goes to compound the Body, 
being much like the nervous Fluid, according
to Malpighi; for the White of an Egg does 
not nourish, before it has been long brooded
upon, till that thick clammy Humour has 
pass'd thro' a vast many Degrees of Fluidity, 
by several Changes, to fit it at last for the 
Purposes requir'd; but even then, when it 
comes to supply the Embryo, it is very thick, 
and must be much more subtiliz'd in its Ves- 
sels and Bowels. 
The first tender solid Parts being made out 
of this most subtile Humour, which are then 
almost fluid, they pass again thro' a vast many
B3 diffe-

22 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
different Degrees of Solidity, before they ar- 
rive at the Perfection of solid Parts; as ap- 
pears from Malpighi's Experiments upon 
Eggs, and the incomparable Ruysche's upon 
Embryos and Fœtuses, and even from the differ 
rent Parts themselves. 
Hence it appears, that the solid Parts, in 
their first Origin, differ only from Liquids, 
whence they spring, by Rest, Cohesion, and 
their Figure; therefore such a Particle, while 
fluid, will become Part of Solid, to be form'd 
thereof, as soon as the Power that causes it to 
cohere with the other solid Parts, shall act, by
what means soever it be. 
This Cohesion of the Parts is best pro- 
duc'd in a Fibre already form'd, if there be 
a sufficient Place in the Solid, left by that 
Particle which was lost, and at the same time, 
another Particle in the Fluid of equal Bulk, 
Figure and Nature, and endow'd with suffi- 
cient Force to thrust it in, or fit it to that
Place. 
Therefore there will be a true Nutrition 
of the Solids in the smallest Vessels, which, 
by Addition, become greater; that is, in the 
Nerves or Vessels like them; which, since it 
cannot be perform'd without a Liquid be 
brought into those Vessels, seems very plain, 
that the most immediate matter of Nourish- 
ment is the most subtle, nervous Fluid, or 
some other like it; and therefore appears to
be perform'd and produc'd from the last and 
most refin'd Actions of Nature; and that it 
may


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 23  
may be well perform'd, all the preceding 
Actions ought to be perfect. 
The Chyle therefore may fill the greater 
Vessels, but cannot recruit the solid Parts;
but being attenuated, alter'd, rarefied, mix'd, 
and made fit to pass thro' some Vessels, by 
the force of Respiration in the Lungs, it is 
render'd the more proper indeed, but still not
fit Matter for this Purpose. 
However, by the repeated Effects of the 
Lungs, Bowels, and Vessels, it becomes a 
white, tenacious, forming Liquor, almost
Without Smell, thickens by the Heat of the 
Fire, or in Spirit of Wine; being then like 
the White of an Egg, and called Serum; and 
therefore is such a Fluid, as has all the requi- 
sites which ought to be in that Humour; 
whereof Experience teaches us, that all the 
solid Parts of an animal Body are constantly 
made or form'd, only by Incubation, or a 
constant Heat and Digestion. Thus then the 
Matter is brought a Degree nearer, but yet 
is not quite fit for Nutrition; much less is 
red Blood, which never enters the smallest
Vessels. 
But as the Heat of Incubation, so the 
action of the Viscera and Vessels, occasions 
divers Changes on this circulating Serum, till 
Part of it is turn'd into such a subtle Humour 
as is here requir'd; and being consumed, it 
is again supplied, and this at length becomes 
the true and immediate Matter of Nourish- 
ment; which, how simple it is, how insipid, 
B4 or

24 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
or without Smell, will appear from the Fire, 
Putrefaction, or the Art of Chymistry, for 
it leaves behind but a pure and exceedingly 
light Earth. 
Nor can this Matter be prepar'd, without 
undergoing the foremention'd Alterations: 
But the same Humour may, by too often and 
repeated turns of Circulation, grow sharper, 
or lose its Liquidity, and become thick; be- 
ing drain'd of its oily Parts, and render'd pun- 
gent by Salts, and then it is unfit for this 
Use; which may, perhaps, be partly dis- 
charg'd by Perspiration, and partly by Urine. 
Therefore there is a necessity of new Chyle, 
and consequently of Aliment, to supply this 
Nourishment. As to the Manner how, and 
the Cause why Nutrition is perform'd, that 
will appear from what follows. 
The Humour being forced forwards, thro' 
a full, conical, cylindrical, elastic, or stiff 
and rigid Tube, if it flows from a broad Part 
into an narrower, or with a Resistance against
its Motion, it will endeavour to extend the 
Sides of the Canal, according to its longer 
Axis; and this happens all over the Body, ex- 
cept in the Veins, and the Cavity of the Re- 
ceptacles. And by this Force, tho' small, be- 
ing constant and repeated, the Vessels will by
Degrees, and insensibly be lengthen'd; and 
by growing longer, will become thinner, and 
soon be more and more attenuated: By this 
means, the utmost Extremities of the Vessels, 
which are smallest, will be less coherent, and 
next

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 25
next to a State of Dissolution. And thus 
the Extremities of the Vessels will be ren- 
der'd much finer and weaker, and little 
different from Fluids. 
Whilst therefore this Motion perpetually 
proceeds in a continual Propulsion, it must
necessarily happen, that the last Particles of 
these very fine Tubes being worn away, will 
again put on the form of a Liquid, in what- 
ever Part of the Body they remain; and then 
the smallest Parts, which compose the finest
Fibres, by their Union will be so mutually 
separated from one another, as to leave small 
Intervals in those Places where they before 
grew together; and this will constantly hap- 
pen every where, as long as Life continues, 
especially where it is strong, and the Action
of the Body violent. 
But the same Humour wherein all this 
happens, contains a great many such Particles 
as were separated or lost, which it carries, ap- 
plies, and adapts to these very Intervals, with 
that very Force with which it endeavours to 
break the Vessels, and then fixes, fits and 
fastens those intercepted Particles in these 
Cavities; so that they grow together as the 
former: for the Matter, the Preparation and 
Application thereof, with the Force of Mo- 
tion, will always continue the same; and 
therefore what is lost will be easily restor'd, 
and so the solid Parts remain as they were, 
that is, they are nourish'd and preserv'd con- 
tinually,
And 

26 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
And this shews the wonderful Wisdom of 
our Maker, that the same Cause which in- 
evitably destroys, shall also at the same time 
repair the Structure of our Frame; and that 
too according to this Rule, that the greater 
the Loss, the larger shall be the Supply; and 
that those Parts, which by the Actions of the 
Body are first worn, are always the first sup- 
plied. 
It is plain then, that the more tender those
Vessels are, the newer, and the nearer to 
the moving Cause, so much the easier they 
are stretch'd, distended, destroy'd, and re- 
new'd; and consequently, the nearer our 
Bodies are to their Origin, the more they 
grow and increase. 
Whilst this Action goes forwards, the 
greater Vessels are more distended by the Li- 
quor they contain; but at the same time, the 
small Vessels, which being interwoven, com- 
pose the Membranes of the greater, are more 
compressed, dried, and grow nearer together 
which adds Strength to the Fibres, at the 
Expence of vascular Property; so that in 
time our Vessels turn to hard Ligaments, and
the Humours become firm and solid. By a 
Concurrence of these Causes, the Solids be- 
come strong, hard, stiff and thick. There- 
fore the vast number of Vessels that are in an 
Embryo, gradually decrease as Age comes on; 
and for the same reason, on the other hand, 
as Weakness decreases, Strength increases; 
and so in young Persons, the Quantity and 
Vigour

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 27   
Vigour of the Humours exceed that of the 
Solids; but in old People, the Solids in 
Quantity and Strength exceed the Liquids; 
from whence plainly appears the manner of 
the Increase, Decrease, and Death of the 
Body, merely from old Age, with the Causes
and different Appearances thereof. 
Whoever therefore considers this whole 
Account, and then compares these Accidents 
which happen to the Body therewith, will 
clearly perceive this to be the State of the 
Case; for the whole Cuticle every where per- 
petually scales off, perishes, and renews again; 
the Hair, Nails, Teeth, shav'd, par'd, cut 
off or wore, grow afresh; and Parts of the 
Vessels and Bones taken away, in a short 
time return on every side; and if the Filth 
in the Extremities of the Vessels throughout
the whole Body, that is either worn off, 
or collected there by Exhalation, be view'd 
in Water with a Microscope, after being eva- 
porated or diluted, it appears to consist of
Solids and Fluids; and the same when ob- 
tain'd by Washing, Rubbing, or Abrasion, ex- 
hibit the like Appearance. 
From hence appears the Reason why the 
Fabric of our Solids is not dissolv'd by the 
liquid Contents; and why our Machine con- 
tinues so long fit for Motion; why, when 
the Nerves are by any means corrupted, the 
Part to which they lead, loses its Nourish- 
ment; why in an Embryo there are no So- 
lids, in a Fœtus few, and in very old People 
a

28 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
a vast many; so that even the Nerves, Ten- 
dons, Arteries, and Receptacles in those, first 
become cartilaginous, and then bony. 
It is therefore evident from the foregoing 
Particulars, that the two internal Causes of 
our Dissolution already mention'd, viz. The 
Contrariety of the Principles of our Fabric, 
and the animal Actions or Functions of the 
human Body, are born, grow, and are nou- 
rish'd with us, and that, gradually and in- 
evitably, they bring on Old Age, and destroy
the Body at last: nor can all the Physicians 
in the World guard us against them; for the 
great Promises made with Assurance, as to 
the Prolongation of Life for so many hun- 
dreds of Years, are vain and imaginary, be- 
ing unsupported both by Reason and Expe- 
rience: Of this Tribe are Van Helmont's 
Primum Ens, Paracelsus's Elixir Proprie- 
tatis; the Primum Ens of Animals; all 
those precious Liquors, that potable Gold, 
those Conserves of Rubies, Emeralds, Elixirs 
of Life; that fabulous Fountain, that was 
reported to make People grow young, can- 
not hinder us from Decay and Old Age. Nor 
is it likely that Life should be prolong'd even
by the best Methods in Nature, so many 
Years as the Chymists pretend by their Art; 
but their own Experience is a Proof of their 
Temerity and Inability herein. 
There are other Causes of our Dissolution, 
which are external, and likewise inevitable; 
for as our Bodies consist of three dissipable 
Sub-


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 29  
Substances, one of which is subtile and airy, 
the second liquid, and the third solid; so we 
must necessarily have something that pro- 
ceeds from without us, in order to repair 
them, otherwise our Lives could subsist but a 
few Minutes. 
That which repairs our Substance is called 
Aliment, and is threefold. Air, Meat, and 
Drink; the first nourishes the spirituous Sub- 
stance, the second the Liquid, and the 
third the solid Substance. But this triple 
Aliment, tho' never so pure, has yet always 
something unlike our Nature, which can 
never be assimilated to either our Juices or 
Solids, which must then become excremen- 
titious; and where an Excrement is genera- 
ted, and being detain'd in the Body, con- 
sequently alters it, and causes an infinite
number of Diseases; by which means our 
Bodies are variously chang'd and affected, 
and often finally brought to an intire Disso- 
lution. 
I pass over all the other external Causes, 
such as too violent Exercises, an unactive and
sedentary Life, long and continual Watch- 
ings, those Passions of the Mind which are 
most capable of making us grow old, as Fear 
and Sadness, &c. I say nothing likewise of all 
accidental Causes, such as Wounds, Fractures, 
&c. I have only endeavour'd to demonstrate, 
that the living Creature must necessarily grow 
old and decay; that he nourishes the natural 
Causes of Death in himself, and that there 
I are


30 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
are likewise some external ones, which are 
inevitable. 
I thought proper to insert in this Place a 
Chronological and Historical succinct Account 
of long Lives, from before the Flood down 
to the present time; with a true and short 
Character or Elogy of each, faithfully col- 
lected from the Records of both sacred and 
profane History; which perhaps, may prove 
useful as well as entertaining to the Reader. 
Herein he will observe, not only the Ne- 
cessity of Temperance towards attaining long 
Life, but that the length of Life by the running
on of Ages, or Succession of Generations, has 
not in the least abated, from the Time of 
Moses to our present Days; for the Term of 
Man's Life has stood near about fourscore Years 
of Age ever since, as will appear by the 
following Account. 
CHAP. III. 
An Historical Account of Long Lives from 
the Creation to the present Lime. 
BEFORE the Flood, Men liv'd many 
hundred Years, as the Holy Scriptures 
relate; yet none of the Fathers attained to 
the Age of a thousand. Neither was this 
length of Life peculiar only to Grace, or 
I the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 31  
the holy Line; for there are eleven Genera- 
tions of the Fathers reckon'd to the Flood,
but of the Sons of Adam by Cain, only 
eight Generations; so that the Posterity of 
Cain seems to have liv'd longer. But this 
length of Life, immediately after the Flood was 
reduc'd to one half, in the Post-nati only:
for Noah, who was born before the Flood, 
equalled the Age of his Ancestors; Shem 
also lived six hundred Years. Afterwards, 
three Generations from the Flood being ran, 
the length of Man's Life was brought down 
to a fourth Part of the Primitive Age, that 
is, to about two hundred Years. 
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five 
Years, a Man of great Virtue, and was ab- 
stemious, and prosperous in all things. Isaac
arriv'd at the Age of an hundred and eighty 
Years; a chaste Man, who enjoy'd more 
Quietness than his Father. But Jacob, after 
many Crosses, and a numerous Progeny, liv'd 
a hundred and forty-seven Years; a patient, 
gentle, religious, and wise Man. Ishmael, a 
military Man, liv'd an hundred thirty-seven 
Years, and always observ'd Temperance to 
be his only Guide for obtaining Health and 
long Life. 
Sarah, whose Years only amongst her Sex 
are recorded, died in the hundred and twenty- 
seventh Year of her Age: she was a beautiful 
and virtuous Woman, a singular good Mo- 
ther and Wife, and yet no less famous for 
the Liberty from, than Obsequiousness towards  
her

32 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
her Husband. Joseph also, a prudent and 
politick Man, passing his Youth in Affliction, 
afterwards advanc'd to the Height of Ho- 
nour and Prosperity, liv'd an hundred and 
ten Years; he was sober, chaste, and reli- 
gious Man. But his Brother Levi, who was 
older than him, attain'd to an hundred thirty- 
seven Years; he was a Man that was revenge- 
ful, and impatient of Reproach or Affront, 
yet always temperate and moderate in his eat- 
ing and drinking. His Son liv'd almost to the
same Age, as also his Grand-child, the Fa- 
ther of Aaron and Moses: they were both 
strictly moderate in their way of living. 
Moses liv'd an hundred and twenty Years; 
a stout and virtuous Man, yet the meekest 
upon Earth, but of very slow Speech; how- 
ever he pronounces, that the Life of Man is 
but seventy Years; but if of a more than or- 
dinary Strength, eighty; which seems gene- 
rally to be the Term of Man's Life even at 
this Day. 
Aaron, who was three years elder, died 
the same Year with his Brother Moses: he 
was a Man of a readier Speech, and of a more 
easy Disposition, but less constant; he was 
religious, abstemious, and moderate in his 
Actions of Life. Phineas, Grand-child of 
Aaron, out of extraordinary Grace, may be 
collected to have liv'd three hundred years;
if so be that the War of the Israelites against
the Tribe of Benjamin, in which Expedi- 
tion Phineas was consulted, was perform'd in 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 33 
the same order of Time in which the Hi- 
story has ranked it; he was a Man of most
eminent Zeal and Virtue. 
Joshua, a martial Man, and an excellent 
Commander, and always victorious; yet he 
was religiously sober and moderate, and lived
to be an hundred and twenty Years of Age. 
Caleb, who observ'd Temperance, was his 
Contemporary, and seems to have lived as 
long as he did. Ehud the Judge, liv'd to 
the Age of an hundred Years; for after the 
Victory over the Moabites, the Holy Land 
remain'd under his Government eighty Years; 
he was a bold and an undaunted Man, and one 
that in a great measure neglected his own 
Life for the good of his People, and was like- 
wise a strict Observer of Temperance. 
Job liv'd after the Restauration of his 
Happiness, an hundred and forty Years, being 
before his Afflictions of such an Age, as to 
have Sons at Man's Estate; he was a politick
Man, eloquent and charitable, and the true 
Emblem of Patience. 
Eli the Priest liv'd ninety-eight Years; a 
corpulent Man, and of a calm Disposition, 
and indulgent to his Children. But Elizeus
the Prophet seems to have died when he 
was above an hundred Years old; for he is 
found to have liv'd after the Assumption of
Elias sixty Years, and at the time of that 
Assumption he was of those Years, that the 
Boys mock'd him, by the Name of Bald- 
head; he was a severe and vehement Man 
C against


34 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
against Vice and Luxury, and a Contemner 
of Riches. Isaiah the Prophet seems to 
have liv'd to the Age of an hundred Years;
for he is found to have exercised the Function 
of a Prophet seventy Years together, the 
Years both of his beginning to prophecy, and 
of his Death, being uncertain; he was a Man 
of admirable Eloquence, and an evangelical 
Prophet, full of the Promises of God, and 
of the New Testament, as a Bottle with 
sweet Wine. 
Tobias the elder, liv'd an hundred fifty- 
eight Years; the younger, an hundred and 
twenty-seven; both of them were merciful 
Men, and great Alms-givers; they were like- 
wise abstemious and moderate in all their 
Actions. 
It seems, that in the Time of the Capti- 
vity, many of the Jews who return'd out 
of Babylon, liv'd to great Ages, seeing they
could remember both the Temples, there be- 
ing no less than seventy Years between them, 
and wept for the Unlikeness of them. Many 
Ages after that, in the Time of our Saviour, 
liv'd old Simeon, to the Age of ninety Years; 
a devout Man, and full both of Hope and 
Expectation. Also Anna the Prophetess, 
who could not possibly be less than an hun- 
dred Years old; for she had been seven Years 
a Wife, about eighty-four years a Widow, 
besides the Years of her Virginity, and the 
Time that she liv'd after her Prophecy of
our

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 35
our Saviour; she was a holy Woman, and 
passed her Days in Fasting and Prayer. 
As to the long Lives mention'd in Heathen 
Authors, they have no Certainty in them, 
both for the intermixture of Fables, to which 
these kind of Relations were very liable, and 
for their false Calculation of Years. And we 
find nothing of Moment of the Egyptians in 
those Works that are extant, concerning the 
length of Lives; for their Kings, who reign'd 
longest, did not exceed fifty, or live and fifty 
Years, which is no great Matter, since many 
at this Day live to those Years. 
But the Arcadian Kings are fabulously re- 
ported to have liv'd very long; and, as that 
Country was Mountainous, full of Flocks of 
Sheep, and produc'd most wholsome Food; 
but when Fable is the only Guide, there can
be no Certainty. 
Numa King of the Romans liv'd to the 
Age of eighty; he was a peaceable and con- 
templative Man, and much devoted to Reli- 
gion. Marcus Valerius Corvinus compleated 
an hundred Years, there being forty-six Years
between his first and sixth Consulship; he 
was a Man full of Courage, affable, popu- 
lar, and always fortunate and sober, observ- 
ing constantly a cool and moderate Diet. 
Solon of Athens, the Law-giver, and one 
of the seven Wise Men, liv'd above eighty 
Years; a Man of high Courage, popular, and 
well affected to his Country; he was also 
C2 learned,


36 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
learned, given to Pleasures, but always mo- 
derate in his Diet. Epimenides the Cretan is 
reported to have lived an hundred and fifty- 
seven Years: this Matter is mix'd with a 
prodigious odd Relation; for he is said to 
have slept fifty-seven of those Years in a Cave. 
Half an Age after, Xenophanes the Colopho- 
nian lived an hundred and two Years, or ra- 
ther more; for at the Age of twenty five 
Years he left his Country, seventy-seven com- 
plete Years he travel'd, and after that return'd: 
A Man no less wandering in Mind than in 
Body; for his Name was chang'd, for the 
Madness of his Opinions, from Xenophanes, to
Xenomanes; a Man no doubt of a vast Conceit, 
and that minded nothing but Infinitums. 
Pindarus, the Theban, lived to eighty 
Years. He was a Poet of an high Fancy, 
singular in his Conceits, and a great Adorer 
of the Gods, but a sober Man. Sophocles, 
the Athenian, attain'd to the like Age; a lofty
tragick Poet, given over wholly to Writing, 
and neglectful of his own Family. 
Artaxerxes, King of Persia, lived ninety- 
four Years; a Man of dull Wit, averse from 
the Dispatch of Business, desirous of Glory, 
but rather of Ease. At the same time lived 
Agesilaus, King of Sparta, to eighty-four 
Years of Age; a moderate Prince, as being a 
Philosopher amongst Kings; but notwith- 
standing ambitious, and a Warrior, and no 
less stout in War than in Business. 
Gorgias,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 37
Gorgias, the Sicilian, was an hundred and 
eight Years old. He was a Rhetorician, and 
a great Boaster of his Faculty, one that 
taught Youth for Profit. He had seen many 
Countries; and, a little before his Death, 
said, that he had done nothing worthy of 
Blame since he was an old Man. Protagoras 
of Abdera lived ninety Years: This Man was 
likewise a Rhetorician; but profess'd not to 
teach so much the liberal Arts, as the Art of
governing Commonwealths and States; not- 
withstanding he was no less a Wanderer in 
the World than Gorgias already mention'd. 
Isocrates, the Athenian, lived ninety-eight 
Years: He was likewise a Rhetorician, but 
an exceeding modest Man, one that shun'd 
the publick Light, and open'd his School only
in his own House. Democritus, of Abdera, 
reach'd to an hundred and nine Years: He 
was a great Philosopher, and, if ever any Man 
amongst the Grecians, a true Naturalist; a 
Surveyor of many Countries, but much more 
of Nature. He was also a diligent Searcher 
into Experiments, and, as Aristotle objected 
against him, one that follow'd Similitudes 
more than the Laws of Arguments. 
Diogenes, the Sinopean, lived ninety Years, 
was a Man that used Liberty towards others, 
but Tyranny over himself; he lived upon a 
coarse Diet, and was a Pattern of Patience. 
Zeno, of Citium, wanted but two Years of 
an hundred; a Man of high Mind, and a 
Contemner of other Men's Opinions. He 
C3 was

38 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
was also a Man of great Acuteness, but yet 
not troublesome, chusing rather to take Men's 
Minds than to enforce them; the like where- 
of happen'd afterwards in Seneca. 
Plato, the Athenian; attain'd to eighty-one 
Years; a Man of great Courage, but yet a 
Lover of Ease. He was in his Notions sub- 
lime and full of Fancy, neat and delicate in 
his Life, rather calm than merry, and one 
that carried a kind of Majesty in his Counte- 
nance, and a strict Observer of Moderation in 
his Diet. 
Theophrastus, the Ethesian, lived eighty 
Years; a Man of sweet Eloquence, and sweet 
also for the Variety of his Subjects, and who
selected the pleasant Things of Philosophy, 
and let the bitter and harsh go. Carneades of 
Cyrene, many Years after, attain'd to the like 
Age; a Man of fluent Eloquence, and one 
who, by the acceptable and pleasant Variety 
of his Knowledge, delighted himself and 
others. But Orbilius, who lived in Cicero's 
time, no Philosopher nor Rhetorician, but a 
Grammarian, lived to the Age of an hundred 
Years. He was first a Soldier, then a School- 
master; a Man by Nature tart both in his 
Tongue and Pen, and severe towards his 
Scholars. 
Quintus Fabius Maximus was Augur sixty- 
three Years, which shew'd him to be above 
eighty Years of Age at his Death; tho' it is 
true, that in the Augurship Nobility was 
more respected than Age. He was a wise 
Man,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 39
Man, and a great Deliberator, and in all his 
Proceedings moderate, not without Affability, 
severe. Masinissa, King of Numidia, lived 
ninety Years; and, being more than eighty-
five, got a Son. He was a daring Man, and 
trusting to his Fortune, who in his youthful 
Days had tasted of her Inconstancy; but in 
his succeeding Age was constantly happy. 
But Marcus Porcius Cato lived above ninety
Years of Age; a Man of an Iron Body and 
Mind. He had a bitter Tongue, and loved 
to cherish Factions. He was given to Hus- 
bandry, and was, to himself and his Family, 
a Physician. 
Terentia, Cicero's Wife, lived an hundred 
and three Years. She was a Woman afflicted 
with many Crosses; first with the Banish- 
ment of her Husband, then with the Diffe- 
rence betwixt them, and lastly with his last
fatal Misfortune. She was also very often 
troubled with the Gout. 
Luccica, the Actress, must needs exceed an 
hundred by many Years; for it is said, that 
she acted a whole hundred Years upon the 
Stage; at first perhaps representing the Person
some young Girl, and at last of some old 
decrepit Woman. 
Galeria Copiola, a Player also and Dancer, 
was brought upon the Stage very young, but 
in what Year of her Age is not known; and 
ninety-nine Years after, at the Dedication of
the Theatre by Pompey the Great, she was 
shewn upon the Stage again; not now for 
C4 an

40 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
an Actress, but for a Wonder; neither was 
this all, for after that she was shewn a third 
time upon the Stage in the Solemnities ce- 
lebrated for the Health and Life of Augustus. 
She is reckon'd to have liv'd sober and vir- 
tuous from her Youth. 
There was another Actress somewhat in- 
ferior in Age, but much superior in Dignity, 
who liv'd very near ninety Years, I mean 
Livia Julia Augusta, Wife of Augustus 
Cæsar, and Mother to Tiberius (for if Au- 
gustus's Life was a Play, as he himself would
have it, as when upon his Death-bed he 
charg'd his Friends that they would give him 
a Plaudite after he was dead) certainly this 
Lady was an excellent Actress, who could 
carry it so well with her Husband, by a dis- 
sembled Obedience, and with her Son, by 
Power and Authority; she was an affable 
Woman, and yet of a Motherly Carriage, 
pragmatical, and upholding her Power. But 
Junia, the Wife of Caius Cassius, Sister to
Marcus Brutus, was also ninety Years old; 
for she surviv'd the Philippic Battle sixty- 
four Years. She was a magnanimous Woman, 
in her great Wealth happy; in the Calamity 
of her Husband and near Relations, and in 
a long- Widowhood, unhappy; yet much ho- 
nour'd by all, for her Sobriety and Virtue. 
The Year of our Lord seventy-six, hap- 
pening in the time of Vespasian, is memora- 
ble, in which we shall find as it were a Ca- 
lendar of long Lives; for that Year there 
was

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 41  
was a Taxing; (now Taxing is the most au- 
thentic and truest Informer as to People's
Ages) and in that Part of Italy which lies 
between the Apennine Mountains and the 
River Po, there were found an hundred and 
twenty-four Persons, that each of them ei- 
ther equalled or exceeded an hundred Years of
Age; namely, fifty-four Persons of an hun- 
dred Years each; fifty-seven Persons of an 
hundred and ten; two only of an hundred 
and twenty-five; four Men of an hundred 
and thirty; four more of an hundred and 
thirty-five or seven; three Men of an hun- 
dred and forty. 
Besides these, Parma in particular pro- 
duc'd five, whereof three fulfilled an hun- 
dred and twenty years each, and two an 
hundred and thirty. Bruxels produc'd one 
of an hundred and twenty-five years old, 
Placentia one aged an hundred and thirty- 
two. Faventia one Woman, aged an hun- 
dred and thirty-two. A certain Town situ- 
ated in the Hills about Placentia, then called
Velleiacium, afforded ten, whereof fix ful- 
filled an hundred and ten Years each, and 
four an hundred and twenty Years of Age 
each. Lastly, Rimino one of an hundred 
and fifty years, whose Name was Marcus 
Aponius. And it will not be amiss to ac- 
quaint the Reader here, that all upon this 
foregoing List observ'd Temperance and So-
briety during most part of their Lives. 
As 

42 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
As there are but few found among all the 
Grecian, Roman, Gallick and German Em- 
perors to our Days, that have lived to the 
Age of fourscore Years, and none that ex- 
ceeded ninety; I will not therefore trouble 
the Reader with any farther Account of 
them, but proceed to the Princes of the 
Church. 
St. John, an Apostle of our Saviour, and 
the beloved Disciple, liv'd ninety-three Years; 
he was rightly denoted under the Emblem of 
the Eagle, for his piercing Sight into the 
Divinity, and was as a Seraphim among the 
Apostles, in respect of his burning Love. 
St. Luke the Evangelist compleated eighty- 
four Years; an eloquent Man, and a Tra- 
veller; St. Paul's inseparable Companion, 
and a Physician. Simeon the Son of Cleo- 
phas, called the Brother of our Lord, and 
Bishop of Hierusalem, liv'd an hundred and 
twenty Years, tho' he was cut off at last by
Martyrdom; he was a stout Man, constant, 
and full of good Works. 
Dionysius Areopagita, Contemporary to 
St. Paul the Apostle, liv'd ninety Years; he 
was called the Bird of Heaven for his sub- 
lime Divinity, and was famous as well for 
his holy Life, as for his Meditations. Aquila 
and Priscilla, first St. Paul's Hosts, and 
afterwards his Fellow-helpers, lived together 
in happy Wedlock at least to an hundred 
Years of Age apiece; for they were both 
alive under Pope Xystus the first; a noble
Pair,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 43  
Pair, and prone to all kinds of Charity, who
among their other Comforts, which doubt- 
less were great to the first Founders of the
Church, had this added, to enjoy each other 
so long in a happy married State. 
St. Paul the Hermit lived an hundred 
and thirteen Years; his Diet was so slender 
and strict, that it was thought almost im- 
possible to support human Nature therewith; 
he passed his Days in a Cave, only in Medi- 
tations and Soliloquies, yet he was not illi- 
terate, or an Idiot, but learned. St. Hie- 
rome, by the Consent of most Writers, ex- 
ceeded ninety Years of Age; a Man power- 
ful in his Pen, and of a manly Eloquence, 
variously learn'd, both in the Languages and 
Sciences, also a Traveller, and lived strictly to- 
wards his old Age in a private State, and not 
dignified; he had high Spirits, and shined far 
out of Obscurity. 
St. Anthony the Monk lived to the Age of 
an hundred and five Years; his Life was au- 
stere and mortifying, notwithstanding he 
lived in a kind of glorious Solitude, and ex- 
ercised a Command, having his Monks under 
him, and besides many Christians and Phi- 
losophers came to visit him as a living Image
worthy of their Veneration, on account of 
his holy Life and pious Works. 
St. Athanasius exceeded the Term of eighty 
Years; he was a Man of invincible Constancy,
commanding Fame, and not yielding to the 
Frowns of Fortune; he was free towards the 
Great,

44 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Great, gracious and acceptable to the People, 
wise and couragious in delivering himself from 
Oppositions, and always leading an abstemi- 
ous and religious Life. 
The Popes of Rome are in number to this 
Day 246; but of so great a number, few 
only have attain'd to the Age of 80, or up- 
wards, as I could find recorded in History: 
yet the full Age of twenty-eight of the first
Popes was intercepted by the Prerogative and
Crown of Martyrdom. 
John, the twenty-third Pope of Rome, ful- 
filled the ninetieth Year of his Age; he was
abstemious and frugal, an Enemy to Luxury, 
and acquir'd a good deal of Riches and Trea- 
sure for the Support of the Church; he al- 
ter'd many Things much for the better. 
Gregory the twelfth, created in Schism, 
and not fully acknowledg'd Pope, died ninety
Years old; of him, in respect of his short 
Papacy, there is nothing found in History to
make a Judgment upon, but that he liv'd 
strictly virtuous and abstemious. 
Paul the third lived eighty-one Years; he 
was a temperate Man, and of profound Wis- 
dom and Learning, greatly skill'd in Astro- 
nomy, and always careful of his own Health. 
Paul the fourth liv'd eighty-three Years; 
he was a Man naturally tart, and somewhat 
severe, and a little prone to Anger; his Speech 
was eloquent and ready, his Diet was always 
lean, thin, and cool, by which means he 
kept

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 45  
kept his Passions under Subjection, and ar- 
riv'd at that good old Age with all his Senses. 
Gregory the thirteenth liv'd to the same 
Age, and was absolutely a good and great 
Man, found in Mind and Body, politick, tem- 
perate, religious, full of good Works, and a 
great Alms-giver. 
The following Instances are more promis- 
cuous in their Order, and more doubtful as 
to the Certainty of their Ages. King Argan- 
thonius, who reigned at Cadiz in Spain, live
an hundred and forty Years, according to 
some Historians, of which he reigned eighty 
Years. Cyniras King of Cyprus, living in the 
Island then called the happy and pleasant 
Island, is affirmed to have lived an hundred 
and sixty Years. Two Latin Kings in Italy, 
the Father and Son, are reported to have 
lived, the one eight hundred Years, and the 
other six hundred: But this Account is de- 
liver'd unto us by certain Philologists, who
tho' otherwise credulous enough, yet they 
themselves have suspected the Veracity of this 
matter. Others record some Arcadian Kings 
to have lived three hundred Years; the Coun- 
try no doubt is a Place apt for long Life, but 
the Relation is justly suspected to be fabu- 
lous. 
One Dando, in Illyrium, is reported to 
have lived without the Inconveniency of 
Old-Age, to five hundred Years; but the ju- 
dicious Reader will make the necessary Al- 
lowance.  
Hippocrates


46 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Hippocrates of Côs, the Prince of Physici-
ans, lived an hundred and four Years, or ac- 
cording to some, an hundred and nine: He 
was skill'd in the several Particulars requisite 
for the Knowledge of Physick, and provided 
with numerous Observations of his own, 
composed out of the whole a System of 
Physick, and was the first that truly deserved
the Title of Physician; He joined Learning 
and Wisdom together, was most conver- 
sant in Experience and Observation, and did 
not hunt after Words, but severed the very 
Nerves of Science, and so taught them. 
Enphrtœnor the Grammarian grew old in 
his School, and taught when he was an hun- 
dred Years old. Seneca, according to some 
accounts, lived to an hundred and fourteen
Years of Age. But Joannes de Temporibus, 
among all the Men of our latter Ages, 
according to common Fame and vulgar Opi- 
nion, lived the longest, even to a Miracle; 
his Age being reputed to be above three 
hundred Years: He was a Native of France, 
and followed the Wars under Charles the 
Great. 
Among the Venetians there have been 
found a great many long Livers, and those 
of the more eminent fort of the People;
but the most memorable is that of Cornaro, 
who being in his Youth a sickly Person, be- 
gan first to eat and drink by measure, to a 
certain Weight, to recover his Health there- 
by; this Cure, by Use, turn'd into a Diet, 
that

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 47 
that Diet into an extraordinary long Life, 
even of an hundred Years and better, with- 
out any Decay in his Senses, and a constant 
Enjoyment of his Health. 
In latter times, William Postell, a French 
Man, lived to an hundred and twenty Years; 
he was a Man somewhat crazy, and of a 
Fancy not altogether sound, a great Travel- 
ler and Mathematician. 
Henry Jenkins, a Yorkshire Man, attain'd 
the Age of one hundred sixty-nine Years; he
was twelve Years old when the Battle of 
Flowden-field was fought, which happen'd 
upon the 9th of September, in the Year of 
our Lord 1513, and departed this Life the 
8th of December 1670, at Ellerton upon 
Swale, This Henry Jenkins was a poor 
Man, could neither Read nor Write; there 
were also four or five in the same Parish 
where he then liv'd, that were reputed all of
them to be an hundred Years old, or within 
two or three Years of it, and they all affirm'd 
he was an elderly Man ever since they knew 
him, for he was born in another Parish, and 
before any Registers were in Churches, as it 
is thought. In the last Century of his Life 
be was a Fisherman, and used to wade in 
the Streams. His Diet was coarse and sower, 
but towards the latter End of his Days, he 
begg'd up and down. He hath sworn in 
Chancery and other Courts to above 140 
Years Memory, and was often at the Affixes 
at York, whither he generally went on foot. 
It

48 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
It was likewise affirm'd by some of the 
Country Gentlemen, that he frequently swam
in the Rivers after he was past the Age of
an hundred years. * 
Thomas Parr was a poor Countryman of 
Shropshire, whence he was brought up to 
London by Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 
and died at the Age of 152 Years, 9 Months, 
after surviving nine Princes. Nov. 6, 1635, 
being open'd after his Death by Dr. Harvey,
his Body was found still very fleshy, his 
Breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, and
they served to confirm the Report of his 
having undergone public Censures for his In- 
continency. At the Age of one hundred and 
twenty he married a Widow, who owned he 
acted the Part of a Man, and that for twelve
Years after. He had a large Breast, Lungs 
not fungous, but sticking to his Ribs, and 
distended with much Blood; his Face livid, 
having had a Difficulty of breathing a little
before his Death, and a lasting Warmth in 
his Arm-pits and Breast after it. His Heart 
was great, thick, fibrous and fat; the Blood 
in the Heart blackish and diluted, the Carti- 
lages of the Sternum not more boney than 
in others, but flexible and soft; his Viscera 
were sound and strong, especially his Stomach; 
and it was observ'd of him, that he used to 
eat often both by Day and by Night, taking 
up with old Cheese, Milk, coarse Bread, 
* An Abstract of Dr. Tancred Robinson's Letter, giving an 
Account of Jenkins's Age. 
Small-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 49 
Small-beer, and Whey; and which is more 
remarkable, he eat at Midnight a little be- 
fore he died. All his inward Parts appear'd 
so sound, that if he had not chang'd his Diet 
and Air, he might in all Probability have 
liv'd a great while longer. His Brain was en- 
tire and firm; and tho' he had not the Use 
of his Sight, or of his Memory, several Years 
before he died, yet he had his Hearing and 
Apprehension very well, and was able, to the
130th Year of his Age, to do any Husband- 
man's Work, even Threshing of Corn. * 
Francisco Lupatsoli, a Venetian Consul at 
Smyrna, lived 113 Years, and had by his 
Wives and other Women, fifty Children; he
drank nothing but Water and Milk, some- 
times a small Sherbet; his usual Diet was 
small Soups of Flesh, sometimes of Bread, 
Water and Figs. He saw at that Age with- 
out Spectacles, and could bear well; he 
drank neither Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, nor 
any fermented Liquor, as Mr. Ray, then En- 
glish Consul there, relates; and farther adds, 
that he saw a Tooth cut in his upper Gum 
that great Age. 
In the Life of the great Aurengzebe, one 
of the late Moguls, we have such a nota- 
ble and shining Example of Abstemiousness, 
Continency, and many other Virtues, as may 
well recommend this Royal Infidel to the 
Admiration and Imitation of all Christian 
Princes upon Earth; wherefore I make no 
D Doubt
* Phil. Trans. No. 44. p. 886.  


50 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part I.
Doubt but the following Account of that 
Emperor will no less instruct, than entertain 
the Reader. 
There was no Part then of this great 
Prince's Time, which he did not assign to 
some useful Purpose; for early in the Morn- 
ing, before break of Day, he bathed, and spent 
some Hours at his Devotions; then having 
eaten a little Rice or Sweat-meats, he shut 
himself up with his Secretaries, and before 
Noon he gave publick Audience to his Sub- 
jects; after which he pray'd again, and then 
went to Dinner, his Table being furnish'd 
only with Rice, Herbs, Fruits, or Sweet- 
meats, for neither Flesh or Fish, or any strong
Liquors were ever brought before him. In 
the Afternoon he gave Audience again, which 
being over, he prayed a third and a fourth 
time; and the remainder of the Day, till 
two Hours after it was dark, he spent in the 
private Concerns of his own Family; then 
he supp'd, and slept afterwards only three 
Hours, after which, it is said, he read the Al- 
coran, and pray'd all the remaining Part of 
the Night. And here we have a remarkable 
Instance of what vast Advantage an abste- 
mious regular Course of Life is towards pro- 
curing Health and long Life, and rendering 
a Prince always fit for the most important 
and intricate Affairs; for this Emperor, not- 
withstanding he was an indefatigable Hearer 
of Causes, and constantly directed the Af- 
fairs of so vast an Empire, and conquer'd se- 
veral

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 51
veral large Kingdoms, lived without con- 
tracting any Distemper; neither his Judg- 
ment, Memory, or other Senses, were at all 
impair'd when he was ninety Years of Age. 
Aurengzebe, it is true, had several hundreds 
of fine blooming Girls in his Haram, or 
Seraglio, as all Eastern Princes have; but 
these seem to have been kept only for State, 
or in Conformity with the Custom of the 
Country; for it is related of him, that even 
in his Youth, having singled out a young 
Lady in the Haram to lie with him one 
Night, and she had dressed and prepar'd 
herself to receive her Royal Lover, the King
coming into the Apartment at the appointed 
Hour, instead of going to Bed, fell to read- 
ing, and between his Books and his Devoti- 
ons he passed the whole Night, without ever 
taking Notice of the expecting Lady. 
When the Eunuch came the next Morn- 
ing to acquaint the Emperor that his Bath 
was ready, which is ever used by the Maho-
metans when they have been with their Wo- 
men, the Lady answer'd, There was no need 
of a Bath, for the Sultan, had not broke 
Wind, intimating that he had been at his 
Prayers; for if a Mahometan has the Mis- 
fortune to break Wind at his Prayers, then 
he immediately bathes, looking upon himself 
to be too much polluted to go on with his 
Devotions, till he has washed off the Impu- 
rity contracted by such an Accident. 
D2 From

52 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
From this short Account of the Life of a 
Mahometan Prince, we may learn an exceeding 
useful Lesson, worthy of being imitated by 
all Christian Princes and others, who value 
Health and long Life; for notwithstanding 
he was depriv'd of the Light of Gospel 
Truth, yet so strong were his Notions of a 
Supreme Being, that he most constantly and, 
fervently adored that Being, by which means 
he led a Life religiously abstemious, conquer'd 
and regulated the Surges of the rest of his Pas- 
sions, amidst so many Allurements and Temp- 
tations of numbers of fine blooming Ladies, 
vast Riches, Power and Grandeur, which he 
always had at his Will without Controul, and 
like a true Christian Hero, preferr'd the Ado- 
ration of his Creator, and the Preservation of
his Health, to all the Pleasures which his 
vast Dominions and great Power could afford 
him. 
Richard Lloyd, born within two Miles of 
Montgomery, was aged 133 Years within two 
Months; he was a strong, strait, and upright
Man, wanted no Teeth, had no grey Hairs, 
could hear well, and read without Glasses; 
he was fleshy, and full cheek'd, and the 
Calves of his Legs not wasted or shrunk, 
could talk well, and was of a tall Stature: 
his Food was Bread, Cheese, and Butter, for 
the most Part, and his Drink Whey, But- 
ter-milk, or Water, and nothing else; but 
being persuaded by a neighbouring Gentle- 
woman to eat Flesh Meat, and drink Malt
Liquors,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 53
Liquors, soon fell off and died. He was a 
poor labouring Man in Husbandry, and the 
Truth of his great Age has been confirm'd 
to Dr. Baynard and others, by a produc'd 
Copy of the Register. 
John Bailes of Northampton, was 128 
Years and a half old when Dr. Baynard ex- 
amin'd him: he was a short broad-breasted 
Man; his Food was for the most part brown 
Bread and Cheese; he cared not much for 
Flesh Meats; he was never drunk in his Life, 
and his Drink was Water, Small-beer, and 
Milk. He told the Dr. that he had buried 
the whole Town of Northampton, except 
three or four, twenty times over; strong 
Drink, says the old Man, kills them all. He 
was a sensible old Fellow, and had no Dis- 
ease but Blindness, which Misfortune he did
not experience above four or five Years be- 
fore his Death. 
Mr. Martin, in his Description of the 
Western Islands of Scotland, says, that Do- 
nald Roy, who lived in the Island of Sand, 
where they have neither Physic nor Physi- 
cian, died lately in the hundredth Year of his
Age, and was able to travel and manage his 
Affairs till about two Years before his Death. 
He makes mention of one that died some 
Years before, aged one hundred and forty; 
and of another, who, they said, died at one 
hundred and eighty Years of Age. 
Mrs. Hudson, Mother to Mr. George Hud- 
son, a Sollicitor in Chancery, lived an hundred 
D3 and

54 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
and five Years, and then died of an acute 
Disease, by catching Cold: her Eyes were so
very good, that she could see to thread a 
Needle at that great Age; her Food was 
little or nothing else all her Life-time, but
Bread and Milk. 
Mr. Johnston, the Father of Dr. Johnston 
of Warwick, who was always a strong and 
lusty Man, died at an hundred and eleven 
Years: his usual Drink was Milk and Ale, 
or Milk and Small-beer mix'd together. 
An Inscription on the Tomb-stone of Margaret
Scot, who died at Dalkeith, twelve Miles 
from Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1738. 
Stop, Passenger, until my Life you've read, 
The Living may get Knowledge by the Dead. 
Five times five Years I liv'd a Virgin Life, 
Ten times five Years I was a virtuous Wife;
Ten times five Years I liv'd a Widow chaste,
Now, tir'd of this mortal Life, I rest. 
I, from my Cradle to my Grave, have seen 
Eight mighty Kings of Scotland, and a Queen. 
Four times five Years the Common-wealth I saw. 
Ten times the Subjects rose against the Law. 
Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 
And twice the Cloak was humbl'd by the Gown. 
An End of Stuart's Race I saw: no more, 
I saw my Country fold for English Ore. 
Such Desolations in my Time have been, 
I have an End of all Perfection seen.
2 Margaret

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 55
Margaret Paten, born at Locknugh near 
Paisly in Scotland, died in St. Margaret's 
Workhouse Westminster, June 26, 1739, at 
the Age of one hundred thirty-eight Years, 
and enjoy'd the Use of all her Senses to her 
very last Hours. She lived the most Part of 
her Life upon Oat-bread, Butter, Milk, and 
Roots, especially in her own Country; but 
here in England she indulg'd herself with 
the moderate Use of Flesh, and fermented
Liquors. 
January 1743, died at Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, one Bright, aged one hundred and five, 
who had his Memory and Eye-sight to the 
last, insomuch that he could discern to pick
a Pin off the Ground. He was called the se- 
cond old Parr, and was born and always
liv'd in the same County; his Food was, 
for the most part, coarse Bread, Cheese, 
Milk, Butter, Small-Beer, of Water. 
February 1743, died in St. Luke's Work- 
house, London, Mrs. Agnes Milbourn, one 
hundred and six Years of Age; she had 29 
Sons and a Daughter by one Husband, 20 of 
whom she has had following her to Church 
at a time for several Years, but out-lived all 
her Children and Grand-children, save only 
one Grand-son. She religiously observ'd 
Temperance, and always avoided the Use of 
Spirituous Liquors as Poison; her usual Drink 
was Milk, Ale, or Small-Beer. 
From these Instances it is manifest, that 
Milk is of a salubrious, safe and sweet Nou- 
D4 rishment,

56 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
rishment, as also by the many Nations be- 
fore and since the Flood, that eat much of 
it, and lived to great Ages, of which num- 
berless Examples may be found both in sa- 
cred and profane History, to confirm the 
Doctrine of Temperance and a cool Diet, 
as absolutely necessary to the Prolongation of
Life; but, as Dr. Baynard rightly observes, if 
an Angel from Heaven should come down 
and preach it, one Bottle of Burgundy, or a 
full flowing Bowl of Bunchy would be of 
more Force with this Claret-stew'd d Gene- 
ration, than ten Ton of Arguments to 
the contrary, tho' never so demonstrable and
divine. 
By what has been said thro' the Course of 
this Chapter, we see, that from the Time of
Moses to our Days, the Term of Man's Life 
has stood much about the same Standard of 
Years, (a few Lives here and there being ex- 
cepted:) so it evidently appears, that the Con- 
tinuation and Number of Successions of Ge- 
nerations, make nothing to the Length or 
Shortness of Life, tho' a great many People 
imagine the contrary. It is certain however, 
that there are Times in all Countries, where- 
in People are longer or shorter liv'd: longer, 
for the most part, when the Times are barba- 
rous, and Men fare less deliciously, and are
more given to bodily Exercises: shorter, 
when the Times are more civiliz'd, and
People abandon themselves to Luxury and 
Ease. Therefore from what has been hither-
to


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 57
to advanc'd, it is likewise evident to a De- 
monstration, that Temperance, moderate Ex-
ercise, and a cool Diet, are absolutely requi- 
site for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, as I shall shew more at large in the 
Sequel. 
The same, no doubt, happens in other li- 
ving Creatures; for neither Horses, Oxen, 
nor Sheep, are abridg'd of their usual Ages, 
even at this Day; and therefore the great 
Abridger of Age was certainly the Deluge; 
and perhaps some notable Accidents, such as 
Inundations, universal Droughts, Earthquakes, 
or the like, may produce the same Effect again. 
And the like Reason may be given, in re- 
gard of the Dimension and Stature of hu- 
man Bodies; for they are not lessen'd by the 
Succession of Generations, notwithstanding 
what Virgil (led by the vulgar Opinion) di- 
vin'd, that After-ages would bring forth less 
Bodies than those in his time; whereupon he 
says, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa Se- 
pulchris; that is, After-ages shall admire the
great Bones dug out of ancient Sepulchers. 
But tho' it is not denied that there were, some 
time before the Flood, Men of Gigantic Stature, 
(the Bones of such as, for certain, have been 
found in ancient Sepulchers and Caves in 
Sicily, and else where:) yet for these last three 
thousand Years, a Time whereof we have 
authentic Records, no such have been produc'd 
in those Places, nor indeed any where else; 
for which Reason it is evident, that they are 
very

58 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
very much mistaken, who are wholly carried 
away with an Opinion, that (by Succession 
of Ages) there is a continual Decay, as well 
in the Term of Man's Life, as in the Stature 
and Strength of his Body; and that all things
decline, and change to the worse. 
Therefore, as the Succession of Generations 
contributes little or nothing, either to the
Length or Brevity of Life, as appears from 
what has been said already, yet the imme- 
diate Condition of the Parents, without doubt, 
conduces very much to it; for some are be- 
gotten of old Men, some of young Men, 
some of middle-aged Men; again, some are 
begotten of healthful Fathers, and well dis- 
posed, others of diseased and languishing ones; 
again, some of Fathers after Repletion, or 
when they are drunk; others after Sleeping, 
or in the Morning; others again, after along
Intermission of Venus, some upon the Act
repeated; again, some in the Fervency of the 
Father's Love; others after the cooling of it, 
as happens in long-married People. 
The same things ought to be consider'd on 
the Part of the Mother; to which we must 
add her Condition during her Pregnancy, as 
concerning her Health, her Diet, and man- 
ner of living; the time of her bearing in the 
Womb, as to the seventh, eighth, ninth, or 
tenth Month. But to reduce all these things 
to a Rule, how far they concern long Life, 
is difficult; for those things which we often 
conceive to be the best fall out to the con- 
trary;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 59
trary; as for Instance, that Alacrity in a 
Generation that begets lusty and lively Chil- 
dren, will be less profitable to long Life, be- 
cause of the Acrimony and inflaming of the 
Spirits, which soon dissipate, and leave the 
Body dry and wither'd: so that the best Rule
is to use Moderation in all things, conjugal 
Love rather than an unlawful one; the best 
time for Generation being in the Morning, 
or after a due Concoction of our Aliments, 
and after Sleep, but never when the Body is 
in a languishing or sickly or too much 
fatigued. 
A GUIDE


(60)
A GUIDE to HEALTH, &c.
Part II.
INTRODUCTION.
AS the principal and inevitable Causes of
Old Age, and finally of our Dissolu- 
tion, are three, viz.* the Contrariety of the
Principles of our Composition, the Actions in- 
separable from Life, called Animal Actions, 
and the Excrements, which are unavoidably 
engender'd by Aliment in our Bodies; there- 
fore we must (if we would preserve the 
Body in a good State, and guard ourselves 
against the too quick Approaches of old Age) 
dispose these three things in such a manner, 
that the Harmony and Union of our Princi- 
ples, which are called Temperament, be well 
Supported, that the Spirits which are dissi- 
pated every Moment be repair'd, and the 
Excrements retain'd in the Body be expell'd. 
All this may be easily obtain' by the 
means of a good Regimen, without the Assi- 
stance of any Medicine: and this Regimen com- 
prehends many things, which are all reduc'd 
* See the Explication of these three things at large, in 
Chap. II. Part. I. 

INTRODUCTION. 61 
to fix general Heads. They are called, by
the Physicians, Nonnaturals; because, if we 
manage them with Dexterity, and make 
proper use of them, they preserve Health, 
and may be called Naturals; but if they 
are abused, or fall short, or exceed a just
Proportion in the least, they cause Distem- 
pers, and, in that Sense, may be said to 
be against Nature. These Nonnaturals are,
Air, Meat and Drink, Sleeping and Watch-
ing, Motion and Rest, Retention and Excre- 
tion, and the Passions of the Mind; of which
I shall now discourse in order. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the Nature of AIR.
IN order to account for the different Ef- 
fects, and Influence of Air upon Hu- 
man Bodies, in the following Discourse, it 
is necessary to premise in this Place, that Air, 
(according to its Nature, and the Idea we 
can form of it) is, that thin and invisible 
Fluid, in constant Motion, wherein we 
breathe and move, encompassing the Earth 
and Seas on every side, and containing the 
Vapours, Clouds, and other Meteors; the 
whole Body of which is called the * Atmo- 
sphere;
* From the Greek Words, 'AΓμòs a Vapour, and εφûeα., 
a sphere; so that Atmosphere in English, is a round Body of
Vapours; and such is the Air surrounding the Earth, as 
being constantly repleat with Vapours exhaled by the Rays 
Of the Sun. 

62 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sphere; and that it is the principal Instrument 
of Nature in all its Operations: for no Ve- 
getable, Animal, Terrestrial, or Aquatic can 
be produced, live, or grow without it: So that 
Air is the chief Instrument in the Genera- 
tion, Resolution, Accretion and Corruption 
of all terrestrial Bodies; for it is certainly
true, that it enters into every Composition, 
more or less, of all Fluids and Solids, all 
which produce great Quantities of Air. 
The lower Parts of the Air, in which all 
Animals live and breathe, are impregnated 
with an infinite Variety of the Effluvia, Steams, 
and Particles of terrestrial, aqueous, metal- 
line, vegetable and animal Substances, which, 
by Attrition, become so small and light as to 
float in it. Hence it is evident, that the Air 
must be differently impregnated in different 
Places of the Surface of the Earth, which 
produce considerable Alterations in its State, 
whereby human Bodies are differently affect- 
ed, as will plainly appear heareafter. 
Water being an Ingredient of the Air, is 
continually exhaled, and as continually de- 
scends; for when the Air is overcharged with 
it, it returns again, and falls upon the Surface of
the Earth, in Rain, Hail, Snow or Dew; but 
the Dew falls chiefly when the Sun is down. 
Earth, when calcined, flies off into the 
Air; and the Ashes of Vulcanos or burning 
Mountains: Likewise Salts of all kinds are 
ingredients of Air; for even fixed fossil Salts
may

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 63 
may be digested, and thereby rendered volatile, 
and evaporate into the Air. There are besides 
Particles of all Minerals whatever in the Air;
even Gold, the most compact and heaviest of 
them, can be evaporated and exhaled into Air, 
as will be made appear in the latter End of 
this Chapter. 
The Smoke and Fumes which are raised 
by natural or artificial Fires, all vanish into
the Air. The Steams of fermenting Liquors, 
and the poisonous Fumes of Mines, impreg- 
nated with sulphureous Exhalations, and 
combin'd with different Salts, or Metalline 
Particles, which are stinking, oily, and in- 
flammable, evaporate into the Air, and make 
up part of its Contents; which must neces- 
sarily so alter its Constitution, as to render 
it not only insalubrious, but even pernicious 
to every Animal that breathes in it. 
The watery Exhalations, with the fragrant 
and volatile Spirit of all Vegetables, being 
Ingredients of the Air, contribute very much 
towards its Salubrity, or Insalubrity, as well 
when growing, as when cut down and in a 
decaying State; for the most volatile parts of
Vegetables will evaporate into the Air, by a 
Degree of Heat much less than that of Sum- 
mer; as is evident both by Chymistry* and 
the sense of our own Smelling; for spicy 
Odours are smelt at a great Distance from 
the Countries where the Spices grow; so that 
the Quantity of vegetable Perspiration must
be very considerable in Summer-time; and 
by
* Boerhaave Chem. vol. 2. Process. I. 

64 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by the Reverend Dr. Hale's * Experiments 
we are farther convinced, that Vegetables 
of all kinds perspire Particles which float in 
the Air, and are either wholsome or destruc- 
tive to human Bodies, according to their dif- 
ferent Qualities. Hence we may infer, that 
upon the account of the Perspiration of 
Vegetables, the Summer Air must be very 
different from that of the Winter. 
Animal Perspiration is another Ingredi- 
ent of the Air, as well as the Effluvia of all 
their other Excrements, which oftentimes in- 
fect that Part of the Atmosphere, as to pro- 
duce pestilential Diseases. The Perspiration 
of a human Body, according to Mr. Hale's, ‡
Computation, is about I-50 Part of a Inch in
24 Hours all over the Surface of the Body; 
and the Quantity of the Moisture, by Respi- 
ration from the Lungs, he computes at 9792 
Grains, or I. 39, in 24 Hours; § the Surface 
of the Body he computes at 2160 square Inches, 
or 15 square Feet consequently the Surface of the
Skins of 2904 such Bodies, would cover an Acre 
of Ground, and would make an Atmosphere 
of the Steams of their own Bodies about 
71 Foot high in 34 Days, which would be- 
come Pestiferous in a Moment, if not dis-
persed by Winds.
The great Quantity of Animal Substances 
imbibed into the Air, farther appears from this, 
I that
* Hale's Veg. Stat. p. 49, 50.
‡ Veg. Stat. p. II. Exp I. 
§ Hæmast. p. 326. p. 328.


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 65
that all the Excrements of all the Carcasses 
of Animals, such as those that are burnt, 
those that are exposed later, and those that 
Are buried, in length of Time all vanish in- 
to Air at last, except a small Quantity of
Bones, which turn into Earth. From 
hence we may infer, that living in great 
and populous Cities, or in Camps, or near 
Numbers of dead Carcasses in a hot or sultry
Season, may infect that Air so far, as to 
dispose the People to putrid and malignant 
Fevers, of which we have several instances in 
History, too tedious to insert in this Place. 
And though Nature makes use of all pos- 
sible Means to preserve the Mass of this he- 
terogeneous Fluid, wherein we breathe, in a 
wholsome State; yet it must necessarily hap- 
pen, that the Air of particular Regions, Sea- 
sons and Places may differ very much in the 
Proportions of the Mixture of Ingredients 
already mentioned; so that such Air must 
affect human Bodies variously, by such Ex- 
cesses or Defects; For Air, when too moist, 
affects us with one Class of Diseases; and 
when too dry, with another. Air impreg- 
nated with the Effluvia of Animals, espe- 
cially of such as are rotting, has often pro- 
duced pestilential Diseases in that Place, as 
we find by Experience: for the Inhabitants 
of such Countries, where great Numbers 
of Men have been slain in Battle, and left 
unburied, were soon after infested with 
pestilential Distempers; as that which hap- 
E pened

66 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
pened * at Massanissa, where 80,000 Persons 
were destroyed, and at Utica, wherein 30,000 
Persons died of the Plague. That menti- 
oned by ‡ Livy, which invaded the greatest 
Part of Italy, owed its rise to the dead 
Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left 
unburied in the Field of Battle. The Plague 
mentioned by Ambrose Paree, 1562 §, was 
occasioned by Carcasses thrown into a Ditch. 
Great Quantities of dead Locusts driven into 
the Sea, by Winds, and from thence cast up in
Heaps on the Shore by the Waves, produced 
the same Effects, as Diodorus Siculus relates: 
And likewise the Steams of great Quantities 
of corrupted Vegetables have produced the 
like Effects in their Neighbourhood. The 
Steams and Effluvia of human living Crea- 
tures are extremely corruptible, as has been
observed already; and likewise the Water 
in which human Bodies wash and bathe, by 
keeping, smells cadaverous, a great part of
which evaporates into the Air.
From hence we may conclude, that it will 
be of the utmost Consequence to every one, 
to take care what kind of Air it is they sleep
and wake, breathe and live in, and are per- 
petually receiving into the most intimate 
Union with the Principles of Life; for as 
the Air being attracted, received into our 
Bodies, and mixed with our Fluids every 
Instant
* Sane. August, lib. 3. de Civit. Dei Cap. 31. 
‡ Histor. Roman. 
§ Lib. 21. de Peste. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 67
Instant of our Lives, any ill Quality abounding 
in it, so continually introduced, must in Time 
cause fatal Effects in the Animal Oeconomy. 
The first Consideration then, in Building 
of Houses and Cities, should be* to make 
them open and airy, and well perflated;
therefore we should never build upon 
high Hills, very near any great Confluence 
of Water, or in the Neighbourhood of any 
great Mines, near Beds of Minerals, or on 
marshy or mossy Foundations; but either 
in a champaign Country, or on the side of
some small Eminence, sheltered from the 
North and East Winds, or upon a light 
gravelly Soil. The best Method of finding 
out the Nature of the Soil, will be known 
from the Plants and Herbs that it produces,
and from the Nature of the Waters that spring
out of it, which ought to be sweet, clear, 
light, soft and tasteless. 
All high Hills or Mountains are damp, 
for it is common to see it rain or snow on 
Mountains, when the Valleys below are clear, 
dry, and serene. All great Hills are Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for Reservoirs of Rain- 
Water, and the Clouds are only great Fleeces 
of ratified Water floating in the Air, and 
these high Hills intercepting them, are com- 
pressed into Rain or Dew, and are con- 
stantly straining down the Chinks of the 
Mountains into the Sea and other Reser- 
voirs of Water; and Rain is allowed to be 
the Origin of Rivers and Fresh-Water 
E2 springs.


68 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Springs. Moreover, these Mountainous Places 
are always exposed to great and almost con- 
tinual Winds; and where any great Con- 
course of Water is, the Air must needs be 
always damp there, because the Sun is per- 
petually exhaling Dews and Vapours from 
these Waters. 
Dew is another Ingredient of the Air, 
which is not mere Water, but a Collection 
of the watry, oily, saline, and volatile Sub- 
stances, exhaling and transpiring from the 
Earth, and are not to be seen, as long as 
they are agitated by the Sun, but in its Ab- 
sence, and as soon as the Air cools, they 
become visible; and as the Air is a thin or 
rare Body, it cools much sooner than the 
Earth, which continues to transpire this 
Substance after Sun-set; and a great deal 
of it falls down again in the Form of Wa- 
ter, by the Cold of the Night; for it is ob- 
servable, that when there is no Wind, there 
is a Coat of this Vapour generally to be 
seen Surface of the Earth. 
Dew then, being a Composition of all 
the Substances that are exhaled from that
Tract of Earth, must of consequence be ve- 
ry different in different Tracts of Ground, 
for which Reason, according to the learned 
Boerhaave ‡, the Chymists can never agree 
about the component Parts of it; be- 
cause they make their Experiments upon 
Dows of different Places, and consequently 
of a different Nature of Ingredients; for 
in
‡ Chym. vol. I. pag. 471. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 69 
in some Places it produces such volatile and 
explosive Salts, as to break Glasses in Distil- 
lation; in others it stains the Glass like the 
Colours of the Rain-bow, which nothing can 
efface. 
In some Countries, as in Bermuda *, the 
Air being impregnated with corrosive Salts 
of different kinds, will corrode the Bricks 
and Tiles of Houses, and even rot the very
Hangings in Rooms, as has been observed 
by many. The Perspiration of metalline 
acid Salts from certain Places of the Earth, 
which, upon the account of their Gravity, 
rise only to a certain Degree of Height, are 
exceedingly offensive when taken in by the 
Breath; for they either contract the Vesicles, or 
immediately coagulate the Blood in the smaller 
Vessels, which creep along the Surfaces of 
the little Aërial Bladders of the Lungs, that 
Are in immediate Contact with the outward 
Air; and such are those arsenical Steams in 
the Grotto Del Cane near Naples, and in 
some Mines in Carniola, Campania, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
Of all the Collection of Ingredients in the 
Air, none are more pernicious to human Bo- 
dies, than Sulphurs; and also Charcoal Steams 
confined in close Places, such as Cellars and 
Caverns under-ground, will suffocate Ani- 
mals in a Moment; but when sulphureous 
Vapours abound too much, then kind Nature 
fets them on Fire by Lightning. Sulphureous 
E3 Vapours
* Boerhaave Chym. vol. I. p. 494. 

70 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Vapours likewise infect Vegetables, and ren- 
der the Grass and Herbs very pernicious to 
the Cattle that feed upon it, as Mr. Jones * 
and others relate. 
The † Observations of the Learned made 
on several Mines, give an Account, how the 
sulphureous Steams and Vapours differently 
affect and frequently destroy the Miners who
work in them; some fall into Convulsions, 
Faintings, Palsies, and apoplexies; others are 
instantly suffocated; and others again are kill'd 
by Explosion, resembling in its Nature that 
of Thunder or Gunpowder, as soon as the 
sulphureous Matter takes Fire: yet it must be 
allow'd, that Sulphur in itself, is neither un- 
wholsome nor unfriendly to the Lungs; for 
the Exhalations from Tracts of Earth abounds 
ing with Sulphur, are esteem'd wholsome in 
the open Air, such as those about the City of
Naples; but it must be observ'd, that these 
Exhalations are in the free and open Air, 
and not in too great Abundance, and in all 
Probability unmix'd with any other perni- 
cious Salts, which those in Mines must be im- 
pregnated with. 
From what has been said already, in Page 
65 and 66, it must follow, that the Air 
in great and populous Cities differs very 
much from that in the Country, and that it 
is from offensive Smells and Fumes, among 
other things, that Diseases are more fre- 
quent
* Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 101. and likewise Philos. Trans. 
abridg. vol. 2. p. 180. 
‡ Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 575. 


Ch. I. thro' the various, Stages of Life. 71
quent and more dangerous in the former than 
they are in the latter. Great Calms have often 
preceded the pestilential Constitutions of the 
Seasons; hence the close and confined Air of 
Prisons often produces mortal Diseases; and in 
Bays and Harbours,the Crews of Ships turn 
sickly, that would be healthy in the open Seas; 
and the great Mortality that is so often in 
Camps is chiefly owing to offensive Smells and 
Steams; for nothing contributes more to the 
Production of Distempers than the infected 
Air that they breathe in, occasion'd by the 
Filth which is the necessary Attendant of such 
Places; especially at Sieges, where the cor- 
rupted Particles of dead Bodies, both of Men 
and Beasts, fill the Air with an intolerable 
Stench. Besides, the Effluvia and Steams of 
Perspiration exhal'd into the Air, from the 
Bodies of Men and other Animals, must so 
charge that Air, as to encrease its Weight very
much; and at the same time the Heat of the 
Camp will weaken its Spring so considerably, 
as to render it very unfit for Respiration; for 
thereby the Blood will remain unbroken in 
the Lungs, and so dispose the People to those 
Distempers, occasion'd by a Viscidity in the 
Blood; such as malignant Fevers, Dysenteries
and Agues. 
According to the learned Boerhaave and 
others, the Eggs of Infects, and even Infects 
themselves very often are floating in the Air, 
and are so small as to be generally invisible 
by the Assistance of the best Microscopes, 
E4 which

72 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
which render the Air very unwholsome, 
and are often times the Cause of many 
grievous Diseases, being suck'd in with our 
Breath, and swallow' down with our Food; 
and the low and marshy Grounds are most
commonly subject to be infected with them; 
for there we always find great Quantities of
Flies and other Infects. Caterpillars and o- 
ther Infects, which eat up and destroy the 
Leaves of Trees and Plants, are proba- 
bly produced by the Eggs of those Infects 
floating in the Air; otherwise we cannot 
easily conceive how they can be generated in 
the Plants themselves. Historians relate, that 
there are Showers of Rain sometimes in 
Africk which affect the Inhabitants with 
Shiverings, and that there are Infects found in 
the Drops of these Showers; hence it appears 
that there are Infects in the Air, though not 
visible to the naked Eye: for it has been ob- 
serv'd, by the Help of Glasses, that in part of
a Room illuminated with the Beams of the 
Sun, Flies are seen sometimes darting like 
Hawks upon a Prey. 
Tho' the Air on or near the Surface of the 
Earth is impregnated with an infinite Num- 
ber of heterogeneous Particles, as appears evi- 
dently by what has been said already; yet the 
wise Author of the Universe has so temper'd 
this Mixture, as to render it wholsome to all 
the Animals that live and breathe in it, except
in some few accidental Cases; for doubtless 
pure Air without any such Ingredients would 
be

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 73
be very unfit for Animals and Vegetables to 
subsist in; therefore, in order to render salubri- 
ous this Element wherein we breathe, infinite 
Wisdom has so ordained, that the whole Mass 
is never overcharged with these Contents; for 
as human Creatures are unable to bear Ex- 
cesses of any kind, such as too much Heat, 
too much Dryness or Moisture, there is a con- 
tinual Circulation of Water and other Ingre- 
dients in the Air, and in mostPlaces the 
Air contains near the same Quantity of Wa- 
ter: for as the Sum of all the Force of the Sun
upon the same Surface of Land and Water, 
and the Heat of the Surface of Earth within 
the Year is very near uniform, consequently 
the Quantity of Exhalation is the same: And 
as the Air has a Power of imbibing and su- 
staining only certain Quantities of Water with
other Ingredients, and the Sum of all the 
Quantity that falls from the Air over the 
Surface of the Earth in Rain, Hail, Snow, 
and Dew, is the same; yet, by accidental 
Causes, such as Winds, the Stoppage of the 
Clouds by Tracts of Mountains, more of these 
Exhalations or Vapours may be carried and 
fall in one Place than another. 
This Water is again carried, by its natural Gra- 
vity, in Streams into the Sea, and other Reser- 
voirs of Water, and from thence again exhal'd, 
of which there is only left a sufficient Quantity 
for the Nourishment of Plants and Animals, 
the Perspiration of whose Bodies is again 
exhaled; and this Circulation is constantly 
main-

74 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
maintained and directed by the wise Order of 
Divine Providence. And all these different 
Ingredients of the Air are digested and atte- 
nuated by the Heat of the Sun, and they are 
constantly stirr'd and agitated by Winds, which
mix the Air of different Regions together. 
There are likewise Fermentations in the Air, 
which are succeeded by violent Motions and 
Explosions in Thunder and Lightning; by 
which Means the redundant sulphureous 
Steams, and other pernicious Particles are 
destroyed and consumed in those Storms. 
The particular Causes of Thunder and 
Lightning seem to be nothing else than the 
Sun exhaling moist Particles into the Air, 
these condense and gather into Clouds, and 
when these inclose a Quantity of sulphureous, 
nitrous and bituminous Exhalations, and like- 
wise Salts of various Sorts, Acids and Alka-
lies, extracted both from the Earth and Ocean, 
which being violently agitated by the Oppo- 
sition of Heat and Cold, and the Motion of 
the Air, operating upon those sulphureous and 
nitrous Particles, together with a watery Mat- 
ter, till at last they ferment and are kindled; 
then the Fire bursts open the Cloud with Ex- 
plosion in Thunder and Lightning, where the 
Passage is most easy, and the Cloud not able 
to make any farther Resistance: Sometimes 
the Opening is very wide, and stands a smali 
time, with a firey Edge about it; the Cloud 
is then dash'd with great Violence, the Air 
assisting with its Motion, and the sulphureous
Matter

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 75
Matter breaks out again in various Sounds:
the first Discharge being over, presently suc- 
ceeds a second, and this is back'd with a thirds 
fourth, fifth, &c. as long as the Store of 
combustible Matter holds out to maintain the 
Fire, till at last the Equilibrium of the Air is 
perfectly restored. 
The Effects of Lightning are wonderful; 
it being a most subtile and refin'd Matter, 
will sometimes burn a Person's Cloaths, while
his Body remains unhurt; and on the con- 
trary, it will sometimes break a Man's Bones, 
while his Cloaths and Flesh receive no 
Harm. In like manner it will sometimes 
melt or break the Blade of a Sword in the 
Scabbard, and the Scabbard remain un- 
touch'd. It has drank up Vessels of Water, 
the Cover being left untouch'd and no other 
Token remain'd. Gold, Silver, and Brass, 
have been melted, and the Bags wherein they 
were contain'd not burnt, nor even the Seal 
off Wax defac'd. Marcia, Queen of the 
Romans, was Thunder-struck when she was 
big with Child, which was killed in her 
Womb, and she receiv'd no Harm. 
The Reason of these strange and contrary 
Effects, Philosophers can but conjecture at, 
imputing it to the different Figure and Qua- 
lity of the Particles of the * Lightning, as 
2 to
* There is a fort of Stone or Mineral, which is vulgarly 
called a Thunder-bolt, and it is thought, that it falls from the 
Clouds in a Clap of Thunder, and thereby great Mischief is
done many times. But this is a vulgar Error; for the Stone 
seems to resemble more an artificial than a natural Producti- 
on,


76 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
to the Rarity and Thickness of the Fire; for 
the more subtile penetrates more easily, and 
the thicker with more Difficulty; whence 
the latter does more Harm than the former; 
and tho' it produces various and wonderful 
Effects, yet it is of such singular Use to the
Inhabitants of the Earth, that they could 
scarce subsist without it; for it clears the Air, 
destroys and consumes all the redundant and 
noxious Steams and Particles that float in it, 
breaks the Clouds, and sends down Rain up- 
on the Earth. 
* It is certain, from undoubted Experiments, 
that the Air near the Surface of the Earth 
is more or less impregnated with all those 
Heterogeneous Particles already mention'd, 
and a great many more not possible to enu- 
merate. And in truth it cannot be otherwise, 
by the known Laws of Nature; for by 
what means soever a Body becomes divided, 
till some of the Particles become less than the 
component Particles of Airy and by that 
means become lighter, they will be elevated 
into the Air, until by their * Coalescence, 
their Gravity be so much encreased, as to 
fink
on, by the Make and Figure of it; and being most common- 
ly found where Sepulchers have been, makes the Learned in- 
cline to think, that they are some Remains of Antiquity, and 
were formerly of Use in War and Arms, which was cu- 
stomary with the Ancients to bury with their Ashes. See
Rowning's Comp. System, p 146. Part II. and Philos. Trans. 
No. 313, 316, 319, 331. 
* Coalescence, is the gathering together and uniting into a 
sensible Mass, those minute Particles floating in a Fluid, which 
were not before visible in it. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 77
sink them again to the Earth. And for the 
Production of such wonderful Effects, even 
in the hardest and most solid Bodies, we need
have Recourse to no other Cause than the 
Rays of the Sun; for as it has been demon- 
strated by † Astronomical Observations, that 
Light is not above ten Minutes in passing 
from the Sun to the Earth, and as the Earth 
is at least 10,000 of its own Diameters distant
from the Sun; therefore it must run 1000 of 
these Diameters in a Minute, which is above 
100,000 Miles in a Second. So that if a 
Bullet, moving with the same Velocity with 
which it leaves the Muzzle of a Cannon, re- 
quires 25 Years to pass from the Earth to 
the Sun, as Huygens ‡ has computed it, then 
the Velocity of Light, to that of a Cannon- 
Ball, will be as 25 Years to 10 Minutes; 
therefore we may expect proportionable Ef- 
fects from such Particles, notwithstanding 
their exceeding Smallness. And we may guess 
at the Effects of the Rays of Light separate- 
ly, by what we can observe when collected in 
the Focus of a burning Glass; for no Body, 
tho' ever so hard and compact, is able to 
resist their Force: even Gold, which is un- 
alterable by any artificial Fire, may be * * vi- 
trified by the concenter'd Rays of the Sun, 
one
† Mr. Romer's Observations on the Eclipses of the Satellites 
Of Jupiter. 
‡ Huygens in his Treatise upon Light and Gravity. He was 
a celebrated Mathematician. 
** Vitrified, made or chang'd into Glass by the Force of 
Fire 

78 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
one Part of it exhaling into the Air, as 
the other is turned into Glass; and that in a 
few Seconds of Time, according to Mr. 
Blundel and others. 
Hence it appears, that the Rays of the Sun 
are not only capable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies, such small Par- 
ticles as will be render'd lighter when sepa- 
rate, than the least compounding Particle of 
Air, but also by the Celerity with which 
they will be reflected, will thereby be capa- 
ble to carry into the Air such little Collec- 
tions of Matter, as are in Fact heavier than 
the Air they mount up in, which, when the 
Force impressed becomes less than will im- 
pel them higher, they must necessarily fall 
down to the Earth again, which will vari- 
ously affect human Bodies, both in their As- 
cent and Descent, according to their different
Nature and Properties. 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of AIR. 
THE Properties of Air are, Gravity, 
Elasticity, Fluidity, and Divisbility. 
They are so called, because they constantly
remain in the whole Mass and in every part 
of it. 
The


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 79 
The Gravity of the Air was first dis- 
cover'd by Galileus, by trying to what Height
Water might be raised by pumping; and 
when he found it could not be raised higher 
than 33 feet, justly concluded, that it was 
from the Counter-ballance of the Weight of 
the Air that it was raised so high. 
The * specifick Gravity then of Air, 
when the Barometer † stands at 30 Inches, 
according to Sir Isaac Newton's Observations, 
and Dr. Halley s, is to that of Water, about 
1 to 800, and to that of Mercury as 1 
to 10,800; So that the Air we breathe 
in,
*Specifick Gravity, is the appropriate and peculiar Gravity or 
Weight which any Species of natural Bodies have, and by which 
they are plainly distinguishable from all other Bodies of diffe- 
rent Kinds, when compared with them: And it is not im- 
properly called relative Gravity, to distinguish it from absolute 
Gravity, which encreases according to the Proportion of the 
Bulk or Bigness of the Body weighed. Thus, if a Body 
weighs a Pound, one as big again will weigh two Pounds; and 
let the Bodies be of what Nature or Degree of Specifick Gra- 
vity soever, a Pound of one will be as much as a Pound of 
the other absolutely considered. Thus a Pound of Feathers is 
as heavy as a Pound of Lead; but if we consider Lead and 
Feathers relatively, the specifick Gravity of the former will be 
much greater than the later; or Lead, Bulk for Bulk, will be 
much heavier than Feathers, and Gold heavier than Lead. 
† Barometer is a Glass Tube or Instrument to measure the 
height of the Atmosphere by; it is about three Feet in Length, 
and 1/16 or 2/10 of an Inch bore, seal'd up at one End, and at 
the other End it is fill'd quite full of Quicksilver, and thus 
immersed in a small Vessel of Quicksilver, that will fink 
down in the Tube, or run out into the Vessel, till it remains 
in the Tube between 28 and 31 Inches perpendicular height; 
and this Column of Mercury in the Tube, is equal in Weight 
to a Column of Air of the same Basis, and of the Height 
of the Atmosphere, and consequently is suspended by it; 
which therefore by its rising higher or falling lower, shews 
the proportionally greater or lesser Weight or Pressure of the 
Atmosphere 

80 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in, takes up 10,800 times the Space that the 
like Quantity of Mercury would. And the 
Honourable Mr. Boyle proves by Experi- 
ments †, that the Air without any adven- 
titious Heat, may, by the Force of its own
Spring, possess 13,000 times the Space it 
does when pressed by the incumbent Atmo- 
sphere; and therefore may possess a Space 
one hundred forty-five Millions, and six hun- 
dred thousand times greater than the same 
Weight of Mercury; and that by the Ad- 
dition of Heat, it may be forced to fill a 
Space much larger. And if we consider that 
the Air we breathe in, may be compressed 
into 40 times less Space than that which it 
now fills; therefore Air may possess a Space
520,000 times greater at one time than ano- 
ther. 
The Gravity of Air counterpoises a Co- 
lumn of Mercury from 27 1/2 Inches to 30 1/2,
the Gravity of the Atmosphere varying some- 
times 1/10, which are its utmost Limits, so 
that the specifick Gravity of the Air cannot 
be exactly determined. And the Account that 
Dr. Halley gives of the Causes of the Variation
of the Gravity of the Air, seems very clear and
conclusive; for they must either proceed 
from the Air's being more or less charged 
with Quantities of ponderous Ingredients in 
one Time and Place, which, as has been said in 
the former Chapter, arc plentifully exhaled 
into
‡ Boyle's Tracts about the wonderful Rarefication of the 
Air. 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 81
into it, or by its being accumulated more in 
one Place than in another by Currents of 
Winds; thus contrary Currents of Air com- 
ing to the same Place, must accumulate the 
Air in that Place, and consequently raise the
Mercury in the Barometer; but two Currents 
of Air from the same Place, must link the 
Air in that Place, and consequently the Mer- 
cury in the Barometer. 
This is very possible in Liquids, and hap- 
pens even in the Motion of the Tides; for 
if there was a perfect Calm always, the Equi-
librium could only be charged by the greater 
or smaller Quantity of ponderous Ingredi- 
ents in the Air; in Confirmation of which 
it is discovered, that where the Winds are 
not variable, as near the Line, the Al- 
terations of the Barometer are very small; 
And these Variations of the Air's Weight 
cannot proceed from letting its ponderous In- 
gredients fall, as in great and heavy Showers: 
Tho' it is certain, that a heavy Body falling 
through a Fluid, during its Descent, does not 
press upon it, but by the Resistance which the
fluid gives to its Motion in Descent; but the 
Decrease of the Atmosphere's Weight during 
the fall of Rain, Snow, or Hail, is not pro- 
portionable to this Cause, therefore cannot be 
accounted for from it. 
As the incumbent Atmosphere is fluid and 
heavy, it presses equally upon the Surface 
of a human Body, with a Weight equal 
to a Column of Mercury, whose Basis is 
F equal

82 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
equal to the Surface of a Human Body; and 
Altitude, that of the Barometer, as in a mid- 
dle-siz'd Man, with a Weight of 32,000 
Pounds; for as it is possible for the Air to 
vary 1/10 in its Weight, so that such a human
Body must sustain a Weight of 3,200 Pounds 
Weight more at one Time than at another; 
and if the Mercury varies only one Inch in 
Height, there will be a Difference of about
1000 Pounds Weight: Such Alterations would 
affect both the Solids and Fluids of hu- 
man Bodies very much, were it not that 
the Ballance between the Air within and that 
without the Body is quickly restor'd, by the 
free Communication that is between them; 
so that these Changes are suffered without 
any sensible Inconvenience to healthful Peo- 
ple. 
This proves the ready Admission of the 
Air into the Vessels of human Bodies, and 
the Egress of aërial Particles from within the 
Body, in each Case of the Variation of the 
Weight of the external Air, from less to 
more, or from more to less; for if this Bal- 
lance between the external Air, and that 
within the Body was not kept, the Fibres 
and Fluids being elastick, in case of an In- 
crease of the Weight of the external Air,
both the Fluids and Solids would be too much 
compress'd; and in case of a Decrease of 
this Weight, they would be dilated with a 
painful Sensation, and endanger the Life of 
the Individual; for the Fall of the Mercury 
in

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 83
in the Barometer is the same with the Ex- 
suction of so much Air in the Air-pump; 
and the Rise of the Mercury the contrary. 
This Alteration happens in Vegetables and
in fermenting Liquors, as well as in Animals; 
and how these considerable Changes are made 
by Heat, Cold, or great Winds in fermenting 
Liquors, is an Observation of every one con- 
versant with them; for all these Changes 
are brought about by altering either the
Weight or Spring of the circumambient 
Air: It is for this Reason like wise, that se- 
veral People, by their Akings and Pains, can 
foretell any considerable Change of the Wea- 
ther; for their Blood being more rarefied at
the approach of wet Weather, or high 
Winds, will more forcibly press upon the 
sensible Membranes of the Body, so as to 
cause Pains that they were free from before: 
And this the rather happens, because the 
Blood hereby becomes not in the least the 
more fluid; for Froth, which is only Water 
blown into Bubbles by Air, is less fluid than 
Water itself; and the Globules of the Blood be- 
ing blown larger by the contained Air, when 
the Pressure of the external Air is removed, 
the Blood then is rendered less fluid, and 
will pass through the Capillaries with great 
Difficulty. 
A Fluid must have its Parts small, smooth, 
spherical, or approaching thereunto, and of 
equal Density, if the Fluid be homogeneal *, 
F2 accord-
* homogeneal is such Particles as are pure, entire, un- 
mixed, and altogether like one another.

84 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
according to Borelli ‡: and it is not neces- 
sary that the Parts of a Fluid should be in 
Motion, because it is neither apparent that 
the Parts of all Fluids are so, nor that the 
Parts of some solid Bodies are not so; there- 
fore, the Blood in this rarefied State is rather 
less, than more fluid, in which Condition it 
will remain, whenever the Gravity of the 
Air is lessen'd, or its Spring weakened, by 
any Cause whatever. 
There is no Liquor that can be blown up 
into Bubbles, but what is somewhat viscid, and
the more tenacious the Parts of any Liquids 
are, the fitter it is for this Use; for the Bubbles 
will be both larger and more lasting; for 
Example, a Mixture of Soap and Water may 
be blown into Spheres or Bubbles above six 
Inches in Diameter; and human Blood con- 
sists of Parts like what is in such a Mix- 
ture; for there are watry, oily, and saline 
Particles in the Blood, as is evident to our 
Senses: And that the Blood is blown into 
such little Spherulœ beyond dispute, is what 
may be observed with a Microscope in the 
Tail of a Fish; for the Globules of Blood 
being too large to pass through the smallest
Arteries, they change their spherical* Fi- 
gure to a spheroidal † one; and when they 
come into a wider Channel, they recover 
their former Figure again. Now as it is the 
Property
‡ Borelli de motibus à gravitate factis, Præpos. p. 142. 
* Spherical, round like a Ball.
† Spheroidal, an oblong Sphere or Ball. 


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 85
Property of an Elastick Body alone, that 
when its Figure is changed, to recover it again;
and nothing being Elastick but Air, or at 
least, what contains Air in it; it is a 
plain Reason that the Globules of the Blood 
must contain Air in them. 
From what has been said, it appears, that 
whenever the Blood is too viscid, so that the 
Force of Cohesion be not greater than that by
which the Air contained in the Blood endea- 
vours to expand itself, in such a Case the 
Person will be more sensibly affected by the 
Alteration of Weather; from hence better 
Indications may be taken both for the Cure 
and Prevention of those Diseases that pro- 
ceed from a Viscidity in the Blood, than from
any other Source whatever. 
Human Species can live in Air of very dif- 
ferent Gravity; for the Air in the same 
Place may differ 1/10 in Weight, the Variation 
of the Mercury in the Barometer being so 
much; but what is still more extraordinary, 
human Creatures can live in Airs, where the 
difference of the Weight is double; for Exam- 
ple, in the Bottom of deep Mines, where the 
Mercury stands in the Barometer at 32 Inches, 
and at the Top of the highest Mountains, 
supposing 'em to be 3 Miles high, the Mercury 
then mud stand at a little above sixteen 
inches. 
Notwithstanding human Creatures can sus- 
tain such a Difference of Weight or Pressure 
of Air, as (in the common Variation of Gra- 
F3 vity

86 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vity in the same Place) makes the Difference 
of Pressure upon a Person of a middle Size 
3600 Pounds Weight, and in the Difference 
of Height in the Bottoms of Mines, and at 
the Tops of the highest Mountains the Dif- 
ference of 18000 Weight; which Difference 
of Pressure or Weight must produce great 
Alterations in the bending or stretching of the 
Fibres, and in dilating the Fluids of a Human 
Body: For in the case of a greater Weight, 
the Fibres will be more strongly braced, and
the Fluids will be rendered more compact; 
and, as has been observed already, were there 
not a free Communication between the outward 
Air, and that within the Animal Fluids, these 
Alterations would be insupportable; for the 
Animal would be, in such a Case, as in an 
Air-pump with the Exsuction of half the 
Air; in which Case the Blood would boil 
up and expand itself to a very great Degree, 
by having so much of the Pressure of the 
outward Air taken off. 
And it seems very reasonable, that in di- 
minishing the Force of the Pressure of 
the outward Air upon human Bodies, the 
Fibres thereby will be rendered more un- 
braced, and consequently must create a 
Weakness in Muscular Motion; which is the 
Reason, in a great Measure, that People 
breathe shorter and with more Difficulty 
than usual, in going up to the Tops of high 
Hills and Mountains; for the Air in ascend- 
ing is a great deal lighter than at the Bot- 
2 tom,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 87 
tom, and by the Diminution of the Pressure 
of the Air upon the Muscles, less Exercise 
puts People out of Breath; and likewise the 
Over-ballance of the Air contained in the 
Cavity of the Breast, may help to produce 
this Effect But then perhaps it will be said, 
that the Inhabitants of Mountains are not 
weaker nor less active than those of lower 
Situations: In answer to which it must be 
observed, that the Excess of Coldness of the 
Air on the Tops of Mountains above that 
of the low Countries, counter-ballance the less 
Weight of the Air, and braces the Fibres 
more strongly: Another Reason is, that such 
as live in a rarer or lighter Air, as on high
Mountains, are accustomed to the Exercise 
of a greater muscular Strength; as in the 
Case of Birds performing their Motions in a 
thinner Fluid, must always use a greater 
muscular Strength, which, though Nature 
has accustomed them to the Use of this Ele- 
ment, must strengthen their Fibres; for 
which Reason tame Birds cannot fly so well 
as wild ones. 
The Alterations of the Pressure of the 
Air in its Gravity and Elasticity, must pro- 
duce proportional vibrating Motions, both in
the Solids and Fluids of human Bodies; and 
when these Variations are frequent and ex- 
treme, such violent Motions of the Fluids 
and Solids must cause great Changes in hu- 
man Bodies; for which there was no Ne- 
cessity of having recourse to any occult or 
F4 hidden

88 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hidden Qualities in the Air, as a great ma- 
ny have imagined; and though the Air does 
not much hurt the Animal Fibres, by the 
Softness of its Contact; yet the alternate 
bracing and unbracing of the Fibres strongly, 
may produce these Changes; and such Al- 
terations are not only producible by the Va- 
riations of the Air's Gravity and Elasticity, 
but likewise by its Qualities, such as Heat, 
Cold, Moisture and Dryness, which will be 
the Subject of the next Chapter. 
* Elasticity is another Property of the 
Air, which is a Force equal to its Gravity; 
for, as the Honourable Boyle and others have
proved by Experiments, the smallest Bubble 
of Air by its Elasticity or Spring can bal- 
ance, resist, and equiponderate the whole 
Atmosphere of equal Density, as far as it is
exposed thereunto; for otherwise it would 
be more compressed than in Fact it is; and 
by these two Qualities of Gravity and E- 
lasticity, and the Alterations of them, the 
Air produces great Effects in living Creatures; 
for by these, Respiration is performed, and 
the Equilibrium or Ballance is kept between
the outward Air and that contain'd in the 
Vessels of the Body. 
True
* Elasticity or Springiness, which most Bodies have more 
or less, is a Power in a Body to return to its first Place and 
Condition, as a Stick which is forcibly bent; and the Air 
has it in a very remarkable manner, which being compressed, 
it endeavours with a very great Force to restore itself to its 
former State.

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 89  
True Air never loses its Elasticity, as 
Steel, Wood and other Bodies do; yet it exerts
it only when it is collected into a Mass;  
which is confirmed by the Air-Gun; for 
Mons. De Roberval of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, having let his Air-Gun remain 
charged for the Space of 16 Years, found on 
discharging it, that the Air's Elastick Force 
was not at all abated, but produced the same 
Effect as at first *. By this Elastick Force 
the Air insinuates itself into the Spaces of 
Liquors not sufficiently filled with it already; 
there it remains divided in its minutest Par- 
ticles, and as it were in a fixed State, till it is
expanded by Heat, or the incumbent Pres- 
sure is taken off, and then it is collected in- 
to greater Masses, and exerts its Elasticity 
in Proportion to the Diminution of the in- 
cumbent Pressure. 
The Elasticity of the Air has been suffi- 
ciently demonstrated by various Experiments 
of the Air-pump, and otherwise: One very 
plain is this; an empty Bladder, the Neck of 
which being tied round fast, that no Air 
could either get in or out, and being put into
the Receiver of an Air-pump, and the ex- 
ternal Air therein exhausted, the small mat- 
ter of inclosed Air in the Bladder, will, by 
its own proper Spring or Elasticity, gradual- 
ly expand itself, and at last will so extend 
the Bladder as to burst it: Thus also the Air 
compressed in a Wind-Gun, will, by its Elas- 
tick
* Hist. de l'Academ. Roy. 1695. p. 368. 

90 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tick Force (being discharged) drive a Ball 
through a Board at several Yards Distance, 
in the same manner as with Gun-powder. 
The Solids and Fluids of Animals contain 
more Air in them in Proportion, than any 
other Substances; and Animal Solids contain 
more Air than Fluids; and they contain a 
greater Proportion of Air than any other watery 
Fluid: For example, Blood contains 1/27 Part 
of its Weight in Air, and 33 times its Bulk; 
whereas 54 Inches of Well-water yield only 
1 Inch of Air; but Spaw and Pyrmont Wa- 
ters yield double the Quantity of Air, to 
that of common Water; and therefore 
the Activity of Steel and Mineral Waters is 
owing to some aërial Particles in them; 
for when these are evaporated, the Waters 
become insipid, and without any Virtue, by 
the Quantity of Air lost, which the Blood 
and other Fluids of Animals contain, as has
been often demonstrated by Experiments of 
the Air-pump; for they will expand them- 
selves in an exhausted Receiver to a great 
Degree, in the same Manner as in the Ex- 
periment of the Bladder just now mention'd. 
Hence the Alteration of the Weight and Spring, 
or elastick Force of the Air, which dilates 
and expands proportionably the Liquors, with
which the external Air communicates, must
produce sensible Effects in animal Fluids; 
for as Air is a principal Instrument in the 
Animal Oeconomy, and consequently a prin- 
cipal Ingredient in the Composition of all 
animal

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 91
animal Substances, it must in a particular man- 
ner affect animal Bodies, and by its Changes 
differently influence all their Operations. 
Fluidity is a Property of Air, which can- 
not be destroy'd or congealed like Water or 
other Fluids, by any Power of Art or Na- 
ture hitherto known: and this Property of 
Fluids arises from the exceeding Tenuity or 
Smallness of the constituent Particles of such
Bodies, and their Disposition to Motion, 
from the Sphericity or Roundness, and Lubri- 
city or smooth Slipperiness of their Figures, 
whereby they can easily slide over one ano- 
ther's Surfaces all manner of Ways, and can 
touch but in few Points; so that Particles 
thus modified, must always produce a fluid
Body or Substance, as Water, Fire, &c. No 
Coagulation, Fermentation, or Condensation 
of any Mixtures where Air resides, have 
ever destroy'd its Fluidity; for it preserves it 
in Cold 44 Degrees greater than any natural 
Cold, which Property is absolutely necessary 
to an Element, in which both Animals and 
Vegetables live and grow. 
As Water is a Fluid much denser or thicker 
than Air, it supports and keeps together the
Bodies of larger Animals than Air can do. 
The Air is pellucid or transparent to such a 
Degree as not to be discernible even by the 
best Microscopes, by reason of the great Po- 
rosity thereof; for the Pores and Interstices of
the Air being so very great and large, it not 
only admits the Light in right Lines, but in 
such


92 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
such great plentiful Rays, that the Brightness 
and universal Lustre thereof, not only renders 
the Air diaphanous or transparent, but en- 
tirely hinders the Opacity or Darkness of the 
very small Particles of Air from being at all 
seen; and the whole Body of the Air must
consequently be invisible. But notwithstand- 
ing the Minuteness of the Particles of Air, 
many thicker Fluids will pass where it can- 
not; for Oil, Water, and Liquids will enter 
thro' Leather, which will exclude Air. 
That Air is a Fluid in constant Motion, 
may be easily perceiv'd in that Part of a 
Room illuminated by the Rays of the Sun, 
entering at a small Hole or Crevice, where- 
in the visible and floating Corpuscles or Atoms
are in continual Motion; likewise a constant 
undulatory Motion in the Air may be seen 
by the help of a Telescope; and these Undu- 
lations or Wavings of the Air to and fro, 
affect small and tender Bodies, but not so much 
as to alter their Figure. 
The Difference between Fluidity and Li- 
quidity is, that the former is a general Name 
for all Bodies whose Parts yield to the small- 
est Force or Impression; and thus a Quan- 
tity of Sand as well as Water, is called a 
Fluid: But what is properly called a Liquid 
or Liquor, is only that Kind or Species of 
Fluids which cleaves to the Touch, or sticks 
to the Finger, &c. or, as may be said, wets 
it, as Water, or any kind of Juices do: 
And the Reason of this Difference is owing 
to


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 93
to the exceeding Smallness of the Particles 
of Liquids above those of fluid Bodies; and 
also to their Ponderosity or Weight: for by 
these means, the Particles of Liquids enter 
the Pores of the Body which touches them, 
and by their Gravity or Weight, cohere or 
stick to, and abide therein, and cause Wetness. 
Air is compressible as well as dilatable; for it 
can be compressed into a less Compass, and 
smaller Volume, like a Fleece or Lock of 
Wool, either by its own Weight, or by any 
other Force; which Weight or Force being 
remov'd, it immediately recovers its former 
Bulk and Dimensions again by its Spring. 
Heat will encrease the Force of the Elasti- 
city of the Air to a prodigious Degree, accord- 
ing to the Experiments of Mr. Boyle, as has 
been observ'd in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter. To prove which by an easy Experiment, 
take a Bladder entirely empty as you think, 
and tie the Neck of it very well with a Pack- 
thread, and lay it before the Fire, the Heat 
will presently so dilate and rarefy the little 
Air inclosed, as to make it extend the Blad- 
der to its utmost Stretch, and if continued, 
will break through it with a Report like 
that of a Pistol. That Air also may be com- 
pressed by Art, so as to take up but 1/60 Part
of the Space it possessed before, has been 
prov'd by Numbers of Experiments made by 
Boyle and others; for farther Proof and Sa- 
tisfaction thereof, see Sir Isaac Newton's Op- 
tics, p. 342.  
Divisi-

94 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Divisibility is a Property of Air, by which 
living Creatures move in it without much 
Resistance; for it is always divisible by the 
smallest Force imaginable. Fishes and Birds 
move thro' their respective Element after the
same manner; and Fishes may be called the 
Birds of the Water; they pass thro' an Ele- 
ment which is 800 times thicker than Air, 
as has been observ'd in p. 71; for which 
Reason Fishes must employ a Force propor- 
tional to the greater Resistance of the Fluid. 
On the other Hand, a great deal of the Force 
of Birds is employ'd to support themselves in 
a much thinner Fluid; but the Bodies of 
Fishes are poised or equilibrated with the 
Water in which they swim. However Air 
has some Degree of Tenacity or Adhesion, by 
which its Parts attract one another, as is ma- 
nifest by the round Figure of Water-Bubbles, 
which attract and run into one another; and 
at the same Time the Particles of Air, by 
their Elasticity, have a Power in other Cir- 
cumstances, of flying off from one another, 
which two Properties are consistent, as may 
be seen in Light. 
The Resistance of Air is very considera-
ble in Bodies swiftly moving thro' it, or by 
its swift Motion against Bodies. In the first 
Case, the Resistance increases in the dupli- 
cate Proportion of the Swiftness of the mov- 
ing Body; that is, the Resistance is a hun- 
dred times greater when the Velocity is but 
ten times; so that for this Reason, if light 
Bodies are moved with great Swiftness, the 
Air's

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 95
Air's Resistance will throw them back in 
another Direction. 
Air moving with Rapidity, as in violent 
Storms or Winds, produces very sensible Ef- 
fects in human Bodies, to which if we add 
the Motion of the Person moving opposite, 
then the Pressure will be very considerable; 
hence Walking or Riding against great 
Winds is a great and laborious Exercise, the 
Effects of which are a Redness and Inflamma- 
tion of all the Parts exposed to the Air, be- 
ing like the Effects produc'd by a soft Press
or Stripes, Heat and Drowziness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of the Qualities of Air. 
THE Qualities of Air are Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture; they are called 
Qualities of the Air, because they are change- 
able, and do not constantly reside in the 
whole Mass, nor in the Parts thereof. 
By these variable Qualities of Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture, the Air must of Ne- 
cessity produce various Alterations in human 
Bodies. For if we consider, that human 
Blood is a Fluid continually warm, and in- 
closed in a Composition of thin and flexible 
Tubes, to which the outward Air has Admit- 
tance

96 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tance or Entrance by the innumerable Pas- 
sages of the Pores of the Body: Again, if 
we consider this Machine, with its inclosed
Fluids steaming and reaking hot thro' num- 
berless Pores, and often changing Situation, 
sometimes within, sometimes without Doors, 
and exposed to the hot, cold, dry, or moist
Air, and all the various Alterations that oc- 
cur in that Element; the Changes which 
must happen to a human Body in such Cir- 
cumstances, must be very considerable, and 
far greater than we generally suppose or ima- 
gine; for besides the real Influence of the 
circumambient Air, human Bodies are affect- 
ed by these Changes with a painful or plea- 
sant Sensation, which they have not always 
in their Power either to escape or possess. 
Heat is a Quality relative to our Senses 
excited in the Mind, by a great and swift 
Agitation of Particles of the hot Body ex- 
erting its Action or Influence on us; so that 
Heat in us is only the Idea thereof; and in 
the hot Body, Activity and Motion, and no- 
thing else: for no Heat is sensible, unless the
Particles of the Body which act upon us, be 
greater than the Motion of the Organ or Part 
of the Body acted upon. But when the 
Motion of the Particles of the Body acting, 
is less than that of our Organs of feeling, 
then it causes in us the Sensation or Idea of 
Cold, which is only a Privation or less Degree 
of Heat or Motion. 
The


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 97
The Spirit of Wine in Thermometers * or 
Weather-Glasses, is affected with the least 
Alterations of Heat and Cold; and therefore 
is the best Guide to know the Variations of 
the Weather, tho' the Degrees marked in the 
Tubes of them do not exactly measure their 
Quantity. The natural Heat of a grown 
Person is 92, and of Children 94 Degrees;
but no Animal can live long in Air of 90 
Degrees, or near the natural Heat of the 
Body. 
The Rarity or Thinness of the Air ren- 
ders it more sensible of the Alterations of
Heat and Cold, than any other Fluid what- 
ever; for the least Increase of Heat dilates 
it, but a Diminution thereof contracts it im- 
mediately. The Degrees of Expansion of 
the Air cannot be determin'd; for the great- 
est Heat will not totally expel it, but by 
this continual Expansion and Contraction, by 
different Degrees of Heat, it is kept in con- 
stant Motion. 
Heat, but not so great as to destroy ani- 
mal Solids, relaxes the Fibres, and rarifies the
Humours; whence proceeds the Sensation of 
Faintness and Weakness, and whence lan- 
quid and hysteric People suffer in a hot Day; 
for the Fluids are dilated, as is manifest to 
both the Sight and Touch, and the external 
G Parts
* Thermometer or Weather-Glass, is a Glass Tube filled 
with Spirit of Wine of a red Tincture: It is an Instrument of 
great Use in the Hands of skilful Persons, in discovering the 
Degrees of Heat and Cold in Air, animal and vegetable Bo- 
dies, Liquids, Hot-Beds, &c. 

98 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Parts swell, and are plumper in hot than in 
cold Weather. 
Excessive hot Air is capable to reduce ani- 
mal Substances to a State of Putrefaction, and
therefore very hurtful to the Lungs in parti- 
cular; for the Blood, by its Circulation thro'
the Lungs, is heated to a degree so as to render 
it spumous; and the Surface of the Vehicles 
of the Lungs being exposed to the external 
Air, which has a free Communication to it; 
so that Refrigeration by cool Air is one, tho' 
not the principal Use of Air in Respiration: 
but when the outward Air is many Degrees 
hotter than the Substance of the Lungs, it 
must necessarily destroy and putrify the Solids 
and Fluids: Which is confirm'd by an Ex- 
periment of the learned Dr. Boerhaave, who 
relates, that he put a Sparrow into a Sugar- 
Baker's drying Stove, where the Air was 
heated 54 Degrees more than the natural Heat 
of Human Blood, which died in two Mi- 
nutes; a Dog being put in began to pant very
much for Breath in seven Minutes, and in a 
Quarter of an Hour express'd very great Un- 
easiness; soon after he grew very faint, and ex- 
pired in 28 Minutes; he drivell'd a great Quan- 
tity of red Foam most part of the Time, which 
stunk so intolerably that a labouring Man 
that went near it was almost struck down in- 
stantly with the Stench. Dr. Boerhaave ob- 
serves in this Experiment the direful Effects of
this Degree of Heat, how soon it occasion'd 
a most acute Disease, with violent and mortal 
Symptoms;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 99
Symptoms; and how suddenly the Humours 
were changed and thoroughly putrified in 28 
Minutes: He moreover observes, that these 
were not the mere Effects of the Heat of the 
Stove; for if the Flesh of a dead Animal had 
been hung up there, it would have dried, and 
not turn to a pestilential Corruption; which 
must arise from the Friction caused by the 
Circulation of the Blood through the Lungs, 
and being not in the least refrigerated, as in
this Case. 
By the Degrees of the Heat of the Air act- 
ing upon Human Bodies, the Quantity of 
* Perspiration both sensible and insensible is 
regulated; for, by the Journals of the industri-
cus
* Perspiration is twofold, sensible and insensible; by the 
first is meant what we discharge by Spittle, Sweat, Urine 
and Stool; by the latter is understood what is imperceptibly
exhaled or expell'd through the whole external Skin of the 
Body, as also from that of the Mouth, Nose, Jaws, Larynx, 
Lungs, Gullet, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder and Womb; so 
that the Quantity of it exceeds that of all other Excretions 
join'd together; for when the Body is strong and healthy, and 
after moderate living, especially in a warm Climate, such as 
Italy, that which is discharged insensibly by the Pores of the 
external Skin, Mouth, Nostrils, &c. is five Eighths of what is 
taken into the Body in Meat and Drink. It will not appear 
incredible, that animated Bodies should thus perspire, when 
we find by Mr. Boyle's Experiments, that he has observ'd the 
like even in the most solid and inanimate Substances. Besides, 
we see the Air, when return'd in Respiration from the Lungs,
brings along with it a Vapour, which in cold Weather con- 
denses into considerable Drops. We likewise find that a Fin- 
ger, or any other Part of the Body, or our Breath, applied to 
a Glass, or polish'd Metal, will presently moisten and tarnish 
it. This perspirable Matter, according to the learned Boer- 
haave, is a Mixture of Phlegm, volatile Salt, and Oil, in cer- 
tain Proportions; and after a long Course of Circulations in 
G2 all

100 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ous and learned Dr. James Keil of Northamp- 
ton, it appears, that the Perspiration in Eng- 
land scarcely equals all the other Excretions, 
and that in Summer it is near double to that 
in Winter; whereas we find, by the incom- 
parable Sactorius's Aphorisms, that the Per- 
spiration in Italy the Year round is to all the
other Evacuations as five to three, and pro- 
bably the Proportion may be still greater in 
hotter Climates; and yet the same Author 
tells us in Aphorism vii. Sect. I. that the 
Quantity of insensible Perspiration varies ac- 
cording
all the Forms of the Animal Fluids, is deprived of all that can 
be of farther Use to any Part of the Human Body; and is 
secreted by the capillary Arteries, and passes off insensibly and
almost invisibly through the Pores of the Skin, and other Parts 
of the Body. But whenever this Evacuation is either dimi- 
nish'd or obstructed, it is almost an infallible Indication of Dis- 
eases, and probably the Cause of them, likewise. And Nature 
has so provided, that if by any external Cause this Evacuation 
is hinder'd in any one Part, it is always increased in another, 
or otherwise a Distemper will ensue; for which Reason when 
the Coldness of the Air, which more immediately affects the 
outward Skin, or any thing else lessens the Discharge of insen- 
sible Perspiration that Way, either the sensible Evacuations are 
increased, as commonly the Urine, or greater Quantities are 
carried off by Respiration from the Lungs and Parts about the 
Mouth, as we see in frosty Weather, like Smoak out of the 
Mouth; or else it is perspir'd into the Cavities of the Stomach 
and Guts, which afterwards is discharged by breaking of 
Wind either upwards or downwards: For as long as the Im- 
pulse within remains the same, wherever there is the least Re- 
sistance, there will be always the greatest Derivation of the 
perspirable Matter. And from hence it is, that we so fre- 
quently find, when the Body is more than usually exposed to 
the external Cold, Gripings, Loosnesses, Colics, and great 
Uneasinesses in the Bowels, which is nothing else but some 
Part of the perspirable Matter, that ought to have passed the 
outward Skin, check'd by the Cold, and by an opener Pas- 
sage


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 101 
cording to the Differences of Constitution,
Ages, and Countries, Seasons, Distempers,
Diet, and the rest of the Non-naturals:
Which must occasion a great Diversity of 
Constitutions and Distempers, according to 
the different Climates; for the serous Part of
the Blood is carried off by Sweats or sensible 
Perspiration, in far greater Quantities in hot 
Countries, than in cold or temperate Cli- 
mates, which must consequently render the 
Crassamentum or fibrous red Cake of the Blood
larger; hence we may know the Reason why 
the Blood of People residing in those hot 
G3 Coun-
sage within thrown off that Way. Leeuwenhoek by the Help 
of Glasses, has discover'd the Texture of the Scarf-Skin to be 
scaly; and that those Scales cover one another in several Lays, 
more or less, according to the different Thickness of the Scarf- 
Skin in the several Parts of the Body; and that in the Com- 
pass of one cuticular Scale he reckons there may be 500 
Excretory Channels, and that one Grain of Sand will cover 
125000 Orifices; and that from these a most subtile Humour 
continually transpires in all the Parts of the Body; which was 
first observ'd by the incomparable Sanctorius, to whom alone 
the Glory and Perfection of this Discovery is entirely owing. 
Insensible Perspiration therefore, both as to the Matter and 
Quantity of it, is so absolutely necessary to the Health of a 
human Body, that a Distemper can neither be removed, nor 
Health preserv'd, unless it be rightly digested and discharg'd; 
For which Reason it ought to be of the utmost Concern to a 
Physician not only thoroughly to acquaint himself with the 
Nature of this Evacuation, but likewise thoroughly to know by 
what Means it is to be promoted or lessen'd, according to the 
several Exigencies of his Patients, either for the Preservation
or Recovery of their Health: For according to the last men- 
tion'd Author, in Aphorism ii. Sect. I. ' If a Physician who 
' has the Care of another's Health is acquainted only with 
' the sensible Supplies and Evacuations, and knows nothing of
' the Waste that is daily made by insensible Perspiration, he
' will only deceive his Patient, and never cure him unless by
' Accident.'

102 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Countries is commonly thick and black when 
drawn from any Part of a human Body, as 
Experience teaches. 
Air is not cooled by the Motion of Winds, 
but by the Air of cooler Regions that they 
bring along with them; for the Thermometer 
will not change by Winds or by the strongest 
Blasts of Bellows, unless it is blown through 
Ice or some other Body colder than Air, ac- 
cording to Mr. Boyle's Experiments, but then 
such a Blast will sink it considerably. Winds
cool animal Bodies by driving away the hot 
Steams that surround them; for if we sup- 
pose that the Heat of a human Body is 90 
Degrees, and the Heat of the Air 48, by 
blowing off the hot Steam, then the animal 
Body will be surrounded with an Atmosphere 
of 48 Degrees, and consequently near the one 
half of its natural Heat taken off in a Second
of Time. Therefore, if immediately after Ex- 
ercise we rest in a cold Air, we run a great 
Hazard of falling into great Diseases, of which
there has been frequently woeful Instances, 
especially such Distempers as affect the Lungs, 
as Inflammations, Asthmas, Pleurisies and Ca- 
tarrhs; for this Change of their Atmosphere 
happening every Second of Time, is, much 
the same thing as putting on a cold Suit of 
Cloaths every such Time. 
Therefore, as human Bodies may be cool'd 
by Air cooler than their own Temperament, 
so there may be great Use made of tempera- 
ting feverish Heat by the outward Air, pro- 
2 vided

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 103 
vided it be done with Caution; which is very 
well known by Experience, as in inflamma- 
tory Diseases, such as the Small-Pox, Measles, 
&c. scarcely can any Liquor taken inwardly 
cool human Blood sooner than cool Air; for, 
by its Admission into the Pores of the Skin, 
and its being in immediate Contact with the 
Vesicles upon the Surface of the Lungs, it cools 
the Blood in a very little Time: So that great 
Mischief frequently happens by keeping the 
Air of the Rooms of People in Fevers too 
hot, by depriving them, in the first Place, of 
the Benefit of being refresh'd by it, and in 
the next, by the bad Effects of animal Steams 
pent up in the Room, which spoil the Air 
and destroy its Elasticity or Spring. Therefore
it is the Opinion of the most celebrated Phy- 
sicians, that renewing and cooling the Air in 
a Patient's Room, by giving it a free Admis- 
sion, in opening the Door sometimes, the Bed- 
Curtains, and in some Cases the Windows, 
or letting it in by Tubes or Pipes, in order to
change the hot Atmosphere about the Patient, 
(provided the Intention of keeping up a due 
Quantity of Perspiration is not disappointed) 
and in general the right Use and Manage- 
ment of the Air, is one of the principal Parts 
of a Regimen in all inflammatory Diseases; 
but, through the Ignorance and scrupulous 
Care of Nurses, in so material a Point as this, 
the Distemper is frequently increas'd, lengths 
en'd, and at last proves fatal; and this Mi- 
stake proves far more dangerous to strong, 
G4 vigorous.

104 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vigorous, compact, and heavy Constitutions, 
than to lax ones; according to this Axiom, 
Heat is detain'd in proportion to the Density
of Bodies. 
Cold is a Privation or Diminution of so 
many Degrees of Heat, as I have observ'd al- 
ready in Page 96, and it produces a propor- 
tionable Abatement of the Effects of Heat; 
so that, from what has been said already con- 
cerning hot Air, the Effects of cold Air may 
be inferr'd. Cold Air, according to Philoso- 
phers and Naturalists, is the immediate 
Cause of freezing; it first begins in the Air, 
by congealing the watery Particles in it; but 
the Effects of this Cold sometimes do not 
reach so far as to freeze the Water on the Sur- 
face of the Earth; as in Summer Hail and 
Icy Showers. 
Cold condenses the Air in proportion to the 
Degrees of it; and likewise contracts animal 
Fibres and Fluids, which are denser; for as 
Cold braces the Fibres, not only by its con- 
densing Quality, but likewise by congealing
the Moisture of the Air which relaxes; so 
for this Reason Animals in cold Weather. 
are of less Dimensions than in hot Weather. 
Extreme Cold produces at first a pricking 
Sensation in human Bodies, and afterwards a 
glowing Heat, or a small Degree of Inflam- 
mation in all the Parts of the Body exposed to
it; and by bracing the Fibres more strongly, 
thickening the Fluids, and stimulating, it pro- 
duces Strength and Activity in human Bodies, 
of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 105 
of which healthy People are very sensible in
clear and frosty weather.
Now, if the Effects of cold Air be so con-
siderable upon the Surface of the Body, why
may not they be much more so upon the 
Lungs, wherein the Blood is much hotter,
and the Membranes or Coats very thin, and
in immediate Contact with the external Air?
But were it not that the warm Air is not alto-
gether expell'd out of the Lungs in Expira-
tion, the Contact of the cold Air would be
insupportable to human Creatures; and the
Effects of cold Air in producing Inflammations
of the Lungs in all Nations is common, espe-
cially upon the blowing of cold north-easterly
Winds in Europe, or north-westerly Winds in
America.
Cold suppresses some of the grosser Parts of 
the perspirable Matter, by which Means a
great many Salts, that would b exhaled in
warm Weather, are detain'd, by contracting
the Pores of the Skin, and cooling the Blood
too much in the Vessels that are exposed to the
Air; as also by Stimulus the cold Air vel-
licates and inflames these Vessels, as has been
obser'd already, and at the same time pro-
ducing Scurvies with dismal Symptoms, being
a Distemper of cold Climates; the fatal Ex-
remities of which we may see in Captain
James's Journals, in Gerat de Veer'd a Hol-
lander, and in Captain Middleton's, and in
those of many others, who have win-
ter'd in Greenland, and other cold Coun-
tries; for the Cold that froze their spirituous
I Liquors


106 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Liquors produc'd almost the same Effect in 
their Blood, by reducing the animal Substan- 
ces of some to a gangrenous State, with Mor- 
tifications of their Limbs and Gums, being 
oblig'd to cut off the putrid or rotten Flesh; 
a total Incapacity of chewing, not capable to 
move themselves, and intolerable Pains in 
many Parts of the Body, with black and blue 
Spots and Blisters on their Skins; and by sup- 
pressing Perspiration, and retarding the Cir- 
culation of the Blood, others were seiz'd with 
Giddiness, Sleepiness, Pains in the Bowels, 
Looseness, Bloody-Fluxes, Iliack Passions, and
a Mortification in the Guts; but seldom any 
Loss of Appetite, which is very surprizing: 
All such dismal Symptoms could not be attri- 
buted to the Effects of Salt Provisions, in as 
much as they frequently had fresh both ani-
mal and vegetable. 
Extreme Cold or extreme Heat will de- 
stroy animal Substances, or reduce them to a 
gangrenous State, but with this Difference, 
that a Degree of Cold that will produce a 
Mortification in living Bodies, will preserve 
those that are dead from Putrefaction; and 
in order to produce such a Change, there must
be a Concurrence of Heat and Motion in the 
animal Fluids with the Stimulus of the Cold 
to produce the Change; for which Reason, 
Blisters cannot be raised on dead Bodies by the 
strongest blistering Plaisters imaginable. 
Moisture is a Quality of Air which affects
animal Bodies in relaxing and lengthening
their


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 107
their Fibres; for it has been often demon- 
strated by Experiments, that the single Fibres 
both of Animals and Vegetables are lengthen'd 
by moist Air, and that it relaxes is likewise 
evident from daily Experience upon Leather, 
Vellum, Paper, and a Drum. By cold Bath- 
ing there is a momentary Contraction of 
the Fibres of the Body effected by the Cold- 
ness of the Water only, and the Sensation of
which works as a Stimulus in human Bodies; 
but the Water in its own Nature would re- 
lax, and continually does so, if we remain 
too long in it; which is the Reason that Peo- 
ple using the Cold Bath are order'd not to 
stay in above half a Minute, or a Minute: 
and warm Water relaxes a great deal sooner 
than cold, and Swimming fatigues and dispi- 
rits more by relaxing the Fibres than Exer- 
cise. 
Air, by the Assistance of Moisture, will 
sooner insinuate itself into the Pores of Bo- 
dies than otherwise; for a dry Bladder will 
sooner burst than let Air pass thro' it, but 
when it is moisten'd it easily passes. Yet Moi- 
sture diminishes the Elasticity of Air, for 
in rainy Weather it is less Elastic; so that
Moisture relaxes human Fibres, by weaken- 
the Spring of the Air; but dry Air will 
lessen those Effects, or produce their Con- 
traries, such as bracing and contracting the
animal Fibres, which were before both re- 
lax'd and lengthen'd by too much Moisture. 
And a great many Symptoms which People 
are

108 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
are sensible of in moist or rainy Weather, 
are chiefly owing to the Relaxation of the 
Fibres by moist Air, by which means they 
lose some Degree of their elastic Force for cir- 
culating the Fluids; hence arise those Aches 
and Pains which are felt in the Parts of the 
Body, where the Circulation of the Fluids is 
not perfect, as in Cicatrices, or Scars of 
Wounds, old Sprains, Dislocations, or bruised 
Parts. Likewise a moist and foggy Air, espe- 
cially where the Country is low and marshy, 
will so weaken the Tone of the Vessels, as to
hinder a proper Discharge of what ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, ac- 
cording to Sanctorius *; and particularly 
weaken those of the Lungs, by which means 
the Viscidity of the Blood will be increased; 
hence arise Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions,
Asthmas, Pleurisies, Head-aches, Dulness, 
and Stupidity, Epilepsies, Hoarseness, cuta- 
neous Eruptions, pale and languid Complexions: 
and such People are also subject to scorbutic 
Habits, weak Appetites, Fevers of different 
kinds, Diarrhœas, Dysenteries, and Drop- 
sies.†
When the Air is overcharg'd with Va- 
pours near the Surface of the Earth, and 
when
* Med. Stat. Sect. 2. Aphor. 8. 
† Hippoc. Aph. 16. lib. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aqua & Lo- 
cis; in which last Book Hippocrates tells us, that the Phasians, 
who inhabited a low and marshy Country, were frequently 
subject to the above-mention'd Distempers, and which is 
commonly, and almost always the Fate of all such Situations, 
as both History and Experience teach. 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 109
when those Vapours are more in a falling 
than in an ascending State, it is then properly
called moist Air; tho' the Body of the Air 
may contain more Water in it at other 
times; but then the Water and Air are more 
intimately mix'd, and the Vapours are higher, 
and a less Quantity of them in contact with 
our Bodies; so that Air in such a State may 
be justly called dry; and sometimes the Air 
may be said to be in a State of exhaling and
imbibing, and at other times in a State of 
precipitating its Waters and other Contents. 
Dryness is another Quality of Air, by 
which it produces Effects contrary to those 
of moist Air: and as dry Air exhales and 
imbibes volatile Spirits, and Oils of animal 
Bodies, so it does consequently influence 
Perspiration. But great Dryness is capable of 
changing the very Texture, as well as the Si- 
tuation of the Pores of the Skin of human 
Bodies; and either extreme Dryness, or ex- 
treme Moisture have very often proved dan- 
gerous, if not fatal to human Bodies; and 
tho' our Bodies are not capable of bearing 
Excesses of any kind, yet of the two, ex- 
treme Dryness has been found most destru- 
ctive to animal Bodies. 
By the Properties and Qualities hitherto 
enumerated and explain'd, Air must pro- 
duce very great Alterations in human Bodies; 
for it does not only operate by outward 
Contact, but we likewise imbibe it at all the 
Pores of the Body, as is evident by what has 
been

110 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
been said already; otherwise the Air could 
not have a free and constant Admittance in- 
to the Body, and consequently the Ballance 
between the outward Air, and that within 
the Vessels, could not be so quickly restor'd; 
and it is upon the due Ballance of the Air 
within and without the Body, that the Life 
of ail Animals depends. 
The Skins of Animals dry'd exclude Air;
but those of living Creatures being moist and 
oily, it will easily pass thro' them; for where- 
ever there are Emissaries, there are also ab- 
sorbing Vessels: And to prove this Assertion 
farther, many Bodies a great deal thicker and 
heavier than Air, such as Mercury, Spanish 
Flies, and Garlick, &c. readily enter the 
Pores of the Skins of animal Bodies. So that
while we perspire, at the same time we ab- 
sorb part of the outward Air; and the Quan- 
tity of perspir'd Matter, discover'd by the 
Method of weighing, is only the Difference 
between that and the Air absorb'd; therefore 
after great Labour and Abstinence, which 
produces an Emptiness in the Vessels, and 
consequently a great Diminution of Perspi- 
ration, it is very probable, that in such a 
Case, the Quantity of the Air absorb'd may 
exceed that of the perspir'd Matter: which 
must be true, if Sanctorius's and Dr. Keil's 
Journals of Perspiration be faithful and ex- 
act; for there is an Instance in the Doctor's
Journals, of a Person's growing 18 Ounces 
heavier by absorbing Air. The Doctrine of
absorbing 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 111
absorbing Air thro' the Pores of the Skins of 
living Creatures, was taken for granted both 
by Hippocrates, Galen, and their Followers, 
which has been since confirm'd and demon- 
strated by that accurate and most ingenious 
Observer of Nature, Mr. Hales, in many 
Bodies, particularly in Vegetables, by plain
and easy Experiments; by which it appears, 
that Air freely enters thro' the Bark, Stem, 
Leaves, and all the Surface of Vegetables. 
By absorbing external Air, with all its Qua- 
lities and Contents, many great Effects must
necessarily follow, and many sudden Altera- 
tions happen in human Bodies; and nothing 
can account more clearly for epidemical 
Distempers seizing People inhabiting the same 
District of Land, and who have nothing else 
in common that affects them, except Air, 
which is confirm'd by * Hippocrates, † Sy- 
denham, and many others. 
* Hippocrates, Epid. lib. 3. Sect. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aq. & 
Locis. 
† De Febribus Intermit. Thucydid. lib. 2. p. 130. 147. 
Diod. Sicul. p. 101, 102. 
Hallerius libel. de Peste, p. 577. 
Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297. & lib. 6. de Morb. po- 
pular. Sect. 8. p. 1199.
CHAP.

112 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of AIR upon Human 
Bodies. 
THE Influence or Power of the Air up- 
on human Bodies is as different as the 
Diversity of the Weather, Seasons, Climates 
and Countries; but the true Knowledge of it 
is very obscure and imperfect, especially in 
that Part which will be always difficult to 
find out, that is, the different Qualities of the 
Air, and the manner of their acting upon 
human Bodies; yet if Journals of Diseases, 
compar'd with the Weather, had been kept 
for some Centuries in many Places and 
Kingdoms, we should at last have come to 
more than a conjectural Knowledge of this 
important Matter. 
The divine Hippocrates, after a Series 
of many Years indefatigable Practice and just
Observations, has left us in his Books of 
Epidemics, and third Section of Aphorisms, 
an inestimable Treasure of Golden Rules to 
go by for this Purpose; and tho' he had nei- 
ther * Barometer, † Thermometer, nor ‡ Hy-
groscope
* Barometer, See Page 79. Note ‡.
† Thermometer, vid. p. 97. Note *. 
‡ Hygroscope is a useful Instrument to be made several Ways, 
for-measuring the Moisture and Dryness of the Air.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 113
groscope, to measure either the Weight, Heat, 
Cold or Moisture of the Air by, yet knew 
more of the Influence of Air on human 
Bodies, than all his Predecessors and Succes- 
sors put together; for none of them ever 
made such just and curious Observations up- 
on Airy and its Effects, as he did, which 
plainly appears in his Works: he judg'd only
according to Reason and his Senses, which 
are surer Guides than the Thermometer, in re- 
spect to the Effects of Heat and Cold upon 
our Bodies; for by the Thermometer, stagnant 
Water is of the same Degree of Heat as the 
ambient Air, but if apply'd to our Bodies, 
we shall feel it much colder; therefore, Air 
abounding with more or less watery Particles, 
is colder or hotter to our Senses, tho' the 
Thermometer still remains at the same Height.* 
This sagacious Great Man tells us, that ‖ 
Whoever would understand Physic, it is first
necessary to understand the Seasons of the Year, 
and then their Effects on our Bodies; and that 
† we ought to know the Constitutions of the 
Air, what they are, and in what Times and 
Regions they mostly appear. He says likewise, 
‡ That Distempers seldom arise from any other 
H Cause
* According to Lord Verulam's Observations, Water seems
colder than Air; and the Froth of any Liquor seems warmer 
than the Liquor itself; and the Powder of any solid Body, 
warmer than that solid Body, tho' the Thermometer still proves 
the same Degree of Heat in each to be alike. Hist. Nat 
& Experiment. de Ventis, cap. de forma Callidi, p. 143. 
‖ Hippoc. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis, p. 280. 
† Hip. lib. 4. p. 1138. de morb. Epidem.
‡ Hip. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297 


114 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cause than the Air; for either it is too much
or too little, or abounds with infectious Filth. 
He tells us in another Place ‖, That the Air 
is to he consider'd as to its Heat or Cold, 
Thickness or Thinness, Dryness or Moisture, 
and their several Changes. 
According to his Instructions, we are like- 
wise § to consider the Situation, Air, and 
Water of a City, in order to come at the 
Knowledge of their popular Diseases, and 
their Seasons: for Instance, that Cities ex- 
posed to the ‡ hot Winds, such as blow be- 
tween the rising and setting of the Sun in 
Winter, to which Situation such Winds are 
peculiar, and at the same time are defended
from the Northerly Winds, abound with 
Water of a saltish Taste, which as it comes
from above, must needs be warm in Sum- 
mer, and cold in Winter; but Cities that are
well situated as to the Sun and Winds, and 
at the same time supply'd with wholsome 
Water, are free from many Distempers, 
which those in different Circumstances are 
subject to, as has been already mention'd: 
that if the Summer proves dry, the Diseases
are of a shorter Duration than in a wet one
in which they prove obstinate, and apt to de- 
generate into Suppurations, Heat and Moi- 
sture in the Air producing Putrefaction: that 
Defluxions,
‖ Idem de morb. popular, lib. 6. p. 1199. 
§ Hip. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis. 
‡ Hippocrates means in this Place a Southerly Situation, 
and the Winds that blow from thence. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 115
Defluxions, much Phlegm, and Hoarseness 
are occasion'd by cold Weather: that Deflu- 
xions from the Head, and Disorders of the 
Belly, from Phlegm distilling downwards, 
producing Fluxes, were the Effects of the 
Winter, which made Women subject to 
Miscarriages, and Children to Convulsions; 
likewise such as were exposed to Cold, sub- 
ject to Inflammations of the Eyes and Lungs. 
This great Man could foretell the Diseases 
from the Weather, and says, that Heat 
coming upon a wet Season will produce se- 
rous Defluxions upon the Head and Belly, 
and acute Fevers. That cool Weather, about, 
the Dog-Days, if not succeeded by a tem- 
perate Autumn, is dangerous for Women 
and Children, producing Quartan Fevers, 
and from these they fall into Dropsies: if the 
Winter is mild and rainy, and succeeded by 
Northerly Winds in the Spring, it will be 
dangerous for Women that happen to be with 
Child, producing Abortions, likewise Deflu- 
xions upon the Lungs, Dysenteries and Co- 
licks in the Phlegmatick, and Inflammations 
in those that are Bilious, because of the Heat
and Dryness of their Flesh; and that Ob- 
structions after Relaxations produce Palsies, 
and sometimes sudden Death in old People. 
A rainy Summer and Autumn must; needs 
make a sickly Winter; burning Fevers will 
happen in People above 40 and Phlegmatic;
in the Bilious, Pleurisies, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs: but if the Summer be dry with
H2 Northerly

116 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Northerly Winds, succeeded by a wet Au- 
tumn with Southerly Winds, Head-aches and 
paralytick Diseases are likely to happen in 
the Winter; likewise Hoarseness, Stuffings 
in the Head, Coughs and Consumption: but 
a dry Autumn with Northerly Winds is pro- 
fitable to phlegmatic Constitutions, and ex- 
tremely hurtful to the Bilious, the watery
Parts which dilute the Gaul being exhaled. 
He says farther, that whoever considers 
these Things, may know before-hand the 
greatest Part of what will happen from the 
Changes of the Seasons, and advises to con- 
sider the Constitution of the Air in Opera- 
tions of Surgery; excepts against cutting for 
the Stone in the Solstices *, especially in the 
Summer Solstice. 
The divine old Man goes still farther, and 
says, that the Affair of Generation is influ- 
enc'd by the Difference of the Constitutions 
of the Air, and that such a Variety should 
thus happen in the Formation or Mixture of 
the Semen, which is not always the same in 
the same Person, in Summer and Winter, in 
wet Weather and dry, that it is oftener cor- 
rupted in the Formation or Mixture of it, 
where the Seasons change frequently, than 
where
* Solstice is the Time when the Sun being come to either 
of the Tropical Points, is got farthest from the Equator, and 
seems to be at a stand for some Days before it returns back, 
which happens twice a Year in the Summer and Winter. The 
Summer Solstice is when the Sun entering the Tropick of 
Cancer on June 11, makes the longest Day, and the shortest
Night. 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 117
where they remain pretty near alike. He 
likewise attributes the different Shapes, Com-
plexions, Tempers of Mankind, and even 
their different Forms of Government, to the 
Influence of the Air: that the fertile Coun- 
tries of Asia, upon the account of moderate 
Heat and Moisture, produce large and hand- 
some Animals; and that the Softness of 
their Climate disposes them to Mildness and
Effeminacy, not enduring Labour or Hard- 
ships of any Kind, like the Greeks, frequent 
Changes in the Body, produced by Labour 
and the Alterations of the Weather exercis- 
ing both Body and Mind; for which Reason 
the Asiaticks are less bold and couragious, 
they are slavish and subject to Masters, and 
tho' they are forc'd, yer they are not willing
to quit their Ease and Families, or to endan- 
der their Lives for the Power and Wealth of 
others, in Expeditions from which they are 
to reap no Advantage to themselves: that on 
the contrary, the Greeks and Northern Asi- 
aticks were bold, hardy, and full of Courage;
and that, being at their own Disposals, wil- 
lingly underwent Dangers and the greatest 
difficulties, because the Reward of the Vic- 
tory was to be their own. 
He says besides, that as the Equality of
the Temperature of the Seasons render'd the 
Asiaticks indolent and lazy; so the great va- 
riety of Heat and Cold, by differently affect- 
ing Body and Mind, render'd the Europeans 
couragious and active; Activity, Labour, and 
H3 Exercise

118 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Exercise begetting Bravery, and Bravery 
begetting Laws to secure Property; and 
being govern'd by such, they were enabl'd 
to reap the Benefit of the Fruits of their In- 
dustry, which those that live under Abso- 
lute Monarchy are not capable to enjoy: 
Here this great and wise Man expresses his 
Dislike to Despotick Government. 
The Phasians *, says he, are tall, soft, 
bloated and pale, on account of the excessive
Moisture of the Air they breathe; for their 
Country is marshy, hot, watery, woody, and 
subject to violent Showers at all Seasons, and
such Effects proceed from lax Fibres occasi- 
oned by excessive Moisture; but such as in- 
habit Mountainous Places, where they are of 
a large Make, have a variety of Weather, 
and are bold, fierce and active; and the Inha- 
bitants of fertile Plains, with stagnating Waters, 
are the reverse; for a fat Soil produces dull 
and heavy Understandings. The Inhabitants 
of barren and dry Soils, with cold Winters, 
are passionate, warm in their Tempers, posi- 
tive, proud, and of a quick Understanding. 
In one of his Books ‡, he attributes the 
Causes of all Diseases, especially of the Pesti- 
lential, to proceed from the Influence of
the Air: And in another Place †, he far- 
ther
* The Phasians were Inhabitants of the City Phasis, in the 
ancient Kingdom of Colchis, upon the eastermost Side of the 
Black Sea, between Georgia and Circassia, not far from the 
ancient Sauromatœ. 
‡ Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus. 
† Hippoc. lib. de Morbo Sacro. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 119
ther affirms, that Air gives Sensation, Life 
and Motion to all the Members of Animal 
Bodies; for which Reason he strenuously re- 
commends Astronomy as an essential Part of 
the true Knowledge of the Art of Healing; 
and says, that if any one should think it to
be only Meteorological Speculations, he may 
soon learn, if he can part with his Opinion, 
that Astronomy is so far from being of little 
Use in Physick, as to be of the greatest; for 
as the Seasons change, so do the Constitutions 
of Men likewise §: And to prove the Useful- 
ness of Hippocrates's Doctrine and Opinion in 
this Particular, we need only consult a Treatise
of a Cotemporary learned Author, who is not 
only an Honour to his Country, but likewise an 
Ornament to his Profession, wherein we shall 
find not only the Usefulness of Astronomy in 
the Art of Physick, but likewise the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies geometrically de-
monstrated †.
Hippocrates goes on still farther in the 
same Book, and says, that where the Variety
of the Weather is oftenest, and the Diffe- 
rence between the Seasons greatest, there 
the Nature, Customs, and Habits of the 
People will be found most different, which 
are the principal Causes of all the Changes in
Nature; and next to these, the Country 
wherein we are brought up, and the 
Waters we are obliged to drink; for we 
H4 shall
§ Hippoc. in his Book of Water, Air, and Situation. 
† Richardus Mead de Imperio Solis & Lunæ in Corp. Hum. 


120 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
shall generally find that the Complexions 
and Manners of the People correspond with
the Nature of their Country. 
He has left us a curious History of 
Diseases, and the Weather, in his valuable
Books of Epidemics, from whence he drew 
many useful and nice Observations; and 
where we may see a vast Conformity between 
the Constitution of the Air, and that of Dis- 
tempers, throughout the whole Work. 
The Constitution mentioned in his 1st Sec- 
tion, was a wet Autumn, the Winter dry, 
with southerly Winds and very little norther- 
ly, the Spring cold, with southerly Winds, a 
little wet, a cloudy and dry Summer, with 
little or no northerly Winds to cool the Air; 
in this Constitution he observ'd some few 
burning Fevers of a good sort, some with 
Hæmorrhages; a great many had Swellings 
behind both or one Ear, but generally with- 
out a Fever, and disappear'd without much 
Inconvenience or Suppuration.
The Constitution of the next Year, related
in Section the Second, was a wet Autumn, 
with northerly and southerly Winds; the Win- 
ter was moist and affected with cold norther- 
ly Winds, attended with great and heavy 
Showers of Rain and Snow, and a cold and 
northerly Spring, both watery and cloudy; 
the Summer not very Scorching, and was 
continually affected with northerly Winds, 
and a great deal of Rain fell again sudden- 
ly; so that the whole Year being cold and 
moist,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 121
moist, and attended with northerly Winds for 
the most part, produced Inflammations of the 
Eyes in the Spring, and in the Summer, Co- 
licks, Fluxes of the Belly, with Bilious Purg- 
ings, and sometimes Bilious Vomitings with 
Phlegm and indigested Food, some with Cat- 
tarrhous Fevers, others again without Fe- 
ver or Confinement; but they all in gene- 
neral sweated, Moisture being then so redun- 
dant every where. 
In the Autumn and Winter continual Fe- 
vers appear'd; there were likewise diurnal, 
nocturnal, tertians, semitertians, some quar- 
tans and erratick Fevers; besides some were 
afflicted with Catarrhs and Defluxions upon 
their Joints; Convulsions were also frequent
among Children; all such Diseases being the 
natural Product of a Cold and Moist Year, 
affected by too much Moisture in the Air, 
which human Bodies continually breathe and 
imbibe. 
He tells us in his third Section, that the 
Constitution of that Year was a cold dry
Winter attended with northerly Winds, as 
was likewise the Spring and Summer till to- 
wards the beginning of the Dog-Days, then 
scorching Heats and Droughts continu'd till 
Autumn, which prov'd to be moist and rainy: 
This Year was remarkable for Paraplegias or 
Palsies, which were epidemical in the Winter; 
likewise Hæmorrhages of all Kinds and Dy- 
senteries reign'd in the Spring and Summer, be- 
ing the Effects of a Constriction of the Fibres, 
oc-


122 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
occasion'd by too much Cold and Drought;
burning Fevers with Delirium and Thirst, be- 
ginning with Shiverings, Watchings, Nauseas, 
and Anxiety continued, which were most dan- 
gerous and fatal to young and vigorous Peo- 
ple, especially in the Autumn, but most of all 
in the Winter, when the Hæmorrhages ceas'd. 
In his Second Book he attributes the great 
Frequency of Carbuncles and other large 
Pustules of the putrid kind in Summer to 
the great suffocating Heats attended with 
Calms and Moisture; and that Sweats suc- 
ceeded Showers, because Moisture relaxes the 
Fibres of the Body; that inflammatory Dis- 
cases, such as burning Fevers, Pleurisies, &c. 
are most violent in a dry and hot Summer; that 
in constant and settled Weather and Seasons, 
the Distempers will be more equal and of a 
good Sort and easily determined; but that if 
the Weather is variable they will likewise 
be irregular and resolv'd with difficulty; that
the Diseases of the Spring are least destruc- 
tive of any of the other Seasons: He like- 
wise remarks that a mild Winter, attended 
with southerly Winds, a dry Spring, and a 
moist Summer with small Rains, produced 
Fevers, and Tumours or Swellings behind the
Ears. 
In his third Book he observes a kind of a 
Pestilential Season, which proceeded from a 
hard Winter, a rainy warm Spring, succeed- 
ed by an excessive hot Summer with little 
or no Winds; it was notable for all inflam- 
matory



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 123
matory Pimples and Eruptions upon the 
Skin, and likewise for all Distempers of the
putrid Kind, such as Erysipelas, Aphtas and 
Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat, burning 
Fevers with Deliriums, Tubercles upon the 
Private Parts, Inf animations of the Eyes, 
Carbuncles, Swellings in the Groins, Abscesses
and Defluxions upon the Joints, some with 
Suppurations of Pus well digested, and others
again with a copious Running of putrified 
Matter of different sorts. 
He remarks in his sixth Book, that the 
frequent Alterations of the Winds from 
South to North, are very often the Cause of 
Inflammations of the Lungs and other Parts 
of the Body; and that, generally speaking, the
Nature of the Diseases is determined by the 
Seasonableness of the Weather, as it happens 
sooner or later, either dry, cold, hot, moist, 
and attended with Winds or otherwise. 
From these few Instances, we may easily 
discover the great Genius, Sagacity, and In- 
dustry of this Divine old Man, as likewise 
with what Assiduity and Integrity he apply'd 
himself to study the Nature and Influence of
the Air upon human Bodies; wherein he suc- 
ceeded better than any one of his Profession: 
And if his Successors had laid aside all their ri- 
diculous, and, as I may fay, absurd Hypotheses, 
together with their useless metaphysical Specu- 
lations, and followed the same Method with the 
same Perspicuity and Honesty as he did, to this 
present Time, we then should have had more  
than



124 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than a conjectural Knowledge, both of the 
Nature and true Causes of Diseases, especial- 
ly of Epidemics, which at this Time puzzle 
even the greatest Physicians. Therefore Rea- 
son join'd with Observation is the only cer- 
tain Method we should pursue in order to 
come at the true Knowledge of Diseases 
and their Cure; for it evidently appears in 
the Annals of Physick, that the small Num- 
ber of Physician who have happily attended 
to it, made so considerable a Figure in their 
Profession, that they will always shine, even
to the latest Posterity. 
The ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot having ex- 
plain'd Hippocrates and others upon the Sub- 
ject of the Influence of Air on human Bo- 
dies and Diseases, so accurately well, accord- 
ing to Mechanical Principles, that nothing 
can excell it; therefore, I thought it not 
only proper, but likewise very useful and 
necessary to give the Reader an Abstract of 
what he says upon that Head in this 
Place. 
He observes, that as this Subject has not 
been treated of by modern Physicians with 
that Accuracy it deserves, Observations of 
that kind are but few, and there is no Series 
of them in any Country: What would give 
most Light in this Matter, is a Collection of 
Observations in Countries where both the 
Qualities of the Air have great Excursions 
towards Extremes, where the Seasons and 
these Excursions, and the Diseases depending 
upon

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 125
upon them are regular. Egypt is a Coun- 
try which answers all these Intentions in 
some Degree: It is situated between Ethi- 
opia, the Mediterranean Sea, Arabia and 
Barbary, which lie, in the Order mention'd. 
South, North, East, and West of it. Grand 
Cairo, where Prosper Alpinus, a very emi- 
nent Physician, practis'd and made his Ob- 
servations, lies in 30 Degrees Northern La- 
titude, as Ptolomy says, 6 Degrees beyond 
the Tropick of Cancer. This great City 
is situated at the Foot of the Mountains 
of the Stony Arabia, which lie towards 
the East. It is quite expos'd to the north- 
erly Winds which blow over the Mediter- 
ranean: Southerly of it there is a hot 
sandy Soil; so that the Alterations of Heat
and Cold, as the Winds blow North and 
South, over the Mediterranean, or over this 
hot Sand are excessive, and the Alterations 
of Heat and Cold from the other Winds 
but small, lying near the Tropick; and as 
it is a sandy Soil, fructify'd only by the 
Slime of the River Nile, without Rain, 
there is hardly any humid Perspiration from 
the Ground itself, the Air receiving Mois- 
ture only from the watery Surface of the 
Nile during the Inundation, or from the 
Vapours brought from the Mediterranean 
by the northerly Winds. 
From these Causes the Air is extremely 
hot, and the tropical Heats would be insuffe- 
rable, were it not for the Northerly Winds. 
And

126 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
And in fact, the Heats are sometimes so ve- 
hement, that the Inhabitants defend them- 
selves from them by many Contrivances, 
such as Fountains in the middle of their 
Houses, Pipes to convey fresh Air by Grottos, 
and high Edifices, by which their Streets are 
shelter'd from the Sun, and a temperate 
Diet. During the tropical Heats *, the Air 
is sometimes so much moisten'd and cool'd by 
the Notherly Winds, and the watery Surface 
of the Nile, that the acute and pestilential 
Distempers are check'd by this Constitution 
of the Air: the Inhabitants often suffer from
Catarrhous Distempers, more than in North- 
ern Countries, their Bodies being more de- 
licate, and their Pores more open by the pre-
ceding Heat. 
As to their Seasons, their Spring lasts from 
the Beginning of January to March; their 
Summer is double, the first, from the Begin- 
ning of March to the Solstice †, and the se- 
cond, from the Solstice to the Beginning of 
September; and this second Summer is more 
constant, healthy, and less scorching than the 
first, by reason of the difference of the Winds,
and other Causes hereafter mention'd. Their 
Autumn lasts September and October; and 
their Winter, November and December. 
The extreme Heat of the first Summer 
proceeds from the hot Winds which blow 
from
* Tropical Heat, see p. 116. Note *. 
† Solstice is likewise explain'd in the same Note.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 127
from the South and South-East, called by 
the Inhabitants Campsin from their Conti- 
nuance of fifty Days; tho' they have no 
determin'd Time, but last sometimes more 
than three Months, and reign March, April, 
and May; they blow over the Sands, which 
they raise in Clouds, sometimes so as to darken
the Sun: during this Time, many epidemi-
cal Diseases rage, especially Inflammations of 
the Eyes, a Fever, which the Inhabitants 
call Demelmuia, attended with a Delirium, 
and proves often mortal in a few Hours, and 
even the Plague itself. And this extreme Heat 
has sudden Interruptions of Cold, which 
renders the Inhabitants still more unhealthy, 
and they live under Ground during the 
Campsin. 
The Heat during the Months of June 
and July, which by the Course of the Sun 
should be the greatest, is so moderated by
the Northerly and moist Winds blowing over 
the Mediterranean, and by the overflowing 
of the Nile, that the Inhabitants grow heal- 
thy, and sow their Seed in the Months of 
September and October, Their Winter has 
seldom any Snow, Frost, or Rain, or any 
thing besides Dew, unless in some Places 
bordering upon the Mediterranean, and re- 
ceiving Clouds from thence. So that the 
reigning Winds in Egypt are the Southerly, 
blowing as it were from an Oven; and the 
Northerly, moist and cold over the Mediter- 
ranean, and this last perhaps two Thirds of 
2 the



128 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Year, and during the greatest Solar 
Heats. 
Another Cause by which both the Heat 
and Drought of the Air is temper'd, is the 
overflowing of the Nile, which rising in the 
Mountains of Ethiopia, bends its Course 
Northerly thro' a Tract of Land near 30 
Degrees. By the Rains falling in those 
Mountains, the Nile has ever since the Me- 
mory of Man begun to swell the 17th of 
June New Stile; and it rises every Day about
8 or 10 Inches, and begins to fail in August,
and decreases till May, when it is in a man- 
ner stagnating. The Limits of its Height 
are, from 26 the highest of all, to 18 the 
lowest, in Cubits; the middle 24; 18 is a 
Height barely sufficient to make an Inunda- 
tion. Its Water not only refreshes the Air 
with a kindly Moisture, but is the most de- 
licious Drink in the World, when purify'd 
by the Deposition of its Sediment, being of 
itself a Cure for most Distempers, where 
Dilution, a Diuresis or Sweating is necessary, 
as Prosper Alpinus found by Experience. 
There are several remarkable Things in 
the Constitution of the Egyptian Air; for 
the Perspiration of the Soil, which is sandy 
and barren, cannot affect the Air very much, 
the Exhalations being mostly either from the 
Surface of the Inundation, or the Mud and 
Slime after it is over. The natural Heat 
and Dryness of the Air, and the Change 
from that to cooler Moisture; the Abate- 
ment

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 129
ment of the Tropical Heats by Northerly 
Winds; the Extremity of Heat and Drought, 
by the Southerly Winds blowing over Sands, 
and the Moisture again induc'd by the Clouds
from the Mediterranean, and the Inundation; 
the Exhalations from stagnating and putrid 
Water, when the Inundation is quite over;
and lastly, the Temperance and regular Diet 
of most of the Inhabitants, must give a fair 
Experiment of the Effects of Air upon hu- 
man Constitutions. And accordingly, those 
who labour and live hard, and cannot defend
themselves from the Injuries of the Wind, 
mostly hot and dry, are extreamly lean and 
squalid. The Rich, by a plentiful and nourish- 
ing Diet, and preserving themselves from the 
Heat and Drought, by Bathing, Relaxation 
of their Fibres by drinking the Water of the 
Nile, are often fat. 
The Air of Egypt having no noxious
Qualities from the Perspiration of the Ground, 
Were it not from the accidental ones above- 
mention'd, would be extremely wholsome; 
and the People who know how to defend 
themselves from those Accidents, live to great
Ages. The frequent Changes of Heat and 
Cold, Moisture and Drought, produce all 
the Distempers of the Catarrhous Kind, and 
Arthritick Diseases; and by the strong Per- 
spiration, Leprosies, even Elephantiasis, The 
Effects of a hot dry Air by a Southerly 
Wind, blowing over a sandy Country, are 
felt strongly; inflammatory Distempers, es- 
I pecially

130 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
pecially a raging Fever with a Phrenzy, called 
Demelmuia, mortal in a few Hours: they 
feel likewise all the good Effects of the A- 
batement of this Heat and Drought by Nor- 
therly Winds, and the overflowing of the 
Nile. They are likewise subject to all the 
Diseases from putrid and stagnating Water, 
and Exhalations from Heat after the Inunda- 
tion is over, and these are often pestilential. 
Pestilential Distempers are frequent in 
Egypt, and what I think demonstrates the 
Plague to be Endemial * to that Country, 
is its regular Invasion and going off at cer- 
tain Seasons, beginning about September, the
time of the Subsidence of the Nile, and end- 
ing in June the time of the Inundations. In 
the first Case, are all the Causes productive
of Putrefaction, Heat, and putrid Exhala- 
tions, and no Winter Frost to check them. 
But what is wonderful, the Plague, and the 
Fevers from the Heat of the Campsin, go 
off by the Northerly Winds, and the over- 
flowing of the Nile: and the wholsome Qua- 
lity of Northerly Winds for checking pesti- 
lential Distempers, has been observ'd by all 
ancient Physicians, And to shew that the 
Plague depends upon the Temperature of the 
Air, Prosper Alpinus takes Notice, that up- 
on the swelling of the Nile, the Infection, 
and
* Endemial or Endemick, is a Disease that infects a great
many in the same Country, proceeding from some Cause pe- 
culiar to the Country, or the Place where it reigns, such as 
the Scurvy to the Northern Climes, the Plague to Turkey and
Egypt.

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 131
and even the Danger from infected Cloath
and Furniture goes off; besides the cooling of
the Air, the Northerly Winds may dissipate 
the stagnating Vapours, and the running of 
the Nile the stagnating Waters. Hippocrates 
and Galen have both observ'd, that the 
Etesiæ, or Northerly Winds blowing in Sum- 
mer, made a wholsome Season; but this Ob- 
servation is more sensible in hot Countries 
than in ours. 
Boutius, a very learned and sagacious Phy- 
sician, has left us a Description of the Air 
and Diseases of the Inhabitants of Java: it 
is situated under the Line, and is very hot;
it is likewise moist, from the great Quantities 
of Rain and stagnant Waters; and from Heat 
and Moisture, and Salts produc'd from those 
Qualities, the putrifying Quality of the Air 
is very manifest in rotting of Cloaths, and 
rusting of Metals. From these Qualities the 
Air feels to human Bodies piercing and active; 
and as all the Inhabitants of hot Countries have 
that  Sensation of the penetrating Qualities of 
Air, Cold after great Heats, which proceeds 
chiefly from the Pores of their Skin being 
relaxed before by Heat, such Bodies must
imbibe Air faster. 
In Java, as in Egypt, the Northerly 
Winds render the Air wholsome, by abating 
The extreme Heat; some Land Winds carry- 
ing along with them the stagnant Vapours, 
are often otherwise. The Soil being here 
fruitful and rich, emits Steams, consisting of 
I2 volatile





132 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
volatile and active Parts, which fructify the 
Soil, but are hurtful to human Bodies. 
The Seasons here cannot be distinguish'd 
by their Heat, by reason of the Smallness of 
their Latitude: there are only two, what may 
be called Winter is the rainy Season; this 
Season is attended with Diseases which de- 
pend upon Putrefaction. The Inhabitants 
measure their Seasons of Heat and Cold by 
the times of the Day; the Mornings and 
Evenings are cooler by the Absence of the Sun, 
and by the Sea Breezes; the scorching Heat 
of the middle of the Day makes that Time 
unfit for Business. 
The popular Diseases here are, a kind of 
Palsy, called by the Inhabitants Beriberium, 
the Cause of which is evidently cold Air, 
imbib'd by the Pores of the Skin, extreamly 
relaxed by Heat before, and therefore in- 
vades such as incautiously expose themselves 
to the Morning Air, or throw their Bed- 
clothes off in the Night. Another Disease, 
called * Catalepsis, is likewise popular in this 
Country, proceeding from the penetrating 
Qualities of the Air imbib'd by relax'd 
Bodies, which renders the Patient rigid like a 
Statue, and dies in a few Hours. Diarrhœas 
and Dysenteries are common from the same 
Cause, by sudden Suppression of Perspiration. 
It is a Matter of Observation, that great 
Heats exalt the Bile, by exhaling the watery 
Particles which dilute it, by a strong sensible 
Per-
* Catalepsis, is a convulsive Disease like an Apoplexy. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 133
Perspiration; and therefore the Cholera Mor- 
bus †, and other Diseases of the Liver, are 
common and fatal in the East-Indies; and 
from diseased Livers, Dropsies and Atrophies 
are frequent in Java: and in this Country 
Fevers are seldom intermitting, but conti- 
nual, with Phrensies, and other dreadful 
Symptoms, as during the Campsin in Egypt,
proving mortal in a short time. 
It seems agreeable to Reason and Expe- 
rience, that the Air operates sensibly in 
forming the Constitutions of Mankind, the 
Specialities of Features, Complexion, Tem- 
per, and consequently the Manners of Man- 
kind, which are found to vary much in dif- 
ferent Countries and Climates. As to Fea- 
tures, what an infinite Variety arises from the 
Combination of the Parts of a human Face! 
so that since the Creation of the World, per- 
haps there were never two, upon a narrow 
Inspection, that perfectly resembled one ano- 
ther; for there are Faces not only individual, 
but Gentilitious and National; European, 
Asiatick, Chinese, African, Grecian Faces, 
are characteris'd: and this Diversity of Na- 
tional Features and Shapes is not altogether 
the Effect of Propagation from the same ori- 
ginal Stock; for it is known by Experience, 
that Transplantation, changes the Stature and 
outward Shape both of Plants and Animals. 
I3 Hippo-
† Cholera Morbus, is a convulsive Motion of the Stomach 
and Guts, whereby the bilious Excrements are discharg'd in 
great Plenty, both upwards and downwards.  





134 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part II.
Hippocrates makes great Account of the 
Influence of the Air upon the Fœtus, both 
before and after Birth. He is of Opinion, 
that the great variety of European Faces, is 
owing to that of the Air and Seasons, as has 
been observ'd in another Place, there being 
such great Excursions in the Extremities of 
Heat and Cold, that their Offspring is as it 
were begot and brought forth in different 
Climates. 
That the Shape of Animals should be modi- 
fy'd by the Air, is in no Ways unaccountable; 
for an Animal growing, expands its Fibres in 
the Air as a Fluid, which by a gentle Pres- 
sure resists the Motion of the Heart in the 
Expansion and Elongation * of the Fibres; 
and tho' the Fibres of several Animals shoot 
as it were in this Fluid, according to their 
original Shapes, yet such a Fluid resisting by 
its Pressure, is, in respect to the Animal, like 
a soft Mold, in which the Body is form'd; 
and therefore, according to the Quantity of
its Pressure, depending upon its most perma- 
nent State of dense, rare, hot, cold, dry, 
moist, must have some Influence in forming 
the outward Figure of such a Body in a State 
of Acretion or Growing : besides this out- 
ward Pressure, the Air being mix'd with the 
Animal Fluids, determines their Condition 
as to Rarity, Density, Viscosity, Tenuity, 
and several other Qualities.
That
* Lengthening. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 135
That the Complexion depends much upon 
the Air, is plain from Experience; the Com- 
plexion of the Inhabitants of several Coun- 
tries being fair, swarthy, black or adust, ac- 
cording to the Degrees of Heat, Drought, 
Moisture, or Coolness of the Air they live 
in; for the Inhabitants of Countries in great 
Latitudes are generally fairer than those that 
live nearer the Sun. 
That the Temper and Passions are influ- 
enc'd by the Air, is no less certain: People 
of delicate Nerves and moveable Spirits, are 
often joyful, sullen, sprightly, dejected, hope- 
ful, despairing, according to the Weather; 
and these Changes happen in stronger Con- 
stitutions, but pass unobserv'd. 
There are Days in which the intellectual 
Faculties of Memory, Imagination, Judg- 
ment, are more vigorous; therefore it seems 
probable, that the Genius of Nations de- 
pends upon that of their Air; for Arts and 
Sciences have hardly ever appear'd in very 
great or very small Latitudes. The Inhabitants 
of some Countries succeed best in those Arts 
which require Industry and great Application 
of Mind; others in such as require Imagi- 
nation: from hence some Countries produce 
better Mathematicians, Philosophers, and 
Mechanics; others better Poets, which be- 
sides the Rules of Art, require Imagination; 
and it seems, that Labour is more tolerable 
to the Inhabitants of colder Climates, and 
Liveliness of Imagination to those of hot.
I4 There






136 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
There are two Things common to all 
Mankind, Air and Aliment, and both differ 
very much in their Qualities, in different
Countries and Climates but those of the 
Air perhaps are more different than those 
of the Aliment or Food. In perusing the 
Accounts of the Temper and Genius of the 
Inhabitants of different Countries, we dis- 
cover in them a great Uniformity, even tho' 
the Race has been chang'd; for the Temper 
of the Gauls, describ'd by Cæsar and other 
Writers, is much the same with that of the 
present French, of which there is a remark- 
able Instance in the Misopogon of the Em- 
peror Julian; he tells us, that he had passed
a Winter at Paris, where there were more 
Comedians, Dancers, and Fiddlers, than there 
were Citizens besides. And I believe if a Race 
of Laplanders were transported thither, in a 
few Years they would be found in the Con- 
dition describ'd by the Emperor Julian. 
If we consider the Causes assign'd by Hip- 
pocrates, of the different Temper of the 
Inhabitants of different Climates, we shall 
find them sufficiently proportion'd to their 
Effects. In Northern Countries, where the 
Alterations of the Height of the Mercury in 
the Barometer, and consequently of the 
Weight of the Air, are frequent and great, 
the Fibres of human Bodies are in a continual 
oscillatory * Motion from a Pressure of 1200, 
1800,
* Oscillatory Motion is properly the Swing or Motion of a 
Pendulum of a Clock, and thence comes to be used for all 
tremulous or undulating Motions having Resemblance thereto. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 137
1800, nay, 3600 more at one time than 
another; and tho' this, by the Softness and 
Rarity of the Fluid, is insensible, and not 
painful, it is a sort of Exercise, which the 
Inhabitants of Countries where the Variation 
of the Height of the Mercury is small or no- 
thing, do not feel. 
By the Difference of the Tension of the 
Fibres, the whole nervous System and the 
animal Spirits are in some manner affected; 
And let us consider again the Extremes of 
Heat and Cold in great Latitudes, operating 
after the same manner, relaxing and con- 
stringing the Fibres by turns, and the ex- 
treme Cold acting likewise as a Stimulus, in
consequence of which we find an Activity 
and Tolerance of Motion and Labour in 
dry frosty Weather, more than in hot; 
whereas the People within the Tropicks are 
constantly in the State of our hottest 
Weather. 
Therefore, whoever considers Mankind in 
such different Circumstances, will find, that 
the Temper both of their Body and Mind 
must be different, and that a greater Varie- 
ty in the Oscillatory Motion of the Fibres of 
Northern People, must produce the same in 
their Spirits; and therefore a proportional 
Inequality in their Passions, and consequent- 
ly greater Activity and Courage. 
That the Inhabitants of Climates, where 
the Difference of the Weight, Heat and 
Cold of the Air is but small, feel only the 
Changes

138 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Changes of the Tension of their Fibres pro- 
ceeding from Drought and Moisture, being 
free from the Agitations and uneasy Sensa- 
tions of northern People, proceeding from 
the Causes above-mention'd; and the Mo- 
tions of their Fibres and Spirits being more 
uniform, they may be for that Reason, and 
from excessive Heats, lazy and indolent. 
That the Constitutions of Mankind differ 
according to the Qualities of the Air in 
which they live, is an uncontested Matter of
Fact, and depends upon obvious Causes: 
For as Hippocrates observed, that the In- 
habitants of moist Countries were bloated, 
leucophlegmatic, and dull, from the Rela- 
xation of their Fibres, and the Moisture im- 
bib'd with the Air; and contrary Causes 
must; produce contrary Effects: Heat indeed
relaxes the Fibres, but by absorbing the 
Moisture may likewise harden, and render 
them more solid: For the Bones of Ani- 
mals in hot Countries are more solid, and 
specifically heavier than those in cold Cli- 
mates, as may be seen in comparing the 
Bones of the Limbs of African Horses with
those of northern Countries. 
The Blood likewise in hot Countries is 
thicker and blacker, by the Dissipation of 
the serous Part by sensible Perspiration, 
which is Matter of Fact well attested by 
Physicians who have practised in those hot 
Countries: And from this black adust State 
of their Blood, they are Atrabilarious; for 
great

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 139
great Heats exalt the Bile, by dissipating the 
Moisture which dilates it; but Bile, of 
itself, is the most unperspirable of Animal 
Fluids, for it stops at the Surface of the Skin, 
and discolours it. 
There is some Anology * between Plants 
and Animals, and both are longer in coming
to Maturity in cold and moist Air; for the 
prolifick Age of Mankind is much earlier 
in hot than cold Countries, the Females be- 
ing in that State at ten Years of Age. And 
the Inhabitants of warm Countries are not 
subject to be fat, for a strong Perspiration
keeps an Animal from being so; yet a copi- 
ous Diet and Inactivity will always occa- 
sion Exceptions from the general Rule. 
Cold and moist Air must necessarily pro- 
duce phlegmatic and lax Constitutions, and 
by stopping Perspiration, with a copious Diet, 
accumulate the Animal Oil: But dry and 
cold Air in a Degree tolerable to human 
Bodies, which is a state of our Winter 
Frosts, creates a strict or tight Constitution 
of the Fibres, and all the Effects thereon 
depending, as Vigour and Activity, &c. 
As the Force of human Bodies is limited, 
they are not capable of bearing Extremities 
of any kind, of too great Rarety, Density, 
Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought in the 
Air. From the same cause human Bodies 
do
* Analogy is the Relation which one Thing bears to ano- 
ther.


140 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
do not easily sustain violent and sudden 
Changes, which agitate the Fluids and Solids
too much; for as the State of our Fluids 
and Solids change with the Air, violent Alte- 
rations in the latter produce the same in 
the former. For Example: Suppose such 
a State of the Air as makes a great Stric-
ture of all the external parts of the Body, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Cir- 
culation in the Vessels exposed to the Air, 
and in those which immediately communi- 
cate with them: Suppose again, the Air is
suddenly changed from this State to one 
which violently relaxes the Fibres; by their 
Relaxation it is possible that the Vessels which
were destin'd before to carry the Serum or 
Lymph, may admit the Blood, which is an 
inflammatory State: Accordingly we find, 
that inflammatory Distempers of several 
kinds are rise in moist and warm Weather, 
preceded by hard and lasting Frosts: Frosts
stop the Perspiration of the Earth, which 
being restored by Thaw, fills the Air 
with an unusual Quantity of Vapours, 
which affect human Bodies, not only by 
Relaxation, but as they imbibe them with
the Air. 
Cold both congeals the Fluids and con- 
stringes the Solids; for it acts like a small Li- 
gature upon the Vessels affected with it, by 
which the Circulation through the Vessels 
is retarded; the natural Effect of which is a 
greater Secretion of Serosity through the 
Glands




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 141
Glands contiguous; for the Extremities of
the Vessels near the Glands being press'd, 
they cannot so plentifully carry off the re- 
fluent Fluid, by which there must be a 
greater Flux of Liquor towards the Glands, 
and consequently a greater from its Emuncto-
ries; therefore Catarrhs, or serous Defluxions 
upon all the Parts of the Body, but especially
from the Glands of the Head and Throat, 
are a natural Effect of Cold. 
Obstructions by Cold in the outward Parts 
of the Body, drive the Blood pressing with 
greater Force upon the inward Parts, and in- 
crease Heat, and likewise may occasion a 
Siziness in the Blood: And Cold, by sup- 
pressing the Perspiration of Salts in the Blood, 
by congealing the Blood, and likewise by a 
painful Stimulus corroding the Skin, is apt to
produce Scurvies, and other cutaneous Erup- 
tions, and in extremity is capable of freezing
the Fluids, and reducing Animal Substances 
to a gangrenous State. 
Cold Air is also capable of rendering in- 
flammatory Distempers with cutaneous E- 
tuptions more dangerous, by hindering the 
Relaxation of the Skin; as the Small-pox is
found to be most fatal during hard Frosts, 
and cold north-easterly Winds. Cold Air 
likewise, by its immediate Contact with the 
Surface of the Lungs, is capable of abating 
or stopping the Circulation of the Blood, 
and bringing them into an inflammatory 
State, and by producing Catarrhs and Coughs, 
is


142 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is productive of all the Effects of such De- 
fluxions upon the Lungs, as Ulcerations, and
all Sorts of Pulmonick Consumptions. 
Hot and moist Air producing Relaxations, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Force 
of the Solids in propelling the Fluids, must
produce Stagnation, Tumours, and Putrefac- 
tion in the Liquids, and all the other Diseases 
depending upon a lax State of the Fibres: 
Hippocrates observed such Diseases always 
consequent upon a moist Constitution of 
Air with southerly Winds, which are warm; 
and the same has been often observed here in 
England. 
As Perspiration is the last Action of per- 
fect Animal Digestion, that Constitution of 
Air which suppresses Perspiration, must
hinder Digestion; therefore cold and moist
Air must be hurtful to the Stomach:
And as Catarrhs and Coughs are the Effects
of cold and moist Air, and those habitually 
affecting the Lungs, they often produce pul- 
monick Consumptions; yet it seems probable, 
that where those Consumptions are a po- 
pular Disease, they proceed from some par- 
ticular Acrimony in the Air of that Country, 
affecting that tender Organ by immediate 
Contact, and perhaps most of the Glands 
of the Body; for our Consumptions are for 
the most part scrophulous, and scrophulous
Distempers are common in this Country.
And where the Air is charg'd with any 
saline acrid Particles, they will naturally co- 
agulate

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 143
agulate the Fluid where they touch; and 
from the abundance of Mineral Waters of all 
Sorts in England, it may be inferr'd, that 
there are abundance of Mineral Steams, which
are capable of producing such Distempers. 
From what has been said on the Subject 
of the Influence of Air upon human Bo- 
dies, it is plain that no vitious State, either 
of the Solids or Fluids, but is producible 
by the common Properties and Qualities of 
Air, and their Changes and Combinations. 
By the Qualities of the Air, the solid Parts 
may be stimulated: For example, the Sti- 
mulus of extreme cold Air is very sensible. 
Heat, or any Quality of Air, so excessive
as to produce a painful Sensation, acts as a 
Stimulus: And what obstructs the Passages 
of the Vessels which communicate with the 
Air, is stimulating, by increasing the Force
of the Heart and Fibres to overcome the 
Obstruction; this either Cold or Moisture 
may do, which often produce, first a Chil- 
ness, and then a succeeding Heat, which are 
feverish Symptoms. Many volatile Particles 
floating in the Air, as the Odoriferous Ve- 
getables, act as a Stimulus, and produce 
Heach-Achs, as we often find. 
That the Fibres are constring'd and re- 
lax'd by the Alterations of the Properties and 
Qualities of the Air, has been already de- 
monstrated; and that the Fluids may be 
Vitiated in the same manner, is no less 
plain: That the Blood may be condensed 
by



144 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by Heat, by absorbing the most fluid Part; 
That a certain Degree of Heat will attenuate, 
and a greater coagulate the Serum; and that 
Heat in general is capable of producing great 
Acrimony and putrid Fevers of all Sorts, is true 
from Experience: And any Degree of Heat 
greater than that of a human Body will do 
so; for our natural Heat is near the Degree 
of Coagulation. Cold likewises condenses 
the Fluids in immediate Contact with it; 
and is capable of producing Siziness and 
Viscosity of the Blood: And by the same 
Causes Acrimony of all Sorts, to the De- 
gree of Putrefaction, is producible by Air. 
Evacuations of all Sorts, from all the 
glandulous Parts of the Body, are producible 
by the Stoppage of Perspiration by Cold; 
for there is no diuretick Medicine that works
so strong in a Flux of Urine, as a Suppression
of the perspirable Matter in hysterical Cases. 
Cold likewise promotes all Catarrhs and 
Coughs; and moist Air, Diarrhœas, and 
copious Secretions from the Glands of the 
Guts, without which Evacuations, Stoppage 
of Perspiration produces a Plethora or Ac- 
cumulation of the Humours in the Vessels. 
From these Considerations it appears, that 
die Diseases, especially the Acute of any Sea- 
son, chiefly depend upon the Constitution of 
the Air, by which they are modified as 
to their Rifeness, Duration, Degrees of 
Danger, their particular Symptoms, Circula- 
sons and Periods; In which we must not
only



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 145 
only consider the present, but likewise the 
preceding State of the Air; because, as
they are more similar, or contrary, so the 
Alterations produced in human Bodies are 
more or less violent; particularly it will be 
found, that sudden Changes from the Ex- 
tremes of Cold and Dry, to Heat and Mois- 
ture, are Causes which operate strongly in 
modifying the Diseases of that Season. 
That long and excessive Heats, by inducing 
Weakness, are apt to stamp the Succeeding 
Fevers with nervous Symptoms: That such 
a dry Constitution of Air, as is apt to con- 
tract the Skin, and obstruct its Pores, makes 
the Crisis by sweating more difficult; and 
perhaps the different Periods of Fevers, Quo- 
tidian, Tertian and Quartan, may depend 
upon a preceding greater Viscosity, or Ob- 
struction in the Vessels, produced by the 
Constitution of the Air: That the more 
dangerous State of the Small pox, and other 
inflammatory cutaneous Eruptions, depends 
upon the Air; and it seems very plain, as it 
induces a greater Laxity or Stricture of the 
Fibres, or creates Obstruction in the Vessels 
of the Skin. 
That Diseases of the Lungs, as far as they 
are not the product of bad Diet, depend 
chiefly upon the Qualities of the Air, seems
evident; for the Lungs are expos'd to the 
outward Air, which has an immediate Ad- 
mission into the Air-bladders, and perhaps 
into the Blood-vessels; and whatever Effect
K the


146 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Air has upon the Skin, this must be ex- 
pected upon the Lungs in a particular Man- 
ner. Thus far I thought necessary to give 
the Reader an Abstract of the ingenious Dr. 
Arhurthnot's Explanations of Hippocrates,
and others, on the Subject of the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies. 
But to conclude, I shall only add; that 
of all the Causes that are capable of altering
our Bodies, no one is so necessary and so 
sudden as the Air; the Necessity of which 
is evident from the use of Air in Respiration; 
for if it happens, that any of the chief Or- 
gans appropriated either for the Entrance or 
Reception of Air receive any great Injury, 
the Animal dies suddenly by Suffocation; 
whereby it manifestly appears, that Air and
Life in perfect living Creatures are insepe- 
rable. 
According to Hippocrates, natural Heat is 
preserv'd by moderate cool Air; for if you 
take away the Air from Fire, it will not
burn, but will immediately be extinguish'd: 
and our Spirits, which are the principal In- 
struments of the Soul, are generated and 
nourish'd by Air, and supported by its going 
in and out; and it is principally for this Rea- 
son that our Bodies are every where perfora- 
ted or porous, that our Arteries are continu- 
ally beating, and that Nature has made such 
admirable fine Mouths to the two Vessels 
called the Lungs; so that the Air is as ne-
cessary

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 147 
cessary to a living Creature as the Soul it- 
self. 
As to the Suddenness of the Air, we feel 
it every Moment; for it instantly ascends to 
the Brains by the Nose, and traversing almost 
an infinite number of minute Passages, which 
are to be seen in the admirable Net-work of
animal Bodies; proceeds to the inmost Re- 
cesses of the Body, and descends with incre- 
dible Velocity into the Lungs by the Mouth, 
and thence to the Heart: it likewise pene- 
trates the Pores of the Skin insensibly, and 
enters the Arteries by Transpiration, as far as 
the deepest Cavities of our Bodies; it sur- 
rounds us always, and never abandons us one 
Minute; so that we must constantly imbibe 
or suck it in whether we will or not. 
The Divine Hippocrates, being thoroughly 
acquainted with the Power of Air upon hu- 
man Bodies, tells us in his Epidemicks, and
in the second Book of Diet, that the whole 
Constitution of the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends entirely upon the Air. 
Therefore the Choice of good Air, and a 
pleasant Habitation, must always claim the 
first Rank in the Regimen of Health; so 
that such as would preserve their Health, and 
obtain a long Life, ought to know the Good- 
ness of the Air, as well in regard to its Sub- 
stance as to its Qualities. 
As to its Substance, when it is pure and 
has no Seeds of Corruption, and that it is 
K2 not

148 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
not impregnated with malignant Vapours pro- 
ceeding from dead Bodies, or from the Sinks
or common Shores of great Cities, or stand- 
ing Waters; or from the sulphureous Exha- 
lations of Mines, combin'd with different 
Salts, or metalline Particles, which are stink- 
ing, oily, and inflammable, of which I 
treated at large already in Part II. Chap. I. 
But if the Air happens to be corrupted or 
infected, and that we cannot remove as soon 
as we would, it must be purified with artifi- 
cial Fires made of Rosemary, Juniper, Lau- 
rel, Cyprus, and Perfumes made of Aloes- 
wood, Juniper-berries, and other Aromatics; 
likewise the Steams of Vinegar correct the 
Malignity of the Air in a surprizing man- 
ner. 
As to the Qualities of the Air, all Ex- 
cesses of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, 
are pernicious; for which Reason we should 
chuse moderate Air if possible; therefore 
serene Air moderately hot and dry, blowing
from clear inland Places, or from Rivers 
with a gentle Breeze, free from sudden and 
great Changes, open and rural, purg'd of salt 
and oily Exhalations, is generally the best
to preserve Health. 
As to what regards ancient People, a warm 
Air is certainly the best for them, and their 
Chambers should never be without Fire, es- 
pecially in the cold Seasons of the Year; for 
it is experimentally true, that their State of 
Health is much better in Summer than in 
Winter;

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 149
Winter; because they always carry the Win- 
ter along with them. Their Bed-Chambers 
should be in the upper Apartments, and their 
Houses open to the East, that the Morning 
Sun might enter their Rooms: there should 
likewise be an opening on the North Side, in
order to let in Air from that Side, and by 
that Means to purify the Air, and expel all 
noxious or offensive Steams and Vapours out 
of their Chambers. 
CHAP. V. 
OF ALIMENTS in general.
ALIMENT includes all that is taken
in as Meats and Drinks, from whence 
Nourishment is expected, which is what sup- 
plies Nutrition. And what comes under this 
Term is threefold: First, all that passes in 
the first Stage from Mastication, or Chewing, 
the Chyles's Entry into the Blood is so call'd. 
And Secondly, the Apposition of new Parts 
in the Room of those wore off by Action. 
Thirdly, when the Chyle after various Circu- 
lations with the Blood, is deprived of all that
can be of farther Use to any Part of the Body, 
it is carried both sensibly and insensibly 
through the Emunctories of the Body. 
K3 The

150 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The first State
of Digestion.
The first is carried on in the 
following Manner: The Parts of
Food being divided by Chewing, 
and moisten'd with Spittle, that it may be 
render'd softer in order to undergo a farther 
Comminution, is thrust down into the Sto- 
mach; wherein, by the Assistance of the con- 
tinual Motion arising from the musculous 
Coats of the Stomach, and of Respiration, 
by which the * Diaphragma alternately presses
the Stomach downwards, the Parts of the 
Food soften'd by the Saliva or Spittle, and
other serous Liquors from the Glands, is 
shook about, ground and divided into yet 
smaller Parts, until it acquires such a Fine- 
ness as is requisite, together with the glandu- 
lous Fluids and Liquors drank down, for 
composing that milky Fluid call'd Chyle ‡. 
But here we are to observe, that the Parts of
the Food are not dissolv'd into essential Parts, 
or Elements, whether chymical or any other, 
by the Assistance of any Ferment in the Sto- 
mach; that is to say, by a Separation of some 
Parts of different Kinds combined together, 
and an Union of other Parts that were before 
separated, as it happens in all Fermentation 
of Wine, wherein tartarous Particles, before 
united
* Diaphragma, or Midriff, is a transverse Muscle which 
separates the Thorax or Chest from the Abdomen or Belly; in 
the Middle it is membranous; the Gullet, the great Artery, 
and the great hollow Vein all pass through it: It conduces to 
Respiration with other Muscles, and pressing upon the Guts 
helps forward the Secretion of the Excrements. 
‡ Chyle is that milky or Emulsion-like Juice, which the 
Food is immediately converted into by Digestion. 


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 151  
united with others, are separated; and Parti- 
cles of Phlegm and Oil, before in Separation, 
are brought nearer together, and form a true 
Spirit. 
But by the Concoction that is perform'd in 
the Stomach, the Food is divided into integral 
Parts, not differing from what they were be- 
fore, only in obtaining a lesser Bulk; altoge- 
ther in the same Manner as Coral is grinded 
upon a Marble with Water, and reduced to 
an impalpable Powder, whose Parts are only 
small Pieces of Coral, and not any Principled
into which Coral is resolv'd. For the Proof 
of which there is no need of any other Argu- 
ment, than that in the Stomach and the In- 
testines of the larger Fish, that devour and 
digest the lesser, the Chyle is nothing else but
a Liquor filled with the Fibres of the devour- 
ed Fish, as may be easily discerned with a 
Microscope; or the small Parts of Fibres no 
way differing from the larger, only in Magni- 
tude, that is, indigested Pieces of Flesh.
The Chyle being thus elaborated in the 
Stomach by its alternate Contractions, and 
the Force of the neighbouring Muscles, is 
thrown out into the Intestines, at its Entrance
into which it is diluted with the Bile and 
pancreatic Juice: which Liquors undergo 
no manner of Effervescence * with the Chyle, 
or with one another, but are smoothly and 
K4 quietly
* Effervescence signifies an intestine Commotion produced 
by mixing two Bodies together that lay at rest before; attend- 
ed sometimes with a hissing Noise, Frothing, and Ebullition
For

152 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quietly mixed therewith, and with each other, 
as appears by many Experiments; and by their 
Means the Chyle is render'd more fluid. 
Hence it follows, that the Parts of the Food, 
in some measure dissolved by the Motion of 
the Stomach, but not sufficiently separated
from each other, thro' want of a due Quan- 
tity of Fluid, every one yet being in some 
measure in Contact with one another, pass 
over the Pylorus * into the Guts; and when 
these greater or less digested Particles cannot
be strain'd in any considerable Quantity into 
the Lacteals † by reason of their Magni- 
tude, they are yet thrust farther into the in- 
testinal Tube ‡, and therein putrify, as they 
are out of the Limit of Circulation, which 
begins at the Lacteals: For all Things, such
as the Flesh of dead Creatures, Herbs, &c.
that are capable of Putrefaction out of the 
Animal, are capable of Digestion in it. 
Hence
For Example, Acids, such as Juice of Limons, Spirit of
Nitre, &c. and Salt of Wormwood, Tartar, or other Alka- 
line Substances, being mixed together, will produce an Efferve- 
scence or Ebullition, 
* Pylorus, or Janitor, the right Orifice of the Ventricle or 
Stomach, which sends the Food into the Guts. 
† Lacteals are long and pellucid Vessels or Veins, which 
arise from all Parts of the small Guts, from whence they re- 
ceive the Chyle, and run to the Glands of the Mesentery. They 
are call'd Lacteals of the first Sort, being so very small; and 
from thence they convey the Chyle to the common Receptacle, 
and being larger are call'd Lacteals of the second Sort, and 
thence it is carried into the Thoracick Duct, and from that into 
the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein. 
‡ Intestinal Tube, the hollow Pipe of the Guts from one
End to the other, which is divided into six Parts.



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 153
Hence it is certain, that Digestion is much 
more effectually and expeditiously perform'd 
in the Day-time, or when we are awake, 
than in the Night, or during Sleep; because 
while we wake we breathe thicker, and the 
Diaphragma and Muscles of the Belly, and 
even the whole Body is more exercised, and 
consequently the Stomach is oftener com- 
press'd. It also follows, that by gentle walk- 
ing, or while we exercise ourselves in any mo- 
derate Motion, Digestion is more effectually 
and expeditiously performed, than while we 
fit in Idleness and without Motion; and still 
much better than when we fit hard at Study, 
because by this Means the Mind is so diverted, 
that our Respiration then is rarer, even than 
in our Sleep, and the Muscles are thereby less 
contracted: And that we digest better in 
Winter than in Summer, is a Confirmation 
hereof; because in the Winter, to drive away 
the Sense of Cold, we are oftener put upon 
Exercises and greater Activity of Body than in 
the Summer Season; as likewise, because the 
Muscles and solid Parts are more tense, and 
consequently stronger in their Contractions and
Attritions *. 
But as for a Ferment in the Stomach, ac- 
cording to the wrong Notions of some, whe- 
ther it be Spittle or Serum ouzing out from 
the Glands of the Stomach, it cannot contri- 
bute any thing to the Digestion of the Food, 
any farther than by softening it, whereby it 
is
* Rubbing, grinding. 



154 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is capable of being farther divided. Neither 
do any Liquors flow into the Stomach in order 
to promote Digestion; but Digestion, that is, 
the Motion of Chewing, Swallowing, and of 
the Stomach, are the Cause why these Li- 
quors are press'd out, and that they drain into
the Stomach: For that those Liquors contri- 
bute nothing farther to Digestion than by 
softening the Food, is manifest from hence, 
that if Herbs or Meat be mixed with them in 
any convenient warm Place as warm as the 
Stomach, but without Motion, they will 
never be changed into Chyle; so that it is sur- 
prizing that any should ascribe to the Serum 
of the Blood, as it is excerned by the Glands, 
a Faculty of changing solid Meats into the 
Form of Chyle, when it is evident that Serum 
is not a fit * Menstruum for the Solution of 
Bread, Meat, or Herbs. But this whole Af- 
fair will be much better understood from con- 
sidering Boyle's Machine for Digestion, where- 
in, without the Help of any Ferment, but by 
the Assistance only of Warmth, and the Pres- 
sure of rarefy'd Air confined, Bones and 
Flesh, with the Addition of a small Portion 
of Water, are turned into a Jelly; where no- 
thing is wanting to its being made real Chyle, 
but the rough Superficies of a Body to grind 
and often shake it about. 
The
* All Liquors are so call'd which are used as Dissolvents to 
extract the Virtues of Ingredients by Distillation, Infusion
Decoction, &c.


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 155
The Chyle being thus made, 
washes over the Pylorus into the 
intestinal Tube, where, by its 
peristaltic Motion *, and by the Pressure of
the Diaphragma, and the Muscles of the 
Abdomen †, the thinner Parts are strained 
through the narrow Orifices of the Lacteal 
Veins, while the grosser Parts continue their 
Progress downwards until they are quite eject- 
ed by Stool. What passes through the Lacte- 
als is carried by them into the Glands of the 
Mesentery ‡,  where they receive a fine thin 
Lymph from the ‖ Lymphaticks, whereby the 
Chyle is diluted so as to pass easier the rest of
its Course: For beyond the first Glands they 
unite in larger Canals, and those in still larger, 
until at last it enters the common Receptacle 
of the Chyle, which is a kind of Bason form'd 
for it by the Union of the Lacteal and Lym- 
tick Vessels. From thence it ascends thro'
the Thoracick † Duct, and is thence discharg- 
ed into the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein, 
and therewith descends into the right Ventri- 
cle of the Heart, where it is but imperfect- 
The second stage
of Digestion.
ly
* Alternate Motion of Contraction and Dilatation, com- 
monly tending downwards. 
† The Belly, which contains the Stomach, Guts, Liver, 
Spleen and Bladder. 
‡ A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 
‖  Are slender pellucid Tubes arising in all Parts of the 
Body, which permit a thin transparent Liquor to pass through 
towards the Heart, which shut like Flood-Gates upon its re- 
turning. 
† A Canal through which the Chyle passeth from the Lac- 
teals the Blood.



156 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ly mixed; and in its Passage it receives the
Lympha from all the upper Parts of the 
Body. 
But here I must observe, that the most 
subtil Parts of the Chyle pass immediately into
the Blood by the Absorbent * Vessels of the 
Intestines, which discharge their Contents into
the Mesaraick Veins, the Largeness and Number 
of which demonstrate the same, for they are 
numerous and vastly larger than their corre- 
spondent Arteries; and wherever there are 
† Emissaries, there are likewise Absorbent 
Vessels: for Example, by the Absorbent Ves- 
sels of the Skin, Mercury will pass into the 
Blood. But Mr. Hale's ‡ Experiment proves 
this beyond despute; and if we consider the
Straitness of the Thoracick Duct, and the 
Slowness of the Passage of the Chyle by the 
Lacteals thro' it, and at the same time the 
great Quantity of some Liquors and several 
other Things, which pass in a very small Time 
by Urine, and give it a Flavour and Taste; 
by an easy Calculation we may be able to de- 
monstrate, that such a Quantity could not pass, 
into the Blood by the Thoracick Duct in so 
short a Time. 
For which Reason, thin and liquid Ali- 
ments are-most proper, when immediate Re- 
freshment is requir'd, to cheer up the Spirits 
after great Abstinence and Fatigue; and the 
same
* Which suck in. 
† Vessels which throw out a Liquid.
‡ Hœmast. Pag. 123. Exp. 14.

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 157
same Reason may be likewise given, why 
Chalybeat Waters are a proper Remedy in 
Hypochondrical Disorders, and in most Ob- 
structions in the Mesenterick Glands, Liver, 
and Spleen; for their subtle Parts are taken 
immediately into the Mesaraick Vessels, and 
from thence carried directly into the Liver 
and Spleen. 
The Chyle first mixes with the Blood in the 
lest Subclavian Vein, as I have already men- 
tioned, and enters with it into the right Ven- 
tricle of the Heart, where they are very im- 
perfectly mixed; from thence they are pro- 
pelled * into the Lungs, which are the chief
and first Instrument of Sanguification, or 
making Blood: For the Wind-pipe is divid- 
ed into a great Number of Branches, call'd 
Bronchia, and these end in small Air-Blad- 
ders dilatable and contractible, which are ca- 
pable to be inflated by the Admission of 
Air, and subside at the Expulsion of it. The 
Pulmonary Artery and Vein pass along the 
Surfaces of these Air-Bladders in an infinite 
Number of Ramifications or Branchings, like 
a Net-work ‡. A great Number of those 
Air-Bladders form what are call'd Lobuli, 
which hang upon the Bronchia like Bunches 
of Grapes upon a Stalk; and these Lobuli 
constitute the Lobes of the Lungs, which al- 
ways sink in Water before they have been 
in-
* Driven forwards. 
‡ Malphig. de Pulmon. Epist. 1, 2. Tab. I. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 



158 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
inflated with Air, but after it has once enter- 
ed them, they will always swim in it; by 
which Means we may know whether Children 
are born dead or alive. 
The crude Mixture of the Blood and Chyle 
passes from the right Ventricle of the Heart, 
through all the Ramifications of the Pulmo- 
nary Artery; and the more Ramifications 
there are, the Mixture will still be render'd 
the more perfect; yet this is not all, for as this
Mixture of the Blood and Chyle passes through 
the arterial Branches, it is press'd by two con- 
trary Forces; first, that of the Heart driving
it forward against the Tubes; secondly, the 
Elastick Force of the Air pressing it on the 
opposite Side of those Air-Bladders, along
the Surface of which this arterial Tube 
creeps. 
By these two opposite Forces the Parts of
the Liquor are more intimately mix'd and 
compress'd together, and by the Ingress and 
Egress of the Air the Vessels are alternately
compress'd and dilated, by which Means the 
Liquor is still farther attenuated, dissolv'd, 
mixed, and almost assimilated with the Blood, 
but not so perfectly as to serve the animal 
Purposes; for it is very well known by Experi- 
ments of Blood-letting, that sometimes eight 
Hours after eating, some of the Chyle remain'd 
unmixed with the Blood, swimming a-top 
like an oily Substanee. 
The wonderful Mechanism of Nature in 
converting our Aliment into animal Sub- 
stances,


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 159
stances, consists principally in two Things; 
first, in mixing constantly with it animal 
Juices already prepar'd; and secondly, in the 
Action of the solid Parts, as it were churning
them together. This is evident, considering 
the vast Quantity of Saliva * mix'd with 
the Aliment in chewing, the Liquor of 
the Stomach, the Bile †, and Pancreatick 
Juice ‡, the Quantity of the Lymph § from
the Mesenterick Glands, and from the Lym- 
phatick Vessels of the whole Body; so that 
the Juices of an animal Body are as it were 
new distill'd, being excreted out of their 
respective
* Saliva or Spittle, is a thin Liquor secreted immediately 
from the arterial Blood: it is of a soapy Nature, and conse- 
quently is attenuating, resolving, penetrating, and cleansing, 
being composed of Salt, Oil, Water, and Spirit, all which 
can be extracted from it. Too great a Discharge of it by 
smoaking or chewing of Tobacco has often prov'd fatal to 
People of thin Habits of Body, by falling into Decays. 
† Bile or Gall is of two Sorts; the Cystick, or that con- 
tain'd in the Gall-Bladder, and the Hepatick, which flows 
immediately from the Liver. The Cystick Gall is thick, of a 
yellow Colour, and intensely bitter. The Hepatick Gall is 
more fluid, and not so bitter; both Sorts are saponaceous, and 
like Soap, take out Spots from Wool or Silk. Its Use is 
to sheath or blunt the Acids of the Chyle descending from the 
Stomach into the Intestines; likewise it is the principal Dis- 
solvent of the Aliment, and when it is peccant or deficient, 
there can be no right Digestion. 
‡ Is an Humour like the Saliva or Spittle, secreted from 
a conglomerate Gland called the Pancreas or Sweet-bread, 
situated at the bottom of the Stomach, and lies across the 
Belly, reaching from the Liver to the Spleen, separating 
about a Pound of Liquor in 12 Hours. Its Use is to dilute 
the Gall, and to temper its Bitterness and Acrimony after it 
has done its Office, and likewise to dilute the Chyle, with 
other Liquors in the Guts. 
§ Lymph is the most spirituous and elaborated Part of the 
Blood, continually flowing from the lymphatick Vessels. 



160 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
respective Glands and Vessels, and admitted 
again into the Blood with the fresh Aliment: 
during which time the solid Parts act upon 
the Mixture of Aliment and animal Juices, 
in order to make the Mixture still more in- 
timate and compleat; so that we may com- 
pute that our Aliment, before it gets into 
the Blood, is mix'd probably with four times 
the Quantity of animal Juices. 
From whence we may conclude, that an 
Animal whose Juices are unsound, or solid 
Parts weak, can never be duly nourish'd; for 
unsound Juices can never duly repair the Fluids
and Solids of an animal Body, and without 
a due Action of the solid Parts, they can 
never be well mixed; and as the Stomach, 
the Intestines, the Muscles of the lower 
Belly, all act upon the Aliment: Besides, as 
the Chyle is not suck'd, but squeez'd into the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by the Action of 
the Fibres of the Guts, it is evident, that 
the Chyle is peccant in Quantity or Quality, 
when these Actions and Organs are too weak; 
and whatever strengthens the Solids, must 
help Digestion. 
Hence it appears, that Diarrhœas and 
strong Purgings must spoil the first Digestion, 
because of the great Quantities of animal 
Fluids which are thereby expell'd the Body, 
such as, the Saliva, Mucus *, and all the 
Liquors
* Mucus, is that slimy Liquor or Moisture, which daubs 
over and guards the Bowels, and all the chief Passages in 
the Body; and it is separated by the mucilaginous Glands in
most Parts of the Body. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 161
Liquors that are separated in the Glands of
the alimentary Duct †, both Sorts of Gall, 
the Pancreatic Juice, Lymph, and sometimes 
Blood. Considering therefore the Quantity 
of these Secretions, it will plainly appear, 
that almost the whole Juices may be carried 
off by purging; and when those Liquors, 
destin'd by Nature to mix and convert the 
Aliment into an animal Liquid, are expell'd 
out of the Body, the Digestion cannot be so 
Well perform'd. Hence follow Consump- 
tions, Dropsies, and often an Obstruction of
the Mesenterick Glands, which is a great Im- 
pediment to Nutrition; for the Lymph in 
those Glands is a necessary Constiuent of the 
Aliment before it mixes with the Blood. 
The Mixture of the Blood and 
Chyle, after its Circulation thro'
the Lungs by the pulmonary Arteries, being 
brought back into the left Ventricle of the 
Heart, is thence, by the Force of the Heart, 
drove into the Aorta ‖ quite thro' the whole 
The last Stage 
of Digstion.
L Body:
† The whole Passage from the Mouth to the Fundament. 
‖ Aorta, is the great Artery which proceeds from the left 
Ventricle of the Heart, and carries the Blood thro' the Body, 
and every Particle of the Body receives some Branch from it, 
except some of the solid Parts of the Liver, which receive 
the blood from the Vena Portœ. The Arteries are elastick 
Channels or Tubes, endued with a contractile Force, by which 
they drive the Blood still forward, it being hinder'd to go 
backward by the Valves of the Heart. They are also coni- 
cal Vessels, that is, tapering and diminishing by Degrees, 
with their Bases or upper and broader Part towards the Heart; 
and as they pass on, their Diameters grow still less and less, 
and consequently the Celerity of the Motion diminishes by 
the Increase of the Friction of the Fluid against the Sides of
the



162 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Body: and thus the Aliment, circulating thro'
the animal Body, is at last reduc'd almost to
an imperceptible Tenuity or Thinness, before 
it can serve the animal Purposes, in nourish- 
ing both the Fluids and Solids; and after 
various Circulations, and when it is depriv'd 
of all that can be of farther Use to any Part 
of the Body, it is carried off, both sensibly
and insensibly, by the Emunctories * of the 
Body. But for farther Satisfaction concern- 
ing Nutrition, Growth, and Decrease of the 
Body, turn to Part I. Page 19, to 28. 
By the foregoing Doctrine it is evident, 
that Acrimony and Tenacity or Glewiness, 
are the two Qualities in what we take in- 
wardly most to be avoided; for Acrimony or 
Sharpness destroys the capillary Vessels, and 
when it is so great as to affect the solid Parts, 
the Sensation of Pain is intolerable. 
As
the Tubes; and without this Motion, both the Blood and 
Chyle would soon be converted into one solid Mass; but on 
the contrary, by its Continuance, the Fluid being compressed
by the Sides of the Tube, especially in the small Vessels, 
where the Points of Contact are more, the Blood and Chyle 
are still more intimately mix'd, and by Friction attenuated;
by which means the Mixture acquires a greater Degree of 
Fluidity and Similitude of Parts. Hence appears the Neces- 
sity of Exercise to promote a good Digestion. And the Strength 
of the Aliment ought to be proportion'd to the Strength of
the solid Parts of tire Body; for as Animals that use a great 
deal of Labour and Exercise, have their solid Parts more
elastick and strong, they can bear, and ought to have stron- 
ger Food, too thin Nourishment being quickly dissipated by 
the vigorous Action of the solid Parts. 
* Are those Parts of the Body where any thing excremen- 
titious is seperated, and collected to be in readiness to be ejected. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 163
As to the Viscidity or Glewiness of what is 
taken inwardly, when the peristaltick Motion 
of the Guts is so weak, as not to be able to propel 
or drive it forward, the Consequence is dange- 
rous, and often fatal to the Life of the Indi- 
vidual; for when the Tenacity of any Sub- 
stance exceeds the Powers of Digestion, it 
will neither pass, nor be converted into Ali- 
ment; whereas hard Substances will pass 
undissolv'd. Moreover, the Mouths of the La- 
cteals in People of weak and lax Constitutions
may permit Aliment too acrimonious, or not 
sufficiently attenuated, to enter; but the 
Sphincters † in such as have strong Fibres will 
shut against them. 
Besides, a viscid Mucus may shut up the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by which means the 
Chyle will pass by Stool, and the Person falls 
into an Atrophy or Decay of Flesh. Wind 
with Distention of the Bowels are Signs of 
bad Digestion in the Intestines, and likewise 
Diarrhœas, which proceed from Acrimony, 
Laxity of the Bowels, or Obstructions of the 
Lacteals. 
Those Parts of the Body where the Circu- 
lation of the Fluids, and the elastick Force of 
the Fibres are both smallest, must be most 
subject to Obstructions; and such are the 
Glands, which are the Extremities of Arte- 
L2 ries
† Sphincter, is a Name ascrib'd to such Muscles as draw 
up, strengthen, and keep shut the Parts, such as the Sphinc- 
ter of the Bladder, Womb, Anus, &c.


164 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ries form'd into cylindrical ‡ Vessels. Hence 
we may easily perceive, that too solid or vis- 
cid Aliment must be very hurtful to scrophu- 
lous and consumptive Persons. 
Having endeavour'd to give the Reader an 
Idea of animal Digestion, by shewing how 
our Aliment is converted into animal Substance, 
in as succinct a manner as could be in so nar- 
row a Compass: I shall now proceed in the 
same manner to give an Account of the 
Choice of them, that what is either beneficial 
or hurtful may be easily seen, according to
the Nature and Difference of Constitutions. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of ALIMENTS.
AS all Animals are made either immediate- 
ly or mediately of Vegetables §, that is, 
by feeding on them, or on Animals that are 
fed on Vegetables: I shall therefore begin
with the Vegetable Kind. 
Vegetables
‡ Cylindrical, in Anatomy, signifies Vessels that are so 
shaped, as not to be narrower at one End than another, but 
that all their Parts are equally distant in all Places from their 
Center; or which is the same thing, that they are of the 
same Diameter in all Places, contrary to conical Vessels, which 
are tapering and growing narrower. 
§ Vegetables are such natural Bodies as grow and increase 
from Parts organically form'd, as Trees, Plants, and Roots, 
&c. but have no proper Life or Sensation.



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 165
Vegetables are proper Food enough to re- 
pair Animals, as they consist of the same 
Parts with animal Substances, such as Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, Water, and Earth, all which 
are contain'd in them, and may be extracted 
from them. Their Salts are capable of re- 
solving the coagulated Humors of a human 
Body; and of attenuating, by stimulating the 
Solids, and dissolving the Fluids: Salts like- 
wise promote Secretion. Oils also relax the 
Fibres, and are Lenient, Balsamick, and abate 
Acrimony in the Blood; and by Virtue of 
this Oil, Vegetables are nutrimental; for this
Oil is extracted by animal Digestion, as an 
Emulsion from Seeds by a Pestle and Mortar. 
But Aromatick Plants, tho' they abound with 
Oil, yet it is not soft and nutritious, and
when mix'd with a Spirit, is too heating. 
Tastes are Indexes or Marks of the different 
Qualities of all Sorts of Aliment; and diffe- 
rent Tastes proceed from different Mixtures 
of Salt, Oil, Water, and Earth, but princi- 
pally from the Spirit and Oil, mix'd with 
some Salt of a particular Nature. A Mu-
riatick or briny Taste, is produc'd by a 
Mixture of an acid and alkaline Salt; for 
Spirit of Salt being an Acid, and Salt of Tar- 
tar, which is an Alkali * when they are 
L3 mix'd
* The Word Alkali comes from an Herb called by the 
Egyptians Kali. This Herb they burnt to Ashes, and boiled 
them in Water, and after having evaporated the Water, there 
remain'd a white Salt, which they called Alkali. It is cor- 
rosive, and will produce Putrefaction if apply'd to the Flesh,
and 



166 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
mix'd, produce a Salt like Sea-Salt, bitter and 
acrid, differing only by the sharp Particles of 
the first being intangled or involv'd in a 
greater Quantity of Oil than those of the 
last. 
Acid or four, proceeds from a Salt of the 
same Nature without a Mixture of Oil; 
and in austere Tastes, the oily Particles have 
not disentangl'd themselves from the Salts and 
earthy Parts, for such is the Tastes of unripe 
Fruits. In sweet Tastes, the acid Particles are 
so attenuated and dissolv'd in the Oil, as to 
produce only a small and grateful Sensation 
and Titillation; but in oily Tastes, the Salts
seem to be entirely disentangled. As Vege- 
tables contain acid or alkaline Salts, so they
produce different Effects upon human Bodies, 
and are to be used according to the different
Constitution of the Body at that time, as 
will appear by what I shall say hereafter. 
The properest Food of the vegetable King- 
dom that Mankind make Use of, is taken 
from the mealy Seeds of some culmiferous or 
Stalk-bearing Plants, as Barley, Wheat, Oats, 
Rice, Rye, Mays, Panick, and Millet; or 
from some of the Pulse or Leguminous Kind, 
such as Pease and Beans, &c. and as those 
are Seeds containing the most elaborate Part 
of
and ferments with Acids, as all lixiviate Salts will do, which 
are Anti-acids, that is, contrary to Acidity. 
As for acid or four Salts, one has a Notion of from Taste, 
Sourness being one of those simple Ideas which one cannot 
more plainly describe; so that whatever being mix'd with an 
Acid, causes an Effervescence or Ebullition, is called Alkali. 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 167
of the Plant, they are oily, and consequent- 
ly proper to be converted readily into an 
animal Emulsion or Chyle: Besides, their Oil 
is not highly exhalted and hot, as that of 
the aromatical and acrid Plants, but on the 
contrary, mild, benign, and nourishing to 
the human Body. 
Barley is detergent, emollient, and expe- 
ctorating, and it was first chosen by Hippo- 
crates as proper Food in inflammatory Dis- 
eases. 
Wheat is the properest of any Grain for 
Bread, which, if not entirely purg'd from 
the Bran, is laxative and stimulating to the
Bowels. 
Oats are cleansing, resolving and pectoral, 
which being outwardly apply'd mix'd with 
Batter, will dry Scabs on the Head. 
Rice, which two thirds of Mankind per- 
haps feed on, is most kindly nourishing and
benign, good in Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes of
Blood, and proper for consumptive Persons; 
but the Bread made of it is more acid and 
tess nourishing than that of Wheat. 
Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nou- 
rishing than Wheat. 
Millet is cleansing, diuretic, and therefore 
good in Distempers of the Kidneys. 
Panick is opening, and boil'd with Milk 
temperates Acrimony. 
Mays affords strong Nourishment, but not 
being so easily brought to a Fermentation as 
other Grains, is more viscous or glewy, and 
L4 conse-


168 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
consequently harder to digest. All the fore- 
mention'd Plants are highly Acescent †, ex- 
cept Pease and Beans. 
Pease are mild, and demulcent in a great 
Degree, being depriv'd of all aromatick Parts. 
Green Pease are very pleasant to the Taste, and
provoke Appetite; but they are injurious to 
many, being full of aërial Particles, creating
Flatulency when dissolv'd by Digestion. 
They are alkalescent §. 
Beans cleanse and fatten, and resemble
Pease in most of their Qualities, but are more 
windy, and occasion sometimes Colic Pains, 
and disturb the Head. The French or Kid- 
ney-Beans are best, being less windy. People 
that live a sedentary Life should not feed 
much upon Pease or Beans, by reason of their 
Viscosity creating top much Flatulency. 
The mealy Parts of the above-mention'd 
Plants dissolv'd in Water for constant Food, 
is too viscid an Aliment, and for that Reason 
justly condemn'd by Hippocrates; and upon 
that Account, Mankind have found the 
means to make them more easy of Digestion, 
by fermenting and making some of them in- 
to Bread, which is the lightest and properest 
for
† See Note following. 
§ Substances which are not perfectly Acid, but naturally 
turn so, are called Acescent; and Substances that are not per- 
fectly Alkaline, but naturally turn so, are called Alkalescent. 
See the Explanation of Alkali in Note *, p. 165. 
These two Qualities in Bodies are not merely imaginary, 
but have very different and contrary Effects upon human 
Bodies. 

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 169
for human Food; for the Leaven, by its acid 
Salt, divides the slimy and oily Parts of the 
Meal. 
The next Sort of vegetable Substances that
Mankind feed upon, are Fruits of Trees and 
Shrubs: They all contain an essential Salt, 
combin'd with Earth, Water, and Oil, much 
elaborated; and their different Qualities are 
known by their sharp, sweet, four, or styptic 
Taste. 
Apples are pectoral, cooling, laxative, and 
open the Breast; they differ considerably in 
Kind, and their Qualities are easily known by 
their Taste. 
Pears have most of the same Qualities, 
but they are more cordial, by their high Fla- 
vour, than Apples. 
Peaches are likewise cordial and pectoral; 
the best are those that are odoriferous, well 
colour'd, and full ripe. 
Apricocks quench Thirst, excite Appetite, 
provoke Urine; their Kernels are good against
Worms, and excellent for the Heart-burning: 
unless they are mellow and full ripe, they are 
rather somewhat styptick. 
Plumbs purge Choler, extinguish Heat, 
take away Thirst in Fevers; but they are bad 
for weak and cold Stomachs, and for phlegma- 
tic Persons, and such as are subject to Colics. 
Those of the austere Kind are astringent. 
Mulberries are pectoral, and correct a bi- 
lious Alkali.
Gooseberries

170 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Gooseberries extreamly ripe are lenient; 
but unripe, they are both sour and astrin- 
gent. 
Currants are good in spitting of Blood, ex- 
treamly cooling, and somewhat astringent. 
The Jelly or Rob of Currants mix'd with 
Water, is an excellent Drink in bilious Fevers. 
Cherries are cooling and laxative, and their 
Kernels are good for the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys. 
Strawberries, by their fragrant Smell are 
Cordial. Their Juice mix'd with that of Li- 
mons in Spring-Water is an admirable Drink 
in bilious Fevers. 
Oranges that are sweet are more relaxing 
than the Seville Oranges; but these last are 
an excellent Remedy for the hot Scurvy. The 
sweet Oranges increase Choler. 
Citrons or Limons excite Appetite, stop 
Vomiting, cut gross Humours, are good in 
Fevers, and their Juices are more cooling
and astringent than those of Oranges. 
Grapes taken in moderate Quantities when 
ripe, help the Appetite and Digestion; but 
in great Quantities, they dissolve the Gall too 
much, and produce Fluxes; and dry'd they 
are pectoral. 
Figs are great Correctors of Acrimony, 
they are good in Coughs and Hoarseness; 
they are likewise extremely emollient, relax- 
ing the urinary Passages, diuretick, and good
in bloody Urine. 
Quinces

Ch. VI. 171 thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
Quinces are often useful to weak Stomachs, 
and good in stopping Fluxes of Blood. 
Pomegranates likewise, containing an astrin- 
gent Juice, are extremely cooling. 
Barberries and Medlars are useful in 
Bloody-Fluxes. 
Tamarinds are cooling and astringent, yet
laxative to the lower Belly. 
Capers are astringent and diuretick; they 
excite the Appetite, and are good for phleg- 
matic and melancholy People. 
Olives are Anti-acids, or contrary to Aci- 
dity by their Oil; but all oily Substances be- 
get an Acrimony of another Sort. 
Almonds are pectoral, especially the Oil. 
Walnuts are cordial and Anti-hysteric, and 
promote Perspiration in a small Degree. 
Hazle-Nuts are in some Degree good 
against spitting of Blood; but they are very 
hard to be digested, they cause Wind, Coughs, 
and Pains in the Head. 
Chesnuts are good against some Female 
Weaknesses, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment. 
There are other Fruits of the low pomise- 
rous Kind, which contain a great deal of 
cooling and viscid Juice, combin'd with a ni- 
trous Salt, which renders them often offen- 
sive to the Stomach; and such are Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and Melons; tho' the 
last, when good, have a rich Juice, and some- 
what aromatick; they are diuretick, and 
there are Instances when eaten in great Quan- 
tities,



172 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tities, to have thrown People into bloody 
Urine: they are likewise cooling and refreshing, 
good for hot Stomachs, and the Kidneys; they 
ought to be taken fasting. The Juice of Cu- 
cumbers is too cold for weak Stomachs, and 
ought not to be taken by such as have thin 
and poor Blood. 
Among the alimentary Leaves, the Pot- 
Herbs afford an excellent Nourishment: Of 
those are all the Cole or Cabbage Kind, which 
are emollient, laxative, and resolvent, and 
for that Reason proper against Acidity. There 
are likewise amongst the Pot-Herbs some * 
Lactescent Plants, as Lettuce, Endive, Ci- 
chory, and Dandelion, which contain a milky 
Juice extremely wholsome, resolvent of the 
Bile, anodyne, cooling and diuretick, and 
very useful in the Distempers of the Liver. 
Artichokes are pleasant to the Taste, pro- 
voke Urine, and contain a rich, nutritious and 
stimulating Juice; they are good against Aci- 
dity. 
Asparagus is opening and diuretic; by the 
fœtid Smell it gives the Urine, it is suspected 
to be hurtful to the Kidneys; it is likewise 
good against Acidity. 
Parsley provokes Urine, the Courses, 
cleanses the Kidneys, and removes Obstru- 
ction and Wind; but it is bad in Bloody- 
Fluxes. 
Celery contains a pungent Salt and Oil; it 
is diuretick and aperient, and exceeding good 
for cold Constitutions. 
Spinage
* Vegetables containing a milky Juice. 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 173
Spinage is emollient or opening, good in 
Inflammations. 
Beet is emollient, nutritive, and relaxing, 
good in hot and bilious Constitutions. 
Sallads of all Sorts, mix'd with sweet Oil 
and Vinegar, are good for hot and strong 
Constitutions; because they are cooling, diu- 
retick, and emollient; but they are not pro- 
per for phlegmatick or weak Constitutions, or 
those that are subject to Colics or Indige- 
stion. 
Of the alimentary Roots, some are pulpy, 
and very nutritious; as Potatoes, Turnips, 
and Carrots, &c. 
Potatoes, of all Roots in general, are the 
best and most nourishing for healthy People, 
and there are Instances enough to prove the 
same both in Ireland, and in other Provinces, 
where two Thirds of the Husbandmen, and 
meaner Sort of People, constantly feed upon 
them, and are the principal Part of their 
Food; yet they are healthy, active, and vi- 
gorous, and for the most Part live long. 
Turnips are very nutritious, good in Con- 
sumptions, Asthmas, and all Diseases of the 
Breast; they are emollient and diuretick. 
Carrots are fattening, they provoke Urine, 
and the Menses, and likewise help to open 
Obstructions; but they are windy, and there- 
fore not proper for colicky or weak Sto- 
machs. 
Parnisp is a very nourishing and palatable 
Root; it fattens, and is a Provocative; it 
opens,




174 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
opens, attenuates, and cleanses; but it is 
hard to digest, and not good for asthmatick 
and consumptive People. 
There are other Roots which abound with 
an acrid, volatile Salt; as Garlick, Onion, 
Rockambole, Shalot, Leeks, Radishes, and 
Horse-radishes: They contain a pungent, vola- 
tile Salt and Oil; they are extremely diure- 
tick, and when stimulating Diureticks can 
be safely used, they are very effectual. 
Experience teaches, that Garlick is a very 
excellent Remedy in Dropsies, Jaundices, 
and in Asthmas proceeding from a cold and 
viscid Phlegm. 
Cresses and Mustard contain likewise, in 
their Degrees, a pungent Salt and Oil, as well 
as the last mention'sd Roots; and as all of 
them subdue Acidity, they are very improper 
in Cases where the Blood is too much dissol- 
ved, as in spitting of Blood, and bloody 
Urine, or where the Blood or Juices have a 
Tendency to a State of alkaline Putrefaction; 
and in general they are fitter for cold Con- 
stitutions and old People, than for the young 
and sanguine. Mustard indeed is a very 
powerful Remedy in viscid and cold phleg- 
matick Cases. 
The Fungous Kind, as Truffles, Morelles 
and Mushrooms, contain an Alkaline volatile 
Salt, and an exalted Oil of a grateful Savour; 
but are heating, and the best Method of cor- 
recting them is by Vinegar: Some of them 
being poisonous, render the rest justly suspi-
cious;





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 175
cious; the poisonous Sort operate in a suffo- 
cating Manner, in which Case the best Re- 
medy is Wine, or Vinegar and Salt, and vo- 
miting as soon as possible. 
There are Vegetables used by Mankind in 
Seasonings, which afford an exalted aroma- 
tick Oil, and of a spicy Nature, as Marjoram, 
Basil, Savory, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage and 
Mint: They are heating, and most of them 
hard to digest: Other Spices of a more power- 
ful Nature, as Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, 
Cloves, Ginger and Pepper, abound with a 
high exalted Oil and volatile Salt, by which 
Principles they are heating, and act powerfully 
upon the Fluids and Solids, by stimulating the 
Solids and resolving glutinous and fat Sub- 
stances: They are all proper in phlegmatick 
cold Constitutions. But Sage being a stimu- 
lating, drying, and astringent Plant, when used 
in great Quantities will produce Disorders like 
Drunkenness; therefore the Infusion or Tea 
made of it is very improper in all inflamma- 
tory Fevers as a Diluter. 
Of Tea, Coffee, 
and Chocolate.
As the Infusions and Deco- 
ctions  make so considerable a Part 
of Aliment at present, especially among the 
Female Sex, it will not be improper to say 
something of their Qualities in particular. 
Of Tea, Coffee,
and Chocolate.
Tea, by its Manner of affecting the Organs 
of Taste and Smell, affords very little of a vo- 
latile Spirit its bitter and astringent Rosin or 
fix'd Oil cannot be extracted by Water, but 
requires






176 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
requires rectify'd Spirit of Wine for that Pur- 
pose. The most active Principles of it that 
can be extracted by Infusion are the most se-
parable Parts of its Oil or Gum, and Salt. 
Its Salt and Gum are astringent, as appears by
mixing it with Chalybeat-Waters, which will 
produce a Tincture of the same Colour as that 
of Oak-leaves; it is * Acescent, as appears by 
its affecting Stomachs troubled with Acidity, 
which Disorder it will rather promote than 
correct: By its astringent Quality it moderate- 
ly helps to correct the relaxing Quality of the 
warm Water; and by its styptick and stimu- 
lating Quality, it affects the Nerves, very of- 
ten producing Tremors. By the frequent 
drinking too great Quantities of it, as is now 
become a common Practice, it will relax and 
weaken the Tone of the Stomach; from 
whence proceed an Inappetency, Nausea, 
Reachings or Vomitings, Indigestion and 
Sickness at the Stomach; and generally speak- 
ing, a pale and wan Complexion, with a 
Weakness of the Nerves and Flabbiness of the 
Flesh, the Solids and Fluids being thereby 
deprived of their proper Nourishment. 
Hence we may easily perceive, how perni- 
cious Tea-drinking may prove to the Seden- 
tary, especially the Female Sex, who for the 
Generality have weak and tender Nerves; 
but as Milk abates some of the fore-mention- 
ed bad Qualities, by rendering it softer and nu- 
tritious, and Sugar as a Salt, encreases it stimu- 
lating
* See Note §, Page 168. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 177
lating Quality, it may be a proper Breakfast e- 
nough, as a Diluent, to those who are strong, and 
live full and free, in order to cleanse the alimen- 
tary Passages, and wash off the scorbutick and 
urinous Salts from the Kidneys and Bladder. 
But Persons of weak and tender Nerves, as 
I have just now observ'd, ought carefully to 
avoid and abstain from it, as from Drams and 
cordial Drops; for such fall into Lowness, 
Trembling and Vapours, upon using it with 
any Freedom, by its Irritation on the tender 
and delicate Fibres of the Stomach *. 
As to Coffee, it is a meer Calx, or a kind of 
burnt Horse-Bean, but lighter on the Sto- 
mach and somewhat of a better Flavour; and 
what is extracted from it by hot Water, is 
the most separable Parts of its Oil, which of- 
ten appears at the Top of the Decoction. This 
Oil is volatile, and affords very little Nourish- 
ment, producing all the bad Effects of a vola- 
tile Oil and aromatic Acrimony, such as Heat, 
Dryness, Stimulation, Tremors of the Nerves; 
for which Reason, it has been deem'd to cause 
Palsies, Watchfulness, Leanness, and destroy 
masculine Vigour: Hence it is very plain, 
that it must; be pernicious to hot, dry, and 
bilious Constitutions, and only beneficial to 
Phlegmaticks, if moderately us'd; but when 
drank in too great a Degree of Strength or 
M Qua-
* For further Satisfaction herein, see Dr. Thomas Short's 
learned and elaborate Dissertation upon Tea, in which the 
Author has not only given us the Natural History of the Plant, 
but likewise its Analysis, with great Skill and Industry.



178 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quantity, it will prove destructive even to 
phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Chocolate is undoubtedly much the best of 
the three; for its Oil appears to be both rich, 
nutritious and anodyne *, and is as soft as that 
of Sweet-Almonds: This Oil combin'd with 
its own Salt and Sugar renders it saponaceous † 
and detergent; by this Quality it often helps 
Digestion and excites the Appetite; and is only 
proper for some of the leaner and stronger 
Sort of phlegmatick Constitutions, and some 
ancient healthy People, who are accustom'd 
to bodily Exercise. 
There are other Preparations of Vegetables 
by Fermentation, whereby they are changed 
into spirituous Liquors, which are, or may be 
called by the general Name of Wines; Such 
fermented Liquors have different Qualities 
from the Plants that produce them; for no 
Fruit taken crude has the intoxicating Quality 
of Wine. Of these Liquors I shall take par- 
ticular Notice, after I have given the Reader 
a short Account of the Nature of animal 
Diet, as far as it regards the Nourishment of 
Human Bodies. 
Animal Food is more easily converted into 
animal Substance than Vegetables; and there- 
fore more nourishing to human Bodies: And 
the
† Easing, or taking away Pain. 
‡ Sope is a Mixture of Oil and fix'd alkaline Salt, and in 
common Use its Virtues are cleansing, penetrating, attenuat- 
ing, and resolving; so that any Mixture of an oily Substance 
with Salt maybe call'd a Sope; hence Bodies of this Nature 
are call'd Saponaceous.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 179
the Nature of Animal Diet must depend up- 
on the Nature, Age, Food, and other Cir- 
cumstances of the Animal we feed upon. 
The Animal as well as Vegetable Juices are 
in their greatest Perfection, when the Ani- 
mal is full grown; for young Animals par- 
take of the Nature of their tender Food, as 
Sucklings of Milk, &c. 
All Animal Diet in general is anti-acid, 
or contrary to Acidity or Sourness; because 
no found Animal has any acid Salt in it, as 
has been often prov'd by Experiments. Those 
Animals that feed upon other Animals have 
their Flesh and Juices more alkalescent, that 
is, more anti-acid than those that live upon 
Vegetables; such are most Fishes, all Birds 
which feed upon Worms and Infects, several 
kinds of Water-Fowls, Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and several kinds of small Birds; which, for 
that Reason, afford a more exalted Nou- 
rishment than those that feed upon Grain or 
other Vegetables. 
Animal Flesh differs according as the Ani- 
mal is terrestrial, aquatick, or amphibious;
and the same Species of Animals differs accord- 
ing to the Soil and Air it lives in, and the 
Food which it takes; as those that live in 
Mountains and Marshes; the Flesh of Oxen, 
Sheep, Deer and Hogs in different Pastur- 
age. 
Fishes abound more with alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial Animals; for which Rea- 
son they are sooner corrupted: And amphibi-
ous Animals partake somewhat of their Na- 
M2 ture





180 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ture by feeding upon them, and are therefore 
oily; and notwithstanding the Redundancy of 
Oil in Fishes, yet they do not increase Fat 
so much as Flesh-meat, by Reason of their 
watery Quality; and as Fish and Water- 
Fowls are highly alkalescent, and abound 
with a great deal of rancid Oil, they should 
be always qualified by a due Quantity of Salt 
and Vinegar. 
The most healthy Animals afford the best
Aliment, and the Castrated are better than 
those that are not so; and the only Way of 
having found and healthful animal Food, is 
to leave them to their own natural Liberty in 
the free and open Air, and in their own pro- 
per Element, with Plenty of Food and due 
Cleanness, and a Shelter from the Inclemency 
of the Weather when they have a Mind to 
retire to it. Therefore we should never make 
Choice of cramm'd Poultry, or stall-fed Butch- 
er's Meat for our Food, did we consider the 
foul, gross, and filthy Manner in which they 
are confin'd, and the stinking, putrid, and 
unwholsome Food with which they are fed, 
especially Poultry and Hogs; for we may be 
well assured, that perpetual Foulness and 
Cramming, gross Food and Filthiness will 
rot the Juices, and mortify the muscular Sub- 
stance of human Creatures, and consequently 
can do no less in Brute Animals, and thus 
make even our Food Poison. Besides, stall-fed 
Cattle and cramm'd Fowls are often diseas'd 
in their Livers. The same may be likewise 
said





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 181 
said of Plants and Vegetables, forc'd and pro- 
duced by Hot-beds. 
Animals, Herbs, Fruits and Corn are to 
be chosen in high Places, such as are refresh'd 
with wholsome Winds and cherish'd with 
the warm Beams of the Sun, and where there 
are no Marshes, Lakes, and standing Waters; 
for in such Places they are quickly corrupted; 
and likewise the Flesh of all Animals that live 
in Fens and standing Pools are to be avoided, 
such as Ducks, Geese, &c. 
The Flesh of Animals too old is unwhol- 
some, being hard, dry, sinewy, and of little 
Nourishment, and hard to be digested; and 
on the contrary, such as are too young abound 
with too much Moisture, and are full of Su- 
perfluities, and therefore cannot nourish so 
well as an Animal full grown, in as much as 
they partake of the Nature of their tender 
Food, as I have observ'd already. 
Salt Fish produces gross Humours, and 
had Juices in the human Body; for it dries 
much, and breeds many Superfluities, and is 
of little Nourishment; it occasions Thirst, 
Hoarseness, Acrimony, or Sharpness in the 
Blood, and Erosion of the small Fibres, Pains, 
and all the Symptoms of the Muriatick or 
briny Scurvy, upon account of the Salt, 
which is unalterable in all the Circulations of 
the human Body, and therefore very improper 
Food for all Constitutions, except some strong 
labouring People, and even in those it will pro- 
duce very bad Effects, if they feed upon it 
M3 for





182 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
for a Constancy, as we see in Sea-faring Peo- 
ple. The same may be said of Salt Flesh. 
The Flesh of Birds is lighter, drier, and 
easier digested than that of four-footed Beasts,
and for that Reason, more agreeable to those 
of a studious Profession, who exercise the 
Mind more than the Body; for as they are 
more easily digested, so they breed better 
Blood, that is, clear, clean, and full of Spi- 
rits, which is fit for the Exercises of the 
Mind. 
The Flesh of the wild Kind of Animals, 
such as frequent Woods, high open Places, 
and Mountains, is better than that of tame 
ones, having more Exercise and no Confine- 
ment, have their Juices more elaborated, and 
their Flesh will keep longer uncorrupted; be- 
cause they live in a better Air, and feed upon 
what they like best without Constraint; for 
the same Reason their Fibres are harder, es- 
pecially when old. This Rule in some mea- 
sure holds true with Fishes; for Sea-fish and 
River-fish living in an Element more agitated, 
are better than those in Ponds. For these Reasons 
Hippocrates commends the Flesh of the wild 
Sow preferable to the tame; and doubtless the 
Animal is more or less healthy, according to 
the Air it lives in; for the Flesh of the same 
Species differs very much, as the Animal 
lives in Marshes or Mountains. 
Flesh boil'd is more wholsome (especially 
for weak Stomachs) than roasted; for boiling 
draws more of the rank and strong Juices
from




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 183
from it, and renders it more diluted, lighter, 
and easier of Digestion, tho' not so nutritive; 
but on the other hand, roasting leaves it ful- 
ler of the strong nutritive Juices, harder to 
digest, and wanting more Dilution *; there- 
fore those who eat the Flesh of full-grown 
Animals, ought to eat it well boil'd, if their 
Digestion is weak. They who live upon 
young animal Food, which is best for weak 
Stomachs, ought to eat it roasted, and lessen 
the Quantity in respect of the same Food 
boil'd, but they must dilute it more; for as 
roast Meat has a stronger Flavour, more 
Nourishment, and lies more compact in the 
Stomach; so it will require to be more di- 
luted with some small Liquors to soften its 
more rigid and crisp Fibres. 
Meats bak'd, fry'd, and broil'd, generate 
nauseous Humours and Crudities in the Sto- 
mach, and are very difficult to be digested, 
tho' they are very nourishing. 
Lamb, Veal, and Kid, afford excellent 
Nourishment, and are easy to be digested, 
and therefore proper Food for those of a se-
dentary Life and studious Professions. 
Beef affords great Nourishment to those 
that labour and exercise much, and generates 
much Blood; but it is too strong for tender, 
weak, and sedentary People, especially when 
Stall-fed, and very large; for Grass Beef and 
M4 Mutton
* Dissolving or making thinner any Substance, with the 
addition of Fluids or Liquids, which are called Diluents or
Diluters.




184 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Mutton are lighter than Stall-fed Oxen and 
Sheep. 
Mutton breeds good Blood, nourishes ex- 
ceeding well, and is easily digested; and by 
Experiment is found the most perspirable of all 
animal Food, and Hogs-Flesh and Oysters the 
least. 
Rabits are of a good Nourishment, they 
consume the superfluous Moisture and Phlegm 
in the Stomach, and the Flesh is not near so 
dry as that of a Hare, and therefore nou- 
rishes better, and is much easier to be di- 
gested. 
Young Hares are very sweet and pleasant 
to the Stomach when well dressed, they 
are good for such as are too fat. It is said, 
that the Blood of a Hare fry'd and eaten, is 
good against the Bloody-Flux, inward Im- 
postumations, and the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys; and that the Brains of a roasted Hare 
cures Tremors, and facilitates the breeding of 
Teeth in Children; but the Moderns justly 
despise such whimsical and groundless Pra- 
ctice. 
Pork and Bacon afford great Nourishment, 
but as they feed the foulest of any Creature, 
and their Juices are the rankest, their Sub- 
stance is the most surfeiting; and as they are 
the most subject to † cutaneous Diseases and 
Putrefaction of any Creature, they are highly 
injurious to valetudinary, sedentary, and stu- 
dious People; for they cause the Gout and 
Stone
† Diseases of the Skin, such as Pimples, Scabs, Mange, &c. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 185
Stone in Kidneys, Scurvy, and cutaneous 
Eruptions. The Flesh of sucking Pigs is 
endued with the same bad Qualities, tho' 
not in so great a Degree. 
Brawn made of the Flesh of young Boars 
is tolerable good eating, having not so much 
Slime and excrementitious Moisture as Pork, 
Pig, and Bacon; but the hard and horny Part 
is very difficultly digested. 
Deer affords good Nourishment, and is 
apt to make lean such as are too fat, accord- 
ing to the Observations of some Authors, but 
I very much doubt the Veracity of such As- 
sertions, for it seems even contradictory to 
say, that whatever affords good Nourish- 
ment, shou'd render corpulent and fat People, 
thin or lean. 
Of all the Parts of Birds and other Beasts, 
some are better than others; for all the Ex- 
tremities, as the Head, Neck, Feet, and Tail, 
in respect of the rest, are of a hard, viscid, 
and gross Nourishment; but the Parts about 
the Wings, Back and Breast, are better, and 
more savoury. 
Cream, Butter, and Marrow, are all leni- 
ent and nourishing: Marrow is excellent in 
the dry Scurvy with crackling of the Bones, 
where it performs its natural Office in moisten- 
ing them. 
Cheese that is new fattens, tastes pleasant- 
ly, and is not very injurious to the Stomach, 
especially Cream-Cheese, which is the best
and most wholsome when newly made. 
Cheese





186 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cheese of no kind is good for Children or 
weak People, for it lies too heavy in the 
Stomach, is apt to breed Slime and Worms 
in Children, and it ought to be eaten only 
after Meals, to close up the Mouth of the 
Stomach at such times; but too much of it 
is bad at any time, especially old Cheese, for 
it occasions Thirst, inflames the Blood, and 
is often the Cause of the Gravel and Stone 
in the Kidneys or Bladder; therefore it is 
only proper for Mechanics and labouring 
People, or those that are strong and healthy, 
and use much Exercise. 
Milk is a most noble, nourishing, and 
wholsome Food; it is neither Acid nor Al- 
kaline; but when there is an Acid and Al- 
kali mix'd in it, they presently manifest 
themselves by their Fermentation and Con- 
flict. Milk, after standing some Time, na- 
turally separates into an oily Substance called 
Cream, and a thinner, blue, and more pon- 
derous Liquor called skimm'd Milk, and nei- 
ther of these Parts is naturally acid or alka- 
line, nor in the least acrimonious; for being 
dropp'd into the Eye, they cause no manner 
of Pain or Sensation of Sharpness; but by 
standing too long, they will turn both sharp 
and four. Milk is a kind of Emulsion, or 
white animal Liquor, resembling Chyle, after 
it has been mixed with the Spittle, Bile, and 
pancreatick Juices, &c. is easily separated 
from them again in the Breasts.
A




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 187
A Nurse that would abstain from all acid 
vegetable Food, from Wine, and Malt Li- 
quors, and feed only upon Flesh, and drink 
Water, her Milk, instead of turning sour, 
would become putrid, and smell like Urine; 
so that an alkalescent Diet †, (as is often the 
Case of Nurses in great Families) Subjects 
the Child to Fevers; but on the other hand, 
the Milk of poor People that feed upon an 
§ acescent vegetable Diet, subjects the Child
to Diseases that proceed from Acidity in the 
Bowels, such as Colics, Gripes; the Symp- 
toms of such a Constitution are a four Smell 
in their Excrements, four Belchings, Disten- 
sions or Swellings of the Bowels, and Pale- 
ness of the Flesh. 
The Cure of both Diseases is effected by 
a Change of Diet in the Nurse, that is, from 
Alkalescent to Acescent, or contrary ways, as 
the Case requires. But the best Diet for Nurses 
is a Mixture of both, and no Nurse should 
give Suck after twelve Hours fasting;
for then her Milk is apt to turn yellow, which 
is an early Sign of a Fever in the Nurse. 
It appears from the fore-mention'd Quali-
ties, that Milk is a very proper Diet for hu- 
man Bodies, especially for thin, hectical, and 
emaciated
† Alkalescent Diet is the Flesh, Broths, and Juices of all 
Animals, both Terrestrial and Aquatick, which in a found 
State have no manner of Acid in them, as is very well 
known by Experiments. 
§ An Acescent vegetable Diet, is taken from Plants, Fruits, 
and their Juices, and all fermented Liquors, which are either 
actually acid, or naturally turn so. 



188 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
emaciated People, and where Acrimony in 
the Blood and Juices is to be subdued or 
avoided; but it is not proper for those that 
are troubled with the Colic or Stone, neither 
is it proper in Obstructions of the Vessels, it 
being void of all saline Quality. 
Whey is good for such as are of a hot Con- 
stitution, it quenches Thirst, promotes Sleep, 
and of all Drinks is the most relaxing, and 
is a powerful Remedy in the hot Scurvy. 
The different Nature of Birds is known by 
the Time, Age, Food, Place, and Air they 
live in; because Domestick as well as Wild 
Fowl, grow lean, and feed little at the Time 
of their coupling. And some Birds are best in
Spring or in Summer, at which Time they 
feed upon Corn; others in Autumn, because 
they eat Grapes, Figs, Apples, Berries, and
such like. Others again are best in Winter, 
such as Thrushes. Blackbirds, wild Geese, 
Cranes, and all Water Fowl. 
Some live on Worms, Infects, and Fish, as 
Woodcocks, Snipes, &c. but most feed on 
Grain, as Pigeons, Doves, and all Dome- 
stick Fowls, and the like: Some are nourish'd 
on Land, others in Rivers, Lakes, and in 
the Sea, and a great many Birds feed upon 
Herbs; and it is very remarkable, that the 
Flesh of wild Fowl has always the Taste of 
such Things as they feed on, as Fish, Slime, 
Mud, Worms, and other Infects. 
Mountain Fowls are always preferable to 
the rest; besides, castrating or cutting a Fowl,
renders

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 189
renders it fat and sweet, as appears in the 
Flesh of Capons; and the Flesh of young 
Birds is always better than that of old ones. 
Duck is the hottest of all tame Fowl; the 
Wings and Liver are the best, but of hard 
Digestion, and gross Nourishment; it is good
in cold Weather for strong Stomachs, and 
such as labour much. 
Capon nourishes better than all other tame 
Fowl, and breeds good Blood and Juices in 
the human Body. 
Pigeons afford good Nourishment; they 
are very hot, and therefore only proper for 
old and phlegmatic People, or such as labour 
much, who generally speaking, will digest 
any Food without any Trouble or much Dan- 
ger.
Pheasants are very agreeable to human Na- 
ture; they comfort and strengthen the Sto- 
mach, afford great Nourishment, and fatten 
very much. 
Pullets nourish exceeding well, are easily
digested, and generate good Blood and found 
Juices; but old Hens are dry, hard to be di- 
gested, and afford little Nourishment; and 
the Flesh of a Cock is drier, hot, and sul- 
phurous, and therefore very improper Food 
for any Body, and fit for nothing else than to
make Broth of it, with a little Mutton, Veal, 
or both. 
Geese, especially the young Geese, afford 
good Nourishment; but old ones, that feed 
and live in Fenny Places, are coarse, and 
hard

190 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hard to be digested, and not fit Food for 
tender People, or weak Stomachs. 
Turkey is good Food, and affords good 
Nourishment, but harder to be digested than 
Capon or Pullet; yet a Turkey-Pout is deli- 
cate eating, breeds good Blood, and is easily
digested. 
Partridges afford good and sweet Nourish- 
ment, and are easily digested; they fatten, 
and likewise dry up the superfluous Moisture 
of the Stomach, and contribute much to the 
Preservation of Health, their Flesh being bet- 
ter than that of Pullets. 
Plovers, especially the Grey Sort, are good
wholsome Food, and afford good Nourish- 
ment, only they are somewhat of melan- 
choly Juice, according to some Writers. 
Blackbirds nourish sufficiently when they 
are fat and young; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion. 
Larks, if they are fat, nourish well, and 
are easily digested; they are best in Autumn 
and Winter. 
Sparrows, when young, afford good Nou- 
rishment, and are reckon'd to be Provoca- 
tives; but they are not easily digested. 
Peacocks nourish poorly, and are of a hard 
and slow Digestion, and breed melancholy 
Blood, therefore not worth any Body's eat- 
ing. 
Stares, if young and fat, nourish pretty well, 
but old ones are good for nothing. 
Thrushes

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 191
Thrushes nourish very well, and are easily 
digested, and the Mountain Thrushes are the 
best. 
Quails are very nourishing, and pleasant to 
the Taste, they are likewise good for melan- 
choly People; but some Authors say, that 
they cause the Cramp, and falling Sickness, 
with which it is said, this Bird is troubled. 
This, by the by, I take to be only the ground- 
less Opinion of some credulous and whimsi- 
cal Writers. 
Turtle Doves nourish exceeding well, and
are easily digested; they are good for the 
Stomach, and, according to some Authors, 
quicken the Understanding. 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all other long-billed
Birds that suck only animal Juices, or that 
feed upon Worms and other Infects, have their 
Juices more elaborate and exalted than those 
of Pullets, Turkeys, Pheasant or Partridge; 
and for that Reason they are much harder to be
digested, tho' they are very nourishing. 
Fish in respect of Flesh is less nourishing, 
because it is gross, phlegmatic, cold, and full 
of watery Superfluities. The old nourish 
better than the young, and those that live 
among Stones, Rocks and Gravel, are best. 
Fish in general are hard of Digestion; for 
they feed upon one another, and their Juices
abound with an alkaline Salt, that corrupts 
the Blood and causes chronical Diseases; for 
it is very remarkable, that those who live
much

192 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
much on Fish are afflicted with the Scurvy, 
Breakings-out upon the Skin, and other Dis- 
eases of a foul Blood: Besides, a true Sign of 
their Indigestion is, that every Body finds him- 
self more thirsty and heavier than usual after 
a full Meal of Fish, tho' ever so fresh; and is 
commonly forc'd to have Recourse to a Dram 
of some Spirit or other to carry them off. 
The following Rules concerning Fish may 
be of use to the Reader. 
First, That all fresh Fish should be eaten 
hot, and to eat less of Fish than of Flesh- 
meat. 2dly, Not to eat them too often, nor 
after great Labour and Exercise; for then 
they easily corrupt; neither should they be 
eaten after other solid Food. 3dly, Fish and 
Milk are not proper together; nor are Eggs 
to be used unless with Salt-Fish. 4thly, Great 
and slimy Fish are better pickled than fresh; 
and observe, that the clearer and deeper the 
Water is, the better are the Fish that are 
nourish'd therein. 5thly, Sea-Fish are whol- 
somer than fresh water Fish; for they are 
hotter and not so moist, and their Nourish- 
ment comes near that of Flesh-meat. 6thly, 
Of all Sea and River Fish, those are best that 
live in rocky Places; next to these, in gravel- 
ly or sandy Places, in sweet, clear, and run- 
ning Water, where there is no Filth: but 
those Fish are bad that live in Pools, muddy 
Lakes, Marshes, and in any still or muddy 
Water. 7thly, Amongst all the Fish both 
Sea






Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 193
Sea and River, those which are not too large 
are the best, and which have not hard and 
dry Flesh, that taste and smell well, and are 
crisp and tender, and have many Scales and 
Fins. 8thly, Fish are bad for cold and 
phlegmatic Constitutions, and only proper for 
hot and choleric People. The best Way of 
dressing Fish is to broil it; to boil it is the 
next, and to fry it is the worst.
Eels for want of Exercise are fat and 
slimy; they are of a delicate Taste, and nou- 
rish very much; but they offend the Sto- 
mach, and are hard to be digested, and be- 
ing used too often, are apt to breed the Stone 
in the Kidneys and Bladder, and occasion 
the Gout and Spasmodic Disorders; therefore 
whoever eats much of them, and often, en- 
dangers his Health. 
Carp of all Pond-fish is certainly the best, 
and the most noble, being of a very pleasant 
and grateful Taste, and nourishes well, in 
whatsoever manner it is eaten. 
Lampreys are of great Nourishment; they 
are of a most delicate Taste, and are al- 
so Provocatives; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion, and bad for gouty People, and such 
as ate troubled with Convulsive Disorders. 
Pike is a clean, sound Fish, and nourishes
very much; but is of hard Digestion. 
Sturgeon nourishes well, and excites Ve- 
nery; but is very hard to be digested. Of 
the Spawn or Row of this Fish pickled, is
N made




194 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
made what is called Caveer, which excites 
Appetite, and makes Liquor relish well. 
Crabs and Lobsters are much of the same 
Nature; the Broth of them is good for thin 
and emaciated People, for they nourish very 
much; but they are, like all other Shell-Fish, 
hard to be digested. 
Oysters are very nourishing, and preferable 
to all Shell-Fish, and ought to be eaten al- 
ways before Dinner, and never to drink spi- 
rituous Liquors upon them, which harden 
them in the Stomach, and prevent their being 
digested. They are likewise very hard of Di- 
gestion when stew'd; therefore the Substance 
of them dressed in that manner is very im- 
proper for weak Stomachs. They cure the 
Heart-burn proceeding from Acidity or Sour- 
ness in the Stomach, and are proper Food in 
such, and many other Cases. 
Turbut, Soles, and Plaice, are highly com- 
mended among Sea-Fish; for they have de- 
licate Flesh, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment, are not easily corrupted, nor hard to 
be digested. 
Pearch are reckon'd fine Fish; but they 
have soft, moist, and tender Flesh; they 
nourish but little, and are full of Excremen- 
titious Juices, therefore they are not near so 
good as People imagine them to be. 
Tench are very nourishing, but hard of Di- 
gestion.
Gudgeons and Smelts, of all small Fish are 
the best; they are wholsome Aliment, easily 
digested,




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 195
digested, and may be as safely given to sick 
People as Whitings unless they are fry'd. 
Flounders are good wholsome Aliment 
enough, and proper now and then as a Change 
for sickly People, and weak Stomachs, as 
they are not hard to be digested. 
Salmon is grateful to the Palate, and very 
nourishing, affords good Juices, but is too 
luscious to make a hearty Meal upon it, or 
live on it for any considerable Time. 
Trout is delicate eating, nourishes very 
well; the biggest, and such as is bred in gra- 
velly Rivers, and sweet running Waters, is 
best. Trout is good for hot and young Peo- 
ple, but bad for those that are decrepid, and 
for phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Cod-Fish, when fresh and in Season, is very 
good Nourishment, and not hard to be di- 
gested; but if it be dry or Salt, it is gross 
Food, and of hard Digestion. 
Haddock is much of the same Nature, but 
drier, yet it affords very good Nourishment. 
Skate and Thornback are Fish of good 
Nourishment, and delicate eating, when 
rightly manag'd; for if they are newly taken 
and dressed, they are scarcely digestable even 
by the strongest Stomachs; but if they are 
too stale, then they smell Urinous, and are in 
a State of Putrefaction. 
Barbel is very pleasant to the Palate, and 
the little ones are better than the great, and 
such as live in stony Places, and clear running 
N2 Waters;




196 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Waters; but their Flesh being hard, are not 
easily digested. The Roe of this Fish is care- 
fully to be avoided, it having the Quality of 
a strong Cathartick. 
Mackarel are very agreeable to the Taste; 
but their Flesh being hard, dry, and easily cor- 
rupted, is of little Nourishment, hard of Di- 
gestion, and therefore not proper Food for 
tender, weak, or sickly People. 
Herrings afford a great deal more Nou- 
rishment than the former; but their being 
so very hard of Digestion, renders them im- 
proper for every Body, except some hard la- 
bouring People. 
Sprats newly catch'd, and being either 
boiled or broil'd, afford good Nourishment, 
and are very agreeable to the Taste; but 
they are windy, and for that Reason not pro- 
per for such as are subject to Flatulency. 
Here it will be very necessary to give At- 
tention to the following Particulars in the 
Choice of our Aliments. 
1. That those Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity, are lightest of Di- 
gestion: thus the Spring Vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, some Sorts of Sallading, and 
Strawberries, are more easily digested than 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, and Nectarines;
because they have less of the Solar or Sun-Fire 
in them; for their Parts are united by a weaker 
Heat, that is, with less Velocity, and besides 
they contain little or no strong or fix'd
Salts. 
2. Among



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 197
2. Among Animals, the common Poultry,
Sheep, Kids, Hares, and Rabits, &c. which 
come to their Maturity, and propagate their 
Species in the same or a few Years, are much 
more tender, and readily digested, than Cows, 
Oxen, Boars, &c. for the Reason already 
given; and because their Parts cohere less 
firmly. And it is observable, that Vegetables 
which are longest in ripening, that is, whose 
Juices contain most of the Solar Heat in 
them, their fermented Juices produce the 
strongest vinous Spirits, such as Grapes, El- 
der-Berries, and the like: and that Animals, 
which are longest coming to Maturity, their 
Juices yield the most rank and most fœtid 
Urinous Salts. 
3. That the larger and bigger the Vege- 
table, or Animal is in its Kind, the Food 
made thereof is the stronger, and harder to 
be digested. Thus a large Onion, Apple, or 
pear, and large Beef and Mutton, are har- 
der to be digested than the lesser ones of the 
same Kind; not only, as their Vessels being 
stronger and more elastic, their Parts are 
brought together with a greater Force; but 
also, because the Qualities are proportionably 
more intense in great Bodies of the same 
Kind. Thus a greater Fire is proportionably 
more intensely hot than a lesser one; and 
likewise, the Wine contain'd in a larger Ves- 
sel becomes stronger than that contain'd in a 
lesser, and consequently the Juices of larger 
Vegetables and Animals are more rank 
N3 than





198 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than those of smaller ones of the same 
Kind. 
4. Sea-Fish or Animal's, are harder to di- 
gest than Land Animals; because, generally 
speaking, their Food is other Animals; and 
the Salt Element in which they live, renders 
their Flesh more firmly compact, Salts having 
a stronger Power of Cohesion † than any 
other Bodies. And for the same Reason, salt- 
water Fish is harder to digest than fresh-wa- 
ter Fish. 
5. Vegetables and Animals, that abound 
with oily, fat, and viscid Substance, are har- 
der to digest than those of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance; because oily and fat 
Substances commonly elude the Force and 
Action of animal Digestion, especially in such 
as have little Exercise and weak Stomachs; 
for their Parts attract one another, and unite 
more strongly than any other Substances, ex- 
cept Salts; inasmuch as their Softness and 
Humidity relax and weaken the Tone and 
Force of the Stomach, the Fat and Oil be- 
ing shut up in little Bladders, that are with 
Difficulty broken and separated. Thus Nuts of 
all Kinds, as they contain a great deal of Oil, 
pass thro' the Alimentary Duct almost undi- 
gested; for the same Reason, Olives are more 
difficult to digest than Pease, and fat Meat 
than the lean of the same. 
6. That all Vegetables and Animals of a 
strong, pungent, and aromatic hot Taste, are 
harder
‡ Sticking together.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 199
harder to digest than those of a softer, mild- 
er, and more insipid Taste; because such 
Substances abound with a great deal of Salts, 
or an Oil extremely active and heating; for 
high Relish comes from abundance of Salts 
and exalted Oils. A great deal of Salts sup- 
poses such Vegetables and Animals as are a 
long time coming to Maturity; and where 
Salts abound, the Fibres are dryer, harder, 
and more firmly in Contact with each other; 
for that Reason they are more difficultly sepa- 
rated, and harder to be digested. 
But however, Sea-Salt, or Rock-Salt, being 
fixed and of the same Nature, of all Season- 
ings is the best, without which no Food is 
good, and is used by Mankind in their Ali- 
ments for the following Reasons. 1. That 
thereby the Food may descend easier into the 
Stomach, and render it more savoury. 2. Be- 
cause it resists Putrefaction; consuming by its 
Dryness, that Moisture whereby Putrefaction 
might have been occasion'd. 3. It excites 
the Appetite, and digestive Faculty, and pre- 
vents Nauseating. 4. It dissolves, attenuates, 
and dries up the superfluous Moisture, pro- 
vokes the Bowels to discharge the Excrements, 
and is therefore used in Clysters and Supposi- 
tories. Besides, as all animal Substance contain 
no fix'd Salt, they want the Assistance of 
those, in order to promote Digestion, which 
preserve them both within and without the 
Body from Putrefaction; and as these fix'd 
Salts pass unalter'd thro' all the Strainers of a 
N4 human





200 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
human Body, the moderate Use of them is 
very proper to preserve Bodies through which 
they pass from Corruption. 
But on the other Hand, the immoderate 
Use of Salt produces a Multitude of woeful 
Disorders; such as Melancholy, Vapours, and 
bad Nourishment; it dries up the Blood, and 
causes the Muriatick, or Briny-Scurvy, Scab- 
biness and Itchy Ring-worms or Tetters, and 
even the Leprosy, with a great many other 
foul Humours and Eruptions in the Face 
and other Parts of the Body; and likewise it 
occasions Obstructions in the Urinary Passages, 
which oftentimes produce Ulcerations, Stone, 
and Gravel in the Kidneys and Bladder. 
And it will easily appear, that Salt can 
produce all these bad Effects, if we consider 
that Salts consist of hard and plain Surfaces, 
and in all Changes recover their Figure, and 
unite the most firmly of all Bodies whatever; 
for their plain Surfaces bring many Points in- 
to Union and Contact, and their Hardness and 
constant Figure render them durable and un- 
alterable; and thereby the active Principle, 
and Origin of the Qualities of Bodies, if in 
a Strict Sense there be any such Thing as a 
Principle; and when they approach within 
the Sphere or Limits of one another's Activity, 
they firmly unite in Clusters, all which ren- 
der the Separation of their original Particles 
the more difficult, and by that Means they 
obstruct the cuticular Glands, which are the 
Emunctories or Strainers of the whole Body, 
thro'



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 201 
thro' which not only the peccant Humours 
pass, but likewise the greatest Part of the Li- 
quors we drink, after having convey'd the 
Aliments into the Blood, being part of their 
Office, and in the next Place to dissolve the 
saline or terrestrial Particles to be carried off 
thro' the Glands of the Skin and Kidneys. So 
that when Salts adhere and unite in Clusters in 
the excretory Ducts of the Glands of the Skin, 
or the Kidneys, in the former they stop and 
pen in between the Scales of the * Scarf-skin 
the excrementious Humours, which ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, and 
thereby corrode the Skin, and produce Scur- 
vies, and other cutaneous Eruptions; in 
the latter, they cause Inflammations, Ulcera- 
tions, Suppression of Urine, and, as I have ob- 
served before, Stone and Gravel. Thus we 
may plainly see, how the immoderate Use of 
Salt is capable of producing not only all the 
disorders already mentioned, but likewise a 
great many more in the animal Oeconomy, 
Honey is the most accurate or exact Pro- 
duction of the vegetable Kind, perform'd by 
the Bee, being a most exquisite vegetable 
Soap, resolvent of the Bile, balsamick and 
pectoral: It is likewise detersive and opening, 
provokes
* It is the outermost Covering of the Body, and is that 
soft Skin which rises in a Blister upon any Burning, or the 
Application of a Blistering-Plaister. It sticks close to the 
Surface of the true Skin, to which it is tied by the Vessels 
which nourish it, tho' they are so small as not to be seen.




202 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
provokes Urine, and cleanses its Passages, and 
is excellent for old and phlegmatick People of 
a cold Constitution; for it warms the Sto- 
mach, moves the Body, resists Corruption, and 
breeds good Blood; but sometimes it causes 
Wind and Gripes in some Constitutions. 
Oil of Olives is sweet and pleasant, and 
very agreeable to Nature; and it is best when 
two Years old, and ought to be made of ripe 
Olives. 
Oil of Sweet Almonds, when fresh drawn, 
is next to it in Goodness, and much properer 
for Sick People, it being of a cooler Nature, 
and more easily digested, tho' not so agreeable 
to the Palate. 
Oil fattens, and taken in great Quantities, 
is excellent to expel Poison by vomiting, and 
by sheathing the Coats of the Stomach from 
its corrosive Salts; but eating Oil too often 
destroys the Appetite, because all Oils are very 
hard to be digested, as I have already proved. 
Vinegar: The best is that which is made 
of the best Wine: It is an Acid of very pe- 
culiar Quality, different from that of all other 
Acid; for it is cooling, and yet not coagu- 
lating; for it gently dilutes the Serum of the 
Blood, as has been often proved by Experi- 
ments. It is inciding, digestive, and opening. 
It is good against the Redundancy of Bile, 
and to extinguish the Heat of Choler and 
Thirst. It strengthens the Gums, excites the 
Appetite, removes Obstructions, helps Diges- 
tion, and is good for hot Stomachs, and re-
sists 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 203
sists Putrefaction; therefore it is very useful a-
gainst pestilential Diseases, especially in Time 
of the Plague: But too much Use of it 
breeds melancholy Humours, injures the 
Nerves, emaciates some Constitutions too 
much, offends the Breast, and makes People 
look old and withered, with pale Lips. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bo- 
dies, with their good and bad Effects.
ALL Bodies which can be changed into 
the Fluids and Solids of our Bodies by 
the animal Powers, are called Aliment, as has 
been observed in the first Paragraph of Chap. 
VI. And to take it in the largest Sense, by 
Aliment is understood every Thing which a 
human Creature takes in common Diet, as 
Meat, Drink; and Seasoning, as Salt, Spice, 
Vinegar, &c. 
Our Food therefore consists, not only of such 
Particles as are proper for the Nourishment 
and Support of the Body, but likewise contains 
in it certain active Principles, such as Salts, 
Oils, and Spirits, &c. which are endued with 
such Properties, as both to vellicate and sti- 
mulate the Solids, to quicken the Circulation, 
and by attenuating the Fluids, render them 
more




204 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
more fit to undergo the necessary Secretions of
the Body. The Art then of preserving Health, 
and obtaining long Life, chiefly consists in a 
Mediocrity of such Diet as neither increases 
the Salts and Oils, so as to produce Distem- 
pers, nor too few, so as to suffer the Solids to
become too much relaxed; and if this desirable 
Medium be attained, by following the common 
ordinary Diet of the healthiest People in any 
Country or Climate; that is then, indisputably, 
the best Method in general to prefer Health. 
For it is certainly true, that the infinitely 
wise Creator has provided Food proper and 
peculiar to every Country and Climate, which 
is best for the Support of the Creatures he has
placed therein, as may be seen by the Chear- 
fulness and Health of the middling Sort of 
People of all Nations, who use only a simple 
Diet, without lusting after voluptuous or fo- 
reign Delicacies. Yet the Diseases of human 
Bodies often require Substances of more active 
Principles than what are found in common 
Aliment, in order to produce sudden Altera- 
tions; but where such Alterations are not 
necessary, the same Effect may be obtained 
by the repeated Force of Diet, with more 
Safety to the Body, where the sudden Changes 
are less to be apprehended. The smaller Ac- 
tivity of the Aliment is compensated by its 
Quantity; for according to the Laws of Mo- 
tion, if the Bulk and Activity of Aliment and 
Medicines are in reciprocal Proportion, the Ef- 
fect will be the same; for they both only bring 
about

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 205
about the Effect, by acting either upon the So- 
lids or Fluids, or upon both; upon the first, by 
stimulating, contracting, or relaxing; upon 
the last, by attenuating, coagulating, or ren- 
dering them acrimonious or mild, or by in- 
creasing or diminishing their Motion through 
the Vessels. 
That all these Actions can be performed by
Diet as well as Medicine, is evident from
Reason, Experience, and in some Cases by 
ocular Demonstration; as in Chirurgery, in 
Wounds and Sores, where the Influence of 
Diet upon them is plainly seen; for a Diet 
too relaxing weakens the Spring of the Ves- 
sels so much, that they cannot sufficiently re- 
sist the Influx of the Liquid, and so begets a 
a Fungus, or proud Flesh; and when too as- 
tringent, it produces a Cicatrice, or callous 
Substance. The Effects of warm Water and 
mealy Substances in relaxing; of Spirits, in 
stopping Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes, and conso- 
lidating the Fibres; the Power of Alkaline 
Absorbents in subduing Acidity, and Oil in 
stopping Perspiration, is very well known to
both Physicians and Chirurgeons. 
All those Substances which stimulate the 
solid Parts, produce the greatest Alterations 
in animal Bodies; for violent Sneezing pro- 
duces Convulsions in all the Muscles of Re- 
spiration, and an universal Secretion of all the 
Humours, as Tears, Spittle, Sweat, Urine, 
&c. And even all this Alteration can be pro- 
duced by the tickling of a Straw or Feather; 
there-



206 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
therefore acrid or sharp Substances, that are 
minute enough to pass into the capillary Tubes, 
must stimulate the small Fibres, and irritate 
them into greater Contractions. And many 
Things which we take as Food, or with our 
Food, have this Quality in some Degree: Such 
as the Juices of acid Vegetables, fermented 
Liquors, especially sharp Wines, and ferment- 
ed Spirits; aromatical Vegetables, as Savory, 
Fennel, Thyme, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Mus- 
tard, all which abound with a volatile pungent 
Salt; and, in short, all Spices in general, and all 
Vegetables, which being corrupted, easily re- 
solve themselves into a fœtid, oily, alkaline 
Substance. 
The solid Parts of an animal Body may be 
contracted variously: First, by dissolving their 
Continuity. For as a Fibre is cut through, it 
contracts itself at both Ends; therefore all 
Things that are so sharp as to destroy the 
small Fibres, must contract them. Secondly, 
Whatever empties the Vessels, gives Room to 
the Fibres to contract; so that Abstinence 
produces this Effect in the best Manner: And
whatever shortens the Fibres, by insinuating
itself into their Parts, as Water in a Rope, 
contracts them; and fermented Liquors pos- 
sess this Quality in a great Degree. 
The more sulphurous or chymical Oil any 
Spirit contains, the more pernicious it proves 
to the human Body, because it is harder to be 
wash'd away by the Blood; therefore Brandy 
is more easily carried off than Spirit of Ju-
niper; 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 207 
niper; and that than Spirit of Annise-seed or 
Rum. Compound aromatical Spirits destroy, 
first, by their fermentative Heat; 2ndly, By 
their oily * Tenacity: 3dly, By a caustic 
Quality residing in all Spices apt to destroy
the solid Parts. However these Qualities may
tender them proper in some Cases, taken in 
small Quantities. 
Austere acid Vegetables have this Quality 
of contracting and strengthening the Fibres, 
without a great many of the bad Effects of 
distilled Spirits, such as all Sorts of Sorrel, 
the Virtues of which consist in an acid, astrin- 
gent Salt, which is a Sovereign Remedy a- 
gainst a putrescent, bilious Alkali; and seve- 
ral kind of Fruits, as Quinces, some Sorts of
Pears, with the Marmalades made of them; 
likewise Medlars, Capers, Barberries, Pome- 
granates, and Purslain, all such are easily
distinguish'd by a rough and styptic Taste. 
And amongst Drinks, austere Wines, unripe 
Fruits likewise have the same Quality; but 
they are apt to cause foul Eruptions on the 
Skin, to obstruct the Nerves, and occasion 
Palsies.
Relaxing the Fibres, is rendering them 
flexible, or easy to be lengthen'd without Rup- 
ture or Breaking, which is perform'd only in 
the capillary vascular Solids. 
Of all Liquids endued with this Quality of 
relaxing, warm Water is the first; and next 
to it, the watery Decoctions and Infusions of 
Mealy
* Adhering or sticking together.

208 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of Mealy Vegetables, or Grains, as Oats, Bar- 
ley, &c. likewise all sweet and mild Garden 
Fruits, and almost all Pot-Herbs, as Spinage, 
Beets, Cabbage, Coleworts, and all that Class;
lactescent Plants, such as yield a milky Juice, 
as Lettuce, Succory, and Dandelion, if un- 
fermented, for Fermentation changes their 
Nature; also fresh oils of mild Plants, or 
Nuts, Cream, Butter, Marrow, and Whey; 
all which Things help to weaken and relax 
the Fibres, and are therefore proper Reme- 
dies for a too rigid, strong, or elastic State. 
The Qualities of the Fluids of a human 
Body can be likewise chang'd by Diet; as by
attenuating or diminishing the Cohesion of 
the Particles of the Fluid: and the Cohesion 
of the Particles depends upon the Weight and
Quantity of Fluids; therefore Abstinence and 
a slender Diet attenuates or thins them, be- 
cause emptying the Vessels gives room to the 
Fluid to expand or dilate itself. Besides, 
whatever penetrates and dilutes at the same 
Time, as Water impregnated with some pe- 
netrating Salt, attenuates very powerfully; and
the great Effects of medicated Waters may 
be justly ascrib'd to this Quality; likewise 
all saponaceous Substances composed of Oil 
and Salt, such are Honey, and the Robs and 
Gellies of most Fruits; Vinegar and Honey 
mix'd is a powerful Resolvent. All stimula- 
ting Substances, by increasing the Motion of 
the Blood, attenuate, unless they increase the 
Motion

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 209
Motion so much, as at last to produce Coagu- 
lation. 
The second manner of operating upon the 
Fluids is by thickening the Blood, which is 
perform'd by dissipating the most liquid Parts 
of it by Heat, or by insinuating some Sub- 
stances which make the Parts of the Fluid 
cohere more strongly: and the acid, au- 
stere Vegetables just now mention'd, have 
this Quality of condensing the Fluids, as well 
as strengthening the Solids. 
Another manner of operating upon the 
Fluids, is by increasing or lessening their 
Quantity: and the first is effected by a plen- 
tiful Diet, and the Suppression of Evacuations; 
the latter, either by a spare Diet, or promo- 
ting the animal Secretions, that is, expelling
the Fluids out of the Body; which may be 
perform'd by Substances that are laxative, as 
animal Oils, fresh Butter, Cream, Marrow, 
or fat Broth; the Oils of mild Vegetables, as 
that of Olives, Almonds, and the Fruits 
themselves; likewise all oily and mild Fruits, 
as Figs, and most Garden Fruits, by the Salts 
they contain, lubricate the Intestines; and some 
saponaceous Substances which stimulate gent- 
ly, as Honey, Hydromel, or boil'd Honey and 
Water, and even brown Sugar. Besides, Sub- 
stances that are diuretick, are proper for this
Intention, such as Whey, and Salts of all 
Kinds, Parsley, Celery, Sorrel, Chervil, As-
paragus, Eringo, and Nutmegs, &c.
O Acrimony

210 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Acrimony or Sharpness is not natural, but 
introduc'd into the Fluids of animal Bodies, 
either by Sickness, as in Cachexies, or ill 
Habits of Bodies, and Scurvies, &c. or by 
Diet that is either briny or acid, which con- 
sists of two Sorts, that is, of Things natural- 
ly acid, or render'd so by Fermentation; or 
alkaline aromatick Substances, consisting of 
Salts, and highly exalted Oils intimately uni- 
ted, which by increasing the Velocity of the 
Blood beyond what is natural, occasions an 
Attrition of the Parts, and thereby disposes 
the Blood and Juices to an alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
But the Juices of found Animals consist of 
Water impregnated with Salts of a peculiar 
Nature, which are neither acid, nor perfect- 
ly volatile; for, in the Evaporation of hu- 
man Blood by a gentle Fire, the Salt will not 
rise, but only the Spirit and Water, nor per- 
fectly fix'd; for human Blood calcin'd, yields
no fix'd Salt, nor is it a Sal Ammoniac; for 
that remains immutable after repeated Distil- 
lations, and Distillation destroys the ammonia- 
cal Quality of animal Salts, and turns them 
alkaline. So that it is a Salt neither quite fix'd, 
nor quite volatile, nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline, nor yet quite ammoniacal; but soft 
and benign, approaching nearest to the Na- 
ture of a Sal Ammoniac. 
Hence we may easily perceive, that the 
elementary Salts of found Animals are not the 
same as they appear by Distillation; for these
Alte-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 211
rations are produc'd by Fire: and those Salts 
are of a peculiar, benign and mild Nature in 
healthy Persons, who have * vital Force to 
subdue all the Substances they feed upon; but
in such who have not that vital Force, or 
commit some Errors in their Diet, these Salts 
are not sufficiently attenuated, and retain their 
original Qualities, which they discover in 
Cachexies, or ill Habits of Bodies, Scurvies 
of several Kinds, and many other Distempers; 
the Cure of which chiefly depends upon the 
Choice of Aliment with Qualities opposite to
the Nature of these Salts. 
Acrimony in the Blood commonly consists 
of three Sorts, according to the Nature of the 
Salts in which it resides; that is, either Acid, 
Alkaline, Muriatic, or briny, as in the Sea- 
Scurvy; but this last approaches more towards
the alkaline State, and admits of the same 
Cure. Acid Acrimony resides chiefly in the 
first Passages, that is, the Stomach and Inte- 
stines, proceeding often from the Weakness 
of Digestion, and the too long Duration of 
Vegetables, and Milk, or fermented Liquors 
the Stomach. All animal Substances are 
alkalescent; and of Vegetable Substances some 
are acid, others alkalescent, and each Sort is
to be used according to the two different In- 
tentions hereafter mention'd. 
O2 The
* By vital Force, is understod the Sum of all these Pow-
ers in an animal Body, which convert; his Aliment or Food in- 
to its own Nature. 

212 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The proper Diet for the Cure of the acid 
Acrimony, are Vegetables of all Kinds, as 
Garlick, Onions, Leeks, and Celery; the an- 
tiscorbutick Plants, as Cresses, Brooklime, 
Scurvygrass, &c. Carrots, Turnips, Pota- 
toes, Eringo Roots, Asparagus, Horse-radish, 
Mustard, and Cabbage. All animal Substan- 
ces being likewise Alkalescent, or contrary to
Acidity, are also very proper Food in this 
Disorder, more particularly all Fishes of the 
Shell-kind. Water, by its diluting Quality, 
subdues Acidity very powerfully. Oils are 
Anti-acids, so far as they blunt Acrimony; but 
as they are sometimes hard of Digestion, they 
may produce Acrimony of the alkaline Sort. 
The alkaline Acrimony being opposite to 
the former, is cur'd by a proper Diet made 
of the Decoctions of farinaceous or mealy 
Substances, especially such as are made of 
Oats are proper, as having an acescent Qua- 
lity. Therefore this alkaline Acrimony requires 
a plentiful Use of Vinegar, and acid Fruits, 
such as Oranges, which contain a Juice most
effectual in the Cure of the muriatic or briny
Scurvy of Sea-faring People; the Juice of 
Lemons is likewise proper, and more cool- 
ing and astringent than that of Oranges: and 
in this Case all the mild Antiscorbuticks are 
indicated, as Sorrel, Cichory, Endive, Lettuce, 
and Apples, &c. and of Liquids Whey. On 
the contrary, all the acrid Antiscorbuticks, 
as Horse-radish, Mustard, and Scurvygrass, 
&c. are very hurtful in this, and all other hot 
Scurvies. 
Other

Ch.VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 213
Other Sorts of Antiscorbuticks proper in 
this alkalescent State of the Fluids, are called
Astringents, such as Pomegranates, Capers, 
and most of the common Pickles prepar'd 
with Vinegar, And as the Extremity of Al- 
kali is Putrefaction; so all acid Substances, 
and Sea-Salt, resist such a putrescent Quality in 
the Fluids; but as the latter is a sharp solid 
Body, and unalterable in all the Circulations 
of the animal Body, and when it is taken 
constantly in a Diet of Salt Meat in too great
Quantities, (as I have taken Notice of in the 
latter End of the preceding Chapter) it breaks 
the Vessels, produces Erosions of the solid 
Parts, and all the Symptoms of the briny 
Sea-Scurvy, which is to be cur'd by acid Ve- 
getables, and not by the hot Antiscorbutics, 
as I have just now observ'd. 
There are other Sorts of Substances which 
are proper in the Cure of both Sorts of Acri- 
mony, which are demulcent or mild, because 
they sheath these sharp Salts, as farinaceous 
or mealy Pulse, such as Pease, Beans, Len- 
tils; native Oils of Animals, as Cream, But- 
ter, Marrow. Likewise all Plants that are 
without Smell or pungent Taste are demulcent; 
and also all the alimentary Parts of found Ani- 
mals; for none of their Juices will hurt or 
smart either the Eye or a fresh Wound. 
As Liquors make a considerable Part of our 
Aliment, it will not be improper to give a 
short Account of their principal Qualities in 
O3 this

214 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
this Place, before I treat of different Consti- 
tutions, with the Diet proper for each in Par- 
ticular. 
Drink being an essential Part of our Food, 
is either Water, Milk, or Whey; or ferment- 
ed Liquors, such as Malt Liquors of different
Sorts, Cyder, Wines, or a Mixture of these: 
And as the chief Intentions of Drink are, 1st, 
To moisten and convey our Food into the 
Stomach, and the Nutriment thereof to the 
respective Parts of the Body, and to allay 
Thirst; 2dly, To dilute the Blood, that it 
may circulate through the minutest Vessels;
3dly, To dissolve and carry off; by Urine and 
Perspiration, the superfluous Salts we take in 
our Food, which are unalterable in a human 
Body, as I have observ'd in one or two Places 
already: so pure Water answers all these Intenti- 
ons best, except in some few Cases hereafter 
mentioned; for no Liquor that we drink will 
circulate so well, or mix with our Fluids so im- 
mediately as Water; because all other Liquors 
we drink are impregnated with Particles that 
act strongly either upon the Solids or Fluids, 
or both; but as Water is the only simple 
drinkable Fluid, and being altogether inac- 
tive, so it is the fittest and most innocent Li- 
quor for diluting, moistening, and cooling; 
which are the chief Ends of Drink pointed 
out to us by Nature: Besides, nothing will 
dissolve Salts and carry what is superfluous of
them out of Body, so well as pure Water, 
that


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 215
that being the proper Menstruum or Vehicle 
for dissolving all Kinds of Salts. 
The benign, mild, and other useful Qua- 
lities of Water plainly shew, that it was de- 
sign'd by the most wise Creator for our com- 
mon Drink; and, without doubt, was the 
primitive original Drink: And happy had it 
been for Mankind that other mix'd and arti- 
ficial Liquors had never been invented; for 
Water is so necessary to our Subsistence, that
we could not live a Moment without it; be- 
cause this Element furnishes all the fluid Parts 
of our Humours, without which they could 
not circulate; and it dissolves all the Salts in the 
Blood, whereby some are carried to their pro- 
per Places within the Body, and others to 
proper Emunctories for their Expulsion from 
it. It serves to prepare our Food, and then 
for a Vehicle to convey it out of the Stomach 
into every little Meander of the Body, both 
for Health and Nourishment: So that Water 
alone is sufficient and effectual for all the 
Purposes of human Wants as to Drink. 
Therefore it is evident from what has been 
said, that Water is the best and most whole- 
some Drink in general; but in some Constitu- 
tions, where something is necessary to warm 
and act as a Stimulus, then fermented Li- 
quors taken in Moderation are proper, such 
as Beer, Ale, Cyder, Wine, &c. the Quan- 
tity and Choice of which depends upon the 
Age, Constitution, and Manner of Living of 
the Drinker; for in Youth, Milk, Water, or 
O4 Whey


216 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Whey are the properest, and in a middle Age 
a little more generous Liquors may be some- 
times allow'd; but most of all in old Age; 
for according to the old Saying, Lac senûm
est Vinum, Wine is old Men's Milk. 
As to Malt Liquors, small Beer well boil- 
ed, and of a due Age, is the best for common
Drink; otherwise it must be very hurtful to 
Persons of weak Nerves and flow Digestion; 
for by fermenting anew in the Bowels it will 
fill the whole Cavity of the Belly with Fumes 
and Vapours, which will at last produce very
bad Effects in a weak Constitution. 
As for strong Beer, it should be made of 
Water that will bear Soap; be well hopp'd 
and boil'd, that it may keep till all the gross
and viscid Parts fall to the Bottom of the 
Vessel, without the Help of any pernicious 
Composition for fining Liquors, too frequent- 
ly made Use of to the Destruction of thou- 
sands; for it is very notorious, that all your 
fine Ales, or Home-brew'd, as they are call'd, 
have neither due Age or Hops enough to cla- 
rify of their own Accord, being brew'd one 
Week and drank the next, or soon after; so 
that the Seller is obliged to have Recourse to
some Art or other to fine them down, which 
is very often with unslack Lime, or at best a 
Mixture of Ising-glass *, and other Ingredients 
* Is a very strong Glew, made of a Kind of Fish catch'd in
great Quantities in Rivers in Hungary and other Parts: It is 
used by Cabinet-makers, and sometimes ordered as a Medicine to 
stop Fluxes and Seminal Weaknesses; but it is very improper 
for

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 217
very destructive, if not poisonous, to many 
Constitutions: Besides, these Liquors are of 
so agglutinating and thickening a Nature, as 
to produce Stone, Gravel, Gout, Bloatedness, 
and great Thirst, with the Loss of Appetite: 
And to prove the agglutinating Qualities of 
all such Liquors, it is experimentally known, 
that they make excellent Bird-lime; and 
when simmer'd for some Time over a slow 
Fire, make the most sticking and best Plaister 
for old Strains. 
We have likewise convincing Reasons to 
have the same Opinion of the Yorkshire, Not- 
tingham, and Welch intoxicating Ales; and, 
in short, all fine Ales brew'd for Sale: For it 
is certainly true, that all these fine Liquors, 
far fetch'd and dear bought, have always some- 
thing in their Composition hurtful to our Con- 
stitution, more than meer Water, Malt, and 
Hops; therefore I would advise all those, 
who have any Regard for their own Health or 
Lives, to avoid, as much as possible, the use
of all such Liquors, and more especially the 
valetudinary, sedentary, studious, and contem- 
plative People; and, in fine, all such as have 
weak Nerves and slow Digestion. 
As the frequent Use and Excess of Drams,
or distill'd Spirituous Liquors, is a Vice of so
horrid 
for such as are otherwise in good Health; for the constant Use 
of it will produce Gravel, Stone, Blotches, and Eruptions on the 
Skin, by glewing up as it were the Urinary Passages, and 
likewise stopping insensible Perspiration; and, in short, it will 
produce the same bad Effects in human Constitutions, as the 
common Glew used by Joyners and Carpenters.

218 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
horrid a Nature in itself, and now become 
epidemical, not only among Mechanicks and 
Tradesmen, but among Persons of the brightest
Genius, and finest Taste and Accomplish- 
ments; and, alas! even among the finest
Part of the Creation, I mean the Fair Sex; 
and those of them too, which is still more a- 
stonishing, who are in all other Respects 
blameless, and of the strictest Virtue! I say, 
as the Case is so, it will not be improper to 
explain the poisonous Qualities and direful Ef- 
fects of such pernicious Liquors, which de- 
stroy Millions, both in Body and Soul. 
Let us then consider, that distill'd Spirits are
but an Accumulation of fine Salts and light Oil, 
compacted together into the smallest Bulk; the 
Salts are so hard and solid as naturally to re- 
tain their Heat and Activity the longest, into
which Water cannot enter; the Oil † is so 
inflammable, that it most readily receives Heat 
and Fire, and by that Means defends the Salts 
from the Power of Water over them: So 
that in the continued Distillation of Spirits, 
this
† They are guilty of a gross Error, who imagine that the 
more oily any distill'd Spirit is, the more wholsome it will 
prove to the Constitution; for they do not consider that it is a 
very subtile, sulphurous, chymical, inflammable Oil, blended 
with Portions of very fine Salts, raised by the Force of Fire, 
and that it is quite different in its Nature and Quality from 
the benign and pectoral Oil of Olives or Sweet Almonds, or 
any other express'd Oils produced without Fermentation or 
Fire. Hence it is evident that Rum, or double-distill'd Spirit 
of Annise-seeds, and Spirits distill'd from aromatick Plants, are 
much more difficult to be digested and carried off than Brandy, 
or Spirit of Juniper; and that for no other Reason, than that 
they contain too great a Quantity of burning Oil. 



Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 219  
this Action of the Fire is so strong as to re- 
duce the Spirits at last into liquid Flames, 
which will, of their own accord, evaporate 
in visible Flames and Fumes. 
Besides, it is observable that every Thing 
that has pass'd the Fire so long a Time as to 
divide and penetrate its Parts as far as it pos- 
sibly can, retains ever afterwards a corrosive 
and burning Quality. This is manifest from 
the firey and burning Touch and Taste of new- 
distill'd Spirits; as also from the burning of
a Lime-stone, which retains its heating and 
drying Quality ever after, tho' extinguish'd by
Water. 
Hence it will manifestly appear, that run- 
ning into the frequent Use and Habit of Dram- 
drinking will as certainly kill as Laudanum, 
or Arsenick, tho' not so soon; for such Li- 
quors contract, harden, and consolidate many 
Fibres together, abolishing many Vessels, or 
Canals in the Body, especially where the Fi- 
bres are the tenderest, as in the Brain, by 
which Quality they destroy the Memory and 
intellectual Faculties, abrade and wear off the 
villous Coat of the Stomach, and thereby ex- 
pose its nervous Coat to the Insults of the most
firey, corroding, saline, and caustick Particles
of the Spirits; by which means the Springi- 
ness or Elasticity of the Fibres is so weakened, 
that the whole Stomach becomes at last soft, 
flabby, and relax'd. Hence a Loss of Appe- 
tite, and an Inability to digest the small Quan- 
tity of Food that is taken in; whence arise 
Cru-

220 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Crudities, Nauseas, Vomitings, Tremors, ner- 
vous Convulsions, Consumptions, Dropsies; 
likewise Gout, Stone, Rheumatism, raging Fe- 
vers and Pleurisies, which for the most part 
nothing but Death alone can remove at last. 
What a melancholy Scene do we daily be- 
hold, in all Parts of this great Capital, of
Numbers of miserable Creatures, render'd not 
only useless to themselves, to their Families, 
Friends and Relations, but likewise burthen- 
some to the Publick, and a Scandal to both Chri- 
stianity and the rest of their Fellow-Subject! 
And all this great Calamity entirely ow- 
ing to the Folly of a bewitching Habit of 
Dram-drinking. And what is still most sur- 
prising, we see even the Moral, and the Sen- 
sible, bound in these Chains and Fetters, that 
nothing less than Almighty Grace, or the un- 
relenting Grave can release them; for they 
are deaf to Reason, and to their own Experi- 
ence, and even to the express Words of the 
Scripture, which says, That the Drunkard 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 
From this Doctrine it will appear, to the 
Evidence of a Demonstration, that next to 
Drams, no Liquor deserves to be stigmatized 
and detested more than Punch; for it is a 
Composition of such Parts, that not one of 
them, except the pure Water and Sugar, is 
wholsome, or friendly to any Constitution, espe- 
cially to valetudinary, tender, weak, and studious 
People. The chief Ingredient being either 
Arrack, Rum, Brandy, or Malt-Spirits, and 
all

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 221
all of them rais'd by Fire, from the fermented 
Juices of Plants brought from hot Countries, 
or which have born the Heat of the Sun 
longest in our own Climate; for it is observable 
that Vegetables, whose Juices have most Solar 
Heat in them, their fermented Juices yield 
the strongest Spirits in Distillation. 
The other principal Part of the Composition 
being sour Juice of unripe Oranges or Li- 
mons. And if we consider, that the Juice of
a Crab-Apple, of unripe Goosberries, or 
Grapes, or even the Juice of Sorrel, would 
come up at least to their Virtue in extinguish- 
ing the Heat of the burning Spirits, if not to
their Flavour; And yet every body who is 
not depriv'd of his Senses, must know how 
destructive an Ingredient such Juices would 
be to the fine Fibres of the Stomach and 
Bowels. 
For it is evidently true, even from Experi- 
ence, that all fermenting Juices, such as these 
are in a very great Degree, must be highly 
injurious to the human Constitution; for 
meeting with Crudities in the Bowels, they 
must raise a new Struggle or Fermentation there, 
and so fill up the whole Cavities of the Body, 
with acrid Fumes and Vapours, which is ex- 
tremely prejudicial to the Bowels, especially 
when the Constitution is tender and weak. 
And in the West-Indies, where the People 
are forced to drink much Punch, by reason 
of the Violence of the Heat, and for Want of 
other proper Liquors there, tho' the Limons 
and


222 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and Oranges are in full Perfection, yet the 
Inhabitants are universally afflicted with ner- 
vous and mortal Dry-Gripes, Cramps, Pal- 
sies, and Convulsions, which kill them in a 
few Days, and all intirely owing to this 
poisonous Mixture, Punch. 
Notwithstanding what I have advanced 
against the deliterious † Qualities of Drams 
and Punch, at least when taken for any Con- 
stancy, or in any great Quantity, for some 
Poisons are only so by their Quantity, yet I 
would not be understood here to discourage 
the innocent Means of enlivening Conversa- 
tion, promoting Friendship, comforting the 
Sorrowful, and raising the drooping Spirits, 
at proper Times with a chearful Glass of 
some good wholsome Liquor or other; for the
Sober can receive no Prejudice from a mode- 
rate Use of Liquors: On the Contrary, it 
will help to invigorate and re-establish the 
Constitution, especially after the Fatigues of
Labour or Study. Neither am I against the 
taking a proper cordial Dram sometimes, as 
in an actual Fit of the Colick or Gout in the 
Stomach; or upon a full Meal of Fish, Pork, 
&c. when a Glass of good Wine cannot be 
had. 
But the Frenzy of being given to the too 
frequent Use and Excess of Liquors, is abo- 
minable; for a Sot is the lowest and the most 
contemptible Character in human Life; and 
as for the Profligate, the Sensual, and Vo- 
luptuous,
† Poisonous.


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 223
luptuous, they are past reclaiming, and there- 
fore deserve no Advice, at least they will take 
none. However, I present them here with 
a short Sketch of the Effects of Drunkenness,
to contemplate upon at their Leisure, if they
can spare any Time from the bewitching 
Folly of sotting and drinking. 
The Effects then of Drunkenness render 
the Blood inflamed into a Gout, Stone, and 
Rheumatism, raging Fevers, Pleurisies, Small- 
Pox, or Measles. 
2. The Passions are enraged into Quarrels, 
Murder, and Blasphemy; the Juices are 
dry'd up; and the solids scorched and shri- 
velled. 
3. A Resolution of the Nerves, Cramps, 
and Palsies. 
4. Inflation of the Belly and Dropsies. 
5. Redness and Rheums, with an Inflamma- 
tion in the Eyes. 
6. Tremblings in the Hands and Joynts, 
Head-Aches, Quinsies, and Scurvies of all 
Kinds. 
7. Sicknesses at the Stomach, with four 
Belchings, Reachings and Vomitings. 
8. A furious and unmanageable Disposition 
to Lust, which hurries them to the base and
sordid Company of Harlots, and impure Wo- 
men, by whose Means they most commonly 
acquire a foul Disease, under which they 
often labour for the greatest Part of the 
Remainder of their Lives, in Shame and Tor- 
ments;


224 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ments; nay some become incurable, and even 
rot by Piece-meal, before their Dissolution. 
9. A Decay of Memory and Understanding, 
Loss of Credit and Reputation. 
10. An Unfitness for Business, or the Dis- 
patch of the Affairs of Life; and a Readiness
of discovering all Secrets. 
These, with a great many more, are the 
bitter Fruits of Drunkenness, even in this
Life; and in the next, according to the 
express Words of holy Writ, will be re- 
warded with everlasting Miseries, as being
thereby excluded the Kingdom of Heaven. 
A short Account
of different
Wines in gene-
ral.
As it would be endless to enter 
into a long Account of the diffe-
rent Qualities of all Sorts of Wines, 
therefore I shall only say in gene- 
ral, that all the light Wines, of a moderate 
Strength, due Age, and full Maturity, are 
much more wholsome for the Constitution, 
and preferable for Conversation, Cheerfulness, 
and Digestion, than the rich, hot, strong and 
heavy Wines: For the light Wines inflame 
the Juices of the Body less, and go off the 
Stomach with less Difficulty; they likewise 
afford longer Time for Conversation and 
Cheerfulness, with less Danger. 
Red Port Wine is strong and astringent; 
but white Port and Spanish Wines are stimu- 
lating and attenuating. French Wines are 
lighter, and not so strong as the Portugal 
and Spanish Wines; which renders them 
2 whol-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 225
wholsomer for thin and dry Constitutions. 
Fine old Rhenish and Moselle Wines are very 
wholsome, especially the Former, which is 
exceedingly good for most Constitutions. 
Strong made Country Wines are prejudicial 
to all Constitutions, being very windy, heavy, 
and heady, taken in any considerable Quan- 
tity; therefore it is surprising the extreme 
Fondness People of the better Sort in England 
have run into, for such Liquors; and for no 
other Reason that can be thought of, than 
the only one the Vulgar give for drinking 
Brandy or Gin, that they sooner intoxicate 
them. 
The last Thing I have to say concerning 
Liquors, is, that Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors, are as hard to digest, and require as
much Labour of the concoctive Powers, as 
solid and strong Food itself; and this is not
only evident with respect to Persons of weak 
Stomachs and Digestion, but also from strong 
and healthy People, who only drink either 
water or Small Beer at their Meals, and shall 
be able to eat and digest almost double the 
Quantity of what they could, did they drink 
strong Liquors. Therefore it appears very 
Plain, that we should always drink very little
strong Liquors at our great Meals, otherwise 
we must certainly impair the Constitution, and 
load it with various Diseases at last; for such
Liquors, by their Heat and Activity, hurry 
the Food unconcocted into the Habit of the 
Body, and by that Means lay a Founda-
P tion

226 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tion for Fevers, Colicks, and several 
chronical Distempers. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, the Diet 
proper for each. 
ALthough I have given an Account of Tem- 
peraments or Constitutions in general in the 
Begining of Part I. Chapter I. of this Treatise;
yet it will be necessary to treat of them in a more 
peculiar Manner in this Place, that every one 
may easily know the Nature of his own in 
particular. And as I have explained the Na- 
ture and Qualities of Aliment, in the two
preceding Chapters, with their good and bad 
Effects upon human Bodies, it will be like- 
wise necessary to lay down Rules of Diet pro- 
per for each Constitution in particular, in this
Chapter, by which Means it will not be diffi- 
cult for any one to observe a sure and easy 
Method in regard to what may be either use- 
ful or prejudicial to his own Constitution in 
particular, in order to preserve Health and 
prolong Life; or when impair'd, to restore it
again, which are the chief Ends of the noble 
Art of Physick. 
A general Method as to Diet, without re- 
gard to particular Constitutions, is absurd. 
3 The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 227
The most common Difference of human 
Constitutions proceeds either from the solid † 
Parts, or from the different State of the 
Fluids, (as I hinted in the first Part of this
Book.) From the former, as to their different 
Degrees of Strength and Tension; for in 
some Constitutions they are too lax and weak, 
in others they are too strong and elastick; 
from the latter, as they consist of Water, Spi- 
rit, Oil, Salts, and earthy Parts, they differ 
according to the Redundance of the Whole, or 
of any of the said Ingredients in particular; 
and for which Reason they may be justly 
called either plethorick, sanguine, phlegmatick, 
saline, oily on fat, earthy or melancholick Con- 
stitutions. 
The Fibres of the Solids in a human Body 
are too weak and lax, when the Cohesion of 
their Parts is so small, that they may be re- 
solved or broken by a Force not much greater 
than what happens commonly in the Body of 
a healthy Person; and when the Weakness of 
the Vessels or Organs, proceeding from a 
too small Cohesion of their constituent Parts, 
renders them unable to discharge the com- 
mon Functions of Life, consider'd in a State 
of Health. 
And notwithstanding there is a Debility or 
Weakness of Fibres in Infants, yet it is no 
P2 Disease,
† The Solids of an animal Body are composed of small Fi- 
bres or Threads, which may be divided into still less; and this 
Division proceeds so far, as that at last they become so incre- 
dibly small, as to exceed the Power of Imagination; but 
Reason tells us that there must be an End at ast.



228 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Disease, because they lengthen by the Influx 
of the Liquids, which is the Cause of their 
Growth; but in grown Persons, when their 
Fibres cannot any more give way or stretch, 
they must either break or lose their Spring. 
The common Causes of Weakness of the 
Fibres are, either a Defect or great Loss of 
the nutritious Juices; for if there is not a 
Sufficiency of Blood, the Chyle cannot be ea- 
sily assimilated to nourish the Fibres. And 
People who lose great Quantities of Blood 
daily, by Blood-letting or otherwise, become 
dropsical; for when a Fibre, which is natu- 
rally elastick like a Bow, loses its Spring, it is
only passive, and consequently useless to the 
Individual. Likewise Nourishment too glu- 
tinous or viscid to be subdued by the concoc- 
tive Powers of Digestion. Also a sedentary 
and lazy Life; for Motion or Exercise en- 
creases the Circulation of the Fluids, and of
Course an Application of the solid Parts to- 
gether. People who live healthy in a dry Air, 
commonly fall into Diseases that depend upon 
weak and relax'd Fibres when in a moist one. 
Lastly, a natural Weakness from the Frame 
and Constitution of the Body, which is too 
often the Case. 
The Sign of weak and lax Fibres are, a weak 
Pulse, Paleness, flabby and soft Flesh, 
Palpitations of the Heart, Bloated- 
ness, Lassitude, and scorbutical Spots; 
Coldness of the Skin, four Belchings upon taking 
vegetable Food, or foul Eructations, like that of 
The Signs of
weak Fibres.
rotten

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 229
rotten Eggs, after eating animal Food, are also 
Signs of weak Fibres in the Organs of Diges- 
tion; likewise Atrophy, or a Decay of the 
Flesh, which indicates a Destruction or Ob- 
struction of the Vessels that convey the Nou- 
rishment; and Dropsies proceed from a Weak- 
ness and Laxity of the Fibres, as having lost
their Elasticity or Springiness to return the 
Fluid. And, in short, most of all the chro- 
nical Diseases proceed from Weakness and 
Laxity of the Fibres. Therefore the chief In- 
tention of Cure must be to restore the Tone 
of the solid Parts; for all other Attempts, 
without this, will prove fruitless. 
So that they who have weak Fibres ought 
to forbear all great Evacuations, especially 
Bleeding, viscid Substances, and all other Food
hard of Digestion; they Should likewise avoid 
a sedentary Life and moist Air as much as 
possible: They should eat often, but in small 
Quantites, of such Things as are nourishing, 
and of easy Digestion, as Milk, Broth, and 
Jellies made of Flesh Meat, Rice Gruel, Pa- 
nadas, &c. And their Drink should be some 
of the light Wines of due Age and Maturity, 
mix'd with Water, for Water alone is too re- 
axing; or any good Wine with acidulated 
and Steel Waters, such as Pyrmont or Spaw,
&c. They should likewise use in their Diet 
austere or acid Vegetables, if their Stomachs
can tolerably bear them; such as Pears, 
Plumbs, Quinces, Pomegranates, Barberries, 
Medlars, Sorrel, Purslain, Burnet, Tama-
P3 rinds.

230 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
rinds, Limons, Capers, or any other Pickles
they like best.
The Fibres are too strong and too elastick, 
when the Cohesion of their Parts is 
in such a Degree of Rigidity or Stiff- 
ness as renders them inflexible to the 
Causes they ought to yield to, so as to pre- 
serve the Animal in Health; for too great 
Elasticity is not only a Quality by which they 
resist against being lengthen'd, but likewise they
restore themselves, by that Means, with too 
great a Force and Pressure upon the moving 
Fluids, to the Detriment of the Ani- 
mal. 
Too strong
Fibres.
Rigidity of the Vessels or Organs is such a 
Degree of Cohesion as prevents their being ex- 
panded so far as is necessary to carry on the 
vital Functions *, as usual in a true State of
Health. And the Rigidity of the Fibres must 
necessarily produce a Rigidity of the Vessels 
and Organs, because the Fibres make up their 
constituent Parts. 
The Cause of such a State, besides the na- 
tural Frame and Constitution of the Body, 
is old Age, in which the Fibres are conspicu- 
ously rigid and dry; or too long a Course of 
such Diet as strengthens the Fibres too much; 
likewise hard Labour or Exercise. 
Signs. 
The Signs of such a Constitution 
are, a hard, dry, hairy, scraggy, and 
warm
* Vital Functions are the muscular Action of the Heath,
the secretory Action of the Brain, that of the Lungs, and of
the Blood and Spirits, with their Motions through their pro-
per Organs; and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves.



Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 231  
warm Body., without a Disease, with firm and
rigid Muscles, a strong Pulse, Activity and 
Promptness in the animal Actions *; and 
such Constitutions are most subject to inflam- 
matory Diseases. 
Their Diet should be Things contrary to 
those already mentioned in the 
State of too great Laxity of the 
Fibres; that is, of such Things as are emol- 
lient and cooling, the Pulps, Jellies, Juices, 
Mucilages, and Decoctions of Vegetables that 
are softening and relaxing; such as all Pot- 
herbs of the emollient Kinds, Lettuce, Ci- 
chory, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Barley, Rice, 
Mays, Millet, Pease, and Beans; animal Oils, 
such as Cream, Butter, Marrow, and all 
Things which relax or increase Fat, refrain- 
ing always from Things season'd with Spice, 
and with as little Salt as possible, for Salt har- 
dens the Fibres: Their animal Food should
be boil'd Meat and Broths without Seasoning, 
preferable to any other Form: Their Drink 
should be Water, Barley-water, Milk and 
Water, or Whey; avoiding all fermented 
Spirits and austere Wines, and Pickles of
all Kinds, all which are extremely hurtful to
such Constitutions. Bathing in warm Water 
The Regimen.
P4 often
* Are such, as when perform'd, the Understanding con- 
ceives Ideas of Things united to that Action; or the Will is 
either concerned in exciting such Actions, or moved by them 
when excited; such are the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, 
Hearing, Perception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, Rea- 
son, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary Motions. 

232 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
often is beneficial to such, but immoderate
Labour or Exercise very injurious. 
How the Fluids act upon the Solids of a 
human Body, so far as to cause Diversities of 
Constitutions and Diseases, is accounted for 
in the following Pages, in treating of different
Constitutions. 
The Definition.
A plethorick Constitution is such 
as abounds with too great a Quan- 
tity of laudable and good animal 
Juices; the Causes of which are 
strong Organs of Digestion and Chylification, 
a good Stomach, plenty of nourishing Diet, 
little Exercise, much Sleep, Laziness or want 
of muscular Motion, a moist Air, and a Suppres- 
sion of some of the usual Evacuations, especially
that of Perspiration. Therefore the 
Cure proper for this Constitution, is 
to avoid the Causes of it, just now mentioned, 
and use a more sparing Diet, greater Ex- 
ercise, and proper artificial Evacuations, in 
order to restore the natural ones; for 
The Cause.
The Cure.
This Constitution is subject to a Stoppage 
of the Circulation, by too great a Weight of 
Blood upon the Heart; Rupture of the Ves- 
sels, Suffocation, and sudden Death. But it 
is to be observed, that long Abstinence is not 
proper in the Cure of such a Constitution; 
for in that Case the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood fly off, and the grosser remain in the 
Vessels. Likewise frequent Bleedings, in small 
Quantities, often increases the Disorder, by 
augmenting the Force of the Organs of Di- 
gestion.

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
gestion, and by that Means promote Fatness. 
Persons of such a Constitution should al- 
ways avoid all oily and too nourishing Sub- 
stances; therefore Vegetables, being less nou- 
rishing than animal Food, are more proper; 
and, by the same Rule, to feed upon Fish pre- 
ferable to that of Flesh-meat. 
A sanguine is that Constitution is that 
which abounds with a great deal of 
good Blood; and the common outward Sign 
of such a Constitution, is a florid 
Colour in the Complexion, a Ful- 
ness and Blueness of the Veins, and 
a particular fair and lively Colour of the Skin, 
without Paleness. Those of a sanguine Con- 
stitution are subject to frequent Bleedings at
the Nose and other Parts, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs, Impostumations, and often to 
scrophulous or evily Diseases. 
Definition.
Diagnostick 
Signs. 
The Blood is the most universal Fluid in 
the animal Body, from which all the rest of 
the Juices are derived; for the red Part of it
differs from the Serum, the Serum from the 
Lymph, the Lymph from the nervous Juice, 
and that from the several other Humours that 
are separated in the Glands.
The red Globules of the Blood are elastick, 
and one Globule will break into six small ones, 
and then turn yellow; those yellow Globules 
break into others less, and so proceed till they
become white and transparent at last; for 
the Vessels which admit the smaller Globules 
to pass, cannot admit the larger without a 
Rupture,



234 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Rupture, or some other Disorder. So that 
as the Blood circulates thro' the smaller Chan- 
ness, the Redness will disappear more and more. 
A strong and free Motion of the Blood will 
occasion a Floridness upon the Skin of such 
Constitutions; for such a strong Motion will 
force the red Part of the Blood into more ca- 
pillary Vessels, Besides, another Cause com- 
monly concurring is the greater Transparency 
of the Vessels, occasioned by the Delicacy 
and Thinness of their Coats, which is evident 
from the large Veins of sanguineous Constitu- 
tions appearing blue and transparent, by the 
Colour of the Blood circulating in them. 
And if the Vessels are in a State of too 
great Rigidity, so as to be inflexible, a strong
Motion of the Blood will occasion a Rupture 
of them, with Hæmorrhages; especially in 
the Lungs, where the Blood is more abun- 
dant, and the Vessels more delicate: But if 
the Vessels yield instead of bursting, the Per- 
son is subject to the Inconveniences of a faulty
Circulation; that is, the Blood forces into 
the Vessels appointed to carry Serum or 
Lymph, from whence proceed Inflammations 
and Obstructions. And as the Delicacy and 
Thinness of the Vessels run through the whole 
Body, it must affect the Glands and Lympha- 
ticks, as well as the Blood-vessels; so that 
such Constitutions must be subject to glandu- 
lous and evily Tumours, and Ruptures of the 
Lymphaticks. 
The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 235
The Diet of such Constitutions 
should be cooling and relaxing, 
with Moderation in the Quantity of all Things, 
They ought to avoid every Thing that acce- 
lerates the Motion of the Blood, as violent 
Exercise and Watching; likewise they ought 
to abstain from the Use of all Things that a- 
bound with an acrimonious Salt, as Onions, 
Garlick, Leeks, Mustard, and the hot Herbs 
used in Seasoning, and all Spices in general; 
but Vinegar is exceeding useful to such as will 
use it constantly with their Food, for it will 
very much abate their florid Colour. 
The Regimen.
For more particular Directions, as to the 
Diet proper in this Constitution, I refer the 
Reader to the Diet prescribed for the Cure of
Rigidity and Elasticity of the Fibres, which
answers this Intention in every Particular. 
A saline Constitution of the Fluids 
in an animal Body; is either acid,
alkaline, or muriatick †. 
A Saline
Constitution
It has been proved in the foregoing Chapter, 
that the Juices of a found Animal are nei- 
ther acid nor alkaline; for all the Solids and 
Fluids of such, even fed with acescent or acid 
Substances, yield no Acid; because the vital 
Force of such Animals converts the acid Sub- 
stances they take in Food, into soft nutritious
animal Liquids of their own Nature. A Cow 
fed with Daisies, Trefoil, and Sorrel, will 
give Milk in which there is not the least Aci- 
dity; but if the vital Force is weak, it is not 
sufficient
† Briny.


236 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sufficient to subdue the Acidity of the Food 
taken in. 
Therefore as there is no Acid naturally in 
a found Animal Body, but what must be ta- 
ken in by Food; so that if it be not subdued 
in the Passages of the Chyle, it will get into 
the Blood; and if there is not a due Quantity 
of Blood, and a sufficient Strength of Circu- 
lation to subdue it, it will infect the Fluids, 
so as to produce various Distempers. 
The Effects of a Constitution subject to
Acidity, are sour Belching, a crav- 
ing Appetite, Sourness in the Sto- 
mach, with Pains; Green-sickness, 
the Case of a great many Girls craving after 
earthy Substances, such as Clay, Chalk, Meal, 
Cynders, &c. Colick Pains about the Navel, 
Dry Gripes, such as those in the West-Indies, 
chiefly occasioned by too great Quantities 
of the Acid of Lime-Juice in their Punch, 
with a great deal of other Acids in their Sea- 
sonings. The Colicks in Infants proceed 
from Acidity, and the Air expanding itself in 
the fermenting Food in the Stomach; the true 
Signs of which are a sour Smell of the Excre- 
ments, acid Sweats, Paleness of the Skin, and
oftentimes Convulsions, from Acidity passing 
into the Blood, and affecting the tender Fi- 
bres of the Brain. Eruptions of the Skin, 
such as Scurvy and Itchy, and even Leprosies, 
are produced by feeding much and often 
upon acid unripe Fruits, and mealy Substances 
that are acescent. 
Effects of an
acid Consti-
tution.
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 237
The most subject to this Disorder are Chil- 
dren, by reason of the Weakness of their 
Fibres and Digestion, and a Milk Diet; like- 
wise such as lead a sedentary Life; and others 
again, who eat and drink much Bread and 
Wine, and acid Vegetables; and lastly. Ar- 
tificers, who deal much in the Preparations
of Acids. 
As Acidity is not the natural State of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, but introduc'd into
the Habit by Food; so it is to be cur'd by 
Aliment of a contrary Quality, for which 
the Reader is referr'd to the Diet proper for 
acid Acrimony, in the foregoing Chapter, 
Page 212. 
All anti-acid Medicines being ineffectual 
without a proper and continued Diet of the 
same Nature, here I must observe, that an 
Abstinence from strong fermented Liquors is 
absolutely necessary in the Cure of this Dis- 
order; and likewise that Acidity in the In- 
fant may be cur'd by a Flesh-Diet in the 
Nurse.
An alkaline Constitution of the 
Fluids in a human Body is opposite 
to the former, and abounds with 
alkaline Salts, the Nature and 
Quality of which I have explain'd in Note *, 
Page 165, which see. And tho' no Animal 
unputrify'd, when burnt, produces any alka-
line Salt, yet being putrify'd, it produces a 
volatile Alkali; so that in a found Animal 
no true Alkali is found, as I have observ'd 
A Constitution 
subject to an
alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
in

238 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in the preceding Chapter; but when an Ani- 
mal degenerates from a true State of Health, 
by such Diseases or Food as increases the At- 
trition and Heat of the Fluids, the animal 
Salts that were before mild and benign, now 
become almost of an alkaline Nature; for 
found human Blood when first drawn, is so 
mild as not to make an Eye, or a fresh Wound
smart; but let it stand in a Degree of Heat 
equal to that of a human Body, and it will 
grow fœtid in three Days time, and produce 
a volatile rancid Oil, as likewise a volatile 
alkaline Salt, which will ferment with Acids; 
so that the Blood in the Vessels, after it has
passed thro' almost infinite Degrees of Circu- 
lation, may come to that State at last, which 
is the Case in pestilential and malignant Fe- 
vers, where neither the Strength of Nature 
or Art can prevail to save the Life of the In- 
dividual. All animal Substances being de- 
priv'd of Life, and exposed to the Air, turn 
presently alkaline of their own Accord, and
consequently will soon putrify. 
Causes.
The Causes of such a Constitution 
are commonly a plentiful and con- 
stant Use of animal Diet, such as Fish and 
Flesh, and all Vegetables which abound with 
an acrimonious Salt, such as Mustard, Onions, 
Leeks, Spices, and all hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks, &c. likewise a plentiful Use of 
Salts in general, for all animal Salts are alka- 
line; and tho' Rock and Sea-Salts are of a 
mix'd Nature, yet they increase the Disorder. 
All

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 239
All Animals that live upon other Animals 
have their Juices more alkalescent than those 
that live upon Vegetables, and for this Reason
Fishes are more alkalescent than terrestrial A- 
nimals, for they putrify sooner in the open Air; 
and no Person is able to support a Diet of 
Flesh and Water without Acids, such as Salt, 
Vinegar and Bread, without falling into a 
putrid Fever. 
Another Cause of this Distemper is a vigo- 
rous Action of the Vessels thro' which the 
Fluids circulate; for which Reason the strong 
and healthy, and young People, are more in 
danger by pestilential Fevers, than the weak 
and old; for violent animal Motion by Attri- 
tion produces this alkaline State. 
The Symptoms of such a Constitu- 
tion in any great Degree, are Heat, 
Thirst, foul Belchings, Foulness of the Tongue 
and Palate, a bitter and hot Taste in the 
Mouth, Sickness, Loathing, bilious Vomi- 
tings, Stools with a cadaverous Smell, Pains 
in the Belly. Besides, such a State dissolves the 
Blood, and disposes it to Putrefaction, hinders 
Nutrition, for no Chicken can be hatch'd of 
a rotten Egg; and likewise the Blood turning 
Acrimonious, corrodes the Vessels, producing 
Hœmorrhages. Eruptions on the Skin, dark, 
livid, Lead-colour'd, and of a gangrenous 
Nature, and likewise a hot Scurvy, and al- 
most all Distempers of the Inflammatory 
Kind.
Diagnosticks.
The

240 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Diet of such Persons ought 
to be a plentiful Use of acid Sub- 
stances, such as much Bread, and Seasoning 
of Vinegar, and all other Acids without Spi- 
ces, and live much upon Food made of 
Grain or mealy Substances; in short, they 
should live on such a Diet as is describ'd for 
an alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing Chap- 
ter. 
The Regimen.
Plethorick Constitutions are apt to fall into 
this alkaline State of the Fluids, which is more
hurtful than that which proceeds from Aci- 
dity; for the Bile being redundant, is the 
strongest Anti-acid, and when it is raised to 
a high Degree, and acrimonious, is sufficient 
to produce all the terrible Symptoms of ma- 
lignant and pestilential Fevers, as is mani- 
festly evident from the Experiments that were 
made at Marseilles in Time of the Plague;
and nothing subdues the Acrimony of the 
Bile more than the acid Diet already men- 
tion'd, so that by a timely Use and Applica- 
tion of such Remedies, many fatal and dan- 
gerous Diseases might be prevented. 
A briny State
of the Blood.
A muriatick or briny State of 
the Fluids, which is common 
among Sailors, is commonly introduc'd into 
the Habit of the Body by too great Quanti- 
ties of Sea-Salt; and its usual Symptoms are 
a Salt Taste in the Spittle, Itching, and red 
Breakings out of the Skin, a lixivial Urine 
with a fat Substance swimming on the Sur- 
face of it. 
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 241   
The Cure of this Disorder is per- 
formed by the constant Use of a 
Diet of fresh and unsalted Things, watery and
cooling Liquors acidulated; mealy and emol- 
lient Substances, with a plentiful Use of acid 
Fruits; Sower Milk, Butter-Milk, avoiding 
all Spices, and the hot Antiscorbuticks of the 
pungent Kind: In a Word, the Diet ordered 
in the Alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing 
Chapter is proper in this Case. 
The Cure.
A phlegmatick Constitution is such 
a State of the Fluids, wherein Phlegm 
or a cold, viscous watery Humour predomi- 
nates; and the Causes of it are, 
commonly viscid Food, such as 
mealy Substances unfermented, and taken in 
great Quantities; for the Flower of all Sorts
of Grain, mix'd with Water, make a Paste 
that sticks like Glue, having an Oil in them 
which causes a Cohesion of their Parts toge- 
ther; the frequent Use of unripe Fruits; like- 
wise great Loss, or Want of Blood, which 
preserves itself and the Food, by constant 
Motion, from Coagulation; a Weakness and 
Indigestion in the alimentary Passages, by 
which the Food is rendered slimy and vis- 
cous; a Defect, or Want of Bile, which is 
the principal Resolvent of the Food; and a 
Stagnation of the Fluids, from a Weakness of 
the Instruments of Excretion; for if the 
Phlegm stagnates, it must grow viscid by the 
Heat of the Body.
Definition.
The Causes.
Q Like-


242 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Likewise Tumours and Inflations of the 
Belly, with Paleness, are Signs of a phlegma- 
tick Constitution; as when a Child grows 
pale, and his Belly swells, which happens to 
those that are rickety, there must be cer- 
tainly tough Phlegm in the Intestines, which 
shuts up the Mouths of the Lacteals, and 
prevents the Nourishment from getting into 
the Blood. But no Cause whatever produces 
a Viscidity in the human Fluids, more than a 
sedentary Life, and Laziness, and no Reme- 
dy more effectual than good Labour and Ex- 
ercise. 
The Cure. 
Cold phlegmatick Constitusions 
ought to use constantly an alka- 
lescent Diet; likewise well fermented Bread, 
and fermented Liquors; for Fermentation re- 
moves the Viscidity of all mealy Substances;
and high seasoned Food is proper for them; 
likewise Spices, Salt, Garlick, Leeks, Onions, 
Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Basil, 
Mustard, and all the hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks; for all these being highly alka-
lescent, exalt the Bile, which is necessary in
this Case, whereby the Viscidity of both the 
Aliments and Fluids of the Body is dissolved. 
Their animal Food, both Fish and Flesh,
should be nourishing, and easy to be digested;
their Drink should be good fermented Li- 
quors, hot mineral Waters, and generous 
good Wines, such as will put the Blood into 
a vigorous Motion. But for farther Satisfa- 
ction herein, see what is said of alkalescent 
Sub-

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 243
Substances, both animal and vegetable, in the 
foregoing Chapter. 
A fat or oily Constitution is so 
very well known to every one, as 
to the Symptoms, that it needs no 
Description, and falls in with the pletho-
rick and phlegmatick Constitution already de- 
scrib'd; it being but one Species or Sort of Cor- 
pulency, as there is often Bulk without Fat, 
from a great Quantity of muscular Flesh, which 
is the Case of robust People; for an Animal in 
the Course of hard Labour appears to be very 
little else than Bones, Vessels and muscular 
Flesh; but let the same Animal remain long 
at Rest, with tolerable good Food, it will 
probably double almost its Weight and Bulk, 
and this additional Surplus is nothing but Fat
or Oil. 
A fat Con-
stitution.
The common Causes of this Dis- 
order, besides a particular Family 
Disposition of the Body are, first, strong Or- 
gans of the first Digestion, and a Laxity of 
the Fibres of the circulating Vessels, especi- 
ally those about the Membrana Carnosa ‡ ; for 
by the Action of those Fibres of the Vessels 
upon the Fluids, if they are duly elastick, 
the oily Parts of the Chyle are intimately 
mixed with the Blood; but when this Action 
is not strong enough, and that the Chyle is
The Cause.
Q2 ex-
* The fleshy Membrane, is a fat Sort of a Membrane, in 
some Parts thick and musculous, in other Parts thin with many 
Ducts of Fat in it, and covers all the nervous and fleshy Parts 
of the Body, and is interwoven with an infinite Number of 
Blood-Vessels.

244 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
extremely redundant, then the thicker Oil is 
never intirely subdued by Circulation, and so
turns Fat. 2dly. Great Quantities of oily 
Nourishment, Milk, Butter, and oily fer- 
mented Liquors. 3dly, All Things which pro- 
duce Coldness in the Skin, so as to stop Per-
spiration, by which Means the fat or oily 
Parts are congealed, which Heat dissolves 
and attenuates; for the Inhabitants of cold 
and moist Countries are generally fatter than 
those of warm and dry Climates. But the most 
common Cause of all is, too great Quantity 
of Food, and too little Motion or Exercise; 
that is to say, Gluttony and Laziness, for 
which a spare Diet and Labour is the best Re- 
medy. 
Fat or Oil in all Animals, in due Propor- 
tion, is very necessary for both the Motion 
and Nourishment of the Fibres; but too great 
Abundance of it is very prejudicial to the hu- 
man Constitution; for it is an Impediment to 
the Motion of the Joints, rendering them 
more heavy, by filling the Spaces occupy'd 
by the Muscles when they contract and swell; 
it subjects them to all the Distempers depend- 
ing upon a defective Motion of the Blood; and 
as the Want of a due Quantity of Motion of 
the Fluids increases Fat, so the Disease seems 
to be the Cause of itself. 
It endangers them in all inflammatory Dis- 
eases; for a Fever resolves many Things which 
do not circulate, and among others the Fat, 
which mixing with the Blood, becomes vola- 
tile,


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 245   
tile, and causes an Acrimony much more dan- 
gerous than the saline one; for Salts can be 
dissolved and diluted with Water, but Oils 
cannot: And it is manifest that Fat is 
dissolved by Fevers, if we consider the great
Loss of it which People undergo in such Dis- 
eases. But among the many Inconveniencies 
and other bad Effects of a fat or oily Consti- 
tution, there is one Advantage to such as 
arrive at an advanced Age, that they are not 
subject to a Stricture and Hardness of Fibres, 
which is the Effect of old Age. 
As Gluttony and Laziness are, for 
the most part, the Causes of a fat 
Constitution, such People ought to eat sparing- 
ly, sleep little, and use much Exercise; in 
which the Cure of such a Disorder chiefly 
consists. 
The Regimen.
Substances which heat moderately, abound- 
ing with acrid and pungent Salts, are proper 
in this Case; such as Horse-Radish, Mustard,
Garlick, Leeks, Onions, Spices, and all the 
aromatick Plants us'd in Seasoning; likewise 
Saffron, all Seeds that expel Wind, Meats 
well season'd with Salt, Pepper and Vinegar, 
are all proper to dissolve Fat, and carry it 
off by Perspiration; but the only Inconveni- 
ency they have, is, that they create Thirst, 
whereby great Quantities of Liquids are drank, 
which increase the Disorder, by diluting and 
relaxing the Solids too much. 
They should avoid all oily Nourishment, 
and use Honey, ripe Garden Fruits of an acid
Q3 Taste.

246 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Taste, and the astringent sub-acid Vegetables 
mentioned in the Cure of a weak and lax 
State of the Fibres, in the Beginning of this 
Chapter; for the Fibres of fat People are com- 
monly too lax. Their Drink should likewise 
be the same as is there mentioned, to which
I refer the Reader. 
Tea and Coffee are also useful, as they 
dilute and stimulate moderately; but the 
frequent Use of oily spirituous Liquors, as 
Rum, Anniseeds, &c. is extremely hurtful, 
because they increase Fat; a moist Air is like- 
wise prejudicial to fat People, by relaxing the 
Fibres and stopping Perspiration both sensible
and insensible. 
Definition. 
An earthy Atrabilarian, or 
melancholy Constitution, is such a 
State of the Fluids, wherein the spirituous
and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissi- 
pated, so as to leave the Salts, Earth, and 
grosser Oil in too great a Proportion in the
Body. 
Diagnosticks.
The Signs of such a State, or a 
Tendency thereto, are known by 
Darkness, or Lividness of the Complexion, 
Leanness, Dryness of the Skin, and a quick 
penetrating Genius, with a slow Pulse and 
Respiration; Obstructions of the Belly, and
a Difficulty of being purged. 
The Causes. 
The Causes of it are all such as 
expel or evaporate the most volatile 
and subtile Parts of the Blood, and fix the 
rest: As great Applications of the Mind to 
some

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 247
some Objects or other, such as may produce 
great Joy or Sadness, both which equally ex- 
pel and dissipate the Spirits; likewise great
Exercise or Labour in hot Weather, with un- 
quenched Thirst; also Food of hard Dige- 
stion, such as dry'd and salted Fish or Flesh, 
unripe Fruits, unfermented mealy Substances, 
or the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects of such a Constitu- 
tion of the Fluids are Stagnation, 
Obstructions, Acrimony, Putrefactions, Visci- 
dity, and an imperfect Secretion of the Gall, 
a defective Circulation in the Vessels, especi- 
ally in the lateral Branches appointed for the 
Separation of the more fluid Parts; hence 
arise viscid and insufficient Secretions in the 
Glands: Likewise the Motion of the Blood 
through the mesenterick and * celiack Arteries 
being too slow, produce various Disorders in 
the lower Belly and † hypochondriack Regions; 
hence Persons are denominated Hypochondria- 
cal. And the Signs of most of these Disorders of
the lower Bowels, arising from too slow a Mo- 
tion of the Blood through the said Arteries, are, 
a Sensation of Weight, Anxiety, Repletion, and 
a bad Digestion, from whence different Sorts 
of Food acquire such a State in the alimentary
The Effects.
Q4 Passages,
* Arteries in the lower Belly needless to be described in 
this Place. 
† Are the two Regions lying on each Side of the Tip or 
Extremity of the Breast-Bone or Sternum, and those of the 
Ribs; which contain in one the Liver, and in the other the
Spleen. Hence Disorders of those Viscera, especially of the 
Spleen, are called hypochondriacal Affections.



248 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Passages, as they affect of their own Nature; 
that is, acid, if the Diet be of acid Vegetables; 
and alkaline, if of animal Substances, espe- 
cially Fat, which remains rancid, so as that 
the Spittle will flame in the Fire sometimes; 
and all this Indigestion owing to the Inactivity
of the Gall, which likewise occasions a Co- 
stiveness of the Belly, and a Difficulty of be- 
ing purged. 
This State of the Fluids will at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Visci- 
dity of the Matter impacted in them, and 
thereby endanger the Imagination; and like- 
wise produce Corruption in the Bowels of the 
lower Belly at last. 
Hence it is evident, that such a Disorder is
not to be removed by active Remedies *, no 
more than Pitch or Dirt sticking to a Skain 
of Thread is to be taken away by Violence; 
but the Viscidity should be gently attenuated, 
diluted, and carried off gradually, by a pro- 
per continued Course of Diet, avoiding al- 
ways all heating Substances, which still eva- 
porate and dissipate the volatile and fluid Parts 
more; therefore Waters impregnated with 
some of the pungent Salts, as that of Nitre, 
Tartar, &c. are found to be of great Effect
in this Disorder. 
Their
* Are such Medicines as produce sudden Alterations in the 
Body, by their penetrating and stimulating Qualities, acting 
upon the Fluids or Solids, or upon both, either inwardly ta- 
ken, or outwardly applied. 


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 249
Their Diet should be light, easy of Di- 
gestion, moistening, and resolvent
of the Bile, such as Honey, the 
Juices of ripe Fruits, emollient Pot-herbs, 
light Broths of animal Food, Lettuce, Spi- 
nage, Cichory, and Dandelion; and their 
Drink ought to be Water, Barley-water, and 
Whey. For farther Instructions herein, see 
the Diet directed for the Rigidity of the 
Fibres in this Chapter, which is likewise very- 
proper in this Case. 
The Regimen. 
One Thing to be observed is, that the Diet 
ought to be contrary to the particular Acri-
mony residing in the Fluids, which might 
have occasioned the Disorder; for if it pro- 
ceeds from Acidity, then an animal Diet is 
altogether proper; if from an alkaline Acri- 
mony, the contrary Method must be used; 
which may be easily distinguish'd, by ob- 
serving what has been already said of acid and
alkaline Constitutions, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
As there is a continual Dissipation or Waste 
in all animal Bodies, insensibly; so the fre- 
quent Repetition of Meat and Drink is ne- 
cessary, not only for repairing the Fluids and 
Solids, but likewise for preserving the Fluids 
from a putrifying alkaline State, which they 
would acquire by constant Attrition, without 
being soon and sufficiently diluted with fresh 
Chyle. Hence it appears, that long Fastings 
or Abstinence may be the productive Cause 
of great Distempers, especially in hot and 
bilious


250 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
bilious Constitutions; and very prejudicial to
acid Constitutions, occasioned by the uneasy 
Sensation and Vellication produced in the 
Stomach. 
Therefore the Quantity of Food necessary 
to preserve our Bodies in a due State of Health
and Vigour, ought to be divided into Meals 
at proper Intervals of the natural Day, that 
the former Food may be digested before any 
more be taken in, and at such a Distance from
Bed-time that our Digestion may be almost 
finished before we sleep; by which Method 
neither the Organs of Digestion, nor the Blood- 
vessels will be overloaded, nor the Fluids too 
long deprived of a fresh Supply of nutritive 
Chyle, 
Hence the grand Secret of Health conists
in keeping an Æquilibrium † between the 
Fluids and Solids; for when the Fluids move 
so equally, that they do not press upon the 
Solids with a greater Force than they can bear; 
and, on the other hand, when the Solids resist 
and act upon the Fluids so equally, that there is 
no uneasy Sensation, the Person is then in 
good Health; and whatever is in our Food 
or Actions that destroys this Æquilibrium, ei- 
ther by relaxing or contracting the Solids too 
much, or by attenuating or rendering the 
Fluids too viscid or acrimonious, must pro- 
duce the Effects already mentioned under 
each of those particular Heads, which see. 
From
† An exact or due Ballance.


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 251  
From what has been hitherto said of the 
Nature and Effects of Aliment, as also of the 
Nature and Difference of Constitutions in par- 
ticular, with the Diet proper for each, it will 
be as easy to determine Rules of Diet in the 
different natural healthy States, as in the mor- 
bid or sickly States of human Bodies; there- 
fore I thought it both useful and necessary to
lay down here some general easy Rules, for 
the Benefit of those who value Health and 
long Life; but with this Caution, that Re- 
gard must be always had to the Nature of 
the Constitution in particular. 
I. Infancy requires a thin and copious nou- 
rishing Food, such as lengthens their Fibres, 
without breaking or hardening them, by rea- 
son of their Weakness and State of growing; 
so Milk answers this Intention best.
II. The Solidity, Strength, and Quantity 
of the Food, ought to be in Proportion to 
the Strength of the Solids, Labour, and Ex- 
ercise of the Body; for such as labour and 
exercise much, have their solid Parts stronger 
and more elastick; therefore they require 
stronger Food, and more in Quantity, than 
those that are in their declining Age, or those
that lead a sedentary or studious Life. 
III. Youth being still in the State of 
Growth, their Diet ought to be emollient 
and relaxing, plentiful, and without Acri- 
mony. 
IV. In the State of Manhood the Diet 
should be solid, with a sufficient Degree of 
Viscidity;

252 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Viscidity; and their chief Drink Water, with 
a Quantity of fermented Liquors at Times, 
proportioned to their natural Constitutions. 
V. Ancient People require a Diet resem- 
bling that of Children, often repeated, and 
little at a Time, emollient and diluting, with 
a little Wine sometimes; because in old Age 
the Fibres harden, many Canals or Vessels 
are abolish'd, and the Solids grow together; 
from whence arises Dryness, Weakness, Im- 
mobility, Debilty of the vital Force of Di- 
gestion, Loss of Teeth, and Depravation of 
chewing, which terminate in Death at last. 
VI. Excess in Meat and Drink is to be 
avoided; for a little Food well digested and 
assimilated, preserves the Body stronger and
more vigorous, than Superfluity. 
VII. We should not eat, because the cu- 
stomary Time for it is come, unless our Ap- 
petite be so too; for to load the Stomach with
a fresh Supply upon a Semi-digestion of the 
former Meal causes Crudities, and a foul Sto- 
mach, which must overload the Blood, and 
thereby produce Diseases. 
VIII. It is better to eat twice a Day with 
Moderation, than to make one over-large 
Meal, tho' one abstains double the usual 
Time for Compensation; however, if one 
transgresses at any Meal, let such abstain from
the next, or let it be a very slender one. 
IX. Variety of Meats, and made Dishes, 
destroy a Multitude of People; for they pro- 
long Appetite far beyond what Nature requires, 
and

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 253
and by that Means over-charge the Stomach. 
Besides, different Meats have different Quali- 
ties, and some are sooner digested than others; 
whence arise Crudities, and a depraved Di- 
gestion: Therefore we ought to avoid Feasts 
and Banquettings as much as possible; for it 
is more difficult to refrain from good and deli- 
cate Cheer when present, than from the De- 
sire of it when away. 
X. A temperate Diet preserves from 
diseases; for such are seldom ill, but when 
they are, they bear it better, and are
sooner recovered. 2dly, It lengthens Life, 
and mitigates the Agonies of Death. 3dly,
It arms the Body against external Accidents, 
such as Heat, Cold, Labour; and if afflicted 
with Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises, they 
are much sooner and easier cured. 4thly, It 
maintains the Senses intire and vigorous, and
moderates Peoples Passions and Affections. 
5thly, preserves the Memory, sharpens the 
Wit and Understanding, and allays the Heat 
of Lust. 
XI. Galen, recommending a temperate 
diet, says, that those of a weak Constitution 
from their Mother's Womb, may attain to 
an extreme old Age, by Help of a sober and 
moderate coarse Diet; and that too without 
diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; 
and says farther, that tho' he never had a 
healthy Constitution of Body from his Birth, 
yet by using a proper Diet after the 27th Year 
of his Age, he never fell into any Sickness, 
2 unless

254 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
unless now and then into an Ephemera, that 
is, one Day's Fever, occasioned by Fatigue or 
Weariness. And it is very well known, that 
Galen lived to an hundred Years of Age. 
XII. In the Winter and Spring we require 
a greater Quantity of solid Food, and less 
Drink, than in the Summer and Autumn; 
because in the cold Season our Stomachs are 
hottest, and we sleep a great deal more; for 
as the Cold increases, so our Heat for the 
most Part recedes to the central Parts of the 
Body. And the Reason we require less Drink 
in Winter is, that then our Bodies are moi- 
ster, like the Seasons; and likewise, that the
Cold hinders the watery Vapours to be per- 
spir'd, and so turn into Humours in the 
Body. But in Summer what is wanting in 
Meat or solid Food, may be taken in Drink, 
and moist cooling Nourishment; for then the 
Body is dry, and the inward Heat is distri- 
buted thro' all the Parts thereof, and Perspi- 
ration is so considerably increased by the ex- 
ternal Heat, that the watery Vapours or 
Effluvia are exhal'd and carry'd off thro' the 
Pores. 
XIII. The same Rules for eating serve al- 
so for drinking, the chief Intention of which 
is to allay Thirst, to moisten and convey the
Food in the Stomach, and the Nutriment 
thereof into the respective Parts of the Body; 
to dilute the Blood, and dissolve the super- 
fluous Salts, and carry them off both by Per- 
spiration and Urine. But for farther Satis- 
faction

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 255 
faction herein, see the Particulars of the Use 
and Intentions of Drink, in the latter End of 
the foregoing Chapter. 
Here I must observe, that moist Food, 
such as Broths, Pottage, Soop, and boiled 
Meats, require little Drink, and the solid only 
a Sufficiency to moisten and convey it into 
the Stomach, and prevent Obstructions; there- 
fore they who drink much at Meals, especial- 
ty strong Liquors, incur a double Inconveni- 
ency; for first, by causing the Food to float 
in the Stomach, which ought to reside in the 
Bottom, they hinder Digestion, and by 
moistening the upper Orifice thereof too 
much, by which means it is kept open, it 
thereby occasions Vapours and Fumes to a- 
scend and disorder the Head. Secondly, it 
causes the Aliment to pass too soon out of 
the Stomach, crude and indigested; whence 
arise Fluxes in the Bowels, and putrid Cru- 
dities of the Blood in the Veins and Arteries. 
XIV. It is very prejudicial to eat or drink 
too much, or fast too long, or do any thing 
else that is preternatural; for whoever eats or 
drinks too much, must be sick, or vitiate his 
Juices at last. 
XV. Growing Persons have a great deal 
of natural Heat; therefore they require a 
great deal of Nourishment, otherwise the 
Body will gradually waste. 
XVI. Hippocrates fays, that a Person can- 
not be healthy, and digest his Food well 
without Labour, and that the Quantity and 
Quality






256 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quality of Diet must bear a due Proportion 
to the Labour. 
XVII. Young, hot, strong, and labouring 
People, may feed on Meats that afford a 
hard and gross Juice, such as Beef, Bacon, 
powder'd Flesh and Fish, hard Cheese, Rye- 
Bread, and hard Eggs, &c. which may 
nourish slowly, and be digested by Degrees; 
for if they did eat things of light Nourish- 
ment, either their Meat would be too soon 
digested, or else converted into Choler. 
XVIII. When a Person is sick or distemper'd, 
his Meats should be of contrary Qualities to 
his Disease; for Health itself is but a kind 
of Temper gotten and preserv'd by a conve- 
nient Mixture of Contrarieties. 
XIX. Fat Meats are only good for dry 
Stomachs; for in sanguine and choleric Sto- 
machs they are soon corrupted; and in Phleg- 
matics they procure Looseness, and hinder 
Retention. 
XX. Such as are of hot Constitutions, 
should abstain from violent Exercises, use 
Bathing in tepid Water, feed upon Mays, 
Pot-Herbs, and a cooling moist Diet. 
XXL. The Quantity of Food that Is suf- 
ficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct, 
and answers to the due Nourishment of the 
Body; hence it is evident, that we may eat 
a greater Quantity of some Meats than of 
others of a more hard Digestion. 
XXII. The Difficulty lies in finding out an 
exact Measure; but eat for Necessity, and not
for




Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 257
for Pleasure, for Lust knows not where Ne- 
cessity ends. 
XXIII. If a Person is dull and heavy after 
Meat, it is a Sign he has exceeded the due 
Measure; for Meat and Drink ought to re- 
fresh the Body, and make it cheerful, and 
not to dull or oppress it. 
XXIV. If we find those ill Symptoms, we 
are to consider, whether too much Meat or 
Drink occasions them, or both, then we ought 
to abate by little and little, till this Inconve- 
nience is remov'd. 
XXV. Pass not immediately from an ir- 
regular Life to a strict; and precise one, but 
by Degrees; for ill Customs come by Degrees, 
and are to be wore off gradually; for all sud- 
den Alterations in Extremes, either of Re- 
pletion, Evacuation, Heat or Cold, are dan- 
gerous. 
XXVI. Acids taken in too great Quanti- 
ties, especially such as are austere, as unripe 
Fruits, produce too great a Constriction of 
the Fibres, and thicken the Fluids; hence 
Pains, Rheumatism, and Gout, Paleness, 
Itch, and other Eruptions of the Skin. 
XXVII. Spices taken in too great Quantities 
produce Thirst, Dryness, and Heat, quicken 
the Pulse, and accelerate the Motion of the 
Blood, and dissipate the Fluids; hence Lean- 
ness, Pains in the Stomach, Loathings, and 
Fevers. 
XXVIII, Strong Liquors, especially distill'd
spirits, taken in great Quantities, intoxicate. 
R contract,




258 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
contract, harden, dry, and stimulate the 
Fibres, and coagulate the Fluids; they like- 
wise corrode and destroy the inward Coat of 
the Stomach and Intestines. 
XXIX. A Diet of viscid Food, such as un- 
fermented mealy Substances, Peas, Beans, 
Lentils, &c. creates Flatulency, and Crudi- 
ties in the Stomach, Obstructions in the small 
Vessels of the Guts, and in the Mouths of the 
Lacteals and Glands: Hence Tumours and 
Hardness of the Belly, Paleness of the Skin, 
and Viscidity in the Fluids. 
XXX. An oily Nourishment relaxes the 
Solids, and particularly the Stomach and In- 
testines; it creates foul Belchings, Loathings, 
oily and bitter Vomitings; obstructs the ca- 
pillary Vessels, by hindering the Entrance of 
the watery and fluid Part, with which it will 
not mix; it produces Thirst and Inflamma- 
tions. 
CHAP. IX. 
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
SLEEP is a Cessation of the external 
Senses from Action; for, when waking, 
we walk, talk, move this or that Limb, &c.
but in a natural or undisturb'd Sleep, there is 
2 no-




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 259
nothing of all these Actions; that is, when 
awake we perform several Motions by the 
voluntary Contractions of our Muscles; when 
asleep, those Muscles are only contracted, 
Whose Action is involuntary, or does it by a 
Habit, without the Intervention of the Rea- 
soning Faculty; such are the muscular Actions 
of the Heart, Breast, Lungs, and Arteries, &c. 
so that at this Time there is a kind of Re- 
laxation of the moving Fibres of the several 
Members of the Body. And this is one great 
Design of Sleep, to recover their former 
Force to the Parts overstretch'd by Labour 
or Motion; for when we compose ourselves 
to Rest, we must put our Body into that Pos- 
ture which favours most the particularly 
Weary'd Limbs. 
In the next Place it is very evident, that in 
Sleep there is not only a Rest and a Suspension 
from acting in most of our bodily Organs, but 
likewise of our Thinking Faculty too: That 
is, a Cessation from such Thoughts as, when 
awake, we are exercised about, which we re- 
flect upon, and Will to imploy our Mind 
with. 
For tho' Dreams are Thoughts, yet they 
are imperfect and incoherent ones; and are 
either so faint and languid Representations, as 
to be consistent with our Sleep, or else, if 
they be strong and lively, they are the Inter- 
ruption and Disturbance of it. 
From whence it will follow, that the Mo- 
tion of the arterial Fluid must be more se- 
R2 date




260 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
date, even, and regular, in the Time of sleep- 
ing than waking; for besides the various Al- 
terations it receives in this latter State, from 
the several Passions of the Mind, the very 
Contractions of the Muscles themselves, in 
the Exercises of the Body, will forward its 
Course differently and more unequal; where- 
as in Sleep the Motion of the Heart, Arte- 
ries and Veins is stronger, slower, more equal, 
and full; likewise Respiration is deeper, stron- 
ger, slower, and more equal, by which Means 
the Blood circulates and digests more commo- 
diously, and Secretion, Perspiration, and the 
Distribution of Nourishment are more success- 
fully carried on; the Humours circulating 
quicker through the Blood-vessels and the 
Parts near the Heart, but slower through the 
Sides of the Body, and the remote Parts, as 
well as the Muscles. 
Hence it also comes to pass, that the In- 
flux of the nervous Fluid into the Organs of 
the Body, as also its Reflux towards the 
Brain, is in Sleep either none, or very in- 
considerable; for it is muscular Action and 
Sensation that required this Fluid to be thus 
determined this Way or that, which are in 
this State hardly any: And yet, by the Arri- 
val of Blood at the Brain, this Juice will still 
be separated there, fit to be deriv'd into its 
Tubes and Canals; so that by this Means 
there will be a new Production, or a kind of 
Accumulation or laying up in Store, of Spi-
I rits, 



Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 261
rits, in order to perform our animal Func- 
tions. 
Thus we may look upon the 
Time of waking as the Time of
wearing out, or the Destruction of
the animal Fabrick; and the Time 
of Sleep, as that in which it is repaired and 
recruited; not only upon account of what 
has been just mentioned concerning the ner- 
vous Fluid, but also with regard to all other 
Parts of the Body, as well fluid as solid: For 
Action must necessarily impair the Springs 
and Organs; and in Motion something is 
continually abraded or fil'd off from the con- 
tractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be 
restored, than by their being at Rest from 
Tension. Besides, the regular and steady 
Course of the Blood, as has been observ'd, in 
Sleep, is by far more fit and proper for Nu- 
trition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Ves- 
sels; which an uneven Hurry of Nourish- 
ment is more apt to tear off and wash away.
The Use and
Benefit of
Sleep 
Sleep is occasioned, promoted, and 
increased by eating and drinking, 
in removing the Stimulus or painful 
Sensation of Hunger and Thirst, when the 
Stomach is empty, or by drinking plentifully, 
especially of strong Liquors; but some can- 
not sleep for a long Time when they drink 
much, because the Spirits are thereby too 
much heated and enraged. 
It is also encouraged by much or long con- 
tinued Labour, the Spirits being too much
The Causes
of Sleep.
R3 dissapted



262 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
dissipated and exhausted. In like manner, 
after the taking of Opium, or other sleepy 
Things, we are disposed to sleep; because they 
seize the Spirits by their volatile Oleosity; 
also a quiet Disposition of Mind; a Body 
free from Motion, and unaffected by external 
Objects; by Excess of Heat, Cold, or Care; 
and by all such Causes as hinder the Protru- 
sion or Impulse of the Blood into the glandu- 
lous Part of the Brain, or its Passage through 
its Vessels, and the necessary Separation of 
Spirits, and the Derivation of them into the 
Nerves, being the Organs of Sensation, and 
the Muscles serving to voluntary Motion; and 
the Reflux of them towards the Sensorium 
Commune †. 
Sleep is hindered by a continual Mixture of 
Water, or hot Liquors, with the Blood, or 
any sharp Thing that vellicates or twinges the 
Nerves of the Brain; also by violent Pas- 
sions of the Mind, or the Brain's being di- 
sturbed by any internal or external Cause. 
Therefore it appears from what has been 
said, that Sleep is such a State of the Brain, 
wherein the Nerves do not receive from it so 
large or so strong an Influx of Spirits, as is 
required for the Organs of Sense and volun- 
tary Motions to perform their Actions with 
Ease and Quickness. 
The
† The Seat of Common Sense, is-in that Part of the Brain, 
in which the Nerves, from the Organs of all the Senses, are 
terminated, which is in the Beginning of the Medulla Oblon- 
gata, and not in the Glandula Pinealis, as Des Cartes and o- 
thers would erroneously have it. 






Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 263
The most immediate Cause here- 
of is perhaps the Defect of a subtile
Spirit, which requires a long Time 
to prepare it, and being now spent and ex- 
hausted; so that the finest Vessels being emp- 
tied and flagg'd, for a Time fall together; or 
there is too great a Flux of thicker Blood im- 
pell'd to the Cortex of the Brain, so that the 
Medullary Part is compress'd, and the Motion 
of the Spirits hindered; therefore the natu- 
ral Cause of Sleep is every thing that may 
produce these two Particulars. 
The natural 
Cause of
Sleep
Therefore if we consider the Na- 
ture, Necessities, and Advantages of 
Sleep, already mentioned, we may 
easily perceive how too much Watching will 
deprive the Solids of that due Supply of Spi- 
rits so absolutely necessary to enable them to 
perform their several Functions; and that for 
want of a good Digestion Perspiration will 
be very much obstructed, which must render 
the Body dull and heavier; for, according to 
Sanctorius, “ interrupted and unquiet Sleep 
“ lessens the Quantity usually thrown off by 
“ Perspiration about a third Part:” * And 
likewise, “ whatsoever hinders Sleep, hinders 
“ also the Perspiration of that digested Matter, 
“ which ought to exhale;” § because interrupted 
Sleep keeps the Fibres in that Degree of Ten- 
sion, which is not suitable to forward the Juices 
to the Extremities, and let the Matter of Per- 
spiration go off by the Pores of the Skin: 
The Effects
of too much
Watching
R4 For
* Aph. 5. Sect. iv. § Aph. 8. Sect. iv.





264 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
For whatsoever hinders that easy Relaxation 
necessary for found Sleep, must likewise hin- 
der Perspiration; so that full, heavy, and 
luxurious late Suppers must hinder it; be- 
cause such a Load in the Stomach will 
keep the Fibres upon the stretch, and conse- 
quently our Sleep will be uneasy and inter- 
rupted, until that be removed. 
It is therefore very certain, that according 
as our alimentary Organs are easy, quiet, and 
not overloaden with Food, our Sleep is 
found, sweet, and refreshing; for if any Per- 
son not labouring under a Disease, is restless 
in his Sleepy it must arise from his Stomach's 
being overcharg'd with indigested Food, or 
Crudities not carry'd off by proper Exercise; 
or his Intestines are filled with Wind, Choler, 
or superfluous Chyle: and the restless Nights 
which are generally ascrib'd to Vapours, are 
entirely owing to the said Causes. There- 
fore all those that would preserve their 
Health, and lengthen out their Days, ought to 
avoid large and late Meat-Suppers; especially 
the sedentary, studious, and such as have 
little or no Labour or Exercise, should eat 
very light or no Supper; if any, it ought to 
consist of some vegetable Food; neither 
ought they to go soon to Bed after any Sup- 
per whatever. And such People in general 
should give Attention to this Aphorism of 
the Schola Salernitana, 
Somnus




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 265
Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi cœna brevis:
Viz. 
That your Sleep may be sweet, let your 
Supper be light. 
Immoderate Watching and want of Sleep, 
produces Diseases of the Head, corrupts the 
Temperature of the Brain, causes sometimes 
Madness, inflames the Humours, generates 
and excites a saline Acrimony in the Blood 
and Juices; hence arise cutaneous Eruptions 
of different sorts; likewise the want of mo- 
derate Sleep occasions bad Digestion, fills the 
Stomach with Crudities, and dissipates the 
Spirits, by which means a thorough Waste
and Decay of both the Solids and Fluids suc- 
ceed at last. 
Sanctorius observes, that * “ They who 
“ sleep well and do not dream, perspire 
“ well; and on the contrary, they who 
“ dream much perspire less.” Because dream- 
ing is a State between sleeping and waking, 
therein, altho' the Mind does not exercise 
such a Power over the Body, as to direct its 
Motions in the same Degree as when awake, 
yet by its Attention to those confused Ideas 
which pass thro' it, the Solids are kept in 
some Degree of Contraction, greater than is 
agreeable with found Sleep; and therefore 
Perspiration, which depends upon a settled 
Relaxation, cannot be perform'd so well at 
such times, as when in quiet and profound 
Sleep
* Aph. 27. Sect. IV. 







266 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Sleep, neither have they that Refreshment, 
Lightness and Agility, which spreads all 
over the Body, and principally the Brain, as 
those who sleep quietly without dreaming.
The Effects of
too much Sleep. 
Long and superfluous Sleep is 
very pernicious to both the Mind 
and the Body; for it chills the 
Body, weakens the natural Heat, breeds 
phlegmatic Humours, and fills it with Crudi- 
ties; whence arise much Sloth and Lazi- 
ness, the Parent of many Diseases; it like- 
wise fixes the Spirits, and renders them flug- 
gish and stupid; it dulls the Understanding, 
hardens the Excrements, and makes the Body 
costive, which is frequently the Cause of va- 
rious Distempers. In short, superfluous Sleep 
is neither good for the Body nor the Mind, 
nor for Business; for he who sleeps too much 
is but half a Man, Sleep rendering him in all 
Points like a dead Man, except his Digestion 
and the Pulsation of his Arteries; for he nei- 
ther sees, hears, speaks, or understands, and 
is absolutely depriv'd of all Reason, which for 
the Time is a perfect Death. Besides, too much 
Sleep occasions in both found and firm Bodies 
a Shortness of Breath, and is a constant Fore- 
runner and Disposition to an Apoplexy, Le- 
thargy, Palsey, and Numbness, by hindering 
the seasonable Evacuations of the Excrements, 
causing them to remain too long in the Body. 
Sanctorius is very clear on this Head, and 
says, * in one of his Aphorisms, “ By too 
“ much
* Aph. 50. Sect. IV.








Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 267
“ much Sleep both the inward and outward 
“ Parts grow cold, the Humours are obstru- 
“ cted and render'd unperspirable, and the 
“ whole Body heavier.” So that by the 
very same means by which moderate Sleep 
is serviceable and necessary, too much of it 
proves injurious; because too much Relaxa- 
tion overcharges the Nerves with too thick 
and too great a Quantity of Juices, which 
instead of rendering them fitter for Motion, 
clogs them, and makes them less capable of 
recovering their Springs afterward; so that 
when once the Solids fail, the Fluids of 
course slacken in their Motions, by which 
means the natural Heat decays, and the 
Flesh grows cold, and they themselves be- 
come also more fizy or gluey; for which 
Reason they suffer less to pass off thro' the 
Pores by insensible Perspiration, or otherwise, 
and consequently the Body is render'd heavier. 
Sleep in the Day time, or after Dinner, is 
not to be allow'd, unless a Person has ac- 
custom'd himself to it, or has not rested
Well the Night before, or if he perceives a 
kind of Lassitude or Weariness in his Limbs; 
in such Cases, I say, one may sleep an Hour, 
or half an Hour after Dinner, and even it is 
slow Digestion; for according to Sanctorius *, 
“ An Hour's Sleep at Noon after a Meal, 
“ sometimes occasions the Body insensibly to 
“ perspire a Pound, and sometimes half a 
“ Pound:
* Aph. 37. Sect. IV. 




268 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
“ Pound: a Pound when any of the per- 
“ spirable Matter of the former Day has 
“ been retain'd; when not, but half a Pound.” 
This is recommended as a most excellent Re- 
medy in weak People for imperfect Digestion, 
and there is a great deal of Reason why it 
should be of Service; because such an addi- 
tional Help every Day, may compensate for 
the Deficiencies of the last Night's Perspi- 
ration; but they must not be too free with 
this Practice, who are inclin'd to grow fat or 
phlegmatick. For according to the same Au- 
thor *, “ Immoderate Sleep after Dinner in- 
“ jures all the Bowels, and obstructs Perspi- 
“ ration.” 
So that altho' a little Sleep at such Times, 
and in the Cases above-mention'd, upon a 
full Stomach may be of Service, by perspi- 
ring what did not sufficiently pass off the 
Night before; yet if it be continued too long, 
there will such a Quantity of indigested Mat- 
ter follow, as will be too gross to pass, and
consequently stop up the excretory Ducts of 
the Body, and thereby occasion very conside- 
rable Disorders. 
The ordinary Time allow'd for Sleep is 
seven Hours; for that Time seems sufficient 
for perfecting Digestion, and recruiting the 
Spirits; but some require more Sleep, and 
some less: So Children, antient People, Cho- 
lerick and dry Constitutions require more, be- 
cause it moistens and restores the Spirits; but
fat
* Aph. 66. Sect. IV. 




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 269
fat and phlegmatick Constitutions of all People 
should sleep the least, for Reasons already 
given. 
As nothing seems more directly pointed out
to us by Nature, than the Day for Exercise 
and Labour, and the Night for Rest; so the 
fittest Time for Sleeping † is about four 
Hours after Supper, for then the Stomach is 
not loaded with Food, the first Concoction 
being then perfected, and by this Time the 
Chyle has got into the Blood; so that such a 
a quiet and relaxed State as Sleep produces, is 
most necessary to both Nutrition and Per- 
spiration: and the fittest Time for that Pur- 
pose is in the Night; because the Damps, 
Vapours, and Exhalations, which are rare- 
fy'd by the Heat of the Sun in the Day-time, 
are now condensed, and fall down upon the 
Surface of the Earth again, which must ob- 
struct the Pores of the Body, and consequent- 
iy hinder Perspiration, if exposed to such 
Damps by Night-watchings, or unseasonable 
Sittings-up; and this is one of the principal 
Causes of various Diseases, both acute and 
chronical, which soon break and shatter the 
Constitution, shorten Life, and beget a de- 
crepid Age; so that Watching by Night, and 
sleeping by Day, is of the most pernicious 
Consequence to Health and long Life, and 
plainly contrary to the Indications or Dictates 
of Nature, and the Constitutions of our 
Body. 
Therefore
† This is conformable to Aph. 28. Sect. IV. of Sanctorius.  



270 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Therefore all those who value Health and
long Life, ought carefully to avoid Night 
Damps and Dews, and unseasonable Watch- 
ing or Sitting-up, but go to Bed by eight, 
nine, or ten, and rise betimes in the Morn- 
ing, that is, by five or six; for according to
the old Proverb, Surgere diluculo saluberri- 
mum est; that is, To rise betimes is most con- 
ducive to Health. 
The following Rules ought to be carefully 
observ'd in regard to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed. In the first Place, we 
should never lie too close or too warm, which
may obstruct the Fumes and Vapours neces- 
sary to be exhal'd from the Body; and we 
should always lie with our Heads a little 
raised, to prevent the Food from rising from
the Bottom of the Stomach, to its upper 
Orifice. 
Secondly, We should never sleep upon our 
Back; because thereby we prevent the usual 
Excrements of the Brain, which are dis- 
charg'd by the Nose and Mouth, from fall- 
ing upon the Windpipe and Back-bone; but 
if we sleep upon our Back, we over-heat the 
Reins, by being pressed between the Inte- 
stines and the Bed, and thereby oftentimes 
produce Stone and Gravel, and send many 
Fumes and Vapours to the Head. 
Thirdly, It is necessary to take our first 
Sleep upon our right Side, to prevent the 
Liver's pressing the Stomach, then replenish'd 
with the Food we took in at Supper, which 
must


Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 271 
must happen if we lie on the left Side. Be- 
sides, by sleeping first on the right Side, what 
is concocted of the Food descends gradually 
and easily out of the lower Orifice of the 
Stomach into the Intestines, and then the 
Liver comes underneath it, and is instead of 
a Chasing-Dish to it, which promotes Di- 
gestion very much. After this, we should 
turn to the left, that thereby the Steams and
Vapours retain'd on the right Side may ex- 
hale. And lastly, when we go to Rest, we 
ought not to stretch our Joints, but rather 
bend them a little; for as * Galen observes, 
The Ease of the Muscles consists in a mode- 
rate Contraction. 
CHAP. X. 
Of MOTION and REST.
BY Motion, I mean here Exercise and 
Labour, as Walking, Riding, Running, 
playing at Ball, &c. They encrease natural 
Heat and consume the Crudities of the Body; 
for it is very certain, that all Sorts of Ali- 
ment tho' never so pure, have yet always 
something in them unlike our Nature, which 
can never be assimilated to either our Juices 
or Substance; so that some Excrement must 
always
* Galenus, lib. 1. de motu Musculari. 

272 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
always then remain in every Concoction, 
which being retained in the Body, may pro- 
duce a Multitude of various Diseases: But 
the grossest Excrements are discharged by a 
sensible Evacuation, and the most subtile are 
insensibly dissipated and resolved by Exercise 
or Labour. 
This made the divine Hippocrates very 
justly say, in his Book of Diet, that “ One 
“ cannot preserve Health, except he joins 
“ Exercise with his Diet; for the one repairs 
“ what is lost, and the other dissipates what 
“ is superfluous.” Hence moderate and re- 
gular Exercise prevents Repletion, which is 
often the Parent of many Diseases; by en- 
creasing the natural Heat, it keeps all the Ca- 
nals of the Body open, and free from Ob- 
structions; it renders the Body supple; pre- 
pares and disposes all the Superfluities for both
Secretion and Excretion, as well in general as 
in particular; it likewise fortifies the Nerves, 
and strengthens all the Joints which is con- 
firm'd by the great Hippocrates, in his Epi-
demicks, saying that, “ As Sleep is proper for 
“ the Bowels, so is Exercise for strengthen- 
“ ing the Joints.” Celsus also tells us, that 
“ Idleness makes the Body dull and heavy, 
“ but Labour strengthens and renders it firm
“ and active; Laziness makes us soon grow
“ old, but Exercise preserves Youth a long
“ Time †.” 
To
† Lib. I. Caput I. 



Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 273 
To prove the Necessity of Motion or Exer- 
cise, for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, it will be necessary to observe, that a 
human Body, as it comes under the Conside- 
ration of a Physician, is merely a Machine. 
Considering it therefore in this Manner, it is
divided into Solids and Fluids; the Solids are 
vascular, and have continually propell'd thro'
them some Liquor or other necessary for the 
Purposes and Support of the Machine: And 
these circulating Fluids are of different Kinds, 
arising from the different Agitations and Ve- 
locities impress'd upon them by the Vessels 
which circulate them. 
But in this View they have a necessary De- 
pendence upon each other; for as the Disten- 
sion and Power of Restitution in the Vessels, is 
owing to their being duly moisten'd by some 
convenient Fluid, separated and dispensed to 
them from the Blood, which is the common 
Promptuary of all the animal Juices; so 
likewise that due Constitution of the Blood, 
which fits it for yielding some of its Parts for 
that Use, depends upon its certain Degrees of 
fluidity, which are always as the Contraction 
of its circulating Vessels: But yet even in 
this the Solids have the principal Share; be- 
cause, as that Power by which the Blood is 
Preserv'd in a due Crasis or Constitution is de- 
rived from itself, that is, of beflowing upon 
the Solids a Juice necessary for the Preserva- 
tion of their Springs, yet that Constitution 
enabling it to afford such a Power, being pri-
S marily


274 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
marily derived from the Actions of the Solid
upon it, the chief Spring or Rise of Motion 
is in the Solids. 
To know therefore the most ready Ways 
of altering the Constitution of the Fluids, is
to find out the most convenient and effectual 
Means of influencing the Contractions of their 
Vessels; but this cannot be done, without 
knowing first upon what Texture and Me-
chanism of Parts their Powers of Contraction 
and Distension depend. 
And in order to come to any Certainty of 
this Matter, we are to consider, that it is
very well known, that any Membrane or Ves- 
sel may be separated or divided into very 
small Fibres and Threads, when just taken 
out of the Body, and that these Threads may
be drawn out a considerable Length beyond 
what is natural to them without breaking, 
and that when such external Force which so 
distended them is removed, they will again, 
by their Elasticity, restore themselves to their 
former Dimensions. And it is farther like- 
wise known, that these Properties of Disten-
sion and Contraction are preserved in them by a 
convenient Moisture; because, if one of these 
Threads be dried, it will immediately lose it, 
so that upon the Application of any Force to 
stretch it, it will break; as also its being 
soak'd too much in Liquor will render it 
flaccid; as likewise destroy its Elasticity or 
Power of Restitution when distended. 
But

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 275
But what is exactly the constituent Tex- 
ture, or what are perfectly the Shapes and 
Arrangement of those Parts which compose 
an animal Fibre, is scarce possible to be justly
determined; because they are too fine to be 
perceived by the naked Eye, or even by the 
Help of the best Microscopes when very mi- 
nutely divided; which Division proceeds so 
far at last, that the component Fibrillœ be- 
come so incredibly small, as to exceed the 
Power of Imagination; but Reason con- 
vinces us that there must be an End. 
However, as to the present Enquiry con- 
cerning the Effects of Motion or Exercise on 
the Solids and Fluids of a human Body, it 
will be sufficient, with what has been al- 
ready said, that it is known to a Demonstra-
sion, that all the Fibres in a living Body are 
in a State of Distension; that is, they are 
drawn out into a greater Length than they 
would be in, if separated from any Part, and 
taken out of the Body; which is easily de- 
monstrated, by cutting transverse, or dividing
of a Nerve or Artery, which are intirely a 
Composition of the Threads we are now 
speaking of; for immediately we see the di- 
vided Parts run up and leave a great Distance 
between them, as in Wounds, and the Fluids 
contained in them upon such Contraction, to 
be so squeez'd out; and this also makes it ap- 
pear, that their natural Distension is owing to
some Fluid being propell'd into the Vessels 
which they compose, with a greater Force 
S2 than


276 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than their Endeavours of Restitution, so far 
as to obtain a close Contact of all their 
transverse Surfaces, but yet lesser than that 
which is necessary to distend them, so far as 
to bring them to Coincidence, for in such a 
Case the Vessels would break. 
In the next Place then, this State of Di- 
stension of the Fibres must necessarily leave 
some little Vacuities or Interstices between 
all their transverse Surfaces, which Vacuities 
will continue as long as the longitudinal Sur- 
faces of their component Parts continue so 
close to one another, as to prevent the En- 
trance of any foreign Matter between, how 
subtile soever, for the same Reason as when 
the Embolus of a Syringe is drawn, and the 
Pipe is stopp'd, there must needs be a conti- 
nual nisus restituendi, or an Endeavour of 
Contraction. There is also a farther Necessity
of being supported in such a State of Disten- 
sion; because, if they were closely in Contact 
with each other in all Parts, they could not 
be put into, and continue in those undulatory
Motions, which they are always in, in a
living Body, without being very much al- 
ter'd both in their Figures and Contextures. 
But it being manifest that all the animal 
Fibres are continued by the perpetual succes-
sive Impulse of the Fluids, in such undulatory 
Motions; besides this Necessity of their being
distended, they also must be continually moi- 
sten'd with some convenient Fluid, otherwise 
their continual Attritions against one another
would

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 277
would soon wear out, and render it difficult 
to move them. 
The Fluid likewise suited for this Purpose 
must be very fine and subtile, because other- 
wise it cannot be insinuated into all the In- 
terstices the Fibres, without separating 
their Parts so far as is inconsistent with the
Contexture and Mechanism of a Fibre, al- 
ready described; and the Parts also of this 
Fluid must not only be very subtile, but like- 
wise soft and yielding, whereby the Motions 
of the Particles against one another may be 
Maintained the better; and also as by a Ce- 
ment, that they may be prevented in their 
receding from each other in their longitudinal 
Surfaces, so far as to admit of no foreign 
Matter to insinuate itself between their trans- 
verse Surfaces, in such Quantities as to hinder 
their Re-union when Occasion may require 
it. 
From what has been said it will appear, 
that the most natural Consequence of Mo- 
tion, will be the breaking still smaller and 
smaller the component Particles of that Fluid, 
which is dispensed to the Fibres to lubricate 
and facilitate their Motions; which Commi- 
nution will be continued till it is rendered so 
fine, as to fly off at last at the Surface of the
Body, being of no farther Use to Nature, 
whenever it happens to get there, and by that 
Means must be there continually made a Waste 
of, and that merely by such an Attrition of the
Parts, as necessarily arises from their due 
S3 Dis-

278 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Discharge of the vital Functions; and that 
Matter, which thus insensibly flies off, is the 
true Matter of insensible Perspiration, the 
Exhalation of which is absolutely necessary 
for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life. 
But this Waste makes it necessary that 
there be a continual Supply of what is lost; 
and this is made from what is taken in by 
the Stomach, which, after divers Digestions 
and Alterations, at last is mixed with the 
Blood, and there fitted for some of the finest 
Parts to pass through the Glands constituted 
for that Purpose in the Brain, which from 
thence are dispens'd through the whole ner-
vous System, in such a Manner, as constantly
to keep up a due Supply of this animal 
Fluid. 
Yet there is another Way by which the 
Fibres receive fresh Supplies, and that a much 
nearer; for, according to their natural Con- 
structures, it is very likely that even in the 
Stomach, and throughout the whole Passage 
of the Food into the Blood, the most subtile 
Parts of what is taken in, which are soon se- 
parated from the rest, and ready fitted for
this Use, may, when they chance to strike 
against any of the Interstices of a Fibre, be 
laid hold on, and by Degrees convey'd into 
the Substance of the Thread; for it is certain
the most subtile Part of the Chyle passes imme- 
diately into the Blood by the absorbent Ves-
sels 

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 279  
sels * of the Intestines, as I have observed in 
another Place, which discharge themselves 
into to the Mesaraick Veins †, and from thence 
are convey'd directly into the Liver and Spleen. 
Besides, this is farther supported by com- 
mon Experience, by which it is evident, that 
the Solids are invigorated with fresh Recruits 
of Spirits, immediately upon taking into the 
Stomach such Meats and Drinks as are spiri- 
tuous, and contain in their Composition plenty 
of Particles very fine and active, and easily to
be divided from the rest: And thus every one, 
Upon eating a good Meal, or upon drinking of 
any spirituous Liquor, especially if it be after 
long fasting, or a large Expence by hard La- 
bour or Exercise, finds himself immediately, as 
soon as it is in his Stomach, raised with new 
Spirit and Vigour; which could by no Means 
happen, were the Solids to obtain these Re- 
cruits altogether from the Chyle's passing 
through the Lacteals to the Thoracick Duct, 
S4 and
* Are Vessels which suck in. 
† They are Branches of the Vena Portœ, interspersed in 
great Numbers in and upon the Laminœ of the Mesentery, 
which is a membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the
Guts are connected, and they carry the Blood back to the 
Liver: Their Largeness and Number demonstrate what 
in said above; for they are numerous and vastly larger 
than their correspondent Arteries; besides, wherever there 
are Emissaries, which are little Vessels which throw out a 
Liquid, there are likewise absorbent Vessels; for Example, 
in the Skin, by the absorbent Vessels of which Mercury will 
pass into the Blood. Moreover Birds, which have strong and 
large Breasts, small Bellies, and their Ribs upon their Backs, 
have no Lacteals nor Thoracick Duct, and their Aliment passes 
immediately into the Mesaraick Veins, by which Means they 
receive their Nourishment intirely. 


280 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
and thence into the Blood; because it is im- 
possible that what a Person finds himself so soon 
recruited by, should in so short a Time have 
gone through the usual Digestions and Cir- 
culations, which require some Hours for that 
Purpose, according to Sanctorius, and a great
many Authors of undoubted Authority. 
Upon a View of what has been said, with 
what ease may be explained, how the Body, 
by moderate Exercise, is rendered lighter up- 
on a twofold Account! Because, in the first 
Place, there is occasion'd by it a Substraction 
of its absolute Weight, as it assists Digestion, 
and by breaking the Matter to be perspired 
finer; secondly, it promotes the Discharge of
that Matter through the Pores; and because 
by the Vibration of the Solids, at the same 
Time, there is a larger Quantity of fresh Spi- 
rits taken up by them from the circulating 
Blood, both by the Secretion made of them in 
the Brain, and in the Manner they are convey'd 
by the absorbent Vessels just now explained, 
whereby the Fibres become more invigorated, 
and so much the more able to carry on a due 
Discharge of all the vital Functions, inso- 
much that the Body will not have the Sense 
or Perception of so much absolute Weight as
before. 
Moreover, the Muscles and Ligaments are 
cleared of their Excrements by Exercise; 
that is, whatever superfluous Particles of the 
digested perspirable Matter may adhere to 
them, is by Motion dislodg'd and shook of:
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 281  
And the Spirits are rendered finer; that is, 
such Parts of the nervous Fluid as are just re- 
ceived by the Fibres, are by the Actions of 
their component Threads broke smaller, and 
tendered fitter for the Purposes of the whole 
Body. 
Upon this View likewise it will be easy to 
account for some Disorders this Fluid is likely 
to fall into, or how it is most liable to be di- 
stemper'd; which is very plain, that it must 
be either by becoming too gross and sizy, or 
too fine or exhalable. 
The first may be occasioned by a want of 
sufficient Agitation or Motion in the Solids, 
whereby its Parts attract each other, and form
viscid Cohesions, in the same Manner as it 
happens in the Blood in the same Case, which 
renders the Motions of the constituent Threads
of the Fibres very difficult and troublesome, 
and sometimes so obstructs or blocks up those 
little Vacuities or Interstices between their 
transverse Surfaces, which are necessary for the 
Support of their Elasticity, as to prevent, in a 
great Measure at least, their Power of Resti- 
tution when they are distended; as happens 
in a Leucophlegmatia, Anasarca, and such like 
Disorders, where the Springs of the Fibres 
are so much destroy'd, that by any small 
Pressure upon a Muscle, the Impression will 
sometimes remain a long Time before their 
constituent Threads can recover their natural 
Dimensions; or, as it is commonly express'd, 
the Part will pit. 
The

282 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The other Disorder of this Fluid, oppo- 
site to the former, is, its being broke too fine; 
which will render it so exhalable as to fly 
off in greater Quantities than the concoctive 
Power in the Stomach is able to recruit or 
supply; and this is often brought about by 
too violent Exercise, too large Evacuations, 
or drinking too great Plenty of spirituous and 
hot Liquors, whereby the Constitution of the 
Blood is so far weaken'd, as not to give due 
Resistance to the Constractions of the Vessels
which circulate the Juices, whereupon they 
vibrate quicker, and break the nervous Juice 
too fine; which brings on a Hectick, and 
Death, if not timely remedied. 
As to the first of these Disorders, it is evi- 
dent that it is to be remedied by giving brisker 
Motions to the Solids, and encreasing the Vi- 
brations of the contractile Vessels, in which 
how far Exercise may be useful, is evident 
from what has been said already; for every 
Thing which acts as a Stimulus comes under 
this Head; and their Efficacy is chiefly to be 
determined by their greater or lesser Power of 
stimulating, shaking, and contracting the Fi- 
bres, which Exercise rightly pursued produces 
more efficaciously, and with less Danger, than
any other Method whatsoever. 
For by such Means the component Threads 
of the Fibres are so put in Motion, as to 
loosen such Parts of the animal Oil, as are 
obstructed in their Interstices, and by Degrees 
break them small enough for Expulsion; and 
a fresh

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life 283
a fresh Stock of such Spirits will be supply'd, 
as will restore them to their natural Springs. 
As to the latter Disorder, it is to be re- 
moved by a Diet that agglutinates, and gives 
a greater or stronger Consistence to all the 
Fluids, and by all such Means as check the in- 
ordinate Motions of the Solids. So that upon 
the Whole it is evident, that to keep from ei- 
ther of these Extremes, Care is to be taken to
maintain a just Ballance between the elastick 
Force of the Solids and the Resistances of the
circulating Fluids, in which true Health con- 
sists; because, if the Equilibrium is lost on 
either Side, the Body cannot but fall into 
some Distemper; and in this consists the whole
Art and Business of a rational Practice, to 
know when to add to, or substract from, the 
Resistances of the Fluids, and when to check 
or spur the Motions of the Solids; as also to 
be well acquainted with the various Methods 
by which all these Intentions may be brought 
about. 
And here I cannot omit just taking Notice, 
how wonderfully the Effects of Musick in 
some extraordinary Cases are hereby account-
ed for; and tho' Musick, strictly speaking, 
may not be deem'd Exercise, unless it be so to 
those who exercise it themselves; yet it will 
manifestly appear otherwise, if we consider, 
that according to the Nature and Contexture 
of an animal Fibre or Thread, it is very plain 
that the least Stroke imaginable upon it, 
must move its component Fibrillœ in all 
their

284 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
their Parts; therefore every Wave or Undula- 
tion of the Air, which is made by a musical 
Instrument, gives the Fibres of the whole 
Body more or less correspondent Concussions, 
according to their Degrees of Tension, where- 
by all the component Fibrillœ are successively
moved from one to another throughout the 
whole Thread; and consequently the Spirits 
are not only raised and made finer, but like- 
wise the other animal Fluids are also more 
briskly agitated, and their preternatural Co- 
hesions and Viscidities destroyed: All which 
plainly prove, that Musick is not only good 
Exercise for the Mind, but likewise very use- 
ful for the Body, by the agreeable Concus- 
sions and Thrillings we sensibly perceive from
it in all the fleshy Fibres of the Body. 
Hence Musick has this Advantage above 
any other Exercise, that those Concussions
made upon the Fibres thereby are short, 
quick, and easy, whereupon the nervous 
Fluid is not only more briskly agitated, but 
also the natural Contexture of all the animal 
Threads are better preserved, being never o- 
verstrained hereby, as they frequently are 
with other Exercises: Therefore upon this 
View the extraordinary Effects of Musick in 
several Diseases, as that of the Bite of a ta- 
rantula *, &c. ceases to be a Wonder, and 
it
* Among all the wonderful Effects ascrib'd to the Power 
of Musick, none is more surprising and important than that 
of curing the venomous Bite of the Italian Spider, called the 
Tarantula. The Part bitten is soon affected with a very acute 
Pain, 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 285
it rather comes to be admired that it is not 
much more brought into Use here for the Be- 
nefit of valetudinary and weakly Constitu- 
tions, as it is in Italy and other Countries, 
and that even by the Direction of their Phy- 
sicians. 
What has been said farther explains that 
common Effect of Exercise, in its giving al- 
ways, conformable to Hippocrates's Opinion, 
a greater Firmness and Strength to the Solids; 
for the more a Fibre is kept in Action, the 
clearer it will keep its component Parts from
the Lodgement and Adhesion of any foreign 
and superfluous Matter upon them, by which 
Means whenever it is distended or stretch'd, 
there will be the more Room for each Par- 
ticle to draw up again, and consequently its 
Return will be with greater Force; but the 
Exercise which produces this Effect, is such
only as does not exceed the Powers of the 
Con-
Pain, and a few Hours after with Numbness; upon which 
ensues a profound Sadness, and a Difficulty of Respiration; the 
Pulse grows weak, the Sight is disturbed, and the Person loses 
Knowledge, Sense, and Motion. The Doctor is in vain con- 
sulted; the Musician here alone performs the Cure; he tries 
a Variety of Airs, and when he happens to hit on that Har- 
mony that accords with the Patient, he begins to move by 
Degrees, and keeps Time with his Fingers, Arms, Legs, and 
Body; then he raises himself up and dances, increasing in 
Strength and Activity. This dancing Fit continues six Hours, 
or a Day, or sometimes two Days. When the Musick ceases, 
the Person gives over dancing, and is put to Bed. And this 
Process is repeated till the Patient is recovered, which is by 
little and little; and every sick Person has a particular Tune 
or Air, and always a very brisk or sprightly one. See Der- 
ham's Physico-Theology, Book IV. Chap. iii. and Malcolm's 
Musick, Chap. xiv. Sect. 3. &c. 


286 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Constitution; for too much Exercise destroys
the Solids, by consuming the Fluids too 
much. 
But on the contrary, by too much Rest 
and Inactivity every Part will lose its Strength, 
and the less it is mov'd, be still render'd less 
able for Motion. And upon this Account it is 
that we see daily such a very great Diffe- 
rence between active and stirring Persons, 
and such whose Circumstances of Life in- 
ures them to Labour and Exercise, and those 
whose Inclinations and Condition indulge 
them in Ease and Inactivity; for the for- 
mer are strong, hardy, and healthful, but 
the latter tender, weakly, and diseas'd. 
From the Doctrine of this Chapter, it is 
manifest to a Demonstration, that there is 
an absolute Necessity for Labour and Exer- 
cise, to preserve the Body any time in a due
State to maintain Health, and prolong Life: 
For let whatever Diet be pursued, though 
never so well adjusted both in Quantity and
Quality, and let whatever Evacuations be 
used to lessen the Disorder, or any Succeda- 
neum or Equivalent be proposed to prevent 
the ill Effects; yet our Bodies are so made, 
and the animal Oeconomy so contriv'd, that 
without due Labour or Exercise the Juices 
will thicken, the Joints will stiffen, the 
Nerves will relax, and on these Disorders, 
chronical Distempers and a shatter'd old Age 
must soon ensue.
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 287
And tho' light Food may in a great mea- 
sure prevent the thickening of the Fluids, 
yet it cannot do it sufficiently without Exer- 
cise; nor can it at all keep the Fibres in due 
Tension, for to that Purpose Exercise is ab- 
solutely necessary: Even the joint Power of
warm Air and light Food, cannot supply the 
Place of Exercise in keeping them pliant 
and moveable, and preserving them from 
growing hard and stiff. But we should al- 
ways avoid too much Labour or Exercise, as 
I have just now observ'd; for Sanctorius tells
us, “ That by too much Exercise the Fibres 
“ become hard, whence old Age proceeds, 
“ which is an universal Hardness and Stiff- 
“ ness of the Fibres *.”
There are general and particular Exercises; 
the former, which move and stir the whole 
Body, are Walking, Dancing, Fencing, Run-
ning, Leaping, Bowling, Tennis, Pumping, 
Riding a Horseback, or in a Coach, &c. of 
all which Walking is the most natural, and
would be also the most useful, if it did not
exhaust the Spirits of weakly Constitutions 
too much; but Riding is certainly the most 
manly, the most healthy, and the least labo- 
rious and expensive of the Spirits of any, 
shaking the whole Body, and thereby pro- 
moting an universal Perspiration and Secre- 
tion of all the Fluids; to which may be 
added the various Changes of the Air thro' 
which they so quickly pass, the Alterations 
of
* Aph. 35. Sect. V.


288 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of which become as it were a new Bath, 
and by that means variously stimulating the 
Fibres to brace and contract them; besides 
the different Objects or new Scenes, which at
the same Time amuse the Mind. 
The immortal Sydenham laid so great a 
Stress on Riding, that he thought he could not
only cure slight Consumptions, but an almost 
desperate Tabes, attended with nocturnal 
Sweats, and a violent Diarrhœa, by Riding 
alone; nor did he believe Mercury more ef- 
fectual in the Cure of the Venereal Disease, or 
the Bark in intermittent Fevers, than Riding 
was in a Consumption. 
Those who cannot ride may use a Coach, 
Chaise, or Chair, which is the only proper 
Method for lame, old, and decrepid Persons, 
as well as for those who are so young, that 
they are not able to manage their own Exer- 
cise. 
There are also particular Exercises appro- 
priated to certain Parts of the Body; as 
Shooting, for the Breast; Talking, Singing, 
Hollowing, Blowing the Horn, or Wind-In-
struments, for strengthening, opening, and 
clearing the Lungs; Tennis or Foot-ball, for 
those who have weak Arms or Hams; Bowl- 
ing or Skettles, for the Reins and Loins;
Riding, for weak Nerves and Digestion, and 
those troubled with Head-aches. 
In short, there is no one particular Part 
of the Body, but might be strengthen'd and 
kept in due Plight by Labour or Exercise
rightly 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 289
rightly appropriated to the particular Organ; 
for it is very remarkable, how the several 
different Limbs of labouring Men are streng- 
then'd, and render'd fleshy and nervous, as 
they happen to be most employ'd in their 
different Occupations: so the Thighs, Legs, 
and Feet of Chairmen; the Arms and Hands 
of Watermen; the Backs and Shoulders of 
Porters, grow thereby thick, strong, and 
hard in time; for it is very certain, that 
using any Organ or Member frequently and 
forcibly, brings Blood and Spirits into it, and
by that means is render'd plump and strong. 
The following Conditions ought to be ob- 
serv'd with Regard to Exercise, in order to 
render it the most beneficial that may be. 
The first, that it be upon an empty Stomach, 
for then all the Matter which is digested 
enough for Perspiration, will thereby be 
easily discharg'd; but Exercise on a full 
Meal is very pernicious, for it subverts the 
Stomach, and forces the Aliment from thence 
crude and indigested, and so hurries it into
the Veins and Habit of the Body, whereby 
Secretions are precipitated, and the found 
Juices are carried off with the corrupted Hu- 
mours; hence arise frequently putrid Fevers, 
Pleurisies, Head-achs, weak Eyes, and a 
general Cacochymy, or a vitiated Constitu- 
tion. 
Secondly, the Morning Exercise is always the 
best, for then the two Concoctions are finish'd; 
and Hippocrates is very clear upon this Head, 
T in

290 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in one of his Aphorisms, wherein he says, 
Let us exercise before eating. But it should 
be moderate and equal; I call that Exercise 
moderate which is not tiresome, and equal 
when all the Parts of the Body are equally 
mov'd. 
Thirdly, They that are lean should exer- 
cise only ad Ruborem, that is, till the Body and
Spirits are gently heated, for that will help to 
fatten them; but they who are fat may exer- 
cise ad Sudorem, that is, till they sweat, for 
that will help to melt down Part of their 
Fat, and consequently extenuate the Body. 
Fourthly, We must carefully avoid drink- 
ing any cold Liquors after violent or great 
Exercise, or when we are hot and sweating, 
which Heat and Thirst intice us to do; 
the dangerous Effects of which, are chilling 
and almost extinguishing the remainder of 
the Heat which is left in the inward Parts, 
and surfeiting the Blood and Juices, by mix- 
ing cold Drink with the Fat, which is at 
that Time partly melted and floating in the 
Body. 
Fifthly, Another great Error to be avoid- 
ed is, drinking of strong and spirituous Li- 
quors after hard Labour or Exercise, in order 
to avoid the former Inconveniencies, not con- 
sidering that we thereby incur another, which 
is over-heating and drying our Bodies, too 
much heated and dry'd before; but to avoid 
both, and to refresh the Body at the same 
time, the best Way is, first to rest a while
warm,

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 291
warm, if we can conveniently, and then to 
drink a Draught of warm Ale or Beer, with 
a little Mace and Sugar in it, or some other 
innocent Supping, analogous in Heat or 
Warmth to that of our Bodies, by which 
means the Blood and Spirits will soon settle, 
and be refresh'd, and so the Limbs after 
Rest will be enabled with Ease to undergo 
new Labour. 
Sixthly, We should carefully avoid catch- 
ing of Cold after Exercise, by retiring into a 
warm Room, or some convenient Shelter 
from the Injuries of the Weather. 
CHAP. XI.
Of RETENTION and EXCRETION.
THE Things to be excreted or evacua- 
ted, and retained, are the Excrements 
of the Belly, Urine, insensible Perspiration, 
the Semen, and the Menses; for these must
be regulated, and evacuated in due Time, 
and in due Quantity, all which conduce very
much to the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, otherwise they will injure it, and bring
on a Multitude of various Diseases. There- 
fore in a natural and healthy State, we should 
go to Stool once in 24 Hours, and the Fœces 
should be of a due Consistence, that is, some- 
T2 what


292 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
what soft, and stick together, according to 
the old Saying, Oportet sanorum sedes esse
configuratas; that is, The gross Excrements 
in healthy Persons ought to be of such a Con- 
sistence, as to take the Impression of the Guts. 
They who are costive, and otherwise not 
well, have either over-heated their Bodies 
with spirituous Liquors, or have fasted too 
long, or eaten too sparingly, or they have 
too slow a Digestion, or too great Weakness
of the Intestines; and by that means the 
Food is retain'd too long before the Mouths 
of the Lacteals, and is thereby over-drain'd 
of its Moisture, and harden'd. 
The best Proportion of the gross Eva- 
cuation to the Quantity of the Food we take 
in, is about the third Part; for they who 
much exceed that, have the Mesaraick Veins 
stopt or obstructed, and so cannot be nou- 
rish'd; and if it exceeds it, 'tis certain that
the Body wastes, unless the Matter of some 
Disease be thereby evacuated; or else, if 
they have purging Stools, they have eaten 
too much of Things too strong for their 
Powers of Digestion; for it is very certain, 
that superfluous Nourishment leaves too 
much Chyle in the gross Excrements, which 
fermenting in the Guts, stimulates them so as 
to become purgative. 
But if the Looseness be not violent, and 
the Appetite remains good, it is not to be 
suddenly and rashly stopp'd; for Nature 
thereby frequently prevents, and often times
rids




Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 293
rids herself of many a Disease, which upon 
an unadvised Astriction would be riveted in 
the Body; and therefore the Rule is, first 
cleanse and then close. But if it be too vio- 
lent and frequent, and the Stomach thereby 
decay'd it must be carefully and speedily 
remedied; and in this Case Advice is very
necessary, for it is easy to commit an Error, 
but the Consequence is dangerous. 
Here I cannot omit inserting an Abstract
of some few Passages out of Cheyne's Essay 
of Health and Long Life, which are admi- 
rable upon this Subject, and very worthy 
of every Body's Perusal. ' I have often ob- 
' serv'd, says he, that a full Meal of strong
' Meat, as Fish, Beef, Pork, baked Meat, 
' or made Dishes, in tender Persons goes off 
' with the Hurry and Irritation of a Purge, 
' leaving the Bowels instated, colick'd, grip'd, 
' and the Spirits sunk to the last Degree. 
' The Food by its various Mixture, Weight, 
' and Fermentation, Stimulating all along
' from the Stomach to the Rectum *, and 
' being scarce ever drain'd of its Chyle, 
' without affording any Nourishment to the 
' Body, runs off thus crudely, and becomes 
' equal to a total Abstinence from Food for 
' a long Time. And hence we have a most 
' infallible Rule, † a Posteriori, to judge 
' if we govern'd ourselves in our Diet in 
T3 ' Pro-
* The straight or last Gut. 
† A Posteriori, i. e. after the Trial has been made.



294 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Proportion to the Necessities of Nature, 
' and the Forces of our concoctive Powers. 
' This is the very Reason why the Bark 
' over dosed, and given to Persons of weak 
' Digestion, so constantly purges them, and
' why Mercury given either inwardly, or 
' by Frictions, runs off in violent Purging,
' and cannot be raised into a Salivation; to
' wit, the not adjusting the Doses to the 
' Strength of the stomach and nervous Fi- 
' bres; for the Bark naturally binds, and 
' Mercury naturally rises to the most § per- 
' vious Glands. 
' And in this Sense I myself have frequent- 
' ly observ'd in weak and scrophulous Bowels, 
' even Diascordium and Venice Treacle to 
' purge: whereas, had the Doses been duly 
' proportion'd, or had they begun by un- 
' der-dosing, and taken a little longer time, 
' they might have been effectually answer'd, 
' as I have often experienc'd without ever
' failing. 
' 2. There is a very great Error commit- 
' ted in Nurses and Parents in rearing up 
' young Children; the perpetual Gripes, 
' Colicks, Loosenesses, hard Bellies, Choak-
' ings, Wind and Convulsive Fits, which tor-
' ment half the Children in England, are en- 
' tirely owing to the too great Quantities of
' too strong Food, and too rank Milk, thrust 
' down their Throats by their over-laying 
' Mothers
§ Pervious, i. e. the easiest or readiest Way to be passed
through. 

295 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
' Mothers and Nurses; for what else do their 
' slimy, their gray or chylous, their blackish, 
' and cholerick Discharges, the Noise and Mo- 
' tion in their Bowels, their Wind and Choak- 
' ings imply, but Crudities from superfluous 
' Nourishment? This is so certain, that they 
' are universally and infallibly cur'd by testa- 
' ceous Powders, which only absorb sharp Cru- 
' dities; by Rhubarb Purges, which at once 
' evacuate and strengthen the Bowels; and by 
' Milk Clysters, Issues, and Blisters; and by 
' obstinately persisting in these and the like, 
' (intended to evacuate and strengthen the 
' alimentary Passages) and a thin, spare and 
' nutritive Diet; for nothing nourishes but 
' Food duly concocted. 
' 3. I have often heard valetudinary and 
' tender Persons, and those of sedentary Lives,
' and learned Professions, complain of Head- 
' achs, Sickneses at the Stomach, Colicks and
' Gripes, Lowness of Spirits, Wind and Va- 
' pours; and yet pretended they were very 
' moderate and abstemious in their Eating 
' and Drinking; but upon Enquiry, I con- 
' stantly found these very Persons pursued 
' with purging Stools, which was an evident
' Proof to me, that they had taken down 
' more than they wanted, or could digest: 
' for 'tis universally certain, that those that
' do not exceed, must have either Costive, 
' or at least Stools of a middle Consistence. 
' There is nothing more ridiculous, than 
' to see tender, hysterical and vapourish Peo-
T4 ' ple,


296 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' ple, perpetually complaining, and yet per- 
' petually cramming, crying out, they are 
' ready to sink into the Ground and faint 
' away, and yet gobbling the richest and 
' strongest Food, and highest Cordials, to 
' oppress and overlay them quite. The pro- 
' per Remedy in this Case, is first, to cleanse 
' the fœtid Abyss, and then to preserve it 
' clean, by cutting off all the Inlets of Pu- 
' trefaction. This will require a little Cou- 
' rage, Labour and Pain; but the future 
' Ease and Sweetness will more than abun- 
' dantly recompence them; for there is no- 
' thing more certain, than that the Head-achs, 
' Colicks, and nervous Pains and Disorders, of
' those born found here in England, univer- 
' sally proceed from Idleness and Fulness of
' Bread. 
4. ' Those who pretend to cure themselves 
' of nervous Disorders, or any other chroni-
' cal Diseases, or preserve themselves from
' them, or lengthen out their Days, must
' under-dose themselves, even tho' they 
' should undergo the Pain of Costiveness;
' for it is impossible the Nerves of those who 
' have slippery Bowels, should ever be braced 
' or wound up; for there the Cure must be- 
' gin where the Evil began, and must be 
' communicated thence to the rest of the 
' System; as a Rope-maker begins the Twist at 
' one End of the Rope, and communicates 
' it to all the other Parts. 
' Our

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 297
' Our Access to the Nerves of the Sto- 
' mach and Bowels, is obvious and open; to 
' the rest the Way is difficult, and far about. 
' And since a Relaxation, Weakness, and 
' want of Spring in the Fibres, is the Origin 
' of all nervous Distempers, no Medicines 
' but such as contract, stiffen, wind up, and
' Shorten them, can remedy this Evil; and 
' they must necessarily contract and bind up 
' the Fibres of the Stomach and Guts, as the 
' Parts they first approach and exert their 
' Virtue upon. And he who without firm 
' Bowels, thinks to cure a nervous Distemper, 
' labours as much in vain, as he who would 
' keep a Fiddle-string soaking in Oil and 
' Water, to make it vibrate or play off a fine
' Composition of Musick. 
5. ' There happens also an Evacuation 
' both by Stool and Urine, to some weak 
' Persons of relax'd Nerves, that extremely 
' alarms them, and is not so readily account- 
' ed for in that Part of Physick, which teaches 
' the Causes of Diseases. It is when either 
' a white transparent, viscid Substance like 
' Gelly, is constantly voided by the Bowels, 
' more or less; or when a white, milky, gluey 
' Substance like Cream or laudable Matter, 
' settles in the Urine. Both these Appearances 
' are commonly ascrib'd to an Ulcer in the 
' Guts, or in the Kidneys; and yet I am 
' very certain, there is neither Ulcer or true 
' Matter in either Case, as I propose them. 
' For where there is violent and acute Pain,
' or

298 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Matter of different Colours or Mixtures, 
' there very possibly may be, nay certainly 
' there is an Ulcer. But in the Case I here 
' intend, there is very little or no Pain, no
' hectical Paroxysms, which always attend an 
' inward Ulcer; no bloody or sanious Mix- 
' tures, which always betray the inward Sore; 
' no fœtid Smell to imply Corruption. 
' The first Case I take to be either an 
' Obstruction of some of the Lacteals, where- 
' by the Chyle cannot be carried off in any 
' sufficient Quantity, but passing thro' the 
' Guts, and its more watery Part being eva- 
' porated, it becomes thick and gelatinous, 
' and is thrown off at last with the Remains 
' of the Food; else it must be an Obstru- 
' ction of those Glands of the Guts, by 
' which a viscid Matter for lubricating of 
' them is commonly secerned, by the Im- 
' prisonment and Evaporation of which Mat- 
' ter it thickens and turns like a Gelly (as it 
' does by Cold or Over-feeding, in the Glands 
' of the Mouth, Throat, and Windpipe) and 
' at last, by squeezing of the Guts is thrown 
' off. And in the same manner, I take that 
' milky Substance subsiding in the Water, in 
' such a Case as I have mention'd, to arise 
' from a Relaxation of the Glands of the 
' Kidneys and Bladder, and other urinary 
' Passages; and that both are to be cur'd the 
' same Way as other nervous Distempers are 
' cur'd; viz. by a proper Regimen of Diet,
and 


Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 299
' and a Course of contracting, strengthening, 
' and volatile Medicines.”
The second Evacuation is by Urine, be- 
ing a serous Humour strain'd in the Kid- 
neys, which comes with the Blood (which 
it diluted) to the Reins by the Arteries of
the Kidneys, but is separated from it as ex- 
crementitious, and that continually, as Part 
of the Blood is constantly driven to the Kid- 
neys to nourish them. 
The Urine contains not only the watery 
Part of the Blood, but the sharpest Salt, 
which is most subtile and volatile, and nearly 
of an alkaline Nature, render'd exceeding 
volatile. In the watery Part there is also a 
fœtid Substance contain'd, and a viscid Oil 
so attenuated, that it readily mixes with Wa- 
ter, and is scarce separable from it; which 
may therefore in some Measure be called a 
Spirit. 
The natural Salt of Urine is of a lixivi- 
ate, soapy Disposition, and much like Sal- 
ammoniac, yet in some Respects different 
from it: It also contains a fix'd Salt, of the
Nature of Sea-salt, being composed of a li- 
xiviate one, and a nitrous; of which Nature 
is that which swims in the Blood, the nitrous 
Parts being imbibed into it thro' the Lungs 
in Inspiration; so that the Salt in Urine in a 
found State, is neither acid, alkali, ammoni- 
cal nor briny, but of a peculiar Disposi- 
tion. 
But

300 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
But as Urine is a * Lixivium of the Salts 
contained in a human Body, and the proper 
Mark of the State and Quantity of such 
Salts; therefore very certain Indications may 
be taken from the Condition of Urine, to 
discover both the State of our Constitution, 
and the Regulation of our Diet; and tho' 
the Salts of human Urine be neither acid nor 
alkaline, as I have just now observ'd, yet by 
the violent Motion of the Blood, as in burn- 
ing and putrid Fevers, &c. they may be 
turn'd alkaline, and even corrosive; and when
they begin to turn so, they affect the small 
and tender Fibres of the Brain more sensi- 
bly than any other Part of the Body. 
When the Urine is of a bright Amber 
Colour, and of a moderate Thickness, with 
a light Cloud hanging in it, and in Quantity 
of about three Quarters of the Liquor taken 
in, it is best, and a certain Sign of a due Con- 
coction, a just Proportion of Food, and a to- 
tal Riddance of Repletion and Crudities; for 
they who live moderately, use due Exercise, 
and enjoy a perfect State of Health, always 
evacuate such Urine. 
But when it is retain'd too long, either 
by the Fault of the Kidneys or Bladder, or 
because the Matter of it is not sufficiently 
separated from the Blood, or that it is kept 
too long in the Bladder thro' Laziness or Bash- 
fulness, (as is often the Case) it occasions Stone
and Gravel, and sometimes Blotches and Erup-
tions 
* Lixivium, i. e. Lye, such as that of Soap.

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 301
tions upon the Skin, Dropsy, fainting, and sleepy. 
Diseases, with a great many other Disorders, 
too tedious to enumerate in this Place. 
If there be too great an Evacuation of 
Urine from any Cause whatsoever, by taking 
away the Serum, or watry Parts of the Blood, 
it will occasion a Stagnation of the Humours, 
encrease Heat, an unextinguishable Thirst, 
Crudities, and many Evils of the like Na- 
ture; and by depriving the Blood, and carry- 
ing out of the Body the most nutritive Parts, 
produce an Atrophy, or a total Decay, as in 
a Diabetes, and Death at last. 
The Urine differs both in Taste, Smell,
Colour and Quantity, according to the Diffe- 
rence of Ages, Constitutions, Sexes, Seasons
of the Year, and Alterations of their Way 
of living, and Diversity of Medicines; so 
that they who live freely, and make Quan- 
tities of pale, or limpid and sweet Urine, it is
a manifest Sign that their Perspiration is ob- 
structed; that neither the first nor the two 
last Concoctions * have been rightly perform'd; 
and that the Chyle has not been sufficiently 
attenuated, nor the minutest Secretions duly 
made by the lesser Drains of the Body, and 
that the urinous Salts are still retain'd in the
Habit. 
The
* Concoction in an animal Body is three-fold; the find is
confin'd to what Alterations are made of the Food in the 
Stomach and Intestines; the second is applied to the Alterati- 
ons made of it in the Blood-Vessels; and that made in the 
Nerves, Fibres, and minutest Vessels, is not improperly called 
the third and last Concoction.  

302 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Cure, as to Diet, consists in living re- 
gular, that is, in eating and drinking less, 
and using more Air and Exercise, drinking 
freely of small warm White-Wine Whey; 
likewise a little Gascoign's Powder, or Sir 
Walter Raleigh's Confection will be proper 
at the same time, in order to set Perspiration
to rights again. 
High-colour'd, foul, and very turbid 
Urine in small Quantities, proceeds from 
either an immoderate Use of strong or spi- 
rituous Liquors, or from too great abundance 
of Salts retain'd in the Body; which must be 
remedied by diminishing the Quantity of 
their Flesh Meats, and drinking small Li- 
quors, or Water with their Wine, otherwise 
they will hurry themselves into some acute 
Inflammatory, or dangerous Chronical Dis- 
ease. 
Dark Brown, or dirty Red-colour'd Urine, 
without any Sediment, and in small Quan- 
tity, in acute Distempers is always a sure In- 
dication of insurmountable Crudity, high 
Inflammation tending to a Mortification, and 
a dying Weakness in Nature: But in those 
who labour not under any visible Disease at 
the Time, it is a certain Sign of almost a 
total Weakness of the digestive Powers, an 
inseparable Cohesion of the component Parts 
of the Blood, and a Deadness in all the ani- 
mal Functions; in which Case, a Physician's
Advice is highly necessary. 
A

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 306
A bloody, mattery, wheyish Urine, or that 
with Films, Bits of broken Membranes, or 
white Gravel, denote or Gravel, or 
Symptoms of an Ulcer somewhere in the 
urinary Passages. Fat, which is observ'd 
upon the Top of the Urine, especially of 
consumptive People, signifies a wasting of
the Body. 
The third Excretion or Evacuation to be 
consider'd is insensible Perspiration, which
is imperceptibly discharg'd through all the 
Pores of the Skin, and other Parts of the 
Body, being the Recrements of the second 
and third Concoctions, divested of all that 
can be of any farther Use to the Parts of the
Body; the free and full exhaling of which, 
is as necessary to Health as any of the gros- 
ser Evacuations, being in Quantity at least
equal to all that is evacuated both by Stool 
and Urine; and an Obstruction thereof is ge- 
nerally the Parent of all acute Distempers, 
as it is a Consequence of all chronical Dis- 
orders. But having fully treated of this 
Matter in another Place already, for far- 
ther Satisfaction herein, I refer the Reader to
Page 99. Note *, Part II. 
Nothing hinders and obstructs Perspiration 
more than catching of Cold, which is nothing 
but great Quantities of moist Air impreg- 
nated with nitrous Salts imbib'd through the 
Passages of Perspiration, by which means not 
only the Blood and Juices are thicken'd, but 
likewise insensible Perspiration is obstructed, 
and

304 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and immediately a small Fever, and a Hurry 
in the whole animal System succeeds; which 
oftentimes lays a Foundation for Consumptions, 
Obstructions of the great Viscera †, and an 
universal Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body. 
Therefore, in order to remedy this Disorder, 
and prevent the ill Consequences of it, we 
should lie much longer in Bed than usual, 
drinking small warm White-Wine Whey 
plentifully, with some few Hartshorn-drops, 
Posset-drink, Water-gruel, Barley-water, or 
any other warm small Liquors, taking twenty
Grains of Gascoigns Powder Night and Morn- 
ing, and at the same Time living low upon 
Spoon-meats, Pudding, Chicken, and drink- 
ing every Thing during the Height of the 
Illness warm; but if any Cough or Spitting 
should encrease, Bleeding should be perform'd, 
and to take now and then a little Sugar- 
Candy, Oil of Sweet Almonds, or a Solution 
of Sperma Ceti, to render Expectoration free 
and easy; and afterwards to be cautious of 
going abroad too soon, and without being 
well cloathed. 
Gripes, Purging, Colical Pains, much 
belching of Wind, Low-spiritedness, Yawning 
and Stretching, are sure and certain Indica- 
tions that Perspiration is deficient or ob- 
structed; therefore, in order to remove these 
Disorders, we must have recourse to a 
greater Degree of Exercise and Abstinence, 
and to some gentle Purge or other, such as 
Sena
† Viscera, signify any of the Bowels or Intrails. 


305 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
Sena and Manna, or Rhubarb, &c. to clear 
the first Passages of the Load that oppresses 
them, otherwise the Person will suffer at 
last; and, as Sanctorius observes, Wind in
the Body is nothing but Perspiration † ob- 
structed. 
The fourth Evacuation to be considered is 
the Semen, consisting of a white, hot, spiri- 
tuous, thick, clammy, and saltish Humour, 
which is elaborated in the Testicles and Epi- 
didymes, out of the purest and most spiritu- 
ous Parts of the Blood. Considering it there- 
fore in this Light, Moderation in Coition is 
absolutely necessary, both for the Preserva- 
tion of Health as well as Pleasure; for in 
Immoderation we do not consult Delight, but 
Lust, and lose the Pleasure by being too in- 
tent upon it: And it is certainly true, that 
those Parents who are most continent, have 
more and the most healthful Children; for 
they meet their Pleasure by Necessity: In 
these it cheers the Heart and Spirits, and 
makes them breath free and easy; it appeases 
Melancholy and Sadness, mitigates Anger, and 
disposes to Rest. But then that Mode- 
ration receives its Difference very much from
the different Temperature of Constitutions; 
for less is sufficient for the Melancholy and 
the Cholerick, the Old and Emaciated; but 
more for the Sanguine and Plethorick, and 
those of a middle and flourishing Age: The 
Feverish if in any kind of Constitution must a- 
U void
† Aph. xiii. Sect. 3.  



306 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
void it, and likewise they who are subject to
the Gout, and Diseases of the Joints. 
On the other Hand, the immoderate Use 
of Coition not only hinders Perspiration, by
keeping the Fibres too strait, and lessening the
Passages, and thereby giving rise to all the Dis- 
orders which attend an obstructed Perspira- 
tion, but likewise it disorders and weakens 
that due Tension and Elasticity of the Solids, 
upon which depends a right Discharge of all 
the animal Functions. I say, therefore, what- 
ever weakens this Disposition of the Solids, 
cannot but very much prejudice the whole 
Constitution. And that all violent Actions, 
such as that of immoderate Coition is, are de- 
structive to the Textures of the Solids, can- 
not be doubted; for their constituent Fibres 
or Threads will not only be much injured in 
their Contextures, but also that animal Oil or 
Spirit which nourishes them, and facilitates 
their Motions, will be so much press'd out 
and wore away, as to disable them very much 
afterwards in their natural Motions; and the 
Body will be, by that means, so weaken'd and 
dispirited, that the several Parts will not be
able to discharge their respective Offices, 
whereby Digestion, Concoction, and all the 
natural Evacuations will be disordered. 
Hence follow a Dissolution of Strength and 
Spirits, Dulness of Memory and Understand- 
ing, Dimness of Sight, Diseases of the Nerves 
and Joints, as Palsies, and all kinds of Gouts, 
Weakness of the Back, and Consumptions;
Seminal 

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 307
Seminal Weaknesses, and sometimes bloody
Urine; a deprav'd Appetite and Head-achs, 
with a great many other Disorders needless to
be mentioned here; and, to conclude, there 
is nothing that so wonderfully shortens hu- 
man Life, as the immoderate Use of Venery. 
In the fifth Place we are to consider the 
Menses as a necessary Evacuation, which are
Excretions of arterial Blood every Month 
from the Womb: They begin usually when 
young Maids grow ripe at fourteen, and 
sometimes at twelve, but very seldom before: 
They cease naturally in pregnant Women, 
and those past bearing Children, and likewise 
those that give suck; yet it happens some- 
times that pregnant and suckling Women have 
them. 
The Quantity of them ought to be in pro- 
portion to the Quantity and Heat of the 
Blood; but, generally speaking, a certain 
Quantity cannot be limited, for some have a 
great many, and some but a few; nor do 
they continue upon all alike; some have them
two Days, some three, some four, some six or 
eight Days. 
They that have them too much are weak- 
en'd, and their Blood being rendered crude, 
watery, and pale, are subject to Faintings 
and Waste: Those in whom they are sup- 
press'd, become hysterical and breath diffi- 
cultly, look pale, and lose their Appetite, 
and fall into Fevers, Inflammations, and a 
U2 great


308 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
great many Diseases, both acute and chroni- 
cal, if they are not timely remedied. 
There are other Excretions which could 
not conveniently come in under the foregoing 
general Heads; such as Sweat, Spittle, Mucus
or Snot, Tears, and the Wax in the Ears. 
Sweat is a thin serous Fluid, mix'd with 
some Sulphur, a good deal of briny, but more 
volatile Salt, and a very little Earth: And 
the same Properties being found in Urine, we 
may conclude, 1. That Sweat and Urine may 
supply each other's Defects: Accordingly we 
find, that as Sweat is promoted, the Excre- 
tion of Urine is diminished, and on the con- 
trary. 2. That they may be provoked by 
the same Remedies: Thus Diaphoreticks, 
or such Medicines as promote Sweat, fail- 
ing to answer their Intention, prove Diu-
reticks; that is, purge by Urine. 3. That 
Sweat carries off many of the sharp Salts, 
with which the Blood abounds, and by that 
means may accidentally prevent or cure many
Distempers, is not to be doubted. 
Sweat therefore differs very much from, 
insensible Perspiration; for if it be encreased, 
and its Vessels enlarged, Perspiration must 
unavoidably be diminished, and its Vessels 
compress'd. Perspiration also is turn'd into 
Sweat, by violent Motion, and too much 
Heat, tho' by moderate Motion and gentle 
Heat it is very much promoted; but nothing 
can be more serviceable to promote it than 
gentle Friction of the Skin for some Time 
Night

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 309
Night and Morning, as I shall observe in a 
another Place. 
The Saliva or Spittle, (of which I have 
given a Hint before) is a thin transparent
Humour, almost void of Smell and Taste, 
which will entirely evaporate by Heat, but 
not curdle; and when shaken affords a ropy 
Froth. It is separated from the purer Part of
the arterial Blood or Serum by the Glands;
and when a Person is hungry it flows in great 
Quantities, and is then more fluid and sharp; 
after long fasting it is very penetrating and de- 
tergent; it ferments with Bread, Meal, or Sy- 
rup, and promotes Digestion. Men, as well as 
Brutes, swallow it in Health, and likewise 
wWhen asleep: When too much of it is spit 
out, it occasions loss of Appetite, slow Dige- 
stion, and an Atrophy or Consumption. It is 
composed of Water, Salt, Oil, and Spirit, all 
which can he extracted from it, which ren- 
ders it saponaceous, or of the Nature of 
Soap. 
This Fluid then being press'd out of the 
Glands, lays the first Foundation of assimi- 
tating the Food to the Body, and promotes 
the Mixture of oily and aqueous Substances, 
and a Solution of saline ones: It also pro- 
motes Fermentation, excites an intestine Mo- 
tion of the Parts of the Food in the Stomach; 
so that Digestion could not be perform'd 
without it. 
Therefore as this Fluid is of such great Use, 
when mixed with our Food, it ought not to the
U3 lavishly 

310 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
lavishly spit away; for when it is swallow'd, 
having perform'd its Office in the Mouth, and 
being return'd into the Blood, it is still far- 
ther improved by repeated Circulation and 
Digestion; and when separated in the Glands
again, is highly amended. 
Hence it is manifest, that they who im- 
mediately upon eating fall a smoaking or 
chewing of Tobacco, as is generally the Custom
here, and that even among People of the 
better Sort, commit two very great Errors, 
highly destructive to their own Constitutions : 
1st, In diverting the Saliva or Spittle from 
its natural Offices, by spitting it away in 
smoaking or chewing, being one of the chief 
Menstruums, or Medium, for promoting Di- 
gestion, as I have just now demonstrated.
2dly, In using that stupifying American Hen-
bane upon a full Stomach, which, besides the 
great Injury it does Nature, in depriving her 
too much of that necessary Fluid the Saliva, 
has also an intoxicating opiate Quality, by 
which (as all other Opiates do) it destroys the 
Appetite and hinders Digestion, the Truth of 
which is evident to all good Practitioners in 
Physick, Therefore, I sincerely advise all 
those who have any Regard for the Preserva- 
tion of their own Health, to avoid carefully
this pernicious Custom, and never to smoak 
but upon an empty Stomach, or at least till 
the greatest Part of the Food is out of it, 
which always requires some Hours after eat- 
ing; and, even then, no Body except gross
and


311 thro' the various Stages of Life.
Ch. XI. 
and phlegmatick People, should smoak at all; 
because lean, thin, scraggy, dry, and cholerick 
Constitutions are heated and dry'd too much 
by it, which throws them oftentimes into
Consumptions or other Decays. 
Mucus, or Snot, is a clammy and viscid 
Humour, which flows from the Extremities 
of the olfactory Nerves * through the Os Cri- 
briforme † into the Nostrils and Palate: It 
also signifies that slimy Liquor, or Mucilage, 
which daubs over and guards the Bowels, and 
lubricates the chief Passages in the Body from 
being corroded by any saline or sharp Hu- 
mours; but the Superfluities of it are excreted
by the Nostrils and Intestines. 
Tears are a serous Humour, prepared out of 
the arterial Blood in the Lachrymal Gland ‡,
and are of a saline, watery, clear, and smooth
Disposition, discharged always in a small 
Quantity, but more plentifully when the Eye 
is rubbed or compressed by the Orbìcular 
Muscle ‖. This Humour serves to moisten, 
U4 wash,
* Are those Nerves which give the Sense of Smelling. 
† It is a Bone full of small Holes, like a Sieve: It is also 
called Os Ethmoides, situated in the Middle of the Basis of the 
Os Frontis, or Forehead-Bone. 
‡ It is a pretty large conglomerate Gland or Kernel, being 
broad, compress'd, rough, and placed within the Orbit, to- 
wards the outward Angle of the Eye, near the rough Chink, 
and inclosed in Fat; is endowed with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, 
Lymphaticks, and Ducts, which carry a Humour to the Eye 
prepared from the arterial Blood. 
‖ It is the Muscle which serves to join the Eye lids toge- 
gether, contracting them like a Sphincter, and by a strong 
Contraction presses the Ball of the Eye, and squeezes out Tears 
upon the external Superficies of the Eye, which is thereby 
cleansed of its Filth, and the Eye itself washed. 



312 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
wash, and render the Eye slippery, and pre- 
vents it from sticking to the Eye-lids: It like- 
wise serves to wash off any Filth or external 
Bodies, which, by adhering to the Eye, might 
cause Pain, or darken the Sight; but if this 
Humour be too much, so that it cannot be 
received by the Lachrymal Points *, it flows 
from the Eyes, and is called Tears. 
Cerumen, or Ear-wax, is the Excrement of 
the Ears, which sweats or ouzes out of the
Cartilages and Glands bordering upon the 
Ears: It consists of Abundance of Salt and 
Sulphur, which gives it its Bitterness: It 
serves to hinder Dust, Motes, cr little Ani- 
mals from getting into the Ears. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
I Shall briefly treat of the Passions here, 
not as a Natural Philosopher, but as a 
Physician; therefore I shall not consider their 
Essences and Causes, but their Effects and In- 
fluence
* They are Holes in the Bone of the Nose, by which the 
Matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils; but if these 
Holes grow hard and are stopp'd, from an Ulcer in one of 
the Glands in the Corners of the Eyes, thence arises a Fistula
Lachrymalis.



Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 313
fluence upon human Bodies, and how their 
Regulation conduces to the Preservation of
Health and long Life. For as to the Manner 
how the Mind or Thought operates upon the 
Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind, 
and what that Tye or Bond of Union is, be- 
tween the Mind and the animal Fluids, is a 
Mystery unreveal'd to Man, being, at least
mechanically, not reducible to Reason, it be- 
ing impossible to represent and delineate, as 
we do corporal Substances, the several Steps
and Ways of Procedure of those Agents, 
which can by no means be brought under the 
Notice of our Senses, only in their Effects; 
and therefore we cannot have any Notion of 
the Procedure by which they are brought a- 
bout, as we can have of all those affected by
physical Agents. But as it is certain that the 
Passions of the Mind do influence very much 
and alter the Constitution, especially when 
very sudden and intense, so far as necessarily 
to bring it under the Physician's Care, still 
the wisest must herein be contented to e- 
stablish his Rules upon Observation and Expe- 
rience only. 
There is nothing more remarkable, than 
that violent Passions of the Mind waste and 
consume the Spirits, and plunge the Consti- 
tution into great Disorders; and this they 
seem to bring about by universally stimulating,
irritating, and twitching the Nerves and 
Fibres, in such a Manner as disturbs their re- 
gular Contractions: And altho' we cannot 
positively

314 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
positively tell, either how Thought can pro- 
duce such an Alteration in the Humours of 
the Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind; 
yet if by constant Observation and Experi- 
ence it can be found, that such a Passion or 
Temper of the Mind is always attended with 
such Consequences in the Constitution; and 
that such a particular Temperature of the 
Constitution always affects the Mind with such 
particular Passions and Dispositions, it will 
very sufficiently afford a Ground of Certainty
to any considerable Person, in his Reasoning 
upon their Consequences, and in the Mea- 
sures which ought to be taken in remedying 
the Disorders of either. 
For Instance, if Joy or Anger are always 
found to render the Body lighter, tho' we 
cannot tell how these particular Passions do 
first modify any particular Parts of the Body, 
so as to produce that Effect, yet it being plain
how physical Agents do the same, it will be 
most reasonable to conclude, that these do it 
also by the same Means; that is, thus far we 
know, that an Invigoration, or an Increase 
of the contractile Force of the Solids, will 
promote Digestion, increase the Evacuations, 
and render the Body lighter. 
Therefore we have the greatest Reason to 
believe, when we see the same to be the Con- 
sequences also of a Person's being passionate- 
ly angry or very merry, that these Disposi- 
tions of the Mind (altho' we know not how) 
do

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 315
do give that particular Modification likewise, 
and Degree of Tension to the Fibres, as Cold- 
bathing, a cold clear Air, or moderate Ex- 
ercise, when we see them attended with the 
same Consequences. 
But as we know these physical Causes have 
this Effect, by contracting and shaking the 
Fibres of the Solids, and thereby promoting 
their Power of Elasticity, and breaking the 
animal Juices finer; so it ought to be con- 
cluded, that these Passions of the Mind do 
likewise give the same Modifications to the 
Fibres, by which the same Effects are pro- 
duced. 
In like Manner, if Fear and Sorrow are 
found to be attended with an Increase of 
Weight in the Body, it is reasonable to think
that they do it by the same Means as by which 
all those physical Agents produce the same 
Effect; that is, by slackening the Fibres too 
much, diminishing Digestion, and conse- 
quently by lessening the Evacuations. 
Therefore when any Passion of the Mind 
is said to have this or that Effect upon the 
Body, we ought to consider that Passion only 
as a physical Agents that is, as it contracts or 
slackens the Fibres, and as it increases or di- 
minishes the Evacuations; but in this we are 
guided only by Observation and Experience, 
which is very sufficient to a Person of any 
tolerable Judgment. 
The chief Passions of the Mind, from 
whence all the rest proceed, are Joy, Grief,
Anger,

316 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Anger, Love, Hatred, Shame, Hope, and 
Despair. 
Joy or Mirth is a Delight arising from 
some Good we suppose we have obtained; 
and this, above all the rest, conduces to 
Health, at least if it be moderate; for it keeps 
the Fibres in their natural Tension, assists the 
Secretion and Derivation of the Spirits to all 
Parts of the Body, and consequently pro- 
motes the Circulation and Digestion, and 
raises thereby a plentiful Perspiration, and
renders the Body lighter; but immoderate 
Joy is very injurious, and proves sometimes 
mortal, the Spirits being thereby too much 
raised, and by the Suddenness of the Passion 
too much rarefied beyond their natural Stan- 
dard. 
Grief or Sorrow is a troublesome Languish- 
ment afflicting the Mind, arising from the 
Apprehension of some Ill happened or befall- 
ing us: By it the Spirits in the Brain and 
Nerves move slowly and very feebly; so that 
it produces a great Weight in the Breast, Suf- 
focation, and oftentimes Death, when sud- 
den and extreme. 
Anger is the Desire of Revenge, upon the 
Apprehension of some Injury done or offer'd to 
us: By it the Spirits are violently agitated in 
the Brain and Nerves: It encreases the natu- 
ral Heat, and, if moderate, it may be useful 
sometimes, in order to stir up a brisk Circula- 
tion of the languid Fluids in a cold and 
phlegmatick Constitution, by which means 
the

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 317
the Body is rendered lighter; that is, it will 
then perspire better: But, on the contrary, 
Anger is pernicious to hot, dry, and cholerick
Constitutions; because, in such it will dissi- 
pate the Spirits and dry the Constitution too 
much. 
Love is a certain Passion of the Mind, ex- 
cited in the Soul by the Motion of the Spirits, 
arising from an Object which we judge to be 
good, convenient, delectful, and amiable; so 
that the proper Effects of Love consist in this: 
That we consider ourselves as united to the 
Object we love, and that it is, as it were, ano- 
ther Part of us. 
Love may be properly distinguished into 
three Kinds: 1. The first is spiritual, as the 
supreme Love of the blessed Author of our 
Being, (to which our Love to all other created 
Beings is subordinate, at least it ought to be 
so,) which is that Union, Tendency, Biass, and 
Impulse of the Soul and other Spirits towards 
their blessed Creator, without any indirect 
Ends, without Deceit or Dissimulation, for his 
own Sake; because he is infinitely good, infi- 
nitely amiable, and infinitely perfect, abstract- 
ing from all other Considerations, even that of 
our own Happiness, in the Enjoyment of, or 
Union with him. Yet it is certain that these 
two, our Love to God and our own Happiness, 
cannot be actually separated: And this Love
was communicated by him to them in their 
original Formation, by Virtue of which they 
constantly tend, press, and urge to unite; and,
if

318 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
if Obstacles were removed, would unite with
one another, and so be all united with their 
omnipotent Maker. But now, alas! this 
principle of the intelligent Soul, in this her 
lapsed State, being drowned in Sense, chain'd 
and setter'd by Ignorance and Perverseness, 
drawn and hurried away by the Devil, the 
World, and the Flesh, is disabled from exert- 
ing this inherent and innate Principle of Re- 
union, and wants sufficient Light on the 
Understanding, and a right Turn of the Will, 
to be put in a Capacity of exercising it; but
in its proper Vacuity, and being freed from 
these Letts and Impediments, it would unite 
with its first Author, the Centre and Rock 
out of which it was hewn, and mount to- 
wards him like an Eagle towards the Sun. 
And even in this our lapsed and forlorn 
State, there remain evident Footsteps of this
innate Principle still uneffaced; such are the 
Checks of Conscience, natural Affection, and 
the universal Desire of Immortality, and the 
Dread of Annihilation; and the Worship be- 
stow'd by all Nations, who are not sunk into 
mere Brutality, on some superior and invi- 
sible Powers: I say, these are Remains of this
Principle, and its Operations, sufficient to 
shew its Reality à posteriori, as the Laws of 
Analogy, and the Nature and Attributes of 
the first Being, shew it à priori. For the Au- 
thor of Nature, who created intelligent Beings 
only in order to make them happy, could not 
leave them to so many different Attractions, 
without

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 319
without implanting into their Essence and Sub- 
stance, as an Antidote to so many Distrac- 
tions, an infinite Tendency, Bent, and Biass to- 
wards Beings of the same Nature, and towards 
himself, who was the Cause and Object of their 
Felicity: And those, who admit of Revela- 
tion, cannot doubt of it a Moment. Moses *
calls it, a Law engraven on the Heart of Man; 
and St. Paul †, the greatest Perfection of 
human Nature; whatever Men of Self-love 
and carnal Minds may think of it otherwise. 
The Second is Human, towards particular 
Persons and Things, as Parents, Wife, Children, 
Friends, or Things. Towards the first, Love 
ought to be sincere, hearty, constant, begotten, 
continued for their Sakes, and not for our 
own; but yet it should be limited and subor- 
dinate, Submission to the Will and 
Love of God: That to Things is not to be 
fixt, but changeable, as Necessity requires 
for our Support and Use; because the Things 
themselves are so, which we are to love, as if
we loved them not, according to the Apostle. 
The third Sort of Love, is that which is 
shewn from one Sex to another, and ends in 
Matrimony: This is naturally imprest upon 
us, and it is carefully to be preserved from
Dotage and Lust; for when it takes Fire 
from the last, it is never permanent, but soon
cloys itself, and vanishes upon Satiety: Rea- 
son is here lost, which is the principal Cause 
of so many unhappy Marriages we so fre- 
quently
* Deut. xxx. 14. † 1 Cor. xiii.

320 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quently see. As to Dotage, it is an impotent 
and unreasonable placing of the Affection up- 
on another, which gradually draws all the 
Faculties, both of the Soul and Body, into a 
Languor and Consumption, oftentimes pro- 
ducing Lunacy or Madness. 
However foreign this metaphysical Specula- 
tion, concerning spiritual Love, may seem to 
a physical Treatise about Health, which I pro- 
posed to avoid in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter; yet having seriously and attentively con- 
sider'd the Matter since, I found it both use- 
ful and necessary; because, if we steadily be- 
lieve it, and reduce its natural Consequences to
Practice, it will not only become the most 
effectual Means to prevent Diseases, but also 
the most powerful of any Thing to promote 
Health and long Life, which I shall evidently
make appear, before I finish this little Chap- 
ter. 
Hatred is the Apprehension of an Object 
which we judge hurtful or inconvenient; It is 
likewise Sorrow for the Good, and Chearfulness 
for the Ill of another. It occasions a slow 
and unequal Pulse; a sharp and stinging 
Heat, intermix'd with Cold piercing the Breast; 
the Stomach ceases from its natural Office, so 
that the Food being thereby crude and indi- 
gested, produces Nauseas and Vomitings, or 
is converted into corrupted Humours in the 
Habit of the Body, which are oftentimes the 
Parent of many grievous Diseases.
Shame 

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 321
Shame is an Uneasiness of Mind upon Ac- 
count of having done something that is un- 
seemly, or that lessens one's Esteem among 
others: It is likewise a great Apprehension
of Scandal: The Humours and Spirits being 
thereby variously agitated and confounded, 
frequently plunges the Body into fatal Dis- 
orders. 
Hope is a Desire of some future Good, 
which seems difficult to be obtained, but yet 
possible. By it a great Flow of Spirits tends 
to the Heart, which quickens its Pulsation, 
and accelerates the Motion of the Blood. 
And this Affection oftentimes prevents the ill 
Effects of other Passions, such as those of 
Grief or Sorrow, Hatred and Despair, &c. 
Despair is a Passion of the Mind arising 
from the Apprehension of some Good, which 
we judge impossible to be obtained. In De- 
spair the Pulse is generally very obscure, un- 
equal, and sometimes almost lost and creep- 
ing, the spirituous and most fluid Parts of 
the Blood being dissipated, so as to leave the
Salts, Earth, and grosser Oil in too great a 
Proportion in the Body, which at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Vis- 
cidity of the Matter impacted in them, that 
thereby the Imagination is disordered. Thus 
dark Melancholy, slow and long Grief hope- 
less love, and presumptuous Pride (which is 
a violent Degree of Self-Love) impair the 
Body, by causing the proper Times of ne- 
cessary Food and Exercise to be neglected, 
X and

322 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and thereby depriving the natural Functions 
of their usual Supplies, overworking and 
wearing out some Part of the nervous System, 
and leaving the other, as it were, to rust, and
so become too rigid and stubborn for want of 
Use: Besides, some of the Passions, as Pride, 
Love, and Grief, when immoderate and in- 
tense, terminate oftentimes in Lunacy and 
Madness; nay farther, even the Frequency 
and daily Increase of wanton and common 
Self-Murderers, are chiefly produced by these 
inordinate Passions, and their blasphemous 
and frantick Apologies grafted on the Prin- 
ciples of Infidels, and propagated by their 
Disciples, scarce known or heard of, at least 
not practised, in any Christian Nation but 
this, and her Daughters; for it is a manifest 
Truth, that those who have no Notion or 
Thought of a future State, with regard to 
either Happiness Misery, cannot have the 
true Love of God; and therefore such will 
always give a full Scope to all the Excesses of 
their brutish Passions, till at last, through some 
Disappointment, or Despair in gratifying their 
Sensualities, they most atrociously lay violent 
Hands upon themselves, contrary to the very 
Dictates of both the Law of Nature and their 
own Reason, revealed Religion being always 
a mere Phantom in the Thoughts of all such 
unhappy Wretchess; and thus, alas! they 
wantonly destroy both Body and Soul at 
once. 
The

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
The Passions may be divided very properly 
into acute and chronical, in the same Manner, 
and for the same Reason, as Diseases are. The 
acute Passions, either pleasurable or painful, 
produce much the same Effect, and act much 
after the same Manner, as acute Diseases do; 
for they cause a brisk and lively Circulation
of the Fluids, and brace up and contract the 
Solids for some Time. Thus sudden Joy, 
Grief, Pleasure, or Pain, stimulate and 
contract the nervous Fibres, and the Coats 
of the animal Tubes, and thereby accelerate 
the Motion of the included Fluids, for the 
same Time; but as the Motions of the Heart 
and Lungs are involuntary, they produce their 
more immediate Effects upon them; so that 
both sudden Joy and Grief occasion short 
and quick Breathing, and a small and fre- 
quent Pulse. 
A sudden painful Idea renders a quicker 
Circulation of the Blood, whereby a greater 
Quantity of it is thrown upwards, through 
the larger Branches of the great Artery, from 
the Heart, and makes it appear in the super- 
ficial Vessels of the Face, Neck, and Breast, 
which prodcues what we call a Blush. Thus 
we see that the Reasons why we sigh upon 
some Occasions, and blush at other Times, 
depend upon the different Structure of the 
Heart and Lungs, being the Organs of Pul- 
sation and Respiration; for a quick surprizing
Pain of the Mind acts immediately upon the 
Heart, because its Motion is altogether invo- 
X2 luntary;

324 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
luntary; so that any sudden Contraction takes 
Place there directly, to accelerate the Pulse. 
On the other Hand, we have some Power o- 
ver the Breathing; for we can retain it for a 
little while; because, when we think in- 
tensely, our Attention is partly the Cause of 
retaining our Breath, from whence proceeds 
Sighing rather than Blushing. 
The Effects of the Suddenness of these 
Passions being thus accounted for; yet when 
they become extreme, they drive about the 
Blood with such Violence, that Nature is o- 
verwhelm'd, like a Mill by a very great 
Flood; insomuch that what drove it only 
brisker round before, intirely stops it now, and
renders the Complexion pale and ghastly. 
Thus sudden and great Fear or Grief so 
much convulse the whole System of the 
Nerves, that they alter the very Position of 
the Parts sometimes, and fix them in another 
Place; so that in a great Fright the Hair 
stands upright, and the whole nervous System 
becomes so stiff and rigid, that they lose their 
Elasticity; by which Means the animal 
Functions cease from all Motion, and then 
Fainting, and oftentimes Death succeeds. 
Chronical Passions are called all those slow 
Passion of a long standing, which, like chro- 
nical Diseases, waste, wear out, and con- 
sume the nervous System; for those Nerves 
which are necessary for administering Ideas to
the Imagination, being constantly employ'd, 
are impair'd, broken, and worn out; and the 
rest,


Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 325
rest, for want of being used, become stiff 
and unactive, dull and destitute of a sufficient 
Quantity of warm Blood and due Nourish- 
ment, as I have observed already; so that the 
whole Fabrick languishes, and runs into a 
total Decay at last. 
But as the Passions, when slow and long 
continued, relax, unbend, and dissolve the 
nervous Fibres too much, so the violent and 
sudden ones contract, stretch, and bend them
in too great a Degree, by which means the 
Fluids are hurried about with violent Rapi- 
dity; so that all the Secretions are either 
stopp'd by the Contractions, Cramps or Con- 
vulsions produced by those Passions, or are 
precipitated crude and indigested into the Ha- 
bit of the Body, and so beget, or at least
dispose it to, Inflammations, Fevers, and Mor- 
tifications: For Example, a sudden and high 
Degree of Anger, Hatred, and Malice, are 
but Degrees of Frenzy, and that is one kind 
of a raging Fever. Hence it is evident, that 
the violent and sudden Passions, which I call 
acute, are more dangerous to Health than 
the slow and continued chronical ones, as a- 
cute Diseases are more pernicious than chro- 
nical. 
From what has been said, it is manifest 
that the Passions have very great Influence on
Health, being of such Force as not only to 
hurry us into Numbers of Diseases, but like- 
wise to bring upon us oftentimes sudden and 
unprovided Death, But if we would prevent 
X3 the

326 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the ill Effects, and totally extirpate all the Evils 
arising from our Passions, we must necessari- 
ly lead a sober and virtuous Life; make use 
of our Reason, which, assisted with the Di- 
vine Spirit, is able to keep down the Surges 
of all our Passions, and is given us, by the in- 
finitely wise Creator, to be a Check and Bridle 
to prevent and restrain all their Extravagance: 
So that notwithstanding the great Force of 
our Passions, yet are we not left without a 
sufficient Power of Resistance; but to yield 
to them for want of exerting that Reason, by 
which we might restrain them, would be 
base Cowardice, unworthy a rational Being, 
and the blackest Ingratitude to the glorious
Author of all Happiness. Towards him all 
our Thoughts should be bent; in him all our 
Hopes should center: Nor should our Affec- 
tions cease flowing to him incessantly, not 
only as he rewards and recompences Virtue, 
but as it is a Remedy against all those various 
Diseases that are ingender'd by Excess in the 
Passions; For as the Love of God is a sove- 
reign Antidote against all other Miseries, so, 
in particular, it prevents effectually all the
bodily Disorders the Passions produce, by 
keeping them within due Bounds; and, by that 
unspeakable Joy and perfect calm Serenity 
and Tranquillity it gives the Mind, becomes 
the most powerful of all the Means of Health 
and long Life. Therefore, if thou wouldst 
enjoy good Health, love thy Creator, keep 
thyself virtuous, and regulate thy Passions. 
I shall

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 327
I shall conclude this Chapter with an ex- 
cellent Passage upon this subject, from Dr. 
Cheyney's Essay on Health and Long Life, 
which, in his own Words, is as follows. 
' If Men would but observe the Golden 
' Mean in all their Passions, Appetites, and
' Desires; if in all their Thoughts, Words, 
' and Actions, they would but mind, I will 
' not say the End of their Being and Exi- 
' stence here, but the End to which their 
' Thoughts, Words and Actions tended in 
' their last Resort; and lastly, if in the Gra- 
' tifications of their Appetites, Passions, and 
' Desires, they followed the uncorrupted 
' Dictates of Nature, and neither spurred her 
' on beyond her Craving, nor too violently 
' restrain'd her in her innocent Biass; they 
' would enjoy a greater Measure of Health 
' than they do, have their Sensations more 
' delicate, and their Pleasures more exqui- 
' site, live with less Pain, and die with less
' Horror. For had it not been for the Lewd- 
' ness, Luxury and intemperate Gratificati- 
' ons of the Passions and Appetites, which first 
' ruined and spoiled the Constitutions of the 
' Fathers, whereby they could communicate 
' only a diseased, crazy, † and untuneable 
' Carcass to their Sons; so that with the 
' World's Decay, vicious Souls and putrified
' Bodies have, in this our Age, arriv'd to 
' their highest and most exalted Degrees; I 
' say, had it not been for these Evils, there 
X4 ' never
† The Temperature of Humours in an animal Body.



328 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' never had happen'd so much Sickness, Pain 
' and Misery, so many unhappy Lives, and 
' such wretched Ends, as we now behold 
' among Men. 
' But even in this our lapsed Estate and 
' Condition, had the Dictates of Nature and
' Reason, not to say Religion, been follow- 
' ed, we might have passed our Days in In- 
' dolence (at least from chronical Distem- 
' pers) if not innocent Pleasures, arrived at 
' a good old Age, with our Senses free, and 
' our rational Faculties clear, and at last de- 
' parted in Peace, as a Lamp goes out for 
' want of Oil. And let the Gentlemen of 
' Wit and Fire, of Banter and Sneer, hug 
' themselves ever so much in their boasted 
' Tranquillity and Security, gratify their Pas- 
' sions, Appetites, and Humours to the full, 
' and despise Futurity and Whining; I dare 
' promise when the Farce is ended, and the 
' last Minutes are drawing on, they would 
' prefer a Life thus led, and an End so calm, 
' to all the Pleasures of Lewdness and Sen- 
' suality, and the Bounces of a false and ig- 
' norant Security.”
A

(329)
A 
GUIDE to HEALTH &c.
Part III.
CONTAINING 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, 
and curative Indications both Medicinal 
and Dietetical of acute and chronical 
Diseases; with the Nature and Use of 
BATHING and FRICTIONS. 
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I proceed upon Fevers, as 
mention has been so often made of 
acute and chronical Diseases, it will not be 
improper to give the English Readers a clear 
Account of their Nature and Difference in 
this Place. 
Acute Diseases then are such, as within 
some short limited Time have their Periods 
either of a perfect Crisis and subsequent Re- 
covery, or of putting an End to Life and
the





330 The INTRODUCTION. 
the Disease both together; and they are there- 
fore called quick, sharp, or acute Diseases, 
being attended with an increased Velocity of 
the Blood; the Symptoms of which are more 
violent, their Duration shorter, and their 
Periods more quick, terminating either in a 
sudden Death, or a Victory over the Distem- 
per, and they are generally limited within 
forty Days. 
But those Diseases that run out longer be- 
come chronical, whose Periods are more 
slow, their Symptoms less severe, and their 
Duration longer: and they likewise would, 
by the Course and Efforts of Nature, and 
the animal Oeconomy, have their Periods, and 
terminate at last, if fresh Fuel had not been 
frequently added to them by Intemperance 
and Debauchery; for the Viscidity of the 
Fluids, and the Laxity of the Fibres, would 
be removed in time, by proper Remedies and 
a due Regimen, and so People would recover 
in these as well as in acute Disorders. 
But as this requires long Time, much Care, 
and great Caution, Patience, and Perseve- 
rance; and so long and continual a Course of 
Self-denial, that few People are willing to 
undergo it; so that it is become the Reproach 
of both Physick and Physicians, that acute 
Cases are cured by themselves, or rather that 
Nature cures them, and that chronical Dis- 
orders are never cured, as a great many do 
falsly









The INTRODUCTION. 331
falsly assert: for in acute Cases, Art and Care 
judiciously and timely applied, will always 
asswage the Symptoms and Suffering, and like- 
wise forward Nature to the Relief she points
out, and hasten the Crisis, which it will con- 
stantly bring about if the Disease is not too 
great for the Constitution; and even then it 
will allay the Pain, and lay the Patient gently
down. 
And as for the last Case, if due Care be 
had to follow seasonably the Advice of an 
honest and experienced Physician, certainly 
a Period may be brought about in most chro- 
nical Diseases, provided the great Viscera or 
Bowels are not spoiled and destroyed. And 
the Fault is commonly in the Patient him- 
self, who will not, or cannot deny himself 
for a sufficient time to bring about the Cure. 
There are some chronical Diseases indeed, 
such as either by having been gone too far, 
or by being hereditary, and interwoven with 
the Principles of Life, are never to be radi- 
cally cur'd or got over: and these last must 
rest contented with that Measure of Health 
their original Frame will admit of. Yet I 
am morally certain, that if the Rules and 
Directions set down in this Treatise, be care- 
fully and constantly observ'd and steadily pur- 
sued, very few chronical Distempers but will 
receive such Relief and Ease by them, as to 
render the remainder of Life tolerably easy, 
and free from grievous Sufferings; and that 
is

332 The INTRODUCTION. 
is all that is left for Art to do in the above- 
mention'd Case. But in other chronical Dis- 
eases, where the Bowels are not quite vici- 
ated, and taken in due time, by observing and
steadily following the same Rules, would in- 
fallibly bring about a perfect Cure. 
In acute Diseases, a quick Pulse is a cer- 
tain and distinguishing Sign; but in chroni- 
cal Cases it is slow: and the first consumes 
the Fluids, and wears out the Solids in a 
short Time; but the last will require a lon- 
ger Time to produce the same Effects. Some 
acute Diseases terminate sometimes in chro- 
nical ones; and some chronical Distempers 
towards the last fatal Period of Life turn 
acute. 
CHAP.



(333)
CHAP. I. 
Of FEVERS, both in general and particular. 
A Fever is an inordinate Motion, 
and too great an Effervescence 
of the Blood, attended with Cold first, and
afterwards with Heat, Thirst, and other 
Symptoms, whereby the animal Oeconomy is 
variously disturb'd; or according to our En- 
glish Hippocrates, Dr. SYDENHAM, 
' A Fever is nothing else but the 
' Effort of Nature to free herself of some 
' morbifick Matter, which she finds injuri- 
' ous, in order to establish a better Health.”
A Fever 
what
Sydenham's
Definition.
The learned Boerhaave says, that 
a Fever is the most frequent Di-
stemper that happens, an inseparable Com- 
panion of Inflammations of all kinds, and 
is ever attended with a manifold variety of
Symptoms. 
Boerhaave's
Sentiments.
In every Fever from an internal 
Cause, the three chief observable 
Symptoms are, first, an universal Trembling, 
then a quick Pulse, and an increased Heat, 
various as to Time and Degrees. When the 
Symptoms are very urgent, and very hastily 
make their Progress, the Fever is called acute;
but when more mild and gentle, it is deno- 
The Symptoms.
minated


334 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
minated a slow Fever. And a Fever almost
always begins with a sort of cold Shivering, 
soon after the Pulse growing quicker, affords
the primary Diagnostick * of a Fever; so 
that an increased Velocity of the Contraction 
of the Heart, together with a greater Re- 
sistance at the capillary Vessels, make up the
Idea of an acute Distemper, which may be 
produced by an infinite number of Causes. 
The Health of the Patient seems to be the 
primary Aim of Nature in Fevers; notwith- 
standing, Fevers often end in Death, and 
sometimes they degenerate into some other 
Diseases. 
The general 
Cure. 
The general Cure of Fevers is 
summarily comprehended in con- 
sulting the Strength of Nature, in correcting
and discharging Acrimony from the Blood, in 
dissolving gross Humours, and expelling them, 
and in mitigating the Symptoms: and if we 
perceive the Symptoms to run high, and 
Nature to grow exorbitant, we moderate it 
by enjoining Abstinence, a slender and cool- 
ing Diet, drinking tepid Water a little aci- 
dulated, Bleeding, cooling Clysters, &c. But 
if Nature seems to be too sluggish, she is to 
be excited by Cordials, Aromaticks, and Vo- 
latiles, &c. 
Of the Symptoms.
The Cause of the Fever be- 
ing taken away, the Symptoms 
will cease, in as much as they primarily de- 
pend
* Is that Judgment of a Disease that is taken from the pre- 
sent Symptoms, and Condition of the Patient. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 335
pend upon it; so that if they can be born 
without Danger of Life, they scarce require 
any particular Cure, nor many times are they 
to be interrupted without great Caution; but 
if they be unseasonable, and too violent, 
they are to be mitigated with proper Reme- 
dies, due Regard being had to the Cause and 
State of the Distemper. 
In the beginning of Fevers, 
if the Stomach has a natural 
Inclination to cast, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to give a Vomit; for else in
the Progress of the Fever, a Looseness will 
be apt to break forth, which may be of dan- 
gerous Consequence: and the proper time to 
give an Emetick is indeed in the Beginning; 
however, if it should happen to have been 
omitted, it may be given at any time of 
the Distemper, provided there be sufficient 
Strength to bear the Operation, and after it
some Anodyne, or quieting Medicine. After- 
wards, if Bleeding be not indicated, and 
there be no Looseness, a Clyster may be ad- 
minister'd every other Day, until the tenth or 
twelvth, at which time Nature inclining 
towards a Crisis, in my Opinion, some warm- 
ing Medicines may be given to hasten the 
Concoction. If the feverish Ebullition pro- 
ceeds regularly, and in due order, there seems
to be no need of giving any Medicines at all; 
for as much as the Depuration of the Blood 
is wholly and solely the Work of Nature. 
The Benefit of ex- 
hibiting a Vomit. 
Commonly


336 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Purge may be 
given towards 
the End with 
Advantage. 
Commonly about the 15th 
Day, if there be a laudable Se- 
paration in the Urine, and a Re- 
mission of the Symptoms, a 
gentle Purge ought to be given, left the no-
xious Humours secreted from the Blood be- 
ing absorbed again into it, should cause a Re- 
lapse; notwithstanding it is sometimes requi- 
site to defer the purging until the 17th Day. 
From repeated Trials, I affirm, that no- 
thing does so certainly and powerfully cool 
the Body as Purging after Bleeding; and 
any one may find it in Experience true, that
it abates and allays a Fever beyond any Re- 
medies whatever, both as it cleanses the In- 
testines, and prepares the Way for an Ano- 
dyne. Sydenham in his Schedula Monitor 
ria. 
The Cause of 
Fevers. 
The Cause of a Fever, accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, De Medic. 
Vet. ' is not Heat alone, but Heat
' and Bitterness together, Heat and Acidity, 
' Heat and Saltness, and an innumerable other 
' Combinations in the Blood.' It is however 
known by Experience, that Persons from 
found and perfect Health, where there has 
been neither Plethora, nor any ill Habit of 
Body to cause it, have fallen into a Fever; 
because some very extraordinary Change in 
the Air, or an Abuse in some of the rest of 
the Non-natural have happen'd; therefore 
found Bodies on such Occasions may, and 
are seized with a Fever, in order that their 
Blood



Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 337
Blood may acquire a new State and Condi- 
tion to accommodate itself thereby to the Al- 
teration of the Air, and the Way of Living, 
&c. 
By how much the more acute a 
Fever is, by so much the more 
sparing and slender the Diet ought 
to be; for in Fevers, tho' they lie many Days 
without eating any thing, it is so much the 
better, for no one ever starv'd to Death in a 
Fever; but rather upon eating and drinking 
the Fever would be exasperated; because in 
taking of Food, the Appetite prescribes the 
Rule, the Quantity, the Quality, and the 
Time. 
A Rule of 
Diet. 
The most natural and general 
Division of Fevers is into Essential 
and Symptomatick. 
Division of 
Fevers. 
An essential Fever is such, whose primary 
Cause lies in the Blood itself, which derives 
its Original from no other Distemper of the 
solid Parts of the Body, or is any way de- 
pending on them, and this is properly called 
a Fever. 
A symptomatick Fever is a secondary Fe- 
ver, which does not properly subsist of it- 
self, but owes its Original to the Disorder of 
some particular solid Part, and most com- 
monly depends on some remarkable Inflam- 
mation, from whence the Variety of inflam- 
matory Fevers so called. 
An essential Fever is divided into a Diary 
or Ephemεra, a continual, continent or re- 
mitting, and an intermittent Fever.
Y A





338 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Diary or Ephemera, so called by the 
Greeks, is the least compound of Continual 
Fevers, which doth begin, increase, arrive at 
its Height, and decline within the Space of 
24 Hours: It is occasion'd by the scorching 
Heat of the Sun, too much Exercise, or 
by some other Error committed in the Non- 
naturals. The Cure is easily perform'd by 
Abstinence, Rest, and Diluting. But if the 
said Fever lasts several Days, it is called a 
continual, not putrid Fever: Its Causes, 
Signs, and Cure, are the same, and chiefly 
require large Bleeding, and a cooling Diet 
and Medicines. 
A continual putrid Fever, call'd 
by the Greeks, Synochos, is that 
Sort of Fever which is continual, 
without any distinct Paroxysms or Remis- 
sions, but for many Days continues much 
the same, until it has run its full Length, 
and then its Period is determin'd; and it is 
distinguished from the preceding, by its being 
* putrid: of this Kind are malignant Fevers, 
pestilential Fevers, and even the Plague it- 
self. 
A putrid Fe- 
ver what. 
It proceeds from the following 
Causes, as flight Inflammations, an 
Obstruction of the Bowels, a Constriction of 
The Causes.
the
* A Fever is said to be putrid, where the Humours or 
Part of them have so little circulatory Motion, that they fail 
into an intestine one and putrify, as is commonly the Case 
after great Evacuations, or great and excessive Heat, where 
there is such a Scarcity of Spirits, that the Solids cannot suf- 
ficiently vibrate. 




Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 339
the Pores of the Skin, a Stoppage of almost 
all the capillary Vessels, and a very sharp Acri- 
mony in the Fluids. 
It is known by an intense Heat 
even to the Touch of the Finger or 
Hand, by a Pulse not only feverish. 
but at the same time unequal and inordinate; 
a thick, red, turbid Urine, and crude with- 
out any Sediment; from a hot and sanguine 
Constitution, Age and Complexion.
Diagnostick
Signs. 
This Distemper is more dangerous 
and mortal, as the Pulse is weaker, 
quicker, more unequal in Strength, 
more irregular as to Time, and more inter- 
mitting in its Stokes; as Breathing is more 
difficult, frequent, short, with a great Mo- 
tion of the Nostrils, the more painful about 
the Vitals, and the more inordinate in its 
Time; as Weariness and Weakness are 
greater, the Tossing of the Body more fre- 
quent; as the Urine is higher colour'd, thick- 
er, muddier, with the least Sediment; or as 
the same is thinner, more watry, more spar- 
ing, and difficultly retained; as the Patient 
trembles and shakes more, chiefly in his Hands 
and Lips, shy of being felt, plays with his 
Fingers and Hands, and as it were catches at 
Flies, or some Things he fancies to see upon 
the Bed-clothes, and about him; and as his 
Eyes appear more sorrowful and moist with 
involuntary Tears. Moreover, when the Pa- 
tient labours much in his Sleep, and wakes 
worse after it; when either livid or purple 
Prognostick 
Signs.
Y2 Spots











340 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Spots appear upon the Body, the Sides of the
Belly stiff and blown up, then Death is at 
hand. 
Continual putrid Fevers commonly require 
Bleeding in the Beginning, according to the 
Strength and Constitution of the Patient; but 
Malignant and Intermitting Fevers seldom 
admit of it: And in the Progress of all Fevers, 
when they draw near the Height, Bleeding 
is prejudicial, according to the unanimous 
Opinion of the Antients: For Cœlius Aure- 
lianus, Celsus, and the rest, allowed Bleed- 
ing only in the first three Days of a Fever, 
and not after; but there is no general Rule 
without an Exception. 
As for the Cure of the Symptoms, or ra- 
ther the Mitigation of them, which are more 
than ordinary pressing, they shall be account- 
ed for in another Place, where I shall treat 
of the Symptoms of Fevers in general: But 
here I must observe, that, in a putrid Fever 
the Patient ought to dilute plentifully with 
subacid Liquors, and take such Medicines as 
resist Putrefaction, such as the Juice of Le- 
mons and Salt of Wormwood made up into 
Draughts, or Mixtures, &c. 
A continent 
or remit- 
ting Fever. 
A continent or remitting Fever, 
called by the Greeks, Synechos, is in 
fact a continual Fever in regard to its 
Duration, tho' not in Degree: For it continues
many Days together without Intermission; but 
then it has its periodical Returns of Exaspe- 
ration and Remission, either every Day, or
every


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 341
every other Day, but no thorough Intermis- 
sion; nor has it any cold Shiverings, after the
manner of Agues or Intermittents. About the 
End of every Paroxysm, when the Violence 
of the Fever begins to remit, Sweats general- 
ly ensue, and the Urine, which during the 
Height of the Fit was intensely high-colour'd, 
in these Intervals of Remission usually depo- 
sits a laudable Sediment, which is the true 
Characteristick of a continent or simple re- 
mitting Fever. 
There is likewise a spurious 
Kind of remitting Fever, which 
is attended with outrageous Symptoms of the 
nervous Kind, imitating Rheumatisms, Pleu- 
nisies, Colicks, and other inflammatory or spas- 
modick Distempers: It also often affects the 
glandulous Parts, producing from thence ma- 
nifold Excretions, causing Vomitings, Cholera 
Morbus, Diarrhœa, Bloody-flux, &c. which 
greatly obscure the fundamental Signs of this 
Fever, rendering the Paroxysms or Fits un- 
certain as to their Access and Duration: For 
by how much more the Evacuations and 
Pains, now mention'd, are augmented, by so 
much the febrile Heat is diminish'd and the 
Pulse weaken'd, and vice versa. 
Of the Spurious 
A simple remitting Fever, as such, 
and as long as it remains such, is very 
seldom, if ever, mortal; for before it be- 
comes fatal it changes its Type and Kind, and 
degenerates into a continual malignant Fever. 
But the spurious Kind, tho' it is not in its 
Prognostick.
Y3 own



342 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
own Nature mortal, yet on the Account of 
the violent Symptoms accompanying it, it 
pretty frequently proves so. The more regu- 
lar the Fits are in point of Time, and the 
longer the Remissions are, the less dangerous 
they are, and vice versa. 
The Evacuations which Nature makes in 
these Fevers seldom procure any Benefit, they
being for the most part symptomatical. But 
the critical and salutary Evacuations are ei- 
ther by Sweats or Spitting; the first is the 
quickest, tho' the latter is equally certain, 
yet slow and troublesome. During the In- 
crease of the Distemper, it is a bad Sign if 
the Urine gradually changes thin and pale, 
and the Pulse becomes quicker, weak, and 
staggering, &c. On the contrary, a strong and 
constant Pulse, Urine much tinctured with 
Redness, and full of Settlement, particularly 
when there is a laudable Sediment, and the 
Distemper is come to the State or Height, 
they are good Signs. 
The Cure. 
A simple remitting Fever gives 
way to the Bark, as certainly as an 
intermitting one: For the feverish Ferment 
in both is almost the same. The Efficacy of 
the same Medicine in curing a spurious remit- 
ting Fεver, is almost as certain as in a simple 
one, provided it be rightly administer'd, Re- 
gard being had to the more violent Symp- 
toms; but it has not so quick an Effect, be- 
cause the Distemper is greater and stronger, 
and therefore requires a greater Quantity of 
the

Ch. I. 343 thro' the various Stages of Life.  343
the Medicine: So that the radical Care of 
these Fevers consists in the regular giving and 
Repetition of the Peruvian Bark, with due 
Regard to a proper Diet in all such Diseases. 
It will be necessary, in order to establish a 
rational Method of Cure of con- 
tinual Fevers; to have Regard to 
the Division of them into burning
and slow Fevers, because the Method of 
treating each of these is vastly different. 
A Division in- 
to burning and 
slow Fevers. 
Of a Burning Fever. 
In a Burning Fever the Person is 
affected with a most ardent Heat, a 
Dryness of the whole Skin, of the 
Nostrils, Ears, Mouth, and Tongue: Respi- 
ration is thick, difficult, and quick; the 
Tongue dry, yellow, black, rough, and burnt
up; Thirst unquenchable, sometimes going 
off suddenly without any other good Sign; an 
Aversion from all Sorts of Aliment; a Nau- 
seating, Vomiting, Anguish, Uneasiness, a 
great Weariness, a little Cough, a hollow 
Voice, a Delirium, Phrensy, obstinate Wake- 
fulness, Dozing, Convulsions; and on the odd 
Days a renewing and increase of the Fever.
The chief 
Symptoms.  
A Burning Fever very often kills 
on the third or fourth Day; it seldom 
gets over the seventh, if it be a perfect 
Causus: It often goes off with an Hœmor- 
rhage, which if but small and sparing on the 
third or fourth Day, the Fever commonly 
proves mortal: This may be foretold from 
Progno- 
sticks. 
Y4 the

344 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
the Patient's complaining of a Pain in the 
Neck, Heaviness of the Temples, Dimness 
of the Sight, a Working and Labouring of 
the Heart and Lungs without any Sense of 
Pain, involuntary Tears, without any other fa- 
tal Signs, Redness of the Face, and Itching of 
the Nostrils; but if it happens on a critical 
Day, it is most advantageous. A Solution of
this Fever also on a critical Day, may be 
expected by Vomiting, Looseness, Sweating, 
much Urine, spitting thick Phlegm; but 
growing worse on the second or fourth Day 
is a very bad Sign, on the sixth not so bad: 
Black Urine, thin and small in Quantity, is 
mortal; spitting of Blood and bloody Urine, 
are mortal; a Difficulty of swallowing is a 
bad Sign; nothing worse than Coldness of the
extreme Parts; the Face red and sweaty, is 
bad; a Swelling behind the Ears and not 
ripening, is mortal; the Belly too loose, fatal; 
a Trembling turning to a Delirium, ends in 
Death. This Fever often changes to an In- 
flammation of the Lungs, with a Delirium 
attending it. 
The Regimen in such a Fever is, 
keeping the Air of the Room pure and 
cool, untainted with Fire, or Smoke, or the 
Breaths of many People; and they ought to 
have no more Bed-cloaths than barely defends 
them from Cold; their Curtains ought to be 
kept open, so as to renew the Air; and their 
Posture in lying as erect as they can well 
bear. 
Regimen.
Their

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 345
Their Drink should be cool, mild, sub- 
acid, tepid, given in moderate Quantities, 
and often, as Water with Juice of Lemon or 
Tamarinds. Their Aliment out to be light, 
of mealy Vegetables, as Water-gruel, Prepa- 
rations of Barley, with some Juice of Lemon; 
Rice boil'd in Whey and strain'd; roasted 
Apples in the Progress of the Disease; a little 
toasted Bread sometimes, with Rhenish Wine 
and Water; Jelly of Currants; Broaths and 
Jellies made of Animal Substances, and quali- 
fied with Juice of Lemon or some other Acid, 
may be sometimes allowed. 
Bleeding is requisite in the Be- 
ginning of the Distemper, if there be
the Signs of a Plethora, or of a particular In- 
flammation, or that the Heat is intolerable, 
the Sweat too great, a Revulsion be necessary, 
the Symptoms very urgent, and hardly to be 
master'd by any other Means; in these Cases 
Bleeding is of an absolute Necessity. Some- 
times also gentle and cooling Clysters are to be
given, as often as the Heat of the Distemper 
or Costiveness shall require them. Diluents 
will likewise be proper, and Nitrous Me- 
dicines, and such as very gently loosen the
Belly. 
The Cure.
Here it will not be improper to take parti- 
cular Notice of what Walschmidius says, viz. 
A malignant Fever often in the Beginning ap- 
pears in the Shape of a Causus or burning Fever;
so that a Physician ought to be cautious lest he 
should fall into a Mistake about it; therefore 
let

346 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
let him be diligent to inform himself, whether 
the Patient complains of an Anxiety or Uneasi- 
ness at his Heart, a sudden Loss of Strength, 
and other grievous Symptoms: Let him also 
examine the Urine, &c. for the Cure of these
Fevers is very different. 
A Calenture is a Fever peculiar to Mariners, 
of a high inflammatory Nature. Those that 
are seiz'd with this Distemper are affected
with a peculiar Sort of Delirium; for they 
frequently say they will walk into the green
Fields, which they always seem to have in 
View, thinking they are just going into them, 
and, unless they are kept by Force, they jump 
into the Sea; and that is an inseparable Sign 
of this Distemper. Young lusty Men, of a 
sanguine Complexion, are most subject to it. 
The Cure chiefly consists in plentiful bleed- 
ing and diluting.
Of Slow Fevers.  
Slow Fevers, tho' they are not so acute as 
the Burning or Putrid Fevers, yet they are 
however continual, as they constantly afflict
the Patient labouring under them; but they 
pass through their several Stages more slowly, 
for which reason they are of a longer Conti- 
nuance, and the Symptoms not so violent. 
Catarrhal 
Fevers. 
In the Class of Slow Fevers we 
may justly reckon Catarrhal Fe- 
vers, which in the Beginning and 
Increase are attended with a Catarrh, a Run- 
ing at the Nose, a Cough, Hoarseness, &c.
These

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 347 
These Fevers are for the most part gentle and 
slow in the Day-time, and commonly some- 
what worse in the Evening: They are also 
attended with great Weariness of the Limbs, 
and the Symptoms continue, with an Increase 
of the Running at the Nose and Cough, till 
the Distemper rises to its highest Pitch, when
the Matter of the Catarrh is ripen'd, and the 
Mucus becoming thicker, is discharged, and 
the Fever goes off. The Seat of this Disease 
is in the Conglobate Glands †, more particu- 
larly occasioned by some Obstructions in the 
Pituitous Glands. 
A Decoction of Sassafras, with Li- 
quorish-root and Raisins, is very pro- 
per in Catarrhal Fevers, on account of the 
Acrimony of the Humours; likewise the 
Juice of Turnips, with a little Sugar; Vola- 
tiles and gentle Sudorificks; a Solution of 
Gum Arabick, and whatever besides is pro- 
per in Coughs and Hoarsenesses, will be like- 
wise useful in this Case. 
The Cure.
Besides the fore-mentioned, there 
are likewise Lymphatick or Pitui- 
tous Fevers, occasioned by the Fault of the
Lymphatick 
Fever.  
Pituita
† A Conglobate Gland is a little smoofh Body or Kernel, 
wrapp'd up in a fine Skin, by which it is separated from all 
the other Parts, only admitting an Artery and Nerve to pass 
in, and giving Way to a Vein and excretory Canal to come 
out. Of this Sort are the Glands in the Brain, as the Pi- 
tuitous Gland, the Pinealis Gland, the Glands of the Mesen- 
tery, Groin, Testes, and Labia: All the rest of the Glands in 
the Body are called conglomerated Glands, being composed of 
many conglobate Glands, tied together and wrapp'd up in one 
common Membrane. 


348 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pituita of the Conglomerate Glands, which 
discharge their Juice into some certain Cavity, 
of which the Parotid Glands and the Pan-
creas are remarkable, discharging the Liquors 
separated into the Mouth and Intestines, and 
consequently into the Mass of Blood; which 
Humours, when vitiated, become viscid, salt, 
and sharp, produce these Fevers, which are 
likewise sometimes not improperly call'd Scor- 
butick Fevers. Continual Acute Fevers, and 
sometimes Intermittents, degenerate into these 
Slow Fevers, and sometimes into Hecticks; 
and the Original of these Fevers is most com- 
monly in the Stomach, proceeding from In- 
digestion and Crudities. 
The Cure 
Therefore a gentle Vomit, as well 
in the Beginning as in the Increase 
of these Slow Fevers, ought to pave the Way 
for the Cure; and afterwards the Viscidity and
Acrimony to be corrected; and the Symptoms 
are to be mitigated, and the Stomach to be 
strengthen'd, &c. for which Purpose vitro- 
lated Tartar, Testaceous Powder, Diaphore- 
ticks, and Volatile Salts, &c. are proper. 
Of Intermitting Fevers. 
An Intermitting Fever is a præ- 
ternatural Heat, kindled in the 
Blood by an unusual Expansion of the Spirits, 
returning at certain Periods. In this kind of 
Fever a Chilness, Shivering, Heat, and Sweats 
successively follow one another. The Fit is 
attended with an universal Sickness, Nause- 
The Definition.
ousness,

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 349
ousness, and Vomiting; Pain of the Head, 
Loins, &c. The Paroxysm or Fit is very 
acute, but the Distemper in itself generally 
more or less chronical. 
A simple Intermitting Fever is easily known, 
for it discovers itself of its own Accord; and
how great a Variety soever there may be of 
them, let them be either Quotidians, Tertians, 
Quartans, &c. the morbifick Ferment of all 
is the same, which certainly yields to the 
Force of the Peruvian Bark, if duly and
skillfully administer'd. 
The common Species of Intermitting Fe- 
vers are simple Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; double Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; half Tertians, half Quartans, &c. There 
are likewise Intermitting Fevers which return 
every fifth, sixth, or seventh Day. 
Intermitting Fevers in this Country are 
sometimes very obstinate, often returning in 
spite of all Remedies; and by long Continu- 
ance they degenerate into Hepatical Fevers, 
and many chronical Distempers, as Jaundice, 
Dropsy, Schirrus's, and Scurvies; therefore 
in this Disease a right Method, both of Me- 
dicines and Diet, is very necessary. 
We should begin the Cure with a Vomit, 
or Purge, according to the Strength, Age, 
and Condition of the Patient, and afterwards 
administer the Bark often between the Fits, 
in good large Doses; but if the Patient's 
Strength and present Case will not allow of a 
Vomit or Purge, then the Bark should be 
given,

350 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
given, without any previous Preparation at all; 
and there is a different Regimen to be used 
during the Continuance and Absence of the 
Paroxysm, and in the Paroxysm itself, during 
the Rigor or cold Fit, the Heat and the 
Sweat. 
During the Rigor nothing is more proper 
than a Draught of warm Water, with a little 
Rhenish Wine, or Juice of Lemon and Su- 
gar, which dilutes and relaxes at the same 
Time, and will make the Symptoms wholly 
abate, and terminate the cold Fit sooner, and
throw the Patient into a Sweat, than the 
warmest Cordial. In this Case likewise strong 
Frictions of the Extremities relieve very much; 
Proper Care must be taken to shorten the Pe- 
riod as much as possible, and by warm Dilu- 
ents a little acidulated, to bring on the Sweat 
soon, but not to push it beyond its due Mea- 
sure; because an Intermitting Fever of itself 
relaxes and weakens the Body extremely. 
Between the Fits too great Abstinence is 
hurtful, as much as too great Repletion. As 
Intermitting Fevers are often of long Conti- 
nunace, extreme Abstinence is impracticable, 
and would reduce the Patient to a Condition 
not to be able to sustain the Shock of the 
next Attack. 
Between the Fits, such Substances as tem- 
per, correct and subdue the bilious Alkali, as 
acid Substances, nitrous Salts, small thin Wines, 
Chicken-Broth with Juice of Lemon, Wine 
with Bitters infus'd, are proper. 
Ex-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 351
Exercise, to as great a Degree as the Pa- 
tient can bear, is extremely beneficial between
the Fits. Bleeding in Intermitting Fevers 
seldom does any Good, but oftentimes a great 
deal of Harm; yet the Patient's Condition is 
to be considered in this Case. 
But there are spurious Intermitting Fevers, 
as was observ'd of Remittents: Their Symp- 
toms are sometimes very urgent and violent, 
and their fundamental Signs are disguised un- 
der the Appearance of some other Distem- 
per, as Vomiting, Diarrhœa, and some great 
Pain, &c. The true and genuine Sign of 
the real primary Distemper being chiefly 
known by the Exasperation and Remission of 
those violent Symptoms, and by the Urine of 
a Brick-dust Colour; but these spurious or 
illegitimate Intermittents creating a great 
Variety of direful Symptoms, such as enor- 
mous Vomitings, Griping, Looseness, Cholera 
Morbus, Colicks, Pains in the Side like pleu- 
ritick Pains, Apoplexies, Pains on one Side of 
the Head, Spasms or Cramps, nephritick 
Pains, &c. 
Notwithstanding the great Va- 
riety there may be of these Disor- 
ders, in their manifold Shapes and Forms, 
yet they all depend upon one and the same 
Ferment, and are certainly cured with that 
one fovereign Antidote the Peruvian Bark, 
if prudently administer'd, as well as any other 
Intermitting Fever. 
The Cure.
No

352 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Prognostick.
No one has been known to die 
of an Intermitting Fever, except it 
be in the cold Fit, that Excess of Coldness 
arising from a Viscidity in the Blood, and an
absolute Oppression of the Spirits. 
The proximate 
Cause of In- 
termitting 
Fevers. 
After an accurate Examination 
into the whole History of Inter- 
termitting Fevers, the proximate 
Cause is assign'd to be the Visco- 
sity of the arterial Liquid, there happening at
the same Time some Cause or other for a 
quicker and stronger Contraction of the Heart, 
and a Dissolution of the stagnating Viscidi- 
ties. Boerhaave. 
Having thus far treated of Benign Fevers, I 
shall now proceed to give the Reader a suc- 
cinct and clear Account 
Of Malignant Fevers. 
Diagnostick.
The first Sign of a Malignant 
Fever, is a remarkable Loss of 
Strength on a sudden, without any mani- 
fest Cause, with a weak Pulse: The external 
Heat is not so violent as in some other Fevers; 
the internal Heat is rather greater. It is attend- 
ed from the very Beginning with obstinate 
Watchings, and anxious Uneasiness: The 
Sick complains and shews the Region of the 
Stomach, or the Heart; the Urine is not 
unlike that of a Person in Health; the Coun- 
tenance looks hideous sometimes, and much 
changed from the natural State, sometimes of
a livid Colour. 
The Reason why the feverish Heat and 
Ebulli-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 353
Ebullition in these Fevers, is not do great as 
in other Fevers, is entirely owing to the Ma- 
lignity which has seiz'd the Blood; and is 
rather a Sign of some great Disorder of the 
Spirits, which are greatly affected, and as it 
were sphacelated or deaden'd, than of any 
Disturbance in the Humours; or it may be 
sometimes the said Disorders may be propa- 
gated into the Humours, especially the Blood, 
from the malignant Taints; from which 
arises great Confusion, and an inordinate in- 
testine Motion, which indeed produce an in- 
ternal Heat, but is not carried so sensibly to
the external Parts. By this means Nature 
being, as it were, oppress'd, is not able to 
exert those Symptoms more regularly, which 
are agreeable to, and might attend the Dis- 
ease. 
There is a great Variety of Malignant Fe- 
vers, on account of the Diversity of their 
Symptoms: In some there are very remark- 
able cutaneous Efflorescencies; in some more
abundantly, in others less; and in some no 
such Appearances at all; others, in fine, are 
attended with other kind of Symptoms. 
Some assert, from microscopical Observa- 
tions, that in all malignant Fevers and gan- 
grenous Ulcers, there is so great a Putrefac- 
tion of the Blood, that it gives Occasion for 
the Generation of a Multitude of little Worms, 
from whence they believe the great Variety 
of Symptoms so vexatious do arise; but these 
Worms cannot be bred without a preceding 
Z Putre-

354 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Putrefaction; and the Blood in Malignant Fe- 
vers is preternaturally fluid, insomuch that 
when it is let out of the Body it will not co- 
agulate as usually; but this is the Product of
the Distemper, and not the Cause. 
The very naming a Malignant 
Fever strikes a Terror into Mankind; 
because all Malignant Fevers are very 
dangerous, and as to the Event very uncertain; 
which made Galen assert that Malignant Fe- 
vers will not admit of a Prognostick. Deaf- 
ness in the Beginning portends the greatest 
Danger, but in the Height of the Distemper 
it is a favourable Symptom; but bleeding at
the Nose and a Looseness through the whole 
Course of the Distemper, are very bad Signs: 
And it is almost always reckon'd a very bad 
Symptom when they employ their Hands as if 
they were catching Flies, or picking up Straws 
or Bits of Threads. If on or about the eleventh
Day Buboes arise in the Groin, it betokens
well, and terminates the Fever. 
The Prog- 
nosticks.
The Cure, 
according 
to Etmuller 
and others. 
Malignant Fevers by no Means 
admit of Bleeding; for the more 
malignant they are, the more Mis- 
chief it would do, and the farther 
from the Beginning the worse. Vomits in 
the very Beginning of the Distemper are a- 
bove all Things exceedingly proper; but 
then they should be given before any cuta- 
neous Eruptions appear, otherwise the Op- 
portunity is lost; and afterwards the Cure 
is to be endeavoured by Medicines, and 
Sub-


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 355
Substances that procure Sweating, Nature 
herself teaching us so much; for frequently 
Sweating carries off the Cause and Fewel of
the Distemper. 
The greater the Malignity is, the more 
Sudorificks, or sweating Medicines, are to be
employ'd, regard being always had to the 
Nature of the Distemper, and its Diversity, 
as also the Strength of the Patient. Sudori- 
ficks are to be given at least three or four 
Times in twenty-four Hours; Analepticks 
and moderate Acids are to be used in the in- 
termediate Times, amongst which dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre is very good; also Tincture of
Saffron extracted with sweet Spirit of Nitre; 
likewise the Juice of Citrons and Quinces;
&c. Camphire is a noble Alexipharmick, but 
every Body cannot bear the Use of it, espe- 
cially some Women, and studious Men, whose 
animal Spirits are easily moved and dissipated. 
Blisters are of singular Use in the State or 
Height of the Distemper. The volatile Salts 
of Hartshorn, and of Vipers, are Sudorificks, 
and resist Malignity; and here the Mistura 
Simplex of Paracelsus takes Place, as well as 
in all pestilential Fevers, being a very noble
Remedy. Its Dose is from one Dram to 
two, to be given once in six or eight Hours, 
a proper Vehicle. 
Notwithstanding Bleeding in this Disease 
has been, and is accounted dangerous by a 
great many Practitioners, it only proves so 
when it is triflingly performed; for if a large 
Z2 Quantity


356 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Quantity of Blood be taken away in the very
Beginning, it secures the Party from Danger. 
But Bleeding had better been quite omitted, 
than not to be performed to a large Quantity, 
even almost to Fainting; and to prevent 
Fainting the Patient ought to be let Blood in 
his Bed. It is to be minded, that where 
there is a Plethora, or the Patient is of a strong
Constitution, more Blood may be taken a- 
way than in a weakly or a phlegmatick Con- 
stitution. After a sufficient Evacuation by 
Bleeding, plentiful Sweating must be pro- 
cured by proper Medicines and Drinks, such 
as Venice Treacle, Mithridate, Diascordium, 
London Treacle, Camphire. Lapis Contrayerva, 
Pulvis ad Guttetam, Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Confection, Treacle-water. Plague-water, Ca- 
stor, Saffron, Cochineal, &c. Of these and 
the like many excellent Sweats may be fram'd 
into either Bolus's, Draughts, or Mixtures, 
interlac'd with nitrous Medicines and Acids, 
according to the Exigency of the Case. When 
Spots appear, neither Bleeding, Vomiting, nor 
even Glysters are to be administered, but Su- 
dorificks and Blisters. 
If the Blood tends to a Dissolution, sweat- 
ing Medicines and spirituous Cordials are very 
improper; but Emulsions, acidulated Drinks, 
and the like, with Bezoarticks, Nitre, and 
gentle astringing Remedies, in order to re- 
duce the Humours to their natural Texture 
and Firmness. Their common Drink ought 
to

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 357
to be acidulated with Juice of Lemon, Spirit 
of Sulphur, Elixir of Vitriol, &c. 
Of Spotted Fevers. 
A Spotted Fever is a very ma- 
lignant one, in which, besides the 
Symptoms common to other ma-  
lignant Fevers, there is a very remarkable 
Weariness of the whole Body, an universal 
throbbing and pricking Pain: The Spots ap- 
pear sometimes the fourth Day, but oftener 
about the seventh, especially on the Breast 
and Shoulder-blades, then on the Belly, Legs, 
Arms, and Neck, seldom in the Face. Not 
only Spots, but likewise large Marks, black 
and blue, sometimes appear; and in the De- 
clension of the Distemper sometimes a Spitting
comes on, which carries it off. 
The Symptoms 
of a Spotted 
Fever.
The Spots in the milder Sorts of 
this Fever are florid and very red, 
like Flea-bites: Afterwards they grow pale, 
yellow, and so disappear: The more red they 
are, the better: On the contrary, those that 
are of a livid or pale red, or appear blackish, 
are the worst. If they strike in again, it 
foretells a great deal of Danger. 
Prognosticks.
These Distempers are contagi- 
ous, and sometimes epidemical or 
spreading: They are very danger- 
ous; for of those that are seiz'd with it, more 
die than recover. 
They are 
contagious. 
Spotted Fevers being a Species of 
the Malignant, the same Indications
of Cure are here required as were mentioned
The Cure. 
Z3 above

358 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
above for the Cure of malignant Fevers in 
general. If the Spots strike in too soon, 
Vesicatories are to be employ'd; upon which, 
tho' we are not to expect the Spots to appear 
again, yet in some Measure the Blistering 
answers the End of their not appearing, 
and sometimes very happily prevents the dire- 
ful Symptoms in the nervous System. No 
Evacuation of the Bowels must be attempted, 
such as Vomiting or Purging, or even by 
Glysters, as long as there is any Appearance 
of the Spots. 
CHAP II.
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms
attending Fevers. 
Rigor in 
Fevers. 
THE Coldness and Shiverings 
which happen in the Beginning 
of acute Fevers, are owing to a Diminution 
of the Contraction of the Heart, the Circu- 
lation then being less quick, and the Blood 
actually stagnating in the extreme Parts, and
pressing upon the Heart, creates great Anxie- 
ties, and may produce polypose Concretions 
about the Heart, and in other Parts of the 
Body; therefore a Rigor or Coldness encreases
an Inflammation. Those who die of Quartan, 
Fevers,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 359
Fevers, die in the cold Fit; and in truth, 
there is no Mischief but what may proceed 
from a Rigor of long Duration; for if it re- 
mains long, sudden Death sometimes ensues; 
and therefore the greater and longer such 
Coldness is, the more dangerous is the Fever. 
In such Rigor or Coldness, all warm Cor- 
dials and stimulating Substances are improper; 
for the first acting with Force upon the right 
Ventricle of the Heart, may drive the Blood 
with too much Force thro' the Lungs; and 
stimulating Substances, by contracting the 
Vessels, often increase Symptoms, which are 
best reliev'd by drinking warm Water with 
a little Rhenish-Wine, wherein a little Nitre 
is dissolved; likewise strong Frictions of the 
extreme Parts are very useful in this Case. 
See farther in the Cure of intermitting Fe-
vers. 
The Degree of feverish Heat may 
be known by the Thermoscope, the 
Sensation of the Patient, the Intense- 
ness of the red Colour of the Urine, the 
Siziness of the Blood, the Dissipation of ths
fluid Parts, which renders it thicker; the 
Hardness, Strength, and Frequency of the 
Pulse, which makes the Friction or Rubbing 
the stronger, to which the Heat is proportio- 
nal, the bad Disposition of the Humours,
the Temperament of the Body. 
Feverish
Heat.
This Heat is moderated by Bleed- 
ing, by muscular Rest, by mode- 
rate Ligatures, which compress the Veins 
The Cure.
Z4 only,

360 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
only, and often remov'd from Joint to Joint, 
by a mechanical Reason retard the Circula- 
tion; of such Sort is dry Cupping, Bathing 
the lower Parts, watery Liquors for Drink, 
not cold but warm; subacid, as Jelly of Cur- 
rants dissolv'd in tepid watery Liquors, De- 
coctions of mealy Substances acidulated, Sub- 
stances that are Anodyne, Substances which 
dissolve Concretions, such as Sugar, Honey, 
and the simple Oxymel; plentiful diluting, 
and restoring as much Water to the Blood, as 
is dissipated by the Heat; all demulcent and 
relaxing Substances, cooling the Air in the 
Room, opening the Curtains, and removing 
too heavy Bed-cloaths. All stimulating and 
styptick Substances are to be avoided; because
they increase the Force of the solid Parts. 
Lenient Glysters and Emulsions are also use- 
ful to mitigate such an excessive Heat.
Caution.  
But great Care is to be taken left 
by cooling too much, the Spirits shoul'd 
receive a sudden Damp, and by that means 
be depriv'd of their Elasticity, whereby the 
burning Fever might unwarily be changed 
into a malignant one, which has been many
a time the Case. 
In Thirst, attending Fevers, the 
Liquors should not be drank quite 
cold; for cold Liquors by constringing the 
Glands of the Palate and Throat, do not 
quench Thirst so well as Liquors moderately 
warm: In this Case acidulated small Liquors
should be plentifully drank. All Salts in-
Thirst.  
crease


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 361
crease Thirst, except Nitre, and dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre mix'd with Water, or the 
Patient's common Drink, is useful in this 
Case; so are Barley-Water and Emulsions, 
except in great Weakness and Flatulencies of
the Stomach; in such Case Water mix'd with 
a small Quantity of Rhenish-Wine is best of
all. 
In these Anxieties which at- 
tend Fevers, when the cold Fit is 
over, in such a Case a warmer Re- 
gimen may be allow'd; because Anxieties in 
Fevers often happen by Spasms, or Convul- 
sions from Wind, therefore Spices are useful. 
And in those Anxieties, saponaceous Sub- 
stances which dissolve the Blood are proper, 
as ripe Fruit, and especially Honey, Sugar, 
&c. 
Anxieties in
Fevers.
Sickness and Vomiting may be 
owing to an original Surfeit, and is 
one of the most troublesome Symp- 
toms attending Fevers; because it renders 
the Patient incapable of taking any thing. It 
is often prevented by giving a gentle Vomit, or 
cur'd by promoting the Vomiting for a while 
by warm Water, or thin Chicken-Broth; 
for which Purpose likewise Carduus Tea 
drank in large Draughts may do very well;
but if it does not of itself succeed well, half
a Dram of Salt of Vitriol, or a Spoonful of 
Oxymel of Squills, may be given with the 
Posset. 
Sickness and
Vomiting.
During


362 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
During the Symptom, acid Liquors, and 
even such as are austere and astringent, are 
to be used; because such strengthen the re- 
laxed Fibres of the Stomach; for which Pur- 
pose the following Julap is very effectual. 
Take of Salt of Wormwood 4 Scruples; 
of fresh Juice of Lemon, 2 Ounces; 
mix, and when Ebullition is over, add 
to it of Barley Cinnamon Water, 3 oz. 
of Mint-Water and Nephritick Wa- 
ter, each 1 Ounce; Spirit of Saffron, 
half an Ounce; Syrup of Quinces, 1 
Ounce; mix for a Julap, of which let 
the Patient take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls every 
3 Hours, or oftner. 
Diluting, and sometimes relaxing the Belly, 
and carrying the bilious Salts downwards, 
often cures this Symptom. And Attention 
is to be given to the Appetites of Patients in 
this and many other Cases, who sometimes 
covet odd things which have relieved them, 
as Salt, Vinegar, &c. 
Vomiting from a bilious Cause is cured by 
acidulated small Liquors; and vomiting from 
some putrid Cause, by Salts of all Sorts; and 
in such a Case, Water-Gruel with Cream of 
Tartar, Rhenish Wine with Water, Jelly of 
Currants, Marmalade of Quinces, Sorrel 
boil'd in Broths well skimmed from Fat, are 
exceeding beneficial. 
But


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 363
But if the Vomiting proceeds from a 
phlegmatick Cause, Spices and Bitters will 
relieve; for the Counterpoison must be adapt- 
ed to the Cause: As for Example, in Poison 
from sublimate Corrosive and Arsenick. In  
the first, alkaline Substances are properest; 
in the second, oily Substances are fittest, in 
both Diluents are proper. It will not be dif- 
ficult to judge of the Cause by what the Pa- 
tient throws up from the Stomach, 
Whether a Vomit may be 
safely or properly given, must be 
judg'd by the Circumstances; for 
if there be any Symptoms of an Inflamma- 
tion of the Stomach or Lungs, a Vomit is 
extremely dangerous. 
A Caution in 
giving Vomits.
A Diarrhœa or Looseness some- 
times happens in Fevers, which 
proves often a dangerous and fatal 
Symptom; and this Evacuation is not the 
genuine Motion of Nature for its Relief, but 
arises rather from the Impetuosity and Vio- 
lence of the Distemper, or the stimulating 
Acrimony of the Humours, which in reality 
is a symptomatical Diarrhœa, and ought to
be stopt; for it weakens, excoriates, and in- 
flames the Bowels, occasioning bloody Fluxes, 
thickening the circulating Juices, and ex- 
hausting the Strength of the Patient very 
much; however, a critical Diarrhœa is not 
to be stopt, for fear of incurring the same 
Dangers. 
A Looseness 
in Fevers. 
2 Attention

364 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Attention should be given to the Cause: If 
it proceeds from Acidity, it is to be cured by 
Anti-acids; but as in Fevers the Cause is 
more commonly alkaline and bilious, acid or 
four things relieve best; and it happens some- 
times, that oily Substances by blunting the 
Acrimony will do a great deal of good in 
Diarrhœas; for oily Substances of themselves 
do not irritate or provoke Loosenesses, they 
only lubricate or make the Bowels slippery. 
Vomiting, by evacuating the irritating Cause, 
often cures Diarrhœas. 
Anodyne Substances are proper, and gene- 
rally speaking, solid and dry Food rather than 
liquid. 
The white Decoction of burnt Hartshorn 
is very proper for common Drink, and absor- 
bent testaceous Powders mix'd with Diapho- 
reticks, are likewise very useful in the Case; 
and lastly, we may have Recourse to Venice 
Treacle, Diascordium, &c. But it is obser- 
vable in general, that Laxness of the Body in 
the beginning of Fevers is better than over 
Costiveness, but in the Progress of the Di- 
stemper it is worse. 
Strangury 
in Fevers. 
A Dysuria or Strangury in Fe- 
vers is very troublesome. The com- 
mon Emulsions are very proper to 
mitigate the Ebullition in burning Fevers; 
and commonly they very much asswage this 
vexatious Symptom; as likewise Oil of sweet 
Almonds, with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, or 
a Solution of Sperma Ceti: also a Solution 
of

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 365
of 1 Ounce of Gum-Arabick in a Quart of 
Barley-Water for common Drink, is an ex- 
cellent Remedy, especially when this Symp- 
tom is occasion'd by Blistering. 
Profuse Sweats which happen in 
Fevers, either in the Beginning of the 
Disease, or at any other Time before 
the Crisis, and before the Signs of Concoction 
appear, are symptomatical, and oftentimes 
Colliquative: They proceed from a Laxity 
of the Vessels, and too vehement a Circula- 
tion of the Blood, and ought therefore to be 
restrain'd by Art; for they are very trouble- 
some to the Patient, and they exasperate the 
Distemper, in depriving the Blood of its most 
fluid Parts, thicken and often cause Obstru- 
ctions; so that it is a very bad Practice to 
push Sweating too much in Fevers, except 
in such as are pestilential 
Profuse 
Sweats. 
In profuse Sweats, Care should be taken 
by diluting, to restore the Liquid which the 
Blood loses, and to use the Methods advised 
already in too great Heat, by taking away 
some of the Coverings of the Bed, and ad- 
mitting of cool Air, and using a Diet mo- 
derately astringent, and mild Acids, &c. 
Tinctura Antiphthisica, on Account of the 
Sugar of Lead in the Composition, is 
esteem'd an efficacious Remedy for suppres- 
sing such Sweats; and likewise Sage is very 
good in the Case of profuse Sweats. 
A


366 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pain of the 
Head. 
A violent Pain in the Head, 
Back, or in the Limbs, especially 
in the beginning of Fevers, requires 
Bleeding; and if that does not relieve, it will 
be proper to give a gentle Vomit if the Sto- 
mach be foul, otherwise a laxative Glyster 
may suffice. 
Watchfulness is a Symptom in Fevers, 
which is sometimes called a Coma Vigil, and 
often precedes too great Sleepiness, and is 
perhaps the most ill-boding Symptom of a 
Fever; therefore the Cause is to be narrow- 
ly enquir'd into; if it proceeds from too 
great Heat and Dryness, cooling and moisten- 
ing things are to be administred; if Pain be 
the Cause, we must endeavour to asswage it 
by proper Remedies, avoiding Opiates, with- 
out an absolute Necessity, especially about 
the time of the Crisis, when the Physician 
may perceive great Restlessness and Inquie- 
tude in the Patient; for it should be always 
remember'd as a Maxim, that a Space of 
time before the Crisis happens, is the most 
troublesome, Nox ante Crisin est molestissima. 
Other Expedients in this Case are, extreme 
Care to keep the Patient from Noise, and 
whatever makes any strong Impression upon 
his Senses, and some of those Helps used in 
a Delirium, for this is an Approach towards 
it; a moist softening Diet, ail Preparations of 
Barley, Emulsions of Poppy Seeds and Al- 
monds, Aliment of Lactecescent or milky 
Plants, especially Lettuces, Decoctions of 
Scorzonera 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 367
Scorzonera Roots, Almond Cream, and what 
is called Winter-Flummery, used as Aliment; 
Tea made of Cowslip Flowers, relaxing gent- 
ly the Belly. 
Coma, or Sleepiness in Fevers, is di- 
rectly contrary to the fore-mentioned Symp- 
tom Wakefulness; the Patient has a continual 
Propensity to doze or sleep, sometimes with a 
real Sleep, and often without it. A Coma 
will proceed either from a Pressure upon the 
Original of the Nerves in the Brain, by too 
great Repletion; or from a Penury or Waste 
of Spirits by too great Inanition.
Coma. 
Old People are subject to Comas by the 
Glewiness of the Fluids circulating in the 
Brain, which being resolved by the Fever, 
obstruct the small Canals of the Brain: But 
in young People it commonly proceeds from 
Fulness, and is best cur'd by Bleeding and re-
laxing the Belly. The Sign of such a Fulness 
is, a red Countenance and inflamed Eyes; but 
if it proceeds from a glutinous Oil, it ought 
to be resolved by Water, nitrous Salts, Soaps, 
Subacid Liquors, and Blisters, not forgetting 
the Use of sharp Glysters. 
In a feverish Delirium there is a small 
Inflammation of the Brain; therefore any- 
thing which increases the Circulation in the 
Lower Parts, and diminishes the Pressure on 
the Brain, is beneficial; as bathing the Feet 
in warm Water; nothing relieves the Head 
more than the Piles, therefore Suppositories 
of Honey, Aloes, and Rock-salt ought to be
Delirium  
made 

368 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
made use of; relaxing by emollient and wa- 
tery Substances, both in Drink and Glysters, 
especially Barley, Cream, and Barley-gruel, 
are to be frequently used: Likewise Bleeding 
in the Foot, and Blisters will be of great Ser- 
vice in this Case. 
Of Convulsions in Fevers. 
Convul-
sions. 
Nothing is of more Importance 
than rightly to know the Cause and the 
Seat of this Distemper, which is com- 
monly very obscure. In Infants Convulsions 
commonly proceed from Acidity in the Sto- 
mach and Intestines, which are cured by Ab- 
sorbents, such as testaceous Powders of all sorts, 
and gentle Purges and Glysters; but in such 
indeed Convulsions attending Fevers are not 
altogether so dangerous. 
Convulsions arising from Acrimony in the 
Stomach, or from any thing vellicating a 
Nerve in its Extremity, and not in its Origi- 
nal where it rises from the Brain, are not 
very dangerous; but Convulsions, which pro- 
ceed from too great Evacuations, as great 
Hæmorrhages attending Fevers, are very dan- 
gerous, and frequently mortal. 
Convulsions proceeding from an Inflamma- 
tion of the Membranes of the Brain are com- 
monly fatal: The Symptoms attending such 
are, a great Heat and Thirst, a hard Pulse, 
and a Delirium; so that the Remedies, and 
even those from Diet, are to be used accord- 
ing to the particular Seat of the Distemper; 
for

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 369
for if it be from the Stomach, such Aliments 
as are contrary to the particular Acrimony, 
Acid, Alkaline, or Oily, impacted there, as 
in the Case of Vomiting, already described. 
But if they arise from something obstructed 
in the Brain, such Convulsions are generally 
cur'd by Diluting, Relaxing, Revulsions, and 
softening both the Fluids and Solids, and 
using such Substances especially as open the 
Belly; and in general the Regimen prescribed 
in a Delirium or Coma: For it would be a 
Folly to rely here on the Medicines, which, 
by their pompous Titles of Anti-spasmodick 
and Anti-hystericks promise a specifick Cure; 
besides, all Volatiles, spicy and cordial Sub- 
stances, are here destructive.
Of Weakness in Fevers. 
A feverish Weakness proceeds from 
too great Fulness in the Beginning, and too 
great Penury or Inanition in the latter End of 
the Distemper; for whatever stops or retards 
the Circulation of the Fluids in the smallest 
Vessels, especially those in the Brain, produces 
this Symptom, which either of the Causes now 
mentioned will certainly do; And those two 
Causes require a different Method of Cure; 
for in the first, emptying and diluting is re- 
quisite; in the latter, a more plentiful Nou- 
rishrnent, the Use of Wine diluted with Wa- 
ter, and Spices in small Quantities, Jellies, 
Broths qualified with some gentle Acid, un- 
less there be Signs of Acidity; but in that 
Weakness. 
Aa Case

370 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Case the Diet should be contrary to that 
Symptom; in which Case Viper Broth, and all 
other Broths are both anti-acid and nourishing. 
In Weakness from too great a Loss of Blood, 
Wine and Food which is easily digested and 
assimilated or converted into Blood, is pro- 
per; for a small Quantity of Blood often- 
times brings the Patient into a Dropsy. Fric- 
tions of the Limbs relieve Weaknesses, as they 
promote a Flux of Juices and Spirits in the 
Joints and Limbs, by which Means they will 
bring Nourishment to those Parts. 
Fat People are most subject to the Symp- 
tom of Weakness in Fevers; because the Fat, 
being melted by the Heat of the Fever, Part 
of it obstructs the small Canals or Vessels, and 
consequently produces this Symptom; which 
is evident from the great Loss of Fat such 
Persons sustain in Fevers, by the Laxity of 
the Fibres, and the Emptiness of the smaller 
Vessels; and therefore such should be treated 
with particular Care, for after due Evacua- 
tions they ought to dilute plentifully both by 
Drink and Glysters, avoiding all fat and oily 
Things, and using Sugar, Honey, and ripe 
Fruits. 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in Fevers. 
In all these of any Kind whatever, as Small- 
Pox, Meazles, Purples, Scarlet-fever, Ery- 
sipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire, the Intention of 
Diet ought to be, to avoid strong Sudorificks, 
or sweating Things, which push out too great 
a Quan-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
a Quantity of the Matter upon the Skin; to 
use cooling and temperate Diluters, which 
will keep the Matter moveable, so that it may 
be secreted from the Blood; to keep warm 
during the Eruption; and that the Diet be 
cool; for which Reason the moderate Use of 
Acids, as Juice of Limons, &c, are necessary; 
and above all things Bleeding must not be 
omitted. 
A due Attention to the few Rules above- 
mentioned, in the several Symptoms, will 
prove successful in the Cure of most Fevers. 
Of the Small-pox. 
Notwithstanding I have taken notice just 
now of Eruptive Fevers in general, yet as this 
is one of the most dangerous and universal 
that infests Mankind, I shall treat of it in this 
Place in particular. Therefore, the greatest 
and most important Steps for the Recovery of 
the Patient must be made at the Time of the 
Invasion, or first State of this Distemper;
wherefore it is very necessary to know the first
Symptoms of it; for many have suffer'd by 
mistaking it for another Disorder. 
In general, young People who have not 
had the Disease, ought to be very care- 
ful in avoiding Irregularities in their Diet;
because the Small-pox which seizes such Per- 
sons often proves fatal. This Disease is like- 
wise more dangerous as the Fluids are more 
heated and dissipated, and the Solids more 
Aa2 strict 

372 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strict and compacted, and consequently it is 
more so, as People are advanced in Years. 
First
Stage. 
The first Symptoms are a Chilness 
and Rigor, succeeded by a Fever and 
constant Heat, a certain Splendor or Shining- 
in the Eyes, with a little Moisture, which is 
very observable in Children; a great Pain in 
the Head, with Drowsiness, Dullness, and 
Sleepiness; a Pain in the Back in some, but 
Pains in the Limbs in all; Anxiety, Inquie- 
tude notwithstanding their Drowsiness; loath- 
ing Sickness at the Stomach, Vomiting, and 
Convulsions in Infants shortly before the E- 
ruption; and the Blood taken away the first
Time, florid; but on the second, third, and 
fourth Time it appears sizy, like that of pleu- 
ritick People. 
Therefore it is manifest that in this State 
the Distemper ought to be treated as any 
other inflammatory Disease, by such Methods 
as if it were possible to hinder any Suppuration 
at all; and to resolve and digest as much of 
the feverish Matter as possibly we can; for the 
longer the Eruption is a coming, and the fewer 
when it comes, the Disease is less dangerous; 
therefore all the Methods practised in the Be- 
ginning of inflammatory Distempers are here 
necessary and proper, with a particular Care 
of cleansing the alimentary Passage by Vomit- 
ing and Glysters, the Impurities of which 
will otherwise be carried into the Blood. 
The learned Boerhaave says, that as there is 
not yet found any particular Antidote to the 
poisonous

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 373
poisonous Quality of this Disease; but that if 
any such could be found, as he is of Opinion 
it may, it must be in Antimony and Mercury 
brought to a great Degree of Penetrability,
without being too corrosive by a Saline Acri- 
mony, but well united; for the Effects of Mer- 
cury on all Ulcerations are notorious. 
In the first Stage then of the Small-pox, the 
whole Habit of the Body ought to be relax'd 
both inwardly and outwardly, and a free 
Perspiration through the Pores of the Skin, 
without violent Sweats be promoted; the 
Viscidity or Glewiness of the Fluids taken off 
by Diluters: All these Things may be affected 
by Glysters, Fomentations and Gargles, and 
a plentiful life of Drinks often repeated, made 
of thin Water-gruel and other mealy Decoc- 
tions, and such like cooling Liquors, with 
nitrous and acid Salts, or some other acid Sub- 
stances mix'd with them, such as the Juice of 
Oranges, Limons, Tamarinds, and other sub- 
acid Fruits, &c. no Flesh to be allow'd, un- 
less some small Chicken-broth at Times; the 
Air ought not to spoiled by Heat, or the Bed- 
Clothes so thick and heavy as to produce great 
Sweats. 
For more People are lost in the Small-pox, 
by being thrown into large and violent Sweats 
in the Beginning of the Eruption, than by any 
other Errors committed at all other Times: 
The Reason is, because great Sweats drain the 
small Blood-Vessels of the necessary Fluid, 
by which Circulation is hinder'd and the Blood 
Aa3 coagu-

374 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
coagulates, by which Means the Inflamma- 
tion is hurried on into a Gangrene, without 
being able to furnish the necessary Work of 
Impostumation in the Glands of the Skin, or 
of being dissipated by other proper Means. 
Second 
Stage. 
When this Disease has run off its first 
Stage, which is call'd by the learned 
Boerhaave, that of Contagion, it enters 
into the second, in the following Manner: 
The Skin of the Head and Face first, then of 
the Hands and Arms, and lastly of the Body 
and lower Parts, are mark'd with little red 
Points like Flea-bites; thereupon the Symp- 
toms abate, and the red Pustles increase every 
Hour in Largeness and Number; they con- 
tinually rise higher and higher, inflame more, 
and the Skin is stretch'd; they begin to pain 
and to burn ; the Circulation is interrupted, 
and Perspiration hinder'd; hence a great Re- 
turn of the Humours towards the inward 
Parts; a Fever arises, with Anxieties, Diffi- 
culty of Breathing, a Pain in the Jaws, some- 
times a Quinsy, a Looseness, Bloody-flux, 
Bloody-urine, Spitting of Blood. The Parts of 
the Skin free from Pustles are red and in- 
flamed, painful and hot; all which, or most 
of which, when they have lasted four, five, 
or six Days, are now intirely suppurated, and 
converted into as many small Impostumes. 
And this is likewise call'd by the above-men- 
tioned Author, the Stage of the Inflammation 
until the Suppuration: It lasts (according to 
the Difference of the epidemical Season, and 
that


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 375
that of the Patient, the Greatness and Vio- 
lence of each particular Case, and the Regi- 
men hot or cold made use of) most times 
four or five Days; so that the Suppuration is 
compleated about the eighth Day, reckoning 
from the first Beginning; and the Blood, if 
let out of a Vein, is extremely inflamed. 
From what has been said, the Diagnosticks 
and Prognosticks of the second State of the 
Small-pox may be learned, and the Rationale 
of it, and all its Symptoms, which will be 
plainer still by observing the following Rules. 
1. The gentler the State of Contagion, that 
is, the first Stage, the easier likewise is the in- 
flammatory State, which is the second Stage 
of the Distemper. 
2. The slower the Pustles break out, the 
longer therefore the State of Contagion, so the 
easier and milder is the whole Course of the 
Disease through all its Stages. 
3. The fewer, more distant, bigger, more 
remote from the Face, whiter and afterwards 
the yellower the Pustles are, and the later 
they appear, so much the better Event they 
promise. 
4. The more in Quantity, more mix'd and 
intangled, the less in Bulk those that stand 
single, the more they appear upon the Face, 
tawny or black, and the quicker they grow, 
so much the worse. 
5. The more the Matter of the Pimples is 
like to kind and perfect Pus, the better. 
Aa4 6. The

376 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
6. The more the Matter in the Pimples 
resembles a gangrenous Ichor, the worse. 
7. The more the Space between the Pim- 
ples appears red, is hot, stretch'd, and swell'd 
about the Time of their impostumating, so 
much the greater Hopes, because it is a Sign 
of the Circulation's being preserved there. 
8. But the more that same Space looks 
paler, or grows tawny or black, so much 
the worse; for there follows a mortal Quinsy 
or Peripneumony, unless a thin Salivation, or 
a great Swelling of the Hands or Feet doth 
ensue: The Reason is, because the Circula- 
tion of the Fluids is cut off in those Parts, 
and drove back and increased in the internal 
nobler Parts. 
9. If in the Space between the Pimples 
there appear purple Spots, it is a sign that a 
mortal Gangrene is at hand or present. 
The Indication in this second State of the 
Disease, is different according to the different 
Time that the Disease has lasted, and is like 
to last: for in the Beginning of the external 
Inflammation shewing itself, it appears rea- 
sonable to endeavour to prevent its proceeding 
to an Impostumation, as has been observed 
already; or, if that be neglected, Care ought 
to be taken that the Suppuration be as lit- 
tle as possible, and promoted slowly and far 
from the Head; which may be effected, first, 
by keeping the Patient to the thinnest Diet, 
which at the same time resists Putrefaction, 
Secondly, by giving him diluting, soft and sub- 
acid


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 377
acid Drink. Thirdly, Medicines that prevent 
the making of much Pus or Matter, such as 
are opening and diluting, in great Quantities 
and often given; likewise Blisters applied to 
the Hollows of the Feet and Legs. Fourthly, 
A cool Regimen, and chiefly by the Admis- 
sion of pure and fresh Air, (as was observed 
in the first State) and at the same Time co- 
vering the Limbs and lower Parts of the 
Body warm. Fifthly, If the Distemper pro- 
ceeds too violently on the fifth Night, a 
gentle Opiate may be safely given to an Ad- 
vantage, and repeated every Night to the 
End of the Disease, if the Lungs are not too 
much oppress'd, and Respiration very diffi- 
cult. 
After the running off of the 
second Stage follows the third 
State, being that of Impostumation, during 
which it increases and arrives at its Height: 
In this the Pustles, already purulent, grow 
larger every Day; then they ripen, turn 
white, yellow, and break on the third or 
fourth Day of this State. Then the whole 
Skin, and its subjacent Fat, abound with a 
moveable Pus or Matter; it is dried exter- 
nally, and inflamed in every Part free from 
Matter or Pus: Hence, from the Impedi- 
ment of Perspiration and Circulation, from 
the Irritation of the membranous and nervous 
System, from the absorbing of the Pus into the 
Veins, there comes on a Fever of the worst 
Kind, with the worst Symptoms; and if this
Third Stage.
puru- 

378 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
purulent Matter mix'd with the Blood is 
moved long, it putrefies: Hence, according 
to its falling upon different Parts of the Body, 
it produces cruel and scarce superable Effects, 
such as Deliriums, Phrensies, Quinsies, Peri- 
pneumonies, Pleurisies, Vomitings, Bloody- 
fluxes, Inflammations of the Liver, Impos- 
tumations of the same; Boils, Tumors, Ab- 
scesses, and Stiffness of the Joints; a Wasting, 
Consumption, and a great many more Evils. 
In this third State great Care ought to be 
taken to promote the Discharge of the Pus 
to the external Part, driving it from the In- 
ternals; which may be effected by relaxing 
the Skin with lukewarm softening Fomenta- 
tions, and often; constantly walking and 
gargling the Mouth and Throat; drinking 
much of warm, cordial, detergent, and o- 
pening Decoctions, which are contrary to Pu- 
trefaction; injecting daily a gentle, diluting, 
emollient, and laxative Glyster, and to be kept 
long; or sometimes a gentle Purge with Rhu- 
barb and Manna; dieting upon thin Broths 
duely salted and acidulated; allowing now 
and then a moderate Glass of good generous 
Wine; giving also a sufficient Dose of Syrup 
of White Poppies, or some other Opiate, a- 
gainst any violent or troublesome Symptoms 
that may arise. 
If the Small-pox proves to be of the worst 
Kind, and that there is rather a gangrenous 
Ichor than laudable Pus, that almost the 
whole Skin is beset with it; hence it may 
easily

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 379
easily appear, why this Disease is often so un- 
avoidably fatal, notwithstanding all the pos- 
sible Care taken; and it will be yet much 
plainer to any one acquainted with Dissections, 
that as the external Skin is full, so the Eyes, 
all the Membranes of the Nostrils, all the 
Covers of the Mouth, the Wind-pipe, the 
Bronchia, the Stomach, the Gullet, Intes- 
tines, Liver, Spleen, and Lungs, are full of 
the like Pustles; and hence he will under- 
stand what has been said, and see what is re- 
quisite for the Cure. Thus far the Senti- 
ments of Boerhaave concerning the Small- 
pox. 
The Greatness and Danger of this Disease 
is estimated by the Quantity of Pimples on 
the Face and Head; therefore the Matter 
ought to be solicitated to the lower Parts by 
all possible Methods, especially the Legs, by 
Fomentations, Bathing, Blistering, and, thro'
the whole Course of the Disease, keeping the 
Feet and Legs warm; the Breast and Head 
not any more cover'd than to keep them from 
the Injury of the cold Air. 
During the filling and ripening of the Pustles 
the Diet may be allow'd a little more plentiful, 
but yet not hot or inflammatory, with the due 
Use of anodyne Things, or such as allay Pains 
and Restlessness. In this State every Thing 
that abates Acrimony is proper; and, where 
the Circumstances of the Patient require it, 
a Spoonful or two of good White Wine, 
twice or thrice a Day, may be likewise useful.
The

380 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Diet in this State should also be adapted 
to the particular Symptoms of the Disease, 
as cleansing, attenuating, and expectorating; 
and to promote spitting by Diureticks. 
When the Temperament, Age, high Pulse, 
and especially Watchfulness and Delirium re- 
quire Bleeding in any other Case, why not 
in this State? which is known to have been 
used with great Success; for a great many 
Vessels in this State are almost unpassable by 
the Fluids; and those who die of this Distem- 
per have inward Inflammations, especially in 
the Lungs, all which seem to justify that 
Bleeding is necessary in the Case. 
But the gangrenous Disposition which ap- 
pears in the malignant Sort, is a Reason against
it; for hardly any Thing will avail in ex- 
treme malignant Cases. In such malignant 
Kinds, all that is left, is, at least to endeavour 
to evacuate the peccant Matter by other 
Ways, as Blistering and Stools, procured by 
Lenitives not irritating, which would only 
hurry the Humours and increase the Fever. 
For farther Particulars concerning this 
dreadful Distemper, see the celebrated Sy- 
denham's Account of the Distinct, Confluent, 
and Anomalous Small-pox, which nothing can 
excel. 
The Meazles and Scarlet Fever, (tho' not 
near so dangerous) require much the same 
Regimen, and the same Method of Cure, as 
the Small-pox, the Scarlet Fever not differing 
from the Meazles, except it be in the Manner
of 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 381
of the Efflorescence only, insomuch that it 
may not improperly be called the Confluent 
Meazles, for the Efflorescence in the Meazles 
makes its Appearance in different Figures and 
Shapes, from whence the Skin is diversify'd 
with several Colours; whereas in the Scarlet 
Fever the Skin is spread all over with one con- 
tinued Inflammation and Redness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of Inflammatory Diseases with a Fever. 
NOW those inflammatory Distempers are 
to be considered, which being attended 
with an acute Fever, do besides induce a sin- 
gular Inflammation of this or that Organ of 
the Body, the depraved Function of which 
gives a Name to each particular Disease of 
that Kind; such are the Phrensy, Quinsy, 
Pleurisy, Peripneumony, the Inflammation of 
the Breast, of the Diaphragm, Stomach, Li- 
ver, Spleen, Mesentery †, Guts, Kidneys, 
Bladder; of the Joints, as in Rheumatisms; 
and of the Surface of the Body, as in the 
Meazles, Scarlet Fever, and Small-pox. 
Of
† A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 


382 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of a Phrensy, or Inflammation of the Brain. 
True or symp- 
tomatick.
A Phrensy is either essential or 
symptomatick: An essential or 
true Phrensy is when there is a 
primary Inflammation of the Brain, or ra- 
ther of the Meninges ‡, with a Delirium and 
an acute Fever. The Symptomatick Phrensy, 
or Phrenitis, is occasioned by a Translation 
of the febrile Matter or Inflammation, &c. 
from other Parts upon the Brain. 
A true Phrensy kills the third, fourth, or 
seventh Day, or else it produces Madness, a 
Lethargy, or Coma; and a Phrensy coming 
upon a Peripneumony, or the Iliack Passion,
is mortal; upon the Small-pox, is very dan- 
gerous. 
This Disease, of all others, requires the 
most powerful Remedies without any Delay, 
which are able to remove the Inflammation 
of the Arteries of the Brain, and are chiefly 
to be taken from the general Cure of Inflam- 
mations in Fevers, describ'd in the foregoing 
Chapter, observing at the same time the fol- 
lowing Rules. 
Copious Bleeding, by opening the tempo- 
ral Arteries, or more Veins at once, in the 
Foot, Throat, and Forehead, with large Ori- 
fices, are the most effectual Remedies. Great 
Quantities of cooling Decoctions ought to be 
given
‡ Are Membranes which cover and embrace the Brain, 
and they are called the Dura Mater, and the Pia Mater, or 
Meninges.



Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 383
given often and warm, with large Portions of 
Nitre. Then cooling Purges, and at the 
Time of their working, to give Draughts of 
diluting nitrous Liquors. Sometimes Glysters 
of the like Kind, with lenitive Electuary, or 
Honey, or any such Openers may be given. 
Solliciting the Blood to other Parts of the 
Body; therefore tepid Bathings of the lower 
Parts, and emptying the Piles with Leaches, 
relaxing Fomentations apply'd to the Veins, 
which carry the Blood from the Head, re- 
lieve in this Disease. We should likewise ap- 
ply Blisters and Cupping-glasses to the inferior 
Parts; Blistering the Back, and even the Head 
sometimes, in phlegmatick Constitutions espe- 
cially, has been found useful. The Body 
ought to be kept moderately cool, and set 
upright if possible, for the warm Air of the 
Bed exagitates the Blood. 
But if the Phrensy has been occasioned by 
a pre-existent inflammatory Distemper in 
some other Part, it ought to be carefully 
minded, whether the Nature of that Illness 
will bear the Applications above-mention'd;
which if not, then it ought to be cured ac- 
cording to the Method peculiar to that ori- 
ginal Distemper, always adding the Reme- 
dies that divert from the Head, and that are 
externally apply'd. 
The Diet ought to be slender, of mealy 
Substances, as Water-Gruel acidulated, or 
subacid ripe Fruits, with their Jellies, the 
Drink small, diluting and cooling, Barley- 
Water,

384 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Water, and the Decoction of Tamarinds are 
all necessary and useful. For farther Satis- 
faction herein, see the Articles of Delirium 
and Watchfulness in the preceding Chapter. 
Of a Quinsy. 
A Quinsy without 
a Tumour almost 
always mortal.
There are two Species of it; 
the first is without any sensi- 
ble Tumour either externally 
or internally; but the other Species of a 
Quinsy is attended with a Tumour. The 
first Sort is commonly the Conse- 
quence of some very long continued 
Disease, chiefly after very large and often re- 
peated Evacuations. It is accompa- 
nied with a Paleness, Dryness, and 
Thinness of the Jaws; because for the most
part the Nerves and Muscles of those Parts 
being relaxed, are most times paralytick, and 
it is a Sign almost always that Death is just- 
at hand. It is seldom cur'd, and then 
only with Remedies which fill the 
empty Vessels with good vital Nourishment, 
and things that warm and strengthen the 
Body in general. 
The Cause. 
The Signs. 
The Cure. 
A Quinsy with a 
Tumour of various 
Sorts. 
The other Species of the 
Quinsy, viz. with a Tumour in 
the Throat, occasioning a Dif- 
ficulty of Breathing and Swallowing, may 
be of various Sorts; sometimes it proceeds 
from a Serosity obstructing the Glands, which 
may be watery, œdematous, or schirrous, ac-
cording

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 385
cording to the different Degrees of the Vi- 
scidity of the Humours, sometime inflam- 
matory, which Inflammation will sometimes 
terminate in a Suppuration, or Gangrene. 
The Regimen and Cure in those 
Quinsys, which proceed merely from 
watery, œdematous, and thin catarrhous Hu- 
mours obstructing the Glands, must be first, 
to use such warm Liquors as relax gently, 
soften and moisten these Glands; Secondly, 
such Medicines as carry off the redundant 
Serum, by Stools, Sweat, and Urine; or by 
stimulating, and opening the Emunctories of 
these Glands to secern the stagnated Hu- 
mours, which may be obtained by the Ap- 
plication of Cataplasms, Gargles, Injections 
with Syringes, and by lessening the Quan- 
tity of the Lympha with Masticatories, Bli- 
sters, and smart Purges that will promote 
watery Stools. 
The Cure. 
In a mere watery Tumour, the Diet may 
be more warm than in inflammatory Kinds; 
and therefore the moderate Use of Wine of- 
ten relieves the Patient. 
But a Difficulty of Breathing and Swallow- 
ing, proceeding from Schirrosities of the 
Glands, is not to be cured any other Way 
than by extirpating the Schirrus, which 
alone will be a safe Remedy: or the Surgeon 
must with Prudence endeavour to fix a Cau- 
stick in the middle of the Tumour, to eat 
the same out; which is feasible enough when 
the Seat is near the Jaws. 
Bb In

386 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
In the inflammatory Species of a Quinsy 
we ought, by all means possible, endeavour 
to procure a Resolution: First, By large and 
repeated Bleedings. Secondly, The Belly 
must be loosened stoutly with either Purges, 
or purging Glysters frequently injected. 
Thirdly, By a very thin and slender Diet, 
such as Whey with Tamarinds boiled in it; 
Decoctions and Emulsions of farinaceous 
Vegetables moderately acidulated, and such 
as abound with a cooling nitrous Salt. Fourth- 
ly, By Medicines of the nitrous and acid 
Kind. Fifthly, By soft, warm Vapours con- 
stantly receiv'd upon the Part, bathing and 
fomenting the Feet, and Derivations by Bli- 
sters. When Swallowing is totally abolish'd, the 
Patient may be nourish'd by nourishing Gly- 
sters, which is known to have been done for 
a whole Week, after which the Tumour sup- 
purated. 
If the Inflammation ends in a Gangrene, 
the Case proves generally mortal, except it 
be only in the Tonsils, Uvula, and Palate, 
and reach no farther, which Parts may be 
separated, and the Patient recover. 
Of a Pleurisy. 
Diagnostick. 
A Pleurisy is an Inflammation 
of the Pleura, being a double Mem- 
brane which covers all the Cavity of the 
Breast; tho' that is hardly distinguishable 
from

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 387
from an Inflammation of any other Part of 
the Breast, which are all from the same 
Cause, a stagnant Blood; for there is no Part 
of the Internal Integuments of the Chest, 
which is not capable of being seized there- 
with, whether it be the Pleura or the Me- 
diastinum; and therefore the pricking Pain 
may be felt in any Part of the Breast: But 
most commonly it attacks the Sides, and this 
having a Fever join'd with it, is a true 
Pleurisy; but if such a Pain affects the su- 
perior intercostal Muscles, it is called a spu- 
rious Pleurisy. 
In a true Pleurisy, Bleeding large- 
ly, and often repeated in the Begin- 
ning ought to be perform'd, and that by a 
large Orifice; and the Rule is, to repeat Bleed- 
ing so often until there appears no longer any 
Siziness on the Top of the Blood: and at the 
same time, Fomentations and Leniments 
may be used externally. For internal Use, Di- 
luters, Resolvents, Coolers and Lenients that 
will asswage Pain, are proper; and all such 
Things should be taken warm, and in great 
Quantities. 
The Cure.
Sometimes the Part inflamed tends to a 
Suppuration, which is known by the obsti- 
nate Violence of the Pain and Fever, &c.
and continuing longer than the 4th Day. That 
an Abscess is form'd may be known by a fre- 
quent shivering, a Remission of Pain, Short- 
ness of Breath, and being able only to lie on 
one Side, which is the Side that is affected. 
Bb2 When


388 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Abscess is broken, the purulent 
Matter falls into the Cavity of the Chest, 
and increases by the Discharge from the Ul- 
cer, which produces an Empyema, of which 
I shall give an Account hereafter. But some- 
times the Part affected becomes schirrous, 
with an Adhesion of the Lungs and Pleura; 
hence an Asthma and dry Cough, an incura- 
ble Distemper, unless perhaps there may be 
some Relief had from much Exercise and 
Riding. 
Sometimes a Pleurisy turns to a Gangrene, 
which causes sudden Death; that a Gangrene 
is begun, may be known from the Delirium, 
the livid Colour of the Chest, a sort of bi- 
lious Spitting, and from a Cessation of Pain. 
The Prog- 
nosticks. 
Hippocrates observes, that if in 
Beginning of a Pleurisy, within 
the space of three Days, the Spit- 
ting is Bloody, it shews that the Distemper 
will be but short; if the Spitting of Blood 
comes on later, the Distemper will likely run 
into a greater Length. He adds, that if 
Pleuritick Persons do not expectorate, an Ab- 
scess will be form'd in fourteen Days; and 
such may be freed from that, if they can 
fully discharge the Matter by spitting in forty 
Days from the Time of the Rupture of the 
Abscess, otherwise they fall into a Consump- 
tion. 
In this Distemper the Spitting is to be regard- 
ed more than the Urine; and a Pleurisy that 
seems slight in the Beginning, and proceeding 
so

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 389
so till the fifth Day, but growing worse the 
sixth, is commonly mortal. When the Sup- 
puration is made, or Matter form'd in a 
Pleurisy, the Side must be open'd to let out 
the Matter. 
Of a Peripneumony. 
A true Peripneumony is 
an Inflammation of the bron- 
chial and pulmonary Vessels, 
or of the whole Body of the 
Lungs, or of one Lobe only. If the whole 
Lungs are affected the Case is desperate, and 
deem'd incurable; because the Circulation 
must be stopt, and no Blood can flow back 
into the Heart; the others sometimes admit 
of a Cure. It is to be treated after the same 
Manner, and with the same Remedies as a 
Pleurisy, and most commonly it has the 
same Event. 
A true Peripneumony 
or Inflammation of
the Lungs. 
If the Inflammation be not dis- 
cussed in fourteen Days Time, an 
Abscess will be formed; the Signs of which 
are Shiverings, an Abatement of the Pain, and 
a low Pulse, Difficulty of Breathing, Thirst, 
and a slight Fever still remaining in the 
Evenings, &c. Upon this sometimes a sudden 
Suffocation happens from an Eruption of the 
purulent Matter into the Wind-pipe; some- 
times it is evacuated by spitting it up in great 
Quantities; or, if the Rupture so happens, it 
falls into the Cavity of the Chest, from 
whence proceeds an Empyema, a Phthisis, &c. 
Prognostick. 
Bb3 Lastly,

390 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Lastly, the purulent Matter is absorbed by 
the pulmonary Veins, and is mix'd with the 
Blood; and by means of the Circulation, is 
deposited in some one of the Viscera, as the 
Liver, the Spleen, the Brain, &c. Hence it 
comes to pass that peripneumonick Abscesses 
happen about the Ears, Legs, or Hypochon- 
dria, where if they suddenly disappear, and 
the Peripneumony returns, the Case is mor- 
tal. 
The Type of a 
spurious Peri- 
pneumony. 
A spurious Peripneumony com- 
monly proceeds from a thick pi- 
tuitous Matter, generated in the 
Mass of Blood, which gradually settling itself 
on the Lungs, forms the Distemper. Old 
People, and such as are of pituitous, cold, 
catarrhous Constitutions, and such as are 
troubled with Defluxions of Rheums, are 
more subject to this Distemper than others. 
It creeps on unawares upon People with a 
fallacious Lenity at first; they are slightly in- 
disposed, complaining of a sort of Weariness 
and Debility; they seem to be dispirited;
they grow short-breath'd, and feel an Op-
pression of the Breast; but as the Disorder is 
hardly considerable enough to raise any great 
preternatural Heat or Fever, they are not 
apprehensive of any Danger: After a while 
however they are seiz'd with Shiverings and a 
small Fever, from whence the Difficulty of 
Breathing and great Weakness increase, and 
Death approaches, which surprizes the By-
standers,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 391
standers, the Urine and Pulse having not such 
a sudden Change. 
This Distemper is cured by the 
following Method; first, let the Pa- 
tient be blooded out of a large Vein; second- 
ly, a Glyster ought be given every Day, till 
it appears that the Lungs are eased; thirdly, 
his Diet ought to be of thin Flesh Broths, 
Jellies with some Juice of Lemon or Oranges; 
his Drink also small, of Water and Honey; 
fourthly, to use diluting, cleansing, and gently 
opening Apozems, often and in large Quan- 
tities, bathing the Legs and Feet, and ap- 
plying many Blisters, 
The Cure.
Of an Empyema. 
An Empyema is a Collection of 
purulent Matter in the Cavity of the 
Thorax most commonly occasion'd 
by the Rupture of an Abscess, produced by a 
Pleurisy or Peripneumony: It is known, if 
for twenty Days after the Beginning of the 
Inflammation there has been no Expectora- 
tion; from a dry Cough, a Weight on the 
Diaphragm *, being able to lie only on one 
Side; from a fluctuating Noise of the Pus or 
Matter upon moving the Body, a slow Fever, 
Redness in the Cheeks, Hollowness of the 
Eyes, Heat in the Tops of the Fingers, Crook- 
edness of the Nails, and a Tumor of the 
Belly.
Empyema 
what. 
Bb4 As 
* It is a tranverse Membrane, which separates the Thorax
or Chest from the Abdomen or lower Belly.
 


392 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Cure. 
As to what relates to the Cure of 
an Empyema, when it is once known 
that there is a Rupture of an Abscess of the 
Lungs, Pleura, Diaphragm, or the Mediasti- 
tium †, or Pericardium ‡, endeavours must 
be used to discharge the Matter by Expec- 
toration, by the urinary Passages, or by Stool, 
if Nature offers to do it those Ways; for if 
purulent Mttter appears in the Urine, let diu- 
retick Medicines be given; if purulent Stools 
happen, laxative Purges; if Spitting offers, 
expectorating Medicines: Some make Issues 
with Causticks betwixt the Ribs. For inter- 
nal Use, Balsamicks, Vulneraries, Decoctions 
of the Woods, Jellies of Hartshorn, and 
Ground-Ivy, are very much commended. 
But if all Remedies fail, the Cure must 
be attempted by an Aperture of the Thorax, 
with a proper Instrument on the Side affected, 
between the 4th and 5th, or 5th and 6th 
Ribs, counting from the lowermost, drawing 
off the Matter gently and gradually: From 
the Nature of the Pus, when taken out, and 
other Circumstances of the Patient, one may 
deduce a Prognostick of what may likely be 
the Event. 
If the Empyema be of a long standing, 
and the Strength of the Patient exhausted, 
the Hair of the Head falling off, and there 
be a colliquative Looseness, the Habit of the 
Body
† Is a Membrane which divides the Lungs and other Vi- 
scera of the Breast into two Parts. 
‡ A Membrane which surrounds the whole Substance of 
the Heart. 


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 393
Body tabid, &c. the Operation of the Para- 
centesis will serve only to hasten Death. 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or an Inflammation of 
the Diaphragm. 
A Paraphrenitis is a Disease much like a 
Pleurisy, wherein the Diaphragm, or at least 
part of it, is really inflamed; and this is what 
happens more frequently than is commonly- 
believed, mistaking it for another Distemper, 
It is known by a continual Fever, an exqui- 
site Pain very much increased upon Inspira- 
tion, by which it is distinguish'd from a Pleu- 
risy, in which the greateft Pain is in Expira- 
tion; besides, the Breath is fetch'd deep, 
quick, and suffocating, and seems only to be 
performed by the Motion of the Breast; It 
is likewise attended with a Delirium, Fury, 
and an involuntary Laughter, and Convul- 
sions; and altho' the Whole of the Distem- 
per is known, yet it is generally mortal. 
This Distemper terminates as Pleurifies and 
Peripneumonies, but a great deal more fatal; 
If it suppurates the Pus, it is evacuated into 
the lower Belly, where it produces Putrefac- 
tion, and a most miserable and painful Death. 
The Regimen, if any can be successful, 
ought to be the same as in Pleurisies, and the 
Cure likewise. 
Of an Inflammation of the Stomach. 
As other Parts of the Body, so 
may likewise the Stomach he seized 
The Signs.
with 


394 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a true Inflammation: The Symptoms 
and Effects are a burning, fix'd, and pungent 
Pain in the Stomach, attended with an acute 
continual Fever, a great Exacerbation of this 
Pain the Moment after swallowing any thing, 
succeeded with Vomiting, a painful Hickup 
and great Anxiety, unquenchable Thirst, 
want of Sleep, and a continual Tossing of the 
Body; these are succeeded with Deliriums, 
and most times Convulsions, ending in 
Death. 
The Causes.
The Causes of these Symptoms 
are those common to all Inflamma- 
tions in general, a natural Weakness, and 
perhaps Erosion of the Coats of the Stomach, 
by acrid Substances taken as Aliment and 
Medicines. Care must be taken rightly to 
distinguish between an Inflammation of the 
Stomach, and that of the Liver: In the for- 
mer the burning Pain and Heat seem to lie 
deeper; when the Liver is inflamed the In- 
flammation is more limited, and the Symp- 
toms are milder. 
If this Disease is not speedily cured, it 
soon proves fatal; for People commonly die 
of it the third or fourth Day; and sometimes 
indeed, tho' seldom, it tends to a Suppuration, 
and the Abscess breaks either into the Cavity 
of the Stomach or lower Belly and even then 
they hardly ever escape. 
Of all Diseases this requires most a total 
Abstinence from any Thing that has Acrimo- 
ny in it; even the nitrous cooling Salts, which 
are

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 395
are beneficial in other Inflammations, irritate 
too much in this; likewise Vomits, all Cor- 
dials of volatile and spicy Substances; spiri- 
tuous Liquors are no better than Poison, and 
Milk generally curdles. Aliments must be 
given frequently, and by Spoonfuls at a time, 
for any Distension of the Stomach increases 
the Inflammation. 
A thin Gruel of Barley, Oatmeal, Whey 
with very little Sugar, or Honey, or Chicken- 
broth, are proper Aliments; Whey, emol- 
lient Decoctions of Barley-water, and Emul- 
sions, are proper Drinks; and it has been 
found by Experience, that Chalybeat Waters 
have been agreeable to the Stomach in this 
inflammatory State. If there happens an Im- 
postume, Honey, and even Honey of Roses, 
taken inwardly, is a good Cleanser, and a De- 
coction of Comfrey Roots is healing; Speedy 
and effectual Bleeding, Fomentations, and 
Glysters have the same good Effect in this as 
in other inflammatory Distempers, Likewise 
the same Regimen and Remedies ought to be 
used in a Schirrus or Cancer of the Stomach;
tho' nothing will prove quite effectual. The 
same Method is to be pursued in the Inflam- 
mation of the Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul. 
Of the Inflammation of the Liver. 
As other Bowels and Parts of the Body are 
capable of Inflammations, so is the Liver 
likewise; but as the Hepatical or Liver Ar- 
tery, and the Vena Portæ, carry the Blood 
into

396 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
into the Liver, the first being very small, and 
the Motion of the Blood being slow in the 
last, are the Reasons that Inflammations in 
the Liver are not so frequent as in some other 
Parts of the Body; but when they happen 
they are extremely dangerous, unless they 
take up but a small Part of the Liver; 
and such happen more frequently than is 
thought of. 
Diagnostick
Signs. 
The best Cautions, both in Diet 
and Cure, may be taken from the 
Causes and Symptoms of this Di- 
stemper, which, besides the general Causes of 
Inflammations, are extreme Fatness; for Fat 
dissolved by Heat and Inflammation obstructs 
the Vessels of the Liver very suddenly; and 
Cattle fatten'd by good Pasturage, after vio- 
lent Motion or Running, sometimes die sud- 
denly, in such the Liver is found to be in- 
flamed and corrupted. An atrabilarian a-
dust Temper of the Blood and Gall, an acri- 
monious or purulent Matter, stagnating in 
some other Organ of the Body, is more easily 
deposited upon the Liver than any other Part, 
especially if it is attended with the Use of 
hot and spicy Aliments, spirituous Liquors, 
great Heat and a Fever; Erosions of the 
Vessels by the Acrimony or Sharpness of the 
Gall, or Obstructions by Viscidity; likewise 
any Callosity, Schirrus, or Stone generated in 
the Liver; Thirst long endured, being sud- 
denly chill'd by cold Air, cold Water, or 
drinking cold Liquors after great Heat; Vo- 
mits

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 397
mits given injudiciously, when the Liver is 
already unsound, which, if they do not re- 
move the Obstruction, exagitate the Liver too 
much; inveterate hypochondriacal Diseases; 
are all Causes which may produce Inflamma- 
tions of the Liver. 
In such a Case therefore, the Liver being 
swell'd, compresses the Stomach, Diaphragm, 
and all the neighbouring Viscera of the lower 
Belly, stops the Circulation of the Juices, the 
Generation and Excretion of the Gall, and 
all Digestion; produces numberless bad Symp- 
toms, as the Jaundice, with all the Distem- 
pers depending upon it; for the Liver re- 
ceives the refluent Blood almost from all the 
Parts of the Abdomen or lower Belly, and is 
the chief Instrument of all the Digestions 
which are there made. A slow Fever, which 
is more or less acute; an Inflammation and 
pungent Pain on the Region of the Liver and 
Diaphragm; a Tension of the Hypochondres 
especially on the Right Side; Yellowness of the 
Skin and Eyes, and a saffron-coloured Urine, 
are Signs of an inflammatory Disposition of 
the Liver. 
This Distemper terminates as 
other Inflammations, being cured 
either by Resolution, Concoction, and Ex- 
cretion of the morbid Matter; or it ends in 
an Abscess, Schirrus, or Gangrene: When it 
suppurates, the purulent Matter is discharged 
sometimes by Stool, sometimes by Urine, 
sometimes by Expectoration, and sometimes 
Prognostick.
it

398 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it is dischargcd by manual Operation. For 
when a Tumor rises and grows to the Peri-
toneum, and forms there an outward Impos- 
tume of the Liver, easily discernable, then it 
is opened with a burning Iron, or with Caus- 
ticks; afterwards the Wound is widen'd with 
gentle corrosive and suppurating Applica- 
tions, untill there is a Penetration made into 
the very Bag or Vomica, which is in the Body 
of the Liver; then it is treated as an Ulcer, 
and cleansing internal Medicines are duely 
administer'd at the same Time. 
Indication 
of Cure. 
But during the first State of the 
Disease, that is, before there are any 
Signs or Suspicion of Impostumation, 
the Regimen should be cooling, resolving Li- 
quors taken inwardly, as Whey with Sorrel 
boil'd in it; outward Fomentations and fre- 
quent Injection of emollient and diuretick 
Glysters, Bathing, and Frictions, relax and 
render the Matter fluid and moveable; Honey, 
with a little Rhenish Wine or Vinegar, in- 
wardly taken, is likewise proper; also the 
Juices and Jellies of some ripe Garden-Fruits 
are useful, and those of some Plants of a 
milky Juice, as Dandelion, Endive, and Let- 
tuce, are Resolvents. Bleeding in the Be- 
ginning, especially in the Foot, will not be 
improper. Violent Purges hurt, but gently 
relaxing the Belly relieves. Diluters, with 
nitrous Salts, are beneficial, and Tamarinds 
boil'd in Water or Whey: Bloody Stools, not 
in a great Degree, or when streak'd with 
Blood,


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 399
Blood, ought not to be stop'd, because they 
help to resolve the Disease; and oftentimes 
Bleeding at the Nose produces the same good 
Effect. 
The Fever attending is often carried off by 
Urine, therefore diuretick Substances, that are 
not highly pungent and stimulating, are use- 
ful in this Case; and Sweating by high Cor- 
dials ought not to be attempted; but encourag- 
ing and promoting it with warm diluting Li- 
quors is proper. 
The Case is deplorable when the Inflam- 
mation of the Liver terminates in an Abscess, 
unless it points and appears outwardly, so that 
it may be open'd; for if the Matter be eva- 
cuated into the Lower Belly, it produces 
woeful Symptoms, as Putrefaction, or an in- 
curable Bloody-flux, &c. 
When the Pus or Matter of an Ulcer in the 
Liver grows thin and ichorous, it corrodes the 
Vessels, (for the Liver, of all the Bowels, is the 
most friable, and the easiest crumbled or dis- 
solved) and it is frequently carried into the 
Mass of Blood, and rejected by vomiting, 
with a cadaverous Smell, attended with great 
Thirst; but if it is carried downwards, it 
produces a purulent colliquative Looseness: 
In which Case the constant Use of subacid 
Decoctions, and other Substances of the acid 
Kind, relieve the best. 
If this Distemper happens to produce a 
Cancer, or Schirrus, as sometimes it does; 
yet the latter is not absolutely incurable, be-
cause

400 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
cause it is experimentally known that Grass 
and fresh Pasturage has cured it in Cattle, 
and some opening Plants have produced the 
same Effect sometimes in Mankind, as those 
of the lactescent or milky Plants already men- 
tioned, with a great many other Vegetables 
too tedious to insert in this Place. 
But it is to be observed, that the Diet re- 
commended here is likewise necessary in 
the Jaundice, and all Distempers of the 
Liver; and also an Abstinence from all such 
Things as induce Putrefaction, especially 
salt Fish and Flesh, and above all strong 
Liquors. 
Of an Inflammation of the Mesentery. 
Inflammations and Tumors of the Mesen- 
tary, (being a Membrane in the Lower Belly 
to which the Guts are connected, and through 
which all our Nourishment is convey'd to the 
Blood,) are frequently the Origin and Foun- 
dation of many obscure and latent chronical 
Distempers, which greatly afflict People la- 
bouring under them, and perplex those who 
undertake their Cure as well. 
Diagno- 
stick. 
Persons affected with these Disorders 
complain of Pain about their Back and 
Loins, sometimes in the Belly about the Navel, 
with Gripings, yet these Pains are commonly 
periodical and chronical; and every now and 
then comes on a small wandering Fever, and 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 401
the Pains come and go, having their Remis- 
sions and Exacerbations. 
When an Abscess in the Mesentery 
suppurates and breaks, it causes sometimes 
remarkable Shiverings and Shakings, which 
are followed by febrile Heats, and then the 
purulent Matter is most commonly discharged 
by Stool. 
Abscess.
The Body in this Case gradually 
wastes, the Breathing grows more 
than usually difficult; and every now and 
then they complain of something that is very 
troublesome to them, which they cannot well 
explain: They tell you, that it lies deep in 
their Belly about the Navel, or below it; they 
are most commonly very much troubled with 
Wind. These Tumours oftentimes continue 
many Years, being turn'd schirrous and 
strumous. 
Prognostick.
When the Disorders of the Mesen- 
tery are of a long standing, they are 
cured as other chronical Diseases, such as 
chachectick and hypochondriack Affections: 
Yet they are to be treated with Caution, and 
gently without any Violence. Externally, Em- 
plastrum de Cicuta cum Ammoniaco, de Ranis 
cum Mercurio, &c. are convenient. Inter- 
nally, Medicines that open Obstructions, such 
as Millepedes and Preparations of Steel, &c. 
likewise Remedies against strumous Distem- 
pers are proper, and opening of the hœmor-
rhoidal Veins by Leaches; but rough Purges 
are hurtful, and Glysters are useful. 
The Cure.
Cc Of

402 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of the Inflammation of the Guts. 
The Intestines or Guts, chiefly the small 
ones, are very often seiz'd with the like acute 
Inflammation in their Membranes, as the 
Stomach, from Causes common to 
all Inflammations carried thither; 
or from the Matter of acrimonious or sharp 
Drink, Aliments, high Sauces, Medicines or 
Poisons reaching those Parts, and detain'd in 
the Foldings of the Valvules and sticking to 
them; also from a sharp, putrid and fœtid, 
purulent, ichorous, gangrenous, bilious Mat- 
ter, convey'd hither from the Gullet, Stomach, 
Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul, which 
sticks also to them and corrodes them; or 
lastly, from a Convulsion filling them with 
Wind. 
The Cause. 
Symptoms.
The Symptoms are a total Stop- 
page of the Passage, a vehement fix'd 
burning Pain, irritated by Things taken in- 
wardly; when any thing touches the Part af- 
fected, it excites Vomitings, sharp griping 
Pains, with Wind in other Parts of the 
Bowels; and the Consequences of such an 
Inflammation are the Iliac Passion, or what 
is vulgarly call'd the Twisting of the Guts, 
but in fact is either a Circumvolution or In- 
sertion of one Part of the Gut within the 
other; an Impostume, Gangrene, Schirrus, 
Cancer; a very acute Fever, with great 
Weakness from the Fierceness of the Pain, 
and a very sudden Death. 
It

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 403
It is of the utmost Importance to know 
what the Causes of Colicks are; for as they 
are various, so the Remedies in one Case are 
quite opposite and destructive in the other; 
for spicy, warm, carminative Things, which 
are given in Colicks proceeding from a 
phlegmatick or cold Cause, are Poison in an 
inflammatory one; but they may be distin- 
guished by the Fever, high Pulse, Thirst, 
and high-colour'd Urine attending the In- 
flammation. As to the Heat, tho' it is like- 
wise great by the Violence of the Pain, yet 
the Extremities grow cold; and besides, there 
is a hidden Prostration of Strength, or Weak- 
ness, attending this inflammatory Colick more 
than any other. 
This Disease requires a speedy Remedy, or 
none; for otherwise it terminates in an Iliac 
Passion, and Mortification of the Bowels very 
soon; therefore plentiful Bleeding, and fo- 
menting and relaxing the Bowels with emol- 
lient warm Liquors, both taken inwardly by 
the Mouth, and by Glyster injected hourly, 
is the most sovereign Method that can be 
made use of; yet it has been known, that 
Acids have relieved in very desperate Cases, 
as Juice of Lemons taken by the Mouth, and 
Vinegar and warm Water given in Glysters, 
have saved the Patient; by Reason of the con- 
tinual Vomiting, Opiates likewise to quiet 
the Convulsions are oftentimes necessary; also 
Warm Fomentations, even of warm Animals 
applied to the Belly, are extremely useful.  
Cc2 When

404 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Inflammation happens to be in 
the Lower Guts, it is not so dangerous; and 
even when it suppurates it will admit of a 
Cure; for then it can be come at by proper 
Medicines in the Form of Glysters; and in 
the latter End of such a Case Chalybeat Wa- 
ters are very beneficial. 
If the Patient lives three Days, the Acute- 
ness of the Pain abates; and if a Shivering or 
Chilliness affects the Body, it is a Sign of a 
Suppuration, and in some few Days the Mat- 
ter flows either into the Cavity of the Belly, 
producing all the Symptoms which happen 
in an Impostumation of the Liver, or into the 
Cavity of the Guts, and causing a purulent 
Bloody-flux, and often a Consumption, Si- 
nus's and Fistulas; in which Case Whey 
and Chalybeat Waters are proper Drinks. 
The Aliment ought to be of such Substan- 
ces as generate little or no Excrements, as 
Broths of Flesh-meat, with Scorzonera, Par- 
sley, or Fennel boil'd in them: Goat's Whey 
is likewise excellent in the Case; but fat and 
oily Substances generally do harm. 
If the Fever continue with clammy Sweats, 
Paleness, an ichorous Loosness, fœtid, black, 
or like the Washings of Flesh, a small inter- 
mitting Pulse, and at last a Cessation of Pain 
totally, they are Signs of a Gangrene, and 
Death at hand. 
But if none of the foremention'd Signs hap- 
pen, and that the Fever abates, and the Per- 
son complains of a Weight, dull Pain, Stop- 
page

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 405
page of the Excrements, a Schirrus is form- 
ing, which increases daily, and may terminate 
in a Cancer; which Purging, and indeed all 
Medicines irritate: The Patient in such a 
Case may protract a miserable Life with an 
exact thin Diet of Whey, Broths, and such 
Things as produce no Fæces, or by nourish- 
ing Glysters. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys. 
The Kidneys as well as other Parts 
of the Body are subject to Inflam- 
mations: Which may be known 
from a pungent, burning, inflammatory Pain 
in the Region of the Kidneys, a Numbness, 
or dull Pain in the Thigh on the Side affected; 
likewise Colick, Wind, Vomiting, an acute 
continual Fever, Urine sometimes totally sup- 
press'd, often made in small Quantities, high 
colour'd; and which is worse, sometimes 
very watry and quite pale without any Sedi- 
ment. As to the outward Sensation of Heat, 
the Extremity of Pain oftentimes produces a 
Coldness in the extreme Parts, which is very 
consistent with inflammatory Distempers. 
Diagnostick 
Signs.
This is produced by all the Causes 
of a general Inflammation directed 
to the Kidneys; and therefore, whatever ob- 
structs the Blood in the Extremities of the 
Arteries of the Kidneys, will produce this 
Distemper; a Wound, Bruise, Abscess, Swel- 
ling, Lying often long on the Back, too vio- 
The Cause. 
Cc3 lent

406 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
lent Motion, especially walking, or hard rid- 
ing in hot Weather; and whatever obstructs 
the Passage of the Urine into the Pelvis, Ureter, 
or Bladder, as a viscid Matter, Gravel or Stone; 
likewise every thing which forces the gross Parts 
of the Blood into the urinary Passages, as Heat, 
hard Riding, Straining, too great Fullness of 
Blood, and especially sharp and forcing Di- 
ureticks; and lastly, a convulsive and invo- 
luntary Contraction of the small Vessels of the 
Kidneys, if long continued. 
Coffee-colour'd Urine is not a dangerous 
Sign; for it proceeds from the Mixture of a 
small Portion of Blood with the Urine, and 
oftentimes it prognosticates a Resolution of 
the obstructed Matter, and the Expulsion of 
Gravel, or a Stone after great Pain; but pale 
Urine is a Symptom which portends the Di- 
stemper to be more lasting and dangerous. 
The Cure is to be perform'd by plentiful 
and repeated Bleeding, avoiding carefully at 
the same time all stimulating Diureticks, 
which in this State would increase the Dis- 
ease: Afterwards the Expulsion of the ob- 
structing Matter is to be promoted by emol- 
lient and soft Liquors plentifully drank, and 
by Glysters of the same kind frequently inject- 
ed; by Bathing and outward Fomentations, 
by opiate and anodyne Substances, which 
both ease and relax the Fibres; and those 
soft Liquors should be drank plentifully not- 
withstanding the frequent Vomitings; for 
Vomiting is an Effort of Nature in order to 
pro-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 407
promote the Expulsion of the Gravel, Stone, 
or any other obstructing Cause. 
Therefore Whey, and in a great feverish
Heat, Butter-milk; likewise Emulsions of 
Barley and Poppy Seeds, Honey in Whey and 
Water, are all very proper Liquors for this In- 
tention; also a moist and soft Diet, Rest, and 
keeping out of a warm Feather-bed, and par- 
ticularly avoiding lying upon the Back. 
If the Pains or Convulsions be very urgent, 
without waiting for the Effects of other Re- 
medies, Opiates with due Caution ought to 
be given; but when the Gravel, Stone, or 
any other obstructing Cause is separated from 
the Kidneys, soft express'd Oils, and oily 
Substances relax the Passages; and if the Pain 
proceeds only from Gravel, or a Stone, then 
oily Substances may be safely join'd with sti- 
mulating Substances, as with Juice of Lemon, 
Juniper-Water, and some diuretick Syrup, 
as that of Marsh-mallow, &c. In this Case 
the Jolting in a Coach, and such-like Motion 
may be used with Advantage. 
If the Pain is protracted beyond se- 
ven Days, an Abatement of the Pain, 
its changing into a Beating or Throb- 
bing, often-returning Shiverings, a Heaviness 
or Numbness of the Part, are Signs that 
Matter is a forming, which when made will 
appear in the Urine; in which Case, soft and 
balsamick Substances are the most beneficial; 
for if the Matter remains long, the Case is in- 
curable.
Progno- 
sticks. 
Cc4 Some-

408 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Sometimes it happens to terminate in a 
Fistula, with which the Person may live 
many Years in no great Uneasiness. All Bal- 
samicks are good in Ulcerations of the Kid- 
neys: Likewise Butter-milk not quite sour 
has been deem'd a Secret in the Cure of 
Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Steel-waters have 
proved very beneficial to some; Spruce-beer 
is also a good Balsamick in such a Case; 
and soft Malt Liquors are preferable to 
Wines. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys terminate 
sometimes in a Schirrus, or large Stone. But 
a sudden Remission of the Pain, with cold 
Sweats, a weak and intermitting Pulse, Hick- 
up, no Urine, or in very small Quantity, 
black and fœtid, are sure Signs of a Mortifica- 
tion and ensuing Death. 
Regimen.
The Regimen of those who are 
subject to nephritick Disorders may be  
in some measure collected from what has been 
above-mention'd; and such ought to be ex- 
tremely careful of the Choice of their Li- 
quors; for sharp Wines which abound with 
Tartar, are very hurtful; soft Malt Liquors, 
not stale, are certainly much better to be 
made use of, and some of the softest diure- 
tick Substances often mention'd already; and 
to avoid acrimonious Things in their Food, 
use moderate Exercise, and not lie too hot, 
soft; nor much upon the Back. 
Of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 409
Of an Apoplexy. 
This Distemper is a sudden Sus- 
pension of all the Senses, both ex-  
ternal and internal, and a Privation of all 
voluntary Motion, by the Stoppage of the 
Flux or Reflux of the animal Spirits through 
the Nerves destin'd for those Motions, com- 
monly attended with a strong Pulse, and dif-
ficult Breathing, with Snoaring, together 
with an Appearance of a deep and continual 
Sleep. 
Definition.
The most common Causes of A- 
poplexies are a particular Conforma- 
tion of the Body, as a short Neck; for there 
are some Persons who have fewer Vertebræ 
in their Necks than others; polypous Concre- 
tions of the Blood, an inflammatory Spissi- 
tude of it, a thick, glutinous, or pituitous 
Blood, and a dull Inactivity of the whole 
Mass; a gross, plethorick, fat, or phlegma- 
tick Constitntion; whatever hinders the Mo- 
tion of the Blood thro' the Arteries of the 
Brain, as Tumours arising within the Cra- 
nium, or Polypus's, especially about the 
Heart, attended most commonly with an 
unequal Pulse, a Vertigo, and sometimes a 
momentary Loss of the Eye-sight; old Age, 
attended with a glutinous, cold, catarrhous, 
leucophlegmatick Constitution; for in suck 
the Forerunners of an Apoplexy are, Dulness, 
Inactivity, Drowsiness, Sleepiness, Slowness 
The Causes.
of

410 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
of Speech, and giving Answers, Vertigoes, 
Tremblings, Oppressions in Sleeping, Night- 
Mares, Weakness, Wateryness, and Turgi- 
dity of the Eyes, a great Fulness of Blood, 
with its Velocity increased by Heat and vio- 
lent Motion, a high Diet, and Spirituous Li- 
quors, a partial and imperfect Circulation of 
the Blood towards the lower Parts; the 
Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity, or 
Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain, 
which is the most common and immediate 
Cause of Apoplexy; violent Passions and 
Affections of the Mind. The immediate Fore- 
runners of an Apoplexy are most commonly 
a Vertigo, Staggering, Loss of Memory, Stu- 
por, Sleepiness, a Noise in the Ears, and a 
deep and laborious Breathing. To these 
may be added, Extravasations of the Blood or 
Serum from Contusions or Concussions, oc- 
casion'd by external Violence, and an innu- 
merable other latent Causes. 
The Division of Apoplexies into sanguine- 
ous and pituitous is of Use, but then it is not 
an exact and perfect Division; because there 
are other Kinds, viz. serous, atrabilarious, 
and polypous Apoplexies, &c. 
Prognosticks. 
A slight Fit of an Apoplexy is 
carried off by a plentiful, warm, 
and equable Sweat, a great Discharge of thick 
Urine, a Flux of the Piles, or of the Men- 
ses, by a Looseness, or a great Fever coming 
upon it. If the Apoplexy be more severe, 
it usually terminates in a paralytick Disorder
of 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 411
of some Part of the Body, or of all one Side, 
which is called a Hemiplegia; or sometimes of 
all the Body below the Head, which is called 
Paraplegia, and is seldom curable, but al- 
ways leaves behind it a great Defect of Me- 
mory, Judgment and Motion. An exquisite 
Apoplexy soon carries off the Patient; it is 
seldom known that they live beyond the se- 
venth Day. 
The Cure is to be varied ac- 
cording to the Difference of the 
Causes; for if occasion'd by a cold 
phlegmatick Cause, we ought immediately to 
endeavour that the Pressure of the glutinous 
Siziness may be diverted from the Head, by 
Derivation into other and opposite Parts, and 
universal Evacuations: for this Intention, 
Blisters, Causticks, Frictions, Ligatures, Anti- 
phlegmaticks, sneezing Medicines, and all 
sharp and stimulating ones are to be used, as 
Emeticks, strong Purges, and sharp purging 
Glysters. 
Yet in the Use of all these the Mischief is 
oftentimes increased, the Matter being there- 
by more violently moved and afterwards fix'd, 
and the Strength sinking under the Evacua- 
tions; therefore in endeavouring a Resolu- 
tion, we ought to insist upon Evacuations and 
Revulsions, as much as the Case will bear;
whence the Rule of Hippocrates, Bleeding 
except it relieves, kills; and Celsus says, that 
it kills or cures. But if the Apoplexy pro- 
ceeds from a hot Cause, and that the Dis-
The Cure va- 
rious.
temper

412 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
temper seems inflammatory, then presently 
take a large Quantity of Blood out of the 
Jugular Veins, and repeat it as often as there 
is Occasion; by which, if the Distemper is 
curable, some Relief will arise. A Loose- 
ness is by all means to be promoted, and we 
are to give Diluters, Attenuants and Diure- 
ticks at the same time, keeping the Patient 
as much as we can out of Bed, especially 
from lying down. 
As the Applications in the Fit are of a 
medicinal Kind, it being too acute a Disease 
to admit of any Helps from Diet, yet that 
may be of great Use for Prevention; there- 
fore a thin, slender, cool, and regular Diet, 
opposite to the particular Symptoms above- 
mention'd, will be useful; so that the Regi- 
men is to be varied according to the Cause 
of the Disease, which may be collected from 
the Constitution of the Patient in these Apo- 
plexies, which depend upon a sanguineous 
Cause; the Regimen prescrib'd in a sangui- 
neous Constitution, in Part II. of this Trea- 
tise is proper. Fat and phlegmatick People, 
who are very subject to this Distemper, ought 
to give Attention to the Rules set down in 
the same Place, in their Case; and as there 
are Apoplexies from inveterate Gouts, the Re- 
gimen of such must be different from both, 
as I shall explain hereafter in treating of the 
Gout, the Intention being to translate the 
Gouty Matter upon the Extremities of the 
Body: and all those who have a Disposition
to 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 413
to this Distemper, ought never to go to Bed 
with a full Stomach, nor to lie with their 
Head low. 
CHAP IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers.
Of a Palsy. 
A Palsy is a Resolution or Relaxa- 
tion of the nervous Parts from
their natural Tone, by which means their 
Motion and Sense, either one, or both, all 
over the Body, or in some particular Part or 
Parts, are impair'd, so as to be unable to exert 
their natural Functions. 
Definition. 
The best Rules of Diet in this 
Disease are taken from the Know- 
ledge of its Causes; for whatever stops either 
the Flux of the Spirits, or that of the Blood 
to any Part, induces a Palsy, for both are 
necessary for Sensation and Motion; such are 
all the Causes of an Apoplexy, an Epilepsy, 
extreme and lasting Pains, the Suppression 
of usual Evacuations, either natural or mor- 
bid, Translations of diseased Matter in acute 
Distempers, whatever distends, distorts, com- 
presses, or contracts the Nerves; strong and 
The Causes.
strait

414 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strait Ligatures, Luxations, Fractures, any 
Inflammation in the Integument, or mem- 
branaceous Sheath of a Nerve, especially in 
the Plexus, where they are tied together; 
likewise serous Defluxions, Excess in astrin- 
gent Aliment, chiefly unripe Fruits, drink- 
ing too much warm Water, is weakening 
and relaxing; also Excess in Tea or Coffee; 
extreme Heat or Cold, poisonous Fumes of 
Arsenick or Mercury. 
This Distemper is more or less dangerous 
according to the Cause, or the Extent and 
Seat of the Disease; for when the original of 
it is in the Brain, it is most dangerous; when 
it seizes the Heart or Organs of Breathing, it 
is fatal; because Life cannot be continued a 
Moment without the Use of those Parts. 
Difficult to 
cure.
A Palsy succeeding an Apoplexy, 
Convulsions, the Colick, and 
other Affections of the Brain or 
nervous System, if it does not grow better in 
a little time, or give Way to Medicines, it 
commonly remains incurable. 
Regimen.
The Regimen in this Distemper 
should be warm, attenuating, con- 
sisting of spicy and cephalick Vegetables, such 
as produce a feverish Heat; because such are 
necessary to resolve the Viscosity of the 
Fluids. Of such as consist likewise of an 
acrid, volatile Salt and Oil, as Mustard, 
Horse-Radish, &c. stimulating by Vomits, 
sneezing, relaxing the Belly by purging, and 
diluting strongly at the same time, promoting 
Sweat


415 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
Sweat by such Motions as can be used, or 
other Means, and strong Frictions are here 
very useful; but Bleeding is to be used or 
omitted according to the Symptoms which 
affect the Brain: It relieves indeed, in any 
inflammatory Disposition of the Coat of a 
Nerve, yet it is not convenient in general for 
all Persons; for some Paralyticks are cold, 
and others of a hot Constitution; therefore 
Remedies ought to be of a different Kind, as 
is usual in the Scurvy itself. 
The most noted Medicines in this Case, 
are of Vipers, Amber, Earth-worms, Wood- 
lice, Emets, Antimonials, Mercurials, Steel 
Preparations, the Antiscorbutick Juices,
with compound Horse-radish Water, and Juice 
of Oranges, Gum Guaiacum, Tincture of 
Amber, Spirit of Hartshorn with Amber, 
Bezoar Mineral, &c. And externally, Fo- 
mentations, Liniments, Cupping-glasses, Bli- 
sters, nettling the Members affected; also 
putting the relax'd Part into Grains, after the 
Wort is drawn off, or into the Belly of a 
Beast newly killed; or lastly, an artificial or 
natural Bath, as that in Somersetshire; like- 
wise Issues and Setons are proper in this Case. 
Of an Hemiplegia and a Paraplegia. 
A Hemiplegia is when only half of the 
Head, and of the rest of the Body on that 
Side is affected, after the manner of an Apo- 
plexy.
A 


416 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Paraplegia or Paraplexia, is, when the 
whole Body, except the Head, is affected by 
reason of the Spinal Marrow's being ob- 
structed; and more commonly this and a 
Hemiplegia are secondary Distempers, tho' 
sometimes they are primary; Sense and Mo- 
tion, or both, are either entirely lost, or 
much impaired. 
When either of those Distempers imme- 
diately follow an Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and o- 
ther Diseases, they are commonly called Pal-
sies; but a Palsy is a different Distemper, as 
plainly appears by what has been said of it 
already.
The Cure. 
Vomiting and purging are proper 
in all Paraplegia's, to cleanse the 
first Passages; and Bleeding is necessary in 
plethorick Bodies. In the next Place Sudo- 
risicks are very useful, mix'd with Specificks; 
a Decoction of Sassafras with Rosemary and 
Juniper-Berries is very proper; and for the 
rest of the internal Medicines for the Cure of 
these two Distempers, use those directed in 
an Apoplexy and Palsy. A Fomentation 
made with a Decoction of Emets and their 
Hillocks in common Water, used every Day 
to paralytick Limbs, often proves very bene- 
ficial, and sometimes procures present Re- 
lief, by restoring the Parts to their natural 
Strength. 
Of

417 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Of the Epilepsy or Falling-sickness. 
An Epilepsy is a Convulsion or 
convulsive Motion of the whole 
Body, or of some of its Parts, with the Loss 
of both internal and external Senses, attended 
with violent Concussions and reciprocal invo-
luntary Motions of all or some of the Muscles,
with alternate Rest, and new Insults thereof. 
It is called the Falling-sickness, because the 
Persons affected with it fall suddenly upon the 
Ground. 
The Definition.
The Causes of this Distemper are 
various; sometimes an hereditary 
or Family Disposition from Parents; 
a sudden Fright of the Mother when with 
Child of the Patient; an ill Affection of the 
Brain by Wounds, Bruises, Blows, or Con- 
tusions; Abscesses, acrimonious Serum, bony 
Excrescencies of the Inside of the Skull, its 
pressing down upon the Brain; Inflammation, 
Corruption, or Corrosion of the Meninges or 
Membranes of the Brain; Repletion or Ful- 
ness, Heat, Drunkenness, intense Study, Ter- 
ror; all violent Affections and Irritations of the 
Nerves in any Part of the Body; especially 
by acrimonious Things in the Stomach or 
Bowels, by Worms, by Teething, and Aci-
dity in the Stomach in Infants; by some 
Contagion or purulent Matter after acute 
Diseases; likewise by Suppression of usual 
Evacuations, as the Menses, Piles, and Urine, 
&c. also by hysterical Affections contracted
The Causes 
various. 
Dd by 


418 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
by Accidents in Lying-in; and often by too 
great Inanition or Weakness, occasioned by 
want of due Nourishment; by Fragments or 
Splinters of Bones, or sharp Instruments 
hurting the Meninges or Brain, or Quicksilver 
carried thither any how; by the Caries of a 
Bone, black Choler, or venereal Ulcers cor- 
rupting or corroding the Meninges or any Part 
of the Brain.  
Hence it is evident, that different Medi- 
cines and different Indications are requisite to 
cure this Disease, according to the known 
Variety of the Cause, the peccant Matter, 
and the Place to which the Remedy ought to 
be applied, and by which the Evil is to be 
eradicated: Hence likewise is sufficiently ex- 
posed the Vanity of the celebrated Specificks 
and Methods, which boasting idle People do 
brag of in this Disease. 
And it is also evident, that the proximate 
Cause of all true Epilepsies is always the too 
great Action of the Brain upon the Nerves 
serving for Motion, and the Privation of that 
in the Nerves dedicated to Sensation; and 
that the Causes which create the reciprocal 
Paroxysms are many in Number and Va- 
riety. 
The Cure.
The Intentions in the Cure of 
this Disease must be different, ac-  
cording to the Cause, as I have just now ob- 
served: Bleeding and plentiful Evacuations, 
when there is a Plethora or inflammatory Dis- 
position in the Brain, are necessary; and Ali- 
ments


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 419
ments that are without Acrimony, demulcent, 
avoiding every thing which stimulates, and 
taking such Things as are opposite to the par- 
ticular Acrimony that causes the Distemper; 
relaxing the Belly without irritating. In acute 
and periodical Pains to take anodyne Sub- 
stances; but if the Disease be the Conser 
quence of an hysterical Disposition, a warmer 
Regimen is necessary, in which Case anti- 
hysterick Medicines are proper. If the Cause 
is in the Stomach, generally Anti-acids re- 
lieve; if they are not flatulent or windy, se- 
veral have been cured by a Milk Diet; but 
in Case of Acidity in the Stomach it will do 
Harm. When the irritating Cause is in some 
outward Part of the Body, it is proper to e- 
radicate it by Suppuration; if it proceeds 
from Gnawings and Irritations of Worms, 
Teeth, sharp Humours turning Milk sour 
and curdled like Cheese, or any other Acid 
in Infants, Diacodium or Diascordium given 
them unseasonably, or the Contagion of the 
Small-pox in the first State: Hence the tes- 
taceous Powders, Anodynes, Paregoricks, An- 
tihystericks, all Medicines against Worms, and 
a seasonable Cutting of the Gums, and car- 
rying off the acrimonious Matter from the 
Bowels by gentle Purges; then all these, I 
say, become, by their Operation, Anti-epilep-
tick Medicines. 
But if the Cause proceeds from a Stoppage 
of the usual Evacuations, as the Menses, 
Cleansings in Women, the Piles, or Urine, &c. 
Dd2 it

420 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it may be remedied by dissolving the viscid 
Matter, and opening the Obstructions: In 
this Case Blisters, Issues made with Causticks, 
Steel Preparations, forcing Medicines, such as 
provoke the Menses and open the Piles, and 
Diureticks are all proper. 
An Epilepsy from Inanition or Weakness 
may be cured by a nourishing Diet, easy of 
Digestion, and a proper Use of nervine Me- 
dines; and the following are reckon'd amongst
the anti-epileptick Specificks; Native Cinna- 
bar, Wild Valerian, Male Piony Roots and 
Seeds, Flowers of Lilies of the Vallies, Seeds 
of Rue, Misletoe of the Oak, Castor, Cam- 
phire, Rosemary, Earth-worms prepared, the 
Gum and Wood of Guaiacum, the Salt and 
Oil of Amber, Peacocks Dung, with a great 
many more too tedious to enumerate in this 
Place. 
Epilepticks ought to breath in a pure Air, 
untainted with any Steams, even such as are 
very fragrant; and their Diet should be nou- 
rishing, of easy Digestion, avoiding Hogs 
Flesh, Water Fowls, and all Vegetables that 
are pungent, windy, and, generally speaking, 
all Fruits, especially Nuts; they should use 
but little Wine, and none if they have not 
been accustomed to it; they ought not to 
turn round nor stand on Precipices, to keep 
regular Hours for Eating and Sleeping, for 
every unusual Thing is a Stimulus: But of 
all Things, the most necessary is to avoid the 
Occa-

421 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Occasions of violent Passions of the Mind, 
and keeping themselves chearful. 
Of Melancholy Madness. 
That Disease is called by Physicians a Me- 
lancholy, under which the Patient labours long, 
and is obstinately delirious without a Fever, 
and always intent upon one and the same 
Thought. 
This Disease arises from that Malignity in 
the Blood and Humours, which the Ancients 
have called Black Choler; and tho' this Dis- 
ease begins in the Mind, yet it renders the 
Choler black in the Body very soon. 
It will be therefore necessary to give a small 
Sketch of this wonderful Disease, the Doc- 
trine of which is supposed to be so obscure, 
that Antiquity is unjustly blamed for it. 
If the most fluid Parts of all the Blood be 
dissipated, and leave the less moveable united 
in the Body, then will the Blood become 
thick, black, fat, and earthy; and this Defect 
is called by the Name of an atrabilarian 
Humour, or melancholy Juice. 
The Cause whereof is whatever 
expels the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood, and fixes the rest: A violent Exercise 
of the Mind; the dwelling Night and Day 
upon one and the same Object; a constant 
Wakefulness; great Motions of the Mind, 
whether Joy or Sorrow; great and laborious 
Motions of the Body, often repeated, chiefly 
in a very hot and dry Air; to these may be 
The Causes.
Dd3 refer'd

422 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
refer'd immoderate Venery; rough, hard, 
dry, earthy Aliments, long used without 
Motion or Exercise of the Body to digest 
them; the like Drink; Parts of Animals 
dried in Smoak, Air, or Salt, chiefly of old 
and tough ones; unripe Fruits, and mealy 
and unfermented Substances; astringent coa- 
gulating, sticking, and cooling Medicines, and 
slow Poisons of the same Nature; hot Fevers 
hanging about long, often returning without 
a good Crisis, and going off without the Help 
of diluting Means. 
When this Evil, already bred in the Blood, 
and produced by the abovementioned Causes, 
does yet infect equally all the circulating Mass 
of Humours, it will produce some Diseases, 
which will appear immediately, and are most- 
ly as follow: The Colour of the Patient in- 
ternally and externally is first paler, yellower, 
and more tawny; livid, black with like 
Spots; the Pulse flower; the Circulation 
through the Blood-vessels free, more sparing 
through the Side-vessels and less free; hence 
a slower, less, and thicker Separation of all 
the secretory and excretory Humours, and a 
less Wasting of them; a lessen'd Appetite; a 
Leanness, Sorrowfulness, Love of Solitude, 
all the Affections of the Mind violent and 
lasting; an Indifferency to all other Matters;
a Laziness as to Motion, and yet a very great 
and earnest Application to any Sort of Study 
or Labour.
Its 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 423 
Its Matter therefore is the Earth and thick 
Oil of the Blood united and closed up toge- 
ther, which is worse in its Effects, and more 
difficult to cure, according to its Degrees of 
Fluidity, Softness, Dryness, Thickness, inti- 
mate Mixture, and Time of being so. Hence 
the Diagnosticks and Prognosticks are plain 
enough, and the Rationality of the Cure does 
also occur easy enough from these Principles. 
Thus far I have transcribed the learned Boer- 
haave's Sentiments of this Distemper. 
The atrahilarian Constitution, or a black, 
viscous pitchy Consistence of the Fluids, 
which most frequently produces this Disease, 
makes all the Secretions difficult and sparing; 
the Intention therefore ought to be to render 
the Humours fluid, moveable, and carry them 
out of the Body, especially the Bile, which is 
viscous; but Sudorificks are not here so pro- 
per, because they thicken. 
Therefore the Diet prescrib'd, Chap. VIII. 
Part II. in an atrabilarian Constitution, is very 
proper in this Case, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
The learned Author just now mentioned 
relates an Instance of a Patient, who, by a 
long Use of Whey, Water, and ripe Garden- 
Fruits, evacuated a great Quantity of black 
Matter, or Choler, and recover'd entirely his 
Senses. Cold Bathing, and especially a sud- 
den Immersion into the Sea, has produced 
very good Effects by acting upon the Nerves 
and Spirits. 
Dd4 Madness

424 A Guide to Health Part III. 
Madness proceeding from a Plethora, or 
too great Fulness in young, strong, hale Peo- 
ple of a hot Constitution, is cured by plenti- 
ful Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, and other 
Evacuations, with Diluters; and the Weak- 
ness which succeeds Madness requires a more 
refreshing and warm Diet, and especially the 
Use of Chalybeat or Steel Waters. 
If this Distemper continues long, it pro- 
duces Foolishness, Epilepsies, Apoplexies, fu- 
rious Madness, Convulsions, Blindness, won- 
derful Fancies; for some will imagine them- 
selves to be Beasts, or to be earthen Vessels, 
or they will fancy themselves dead; others 
will crow like a Cock, believing themselves 
to be such a Creature; others laugh, sing, 
cry, sigh, groan and belch; others obstinate- 
ly refuse to eat any Victuals, as believing they 
are actually dead; some think themselves 
Kings, Prophets; others a Grain of Wheat, 
Grass, or Wax: Sometimes they have great 
Evacuations of Urine, clear like fair Water;
at other times very thick; a Retention, 
mulation, and often a sudden Excretion of 
bloody Fæces in the Vessels of the abdominal 
Viscera or Belly; an obstinate Costiveness, 
with a thin and frequent Spitting, and they 
can endure to be without Sleep, Aliment, or 
Fire, even to a Wonder. 
This Distemper grows worse upon taking 
Medicines that weaken and evacuate roughly, 
or such as put the Fluids into a violent Mo- 
tion; therefore the curative Indications will 
be

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 425
be to bring the Fluids of the Brain and 
Nerves into a good Order; by withdrawing, 
first, the Mind from the usual Object to 
others contrary to the same, and raising art- 
fully, if possible, another Passion of the Mind, 
contrary to the melancholy one; by siding 
sometimes with them in their false and de- 
prav'd Fancies, or often opposing the same 
with great Force. 
Secondly, By opening, softening, inciding, 
and stimulating the Obstructions, or the 
Cause, or the EfFects of a false Imagination, 
with Mineral Waters, Whey, Water and 
Honey, Splanchnick, Hepatick, or Anti-hypo- 
chondriack Medicines and Decoctions; like- 
wise Waters made with the Addition of lixi~ 
vious or compound Salts, especially Nitre; 
also loosening Mercurials, Vomits, Motions, 
Exercise, and Riding; and Medicines which 
cleanse and purge the Womb, or the Piles, 
Bathings, Ointments and Plasters, and easing 
the Symptoms by Bleeding, plunging into 
cold Water, and using Carminatives and Opi- 
ates sometimes. 
Of Madness from the Bite of a Mad Dog, or 
any other Creature, called Hydrophobia. 
The Fury or Madness mostly proceeding 
from the Bite of Mad-Dogs is call'd Dog- 
Madness; and from that terrible Symptom of 
dreading Water, an Hydrophobia.
It

426 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
It almost ever arises from other Animals, 
which were first mad, and that by Contagion; 
tho' also sometimes of its own accord in some 
acute Fevers, as has been observed, and is 
well attested. Almost all sorts of Animals 
may be affected with this Evil, and by their 
Contagion infect others, and even Men. 
Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Foxes, Horses, Asses, 
Mules, Oxen, Sows, Monkies, Turkey-cocks, 
and Men, all these being first mad themselves, 
have communicated the same Madness to 
others; but it is common to none so fre- 
quently as to Dogs, Wolves and Foxes, and 
it invades these chiefly from inward Causes, 
without catching it from any others. 
A hot Country, open and exposed to vio- 
lent Heats, or to very cold raw Weather; 
hot and dry Weather long continued; the 
living upon rotten, stinking and worm-eaten 
Meat; Want of Drink; Worms grown in 
the Kidneys, Guts, Brain, or the Inside of 
the Nostrils; all these are preceding Causes 
of Madness in Animals just now mentioned. 
The Symptoms of a Person infected with 
this Poison, after different Distances of Time, 
are much in the following Manner: The 
Place where he was bit pains him; then fol- 
low wandering uncertain Pains in other, but 
chiefly the nearest Parts; a Weariness, Hea- 
viness, and Slowness succeed in the whole 
System of the Muscles; his Sleeps are disturb- 
ed, uneasy, all with Frights, Convulsions and 
Catchings in the Tendons; he is continually 
restless,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 427 
restless, sighs, looks dejected, and affects to be 
alone; and it is much after this Manner that 
this Disease begins and finishes its first Stage. 
Then all the foregoing Symptoms are in- 
creased, and there follows besides a prodigious 
Narrowness and Pressure about the Heart and 
Chest, Breathing is difficult, and accompanied 
with Sighs; he frequently shakes all over; his 
Hair stands an end, and trembles all over at 
the Sight of Water, or any sort of Liquors, 
or even at the Sight of transparent Things, or 
reflecting like Looking-Glasses; he loses his 
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow any 
thing that is very dry and solid: The Touch of 
any Moisture, chiefly with his Lips or Tongue, 
creates an incredible Anguish, Tremors, vio- 
lent Convulsions, and a Raving; he vomits 
tawny glewish Choler, or green, like Leeks;
he grows very hot, feverish, sleepless; is trou- 
bled with a Priapism; and he thinks disor- 
derly of Things quite foreign and unusual.
Thus it goes on, and here ends its Second 
Stage. 
But afterwards every thing grows constant- 
ly worse; for he soon lolls out his rough 
and dry Tongue, gapes wide, speaks hoarse, 
has a great Drought, grows raving and fu- 
rious at every Attempt to drink, and at the 
Sight or Touch of all Drinkables and Liquors; 
he gathers Froth in and about his Mouth, 
endeavouring the spitting of the same upon 
the By-standers, and that even against his 
Will; bites and snaps at every thing within 
his

428 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
his Reach, and that likewise involuntarily, 
nor yet to be witheld from those; he gnashes 
his Teeth with Froth, snarling like a Dog; 
his Pulse and Breathing begin to fail, cold 
Sweats break out on all Sides; he raves in 
the highest Degree, notwithstanding which 
he is all the while sensible, and is afraid that 
he shall unwillingly hurt the By-standers. 
Hence you may always reckon upon his 
dying (within the fourth Day from the first 
State of his Illness, convulsed with a most 
terrible Anguish upon drawing his Breath. 
As Brevity, and the want of Leisure and 
Room at present, oblige me to proceed to the 
Method of Cure without any farther Disqui- 
sition about the Nature of this dreadful Con- 
tagion, I present the Reader with the follow- 
ing short, easy, and in all Probability the most 
infallible Method hitherto discover'd. 
A French Physician of the University of 
Bourdeaux, and a Gentleman of Note and 
great Merit in his Profession, has publish'd a 
Treatise * some few Years ago, in which 
there is a Dissertation on the Hydrophobia, 
wherein he candidly communicates a very 
rational Method of curing this terrible Con- 
tagion, after a new and easy manner, of 
which he has made several Trials, and always 
with the desir'd Success, as may be seen in 
his own Treatise at large; therefore as this 
Remedy
* Dr. Desault's Treatise translated from the French, by 
John Andree, M. D. and printed for John Clarke, under the 
Royal-Exchange, Cornhill, 1738. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 429
Remedy he proposes (in all human Probabi- 
lity,) may prove successful and certain, (at 
least it bids the fairest of any hitherto known 
in the Art of Physick for that desirable End) 
I thought proper and necessary to communi- 
cate the same to my Readers, in order to 
impart it to all their Friends and Acquaint- 
ance. 
The Remedy consists of a Powder called 
Palmarius's Powder, and an Ointment made 
in the following manner. 
The Powder. 
Take of the Leaves of Rue, Vervain, 
Sage of Virtue, Plantane, Polypody, 
common Wormwood, Mint, Baum, 
Betony, St. John's Wort, lesser Cen- 
taury and Coraline, of each equal 
Parts; mix them, and reduce them 
to a Powder. 
The Ointment. 
Take one third Part of Mercury reviv'd 
from Cinnabar, one third Part of hu- 
man Fat, and as much of Hog's 
Lard, mix all very well till all the 
mercurial Globules disappear. 
Here I give you the Author's Method in 
administering the Powder and Ointment in 
his own Words.
'I

430 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'I order one Dram of the Powder (says 
he) 'in White-Wine every Morning; and 
'Persons of the fair Sex, who cannot bear 
'Wine, take it in a Draught of warm Wa- 
'ter. 
'In this Method I continue 30 Days with 
'those who have been bit in an uncover'd 
'Place, or have receiv'd some considerable 
'Wound by the Bite; but to those who have 
'been bit in a Place that was cover'd, and 
'had only a few Holes made with the Teeth, 
'I give the Powder only 20 Days. 
'From the first Day of using the Powder, 
'I make them administer a Friction of one 
'or two Drams of the Ointment upon the 
'Wound and neighbouring Part, and spread 
'the Ointment all over the Part that was 
'wounded. 
'The Friction is repeated every other Day 
'in the beginning, and after the third time, 
'every third Day; after the 6th, every 4th, 
'till two or three Ounces of the Ointment 
'have been used; the Quantity of which 
'ought to be proportion'd to the Strength, 
'Age, Temperament, Sex, the Bite, &c. 
'But when the Patient comes to me seve- 
'ral Days after the Bite, for fear of Acci- 
'dent, and to prevent the Rabies or Mad- 
'ness, I order to make the Frictions every 
'Day to four or five times, and increase the 
'Dose of the Powder sometimes to half a 
'Dram; afterwards I leave a Day or two be- 
'tween to avoid a Salivation, which might 
'ensue

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 431
'ensue from the daily use of the Ointment, 
'altho' but a particular Friction. 
'In the last Place, I let him keep his 
'usual Meals, forbidding him all Excess; for 
'Experience proves, that they increase all 
'other contagious Distempers. I let him 
'drink Wine with moderation: I take Care 
'that they be not left alone, and desire their 
'Relations and Friends to keep them Com- 
'pany, forbidding them to mention Madness 
'to them, or mad Creatures. 
A more circumstantial Account of this 
Method may be seen in the Author's own 
Observations, to which I refer the Reader; 
but here I cannot omit observing, that if 20 
or 30 Grains of native Cinnabar were added 
to every Dose of the Powder, the Cure might 
be thereby perform'd with much greater 
Certainty. As for his directing to make the 
Ointment with human Fat, &c. it is need- 
less; for the common strong salivating Oint- 
ment, which is always ready prepar'd in the 
Shops, is every bit as good, if not better. 
The Experiments of the ingenious Dr. 
James seem to confirm the Efficacy of the 
above Method, at leasst that of Mercury, in 
curing the Bite of a mad Dog; wherefore I 
beg leave to transcribe Part of the Conclusion 
to his New Method of preventing and curing 
the Madness caused by the Bite of a mad Dog, 
laid before the Royal-Society, 1741. 
'Firft I would (says he) rub into the 
'Place wounded as soon as possible, a Dram 
'of

432 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'of the Ointment recommended by Desault. 
'I would then give Turpeth Mineral by 
'Way of Vomit, in a Dose proportion'd to 
'the Age and Constitution of the Patient;
'and this I would repeat more than once, at 
'Intervals, which would secure it from rais- 
'ing a Salivation, always remembring to rub 
'the Wound once in a Day, or oftener, with 
'the Mercurial Ointment. 
'But when thro' Neglect, any Symptoms 
'of approaching Madness should appear, I 
'would increase the Quantity of Mercurial 
'Ointment, and give Mercury in some Form. 
'or other internally, in as large Doses, and 
'those as often repeated as could be done, 
'without hazarding the Patient by a Saliva- 
'tion too precipitate. 
'In both Cases I would recommend the 
'Cold-Bath, as a Thing of great Conse- 
'quence, as soon as ever the Patient can 
'make Use of it without Danger; but in 
'this Case, as in all others, many accidental 
'Circumstances will occur, for which it is 
'impossible to lay down universal Rules; it 
'must therefore be left to the Prudence of a 
'Physician to guard against, and remedy In- 
'conveniencies arising from particular Acci- 
'dents. 
Of the Scurvy. 
It is impossible to define this Distemper by 
Words, containing any simple or distinct 
Idea; for it is rather a Name used to signify 
a

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 433
a Multitude of Symptoms, different and 
sometimes opposite in their Causes and Cures. 
It is a Disease affecting the Inha- 
bitants of cold Countries, and a- 
mong those, such of them as inhabit marshy, 
fat, low, moist Soils, near stagnating Wa- 
ters, fresh or Salt; and it invades chiefly in 
the Winter Season, such as lead a sedentary 
Life, or live upon salted and smoaked Flesh 
and Fish, or Quantities of unfermented 
mealy Vegetables, and drink bad Water; and 
likewise such as are Hysterical or Hypochon- 
driacal, and sometimes such as have taken.
great Quantities of the Bark, without pro- 
per Evacuations; so that from these Causes 
the best Rules for Prevention may be taken. 
The Cause. 
The Symptoms of this Distemper are a 
spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weari- 
ness, being unrefreshed by Sleep, laborious 
Breathing upon small Motion, cold Swellings 
in the Legs, going off and returning; some- 
times Paleness, or a livid Colour in the Face, 
Spots on the Skin of various Colours, as red, 
violet-colour'd, yellow, or livid; oftentimes 
an ill Smell in the Mouth, and of the Breath, 
painful and bleeding Corrosions of the Gums, 
and by these Means the Teeth grow bare and 
loose; Fluxes of all Sorts, untractable Ul- 
cers, especially in the Legs, with a gangre- 
nous Appearance in the Skin; the Itch, dry 
and crusty Eruptions, and sometimes a small 
Degree of Leprosy; the Blood when taken 
away is black, grumous, and the red Part 
Ee without

434 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
without a due Consistence; the Serum very 
salt, and of a yellowish green; wandering 
Pains in the Limbs, increasing when warm 
in Bed, and sometimes a feverish Heat. 
These Symptoms arise from a bad Tem- 
perature of the Blood, either too thin, or too 
thick, being of a saline Constitution, either 
from an acid, alkaline, or Muriatick Cause, 
which requires very different and oftentimes 
contrary Remedies; for which Reason, See 
Part II. Chap. VIII. where I have treated of 
acid and alkaline Constitutions. 
The Scurvy of Seafaring People is generally 
cur'd by Acids, such as all Sorts of ripe 
Fruits, Lemons, Oranges, Butter-Milk; but 
all alkaline Spirits do harm; and acid Spirits, 
as that of Salt and Nitre are proper for 
them. If the Symptoms are attended with 
an ill Smell of any kind, either in the Mouth, 
Breath, or Urine, with Drought, Heat, 
Bleeding of the Gums, or of any kind, such 
a Disease will be cur'd by the Use of Acids, 
and none better than Whey; and in this Sort of 
Scurvy Steel Waters are commonly effectual. 
But if the Scurvy be muriatick or briny, 
occafion'd by a Diet of sait Flesh or Fish, the 
Plants commonly called Antiscorbutick, as 
Water-cresses, Scurvy-grass, and Brooklime, 
may be taken with Success, but always 
mix'd with Acids, as the Juice of Lemons 
and Oranges; and all the Pot-Herbs which 
are antiacid, as describ'd in Part II. Chap. VI. 
are a proper Diet in this Case; but if there 
be

435 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
be a high Degree of Heat and Inflammation,
all the hot Antiscorbuticks will be very im- 
proper. 
When a Patient is pale, cool without 
Thirst, with pale or natural colour'd Urine, 
and has made Use of an acescent Diet for any- 
time, that the Eruptions are not of a high 
inflammatory or livid Colour, then the warm 
Antiscorbuticks, animal Food, and Salts are 
necessary. 
In the Scurvy great Attention should be 
always given to the Condition of the Mouth,
Gums and Teeth, from which the Nature 
and Degree of the Distemper may be pretty 
Well known. 
All sharp and strong Purges injure scorbu- 
tick Constitutions; but Lenitives are of great 
Service, and Bleeding is not proper, unless 
where the Symptoms are urgent and inflam- 
matory.
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body.
A Cachexy is so called from an ill 
Habit of the Body. It proceeds most 
commonly from the Intemperance of the 
Person, or the ill Cure of some preceding 
Disease; from a scirrhous Tumor of the Li- 
ver or Spleen, or from a too long and pro- 
fuse Flux of the Piles, or other Fluxes;
from long continual Fevers, or intermitting 
Fevers ill cur'd; from a Surfeit, or too plen- 
tiful use of spirituous Liquors; from the 
Causes. 
Ee2 Green- 

436 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Green-Sickness, from an Obstruction, or too 
great a Flux of the Menses; from Aliments 
of unfermented mealy Substances, as Pease, 
or such as are coarse, fibrous, fat, sharp, 
watry, and rough; from Bodies that cannot 
be digested at all, as Clay, Cinders, Chalk, 
Sand, Tobacco-pipes, Lime, &c. from a 
Defect of animal Motion in lazy and idle 
People, and such as sleep too much. 
Signs. 
The Diagnostick Signs are a Paleness 
of the Face, with a livid, yellow, 
greenish, or ruddy Colour; and frequently 
with a tumid or bloated Habit of Body, a 
Sluggishness; there is also often a slow Fever, 
scarce perceivable by the Person that has it. 
Cure.
The Cure is to be begun with a Vo- 
mit; but before a Vomit it will be ad- 
viseable to make use of saline Dlgestives to 
dissolve the Viscidities, as Cream of Tartar, 
vitriolated Tartar, Salt of Wormwood, Tin- 
cture of Salt of Tartar, Elixir Proprietatis 
with Tartar, and the absorbent testaceous 
Powders; but if an Emetick be not judged 
convenient in the Beginning, a Purge may 
be given, and repeated as need requires; and 
then after these Things have been done, we 
may advantageously proceed to the Use of 
Chalybeats, and Fuller's Ecphratick Mixture 
is a powerful Remedy in this Disorder. 
This Distemper sometimes disposes to Con-
sumptions, Bloatedness, and Dropsies, and is 
attended often with Palpitations of the Heart; 
therefore


437 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
therefore the Rules of Diet must be drawn 
from the Nature of the Symptoms. 
Of a Consumption. 
A Consumption is commonly defined to be 
a Wasting of the whole Body, arising from 
an Ulcer of the Lungs, but not justly; be- 
cause I have open'd the Bodies of several who 
died of this Distemper, whose Lungs I found 
without Ulcers, but full of Tubercles, Stones, 
and fabulous Matter; wherefore a Consump- 
tion is better defined to be a Wasting of the 
whole Body from a bad Conformation of the 
Lungs. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. Part II. 
Sect. I. Chap. 6. 
A Consumption, or Marasmus, is a Wasting 
of the whole Body, or some of its Parts, aris- 
ing from a Distemperature of the Fluids, or 
from their Defection, or an unequal and dis- 
proportionate Heat. Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
in his Theatrum Tabidorum, translated by 
Quincy, Page 135.
By these two last Definitions we see, that 
an Ulcer of the Lungs is neither the Ante- 
cedent, nor Concomitant Cause of a Con- 
sumption, but only a Symptom, as will evi- 
dently appear presently, in a few Passages ab- 
stracted from a Dissertation of a modern Au- 
thor *, supported by Reason and Observation, 
the surest and best Guides: afterwards I give 
the Reader his Method of curing this Di-
Ee3 stemper, 
* Dr. Desault's Dissertation upon Consumptions.


438 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
stemper, which I found in many Instances 
to answer the Intentions he proposes. 
Before I declare the Causes of a Consump- 
tion (says he) I thought proper to give a 
Description of them in behalf of such as are 
not of the Profession who may read this Disser- 
tation. 
A Consumption attacks Youth sooner than 
other Ages; that is, from 18 till the 35th Year 
it makes its principal Havock. Hippocrates, 
Aph. 9. Sect. 5. Not that the other Ages 
are exempted from it, since we see consump- 
tive People under and above the Time set 
down in the Aphorism; but not so often. 
1. Those who have a narrow Chest, a long 
Neck, high Shoulders, like Birds Wings, are 
most subject to it; of those Hippocrates 
speaks in his first Book of Epidemicks. 
2. Those who have the Misfortune of be- 
ing born of consumptive Parents are very 
subjed to it; for this Distemper has this in 
common with many others, that it is propa- 
gated by Inheritance. 
3. Such as are obliged to live with con- 
sumptive People, to wait on them, may con- 
tract it, if they are any ways inclin'd to it, 
for it is contagious; thus Women who attend 
their consumptive Husbands catch it of them, 
and Husbands of their Wives. 
The Disorder manifests itself, and makes 
its Progress in the following manner. The 
Patient seems to have a Cold, he is seiz'd 
with a dry Cough, which fatigues him most
at

439 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
at Night: Afterwards he brings up a well- 
digested Phlegm of a sweet Taste. 
Nevertheless as this Cough continues, as 
it exceeds the Bounds of a common Cold, as 
it goes daily increasing, as the Patient's Legs 
are observ'd to waste, and the rest of the 
Body in Proportion, as his Colour changes, 
and he grows pale and yellow, as the Phlegm 
changes Taste, and becomes a little bitterish, 
as some small Quantity of Blood is mix'd 
with it, as a slow Fever associates with it, 
with a Pain in the Breast, and in short, when 
he is at the Brink of the second Stage, he is
frighted, and very much alarm'd. 
Besides these Symptoms which Authors 
have taken Notice of, and which establish
the first Degree, I have always found a con- 
siderable Disorder in the Liver, so that an 
Obstruction in this Bowel plainly appear'd 
from its Hardness, and sometimes a great 
Pain. I am surpriz'd to see, that Authors 
have not taken Notice of this, which how- 
ever is a Symptom deserving of great At- 
tention, since it is of great Importance for 
the Discovery of the Cause of Consumptions, 
and of the Agreeableness of the Remedy I 
have to propose. 
Notwithstanding all the Remedies, Se- 
crets, and other Specificks, the Patient grows 
worse, and comes to the second Stage, which 
makes itself known by the Cough being 
stronger and more frequent by Night, by 
Night Sweats, which fatigue and drain the 
Ee4 Patient,

440 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Patient, by the Quantity of Blood in his Spit-
ting, and lastly he comes to spit Matter. 
The Leanness to which he was reduced by 
the first Degree, increases considerably in the 
second; the Fever, stronger and more violent, 
has even some Returns, with cold Shiverings, 
which encourages his taking the Bark regu- 
larly, to stop at least the Returns complicated 
with the slow Fever, and to continue the 
Medicines to heal the Ulcer, the Existence 
of which is no more to be doubted. His 
Nails grow crooked, and the Distemper, be- 
comes contagious in this Stage. 
Let us observe, that it is not always ne- 
cessary the Patient should spit Blood, to die 
consumptive; neither is it even necessary for 
the Patient to spit Pus to determine the Exis- 
tence of a Consumption, as I shall prove by 
Observations made at the opening of con- 
sumptive Bodies. The Cough, the Spitting 
of certain Phlegm without Blood or Pus, 
the Wasting, the nocturnal Sweats, and last- 
ly a Looseness, put an End to Life, it not 
being essential to this Distemper to spit Blood 
or Pus. 
The Patient at last comes to the third 
Stage; his Leanness is at the last Period; he 
resembles a Skeleton covered with a human 
Skin, which is hard, wrinkled, and rough; 
his Breath smells strong, and what he expec- 
torates stinks so that he loaths it; he brings 
up almost pure Matter, and his Life termi- 
nates with a Looseness.
Let 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 441
Let us now speak of the Causes of a Con- 
sumption: We shall divide them into con- 
comitant and antecedent. The concomitant 
Cause of a Consumption, I say, consists in  
Tubercles and Concretions form'd in the Sub- 
stance of the Lungs, and which are spread 
thro' its Lobes. These Concretions are like 
Hail-stones, and of different Dimensions. 
These Tubercles in the Lungs are real, 
and fall under the Cognizance of the Senses, 
and are no Supposition invented by a System- 
monger, to explain the easier his Hypothesis. 
That great Observator Hippocrates speaks of 
them in his Book de Morbis: He makes 
them of two Sorts; some crude, which do not 
suppurate; and others which suppurate, and 
leave an Ulcer. 
Etmuller, who has compiled the Opinions 
of the Moderns, has a whole Chapter de 
Tuberculis Pulmonum, Lib. II. Part. II. 
Cap. 8. p. 436. 
Read Morton's Book upon Consumptions, 
he never open'd a consumptive Body where 
he did not find them: He mentions them in 
almost every Passage; he imputes to them 
all the Disorder, and thinks they are the 
Source of all the Symptoms of a Consump- 
tion. 
Bonetus, in his Practical Anatomy, Lib. 2. 
Sect. 7. proposes several Observations collect- 
ed from Dissections of Bodies, where the Tu- 
bercles have been deemed the true Cause of 
a Consumption, and the Pus and Ulcers only 
as

442 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
as the Consequence of these same Tubercles 
suppurated and degenerated into Ulcers. 
But why should we look for Proofs in An- 
tiquity, why employ the Evidence of Fo- 
reigners? I appeal to all the Surgeons who 
have open'd consumptive Carcasses, and to 
the Physicians who have assisted thereat: 
Have they not regularly found in all these Tu- 
bercles, tho' less in Quantity in those who 
died of a long Consumption, they having 
had Time to melt away, and be confirmed 
by Ulceration? Some however have always 
remained, Death having prevented their Sup- 
puration. This being allow'd to be the con- 
comitant Cause of a Consumption, it will be 
easy to explain all its Symptoms. 
The dry Cough in the Beginning comes 
from the Pressure of the Tubercles upon the 
Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria, dis- 
persed through the Substance of the Lungs. 
Morton, p. 36. The same Irritations which 
this Compression makes in the Aspera Ar- 
teria, squeeze at length a Phlegm out of the 
Glands, spread about the internal Membrane 
of the Trachea; and the Cough, which in the 
Beginning was dry and hard, becomes moist, 
and throws up the Matter press'd out of the 
Glands by the Strength of the Cough. Mort. 
p. 34. 
The Difficulty of Breathing comes from 
these Tubercles, which fill up part of the 
Lungs, and lessen in Proportion the Quantity 
of Air which used to enter there; besides, the 
Com-

Ch. IV. 443 thro' the various Stages of Life. 443
Compression they make upon the Ramifica- 
tions of the Aspera Arteria renders its Ad- 
mission more difficult. 
The Leanness and Wasting are the Effcts 
of these Tubercles, and not the Ulcer of the 
Lungs, as has been supposed; and as it is of 
the greatest Importance for the Indication, 
which should be pursued in this Distemper, 
to prove that the Ulcer is not the Cause of 
the Wastings, we shall insert here the follow- 
ing Proofs. 
1. Hippocrates, in his first Book of Epi- 
demicks, acknowledges a Consumption with- 
out an Ulcer of the Lungs. Ægrotabant 
macilenti citra Pulmonum Ulcus: They were 
sick and wasted without an Ulcer of the 
Lungs. 
2. Hippocrates has also observed, that Lean- 
ness has begun before the Rise of the Ulcer, 
and that it is even far gone when the Ulcer 
appears. Temporis autem progressu exaspe- 
ratur Pulmo, & intus ulceratur à Pituita 
inhœrente & putrescente, & gravitatem exhi- 
bet Pectori & Dolorem acutum ante & re- 
tro caloresque acutiores in corpus incidunt. 
It appears from these Passages of Hippo- 
crates, and especially the last, that the Wast- 
ing, Cough, Spitting, and slow Fever, have 
begun before the Ulcer comes on. Temporis 
autem progressu exulceratur Pulmo: It is only 
in the Course of the Distemper; temporis 
progressu, says he; in progress of Time. 
3. Lastly,

444 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
3. Lastly we prove by an invincible Rea- 
son, that the Ulcer of the Lungs is not the 
Cause of a Consumption. There have been 
Persons who died of a Consumption with the 
whole Train of Symptoms, yet during the 
whole Course of the Distemper never spit 
any Pus; and upon the opening of their 
Bodies no Ulcers were found in their Lungs, 
but Tubercles in great Numbers. For Proof 
of this Fact we shall introduce the Observa- 
tions † upon the Body of Mr. Clever, Mer- 
chant, of this City, and of a young Gentle- 
woman; and also Willis's Observations al- 
ready mentioned. 
The slow Fever depends as much upon 
the Obstructions of the Liver, as of the 
Lungs: When the Blood finds its Passage 
shut up in any Part, it rebounds in a greater 
Body into the other Vessels; besides, when 
the Blood, which has not been sufficiently 
broke in the Lungs, nor depurated in the Li- 
ver, does not give way, but resists the Im- 
pulse of the Heart and Arteries, it revives 
its Play, and occasions two or three Pulsa- 
tions, where one would be sufficient, if it 
did not resist, and was thin and fluid. 
The nocturnal Sweats are owing to the 
thick and gross Disposition of the Blood: 
When the Serum is not exactly mixt with 
the other Principles of the Blood, it easily 
escapes through the Pores. 
It
† Observations of the Author in his Dissertation upon 
Consumptions, which see. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 445
It is easy to comprehend the Spitting of 
Blood: Who can now be surprised, that a 
Vein squeezed between two Tubercles should 
open and furnish some Blood in the Spittle? 
We are now come to the second Stage: 
Some Tubercles come to be inflamed; Matter 
is formed there; the Fever increases, as also 
the Difficulty of Breathing; the Tubercle 
bursts, and the Pus comes away like Spittle, 
which the Patient voids in abundance. 
But as the Pus which was contained in this 
Tubercle served its Neighbours as a suppurating 
Cataplasm, they are not long before they are 
inflamed, and come to Suppuration in their 
Turn, and the Lungs are thus destroy'd and 
ulcerate every Day more and more. And 
now the Distemper becomes contagious, the 
Suppuration of the Tubercle breeds Worms, 
which institute the Characteristick of the 
Ulcer. These Worms spread themselves a- 
bout the neighbouring Tubercles, as proper 
Beds for their Nourishment and Breeding, and 
by their Means it is that the Distemper be- 
comes contagious. 
[The Author has shewn, in his Treatise on 
Venereal Disorders, that all Infection pro- 
ceeds from Worms.] 
The Looseness comes from hence, that the 
Pores are destroyed by the Dryness of the 
Skin, which has begun with effacing the 
Pores of the insensible Perspiration, and now 
even stops up those which evacuate Sweat: 
The Serum not being well mixt with the 
Blood,

446 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Blood, and finding no more its former Out- 
lets, falls upon the Feet and Legs, and after- 
wards upon the intestinal Glands, which 
brings on a Diarrhœa, and makes an End of 
Life. 
We come now to examine the antecedent 
Causes which produce Tubercles in the Lungs, 
and shall make it apppear, by an exact En- 
quiry, that they owe their Rise to eager and 
coagulating Juices, and not to sharp and cor- 
rosive ones. 
Authors tell us, and we see it confirmed 
by daily Experience, that Grief is a power- 
ful Cause to bring on a Consumption. The 
Soul being continually employ'd in Affliction 
about the Object which causes it, studies 
Night and Day to find out a Remedy: This 
continual Attention of the Soul employs the 
Spirits in the Brain, hinders their descending 
into the Stomach, the Appetite disappears, 
the Digestion suffers, the Chyle is sent gluti- 
nous and ill digested into the Blood, disposed 
to bring on Obstructions either in the Lungs 
or Liver. 
But the free Course of the animal Spirits is 
not only suspended in the Stomach, but also 
in the Organs of Respiration; for we see Per- 
sons under Affliction forget as it were to 
breathe to that Degree, that as the Blood 
stagnates in the Lungs, they are oblig'd to 
fetch at Intervals deep Sighs, which are called 
sorrowful Sighs. 
Besides,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 447
Besides, Grief suppresses the insensible 
Transpiration. Sanctorius, Aph. 2. Sect. 7. 
And Consolation restores it, Animi Consolatio 
liberam facit Perspirationem. Aph. 6. Sect. 7. 
For the same Reason Men of Letters, who 
keep their Spirits continually upon the stretch, 
by the Excess of Meditation are also subject 
to Consumptions, as Morton observes. 
The eager Wines, according to Etmuller, 
produce abundance of Consumptions in the 
Province of Moravia, as being very proper 
to form Coagulations and Concretions. 
[The Author mentions a Case in his Dis- 
sertation, which proves how apt this Cause is 
to bring on a Consumption.] 
Melancholick Persons, according to Mor- 
ton's Observation, are very subject to Con- 
sumptions, their Blood being disposed to form 
Obstructions and Tubercles: Likewise, pag. 
27, he has oserved, that Cold is always the 
Cause of Consumptions. His Observation a- 
grees with that of Hippocrates, Frigus genitor 
est phthiseos pulmonis, scilicet, venulis a fri-
gore constrictis ac convulsis. Cold is the Pa- 
rent of the Phthisis of the Lungs, viz. when 
the Veins are drawn together by Cold. 
Van Helmont has observed, that Steams of 
Spirit of Vitriol, and of Aqua Fortis, have 
sometimes occasioned Consumptions. This 
Effect proceeds from the Concretion of the 
Juices by these acid Vapours, which form the 
Tubercles.
From

448 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
From this Enquiry into the Causes which 
are capable of producing Tubercles in the 
Lungs, it appears, that they owe their Ori- 
gin to acid and coagulating Juices; and if 
afterwards the Fluids grow pungent by stag- 
nating there, it is an Effect of the Part which 
alkalises them, in like manner as we see some 
Fruits change their Taste, according as they 
come near to be ripe or rotten. 
The Question then is, to look out for Re- 
medies which can dissolve and destroy these 
Tubercles. This is the Indication which you 
ought not to lose out of Sight: They are 
the Obstacles which you must either conquer 
or die. 
The Roman Hippocrates, Baglivius, in se- 
veral Places of his practical Writings, exhorts 
us to give aperitive Medicines in all the Dis- 
orders of the Breast; and Duretus, in his 
Coac. p. 423. says, that the urinary Passages 
are the Emunctories of the Breast, the Flux 
of Urine being augmented, procures a Di- 
version of the Phlegm, which otherwise 
would take its Course to the Lungs. 
These Authors not only propose that Indi- 
cation, but also the Remedies which I make 
use of to discharge it. Read Morton, p. 81. 
I don't at all doubt, says he, but by a pru- 
dent Choice and frequent Use of a thin and 
sharp Air, and by a long Use of balsamick, 
mercurial, and chalybeat Medicines and Mil- 
lepedes, but more especially of Mineral Wa- 
ters, and other anti-scrophulous Remedies, 
those

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 449
those Tumors may as well be destroy'd in 
these Parts as any other, and the Patient 
be freed from a phthisical and scrophulous 
Disorder, as we have often found by Ex- 
perience.
This is very certain, for all the English 
Consumptions, generally speaking, proceed 
from a scrophulous Disposition; therefore, in 
the Accesses of such a Distemper, aperitive 
and deobstruent Medicines, free from much 
Acrimony, with the mild Anti-scorbuticks, 
will always prove the most effectual Reme- 
dies; but whatever heats too much, disposes 
to Suppuration; and it is upon these Princi- 
ples that the Author establishes his Method of 
Cure in the following Manner. 
'As soon as I am call'd to a consumptive 
'Person of the first Degree, fatigued with a 
'Cough, which at first was dry, and after- 
'ward is become moist, which exceeded the 
'Bounds of a common Rheum, accompanied 
'with a slow Fever, Difficulty of Breathing, 
'Leanness, &c. I examine immediately the 
'Liver, where I constantly find a conspicu- 
'ous Hardness and often a Pain. 
'I afterwards examine if any general Me- 
'dicines are indicated, in which Case I order 
'the Patient to bleed and purge; I even 
'repeat Bleeding when the Pain is violent, 
'and if the Patient is young, heated with 
'drinking of Wine, or spirituous Liquors, to 
'prevent the Inflammation of the Tubercles. 
Ff 'Then

450 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'Then I apply a great Plaster of the Empl. 
'Diabotanum upon the Region of the Liver, 
'with which Mercury revived from Cinnabar 
'is incorporated, or in default thereof the 
'Empl. Vigonis cum Mercurio. Every Night 
'I order the Plaster to be taken off, and the 
'Quantity of a Dram of the Mercurial Oint- 
'ment to be rubb'd in at the Swelling, and then 
'the Plaster is put on again, which remains 
'there Night and Day. 
'Internally I give twice a-day the follow- 
'ing Powder. 
'Take of prepared Mars, Millepedes, 
'Benjamin, red Coral and Crabs Eyes, 
'one Scruple of each; mix all well to- 
'gether to make into a Powder, to be 
'taken in the Morning and to be re- 
'eated at Night. 
'Or made up into Troches in the following 
'Manner:
'Take of Mars, Millepedes, Benjamin, 
'Coral and Crabs Eyes, of each half an 
'Ounce, Powder of Cinnamon three 
'Drams, fine Sugar half a Pound; mix 
'all together, and with the Mucilage 
'of Gum Tragacanth made with O- 
'range-flower Water, make Troches 
'of two Drams each, of which let the 
'Patient take one Night and Morning. 
'After every Dose of the Powder or Tro- 
'ches I order them to take a Draught of 
'Ptisane

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 451
'Ptisane made of Nettle-Roots, or Whey 
'well clarified, with which I mix two Oun- 
'ces of the Juice of Water-Cresses, and as 
'much of the Juice of Chervil; or some Broth 
'made of a Piece of Veal, Radishes, Cresses, 
'Brooklime and Chervil, or an Infusion of 
'Green Tea.' 
The Powder is in two great a Bulk, as he 
orders it, therefore it would be much a neater 
Way, and much easier for the Patient to take, 
if he had ordered the Steel, Millepedes, and 
Benjamin in a Bole with Syrup of Balsam, and 
the testaceous Powders in a Julap, or in an 
Emulsion of Sperma Ceti, to be taken by two 
or three Spoonfuls after each Bolus, and at 
other Intervals. This shews the Injudicious 
ness of foreign Prescribers in dosing their Me- 
dicines in a neat and proper Form, though 
otherwise never so learned. 
Our Author strenuously recommends Rid- 
ing twice a-day, in all Stages of a Consump- 
tion, if the Weather permits, the Usefulness 
of which he demonstrates from Observation,
Reason, and Experience. In the first Stage 
of a Consumption he allows light Meats of 
easy Digestion without any Seasoning; but 
in the second Stage, he orders the Medicines 
to be taken three times a-day, and makes the 
Patient live upon Cow's Milk, boil'd and 
skimm'd, and mix'd with an equal Quantity 
of Green Tea, and sometimes without it, but 
a thorough Forbearance from all manner of 
Ff2 Flesh-

452 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Flesh-meat: He likewise recommends the 
Use of Asses Milk, Chearfulness and Musick. 
Other Con-
sumptions.
As Consumptions are mostly occa- 
sioned by Tubercles in the Lungs, 
there are some also that owe their 
Origin to Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, 
Pancreas, Mesentery, Kidneys, Womb, and 
Bladder, &c. The Knowledge, Prognostick, 
Effects, Cure, and Palliation are easily drawn 
from the distinguishing Marks of each parti- 
cular Bowel, of which no good Physician 
ought to be ignorant. 
For a more ample Account of the Nature 
and Cure of this lingering Disease, I refer the 
Reader to the Author's Observations in his 
Dissertation upon Consumptions. 
Of a Dropsy. 
When a watery Serum is shed out of its 
Vessels and received into Cavities, or when 
stagnating it distends its Vessels too much, it 
is called a Dropsy. Which may take place 
consequently wherever there are such serous 
Vessels, that is, in the whole Habit of the 
Body, and in each Particular thereof. 
Therefore this Distemper may happen 
wherever there are serous Vessels; an Hydro- 
cephalus or Dropsy of the Head, which is 
only incurable when the Serum is extravasated 
into the Ventricles of the Brain; and it is 
generally fatal in Infants, when the Sutures 
are closed and the Skull will yield no more. 
A Dropsy

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 453
A Dropsy of the Breast is attended almost 
with the same Symptoms as an Empyema, 
and cured by the same Chirurgery. A 
Dropsy of the Lungs, either by Hydatides or 
Water-Bladders, or by Lympha extravasated 
in the Body of the Lungs. 
A Dropsy in the fore Part of the Windpipe 
like a Bronchocele. Likewise a Dropsy in the 
Oviarium, Testes, Scrotum, or Uterus. 
An Ascites, or Collection of Water in the 
Abdomen. First, in the Foldings of the Peri- 
toneum. Secondly, Between the Peritoneum 
and the Bowels. Thirdly, When the Water 
is contained in the membranaceous Coat of 
the Glands. 
Sometimes the Air is so rarified in the Tu- 
mor as makes it hard and tight like a Drum, 
and from thence it is call a Tympany. When 
the Tendon is from Air, it is easily distin- 
guished by the specifick Gravity of the Pa- 
tient, and so is Water. And when the Wa- 
ter or Lymph stagnates, or is extravasated
under the Skin, it is called Anasarca. What- 
ever hinders the Return of the Lymph 
into the Veins, or breaks the Lymphatick 
Vessels, or obstructs the absorbent Vessels, 
so as the Lymph cannot be absorbed, or exhal- 
ed, produces a Dropsy; likewise any Stop- 
page of the Circulation will occasion a 
Dropsy, as by strong Ligatures or Com- 
pression. 
The most of the Causes are hereditary Dis- 
positions; drinking great Quantities of wa- 
Ff3 tery


454 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
tery Liquors, which are not discharged again;
violent acute Distempers; stubborn Obstruc- 
tions of the Bowels; the Jaundice; obstinate 
intermitting Fevers; Bloody-fluxes; great 
Evacuations, especially of Blood; viscid Ali- 
ment and hard of Digestion; inveterate Scur- 
vies: But the most common and most perni- 
cious of all is the habitual and plentiful Use of 
spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects are a Swelling of the Legs at 
Night by Degrees, still rising higher; like- 
wise a Swelling of the Belly increasing; but in 
a Tympany, sounding and tense like a Drum; 
sometimes the Sensation and Noise of fluctu- 
ating Water; Shortness of Breath; Thirst; 
Urine in too small a Quantity; no Sweat; 
the stagnating Serum at last turns acrimonious, 
exulcerates and putrefies the Bowels, produc- 
ing most dismal Symptoms. 
The best Cautions and Rules of Diet may 
be drawn from the Enumeration of these 
Causes and Effects; for the Intentions to be 
pursued are in removing the Causes, as Ob- 
structions, dissolving the Viscidity or Glewy- 
ness of the Serum, and discharging it out of 
the Body. 
The Viscidity of the Serum is best correct- 
ed by such Things as contain abundance of 
alkaline and volatile Salts, Spices, acrimoni- 
ous pungent Vegetables, soapy Substances; 
and what has been prescrib'd in a phlegmatick 
Constitution, Part II. which see.
The
 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 455 
The only Contradiction in this is, too great 
Heat and Thirst, to which Attention is to be 
given, and indicates the Use of Acids, Juice 
of Lemons and Oranges, Sorrel, &c. And 
it may be taken for a general Rule, that when 
the Urine is high-colour'd Acids are proper, 
for they are contrary to that alkalescent State 
of the Humours, and resist the Putrefaction, 
which is the Product of acrimonious Serum. 
Their Drink should be sparing; but as the 
Thirst is sometimes insufferable, the Patient 
may be indulged the free Use of Spaw-water 
and Rhenish Wine: And the Aliment should 
be dry and diuretick; but Diureticks of the 
acid Kind are the best: Strong Frictions of 
the Skin are very beneficial, which attenuate 
and promote the Circulation of the stagnating 
Serum or Water. 
Vomiting in strong Constitutions has proved 
oftentimes very effectual; because the Con- 
cussion of the solid Parts dissolves and expells 
the stagnating Humours; and likewise Gly- 
sters of sharp and purgative Ingredients are 
very beneficial. 
Smart Purges are useful to carry off the 
Waters; but they should not consist of Vola- 
tiles, because such dissolve the Blood, which 
is pernicious. Abstinence from Drink is very 
beneficial, and eating dry Biscuit, which cre- 
ates no Thirst; likewise strong Frictions four 
or five Times a Day. 
When the Waters are carried off, the Diet 
ought to be such as stengthens the solid Parts,
Ff4 allow-

456 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
allowing Spices and generous Wine, but espe- 
cially the Use of Chalybeat Waters, dry Food, 
and astringent Vegetables, Exercise, especial- 
ly Riding; and in general, such a Diet as ge- 
nerates good Blood. 
When the Serum stagnates long, it turns 
acrimonious, and commonly renders the Pa- 
tient feverish and thirsty; then acid or four 
Things are properest, both to prevent and 
cure these Symptoms, as they are specifically 
proper against that alkaline Putrefaction. For 
a more circumstantial and accurate Account 
of this Distemper and its Cure in every Par- 
ticular, consult the learned Boerhaave's Apho- 
risms upon it.  
Of the Gout. 
This Distemper is a very painful Illness, 
seated principally in and about the Ligaments 
of the Bones of the Foot and its Joints, seiz- 
ing Persons mod commonly in the Spring 
and Autumn; which when undisturbed com- 
monly runs its own natural Stage, and is 
usually the Companion of People of the mid- 
dle Age, of the Male Sex, Men of acute and 
deep Sense, who exercise the same much, and 
study late by Nights, such as lead a voluptu- 
ous and debauched Life, and at Night drink 
great Quantities of Wine or spirituous Liquors: 
Such as have been much addicted to Venery 
in their younger and unripe Years; large ple- 
thorick Men; such as are much used to 
Acids

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 437
Acids, and cool their sweaty Feet too sud-  
denly; sweat in wet Stockings or Shoes;
hence such as do hunt or ride much in cold 
Weather; and finally, such as have it by 
Inheritance from Parents, or lie much with 
gouty People. 
This Distemper may affect any membra- 
nous Part, but commonly those which are 
the most remote from the Brain and Heart, 
where the Motion of the Fluids is the slow- 
ed, the Resistance, Friction, and Stricture 
of the solid Parts the greatest, and Sensation 
of Pain by the Obstruction of the small Ves- 
sels and Dilaceration of the nervous Fibres 
extreme. 
The most common Seat of it is in the 
Foot, its Tendons, Nerves, Membranes, Li- 
gaments and Periosteum, or Membranes in- 
vesting the Bones. The Patient immediate- 
ly is sensible of a stretching, tearing, strait- 
ning Pain, gradually increasing and decreas- 
ing again, with a Moistness, Redness, Tu- 
mor, ending with a breathing Sweat, an Itch- 
ing, furfuraceous Skinning, or changing into 
a chalky Substance, which breaks the Vessels. 
By all which it appears, that the proximate 
Cause of this Disease is a vitiated Temper of 
the least, and consequently the nervous Ves- 
sels in the Body; and also of the Liquid 
which waters those nervous Parts; and more- 
over, that this Liquid here is defective by its 
Acrimony and by its great Viscidity, and the 
solid Vessels by too great Rigidity and Nar- 
rowness:


458 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
rowness: Whence it shews itself in Parts 
the most remote from the Brain, as resisting 
Motion the most, because of their Solidity, 
Hardness, Exercise, and Weight incumbent 
upon them. Now the immediate Origin of 
this Defect is from an Indigestion of the 
Bowels, which do not sufficiently attenuate or 
assimilate the Aliment into a Substance fit 
to supply the Nerves with Juices proper for 
them, which require a most elaborate Con- 
coction. 
The Cure therefore is impossible, unless 
wrought by such Medicines as are able to 
mend these Defects entirely. So that the 
Gout has hitherto been reputed incurable by 
Antients as well as Moderns, if except a few 
Quacks and boasting Empiricks in all Ages. 
From the same may be known, that 
Bleeding does not reach either the Matter, 
Seat, or Cause of the Disease: yet that same 
is sometimes found not only beneficial, but 
also necessary to cause a Revulsion, and lessen 
the most urgent inflammatory Symptoms 
that often attend it. 
As one of the Causes of the Gout is the 
Suppression of Sweat and Perspiration, so 
the procuring a due Degree of these seems to 
be the best Preventative of it; and if the Feet 
could be made to sweat in due time, it would 
prevent the Gout, which invades in such 
Constitutions of the Air as suppress Perspi- 
ration.
Violent

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 459
Violent Purges in the Absence of the Fit, 
by agitating the Humours too much, often 
hurt, and may draw the Gout into the Sto- 
mach if given during the Paroxysm. 
The best Diet is Abstinence from all man- 
ner of Acids, high Sauces, and Gluttony; the 
moderate use of such things as promote Perspi- 
ration, as aromatick Substances with volatile 
Salts, which relieve Gouty People, by ren- 
dering the Body perspirable; diluting Li- 
quors, taken in such a Degree as not to in- 
jure the Stomach or Bowels, Moderation in 
Food of a nourishing light Sort, that is easily 
digested, as likewise in the use of strong 
Liquors; Exercise without Fatigue, such as 
Riding constantly in a pure, open Country 
Air, and Frictions and Motions of the Parts 
often repeated; going to Bed early, and ly- 
ing long in the Morning. 
It will be likewise necessary to restore the 
lost Vigour in the Bowels, by carrying off 
the corrupted Liquid flowing yet in the Ves- 
sels, or stagnating in the Places already as- 
sign'd. To the first relates the Us of aro- 
matick, bitter, antiscorbutick Plants, and 
chiefly the Juice with a little Honey; the use 
of lixivious fix'd Salts taken in small Doses, 
and often repeated for a long time together, 
observing at the same time the Diet as above 
directed. To the second (that is, the stag- 
nating of the Humours) will be useful, 1. 
Volatile Salts long taken and in small Quan- 
tities, in the Morning sometime before rising,
with 

460 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a large Draught of some softening Apo- 
zem, and thereby promoting a gentle breath- 
ing Sweat for about an Hour together. 2. 
Warm Frictions with dry Cloths. 3. Repeated 
Doses from time to time of such Medicines as 
purge serous or watery Humours, taking a 
gentle opiate Draught the same Night. 
In the Fit of the Gout, as temperate and 
as cool and diluent a Diet as the Patient can 
bear, abstaining from Opiates, except when 
the morbid Matter is separting, otherwise the 
constant Use of them is injurious; keeping 
the affected Part warm without the Applica- 
tion of Plasters, or Cataplasms; for even such 
as are emollient, weaken and relax too much. 
It will be of the greatest Importance to 
know if any Disease proceeds from a Trans- 
lation of the gouty Matter; for the Me- 
thods, especially Evacuations, used in an ori- 
ginal Distemper, would be very improper in 
a gouty Case, where the Intention must be 
to draw the Gout down to the Feet by Blis-
ters applied to the Thighs or Legs, and acrid 
inflammatory Cataplasms and Plasters. 
If a Person subject to the Gout, (except 
he has Chalk Stones) can bring himself en- 
tirely to a Milk Diet, he may by that means 
so change the whole Mass of the Juices of 
his Body, as to eradicate the Distemper.
The Effects
of Riding.
The English Hippocrates, Syden- 
ham, in recommending Riding in 
the Cure of this Distemper, says, 
that if a Medicine could be known to any 
one,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 461
one, and he could conceal it, that would be 
as effectual for the curing this Distemper as 
Riding on Horseback is; and not only here, but 
in most other chronical Diseases, he might get 
immense Riches by it. 
And Dr. Lister likewise says, 
that one single Golden Rule of Ab- 
stinence pleases me beyond all 
things, Parva cibatio summœ Curœ sit, viz.
Beware not to eat and drink too much, which 
is a thing every one ought to regard who has 
his Health at Heart; and this Abstinence is 
in all People's Power, in whatever State or 
Condition they are in, to be substituted in- 
stead of Exercise, when they have even lost 
the Use of their Feet. 
The Effects 
of Abstinence.
Of the Rheumatism.
This is a Distemper ally'd to the Gout and 
Scurvy, and is common in all the Northern 
Parts of Europe. 
Such are most subject to this Dis- 
ease as are of a sanguine Con- 
stitution, infected with some acrimonious De- 
fect, manly Age, plentiful Living, a sudden 
Cooling of a heated Body, Spring and Fall, 
Perspiration interrupted, an inflammatory 
Disposition, but appearing slower than in a 
Pleurisy. It begins with a continual Fever, 
causes a most terrible tearing Pain, increasing 
cruelly upon the least Motion, long continu'd 
and fix'd in one Place, seizing the Joints of 
Diagnosticks.
any


462 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
any Limbs, but most particularly trouble-
some to the Knees, Loins, and Rump-bone, 
tormenting and invading sometimes the Brain, 
Lungs and Bowels, with a Tumor and Red- 
ness of the Place, going off and returning 
again by Fits. 
The proximate 
Cause. 
The immediate Cause of this 
Distemper seems to be an Inflam- 
mation in the serous part of the 
Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries, and 
for that Reason affecting those Parts where 
the Vessels are the smallest, but not fierce 
enough to change it into an Impostumation. 
The Blood, as in other inflammatory Cases,
is sizy, the alkalescent Salts in the Serum a-
bounding with coreaceous or leathery Concre- 
tions. 
The Cure. 
The Cure consists in repeated 
Bleedings, cooling, repeated Purges, 
always allaying the Pain those Nights after 
purging with gentle Opiates join'd with mild 
Sudorificks, bathing in warm Water, and 
Fomentations apply'd to the Parts, and Bli- 
sters when it is obstinately fix'd in one Place. 
As for the Diet, it must be cooling, dilu- 
ting, and chiefly Vegetable. The constant 
Use of Whey is most effectual in rhis Disease, 
likewise a Milk Diet for changing the saline 
Constitution of the Serum of the Blood, is 
very useful and proper. 
Cream of Tartar taken either in Whey or 
Water-Gruel, for several Days together, will 
abate the Pains and Swellings considerably, 
by

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 463
by its Acidity correcting the alkaline Salts 
in the Blood. 
Of the Gravel and Stone. 
When any insoluble Matter stops in any 
Part of the Body, it gathers a Crust about it, 
which may grow into a Stone or stony 
Matter in any Part of a human Body; as a 
small Drop of concreted Blood may grow to 
be a Stone; for by the Evaporation of the 
most fluid Parts it grows hard, and by At- 
traction of new Matter it increases in Bulk. 
When these stony Concretions happen in 
the Kidneys, and are expell'd, or drop into 
the Ureters, they produce what is called Gra- 
vel; when they lodge and stick in the Body 
of the Kidneys, and grow to such a Bulk as 
not to drop into the Pelvis, or pass by the 
Ureters into the Bladder, they make the Stone 
in the Kidneys. But these Concretions hap- 
pen generally in the Kidneys and Bladder; 
and it is very certain, that if the Tartar and 
other Contents of the Urine were not con- 
stantly discharg'd, such Concretions would 
happen to all Mankind; for the Urine of 
most found Persons being inspected after it 
has stood a while with a Microscope, will 
discover a black Speck in it, which is Sand; 
and wherever this Sand sticks, it grows still 
bigger by the Apposition of new Matter.
The 

464 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The chief Signs or Symptoms of a Stone 
in the Kidneys are a fix'd Pain in the Region 
of the Loins, continually heavy like a Weight 
in the Substance of the Kidneys, with a 
kind of Numbness in the Part; but the Stone 
passing out of the Pelvis or Bason of the 
Kidneys into the Ureters, a most tormenting 
Pain follows, of all the most severe; an In- 
flexibility of the Back Bone, by the Exten- 
sion and Compression of the Nerves; a burn- 
ing Heat in the Loins, a Numbness of the 
Leg of the same Side, by means of the 
Nerves being affected; a Retraction of the 
Testicle for the same Reason; the Urine 
either bloody, upon any hidden Jolt or vio- 
lent Motion, or thin and watry, and little in 
Quantity; but after the Stone is fallen into 
the Bladder, the Urine presently becomes very 
thick, turbid, blackish, and in great Quan- 
tity. Fleshy Filaments, or Matter voided by 
Urine, are suspicious Symptoms of a Stone in 
the Kidneys, especially if the Patient has 
been subject to voiding of Gravel. 
The Symptoms of a Stone in the Bladder, 
are, a Titillation about the Neck of the Blad- 
der, and Parts thereabouts; a Sense of Weight 
in the lower Belly under the Share-bone, and 
the Region of the Groin; a perpetual Desire
of making Water, with a great Pain, espe- 
cially upon any hidden Motion, which causes 
a Concussion of the Bladder, a Dribbling dif- 
ficultly, and a hidden Suppression of Urine 
by the Stone's stopping the Orifice of the 
Bladder,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 465
Bladder, attended with great needing to go 
to Stool, and a burning Pain in the Urethra;
sometimes a white Mucus or Slime in the 
Urine; this may happen without a Stone in 
the Bladder: But the most certain Sign of all 
is, when it can be most certainly felt with 
the Finger in Ano, or by a Catheter. 
The Regimen in the Cure of the Stone in 
the Kidneys, is, by diluting and soft Diure- 
ticks, both medicinal and dietetical, to try 
to expel it, if it is small enough to pass; but 
if it is brittle, it will often crumble and pass 
in the form of Gravel by those Means: If 
the Stone is too big to pass, nor will not 
crumble, the only Method is to come to a 
sort of Composition or Truce with it, and 
use a cooling and diluting Diet constant- 
ly, to hinder, as far as possible, its Increase; 
to use Diureticks that resolve gently, as Pars- 
ley, Fennel, Scorzonera, Mallows, Tea, Dan- 
delion, Cichory, Sassafras, Oats, Barley, Honey, 
Vinegar and Honey; likewise nitrous Salts, 
and dulcify'd Spirit of Nitre; but the most 
soft and cooling Diluent of all is Whey, and 
the Emollients are Decoctions of Marshmal- 
lows and Linseed-Tea. 
Bathing in warm Water, and Glysters, are 
proper; seasoning the Food with Sea-salt 
moderately will not be amiss, for the mode- 
derate use of it is resolving and diuretick; 
and the Belly, in all Cases of the Stone, should 
be kept lax and open. In a confirm'd Stone 
in the Kidneys violent Exercise or Motion is 
dangerous. 
Gg While

466 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Stimulating 
Things not 
proper in the 
Beginning.
While the Stone is passing, we 
should avoid the Use of all forcing 
and stimulating Things at first; but 
relaxing and lubricating the Passages, 
and quieting the spasmodick Disorders by O- 
piates, is by far the safest and best Method; 
and where Bathing cannot be performed, Ox- 
bladders, half full of warm Water, constantly 
apply'd to the Part affected, may be very 
usefully substituted; and Bleeding takes off 
the Tension and prevents an Inflammation 
better than any Thing, and is therefore very 
necessary, especially when the Symptoms are 
urging and violent: When the Parts are suffi- 
ciently relaxed, forcing Diureticks joined with 
Opiates will be properly given. 
The best Way to prevent the Generating of 
a Stone, is to keep the Body open by Whey, 
Broth, and a liquid Diet, especially for all 
such as are troubled with Gravel. 
When the Stone is fallen into the Bladder, 
all Endeavours must be used to make it pass 
as soon as possible, otherwise if it should 
happen to continue there long, it would in 
Time become a large Stone, which nothing 
but the Operation could cure. 
If all the Symptoms abate without finding 
the Stone, it is not certain that it remains still 
in the Bladder, because a very small Stone 
may pass by Urine insensibly; and if the 
Stone has passed, it is not certain that the 
Affair is over, for there are often more Stones 
remaining, and therefore the usual Remedies 
ought not to be discontinued. 
When

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 467 
When the Stone stops in the Urethra, emol- 
lient Fomentations ought to be apply'd to the 
Parts, and Oil injected; or in Case of Extre- 
mity, an Instrument with a Cavity in it, dipt 
in Oil, may extract the Stone. 
Irritations in the Membranes of the Bladder, 
occasioned by a Stone, may be mitigated very 
much by an Injection of Linseed Oil, or that 
of Sweet Almonds into the Bladder.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing 
and Frictions. 
BATHING being either hot or cold, it 
will be necessary to enquire a little into 
the Nature of it, and what Alterations it 
produces in human Bodies, in order to know 
in what Cases and Constitutions the Use of it 
may be either beneficial or hurtful. There- 
fore I shall begin with Cold-Bathing, which 
was in the greatest Esteem with the Egyptians, 
Jews, Greeks and Romans, as evidently ap- 
pears by the Account given thereof in the 
Writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Pliny, Oribassius, Celsus, Ægineta, 
and others, needless to make mention of in 
this Place; But they who require to be fully 
satisfied as to that Point, may peruse Floyer 
and Baynard on Cold-Bathing, wherein they 
will likewise find a great many Instances of 
surprising Cures performed by Cold-Bathing 
Gg2 in


468 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Scurvies, Cachexies, 
Epilepsies, Gout, and Rickets, &c. 
It is experimentally known, that Cold 
contracts the Fibres, as I have observed in 
treating of the Qualities of Air, pag. 104. 
and the more suddenly it is applied to our 
Bodies, the more violently it operates: It has 
been likewise observed, pag. 87. that our 
Bodies undergo various Changes by the Al- 
terations of the Pressure of the Air, in its 
Weight and Elasticity: Now if we consider 
that Water is 800 Times heavier than Air, 
what Alterations must we not then expect
and be sensible of upon bathing or plunging all 
over into cold Water? For the Cold and 
Weight of the Water and Atmosphere acting 
all together, must consequently first brace up 
and straiten the Fibres and Vessels conside- 
rably in the Surface of the Body, and those 
Parts adjoining to it, and those at the Center 
the least and latest; so that the Blood will 
be forced in great Plenty upon the Viscera or 
Bowels, where there is the least Resistance: 
for which Reason it is never safe for those to 
bath who have weak or ulcerated Bowels, 
without endangering Life. 
But those Ends which are compassed by a 
greater Weight or Pressure, are more effec- 
tually obtained by whatever encreases the 
Weight of the Water, or contracts the Fibres 
of the Body: Thus Sea-Water, by reason 
of the Salt it contains, is heavier and more 
preferable; upon which Account all the 
Humours in the Body must be propell'd
with 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 469
with greater Force thro' the Vessels in which 
they circulate. Besides, the Tension of the 
Fibres being greater, their Vibration will be 
both quicker and stronger; so that the Blood 
and Spirits will not only move more swiftly 
through the Vessels, but also be much more 
ground and broken, digested and rendered 
fitter to pass the Glands and small Vessels: 
Moreover, as the Immersion into the Cold 
Bath mightily encreases the Blood in the Brain 
and Viscera, being forced thither where there 
is the least Resistance, whereby the Quantity 
of animal Spirits, of Urine, of Gall, of the 
pancreatick Juice, and of all other Secretions, 
will be very much encreas'd, these Humours 
being thrust forwards with greater Celerity, 
will probably remove any Obstruction that is 
not too long fixed and obstinate; for which 
Reasons, if we would have the Blood dis- 
solved, or any viscid Matter adhering to the 
Sides of the Vessels removed, or the Glands 
deterged, or a greater Quantity of Spirits se-
creted, and moved with greater Celerity thro' 
the Nerves, or would force Urine, or remove 
Obstructions in the Liver, Spleen, pancreatick 
and mesenterick Glands, if they are not grown 
too obstinate (in which Case it is very dange- 
rous) we should order Cold-bathing. In 
fine, whatever is to be effected by bracing the 
Solids, invigorating and quickening their Vi- 
brations, and accelerating the Blood's Motion, 
is with Certainty to be had from the Use of 
Cold-bathing. 
All Diseases therefore from a viscid Blood, 
Gg3 and

470 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
and a Lentor in the animal Juices (if the 
Elasticity of the Vessels is not worn out with 
Age and Debauches) will find Relief from 
this Practice. Besides, whatever Inconveni- 
ences proceed from a bad Perspiration, or 
when Humours are thrown upon the Surface 
pf the Body, which cannot get through the 
Skin, this Method will relieve; for upon 
Immersion the whole nervous System is so 
shook, that the very Capillaries feel the In- 
fluence, and the minutest Passages are forced 
open by an encreased Velocity of the circu- 
lating Fluids, whereby the Skin will be 
cleared, and instead of retaining gross and a- 
crimonious Humours in the cuticular Glands, 
will promote insensible Perspiration; and this 
is the Reason why People are so brisk and 
chearful after Bathing. 
And it is for the Reasons already given, 
that Cold-Bathing is proper in most cutane- 
ous Diseases, Scurvies, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, 
Rheumatisms, Lameness, Sciatica, Melancholy, 
Madness; some Palsies, Cachexies, Icteric and 
Hydropic Cases, before the Distempers be too, 
far advanced; it likewise stops Hæmorrhages, 
Gleets, Fluor Albus; and cures also venereal 
Impotency and nervous Disorders. 
Necessary Rules
to be observed
before Cold-
Bathing
1. To Bleed and Purge, and
use such proper Diet and Medi- 
cines, both before and after Bath- 
thing, as your Physician knows 
to be suitable to your Disease and Constitution. 
2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating, 
but cool; and not to stay in the Bath above 
two

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 471
two or three Minutes, as the Patient can bear 
it; and to go in and out immediately, on 
the first Bathing, after an Immersion of the 
whole Body, because staying in too long 
would relax the Solids too much, instead of 
contracting and strengthening them. 
3. To use the Cold-Bath before Dinner 
fasting, or in the Afternoon towards Four or 
Five o'Clock: It is dangerous to go in after 
great Drinking, or a full Stomach. 
4. To use Sweating with Cold-Bathing in 
Palsies, Rickets, and several Diseases affecting 
the Nerves with Obstructions. 
5. In Windiness or Siziness of the Hu- 
mours, no Sweating is necessary, nor where 
Bathing is used for the Preservation of Health, 
or the invigorating of the animal Spirits. 
6. Jumping in precipitantly, or throwing 
the Head foremost into the Cold-Bath, gives 
too violent a shock to Nature, and endangers 
too much the bursting some of the smaller 
Vessels; therefore the best Way is, holding 
by the Rope, to walk down the Steps as fast
as one can, and when got to the Bottom, 
bending the Hams to shorten their Length, 
so as to bring their Heads a good Way under 
Water, and then popping up again to take 
Breath; and thus alternately for two or three 
Times, and out again, rubbing themselves very 
well with a dry Cloth, before they are dress'd. 
They who have weak or little 
Heat, and are much decay'd, ought 
not to venture on Cold Bathing; nor 
they who are intemperate, and have 
Wherein 
Cold Bath-
ing is inju-
rious.
Gg4 eat


472 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
eat extraordinarily; because the Distribution 
and Consumption of an abundant Chyle being 
thereby stopp'd, must occasion Fevers or De- 
fluxions. 
If the Spirits are depress'd by Looseness, 
Vomiting, Venery, Watching, or any other 
Evacuation, we cannot well bear Cold Bath- 
ing; for the Spirits being weak, will be over- 
come by its Chilness. 
In the Fits of the Gout, Epilepsy, and in 
Inflammations of the Lungs or inward Parts, 
and in the Beginning of putrid Fevers, Iliac 
Passions, and the Gripes, Colicks, and dur- 
ing any Defluxion, Cold Baths are improper; 
for they hinder Expectoration, repell Pains, 
promote the present Defluxions, Fluxes, and 
Pains; but when these acute Diseases, or 
chronical Pains and Defluxions are ended, it 
may be safe and it is certain that Gout Pains 
are prevented by Cold Baths, and using to wash 
the Feet. 
Corpulency, unfound Viscera or Bowels, 
and inveterate Obstructions, forbid the Use of 
Cold Bathing; for first, in very fat Persons 
the Fibres are so stuffed round that they have 
not Room to vibrate or contract with the sud- 
den Squeeze of the Bath; and in unsound 
Viscera, or where any Part is much weaker 
than the rest, such an additional Force will 
press the Fluids upon that, very much to its 
Detriment, which may be either the burst- 
ing of the Vessels, or promoting the Discharge 
of some ill Humours upon that Part, which 
might otherwise drain somewhere else. 
in

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 473
inveterate Obstructions it is likewise improper, 
because the more violently the Fluids are pro- 
pelled, the more the Obstructions will be ri- 
veted and lock'd in. 
As the Pressure of Water is ren- 
dered more effectual by Cold, so its 
relaxing Power is augmented by a 
moderate Warmth; for a gentle Heat always 
relaxes the Fibres of our Body, it being plea- 
sing and agreeable to the Sense of Feeling. 
So that when we would have the Benefit of 
universal Relaxation, we ought to use a tem- 
perate Bath, which has only a mild Heat, 
like that of our Bodies, and is therefore less 
beneficial to cold Diseases, and less injurious 
to the Healthful, who use it chiefly to wash 
their Bodies, to temper the Natural Heat, 
and to take off Weariness. 
The Use
of Warm
Baths
But temperate Baths have many physical 
Uses besides Cleanliness and Pleasure, and are
observed to be beneficial in the following Cases. 
Tepid Baths moisten and warm; but if 
more hot, they heat and moisten less; they 
likewise open the Pores and promote a free 
Perspiration, and are proper in most Erup- 
tions and Foulnesses of the Skin, especially 
where the Obstructions will not yield to the 
Cold Bath; for they not only relax the Pores, 
but likewise dilute the obstructed Matter at 
the same time, in being absorbed by the cuti- 
cular Vessels. 
Warm Baths are proper in most scorbu- 
tick Habits, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Colicks, 
Gravel,

474 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Gravel, Costiveness, Gripes, Stiffness of the 
Joints and Muscles, and in most Cases pro- 
ceeding from an obstructed Perspiration. 
Temperate Baths are useful in all hot In- 
temperies, and are likewise proper in the bi- 
lious, viscid, or acrimonious State of the Blood: 
But they are injurious in Fevers, Inflamma- 
tions, and in all acute Diseases, especially be- 
fore the Concoction of the Humours. 
In using the Warm Bath, the Diet in ge- 
neral should be easy of Digestion, thin and 
diluting, and in many Cases sweating in Bed 
after warm Bathing is necessary; but in this 
and in other Circumstances which may occur, 
the Patient is to consult his Physician. 
The naturally hot Mineral Baths, such as 
that famous one at Bath in Somersetshire, 
are much more powerful in curing Diseases 
and removing Obstructions, than the Artificial; 
the Waters of the former being impregnated 
with balsamic, volatile, stimulating, and sub- 
astringent Particles, which the last can never 
have by any Art or Contrivance whatever. 
These natural hot Mineral Waters are 
like a Fomentation, which both supples and 
strengthens the Parts of the Body all over 
at once, and by gently shaking and undu- 
lating the Fibres, helps forward the vital Mo- 
tions, which are ready to be at a Stand. In 
old Pains and Aches, which have been the 
Remains of nervous Distempers, and where 
some particular Part continues contracted, or 
has any Humours fix'd upon it, which it can- 
not dislodge, these Waters pump'd upon it hot
from

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 475
from the Spring, do more towards a Cure 
than all the most efficacious Compositions of 
Medicines. 
Bathing all over in these Springs cannot but 
wonderfully open that almost infinite Number 
of secretory Orifices upon the Surface of the 
Body, and clear the cutaneous Ducts of the 
Matter which is apt to stick in them; by the 
opening of which Spiracula the Fluids of the 
whole Body have more Room to move in, and 
have proper Vents to reak out a great deal, 
which is of great Service to the Oeconomy to 
get rid of. 
These small Sulphur-Fountains likewise 
inwardly taken, to Astonishment warm and 
strengthen a decay'd Stomach, especially if 
relax'd and worn out almost with Luxury and 
Debauches: The most grievous Nauseas and 
Vomitings from these Causes have been re- 
moved by them: For they both soften again 
with proper Moisture the Fibres which have 
been render'd incapable to vibrate, by the Use 
of hot, burning, spirituous Liquors, and at 
the same time draw them into greater Tensi- 
ty; as a Cord which relaxes with over-drying, 
fills up and straitens upon the Contact and 
Attraction of a convenient Moisture. 
The small Share of fine Salt which likewise 
attends, and is as it were wrapped up in the 
Particles of Sulphur, cannot but contribute 
somewhat in restoring the Tone of such de- 
cay'd Parts. But besides the Benefit these do 
to the Stomach, they also carry along with 
them into the most remote Recesses of the 
Body


476 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Body, a Balsamic of Nature's own Prepara- 
tion; whereby such Decays in the Stomach, 
or in any of the Viscera or Bowels, from Ab- 
scesses, Ulcerations, or any like Causes, are 
with great Success reliev'd; and particularly if 
they be of the Kidneys and Urinary Passages, 
because they wash through them in more 
plenty, than where they come by the ordinary 
Course of Circulation. 
Of Frictions. 
Friction, or Rubbing with a Flesh-Brush, 
Cloth, Hand, &c. is, as it were, an alter- 
nate Compression and Relaxation of the Parts 
of the Body. A gentle Friction only com- 
presses the Veins; but by a stronger Degree, 
the Arteries are also compressed. By com- 
pressing the Veins by Friction, the Motion of 
the viscous Blood to the Heart is accelerated; 
hence the Motion of the Heart is roused: By 
which Means, the Blood is with greater Velo- 
city propell'd through all the Vessels. The 
vital Force may, therefore, be augmented to 
any Degree, by means of Frictions, without 
giving any Medicine internally; for by means 
of Frictions a burning Fever may be excited 
in the most dropsical Patients. 
In those Bodies where almost all the Or- 
gans of Digestion are so languid, as not duly 
to perform their respective Functions, Fric- 
tions with rough woolen Cloths over the 
whole Abdomen, or Belly, when the Patient 
is fasting, have been found to produce sur- 
prisingly happy Effects. Hence the Ancients
had 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 477
had Frictions in so great Veneration, not only 
for the Preservation of Health, but also for 
the Cure of Diseases, that the Grecians, Ara- 
bians, Romans, and Egyptians in general con- 
stantly practised that Method; and Galen 
wrote a whole Book, intitled de Frictionibus. 
Celsus likewise recommends the Usefulness of 
Frictions in his Works: But this Practice has 
been almost neglected among the Moderns 
till of late, and is now reviv'd again with no 
less Success than in former Days, tho' not so 
general; for it is experimentally known, that 
it will strengthen weak Limbs, and bring 
Nourishment to the Parts, and likewise cure 
the Rickets in Children, especially if Cold 
Bathing be used. 
Therefore I would recommend to all Mo- 
thers and Nurses, to rub the Back, Sides, 
Shoulders, Hips, and Limbs of their Children 
by a warm Fire Night and Morning, being 
very necessary to prevent Obstructions and 
Rickets, and to promote their Growth and Ac- 
tivity; and likewise to preserve their Limbs 
strong and straight. 
By Frictions a free and full Circulation and 
Perspiration may be usefully promoted; and 
this is performed by abiding Nature to throw 
off by Perspiration the Vapours and Recre- 
ments of the third Concoction, which are of- 
ten retained and pent in between the Scales of 
the Scarf-skin, as likewise in the Interstices 
of the outward Muscles and Membranes of the 
Body; so that by the Use of Frictions Nature 
is not only assisted in discharging by insensible 
Per-

478 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Perspiration those excrementitious Particles, 
which frequently hinder a full and free Cir- 
culation, but likewise Blood and Spirits are 
thereby attracted to those Parts mod remote 
from the Seat of Heat and Motion, by which 
Means also the natural Heat is increased, and 
the superficial Muscles are render'd plump and 
strong. 
Hence it is evident, that ancient People,
and such as have weak Nerves and lead a se- 
dentary Life, especially those who are subject 
to Numbness, Weakness, or Obstructions in 
their Joints, or are threaten'd with paralytick 
Disorders, in order to supply the Want of Ex- 
ercise of other Kinds, ought to have their 
whole Bodies, more particularly their Limbs, 
rubbed for half an Hour every Morning espe- 
cially, and at Night, with a Flesh-Brush, 
Flannel, or Napkin, till the Parts begin to 
grow red and warm. The Friction should 
be made first on the Arms, Hands, Feet, 
Legs, and Thighs, from whence we ought to 
proceed to the Shoulders, Back, and Breast; 
and the Head should be rubb'd the last of all. 
Among the Ancients there were Frictions 
of various Kinds, and subservient to different 
Purposes. Hence Hippocrates in his Treatise 
De Med. Offic. tells us, 'That Friction may 
'resolve, contract, incarn, diminish: Since 
'strong Frictions contract, gentle Friction 
'resolves, much Friction diminishes; and 
'moderate Friction condenses.' Any Part of 
the Body is render'd more lax, by being rub- 
bed with soft oleous Substances.
Nothing. 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 479
Nothing is more beneficial in curing a Weak- 
ness of the Fibres, than Frictions with rough 
warm woolen Cloths, especially if previously 
impregnated with the Smoke of burning Am- 
ber, or Mastick, that at the same time this 
aromatick and corroborating Steam may enter 
the relaxed Parts. But we are to proceed 
gradually in this Work, and not to use too 
strong Frictions at first; lest either the stag- 
nated Fluids in the preternaturally distended 
Vessels should be too copiously convey'd to the 
Heart, and by that Means overwhelm and 
suffocate it; or the tender Vessels should be 
broken by imprudently increasing the Motion 
of the Blood.
When the Ancients wanted to reduce exte- 
nuated Parts to their natural Situation, they sti- 
initiated and irritated these Parts so as to produce 
a gentle Inflammation and Swelling; for by this 
Means, the Humours being convey'd with a 
greater Impetus and a brisker Motion to the 
Parts, they distended the too rigid Vessels pro- 
portionably the more. By often repeating this 
Irritation, the top great Strength of the Ves- 
sels was so diminished, as to yield to the Hu- 
mours, which, in order to their good State of 
Health, must necessarily flow into them. 
Thus Galen, in the third Chapter of his fifth 
Book De Sanitate Tuenda, informs us, 'That 
'by Frictions with pinguious Substances, he in 
'a few Days restored the Flesh of many, who 
'had been for a long time emaciated.'
Hence Frictions with fat Substances are 
highly proper in these Cases, but only to such a 
Degree

480 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Degree as to excite a slight and gentle Redness 
of the Part; for when the Friction is violent, 
that which it attracts to the Part is discussed;
but, in this Case, a large Distension of the too 
strong Vessels is required. 
Galen, in the seventh Chap. of his seventh 
Book De Method. Medend. gives this Caution 
in the following Words: 'When, says he, we 
'intend to produce Flesh on any Part, we are 
'by Friction to heat it, so as to render it tu- 
'mid; but, when we intend to discuss and 
'evacuate, this Friction and Heat are to be 
'continued till the tumid Part subsides.' 
And in the sixteenth Chapter of his fourth 
Book De Method. Medendi, he tells us; 
'That it was customary with some to strike 
'emaciated Parts with slender Rods, slightly 
'anointed, till the Parts became moderately 
'tumid.' He also informs us, that by such 
a Percussion repeated daily, or every other Day, 
together with a moderate Friction or Stimulus, 
the diminutive and extenuated Buttocks of 
Children were wonderfully enlarged. 
Hence the Reason is obvious, why Friction 
sometimes produces opposite Effects; for a 
strong Friction with rough dry woolen Cloths, 
especially when impregnated with the Fumes 
of kindled Aromaticks, as I have observed be- 
fore, cures too weak Fibres; whereas a gentle 
Friction with pinguious Substances, by at- 
tracting the Humours, and relaxing the Solids, 
softens too rigid Fibres. 
FINIS. 

























A 
GUIDE to HEALTH
THROUGH THE 
Various Stages of LIFE. 
Wherein are Explained,
I. The different Degrees and 
Changes of Age, the prin- 
cipal and inevitable Causes 
of OLD AGE, and finally 
of our Dissolution; with 
a Chronological and Hi- 
storical brief Account of 
long LIVES from before 
the FLOOD to this present 
Time. 
II. The Nature, Properties, 
Qualities, and Influence of 
AIR. Of Aliments; the 
Choice of them; their 
Power upon Human Bo- 
dies, with their good and 
bad Effects. Of Sleeping 
and Waking; of Motion and 
Rest; of Retention and Ex-
cretion; and of the Passions 
of the Mind. 
III. Of the Definitions, Di- 
agnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
Curative Indications, both 
Medicinal and Dietetical;
of Acute and Chronical Dis- 
eases incident to Human 
Bodies; with the Nature 
and Use of BATHING and 
FRICTIONS.
The whole illustrated with useful ANNOTATIONS,
methodically and succinctly digested, and con- 
firmed by the Authority of the most celebrated 
Authors, both Ancient and Modern. 
By BERNARD LYNCH, M. D. 
Pugnandum tanquam contra Morbum, sic contra Senectutem. 
Crc. de Senectute 
Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi 
Prima fugit: subeunt Morbi, tristisque Senectus: 
Et labor. & duræ rapit inclementia mortis. 
VIRG. Lib. III. Georg.
THE SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON: 
Printed for M. COOPER in Pater-noster-Row. 1754. 




TO 
Dr. JOHN BEAUFORD. 
Sir,
THE Friendshlp you shew'd
gd me in the Infancy of my 
Practice has been too essen- 
tially useful to me ever to 
be forgotten; and it is with great 
Self-Satisfaction that I take this pub- 
lick Opportunity of acknowledg- 
ing the Obligations I lie under to 
you. My Interest in Town was not 
A2 only


iv DEDICATION. 
only strengthened and extended by 
the Share you were seen to take in it, 
but my Knowledge was enlarged by 
my Converse with you, and my Prac- 
tice was formed by my Observation 
of yours. 
I carefully examined the Modus 
of Practice here, of the most Emi- 
nent of the Profession, when I first
came to Town, intending to shape 
my own with that which should 
seem to me the most conformable to 
the Sentiments of the Great Hippo- 
crates; and finding none more na- 
tural and uniform than Yours, I took 
it for my Model, and have continued 
it ever since with all the Success I 
could hope for. 
The Profession of Physick is held 
in higher Esteem in this, than any
other Country in Europe; and no 
wonder; because none can produce 
so learned a Body of Physicians. But 
among that Body, more learned and 
skillful than any other in the World, 
your

v DEDICATION. 
Your long Experience, Sir, sets you 
in the first Class of it. This is a 
Truth unquestioned, not only by the 
Publick, but even by those of the 
Profession. 
You have a natural Right to the 
Patronage of the following Work, 
being founded chiefly on your own 
Maxims, and originally begun that I 
might have a publick Opportunity of
owning your Favours, and doing 
Justice to your Merit. How I have 
succeeded in the Choice and Con- 
texture of my Subject, I submit to 
the Publick with the utmost Defe- 
rence; but however I may have fail'd
in the Opinion of other learned Men, 
I have too often experienced your In- 
dulgence, not to flatter myself that 
you will view all Inaccuracy of Stile 
and Diction, and other as minute 
Imperfections, with your usual Can- 
dour and Good-nature. As for more 
capital Errors, I shall most readily
own and reform any such, and most 
A3 grate-

vi DEDICATION. 
gratefully thank any friendly Hand 
that shall be at the Pains of pointing
them out to me. I am, with the 
greatest Sincerity,
SIR,
Your obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant, 
Stanhope-street, 
June, 1744. 
BERNARD LYNCH.

(VII)
PREFACE. 
WHERE a Title-Page is so expres- 
sive of the Contents of a Book as 
the foregoing, a Preface might 
seem unnecessary; and I should 
think it so, if Custom did not 
seem to exact that a Bill of Fare should be 
serv'd up to the Company before they sat 
down to Table. To comply then with the 
Humour of this modern Tyrant, I must in- 
form the courteous Reader, that the sole End 
of my Labour was to inform the Uninform'd
and to erect such Lights as might help them 
to form such a Judgment of their own Con- 
stitutions, as should prevent their fancying
themselves in a worse State of Health than 
they are, and running after every Empirick, 
who pretends to the Knowledge of Catholi- 
cons, or universal Remedies. These are the 
Bane of all Societies; and tho' Quacks are 
soon detected, yet as the Succession of them 
is so very constant and rapid, the Commonal- 
ty for the most part, see not the Injury done 
to them, nor the Wrong they suffer. This 
is a Misfortune to be lamented, but diffi- 
cult to be removed, whilst Man is prejudic'd
A4 in



viii The PREFACE. 
in Favour of Novelty, and in Disfavour of 
the Regular Physician, who can't afford to 
bellow the Fruits of his hard Labours on the 
Public promiscuously. 
There is one Thing in the following Sheets 
which the Author owns to have labour'd more 
than any Part of his Subject, which is the 
Doctrine of Non-naturals, the Knowledge 
of which, he thinks, no reasonable Man who 
values his own Health should be ignorant of; 
and which he presumes to say, has been more 
obscurely treated heretofore, than it ought to 
have been, or indeed he believes it was de- 
sign'd it should be. 
In treating of acute and chronical Diseases, 
there are general Remedies, but except in one 
or two Occasions, such as the Bite of a mad 
Dog, and some Consumptions, there are no 
formal Recipes, which, it is found by Expe- 
rience, are generally productive of more Evil 
than Good. For the general Ignorance, I 
may say Infatuation, is such, that the Vulgar 
too often make material Mistakes in the Pre- 
paration of the most plain and simple Reci- 
pes. Besides, that as the Nature of Diseases and 
Constitutions is so various and different, not 
to mention the Climate, Air, Season, Age, 
and a thousand other differing Circumstan- 
ces, it would be too presuming for the Au- 
thor to take upon him to prescribe for every 
particular Distemper. He would not do so 
great a Wrong to the Illiterate, nor, to use 
the learned Boerhaave'ss Words, Would do 
any



ix The PREFACE. 
any thing so prejudicial to the noble and ge- 
nerous Science of Physick, or expose it to Re- 
proach, as they must inevitably do, who pre- 
tend to adapt a particular Remedy to gene- 
ral Diseases. 
Having mention'd the ever-famous and-to- 
be-rever'd Boerhaave, the Author takes this 
Opportunity of owning his Obligations to him, 
not only in his Practice, but in this Work 
particularly. He has all along kept that 
Great Man in his View, nor has he been un- 
mindful or neglected any other eminent Wri- 
ter in Physick, either ancient or modern. He 
has frequently quoted their Words, and al- 
ways endeavour'd to conform himself to the 
Sentiments of the most approv'd Authors. 
And that his Gratitude to all such great Men 
as well as Justice may be seen, he has an- 
nex'd a Catalogue of such Authors as he owns 
himself indebted to in the Compilation of 
the following Treatise, thinking this Method 
more orderly and eligible than a constant 
Quotation.
A



A LIST of the Authors. 
Ægineta, Paulus. 
Anhornius. 
Arbuthnot. 
Boerhaave. 
Boyle. 
Borelli. 
Baglivius.
Blondell. 
Bonetus.
Baynard. 
Boutius.
Barlow.
Celsus, Aurel. Cornel.
Celius Aurelianus.
Cheyne. 
Duretus. 
Diodorus Siculus. 
Default. 
Etmuller.
Floyer, Sir John.
Galen. 
Hippocrates. 
Hugens. 
Hales. 
Halley.
Hook. 
Keil.
Lommius.
Laurentius.
Leeuwenhoek. 
Lister.
Livy.
Malpighi.
Mead, Richard.
Morton.
Newton, Sir Isaac.
Oribassius.
Paree, Ambrose.
Prosper, Alpinus.
Pliny.
Quincy.
Ruyschius
Riverius.
Romer.
Rowning.
Ramazini.
Robinson, Tancred.
Solomon.
Sydenbam.
Seneca.
Sanctorius.
Suetonius.
Torricellius.
Van Helmont.
Verulam.
Willis.
Wainright.
Waldschmidius.
A



A
LIS of the SUBSCRIBERS. 
A.
ARundel, the Rt. Hon. 
Lord 
Arundel, the Hon. Tho- 
mas, Esq;
Aston, the Hon. James, Esq; 
Astley, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books 
Aston, George Joseph, Esq;
Andree, M. D. 
Addis, Mr. Apothecary 
Asbridge, Mr. 
Adean, Mr. James 
Allanson, William, Esq;
B.
Beaufort, His Grace the 
Duke of 
Butler, the Hon. John, Esq; 
Bartholomew, M. D. 
Bennet, Philip, Esq; Mem- 
ber for Bath 
Burnham, Mr. 
Boult, Mr. Attorney at Law 
Boudon, Mr. Apothecary 
Benion, Mr. Apothecary 
Beauford, John, M. D. 
Butler, M. D. 
Bodkin, Mr. Valentine 
Brown, William, Esq; 
Barrabee, Mr. 
Bird, Edward, Esq; 
Bostock, M. D. 
Beaumont, Mr. Apothecary 
Beetenson, Mr. Surgeon 
Brewerster, Tho. M. D. 
Brett, Mr. Nathanael 
Bernardeau, Mr. 3 Books
Bradshaw, James, Mr. 
Button, Mrs.  
Barwell, Mr. 
Bolney, Mr. Henry 
Blake, Andrew, Esq;
Blake, D. Esq; 
Barry, M. D. 
Buckeridge, the Rev. Mr. 
Thomas 
Bateman, the Hon. Capt. 
Boswell, Mr. Thomas 
Backas, Mr. Apothecary 
Betts, Mr. John 
Bostock, Mr. Henry 
Bradley, Mr. 
Boyle, Henry, Esq; 
Butcher, Mr. Apothecary 
Bannister, Mr. Charles 
Bower, Archibald, Esq;
Bridgen, Mr. Robert 
Bridgen, Mr. Thomas 
C.
Cavendish, The Rt. Hon.
Lord James 
Clarke, Mr. 




xii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS. 
Carrol, Mr. 
Corless, Mr. Alexander 
Carmault, Mr. 
Coleman, Mr. 
Constable, Mr. John 
Cary, Esquire, Surgeon. 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cibber, Colley, Esq; 
Caldwell, Mr. Robert 
Chittick, Mr. Surgeon 
Clempson, Mr. 
Coughlan, Mr. 
Cumming, Rev Mr. Wil- 
liam, A. M. 
Chettey, Mr. William 
Connel, Michael, M. D. 
Cooper, Mr. Apothecary 
Clarke, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books. 
Currer, Mr. Jun.
D. 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Frances Viscountess 
Dowager 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Bridget, Viscountess
Dowager 
Dawkins, Esq; Member for 
Woodstock 
Davis, Mr. William, Sur-
geon 
Dorrel, Mr. 
Daffy, the Hon. Capt. 
Draper, Mr. Apothecary 
Death, Mr. Apothecary 
Deschamps, Mr. 
Doyley, Mr. Edward, At- 
torney at Law. 
Delany, the Revd. Mr.
Duggin, Mr. John 
Dumbleton, Mr. Daniel 
Duggin, Mrs.
Davis, Mr. 
E. 
Ewer, Mr. 
Eliott, Mr. Apothecary 
Eyre, Mr. Edward 
Ebrall, Mr. Apothecary 
Emet, Mrs. 
Egan, Mr. 
F. 
Fairfax, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Viscountess 
Firebrace, Sir Cordell,Bart. 
Kt. of the Shire for Suf- 
folk  
Fisher, Mr. Thomas 
Fowler, Mr. Apothecary 
Foot, Mr. Asher, Apothe- 
cary
Firmin, Mr. 
Farrel, Mr. 
Francis, Mr. George 
Frazier, Mr. Apothecary 
Farrel, Mrs. 
Farrel, Mr. Apothecary 
Fort, Mr. Francis 
Firmer, Mrs. Hellena
Farrin, Mr. John 
Freeman, Samuel, Esq; 
Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
G. 
Graham, the Reverend Mr. 
3 Books 
Gammon, Mr. Robert, 
Apothecary 
Goodacre,




xiii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Goodacre, Mr. Apothecary 
Godfrey, Mr. Ambrose, 
Chemist 
Gardiner, Mr. Thomas 
Griffin, Mr. Philip 
Garvan, Francis, Esq;
Gibbon, The Rev. Dr. 
John 
H. 
Hemet, Mr. Operator for the 
Teeth to his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Wales 
Harrison, Mr. Apothecary 
Hoddy, Edward, M. D. 
Hodgson, Mr. Apothecary 
Hernon, Mr. Apothecary, 
4 Books 
Hudson, Mr. Apothecary 
Henley, the Rev. Mr. A. M. 
Harriott, Mr. Surgeon 
Hawkins, Mr. Barnaby 
H—M—Mrs. 
Harrow, Mr. Robert 
Hibber, Mr. 
Haward, Mr. Watkinson, 
Attorney at Law 
Hayrick, Mr. Apothecary 
Horseman, M. D. 
Hall, Mr. 
I. 
Jones, Mr. Tho. 2 Books 
Jayer, Mr. Apothecary, 2 
Books 
Izard, Mr. 
James, M. D. 
Jernegan, M. D. 
Jernegan, Henry, Esq;
K. 
Kilby, Robert, Esq; 
Kirwood, Mr. William, 
Surgeon 
Kingsley, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. 
King, Mr. Maynard 
Kitchen, Mr. 
L. 
Litchfield, The Rt. Hon. the 
Earl of 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
Lord Viscount 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
the Lady Viscountess 
Lynch, Sir Henry, Bart. 
Lynch, Robert, Esq; 
Lynch, The Rev. John. 
S. T. P. Dean of Can- 
terbury 
Lynch, George, M. D. 
Lynch, Robert, A. B. 
Lynch, Francis, Esq; 
Lynch, Mr. Nicholas 
Lynch, Mr. Isiodore 
Lynch, Mr. William 
Lynch, Mr. Thomas 
Lloyd, the Hon. Capt. 
Lyster, Mr. Apothecary 
Leake, Mr. 
Langley, Mr. 
L'Herondell, the Rev. Mr.
Lawley, George, Esq; 
Littlejohn, Alexander, Esq;
Lister, Richard, Esq; Kt. 
of the Shire for Salop 
Loukup, George, Esq; 
Lewis, Mr. 
Lucas, 




xiv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Lucas, Mr. Jeremiah 
Lane, James, Esq;
Lawson, Esq; 
M. 
Mannington, Mr. 
Monins, The Rev. Mr. Ri- 
chard, A. M. 
Middleton, Capt. Christo- 
pher, Esq; 
Maul, Mr. Apothecary 
Marshal, Mr. Surgeon 
Macdonough, D. D. 
Montague, Mrs. 
Morgan, Mr. Apothecary 
Mills, John, Esq; 
Maud, Mr. Apothecary 
Maud, Mr. William 
Monkeman, Mr. Attorney 
at Law. 
Manby, Mr. Apothecary 
Mann, Mr. Thomas 
Macket, Wilmer, Esq; 
Mills, John, Esq; 20 Books 
Martin, Thomas, Esq; 
Metcalf, Mrs. 2 Books 
Morehead, William, Esq; 
Maurin, Mr. 
Metcalf, Mr.Roger, Surgeon 
Mayfield, Mr. Thomas 
Mitchel, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchell, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchel, Mr. Francis, Sur- 
geen 
Macartey, Alexander, Esq;
Manley, Apothecary 
N. 
Nebot, Mr. Balthazar 
Nevil, Mr. John, Apothecary 
Noone, Mr. John 
Nesbit, Mrs. 
Nelson, Rev, Mr. Rector of 
Oakley 
O. 
Orton, Mr.
Oliver, Mr. Nicholas 
P. 
Parsons, Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. 
Pack, Mr. Daniel 
Pile, George, M. D. 
Pearson, Mr. 
Poulson, John, Esq;
Prude, Mr. Apothecary 
Palmer, Mr. Benjamin 
Popham, Edward, Esq; 
Member for Wilts 
Pakington, John, Esq; 
Pakington, the Hon. Capt. 
R. 
Rust, Mr. 
Rawlins, Mr. Apothecary 
Rossel, The Rev. Mr. Sa- 
muel 
Raikes, Mr. Apothecary 
Richardson, Mr. 
Radford, Mr. William 
Reynolds, Mr. Christopher, 
2 Books 
Robinson, Tancred, M. D. 
Rivett, Thomas, Esq; 
Raoult, Mr. Surgeon 
Rankin, Mr. Thomas 
Redfern, Mr. 
S.




xv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
S. 
Sweet, Mrs. Rebecca 
Street, Mr. jun. 
Scott, Mrs. 
Sadler, Daniel, Esq; 
Smith, Mr. 
Sedgwick, James, Apothe- 
cary 
Scrooby, Mrs. Elizabeth
Savage, Mrs, Anne 
Savage, Mr. George 
Savage, Mr. William 
Smith, Mr. Edward 
Sherwood, Mr. Noah, Sur-
geon 
Simmons, Mr. Edward 
SherifFe, Mr. 
Shepard, Mr. 
Smithson, William, M. D. 
Sams, Mr. Henry 
Smith, Thomas, Efq; 
Schamberg, Mayer, M. D. 
Schamberg, Isaac, M. D.
Seed, Mr. 
Shelton, Mr. Richard 
Stubbs, Mr. William, At- 
torney at Law. 
Snowden, Mr. 
Stuart, James, Esq;
Stuart, Simeon, Esq; 
Shaw, Mr. 
Smith, Mr. John 
Shipton, John, Esq; 
Stainforth, Mr, George, 
Merchant 
T. 
Tash, Mr. 
Thompson, Thomas, M. D.
Turbut, Mr. Benjamin 
Thompson, Francis, sen. 
Esq; 
Turnball, Mr. William 
Thomas, James, Esq; 
Thompson, John, Esq; 
Thompson, Francis, Esq; 
Turner, Mr.
Tonge, Mr. 
Trant, James, Esq; 
Trant, John, Esq; 
V. 
Venables, Mr. 
Vaughan, Mr. Attorney at
Law 
Umfreville, Edward, Esq; 
W. 
Wharton, Her Grace the 
Dutchess of 
Whiteall, Mrs. 
Wilton, Mr. 
Wilford, Mr. 
West, Lewis, Esq; 
Wilson, Edward, Merchant 
Williams, Mrs. 
Walker, Mr. 
Wilson, Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wells, Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wilson, Mr. Edward 
Webb, Thomas, Esq; 
Westby, Robert, Esq;
Wilmot, Mr. 
Z. 
Zincke, C. F. Esq; 
ERRA-

ERRATA.
Page 35. Line 17, after wholsome Food, add, probably
they might. 
Page 214. Line 21, for immediately read intimately. 

(xvii)
THE 
CONTENTS. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes of Age;
the principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age; 
and, finally, of our Dissolution; with a brief 
chronological and historical Account of long 
Lives, from the Creation to this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's Life,
with a Description and Definition of Old Age. 
OUR Bodies subject to 
Changes page 1 
Man's Life divided into se- 
veral Periods ib. 
The Egyptians Opinion of 
Ages 2 
The Pythagoreans Doctrine 
of Numbers ib. 
Five remarkable Changes in
Man's Temperament, viz. 
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood, and old Age ib
Temperament what, Note *,
ib.
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood described 3
Old Age begins at fifty, and
is divided into three Pe- 
riods ib. 
The first is called Verdant 3
The second begins at Seven- 
ty 4 
The third is called Decrepid
ib.
The Pains and Miseries of de- 
crepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Prophet ib. 
An allegorical Description of
decrepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Author, So- 
lomon 5 
The same explained 6 
Some Men old at forty 7 
A great many young at sixty
ib. 
The different Qualities of 
Constitutions ib.
a The

xviii The CONTENTS. 
The melancholick Constitu-       
tion grows old sooner than        
any of the rest—p. 8              
Females grow old sooner than      
the Males—ib.                     
Hippocrates's Opinion con-     
cerning the same—ib.              
Sloth and Idleness soon bring
on old Age—ib.                     
The Causes of different Tem-      
pers or Constitutions—ib.         
The Proportion of the Parts         
of the Body, and their Con-       
formation, contribute to the        
Difference of Constitutions       
9
The different Tempers of the  
Parts of the Body, in re-           
spect of one another—10            
Sexes and Age make a Diffe-         
rence in Constitutions ib.         
Women colder than Men—ib.          
Infants and Children hot and  
moist—ib.                          
Heat decreases in old Age—ib.      
Different Climates, and the         
Manner of living, are               
Causes of different Consti-
tutions—11
The Definition of Old Age—ib.
The same explained—ib.
The great Secret and sole
Method of long Life, is, 
to preserve the Blood and 
Juices in a due State of 
Fluidity and Thinness—12
Nothing will bring a Person
to the State of universal 
Hardness and Stiffness of
the Fibres, and a Viscosity 
and Thickness of the Juices,
than indulging in strong 
high Meats and strong Li-
quors—13 
The only Method of pro-
curing a contrary State of 
the Solids and Fluids—14 
All the Parts constituting a
human Body are made up 
of small Fibres—ib. 
The Divison of the Fibres 
becomes so small at last, as 
to exceed the Power of
Imagination—15
CHAP. II
The principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age, and 
of our Dissolution. 
The Causes of the Alteration 
of our Bodies, and of our 
Dissolution, are either ex- 
ternal or internal—16 
The internal Causes are two—ib. 
The internal Causes what—ib.
The Principles of our Com- 
position what—17 
Animal Actions distinguish- 
ed into vital, natural, and 
animal—ib.
Vital what—ib. 
Natural actions what—ib. 
Animal Functions what—ib. 
The Principles of our Com- 
position being duly distri- 
buted through the whole 
Body, may be called an E- 
quilibrium between the So- 
lids and Fluids—18
Their Alliance is of short 
Duration, and why—ib. 
The






xix The CONTENTS. 
The inevitable Causes of 
Old Age, and of our Disso- 
lotion—p. 19 
Farther Particulars necessary 
to be considered to prove 
the same, concerning the 
Nutrition, Growth, and De- 
crease of the Body—ib. to 28 
The internal Causes of our 
Dissolution are born, grow, 
and are nouristied with us, 
and will bring on gradually 
and inevitably old Age, and 
destroy the Body at last—28 
All the great Promises made 
with Assurance, as to the 
Prolongation of Life for 
many hundred Years, are 
vain and imaginary, being 
unsupported both by Rea- 
son and Experience—ib. 
External Causes of our Disso- 
lution, which are likewise 
inevitable—ib. 
Other external Causes, which 
are accidental, as Wounds, 
Fractures, &c.—29 
CHAP. III.
An historical Account of Long Lives, from the 
Creation to the present Time. 
Men lived many hundred 
Years before the Flood—30 
None of the Fathers attained 
to the Age of a thousand—ib. 
This Length of Life was not 
peculiar to Grace or the 
holy Line only—ib. 
There are eleven Generations 
of the Fathers to the Flood 
31 
Of the Sons of Adam by Cain, 
eight Generations only—ib. 
The Length of Life was re-
duced to one half imme- 
diately after the Flood, in 
the Post-nati only—ib. 
Noah and Sem, who were 
born before the Flood, 
each of them liv'd 600
Years—ib. 
Of the Ages of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Ismael, and Sarah 
ib.
Of Joseph, Levi, Moses, Aaron, 
and Phineas, Grand-child 
of Aaron—32
Of Joshua, Caleb, and Job—33
Of Isaiah the Prophet, and 
Tobias the Elder and the 
Younger—34
Of Epimenides the Cretan, and 
Xenophanes the Colophonian 
36
Of Gorgias the Sicilian, and 
Democritus of Abdera—37 
Of Terentia, Cicero's Wife—39 
Of Simeon the Son of Cleophas, 
called the Brother of our 
Lord, and Bishop of Hie- 
rusalem; and Aquilla and 
Priscilla, St. Paul's Fellow- 
helpers—42 
Of St. Paul the Hermit, and 
St. Anthony the Monk—43 
The Popes of Rome, and their 
Number to this Time—44. 
Dando of Illyrinm, reported 
to have liv'd 500 Years—45 
Hippocrates of Cos, the Prince 
of Physicians, Euphrenor 
the Grammarian Seneca and
a2 Joannes




xx The CONTENTS. 
Joannes de Temporibus, a 
Native of France p. 46 
Of Cornaro the Venetian, and 
William Postell, a crazy 
Frenchman 47 
The surprizing Age of Henry 
Jenkins, a Yorkshireman ib.
Of Thomas Parr, a Shropshire- 
man 48 
Francisco Lupatsoli, Venetian 
Consul at Smyrna 49 
Remarkable Instances of Ab- 
stemiousness, Continency, 
and many other Virtues in 
the Life of Aurenzebe, one 
of the late Great Moguls 
ib. to 52 
Richard Lloyd, born within 
two Miles of Montgomery 
ib. 
John Bailes of Northampton 
53 
The Western Islands of Scot- 
land remarkable for long 
Lives ib. 
Mrs. Hudson's abstemious Life 
described ib. 
Mr Johnston's Life 54
A remarkable Inscription on 
the Tomb-stone of Mar- 
garet Scot, who liv'd 125 
Years ib. 
Of Margaret Paten's great 
Age 55 
—Bright, of Ludlow in 
Shropshire, likewise ib. 
Mrs. Agnes Milbourn's long 
Life, very remarkable for 
the great Number of Chil- 
dren she had by one Hus- 
band ib.
Instance manifestly proving
Milk to be of salubrious,
safe, and sweet Nourish-
ment ib. 
Temperance and a cool Diet 
are absolutely necessary to 
the Prolongation of Life 
56
Man' Life has stood much a- 
about the same Standard 
of Years, from the Time of 
Moses to our Days ib. 
The Continuation and Num- 
bers of Successions of Ge- 
nerations make nothing as 
to the Length or Brevity of 
Man's Life ib. 
People live longer when the 
Times are barbarous, and 
they fare less deliciously, 
and are more given to Bo- 
dily Exercises; but shorter 
in civiliz'd Times, People 
abandoning themselves to 
Luxury and Ease ib. 
The great Abridger of Age 
was undoubtedly the De- 
luge 57 
There were Men of Gigantick 
Stature before the Flood; 
but no such have been pro- 
duced any where since ib. 
The immediate Condition of 
the Parents conduces very 
much to the Length or 
Shortness of the Life of 
their Offspring 58 
The best Rule is to use mo-
deration in all things 59
Conjugal Love more condu- 
cive to Health and long 
Life than an unlawful one 
ib. 
The best Time for Genera- 
tion ib. 
PART


xxi The CONTENTS.
PART II.
Introduction to the Six Nonnaturals.
CHAP. I.
Of the Nature of Air.
Air defin’d—p. 60 
Air the principal Instrument
of Nature in all its Opera- 
tions—62
The Lower Parts of the Air
are impregnated of particles
ib.
Air is differently impregnated
in different places of the 
Surface of the Earth, which
must considerably alter its
State—ib.
Water, Earth, and Salts of
all Kinds, are Ingredients
of Air—63
Other Contents of Air—ib.
Vegetables of all Kinds per-
spire Particles, which float
in the Air—64
Animal Perspiration and the
Effluvia of all their other
Excrements, are Ingredi-
ents of the Air, which of-
ten infect that Part of the
Atmosphere, and produce
pestilential Disease—ib.
Doctor Hale's computation
of Animal Perspiration, and
how it may infect the Air—ib.
The Air in great populous
Cities, in Camps, or near
Numbers of dead Carcasses,
in a hot fultry Season, may
be infected so far as to dis-
posed the People to putrid
and malignant Fevers—6;
the Inhabitants of Countries
where great Numberss have
been slain in Battle, and
left unburied, were soon
after infested with pestilen-
tial Distempers—ib.
Several Instances to prove the 
same—66
It is of the utmost Consequence
to every one, to take care
what kind of Air they live
in—ib.
The first Consideration in 
building Houses and Cities
67
All high Hills and Mountains
are damp, and Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for
Reservoirs of Rain-water—ib.
Rain the Origin of Rivers,
and Fresh-water Springs—ib.
Dew is not mere Water, but
a Collection of watry, oily,
faline and volatile Sub-
stances exhaling from the
Earth—68
Dews of different Places are
of a different Nature—ib.
Why Air soon corrodes the 
Bricks and Tiles of House,
and rots the very Hangings
of Rooms in some Coun-
tries—69
Air in some Places impregnat-
ed with arsenical Steams—ib.
The Steams of Sulphurs and 
Charcoals extremely per-
nicious to human Bodies—ib.
a3 Sul-






xxii The CONTENTS.
Sulphureous Vapours infest 
Vegetables, and render the 
Grass pernicious to Cattle 
70 
How the sulphureous Steams 
and Vapours of Mines affect
the Miners—ib. 
Why Diseases are more fre- 
quent and more dangerous 
in Cities than in the Coun- 
try—ib.
Why the close and confin'd 
Air of Prisons, Bays, and 
Harbours, often produces 
mortal Diseases—71
To what the great Mortality 
that is so often in Camps, 
and Sieges, is chiefly owing 
ib. 
Infects and their Eggs often 
float in the Air we breathe 
in—ib. 
Why Infects floating in the 
Air are often the Cause of 
many grievous Diseases—72 
There are Showers of Rain 
sometimes in Africk, affect- 
ing the Inhabitants with 
Shivering?, a ltd Infects 
found in the Drops of these 
Showers—ib. 
Air in most Places contains 
near the same Quantity of 
Water—73 
All the different Ingredients 
of the Air are digested and 
attenuated ly the Heat of 
the Sun, and constantly agi- 
tated by Winds, which mix 
the Air of different Regions 
together—74 
The particular Causes of 
Thunder and Lightning—ib. 
The wonderful Effects of 
Lightning—75 
The Opinion of Philosophers 
upon these strange Effects 
ib. 
A Thunderbolt what, Note * 
ib.  
The Rays of the Sun are the 
true Cause of infinite varie- 
ty of Ingredients contained 
and floating in the Air—77 
Light is not above ten Minutes 
in passing from the Sun to 
the Earth—ib. 
The Earth is 10,000 of its 
own Diameters distant from 
the Sun—ib. 
The Velocity of Light to that 
of a Cannon Ball, will be 
as 25 Years to 10 Minutes 
ib. 
The Effects of the Rays of 
the Sun collected in the Fo- 
cus of a burning Glass upon 
Gold, which is unalterable 
by any artificial Fire—ib.
The Rays of the Sun are ca-
pable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies,
small Particles lighter when 
separate than the least com- 
pounding Particle of Air 
78 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of Air. 
The Properties of Air what 
p. 78 
Galileus was the first Lisco- 
verer of the Gravity of Air
79
The specifick Gravity of Air 
according to Sir Isaac New- 
ton and Dr. Halley—ib. 
Specifick Gravity what—ib. 
Note *





xxiii The CONTENTS. 
Air may possess a Space 520, 
000 times greater at one 
time than another 80 
The Specifick Gravity of the 
Air cannot be exactly de- 
termined ib. 
Air readily enters into the 
Vessels of Animal Bodies 
82
The same Thing happens in 
Vegetables and Liquids 83 
The Globules of the Blood 
contain Air 85 
Elasticity is a Property in Air 
which it never loses 89 
The Solids and Fluids of Ani- 
mals contain more Air in 
them in Proportion than 
any other Substances—90 
Fluidity is a Property in Air 
which cannot be destroy'd
91  
Air a Fluid in constant Mo- 
tion 92 
The difference between Flui- 
dity and Liquidity ib. 
Air is compressible and dila- 
table 93
Divisibility a Property of Air 
94 
CHAP. III.
Of the Qualities of Air. 
The Qualities of Air what 
95 
Heat is a Quality relative to 
our Senses 96 
The Spirit of Wine in Weather- 
Glasses is affected with the 
least Alerations of Heat or 
Cold 97
Why Languid and Hysterick 
People suffer in hot Wea- 
ther ib 
Excessive hot Air capable of 
reducing animal Substances 
to a State of Putrefaction 
98 
Dr. Boerhaave's Experiment 
upon a Sparrow and a Dog
ib.
Perspiration what 99 
Air not cool'd by the Motion 
of Winds 102 
Great Mischief arising from 
keeping the Air of the 
Rooms of People in Fevers 
too hot 103  
Cold condenses the Air in Pro- 
portion to the Degrees of 
it 104 
Cold suppresses Perspiration 
105 
The fatal Extremities of Cold 
in Greenland ib. 
The Effects of extreme Cold 
or extreme Heat 106 
The Effects of moist Air ib. 
Dryness, a Quality in Air 
producing different Effects 
to those of moist Air 109 
The Doctrine of absorbing 
Air thro' the Pores of the 
Skins of living Creatures 
demonstrated 111 
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of Air upon human Bodies. 
Hippocrates knew more of the 
Influence of Air than all 
his Predecessors and Suc- 
cessors 113 


xxiv The CONTENTS. 
Hipocrates's Advice concern- 
ing Air—ib. 
—Could foretell the 
Diseases from ths Weather 
115
The Affair of Generation is 
influenc'd by Air—116 
The different Shapes, Com- 
plexion, and Tempers of 
Mankind influenc'd by Air 
117
The different Forms of Go- 
vernment, and even the 
Courage of People, is ow- 
ing to the Influence of Air 
ib.
Air the Cause of most Dis- 
eases—118 
Astronomy useful in Physick 
119 
The Constitution of the Air 
according to Hippocrates 
120
Dr. Arhuthnot's Explanation 
of Hippocrates and others, 
concerning the Influence of 
Air—124  
The whole Constitution of 
the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends upon 
Air—147  
What we are to do when the 
Air is corrupted—148 
What regards ancient People 
concerning Air—ib. 
CHAP. V. 
Of Aliments in general. 
The first Stage of Digestion, 
and how it is perform'd 
150 
The second Stage of Diges- 
tion—155 
The most subtil Parts of the
Food pass immediately in- 
to the Blood by the absor- 
bent Vessels of the Inte- 
stines—156 
The last Stage of Digestion
161  
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of Aliments. 
All Animals are made either 
immediately or mediately 
of Vegetables—p. 164 
Vegetables consist of Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, and 
Earth—165
Of different Tastes—ib.
Of the properest Food of the 
vegetable Kingdom.—166 
Of the Qualities of Barley, 
Wheat, Oats, Rice, Rye, 
Millet, Panick and Maise 
167 
Of Peas, Beans, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricocks, Plumbs, 
and Mulberries—168, 169 
Of Gooseberries, Currants, 
Cherries, Strawberries, O- 
ranges. Citrons, Limons, 
Grapes and Figs—170  
Of Quinces, Pomegranates, 
Tamarinds, Capers, Olives, 
Almonds, Walnuts, Hazle- 
Nuts, Chesnuts, Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and 
Melons—171 
Of Pot-Herbs—172
Of Artichokes, Asparagus, 
Parsley, and Celery—ib. 
Of Spinage, Beet, Sallads, 




xxv The CONTENTS. 
Potatoes, Turnips, Car- 
rots, Parsnips—173 
Of Garlick, Onions, Rock-  
ambole, Shalot, Leeks, 
Radishes, Horse-radishes, 
Cresses, Mustard, Truffles,
Morelles, and Mushrooms 
174 
Of Marjoram, Basil, Savory,  
Thyme, Rosermary, Sage 
175  
Of the Qualities of Tea, 
Coffee, and Chocolate—175, 
176, 177, 178
Animal Food more nourish- 
ing than Vegetable—ib. 
Animal Diet is anti-acid—179
Animal Flesh differs accord- 
ing as the Animal is terre- 
strial, aquatick, or am- 
phibious, and Fishes abound 
with more alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial animals 
ib.
The only Way of having 
found and healthful animal 
Food—180
The Flesh of Animals too 
old, unwholsome—181 
Salt Fish produces gress Hu- 
mours, and bad Juices—ib. 
Why the Flesh of wild Ani- 
mals keeps longer uncor- 
rupted than that of tame 
ones—182
Flesh boiled, wholsomer for 
weak Stomachs than roasted 
ib. 
Why Meats bak'd or fry'd,
are bad—183
Of Lamb, Veal, Kid, and 
Beef—ib.
Of Mutton, Rabies, young 
Hares, Pork and Bacon 
184
Of Brawn, Deer, Cream,
Butter. Marrow and Cheese 
185 
Milk, a most noble, nourish- 
ing, and wholsome Food 
l66 
A proper Diet for Women 
that give suck, or Nurses 
187 
Whey, good for hot Consti- 
tutions and Scurvies 188 
How to know the different 
Nature and Qualities of 
Birds or Fowls in general 
ib.  
Of Duck, Capon, Pigeons, 
Pheasants, Pullets, and 
Geese—189 
Of Turkey, Partridges, Plo- 
vers, Blackbirds, Larks, 
Sparrows, Peacocks, and 
Starts—190 
Of Thrushes, Quails, Turtle 
Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, 
and all other long-billed 
Birds—191
Of Fish in respect of Flesh, 
and why it is in general 
hard of Digestion ib. 
General Rules concerning Fish
192 
Of Eels, Carp, Lampreys, 
Pike, and Sturgeon—193 
Of Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, 
Turbut, Soles, Place, 
Perch, Tench, Gudgeons, 
and Smelts—194. 
Of Flounders, Salmon, Trout, 
Cod-fish, Haddock, Skate, 
Thornback, Barbel, Mac- 
karel, Herrings and Sprats
195, 196 
Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity 
are lightest of Digestion. 
ib. 
The larger and bigger the 
Vege-




xxvi The CONTENTS. 
Vegetable, or Animal is 
in its Kind, the Food made 
thereof is the stronger, and 
harder to be digested 197 
Sea Fish or Animals harder to 
be digested than Land Ani- 
mals 198
Vegetables and Animals a- 
bounding with oily, fat,
and viscid Substance, are 
harder to digest than those 
of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance ib. 
Of the Nature and Effects of 
Rock and Sea Salt 199 
Of Honey, Oil and Vinegar 
201, 202  
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bodies, with 
their good and bad Effects. 
Aliment what 203 
The Art of preserving Health 
consists in a Mediocrity of 
Diet 204
Substances which stimulate 
the folid Parts, produce 
the greatest Alterations in 
animal Bodies. 205 
The solid Parts of animal 
Bodies may be contracted 
variously by Diet 206
The more sulphurous or chy- 
mical Oil any Spirit con- 
tains, the more destructive 
it proves to the Constitu- 
uon, as Rum and distill'd
Spirits of Annifeeds, &c. 
ib.
Austere acid Vegetables have 
a Quality of contracting, 
and strengthening the Fi- 
bres without a great many 
of the bad Effects of di- 
stilled Spirits 207 
Warm Water the best Liquid 
for relaxing the Fibres ib.
How the Qualities and Quan-
tity of the Fluids of a hu- 
man Body may be chang'd 
by Diet 208 
Acrimony or Sharpness is not 
natural, but introduc'd into 
the Fluids of animal Bodies 
either by Food or Sickness
210 
The Juices of found Animals 
consist of Salts of a pe- 
culiar Nature, neither quite 
fix'd, nor quite volatile, 
nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline ib. 
Acrimony in the Blood con- 
sists of three Sorts, acid, 
alkaline, and muriatic or 
briny 211  
The proper Diet for the Cure 
of the acid Acrimony 212 
The Diet proper in the alka- 
line and briny Acrimony 
ib. 
Several Sorts of Antiscorbu- 
ticks proper in an alkale- 
scent State of the Fluids 
213 
Drink, an essential Part of 
our Food, and the chief In- 
tentions of it 214. 
Pure Water answers all the 
Intentions of Drink, best 
of any Liquor ib. 
The Usefulness of Water for 
the Purposes of human 
Life 215 
Water the best and most 
wholsome


xxvii The CONTENTS. 
wholsome Drink in gene- 
ral, some few Cases ex- 
cepted—ib.
Of Malt Liquors—216
Of strong Beer—ib. 
Of the Nature of fine Ales, 
or Home-brew'd, and how 
they are fin'd, which is 
pernicious, if not poison- 
ous to Health—ib.
Yorkshire, Nottingham, Welch,
and all fine Ales brew'd 
for Sale, destrudlive to 
Health—217
The frequent Use and Excess 
of distilled spirituous Li- 
quors, is become a Vice of 
so shocking a Nature among 
the People in general—ib.
The poisonous Qualities of di-
stilled Spirits consider'd—218
The direful Effects of the fre- 
quent Use of Dram-drink- 
ing explain'd—219 
The great Calamity of Dram- 
drinking farther consider'd 
220  
Next to Drams, no Liquor de- 
serves to be stigmatized and 
more detested than Punch 
ib.  
The principal Ingredients of 
Punch separately consider'd 
221 
When a Cordial may be use- 
ful 222 
A Sot the most contemptible 
Character in human Life—ib. 
The melancholy Effects of
Drunkenness explain'd—223 
A short Account of different
Wines in general—224 
Strong made Country Wines 
prejudicial—225  
The Conclusion, concerning 
Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors—ib. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, and the Diet proper for 
each. 
A general Method as to Diet, 
without Regard to parti- 
cular Constitutions absurd 
226 
Enumeration of the several 
Sorts of Constitutions 227 
Qf the Debility of the Fibres
ib.
The Causes and Signs of weak 
and lax Fibres assign'd—228
A Regimen for those of weak 
fibres—229 
The Effects of too rigid a 
state of the Fibres—230
Rigidity what, and likewise 
the Signs of such a consti- 
tution—ib.
The Regimen in such a State 
231 
The Definition, Cause, and 
proper Diet of plethorick 
Constitutions—232  
Of sanguinecus Constitutions 
and their Diagnostick Signs 
233 
The Diet proper for such Con- 
stitutions—235 
A saline Constitution of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, is 
either acid, alkaline, muria- 
tick, or briny—ib. 
Of acid Constitutions and their 
Effects—236 
Of Constitutions subject to an 
alkaline Acrimony—237



xxviii The CONTENTS. 
The Causes and Symptoms of 
such Constitutions—238, 239 
The Regimen for such—240 
The Causes and proper Diet 
for the muriatick or briny 
Scurvy—ib. 
Of phlegmatick Constitutions, 
their Causes, Signs, and 
proper Diet—241, 242 
Of fat or oily Constitutions, 
their Causes, Symptoms and 
proper Diet—243, 244, 245
Of atrabilarian or melancholy 
Constitutions, their Signs, 
Causes, Effects, and proper 
Diet—246 to 250 
The grand Secret of Health 
consists in keeping an Equi- 
librium between the Solids 
and Fluids—ib. 
Aphoristical Rules of Diet in 
the various Stages of Life 
251 to 258
CHAP. IX.
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
Sleep, what—258 
The Use, Benefit, and Causes 
of Sleep—261 
The natural Cause of Sleep 
263 
The Effects of two much 
Watching—ib. 
Late Meat suppers prejudicial 
to Health—264 
The Effects of too much 
Sleep—266 
Of sleeping in the Day-time, 
or after Dinner—267 
The ordinary Time allowed 
for Sleep—268 
The properest Time for sleep- 
ing 268 
Nothing more pernicious to 
the Constitution, than 
watching by Night and 
sleeping by Day—ib. 
Rules to be observ'd in regard 
to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed—270 
CHAP. X.
Of Motion and Rest.
The use of Motion and Rest 
271 
The Necessity of Motion 
or Exercise mechanically 
proved—273 to 282
Of the Effects of Musick—283
Its wonderful Effects in cur- 
ing the Bite of the Taran- 
tula, Note *—ib. 
The Effects of too much
Rest—286
The absolute Necessity of La- 
bour and Exercise for the
Preservation of Health far- 
ther consider'd—ib. 
The bad Effects of too much 
Labour or Exercise—287 
Of general Exercises—ib. 
Riding of all Exercises the 
best—ib.  
Of particular Exercises ap- 
propriated to certain Parts 
of the Body—28  
Conditions to be observ'd what
regard to Exercise—29
CHAP. 



xxix The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of Retention and Excretion.
What Things are to be ex- 
creted or evacuated, and 
what retain'd—291 
The Cause of costive Stools 
292
The best Proportion of the
gross Evacuations to the 
Quantity of Food taken in 
ib. 
Purging Stools how they dis- 
cover the Badness of the 
Regimen we use—293 
The Reason why Mercury 
will purge instead of sali- 
vating—294 
That the same Reason will 
make appear why Restrin- 
gents and Opiates prove
purgative—ib. 
A dangerous Mistake in rear- 
ing up Children—ib. 
Loose and purgative Stools 
discover intemperate Eat- 
ing—295 
The Mischief arising to Hy- 
sterical and Vapourish Peo- 
ple, by perpetually cram- 
ming and gobbling the 
richest and strongest Food, 
and highest Cordials—ib. 
The common Cause of Head-
Aches, Stomack-Aches, 
and Colicks—296 
The right Method of bracing
relax'd Nerves—ib. 
An uncommon Evacuation 
both by Stool and Urine, 
and the Causes of it—297 
Urine, and what it con- 
sists of—299 
Unite of a bright Amber Co- 
lour the best—300 
The Effects of Urine too long 
retained—ib. 
The Effects of too great an 
Evacuation of Urine—301 
Of the different Tastes, Smell, 
Colour, and Quantity of 
Urine—ib.
Of high-colour'd, foul, and 
turbid Urine—302
Of dark-brown, or dirty red- 
colour'd Urine—ib. 
Of bloody, mattery, or whey- 
ish Urine—303 
Obstructed Perspiration the 
Cause of most acute Di- 
seases, and the Effect of 
chronical ones—ib.
Catching of Cold what, and 
how dangerous—ib. 
A present, easy Remedy a- 
gainst it—304 
Certain Indications of Per- 
spiration's being deficient 
or obstructed, with Direc- 
tions how to remedy the 
same—ib. 
The Semen what, and the 
Effects of moderate Coition
305 
Immoderate Coition and its 
bad Effects—306 
The Menses a necessary Eva- 
cuation, and what,—307 
Of Sweat and the Nature of 
it—308 
Sweat different from insensible 
Perspiration—ib. 
Of the Saliva, or Spittle, and 
the Use of it—309 
Of Tobacco and its Effects 
310 
Of the Mucus or Snot, and 
Tears—311
Of Ear Wax and its Use—312 
CHAP. 

xxx The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
The Essence and Causes of 
the Passions not consider'd, 
but their Effects and Influ- 
ence upon Human Bodies 
312
The Manner how the Mind 
operates upon the Body 
313 
How the Passions of the Mind
consume the Spirits and 
disorder the Body—ib. 
Joy and Anger render 
Body lighter—314
Fear and Sorrow increase the 
Weight of the Body—315 
The Passions to be consider'd
as physical Agents ib. 
An Enumeration of the chief 
Passions of the Mind—ib. 
Of Love (properly distinguish
ed into three Kinds) and 
its Effects—317 
Of Hatred and its Effects—320 
Of Shame, Hope, Despair, 
and their Effects—321
The Passions are properly di- 
vided into acute and chro- 
nical—323 
The Effects of acute Passions 
ib. 
The Cause of Blushing—ib. 
The Cause of Sighing—324 
The Effects of the Suddenness 
of the Passions when ex- 
treme—ib.
Of chronical Passions—ib. 
The Effects of chronical Pas- 
sions—325  
The Passions have a very great 
Influence upon Health—ib. 
The Advantages of Spiritu-
al Love with regard to 
Health—326 
It banishes all those Vices 
winch must ruin Health, 
and gives continual Joy and 
Serenity, inseparable from 
Health—ib.  
The Conclusion—327 
PART III. 
CONTAINING, 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
curative Indications both Medicinal and Dietetical 
of acute and chronical Diseases; with the Nature 
and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
The Introduction—329 
CHAP. 

xxxi The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. I. 
Of Fevers, both in general and particular. 
A Fever, what—333 
Sydenham's Definition—ib. 
Boerhaave's Sentiments—ib. 
The Symptoms of Fevers in 
general—ib.
The general Cure of Fevers
334 
Of the Symptoms—ib. 
The Benefit of giving a Vo- 
mit in Fevers—335
When a Purge may be given 
with Advantage—336 
The Cause of Fevers accord- 
ing to Hippocrates—ib. 
A Rule of Diet in Fevers—337 
A Division of Fevers—ib. 
Of an Ephemera and putrid 
Fever, what—338
The Causes of a putrid Fever 
ib.
The Diagnosticks and Prog- 
nosticks—339 
Of a continent or remitting
Fever—340 
Of a spurious remitting Fever, 
and its Prognosticks—341
Of a simple remitting Fever—ib. 
The Method of Cure—342 
A Division of continual Fevers
into Burning and Slow Fe- 
vers, with the chief Symp- 
toms and Prognosticks—343
The Regimen—344 
The Method of Cure—345 
Of a Calenture, and of Slow 
Fevers—346
Of Catarrhal Fevers—ib. 
The Method of Cure—347 
Of Intermitting Fevers—348 
The Method of Cure—349 
Of Spurious intermitting Fe- 
vers, and the Cure—351 
The proximate Cause of In- 
termitting Fevers—352  
Of Burning Fevers—ib. 
Great Variety of Malignant 
Fevers—353 
Prognosticks and Cure of Ma- 
lignant Fevers—354  
Of Spotted fevers; their 
Symptoms, Prognosticks, 
and Cure—357 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms attending 
Fevers. 
Of Rigor or Shivering in Fe- 
vers—358
Of Feverish Heat, and the 
Cure—359
Of Thirst, Anxieties, and Vo-
miting in Fevers—360, 361 
Of a Looseness in Fevers—363 
Of a Strangury, and profuse
Sweats in Fevers—364, 365 
Of a Pain in the Head, Watch-
fulness, Coma, and Deliri- 
ums in Fevers—366, 367 
Of Convulsions in Fevers—368 
Of Weakness in Fevers—369 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in 
Fevers—370 
Of the Small-Pox; its diffe- 
rent Stages and Cure, from 
371 to 380. 
CHAP.

xxxii the CONTENTS. 
CHAP. III. 
Of inflammatory Diseases attended with a Fever. 
Of a Phrensy, or Inflamma- 
tion of the Brain—382 
Of a Quinsy; its different 
Sorts, and Cure—384 
Of a Pleurisy—386
Of a Peripneumony, or In- 
flammation of the Lungs 
389 
An Empyema, what—391 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or Inflam- 
mation of the Diaphragm 
393 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Stomach—ib.
Of an Inflammation of the 
Liver—395
Of an Inflammation of the 
Mesentery—400 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Guts, Symptoms and Cure 
402 
Inflammations of the Kidneys
405 
Of an Apoplexy—409 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers. 
Of a Palsy—413 
Of an Hemiplegia, and a Pa- 
raplegia—415 
The Cure—416
Of an Epilepsy, or Falling- 
Sickness—417
The Causes Various—ib. 
Of Melancholy Madness, and
the Causes—421 
Of Madness from the Bite of
a Mad-Dog—425 
A new and sure Method of
Cure—429
Of the Scurvy—432 
The Cause—433
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of 
Body—435 
The Signs, and Cure—436 
Of a Consumption—439 
Of the concomitant Cause of a 
Consumption—441 
The Method of Cure, from 
449 to 452  
Of a Dropsy—452 
Of the Gout—456 
The Effects of Abstinence in 
the Gout—461 
Of Rheumatism—ib. 
The Cause and Cure—462  
Of the Stone and Gravel—463 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
Of Cold Bathing—467 
Necessary Rules to be observ'd 
before Cold Bathing—470 
Wherein Cold Bathing is in- 
jurious—471 
The Use of warm Bathing—473 
The Use and Effects of hot 
Mineral Baths, such as that 
famous one in Somersetshire
474 
Of Frictions and their good 
and bad Effects—476 
A

(1)
A 
Guide to Health, &c. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age; the principal and inevita- 
ble Causes of Old Age; and, final- 
ly, of our Dissolution. 
To which is annex'd 
A brief, chronological, and historical Account
of LONG LIVES, from before the Flood to 
this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's 
Life; with a Description and Definition of 
Old Age. 
As our Bodies are subject to Changes 
and Alterations, from the Minute 
we come into the World; so the 
Physicians, regarding the most ap- 
parent and sensible Changes only, have divided
man's whole Life into several Periods, which  
A they

2 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
they call Ages: The Egyptians reckon'd as 
many as there are ‡ Septenaries in a hundred; 
for they were of Opinion, that Man's Life 
could not exceed that Term. 
The Pythagoreans, who were very super- 
stitious in the Doctrine of Numbers, have 
publish'd in their Writings, that we undergo 
remarkable Changes every seven Years, as well 
in regard to the Temperature of the Body, as 
the Qualities of the Soul; all which must be 
referr'd to the Excellency and Perfection of 
the Number Seven.
But I will not enter into Disquisitions upon 
Numbers in this Place; it is enough for me to
have the Concurrence of all the most cele- 
brated Authors, that Man, according to the 
natural Course of Life, undergoes five remark- 
able Changes in his * Temperament, and passes 
five Ages or Periods; that is, Infancy, Ado- 
lescency, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. 
Infancy is hot and moist; but the Moisture 
is predominant, and keeps the Heat in such 
Subjection, that it can no way shew its Effects. 
It
‡ Septenarius, or Septennium, containing the Space of seven 
Years. Some of the Antients reckon'd every Constitution 
underwent some remarkable Change in every such Revolution, 
whence the seventh Year was call'd critical, or climacterick
Year. 
* Temperament is that Diversity in the Blood of different 
Persons, whereby it is apt to fall into some certain Combina- 
tions more in one Body than another, whether into Sanguine, 
Choler, Phlegm, or Melancholy; from whence Persons are said 
to be of a sanguine, cholerick, phlegmatick, or melancholy Tem- 
perament or Constitution. Of all which I shall speak more at 
large hereafter. 

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 3 
It continues to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
Year. 
Adolescency follows, which is likewise hot 
and moist, but the Heat begins to be predo- 
minant; for we see its Sparks shine and lighten 
every where. 
In Males the Voice then begins to grow 
loud and hoarse; they spread and dilate every
way, and cast their first Downs. In Females 
the Breasts grow visibly harder and larger, the 
Blood is in Motion thro' the whole Body, and 
pushes on all Sides till it finds Passage. This 
Period extends to the Age of four or five and 
twenty, which is the Term limited by Nature 
for Growth. 
This is succeeded by Youth, which is full of 
Heat, Vigour, and Agility: It runs to thirty- 
five or forty. In this Age the Body comes to 
its full State, and the Fibres, Membranes, and 
Bones to their due Solidity. This is what is 
call'd Manhood, and is the most temperate of 
the Ages of Man, participating of the four 
Extremes equally, and extending to the fiftieth
Year; where Old Age begins, which com- 
prises the Remainder of our Lives. 
Now this last Period of Man's Life may be 
divided into three Stages; but I pass over that 
which is call'd Senium ex morbo, that is, Old 
Age brough on by Sickness.
The first is call'd Verdant: It is accompa- 
nie with Prudence, and is full of Experience, 
and fit for governing Commonwealths, and 
managing Affairs of Importance. The se- 
A2 cond

4 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
cond begins at Seventy, and is attended with 
several little Ailments, and is cold and dry. 
As to the first, there are such apparent Marks 
of it, that none ever doubted it; for if we 
touch old Men of those Years, we shall find 
them generally very cold in all their Muscles; 
they have no lively or Vermillion Colour; all 
their Senses are weaken'd, and they are subject
to a great many cold Distempers: But as to 
the other Quality, Dryness, some have endea- 
vour'd to dispute it, saying that this Period is 
moist, but not dry. To this Galen replies, 
in his first Book de Sanitate Tuenda, that old
Men have all those Parts dry which are moist 
in Children; that is, the solid Parts, upon 
which the whole Constitution depends. This 
is even the Opinion of the Moderns, and what 
we should follow; for Leanness, Wrinkles, 
Hardness of the Nerves and Skin, the Stiff- 
ness of the Joints, are sufficient Demonstra- 
tions of this dry Temperament at that Age. 
At length comes the last Step of Old Age, 
and is call'd Decrepit; in which, according 
to the Royal Prophet, there is nothing but 
Pains and Grief; for all the Faculties of the
Soul and Body are weaken'd, the Sentiments 
dull and heavy, the Memory lost, the Judg- 
ment defective. 
This Last Period of Old Age is describ'd in 
the twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, under so 
beautiful an Allegory, that nothing can excel 
it; and as the Royal Author was the greatest 
Philosopher and Naturalist that ever wrote, I  
will


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 5
will therefore present the Reader with his 
Description of this Stage of Life at large, 
which, besides its Beauty, will likewise serve 
Us for Instruction and Counsel.
Remember, says he, thy Creator in the Days 
of thy Youth, while the Sun, or the Lights or 
the moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor 
the Clouds return after the Rain. 
In the Day when the Keepers of the House 
shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow 
themselves, and the Grinders cease, because 
they are few; and those that look out of Win- 
dows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut
in the Streets, when the Sound of the Grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the
Bird, and all the Daughters of Musick shall 
be brought low.  
And when they shall be afraid of that which 
is high, and Fears shall be in the way, and the 
Almond-tree shall flourish, and the Grashopper 
shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners 
go about the Streets. 
Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as 
it was: and the Spirit shall return to God that
gave it.
This is the Description of Stage of 
man's Life, which is admirable. In decrepit 
old Age, the Sun and the Stars are darken'd;
that is, the Eyes of Man, which are grown
dim; nor the Clouds return after the Rain;
A3 that


6 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
that is, after they have been weeping a long 
time, they seem to have thick Clouds before 
their Eyes. The Keepers of the House shall 
tremble; that signifies the Hands and Arms, 
which have been given to Man for the Defence 
of his whole Body. And the strong Men shall 
bow themselves; that is, the Legs, which are 
the Columns that support the whole Building. 
And the Grinders cease; that is, the Teeth, 
which grind and chew the Aliments. And 
those that look out of the Windows be darken'd; 
that is, the Eyes, which are troubled with 
Cataracts, and several other Disorders incident
to the Sight of decrepit old People. And the 
Door shall be shut in the Streets, when the 
Sound of the Grinding is low; those are the 
Chops, which cannot open to chew, or the 
Canals thro' which the Aliment us'd to pass, 
but are now grown straight and narrow. And 
be shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird; that
is, decrepit old People cannot sleep, and are 
always awaken'd by the Cock's Crowing. 
And all the Daughters of Musick shall be 
brought low; that is, their Voice, which fails 
them. And the Almond-tree shall flourish; 
that is, the Head, which is all white. And 
the Grashopper shall be a Burden; that is, the
Legs, which are swoln, &c. 
Having now describ'd the Ages terminated 
by Years, I would not however be so far con- 
fin'd to the usual Number into which Man's 
Life is divided, as if Youth and Old Age must
intirely depend upon it; We ought rather to
regu-

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 7
regulate ourselves by the * Temperament, or 
Nature of our Constitution: for we may 
call every Man that is cold and dry, an old
man; there are a great many such at forty, 
and a great number of young Men at sixty. 
some Complexions fail sooner, and others later. 
The sanguine are of long Duration, be- 
cause they have a deal of Heat and Moisture, 
which Constitution or Temper is most com- 
modious to Mankind, and qualifies them best
for Action, and is therefore most consistent with
Health and long Life; whereas the contrary 
Temper, viz. cold and dry, soon tends to 
Decay and Death; for the sooner a Body wi- 
thers and dries away, the sooner it grows old, 
and draws near its Dissolution. This Heat 
and Moisture hath also its several Degrees, 
but these Qualities are best when moderate; 
those which differ and recede from that Me- 
diocrity, are called hot and moist, hot and dry, 
or cold and moist, and cold and dry, tho' all 
in general are hot and moist in some Degree. 
These differences of Tempers are com- 
monly distinguish'd by the Denominations,
which I have observ'd already of Sanguine,
Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic Con-
stitutions, according tothe Nature and Dis-
position of the Juices in the several Bodies,
where the excrementitious Discharges answer
thereto. They whose Blood is of a mode-
rate Templer, between hot and moist, are
called sanguine; those who exceed in beat,
A4 and 
* Temperament, See Pag. 2. Note *

8 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
and whose Blood is dryer, are called Choleric; 
those who are cold and moist, Phlegmatic;
and lastly, those who are cold and dry, Me- 
lancholic; and this last Temper or Constitu- 
tion grows old sooner than any of the rest. 
As to what regards the Sexes, the Fe- 
male, generally speaking, grows old sooner 
than the Male, which Hippocrates justly ob- 
serves, in his Book concerning those Chil- 
dren who are born at the End of the seventh 
Month. The Females, says he, are later in 
forming and growing in the Womb than the 
Males; but when they are out of it, they 
grow faster, have earlier Understanding, and 
are sooner old, on account of the weakness of
their Bodies, and their manner of living. 
Weakness hastens their Growth, and brings 
them likewise sooner to old Age; for as the 
Plants which are short-liv'd grow in a few 
Minutes, so the Bodies which have no long 
Duration, soon come to their Perfection. 
Their manner of living likewise contributes 
very much to their growing old soon, as they
most commonly lead an unactive life; for 
nothing brings us sooner to old Age than 
Sloth and Idleness. 
As to the different Tempers and Constitu- 
tions of Men, they depend, in a great mea- 
sure, not only upon the various Dispositions 
of the Humours contain'd in the Body, but 
also on the peculiar Conformation and Struc- 
ture of the noble Parts, and their various 
Proportions in respect to each other, which 
disposes

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 9
disposes them to breed Humours of diffe- 
rent Kinds and Dispositions; and endows 
them with various Qualities, according to 
the several Alterations they undergo in diffe- 
rent Bodies, and the Proportion of such ani- 
mal Fluids differently fermented, exceeding 
or falling short in Degrees of Digestion; or 
being variously vitiated by the assimilating
Qualities of Humours already contain'd, or 
of fresh Food taken into the Body, which 
may pervert the Disposition of the Fluids al- 
ready contain'd in the Blood Vessels. 
The Proportion of the Parts of the Body, 
and their Conformation, may contribute to 
the difference of Constitution, as they sepa- 
rate and discharge Humours, not only diffe- 
rently prepar'd, but in greater or less Quan- 
tities: Thus, if the Heart be larger in Pro- 
portion to the Body than the rest of the 
Parts, the Blood must circulate more briskly, 
and with greater Force; if the Liver be 
large, and separate a great Quantity of Bile, 
the Chyle and Blood must be more bilious; 
and as the Stomach digests differently, the 
blood must be supplied with Nourishment 
in greater or less Quantities, more or less di- 
gested, and so occasion Sanguine, Choleric, 
or Phlegmatic Constitutions. Thus the noble 
parts contribute to the different Temper of 
the whole, as well as other particular Parts
themselves. 
Hence it is; that different Parts of the 
Body are, in respect of one another, esteem'd 
to

10 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
to be of different Tempers; as the Heart, up- 
on account of its Situation and constant Mo- 
tion, may be reckon'd one of the hottest 
Parts of the Body. The others reckon'd of 
a hot Temper, are the Liver, the musculous 
Flesh, the Spleen, the Kidneys, Lungs, Veins, 
Arteries, and Fat. The cold Parts are, the 
Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, Tendons, Nerves, 
Membranes, Spinal Marrow, and the Brain. 
Those which are accounted moist, are the
Fat, Marrow, Brain, Breasts, Testicles, 
Lungs, Spleen, Kidneys, musculous Flesh, 
Tongue, Heart, and the softer Nerves. The 
dry Parts are, Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, 
Tendons, Membranes, Arteries, Veins, and 
hard Nerves. 
There is moreover another difference in 
the Tempers or Constitutions of human Bodies, 
in respect of Age and Sexes; thus Women 
are naturally colder than Men, too much 
Heat being supposed apt to consume and vi- 
tiate the tender Nourishment of Infants, 
which is to be prepar'd in the Mother. Age 
likewise alters Constitutions, according to
the several Stages and Periods, as I have ob- 
serv'd before; thus Infants and Children are 
hot and moist. Youth more temperate, Men 
and full-grown Persons hot and dry; where-
as in old Age the Heat decreases, and Nou- 
rishment is dry'd up for want of its usual 
Supplies. 
Another thing that makes Constitutions 
differ, is the difference of Climates, the
manner

Part I. 11 thro' the various Stages of Life. 11
manner of living, the nature of the Food 
they use, and the Liquors wherewith the 
more solid Parts of the Food are diluted; but 
for a more particular Account of different 
Constitutions, see Part II. Chap. IX. where 
I treat of the Diet proper for each respe- 
ctively. 
Having hitherto given the Reader an Ac- 
count of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age, as likewise a Description of decrepit
old Age, supported by the Authority of the 
wise Solomon; and lastly, of the Causes and 
Nature of different Constitutions, I shall 
now finish this Chapter with the Definition 
of it, which will be of singular Use to such 
as will observe the Precepts hereafter men- 
tion'd, in order to preserve Health and long
Life. 
The incomparable Sanctorius, most ele- 
gantly and concisely defining old Age, says in
Aphorism xxxv. Sect. v. Senectus est univer- 
salis fibrarum durities, &c. that is, old Age is 
an universal Hardness of the Fibres, &c. which 
implies; that when there is a greater Waste 
of the nervous Fluid than can be repair'd, 
then the component Machinulœ * of all the 
Fibres of  the human Body, for want of a 
Sufficiency of this animal Oil or Fluidt are 
harden'd and dry'd, the Pores are thereby 
straiten'd
* Machinulœ signifies in Anatomyy the various Textures, 
Combinations and Decussations of the Fibres, compounding
the Muscles, Nerves, and Membranes of the Body; which is 
only a Diminutive from the Word Machine. 


12 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
straiten'd and obstructed, by which means the 
natural Heat is stifled, and at last Death en- 
sues; hence it is, that the nearer a Person is 
brought to this State of an universal Hard- 
ness of the Fibres, &c. by any means what- 
ever, the farther such a Person may be said 
to be advanc'd towards old Age. 
Wherefore the great Secret and sole Me- 
thod of long Life, is to preserve the Blood 
and Juices in a due State of Fluidity and 
Thinness whereby they may be capable of 
making all those Circulations and Rounds 
thro' the animal Fibres, wherein Health and 
Life consist, with the fewest Rubs, and least 
Resistance that can be. But notwithstanding 
all our Efforts, Time and old Age will 
stiffen and fix our Solids at last; for Age 
and Time, by weakening the Appetite and 
Concoctions, impairing the natural Heat, 
which consists in a brisk and extended Circu- 
lation of the Fluids to all the Parts of the 
Body, by the converting those Juices into 
solid Substances, and thereby fixing and 
hardening these Solids, and depriving them of
their due Elasticity; so the remaining Fluids 
circulate slower, and with less Force, and 
seldom reach the Extremities and smallest Ves- 
sels, but only pass slowly through the larger 
Vessels..And tho' with all these unavoidable 
Circumstances, both the nutritious Juices, 
the serous and globular Part of the Blood be- 
come viscid, thick, and gluey, so that the 
Circulation must stop, and come to an end 
at last; yet it is certainly in a great measure 
in

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 13 
in our own Power to put a Stop to the too 
quick Approaches of such an irremediable 
Period, by keeping our Juices in a due State 
of Fluidity and Thinness, and to render them 
such, if they are not corrupted to an extreme 
Degree; so that the remainder of Life be 
not too short to undertake such a Work; for 
it is very certain, that we may dilute and 
thin any Fluid, that has an Inlet and Outlet. 
And the smaller and finer the Parts of any 
circulating Liquor are, the less Force it will 
require to set it a going, and to continue its
Motion: And it is just even so in animal 
Bodies; for the more fluid and thinner the 
Juices are, they will not only circulate with
less Force, and with less Resistance or Pain, 
but they will likewise preserve, by their Cir- 
culation, the Solids the longer from harden- 
ing and stiffening. 
Now, as nothing brings a Person sooner 
to that State of universal Hardness and Stiff- 
ness of the Fibres, and a Viscosity and Thick- 
ness of the Juices, than indulging in strong high
Meats, which the concoctive Powers cannot 
divide small enough to be converted into red
Globules of Blood, or circulate thro' the 
small Vessels, but overload them with corro- 
sive urinous Salts, which run into Clusters, 
and first obstruct, and afterwards tear and 
break these small vessels, and likewise in 
swilling of strong Liquors, which by their 
caustick Quality dry up, burn, and destroy 
the tender and delicate Fibres of the Solids; 
I therefore


14 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
therefore I say, as nothing but such an Indul- 
gence, and such long-continued Excesses, and 
obstinately persisted in, can so soon produce 
such a State of the Fluids and Solids, and 
consequently bring on many fatal chronical 
Diseases, according to the particular Habit, 
Make, and Constitution of the Person: So 
it is evident, that the only Method and most 
effectual means that can solidly and thorough- 
ly accomplish the contrary State of the Blood
and Juices, is to render them thin, sweet, 
and in a continual flowing Condition, by 
taking the contrary Measures, in keeping to 
a strict Regimen of a fluid, thin, spare, plain, 
and lean Diet; for as Dr. Cheyne justly ob- 
serves, No voluptuous and lazy Person, unless 
be had an original Constitution of BRASS, 
ever liv'd to a great Age; and even then, 
as his Life has been more Misery and Pain, 
than ever a SOBER GALLY-SLAVE endur'd, 
his End, and the latter Part of his Days has
been RACK and TORTURE, HORROR and 
DESPAIR. So that Longœvity is scarce ever 
found but among the abstemious. 
As all the Parts of the human Body are 
made up of Fibres, which are small, trans- 
parent, solid, and elastick, or springy Threads
or Filaments, of which mention is made in 
the foregoing Definition of old Age, and 
which have been sufficiently demonstrated by 
Physician and Anatomists already; yet it will 
not be improper to give some Account of them 
here, for the sake of as many of the English
I Readers 


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 15
Readers as may be unacquainted with either 
Physick or Anatomy, and for whose Benefit I 
have chiefly compiled this Treatise. 
Therefore these Fibres, or small Threads, 
that constitute the human Body, are of diffe- 
rent Sorts; some are soft, flexible, and a lit- 
tle elastick ‡, and these are hollow like small 
Pipes, or spongious, and full of little Cells, as 
the nervous and fleshy Fibres. There are 
others more solid and flexible, but with a 
strong Elasticity, as the membranous and car- 
tilaginous Fibres; and a third Sort hard and 
inflexible, as the Fibres of the Bones. And 
of all these some are very sensible, as those of
the Nerves, Blood-vessels, Membranes, Ten- 
dons, and Muscles; and others are destitute 
of all Sense, as those of the Bones; some so 
very small as not to be easily perceiv'd; and 
others, on the contrary, so big as to be plain- 
ly seen; but most of them, when examin'd 
with a Microscope, appear to be composed of 
still smaller Fibres, and may be divided still 
into less; and indeed this Division proceeds so
far, that at last they become so incredibly 
small as to exceed all the Power of Imagina- 
tion; but Reason will shew us, there must be
an End. 
Now these simple Fibres do first constitute 
the Substance of the Bones, Cartilages, Liga- 
ments,
‡ Elastick or springy, signifies a Force in Bodies, by which
they endeavour to restore themselves to the Posture from
whence they were displace by any external Force. 

16 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
ments, Membranes, Nerves, Veins, Arteries, 
and Muscles. And again, by the various 
Texture and different Combinations of some, 
or all these Parts, the more compound Organs 
are fram'd, such as the Lungs, Stomach, 
Liver, Legs, and Arms, the Sum of all which
makes the human Body. 
CHAP. II. 
The principal and inevitable Causes of OLD 
AGE, and of our DISSOLUTION.
I Shall shew in this Chapter, with what has 
been already said, such things as alter our 
Bodies, and whatever makes them grow old, 
and brings us at last to our Dissolution. 
The Causes, then, of the Alterations of 
our Bodies, and likewise of our Dissolution, 
are either external or internal: These last are
born with us, and always attend us, even to 
the Grave: The others come from without 
us, surround us on all Sides, and, tho' we can
guard ourselves against some of them, there is
however an infinite Number of them which 
we cannot escape. 
The internal Causes which come into the 
World with us, are two, viz. the Contrariety
of the Principles of which our Bodies are 
composed, and the Animal Actions or Func- 
tions of the human Body
The

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 17
The Principles of our Composition are, 
1. A Water or Phlegm. 2. A volatile Fluid 
or Spirit. 3. A saline Matter or Salt, both 
Volatile and fix'd. 4. A fat Substance or Oil, 
otherwise call'd Sulphur. 5. An Earth, or 
Caput Mortuum. But the Spirit being only 
a Mixture of Phlegm and Salt, these five may
be properly reduced to four †. 
The Animal Actions, or Functions, which 
happen in all the Parts of human Bodies, by 
the Motion of the Humours in their distinct
Vessels, and the Effects they have upon one 
another, are distinguish'd into vital, natural, 
and animal, Those call'd vital so much con- 
duce to preserve Life, that they are of abso- 
lute Necessity; as the muscular Action of the 
Heart, the secretory Action of the Brain, that 
of the Lungs, and of the Blood and Spirits, 
with their Motions thro' their proper Organs; 
and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves. 
The Natural Actions are those that so alter 
our Aliment, as that it may become Part of 
our Substance; and such are the Actions of the
Bowels, vessels and Humours that receive, re-
tain, move, change, mix, separate, apply, 
discharge, and consume. 
The Animal Functions are such as, when 
perform'd, the Understanding conceives Ideas 
of Things, united to that Action; or the Will 
is either concern'd in exciting such Actions, 
or mov'd by them when excited: Such are 
B the
† Boerhaave Institutiones Medic. de Natura & Part. Sang.  


18 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing, Per- 
ception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, 
Reason, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary 
Motions. From hence we may know, that 
Health is such a Disposition of the Body as fits 
it to exercise all its Actions, and that all the
Effects of those Actions respect determinate 
Motions, and the Change made in our Ali- 
ment. 
The Principles of our Composition just now 
mention'd, being duly distributed thro' the 
whole Body, may be call'd an Equilibrium 
between the Solids and Fluids of a Person in 
Health; or, which is the same thing, an exact 
Ballance of Contrarieties, making a kind of 
Agreement or Harmony amongst themselves, 
in order to mix and unite; wherein each of 
them quits something of its Sovereignty, and 
reduces itself to a Mediocrity, which is call'd 
Temperament. But this Alliance is of short 
Duration; for the Body, by the Actions inse- 
parable from Life, suffers such a gradual 
Change, that the smallest Vessels become stiff, 
and the minutest grow together into Fibres, 
unfit for the Humours to pass thro' them; the 
greater Vessels become hard and narrow, and 
all are contracted, and, being compress'd, grow 
together, which occasions Dryness, and Un- 
aptness to Motion in old People. By this 
means the Actions of the small Vessels are de- 
stroy'd, and the Humours stagnate and grow 
thick in them, and the Fibres adhere toge- 
ther: Thus the most subtile Parts of the 
Juices

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 19
Juices are wanting and dissipated, Digestion is
weaken'd, Nourishment is deficient, and the 
grosser Humours only circulate thro' the large 
vessels slowly, and  support Life alone, with- 
out the Animal Action till at last these 
Changes bring on Death from Old Age, the 
Successor of perfect Health; which happens 
sooner if the Actions of Life have been violent, 
but later if moderate; and this is one of the 
Causes of our Dissolution: It is inevitable, 
and we bring it with us from the Womb, 
But, in order to make this more evidently ap- 
pear, it is necessary to consider the following 
Particulars concerning Nutrition, Growth, 
and Decrease of the Body. 
As there is an Aptness to Motion requisite 
in the Vessels, Muscles, and Fibres of the hu- 
man Body, in order to enable it to make due 
Use of all the Motions of its Humours, Ves- 
sels, and Muscles, without Detriment there- 
unto; So, for this Purpose, the Parts which 
are coherent, should be partly free from Con- 
tact, and partly remain in it, which cannot 
be, unless the greater Parts consist of the 
smallest, thinest, and shortest ones; nor will 
that happen again, unless a renovating Hu- 
mour passes continually betwixt them, to hin- 
der their growing together; therefore, as the 
whole human Body is flexile, and subject to 
Changes from Contact, of Necessity it ought 
to consist of small Vessels.
But this very Motion, being continually 
and violently perform'd, in Vessels of such a 
B2 tender

20 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
tender Fabrick, the least Parts must of neces- 
sity be thereby worn off from the Solids; and 
thence, being mix'd with the Liquids, be 
mov'd round by the perpetual Circulation of
the Juices, as well as by the Action of the 
Muscles, and exhale. In the mean while the 
Fluids, being ground small by the continual 
Attrition of their Parts, and drove to the Ves- 
sels thro' which they exhale or transpire, are 
quite excluded out of the Body; and thus the 
Animal Body, from the very Condition of its 
Frame, is soon destroy'd. 
Therefore it is requisite, for the due Con- 
tinuance of Life, that as much Matter, and 
of the same Kind, should be continually re- 
stored to the Humours and solid Parts, as was 
lost by those Motions, which Action is call'd 
Nutrition. 
The Humours that are worn away, are 
again supplied, as to their Matter, by Air, 
Meat, and Drink. As to the Qualities re- 
quir'd, those are produced by the concurring 
Assistance of all the Parts of the Body, and by
means thereof applied to the Vessels where 
they are wanting. 
Every solid Part of the Body is composed of 
other less Solids, very like the greater; the 
Vessels, of smaller Vessels; and the Bones, of
smaller Bones. And this manner of Structure 
proceeds beyond all the Limits of Sense, as- 
sisted by what Art soever, as Malpighi, 
Ruysche, Leeuwenhoek, and Hook, have de- 
monstrated by accurate Experiments: yet this
Divi-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 21
Division scarce seems to proceed ad Infinitum, 
as appears by the Nature of the Nourishment 
and Fluids themselves. 
Moreover Microscopes, Injections, the least 
imaginable Wounds, Vesicatories, Comsump-
tions, and the withering away of the Body, 
inform us, that our solid Parts, in respect of
the Humours, are but very small; for it is al- 
most demonstrable, from the Consideration of 
the Rise and Generation of the Vessels, and 
the Resolution of the greater Canals into their 
least constituent Parts, that the whole solid
Mass of our Bodies is almost wholly compos'd 
of mere Nerves, consider'd in their primary
Composition and Communication. 
And truly all that Mass, except an incre- 
dible small Particle, at first grew together, 
from those which were before the most sub- 
tile Liquid of the Colliquamentum or Fluid, 
almost all which goes to compound the Body, 
being much like the nervous Fluid, according
to Malpighi; for the White of an Egg does 
not nourish, before it has been long brooded
upon, till that thick clammy Humour has 
pass'd thro' a vast many Degrees of Fluidity, 
by several Changes, to fit it at last for the 
Purposes requir'd; but even then, when it 
comes to supply the Embryo, it is very thick, 
and must be much more subtiliz'd in its Ves- 
sels and Bowels. 
The first tender solid Parts being made out 
of this most subtile Humour, which are then 
almost fluid, they pass again thro' a vast many
B3 diffe-

22 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
different Degrees of Solidity, before they ar- 
rive at the Perfection of solid Parts; as ap- 
pears from Malpighi's Experiments upon 
Eggs, and the incomparable Ruysche's upon 
Embryos and Fœtuses, and even from the differ 
rent Parts themselves. 
Hence it appears, that the solid Parts, in 
their first Origin, differ only from Liquids, 
whence they spring, by Rest, Cohesion, and 
their Figure; therefore such a Particle, while 
fluid, will become Part of Solid, to be form'd 
thereof, as soon as the Power that causes it to 
cohere with the other solid Parts, shall act, by
what means soever it be. 
This Cohesion of the Parts is best pro- 
duc'd in a Fibre already form'd, if there be 
a sufficient Place in the Solid, left by that 
Particle which was lost, and at the same time, 
another Particle in the Fluid of equal Bulk, 
Figure and Nature, and endow'd with suffi- 
cient Force to thrust it in, or fit it to that
Place. 
Therefore there will be a true Nutrition 
of the Solids in the smallest Vessels, which, 
by Addition, become greater; that is, in the 
Nerves or Vessels like them; which, since it 
cannot be perform'd without a Liquid be 
brought into those Vessels, seems very plain, 
that the most immediate matter of Nourish- 
ment is the most subtle, nervous Fluid, or 
some other like it; and therefore appears to
be perform'd and produc'd from the last and 
most refin'd Actions of Nature; and that it 
may


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 23  
may be well perform'd, all the preceding 
Actions ought to be perfect. 
The Chyle therefore may fill the greater 
Vessels, but cannot recruit the solid Parts;
but being attenuated, alter'd, rarefied, mix'd, 
and made fit to pass thro' some Vessels, by 
the force of Respiration in the Lungs, it is 
render'd the more proper indeed, but still not
fit Matter for this Purpose. 
However, by the repeated Effects of the 
Lungs, Bowels, and Vessels, it becomes a 
white, tenacious, forming Liquor, almost
Without Smell, thickens by the Heat of the 
Fire, or in Spirit of Wine; being then like 
the White of an Egg, and called Serum; and 
therefore is such a Fluid, as has all the requi- 
sites which ought to be in that Humour; 
whereof Experience teaches us, that all the 
solid Parts of an animal Body are constantly 
made or form'd, only by Incubation, or a 
constant Heat and Digestion. Thus then the 
Matter is brought a Degree nearer, but yet 
is not quite fit for Nutrition; much less is 
red Blood, which never enters the smallest
Vessels. 
But as the Heat of Incubation, so the 
action of the Viscera and Vessels, occasions 
divers Changes on this circulating Serum, till 
Part of it is turn'd into such a subtle Humour 
as is here requir'd; and being consumed, it 
is again supplied, and this at length becomes 
the true and immediate Matter of Nourish- 
ment; which, how simple it is, how insipid, 
B4 or

24 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
or without Smell, will appear from the Fire, 
Putrefaction, or the Art of Chymistry, for 
it leaves behind but a pure and exceedingly 
light Earth. 
Nor can this Matter be prepar'd, without 
undergoing the foremention'd Alterations: 
But the same Humour may, by too often and 
repeated turns of Circulation, grow sharper, 
or lose its Liquidity, and become thick; be- 
ing drain'd of its oily Parts, and render'd pun- 
gent by Salts, and then it is unfit for this 
Use; which may, perhaps, be partly dis- 
charg'd by Perspiration, and partly by Urine. 
Therefore there is a necessity of new Chyle, 
and consequently of Aliment, to supply this 
Nourishment. As to the Manner how, and 
the Cause why Nutrition is perform'd, that 
will appear from what follows. 
The Humour being forced forwards, thro' 
a full, conical, cylindrical, elastic, or stiff 
and rigid Tube, if it flows from a broad Part 
into an narrower, or with a Resistance against
its Motion, it will endeavour to extend the 
Sides of the Canal, according to its longer 
Axis; and this happens all over the Body, ex- 
cept in the Veins, and the Cavity of the Re- 
ceptacles. And by this Force, tho' small, be- 
ing constant and repeated, the Vessels will by
Degrees, and insensibly be lengthen'd; and 
by growing longer, will become thinner, and 
soon be more and more attenuated: By this 
means, the utmost Extremities of the Vessels, 
which are smallest, will be less coherent, and 
next

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 25
next to a State of Dissolution. And thus 
the Extremities of the Vessels will be ren- 
der'd much finer and weaker, and little 
different from Fluids. 
Whilst therefore this Motion perpetually 
proceeds in a continual Propulsion, it must
necessarily happen, that the last Particles of 
these very fine Tubes being worn away, will 
again put on the form of a Liquid, in what- 
ever Part of the Body they remain; and then 
the smallest Parts, which compose the finest
Fibres, by their Union will be so mutually 
separated from one another, as to leave small 
Intervals in those Places where they before 
grew together; and this will constantly hap- 
pen every where, as long as Life continues, 
especially where it is strong, and the Action
of the Body violent. 
But the same Humour wherein all this 
happens, contains a great many such Particles 
as were separated or lost, which it carries, ap- 
plies, and adapts to these very Intervals, with 
that very Force with which it endeavours to 
break the Vessels, and then fixes, fits and 
fastens those intercepted Particles in these 
Cavities; so that they grow together as the 
former: for the Matter, the Preparation and 
Application thereof, with the Force of Mo- 
tion, will always continue the same; and 
therefore what is lost will be easily restor'd, 
and so the solid Parts remain as they were, 
that is, they are nourish'd and preserv'd con- 
tinually,
And 

26 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
And this shews the wonderful Wisdom of 
our Maker, that the same Cause which in- 
evitably destroys, shall also at the same time 
repair the Structure of our Frame; and that 
too according to this Rule, that the greater 
the Loss, the larger shall be the Supply; and 
that those Parts, which by the Actions of the 
Body are first worn, are always the first sup- 
plied. 
It is plain then, that the more tender those
Vessels are, the newer, and the nearer to 
the moving Cause, so much the easier they 
are stretch'd, distended, destroy'd, and re- 
new'd; and consequently, the nearer our 
Bodies are to their Origin, the more they 
grow and increase. 
Whilst this Action goes forwards, the 
greater Vessels are more distended by the Li- 
quor they contain; but at the same time, the 
small Vessels, which being interwoven, com- 
pose the Membranes of the greater, are more 
compressed, dried, and grow nearer together 
which adds Strength to the Fibres, at the 
Expence of vascular Property; so that in 
time our Vessels turn to hard Ligaments, and
the Humours become firm and solid. By a 
Concurrence of these Causes, the Solids be- 
come strong, hard, stiff and thick. There- 
fore the vast number of Vessels that are in an 
Embryo, gradually decrease as Age comes on; 
and for the same reason, on the other hand, 
as Weakness decreases, Strength increases; 
and so in young Persons, the Quantity and 
Vigour

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 27   
Vigour of the Humours exceed that of the 
Solids; but in old People, the Solids in 
Quantity and Strength exceed the Liquids; 
from whence plainly appears the manner of 
the Increase, Decrease, and Death of the 
Body, merely from old Age, with the Causes
and different Appearances thereof. 
Whoever therefore considers this whole 
Account, and then compares these Accidents 
which happen to the Body therewith, will 
clearly perceive this to be the State of the 
Case; for the whole Cuticle every where per- 
petually scales off, perishes, and renews again; 
the Hair, Nails, Teeth, shav'd, par'd, cut 
off or wore, grow afresh; and Parts of the 
Vessels and Bones taken away, in a short 
time return on every side; and if the Filth 
in the Extremities of the Vessels throughout
the whole Body, that is either worn off, 
or collected there by Exhalation, be view'd 
in Water with a Microscope, after being eva- 
porated or diluted, it appears to consist of
Solids and Fluids; and the same when ob- 
tain'd by Washing, Rubbing, or Abrasion, ex- 
hibit the like Appearance. 
From hence appears the Reason why the 
Fabric of our Solids is not dissolv'd by the 
liquid Contents; and why our Machine con- 
tinues so long fit for Motion; why, when 
the Nerves are by any means corrupted, the 
Part to which they lead, loses its Nourish- 
ment; why in an Embryo there are no So- 
lids, in a Fœtus few, and in very old People 
a

28 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
a vast many; so that even the Nerves, Ten- 
dons, Arteries, and Receptacles in those, first 
become cartilaginous, and then bony. 
It is therefore evident from the foregoing 
Particulars, that the two internal Causes of 
our Dissolution already mention'd, viz. The 
Contrariety of the Principles of our Fabric, 
and the animal Actions or Functions of the 
human Body, are born, grow, and are nou- 
rish'd with us, and that, gradually and in- 
evitably, they bring on Old Age, and destroy
the Body at last: nor can all the Physicians 
in the World guard us against them; for the 
great Promises made with Assurance, as to 
the Prolongation of Life for so many hun- 
dreds of Years, are vain and imaginary, be- 
ing unsupported both by Reason and Expe- 
rience: Of this Tribe are Van Helmont's 
Primum Ens, Paracelsus's Elixir Proprie- 
tatis; the Primum Ens of Animals; all 
those precious Liquors, that potable Gold, 
those Conserves of Rubies, Emeralds, Elixirs 
of Life; that fabulous Fountain, that was 
reported to make People grow young, can- 
not hinder us from Decay and Old Age. Nor 
is it likely that Life should be prolong'd even
by the best Methods in Nature, so many 
Years as the Chymists pretend by their Art; 
but their own Experience is a Proof of their 
Temerity and Inability herein. 
There are other Causes of our Dissolution, 
which are external, and likewise inevitable; 
for as our Bodies consist of three dissipable 
Sub-


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 29  
Substances, one of which is subtile and airy, 
the second liquid, and the third solid; so we 
must necessarily have something that pro- 
ceeds from without us, in order to repair 
them, otherwise our Lives could subsist but a 
few Minutes. 
That which repairs our Substance is called 
Aliment, and is threefold. Air, Meat, and 
Drink; the first nourishes the spirituous Sub- 
stance, the second the Liquid, and the 
third the solid Substance. But this triple 
Aliment, tho' never so pure, has yet always 
something unlike our Nature, which can 
never be assimilated to either our Juices or 
Solids, which must then become excremen- 
titious; and where an Excrement is genera- 
ted, and being detain'd in the Body, con- 
sequently alters it, and causes an infinite
number of Diseases; by which means our 
Bodies are variously chang'd and affected, 
and often finally brought to an intire Disso- 
lution. 
I pass over all the other external Causes, 
such as too violent Exercises, an unactive and
sedentary Life, long and continual Watch- 
ings, those Passions of the Mind which are 
most capable of making us grow old, as Fear 
and Sadness, &c. I say nothing likewise of all 
accidental Causes, such as Wounds, Fractures, 
&c. I have only endeavour'd to demonstrate, 
that the living Creature must necessarily grow 
old and decay; that he nourishes the natural 
Causes of Death in himself, and that there 
I are


30 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
are likewise some external ones, which are 
inevitable. 
I thought proper to insert in this Place a 
Chronological and Historical succinct Account 
of long Lives, from before the Flood down 
to the present time; with a true and short 
Character or Elogy of each, faithfully col- 
lected from the Records of both sacred and 
profane History; which perhaps, may prove 
useful as well as entertaining to the Reader. 
Herein he will observe, not only the Ne- 
cessity of Temperance towards attaining long 
Life, but that the length of Life by the running
on of Ages, or Succession of Generations, has 
not in the least abated, from the Time of 
Moses to our present Days; for the Term of 
Man's Life has stood near about fourscore Years 
of Age ever since, as will appear by the 
following Account. 
CHAP. III. 
An Historical Account of Long Lives from 
the Creation to the present Lime. 
BEFORE the Flood, Men liv'd many 
hundred Years, as the Holy Scriptures 
relate; yet none of the Fathers attained to 
the Age of a thousand. Neither was this 
length of Life peculiar only to Grace, or 
I the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 31  
the holy Line; for there are eleven Genera- 
tions of the Fathers reckon'd to the Flood,
but of the Sons of Adam by Cain, only 
eight Generations; so that the Posterity of 
Cain seems to have liv'd longer. But this 
length of Life, immediately after the Flood was 
reduc'd to one half, in the Post-nati only:
for Noah, who was born before the Flood, 
equalled the Age of his Ancestors; Shem 
also lived six hundred Years. Afterwards, 
three Generations from the Flood being ran, 
the length of Man's Life was brought down 
to a fourth Part of the Primitive Age, that 
is, to about two hundred Years. 
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five 
Years, a Man of great Virtue, and was ab- 
stemious, and prosperous in all things. Isaac
arriv'd at the Age of an hundred and eighty 
Years; a chaste Man, who enjoy'd more 
Quietness than his Father. But Jacob, after 
many Crosses, and a numerous Progeny, liv'd 
a hundred and forty-seven Years; a patient, 
gentle, religious, and wise Man. Ishmael, a 
military Man, liv'd an hundred thirty-seven 
Years, and always observ'd Temperance to 
be his only Guide for obtaining Health and 
long Life. 
Sarah, whose Years only amongst her Sex 
are recorded, died in the hundred and twenty- 
seventh Year of her Age: she was a beautiful 
and virtuous Woman, a singular good Mo- 
ther and Wife, and yet no less famous for 
the Liberty from, than Obsequiousness towards  
her

32 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
her Husband. Joseph also, a prudent and 
politick Man, passing his Youth in Affliction, 
afterwards advanc'd to the Height of Ho- 
nour and Prosperity, liv'd an hundred and 
ten Years; he was sober, chaste, and reli- 
gious Man. But his Brother Levi, who was 
older than him, attain'd to an hundred thirty- 
seven Years; he was a Man that was revenge- 
ful, and impatient of Reproach or Affront, 
yet always temperate and moderate in his eat- 
ing and drinking. His Son liv'd almost to the
same Age, as also his Grand-child, the Fa- 
ther of Aaron and Moses: they were both 
strictly moderate in their way of living. 
Moses liv'd an hundred and twenty Years; 
a stout and virtuous Man, yet the meekest 
upon Earth, but of very slow Speech; how- 
ever he pronounces, that the Life of Man is 
but seventy Years; but if of a more than or- 
dinary Strength, eighty; which seems gene- 
rally to be the Term of Man's Life even at 
this Day. 
Aaron, who was three years elder, died 
the same Year with his Brother Moses: he 
was a Man of a readier Speech, and of a more 
easy Disposition, but less constant; he was 
religious, abstemious, and moderate in his 
Actions of Life. Phineas, Grand-child of 
Aaron, out of extraordinary Grace, may be 
collected to have liv'd three hundred years;
if so be that the War of the Israelites against
the Tribe of Benjamin, in which Expedi- 
tion Phineas was consulted, was perform'd in 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 33 
the same order of Time in which the Hi- 
story has ranked it; he was a Man of most
eminent Zeal and Virtue. 
Joshua, a martial Man, and an excellent 
Commander, and always victorious; yet he 
was religiously sober and moderate, and lived
to be an hundred and twenty Years of Age. 
Caleb, who observ'd Temperance, was his 
Contemporary, and seems to have lived as 
long as he did. Ehud the Judge, liv'd to 
the Age of an hundred Years; for after the 
Victory over the Moabites, the Holy Land 
remain'd under his Government eighty Years; 
he was a bold and an undaunted Man, and one 
that in a great measure neglected his own 
Life for the good of his People, and was like- 
wise a strict Observer of Temperance. 
Job liv'd after the Restauration of his 
Happiness, an hundred and forty Years, being 
before his Afflictions of such an Age, as to 
have Sons at Man's Estate; he was a politick
Man, eloquent and charitable, and the true 
Emblem of Patience. 
Eli the Priest liv'd ninety-eight Years; a 
corpulent Man, and of a calm Disposition, 
and indulgent to his Children. But Elizeus
the Prophet seems to have died when he 
was above an hundred Years old; for he is 
found to have liv'd after the Assumption of
Elias sixty Years, and at the time of that 
Assumption he was of those Years, that the 
Boys mock'd him, by the Name of Bald- 
head; he was a severe and vehement Man 
C against


34 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
against Vice and Luxury, and a Contemner 
of Riches. Isaiah the Prophet seems to 
have liv'd to the Age of an hundred Years;
for he is found to have exercised the Function 
of a Prophet seventy Years together, the 
Years both of his beginning to prophecy, and 
of his Death, being uncertain; he was a Man 
of admirable Eloquence, and an evangelical 
Prophet, full of the Promises of God, and 
of the New Testament, as a Bottle with 
sweet Wine. 
Tobias the elder, liv'd an hundred fifty- 
eight Years; the younger, an hundred and 
twenty-seven; both of them were merciful 
Men, and great Alms-givers; they were like- 
wise abstemious and moderate in all their 
Actions. 
It seems, that in the Time of the Capti- 
vity, many of the Jews who return'd out 
of Babylon, liv'd to great Ages, seeing they
could remember both the Temples, there be- 
ing no less than seventy Years between them, 
and wept for the Unlikeness of them. Many 
Ages after that, in the Time of our Saviour, 
liv'd old Simeon, to the Age of ninety Years; 
a devout Man, and full both of Hope and 
Expectation. Also Anna the Prophetess, 
who could not possibly be less than an hun- 
dred Years old; for she had been seven Years 
a Wife, about eighty-four years a Widow, 
besides the Years of her Virginity, and the 
Time that she liv'd after her Prophecy of
our

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 35
our Saviour; she was a holy Woman, and 
passed her Days in Fasting and Prayer. 
As to the long Lives mention'd in Heathen 
Authors, they have no Certainty in them, 
both for the intermixture of Fables, to which 
these kind of Relations were very liable, and 
for their false Calculation of Years. And we 
find nothing of Moment of the Egyptians in 
those Works that are extant, concerning the 
length of Lives; for their Kings, who reign'd 
longest, did not exceed fifty, or live and fifty 
Years, which is no great Matter, since many 
at this Day live to those Years. 
But the Arcadian Kings are fabulously re- 
ported to have liv'd very long; and, as that 
Country was Mountainous, full of Flocks of 
Sheep, and produc'd most wholsome Food; 
but when Fable is the only Guide, there can
be no Certainty. 
Numa King of the Romans liv'd to the 
Age of eighty; he was a peaceable and con- 
templative Man, and much devoted to Reli- 
gion. Marcus Valerius Corvinus compleated 
an hundred Years, there being forty-six Years
between his first and sixth Consulship; he 
was a Man full of Courage, affable, popu- 
lar, and always fortunate and sober, observ- 
ing constantly a cool and moderate Diet. 
Solon of Athens, the Law-giver, and one 
of the seven Wise Men, liv'd above eighty 
Years; a Man of high Courage, popular, and 
well affected to his Country; he was also 
C2 learned,


36 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
learned, given to Pleasures, but always mo- 
derate in his Diet. Epimenides the Cretan is 
reported to have lived an hundred and fifty- 
seven Years: this Matter is mix'd with a 
prodigious odd Relation; for he is said to 
have slept fifty-seven of those Years in a Cave. 
Half an Age after, Xenophanes the Colopho- 
nian lived an hundred and two Years, or ra- 
ther more; for at the Age of twenty five 
Years he left his Country, seventy-seven com- 
plete Years he travel'd, and after that return'd: 
A Man no less wandering in Mind than in 
Body; for his Name was chang'd, for the 
Madness of his Opinions, from Xenophanes, to
Xenomanes; a Man no doubt of a vast Conceit, 
and that minded nothing but Infinitums. 
Pindarus, the Theban, lived to eighty 
Years. He was a Poet of an high Fancy, 
singular in his Conceits, and a great Adorer 
of the Gods, but a sober Man. Sophocles, 
the Athenian, attain'd to the like Age; a lofty
tragick Poet, given over wholly to Writing, 
and neglectful of his own Family. 
Artaxerxes, King of Persia, lived ninety- 
four Years; a Man of dull Wit, averse from 
the Dispatch of Business, desirous of Glory, 
but rather of Ease. At the same time lived 
Agesilaus, King of Sparta, to eighty-four 
Years of Age; a moderate Prince, as being a 
Philosopher amongst Kings; but notwith- 
standing ambitious, and a Warrior, and no 
less stout in War than in Business. 
Gorgias,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 37
Gorgias, the Sicilian, was an hundred and 
eight Years old. He was a Rhetorician, and 
a great Boaster of his Faculty, one that 
taught Youth for Profit. He had seen many 
Countries; and, a little before his Death, 
said, that he had done nothing worthy of 
Blame since he was an old Man. Protagoras 
of Abdera lived ninety Years: This Man was 
likewise a Rhetorician; but profess'd not to 
teach so much the liberal Arts, as the Art of
governing Commonwealths and States; not- 
withstanding he was no less a Wanderer in 
the World than Gorgias already mention'd. 
Isocrates, the Athenian, lived ninety-eight 
Years: He was likewise a Rhetorician, but 
an exceeding modest Man, one that shun'd 
the publick Light, and open'd his School only
in his own House. Democritus, of Abdera, 
reach'd to an hundred and nine Years: He 
was a great Philosopher, and, if ever any Man 
amongst the Grecians, a true Naturalist; a 
Surveyor of many Countries, but much more 
of Nature. He was also a diligent Searcher 
into Experiments, and, as Aristotle objected 
against him, one that follow'd Similitudes 
more than the Laws of Arguments. 
Diogenes, the Sinopean, lived ninety Years, 
was a Man that used Liberty towards others, 
but Tyranny over himself; he lived upon a 
coarse Diet, and was a Pattern of Patience. 
Zeno, of Citium, wanted but two Years of 
an hundred; a Man of high Mind, and a 
Contemner of other Men's Opinions. He 
C3 was

38 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
was also a Man of great Acuteness, but yet 
not troublesome, chusing rather to take Men's 
Minds than to enforce them; the like where- 
of happen'd afterwards in Seneca. 
Plato, the Athenian; attain'd to eighty-one 
Years; a Man of great Courage, but yet a 
Lover of Ease. He was in his Notions sub- 
lime and full of Fancy, neat and delicate in 
his Life, rather calm than merry, and one 
that carried a kind of Majesty in his Counte- 
nance, and a strict Observer of Moderation in 
his Diet. 
Theophrastus, the Ethesian, lived eighty 
Years; a Man of sweet Eloquence, and sweet 
also for the Variety of his Subjects, and who
selected the pleasant Things of Philosophy, 
and let the bitter and harsh go. Carneades of 
Cyrene, many Years after, attain'd to the like 
Age; a Man of fluent Eloquence, and one 
who, by the acceptable and pleasant Variety 
of his Knowledge, delighted himself and 
others. But Orbilius, who lived in Cicero's 
time, no Philosopher nor Rhetorician, but a 
Grammarian, lived to the Age of an hundred 
Years. He was first a Soldier, then a School- 
master; a Man by Nature tart both in his 
Tongue and Pen, and severe towards his 
Scholars. 
Quintus Fabius Maximus was Augur sixty- 
three Years, which shew'd him to be above 
eighty Years of Age at his Death; tho' it is 
true, that in the Augurship Nobility was 
more respected than Age. He was a wise 
Man,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 39
Man, and a great Deliberator, and in all his 
Proceedings moderate, not without Affability, 
severe. Masinissa, King of Numidia, lived 
ninety Years; and, being more than eighty-
five, got a Son. He was a daring Man, and 
trusting to his Fortune, who in his youthful 
Days had tasted of her Inconstancy; but in 
his succeeding Age was constantly happy. 
But Marcus Porcius Cato lived above ninety
Years of Age; a Man of an Iron Body and 
Mind. He had a bitter Tongue, and loved 
to cherish Factions. He was given to Hus- 
bandry, and was, to himself and his Family, 
a Physician. 
Terentia, Cicero's Wife, lived an hundred 
and three Years. She was a Woman afflicted 
with many Crosses; first with the Banish- 
ment of her Husband, then with the Diffe- 
rence betwixt them, and lastly with his last
fatal Misfortune. She was also very often 
troubled with the Gout. 
Luccica, the Actress, must needs exceed an 
hundred by many Years; for it is said, that 
she acted a whole hundred Years upon the 
Stage; at first perhaps representing the Person
some young Girl, and at last of some old 
decrepit Woman. 
Galeria Copiola, a Player also and Dancer, 
was brought upon the Stage very young, but 
in what Year of her Age is not known; and 
ninety-nine Years after, at the Dedication of
the Theatre by Pompey the Great, she was 
shewn upon the Stage again; not now for 
C4 an

40 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
an Actress, but for a Wonder; neither was 
this all, for after that she was shewn a third 
time upon the Stage in the Solemnities ce- 
lebrated for the Health and Life of Augustus. 
She is reckon'd to have liv'd sober and vir- 
tuous from her Youth. 
There was another Actress somewhat in- 
ferior in Age, but much superior in Dignity, 
who liv'd very near ninety Years, I mean 
Livia Julia Augusta, Wife of Augustus 
Cæsar, and Mother to Tiberius (for if Au- 
gustus's Life was a Play, as he himself would
have it, as when upon his Death-bed he 
charg'd his Friends that they would give him 
a Plaudite after he was dead) certainly this 
Lady was an excellent Actress, who could 
carry it so well with her Husband, by a dis- 
sembled Obedience, and with her Son, by 
Power and Authority; she was an affable 
Woman, and yet of a Motherly Carriage, 
pragmatical, and upholding her Power. But 
Junia, the Wife of Caius Cassius, Sister to
Marcus Brutus, was also ninety Years old; 
for she surviv'd the Philippic Battle sixty- 
four Years. She was a magnanimous Woman, 
in her great Wealth happy; in the Calamity 
of her Husband and near Relations, and in 
a long- Widowhood, unhappy; yet much ho- 
nour'd by all, for her Sobriety and Virtue. 
The Year of our Lord seventy-six, hap- 
pening in the time of Vespasian, is memora- 
ble, in which we shall find as it were a Ca- 
lendar of long Lives; for that Year there 
was

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 41  
was a Taxing; (now Taxing is the most au- 
thentic and truest Informer as to People's
Ages) and in that Part of Italy which lies 
between the Apennine Mountains and the 
River Po, there were found an hundred and 
twenty-four Persons, that each of them ei- 
ther equalled or exceeded an hundred Years of
Age; namely, fifty-four Persons of an hun- 
dred Years each; fifty-seven Persons of an 
hundred and ten; two only of an hundred 
and twenty-five; four Men of an hundred 
and thirty; four more of an hundred and 
thirty-five or seven; three Men of an hun- 
dred and forty. 
Besides these, Parma in particular pro- 
duc'd five, whereof three fulfilled an hun- 
dred and twenty years each, and two an 
hundred and thirty. Bruxels produc'd one 
of an hundred and twenty-five years old, 
Placentia one aged an hundred and thirty- 
two. Faventia one Woman, aged an hun- 
dred and thirty-two. A certain Town situ- 
ated in the Hills about Placentia, then called
Velleiacium, afforded ten, whereof fix ful- 
filled an hundred and ten Years each, and 
four an hundred and twenty Years of Age 
each. Lastly, Rimino one of an hundred 
and fifty years, whose Name was Marcus 
Aponius. And it will not be amiss to ac- 
quaint the Reader here, that all upon this 
foregoing List observ'd Temperance and So-
briety during most part of their Lives. 
As 

42 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
As there are but few found among all the 
Grecian, Roman, Gallick and German Em- 
perors to our Days, that have lived to the 
Age of fourscore Years, and none that ex- 
ceeded ninety; I will not therefore trouble 
the Reader with any farther Account of 
them, but proceed to the Princes of the 
Church. 
St. John, an Apostle of our Saviour, and 
the beloved Disciple, liv'd ninety-three Years; 
he was rightly denoted under the Emblem of 
the Eagle, for his piercing Sight into the 
Divinity, and was as a Seraphim among the 
Apostles, in respect of his burning Love. 
St. Luke the Evangelist compleated eighty- 
four Years; an eloquent Man, and a Tra- 
veller; St. Paul's inseparable Companion, 
and a Physician. Simeon the Son of Cleo- 
phas, called the Brother of our Lord, and 
Bishop of Hierusalem, liv'd an hundred and 
twenty Years, tho' he was cut off at last by
Martyrdom; he was a stout Man, constant, 
and full of good Works. 
Dionysius Areopagita, Contemporary to 
St. Paul the Apostle, liv'd ninety Years; he 
was called the Bird of Heaven for his sub- 
lime Divinity, and was famous as well for 
his holy Life, as for his Meditations. Aquila 
and Priscilla, first St. Paul's Hosts, and 
afterwards his Fellow-helpers, lived together 
in happy Wedlock at least to an hundred 
Years of Age apiece; for they were both 
alive under Pope Xystus the first; a noble
Pair,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 43  
Pair, and prone to all kinds of Charity, who
among their other Comforts, which doubt- 
less were great to the first Founders of the
Church, had this added, to enjoy each other 
so long in a happy married State. 
St. Paul the Hermit lived an hundred 
and thirteen Years; his Diet was so slender 
and strict, that it was thought almost im- 
possible to support human Nature therewith; 
he passed his Days in a Cave, only in Medi- 
tations and Soliloquies, yet he was not illi- 
terate, or an Idiot, but learned. St. Hie- 
rome, by the Consent of most Writers, ex- 
ceeded ninety Years of Age; a Man power- 
ful in his Pen, and of a manly Eloquence, 
variously learn'd, both in the Languages and 
Sciences, also a Traveller, and lived strictly to- 
wards his old Age in a private State, and not 
dignified; he had high Spirits, and shined far 
out of Obscurity. 
St. Anthony the Monk lived to the Age of 
an hundred and five Years; his Life was au- 
stere and mortifying, notwithstanding he 
lived in a kind of glorious Solitude, and ex- 
ercised a Command, having his Monks under 
him, and besides many Christians and Phi- 
losophers came to visit him as a living Image
worthy of their Veneration, on account of 
his holy Life and pious Works. 
St. Athanasius exceeded the Term of eighty 
Years; he was a Man of invincible Constancy,
commanding Fame, and not yielding to the 
Frowns of Fortune; he was free towards the 
Great,

44 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Great, gracious and acceptable to the People, 
wise and couragious in delivering himself from 
Oppositions, and always leading an abstemi- 
ous and religious Life. 
The Popes of Rome are in number to this 
Day 246; but of so great a number, few 
only have attain'd to the Age of 80, or up- 
wards, as I could find recorded in History: 
yet the full Age of twenty-eight of the first
Popes was intercepted by the Prerogative and
Crown of Martyrdom. 
John, the twenty-third Pope of Rome, ful- 
filled the ninetieth Year of his Age; he was
abstemious and frugal, an Enemy to Luxury, 
and acquir'd a good deal of Riches and Trea- 
sure for the Support of the Church; he al- 
ter'd many Things much for the better. 
Gregory the twelfth, created in Schism, 
and not fully acknowledg'd Pope, died ninety
Years old; of him, in respect of his short 
Papacy, there is nothing found in History to
make a Judgment upon, but that he liv'd 
strictly virtuous and abstemious. 
Paul the third lived eighty-one Years; he 
was a temperate Man, and of profound Wis- 
dom and Learning, greatly skill'd in Astro- 
nomy, and always careful of his own Health. 
Paul the fourth liv'd eighty-three Years; 
he was a Man naturally tart, and somewhat 
severe, and a little prone to Anger; his Speech 
was eloquent and ready, his Diet was always 
lean, thin, and cool, by which means he 
kept

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 45  
kept his Passions under Subjection, and ar- 
riv'd at that good old Age with all his Senses. 
Gregory the thirteenth liv'd to the same 
Age, and was absolutely a good and great 
Man, found in Mind and Body, politick, tem- 
perate, religious, full of good Works, and a 
great Alms-giver. 
The following Instances are more promis- 
cuous in their Order, and more doubtful as 
to the Certainty of their Ages. King Argan- 
thonius, who reigned at Cadiz in Spain, live
an hundred and forty Years, according to 
some Historians, of which he reigned eighty 
Years. Cyniras King of Cyprus, living in the 
Island then called the happy and pleasant 
Island, is affirmed to have lived an hundred 
and sixty Years. Two Latin Kings in Italy, 
the Father and Son, are reported to have 
lived, the one eight hundred Years, and the 
other six hundred: But this Account is de- 
liver'd unto us by certain Philologists, who
tho' otherwise credulous enough, yet they 
themselves have suspected the Veracity of this 
matter. Others record some Arcadian Kings 
to have lived three hundred Years; the Coun- 
try no doubt is a Place apt for long Life, but 
the Relation is justly suspected to be fabu- 
lous. 
One Dando, in Illyrium, is reported to 
have lived without the Inconveniency of 
Old-Age, to five hundred Years; but the ju- 
dicious Reader will make the necessary Al- 
lowance.  
Hippocrates


46 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Hippocrates of Côs, the Prince of Physici-
ans, lived an hundred and four Years, or ac- 
cording to some, an hundred and nine: He 
was skill'd in the several Particulars requisite 
for the Knowledge of Physick, and provided 
with numerous Observations of his own, 
composed out of the whole a System of 
Physick, and was the first that truly deserved
the Title of Physician; He joined Learning 
and Wisdom together, was most conver- 
sant in Experience and Observation, and did 
not hunt after Words, but severed the very 
Nerves of Science, and so taught them. 
Enphrtœnor the Grammarian grew old in 
his School, and taught when he was an hun- 
dred Years old. Seneca, according to some 
accounts, lived to an hundred and fourteen
Years of Age. But Joannes de Temporibus, 
among all the Men of our latter Ages, 
according to common Fame and vulgar Opi- 
nion, lived the longest, even to a Miracle; 
his Age being reputed to be above three 
hundred Years: He was a Native of France, 
and followed the Wars under Charles the 
Great. 
Among the Venetians there have been 
found a great many long Livers, and those 
of the more eminent fort of the People;
but the most memorable is that of Cornaro, 
who being in his Youth a sickly Person, be- 
gan first to eat and drink by measure, to a 
certain Weight, to recover his Health there- 
by; this Cure, by Use, turn'd into a Diet, 
that

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 47 
that Diet into an extraordinary long Life, 
even of an hundred Years and better, with- 
out any Decay in his Senses, and a constant 
Enjoyment of his Health. 
In latter times, William Postell, a French 
Man, lived to an hundred and twenty Years; 
he was a Man somewhat crazy, and of a 
Fancy not altogether sound, a great Travel- 
ler and Mathematician. 
Henry Jenkins, a Yorkshire Man, attain'd 
the Age of one hundred sixty-nine Years; he
was twelve Years old when the Battle of 
Flowden-field was fought, which happen'd 
upon the 9th of September, in the Year of 
our Lord 1513, and departed this Life the 
8th of December 1670, at Ellerton upon 
Swale, This Henry Jenkins was a poor 
Man, could neither Read nor Write; there 
were also four or five in the same Parish 
where he then liv'd, that were reputed all of
them to be an hundred Years old, or within 
two or three Years of it, and they all affirm'd 
he was an elderly Man ever since they knew 
him, for he was born in another Parish, and 
before any Registers were in Churches, as it 
is thought. In the last Century of his Life 
be was a Fisherman, and used to wade in 
the Streams. His Diet was coarse and sower, 
but towards the latter End of his Days, he 
begg'd up and down. He hath sworn in 
Chancery and other Courts to above 140 
Years Memory, and was often at the Affixes 
at York, whither he generally went on foot. 
It

48 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
It was likewise affirm'd by some of the 
Country Gentlemen, that he frequently swam
in the Rivers after he was past the Age of
an hundred years. * 
Thomas Parr was a poor Countryman of 
Shropshire, whence he was brought up to 
London by Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 
and died at the Age of 152 Years, 9 Months, 
after surviving nine Princes. Nov. 6, 1635, 
being open'd after his Death by Dr. Harvey,
his Body was found still very fleshy, his 
Breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, and
they served to confirm the Report of his 
having undergone public Censures for his In- 
continency. At the Age of one hundred and 
twenty he married a Widow, who owned he 
acted the Part of a Man, and that for twelve
Years after. He had a large Breast, Lungs 
not fungous, but sticking to his Ribs, and 
distended with much Blood; his Face livid, 
having had a Difficulty of breathing a little
before his Death, and a lasting Warmth in 
his Arm-pits and Breast after it. His Heart 
was great, thick, fibrous and fat; the Blood 
in the Heart blackish and diluted, the Carti- 
lages of the Sternum not more boney than 
in others, but flexible and soft; his Viscera 
were sound and strong, especially his Stomach; 
and it was observ'd of him, that he used to 
eat often both by Day and by Night, taking 
up with old Cheese, Milk, coarse Bread, 
* An Abstract of Dr. Tancred Robinson's Letter, giving an 
Account of Jenkins's Age. 
Small-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 49 
Small-beer, and Whey; and which is more 
remarkable, he eat at Midnight a little be- 
fore he died. All his inward Parts appear'd 
so sound, that if he had not chang'd his Diet 
and Air, he might in all Probability have 
liv'd a great while longer. His Brain was en- 
tire and firm; and tho' he had not the Use 
of his Sight, or of his Memory, several Years 
before he died, yet he had his Hearing and 
Apprehension very well, and was able, to the
130th Year of his Age, to do any Husband- 
man's Work, even Threshing of Corn. * 
Francisco Lupatsoli, a Venetian Consul at 
Smyrna, lived 113 Years, and had by his 
Wives and other Women, fifty Children; he
drank nothing but Water and Milk, some- 
times a small Sherbet; his usual Diet was 
small Soups of Flesh, sometimes of Bread, 
Water and Figs. He saw at that Age with- 
out Spectacles, and could bear well; he 
drank neither Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, nor 
any fermented Liquor, as Mr. Ray, then En- 
glish Consul there, relates; and farther adds, 
that he saw a Tooth cut in his upper Gum 
that great Age. 
In the Life of the great Aurengzebe, one 
of the late Moguls, we have such a nota- 
ble and shining Example of Abstemiousness, 
Continency, and many other Virtues, as may 
well recommend this Royal Infidel to the 
Admiration and Imitation of all Christian 
Princes upon Earth; wherefore I make no 
D Doubt
* Phil. Trans. No. 44. p. 886.  


50 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part I.
Doubt but the following Account of that 
Emperor will no less instruct, than entertain 
the Reader. 
There was no Part then of this great 
Prince's Time, which he did not assign to 
some useful Purpose; for early in the Morn- 
ing, before break of Day, he bathed, and spent 
some Hours at his Devotions; then having 
eaten a little Rice or Sweat-meats, he shut 
himself up with his Secretaries, and before 
Noon he gave publick Audience to his Sub- 
jects; after which he pray'd again, and then 
went to Dinner, his Table being furnish'd 
only with Rice, Herbs, Fruits, or Sweet- 
meats, for neither Flesh or Fish, or any strong
Liquors were ever brought before him. In 
the Afternoon he gave Audience again, which 
being over, he prayed a third and a fourth 
time; and the remainder of the Day, till 
two Hours after it was dark, he spent in the 
private Concerns of his own Family; then 
he supp'd, and slept afterwards only three 
Hours, after which, it is said, he read the Al- 
coran, and pray'd all the remaining Part of 
the Night. And here we have a remarkable 
Instance of what vast Advantage an abste- 
mious regular Course of Life is towards pro- 
curing Health and long Life, and rendering 
a Prince always fit for the most important 
and intricate Affairs; for this Emperor, not- 
withstanding he was an indefatigable Hearer 
of Causes, and constantly directed the Af- 
fairs of so vast an Empire, and conquer'd se- 
veral

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 51
veral large Kingdoms, lived without con- 
tracting any Distemper; neither his Judg- 
ment, Memory, or other Senses, were at all 
impair'd when he was ninety Years of Age. 
Aurengzebe, it is true, had several hundreds 
of fine blooming Girls in his Haram, or 
Seraglio, as all Eastern Princes have; but 
these seem to have been kept only for State, 
or in Conformity with the Custom of the 
Country; for it is related of him, that even 
in his Youth, having singled out a young 
Lady in the Haram to lie with him one 
Night, and she had dressed and prepar'd 
herself to receive her Royal Lover, the King
coming into the Apartment at the appointed 
Hour, instead of going to Bed, fell to read- 
ing, and between his Books and his Devoti- 
ons he passed the whole Night, without ever 
taking Notice of the expecting Lady. 
When the Eunuch came the next Morn- 
ing to acquaint the Emperor that his Bath 
was ready, which is ever used by the Maho-
metans when they have been with their Wo- 
men, the Lady answer'd, There was no need 
of a Bath, for the Sultan, had not broke 
Wind, intimating that he had been at his 
Prayers; for if a Mahometan has the Mis- 
fortune to break Wind at his Prayers, then 
he immediately bathes, looking upon himself 
to be too much polluted to go on with his 
Devotions, till he has washed off the Impu- 
rity contracted by such an Accident. 
D2 From

52 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
From this short Account of the Life of a 
Mahometan Prince, we may learn an exceeding 
useful Lesson, worthy of being imitated by 
all Christian Princes and others, who value 
Health and long Life; for notwithstanding 
he was depriv'd of the Light of Gospel 
Truth, yet so strong were his Notions of a 
Supreme Being, that he most constantly and, 
fervently adored that Being, by which means 
he led a Life religiously abstemious, conquer'd 
and regulated the Surges of the rest of his Pas- 
sions, amidst so many Allurements and Temp- 
tations of numbers of fine blooming Ladies, 
vast Riches, Power and Grandeur, which he 
always had at his Will without Controul, and 
like a true Christian Hero, preferr'd the Ado- 
ration of his Creator, and the Preservation of
his Health, to all the Pleasures which his 
vast Dominions and great Power could afford 
him. 
Richard Lloyd, born within two Miles of 
Montgomery, was aged 133 Years within two 
Months; he was a strong, strait, and upright
Man, wanted no Teeth, had no grey Hairs, 
could hear well, and read without Glasses; 
he was fleshy, and full cheek'd, and the 
Calves of his Legs not wasted or shrunk, 
could talk well, and was of a tall Stature: 
his Food was Bread, Cheese, and Butter, for 
the most Part, and his Drink Whey, But- 
ter-milk, or Water, and nothing else; but 
being persuaded by a neighbouring Gentle- 
woman to eat Flesh Meat, and drink Malt
Liquors,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 53
Liquors, soon fell off and died. He was a 
poor labouring Man in Husbandry, and the 
Truth of his great Age has been confirm'd 
to Dr. Baynard and others, by a produc'd 
Copy of the Register. 
John Bailes of Northampton, was 128 
Years and a half old when Dr. Baynard ex- 
amin'd him: he was a short broad-breasted 
Man; his Food was for the most part brown 
Bread and Cheese; he cared not much for 
Flesh Meats; he was never drunk in his Life, 
and his Drink was Water, Small-beer, and 
Milk. He told the Dr. that he had buried 
the whole Town of Northampton, except 
three or four, twenty times over; strong 
Drink, says the old Man, kills them all. He 
was a sensible old Fellow, and had no Dis- 
ease but Blindness, which Misfortune he did
not experience above four or five Years be- 
fore his Death. 
Mr. Martin, in his Description of the 
Western Islands of Scotland, says, that Do- 
nald Roy, who lived in the Island of Sand, 
where they have neither Physic nor Physi- 
cian, died lately in the hundredth Year of his
Age, and was able to travel and manage his 
Affairs till about two Years before his Death. 
He makes mention of one that died some 
Years before, aged one hundred and forty; 
and of another, who, they said, died at one 
hundred and eighty Years of Age. 
Mrs. Hudson, Mother to Mr. George Hud- 
son, a Sollicitor in Chancery, lived an hundred 
D3 and

54 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
and five Years, and then died of an acute 
Disease, by catching Cold: her Eyes were so
very good, that she could see to thread a 
Needle at that great Age; her Food was 
little or nothing else all her Life-time, but
Bread and Milk. 
Mr. Johnston, the Father of Dr. Johnston 
of Warwick, who was always a strong and 
lusty Man, died at an hundred and eleven 
Years: his usual Drink was Milk and Ale, 
or Milk and Small-beer mix'd together. 
An Inscription on the Tomb-stone of Margaret
Scot, who died at Dalkeith, twelve Miles 
from Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1738. 
Stop, Passenger, until my Life you've read, 
The Living may get Knowledge by the Dead. 
Five times five Years I liv'd a Virgin Life, 
Ten times five Years I was a virtuous Wife;
Ten times five Years I liv'd a Widow chaste,
Now, tir'd of this mortal Life, I rest. 
I, from my Cradle to my Grave, have seen 
Eight mighty Kings of Scotland, and a Queen. 
Four times five Years the Common-wealth I saw. 
Ten times the Subjects rose against the Law. 
Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 
And twice the Cloak was humbl'd by the Gown. 
An End of Stuart's Race I saw: no more, 
I saw my Country fold for English Ore. 
Such Desolations in my Time have been, 
I have an End of all Perfection seen.
2 Margaret

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 55
Margaret Paten, born at Locknugh near 
Paisly in Scotland, died in St. Margaret's 
Workhouse Westminster, June 26, 1739, at 
the Age of one hundred thirty-eight Years, 
and enjoy'd the Use of all her Senses to her 
very last Hours. She lived the most Part of 
her Life upon Oat-bread, Butter, Milk, and 
Roots, especially in her own Country; but 
here in England she indulg'd herself with 
the moderate Use of Flesh, and fermented
Liquors. 
January 1743, died at Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, one Bright, aged one hundred and five, 
who had his Memory and Eye-sight to the 
last, insomuch that he could discern to pick
a Pin off the Ground. He was called the se- 
cond old Parr, and was born and always
liv'd in the same County; his Food was, 
for the most part, coarse Bread, Cheese, 
Milk, Butter, Small-Beer, of Water. 
February 1743, died in St. Luke's Work- 
house, London, Mrs. Agnes Milbourn, one 
hundred and six Years of Age; she had 29 
Sons and a Daughter by one Husband, 20 of 
whom she has had following her to Church 
at a time for several Years, but out-lived all 
her Children and Grand-children, save only 
one Grand-son. She religiously observ'd 
Temperance, and always avoided the Use of 
Spirituous Liquors as Poison; her usual Drink 
was Milk, Ale, or Small-Beer. 
From these Instances it is manifest, that 
Milk is of a salubrious, safe and sweet Nou- 
D4 rishment,

56 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
rishment, as also by the many Nations be- 
fore and since the Flood, that eat much of 
it, and lived to great Ages, of which num- 
berless Examples may be found both in sa- 
cred and profane History, to confirm the 
Doctrine of Temperance and a cool Diet, 
as absolutely necessary to the Prolongation of
Life; but, as Dr. Baynard rightly observes, if 
an Angel from Heaven should come down 
and preach it, one Bottle of Burgundy, or a 
full flowing Bowl of Bunchy would be of 
more Force with this Claret-stew'd d Gene- 
ration, than ten Ton of Arguments to 
the contrary, tho' never so demonstrable and
divine. 
By what has been said thro' the Course of 
this Chapter, we see, that from the Time of
Moses to our Days, the Term of Man's Life 
has stood much about the same Standard of 
Years, (a few Lives here and there being ex- 
cepted:) so it evidently appears, that the Con- 
tinuation and Number of Successions of Ge- 
nerations, make nothing to the Length or 
Shortness of Life, tho' a great many People 
imagine the contrary. It is certain however, 
that there are Times in all Countries, where- 
in People are longer or shorter liv'd: longer, 
for the most part, when the Times are barba- 
rous, and Men fare less deliciously, and are
more given to bodily Exercises: shorter, 
when the Times are more civiliz'd, and
People abandon themselves to Luxury and 
Ease. Therefore from what has been hither-
to


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 57
to advanc'd, it is likewise evident to a De- 
monstration, that Temperance, moderate Ex-
ercise, and a cool Diet, are absolutely requi- 
site for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, as I shall shew more at large in the 
Sequel. 
The same, no doubt, happens in other li- 
ving Creatures; for neither Horses, Oxen, 
nor Sheep, are abridg'd of their usual Ages, 
even at this Day; and therefore the great 
Abridger of Age was certainly the Deluge; 
and perhaps some notable Accidents, such as 
Inundations, universal Droughts, Earthquakes, 
or the like, may produce the same Effect again. 
And the like Reason may be given, in re- 
gard of the Dimension and Stature of hu- 
man Bodies; for they are not lessen'd by the 
Succession of Generations, notwithstanding 
what Virgil (led by the vulgar Opinion) di- 
vin'd, that After-ages would bring forth less 
Bodies than those in his time; whereupon he 
says, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa Se- 
pulchris; that is, After-ages shall admire the
great Bones dug out of ancient Sepulchers. 
But tho' it is not denied that there were, some 
time before the Flood, Men of Gigantic Stature, 
(the Bones of such as, for certain, have been 
found in ancient Sepulchers and Caves in 
Sicily, and else where:) yet for these last three 
thousand Years, a Time whereof we have 
authentic Records, no such have been produc'd 
in those Places, nor indeed any where else; 
for which Reason it is evident, that they are 
very

58 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
very much mistaken, who are wholly carried 
away with an Opinion, that (by Succession 
of Ages) there is a continual Decay, as well 
in the Term of Man's Life, as in the Stature 
and Strength of his Body; and that all things
decline, and change to the worse. 
Therefore, as the Succession of Generations 
contributes little or nothing, either to the
Length or Brevity of Life, as appears from 
what has been said already, yet the imme- 
diate Condition of the Parents, without doubt, 
conduces very much to it; for some are be- 
gotten of old Men, some of young Men, 
some of middle-aged Men; again, some are 
begotten of healthful Fathers, and well dis- 
posed, others of diseased and languishing ones; 
again, some of Fathers after Repletion, or 
when they are drunk; others after Sleeping, 
or in the Morning; others again, after along
Intermission of Venus, some upon the Act
repeated; again, some in the Fervency of the 
Father's Love; others after the cooling of it, 
as happens in long-married People. 
The same things ought to be consider'd on 
the Part of the Mother; to which we must 
add her Condition during her Pregnancy, as 
concerning her Health, her Diet, and man- 
ner of living; the time of her bearing in the 
Womb, as to the seventh, eighth, ninth, or 
tenth Month. But to reduce all these things 
to a Rule, how far they concern long Life, 
is difficult; for those things which we often 
conceive to be the best fall out to the con- 
trary;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 59
trary; as for Instance, that Alacrity in a 
Generation that begets lusty and lively Chil- 
dren, will be less profitable to long Life, be- 
cause of the Acrimony and inflaming of the 
Spirits, which soon dissipate, and leave the 
Body dry and wither'd: so that the best Rule
is to use Moderation in all things, conjugal 
Love rather than an unlawful one; the best 
time for Generation being in the Morning, 
or after a due Concoction of our Aliments, 
and after Sleep, but never when the Body is 
in a languishing or sickly or too much 
fatigued. 
A GUIDE


(60)
A GUIDE to HEALTH, &c.
Part II.
INTRODUCTION.
AS the principal and inevitable Causes of
Old Age, and finally of our Dissolu- 
tion, are three, viz.* the Contrariety of the
Principles of our Composition, the Actions in- 
separable from Life, called Animal Actions, 
and the Excrements, which are unavoidably 
engender'd by Aliment in our Bodies; there- 
fore we must (if we would preserve the 
Body in a good State, and guard ourselves 
against the too quick Approaches of old Age) 
dispose these three things in such a manner, 
that the Harmony and Union of our Princi- 
ples, which are called Temperament, be well 
Supported, that the Spirits which are dissi- 
pated every Moment be repair'd, and the 
Excrements retain'd in the Body be expell'd. 
All this may be easily obtain' by the 
means of a good Regimen, without the Assi- 
stance of any Medicine: and this Regimen com- 
prehends many things, which are all reduc'd 
* See the Explication of these three things at large, in 
Chap. II. Part. I. 

INTRODUCTION. 61 
to fix general Heads. They are called, by
the Physicians, Nonnaturals; because, if we 
manage them with Dexterity, and make 
proper use of them, they preserve Health, 
and may be called Naturals; but if they 
are abused, or fall short, or exceed a just
Proportion in the least, they cause Distem- 
pers, and, in that Sense, may be said to 
be against Nature. These Nonnaturals are,
Air, Meat and Drink, Sleeping and Watch-
ing, Motion and Rest, Retention and Excre- 
tion, and the Passions of the Mind; of which
I shall now discourse in order. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the Nature of AIR.
IN order to account for the different Ef- 
fects, and Influence of Air upon Hu- 
man Bodies, in the following Discourse, it 
is necessary to premise in this Place, that Air, 
(according to its Nature, and the Idea we 
can form of it) is, that thin and invisible 
Fluid, in constant Motion, wherein we 
breathe and move, encompassing the Earth 
and Seas on every side, and containing the 
Vapours, Clouds, and other Meteors; the 
whole Body of which is called the * Atmo- 
sphere;
* From the Greek Words, 'AΓμòs a Vapour, and εφûeα., 
a sphere; so that Atmosphere in English, is a round Body of
Vapours; and such is the Air surrounding the Earth, as 
being constantly repleat with Vapours exhaled by the Rays 
Of the Sun. 

62 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sphere; and that it is the principal Instrument 
of Nature in all its Operations: for no Ve- 
getable, Animal, Terrestrial, or Aquatic can 
be produced, live, or grow without it: So that 
Air is the chief Instrument in the Genera- 
tion, Resolution, Accretion and Corruption 
of all terrestrial Bodies; for it is certainly
true, that it enters into every Composition, 
more or less, of all Fluids and Solids, all 
which produce great Quantities of Air. 
The lower Parts of the Air, in which all 
Animals live and breathe, are impregnated 
with an infinite Variety of the Effluvia, Steams, 
and Particles of terrestrial, aqueous, metal- 
line, vegetable and animal Substances, which, 
by Attrition, become so small and light as to 
float in it. Hence it is evident, that the Air 
must be differently impregnated in different 
Places of the Surface of the Earth, which 
produce considerable Alterations in its State, 
whereby human Bodies are differently affect- 
ed, as will plainly appear heareafter. 
Water being an Ingredient of the Air, is 
continually exhaled, and as continually de- 
scends; for when the Air is overcharged with 
it, it returns again, and falls upon the Surface of
the Earth, in Rain, Hail, Snow or Dew; but 
the Dew falls chiefly when the Sun is down. 
Earth, when calcined, flies off into the 
Air; and the Ashes of Vulcanos or burning 
Mountains: Likewise Salts of all kinds are 
ingredients of Air; for even fixed fossil Salts
may

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 63 
may be digested, and thereby rendered volatile, 
and evaporate into the Air. There are besides 
Particles of all Minerals whatever in the Air;
even Gold, the most compact and heaviest of 
them, can be evaporated and exhaled into Air, 
as will be made appear in the latter End of 
this Chapter. 
The Smoke and Fumes which are raised 
by natural or artificial Fires, all vanish into
the Air. The Steams of fermenting Liquors, 
and the poisonous Fumes of Mines, impreg- 
nated with sulphureous Exhalations, and 
combin'd with different Salts, or Metalline 
Particles, which are stinking, oily, and in- 
flammable, evaporate into the Air, and make 
up part of its Contents; which must neces- 
sarily so alter its Constitution, as to render 
it not only insalubrious, but even pernicious 
to every Animal that breathes in it. 
The watery Exhalations, with the fragrant 
and volatile Spirit of all Vegetables, being 
Ingredients of the Air, contribute very much 
towards its Salubrity, or Insalubrity, as well 
when growing, as when cut down and in a 
decaying State; for the most volatile parts of
Vegetables will evaporate into the Air, by a 
Degree of Heat much less than that of Sum- 
mer; as is evident both by Chymistry* and 
the sense of our own Smelling; for spicy 
Odours are smelt at a great Distance from 
the Countries where the Spices grow; so that 
the Quantity of vegetable Perspiration must
be very considerable in Summer-time; and 
by
* Boerhaave Chem. vol. 2. Process. I. 

64 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by the Reverend Dr. Hale's * Experiments 
we are farther convinced, that Vegetables 
of all kinds perspire Particles which float in 
the Air, and are either wholsome or destruc- 
tive to human Bodies, according to their dif- 
ferent Qualities. Hence we may infer, that 
upon the account of the Perspiration of 
Vegetables, the Summer Air must be very 
different from that of the Winter. 
Animal Perspiration is another Ingredi- 
ent of the Air, as well as the Effluvia of all 
their other Excrements, which oftentimes in- 
fect that Part of the Atmosphere, as to pro- 
duce pestilential Diseases. The Perspiration 
of a human Body, according to Mr. Hale's, ‡
Computation, is about I-50 Part of a Inch in
24 Hours all over the Surface of the Body; 
and the Quantity of the Moisture, by Respi- 
ration from the Lungs, he computes at 9792 
Grains, or I. 39, in 24 Hours; § the Surface 
of the Body he computes at 2160 square Inches, 
or 15 square Feet consequently the Surface of the
Skins of 2904 such Bodies, would cover an Acre 
of Ground, and would make an Atmosphere 
of the Steams of their own Bodies about 
71 Foot high in 34 Days, which would be- 
come Pestiferous in a Moment, if not dis-
persed by Winds.
The great Quantity of Animal Substances 
imbibed into the Air, farther appears from this, 
I that
* Hale's Veg. Stat. p. 49, 50.
‡ Veg. Stat. p. II. Exp I. 
§ Hæmast. p. 326. p. 328.


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 65
that all the Excrements of all the Carcasses 
of Animals, such as those that are burnt, 
those that are exposed later, and those that 
Are buried, in length of Time all vanish in- 
to Air at last, except a small Quantity of
Bones, which turn into Earth. From 
hence we may infer, that living in great 
and populous Cities, or in Camps, or near 
Numbers of dead Carcasses in a hot or sultry
Season, may infect that Air so far, as to 
dispose the People to putrid and malignant 
Fevers, of which we have several instances in 
History, too tedious to insert in this Place. 
And though Nature makes use of all pos- 
sible Means to preserve the Mass of this he- 
terogeneous Fluid, wherein we breathe, in a 
wholsome State; yet it must necessarily hap- 
pen, that the Air of particular Regions, Sea- 
sons and Places may differ very much in the 
Proportions of the Mixture of Ingredients 
already mentioned; so that such Air must 
affect human Bodies variously, by such Ex- 
cesses or Defects; For Air, when too moist, 
affects us with one Class of Diseases; and 
when too dry, with another. Air impreg- 
nated with the Effluvia of Animals, espe- 
cially of such as are rotting, has often pro- 
duced pestilential Diseases in that Place, as 
we find by Experience: for the Inhabitants 
of such Countries, where great Numbers 
of Men have been slain in Battle, and left 
unburied, were soon after infested with 
pestilential Distempers; as that which hap- 
E pened

66 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
pened * at Massanissa, where 80,000 Persons 
were destroyed, and at Utica, wherein 30,000 
Persons died of the Plague. That menti- 
oned by ‡ Livy, which invaded the greatest 
Part of Italy, owed its rise to the dead 
Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left 
unburied in the Field of Battle. The Plague 
mentioned by Ambrose Paree, 1562 §, was 
occasioned by Carcasses thrown into a Ditch. 
Great Quantities of dead Locusts driven into 
the Sea, by Winds, and from thence cast up in
Heaps on the Shore by the Waves, produced 
the same Effects, as Diodorus Siculus relates: 
And likewise the Steams of great Quantities 
of corrupted Vegetables have produced the 
like Effects in their Neighbourhood. The 
Steams and Effluvia of human living Crea- 
tures are extremely corruptible, as has been
observed already; and likewise the Water 
in which human Bodies wash and bathe, by 
keeping, smells cadaverous, a great part of
which evaporates into the Air.
From hence we may conclude, that it will 
be of the utmost Consequence to every one, 
to take care what kind of Air it is they sleep
and wake, breathe and live in, and are per- 
petually receiving into the most intimate 
Union with the Principles of Life; for as 
the Air being attracted, received into our 
Bodies, and mixed with our Fluids every 
Instant
* Sane. August, lib. 3. de Civit. Dei Cap. 31. 
‡ Histor. Roman. 
§ Lib. 21. de Peste. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 67
Instant of our Lives, any ill Quality abounding 
in it, so continually introduced, must in Time 
cause fatal Effects in the Animal Oeconomy. 
The first Consideration then, in Building 
of Houses and Cities, should be* to make 
them open and airy, and well perflated;
therefore we should never build upon 
high Hills, very near any great Confluence 
of Water, or in the Neighbourhood of any 
great Mines, near Beds of Minerals, or on 
marshy or mossy Foundations; but either 
in a champaign Country, or on the side of
some small Eminence, sheltered from the 
North and East Winds, or upon a light 
gravelly Soil. The best Method of finding 
out the Nature of the Soil, will be known 
from the Plants and Herbs that it produces,
and from the Nature of the Waters that spring
out of it, which ought to be sweet, clear, 
light, soft and tasteless. 
All high Hills or Mountains are damp, 
for it is common to see it rain or snow on 
Mountains, when the Valleys below are clear, 
dry, and serene. All great Hills are Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for Reservoirs of Rain- 
Water, and the Clouds are only great Fleeces 
of ratified Water floating in the Air, and 
these high Hills intercepting them, are com- 
pressed into Rain or Dew, and are con- 
stantly straining down the Chinks of the 
Mountains into the Sea and other Reser- 
voirs of Water; and Rain is allowed to be 
the Origin of Rivers and Fresh-Water 
E2 springs.


68 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Springs. Moreover, these Mountainous Places 
are always exposed to great and almost con- 
tinual Winds; and where any great Con- 
course of Water is, the Air must needs be 
always damp there, because the Sun is per- 
petually exhaling Dews and Vapours from 
these Waters. 
Dew is another Ingredient of the Air, 
which is not mere Water, but a Collection 
of the watry, oily, saline, and volatile Sub- 
stances, exhaling and transpiring from the 
Earth, and are not to be seen, as long as 
they are agitated by the Sun, but in its Ab- 
sence, and as soon as the Air cools, they 
become visible; and as the Air is a thin or 
rare Body, it cools much sooner than the 
Earth, which continues to transpire this 
Substance after Sun-set; and a great deal 
of it falls down again in the Form of Wa- 
ter, by the Cold of the Night; for it is ob- 
servable, that when there is no Wind, there 
is a Coat of this Vapour generally to be 
seen Surface of the Earth. 
Dew then, being a Composition of all 
the Substances that are exhaled from that
Tract of Earth, must of consequence be ve- 
ry different in different Tracts of Ground, 
for which Reason, according to the learned 
Boerhaave ‡, the Chymists can never agree 
about the component Parts of it; be- 
cause they make their Experiments upon 
Dows of different Places, and consequently 
of a different Nature of Ingredients; for 
in
‡ Chym. vol. I. pag. 471. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 69 
in some Places it produces such volatile and 
explosive Salts, as to break Glasses in Distil- 
lation; in others it stains the Glass like the 
Colours of the Rain-bow, which nothing can 
efface. 
In some Countries, as in Bermuda *, the 
Air being impregnated with corrosive Salts 
of different kinds, will corrode the Bricks 
and Tiles of Houses, and even rot the very
Hangings in Rooms, as has been observed 
by many. The Perspiration of metalline 
acid Salts from certain Places of the Earth, 
which, upon the account of their Gravity, 
rise only to a certain Degree of Height, are 
exceedingly offensive when taken in by the 
Breath; for they either contract the Vesicles, or 
immediately coagulate the Blood in the smaller 
Vessels, which creep along the Surfaces of 
the little Aërial Bladders of the Lungs, that 
Are in immediate Contact with the outward 
Air; and such are those arsenical Steams in 
the Grotto Del Cane near Naples, and in 
some Mines in Carniola, Campania, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
Of all the Collection of Ingredients in the 
Air, none are more pernicious to human Bo- 
dies, than Sulphurs; and also Charcoal Steams 
confined in close Places, such as Cellars and 
Caverns under-ground, will suffocate Ani- 
mals in a Moment; but when sulphureous 
Vapours abound too much, then kind Nature 
fets them on Fire by Lightning. Sulphureous 
E3 Vapours
* Boerhaave Chym. vol. I. p. 494. 

70 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Vapours likewise infect Vegetables, and ren- 
der the Grass and Herbs very pernicious to 
the Cattle that feed upon it, as Mr. Jones * 
and others relate. 
The † Observations of the Learned made 
on several Mines, give an Account, how the 
sulphureous Steams and Vapours differently 
affect and frequently destroy the Miners who
work in them; some fall into Convulsions, 
Faintings, Palsies, and apoplexies; others are 
instantly suffocated; and others again are kill'd 
by Explosion, resembling in its Nature that 
of Thunder or Gunpowder, as soon as the 
sulphureous Matter takes Fire: yet it must be 
allow'd, that Sulphur in itself, is neither un- 
wholsome nor unfriendly to the Lungs; for 
the Exhalations from Tracts of Earth abounds 
ing with Sulphur, are esteem'd wholsome in 
the open Air, such as those about the City of
Naples; but it must be observ'd, that these 
Exhalations are in the free and open Air, 
and not in too great Abundance, and in all 
Probability unmix'd with any other perni- 
cious Salts, which those in Mines must be im- 
pregnated with. 
From what has been said already, in Page 
65 and 66, it must follow, that the Air 
in great and populous Cities differs very 
much from that in the Country, and that it 
is from offensive Smells and Fumes, among 
other things, that Diseases are more fre- 
quent
* Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 101. and likewise Philos. Trans. 
abridg. vol. 2. p. 180. 
‡ Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 575. 


Ch. I. thro' the various, Stages of Life. 71
quent and more dangerous in the former than 
they are in the latter. Great Calms have often 
preceded the pestilential Constitutions of the 
Seasons; hence the close and confined Air of 
Prisons often produces mortal Diseases; and in 
Bays and Harbours,the Crews of Ships turn 
sickly, that would be healthy in the open Seas; 
and the great Mortality that is so often in 
Camps is chiefly owing to offensive Smells and 
Steams; for nothing contributes more to the 
Production of Distempers than the infected 
Air that they breathe in, occasion'd by the 
Filth which is the necessary Attendant of such 
Places; especially at Sieges, where the cor- 
rupted Particles of dead Bodies, both of Men 
and Beasts, fill the Air with an intolerable 
Stench. Besides, the Effluvia and Steams of 
Perspiration exhal'd into the Air, from the 
Bodies of Men and other Animals, must so 
charge that Air, as to encrease its Weight very
much; and at the same time the Heat of the 
Camp will weaken its Spring so considerably, 
as to render it very unfit for Respiration; for 
thereby the Blood will remain unbroken in 
the Lungs, and so dispose the People to those 
Distempers, occasion'd by a Viscidity in the 
Blood; such as malignant Fevers, Dysenteries
and Agues. 
According to the learned Boerhaave and 
others, the Eggs of Infects, and even Infects 
themselves very often are floating in the Air, 
and are so small as to be generally invisible 
by the Assistance of the best Microscopes, 
E4 which

72 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
which render the Air very unwholsome, 
and are often times the Cause of many 
grievous Diseases, being suck'd in with our 
Breath, and swallow' down with our Food; 
and the low and marshy Grounds are most
commonly subject to be infected with them; 
for there we always find great Quantities of
Flies and other Infects. Caterpillars and o- 
ther Infects, which eat up and destroy the 
Leaves of Trees and Plants, are proba- 
bly produced by the Eggs of those Infects 
floating in the Air; otherwise we cannot 
easily conceive how they can be generated in 
the Plants themselves. Historians relate, that 
there are Showers of Rain sometimes in 
Africk which affect the Inhabitants with 
Shiverings, and that there are Infects found in 
the Drops of these Showers; hence it appears 
that there are Infects in the Air, though not 
visible to the naked Eye: for it has been ob- 
serv'd, by the Help of Glasses, that in part of
a Room illuminated with the Beams of the 
Sun, Flies are seen sometimes darting like 
Hawks upon a Prey. 
Tho' the Air on or near the Surface of the 
Earth is impregnated with an infinite Num- 
ber of heterogeneous Particles, as appears evi- 
dently by what has been said already; yet the 
wise Author of the Universe has so temper'd 
this Mixture, as to render it wholsome to all 
the Animals that live and breathe in it, except
in some few accidental Cases; for doubtless 
pure Air without any such Ingredients would 
be

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 73
be very unfit for Animals and Vegetables to 
subsist in; therefore, in order to render salubri- 
ous this Element wherein we breathe, infinite 
Wisdom has so ordained, that the whole Mass 
is never overcharged with these Contents; for 
as human Creatures are unable to bear Ex- 
cesses of any kind, such as too much Heat, 
too much Dryness or Moisture, there is a con- 
tinual Circulation of Water and other Ingre- 
dients in the Air, and in mostPlaces the 
Air contains near the same Quantity of Wa- 
ter: for as the Sum of all the Force of the Sun
upon the same Surface of Land and Water, 
and the Heat of the Surface of Earth within 
the Year is very near uniform, consequently 
the Quantity of Exhalation is the same: And 
as the Air has a Power of imbibing and su- 
staining only certain Quantities of Water with
other Ingredients, and the Sum of all the 
Quantity that falls from the Air over the 
Surface of the Earth in Rain, Hail, Snow, 
and Dew, is the same; yet, by accidental 
Causes, such as Winds, the Stoppage of the 
Clouds by Tracts of Mountains, more of these 
Exhalations or Vapours may be carried and 
fall in one Place than another. 
This Water is again carried, by its natural Gra- 
vity, in Streams into the Sea, and other Reser- 
voirs of Water, and from thence again exhal'd, 
of which there is only left a sufficient Quantity 
for the Nourishment of Plants and Animals, 
the Perspiration of whose Bodies is again 
exhaled; and this Circulation is constantly 
main-

74 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
maintained and directed by the wise Order of 
Divine Providence. And all these different 
Ingredients of the Air are digested and atte- 
nuated by the Heat of the Sun, and they are 
constantly stirr'd and agitated by Winds, which
mix the Air of different Regions together. 
There are likewise Fermentations in the Air, 
which are succeeded by violent Motions and 
Explosions in Thunder and Lightning; by 
which Means the redundant sulphureous 
Steams, and other pernicious Particles are 
destroyed and consumed in those Storms. 
The particular Causes of Thunder and 
Lightning seem to be nothing else than the 
Sun exhaling moist Particles into the Air, 
these condense and gather into Clouds, and 
when these inclose a Quantity of sulphureous, 
nitrous and bituminous Exhalations, and like- 
wise Salts of various Sorts, Acids and Alka-
lies, extracted both from the Earth and Ocean, 
which being violently agitated by the Oppo- 
sition of Heat and Cold, and the Motion of 
the Air, operating upon those sulphureous and 
nitrous Particles, together with a watery Mat- 
ter, till at last they ferment and are kindled; 
then the Fire bursts open the Cloud with Ex- 
plosion in Thunder and Lightning, where the 
Passage is most easy, and the Cloud not able 
to make any farther Resistance: Sometimes 
the Opening is very wide, and stands a smali 
time, with a firey Edge about it; the Cloud 
is then dash'd with great Violence, the Air 
assisting with its Motion, and the sulphureous
Matter

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 75
Matter breaks out again in various Sounds:
the first Discharge being over, presently suc- 
ceeds a second, and this is back'd with a thirds 
fourth, fifth, &c. as long as the Store of 
combustible Matter holds out to maintain the 
Fire, till at last the Equilibrium of the Air is 
perfectly restored. 
The Effects of Lightning are wonderful; 
it being a most subtile and refin'd Matter, 
will sometimes burn a Person's Cloaths, while
his Body remains unhurt; and on the con- 
trary, it will sometimes break a Man's Bones, 
while his Cloaths and Flesh receive no 
Harm. In like manner it will sometimes 
melt or break the Blade of a Sword in the 
Scabbard, and the Scabbard remain un- 
touch'd. It has drank up Vessels of Water, 
the Cover being left untouch'd and no other 
Token remain'd. Gold, Silver, and Brass, 
have been melted, and the Bags wherein they 
were contain'd not burnt, nor even the Seal 
off Wax defac'd. Marcia, Queen of the 
Romans, was Thunder-struck when she was 
big with Child, which was killed in her 
Womb, and she receiv'd no Harm. 
The Reason of these strange and contrary 
Effects, Philosophers can but conjecture at, 
imputing it to the different Figure and Qua- 
lity of the Particles of the * Lightning, as 
2 to
* There is a fort of Stone or Mineral, which is vulgarly 
called a Thunder-bolt, and it is thought, that it falls from the 
Clouds in a Clap of Thunder, and thereby great Mischief is
done many times. But this is a vulgar Error; for the Stone 
seems to resemble more an artificial than a natural Producti- 
on,


76 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
to the Rarity and Thickness of the Fire; for 
the more subtile penetrates more easily, and 
the thicker with more Difficulty; whence 
the latter does more Harm than the former; 
and tho' it produces various and wonderful 
Effects, yet it is of such singular Use to the
Inhabitants of the Earth, that they could 
scarce subsist without it; for it clears the Air, 
destroys and consumes all the redundant and 
noxious Steams and Particles that float in it, 
breaks the Clouds, and sends down Rain up- 
on the Earth. 
* It is certain, from undoubted Experiments, 
that the Air near the Surface of the Earth 
is more or less impregnated with all those 
Heterogeneous Particles already mention'd, 
and a great many more not possible to enu- 
merate. And in truth it cannot be otherwise, 
by the known Laws of Nature; for by 
what means soever a Body becomes divided, 
till some of the Particles become less than the 
component Particles of Airy and by that 
means become lighter, they will be elevated 
into the Air, until by their * Coalescence, 
their Gravity be so much encreased, as to 
fink
on, by the Make and Figure of it; and being most common- 
ly found where Sepulchers have been, makes the Learned in- 
cline to think, that they are some Remains of Antiquity, and 
were formerly of Use in War and Arms, which was cu- 
stomary with the Ancients to bury with their Ashes. See
Rowning's Comp. System, p 146. Part II. and Philos. Trans. 
No. 313, 316, 319, 331. 
* Coalescence, is the gathering together and uniting into a 
sensible Mass, those minute Particles floating in a Fluid, which 
were not before visible in it. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 77
sink them again to the Earth. And for the 
Production of such wonderful Effects, even 
in the hardest and most solid Bodies, we need
have Recourse to no other Cause than the 
Rays of the Sun; for as it has been demon- 
strated by † Astronomical Observations, that 
Light is not above ten Minutes in passing 
from the Sun to the Earth, and as the Earth 
is at least 10,000 of its own Diameters distant
from the Sun; therefore it must run 1000 of 
these Diameters in a Minute, which is above 
100,000 Miles in a Second. So that if a 
Bullet, moving with the same Velocity with 
which it leaves the Muzzle of a Cannon, re- 
quires 25 Years to pass from the Earth to 
the Sun, as Huygens ‡ has computed it, then 
the Velocity of Light, to that of a Cannon- 
Ball, will be as 25 Years to 10 Minutes; 
therefore we may expect proportionable Ef- 
fects from such Particles, notwithstanding 
their exceeding Smallness. And we may guess 
at the Effects of the Rays of Light separate- 
ly, by what we can observe when collected in 
the Focus of a burning Glass; for no Body, 
tho' ever so hard and compact, is able to 
resist their Force: even Gold, which is un- 
alterable by any artificial Fire, may be * * vi- 
trified by the concenter'd Rays of the Sun, 
one
† Mr. Romer's Observations on the Eclipses of the Satellites 
Of Jupiter. 
‡ Huygens in his Treatise upon Light and Gravity. He was 
a celebrated Mathematician. 
** Vitrified, made or chang'd into Glass by the Force of 
Fire 

78 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
one Part of it exhaling into the Air, as 
the other is turned into Glass; and that in a 
few Seconds of Time, according to Mr. 
Blundel and others. 
Hence it appears, that the Rays of the Sun 
are not only capable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies, such small Par- 
ticles as will be render'd lighter when sepa- 
rate, than the least compounding Particle of 
Air, but also by the Celerity with which 
they will be reflected, will thereby be capa- 
ble to carry into the Air such little Collec- 
tions of Matter, as are in Fact heavier than 
the Air they mount up in, which, when the 
Force impressed becomes less than will im- 
pel them higher, they must necessarily fall 
down to the Earth again, which will vari- 
ously affect human Bodies, both in their As- 
cent and Descent, according to their different
Nature and Properties. 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of AIR. 
THE Properties of Air are, Gravity, 
Elasticity, Fluidity, and Divisbility. 
They are so called, because they constantly
remain in the whole Mass and in every part 
of it. 
The


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 79 
The Gravity of the Air was first dis- 
cover'd by Galileus, by trying to what Height
Water might be raised by pumping; and 
when he found it could not be raised higher 
than 33 feet, justly concluded, that it was 
from the Counter-ballance of the Weight of 
the Air that it was raised so high. 
The * specifick Gravity then of Air, 
when the Barometer † stands at 30 Inches, 
according to Sir Isaac Newton's Observations, 
and Dr. Halley s, is to that of Water, about 
1 to 800, and to that of Mercury as 1 
to 10,800; So that the Air we breathe 
in,
*Specifick Gravity, is the appropriate and peculiar Gravity or 
Weight which any Species of natural Bodies have, and by which 
they are plainly distinguishable from all other Bodies of diffe- 
rent Kinds, when compared with them: And it is not im- 
properly called relative Gravity, to distinguish it from absolute 
Gravity, which encreases according to the Proportion of the 
Bulk or Bigness of the Body weighed. Thus, if a Body 
weighs a Pound, one as big again will weigh two Pounds; and 
let the Bodies be of what Nature or Degree of Specifick Gra- 
vity soever, a Pound of one will be as much as a Pound of 
the other absolutely considered. Thus a Pound of Feathers is 
as heavy as a Pound of Lead; but if we consider Lead and 
Feathers relatively, the specifick Gravity of the former will be 
much greater than the later; or Lead, Bulk for Bulk, will be 
much heavier than Feathers, and Gold heavier than Lead. 
† Barometer is a Glass Tube or Instrument to measure the 
height of the Atmosphere by; it is about three Feet in Length, 
and 1/16 or 2/10 of an Inch bore, seal'd up at one End, and at 
the other End it is fill'd quite full of Quicksilver, and thus 
immersed in a small Vessel of Quicksilver, that will fink 
down in the Tube, or run out into the Vessel, till it remains 
in the Tube between 28 and 31 Inches perpendicular height; 
and this Column of Mercury in the Tube, is equal in Weight 
to a Column of Air of the same Basis, and of the Height 
of the Atmosphere, and consequently is suspended by it; 
which therefore by its rising higher or falling lower, shews 
the proportionally greater or lesser Weight or Pressure of the 
Atmosphere 

80 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in, takes up 10,800 times the Space that the 
like Quantity of Mercury would. And the 
Honourable Mr. Boyle proves by Experi- 
ments †, that the Air without any adven- 
titious Heat, may, by the Force of its own
Spring, possess 13,000 times the Space it 
does when pressed by the incumbent Atmo- 
sphere; and therefore may possess a Space 
one hundred forty-five Millions, and six hun- 
dred thousand times greater than the same 
Weight of Mercury; and that by the Ad- 
dition of Heat, it may be forced to fill a 
Space much larger. And if we consider that 
the Air we breathe in, may be compressed 
into 40 times less Space than that which it 
now fills; therefore Air may possess a Space
520,000 times greater at one time than ano- 
ther. 
The Gravity of Air counterpoises a Co- 
lumn of Mercury from 27 1/2 Inches to 30 1/2,
the Gravity of the Atmosphere varying some- 
times 1/10, which are its utmost Limits, so 
that the specifick Gravity of the Air cannot 
be exactly determined. And the Account that 
Dr. Halley gives of the Causes of the Variation
of the Gravity of the Air, seems very clear and
conclusive; for they must either proceed 
from the Air's being more or less charged 
with Quantities of ponderous Ingredients in 
one Time and Place, which, as has been said in 
the former Chapter, arc plentifully exhaled 
into
‡ Boyle's Tracts about the wonderful Rarefication of the 
Air. 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 81
into it, or by its being accumulated more in 
one Place than in another by Currents of 
Winds; thus contrary Currents of Air com- 
ing to the same Place, must accumulate the 
Air in that Place, and consequently raise the
Mercury in the Barometer; but two Currents 
of Air from the same Place, must link the 
Air in that Place, and consequently the Mer- 
cury in the Barometer. 
This is very possible in Liquids, and hap- 
pens even in the Motion of the Tides; for 
if there was a perfect Calm always, the Equi-
librium could only be charged by the greater 
or smaller Quantity of ponderous Ingredi- 
ents in the Air; in Confirmation of which 
it is discovered, that where the Winds are 
not variable, as near the Line, the Al- 
terations of the Barometer are very small; 
And these Variations of the Air's Weight 
cannot proceed from letting its ponderous In- 
gredients fall, as in great and heavy Showers: 
Tho' it is certain, that a heavy Body falling 
through a Fluid, during its Descent, does not 
press upon it, but by the Resistance which the
fluid gives to its Motion in Descent; but the 
Decrease of the Atmosphere's Weight during 
the fall of Rain, Snow, or Hail, is not pro- 
portionable to this Cause, therefore cannot be 
accounted for from it. 
As the incumbent Atmosphere is fluid and 
heavy, it presses equally upon the Surface 
of a human Body, with a Weight equal 
to a Column of Mercury, whose Basis is 
F equal

82 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
equal to the Surface of a Human Body; and 
Altitude, that of the Barometer, as in a mid- 
dle-siz'd Man, with a Weight of 32,000 
Pounds; for as it is possible for the Air to 
vary 1/10 in its Weight, so that such a human
Body must sustain a Weight of 3,200 Pounds 
Weight more at one Time than at another; 
and if the Mercury varies only one Inch in 
Height, there will be a Difference of about
1000 Pounds Weight: Such Alterations would 
affect both the Solids and Fluids of hu- 
man Bodies very much, were it not that 
the Ballance between the Air within and that 
without the Body is quickly restor'd, by the 
free Communication that is between them; 
so that these Changes are suffered without 
any sensible Inconvenience to healthful Peo- 
ple. 
This proves the ready Admission of the 
Air into the Vessels of human Bodies, and 
the Egress of aërial Particles from within the 
Body, in each Case of the Variation of the 
Weight of the external Air, from less to 
more, or from more to less; for if this Bal- 
lance between the external Air, and that 
within the Body was not kept, the Fibres 
and Fluids being elastick, in case of an In- 
crease of the Weight of the external Air,
both the Fluids and Solids would be too much 
compress'd; and in case of a Decrease of 
this Weight, they would be dilated with a 
painful Sensation, and endanger the Life of 
the Individual; for the Fall of the Mercury 
in

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 83
in the Barometer is the same with the Ex- 
suction of so much Air in the Air-pump; 
and the Rise of the Mercury the contrary. 
This Alteration happens in Vegetables and
in fermenting Liquors, as well as in Animals; 
and how these considerable Changes are made 
by Heat, Cold, or great Winds in fermenting 
Liquors, is an Observation of every one con- 
versant with them; for all these Changes 
are brought about by altering either the
Weight or Spring of the circumambient 
Air: It is for this Reason like wise, that se- 
veral People, by their Akings and Pains, can 
foretell any considerable Change of the Wea- 
ther; for their Blood being more rarefied at
the approach of wet Weather, or high 
Winds, will more forcibly press upon the 
sensible Membranes of the Body, so as to 
cause Pains that they were free from before: 
And this the rather happens, because the 
Blood hereby becomes not in the least the 
more fluid; for Froth, which is only Water 
blown into Bubbles by Air, is less fluid than 
Water itself; and the Globules of the Blood be- 
ing blown larger by the contained Air, when 
the Pressure of the external Air is removed, 
the Blood then is rendered less fluid, and 
will pass through the Capillaries with great 
Difficulty. 
A Fluid must have its Parts small, smooth, 
spherical, or approaching thereunto, and of 
equal Density, if the Fluid be homogeneal *, 
F2 accord-
* homogeneal is such Particles as are pure, entire, un- 
mixed, and altogether like one another.

84 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
according to Borelli ‡: and it is not neces- 
sary that the Parts of a Fluid should be in 
Motion, because it is neither apparent that 
the Parts of all Fluids are so, nor that the 
Parts of some solid Bodies are not so; there- 
fore, the Blood in this rarefied State is rather 
less, than more fluid, in which Condition it 
will remain, whenever the Gravity of the 
Air is lessen'd, or its Spring weakened, by 
any Cause whatever. 
There is no Liquor that can be blown up 
into Bubbles, but what is somewhat viscid, and
the more tenacious the Parts of any Liquids 
are, the fitter it is for this Use; for the Bubbles 
will be both larger and more lasting; for 
Example, a Mixture of Soap and Water may 
be blown into Spheres or Bubbles above six 
Inches in Diameter; and human Blood con- 
sists of Parts like what is in such a Mix- 
ture; for there are watry, oily, and saline 
Particles in the Blood, as is evident to our 
Senses: And that the Blood is blown into 
such little Spherulœ beyond dispute, is what 
may be observed with a Microscope in the 
Tail of a Fish; for the Globules of Blood 
being too large to pass through the smallest
Arteries, they change their spherical* Fi- 
gure to a spheroidal † one; and when they 
come into a wider Channel, they recover 
their former Figure again. Now as it is the 
Property
‡ Borelli de motibus à gravitate factis, Præpos. p. 142. 
* Spherical, round like a Ball.
† Spheroidal, an oblong Sphere or Ball. 


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 85
Property of an Elastick Body alone, that 
when its Figure is changed, to recover it again;
and nothing being Elastick but Air, or at 
least, what contains Air in it; it is a 
plain Reason that the Globules of the Blood 
must contain Air in them. 
From what has been said, it appears, that 
whenever the Blood is too viscid, so that the 
Force of Cohesion be not greater than that by
which the Air contained in the Blood endea- 
vours to expand itself, in such a Case the 
Person will be more sensibly affected by the 
Alteration of Weather; from hence better 
Indications may be taken both for the Cure 
and Prevention of those Diseases that pro- 
ceed from a Viscidity in the Blood, than from
any other Source whatever. 
Human Species can live in Air of very dif- 
ferent Gravity; for the Air in the same 
Place may differ 1/10 in Weight, the Variation 
of the Mercury in the Barometer being so 
much; but what is still more extraordinary, 
human Creatures can live in Airs, where the 
difference of the Weight is double; for Exam- 
ple, in the Bottom of deep Mines, where the 
Mercury stands in the Barometer at 32 Inches, 
and at the Top of the highest Mountains, 
supposing 'em to be 3 Miles high, the Mercury 
then mud stand at a little above sixteen 
inches. 
Notwithstanding human Creatures can sus- 
tain such a Difference of Weight or Pressure 
of Air, as (in the common Variation of Gra- 
F3 vity

86 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vity in the same Place) makes the Difference 
of Pressure upon a Person of a middle Size 
3600 Pounds Weight, and in the Difference 
of Height in the Bottoms of Mines, and at 
the Tops of the highest Mountains the Dif- 
ference of 18000 Weight; which Difference 
of Pressure or Weight must produce great 
Alterations in the bending or stretching of the 
Fibres, and in dilating the Fluids of a Human 
Body: For in the case of a greater Weight, 
the Fibres will be more strongly braced, and
the Fluids will be rendered more compact; 
and, as has been observed already, were there 
not a free Communication between the outward 
Air, and that within the Animal Fluids, these 
Alterations would be insupportable; for the 
Animal would be, in such a Case, as in an 
Air-pump with the Exsuction of half the 
Air; in which Case the Blood would boil 
up and expand itself to a very great Degree, 
by having so much of the Pressure of the 
outward Air taken off. 
And it seems very reasonable, that in di- 
minishing the Force of the Pressure of 
the outward Air upon human Bodies, the 
Fibres thereby will be rendered more un- 
braced, and consequently must create a 
Weakness in Muscular Motion; which is the 
Reason, in a great Measure, that People 
breathe shorter and with more Difficulty 
than usual, in going up to the Tops of high 
Hills and Mountains; for the Air in ascend- 
ing is a great deal lighter than at the Bot- 
2 tom,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 87 
tom, and by the Diminution of the Pressure 
of the Air upon the Muscles, less Exercise 
puts People out of Breath; and likewise the 
Over-ballance of the Air contained in the 
Cavity of the Breast, may help to produce 
this Effect But then perhaps it will be said, 
that the Inhabitants of Mountains are not 
weaker nor less active than those of lower 
Situations: In answer to which it must be 
observed, that the Excess of Coldness of the 
Air on the Tops of Mountains above that 
of the low Countries, counter-ballance the less 
Weight of the Air, and braces the Fibres 
more strongly: Another Reason is, that such 
as live in a rarer or lighter Air, as on high
Mountains, are accustomed to the Exercise 
of a greater muscular Strength; as in the 
Case of Birds performing their Motions in a 
thinner Fluid, must always use a greater 
muscular Strength, which, though Nature 
has accustomed them to the Use of this Ele- 
ment, must strengthen their Fibres; for 
which Reason tame Birds cannot fly so well 
as wild ones. 
The Alterations of the Pressure of the 
Air in its Gravity and Elasticity, must pro- 
duce proportional vibrating Motions, both in
the Solids and Fluids of human Bodies; and 
when these Variations are frequent and ex- 
treme, such violent Motions of the Fluids 
and Solids must cause great Changes in hu- 
man Bodies; for which there was no Ne- 
cessity of having recourse to any occult or 
F4 hidden

88 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hidden Qualities in the Air, as a great ma- 
ny have imagined; and though the Air does 
not much hurt the Animal Fibres, by the 
Softness of its Contact; yet the alternate 
bracing and unbracing of the Fibres strongly, 
may produce these Changes; and such Al- 
terations are not only producible by the Va- 
riations of the Air's Gravity and Elasticity, 
but likewise by its Qualities, such as Heat, 
Cold, Moisture and Dryness, which will be 
the Subject of the next Chapter. 
* Elasticity is another Property of the 
Air, which is a Force equal to its Gravity; 
for, as the Honourable Boyle and others have
proved by Experiments, the smallest Bubble 
of Air by its Elasticity or Spring can bal- 
ance, resist, and equiponderate the whole 
Atmosphere of equal Density, as far as it is
exposed thereunto; for otherwise it would 
be more compressed than in Fact it is; and 
by these two Qualities of Gravity and E- 
lasticity, and the Alterations of them, the 
Air produces great Effects in living Creatures; 
for by these, Respiration is performed, and 
the Equilibrium or Ballance is kept between
the outward Air and that contain'd in the 
Vessels of the Body. 
True
* Elasticity or Springiness, which most Bodies have more 
or less, is a Power in a Body to return to its first Place and 
Condition, as a Stick which is forcibly bent; and the Air 
has it in a very remarkable manner, which being compressed, 
it endeavours with a very great Force to restore itself to its 
former State.

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 89  
True Air never loses its Elasticity, as 
Steel, Wood and other Bodies do; yet it exerts
it only when it is collected into a Mass;  
which is confirmed by the Air-Gun; for 
Mons. De Roberval of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, having let his Air-Gun remain 
charged for the Space of 16 Years, found on 
discharging it, that the Air's Elastick Force 
was not at all abated, but produced the same 
Effect as at first *. By this Elastick Force 
the Air insinuates itself into the Spaces of 
Liquors not sufficiently filled with it already; 
there it remains divided in its minutest Par- 
ticles, and as it were in a fixed State, till it is
expanded by Heat, or the incumbent Pres- 
sure is taken off, and then it is collected in- 
to greater Masses, and exerts its Elasticity 
in Proportion to the Diminution of the in- 
cumbent Pressure. 
The Elasticity of the Air has been suffi- 
ciently demonstrated by various Experiments 
of the Air-pump, and otherwise: One very 
plain is this; an empty Bladder, the Neck of 
which being tied round fast, that no Air 
could either get in or out, and being put into
the Receiver of an Air-pump, and the ex- 
ternal Air therein exhausted, the small mat- 
ter of inclosed Air in the Bladder, will, by 
its own proper Spring or Elasticity, gradual- 
ly expand itself, and at last will so extend 
the Bladder as to burst it: Thus also the Air 
compressed in a Wind-Gun, will, by its Elas- 
tick
* Hist. de l'Academ. Roy. 1695. p. 368. 

90 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tick Force (being discharged) drive a Ball 
through a Board at several Yards Distance, 
in the same manner as with Gun-powder. 
The Solids and Fluids of Animals contain 
more Air in them in Proportion, than any 
other Substances; and Animal Solids contain 
more Air than Fluids; and they contain a 
greater Proportion of Air than any other watery 
Fluid: For example, Blood contains 1/27 Part 
of its Weight in Air, and 33 times its Bulk; 
whereas 54 Inches of Well-water yield only 
1 Inch of Air; but Spaw and Pyrmont Wa- 
ters yield double the Quantity of Air, to 
that of common Water; and therefore 
the Activity of Steel and Mineral Waters is 
owing to some aërial Particles in them; 
for when these are evaporated, the Waters 
become insipid, and without any Virtue, by 
the Quantity of Air lost, which the Blood 
and other Fluids of Animals contain, as has
been often demonstrated by Experiments of 
the Air-pump; for they will expand them- 
selves in an exhausted Receiver to a great 
Degree, in the same Manner as in the Ex- 
periment of the Bladder just now mention'd. 
Hence the Alteration of the Weight and Spring, 
or elastick Force of the Air, which dilates 
and expands proportionably the Liquors, with
which the external Air communicates, must
produce sensible Effects in animal Fluids; 
for as Air is a principal Instrument in the 
Animal Oeconomy, and consequently a prin- 
cipal Ingredient in the Composition of all 
animal

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 91
animal Substances, it must in a particular man- 
ner affect animal Bodies, and by its Changes 
differently influence all their Operations. 
Fluidity is a Property of Air, which can- 
not be destroy'd or congealed like Water or 
other Fluids, by any Power of Art or Na- 
ture hitherto known: and this Property of 
Fluids arises from the exceeding Tenuity or 
Smallness of the constituent Particles of such
Bodies, and their Disposition to Motion, 
from the Sphericity or Roundness, and Lubri- 
city or smooth Slipperiness of their Figures, 
whereby they can easily slide over one ano- 
ther's Surfaces all manner of Ways, and can 
touch but in few Points; so that Particles 
thus modified, must always produce a fluid
Body or Substance, as Water, Fire, &c. No 
Coagulation, Fermentation, or Condensation 
of any Mixtures where Air resides, have 
ever destroy'd its Fluidity; for it preserves it 
in Cold 44 Degrees greater than any natural 
Cold, which Property is absolutely necessary 
to an Element, in which both Animals and 
Vegetables live and grow. 
As Water is a Fluid much denser or thicker 
than Air, it supports and keeps together the
Bodies of larger Animals than Air can do. 
The Air is pellucid or transparent to such a 
Degree as not to be discernible even by the 
best Microscopes, by reason of the great Po- 
rosity thereof; for the Pores and Interstices of
the Air being so very great and large, it not 
only admits the Light in right Lines, but in 
such


92 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
such great plentiful Rays, that the Brightness 
and universal Lustre thereof, not only renders 
the Air diaphanous or transparent, but en- 
tirely hinders the Opacity or Darkness of the 
very small Particles of Air from being at all 
seen; and the whole Body of the Air must
consequently be invisible. But notwithstand- 
ing the Minuteness of the Particles of Air, 
many thicker Fluids will pass where it can- 
not; for Oil, Water, and Liquids will enter 
thro' Leather, which will exclude Air. 
That Air is a Fluid in constant Motion, 
may be easily perceiv'd in that Part of a 
Room illuminated by the Rays of the Sun, 
entering at a small Hole or Crevice, where- 
in the visible and floating Corpuscles or Atoms
are in continual Motion; likewise a constant 
undulatory Motion in the Air may be seen 
by the help of a Telescope; and these Undu- 
lations or Wavings of the Air to and fro, 
affect small and tender Bodies, but not so much 
as to alter their Figure. 
The Difference between Fluidity and Li- 
quidity is, that the former is a general Name 
for all Bodies whose Parts yield to the small- 
est Force or Impression; and thus a Quan- 
tity of Sand as well as Water, is called a 
Fluid: But what is properly called a Liquid 
or Liquor, is only that Kind or Species of 
Fluids which cleaves to the Touch, or sticks 
to the Finger, &c. or, as may be said, wets 
it, as Water, or any kind of Juices do: 
And the Reason of this Difference is owing 
to


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 93
to the exceeding Smallness of the Particles 
of Liquids above those of fluid Bodies; and 
also to their Ponderosity or Weight: for by 
these means, the Particles of Liquids enter 
the Pores of the Body which touches them, 
and by their Gravity or Weight, cohere or 
stick to, and abide therein, and cause Wetness. 
Air is compressible as well as dilatable; for it 
can be compressed into a less Compass, and 
smaller Volume, like a Fleece or Lock of 
Wool, either by its own Weight, or by any 
other Force; which Weight or Force being 
remov'd, it immediately recovers its former 
Bulk and Dimensions again by its Spring. 
Heat will encrease the Force of the Elasti- 
city of the Air to a prodigious Degree, accord- 
ing to the Experiments of Mr. Boyle, as has 
been observ'd in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter. To prove which by an easy Experiment, 
take a Bladder entirely empty as you think, 
and tie the Neck of it very well with a Pack- 
thread, and lay it before the Fire, the Heat 
will presently so dilate and rarefy the little 
Air inclosed, as to make it extend the Blad- 
der to its utmost Stretch, and if continued, 
will break through it with a Report like 
that of a Pistol. That Air also may be com- 
pressed by Art, so as to take up but 1/60 Part
of the Space it possessed before, has been 
prov'd by Numbers of Experiments made by 
Boyle and others; for farther Proof and Sa- 
tisfaction thereof, see Sir Isaac Newton's Op- 
tics, p. 342.  
Divisi-

94 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Divisibility is a Property of Air, by which 
living Creatures move in it without much 
Resistance; for it is always divisible by the 
smallest Force imaginable. Fishes and Birds 
move thro' their respective Element after the
same manner; and Fishes may be called the 
Birds of the Water; they pass thro' an Ele- 
ment which is 800 times thicker than Air, 
as has been observ'd in p. 71; for which 
Reason Fishes must employ a Force propor- 
tional to the greater Resistance of the Fluid. 
On the other Hand, a great deal of the Force 
of Birds is employ'd to support themselves in 
a much thinner Fluid; but the Bodies of 
Fishes are poised or equilibrated with the 
Water in which they swim. However Air 
has some Degree of Tenacity or Adhesion, by 
which its Parts attract one another, as is ma- 
nifest by the round Figure of Water-Bubbles, 
which attract and run into one another; and 
at the same Time the Particles of Air, by 
their Elasticity, have a Power in other Cir- 
cumstances, of flying off from one another, 
which two Properties are consistent, as may 
be seen in Light. 
The Resistance of Air is very considera-
ble in Bodies swiftly moving thro' it, or by 
its swift Motion against Bodies. In the first 
Case, the Resistance increases in the dupli- 
cate Proportion of the Swiftness of the mov- 
ing Body; that is, the Resistance is a hun- 
dred times greater when the Velocity is but 
ten times; so that for this Reason, if light 
Bodies are moved with great Swiftness, the 
Air's

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 95
Air's Resistance will throw them back in 
another Direction. 
Air moving with Rapidity, as in violent 
Storms or Winds, produces very sensible Ef- 
fects in human Bodies, to which if we add 
the Motion of the Person moving opposite, 
then the Pressure will be very considerable; 
hence Walking or Riding against great 
Winds is a great and laborious Exercise, the 
Effects of which are a Redness and Inflamma- 
tion of all the Parts exposed to the Air, be- 
ing like the Effects produc'd by a soft Press
or Stripes, Heat and Drowziness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of the Qualities of Air. 
THE Qualities of Air are Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture; they are called 
Qualities of the Air, because they are change- 
able, and do not constantly reside in the 
whole Mass, nor in the Parts thereof. 
By these variable Qualities of Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture, the Air must of Ne- 
cessity produce various Alterations in human 
Bodies. For if we consider, that human 
Blood is a Fluid continually warm, and in- 
closed in a Composition of thin and flexible 
Tubes, to which the outward Air has Admit- 
tance

96 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tance or Entrance by the innumerable Pas- 
sages of the Pores of the Body: Again, if 
we consider this Machine, with its inclosed
Fluids steaming and reaking hot thro' num- 
berless Pores, and often changing Situation, 
sometimes within, sometimes without Doors, 
and exposed to the hot, cold, dry, or moist
Air, and all the various Alterations that oc- 
cur in that Element; the Changes which 
must happen to a human Body in such Cir- 
cumstances, must be very considerable, and 
far greater than we generally suppose or ima- 
gine; for besides the real Influence of the 
circumambient Air, human Bodies are affect- 
ed by these Changes with a painful or plea- 
sant Sensation, which they have not always 
in their Power either to escape or possess. 
Heat is a Quality relative to our Senses 
excited in the Mind, by a great and swift 
Agitation of Particles of the hot Body ex- 
erting its Action or Influence on us; so that 
Heat in us is only the Idea thereof; and in 
the hot Body, Activity and Motion, and no- 
thing else: for no Heat is sensible, unless the
Particles of the Body which act upon us, be 
greater than the Motion of the Organ or Part 
of the Body acted upon. But when the 
Motion of the Particles of the Body acting, 
is less than that of our Organs of feeling, 
then it causes in us the Sensation or Idea of 
Cold, which is only a Privation or less Degree 
of Heat or Motion. 
The


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 97
The Spirit of Wine in Thermometers * or 
Weather-Glasses, is affected with the least 
Alterations of Heat and Cold; and therefore 
is the best Guide to know the Variations of 
the Weather, tho' the Degrees marked in the 
Tubes of them do not exactly measure their 
Quantity. The natural Heat of a grown 
Person is 92, and of Children 94 Degrees;
but no Animal can live long in Air of 90 
Degrees, or near the natural Heat of the 
Body. 
The Rarity or Thinness of the Air ren- 
ders it more sensible of the Alterations of
Heat and Cold, than any other Fluid what- 
ever; for the least Increase of Heat dilates 
it, but a Diminution thereof contracts it im- 
mediately. The Degrees of Expansion of 
the Air cannot be determin'd; for the great- 
est Heat will not totally expel it, but by 
this continual Expansion and Contraction, by 
different Degrees of Heat, it is kept in con- 
stant Motion. 
Heat, but not so great as to destroy ani- 
mal Solids, relaxes the Fibres, and rarifies the
Humours; whence proceeds the Sensation of 
Faintness and Weakness, and whence lan- 
quid and hysteric People suffer in a hot Day; 
for the Fluids are dilated, as is manifest to 
both the Sight and Touch, and the external 
G Parts
* Thermometer or Weather-Glass, is a Glass Tube filled 
with Spirit of Wine of a red Tincture: It is an Instrument of 
great Use in the Hands of skilful Persons, in discovering the 
Degrees of Heat and Cold in Air, animal and vegetable Bo- 
dies, Liquids, Hot-Beds, &c. 

98 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Parts swell, and are plumper in hot than in 
cold Weather. 
Excessive hot Air is capable to reduce ani- 
mal Substances to a State of Putrefaction, and
therefore very hurtful to the Lungs in parti- 
cular; for the Blood, by its Circulation thro'
the Lungs, is heated to a degree so as to render 
it spumous; and the Surface of the Vehicles 
of the Lungs being exposed to the external 
Air, which has a free Communication to it; 
so that Refrigeration by cool Air is one, tho' 
not the principal Use of Air in Respiration: 
but when the outward Air is many Degrees 
hotter than the Substance of the Lungs, it 
must necessarily destroy and putrify the Solids 
and Fluids: Which is confirm'd by an Ex- 
periment of the learned Dr. Boerhaave, who 
relates, that he put a Sparrow into a Sugar- 
Baker's drying Stove, where the Air was 
heated 54 Degrees more than the natural Heat 
of Human Blood, which died in two Mi- 
nutes; a Dog being put in began to pant very
much for Breath in seven Minutes, and in a 
Quarter of an Hour express'd very great Un- 
easiness; soon after he grew very faint, and ex- 
pired in 28 Minutes; he drivell'd a great Quan- 
tity of red Foam most part of the Time, which 
stunk so intolerably that a labouring Man 
that went near it was almost struck down in- 
stantly with the Stench. Dr. Boerhaave ob- 
serves in this Experiment the direful Effects of
this Degree of Heat, how soon it occasion'd 
a most acute Disease, with violent and mortal 
Symptoms;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 99
Symptoms; and how suddenly the Humours 
were changed and thoroughly putrified in 28 
Minutes: He moreover observes, that these 
were not the mere Effects of the Heat of the 
Stove; for if the Flesh of a dead Animal had 
been hung up there, it would have dried, and 
not turn to a pestilential Corruption; which 
must arise from the Friction caused by the 
Circulation of the Blood through the Lungs, 
and being not in the least refrigerated, as in
this Case. 
By the Degrees of the Heat of the Air act- 
ing upon Human Bodies, the Quantity of 
* Perspiration both sensible and insensible is 
regulated; for, by the Journals of the industri-
cus
* Perspiration is twofold, sensible and insensible; by the 
first is meant what we discharge by Spittle, Sweat, Urine 
and Stool; by the latter is understood what is imperceptibly
exhaled or expell'd through the whole external Skin of the 
Body, as also from that of the Mouth, Nose, Jaws, Larynx, 
Lungs, Gullet, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder and Womb; so 
that the Quantity of it exceeds that of all other Excretions 
join'd together; for when the Body is strong and healthy, and 
after moderate living, especially in a warm Climate, such as 
Italy, that which is discharged insensibly by the Pores of the 
external Skin, Mouth, Nostrils, &c. is five Eighths of what is 
taken into the Body in Meat and Drink. It will not appear 
incredible, that animated Bodies should thus perspire, when 
we find by Mr. Boyle's Experiments, that he has observ'd the 
like even in the most solid and inanimate Substances. Besides, 
we see the Air, when return'd in Respiration from the Lungs,
brings along with it a Vapour, which in cold Weather con- 
denses into considerable Drops. We likewise find that a Fin- 
ger, or any other Part of the Body, or our Breath, applied to 
a Glass, or polish'd Metal, will presently moisten and tarnish 
it. This perspirable Matter, according to the learned Boer- 
haave, is a Mixture of Phlegm, volatile Salt, and Oil, in cer- 
tain Proportions; and after a long Course of Circulations in 
G2 all

100 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ous and learned Dr. James Keil of Northamp- 
ton, it appears, that the Perspiration in Eng- 
land scarcely equals all the other Excretions, 
and that in Summer it is near double to that 
in Winter; whereas we find, by the incom- 
parable Sactorius's Aphorisms, that the Per- 
spiration in Italy the Year round is to all the
other Evacuations as five to three, and pro- 
bably the Proportion may be still greater in 
hotter Climates; and yet the same Author 
tells us in Aphorism vii. Sect. I. that the 
Quantity of insensible Perspiration varies ac- 
cording
all the Forms of the Animal Fluids, is deprived of all that can 
be of farther Use to any Part of the Human Body; and is 
secreted by the capillary Arteries, and passes off insensibly and
almost invisibly through the Pores of the Skin, and other Parts 
of the Body. But whenever this Evacuation is either dimi- 
nish'd or obstructed, it is almost an infallible Indication of Dis- 
eases, and probably the Cause of them, likewise. And Nature 
has so provided, that if by any external Cause this Evacuation 
is hinder'd in any one Part, it is always increased in another, 
or otherwise a Distemper will ensue; for which Reason when 
the Coldness of the Air, which more immediately affects the 
outward Skin, or any thing else lessens the Discharge of insen- 
sible Perspiration that Way, either the sensible Evacuations are 
increased, as commonly the Urine, or greater Quantities are 
carried off by Respiration from the Lungs and Parts about the 
Mouth, as we see in frosty Weather, like Smoak out of the 
Mouth; or else it is perspir'd into the Cavities of the Stomach 
and Guts, which afterwards is discharged by breaking of 
Wind either upwards or downwards: For as long as the Im- 
pulse within remains the same, wherever there is the least Re- 
sistance, there will be always the greatest Derivation of the 
perspirable Matter. And from hence it is, that we so fre- 
quently find, when the Body is more than usually exposed to 
the external Cold, Gripings, Loosnesses, Colics, and great 
Uneasinesses in the Bowels, which is nothing else but some 
Part of the perspirable Matter, that ought to have passed the 
outward Skin, check'd by the Cold, and by an opener Pas- 
sage


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 101 
cording to the Differences of Constitution,
Ages, and Countries, Seasons, Distempers,
Diet, and the rest of the Non-naturals:
Which must occasion a great Diversity of 
Constitutions and Distempers, according to 
the different Climates; for the serous Part of
the Blood is carried off by Sweats or sensible 
Perspiration, in far greater Quantities in hot 
Countries, than in cold or temperate Cli- 
mates, which must consequently render the 
Crassamentum or fibrous red Cake of the Blood
larger; hence we may know the Reason why 
the Blood of People residing in those hot 
G3 Coun-
sage within thrown off that Way. Leeuwenhoek by the Help 
of Glasses, has discover'd the Texture of the Scarf-Skin to be 
scaly; and that those Scales cover one another in several Lays, 
more or less, according to the different Thickness of the Scarf- 
Skin in the several Parts of the Body; and that in the Com- 
pass of one cuticular Scale he reckons there may be 500 
Excretory Channels, and that one Grain of Sand will cover 
125000 Orifices; and that from these a most subtile Humour 
continually transpires in all the Parts of the Body; which was 
first observ'd by the incomparable Sanctorius, to whom alone 
the Glory and Perfection of this Discovery is entirely owing. 
Insensible Perspiration therefore, both as to the Matter and 
Quantity of it, is so absolutely necessary to the Health of a 
human Body, that a Distemper can neither be removed, nor 
Health preserv'd, unless it be rightly digested and discharg'd; 
For which Reason it ought to be of the utmost Concern to a 
Physician not only thoroughly to acquaint himself with the 
Nature of this Evacuation, but likewise thoroughly to know by 
what Means it is to be promoted or lessen'd, according to the 
several Exigencies of his Patients, either for the Preservation
or Recovery of their Health: For according to the last men- 
tion'd Author, in Aphorism ii. Sect. I. ' If a Physician who 
' has the Care of another's Health is acquainted only with 
' the sensible Supplies and Evacuations, and knows nothing of
' the Waste that is daily made by insensible Perspiration, he
' will only deceive his Patient, and never cure him unless by
' Accident.'

102 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Countries is commonly thick and black when 
drawn from any Part of a human Body, as 
Experience teaches. 
Air is not cooled by the Motion of Winds, 
but by the Air of cooler Regions that they 
bring along with them; for the Thermometer 
will not change by Winds or by the strongest 
Blasts of Bellows, unless it is blown through 
Ice or some other Body colder than Air, ac- 
cording to Mr. Boyle's Experiments, but then 
such a Blast will sink it considerably. Winds
cool animal Bodies by driving away the hot 
Steams that surround them; for if we sup- 
pose that the Heat of a human Body is 90 
Degrees, and the Heat of the Air 48, by 
blowing off the hot Steam, then the animal 
Body will be surrounded with an Atmosphere 
of 48 Degrees, and consequently near the one 
half of its natural Heat taken off in a Second
of Time. Therefore, if immediately after Ex- 
ercise we rest in a cold Air, we run a great 
Hazard of falling into great Diseases, of which
there has been frequently woeful Instances, 
especially such Distempers as affect the Lungs, 
as Inflammations, Asthmas, Pleurisies and Ca- 
tarrhs; for this Change of their Atmosphere 
happening every Second of Time, is, much 
the same thing as putting on a cold Suit of 
Cloaths every such Time. 
Therefore, as human Bodies may be cool'd 
by Air cooler than their own Temperament, 
so there may be great Use made of tempera- 
ting feverish Heat by the outward Air, pro- 
2 vided

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 103 
vided it be done with Caution; which is very 
well known by Experience, as in inflamma- 
tory Diseases, such as the Small-Pox, Measles, 
&c. scarcely can any Liquor taken inwardly 
cool human Blood sooner than cool Air; for, 
by its Admission into the Pores of the Skin, 
and its being in immediate Contact with the 
Vesicles upon the Surface of the Lungs, it cools 
the Blood in a very little Time: So that great 
Mischief frequently happens by keeping the 
Air of the Rooms of People in Fevers too 
hot, by depriving them, in the first Place, of 
the Benefit of being refresh'd by it, and in 
the next, by the bad Effects of animal Steams 
pent up in the Room, which spoil the Air 
and destroy its Elasticity or Spring. Therefore
it is the Opinion of the most celebrated Phy- 
sicians, that renewing and cooling the Air in 
a Patient's Room, by giving it a free Admis- 
sion, in opening the Door sometimes, the Bed- 
Curtains, and in some Cases the Windows, 
or letting it in by Tubes or Pipes, in order to
change the hot Atmosphere about the Patient, 
(provided the Intention of keeping up a due 
Quantity of Perspiration is not disappointed) 
and in general the right Use and Manage- 
ment of the Air, is one of the principal Parts 
of a Regimen in all inflammatory Diseases; 
but, through the Ignorance and scrupulous 
Care of Nurses, in so material a Point as this, 
the Distemper is frequently increas'd, lengths 
en'd, and at last proves fatal; and this Mi- 
stake proves far more dangerous to strong, 
G4 vigorous.

104 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vigorous, compact, and heavy Constitutions, 
than to lax ones; according to this Axiom, 
Heat is detain'd in proportion to the Density
of Bodies. 
Cold is a Privation or Diminution of so 
many Degrees of Heat, as I have observ'd al- 
ready in Page 96, and it produces a propor- 
tionable Abatement of the Effects of Heat; 
so that, from what has been said already con- 
cerning hot Air, the Effects of cold Air may 
be inferr'd. Cold Air, according to Philoso- 
phers and Naturalists, is the immediate 
Cause of freezing; it first begins in the Air, 
by congealing the watery Particles in it; but 
the Effects of this Cold sometimes do not 
reach so far as to freeze the Water on the Sur- 
face of the Earth; as in Summer Hail and 
Icy Showers. 
Cold condenses the Air in proportion to the 
Degrees of it; and likewise contracts animal 
Fibres and Fluids, which are denser; for as 
Cold braces the Fibres, not only by its con- 
densing Quality, but likewise by congealing
the Moisture of the Air which relaxes; so 
for this Reason Animals in cold Weather. 
are of less Dimensions than in hot Weather. 
Extreme Cold produces at first a pricking 
Sensation in human Bodies, and afterwards a 
glowing Heat, or a small Degree of Inflam- 
mation in all the Parts of the Body exposed to
it; and by bracing the Fibres more strongly, 
thickening the Fluids, and stimulating, it pro- 
duces Strength and Activity in human Bodies, 
of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 105 
of which healthy People are very sensible in
clear and frosty weather.
Now, if the Effects of cold Air be so con-
siderable upon the Surface of the Body, why
may not they be much more so upon the 
Lungs, wherein the Blood is much hotter,
and the Membranes or Coats very thin, and
in immediate Contact with the external Air?
But were it not that the warm Air is not alto-
gether expell'd out of the Lungs in Expira-
tion, the Contact of the cold Air would be
insupportable to human Creatures; and the
Effects of cold Air in producing Inflammations
of the Lungs in all Nations is common, espe-
cially upon the blowing of cold north-easterly
Winds in Europe, or north-westerly Winds in
America.
Cold suppresses some of the grosser Parts of 
the perspirable Matter, by which Means a
great many Salts, that would b exhaled in
warm Weather, are detain'd, by contracting
the Pores of the Skin, and cooling the Blood
too much in the Vessels that are exposed to the
Air; as also by Stimulus the cold Air vel-
licates and inflames these Vessels, as has been
obser'd already, and at the same time pro-
ducing Scurvies with dismal Symptoms, being
a Distemper of cold Climates; the fatal Ex-
remities of which we may see in Captain
James's Journals, in Gerat de Veer'd a Hol-
lander, and in Captain Middleton's, and in
those of many others, who have win-
ter'd in Greenland, and other cold Coun-
tries; for the Cold that froze their spirituous
I Liquors


106 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Liquors produc'd almost the same Effect in 
their Blood, by reducing the animal Substan- 
ces of some to a gangrenous State, with Mor- 
tifications of their Limbs and Gums, being 
oblig'd to cut off the putrid or rotten Flesh; 
a total Incapacity of chewing, not capable to 
move themselves, and intolerable Pains in 
many Parts of the Body, with black and blue 
Spots and Blisters on their Skins; and by sup- 
pressing Perspiration, and retarding the Cir- 
culation of the Blood, others were seiz'd with 
Giddiness, Sleepiness, Pains in the Bowels, 
Looseness, Bloody-Fluxes, Iliack Passions, and
a Mortification in the Guts; but seldom any 
Loss of Appetite, which is very surprizing: 
All such dismal Symptoms could not be attri- 
buted to the Effects of Salt Provisions, in as 
much as they frequently had fresh both ani-
mal and vegetable. 
Extreme Cold or extreme Heat will de- 
stroy animal Substances, or reduce them to a 
gangrenous State, but with this Difference, 
that a Degree of Cold that will produce a 
Mortification in living Bodies, will preserve 
those that are dead from Putrefaction; and 
in order to produce such a Change, there must
be a Concurrence of Heat and Motion in the 
animal Fluids with the Stimulus of the Cold 
to produce the Change; for which Reason, 
Blisters cannot be raised on dead Bodies by the 
strongest blistering Plaisters imaginable. 
Moisture is a Quality of Air which affects
animal Bodies in relaxing and lengthening
their


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 107
their Fibres; for it has been often demon- 
strated by Experiments, that the single Fibres 
both of Animals and Vegetables are lengthen'd 
by moist Air, and that it relaxes is likewise 
evident from daily Experience upon Leather, 
Vellum, Paper, and a Drum. By cold Bath- 
ing there is a momentary Contraction of 
the Fibres of the Body effected by the Cold- 
ness of the Water only, and the Sensation of
which works as a Stimulus in human Bodies; 
but the Water in its own Nature would re- 
lax, and continually does so, if we remain 
too long in it; which is the Reason that Peo- 
ple using the Cold Bath are order'd not to 
stay in above half a Minute, or a Minute: 
and warm Water relaxes a great deal sooner 
than cold, and Swimming fatigues and dispi- 
rits more by relaxing the Fibres than Exer- 
cise. 
Air, by the Assistance of Moisture, will 
sooner insinuate itself into the Pores of Bo- 
dies than otherwise; for a dry Bladder will 
sooner burst than let Air pass thro' it, but 
when it is moisten'd it easily passes. Yet Moi- 
sture diminishes the Elasticity of Air, for 
in rainy Weather it is less Elastic; so that
Moisture relaxes human Fibres, by weaken- 
the Spring of the Air; but dry Air will 
lessen those Effects, or produce their Con- 
traries, such as bracing and contracting the
animal Fibres, which were before both re- 
lax'd and lengthen'd by too much Moisture. 
And a great many Symptoms which People 
are

108 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
are sensible of in moist or rainy Weather, 
are chiefly owing to the Relaxation of the 
Fibres by moist Air, by which means they 
lose some Degree of their elastic Force for cir- 
culating the Fluids; hence arise those Aches 
and Pains which are felt in the Parts of the 
Body, where the Circulation of the Fluids is 
not perfect, as in Cicatrices, or Scars of 
Wounds, old Sprains, Dislocations, or bruised 
Parts. Likewise a moist and foggy Air, espe- 
cially where the Country is low and marshy, 
will so weaken the Tone of the Vessels, as to
hinder a proper Discharge of what ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, ac- 
cording to Sanctorius *; and particularly 
weaken those of the Lungs, by which means 
the Viscidity of the Blood will be increased; 
hence arise Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions,
Asthmas, Pleurisies, Head-aches, Dulness, 
and Stupidity, Epilepsies, Hoarseness, cuta- 
neous Eruptions, pale and languid Complexions: 
and such People are also subject to scorbutic 
Habits, weak Appetites, Fevers of different 
kinds, Diarrhœas, Dysenteries, and Drop- 
sies.†
When the Air is overcharg'd with Va- 
pours near the Surface of the Earth, and 
when
* Med. Stat. Sect. 2. Aphor. 8. 
† Hippoc. Aph. 16. lib. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aqua & Lo- 
cis; in which last Book Hippocrates tells us, that the Phasians, 
who inhabited a low and marshy Country, were frequently 
subject to the above-mention'd Distempers, and which is 
commonly, and almost always the Fate of all such Situations, 
as both History and Experience teach. 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 109
when those Vapours are more in a falling 
than in an ascending State, it is then properly
called moist Air; tho' the Body of the Air 
may contain more Water in it at other 
times; but then the Water and Air are more 
intimately mix'd, and the Vapours are higher, 
and a less Quantity of them in contact with 
our Bodies; so that Air in such a State may 
be justly called dry; and sometimes the Air 
may be said to be in a State of exhaling and
imbibing, and at other times in a State of 
precipitating its Waters and other Contents. 
Dryness is another Quality of Air, by 
which it produces Effects contrary to those 
of moist Air: and as dry Air exhales and 
imbibes volatile Spirits, and Oils of animal 
Bodies, so it does consequently influence 
Perspiration. But great Dryness is capable of 
changing the very Texture, as well as the Si- 
tuation of the Pores of the Skin of human 
Bodies; and either extreme Dryness, or ex- 
treme Moisture have very often proved dan- 
gerous, if not fatal to human Bodies; and 
tho' our Bodies are not capable of bearing 
Excesses of any kind, yet of the two, ex- 
treme Dryness has been found most destru- 
ctive to animal Bodies. 
By the Properties and Qualities hitherto 
enumerated and explain'd, Air must pro- 
duce very great Alterations in human Bodies; 
for it does not only operate by outward 
Contact, but we likewise imbibe it at all the 
Pores of the Body, as is evident by what has 
been

110 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
been said already; otherwise the Air could 
not have a free and constant Admittance in- 
to the Body, and consequently the Ballance 
between the outward Air, and that within 
the Vessels, could not be so quickly restor'd; 
and it is upon the due Ballance of the Air 
within and without the Body, that the Life 
of ail Animals depends. 
The Skins of Animals dry'd exclude Air;
but those of living Creatures being moist and 
oily, it will easily pass thro' them; for where- 
ever there are Emissaries, there are also ab- 
sorbing Vessels: And to prove this Assertion 
farther, many Bodies a great deal thicker and 
heavier than Air, such as Mercury, Spanish 
Flies, and Garlick, &c. readily enter the 
Pores of the Skins of animal Bodies. So that
while we perspire, at the same time we ab- 
sorb part of the outward Air; and the Quan- 
tity of perspir'd Matter, discover'd by the 
Method of weighing, is only the Difference 
between that and the Air absorb'd; therefore 
after great Labour and Abstinence, which 
produces an Emptiness in the Vessels, and 
consequently a great Diminution of Perspi- 
ration, it is very probable, that in such a 
Case, the Quantity of the Air absorb'd may 
exceed that of the perspir'd Matter: which 
must be true, if Sanctorius's and Dr. Keil's 
Journals of Perspiration be faithful and ex- 
act; for there is an Instance in the Doctor's
Journals, of a Person's growing 18 Ounces 
heavier by absorbing Air. The Doctrine of
absorbing 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 111
absorbing Air thro' the Pores of the Skins of 
living Creatures, was taken for granted both 
by Hippocrates, Galen, and their Followers, 
which has been since confirm'd and demon- 
strated by that accurate and most ingenious 
Observer of Nature, Mr. Hales, in many 
Bodies, particularly in Vegetables, by plain
and easy Experiments; by which it appears, 
that Air freely enters thro' the Bark, Stem, 
Leaves, and all the Surface of Vegetables. 
By absorbing external Air, with all its Qua- 
lities and Contents, many great Effects must
necessarily follow, and many sudden Altera- 
tions happen in human Bodies; and nothing 
can account more clearly for epidemical 
Distempers seizing People inhabiting the same 
District of Land, and who have nothing else 
in common that affects them, except Air, 
which is confirm'd by * Hippocrates, † Sy- 
denham, and many others. 
* Hippocrates, Epid. lib. 3. Sect. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aq. & 
Locis. 
† De Febribus Intermit. Thucydid. lib. 2. p. 130. 147. 
Diod. Sicul. p. 101, 102. 
Hallerius libel. de Peste, p. 577. 
Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297. & lib. 6. de Morb. po- 
pular. Sect. 8. p. 1199.
CHAP.

112 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of AIR upon Human 
Bodies. 
THE Influence or Power of the Air up- 
on human Bodies is as different as the 
Diversity of the Weather, Seasons, Climates 
and Countries; but the true Knowledge of it 
is very obscure and imperfect, especially in 
that Part which will be always difficult to 
find out, that is, the different Qualities of the 
Air, and the manner of their acting upon 
human Bodies; yet if Journals of Diseases, 
compar'd with the Weather, had been kept 
for some Centuries in many Places and 
Kingdoms, we should at last have come to 
more than a conjectural Knowledge of this 
important Matter. 
The divine Hippocrates, after a Series 
of many Years indefatigable Practice and just
Observations, has left us in his Books of 
Epidemics, and third Section of Aphorisms, 
an inestimable Treasure of Golden Rules to 
go by for this Purpose; and tho' he had nei- 
ther * Barometer, † Thermometer, nor ‡ Hy-
groscope
* Barometer, See Page 79. Note ‡.
† Thermometer, vid. p. 97. Note *. 
‡ Hygroscope is a useful Instrument to be made several Ways, 
for-measuring the Moisture and Dryness of the Air.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 113
groscope, to measure either the Weight, Heat, 
Cold or Moisture of the Air by, yet knew 
more of the Influence of Air on human 
Bodies, than all his Predecessors and Succes- 
sors put together; for none of them ever 
made such just and curious Observations up- 
on Airy and its Effects, as he did, which 
plainly appears in his Works: he judg'd only
according to Reason and his Senses, which 
are surer Guides than the Thermometer, in re- 
spect to the Effects of Heat and Cold upon 
our Bodies; for by the Thermometer, stagnant 
Water is of the same Degree of Heat as the 
ambient Air, but if apply'd to our Bodies, 
we shall feel it much colder; therefore, Air 
abounding with more or less watery Particles, 
is colder or hotter to our Senses, tho' the 
Thermometer still remains at the same Height.* 
This sagacious Great Man tells us, that ‖ 
Whoever would understand Physic, it is first
necessary to understand the Seasons of the Year, 
and then their Effects on our Bodies; and that 
† we ought to know the Constitutions of the 
Air, what they are, and in what Times and 
Regions they mostly appear. He says likewise, 
‡ That Distempers seldom arise from any other 
H Cause
* According to Lord Verulam's Observations, Water seems
colder than Air; and the Froth of any Liquor seems warmer 
than the Liquor itself; and the Powder of any solid Body, 
warmer than that solid Body, tho' the Thermometer still proves 
the same Degree of Heat in each to be alike. Hist. Nat 
& Experiment. de Ventis, cap. de forma Callidi, p. 143. 
‖ Hippoc. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis, p. 280. 
† Hip. lib. 4. p. 1138. de morb. Epidem.
‡ Hip. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297 


114 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cause than the Air; for either it is too much
or too little, or abounds with infectious Filth. 
He tells us in another Place ‖, That the Air 
is to he consider'd as to its Heat or Cold, 
Thickness or Thinness, Dryness or Moisture, 
and their several Changes. 
According to his Instructions, we are like- 
wise § to consider the Situation, Air, and 
Water of a City, in order to come at the 
Knowledge of their popular Diseases, and 
their Seasons: for Instance, that Cities ex- 
posed to the ‡ hot Winds, such as blow be- 
tween the rising and setting of the Sun in 
Winter, to which Situation such Winds are 
peculiar, and at the same time are defended
from the Northerly Winds, abound with 
Water of a saltish Taste, which as it comes
from above, must needs be warm in Sum- 
mer, and cold in Winter; but Cities that are
well situated as to the Sun and Winds, and 
at the same time supply'd with wholsome 
Water, are free from many Distempers, 
which those in different Circumstances are 
subject to, as has been already mention'd: 
that if the Summer proves dry, the Diseases
are of a shorter Duration than in a wet one
in which they prove obstinate, and apt to de- 
generate into Suppurations, Heat and Moi- 
sture in the Air producing Putrefaction: that 
Defluxions,
‖ Idem de morb. popular, lib. 6. p. 1199. 
§ Hip. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis. 
‡ Hippocrates means in this Place a Southerly Situation, 
and the Winds that blow from thence. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 115
Defluxions, much Phlegm, and Hoarseness 
are occasion'd by cold Weather: that Deflu- 
xions from the Head, and Disorders of the 
Belly, from Phlegm distilling downwards, 
producing Fluxes, were the Effects of the 
Winter, which made Women subject to 
Miscarriages, and Children to Convulsions; 
likewise such as were exposed to Cold, sub- 
ject to Inflammations of the Eyes and Lungs. 
This great Man could foretell the Diseases 
from the Weather, and says, that Heat 
coming upon a wet Season will produce se- 
rous Defluxions upon the Head and Belly, 
and acute Fevers. That cool Weather, about, 
the Dog-Days, if not succeeded by a tem- 
perate Autumn, is dangerous for Women 
and Children, producing Quartan Fevers, 
and from these they fall into Dropsies: if the 
Winter is mild and rainy, and succeeded by 
Northerly Winds in the Spring, it will be 
dangerous for Women that happen to be with 
Child, producing Abortions, likewise Deflu- 
xions upon the Lungs, Dysenteries and Co- 
licks in the Phlegmatick, and Inflammations 
in those that are Bilious, because of the Heat
and Dryness of their Flesh; and that Ob- 
structions after Relaxations produce Palsies, 
and sometimes sudden Death in old People. 
A rainy Summer and Autumn must; needs 
make a sickly Winter; burning Fevers will 
happen in People above 40 and Phlegmatic;
in the Bilious, Pleurisies, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs: but if the Summer be dry with
H2 Northerly

116 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Northerly Winds, succeeded by a wet Au- 
tumn with Southerly Winds, Head-aches and 
paralytick Diseases are likely to happen in 
the Winter; likewise Hoarseness, Stuffings 
in the Head, Coughs and Consumption: but 
a dry Autumn with Northerly Winds is pro- 
fitable to phlegmatic Constitutions, and ex- 
tremely hurtful to the Bilious, the watery
Parts which dilute the Gaul being exhaled. 
He says farther, that whoever considers 
these Things, may know before-hand the 
greatest Part of what will happen from the 
Changes of the Seasons, and advises to con- 
sider the Constitution of the Air in Opera- 
tions of Surgery; excepts against cutting for 
the Stone in the Solstices *, especially in the 
Summer Solstice. 
The divine old Man goes still farther, and 
says, that the Affair of Generation is influ- 
enc'd by the Difference of the Constitutions 
of the Air, and that such a Variety should 
thus happen in the Formation or Mixture of 
the Semen, which is not always the same in 
the same Person, in Summer and Winter, in 
wet Weather and dry, that it is oftener cor- 
rupted in the Formation or Mixture of it, 
where the Seasons change frequently, than 
where
* Solstice is the Time when the Sun being come to either 
of the Tropical Points, is got farthest from the Equator, and 
seems to be at a stand for some Days before it returns back, 
which happens twice a Year in the Summer and Winter. The 
Summer Solstice is when the Sun entering the Tropick of 
Cancer on June 11, makes the longest Day, and the shortest
Night. 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 117
where they remain pretty near alike. He 
likewise attributes the different Shapes, Com-
plexions, Tempers of Mankind, and even 
their different Forms of Government, to the 
Influence of the Air: that the fertile Coun- 
tries of Asia, upon the account of moderate 
Heat and Moisture, produce large and hand- 
some Animals; and that the Softness of 
their Climate disposes them to Mildness and
Effeminacy, not enduring Labour or Hard- 
ships of any Kind, like the Greeks, frequent 
Changes in the Body, produced by Labour 
and the Alterations of the Weather exercis- 
ing both Body and Mind; for which Reason 
the Asiaticks are less bold and couragious, 
they are slavish and subject to Masters, and 
tho' they are forc'd, yer they are not willing
to quit their Ease and Families, or to endan- 
der their Lives for the Power and Wealth of 
others, in Expeditions from which they are 
to reap no Advantage to themselves: that on 
the contrary, the Greeks and Northern Asi- 
aticks were bold, hardy, and full of Courage;
and that, being at their own Disposals, wil- 
lingly underwent Dangers and the greatest 
difficulties, because the Reward of the Vic- 
tory was to be their own. 
He says besides, that as the Equality of
the Temperature of the Seasons render'd the 
Asiaticks indolent and lazy; so the great va- 
riety of Heat and Cold, by differently affect- 
ing Body and Mind, render'd the Europeans 
couragious and active; Activity, Labour, and 
H3 Exercise

118 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Exercise begetting Bravery, and Bravery 
begetting Laws to secure Property; and 
being govern'd by such, they were enabl'd 
to reap the Benefit of the Fruits of their In- 
dustry, which those that live under Abso- 
lute Monarchy are not capable to enjoy: 
Here this great and wise Man expresses his 
Dislike to Despotick Government. 
The Phasians *, says he, are tall, soft, 
bloated and pale, on account of the excessive
Moisture of the Air they breathe; for their 
Country is marshy, hot, watery, woody, and 
subject to violent Showers at all Seasons, and
such Effects proceed from lax Fibres occasi- 
oned by excessive Moisture; but such as in- 
habit Mountainous Places, where they are of 
a large Make, have a variety of Weather, 
and are bold, fierce and active; and the Inha- 
bitants of fertile Plains, with stagnating Waters, 
are the reverse; for a fat Soil produces dull 
and heavy Understandings. The Inhabitants 
of barren and dry Soils, with cold Winters, 
are passionate, warm in their Tempers, posi- 
tive, proud, and of a quick Understanding. 
In one of his Books ‡, he attributes the 
Causes of all Diseases, especially of the Pesti- 
lential, to proceed from the Influence of
the Air: And in another Place †, he far- 
ther
* The Phasians were Inhabitants of the City Phasis, in the 
ancient Kingdom of Colchis, upon the eastermost Side of the 
Black Sea, between Georgia and Circassia, not far from the 
ancient Sauromatœ. 
‡ Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus. 
† Hippoc. lib. de Morbo Sacro. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 119
ther affirms, that Air gives Sensation, Life 
and Motion to all the Members of Animal 
Bodies; for which Reason he strenuously re- 
commends Astronomy as an essential Part of 
the true Knowledge of the Art of Healing; 
and says, that if any one should think it to
be only Meteorological Speculations, he may 
soon learn, if he can part with his Opinion, 
that Astronomy is so far from being of little 
Use in Physick, as to be of the greatest; for 
as the Seasons change, so do the Constitutions 
of Men likewise §: And to prove the Useful- 
ness of Hippocrates's Doctrine and Opinion in 
this Particular, we need only consult a Treatise
of a Cotemporary learned Author, who is not 
only an Honour to his Country, but likewise an 
Ornament to his Profession, wherein we shall 
find not only the Usefulness of Astronomy in 
the Art of Physick, but likewise the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies geometrically de-
monstrated †.
Hippocrates goes on still farther in the 
same Book, and says, that where the Variety
of the Weather is oftenest, and the Diffe- 
rence between the Seasons greatest, there 
the Nature, Customs, and Habits of the 
People will be found most different, which 
are the principal Causes of all the Changes in
Nature; and next to these, the Country 
wherein we are brought up, and the 
Waters we are obliged to drink; for we 
H4 shall
§ Hippoc. in his Book of Water, Air, and Situation. 
† Richardus Mead de Imperio Solis & Lunæ in Corp. Hum. 


120 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
shall generally find that the Complexions 
and Manners of the People correspond with
the Nature of their Country. 
He has left us a curious History of 
Diseases, and the Weather, in his valuable
Books of Epidemics, from whence he drew 
many useful and nice Observations; and 
where we may see a vast Conformity between 
the Constitution of the Air, and that of Dis- 
tempers, throughout the whole Work. 
The Constitution mentioned in his 1st Sec- 
tion, was a wet Autumn, the Winter dry, 
with southerly Winds and very little norther- 
ly, the Spring cold, with southerly Winds, a 
little wet, a cloudy and dry Summer, with 
little or no northerly Winds to cool the Air; 
in this Constitution he observ'd some few 
burning Fevers of a good sort, some with 
Hæmorrhages; a great many had Swellings 
behind both or one Ear, but generally with- 
out a Fever, and disappear'd without much 
Inconvenience or Suppuration.
The Constitution of the next Year, related
in Section the Second, was a wet Autumn, 
with northerly and southerly Winds; the Win- 
ter was moist and affected with cold norther- 
ly Winds, attended with great and heavy 
Showers of Rain and Snow, and a cold and 
northerly Spring, both watery and cloudy; 
the Summer not very Scorching, and was 
continually affected with northerly Winds, 
and a great deal of Rain fell again sudden- 
ly; so that the whole Year being cold and 
moist,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 121
moist, and attended with northerly Winds for 
the most part, produced Inflammations of the 
Eyes in the Spring, and in the Summer, Co- 
licks, Fluxes of the Belly, with Bilious Purg- 
ings, and sometimes Bilious Vomitings with 
Phlegm and indigested Food, some with Cat- 
tarrhous Fevers, others again without Fe- 
ver or Confinement; but they all in gene- 
neral sweated, Moisture being then so redun- 
dant every where. 
In the Autumn and Winter continual Fe- 
vers appear'd; there were likewise diurnal, 
nocturnal, tertians, semitertians, some quar- 
tans and erratick Fevers; besides some were 
afflicted with Catarrhs and Defluxions upon 
their Joints; Convulsions were also frequent
among Children; all such Diseases being the 
natural Product of a Cold and Moist Year, 
affected by too much Moisture in the Air, 
which human Bodies continually breathe and 
imbibe. 
He tells us in his third Section, that the 
Constitution of that Year was a cold dry
Winter attended with northerly Winds, as 
was likewise the Spring and Summer till to- 
wards the beginning of the Dog-Days, then 
scorching Heats and Droughts continu'd till 
Autumn, which prov'd to be moist and rainy: 
This Year was remarkable for Paraplegias or 
Palsies, which were epidemical in the Winter; 
likewise Hæmorrhages of all Kinds and Dy- 
senteries reign'd in the Spring and Summer, be- 
ing the Effects of a Constriction of the Fibres, 
oc-


122 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
occasion'd by too much Cold and Drought;
burning Fevers with Delirium and Thirst, be- 
ginning with Shiverings, Watchings, Nauseas, 
and Anxiety continued, which were most dan- 
gerous and fatal to young and vigorous Peo- 
ple, especially in the Autumn, but most of all 
in the Winter, when the Hæmorrhages ceas'd. 
In his Second Book he attributes the great 
Frequency of Carbuncles and other large 
Pustules of the putrid kind in Summer to 
the great suffocating Heats attended with 
Calms and Moisture; and that Sweats suc- 
ceeded Showers, because Moisture relaxes the 
Fibres of the Body; that inflammatory Dis- 
cases, such as burning Fevers, Pleurisies, &c. 
are most violent in a dry and hot Summer; that 
in constant and settled Weather and Seasons, 
the Distempers will be more equal and of a 
good Sort and easily determined; but that if 
the Weather is variable they will likewise 
be irregular and resolv'd with difficulty; that
the Diseases of the Spring are least destruc- 
tive of any of the other Seasons: He like- 
wise remarks that a mild Winter, attended 
with southerly Winds, a dry Spring, and a 
moist Summer with small Rains, produced 
Fevers, and Tumours or Swellings behind the
Ears. 
In his third Book he observes a kind of a 
Pestilential Season, which proceeded from a 
hard Winter, a rainy warm Spring, succeed- 
ed by an excessive hot Summer with little 
or no Winds; it was notable for all inflam- 
matory



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 123
matory Pimples and Eruptions upon the 
Skin, and likewise for all Distempers of the
putrid Kind, such as Erysipelas, Aphtas and 
Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat, burning 
Fevers with Deliriums, Tubercles upon the 
Private Parts, Inf animations of the Eyes, 
Carbuncles, Swellings in the Groins, Abscesses
and Defluxions upon the Joints, some with 
Suppurations of Pus well digested, and others
again with a copious Running of putrified 
Matter of different sorts. 
He remarks in his sixth Book, that the 
frequent Alterations of the Winds from 
South to North, are very often the Cause of 
Inflammations of the Lungs and other Parts 
of the Body; and that, generally speaking, the
Nature of the Diseases is determined by the 
Seasonableness of the Weather, as it happens 
sooner or later, either dry, cold, hot, moist, 
and attended with Winds or otherwise. 
From these few Instances, we may easily 
discover the great Genius, Sagacity, and In- 
dustry of this Divine old Man, as likewise 
with what Assiduity and Integrity he apply'd 
himself to study the Nature and Influence of
the Air upon human Bodies; wherein he suc- 
ceeded better than any one of his Profession: 
And if his Successors had laid aside all their ri- 
diculous, and, as I may fay, absurd Hypotheses, 
together with their useless metaphysical Specu- 
lations, and followed the same Method with the 
same Perspicuity and Honesty as he did, to this 
present Time, we then should have had more  
than



124 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than a conjectural Knowledge, both of the 
Nature and true Causes of Diseases, especial- 
ly of Epidemics, which at this Time puzzle 
even the greatest Physicians. Therefore Rea- 
son join'd with Observation is the only cer- 
tain Method we should pursue in order to 
come at the true Knowledge of Diseases 
and their Cure; for it evidently appears in 
the Annals of Physick, that the small Num- 
ber of Physician who have happily attended 
to it, made so considerable a Figure in their 
Profession, that they will always shine, even
to the latest Posterity. 
The ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot having ex- 
plain'd Hippocrates and others upon the Sub- 
ject of the Influence of Air on human Bo- 
dies and Diseases, so accurately well, accord- 
ing to Mechanical Principles, that nothing 
can excell it; therefore, I thought it not 
only proper, but likewise very useful and 
necessary to give the Reader an Abstract of 
what he says upon that Head in this 
Place. 
He observes, that as this Subject has not 
been treated of by modern Physicians with 
that Accuracy it deserves, Observations of 
that kind are but few, and there is no Series 
of them in any Country: What would give 
most Light in this Matter, is a Collection of 
Observations in Countries where both the 
Qualities of the Air have great Excursions 
towards Extremes, where the Seasons and 
these Excursions, and the Diseases depending 
upon

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 125
upon them are regular. Egypt is a Coun- 
try which answers all these Intentions in 
some Degree: It is situated between Ethi- 
opia, the Mediterranean Sea, Arabia and 
Barbary, which lie, in the Order mention'd. 
South, North, East, and West of it. Grand 
Cairo, where Prosper Alpinus, a very emi- 
nent Physician, practis'd and made his Ob- 
servations, lies in 30 Degrees Northern La- 
titude, as Ptolomy says, 6 Degrees beyond 
the Tropick of Cancer. This great City 
is situated at the Foot of the Mountains 
of the Stony Arabia, which lie towards 
the East. It is quite expos'd to the north- 
erly Winds which blow over the Mediter- 
ranean: Southerly of it there is a hot 
sandy Soil; so that the Alterations of Heat
and Cold, as the Winds blow North and 
South, over the Mediterranean, or over this 
hot Sand are excessive, and the Alterations 
of Heat and Cold from the other Winds 
but small, lying near the Tropick; and as 
it is a sandy Soil, fructify'd only by the 
Slime of the River Nile, without Rain, 
there is hardly any humid Perspiration from 
the Ground itself, the Air receiving Mois- 
ture only from the watery Surface of the 
Nile during the Inundation, or from the 
Vapours brought from the Mediterranean 
by the northerly Winds. 
From these Causes the Air is extremely 
hot, and the tropical Heats would be insuffe- 
rable, were it not for the Northerly Winds. 
And

126 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
And in fact, the Heats are sometimes so ve- 
hement, that the Inhabitants defend them- 
selves from them by many Contrivances, 
such as Fountains in the middle of their 
Houses, Pipes to convey fresh Air by Grottos, 
and high Edifices, by which their Streets are 
shelter'd from the Sun, and a temperate 
Diet. During the tropical Heats *, the Air 
is sometimes so much moisten'd and cool'd by 
the Notherly Winds, and the watery Surface 
of the Nile, that the acute and pestilential 
Distempers are check'd by this Constitution 
of the Air: the Inhabitants often suffer from
Catarrhous Distempers, more than in North- 
ern Countries, their Bodies being more de- 
licate, and their Pores more open by the pre-
ceding Heat. 
As to their Seasons, their Spring lasts from 
the Beginning of January to March; their 
Summer is double, the first, from the Begin- 
ning of March to the Solstice †, and the se- 
cond, from the Solstice to the Beginning of 
September; and this second Summer is more 
constant, healthy, and less scorching than the 
first, by reason of the difference of the Winds,
and other Causes hereafter mention'd. Their 
Autumn lasts September and October; and 
their Winter, November and December. 
The extreme Heat of the first Summer 
proceeds from the hot Winds which blow 
from
* Tropical Heat, see p. 116. Note *. 
† Solstice is likewise explain'd in the same Note.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 127
from the South and South-East, called by 
the Inhabitants Campsin from their Conti- 
nuance of fifty Days; tho' they have no 
determin'd Time, but last sometimes more 
than three Months, and reign March, April, 
and May; they blow over the Sands, which 
they raise in Clouds, sometimes so as to darken
the Sun: during this Time, many epidemi-
cal Diseases rage, especially Inflammations of 
the Eyes, a Fever, which the Inhabitants 
call Demelmuia, attended with a Delirium, 
and proves often mortal in a few Hours, and 
even the Plague itself. And this extreme Heat 
has sudden Interruptions of Cold, which 
renders the Inhabitants still more unhealthy, 
and they live under Ground during the 
Campsin. 
The Heat during the Months of June 
and July, which by the Course of the Sun 
should be the greatest, is so moderated by
the Northerly and moist Winds blowing over 
the Mediterranean, and by the overflowing 
of the Nile, that the Inhabitants grow heal- 
thy, and sow their Seed in the Months of 
September and October, Their Winter has 
seldom any Snow, Frost, or Rain, or any 
thing besides Dew, unless in some Places 
bordering upon the Mediterranean, and re- 
ceiving Clouds from thence. So that the 
reigning Winds in Egypt are the Southerly, 
blowing as it were from an Oven; and the 
Northerly, moist and cold over the Mediter- 
ranean, and this last perhaps two Thirds of 
2 the



128 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Year, and during the greatest Solar 
Heats. 
Another Cause by which both the Heat 
and Drought of the Air is temper'd, is the 
overflowing of the Nile, which rising in the 
Mountains of Ethiopia, bends its Course 
Northerly thro' a Tract of Land near 30 
Degrees. By the Rains falling in those 
Mountains, the Nile has ever since the Me- 
mory of Man begun to swell the 17th of 
June New Stile; and it rises every Day about
8 or 10 Inches, and begins to fail in August,
and decreases till May, when it is in a man- 
ner stagnating. The Limits of its Height 
are, from 26 the highest of all, to 18 the 
lowest, in Cubits; the middle 24; 18 is a 
Height barely sufficient to make an Inunda- 
tion. Its Water not only refreshes the Air 
with a kindly Moisture, but is the most de- 
licious Drink in the World, when purify'd 
by the Deposition of its Sediment, being of 
itself a Cure for most Distempers, where 
Dilution, a Diuresis or Sweating is necessary, 
as Prosper Alpinus found by Experience. 
There are several remarkable Things in 
the Constitution of the Egyptian Air; for 
the Perspiration of the Soil, which is sandy 
and barren, cannot affect the Air very much, 
the Exhalations being mostly either from the 
Surface of the Inundation, or the Mud and 
Slime after it is over. The natural Heat 
and Dryness of the Air, and the Change 
from that to cooler Moisture; the Abate- 
ment

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 129
ment of the Tropical Heats by Northerly 
Winds; the Extremity of Heat and Drought, 
by the Southerly Winds blowing over Sands, 
and the Moisture again induc'd by the Clouds
from the Mediterranean, and the Inundation; 
the Exhalations from stagnating and putrid 
Water, when the Inundation is quite over;
and lastly, the Temperance and regular Diet 
of most of the Inhabitants, must give a fair 
Experiment of the Effects of Air upon hu- 
man Constitutions. And accordingly, those 
who labour and live hard, and cannot defend
themselves from the Injuries of the Wind, 
mostly hot and dry, are extreamly lean and 
squalid. The Rich, by a plentiful and nourish- 
ing Diet, and preserving themselves from the 
Heat and Drought, by Bathing, Relaxation 
of their Fibres by drinking the Water of the 
Nile, are often fat. 
The Air of Egypt having no noxious
Qualities from the Perspiration of the Ground, 
Were it not from the accidental ones above- 
mention'd, would be extremely wholsome; 
and the People who know how to defend 
themselves from those Accidents, live to great
Ages. The frequent Changes of Heat and 
Cold, Moisture and Drought, produce all 
the Distempers of the Catarrhous Kind, and 
Arthritick Diseases; and by the strong Per- 
spiration, Leprosies, even Elephantiasis, The 
Effects of a hot dry Air by a Southerly 
Wind, blowing over a sandy Country, are 
felt strongly; inflammatory Distempers, es- 
I pecially

130 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
pecially a raging Fever with a Phrenzy, called 
Demelmuia, mortal in a few Hours: they 
feel likewise all the good Effects of the A- 
batement of this Heat and Drought by Nor- 
therly Winds, and the overflowing of the 
Nile. They are likewise subject to all the 
Diseases from putrid and stagnating Water, 
and Exhalations from Heat after the Inunda- 
tion is over, and these are often pestilential. 
Pestilential Distempers are frequent in 
Egypt, and what I think demonstrates the 
Plague to be Endemial * to that Country, 
is its regular Invasion and going off at cer- 
tain Seasons, beginning about September, the
time of the Subsidence of the Nile, and end- 
ing in June the time of the Inundations. In 
the first Case, are all the Causes productive
of Putrefaction, Heat, and putrid Exhala- 
tions, and no Winter Frost to check them. 
But what is wonderful, the Plague, and the 
Fevers from the Heat of the Campsin, go 
off by the Northerly Winds, and the over- 
flowing of the Nile: and the wholsome Qua- 
lity of Northerly Winds for checking pesti- 
lential Distempers, has been observ'd by all 
ancient Physicians, And to shew that the 
Plague depends upon the Temperature of the 
Air, Prosper Alpinus takes Notice, that up- 
on the swelling of the Nile, the Infection, 
and
* Endemial or Endemick, is a Disease that infects a great
many in the same Country, proceeding from some Cause pe- 
culiar to the Country, or the Place where it reigns, such as 
the Scurvy to the Northern Climes, the Plague to Turkey and
Egypt.

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 131
and even the Danger from infected Cloath
and Furniture goes off; besides the cooling of
the Air, the Northerly Winds may dissipate 
the stagnating Vapours, and the running of 
the Nile the stagnating Waters. Hippocrates 
and Galen have both observ'd, that the 
Etesiæ, or Northerly Winds blowing in Sum- 
mer, made a wholsome Season; but this Ob- 
servation is more sensible in hot Countries 
than in ours. 
Boutius, a very learned and sagacious Phy- 
sician, has left us a Description of the Air 
and Diseases of the Inhabitants of Java: it 
is situated under the Line, and is very hot;
it is likewise moist, from the great Quantities 
of Rain and stagnant Waters; and from Heat 
and Moisture, and Salts produc'd from those 
Qualities, the putrifying Quality of the Air 
is very manifest in rotting of Cloaths, and 
rusting of Metals. From these Qualities the 
Air feels to human Bodies piercing and active; 
and as all the Inhabitants of hot Countries have 
that  Sensation of the penetrating Qualities of 
Air, Cold after great Heats, which proceeds 
chiefly from the Pores of their Skin being 
relaxed before by Heat, such Bodies must
imbibe Air faster. 
In Java, as in Egypt, the Northerly 
Winds render the Air wholsome, by abating 
The extreme Heat; some Land Winds carry- 
ing along with them the stagnant Vapours, 
are often otherwise. The Soil being here 
fruitful and rich, emits Steams, consisting of 
I2 volatile





132 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
volatile and active Parts, which fructify the 
Soil, but are hurtful to human Bodies. 
The Seasons here cannot be distinguish'd 
by their Heat, by reason of the Smallness of 
their Latitude: there are only two, what may 
be called Winter is the rainy Season; this 
Season is attended with Diseases which de- 
pend upon Putrefaction. The Inhabitants 
measure their Seasons of Heat and Cold by 
the times of the Day; the Mornings and 
Evenings are cooler by the Absence of the Sun, 
and by the Sea Breezes; the scorching Heat 
of the middle of the Day makes that Time 
unfit for Business. 
The popular Diseases here are, a kind of 
Palsy, called by the Inhabitants Beriberium, 
the Cause of which is evidently cold Air, 
imbib'd by the Pores of the Skin, extreamly 
relaxed by Heat before, and therefore in- 
vades such as incautiously expose themselves 
to the Morning Air, or throw their Bed- 
clothes off in the Night. Another Disease, 
called * Catalepsis, is likewise popular in this 
Country, proceeding from the penetrating 
Qualities of the Air imbib'd by relax'd 
Bodies, which renders the Patient rigid like a 
Statue, and dies in a few Hours. Diarrhœas 
and Dysenteries are common from the same 
Cause, by sudden Suppression of Perspiration. 
It is a Matter of Observation, that great 
Heats exalt the Bile, by exhaling the watery 
Particles which dilute it, by a strong sensible 
Per-
* Catalepsis, is a convulsive Disease like an Apoplexy. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 133
Perspiration; and therefore the Cholera Mor- 
bus †, and other Diseases of the Liver, are 
common and fatal in the East-Indies; and 
from diseased Livers, Dropsies and Atrophies 
are frequent in Java: and in this Country 
Fevers are seldom intermitting, but conti- 
nual, with Phrensies, and other dreadful 
Symptoms, as during the Campsin in Egypt,
proving mortal in a short time. 
It seems agreeable to Reason and Expe- 
rience, that the Air operates sensibly in 
forming the Constitutions of Mankind, the 
Specialities of Features, Complexion, Tem- 
per, and consequently the Manners of Man- 
kind, which are found to vary much in dif- 
ferent Countries and Climates. As to Fea- 
tures, what an infinite Variety arises from the 
Combination of the Parts of a human Face! 
so that since the Creation of the World, per- 
haps there were never two, upon a narrow 
Inspection, that perfectly resembled one ano- 
ther; for there are Faces not only individual, 
but Gentilitious and National; European, 
Asiatick, Chinese, African, Grecian Faces, 
are characteris'd: and this Diversity of Na- 
tional Features and Shapes is not altogether 
the Effect of Propagation from the same ori- 
ginal Stock; for it is known by Experience, 
that Transplantation, changes the Stature and 
outward Shape both of Plants and Animals. 
I3 Hippo-
† Cholera Morbus, is a convulsive Motion of the Stomach 
and Guts, whereby the bilious Excrements are discharg'd in 
great Plenty, both upwards and downwards.  





134 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part II.
Hippocrates makes great Account of the 
Influence of the Air upon the Fœtus, both 
before and after Birth. He is of Opinion, 
that the great variety of European Faces, is 
owing to that of the Air and Seasons, as has 
been observ'd in another Place, there being 
such great Excursions in the Extremities of 
Heat and Cold, that their Offspring is as it 
were begot and brought forth in different 
Climates. 
That the Shape of Animals should be modi- 
fy'd by the Air, is in no Ways unaccountable; 
for an Animal growing, expands its Fibres in 
the Air as a Fluid, which by a gentle Pres- 
sure resists the Motion of the Heart in the 
Expansion and Elongation * of the Fibres; 
and tho' the Fibres of several Animals shoot 
as it were in this Fluid, according to their 
original Shapes, yet such a Fluid resisting by 
its Pressure, is, in respect to the Animal, like 
a soft Mold, in which the Body is form'd; 
and therefore, according to the Quantity of
its Pressure, depending upon its most perma- 
nent State of dense, rare, hot, cold, dry, 
moist, must have some Influence in forming 
the outward Figure of such a Body in a State 
of Acretion or Growing : besides this out- 
ward Pressure, the Air being mix'd with the 
Animal Fluids, determines their Condition 
as to Rarity, Density, Viscosity, Tenuity, 
and several other Qualities.
That
* Lengthening. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 135
That the Complexion depends much upon 
the Air, is plain from Experience; the Com- 
plexion of the Inhabitants of several Coun- 
tries being fair, swarthy, black or adust, ac- 
cording to the Degrees of Heat, Drought, 
Moisture, or Coolness of the Air they live 
in; for the Inhabitants of Countries in great 
Latitudes are generally fairer than those that 
live nearer the Sun. 
That the Temper and Passions are influ- 
enc'd by the Air, is no less certain: People 
of delicate Nerves and moveable Spirits, are 
often joyful, sullen, sprightly, dejected, hope- 
ful, despairing, according to the Weather; 
and these Changes happen in stronger Con- 
stitutions, but pass unobserv'd. 
There are Days in which the intellectual 
Faculties of Memory, Imagination, Judg- 
ment, are more vigorous; therefore it seems 
probable, that the Genius of Nations de- 
pends upon that of their Air; for Arts and 
Sciences have hardly ever appear'd in very 
great or very small Latitudes. The Inhabitants 
of some Countries succeed best in those Arts 
which require Industry and great Application 
of Mind; others in such as require Imagi- 
nation: from hence some Countries produce 
better Mathematicians, Philosophers, and 
Mechanics; others better Poets, which be- 
sides the Rules of Art, require Imagination; 
and it seems, that Labour is more tolerable 
to the Inhabitants of colder Climates, and 
Liveliness of Imagination to those of hot.
I4 There






136 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
There are two Things common to all 
Mankind, Air and Aliment, and both differ 
very much in their Qualities, in different
Countries and Climates but those of the 
Air perhaps are more different than those 
of the Aliment or Food. In perusing the 
Accounts of the Temper and Genius of the 
Inhabitants of different Countries, we dis- 
cover in them a great Uniformity, even tho' 
the Race has been chang'd; for the Temper 
of the Gauls, describ'd by Cæsar and other 
Writers, is much the same with that of the 
present French, of which there is a remark- 
able Instance in the Misopogon of the Em- 
peror Julian; he tells us, that he had passed
a Winter at Paris, where there were more 
Comedians, Dancers, and Fiddlers, than there 
were Citizens besides. And I believe if a Race 
of Laplanders were transported thither, in a 
few Years they would be found in the Con- 
dition describ'd by the Emperor Julian. 
If we consider the Causes assign'd by Hip- 
pocrates, of the different Temper of the 
Inhabitants of different Climates, we shall 
find them sufficiently proportion'd to their 
Effects. In Northern Countries, where the 
Alterations of the Height of the Mercury in 
the Barometer, and consequently of the 
Weight of the Air, are frequent and great, 
the Fibres of human Bodies are in a continual 
oscillatory * Motion from a Pressure of 1200, 
1800,
* Oscillatory Motion is properly the Swing or Motion of a 
Pendulum of a Clock, and thence comes to be used for all 
tremulous or undulating Motions having Resemblance thereto. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 137
1800, nay, 3600 more at one time than 
another; and tho' this, by the Softness and 
Rarity of the Fluid, is insensible, and not 
painful, it is a sort of Exercise, which the 
Inhabitants of Countries where the Variation 
of the Height of the Mercury is small or no- 
thing, do not feel. 
By the Difference of the Tension of the 
Fibres, the whole nervous System and the 
animal Spirits are in some manner affected; 
And let us consider again the Extremes of 
Heat and Cold in great Latitudes, operating 
after the same manner, relaxing and con- 
stringing the Fibres by turns, and the ex- 
treme Cold acting likewise as a Stimulus, in
consequence of which we find an Activity 
and Tolerance of Motion and Labour in 
dry frosty Weather, more than in hot; 
whereas the People within the Tropicks are 
constantly in the State of our hottest 
Weather. 
Therefore, whoever considers Mankind in 
such different Circumstances, will find, that 
the Temper both of their Body and Mind 
must be different, and that a greater Varie- 
ty in the Oscillatory Motion of the Fibres of 
Northern People, must produce the same in 
their Spirits; and therefore a proportional 
Inequality in their Passions, and consequent- 
ly greater Activity and Courage. 
That the Inhabitants of Climates, where 
the Difference of the Weight, Heat and 
Cold of the Air is but small, feel only the 
Changes

138 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Changes of the Tension of their Fibres pro- 
ceeding from Drought and Moisture, being 
free from the Agitations and uneasy Sensa- 
tions of northern People, proceeding from 
the Causes above-mention'd; and the Mo- 
tions of their Fibres and Spirits being more 
uniform, they may be for that Reason, and 
from excessive Heats, lazy and indolent. 
That the Constitutions of Mankind differ 
according to the Qualities of the Air in 
which they live, is an uncontested Matter of
Fact, and depends upon obvious Causes: 
For as Hippocrates observed, that the In- 
habitants of moist Countries were bloated, 
leucophlegmatic, and dull, from the Rela- 
xation of their Fibres, and the Moisture im- 
bib'd with the Air; and contrary Causes 
must; produce contrary Effects: Heat indeed
relaxes the Fibres, but by absorbing the 
Moisture may likewise harden, and render 
them more solid: For the Bones of Ani- 
mals in hot Countries are more solid, and 
specifically heavier than those in cold Cli- 
mates, as may be seen in comparing the 
Bones of the Limbs of African Horses with
those of northern Countries. 
The Blood likewise in hot Countries is 
thicker and blacker, by the Dissipation of 
the serous Part by sensible Perspiration, 
which is Matter of Fact well attested by 
Physicians who have practised in those hot 
Countries: And from this black adust State 
of their Blood, they are Atrabilarious; for 
great

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 139
great Heats exalt the Bile, by dissipating the 
Moisture which dilates it; but Bile, of 
itself, is the most unperspirable of Animal 
Fluids, for it stops at the Surface of the Skin, 
and discolours it. 
There is some Anology * between Plants 
and Animals, and both are longer in coming
to Maturity in cold and moist Air; for the 
prolifick Age of Mankind is much earlier 
in hot than cold Countries, the Females be- 
ing in that State at ten Years of Age. And 
the Inhabitants of warm Countries are not 
subject to be fat, for a strong Perspiration
keeps an Animal from being so; yet a copi- 
ous Diet and Inactivity will always occa- 
sion Exceptions from the general Rule. 
Cold and moist Air must necessarily pro- 
duce phlegmatic and lax Constitutions, and 
by stopping Perspiration, with a copious Diet, 
accumulate the Animal Oil: But dry and 
cold Air in a Degree tolerable to human 
Bodies, which is a state of our Winter 
Frosts, creates a strict or tight Constitution 
of the Fibres, and all the Effects thereon 
depending, as Vigour and Activity, &c. 
As the Force of human Bodies is limited, 
they are not capable of bearing Extremities 
of any kind, of too great Rarety, Density, 
Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought in the 
Air. From the same cause human Bodies 
do
* Analogy is the Relation which one Thing bears to ano- 
ther.


140 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
do not easily sustain violent and sudden 
Changes, which agitate the Fluids and Solids
too much; for as the State of our Fluids 
and Solids change with the Air, violent Alte- 
rations in the latter produce the same in 
the former. For Example: Suppose such 
a State of the Air as makes a great Stric-
ture of all the external parts of the Body, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Cir- 
culation in the Vessels exposed to the Air, 
and in those which immediately communi- 
cate with them: Suppose again, the Air is
suddenly changed from this State to one 
which violently relaxes the Fibres; by their 
Relaxation it is possible that the Vessels which
were destin'd before to carry the Serum or 
Lymph, may admit the Blood, which is an 
inflammatory State: Accordingly we find, 
that inflammatory Distempers of several 
kinds are rise in moist and warm Weather, 
preceded by hard and lasting Frosts: Frosts
stop the Perspiration of the Earth, which 
being restored by Thaw, fills the Air 
with an unusual Quantity of Vapours, 
which affect human Bodies, not only by 
Relaxation, but as they imbibe them with
the Air. 
Cold both congeals the Fluids and con- 
stringes the Solids; for it acts like a small Li- 
gature upon the Vessels affected with it, by 
which the Circulation through the Vessels 
is retarded; the natural Effect of which is a 
greater Secretion of Serosity through the 
Glands




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 141
Glands contiguous; for the Extremities of
the Vessels near the Glands being press'd, 
they cannot so plentifully carry off the re- 
fluent Fluid, by which there must be a 
greater Flux of Liquor towards the Glands, 
and consequently a greater from its Emuncto-
ries; therefore Catarrhs, or serous Defluxions 
upon all the Parts of the Body, but especially
from the Glands of the Head and Throat, 
are a natural Effect of Cold. 
Obstructions by Cold in the outward Parts 
of the Body, drive the Blood pressing with 
greater Force upon the inward Parts, and in- 
crease Heat, and likewise may occasion a 
Siziness in the Blood: And Cold, by sup- 
pressing the Perspiration of Salts in the Blood, 
by congealing the Blood, and likewise by a 
painful Stimulus corroding the Skin, is apt to
produce Scurvies, and other cutaneous Erup- 
tions, and in extremity is capable of freezing
the Fluids, and reducing Animal Substances 
to a gangrenous State. 
Cold Air is also capable of rendering in- 
flammatory Distempers with cutaneous E- 
tuptions more dangerous, by hindering the 
Relaxation of the Skin; as the Small-pox is
found to be most fatal during hard Frosts, 
and cold north-easterly Winds. Cold Air 
likewise, by its immediate Contact with the 
Surface of the Lungs, is capable of abating 
or stopping the Circulation of the Blood, 
and bringing them into an inflammatory 
State, and by producing Catarrhs and Coughs, 
is


142 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is productive of all the Effects of such De- 
fluxions upon the Lungs, as Ulcerations, and
all Sorts of Pulmonick Consumptions. 
Hot and moist Air producing Relaxations, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Force 
of the Solids in propelling the Fluids, must
produce Stagnation, Tumours, and Putrefac- 
tion in the Liquids, and all the other Diseases 
depending upon a lax State of the Fibres: 
Hippocrates observed such Diseases always 
consequent upon a moist Constitution of 
Air with southerly Winds, which are warm; 
and the same has been often observed here in 
England. 
As Perspiration is the last Action of per- 
fect Animal Digestion, that Constitution of 
Air which suppresses Perspiration, must
hinder Digestion; therefore cold and moist
Air must be hurtful to the Stomach:
And as Catarrhs and Coughs are the Effects
of cold and moist Air, and those habitually 
affecting the Lungs, they often produce pul- 
monick Consumptions; yet it seems probable, 
that where those Consumptions are a po- 
pular Disease, they proceed from some par- 
ticular Acrimony in the Air of that Country, 
affecting that tender Organ by immediate 
Contact, and perhaps most of the Glands 
of the Body; for our Consumptions are for 
the most part scrophulous, and scrophulous
Distempers are common in this Country.
And where the Air is charg'd with any 
saline acrid Particles, they will naturally co- 
agulate

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 143
agulate the Fluid where they touch; and 
from the abundance of Mineral Waters of all 
Sorts in England, it may be inferr'd, that 
there are abundance of Mineral Steams, which
are capable of producing such Distempers. 
From what has been said on the Subject 
of the Influence of Air upon human Bo- 
dies, it is plain that no vitious State, either 
of the Solids or Fluids, but is producible 
by the common Properties and Qualities of 
Air, and their Changes and Combinations. 
By the Qualities of the Air, the solid Parts 
may be stimulated: For example, the Sti- 
mulus of extreme cold Air is very sensible. 
Heat, or any Quality of Air, so excessive
as to produce a painful Sensation, acts as a 
Stimulus: And what obstructs the Passages 
of the Vessels which communicate with the 
Air, is stimulating, by increasing the Force
of the Heart and Fibres to overcome the 
Obstruction; this either Cold or Moisture 
may do, which often produce, first a Chil- 
ness, and then a succeeding Heat, which are 
feverish Symptoms. Many volatile Particles 
floating in the Air, as the Odoriferous Ve- 
getables, act as a Stimulus, and produce 
Heach-Achs, as we often find. 
That the Fibres are constring'd and re- 
lax'd by the Alterations of the Properties and 
Qualities of the Air, has been already de- 
monstrated; and that the Fluids may be 
Vitiated in the same manner, is no less 
plain: That the Blood may be condensed 
by



144 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by Heat, by absorbing the most fluid Part; 
That a certain Degree of Heat will attenuate, 
and a greater coagulate the Serum; and that 
Heat in general is capable of producing great 
Acrimony and putrid Fevers of all Sorts, is true 
from Experience: And any Degree of Heat 
greater than that of a human Body will do 
so; for our natural Heat is near the Degree 
of Coagulation. Cold likewises condenses 
the Fluids in immediate Contact with it; 
and is capable of producing Siziness and 
Viscosity of the Blood: And by the same 
Causes Acrimony of all Sorts, to the De- 
gree of Putrefaction, is producible by Air. 
Evacuations of all Sorts, from all the 
glandulous Parts of the Body, are producible 
by the Stoppage of Perspiration by Cold; 
for there is no diuretick Medicine that works
so strong in a Flux of Urine, as a Suppression
of the perspirable Matter in hysterical Cases. 
Cold likewise promotes all Catarrhs and 
Coughs; and moist Air, Diarrhœas, and 
copious Secretions from the Glands of the 
Guts, without which Evacuations, Stoppage 
of Perspiration produces a Plethora or Ac- 
cumulation of the Humours in the Vessels. 
From these Considerations it appears, that 
die Diseases, especially the Acute of any Sea- 
son, chiefly depend upon the Constitution of 
the Air, by which they are modified as 
to their Rifeness, Duration, Degrees of 
Danger, their particular Symptoms, Circula- 
sons and Periods; In which we must not
only



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 145 
only consider the present, but likewise the 
preceding State of the Air; because, as
they are more similar, or contrary, so the 
Alterations produced in human Bodies are 
more or less violent; particularly it will be 
found, that sudden Changes from the Ex- 
tremes of Cold and Dry, to Heat and Mois- 
ture, are Causes which operate strongly in 
modifying the Diseases of that Season. 
That long and excessive Heats, by inducing 
Weakness, are apt to stamp the Succeeding 
Fevers with nervous Symptoms: That such 
a dry Constitution of Air, as is apt to con- 
tract the Skin, and obstruct its Pores, makes 
the Crisis by sweating more difficult; and 
perhaps the different Periods of Fevers, Quo- 
tidian, Tertian and Quartan, may depend 
upon a preceding greater Viscosity, or Ob- 
struction in the Vessels, produced by the 
Constitution of the Air: That the more 
dangerous State of the Small pox, and other 
inflammatory cutaneous Eruptions, depends 
upon the Air; and it seems very plain, as it 
induces a greater Laxity or Stricture of the 
Fibres, or creates Obstruction in the Vessels 
of the Skin. 
That Diseases of the Lungs, as far as they 
are not the product of bad Diet, depend 
chiefly upon the Qualities of the Air, seems
evident; for the Lungs are expos'd to the 
outward Air, which has an immediate Ad- 
mission into the Air-bladders, and perhaps 
into the Blood-vessels; and whatever Effect
K the


146 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Air has upon the Skin, this must be ex- 
pected upon the Lungs in a particular Man- 
ner. Thus far I thought necessary to give 
the Reader an Abstract of the ingenious Dr. 
Arhurthnot's Explanations of Hippocrates,
and others, on the Subject of the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies. 
But to conclude, I shall only add; that 
of all the Causes that are capable of altering
our Bodies, no one is so necessary and so 
sudden as the Air; the Necessity of which 
is evident from the use of Air in Respiration; 
for if it happens, that any of the chief Or- 
gans appropriated either for the Entrance or 
Reception of Air receive any great Injury, 
the Animal dies suddenly by Suffocation; 
whereby it manifestly appears, that Air and
Life in perfect living Creatures are insepe- 
rable. 
According to Hippocrates, natural Heat is 
preserv'd by moderate cool Air; for if you 
take away the Air from Fire, it will not
burn, but will immediately be extinguish'd: 
and our Spirits, which are the principal In- 
struments of the Soul, are generated and 
nourish'd by Air, and supported by its going 
in and out; and it is principally for this Rea- 
son that our Bodies are every where perfora- 
ted or porous, that our Arteries are continu- 
ally beating, and that Nature has made such 
admirable fine Mouths to the two Vessels 
called the Lungs; so that the Air is as ne-
cessary

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 147 
cessary to a living Creature as the Soul it- 
self. 
As to the Suddenness of the Air, we feel 
it every Moment; for it instantly ascends to 
the Brains by the Nose, and traversing almost 
an infinite number of minute Passages, which 
are to be seen in the admirable Net-work of
animal Bodies; proceeds to the inmost Re- 
cesses of the Body, and descends with incre- 
dible Velocity into the Lungs by the Mouth, 
and thence to the Heart: it likewise pene- 
trates the Pores of the Skin insensibly, and 
enters the Arteries by Transpiration, as far as 
the deepest Cavities of our Bodies; it sur- 
rounds us always, and never abandons us one 
Minute; so that we must constantly imbibe 
or suck it in whether we will or not. 
The Divine Hippocrates, being thoroughly 
acquainted with the Power of Air upon hu- 
man Bodies, tells us in his Epidemicks, and
in the second Book of Diet, that the whole 
Constitution of the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends entirely upon the Air. 
Therefore the Choice of good Air, and a 
pleasant Habitation, must always claim the 
first Rank in the Regimen of Health; so 
that such as would preserve their Health, and 
obtain a long Life, ought to know the Good- 
ness of the Air, as well in regard to its Sub- 
stance as to its Qualities. 
As to its Substance, when it is pure and 
has no Seeds of Corruption, and that it is 
K2 not

148 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
not impregnated with malignant Vapours pro- 
ceeding from dead Bodies, or from the Sinks
or common Shores of great Cities, or stand- 
ing Waters; or from the sulphureous Exha- 
lations of Mines, combin'd with different 
Salts, or metalline Particles, which are stink- 
ing, oily, and inflammable, of which I 
treated at large already in Part II. Chap. I. 
But if the Air happens to be corrupted or 
infected, and that we cannot remove as soon 
as we would, it must be purified with artifi- 
cial Fires made of Rosemary, Juniper, Lau- 
rel, Cyprus, and Perfumes made of Aloes- 
wood, Juniper-berries, and other Aromatics; 
likewise the Steams of Vinegar correct the 
Malignity of the Air in a surprizing man- 
ner. 
As to the Qualities of the Air, all Ex- 
cesses of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, 
are pernicious; for which Reason we should 
chuse moderate Air if possible; therefore 
serene Air moderately hot and dry, blowing
from clear inland Places, or from Rivers 
with a gentle Breeze, free from sudden and 
great Changes, open and rural, purg'd of salt 
and oily Exhalations, is generally the best
to preserve Health. 
As to what regards ancient People, a warm 
Air is certainly the best for them, and their 
Chambers should never be without Fire, es- 
pecially in the cold Seasons of the Year; for 
it is experimentally true, that their State of 
Health is much better in Summer than in 
Winter;

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 149
Winter; because they always carry the Win- 
ter along with them. Their Bed-Chambers 
should be in the upper Apartments, and their 
Houses open to the East, that the Morning 
Sun might enter their Rooms: there should 
likewise be an opening on the North Side, in
order to let in Air from that Side, and by 
that Means to purify the Air, and expel all 
noxious or offensive Steams and Vapours out 
of their Chambers. 
CHAP. V. 
OF ALIMENTS in general.
ALIMENT includes all that is taken
in as Meats and Drinks, from whence 
Nourishment is expected, which is what sup- 
plies Nutrition. And what comes under this 
Term is threefold: First, all that passes in 
the first Stage from Mastication, or Chewing, 
the Chyles's Entry into the Blood is so call'd. 
And Secondly, the Apposition of new Parts 
in the Room of those wore off by Action. 
Thirdly, when the Chyle after various Circu- 
lations with the Blood, is deprived of all that
can be of farther Use to any Part of the Body, 
it is carried both sensibly and insensibly 
through the Emunctories of the Body. 
K3 The

150 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The first State
of Digestion.
The first is carried on in the 
following Manner: The Parts of
Food being divided by Chewing, 
and moisten'd with Spittle, that it may be 
render'd softer in order to undergo a farther 
Comminution, is thrust down into the Sto- 
mach; wherein, by the Assistance of the con- 
tinual Motion arising from the musculous 
Coats of the Stomach, and of Respiration, 
by which the * Diaphragma alternately presses
the Stomach downwards, the Parts of the 
Food soften'd by the Saliva or Spittle, and
other serous Liquors from the Glands, is 
shook about, ground and divided into yet 
smaller Parts, until it acquires such a Fine- 
ness as is requisite, together with the glandu- 
lous Fluids and Liquors drank down, for 
composing that milky Fluid call'd Chyle ‡. 
But here we are to observe, that the Parts of
the Food are not dissolv'd into essential Parts, 
or Elements, whether chymical or any other, 
by the Assistance of any Ferment in the Sto- 
mach; that is to say, by a Separation of some 
Parts of different Kinds combined together, 
and an Union of other Parts that were before 
separated, as it happens in all Fermentation 
of Wine, wherein tartarous Particles, before 
united
* Diaphragma, or Midriff, is a transverse Muscle which 
separates the Thorax or Chest from the Abdomen or Belly; in 
the Middle it is membranous; the Gullet, the great Artery, 
and the great hollow Vein all pass through it: It conduces to 
Respiration with other Muscles, and pressing upon the Guts 
helps forward the Secretion of the Excrements. 
‡ Chyle is that milky or Emulsion-like Juice, which the 
Food is immediately converted into by Digestion. 


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 151  
united with others, are separated; and Parti- 
cles of Phlegm and Oil, before in Separation, 
are brought nearer together, and form a true 
Spirit. 
But by the Concoction that is perform'd in 
the Stomach, the Food is divided into integral 
Parts, not differing from what they were be- 
fore, only in obtaining a lesser Bulk; altoge- 
ther in the same Manner as Coral is grinded 
upon a Marble with Water, and reduced to 
an impalpable Powder, whose Parts are only 
small Pieces of Coral, and not any Principled
into which Coral is resolv'd. For the Proof 
of which there is no need of any other Argu- 
ment, than that in the Stomach and the In- 
testines of the larger Fish, that devour and 
digest the lesser, the Chyle is nothing else but
a Liquor filled with the Fibres of the devour- 
ed Fish, as may be easily discerned with a 
Microscope; or the small Parts of Fibres no 
way differing from the larger, only in Magni- 
tude, that is, indigested Pieces of Flesh.
The Chyle being thus elaborated in the 
Stomach by its alternate Contractions, and 
the Force of the neighbouring Muscles, is 
thrown out into the Intestines, at its Entrance
into which it is diluted with the Bile and 
pancreatic Juice: which Liquors undergo 
no manner of Effervescence * with the Chyle, 
or with one another, but are smoothly and 
K4 quietly
* Effervescence signifies an intestine Commotion produced 
by mixing two Bodies together that lay at rest before; attend- 
ed sometimes with a hissing Noise, Frothing, and Ebullition
For

152 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quietly mixed therewith, and with each other, 
as appears by many Experiments; and by their 
Means the Chyle is render'd more fluid. 
Hence it follows, that the Parts of the Food, 
in some measure dissolved by the Motion of 
the Stomach, but not sufficiently separated
from each other, thro' want of a due Quan- 
tity of Fluid, every one yet being in some 
measure in Contact with one another, pass 
over the Pylorus * into the Guts; and when 
these greater or less digested Particles cannot
be strain'd in any considerable Quantity into 
the Lacteals † by reason of their Magni- 
tude, they are yet thrust farther into the in- 
testinal Tube ‡, and therein putrify, as they 
are out of the Limit of Circulation, which 
begins at the Lacteals: For all Things, such
as the Flesh of dead Creatures, Herbs, &c.
that are capable of Putrefaction out of the 
Animal, are capable of Digestion in it. 
Hence
For Example, Acids, such as Juice of Limons, Spirit of
Nitre, &c. and Salt of Wormwood, Tartar, or other Alka- 
line Substances, being mixed together, will produce an Efferve- 
scence or Ebullition, 
* Pylorus, or Janitor, the right Orifice of the Ventricle or 
Stomach, which sends the Food into the Guts. 
† Lacteals are long and pellucid Vessels or Veins, which 
arise from all Parts of the small Guts, from whence they re- 
ceive the Chyle, and run to the Glands of the Mesentery. They 
are call'd Lacteals of the first Sort, being so very small; and 
from thence they convey the Chyle to the common Receptacle, 
and being larger are call'd Lacteals of the second Sort, and 
thence it is carried into the Thoracick Duct, and from that into 
the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein. 
‡ Intestinal Tube, the hollow Pipe of the Guts from one
End to the other, which is divided into six Parts.



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 153
Hence it is certain, that Digestion is much 
more effectually and expeditiously perform'd 
in the Day-time, or when we are awake, 
than in the Night, or during Sleep; because 
while we wake we breathe thicker, and the 
Diaphragma and Muscles of the Belly, and 
even the whole Body is more exercised, and 
consequently the Stomach is oftener com- 
press'd. It also follows, that by gentle walk- 
ing, or while we exercise ourselves in any mo- 
derate Motion, Digestion is more effectually 
and expeditiously performed, than while we 
fit in Idleness and without Motion; and still 
much better than when we fit hard at Study, 
because by this Means the Mind is so diverted, 
that our Respiration then is rarer, even than 
in our Sleep, and the Muscles are thereby less 
contracted: And that we digest better in 
Winter than in Summer, is a Confirmation 
hereof; because in the Winter, to drive away 
the Sense of Cold, we are oftener put upon 
Exercises and greater Activity of Body than in 
the Summer Season; as likewise, because the 
Muscles and solid Parts are more tense, and 
consequently stronger in their Contractions and
Attritions *. 
But as for a Ferment in the Stomach, ac- 
cording to the wrong Notions of some, whe- 
ther it be Spittle or Serum ouzing out from 
the Glands of the Stomach, it cannot contri- 
bute any thing to the Digestion of the Food, 
any farther than by softening it, whereby it 
is
* Rubbing, grinding. 



154 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is capable of being farther divided. Neither 
do any Liquors flow into the Stomach in order 
to promote Digestion; but Digestion, that is, 
the Motion of Chewing, Swallowing, and of 
the Stomach, are the Cause why these Li- 
quors are press'd out, and that they drain into
the Stomach: For that those Liquors contri- 
bute nothing farther to Digestion than by 
softening the Food, is manifest from hence, 
that if Herbs or Meat be mixed with them in 
any convenient warm Place as warm as the 
Stomach, but without Motion, they will 
never be changed into Chyle; so that it is sur- 
prizing that any should ascribe to the Serum 
of the Blood, as it is excerned by the Glands, 
a Faculty of changing solid Meats into the 
Form of Chyle, when it is evident that Serum 
is not a fit * Menstruum for the Solution of 
Bread, Meat, or Herbs. But this whole Af- 
fair will be much better understood from con- 
sidering Boyle's Machine for Digestion, where- 
in, without the Help of any Ferment, but by 
the Assistance only of Warmth, and the Pres- 
sure of rarefy'd Air confined, Bones and 
Flesh, with the Addition of a small Portion 
of Water, are turned into a Jelly; where no- 
thing is wanting to its being made real Chyle, 
but the rough Superficies of a Body to grind 
and often shake it about. 
The
* All Liquors are so call'd which are used as Dissolvents to 
extract the Virtues of Ingredients by Distillation, Infusion
Decoction, &c.


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 155
The Chyle being thus made, 
washes over the Pylorus into the 
intestinal Tube, where, by its 
peristaltic Motion *, and by the Pressure of
the Diaphragma, and the Muscles of the 
Abdomen †, the thinner Parts are strained 
through the narrow Orifices of the Lacteal 
Veins, while the grosser Parts continue their 
Progress downwards until they are quite eject- 
ed by Stool. What passes through the Lacte- 
als is carried by them into the Glands of the 
Mesentery ‡,  where they receive a fine thin 
Lymph from the ‖ Lymphaticks, whereby the 
Chyle is diluted so as to pass easier the rest of
its Course: For beyond the first Glands they 
unite in larger Canals, and those in still larger, 
until at last it enters the common Receptacle 
of the Chyle, which is a kind of Bason form'd 
for it by the Union of the Lacteal and Lym- 
tick Vessels. From thence it ascends thro'
the Thoracick † Duct, and is thence discharg- 
ed into the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein, 
and therewith descends into the right Ventri- 
cle of the Heart, where it is but imperfect- 
The second stage
of Digestion.
ly
* Alternate Motion of Contraction and Dilatation, com- 
monly tending downwards. 
† The Belly, which contains the Stomach, Guts, Liver, 
Spleen and Bladder. 
‡ A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 
‖  Are slender pellucid Tubes arising in all Parts of the 
Body, which permit a thin transparent Liquor to pass through 
towards the Heart, which shut like Flood-Gates upon its re- 
turning. 
† A Canal through which the Chyle passeth from the Lac- 
teals the Blood.



156 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ly mixed; and in its Passage it receives the
Lympha from all the upper Parts of the 
Body. 
But here I must observe, that the most 
subtil Parts of the Chyle pass immediately into
the Blood by the Absorbent * Vessels of the 
Intestines, which discharge their Contents into
the Mesaraick Veins, the Largeness and Number 
of which demonstrate the same, for they are 
numerous and vastly larger than their corre- 
spondent Arteries; and wherever there are 
† Emissaries, there are likewise Absorbent 
Vessels: for Example, by the Absorbent Ves- 
sels of the Skin, Mercury will pass into the 
Blood. But Mr. Hale's ‡ Experiment proves 
this beyond despute; and if we consider the
Straitness of the Thoracick Duct, and the 
Slowness of the Passage of the Chyle by the 
Lacteals thro' it, and at the same time the 
great Quantity of some Liquors and several 
other Things, which pass in a very small Time 
by Urine, and give it a Flavour and Taste; 
by an easy Calculation we may be able to de- 
monstrate, that such a Quantity could not pass, 
into the Blood by the Thoracick Duct in so 
short a Time. 
For which Reason, thin and liquid Ali- 
ments are-most proper, when immediate Re- 
freshment is requir'd, to cheer up the Spirits 
after great Abstinence and Fatigue; and the 
same
* Which suck in. 
† Vessels which throw out a Liquid.
‡ Hœmast. Pag. 123. Exp. 14.

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 157
same Reason may be likewise given, why 
Chalybeat Waters are a proper Remedy in 
Hypochondrical Disorders, and in most Ob- 
structions in the Mesenterick Glands, Liver, 
and Spleen; for their subtle Parts are taken 
immediately into the Mesaraick Vessels, and 
from thence carried directly into the Liver 
and Spleen. 
The Chyle first mixes with the Blood in the 
lest Subclavian Vein, as I have already men- 
tioned, and enters with it into the right Ven- 
tricle of the Heart, where they are very im- 
perfectly mixed; from thence they are pro- 
pelled * into the Lungs, which are the chief
and first Instrument of Sanguification, or 
making Blood: For the Wind-pipe is divid- 
ed into a great Number of Branches, call'd 
Bronchia, and these end in small Air-Blad- 
ders dilatable and contractible, which are ca- 
pable to be inflated by the Admission of 
Air, and subside at the Expulsion of it. The 
Pulmonary Artery and Vein pass along the 
Surfaces of these Air-Bladders in an infinite 
Number of Ramifications or Branchings, like 
a Net-work ‡. A great Number of those 
Air-Bladders form what are call'd Lobuli, 
which hang upon the Bronchia like Bunches 
of Grapes upon a Stalk; and these Lobuli 
constitute the Lobes of the Lungs, which al- 
ways sink in Water before they have been 
in-
* Driven forwards. 
‡ Malphig. de Pulmon. Epist. 1, 2. Tab. I. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 



158 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
inflated with Air, but after it has once enter- 
ed them, they will always swim in it; by 
which Means we may know whether Children 
are born dead or alive. 
The crude Mixture of the Blood and Chyle 
passes from the right Ventricle of the Heart, 
through all the Ramifications of the Pulmo- 
nary Artery; and the more Ramifications 
there are, the Mixture will still be render'd 
the more perfect; yet this is not all, for as this
Mixture of the Blood and Chyle passes through 
the arterial Branches, it is press'd by two con- 
trary Forces; first, that of the Heart driving
it forward against the Tubes; secondly, the 
Elastick Force of the Air pressing it on the 
opposite Side of those Air-Bladders, along
the Surface of which this arterial Tube 
creeps. 
By these two opposite Forces the Parts of
the Liquor are more intimately mix'd and 
compress'd together, and by the Ingress and 
Egress of the Air the Vessels are alternately
compress'd and dilated, by which Means the 
Liquor is still farther attenuated, dissolv'd, 
mixed, and almost assimilated with the Blood, 
but not so perfectly as to serve the animal 
Purposes; for it is very well known by Experi- 
ments of Blood-letting, that sometimes eight 
Hours after eating, some of the Chyle remain'd 
unmixed with the Blood, swimming a-top 
like an oily Substanee. 
The wonderful Mechanism of Nature in 
converting our Aliment into animal Sub- 
stances,


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 159
stances, consists principally in two Things; 
first, in mixing constantly with it animal 
Juices already prepar'd; and secondly, in the 
Action of the solid Parts, as it were churning
them together. This is evident, considering 
the vast Quantity of Saliva * mix'd with 
the Aliment in chewing, the Liquor of 
the Stomach, the Bile †, and Pancreatick 
Juice ‡, the Quantity of the Lymph § from
the Mesenterick Glands, and from the Lym- 
phatick Vessels of the whole Body; so that 
the Juices of an animal Body are as it were 
new distill'd, being excreted out of their 
respective
* Saliva or Spittle, is a thin Liquor secreted immediately 
from the arterial Blood: it is of a soapy Nature, and conse- 
quently is attenuating, resolving, penetrating, and cleansing, 
being composed of Salt, Oil, Water, and Spirit, all which 
can be extracted from it. Too great a Discharge of it by 
smoaking or chewing of Tobacco has often prov'd fatal to 
People of thin Habits of Body, by falling into Decays. 
† Bile or Gall is of two Sorts; the Cystick, or that con- 
tain'd in the Gall-Bladder, and the Hepatick, which flows 
immediately from the Liver. The Cystick Gall is thick, of a 
yellow Colour, and intensely bitter. The Hepatick Gall is 
more fluid, and not so bitter; both Sorts are saponaceous, and 
like Soap, take out Spots from Wool or Silk. Its Use is 
to sheath or blunt the Acids of the Chyle descending from the 
Stomach into the Intestines; likewise it is the principal Dis- 
solvent of the Aliment, and when it is peccant or deficient, 
there can be no right Digestion. 
‡ Is an Humour like the Saliva or Spittle, secreted from 
a conglomerate Gland called the Pancreas or Sweet-bread, 
situated at the bottom of the Stomach, and lies across the 
Belly, reaching from the Liver to the Spleen, separating 
about a Pound of Liquor in 12 Hours. Its Use is to dilute 
the Gall, and to temper its Bitterness and Acrimony after it 
has done its Office, and likewise to dilute the Chyle, with 
other Liquors in the Guts. 
§ Lymph is the most spirituous and elaborated Part of the 
Blood, continually flowing from the lymphatick Vessels. 



160 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
respective Glands and Vessels, and admitted 
again into the Blood with the fresh Aliment: 
during which time the solid Parts act upon 
the Mixture of Aliment and animal Juices, 
in order to make the Mixture still more in- 
timate and compleat; so that we may com- 
pute that our Aliment, before it gets into 
the Blood, is mix'd probably with four times 
the Quantity of animal Juices. 
From whence we may conclude, that an 
Animal whose Juices are unsound, or solid 
Parts weak, can never be duly nourish'd; for 
unsound Juices can never duly repair the Fluids
and Solids of an animal Body, and without 
a due Action of the solid Parts, they can 
never be well mixed; and as the Stomach, 
the Intestines, the Muscles of the lower 
Belly, all act upon the Aliment: Besides, as 
the Chyle is not suck'd, but squeez'd into the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by the Action of 
the Fibres of the Guts, it is evident, that 
the Chyle is peccant in Quantity or Quality, 
when these Actions and Organs are too weak; 
and whatever strengthens the Solids, must 
help Digestion. 
Hence it appears, that Diarrhœas and 
strong Purgings must spoil the first Digestion, 
because of the great Quantities of animal 
Fluids which are thereby expell'd the Body, 
such as, the Saliva, Mucus *, and all the 
Liquors
* Mucus, is that slimy Liquor or Moisture, which daubs 
over and guards the Bowels, and all the chief Passages in 
the Body; and it is separated by the mucilaginous Glands in
most Parts of the Body. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 161
Liquors that are separated in the Glands of
the alimentary Duct †, both Sorts of Gall, 
the Pancreatic Juice, Lymph, and sometimes 
Blood. Considering therefore the Quantity 
of these Secretions, it will plainly appear, 
that almost the whole Juices may be carried 
off by purging; and when those Liquors, 
destin'd by Nature to mix and convert the 
Aliment into an animal Liquid, are expell'd 
out of the Body, the Digestion cannot be so 
Well perform'd. Hence follow Consump- 
tions, Dropsies, and often an Obstruction of
the Mesenterick Glands, which is a great Im- 
pediment to Nutrition; for the Lymph in 
those Glands is a necessary Constiuent of the 
Aliment before it mixes with the Blood. 
The Mixture of the Blood and 
Chyle, after its Circulation thro'
the Lungs by the pulmonary Arteries, being 
brought back into the left Ventricle of the 
Heart, is thence, by the Force of the Heart, 
drove into the Aorta ‖ quite thro' the whole 
The last Stage 
of Digstion.
L Body:
† The whole Passage from the Mouth to the Fundament. 
‖ Aorta, is the great Artery which proceeds from the left 
Ventricle of the Heart, and carries the Blood thro' the Body, 
and every Particle of the Body receives some Branch from it, 
except some of the solid Parts of the Liver, which receive 
the blood from the Vena Portœ. The Arteries are elastick 
Channels or Tubes, endued with a contractile Force, by which 
they drive the Blood still forward, it being hinder'd to go 
backward by the Valves of the Heart. They are also coni- 
cal Vessels, that is, tapering and diminishing by Degrees, 
with their Bases or upper and broader Part towards the Heart; 
and as they pass on, their Diameters grow still less and less, 
and consequently the Celerity of the Motion diminishes by 
the Increase of the Friction of the Fluid against the Sides of
the



162 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Body: and thus the Aliment, circulating thro'
the animal Body, is at last reduc'd almost to
an imperceptible Tenuity or Thinness, before 
it can serve the animal Purposes, in nourish- 
ing both the Fluids and Solids; and after 
various Circulations, and when it is depriv'd 
of all that can be of farther Use to any Part 
of the Body, it is carried off, both sensibly
and insensibly, by the Emunctories * of the 
Body. But for farther Satisfaction concern- 
ing Nutrition, Growth, and Decrease of the 
Body, turn to Part I. Page 19, to 28. 
By the foregoing Doctrine it is evident, 
that Acrimony and Tenacity or Glewiness, 
are the two Qualities in what we take in- 
wardly most to be avoided; for Acrimony or 
Sharpness destroys the capillary Vessels, and 
when it is so great as to affect the solid Parts, 
the Sensation of Pain is intolerable. 
As
the Tubes; and without this Motion, both the Blood and 
Chyle would soon be converted into one solid Mass; but on 
the contrary, by its Continuance, the Fluid being compressed
by the Sides of the Tube, especially in the small Vessels, 
where the Points of Contact are more, the Blood and Chyle 
are still more intimately mix'd, and by Friction attenuated;
by which means the Mixture acquires a greater Degree of 
Fluidity and Similitude of Parts. Hence appears the Neces- 
sity of Exercise to promote a good Digestion. And the Strength 
of the Aliment ought to be proportion'd to the Strength of
the solid Parts of tire Body; for as Animals that use a great 
deal of Labour and Exercise, have their solid Parts more
elastick and strong, they can bear, and ought to have stron- 
ger Food, too thin Nourishment being quickly dissipated by 
the vigorous Action of the solid Parts. 
* Are those Parts of the Body where any thing excremen- 
titious is seperated, and collected to be in readiness to be ejected. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 163
As to the Viscidity or Glewiness of what is 
taken inwardly, when the peristaltick Motion 
of the Guts is so weak, as not to be able to propel 
or drive it forward, the Consequence is dange- 
rous, and often fatal to the Life of the Indi- 
vidual; for when the Tenacity of any Sub- 
stance exceeds the Powers of Digestion, it 
will neither pass, nor be converted into Ali- 
ment; whereas hard Substances will pass 
undissolv'd. Moreover, the Mouths of the La- 
cteals in People of weak and lax Constitutions
may permit Aliment too acrimonious, or not 
sufficiently attenuated, to enter; but the 
Sphincters † in such as have strong Fibres will 
shut against them. 
Besides, a viscid Mucus may shut up the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by which means the 
Chyle will pass by Stool, and the Person falls 
into an Atrophy or Decay of Flesh. Wind 
with Distention of the Bowels are Signs of 
bad Digestion in the Intestines, and likewise 
Diarrhœas, which proceed from Acrimony, 
Laxity of the Bowels, or Obstructions of the 
Lacteals. 
Those Parts of the Body where the Circu- 
lation of the Fluids, and the elastick Force of 
the Fibres are both smallest, must be most 
subject to Obstructions; and such are the 
Glands, which are the Extremities of Arte- 
L2 ries
† Sphincter, is a Name ascrib'd to such Muscles as draw 
up, strengthen, and keep shut the Parts, such as the Sphinc- 
ter of the Bladder, Womb, Anus, &c.


164 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ries form'd into cylindrical ‡ Vessels. Hence 
we may easily perceive, that too solid or vis- 
cid Aliment must be very hurtful to scrophu- 
lous and consumptive Persons. 
Having endeavour'd to give the Reader an 
Idea of animal Digestion, by shewing how 
our Aliment is converted into animal Substance, 
in as succinct a manner as could be in so nar- 
row a Compass: I shall now proceed in the 
same manner to give an Account of the 
Choice of them, that what is either beneficial 
or hurtful may be easily seen, according to
the Nature and Difference of Constitutions. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of ALIMENTS.
AS all Animals are made either immediate- 
ly or mediately of Vegetables §, that is, 
by feeding on them, or on Animals that are 
fed on Vegetables: I shall therefore begin
with the Vegetable Kind. 
Vegetables
‡ Cylindrical, in Anatomy, signifies Vessels that are so 
shaped, as not to be narrower at one End than another, but 
that all their Parts are equally distant in all Places from their 
Center; or which is the same thing, that they are of the 
same Diameter in all Places, contrary to conical Vessels, which 
are tapering and growing narrower. 
§ Vegetables are such natural Bodies as grow and increase 
from Parts organically form'd, as Trees, Plants, and Roots, 
&c. but have no proper Life or Sensation.



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 165
Vegetables are proper Food enough to re- 
pair Animals, as they consist of the same 
Parts with animal Substances, such as Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, Water, and Earth, all which 
are contain'd in them, and may be extracted 
from them. Their Salts are capable of re- 
solving the coagulated Humors of a human 
Body; and of attenuating, by stimulating the 
Solids, and dissolving the Fluids: Salts like- 
wise promote Secretion. Oils also relax the 
Fibres, and are Lenient, Balsamick, and abate 
Acrimony in the Blood; and by Virtue of 
this Oil, Vegetables are nutrimental; for this
Oil is extracted by animal Digestion, as an 
Emulsion from Seeds by a Pestle and Mortar. 
But Aromatick Plants, tho' they abound with 
Oil, yet it is not soft and nutritious, and
when mix'd with a Spirit, is too heating. 
Tastes are Indexes or Marks of the different 
Qualities of all Sorts of Aliment; and diffe- 
rent Tastes proceed from different Mixtures 
of Salt, Oil, Water, and Earth, but princi- 
pally from the Spirit and Oil, mix'd with 
some Salt of a particular Nature. A Mu-
riatick or briny Taste, is produc'd by a 
Mixture of an acid and alkaline Salt; for 
Spirit of Salt being an Acid, and Salt of Tar- 
tar, which is an Alkali * when they are 
L3 mix'd
* The Word Alkali comes from an Herb called by the 
Egyptians Kali. This Herb they burnt to Ashes, and boiled 
them in Water, and after having evaporated the Water, there 
remain'd a white Salt, which they called Alkali. It is cor- 
rosive, and will produce Putrefaction if apply'd to the Flesh,
and 



166 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
mix'd, produce a Salt like Sea-Salt, bitter and 
acrid, differing only by the sharp Particles of 
the first being intangled or involv'd in a 
greater Quantity of Oil than those of the 
last. 
Acid or four, proceeds from a Salt of the 
same Nature without a Mixture of Oil; 
and in austere Tastes, the oily Particles have 
not disentangl'd themselves from the Salts and 
earthy Parts, for such is the Tastes of unripe 
Fruits. In sweet Tastes, the acid Particles are 
so attenuated and dissolv'd in the Oil, as to 
produce only a small and grateful Sensation 
and Titillation; but in oily Tastes, the Salts
seem to be entirely disentangled. As Vege- 
tables contain acid or alkaline Salts, so they
produce different Effects upon human Bodies, 
and are to be used according to the different
Constitution of the Body at that time, as 
will appear by what I shall say hereafter. 
The properest Food of the vegetable King- 
dom that Mankind make Use of, is taken 
from the mealy Seeds of some culmiferous or 
Stalk-bearing Plants, as Barley, Wheat, Oats, 
Rice, Rye, Mays, Panick, and Millet; or 
from some of the Pulse or Leguminous Kind, 
such as Pease and Beans, &c. and as those 
are Seeds containing the most elaborate Part 
of
and ferments with Acids, as all lixiviate Salts will do, which 
are Anti-acids, that is, contrary to Acidity. 
As for acid or four Salts, one has a Notion of from Taste, 
Sourness being one of those simple Ideas which one cannot 
more plainly describe; so that whatever being mix'd with an 
Acid, causes an Effervescence or Ebullition, is called Alkali. 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 167
of the Plant, they are oily, and consequent- 
ly proper to be converted readily into an 
animal Emulsion or Chyle: Besides, their Oil 
is not highly exhalted and hot, as that of 
the aromatical and acrid Plants, but on the 
contrary, mild, benign, and nourishing to 
the human Body. 
Barley is detergent, emollient, and expe- 
ctorating, and it was first chosen by Hippo- 
crates as proper Food in inflammatory Dis- 
eases. 
Wheat is the properest of any Grain for 
Bread, which, if not entirely purg'd from 
the Bran, is laxative and stimulating to the
Bowels. 
Oats are cleansing, resolving and pectoral, 
which being outwardly apply'd mix'd with 
Batter, will dry Scabs on the Head. 
Rice, which two thirds of Mankind per- 
haps feed on, is most kindly nourishing and
benign, good in Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes of
Blood, and proper for consumptive Persons; 
but the Bread made of it is more acid and 
tess nourishing than that of Wheat. 
Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nou- 
rishing than Wheat. 
Millet is cleansing, diuretic, and therefore 
good in Distempers of the Kidneys. 
Panick is opening, and boil'd with Milk 
temperates Acrimony. 
Mays affords strong Nourishment, but not 
being so easily brought to a Fermentation as 
other Grains, is more viscous or glewy, and 
L4 conse-


168 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
consequently harder to digest. All the fore- 
mention'd Plants are highly Acescent †, ex- 
cept Pease and Beans. 
Pease are mild, and demulcent in a great 
Degree, being depriv'd of all aromatick Parts. 
Green Pease are very pleasant to the Taste, and
provoke Appetite; but they are injurious to 
many, being full of aërial Particles, creating
Flatulency when dissolv'd by Digestion. 
They are alkalescent §. 
Beans cleanse and fatten, and resemble
Pease in most of their Qualities, but are more 
windy, and occasion sometimes Colic Pains, 
and disturb the Head. The French or Kid- 
ney-Beans are best, being less windy. People 
that live a sedentary Life should not feed 
much upon Pease or Beans, by reason of their 
Viscosity creating top much Flatulency. 
The mealy Parts of the above-mention'd 
Plants dissolv'd in Water for constant Food, 
is too viscid an Aliment, and for that Reason 
justly condemn'd by Hippocrates; and upon 
that Account, Mankind have found the 
means to make them more easy of Digestion, 
by fermenting and making some of them in- 
to Bread, which is the lightest and properest 
for
† See Note following. 
§ Substances which are not perfectly Acid, but naturally 
turn so, are called Acescent; and Substances that are not per- 
fectly Alkaline, but naturally turn so, are called Alkalescent. 
See the Explanation of Alkali in Note *, p. 165. 
These two Qualities in Bodies are not merely imaginary, 
but have very different and contrary Effects upon human 
Bodies. 

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 169
for human Food; for the Leaven, by its acid 
Salt, divides the slimy and oily Parts of the 
Meal. 
The next Sort of vegetable Substances that
Mankind feed upon, are Fruits of Trees and 
Shrubs: They all contain an essential Salt, 
combin'd with Earth, Water, and Oil, much 
elaborated; and their different Qualities are 
known by their sharp, sweet, four, or styptic 
Taste. 
Apples are pectoral, cooling, laxative, and 
open the Breast; they differ considerably in 
Kind, and their Qualities are easily known by 
their Taste. 
Pears have most of the same Qualities, 
but they are more cordial, by their high Fla- 
vour, than Apples. 
Peaches are likewise cordial and pectoral; 
the best are those that are odoriferous, well 
colour'd, and full ripe. 
Apricocks quench Thirst, excite Appetite, 
provoke Urine; their Kernels are good against
Worms, and excellent for the Heart-burning: 
unless they are mellow and full ripe, they are 
rather somewhat styptick. 
Plumbs purge Choler, extinguish Heat, 
take away Thirst in Fevers; but they are bad 
for weak and cold Stomachs, and for phlegma- 
tic Persons, and such as are subject to Colics. 
Those of the austere Kind are astringent. 
Mulberries are pectoral, and correct a bi- 
lious Alkali.
Gooseberries

170 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Gooseberries extreamly ripe are lenient; 
but unripe, they are both sour and astrin- 
gent. 
Currants are good in spitting of Blood, ex- 
treamly cooling, and somewhat astringent. 
The Jelly or Rob of Currants mix'd with 
Water, is an excellent Drink in bilious Fevers. 
Cherries are cooling and laxative, and their 
Kernels are good for the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys. 
Strawberries, by their fragrant Smell are 
Cordial. Their Juice mix'd with that of Li- 
mons in Spring-Water is an admirable Drink 
in bilious Fevers. 
Oranges that are sweet are more relaxing 
than the Seville Oranges; but these last are 
an excellent Remedy for the hot Scurvy. The 
sweet Oranges increase Choler. 
Citrons or Limons excite Appetite, stop 
Vomiting, cut gross Humours, are good in 
Fevers, and their Juices are more cooling
and astringent than those of Oranges. 
Grapes taken in moderate Quantities when 
ripe, help the Appetite and Digestion; but 
in great Quantities, they dissolve the Gall too 
much, and produce Fluxes; and dry'd they 
are pectoral. 
Figs are great Correctors of Acrimony, 
they are good in Coughs and Hoarseness; 
they are likewise extremely emollient, relax- 
ing the urinary Passages, diuretick, and good
in bloody Urine. 
Quinces

Ch. VI. 171 thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
Quinces are often useful to weak Stomachs, 
and good in stopping Fluxes of Blood. 
Pomegranates likewise, containing an astrin- 
gent Juice, are extremely cooling. 
Barberries and Medlars are useful in 
Bloody-Fluxes. 
Tamarinds are cooling and astringent, yet
laxative to the lower Belly. 
Capers are astringent and diuretick; they 
excite the Appetite, and are good for phleg- 
matic and melancholy People. 
Olives are Anti-acids, or contrary to Aci- 
dity by their Oil; but all oily Substances be- 
get an Acrimony of another Sort. 
Almonds are pectoral, especially the Oil. 
Walnuts are cordial and Anti-hysteric, and 
promote Perspiration in a small Degree. 
Hazle-Nuts are in some Degree good 
against spitting of Blood; but they are very 
hard to be digested, they cause Wind, Coughs, 
and Pains in the Head. 
Chesnuts are good against some Female 
Weaknesses, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment. 
There are other Fruits of the low pomise- 
rous Kind, which contain a great deal of 
cooling and viscid Juice, combin'd with a ni- 
trous Salt, which renders them often offen- 
sive to the Stomach; and such are Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and Melons; tho' the 
last, when good, have a rich Juice, and some- 
what aromatick; they are diuretick, and 
there are Instances when eaten in great Quan- 
tities,



172 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tities, to have thrown People into bloody 
Urine: they are likewise cooling and refreshing, 
good for hot Stomachs, and the Kidneys; they 
ought to be taken fasting. The Juice of Cu- 
cumbers is too cold for weak Stomachs, and 
ought not to be taken by such as have thin 
and poor Blood. 
Among the alimentary Leaves, the Pot- 
Herbs afford an excellent Nourishment: Of 
those are all the Cole or Cabbage Kind, which 
are emollient, laxative, and resolvent, and 
for that Reason proper against Acidity. There 
are likewise amongst the Pot-Herbs some * 
Lactescent Plants, as Lettuce, Endive, Ci- 
chory, and Dandelion, which contain a milky 
Juice extremely wholsome, resolvent of the 
Bile, anodyne, cooling and diuretick, and 
very useful in the Distempers of the Liver. 
Artichokes are pleasant to the Taste, pro- 
voke Urine, and contain a rich, nutritious and 
stimulating Juice; they are good against Aci- 
dity. 
Asparagus is opening and diuretic; by the 
fœtid Smell it gives the Urine, it is suspected 
to be hurtful to the Kidneys; it is likewise 
good against Acidity. 
Parsley provokes Urine, the Courses, 
cleanses the Kidneys, and removes Obstru- 
ction and Wind; but it is bad in Bloody- 
Fluxes. 
Celery contains a pungent Salt and Oil; it 
is diuretick and aperient, and exceeding good 
for cold Constitutions. 
Spinage
* Vegetables containing a milky Juice. 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 173
Spinage is emollient or opening, good in 
Inflammations. 
Beet is emollient, nutritive, and relaxing, 
good in hot and bilious Constitutions. 
Sallads of all Sorts, mix'd with sweet Oil 
and Vinegar, are good for hot and strong 
Constitutions; because they are cooling, diu- 
retick, and emollient; but they are not pro- 
per for phlegmatick or weak Constitutions, or 
those that are subject to Colics or Indige- 
stion. 
Of the alimentary Roots, some are pulpy, 
and very nutritious; as Potatoes, Turnips, 
and Carrots, &c. 
Potatoes, of all Roots in general, are the 
best and most nourishing for healthy People, 
and there are Instances enough to prove the 
same both in Ireland, and in other Provinces, 
where two Thirds of the Husbandmen, and 
meaner Sort of People, constantly feed upon 
them, and are the principal Part of their 
Food; yet they are healthy, active, and vi- 
gorous, and for the most Part live long. 
Turnips are very nutritious, good in Con- 
sumptions, Asthmas, and all Diseases of the 
Breast; they are emollient and diuretick. 
Carrots are fattening, they provoke Urine, 
and the Menses, and likewise help to open 
Obstructions; but they are windy, and there- 
fore not proper for colicky or weak Sto- 
machs. 
Parnisp is a very nourishing and palatable 
Root; it fattens, and is a Provocative; it 
opens,




174 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
opens, attenuates, and cleanses; but it is 
hard to digest, and not good for asthmatick 
and consumptive People. 
There are other Roots which abound with 
an acrid, volatile Salt; as Garlick, Onion, 
Rockambole, Shalot, Leeks, Radishes, and 
Horse-radishes: They contain a pungent, vola- 
tile Salt and Oil; they are extremely diure- 
tick, and when stimulating Diureticks can 
be safely used, they are very effectual. 
Experience teaches, that Garlick is a very 
excellent Remedy in Dropsies, Jaundices, 
and in Asthmas proceeding from a cold and 
viscid Phlegm. 
Cresses and Mustard contain likewise, in 
their Degrees, a pungent Salt and Oil, as well 
as the last mention'sd Roots; and as all of 
them subdue Acidity, they are very improper 
in Cases where the Blood is too much dissol- 
ved, as in spitting of Blood, and bloody 
Urine, or where the Blood or Juices have a 
Tendency to a State of alkaline Putrefaction; 
and in general they are fitter for cold Con- 
stitutions and old People, than for the young 
and sanguine. Mustard indeed is a very 
powerful Remedy in viscid and cold phleg- 
matick Cases. 
The Fungous Kind, as Truffles, Morelles 
and Mushrooms, contain an Alkaline volatile 
Salt, and an exalted Oil of a grateful Savour; 
but are heating, and the best Method of cor- 
recting them is by Vinegar: Some of them 
being poisonous, render the rest justly suspi-
cious;





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 175
cious; the poisonous Sort operate in a suffo- 
cating Manner, in which Case the best Re- 
medy is Wine, or Vinegar and Salt, and vo- 
miting as soon as possible. 
There are Vegetables used by Mankind in 
Seasonings, which afford an exalted aroma- 
tick Oil, and of a spicy Nature, as Marjoram, 
Basil, Savory, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage and 
Mint: They are heating, and most of them 
hard to digest: Other Spices of a more power- 
ful Nature, as Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, 
Cloves, Ginger and Pepper, abound with a 
high exalted Oil and volatile Salt, by which 
Principles they are heating, and act powerfully 
upon the Fluids and Solids, by stimulating the 
Solids and resolving glutinous and fat Sub- 
stances: They are all proper in phlegmatick 
cold Constitutions. But Sage being a stimu- 
lating, drying, and astringent Plant, when used 
in great Quantities will produce Disorders like 
Drunkenness; therefore the Infusion or Tea 
made of it is very improper in all inflamma- 
tory Fevers as a Diluter. 
Of Tea, Coffee, 
and Chocolate.
As the Infusions and Deco- 
ctions  make so considerable a Part 
of Aliment at present, especially among the 
Female Sex, it will not be improper to say 
something of their Qualities in particular. 
Of Tea, Coffee,
and Chocolate.
Tea, by its Manner of affecting the Organs 
of Taste and Smell, affords very little of a vo- 
latile Spirit its bitter and astringent Rosin or 
fix'd Oil cannot be extracted by Water, but 
requires






176 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
requires rectify'd Spirit of Wine for that Pur- 
pose. The most active Principles of it that 
can be extracted by Infusion are the most se-
parable Parts of its Oil or Gum, and Salt. 
Its Salt and Gum are astringent, as appears by
mixing it with Chalybeat-Waters, which will 
produce a Tincture of the same Colour as that 
of Oak-leaves; it is * Acescent, as appears by 
its affecting Stomachs troubled with Acidity, 
which Disorder it will rather promote than 
correct: By its astringent Quality it moderate- 
ly helps to correct the relaxing Quality of the 
warm Water; and by its styptick and stimu- 
lating Quality, it affects the Nerves, very of- 
ten producing Tremors. By the frequent 
drinking too great Quantities of it, as is now 
become a common Practice, it will relax and 
weaken the Tone of the Stomach; from 
whence proceed an Inappetency, Nausea, 
Reachings or Vomitings, Indigestion and 
Sickness at the Stomach; and generally speak- 
ing, a pale and wan Complexion, with a 
Weakness of the Nerves and Flabbiness of the 
Flesh, the Solids and Fluids being thereby 
deprived of their proper Nourishment. 
Hence we may easily perceive, how perni- 
cious Tea-drinking may prove to the Seden- 
tary, especially the Female Sex, who for the 
Generality have weak and tender Nerves; 
but as Milk abates some of the fore-mention- 
ed bad Qualities, by rendering it softer and nu- 
tritious, and Sugar as a Salt, encreases it stimu- 
lating
* See Note §, Page 168. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 177
lating Quality, it may be a proper Breakfast e- 
nough, as a Diluent, to those who are strong, and 
live full and free, in order to cleanse the alimen- 
tary Passages, and wash off the scorbutick and 
urinous Salts from the Kidneys and Bladder. 
But Persons of weak and tender Nerves, as 
I have just now observ'd, ought carefully to 
avoid and abstain from it, as from Drams and 
cordial Drops; for such fall into Lowness, 
Trembling and Vapours, upon using it with 
any Freedom, by its Irritation on the tender 
and delicate Fibres of the Stomach *. 
As to Coffee, it is a meer Calx, or a kind of 
burnt Horse-Bean, but lighter on the Sto- 
mach and somewhat of a better Flavour; and 
what is extracted from it by hot Water, is 
the most separable Parts of its Oil, which of- 
ten appears at the Top of the Decoction. This 
Oil is volatile, and affords very little Nourish- 
ment, producing all the bad Effects of a vola- 
tile Oil and aromatic Acrimony, such as Heat, 
Dryness, Stimulation, Tremors of the Nerves; 
for which Reason, it has been deem'd to cause 
Palsies, Watchfulness, Leanness, and destroy 
masculine Vigour: Hence it is very plain, 
that it must; be pernicious to hot, dry, and 
bilious Constitutions, and only beneficial to 
Phlegmaticks, if moderately us'd; but when 
drank in too great a Degree of Strength or 
M Qua-
* For further Satisfaction herein, see Dr. Thomas Short's 
learned and elaborate Dissertation upon Tea, in which the 
Author has not only given us the Natural History of the Plant, 
but likewise its Analysis, with great Skill and Industry.



178 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quantity, it will prove destructive even to 
phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Chocolate is undoubtedly much the best of 
the three; for its Oil appears to be both rich, 
nutritious and anodyne *, and is as soft as that 
of Sweet-Almonds: This Oil combin'd with 
its own Salt and Sugar renders it saponaceous † 
and detergent; by this Quality it often helps 
Digestion and excites the Appetite; and is only 
proper for some of the leaner and stronger 
Sort of phlegmatick Constitutions, and some 
ancient healthy People, who are accustom'd 
to bodily Exercise. 
There are other Preparations of Vegetables 
by Fermentation, whereby they are changed 
into spirituous Liquors, which are, or may be 
called by the general Name of Wines; Such 
fermented Liquors have different Qualities 
from the Plants that produce them; for no 
Fruit taken crude has the intoxicating Quality 
of Wine. Of these Liquors I shall take par- 
ticular Notice, after I have given the Reader 
a short Account of the Nature of animal 
Diet, as far as it regards the Nourishment of 
Human Bodies. 
Animal Food is more easily converted into 
animal Substance than Vegetables; and there- 
fore more nourishing to human Bodies: And 
the
† Easing, or taking away Pain. 
‡ Sope is a Mixture of Oil and fix'd alkaline Salt, and in 
common Use its Virtues are cleansing, penetrating, attenuat- 
ing, and resolving; so that any Mixture of an oily Substance 
with Salt maybe call'd a Sope; hence Bodies of this Nature 
are call'd Saponaceous.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 179
the Nature of Animal Diet must depend up- 
on the Nature, Age, Food, and other Cir- 
cumstances of the Animal we feed upon. 
The Animal as well as Vegetable Juices are 
in their greatest Perfection, when the Ani- 
mal is full grown; for young Animals par- 
take of the Nature of their tender Food, as 
Sucklings of Milk, &c. 
All Animal Diet in general is anti-acid, 
or contrary to Acidity or Sourness; because 
no found Animal has any acid Salt in it, as 
has been often prov'd by Experiments. Those 
Animals that feed upon other Animals have 
their Flesh and Juices more alkalescent, that 
is, more anti-acid than those that live upon 
Vegetables; such are most Fishes, all Birds 
which feed upon Worms and Infects, several 
kinds of Water-Fowls, Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and several kinds of small Birds; which, for 
that Reason, afford a more exalted Nou- 
rishment than those that feed upon Grain or 
other Vegetables. 
Animal Flesh differs according as the Ani- 
mal is terrestrial, aquatick, or amphibious;
and the same Species of Animals differs accord- 
ing to the Soil and Air it lives in, and the 
Food which it takes; as those that live in 
Mountains and Marshes; the Flesh of Oxen, 
Sheep, Deer and Hogs in different Pastur- 
age. 
Fishes abound more with alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial Animals; for which Rea- 
son they are sooner corrupted: And amphibi-
ous Animals partake somewhat of their Na- 
M2 ture





180 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ture by feeding upon them, and are therefore 
oily; and notwithstanding the Redundancy of 
Oil in Fishes, yet they do not increase Fat 
so much as Flesh-meat, by Reason of their 
watery Quality; and as Fish and Water- 
Fowls are highly alkalescent, and abound 
with a great deal of rancid Oil, they should 
be always qualified by a due Quantity of Salt 
and Vinegar. 
The most healthy Animals afford the best
Aliment, and the Castrated are better than 
those that are not so; and the only Way of 
having found and healthful animal Food, is 
to leave them to their own natural Liberty in 
the free and open Air, and in their own pro- 
per Element, with Plenty of Food and due 
Cleanness, and a Shelter from the Inclemency 
of the Weather when they have a Mind to 
retire to it. Therefore we should never make 
Choice of cramm'd Poultry, or stall-fed Butch- 
er's Meat for our Food, did we consider the 
foul, gross, and filthy Manner in which they 
are confin'd, and the stinking, putrid, and 
unwholsome Food with which they are fed, 
especially Poultry and Hogs; for we may be 
well assured, that perpetual Foulness and 
Cramming, gross Food and Filthiness will 
rot the Juices, and mortify the muscular Sub- 
stance of human Creatures, and consequently 
can do no less in Brute Animals, and thus 
make even our Food Poison. Besides, stall-fed 
Cattle and cramm'd Fowls are often diseas'd 
in their Livers. The same may be likewise 
said





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 181 
said of Plants and Vegetables, forc'd and pro- 
duced by Hot-beds. 
Animals, Herbs, Fruits and Corn are to 
be chosen in high Places, such as are refresh'd 
with wholsome Winds and cherish'd with 
the warm Beams of the Sun, and where there 
are no Marshes, Lakes, and standing Waters; 
for in such Places they are quickly corrupted; 
and likewise the Flesh of all Animals that live 
in Fens and standing Pools are to be avoided, 
such as Ducks, Geese, &c. 
The Flesh of Animals too old is unwhol- 
some, being hard, dry, sinewy, and of little 
Nourishment, and hard to be digested; and 
on the contrary, such as are too young abound 
with too much Moisture, and are full of Su- 
perfluities, and therefore cannot nourish so 
well as an Animal full grown, in as much as 
they partake of the Nature of their tender 
Food, as I have observ'd already. 
Salt Fish produces gross Humours, and 
had Juices in the human Body; for it dries 
much, and breeds many Superfluities, and is 
of little Nourishment; it occasions Thirst, 
Hoarseness, Acrimony, or Sharpness in the 
Blood, and Erosion of the small Fibres, Pains, 
and all the Symptoms of the Muriatick or 
briny Scurvy, upon account of the Salt, 
which is unalterable in all the Circulations of 
the human Body, and therefore very improper 
Food for all Constitutions, except some strong 
labouring People, and even in those it will pro- 
duce very bad Effects, if they feed upon it 
M3 for





182 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
for a Constancy, as we see in Sea-faring Peo- 
ple. The same may be said of Salt Flesh. 
The Flesh of Birds is lighter, drier, and 
easier digested than that of four-footed Beasts,
and for that Reason, more agreeable to those 
of a studious Profession, who exercise the 
Mind more than the Body; for as they are 
more easily digested, so they breed better 
Blood, that is, clear, clean, and full of Spi- 
rits, which is fit for the Exercises of the 
Mind. 
The Flesh of the wild Kind of Animals, 
such as frequent Woods, high open Places, 
and Mountains, is better than that of tame 
ones, having more Exercise and no Confine- 
ment, have their Juices more elaborated, and 
their Flesh will keep longer uncorrupted; be- 
cause they live in a better Air, and feed upon 
what they like best without Constraint; for 
the same Reason their Fibres are harder, es- 
pecially when old. This Rule in some mea- 
sure holds true with Fishes; for Sea-fish and 
River-fish living in an Element more agitated, 
are better than those in Ponds. For these Reasons 
Hippocrates commends the Flesh of the wild 
Sow preferable to the tame; and doubtless the 
Animal is more or less healthy, according to 
the Air it lives in; for the Flesh of the same 
Species differs very much, as the Animal 
lives in Marshes or Mountains. 
Flesh boil'd is more wholsome (especially 
for weak Stomachs) than roasted; for boiling 
draws more of the rank and strong Juices
from




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 183
from it, and renders it more diluted, lighter, 
and easier of Digestion, tho' not so nutritive; 
but on the other hand, roasting leaves it ful- 
ler of the strong nutritive Juices, harder to 
digest, and wanting more Dilution *; there- 
fore those who eat the Flesh of full-grown 
Animals, ought to eat it well boil'd, if their 
Digestion is weak. They who live upon 
young animal Food, which is best for weak 
Stomachs, ought to eat it roasted, and lessen 
the Quantity in respect of the same Food 
boil'd, but they must dilute it more; for as 
roast Meat has a stronger Flavour, more 
Nourishment, and lies more compact in the 
Stomach; so it will require to be more di- 
luted with some small Liquors to soften its 
more rigid and crisp Fibres. 
Meats bak'd, fry'd, and broil'd, generate 
nauseous Humours and Crudities in the Sto- 
mach, and are very difficult to be digested, 
tho' they are very nourishing. 
Lamb, Veal, and Kid, afford excellent 
Nourishment, and are easy to be digested, 
and therefore proper Food for those of a se-
dentary Life and studious Professions. 
Beef affords great Nourishment to those 
that labour and exercise much, and generates 
much Blood; but it is too strong for tender, 
weak, and sedentary People, especially when 
Stall-fed, and very large; for Grass Beef and 
M4 Mutton
* Dissolving or making thinner any Substance, with the 
addition of Fluids or Liquids, which are called Diluents or
Diluters.




184 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Mutton are lighter than Stall-fed Oxen and 
Sheep. 
Mutton breeds good Blood, nourishes ex- 
ceeding well, and is easily digested; and by 
Experiment is found the most perspirable of all 
animal Food, and Hogs-Flesh and Oysters the 
least. 
Rabits are of a good Nourishment, they 
consume the superfluous Moisture and Phlegm 
in the Stomach, and the Flesh is not near so 
dry as that of a Hare, and therefore nou- 
rishes better, and is much easier to be di- 
gested. 
Young Hares are very sweet and pleasant 
to the Stomach when well dressed, they 
are good for such as are too fat. It is said, 
that the Blood of a Hare fry'd and eaten, is 
good against the Bloody-Flux, inward Im- 
postumations, and the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys; and that the Brains of a roasted Hare 
cures Tremors, and facilitates the breeding of 
Teeth in Children; but the Moderns justly 
despise such whimsical and groundless Pra- 
ctice. 
Pork and Bacon afford great Nourishment, 
but as they feed the foulest of any Creature, 
and their Juices are the rankest, their Sub- 
stance is the most surfeiting; and as they are 
the most subject to † cutaneous Diseases and 
Putrefaction of any Creature, they are highly 
injurious to valetudinary, sedentary, and stu- 
dious People; for they cause the Gout and 
Stone
† Diseases of the Skin, such as Pimples, Scabs, Mange, &c. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 185
Stone in Kidneys, Scurvy, and cutaneous 
Eruptions. The Flesh of sucking Pigs is 
endued with the same bad Qualities, tho' 
not in so great a Degree. 
Brawn made of the Flesh of young Boars 
is tolerable good eating, having not so much 
Slime and excrementitious Moisture as Pork, 
Pig, and Bacon; but the hard and horny Part 
is very difficultly digested. 
Deer affords good Nourishment, and is 
apt to make lean such as are too fat, accord- 
ing to the Observations of some Authors, but 
I very much doubt the Veracity of such As- 
sertions, for it seems even contradictory to 
say, that whatever affords good Nourish- 
ment, shou'd render corpulent and fat People, 
thin or lean. 
Of all the Parts of Birds and other Beasts, 
some are better than others; for all the Ex- 
tremities, as the Head, Neck, Feet, and Tail, 
in respect of the rest, are of a hard, viscid, 
and gross Nourishment; but the Parts about 
the Wings, Back and Breast, are better, and 
more savoury. 
Cream, Butter, and Marrow, are all leni- 
ent and nourishing: Marrow is excellent in 
the dry Scurvy with crackling of the Bones, 
where it performs its natural Office in moisten- 
ing them. 
Cheese that is new fattens, tastes pleasant- 
ly, and is not very injurious to the Stomach, 
especially Cream-Cheese, which is the best
and most wholsome when newly made. 
Cheese





186 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cheese of no kind is good for Children or 
weak People, for it lies too heavy in the 
Stomach, is apt to breed Slime and Worms 
in Children, and it ought to be eaten only 
after Meals, to close up the Mouth of the 
Stomach at such times; but too much of it 
is bad at any time, especially old Cheese, for 
it occasions Thirst, inflames the Blood, and 
is often the Cause of the Gravel and Stone 
in the Kidneys or Bladder; therefore it is 
only proper for Mechanics and labouring 
People, or those that are strong and healthy, 
and use much Exercise. 
Milk is a most noble, nourishing, and 
wholsome Food; it is neither Acid nor Al- 
kaline; but when there is an Acid and Al- 
kali mix'd in it, they presently manifest 
themselves by their Fermentation and Con- 
flict. Milk, after standing some Time, na- 
turally separates into an oily Substance called 
Cream, and a thinner, blue, and more pon- 
derous Liquor called skimm'd Milk, and nei- 
ther of these Parts is naturally acid or alka- 
line, nor in the least acrimonious; for being 
dropp'd into the Eye, they cause no manner 
of Pain or Sensation of Sharpness; but by 
standing too long, they will turn both sharp 
and four. Milk is a kind of Emulsion, or 
white animal Liquor, resembling Chyle, after 
it has been mixed with the Spittle, Bile, and 
pancreatick Juices, &c. is easily separated 
from them again in the Breasts.
A




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 187
A Nurse that would abstain from all acid 
vegetable Food, from Wine, and Malt Li- 
quors, and feed only upon Flesh, and drink 
Water, her Milk, instead of turning sour, 
would become putrid, and smell like Urine; 
so that an alkalescent Diet †, (as is often the 
Case of Nurses in great Families) Subjects 
the Child to Fevers; but on the other hand, 
the Milk of poor People that feed upon an 
§ acescent vegetable Diet, subjects the Child
to Diseases that proceed from Acidity in the 
Bowels, such as Colics, Gripes; the Symp- 
toms of such a Constitution are a four Smell 
in their Excrements, four Belchings, Disten- 
sions or Swellings of the Bowels, and Pale- 
ness of the Flesh. 
The Cure of both Diseases is effected by 
a Change of Diet in the Nurse, that is, from 
Alkalescent to Acescent, or contrary ways, as 
the Case requires. But the best Diet for Nurses 
is a Mixture of both, and no Nurse should 
give Suck after twelve Hours fasting;
for then her Milk is apt to turn yellow, which 
is an early Sign of a Fever in the Nurse. 
It appears from the fore-mention'd Quali-
ties, that Milk is a very proper Diet for hu- 
man Bodies, especially for thin, hectical, and 
emaciated
† Alkalescent Diet is the Flesh, Broths, and Juices of all 
Animals, both Terrestrial and Aquatick, which in a found 
State have no manner of Acid in them, as is very well 
known by Experiments. 
§ An Acescent vegetable Diet, is taken from Plants, Fruits, 
and their Juices, and all fermented Liquors, which are either 
actually acid, or naturally turn so. 



188 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
emaciated People, and where Acrimony in 
the Blood and Juices is to be subdued or 
avoided; but it is not proper for those that 
are troubled with the Colic or Stone, neither 
is it proper in Obstructions of the Vessels, it 
being void of all saline Quality. 
Whey is good for such as are of a hot Con- 
stitution, it quenches Thirst, promotes Sleep, 
and of all Drinks is the most relaxing, and 
is a powerful Remedy in the hot Scurvy. 
The different Nature of Birds is known by 
the Time, Age, Food, Place, and Air they 
live in; because Domestick as well as Wild 
Fowl, grow lean, and feed little at the Time 
of their coupling. And some Birds are best in
Spring or in Summer, at which Time they 
feed upon Corn; others in Autumn, because 
they eat Grapes, Figs, Apples, Berries, and
such like. Others again are best in Winter, 
such as Thrushes. Blackbirds, wild Geese, 
Cranes, and all Water Fowl. 
Some live on Worms, Infects, and Fish, as 
Woodcocks, Snipes, &c. but most feed on 
Grain, as Pigeons, Doves, and all Dome- 
stick Fowls, and the like: Some are nourish'd 
on Land, others in Rivers, Lakes, and in 
the Sea, and a great many Birds feed upon 
Herbs; and it is very remarkable, that the 
Flesh of wild Fowl has always the Taste of 
such Things as they feed on, as Fish, Slime, 
Mud, Worms, and other Infects. 
Mountain Fowls are always preferable to 
the rest; besides, castrating or cutting a Fowl,
renders

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 189
renders it fat and sweet, as appears in the 
Flesh of Capons; and the Flesh of young 
Birds is always better than that of old ones. 
Duck is the hottest of all tame Fowl; the 
Wings and Liver are the best, but of hard 
Digestion, and gross Nourishment; it is good
in cold Weather for strong Stomachs, and 
such as labour much. 
Capon nourishes better than all other tame 
Fowl, and breeds good Blood and Juices in 
the human Body. 
Pigeons afford good Nourishment; they 
are very hot, and therefore only proper for 
old and phlegmatic People, or such as labour 
much, who generally speaking, will digest 
any Food without any Trouble or much Dan- 
ger.
Pheasants are very agreeable to human Na- 
ture; they comfort and strengthen the Sto- 
mach, afford great Nourishment, and fatten 
very much. 
Pullets nourish exceeding well, are easily
digested, and generate good Blood and found 
Juices; but old Hens are dry, hard to be di- 
gested, and afford little Nourishment; and 
the Flesh of a Cock is drier, hot, and sul- 
phurous, and therefore very improper Food 
for any Body, and fit for nothing else than to
make Broth of it, with a little Mutton, Veal, 
or both. 
Geese, especially the young Geese, afford 
good Nourishment; but old ones, that feed 
and live in Fenny Places, are coarse, and 
hard

190 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hard to be digested, and not fit Food for 
tender People, or weak Stomachs. 
Turkey is good Food, and affords good 
Nourishment, but harder to be digested than 
Capon or Pullet; yet a Turkey-Pout is deli- 
cate eating, breeds good Blood, and is easily
digested. 
Partridges afford good and sweet Nourish- 
ment, and are easily digested; they fatten, 
and likewise dry up the superfluous Moisture 
of the Stomach, and contribute much to the 
Preservation of Health, their Flesh being bet- 
ter than that of Pullets. 
Plovers, especially the Grey Sort, are good
wholsome Food, and afford good Nourish- 
ment, only they are somewhat of melan- 
choly Juice, according to some Writers. 
Blackbirds nourish sufficiently when they 
are fat and young; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion. 
Larks, if they are fat, nourish well, and 
are easily digested; they are best in Autumn 
and Winter. 
Sparrows, when young, afford good Nou- 
rishment, and are reckon'd to be Provoca- 
tives; but they are not easily digested. 
Peacocks nourish poorly, and are of a hard 
and slow Digestion, and breed melancholy 
Blood, therefore not worth any Body's eat- 
ing. 
Stares, if young and fat, nourish pretty well, 
but old ones are good for nothing. 
Thrushes

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 191
Thrushes nourish very well, and are easily 
digested, and the Mountain Thrushes are the 
best. 
Quails are very nourishing, and pleasant to 
the Taste, they are likewise good for melan- 
choly People; but some Authors say, that 
they cause the Cramp, and falling Sickness, 
with which it is said, this Bird is troubled. 
This, by the by, I take to be only the ground- 
less Opinion of some credulous and whimsi- 
cal Writers. 
Turtle Doves nourish exceeding well, and
are easily digested; they are good for the 
Stomach, and, according to some Authors, 
quicken the Understanding. 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all other long-billed
Birds that suck only animal Juices, or that 
feed upon Worms and other Infects, have their 
Juices more elaborate and exalted than those 
of Pullets, Turkeys, Pheasant or Partridge; 
and for that Reason they are much harder to be
digested, tho' they are very nourishing. 
Fish in respect of Flesh is less nourishing, 
because it is gross, phlegmatic, cold, and full 
of watery Superfluities. The old nourish 
better than the young, and those that live 
among Stones, Rocks and Gravel, are best. 
Fish in general are hard of Digestion; for 
they feed upon one another, and their Juices
abound with an alkaline Salt, that corrupts 
the Blood and causes chronical Diseases; for 
it is very remarkable, that those who live
much

192 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
much on Fish are afflicted with the Scurvy, 
Breakings-out upon the Skin, and other Dis- 
eases of a foul Blood: Besides, a true Sign of 
their Indigestion is, that every Body finds him- 
self more thirsty and heavier than usual after 
a full Meal of Fish, tho' ever so fresh; and is 
commonly forc'd to have Recourse to a Dram 
of some Spirit or other to carry them off. 
The following Rules concerning Fish may 
be of use to the Reader. 
First, That all fresh Fish should be eaten 
hot, and to eat less of Fish than of Flesh- 
meat. 2dly, Not to eat them too often, nor 
after great Labour and Exercise; for then 
they easily corrupt; neither should they be 
eaten after other solid Food. 3dly, Fish and 
Milk are not proper together; nor are Eggs 
to be used unless with Salt-Fish. 4thly, Great 
and slimy Fish are better pickled than fresh; 
and observe, that the clearer and deeper the 
Water is, the better are the Fish that are 
nourish'd therein. 5thly, Sea-Fish are whol- 
somer than fresh water Fish; for they are 
hotter and not so moist, and their Nourish- 
ment comes near that of Flesh-meat. 6thly, 
Of all Sea and River Fish, those are best that 
live in rocky Places; next to these, in gravel- 
ly or sandy Places, in sweet, clear, and run- 
ning Water, where there is no Filth: but 
those Fish are bad that live in Pools, muddy 
Lakes, Marshes, and in any still or muddy 
Water. 7thly, Amongst all the Fish both 
Sea






Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 193
Sea and River, those which are not too large 
are the best, and which have not hard and 
dry Flesh, that taste and smell well, and are 
crisp and tender, and have many Scales and 
Fins. 8thly, Fish are bad for cold and 
phlegmatic Constitutions, and only proper for 
hot and choleric People. The best Way of 
dressing Fish is to broil it; to boil it is the 
next, and to fry it is the worst.
Eels for want of Exercise are fat and 
slimy; they are of a delicate Taste, and nou- 
rish very much; but they offend the Sto- 
mach, and are hard to be digested, and be- 
ing used too often, are apt to breed the Stone 
in the Kidneys and Bladder, and occasion 
the Gout and Spasmodic Disorders; therefore 
whoever eats much of them, and often, en- 
dangers his Health. 
Carp of all Pond-fish is certainly the best, 
and the most noble, being of a very pleasant 
and grateful Taste, and nourishes well, in 
whatsoever manner it is eaten. 
Lampreys are of great Nourishment; they 
are of a most delicate Taste, and are al- 
so Provocatives; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion, and bad for gouty People, and such 
as ate troubled with Convulsive Disorders. 
Pike is a clean, sound Fish, and nourishes
very much; but is of hard Digestion. 
Sturgeon nourishes well, and excites Ve- 
nery; but is very hard to be digested. Of 
the Spawn or Row of this Fish pickled, is
N made




194 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
made what is called Caveer, which excites 
Appetite, and makes Liquor relish well. 
Crabs and Lobsters are much of the same 
Nature; the Broth of them is good for thin 
and emaciated People, for they nourish very 
much; but they are, like all other Shell-Fish, 
hard to be digested. 
Oysters are very nourishing, and preferable 
to all Shell-Fish, and ought to be eaten al- 
ways before Dinner, and never to drink spi- 
rituous Liquors upon them, which harden 
them in the Stomach, and prevent their being 
digested. They are likewise very hard of Di- 
gestion when stew'd; therefore the Substance 
of them dressed in that manner is very im- 
proper for weak Stomachs. They cure the 
Heart-burn proceeding from Acidity or Sour- 
ness in the Stomach, and are proper Food in 
such, and many other Cases. 
Turbut, Soles, and Plaice, are highly com- 
mended among Sea-Fish; for they have de- 
licate Flesh, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment, are not easily corrupted, nor hard to 
be digested. 
Pearch are reckon'd fine Fish; but they 
have soft, moist, and tender Flesh; they 
nourish but little, and are full of Excremen- 
titious Juices, therefore they are not near so 
good as People imagine them to be. 
Tench are very nourishing, but hard of Di- 
gestion.
Gudgeons and Smelts, of all small Fish are 
the best; they are wholsome Aliment, easily 
digested,




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 195
digested, and may be as safely given to sick 
People as Whitings unless they are fry'd. 
Flounders are good wholsome Aliment 
enough, and proper now and then as a Change 
for sickly People, and weak Stomachs, as 
they are not hard to be digested. 
Salmon is grateful to the Palate, and very 
nourishing, affords good Juices, but is too 
luscious to make a hearty Meal upon it, or 
live on it for any considerable Time. 
Trout is delicate eating, nourishes very 
well; the biggest, and such as is bred in gra- 
velly Rivers, and sweet running Waters, is 
best. Trout is good for hot and young Peo- 
ple, but bad for those that are decrepid, and 
for phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Cod-Fish, when fresh and in Season, is very 
good Nourishment, and not hard to be di- 
gested; but if it be dry or Salt, it is gross 
Food, and of hard Digestion. 
Haddock is much of the same Nature, but 
drier, yet it affords very good Nourishment. 
Skate and Thornback are Fish of good 
Nourishment, and delicate eating, when 
rightly manag'd; for if they are newly taken 
and dressed, they are scarcely digestable even 
by the strongest Stomachs; but if they are 
too stale, then they smell Urinous, and are in 
a State of Putrefaction. 
Barbel is very pleasant to the Palate, and 
the little ones are better than the great, and 
such as live in stony Places, and clear running 
N2 Waters;




196 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Waters; but their Flesh being hard, are not 
easily digested. The Roe of this Fish is care- 
fully to be avoided, it having the Quality of 
a strong Cathartick. 
Mackarel are very agreeable to the Taste; 
but their Flesh being hard, dry, and easily cor- 
rupted, is of little Nourishment, hard of Di- 
gestion, and therefore not proper Food for 
tender, weak, or sickly People. 
Herrings afford a great deal more Nou- 
rishment than the former; but their being 
so very hard of Digestion, renders them im- 
proper for every Body, except some hard la- 
bouring People. 
Sprats newly catch'd, and being either 
boiled or broil'd, afford good Nourishment, 
and are very agreeable to the Taste; but 
they are windy, and for that Reason not pro- 
per for such as are subject to Flatulency. 
Here it will be very necessary to give At- 
tention to the following Particulars in the 
Choice of our Aliments. 
1. That those Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity, are lightest of Di- 
gestion: thus the Spring Vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, some Sorts of Sallading, and 
Strawberries, are more easily digested than 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, and Nectarines;
because they have less of the Solar or Sun-Fire 
in them; for their Parts are united by a weaker 
Heat, that is, with less Velocity, and besides 
they contain little or no strong or fix'd
Salts. 
2. Among



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 197
2. Among Animals, the common Poultry,
Sheep, Kids, Hares, and Rabits, &c. which 
come to their Maturity, and propagate their 
Species in the same or a few Years, are much 
more tender, and readily digested, than Cows, 
Oxen, Boars, &c. for the Reason already 
given; and because their Parts cohere less 
firmly. And it is observable, that Vegetables 
which are longest in ripening, that is, whose 
Juices contain most of the Solar Heat in 
them, their fermented Juices produce the 
strongest vinous Spirits, such as Grapes, El- 
der-Berries, and the like: and that Animals, 
which are longest coming to Maturity, their 
Juices yield the most rank and most fœtid 
Urinous Salts. 
3. That the larger and bigger the Vege- 
table, or Animal is in its Kind, the Food 
made thereof is the stronger, and harder to 
be digested. Thus a large Onion, Apple, or 
pear, and large Beef and Mutton, are har- 
der to be digested than the lesser ones of the 
same Kind; not only, as their Vessels being 
stronger and more elastic, their Parts are 
brought together with a greater Force; but 
also, because the Qualities are proportionably 
more intense in great Bodies of the same 
Kind. Thus a greater Fire is proportionably 
more intensely hot than a lesser one; and 
likewise, the Wine contain'd in a larger Ves- 
sel becomes stronger than that contain'd in a 
lesser, and consequently the Juices of larger 
Vegetables and Animals are more rank 
N3 than





198 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than those of smaller ones of the same 
Kind. 
4. Sea-Fish or Animal's, are harder to di- 
gest than Land Animals; because, generally 
speaking, their Food is other Animals; and 
the Salt Element in which they live, renders 
their Flesh more firmly compact, Salts having 
a stronger Power of Cohesion † than any 
other Bodies. And for the same Reason, salt- 
water Fish is harder to digest than fresh-wa- 
ter Fish. 
5. Vegetables and Animals, that abound 
with oily, fat, and viscid Substance, are har- 
der to digest than those of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance; because oily and fat 
Substances commonly elude the Force and 
Action of animal Digestion, especially in such 
as have little Exercise and weak Stomachs; 
for their Parts attract one another, and unite 
more strongly than any other Substances, ex- 
cept Salts; inasmuch as their Softness and 
Humidity relax and weaken the Tone and 
Force of the Stomach, the Fat and Oil be- 
ing shut up in little Bladders, that are with 
Difficulty broken and separated. Thus Nuts of 
all Kinds, as they contain a great deal of Oil, 
pass thro' the Alimentary Duct almost undi- 
gested; for the same Reason, Olives are more 
difficult to digest than Pease, and fat Meat 
than the lean of the same. 
6. That all Vegetables and Animals of a 
strong, pungent, and aromatic hot Taste, are 
harder
‡ Sticking together.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 199
harder to digest than those of a softer, mild- 
er, and more insipid Taste; because such 
Substances abound with a great deal of Salts, 
or an Oil extremely active and heating; for 
high Relish comes from abundance of Salts 
and exalted Oils. A great deal of Salts sup- 
poses such Vegetables and Animals as are a 
long time coming to Maturity; and where 
Salts abound, the Fibres are dryer, harder, 
and more firmly in Contact with each other; 
for that Reason they are more difficultly sepa- 
rated, and harder to be digested. 
But however, Sea-Salt, or Rock-Salt, being 
fixed and of the same Nature, of all Season- 
ings is the best, without which no Food is 
good, and is used by Mankind in their Ali- 
ments for the following Reasons. 1. That 
thereby the Food may descend easier into the 
Stomach, and render it more savoury. 2. Be- 
cause it resists Putrefaction; consuming by its 
Dryness, that Moisture whereby Putrefaction 
might have been occasion'd. 3. It excites 
the Appetite, and digestive Faculty, and pre- 
vents Nauseating. 4. It dissolves, attenuates, 
and dries up the superfluous Moisture, pro- 
vokes the Bowels to discharge the Excrements, 
and is therefore used in Clysters and Supposi- 
tories. Besides, as all animal Substance contain 
no fix'd Salt, they want the Assistance of 
those, in order to promote Digestion, which 
preserve them both within and without the 
Body from Putrefaction; and as these fix'd 
Salts pass unalter'd thro' all the Strainers of a 
N4 human





200 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
human Body, the moderate Use of them is 
very proper to preserve Bodies through which 
they pass from Corruption. 
But on the other Hand, the immoderate 
Use of Salt produces a Multitude of woeful 
Disorders; such as Melancholy, Vapours, and 
bad Nourishment; it dries up the Blood, and 
causes the Muriatick, or Briny-Scurvy, Scab- 
biness and Itchy Ring-worms or Tetters, and 
even the Leprosy, with a great many other 
foul Humours and Eruptions in the Face 
and other Parts of the Body; and likewise it 
occasions Obstructions in the Urinary Passages, 
which oftentimes produce Ulcerations, Stone, 
and Gravel in the Kidneys and Bladder. 
And it will easily appear, that Salt can 
produce all these bad Effects, if we consider 
that Salts consist of hard and plain Surfaces, 
and in all Changes recover their Figure, and 
unite the most firmly of all Bodies whatever; 
for their plain Surfaces bring many Points in- 
to Union and Contact, and their Hardness and 
constant Figure render them durable and un- 
alterable; and thereby the active Principle, 
and Origin of the Qualities of Bodies, if in 
a Strict Sense there be any such Thing as a 
Principle; and when they approach within 
the Sphere or Limits of one another's Activity, 
they firmly unite in Clusters, all which ren- 
der the Separation of their original Particles 
the more difficult, and by that Means they 
obstruct the cuticular Glands, which are the 
Emunctories or Strainers of the whole Body, 
thro'



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 201 
thro' which not only the peccant Humours 
pass, but likewise the greatest Part of the Li- 
quors we drink, after having convey'd the 
Aliments into the Blood, being part of their 
Office, and in the next Place to dissolve the 
saline or terrestrial Particles to be carried off 
thro' the Glands of the Skin and Kidneys. So 
that when Salts adhere and unite in Clusters in 
the excretory Ducts of the Glands of the Skin, 
or the Kidneys, in the former they stop and 
pen in between the Scales of the * Scarf-skin 
the excrementious Humours, which ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, and 
thereby corrode the Skin, and produce Scur- 
vies, and other cutaneous Eruptions; in 
the latter, they cause Inflammations, Ulcera- 
tions, Suppression of Urine, and, as I have ob- 
served before, Stone and Gravel. Thus we 
may plainly see, how the immoderate Use of 
Salt is capable of producing not only all the 
disorders already mentioned, but likewise a 
great many more in the animal Oeconomy, 
Honey is the most accurate or exact Pro- 
duction of the vegetable Kind, perform'd by 
the Bee, being a most exquisite vegetable 
Soap, resolvent of the Bile, balsamick and 
pectoral: It is likewise detersive and opening, 
provokes
* It is the outermost Covering of the Body, and is that 
soft Skin which rises in a Blister upon any Burning, or the 
Application of a Blistering-Plaister. It sticks close to the 
Surface of the true Skin, to which it is tied by the Vessels 
which nourish it, tho' they are so small as not to be seen.




202 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
provokes Urine, and cleanses its Passages, and 
is excellent for old and phlegmatick People of 
a cold Constitution; for it warms the Sto- 
mach, moves the Body, resists Corruption, and 
breeds good Blood; but sometimes it causes 
Wind and Gripes in some Constitutions. 
Oil of Olives is sweet and pleasant, and 
very agreeable to Nature; and it is best when 
two Years old, and ought to be made of ripe 
Olives. 
Oil of Sweet Almonds, when fresh drawn, 
is next to it in Goodness, and much properer 
for Sick People, it being of a cooler Nature, 
and more easily digested, tho' not so agreeable 
to the Palate. 
Oil fattens, and taken in great Quantities, 
is excellent to expel Poison by vomiting, and 
by sheathing the Coats of the Stomach from 
its corrosive Salts; but eating Oil too often 
destroys the Appetite, because all Oils are very 
hard to be digested, as I have already proved. 
Vinegar: The best is that which is made 
of the best Wine: It is an Acid of very pe- 
culiar Quality, different from that of all other 
Acid; for it is cooling, and yet not coagu- 
lating; for it gently dilutes the Serum of the 
Blood, as has been often proved by Experi- 
ments. It is inciding, digestive, and opening. 
It is good against the Redundancy of Bile, 
and to extinguish the Heat of Choler and 
Thirst. It strengthens the Gums, excites the 
Appetite, removes Obstructions, helps Diges- 
tion, and is good for hot Stomachs, and re-
sists 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 203
sists Putrefaction; therefore it is very useful a-
gainst pestilential Diseases, especially in Time 
of the Plague: But too much Use of it 
breeds melancholy Humours, injures the 
Nerves, emaciates some Constitutions too 
much, offends the Breast, and makes People 
look old and withered, with pale Lips. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bo- 
dies, with their good and bad Effects.
ALL Bodies which can be changed into 
the Fluids and Solids of our Bodies by 
the animal Powers, are called Aliment, as has 
been observed in the first Paragraph of Chap. 
VI. And to take it in the largest Sense, by 
Aliment is understood every Thing which a 
human Creature takes in common Diet, as 
Meat, Drink; and Seasoning, as Salt, Spice, 
Vinegar, &c. 
Our Food therefore consists, not only of such 
Particles as are proper for the Nourishment 
and Support of the Body, but likewise contains 
in it certain active Principles, such as Salts, 
Oils, and Spirits, &c. which are endued with 
such Properties, as both to vellicate and sti- 
mulate the Solids, to quicken the Circulation, 
and by attenuating the Fluids, render them 
more




204 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
more fit to undergo the necessary Secretions of
the Body. The Art then of preserving Health, 
and obtaining long Life, chiefly consists in a 
Mediocrity of such Diet as neither increases 
the Salts and Oils, so as to produce Distem- 
pers, nor too few, so as to suffer the Solids to
become too much relaxed; and if this desirable 
Medium be attained, by following the common 
ordinary Diet of the healthiest People in any 
Country or Climate; that is then, indisputably, 
the best Method in general to prefer Health. 
For it is certainly true, that the infinitely 
wise Creator has provided Food proper and 
peculiar to every Country and Climate, which 
is best for the Support of the Creatures he has
placed therein, as may be seen by the Chear- 
fulness and Health of the middling Sort of 
People of all Nations, who use only a simple 
Diet, without lusting after voluptuous or fo- 
reign Delicacies. Yet the Diseases of human 
Bodies often require Substances of more active 
Principles than what are found in common 
Aliment, in order to produce sudden Altera- 
tions; but where such Alterations are not 
necessary, the same Effect may be obtained 
by the repeated Force of Diet, with more 
Safety to the Body, where the sudden Changes 
are less to be apprehended. The smaller Ac- 
tivity of the Aliment is compensated by its 
Quantity; for according to the Laws of Mo- 
tion, if the Bulk and Activity of Aliment and 
Medicines are in reciprocal Proportion, the Ef- 
fect will be the same; for they both only bring 
about

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 205
about the Effect, by acting either upon the So- 
lids or Fluids, or upon both; upon the first, by 
stimulating, contracting, or relaxing; upon 
the last, by attenuating, coagulating, or ren- 
dering them acrimonious or mild, or by in- 
creasing or diminishing their Motion through 
the Vessels. 
That all these Actions can be performed by
Diet as well as Medicine, is evident from
Reason, Experience, and in some Cases by 
ocular Demonstration; as in Chirurgery, in 
Wounds and Sores, where the Influence of 
Diet upon them is plainly seen; for a Diet 
too relaxing weakens the Spring of the Ves- 
sels so much, that they cannot sufficiently re- 
sist the Influx of the Liquid, and so begets a 
a Fungus, or proud Flesh; and when too as- 
tringent, it produces a Cicatrice, or callous 
Substance. The Effects of warm Water and 
mealy Substances in relaxing; of Spirits, in 
stopping Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes, and conso- 
lidating the Fibres; the Power of Alkaline 
Absorbents in subduing Acidity, and Oil in 
stopping Perspiration, is very well known to
both Physicians and Chirurgeons. 
All those Substances which stimulate the 
solid Parts, produce the greatest Alterations 
in animal Bodies; for violent Sneezing pro- 
duces Convulsions in all the Muscles of Re- 
spiration, and an universal Secretion of all the 
Humours, as Tears, Spittle, Sweat, Urine, 
&c. And even all this Alteration can be pro- 
duced by the tickling of a Straw or Feather; 
there-



206 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
therefore acrid or sharp Substances, that are 
minute enough to pass into the capillary Tubes, 
must stimulate the small Fibres, and irritate 
them into greater Contractions. And many 
Things which we take as Food, or with our 
Food, have this Quality in some Degree: Such 
as the Juices of acid Vegetables, fermented 
Liquors, especially sharp Wines, and ferment- 
ed Spirits; aromatical Vegetables, as Savory, 
Fennel, Thyme, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Mus- 
tard, all which abound with a volatile pungent 
Salt; and, in short, all Spices in general, and all 
Vegetables, which being corrupted, easily re- 
solve themselves into a fœtid, oily, alkaline 
Substance. 
The solid Parts of an animal Body may be 
contracted variously: First, by dissolving their 
Continuity. For as a Fibre is cut through, it 
contracts itself at both Ends; therefore all 
Things that are so sharp as to destroy the 
small Fibres, must contract them. Secondly, 
Whatever empties the Vessels, gives Room to 
the Fibres to contract; so that Abstinence 
produces this Effect in the best Manner: And
whatever shortens the Fibres, by insinuating
itself into their Parts, as Water in a Rope, 
contracts them; and fermented Liquors pos- 
sess this Quality in a great Degree. 
The more sulphurous or chymical Oil any 
Spirit contains, the more pernicious it proves 
to the human Body, because it is harder to be 
wash'd away by the Blood; therefore Brandy 
is more easily carried off than Spirit of Ju-
niper; 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 207 
niper; and that than Spirit of Annise-seed or 
Rum. Compound aromatical Spirits destroy, 
first, by their fermentative Heat; 2ndly, By 
their oily * Tenacity: 3dly, By a caustic 
Quality residing in all Spices apt to destroy
the solid Parts. However these Qualities may
tender them proper in some Cases, taken in 
small Quantities. 
Austere acid Vegetables have this Quality 
of contracting and strengthening the Fibres, 
without a great many of the bad Effects of 
distilled Spirits, such as all Sorts of Sorrel, 
the Virtues of which consist in an acid, astrin- 
gent Salt, which is a Sovereign Remedy a- 
gainst a putrescent, bilious Alkali; and seve- 
ral kind of Fruits, as Quinces, some Sorts of
Pears, with the Marmalades made of them; 
likewise Medlars, Capers, Barberries, Pome- 
granates, and Purslain, all such are easily
distinguish'd by a rough and styptic Taste. 
And amongst Drinks, austere Wines, unripe 
Fruits likewise have the same Quality; but 
they are apt to cause foul Eruptions on the 
Skin, to obstruct the Nerves, and occasion 
Palsies.
Relaxing the Fibres, is rendering them 
flexible, or easy to be lengthen'd without Rup- 
ture or Breaking, which is perform'd only in 
the capillary vascular Solids. 
Of all Liquids endued with this Quality of 
relaxing, warm Water is the first; and next 
to it, the watery Decoctions and Infusions of 
Mealy
* Adhering or sticking together.

208 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of Mealy Vegetables, or Grains, as Oats, Bar- 
ley, &c. likewise all sweet and mild Garden 
Fruits, and almost all Pot-Herbs, as Spinage, 
Beets, Cabbage, Coleworts, and all that Class;
lactescent Plants, such as yield a milky Juice, 
as Lettuce, Succory, and Dandelion, if un- 
fermented, for Fermentation changes their 
Nature; also fresh oils of mild Plants, or 
Nuts, Cream, Butter, Marrow, and Whey; 
all which Things help to weaken and relax 
the Fibres, and are therefore proper Reme- 
dies for a too rigid, strong, or elastic State. 
The Qualities of the Fluids of a human 
Body can be likewise chang'd by Diet; as by
attenuating or diminishing the Cohesion of 
the Particles of the Fluid: and the Cohesion 
of the Particles depends upon the Weight and
Quantity of Fluids; therefore Abstinence and 
a slender Diet attenuates or thins them, be- 
cause emptying the Vessels gives room to the 
Fluid to expand or dilate itself. Besides, 
whatever penetrates and dilutes at the same 
Time, as Water impregnated with some pe- 
netrating Salt, attenuates very powerfully; and
the great Effects of medicated Waters may 
be justly ascrib'd to this Quality; likewise 
all saponaceous Substances composed of Oil 
and Salt, such are Honey, and the Robs and 
Gellies of most Fruits; Vinegar and Honey 
mix'd is a powerful Resolvent. All stimula- 
ting Substances, by increasing the Motion of 
the Blood, attenuate, unless they increase the 
Motion

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 209
Motion so much, as at last to produce Coagu- 
lation. 
The second manner of operating upon the 
Fluids is by thickening the Blood, which is 
perform'd by dissipating the most liquid Parts 
of it by Heat, or by insinuating some Sub- 
stances which make the Parts of the Fluid 
cohere more strongly: and the acid, au- 
stere Vegetables just now mention'd, have 
this Quality of condensing the Fluids, as well 
as strengthening the Solids. 
Another manner of operating upon the 
Fluids, is by increasing or lessening their 
Quantity: and the first is effected by a plen- 
tiful Diet, and the Suppression of Evacuations; 
the latter, either by a spare Diet, or promo- 
ting the animal Secretions, that is, expelling
the Fluids out of the Body; which may be 
perform'd by Substances that are laxative, as 
animal Oils, fresh Butter, Cream, Marrow, 
or fat Broth; the Oils of mild Vegetables, as 
that of Olives, Almonds, and the Fruits 
themselves; likewise all oily and mild Fruits, 
as Figs, and most Garden Fruits, by the Salts 
they contain, lubricate the Intestines; and some 
saponaceous Substances which stimulate gent- 
ly, as Honey, Hydromel, or boil'd Honey and 
Water, and even brown Sugar. Besides, Sub- 
stances that are diuretick, are proper for this
Intention, such as Whey, and Salts of all 
Kinds, Parsley, Celery, Sorrel, Chervil, As-
paragus, Eringo, and Nutmegs, &c.
O Acrimony

210 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Acrimony or Sharpness is not natural, but 
introduc'd into the Fluids of animal Bodies, 
either by Sickness, as in Cachexies, or ill 
Habits of Bodies, and Scurvies, &c. or by 
Diet that is either briny or acid, which con- 
sists of two Sorts, that is, of Things natural- 
ly acid, or render'd so by Fermentation; or 
alkaline aromatick Substances, consisting of 
Salts, and highly exalted Oils intimately uni- 
ted, which by increasing the Velocity of the 
Blood beyond what is natural, occasions an 
Attrition of the Parts, and thereby disposes 
the Blood and Juices to an alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
But the Juices of found Animals consist of 
Water impregnated with Salts of a peculiar 
Nature, which are neither acid, nor perfect- 
ly volatile; for, in the Evaporation of hu- 
man Blood by a gentle Fire, the Salt will not 
rise, but only the Spirit and Water, nor per- 
fectly fix'd; for human Blood calcin'd, yields
no fix'd Salt, nor is it a Sal Ammoniac; for 
that remains immutable after repeated Distil- 
lations, and Distillation destroys the ammonia- 
cal Quality of animal Salts, and turns them 
alkaline. So that it is a Salt neither quite fix'd, 
nor quite volatile, nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline, nor yet quite ammoniacal; but soft 
and benign, approaching nearest to the Na- 
ture of a Sal Ammoniac. 
Hence we may easily perceive, that the 
elementary Salts of found Animals are not the 
same as they appear by Distillation; for these
Alte-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 211
rations are produc'd by Fire: and those Salts 
are of a peculiar, benign and mild Nature in 
healthy Persons, who have * vital Force to 
subdue all the Substances they feed upon; but
in such who have not that vital Force, or 
commit some Errors in their Diet, these Salts 
are not sufficiently attenuated, and retain their 
original Qualities, which they discover in 
Cachexies, or ill Habits of Bodies, Scurvies 
of several Kinds, and many other Distempers; 
the Cure of which chiefly depends upon the 
Choice of Aliment with Qualities opposite to
the Nature of these Salts. 
Acrimony in the Blood commonly consists 
of three Sorts, according to the Nature of the 
Salts in which it resides; that is, either Acid, 
Alkaline, Muriatic, or briny, as in the Sea- 
Scurvy; but this last approaches more towards
the alkaline State, and admits of the same 
Cure. Acid Acrimony resides chiefly in the 
first Passages, that is, the Stomach and Inte- 
stines, proceeding often from the Weakness 
of Digestion, and the too long Duration of 
Vegetables, and Milk, or fermented Liquors 
the Stomach. All animal Substances are 
alkalescent; and of Vegetable Substances some 
are acid, others alkalescent, and each Sort is
to be used according to the two different In- 
tentions hereafter mention'd. 
O2 The
* By vital Force, is understod the Sum of all these Pow-
ers in an animal Body, which convert; his Aliment or Food in- 
to its own Nature. 

212 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The proper Diet for the Cure of the acid 
Acrimony, are Vegetables of all Kinds, as 
Garlick, Onions, Leeks, and Celery; the an- 
tiscorbutick Plants, as Cresses, Brooklime, 
Scurvygrass, &c. Carrots, Turnips, Pota- 
toes, Eringo Roots, Asparagus, Horse-radish, 
Mustard, and Cabbage. All animal Substan- 
ces being likewise Alkalescent, or contrary to
Acidity, are also very proper Food in this 
Disorder, more particularly all Fishes of the 
Shell-kind. Water, by its diluting Quality, 
subdues Acidity very powerfully. Oils are 
Anti-acids, so far as they blunt Acrimony; but 
as they are sometimes hard of Digestion, they 
may produce Acrimony of the alkaline Sort. 
The alkaline Acrimony being opposite to 
the former, is cur'd by a proper Diet made 
of the Decoctions of farinaceous or mealy 
Substances, especially such as are made of 
Oats are proper, as having an acescent Qua- 
lity. Therefore this alkaline Acrimony requires 
a plentiful Use of Vinegar, and acid Fruits, 
such as Oranges, which contain a Juice most
effectual in the Cure of the muriatic or briny
Scurvy of Sea-faring People; the Juice of 
Lemons is likewise proper, and more cool- 
ing and astringent than that of Oranges: and 
in this Case all the mild Antiscorbuticks are 
indicated, as Sorrel, Cichory, Endive, Lettuce, 
and Apples, &c. and of Liquids Whey. On 
the contrary, all the acrid Antiscorbuticks, 
as Horse-radish, Mustard, and Scurvygrass, 
&c. are very hurtful in this, and all other hot 
Scurvies. 
Other

Ch.VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 213
Other Sorts of Antiscorbuticks proper in 
this alkalescent State of the Fluids, are called
Astringents, such as Pomegranates, Capers, 
and most of the common Pickles prepar'd 
with Vinegar, And as the Extremity of Al- 
kali is Putrefaction; so all acid Substances, 
and Sea-Salt, resist such a putrescent Quality in 
the Fluids; but as the latter is a sharp solid 
Body, and unalterable in all the Circulations 
of the animal Body, and when it is taken 
constantly in a Diet of Salt Meat in too great
Quantities, (as I have taken Notice of in the 
latter End of the preceding Chapter) it breaks 
the Vessels, produces Erosions of the solid 
Parts, and all the Symptoms of the briny 
Sea-Scurvy, which is to be cur'd by acid Ve- 
getables, and not by the hot Antiscorbutics, 
as I have just now observ'd. 
There are other Sorts of Substances which 
are proper in the Cure of both Sorts of Acri- 
mony, which are demulcent or mild, because 
they sheath these sharp Salts, as farinaceous 
or mealy Pulse, such as Pease, Beans, Len- 
tils; native Oils of Animals, as Cream, But- 
ter, Marrow. Likewise all Plants that are 
without Smell or pungent Taste are demulcent; 
and also all the alimentary Parts of found Ani- 
mals; for none of their Juices will hurt or 
smart either the Eye or a fresh Wound. 
As Liquors make a considerable Part of our 
Aliment, it will not be improper to give a 
short Account of their principal Qualities in 
O3 this

214 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
this Place, before I treat of different Consti- 
tutions, with the Diet proper for each in Par- 
ticular. 
Drink being an essential Part of our Food, 
is either Water, Milk, or Whey; or ferment- 
ed Liquors, such as Malt Liquors of different
Sorts, Cyder, Wines, or a Mixture of these: 
And as the chief Intentions of Drink are, 1st, 
To moisten and convey our Food into the 
Stomach, and the Nutriment thereof to the 
respective Parts of the Body, and to allay 
Thirst; 2dly, To dilute the Blood, that it 
may circulate through the minutest Vessels;
3dly, To dissolve and carry off; by Urine and 
Perspiration, the superfluous Salts we take in 
our Food, which are unalterable in a human 
Body, as I have observ'd in one or two Places 
already: so pure Water answers all these Intenti- 
ons best, except in some few Cases hereafter 
mentioned; for no Liquor that we drink will 
circulate so well, or mix with our Fluids so im- 
mediately as Water; because all other Liquors 
we drink are impregnated with Particles that 
act strongly either upon the Solids or Fluids, 
or both; but as Water is the only simple 
drinkable Fluid, and being altogether inac- 
tive, so it is the fittest and most innocent Li- 
quor for diluting, moistening, and cooling; 
which are the chief Ends of Drink pointed 
out to us by Nature: Besides, nothing will 
dissolve Salts and carry what is superfluous of
them out of Body, so well as pure Water, 
that


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 215
that being the proper Menstruum or Vehicle 
for dissolving all Kinds of Salts. 
The benign, mild, and other useful Qua- 
lities of Water plainly shew, that it was de- 
sign'd by the most wise Creator for our com- 
mon Drink; and, without doubt, was the 
primitive original Drink: And happy had it 
been for Mankind that other mix'd and arti- 
ficial Liquors had never been invented; for 
Water is so necessary to our Subsistence, that
we could not live a Moment without it; be- 
cause this Element furnishes all the fluid Parts 
of our Humours, without which they could 
not circulate; and it dissolves all the Salts in the 
Blood, whereby some are carried to their pro- 
per Places within the Body, and others to 
proper Emunctories for their Expulsion from 
it. It serves to prepare our Food, and then 
for a Vehicle to convey it out of the Stomach 
into every little Meander of the Body, both 
for Health and Nourishment: So that Water 
alone is sufficient and effectual for all the 
Purposes of human Wants as to Drink. 
Therefore it is evident from what has been 
said, that Water is the best and most whole- 
some Drink in general; but in some Constitu- 
tions, where something is necessary to warm 
and act as a Stimulus, then fermented Li- 
quors taken in Moderation are proper, such 
as Beer, Ale, Cyder, Wine, &c. the Quan- 
tity and Choice of which depends upon the 
Age, Constitution, and Manner of Living of 
the Drinker; for in Youth, Milk, Water, or 
O4 Whey


216 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Whey are the properest, and in a middle Age 
a little more generous Liquors may be some- 
times allow'd; but most of all in old Age; 
for according to the old Saying, Lac senûm
est Vinum, Wine is old Men's Milk. 
As to Malt Liquors, small Beer well boil- 
ed, and of a due Age, is the best for common
Drink; otherwise it must be very hurtful to 
Persons of weak Nerves and flow Digestion; 
for by fermenting anew in the Bowels it will 
fill the whole Cavity of the Belly with Fumes 
and Vapours, which will at last produce very
bad Effects in a weak Constitution. 
As for strong Beer, it should be made of 
Water that will bear Soap; be well hopp'd 
and boil'd, that it may keep till all the gross
and viscid Parts fall to the Bottom of the 
Vessel, without the Help of any pernicious 
Composition for fining Liquors, too frequent- 
ly made Use of to the Destruction of thou- 
sands; for it is very notorious, that all your 
fine Ales, or Home-brew'd, as they are call'd, 
have neither due Age or Hops enough to cla- 
rify of their own Accord, being brew'd one 
Week and drank the next, or soon after; so 
that the Seller is obliged to have Recourse to
some Art or other to fine them down, which 
is very often with unslack Lime, or at best a 
Mixture of Ising-glass *, and other Ingredients 
* Is a very strong Glew, made of a Kind of Fish catch'd in
great Quantities in Rivers in Hungary and other Parts: It is 
used by Cabinet-makers, and sometimes ordered as a Medicine to 
stop Fluxes and Seminal Weaknesses; but it is very improper 
for

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 217
very destructive, if not poisonous, to many 
Constitutions: Besides, these Liquors are of 
so agglutinating and thickening a Nature, as 
to produce Stone, Gravel, Gout, Bloatedness, 
and great Thirst, with the Loss of Appetite: 
And to prove the agglutinating Qualities of 
all such Liquors, it is experimentally known, 
that they make excellent Bird-lime; and 
when simmer'd for some Time over a slow 
Fire, make the most sticking and best Plaister 
for old Strains. 
We have likewise convincing Reasons to 
have the same Opinion of the Yorkshire, Not- 
tingham, and Welch intoxicating Ales; and, 
in short, all fine Ales brew'd for Sale: For it 
is certainly true, that all these fine Liquors, 
far fetch'd and dear bought, have always some- 
thing in their Composition hurtful to our Con- 
stitution, more than meer Water, Malt, and 
Hops; therefore I would advise all those, 
who have any Regard for their own Health or 
Lives, to avoid, as much as possible, the use
of all such Liquors, and more especially the 
valetudinary, sedentary, studious, and contem- 
plative People; and, in fine, all such as have 
weak Nerves and slow Digestion. 
As the frequent Use and Excess of Drams,
or distill'd Spirituous Liquors, is a Vice of so
horrid 
for such as are otherwise in good Health; for the constant Use 
of it will produce Gravel, Stone, Blotches, and Eruptions on the 
Skin, by glewing up as it were the Urinary Passages, and 
likewise stopping insensible Perspiration; and, in short, it will 
produce the same bad Effects in human Constitutions, as the 
common Glew used by Joyners and Carpenters.

218 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
horrid a Nature in itself, and now become 
epidemical, not only among Mechanicks and 
Tradesmen, but among Persons of the brightest
Genius, and finest Taste and Accomplish- 
ments; and, alas! even among the finest
Part of the Creation, I mean the Fair Sex; 
and those of them too, which is still more a- 
stonishing, who are in all other Respects 
blameless, and of the strictest Virtue! I say, 
as the Case is so, it will not be improper to 
explain the poisonous Qualities and direful Ef- 
fects of such pernicious Liquors, which de- 
stroy Millions, both in Body and Soul. 
Let us then consider, that distill'd Spirits are
but an Accumulation of fine Salts and light Oil, 
compacted together into the smallest Bulk; the 
Salts are so hard and solid as naturally to re- 
tain their Heat and Activity the longest, into
which Water cannot enter; the Oil † is so 
inflammable, that it most readily receives Heat 
and Fire, and by that Means defends the Salts 
from the Power of Water over them: So 
that in the continued Distillation of Spirits, 
this
† They are guilty of a gross Error, who imagine that the 
more oily any distill'd Spirit is, the more wholsome it will 
prove to the Constitution; for they do not consider that it is a 
very subtile, sulphurous, chymical, inflammable Oil, blended 
with Portions of very fine Salts, raised by the Force of Fire, 
and that it is quite different in its Nature and Quality from 
the benign and pectoral Oil of Olives or Sweet Almonds, or 
any other express'd Oils produced without Fermentation or 
Fire. Hence it is evident that Rum, or double-distill'd Spirit 
of Annise-seeds, and Spirits distill'd from aromatick Plants, are 
much more difficult to be digested and carried off than Brandy, 
or Spirit of Juniper; and that for no other Reason, than that 
they contain too great a Quantity of burning Oil. 



Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 219  
this Action of the Fire is so strong as to re- 
duce the Spirits at last into liquid Flames, 
which will, of their own accord, evaporate 
in visible Flames and Fumes. 
Besides, it is observable that every Thing 
that has pass'd the Fire so long a Time as to 
divide and penetrate its Parts as far as it pos- 
sibly can, retains ever afterwards a corrosive 
and burning Quality. This is manifest from 
the firey and burning Touch and Taste of new- 
distill'd Spirits; as also from the burning of
a Lime-stone, which retains its heating and 
drying Quality ever after, tho' extinguish'd by
Water. 
Hence it will manifestly appear, that run- 
ning into the frequent Use and Habit of Dram- 
drinking will as certainly kill as Laudanum, 
or Arsenick, tho' not so soon; for such Li- 
quors contract, harden, and consolidate many 
Fibres together, abolishing many Vessels, or 
Canals in the Body, especially where the Fi- 
bres are the tenderest, as in the Brain, by 
which Quality they destroy the Memory and 
intellectual Faculties, abrade and wear off the 
villous Coat of the Stomach, and thereby ex- 
pose its nervous Coat to the Insults of the most
firey, corroding, saline, and caustick Particles
of the Spirits; by which means the Springi- 
ness or Elasticity of the Fibres is so weakened, 
that the whole Stomach becomes at last soft, 
flabby, and relax'd. Hence a Loss of Appe- 
tite, and an Inability to digest the small Quan- 
tity of Food that is taken in; whence arise 
Cru-

220 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Crudities, Nauseas, Vomitings, Tremors, ner- 
vous Convulsions, Consumptions, Dropsies; 
likewise Gout, Stone, Rheumatism, raging Fe- 
vers and Pleurisies, which for the most part 
nothing but Death alone can remove at last. 
What a melancholy Scene do we daily be- 
hold, in all Parts of this great Capital, of
Numbers of miserable Creatures, render'd not 
only useless to themselves, to their Families, 
Friends and Relations, but likewise burthen- 
some to the Publick, and a Scandal to both Chri- 
stianity and the rest of their Fellow-Subject! 
And all this great Calamity entirely ow- 
ing to the Folly of a bewitching Habit of 
Dram-drinking. And what is still most sur- 
prising, we see even the Moral, and the Sen- 
sible, bound in these Chains and Fetters, that 
nothing less than Almighty Grace, or the un- 
relenting Grave can release them; for they 
are deaf to Reason, and to their own Experi- 
ence, and even to the express Words of the 
Scripture, which says, That the Drunkard 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 
From this Doctrine it will appear, to the 
Evidence of a Demonstration, that next to 
Drams, no Liquor deserves to be stigmatized 
and detested more than Punch; for it is a 
Composition of such Parts, that not one of 
them, except the pure Water and Sugar, is 
wholsome, or friendly to any Constitution, espe- 
cially to valetudinary, tender, weak, and studious 
People. The chief Ingredient being either 
Arrack, Rum, Brandy, or Malt-Spirits, and 
all

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 221
all of them rais'd by Fire, from the fermented 
Juices of Plants brought from hot Countries, 
or which have born the Heat of the Sun 
longest in our own Climate; for it is observable 
that Vegetables, whose Juices have most Solar 
Heat in them, their fermented Juices yield 
the strongest Spirits in Distillation. 
The other principal Part of the Composition 
being sour Juice of unripe Oranges or Li- 
mons. And if we consider, that the Juice of
a Crab-Apple, of unripe Goosberries, or 
Grapes, or even the Juice of Sorrel, would 
come up at least to their Virtue in extinguish- 
ing the Heat of the burning Spirits, if not to
their Flavour; And yet every body who is 
not depriv'd of his Senses, must know how 
destructive an Ingredient such Juices would 
be to the fine Fibres of the Stomach and 
Bowels. 
For it is evidently true, even from Experi- 
ence, that all fermenting Juices, such as these 
are in a very great Degree, must be highly 
injurious to the human Constitution; for 
meeting with Crudities in the Bowels, they 
must raise a new Struggle or Fermentation there, 
and so fill up the whole Cavities of the Body, 
with acrid Fumes and Vapours, which is ex- 
tremely prejudicial to the Bowels, especially 
when the Constitution is tender and weak. 
And in the West-Indies, where the People 
are forced to drink much Punch, by reason 
of the Violence of the Heat, and for Want of 
other proper Liquors there, tho' the Limons 
and


222 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and Oranges are in full Perfection, yet the 
Inhabitants are universally afflicted with ner- 
vous and mortal Dry-Gripes, Cramps, Pal- 
sies, and Convulsions, which kill them in a 
few Days, and all intirely owing to this 
poisonous Mixture, Punch. 
Notwithstanding what I have advanced 
against the deliterious † Qualities of Drams 
and Punch, at least when taken for any Con- 
stancy, or in any great Quantity, for some 
Poisons are only so by their Quantity, yet I 
would not be understood here to discourage 
the innocent Means of enlivening Conversa- 
tion, promoting Friendship, comforting the 
Sorrowful, and raising the drooping Spirits, 
at proper Times with a chearful Glass of 
some good wholsome Liquor or other; for the
Sober can receive no Prejudice from a mode- 
rate Use of Liquors: On the Contrary, it 
will help to invigorate and re-establish the 
Constitution, especially after the Fatigues of
Labour or Study. Neither am I against the 
taking a proper cordial Dram sometimes, as 
in an actual Fit of the Colick or Gout in the 
Stomach; or upon a full Meal of Fish, Pork, 
&c. when a Glass of good Wine cannot be 
had. 
But the Frenzy of being given to the too 
frequent Use and Excess of Liquors, is abo- 
minable; for a Sot is the lowest and the most 
contemptible Character in human Life; and 
as for the Profligate, the Sensual, and Vo- 
luptuous,
† Poisonous.


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 223
luptuous, they are past reclaiming, and there- 
fore deserve no Advice, at least they will take 
none. However, I present them here with 
a short Sketch of the Effects of Drunkenness,
to contemplate upon at their Leisure, if they
can spare any Time from the bewitching 
Folly of sotting and drinking. 
The Effects then of Drunkenness render 
the Blood inflamed into a Gout, Stone, and 
Rheumatism, raging Fevers, Pleurisies, Small- 
Pox, or Measles. 
2. The Passions are enraged into Quarrels, 
Murder, and Blasphemy; the Juices are 
dry'd up; and the solids scorched and shri- 
velled. 
3. A Resolution of the Nerves, Cramps, 
and Palsies. 
4. Inflation of the Belly and Dropsies. 
5. Redness and Rheums, with an Inflamma- 
tion in the Eyes. 
6. Tremblings in the Hands and Joynts, 
Head-Aches, Quinsies, and Scurvies of all 
Kinds. 
7. Sicknesses at the Stomach, with four 
Belchings, Reachings and Vomitings. 
8. A furious and unmanageable Disposition 
to Lust, which hurries them to the base and
sordid Company of Harlots, and impure Wo- 
men, by whose Means they most commonly 
acquire a foul Disease, under which they 
often labour for the greatest Part of the 
Remainder of their Lives, in Shame and Tor- 
ments;


224 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ments; nay some become incurable, and even 
rot by Piece-meal, before their Dissolution. 
9. A Decay of Memory and Understanding, 
Loss of Credit and Reputation. 
10. An Unfitness for Business, or the Dis- 
patch of the Affairs of Life; and a Readiness
of discovering all Secrets. 
These, with a great many more, are the 
bitter Fruits of Drunkenness, even in this
Life; and in the next, according to the 
express Words of holy Writ, will be re- 
warded with everlasting Miseries, as being
thereby excluded the Kingdom of Heaven. 
A short Account
of different
Wines in gene-
ral.
As it would be endless to enter 
into a long Account of the diffe-
rent Qualities of all Sorts of Wines, 
therefore I shall only say in gene- 
ral, that all the light Wines, of a moderate 
Strength, due Age, and full Maturity, are 
much more wholsome for the Constitution, 
and preferable for Conversation, Cheerfulness, 
and Digestion, than the rich, hot, strong and 
heavy Wines: For the light Wines inflame 
the Juices of the Body less, and go off the 
Stomach with less Difficulty; they likewise 
afford longer Time for Conversation and 
Cheerfulness, with less Danger. 
Red Port Wine is strong and astringent; 
but white Port and Spanish Wines are stimu- 
lating and attenuating. French Wines are 
lighter, and not so strong as the Portugal 
and Spanish Wines; which renders them 
2 whol-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 225
wholsomer for thin and dry Constitutions. 
Fine old Rhenish and Moselle Wines are very 
wholsome, especially the Former, which is 
exceedingly good for most Constitutions. 
Strong made Country Wines are prejudicial 
to all Constitutions, being very windy, heavy, 
and heady, taken in any considerable Quan- 
tity; therefore it is surprising the extreme 
Fondness People of the better Sort in England 
have run into, for such Liquors; and for no 
other Reason that can be thought of, than 
the only one the Vulgar give for drinking 
Brandy or Gin, that they sooner intoxicate 
them. 
The last Thing I have to say concerning 
Liquors, is, that Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors, are as hard to digest, and require as
much Labour of the concoctive Powers, as 
solid and strong Food itself; and this is not
only evident with respect to Persons of weak 
Stomachs and Digestion, but also from strong 
and healthy People, who only drink either 
water or Small Beer at their Meals, and shall 
be able to eat and digest almost double the 
Quantity of what they could, did they drink 
strong Liquors. Therefore it appears very 
Plain, that we should always drink very little
strong Liquors at our great Meals, otherwise 
we must certainly impair the Constitution, and 
load it with various Diseases at last; for such
Liquors, by their Heat and Activity, hurry 
the Food unconcocted into the Habit of the 
Body, and by that Means lay a Founda-
P tion

226 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tion for Fevers, Colicks, and several 
chronical Distempers. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, the Diet 
proper for each. 
ALthough I have given an Account of Tem- 
peraments or Constitutions in general in the 
Begining of Part I. Chapter I. of this Treatise;
yet it will be necessary to treat of them in a more 
peculiar Manner in this Place, that every one 
may easily know the Nature of his own in 
particular. And as I have explained the Na- 
ture and Qualities of Aliment, in the two
preceding Chapters, with their good and bad 
Effects upon human Bodies, it will be like- 
wise necessary to lay down Rules of Diet pro- 
per for each Constitution in particular, in this
Chapter, by which Means it will not be diffi- 
cult for any one to observe a sure and easy 
Method in regard to what may be either use- 
ful or prejudicial to his own Constitution in 
particular, in order to preserve Health and 
prolong Life; or when impair'd, to restore it
again, which are the chief Ends of the noble 
Art of Physick. 
A general Method as to Diet, without re- 
gard to particular Constitutions, is absurd. 
3 The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 227
The most common Difference of human 
Constitutions proceeds either from the solid † 
Parts, or from the different State of the 
Fluids, (as I hinted in the first Part of this
Book.) From the former, as to their different 
Degrees of Strength and Tension; for in 
some Constitutions they are too lax and weak, 
in others they are too strong and elastick; 
from the latter, as they consist of Water, Spi- 
rit, Oil, Salts, and earthy Parts, they differ 
according to the Redundance of the Whole, or 
of any of the said Ingredients in particular; 
and for which Reason they may be justly 
called either plethorick, sanguine, phlegmatick, 
saline, oily on fat, earthy or melancholick Con- 
stitutions. 
The Fibres of the Solids in a human Body 
are too weak and lax, when the Cohesion of 
their Parts is so small, that they may be re- 
solved or broken by a Force not much greater 
than what happens commonly in the Body of 
a healthy Person; and when the Weakness of 
the Vessels or Organs, proceeding from a 
too small Cohesion of their constituent Parts, 
renders them unable to discharge the com- 
mon Functions of Life, consider'd in a State 
of Health. 
And notwithstanding there is a Debility or 
Weakness of Fibres in Infants, yet it is no 
P2 Disease,
† The Solids of an animal Body are composed of small Fi- 
bres or Threads, which may be divided into still less; and this 
Division proceeds so far, as that at last they become so incre- 
dibly small, as to exceed the Power of Imagination; but 
Reason tells us that there must be an End at ast.



228 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Disease, because they lengthen by the Influx 
of the Liquids, which is the Cause of their 
Growth; but in grown Persons, when their 
Fibres cannot any more give way or stretch, 
they must either break or lose their Spring. 
The common Causes of Weakness of the 
Fibres are, either a Defect or great Loss of 
the nutritious Juices; for if there is not a 
Sufficiency of Blood, the Chyle cannot be ea- 
sily assimilated to nourish the Fibres. And 
People who lose great Quantities of Blood 
daily, by Blood-letting or otherwise, become 
dropsical; for when a Fibre, which is natu- 
rally elastick like a Bow, loses its Spring, it is
only passive, and consequently useless to the 
Individual. Likewise Nourishment too glu- 
tinous or viscid to be subdued by the concoc- 
tive Powers of Digestion. Also a sedentary 
and lazy Life; for Motion or Exercise en- 
creases the Circulation of the Fluids, and of
Course an Application of the solid Parts to- 
gether. People who live healthy in a dry Air, 
commonly fall into Diseases that depend upon 
weak and relax'd Fibres when in a moist one. 
Lastly, a natural Weakness from the Frame 
and Constitution of the Body, which is too 
often the Case. 
The Sign of weak and lax Fibres are, a weak 
Pulse, Paleness, flabby and soft Flesh, 
Palpitations of the Heart, Bloated- 
ness, Lassitude, and scorbutical Spots; 
Coldness of the Skin, four Belchings upon taking 
vegetable Food, or foul Eructations, like that of 
The Signs of
weak Fibres.
rotten

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 229
rotten Eggs, after eating animal Food, are also 
Signs of weak Fibres in the Organs of Diges- 
tion; likewise Atrophy, or a Decay of the 
Flesh, which indicates a Destruction or Ob- 
struction of the Vessels that convey the Nou- 
rishment; and Dropsies proceed from a Weak- 
ness and Laxity of the Fibres, as having lost
their Elasticity or Springiness to return the 
Fluid. And, in short, most of all the chro- 
nical Diseases proceed from Weakness and 
Laxity of the Fibres. Therefore the chief In- 
tention of Cure must be to restore the Tone 
of the solid Parts; for all other Attempts, 
without this, will prove fruitless. 
So that they who have weak Fibres ought 
to forbear all great Evacuations, especially 
Bleeding, viscid Substances, and all other Food
hard of Digestion; they Should likewise avoid 
a sedentary Life and moist Air as much as 
possible: They should eat often, but in small 
Quantites, of such Things as are nourishing, 
and of easy Digestion, as Milk, Broth, and 
Jellies made of Flesh Meat, Rice Gruel, Pa- 
nadas, &c. And their Drink should be some 
of the light Wines of due Age and Maturity, 
mix'd with Water, for Water alone is too re- 
axing; or any good Wine with acidulated 
and Steel Waters, such as Pyrmont or Spaw,
&c. They should likewise use in their Diet 
austere or acid Vegetables, if their Stomachs
can tolerably bear them; such as Pears, 
Plumbs, Quinces, Pomegranates, Barberries, 
Medlars, Sorrel, Purslain, Burnet, Tama-
P3 rinds.

230 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
rinds, Limons, Capers, or any other Pickles
they like best.
The Fibres are too strong and too elastick, 
when the Cohesion of their Parts is 
in such a Degree of Rigidity or Stiff- 
ness as renders them inflexible to the 
Causes they ought to yield to, so as to pre- 
serve the Animal in Health; for too great 
Elasticity is not only a Quality by which they 
resist against being lengthen'd, but likewise they
restore themselves, by that Means, with too 
great a Force and Pressure upon the moving 
Fluids, to the Detriment of the Ani- 
mal. 
Too strong
Fibres.
Rigidity of the Vessels or Organs is such a 
Degree of Cohesion as prevents their being ex- 
panded so far as is necessary to carry on the 
vital Functions *, as usual in a true State of
Health. And the Rigidity of the Fibres must 
necessarily produce a Rigidity of the Vessels 
and Organs, because the Fibres make up their 
constituent Parts. 
The Cause of such a State, besides the na- 
tural Frame and Constitution of the Body, 
is old Age, in which the Fibres are conspicu- 
ously rigid and dry; or too long a Course of 
such Diet as strengthens the Fibres too much; 
likewise hard Labour or Exercise. 
Signs. 
The Signs of such a Constitution 
are, a hard, dry, hairy, scraggy, and 
warm
* Vital Functions are the muscular Action of the Heath,
the secretory Action of the Brain, that of the Lungs, and of
the Blood and Spirits, with their Motions through their pro-
per Organs; and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves.



Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 231  
warm Body., without a Disease, with firm and
rigid Muscles, a strong Pulse, Activity and 
Promptness in the animal Actions *; and 
such Constitutions are most subject to inflam- 
matory Diseases. 
Their Diet should be Things contrary to 
those already mentioned in the 
State of too great Laxity of the 
Fibres; that is, of such Things as are emol- 
lient and cooling, the Pulps, Jellies, Juices, 
Mucilages, and Decoctions of Vegetables that 
are softening and relaxing; such as all Pot- 
herbs of the emollient Kinds, Lettuce, Ci- 
chory, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Barley, Rice, 
Mays, Millet, Pease, and Beans; animal Oils, 
such as Cream, Butter, Marrow, and all 
Things which relax or increase Fat, refrain- 
ing always from Things season'd with Spice, 
and with as little Salt as possible, for Salt har- 
dens the Fibres: Their animal Food should
be boil'd Meat and Broths without Seasoning, 
preferable to any other Form: Their Drink 
should be Water, Barley-water, Milk and 
Water, or Whey; avoiding all fermented 
Spirits and austere Wines, and Pickles of
all Kinds, all which are extremely hurtful to
such Constitutions. Bathing in warm Water 
The Regimen.
P4 often
* Are such, as when perform'd, the Understanding con- 
ceives Ideas of Things united to that Action; or the Will is 
either concerned in exciting such Actions, or moved by them 
when excited; such are the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, 
Hearing, Perception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, Rea- 
son, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary Motions. 

232 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
often is beneficial to such, but immoderate
Labour or Exercise very injurious. 
How the Fluids act upon the Solids of a 
human Body, so far as to cause Diversities of 
Constitutions and Diseases, is accounted for 
in the following Pages, in treating of different
Constitutions. 
The Definition.
A plethorick Constitution is such 
as abounds with too great a Quan- 
tity of laudable and good animal 
Juices; the Causes of which are 
strong Organs of Digestion and Chylification, 
a good Stomach, plenty of nourishing Diet, 
little Exercise, much Sleep, Laziness or want 
of muscular Motion, a moist Air, and a Suppres- 
sion of some of the usual Evacuations, especially
that of Perspiration. Therefore the 
Cure proper for this Constitution, is 
to avoid the Causes of it, just now mentioned, 
and use a more sparing Diet, greater Ex- 
ercise, and proper artificial Evacuations, in 
order to restore the natural ones; for 
The Cause.
The Cure.
This Constitution is subject to a Stoppage 
of the Circulation, by too great a Weight of 
Blood upon the Heart; Rupture of the Ves- 
sels, Suffocation, and sudden Death. But it 
is to be observed, that long Abstinence is not 
proper in the Cure of such a Constitution; 
for in that Case the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood fly off, and the grosser remain in the 
Vessels. Likewise frequent Bleedings, in small 
Quantities, often increases the Disorder, by 
augmenting the Force of the Organs of Di- 
gestion.

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
gestion, and by that Means promote Fatness. 
Persons of such a Constitution should al- 
ways avoid all oily and too nourishing Sub- 
stances; therefore Vegetables, being less nou- 
rishing than animal Food, are more proper; 
and, by the same Rule, to feed upon Fish pre- 
ferable to that of Flesh-meat. 
A sanguine is that Constitution is that 
which abounds with a great deal of 
good Blood; and the common outward Sign 
of such a Constitution, is a florid 
Colour in the Complexion, a Ful- 
ness and Blueness of the Veins, and 
a particular fair and lively Colour of the Skin, 
without Paleness. Those of a sanguine Con- 
stitution are subject to frequent Bleedings at
the Nose and other Parts, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs, Impostumations, and often to 
scrophulous or evily Diseases. 
Definition.
Diagnostick 
Signs. 
The Blood is the most universal Fluid in 
the animal Body, from which all the rest of 
the Juices are derived; for the red Part of it
differs from the Serum, the Serum from the 
Lymph, the Lymph from the nervous Juice, 
and that from the several other Humours that 
are separated in the Glands.
The red Globules of the Blood are elastick, 
and one Globule will break into six small ones, 
and then turn yellow; those yellow Globules 
break into others less, and so proceed till they
become white and transparent at last; for 
the Vessels which admit the smaller Globules 
to pass, cannot admit the larger without a 
Rupture,



234 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Rupture, or some other Disorder. So that 
as the Blood circulates thro' the smaller Chan- 
ness, the Redness will disappear more and more. 
A strong and free Motion of the Blood will 
occasion a Floridness upon the Skin of such 
Constitutions; for such a strong Motion will 
force the red Part of the Blood into more ca- 
pillary Vessels, Besides, another Cause com- 
monly concurring is the greater Transparency 
of the Vessels, occasioned by the Delicacy 
and Thinness of their Coats, which is evident 
from the large Veins of sanguineous Constitu- 
tions appearing blue and transparent, by the 
Colour of the Blood circulating in them. 
And if the Vessels are in a State of too 
great Rigidity, so as to be inflexible, a strong
Motion of the Blood will occasion a Rupture 
of them, with Hæmorrhages; especially in 
the Lungs, where the Blood is more abun- 
dant, and the Vessels more delicate: But if 
the Vessels yield instead of bursting, the Per- 
son is subject to the Inconveniences of a faulty
Circulation; that is, the Blood forces into 
the Vessels appointed to carry Serum or 
Lymph, from whence proceed Inflammations 
and Obstructions. And as the Delicacy and 
Thinness of the Vessels run through the whole 
Body, it must affect the Glands and Lympha- 
ticks, as well as the Blood-vessels; so that 
such Constitutions must be subject to glandu- 
lous and evily Tumours, and Ruptures of the 
Lymphaticks. 
The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 235
The Diet of such Constitutions 
should be cooling and relaxing, 
with Moderation in the Quantity of all Things, 
They ought to avoid every Thing that acce- 
lerates the Motion of the Blood, as violent 
Exercise and Watching; likewise they ought 
to abstain from the Use of all Things that a- 
bound with an acrimonious Salt, as Onions, 
Garlick, Leeks, Mustard, and the hot Herbs 
used in Seasoning, and all Spices in general; 
but Vinegar is exceeding useful to such as will 
use it constantly with their Food, for it will 
very much abate their florid Colour. 
The Regimen.
For more particular Directions, as to the 
Diet proper in this Constitution, I refer the 
Reader to the Diet prescribed for the Cure of
Rigidity and Elasticity of the Fibres, which
answers this Intention in every Particular. 
A saline Constitution of the Fluids 
in an animal Body; is either acid,
alkaline, or muriatick †. 
A Saline
Constitution
It has been proved in the foregoing Chapter, 
that the Juices of a found Animal are nei- 
ther acid nor alkaline; for all the Solids and 
Fluids of such, even fed with acescent or acid 
Substances, yield no Acid; because the vital 
Force of such Animals converts the acid Sub- 
stances they take in Food, into soft nutritious
animal Liquids of their own Nature. A Cow 
fed with Daisies, Trefoil, and Sorrel, will 
give Milk in which there is not the least Aci- 
dity; but if the vital Force is weak, it is not 
sufficient
† Briny.


236 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sufficient to subdue the Acidity of the Food 
taken in. 
Therefore as there is no Acid naturally in 
a found Animal Body, but what must be ta- 
ken in by Food; so that if it be not subdued 
in the Passages of the Chyle, it will get into 
the Blood; and if there is not a due Quantity 
of Blood, and a sufficient Strength of Circu- 
lation to subdue it, it will infect the Fluids, 
so as to produce various Distempers. 
The Effects of a Constitution subject to
Acidity, are sour Belching, a crav- 
ing Appetite, Sourness in the Sto- 
mach, with Pains; Green-sickness, 
the Case of a great many Girls craving after 
earthy Substances, such as Clay, Chalk, Meal, 
Cynders, &c. Colick Pains about the Navel, 
Dry Gripes, such as those in the West-Indies, 
chiefly occasioned by too great Quantities 
of the Acid of Lime-Juice in their Punch, 
with a great deal of other Acids in their Sea- 
sonings. The Colicks in Infants proceed 
from Acidity, and the Air expanding itself in 
the fermenting Food in the Stomach; the true 
Signs of which are a sour Smell of the Excre- 
ments, acid Sweats, Paleness of the Skin, and
oftentimes Convulsions, from Acidity passing 
into the Blood, and affecting the tender Fi- 
bres of the Brain. Eruptions of the Skin, 
such as Scurvy and Itchy, and even Leprosies, 
are produced by feeding much and often 
upon acid unripe Fruits, and mealy Substances 
that are acescent. 
Effects of an
acid Consti-
tution.
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 237
The most subject to this Disorder are Chil- 
dren, by reason of the Weakness of their 
Fibres and Digestion, and a Milk Diet; like- 
wise such as lead a sedentary Life; and others 
again, who eat and drink much Bread and 
Wine, and acid Vegetables; and lastly. Ar- 
tificers, who deal much in the Preparations
of Acids. 
As Acidity is not the natural State of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, but introduc'd into
the Habit by Food; so it is to be cur'd by 
Aliment of a contrary Quality, for which 
the Reader is referr'd to the Diet proper for 
acid Acrimony, in the foregoing Chapter, 
Page 212. 
All anti-acid Medicines being ineffectual 
without a proper and continued Diet of the 
same Nature, here I must observe, that an 
Abstinence from strong fermented Liquors is 
absolutely necessary in the Cure of this Dis- 
order; and likewise that Acidity in the In- 
fant may be cur'd by a Flesh-Diet in the 
Nurse.
An alkaline Constitution of the 
Fluids in a human Body is opposite 
to the former, and abounds with 
alkaline Salts, the Nature and 
Quality of which I have explain'd in Note *, 
Page 165, which see. And tho' no Animal 
unputrify'd, when burnt, produces any alka-
line Salt, yet being putrify'd, it produces a 
volatile Alkali; so that in a found Animal 
no true Alkali is found, as I have observ'd 
A Constitution 
subject to an
alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
in

238 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in the preceding Chapter; but when an Ani- 
mal degenerates from a true State of Health, 
by such Diseases or Food as increases the At- 
trition and Heat of the Fluids, the animal 
Salts that were before mild and benign, now 
become almost of an alkaline Nature; for 
found human Blood when first drawn, is so 
mild as not to make an Eye, or a fresh Wound
smart; but let it stand in a Degree of Heat 
equal to that of a human Body, and it will 
grow fœtid in three Days time, and produce 
a volatile rancid Oil, as likewise a volatile 
alkaline Salt, which will ferment with Acids; 
so that the Blood in the Vessels, after it has
passed thro' almost infinite Degrees of Circu- 
lation, may come to that State at last, which 
is the Case in pestilential and malignant Fe- 
vers, where neither the Strength of Nature 
or Art can prevail to save the Life of the In- 
dividual. All animal Substances being de- 
priv'd of Life, and exposed to the Air, turn 
presently alkaline of their own Accord, and
consequently will soon putrify. 
Causes.
The Causes of such a Constitution 
are commonly a plentiful and con- 
stant Use of animal Diet, such as Fish and 
Flesh, and all Vegetables which abound with 
an acrimonious Salt, such as Mustard, Onions, 
Leeks, Spices, and all hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks, &c. likewise a plentiful Use of 
Salts in general, for all animal Salts are alka- 
line; and tho' Rock and Sea-Salts are of a 
mix'd Nature, yet they increase the Disorder. 
All

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 239
All Animals that live upon other Animals 
have their Juices more alkalescent than those 
that live upon Vegetables, and for this Reason
Fishes are more alkalescent than terrestrial A- 
nimals, for they putrify sooner in the open Air; 
and no Person is able to support a Diet of 
Flesh and Water without Acids, such as Salt, 
Vinegar and Bread, without falling into a 
putrid Fever. 
Another Cause of this Distemper is a vigo- 
rous Action of the Vessels thro' which the 
Fluids circulate; for which Reason the strong 
and healthy, and young People, are more in 
danger by pestilential Fevers, than the weak 
and old; for violent animal Motion by Attri- 
tion produces this alkaline State. 
The Symptoms of such a Constitu- 
tion in any great Degree, are Heat, 
Thirst, foul Belchings, Foulness of the Tongue 
and Palate, a bitter and hot Taste in the 
Mouth, Sickness, Loathing, bilious Vomi- 
tings, Stools with a cadaverous Smell, Pains 
in the Belly. Besides, such a State dissolves the 
Blood, and disposes it to Putrefaction, hinders 
Nutrition, for no Chicken can be hatch'd of 
a rotten Egg; and likewise the Blood turning 
Acrimonious, corrodes the Vessels, producing 
Hœmorrhages. Eruptions on the Skin, dark, 
livid, Lead-colour'd, and of a gangrenous 
Nature, and likewise a hot Scurvy, and al- 
most all Distempers of the Inflammatory 
Kind.
Diagnosticks.
The

240 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Diet of such Persons ought 
to be a plentiful Use of acid Sub- 
stances, such as much Bread, and Seasoning 
of Vinegar, and all other Acids without Spi- 
ces, and live much upon Food made of 
Grain or mealy Substances; in short, they 
should live on such a Diet as is describ'd for 
an alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing Chap- 
ter. 
The Regimen.
Plethorick Constitutions are apt to fall into 
this alkaline State of the Fluids, which is more
hurtful than that which proceeds from Aci- 
dity; for the Bile being redundant, is the 
strongest Anti-acid, and when it is raised to 
a high Degree, and acrimonious, is sufficient 
to produce all the terrible Symptoms of ma- 
lignant and pestilential Fevers, as is mani- 
festly evident from the Experiments that were 
made at Marseilles in Time of the Plague;
and nothing subdues the Acrimony of the 
Bile more than the acid Diet already men- 
tion'd, so that by a timely Use and Applica- 
tion of such Remedies, many fatal and dan- 
gerous Diseases might be prevented. 
A briny State
of the Blood.
A muriatick or briny State of 
the Fluids, which is common 
among Sailors, is commonly introduc'd into 
the Habit of the Body by too great Quanti- 
ties of Sea-Salt; and its usual Symptoms are 
a Salt Taste in the Spittle, Itching, and red 
Breakings out of the Skin, a lixivial Urine 
with a fat Substance swimming on the Sur- 
face of it. 
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 241   
The Cure of this Disorder is per- 
formed by the constant Use of a 
Diet of fresh and unsalted Things, watery and
cooling Liquors acidulated; mealy and emol- 
lient Substances, with a plentiful Use of acid 
Fruits; Sower Milk, Butter-Milk, avoiding 
all Spices, and the hot Antiscorbuticks of the 
pungent Kind: In a Word, the Diet ordered 
in the Alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing 
Chapter is proper in this Case. 
The Cure.
A phlegmatick Constitution is such 
a State of the Fluids, wherein Phlegm 
or a cold, viscous watery Humour predomi- 
nates; and the Causes of it are, 
commonly viscid Food, such as 
mealy Substances unfermented, and taken in 
great Quantities; for the Flower of all Sorts
of Grain, mix'd with Water, make a Paste 
that sticks like Glue, having an Oil in them 
which causes a Cohesion of their Parts toge- 
ther; the frequent Use of unripe Fruits; like- 
wise great Loss, or Want of Blood, which 
preserves itself and the Food, by constant 
Motion, from Coagulation; a Weakness and 
Indigestion in the alimentary Passages, by 
which the Food is rendered slimy and vis- 
cous; a Defect, or Want of Bile, which is 
the principal Resolvent of the Food; and a 
Stagnation of the Fluids, from a Weakness of 
the Instruments of Excretion; for if the 
Phlegm stagnates, it must grow viscid by the 
Heat of the Body.
Definition.
The Causes.
Q Like-


242 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Likewise Tumours and Inflations of the 
Belly, with Paleness, are Signs of a phlegma- 
tick Constitution; as when a Child grows 
pale, and his Belly swells, which happens to 
those that are rickety, there must be cer- 
tainly tough Phlegm in the Intestines, which 
shuts up the Mouths of the Lacteals, and 
prevents the Nourishment from getting into 
the Blood. But no Cause whatever produces 
a Viscidity in the human Fluids, more than a 
sedentary Life, and Laziness, and no Reme- 
dy more effectual than good Labour and Ex- 
ercise. 
The Cure. 
Cold phlegmatick Constitusions 
ought to use constantly an alka- 
lescent Diet; likewise well fermented Bread, 
and fermented Liquors; for Fermentation re- 
moves the Viscidity of all mealy Substances;
and high seasoned Food is proper for them; 
likewise Spices, Salt, Garlick, Leeks, Onions, 
Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Basil, 
Mustard, and all the hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks; for all these being highly alka-
lescent, exalt the Bile, which is necessary in
this Case, whereby the Viscidity of both the 
Aliments and Fluids of the Body is dissolved. 
Their animal Food, both Fish and Flesh,
should be nourishing, and easy to be digested;
their Drink should be good fermented Li- 
quors, hot mineral Waters, and generous 
good Wines, such as will put the Blood into 
a vigorous Motion. But for farther Satisfa- 
ction herein, see what is said of alkalescent 
Sub-

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 243
Substances, both animal and vegetable, in the 
foregoing Chapter. 
A fat or oily Constitution is so 
very well known to every one, as 
to the Symptoms, that it needs no 
Description, and falls in with the pletho-
rick and phlegmatick Constitution already de- 
scrib'd; it being but one Species or Sort of Cor- 
pulency, as there is often Bulk without Fat, 
from a great Quantity of muscular Flesh, which 
is the Case of robust People; for an Animal in 
the Course of hard Labour appears to be very 
little else than Bones, Vessels and muscular 
Flesh; but let the same Animal remain long 
at Rest, with tolerable good Food, it will 
probably double almost its Weight and Bulk, 
and this additional Surplus is nothing but Fat
or Oil. 
A fat Con-
stitution.
The common Causes of this Dis- 
order, besides a particular Family 
Disposition of the Body are, first, strong Or- 
gans of the first Digestion, and a Laxity of 
the Fibres of the circulating Vessels, especi- 
ally those about the Membrana Carnosa ‡ ; for 
by the Action of those Fibres of the Vessels 
upon the Fluids, if they are duly elastick, 
the oily Parts of the Chyle are intimately 
mixed with the Blood; but when this Action 
is not strong enough, and that the Chyle is
The Cause.
Q2 ex-
* The fleshy Membrane, is a fat Sort of a Membrane, in 
some Parts thick and musculous, in other Parts thin with many 
Ducts of Fat in it, and covers all the nervous and fleshy Parts 
of the Body, and is interwoven with an infinite Number of 
Blood-Vessels.

244 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
extremely redundant, then the thicker Oil is 
never intirely subdued by Circulation, and so
turns Fat. 2dly. Great Quantities of oily 
Nourishment, Milk, Butter, and oily fer- 
mented Liquors. 3dly, All Things which pro- 
duce Coldness in the Skin, so as to stop Per-
spiration, by which Means the fat or oily 
Parts are congealed, which Heat dissolves 
and attenuates; for the Inhabitants of cold 
and moist Countries are generally fatter than 
those of warm and dry Climates. But the most 
common Cause of all is, too great Quantity 
of Food, and too little Motion or Exercise; 
that is to say, Gluttony and Laziness, for 
which a spare Diet and Labour is the best Re- 
medy. 
Fat or Oil in all Animals, in due Propor- 
tion, is very necessary for both the Motion 
and Nourishment of the Fibres; but too great 
Abundance of it is very prejudicial to the hu- 
man Constitution; for it is an Impediment to 
the Motion of the Joints, rendering them 
more heavy, by filling the Spaces occupy'd 
by the Muscles when they contract and swell; 
it subjects them to all the Distempers depend- 
ing upon a defective Motion of the Blood; and 
as the Want of a due Quantity of Motion of 
the Fluids increases Fat, so the Disease seems 
to be the Cause of itself. 
It endangers them in all inflammatory Dis- 
eases; for a Fever resolves many Things which 
do not circulate, and among others the Fat, 
which mixing with the Blood, becomes vola- 
tile,


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 245   
tile, and causes an Acrimony much more dan- 
gerous than the saline one; for Salts can be 
dissolved and diluted with Water, but Oils 
cannot: And it is manifest that Fat is 
dissolved by Fevers, if we consider the great
Loss of it which People undergo in such Dis- 
eases. But among the many Inconveniencies 
and other bad Effects of a fat or oily Consti- 
tution, there is one Advantage to such as 
arrive at an advanced Age, that they are not 
subject to a Stricture and Hardness of Fibres, 
which is the Effect of old Age. 
As Gluttony and Laziness are, for 
the most part, the Causes of a fat 
Constitution, such People ought to eat sparing- 
ly, sleep little, and use much Exercise; in 
which the Cure of such a Disorder chiefly 
consists. 
The Regimen.
Substances which heat moderately, abound- 
ing with acrid and pungent Salts, are proper 
in this Case; such as Horse-Radish, Mustard,
Garlick, Leeks, Onions, Spices, and all the 
aromatick Plants us'd in Seasoning; likewise 
Saffron, all Seeds that expel Wind, Meats 
well season'd with Salt, Pepper and Vinegar, 
are all proper to dissolve Fat, and carry it 
off by Perspiration; but the only Inconveni- 
ency they have, is, that they create Thirst, 
whereby great Quantities of Liquids are drank, 
which increase the Disorder, by diluting and 
relaxing the Solids too much. 
They should avoid all oily Nourishment, 
and use Honey, ripe Garden Fruits of an acid
Q3 Taste.

246 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Taste, and the astringent sub-acid Vegetables 
mentioned in the Cure of a weak and lax 
State of the Fibres, in the Beginning of this 
Chapter; for the Fibres of fat People are com- 
monly too lax. Their Drink should likewise 
be the same as is there mentioned, to which
I refer the Reader. 
Tea and Coffee are also useful, as they 
dilute and stimulate moderately; but the 
frequent Use of oily spirituous Liquors, as 
Rum, Anniseeds, &c. is extremely hurtful, 
because they increase Fat; a moist Air is like- 
wise prejudicial to fat People, by relaxing the 
Fibres and stopping Perspiration both sensible
and insensible. 
Definition. 
An earthy Atrabilarian, or 
melancholy Constitution, is such a 
State of the Fluids, wherein the spirituous
and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissi- 
pated, so as to leave the Salts, Earth, and 
grosser Oil in too great a Proportion in the
Body. 
Diagnosticks.
The Signs of such a State, or a 
Tendency thereto, are known by 
Darkness, or Lividness of the Complexion, 
Leanness, Dryness of the Skin, and a quick 
penetrating Genius, with a slow Pulse and 
Respiration; Obstructions of the Belly, and
a Difficulty of being purged. 
The Causes. 
The Causes of it are all such as 
expel or evaporate the most volatile 
and subtile Parts of the Blood, and fix the 
rest: As great Applications of the Mind to 
some

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 247
some Objects or other, such as may produce 
great Joy or Sadness, both which equally ex- 
pel and dissipate the Spirits; likewise great
Exercise or Labour in hot Weather, with un- 
quenched Thirst; also Food of hard Dige- 
stion, such as dry'd and salted Fish or Flesh, 
unripe Fruits, unfermented mealy Substances, 
or the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects of such a Constitu- 
tion of the Fluids are Stagnation, 
Obstructions, Acrimony, Putrefactions, Visci- 
dity, and an imperfect Secretion of the Gall, 
a defective Circulation in the Vessels, especi- 
ally in the lateral Branches appointed for the 
Separation of the more fluid Parts; hence 
arise viscid and insufficient Secretions in the 
Glands: Likewise the Motion of the Blood 
through the mesenterick and * celiack Arteries 
being too slow, produce various Disorders in 
the lower Belly and † hypochondriack Regions; 
hence Persons are denominated Hypochondria- 
cal. And the Signs of most of these Disorders of
the lower Bowels, arising from too slow a Mo- 
tion of the Blood through the said Arteries, are, 
a Sensation of Weight, Anxiety, Repletion, and 
a bad Digestion, from whence different Sorts 
of Food acquire such a State in the alimentary
The Effects.
Q4 Passages,
* Arteries in the lower Belly needless to be described in 
this Place. 
† Are the two Regions lying on each Side of the Tip or 
Extremity of the Breast-Bone or Sternum, and those of the 
Ribs; which contain in one the Liver, and in the other the
Spleen. Hence Disorders of those Viscera, especially of the 
Spleen, are called hypochondriacal Affections.



248 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Passages, as they affect of their own Nature; 
that is, acid, if the Diet be of acid Vegetables; 
and alkaline, if of animal Substances, espe- 
cially Fat, which remains rancid, so as that 
the Spittle will flame in the Fire sometimes; 
and all this Indigestion owing to the Inactivity
of the Gall, which likewise occasions a Co- 
stiveness of the Belly, and a Difficulty of be- 
ing purged. 
This State of the Fluids will at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Visci- 
dity of the Matter impacted in them, and 
thereby endanger the Imagination; and like- 
wise produce Corruption in the Bowels of the 
lower Belly at last. 
Hence it is evident, that such a Disorder is
not to be removed by active Remedies *, no 
more than Pitch or Dirt sticking to a Skain 
of Thread is to be taken away by Violence; 
but the Viscidity should be gently attenuated, 
diluted, and carried off gradually, by a pro- 
per continued Course of Diet, avoiding al- 
ways all heating Substances, which still eva- 
porate and dissipate the volatile and fluid Parts 
more; therefore Waters impregnated with 
some of the pungent Salts, as that of Nitre, 
Tartar, &c. are found to be of great Effect
in this Disorder. 
Their
* Are such Medicines as produce sudden Alterations in the 
Body, by their penetrating and stimulating Qualities, acting 
upon the Fluids or Solids, or upon both, either inwardly ta- 
ken, or outwardly applied. 


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 249
Their Diet should be light, easy of Di- 
gestion, moistening, and resolvent
of the Bile, such as Honey, the 
Juices of ripe Fruits, emollient Pot-herbs, 
light Broths of animal Food, Lettuce, Spi- 
nage, Cichory, and Dandelion; and their 
Drink ought to be Water, Barley-water, and 
Whey. For farther Instructions herein, see 
the Diet directed for the Rigidity of the 
Fibres in this Chapter, which is likewise very- 
proper in this Case. 
The Regimen. 
One Thing to be observed is, that the Diet 
ought to be contrary to the particular Acri-
mony residing in the Fluids, which might 
have occasioned the Disorder; for if it pro- 
ceeds from Acidity, then an animal Diet is 
altogether proper; if from an alkaline Acri- 
mony, the contrary Method must be used; 
which may be easily distinguish'd, by ob- 
serving what has been already said of acid and
alkaline Constitutions, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
As there is a continual Dissipation or Waste 
in all animal Bodies, insensibly; so the fre- 
quent Repetition of Meat and Drink is ne- 
cessary, not only for repairing the Fluids and 
Solids, but likewise for preserving the Fluids 
from a putrifying alkaline State, which they 
would acquire by constant Attrition, without 
being soon and sufficiently diluted with fresh 
Chyle. Hence it appears, that long Fastings 
or Abstinence may be the productive Cause 
of great Distempers, especially in hot and 
bilious


250 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
bilious Constitutions; and very prejudicial to
acid Constitutions, occasioned by the uneasy 
Sensation and Vellication produced in the 
Stomach. 
Therefore the Quantity of Food necessary 
to preserve our Bodies in a due State of Health
and Vigour, ought to be divided into Meals 
at proper Intervals of the natural Day, that 
the former Food may be digested before any 
more be taken in, and at such a Distance from
Bed-time that our Digestion may be almost 
finished before we sleep; by which Method 
neither the Organs of Digestion, nor the Blood- 
vessels will be overloaded, nor the Fluids too 
long deprived of a fresh Supply of nutritive 
Chyle, 
Hence the grand Secret of Health conists
in keeping an Æquilibrium † between the 
Fluids and Solids; for when the Fluids move 
so equally, that they do not press upon the 
Solids with a greater Force than they can bear; 
and, on the other hand, when the Solids resist 
and act upon the Fluids so equally, that there is 
no uneasy Sensation, the Person is then in 
good Health; and whatever is in our Food 
or Actions that destroys this Æquilibrium, ei- 
ther by relaxing or contracting the Solids too 
much, or by attenuating or rendering the 
Fluids too viscid or acrimonious, must pro- 
duce the Effects already mentioned under 
each of those particular Heads, which see. 
From
† An exact or due Ballance.


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 251  
From what has been hitherto said of the 
Nature and Effects of Aliment, as also of the 
Nature and Difference of Constitutions in par- 
ticular, with the Diet proper for each, it will 
be as easy to determine Rules of Diet in the 
different natural healthy States, as in the mor- 
bid or sickly States of human Bodies; there- 
fore I thought it both useful and necessary to
lay down here some general easy Rules, for 
the Benefit of those who value Health and 
long Life; but with this Caution, that Re- 
gard must be always had to the Nature of 
the Constitution in particular. 
I. Infancy requires a thin and copious nou- 
rishing Food, such as lengthens their Fibres, 
without breaking or hardening them, by rea- 
son of their Weakness and State of growing; 
so Milk answers this Intention best.
II. The Solidity, Strength, and Quantity 
of the Food, ought to be in Proportion to 
the Strength of the Solids, Labour, and Ex- 
ercise of the Body; for such as labour and 
exercise much, have their solid Parts stronger 
and more elastick; therefore they require 
stronger Food, and more in Quantity, than 
those that are in their declining Age, or those
that lead a sedentary or studious Life. 
III. Youth being still in the State of 
Growth, their Diet ought to be emollient 
and relaxing, plentiful, and without Acri- 
mony. 
IV. In the State of Manhood the Diet 
should be solid, with a sufficient Degree of 
Viscidity;

252 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Viscidity; and their chief Drink Water, with 
a Quantity of fermented Liquors at Times, 
proportioned to their natural Constitutions. 
V. Ancient People require a Diet resem- 
bling that of Children, often repeated, and 
little at a Time, emollient and diluting, with 
a little Wine sometimes; because in old Age 
the Fibres harden, many Canals or Vessels 
are abolish'd, and the Solids grow together; 
from whence arises Dryness, Weakness, Im- 
mobility, Debilty of the vital Force of Di- 
gestion, Loss of Teeth, and Depravation of 
chewing, which terminate in Death at last. 
VI. Excess in Meat and Drink is to be 
avoided; for a little Food well digested and 
assimilated, preserves the Body stronger and
more vigorous, than Superfluity. 
VII. We should not eat, because the cu- 
stomary Time for it is come, unless our Ap- 
petite be so too; for to load the Stomach with
a fresh Supply upon a Semi-digestion of the 
former Meal causes Crudities, and a foul Sto- 
mach, which must overload the Blood, and 
thereby produce Diseases. 
VIII. It is better to eat twice a Day with 
Moderation, than to make one over-large 
Meal, tho' one abstains double the usual 
Time for Compensation; however, if one 
transgresses at any Meal, let such abstain from
the next, or let it be a very slender one. 
IX. Variety of Meats, and made Dishes, 
destroy a Multitude of People; for they pro- 
long Appetite far beyond what Nature requires, 
and

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 253
and by that Means over-charge the Stomach. 
Besides, different Meats have different Quali- 
ties, and some are sooner digested than others; 
whence arise Crudities, and a depraved Di- 
gestion: Therefore we ought to avoid Feasts 
and Banquettings as much as possible; for it 
is more difficult to refrain from good and deli- 
cate Cheer when present, than from the De- 
sire of it when away. 
X. A temperate Diet preserves from 
diseases; for such are seldom ill, but when 
they are, they bear it better, and are
sooner recovered. 2dly, It lengthens Life, 
and mitigates the Agonies of Death. 3dly,
It arms the Body against external Accidents, 
such as Heat, Cold, Labour; and if afflicted 
with Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises, they 
are much sooner and easier cured. 4thly, It 
maintains the Senses intire and vigorous, and
moderates Peoples Passions and Affections. 
5thly, preserves the Memory, sharpens the 
Wit and Understanding, and allays the Heat 
of Lust. 
XI. Galen, recommending a temperate 
diet, says, that those of a weak Constitution 
from their Mother's Womb, may attain to 
an extreme old Age, by Help of a sober and 
moderate coarse Diet; and that too without 
diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; 
and says farther, that tho' he never had a 
healthy Constitution of Body from his Birth, 
yet by using a proper Diet after the 27th Year 
of his Age, he never fell into any Sickness, 
2 unless

254 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
unless now and then into an Ephemera, that 
is, one Day's Fever, occasioned by Fatigue or 
Weariness. And it is very well known, that 
Galen lived to an hundred Years of Age. 
XII. In the Winter and Spring we require 
a greater Quantity of solid Food, and less 
Drink, than in the Summer and Autumn; 
because in the cold Season our Stomachs are 
hottest, and we sleep a great deal more; for 
as the Cold increases, so our Heat for the 
most Part recedes to the central Parts of the 
Body. And the Reason we require less Drink 
in Winter is, that then our Bodies are moi- 
ster, like the Seasons; and likewise, that the
Cold hinders the watery Vapours to be per- 
spir'd, and so turn into Humours in the 
Body. But in Summer what is wanting in 
Meat or solid Food, may be taken in Drink, 
and moist cooling Nourishment; for then the 
Body is dry, and the inward Heat is distri- 
buted thro' all the Parts thereof, and Perspi- 
ration is so considerably increased by the ex- 
ternal Heat, that the watery Vapours or 
Effluvia are exhal'd and carry'd off thro' the 
Pores. 
XIII. The same Rules for eating serve al- 
so for drinking, the chief Intention of which 
is to allay Thirst, to moisten and convey the
Food in the Stomach, and the Nutriment 
thereof into the respective Parts of the Body; 
to dilute the Blood, and dissolve the super- 
fluous Salts, and carry them off both by Per- 
spiration and Urine. But for farther Satis- 
faction

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 255 
faction herein, see the Particulars of the Use 
and Intentions of Drink, in the latter End of 
the foregoing Chapter. 
Here I must observe, that moist Food, 
such as Broths, Pottage, Soop, and boiled 
Meats, require little Drink, and the solid only 
a Sufficiency to moisten and convey it into 
the Stomach, and prevent Obstructions; there- 
fore they who drink much at Meals, especial- 
ty strong Liquors, incur a double Inconveni- 
ency; for first, by causing the Food to float 
in the Stomach, which ought to reside in the 
Bottom, they hinder Digestion, and by 
moistening the upper Orifice thereof too 
much, by which means it is kept open, it 
thereby occasions Vapours and Fumes to a- 
scend and disorder the Head. Secondly, it 
causes the Aliment to pass too soon out of 
the Stomach, crude and indigested; whence 
arise Fluxes in the Bowels, and putrid Cru- 
dities of the Blood in the Veins and Arteries. 
XIV. It is very prejudicial to eat or drink 
too much, or fast too long, or do any thing 
else that is preternatural; for whoever eats or 
drinks too much, must be sick, or vitiate his 
Juices at last. 
XV. Growing Persons have a great deal 
of natural Heat; therefore they require a 
great deal of Nourishment, otherwise the 
Body will gradually waste. 
XVI. Hippocrates fays, that a Person can- 
not be healthy, and digest his Food well 
without Labour, and that the Quantity and 
Quality






256 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quality of Diet must bear a due Proportion 
to the Labour. 
XVII. Young, hot, strong, and labouring 
People, may feed on Meats that afford a 
hard and gross Juice, such as Beef, Bacon, 
powder'd Flesh and Fish, hard Cheese, Rye- 
Bread, and hard Eggs, &c. which may 
nourish slowly, and be digested by Degrees; 
for if they did eat things of light Nourish- 
ment, either their Meat would be too soon 
digested, or else converted into Choler. 
XVIII. When a Person is sick or distemper'd, 
his Meats should be of contrary Qualities to 
his Disease; for Health itself is but a kind 
of Temper gotten and preserv'd by a conve- 
nient Mixture of Contrarieties. 
XIX. Fat Meats are only good for dry 
Stomachs; for in sanguine and choleric Sto- 
machs they are soon corrupted; and in Phleg- 
matics they procure Looseness, and hinder 
Retention. 
XX. Such as are of hot Constitutions, 
should abstain from violent Exercises, use 
Bathing in tepid Water, feed upon Mays, 
Pot-Herbs, and a cooling moist Diet. 
XXL. The Quantity of Food that Is suf- 
ficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct, 
and answers to the due Nourishment of the 
Body; hence it is evident, that we may eat 
a greater Quantity of some Meats than of 
others of a more hard Digestion. 
XXII. The Difficulty lies in finding out an 
exact Measure; but eat for Necessity, and not
for




Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 257
for Pleasure, for Lust knows not where Ne- 
cessity ends. 
XXIII. If a Person is dull and heavy after 
Meat, it is a Sign he has exceeded the due 
Measure; for Meat and Drink ought to re- 
fresh the Body, and make it cheerful, and 
not to dull or oppress it. 
XXIV. If we find those ill Symptoms, we 
are to consider, whether too much Meat or 
Drink occasions them, or both, then we ought 
to abate by little and little, till this Inconve- 
nience is remov'd. 
XXV. Pass not immediately from an ir- 
regular Life to a strict; and precise one, but 
by Degrees; for ill Customs come by Degrees, 
and are to be wore off gradually; for all sud- 
den Alterations in Extremes, either of Re- 
pletion, Evacuation, Heat or Cold, are dan- 
gerous. 
XXVI. Acids taken in too great Quanti- 
ties, especially such as are austere, as unripe 
Fruits, produce too great a Constriction of 
the Fibres, and thicken the Fluids; hence 
Pains, Rheumatism, and Gout, Paleness, 
Itch, and other Eruptions of the Skin. 
XXVII. Spices taken in too great Quantities 
produce Thirst, Dryness, and Heat, quicken 
the Pulse, and accelerate the Motion of the 
Blood, and dissipate the Fluids; hence Lean- 
ness, Pains in the Stomach, Loathings, and 
Fevers. 
XXVIII, Strong Liquors, especially distill'd
spirits, taken in great Quantities, intoxicate. 
R contract,




258 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
contract, harden, dry, and stimulate the 
Fibres, and coagulate the Fluids; they like- 
wise corrode and destroy the inward Coat of 
the Stomach and Intestines. 
XXIX. A Diet of viscid Food, such as un- 
fermented mealy Substances, Peas, Beans, 
Lentils, &c. creates Flatulency, and Crudi- 
ties in the Stomach, Obstructions in the small 
Vessels of the Guts, and in the Mouths of the 
Lacteals and Glands: Hence Tumours and 
Hardness of the Belly, Paleness of the Skin, 
and Viscidity in the Fluids. 
XXX. An oily Nourishment relaxes the 
Solids, and particularly the Stomach and In- 
testines; it creates foul Belchings, Loathings, 
oily and bitter Vomitings; obstructs the ca- 
pillary Vessels, by hindering the Entrance of 
the watery and fluid Part, with which it will 
not mix; it produces Thirst and Inflamma- 
tions. 
CHAP. IX. 
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
SLEEP is a Cessation of the external 
Senses from Action; for, when waking, 
we walk, talk, move this or that Limb, &c.
but in a natural or undisturb'd Sleep, there is 
2 no-




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 259
nothing of all these Actions; that is, when 
awake we perform several Motions by the 
voluntary Contractions of our Muscles; when 
asleep, those Muscles are only contracted, 
Whose Action is involuntary, or does it by a 
Habit, without the Intervention of the Rea- 
soning Faculty; such are the muscular Actions 
of the Heart, Breast, Lungs, and Arteries, &c. 
so that at this Time there is a kind of Re- 
laxation of the moving Fibres of the several 
Members of the Body. And this is one great 
Design of Sleep, to recover their former 
Force to the Parts overstretch'd by Labour 
or Motion; for when we compose ourselves 
to Rest, we must put our Body into that Pos- 
ture which favours most the particularly 
Weary'd Limbs. 
In the next Place it is very evident, that in 
Sleep there is not only a Rest and a Suspension 
from acting in most of our bodily Organs, but 
likewise of our Thinking Faculty too: That 
is, a Cessation from such Thoughts as, when 
awake, we are exercised about, which we re- 
flect upon, and Will to imploy our Mind 
with. 
For tho' Dreams are Thoughts, yet they 
are imperfect and incoherent ones; and are 
either so faint and languid Representations, as 
to be consistent with our Sleep, or else, if 
they be strong and lively, they are the Inter- 
ruption and Disturbance of it. 
From whence it will follow, that the Mo- 
tion of the arterial Fluid must be more se- 
R2 date




260 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
date, even, and regular, in the Time of sleep- 
ing than waking; for besides the various Al- 
terations it receives in this latter State, from 
the several Passions of the Mind, the very 
Contractions of the Muscles themselves, in 
the Exercises of the Body, will forward its 
Course differently and more unequal; where- 
as in Sleep the Motion of the Heart, Arte- 
ries and Veins is stronger, slower, more equal, 
and full; likewise Respiration is deeper, stron- 
ger, slower, and more equal, by which Means 
the Blood circulates and digests more commo- 
diously, and Secretion, Perspiration, and the 
Distribution of Nourishment are more success- 
fully carried on; the Humours circulating 
quicker through the Blood-vessels and the 
Parts near the Heart, but slower through the 
Sides of the Body, and the remote Parts, as 
well as the Muscles. 
Hence it also comes to pass, that the In- 
flux of the nervous Fluid into the Organs of 
the Body, as also its Reflux towards the 
Brain, is in Sleep either none, or very in- 
considerable; for it is muscular Action and 
Sensation that required this Fluid to be thus 
determined this Way or that, which are in 
this State hardly any: And yet, by the Arri- 
val of Blood at the Brain, this Juice will still 
be separated there, fit to be deriv'd into its 
Tubes and Canals; so that by this Means 
there will be a new Production, or a kind of 
Accumulation or laying up in Store, of Spi-
I rits, 



Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 261
rits, in order to perform our animal Func- 
tions. 
Thus we may look upon the 
Time of waking as the Time of
wearing out, or the Destruction of
the animal Fabrick; and the Time 
of Sleep, as that in which it is repaired and 
recruited; not only upon account of what 
has been just mentioned concerning the ner- 
vous Fluid, but also with regard to all other 
Parts of the Body, as well fluid as solid: For 
Action must necessarily impair the Springs 
and Organs; and in Motion something is 
continually abraded or fil'd off from the con- 
tractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be 
restored, than by their being at Rest from 
Tension. Besides, the regular and steady 
Course of the Blood, as has been observ'd, in 
Sleep, is by far more fit and proper for Nu- 
trition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Ves- 
sels; which an uneven Hurry of Nourish- 
ment is more apt to tear off and wash away.
The Use and
Benefit of
Sleep 
Sleep is occasioned, promoted, and 
increased by eating and drinking, 
in removing the Stimulus or painful 
Sensation of Hunger and Thirst, when the 
Stomach is empty, or by drinking plentifully, 
especially of strong Liquors; but some can- 
not sleep for a long Time when they drink 
much, because the Spirits are thereby too 
much heated and enraged. 
It is also encouraged by much or long con- 
tinued Labour, the Spirits being too much
The Causes
of Sleep.
R3 dissapted



262 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
dissipated and exhausted. In like manner, 
after the taking of Opium, or other sleepy 
Things, we are disposed to sleep; because they 
seize the Spirits by their volatile Oleosity; 
also a quiet Disposition of Mind; a Body 
free from Motion, and unaffected by external 
Objects; by Excess of Heat, Cold, or Care; 
and by all such Causes as hinder the Protru- 
sion or Impulse of the Blood into the glandu- 
lous Part of the Brain, or its Passage through 
its Vessels, and the necessary Separation of 
Spirits, and the Derivation of them into the 
Nerves, being the Organs of Sensation, and 
the Muscles serving to voluntary Motion; and 
the Reflux of them towards the Sensorium 
Commune †. 
Sleep is hindered by a continual Mixture of 
Water, or hot Liquors, with the Blood, or 
any sharp Thing that vellicates or twinges the 
Nerves of the Brain; also by violent Pas- 
sions of the Mind, or the Brain's being di- 
sturbed by any internal or external Cause. 
Therefore it appears from what has been 
said, that Sleep is such a State of the Brain, 
wherein the Nerves do not receive from it so 
large or so strong an Influx of Spirits, as is 
required for the Organs of Sense and volun- 
tary Motions to perform their Actions with 
Ease and Quickness. 
The
† The Seat of Common Sense, is-in that Part of the Brain, 
in which the Nerves, from the Organs of all the Senses, are 
terminated, which is in the Beginning of the Medulla Oblon- 
gata, and not in the Glandula Pinealis, as Des Cartes and o- 
thers would erroneously have it. 






Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 263
The most immediate Cause here- 
of is perhaps the Defect of a subtile
Spirit, which requires a long Time 
to prepare it, and being now spent and ex- 
hausted; so that the finest Vessels being emp- 
tied and flagg'd, for a Time fall together; or 
there is too great a Flux of thicker Blood im- 
pell'd to the Cortex of the Brain, so that the 
Medullary Part is compress'd, and the Motion 
of the Spirits hindered; therefore the natu- 
ral Cause of Sleep is every thing that may 
produce these two Particulars. 
The natural 
Cause of
Sleep
Therefore if we consider the Na- 
ture, Necessities, and Advantages of 
Sleep, already mentioned, we may 
easily perceive how too much Watching will 
deprive the Solids of that due Supply of Spi- 
rits so absolutely necessary to enable them to 
perform their several Functions; and that for 
want of a good Digestion Perspiration will 
be very much obstructed, which must render 
the Body dull and heavier; for, according to 
Sanctorius, “ interrupted and unquiet Sleep 
“ lessens the Quantity usually thrown off by 
“ Perspiration about a third Part:” * And 
likewise, “ whatsoever hinders Sleep, hinders 
“ also the Perspiration of that digested Matter, 
“ which ought to exhale;” § because interrupted 
Sleep keeps the Fibres in that Degree of Ten- 
sion, which is not suitable to forward the Juices 
to the Extremities, and let the Matter of Per- 
spiration go off by the Pores of the Skin: 
The Effects
of too much
Watching
R4 For
* Aph. 5. Sect. iv. § Aph. 8. Sect. iv.





264 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
For whatsoever hinders that easy Relaxation 
necessary for found Sleep, must likewise hin- 
der Perspiration; so that full, heavy, and 
luxurious late Suppers must hinder it; be- 
cause such a Load in the Stomach will 
keep the Fibres upon the stretch, and conse- 
quently our Sleep will be uneasy and inter- 
rupted, until that be removed. 
It is therefore very certain, that according 
as our alimentary Organs are easy, quiet, and 
not overloaden with Food, our Sleep is 
found, sweet, and refreshing; for if any Per- 
son not labouring under a Disease, is restless 
in his Sleepy it must arise from his Stomach's 
being overcharg'd with indigested Food, or 
Crudities not carry'd off by proper Exercise; 
or his Intestines are filled with Wind, Choler, 
or superfluous Chyle: and the restless Nights 
which are generally ascrib'd to Vapours, are 
entirely owing to the said Causes. There- 
fore all those that would preserve their 
Health, and lengthen out their Days, ought to 
avoid large and late Meat-Suppers; especially 
the sedentary, studious, and such as have 
little or no Labour or Exercise, should eat 
very light or no Supper; if any, it ought to 
consist of some vegetable Food; neither 
ought they to go soon to Bed after any Sup- 
per whatever. And such People in general 
should give Attention to this Aphorism of 
the Schola Salernitana, 
Somnus




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 265
Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi cœna brevis:
Viz. 
That your Sleep may be sweet, let your 
Supper be light. 
Immoderate Watching and want of Sleep, 
produces Diseases of the Head, corrupts the 
Temperature of the Brain, causes sometimes 
Madness, inflames the Humours, generates 
and excites a saline Acrimony in the Blood 
and Juices; hence arise cutaneous Eruptions 
of different sorts; likewise the want of mo- 
derate Sleep occasions bad Digestion, fills the 
Stomach with Crudities, and dissipates the 
Spirits, by which means a thorough Waste
and Decay of both the Solids and Fluids suc- 
ceed at last. 
Sanctorius observes, that * “ They who 
“ sleep well and do not dream, perspire 
“ well; and on the contrary, they who 
“ dream much perspire less.” Because dream- 
ing is a State between sleeping and waking, 
therein, altho' the Mind does not exercise 
such a Power over the Body, as to direct its 
Motions in the same Degree as when awake, 
yet by its Attention to those confused Ideas 
which pass thro' it, the Solids are kept in 
some Degree of Contraction, greater than is 
agreeable with found Sleep; and therefore 
Perspiration, which depends upon a settled 
Relaxation, cannot be perform'd so well at 
such times, as when in quiet and profound 
Sleep
* Aph. 27. Sect. IV. 







266 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Sleep, neither have they that Refreshment, 
Lightness and Agility, which spreads all 
over the Body, and principally the Brain, as 
those who sleep quietly without dreaming.
The Effects of
too much Sleep. 
Long and superfluous Sleep is 
very pernicious to both the Mind 
and the Body; for it chills the 
Body, weakens the natural Heat, breeds 
phlegmatic Humours, and fills it with Crudi- 
ties; whence arise much Sloth and Lazi- 
ness, the Parent of many Diseases; it like- 
wise fixes the Spirits, and renders them flug- 
gish and stupid; it dulls the Understanding, 
hardens the Excrements, and makes the Body 
costive, which is frequently the Cause of va- 
rious Distempers. In short, superfluous Sleep 
is neither good for the Body nor the Mind, 
nor for Business; for he who sleeps too much 
is but half a Man, Sleep rendering him in all 
Points like a dead Man, except his Digestion 
and the Pulsation of his Arteries; for he nei- 
ther sees, hears, speaks, or understands, and 
is absolutely depriv'd of all Reason, which for 
the Time is a perfect Death. Besides, too much 
Sleep occasions in both found and firm Bodies 
a Shortness of Breath, and is a constant Fore- 
runner and Disposition to an Apoplexy, Le- 
thargy, Palsey, and Numbness, by hindering 
the seasonable Evacuations of the Excrements, 
causing them to remain too long in the Body. 
Sanctorius is very clear on this Head, and 
says, * in one of his Aphorisms, “ By too 
“ much
* Aph. 50. Sect. IV.








Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 267
“ much Sleep both the inward and outward 
“ Parts grow cold, the Humours are obstru- 
“ cted and render'd unperspirable, and the 
“ whole Body heavier.” So that by the 
very same means by which moderate Sleep 
is serviceable and necessary, too much of it 
proves injurious; because too much Relaxa- 
tion overcharges the Nerves with too thick 
and too great a Quantity of Juices, which 
instead of rendering them fitter for Motion, 
clogs them, and makes them less capable of 
recovering their Springs afterward; so that 
when once the Solids fail, the Fluids of 
course slacken in their Motions, by which 
means the natural Heat decays, and the 
Flesh grows cold, and they themselves be- 
come also more fizy or gluey; for which 
Reason they suffer less to pass off thro' the 
Pores by insensible Perspiration, or otherwise, 
and consequently the Body is render'd heavier. 
Sleep in the Day time, or after Dinner, is 
not to be allow'd, unless a Person has ac- 
custom'd himself to it, or has not rested
Well the Night before, or if he perceives a 
kind of Lassitude or Weariness in his Limbs; 
in such Cases, I say, one may sleep an Hour, 
or half an Hour after Dinner, and even it is 
slow Digestion; for according to Sanctorius *, 
“ An Hour's Sleep at Noon after a Meal, 
“ sometimes occasions the Body insensibly to 
“ perspire a Pound, and sometimes half a 
“ Pound:
* Aph. 37. Sect. IV. 




268 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
“ Pound: a Pound when any of the per- 
“ spirable Matter of the former Day has 
“ been retain'd; when not, but half a Pound.” 
This is recommended as a most excellent Re- 
medy in weak People for imperfect Digestion, 
and there is a great deal of Reason why it 
should be of Service; because such an addi- 
tional Help every Day, may compensate for 
the Deficiencies of the last Night's Perspi- 
ration; but they must not be too free with 
this Practice, who are inclin'd to grow fat or 
phlegmatick. For according to the same Au- 
thor *, “ Immoderate Sleep after Dinner in- 
“ jures all the Bowels, and obstructs Perspi- 
“ ration.” 
So that altho' a little Sleep at such Times, 
and in the Cases above-mention'd, upon a 
full Stomach may be of Service, by perspi- 
ring what did not sufficiently pass off the 
Night before; yet if it be continued too long, 
there will such a Quantity of indigested Mat- 
ter follow, as will be too gross to pass, and
consequently stop up the excretory Ducts of 
the Body, and thereby occasion very conside- 
rable Disorders. 
The ordinary Time allow'd for Sleep is 
seven Hours; for that Time seems sufficient 
for perfecting Digestion, and recruiting the 
Spirits; but some require more Sleep, and 
some less: So Children, antient People, Cho- 
lerick and dry Constitutions require more, be- 
cause it moistens and restores the Spirits; but
fat
* Aph. 66. Sect. IV. 




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 269
fat and phlegmatick Constitutions of all People 
should sleep the least, for Reasons already 
given. 
As nothing seems more directly pointed out
to us by Nature, than the Day for Exercise 
and Labour, and the Night for Rest; so the 
fittest Time for Sleeping † is about four 
Hours after Supper, for then the Stomach is 
not loaded with Food, the first Concoction 
being then perfected, and by this Time the 
Chyle has got into the Blood; so that such a 
a quiet and relaxed State as Sleep produces, is 
most necessary to both Nutrition and Per- 
spiration: and the fittest Time for that Pur- 
pose is in the Night; because the Damps, 
Vapours, and Exhalations, which are rare- 
fy'd by the Heat of the Sun in the Day-time, 
are now condensed, and fall down upon the 
Surface of the Earth again, which must ob- 
struct the Pores of the Body, and consequent- 
iy hinder Perspiration, if exposed to such 
Damps by Night-watchings, or unseasonable 
Sittings-up; and this is one of the principal 
Causes of various Diseases, both acute and 
chronical, which soon break and shatter the 
Constitution, shorten Life, and beget a de- 
crepid Age; so that Watching by Night, and 
sleeping by Day, is of the most pernicious 
Consequence to Health and long Life, and 
plainly contrary to the Indications or Dictates 
of Nature, and the Constitutions of our 
Body. 
Therefore
† This is conformable to Aph. 28. Sect. IV. of Sanctorius.  



270 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Therefore all those who value Health and
long Life, ought carefully to avoid Night 
Damps and Dews, and unseasonable Watch- 
ing or Sitting-up, but go to Bed by eight, 
nine, or ten, and rise betimes in the Morn- 
ing, that is, by five or six; for according to
the old Proverb, Surgere diluculo saluberri- 
mum est; that is, To rise betimes is most con- 
ducive to Health. 
The following Rules ought to be carefully 
observ'd in regard to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed. In the first Place, we 
should never lie too close or too warm, which
may obstruct the Fumes and Vapours neces- 
sary to be exhal'd from the Body; and we 
should always lie with our Heads a little 
raised, to prevent the Food from rising from
the Bottom of the Stomach, to its upper 
Orifice. 
Secondly, We should never sleep upon our 
Back; because thereby we prevent the usual 
Excrements of the Brain, which are dis- 
charg'd by the Nose and Mouth, from fall- 
ing upon the Windpipe and Back-bone; but 
if we sleep upon our Back, we over-heat the 
Reins, by being pressed between the Inte- 
stines and the Bed, and thereby oftentimes 
produce Stone and Gravel, and send many 
Fumes and Vapours to the Head. 
Thirdly, It is necessary to take our first 
Sleep upon our right Side, to prevent the 
Liver's pressing the Stomach, then replenish'd 
with the Food we took in at Supper, which 
must


Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 271 
must happen if we lie on the left Side. Be- 
sides, by sleeping first on the right Side, what 
is concocted of the Food descends gradually 
and easily out of the lower Orifice of the 
Stomach into the Intestines, and then the 
Liver comes underneath it, and is instead of 
a Chasing-Dish to it, which promotes Di- 
gestion very much. After this, we should 
turn to the left, that thereby the Steams and
Vapours retain'd on the right Side may ex- 
hale. And lastly, when we go to Rest, we 
ought not to stretch our Joints, but rather 
bend them a little; for as * Galen observes, 
The Ease of the Muscles consists in a mode- 
rate Contraction. 
CHAP. X. 
Of MOTION and REST.
BY Motion, I mean here Exercise and 
Labour, as Walking, Riding, Running, 
playing at Ball, &c. They encrease natural 
Heat and consume the Crudities of the Body; 
for it is very certain, that all Sorts of Ali- 
ment tho' never so pure, have yet always 
something in them unlike our Nature, which 
can never be assimilated to either our Juices 
or Substance; so that some Excrement must 
always
* Galenus, lib. 1. de motu Musculari. 

272 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
always then remain in every Concoction, 
which being retained in the Body, may pro- 
duce a Multitude of various Diseases: But 
the grossest Excrements are discharged by a 
sensible Evacuation, and the most subtile are 
insensibly dissipated and resolved by Exercise 
or Labour. 
This made the divine Hippocrates very 
justly say, in his Book of Diet, that “ One 
“ cannot preserve Health, except he joins 
“ Exercise with his Diet; for the one repairs 
“ what is lost, and the other dissipates what 
“ is superfluous.” Hence moderate and re- 
gular Exercise prevents Repletion, which is 
often the Parent of many Diseases; by en- 
creasing the natural Heat, it keeps all the Ca- 
nals of the Body open, and free from Ob- 
structions; it renders the Body supple; pre- 
pares and disposes all the Superfluities for both
Secretion and Excretion, as well in general as 
in particular; it likewise fortifies the Nerves, 
and strengthens all the Joints which is con- 
firm'd by the great Hippocrates, in his Epi-
demicks, saying that, “ As Sleep is proper for 
“ the Bowels, so is Exercise for strengthen- 
“ ing the Joints.” Celsus also tells us, that 
“ Idleness makes the Body dull and heavy, 
“ but Labour strengthens and renders it firm
“ and active; Laziness makes us soon grow
“ old, but Exercise preserves Youth a long
“ Time †.” 
To
† Lib. I. Caput I. 



Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 273 
To prove the Necessity of Motion or Exer- 
cise, for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, it will be necessary to observe, that a 
human Body, as it comes under the Conside- 
ration of a Physician, is merely a Machine. 
Considering it therefore in this Manner, it is
divided into Solids and Fluids; the Solids are 
vascular, and have continually propell'd thro'
them some Liquor or other necessary for the 
Purposes and Support of the Machine: And 
these circulating Fluids are of different Kinds, 
arising from the different Agitations and Ve- 
locities impress'd upon them by the Vessels 
which circulate them. 
But in this View they have a necessary De- 
pendence upon each other; for as the Disten- 
sion and Power of Restitution in the Vessels, is 
owing to their being duly moisten'd by some 
convenient Fluid, separated and dispensed to 
them from the Blood, which is the common 
Promptuary of all the animal Juices; so 
likewise that due Constitution of the Blood, 
which fits it for yielding some of its Parts for 
that Use, depends upon its certain Degrees of 
fluidity, which are always as the Contraction 
of its circulating Vessels: But yet even in 
this the Solids have the principal Share; be- 
cause, as that Power by which the Blood is 
Preserv'd in a due Crasis or Constitution is de- 
rived from itself, that is, of beflowing upon 
the Solids a Juice necessary for the Preserva- 
tion of their Springs, yet that Constitution 
enabling it to afford such a Power, being pri-
S marily


274 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
marily derived from the Actions of the Solid
upon it, the chief Spring or Rise of Motion 
is in the Solids. 
To know therefore the most ready Ways 
of altering the Constitution of the Fluids, is
to find out the most convenient and effectual 
Means of influencing the Contractions of their 
Vessels; but this cannot be done, without 
knowing first upon what Texture and Me-
chanism of Parts their Powers of Contraction 
and Distension depend. 
And in order to come to any Certainty of 
this Matter, we are to consider, that it is
very well known, that any Membrane or Ves- 
sel may be separated or divided into very 
small Fibres and Threads, when just taken 
out of the Body, and that these Threads may
be drawn out a considerable Length beyond 
what is natural to them without breaking, 
and that when such external Force which so 
distended them is removed, they will again, 
by their Elasticity, restore themselves to their 
former Dimensions. And it is farther like- 
wise known, that these Properties of Disten-
sion and Contraction are preserved in them by a 
convenient Moisture; because, if one of these 
Threads be dried, it will immediately lose it, 
so that upon the Application of any Force to 
stretch it, it will break; as also its being 
soak'd too much in Liquor will render it 
flaccid; as likewise destroy its Elasticity or 
Power of Restitution when distended. 
But

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 275
But what is exactly the constituent Tex- 
ture, or what are perfectly the Shapes and 
Arrangement of those Parts which compose 
an animal Fibre, is scarce possible to be justly
determined; because they are too fine to be 
perceived by the naked Eye, or even by the 
Help of the best Microscopes when very mi- 
nutely divided; which Division proceeds so 
far at last, that the component Fibrillœ be- 
come so incredibly small, as to exceed the 
Power of Imagination; but Reason con- 
vinces us that there must be an End. 
However, as to the present Enquiry con- 
cerning the Effects of Motion or Exercise on 
the Solids and Fluids of a human Body, it 
will be sufficient, with what has been al- 
ready said, that it is known to a Demonstra-
sion, that all the Fibres in a living Body are 
in a State of Distension; that is, they are 
drawn out into a greater Length than they 
would be in, if separated from any Part, and 
taken out of the Body; which is easily de- 
monstrated, by cutting transverse, or dividing
of a Nerve or Artery, which are intirely a 
Composition of the Threads we are now 
speaking of; for immediately we see the di- 
vided Parts run up and leave a great Distance 
between them, as in Wounds, and the Fluids 
contained in them upon such Contraction, to 
be so squeez'd out; and this also makes it ap- 
pear, that their natural Distension is owing to
some Fluid being propell'd into the Vessels 
which they compose, with a greater Force 
S2 than


276 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than their Endeavours of Restitution, so far 
as to obtain a close Contact of all their 
transverse Surfaces, but yet lesser than that 
which is necessary to distend them, so far as 
to bring them to Coincidence, for in such a 
Case the Vessels would break. 
In the next Place then, this State of Di- 
stension of the Fibres must necessarily leave 
some little Vacuities or Interstices between 
all their transverse Surfaces, which Vacuities 
will continue as long as the longitudinal Sur- 
faces of their component Parts continue so 
close to one another, as to prevent the En- 
trance of any foreign Matter between, how 
subtile soever, for the same Reason as when 
the Embolus of a Syringe is drawn, and the 
Pipe is stopp'd, there must needs be a conti- 
nual nisus restituendi, or an Endeavour of 
Contraction. There is also a farther Necessity
of being supported in such a State of Disten- 
sion; because, if they were closely in Contact 
with each other in all Parts, they could not 
be put into, and continue in those undulatory
Motions, which they are always in, in a
living Body, without being very much al- 
ter'd both in their Figures and Contextures. 
But it being manifest that all the animal 
Fibres are continued by the perpetual succes-
sive Impulse of the Fluids, in such undulatory 
Motions; besides this Necessity of their being
distended, they also must be continually moi- 
sten'd with some convenient Fluid, otherwise 
their continual Attritions against one another
would

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 277
would soon wear out, and render it difficult 
to move them. 
The Fluid likewise suited for this Purpose 
must be very fine and subtile, because other- 
wise it cannot be insinuated into all the In- 
terstices the Fibres, without separating 
their Parts so far as is inconsistent with the
Contexture and Mechanism of a Fibre, al- 
ready described; and the Parts also of this 
Fluid must not only be very subtile, but like- 
wise soft and yielding, whereby the Motions 
of the Particles against one another may be 
Maintained the better; and also as by a Ce- 
ment, that they may be prevented in their 
receding from each other in their longitudinal 
Surfaces, so far as to admit of no foreign 
Matter to insinuate itself between their trans- 
verse Surfaces, in such Quantities as to hinder 
their Re-union when Occasion may require 
it. 
From what has been said it will appear, 
that the most natural Consequence of Mo- 
tion, will be the breaking still smaller and 
smaller the component Particles of that Fluid, 
which is dispensed to the Fibres to lubricate 
and facilitate their Motions; which Commi- 
nution will be continued till it is rendered so 
fine, as to fly off at last at the Surface of the
Body, being of no farther Use to Nature, 
whenever it happens to get there, and by that 
Means must be there continually made a Waste 
of, and that merely by such an Attrition of the
Parts, as necessarily arises from their due 
S3 Dis-

278 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Discharge of the vital Functions; and that 
Matter, which thus insensibly flies off, is the 
true Matter of insensible Perspiration, the 
Exhalation of which is absolutely necessary 
for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life. 
But this Waste makes it necessary that 
there be a continual Supply of what is lost; 
and this is made from what is taken in by 
the Stomach, which, after divers Digestions 
and Alterations, at last is mixed with the 
Blood, and there fitted for some of the finest 
Parts to pass through the Glands constituted 
for that Purpose in the Brain, which from 
thence are dispens'd through the whole ner-
vous System, in such a Manner, as constantly
to keep up a due Supply of this animal 
Fluid. 
Yet there is another Way by which the 
Fibres receive fresh Supplies, and that a much 
nearer; for, according to their natural Con- 
structures, it is very likely that even in the 
Stomach, and throughout the whole Passage 
of the Food into the Blood, the most subtile 
Parts of what is taken in, which are soon se- 
parated from the rest, and ready fitted for
this Use, may, when they chance to strike 
against any of the Interstices of a Fibre, be 
laid hold on, and by Degrees convey'd into 
the Substance of the Thread; for it is certain
the most subtile Part of the Chyle passes imme- 
diately into the Blood by the absorbent Ves-
sels 

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 279  
sels * of the Intestines, as I have observed in 
another Place, which discharge themselves 
into to the Mesaraick Veins †, and from thence 
are convey'd directly into the Liver and Spleen. 
Besides, this is farther supported by com- 
mon Experience, by which it is evident, that 
the Solids are invigorated with fresh Recruits 
of Spirits, immediately upon taking into the 
Stomach such Meats and Drinks as are spiri- 
tuous, and contain in their Composition plenty 
of Particles very fine and active, and easily to
be divided from the rest: And thus every one, 
Upon eating a good Meal, or upon drinking of 
any spirituous Liquor, especially if it be after 
long fasting, or a large Expence by hard La- 
bour or Exercise, finds himself immediately, as 
soon as it is in his Stomach, raised with new 
Spirit and Vigour; which could by no Means 
happen, were the Solids to obtain these Re- 
cruits altogether from the Chyle's passing 
through the Lacteals to the Thoracick Duct, 
S4 and
* Are Vessels which suck in. 
† They are Branches of the Vena Portœ, interspersed in 
great Numbers in and upon the Laminœ of the Mesentery, 
which is a membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the
Guts are connected, and they carry the Blood back to the 
Liver: Their Largeness and Number demonstrate what 
in said above; for they are numerous and vastly larger 
than their correspondent Arteries; besides, wherever there 
are Emissaries, which are little Vessels which throw out a 
Liquid, there are likewise absorbent Vessels; for Example, 
in the Skin, by the absorbent Vessels of which Mercury will 
pass into the Blood. Moreover Birds, which have strong and 
large Breasts, small Bellies, and their Ribs upon their Backs, 
have no Lacteals nor Thoracick Duct, and their Aliment passes 
immediately into the Mesaraick Veins, by which Means they 
receive their Nourishment intirely. 


280 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
and thence into the Blood; because it is im- 
possible that what a Person finds himself so soon 
recruited by, should in so short a Time have 
gone through the usual Digestions and Cir- 
culations, which require some Hours for that 
Purpose, according to Sanctorius, and a great
many Authors of undoubted Authority. 
Upon a View of what has been said, with 
what ease may be explained, how the Body, 
by moderate Exercise, is rendered lighter up- 
on a twofold Account! Because, in the first 
Place, there is occasion'd by it a Substraction 
of its absolute Weight, as it assists Digestion, 
and by breaking the Matter to be perspired 
finer; secondly, it promotes the Discharge of
that Matter through the Pores; and because 
by the Vibration of the Solids, at the same 
Time, there is a larger Quantity of fresh Spi- 
rits taken up by them from the circulating 
Blood, both by the Secretion made of them in 
the Brain, and in the Manner they are convey'd 
by the absorbent Vessels just now explained, 
whereby the Fibres become more invigorated, 
and so much the more able to carry on a due 
Discharge of all the vital Functions, inso- 
much that the Body will not have the Sense 
or Perception of so much absolute Weight as
before. 
Moreover, the Muscles and Ligaments are 
cleared of their Excrements by Exercise; 
that is, whatever superfluous Particles of the 
digested perspirable Matter may adhere to 
them, is by Motion dislodg'd and shook of:
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 281  
And the Spirits are rendered finer; that is, 
such Parts of the nervous Fluid as are just re- 
ceived by the Fibres, are by the Actions of 
their component Threads broke smaller, and 
tendered fitter for the Purposes of the whole 
Body. 
Upon this View likewise it will be easy to 
account for some Disorders this Fluid is likely 
to fall into, or how it is most liable to be di- 
stemper'd; which is very plain, that it must 
be either by becoming too gross and sizy, or 
too fine or exhalable. 
The first may be occasioned by a want of 
sufficient Agitation or Motion in the Solids, 
whereby its Parts attract each other, and form
viscid Cohesions, in the same Manner as it 
happens in the Blood in the same Case, which 
renders the Motions of the constituent Threads
of the Fibres very difficult and troublesome, 
and sometimes so obstructs or blocks up those 
little Vacuities or Interstices between their 
transverse Surfaces, which are necessary for the 
Support of their Elasticity, as to prevent, in a 
great Measure at least, their Power of Resti- 
tution when they are distended; as happens 
in a Leucophlegmatia, Anasarca, and such like 
Disorders, where the Springs of the Fibres 
are so much destroy'd, that by any small 
Pressure upon a Muscle, the Impression will 
sometimes remain a long Time before their 
constituent Threads can recover their natural 
Dimensions; or, as it is commonly express'd, 
the Part will pit. 
The

282 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The other Disorder of this Fluid, oppo- 
site to the former, is, its being broke too fine; 
which will render it so exhalable as to fly 
off in greater Quantities than the concoctive 
Power in the Stomach is able to recruit or 
supply; and this is often brought about by 
too violent Exercise, too large Evacuations, 
or drinking too great Plenty of spirituous and 
hot Liquors, whereby the Constitution of the 
Blood is so far weaken'd, as not to give due 
Resistance to the Constractions of the Vessels
which circulate the Juices, whereupon they 
vibrate quicker, and break the nervous Juice 
too fine; which brings on a Hectick, and 
Death, if not timely remedied. 
As to the first of these Disorders, it is evi- 
dent that it is to be remedied by giving brisker 
Motions to the Solids, and encreasing the Vi- 
brations of the contractile Vessels, in which 
how far Exercise may be useful, is evident 
from what has been said already; for every 
Thing which acts as a Stimulus comes under 
this Head; and their Efficacy is chiefly to be 
determined by their greater or lesser Power of 
stimulating, shaking, and contracting the Fi- 
bres, which Exercise rightly pursued produces 
more efficaciously, and with less Danger, than
any other Method whatsoever. 
For by such Means the component Threads 
of the Fibres are so put in Motion, as to 
loosen such Parts of the animal Oil, as are 
obstructed in their Interstices, and by Degrees 
break them small enough for Expulsion; and 
a fresh

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life 283
a fresh Stock of such Spirits will be supply'd, 
as will restore them to their natural Springs. 
As to the latter Disorder, it is to be re- 
moved by a Diet that agglutinates, and gives 
a greater or stronger Consistence to all the 
Fluids, and by all such Means as check the in- 
ordinate Motions of the Solids. So that upon 
the Whole it is evident, that to keep from ei- 
ther of these Extremes, Care is to be taken to
maintain a just Ballance between the elastick 
Force of the Solids and the Resistances of the
circulating Fluids, in which true Health con- 
sists; because, if the Equilibrium is lost on 
either Side, the Body cannot but fall into 
some Distemper; and in this consists the whole
Art and Business of a rational Practice, to 
know when to add to, or substract from, the 
Resistances of the Fluids, and when to check 
or spur the Motions of the Solids; as also to 
be well acquainted with the various Methods 
by which all these Intentions may be brought 
about. 
And here I cannot omit just taking Notice, 
how wonderfully the Effects of Musick in 
some extraordinary Cases are hereby account-
ed for; and tho' Musick, strictly speaking, 
may not be deem'd Exercise, unless it be so to 
those who exercise it themselves; yet it will 
manifestly appear otherwise, if we consider, 
that according to the Nature and Contexture 
of an animal Fibre or Thread, it is very plain 
that the least Stroke imaginable upon it, 
must move its component Fibrillœ in all 
their

284 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
their Parts; therefore every Wave or Undula- 
tion of the Air, which is made by a musical 
Instrument, gives the Fibres of the whole 
Body more or less correspondent Concussions, 
according to their Degrees of Tension, where- 
by all the component Fibrillœ are successively
moved from one to another throughout the 
whole Thread; and consequently the Spirits 
are not only raised and made finer, but like- 
wise the other animal Fluids are also more 
briskly agitated, and their preternatural Co- 
hesions and Viscidities destroyed: All which 
plainly prove, that Musick is not only good 
Exercise for the Mind, but likewise very use- 
ful for the Body, by the agreeable Concus- 
sions and Thrillings we sensibly perceive from
it in all the fleshy Fibres of the Body. 
Hence Musick has this Advantage above 
any other Exercise, that those Concussions
made upon the Fibres thereby are short, 
quick, and easy, whereupon the nervous 
Fluid is not only more briskly agitated, but 
also the natural Contexture of all the animal 
Threads are better preserved, being never o- 
verstrained hereby, as they frequently are 
with other Exercises: Therefore upon this 
View the extraordinary Effects of Musick in 
several Diseases, as that of the Bite of a ta- 
rantula *, &c. ceases to be a Wonder, and 
it
* Among all the wonderful Effects ascrib'd to the Power 
of Musick, none is more surprising and important than that 
of curing the venomous Bite of the Italian Spider, called the 
Tarantula. The Part bitten is soon affected with a very acute 
Pain, 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 285
it rather comes to be admired that it is not 
much more brought into Use here for the Be- 
nefit of valetudinary and weakly Constitu- 
tions, as it is in Italy and other Countries, 
and that even by the Direction of their Phy- 
sicians. 
What has been said farther explains that 
common Effect of Exercise, in its giving al- 
ways, conformable to Hippocrates's Opinion, 
a greater Firmness and Strength to the Solids; 
for the more a Fibre is kept in Action, the 
clearer it will keep its component Parts from
the Lodgement and Adhesion of any foreign 
and superfluous Matter upon them, by which 
Means whenever it is distended or stretch'd, 
there will be the more Room for each Par- 
ticle to draw up again, and consequently its 
Return will be with greater Force; but the 
Exercise which produces this Effect, is such
only as does not exceed the Powers of the 
Con-
Pain, and a few Hours after with Numbness; upon which 
ensues a profound Sadness, and a Difficulty of Respiration; the 
Pulse grows weak, the Sight is disturbed, and the Person loses 
Knowledge, Sense, and Motion. The Doctor is in vain con- 
sulted; the Musician here alone performs the Cure; he tries 
a Variety of Airs, and when he happens to hit on that Har- 
mony that accords with the Patient, he begins to move by 
Degrees, and keeps Time with his Fingers, Arms, Legs, and 
Body; then he raises himself up and dances, increasing in 
Strength and Activity. This dancing Fit continues six Hours, 
or a Day, or sometimes two Days. When the Musick ceases, 
the Person gives over dancing, and is put to Bed. And this 
Process is repeated till the Patient is recovered, which is by 
little and little; and every sick Person has a particular Tune 
or Air, and always a very brisk or sprightly one. See Der- 
ham's Physico-Theology, Book IV. Chap. iii. and Malcolm's 
Musick, Chap. xiv. Sect. 3. &c. 


286 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Constitution; for too much Exercise destroys
the Solids, by consuming the Fluids too 
much. 
But on the contrary, by too much Rest 
and Inactivity every Part will lose its Strength, 
and the less it is mov'd, be still render'd less 
able for Motion. And upon this Account it is 
that we see daily such a very great Diffe- 
rence between active and stirring Persons, 
and such whose Circumstances of Life in- 
ures them to Labour and Exercise, and those 
whose Inclinations and Condition indulge 
them in Ease and Inactivity; for the for- 
mer are strong, hardy, and healthful, but 
the latter tender, weakly, and diseas'd. 
From the Doctrine of this Chapter, it is 
manifest to a Demonstration, that there is 
an absolute Necessity for Labour and Exer- 
cise, to preserve the Body any time in a due
State to maintain Health, and prolong Life: 
For let whatever Diet be pursued, though 
never so well adjusted both in Quantity and
Quality, and let whatever Evacuations be 
used to lessen the Disorder, or any Succeda- 
neum or Equivalent be proposed to prevent 
the ill Effects; yet our Bodies are so made, 
and the animal Oeconomy so contriv'd, that 
without due Labour or Exercise the Juices 
will thicken, the Joints will stiffen, the 
Nerves will relax, and on these Disorders, 
chronical Distempers and a shatter'd old Age 
must soon ensue.
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 287
And tho' light Food may in a great mea- 
sure prevent the thickening of the Fluids, 
yet it cannot do it sufficiently without Exer- 
cise; nor can it at all keep the Fibres in due 
Tension, for to that Purpose Exercise is ab- 
solutely necessary: Even the joint Power of
warm Air and light Food, cannot supply the 
Place of Exercise in keeping them pliant 
and moveable, and preserving them from 
growing hard and stiff. But we should al- 
ways avoid too much Labour or Exercise, as 
I have just now observ'd; for Sanctorius tells
us, “ That by too much Exercise the Fibres 
“ become hard, whence old Age proceeds, 
“ which is an universal Hardness and Stiff- 
“ ness of the Fibres *.”
There are general and particular Exercises; 
the former, which move and stir the whole 
Body, are Walking, Dancing, Fencing, Run-
ning, Leaping, Bowling, Tennis, Pumping, 
Riding a Horseback, or in a Coach, &c. of 
all which Walking is the most natural, and
would be also the most useful, if it did not
exhaust the Spirits of weakly Constitutions 
too much; but Riding is certainly the most 
manly, the most healthy, and the least labo- 
rious and expensive of the Spirits of any, 
shaking the whole Body, and thereby pro- 
moting an universal Perspiration and Secre- 
tion of all the Fluids; to which may be 
added the various Changes of the Air thro' 
which they so quickly pass, the Alterations 
of
* Aph. 35. Sect. V.


288 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of which become as it were a new Bath, 
and by that means variously stimulating the 
Fibres to brace and contract them; besides 
the different Objects or new Scenes, which at
the same Time amuse the Mind. 
The immortal Sydenham laid so great a 
Stress on Riding, that he thought he could not
only cure slight Consumptions, but an almost 
desperate Tabes, attended with nocturnal 
Sweats, and a violent Diarrhœa, by Riding 
alone; nor did he believe Mercury more ef- 
fectual in the Cure of the Venereal Disease, or 
the Bark in intermittent Fevers, than Riding 
was in a Consumption. 
Those who cannot ride may use a Coach, 
Chaise, or Chair, which is the only proper 
Method for lame, old, and decrepid Persons, 
as well as for those who are so young, that 
they are not able to manage their own Exer- 
cise. 
There are also particular Exercises appro- 
priated to certain Parts of the Body; as 
Shooting, for the Breast; Talking, Singing, 
Hollowing, Blowing the Horn, or Wind-In-
struments, for strengthening, opening, and 
clearing the Lungs; Tennis or Foot-ball, for 
those who have weak Arms or Hams; Bowl- 
ing or Skettles, for the Reins and Loins;
Riding, for weak Nerves and Digestion, and 
those troubled with Head-aches. 
In short, there is no one particular Part 
of the Body, but might be strengthen'd and 
kept in due Plight by Labour or Exercise
rightly 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 289
rightly appropriated to the particular Organ; 
for it is very remarkable, how the several 
different Limbs of labouring Men are streng- 
then'd, and render'd fleshy and nervous, as 
they happen to be most employ'd in their 
different Occupations: so the Thighs, Legs, 
and Feet of Chairmen; the Arms and Hands 
of Watermen; the Backs and Shoulders of 
Porters, grow thereby thick, strong, and 
hard in time; for it is very certain, that 
using any Organ or Member frequently and 
forcibly, brings Blood and Spirits into it, and
by that means is render'd plump and strong. 
The following Conditions ought to be ob- 
serv'd with Regard to Exercise, in order to 
render it the most beneficial that may be. 
The first, that it be upon an empty Stomach, 
for then all the Matter which is digested 
enough for Perspiration, will thereby be 
easily discharg'd; but Exercise on a full 
Meal is very pernicious, for it subverts the 
Stomach, and forces the Aliment from thence 
crude and indigested, and so hurries it into
the Veins and Habit of the Body, whereby 
Secretions are precipitated, and the found 
Juices are carried off with the corrupted Hu- 
mours; hence arise frequently putrid Fevers, 
Pleurisies, Head-achs, weak Eyes, and a 
general Cacochymy, or a vitiated Constitu- 
tion. 
Secondly, the Morning Exercise is always the 
best, for then the two Concoctions are finish'd; 
and Hippocrates is very clear upon this Head, 
T in

290 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in one of his Aphorisms, wherein he says, 
Let us exercise before eating. But it should 
be moderate and equal; I call that Exercise 
moderate which is not tiresome, and equal 
when all the Parts of the Body are equally 
mov'd. 
Thirdly, They that are lean should exer- 
cise only ad Ruborem, that is, till the Body and
Spirits are gently heated, for that will help to 
fatten them; but they who are fat may exer- 
cise ad Sudorem, that is, till they sweat, for 
that will help to melt down Part of their 
Fat, and consequently extenuate the Body. 
Fourthly, We must carefully avoid drink- 
ing any cold Liquors after violent or great 
Exercise, or when we are hot and sweating, 
which Heat and Thirst intice us to do; 
the dangerous Effects of which, are chilling 
and almost extinguishing the remainder of 
the Heat which is left in the inward Parts, 
and surfeiting the Blood and Juices, by mix- 
ing cold Drink with the Fat, which is at 
that Time partly melted and floating in the 
Body. 
Fifthly, Another great Error to be avoid- 
ed is, drinking of strong and spirituous Li- 
quors after hard Labour or Exercise, in order 
to avoid the former Inconveniencies, not con- 
sidering that we thereby incur another, which 
is over-heating and drying our Bodies, too 
much heated and dry'd before; but to avoid 
both, and to refresh the Body at the same 
time, the best Way is, first to rest a while
warm,

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 291
warm, if we can conveniently, and then to 
drink a Draught of warm Ale or Beer, with 
a little Mace and Sugar in it, or some other 
innocent Supping, analogous in Heat or 
Warmth to that of our Bodies, by which 
means the Blood and Spirits will soon settle, 
and be refresh'd, and so the Limbs after 
Rest will be enabled with Ease to undergo 
new Labour. 
Sixthly, We should carefully avoid catch- 
ing of Cold after Exercise, by retiring into a 
warm Room, or some convenient Shelter 
from the Injuries of the Weather. 
CHAP. XI.
Of RETENTION and EXCRETION.
THE Things to be excreted or evacua- 
ted, and retained, are the Excrements 
of the Belly, Urine, insensible Perspiration, 
the Semen, and the Menses; for these must
be regulated, and evacuated in due Time, 
and in due Quantity, all which conduce very
much to the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, otherwise they will injure it, and bring
on a Multitude of various Diseases. There- 
fore in a natural and healthy State, we should 
go to Stool once in 24 Hours, and the Fœces 
should be of a due Consistence, that is, some- 
T2 what


292 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
what soft, and stick together, according to 
the old Saying, Oportet sanorum sedes esse
configuratas; that is, The gross Excrements 
in healthy Persons ought to be of such a Con- 
sistence, as to take the Impression of the Guts. 
They who are costive, and otherwise not 
well, have either over-heated their Bodies 
with spirituous Liquors, or have fasted too 
long, or eaten too sparingly, or they have 
too slow a Digestion, or too great Weakness
of the Intestines; and by that means the 
Food is retain'd too long before the Mouths 
of the Lacteals, and is thereby over-drain'd 
of its Moisture, and harden'd. 
The best Proportion of the gross Eva- 
cuation to the Quantity of the Food we take 
in, is about the third Part; for they who 
much exceed that, have the Mesaraick Veins 
stopt or obstructed, and so cannot be nou- 
rish'd; and if it exceeds it, 'tis certain that
the Body wastes, unless the Matter of some 
Disease be thereby evacuated; or else, if 
they have purging Stools, they have eaten 
too much of Things too strong for their 
Powers of Digestion; for it is very certain, 
that superfluous Nourishment leaves too 
much Chyle in the gross Excrements, which 
fermenting in the Guts, stimulates them so as 
to become purgative. 
But if the Looseness be not violent, and 
the Appetite remains good, it is not to be 
suddenly and rashly stopp'd; for Nature 
thereby frequently prevents, and often times
rids




Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 293
rids herself of many a Disease, which upon 
an unadvised Astriction would be riveted in 
the Body; and therefore the Rule is, first 
cleanse and then close. But if it be too vio- 
lent and frequent, and the Stomach thereby 
decay'd it must be carefully and speedily 
remedied; and in this Case Advice is very
necessary, for it is easy to commit an Error, 
but the Consequence is dangerous. 
Here I cannot omit inserting an Abstract
of some few Passages out of Cheyne's Essay 
of Health and Long Life, which are admi- 
rable upon this Subject, and very worthy 
of every Body's Perusal. ' I have often ob- 
' serv'd, says he, that a full Meal of strong
' Meat, as Fish, Beef, Pork, baked Meat, 
' or made Dishes, in tender Persons goes off 
' with the Hurry and Irritation of a Purge, 
' leaving the Bowels instated, colick'd, grip'd, 
' and the Spirits sunk to the last Degree. 
' The Food by its various Mixture, Weight, 
' and Fermentation, Stimulating all along
' from the Stomach to the Rectum *, and 
' being scarce ever drain'd of its Chyle, 
' without affording any Nourishment to the 
' Body, runs off thus crudely, and becomes 
' equal to a total Abstinence from Food for 
' a long Time. And hence we have a most 
' infallible Rule, † a Posteriori, to judge 
' if we govern'd ourselves in our Diet in 
T3 ' Pro-
* The straight or last Gut. 
† A Posteriori, i. e. after the Trial has been made.



294 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Proportion to the Necessities of Nature, 
' and the Forces of our concoctive Powers. 
' This is the very Reason why the Bark 
' over dosed, and given to Persons of weak 
' Digestion, so constantly purges them, and
' why Mercury given either inwardly, or 
' by Frictions, runs off in violent Purging,
' and cannot be raised into a Salivation; to
' wit, the not adjusting the Doses to the 
' Strength of the stomach and nervous Fi- 
' bres; for the Bark naturally binds, and 
' Mercury naturally rises to the most § per- 
' vious Glands. 
' And in this Sense I myself have frequent- 
' ly observ'd in weak and scrophulous Bowels, 
' even Diascordium and Venice Treacle to 
' purge: whereas, had the Doses been duly 
' proportion'd, or had they begun by un- 
' der-dosing, and taken a little longer time, 
' they might have been effectually answer'd, 
' as I have often experienc'd without ever
' failing. 
' 2. There is a very great Error commit- 
' ted in Nurses and Parents in rearing up 
' young Children; the perpetual Gripes, 
' Colicks, Loosenesses, hard Bellies, Choak-
' ings, Wind and Convulsive Fits, which tor-
' ment half the Children in England, are en- 
' tirely owing to the too great Quantities of
' too strong Food, and too rank Milk, thrust 
' down their Throats by their over-laying 
' Mothers
§ Pervious, i. e. the easiest or readiest Way to be passed
through. 

295 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
' Mothers and Nurses; for what else do their 
' slimy, their gray or chylous, their blackish, 
' and cholerick Discharges, the Noise and Mo- 
' tion in their Bowels, their Wind and Choak- 
' ings imply, but Crudities from superfluous 
' Nourishment? This is so certain, that they 
' are universally and infallibly cur'd by testa- 
' ceous Powders, which only absorb sharp Cru- 
' dities; by Rhubarb Purges, which at once 
' evacuate and strengthen the Bowels; and by 
' Milk Clysters, Issues, and Blisters; and by 
' obstinately persisting in these and the like, 
' (intended to evacuate and strengthen the 
' alimentary Passages) and a thin, spare and 
' nutritive Diet; for nothing nourishes but 
' Food duly concocted. 
' 3. I have often heard valetudinary and 
' tender Persons, and those of sedentary Lives,
' and learned Professions, complain of Head- 
' achs, Sickneses at the Stomach, Colicks and
' Gripes, Lowness of Spirits, Wind and Va- 
' pours; and yet pretended they were very 
' moderate and abstemious in their Eating 
' and Drinking; but upon Enquiry, I con- 
' stantly found these very Persons pursued 
' with purging Stools, which was an evident
' Proof to me, that they had taken down 
' more than they wanted, or could digest: 
' for 'tis universally certain, that those that
' do not exceed, must have either Costive, 
' or at least Stools of a middle Consistence. 
' There is nothing more ridiculous, than 
' to see tender, hysterical and vapourish Peo-
T4 ' ple,


296 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' ple, perpetually complaining, and yet per- 
' petually cramming, crying out, they are 
' ready to sink into the Ground and faint 
' away, and yet gobbling the richest and 
' strongest Food, and highest Cordials, to 
' oppress and overlay them quite. The pro- 
' per Remedy in this Case, is first, to cleanse 
' the fœtid Abyss, and then to preserve it 
' clean, by cutting off all the Inlets of Pu- 
' trefaction. This will require a little Cou- 
' rage, Labour and Pain; but the future 
' Ease and Sweetness will more than abun- 
' dantly recompence them; for there is no- 
' thing more certain, than that the Head-achs, 
' Colicks, and nervous Pains and Disorders, of
' those born found here in England, univer- 
' sally proceed from Idleness and Fulness of
' Bread. 
4. ' Those who pretend to cure themselves 
' of nervous Disorders, or any other chroni-
' cal Diseases, or preserve themselves from
' them, or lengthen out their Days, must
' under-dose themselves, even tho' they 
' should undergo the Pain of Costiveness;
' for it is impossible the Nerves of those who 
' have slippery Bowels, should ever be braced 
' or wound up; for there the Cure must be- 
' gin where the Evil began, and must be 
' communicated thence to the rest of the 
' System; as a Rope-maker begins the Twist at 
' one End of the Rope, and communicates 
' it to all the other Parts. 
' Our

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 297
' Our Access to the Nerves of the Sto- 
' mach and Bowels, is obvious and open; to 
' the rest the Way is difficult, and far about. 
' And since a Relaxation, Weakness, and 
' want of Spring in the Fibres, is the Origin 
' of all nervous Distempers, no Medicines 
' but such as contract, stiffen, wind up, and
' Shorten them, can remedy this Evil; and 
' they must necessarily contract and bind up 
' the Fibres of the Stomach and Guts, as the 
' Parts they first approach and exert their 
' Virtue upon. And he who without firm 
' Bowels, thinks to cure a nervous Distemper, 
' labours as much in vain, as he who would 
' keep a Fiddle-string soaking in Oil and 
' Water, to make it vibrate or play off a fine
' Composition of Musick. 
5. ' There happens also an Evacuation 
' both by Stool and Urine, to some weak 
' Persons of relax'd Nerves, that extremely 
' alarms them, and is not so readily account- 
' ed for in that Part of Physick, which teaches 
' the Causes of Diseases. It is when either 
' a white transparent, viscid Substance like 
' Gelly, is constantly voided by the Bowels, 
' more or less; or when a white, milky, gluey 
' Substance like Cream or laudable Matter, 
' settles in the Urine. Both these Appearances 
' are commonly ascrib'd to an Ulcer in the 
' Guts, or in the Kidneys; and yet I am 
' very certain, there is neither Ulcer or true 
' Matter in either Case, as I propose them. 
' For where there is violent and acute Pain,
' or

298 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Matter of different Colours or Mixtures, 
' there very possibly may be, nay certainly 
' there is an Ulcer. But in the Case I here 
' intend, there is very little or no Pain, no
' hectical Paroxysms, which always attend an 
' inward Ulcer; no bloody or sanious Mix- 
' tures, which always betray the inward Sore; 
' no fœtid Smell to imply Corruption. 
' The first Case I take to be either an 
' Obstruction of some of the Lacteals, where- 
' by the Chyle cannot be carried off in any 
' sufficient Quantity, but passing thro' the 
' Guts, and its more watery Part being eva- 
' porated, it becomes thick and gelatinous, 
' and is thrown off at last with the Remains 
' of the Food; else it must be an Obstru- 
' ction of those Glands of the Guts, by 
' which a viscid Matter for lubricating of 
' them is commonly secerned, by the Im- 
' prisonment and Evaporation of which Mat- 
' ter it thickens and turns like a Gelly (as it 
' does by Cold or Over-feeding, in the Glands 
' of the Mouth, Throat, and Windpipe) and 
' at last, by squeezing of the Guts is thrown 
' off. And in the same manner, I take that 
' milky Substance subsiding in the Water, in 
' such a Case as I have mention'd, to arise 
' from a Relaxation of the Glands of the 
' Kidneys and Bladder, and other urinary 
' Passages; and that both are to be cur'd the 
' same Way as other nervous Distempers are 
' cur'd; viz. by a proper Regimen of Diet,
and 


Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 299
' and a Course of contracting, strengthening, 
' and volatile Medicines.”
The second Evacuation is by Urine, be- 
ing a serous Humour strain'd in the Kid- 
neys, which comes with the Blood (which 
it diluted) to the Reins by the Arteries of
the Kidneys, but is separated from it as ex- 
crementitious, and that continually, as Part 
of the Blood is constantly driven to the Kid- 
neys to nourish them. 
The Urine contains not only the watery 
Part of the Blood, but the sharpest Salt, 
which is most subtile and volatile, and nearly 
of an alkaline Nature, render'd exceeding 
volatile. In the watery Part there is also a 
fœtid Substance contain'd, and a viscid Oil 
so attenuated, that it readily mixes with Wa- 
ter, and is scarce separable from it; which 
may therefore in some Measure be called a 
Spirit. 
The natural Salt of Urine is of a lixivi- 
ate, soapy Disposition, and much like Sal- 
ammoniac, yet in some Respects different 
from it: It also contains a fix'd Salt, of the
Nature of Sea-salt, being composed of a li- 
xiviate one, and a nitrous; of which Nature 
is that which swims in the Blood, the nitrous 
Parts being imbibed into it thro' the Lungs 
in Inspiration; so that the Salt in Urine in a 
found State, is neither acid, alkali, ammoni- 
cal nor briny, but of a peculiar Disposi- 
tion. 
But

300 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
But as Urine is a * Lixivium of the Salts 
contained in a human Body, and the proper 
Mark of the State and Quantity of such 
Salts; therefore very certain Indications may 
be taken from the Condition of Urine, to 
discover both the State of our Constitution, 
and the Regulation of our Diet; and tho' 
the Salts of human Urine be neither acid nor 
alkaline, as I have just now observ'd, yet by 
the violent Motion of the Blood, as in burn- 
ing and putrid Fevers, &c. they may be 
turn'd alkaline, and even corrosive; and when
they begin to turn so, they affect the small 
and tender Fibres of the Brain more sensi- 
bly than any other Part of the Body. 
When the Urine is of a bright Amber 
Colour, and of a moderate Thickness, with 
a light Cloud hanging in it, and in Quantity 
of about three Quarters of the Liquor taken 
in, it is best, and a certain Sign of a due Con- 
coction, a just Proportion of Food, and a to- 
tal Riddance of Repletion and Crudities; for 
they who live moderately, use due Exercise, 
and enjoy a perfect State of Health, always 
evacuate such Urine. 
But when it is retain'd too long, either 
by the Fault of the Kidneys or Bladder, or 
because the Matter of it is not sufficiently 
separated from the Blood, or that it is kept 
too long in the Bladder thro' Laziness or Bash- 
fulness, (as is often the Case) it occasions Stone
and Gravel, and sometimes Blotches and Erup-
tions 
* Lixivium, i. e. Lye, such as that of Soap.

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 301
tions upon the Skin, Dropsy, fainting, and sleepy. 
Diseases, with a great many other Disorders, 
too tedious to enumerate in this Place. 
If there be too great an Evacuation of 
Urine from any Cause whatsoever, by taking 
away the Serum, or watry Parts of the Blood, 
it will occasion a Stagnation of the Humours, 
encrease Heat, an unextinguishable Thirst, 
Crudities, and many Evils of the like Na- 
ture; and by depriving the Blood, and carry- 
ing out of the Body the most nutritive Parts, 
produce an Atrophy, or a total Decay, as in 
a Diabetes, and Death at last. 
The Urine differs both in Taste, Smell,
Colour and Quantity, according to the Diffe- 
rence of Ages, Constitutions, Sexes, Seasons
of the Year, and Alterations of their Way 
of living, and Diversity of Medicines; so 
that they who live freely, and make Quan- 
tities of pale, or limpid and sweet Urine, it is
a manifest Sign that their Perspiration is ob- 
structed; that neither the first nor the two 
last Concoctions * have been rightly perform'd; 
and that the Chyle has not been sufficiently 
attenuated, nor the minutest Secretions duly 
made by the lesser Drains of the Body, and 
that the urinous Salts are still retain'd in the
Habit. 
The
* Concoction in an animal Body is three-fold; the find is
confin'd to what Alterations are made of the Food in the 
Stomach and Intestines; the second is applied to the Alterati- 
ons made of it in the Blood-Vessels; and that made in the 
Nerves, Fibres, and minutest Vessels, is not improperly called 
the third and last Concoction.  

302 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Cure, as to Diet, consists in living re- 
gular, that is, in eating and drinking less, 
and using more Air and Exercise, drinking 
freely of small warm White-Wine Whey; 
likewise a little Gascoign's Powder, or Sir 
Walter Raleigh's Confection will be proper 
at the same time, in order to set Perspiration
to rights again. 
High-colour'd, foul, and very turbid 
Urine in small Quantities, proceeds from 
either an immoderate Use of strong or spi- 
rituous Liquors, or from too great abundance 
of Salts retain'd in the Body; which must be 
remedied by diminishing the Quantity of 
their Flesh Meats, and drinking small Li- 
quors, or Water with their Wine, otherwise 
they will hurry themselves into some acute 
Inflammatory, or dangerous Chronical Dis- 
ease. 
Dark Brown, or dirty Red-colour'd Urine, 
without any Sediment, and in small Quan- 
tity, in acute Distempers is always a sure In- 
dication of insurmountable Crudity, high 
Inflammation tending to a Mortification, and 
a dying Weakness in Nature: But in those 
who labour not under any visible Disease at 
the Time, it is a certain Sign of almost a 
total Weakness of the digestive Powers, an 
inseparable Cohesion of the component Parts 
of the Blood, and a Deadness in all the ani- 
mal Functions; in which Case, a Physician's
Advice is highly necessary. 
A

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 306
A bloody, mattery, wheyish Urine, or that 
with Films, Bits of broken Membranes, or 
white Gravel, denote or Gravel, or 
Symptoms of an Ulcer somewhere in the 
urinary Passages. Fat, which is observ'd 
upon the Top of the Urine, especially of 
consumptive People, signifies a wasting of
the Body. 
The third Excretion or Evacuation to be 
consider'd is insensible Perspiration, which
is imperceptibly discharg'd through all the 
Pores of the Skin, and other Parts of the 
Body, being the Recrements of the second 
and third Concoctions, divested of all that 
can be of any farther Use to the Parts of the
Body; the free and full exhaling of which, 
is as necessary to Health as any of the gros- 
ser Evacuations, being in Quantity at least
equal to all that is evacuated both by Stool 
and Urine; and an Obstruction thereof is ge- 
nerally the Parent of all acute Distempers, 
as it is a Consequence of all chronical Dis- 
orders. But having fully treated of this 
Matter in another Place already, for far- 
ther Satisfaction herein, I refer the Reader to
Page 99. Note *, Part II. 
Nothing hinders and obstructs Perspiration 
more than catching of Cold, which is nothing 
but great Quantities of moist Air impreg- 
nated with nitrous Salts imbib'd through the 
Passages of Perspiration, by which means not 
only the Blood and Juices are thicken'd, but 
likewise insensible Perspiration is obstructed, 
and

304 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and immediately a small Fever, and a Hurry 
in the whole animal System succeeds; which 
oftentimes lays a Foundation for Consumptions, 
Obstructions of the great Viscera †, and an 
universal Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body. 
Therefore, in order to remedy this Disorder, 
and prevent the ill Consequences of it, we 
should lie much longer in Bed than usual, 
drinking small warm White-Wine Whey 
plentifully, with some few Hartshorn-drops, 
Posset-drink, Water-gruel, Barley-water, or 
any other warm small Liquors, taking twenty
Grains of Gascoigns Powder Night and Morn- 
ing, and at the same Time living low upon 
Spoon-meats, Pudding, Chicken, and drink- 
ing every Thing during the Height of the 
Illness warm; but if any Cough or Spitting 
should encrease, Bleeding should be perform'd, 
and to take now and then a little Sugar- 
Candy, Oil of Sweet Almonds, or a Solution 
of Sperma Ceti, to render Expectoration free 
and easy; and afterwards to be cautious of 
going abroad too soon, and without being 
well cloathed. 
Gripes, Purging, Colical Pains, much 
belching of Wind, Low-spiritedness, Yawning 
and Stretching, are sure and certain Indica- 
tions that Perspiration is deficient or ob- 
structed; therefore, in order to remove these 
Disorders, we must have recourse to a 
greater Degree of Exercise and Abstinence, 
and to some gentle Purge or other, such as 
Sena
† Viscera, signify any of the Bowels or Intrails. 


305 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
Sena and Manna, or Rhubarb, &c. to clear 
the first Passages of the Load that oppresses 
them, otherwise the Person will suffer at 
last; and, as Sanctorius observes, Wind in
the Body is nothing but Perspiration † ob- 
structed. 
The fourth Evacuation to be considered is 
the Semen, consisting of a white, hot, spiri- 
tuous, thick, clammy, and saltish Humour, 
which is elaborated in the Testicles and Epi- 
didymes, out of the purest and most spiritu- 
ous Parts of the Blood. Considering it there- 
fore in this Light, Moderation in Coition is 
absolutely necessary, both for the Preserva- 
tion of Health as well as Pleasure; for in 
Immoderation we do not consult Delight, but 
Lust, and lose the Pleasure by being too in- 
tent upon it: And it is certainly true, that 
those Parents who are most continent, have 
more and the most healthful Children; for 
they meet their Pleasure by Necessity: In 
these it cheers the Heart and Spirits, and 
makes them breath free and easy; it appeases 
Melancholy and Sadness, mitigates Anger, and 
disposes to Rest. But then that Mode- 
ration receives its Difference very much from
the different Temperature of Constitutions; 
for less is sufficient for the Melancholy and 
the Cholerick, the Old and Emaciated; but 
more for the Sanguine and Plethorick, and 
those of a middle and flourishing Age: The 
Feverish if in any kind of Constitution must a- 
U void
† Aph. xiii. Sect. 3.  



306 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
void it, and likewise they who are subject to
the Gout, and Diseases of the Joints. 
On the other Hand, the immoderate Use 
of Coition not only hinders Perspiration, by
keeping the Fibres too strait, and lessening the
Passages, and thereby giving rise to all the Dis- 
orders which attend an obstructed Perspira- 
tion, but likewise it disorders and weakens 
that due Tension and Elasticity of the Solids, 
upon which depends a right Discharge of all 
the animal Functions. I say, therefore, what- 
ever weakens this Disposition of the Solids, 
cannot but very much prejudice the whole 
Constitution. And that all violent Actions, 
such as that of immoderate Coition is, are de- 
structive to the Textures of the Solids, can- 
not be doubted; for their constituent Fibres 
or Threads will not only be much injured in 
their Contextures, but also that animal Oil or 
Spirit which nourishes them, and facilitates 
their Motions, will be so much press'd out 
and wore away, as to disable them very much 
afterwards in their natural Motions; and the 
Body will be, by that means, so weaken'd and 
dispirited, that the several Parts will not be
able to discharge their respective Offices, 
whereby Digestion, Concoction, and all the 
natural Evacuations will be disordered. 
Hence follow a Dissolution of Strength and 
Spirits, Dulness of Memory and Understand- 
ing, Dimness of Sight, Diseases of the Nerves 
and Joints, as Palsies, and all kinds of Gouts, 
Weakness of the Back, and Consumptions;
Seminal 

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 307
Seminal Weaknesses, and sometimes bloody
Urine; a deprav'd Appetite and Head-achs, 
with a great many other Disorders needless to
be mentioned here; and, to conclude, there 
is nothing that so wonderfully shortens hu- 
man Life, as the immoderate Use of Venery. 
In the fifth Place we are to consider the 
Menses as a necessary Evacuation, which are
Excretions of arterial Blood every Month 
from the Womb: They begin usually when 
young Maids grow ripe at fourteen, and 
sometimes at twelve, but very seldom before: 
They cease naturally in pregnant Women, 
and those past bearing Children, and likewise 
those that give suck; yet it happens some- 
times that pregnant and suckling Women have 
them. 
The Quantity of them ought to be in pro- 
portion to the Quantity and Heat of the 
Blood; but, generally speaking, a certain 
Quantity cannot be limited, for some have a 
great many, and some but a few; nor do 
they continue upon all alike; some have them
two Days, some three, some four, some six or 
eight Days. 
They that have them too much are weak- 
en'd, and their Blood being rendered crude, 
watery, and pale, are subject to Faintings 
and Waste: Those in whom they are sup- 
press'd, become hysterical and breath diffi- 
cultly, look pale, and lose their Appetite, 
and fall into Fevers, Inflammations, and a 
U2 great


308 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
great many Diseases, both acute and chroni- 
cal, if they are not timely remedied. 
There are other Excretions which could 
not conveniently come in under the foregoing 
general Heads; such as Sweat, Spittle, Mucus
or Snot, Tears, and the Wax in the Ears. 
Sweat is a thin serous Fluid, mix'd with 
some Sulphur, a good deal of briny, but more 
volatile Salt, and a very little Earth: And 
the same Properties being found in Urine, we 
may conclude, 1. That Sweat and Urine may 
supply each other's Defects: Accordingly we 
find, that as Sweat is promoted, the Excre- 
tion of Urine is diminished, and on the con- 
trary. 2. That they may be provoked by 
the same Remedies: Thus Diaphoreticks, 
or such Medicines as promote Sweat, fail- 
ing to answer their Intention, prove Diu-
reticks; that is, purge by Urine. 3. That 
Sweat carries off many of the sharp Salts, 
with which the Blood abounds, and by that 
means may accidentally prevent or cure many
Distempers, is not to be doubted. 
Sweat therefore differs very much from, 
insensible Perspiration; for if it be encreased, 
and its Vessels enlarged, Perspiration must 
unavoidably be diminished, and its Vessels 
compress'd. Perspiration also is turn'd into 
Sweat, by violent Motion, and too much 
Heat, tho' by moderate Motion and gentle 
Heat it is very much promoted; but nothing 
can be more serviceable to promote it than 
gentle Friction of the Skin for some Time 
Night

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 309
Night and Morning, as I shall observe in a 
another Place. 
The Saliva or Spittle, (of which I have 
given a Hint before) is a thin transparent
Humour, almost void of Smell and Taste, 
which will entirely evaporate by Heat, but 
not curdle; and when shaken affords a ropy 
Froth. It is separated from the purer Part of
the arterial Blood or Serum by the Glands;
and when a Person is hungry it flows in great 
Quantities, and is then more fluid and sharp; 
after long fasting it is very penetrating and de- 
tergent; it ferments with Bread, Meal, or Sy- 
rup, and promotes Digestion. Men, as well as 
Brutes, swallow it in Health, and likewise 
wWhen asleep: When too much of it is spit 
out, it occasions loss of Appetite, slow Dige- 
stion, and an Atrophy or Consumption. It is 
composed of Water, Salt, Oil, and Spirit, all 
which can he extracted from it, which ren- 
ders it saponaceous, or of the Nature of 
Soap. 
This Fluid then being press'd out of the 
Glands, lays the first Foundation of assimi- 
tating the Food to the Body, and promotes 
the Mixture of oily and aqueous Substances, 
and a Solution of saline ones: It also pro- 
motes Fermentation, excites an intestine Mo- 
tion of the Parts of the Food in the Stomach; 
so that Digestion could not be perform'd 
without it. 
Therefore as this Fluid is of such great Use, 
when mixed with our Food, it ought not to the
U3 lavishly 

310 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
lavishly spit away; for when it is swallow'd, 
having perform'd its Office in the Mouth, and 
being return'd into the Blood, it is still far- 
ther improved by repeated Circulation and 
Digestion; and when separated in the Glands
again, is highly amended. 
Hence it is manifest, that they who im- 
mediately upon eating fall a smoaking or 
chewing of Tobacco, as is generally the Custom
here, and that even among People of the 
better Sort, commit two very great Errors, 
highly destructive to their own Constitutions : 
1st, In diverting the Saliva or Spittle from 
its natural Offices, by spitting it away in 
smoaking or chewing, being one of the chief 
Menstruums, or Medium, for promoting Di- 
gestion, as I have just now demonstrated.
2dly, In using that stupifying American Hen-
bane upon a full Stomach, which, besides the 
great Injury it does Nature, in depriving her 
too much of that necessary Fluid the Saliva, 
has also an intoxicating opiate Quality, by 
which (as all other Opiates do) it destroys the 
Appetite and hinders Digestion, the Truth of 
which is evident to all good Practitioners in 
Physick, Therefore, I sincerely advise all 
those who have any Regard for the Preserva- 
tion of their own Health, to avoid carefully
this pernicious Custom, and never to smoak 
but upon an empty Stomach, or at least till 
the greatest Part of the Food is out of it, 
which always requires some Hours after eat- 
ing; and, even then, no Body except gross
and


311 thro' the various Stages of Life.
Ch. XI. 
and phlegmatick People, should smoak at all; 
because lean, thin, scraggy, dry, and cholerick 
Constitutions are heated and dry'd too much 
by it, which throws them oftentimes into
Consumptions or other Decays. 
Mucus, or Snot, is a clammy and viscid 
Humour, which flows from the Extremities 
of the olfactory Nerves * through the Os Cri- 
briforme † into the Nostrils and Palate: It 
also signifies that slimy Liquor, or Mucilage, 
which daubs over and guards the Bowels, and 
lubricates the chief Passages in the Body from 
being corroded by any saline or sharp Hu- 
mours; but the Superfluities of it are excreted
by the Nostrils and Intestines. 
Tears are a serous Humour, prepared out of 
the arterial Blood in the Lachrymal Gland ‡,
and are of a saline, watery, clear, and smooth
Disposition, discharged always in a small 
Quantity, but more plentifully when the Eye 
is rubbed or compressed by the Orbìcular 
Muscle ‖. This Humour serves to moisten, 
U4 wash,
* Are those Nerves which give the Sense of Smelling. 
† It is a Bone full of small Holes, like a Sieve: It is also 
called Os Ethmoides, situated in the Middle of the Basis of the 
Os Frontis, or Forehead-Bone. 
‡ It is a pretty large conglomerate Gland or Kernel, being 
broad, compress'd, rough, and placed within the Orbit, to- 
wards the outward Angle of the Eye, near the rough Chink, 
and inclosed in Fat; is endowed with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, 
Lymphaticks, and Ducts, which carry a Humour to the Eye 
prepared from the arterial Blood. 
‖ It is the Muscle which serves to join the Eye lids toge- 
gether, contracting them like a Sphincter, and by a strong 
Contraction presses the Ball of the Eye, and squeezes out Tears 
upon the external Superficies of the Eye, which is thereby 
cleansed of its Filth, and the Eye itself washed. 



312 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
wash, and render the Eye slippery, and pre- 
vents it from sticking to the Eye-lids: It like- 
wise serves to wash off any Filth or external 
Bodies, which, by adhering to the Eye, might 
cause Pain, or darken the Sight; but if this 
Humour be too much, so that it cannot be 
received by the Lachrymal Points *, it flows 
from the Eyes, and is called Tears. 
Cerumen, or Ear-wax, is the Excrement of 
the Ears, which sweats or ouzes out of the
Cartilages and Glands bordering upon the 
Ears: It consists of Abundance of Salt and 
Sulphur, which gives it its Bitterness: It 
serves to hinder Dust, Motes, cr little Ani- 
mals from getting into the Ears. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
I Shall briefly treat of the Passions here, 
not as a Natural Philosopher, but as a 
Physician; therefore I shall not consider their 
Essences and Causes, but their Effects and In- 
fluence
* They are Holes in the Bone of the Nose, by which the 
Matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils; but if these 
Holes grow hard and are stopp'd, from an Ulcer in one of 
the Glands in the Corners of the Eyes, thence arises a Fistula
Lachrymalis.



Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 313
fluence upon human Bodies, and how their 
Regulation conduces to the Preservation of
Health and long Life. For as to the Manner 
how the Mind or Thought operates upon the 
Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind, 
and what that Tye or Bond of Union is, be- 
tween the Mind and the animal Fluids, is a 
Mystery unreveal'd to Man, being, at least
mechanically, not reducible to Reason, it be- 
ing impossible to represent and delineate, as 
we do corporal Substances, the several Steps
and Ways of Procedure of those Agents, 
which can by no means be brought under the 
Notice of our Senses, only in their Effects; 
and therefore we cannot have any Notion of 
the Procedure by which they are brought a- 
bout, as we can have of all those affected by
physical Agents. But as it is certain that the 
Passions of the Mind do influence very much 
and alter the Constitution, especially when 
very sudden and intense, so far as necessarily 
to bring it under the Physician's Care, still 
the wisest must herein be contented to e- 
stablish his Rules upon Observation and Expe- 
rience only. 
There is nothing more remarkable, than 
that violent Passions of the Mind waste and 
consume the Spirits, and plunge the Consti- 
tution into great Disorders; and this they 
seem to bring about by universally stimulating,
irritating, and twitching the Nerves and 
Fibres, in such a Manner as disturbs their re- 
gular Contractions: And altho' we cannot 
positively

314 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
positively tell, either how Thought can pro- 
duce such an Alteration in the Humours of 
the Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind; 
yet if by constant Observation and Experi- 
ence it can be found, that such a Passion or 
Temper of the Mind is always attended with 
such Consequences in the Constitution; and 
that such a particular Temperature of the 
Constitution always affects the Mind with such 
particular Passions and Dispositions, it will 
very sufficiently afford a Ground of Certainty
to any considerable Person, in his Reasoning 
upon their Consequences, and in the Mea- 
sures which ought to be taken in remedying 
the Disorders of either. 
For Instance, if Joy or Anger are always 
found to render the Body lighter, tho' we 
cannot tell how these particular Passions do 
first modify any particular Parts of the Body, 
so as to produce that Effect, yet it being plain
how physical Agents do the same, it will be 
most reasonable to conclude, that these do it 
also by the same Means; that is, thus far we 
know, that an Invigoration, or an Increase 
of the contractile Force of the Solids, will 
promote Digestion, increase the Evacuations, 
and render the Body lighter. 
Therefore we have the greatest Reason to 
believe, when we see the same to be the Con- 
sequences also of a Person's being passionate- 
ly angry or very merry, that these Disposi- 
tions of the Mind (altho' we know not how) 
do

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 315
do give that particular Modification likewise, 
and Degree of Tension to the Fibres, as Cold- 
bathing, a cold clear Air, or moderate Ex- 
ercise, when we see them attended with the 
same Consequences. 
But as we know these physical Causes have 
this Effect, by contracting and shaking the 
Fibres of the Solids, and thereby promoting 
their Power of Elasticity, and breaking the 
animal Juices finer; so it ought to be con- 
cluded, that these Passions of the Mind do 
likewise give the same Modifications to the 
Fibres, by which the same Effects are pro- 
duced. 
In like Manner, if Fear and Sorrow are 
found to be attended with an Increase of 
Weight in the Body, it is reasonable to think
that they do it by the same Means as by which 
all those physical Agents produce the same 
Effect; that is, by slackening the Fibres too 
much, diminishing Digestion, and conse- 
quently by lessening the Evacuations. 
Therefore when any Passion of the Mind 
is said to have this or that Effect upon the 
Body, we ought to consider that Passion only 
as a physical Agents that is, as it contracts or 
slackens the Fibres, and as it increases or di- 
minishes the Evacuations; but in this we are 
guided only by Observation and Experience, 
which is very sufficient to a Person of any 
tolerable Judgment. 
The chief Passions of the Mind, from 
whence all the rest proceed, are Joy, Grief,
Anger,

316 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Anger, Love, Hatred, Shame, Hope, and 
Despair. 
Joy or Mirth is a Delight arising from 
some Good we suppose we have obtained; 
and this, above all the rest, conduces to 
Health, at least if it be moderate; for it keeps 
the Fibres in their natural Tension, assists the 
Secretion and Derivation of the Spirits to all 
Parts of the Body, and consequently pro- 
motes the Circulation and Digestion, and 
raises thereby a plentiful Perspiration, and
renders the Body lighter; but immoderate 
Joy is very injurious, and proves sometimes 
mortal, the Spirits being thereby too much 
raised, and by the Suddenness of the Passion 
too much rarefied beyond their natural Stan- 
dard. 
Grief or Sorrow is a troublesome Languish- 
ment afflicting the Mind, arising from the 
Apprehension of some Ill happened or befall- 
ing us: By it the Spirits in the Brain and 
Nerves move slowly and very feebly; so that 
it produces a great Weight in the Breast, Suf- 
focation, and oftentimes Death, when sud- 
den and extreme. 
Anger is the Desire of Revenge, upon the 
Apprehension of some Injury done or offer'd to 
us: By it the Spirits are violently agitated in 
the Brain and Nerves: It encreases the natu- 
ral Heat, and, if moderate, it may be useful 
sometimes, in order to stir up a brisk Circula- 
tion of the languid Fluids in a cold and 
phlegmatick Constitution, by which means 
the

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 317
the Body is rendered lighter; that is, it will 
then perspire better: But, on the contrary, 
Anger is pernicious to hot, dry, and cholerick
Constitutions; because, in such it will dissi- 
pate the Spirits and dry the Constitution too 
much. 
Love is a certain Passion of the Mind, ex- 
cited in the Soul by the Motion of the Spirits, 
arising from an Object which we judge to be 
good, convenient, delectful, and amiable; so 
that the proper Effects of Love consist in this: 
That we consider ourselves as united to the 
Object we love, and that it is, as it were, ano- 
ther Part of us. 
Love may be properly distinguished into 
three Kinds: 1. The first is spiritual, as the 
supreme Love of the blessed Author of our 
Being, (to which our Love to all other created 
Beings is subordinate, at least it ought to be 
so,) which is that Union, Tendency, Biass, and 
Impulse of the Soul and other Spirits towards 
their blessed Creator, without any indirect 
Ends, without Deceit or Dissimulation, for his 
own Sake; because he is infinitely good, infi- 
nitely amiable, and infinitely perfect, abstract- 
ing from all other Considerations, even that of 
our own Happiness, in the Enjoyment of, or 
Union with him. Yet it is certain that these 
two, our Love to God and our own Happiness, 
cannot be actually separated: And this Love
was communicated by him to them in their 
original Formation, by Virtue of which they 
constantly tend, press, and urge to unite; and,
if

318 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
if Obstacles were removed, would unite with
one another, and so be all united with their 
omnipotent Maker. But now, alas! this 
principle of the intelligent Soul, in this her 
lapsed State, being drowned in Sense, chain'd 
and setter'd by Ignorance and Perverseness, 
drawn and hurried away by the Devil, the 
World, and the Flesh, is disabled from exert- 
ing this inherent and innate Principle of Re- 
union, and wants sufficient Light on the 
Understanding, and a right Turn of the Will, 
to be put in a Capacity of exercising it; but
in its proper Vacuity, and being freed from 
these Letts and Impediments, it would unite 
with its first Author, the Centre and Rock 
out of which it was hewn, and mount to- 
wards him like an Eagle towards the Sun. 
And even in this our lapsed and forlorn 
State, there remain evident Footsteps of this
innate Principle still uneffaced; such are the 
Checks of Conscience, natural Affection, and 
the universal Desire of Immortality, and the 
Dread of Annihilation; and the Worship be- 
stow'd by all Nations, who are not sunk into 
mere Brutality, on some superior and invi- 
sible Powers: I say, these are Remains of this
Principle, and its Operations, sufficient to 
shew its Reality à posteriori, as the Laws of 
Analogy, and the Nature and Attributes of 
the first Being, shew it à priori. For the Au- 
thor of Nature, who created intelligent Beings 
only in order to make them happy, could not 
leave them to so many different Attractions, 
without

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 319
without implanting into their Essence and Sub- 
stance, as an Antidote to so many Distrac- 
tions, an infinite Tendency, Bent, and Biass to- 
wards Beings of the same Nature, and towards 
himself, who was the Cause and Object of their 
Felicity: And those, who admit of Revela- 
tion, cannot doubt of it a Moment. Moses *
calls it, a Law engraven on the Heart of Man; 
and St. Paul †, the greatest Perfection of 
human Nature; whatever Men of Self-love 
and carnal Minds may think of it otherwise. 
The Second is Human, towards particular 
Persons and Things, as Parents, Wife, Children, 
Friends, or Things. Towards the first, Love 
ought to be sincere, hearty, constant, begotten, 
continued for their Sakes, and not for our 
own; but yet it should be limited and subor- 
dinate, Submission to the Will and 
Love of God: That to Things is not to be 
fixt, but changeable, as Necessity requires 
for our Support and Use; because the Things 
themselves are so, which we are to love, as if
we loved them not, according to the Apostle. 
The third Sort of Love, is that which is 
shewn from one Sex to another, and ends in 
Matrimony: This is naturally imprest upon 
us, and it is carefully to be preserved from
Dotage and Lust; for when it takes Fire 
from the last, it is never permanent, but soon
cloys itself, and vanishes upon Satiety: Rea- 
son is here lost, which is the principal Cause 
of so many unhappy Marriages we so fre- 
quently
* Deut. xxx. 14. † 1 Cor. xiii.

320 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quently see. As to Dotage, it is an impotent 
and unreasonable placing of the Affection up- 
on another, which gradually draws all the 
Faculties, both of the Soul and Body, into a 
Languor and Consumption, oftentimes pro- 
ducing Lunacy or Madness. 
However foreign this metaphysical Specula- 
tion, concerning spiritual Love, may seem to 
a physical Treatise about Health, which I pro- 
posed to avoid in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter; yet having seriously and attentively con- 
sider'd the Matter since, I found it both use- 
ful and necessary; because, if we steadily be- 
lieve it, and reduce its natural Consequences to
Practice, it will not only become the most 
effectual Means to prevent Diseases, but also 
the most powerful of any Thing to promote 
Health and long Life, which I shall evidently
make appear, before I finish this little Chap- 
ter. 
Hatred is the Apprehension of an Object 
which we judge hurtful or inconvenient; It is 
likewise Sorrow for the Good, and Chearfulness 
for the Ill of another. It occasions a slow 
and unequal Pulse; a sharp and stinging 
Heat, intermix'd with Cold piercing the Breast; 
the Stomach ceases from its natural Office, so 
that the Food being thereby crude and indi- 
gested, produces Nauseas and Vomitings, or 
is converted into corrupted Humours in the 
Habit of the Body, which are oftentimes the 
Parent of many grievous Diseases.
Shame 

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 321
Shame is an Uneasiness of Mind upon Ac- 
count of having done something that is un- 
seemly, or that lessens one's Esteem among 
others: It is likewise a great Apprehension
of Scandal: The Humours and Spirits being 
thereby variously agitated and confounded, 
frequently plunges the Body into fatal Dis- 
orders. 
Hope is a Desire of some future Good, 
which seems difficult to be obtained, but yet 
possible. By it a great Flow of Spirits tends 
to the Heart, which quickens its Pulsation, 
and accelerates the Motion of the Blood. 
And this Affection oftentimes prevents the ill 
Effects of other Passions, such as those of 
Grief or Sorrow, Hatred and Despair, &c. 
Despair is a Passion of the Mind arising 
from the Apprehension of some Good, which 
we judge impossible to be obtained. In De- 
spair the Pulse is generally very obscure, un- 
equal, and sometimes almost lost and creep- 
ing, the spirituous and most fluid Parts of 
the Blood being dissipated, so as to leave the
Salts, Earth, and grosser Oil in too great a 
Proportion in the Body, which at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Vis- 
cidity of the Matter impacted in them, that 
thereby the Imagination is disordered. Thus 
dark Melancholy, slow and long Grief hope- 
less love, and presumptuous Pride (which is 
a violent Degree of Self-Love) impair the 
Body, by causing the proper Times of ne- 
cessary Food and Exercise to be neglected, 
X and

322 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and thereby depriving the natural Functions 
of their usual Supplies, overworking and 
wearing out some Part of the nervous System, 
and leaving the other, as it were, to rust, and
so become too rigid and stubborn for want of 
Use: Besides, some of the Passions, as Pride, 
Love, and Grief, when immoderate and in- 
tense, terminate oftentimes in Lunacy and 
Madness; nay farther, even the Frequency 
and daily Increase of wanton and common 
Self-Murderers, are chiefly produced by these 
inordinate Passions, and their blasphemous 
and frantick Apologies grafted on the Prin- 
ciples of Infidels, and propagated by their 
Disciples, scarce known or heard of, at least 
not practised, in any Christian Nation but 
this, and her Daughters; for it is a manifest 
Truth, that those who have no Notion or 
Thought of a future State, with regard to 
either Happiness Misery, cannot have the 
true Love of God; and therefore such will 
always give a full Scope to all the Excesses of 
their brutish Passions, till at last, through some 
Disappointment, or Despair in gratifying their 
Sensualities, they most atrociously lay violent 
Hands upon themselves, contrary to the very 
Dictates of both the Law of Nature and their 
own Reason, revealed Religion being always 
a mere Phantom in the Thoughts of all such 
unhappy Wretchess; and thus, alas! they 
wantonly destroy both Body and Soul at 
once. 
The

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
The Passions may be divided very properly 
into acute and chronical, in the same Manner, 
and for the same Reason, as Diseases are. The 
acute Passions, either pleasurable or painful, 
produce much the same Effect, and act much 
after the same Manner, as acute Diseases do; 
for they cause a brisk and lively Circulation
of the Fluids, and brace up and contract the 
Solids for some Time. Thus sudden Joy, 
Grief, Pleasure, or Pain, stimulate and 
contract the nervous Fibres, and the Coats 
of the animal Tubes, and thereby accelerate 
the Motion of the included Fluids, for the 
same Time; but as the Motions of the Heart 
and Lungs are involuntary, they produce their 
more immediate Effects upon them; so that 
both sudden Joy and Grief occasion short 
and quick Breathing, and a small and fre- 
quent Pulse. 
A sudden painful Idea renders a quicker 
Circulation of the Blood, whereby a greater 
Quantity of it is thrown upwards, through 
the larger Branches of the great Artery, from 
the Heart, and makes it appear in the super- 
ficial Vessels of the Face, Neck, and Breast, 
which prodcues what we call a Blush. Thus 
we see that the Reasons why we sigh upon 
some Occasions, and blush at other Times, 
depend upon the different Structure of the 
Heart and Lungs, being the Organs of Pul- 
sation and Respiration; for a quick surprizing
Pain of the Mind acts immediately upon the 
Heart, because its Motion is altogether invo- 
X2 luntary;

324 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
luntary; so that any sudden Contraction takes 
Place there directly, to accelerate the Pulse. 
On the other Hand, we have some Power o- 
ver the Breathing; for we can retain it for a 
little while; because, when we think in- 
tensely, our Attention is partly the Cause of 
retaining our Breath, from whence proceeds 
Sighing rather than Blushing. 
The Effects of the Suddenness of these 
Passions being thus accounted for; yet when 
they become extreme, they drive about the 
Blood with such Violence, that Nature is o- 
verwhelm'd, like a Mill by a very great 
Flood; insomuch that what drove it only 
brisker round before, intirely stops it now, and
renders the Complexion pale and ghastly. 
Thus sudden and great Fear or Grief so 
much convulse the whole System of the 
Nerves, that they alter the very Position of 
the Parts sometimes, and fix them in another 
Place; so that in a great Fright the Hair 
stands upright, and the whole nervous System 
becomes so stiff and rigid, that they lose their 
Elasticity; by which Means the animal 
Functions cease from all Motion, and then 
Fainting, and oftentimes Death succeeds. 
Chronical Passions are called all those slow 
Passion of a long standing, which, like chro- 
nical Diseases, waste, wear out, and con- 
sume the nervous System; for those Nerves 
which are necessary for administering Ideas to
the Imagination, being constantly employ'd, 
are impair'd, broken, and worn out; and the 
rest,


Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 325
rest, for want of being used, become stiff 
and unactive, dull and destitute of a sufficient 
Quantity of warm Blood and due Nourish- 
ment, as I have observed already; so that the 
whole Fabrick languishes, and runs into a 
total Decay at last. 
But as the Passions, when slow and long 
continued, relax, unbend, and dissolve the 
nervous Fibres too much, so the violent and 
sudden ones contract, stretch, and bend them
in too great a Degree, by which means the 
Fluids are hurried about with violent Rapi- 
dity; so that all the Secretions are either 
stopp'd by the Contractions, Cramps or Con- 
vulsions produced by those Passions, or are 
precipitated crude and indigested into the Ha- 
bit of the Body, and so beget, or at least
dispose it to, Inflammations, Fevers, and Mor- 
tifications: For Example, a sudden and high 
Degree of Anger, Hatred, and Malice, are 
but Degrees of Frenzy, and that is one kind 
of a raging Fever. Hence it is evident, that 
the violent and sudden Passions, which I call 
acute, are more dangerous to Health than 
the slow and continued chronical ones, as a- 
cute Diseases are more pernicious than chro- 
nical. 
From what has been said, it is manifest 
that the Passions have very great Influence on
Health, being of such Force as not only to 
hurry us into Numbers of Diseases, but like- 
wise to bring upon us oftentimes sudden and 
unprovided Death, But if we would prevent 
X3 the

326 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the ill Effects, and totally extirpate all the Evils 
arising from our Passions, we must necessari- 
ly lead a sober and virtuous Life; make use 
of our Reason, which, assisted with the Di- 
vine Spirit, is able to keep down the Surges 
of all our Passions, and is given us, by the in- 
finitely wise Creator, to be a Check and Bridle 
to prevent and restrain all their Extravagance: 
So that notwithstanding the great Force of 
our Passions, yet are we not left without a 
sufficient Power of Resistance; but to yield 
to them for want of exerting that Reason, by 
which we might restrain them, would be 
base Cowardice, unworthy a rational Being, 
and the blackest Ingratitude to the glorious
Author of all Happiness. Towards him all 
our Thoughts should be bent; in him all our 
Hopes should center: Nor should our Affec- 
tions cease flowing to him incessantly, not 
only as he rewards and recompences Virtue, 
but as it is a Remedy against all those various 
Diseases that are ingender'd by Excess in the 
Passions; For as the Love of God is a sove- 
reign Antidote against all other Miseries, so, 
in particular, it prevents effectually all the
bodily Disorders the Passions produce, by 
keeping them within due Bounds; and, by that 
unspeakable Joy and perfect calm Serenity 
and Tranquillity it gives the Mind, becomes 
the most powerful of all the Means of Health 
and long Life. Therefore, if thou wouldst 
enjoy good Health, love thy Creator, keep 
thyself virtuous, and regulate thy Passions. 
I shall

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 327
I shall conclude this Chapter with an ex- 
cellent Passage upon this subject, from Dr. 
Cheyney's Essay on Health and Long Life, 
which, in his own Words, is as follows. 
' If Men would but observe the Golden 
' Mean in all their Passions, Appetites, and
' Desires; if in all their Thoughts, Words, 
' and Actions, they would but mind, I will 
' not say the End of their Being and Exi- 
' stence here, but the End to which their 
' Thoughts, Words and Actions tended in 
' their last Resort; and lastly, if in the Gra- 
' tifications of their Appetites, Passions, and 
' Desires, they followed the uncorrupted 
' Dictates of Nature, and neither spurred her 
' on beyond her Craving, nor too violently 
' restrain'd her in her innocent Biass; they 
' would enjoy a greater Measure of Health 
' than they do, have their Sensations more 
' delicate, and their Pleasures more exqui- 
' site, live with less Pain, and die with less
' Horror. For had it not been for the Lewd- 
' ness, Luxury and intemperate Gratificati- 
' ons of the Passions and Appetites, which first 
' ruined and spoiled the Constitutions of the 
' Fathers, whereby they could communicate 
' only a diseased, crazy, † and untuneable 
' Carcass to their Sons; so that with the 
' World's Decay, vicious Souls and putrified
' Bodies have, in this our Age, arriv'd to 
' their highest and most exalted Degrees; I 
' say, had it not been for these Evils, there 
X4 ' never
† The Temperature of Humours in an animal Body.



328 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' never had happen'd so much Sickness, Pain 
' and Misery, so many unhappy Lives, and 
' such wretched Ends, as we now behold 
' among Men. 
' But even in this our lapsed Estate and 
' Condition, had the Dictates of Nature and
' Reason, not to say Religion, been follow- 
' ed, we might have passed our Days in In- 
' dolence (at least from chronical Distem- 
' pers) if not innocent Pleasures, arrived at 
' a good old Age, with our Senses free, and 
' our rational Faculties clear, and at last de- 
' parted in Peace, as a Lamp goes out for 
' want of Oil. And let the Gentlemen of 
' Wit and Fire, of Banter and Sneer, hug 
' themselves ever so much in their boasted 
' Tranquillity and Security, gratify their Pas- 
' sions, Appetites, and Humours to the full, 
' and despise Futurity and Whining; I dare 
' promise when the Farce is ended, and the 
' last Minutes are drawing on, they would 
' prefer a Life thus led, and an End so calm, 
' to all the Pleasures of Lewdness and Sen- 
' suality, and the Bounces of a false and ig- 
' norant Security.”
A

(329)
A 
GUIDE to HEALTH &c.
Part III.
CONTAINING 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, 
and curative Indications both Medicinal 
and Dietetical of acute and chronical 
Diseases; with the Nature and Use of 
BATHING and FRICTIONS. 
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I proceed upon Fevers, as 
mention has been so often made of 
acute and chronical Diseases, it will not be 
improper to give the English Readers a clear 
Account of their Nature and Difference in 
this Place. 
Acute Diseases then are such, as within 
some short limited Time have their Periods 
either of a perfect Crisis and subsequent Re- 
covery, or of putting an End to Life and
the





330 The INTRODUCTION. 
the Disease both together; and they are there- 
fore called quick, sharp, or acute Diseases, 
being attended with an increased Velocity of 
the Blood; the Symptoms of which are more 
violent, their Duration shorter, and their 
Periods more quick, terminating either in a 
sudden Death, or a Victory over the Distem- 
per, and they are generally limited within 
forty Days. 
But those Diseases that run out longer be- 
come chronical, whose Periods are more 
slow, their Symptoms less severe, and their 
Duration longer: and they likewise would, 
by the Course and Efforts of Nature, and 
the animal Oeconomy, have their Periods, and 
terminate at last, if fresh Fuel had not been 
frequently added to them by Intemperance 
and Debauchery; for the Viscidity of the 
Fluids, and the Laxity of the Fibres, would 
be removed in time, by proper Remedies and 
a due Regimen, and so People would recover 
in these as well as in acute Disorders. 
But as this requires long Time, much Care, 
and great Caution, Patience, and Perseve- 
rance; and so long and continual a Course of 
Self-denial, that few People are willing to 
undergo it; so that it is become the Reproach 
of both Physick and Physicians, that acute 
Cases are cured by themselves, or rather that 
Nature cures them, and that chronical Dis- 
orders are never cured, as a great many do 
falsly









The INTRODUCTION. 331
falsly assert: for in acute Cases, Art and Care 
judiciously and timely applied, will always 
asswage the Symptoms and Suffering, and like- 
wise forward Nature to the Relief she points
out, and hasten the Crisis, which it will con- 
stantly bring about if the Disease is not too 
great for the Constitution; and even then it 
will allay the Pain, and lay the Patient gently
down. 
And as for the last Case, if due Care be 
had to follow seasonably the Advice of an 
honest and experienced Physician, certainly 
a Period may be brought about in most chro- 
nical Diseases, provided the great Viscera or 
Bowels are not spoiled and destroyed. And 
the Fault is commonly in the Patient him- 
self, who will not, or cannot deny himself 
for a sufficient time to bring about the Cure. 
There are some chronical Diseases indeed, 
such as either by having been gone too far, 
or by being hereditary, and interwoven with 
the Principles of Life, are never to be radi- 
cally cur'd or got over: and these last must 
rest contented with that Measure of Health 
their original Frame will admit of. Yet I 
am morally certain, that if the Rules and 
Directions set down in this Treatise, be care- 
fully and constantly observ'd and steadily pur- 
sued, very few chronical Distempers but will 
receive such Relief and Ease by them, as to 
render the remainder of Life tolerably easy, 
and free from grievous Sufferings; and that 
is

332 The INTRODUCTION. 
is all that is left for Art to do in the above- 
mention'd Case. But in other chronical Dis- 
eases, where the Bowels are not quite vici- 
ated, and taken in due time, by observing and
steadily following the same Rules, would in- 
fallibly bring about a perfect Cure. 
In acute Diseases, a quick Pulse is a cer- 
tain and distinguishing Sign; but in chroni- 
cal Cases it is slow: and the first consumes 
the Fluids, and wears out the Solids in a 
short Time; but the last will require a lon- 
ger Time to produce the same Effects. Some 
acute Diseases terminate sometimes in chro- 
nical ones; and some chronical Distempers 
towards the last fatal Period of Life turn 
acute. 
CHAP.



(333)
CHAP. I. 
Of FEVERS, both in general and particular. 
A Fever is an inordinate Motion, 
and too great an Effervescence 
of the Blood, attended with Cold first, and
afterwards with Heat, Thirst, and other 
Symptoms, whereby the animal Oeconomy is 
variously disturb'd; or according to our En- 
glish Hippocrates, Dr. SYDENHAM, 
' A Fever is nothing else but the 
' Effort of Nature to free herself of some 
' morbifick Matter, which she finds injuri- 
' ous, in order to establish a better Health.”
A Fever 
what
Sydenham's
Definition.
The learned Boerhaave says, that 
a Fever is the most frequent Di-
stemper that happens, an inseparable Com- 
panion of Inflammations of all kinds, and 
is ever attended with a manifold variety of
Symptoms. 
Boerhaave's
Sentiments.
In every Fever from an internal 
Cause, the three chief observable 
Symptoms are, first, an universal Trembling, 
then a quick Pulse, and an increased Heat, 
various as to Time and Degrees. When the 
Symptoms are very urgent, and very hastily 
make their Progress, the Fever is called acute;
but when more mild and gentle, it is deno- 
The Symptoms.
minated


334 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
minated a slow Fever. And a Fever almost
always begins with a sort of cold Shivering, 
soon after the Pulse growing quicker, affords
the primary Diagnostick * of a Fever; so 
that an increased Velocity of the Contraction 
of the Heart, together with a greater Re- 
sistance at the capillary Vessels, make up the
Idea of an acute Distemper, which may be 
produced by an infinite number of Causes. 
The Health of the Patient seems to be the 
primary Aim of Nature in Fevers; notwith- 
standing, Fevers often end in Death, and 
sometimes they degenerate into some other 
Diseases. 
The general 
Cure. 
The general Cure of Fevers is 
summarily comprehended in con- 
sulting the Strength of Nature, in correcting
and discharging Acrimony from the Blood, in 
dissolving gross Humours, and expelling them, 
and in mitigating the Symptoms: and if we 
perceive the Symptoms to run high, and 
Nature to grow exorbitant, we moderate it 
by enjoining Abstinence, a slender and cool- 
ing Diet, drinking tepid Water a little aci- 
dulated, Bleeding, cooling Clysters, &c. But 
if Nature seems to be too sluggish, she is to 
be excited by Cordials, Aromaticks, and Vo- 
latiles, &c. 
Of the Symptoms.
The Cause of the Fever be- 
ing taken away, the Symptoms 
will cease, in as much as they primarily de- 
pend
* Is that Judgment of a Disease that is taken from the pre- 
sent Symptoms, and Condition of the Patient. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 335
pend upon it; so that if they can be born 
without Danger of Life, they scarce require 
any particular Cure, nor many times are they 
to be interrupted without great Caution; but 
if they be unseasonable, and too violent, 
they are to be mitigated with proper Reme- 
dies, due Regard being had to the Cause and 
State of the Distemper. 
In the beginning of Fevers, 
if the Stomach has a natural 
Inclination to cast, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to give a Vomit; for else in
the Progress of the Fever, a Looseness will 
be apt to break forth, which may be of dan- 
gerous Consequence: and the proper time to 
give an Emetick is indeed in the Beginning; 
however, if it should happen to have been 
omitted, it may be given at any time of 
the Distemper, provided there be sufficient 
Strength to bear the Operation, and after it
some Anodyne, or quieting Medicine. After- 
wards, if Bleeding be not indicated, and 
there be no Looseness, a Clyster may be ad- 
minister'd every other Day, until the tenth or 
twelvth, at which time Nature inclining 
towards a Crisis, in my Opinion, some warm- 
ing Medicines may be given to hasten the 
Concoction. If the feverish Ebullition pro- 
ceeds regularly, and in due order, there seems
to be no need of giving any Medicines at all; 
for as much as the Depuration of the Blood 
is wholly and solely the Work of Nature. 
The Benefit of ex- 
hibiting a Vomit. 
Commonly


336 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Purge may be 
given towards 
the End with 
Advantage. 
Commonly about the 15th 
Day, if there be a laudable Se- 
paration in the Urine, and a Re- 
mission of the Symptoms, a 
gentle Purge ought to be given, left the no-
xious Humours secreted from the Blood be- 
ing absorbed again into it, should cause a Re- 
lapse; notwithstanding it is sometimes requi- 
site to defer the purging until the 17th Day. 
From repeated Trials, I affirm, that no- 
thing does so certainly and powerfully cool 
the Body as Purging after Bleeding; and 
any one may find it in Experience true, that
it abates and allays a Fever beyond any Re- 
medies whatever, both as it cleanses the In- 
testines, and prepares the Way for an Ano- 
dyne. Sydenham in his Schedula Monitor 
ria. 
The Cause of 
Fevers. 
The Cause of a Fever, accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, De Medic. 
Vet. ' is not Heat alone, but Heat
' and Bitterness together, Heat and Acidity, 
' Heat and Saltness, and an innumerable other 
' Combinations in the Blood.' It is however 
known by Experience, that Persons from 
found and perfect Health, where there has 
been neither Plethora, nor any ill Habit of 
Body to cause it, have fallen into a Fever; 
because some very extraordinary Change in 
the Air, or an Abuse in some of the rest of 
the Non-natural have happen'd; therefore 
found Bodies on such Occasions may, and 
are seized with a Fever, in order that their 
Blood



Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 337
Blood may acquire a new State and Condi- 
tion to accommodate itself thereby to the Al- 
teration of the Air, and the Way of Living, 
&c. 
By how much the more acute a 
Fever is, by so much the more 
sparing and slender the Diet ought 
to be; for in Fevers, tho' they lie many Days 
without eating any thing, it is so much the 
better, for no one ever starv'd to Death in a 
Fever; but rather upon eating and drinking 
the Fever would be exasperated; because in 
taking of Food, the Appetite prescribes the 
Rule, the Quantity, the Quality, and the 
Time. 
A Rule of 
Diet. 
The most natural and general 
Division of Fevers is into Essential 
and Symptomatick. 
Division of 
Fevers. 
An essential Fever is such, whose primary 
Cause lies in the Blood itself, which derives 
its Original from no other Distemper of the 
solid Parts of the Body, or is any way de- 
pending on them, and this is properly called 
a Fever. 
A symptomatick Fever is a secondary Fe- 
ver, which does not properly subsist of it- 
self, but owes its Original to the Disorder of 
some particular solid Part, and most com- 
monly depends on some remarkable Inflam- 
mation, from whence the Variety of inflam- 
matory Fevers so called. 
An essential Fever is divided into a Diary 
or Ephemεra, a continual, continent or re- 
mitting, and an intermittent Fever.
Y A





338 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Diary or Ephemera, so called by the 
Greeks, is the least compound of Continual 
Fevers, which doth begin, increase, arrive at 
its Height, and decline within the Space of 
24 Hours: It is occasion'd by the scorching 
Heat of the Sun, too much Exercise, or 
by some other Error committed in the Non- 
naturals. The Cure is easily perform'd by 
Abstinence, Rest, and Diluting. But if the 
said Fever lasts several Days, it is called a 
continual, not putrid Fever: Its Causes, 
Signs, and Cure, are the same, and chiefly 
require large Bleeding, and a cooling Diet 
and Medicines. 
A continual putrid Fever, call'd 
by the Greeks, Synochos, is that 
Sort of Fever which is continual, 
without any distinct Paroxysms or Remis- 
sions, but for many Days continues much 
the same, until it has run its full Length, 
and then its Period is determin'd; and it is 
distinguished from the preceding, by its being 
* putrid: of this Kind are malignant Fevers, 
pestilential Fevers, and even the Plague it- 
self. 
A putrid Fe- 
ver what. 
It proceeds from the following 
Causes, as flight Inflammations, an 
Obstruction of the Bowels, a Constriction of 
The Causes.
the
* A Fever is said to be putrid, where the Humours or 
Part of them have so little circulatory Motion, that they fail 
into an intestine one and putrify, as is commonly the Case 
after great Evacuations, or great and excessive Heat, where 
there is such a Scarcity of Spirits, that the Solids cannot suf- 
ficiently vibrate. 




Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 339
the Pores of the Skin, a Stoppage of almost 
all the capillary Vessels, and a very sharp Acri- 
mony in the Fluids. 
It is known by an intense Heat 
even to the Touch of the Finger or 
Hand, by a Pulse not only feverish. 
but at the same time unequal and inordinate; 
a thick, red, turbid Urine, and crude with- 
out any Sediment; from a hot and sanguine 
Constitution, Age and Complexion.
Diagnostick
Signs. 
This Distemper is more dangerous 
and mortal, as the Pulse is weaker, 
quicker, more unequal in Strength, 
more irregular as to Time, and more inter- 
mitting in its Stokes; as Breathing is more 
difficult, frequent, short, with a great Mo- 
tion of the Nostrils, the more painful about 
the Vitals, and the more inordinate in its 
Time; as Weariness and Weakness are 
greater, the Tossing of the Body more fre- 
quent; as the Urine is higher colour'd, thick- 
er, muddier, with the least Sediment; or as 
the same is thinner, more watry, more spar- 
ing, and difficultly retained; as the Patient 
trembles and shakes more, chiefly in his Hands 
and Lips, shy of being felt, plays with his 
Fingers and Hands, and as it were catches at 
Flies, or some Things he fancies to see upon 
the Bed-clothes, and about him; and as his 
Eyes appear more sorrowful and moist with 
involuntary Tears. Moreover, when the Pa- 
tient labours much in his Sleep, and wakes 
worse after it; when either livid or purple 
Prognostick 
Signs.
Y2 Spots











340 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Spots appear upon the Body, the Sides of the
Belly stiff and blown up, then Death is at 
hand. 
Continual putrid Fevers commonly require 
Bleeding in the Beginning, according to the 
Strength and Constitution of the Patient; but 
Malignant and Intermitting Fevers seldom 
admit of it: And in the Progress of all Fevers, 
when they draw near the Height, Bleeding 
is prejudicial, according to the unanimous 
Opinion of the Antients: For Cœlius Aure- 
lianus, Celsus, and the rest, allowed Bleed- 
ing only in the first three Days of a Fever, 
and not after; but there is no general Rule 
without an Exception. 
As for the Cure of the Symptoms, or ra- 
ther the Mitigation of them, which are more 
than ordinary pressing, they shall be account- 
ed for in another Place, where I shall treat 
of the Symptoms of Fevers in general: But 
here I must observe, that, in a putrid Fever 
the Patient ought to dilute plentifully with 
subacid Liquors, and take such Medicines as 
resist Putrefaction, such as the Juice of Le- 
mons and Salt of Wormwood made up into 
Draughts, or Mixtures, &c. 
A continent 
or remit- 
ting Fever. 
A continent or remitting Fever, 
called by the Greeks, Synechos, is in 
fact a continual Fever in regard to its 
Duration, tho' not in Degree: For it continues
many Days together without Intermission; but 
then it has its periodical Returns of Exaspe- 
ration and Remission, either every Day, or
every


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 341
every other Day, but no thorough Intermis- 
sion; nor has it any cold Shiverings, after the
manner of Agues or Intermittents. About the 
End of every Paroxysm, when the Violence 
of the Fever begins to remit, Sweats general- 
ly ensue, and the Urine, which during the 
Height of the Fit was intensely high-colour'd, 
in these Intervals of Remission usually depo- 
sits a laudable Sediment, which is the true 
Characteristick of a continent or simple re- 
mitting Fever. 
There is likewise a spurious 
Kind of remitting Fever, which 
is attended with outrageous Symptoms of the 
nervous Kind, imitating Rheumatisms, Pleu- 
nisies, Colicks, and other inflammatory or spas- 
modick Distempers: It also often affects the 
glandulous Parts, producing from thence ma- 
nifold Excretions, causing Vomitings, Cholera 
Morbus, Diarrhœa, Bloody-flux, &c. which 
greatly obscure the fundamental Signs of this 
Fever, rendering the Paroxysms or Fits un- 
certain as to their Access and Duration: For 
by how much more the Evacuations and 
Pains, now mention'd, are augmented, by so 
much the febrile Heat is diminish'd and the 
Pulse weaken'd, and vice versa. 
Of the Spurious 
A simple remitting Fever, as such, 
and as long as it remains such, is very 
seldom, if ever, mortal; for before it be- 
comes fatal it changes its Type and Kind, and 
degenerates into a continual malignant Fever. 
But the spurious Kind, tho' it is not in its 
Prognostick.
Y3 own



342 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
own Nature mortal, yet on the Account of 
the violent Symptoms accompanying it, it 
pretty frequently proves so. The more regu- 
lar the Fits are in point of Time, and the 
longer the Remissions are, the less dangerous 
they are, and vice versa. 
The Evacuations which Nature makes in 
these Fevers seldom procure any Benefit, they
being for the most part symptomatical. But 
the critical and salutary Evacuations are ei- 
ther by Sweats or Spitting; the first is the 
quickest, tho' the latter is equally certain, 
yet slow and troublesome. During the In- 
crease of the Distemper, it is a bad Sign if 
the Urine gradually changes thin and pale, 
and the Pulse becomes quicker, weak, and 
staggering, &c. On the contrary, a strong and 
constant Pulse, Urine much tinctured with 
Redness, and full of Settlement, particularly 
when there is a laudable Sediment, and the 
Distemper is come to the State or Height, 
they are good Signs. 
The Cure. 
A simple remitting Fever gives 
way to the Bark, as certainly as an 
intermitting one: For the feverish Ferment 
in both is almost the same. The Efficacy of 
the same Medicine in curing a spurious remit- 
ting Fεver, is almost as certain as in a simple 
one, provided it be rightly administer'd, Re- 
gard being had to the more violent Symp- 
toms; but it has not so quick an Effect, be- 
cause the Distemper is greater and stronger, 
and therefore requires a greater Quantity of 
the

Ch. I. 343 thro' the various Stages of Life.  343
the Medicine: So that the radical Care of 
these Fevers consists in the regular giving and 
Repetition of the Peruvian Bark, with due 
Regard to a proper Diet in all such Diseases. 
It will be necessary, in order to establish a 
rational Method of Cure of con- 
tinual Fevers; to have Regard to 
the Division of them into burning
and slow Fevers, because the Method of 
treating each of these is vastly different. 
A Division in- 
to burning and 
slow Fevers. 
Of a Burning Fever. 
In a Burning Fever the Person is 
affected with a most ardent Heat, a 
Dryness of the whole Skin, of the 
Nostrils, Ears, Mouth, and Tongue: Respi- 
ration is thick, difficult, and quick; the 
Tongue dry, yellow, black, rough, and burnt
up; Thirst unquenchable, sometimes going 
off suddenly without any other good Sign; an 
Aversion from all Sorts of Aliment; a Nau- 
seating, Vomiting, Anguish, Uneasiness, a 
great Weariness, a little Cough, a hollow 
Voice, a Delirium, Phrensy, obstinate Wake- 
fulness, Dozing, Convulsions; and on the odd 
Days a renewing and increase of the Fever.
The chief 
Symptoms.  
A Burning Fever very often kills 
on the third or fourth Day; it seldom 
gets over the seventh, if it be a perfect 
Causus: It often goes off with an Hœmor- 
rhage, which if but small and sparing on the 
third or fourth Day, the Fever commonly 
proves mortal: This may be foretold from 
Progno- 
sticks. 
Y4 the

344 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
the Patient's complaining of a Pain in the 
Neck, Heaviness of the Temples, Dimness 
of the Sight, a Working and Labouring of 
the Heart and Lungs without any Sense of 
Pain, involuntary Tears, without any other fa- 
tal Signs, Redness of the Face, and Itching of 
the Nostrils; but if it happens on a critical 
Day, it is most advantageous. A Solution of
this Fever also on a critical Day, may be 
expected by Vomiting, Looseness, Sweating, 
much Urine, spitting thick Phlegm; but 
growing worse on the second or fourth Day 
is a very bad Sign, on the sixth not so bad: 
Black Urine, thin and small in Quantity, is 
mortal; spitting of Blood and bloody Urine, 
are mortal; a Difficulty of swallowing is a 
bad Sign; nothing worse than Coldness of the
extreme Parts; the Face red and sweaty, is 
bad; a Swelling behind the Ears and not 
ripening, is mortal; the Belly too loose, fatal; 
a Trembling turning to a Delirium, ends in 
Death. This Fever often changes to an In- 
flammation of the Lungs, with a Delirium 
attending it. 
The Regimen in such a Fever is, 
keeping the Air of the Room pure and 
cool, untainted with Fire, or Smoke, or the 
Breaths of many People; and they ought to 
have no more Bed-cloaths than barely defends 
them from Cold; their Curtains ought to be 
kept open, so as to renew the Air; and their 
Posture in lying as erect as they can well 
bear. 
Regimen.
Their

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 345
Their Drink should be cool, mild, sub- 
acid, tepid, given in moderate Quantities, 
and often, as Water with Juice of Lemon or 
Tamarinds. Their Aliment out to be light, 
of mealy Vegetables, as Water-gruel, Prepa- 
rations of Barley, with some Juice of Lemon; 
Rice boil'd in Whey and strain'd; roasted 
Apples in the Progress of the Disease; a little 
toasted Bread sometimes, with Rhenish Wine 
and Water; Jelly of Currants; Broaths and 
Jellies made of Animal Substances, and quali- 
fied with Juice of Lemon or some other Acid, 
may be sometimes allowed. 
Bleeding is requisite in the Be- 
ginning of the Distemper, if there be
the Signs of a Plethora, or of a particular In- 
flammation, or that the Heat is intolerable, 
the Sweat too great, a Revulsion be necessary, 
the Symptoms very urgent, and hardly to be 
master'd by any other Means; in these Cases 
Bleeding is of an absolute Necessity. Some- 
times also gentle and cooling Clysters are to be
given, as often as the Heat of the Distemper 
or Costiveness shall require them. Diluents 
will likewise be proper, and Nitrous Me- 
dicines, and such as very gently loosen the
Belly. 
The Cure.
Here it will not be improper to take parti- 
cular Notice of what Walschmidius says, viz. 
A malignant Fever often in the Beginning ap- 
pears in the Shape of a Causus or burning Fever;
so that a Physician ought to be cautious lest he 
should fall into a Mistake about it; therefore 
let

346 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
let him be diligent to inform himself, whether 
the Patient complains of an Anxiety or Uneasi- 
ness at his Heart, a sudden Loss of Strength, 
and other grievous Symptoms: Let him also 
examine the Urine, &c. for the Cure of these
Fevers is very different. 
A Calenture is a Fever peculiar to Mariners, 
of a high inflammatory Nature. Those that 
are seiz'd with this Distemper are affected
with a peculiar Sort of Delirium; for they 
frequently say they will walk into the green
Fields, which they always seem to have in 
View, thinking they are just going into them, 
and, unless they are kept by Force, they jump 
into the Sea; and that is an inseparable Sign 
of this Distemper. Young lusty Men, of a 
sanguine Complexion, are most subject to it. 
The Cure chiefly consists in plentiful bleed- 
ing and diluting.
Of Slow Fevers.  
Slow Fevers, tho' they are not so acute as 
the Burning or Putrid Fevers, yet they are 
however continual, as they constantly afflict
the Patient labouring under them; but they 
pass through their several Stages more slowly, 
for which reason they are of a longer Conti- 
nuance, and the Symptoms not so violent. 
Catarrhal 
Fevers. 
In the Class of Slow Fevers we 
may justly reckon Catarrhal Fe- 
vers, which in the Beginning and 
Increase are attended with a Catarrh, a Run- 
ing at the Nose, a Cough, Hoarseness, &c.
These

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 347 
These Fevers are for the most part gentle and 
slow in the Day-time, and commonly some- 
what worse in the Evening: They are also 
attended with great Weariness of the Limbs, 
and the Symptoms continue, with an Increase 
of the Running at the Nose and Cough, till 
the Distemper rises to its highest Pitch, when
the Matter of the Catarrh is ripen'd, and the 
Mucus becoming thicker, is discharged, and 
the Fever goes off. The Seat of this Disease 
is in the Conglobate Glands †, more particu- 
larly occasioned by some Obstructions in the 
Pituitous Glands. 
A Decoction of Sassafras, with Li- 
quorish-root and Raisins, is very pro- 
per in Catarrhal Fevers, on account of the 
Acrimony of the Humours; likewise the 
Juice of Turnips, with a little Sugar; Vola- 
tiles and gentle Sudorificks; a Solution of 
Gum Arabick, and whatever besides is pro- 
per in Coughs and Hoarsenesses, will be like- 
wise useful in this Case. 
The Cure.
Besides the fore-mentioned, there 
are likewise Lymphatick or Pitui- 
tous Fevers, occasioned by the Fault of the
Lymphatick 
Fever.  
Pituita
† A Conglobate Gland is a little smoofh Body or Kernel, 
wrapp'd up in a fine Skin, by which it is separated from all 
the other Parts, only admitting an Artery and Nerve to pass 
in, and giving Way to a Vein and excretory Canal to come 
out. Of this Sort are the Glands in the Brain, as the Pi- 
tuitous Gland, the Pinealis Gland, the Glands of the Mesen- 
tery, Groin, Testes, and Labia: All the rest of the Glands in 
the Body are called conglomerated Glands, being composed of 
many conglobate Glands, tied together and wrapp'd up in one 
common Membrane. 


348 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pituita of the Conglomerate Glands, which 
discharge their Juice into some certain Cavity, 
of which the Parotid Glands and the Pan-
creas are remarkable, discharging the Liquors 
separated into the Mouth and Intestines, and 
consequently into the Mass of Blood; which 
Humours, when vitiated, become viscid, salt, 
and sharp, produce these Fevers, which are 
likewise sometimes not improperly call'd Scor- 
butick Fevers. Continual Acute Fevers, and 
sometimes Intermittents, degenerate into these 
Slow Fevers, and sometimes into Hecticks; 
and the Original of these Fevers is most com- 
monly in the Stomach, proceeding from In- 
digestion and Crudities. 
The Cure 
Therefore a gentle Vomit, as well 
in the Beginning as in the Increase 
of these Slow Fevers, ought to pave the Way 
for the Cure; and afterwards the Viscidity and
Acrimony to be corrected; and the Symptoms 
are to be mitigated, and the Stomach to be 
strengthen'd, &c. for which Purpose vitro- 
lated Tartar, Testaceous Powder, Diaphore- 
ticks, and Volatile Salts, &c. are proper. 
Of Intermitting Fevers. 
An Intermitting Fever is a præ- 
ternatural Heat, kindled in the 
Blood by an unusual Expansion of the Spirits, 
returning at certain Periods. In this kind of 
Fever a Chilness, Shivering, Heat, and Sweats 
successively follow one another. The Fit is 
attended with an universal Sickness, Nause- 
The Definition.
ousness,

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 349
ousness, and Vomiting; Pain of the Head, 
Loins, &c. The Paroxysm or Fit is very 
acute, but the Distemper in itself generally 
more or less chronical. 
A simple Intermitting Fever is easily known, 
for it discovers itself of its own Accord; and
how great a Variety soever there may be of 
them, let them be either Quotidians, Tertians, 
Quartans, &c. the morbifick Ferment of all 
is the same, which certainly yields to the 
Force of the Peruvian Bark, if duly and
skillfully administer'd. 
The common Species of Intermitting Fe- 
vers are simple Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; double Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; half Tertians, half Quartans, &c. There 
are likewise Intermitting Fevers which return 
every fifth, sixth, or seventh Day. 
Intermitting Fevers in this Country are 
sometimes very obstinate, often returning in 
spite of all Remedies; and by long Continu- 
ance they degenerate into Hepatical Fevers, 
and many chronical Distempers, as Jaundice, 
Dropsy, Schirrus's, and Scurvies; therefore 
in this Disease a right Method, both of Me- 
dicines and Diet, is very necessary. 
We should begin the Cure with a Vomit, 
or Purge, according to the Strength, Age, 
and Condition of the Patient, and afterwards 
administer the Bark often between the Fits, 
in good large Doses; but if the Patient's 
Strength and present Case will not allow of a 
Vomit or Purge, then the Bark should be 
given,

350 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
given, without any previous Preparation at all; 
and there is a different Regimen to be used 
during the Continuance and Absence of the 
Paroxysm, and in the Paroxysm itself, during 
the Rigor or cold Fit, the Heat and the 
Sweat. 
During the Rigor nothing is more proper 
than a Draught of warm Water, with a little 
Rhenish Wine, or Juice of Lemon and Su- 
gar, which dilutes and relaxes at the same 
Time, and will make the Symptoms wholly 
abate, and terminate the cold Fit sooner, and
throw the Patient into a Sweat, than the 
warmest Cordial. In this Case likewise strong 
Frictions of the Extremities relieve very much; 
Proper Care must be taken to shorten the Pe- 
riod as much as possible, and by warm Dilu- 
ents a little acidulated, to bring on the Sweat 
soon, but not to push it beyond its due Mea- 
sure; because an Intermitting Fever of itself 
relaxes and weakens the Body extremely. 
Between the Fits too great Abstinence is 
hurtful, as much as too great Repletion. As 
Intermitting Fevers are often of long Conti- 
nunace, extreme Abstinence is impracticable, 
and would reduce the Patient to a Condition 
not to be able to sustain the Shock of the 
next Attack. 
Between the Fits, such Substances as tem- 
per, correct and subdue the bilious Alkali, as 
acid Substances, nitrous Salts, small thin Wines, 
Chicken-Broth with Juice of Lemon, Wine 
with Bitters infus'd, are proper. 
Ex-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 351
Exercise, to as great a Degree as the Pa- 
tient can bear, is extremely beneficial between
the Fits. Bleeding in Intermitting Fevers 
seldom does any Good, but oftentimes a great 
deal of Harm; yet the Patient's Condition is 
to be considered in this Case. 
But there are spurious Intermitting Fevers, 
as was observ'd of Remittents: Their Symp- 
toms are sometimes very urgent and violent, 
and their fundamental Signs are disguised un- 
der the Appearance of some other Distem- 
per, as Vomiting, Diarrhœa, and some great 
Pain, &c. The true and genuine Sign of 
the real primary Distemper being chiefly 
known by the Exasperation and Remission of 
those violent Symptoms, and by the Urine of 
a Brick-dust Colour; but these spurious or 
illegitimate Intermittents creating a great 
Variety of direful Symptoms, such as enor- 
mous Vomitings, Griping, Looseness, Cholera 
Morbus, Colicks, Pains in the Side like pleu- 
ritick Pains, Apoplexies, Pains on one Side of 
the Head, Spasms or Cramps, nephritick 
Pains, &c. 
Notwithstanding the great Va- 
riety there may be of these Disor- 
ders, in their manifold Shapes and Forms, 
yet they all depend upon one and the same 
Ferment, and are certainly cured with that 
one fovereign Antidote the Peruvian Bark, 
if prudently administer'd, as well as any other 
Intermitting Fever. 
The Cure.
No

352 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Prognostick.
No one has been known to die 
of an Intermitting Fever, except it 
be in the cold Fit, that Excess of Coldness 
arising from a Viscidity in the Blood, and an
absolute Oppression of the Spirits. 
The proximate 
Cause of In- 
termitting 
Fevers. 
After an accurate Examination 
into the whole History of Inter- 
termitting Fevers, the proximate 
Cause is assign'd to be the Visco- 
sity of the arterial Liquid, there happening at
the same Time some Cause or other for a 
quicker and stronger Contraction of the Heart, 
and a Dissolution of the stagnating Viscidi- 
ties. Boerhaave. 
Having thus far treated of Benign Fevers, I 
shall now proceed to give the Reader a suc- 
cinct and clear Account 
Of Malignant Fevers. 
Diagnostick.
The first Sign of a Malignant 
Fever, is a remarkable Loss of 
Strength on a sudden, without any mani- 
fest Cause, with a weak Pulse: The external 
Heat is not so violent as in some other Fevers; 
the internal Heat is rather greater. It is attend- 
ed from the very Beginning with obstinate 
Watchings, and anxious Uneasiness: The 
Sick complains and shews the Region of the 
Stomach, or the Heart; the Urine is not 
unlike that of a Person in Health; the Coun- 
tenance looks hideous sometimes, and much 
changed from the natural State, sometimes of
a livid Colour. 
The Reason why the feverish Heat and 
Ebulli-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 353
Ebullition in these Fevers, is not do great as 
in other Fevers, is entirely owing to the Ma- 
lignity which has seiz'd the Blood; and is 
rather a Sign of some great Disorder of the 
Spirits, which are greatly affected, and as it 
were sphacelated or deaden'd, than of any 
Disturbance in the Humours; or it may be 
sometimes the said Disorders may be propa- 
gated into the Humours, especially the Blood, 
from the malignant Taints; from which 
arises great Confusion, and an inordinate in- 
testine Motion, which indeed produce an in- 
ternal Heat, but is not carried so sensibly to
the external Parts. By this means Nature 
being, as it were, oppress'd, is not able to 
exert those Symptoms more regularly, which 
are agreeable to, and might attend the Dis- 
ease. 
There is a great Variety of Malignant Fe- 
vers, on account of the Diversity of their 
Symptoms: In some there are very remark- 
able cutaneous Efflorescencies; in some more
abundantly, in others less; and in some no 
such Appearances at all; others, in fine, are 
attended with other kind of Symptoms. 
Some assert, from microscopical Observa- 
tions, that in all malignant Fevers and gan- 
grenous Ulcers, there is so great a Putrefac- 
tion of the Blood, that it gives Occasion for 
the Generation of a Multitude of little Worms, 
from whence they believe the great Variety 
of Symptoms so vexatious do arise; but these 
Worms cannot be bred without a preceding 
Z Putre-

354 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Putrefaction; and the Blood in Malignant Fe- 
vers is preternaturally fluid, insomuch that 
when it is let out of the Body it will not co- 
agulate as usually; but this is the Product of
the Distemper, and not the Cause. 
The very naming a Malignant 
Fever strikes a Terror into Mankind; 
because all Malignant Fevers are very 
dangerous, and as to the Event very uncertain; 
which made Galen assert that Malignant Fe- 
vers will not admit of a Prognostick. Deaf- 
ness in the Beginning portends the greatest 
Danger, but in the Height of the Distemper 
it is a favourable Symptom; but bleeding at
the Nose and a Looseness through the whole 
Course of the Distemper, are very bad Signs: 
And it is almost always reckon'd a very bad 
Symptom when they employ their Hands as if 
they were catching Flies, or picking up Straws 
or Bits of Threads. If on or about the eleventh
Day Buboes arise in the Groin, it betokens
well, and terminates the Fever. 
The Prog- 
nosticks.
The Cure, 
according 
to Etmuller 
and others. 
Malignant Fevers by no Means 
admit of Bleeding; for the more 
malignant they are, the more Mis- 
chief it would do, and the farther 
from the Beginning the worse. Vomits in 
the very Beginning of the Distemper are a- 
bove all Things exceedingly proper; but 
then they should be given before any cuta- 
neous Eruptions appear, otherwise the Op- 
portunity is lost; and afterwards the Cure 
is to be endeavoured by Medicines, and 
Sub-


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 355
Substances that procure Sweating, Nature 
herself teaching us so much; for frequently 
Sweating carries off the Cause and Fewel of
the Distemper. 
The greater the Malignity is, the more 
Sudorificks, or sweating Medicines, are to be
employ'd, regard being always had to the 
Nature of the Distemper, and its Diversity, 
as also the Strength of the Patient. Sudori- 
ficks are to be given at least three or four 
Times in twenty-four Hours; Analepticks 
and moderate Acids are to be used in the in- 
termediate Times, amongst which dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre is very good; also Tincture of
Saffron extracted with sweet Spirit of Nitre; 
likewise the Juice of Citrons and Quinces;
&c. Camphire is a noble Alexipharmick, but 
every Body cannot bear the Use of it, espe- 
cially some Women, and studious Men, whose 
animal Spirits are easily moved and dissipated. 
Blisters are of singular Use in the State or 
Height of the Distemper. The volatile Salts 
of Hartshorn, and of Vipers, are Sudorificks, 
and resist Malignity; and here the Mistura 
Simplex of Paracelsus takes Place, as well as 
in all pestilential Fevers, being a very noble
Remedy. Its Dose is from one Dram to 
two, to be given once in six or eight Hours, 
a proper Vehicle. 
Notwithstanding Bleeding in this Disease 
has been, and is accounted dangerous by a 
great many Practitioners, it only proves so 
when it is triflingly performed; for if a large 
Z2 Quantity


356 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Quantity of Blood be taken away in the very
Beginning, it secures the Party from Danger. 
But Bleeding had better been quite omitted, 
than not to be performed to a large Quantity, 
even almost to Fainting; and to prevent 
Fainting the Patient ought to be let Blood in 
his Bed. It is to be minded, that where 
there is a Plethora, or the Patient is of a strong
Constitution, more Blood may be taken a- 
way than in a weakly or a phlegmatick Con- 
stitution. After a sufficient Evacuation by 
Bleeding, plentiful Sweating must be pro- 
cured by proper Medicines and Drinks, such 
as Venice Treacle, Mithridate, Diascordium, 
London Treacle, Camphire. Lapis Contrayerva, 
Pulvis ad Guttetam, Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Confection, Treacle-water. Plague-water, Ca- 
stor, Saffron, Cochineal, &c. Of these and 
the like many excellent Sweats may be fram'd 
into either Bolus's, Draughts, or Mixtures, 
interlac'd with nitrous Medicines and Acids, 
according to the Exigency of the Case. When 
Spots appear, neither Bleeding, Vomiting, nor 
even Glysters are to be administered, but Su- 
dorificks and Blisters. 
If the Blood tends to a Dissolution, sweat- 
ing Medicines and spirituous Cordials are very 
improper; but Emulsions, acidulated Drinks, 
and the like, with Bezoarticks, Nitre, and 
gentle astringing Remedies, in order to re- 
duce the Humours to their natural Texture 
and Firmness. Their common Drink ought 
to

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 357
to be acidulated with Juice of Lemon, Spirit 
of Sulphur, Elixir of Vitriol, &c. 
Of Spotted Fevers. 
A Spotted Fever is a very ma- 
lignant one, in which, besides the 
Symptoms common to other ma-  
lignant Fevers, there is a very remarkable 
Weariness of the whole Body, an universal 
throbbing and pricking Pain: The Spots ap- 
pear sometimes the fourth Day, but oftener 
about the seventh, especially on the Breast 
and Shoulder-blades, then on the Belly, Legs, 
Arms, and Neck, seldom in the Face. Not 
only Spots, but likewise large Marks, black 
and blue, sometimes appear; and in the De- 
clension of the Distemper sometimes a Spitting
comes on, which carries it off. 
The Symptoms 
of a Spotted 
Fever.
The Spots in the milder Sorts of 
this Fever are florid and very red, 
like Flea-bites: Afterwards they grow pale, 
yellow, and so disappear: The more red they 
are, the better: On the contrary, those that 
are of a livid or pale red, or appear blackish, 
are the worst. If they strike in again, it 
foretells a great deal of Danger. 
Prognosticks.
These Distempers are contagi- 
ous, and sometimes epidemical or 
spreading: They are very danger- 
ous; for of those that are seiz'd with it, more 
die than recover. 
They are 
contagious. 
Spotted Fevers being a Species of 
the Malignant, the same Indications
of Cure are here required as were mentioned
The Cure. 
Z3 above

358 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
above for the Cure of malignant Fevers in 
general. If the Spots strike in too soon, 
Vesicatories are to be employ'd; upon which, 
tho' we are not to expect the Spots to appear 
again, yet in some Measure the Blistering 
answers the End of their not appearing, 
and sometimes very happily prevents the dire- 
ful Symptoms in the nervous System. No 
Evacuation of the Bowels must be attempted, 
such as Vomiting or Purging, or even by 
Glysters, as long as there is any Appearance 
of the Spots. 
CHAP II.
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms
attending Fevers. 
Rigor in 
Fevers. 
THE Coldness and Shiverings 
which happen in the Beginning 
of acute Fevers, are owing to a Diminution 
of the Contraction of the Heart, the Circu- 
lation then being less quick, and the Blood 
actually stagnating in the extreme Parts, and
pressing upon the Heart, creates great Anxie- 
ties, and may produce polypose Concretions 
about the Heart, and in other Parts of the 
Body; therefore a Rigor or Coldness encreases
an Inflammation. Those who die of Quartan, 
Fevers,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 359
Fevers, die in the cold Fit; and in truth, 
there is no Mischief but what may proceed 
from a Rigor of long Duration; for if it re- 
mains long, sudden Death sometimes ensues; 
and therefore the greater and longer such 
Coldness is, the more dangerous is the Fever. 
In such Rigor or Coldness, all warm Cor- 
dials and stimulating Substances are improper; 
for the first acting with Force upon the right 
Ventricle of the Heart, may drive the Blood 
with too much Force thro' the Lungs; and 
stimulating Substances, by contracting the 
Vessels, often increase Symptoms, which are 
best reliev'd by drinking warm Water with 
a little Rhenish-Wine, wherein a little Nitre 
is dissolved; likewise strong Frictions of the 
extreme Parts are very useful in this Case. 
See farther in the Cure of intermitting Fe-
vers. 
The Degree of feverish Heat may 
be known by the Thermoscope, the 
Sensation of the Patient, the Intense- 
ness of the red Colour of the Urine, the 
Siziness of the Blood, the Dissipation of ths
fluid Parts, which renders it thicker; the 
Hardness, Strength, and Frequency of the 
Pulse, which makes the Friction or Rubbing 
the stronger, to which the Heat is proportio- 
nal, the bad Disposition of the Humours,
the Temperament of the Body. 
Feverish
Heat.
This Heat is moderated by Bleed- 
ing, by muscular Rest, by mode- 
rate Ligatures, which compress the Veins 
The Cure.
Z4 only,

360 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
only, and often remov'd from Joint to Joint, 
by a mechanical Reason retard the Circula- 
tion; of such Sort is dry Cupping, Bathing 
the lower Parts, watery Liquors for Drink, 
not cold but warm; subacid, as Jelly of Cur- 
rants dissolv'd in tepid watery Liquors, De- 
coctions of mealy Substances acidulated, Sub- 
stances that are Anodyne, Substances which 
dissolve Concretions, such as Sugar, Honey, 
and the simple Oxymel; plentiful diluting, 
and restoring as much Water to the Blood, as 
is dissipated by the Heat; all demulcent and 
relaxing Substances, cooling the Air in the 
Room, opening the Curtains, and removing 
too heavy Bed-cloaths. All stimulating and 
styptick Substances are to be avoided; because
they increase the Force of the solid Parts. 
Lenient Glysters and Emulsions are also use- 
ful to mitigate such an excessive Heat.
Caution.  
But great Care is to be taken left 
by cooling too much, the Spirits shoul'd 
receive a sudden Damp, and by that means 
be depriv'd of their Elasticity, whereby the 
burning Fever might unwarily be changed 
into a malignant one, which has been many
a time the Case. 
In Thirst, attending Fevers, the 
Liquors should not be drank quite 
cold; for cold Liquors by constringing the 
Glands of the Palate and Throat, do not 
quench Thirst so well as Liquors moderately 
warm: In this Case acidulated small Liquors
should be plentifully drank. All Salts in-
Thirst.  
crease


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 361
crease Thirst, except Nitre, and dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre mix'd with Water, or the 
Patient's common Drink, is useful in this 
Case; so are Barley-Water and Emulsions, 
except in great Weakness and Flatulencies of
the Stomach; in such Case Water mix'd with 
a small Quantity of Rhenish-Wine is best of
all. 
In these Anxieties which at- 
tend Fevers, when the cold Fit is 
over, in such a Case a warmer Re- 
gimen may be allow'd; because Anxieties in 
Fevers often happen by Spasms, or Convul- 
sions from Wind, therefore Spices are useful. 
And in those Anxieties, saponaceous Sub- 
stances which dissolve the Blood are proper, 
as ripe Fruit, and especially Honey, Sugar, 
&c. 
Anxieties in
Fevers.
Sickness and Vomiting may be 
owing to an original Surfeit, and is 
one of the most troublesome Symp- 
toms attending Fevers; because it renders 
the Patient incapable of taking any thing. It 
is often prevented by giving a gentle Vomit, or 
cur'd by promoting the Vomiting for a while 
by warm Water, or thin Chicken-Broth; 
for which Purpose likewise Carduus Tea 
drank in large Draughts may do very well;
but if it does not of itself succeed well, half
a Dram of Salt of Vitriol, or a Spoonful of 
Oxymel of Squills, may be given with the 
Posset. 
Sickness and
Vomiting.
During


362 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
During the Symptom, acid Liquors, and 
even such as are austere and astringent, are 
to be used; because such strengthen the re- 
laxed Fibres of the Stomach; for which Pur- 
pose the following Julap is very effectual. 
Take of Salt of Wormwood 4 Scruples; 
of fresh Juice of Lemon, 2 Ounces; 
mix, and when Ebullition is over, add 
to it of Barley Cinnamon Water, 3 oz. 
of Mint-Water and Nephritick Wa- 
ter, each 1 Ounce; Spirit of Saffron, 
half an Ounce; Syrup of Quinces, 1 
Ounce; mix for a Julap, of which let 
the Patient take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls every 
3 Hours, or oftner. 
Diluting, and sometimes relaxing the Belly, 
and carrying the bilious Salts downwards, 
often cures this Symptom. And Attention 
is to be given to the Appetites of Patients in 
this and many other Cases, who sometimes 
covet odd things which have relieved them, 
as Salt, Vinegar, &c. 
Vomiting from a bilious Cause is cured by 
acidulated small Liquors; and vomiting from 
some putrid Cause, by Salts of all Sorts; and 
in such a Case, Water-Gruel with Cream of 
Tartar, Rhenish Wine with Water, Jelly of 
Currants, Marmalade of Quinces, Sorrel 
boil'd in Broths well skimmed from Fat, are 
exceeding beneficial. 
But


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 363
But if the Vomiting proceeds from a 
phlegmatick Cause, Spices and Bitters will 
relieve; for the Counterpoison must be adapt- 
ed to the Cause: As for Example, in Poison 
from sublimate Corrosive and Arsenick. In  
the first, alkaline Substances are properest; 
in the second, oily Substances are fittest, in 
both Diluents are proper. It will not be dif- 
ficult to judge of the Cause by what the Pa- 
tient throws up from the Stomach, 
Whether a Vomit may be 
safely or properly given, must be 
judg'd by the Circumstances; for 
if there be any Symptoms of an Inflamma- 
tion of the Stomach or Lungs, a Vomit is 
extremely dangerous. 
A Caution in 
giving Vomits.
A Diarrhœa or Looseness some- 
times happens in Fevers, which 
proves often a dangerous and fatal 
Symptom; and this Evacuation is not the 
genuine Motion of Nature for its Relief, but 
arises rather from the Impetuosity and Vio- 
lence of the Distemper, or the stimulating 
Acrimony of the Humours, which in reality 
is a symptomatical Diarrhœa, and ought to
be stopt; for it weakens, excoriates, and in- 
flames the Bowels, occasioning bloody Fluxes, 
thickening the circulating Juices, and ex- 
hausting the Strength of the Patient very 
much; however, a critical Diarrhœa is not 
to be stopt, for fear of incurring the same 
Dangers. 
A Looseness 
in Fevers. 
2 Attention

364 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Attention should be given to the Cause: If 
it proceeds from Acidity, it is to be cured by 
Anti-acids; but as in Fevers the Cause is 
more commonly alkaline and bilious, acid or 
four things relieve best; and it happens some- 
times, that oily Substances by blunting the 
Acrimony will do a great deal of good in 
Diarrhœas; for oily Substances of themselves 
do not irritate or provoke Loosenesses, they 
only lubricate or make the Bowels slippery. 
Vomiting, by evacuating the irritating Cause, 
often cures Diarrhœas. 
Anodyne Substances are proper, and gene- 
rally speaking, solid and dry Food rather than 
liquid. 
The white Decoction of burnt Hartshorn 
is very proper for common Drink, and absor- 
bent testaceous Powders mix'd with Diapho- 
reticks, are likewise very useful in the Case; 
and lastly, we may have Recourse to Venice 
Treacle, Diascordium, &c. But it is obser- 
vable in general, that Laxness of the Body in 
the beginning of Fevers is better than over 
Costiveness, but in the Progress of the Di- 
stemper it is worse. 
Strangury 
in Fevers. 
A Dysuria or Strangury in Fe- 
vers is very troublesome. The com- 
mon Emulsions are very proper to 
mitigate the Ebullition in burning Fevers; 
and commonly they very much asswage this 
vexatious Symptom; as likewise Oil of sweet 
Almonds, with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, or 
a Solution of Sperma Ceti: also a Solution 
of

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 365
of 1 Ounce of Gum-Arabick in a Quart of 
Barley-Water for common Drink, is an ex- 
cellent Remedy, especially when this Symp- 
tom is occasion'd by Blistering. 
Profuse Sweats which happen in 
Fevers, either in the Beginning of the 
Disease, or at any other Time before 
the Crisis, and before the Signs of Concoction 
appear, are symptomatical, and oftentimes 
Colliquative: They proceed from a Laxity 
of the Vessels, and too vehement a Circula- 
tion of the Blood, and ought therefore to be 
restrain'd by Art; for they are very trouble- 
some to the Patient, and they exasperate the 
Distemper, in depriving the Blood of its most 
fluid Parts, thicken and often cause Obstru- 
ctions; so that it is a very bad Practice to 
push Sweating too much in Fevers, except 
in such as are pestilential 
Profuse 
Sweats. 
In profuse Sweats, Care should be taken 
by diluting, to restore the Liquid which the 
Blood loses, and to use the Methods advised 
already in too great Heat, by taking away 
some of the Coverings of the Bed, and ad- 
mitting of cool Air, and using a Diet mo- 
derately astringent, and mild Acids, &c. 
Tinctura Antiphthisica, on Account of the 
Sugar of Lead in the Composition, is 
esteem'd an efficacious Remedy for suppres- 
sing such Sweats; and likewise Sage is very 
good in the Case of profuse Sweats. 
A


366 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pain of the 
Head. 
A violent Pain in the Head, 
Back, or in the Limbs, especially 
in the beginning of Fevers, requires 
Bleeding; and if that does not relieve, it will 
be proper to give a gentle Vomit if the Sto- 
mach be foul, otherwise a laxative Glyster 
may suffice. 
Watchfulness is a Symptom in Fevers, 
which is sometimes called a Coma Vigil, and 
often precedes too great Sleepiness, and is 
perhaps the most ill-boding Symptom of a 
Fever; therefore the Cause is to be narrow- 
ly enquir'd into; if it proceeds from too 
great Heat and Dryness, cooling and moisten- 
ing things are to be administred; if Pain be 
the Cause, we must endeavour to asswage it 
by proper Remedies, avoiding Opiates, with- 
out an absolute Necessity, especially about 
the time of the Crisis, when the Physician 
may perceive great Restlessness and Inquie- 
tude in the Patient; for it should be always 
remember'd as a Maxim, that a Space of 
time before the Crisis happens, is the most 
troublesome, Nox ante Crisin est molestissima. 
Other Expedients in this Case are, extreme 
Care to keep the Patient from Noise, and 
whatever makes any strong Impression upon 
his Senses, and some of those Helps used in 
a Delirium, for this is an Approach towards 
it; a moist softening Diet, ail Preparations of 
Barley, Emulsions of Poppy Seeds and Al- 
monds, Aliment of Lactecescent or milky 
Plants, especially Lettuces, Decoctions of 
Scorzonera 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 367
Scorzonera Roots, Almond Cream, and what 
is called Winter-Flummery, used as Aliment; 
Tea made of Cowslip Flowers, relaxing gent- 
ly the Belly. 
Coma, or Sleepiness in Fevers, is di- 
rectly contrary to the fore-mentioned Symp- 
tom Wakefulness; the Patient has a continual 
Propensity to doze or sleep, sometimes with a 
real Sleep, and often without it. A Coma 
will proceed either from a Pressure upon the 
Original of the Nerves in the Brain, by too 
great Repletion; or from a Penury or Waste 
of Spirits by too great Inanition.
Coma. 
Old People are subject to Comas by the 
Glewiness of the Fluids circulating in the 
Brain, which being resolved by the Fever, 
obstruct the small Canals of the Brain: But 
in young People it commonly proceeds from 
Fulness, and is best cur'd by Bleeding and re-
laxing the Belly. The Sign of such a Fulness 
is, a red Countenance and inflamed Eyes; but 
if it proceeds from a glutinous Oil, it ought 
to be resolved by Water, nitrous Salts, Soaps, 
Subacid Liquors, and Blisters, not forgetting 
the Use of sharp Glysters. 
In a feverish Delirium there is a small 
Inflammation of the Brain; therefore any- 
thing which increases the Circulation in the 
Lower Parts, and diminishes the Pressure on 
the Brain, is beneficial; as bathing the Feet 
in warm Water; nothing relieves the Head 
more than the Piles, therefore Suppositories 
of Honey, Aloes, and Rock-salt ought to be
Delirium  
made 

368 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
made use of; relaxing by emollient and wa- 
tery Substances, both in Drink and Glysters, 
especially Barley, Cream, and Barley-gruel, 
are to be frequently used: Likewise Bleeding 
in the Foot, and Blisters will be of great Ser- 
vice in this Case. 
Of Convulsions in Fevers. 
Convul-
sions. 
Nothing is of more Importance 
than rightly to know the Cause and the 
Seat of this Distemper, which is com- 
monly very obscure. In Infants Convulsions 
commonly proceed from Acidity in the Sto- 
mach and Intestines, which are cured by Ab- 
sorbents, such as testaceous Powders of all sorts, 
and gentle Purges and Glysters; but in such 
indeed Convulsions attending Fevers are not 
altogether so dangerous. 
Convulsions arising from Acrimony in the 
Stomach, or from any thing vellicating a 
Nerve in its Extremity, and not in its Origi- 
nal where it rises from the Brain, are not 
very dangerous; but Convulsions, which pro- 
ceed from too great Evacuations, as great 
Hæmorrhages attending Fevers, are very dan- 
gerous, and frequently mortal. 
Convulsions proceeding from an Inflamma- 
tion of the Membranes of the Brain are com- 
monly fatal: The Symptoms attending such 
are, a great Heat and Thirst, a hard Pulse, 
and a Delirium; so that the Remedies, and 
even those from Diet, are to be used accord- 
ing to the particular Seat of the Distemper; 
for

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 369
for if it be from the Stomach, such Aliments 
as are contrary to the particular Acrimony, 
Acid, Alkaline, or Oily, impacted there, as 
in the Case of Vomiting, already described. 
But if they arise from something obstructed 
in the Brain, such Convulsions are generally 
cur'd by Diluting, Relaxing, Revulsions, and 
softening both the Fluids and Solids, and 
using such Substances especially as open the 
Belly; and in general the Regimen prescribed 
in a Delirium or Coma: For it would be a 
Folly to rely here on the Medicines, which, 
by their pompous Titles of Anti-spasmodick 
and Anti-hystericks promise a specifick Cure; 
besides, all Volatiles, spicy and cordial Sub- 
stances, are here destructive.
Of Weakness in Fevers. 
A feverish Weakness proceeds from 
too great Fulness in the Beginning, and too 
great Penury or Inanition in the latter End of 
the Distemper; for whatever stops or retards 
the Circulation of the Fluids in the smallest 
Vessels, especially those in the Brain, produces 
this Symptom, which either of the Causes now 
mentioned will certainly do; And those two 
Causes require a different Method of Cure; 
for in the first, emptying and diluting is re- 
quisite; in the latter, a more plentiful Nou- 
rishrnent, the Use of Wine diluted with Wa- 
ter, and Spices in small Quantities, Jellies, 
Broths qualified with some gentle Acid, un- 
less there be Signs of Acidity; but in that 
Weakness. 
Aa Case

370 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Case the Diet should be contrary to that 
Symptom; in which Case Viper Broth, and all 
other Broths are both anti-acid and nourishing. 
In Weakness from too great a Loss of Blood, 
Wine and Food which is easily digested and 
assimilated or converted into Blood, is pro- 
per; for a small Quantity of Blood often- 
times brings the Patient into a Dropsy. Fric- 
tions of the Limbs relieve Weaknesses, as they 
promote a Flux of Juices and Spirits in the 
Joints and Limbs, by which Means they will 
bring Nourishment to those Parts. 
Fat People are most subject to the Symp- 
tom of Weakness in Fevers; because the Fat, 
being melted by the Heat of the Fever, Part 
of it obstructs the small Canals or Vessels, and 
consequently produces this Symptom; which 
is evident from the great Loss of Fat such 
Persons sustain in Fevers, by the Laxity of 
the Fibres, and the Emptiness of the smaller 
Vessels; and therefore such should be treated 
with particular Care, for after due Evacua- 
tions they ought to dilute plentifully both by 
Drink and Glysters, avoiding all fat and oily 
Things, and using Sugar, Honey, and ripe 
Fruits. 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in Fevers. 
In all these of any Kind whatever, as Small- 
Pox, Meazles, Purples, Scarlet-fever, Ery- 
sipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire, the Intention of 
Diet ought to be, to avoid strong Sudorificks, 
or sweating Things, which push out too great 
a Quan-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
a Quantity of the Matter upon the Skin; to 
use cooling and temperate Diluters, which 
will keep the Matter moveable, so that it may 
be secreted from the Blood; to keep warm 
during the Eruption; and that the Diet be 
cool; for which Reason the moderate Use of 
Acids, as Juice of Limons, &c, are necessary; 
and above all things Bleeding must not be 
omitted. 
A due Attention to the few Rules above- 
mentioned, in the several Symptoms, will 
prove successful in the Cure of most Fevers. 
Of the Small-pox. 
Notwithstanding I have taken notice just 
now of Eruptive Fevers in general, yet as this 
is one of the most dangerous and universal 
that infests Mankind, I shall treat of it in this 
Place in particular. Therefore, the greatest 
and most important Steps for the Recovery of 
the Patient must be made at the Time of the 
Invasion, or first State of this Distemper;
wherefore it is very necessary to know the first
Symptoms of it; for many have suffer'd by 
mistaking it for another Disorder. 
In general, young People who have not 
had the Disease, ought to be very care- 
ful in avoiding Irregularities in their Diet;
because the Small-pox which seizes such Per- 
sons often proves fatal. This Disease is like- 
wise more dangerous as the Fluids are more 
heated and dissipated, and the Solids more 
Aa2 strict 

372 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strict and compacted, and consequently it is 
more so, as People are advanced in Years. 
First
Stage. 
The first Symptoms are a Chilness 
and Rigor, succeeded by a Fever and 
constant Heat, a certain Splendor or Shining- 
in the Eyes, with a little Moisture, which is 
very observable in Children; a great Pain in 
the Head, with Drowsiness, Dullness, and 
Sleepiness; a Pain in the Back in some, but 
Pains in the Limbs in all; Anxiety, Inquie- 
tude notwithstanding their Drowsiness; loath- 
ing Sickness at the Stomach, Vomiting, and 
Convulsions in Infants shortly before the E- 
ruption; and the Blood taken away the first
Time, florid; but on the second, third, and 
fourth Time it appears sizy, like that of pleu- 
ritick People. 
Therefore it is manifest that in this State 
the Distemper ought to be treated as any 
other inflammatory Disease, by such Methods 
as if it were possible to hinder any Suppuration 
at all; and to resolve and digest as much of 
the feverish Matter as possibly we can; for the 
longer the Eruption is a coming, and the fewer 
when it comes, the Disease is less dangerous; 
therefore all the Methods practised in the Be- 
ginning of inflammatory Distempers are here 
necessary and proper, with a particular Care 
of cleansing the alimentary Passage by Vomit- 
ing and Glysters, the Impurities of which 
will otherwise be carried into the Blood. 
The learned Boerhaave says, that as there is 
not yet found any particular Antidote to the 
poisonous

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 373
poisonous Quality of this Disease; but that if 
any such could be found, as he is of Opinion 
it may, it must be in Antimony and Mercury 
brought to a great Degree of Penetrability,
without being too corrosive by a Saline Acri- 
mony, but well united; for the Effects of Mer- 
cury on all Ulcerations are notorious. 
In the first Stage then of the Small-pox, the 
whole Habit of the Body ought to be relax'd 
both inwardly and outwardly, and a free 
Perspiration through the Pores of the Skin, 
without violent Sweats be promoted; the 
Viscidity or Glewiness of the Fluids taken off 
by Diluters: All these Things may be affected 
by Glysters, Fomentations and Gargles, and 
a plentiful life of Drinks often repeated, made 
of thin Water-gruel and other mealy Decoc- 
tions, and such like cooling Liquors, with 
nitrous and acid Salts, or some other acid Sub- 
stances mix'd with them, such as the Juice of 
Oranges, Limons, Tamarinds, and other sub- 
acid Fruits, &c. no Flesh to be allow'd, un- 
less some small Chicken-broth at Times; the 
Air ought not to spoiled by Heat, or the Bed- 
Clothes so thick and heavy as to produce great 
Sweats. 
For more People are lost in the Small-pox, 
by being thrown into large and violent Sweats 
in the Beginning of the Eruption, than by any 
other Errors committed at all other Times: 
The Reason is, because great Sweats drain the 
small Blood-Vessels of the necessary Fluid, 
by which Circulation is hinder'd and the Blood 
Aa3 coagu-

374 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
coagulates, by which Means the Inflamma- 
tion is hurried on into a Gangrene, without 
being able to furnish the necessary Work of 
Impostumation in the Glands of the Skin, or 
of being dissipated by other proper Means. 
Second 
Stage. 
When this Disease has run off its first 
Stage, which is call'd by the learned 
Boerhaave, that of Contagion, it enters 
into the second, in the following Manner: 
The Skin of the Head and Face first, then of 
the Hands and Arms, and lastly of the Body 
and lower Parts, are mark'd with little red 
Points like Flea-bites; thereupon the Symp- 
toms abate, and the red Pustles increase every 
Hour in Largeness and Number; they con- 
tinually rise higher and higher, inflame more, 
and the Skin is stretch'd; they begin to pain 
and to burn ; the Circulation is interrupted, 
and Perspiration hinder'd; hence a great Re- 
turn of the Humours towards the inward 
Parts; a Fever arises, with Anxieties, Diffi- 
culty of Breathing, a Pain in the Jaws, some- 
times a Quinsy, a Looseness, Bloody-flux, 
Bloody-urine, Spitting of Blood. The Parts of 
the Skin free from Pustles are red and in- 
flamed, painful and hot; all which, or most 
of which, when they have lasted four, five, 
or six Days, are now intirely suppurated, and 
converted into as many small Impostumes. 
And this is likewise call'd by the above-men- 
tioned Author, the Stage of the Inflammation 
until the Suppuration: It lasts (according to 
the Difference of the epidemical Season, and 
that


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 375
that of the Patient, the Greatness and Vio- 
lence of each particular Case, and the Regi- 
men hot or cold made use of) most times 
four or five Days; so that the Suppuration is 
compleated about the eighth Day, reckoning 
from the first Beginning; and the Blood, if 
let out of a Vein, is extremely inflamed. 
From what has been said, the Diagnosticks 
and Prognosticks of the second State of the 
Small-pox may be learned, and the Rationale 
of it, and all its Symptoms, which will be 
plainer still by observing the following Rules. 
1. The gentler the State of Contagion, that 
is, the first Stage, the easier likewise is the in- 
flammatory State, which is the second Stage 
of the Distemper. 
2. The slower the Pustles break out, the 
longer therefore the State of Contagion, so the 
easier and milder is the whole Course of the 
Disease through all its Stages. 
3. The fewer, more distant, bigger, more 
remote from the Face, whiter and afterwards 
the yellower the Pustles are, and the later 
they appear, so much the better Event they 
promise. 
4. The more in Quantity, more mix'd and 
intangled, the less in Bulk those that stand 
single, the more they appear upon the Face, 
tawny or black, and the quicker they grow, 
so much the worse. 
5. The more the Matter of the Pimples is 
like to kind and perfect Pus, the better. 
Aa4 6. The

376 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
6. The more the Matter in the Pimples 
resembles a gangrenous Ichor, the worse. 
7. The more the Space between the Pim- 
ples appears red, is hot, stretch'd, and swell'd 
about the Time of their impostumating, so 
much the greater Hopes, because it is a Sign 
of the Circulation's being preserved there. 
8. But the more that same Space looks 
paler, or grows tawny or black, so much 
the worse; for there follows a mortal Quinsy 
or Peripneumony, unless a thin Salivation, or 
a great Swelling of the Hands or Feet doth 
ensue: The Reason is, because the Circula- 
tion of the Fluids is cut off in those Parts, 
and drove back and increased in the internal 
nobler Parts. 
9. If in the Space between the Pimples 
there appear purple Spots, it is a sign that a 
mortal Gangrene is at hand or present. 
The Indication in this second State of the 
Disease, is different according to the different 
Time that the Disease has lasted, and is like 
to last: for in the Beginning of the external 
Inflammation shewing itself, it appears rea- 
sonable to endeavour to prevent its proceeding 
to an Impostumation, as has been observed 
already; or, if that be neglected, Care ought 
to be taken that the Suppuration be as lit- 
tle as possible, and promoted slowly and far 
from the Head; which may be effected, first, 
by keeping the Patient to the thinnest Diet, 
which at the same time resists Putrefaction, 
Secondly, by giving him diluting, soft and sub- 
acid


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 377
acid Drink. Thirdly, Medicines that prevent 
the making of much Pus or Matter, such as 
are opening and diluting, in great Quantities 
and often given; likewise Blisters applied to 
the Hollows of the Feet and Legs. Fourthly, 
A cool Regimen, and chiefly by the Admis- 
sion of pure and fresh Air, (as was observed 
in the first State) and at the same Time co- 
vering the Limbs and lower Parts of the 
Body warm. Fifthly, If the Distemper pro- 
ceeds too violently on the fifth Night, a 
gentle Opiate may be safely given to an Ad- 
vantage, and repeated every Night to the 
End of the Disease, if the Lungs are not too 
much oppress'd, and Respiration very diffi- 
cult. 
After the running off of the 
second Stage follows the third 
State, being that of Impostumation, during 
which it increases and arrives at its Height: 
In this the Pustles, already purulent, grow 
larger every Day; then they ripen, turn 
white, yellow, and break on the third or 
fourth Day of this State. Then the whole 
Skin, and its subjacent Fat, abound with a 
moveable Pus or Matter; it is dried exter- 
nally, and inflamed in every Part free from 
Matter or Pus: Hence, from the Impedi- 
ment of Perspiration and Circulation, from 
the Irritation of the membranous and nervous 
System, from the absorbing of the Pus into the 
Veins, there comes on a Fever of the worst 
Kind, with the worst Symptoms; and if this
Third Stage.
puru- 

378 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
purulent Matter mix'd with the Blood is 
moved long, it putrefies: Hence, according 
to its falling upon different Parts of the Body, 
it produces cruel and scarce superable Effects, 
such as Deliriums, Phrensies, Quinsies, Peri- 
pneumonies, Pleurisies, Vomitings, Bloody- 
fluxes, Inflammations of the Liver, Impos- 
tumations of the same; Boils, Tumors, Ab- 
scesses, and Stiffness of the Joints; a Wasting, 
Consumption, and a great many more Evils. 
In this third State great Care ought to be 
taken to promote the Discharge of the Pus 
to the external Part, driving it from the In- 
ternals; which may be effected by relaxing 
the Skin with lukewarm softening Fomenta- 
tions, and often; constantly walking and 
gargling the Mouth and Throat; drinking 
much of warm, cordial, detergent, and o- 
pening Decoctions, which are contrary to Pu- 
trefaction; injecting daily a gentle, diluting, 
emollient, and laxative Glyster, and to be kept 
long; or sometimes a gentle Purge with Rhu- 
barb and Manna; dieting upon thin Broths 
duely salted and acidulated; allowing now 
and then a moderate Glass of good generous 
Wine; giving also a sufficient Dose of Syrup 
of White Poppies, or some other Opiate, a- 
gainst any violent or troublesome Symptoms 
that may arise. 
If the Small-pox proves to be of the worst 
Kind, and that there is rather a gangrenous 
Ichor than laudable Pus, that almost the 
whole Skin is beset with it; hence it may 
easily

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 379
easily appear, why this Disease is often so un- 
avoidably fatal, notwithstanding all the pos- 
sible Care taken; and it will be yet much 
plainer to any one acquainted with Dissections, 
that as the external Skin is full, so the Eyes, 
all the Membranes of the Nostrils, all the 
Covers of the Mouth, the Wind-pipe, the 
Bronchia, the Stomach, the Gullet, Intes- 
tines, Liver, Spleen, and Lungs, are full of 
the like Pustles; and hence he will under- 
stand what has been said, and see what is re- 
quisite for the Cure. Thus far the Senti- 
ments of Boerhaave concerning the Small- 
pox. 
The Greatness and Danger of this Disease 
is estimated by the Quantity of Pimples on 
the Face and Head; therefore the Matter 
ought to be solicitated to the lower Parts by 
all possible Methods, especially the Legs, by 
Fomentations, Bathing, Blistering, and, thro'
the whole Course of the Disease, keeping the 
Feet and Legs warm; the Breast and Head 
not any more cover'd than to keep them from 
the Injury of the cold Air. 
During the filling and ripening of the Pustles 
the Diet may be allow'd a little more plentiful, 
but yet not hot or inflammatory, with the due 
Use of anodyne Things, or such as allay Pains 
and Restlessness. In this State every Thing 
that abates Acrimony is proper; and, where 
the Circumstances of the Patient require it, 
a Spoonful or two of good White Wine, 
twice or thrice a Day, may be likewise useful.
The

380 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Diet in this State should also be adapted 
to the particular Symptoms of the Disease, 
as cleansing, attenuating, and expectorating; 
and to promote spitting by Diureticks. 
When the Temperament, Age, high Pulse, 
and especially Watchfulness and Delirium re- 
quire Bleeding in any other Case, why not 
in this State? which is known to have been 
used with great Success; for a great many 
Vessels in this State are almost unpassable by 
the Fluids; and those who die of this Distem- 
per have inward Inflammations, especially in 
the Lungs, all which seem to justify that 
Bleeding is necessary in the Case. 
But the gangrenous Disposition which ap- 
pears in the malignant Sort, is a Reason against
it; for hardly any Thing will avail in ex- 
treme malignant Cases. In such malignant 
Kinds, all that is left, is, at least to endeavour 
to evacuate the peccant Matter by other 
Ways, as Blistering and Stools, procured by 
Lenitives not irritating, which would only 
hurry the Humours and increase the Fever. 
For farther Particulars concerning this 
dreadful Distemper, see the celebrated Sy- 
denham's Account of the Distinct, Confluent, 
and Anomalous Small-pox, which nothing can 
excel. 
The Meazles and Scarlet Fever, (tho' not 
near so dangerous) require much the same 
Regimen, and the same Method of Cure, as 
the Small-pox, the Scarlet Fever not differing 
from the Meazles, except it be in the Manner
of 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 381
of the Efflorescence only, insomuch that it 
may not improperly be called the Confluent 
Meazles, for the Efflorescence in the Meazles 
makes its Appearance in different Figures and 
Shapes, from whence the Skin is diversify'd 
with several Colours; whereas in the Scarlet 
Fever the Skin is spread all over with one con- 
tinued Inflammation and Redness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of Inflammatory Diseases with a Fever. 
NOW those inflammatory Distempers are 
to be considered, which being attended 
with an acute Fever, do besides induce a sin- 
gular Inflammation of this or that Organ of 
the Body, the depraved Function of which 
gives a Name to each particular Disease of 
that Kind; such are the Phrensy, Quinsy, 
Pleurisy, Peripneumony, the Inflammation of 
the Breast, of the Diaphragm, Stomach, Li- 
ver, Spleen, Mesentery †, Guts, Kidneys, 
Bladder; of the Joints, as in Rheumatisms; 
and of the Surface of the Body, as in the 
Meazles, Scarlet Fever, and Small-pox. 
Of
† A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 


382 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of a Phrensy, or Inflammation of the Brain. 
True or symp- 
tomatick.
A Phrensy is either essential or 
symptomatick: An essential or 
true Phrensy is when there is a 
primary Inflammation of the Brain, or ra- 
ther of the Meninges ‡, with a Delirium and 
an acute Fever. The Symptomatick Phrensy, 
or Phrenitis, is occasioned by a Translation 
of the febrile Matter or Inflammation, &c. 
from other Parts upon the Brain. 
A true Phrensy kills the third, fourth, or 
seventh Day, or else it produces Madness, a 
Lethargy, or Coma; and a Phrensy coming 
upon a Peripneumony, or the Iliack Passion,
is mortal; upon the Small-pox, is very dan- 
gerous. 
This Disease, of all others, requires the 
most powerful Remedies without any Delay, 
which are able to remove the Inflammation 
of the Arteries of the Brain, and are chiefly 
to be taken from the general Cure of Inflam- 
mations in Fevers, describ'd in the foregoing 
Chapter, observing at the same time the fol- 
lowing Rules. 
Copious Bleeding, by opening the tempo- 
ral Arteries, or more Veins at once, in the 
Foot, Throat, and Forehead, with large Ori- 
fices, are the most effectual Remedies. Great 
Quantities of cooling Decoctions ought to be 
given
‡ Are Membranes which cover and embrace the Brain, 
and they are called the Dura Mater, and the Pia Mater, or 
Meninges.



Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 383
given often and warm, with large Portions of 
Nitre. Then cooling Purges, and at the 
Time of their working, to give Draughts of 
diluting nitrous Liquors. Sometimes Glysters 
of the like Kind, with lenitive Electuary, or 
Honey, or any such Openers may be given. 
Solliciting the Blood to other Parts of the 
Body; therefore tepid Bathings of the lower 
Parts, and emptying the Piles with Leaches, 
relaxing Fomentations apply'd to the Veins, 
which carry the Blood from the Head, re- 
lieve in this Disease. We should likewise ap- 
ply Blisters and Cupping-glasses to the inferior 
Parts; Blistering the Back, and even the Head 
sometimes, in phlegmatick Constitutions espe- 
cially, has been found useful. The Body 
ought to be kept moderately cool, and set 
upright if possible, for the warm Air of the 
Bed exagitates the Blood. 
But if the Phrensy has been occasioned by 
a pre-existent inflammatory Distemper in 
some other Part, it ought to be carefully 
minded, whether the Nature of that Illness 
will bear the Applications above-mention'd;
which if not, then it ought to be cured ac- 
cording to the Method peculiar to that ori- 
ginal Distemper, always adding the Reme- 
dies that divert from the Head, and that are 
externally apply'd. 
The Diet ought to be slender, of mealy 
Substances, as Water-Gruel acidulated, or 
subacid ripe Fruits, with their Jellies, the 
Drink small, diluting and cooling, Barley- 
Water,

384 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Water, and the Decoction of Tamarinds are 
all necessary and useful. For farther Satis- 
faction herein, see the Articles of Delirium 
and Watchfulness in the preceding Chapter. 
Of a Quinsy. 
A Quinsy without 
a Tumour almost 
always mortal.
There are two Species of it; 
the first is without any sensi- 
ble Tumour either externally 
or internally; but the other Species of a 
Quinsy is attended with a Tumour. The 
first Sort is commonly the Conse- 
quence of some very long continued 
Disease, chiefly after very large and often re- 
peated Evacuations. It is accompa- 
nied with a Paleness, Dryness, and 
Thinness of the Jaws; because for the most
part the Nerves and Muscles of those Parts 
being relaxed, are most times paralytick, and 
it is a Sign almost always that Death is just- 
at hand. It is seldom cur'd, and then 
only with Remedies which fill the 
empty Vessels with good vital Nourishment, 
and things that warm and strengthen the 
Body in general. 
The Cause. 
The Signs. 
The Cure. 
A Quinsy with a 
Tumour of various 
Sorts. 
The other Species of the 
Quinsy, viz. with a Tumour in 
the Throat, occasioning a Dif- 
ficulty of Breathing and Swallowing, may 
be of various Sorts; sometimes it proceeds 
from a Serosity obstructing the Glands, which 
may be watery, œdematous, or schirrous, ac-
cording

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 385
cording to the different Degrees of the Vi- 
scidity of the Humours, sometime inflam- 
matory, which Inflammation will sometimes 
terminate in a Suppuration, or Gangrene. 
The Regimen and Cure in those 
Quinsys, which proceed merely from 
watery, œdematous, and thin catarrhous Hu- 
mours obstructing the Glands, must be first, 
to use such warm Liquors as relax gently, 
soften and moisten these Glands; Secondly, 
such Medicines as carry off the redundant 
Serum, by Stools, Sweat, and Urine; or by 
stimulating, and opening the Emunctories of 
these Glands to secern the stagnated Hu- 
mours, which may be obtained by the Ap- 
plication of Cataplasms, Gargles, Injections 
with Syringes, and by lessening the Quan- 
tity of the Lympha with Masticatories, Bli- 
sters, and smart Purges that will promote 
watery Stools. 
The Cure. 
In a mere watery Tumour, the Diet may 
be more warm than in inflammatory Kinds; 
and therefore the moderate Use of Wine of- 
ten relieves the Patient. 
But a Difficulty of Breathing and Swallow- 
ing, proceeding from Schirrosities of the 
Glands, is not to be cured any other Way 
than by extirpating the Schirrus, which 
alone will be a safe Remedy: or the Surgeon 
must with Prudence endeavour to fix a Cau- 
stick in the middle of the Tumour, to eat 
the same out; which is feasible enough when 
the Seat is near the Jaws. 
Bb In

386 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
In the inflammatory Species of a Quinsy 
we ought, by all means possible, endeavour 
to procure a Resolution: First, By large and 
repeated Bleedings. Secondly, The Belly 
must be loosened stoutly with either Purges, 
or purging Glysters frequently injected. 
Thirdly, By a very thin and slender Diet, 
such as Whey with Tamarinds boiled in it; 
Decoctions and Emulsions of farinaceous 
Vegetables moderately acidulated, and such 
as abound with a cooling nitrous Salt. Fourth- 
ly, By Medicines of the nitrous and acid 
Kind. Fifthly, By soft, warm Vapours con- 
stantly receiv'd upon the Part, bathing and 
fomenting the Feet, and Derivations by Bli- 
sters. When Swallowing is totally abolish'd, the 
Patient may be nourish'd by nourishing Gly- 
sters, which is known to have been done for 
a whole Week, after which the Tumour sup- 
purated. 
If the Inflammation ends in a Gangrene, 
the Case proves generally mortal, except it 
be only in the Tonsils, Uvula, and Palate, 
and reach no farther, which Parts may be 
separated, and the Patient recover. 
Of a Pleurisy. 
Diagnostick. 
A Pleurisy is an Inflammation 
of the Pleura, being a double Mem- 
brane which covers all the Cavity of the 
Breast; tho' that is hardly distinguishable 
from

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 387
from an Inflammation of any other Part of 
the Breast, which are all from the same 
Cause, a stagnant Blood; for there is no Part 
of the Internal Integuments of the Chest, 
which is not capable of being seized there- 
with, whether it be the Pleura or the Me- 
diastinum; and therefore the pricking Pain 
may be felt in any Part of the Breast: But 
most commonly it attacks the Sides, and this 
having a Fever join'd with it, is a true 
Pleurisy; but if such a Pain affects the su- 
perior intercostal Muscles, it is called a spu- 
rious Pleurisy. 
In a true Pleurisy, Bleeding large- 
ly, and often repeated in the Begin- 
ning ought to be perform'd, and that by a 
large Orifice; and the Rule is, to repeat Bleed- 
ing so often until there appears no longer any 
Siziness on the Top of the Blood: and at the 
same time, Fomentations and Leniments 
may be used externally. For internal Use, Di- 
luters, Resolvents, Coolers and Lenients that 
will asswage Pain, are proper; and all such 
Things should be taken warm, and in great 
Quantities. 
The Cure.
Sometimes the Part inflamed tends to a 
Suppuration, which is known by the obsti- 
nate Violence of the Pain and Fever, &c.
and continuing longer than the 4th Day. That 
an Abscess is form'd may be known by a fre- 
quent shivering, a Remission of Pain, Short- 
ness of Breath, and being able only to lie on 
one Side, which is the Side that is affected. 
Bb2 When


388 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Abscess is broken, the purulent 
Matter falls into the Cavity of the Chest, 
and increases by the Discharge from the Ul- 
cer, which produces an Empyema, of which 
I shall give an Account hereafter. But some- 
times the Part affected becomes schirrous, 
with an Adhesion of the Lungs and Pleura; 
hence an Asthma and dry Cough, an incura- 
ble Distemper, unless perhaps there may be 
some Relief had from much Exercise and 
Riding. 
Sometimes a Pleurisy turns to a Gangrene, 
which causes sudden Death; that a Gangrene 
is begun, may be known from the Delirium, 
the livid Colour of the Chest, a sort of bi- 
lious Spitting, and from a Cessation of Pain. 
The Prog- 
nosticks. 
Hippocrates observes, that if in 
Beginning of a Pleurisy, within 
the space of three Days, the Spit- 
ting is Bloody, it shews that the Distemper 
will be but short; if the Spitting of Blood 
comes on later, the Distemper will likely run 
into a greater Length. He adds, that if 
Pleuritick Persons do not expectorate, an Ab- 
scess will be form'd in fourteen Days; and 
such may be freed from that, if they can 
fully discharge the Matter by spitting in forty 
Days from the Time of the Rupture of the 
Abscess, otherwise they fall into a Consump- 
tion. 
In this Distemper the Spitting is to be regard- 
ed more than the Urine; and a Pleurisy that 
seems slight in the Beginning, and proceeding 
so

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 389
so till the fifth Day, but growing worse the 
sixth, is commonly mortal. When the Sup- 
puration is made, or Matter form'd in a 
Pleurisy, the Side must be open'd to let out 
the Matter. 
Of a Peripneumony. 
A true Peripneumony is 
an Inflammation of the bron- 
chial and pulmonary Vessels, 
or of the whole Body of the 
Lungs, or of one Lobe only. If the whole 
Lungs are affected the Case is desperate, and 
deem'd incurable; because the Circulation 
must be stopt, and no Blood can flow back 
into the Heart; the others sometimes admit 
of a Cure. It is to be treated after the same 
Manner, and with the same Remedies as a 
Pleurisy, and most commonly it has the 
same Event. 
A true Peripneumony 
or Inflammation of
the Lungs. 
If the Inflammation be not dis- 
cussed in fourteen Days Time, an 
Abscess will be formed; the Signs of which 
are Shiverings, an Abatement of the Pain, and 
a low Pulse, Difficulty of Breathing, Thirst, 
and a slight Fever still remaining in the 
Evenings, &c. Upon this sometimes a sudden 
Suffocation happens from an Eruption of the 
purulent Matter into the Wind-pipe; some- 
times it is evacuated by spitting it up in great 
Quantities; or, if the Rupture so happens, it 
falls into the Cavity of the Chest, from 
whence proceeds an Empyema, a Phthisis, &c. 
Prognostick. 
Bb3 Lastly,

390 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Lastly, the purulent Matter is absorbed by 
the pulmonary Veins, and is mix'd with the 
Blood; and by means of the Circulation, is 
deposited in some one of the Viscera, as the 
Liver, the Spleen, the Brain, &c. Hence it 
comes to pass that peripneumonick Abscesses 
happen about the Ears, Legs, or Hypochon- 
dria, where if they suddenly disappear, and 
the Peripneumony returns, the Case is mor- 
tal. 
The Type of a 
spurious Peri- 
pneumony. 
A spurious Peripneumony com- 
monly proceeds from a thick pi- 
tuitous Matter, generated in the 
Mass of Blood, which gradually settling itself 
on the Lungs, forms the Distemper. Old 
People, and such as are of pituitous, cold, 
catarrhous Constitutions, and such as are 
troubled with Defluxions of Rheums, are 
more subject to this Distemper than others. 
It creeps on unawares upon People with a 
fallacious Lenity at first; they are slightly in- 
disposed, complaining of a sort of Weariness 
and Debility; they seem to be dispirited;
they grow short-breath'd, and feel an Op-
pression of the Breast; but as the Disorder is 
hardly considerable enough to raise any great 
preternatural Heat or Fever, they are not 
apprehensive of any Danger: After a while 
however they are seiz'd with Shiverings and a 
small Fever, from whence the Difficulty of 
Breathing and great Weakness increase, and 
Death approaches, which surprizes the By-
standers,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 391
standers, the Urine and Pulse having not such 
a sudden Change. 
This Distemper is cured by the 
following Method; first, let the Pa- 
tient be blooded out of a large Vein; second- 
ly, a Glyster ought be given every Day, till 
it appears that the Lungs are eased; thirdly, 
his Diet ought to be of thin Flesh Broths, 
Jellies with some Juice of Lemon or Oranges; 
his Drink also small, of Water and Honey; 
fourthly, to use diluting, cleansing, and gently 
opening Apozems, often and in large Quan- 
tities, bathing the Legs and Feet, and ap- 
plying many Blisters, 
The Cure.
Of an Empyema. 
An Empyema is a Collection of 
purulent Matter in the Cavity of the 
Thorax most commonly occasion'd 
by the Rupture of an Abscess, produced by a 
Pleurisy or Peripneumony: It is known, if 
for twenty Days after the Beginning of the 
Inflammation there has been no Expectora- 
tion; from a dry Cough, a Weight on the 
Diaphragm *, being able to lie only on one 
Side; from a fluctuating Noise of the Pus or 
Matter upon moving the Body, a slow Fever, 
Redness in the Cheeks, Hollowness of the 
Eyes, Heat in the Tops of the Fingers, Crook- 
edness of the Nails, and a Tumor of the 
Belly.
Empyema 
what. 
Bb4 As 
* It is a tranverse Membrane, which separates the Thorax
or Chest from the Abdomen or lower Belly.
 


392 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Cure. 
As to what relates to the Cure of 
an Empyema, when it is once known 
that there is a Rupture of an Abscess of the 
Lungs, Pleura, Diaphragm, or the Mediasti- 
tium †, or Pericardium ‡, endeavours must 
be used to discharge the Matter by Expec- 
toration, by the urinary Passages, or by Stool, 
if Nature offers to do it those Ways; for if 
purulent Mttter appears in the Urine, let diu- 
retick Medicines be given; if purulent Stools 
happen, laxative Purges; if Spitting offers, 
expectorating Medicines: Some make Issues 
with Causticks betwixt the Ribs. For inter- 
nal Use, Balsamicks, Vulneraries, Decoctions 
of the Woods, Jellies of Hartshorn, and 
Ground-Ivy, are very much commended. 
But if all Remedies fail, the Cure must 
be attempted by an Aperture of the Thorax, 
with a proper Instrument on the Side affected, 
between the 4th and 5th, or 5th and 6th 
Ribs, counting from the lowermost, drawing 
off the Matter gently and gradually: From 
the Nature of the Pus, when taken out, and 
other Circumstances of the Patient, one may 
deduce a Prognostick of what may likely be 
the Event. 
If the Empyema be of a long standing, 
and the Strength of the Patient exhausted, 
the Hair of the Head falling off, and there 
be a colliquative Looseness, the Habit of the 
Body
† Is a Membrane which divides the Lungs and other Vi- 
scera of the Breast into two Parts. 
‡ A Membrane which surrounds the whole Substance of 
the Heart. 


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 393
Body tabid, &c. the Operation of the Para- 
centesis will serve only to hasten Death. 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or an Inflammation of 
the Diaphragm. 
A Paraphrenitis is a Disease much like a 
Pleurisy, wherein the Diaphragm, or at least 
part of it, is really inflamed; and this is what 
happens more frequently than is commonly- 
believed, mistaking it for another Distemper, 
It is known by a continual Fever, an exqui- 
site Pain very much increased upon Inspira- 
tion, by which it is distinguish'd from a Pleu- 
risy, in which the greateft Pain is in Expira- 
tion; besides, the Breath is fetch'd deep, 
quick, and suffocating, and seems only to be 
performed by the Motion of the Breast; It 
is likewise attended with a Delirium, Fury, 
and an involuntary Laughter, and Convul- 
sions; and altho' the Whole of the Distem- 
per is known, yet it is generally mortal. 
This Distemper terminates as Pleurifies and 
Peripneumonies, but a great deal more fatal; 
If it suppurates the Pus, it is evacuated into 
the lower Belly, where it produces Putrefac- 
tion, and a most miserable and painful Death. 
The Regimen, if any can be successful, 
ought to be the same as in Pleurisies, and the 
Cure likewise. 
Of an Inflammation of the Stomach. 
As other Parts of the Body, so 
may likewise the Stomach he seized 
The Signs.
with 


394 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a true Inflammation: The Symptoms 
and Effects are a burning, fix'd, and pungent 
Pain in the Stomach, attended with an acute 
continual Fever, a great Exacerbation of this 
Pain the Moment after swallowing any thing, 
succeeded with Vomiting, a painful Hickup 
and great Anxiety, unquenchable Thirst, 
want of Sleep, and a continual Tossing of the 
Body; these are succeeded with Deliriums, 
and most times Convulsions, ending in 
Death. 
The Causes.
The Causes of these Symptoms 
are those common to all Inflamma- 
tions in general, a natural Weakness, and 
perhaps Erosion of the Coats of the Stomach, 
by acrid Substances taken as Aliment and 
Medicines. Care must be taken rightly to 
distinguish between an Inflammation of the 
Stomach, and that of the Liver: In the for- 
mer the burning Pain and Heat seem to lie 
deeper; when the Liver is inflamed the In- 
flammation is more limited, and the Symp- 
toms are milder. 
If this Disease is not speedily cured, it 
soon proves fatal; for People commonly die 
of it the third or fourth Day; and sometimes 
indeed, tho' seldom, it tends to a Suppuration, 
and the Abscess breaks either into the Cavity 
of the Stomach or lower Belly and even then 
they hardly ever escape. 
Of all Diseases this requires most a total 
Abstinence from any Thing that has Acrimo- 
ny in it; even the nitrous cooling Salts, which 
are

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 395
are beneficial in other Inflammations, irritate 
too much in this; likewise Vomits, all Cor- 
dials of volatile and spicy Substances; spiri- 
tuous Liquors are no better than Poison, and 
Milk generally curdles. Aliments must be 
given frequently, and by Spoonfuls at a time, 
for any Distension of the Stomach increases 
the Inflammation. 
A thin Gruel of Barley, Oatmeal, Whey 
with very little Sugar, or Honey, or Chicken- 
broth, are proper Aliments; Whey, emol- 
lient Decoctions of Barley-water, and Emul- 
sions, are proper Drinks; and it has been 
found by Experience, that Chalybeat Waters 
have been agreeable to the Stomach in this 
inflammatory State. If there happens an Im- 
postume, Honey, and even Honey of Roses, 
taken inwardly, is a good Cleanser, and a De- 
coction of Comfrey Roots is healing; Speedy 
and effectual Bleeding, Fomentations, and 
Glysters have the same good Effect in this as 
in other inflammatory Distempers, Likewise 
the same Regimen and Remedies ought to be 
used in a Schirrus or Cancer of the Stomach;
tho' nothing will prove quite effectual. The 
same Method is to be pursued in the Inflam- 
mation of the Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul. 
Of the Inflammation of the Liver. 
As other Bowels and Parts of the Body are 
capable of Inflammations, so is the Liver 
likewise; but as the Hepatical or Liver Ar- 
tery, and the Vena Portæ, carry the Blood 
into

396 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
into the Liver, the first being very small, and 
the Motion of the Blood being slow in the 
last, are the Reasons that Inflammations in 
the Liver are not so frequent as in some other 
Parts of the Body; but when they happen 
they are extremely dangerous, unless they 
take up but a small Part of the Liver; 
and such happen more frequently than is 
thought of. 
Diagnostick
Signs. 
The best Cautions, both in Diet 
and Cure, may be taken from the 
Causes and Symptoms of this Di- 
stemper, which, besides the general Causes of 
Inflammations, are extreme Fatness; for Fat 
dissolved by Heat and Inflammation obstructs 
the Vessels of the Liver very suddenly; and 
Cattle fatten'd by good Pasturage, after vio- 
lent Motion or Running, sometimes die sud- 
denly, in such the Liver is found to be in- 
flamed and corrupted. An atrabilarian a-
dust Temper of the Blood and Gall, an acri- 
monious or purulent Matter, stagnating in 
some other Organ of the Body, is more easily 
deposited upon the Liver than any other Part, 
especially if it is attended with the Use of 
hot and spicy Aliments, spirituous Liquors, 
great Heat and a Fever; Erosions of the 
Vessels by the Acrimony or Sharpness of the 
Gall, or Obstructions by Viscidity; likewise 
any Callosity, Schirrus, or Stone generated in 
the Liver; Thirst long endured, being sud- 
denly chill'd by cold Air, cold Water, or 
drinking cold Liquors after great Heat; Vo- 
mits

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 397
mits given injudiciously, when the Liver is 
already unsound, which, if they do not re- 
move the Obstruction, exagitate the Liver too 
much; inveterate hypochondriacal Diseases; 
are all Causes which may produce Inflamma- 
tions of the Liver. 
In such a Case therefore, the Liver being 
swell'd, compresses the Stomach, Diaphragm, 
and all the neighbouring Viscera of the lower 
Belly, stops the Circulation of the Juices, the 
Generation and Excretion of the Gall, and 
all Digestion; produces numberless bad Symp- 
toms, as the Jaundice, with all the Distem- 
pers depending upon it; for the Liver re- 
ceives the refluent Blood almost from all the 
Parts of the Abdomen or lower Belly, and is 
the chief Instrument of all the Digestions 
which are there made. A slow Fever, which 
is more or less acute; an Inflammation and 
pungent Pain on the Region of the Liver and 
Diaphragm; a Tension of the Hypochondres 
especially on the Right Side; Yellowness of the 
Skin and Eyes, and a saffron-coloured Urine, 
are Signs of an inflammatory Disposition of 
the Liver. 
This Distemper terminates as 
other Inflammations, being cured 
either by Resolution, Concoction, and Ex- 
cretion of the morbid Matter; or it ends in 
an Abscess, Schirrus, or Gangrene: When it 
suppurates, the purulent Matter is discharged 
sometimes by Stool, sometimes by Urine, 
sometimes by Expectoration, and sometimes 
Prognostick.
it

398 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it is dischargcd by manual Operation. For 
when a Tumor rises and grows to the Peri-
toneum, and forms there an outward Impos- 
tume of the Liver, easily discernable, then it 
is opened with a burning Iron, or with Caus- 
ticks; afterwards the Wound is widen'd with 
gentle corrosive and suppurating Applica- 
tions, untill there is a Penetration made into 
the very Bag or Vomica, which is in the Body 
of the Liver; then it is treated as an Ulcer, 
and cleansing internal Medicines are duely 
administer'd at the same Time. 
Indication 
of Cure. 
But during the first State of the 
Disease, that is, before there are any 
Signs or Suspicion of Impostumation, 
the Regimen should be cooling, resolving Li- 
quors taken inwardly, as Whey with Sorrel 
boil'd in it; outward Fomentations and fre- 
quent Injection of emollient and diuretick 
Glysters, Bathing, and Frictions, relax and 
render the Matter fluid and moveable; Honey, 
with a little Rhenish Wine or Vinegar, in- 
wardly taken, is likewise proper; also the 
Juices and Jellies of some ripe Garden-Fruits 
are useful, and those of some Plants of a 
milky Juice, as Dandelion, Endive, and Let- 
tuce, are Resolvents. Bleeding in the Be- 
ginning, especially in the Foot, will not be 
improper. Violent Purges hurt, but gently 
relaxing the Belly relieves. Diluters, with 
nitrous Salts, are beneficial, and Tamarinds 
boil'd in Water or Whey: Bloody Stools, not 
in a great Degree, or when streak'd with 
Blood,


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 399
Blood, ought not to be stop'd, because they 
help to resolve the Disease; and oftentimes 
Bleeding at the Nose produces the same good 
Effect. 
The Fever attending is often carried off by 
Urine, therefore diuretick Substances, that are 
not highly pungent and stimulating, are use- 
ful in this Case; and Sweating by high Cor- 
dials ought not to be attempted; but encourag- 
ing and promoting it with warm diluting Li- 
quors is proper. 
The Case is deplorable when the Inflam- 
mation of the Liver terminates in an Abscess, 
unless it points and appears outwardly, so that 
it may be open'd; for if the Matter be eva- 
cuated into the Lower Belly, it produces 
woeful Symptoms, as Putrefaction, or an in- 
curable Bloody-flux, &c. 
When the Pus or Matter of an Ulcer in the 
Liver grows thin and ichorous, it corrodes the 
Vessels, (for the Liver, of all the Bowels, is the 
most friable, and the easiest crumbled or dis- 
solved) and it is frequently carried into the 
Mass of Blood, and rejected by vomiting, 
with a cadaverous Smell, attended with great 
Thirst; but if it is carried downwards, it 
produces a purulent colliquative Looseness: 
In which Case the constant Use of subacid 
Decoctions, and other Substances of the acid 
Kind, relieve the best. 
If this Distemper happens to produce a 
Cancer, or Schirrus, as sometimes it does; 
yet the latter is not absolutely incurable, be-
cause

400 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
cause it is experimentally known that Grass 
and fresh Pasturage has cured it in Cattle, 
and some opening Plants have produced the 
same Effect sometimes in Mankind, as those 
of the lactescent or milky Plants already men- 
tioned, with a great many other Vegetables 
too tedious to insert in this Place. 
But it is to be observed, that the Diet re- 
commended here is likewise necessary in 
the Jaundice, and all Distempers of the 
Liver; and also an Abstinence from all such 
Things as induce Putrefaction, especially 
salt Fish and Flesh, and above all strong 
Liquors. 
Of an Inflammation of the Mesentery. 
Inflammations and Tumors of the Mesen- 
tary, (being a Membrane in the Lower Belly 
to which the Guts are connected, and through 
which all our Nourishment is convey'd to the 
Blood,) are frequently the Origin and Foun- 
dation of many obscure and latent chronical 
Distempers, which greatly afflict People la- 
bouring under them, and perplex those who 
undertake their Cure as well. 
Diagno- 
stick. 
Persons affected with these Disorders 
complain of Pain about their Back and 
Loins, sometimes in the Belly about the Navel, 
with Gripings, yet these Pains are commonly 
periodical and chronical; and every now and 
then comes on a small wandering Fever, and 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 401
the Pains come and go, having their Remis- 
sions and Exacerbations. 
When an Abscess in the Mesentery 
suppurates and breaks, it causes sometimes 
remarkable Shiverings and Shakings, which 
are followed by febrile Heats, and then the 
purulent Matter is most commonly discharged 
by Stool. 
Abscess.
The Body in this Case gradually 
wastes, the Breathing grows more 
than usually difficult; and every now and 
then they complain of something that is very 
troublesome to them, which they cannot well 
explain: They tell you, that it lies deep in 
their Belly about the Navel, or below it; they 
are most commonly very much troubled with 
Wind. These Tumours oftentimes continue 
many Years, being turn'd schirrous and 
strumous. 
Prognostick.
When the Disorders of the Mesen- 
tery are of a long standing, they are 
cured as other chronical Diseases, such as 
chachectick and hypochondriack Affections: 
Yet they are to be treated with Caution, and 
gently without any Violence. Externally, Em- 
plastrum de Cicuta cum Ammoniaco, de Ranis 
cum Mercurio, &c. are convenient. Inter- 
nally, Medicines that open Obstructions, such 
as Millepedes and Preparations of Steel, &c. 
likewise Remedies against strumous Distem- 
pers are proper, and opening of the hœmor-
rhoidal Veins by Leaches; but rough Purges 
are hurtful, and Glysters are useful. 
The Cure.
Cc Of

402 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of the Inflammation of the Guts. 
The Intestines or Guts, chiefly the small 
ones, are very often seiz'd with the like acute 
Inflammation in their Membranes, as the 
Stomach, from Causes common to 
all Inflammations carried thither; 
or from the Matter of acrimonious or sharp 
Drink, Aliments, high Sauces, Medicines or 
Poisons reaching those Parts, and detain'd in 
the Foldings of the Valvules and sticking to 
them; also from a sharp, putrid and fœtid, 
purulent, ichorous, gangrenous, bilious Mat- 
ter, convey'd hither from the Gullet, Stomach, 
Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul, which 
sticks also to them and corrodes them; or 
lastly, from a Convulsion filling them with 
Wind. 
The Cause. 
Symptoms.
The Symptoms are a total Stop- 
page of the Passage, a vehement fix'd 
burning Pain, irritated by Things taken in- 
wardly; when any thing touches the Part af- 
fected, it excites Vomitings, sharp griping 
Pains, with Wind in other Parts of the 
Bowels; and the Consequences of such an 
Inflammation are the Iliac Passion, or what 
is vulgarly call'd the Twisting of the Guts, 
but in fact is either a Circumvolution or In- 
sertion of one Part of the Gut within the 
other; an Impostume, Gangrene, Schirrus, 
Cancer; a very acute Fever, with great 
Weakness from the Fierceness of the Pain, 
and a very sudden Death. 
It

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 403
It is of the utmost Importance to know 
what the Causes of Colicks are; for as they 
are various, so the Remedies in one Case are 
quite opposite and destructive in the other; 
for spicy, warm, carminative Things, which 
are given in Colicks proceeding from a 
phlegmatick or cold Cause, are Poison in an 
inflammatory one; but they may be distin- 
guished by the Fever, high Pulse, Thirst, 
and high-colour'd Urine attending the In- 
flammation. As to the Heat, tho' it is like- 
wise great by the Violence of the Pain, yet 
the Extremities grow cold; and besides, there 
is a hidden Prostration of Strength, or Weak- 
ness, attending this inflammatory Colick more 
than any other. 
This Disease requires a speedy Remedy, or 
none; for otherwise it terminates in an Iliac 
Passion, and Mortification of the Bowels very 
soon; therefore plentiful Bleeding, and fo- 
menting and relaxing the Bowels with emol- 
lient warm Liquors, both taken inwardly by 
the Mouth, and by Glyster injected hourly, 
is the most sovereign Method that can be 
made use of; yet it has been known, that 
Acids have relieved in very desperate Cases, 
as Juice of Lemons taken by the Mouth, and 
Vinegar and warm Water given in Glysters, 
have saved the Patient; by Reason of the con- 
tinual Vomiting, Opiates likewise to quiet 
the Convulsions are oftentimes necessary; also 
Warm Fomentations, even of warm Animals 
applied to the Belly, are extremely useful.  
Cc2 When

404 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Inflammation happens to be in 
the Lower Guts, it is not so dangerous; and 
even when it suppurates it will admit of a 
Cure; for then it can be come at by proper 
Medicines in the Form of Glysters; and in 
the latter End of such a Case Chalybeat Wa- 
ters are very beneficial. 
If the Patient lives three Days, the Acute- 
ness of the Pain abates; and if a Shivering or 
Chilliness affects the Body, it is a Sign of a 
Suppuration, and in some few Days the Mat- 
ter flows either into the Cavity of the Belly, 
producing all the Symptoms which happen 
in an Impostumation of the Liver, or into the 
Cavity of the Guts, and causing a purulent 
Bloody-flux, and often a Consumption, Si- 
nus's and Fistulas; in which Case Whey 
and Chalybeat Waters are proper Drinks. 
The Aliment ought to be of such Substan- 
ces as generate little or no Excrements, as 
Broths of Flesh-meat, with Scorzonera, Par- 
sley, or Fennel boil'd in them: Goat's Whey 
is likewise excellent in the Case; but fat and 
oily Substances generally do harm. 
If the Fever continue with clammy Sweats, 
Paleness, an ichorous Loosness, fœtid, black, 
or like the Washings of Flesh, a small inter- 
mitting Pulse, and at last a Cessation of Pain 
totally, they are Signs of a Gangrene, and 
Death at hand. 
But if none of the foremention'd Signs hap- 
pen, and that the Fever abates, and the Per- 
son complains of a Weight, dull Pain, Stop- 
page

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 405
page of the Excrements, a Schirrus is form- 
ing, which increases daily, and may terminate 
in a Cancer; which Purging, and indeed all 
Medicines irritate: The Patient in such a 
Case may protract a miserable Life with an 
exact thin Diet of Whey, Broths, and such 
Things as produce no Fæces, or by nourish- 
ing Glysters. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys. 
The Kidneys as well as other Parts 
of the Body are subject to Inflam- 
mations: Which may be known 
from a pungent, burning, inflammatory Pain 
in the Region of the Kidneys, a Numbness, 
or dull Pain in the Thigh on the Side affected; 
likewise Colick, Wind, Vomiting, an acute 
continual Fever, Urine sometimes totally sup- 
press'd, often made in small Quantities, high 
colour'd; and which is worse, sometimes 
very watry and quite pale without any Sedi- 
ment. As to the outward Sensation of Heat, 
the Extremity of Pain oftentimes produces a 
Coldness in the extreme Parts, which is very 
consistent with inflammatory Distempers. 
Diagnostick 
Signs.
This is produced by all the Causes 
of a general Inflammation directed 
to the Kidneys; and therefore, whatever ob- 
structs the Blood in the Extremities of the 
Arteries of the Kidneys, will produce this 
Distemper; a Wound, Bruise, Abscess, Swel- 
ling, Lying often long on the Back, too vio- 
The Cause. 
Cc3 lent

406 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
lent Motion, especially walking, or hard rid- 
ing in hot Weather; and whatever obstructs 
the Passage of the Urine into the Pelvis, Ureter, 
or Bladder, as a viscid Matter, Gravel or Stone; 
likewise every thing which forces the gross Parts 
of the Blood into the urinary Passages, as Heat, 
hard Riding, Straining, too great Fullness of 
Blood, and especially sharp and forcing Di- 
ureticks; and lastly, a convulsive and invo- 
luntary Contraction of the small Vessels of the 
Kidneys, if long continued. 
Coffee-colour'd Urine is not a dangerous 
Sign; for it proceeds from the Mixture of a 
small Portion of Blood with the Urine, and 
oftentimes it prognosticates a Resolution of 
the obstructed Matter, and the Expulsion of 
Gravel, or a Stone after great Pain; but pale 
Urine is a Symptom which portends the Di- 
stemper to be more lasting and dangerous. 
The Cure is to be perform'd by plentiful 
and repeated Bleeding, avoiding carefully at 
the same time all stimulating Diureticks, 
which in this State would increase the Dis- 
ease: Afterwards the Expulsion of the ob- 
structing Matter is to be promoted by emol- 
lient and soft Liquors plentifully drank, and 
by Glysters of the same kind frequently inject- 
ed; by Bathing and outward Fomentations, 
by opiate and anodyne Substances, which 
both ease and relax the Fibres; and those 
soft Liquors should be drank plentifully not- 
withstanding the frequent Vomitings; for 
Vomiting is an Effort of Nature in order to 
pro-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 407
promote the Expulsion of the Gravel, Stone, 
or any other obstructing Cause. 
Therefore Whey, and in a great feverish
Heat, Butter-milk; likewise Emulsions of 
Barley and Poppy Seeds, Honey in Whey and 
Water, are all very proper Liquors for this In- 
tention; also a moist and soft Diet, Rest, and 
keeping out of a warm Feather-bed, and par- 
ticularly avoiding lying upon the Back. 
If the Pains or Convulsions be very urgent, 
without waiting for the Effects of other Re- 
medies, Opiates with due Caution ought to 
be given; but when the Gravel, Stone, or 
any other obstructing Cause is separated from 
the Kidneys, soft express'd Oils, and oily 
Substances relax the Passages; and if the Pain 
proceeds only from Gravel, or a Stone, then 
oily Substances may be safely join'd with sti- 
mulating Substances, as with Juice of Lemon, 
Juniper-Water, and some diuretick Syrup, 
as that of Marsh-mallow, &c. In this Case 
the Jolting in a Coach, and such-like Motion 
may be used with Advantage. 
If the Pain is protracted beyond se- 
ven Days, an Abatement of the Pain, 
its changing into a Beating or Throb- 
bing, often-returning Shiverings, a Heaviness 
or Numbness of the Part, are Signs that 
Matter is a forming, which when made will 
appear in the Urine; in which Case, soft and 
balsamick Substances are the most beneficial; 
for if the Matter remains long, the Case is in- 
curable.
Progno- 
sticks. 
Cc4 Some-

408 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Sometimes it happens to terminate in a 
Fistula, with which the Person may live 
many Years in no great Uneasiness. All Bal- 
samicks are good in Ulcerations of the Kid- 
neys: Likewise Butter-milk not quite sour 
has been deem'd a Secret in the Cure of 
Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Steel-waters have 
proved very beneficial to some; Spruce-beer 
is also a good Balsamick in such a Case; 
and soft Malt Liquors are preferable to 
Wines. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys terminate 
sometimes in a Schirrus, or large Stone. But 
a sudden Remission of the Pain, with cold 
Sweats, a weak and intermitting Pulse, Hick- 
up, no Urine, or in very small Quantity, 
black and fœtid, are sure Signs of a Mortifica- 
tion and ensuing Death. 
Regimen.
The Regimen of those who are 
subject to nephritick Disorders may be  
in some measure collected from what has been 
above-mention'd; and such ought to be ex- 
tremely careful of the Choice of their Li- 
quors; for sharp Wines which abound with 
Tartar, are very hurtful; soft Malt Liquors, 
not stale, are certainly much better to be 
made use of, and some of the softest diure- 
tick Substances often mention'd already; and 
to avoid acrimonious Things in their Food, 
use moderate Exercise, and not lie too hot, 
soft; nor much upon the Back. 
Of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 409
Of an Apoplexy. 
This Distemper is a sudden Sus- 
pension of all the Senses, both ex-  
ternal and internal, and a Privation of all 
voluntary Motion, by the Stoppage of the 
Flux or Reflux of the animal Spirits through 
the Nerves destin'd for those Motions, com- 
monly attended with a strong Pulse, and dif-
ficult Breathing, with Snoaring, together 
with an Appearance of a deep and continual 
Sleep. 
Definition.
The most common Causes of A- 
poplexies are a particular Conforma- 
tion of the Body, as a short Neck; for there 
are some Persons who have fewer Vertebræ 
in their Necks than others; polypous Concre- 
tions of the Blood, an inflammatory Spissi- 
tude of it, a thick, glutinous, or pituitous 
Blood, and a dull Inactivity of the whole 
Mass; a gross, plethorick, fat, or phlegma- 
tick Constitntion; whatever hinders the Mo- 
tion of the Blood thro' the Arteries of the 
Brain, as Tumours arising within the Cra- 
nium, or Polypus's, especially about the 
Heart, attended most commonly with an 
unequal Pulse, a Vertigo, and sometimes a 
momentary Loss of the Eye-sight; old Age, 
attended with a glutinous, cold, catarrhous, 
leucophlegmatick Constitution; for in suck 
the Forerunners of an Apoplexy are, Dulness, 
Inactivity, Drowsiness, Sleepiness, Slowness 
The Causes.
of

410 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
of Speech, and giving Answers, Vertigoes, 
Tremblings, Oppressions in Sleeping, Night- 
Mares, Weakness, Wateryness, and Turgi- 
dity of the Eyes, a great Fulness of Blood, 
with its Velocity increased by Heat and vio- 
lent Motion, a high Diet, and Spirituous Li- 
quors, a partial and imperfect Circulation of 
the Blood towards the lower Parts; the 
Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity, or 
Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain, 
which is the most common and immediate 
Cause of Apoplexy; violent Passions and 
Affections of the Mind. The immediate Fore- 
runners of an Apoplexy are most commonly 
a Vertigo, Staggering, Loss of Memory, Stu- 
por, Sleepiness, a Noise in the Ears, and a 
deep and laborious Breathing. To these 
may be added, Extravasations of the Blood or 
Serum from Contusions or Concussions, oc- 
casion'd by external Violence, and an innu- 
merable other latent Causes. 
The Division of Apoplexies into sanguine- 
ous and pituitous is of Use, but then it is not 
an exact and perfect Division; because there 
are other Kinds, viz. serous, atrabilarious, 
and polypous Apoplexies, &c. 
Prognosticks. 
A slight Fit of an Apoplexy is 
carried off by a plentiful, warm, 
and equable Sweat, a great Discharge of thick 
Urine, a Flux of the Piles, or of the Men- 
ses, by a Looseness, or a great Fever coming 
upon it. If the Apoplexy be more severe, 
it usually terminates in a paralytick Disorder
of 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 411
of some Part of the Body, or of all one Side, 
which is called a Hemiplegia; or sometimes of 
all the Body below the Head, which is called 
Paraplegia, and is seldom curable, but al- 
ways leaves behind it a great Defect of Me- 
mory, Judgment and Motion. An exquisite 
Apoplexy soon carries off the Patient; it is 
seldom known that they live beyond the se- 
venth Day. 
The Cure is to be varied ac- 
cording to the Difference of the 
Causes; for if occasion'd by a cold 
phlegmatick Cause, we ought immediately to 
endeavour that the Pressure of the glutinous 
Siziness may be diverted from the Head, by 
Derivation into other and opposite Parts, and 
universal Evacuations: for this Intention, 
Blisters, Causticks, Frictions, Ligatures, Anti- 
phlegmaticks, sneezing Medicines, and all 
sharp and stimulating ones are to be used, as 
Emeticks, strong Purges, and sharp purging 
Glysters. 
Yet in the Use of all these the Mischief is 
oftentimes increased, the Matter being there- 
by more violently moved and afterwards fix'd, 
and the Strength sinking under the Evacua- 
tions; therefore in endeavouring a Resolu- 
tion, we ought to insist upon Evacuations and 
Revulsions, as much as the Case will bear;
whence the Rule of Hippocrates, Bleeding 
except it relieves, kills; and Celsus says, that 
it kills or cures. But if the Apoplexy pro- 
ceeds from a hot Cause, and that the Dis-
The Cure va- 
rious.
temper

412 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
temper seems inflammatory, then presently 
take a large Quantity of Blood out of the 
Jugular Veins, and repeat it as often as there 
is Occasion; by which, if the Distemper is 
curable, some Relief will arise. A Loose- 
ness is by all means to be promoted, and we 
are to give Diluters, Attenuants and Diure- 
ticks at the same time, keeping the Patient 
as much as we can out of Bed, especially 
from lying down. 
As the Applications in the Fit are of a 
medicinal Kind, it being too acute a Disease 
to admit of any Helps from Diet, yet that 
may be of great Use for Prevention; there- 
fore a thin, slender, cool, and regular Diet, 
opposite to the particular Symptoms above- 
mention'd, will be useful; so that the Regi- 
men is to be varied according to the Cause 
of the Disease, which may be collected from 
the Constitution of the Patient in these Apo- 
plexies, which depend upon a sanguineous 
Cause; the Regimen prescrib'd in a sangui- 
neous Constitution, in Part II. of this Trea- 
tise is proper. Fat and phlegmatick People, 
who are very subject to this Distemper, ought 
to give Attention to the Rules set down in 
the same Place, in their Case; and as there 
are Apoplexies from inveterate Gouts, the Re- 
gimen of such must be different from both, 
as I shall explain hereafter in treating of the 
Gout, the Intention being to translate the 
Gouty Matter upon the Extremities of the 
Body: and all those who have a Disposition
to 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 413
to this Distemper, ought never to go to Bed 
with a full Stomach, nor to lie with their 
Head low. 
CHAP IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers.
Of a Palsy. 
A Palsy is a Resolution or Relaxa- 
tion of the nervous Parts from
their natural Tone, by which means their 
Motion and Sense, either one, or both, all 
over the Body, or in some particular Part or 
Parts, are impair'd, so as to be unable to exert 
their natural Functions. 
Definition. 
The best Rules of Diet in this 
Disease are taken from the Know- 
ledge of its Causes; for whatever stops either 
the Flux of the Spirits, or that of the Blood 
to any Part, induces a Palsy, for both are 
necessary for Sensation and Motion; such are 
all the Causes of an Apoplexy, an Epilepsy, 
extreme and lasting Pains, the Suppression 
of usual Evacuations, either natural or mor- 
bid, Translations of diseased Matter in acute 
Distempers, whatever distends, distorts, com- 
presses, or contracts the Nerves; strong and 
The Causes.
strait

414 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strait Ligatures, Luxations, Fractures, any 
Inflammation in the Integument, or mem- 
branaceous Sheath of a Nerve, especially in 
the Plexus, where they are tied together; 
likewise serous Defluxions, Excess in astrin- 
gent Aliment, chiefly unripe Fruits, drink- 
ing too much warm Water, is weakening 
and relaxing; also Excess in Tea or Coffee; 
extreme Heat or Cold, poisonous Fumes of 
Arsenick or Mercury. 
This Distemper is more or less dangerous 
according to the Cause, or the Extent and 
Seat of the Disease; for when the original of 
it is in the Brain, it is most dangerous; when 
it seizes the Heart or Organs of Breathing, it 
is fatal; because Life cannot be continued a 
Moment without the Use of those Parts. 
Difficult to 
cure.
A Palsy succeeding an Apoplexy, 
Convulsions, the Colick, and 
other Affections of the Brain or 
nervous System, if it does not grow better in 
a little time, or give Way to Medicines, it 
commonly remains incurable. 
Regimen.
The Regimen in this Distemper 
should be warm, attenuating, con- 
sisting of spicy and cephalick Vegetables, such 
as produce a feverish Heat; because such are 
necessary to resolve the Viscosity of the 
Fluids. Of such as consist likewise of an 
acrid, volatile Salt and Oil, as Mustard, 
Horse-Radish, &c. stimulating by Vomits, 
sneezing, relaxing the Belly by purging, and 
diluting strongly at the same time, promoting 
Sweat


415 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
Sweat by such Motions as can be used, or 
other Means, and strong Frictions are here 
very useful; but Bleeding is to be used or 
omitted according to the Symptoms which 
affect the Brain: It relieves indeed, in any 
inflammatory Disposition of the Coat of a 
Nerve, yet it is not convenient in general for 
all Persons; for some Paralyticks are cold, 
and others of a hot Constitution; therefore 
Remedies ought to be of a different Kind, as 
is usual in the Scurvy itself. 
The most noted Medicines in this Case, 
are of Vipers, Amber, Earth-worms, Wood- 
lice, Emets, Antimonials, Mercurials, Steel 
Preparations, the Antiscorbutick Juices,
with compound Horse-radish Water, and Juice 
of Oranges, Gum Guaiacum, Tincture of 
Amber, Spirit of Hartshorn with Amber, 
Bezoar Mineral, &c. And externally, Fo- 
mentations, Liniments, Cupping-glasses, Bli- 
sters, nettling the Members affected; also 
putting the relax'd Part into Grains, after the 
Wort is drawn off, or into the Belly of a 
Beast newly killed; or lastly, an artificial or 
natural Bath, as that in Somersetshire; like- 
wise Issues and Setons are proper in this Case. 
Of an Hemiplegia and a Paraplegia. 
A Hemiplegia is when only half of the 
Head, and of the rest of the Body on that 
Side is affected, after the manner of an Apo- 
plexy.
A 


416 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Paraplegia or Paraplexia, is, when the 
whole Body, except the Head, is affected by 
reason of the Spinal Marrow's being ob- 
structed; and more commonly this and a 
Hemiplegia are secondary Distempers, tho' 
sometimes they are primary; Sense and Mo- 
tion, or both, are either entirely lost, or 
much impaired. 
When either of those Distempers imme- 
diately follow an Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and o- 
ther Diseases, they are commonly called Pal-
sies; but a Palsy is a different Distemper, as 
plainly appears by what has been said of it 
already.
The Cure. 
Vomiting and purging are proper 
in all Paraplegia's, to cleanse the 
first Passages; and Bleeding is necessary in 
plethorick Bodies. In the next Place Sudo- 
risicks are very useful, mix'd with Specificks; 
a Decoction of Sassafras with Rosemary and 
Juniper-Berries is very proper; and for the 
rest of the internal Medicines for the Cure of 
these two Distempers, use those directed in 
an Apoplexy and Palsy. A Fomentation 
made with a Decoction of Emets and their 
Hillocks in common Water, used every Day 
to paralytick Limbs, often proves very bene- 
ficial, and sometimes procures present Re- 
lief, by restoring the Parts to their natural 
Strength. 
Of

417 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Of the Epilepsy or Falling-sickness. 
An Epilepsy is a Convulsion or 
convulsive Motion of the whole 
Body, or of some of its Parts, with the Loss 
of both internal and external Senses, attended 
with violent Concussions and reciprocal invo-
luntary Motions of all or some of the Muscles,
with alternate Rest, and new Insults thereof. 
It is called the Falling-sickness, because the 
Persons affected with it fall suddenly upon the 
Ground. 
The Definition.
The Causes of this Distemper are 
various; sometimes an hereditary 
or Family Disposition from Parents; 
a sudden Fright of the Mother when with 
Child of the Patient; an ill Affection of the 
Brain by Wounds, Bruises, Blows, or Con- 
tusions; Abscesses, acrimonious Serum, bony 
Excrescencies of the Inside of the Skull, its 
pressing down upon the Brain; Inflammation, 
Corruption, or Corrosion of the Meninges or 
Membranes of the Brain; Repletion or Ful- 
ness, Heat, Drunkenness, intense Study, Ter- 
ror; all violent Affections and Irritations of the 
Nerves in any Part of the Body; especially 
by acrimonious Things in the Stomach or 
Bowels, by Worms, by Teething, and Aci-
dity in the Stomach in Infants; by some 
Contagion or purulent Matter after acute 
Diseases; likewise by Suppression of usual 
Evacuations, as the Menses, Piles, and Urine, 
&c. also by hysterical Affections contracted
The Causes 
various. 
Dd by 


418 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
by Accidents in Lying-in; and often by too 
great Inanition or Weakness, occasioned by 
want of due Nourishment; by Fragments or 
Splinters of Bones, or sharp Instruments 
hurting the Meninges or Brain, or Quicksilver 
carried thither any how; by the Caries of a 
Bone, black Choler, or venereal Ulcers cor- 
rupting or corroding the Meninges or any Part 
of the Brain.  
Hence it is evident, that different Medi- 
cines and different Indications are requisite to 
cure this Disease, according to the known 
Variety of the Cause, the peccant Matter, 
and the Place to which the Remedy ought to 
be applied, and by which the Evil is to be 
eradicated: Hence likewise is sufficiently ex- 
posed the Vanity of the celebrated Specificks 
and Methods, which boasting idle People do 
brag of in this Disease. 
And it is also evident, that the proximate 
Cause of all true Epilepsies is always the too 
great Action of the Brain upon the Nerves 
serving for Motion, and the Privation of that 
in the Nerves dedicated to Sensation; and 
that the Causes which create the reciprocal 
Paroxysms are many in Number and Va- 
riety. 
The Cure.
The Intentions in the Cure of 
this Disease must be different, ac-  
cording to the Cause, as I have just now ob- 
served: Bleeding and plentiful Evacuations, 
when there is a Plethora or inflammatory Dis- 
position in the Brain, are necessary; and Ali- 
ments


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 419
ments that are without Acrimony, demulcent, 
avoiding every thing which stimulates, and 
taking such Things as are opposite to the par- 
ticular Acrimony that causes the Distemper; 
relaxing the Belly without irritating. In acute 
and periodical Pains to take anodyne Sub- 
stances; but if the Disease be the Conser 
quence of an hysterical Disposition, a warmer 
Regimen is necessary, in which Case anti- 
hysterick Medicines are proper. If the Cause 
is in the Stomach, generally Anti-acids re- 
lieve; if they are not flatulent or windy, se- 
veral have been cured by a Milk Diet; but 
in Case of Acidity in the Stomach it will do 
Harm. When the irritating Cause is in some 
outward Part of the Body, it is proper to e- 
radicate it by Suppuration; if it proceeds 
from Gnawings and Irritations of Worms, 
Teeth, sharp Humours turning Milk sour 
and curdled like Cheese, or any other Acid 
in Infants, Diacodium or Diascordium given 
them unseasonably, or the Contagion of the 
Small-pox in the first State: Hence the tes- 
taceous Powders, Anodynes, Paregoricks, An- 
tihystericks, all Medicines against Worms, and 
a seasonable Cutting of the Gums, and car- 
rying off the acrimonious Matter from the 
Bowels by gentle Purges; then all these, I 
say, become, by their Operation, Anti-epilep-
tick Medicines. 
But if the Cause proceeds from a Stoppage 
of the usual Evacuations, as the Menses, 
Cleansings in Women, the Piles, or Urine, &c. 
Dd2 it

420 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it may be remedied by dissolving the viscid 
Matter, and opening the Obstructions: In 
this Case Blisters, Issues made with Causticks, 
Steel Preparations, forcing Medicines, such as 
provoke the Menses and open the Piles, and 
Diureticks are all proper. 
An Epilepsy from Inanition or Weakness 
may be cured by a nourishing Diet, easy of 
Digestion, and a proper Use of nervine Me- 
dines; and the following are reckon'd amongst
the anti-epileptick Specificks; Native Cinna- 
bar, Wild Valerian, Male Piony Roots and 
Seeds, Flowers of Lilies of the Vallies, Seeds 
of Rue, Misletoe of the Oak, Castor, Cam- 
phire, Rosemary, Earth-worms prepared, the 
Gum and Wood of Guaiacum, the Salt and 
Oil of Amber, Peacocks Dung, with a great 
many more too tedious to enumerate in this 
Place. 
Epilepticks ought to breath in a pure Air, 
untainted with any Steams, even such as are 
very fragrant; and their Diet should be nou- 
rishing, of easy Digestion, avoiding Hogs 
Flesh, Water Fowls, and all Vegetables that 
are pungent, windy, and, generally speaking, 
all Fruits, especially Nuts; they should use 
but little Wine, and none if they have not 
been accustomed to it; they ought not to 
turn round nor stand on Precipices, to keep 
regular Hours for Eating and Sleeping, for 
every unusual Thing is a Stimulus: But of 
all Things, the most necessary is to avoid the 
Occa-

421 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Occasions of violent Passions of the Mind, 
and keeping themselves chearful. 
Of Melancholy Madness. 
That Disease is called by Physicians a Me- 
lancholy, under which the Patient labours long, 
and is obstinately delirious without a Fever, 
and always intent upon one and the same 
Thought. 
This Disease arises from that Malignity in 
the Blood and Humours, which the Ancients 
have called Black Choler; and tho' this Dis- 
ease begins in the Mind, yet it renders the 
Choler black in the Body very soon. 
It will be therefore necessary to give a small 
Sketch of this wonderful Disease, the Doc- 
trine of which is supposed to be so obscure, 
that Antiquity is unjustly blamed for it. 
If the most fluid Parts of all the Blood be 
dissipated, and leave the less moveable united 
in the Body, then will the Blood become 
thick, black, fat, and earthy; and this Defect 
is called by the Name of an atrabilarian 
Humour, or melancholy Juice. 
The Cause whereof is whatever 
expels the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood, and fixes the rest: A violent Exercise 
of the Mind; the dwelling Night and Day 
upon one and the same Object; a constant 
Wakefulness; great Motions of the Mind, 
whether Joy or Sorrow; great and laborious 
Motions of the Body, often repeated, chiefly 
in a very hot and dry Air; to these may be 
The Causes.
Dd3 refer'd

422 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
refer'd immoderate Venery; rough, hard, 
dry, earthy Aliments, long used without 
Motion or Exercise of the Body to digest 
them; the like Drink; Parts of Animals 
dried in Smoak, Air, or Salt, chiefly of old 
and tough ones; unripe Fruits, and mealy 
and unfermented Substances; astringent coa- 
gulating, sticking, and cooling Medicines, and 
slow Poisons of the same Nature; hot Fevers 
hanging about long, often returning without 
a good Crisis, and going off without the Help 
of diluting Means. 
When this Evil, already bred in the Blood, 
and produced by the abovementioned Causes, 
does yet infect equally all the circulating Mass 
of Humours, it will produce some Diseases, 
which will appear immediately, and are most- 
ly as follow: The Colour of the Patient in- 
ternally and externally is first paler, yellower, 
and more tawny; livid, black with like 
Spots; the Pulse flower; the Circulation 
through the Blood-vessels free, more sparing 
through the Side-vessels and less free; hence 
a slower, less, and thicker Separation of all 
the secretory and excretory Humours, and a 
less Wasting of them; a lessen'd Appetite; a 
Leanness, Sorrowfulness, Love of Solitude, 
all the Affections of the Mind violent and 
lasting; an Indifferency to all other Matters;
a Laziness as to Motion, and yet a very great 
and earnest Application to any Sort of Study 
or Labour.
Its 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 423 
Its Matter therefore is the Earth and thick 
Oil of the Blood united and closed up toge- 
ther, which is worse in its Effects, and more 
difficult to cure, according to its Degrees of 
Fluidity, Softness, Dryness, Thickness, inti- 
mate Mixture, and Time of being so. Hence 
the Diagnosticks and Prognosticks are plain 
enough, and the Rationality of the Cure does 
also occur easy enough from these Principles. 
Thus far I have transcribed the learned Boer- 
haave's Sentiments of this Distemper. 
The atrahilarian Constitution, or a black, 
viscous pitchy Consistence of the Fluids, 
which most frequently produces this Disease, 
makes all the Secretions difficult and sparing; 
the Intention therefore ought to be to render 
the Humours fluid, moveable, and carry them 
out of the Body, especially the Bile, which is 
viscous; but Sudorificks are not here so pro- 
per, because they thicken. 
Therefore the Diet prescrib'd, Chap. VIII. 
Part II. in an atrabilarian Constitution, is very 
proper in this Case, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
The learned Author just now mentioned 
relates an Instance of a Patient, who, by a 
long Use of Whey, Water, and ripe Garden- 
Fruits, evacuated a great Quantity of black 
Matter, or Choler, and recover'd entirely his 
Senses. Cold Bathing, and especially a sud- 
den Immersion into the Sea, has produced 
very good Effects by acting upon the Nerves 
and Spirits. 
Dd4 Madness

424 A Guide to Health Part III. 
Madness proceeding from a Plethora, or 
too great Fulness in young, strong, hale Peo- 
ple of a hot Constitution, is cured by plenti- 
ful Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, and other 
Evacuations, with Diluters; and the Weak- 
ness which succeeds Madness requires a more 
refreshing and warm Diet, and especially the 
Use of Chalybeat or Steel Waters. 
If this Distemper continues long, it pro- 
duces Foolishness, Epilepsies, Apoplexies, fu- 
rious Madness, Convulsions, Blindness, won- 
derful Fancies; for some will imagine them- 
selves to be Beasts, or to be earthen Vessels, 
or they will fancy themselves dead; others 
will crow like a Cock, believing themselves 
to be such a Creature; others laugh, sing, 
cry, sigh, groan and belch; others obstinate- 
ly refuse to eat any Victuals, as believing they 
are actually dead; some think themselves 
Kings, Prophets; others a Grain of Wheat, 
Grass, or Wax: Sometimes they have great 
Evacuations of Urine, clear like fair Water;
at other times very thick; a Retention, 
mulation, and often a sudden Excretion of 
bloody Fæces in the Vessels of the abdominal 
Viscera or Belly; an obstinate Costiveness, 
with a thin and frequent Spitting, and they 
can endure to be without Sleep, Aliment, or 
Fire, even to a Wonder. 
This Distemper grows worse upon taking 
Medicines that weaken and evacuate roughly, 
or such as put the Fluids into a violent Mo- 
tion; therefore the curative Indications will 
be

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 425
be to bring the Fluids of the Brain and 
Nerves into a good Order; by withdrawing, 
first, the Mind from the usual Object to 
others contrary to the same, and raising art- 
fully, if possible, another Passion of the Mind, 
contrary to the melancholy one; by siding 
sometimes with them in their false and de- 
prav'd Fancies, or often opposing the same 
with great Force. 
Secondly, By opening, softening, inciding, 
and stimulating the Obstructions, or the 
Cause, or the EfFects of a false Imagination, 
with Mineral Waters, Whey, Water and 
Honey, Splanchnick, Hepatick, or Anti-hypo- 
chondriack Medicines and Decoctions; like- 
wise Waters made with the Addition of lixi~ 
vious or compound Salts, especially Nitre; 
also loosening Mercurials, Vomits, Motions, 
Exercise, and Riding; and Medicines which 
cleanse and purge the Womb, or the Piles, 
Bathings, Ointments and Plasters, and easing 
the Symptoms by Bleeding, plunging into 
cold Water, and using Carminatives and Opi- 
ates sometimes. 
Of Madness from the Bite of a Mad Dog, or 
any other Creature, called Hydrophobia. 
The Fury or Madness mostly proceeding 
from the Bite of Mad-Dogs is call'd Dog- 
Madness; and from that terrible Symptom of 
dreading Water, an Hydrophobia.
It

426 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
It almost ever arises from other Animals, 
which were first mad, and that by Contagion; 
tho' also sometimes of its own accord in some 
acute Fevers, as has been observed, and is 
well attested. Almost all sorts of Animals 
may be affected with this Evil, and by their 
Contagion infect others, and even Men. 
Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Foxes, Horses, Asses, 
Mules, Oxen, Sows, Monkies, Turkey-cocks, 
and Men, all these being first mad themselves, 
have communicated the same Madness to 
others; but it is common to none so fre- 
quently as to Dogs, Wolves and Foxes, and 
it invades these chiefly from inward Causes, 
without catching it from any others. 
A hot Country, open and exposed to vio- 
lent Heats, or to very cold raw Weather; 
hot and dry Weather long continued; the 
living upon rotten, stinking and worm-eaten 
Meat; Want of Drink; Worms grown in 
the Kidneys, Guts, Brain, or the Inside of 
the Nostrils; all these are preceding Causes 
of Madness in Animals just now mentioned. 
The Symptoms of a Person infected with 
this Poison, after different Distances of Time, 
are much in the following Manner: The 
Place where he was bit pains him; then fol- 
low wandering uncertain Pains in other, but 
chiefly the nearest Parts; a Weariness, Hea- 
viness, and Slowness succeed in the whole 
System of the Muscles; his Sleeps are disturb- 
ed, uneasy, all with Frights, Convulsions and 
Catchings in the Tendons; he is continually 
restless,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 427 
restless, sighs, looks dejected, and affects to be 
alone; and it is much after this Manner that 
this Disease begins and finishes its first Stage. 
Then all the foregoing Symptoms are in- 
creased, and there follows besides a prodigious 
Narrowness and Pressure about the Heart and 
Chest, Breathing is difficult, and accompanied 
with Sighs; he frequently shakes all over; his 
Hair stands an end, and trembles all over at 
the Sight of Water, or any sort of Liquors, 
or even at the Sight of transparent Things, or 
reflecting like Looking-Glasses; he loses his 
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow any 
thing that is very dry and solid: The Touch of 
any Moisture, chiefly with his Lips or Tongue, 
creates an incredible Anguish, Tremors, vio- 
lent Convulsions, and a Raving; he vomits 
tawny glewish Choler, or green, like Leeks;
he grows very hot, feverish, sleepless; is trou- 
bled with a Priapism; and he thinks disor- 
derly of Things quite foreign and unusual.
Thus it goes on, and here ends its Second 
Stage. 
But afterwards every thing grows constant- 
ly worse; for he soon lolls out his rough 
and dry Tongue, gapes wide, speaks hoarse, 
has a great Drought, grows raving and fu- 
rious at every Attempt to drink, and at the 
Sight or Touch of all Drinkables and Liquors; 
he gathers Froth in and about his Mouth, 
endeavouring the spitting of the same upon 
the By-standers, and that even against his 
Will; bites and snaps at every thing within 
his

428 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
his Reach, and that likewise involuntarily, 
nor yet to be witheld from those; he gnashes 
his Teeth with Froth, snarling like a Dog; 
his Pulse and Breathing begin to fail, cold 
Sweats break out on all Sides; he raves in 
the highest Degree, notwithstanding which 
he is all the while sensible, and is afraid that 
he shall unwillingly hurt the By-standers. 
Hence you may always reckon upon his 
dying (within the fourth Day from the first 
State of his Illness, convulsed with a most 
terrible Anguish upon drawing his Breath. 
As Brevity, and the want of Leisure and 
Room at present, oblige me to proceed to the 
Method of Cure without any farther Disqui- 
sition about the Nature of this dreadful Con- 
tagion, I present the Reader with the follow- 
ing short, easy, and in all Probability the most 
infallible Method hitherto discover'd. 
A French Physician of the University of 
Bourdeaux, and a Gentleman of Note and 
great Merit in his Profession, has publish'd a 
Treatise * some few Years ago, in which 
there is a Dissertation on the Hydrophobia, 
wherein he candidly communicates a very 
rational Method of curing this terrible Con- 
tagion, after a new and easy manner, of 
which he has made several Trials, and always 
with the desir'd Success, as may be seen in 
his own Treatise at large; therefore as this 
Remedy
* Dr. Desault's Treatise translated from the French, by 
John Andree, M. D. and printed for John Clarke, under the 
Royal-Exchange, Cornhill, 1738. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 429
Remedy he proposes (in all human Probabi- 
lity,) may prove successful and certain, (at 
least it bids the fairest of any hitherto known 
in the Art of Physick for that desirable End) 
I thought proper and necessary to communi- 
cate the same to my Readers, in order to 
impart it to all their Friends and Acquaint- 
ance. 
The Remedy consists of a Powder called 
Palmarius's Powder, and an Ointment made 
in the following manner. 
The Powder. 
Take of the Leaves of Rue, Vervain, 
Sage of Virtue, Plantane, Polypody, 
common Wormwood, Mint, Baum, 
Betony, St. John's Wort, lesser Cen- 
taury and Coraline, of each equal 
Parts; mix them, and reduce them 
to a Powder. 
The Ointment. 
Take one third Part of Mercury reviv'd 
from Cinnabar, one third Part of hu- 
man Fat, and as much of Hog's 
Lard, mix all very well till all the 
mercurial Globules disappear. 
Here I give you the Author's Method in 
administering the Powder and Ointment in 
his own Words.
'I

430 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'I order one Dram of the Powder (says 
he) 'in White-Wine every Morning; and 
'Persons of the fair Sex, who cannot bear 
'Wine, take it in a Draught of warm Wa- 
'ter. 
'In this Method I continue 30 Days with 
'those who have been bit in an uncover'd 
'Place, or have receiv'd some considerable 
'Wound by the Bite; but to those who have 
'been bit in a Place that was cover'd, and 
'had only a few Holes made with the Teeth, 
'I give the Powder only 20 Days. 
'From the first Day of using the Powder, 
'I make them administer a Friction of one 
'or two Drams of the Ointment upon the 
'Wound and neighbouring Part, and spread 
'the Ointment all over the Part that was 
'wounded. 
'The Friction is repeated every other Day 
'in the beginning, and after the third time, 
'every third Day; after the 6th, every 4th, 
'till two or three Ounces of the Ointment 
'have been used; the Quantity of which 
'ought to be proportion'd to the Strength, 
'Age, Temperament, Sex, the Bite, &c. 
'But when the Patient comes to me seve- 
'ral Days after the Bite, for fear of Acci- 
'dent, and to prevent the Rabies or Mad- 
'ness, I order to make the Frictions every 
'Day to four or five times, and increase the 
'Dose of the Powder sometimes to half a 
'Dram; afterwards I leave a Day or two be- 
'tween to avoid a Salivation, which might 
'ensue

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 431
'ensue from the daily use of the Ointment, 
'altho' but a particular Friction. 
'In the last Place, I let him keep his 
'usual Meals, forbidding him all Excess; for 
'Experience proves, that they increase all 
'other contagious Distempers. I let him 
'drink Wine with moderation: I take Care 
'that they be not left alone, and desire their 
'Relations and Friends to keep them Com- 
'pany, forbidding them to mention Madness 
'to them, or mad Creatures. 
A more circumstantial Account of this 
Method may be seen in the Author's own 
Observations, to which I refer the Reader; 
but here I cannot omit observing, that if 20 
or 30 Grains of native Cinnabar were added 
to every Dose of the Powder, the Cure might 
be thereby perform'd with much greater 
Certainty. As for his directing to make the 
Ointment with human Fat, &c. it is need- 
less; for the common strong salivating Oint- 
ment, which is always ready prepar'd in the 
Shops, is every bit as good, if not better. 
The Experiments of the ingenious Dr. 
James seem to confirm the Efficacy of the 
above Method, at leasst that of Mercury, in 
curing the Bite of a mad Dog; wherefore I 
beg leave to transcribe Part of the Conclusion 
to his New Method of preventing and curing 
the Madness caused by the Bite of a mad Dog, 
laid before the Royal-Society, 1741. 
'Firft I would (says he) rub into the 
'Place wounded as soon as possible, a Dram 
'of

432 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'of the Ointment recommended by Desault. 
'I would then give Turpeth Mineral by 
'Way of Vomit, in a Dose proportion'd to 
'the Age and Constitution of the Patient;
'and this I would repeat more than once, at 
'Intervals, which would secure it from rais- 
'ing a Salivation, always remembring to rub 
'the Wound once in a Day, or oftener, with 
'the Mercurial Ointment. 
'But when thro' Neglect, any Symptoms 
'of approaching Madness should appear, I 
'would increase the Quantity of Mercurial 
'Ointment, and give Mercury in some Form. 
'or other internally, in as large Doses, and 
'those as often repeated as could be done, 
'without hazarding the Patient by a Saliva- 
'tion too precipitate. 
'In both Cases I would recommend the 
'Cold-Bath, as a Thing of great Conse- 
'quence, as soon as ever the Patient can 
'make Use of it without Danger; but in 
'this Case, as in all others, many accidental 
'Circumstances will occur, for which it is 
'impossible to lay down universal Rules; it 
'must therefore be left to the Prudence of a 
'Physician to guard against, and remedy In- 
'conveniencies arising from particular Acci- 
'dents. 
Of the Scurvy. 
It is impossible to define this Distemper by 
Words, containing any simple or distinct 
Idea; for it is rather a Name used to signify 
a

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 433
a Multitude of Symptoms, different and 
sometimes opposite in their Causes and Cures. 
It is a Disease affecting the Inha- 
bitants of cold Countries, and a- 
mong those, such of them as inhabit marshy, 
fat, low, moist Soils, near stagnating Wa- 
ters, fresh or Salt; and it invades chiefly in 
the Winter Season, such as lead a sedentary 
Life, or live upon salted and smoaked Flesh 
and Fish, or Quantities of unfermented 
mealy Vegetables, and drink bad Water; and 
likewise such as are Hysterical or Hypochon- 
driacal, and sometimes such as have taken.
great Quantities of the Bark, without pro- 
per Evacuations; so that from these Causes 
the best Rules for Prevention may be taken. 
The Cause. 
The Symptoms of this Distemper are a 
spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weari- 
ness, being unrefreshed by Sleep, laborious 
Breathing upon small Motion, cold Swellings 
in the Legs, going off and returning; some- 
times Paleness, or a livid Colour in the Face, 
Spots on the Skin of various Colours, as red, 
violet-colour'd, yellow, or livid; oftentimes 
an ill Smell in the Mouth, and of the Breath, 
painful and bleeding Corrosions of the Gums, 
and by these Means the Teeth grow bare and 
loose; Fluxes of all Sorts, untractable Ul- 
cers, especially in the Legs, with a gangre- 
nous Appearance in the Skin; the Itch, dry 
and crusty Eruptions, and sometimes a small 
Degree of Leprosy; the Blood when taken 
away is black, grumous, and the red Part 
Ee without

434 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
without a due Consistence; the Serum very 
salt, and of a yellowish green; wandering 
Pains in the Limbs, increasing when warm 
in Bed, and sometimes a feverish Heat. 
These Symptoms arise from a bad Tem- 
perature of the Blood, either too thin, or too 
thick, being of a saline Constitution, either 
from an acid, alkaline, or Muriatick Cause, 
which requires very different and oftentimes 
contrary Remedies; for which Reason, See 
Part II. Chap. VIII. where I have treated of 
acid and alkaline Constitutions. 
The Scurvy of Seafaring People is generally 
cur'd by Acids, such as all Sorts of ripe 
Fruits, Lemons, Oranges, Butter-Milk; but 
all alkaline Spirits do harm; and acid Spirits, 
as that of Salt and Nitre are proper for 
them. If the Symptoms are attended with 
an ill Smell of any kind, either in the Mouth, 
Breath, or Urine, with Drought, Heat, 
Bleeding of the Gums, or of any kind, such 
a Disease will be cur'd by the Use of Acids, 
and none better than Whey; and in this Sort of 
Scurvy Steel Waters are commonly effectual. 
But if the Scurvy be muriatick or briny, 
occafion'd by a Diet of sait Flesh or Fish, the 
Plants commonly called Antiscorbutick, as 
Water-cresses, Scurvy-grass, and Brooklime, 
may be taken with Success, but always 
mix'd with Acids, as the Juice of Lemons 
and Oranges; and all the Pot-Herbs which 
are antiacid, as describ'd in Part II. Chap. VI. 
are a proper Diet in this Case; but if there 
be

435 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
be a high Degree of Heat and Inflammation,
all the hot Antiscorbuticks will be very im- 
proper. 
When a Patient is pale, cool without 
Thirst, with pale or natural colour'd Urine, 
and has made Use of an acescent Diet for any- 
time, that the Eruptions are not of a high 
inflammatory or livid Colour, then the warm 
Antiscorbuticks, animal Food, and Salts are 
necessary. 
In the Scurvy great Attention should be 
always given to the Condition of the Mouth,
Gums and Teeth, from which the Nature 
and Degree of the Distemper may be pretty 
Well known. 
All sharp and strong Purges injure scorbu- 
tick Constitutions; but Lenitives are of great 
Service, and Bleeding is not proper, unless 
where the Symptoms are urgent and inflam- 
matory.
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body.
A Cachexy is so called from an ill 
Habit of the Body. It proceeds most 
commonly from the Intemperance of the 
Person, or the ill Cure of some preceding 
Disease; from a scirrhous Tumor of the Li- 
ver or Spleen, or from a too long and pro- 
fuse Flux of the Piles, or other Fluxes;
from long continual Fevers, or intermitting 
Fevers ill cur'd; from a Surfeit, or too plen- 
tiful use of spirituous Liquors; from the 
Causes. 
Ee2 Green- 

436 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Green-Sickness, from an Obstruction, or too 
great a Flux of the Menses; from Aliments 
of unfermented mealy Substances, as Pease, 
or such as are coarse, fibrous, fat, sharp, 
watry, and rough; from Bodies that cannot 
be digested at all, as Clay, Cinders, Chalk, 
Sand, Tobacco-pipes, Lime, &c. from a 
Defect of animal Motion in lazy and idle 
People, and such as sleep too much. 
Signs. 
The Diagnostick Signs are a Paleness 
of the Face, with a livid, yellow, 
greenish, or ruddy Colour; and frequently 
with a tumid or bloated Habit of Body, a 
Sluggishness; there is also often a slow Fever, 
scarce perceivable by the Person that has it. 
Cure.
The Cure is to be begun with a Vo- 
mit; but before a Vomit it will be ad- 
viseable to make use of saline Dlgestives to 
dissolve the Viscidities, as Cream of Tartar, 
vitriolated Tartar, Salt of Wormwood, Tin- 
cture of Salt of Tartar, Elixir Proprietatis 
with Tartar, and the absorbent testaceous 
Powders; but if an Emetick be not judged 
convenient in the Beginning, a Purge may 
be given, and repeated as need requires; and 
then after these Things have been done, we 
may advantageously proceed to the Use of 
Chalybeats, and Fuller's Ecphratick Mixture 
is a powerful Remedy in this Disorder. 
This Distemper sometimes disposes to Con-
sumptions, Bloatedness, and Dropsies, and is 
attended often with Palpitations of the Heart; 
therefore


437 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
therefore the Rules of Diet must be drawn 
from the Nature of the Symptoms. 
Of a Consumption. 
A Consumption is commonly defined to be 
a Wasting of the whole Body, arising from 
an Ulcer of the Lungs, but not justly; be- 
cause I have open'd the Bodies of several who 
died of this Distemper, whose Lungs I found 
without Ulcers, but full of Tubercles, Stones, 
and fabulous Matter; wherefore a Consump- 
tion is better defined to be a Wasting of the 
whole Body from a bad Conformation of the 
Lungs. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. Part II. 
Sect. I. Chap. 6. 
A Consumption, or Marasmus, is a Wasting 
of the whole Body, or some of its Parts, aris- 
ing from a Distemperature of the Fluids, or 
from their Defection, or an unequal and dis- 
proportionate Heat. Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
in his Theatrum Tabidorum, translated by 
Quincy, Page 135.
By these two last Definitions we see, that 
an Ulcer of the Lungs is neither the Ante- 
cedent, nor Concomitant Cause of a Con- 
sumption, but only a Symptom, as will evi- 
dently appear presently, in a few Passages ab- 
stracted from a Dissertation of a modern Au- 
thor *, supported by Reason and Observation, 
the surest and best Guides: afterwards I give 
the Reader his Method of curing this Di-
Ee3 stemper, 
* Dr. Desault's Dissertation upon Consumptions.


438 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
stemper, which I found in many Instances 
to answer the Intentions he proposes. 
Before I declare the Causes of a Consump- 
tion (says he) I thought proper to give a 
Description of them in behalf of such as are 
not of the Profession who may read this Disser- 
tation. 
A Consumption attacks Youth sooner than 
other Ages; that is, from 18 till the 35th Year 
it makes its principal Havock. Hippocrates, 
Aph. 9. Sect. 5. Not that the other Ages 
are exempted from it, since we see consump- 
tive People under and above the Time set 
down in the Aphorism; but not so often. 
1. Those who have a narrow Chest, a long 
Neck, high Shoulders, like Birds Wings, are 
most subject to it; of those Hippocrates 
speaks in his first Book of Epidemicks. 
2. Those who have the Misfortune of be- 
ing born of consumptive Parents are very 
subjed to it; for this Distemper has this in 
common with many others, that it is propa- 
gated by Inheritance. 
3. Such as are obliged to live with con- 
sumptive People, to wait on them, may con- 
tract it, if they are any ways inclin'd to it, 
for it is contagious; thus Women who attend 
their consumptive Husbands catch it of them, 
and Husbands of their Wives. 
The Disorder manifests itself, and makes 
its Progress in the following manner. The 
Patient seems to have a Cold, he is seiz'd 
with a dry Cough, which fatigues him most
at

439 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
at Night: Afterwards he brings up a well- 
digested Phlegm of a sweet Taste. 
Nevertheless as this Cough continues, as 
it exceeds the Bounds of a common Cold, as 
it goes daily increasing, as the Patient's Legs 
are observ'd to waste, and the rest of the 
Body in Proportion, as his Colour changes, 
and he grows pale and yellow, as the Phlegm 
changes Taste, and becomes a little bitterish, 
as some small Quantity of Blood is mix'd 
with it, as a slow Fever associates with it, 
with a Pain in the Breast, and in short, when 
he is at the Brink of the second Stage, he is
frighted, and very much alarm'd. 
Besides these Symptoms which Authors 
have taken Notice of, and which establish
the first Degree, I have always found a con- 
siderable Disorder in the Liver, so that an 
Obstruction in this Bowel plainly appear'd 
from its Hardness, and sometimes a great 
Pain. I am surpriz'd to see, that Authors 
have not taken Notice of this, which how- 
ever is a Symptom deserving of great At- 
tention, since it is of great Importance for 
the Discovery of the Cause of Consumptions, 
and of the Agreeableness of the Remedy I 
have to propose. 
Notwithstanding all the Remedies, Se- 
crets, and other Specificks, the Patient grows 
worse, and comes to the second Stage, which 
makes itself known by the Cough being 
stronger and more frequent by Night, by 
Night Sweats, which fatigue and drain the 
Ee4 Patient,

440 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Patient, by the Quantity of Blood in his Spit-
ting, and lastly he comes to spit Matter. 
The Leanness to which he was reduced by 
the first Degree, increases considerably in the 
second; the Fever, stronger and more violent, 
has even some Returns, with cold Shiverings, 
which encourages his taking the Bark regu- 
larly, to stop at least the Returns complicated 
with the slow Fever, and to continue the 
Medicines to heal the Ulcer, the Existence 
of which is no more to be doubted. His 
Nails grow crooked, and the Distemper, be- 
comes contagious in this Stage. 
Let us observe, that it is not always ne- 
cessary the Patient should spit Blood, to die 
consumptive; neither is it even necessary for 
the Patient to spit Pus to determine the Exis- 
tence of a Consumption, as I shall prove by 
Observations made at the opening of con- 
sumptive Bodies. The Cough, the Spitting 
of certain Phlegm without Blood or Pus, 
the Wasting, the nocturnal Sweats, and last- 
ly a Looseness, put an End to Life, it not 
being essential to this Distemper to spit Blood 
or Pus. 
The Patient at last comes to the third 
Stage; his Leanness is at the last Period; he 
resembles a Skeleton covered with a human 
Skin, which is hard, wrinkled, and rough; 
his Breath smells strong, and what he expec- 
torates stinks so that he loaths it; he brings 
up almost pure Matter, and his Life termi- 
nates with a Looseness.
Let 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 441
Let us now speak of the Causes of a Con- 
sumption: We shall divide them into con- 
comitant and antecedent. The concomitant 
Cause of a Consumption, I say, consists in  
Tubercles and Concretions form'd in the Sub- 
stance of the Lungs, and which are spread 
thro' its Lobes. These Concretions are like 
Hail-stones, and of different Dimensions. 
These Tubercles in the Lungs are real, 
and fall under the Cognizance of the Senses, 
and are no Supposition invented by a System- 
monger, to explain the easier his Hypothesis. 
That great Observator Hippocrates speaks of 
them in his Book de Morbis: He makes 
them of two Sorts; some crude, which do not 
suppurate; and others which suppurate, and 
leave an Ulcer. 
Etmuller, who has compiled the Opinions 
of the Moderns, has a whole Chapter de 
Tuberculis Pulmonum, Lib. II. Part. II. 
Cap. 8. p. 436. 
Read Morton's Book upon Consumptions, 
he never open'd a consumptive Body where 
he did not find them: He mentions them in 
almost every Passage; he imputes to them 
all the Disorder, and thinks they are the 
Source of all the Symptoms of a Consump- 
tion. 
Bonetus, in his Practical Anatomy, Lib. 2. 
Sect. 7. proposes several Observations collect- 
ed from Dissections of Bodies, where the Tu- 
bercles have been deemed the true Cause of 
a Consumption, and the Pus and Ulcers only 
as

442 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
as the Consequence of these same Tubercles 
suppurated and degenerated into Ulcers. 
But why should we look for Proofs in An- 
tiquity, why employ the Evidence of Fo- 
reigners? I appeal to all the Surgeons who 
have open'd consumptive Carcasses, and to 
the Physicians who have assisted thereat: 
Have they not regularly found in all these Tu- 
bercles, tho' less in Quantity in those who 
died of a long Consumption, they having 
had Time to melt away, and be confirmed 
by Ulceration? Some however have always 
remained, Death having prevented their Sup- 
puration. This being allow'd to be the con- 
comitant Cause of a Consumption, it will be 
easy to explain all its Symptoms. 
The dry Cough in the Beginning comes 
from the Pressure of the Tubercles upon the 
Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria, dis- 
persed through the Substance of the Lungs. 
Morton, p. 36. The same Irritations which 
this Compression makes in the Aspera Ar- 
teria, squeeze at length a Phlegm out of the 
Glands, spread about the internal Membrane 
of the Trachea; and the Cough, which in the 
Beginning was dry and hard, becomes moist, 
and throws up the Matter press'd out of the 
Glands by the Strength of the Cough. Mort. 
p. 34. 
The Difficulty of Breathing comes from 
these Tubercles, which fill up part of the 
Lungs, and lessen in Proportion the Quantity 
of Air which used to enter there; besides, the 
Com-

Ch. IV. 443 thro' the various Stages of Life. 443
Compression they make upon the Ramifica- 
tions of the Aspera Arteria renders its Ad- 
mission more difficult. 
The Leanness and Wasting are the Effcts 
of these Tubercles, and not the Ulcer of the 
Lungs, as has been supposed; and as it is of 
the greatest Importance for the Indication, 
which should be pursued in this Distemper, 
to prove that the Ulcer is not the Cause of 
the Wastings, we shall insert here the follow- 
ing Proofs. 
1. Hippocrates, in his first Book of Epi- 
demicks, acknowledges a Consumption with- 
out an Ulcer of the Lungs. Ægrotabant 
macilenti citra Pulmonum Ulcus: They were 
sick and wasted without an Ulcer of the 
Lungs. 
2. Hippocrates has also observed, that Lean- 
ness has begun before the Rise of the Ulcer, 
and that it is even far gone when the Ulcer 
appears. Temporis autem progressu exaspe- 
ratur Pulmo, & intus ulceratur à Pituita 
inhœrente & putrescente, & gravitatem exhi- 
bet Pectori & Dolorem acutum ante & re- 
tro caloresque acutiores in corpus incidunt. 
It appears from these Passages of Hippo- 
crates, and especially the last, that the Wast- 
ing, Cough, Spitting, and slow Fever, have 
begun before the Ulcer comes on. Temporis 
autem progressu exulceratur Pulmo: It is only 
in the Course of the Distemper; temporis 
progressu, says he; in progress of Time. 
3. Lastly,

444 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
3. Lastly we prove by an invincible Rea- 
son, that the Ulcer of the Lungs is not the 
Cause of a Consumption. There have been 
Persons who died of a Consumption with the 
whole Train of Symptoms, yet during the 
whole Course of the Distemper never spit 
any Pus; and upon the opening of their 
Bodies no Ulcers were found in their Lungs, 
but Tubercles in great Numbers. For Proof 
of this Fact we shall introduce the Observa- 
tions † upon the Body of Mr. Clever, Mer- 
chant, of this City, and of a young Gentle- 
woman; and also Willis's Observations al- 
ready mentioned. 
The slow Fever depends as much upon 
the Obstructions of the Liver, as of the 
Lungs: When the Blood finds its Passage 
shut up in any Part, it rebounds in a greater 
Body into the other Vessels; besides, when 
the Blood, which has not been sufficiently 
broke in the Lungs, nor depurated in the Li- 
ver, does not give way, but resists the Im- 
pulse of the Heart and Arteries, it revives 
its Play, and occasions two or three Pulsa- 
tions, where one would be sufficient, if it 
did not resist, and was thin and fluid. 
The nocturnal Sweats are owing to the 
thick and gross Disposition of the Blood: 
When the Serum is not exactly mixt with 
the other Principles of the Blood, it easily 
escapes through the Pores. 
It
† Observations of the Author in his Dissertation upon 
Consumptions, which see. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 445
It is easy to comprehend the Spitting of 
Blood: Who can now be surprised, that a 
Vein squeezed between two Tubercles should 
open and furnish some Blood in the Spittle? 
We are now come to the second Stage: 
Some Tubercles come to be inflamed; Matter 
is formed there; the Fever increases, as also 
the Difficulty of Breathing; the Tubercle 
bursts, and the Pus comes away like Spittle, 
which the Patient voids in abundance. 
But as the Pus which was contained in this 
Tubercle served its Neighbours as a suppurating 
Cataplasm, they are not long before they are 
inflamed, and come to Suppuration in their 
Turn, and the Lungs are thus destroy'd and 
ulcerate every Day more and more. And 
now the Distemper becomes contagious, the 
Suppuration of the Tubercle breeds Worms, 
which institute the Characteristick of the 
Ulcer. These Worms spread themselves a- 
bout the neighbouring Tubercles, as proper 
Beds for their Nourishment and Breeding, and 
by their Means it is that the Distemper be- 
comes contagious. 
[The Author has shewn, in his Treatise on 
Venereal Disorders, that all Infection pro- 
ceeds from Worms.] 
The Looseness comes from hence, that the 
Pores are destroyed by the Dryness of the 
Skin, which has begun with effacing the 
Pores of the insensible Perspiration, and now 
even stops up those which evacuate Sweat: 
The Serum not being well mixt with the 
Blood,

446 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Blood, and finding no more its former Out- 
lets, falls upon the Feet and Legs, and after- 
wards upon the intestinal Glands, which 
brings on a Diarrhœa, and makes an End of 
Life. 
We come now to examine the antecedent 
Causes which produce Tubercles in the Lungs, 
and shall make it apppear, by an exact En- 
quiry, that they owe their Rise to eager and 
coagulating Juices, and not to sharp and cor- 
rosive ones. 
Authors tell us, and we see it confirmed 
by daily Experience, that Grief is a power- 
ful Cause to bring on a Consumption. The 
Soul being continually employ'd in Affliction 
about the Object which causes it, studies 
Night and Day to find out a Remedy: This 
continual Attention of the Soul employs the 
Spirits in the Brain, hinders their descending 
into the Stomach, the Appetite disappears, 
the Digestion suffers, the Chyle is sent gluti- 
nous and ill digested into the Blood, disposed 
to bring on Obstructions either in the Lungs 
or Liver. 
But the free Course of the animal Spirits is 
not only suspended in the Stomach, but also 
in the Organs of Respiration; for we see Per- 
sons under Affliction forget as it were to 
breathe to that Degree, that as the Blood 
stagnates in the Lungs, they are oblig'd to 
fetch at Intervals deep Sighs, which are called 
sorrowful Sighs. 
Besides,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 447
Besides, Grief suppresses the insensible 
Transpiration. Sanctorius, Aph. 2. Sect. 7. 
And Consolation restores it, Animi Consolatio 
liberam facit Perspirationem. Aph. 6. Sect. 7. 
For the same Reason Men of Letters, who 
keep their Spirits continually upon the stretch, 
by the Excess of Meditation are also subject 
to Consumptions, as Morton observes. 
The eager Wines, according to Etmuller, 
produce abundance of Consumptions in the 
Province of Moravia, as being very proper 
to form Coagulations and Concretions. 
[The Author mentions a Case in his Dis- 
sertation, which proves how apt this Cause is 
to bring on a Consumption.] 
Melancholick Persons, according to Mor- 
ton's Observation, are very subject to Con- 
sumptions, their Blood being disposed to form 
Obstructions and Tubercles: Likewise, pag. 
27, he has oserved, that Cold is always the 
Cause of Consumptions. His Observation a- 
grees with that of Hippocrates, Frigus genitor 
est phthiseos pulmonis, scilicet, venulis a fri-
gore constrictis ac convulsis. Cold is the Pa- 
rent of the Phthisis of the Lungs, viz. when 
the Veins are drawn together by Cold. 
Van Helmont has observed, that Steams of 
Spirit of Vitriol, and of Aqua Fortis, have 
sometimes occasioned Consumptions. This 
Effect proceeds from the Concretion of the 
Juices by these acid Vapours, which form the 
Tubercles.
From

448 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
From this Enquiry into the Causes which 
are capable of producing Tubercles in the 
Lungs, it appears, that they owe their Ori- 
gin to acid and coagulating Juices; and if 
afterwards the Fluids grow pungent by stag- 
nating there, it is an Effect of the Part which 
alkalises them, in like manner as we see some 
Fruits change their Taste, according as they 
come near to be ripe or rotten. 
The Question then is, to look out for Re- 
medies which can dissolve and destroy these 
Tubercles. This is the Indication which you 
ought not to lose out of Sight: They are 
the Obstacles which you must either conquer 
or die. 
The Roman Hippocrates, Baglivius, in se- 
veral Places of his practical Writings, exhorts 
us to give aperitive Medicines in all the Dis- 
orders of the Breast; and Duretus, in his 
Coac. p. 423. says, that the urinary Passages 
are the Emunctories of the Breast, the Flux 
of Urine being augmented, procures a Di- 
version of the Phlegm, which otherwise 
would take its Course to the Lungs. 
These Authors not only propose that Indi- 
cation, but also the Remedies which I make 
use of to discharge it. Read Morton, p. 81. 
I don't at all doubt, says he, but by a pru- 
dent Choice and frequent Use of a thin and 
sharp Air, and by a long Use of balsamick, 
mercurial, and chalybeat Medicines and Mil- 
lepedes, but more especially of Mineral Wa- 
ters, and other anti-scrophulous Remedies, 
those

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 449
those Tumors may as well be destroy'd in 
these Parts as any other, and the Patient 
be freed from a phthisical and scrophulous 
Disorder, as we have often found by Ex- 
perience.
This is very certain, for all the English 
Consumptions, generally speaking, proceed 
from a scrophulous Disposition; therefore, in 
the Accesses of such a Distemper, aperitive 
and deobstruent Medicines, free from much 
Acrimony, with the mild Anti-scorbuticks, 
will always prove the most effectual Reme- 
dies; but whatever heats too much, disposes 
to Suppuration; and it is upon these Princi- 
ples that the Author establishes his Method of 
Cure in the following Manner. 
'As soon as I am call'd to a consumptive 
'Person of the first Degree, fatigued with a 
'Cough, which at first was dry, and after- 
'ward is become moist, which exceeded the 
'Bounds of a common Rheum, accompanied 
'with a slow Fever, Difficulty of Breathing, 
'Leanness, &c. I examine immediately the 
'Liver, where I constantly find a conspicu- 
'ous Hardness and often a Pain. 
'I afterwards examine if any general Me- 
'dicines are indicated, in which Case I order 
'the Patient to bleed and purge; I even 
'repeat Bleeding when the Pain is violent, 
'and if the Patient is young, heated with 
'drinking of Wine, or spirituous Liquors, to 
'prevent the Inflammation of the Tubercles. 
Ff 'Then

450 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'Then I apply a great Plaster of the Empl. 
'Diabotanum upon the Region of the Liver, 
'with which Mercury revived from Cinnabar 
'is incorporated, or in default thereof the 
'Empl. Vigonis cum Mercurio. Every Night 
'I order the Plaster to be taken off, and the 
'Quantity of a Dram of the Mercurial Oint- 
'ment to be rubb'd in at the Swelling, and then 
'the Plaster is put on again, which remains 
'there Night and Day. 
'Internally I give twice a-day the follow- 
'ing Powder. 
'Take of prepared Mars, Millepedes, 
'Benjamin, red Coral and Crabs Eyes, 
'one Scruple of each; mix all well to- 
'gether to make into a Powder, to be 
'taken in the Morning and to be re- 
'eated at Night. 
'Or made up into Troches in the following 
'Manner:
'Take of Mars, Millepedes, Benjamin, 
'Coral and Crabs Eyes, of each half an 
'Ounce, Powder of Cinnamon three 
'Drams, fine Sugar half a Pound; mix 
'all together, and with the Mucilage 
'of Gum Tragacanth made with O- 
'range-flower Water, make Troches 
'of two Drams each, of which let the 
'Patient take one Night and Morning. 
'After every Dose of the Powder or Tro- 
'ches I order them to take a Draught of 
'Ptisane

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 451
'Ptisane made of Nettle-Roots, or Whey 
'well clarified, with which I mix two Oun- 
'ces of the Juice of Water-Cresses, and as 
'much of the Juice of Chervil; or some Broth 
'made of a Piece of Veal, Radishes, Cresses, 
'Brooklime and Chervil, or an Infusion of 
'Green Tea.' 
The Powder is in two great a Bulk, as he 
orders it, therefore it would be much a neater 
Way, and much easier for the Patient to take, 
if he had ordered the Steel, Millepedes, and 
Benjamin in a Bole with Syrup of Balsam, and 
the testaceous Powders in a Julap, or in an 
Emulsion of Sperma Ceti, to be taken by two 
or three Spoonfuls after each Bolus, and at 
other Intervals. This shews the Injudicious 
ness of foreign Prescribers in dosing their Me- 
dicines in a neat and proper Form, though 
otherwise never so learned. 
Our Author strenuously recommends Rid- 
ing twice a-day, in all Stages of a Consump- 
tion, if the Weather permits, the Usefulness 
of which he demonstrates from Observation,
Reason, and Experience. In the first Stage 
of a Consumption he allows light Meats of 
easy Digestion without any Seasoning; but 
in the second Stage, he orders the Medicines 
to be taken three times a-day, and makes the 
Patient live upon Cow's Milk, boil'd and 
skimm'd, and mix'd with an equal Quantity 
of Green Tea, and sometimes without it, but 
a thorough Forbearance from all manner of 
Ff2 Flesh-

452 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Flesh-meat: He likewise recommends the 
Use of Asses Milk, Chearfulness and Musick. 
Other Con-
sumptions.
As Consumptions are mostly occa- 
sioned by Tubercles in the Lungs, 
there are some also that owe their 
Origin to Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, 
Pancreas, Mesentery, Kidneys, Womb, and 
Bladder, &c. The Knowledge, Prognostick, 
Effects, Cure, and Palliation are easily drawn 
from the distinguishing Marks of each parti- 
cular Bowel, of which no good Physician 
ought to be ignorant. 
For a more ample Account of the Nature 
and Cure of this lingering Disease, I refer the 
Reader to the Author's Observations in his 
Dissertation upon Consumptions. 
Of a Dropsy. 
When a watery Serum is shed out of its 
Vessels and received into Cavities, or when 
stagnating it distends its Vessels too much, it 
is called a Dropsy. Which may take place 
consequently wherever there are such serous 
Vessels, that is, in the whole Habit of the 
Body, and in each Particular thereof. 
Therefore this Distemper may happen 
wherever there are serous Vessels; an Hydro- 
cephalus or Dropsy of the Head, which is 
only incurable when the Serum is extravasated 
into the Ventricles of the Brain; and it is 
generally fatal in Infants, when the Sutures 
are closed and the Skull will yield no more. 
A Dropsy

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 453
A Dropsy of the Breast is attended almost 
with the same Symptoms as an Empyema, 
and cured by the same Chirurgery. A 
Dropsy of the Lungs, either by Hydatides or 
Water-Bladders, or by Lympha extravasated 
in the Body of the Lungs. 
A Dropsy in the fore Part of the Windpipe 
like a Bronchocele. Likewise a Dropsy in the 
Oviarium, Testes, Scrotum, or Uterus. 
An Ascites, or Collection of Water in the 
Abdomen. First, in the Foldings of the Peri- 
toneum. Secondly, Between the Peritoneum 
and the Bowels. Thirdly, When the Water 
is contained in the membranaceous Coat of 
the Glands. 
Sometimes the Air is so rarified in the Tu- 
mor as makes it hard and tight like a Drum, 
and from thence it is call a Tympany. When 
the Tendon is from Air, it is easily distin- 
guished by the specifick Gravity of the Pa- 
tient, and so is Water. And when the Wa- 
ter or Lymph stagnates, or is extravasated
under the Skin, it is called Anasarca. What- 
ever hinders the Return of the Lymph 
into the Veins, or breaks the Lymphatick 
Vessels, or obstructs the absorbent Vessels, 
so as the Lymph cannot be absorbed, or exhal- 
ed, produces a Dropsy; likewise any Stop- 
page of the Circulation will occasion a 
Dropsy, as by strong Ligatures or Com- 
pression. 
The most of the Causes are hereditary Dis- 
positions; drinking great Quantities of wa- 
Ff3 tery


454 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
tery Liquors, which are not discharged again;
violent acute Distempers; stubborn Obstruc- 
tions of the Bowels; the Jaundice; obstinate 
intermitting Fevers; Bloody-fluxes; great 
Evacuations, especially of Blood; viscid Ali- 
ment and hard of Digestion; inveterate Scur- 
vies: But the most common and most perni- 
cious of all is the habitual and plentiful Use of 
spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects are a Swelling of the Legs at 
Night by Degrees, still rising higher; like- 
wise a Swelling of the Belly increasing; but in 
a Tympany, sounding and tense like a Drum; 
sometimes the Sensation and Noise of fluctu- 
ating Water; Shortness of Breath; Thirst; 
Urine in too small a Quantity; no Sweat; 
the stagnating Serum at last turns acrimonious, 
exulcerates and putrefies the Bowels, produc- 
ing most dismal Symptoms. 
The best Cautions and Rules of Diet may 
be drawn from the Enumeration of these 
Causes and Effects; for the Intentions to be 
pursued are in removing the Causes, as Ob- 
structions, dissolving the Viscidity or Glewy- 
ness of the Serum, and discharging it out of 
the Body. 
The Viscidity of the Serum is best correct- 
ed by such Things as contain abundance of 
alkaline and volatile Salts, Spices, acrimoni- 
ous pungent Vegetables, soapy Substances; 
and what has been prescrib'd in a phlegmatick 
Constitution, Part II. which see.
The
 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 455 
The only Contradiction in this is, too great 
Heat and Thirst, to which Attention is to be 
given, and indicates the Use of Acids, Juice 
of Lemons and Oranges, Sorrel, &c. And 
it may be taken for a general Rule, that when 
the Urine is high-colour'd Acids are proper, 
for they are contrary to that alkalescent State 
of the Humours, and resist the Putrefaction, 
which is the Product of acrimonious Serum. 
Their Drink should be sparing; but as the 
Thirst is sometimes insufferable, the Patient 
may be indulged the free Use of Spaw-water 
and Rhenish Wine: And the Aliment should 
be dry and diuretick; but Diureticks of the 
acid Kind are the best: Strong Frictions of 
the Skin are very beneficial, which attenuate 
and promote the Circulation of the stagnating 
Serum or Water. 
Vomiting in strong Constitutions has proved 
oftentimes very effectual; because the Con- 
cussion of the solid Parts dissolves and expells 
the stagnating Humours; and likewise Gly- 
sters of sharp and purgative Ingredients are 
very beneficial. 
Smart Purges are useful to carry off the 
Waters; but they should not consist of Vola- 
tiles, because such dissolve the Blood, which 
is pernicious. Abstinence from Drink is very 
beneficial, and eating dry Biscuit, which cre- 
ates no Thirst; likewise strong Frictions four 
or five Times a Day. 
When the Waters are carried off, the Diet 
ought to be such as stengthens the solid Parts,
Ff4 allow-

456 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
allowing Spices and generous Wine, but espe- 
cially the Use of Chalybeat Waters, dry Food, 
and astringent Vegetables, Exercise, especial- 
ly Riding; and in general, such a Diet as ge- 
nerates good Blood. 
When the Serum stagnates long, it turns 
acrimonious, and commonly renders the Pa- 
tient feverish and thirsty; then acid or four 
Things are properest, both to prevent and 
cure these Symptoms, as they are specifically 
proper against that alkaline Putrefaction. For 
a more circumstantial and accurate Account 
of this Distemper and its Cure in every Par- 
ticular, consult the learned Boerhaave's Apho- 
risms upon it.  
Of the Gout. 
This Distemper is a very painful Illness, 
seated principally in and about the Ligaments 
of the Bones of the Foot and its Joints, seiz- 
ing Persons mod commonly in the Spring 
and Autumn; which when undisturbed com- 
monly runs its own natural Stage, and is 
usually the Companion of People of the mid- 
dle Age, of the Male Sex, Men of acute and 
deep Sense, who exercise the same much, and 
study late by Nights, such as lead a voluptu- 
ous and debauched Life, and at Night drink 
great Quantities of Wine or spirituous Liquors: 
Such as have been much addicted to Venery 
in their younger and unripe Years; large ple- 
thorick Men; such as are much used to 
Acids

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 437
Acids, and cool their sweaty Feet too sud-  
denly; sweat in wet Stockings or Shoes;
hence such as do hunt or ride much in cold 
Weather; and finally, such as have it by 
Inheritance from Parents, or lie much with 
gouty People. 
This Distemper may affect any membra- 
nous Part, but commonly those which are 
the most remote from the Brain and Heart, 
where the Motion of the Fluids is the slow- 
ed, the Resistance, Friction, and Stricture 
of the solid Parts the greatest, and Sensation 
of Pain by the Obstruction of the small Ves- 
sels and Dilaceration of the nervous Fibres 
extreme. 
The most common Seat of it is in the 
Foot, its Tendons, Nerves, Membranes, Li- 
gaments and Periosteum, or Membranes in- 
vesting the Bones. The Patient immediate- 
ly is sensible of a stretching, tearing, strait- 
ning Pain, gradually increasing and decreas- 
ing again, with a Moistness, Redness, Tu- 
mor, ending with a breathing Sweat, an Itch- 
ing, furfuraceous Skinning, or changing into 
a chalky Substance, which breaks the Vessels. 
By all which it appears, that the proximate 
Cause of this Disease is a vitiated Temper of 
the least, and consequently the nervous Ves- 
sels in the Body; and also of the Liquid 
which waters those nervous Parts; and more- 
over, that this Liquid here is defective by its 
Acrimony and by its great Viscidity, and the 
solid Vessels by too great Rigidity and Nar- 
rowness:


458 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
rowness: Whence it shews itself in Parts 
the most remote from the Brain, as resisting 
Motion the most, because of their Solidity, 
Hardness, Exercise, and Weight incumbent 
upon them. Now the immediate Origin of 
this Defect is from an Indigestion of the 
Bowels, which do not sufficiently attenuate or 
assimilate the Aliment into a Substance fit 
to supply the Nerves with Juices proper for 
them, which require a most elaborate Con- 
coction. 
The Cure therefore is impossible, unless 
wrought by such Medicines as are able to 
mend these Defects entirely. So that the 
Gout has hitherto been reputed incurable by 
Antients as well as Moderns, if except a few 
Quacks and boasting Empiricks in all Ages. 
From the same may be known, that 
Bleeding does not reach either the Matter, 
Seat, or Cause of the Disease: yet that same 
is sometimes found not only beneficial, but 
also necessary to cause a Revulsion, and lessen 
the most urgent inflammatory Symptoms 
that often attend it. 
As one of the Causes of the Gout is the 
Suppression of Sweat and Perspiration, so 
the procuring a due Degree of these seems to 
be the best Preventative of it; and if the Feet 
could be made to sweat in due time, it would 
prevent the Gout, which invades in such 
Constitutions of the Air as suppress Perspi- 
ration.
Violent

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 459
Violent Purges in the Absence of the Fit, 
by agitating the Humours too much, often 
hurt, and may draw the Gout into the Sto- 
mach if given during the Paroxysm. 
The best Diet is Abstinence from all man- 
ner of Acids, high Sauces, and Gluttony; the 
moderate use of such things as promote Perspi- 
ration, as aromatick Substances with volatile 
Salts, which relieve Gouty People, by ren- 
dering the Body perspirable; diluting Li- 
quors, taken in such a Degree as not to in- 
jure the Stomach or Bowels, Moderation in 
Food of a nourishing light Sort, that is easily 
digested, as likewise in the use of strong 
Liquors; Exercise without Fatigue, such as 
Riding constantly in a pure, open Country 
Air, and Frictions and Motions of the Parts 
often repeated; going to Bed early, and ly- 
ing long in the Morning. 
It will be likewise necessary to restore the 
lost Vigour in the Bowels, by carrying off 
the corrupted Liquid flowing yet in the Ves- 
sels, or stagnating in the Places already as- 
sign'd. To the first relates the Us of aro- 
matick, bitter, antiscorbutick Plants, and 
chiefly the Juice with a little Honey; the use 
of lixivious fix'd Salts taken in small Doses, 
and often repeated for a long time together, 
observing at the same time the Diet as above 
directed. To the second (that is, the stag- 
nating of the Humours) will be useful, 1. 
Volatile Salts long taken and in small Quan- 
tities, in the Morning sometime before rising,
with 

460 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a large Draught of some softening Apo- 
zem, and thereby promoting a gentle breath- 
ing Sweat for about an Hour together. 2. 
Warm Frictions with dry Cloths. 3. Repeated 
Doses from time to time of such Medicines as 
purge serous or watery Humours, taking a 
gentle opiate Draught the same Night. 
In the Fit of the Gout, as temperate and 
as cool and diluent a Diet as the Patient can 
bear, abstaining from Opiates, except when 
the morbid Matter is separting, otherwise the 
constant Use of them is injurious; keeping 
the affected Part warm without the Applica- 
tion of Plasters, or Cataplasms; for even such 
as are emollient, weaken and relax too much. 
It will be of the greatest Importance to 
know if any Disease proceeds from a Trans- 
lation of the gouty Matter; for the Me- 
thods, especially Evacuations, used in an ori- 
ginal Distemper, would be very improper in 
a gouty Case, where the Intention must be 
to draw the Gout down to the Feet by Blis-
ters applied to the Thighs or Legs, and acrid 
inflammatory Cataplasms and Plasters. 
If a Person subject to the Gout, (except 
he has Chalk Stones) can bring himself en- 
tirely to a Milk Diet, he may by that means 
so change the whole Mass of the Juices of 
his Body, as to eradicate the Distemper.
The Effects
of Riding.
The English Hippocrates, Syden- 
ham, in recommending Riding in 
the Cure of this Distemper, says, 
that if a Medicine could be known to any 
one,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 461
one, and he could conceal it, that would be 
as effectual for the curing this Distemper as 
Riding on Horseback is; and not only here, but 
in most other chronical Diseases, he might get 
immense Riches by it. 
And Dr. Lister likewise says, 
that one single Golden Rule of Ab- 
stinence pleases me beyond all 
things, Parva cibatio summœ Curœ sit, viz.
Beware not to eat and drink too much, which 
is a thing every one ought to regard who has 
his Health at Heart; and this Abstinence is 
in all People's Power, in whatever State or 
Condition they are in, to be substituted in- 
stead of Exercise, when they have even lost 
the Use of their Feet. 
The Effects 
of Abstinence.
Of the Rheumatism.
This is a Distemper ally'd to the Gout and 
Scurvy, and is common in all the Northern 
Parts of Europe. 
Such are most subject to this Dis- 
ease as are of a sanguine Con- 
stitution, infected with some acrimonious De- 
fect, manly Age, plentiful Living, a sudden 
Cooling of a heated Body, Spring and Fall, 
Perspiration interrupted, an inflammatory 
Disposition, but appearing slower than in a 
Pleurisy. It begins with a continual Fever, 
causes a most terrible tearing Pain, increasing 
cruelly upon the least Motion, long continu'd 
and fix'd in one Place, seizing the Joints of 
Diagnosticks.
any


462 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
any Limbs, but most particularly trouble-
some to the Knees, Loins, and Rump-bone, 
tormenting and invading sometimes the Brain, 
Lungs and Bowels, with a Tumor and Red- 
ness of the Place, going off and returning 
again by Fits. 
The proximate 
Cause. 
The immediate Cause of this 
Distemper seems to be an Inflam- 
mation in the serous part of the 
Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries, and 
for that Reason affecting those Parts where 
the Vessels are the smallest, but not fierce 
enough to change it into an Impostumation. 
The Blood, as in other inflammatory Cases,
is sizy, the alkalescent Salts in the Serum a-
bounding with coreaceous or leathery Concre- 
tions. 
The Cure. 
The Cure consists in repeated 
Bleedings, cooling, repeated Purges, 
always allaying the Pain those Nights after 
purging with gentle Opiates join'd with mild 
Sudorificks, bathing in warm Water, and 
Fomentations apply'd to the Parts, and Bli- 
sters when it is obstinately fix'd in one Place. 
As for the Diet, it must be cooling, dilu- 
ting, and chiefly Vegetable. The constant 
Use of Whey is most effectual in rhis Disease, 
likewise a Milk Diet for changing the saline 
Constitution of the Serum of the Blood, is 
very useful and proper. 
Cream of Tartar taken either in Whey or 
Water-Gruel, for several Days together, will 
abate the Pains and Swellings considerably, 
by

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 463
by its Acidity correcting the alkaline Salts 
in the Blood. 
Of the Gravel and Stone. 
When any insoluble Matter stops in any 
Part of the Body, it gathers a Crust about it, 
which may grow into a Stone or stony 
Matter in any Part of a human Body; as a 
small Drop of concreted Blood may grow to 
be a Stone; for by the Evaporation of the 
most fluid Parts it grows hard, and by At- 
traction of new Matter it increases in Bulk. 
When these stony Concretions happen in 
the Kidneys, and are expell'd, or drop into 
the Ureters, they produce what is called Gra- 
vel; when they lodge and stick in the Body 
of the Kidneys, and grow to such a Bulk as 
not to drop into the Pelvis, or pass by the 
Ureters into the Bladder, they make the Stone 
in the Kidneys. But these Concretions hap- 
pen generally in the Kidneys and Bladder; 
and it is very certain, that if the Tartar and 
other Contents of the Urine were not con- 
stantly discharg'd, such Concretions would 
happen to all Mankind; for the Urine of 
most found Persons being inspected after it 
has stood a while with a Microscope, will 
discover a black Speck in it, which is Sand; 
and wherever this Sand sticks, it grows still 
bigger by the Apposition of new Matter.
The 

464 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The chief Signs or Symptoms of a Stone 
in the Kidneys are a fix'd Pain in the Region 
of the Loins, continually heavy like a Weight 
in the Substance of the Kidneys, with a 
kind of Numbness in the Part; but the Stone 
passing out of the Pelvis or Bason of the 
Kidneys into the Ureters, a most tormenting 
Pain follows, of all the most severe; an In- 
flexibility of the Back Bone, by the Exten- 
sion and Compression of the Nerves; a burn- 
ing Heat in the Loins, a Numbness of the 
Leg of the same Side, by means of the 
Nerves being affected; a Retraction of the 
Testicle for the same Reason; the Urine 
either bloody, upon any hidden Jolt or vio- 
lent Motion, or thin and watry, and little in 
Quantity; but after the Stone is fallen into 
the Bladder, the Urine presently becomes very 
thick, turbid, blackish, and in great Quan- 
tity. Fleshy Filaments, or Matter voided by 
Urine, are suspicious Symptoms of a Stone in 
the Kidneys, especially if the Patient has 
been subject to voiding of Gravel. 
The Symptoms of a Stone in the Bladder, 
are, a Titillation about the Neck of the Blad- 
der, and Parts thereabouts; a Sense of Weight 
in the lower Belly under the Share-bone, and 
the Region of the Groin; a perpetual Desire
of making Water, with a great Pain, espe- 
cially upon any hidden Motion, which causes 
a Concussion of the Bladder, a Dribbling dif- 
ficultly, and a hidden Suppression of Urine 
by the Stone's stopping the Orifice of the 
Bladder,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 465
Bladder, attended with great needing to go 
to Stool, and a burning Pain in the Urethra;
sometimes a white Mucus or Slime in the 
Urine; this may happen without a Stone in 
the Bladder: But the most certain Sign of all 
is, when it can be most certainly felt with 
the Finger in Ano, or by a Catheter. 
The Regimen in the Cure of the Stone in 
the Kidneys, is, by diluting and soft Diure- 
ticks, both medicinal and dietetical, to try 
to expel it, if it is small enough to pass; but 
if it is brittle, it will often crumble and pass 
in the form of Gravel by those Means: If 
the Stone is too big to pass, nor will not 
crumble, the only Method is to come to a 
sort of Composition or Truce with it, and 
use a cooling and diluting Diet constant- 
ly, to hinder, as far as possible, its Increase; 
to use Diureticks that resolve gently, as Pars- 
ley, Fennel, Scorzonera, Mallows, Tea, Dan- 
delion, Cichory, Sassafras, Oats, Barley, Honey, 
Vinegar and Honey; likewise nitrous Salts, 
and dulcify'd Spirit of Nitre; but the most 
soft and cooling Diluent of all is Whey, and 
the Emollients are Decoctions of Marshmal- 
lows and Linseed-Tea. 
Bathing in warm Water, and Glysters, are 
proper; seasoning the Food with Sea-salt 
moderately will not be amiss, for the mode- 
derate use of it is resolving and diuretick; 
and the Belly, in all Cases of the Stone, should 
be kept lax and open. In a confirm'd Stone 
in the Kidneys violent Exercise or Motion is 
dangerous. 
Gg While

466 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Stimulating 
Things not 
proper in the 
Beginning.
While the Stone is passing, we 
should avoid the Use of all forcing 
and stimulating Things at first; but 
relaxing and lubricating the Passages, 
and quieting the spasmodick Disorders by O- 
piates, is by far the safest and best Method; 
and where Bathing cannot be performed, Ox- 
bladders, half full of warm Water, constantly 
apply'd to the Part affected, may be very 
usefully substituted; and Bleeding takes off 
the Tension and prevents an Inflammation 
better than any Thing, and is therefore very 
necessary, especially when the Symptoms are 
urging and violent: When the Parts are suffi- 
ciently relaxed, forcing Diureticks joined with 
Opiates will be properly given. 
The best Way to prevent the Generating of 
a Stone, is to keep the Body open by Whey, 
Broth, and a liquid Diet, especially for all 
such as are troubled with Gravel. 
When the Stone is fallen into the Bladder, 
all Endeavours must be used to make it pass 
as soon as possible, otherwise if it should 
happen to continue there long, it would in 
Time become a large Stone, which nothing 
but the Operation could cure. 
If all the Symptoms abate without finding 
the Stone, it is not certain that it remains still 
in the Bladder, because a very small Stone 
may pass by Urine insensibly; and if the 
Stone has passed, it is not certain that the 
Affair is over, for there are often more Stones 
remaining, and therefore the usual Remedies 
ought not to be discontinued. 
When

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 467 
When the Stone stops in the Urethra, emol- 
lient Fomentations ought to be apply'd to the 
Parts, and Oil injected; or in Case of Extre- 
mity, an Instrument with a Cavity in it, dipt 
in Oil, may extract the Stone. 
Irritations in the Membranes of the Bladder, 
occasioned by a Stone, may be mitigated very 
much by an Injection of Linseed Oil, or that 
of Sweet Almonds into the Bladder.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing 
and Frictions. 
BATHING being either hot or cold, it 
will be necessary to enquire a little into 
the Nature of it, and what Alterations it 
produces in human Bodies, in order to know 
in what Cases and Constitutions the Use of it 
may be either beneficial or hurtful. There- 
fore I shall begin with Cold-Bathing, which 
was in the greatest Esteem with the Egyptians, 
Jews, Greeks and Romans, as evidently ap- 
pears by the Account given thereof in the 
Writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Pliny, Oribassius, Celsus, Ægineta, 
and others, needless to make mention of in 
this Place; But they who require to be fully 
satisfied as to that Point, may peruse Floyer 
and Baynard on Cold-Bathing, wherein they 
will likewise find a great many Instances of 
surprising Cures performed by Cold-Bathing 
Gg2 in


468 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Scurvies, Cachexies, 
Epilepsies, Gout, and Rickets, &c. 
It is experimentally known, that Cold 
contracts the Fibres, as I have observed in 
treating of the Qualities of Air, pag. 104. 
and the more suddenly it is applied to our 
Bodies, the more violently it operates: It has 
been likewise observed, pag. 87. that our 
Bodies undergo various Changes by the Al- 
terations of the Pressure of the Air, in its 
Weight and Elasticity: Now if we consider 
that Water is 800 Times heavier than Air, 
what Alterations must we not then expect
and be sensible of upon bathing or plunging all 
over into cold Water? For the Cold and 
Weight of the Water and Atmosphere acting 
all together, must consequently first brace up 
and straiten the Fibres and Vessels conside- 
rably in the Surface of the Body, and those 
Parts adjoining to it, and those at the Center 
the least and latest; so that the Blood will 
be forced in great Plenty upon the Viscera or 
Bowels, where there is the least Resistance: 
for which Reason it is never safe for those to 
bath who have weak or ulcerated Bowels, 
without endangering Life. 
But those Ends which are compassed by a 
greater Weight or Pressure, are more effec- 
tually obtained by whatever encreases the 
Weight of the Water, or contracts the Fibres 
of the Body: Thus Sea-Water, by reason 
of the Salt it contains, is heavier and more 
preferable; upon which Account all the 
Humours in the Body must be propell'd
with 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 469
with greater Force thro' the Vessels in which 
they circulate. Besides, the Tension of the 
Fibres being greater, their Vibration will be 
both quicker and stronger; so that the Blood 
and Spirits will not only move more swiftly 
through the Vessels, but also be much more 
ground and broken, digested and rendered 
fitter to pass the Glands and small Vessels: 
Moreover, as the Immersion into the Cold 
Bath mightily encreases the Blood in the Brain 
and Viscera, being forced thither where there 
is the least Resistance, whereby the Quantity 
of animal Spirits, of Urine, of Gall, of the 
pancreatick Juice, and of all other Secretions, 
will be very much encreas'd, these Humours 
being thrust forwards with greater Celerity, 
will probably remove any Obstruction that is 
not too long fixed and obstinate; for which 
Reasons, if we would have the Blood dis- 
solved, or any viscid Matter adhering to the 
Sides of the Vessels removed, or the Glands 
deterged, or a greater Quantity of Spirits se-
creted, and moved with greater Celerity thro' 
the Nerves, or would force Urine, or remove 
Obstructions in the Liver, Spleen, pancreatick 
and mesenterick Glands, if they are not grown 
too obstinate (in which Case it is very dange- 
rous) we should order Cold-bathing. In 
fine, whatever is to be effected by bracing the 
Solids, invigorating and quickening their Vi- 
brations, and accelerating the Blood's Motion, 
is with Certainty to be had from the Use of 
Cold-bathing. 
All Diseases therefore from a viscid Blood, 
Gg3 and

470 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
and a Lentor in the animal Juices (if the 
Elasticity of the Vessels is not worn out with 
Age and Debauches) will find Relief from 
this Practice. Besides, whatever Inconveni- 
ences proceed from a bad Perspiration, or 
when Humours are thrown upon the Surface 
pf the Body, which cannot get through the 
Skin, this Method will relieve; for upon 
Immersion the whole nervous System is so 
shook, that the very Capillaries feel the In- 
fluence, and the minutest Passages are forced 
open by an encreased Velocity of the circu- 
lating Fluids, whereby the Skin will be 
cleared, and instead of retaining gross and a- 
crimonious Humours in the cuticular Glands, 
will promote insensible Perspiration; and this 
is the Reason why People are so brisk and 
chearful after Bathing. 
And it is for the Reasons already given, 
that Cold-Bathing is proper in most cutane- 
ous Diseases, Scurvies, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, 
Rheumatisms, Lameness, Sciatica, Melancholy, 
Madness; some Palsies, Cachexies, Icteric and 
Hydropic Cases, before the Distempers be too, 
far advanced; it likewise stops Hæmorrhages, 
Gleets, Fluor Albus; and cures also venereal 
Impotency and nervous Disorders. 
Necessary Rules
to be observed
before Cold-
Bathing
1. To Bleed and Purge, and
use such proper Diet and Medi- 
cines, both before and after Bath- 
thing, as your Physician knows 
to be suitable to your Disease and Constitution. 
2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating, 
but cool; and not to stay in the Bath above 
two

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 471
two or three Minutes, as the Patient can bear 
it; and to go in and out immediately, on 
the first Bathing, after an Immersion of the 
whole Body, because staying in too long 
would relax the Solids too much, instead of 
contracting and strengthening them. 
3. To use the Cold-Bath before Dinner 
fasting, or in the Afternoon towards Four or 
Five o'Clock: It is dangerous to go in after 
great Drinking, or a full Stomach. 
4. To use Sweating with Cold-Bathing in 
Palsies, Rickets, and several Diseases affecting 
the Nerves with Obstructions. 
5. In Windiness or Siziness of the Hu- 
mours, no Sweating is necessary, nor where 
Bathing is used for the Preservation of Health, 
or the invigorating of the animal Spirits. 
6. Jumping in precipitantly, or throwing 
the Head foremost into the Cold-Bath, gives 
too violent a shock to Nature, and endangers 
too much the bursting some of the smaller 
Vessels; therefore the best Way is, holding 
by the Rope, to walk down the Steps as fast
as one can, and when got to the Bottom, 
bending the Hams to shorten their Length, 
so as to bring their Heads a good Way under 
Water, and then popping up again to take 
Breath; and thus alternately for two or three 
Times, and out again, rubbing themselves very 
well with a dry Cloth, before they are dress'd. 
They who have weak or little 
Heat, and are much decay'd, ought 
not to venture on Cold Bathing; nor 
they who are intemperate, and have 
Wherein 
Cold Bath-
ing is inju-
rious.
Gg4 eat


472 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
eat extraordinarily; because the Distribution 
and Consumption of an abundant Chyle being 
thereby stopp'd, must occasion Fevers or De- 
fluxions. 
If the Spirits are depress'd by Looseness, 
Vomiting, Venery, Watching, or any other 
Evacuation, we cannot well bear Cold Bath- 
ing; for the Spirits being weak, will be over- 
come by its Chilness. 
In the Fits of the Gout, Epilepsy, and in 
Inflammations of the Lungs or inward Parts, 
and in the Beginning of putrid Fevers, Iliac 
Passions, and the Gripes, Colicks, and dur- 
ing any Defluxion, Cold Baths are improper; 
for they hinder Expectoration, repell Pains, 
promote the present Defluxions, Fluxes, and 
Pains; but when these acute Diseases, or 
chronical Pains and Defluxions are ended, it 
may be safe and it is certain that Gout Pains 
are prevented by Cold Baths, and using to wash 
the Feet. 
Corpulency, unfound Viscera or Bowels, 
and inveterate Obstructions, forbid the Use of 
Cold Bathing; for first, in very fat Persons 
the Fibres are so stuffed round that they have 
not Room to vibrate or contract with the sud- 
den Squeeze of the Bath; and in unsound 
Viscera, or where any Part is much weaker 
than the rest, such an additional Force will 
press the Fluids upon that, very much to its 
Detriment, which may be either the burst- 
ing of the Vessels, or promoting the Discharge 
of some ill Humours upon that Part, which 
might otherwise drain somewhere else. 
in

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 473
inveterate Obstructions it is likewise improper, 
because the more violently the Fluids are pro- 
pelled, the more the Obstructions will be ri- 
veted and lock'd in. 
As the Pressure of Water is ren- 
dered more effectual by Cold, so its 
relaxing Power is augmented by a 
moderate Warmth; for a gentle Heat always 
relaxes the Fibres of our Body, it being plea- 
sing and agreeable to the Sense of Feeling. 
So that when we would have the Benefit of 
universal Relaxation, we ought to use a tem- 
perate Bath, which has only a mild Heat, 
like that of our Bodies, and is therefore less 
beneficial to cold Diseases, and less injurious 
to the Healthful, who use it chiefly to wash 
their Bodies, to temper the Natural Heat, 
and to take off Weariness. 
The Use
of Warm
Baths
But temperate Baths have many physical 
Uses besides Cleanliness and Pleasure, and are
observed to be beneficial in the following Cases. 
Tepid Baths moisten and warm; but if 
more hot, they heat and moisten less; they 
likewise open the Pores and promote a free 
Perspiration, and are proper in most Erup- 
tions and Foulnesses of the Skin, especially 
where the Obstructions will not yield to the 
Cold Bath; for they not only relax the Pores, 
but likewise dilute the obstructed Matter at 
the same time, in being absorbed by the cuti- 
cular Vessels. 
Warm Baths are proper in most scorbu- 
tick Habits, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Colicks, 
Gravel,

474 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Gravel, Costiveness, Gripes, Stiffness of the 
Joints and Muscles, and in most Cases pro- 
ceeding from an obstructed Perspiration. 
Temperate Baths are useful in all hot In- 
temperies, and are likewise proper in the bi- 
lious, viscid, or acrimonious State of the Blood: 
But they are injurious in Fevers, Inflamma- 
tions, and in all acute Diseases, especially be- 
fore the Concoction of the Humours. 
In using the Warm Bath, the Diet in ge- 
neral should be easy of Digestion, thin and 
diluting, and in many Cases sweating in Bed 
after warm Bathing is necessary; but in this 
and in other Circumstances which may occur, 
the Patient is to consult his Physician. 
The naturally hot Mineral Baths, such as 
that famous one at Bath in Somersetshire, 
are much more powerful in curing Diseases 
and removing Obstructions, than the Artificial; 
the Waters of the former being impregnated 
with balsamic, volatile, stimulating, and sub- 
astringent Particles, which the last can never 
have by any Art or Contrivance whatever. 
These natural hot Mineral Waters are 
like a Fomentation, which both supples and 
strengthens the Parts of the Body all over 
at once, and by gently shaking and undu- 
lating the Fibres, helps forward the vital Mo- 
tions, which are ready to be at a Stand. In 
old Pains and Aches, which have been the 
Remains of nervous Distempers, and where 
some particular Part continues contracted, or 
has any Humours fix'd upon it, which it can- 
not dislodge, these Waters pump'd upon it hot
from

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 475
from the Spring, do more towards a Cure 
than all the most efficacious Compositions of 
Medicines. 
Bathing all over in these Springs cannot but 
wonderfully open that almost infinite Number 
of secretory Orifices upon the Surface of the 
Body, and clear the cutaneous Ducts of the 
Matter which is apt to stick in them; by the 
opening of which Spiracula the Fluids of the 
whole Body have more Room to move in, and 
have proper Vents to reak out a great deal, 
which is of great Service to the Oeconomy to 
get rid of. 
These small Sulphur-Fountains likewise 
inwardly taken, to Astonishment warm and 
strengthen a decay'd Stomach, especially if 
relax'd and worn out almost with Luxury and 
Debauches: The most grievous Nauseas and 
Vomitings from these Causes have been re- 
moved by them: For they both soften again 
with proper Moisture the Fibres which have 
been render'd incapable to vibrate, by the Use 
of hot, burning, spirituous Liquors, and at 
the same time draw them into greater Tensi- 
ty; as a Cord which relaxes with over-drying, 
fills up and straitens upon the Contact and 
Attraction of a convenient Moisture. 
The small Share of fine Salt which likewise 
attends, and is as it were wrapped up in the 
Particles of Sulphur, cannot but contribute 
somewhat in restoring the Tone of such de- 
cay'd Parts. But besides the Benefit these do 
to the Stomach, they also carry along with 
them into the most remote Recesses of the 
Body


476 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Body, a Balsamic of Nature's own Prepara- 
tion; whereby such Decays in the Stomach, 
or in any of the Viscera or Bowels, from Ab- 
scesses, Ulcerations, or any like Causes, are 
with great Success reliev'd; and particularly if 
they be of the Kidneys and Urinary Passages, 
because they wash through them in more 
plenty, than where they come by the ordinary 
Course of Circulation. 
Of Frictions. 
Friction, or Rubbing with a Flesh-Brush, 
Cloth, Hand, &c. is, as it were, an alter- 
nate Compression and Relaxation of the Parts 
of the Body. A gentle Friction only com- 
presses the Veins; but by a stronger Degree, 
the Arteries are also compressed. By com- 
pressing the Veins by Friction, the Motion of 
the viscous Blood to the Heart is accelerated; 
hence the Motion of the Heart is roused: By 
which Means, the Blood is with greater Velo- 
city propell'd through all the Vessels. The 
vital Force may, therefore, be augmented to 
any Degree, by means of Frictions, without 
giving any Medicine internally; for by means 
of Frictions a burning Fever may be excited 
in the most dropsical Patients. 
In those Bodies where almost all the Or- 
gans of Digestion are so languid, as not duly 
to perform their respective Functions, Fric- 
tions with rough woolen Cloths over the 
whole Abdomen, or Belly, when the Patient 
is fasting, have been found to produce sur- 
prisingly happy Effects. Hence the Ancients
had 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 477
had Frictions in so great Veneration, not only 
for the Preservation of Health, but also for 
the Cure of Diseases, that the Grecians, Ara- 
bians, Romans, and Egyptians in general con- 
stantly practised that Method; and Galen 
wrote a whole Book, intitled de Frictionibus. 
Celsus likewise recommends the Usefulness of 
Frictions in his Works: But this Practice has 
been almost neglected among the Moderns 
till of late, and is now reviv'd again with no 
less Success than in former Days, tho' not so 
general; for it is experimentally known, that 
it will strengthen weak Limbs, and bring 
Nourishment to the Parts, and likewise cure 
the Rickets in Children, especially if Cold 
Bathing be used. 
Therefore I would recommend to all Mo- 
thers and Nurses, to rub the Back, Sides, 
Shoulders, Hips, and Limbs of their Children 
by a warm Fire Night and Morning, being 
very necessary to prevent Obstructions and 
Rickets, and to promote their Growth and Ac- 
tivity; and likewise to preserve their Limbs 
strong and straight. 
By Frictions a free and full Circulation and 
Perspiration may be usefully promoted; and 
this is performed by abiding Nature to throw 
off by Perspiration the Vapours and Recre- 
ments of the third Concoction, which are of- 
ten retained and pent in between the Scales of 
the Scarf-skin, as likewise in the Interstices 
of the outward Muscles and Membranes of the 
Body; so that by the Use of Frictions Nature 
is not only assisted in discharging by insensible 
Per-

478 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Perspiration those excrementitious Particles, 
which frequently hinder a full and free Cir- 
culation, but likewise Blood and Spirits are 
thereby attracted to those Parts mod remote 
from the Seat of Heat and Motion, by which 
Means also the natural Heat is increased, and 
the superficial Muscles are render'd plump and 
strong. 
Hence it is evident, that ancient People,
and such as have weak Nerves and lead a se- 
dentary Life, especially those who are subject 
to Numbness, Weakness, or Obstructions in 
their Joints, or are threaten'd with paralytick 
Disorders, in order to supply the Want of Ex- 
ercise of other Kinds, ought to have their 
whole Bodies, more particularly their Limbs, 
rubbed for half an Hour every Morning espe- 
cially, and at Night, with a Flesh-Brush, 
Flannel, or Napkin, till the Parts begin to 
grow red and warm. The Friction should 
be made first on the Arms, Hands, Feet, 
Legs, and Thighs, from whence we ought to 
proceed to the Shoulders, Back, and Breast; 
and the Head should be rubb'd the last of all. 
Among the Ancients there were Frictions 
of various Kinds, and subservient to different 
Purposes. Hence Hippocrates in his Treatise 
De Med. Offic. tells us, 'That Friction may 
'resolve, contract, incarn, diminish: Since 
'strong Frictions contract, gentle Friction 
'resolves, much Friction diminishes; and 
'moderate Friction condenses.' Any Part of 
the Body is render'd more lax, by being rub- 
bed with soft oleous Substances.
Nothing. 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 479
Nothing is more beneficial in curing a Weak- 
ness of the Fibres, than Frictions with rough 
warm woolen Cloths, especially if previously 
impregnated with the Smoke of burning Am- 
ber, or Mastick, that at the same time this 
aromatick and corroborating Steam may enter 
the relaxed Parts. But we are to proceed 
gradually in this Work, and not to use too 
strong Frictions at first; lest either the stag- 
nated Fluids in the preternaturally distended 
Vessels should be too copiously convey'd to the 
Heart, and by that Means overwhelm and 
suffocate it; or the tender Vessels should be 
broken by imprudently increasing the Motion 
of the Blood.
When the Ancients wanted to reduce exte- 
nuated Parts to their natural Situation, they sti- 
initiated and irritated these Parts so as to produce 
a gentle Inflammation and Swelling; for by this 
Means, the Humours being convey'd with a 
greater Impetus and a brisker Motion to the 
Parts, they distended the too rigid Vessels pro- 
portionably the more. By often repeating this 
Irritation, the top great Strength of the Ves- 
sels was so diminished, as to yield to the Hu- 
mours, which, in order to their good State of 
Health, must necessarily flow into them. 
Thus Galen, in the third Chapter of his fifth 
Book De Sanitate Tuenda, informs us, 'That 
'by Frictions with pinguious Substances, he in 
'a few Days restored the Flesh of many, who 
'had been for a long time emaciated.'
Hence Frictions with fat Substances are 
highly proper in these Cases, but only to such a 
Degree

480 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Degree as to excite a slight and gentle Redness 
of the Part; for when the Friction is violent, 
that which it attracts to the Part is discussed;
but, in this Case, a large Distension of the too 
strong Vessels is required. 
Galen, in the seventh Chap. of his seventh 
Book De Method. Medend. gives this Caution 
in the following Words: 'When, says he, we 
'intend to produce Flesh on any Part, we are 
'by Friction to heat it, so as to render it tu- 
'mid; but, when we intend to discuss and 
'evacuate, this Friction and Heat are to be 
'continued till the tumid Part subsides.' 
And in the sixteenth Chapter of his fourth 
Book De Method. Medendi, he tells us; 
'That it was customary with some to strike 
'emaciated Parts with slender Rods, slightly 
'anointed, till the Parts became moderately 
'tumid.' He also informs us, that by such 
a Percussion repeated daily, or every other Day, 
together with a moderate Friction or Stimulus, 
the diminutive and extenuated Buttocks of 
Children were wonderfully enlarged. 
Hence the Reason is obvious, why Friction 
sometimes produces opposite Effects; for a 
strong Friction with rough dry woolen Cloths, 
especially when impregnated with the Fumes 
of kindled Aromaticks, as I have observed be- 
fore, cures too weak Fibres; whereas a gentle 
Friction with pinguious Substances, by at- 
tracting the Humours, and relaxing the Solids, 
softens too rigid Fibres. 
FINIS. 

























A 
GUIDE to HEALTH
THROUGH THE 
Various Stages of LIFE. 
Wherein are Explained,
I. The different Degrees and 
Changes of Age, the prin- 
cipal and inevitable Causes 
of OLD AGE, and finally 
of our Dissolution; with 
a Chronological and Hi- 
storical brief Account of 
long LIVES from before 
the FLOOD to this present 
Time. 
II. The Nature, Properties, 
Qualities, and Influence of 
AIR. Of Aliments; the 
Choice of them; their 
Power upon Human Bo- 
dies, with their good and 
bad Effects. Of Sleeping 
and Waking; of Motion and 
Rest; of Retention and Ex-
cretion; and of the Passions 
of the Mind. 
III. Of the Definitions, Di- 
agnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
Curative Indications, both 
Medicinal and Dietetical;
of Acute and Chronical Dis- 
eases incident to Human 
Bodies; with the Nature 
and Use of BATHING and 
FRICTIONS.
The whole illustrated with useful ANNOTATIONS,
methodically and succinctly digested, and con- 
firmed by the Authority of the most celebrated 
Authors, both Ancient and Modern. 
By BERNARD LYNCH, M. D. 
Pugnandum tanquam contra Morbum, sic contra Senectutem. 
Crc. de Senectute 
Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi 
Prima fugit: subeunt Morbi, tristisque Senectus: 
Et labor. & duræ rapit inclementia mortis. 
VIRG. Lib. III. Georg.
THE SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON: 
Printed for M. COOPER in Pater-noster-Row. 1754. 




TO 
Dr. JOHN BEAUFORD. 
Sir,
THE Friendshlp you shew'd
gd me in the Infancy of my 
Practice has been too essen- 
tially useful to me ever to 
be forgotten; and it is with great 
Self-Satisfaction that I take this pub- 
lick Opportunity of acknowledg- 
ing the Obligations I lie under to 
you. My Interest in Town was not 
A2 only


iv DEDICATION. 
only strengthened and extended by 
the Share you were seen to take in it, 
but my Knowledge was enlarged by 
my Converse with you, and my Prac- 
tice was formed by my Observation 
of yours. 
I carefully examined the Modus 
of Practice here, of the most Emi- 
nent of the Profession, when I first
came to Town, intending to shape 
my own with that which should 
seem to me the most conformable to 
the Sentiments of the Great Hippo- 
crates; and finding none more na- 
tural and uniform than Yours, I took 
it for my Model, and have continued 
it ever since with all the Success I 
could hope for. 
The Profession of Physick is held 
in higher Esteem in this, than any
other Country in Europe; and no 
wonder; because none can produce 
so learned a Body of Physicians. But 
among that Body, more learned and 
skillful than any other in the World, 
your

v DEDICATION. 
Your long Experience, Sir, sets you 
in the first Class of it. This is a 
Truth unquestioned, not only by the 
Publick, but even by those of the 
Profession. 
You have a natural Right to the 
Patronage of the following Work, 
being founded chiefly on your own 
Maxims, and originally begun that I 
might have a publick Opportunity of
owning your Favours, and doing 
Justice to your Merit. How I have 
succeeded in the Choice and Con- 
texture of my Subject, I submit to 
the Publick with the utmost Defe- 
rence; but however I may have fail'd
in the Opinion of other learned Men, 
I have too often experienced your In- 
dulgence, not to flatter myself that 
you will view all Inaccuracy of Stile 
and Diction, and other as minute 
Imperfections, with your usual Can- 
dour and Good-nature. As for more 
capital Errors, I shall most readily
own and reform any such, and most 
A3 grate-

vi DEDICATION. 
gratefully thank any friendly Hand 
that shall be at the Pains of pointing
them out to me. I am, with the 
greatest Sincerity,
SIR,
Your obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant, 
Stanhope-street, 
June, 1744. 
BERNARD LYNCH.

(VII)
PREFACE. 
WHERE a Title-Page is so expres- 
sive of the Contents of a Book as 
the foregoing, a Preface might 
seem unnecessary; and I should 
think it so, if Custom did not 
seem to exact that a Bill of Fare should be 
serv'd up to the Company before they sat 
down to Table. To comply then with the 
Humour of this modern Tyrant, I must in- 
form the courteous Reader, that the sole End 
of my Labour was to inform the Uninform'd
and to erect such Lights as might help them 
to form such a Judgment of their own Con- 
stitutions, as should prevent their fancying
themselves in a worse State of Health than 
they are, and running after every Empirick, 
who pretends to the Knowledge of Catholi- 
cons, or universal Remedies. These are the 
Bane of all Societies; and tho' Quacks are 
soon detected, yet as the Succession of them 
is so very constant and rapid, the Commonal- 
ty for the most part, see not the Injury done 
to them, nor the Wrong they suffer. This 
is a Misfortune to be lamented, but diffi- 
cult to be removed, whilst Man is prejudic'd
A4 in



viii The PREFACE. 
in Favour of Novelty, and in Disfavour of 
the Regular Physician, who can't afford to 
bellow the Fruits of his hard Labours on the 
Public promiscuously. 
There is one Thing in the following Sheets 
which the Author owns to have labour'd more 
than any Part of his Subject, which is the 
Doctrine of Non-naturals, the Knowledge 
of which, he thinks, no reasonable Man who 
values his own Health should be ignorant of; 
and which he presumes to say, has been more 
obscurely treated heretofore, than it ought to 
have been, or indeed he believes it was de- 
sign'd it should be. 
In treating of acute and chronical Diseases, 
there are general Remedies, but except in one 
or two Occasions, such as the Bite of a mad 
Dog, and some Consumptions, there are no 
formal Recipes, which, it is found by Expe- 
rience, are generally productive of more Evil 
than Good. For the general Ignorance, I 
may say Infatuation, is such, that the Vulgar 
too often make material Mistakes in the Pre- 
paration of the most plain and simple Reci- 
pes. Besides, that as the Nature of Diseases and 
Constitutions is so various and different, not 
to mention the Climate, Air, Season, Age, 
and a thousand other differing Circumstan- 
ces, it would be too presuming for the Au- 
thor to take upon him to prescribe for every 
particular Distemper. He would not do so 
great a Wrong to the Illiterate, nor, to use 
the learned Boerhaave'ss Words, Would do 
any



ix The PREFACE. 
any thing so prejudicial to the noble and ge- 
nerous Science of Physick, or expose it to Re- 
proach, as they must inevitably do, who pre- 
tend to adapt a particular Remedy to gene- 
ral Diseases. 
Having mention'd the ever-famous and-to- 
be-rever'd Boerhaave, the Author takes this 
Opportunity of owning his Obligations to him, 
not only in his Practice, but in this Work 
particularly. He has all along kept that 
Great Man in his View, nor has he been un- 
mindful or neglected any other eminent Wri- 
ter in Physick, either ancient or modern. He 
has frequently quoted their Words, and al- 
ways endeavour'd to conform himself to the 
Sentiments of the most approv'd Authors. 
And that his Gratitude to all such great Men 
as well as Justice may be seen, he has an- 
nex'd a Catalogue of such Authors as he owns 
himself indebted to in the Compilation of 
the following Treatise, thinking this Method 
more orderly and eligible than a constant 
Quotation.
A



A LIST of the Authors. 
Ægineta, Paulus. 
Anhornius. 
Arbuthnot. 
Boerhaave. 
Boyle. 
Borelli. 
Baglivius.
Blondell. 
Bonetus.
Baynard. 
Boutius.
Barlow.
Celsus, Aurel. Cornel.
Celius Aurelianus.
Cheyne. 
Duretus. 
Diodorus Siculus. 
Default. 
Etmuller.
Floyer, Sir John.
Galen. 
Hippocrates. 
Hugens. 
Hales. 
Halley.
Hook. 
Keil.
Lommius.
Laurentius.
Leeuwenhoek. 
Lister.
Livy.
Malpighi.
Mead, Richard.
Morton.
Newton, Sir Isaac.
Oribassius.
Paree, Ambrose.
Prosper, Alpinus.
Pliny.
Quincy.
Ruyschius
Riverius.
Romer.
Rowning.
Ramazini.
Robinson, Tancred.
Solomon.
Sydenbam.
Seneca.
Sanctorius.
Suetonius.
Torricellius.
Van Helmont.
Verulam.
Willis.
Wainright.
Waldschmidius.
A



A
LIS of the SUBSCRIBERS. 
A.
ARundel, the Rt. Hon. 
Lord 
Arundel, the Hon. Tho- 
mas, Esq;
Aston, the Hon. James, Esq; 
Astley, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books 
Aston, George Joseph, Esq;
Andree, M. D. 
Addis, Mr. Apothecary 
Asbridge, Mr. 
Adean, Mr. James 
Allanson, William, Esq;
B.
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Duke of 
Butler, the Hon. John, Esq; 
Bartholomew, M. D. 
Bennet, Philip, Esq; Mem- 
ber for Bath 
Burnham, Mr. 
Boult, Mr. Attorney at Law 
Boudon, Mr. Apothecary 
Benion, Mr. Apothecary 
Beauford, John, M. D. 
Butler, M. D. 
Bodkin, Mr. Valentine 
Brown, William, Esq; 
Barrabee, Mr. 
Bird, Edward, Esq; 
Bostock, M. D. 
Beaumont, Mr. Apothecary 
Beetenson, Mr. Surgeon 
Brewerster, Tho. M. D. 
Brett, Mr. Nathanael 
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Bradshaw, James, Mr. 
Button, Mrs.  
Barwell, Mr. 
Bolney, Mr. Henry 
Blake, Andrew, Esq;
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Barry, M. D. 
Buckeridge, the Rev. Mr. 
Thomas 
Bateman, the Hon. Capt. 
Boswell, Mr. Thomas 
Backas, Mr. Apothecary 
Betts, Mr. John 
Bostock, Mr. Henry 
Bradley, Mr. 
Boyle, Henry, Esq; 
Butcher, Mr. Apothecary 
Bannister, Mr. Charles 
Bower, Archibald, Esq;
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C.
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Lord James 
Clarke, Mr. 




xii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS. 
Carrol, Mr. 
Corless, Mr. Alexander 
Carmault, Mr. 
Coleman, Mr. 
Constable, Mr. John 
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Cibber, Colley, Esq; 
Caldwell, Mr. Robert 
Chittick, Mr. Surgeon 
Clempson, Mr. 
Coughlan, Mr. 
Cumming, Rev Mr. Wil- 
liam, A. M. 
Chettey, Mr. William 
Connel, Michael, M. D. 
Cooper, Mr. Apothecary 
Clarke, Mr. Apothecary, 
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Currer, Mr. Jun.
D. 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Frances Viscountess 
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Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Bridget, Viscountess
Dowager 
Dawkins, Esq; Member for 
Woodstock 
Davis, Mr. William, Sur-
geon 
Dorrel, Mr. 
Daffy, the Hon. Capt. 
Draper, Mr. Apothecary 
Death, Mr. Apothecary 
Deschamps, Mr. 
Doyley, Mr. Edward, At- 
torney at Law. 
Delany, the Revd. Mr.
Duggin, Mr. John 
Dumbleton, Mr. Daniel 
Duggin, Mrs.
Davis, Mr. 
E. 
Ewer, Mr. 
Eliott, Mr. Apothecary 
Eyre, Mr. Edward 
Ebrall, Mr. Apothecary 
Emet, Mrs. 
Egan, Mr. 
F. 
Fairfax, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Viscountess 
Firebrace, Sir Cordell,Bart. 
Kt. of the Shire for Suf- 
folk  
Fisher, Mr. Thomas 
Fowler, Mr. Apothecary 
Foot, Mr. Asher, Apothe- 
cary
Firmin, Mr. 
Farrel, Mr. 
Francis, Mr. George 
Frazier, Mr. Apothecary 
Farrel, Mrs. 
Farrel, Mr. Apothecary 
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Farrin, Mr. John 
Freeman, Samuel, Esq; 
Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
G. 
Graham, the Reverend Mr. 
3 Books 
Gammon, Mr. Robert, 
Apothecary 
Goodacre,




xiii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
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Griffin, Mr. Philip 
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John 
H. 
Hemet, Mr. Operator for the 
Teeth to his Royal High- 
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Henley, the Rev. Mr. A. M. 
Harriott, Mr. Surgeon 
Hawkins, Mr. Barnaby 
H—M—Mrs. 
Harrow, Mr. Robert 
Hibber, Mr. 
Haward, Mr. Watkinson, 
Attorney at Law 
Hayrick, Mr. Apothecary 
Horseman, M. D. 
Hall, Mr. 
I. 
Jones, Mr. Tho. 2 Books 
Jayer, Mr. Apothecary, 2 
Books 
Izard, Mr. 
James, M. D. 
Jernegan, M. D. 
Jernegan, Henry, Esq;
K. 
Kilby, Robert, Esq; 
Kirwood, Mr. William, 
Surgeon 
Kingsley, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. 
King, Mr. Maynard 
Kitchen, Mr. 
L. 
Litchfield, The Rt. Hon. the 
Earl of 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
Lord Viscount 
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the Lady Viscountess 
Lynch, Sir Henry, Bart. 
Lynch, Robert, Esq; 
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S. T. P. Dean of Can- 
terbury 
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Lloyd, the Hon. Capt. 
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Lucas, 




xiv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
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chard, A. M. 
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pher, Esq; 
Maul, Mr. Apothecary 
Marshal, Mr. Surgeon 
Macdonough, D. D. 
Montague, Mrs. 
Morgan, Mr. Apothecary 
Mills, John, Esq; 
Maud, Mr. Apothecary 
Maud, Mr. William 
Monkeman, Mr. Attorney 
at Law. 
Manby, Mr. Apothecary 
Mann, Mr. Thomas 
Macket, Wilmer, Esq; 
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Martin, Thomas, Esq; 
Metcalf, Mrs. 2 Books 
Morehead, William, Esq; 
Maurin, Mr. 
Metcalf, Mr.Roger, Surgeon 
Mayfield, Mr. Thomas 
Mitchel, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchell, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchel, Mr. Francis, Sur- 
geen 
Macartey, Alexander, Esq;
Manley, Apothecary 
N. 
Nebot, Mr. Balthazar 
Nevil, Mr. John, Apothecary 
Noone, Mr. John 
Nesbit, Mrs. 
Nelson, Rev, Mr. Rector of 
Oakley 
O. 
Orton, Mr.
Oliver, Mr. Nicholas 
P. 
Parsons, Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. 
Pack, Mr. Daniel 
Pile, George, M. D. 
Pearson, Mr. 
Poulson, John, Esq;
Prude, Mr. Apothecary 
Palmer, Mr. Benjamin 
Popham, Edward, Esq; 
Member for Wilts 
Pakington, John, Esq; 
Pakington, the Hon. Capt. 
R. 
Rust, Mr. 
Rawlins, Mr. Apothecary 
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muel 
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Redfern, Mr. 
S.




xv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
S. 
Sweet, Mrs. Rebecca 
Street, Mr. jun. 
Scott, Mrs. 
Sadler, Daniel, Esq; 
Smith, Mr. 
Sedgwick, James, Apothe- 
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Savage, Mrs, Anne 
Savage, Mr. George 
Savage, Mr. William 
Smith, Mr. Edward 
Sherwood, Mr. Noah, Sur-
geon 
Simmons, Mr. Edward 
SherifFe, Mr. 
Shepard, Mr. 
Smithson, William, M. D. 
Sams, Mr. Henry 
Smith, Thomas, Efq; 
Schamberg, Mayer, M. D. 
Schamberg, Isaac, M. D.
Seed, Mr. 
Shelton, Mr. Richard 
Stubbs, Mr. William, At- 
torney at Law. 
Snowden, Mr. 
Stuart, James, Esq;
Stuart, Simeon, Esq; 
Shaw, Mr. 
Smith, Mr. John 
Shipton, John, Esq; 
Stainforth, Mr, George, 
Merchant 
T. 
Tash, Mr. 
Thompson, Thomas, M. D.
Turbut, Mr. Benjamin 
Thompson, Francis, sen. 
Esq; 
Turnball, Mr. William 
Thomas, James, Esq; 
Thompson, John, Esq; 
Thompson, Francis, Esq; 
Turner, Mr.
Tonge, Mr. 
Trant, James, Esq; 
Trant, John, Esq; 
V. 
Venables, Mr. 
Vaughan, Mr. Attorney at
Law 
Umfreville, Edward, Esq; 
W. 
Wharton, Her Grace the 
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Wilton, Mr. 
Wilford, Mr. 
West, Lewis, Esq; 
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Williams, Mrs. 
Walker, Mr. 
Wilson, Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wells, Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wilson, Mr. Edward 
Webb, Thomas, Esq; 
Westby, Robert, Esq;
Wilmot, Mr. 
Z. 
Zincke, C. F. Esq; 
ERRA-

ERRATA.
Page 35. Line 17, after wholsome Food, add, probably
they might. 
Page 214. Line 21, for immediately read intimately. 

(xvii)
THE 
CONTENTS. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes of Age;
the principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age; 
and, finally, of our Dissolution; with a brief 
chronological and historical Account of long 
Lives, from the Creation to this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's Life,
with a Description and Definition of Old Age. 
OUR Bodies subject to 
Changes page 1 
Man's Life divided into se- 
veral Periods ib. 
The Egyptians Opinion of 
Ages 2 
The Pythagoreans Doctrine 
of Numbers ib. 
Five remarkable Changes in
Man's Temperament, viz. 
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood, and old Age ib
Temperament what, Note *,
ib.
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood described 3
Old Age begins at fifty, and
is divided into three Pe- 
riods ib. 
The first is called Verdant 3
The second begins at Seven- 
ty 4 
The third is called Decrepid
ib.
The Pains and Miseries of de- 
crepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Prophet ib. 
An allegorical Description of
decrepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Author, So- 
lomon 5 
The same explained 6 
Some Men old at forty 7 
A great many young at sixty
ib. 
The different Qualities of 
Constitutions ib.
a The

xviii The CONTENTS. 
The melancholick Constitu-       
tion grows old sooner than        
any of the rest—p. 8              
Females grow old sooner than      
the Males—ib.                     
Hippocrates's Opinion con-     
cerning the same—ib.              
Sloth and Idleness soon bring
on old Age—ib.                     
The Causes of different Tem-      
pers or Constitutions—ib.         
The Proportion of the Parts         
of the Body, and their Con-       
formation, contribute to the        
Difference of Constitutions       
9
The different Tempers of the  
Parts of the Body, in re-           
spect of one another—10            
Sexes and Age make a Diffe-         
rence in Constitutions ib.         
Women colder than Men—ib.          
Infants and Children hot and  
moist—ib.                          
Heat decreases in old Age—ib.      
Different Climates, and the         
Manner of living, are               
Causes of different Consti-
tutions—11
The Definition of Old Age—ib.
The same explained—ib.
The great Secret and sole
Method of long Life, is, 
to preserve the Blood and 
Juices in a due State of 
Fluidity and Thinness—12
Nothing will bring a Person
to the State of universal 
Hardness and Stiffness of
the Fibres, and a Viscosity 
and Thickness of the Juices,
than indulging in strong 
high Meats and strong Li-
quors—13 
The only Method of pro-
curing a contrary State of 
the Solids and Fluids—14 
All the Parts constituting a
human Body are made up 
of small Fibres—ib. 
The Divison of the Fibres 
becomes so small at last, as 
to exceed the Power of
Imagination—15
CHAP. II
The principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age, and 
of our Dissolution. 
The Causes of the Alteration 
of our Bodies, and of our 
Dissolution, are either ex- 
ternal or internal—16 
The internal Causes are two—ib. 
The internal Causes what—ib.
The Principles of our Com- 
position what—17 
Animal Actions distinguish- 
ed into vital, natural, and 
animal—ib.
Vital what—ib. 
Natural actions what—ib. 
Animal Functions what—ib. 
The Principles of our Com- 
position being duly distri- 
buted through the whole 
Body, may be called an E- 
quilibrium between the So- 
lids and Fluids—18
Their Alliance is of short 
Duration, and why—ib. 
The






xix The CONTENTS. 
The inevitable Causes of 
Old Age, and of our Disso- 
lotion—p. 19 
Farther Particulars necessary 
to be considered to prove 
the same, concerning the 
Nutrition, Growth, and De- 
crease of the Body—ib. to 28 
The internal Causes of our 
Dissolution are born, grow, 
and are nouristied with us, 
and will bring on gradually 
and inevitably old Age, and 
destroy the Body at last—28 
All the great Promises made 
with Assurance, as to the 
Prolongation of Life for 
many hundred Years, are 
vain and imaginary, being 
unsupported both by Rea- 
son and Experience—ib. 
External Causes of our Disso- 
lution, which are likewise 
inevitable—ib. 
Other external Causes, which 
are accidental, as Wounds, 
Fractures, &c.—29 
CHAP. III.
An historical Account of Long Lives, from the 
Creation to the present Time. 
Men lived many hundred 
Years before the Flood—30 
None of the Fathers attained 
to the Age of a thousand—ib. 
This Length of Life was not 
peculiar to Grace or the 
holy Line only—ib. 
There are eleven Generations 
of the Fathers to the Flood 
31 
Of the Sons of Adam by Cain, 
eight Generations only—ib. 
The Length of Life was re-
duced to one half imme- 
diately after the Flood, in 
the Post-nati only—ib. 
Noah and Sem, who were 
born before the Flood, 
each of them liv'd 600
Years—ib. 
Of the Ages of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Ismael, and Sarah 
ib.
Of Joseph, Levi, Moses, Aaron, 
and Phineas, Grand-child 
of Aaron—32
Of Joshua, Caleb, and Job—33
Of Isaiah the Prophet, and 
Tobias the Elder and the 
Younger—34
Of Epimenides the Cretan, and 
Xenophanes the Colophonian 
36
Of Gorgias the Sicilian, and 
Democritus of Abdera—37 
Of Terentia, Cicero's Wife—39 
Of Simeon the Son of Cleophas, 
called the Brother of our 
Lord, and Bishop of Hie- 
rusalem; and Aquilla and 
Priscilla, St. Paul's Fellow- 
helpers—42 
Of St. Paul the Hermit, and 
St. Anthony the Monk—43 
The Popes of Rome, and their 
Number to this Time—44. 
Dando of Illyrinm, reported 
to have liv'd 500 Years—45 
Hippocrates of Cos, the Prince 
of Physicians, Euphrenor 
the Grammarian Seneca and
a2 Joannes




xx The CONTENTS. 
Joannes de Temporibus, a 
Native of France p. 46 
Of Cornaro the Venetian, and 
William Postell, a crazy 
Frenchman 47 
The surprizing Age of Henry 
Jenkins, a Yorkshireman ib.
Of Thomas Parr, a Shropshire- 
man 48 
Francisco Lupatsoli, Venetian 
Consul at Smyrna 49 
Remarkable Instances of Ab- 
stemiousness, Continency, 
and many other Virtues in 
the Life of Aurenzebe, one 
of the late Great Moguls 
ib. to 52 
Richard Lloyd, born within 
two Miles of Montgomery 
ib. 
John Bailes of Northampton 
53 
The Western Islands of Scot- 
land remarkable for long 
Lives ib. 
Mrs. Hudson's abstemious Life 
described ib. 
Mr Johnston's Life 54
A remarkable Inscription on 
the Tomb-stone of Mar- 
garet Scot, who liv'd 125 
Years ib. 
Of Margaret Paten's great 
Age 55 
—Bright, of Ludlow in 
Shropshire, likewise ib. 
Mrs. Agnes Milbourn's long 
Life, very remarkable for 
the great Number of Chil- 
dren she had by one Hus- 
band ib.
Instance manifestly proving
Milk to be of salubrious,
safe, and sweet Nourish-
ment ib. 
Temperance and a cool Diet 
are absolutely necessary to 
the Prolongation of Life 
56
Man' Life has stood much a- 
about the same Standard 
of Years, from the Time of 
Moses to our Days ib. 
The Continuation and Num- 
bers of Successions of Ge- 
nerations make nothing as 
to the Length or Brevity of 
Man's Life ib. 
People live longer when the 
Times are barbarous, and 
they fare less deliciously, 
and are more given to Bo- 
dily Exercises; but shorter 
in civiliz'd Times, People 
abandoning themselves to 
Luxury and Ease ib. 
The great Abridger of Age 
was undoubtedly the De- 
luge 57 
There were Men of Gigantick 
Stature before the Flood; 
but no such have been pro- 
duced any where since ib. 
The immediate Condition of 
the Parents conduces very 
much to the Length or 
Shortness of the Life of 
their Offspring 58 
The best Rule is to use mo-
deration in all things 59
Conjugal Love more condu- 
cive to Health and long 
Life than an unlawful one 
ib. 
The best Time for Genera- 
tion ib. 
PART


xxi The CONTENTS.
PART II.
Introduction to the Six Nonnaturals.
CHAP. I.
Of the Nature of Air.
Air defin’d—p. 60 
Air the principal Instrument
of Nature in all its Opera- 
tions—62
The Lower Parts of the Air
are impregnated of particles
ib.
Air is differently impregnated
in different places of the 
Surface of the Earth, which
must considerably alter its
State—ib.
Water, Earth, and Salts of
all Kinds, are Ingredients
of Air—63
Other Contents of Air—ib.
Vegetables of all Kinds per-
spire Particles, which float
in the Air—64
Animal Perspiration and the
Effluvia of all their other
Excrements, are Ingredi-
ents of the Air, which of-
ten infect that Part of the
Atmosphere, and produce
pestilential Disease—ib.
Doctor Hale's computation
of Animal Perspiration, and
how it may infect the Air—ib.
The Air in great populous
Cities, in Camps, or near
Numbers of dead Carcasses,
in a hot fultry Season, may
be infected so far as to dis-
posed the People to putrid
and malignant Fevers—6;
the Inhabitants of Countries
where great Numberss have
been slain in Battle, and
left unburied, were soon
after infested with pestilen-
tial Distempers—ib.
Several Instances to prove the 
same—66
It is of the utmost Consequence
to every one, to take care
what kind of Air they live
in—ib.
The first Consideration in 
building Houses and Cities
67
All high Hills and Mountains
are damp, and Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for
Reservoirs of Rain-water—ib.
Rain the Origin of Rivers,
and Fresh-water Springs—ib.
Dew is not mere Water, but
a Collection of watry, oily,
faline and volatile Sub-
stances exhaling from the
Earth—68
Dews of different Places are
of a different Nature—ib.
Why Air soon corrodes the 
Bricks and Tiles of House,
and rots the very Hangings
of Rooms in some Coun-
tries—69
Air in some Places impregnat-
ed with arsenical Steams—ib.
The Steams of Sulphurs and 
Charcoals extremely per-
nicious to human Bodies—ib.
a3 Sul-






xxii The CONTENTS.
Sulphureous Vapours infest 
Vegetables, and render the 
Grass pernicious to Cattle 
70 
How the sulphureous Steams 
and Vapours of Mines affect
the Miners—ib. 
Why Diseases are more fre- 
quent and more dangerous 
in Cities than in the Coun- 
try—ib.
Why the close and confin'd 
Air of Prisons, Bays, and 
Harbours, often produces 
mortal Diseases—71
To what the great Mortality 
that is so often in Camps, 
and Sieges, is chiefly owing 
ib. 
Infects and their Eggs often 
float in the Air we breathe 
in—ib. 
Why Infects floating in the 
Air are often the Cause of 
many grievous Diseases—72 
There are Showers of Rain 
sometimes in Africk, affect- 
ing the Inhabitants with 
Shivering?, a ltd Infects 
found in the Drops of these 
Showers—ib. 
Air in most Places contains 
near the same Quantity of 
Water—73 
All the different Ingredients 
of the Air are digested and 
attenuated ly the Heat of 
the Sun, and constantly agi- 
tated by Winds, which mix 
the Air of different Regions 
together—74 
The particular Causes of 
Thunder and Lightning—ib. 
The wonderful Effects of 
Lightning—75 
The Opinion of Philosophers 
upon these strange Effects 
ib. 
A Thunderbolt what, Note * 
ib.  
The Rays of the Sun are the 
true Cause of infinite varie- 
ty of Ingredients contained 
and floating in the Air—77 
Light is not above ten Minutes 
in passing from the Sun to 
the Earth—ib. 
The Earth is 10,000 of its 
own Diameters distant from 
the Sun—ib. 
The Velocity of Light to that 
of a Cannon Ball, will be 
as 25 Years to 10 Minutes 
ib. 
The Effects of the Rays of 
the Sun collected in the Fo- 
cus of a burning Glass upon 
Gold, which is unalterable 
by any artificial Fire—ib.
The Rays of the Sun are ca-
pable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies,
small Particles lighter when 
separate than the least com- 
pounding Particle of Air 
78 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of Air. 
The Properties of Air what 
p. 78 
Galileus was the first Lisco- 
verer of the Gravity of Air
79
The specifick Gravity of Air 
according to Sir Isaac New- 
ton and Dr. Halley—ib. 
Specifick Gravity what—ib. 
Note *





xxiii The CONTENTS. 
Air may possess a Space 520, 
000 times greater at one 
time than another 80 
The Specifick Gravity of the 
Air cannot be exactly de- 
termined ib. 
Air readily enters into the 
Vessels of Animal Bodies 
82
The same Thing happens in 
Vegetables and Liquids 83 
The Globules of the Blood 
contain Air 85 
Elasticity is a Property in Air 
which it never loses 89 
The Solids and Fluids of Ani- 
mals contain more Air in 
them in Proportion than 
any other Substances—90 
Fluidity is a Property in Air 
which cannot be destroy'd
91  
Air a Fluid in constant Mo- 
tion 92 
The difference between Flui- 
dity and Liquidity ib. 
Air is compressible and dila- 
table 93
Divisibility a Property of Air 
94 
CHAP. III.
Of the Qualities of Air. 
The Qualities of Air what 
95 
Heat is a Quality relative to 
our Senses 96 
The Spirit of Wine in Weather- 
Glasses is affected with the 
least Alerations of Heat or 
Cold 97
Why Languid and Hysterick 
People suffer in hot Wea- 
ther ib 
Excessive hot Air capable of 
reducing animal Substances 
to a State of Putrefaction 
98 
Dr. Boerhaave's Experiment 
upon a Sparrow and a Dog
ib.
Perspiration what 99 
Air not cool'd by the Motion 
of Winds 102 
Great Mischief arising from 
keeping the Air of the 
Rooms of People in Fevers 
too hot 103  
Cold condenses the Air in Pro- 
portion to the Degrees of 
it 104 
Cold suppresses Perspiration 
105 
The fatal Extremities of Cold 
in Greenland ib. 
The Effects of extreme Cold 
or extreme Heat 106 
The Effects of moist Air ib. 
Dryness, a Quality in Air 
producing different Effects 
to those of moist Air 109 
The Doctrine of absorbing 
Air thro' the Pores of the 
Skins of living Creatures 
demonstrated 111 
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of Air upon human Bodies. 
Hippocrates knew more of the 
Influence of Air than all 
his Predecessors and Suc- 
cessors 113 


xxiv The CONTENTS. 
Hipocrates's Advice concern- 
ing Air—ib. 
—Could foretell the 
Diseases from ths Weather 
115
The Affair of Generation is 
influenc'd by Air—116 
The different Shapes, Com- 
plexion, and Tempers of 
Mankind influenc'd by Air 
117
The different Forms of Go- 
vernment, and even the 
Courage of People, is ow- 
ing to the Influence of Air 
ib.
Air the Cause of most Dis- 
eases—118 
Astronomy useful in Physick 
119 
The Constitution of the Air 
according to Hippocrates 
120
Dr. Arhuthnot's Explanation 
of Hippocrates and others, 
concerning the Influence of 
Air—124  
The whole Constitution of 
the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends upon 
Air—147  
What we are to do when the 
Air is corrupted—148 
What regards ancient People 
concerning Air—ib. 
CHAP. V. 
Of Aliments in general. 
The first Stage of Digestion, 
and how it is perform'd 
150 
The second Stage of Diges- 
tion—155 
The most subtil Parts of the
Food pass immediately in- 
to the Blood by the absor- 
bent Vessels of the Inte- 
stines—156 
The last Stage of Digestion
161  
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of Aliments. 
All Animals are made either 
immediately or mediately 
of Vegetables—p. 164 
Vegetables consist of Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, and 
Earth—165
Of different Tastes—ib.
Of the properest Food of the 
vegetable Kingdom.—166 
Of the Qualities of Barley, 
Wheat, Oats, Rice, Rye, 
Millet, Panick and Maise 
167 
Of Peas, Beans, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricocks, Plumbs, 
and Mulberries—168, 169 
Of Gooseberries, Currants, 
Cherries, Strawberries, O- 
ranges. Citrons, Limons, 
Grapes and Figs—170  
Of Quinces, Pomegranates, 
Tamarinds, Capers, Olives, 
Almonds, Walnuts, Hazle- 
Nuts, Chesnuts, Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and 
Melons—171 
Of Pot-Herbs—172
Of Artichokes, Asparagus, 
Parsley, and Celery—ib. 
Of Spinage, Beet, Sallads, 




xxv The CONTENTS. 
Potatoes, Turnips, Car- 
rots, Parsnips—173 
Of Garlick, Onions, Rock-  
ambole, Shalot, Leeks, 
Radishes, Horse-radishes, 
Cresses, Mustard, Truffles,
Morelles, and Mushrooms 
174 
Of Marjoram, Basil, Savory,  
Thyme, Rosermary, Sage 
175  
Of the Qualities of Tea, 
Coffee, and Chocolate—175, 
176, 177, 178
Animal Food more nourish- 
ing than Vegetable—ib. 
Animal Diet is anti-acid—179
Animal Flesh differs accord- 
ing as the Animal is terre- 
strial, aquatick, or am- 
phibious, and Fishes abound 
with more alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial animals 
ib.
The only Way of having 
found and healthful animal 
Food—180
The Flesh of Animals too 
old, unwholsome—181 
Salt Fish produces gress Hu- 
mours, and bad Juices—ib. 
Why the Flesh of wild Ani- 
mals keeps longer uncor- 
rupted than that of tame 
ones—182
Flesh boiled, wholsomer for 
weak Stomachs than roasted 
ib. 
Why Meats bak'd or fry'd,
are bad—183
Of Lamb, Veal, Kid, and 
Beef—ib.
Of Mutton, Rabies, young 
Hares, Pork and Bacon 
184
Of Brawn, Deer, Cream,
Butter. Marrow and Cheese 
185 
Milk, a most noble, nourish- 
ing, and wholsome Food 
l66 
A proper Diet for Women 
that give suck, or Nurses 
187 
Whey, good for hot Consti- 
tutions and Scurvies 188 
How to know the different 
Nature and Qualities of 
Birds or Fowls in general 
ib.  
Of Duck, Capon, Pigeons, 
Pheasants, Pullets, and 
Geese—189 
Of Turkey, Partridges, Plo- 
vers, Blackbirds, Larks, 
Sparrows, Peacocks, and 
Starts—190 
Of Thrushes, Quails, Turtle 
Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, 
and all other long-billed 
Birds—191
Of Fish in respect of Flesh, 
and why it is in general 
hard of Digestion ib. 
General Rules concerning Fish
192 
Of Eels, Carp, Lampreys, 
Pike, and Sturgeon—193 
Of Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, 
Turbut, Soles, Place, 
Perch, Tench, Gudgeons, 
and Smelts—194. 
Of Flounders, Salmon, Trout, 
Cod-fish, Haddock, Skate, 
Thornback, Barbel, Mac- 
karel, Herrings and Sprats
195, 196 
Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity 
are lightest of Digestion. 
ib. 
The larger and bigger the 
Vege-




xxvi The CONTENTS. 
Vegetable, or Animal is 
in its Kind, the Food made 
thereof is the stronger, and 
harder to be digested 197 
Sea Fish or Animals harder to 
be digested than Land Ani- 
mals 198
Vegetables and Animals a- 
bounding with oily, fat,
and viscid Substance, are 
harder to digest than those 
of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance ib. 
Of the Nature and Effects of 
Rock and Sea Salt 199 
Of Honey, Oil and Vinegar 
201, 202  
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bodies, with 
their good and bad Effects. 
Aliment what 203 
The Art of preserving Health 
consists in a Mediocrity of 
Diet 204
Substances which stimulate 
the folid Parts, produce 
the greatest Alterations in 
animal Bodies. 205 
The solid Parts of animal 
Bodies may be contracted 
variously by Diet 206
The more sulphurous or chy- 
mical Oil any Spirit con- 
tains, the more destructive 
it proves to the Constitu- 
uon, as Rum and distill'd
Spirits of Annifeeds, &c. 
ib.
Austere acid Vegetables have 
a Quality of contracting, 
and strengthening the Fi- 
bres without a great many 
of the bad Effects of di- 
stilled Spirits 207 
Warm Water the best Liquid 
for relaxing the Fibres ib.
How the Qualities and Quan-
tity of the Fluids of a hu- 
man Body may be chang'd 
by Diet 208 
Acrimony or Sharpness is not 
natural, but introduc'd into 
the Fluids of animal Bodies 
either by Food or Sickness
210 
The Juices of found Animals 
consist of Salts of a pe- 
culiar Nature, neither quite 
fix'd, nor quite volatile, 
nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline ib. 
Acrimony in the Blood con- 
sists of three Sorts, acid, 
alkaline, and muriatic or 
briny 211  
The proper Diet for the Cure 
of the acid Acrimony 212 
The Diet proper in the alka- 
line and briny Acrimony 
ib. 
Several Sorts of Antiscorbu- 
ticks proper in an alkale- 
scent State of the Fluids 
213 
Drink, an essential Part of 
our Food, and the chief In- 
tentions of it 214. 
Pure Water answers all the 
Intentions of Drink, best 
of any Liquor ib. 
The Usefulness of Water for 
the Purposes of human 
Life 215 
Water the best and most 
wholsome


xxvii The CONTENTS. 
wholsome Drink in gene- 
ral, some few Cases ex- 
cepted—ib.
Of Malt Liquors—216
Of strong Beer—ib. 
Of the Nature of fine Ales, 
or Home-brew'd, and how 
they are fin'd, which is 
pernicious, if not poison- 
ous to Health—ib.
Yorkshire, Nottingham, Welch,
and all fine Ales brew'd 
for Sale, destrudlive to 
Health—217
The frequent Use and Excess 
of distilled spirituous Li- 
quors, is become a Vice of 
so shocking a Nature among 
the People in general—ib.
The poisonous Qualities of di-
stilled Spirits consider'd—218
The direful Effects of the fre- 
quent Use of Dram-drink- 
ing explain'd—219 
The great Calamity of Dram- 
drinking farther consider'd 
220  
Next to Drams, no Liquor de- 
serves to be stigmatized and 
more detested than Punch 
ib.  
The principal Ingredients of 
Punch separately consider'd 
221 
When a Cordial may be use- 
ful 222 
A Sot the most contemptible 
Character in human Life—ib. 
The melancholy Effects of
Drunkenness explain'd—223 
A short Account of different
Wines in general—224 
Strong made Country Wines 
prejudicial—225  
The Conclusion, concerning 
Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors—ib. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, and the Diet proper for 
each. 
A general Method as to Diet, 
without Regard to parti- 
cular Constitutions absurd 
226 
Enumeration of the several 
Sorts of Constitutions 227 
Qf the Debility of the Fibres
ib.
The Causes and Signs of weak 
and lax Fibres assign'd—228
A Regimen for those of weak 
fibres—229 
The Effects of too rigid a 
state of the Fibres—230
Rigidity what, and likewise 
the Signs of such a consti- 
tution—ib.
The Regimen in such a State 
231 
The Definition, Cause, and 
proper Diet of plethorick 
Constitutions—232  
Of sanguinecus Constitutions 
and their Diagnostick Signs 
233 
The Diet proper for such Con- 
stitutions—235 
A saline Constitution of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, is 
either acid, alkaline, muria- 
tick, or briny—ib. 
Of acid Constitutions and their 
Effects—236 
Of Constitutions subject to an 
alkaline Acrimony—237



xxviii The CONTENTS. 
The Causes and Symptoms of 
such Constitutions—238, 239 
The Regimen for such—240 
The Causes and proper Diet 
for the muriatick or briny 
Scurvy—ib. 
Of phlegmatick Constitutions, 
their Causes, Signs, and 
proper Diet—241, 242 
Of fat or oily Constitutions, 
their Causes, Symptoms and 
proper Diet—243, 244, 245
Of atrabilarian or melancholy 
Constitutions, their Signs, 
Causes, Effects, and proper 
Diet—246 to 250 
The grand Secret of Health 
consists in keeping an Equi- 
librium between the Solids 
and Fluids—ib. 
Aphoristical Rules of Diet in 
the various Stages of Life 
251 to 258
CHAP. IX.
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
Sleep, what—258 
The Use, Benefit, and Causes 
of Sleep—261 
The natural Cause of Sleep 
263 
The Effects of two much 
Watching—ib. 
Late Meat suppers prejudicial 
to Health—264 
The Effects of too much 
Sleep—266 
Of sleeping in the Day-time, 
or after Dinner—267 
The ordinary Time allowed 
for Sleep—268 
The properest Time for sleep- 
ing 268 
Nothing more pernicious to 
the Constitution, than 
watching by Night and 
sleeping by Day—ib. 
Rules to be observ'd in regard 
to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed—270 
CHAP. X.
Of Motion and Rest.
The use of Motion and Rest 
271 
The Necessity of Motion 
or Exercise mechanically 
proved—273 to 282
Of the Effects of Musick—283
Its wonderful Effects in cur- 
ing the Bite of the Taran- 
tula, Note *—ib. 
The Effects of too much
Rest—286
The absolute Necessity of La- 
bour and Exercise for the
Preservation of Health far- 
ther consider'd—ib. 
The bad Effects of too much 
Labour or Exercise—287 
Of general Exercises—ib. 
Riding of all Exercises the 
best—ib.  
Of particular Exercises ap- 
propriated to certain Parts 
of the Body—28  
Conditions to be observ'd what
regard to Exercise—29
CHAP. 



xxix The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of Retention and Excretion.
What Things are to be ex- 
creted or evacuated, and 
what retain'd—291 
The Cause of costive Stools 
292
The best Proportion of the
gross Evacuations to the 
Quantity of Food taken in 
ib. 
Purging Stools how they dis- 
cover the Badness of the 
Regimen we use—293 
The Reason why Mercury 
will purge instead of sali- 
vating—294 
That the same Reason will 
make appear why Restrin- 
gents and Opiates prove
purgative—ib. 
A dangerous Mistake in rear- 
ing up Children—ib. 
Loose and purgative Stools 
discover intemperate Eat- 
ing—295 
The Mischief arising to Hy- 
sterical and Vapourish Peo- 
ple, by perpetually cram- 
ming and gobbling the 
richest and strongest Food, 
and highest Cordials—ib. 
The common Cause of Head-
Aches, Stomack-Aches, 
and Colicks—296 
The right Method of bracing
relax'd Nerves—ib. 
An uncommon Evacuation 
both by Stool and Urine, 
and the Causes of it—297 
Urine, and what it con- 
sists of—299 
Unite of a bright Amber Co- 
lour the best—300 
The Effects of Urine too long 
retained—ib. 
The Effects of too great an 
Evacuation of Urine—301 
Of the different Tastes, Smell, 
Colour, and Quantity of 
Urine—ib.
Of high-colour'd, foul, and 
turbid Urine—302
Of dark-brown, or dirty red- 
colour'd Urine—ib. 
Of bloody, mattery, or whey- 
ish Urine—303 
Obstructed Perspiration the 
Cause of most acute Di- 
seases, and the Effect of 
chronical ones—ib.
Catching of Cold what, and 
how dangerous—ib. 
A present, easy Remedy a- 
gainst it—304 
Certain Indications of Per- 
spiration's being deficient 
or obstructed, with Direc- 
tions how to remedy the 
same—ib. 
The Semen what, and the 
Effects of moderate Coition
305 
Immoderate Coition and its 
bad Effects—306 
The Menses a necessary Eva- 
cuation, and what,—307 
Of Sweat and the Nature of 
it—308 
Sweat different from insensible 
Perspiration—ib. 
Of the Saliva, or Spittle, and 
the Use of it—309 
Of Tobacco and its Effects 
310 
Of the Mucus or Snot, and 
Tears—311
Of Ear Wax and its Use—312 
CHAP. 

xxx The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
The Essence and Causes of 
the Passions not consider'd, 
but their Effects and Influ- 
ence upon Human Bodies 
312
The Manner how the Mind 
operates upon the Body 
313 
How the Passions of the Mind
consume the Spirits and 
disorder the Body—ib. 
Joy and Anger render 
Body lighter—314
Fear and Sorrow increase the 
Weight of the Body—315 
The Passions to be consider'd
as physical Agents ib. 
An Enumeration of the chief 
Passions of the Mind—ib. 
Of Love (properly distinguish
ed into three Kinds) and 
its Effects—317 
Of Hatred and its Effects—320 
Of Shame, Hope, Despair, 
and their Effects—321
The Passions are properly di- 
vided into acute and chro- 
nical—323 
The Effects of acute Passions 
ib. 
The Cause of Blushing—ib. 
The Cause of Sighing—324 
The Effects of the Suddenness 
of the Passions when ex- 
treme—ib.
Of chronical Passions—ib. 
The Effects of chronical Pas- 
sions—325  
The Passions have a very great 
Influence upon Health—ib. 
The Advantages of Spiritu-
al Love with regard to 
Health—326 
It banishes all those Vices 
winch must ruin Health, 
and gives continual Joy and 
Serenity, inseparable from 
Health—ib.  
The Conclusion—327 
PART III. 
CONTAINING, 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
curative Indications both Medicinal and Dietetical 
of acute and chronical Diseases; with the Nature 
and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
The Introduction—329 
CHAP. 

xxxi The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. I. 
Of Fevers, both in general and particular. 
A Fever, what—333 
Sydenham's Definition—ib. 
Boerhaave's Sentiments—ib. 
The Symptoms of Fevers in 
general—ib.
The general Cure of Fevers
334 
Of the Symptoms—ib. 
The Benefit of giving a Vo- 
mit in Fevers—335
When a Purge may be given 
with Advantage—336 
The Cause of Fevers accord- 
ing to Hippocrates—ib. 
A Rule of Diet in Fevers—337 
A Division of Fevers—ib. 
Of an Ephemera and putrid 
Fever, what—338
The Causes of a putrid Fever 
ib.
The Diagnosticks and Prog- 
nosticks—339 
Of a continent or remitting
Fever—340 
Of a spurious remitting Fever, 
and its Prognosticks—341
Of a simple remitting Fever—ib. 
The Method of Cure—342 
A Division of continual Fevers
into Burning and Slow Fe- 
vers, with the chief Symp- 
toms and Prognosticks—343
The Regimen—344 
The Method of Cure—345 
Of a Calenture, and of Slow 
Fevers—346
Of Catarrhal Fevers—ib. 
The Method of Cure—347 
Of Intermitting Fevers—348 
The Method of Cure—349 
Of Spurious intermitting Fe- 
vers, and the Cure—351 
The proximate Cause of In- 
termitting Fevers—352  
Of Burning Fevers—ib. 
Great Variety of Malignant 
Fevers—353 
Prognosticks and Cure of Ma- 
lignant Fevers—354  
Of Spotted fevers; their 
Symptoms, Prognosticks, 
and Cure—357 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms attending 
Fevers. 
Of Rigor or Shivering in Fe- 
vers—358
Of Feverish Heat, and the 
Cure—359
Of Thirst, Anxieties, and Vo-
miting in Fevers—360, 361 
Of a Looseness in Fevers—363 
Of a Strangury, and profuse
Sweats in Fevers—364, 365 
Of a Pain in the Head, Watch-
fulness, Coma, and Deliri- 
ums in Fevers—366, 367 
Of Convulsions in Fevers—368 
Of Weakness in Fevers—369 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in 
Fevers—370 
Of the Small-Pox; its diffe- 
rent Stages and Cure, from 
371 to 380. 
CHAP.

xxxii the CONTENTS. 
CHAP. III. 
Of inflammatory Diseases attended with a Fever. 
Of a Phrensy, or Inflamma- 
tion of the Brain—382 
Of a Quinsy; its different 
Sorts, and Cure—384 
Of a Pleurisy—386
Of a Peripneumony, or In- 
flammation of the Lungs 
389 
An Empyema, what—391 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or Inflam- 
mation of the Diaphragm 
393 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Stomach—ib.
Of an Inflammation of the 
Liver—395
Of an Inflammation of the 
Mesentery—400 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Guts, Symptoms and Cure 
402 
Inflammations of the Kidneys
405 
Of an Apoplexy—409 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers. 
Of a Palsy—413 
Of an Hemiplegia, and a Pa- 
raplegia—415 
The Cure—416
Of an Epilepsy, or Falling- 
Sickness—417
The Causes Various—ib. 
Of Melancholy Madness, and
the Causes—421 
Of Madness from the Bite of
a Mad-Dog—425 
A new and sure Method of
Cure—429
Of the Scurvy—432 
The Cause—433
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of 
Body—435 
The Signs, and Cure—436 
Of a Consumption—439 
Of the concomitant Cause of a 
Consumption—441 
The Method of Cure, from 
449 to 452  
Of a Dropsy—452 
Of the Gout—456 
The Effects of Abstinence in 
the Gout—461 
Of Rheumatism—ib. 
The Cause and Cure—462  
Of the Stone and Gravel—463 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
Of Cold Bathing—467 
Necessary Rules to be observ'd 
before Cold Bathing—470 
Wherein Cold Bathing is in- 
jurious—471 
The Use of warm Bathing—473 
The Use and Effects of hot 
Mineral Baths, such as that 
famous one in Somersetshire
474 
Of Frictions and their good 
and bad Effects—476 
A

(1)
A 
Guide to Health, &c. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age; the principal and inevita- 
ble Causes of Old Age; and, final- 
ly, of our Dissolution. 
To which is annex'd 
A brief, chronological, and historical Account
of LONG LIVES, from before the Flood to 
this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's 
Life; with a Description and Definition of 
Old Age. 
As our Bodies are subject to Changes 
and Alterations, from the Minute 
we come into the World; so the 
Physicians, regarding the most ap- 
parent and sensible Changes only, have divided
man's whole Life into several Periods, which  
A they

2 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
they call Ages: The Egyptians reckon'd as 
many as there are ‡ Septenaries in a hundred; 
for they were of Opinion, that Man's Life 
could not exceed that Term. 
The Pythagoreans, who were very super- 
stitious in the Doctrine of Numbers, have 
publish'd in their Writings, that we undergo 
remarkable Changes every seven Years, as well 
in regard to the Temperature of the Body, as 
the Qualities of the Soul; all which must be 
referr'd to the Excellency and Perfection of 
the Number Seven.
But I will not enter into Disquisitions upon 
Numbers in this Place; it is enough for me to
have the Concurrence of all the most cele- 
brated Authors, that Man, according to the 
natural Course of Life, undergoes five remark- 
able Changes in his * Temperament, and passes 
five Ages or Periods; that is, Infancy, Ado- 
lescency, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. 
Infancy is hot and moist; but the Moisture 
is predominant, and keeps the Heat in such 
Subjection, that it can no way shew its Effects. 
It
‡ Septenarius, or Septennium, containing the Space of seven 
Years. Some of the Antients reckon'd every Constitution 
underwent some remarkable Change in every such Revolution, 
whence the seventh Year was call'd critical, or climacterick
Year. 
* Temperament is that Diversity in the Blood of different 
Persons, whereby it is apt to fall into some certain Combina- 
tions more in one Body than another, whether into Sanguine, 
Choler, Phlegm, or Melancholy; from whence Persons are said 
to be of a sanguine, cholerick, phlegmatick, or melancholy Tem- 
perament or Constitution. Of all which I shall speak more at 
large hereafter. 

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 3 
It continues to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
Year. 
Adolescency follows, which is likewise hot 
and moist, but the Heat begins to be predo- 
minant; for we see its Sparks shine and lighten 
every where. 
In Males the Voice then begins to grow 
loud and hoarse; they spread and dilate every
way, and cast their first Downs. In Females 
the Breasts grow visibly harder and larger, the 
Blood is in Motion thro' the whole Body, and 
pushes on all Sides till it finds Passage. This 
Period extends to the Age of four or five and 
twenty, which is the Term limited by Nature 
for Growth. 
This is succeeded by Youth, which is full of 
Heat, Vigour, and Agility: It runs to thirty- 
five or forty. In this Age the Body comes to 
its full State, and the Fibres, Membranes, and 
Bones to their due Solidity. This is what is 
call'd Manhood, and is the most temperate of 
the Ages of Man, participating of the four 
Extremes equally, and extending to the fiftieth
Year; where Old Age begins, which com- 
prises the Remainder of our Lives. 
Now this last Period of Man's Life may be 
divided into three Stages; but I pass over that 
which is call'd Senium ex morbo, that is, Old 
Age brough on by Sickness.
The first is call'd Verdant: It is accompa- 
nie with Prudence, and is full of Experience, 
and fit for governing Commonwealths, and 
managing Affairs of Importance. The se- 
A2 cond

4 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
cond begins at Seventy, and is attended with 
several little Ailments, and is cold and dry. 
As to the first, there are such apparent Marks 
of it, that none ever doubted it; for if we 
touch old Men of those Years, we shall find 
them generally very cold in all their Muscles; 
they have no lively or Vermillion Colour; all 
their Senses are weaken'd, and they are subject
to a great many cold Distempers: But as to 
the other Quality, Dryness, some have endea- 
vour'd to dispute it, saying that this Period is 
moist, but not dry. To this Galen replies, 
in his first Book de Sanitate Tuenda, that old
Men have all those Parts dry which are moist 
in Children; that is, the solid Parts, upon 
which the whole Constitution depends. This 
is even the Opinion of the Moderns, and what 
we should follow; for Leanness, Wrinkles, 
Hardness of the Nerves and Skin, the Stiff- 
ness of the Joints, are sufficient Demonstra- 
tions of this dry Temperament at that Age. 
At length comes the last Step of Old Age, 
and is call'd Decrepit; in which, according 
to the Royal Prophet, there is nothing but 
Pains and Grief; for all the Faculties of the
Soul and Body are weaken'd, the Sentiments 
dull and heavy, the Memory lost, the Judg- 
ment defective. 
This Last Period of Old Age is describ'd in 
the twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, under so 
beautiful an Allegory, that nothing can excel 
it; and as the Royal Author was the greatest 
Philosopher and Naturalist that ever wrote, I  
will


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 5
will therefore present the Reader with his 
Description of this Stage of Life at large, 
which, besides its Beauty, will likewise serve 
Us for Instruction and Counsel.
Remember, says he, thy Creator in the Days 
of thy Youth, while the Sun, or the Lights or 
the moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor 
the Clouds return after the Rain. 
In the Day when the Keepers of the House 
shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow 
themselves, and the Grinders cease, because 
they are few; and those that look out of Win- 
dows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut
in the Streets, when the Sound of the Grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the
Bird, and all the Daughters of Musick shall 
be brought low.  
And when they shall be afraid of that which 
is high, and Fears shall be in the way, and the 
Almond-tree shall flourish, and the Grashopper 
shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners 
go about the Streets. 
Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as 
it was: and the Spirit shall return to God that
gave it.
This is the Description of Stage of 
man's Life, which is admirable. In decrepit 
old Age, the Sun and the Stars are darken'd;
that is, the Eyes of Man, which are grown
dim; nor the Clouds return after the Rain;
A3 that


6 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
that is, after they have been weeping a long 
time, they seem to have thick Clouds before 
their Eyes. The Keepers of the House shall 
tremble; that signifies the Hands and Arms, 
which have been given to Man for the Defence 
of his whole Body. And the strong Men shall 
bow themselves; that is, the Legs, which are 
the Columns that support the whole Building. 
And the Grinders cease; that is, the Teeth, 
which grind and chew the Aliments. And 
those that look out of the Windows be darken'd; 
that is, the Eyes, which are troubled with 
Cataracts, and several other Disorders incident
to the Sight of decrepit old People. And the 
Door shall be shut in the Streets, when the 
Sound of the Grinding is low; those are the 
Chops, which cannot open to chew, or the 
Canals thro' which the Aliment us'd to pass, 
but are now grown straight and narrow. And 
be shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird; that
is, decrepit old People cannot sleep, and are 
always awaken'd by the Cock's Crowing. 
And all the Daughters of Musick shall be 
brought low; that is, their Voice, which fails 
them. And the Almond-tree shall flourish; 
that is, the Head, which is all white. And 
the Grashopper shall be a Burden; that is, the
Legs, which are swoln, &c. 
Having now describ'd the Ages terminated 
by Years, I would not however be so far con- 
fin'd to the usual Number into which Man's 
Life is divided, as if Youth and Old Age must
intirely depend upon it; We ought rather to
regu-

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 7
regulate ourselves by the * Temperament, or 
Nature of our Constitution: for we may 
call every Man that is cold and dry, an old
man; there are a great many such at forty, 
and a great number of young Men at sixty. 
some Complexions fail sooner, and others later. 
The sanguine are of long Duration, be- 
cause they have a deal of Heat and Moisture, 
which Constitution or Temper is most com- 
modious to Mankind, and qualifies them best
for Action, and is therefore most consistent with
Health and long Life; whereas the contrary 
Temper, viz. cold and dry, soon tends to 
Decay and Death; for the sooner a Body wi- 
thers and dries away, the sooner it grows old, 
and draws near its Dissolution. This Heat 
and Moisture hath also its several Degrees, 
but these Qualities are best when moderate; 
those which differ and recede from that Me- 
diocrity, are called hot and moist, hot and dry, 
or cold and moist, and cold and dry, tho' all 
in general are hot and moist in some Degree. 
These differences of Tempers are com- 
monly distinguish'd by the Denominations,
which I have observ'd already of Sanguine,
Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic Con-
stitutions, according tothe Nature and Dis-
position of the Juices in the several Bodies,
where the excrementitious Discharges answer
thereto. They whose Blood is of a mode-
rate Templer, between hot and moist, are
called sanguine; those who exceed in beat,
A4 and 
* Temperament, See Pag. 2. Note *

8 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
and whose Blood is dryer, are called Choleric; 
those who are cold and moist, Phlegmatic;
and lastly, those who are cold and dry, Me- 
lancholic; and this last Temper or Constitu- 
tion grows old sooner than any of the rest. 
As to what regards the Sexes, the Fe- 
male, generally speaking, grows old sooner 
than the Male, which Hippocrates justly ob- 
serves, in his Book concerning those Chil- 
dren who are born at the End of the seventh 
Month. The Females, says he, are later in 
forming and growing in the Womb than the 
Males; but when they are out of it, they 
grow faster, have earlier Understanding, and 
are sooner old, on account of the weakness of
their Bodies, and their manner of living. 
Weakness hastens their Growth, and brings 
them likewise sooner to old Age; for as the 
Plants which are short-liv'd grow in a few 
Minutes, so the Bodies which have no long 
Duration, soon come to their Perfection. 
Their manner of living likewise contributes 
very much to their growing old soon, as they
most commonly lead an unactive life; for 
nothing brings us sooner to old Age than 
Sloth and Idleness. 
As to the different Tempers and Constitu- 
tions of Men, they depend, in a great mea- 
sure, not only upon the various Dispositions 
of the Humours contain'd in the Body, but 
also on the peculiar Conformation and Struc- 
ture of the noble Parts, and their various 
Proportions in respect to each other, which 
disposes

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 9
disposes them to breed Humours of diffe- 
rent Kinds and Dispositions; and endows 
them with various Qualities, according to 
the several Alterations they undergo in diffe- 
rent Bodies, and the Proportion of such ani- 
mal Fluids differently fermented, exceeding 
or falling short in Degrees of Digestion; or 
being variously vitiated by the assimilating
Qualities of Humours already contain'd, or 
of fresh Food taken into the Body, which 
may pervert the Disposition of the Fluids al- 
ready contain'd in the Blood Vessels. 
The Proportion of the Parts of the Body, 
and their Conformation, may contribute to 
the difference of Constitution, as they sepa- 
rate and discharge Humours, not only diffe- 
rently prepar'd, but in greater or less Quan- 
tities: Thus, if the Heart be larger in Pro- 
portion to the Body than the rest of the 
Parts, the Blood must circulate more briskly, 
and with greater Force; if the Liver be 
large, and separate a great Quantity of Bile, 
the Chyle and Blood must be more bilious; 
and as the Stomach digests differently, the 
blood must be supplied with Nourishment 
in greater or less Quantities, more or less di- 
gested, and so occasion Sanguine, Choleric, 
or Phlegmatic Constitutions. Thus the noble 
parts contribute to the different Temper of 
the whole, as well as other particular Parts
themselves. 
Hence it is; that different Parts of the 
Body are, in respect of one another, esteem'd 
to

10 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
to be of different Tempers; as the Heart, up- 
on account of its Situation and constant Mo- 
tion, may be reckon'd one of the hottest 
Parts of the Body. The others reckon'd of 
a hot Temper, are the Liver, the musculous 
Flesh, the Spleen, the Kidneys, Lungs, Veins, 
Arteries, and Fat. The cold Parts are, the 
Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, Tendons, Nerves, 
Membranes, Spinal Marrow, and the Brain. 
Those which are accounted moist, are the
Fat, Marrow, Brain, Breasts, Testicles, 
Lungs, Spleen, Kidneys, musculous Flesh, 
Tongue, Heart, and the softer Nerves. The 
dry Parts are, Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, 
Tendons, Membranes, Arteries, Veins, and 
hard Nerves. 
There is moreover another difference in 
the Tempers or Constitutions of human Bodies, 
in respect of Age and Sexes; thus Women 
are naturally colder than Men, too much 
Heat being supposed apt to consume and vi- 
tiate the tender Nourishment of Infants, 
which is to be prepar'd in the Mother. Age 
likewise alters Constitutions, according to
the several Stages and Periods, as I have ob- 
serv'd before; thus Infants and Children are 
hot and moist. Youth more temperate, Men 
and full-grown Persons hot and dry; where-
as in old Age the Heat decreases, and Nou- 
rishment is dry'd up for want of its usual 
Supplies. 
Another thing that makes Constitutions 
differ, is the difference of Climates, the
manner

Part I. 11 thro' the various Stages of Life. 11
manner of living, the nature of the Food 
they use, and the Liquors wherewith the 
more solid Parts of the Food are diluted; but 
for a more particular Account of different 
Constitutions, see Part II. Chap. IX. where 
I treat of the Diet proper for each respe- 
ctively. 
Having hitherto given the Reader an Ac- 
count of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age, as likewise a Description of decrepit
old Age, supported by the Authority of the 
wise Solomon; and lastly, of the Causes and 
Nature of different Constitutions, I shall 
now finish this Chapter with the Definition 
of it, which will be of singular Use to such 
as will observe the Precepts hereafter men- 
tion'd, in order to preserve Health and long
Life. 
The incomparable Sanctorius, most ele- 
gantly and concisely defining old Age, says in
Aphorism xxxv. Sect. v. Senectus est univer- 
salis fibrarum durities, &c. that is, old Age is 
an universal Hardness of the Fibres, &c. which 
implies; that when there is a greater Waste 
of the nervous Fluid than can be repair'd, 
then the component Machinulœ * of all the 
Fibres of  the human Body, for want of a 
Sufficiency of this animal Oil or Fluidt are 
harden'd and dry'd, the Pores are thereby 
straiten'd
* Machinulœ signifies in Anatomyy the various Textures, 
Combinations and Decussations of the Fibres, compounding
the Muscles, Nerves, and Membranes of the Body; which is 
only a Diminutive from the Word Machine. 


12 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
straiten'd and obstructed, by which means the 
natural Heat is stifled, and at last Death en- 
sues; hence it is, that the nearer a Person is 
brought to this State of an universal Hard- 
ness of the Fibres, &c. by any means what- 
ever, the farther such a Person may be said 
to be advanc'd towards old Age. 
Wherefore the great Secret and sole Me- 
thod of long Life, is to preserve the Blood 
and Juices in a due State of Fluidity and 
Thinness whereby they may be capable of 
making all those Circulations and Rounds 
thro' the animal Fibres, wherein Health and 
Life consist, with the fewest Rubs, and least 
Resistance that can be. But notwithstanding 
all our Efforts, Time and old Age will 
stiffen and fix our Solids at last; for Age 
and Time, by weakening the Appetite and 
Concoctions, impairing the natural Heat, 
which consists in a brisk and extended Circu- 
lation of the Fluids to all the Parts of the 
Body, by the converting those Juices into 
solid Substances, and thereby fixing and 
hardening these Solids, and depriving them of
their due Elasticity; so the remaining Fluids 
circulate slower, and with less Force, and 
seldom reach the Extremities and smallest Ves- 
sels, but only pass slowly through the larger 
Vessels..And tho' with all these unavoidable 
Circumstances, both the nutritious Juices, 
the serous and globular Part of the Blood be- 
come viscid, thick, and gluey, so that the 
Circulation must stop, and come to an end 
at last; yet it is certainly in a great measure 
in

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 13 
in our own Power to put a Stop to the too 
quick Approaches of such an irremediable 
Period, by keeping our Juices in a due State 
of Fluidity and Thinness, and to render them 
such, if they are not corrupted to an extreme 
Degree; so that the remainder of Life be 
not too short to undertake such a Work; for 
it is very certain, that we may dilute and 
thin any Fluid, that has an Inlet and Outlet. 
And the smaller and finer the Parts of any 
circulating Liquor are, the less Force it will 
require to set it a going, and to continue its
Motion: And it is just even so in animal 
Bodies; for the more fluid and thinner the 
Juices are, they will not only circulate with
less Force, and with less Resistance or Pain, 
but they will likewise preserve, by their Cir- 
culation, the Solids the longer from harden- 
ing and stiffening. 
Now, as nothing brings a Person sooner 
to that State of universal Hardness and Stiff- 
ness of the Fibres, and a Viscosity and Thick- 
ness of the Juices, than indulging in strong high
Meats, which the concoctive Powers cannot 
divide small enough to be converted into red
Globules of Blood, or circulate thro' the 
small Vessels, but overload them with corro- 
sive urinous Salts, which run into Clusters, 
and first obstruct, and afterwards tear and 
break these small vessels, and likewise in 
swilling of strong Liquors, which by their 
caustick Quality dry up, burn, and destroy 
the tender and delicate Fibres of the Solids; 
I therefore


14 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
therefore I say, as nothing but such an Indul- 
gence, and such long-continued Excesses, and 
obstinately persisted in, can so soon produce 
such a State of the Fluids and Solids, and 
consequently bring on many fatal chronical 
Diseases, according to the particular Habit, 
Make, and Constitution of the Person: So 
it is evident, that the only Method and most 
effectual means that can solidly and thorough- 
ly accomplish the contrary State of the Blood
and Juices, is to render them thin, sweet, 
and in a continual flowing Condition, by 
taking the contrary Measures, in keeping to 
a strict Regimen of a fluid, thin, spare, plain, 
and lean Diet; for as Dr. Cheyne justly ob- 
serves, No voluptuous and lazy Person, unless 
be had an original Constitution of BRASS, 
ever liv'd to a great Age; and even then, 
as his Life has been more Misery and Pain, 
than ever a SOBER GALLY-SLAVE endur'd, 
his End, and the latter Part of his Days has
been RACK and TORTURE, HORROR and 
DESPAIR. So that Longœvity is scarce ever 
found but among the abstemious. 
As all the Parts of the human Body are 
made up of Fibres, which are small, trans- 
parent, solid, and elastick, or springy Threads
or Filaments, of which mention is made in 
the foregoing Definition of old Age, and 
which have been sufficiently demonstrated by 
Physician and Anatomists already; yet it will 
not be improper to give some Account of them 
here, for the sake of as many of the English
I Readers 


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 15
Readers as may be unacquainted with either 
Physick or Anatomy, and for whose Benefit I 
have chiefly compiled this Treatise. 
Therefore these Fibres, or small Threads, 
that constitute the human Body, are of diffe- 
rent Sorts; some are soft, flexible, and a lit- 
tle elastick ‡, and these are hollow like small 
Pipes, or spongious, and full of little Cells, as 
the nervous and fleshy Fibres. There are 
others more solid and flexible, but with a 
strong Elasticity, as the membranous and car- 
tilaginous Fibres; and a third Sort hard and 
inflexible, as the Fibres of the Bones. And 
of all these some are very sensible, as those of
the Nerves, Blood-vessels, Membranes, Ten- 
dons, and Muscles; and others are destitute 
of all Sense, as those of the Bones; some so 
very small as not to be easily perceiv'd; and 
others, on the contrary, so big as to be plain- 
ly seen; but most of them, when examin'd 
with a Microscope, appear to be composed of 
still smaller Fibres, and may be divided still 
into less; and indeed this Division proceeds so
far, that at last they become so incredibly 
small as to exceed all the Power of Imagina- 
tion; but Reason will shew us, there must be
an End. 
Now these simple Fibres do first constitute 
the Substance of the Bones, Cartilages, Liga- 
ments,
‡ Elastick or springy, signifies a Force in Bodies, by which
they endeavour to restore themselves to the Posture from
whence they were displace by any external Force. 

16 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
ments, Membranes, Nerves, Veins, Arteries, 
and Muscles. And again, by the various 
Texture and different Combinations of some, 
or all these Parts, the more compound Organs 
are fram'd, such as the Lungs, Stomach, 
Liver, Legs, and Arms, the Sum of all which
makes the human Body. 
CHAP. II. 
The principal and inevitable Causes of OLD 
AGE, and of our DISSOLUTION.
I Shall shew in this Chapter, with what has 
been already said, such things as alter our 
Bodies, and whatever makes them grow old, 
and brings us at last to our Dissolution. 
The Causes, then, of the Alterations of 
our Bodies, and likewise of our Dissolution, 
are either external or internal: These last are
born with us, and always attend us, even to 
the Grave: The others come from without 
us, surround us on all Sides, and, tho' we can
guard ourselves against some of them, there is
however an infinite Number of them which 
we cannot escape. 
The internal Causes which come into the 
World with us, are two, viz. the Contrariety
of the Principles of which our Bodies are 
composed, and the Animal Actions or Func- 
tions of the human Body
The

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 17
The Principles of our Composition are, 
1. A Water or Phlegm. 2. A volatile Fluid 
or Spirit. 3. A saline Matter or Salt, both 
Volatile and fix'd. 4. A fat Substance or Oil, 
otherwise call'd Sulphur. 5. An Earth, or 
Caput Mortuum. But the Spirit being only 
a Mixture of Phlegm and Salt, these five may
be properly reduced to four †. 
The Animal Actions, or Functions, which 
happen in all the Parts of human Bodies, by 
the Motion of the Humours in their distinct
Vessels, and the Effects they have upon one 
another, are distinguish'd into vital, natural, 
and animal, Those call'd vital so much con- 
duce to preserve Life, that they are of abso- 
lute Necessity; as the muscular Action of the 
Heart, the secretory Action of the Brain, that 
of the Lungs, and of the Blood and Spirits, 
with their Motions thro' their proper Organs; 
and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves. 
The Natural Actions are those that so alter 
our Aliment, as that it may become Part of 
our Substance; and such are the Actions of the
Bowels, vessels and Humours that receive, re-
tain, move, change, mix, separate, apply, 
discharge, and consume. 
The Animal Functions are such as, when 
perform'd, the Understanding conceives Ideas 
of Things, united to that Action; or the Will 
is either concern'd in exciting such Actions, 
or mov'd by them when excited: Such are 
B the
† Boerhaave Institutiones Medic. de Natura & Part. Sang.  


18 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing, Per- 
ception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, 
Reason, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary 
Motions. From hence we may know, that 
Health is such a Disposition of the Body as fits 
it to exercise all its Actions, and that all the
Effects of those Actions respect determinate 
Motions, and the Change made in our Ali- 
ment. 
The Principles of our Composition just now 
mention'd, being duly distributed thro' the 
whole Body, may be call'd an Equilibrium 
between the Solids and Fluids of a Person in 
Health; or, which is the same thing, an exact 
Ballance of Contrarieties, making a kind of 
Agreement or Harmony amongst themselves, 
in order to mix and unite; wherein each of 
them quits something of its Sovereignty, and 
reduces itself to a Mediocrity, which is call'd 
Temperament. But this Alliance is of short 
Duration; for the Body, by the Actions inse- 
parable from Life, suffers such a gradual 
Change, that the smallest Vessels become stiff, 
and the minutest grow together into Fibres, 
unfit for the Humours to pass thro' them; the 
greater Vessels become hard and narrow, and 
all are contracted, and, being compress'd, grow 
together, which occasions Dryness, and Un- 
aptness to Motion in old People. By this 
means the Actions of the small Vessels are de- 
stroy'd, and the Humours stagnate and grow 
thick in them, and the Fibres adhere toge- 
ther: Thus the most subtile Parts of the 
Juices

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 19
Juices are wanting and dissipated, Digestion is
weaken'd, Nourishment is deficient, and the 
grosser Humours only circulate thro' the large 
vessels slowly, and  support Life alone, with- 
out the Animal Action till at last these 
Changes bring on Death from Old Age, the 
Successor of perfect Health; which happens 
sooner if the Actions of Life have been violent, 
but later if moderate; and this is one of the 
Causes of our Dissolution: It is inevitable, 
and we bring it with us from the Womb, 
But, in order to make this more evidently ap- 
pear, it is necessary to consider the following 
Particulars concerning Nutrition, Growth, 
and Decrease of the Body. 
As there is an Aptness to Motion requisite 
in the Vessels, Muscles, and Fibres of the hu- 
man Body, in order to enable it to make due 
Use of all the Motions of its Humours, Ves- 
sels, and Muscles, without Detriment there- 
unto; So, for this Purpose, the Parts which 
are coherent, should be partly free from Con- 
tact, and partly remain in it, which cannot 
be, unless the greater Parts consist of the 
smallest, thinest, and shortest ones; nor will 
that happen again, unless a renovating Hu- 
mour passes continually betwixt them, to hin- 
der their growing together; therefore, as the 
whole human Body is flexile, and subject to 
Changes from Contact, of Necessity it ought 
to consist of small Vessels.
But this very Motion, being continually 
and violently perform'd, in Vessels of such a 
B2 tender

20 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
tender Fabrick, the least Parts must of neces- 
sity be thereby worn off from the Solids; and 
thence, being mix'd with the Liquids, be 
mov'd round by the perpetual Circulation of
the Juices, as well as by the Action of the 
Muscles, and exhale. In the mean while the 
Fluids, being ground small by the continual 
Attrition of their Parts, and drove to the Ves- 
sels thro' which they exhale or transpire, are 
quite excluded out of the Body; and thus the 
Animal Body, from the very Condition of its 
Frame, is soon destroy'd. 
Therefore it is requisite, for the due Con- 
tinuance of Life, that as much Matter, and 
of the same Kind, should be continually re- 
stored to the Humours and solid Parts, as was 
lost by those Motions, which Action is call'd 
Nutrition. 
The Humours that are worn away, are 
again supplied, as to their Matter, by Air, 
Meat, and Drink. As to the Qualities re- 
quir'd, those are produced by the concurring 
Assistance of all the Parts of the Body, and by
means thereof applied to the Vessels where 
they are wanting. 
Every solid Part of the Body is composed of 
other less Solids, very like the greater; the 
Vessels, of smaller Vessels; and the Bones, of
smaller Bones. And this manner of Structure 
proceeds beyond all the Limits of Sense, as- 
sisted by what Art soever, as Malpighi, 
Ruysche, Leeuwenhoek, and Hook, have de- 
monstrated by accurate Experiments: yet this
Divi-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 21
Division scarce seems to proceed ad Infinitum, 
as appears by the Nature of the Nourishment 
and Fluids themselves. 
Moreover Microscopes, Injections, the least 
imaginable Wounds, Vesicatories, Comsump-
tions, and the withering away of the Body, 
inform us, that our solid Parts, in respect of
the Humours, are but very small; for it is al- 
most demonstrable, from the Consideration of 
the Rise and Generation of the Vessels, and 
the Resolution of the greater Canals into their 
least constituent Parts, that the whole solid
Mass of our Bodies is almost wholly compos'd 
of mere Nerves, consider'd in their primary
Composition and Communication. 
And truly all that Mass, except an incre- 
dible small Particle, at first grew together, 
from those which were before the most sub- 
tile Liquid of the Colliquamentum or Fluid, 
almost all which goes to compound the Body, 
being much like the nervous Fluid, according
to Malpighi; for the White of an Egg does 
not nourish, before it has been long brooded
upon, till that thick clammy Humour has 
pass'd thro' a vast many Degrees of Fluidity, 
by several Changes, to fit it at last for the 
Purposes requir'd; but even then, when it 
comes to supply the Embryo, it is very thick, 
and must be much more subtiliz'd in its Ves- 
sels and Bowels. 
The first tender solid Parts being made out 
of this most subtile Humour, which are then 
almost fluid, they pass again thro' a vast many
B3 diffe-

22 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
different Degrees of Solidity, before they ar- 
rive at the Perfection of solid Parts; as ap- 
pears from Malpighi's Experiments upon 
Eggs, and the incomparable Ruysche's upon 
Embryos and Fœtuses, and even from the differ 
rent Parts themselves. 
Hence it appears, that the solid Parts, in 
their first Origin, differ only from Liquids, 
whence they spring, by Rest, Cohesion, and 
their Figure; therefore such a Particle, while 
fluid, will become Part of Solid, to be form'd 
thereof, as soon as the Power that causes it to 
cohere with the other solid Parts, shall act, by
what means soever it be. 
This Cohesion of the Parts is best pro- 
duc'd in a Fibre already form'd, if there be 
a sufficient Place in the Solid, left by that 
Particle which was lost, and at the same time, 
another Particle in the Fluid of equal Bulk, 
Figure and Nature, and endow'd with suffi- 
cient Force to thrust it in, or fit it to that
Place. 
Therefore there will be a true Nutrition 
of the Solids in the smallest Vessels, which, 
by Addition, become greater; that is, in the 
Nerves or Vessels like them; which, since it 
cannot be perform'd without a Liquid be 
brought into those Vessels, seems very plain, 
that the most immediate matter of Nourish- 
ment is the most subtle, nervous Fluid, or 
some other like it; and therefore appears to
be perform'd and produc'd from the last and 
most refin'd Actions of Nature; and that it 
may


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 23  
may be well perform'd, all the preceding 
Actions ought to be perfect. 
The Chyle therefore may fill the greater 
Vessels, but cannot recruit the solid Parts;
but being attenuated, alter'd, rarefied, mix'd, 
and made fit to pass thro' some Vessels, by 
the force of Respiration in the Lungs, it is 
render'd the more proper indeed, but still not
fit Matter for this Purpose. 
However, by the repeated Effects of the 
Lungs, Bowels, and Vessels, it becomes a 
white, tenacious, forming Liquor, almost
Without Smell, thickens by the Heat of the 
Fire, or in Spirit of Wine; being then like 
the White of an Egg, and called Serum; and 
therefore is such a Fluid, as has all the requi- 
sites which ought to be in that Humour; 
whereof Experience teaches us, that all the 
solid Parts of an animal Body are constantly 
made or form'd, only by Incubation, or a 
constant Heat and Digestion. Thus then the 
Matter is brought a Degree nearer, but yet 
is not quite fit for Nutrition; much less is 
red Blood, which never enters the smallest
Vessels. 
But as the Heat of Incubation, so the 
action of the Viscera and Vessels, occasions 
divers Changes on this circulating Serum, till 
Part of it is turn'd into such a subtle Humour 
as is here requir'd; and being consumed, it 
is again supplied, and this at length becomes 
the true and immediate Matter of Nourish- 
ment; which, how simple it is, how insipid, 
B4 or

24 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
or without Smell, will appear from the Fire, 
Putrefaction, or the Art of Chymistry, for 
it leaves behind but a pure and exceedingly 
light Earth. 
Nor can this Matter be prepar'd, without 
undergoing the foremention'd Alterations: 
But the same Humour may, by too often and 
repeated turns of Circulation, grow sharper, 
or lose its Liquidity, and become thick; be- 
ing drain'd of its oily Parts, and render'd pun- 
gent by Salts, and then it is unfit for this 
Use; which may, perhaps, be partly dis- 
charg'd by Perspiration, and partly by Urine. 
Therefore there is a necessity of new Chyle, 
and consequently of Aliment, to supply this 
Nourishment. As to the Manner how, and 
the Cause why Nutrition is perform'd, that 
will appear from what follows. 
The Humour being forced forwards, thro' 
a full, conical, cylindrical, elastic, or stiff 
and rigid Tube, if it flows from a broad Part 
into an narrower, or with a Resistance against
its Motion, it will endeavour to extend the 
Sides of the Canal, according to its longer 
Axis; and this happens all over the Body, ex- 
cept in the Veins, and the Cavity of the Re- 
ceptacles. And by this Force, tho' small, be- 
ing constant and repeated, the Vessels will by
Degrees, and insensibly be lengthen'd; and 
by growing longer, will become thinner, and 
soon be more and more attenuated: By this 
means, the utmost Extremities of the Vessels, 
which are smallest, will be less coherent, and 
next

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 25
next to a State of Dissolution. And thus 
the Extremities of the Vessels will be ren- 
der'd much finer and weaker, and little 
different from Fluids. 
Whilst therefore this Motion perpetually 
proceeds in a continual Propulsion, it must
necessarily happen, that the last Particles of 
these very fine Tubes being worn away, will 
again put on the form of a Liquid, in what- 
ever Part of the Body they remain; and then 
the smallest Parts, which compose the finest
Fibres, by their Union will be so mutually 
separated from one another, as to leave small 
Intervals in those Places where they before 
grew together; and this will constantly hap- 
pen every where, as long as Life continues, 
especially where it is strong, and the Action
of the Body violent. 
But the same Humour wherein all this 
happens, contains a great many such Particles 
as were separated or lost, which it carries, ap- 
plies, and adapts to these very Intervals, with 
that very Force with which it endeavours to 
break the Vessels, and then fixes, fits and 
fastens those intercepted Particles in these 
Cavities; so that they grow together as the 
former: for the Matter, the Preparation and 
Application thereof, with the Force of Mo- 
tion, will always continue the same; and 
therefore what is lost will be easily restor'd, 
and so the solid Parts remain as they were, 
that is, they are nourish'd and preserv'd con- 
tinually,
And 

26 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
And this shews the wonderful Wisdom of 
our Maker, that the same Cause which in- 
evitably destroys, shall also at the same time 
repair the Structure of our Frame; and that 
too according to this Rule, that the greater 
the Loss, the larger shall be the Supply; and 
that those Parts, which by the Actions of the 
Body are first worn, are always the first sup- 
plied. 
It is plain then, that the more tender those
Vessels are, the newer, and the nearer to 
the moving Cause, so much the easier they 
are stretch'd, distended, destroy'd, and re- 
new'd; and consequently, the nearer our 
Bodies are to their Origin, the more they 
grow and increase. 
Whilst this Action goes forwards, the 
greater Vessels are more distended by the Li- 
quor they contain; but at the same time, the 
small Vessels, which being interwoven, com- 
pose the Membranes of the greater, are more 
compressed, dried, and grow nearer together 
which adds Strength to the Fibres, at the 
Expence of vascular Property; so that in 
time our Vessels turn to hard Ligaments, and
the Humours become firm and solid. By a 
Concurrence of these Causes, the Solids be- 
come strong, hard, stiff and thick. There- 
fore the vast number of Vessels that are in an 
Embryo, gradually decrease as Age comes on; 
and for the same reason, on the other hand, 
as Weakness decreases, Strength increases; 
and so in young Persons, the Quantity and 
Vigour

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 27   
Vigour of the Humours exceed that of the 
Solids; but in old People, the Solids in 
Quantity and Strength exceed the Liquids; 
from whence plainly appears the manner of 
the Increase, Decrease, and Death of the 
Body, merely from old Age, with the Causes
and different Appearances thereof. 
Whoever therefore considers this whole 
Account, and then compares these Accidents 
which happen to the Body therewith, will 
clearly perceive this to be the State of the 
Case; for the whole Cuticle every where per- 
petually scales off, perishes, and renews again; 
the Hair, Nails, Teeth, shav'd, par'd, cut 
off or wore, grow afresh; and Parts of the 
Vessels and Bones taken away, in a short 
time return on every side; and if the Filth 
in the Extremities of the Vessels throughout
the whole Body, that is either worn off, 
or collected there by Exhalation, be view'd 
in Water with a Microscope, after being eva- 
porated or diluted, it appears to consist of
Solids and Fluids; and the same when ob- 
tain'd by Washing, Rubbing, or Abrasion, ex- 
hibit the like Appearance. 
From hence appears the Reason why the 
Fabric of our Solids is not dissolv'd by the 
liquid Contents; and why our Machine con- 
tinues so long fit for Motion; why, when 
the Nerves are by any means corrupted, the 
Part to which they lead, loses its Nourish- 
ment; why in an Embryo there are no So- 
lids, in a Fœtus few, and in very old People 
a

28 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
a vast many; so that even the Nerves, Ten- 
dons, Arteries, and Receptacles in those, first 
become cartilaginous, and then bony. 
It is therefore evident from the foregoing 
Particulars, that the two internal Causes of 
our Dissolution already mention'd, viz. The 
Contrariety of the Principles of our Fabric, 
and the animal Actions or Functions of the 
human Body, are born, grow, and are nou- 
rish'd with us, and that, gradually and in- 
evitably, they bring on Old Age, and destroy
the Body at last: nor can all the Physicians 
in the World guard us against them; for the 
great Promises made with Assurance, as to 
the Prolongation of Life for so many hun- 
dreds of Years, are vain and imaginary, be- 
ing unsupported both by Reason and Expe- 
rience: Of this Tribe are Van Helmont's 
Primum Ens, Paracelsus's Elixir Proprie- 
tatis; the Primum Ens of Animals; all 
those precious Liquors, that potable Gold, 
those Conserves of Rubies, Emeralds, Elixirs 
of Life; that fabulous Fountain, that was 
reported to make People grow young, can- 
not hinder us from Decay and Old Age. Nor 
is it likely that Life should be prolong'd even
by the best Methods in Nature, so many 
Years as the Chymists pretend by their Art; 
but their own Experience is a Proof of their 
Temerity and Inability herein. 
There are other Causes of our Dissolution, 
which are external, and likewise inevitable; 
for as our Bodies consist of three dissipable 
Sub-


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 29  
Substances, one of which is subtile and airy, 
the second liquid, and the third solid; so we 
must necessarily have something that pro- 
ceeds from without us, in order to repair 
them, otherwise our Lives could subsist but a 
few Minutes. 
That which repairs our Substance is called 
Aliment, and is threefold. Air, Meat, and 
Drink; the first nourishes the spirituous Sub- 
stance, the second the Liquid, and the 
third the solid Substance. But this triple 
Aliment, tho' never so pure, has yet always 
something unlike our Nature, which can 
never be assimilated to either our Juices or 
Solids, which must then become excremen- 
titious; and where an Excrement is genera- 
ted, and being detain'd in the Body, con- 
sequently alters it, and causes an infinite
number of Diseases; by which means our 
Bodies are variously chang'd and affected, 
and often finally brought to an intire Disso- 
lution. 
I pass over all the other external Causes, 
such as too violent Exercises, an unactive and
sedentary Life, long and continual Watch- 
ings, those Passions of the Mind which are 
most capable of making us grow old, as Fear 
and Sadness, &c. I say nothing likewise of all 
accidental Causes, such as Wounds, Fractures, 
&c. I have only endeavour'd to demonstrate, 
that the living Creature must necessarily grow 
old and decay; that he nourishes the natural 
Causes of Death in himself, and that there 
I are


30 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
are likewise some external ones, which are 
inevitable. 
I thought proper to insert in this Place a 
Chronological and Historical succinct Account 
of long Lives, from before the Flood down 
to the present time; with a true and short 
Character or Elogy of each, faithfully col- 
lected from the Records of both sacred and 
profane History; which perhaps, may prove 
useful as well as entertaining to the Reader. 
Herein he will observe, not only the Ne- 
cessity of Temperance towards attaining long 
Life, but that the length of Life by the running
on of Ages, or Succession of Generations, has 
not in the least abated, from the Time of 
Moses to our present Days; for the Term of 
Man's Life has stood near about fourscore Years 
of Age ever since, as will appear by the 
following Account. 
CHAP. III. 
An Historical Account of Long Lives from 
the Creation to the present Lime. 
BEFORE the Flood, Men liv'd many 
hundred Years, as the Holy Scriptures 
relate; yet none of the Fathers attained to 
the Age of a thousand. Neither was this 
length of Life peculiar only to Grace, or 
I the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 31  
the holy Line; for there are eleven Genera- 
tions of the Fathers reckon'd to the Flood,
but of the Sons of Adam by Cain, only 
eight Generations; so that the Posterity of 
Cain seems to have liv'd longer. But this 
length of Life, immediately after the Flood was 
reduc'd to one half, in the Post-nati only:
for Noah, who was born before the Flood, 
equalled the Age of his Ancestors; Shem 
also lived six hundred Years. Afterwards, 
three Generations from the Flood being ran, 
the length of Man's Life was brought down 
to a fourth Part of the Primitive Age, that 
is, to about two hundred Years. 
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five 
Years, a Man of great Virtue, and was ab- 
stemious, and prosperous in all things. Isaac
arriv'd at the Age of an hundred and eighty 
Years; a chaste Man, who enjoy'd more 
Quietness than his Father. But Jacob, after 
many Crosses, and a numerous Progeny, liv'd 
a hundred and forty-seven Years; a patient, 
gentle, religious, and wise Man. Ishmael, a 
military Man, liv'd an hundred thirty-seven 
Years, and always observ'd Temperance to 
be his only Guide for obtaining Health and 
long Life. 
Sarah, whose Years only amongst her Sex 
are recorded, died in the hundred and twenty- 
seventh Year of her Age: she was a beautiful 
and virtuous Woman, a singular good Mo- 
ther and Wife, and yet no less famous for 
the Liberty from, than Obsequiousness towards  
her

32 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
her Husband. Joseph also, a prudent and 
politick Man, passing his Youth in Affliction, 
afterwards advanc'd to the Height of Ho- 
nour and Prosperity, liv'd an hundred and 
ten Years; he was sober, chaste, and reli- 
gious Man. But his Brother Levi, who was 
older than him, attain'd to an hundred thirty- 
seven Years; he was a Man that was revenge- 
ful, and impatient of Reproach or Affront, 
yet always temperate and moderate in his eat- 
ing and drinking. His Son liv'd almost to the
same Age, as also his Grand-child, the Fa- 
ther of Aaron and Moses: they were both 
strictly moderate in their way of living. 
Moses liv'd an hundred and twenty Years; 
a stout and virtuous Man, yet the meekest 
upon Earth, but of very slow Speech; how- 
ever he pronounces, that the Life of Man is 
but seventy Years; but if of a more than or- 
dinary Strength, eighty; which seems gene- 
rally to be the Term of Man's Life even at 
this Day. 
Aaron, who was three years elder, died 
the same Year with his Brother Moses: he 
was a Man of a readier Speech, and of a more 
easy Disposition, but less constant; he was 
religious, abstemious, and moderate in his 
Actions of Life. Phineas, Grand-child of 
Aaron, out of extraordinary Grace, may be 
collected to have liv'd three hundred years;
if so be that the War of the Israelites against
the Tribe of Benjamin, in which Expedi- 
tion Phineas was consulted, was perform'd in 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 33 
the same order of Time in which the Hi- 
story has ranked it; he was a Man of most
eminent Zeal and Virtue. 
Joshua, a martial Man, and an excellent 
Commander, and always victorious; yet he 
was religiously sober and moderate, and lived
to be an hundred and twenty Years of Age. 
Caleb, who observ'd Temperance, was his 
Contemporary, and seems to have lived as 
long as he did. Ehud the Judge, liv'd to 
the Age of an hundred Years; for after the 
Victory over the Moabites, the Holy Land 
remain'd under his Government eighty Years; 
he was a bold and an undaunted Man, and one 
that in a great measure neglected his own 
Life for the good of his People, and was like- 
wise a strict Observer of Temperance. 
Job liv'd after the Restauration of his 
Happiness, an hundred and forty Years, being 
before his Afflictions of such an Age, as to 
have Sons at Man's Estate; he was a politick
Man, eloquent and charitable, and the true 
Emblem of Patience. 
Eli the Priest liv'd ninety-eight Years; a 
corpulent Man, and of a calm Disposition, 
and indulgent to his Children. But Elizeus
the Prophet seems to have died when he 
was above an hundred Years old; for he is 
found to have liv'd after the Assumption of
Elias sixty Years, and at the time of that 
Assumption he was of those Years, that the 
Boys mock'd him, by the Name of Bald- 
head; he was a severe and vehement Man 
C against


34 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
against Vice and Luxury, and a Contemner 
of Riches. Isaiah the Prophet seems to 
have liv'd to the Age of an hundred Years;
for he is found to have exercised the Function 
of a Prophet seventy Years together, the 
Years both of his beginning to prophecy, and 
of his Death, being uncertain; he was a Man 
of admirable Eloquence, and an evangelical 
Prophet, full of the Promises of God, and 
of the New Testament, as a Bottle with 
sweet Wine. 
Tobias the elder, liv'd an hundred fifty- 
eight Years; the younger, an hundred and 
twenty-seven; both of them were merciful 
Men, and great Alms-givers; they were like- 
wise abstemious and moderate in all their 
Actions. 
It seems, that in the Time of the Capti- 
vity, many of the Jews who return'd out 
of Babylon, liv'd to great Ages, seeing they
could remember both the Temples, there be- 
ing no less than seventy Years between them, 
and wept for the Unlikeness of them. Many 
Ages after that, in the Time of our Saviour, 
liv'd old Simeon, to the Age of ninety Years; 
a devout Man, and full both of Hope and 
Expectation. Also Anna the Prophetess, 
who could not possibly be less than an hun- 
dred Years old; for she had been seven Years 
a Wife, about eighty-four years a Widow, 
besides the Years of her Virginity, and the 
Time that she liv'd after her Prophecy of
our

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 35
our Saviour; she was a holy Woman, and 
passed her Days in Fasting and Prayer. 
As to the long Lives mention'd in Heathen 
Authors, they have no Certainty in them, 
both for the intermixture of Fables, to which 
these kind of Relations were very liable, and 
for their false Calculation of Years. And we 
find nothing of Moment of the Egyptians in 
those Works that are extant, concerning the 
length of Lives; for their Kings, who reign'd 
longest, did not exceed fifty, or live and fifty 
Years, which is no great Matter, since many 
at this Day live to those Years. 
But the Arcadian Kings are fabulously re- 
ported to have liv'd very long; and, as that 
Country was Mountainous, full of Flocks of 
Sheep, and produc'd most wholsome Food; 
but when Fable is the only Guide, there can
be no Certainty. 
Numa King of the Romans liv'd to the 
Age of eighty; he was a peaceable and con- 
templative Man, and much devoted to Reli- 
gion. Marcus Valerius Corvinus compleated 
an hundred Years, there being forty-six Years
between his first and sixth Consulship; he 
was a Man full of Courage, affable, popu- 
lar, and always fortunate and sober, observ- 
ing constantly a cool and moderate Diet. 
Solon of Athens, the Law-giver, and one 
of the seven Wise Men, liv'd above eighty 
Years; a Man of high Courage, popular, and 
well affected to his Country; he was also 
C2 learned,


36 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
learned, given to Pleasures, but always mo- 
derate in his Diet. Epimenides the Cretan is 
reported to have lived an hundred and fifty- 
seven Years: this Matter is mix'd with a 
prodigious odd Relation; for he is said to 
have slept fifty-seven of those Years in a Cave. 
Half an Age after, Xenophanes the Colopho- 
nian lived an hundred and two Years, or ra- 
ther more; for at the Age of twenty five 
Years he left his Country, seventy-seven com- 
plete Years he travel'd, and after that return'd: 
A Man no less wandering in Mind than in 
Body; for his Name was chang'd, for the 
Madness of his Opinions, from Xenophanes, to
Xenomanes; a Man no doubt of a vast Conceit, 
and that minded nothing but Infinitums. 
Pindarus, the Theban, lived to eighty 
Years. He was a Poet of an high Fancy, 
singular in his Conceits, and a great Adorer 
of the Gods, but a sober Man. Sophocles, 
the Athenian, attain'd to the like Age; a lofty
tragick Poet, given over wholly to Writing, 
and neglectful of his own Family. 
Artaxerxes, King of Persia, lived ninety- 
four Years; a Man of dull Wit, averse from 
the Dispatch of Business, desirous of Glory, 
but rather of Ease. At the same time lived 
Agesilaus, King of Sparta, to eighty-four 
Years of Age; a moderate Prince, as being a 
Philosopher amongst Kings; but notwith- 
standing ambitious, and a Warrior, and no 
less stout in War than in Business. 
Gorgias,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 37
Gorgias, the Sicilian, was an hundred and 
eight Years old. He was a Rhetorician, and 
a great Boaster of his Faculty, one that 
taught Youth for Profit. He had seen many 
Countries; and, a little before his Death, 
said, that he had done nothing worthy of 
Blame since he was an old Man. Protagoras 
of Abdera lived ninety Years: This Man was 
likewise a Rhetorician; but profess'd not to 
teach so much the liberal Arts, as the Art of
governing Commonwealths and States; not- 
withstanding he was no less a Wanderer in 
the World than Gorgias already mention'd. 
Isocrates, the Athenian, lived ninety-eight 
Years: He was likewise a Rhetorician, but 
an exceeding modest Man, one that shun'd 
the publick Light, and open'd his School only
in his own House. Democritus, of Abdera, 
reach'd to an hundred and nine Years: He 
was a great Philosopher, and, if ever any Man 
amongst the Grecians, a true Naturalist; a 
Surveyor of many Countries, but much more 
of Nature. He was also a diligent Searcher 
into Experiments, and, as Aristotle objected 
against him, one that follow'd Similitudes 
more than the Laws of Arguments. 
Diogenes, the Sinopean, lived ninety Years, 
was a Man that used Liberty towards others, 
but Tyranny over himself; he lived upon a 
coarse Diet, and was a Pattern of Patience. 
Zeno, of Citium, wanted but two Years of 
an hundred; a Man of high Mind, and a 
Contemner of other Men's Opinions. He 
C3 was

38 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
was also a Man of great Acuteness, but yet 
not troublesome, chusing rather to take Men's 
Minds than to enforce them; the like where- 
of happen'd afterwards in Seneca. 
Plato, the Athenian; attain'd to eighty-one 
Years; a Man of great Courage, but yet a 
Lover of Ease. He was in his Notions sub- 
lime and full of Fancy, neat and delicate in 
his Life, rather calm than merry, and one 
that carried a kind of Majesty in his Counte- 
nance, and a strict Observer of Moderation in 
his Diet. 
Theophrastus, the Ethesian, lived eighty 
Years; a Man of sweet Eloquence, and sweet 
also for the Variety of his Subjects, and who
selected the pleasant Things of Philosophy, 
and let the bitter and harsh go. Carneades of 
Cyrene, many Years after, attain'd to the like 
Age; a Man of fluent Eloquence, and one 
who, by the acceptable and pleasant Variety 
of his Knowledge, delighted himself and 
others. But Orbilius, who lived in Cicero's 
time, no Philosopher nor Rhetorician, but a 
Grammarian, lived to the Age of an hundred 
Years. He was first a Soldier, then a School- 
master; a Man by Nature tart both in his 
Tongue and Pen, and severe towards his 
Scholars. 
Quintus Fabius Maximus was Augur sixty- 
three Years, which shew'd him to be above 
eighty Years of Age at his Death; tho' it is 
true, that in the Augurship Nobility was 
more respected than Age. He was a wise 
Man,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 39
Man, and a great Deliberator, and in all his 
Proceedings moderate, not without Affability, 
severe. Masinissa, King of Numidia, lived 
ninety Years; and, being more than eighty-
five, got a Son. He was a daring Man, and 
trusting to his Fortune, who in his youthful 
Days had tasted of her Inconstancy; but in 
his succeeding Age was constantly happy. 
But Marcus Porcius Cato lived above ninety
Years of Age; a Man of an Iron Body and 
Mind. He had a bitter Tongue, and loved 
to cherish Factions. He was given to Hus- 
bandry, and was, to himself and his Family, 
a Physician. 
Terentia, Cicero's Wife, lived an hundred 
and three Years. She was a Woman afflicted 
with many Crosses; first with the Banish- 
ment of her Husband, then with the Diffe- 
rence betwixt them, and lastly with his last
fatal Misfortune. She was also very often 
troubled with the Gout. 
Luccica, the Actress, must needs exceed an 
hundred by many Years; for it is said, that 
she acted a whole hundred Years upon the 
Stage; at first perhaps representing the Person
some young Girl, and at last of some old 
decrepit Woman. 
Galeria Copiola, a Player also and Dancer, 
was brought upon the Stage very young, but 
in what Year of her Age is not known; and 
ninety-nine Years after, at the Dedication of
the Theatre by Pompey the Great, she was 
shewn upon the Stage again; not now for 
C4 an

40 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
an Actress, but for a Wonder; neither was 
this all, for after that she was shewn a third 
time upon the Stage in the Solemnities ce- 
lebrated for the Health and Life of Augustus. 
She is reckon'd to have liv'd sober and vir- 
tuous from her Youth. 
There was another Actress somewhat in- 
ferior in Age, but much superior in Dignity, 
who liv'd very near ninety Years, I mean 
Livia Julia Augusta, Wife of Augustus 
Cæsar, and Mother to Tiberius (for if Au- 
gustus's Life was a Play, as he himself would
have it, as when upon his Death-bed he 
charg'd his Friends that they would give him 
a Plaudite after he was dead) certainly this 
Lady was an excellent Actress, who could 
carry it so well with her Husband, by a dis- 
sembled Obedience, and with her Son, by 
Power and Authority; she was an affable 
Woman, and yet of a Motherly Carriage, 
pragmatical, and upholding her Power. But 
Junia, the Wife of Caius Cassius, Sister to
Marcus Brutus, was also ninety Years old; 
for she surviv'd the Philippic Battle sixty- 
four Years. She was a magnanimous Woman, 
in her great Wealth happy; in the Calamity 
of her Husband and near Relations, and in 
a long- Widowhood, unhappy; yet much ho- 
nour'd by all, for her Sobriety and Virtue. 
The Year of our Lord seventy-six, hap- 
pening in the time of Vespasian, is memora- 
ble, in which we shall find as it were a Ca- 
lendar of long Lives; for that Year there 
was

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 41  
was a Taxing; (now Taxing is the most au- 
thentic and truest Informer as to People's
Ages) and in that Part of Italy which lies 
between the Apennine Mountains and the 
River Po, there were found an hundred and 
twenty-four Persons, that each of them ei- 
ther equalled or exceeded an hundred Years of
Age; namely, fifty-four Persons of an hun- 
dred Years each; fifty-seven Persons of an 
hundred and ten; two only of an hundred 
and twenty-five; four Men of an hundred 
and thirty; four more of an hundred and 
thirty-five or seven; three Men of an hun- 
dred and forty. 
Besides these, Parma in particular pro- 
duc'd five, whereof three fulfilled an hun- 
dred and twenty years each, and two an 
hundred and thirty. Bruxels produc'd one 
of an hundred and twenty-five years old, 
Placentia one aged an hundred and thirty- 
two. Faventia one Woman, aged an hun- 
dred and thirty-two. A certain Town situ- 
ated in the Hills about Placentia, then called
Velleiacium, afforded ten, whereof fix ful- 
filled an hundred and ten Years each, and 
four an hundred and twenty Years of Age 
each. Lastly, Rimino one of an hundred 
and fifty years, whose Name was Marcus 
Aponius. And it will not be amiss to ac- 
quaint the Reader here, that all upon this 
foregoing List observ'd Temperance and So-
briety during most part of their Lives. 
As 

42 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
As there are but few found among all the 
Grecian, Roman, Gallick and German Em- 
perors to our Days, that have lived to the 
Age of fourscore Years, and none that ex- 
ceeded ninety; I will not therefore trouble 
the Reader with any farther Account of 
them, but proceed to the Princes of the 
Church. 
St. John, an Apostle of our Saviour, and 
the beloved Disciple, liv'd ninety-three Years; 
he was rightly denoted under the Emblem of 
the Eagle, for his piercing Sight into the 
Divinity, and was as a Seraphim among the 
Apostles, in respect of his burning Love. 
St. Luke the Evangelist compleated eighty- 
four Years; an eloquent Man, and a Tra- 
veller; St. Paul's inseparable Companion, 
and a Physician. Simeon the Son of Cleo- 
phas, called the Brother of our Lord, and 
Bishop of Hierusalem, liv'd an hundred and 
twenty Years, tho' he was cut off at last by
Martyrdom; he was a stout Man, constant, 
and full of good Works. 
Dionysius Areopagita, Contemporary to 
St. Paul the Apostle, liv'd ninety Years; he 
was called the Bird of Heaven for his sub- 
lime Divinity, and was famous as well for 
his holy Life, as for his Meditations. Aquila 
and Priscilla, first St. Paul's Hosts, and 
afterwards his Fellow-helpers, lived together 
in happy Wedlock at least to an hundred 
Years of Age apiece; for they were both 
alive under Pope Xystus the first; a noble
Pair,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 43  
Pair, and prone to all kinds of Charity, who
among their other Comforts, which doubt- 
less were great to the first Founders of the
Church, had this added, to enjoy each other 
so long in a happy married State. 
St. Paul the Hermit lived an hundred 
and thirteen Years; his Diet was so slender 
and strict, that it was thought almost im- 
possible to support human Nature therewith; 
he passed his Days in a Cave, only in Medi- 
tations and Soliloquies, yet he was not illi- 
terate, or an Idiot, but learned. St. Hie- 
rome, by the Consent of most Writers, ex- 
ceeded ninety Years of Age; a Man power- 
ful in his Pen, and of a manly Eloquence, 
variously learn'd, both in the Languages and 
Sciences, also a Traveller, and lived strictly to- 
wards his old Age in a private State, and not 
dignified; he had high Spirits, and shined far 
out of Obscurity. 
St. Anthony the Monk lived to the Age of 
an hundred and five Years; his Life was au- 
stere and mortifying, notwithstanding he 
lived in a kind of glorious Solitude, and ex- 
ercised a Command, having his Monks under 
him, and besides many Christians and Phi- 
losophers came to visit him as a living Image
worthy of their Veneration, on account of 
his holy Life and pious Works. 
St. Athanasius exceeded the Term of eighty 
Years; he was a Man of invincible Constancy,
commanding Fame, and not yielding to the 
Frowns of Fortune; he was free towards the 
Great,

44 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Great, gracious and acceptable to the People, 
wise and couragious in delivering himself from 
Oppositions, and always leading an abstemi- 
ous and religious Life. 
The Popes of Rome are in number to this 
Day 246; but of so great a number, few 
only have attain'd to the Age of 80, or up- 
wards, as I could find recorded in History: 
yet the full Age of twenty-eight of the first
Popes was intercepted by the Prerogative and
Crown of Martyrdom. 
John, the twenty-third Pope of Rome, ful- 
filled the ninetieth Year of his Age; he was
abstemious and frugal, an Enemy to Luxury, 
and acquir'd a good deal of Riches and Trea- 
sure for the Support of the Church; he al- 
ter'd many Things much for the better. 
Gregory the twelfth, created in Schism, 
and not fully acknowledg'd Pope, died ninety
Years old; of him, in respect of his short 
Papacy, there is nothing found in History to
make a Judgment upon, but that he liv'd 
strictly virtuous and abstemious. 
Paul the third lived eighty-one Years; he 
was a temperate Man, and of profound Wis- 
dom and Learning, greatly skill'd in Astro- 
nomy, and always careful of his own Health. 
Paul the fourth liv'd eighty-three Years; 
he was a Man naturally tart, and somewhat 
severe, and a little prone to Anger; his Speech 
was eloquent and ready, his Diet was always 
lean, thin, and cool, by which means he 
kept

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 45  
kept his Passions under Subjection, and ar- 
riv'd at that good old Age with all his Senses. 
Gregory the thirteenth liv'd to the same 
Age, and was absolutely a good and great 
Man, found in Mind and Body, politick, tem- 
perate, religious, full of good Works, and a 
great Alms-giver. 
The following Instances are more promis- 
cuous in their Order, and more doubtful as 
to the Certainty of their Ages. King Argan- 
thonius, who reigned at Cadiz in Spain, live
an hundred and forty Years, according to 
some Historians, of which he reigned eighty 
Years. Cyniras King of Cyprus, living in the 
Island then called the happy and pleasant 
Island, is affirmed to have lived an hundred 
and sixty Years. Two Latin Kings in Italy, 
the Father and Son, are reported to have 
lived, the one eight hundred Years, and the 
other six hundred: But this Account is de- 
liver'd unto us by certain Philologists, who
tho' otherwise credulous enough, yet they 
themselves have suspected the Veracity of this 
matter. Others record some Arcadian Kings 
to have lived three hundred Years; the Coun- 
try no doubt is a Place apt for long Life, but 
the Relation is justly suspected to be fabu- 
lous. 
One Dando, in Illyrium, is reported to 
have lived without the Inconveniency of 
Old-Age, to five hundred Years; but the ju- 
dicious Reader will make the necessary Al- 
lowance.  
Hippocrates


46 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Hippocrates of Côs, the Prince of Physici-
ans, lived an hundred and four Years, or ac- 
cording to some, an hundred and nine: He 
was skill'd in the several Particulars requisite 
for the Knowledge of Physick, and provided 
with numerous Observations of his own, 
composed out of the whole a System of 
Physick, and was the first that truly deserved
the Title of Physician; He joined Learning 
and Wisdom together, was most conver- 
sant in Experience and Observation, and did 
not hunt after Words, but severed the very 
Nerves of Science, and so taught them. 
Enphrtœnor the Grammarian grew old in 
his School, and taught when he was an hun- 
dred Years old. Seneca, according to some 
accounts, lived to an hundred and fourteen
Years of Age. But Joannes de Temporibus, 
among all the Men of our latter Ages, 
according to common Fame and vulgar Opi- 
nion, lived the longest, even to a Miracle; 
his Age being reputed to be above three 
hundred Years: He was a Native of France, 
and followed the Wars under Charles the 
Great. 
Among the Venetians there have been 
found a great many long Livers, and those 
of the more eminent fort of the People;
but the most memorable is that of Cornaro, 
who being in his Youth a sickly Person, be- 
gan first to eat and drink by measure, to a 
certain Weight, to recover his Health there- 
by; this Cure, by Use, turn'd into a Diet, 
that

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 47 
that Diet into an extraordinary long Life, 
even of an hundred Years and better, with- 
out any Decay in his Senses, and a constant 
Enjoyment of his Health. 
In latter times, William Postell, a French 
Man, lived to an hundred and twenty Years; 
he was a Man somewhat crazy, and of a 
Fancy not altogether sound, a great Travel- 
ler and Mathematician. 
Henry Jenkins, a Yorkshire Man, attain'd 
the Age of one hundred sixty-nine Years; he
was twelve Years old when the Battle of 
Flowden-field was fought, which happen'd 
upon the 9th of September, in the Year of 
our Lord 1513, and departed this Life the 
8th of December 1670, at Ellerton upon 
Swale, This Henry Jenkins was a poor 
Man, could neither Read nor Write; there 
were also four or five in the same Parish 
where he then liv'd, that were reputed all of
them to be an hundred Years old, or within 
two or three Years of it, and they all affirm'd 
he was an elderly Man ever since they knew 
him, for he was born in another Parish, and 
before any Registers were in Churches, as it 
is thought. In the last Century of his Life 
be was a Fisherman, and used to wade in 
the Streams. His Diet was coarse and sower, 
but towards the latter End of his Days, he 
begg'd up and down. He hath sworn in 
Chancery and other Courts to above 140 
Years Memory, and was often at the Affixes 
at York, whither he generally went on foot. 
It

48 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
It was likewise affirm'd by some of the 
Country Gentlemen, that he frequently swam
in the Rivers after he was past the Age of
an hundred years. * 
Thomas Parr was a poor Countryman of 
Shropshire, whence he was brought up to 
London by Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 
and died at the Age of 152 Years, 9 Months, 
after surviving nine Princes. Nov. 6, 1635, 
being open'd after his Death by Dr. Harvey,
his Body was found still very fleshy, his 
Breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, and
they served to confirm the Report of his 
having undergone public Censures for his In- 
continency. At the Age of one hundred and 
twenty he married a Widow, who owned he 
acted the Part of a Man, and that for twelve
Years after. He had a large Breast, Lungs 
not fungous, but sticking to his Ribs, and 
distended with much Blood; his Face livid, 
having had a Difficulty of breathing a little
before his Death, and a lasting Warmth in 
his Arm-pits and Breast after it. His Heart 
was great, thick, fibrous and fat; the Blood 
in the Heart blackish and diluted, the Carti- 
lages of the Sternum not more boney than 
in others, but flexible and soft; his Viscera 
were sound and strong, especially his Stomach; 
and it was observ'd of him, that he used to 
eat often both by Day and by Night, taking 
up with old Cheese, Milk, coarse Bread, 
* An Abstract of Dr. Tancred Robinson's Letter, giving an 
Account of Jenkins's Age. 
Small-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 49 
Small-beer, and Whey; and which is more 
remarkable, he eat at Midnight a little be- 
fore he died. All his inward Parts appear'd 
so sound, that if he had not chang'd his Diet 
and Air, he might in all Probability have 
liv'd a great while longer. His Brain was en- 
tire and firm; and tho' he had not the Use 
of his Sight, or of his Memory, several Years 
before he died, yet he had his Hearing and 
Apprehension very well, and was able, to the
130th Year of his Age, to do any Husband- 
man's Work, even Threshing of Corn. * 
Francisco Lupatsoli, a Venetian Consul at 
Smyrna, lived 113 Years, and had by his 
Wives and other Women, fifty Children; he
drank nothing but Water and Milk, some- 
times a small Sherbet; his usual Diet was 
small Soups of Flesh, sometimes of Bread, 
Water and Figs. He saw at that Age with- 
out Spectacles, and could bear well; he 
drank neither Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, nor 
any fermented Liquor, as Mr. Ray, then En- 
glish Consul there, relates; and farther adds, 
that he saw a Tooth cut in his upper Gum 
that great Age. 
In the Life of the great Aurengzebe, one 
of the late Moguls, we have such a nota- 
ble and shining Example of Abstemiousness, 
Continency, and many other Virtues, as may 
well recommend this Royal Infidel to the 
Admiration and Imitation of all Christian 
Princes upon Earth; wherefore I make no 
D Doubt
* Phil. Trans. No. 44. p. 886.  


50 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part I.
Doubt but the following Account of that 
Emperor will no less instruct, than entertain 
the Reader. 
There was no Part then of this great 
Prince's Time, which he did not assign to 
some useful Purpose; for early in the Morn- 
ing, before break of Day, he bathed, and spent 
some Hours at his Devotions; then having 
eaten a little Rice or Sweat-meats, he shut 
himself up with his Secretaries, and before 
Noon he gave publick Audience to his Sub- 
jects; after which he pray'd again, and then 
went to Dinner, his Table being furnish'd 
only with Rice, Herbs, Fruits, or Sweet- 
meats, for neither Flesh or Fish, or any strong
Liquors were ever brought before him. In 
the Afternoon he gave Audience again, which 
being over, he prayed a third and a fourth 
time; and the remainder of the Day, till 
two Hours after it was dark, he spent in the 
private Concerns of his own Family; then 
he supp'd, and slept afterwards only three 
Hours, after which, it is said, he read the Al- 
coran, and pray'd all the remaining Part of 
the Night. And here we have a remarkable 
Instance of what vast Advantage an abste- 
mious regular Course of Life is towards pro- 
curing Health and long Life, and rendering 
a Prince always fit for the most important 
and intricate Affairs; for this Emperor, not- 
withstanding he was an indefatigable Hearer 
of Causes, and constantly directed the Af- 
fairs of so vast an Empire, and conquer'd se- 
veral

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 51
veral large Kingdoms, lived without con- 
tracting any Distemper; neither his Judg- 
ment, Memory, or other Senses, were at all 
impair'd when he was ninety Years of Age. 
Aurengzebe, it is true, had several hundreds 
of fine blooming Girls in his Haram, or 
Seraglio, as all Eastern Princes have; but 
these seem to have been kept only for State, 
or in Conformity with the Custom of the 
Country; for it is related of him, that even 
in his Youth, having singled out a young 
Lady in the Haram to lie with him one 
Night, and she had dressed and prepar'd 
herself to receive her Royal Lover, the King
coming into the Apartment at the appointed 
Hour, instead of going to Bed, fell to read- 
ing, and between his Books and his Devoti- 
ons he passed the whole Night, without ever 
taking Notice of the expecting Lady. 
When the Eunuch came the next Morn- 
ing to acquaint the Emperor that his Bath 
was ready, which is ever used by the Maho-
metans when they have been with their Wo- 
men, the Lady answer'd, There was no need 
of a Bath, for the Sultan, had not broke 
Wind, intimating that he had been at his 
Prayers; for if a Mahometan has the Mis- 
fortune to break Wind at his Prayers, then 
he immediately bathes, looking upon himself 
to be too much polluted to go on with his 
Devotions, till he has washed off the Impu- 
rity contracted by such an Accident. 
D2 From

52 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
From this short Account of the Life of a 
Mahometan Prince, we may learn an exceeding 
useful Lesson, worthy of being imitated by 
all Christian Princes and others, who value 
Health and long Life; for notwithstanding 
he was depriv'd of the Light of Gospel 
Truth, yet so strong were his Notions of a 
Supreme Being, that he most constantly and, 
fervently adored that Being, by which means 
he led a Life religiously abstemious, conquer'd 
and regulated the Surges of the rest of his Pas- 
sions, amidst so many Allurements and Temp- 
tations of numbers of fine blooming Ladies, 
vast Riches, Power and Grandeur, which he 
always had at his Will without Controul, and 
like a true Christian Hero, preferr'd the Ado- 
ration of his Creator, and the Preservation of
his Health, to all the Pleasures which his 
vast Dominions and great Power could afford 
him. 
Richard Lloyd, born within two Miles of 
Montgomery, was aged 133 Years within two 
Months; he was a strong, strait, and upright
Man, wanted no Teeth, had no grey Hairs, 
could hear well, and read without Glasses; 
he was fleshy, and full cheek'd, and the 
Calves of his Legs not wasted or shrunk, 
could talk well, and was of a tall Stature: 
his Food was Bread, Cheese, and Butter, for 
the most Part, and his Drink Whey, But- 
ter-milk, or Water, and nothing else; but 
being persuaded by a neighbouring Gentle- 
woman to eat Flesh Meat, and drink Malt
Liquors,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 53
Liquors, soon fell off and died. He was a 
poor labouring Man in Husbandry, and the 
Truth of his great Age has been confirm'd 
to Dr. Baynard and others, by a produc'd 
Copy of the Register. 
John Bailes of Northampton, was 128 
Years and a half old when Dr. Baynard ex- 
amin'd him: he was a short broad-breasted 
Man; his Food was for the most part brown 
Bread and Cheese; he cared not much for 
Flesh Meats; he was never drunk in his Life, 
and his Drink was Water, Small-beer, and 
Milk. He told the Dr. that he had buried 
the whole Town of Northampton, except 
three or four, twenty times over; strong 
Drink, says the old Man, kills them all. He 
was a sensible old Fellow, and had no Dis- 
ease but Blindness, which Misfortune he did
not experience above four or five Years be- 
fore his Death. 
Mr. Martin, in his Description of the 
Western Islands of Scotland, says, that Do- 
nald Roy, who lived in the Island of Sand, 
where they have neither Physic nor Physi- 
cian, died lately in the hundredth Year of his
Age, and was able to travel and manage his 
Affairs till about two Years before his Death. 
He makes mention of one that died some 
Years before, aged one hundred and forty; 
and of another, who, they said, died at one 
hundred and eighty Years of Age. 
Mrs. Hudson, Mother to Mr. George Hud- 
son, a Sollicitor in Chancery, lived an hundred 
D3 and

54 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
and five Years, and then died of an acute 
Disease, by catching Cold: her Eyes were so
very good, that she could see to thread a 
Needle at that great Age; her Food was 
little or nothing else all her Life-time, but
Bread and Milk. 
Mr. Johnston, the Father of Dr. Johnston 
of Warwick, who was always a strong and 
lusty Man, died at an hundred and eleven 
Years: his usual Drink was Milk and Ale, 
or Milk and Small-beer mix'd together. 
An Inscription on the Tomb-stone of Margaret
Scot, who died at Dalkeith, twelve Miles 
from Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1738. 
Stop, Passenger, until my Life you've read, 
The Living may get Knowledge by the Dead. 
Five times five Years I liv'd a Virgin Life, 
Ten times five Years I was a virtuous Wife;
Ten times five Years I liv'd a Widow chaste,
Now, tir'd of this mortal Life, I rest. 
I, from my Cradle to my Grave, have seen 
Eight mighty Kings of Scotland, and a Queen. 
Four times five Years the Common-wealth I saw. 
Ten times the Subjects rose against the Law. 
Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 
And twice the Cloak was humbl'd by the Gown. 
An End of Stuart's Race I saw: no more, 
I saw my Country fold for English Ore. 
Such Desolations in my Time have been, 
I have an End of all Perfection seen.
2 Margaret

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 55
Margaret Paten, born at Locknugh near 
Paisly in Scotland, died in St. Margaret's 
Workhouse Westminster, June 26, 1739, at 
the Age of one hundred thirty-eight Years, 
and enjoy'd the Use of all her Senses to her 
very last Hours. She lived the most Part of 
her Life upon Oat-bread, Butter, Milk, and 
Roots, especially in her own Country; but 
here in England she indulg'd herself with 
the moderate Use of Flesh, and fermented
Liquors. 
January 1743, died at Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, one Bright, aged one hundred and five, 
who had his Memory and Eye-sight to the 
last, insomuch that he could discern to pick
a Pin off the Ground. He was called the se- 
cond old Parr, and was born and always
liv'd in the same County; his Food was, 
for the most part, coarse Bread, Cheese, 
Milk, Butter, Small-Beer, of Water. 
February 1743, died in St. Luke's Work- 
house, London, Mrs. Agnes Milbourn, one 
hundred and six Years of Age; she had 29 
Sons and a Daughter by one Husband, 20 of 
whom she has had following her to Church 
at a time for several Years, but out-lived all 
her Children and Grand-children, save only 
one Grand-son. She religiously observ'd 
Temperance, and always avoided the Use of 
Spirituous Liquors as Poison; her usual Drink 
was Milk, Ale, or Small-Beer. 
From these Instances it is manifest, that 
Milk is of a salubrious, safe and sweet Nou- 
D4 rishment,

56 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
rishment, as also by the many Nations be- 
fore and since the Flood, that eat much of 
it, and lived to great Ages, of which num- 
berless Examples may be found both in sa- 
cred and profane History, to confirm the 
Doctrine of Temperance and a cool Diet, 
as absolutely necessary to the Prolongation of
Life; but, as Dr. Baynard rightly observes, if 
an Angel from Heaven should come down 
and preach it, one Bottle of Burgundy, or a 
full flowing Bowl of Bunchy would be of 
more Force with this Claret-stew'd d Gene- 
ration, than ten Ton of Arguments to 
the contrary, tho' never so demonstrable and
divine. 
By what has been said thro' the Course of 
this Chapter, we see, that from the Time of
Moses to our Days, the Term of Man's Life 
has stood much about the same Standard of 
Years, (a few Lives here and there being ex- 
cepted:) so it evidently appears, that the Con- 
tinuation and Number of Successions of Ge- 
nerations, make nothing to the Length or 
Shortness of Life, tho' a great many People 
imagine the contrary. It is certain however, 
that there are Times in all Countries, where- 
in People are longer or shorter liv'd: longer, 
for the most part, when the Times are barba- 
rous, and Men fare less deliciously, and are
more given to bodily Exercises: shorter, 
when the Times are more civiliz'd, and
People abandon themselves to Luxury and 
Ease. Therefore from what has been hither-
to


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 57
to advanc'd, it is likewise evident to a De- 
monstration, that Temperance, moderate Ex-
ercise, and a cool Diet, are absolutely requi- 
site for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, as I shall shew more at large in the 
Sequel. 
The same, no doubt, happens in other li- 
ving Creatures; for neither Horses, Oxen, 
nor Sheep, are abridg'd of their usual Ages, 
even at this Day; and therefore the great 
Abridger of Age was certainly the Deluge; 
and perhaps some notable Accidents, such as 
Inundations, universal Droughts, Earthquakes, 
or the like, may produce the same Effect again. 
And the like Reason may be given, in re- 
gard of the Dimension and Stature of hu- 
man Bodies; for they are not lessen'd by the 
Succession of Generations, notwithstanding 
what Virgil (led by the vulgar Opinion) di- 
vin'd, that After-ages would bring forth less 
Bodies than those in his time; whereupon he 
says, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa Se- 
pulchris; that is, After-ages shall admire the
great Bones dug out of ancient Sepulchers. 
But tho' it is not denied that there were, some 
time before the Flood, Men of Gigantic Stature, 
(the Bones of such as, for certain, have been 
found in ancient Sepulchers and Caves in 
Sicily, and else where:) yet for these last three 
thousand Years, a Time whereof we have 
authentic Records, no such have been produc'd 
in those Places, nor indeed any where else; 
for which Reason it is evident, that they are 
very

58 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
very much mistaken, who are wholly carried 
away with an Opinion, that (by Succession 
of Ages) there is a continual Decay, as well 
in the Term of Man's Life, as in the Stature 
and Strength of his Body; and that all things
decline, and change to the worse. 
Therefore, as the Succession of Generations 
contributes little or nothing, either to the
Length or Brevity of Life, as appears from 
what has been said already, yet the imme- 
diate Condition of the Parents, without doubt, 
conduces very much to it; for some are be- 
gotten of old Men, some of young Men, 
some of middle-aged Men; again, some are 
begotten of healthful Fathers, and well dis- 
posed, others of diseased and languishing ones; 
again, some of Fathers after Repletion, or 
when they are drunk; others after Sleeping, 
or in the Morning; others again, after along
Intermission of Venus, some upon the Act
repeated; again, some in the Fervency of the 
Father's Love; others after the cooling of it, 
as happens in long-married People. 
The same things ought to be consider'd on 
the Part of the Mother; to which we must 
add her Condition during her Pregnancy, as 
concerning her Health, her Diet, and man- 
ner of living; the time of her bearing in the 
Womb, as to the seventh, eighth, ninth, or 
tenth Month. But to reduce all these things 
to a Rule, how far they concern long Life, 
is difficult; for those things which we often 
conceive to be the best fall out to the con- 
trary;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 59
trary; as for Instance, that Alacrity in a 
Generation that begets lusty and lively Chil- 
dren, will be less profitable to long Life, be- 
cause of the Acrimony and inflaming of the 
Spirits, which soon dissipate, and leave the 
Body dry and wither'd: so that the best Rule
is to use Moderation in all things, conjugal 
Love rather than an unlawful one; the best 
time for Generation being in the Morning, 
or after a due Concoction of our Aliments, 
and after Sleep, but never when the Body is 
in a languishing or sickly or too much 
fatigued. 
A GUIDE


(60)
A GUIDE to HEALTH, &c.
Part II.
INTRODUCTION.
AS the principal and inevitable Causes of
Old Age, and finally of our Dissolu- 
tion, are three, viz.* the Contrariety of the
Principles of our Composition, the Actions in- 
separable from Life, called Animal Actions, 
and the Excrements, which are unavoidably 
engender'd by Aliment in our Bodies; there- 
fore we must (if we would preserve the 
Body in a good State, and guard ourselves 
against the too quick Approaches of old Age) 
dispose these three things in such a manner, 
that the Harmony and Union of our Princi- 
ples, which are called Temperament, be well 
Supported, that the Spirits which are dissi- 
pated every Moment be repair'd, and the 
Excrements retain'd in the Body be expell'd. 
All this may be easily obtain' by the 
means of a good Regimen, without the Assi- 
stance of any Medicine: and this Regimen com- 
prehends many things, which are all reduc'd 
* See the Explication of these three things at large, in 
Chap. II. Part. I. 

INTRODUCTION. 61 
to fix general Heads. They are called, by
the Physicians, Nonnaturals; because, if we 
manage them with Dexterity, and make 
proper use of them, they preserve Health, 
and may be called Naturals; but if they 
are abused, or fall short, or exceed a just
Proportion in the least, they cause Distem- 
pers, and, in that Sense, may be said to 
be against Nature. These Nonnaturals are,
Air, Meat and Drink, Sleeping and Watch-
ing, Motion and Rest, Retention and Excre- 
tion, and the Passions of the Mind; of which
I shall now discourse in order. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the Nature of AIR.
IN order to account for the different Ef- 
fects, and Influence of Air upon Hu- 
man Bodies, in the following Discourse, it 
is necessary to premise in this Place, that Air, 
(according to its Nature, and the Idea we 
can form of it) is, that thin and invisible 
Fluid, in constant Motion, wherein we 
breathe and move, encompassing the Earth 
and Seas on every side, and containing the 
Vapours, Clouds, and other Meteors; the 
whole Body of which is called the * Atmo- 
sphere;
* From the Greek Words, 'AΓμòs a Vapour, and εφûeα., 
a sphere; so that Atmosphere in English, is a round Body of
Vapours; and such is the Air surrounding the Earth, as 
being constantly repleat with Vapours exhaled by the Rays 
Of the Sun. 

62 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sphere; and that it is the principal Instrument 
of Nature in all its Operations: for no Ve- 
getable, Animal, Terrestrial, or Aquatic can 
be produced, live, or grow without it: So that 
Air is the chief Instrument in the Genera- 
tion, Resolution, Accretion and Corruption 
of all terrestrial Bodies; for it is certainly
true, that it enters into every Composition, 
more or less, of all Fluids and Solids, all 
which produce great Quantities of Air. 
The lower Parts of the Air, in which all 
Animals live and breathe, are impregnated 
with an infinite Variety of the Effluvia, Steams, 
and Particles of terrestrial, aqueous, metal- 
line, vegetable and animal Substances, which, 
by Attrition, become so small and light as to 
float in it. Hence it is evident, that the Air 
must be differently impregnated in different 
Places of the Surface of the Earth, which 
produce considerable Alterations in its State, 
whereby human Bodies are differently affect- 
ed, as will plainly appear heareafter. 
Water being an Ingredient of the Air, is 
continually exhaled, and as continually de- 
scends; for when the Air is overcharged with 
it, it returns again, and falls upon the Surface of
the Earth, in Rain, Hail, Snow or Dew; but 
the Dew falls chiefly when the Sun is down. 
Earth, when calcined, flies off into the 
Air; and the Ashes of Vulcanos or burning 
Mountains: Likewise Salts of all kinds are 
ingredients of Air; for even fixed fossil Salts
may

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 63 
may be digested, and thereby rendered volatile, 
and evaporate into the Air. There are besides 
Particles of all Minerals whatever in the Air;
even Gold, the most compact and heaviest of 
them, can be evaporated and exhaled into Air, 
as will be made appear in the latter End of 
this Chapter. 
The Smoke and Fumes which are raised 
by natural or artificial Fires, all vanish into
the Air. The Steams of fermenting Liquors, 
and the poisonous Fumes of Mines, impreg- 
nated with sulphureous Exhalations, and 
combin'd with different Salts, or Metalline 
Particles, which are stinking, oily, and in- 
flammable, evaporate into the Air, and make 
up part of its Contents; which must neces- 
sarily so alter its Constitution, as to render 
it not only insalubrious, but even pernicious 
to every Animal that breathes in it. 
The watery Exhalations, with the fragrant 
and volatile Spirit of all Vegetables, being 
Ingredients of the Air, contribute very much 
towards its Salubrity, or Insalubrity, as well 
when growing, as when cut down and in a 
decaying State; for the most volatile parts of
Vegetables will evaporate into the Air, by a 
Degree of Heat much less than that of Sum- 
mer; as is evident both by Chymistry* and 
the sense of our own Smelling; for spicy 
Odours are smelt at a great Distance from 
the Countries where the Spices grow; so that 
the Quantity of vegetable Perspiration must
be very considerable in Summer-time; and 
by
* Boerhaave Chem. vol. 2. Process. I. 

64 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by the Reverend Dr. Hale's * Experiments 
we are farther convinced, that Vegetables 
of all kinds perspire Particles which float in 
the Air, and are either wholsome or destruc- 
tive to human Bodies, according to their dif- 
ferent Qualities. Hence we may infer, that 
upon the account of the Perspiration of 
Vegetables, the Summer Air must be very 
different from that of the Winter. 
Animal Perspiration is another Ingredi- 
ent of the Air, as well as the Effluvia of all 
their other Excrements, which oftentimes in- 
fect that Part of the Atmosphere, as to pro- 
duce pestilential Diseases. The Perspiration 
of a human Body, according to Mr. Hale's, ‡
Computation, is about I-50 Part of a Inch in
24 Hours all over the Surface of the Body; 
and the Quantity of the Moisture, by Respi- 
ration from the Lungs, he computes at 9792 
Grains, or I. 39, in 24 Hours; § the Surface 
of the Body he computes at 2160 square Inches, 
or 15 square Feet consequently the Surface of the
Skins of 2904 such Bodies, would cover an Acre 
of Ground, and would make an Atmosphere 
of the Steams of their own Bodies about 
71 Foot high in 34 Days, which would be- 
come Pestiferous in a Moment, if not dis-
persed by Winds.
The great Quantity of Animal Substances 
imbibed into the Air, farther appears from this, 
I that
* Hale's Veg. Stat. p. 49, 50.
‡ Veg. Stat. p. II. Exp I. 
§ Hæmast. p. 326. p. 328.


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 65
that all the Excrements of all the Carcasses 
of Animals, such as those that are burnt, 
those that are exposed later, and those that 
Are buried, in length of Time all vanish in- 
to Air at last, except a small Quantity of
Bones, which turn into Earth. From 
hence we may infer, that living in great 
and populous Cities, or in Camps, or near 
Numbers of dead Carcasses in a hot or sultry
Season, may infect that Air so far, as to 
dispose the People to putrid and malignant 
Fevers, of which we have several instances in 
History, too tedious to insert in this Place. 
And though Nature makes use of all pos- 
sible Means to preserve the Mass of this he- 
terogeneous Fluid, wherein we breathe, in a 
wholsome State; yet it must necessarily hap- 
pen, that the Air of particular Regions, Sea- 
sons and Places may differ very much in the 
Proportions of the Mixture of Ingredients 
already mentioned; so that such Air must 
affect human Bodies variously, by such Ex- 
cesses or Defects; For Air, when too moist, 
affects us with one Class of Diseases; and 
when too dry, with another. Air impreg- 
nated with the Effluvia of Animals, espe- 
cially of such as are rotting, has often pro- 
duced pestilential Diseases in that Place, as 
we find by Experience: for the Inhabitants 
of such Countries, where great Numbers 
of Men have been slain in Battle, and left 
unburied, were soon after infested with 
pestilential Distempers; as that which hap- 
E pened

66 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
pened * at Massanissa, where 80,000 Persons 
were destroyed, and at Utica, wherein 30,000 
Persons died of the Plague. That menti- 
oned by ‡ Livy, which invaded the greatest 
Part of Italy, owed its rise to the dead 
Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left 
unburied in the Field of Battle. The Plague 
mentioned by Ambrose Paree, 1562 §, was 
occasioned by Carcasses thrown into a Ditch. 
Great Quantities of dead Locusts driven into 
the Sea, by Winds, and from thence cast up in
Heaps on the Shore by the Waves, produced 
the same Effects, as Diodorus Siculus relates: 
And likewise the Steams of great Quantities 
of corrupted Vegetables have produced the 
like Effects in their Neighbourhood. The 
Steams and Effluvia of human living Crea- 
tures are extremely corruptible, as has been
observed already; and likewise the Water 
in which human Bodies wash and bathe, by 
keeping, smells cadaverous, a great part of
which evaporates into the Air.
From hence we may conclude, that it will 
be of the utmost Consequence to every one, 
to take care what kind of Air it is they sleep
and wake, breathe and live in, and are per- 
petually receiving into the most intimate 
Union with the Principles of Life; for as 
the Air being attracted, received into our 
Bodies, and mixed with our Fluids every 
Instant
* Sane. August, lib. 3. de Civit. Dei Cap. 31. 
‡ Histor. Roman. 
§ Lib. 21. de Peste. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 67
Instant of our Lives, any ill Quality abounding 
in it, so continually introduced, must in Time 
cause fatal Effects in the Animal Oeconomy. 
The first Consideration then, in Building 
of Houses and Cities, should be* to make 
them open and airy, and well perflated;
therefore we should never build upon 
high Hills, very near any great Confluence 
of Water, or in the Neighbourhood of any 
great Mines, near Beds of Minerals, or on 
marshy or mossy Foundations; but either 
in a champaign Country, or on the side of
some small Eminence, sheltered from the 
North and East Winds, or upon a light 
gravelly Soil. The best Method of finding 
out the Nature of the Soil, will be known 
from the Plants and Herbs that it produces,
and from the Nature of the Waters that spring
out of it, which ought to be sweet, clear, 
light, soft and tasteless. 
All high Hills or Mountains are damp, 
for it is common to see it rain or snow on 
Mountains, when the Valleys below are clear, 
dry, and serene. All great Hills are Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for Reservoirs of Rain- 
Water, and the Clouds are only great Fleeces 
of ratified Water floating in the Air, and 
these high Hills intercepting them, are com- 
pressed into Rain or Dew, and are con- 
stantly straining down the Chinks of the 
Mountains into the Sea and other Reser- 
voirs of Water; and Rain is allowed to be 
the Origin of Rivers and Fresh-Water 
E2 springs.


68 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Springs. Moreover, these Mountainous Places 
are always exposed to great and almost con- 
tinual Winds; and where any great Con- 
course of Water is, the Air must needs be 
always damp there, because the Sun is per- 
petually exhaling Dews and Vapours from 
these Waters. 
Dew is another Ingredient of the Air, 
which is not mere Water, but a Collection 
of the watry, oily, saline, and volatile Sub- 
stances, exhaling and transpiring from the 
Earth, and are not to be seen, as long as 
they are agitated by the Sun, but in its Ab- 
sence, and as soon as the Air cools, they 
become visible; and as the Air is a thin or 
rare Body, it cools much sooner than the 
Earth, which continues to transpire this 
Substance after Sun-set; and a great deal 
of it falls down again in the Form of Wa- 
ter, by the Cold of the Night; for it is ob- 
servable, that when there is no Wind, there 
is a Coat of this Vapour generally to be 
seen Surface of the Earth. 
Dew then, being a Composition of all 
the Substances that are exhaled from that
Tract of Earth, must of consequence be ve- 
ry different in different Tracts of Ground, 
for which Reason, according to the learned 
Boerhaave ‡, the Chymists can never agree 
about the component Parts of it; be- 
cause they make their Experiments upon 
Dows of different Places, and consequently 
of a different Nature of Ingredients; for 
in
‡ Chym. vol. I. pag. 471. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 69 
in some Places it produces such volatile and 
explosive Salts, as to break Glasses in Distil- 
lation; in others it stains the Glass like the 
Colours of the Rain-bow, which nothing can 
efface. 
In some Countries, as in Bermuda *, the 
Air being impregnated with corrosive Salts 
of different kinds, will corrode the Bricks 
and Tiles of Houses, and even rot the very
Hangings in Rooms, as has been observed 
by many. The Perspiration of metalline 
acid Salts from certain Places of the Earth, 
which, upon the account of their Gravity, 
rise only to a certain Degree of Height, are 
exceedingly offensive when taken in by the 
Breath; for they either contract the Vesicles, or 
immediately coagulate the Blood in the smaller 
Vessels, which creep along the Surfaces of 
the little Aërial Bladders of the Lungs, that 
Are in immediate Contact with the outward 
Air; and such are those arsenical Steams in 
the Grotto Del Cane near Naples, and in 
some Mines in Carniola, Campania, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
Of all the Collection of Ingredients in the 
Air, none are more pernicious to human Bo- 
dies, than Sulphurs; and also Charcoal Steams 
confined in close Places, such as Cellars and 
Caverns under-ground, will suffocate Ani- 
mals in a Moment; but when sulphureous 
Vapours abound too much, then kind Nature 
fets them on Fire by Lightning. Sulphureous 
E3 Vapours
* Boerhaave Chym. vol. I. p. 494. 

70 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Vapours likewise infect Vegetables, and ren- 
der the Grass and Herbs very pernicious to 
the Cattle that feed upon it, as Mr. Jones * 
and others relate. 
The † Observations of the Learned made 
on several Mines, give an Account, how the 
sulphureous Steams and Vapours differently 
affect and frequently destroy the Miners who
work in them; some fall into Convulsions, 
Faintings, Palsies, and apoplexies; others are 
instantly suffocated; and others again are kill'd 
by Explosion, resembling in its Nature that 
of Thunder or Gunpowder, as soon as the 
sulphureous Matter takes Fire: yet it must be 
allow'd, that Sulphur in itself, is neither un- 
wholsome nor unfriendly to the Lungs; for 
the Exhalations from Tracts of Earth abounds 
ing with Sulphur, are esteem'd wholsome in 
the open Air, such as those about the City of
Naples; but it must be observ'd, that these 
Exhalations are in the free and open Air, 
and not in too great Abundance, and in all 
Probability unmix'd with any other perni- 
cious Salts, which those in Mines must be im- 
pregnated with. 
From what has been said already, in Page 
65 and 66, it must follow, that the Air 
in great and populous Cities differs very 
much from that in the Country, and that it 
is from offensive Smells and Fumes, among 
other things, that Diseases are more fre- 
quent
* Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 101. and likewise Philos. Trans. 
abridg. vol. 2. p. 180. 
‡ Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 575. 


Ch. I. thro' the various, Stages of Life. 71
quent and more dangerous in the former than 
they are in the latter. Great Calms have often 
preceded the pestilential Constitutions of the 
Seasons; hence the close and confined Air of 
Prisons often produces mortal Diseases; and in 
Bays and Harbours,the Crews of Ships turn 
sickly, that would be healthy in the open Seas; 
and the great Mortality that is so often in 
Camps is chiefly owing to offensive Smells and 
Steams; for nothing contributes more to the 
Production of Distempers than the infected 
Air that they breathe in, occasion'd by the 
Filth which is the necessary Attendant of such 
Places; especially at Sieges, where the cor- 
rupted Particles of dead Bodies, both of Men 
and Beasts, fill the Air with an intolerable 
Stench. Besides, the Effluvia and Steams of 
Perspiration exhal'd into the Air, from the 
Bodies of Men and other Animals, must so 
charge that Air, as to encrease its Weight very
much; and at the same time the Heat of the 
Camp will weaken its Spring so considerably, 
as to render it very unfit for Respiration; for 
thereby the Blood will remain unbroken in 
the Lungs, and so dispose the People to those 
Distempers, occasion'd by a Viscidity in the 
Blood; such as malignant Fevers, Dysenteries
and Agues. 
According to the learned Boerhaave and 
others, the Eggs of Infects, and even Infects 
themselves very often are floating in the Air, 
and are so small as to be generally invisible 
by the Assistance of the best Microscopes, 
E4 which

72 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
which render the Air very unwholsome, 
and are often times the Cause of many 
grievous Diseases, being suck'd in with our 
Breath, and swallow' down with our Food; 
and the low and marshy Grounds are most
commonly subject to be infected with them; 
for there we always find great Quantities of
Flies and other Infects. Caterpillars and o- 
ther Infects, which eat up and destroy the 
Leaves of Trees and Plants, are proba- 
bly produced by the Eggs of those Infects 
floating in the Air; otherwise we cannot 
easily conceive how they can be generated in 
the Plants themselves. Historians relate, that 
there are Showers of Rain sometimes in 
Africk which affect the Inhabitants with 
Shiverings, and that there are Infects found in 
the Drops of these Showers; hence it appears 
that there are Infects in the Air, though not 
visible to the naked Eye: for it has been ob- 
serv'd, by the Help of Glasses, that in part of
a Room illuminated with the Beams of the 
Sun, Flies are seen sometimes darting like 
Hawks upon a Prey. 
Tho' the Air on or near the Surface of the 
Earth is impregnated with an infinite Num- 
ber of heterogeneous Particles, as appears evi- 
dently by what has been said already; yet the 
wise Author of the Universe has so temper'd 
this Mixture, as to render it wholsome to all 
the Animals that live and breathe in it, except
in some few accidental Cases; for doubtless 
pure Air without any such Ingredients would 
be

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 73
be very unfit for Animals and Vegetables to 
subsist in; therefore, in order to render salubri- 
ous this Element wherein we breathe, infinite 
Wisdom has so ordained, that the whole Mass 
is never overcharged with these Contents; for 
as human Creatures are unable to bear Ex- 
cesses of any kind, such as too much Heat, 
too much Dryness or Moisture, there is a con- 
tinual Circulation of Water and other Ingre- 
dients in the Air, and in mostPlaces the 
Air contains near the same Quantity of Wa- 
ter: for as the Sum of all the Force of the Sun
upon the same Surface of Land and Water, 
and the Heat of the Surface of Earth within 
the Year is very near uniform, consequently 
the Quantity of Exhalation is the same: And 
as the Air has a Power of imbibing and su- 
staining only certain Quantities of Water with
other Ingredients, and the Sum of all the 
Quantity that falls from the Air over the 
Surface of the Earth in Rain, Hail, Snow, 
and Dew, is the same; yet, by accidental 
Causes, such as Winds, the Stoppage of the 
Clouds by Tracts of Mountains, more of these 
Exhalations or Vapours may be carried and 
fall in one Place than another. 
This Water is again carried, by its natural Gra- 
vity, in Streams into the Sea, and other Reser- 
voirs of Water, and from thence again exhal'd, 
of which there is only left a sufficient Quantity 
for the Nourishment of Plants and Animals, 
the Perspiration of whose Bodies is again 
exhaled; and this Circulation is constantly 
main-

74 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
maintained and directed by the wise Order of 
Divine Providence. And all these different 
Ingredients of the Air are digested and atte- 
nuated by the Heat of the Sun, and they are 
constantly stirr'd and agitated by Winds, which
mix the Air of different Regions together. 
There are likewise Fermentations in the Air, 
which are succeeded by violent Motions and 
Explosions in Thunder and Lightning; by 
which Means the redundant sulphureous 
Steams, and other pernicious Particles are 
destroyed and consumed in those Storms. 
The particular Causes of Thunder and 
Lightning seem to be nothing else than the 
Sun exhaling moist Particles into the Air, 
these condense and gather into Clouds, and 
when these inclose a Quantity of sulphureous, 
nitrous and bituminous Exhalations, and like- 
wise Salts of various Sorts, Acids and Alka-
lies, extracted both from the Earth and Ocean, 
which being violently agitated by the Oppo- 
sition of Heat and Cold, and the Motion of 
the Air, operating upon those sulphureous and 
nitrous Particles, together with a watery Mat- 
ter, till at last they ferment and are kindled; 
then the Fire bursts open the Cloud with Ex- 
plosion in Thunder and Lightning, where the 
Passage is most easy, and the Cloud not able 
to make any farther Resistance: Sometimes 
the Opening is very wide, and stands a smali 
time, with a firey Edge about it; the Cloud 
is then dash'd with great Violence, the Air 
assisting with its Motion, and the sulphureous
Matter

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 75
Matter breaks out again in various Sounds:
the first Discharge being over, presently suc- 
ceeds a second, and this is back'd with a thirds 
fourth, fifth, &c. as long as the Store of 
combustible Matter holds out to maintain the 
Fire, till at last the Equilibrium of the Air is 
perfectly restored. 
The Effects of Lightning are wonderful; 
it being a most subtile and refin'd Matter, 
will sometimes burn a Person's Cloaths, while
his Body remains unhurt; and on the con- 
trary, it will sometimes break a Man's Bones, 
while his Cloaths and Flesh receive no 
Harm. In like manner it will sometimes 
melt or break the Blade of a Sword in the 
Scabbard, and the Scabbard remain un- 
touch'd. It has drank up Vessels of Water, 
the Cover being left untouch'd and no other 
Token remain'd. Gold, Silver, and Brass, 
have been melted, and the Bags wherein they 
were contain'd not burnt, nor even the Seal 
off Wax defac'd. Marcia, Queen of the 
Romans, was Thunder-struck when she was 
big with Child, which was killed in her 
Womb, and she receiv'd no Harm. 
The Reason of these strange and contrary 
Effects, Philosophers can but conjecture at, 
imputing it to the different Figure and Qua- 
lity of the Particles of the * Lightning, as 
2 to
* There is a fort of Stone or Mineral, which is vulgarly 
called a Thunder-bolt, and it is thought, that it falls from the 
Clouds in a Clap of Thunder, and thereby great Mischief is
done many times. But this is a vulgar Error; for the Stone 
seems to resemble more an artificial than a natural Producti- 
on,


76 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
to the Rarity and Thickness of the Fire; for 
the more subtile penetrates more easily, and 
the thicker with more Difficulty; whence 
the latter does more Harm than the former; 
and tho' it produces various and wonderful 
Effects, yet it is of such singular Use to the
Inhabitants of the Earth, that they could 
scarce subsist without it; for it clears the Air, 
destroys and consumes all the redundant and 
noxious Steams and Particles that float in it, 
breaks the Clouds, and sends down Rain up- 
on the Earth. 
* It is certain, from undoubted Experiments, 
that the Air near the Surface of the Earth 
is more or less impregnated with all those 
Heterogeneous Particles already mention'd, 
and a great many more not possible to enu- 
merate. And in truth it cannot be otherwise, 
by the known Laws of Nature; for by 
what means soever a Body becomes divided, 
till some of the Particles become less than the 
component Particles of Airy and by that 
means become lighter, they will be elevated 
into the Air, until by their * Coalescence, 
their Gravity be so much encreased, as to 
fink
on, by the Make and Figure of it; and being most common- 
ly found where Sepulchers have been, makes the Learned in- 
cline to think, that they are some Remains of Antiquity, and 
were formerly of Use in War and Arms, which was cu- 
stomary with the Ancients to bury with their Ashes. See
Rowning's Comp. System, p 146. Part II. and Philos. Trans. 
No. 313, 316, 319, 331. 
* Coalescence, is the gathering together and uniting into a 
sensible Mass, those minute Particles floating in a Fluid, which 
were not before visible in it. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 77
sink them again to the Earth. And for the 
Production of such wonderful Effects, even 
in the hardest and most solid Bodies, we need
have Recourse to no other Cause than the 
Rays of the Sun; for as it has been demon- 
strated by † Astronomical Observations, that 
Light is not above ten Minutes in passing 
from the Sun to the Earth, and as the Earth 
is at least 10,000 of its own Diameters distant
from the Sun; therefore it must run 1000 of 
these Diameters in a Minute, which is above 
100,000 Miles in a Second. So that if a 
Bullet, moving with the same Velocity with 
which it leaves the Muzzle of a Cannon, re- 
quires 25 Years to pass from the Earth to 
the Sun, as Huygens ‡ has computed it, then 
the Velocity of Light, to that of a Cannon- 
Ball, will be as 25 Years to 10 Minutes; 
therefore we may expect proportionable Ef- 
fects from such Particles, notwithstanding 
their exceeding Smallness. And we may guess 
at the Effects of the Rays of Light separate- 
ly, by what we can observe when collected in 
the Focus of a burning Glass; for no Body, 
tho' ever so hard and compact, is able to 
resist their Force: even Gold, which is un- 
alterable by any artificial Fire, may be * * vi- 
trified by the concenter'd Rays of the Sun, 
one
† Mr. Romer's Observations on the Eclipses of the Satellites 
Of Jupiter. 
‡ Huygens in his Treatise upon Light and Gravity. He was 
a celebrated Mathematician. 
** Vitrified, made or chang'd into Glass by the Force of 
Fire 

78 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
one Part of it exhaling into the Air, as 
the other is turned into Glass; and that in a 
few Seconds of Time, according to Mr. 
Blundel and others. 
Hence it appears, that the Rays of the Sun 
are not only capable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies, such small Par- 
ticles as will be render'd lighter when sepa- 
rate, than the least compounding Particle of 
Air, but also by the Celerity with which 
they will be reflected, will thereby be capa- 
ble to carry into the Air such little Collec- 
tions of Matter, as are in Fact heavier than 
the Air they mount up in, which, when the 
Force impressed becomes less than will im- 
pel them higher, they must necessarily fall 
down to the Earth again, which will vari- 
ously affect human Bodies, both in their As- 
cent and Descent, according to their different
Nature and Properties. 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of AIR. 
THE Properties of Air are, Gravity, 
Elasticity, Fluidity, and Divisbility. 
They are so called, because they constantly
remain in the whole Mass and in every part 
of it. 
The


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 79 
The Gravity of the Air was first dis- 
cover'd by Galileus, by trying to what Height
Water might be raised by pumping; and 
when he found it could not be raised higher 
than 33 feet, justly concluded, that it was 
from the Counter-ballance of the Weight of 
the Air that it was raised so high. 
The * specifick Gravity then of Air, 
when the Barometer † stands at 30 Inches, 
according to Sir Isaac Newton's Observations, 
and Dr. Halley s, is to that of Water, about 
1 to 800, and to that of Mercury as 1 
to 10,800; So that the Air we breathe 
in,
*Specifick Gravity, is the appropriate and peculiar Gravity or 
Weight which any Species of natural Bodies have, and by which 
they are plainly distinguishable from all other Bodies of diffe- 
rent Kinds, when compared with them: And it is not im- 
properly called relative Gravity, to distinguish it from absolute 
Gravity, which encreases according to the Proportion of the 
Bulk or Bigness of the Body weighed. Thus, if a Body 
weighs a Pound, one as big again will weigh two Pounds; and 
let the Bodies be of what Nature or Degree of Specifick Gra- 
vity soever, a Pound of one will be as much as a Pound of 
the other absolutely considered. Thus a Pound of Feathers is 
as heavy as a Pound of Lead; but if we consider Lead and 
Feathers relatively, the specifick Gravity of the former will be 
much greater than the later; or Lead, Bulk for Bulk, will be 
much heavier than Feathers, and Gold heavier than Lead. 
† Barometer is a Glass Tube or Instrument to measure the 
height of the Atmosphere by; it is about three Feet in Length, 
and 1/16 or 2/10 of an Inch bore, seal'd up at one End, and at 
the other End it is fill'd quite full of Quicksilver, and thus 
immersed in a small Vessel of Quicksilver, that will fink 
down in the Tube, or run out into the Vessel, till it remains 
in the Tube between 28 and 31 Inches perpendicular height; 
and this Column of Mercury in the Tube, is equal in Weight 
to a Column of Air of the same Basis, and of the Height 
of the Atmosphere, and consequently is suspended by it; 
which therefore by its rising higher or falling lower, shews 
the proportionally greater or lesser Weight or Pressure of the 
Atmosphere 

80 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in, takes up 10,800 times the Space that the 
like Quantity of Mercury would. And the 
Honourable Mr. Boyle proves by Experi- 
ments †, that the Air without any adven- 
titious Heat, may, by the Force of its own
Spring, possess 13,000 times the Space it 
does when pressed by the incumbent Atmo- 
sphere; and therefore may possess a Space 
one hundred forty-five Millions, and six hun- 
dred thousand times greater than the same 
Weight of Mercury; and that by the Ad- 
dition of Heat, it may be forced to fill a 
Space much larger. And if we consider that 
the Air we breathe in, may be compressed 
into 40 times less Space than that which it 
now fills; therefore Air may possess a Space
520,000 times greater at one time than ano- 
ther. 
The Gravity of Air counterpoises a Co- 
lumn of Mercury from 27 1/2 Inches to 30 1/2,
the Gravity of the Atmosphere varying some- 
times 1/10, which are its utmost Limits, so 
that the specifick Gravity of the Air cannot 
be exactly determined. And the Account that 
Dr. Halley gives of the Causes of the Variation
of the Gravity of the Air, seems very clear and
conclusive; for they must either proceed 
from the Air's being more or less charged 
with Quantities of ponderous Ingredients in 
one Time and Place, which, as has been said in 
the former Chapter, arc plentifully exhaled 
into
‡ Boyle's Tracts about the wonderful Rarefication of the 
Air. 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 81
into it, or by its being accumulated more in 
one Place than in another by Currents of 
Winds; thus contrary Currents of Air com- 
ing to the same Place, must accumulate the 
Air in that Place, and consequently raise the
Mercury in the Barometer; but two Currents 
of Air from the same Place, must link the 
Air in that Place, and consequently the Mer- 
cury in the Barometer. 
This is very possible in Liquids, and hap- 
pens even in the Motion of the Tides; for 
if there was a perfect Calm always, the Equi-
librium could only be charged by the greater 
or smaller Quantity of ponderous Ingredi- 
ents in the Air; in Confirmation of which 
it is discovered, that where the Winds are 
not variable, as near the Line, the Al- 
terations of the Barometer are very small; 
And these Variations of the Air's Weight 
cannot proceed from letting its ponderous In- 
gredients fall, as in great and heavy Showers: 
Tho' it is certain, that a heavy Body falling 
through a Fluid, during its Descent, does not 
press upon it, but by the Resistance which the
fluid gives to its Motion in Descent; but the 
Decrease of the Atmosphere's Weight during 
the fall of Rain, Snow, or Hail, is not pro- 
portionable to this Cause, therefore cannot be 
accounted for from it. 
As the incumbent Atmosphere is fluid and 
heavy, it presses equally upon the Surface 
of a human Body, with a Weight equal 
to a Column of Mercury, whose Basis is 
F equal

82 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
equal to the Surface of a Human Body; and 
Altitude, that of the Barometer, as in a mid- 
dle-siz'd Man, with a Weight of 32,000 
Pounds; for as it is possible for the Air to 
vary 1/10 in its Weight, so that such a human
Body must sustain a Weight of 3,200 Pounds 
Weight more at one Time than at another; 
and if the Mercury varies only one Inch in 
Height, there will be a Difference of about
1000 Pounds Weight: Such Alterations would 
affect both the Solids and Fluids of hu- 
man Bodies very much, were it not that 
the Ballance between the Air within and that 
without the Body is quickly restor'd, by the 
free Communication that is between them; 
so that these Changes are suffered without 
any sensible Inconvenience to healthful Peo- 
ple. 
This proves the ready Admission of the 
Air into the Vessels of human Bodies, and 
the Egress of aërial Particles from within the 
Body, in each Case of the Variation of the 
Weight of the external Air, from less to 
more, or from more to less; for if this Bal- 
lance between the external Air, and that 
within the Body was not kept, the Fibres 
and Fluids being elastick, in case of an In- 
crease of the Weight of the external Air,
both the Fluids and Solids would be too much 
compress'd; and in case of a Decrease of 
this Weight, they would be dilated with a 
painful Sensation, and endanger the Life of 
the Individual; for the Fall of the Mercury 
in

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 83
in the Barometer is the same with the Ex- 
suction of so much Air in the Air-pump; 
and the Rise of the Mercury the contrary. 
This Alteration happens in Vegetables and
in fermenting Liquors, as well as in Animals; 
and how these considerable Changes are made 
by Heat, Cold, or great Winds in fermenting 
Liquors, is an Observation of every one con- 
versant with them; for all these Changes 
are brought about by altering either the
Weight or Spring of the circumambient 
Air: It is for this Reason like wise, that se- 
veral People, by their Akings and Pains, can 
foretell any considerable Change of the Wea- 
ther; for their Blood being more rarefied at
the approach of wet Weather, or high 
Winds, will more forcibly press upon the 
sensible Membranes of the Body, so as to 
cause Pains that they were free from before: 
And this the rather happens, because the 
Blood hereby becomes not in the least the 
more fluid; for Froth, which is only Water 
blown into Bubbles by Air, is less fluid than 
Water itself; and the Globules of the Blood be- 
ing blown larger by the contained Air, when 
the Pressure of the external Air is removed, 
the Blood then is rendered less fluid, and 
will pass through the Capillaries with great 
Difficulty. 
A Fluid must have its Parts small, smooth, 
spherical, or approaching thereunto, and of 
equal Density, if the Fluid be homogeneal *, 
F2 accord-
* homogeneal is such Particles as are pure, entire, un- 
mixed, and altogether like one another.

84 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
according to Borelli ‡: and it is not neces- 
sary that the Parts of a Fluid should be in 
Motion, because it is neither apparent that 
the Parts of all Fluids are so, nor that the 
Parts of some solid Bodies are not so; there- 
fore, the Blood in this rarefied State is rather 
less, than more fluid, in which Condition it 
will remain, whenever the Gravity of the 
Air is lessen'd, or its Spring weakened, by 
any Cause whatever. 
There is no Liquor that can be blown up 
into Bubbles, but what is somewhat viscid, and
the more tenacious the Parts of any Liquids 
are, the fitter it is for this Use; for the Bubbles 
will be both larger and more lasting; for 
Example, a Mixture of Soap and Water may 
be blown into Spheres or Bubbles above six 
Inches in Diameter; and human Blood con- 
sists of Parts like what is in such a Mix- 
ture; for there are watry, oily, and saline 
Particles in the Blood, as is evident to our 
Senses: And that the Blood is blown into 
such little Spherulœ beyond dispute, is what 
may be observed with a Microscope in the 
Tail of a Fish; for the Globules of Blood 
being too large to pass through the smallest
Arteries, they change their spherical* Fi- 
gure to a spheroidal † one; and when they 
come into a wider Channel, they recover 
their former Figure again. Now as it is the 
Property
‡ Borelli de motibus à gravitate factis, Præpos. p. 142. 
* Spherical, round like a Ball.
† Spheroidal, an oblong Sphere or Ball. 


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 85
Property of an Elastick Body alone, that 
when its Figure is changed, to recover it again;
and nothing being Elastick but Air, or at 
least, what contains Air in it; it is a 
plain Reason that the Globules of the Blood 
must contain Air in them. 
From what has been said, it appears, that 
whenever the Blood is too viscid, so that the 
Force of Cohesion be not greater than that by
which the Air contained in the Blood endea- 
vours to expand itself, in such a Case the 
Person will be more sensibly affected by the 
Alteration of Weather; from hence better 
Indications may be taken both for the Cure 
and Prevention of those Diseases that pro- 
ceed from a Viscidity in the Blood, than from
any other Source whatever. 
Human Species can live in Air of very dif- 
ferent Gravity; for the Air in the same 
Place may differ 1/10 in Weight, the Variation 
of the Mercury in the Barometer being so 
much; but what is still more extraordinary, 
human Creatures can live in Airs, where the 
difference of the Weight is double; for Exam- 
ple, in the Bottom of deep Mines, where the 
Mercury stands in the Barometer at 32 Inches, 
and at the Top of the highest Mountains, 
supposing 'em to be 3 Miles high, the Mercury 
then mud stand at a little above sixteen 
inches. 
Notwithstanding human Creatures can sus- 
tain such a Difference of Weight or Pressure 
of Air, as (in the common Variation of Gra- 
F3 vity

86 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vity in the same Place) makes the Difference 
of Pressure upon a Person of a middle Size 
3600 Pounds Weight, and in the Difference 
of Height in the Bottoms of Mines, and at 
the Tops of the highest Mountains the Dif- 
ference of 18000 Weight; which Difference 
of Pressure or Weight must produce great 
Alterations in the bending or stretching of the 
Fibres, and in dilating the Fluids of a Human 
Body: For in the case of a greater Weight, 
the Fibres will be more strongly braced, and
the Fluids will be rendered more compact; 
and, as has been observed already, were there 
not a free Communication between the outward 
Air, and that within the Animal Fluids, these 
Alterations would be insupportable; for the 
Animal would be, in such a Case, as in an 
Air-pump with the Exsuction of half the 
Air; in which Case the Blood would boil 
up and expand itself to a very great Degree, 
by having so much of the Pressure of the 
outward Air taken off. 
And it seems very reasonable, that in di- 
minishing the Force of the Pressure of 
the outward Air upon human Bodies, the 
Fibres thereby will be rendered more un- 
braced, and consequently must create a 
Weakness in Muscular Motion; which is the 
Reason, in a great Measure, that People 
breathe shorter and with more Difficulty 
than usual, in going up to the Tops of high 
Hills and Mountains; for the Air in ascend- 
ing is a great deal lighter than at the Bot- 
2 tom,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 87 
tom, and by the Diminution of the Pressure 
of the Air upon the Muscles, less Exercise 
puts People out of Breath; and likewise the 
Over-ballance of the Air contained in the 
Cavity of the Breast, may help to produce 
this Effect But then perhaps it will be said, 
that the Inhabitants of Mountains are not 
weaker nor less active than those of lower 
Situations: In answer to which it must be 
observed, that the Excess of Coldness of the 
Air on the Tops of Mountains above that 
of the low Countries, counter-ballance the less 
Weight of the Air, and braces the Fibres 
more strongly: Another Reason is, that such 
as live in a rarer or lighter Air, as on high
Mountains, are accustomed to the Exercise 
of a greater muscular Strength; as in the 
Case of Birds performing their Motions in a 
thinner Fluid, must always use a greater 
muscular Strength, which, though Nature 
has accustomed them to the Use of this Ele- 
ment, must strengthen their Fibres; for 
which Reason tame Birds cannot fly so well 
as wild ones. 
The Alterations of the Pressure of the 
Air in its Gravity and Elasticity, must pro- 
duce proportional vibrating Motions, both in
the Solids and Fluids of human Bodies; and 
when these Variations are frequent and ex- 
treme, such violent Motions of the Fluids 
and Solids must cause great Changes in hu- 
man Bodies; for which there was no Ne- 
cessity of having recourse to any occult or 
F4 hidden

88 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hidden Qualities in the Air, as a great ma- 
ny have imagined; and though the Air does 
not much hurt the Animal Fibres, by the 
Softness of its Contact; yet the alternate 
bracing and unbracing of the Fibres strongly, 
may produce these Changes; and such Al- 
terations are not only producible by the Va- 
riations of the Air's Gravity and Elasticity, 
but likewise by its Qualities, such as Heat, 
Cold, Moisture and Dryness, which will be 
the Subject of the next Chapter. 
* Elasticity is another Property of the 
Air, which is a Force equal to its Gravity; 
for, as the Honourable Boyle and others have
proved by Experiments, the smallest Bubble 
of Air by its Elasticity or Spring can bal- 
ance, resist, and equiponderate the whole 
Atmosphere of equal Density, as far as it is
exposed thereunto; for otherwise it would 
be more compressed than in Fact it is; and 
by these two Qualities of Gravity and E- 
lasticity, and the Alterations of them, the 
Air produces great Effects in living Creatures; 
for by these, Respiration is performed, and 
the Equilibrium or Ballance is kept between
the outward Air and that contain'd in the 
Vessels of the Body. 
True
* Elasticity or Springiness, which most Bodies have more 
or less, is a Power in a Body to return to its first Place and 
Condition, as a Stick which is forcibly bent; and the Air 
has it in a very remarkable manner, which being compressed, 
it endeavours with a very great Force to restore itself to its 
former State.

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 89  
True Air never loses its Elasticity, as 
Steel, Wood and other Bodies do; yet it exerts
it only when it is collected into a Mass;  
which is confirmed by the Air-Gun; for 
Mons. De Roberval of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, having let his Air-Gun remain 
charged for the Space of 16 Years, found on 
discharging it, that the Air's Elastick Force 
was not at all abated, but produced the same 
Effect as at first *. By this Elastick Force 
the Air insinuates itself into the Spaces of 
Liquors not sufficiently filled with it already; 
there it remains divided in its minutest Par- 
ticles, and as it were in a fixed State, till it is
expanded by Heat, or the incumbent Pres- 
sure is taken off, and then it is collected in- 
to greater Masses, and exerts its Elasticity 
in Proportion to the Diminution of the in- 
cumbent Pressure. 
The Elasticity of the Air has been suffi- 
ciently demonstrated by various Experiments 
of the Air-pump, and otherwise: One very 
plain is this; an empty Bladder, the Neck of 
which being tied round fast, that no Air 
could either get in or out, and being put into
the Receiver of an Air-pump, and the ex- 
ternal Air therein exhausted, the small mat- 
ter of inclosed Air in the Bladder, will, by 
its own proper Spring or Elasticity, gradual- 
ly expand itself, and at last will so extend 
the Bladder as to burst it: Thus also the Air 
compressed in a Wind-Gun, will, by its Elas- 
tick
* Hist. de l'Academ. Roy. 1695. p. 368. 

90 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tick Force (being discharged) drive a Ball 
through a Board at several Yards Distance, 
in the same manner as with Gun-powder. 
The Solids and Fluids of Animals contain 
more Air in them in Proportion, than any 
other Substances; and Animal Solids contain 
more Air than Fluids; and they contain a 
greater Proportion of Air than any other watery 
Fluid: For example, Blood contains 1/27 Part 
of its Weight in Air, and 33 times its Bulk; 
whereas 54 Inches of Well-water yield only 
1 Inch of Air; but Spaw and Pyrmont Wa- 
ters yield double the Quantity of Air, to 
that of common Water; and therefore 
the Activity of Steel and Mineral Waters is 
owing to some aërial Particles in them; 
for when these are evaporated, the Waters 
become insipid, and without any Virtue, by 
the Quantity of Air lost, which the Blood 
and other Fluids of Animals contain, as has
been often demonstrated by Experiments of 
the Air-pump; for they will expand them- 
selves in an exhausted Receiver to a great 
Degree, in the same Manner as in the Ex- 
periment of the Bladder just now mention'd. 
Hence the Alteration of the Weight and Spring, 
or elastick Force of the Air, which dilates 
and expands proportionably the Liquors, with
which the external Air communicates, must
produce sensible Effects in animal Fluids; 
for as Air is a principal Instrument in the 
Animal Oeconomy, and consequently a prin- 
cipal Ingredient in the Composition of all 
animal

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 91
animal Substances, it must in a particular man- 
ner affect animal Bodies, and by its Changes 
differently influence all their Operations. 
Fluidity is a Property of Air, which can- 
not be destroy'd or congealed like Water or 
other Fluids, by any Power of Art or Na- 
ture hitherto known: and this Property of 
Fluids arises from the exceeding Tenuity or 
Smallness of the constituent Particles of such
Bodies, and their Disposition to Motion, 
from the Sphericity or Roundness, and Lubri- 
city or smooth Slipperiness of their Figures, 
whereby they can easily slide over one ano- 
ther's Surfaces all manner of Ways, and can 
touch but in few Points; so that Particles 
thus modified, must always produce a fluid
Body or Substance, as Water, Fire, &c. No 
Coagulation, Fermentation, or Condensation 
of any Mixtures where Air resides, have 
ever destroy'd its Fluidity; for it preserves it 
in Cold 44 Degrees greater than any natural 
Cold, which Property is absolutely necessary 
to an Element, in which both Animals and 
Vegetables live and grow. 
As Water is a Fluid much denser or thicker 
than Air, it supports and keeps together the
Bodies of larger Animals than Air can do. 
The Air is pellucid or transparent to such a 
Degree as not to be discernible even by the 
best Microscopes, by reason of the great Po- 
rosity thereof; for the Pores and Interstices of
the Air being so very great and large, it not 
only admits the Light in right Lines, but in 
such


92 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
such great plentiful Rays, that the Brightness 
and universal Lustre thereof, not only renders 
the Air diaphanous or transparent, but en- 
tirely hinders the Opacity or Darkness of the 
very small Particles of Air from being at all 
seen; and the whole Body of the Air must
consequently be invisible. But notwithstand- 
ing the Minuteness of the Particles of Air, 
many thicker Fluids will pass where it can- 
not; for Oil, Water, and Liquids will enter 
thro' Leather, which will exclude Air. 
That Air is a Fluid in constant Motion, 
may be easily perceiv'd in that Part of a 
Room illuminated by the Rays of the Sun, 
entering at a small Hole or Crevice, where- 
in the visible and floating Corpuscles or Atoms
are in continual Motion; likewise a constant 
undulatory Motion in the Air may be seen 
by the help of a Telescope; and these Undu- 
lations or Wavings of the Air to and fro, 
affect small and tender Bodies, but not so much 
as to alter their Figure. 
The Difference between Fluidity and Li- 
quidity is, that the former is a general Name 
for all Bodies whose Parts yield to the small- 
est Force or Impression; and thus a Quan- 
tity of Sand as well as Water, is called a 
Fluid: But what is properly called a Liquid 
or Liquor, is only that Kind or Species of 
Fluids which cleaves to the Touch, or sticks 
to the Finger, &c. or, as may be said, wets 
it, as Water, or any kind of Juices do: 
And the Reason of this Difference is owing 
to


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 93
to the exceeding Smallness of the Particles 
of Liquids above those of fluid Bodies; and 
also to their Ponderosity or Weight: for by 
these means, the Particles of Liquids enter 
the Pores of the Body which touches them, 
and by their Gravity or Weight, cohere or 
stick to, and abide therein, and cause Wetness. 
Air is compressible as well as dilatable; for it 
can be compressed into a less Compass, and 
smaller Volume, like a Fleece or Lock of 
Wool, either by its own Weight, or by any 
other Force; which Weight or Force being 
remov'd, it immediately recovers its former 
Bulk and Dimensions again by its Spring. 
Heat will encrease the Force of the Elasti- 
city of the Air to a prodigious Degree, accord- 
ing to the Experiments of Mr. Boyle, as has 
been observ'd in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter. To prove which by an easy Experiment, 
take a Bladder entirely empty as you think, 
and tie the Neck of it very well with a Pack- 
thread, and lay it before the Fire, the Heat 
will presently so dilate and rarefy the little 
Air inclosed, as to make it extend the Blad- 
der to its utmost Stretch, and if continued, 
will break through it with a Report like 
that of a Pistol. That Air also may be com- 
pressed by Art, so as to take up but 1/60 Part
of the Space it possessed before, has been 
prov'd by Numbers of Experiments made by 
Boyle and others; for farther Proof and Sa- 
tisfaction thereof, see Sir Isaac Newton's Op- 
tics, p. 342.  
Divisi-

94 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Divisibility is a Property of Air, by which 
living Creatures move in it without much 
Resistance; for it is always divisible by the 
smallest Force imaginable. Fishes and Birds 
move thro' their respective Element after the
same manner; and Fishes may be called the 
Birds of the Water; they pass thro' an Ele- 
ment which is 800 times thicker than Air, 
as has been observ'd in p. 71; for which 
Reason Fishes must employ a Force propor- 
tional to the greater Resistance of the Fluid. 
On the other Hand, a great deal of the Force 
of Birds is employ'd to support themselves in 
a much thinner Fluid; but the Bodies of 
Fishes are poised or equilibrated with the 
Water in which they swim. However Air 
has some Degree of Tenacity or Adhesion, by 
which its Parts attract one another, as is ma- 
nifest by the round Figure of Water-Bubbles, 
which attract and run into one another; and 
at the same Time the Particles of Air, by 
their Elasticity, have a Power in other Cir- 
cumstances, of flying off from one another, 
which two Properties are consistent, as may 
be seen in Light. 
The Resistance of Air is very considera-
ble in Bodies swiftly moving thro' it, or by 
its swift Motion against Bodies. In the first 
Case, the Resistance increases in the dupli- 
cate Proportion of the Swiftness of the mov- 
ing Body; that is, the Resistance is a hun- 
dred times greater when the Velocity is but 
ten times; so that for this Reason, if light 
Bodies are moved with great Swiftness, the 
Air's

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 95
Air's Resistance will throw them back in 
another Direction. 
Air moving with Rapidity, as in violent 
Storms or Winds, produces very sensible Ef- 
fects in human Bodies, to which if we add 
the Motion of the Person moving opposite, 
then the Pressure will be very considerable; 
hence Walking or Riding against great 
Winds is a great and laborious Exercise, the 
Effects of which are a Redness and Inflamma- 
tion of all the Parts exposed to the Air, be- 
ing like the Effects produc'd by a soft Press
or Stripes, Heat and Drowziness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of the Qualities of Air. 
THE Qualities of Air are Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture; they are called 
Qualities of the Air, because they are change- 
able, and do not constantly reside in the 
whole Mass, nor in the Parts thereof. 
By these variable Qualities of Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture, the Air must of Ne- 
cessity produce various Alterations in human 
Bodies. For if we consider, that human 
Blood is a Fluid continually warm, and in- 
closed in a Composition of thin and flexible 
Tubes, to which the outward Air has Admit- 
tance

96 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tance or Entrance by the innumerable Pas- 
sages of the Pores of the Body: Again, if 
we consider this Machine, with its inclosed
Fluids steaming and reaking hot thro' num- 
berless Pores, and often changing Situation, 
sometimes within, sometimes without Doors, 
and exposed to the hot, cold, dry, or moist
Air, and all the various Alterations that oc- 
cur in that Element; the Changes which 
must happen to a human Body in such Cir- 
cumstances, must be very considerable, and 
far greater than we generally suppose or ima- 
gine; for besides the real Influence of the 
circumambient Air, human Bodies are affect- 
ed by these Changes with a painful or plea- 
sant Sensation, which they have not always 
in their Power either to escape or possess. 
Heat is a Quality relative to our Senses 
excited in the Mind, by a great and swift 
Agitation of Particles of the hot Body ex- 
erting its Action or Influence on us; so that 
Heat in us is only the Idea thereof; and in 
the hot Body, Activity and Motion, and no- 
thing else: for no Heat is sensible, unless the
Particles of the Body which act upon us, be 
greater than the Motion of the Organ or Part 
of the Body acted upon. But when the 
Motion of the Particles of the Body acting, 
is less than that of our Organs of feeling, 
then it causes in us the Sensation or Idea of 
Cold, which is only a Privation or less Degree 
of Heat or Motion. 
The


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 97
The Spirit of Wine in Thermometers * or 
Weather-Glasses, is affected with the least 
Alterations of Heat and Cold; and therefore 
is the best Guide to know the Variations of 
the Weather, tho' the Degrees marked in the 
Tubes of them do not exactly measure their 
Quantity. The natural Heat of a grown 
Person is 92, and of Children 94 Degrees;
but no Animal can live long in Air of 90 
Degrees, or near the natural Heat of the 
Body. 
The Rarity or Thinness of the Air ren- 
ders it more sensible of the Alterations of
Heat and Cold, than any other Fluid what- 
ever; for the least Increase of Heat dilates 
it, but a Diminution thereof contracts it im- 
mediately. The Degrees of Expansion of 
the Air cannot be determin'd; for the great- 
est Heat will not totally expel it, but by 
this continual Expansion and Contraction, by 
different Degrees of Heat, it is kept in con- 
stant Motion. 
Heat, but not so great as to destroy ani- 
mal Solids, relaxes the Fibres, and rarifies the
Humours; whence proceeds the Sensation of 
Faintness and Weakness, and whence lan- 
quid and hysteric People suffer in a hot Day; 
for the Fluids are dilated, as is manifest to 
both the Sight and Touch, and the external 
G Parts
* Thermometer or Weather-Glass, is a Glass Tube filled 
with Spirit of Wine of a red Tincture: It is an Instrument of 
great Use in the Hands of skilful Persons, in discovering the 
Degrees of Heat and Cold in Air, animal and vegetable Bo- 
dies, Liquids, Hot-Beds, &c. 

98 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Parts swell, and are plumper in hot than in 
cold Weather. 
Excessive hot Air is capable to reduce ani- 
mal Substances to a State of Putrefaction, and
therefore very hurtful to the Lungs in parti- 
cular; for the Blood, by its Circulation thro'
the Lungs, is heated to a degree so as to render 
it spumous; and the Surface of the Vehicles 
of the Lungs being exposed to the external 
Air, which has a free Communication to it; 
so that Refrigeration by cool Air is one, tho' 
not the principal Use of Air in Respiration: 
but when the outward Air is many Degrees 
hotter than the Substance of the Lungs, it 
must necessarily destroy and putrify the Solids 
and Fluids: Which is confirm'd by an Ex- 
periment of the learned Dr. Boerhaave, who 
relates, that he put a Sparrow into a Sugar- 
Baker's drying Stove, where the Air was 
heated 54 Degrees more than the natural Heat 
of Human Blood, which died in two Mi- 
nutes; a Dog being put in began to pant very
much for Breath in seven Minutes, and in a 
Quarter of an Hour express'd very great Un- 
easiness; soon after he grew very faint, and ex- 
pired in 28 Minutes; he drivell'd a great Quan- 
tity of red Foam most part of the Time, which 
stunk so intolerably that a labouring Man 
that went near it was almost struck down in- 
stantly with the Stench. Dr. Boerhaave ob- 
serves in this Experiment the direful Effects of
this Degree of Heat, how soon it occasion'd 
a most acute Disease, with violent and mortal 
Symptoms;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 99
Symptoms; and how suddenly the Humours 
were changed and thoroughly putrified in 28 
Minutes: He moreover observes, that these 
were not the mere Effects of the Heat of the 
Stove; for if the Flesh of a dead Animal had 
been hung up there, it would have dried, and 
not turn to a pestilential Corruption; which 
must arise from the Friction caused by the 
Circulation of the Blood through the Lungs, 
and being not in the least refrigerated, as in
this Case. 
By the Degrees of the Heat of the Air act- 
ing upon Human Bodies, the Quantity of 
* Perspiration both sensible and insensible is 
regulated; for, by the Journals of the industri-
cus
* Perspiration is twofold, sensible and insensible; by the 
first is meant what we discharge by Spittle, Sweat, Urine 
and Stool; by the latter is understood what is imperceptibly
exhaled or expell'd through the whole external Skin of the 
Body, as also from that of the Mouth, Nose, Jaws, Larynx, 
Lungs, Gullet, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder and Womb; so 
that the Quantity of it exceeds that of all other Excretions 
join'd together; for when the Body is strong and healthy, and 
after moderate living, especially in a warm Climate, such as 
Italy, that which is discharged insensibly by the Pores of the 
external Skin, Mouth, Nostrils, &c. is five Eighths of what is 
taken into the Body in Meat and Drink. It will not appear 
incredible, that animated Bodies should thus perspire, when 
we find by Mr. Boyle's Experiments, that he has observ'd the 
like even in the most solid and inanimate Substances. Besides, 
we see the Air, when return'd in Respiration from the Lungs,
brings along with it a Vapour, which in cold Weather con- 
denses into considerable Drops. We likewise find that a Fin- 
ger, or any other Part of the Body, or our Breath, applied to 
a Glass, or polish'd Metal, will presently moisten and tarnish 
it. This perspirable Matter, according to the learned Boer- 
haave, is a Mixture of Phlegm, volatile Salt, and Oil, in cer- 
tain Proportions; and after a long Course of Circulations in 
G2 all

100 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ous and learned Dr. James Keil of Northamp- 
ton, it appears, that the Perspiration in Eng- 
land scarcely equals all the other Excretions, 
and that in Summer it is near double to that 
in Winter; whereas we find, by the incom- 
parable Sactorius's Aphorisms, that the Per- 
spiration in Italy the Year round is to all the
other Evacuations as five to three, and pro- 
bably the Proportion may be still greater in 
hotter Climates; and yet the same Author 
tells us in Aphorism vii. Sect. I. that the 
Quantity of insensible Perspiration varies ac- 
cording
all the Forms of the Animal Fluids, is deprived of all that can 
be of farther Use to any Part of the Human Body; and is 
secreted by the capillary Arteries, and passes off insensibly and
almost invisibly through the Pores of the Skin, and other Parts 
of the Body. But whenever this Evacuation is either dimi- 
nish'd or obstructed, it is almost an infallible Indication of Dis- 
eases, and probably the Cause of them, likewise. And Nature 
has so provided, that if by any external Cause this Evacuation 
is hinder'd in any one Part, it is always increased in another, 
or otherwise a Distemper will ensue; for which Reason when 
the Coldness of the Air, which more immediately affects the 
outward Skin, or any thing else lessens the Discharge of insen- 
sible Perspiration that Way, either the sensible Evacuations are 
increased, as commonly the Urine, or greater Quantities are 
carried off by Respiration from the Lungs and Parts about the 
Mouth, as we see in frosty Weather, like Smoak out of the 
Mouth; or else it is perspir'd into the Cavities of the Stomach 
and Guts, which afterwards is discharged by breaking of 
Wind either upwards or downwards: For as long as the Im- 
pulse within remains the same, wherever there is the least Re- 
sistance, there will be always the greatest Derivation of the 
perspirable Matter. And from hence it is, that we so fre- 
quently find, when the Body is more than usually exposed to 
the external Cold, Gripings, Loosnesses, Colics, and great 
Uneasinesses in the Bowels, which is nothing else but some 
Part of the perspirable Matter, that ought to have passed the 
outward Skin, check'd by the Cold, and by an opener Pas- 
sage


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 101 
cording to the Differences of Constitution,
Ages, and Countries, Seasons, Distempers,
Diet, and the rest of the Non-naturals:
Which must occasion a great Diversity of 
Constitutions and Distempers, according to 
the different Climates; for the serous Part of
the Blood is carried off by Sweats or sensible 
Perspiration, in far greater Quantities in hot 
Countries, than in cold or temperate Cli- 
mates, which must consequently render the 
Crassamentum or fibrous red Cake of the Blood
larger; hence we may know the Reason why 
the Blood of People residing in those hot 
G3 Coun-
sage within thrown off that Way. Leeuwenhoek by the Help 
of Glasses, has discover'd the Texture of the Scarf-Skin to be 
scaly; and that those Scales cover one another in several Lays, 
more or less, according to the different Thickness of the Scarf- 
Skin in the several Parts of the Body; and that in the Com- 
pass of one cuticular Scale he reckons there may be 500 
Excretory Channels, and that one Grain of Sand will cover 
125000 Orifices; and that from these a most subtile Humour 
continually transpires in all the Parts of the Body; which was 
first observ'd by the incomparable Sanctorius, to whom alone 
the Glory and Perfection of this Discovery is entirely owing. 
Insensible Perspiration therefore, both as to the Matter and 
Quantity of it, is so absolutely necessary to the Health of a 
human Body, that a Distemper can neither be removed, nor 
Health preserv'd, unless it be rightly digested and discharg'd; 
For which Reason it ought to be of the utmost Concern to a 
Physician not only thoroughly to acquaint himself with the 
Nature of this Evacuation, but likewise thoroughly to know by 
what Means it is to be promoted or lessen'd, according to the 
several Exigencies of his Patients, either for the Preservation
or Recovery of their Health: For according to the last men- 
tion'd Author, in Aphorism ii. Sect. I. ' If a Physician who 
' has the Care of another's Health is acquainted only with 
' the sensible Supplies and Evacuations, and knows nothing of
' the Waste that is daily made by insensible Perspiration, he
' will only deceive his Patient, and never cure him unless by
' Accident.'

102 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Countries is commonly thick and black when 
drawn from any Part of a human Body, as 
Experience teaches. 
Air is not cooled by the Motion of Winds, 
but by the Air of cooler Regions that they 
bring along with them; for the Thermometer 
will not change by Winds or by the strongest 
Blasts of Bellows, unless it is blown through 
Ice or some other Body colder than Air, ac- 
cording to Mr. Boyle's Experiments, but then 
such a Blast will sink it considerably. Winds
cool animal Bodies by driving away the hot 
Steams that surround them; for if we sup- 
pose that the Heat of a human Body is 90 
Degrees, and the Heat of the Air 48, by 
blowing off the hot Steam, then the animal 
Body will be surrounded with an Atmosphere 
of 48 Degrees, and consequently near the one 
half of its natural Heat taken off in a Second
of Time. Therefore, if immediately after Ex- 
ercise we rest in a cold Air, we run a great 
Hazard of falling into great Diseases, of which
there has been frequently woeful Instances, 
especially such Distempers as affect the Lungs, 
as Inflammations, Asthmas, Pleurisies and Ca- 
tarrhs; for this Change of their Atmosphere 
happening every Second of Time, is, much 
the same thing as putting on a cold Suit of 
Cloaths every such Time. 
Therefore, as human Bodies may be cool'd 
by Air cooler than their own Temperament, 
so there may be great Use made of tempera- 
ting feverish Heat by the outward Air, pro- 
2 vided

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 103 
vided it be done with Caution; which is very 
well known by Experience, as in inflamma- 
tory Diseases, such as the Small-Pox, Measles, 
&c. scarcely can any Liquor taken inwardly 
cool human Blood sooner than cool Air; for, 
by its Admission into the Pores of the Skin, 
and its being in immediate Contact with the 
Vesicles upon the Surface of the Lungs, it cools 
the Blood in a very little Time: So that great 
Mischief frequently happens by keeping the 
Air of the Rooms of People in Fevers too 
hot, by depriving them, in the first Place, of 
the Benefit of being refresh'd by it, and in 
the next, by the bad Effects of animal Steams 
pent up in the Room, which spoil the Air 
and destroy its Elasticity or Spring. Therefore
it is the Opinion of the most celebrated Phy- 
sicians, that renewing and cooling the Air in 
a Patient's Room, by giving it a free Admis- 
sion, in opening the Door sometimes, the Bed- 
Curtains, and in some Cases the Windows, 
or letting it in by Tubes or Pipes, in order to
change the hot Atmosphere about the Patient, 
(provided the Intention of keeping up a due 
Quantity of Perspiration is not disappointed) 
and in general the right Use and Manage- 
ment of the Air, is one of the principal Parts 
of a Regimen in all inflammatory Diseases; 
but, through the Ignorance and scrupulous 
Care of Nurses, in so material a Point as this, 
the Distemper is frequently increas'd, lengths 
en'd, and at last proves fatal; and this Mi- 
stake proves far more dangerous to strong, 
G4 vigorous.

104 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vigorous, compact, and heavy Constitutions, 
than to lax ones; according to this Axiom, 
Heat is detain'd in proportion to the Density
of Bodies. 
Cold is a Privation or Diminution of so 
many Degrees of Heat, as I have observ'd al- 
ready in Page 96, and it produces a propor- 
tionable Abatement of the Effects of Heat; 
so that, from what has been said already con- 
cerning hot Air, the Effects of cold Air may 
be inferr'd. Cold Air, according to Philoso- 
phers and Naturalists, is the immediate 
Cause of freezing; it first begins in the Air, 
by congealing the watery Particles in it; but 
the Effects of this Cold sometimes do not 
reach so far as to freeze the Water on the Sur- 
face of the Earth; as in Summer Hail and 
Icy Showers. 
Cold condenses the Air in proportion to the 
Degrees of it; and likewise contracts animal 
Fibres and Fluids, which are denser; for as 
Cold braces the Fibres, not only by its con- 
densing Quality, but likewise by congealing
the Moisture of the Air which relaxes; so 
for this Reason Animals in cold Weather. 
are of less Dimensions than in hot Weather. 
Extreme Cold produces at first a pricking 
Sensation in human Bodies, and afterwards a 
glowing Heat, or a small Degree of Inflam- 
mation in all the Parts of the Body exposed to
it; and by bracing the Fibres more strongly, 
thickening the Fluids, and stimulating, it pro- 
duces Strength and Activity in human Bodies, 
of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 105 
of which healthy People are very sensible in
clear and frosty weather.
Now, if the Effects of cold Air be so con-
siderable upon the Surface of the Body, why
may not they be much more so upon the 
Lungs, wherein the Blood is much hotter,
and the Membranes or Coats very thin, and
in immediate Contact with the external Air?
But were it not that the warm Air is not alto-
gether expell'd out of the Lungs in Expira-
tion, the Contact of the cold Air would be
insupportable to human Creatures; and the
Effects of cold Air in producing Inflammations
of the Lungs in all Nations is common, espe-
cially upon the blowing of cold north-easterly
Winds in Europe, or north-westerly Winds in
America.
Cold suppresses some of the grosser Parts of 
the perspirable Matter, by which Means a
great many Salts, that would b exhaled in
warm Weather, are detain'd, by contracting
the Pores of the Skin, and cooling the Blood
too much in the Vessels that are exposed to the
Air; as also by Stimulus the cold Air vel-
licates and inflames these Vessels, as has been
obser'd already, and at the same time pro-
ducing Scurvies with dismal Symptoms, being
a Distemper of cold Climates; the fatal Ex-
remities of which we may see in Captain
James's Journals, in Gerat de Veer'd a Hol-
lander, and in Captain Middleton's, and in
those of many others, who have win-
ter'd in Greenland, and other cold Coun-
tries; for the Cold that froze their spirituous
I Liquors


106 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Liquors produc'd almost the same Effect in 
their Blood, by reducing the animal Substan- 
ces of some to a gangrenous State, with Mor- 
tifications of their Limbs and Gums, being 
oblig'd to cut off the putrid or rotten Flesh; 
a total Incapacity of chewing, not capable to 
move themselves, and intolerable Pains in 
many Parts of the Body, with black and blue 
Spots and Blisters on their Skins; and by sup- 
pressing Perspiration, and retarding the Cir- 
culation of the Blood, others were seiz'd with 
Giddiness, Sleepiness, Pains in the Bowels, 
Looseness, Bloody-Fluxes, Iliack Passions, and
a Mortification in the Guts; but seldom any 
Loss of Appetite, which is very surprizing: 
All such dismal Symptoms could not be attri- 
buted to the Effects of Salt Provisions, in as 
much as they frequently had fresh both ani-
mal and vegetable. 
Extreme Cold or extreme Heat will de- 
stroy animal Substances, or reduce them to a 
gangrenous State, but with this Difference, 
that a Degree of Cold that will produce a 
Mortification in living Bodies, will preserve 
those that are dead from Putrefaction; and 
in order to produce such a Change, there must
be a Concurrence of Heat and Motion in the 
animal Fluids with the Stimulus of the Cold 
to produce the Change; for which Reason, 
Blisters cannot be raised on dead Bodies by the 
strongest blistering Plaisters imaginable. 
Moisture is a Quality of Air which affects
animal Bodies in relaxing and lengthening
their


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 107
their Fibres; for it has been often demon- 
strated by Experiments, that the single Fibres 
both of Animals and Vegetables are lengthen'd 
by moist Air, and that it relaxes is likewise 
evident from daily Experience upon Leather, 
Vellum, Paper, and a Drum. By cold Bath- 
ing there is a momentary Contraction of 
the Fibres of the Body effected by the Cold- 
ness of the Water only, and the Sensation of
which works as a Stimulus in human Bodies; 
but the Water in its own Nature would re- 
lax, and continually does so, if we remain 
too long in it; which is the Reason that Peo- 
ple using the Cold Bath are order'd not to 
stay in above half a Minute, or a Minute: 
and warm Water relaxes a great deal sooner 
than cold, and Swimming fatigues and dispi- 
rits more by relaxing the Fibres than Exer- 
cise. 
Air, by the Assistance of Moisture, will 
sooner insinuate itself into the Pores of Bo- 
dies than otherwise; for a dry Bladder will 
sooner burst than let Air pass thro' it, but 
when it is moisten'd it easily passes. Yet Moi- 
sture diminishes the Elasticity of Air, for 
in rainy Weather it is less Elastic; so that
Moisture relaxes human Fibres, by weaken- 
the Spring of the Air; but dry Air will 
lessen those Effects, or produce their Con- 
traries, such as bracing and contracting the
animal Fibres, which were before both re- 
lax'd and lengthen'd by too much Moisture. 
And a great many Symptoms which People 
are

108 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
are sensible of in moist or rainy Weather, 
are chiefly owing to the Relaxation of the 
Fibres by moist Air, by which means they 
lose some Degree of their elastic Force for cir- 
culating the Fluids; hence arise those Aches 
and Pains which are felt in the Parts of the 
Body, where the Circulation of the Fluids is 
not perfect, as in Cicatrices, or Scars of 
Wounds, old Sprains, Dislocations, or bruised 
Parts. Likewise a moist and foggy Air, espe- 
cially where the Country is low and marshy, 
will so weaken the Tone of the Vessels, as to
hinder a proper Discharge of what ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, ac- 
cording to Sanctorius *; and particularly 
weaken those of the Lungs, by which means 
the Viscidity of the Blood will be increased; 
hence arise Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions,
Asthmas, Pleurisies, Head-aches, Dulness, 
and Stupidity, Epilepsies, Hoarseness, cuta- 
neous Eruptions, pale and languid Complexions: 
and such People are also subject to scorbutic 
Habits, weak Appetites, Fevers of different 
kinds, Diarrhœas, Dysenteries, and Drop- 
sies.†
When the Air is overcharg'd with Va- 
pours near the Surface of the Earth, and 
when
* Med. Stat. Sect. 2. Aphor. 8. 
† Hippoc. Aph. 16. lib. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aqua & Lo- 
cis; in which last Book Hippocrates tells us, that the Phasians, 
who inhabited a low and marshy Country, were frequently 
subject to the above-mention'd Distempers, and which is 
commonly, and almost always the Fate of all such Situations, 
as both History and Experience teach. 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 109
when those Vapours are more in a falling 
than in an ascending State, it is then properly
called moist Air; tho' the Body of the Air 
may contain more Water in it at other 
times; but then the Water and Air are more 
intimately mix'd, and the Vapours are higher, 
and a less Quantity of them in contact with 
our Bodies; so that Air in such a State may 
be justly called dry; and sometimes the Air 
may be said to be in a State of exhaling and
imbibing, and at other times in a State of 
precipitating its Waters and other Contents. 
Dryness is another Quality of Air, by 
which it produces Effects contrary to those 
of moist Air: and as dry Air exhales and 
imbibes volatile Spirits, and Oils of animal 
Bodies, so it does consequently influence 
Perspiration. But great Dryness is capable of 
changing the very Texture, as well as the Si- 
tuation of the Pores of the Skin of human 
Bodies; and either extreme Dryness, or ex- 
treme Moisture have very often proved dan- 
gerous, if not fatal to human Bodies; and 
tho' our Bodies are not capable of bearing 
Excesses of any kind, yet of the two, ex- 
treme Dryness has been found most destru- 
ctive to animal Bodies. 
By the Properties and Qualities hitherto 
enumerated and explain'd, Air must pro- 
duce very great Alterations in human Bodies; 
for it does not only operate by outward 
Contact, but we likewise imbibe it at all the 
Pores of the Body, as is evident by what has 
been

110 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
been said already; otherwise the Air could 
not have a free and constant Admittance in- 
to the Body, and consequently the Ballance 
between the outward Air, and that within 
the Vessels, could not be so quickly restor'd; 
and it is upon the due Ballance of the Air 
within and without the Body, that the Life 
of ail Animals depends. 
The Skins of Animals dry'd exclude Air;
but those of living Creatures being moist and 
oily, it will easily pass thro' them; for where- 
ever there are Emissaries, there are also ab- 
sorbing Vessels: And to prove this Assertion 
farther, many Bodies a great deal thicker and 
heavier than Air, such as Mercury, Spanish 
Flies, and Garlick, &c. readily enter the 
Pores of the Skins of animal Bodies. So that
while we perspire, at the same time we ab- 
sorb part of the outward Air; and the Quan- 
tity of perspir'd Matter, discover'd by the 
Method of weighing, is only the Difference 
between that and the Air absorb'd; therefore 
after great Labour and Abstinence, which 
produces an Emptiness in the Vessels, and 
consequently a great Diminution of Perspi- 
ration, it is very probable, that in such a 
Case, the Quantity of the Air absorb'd may 
exceed that of the perspir'd Matter: which 
must be true, if Sanctorius's and Dr. Keil's 
Journals of Perspiration be faithful and ex- 
act; for there is an Instance in the Doctor's
Journals, of a Person's growing 18 Ounces 
heavier by absorbing Air. The Doctrine of
absorbing 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 111
absorbing Air thro' the Pores of the Skins of 
living Creatures, was taken for granted both 
by Hippocrates, Galen, and their Followers, 
which has been since confirm'd and demon- 
strated by that accurate and most ingenious 
Observer of Nature, Mr. Hales, in many 
Bodies, particularly in Vegetables, by plain
and easy Experiments; by which it appears, 
that Air freely enters thro' the Bark, Stem, 
Leaves, and all the Surface of Vegetables. 
By absorbing external Air, with all its Qua- 
lities and Contents, many great Effects must
necessarily follow, and many sudden Altera- 
tions happen in human Bodies; and nothing 
can account more clearly for epidemical 
Distempers seizing People inhabiting the same 
District of Land, and who have nothing else 
in common that affects them, except Air, 
which is confirm'd by * Hippocrates, † Sy- 
denham, and many others. 
* Hippocrates, Epid. lib. 3. Sect. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aq. & 
Locis. 
† De Febribus Intermit. Thucydid. lib. 2. p. 130. 147. 
Diod. Sicul. p. 101, 102. 
Hallerius libel. de Peste, p. 577. 
Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297. & lib. 6. de Morb. po- 
pular. Sect. 8. p. 1199.
CHAP.

112 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of AIR upon Human 
Bodies. 
THE Influence or Power of the Air up- 
on human Bodies is as different as the 
Diversity of the Weather, Seasons, Climates 
and Countries; but the true Knowledge of it 
is very obscure and imperfect, especially in 
that Part which will be always difficult to 
find out, that is, the different Qualities of the 
Air, and the manner of their acting upon 
human Bodies; yet if Journals of Diseases, 
compar'd with the Weather, had been kept 
for some Centuries in many Places and 
Kingdoms, we should at last have come to 
more than a conjectural Knowledge of this 
important Matter. 
The divine Hippocrates, after a Series 
of many Years indefatigable Practice and just
Observations, has left us in his Books of 
Epidemics, and third Section of Aphorisms, 
an inestimable Treasure of Golden Rules to 
go by for this Purpose; and tho' he had nei- 
ther * Barometer, † Thermometer, nor ‡ Hy-
groscope
* Barometer, See Page 79. Note ‡.
† Thermometer, vid. p. 97. Note *. 
‡ Hygroscope is a useful Instrument to be made several Ways, 
for-measuring the Moisture and Dryness of the Air.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 113
groscope, to measure either the Weight, Heat, 
Cold or Moisture of the Air by, yet knew 
more of the Influence of Air on human 
Bodies, than all his Predecessors and Succes- 
sors put together; for none of them ever 
made such just and curious Observations up- 
on Airy and its Effects, as he did, which 
plainly appears in his Works: he judg'd only
according to Reason and his Senses, which 
are surer Guides than the Thermometer, in re- 
spect to the Effects of Heat and Cold upon 
our Bodies; for by the Thermometer, stagnant 
Water is of the same Degree of Heat as the 
ambient Air, but if apply'd to our Bodies, 
we shall feel it much colder; therefore, Air 
abounding with more or less watery Particles, 
is colder or hotter to our Senses, tho' the 
Thermometer still remains at the same Height.* 
This sagacious Great Man tells us, that ‖ 
Whoever would understand Physic, it is first
necessary to understand the Seasons of the Year, 
and then their Effects on our Bodies; and that 
† we ought to know the Constitutions of the 
Air, what they are, and in what Times and 
Regions they mostly appear. He says likewise, 
‡ That Distempers seldom arise from any other 
H Cause
* According to Lord Verulam's Observations, Water seems
colder than Air; and the Froth of any Liquor seems warmer 
than the Liquor itself; and the Powder of any solid Body, 
warmer than that solid Body, tho' the Thermometer still proves 
the same Degree of Heat in each to be alike. Hist. Nat 
& Experiment. de Ventis, cap. de forma Callidi, p. 143. 
‖ Hippoc. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis, p. 280. 
† Hip. lib. 4. p. 1138. de morb. Epidem.
‡ Hip. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297 


114 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cause than the Air; for either it is too much
or too little, or abounds with infectious Filth. 
He tells us in another Place ‖, That the Air 
is to he consider'd as to its Heat or Cold, 
Thickness or Thinness, Dryness or Moisture, 
and their several Changes. 
According to his Instructions, we are like- 
wise § to consider the Situation, Air, and 
Water of a City, in order to come at the 
Knowledge of their popular Diseases, and 
their Seasons: for Instance, that Cities ex- 
posed to the ‡ hot Winds, such as blow be- 
tween the rising and setting of the Sun in 
Winter, to which Situation such Winds are 
peculiar, and at the same time are defended
from the Northerly Winds, abound with 
Water of a saltish Taste, which as it comes
from above, must needs be warm in Sum- 
mer, and cold in Winter; but Cities that are
well situated as to the Sun and Winds, and 
at the same time supply'd with wholsome 
Water, are free from many Distempers, 
which those in different Circumstances are 
subject to, as has been already mention'd: 
that if the Summer proves dry, the Diseases
are of a shorter Duration than in a wet one
in which they prove obstinate, and apt to de- 
generate into Suppurations, Heat and Moi- 
sture in the Air producing Putrefaction: that 
Defluxions,
‖ Idem de morb. popular, lib. 6. p. 1199. 
§ Hip. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis. 
‡ Hippocrates means in this Place a Southerly Situation, 
and the Winds that blow from thence. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 115
Defluxions, much Phlegm, and Hoarseness 
are occasion'd by cold Weather: that Deflu- 
xions from the Head, and Disorders of the 
Belly, from Phlegm distilling downwards, 
producing Fluxes, were the Effects of the 
Winter, which made Women subject to 
Miscarriages, and Children to Convulsions; 
likewise such as were exposed to Cold, sub- 
ject to Inflammations of the Eyes and Lungs. 
This great Man could foretell the Diseases 
from the Weather, and says, that Heat 
coming upon a wet Season will produce se- 
rous Defluxions upon the Head and Belly, 
and acute Fevers. That cool Weather, about, 
the Dog-Days, if not succeeded by a tem- 
perate Autumn, is dangerous for Women 
and Children, producing Quartan Fevers, 
and from these they fall into Dropsies: if the 
Winter is mild and rainy, and succeeded by 
Northerly Winds in the Spring, it will be 
dangerous for Women that happen to be with 
Child, producing Abortions, likewise Deflu- 
xions upon the Lungs, Dysenteries and Co- 
licks in the Phlegmatick, and Inflammations 
in those that are Bilious, because of the Heat
and Dryness of their Flesh; and that Ob- 
structions after Relaxations produce Palsies, 
and sometimes sudden Death in old People. 
A rainy Summer and Autumn must; needs 
make a sickly Winter; burning Fevers will 
happen in People above 40 and Phlegmatic;
in the Bilious, Pleurisies, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs: but if the Summer be dry with
H2 Northerly

116 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Northerly Winds, succeeded by a wet Au- 
tumn with Southerly Winds, Head-aches and 
paralytick Diseases are likely to happen in 
the Winter; likewise Hoarseness, Stuffings 
in the Head, Coughs and Consumption: but 
a dry Autumn with Northerly Winds is pro- 
fitable to phlegmatic Constitutions, and ex- 
tremely hurtful to the Bilious, the watery
Parts which dilute the Gaul being exhaled. 
He says farther, that whoever considers 
these Things, may know before-hand the 
greatest Part of what will happen from the 
Changes of the Seasons, and advises to con- 
sider the Constitution of the Air in Opera- 
tions of Surgery; excepts against cutting for 
the Stone in the Solstices *, especially in the 
Summer Solstice. 
The divine old Man goes still farther, and 
says, that the Affair of Generation is influ- 
enc'd by the Difference of the Constitutions 
of the Air, and that such a Variety should 
thus happen in the Formation or Mixture of 
the Semen, which is not always the same in 
the same Person, in Summer and Winter, in 
wet Weather and dry, that it is oftener cor- 
rupted in the Formation or Mixture of it, 
where the Seasons change frequently, than 
where
* Solstice is the Time when the Sun being come to either 
of the Tropical Points, is got farthest from the Equator, and 
seems to be at a stand for some Days before it returns back, 
which happens twice a Year in the Summer and Winter. The 
Summer Solstice is when the Sun entering the Tropick of 
Cancer on June 11, makes the longest Day, and the shortest
Night. 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 117
where they remain pretty near alike. He 
likewise attributes the different Shapes, Com-
plexions, Tempers of Mankind, and even 
their different Forms of Government, to the 
Influence of the Air: that the fertile Coun- 
tries of Asia, upon the account of moderate 
Heat and Moisture, produce large and hand- 
some Animals; and that the Softness of 
their Climate disposes them to Mildness and
Effeminacy, not enduring Labour or Hard- 
ships of any Kind, like the Greeks, frequent 
Changes in the Body, produced by Labour 
and the Alterations of the Weather exercis- 
ing both Body and Mind; for which Reason 
the Asiaticks are less bold and couragious, 
they are slavish and subject to Masters, and 
tho' they are forc'd, yer they are not willing
to quit their Ease and Families, or to endan- 
der their Lives for the Power and Wealth of 
others, in Expeditions from which they are 
to reap no Advantage to themselves: that on 
the contrary, the Greeks and Northern Asi- 
aticks were bold, hardy, and full of Courage;
and that, being at their own Disposals, wil- 
lingly underwent Dangers and the greatest 
difficulties, because the Reward of the Vic- 
tory was to be their own. 
He says besides, that as the Equality of
the Temperature of the Seasons render'd the 
Asiaticks indolent and lazy; so the great va- 
riety of Heat and Cold, by differently affect- 
ing Body and Mind, render'd the Europeans 
couragious and active; Activity, Labour, and 
H3 Exercise

118 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Exercise begetting Bravery, and Bravery 
begetting Laws to secure Property; and 
being govern'd by such, they were enabl'd 
to reap the Benefit of the Fruits of their In- 
dustry, which those that live under Abso- 
lute Monarchy are not capable to enjoy: 
Here this great and wise Man expresses his 
Dislike to Despotick Government. 
The Phasians *, says he, are tall, soft, 
bloated and pale, on account of the excessive
Moisture of the Air they breathe; for their 
Country is marshy, hot, watery, woody, and 
subject to violent Showers at all Seasons, and
such Effects proceed from lax Fibres occasi- 
oned by excessive Moisture; but such as in- 
habit Mountainous Places, where they are of 
a large Make, have a variety of Weather, 
and are bold, fierce and active; and the Inha- 
bitants of fertile Plains, with stagnating Waters, 
are the reverse; for a fat Soil produces dull 
and heavy Understandings. The Inhabitants 
of barren and dry Soils, with cold Winters, 
are passionate, warm in their Tempers, posi- 
tive, proud, and of a quick Understanding. 
In one of his Books ‡, he attributes the 
Causes of all Diseases, especially of the Pesti- 
lential, to proceed from the Influence of
the Air: And in another Place †, he far- 
ther
* The Phasians were Inhabitants of the City Phasis, in the 
ancient Kingdom of Colchis, upon the eastermost Side of the 
Black Sea, between Georgia and Circassia, not far from the 
ancient Sauromatœ. 
‡ Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus. 
† Hippoc. lib. de Morbo Sacro. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 119
ther affirms, that Air gives Sensation, Life 
and Motion to all the Members of Animal 
Bodies; for which Reason he strenuously re- 
commends Astronomy as an essential Part of 
the true Knowledge of the Art of Healing; 
and says, that if any one should think it to
be only Meteorological Speculations, he may 
soon learn, if he can part with his Opinion, 
that Astronomy is so far from being of little 
Use in Physick, as to be of the greatest; for 
as the Seasons change, so do the Constitutions 
of Men likewise §: And to prove the Useful- 
ness of Hippocrates's Doctrine and Opinion in 
this Particular, we need only consult a Treatise
of a Cotemporary learned Author, who is not 
only an Honour to his Country, but likewise an 
Ornament to his Profession, wherein we shall 
find not only the Usefulness of Astronomy in 
the Art of Physick, but likewise the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies geometrically de-
monstrated †.
Hippocrates goes on still farther in the 
same Book, and says, that where the Variety
of the Weather is oftenest, and the Diffe- 
rence between the Seasons greatest, there 
the Nature, Customs, and Habits of the 
People will be found most different, which 
are the principal Causes of all the Changes in
Nature; and next to these, the Country 
wherein we are brought up, and the 
Waters we are obliged to drink; for we 
H4 shall
§ Hippoc. in his Book of Water, Air, and Situation. 
† Richardus Mead de Imperio Solis & Lunæ in Corp. Hum. 


120 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
shall generally find that the Complexions 
and Manners of the People correspond with
the Nature of their Country. 
He has left us a curious History of 
Diseases, and the Weather, in his valuable
Books of Epidemics, from whence he drew 
many useful and nice Observations; and 
where we may see a vast Conformity between 
the Constitution of the Air, and that of Dis- 
tempers, throughout the whole Work. 
The Constitution mentioned in his 1st Sec- 
tion, was a wet Autumn, the Winter dry, 
with southerly Winds and very little norther- 
ly, the Spring cold, with southerly Winds, a 
little wet, a cloudy and dry Summer, with 
little or no northerly Winds to cool the Air; 
in this Constitution he observ'd some few 
burning Fevers of a good sort, some with 
Hæmorrhages; a great many had Swellings 
behind both or one Ear, but generally with- 
out a Fever, and disappear'd without much 
Inconvenience or Suppuration.
The Constitution of the next Year, related
in Section the Second, was a wet Autumn, 
with northerly and southerly Winds; the Win- 
ter was moist and affected with cold norther- 
ly Winds, attended with great and heavy 
Showers of Rain and Snow, and a cold and 
northerly Spring, both watery and cloudy; 
the Summer not very Scorching, and was 
continually affected with northerly Winds, 
and a great deal of Rain fell again sudden- 
ly; so that the whole Year being cold and 
moist,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 121
moist, and attended with northerly Winds for 
the most part, produced Inflammations of the 
Eyes in the Spring, and in the Summer, Co- 
licks, Fluxes of the Belly, with Bilious Purg- 
ings, and sometimes Bilious Vomitings with 
Phlegm and indigested Food, some with Cat- 
tarrhous Fevers, others again without Fe- 
ver or Confinement; but they all in gene- 
neral sweated, Moisture being then so redun- 
dant every where. 
In the Autumn and Winter continual Fe- 
vers appear'd; there were likewise diurnal, 
nocturnal, tertians, semitertians, some quar- 
tans and erratick Fevers; besides some were 
afflicted with Catarrhs and Defluxions upon 
their Joints; Convulsions were also frequent
among Children; all such Diseases being the 
natural Product of a Cold and Moist Year, 
affected by too much Moisture in the Air, 
which human Bodies continually breathe and 
imbibe. 
He tells us in his third Section, that the 
Constitution of that Year was a cold dry
Winter attended with northerly Winds, as 
was likewise the Spring and Summer till to- 
wards the beginning of the Dog-Days, then 
scorching Heats and Droughts continu'd till 
Autumn, which prov'd to be moist and rainy: 
This Year was remarkable for Paraplegias or 
Palsies, which were epidemical in the Winter; 
likewise Hæmorrhages of all Kinds and Dy- 
senteries reign'd in the Spring and Summer, be- 
ing the Effects of a Constriction of the Fibres, 
oc-


122 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
occasion'd by too much Cold and Drought;
burning Fevers with Delirium and Thirst, be- 
ginning with Shiverings, Watchings, Nauseas, 
and Anxiety continued, which were most dan- 
gerous and fatal to young and vigorous Peo- 
ple, especially in the Autumn, but most of all 
in the Winter, when the Hæmorrhages ceas'd. 
In his Second Book he attributes the great 
Frequency of Carbuncles and other large 
Pustules of the putrid kind in Summer to 
the great suffocating Heats attended with 
Calms and Moisture; and that Sweats suc- 
ceeded Showers, because Moisture relaxes the 
Fibres of the Body; that inflammatory Dis- 
cases, such as burning Fevers, Pleurisies, &c. 
are most violent in a dry and hot Summer; that 
in constant and settled Weather and Seasons, 
the Distempers will be more equal and of a 
good Sort and easily determined; but that if 
the Weather is variable they will likewise 
be irregular and resolv'd with difficulty; that
the Diseases of the Spring are least destruc- 
tive of any of the other Seasons: He like- 
wise remarks that a mild Winter, attended 
with southerly Winds, a dry Spring, and a 
moist Summer with small Rains, produced 
Fevers, and Tumours or Swellings behind the
Ears. 
In his third Book he observes a kind of a 
Pestilential Season, which proceeded from a 
hard Winter, a rainy warm Spring, succeed- 
ed by an excessive hot Summer with little 
or no Winds; it was notable for all inflam- 
matory



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 123
matory Pimples and Eruptions upon the 
Skin, and likewise for all Distempers of the
putrid Kind, such as Erysipelas, Aphtas and 
Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat, burning 
Fevers with Deliriums, Tubercles upon the 
Private Parts, Inf animations of the Eyes, 
Carbuncles, Swellings in the Groins, Abscesses
and Defluxions upon the Joints, some with 
Suppurations of Pus well digested, and others
again with a copious Running of putrified 
Matter of different sorts. 
He remarks in his sixth Book, that the 
frequent Alterations of the Winds from 
South to North, are very often the Cause of 
Inflammations of the Lungs and other Parts 
of the Body; and that, generally speaking, the
Nature of the Diseases is determined by the 
Seasonableness of the Weather, as it happens 
sooner or later, either dry, cold, hot, moist, 
and attended with Winds or otherwise. 
From these few Instances, we may easily 
discover the great Genius, Sagacity, and In- 
dustry of this Divine old Man, as likewise 
with what Assiduity and Integrity he apply'd 
himself to study the Nature and Influence of
the Air upon human Bodies; wherein he suc- 
ceeded better than any one of his Profession: 
And if his Successors had laid aside all their ri- 
diculous, and, as I may fay, absurd Hypotheses, 
together with their useless metaphysical Specu- 
lations, and followed the same Method with the 
same Perspicuity and Honesty as he did, to this 
present Time, we then should have had more  
than



124 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than a conjectural Knowledge, both of the 
Nature and true Causes of Diseases, especial- 
ly of Epidemics, which at this Time puzzle 
even the greatest Physicians. Therefore Rea- 
son join'd with Observation is the only cer- 
tain Method we should pursue in order to 
come at the true Knowledge of Diseases 
and their Cure; for it evidently appears in 
the Annals of Physick, that the small Num- 
ber of Physician who have happily attended 
to it, made so considerable a Figure in their 
Profession, that they will always shine, even
to the latest Posterity. 
The ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot having ex- 
plain'd Hippocrates and others upon the Sub- 
ject of the Influence of Air on human Bo- 
dies and Diseases, so accurately well, accord- 
ing to Mechanical Principles, that nothing 
can excell it; therefore, I thought it not 
only proper, but likewise very useful and 
necessary to give the Reader an Abstract of 
what he says upon that Head in this 
Place. 
He observes, that as this Subject has not 
been treated of by modern Physicians with 
that Accuracy it deserves, Observations of 
that kind are but few, and there is no Series 
of them in any Country: What would give 
most Light in this Matter, is a Collection of 
Observations in Countries where both the 
Qualities of the Air have great Excursions 
towards Extremes, where the Seasons and 
these Excursions, and the Diseases depending 
upon

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 125
upon them are regular. Egypt is a Coun- 
try which answers all these Intentions in 
some Degree: It is situated between Ethi- 
opia, the Mediterranean Sea, Arabia and 
Barbary, which lie, in the Order mention'd. 
South, North, East, and West of it. Grand 
Cairo, where Prosper Alpinus, a very emi- 
nent Physician, practis'd and made his Ob- 
servations, lies in 30 Degrees Northern La- 
titude, as Ptolomy says, 6 Degrees beyond 
the Tropick of Cancer. This great City 
is situated at the Foot of the Mountains 
of the Stony Arabia, which lie towards 
the East. It is quite expos'd to the north- 
erly Winds which blow over the Mediter- 
ranean: Southerly of it there is a hot 
sandy Soil; so that the Alterations of Heat
and Cold, as the Winds blow North and 
South, over the Mediterranean, or over this 
hot Sand are excessive, and the Alterations 
of Heat and Cold from the other Winds 
but small, lying near the Tropick; and as 
it is a sandy Soil, fructify'd only by the 
Slime of the River Nile, without Rain, 
there is hardly any humid Perspiration from 
the Ground itself, the Air receiving Mois- 
ture only from the watery Surface of the 
Nile during the Inundation, or from the 
Vapours brought from the Mediterranean 
by the northerly Winds. 
From these Causes the Air is extremely 
hot, and the tropical Heats would be insuffe- 
rable, were it not for the Northerly Winds. 
And

126 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
And in fact, the Heats are sometimes so ve- 
hement, that the Inhabitants defend them- 
selves from them by many Contrivances, 
such as Fountains in the middle of their 
Houses, Pipes to convey fresh Air by Grottos, 
and high Edifices, by which their Streets are 
shelter'd from the Sun, and a temperate 
Diet. During the tropical Heats *, the Air 
is sometimes so much moisten'd and cool'd by 
the Notherly Winds, and the watery Surface 
of the Nile, that the acute and pestilential 
Distempers are check'd by this Constitution 
of the Air: the Inhabitants often suffer from
Catarrhous Distempers, more than in North- 
ern Countries, their Bodies being more de- 
licate, and their Pores more open by the pre-
ceding Heat. 
As to their Seasons, their Spring lasts from 
the Beginning of January to March; their 
Summer is double, the first, from the Begin- 
ning of March to the Solstice †, and the se- 
cond, from the Solstice to the Beginning of 
September; and this second Summer is more 
constant, healthy, and less scorching than the 
first, by reason of the difference of the Winds,
and other Causes hereafter mention'd. Their 
Autumn lasts September and October; and 
their Winter, November and December. 
The extreme Heat of the first Summer 
proceeds from the hot Winds which blow 
from
* Tropical Heat, see p. 116. Note *. 
† Solstice is likewise explain'd in the same Note.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 127
from the South and South-East, called by 
the Inhabitants Campsin from their Conti- 
nuance of fifty Days; tho' they have no 
determin'd Time, but last sometimes more 
than three Months, and reign March, April, 
and May; they blow over the Sands, which 
they raise in Clouds, sometimes so as to darken
the Sun: during this Time, many epidemi-
cal Diseases rage, especially Inflammations of 
the Eyes, a Fever, which the Inhabitants 
call Demelmuia, attended with a Delirium, 
and proves often mortal in a few Hours, and 
even the Plague itself. And this extreme Heat 
has sudden Interruptions of Cold, which 
renders the Inhabitants still more unhealthy, 
and they live under Ground during the 
Campsin. 
The Heat during the Months of June 
and July, which by the Course of the Sun 
should be the greatest, is so moderated by
the Northerly and moist Winds blowing over 
the Mediterranean, and by the overflowing 
of the Nile, that the Inhabitants grow heal- 
thy, and sow their Seed in the Months of 
September and October, Their Winter has 
seldom any Snow, Frost, or Rain, or any 
thing besides Dew, unless in some Places 
bordering upon the Mediterranean, and re- 
ceiving Clouds from thence. So that the 
reigning Winds in Egypt are the Southerly, 
blowing as it were from an Oven; and the 
Northerly, moist and cold over the Mediter- 
ranean, and this last perhaps two Thirds of 
2 the



128 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Year, and during the greatest Solar 
Heats. 
Another Cause by which both the Heat 
and Drought of the Air is temper'd, is the 
overflowing of the Nile, which rising in the 
Mountains of Ethiopia, bends its Course 
Northerly thro' a Tract of Land near 30 
Degrees. By the Rains falling in those 
Mountains, the Nile has ever since the Me- 
mory of Man begun to swell the 17th of 
June New Stile; and it rises every Day about
8 or 10 Inches, and begins to fail in August,
and decreases till May, when it is in a man- 
ner stagnating. The Limits of its Height 
are, from 26 the highest of all, to 18 the 
lowest, in Cubits; the middle 24; 18 is a 
Height barely sufficient to make an Inunda- 
tion. Its Water not only refreshes the Air 
with a kindly Moisture, but is the most de- 
licious Drink in the World, when purify'd 
by the Deposition of its Sediment, being of 
itself a Cure for most Distempers, where 
Dilution, a Diuresis or Sweating is necessary, 
as Prosper Alpinus found by Experience. 
There are several remarkable Things in 
the Constitution of the Egyptian Air; for 
the Perspiration of the Soil, which is sandy 
and barren, cannot affect the Air very much, 
the Exhalations being mostly either from the 
Surface of the Inundation, or the Mud and 
Slime after it is over. The natural Heat 
and Dryness of the Air, and the Change 
from that to cooler Moisture; the Abate- 
ment

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 129
ment of the Tropical Heats by Northerly 
Winds; the Extremity of Heat and Drought, 
by the Southerly Winds blowing over Sands, 
and the Moisture again induc'd by the Clouds
from the Mediterranean, and the Inundation; 
the Exhalations from stagnating and putrid 
Water, when the Inundation is quite over;
and lastly, the Temperance and regular Diet 
of most of the Inhabitants, must give a fair 
Experiment of the Effects of Air upon hu- 
man Constitutions. And accordingly, those 
who labour and live hard, and cannot defend
themselves from the Injuries of the Wind, 
mostly hot and dry, are extreamly lean and 
squalid. The Rich, by a plentiful and nourish- 
ing Diet, and preserving themselves from the 
Heat and Drought, by Bathing, Relaxation 
of their Fibres by drinking the Water of the 
Nile, are often fat. 
The Air of Egypt having no noxious
Qualities from the Perspiration of the Ground, 
Were it not from the accidental ones above- 
mention'd, would be extremely wholsome; 
and the People who know how to defend 
themselves from those Accidents, live to great
Ages. The frequent Changes of Heat and 
Cold, Moisture and Drought, produce all 
the Distempers of the Catarrhous Kind, and 
Arthritick Diseases; and by the strong Per- 
spiration, Leprosies, even Elephantiasis, The 
Effects of a hot dry Air by a Southerly 
Wind, blowing over a sandy Country, are 
felt strongly; inflammatory Distempers, es- 
I pecially

130 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
pecially a raging Fever with a Phrenzy, called 
Demelmuia, mortal in a few Hours: they 
feel likewise all the good Effects of the A- 
batement of this Heat and Drought by Nor- 
therly Winds, and the overflowing of the 
Nile. They are likewise subject to all the 
Diseases from putrid and stagnating Water, 
and Exhalations from Heat after the Inunda- 
tion is over, and these are often pestilential. 
Pestilential Distempers are frequent in 
Egypt, and what I think demonstrates the 
Plague to be Endemial * to that Country, 
is its regular Invasion and going off at cer- 
tain Seasons, beginning about September, the
time of the Subsidence of the Nile, and end- 
ing in June the time of the Inundations. In 
the first Case, are all the Causes productive
of Putrefaction, Heat, and putrid Exhala- 
tions, and no Winter Frost to check them. 
But what is wonderful, the Plague, and the 
Fevers from the Heat of the Campsin, go 
off by the Northerly Winds, and the over- 
flowing of the Nile: and the wholsome Qua- 
lity of Northerly Winds for checking pesti- 
lential Distempers, has been observ'd by all 
ancient Physicians, And to shew that the 
Plague depends upon the Temperature of the 
Air, Prosper Alpinus takes Notice, that up- 
on the swelling of the Nile, the Infection, 
and
* Endemial or Endemick, is a Disease that infects a great
many in the same Country, proceeding from some Cause pe- 
culiar to the Country, or the Place where it reigns, such as 
the Scurvy to the Northern Climes, the Plague to Turkey and
Egypt.

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 131
and even the Danger from infected Cloath
and Furniture goes off; besides the cooling of
the Air, the Northerly Winds may dissipate 
the stagnating Vapours, and the running of 
the Nile the stagnating Waters. Hippocrates 
and Galen have both observ'd, that the 
Etesiæ, or Northerly Winds blowing in Sum- 
mer, made a wholsome Season; but this Ob- 
servation is more sensible in hot Countries 
than in ours. 
Boutius, a very learned and sagacious Phy- 
sician, has left us a Description of the Air 
and Diseases of the Inhabitants of Java: it 
is situated under the Line, and is very hot;
it is likewise moist, from the great Quantities 
of Rain and stagnant Waters; and from Heat 
and Moisture, and Salts produc'd from those 
Qualities, the putrifying Quality of the Air 
is very manifest in rotting of Cloaths, and 
rusting of Metals. From these Qualities the 
Air feels to human Bodies piercing and active; 
and as all the Inhabitants of hot Countries have 
that  Sensation of the penetrating Qualities of 
Air, Cold after great Heats, which proceeds 
chiefly from the Pores of their Skin being 
relaxed before by Heat, such Bodies must
imbibe Air faster. 
In Java, as in Egypt, the Northerly 
Winds render the Air wholsome, by abating 
The extreme Heat; some Land Winds carry- 
ing along with them the stagnant Vapours, 
are often otherwise. The Soil being here 
fruitful and rich, emits Steams, consisting of 
I2 volatile





132 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
volatile and active Parts, which fructify the 
Soil, but are hurtful to human Bodies. 
The Seasons here cannot be distinguish'd 
by their Heat, by reason of the Smallness of 
their Latitude: there are only two, what may 
be called Winter is the rainy Season; this 
Season is attended with Diseases which de- 
pend upon Putrefaction. The Inhabitants 
measure their Seasons of Heat and Cold by 
the times of the Day; the Mornings and 
Evenings are cooler by the Absence of the Sun, 
and by the Sea Breezes; the scorching Heat 
of the middle of the Day makes that Time 
unfit for Business. 
The popular Diseases here are, a kind of 
Palsy, called by the Inhabitants Beriberium, 
the Cause of which is evidently cold Air, 
imbib'd by the Pores of the Skin, extreamly 
relaxed by Heat before, and therefore in- 
vades such as incautiously expose themselves 
to the Morning Air, or throw their Bed- 
clothes off in the Night. Another Disease, 
called * Catalepsis, is likewise popular in this 
Country, proceeding from the penetrating 
Qualities of the Air imbib'd by relax'd 
Bodies, which renders the Patient rigid like a 
Statue, and dies in a few Hours. Diarrhœas 
and Dysenteries are common from the same 
Cause, by sudden Suppression of Perspiration. 
It is a Matter of Observation, that great 
Heats exalt the Bile, by exhaling the watery 
Particles which dilute it, by a strong sensible 
Per-
* Catalepsis, is a convulsive Disease like an Apoplexy. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 133
Perspiration; and therefore the Cholera Mor- 
bus †, and other Diseases of the Liver, are 
common and fatal in the East-Indies; and 
from diseased Livers, Dropsies and Atrophies 
are frequent in Java: and in this Country 
Fevers are seldom intermitting, but conti- 
nual, with Phrensies, and other dreadful 
Symptoms, as during the Campsin in Egypt,
proving mortal in a short time. 
It seems agreeable to Reason and Expe- 
rience, that the Air operates sensibly in 
forming the Constitutions of Mankind, the 
Specialities of Features, Complexion, Tem- 
per, and consequently the Manners of Man- 
kind, which are found to vary much in dif- 
ferent Countries and Climates. As to Fea- 
tures, what an infinite Variety arises from the 
Combination of the Parts of a human Face! 
so that since the Creation of the World, per- 
haps there were never two, upon a narrow 
Inspection, that perfectly resembled one ano- 
ther; for there are Faces not only individual, 
but Gentilitious and National; European, 
Asiatick, Chinese, African, Grecian Faces, 
are characteris'd: and this Diversity of Na- 
tional Features and Shapes is not altogether 
the Effect of Propagation from the same ori- 
ginal Stock; for it is known by Experience, 
that Transplantation, changes the Stature and 
outward Shape both of Plants and Animals. 
I3 Hippo-
† Cholera Morbus, is a convulsive Motion of the Stomach 
and Guts, whereby the bilious Excrements are discharg'd in 
great Plenty, both upwards and downwards.  





134 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part II.
Hippocrates makes great Account of the 
Influence of the Air upon the Fœtus, both 
before and after Birth. He is of Opinion, 
that the great variety of European Faces, is 
owing to that of the Air and Seasons, as has 
been observ'd in another Place, there being 
such great Excursions in the Extremities of 
Heat and Cold, that their Offspring is as it 
were begot and brought forth in different 
Climates. 
That the Shape of Animals should be modi- 
fy'd by the Air, is in no Ways unaccountable; 
for an Animal growing, expands its Fibres in 
the Air as a Fluid, which by a gentle Pres- 
sure resists the Motion of the Heart in the 
Expansion and Elongation * of the Fibres; 
and tho' the Fibres of several Animals shoot 
as it were in this Fluid, according to their 
original Shapes, yet such a Fluid resisting by 
its Pressure, is, in respect to the Animal, like 
a soft Mold, in which the Body is form'd; 
and therefore, according to the Quantity of
its Pressure, depending upon its most perma- 
nent State of dense, rare, hot, cold, dry, 
moist, must have some Influence in forming 
the outward Figure of such a Body in a State 
of Acretion or Growing : besides this out- 
ward Pressure, the Air being mix'd with the 
Animal Fluids, determines their Condition 
as to Rarity, Density, Viscosity, Tenuity, 
and several other Qualities.
That
* Lengthening. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 135
That the Complexion depends much upon 
the Air, is plain from Experience; the Com- 
plexion of the Inhabitants of several Coun- 
tries being fair, swarthy, black or adust, ac- 
cording to the Degrees of Heat, Drought, 
Moisture, or Coolness of the Air they live 
in; for the Inhabitants of Countries in great 
Latitudes are generally fairer than those that 
live nearer the Sun. 
That the Temper and Passions are influ- 
enc'd by the Air, is no less certain: People 
of delicate Nerves and moveable Spirits, are 
often joyful, sullen, sprightly, dejected, hope- 
ful, despairing, according to the Weather; 
and these Changes happen in stronger Con- 
stitutions, but pass unobserv'd. 
There are Days in which the intellectual 
Faculties of Memory, Imagination, Judg- 
ment, are more vigorous; therefore it seems 
probable, that the Genius of Nations de- 
pends upon that of their Air; for Arts and 
Sciences have hardly ever appear'd in very 
great or very small Latitudes. The Inhabitants 
of some Countries succeed best in those Arts 
which require Industry and great Application 
of Mind; others in such as require Imagi- 
nation: from hence some Countries produce 
better Mathematicians, Philosophers, and 
Mechanics; others better Poets, which be- 
sides the Rules of Art, require Imagination; 
and it seems, that Labour is more tolerable 
to the Inhabitants of colder Climates, and 
Liveliness of Imagination to those of hot.
I4 There






136 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
There are two Things common to all 
Mankind, Air and Aliment, and both differ 
very much in their Qualities, in different
Countries and Climates but those of the 
Air perhaps are more different than those 
of the Aliment or Food. In perusing the 
Accounts of the Temper and Genius of the 
Inhabitants of different Countries, we dis- 
cover in them a great Uniformity, even tho' 
the Race has been chang'd; for the Temper 
of the Gauls, describ'd by Cæsar and other 
Writers, is much the same with that of the 
present French, of which there is a remark- 
able Instance in the Misopogon of the Em- 
peror Julian; he tells us, that he had passed
a Winter at Paris, where there were more 
Comedians, Dancers, and Fiddlers, than there 
were Citizens besides. And I believe if a Race 
of Laplanders were transported thither, in a 
few Years they would be found in the Con- 
dition describ'd by the Emperor Julian. 
If we consider the Causes assign'd by Hip- 
pocrates, of the different Temper of the 
Inhabitants of different Climates, we shall 
find them sufficiently proportion'd to their 
Effects. In Northern Countries, where the 
Alterations of the Height of the Mercury in 
the Barometer, and consequently of the 
Weight of the Air, are frequent and great, 
the Fibres of human Bodies are in a continual 
oscillatory * Motion from a Pressure of 1200, 
1800,
* Oscillatory Motion is properly the Swing or Motion of a 
Pendulum of a Clock, and thence comes to be used for all 
tremulous or undulating Motions having Resemblance thereto. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 137
1800, nay, 3600 more at one time than 
another; and tho' this, by the Softness and 
Rarity of the Fluid, is insensible, and not 
painful, it is a sort of Exercise, which the 
Inhabitants of Countries where the Variation 
of the Height of the Mercury is small or no- 
thing, do not feel. 
By the Difference of the Tension of the 
Fibres, the whole nervous System and the 
animal Spirits are in some manner affected; 
And let us consider again the Extremes of 
Heat and Cold in great Latitudes, operating 
after the same manner, relaxing and con- 
stringing the Fibres by turns, and the ex- 
treme Cold acting likewise as a Stimulus, in
consequence of which we find an Activity 
and Tolerance of Motion and Labour in 
dry frosty Weather, more than in hot; 
whereas the People within the Tropicks are 
constantly in the State of our hottest 
Weather. 
Therefore, whoever considers Mankind in 
such different Circumstances, will find, that 
the Temper both of their Body and Mind 
must be different, and that a greater Varie- 
ty in the Oscillatory Motion of the Fibres of 
Northern People, must produce the same in 
their Spirits; and therefore a proportional 
Inequality in their Passions, and consequent- 
ly greater Activity and Courage. 
That the Inhabitants of Climates, where 
the Difference of the Weight, Heat and 
Cold of the Air is but small, feel only the 
Changes

138 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Changes of the Tension of their Fibres pro- 
ceeding from Drought and Moisture, being 
free from the Agitations and uneasy Sensa- 
tions of northern People, proceeding from 
the Causes above-mention'd; and the Mo- 
tions of their Fibres and Spirits being more 
uniform, they may be for that Reason, and 
from excessive Heats, lazy and indolent. 
That the Constitutions of Mankind differ 
according to the Qualities of the Air in 
which they live, is an uncontested Matter of
Fact, and depends upon obvious Causes: 
For as Hippocrates observed, that the In- 
habitants of moist Countries were bloated, 
leucophlegmatic, and dull, from the Rela- 
xation of their Fibres, and the Moisture im- 
bib'd with the Air; and contrary Causes 
must; produce contrary Effects: Heat indeed
relaxes the Fibres, but by absorbing the 
Moisture may likewise harden, and render 
them more solid: For the Bones of Ani- 
mals in hot Countries are more solid, and 
specifically heavier than those in cold Cli- 
mates, as may be seen in comparing the 
Bones of the Limbs of African Horses with
those of northern Countries. 
The Blood likewise in hot Countries is 
thicker and blacker, by the Dissipation of 
the serous Part by sensible Perspiration, 
which is Matter of Fact well attested by 
Physicians who have practised in those hot 
Countries: And from this black adust State 
of their Blood, they are Atrabilarious; for 
great

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 139
great Heats exalt the Bile, by dissipating the 
Moisture which dilates it; but Bile, of 
itself, is the most unperspirable of Animal 
Fluids, for it stops at the Surface of the Skin, 
and discolours it. 
There is some Anology * between Plants 
and Animals, and both are longer in coming
to Maturity in cold and moist Air; for the 
prolifick Age of Mankind is much earlier 
in hot than cold Countries, the Females be- 
ing in that State at ten Years of Age. And 
the Inhabitants of warm Countries are not 
subject to be fat, for a strong Perspiration
keeps an Animal from being so; yet a copi- 
ous Diet and Inactivity will always occa- 
sion Exceptions from the general Rule. 
Cold and moist Air must necessarily pro- 
duce phlegmatic and lax Constitutions, and 
by stopping Perspiration, with a copious Diet, 
accumulate the Animal Oil: But dry and 
cold Air in a Degree tolerable to human 
Bodies, which is a state of our Winter 
Frosts, creates a strict or tight Constitution 
of the Fibres, and all the Effects thereon 
depending, as Vigour and Activity, &c. 
As the Force of human Bodies is limited, 
they are not capable of bearing Extremities 
of any kind, of too great Rarety, Density, 
Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought in the 
Air. From the same cause human Bodies 
do
* Analogy is the Relation which one Thing bears to ano- 
ther.


140 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
do not easily sustain violent and sudden 
Changes, which agitate the Fluids and Solids
too much; for as the State of our Fluids 
and Solids change with the Air, violent Alte- 
rations in the latter produce the same in 
the former. For Example: Suppose such 
a State of the Air as makes a great Stric-
ture of all the external parts of the Body, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Cir- 
culation in the Vessels exposed to the Air, 
and in those which immediately communi- 
cate with them: Suppose again, the Air is
suddenly changed from this State to one 
which violently relaxes the Fibres; by their 
Relaxation it is possible that the Vessels which
were destin'd before to carry the Serum or 
Lymph, may admit the Blood, which is an 
inflammatory State: Accordingly we find, 
that inflammatory Distempers of several 
kinds are rise in moist and warm Weather, 
preceded by hard and lasting Frosts: Frosts
stop the Perspiration of the Earth, which 
being restored by Thaw, fills the Air 
with an unusual Quantity of Vapours, 
which affect human Bodies, not only by 
Relaxation, but as they imbibe them with
the Air. 
Cold both congeals the Fluids and con- 
stringes the Solids; for it acts like a small Li- 
gature upon the Vessels affected with it, by 
which the Circulation through the Vessels 
is retarded; the natural Effect of which is a 
greater Secretion of Serosity through the 
Glands




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 141
Glands contiguous; for the Extremities of
the Vessels near the Glands being press'd, 
they cannot so plentifully carry off the re- 
fluent Fluid, by which there must be a 
greater Flux of Liquor towards the Glands, 
and consequently a greater from its Emuncto-
ries; therefore Catarrhs, or serous Defluxions 
upon all the Parts of the Body, but especially
from the Glands of the Head and Throat, 
are a natural Effect of Cold. 
Obstructions by Cold in the outward Parts 
of the Body, drive the Blood pressing with 
greater Force upon the inward Parts, and in- 
crease Heat, and likewise may occasion a 
Siziness in the Blood: And Cold, by sup- 
pressing the Perspiration of Salts in the Blood, 
by congealing the Blood, and likewise by a 
painful Stimulus corroding the Skin, is apt to
produce Scurvies, and other cutaneous Erup- 
tions, and in extremity is capable of freezing
the Fluids, and reducing Animal Substances 
to a gangrenous State. 
Cold Air is also capable of rendering in- 
flammatory Distempers with cutaneous E- 
tuptions more dangerous, by hindering the 
Relaxation of the Skin; as the Small-pox is
found to be most fatal during hard Frosts, 
and cold north-easterly Winds. Cold Air 
likewise, by its immediate Contact with the 
Surface of the Lungs, is capable of abating 
or stopping the Circulation of the Blood, 
and bringing them into an inflammatory 
State, and by producing Catarrhs and Coughs, 
is


142 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is productive of all the Effects of such De- 
fluxions upon the Lungs, as Ulcerations, and
all Sorts of Pulmonick Consumptions. 
Hot and moist Air producing Relaxations, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Force 
of the Solids in propelling the Fluids, must
produce Stagnation, Tumours, and Putrefac- 
tion in the Liquids, and all the other Diseases 
depending upon a lax State of the Fibres: 
Hippocrates observed such Diseases always 
consequent upon a moist Constitution of 
Air with southerly Winds, which are warm; 
and the same has been often observed here in 
England. 
As Perspiration is the last Action of per- 
fect Animal Digestion, that Constitution of 
Air which suppresses Perspiration, must
hinder Digestion; therefore cold and moist
Air must be hurtful to the Stomach:
And as Catarrhs and Coughs are the Effects
of cold and moist Air, and those habitually 
affecting the Lungs, they often produce pul- 
monick Consumptions; yet it seems probable, 
that where those Consumptions are a po- 
pular Disease, they proceed from some par- 
ticular Acrimony in the Air of that Country, 
affecting that tender Organ by immediate 
Contact, and perhaps most of the Glands 
of the Body; for our Consumptions are for 
the most part scrophulous, and scrophulous
Distempers are common in this Country.
And where the Air is charg'd with any 
saline acrid Particles, they will naturally co- 
agulate

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 143
agulate the Fluid where they touch; and 
from the abundance of Mineral Waters of all 
Sorts in England, it may be inferr'd, that 
there are abundance of Mineral Steams, which
are capable of producing such Distempers. 
From what has been said on the Subject 
of the Influence of Air upon human Bo- 
dies, it is plain that no vitious State, either 
of the Solids or Fluids, but is producible 
by the common Properties and Qualities of 
Air, and their Changes and Combinations. 
By the Qualities of the Air, the solid Parts 
may be stimulated: For example, the Sti- 
mulus of extreme cold Air is very sensible. 
Heat, or any Quality of Air, so excessive
as to produce a painful Sensation, acts as a 
Stimulus: And what obstructs the Passages 
of the Vessels which communicate with the 
Air, is stimulating, by increasing the Force
of the Heart and Fibres to overcome the 
Obstruction; this either Cold or Moisture 
may do, which often produce, first a Chil- 
ness, and then a succeeding Heat, which are 
feverish Symptoms. Many volatile Particles 
floating in the Air, as the Odoriferous Ve- 
getables, act as a Stimulus, and produce 
Heach-Achs, as we often find. 
That the Fibres are constring'd and re- 
lax'd by the Alterations of the Properties and 
Qualities of the Air, has been already de- 
monstrated; and that the Fluids may be 
Vitiated in the same manner, is no less 
plain: That the Blood may be condensed 
by



144 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by Heat, by absorbing the most fluid Part; 
That a certain Degree of Heat will attenuate, 
and a greater coagulate the Serum; and that 
Heat in general is capable of producing great 
Acrimony and putrid Fevers of all Sorts, is true 
from Experience: And any Degree of Heat 
greater than that of a human Body will do 
so; for our natural Heat is near the Degree 
of Coagulation. Cold likewises condenses 
the Fluids in immediate Contact with it; 
and is capable of producing Siziness and 
Viscosity of the Blood: And by the same 
Causes Acrimony of all Sorts, to the De- 
gree of Putrefaction, is producible by Air. 
Evacuations of all Sorts, from all the 
glandulous Parts of the Body, are producible 
by the Stoppage of Perspiration by Cold; 
for there is no diuretick Medicine that works
so strong in a Flux of Urine, as a Suppression
of the perspirable Matter in hysterical Cases. 
Cold likewise promotes all Catarrhs and 
Coughs; and moist Air, Diarrhœas, and 
copious Secretions from the Glands of the 
Guts, without which Evacuations, Stoppage 
of Perspiration produces a Plethora or Ac- 
cumulation of the Humours in the Vessels. 
From these Considerations it appears, that 
die Diseases, especially the Acute of any Sea- 
son, chiefly depend upon the Constitution of 
the Air, by which they are modified as 
to their Rifeness, Duration, Degrees of 
Danger, their particular Symptoms, Circula- 
sons and Periods; In which we must not
only



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 145 
only consider the present, but likewise the 
preceding State of the Air; because, as
they are more similar, or contrary, so the 
Alterations produced in human Bodies are 
more or less violent; particularly it will be 
found, that sudden Changes from the Ex- 
tremes of Cold and Dry, to Heat and Mois- 
ture, are Causes which operate strongly in 
modifying the Diseases of that Season. 
That long and excessive Heats, by inducing 
Weakness, are apt to stamp the Succeeding 
Fevers with nervous Symptoms: That such 
a dry Constitution of Air, as is apt to con- 
tract the Skin, and obstruct its Pores, makes 
the Crisis by sweating more difficult; and 
perhaps the different Periods of Fevers, Quo- 
tidian, Tertian and Quartan, may depend 
upon a preceding greater Viscosity, or Ob- 
struction in the Vessels, produced by the 
Constitution of the Air: That the more 
dangerous State of the Small pox, and other 
inflammatory cutaneous Eruptions, depends 
upon the Air; and it seems very plain, as it 
induces a greater Laxity or Stricture of the 
Fibres, or creates Obstruction in the Vessels 
of the Skin. 
That Diseases of the Lungs, as far as they 
are not the product of bad Diet, depend 
chiefly upon the Qualities of the Air, seems
evident; for the Lungs are expos'd to the 
outward Air, which has an immediate Ad- 
mission into the Air-bladders, and perhaps 
into the Blood-vessels; and whatever Effect
K the


146 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Air has upon the Skin, this must be ex- 
pected upon the Lungs in a particular Man- 
ner. Thus far I thought necessary to give 
the Reader an Abstract of the ingenious Dr. 
Arhurthnot's Explanations of Hippocrates,
and others, on the Subject of the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies. 
But to conclude, I shall only add; that 
of all the Causes that are capable of altering
our Bodies, no one is so necessary and so 
sudden as the Air; the Necessity of which 
is evident from the use of Air in Respiration; 
for if it happens, that any of the chief Or- 
gans appropriated either for the Entrance or 
Reception of Air receive any great Injury, 
the Animal dies suddenly by Suffocation; 
whereby it manifestly appears, that Air and
Life in perfect living Creatures are insepe- 
rable. 
According to Hippocrates, natural Heat is 
preserv'd by moderate cool Air; for if you 
take away the Air from Fire, it will not
burn, but will immediately be extinguish'd: 
and our Spirits, which are the principal In- 
struments of the Soul, are generated and 
nourish'd by Air, and supported by its going 
in and out; and it is principally for this Rea- 
son that our Bodies are every where perfora- 
ted or porous, that our Arteries are continu- 
ally beating, and that Nature has made such 
admirable fine Mouths to the two Vessels 
called the Lungs; so that the Air is as ne-
cessary

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 147 
cessary to a living Creature as the Soul it- 
self. 
As to the Suddenness of the Air, we feel 
it every Moment; for it instantly ascends to 
the Brains by the Nose, and traversing almost 
an infinite number of minute Passages, which 
are to be seen in the admirable Net-work of
animal Bodies; proceeds to the inmost Re- 
cesses of the Body, and descends with incre- 
dible Velocity into the Lungs by the Mouth, 
and thence to the Heart: it likewise pene- 
trates the Pores of the Skin insensibly, and 
enters the Arteries by Transpiration, as far as 
the deepest Cavities of our Bodies; it sur- 
rounds us always, and never abandons us one 
Minute; so that we must constantly imbibe 
or suck it in whether we will or not. 
The Divine Hippocrates, being thoroughly 
acquainted with the Power of Air upon hu- 
man Bodies, tells us in his Epidemicks, and
in the second Book of Diet, that the whole 
Constitution of the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends entirely upon the Air. 
Therefore the Choice of good Air, and a 
pleasant Habitation, must always claim the 
first Rank in the Regimen of Health; so 
that such as would preserve their Health, and 
obtain a long Life, ought to know the Good- 
ness of the Air, as well in regard to its Sub- 
stance as to its Qualities. 
As to its Substance, when it is pure and 
has no Seeds of Corruption, and that it is 
K2 not

148 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
not impregnated with malignant Vapours pro- 
ceeding from dead Bodies, or from the Sinks
or common Shores of great Cities, or stand- 
ing Waters; or from the sulphureous Exha- 
lations of Mines, combin'd with different 
Salts, or metalline Particles, which are stink- 
ing, oily, and inflammable, of which I 
treated at large already in Part II. Chap. I. 
But if the Air happens to be corrupted or 
infected, and that we cannot remove as soon 
as we would, it must be purified with artifi- 
cial Fires made of Rosemary, Juniper, Lau- 
rel, Cyprus, and Perfumes made of Aloes- 
wood, Juniper-berries, and other Aromatics; 
likewise the Steams of Vinegar correct the 
Malignity of the Air in a surprizing man- 
ner. 
As to the Qualities of the Air, all Ex- 
cesses of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, 
are pernicious; for which Reason we should 
chuse moderate Air if possible; therefore 
serene Air moderately hot and dry, blowing
from clear inland Places, or from Rivers 
with a gentle Breeze, free from sudden and 
great Changes, open and rural, purg'd of salt 
and oily Exhalations, is generally the best
to preserve Health. 
As to what regards ancient People, a warm 
Air is certainly the best for them, and their 
Chambers should never be without Fire, es- 
pecially in the cold Seasons of the Year; for 
it is experimentally true, that their State of 
Health is much better in Summer than in 
Winter;

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 149
Winter; because they always carry the Win- 
ter along with them. Their Bed-Chambers 
should be in the upper Apartments, and their 
Houses open to the East, that the Morning 
Sun might enter their Rooms: there should 
likewise be an opening on the North Side, in
order to let in Air from that Side, and by 
that Means to purify the Air, and expel all 
noxious or offensive Steams and Vapours out 
of their Chambers. 
CHAP. V. 
OF ALIMENTS in general.
ALIMENT includes all that is taken
in as Meats and Drinks, from whence 
Nourishment is expected, which is what sup- 
plies Nutrition. And what comes under this 
Term is threefold: First, all that passes in 
the first Stage from Mastication, or Chewing, 
the Chyles's Entry into the Blood is so call'd. 
And Secondly, the Apposition of new Parts 
in the Room of those wore off by Action. 
Thirdly, when the Chyle after various Circu- 
lations with the Blood, is deprived of all that
can be of farther Use to any Part of the Body, 
it is carried both sensibly and insensibly 
through the Emunctories of the Body. 
K3 The

150 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The first State
of Digestion.
The first is carried on in the 
following Manner: The Parts of
Food being divided by Chewing, 
and moisten'd with Spittle, that it may be 
render'd softer in order to undergo a farther 
Comminution, is thrust down into the Sto- 
mach; wherein, by the Assistance of the con- 
tinual Motion arising from the musculous 
Coats of the Stomach, and of Respiration, 
by which the * Diaphragma alternately presses
the Stomach downwards, the Parts of the 
Food soften'd by the Saliva or Spittle, and
other serous Liquors from the Glands, is 
shook about, ground and divided into yet 
smaller Parts, until it acquires such a Fine- 
ness as is requisite, together with the glandu- 
lous Fluids and Liquors drank down, for 
composing that milky Fluid call'd Chyle ‡. 
But here we are to observe, that the Parts of
the Food are not dissolv'd into essential Parts, 
or Elements, whether chymical or any other, 
by the Assistance of any Ferment in the Sto- 
mach; that is to say, by a Separation of some 
Parts of different Kinds combined together, 
and an Union of other Parts that were before 
separated, as it happens in all Fermentation 
of Wine, wherein tartarous Particles, before 
united
* Diaphragma, or Midriff, is a transverse Muscle which 
separates the Thorax or Chest from the Abdomen or Belly; in 
the Middle it is membranous; the Gullet, the great Artery, 
and the great hollow Vein all pass through it: It conduces to 
Respiration with other Muscles, and pressing upon the Guts 
helps forward the Secretion of the Excrements. 
‡ Chyle is that milky or Emulsion-like Juice, which the 
Food is immediately converted into by Digestion. 


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 151  
united with others, are separated; and Parti- 
cles of Phlegm and Oil, before in Separation, 
are brought nearer together, and form a true 
Spirit. 
But by the Concoction that is perform'd in 
the Stomach, the Food is divided into integral 
Parts, not differing from what they were be- 
fore, only in obtaining a lesser Bulk; altoge- 
ther in the same Manner as Coral is grinded 
upon a Marble with Water, and reduced to 
an impalpable Powder, whose Parts are only 
small Pieces of Coral, and not any Principled
into which Coral is resolv'd. For the Proof 
of which there is no need of any other Argu- 
ment, than that in the Stomach and the In- 
testines of the larger Fish, that devour and 
digest the lesser, the Chyle is nothing else but
a Liquor filled with the Fibres of the devour- 
ed Fish, as may be easily discerned with a 
Microscope; or the small Parts of Fibres no 
way differing from the larger, only in Magni- 
tude, that is, indigested Pieces of Flesh.
The Chyle being thus elaborated in the 
Stomach by its alternate Contractions, and 
the Force of the neighbouring Muscles, is 
thrown out into the Intestines, at its Entrance
into which it is diluted with the Bile and 
pancreatic Juice: which Liquors undergo 
no manner of Effervescence * with the Chyle, 
or with one another, but are smoothly and 
K4 quietly
* Effervescence signifies an intestine Commotion produced 
by mixing two Bodies together that lay at rest before; attend- 
ed sometimes with a hissing Noise, Frothing, and Ebullition
For

152 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quietly mixed therewith, and with each other, 
as appears by many Experiments; and by their 
Means the Chyle is render'd more fluid. 
Hence it follows, that the Parts of the Food, 
in some measure dissolved by the Motion of 
the Stomach, but not sufficiently separated
from each other, thro' want of a due Quan- 
tity of Fluid, every one yet being in some 
measure in Contact with one another, pass 
over the Pylorus * into the Guts; and when 
these greater or less digested Particles cannot
be strain'd in any considerable Quantity into 
the Lacteals † by reason of their Magni- 
tude, they are yet thrust farther into the in- 
testinal Tube ‡, and therein putrify, as they 
are out of the Limit of Circulation, which 
begins at the Lacteals: For all Things, such
as the Flesh of dead Creatures, Herbs, &c.
that are capable of Putrefaction out of the 
Animal, are capable of Digestion in it. 
Hence
For Example, Acids, such as Juice of Limons, Spirit of
Nitre, &c. and Salt of Wormwood, Tartar, or other Alka- 
line Substances, being mixed together, will produce an Efferve- 
scence or Ebullition, 
* Pylorus, or Janitor, the right Orifice of the Ventricle or 
Stomach, which sends the Food into the Guts. 
† Lacteals are long and pellucid Vessels or Veins, which 
arise from all Parts of the small Guts, from whence they re- 
ceive the Chyle, and run to the Glands of the Mesentery. They 
are call'd Lacteals of the first Sort, being so very small; and 
from thence they convey the Chyle to the common Receptacle, 
and being larger are call'd Lacteals of the second Sort, and 
thence it is carried into the Thoracick Duct, and from that into 
the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein. 
‡ Intestinal Tube, the hollow Pipe of the Guts from one
End to the other, which is divided into six Parts.



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 153
Hence it is certain, that Digestion is much 
more effectually and expeditiously perform'd 
in the Day-time, or when we are awake, 
than in the Night, or during Sleep; because 
while we wake we breathe thicker, and the 
Diaphragma and Muscles of the Belly, and 
even the whole Body is more exercised, and 
consequently the Stomach is oftener com- 
press'd. It also follows, that by gentle walk- 
ing, or while we exercise ourselves in any mo- 
derate Motion, Digestion is more effectually 
and expeditiously performed, than while we 
fit in Idleness and without Motion; and still 
much better than when we fit hard at Study, 
because by this Means the Mind is so diverted, 
that our Respiration then is rarer, even than 
in our Sleep, and the Muscles are thereby less 
contracted: And that we digest better in 
Winter than in Summer, is a Confirmation 
hereof; because in the Winter, to drive away 
the Sense of Cold, we are oftener put upon 
Exercises and greater Activity of Body than in 
the Summer Season; as likewise, because the 
Muscles and solid Parts are more tense, and 
consequently stronger in their Contractions and
Attritions *. 
But as for a Ferment in the Stomach, ac- 
cording to the wrong Notions of some, whe- 
ther it be Spittle or Serum ouzing out from 
the Glands of the Stomach, it cannot contri- 
bute any thing to the Digestion of the Food, 
any farther than by softening it, whereby it 
is
* Rubbing, grinding. 



154 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is capable of being farther divided. Neither 
do any Liquors flow into the Stomach in order 
to promote Digestion; but Digestion, that is, 
the Motion of Chewing, Swallowing, and of 
the Stomach, are the Cause why these Li- 
quors are press'd out, and that they drain into
the Stomach: For that those Liquors contri- 
bute nothing farther to Digestion than by 
softening the Food, is manifest from hence, 
that if Herbs or Meat be mixed with them in 
any convenient warm Place as warm as the 
Stomach, but without Motion, they will 
never be changed into Chyle; so that it is sur- 
prizing that any should ascribe to the Serum 
of the Blood, as it is excerned by the Glands, 
a Faculty of changing solid Meats into the 
Form of Chyle, when it is evident that Serum 
is not a fit * Menstruum for the Solution of 
Bread, Meat, or Herbs. But this whole Af- 
fair will be much better understood from con- 
sidering Boyle's Machine for Digestion, where- 
in, without the Help of any Ferment, but by 
the Assistance only of Warmth, and the Pres- 
sure of rarefy'd Air confined, Bones and 
Flesh, with the Addition of a small Portion 
of Water, are turned into a Jelly; where no- 
thing is wanting to its being made real Chyle, 
but the rough Superficies of a Body to grind 
and often shake it about. 
The
* All Liquors are so call'd which are used as Dissolvents to 
extract the Virtues of Ingredients by Distillation, Infusion
Decoction, &c.


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 155
The Chyle being thus made, 
washes over the Pylorus into the 
intestinal Tube, where, by its 
peristaltic Motion *, and by the Pressure of
the Diaphragma, and the Muscles of the 
Abdomen †, the thinner Parts are strained 
through the narrow Orifices of the Lacteal 
Veins, while the grosser Parts continue their 
Progress downwards until they are quite eject- 
ed by Stool. What passes through the Lacte- 
als is carried by them into the Glands of the 
Mesentery ‡,  where they receive a fine thin 
Lymph from the ‖ Lymphaticks, whereby the 
Chyle is diluted so as to pass easier the rest of
its Course: For beyond the first Glands they 
unite in larger Canals, and those in still larger, 
until at last it enters the common Receptacle 
of the Chyle, which is a kind of Bason form'd 
for it by the Union of the Lacteal and Lym- 
tick Vessels. From thence it ascends thro'
the Thoracick † Duct, and is thence discharg- 
ed into the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein, 
and therewith descends into the right Ventri- 
cle of the Heart, where it is but imperfect- 
The second stage
of Digestion.
ly
* Alternate Motion of Contraction and Dilatation, com- 
monly tending downwards. 
† The Belly, which contains the Stomach, Guts, Liver, 
Spleen and Bladder. 
‡ A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 
‖  Are slender pellucid Tubes arising in all Parts of the 
Body, which permit a thin transparent Liquor to pass through 
towards the Heart, which shut like Flood-Gates upon its re- 
turning. 
† A Canal through which the Chyle passeth from the Lac- 
teals the Blood.



156 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ly mixed; and in its Passage it receives the
Lympha from all the upper Parts of the 
Body. 
But here I must observe, that the most 
subtil Parts of the Chyle pass immediately into
the Blood by the Absorbent * Vessels of the 
Intestines, which discharge their Contents into
the Mesaraick Veins, the Largeness and Number 
of which demonstrate the same, for they are 
numerous and vastly larger than their corre- 
spondent Arteries; and wherever there are 
† Emissaries, there are likewise Absorbent 
Vessels: for Example, by the Absorbent Ves- 
sels of the Skin, Mercury will pass into the 
Blood. But Mr. Hale's ‡ Experiment proves 
this beyond despute; and if we consider the
Straitness of the Thoracick Duct, and the 
Slowness of the Passage of the Chyle by the 
Lacteals thro' it, and at the same time the 
great Quantity of some Liquors and several 
other Things, which pass in a very small Time 
by Urine, and give it a Flavour and Taste; 
by an easy Calculation we may be able to de- 
monstrate, that such a Quantity could not pass, 
into the Blood by the Thoracick Duct in so 
short a Time. 
For which Reason, thin and liquid Ali- 
ments are-most proper, when immediate Re- 
freshment is requir'd, to cheer up the Spirits 
after great Abstinence and Fatigue; and the 
same
* Which suck in. 
† Vessels which throw out a Liquid.
‡ Hœmast. Pag. 123. Exp. 14.

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 157
same Reason may be likewise given, why 
Chalybeat Waters are a proper Remedy in 
Hypochondrical Disorders, and in most Ob- 
structions in the Mesenterick Glands, Liver, 
and Spleen; for their subtle Parts are taken 
immediately into the Mesaraick Vessels, and 
from thence carried directly into the Liver 
and Spleen. 
The Chyle first mixes with the Blood in the 
lest Subclavian Vein, as I have already men- 
tioned, and enters with it into the right Ven- 
tricle of the Heart, where they are very im- 
perfectly mixed; from thence they are pro- 
pelled * into the Lungs, which are the chief
and first Instrument of Sanguification, or 
making Blood: For the Wind-pipe is divid- 
ed into a great Number of Branches, call'd 
Bronchia, and these end in small Air-Blad- 
ders dilatable and contractible, which are ca- 
pable to be inflated by the Admission of 
Air, and subside at the Expulsion of it. The 
Pulmonary Artery and Vein pass along the 
Surfaces of these Air-Bladders in an infinite 
Number of Ramifications or Branchings, like 
a Net-work ‡. A great Number of those 
Air-Bladders form what are call'd Lobuli, 
which hang upon the Bronchia like Bunches 
of Grapes upon a Stalk; and these Lobuli 
constitute the Lobes of the Lungs, which al- 
ways sink in Water before they have been 
in-
* Driven forwards. 
‡ Malphig. de Pulmon. Epist. 1, 2. Tab. I. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 



158 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
inflated with Air, but after it has once enter- 
ed them, they will always swim in it; by 
which Means we may know whether Children 
are born dead or alive. 
The crude Mixture of the Blood and Chyle 
passes from the right Ventricle of the Heart, 
through all the Ramifications of the Pulmo- 
nary Artery; and the more Ramifications 
there are, the Mixture will still be render'd 
the more perfect; yet this is not all, for as this
Mixture of the Blood and Chyle passes through 
the arterial Branches, it is press'd by two con- 
trary Forces; first, that of the Heart driving
it forward against the Tubes; secondly, the 
Elastick Force of the Air pressing it on the 
opposite Side of those Air-Bladders, along
the Surface of which this arterial Tube 
creeps. 
By these two opposite Forces the Parts of
the Liquor are more intimately mix'd and 
compress'd together, and by the Ingress and 
Egress of the Air the Vessels are alternately
compress'd and dilated, by which Means the 
Liquor is still farther attenuated, dissolv'd, 
mixed, and almost assimilated with the Blood, 
but not so perfectly as to serve the animal 
Purposes; for it is very well known by Experi- 
ments of Blood-letting, that sometimes eight 
Hours after eating, some of the Chyle remain'd 
unmixed with the Blood, swimming a-top 
like an oily Substanee. 
The wonderful Mechanism of Nature in 
converting our Aliment into animal Sub- 
stances,


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 159
stances, consists principally in two Things; 
first, in mixing constantly with it animal 
Juices already prepar'd; and secondly, in the 
Action of the solid Parts, as it were churning
them together. This is evident, considering 
the vast Quantity of Saliva * mix'd with 
the Aliment in chewing, the Liquor of 
the Stomach, the Bile †, and Pancreatick 
Juice ‡, the Quantity of the Lymph § from
the Mesenterick Glands, and from the Lym- 
phatick Vessels of the whole Body; so that 
the Juices of an animal Body are as it were 
new distill'd, being excreted out of their 
respective
* Saliva or Spittle, is a thin Liquor secreted immediately 
from the arterial Blood: it is of a soapy Nature, and conse- 
quently is attenuating, resolving, penetrating, and cleansing, 
being composed of Salt, Oil, Water, and Spirit, all which 
can be extracted from it. Too great a Discharge of it by 
smoaking or chewing of Tobacco has often prov'd fatal to 
People of thin Habits of Body, by falling into Decays. 
† Bile or Gall is of two Sorts; the Cystick, or that con- 
tain'd in the Gall-Bladder, and the Hepatick, which flows 
immediately from the Liver. The Cystick Gall is thick, of a 
yellow Colour, and intensely bitter. The Hepatick Gall is 
more fluid, and not so bitter; both Sorts are saponaceous, and 
like Soap, take out Spots from Wool or Silk. Its Use is 
to sheath or blunt the Acids of the Chyle descending from the 
Stomach into the Intestines; likewise it is the principal Dis- 
solvent of the Aliment, and when it is peccant or deficient, 
there can be no right Digestion. 
‡ Is an Humour like the Saliva or Spittle, secreted from 
a conglomerate Gland called the Pancreas or Sweet-bread, 
situated at the bottom of the Stomach, and lies across the 
Belly, reaching from the Liver to the Spleen, separating 
about a Pound of Liquor in 12 Hours. Its Use is to dilute 
the Gall, and to temper its Bitterness and Acrimony after it 
has done its Office, and likewise to dilute the Chyle, with 
other Liquors in the Guts. 
§ Lymph is the most spirituous and elaborated Part of the 
Blood, continually flowing from the lymphatick Vessels. 



160 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
respective Glands and Vessels, and admitted 
again into the Blood with the fresh Aliment: 
during which time the solid Parts act upon 
the Mixture of Aliment and animal Juices, 
in order to make the Mixture still more in- 
timate and compleat; so that we may com- 
pute that our Aliment, before it gets into 
the Blood, is mix'd probably with four times 
the Quantity of animal Juices. 
From whence we may conclude, that an 
Animal whose Juices are unsound, or solid 
Parts weak, can never be duly nourish'd; for 
unsound Juices can never duly repair the Fluids
and Solids of an animal Body, and without 
a due Action of the solid Parts, they can 
never be well mixed; and as the Stomach, 
the Intestines, the Muscles of the lower 
Belly, all act upon the Aliment: Besides, as 
the Chyle is not suck'd, but squeez'd into the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by the Action of 
the Fibres of the Guts, it is evident, that 
the Chyle is peccant in Quantity or Quality, 
when these Actions and Organs are too weak; 
and whatever strengthens the Solids, must 
help Digestion. 
Hence it appears, that Diarrhœas and 
strong Purgings must spoil the first Digestion, 
because of the great Quantities of animal 
Fluids which are thereby expell'd the Body, 
such as, the Saliva, Mucus *, and all the 
Liquors
* Mucus, is that slimy Liquor or Moisture, which daubs 
over and guards the Bowels, and all the chief Passages in 
the Body; and it is separated by the mucilaginous Glands in
most Parts of the Body. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 161
Liquors that are separated in the Glands of
the alimentary Duct †, both Sorts of Gall, 
the Pancreatic Juice, Lymph, and sometimes 
Blood. Considering therefore the Quantity 
of these Secretions, it will plainly appear, 
that almost the whole Juices may be carried 
off by purging; and when those Liquors, 
destin'd by Nature to mix and convert the 
Aliment into an animal Liquid, are expell'd 
out of the Body, the Digestion cannot be so 
Well perform'd. Hence follow Consump- 
tions, Dropsies, and often an Obstruction of
the Mesenterick Glands, which is a great Im- 
pediment to Nutrition; for the Lymph in 
those Glands is a necessary Constiuent of the 
Aliment before it mixes with the Blood. 
The Mixture of the Blood and 
Chyle, after its Circulation thro'
the Lungs by the pulmonary Arteries, being 
brought back into the left Ventricle of the 
Heart, is thence, by the Force of the Heart, 
drove into the Aorta ‖ quite thro' the whole 
The last Stage 
of Digstion.
L Body:
† The whole Passage from the Mouth to the Fundament. 
‖ Aorta, is the great Artery which proceeds from the left 
Ventricle of the Heart, and carries the Blood thro' the Body, 
and every Particle of the Body receives some Branch from it, 
except some of the solid Parts of the Liver, which receive 
the blood from the Vena Portœ. The Arteries are elastick 
Channels or Tubes, endued with a contractile Force, by which 
they drive the Blood still forward, it being hinder'd to go 
backward by the Valves of the Heart. They are also coni- 
cal Vessels, that is, tapering and diminishing by Degrees, 
with their Bases or upper and broader Part towards the Heart; 
and as they pass on, their Diameters grow still less and less, 
and consequently the Celerity of the Motion diminishes by 
the Increase of the Friction of the Fluid against the Sides of
the



162 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Body: and thus the Aliment, circulating thro'
the animal Body, is at last reduc'd almost to
an imperceptible Tenuity or Thinness, before 
it can serve the animal Purposes, in nourish- 
ing both the Fluids and Solids; and after 
various Circulations, and when it is depriv'd 
of all that can be of farther Use to any Part 
of the Body, it is carried off, both sensibly
and insensibly, by the Emunctories * of the 
Body. But for farther Satisfaction concern- 
ing Nutrition, Growth, and Decrease of the 
Body, turn to Part I. Page 19, to 28. 
By the foregoing Doctrine it is evident, 
that Acrimony and Tenacity or Glewiness, 
are the two Qualities in what we take in- 
wardly most to be avoided; for Acrimony or 
Sharpness destroys the capillary Vessels, and 
when it is so great as to affect the solid Parts, 
the Sensation of Pain is intolerable. 
As
the Tubes; and without this Motion, both the Blood and 
Chyle would soon be converted into one solid Mass; but on 
the contrary, by its Continuance, the Fluid being compressed
by the Sides of the Tube, especially in the small Vessels, 
where the Points of Contact are more, the Blood and Chyle 
are still more intimately mix'd, and by Friction attenuated;
by which means the Mixture acquires a greater Degree of 
Fluidity and Similitude of Parts. Hence appears the Neces- 
sity of Exercise to promote a good Digestion. And the Strength 
of the Aliment ought to be proportion'd to the Strength of
the solid Parts of tire Body; for as Animals that use a great 
deal of Labour and Exercise, have their solid Parts more
elastick and strong, they can bear, and ought to have stron- 
ger Food, too thin Nourishment being quickly dissipated by 
the vigorous Action of the solid Parts. 
* Are those Parts of the Body where any thing excremen- 
titious is seperated, and collected to be in readiness to be ejected. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 163
As to the Viscidity or Glewiness of what is 
taken inwardly, when the peristaltick Motion 
of the Guts is so weak, as not to be able to propel 
or drive it forward, the Consequence is dange- 
rous, and often fatal to the Life of the Indi- 
vidual; for when the Tenacity of any Sub- 
stance exceeds the Powers of Digestion, it 
will neither pass, nor be converted into Ali- 
ment; whereas hard Substances will pass 
undissolv'd. Moreover, the Mouths of the La- 
cteals in People of weak and lax Constitutions
may permit Aliment too acrimonious, or not 
sufficiently attenuated, to enter; but the 
Sphincters † in such as have strong Fibres will 
shut against them. 
Besides, a viscid Mucus may shut up the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by which means the 
Chyle will pass by Stool, and the Person falls 
into an Atrophy or Decay of Flesh. Wind 
with Distention of the Bowels are Signs of 
bad Digestion in the Intestines, and likewise 
Diarrhœas, which proceed from Acrimony, 
Laxity of the Bowels, or Obstructions of the 
Lacteals. 
Those Parts of the Body where the Circu- 
lation of the Fluids, and the elastick Force of 
the Fibres are both smallest, must be most 
subject to Obstructions; and such are the 
Glands, which are the Extremities of Arte- 
L2 ries
† Sphincter, is a Name ascrib'd to such Muscles as draw 
up, strengthen, and keep shut the Parts, such as the Sphinc- 
ter of the Bladder, Womb, Anus, &c.


164 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ries form'd into cylindrical ‡ Vessels. Hence 
we may easily perceive, that too solid or vis- 
cid Aliment must be very hurtful to scrophu- 
lous and consumptive Persons. 
Having endeavour'd to give the Reader an 
Idea of animal Digestion, by shewing how 
our Aliment is converted into animal Substance, 
in as succinct a manner as could be in so nar- 
row a Compass: I shall now proceed in the 
same manner to give an Account of the 
Choice of them, that what is either beneficial 
or hurtful may be easily seen, according to
the Nature and Difference of Constitutions. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of ALIMENTS.
AS all Animals are made either immediate- 
ly or mediately of Vegetables §, that is, 
by feeding on them, or on Animals that are 
fed on Vegetables: I shall therefore begin
with the Vegetable Kind. 
Vegetables
‡ Cylindrical, in Anatomy, signifies Vessels that are so 
shaped, as not to be narrower at one End than another, but 
that all their Parts are equally distant in all Places from their 
Center; or which is the same thing, that they are of the 
same Diameter in all Places, contrary to conical Vessels, which 
are tapering and growing narrower. 
§ Vegetables are such natural Bodies as grow and increase 
from Parts organically form'd, as Trees, Plants, and Roots, 
&c. but have no proper Life or Sensation.



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 165
Vegetables are proper Food enough to re- 
pair Animals, as they consist of the same 
Parts with animal Substances, such as Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, Water, and Earth, all which 
are contain'd in them, and may be extracted 
from them. Their Salts are capable of re- 
solving the coagulated Humors of a human 
Body; and of attenuating, by stimulating the 
Solids, and dissolving the Fluids: Salts like- 
wise promote Secretion. Oils also relax the 
Fibres, and are Lenient, Balsamick, and abate 
Acrimony in the Blood; and by Virtue of 
this Oil, Vegetables are nutrimental; for this
Oil is extracted by animal Digestion, as an 
Emulsion from Seeds by a Pestle and Mortar. 
But Aromatick Plants, tho' they abound with 
Oil, yet it is not soft and nutritious, and
when mix'd with a Spirit, is too heating. 
Tastes are Indexes or Marks of the different 
Qualities of all Sorts of Aliment; and diffe- 
rent Tastes proceed from different Mixtures 
of Salt, Oil, Water, and Earth, but princi- 
pally from the Spirit and Oil, mix'd with 
some Salt of a particular Nature. A Mu-
riatick or briny Taste, is produc'd by a 
Mixture of an acid and alkaline Salt; for 
Spirit of Salt being an Acid, and Salt of Tar- 
tar, which is an Alkali * when they are 
L3 mix'd
* The Word Alkali comes from an Herb called by the 
Egyptians Kali. This Herb they burnt to Ashes, and boiled 
them in Water, and after having evaporated the Water, there 
remain'd a white Salt, which they called Alkali. It is cor- 
rosive, and will produce Putrefaction if apply'd to the Flesh,
and 



166 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
mix'd, produce a Salt like Sea-Salt, bitter and 
acrid, differing only by the sharp Particles of 
the first being intangled or involv'd in a 
greater Quantity of Oil than those of the 
last. 
Acid or four, proceeds from a Salt of the 
same Nature without a Mixture of Oil; 
and in austere Tastes, the oily Particles have 
not disentangl'd themselves from the Salts and 
earthy Parts, for such is the Tastes of unripe 
Fruits. In sweet Tastes, the acid Particles are 
so attenuated and dissolv'd in the Oil, as to 
produce only a small and grateful Sensation 
and Titillation; but in oily Tastes, the Salts
seem to be entirely disentangled. As Vege- 
tables contain acid or alkaline Salts, so they
produce different Effects upon human Bodies, 
and are to be used according to the different
Constitution of the Body at that time, as 
will appear by what I shall say hereafter. 
The properest Food of the vegetable King- 
dom that Mankind make Use of, is taken 
from the mealy Seeds of some culmiferous or 
Stalk-bearing Plants, as Barley, Wheat, Oats, 
Rice, Rye, Mays, Panick, and Millet; or 
from some of the Pulse or Leguminous Kind, 
such as Pease and Beans, &c. and as those 
are Seeds containing the most elaborate Part 
of
and ferments with Acids, as all lixiviate Salts will do, which 
are Anti-acids, that is, contrary to Acidity. 
As for acid or four Salts, one has a Notion of from Taste, 
Sourness being one of those simple Ideas which one cannot 
more plainly describe; so that whatever being mix'd with an 
Acid, causes an Effervescence or Ebullition, is called Alkali. 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 167
of the Plant, they are oily, and consequent- 
ly proper to be converted readily into an 
animal Emulsion or Chyle: Besides, their Oil 
is not highly exhalted and hot, as that of 
the aromatical and acrid Plants, but on the 
contrary, mild, benign, and nourishing to 
the human Body. 
Barley is detergent, emollient, and expe- 
ctorating, and it was first chosen by Hippo- 
crates as proper Food in inflammatory Dis- 
eases. 
Wheat is the properest of any Grain for 
Bread, which, if not entirely purg'd from 
the Bran, is laxative and stimulating to the
Bowels. 
Oats are cleansing, resolving and pectoral, 
which being outwardly apply'd mix'd with 
Batter, will dry Scabs on the Head. 
Rice, which two thirds of Mankind per- 
haps feed on, is most kindly nourishing and
benign, good in Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes of
Blood, and proper for consumptive Persons; 
but the Bread made of it is more acid and 
tess nourishing than that of Wheat. 
Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nou- 
rishing than Wheat. 
Millet is cleansing, diuretic, and therefore 
good in Distempers of the Kidneys. 
Panick is opening, and boil'd with Milk 
temperates Acrimony. 
Mays affords strong Nourishment, but not 
being so easily brought to a Fermentation as 
other Grains, is more viscous or glewy, and 
L4 conse-


168 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
consequently harder to digest. All the fore- 
mention'd Plants are highly Acescent †, ex- 
cept Pease and Beans. 
Pease are mild, and demulcent in a great 
Degree, being depriv'd of all aromatick Parts. 
Green Pease are very pleasant to the Taste, and
provoke Appetite; but they are injurious to 
many, being full of aërial Particles, creating
Flatulency when dissolv'd by Digestion. 
They are alkalescent §. 
Beans cleanse and fatten, and resemble
Pease in most of their Qualities, but are more 
windy, and occasion sometimes Colic Pains, 
and disturb the Head. The French or Kid- 
ney-Beans are best, being less windy. People 
that live a sedentary Life should not feed 
much upon Pease or Beans, by reason of their 
Viscosity creating top much Flatulency. 
The mealy Parts of the above-mention'd 
Plants dissolv'd in Water for constant Food, 
is too viscid an Aliment, and for that Reason 
justly condemn'd by Hippocrates; and upon 
that Account, Mankind have found the 
means to make them more easy of Digestion, 
by fermenting and making some of them in- 
to Bread, which is the lightest and properest 
for
† See Note following. 
§ Substances which are not perfectly Acid, but naturally 
turn so, are called Acescent; and Substances that are not per- 
fectly Alkaline, but naturally turn so, are called Alkalescent. 
See the Explanation of Alkali in Note *, p. 165. 
These two Qualities in Bodies are not merely imaginary, 
but have very different and contrary Effects upon human 
Bodies. 

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 169
for human Food; for the Leaven, by its acid 
Salt, divides the slimy and oily Parts of the 
Meal. 
The next Sort of vegetable Substances that
Mankind feed upon, are Fruits of Trees and 
Shrubs: They all contain an essential Salt, 
combin'd with Earth, Water, and Oil, much 
elaborated; and their different Qualities are 
known by their sharp, sweet, four, or styptic 
Taste. 
Apples are pectoral, cooling, laxative, and 
open the Breast; they differ considerably in 
Kind, and their Qualities are easily known by 
their Taste. 
Pears have most of the same Qualities, 
but they are more cordial, by their high Fla- 
vour, than Apples. 
Peaches are likewise cordial and pectoral; 
the best are those that are odoriferous, well 
colour'd, and full ripe. 
Apricocks quench Thirst, excite Appetite, 
provoke Urine; their Kernels are good against
Worms, and excellent for the Heart-burning: 
unless they are mellow and full ripe, they are 
rather somewhat styptick. 
Plumbs purge Choler, extinguish Heat, 
take away Thirst in Fevers; but they are bad 
for weak and cold Stomachs, and for phlegma- 
tic Persons, and such as are subject to Colics. 
Those of the austere Kind are astringent. 
Mulberries are pectoral, and correct a bi- 
lious Alkali.
Gooseberries

170 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Gooseberries extreamly ripe are lenient; 
but unripe, they are both sour and astrin- 
gent. 
Currants are good in spitting of Blood, ex- 
treamly cooling, and somewhat astringent. 
The Jelly or Rob of Currants mix'd with 
Water, is an excellent Drink in bilious Fevers. 
Cherries are cooling and laxative, and their 
Kernels are good for the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys. 
Strawberries, by their fragrant Smell are 
Cordial. Their Juice mix'd with that of Li- 
mons in Spring-Water is an admirable Drink 
in bilious Fevers. 
Oranges that are sweet are more relaxing 
than the Seville Oranges; but these last are 
an excellent Remedy for the hot Scurvy. The 
sweet Oranges increase Choler. 
Citrons or Limons excite Appetite, stop 
Vomiting, cut gross Humours, are good in 
Fevers, and their Juices are more cooling
and astringent than those of Oranges. 
Grapes taken in moderate Quantities when 
ripe, help the Appetite and Digestion; but 
in great Quantities, they dissolve the Gall too 
much, and produce Fluxes; and dry'd they 
are pectoral. 
Figs are great Correctors of Acrimony, 
they are good in Coughs and Hoarseness; 
they are likewise extremely emollient, relax- 
ing the urinary Passages, diuretick, and good
in bloody Urine. 
Quinces

Ch. VI. 171 thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
Quinces are often useful to weak Stomachs, 
and good in stopping Fluxes of Blood. 
Pomegranates likewise, containing an astrin- 
gent Juice, are extremely cooling. 
Barberries and Medlars are useful in 
Bloody-Fluxes. 
Tamarinds are cooling and astringent, yet
laxative to the lower Belly. 
Capers are astringent and diuretick; they 
excite the Appetite, and are good for phleg- 
matic and melancholy People. 
Olives are Anti-acids, or contrary to Aci- 
dity by their Oil; but all oily Substances be- 
get an Acrimony of another Sort. 
Almonds are pectoral, especially the Oil. 
Walnuts are cordial and Anti-hysteric, and 
promote Perspiration in a small Degree. 
Hazle-Nuts are in some Degree good 
against spitting of Blood; but they are very 
hard to be digested, they cause Wind, Coughs, 
and Pains in the Head. 
Chesnuts are good against some Female 
Weaknesses, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment. 
There are other Fruits of the low pomise- 
rous Kind, which contain a great deal of 
cooling and viscid Juice, combin'd with a ni- 
trous Salt, which renders them often offen- 
sive to the Stomach; and such are Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and Melons; tho' the 
last, when good, have a rich Juice, and some- 
what aromatick; they are diuretick, and 
there are Instances when eaten in great Quan- 
tities,



172 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tities, to have thrown People into bloody 
Urine: they are likewise cooling and refreshing, 
good for hot Stomachs, and the Kidneys; they 
ought to be taken fasting. The Juice of Cu- 
cumbers is too cold for weak Stomachs, and 
ought not to be taken by such as have thin 
and poor Blood. 
Among the alimentary Leaves, the Pot- 
Herbs afford an excellent Nourishment: Of 
those are all the Cole or Cabbage Kind, which 
are emollient, laxative, and resolvent, and 
for that Reason proper against Acidity. There 
are likewise amongst the Pot-Herbs some * 
Lactescent Plants, as Lettuce, Endive, Ci- 
chory, and Dandelion, which contain a milky 
Juice extremely wholsome, resolvent of the 
Bile, anodyne, cooling and diuretick, and 
very useful in the Distempers of the Liver. 
Artichokes are pleasant to the Taste, pro- 
voke Urine, and contain a rich, nutritious and 
stimulating Juice; they are good against Aci- 
dity. 
Asparagus is opening and diuretic; by the 
fœtid Smell it gives the Urine, it is suspected 
to be hurtful to the Kidneys; it is likewise 
good against Acidity. 
Parsley provokes Urine, the Courses, 
cleanses the Kidneys, and removes Obstru- 
ction and Wind; but it is bad in Bloody- 
Fluxes. 
Celery contains a pungent Salt and Oil; it 
is diuretick and aperient, and exceeding good 
for cold Constitutions. 
Spinage
* Vegetables containing a milky Juice. 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 173
Spinage is emollient or opening, good in 
Inflammations. 
Beet is emollient, nutritive, and relaxing, 
good in hot and bilious Constitutions. 
Sallads of all Sorts, mix'd with sweet Oil 
and Vinegar, are good for hot and strong 
Constitutions; because they are cooling, diu- 
retick, and emollient; but they are not pro- 
per for phlegmatick or weak Constitutions, or 
those that are subject to Colics or Indige- 
stion. 
Of the alimentary Roots, some are pulpy, 
and very nutritious; as Potatoes, Turnips, 
and Carrots, &c. 
Potatoes, of all Roots in general, are the 
best and most nourishing for healthy People, 
and there are Instances enough to prove the 
same both in Ireland, and in other Provinces, 
where two Thirds of the Husbandmen, and 
meaner Sort of People, constantly feed upon 
them, and are the principal Part of their 
Food; yet they are healthy, active, and vi- 
gorous, and for the most Part live long. 
Turnips are very nutritious, good in Con- 
sumptions, Asthmas, and all Diseases of the 
Breast; they are emollient and diuretick. 
Carrots are fattening, they provoke Urine, 
and the Menses, and likewise help to open 
Obstructions; but they are windy, and there- 
fore not proper for colicky or weak Sto- 
machs. 
Parnisp is a very nourishing and palatable 
Root; it fattens, and is a Provocative; it 
opens,




174 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
opens, attenuates, and cleanses; but it is 
hard to digest, and not good for asthmatick 
and consumptive People. 
There are other Roots which abound with 
an acrid, volatile Salt; as Garlick, Onion, 
Rockambole, Shalot, Leeks, Radishes, and 
Horse-radishes: They contain a pungent, vola- 
tile Salt and Oil; they are extremely diure- 
tick, and when stimulating Diureticks can 
be safely used, they are very effectual. 
Experience teaches, that Garlick is a very 
excellent Remedy in Dropsies, Jaundices, 
and in Asthmas proceeding from a cold and 
viscid Phlegm. 
Cresses and Mustard contain likewise, in 
their Degrees, a pungent Salt and Oil, as well 
as the last mention'sd Roots; and as all of 
them subdue Acidity, they are very improper 
in Cases where the Blood is too much dissol- 
ved, as in spitting of Blood, and bloody 
Urine, or where the Blood or Juices have a 
Tendency to a State of alkaline Putrefaction; 
and in general they are fitter for cold Con- 
stitutions and old People, than for the young 
and sanguine. Mustard indeed is a very 
powerful Remedy in viscid and cold phleg- 
matick Cases. 
The Fungous Kind, as Truffles, Morelles 
and Mushrooms, contain an Alkaline volatile 
Salt, and an exalted Oil of a grateful Savour; 
but are heating, and the best Method of cor- 
recting them is by Vinegar: Some of them 
being poisonous, render the rest justly suspi-
cious;





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 175
cious; the poisonous Sort operate in a suffo- 
cating Manner, in which Case the best Re- 
medy is Wine, or Vinegar and Salt, and vo- 
miting as soon as possible. 
There are Vegetables used by Mankind in 
Seasonings, which afford an exalted aroma- 
tick Oil, and of a spicy Nature, as Marjoram, 
Basil, Savory, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage and 
Mint: They are heating, and most of them 
hard to digest: Other Spices of a more power- 
ful Nature, as Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, 
Cloves, Ginger and Pepper, abound with a 
high exalted Oil and volatile Salt, by which 
Principles they are heating, and act powerfully 
upon the Fluids and Solids, by stimulating the 
Solids and resolving glutinous and fat Sub- 
stances: They are all proper in phlegmatick 
cold Constitutions. But Sage being a stimu- 
lating, drying, and astringent Plant, when used 
in great Quantities will produce Disorders like 
Drunkenness; therefore the Infusion or Tea 
made of it is very improper in all inflamma- 
tory Fevers as a Diluter. 
Of Tea, Coffee, 
and Chocolate.
As the Infusions and Deco- 
ctions  make so considerable a Part 
of Aliment at present, especially among the 
Female Sex, it will not be improper to say 
something of their Qualities in particular. 
Of Tea, Coffee,
and Chocolate.
Tea, by its Manner of affecting the Organs 
of Taste and Smell, affords very little of a vo- 
latile Spirit its bitter and astringent Rosin or 
fix'd Oil cannot be extracted by Water, but 
requires






176 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
requires rectify'd Spirit of Wine for that Pur- 
pose. The most active Principles of it that 
can be extracted by Infusion are the most se-
parable Parts of its Oil or Gum, and Salt. 
Its Salt and Gum are astringent, as appears by
mixing it with Chalybeat-Waters, which will 
produce a Tincture of the same Colour as that 
of Oak-leaves; it is * Acescent, as appears by 
its affecting Stomachs troubled with Acidity, 
which Disorder it will rather promote than 
correct: By its astringent Quality it moderate- 
ly helps to correct the relaxing Quality of the 
warm Water; and by its styptick and stimu- 
lating Quality, it affects the Nerves, very of- 
ten producing Tremors. By the frequent 
drinking too great Quantities of it, as is now 
become a common Practice, it will relax and 
weaken the Tone of the Stomach; from 
whence proceed an Inappetency, Nausea, 
Reachings or Vomitings, Indigestion and 
Sickness at the Stomach; and generally speak- 
ing, a pale and wan Complexion, with a 
Weakness of the Nerves and Flabbiness of the 
Flesh, the Solids and Fluids being thereby 
deprived of their proper Nourishment. 
Hence we may easily perceive, how perni- 
cious Tea-drinking may prove to the Seden- 
tary, especially the Female Sex, who for the 
Generality have weak and tender Nerves; 
but as Milk abates some of the fore-mention- 
ed bad Qualities, by rendering it softer and nu- 
tritious, and Sugar as a Salt, encreases it stimu- 
lating
* See Note §, Page 168. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 177
lating Quality, it may be a proper Breakfast e- 
nough, as a Diluent, to those who are strong, and 
live full and free, in order to cleanse the alimen- 
tary Passages, and wash off the scorbutick and 
urinous Salts from the Kidneys and Bladder. 
But Persons of weak and tender Nerves, as 
I have just now observ'd, ought carefully to 
avoid and abstain from it, as from Drams and 
cordial Drops; for such fall into Lowness, 
Trembling and Vapours, upon using it with 
any Freedom, by its Irritation on the tender 
and delicate Fibres of the Stomach *. 
As to Coffee, it is a meer Calx, or a kind of 
burnt Horse-Bean, but lighter on the Sto- 
mach and somewhat of a better Flavour; and 
what is extracted from it by hot Water, is 
the most separable Parts of its Oil, which of- 
ten appears at the Top of the Decoction. This 
Oil is volatile, and affords very little Nourish- 
ment, producing all the bad Effects of a vola- 
tile Oil and aromatic Acrimony, such as Heat, 
Dryness, Stimulation, Tremors of the Nerves; 
for which Reason, it has been deem'd to cause 
Palsies, Watchfulness, Leanness, and destroy 
masculine Vigour: Hence it is very plain, 
that it must; be pernicious to hot, dry, and 
bilious Constitutions, and only beneficial to 
Phlegmaticks, if moderately us'd; but when 
drank in too great a Degree of Strength or 
M Qua-
* For further Satisfaction herein, see Dr. Thomas Short's 
learned and elaborate Dissertation upon Tea, in which the 
Author has not only given us the Natural History of the Plant, 
but likewise its Analysis, with great Skill and Industry.



178 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quantity, it will prove destructive even to 
phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Chocolate is undoubtedly much the best of 
the three; for its Oil appears to be both rich, 
nutritious and anodyne *, and is as soft as that 
of Sweet-Almonds: This Oil combin'd with 
its own Salt and Sugar renders it saponaceous † 
and detergent; by this Quality it often helps 
Digestion and excites the Appetite; and is only 
proper for some of the leaner and stronger 
Sort of phlegmatick Constitutions, and some 
ancient healthy People, who are accustom'd 
to bodily Exercise. 
There are other Preparations of Vegetables 
by Fermentation, whereby they are changed 
into spirituous Liquors, which are, or may be 
called by the general Name of Wines; Such 
fermented Liquors have different Qualities 
from the Plants that produce them; for no 
Fruit taken crude has the intoxicating Quality 
of Wine. Of these Liquors I shall take par- 
ticular Notice, after I have given the Reader 
a short Account of the Nature of animal 
Diet, as far as it regards the Nourishment of 
Human Bodies. 
Animal Food is more easily converted into 
animal Substance than Vegetables; and there- 
fore more nourishing to human Bodies: And 
the
† Easing, or taking away Pain. 
‡ Sope is a Mixture of Oil and fix'd alkaline Salt, and in 
common Use its Virtues are cleansing, penetrating, attenuat- 
ing, and resolving; so that any Mixture of an oily Substance 
with Salt maybe call'd a Sope; hence Bodies of this Nature 
are call'd Saponaceous.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 179
the Nature of Animal Diet must depend up- 
on the Nature, Age, Food, and other Cir- 
cumstances of the Animal we feed upon. 
The Animal as well as Vegetable Juices are 
in their greatest Perfection, when the Ani- 
mal is full grown; for young Animals par- 
take of the Nature of their tender Food, as 
Sucklings of Milk, &c. 
All Animal Diet in general is anti-acid, 
or contrary to Acidity or Sourness; because 
no found Animal has any acid Salt in it, as 
has been often prov'd by Experiments. Those 
Animals that feed upon other Animals have 
their Flesh and Juices more alkalescent, that 
is, more anti-acid than those that live upon 
Vegetables; such are most Fishes, all Birds 
which feed upon Worms and Infects, several 
kinds of Water-Fowls, Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and several kinds of small Birds; which, for 
that Reason, afford a more exalted Nou- 
rishment than those that feed upon Grain or 
other Vegetables. 
Animal Flesh differs according as the Ani- 
mal is terrestrial, aquatick, or amphibious;
and the same Species of Animals differs accord- 
ing to the Soil and Air it lives in, and the 
Food which it takes; as those that live in 
Mountains and Marshes; the Flesh of Oxen, 
Sheep, Deer and Hogs in different Pastur- 
age. 
Fishes abound more with alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial Animals; for which Rea- 
son they are sooner corrupted: And amphibi-
ous Animals partake somewhat of their Na- 
M2 ture





180 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ture by feeding upon them, and are therefore 
oily; and notwithstanding the Redundancy of 
Oil in Fishes, yet they do not increase Fat 
so much as Flesh-meat, by Reason of their 
watery Quality; and as Fish and Water- 
Fowls are highly alkalescent, and abound 
with a great deal of rancid Oil, they should 
be always qualified by a due Quantity of Salt 
and Vinegar. 
The most healthy Animals afford the best
Aliment, and the Castrated are better than 
those that are not so; and the only Way of 
having found and healthful animal Food, is 
to leave them to their own natural Liberty in 
the free and open Air, and in their own pro- 
per Element, with Plenty of Food and due 
Cleanness, and a Shelter from the Inclemency 
of the Weather when they have a Mind to 
retire to it. Therefore we should never make 
Choice of cramm'd Poultry, or stall-fed Butch- 
er's Meat for our Food, did we consider the 
foul, gross, and filthy Manner in which they 
are confin'd, and the stinking, putrid, and 
unwholsome Food with which they are fed, 
especially Poultry and Hogs; for we may be 
well assured, that perpetual Foulness and 
Cramming, gross Food and Filthiness will 
rot the Juices, and mortify the muscular Sub- 
stance of human Creatures, and consequently 
can do no less in Brute Animals, and thus 
make even our Food Poison. Besides, stall-fed 
Cattle and cramm'd Fowls are often diseas'd 
in their Livers. The same may be likewise 
said





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 181 
said of Plants and Vegetables, forc'd and pro- 
duced by Hot-beds. 
Animals, Herbs, Fruits and Corn are to 
be chosen in high Places, such as are refresh'd 
with wholsome Winds and cherish'd with 
the warm Beams of the Sun, and where there 
are no Marshes, Lakes, and standing Waters; 
for in such Places they are quickly corrupted; 
and likewise the Flesh of all Animals that live 
in Fens and standing Pools are to be avoided, 
such as Ducks, Geese, &c. 
The Flesh of Animals too old is unwhol- 
some, being hard, dry, sinewy, and of little 
Nourishment, and hard to be digested; and 
on the contrary, such as are too young abound 
with too much Moisture, and are full of Su- 
perfluities, and therefore cannot nourish so 
well as an Animal full grown, in as much as 
they partake of the Nature of their tender 
Food, as I have observ'd already. 
Salt Fish produces gross Humours, and 
had Juices in the human Body; for it dries 
much, and breeds many Superfluities, and is 
of little Nourishment; it occasions Thirst, 
Hoarseness, Acrimony, or Sharpness in the 
Blood, and Erosion of the small Fibres, Pains, 
and all the Symptoms of the Muriatick or 
briny Scurvy, upon account of the Salt, 
which is unalterable in all the Circulations of 
the human Body, and therefore very improper 
Food for all Constitutions, except some strong 
labouring People, and even in those it will pro- 
duce very bad Effects, if they feed upon it 
M3 for





182 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
for a Constancy, as we see in Sea-faring Peo- 
ple. The same may be said of Salt Flesh. 
The Flesh of Birds is lighter, drier, and 
easier digested than that of four-footed Beasts,
and for that Reason, more agreeable to those 
of a studious Profession, who exercise the 
Mind more than the Body; for as they are 
more easily digested, so they breed better 
Blood, that is, clear, clean, and full of Spi- 
rits, which is fit for the Exercises of the 
Mind. 
The Flesh of the wild Kind of Animals, 
such as frequent Woods, high open Places, 
and Mountains, is better than that of tame 
ones, having more Exercise and no Confine- 
ment, have their Juices more elaborated, and 
their Flesh will keep longer uncorrupted; be- 
cause they live in a better Air, and feed upon 
what they like best without Constraint; for 
the same Reason their Fibres are harder, es- 
pecially when old. This Rule in some mea- 
sure holds true with Fishes; for Sea-fish and 
River-fish living in an Element more agitated, 
are better than those in Ponds. For these Reasons 
Hippocrates commends the Flesh of the wild 
Sow preferable to the tame; and doubtless the 
Animal is more or less healthy, according to 
the Air it lives in; for the Flesh of the same 
Species differs very much, as the Animal 
lives in Marshes or Mountains. 
Flesh boil'd is more wholsome (especially 
for weak Stomachs) than roasted; for boiling 
draws more of the rank and strong Juices
from




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 183
from it, and renders it more diluted, lighter, 
and easier of Digestion, tho' not so nutritive; 
but on the other hand, roasting leaves it ful- 
ler of the strong nutritive Juices, harder to 
digest, and wanting more Dilution *; there- 
fore those who eat the Flesh of full-grown 
Animals, ought to eat it well boil'd, if their 
Digestion is weak. They who live upon 
young animal Food, which is best for weak 
Stomachs, ought to eat it roasted, and lessen 
the Quantity in respect of the same Food 
boil'd, but they must dilute it more; for as 
roast Meat has a stronger Flavour, more 
Nourishment, and lies more compact in the 
Stomach; so it will require to be more di- 
luted with some small Liquors to soften its 
more rigid and crisp Fibres. 
Meats bak'd, fry'd, and broil'd, generate 
nauseous Humours and Crudities in the Sto- 
mach, and are very difficult to be digested, 
tho' they are very nourishing. 
Lamb, Veal, and Kid, afford excellent 
Nourishment, and are easy to be digested, 
and therefore proper Food for those of a se-
dentary Life and studious Professions. 
Beef affords great Nourishment to those 
that labour and exercise much, and generates 
much Blood; but it is too strong for tender, 
weak, and sedentary People, especially when 
Stall-fed, and very large; for Grass Beef and 
M4 Mutton
* Dissolving or making thinner any Substance, with the 
addition of Fluids or Liquids, which are called Diluents or
Diluters.




184 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Mutton are lighter than Stall-fed Oxen and 
Sheep. 
Mutton breeds good Blood, nourishes ex- 
ceeding well, and is easily digested; and by 
Experiment is found the most perspirable of all 
animal Food, and Hogs-Flesh and Oysters the 
least. 
Rabits are of a good Nourishment, they 
consume the superfluous Moisture and Phlegm 
in the Stomach, and the Flesh is not near so 
dry as that of a Hare, and therefore nou- 
rishes better, and is much easier to be di- 
gested. 
Young Hares are very sweet and pleasant 
to the Stomach when well dressed, they 
are good for such as are too fat. It is said, 
that the Blood of a Hare fry'd and eaten, is 
good against the Bloody-Flux, inward Im- 
postumations, and the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys; and that the Brains of a roasted Hare 
cures Tremors, and facilitates the breeding of 
Teeth in Children; but the Moderns justly 
despise such whimsical and groundless Pra- 
ctice. 
Pork and Bacon afford great Nourishment, 
but as they feed the foulest of any Creature, 
and their Juices are the rankest, their Sub- 
stance is the most surfeiting; and as they are 
the most subject to † cutaneous Diseases and 
Putrefaction of any Creature, they are highly 
injurious to valetudinary, sedentary, and stu- 
dious People; for they cause the Gout and 
Stone
† Diseases of the Skin, such as Pimples, Scabs, Mange, &c. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 185
Stone in Kidneys, Scurvy, and cutaneous 
Eruptions. The Flesh of sucking Pigs is 
endued with the same bad Qualities, tho' 
not in so great a Degree. 
Brawn made of the Flesh of young Boars 
is tolerable good eating, having not so much 
Slime and excrementitious Moisture as Pork, 
Pig, and Bacon; but the hard and horny Part 
is very difficultly digested. 
Deer affords good Nourishment, and is 
apt to make lean such as are too fat, accord- 
ing to the Observations of some Authors, but 
I very much doubt the Veracity of such As- 
sertions, for it seems even contradictory to 
say, that whatever affords good Nourish- 
ment, shou'd render corpulent and fat People, 
thin or lean. 
Of all the Parts of Birds and other Beasts, 
some are better than others; for all the Ex- 
tremities, as the Head, Neck, Feet, and Tail, 
in respect of the rest, are of a hard, viscid, 
and gross Nourishment; but the Parts about 
the Wings, Back and Breast, are better, and 
more savoury. 
Cream, Butter, and Marrow, are all leni- 
ent and nourishing: Marrow is excellent in 
the dry Scurvy with crackling of the Bones, 
where it performs its natural Office in moisten- 
ing them. 
Cheese that is new fattens, tastes pleasant- 
ly, and is not very injurious to the Stomach, 
especially Cream-Cheese, which is the best
and most wholsome when newly made. 
Cheese





186 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cheese of no kind is good for Children or 
weak People, for it lies too heavy in the 
Stomach, is apt to breed Slime and Worms 
in Children, and it ought to be eaten only 
after Meals, to close up the Mouth of the 
Stomach at such times; but too much of it 
is bad at any time, especially old Cheese, for 
it occasions Thirst, inflames the Blood, and 
is often the Cause of the Gravel and Stone 
in the Kidneys or Bladder; therefore it is 
only proper for Mechanics and labouring 
People, or those that are strong and healthy, 
and use much Exercise. 
Milk is a most noble, nourishing, and 
wholsome Food; it is neither Acid nor Al- 
kaline; but when there is an Acid and Al- 
kali mix'd in it, they presently manifest 
themselves by their Fermentation and Con- 
flict. Milk, after standing some Time, na- 
turally separates into an oily Substance called 
Cream, and a thinner, blue, and more pon- 
derous Liquor called skimm'd Milk, and nei- 
ther of these Parts is naturally acid or alka- 
line, nor in the least acrimonious; for being 
dropp'd into the Eye, they cause no manner 
of Pain or Sensation of Sharpness; but by 
standing too long, they will turn both sharp 
and four. Milk is a kind of Emulsion, or 
white animal Liquor, resembling Chyle, after 
it has been mixed with the Spittle, Bile, and 
pancreatick Juices, &c. is easily separated 
from them again in the Breasts.
A




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 187
A Nurse that would abstain from all acid 
vegetable Food, from Wine, and Malt Li- 
quors, and feed only upon Flesh, and drink 
Water, her Milk, instead of turning sour, 
would become putrid, and smell like Urine; 
so that an alkalescent Diet †, (as is often the 
Case of Nurses in great Families) Subjects 
the Child to Fevers; but on the other hand, 
the Milk of poor People that feed upon an 
§ acescent vegetable Diet, subjects the Child
to Diseases that proceed from Acidity in the 
Bowels, such as Colics, Gripes; the Symp- 
toms of such a Constitution are a four Smell 
in their Excrements, four Belchings, Disten- 
sions or Swellings of the Bowels, and Pale- 
ness of the Flesh. 
The Cure of both Diseases is effected by 
a Change of Diet in the Nurse, that is, from 
Alkalescent to Acescent, or contrary ways, as 
the Case requires. But the best Diet for Nurses 
is a Mixture of both, and no Nurse should 
give Suck after twelve Hours fasting;
for then her Milk is apt to turn yellow, which 
is an early Sign of a Fever in the Nurse. 
It appears from the fore-mention'd Quali-
ties, that Milk is a very proper Diet for hu- 
man Bodies, especially for thin, hectical, and 
emaciated
† Alkalescent Diet is the Flesh, Broths, and Juices of all 
Animals, both Terrestrial and Aquatick, which in a found 
State have no manner of Acid in them, as is very well 
known by Experiments. 
§ An Acescent vegetable Diet, is taken from Plants, Fruits, 
and their Juices, and all fermented Liquors, which are either 
actually acid, or naturally turn so. 



188 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
emaciated People, and where Acrimony in 
the Blood and Juices is to be subdued or 
avoided; but it is not proper for those that 
are troubled with the Colic or Stone, neither 
is it proper in Obstructions of the Vessels, it 
being void of all saline Quality. 
Whey is good for such as are of a hot Con- 
stitution, it quenches Thirst, promotes Sleep, 
and of all Drinks is the most relaxing, and 
is a powerful Remedy in the hot Scurvy. 
The different Nature of Birds is known by 
the Time, Age, Food, Place, and Air they 
live in; because Domestick as well as Wild 
Fowl, grow lean, and feed little at the Time 
of their coupling. And some Birds are best in
Spring or in Summer, at which Time they 
feed upon Corn; others in Autumn, because 
they eat Grapes, Figs, Apples, Berries, and
such like. Others again are best in Winter, 
such as Thrushes. Blackbirds, wild Geese, 
Cranes, and all Water Fowl. 
Some live on Worms, Infects, and Fish, as 
Woodcocks, Snipes, &c. but most feed on 
Grain, as Pigeons, Doves, and all Dome- 
stick Fowls, and the like: Some are nourish'd 
on Land, others in Rivers, Lakes, and in 
the Sea, and a great many Birds feed upon 
Herbs; and it is very remarkable, that the 
Flesh of wild Fowl has always the Taste of 
such Things as they feed on, as Fish, Slime, 
Mud, Worms, and other Infects. 
Mountain Fowls are always preferable to 
the rest; besides, castrating or cutting a Fowl,
renders

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 189
renders it fat and sweet, as appears in the 
Flesh of Capons; and the Flesh of young 
Birds is always better than that of old ones. 
Duck is the hottest of all tame Fowl; the 
Wings and Liver are the best, but of hard 
Digestion, and gross Nourishment; it is good
in cold Weather for strong Stomachs, and 
such as labour much. 
Capon nourishes better than all other tame 
Fowl, and breeds good Blood and Juices in 
the human Body. 
Pigeons afford good Nourishment; they 
are very hot, and therefore only proper for 
old and phlegmatic People, or such as labour 
much, who generally speaking, will digest 
any Food without any Trouble or much Dan- 
ger.
Pheasants are very agreeable to human Na- 
ture; they comfort and strengthen the Sto- 
mach, afford great Nourishment, and fatten 
very much. 
Pullets nourish exceeding well, are easily
digested, and generate good Blood and found 
Juices; but old Hens are dry, hard to be di- 
gested, and afford little Nourishment; and 
the Flesh of a Cock is drier, hot, and sul- 
phurous, and therefore very improper Food 
for any Body, and fit for nothing else than to
make Broth of it, with a little Mutton, Veal, 
or both. 
Geese, especially the young Geese, afford 
good Nourishment; but old ones, that feed 
and live in Fenny Places, are coarse, and 
hard

190 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hard to be digested, and not fit Food for 
tender People, or weak Stomachs. 
Turkey is good Food, and affords good 
Nourishment, but harder to be digested than 
Capon or Pullet; yet a Turkey-Pout is deli- 
cate eating, breeds good Blood, and is easily
digested. 
Partridges afford good and sweet Nourish- 
ment, and are easily digested; they fatten, 
and likewise dry up the superfluous Moisture 
of the Stomach, and contribute much to the 
Preservation of Health, their Flesh being bet- 
ter than that of Pullets. 
Plovers, especially the Grey Sort, are good
wholsome Food, and afford good Nourish- 
ment, only they are somewhat of melan- 
choly Juice, according to some Writers. 
Blackbirds nourish sufficiently when they 
are fat and young; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion. 
Larks, if they are fat, nourish well, and 
are easily digested; they are best in Autumn 
and Winter. 
Sparrows, when young, afford good Nou- 
rishment, and are reckon'd to be Provoca- 
tives; but they are not easily digested. 
Peacocks nourish poorly, and are of a hard 
and slow Digestion, and breed melancholy 
Blood, therefore not worth any Body's eat- 
ing. 
Stares, if young and fat, nourish pretty well, 
but old ones are good for nothing. 
Thrushes

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 191
Thrushes nourish very well, and are easily 
digested, and the Mountain Thrushes are the 
best. 
Quails are very nourishing, and pleasant to 
the Taste, they are likewise good for melan- 
choly People; but some Authors say, that 
they cause the Cramp, and falling Sickness, 
with which it is said, this Bird is troubled. 
This, by the by, I take to be only the ground- 
less Opinion of some credulous and whimsi- 
cal Writers. 
Turtle Doves nourish exceeding well, and
are easily digested; they are good for the 
Stomach, and, according to some Authors, 
quicken the Understanding. 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all other long-billed
Birds that suck only animal Juices, or that 
feed upon Worms and other Infects, have their 
Juices more elaborate and exalted than those 
of Pullets, Turkeys, Pheasant or Partridge; 
and for that Reason they are much harder to be
digested, tho' they are very nourishing. 
Fish in respect of Flesh is less nourishing, 
because it is gross, phlegmatic, cold, and full 
of watery Superfluities. The old nourish 
better than the young, and those that live 
among Stones, Rocks and Gravel, are best. 
Fish in general are hard of Digestion; for 
they feed upon one another, and their Juices
abound with an alkaline Salt, that corrupts 
the Blood and causes chronical Diseases; for 
it is very remarkable, that those who live
much

192 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
much on Fish are afflicted with the Scurvy, 
Breakings-out upon the Skin, and other Dis- 
eases of a foul Blood: Besides, a true Sign of 
their Indigestion is, that every Body finds him- 
self more thirsty and heavier than usual after 
a full Meal of Fish, tho' ever so fresh; and is 
commonly forc'd to have Recourse to a Dram 
of some Spirit or other to carry them off. 
The following Rules concerning Fish may 
be of use to the Reader. 
First, That all fresh Fish should be eaten 
hot, and to eat less of Fish than of Flesh- 
meat. 2dly, Not to eat them too often, nor 
after great Labour and Exercise; for then 
they easily corrupt; neither should they be 
eaten after other solid Food. 3dly, Fish and 
Milk are not proper together; nor are Eggs 
to be used unless with Salt-Fish. 4thly, Great 
and slimy Fish are better pickled than fresh; 
and observe, that the clearer and deeper the 
Water is, the better are the Fish that are 
nourish'd therein. 5thly, Sea-Fish are whol- 
somer than fresh water Fish; for they are 
hotter and not so moist, and their Nourish- 
ment comes near that of Flesh-meat. 6thly, 
Of all Sea and River Fish, those are best that 
live in rocky Places; next to these, in gravel- 
ly or sandy Places, in sweet, clear, and run- 
ning Water, where there is no Filth: but 
those Fish are bad that live in Pools, muddy 
Lakes, Marshes, and in any still or muddy 
Water. 7thly, Amongst all the Fish both 
Sea






Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 193
Sea and River, those which are not too large 
are the best, and which have not hard and 
dry Flesh, that taste and smell well, and are 
crisp and tender, and have many Scales and 
Fins. 8thly, Fish are bad for cold and 
phlegmatic Constitutions, and only proper for 
hot and choleric People. The best Way of 
dressing Fish is to broil it; to boil it is the 
next, and to fry it is the worst.
Eels for want of Exercise are fat and 
slimy; they are of a delicate Taste, and nou- 
rish very much; but they offend the Sto- 
mach, and are hard to be digested, and be- 
ing used too often, are apt to breed the Stone 
in the Kidneys and Bladder, and occasion 
the Gout and Spasmodic Disorders; therefore 
whoever eats much of them, and often, en- 
dangers his Health. 
Carp of all Pond-fish is certainly the best, 
and the most noble, being of a very pleasant 
and grateful Taste, and nourishes well, in 
whatsoever manner it is eaten. 
Lampreys are of great Nourishment; they 
are of a most delicate Taste, and are al- 
so Provocatives; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion, and bad for gouty People, and such 
as ate troubled with Convulsive Disorders. 
Pike is a clean, sound Fish, and nourishes
very much; but is of hard Digestion. 
Sturgeon nourishes well, and excites Ve- 
nery; but is very hard to be digested. Of 
the Spawn or Row of this Fish pickled, is
N made




194 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
made what is called Caveer, which excites 
Appetite, and makes Liquor relish well. 
Crabs and Lobsters are much of the same 
Nature; the Broth of them is good for thin 
and emaciated People, for they nourish very 
much; but they are, like all other Shell-Fish, 
hard to be digested. 
Oysters are very nourishing, and preferable 
to all Shell-Fish, and ought to be eaten al- 
ways before Dinner, and never to drink spi- 
rituous Liquors upon them, which harden 
them in the Stomach, and prevent their being 
digested. They are likewise very hard of Di- 
gestion when stew'd; therefore the Substance 
of them dressed in that manner is very im- 
proper for weak Stomachs. They cure the 
Heart-burn proceeding from Acidity or Sour- 
ness in the Stomach, and are proper Food in 
such, and many other Cases. 
Turbut, Soles, and Plaice, are highly com- 
mended among Sea-Fish; for they have de- 
licate Flesh, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment, are not easily corrupted, nor hard to 
be digested. 
Pearch are reckon'd fine Fish; but they 
have soft, moist, and tender Flesh; they 
nourish but little, and are full of Excremen- 
titious Juices, therefore they are not near so 
good as People imagine them to be. 
Tench are very nourishing, but hard of Di- 
gestion.
Gudgeons and Smelts, of all small Fish are 
the best; they are wholsome Aliment, easily 
digested,




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 195
digested, and may be as safely given to sick 
People as Whitings unless they are fry'd. 
Flounders are good wholsome Aliment 
enough, and proper now and then as a Change 
for sickly People, and weak Stomachs, as 
they are not hard to be digested. 
Salmon is grateful to the Palate, and very 
nourishing, affords good Juices, but is too 
luscious to make a hearty Meal upon it, or 
live on it for any considerable Time. 
Trout is delicate eating, nourishes very 
well; the biggest, and such as is bred in gra- 
velly Rivers, and sweet running Waters, is 
best. Trout is good for hot and young Peo- 
ple, but bad for those that are decrepid, and 
for phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Cod-Fish, when fresh and in Season, is very 
good Nourishment, and not hard to be di- 
gested; but if it be dry or Salt, it is gross 
Food, and of hard Digestion. 
Haddock is much of the same Nature, but 
drier, yet it affords very good Nourishment. 
Skate and Thornback are Fish of good 
Nourishment, and delicate eating, when 
rightly manag'd; for if they are newly taken 
and dressed, they are scarcely digestable even 
by the strongest Stomachs; but if they are 
too stale, then they smell Urinous, and are in 
a State of Putrefaction. 
Barbel is very pleasant to the Palate, and 
the little ones are better than the great, and 
such as live in stony Places, and clear running 
N2 Waters;




196 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Waters; but their Flesh being hard, are not 
easily digested. The Roe of this Fish is care- 
fully to be avoided, it having the Quality of 
a strong Cathartick. 
Mackarel are very agreeable to the Taste; 
but their Flesh being hard, dry, and easily cor- 
rupted, is of little Nourishment, hard of Di- 
gestion, and therefore not proper Food for 
tender, weak, or sickly People. 
Herrings afford a great deal more Nou- 
rishment than the former; but their being 
so very hard of Digestion, renders them im- 
proper for every Body, except some hard la- 
bouring People. 
Sprats newly catch'd, and being either 
boiled or broil'd, afford good Nourishment, 
and are very agreeable to the Taste; but 
they are windy, and for that Reason not pro- 
per for such as are subject to Flatulency. 
Here it will be very necessary to give At- 
tention to the following Particulars in the 
Choice of our Aliments. 
1. That those Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity, are lightest of Di- 
gestion: thus the Spring Vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, some Sorts of Sallading, and 
Strawberries, are more easily digested than 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, and Nectarines;
because they have less of the Solar or Sun-Fire 
in them; for their Parts are united by a weaker 
Heat, that is, with less Velocity, and besides 
they contain little or no strong or fix'd
Salts. 
2. Among



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 197
2. Among Animals, the common Poultry,
Sheep, Kids, Hares, and Rabits, &c. which 
come to their Maturity, and propagate their 
Species in the same or a few Years, are much 
more tender, and readily digested, than Cows, 
Oxen, Boars, &c. for the Reason already 
given; and because their Parts cohere less 
firmly. And it is observable, that Vegetables 
which are longest in ripening, that is, whose 
Juices contain most of the Solar Heat in 
them, their fermented Juices produce the 
strongest vinous Spirits, such as Grapes, El- 
der-Berries, and the like: and that Animals, 
which are longest coming to Maturity, their 
Juices yield the most rank and most fœtid 
Urinous Salts. 
3. That the larger and bigger the Vege- 
table, or Animal is in its Kind, the Food 
made thereof is the stronger, and harder to 
be digested. Thus a large Onion, Apple, or 
pear, and large Beef and Mutton, are har- 
der to be digested than the lesser ones of the 
same Kind; not only, as their Vessels being 
stronger and more elastic, their Parts are 
brought together with a greater Force; but 
also, because the Qualities are proportionably 
more intense in great Bodies of the same 
Kind. Thus a greater Fire is proportionably 
more intensely hot than a lesser one; and 
likewise, the Wine contain'd in a larger Ves- 
sel becomes stronger than that contain'd in a 
lesser, and consequently the Juices of larger 
Vegetables and Animals are more rank 
N3 than





198 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than those of smaller ones of the same 
Kind. 
4. Sea-Fish or Animal's, are harder to di- 
gest than Land Animals; because, generally 
speaking, their Food is other Animals; and 
the Salt Element in which they live, renders 
their Flesh more firmly compact, Salts having 
a stronger Power of Cohesion † than any 
other Bodies. And for the same Reason, salt- 
water Fish is harder to digest than fresh-wa- 
ter Fish. 
5. Vegetables and Animals, that abound 
with oily, fat, and viscid Substance, are har- 
der to digest than those of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance; because oily and fat 
Substances commonly elude the Force and 
Action of animal Digestion, especially in such 
as have little Exercise and weak Stomachs; 
for their Parts attract one another, and unite 
more strongly than any other Substances, ex- 
cept Salts; inasmuch as their Softness and 
Humidity relax and weaken the Tone and 
Force of the Stomach, the Fat and Oil be- 
ing shut up in little Bladders, that are with 
Difficulty broken and separated. Thus Nuts of 
all Kinds, as they contain a great deal of Oil, 
pass thro' the Alimentary Duct almost undi- 
gested; for the same Reason, Olives are more 
difficult to digest than Pease, and fat Meat 
than the lean of the same. 
6. That all Vegetables and Animals of a 
strong, pungent, and aromatic hot Taste, are 
harder
‡ Sticking together.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 199
harder to digest than those of a softer, mild- 
er, and more insipid Taste; because such 
Substances abound with a great deal of Salts, 
or an Oil extremely active and heating; for 
high Relish comes from abundance of Salts 
and exalted Oils. A great deal of Salts sup- 
poses such Vegetables and Animals as are a 
long time coming to Maturity; and where 
Salts abound, the Fibres are dryer, harder, 
and more firmly in Contact with each other; 
for that Reason they are more difficultly sepa- 
rated, and harder to be digested. 
But however, Sea-Salt, or Rock-Salt, being 
fixed and of the same Nature, of all Season- 
ings is the best, without which no Food is 
good, and is used by Mankind in their Ali- 
ments for the following Reasons. 1. That 
thereby the Food may descend easier into the 
Stomach, and render it more savoury. 2. Be- 
cause it resists Putrefaction; consuming by its 
Dryness, that Moisture whereby Putrefaction 
might have been occasion'd. 3. It excites 
the Appetite, and digestive Faculty, and pre- 
vents Nauseating. 4. It dissolves, attenuates, 
and dries up the superfluous Moisture, pro- 
vokes the Bowels to discharge the Excrements, 
and is therefore used in Clysters and Supposi- 
tories. Besides, as all animal Substance contain 
no fix'd Salt, they want the Assistance of 
those, in order to promote Digestion, which 
preserve them both within and without the 
Body from Putrefaction; and as these fix'd 
Salts pass unalter'd thro' all the Strainers of a 
N4 human





200 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
human Body, the moderate Use of them is 
very proper to preserve Bodies through which 
they pass from Corruption. 
But on the other Hand, the immoderate 
Use of Salt produces a Multitude of woeful 
Disorders; such as Melancholy, Vapours, and 
bad Nourishment; it dries up the Blood, and 
causes the Muriatick, or Briny-Scurvy, Scab- 
biness and Itchy Ring-worms or Tetters, and 
even the Leprosy, with a great many other 
foul Humours and Eruptions in the Face 
and other Parts of the Body; and likewise it 
occasions Obstructions in the Urinary Passages, 
which oftentimes produce Ulcerations, Stone, 
and Gravel in the Kidneys and Bladder. 
And it will easily appear, that Salt can 
produce all these bad Effects, if we consider 
that Salts consist of hard and plain Surfaces, 
and in all Changes recover their Figure, and 
unite the most firmly of all Bodies whatever; 
for their plain Surfaces bring many Points in- 
to Union and Contact, and their Hardness and 
constant Figure render them durable and un- 
alterable; and thereby the active Principle, 
and Origin of the Qualities of Bodies, if in 
a Strict Sense there be any such Thing as a 
Principle; and when they approach within 
the Sphere or Limits of one another's Activity, 
they firmly unite in Clusters, all which ren- 
der the Separation of their original Particles 
the more difficult, and by that Means they 
obstruct the cuticular Glands, which are the 
Emunctories or Strainers of the whole Body, 
thro'



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 201 
thro' which not only the peccant Humours 
pass, but likewise the greatest Part of the Li- 
quors we drink, after having convey'd the 
Aliments into the Blood, being part of their 
Office, and in the next Place to dissolve the 
saline or terrestrial Particles to be carried off 
thro' the Glands of the Skin and Kidneys. So 
that when Salts adhere and unite in Clusters in 
the excretory Ducts of the Glands of the Skin, 
or the Kidneys, in the former they stop and 
pen in between the Scales of the * Scarf-skin 
the excrementious Humours, which ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, and 
thereby corrode the Skin, and produce Scur- 
vies, and other cutaneous Eruptions; in 
the latter, they cause Inflammations, Ulcera- 
tions, Suppression of Urine, and, as I have ob- 
served before, Stone and Gravel. Thus we 
may plainly see, how the immoderate Use of 
Salt is capable of producing not only all the 
disorders already mentioned, but likewise a 
great many more in the animal Oeconomy, 
Honey is the most accurate or exact Pro- 
duction of the vegetable Kind, perform'd by 
the Bee, being a most exquisite vegetable 
Soap, resolvent of the Bile, balsamick and 
pectoral: It is likewise detersive and opening, 
provokes
* It is the outermost Covering of the Body, and is that 
soft Skin which rises in a Blister upon any Burning, or the 
Application of a Blistering-Plaister. It sticks close to the 
Surface of the true Skin, to which it is tied by the Vessels 
which nourish it, tho' they are so small as not to be seen.




202 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
provokes Urine, and cleanses its Passages, and 
is excellent for old and phlegmatick People of 
a cold Constitution; for it warms the Sto- 
mach, moves the Body, resists Corruption, and 
breeds good Blood; but sometimes it causes 
Wind and Gripes in some Constitutions. 
Oil of Olives is sweet and pleasant, and 
very agreeable to Nature; and it is best when 
two Years old, and ought to be made of ripe 
Olives. 
Oil of Sweet Almonds, when fresh drawn, 
is next to it in Goodness, and much properer 
for Sick People, it being of a cooler Nature, 
and more easily digested, tho' not so agreeable 
to the Palate. 
Oil fattens, and taken in great Quantities, 
is excellent to expel Poison by vomiting, and 
by sheathing the Coats of the Stomach from 
its corrosive Salts; but eating Oil too often 
destroys the Appetite, because all Oils are very 
hard to be digested, as I have already proved. 
Vinegar: The best is that which is made 
of the best Wine: It is an Acid of very pe- 
culiar Quality, different from that of all other 
Acid; for it is cooling, and yet not coagu- 
lating; for it gently dilutes the Serum of the 
Blood, as has been often proved by Experi- 
ments. It is inciding, digestive, and opening. 
It is good against the Redundancy of Bile, 
and to extinguish the Heat of Choler and 
Thirst. It strengthens the Gums, excites the 
Appetite, removes Obstructions, helps Diges- 
tion, and is good for hot Stomachs, and re-
sists 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 203
sists Putrefaction; therefore it is very useful a-
gainst pestilential Diseases, especially in Time 
of the Plague: But too much Use of it 
breeds melancholy Humours, injures the 
Nerves, emaciates some Constitutions too 
much, offends the Breast, and makes People 
look old and withered, with pale Lips. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bo- 
dies, with their good and bad Effects.
ALL Bodies which can be changed into 
the Fluids and Solids of our Bodies by 
the animal Powers, are called Aliment, as has 
been observed in the first Paragraph of Chap. 
VI. And to take it in the largest Sense, by 
Aliment is understood every Thing which a 
human Creature takes in common Diet, as 
Meat, Drink; and Seasoning, as Salt, Spice, 
Vinegar, &c. 
Our Food therefore consists, not only of such 
Particles as are proper for the Nourishment 
and Support of the Body, but likewise contains 
in it certain active Principles, such as Salts, 
Oils, and Spirits, &c. which are endued with 
such Properties, as both to vellicate and sti- 
mulate the Solids, to quicken the Circulation, 
and by attenuating the Fluids, render them 
more




204 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
more fit to undergo the necessary Secretions of
the Body. The Art then of preserving Health, 
and obtaining long Life, chiefly consists in a 
Mediocrity of such Diet as neither increases 
the Salts and Oils, so as to produce Distem- 
pers, nor too few, so as to suffer the Solids to
become too much relaxed; and if this desirable 
Medium be attained, by following the common 
ordinary Diet of the healthiest People in any 
Country or Climate; that is then, indisputably, 
the best Method in general to prefer Health. 
For it is certainly true, that the infinitely 
wise Creator has provided Food proper and 
peculiar to every Country and Climate, which 
is best for the Support of the Creatures he has
placed therein, as may be seen by the Chear- 
fulness and Health of the middling Sort of 
People of all Nations, who use only a simple 
Diet, without lusting after voluptuous or fo- 
reign Delicacies. Yet the Diseases of human 
Bodies often require Substances of more active 
Principles than what are found in common 
Aliment, in order to produce sudden Altera- 
tions; but where such Alterations are not 
necessary, the same Effect may be obtained 
by the repeated Force of Diet, with more 
Safety to the Body, where the sudden Changes 
are less to be apprehended. The smaller Ac- 
tivity of the Aliment is compensated by its 
Quantity; for according to the Laws of Mo- 
tion, if the Bulk and Activity of Aliment and 
Medicines are in reciprocal Proportion, the Ef- 
fect will be the same; for they both only bring 
about

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 205
about the Effect, by acting either upon the So- 
lids or Fluids, or upon both; upon the first, by 
stimulating, contracting, or relaxing; upon 
the last, by attenuating, coagulating, or ren- 
dering them acrimonious or mild, or by in- 
creasing or diminishing their Motion through 
the Vessels. 
That all these Actions can be performed by
Diet as well as Medicine, is evident from
Reason, Experience, and in some Cases by 
ocular Demonstration; as in Chirurgery, in 
Wounds and Sores, where the Influence of 
Diet upon them is plainly seen; for a Diet 
too relaxing weakens the Spring of the Ves- 
sels so much, that they cannot sufficiently re- 
sist the Influx of the Liquid, and so begets a 
a Fungus, or proud Flesh; and when too as- 
tringent, it produces a Cicatrice, or callous 
Substance. The Effects of warm Water and 
mealy Substances in relaxing; of Spirits, in 
stopping Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes, and conso- 
lidating the Fibres; the Power of Alkaline 
Absorbents in subduing Acidity, and Oil in 
stopping Perspiration, is very well known to
both Physicians and Chirurgeons. 
All those Substances which stimulate the 
solid Parts, produce the greatest Alterations 
in animal Bodies; for violent Sneezing pro- 
duces Convulsions in all the Muscles of Re- 
spiration, and an universal Secretion of all the 
Humours, as Tears, Spittle, Sweat, Urine, 
&c. And even all this Alteration can be pro- 
duced by the tickling of a Straw or Feather; 
there-



206 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
therefore acrid or sharp Substances, that are 
minute enough to pass into the capillary Tubes, 
must stimulate the small Fibres, and irritate 
them into greater Contractions. And many 
Things which we take as Food, or with our 
Food, have this Quality in some Degree: Such 
as the Juices of acid Vegetables, fermented 
Liquors, especially sharp Wines, and ferment- 
ed Spirits; aromatical Vegetables, as Savory, 
Fennel, Thyme, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Mus- 
tard, all which abound with a volatile pungent 
Salt; and, in short, all Spices in general, and all 
Vegetables, which being corrupted, easily re- 
solve themselves into a fœtid, oily, alkaline 
Substance. 
The solid Parts of an animal Body may be 
contracted variously: First, by dissolving their 
Continuity. For as a Fibre is cut through, it 
contracts itself at both Ends; therefore all 
Things that are so sharp as to destroy the 
small Fibres, must contract them. Secondly, 
Whatever empties the Vessels, gives Room to 
the Fibres to contract; so that Abstinence 
produces this Effect in the best Manner: And
whatever shortens the Fibres, by insinuating
itself into their Parts, as Water in a Rope, 
contracts them; and fermented Liquors pos- 
sess this Quality in a great Degree. 
The more sulphurous or chymical Oil any 
Spirit contains, the more pernicious it proves 
to the human Body, because it is harder to be 
wash'd away by the Blood; therefore Brandy 
is more easily carried off than Spirit of Ju-
niper; 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 207 
niper; and that than Spirit of Annise-seed or 
Rum. Compound aromatical Spirits destroy, 
first, by their fermentative Heat; 2ndly, By 
their oily * Tenacity: 3dly, By a caustic 
Quality residing in all Spices apt to destroy
the solid Parts. However these Qualities may
tender them proper in some Cases, taken in 
small Quantities. 
Austere acid Vegetables have this Quality 
of contracting and strengthening the Fibres, 
without a great many of the bad Effects of 
distilled Spirits, such as all Sorts of Sorrel, 
the Virtues of which consist in an acid, astrin- 
gent Salt, which is a Sovereign Remedy a- 
gainst a putrescent, bilious Alkali; and seve- 
ral kind of Fruits, as Quinces, some Sorts of
Pears, with the Marmalades made of them; 
likewise Medlars, Capers, Barberries, Pome- 
granates, and Purslain, all such are easily
distinguish'd by a rough and styptic Taste. 
And amongst Drinks, austere Wines, unripe 
Fruits likewise have the same Quality; but 
they are apt to cause foul Eruptions on the 
Skin, to obstruct the Nerves, and occasion 
Palsies.
Relaxing the Fibres, is rendering them 
flexible, or easy to be lengthen'd without Rup- 
ture or Breaking, which is perform'd only in 
the capillary vascular Solids. 
Of all Liquids endued with this Quality of 
relaxing, warm Water is the first; and next 
to it, the watery Decoctions and Infusions of 
Mealy
* Adhering or sticking together.

208 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of Mealy Vegetables, or Grains, as Oats, Bar- 
ley, &c. likewise all sweet and mild Garden 
Fruits, and almost all Pot-Herbs, as Spinage, 
Beets, Cabbage, Coleworts, and all that Class;
lactescent Plants, such as yield a milky Juice, 
as Lettuce, Succory, and Dandelion, if un- 
fermented, for Fermentation changes their 
Nature; also fresh oils of mild Plants, or 
Nuts, Cream, Butter, Marrow, and Whey; 
all which Things help to weaken and relax 
the Fibres, and are therefore proper Reme- 
dies for a too rigid, strong, or elastic State. 
The Qualities of the Fluids of a human 
Body can be likewise chang'd by Diet; as by
attenuating or diminishing the Cohesion of 
the Particles of the Fluid: and the Cohesion 
of the Particles depends upon the Weight and
Quantity of Fluids; therefore Abstinence and 
a slender Diet attenuates or thins them, be- 
cause emptying the Vessels gives room to the 
Fluid to expand or dilate itself. Besides, 
whatever penetrates and dilutes at the same 
Time, as Water impregnated with some pe- 
netrating Salt, attenuates very powerfully; and
the great Effects of medicated Waters may 
be justly ascrib'd to this Quality; likewise 
all saponaceous Substances composed of Oil 
and Salt, such are Honey, and the Robs and 
Gellies of most Fruits; Vinegar and Honey 
mix'd is a powerful Resolvent. All stimula- 
ting Substances, by increasing the Motion of 
the Blood, attenuate, unless they increase the 
Motion

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 209
Motion so much, as at last to produce Coagu- 
lation. 
The second manner of operating upon the 
Fluids is by thickening the Blood, which is 
perform'd by dissipating the most liquid Parts 
of it by Heat, or by insinuating some Sub- 
stances which make the Parts of the Fluid 
cohere more strongly: and the acid, au- 
stere Vegetables just now mention'd, have 
this Quality of condensing the Fluids, as well 
as strengthening the Solids. 
Another manner of operating upon the 
Fluids, is by increasing or lessening their 
Quantity: and the first is effected by a plen- 
tiful Diet, and the Suppression of Evacuations; 
the latter, either by a spare Diet, or promo- 
ting the animal Secretions, that is, expelling
the Fluids out of the Body; which may be 
perform'd by Substances that are laxative, as 
animal Oils, fresh Butter, Cream, Marrow, 
or fat Broth; the Oils of mild Vegetables, as 
that of Olives, Almonds, and the Fruits 
themselves; likewise all oily and mild Fruits, 
as Figs, and most Garden Fruits, by the Salts 
they contain, lubricate the Intestines; and some 
saponaceous Substances which stimulate gent- 
ly, as Honey, Hydromel, or boil'd Honey and 
Water, and even brown Sugar. Besides, Sub- 
stances that are diuretick, are proper for this
Intention, such as Whey, and Salts of all 
Kinds, Parsley, Celery, Sorrel, Chervil, As-
paragus, Eringo, and Nutmegs, &c.
O Acrimony

210 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Acrimony or Sharpness is not natural, but 
introduc'd into the Fluids of animal Bodies, 
either by Sickness, as in Cachexies, or ill 
Habits of Bodies, and Scurvies, &c. or by 
Diet that is either briny or acid, which con- 
sists of two Sorts, that is, of Things natural- 
ly acid, or render'd so by Fermentation; or 
alkaline aromatick Substances, consisting of 
Salts, and highly exalted Oils intimately uni- 
ted, which by increasing the Velocity of the 
Blood beyond what is natural, occasions an 
Attrition of the Parts, and thereby disposes 
the Blood and Juices to an alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
But the Juices of found Animals consist of 
Water impregnated with Salts of a peculiar 
Nature, which are neither acid, nor perfect- 
ly volatile; for, in the Evaporation of hu- 
man Blood by a gentle Fire, the Salt will not 
rise, but only the Spirit and Water, nor per- 
fectly fix'd; for human Blood calcin'd, yields
no fix'd Salt, nor is it a Sal Ammoniac; for 
that remains immutable after repeated Distil- 
lations, and Distillation destroys the ammonia- 
cal Quality of animal Salts, and turns them 
alkaline. So that it is a Salt neither quite fix'd, 
nor quite volatile, nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline, nor yet quite ammoniacal; but soft 
and benign, approaching nearest to the Na- 
ture of a Sal Ammoniac. 
Hence we may easily perceive, that the 
elementary Salts of found Animals are not the 
same as they appear by Distillation; for these
Alte-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 211
rations are produc'd by Fire: and those Salts 
are of a peculiar, benign and mild Nature in 
healthy Persons, who have * vital Force to 
subdue all the Substances they feed upon; but
in such who have not that vital Force, or 
commit some Errors in their Diet, these Salts 
are not sufficiently attenuated, and retain their 
original Qualities, which they discover in 
Cachexies, or ill Habits of Bodies, Scurvies 
of several Kinds, and many other Distempers; 
the Cure of which chiefly depends upon the 
Choice of Aliment with Qualities opposite to
the Nature of these Salts. 
Acrimony in the Blood commonly consists 
of three Sorts, according to the Nature of the 
Salts in which it resides; that is, either Acid, 
Alkaline, Muriatic, or briny, as in the Sea- 
Scurvy; but this last approaches more towards
the alkaline State, and admits of the same 
Cure. Acid Acrimony resides chiefly in the 
first Passages, that is, the Stomach and Inte- 
stines, proceeding often from the Weakness 
of Digestion, and the too long Duration of 
Vegetables, and Milk, or fermented Liquors 
the Stomach. All animal Substances are 
alkalescent; and of Vegetable Substances some 
are acid, others alkalescent, and each Sort is
to be used according to the two different In- 
tentions hereafter mention'd. 
O2 The
* By vital Force, is understod the Sum of all these Pow-
ers in an animal Body, which convert; his Aliment or Food in- 
to its own Nature. 

212 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The proper Diet for the Cure of the acid 
Acrimony, are Vegetables of all Kinds, as 
Garlick, Onions, Leeks, and Celery; the an- 
tiscorbutick Plants, as Cresses, Brooklime, 
Scurvygrass, &c. Carrots, Turnips, Pota- 
toes, Eringo Roots, Asparagus, Horse-radish, 
Mustard, and Cabbage. All animal Substan- 
ces being likewise Alkalescent, or contrary to
Acidity, are also very proper Food in this 
Disorder, more particularly all Fishes of the 
Shell-kind. Water, by its diluting Quality, 
subdues Acidity very powerfully. Oils are 
Anti-acids, so far as they blunt Acrimony; but 
as they are sometimes hard of Digestion, they 
may produce Acrimony of the alkaline Sort. 
The alkaline Acrimony being opposite to 
the former, is cur'd by a proper Diet made 
of the Decoctions of farinaceous or mealy 
Substances, especially such as are made of 
Oats are proper, as having an acescent Qua- 
lity. Therefore this alkaline Acrimony requires 
a plentiful Use of Vinegar, and acid Fruits, 
such as Oranges, which contain a Juice most
effectual in the Cure of the muriatic or briny
Scurvy of Sea-faring People; the Juice of 
Lemons is likewise proper, and more cool- 
ing and astringent than that of Oranges: and 
in this Case all the mild Antiscorbuticks are 
indicated, as Sorrel, Cichory, Endive, Lettuce, 
and Apples, &c. and of Liquids Whey. On 
the contrary, all the acrid Antiscorbuticks, 
as Horse-radish, Mustard, and Scurvygrass, 
&c. are very hurtful in this, and all other hot 
Scurvies. 
Other

Ch.VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 213
Other Sorts of Antiscorbuticks proper in 
this alkalescent State of the Fluids, are called
Astringents, such as Pomegranates, Capers, 
and most of the common Pickles prepar'd 
with Vinegar, And as the Extremity of Al- 
kali is Putrefaction; so all acid Substances, 
and Sea-Salt, resist such a putrescent Quality in 
the Fluids; but as the latter is a sharp solid 
Body, and unalterable in all the Circulations 
of the animal Body, and when it is taken 
constantly in a Diet of Salt Meat in too great
Quantities, (as I have taken Notice of in the 
latter End of the preceding Chapter) it breaks 
the Vessels, produces Erosions of the solid 
Parts, and all the Symptoms of the briny 
Sea-Scurvy, which is to be cur'd by acid Ve- 
getables, and not by the hot Antiscorbutics, 
as I have just now observ'd. 
There are other Sorts of Substances which 
are proper in the Cure of both Sorts of Acri- 
mony, which are demulcent or mild, because 
they sheath these sharp Salts, as farinaceous 
or mealy Pulse, such as Pease, Beans, Len- 
tils; native Oils of Animals, as Cream, But- 
ter, Marrow. Likewise all Plants that are 
without Smell or pungent Taste are demulcent; 
and also all the alimentary Parts of found Ani- 
mals; for none of their Juices will hurt or 
smart either the Eye or a fresh Wound. 
As Liquors make a considerable Part of our 
Aliment, it will not be improper to give a 
short Account of their principal Qualities in 
O3 this

214 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
this Place, before I treat of different Consti- 
tutions, with the Diet proper for each in Par- 
ticular. 
Drink being an essential Part of our Food, 
is either Water, Milk, or Whey; or ferment- 
ed Liquors, such as Malt Liquors of different
Sorts, Cyder, Wines, or a Mixture of these: 
And as the chief Intentions of Drink are, 1st, 
To moisten and convey our Food into the 
Stomach, and the Nutriment thereof to the 
respective Parts of the Body, and to allay 
Thirst; 2dly, To dilute the Blood, that it 
may circulate through the minutest Vessels;
3dly, To dissolve and carry off; by Urine and 
Perspiration, the superfluous Salts we take in 
our Food, which are unalterable in a human 
Body, as I have observ'd in one or two Places 
already: so pure Water answers all these Intenti- 
ons best, except in some few Cases hereafter 
mentioned; for no Liquor that we drink will 
circulate so well, or mix with our Fluids so im- 
mediately as Water; because all other Liquors 
we drink are impregnated with Particles that 
act strongly either upon the Solids or Fluids, 
or both; but as Water is the only simple 
drinkable Fluid, and being altogether inac- 
tive, so it is the fittest and most innocent Li- 
quor for diluting, moistening, and cooling; 
which are the chief Ends of Drink pointed 
out to us by Nature: Besides, nothing will 
dissolve Salts and carry what is superfluous of
them out of Body, so well as pure Water, 
that


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 215
that being the proper Menstruum or Vehicle 
for dissolving all Kinds of Salts. 
The benign, mild, and other useful Qua- 
lities of Water plainly shew, that it was de- 
sign'd by the most wise Creator for our com- 
mon Drink; and, without doubt, was the 
primitive original Drink: And happy had it 
been for Mankind that other mix'd and arti- 
ficial Liquors had never been invented; for 
Water is so necessary to our Subsistence, that
we could not live a Moment without it; be- 
cause this Element furnishes all the fluid Parts 
of our Humours, without which they could 
not circulate; and it dissolves all the Salts in the 
Blood, whereby some are carried to their pro- 
per Places within the Body, and others to 
proper Emunctories for their Expulsion from 
it. It serves to prepare our Food, and then 
for a Vehicle to convey it out of the Stomach 
into every little Meander of the Body, both 
for Health and Nourishment: So that Water 
alone is sufficient and effectual for all the 
Purposes of human Wants as to Drink. 
Therefore it is evident from what has been 
said, that Water is the best and most whole- 
some Drink in general; but in some Constitu- 
tions, where something is necessary to warm 
and act as a Stimulus, then fermented Li- 
quors taken in Moderation are proper, such 
as Beer, Ale, Cyder, Wine, &c. the Quan- 
tity and Choice of which depends upon the 
Age, Constitution, and Manner of Living of 
the Drinker; for in Youth, Milk, Water, or 
O4 Whey


216 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Whey are the properest, and in a middle Age 
a little more generous Liquors may be some- 
times allow'd; but most of all in old Age; 
for according to the old Saying, Lac senûm
est Vinum, Wine is old Men's Milk. 
As to Malt Liquors, small Beer well boil- 
ed, and of a due Age, is the best for common
Drink; otherwise it must be very hurtful to 
Persons of weak Nerves and flow Digestion; 
for by fermenting anew in the Bowels it will 
fill the whole Cavity of the Belly with Fumes 
and Vapours, which will at last produce very
bad Effects in a weak Constitution. 
As for strong Beer, it should be made of 
Water that will bear Soap; be well hopp'd 
and boil'd, that it may keep till all the gross
and viscid Parts fall to the Bottom of the 
Vessel, without the Help of any pernicious 
Composition for fining Liquors, too frequent- 
ly made Use of to the Destruction of thou- 
sands; for it is very notorious, that all your 
fine Ales, or Home-brew'd, as they are call'd, 
have neither due Age or Hops enough to cla- 
rify of their own Accord, being brew'd one 
Week and drank the next, or soon after; so 
that the Seller is obliged to have Recourse to
some Art or other to fine them down, which 
is very often with unslack Lime, or at best a 
Mixture of Ising-glass *, and other Ingredients 
* Is a very strong Glew, made of a Kind of Fish catch'd in
great Quantities in Rivers in Hungary and other Parts: It is 
used by Cabinet-makers, and sometimes ordered as a Medicine to 
stop Fluxes and Seminal Weaknesses; but it is very improper 
for

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 217
very destructive, if not poisonous, to many 
Constitutions: Besides, these Liquors are of 
so agglutinating and thickening a Nature, as 
to produce Stone, Gravel, Gout, Bloatedness, 
and great Thirst, with the Loss of Appetite: 
And to prove the agglutinating Qualities of 
all such Liquors, it is experimentally known, 
that they make excellent Bird-lime; and 
when simmer'd for some Time over a slow 
Fire, make the most sticking and best Plaister 
for old Strains. 
We have likewise convincing Reasons to 
have the same Opinion of the Yorkshire, Not- 
tingham, and Welch intoxicating Ales; and, 
in short, all fine Ales brew'd for Sale: For it 
is certainly true, that all these fine Liquors, 
far fetch'd and dear bought, have always some- 
thing in their Composition hurtful to our Con- 
stitution, more than meer Water, Malt, and 
Hops; therefore I would advise all those, 
who have any Regard for their own Health or 
Lives, to avoid, as much as possible, the use
of all such Liquors, and more especially the 
valetudinary, sedentary, studious, and contem- 
plative People; and, in fine, all such as have 
weak Nerves and slow Digestion. 
As the frequent Use and Excess of Drams,
or distill'd Spirituous Liquors, is a Vice of so
horrid 
for such as are otherwise in good Health; for the constant Use 
of it will produce Gravel, Stone, Blotches, and Eruptions on the 
Skin, by glewing up as it were the Urinary Passages, and 
likewise stopping insensible Perspiration; and, in short, it will 
produce the same bad Effects in human Constitutions, as the 
common Glew used by Joyners and Carpenters.

218 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
horrid a Nature in itself, and now become 
epidemical, not only among Mechanicks and 
Tradesmen, but among Persons of the brightest
Genius, and finest Taste and Accomplish- 
ments; and, alas! even among the finest
Part of the Creation, I mean the Fair Sex; 
and those of them too, which is still more a- 
stonishing, who are in all other Respects 
blameless, and of the strictest Virtue! I say, 
as the Case is so, it will not be improper to 
explain the poisonous Qualities and direful Ef- 
fects of such pernicious Liquors, which de- 
stroy Millions, both in Body and Soul. 
Let us then consider, that distill'd Spirits are
but an Accumulation of fine Salts and light Oil, 
compacted together into the smallest Bulk; the 
Salts are so hard and solid as naturally to re- 
tain their Heat and Activity the longest, into
which Water cannot enter; the Oil † is so 
inflammable, that it most readily receives Heat 
and Fire, and by that Means defends the Salts 
from the Power of Water over them: So 
that in the continued Distillation of Spirits, 
this
† They are guilty of a gross Error, who imagine that the 
more oily any distill'd Spirit is, the more wholsome it will 
prove to the Constitution; for they do not consider that it is a 
very subtile, sulphurous, chymical, inflammable Oil, blended 
with Portions of very fine Salts, raised by the Force of Fire, 
and that it is quite different in its Nature and Quality from 
the benign and pectoral Oil of Olives or Sweet Almonds, or 
any other express'd Oils produced without Fermentation or 
Fire. Hence it is evident that Rum, or double-distill'd Spirit 
of Annise-seeds, and Spirits distill'd from aromatick Plants, are 
much more difficult to be digested and carried off than Brandy, 
or Spirit of Juniper; and that for no other Reason, than that 
they contain too great a Quantity of burning Oil. 



Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 219  
this Action of the Fire is so strong as to re- 
duce the Spirits at last into liquid Flames, 
which will, of their own accord, evaporate 
in visible Flames and Fumes. 
Besides, it is observable that every Thing 
that has pass'd the Fire so long a Time as to 
divide and penetrate its Parts as far as it pos- 
sibly can, retains ever afterwards a corrosive 
and burning Quality. This is manifest from 
the firey and burning Touch and Taste of new- 
distill'd Spirits; as also from the burning of
a Lime-stone, which retains its heating and 
drying Quality ever after, tho' extinguish'd by
Water. 
Hence it will manifestly appear, that run- 
ning into the frequent Use and Habit of Dram- 
drinking will as certainly kill as Laudanum, 
or Arsenick, tho' not so soon; for such Li- 
quors contract, harden, and consolidate many 
Fibres together, abolishing many Vessels, or 
Canals in the Body, especially where the Fi- 
bres are the tenderest, as in the Brain, by 
which Quality they destroy the Memory and 
intellectual Faculties, abrade and wear off the 
villous Coat of the Stomach, and thereby ex- 
pose its nervous Coat to the Insults of the most
firey, corroding, saline, and caustick Particles
of the Spirits; by which means the Springi- 
ness or Elasticity of the Fibres is so weakened, 
that the whole Stomach becomes at last soft, 
flabby, and relax'd. Hence a Loss of Appe- 
tite, and an Inability to digest the small Quan- 
tity of Food that is taken in; whence arise 
Cru-

220 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Crudities, Nauseas, Vomitings, Tremors, ner- 
vous Convulsions, Consumptions, Dropsies; 
likewise Gout, Stone, Rheumatism, raging Fe- 
vers and Pleurisies, which for the most part 
nothing but Death alone can remove at last. 
What a melancholy Scene do we daily be- 
hold, in all Parts of this great Capital, of
Numbers of miserable Creatures, render'd not 
only useless to themselves, to their Families, 
Friends and Relations, but likewise burthen- 
some to the Publick, and a Scandal to both Chri- 
stianity and the rest of their Fellow-Subject! 
And all this great Calamity entirely ow- 
ing to the Folly of a bewitching Habit of 
Dram-drinking. And what is still most sur- 
prising, we see even the Moral, and the Sen- 
sible, bound in these Chains and Fetters, that 
nothing less than Almighty Grace, or the un- 
relenting Grave can release them; for they 
are deaf to Reason, and to their own Experi- 
ence, and even to the express Words of the 
Scripture, which says, That the Drunkard 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 
From this Doctrine it will appear, to the 
Evidence of a Demonstration, that next to 
Drams, no Liquor deserves to be stigmatized 
and detested more than Punch; for it is a 
Composition of such Parts, that not one of 
them, except the pure Water and Sugar, is 
wholsome, or friendly to any Constitution, espe- 
cially to valetudinary, tender, weak, and studious 
People. The chief Ingredient being either 
Arrack, Rum, Brandy, or Malt-Spirits, and 
all

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 221
all of them rais'd by Fire, from the fermented 
Juices of Plants brought from hot Countries, 
or which have born the Heat of the Sun 
longest in our own Climate; for it is observable 
that Vegetables, whose Juices have most Solar 
Heat in them, their fermented Juices yield 
the strongest Spirits in Distillation. 
The other principal Part of the Composition 
being sour Juice of unripe Oranges or Li- 
mons. And if we consider, that the Juice of
a Crab-Apple, of unripe Goosberries, or 
Grapes, or even the Juice of Sorrel, would 
come up at least to their Virtue in extinguish- 
ing the Heat of the burning Spirits, if not to
their Flavour; And yet every body who is 
not depriv'd of his Senses, must know how 
destructive an Ingredient such Juices would 
be to the fine Fibres of the Stomach and 
Bowels. 
For it is evidently true, even from Experi- 
ence, that all fermenting Juices, such as these 
are in a very great Degree, must be highly 
injurious to the human Constitution; for 
meeting with Crudities in the Bowels, they 
must raise a new Struggle or Fermentation there, 
and so fill up the whole Cavities of the Body, 
with acrid Fumes and Vapours, which is ex- 
tremely prejudicial to the Bowels, especially 
when the Constitution is tender and weak. 
And in the West-Indies, where the People 
are forced to drink much Punch, by reason 
of the Violence of the Heat, and for Want of 
other proper Liquors there, tho' the Limons 
and


222 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and Oranges are in full Perfection, yet the 
Inhabitants are universally afflicted with ner- 
vous and mortal Dry-Gripes, Cramps, Pal- 
sies, and Convulsions, which kill them in a 
few Days, and all intirely owing to this 
poisonous Mixture, Punch. 
Notwithstanding what I have advanced 
against the deliterious † Qualities of Drams 
and Punch, at least when taken for any Con- 
stancy, or in any great Quantity, for some 
Poisons are only so by their Quantity, yet I 
would not be understood here to discourage 
the innocent Means of enlivening Conversa- 
tion, promoting Friendship, comforting the 
Sorrowful, and raising the drooping Spirits, 
at proper Times with a chearful Glass of 
some good wholsome Liquor or other; for the
Sober can receive no Prejudice from a mode- 
rate Use of Liquors: On the Contrary, it 
will help to invigorate and re-establish the 
Constitution, especially after the Fatigues of
Labour or Study. Neither am I against the 
taking a proper cordial Dram sometimes, as 
in an actual Fit of the Colick or Gout in the 
Stomach; or upon a full Meal of Fish, Pork, 
&c. when a Glass of good Wine cannot be 
had. 
But the Frenzy of being given to the too 
frequent Use and Excess of Liquors, is abo- 
minable; for a Sot is the lowest and the most 
contemptible Character in human Life; and 
as for the Profligate, the Sensual, and Vo- 
luptuous,
† Poisonous.


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 223
luptuous, they are past reclaiming, and there- 
fore deserve no Advice, at least they will take 
none. However, I present them here with 
a short Sketch of the Effects of Drunkenness,
to contemplate upon at their Leisure, if they
can spare any Time from the bewitching 
Folly of sotting and drinking. 
The Effects then of Drunkenness render 
the Blood inflamed into a Gout, Stone, and 
Rheumatism, raging Fevers, Pleurisies, Small- 
Pox, or Measles. 
2. The Passions are enraged into Quarrels, 
Murder, and Blasphemy; the Juices are 
dry'd up; and the solids scorched and shri- 
velled. 
3. A Resolution of the Nerves, Cramps, 
and Palsies. 
4. Inflation of the Belly and Dropsies. 
5. Redness and Rheums, with an Inflamma- 
tion in the Eyes. 
6. Tremblings in the Hands and Joynts, 
Head-Aches, Quinsies, and Scurvies of all 
Kinds. 
7. Sicknesses at the Stomach, with four 
Belchings, Reachings and Vomitings. 
8. A furious and unmanageable Disposition 
to Lust, which hurries them to the base and
sordid Company of Harlots, and impure Wo- 
men, by whose Means they most commonly 
acquire a foul Disease, under which they 
often labour for the greatest Part of the 
Remainder of their Lives, in Shame and Tor- 
ments;


224 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ments; nay some become incurable, and even 
rot by Piece-meal, before their Dissolution. 
9. A Decay of Memory and Understanding, 
Loss of Credit and Reputation. 
10. An Unfitness for Business, or the Dis- 
patch of the Affairs of Life; and a Readiness
of discovering all Secrets. 
These, with a great many more, are the 
bitter Fruits of Drunkenness, even in this
Life; and in the next, according to the 
express Words of holy Writ, will be re- 
warded with everlasting Miseries, as being
thereby excluded the Kingdom of Heaven. 
A short Account
of different
Wines in gene-
ral.
As it would be endless to enter 
into a long Account of the diffe-
rent Qualities of all Sorts of Wines, 
therefore I shall only say in gene- 
ral, that all the light Wines, of a moderate 
Strength, due Age, and full Maturity, are 
much more wholsome for the Constitution, 
and preferable for Conversation, Cheerfulness, 
and Digestion, than the rich, hot, strong and 
heavy Wines: For the light Wines inflame 
the Juices of the Body less, and go off the 
Stomach with less Difficulty; they likewise 
afford longer Time for Conversation and 
Cheerfulness, with less Danger. 
Red Port Wine is strong and astringent; 
but white Port and Spanish Wines are stimu- 
lating and attenuating. French Wines are 
lighter, and not so strong as the Portugal 
and Spanish Wines; which renders them 
2 whol-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 225
wholsomer for thin and dry Constitutions. 
Fine old Rhenish and Moselle Wines are very 
wholsome, especially the Former, which is 
exceedingly good for most Constitutions. 
Strong made Country Wines are prejudicial 
to all Constitutions, being very windy, heavy, 
and heady, taken in any considerable Quan- 
tity; therefore it is surprising the extreme 
Fondness People of the better Sort in England 
have run into, for such Liquors; and for no 
other Reason that can be thought of, than 
the only one the Vulgar give for drinking 
Brandy or Gin, that they sooner intoxicate 
them. 
The last Thing I have to say concerning 
Liquors, is, that Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors, are as hard to digest, and require as
much Labour of the concoctive Powers, as 
solid and strong Food itself; and this is not
only evident with respect to Persons of weak 
Stomachs and Digestion, but also from strong 
and healthy People, who only drink either 
water or Small Beer at their Meals, and shall 
be able to eat and digest almost double the 
Quantity of what they could, did they drink 
strong Liquors. Therefore it appears very 
Plain, that we should always drink very little
strong Liquors at our great Meals, otherwise 
we must certainly impair the Constitution, and 
load it with various Diseases at last; for such
Liquors, by their Heat and Activity, hurry 
the Food unconcocted into the Habit of the 
Body, and by that Means lay a Founda-
P tion

226 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tion for Fevers, Colicks, and several 
chronical Distempers. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, the Diet 
proper for each. 
ALthough I have given an Account of Tem- 
peraments or Constitutions in general in the 
Begining of Part I. Chapter I. of this Treatise;
yet it will be necessary to treat of them in a more 
peculiar Manner in this Place, that every one 
may easily know the Nature of his own in 
particular. And as I have explained the Na- 
ture and Qualities of Aliment, in the two
preceding Chapters, with their good and bad 
Effects upon human Bodies, it will be like- 
wise necessary to lay down Rules of Diet pro- 
per for each Constitution in particular, in this
Chapter, by which Means it will not be diffi- 
cult for any one to observe a sure and easy 
Method in regard to what may be either use- 
ful or prejudicial to his own Constitution in 
particular, in order to preserve Health and 
prolong Life; or when impair'd, to restore it
again, which are the chief Ends of the noble 
Art of Physick. 
A general Method as to Diet, without re- 
gard to particular Constitutions, is absurd. 
3 The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 227
The most common Difference of human 
Constitutions proceeds either from the solid † 
Parts, or from the different State of the 
Fluids, (as I hinted in the first Part of this
Book.) From the former, as to their different 
Degrees of Strength and Tension; for in 
some Constitutions they are too lax and weak, 
in others they are too strong and elastick; 
from the latter, as they consist of Water, Spi- 
rit, Oil, Salts, and earthy Parts, they differ 
according to the Redundance of the Whole, or 
of any of the said Ingredients in particular; 
and for which Reason they may be justly 
called either plethorick, sanguine, phlegmatick, 
saline, oily on fat, earthy or melancholick Con- 
stitutions. 
The Fibres of the Solids in a human Body 
are too weak and lax, when the Cohesion of 
their Parts is so small, that they may be re- 
solved or broken by a Force not much greater 
than what happens commonly in the Body of 
a healthy Person; and when the Weakness of 
the Vessels or Organs, proceeding from a 
too small Cohesion of their constituent Parts, 
renders them unable to discharge the com- 
mon Functions of Life, consider'd in a State 
of Health. 
And notwithstanding there is a Debility or 
Weakness of Fibres in Infants, yet it is no 
P2 Disease,
† The Solids of an animal Body are composed of small Fi- 
bres or Threads, which may be divided into still less; and this 
Division proceeds so far, as that at last they become so incre- 
dibly small, as to exceed the Power of Imagination; but 
Reason tells us that there must be an End at ast.



228 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Disease, because they lengthen by the Influx 
of the Liquids, which is the Cause of their 
Growth; but in grown Persons, when their 
Fibres cannot any more give way or stretch, 
they must either break or lose their Spring. 
The common Causes of Weakness of the 
Fibres are, either a Defect or great Loss of 
the nutritious Juices; for if there is not a 
Sufficiency of Blood, the Chyle cannot be ea- 
sily assimilated to nourish the Fibres. And 
People who lose great Quantities of Blood 
daily, by Blood-letting or otherwise, become 
dropsical; for when a Fibre, which is natu- 
rally elastick like a Bow, loses its Spring, it is
only passive, and consequently useless to the 
Individual. Likewise Nourishment too glu- 
tinous or viscid to be subdued by the concoc- 
tive Powers of Digestion. Also a sedentary 
and lazy Life; for Motion or Exercise en- 
creases the Circulation of the Fluids, and of
Course an Application of the solid Parts to- 
gether. People who live healthy in a dry Air, 
commonly fall into Diseases that depend upon 
weak and relax'd Fibres when in a moist one. 
Lastly, a natural Weakness from the Frame 
and Constitution of the Body, which is too 
often the Case. 
The Sign of weak and lax Fibres are, a weak 
Pulse, Paleness, flabby and soft Flesh, 
Palpitations of the Heart, Bloated- 
ness, Lassitude, and scorbutical Spots; 
Coldness of the Skin, four Belchings upon taking 
vegetable Food, or foul Eructations, like that of 
The Signs of
weak Fibres.
rotten

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 229
rotten Eggs, after eating animal Food, are also 
Signs of weak Fibres in the Organs of Diges- 
tion; likewise Atrophy, or a Decay of the 
Flesh, which indicates a Destruction or Ob- 
struction of the Vessels that convey the Nou- 
rishment; and Dropsies proceed from a Weak- 
ness and Laxity of the Fibres, as having lost
their Elasticity or Springiness to return the 
Fluid. And, in short, most of all the chro- 
nical Diseases proceed from Weakness and 
Laxity of the Fibres. Therefore the chief In- 
tention of Cure must be to restore the Tone 
of the solid Parts; for all other Attempts, 
without this, will prove fruitless. 
So that they who have weak Fibres ought 
to forbear all great Evacuations, especially 
Bleeding, viscid Substances, and all other Food
hard of Digestion; they Should likewise avoid 
a sedentary Life and moist Air as much as 
possible: They should eat often, but in small 
Quantites, of such Things as are nourishing, 
and of easy Digestion, as Milk, Broth, and 
Jellies made of Flesh Meat, Rice Gruel, Pa- 
nadas, &c. And their Drink should be some 
of the light Wines of due Age and Maturity, 
mix'd with Water, for Water alone is too re- 
axing; or any good Wine with acidulated 
and Steel Waters, such as Pyrmont or Spaw,
&c. They should likewise use in their Diet 
austere or acid Vegetables, if their Stomachs
can tolerably bear them; such as Pears, 
Plumbs, Quinces, Pomegranates, Barberries, 
Medlars, Sorrel, Purslain, Burnet, Tama-
P3 rinds.

230 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
rinds, Limons, Capers, or any other Pickles
they like best.
The Fibres are too strong and too elastick, 
when the Cohesion of their Parts is 
in such a Degree of Rigidity or Stiff- 
ness as renders them inflexible to the 
Causes they ought to yield to, so as to pre- 
serve the Animal in Health; for too great 
Elasticity is not only a Quality by which they 
resist against being lengthen'd, but likewise they
restore themselves, by that Means, with too 
great a Force and Pressure upon the moving 
Fluids, to the Detriment of the Ani- 
mal. 
Too strong
Fibres.
Rigidity of the Vessels or Organs is such a 
Degree of Cohesion as prevents their being ex- 
panded so far as is necessary to carry on the 
vital Functions *, as usual in a true State of
Health. And the Rigidity of the Fibres must 
necessarily produce a Rigidity of the Vessels 
and Organs, because the Fibres make up their 
constituent Parts. 
The Cause of such a State, besides the na- 
tural Frame and Constitution of the Body, 
is old Age, in which the Fibres are conspicu- 
ously rigid and dry; or too long a Course of 
such Diet as strengthens the Fibres too much; 
likewise hard Labour or Exercise. 
Signs. 
The Signs of such a Constitution 
are, a hard, dry, hairy, scraggy, and 
warm
* Vital Functions are the muscular Action of the Heath,
the secretory Action of the Brain, that of the Lungs, and of
the Blood and Spirits, with their Motions through their pro-
per Organs; and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves.



Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 231  
warm Body., without a Disease, with firm and
rigid Muscles, a strong Pulse, Activity and 
Promptness in the animal Actions *; and 
such Constitutions are most subject to inflam- 
matory Diseases. 
Their Diet should be Things contrary to 
those already mentioned in the 
State of too great Laxity of the 
Fibres; that is, of such Things as are emol- 
lient and cooling, the Pulps, Jellies, Juices, 
Mucilages, and Decoctions of Vegetables that 
are softening and relaxing; such as all Pot- 
herbs of the emollient Kinds, Lettuce, Ci- 
chory, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Barley, Rice, 
Mays, Millet, Pease, and Beans; animal Oils, 
such as Cream, Butter, Marrow, and all 
Things which relax or increase Fat, refrain- 
ing always from Things season'd with Spice, 
and with as little Salt as possible, for Salt har- 
dens the Fibres: Their animal Food should
be boil'd Meat and Broths without Seasoning, 
preferable to any other Form: Their Drink 
should be Water, Barley-water, Milk and 
Water, or Whey; avoiding all fermented 
Spirits and austere Wines, and Pickles of
all Kinds, all which are extremely hurtful to
such Constitutions. Bathing in warm Water 
The Regimen.
P4 often
* Are such, as when perform'd, the Understanding con- 
ceives Ideas of Things united to that Action; or the Will is 
either concerned in exciting such Actions, or moved by them 
when excited; such are the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, 
Hearing, Perception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, Rea- 
son, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary Motions. 

232 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
often is beneficial to such, but immoderate
Labour or Exercise very injurious. 
How the Fluids act upon the Solids of a 
human Body, so far as to cause Diversities of 
Constitutions and Diseases, is accounted for 
in the following Pages, in treating of different
Constitutions. 
The Definition.
A plethorick Constitution is such 
as abounds with too great a Quan- 
tity of laudable and good animal 
Juices; the Causes of which are 
strong Organs of Digestion and Chylification, 
a good Stomach, plenty of nourishing Diet, 
little Exercise, much Sleep, Laziness or want 
of muscular Motion, a moist Air, and a Suppres- 
sion of some of the usual Evacuations, especially
that of Perspiration. Therefore the 
Cure proper for this Constitution, is 
to avoid the Causes of it, just now mentioned, 
and use a more sparing Diet, greater Ex- 
ercise, and proper artificial Evacuations, in 
order to restore the natural ones; for 
The Cause.
The Cure.
This Constitution is subject to a Stoppage 
of the Circulation, by too great a Weight of 
Blood upon the Heart; Rupture of the Ves- 
sels, Suffocation, and sudden Death. But it 
is to be observed, that long Abstinence is not 
proper in the Cure of such a Constitution; 
for in that Case the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood fly off, and the grosser remain in the 
Vessels. Likewise frequent Bleedings, in small 
Quantities, often increases the Disorder, by 
augmenting the Force of the Organs of Di- 
gestion.

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
gestion, and by that Means promote Fatness. 
Persons of such a Constitution should al- 
ways avoid all oily and too nourishing Sub- 
stances; therefore Vegetables, being less nou- 
rishing than animal Food, are more proper; 
and, by the same Rule, to feed upon Fish pre- 
ferable to that of Flesh-meat. 
A sanguine is that Constitution is that 
which abounds with a great deal of 
good Blood; and the common outward Sign 
of such a Constitution, is a florid 
Colour in the Complexion, a Ful- 
ness and Blueness of the Veins, and 
a particular fair and lively Colour of the Skin, 
without Paleness. Those of a sanguine Con- 
stitution are subject to frequent Bleedings at
the Nose and other Parts, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs, Impostumations, and often to 
scrophulous or evily Diseases. 
Definition.
Diagnostick 
Signs. 
The Blood is the most universal Fluid in 
the animal Body, from which all the rest of 
the Juices are derived; for the red Part of it
differs from the Serum, the Serum from the 
Lymph, the Lymph from the nervous Juice, 
and that from the several other Humours that 
are separated in the Glands.
The red Globules of the Blood are elastick, 
and one Globule will break into six small ones, 
and then turn yellow; those yellow Globules 
break into others less, and so proceed till they
become white and transparent at last; for 
the Vessels which admit the smaller Globules 
to pass, cannot admit the larger without a 
Rupture,



234 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Rupture, or some other Disorder. So that 
as the Blood circulates thro' the smaller Chan- 
ness, the Redness will disappear more and more. 
A strong and free Motion of the Blood will 
occasion a Floridness upon the Skin of such 
Constitutions; for such a strong Motion will 
force the red Part of the Blood into more ca- 
pillary Vessels, Besides, another Cause com- 
monly concurring is the greater Transparency 
of the Vessels, occasioned by the Delicacy 
and Thinness of their Coats, which is evident 
from the large Veins of sanguineous Constitu- 
tions appearing blue and transparent, by the 
Colour of the Blood circulating in them. 
And if the Vessels are in a State of too 
great Rigidity, so as to be inflexible, a strong
Motion of the Blood will occasion a Rupture 
of them, with Hæmorrhages; especially in 
the Lungs, where the Blood is more abun- 
dant, and the Vessels more delicate: But if 
the Vessels yield instead of bursting, the Per- 
son is subject to the Inconveniences of a faulty
Circulation; that is, the Blood forces into 
the Vessels appointed to carry Serum or 
Lymph, from whence proceed Inflammations 
and Obstructions. And as the Delicacy and 
Thinness of the Vessels run through the whole 
Body, it must affect the Glands and Lympha- 
ticks, as well as the Blood-vessels; so that 
such Constitutions must be subject to glandu- 
lous and evily Tumours, and Ruptures of the 
Lymphaticks. 
The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 235
The Diet of such Constitutions 
should be cooling and relaxing, 
with Moderation in the Quantity of all Things, 
They ought to avoid every Thing that acce- 
lerates the Motion of the Blood, as violent 
Exercise and Watching; likewise they ought 
to abstain from the Use of all Things that a- 
bound with an acrimonious Salt, as Onions, 
Garlick, Leeks, Mustard, and the hot Herbs 
used in Seasoning, and all Spices in general; 
but Vinegar is exceeding useful to such as will 
use it constantly with their Food, for it will 
very much abate their florid Colour. 
The Regimen.
For more particular Directions, as to the 
Diet proper in this Constitution, I refer the 
Reader to the Diet prescribed for the Cure of
Rigidity and Elasticity of the Fibres, which
answers this Intention in every Particular. 
A saline Constitution of the Fluids 
in an animal Body; is either acid,
alkaline, or muriatick †. 
A Saline
Constitution
It has been proved in the foregoing Chapter, 
that the Juices of a found Animal are nei- 
ther acid nor alkaline; for all the Solids and 
Fluids of such, even fed with acescent or acid 
Substances, yield no Acid; because the vital 
Force of such Animals converts the acid Sub- 
stances they take in Food, into soft nutritious
animal Liquids of their own Nature. A Cow 
fed with Daisies, Trefoil, and Sorrel, will 
give Milk in which there is not the least Aci- 
dity; but if the vital Force is weak, it is not 
sufficient
† Briny.


236 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sufficient to subdue the Acidity of the Food 
taken in. 
Therefore as there is no Acid naturally in 
a found Animal Body, but what must be ta- 
ken in by Food; so that if it be not subdued 
in the Passages of the Chyle, it will get into 
the Blood; and if there is not a due Quantity 
of Blood, and a sufficient Strength of Circu- 
lation to subdue it, it will infect the Fluids, 
so as to produce various Distempers. 
The Effects of a Constitution subject to
Acidity, are sour Belching, a crav- 
ing Appetite, Sourness in the Sto- 
mach, with Pains; Green-sickness, 
the Case of a great many Girls craving after 
earthy Substances, such as Clay, Chalk, Meal, 
Cynders, &c. Colick Pains about the Navel, 
Dry Gripes, such as those in the West-Indies, 
chiefly occasioned by too great Quantities 
of the Acid of Lime-Juice in their Punch, 
with a great deal of other Acids in their Sea- 
sonings. The Colicks in Infants proceed 
from Acidity, and the Air expanding itself in 
the fermenting Food in the Stomach; the true 
Signs of which are a sour Smell of the Excre- 
ments, acid Sweats, Paleness of the Skin, and
oftentimes Convulsions, from Acidity passing 
into the Blood, and affecting the tender Fi- 
bres of the Brain. Eruptions of the Skin, 
such as Scurvy and Itchy, and even Leprosies, 
are produced by feeding much and often 
upon acid unripe Fruits, and mealy Substances 
that are acescent. 
Effects of an
acid Consti-
tution.
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 237
The most subject to this Disorder are Chil- 
dren, by reason of the Weakness of their 
Fibres and Digestion, and a Milk Diet; like- 
wise such as lead a sedentary Life; and others 
again, who eat and drink much Bread and 
Wine, and acid Vegetables; and lastly. Ar- 
tificers, who deal much in the Preparations
of Acids. 
As Acidity is not the natural State of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, but introduc'd into
the Habit by Food; so it is to be cur'd by 
Aliment of a contrary Quality, for which 
the Reader is referr'd to the Diet proper for 
acid Acrimony, in the foregoing Chapter, 
Page 212. 
All anti-acid Medicines being ineffectual 
without a proper and continued Diet of the 
same Nature, here I must observe, that an 
Abstinence from strong fermented Liquors is 
absolutely necessary in the Cure of this Dis- 
order; and likewise that Acidity in the In- 
fant may be cur'd by a Flesh-Diet in the 
Nurse.
An alkaline Constitution of the 
Fluids in a human Body is opposite 
to the former, and abounds with 
alkaline Salts, the Nature and 
Quality of which I have explain'd in Note *, 
Page 165, which see. And tho' no Animal 
unputrify'd, when burnt, produces any alka-
line Salt, yet being putrify'd, it produces a 
volatile Alkali; so that in a found Animal 
no true Alkali is found, as I have observ'd 
A Constitution 
subject to an
alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
in

238 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in the preceding Chapter; but when an Ani- 
mal degenerates from a true State of Health, 
by such Diseases or Food as increases the At- 
trition and Heat of the Fluids, the animal 
Salts that were before mild and benign, now 
become almost of an alkaline Nature; for 
found human Blood when first drawn, is so 
mild as not to make an Eye, or a fresh Wound
smart; but let it stand in a Degree of Heat 
equal to that of a human Body, and it will 
grow fœtid in three Days time, and produce 
a volatile rancid Oil, as likewise a volatile 
alkaline Salt, which will ferment with Acids; 
so that the Blood in the Vessels, after it has
passed thro' almost infinite Degrees of Circu- 
lation, may come to that State at last, which 
is the Case in pestilential and malignant Fe- 
vers, where neither the Strength of Nature 
or Art can prevail to save the Life of the In- 
dividual. All animal Substances being de- 
priv'd of Life, and exposed to the Air, turn 
presently alkaline of their own Accord, and
consequently will soon putrify. 
Causes.
The Causes of such a Constitution 
are commonly a plentiful and con- 
stant Use of animal Diet, such as Fish and 
Flesh, and all Vegetables which abound with 
an acrimonious Salt, such as Mustard, Onions, 
Leeks, Spices, and all hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks, &c. likewise a plentiful Use of 
Salts in general, for all animal Salts are alka- 
line; and tho' Rock and Sea-Salts are of a 
mix'd Nature, yet they increase the Disorder. 
All

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 239
All Animals that live upon other Animals 
have their Juices more alkalescent than those 
that live upon Vegetables, and for this Reason
Fishes are more alkalescent than terrestrial A- 
nimals, for they putrify sooner in the open Air; 
and no Person is able to support a Diet of 
Flesh and Water without Acids, such as Salt, 
Vinegar and Bread, without falling into a 
putrid Fever. 
Another Cause of this Distemper is a vigo- 
rous Action of the Vessels thro' which the 
Fluids circulate; for which Reason the strong 
and healthy, and young People, are more in 
danger by pestilential Fevers, than the weak 
and old; for violent animal Motion by Attri- 
tion produces this alkaline State. 
The Symptoms of such a Constitu- 
tion in any great Degree, are Heat, 
Thirst, foul Belchings, Foulness of the Tongue 
and Palate, a bitter and hot Taste in the 
Mouth, Sickness, Loathing, bilious Vomi- 
tings, Stools with a cadaverous Smell, Pains 
in the Belly. Besides, such a State dissolves the 
Blood, and disposes it to Putrefaction, hinders 
Nutrition, for no Chicken can be hatch'd of 
a rotten Egg; and likewise the Blood turning 
Acrimonious, corrodes the Vessels, producing 
Hœmorrhages. Eruptions on the Skin, dark, 
livid, Lead-colour'd, and of a gangrenous 
Nature, and likewise a hot Scurvy, and al- 
most all Distempers of the Inflammatory 
Kind.
Diagnosticks.
The

240 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Diet of such Persons ought 
to be a plentiful Use of acid Sub- 
stances, such as much Bread, and Seasoning 
of Vinegar, and all other Acids without Spi- 
ces, and live much upon Food made of 
Grain or mealy Substances; in short, they 
should live on such a Diet as is describ'd for 
an alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing Chap- 
ter. 
The Regimen.
Plethorick Constitutions are apt to fall into 
this alkaline State of the Fluids, which is more
hurtful than that which proceeds from Aci- 
dity; for the Bile being redundant, is the 
strongest Anti-acid, and when it is raised to 
a high Degree, and acrimonious, is sufficient 
to produce all the terrible Symptoms of ma- 
lignant and pestilential Fevers, as is mani- 
festly evident from the Experiments that were 
made at Marseilles in Time of the Plague;
and nothing subdues the Acrimony of the 
Bile more than the acid Diet already men- 
tion'd, so that by a timely Use and Applica- 
tion of such Remedies, many fatal and dan- 
gerous Diseases might be prevented. 
A briny State
of the Blood.
A muriatick or briny State of 
the Fluids, which is common 
among Sailors, is commonly introduc'd into 
the Habit of the Body by too great Quanti- 
ties of Sea-Salt; and its usual Symptoms are 
a Salt Taste in the Spittle, Itching, and red 
Breakings out of the Skin, a lixivial Urine 
with a fat Substance swimming on the Sur- 
face of it. 
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 241   
The Cure of this Disorder is per- 
formed by the constant Use of a 
Diet of fresh and unsalted Things, watery and
cooling Liquors acidulated; mealy and emol- 
lient Substances, with a plentiful Use of acid 
Fruits; Sower Milk, Butter-Milk, avoiding 
all Spices, and the hot Antiscorbuticks of the 
pungent Kind: In a Word, the Diet ordered 
in the Alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing 
Chapter is proper in this Case. 
The Cure.
A phlegmatick Constitution is such 
a State of the Fluids, wherein Phlegm 
or a cold, viscous watery Humour predomi- 
nates; and the Causes of it are, 
commonly viscid Food, such as 
mealy Substances unfermented, and taken in 
great Quantities; for the Flower of all Sorts
of Grain, mix'd with Water, make a Paste 
that sticks like Glue, having an Oil in them 
which causes a Cohesion of their Parts toge- 
ther; the frequent Use of unripe Fruits; like- 
wise great Loss, or Want of Blood, which 
preserves itself and the Food, by constant 
Motion, from Coagulation; a Weakness and 
Indigestion in the alimentary Passages, by 
which the Food is rendered slimy and vis- 
cous; a Defect, or Want of Bile, which is 
the principal Resolvent of the Food; and a 
Stagnation of the Fluids, from a Weakness of 
the Instruments of Excretion; for if the 
Phlegm stagnates, it must grow viscid by the 
Heat of the Body.
Definition.
The Causes.
Q Like-


242 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Likewise Tumours and Inflations of the 
Belly, with Paleness, are Signs of a phlegma- 
tick Constitution; as when a Child grows 
pale, and his Belly swells, which happens to 
those that are rickety, there must be cer- 
tainly tough Phlegm in the Intestines, which 
shuts up the Mouths of the Lacteals, and 
prevents the Nourishment from getting into 
the Blood. But no Cause whatever produces 
a Viscidity in the human Fluids, more than a 
sedentary Life, and Laziness, and no Reme- 
dy more effectual than good Labour and Ex- 
ercise. 
The Cure. 
Cold phlegmatick Constitusions 
ought to use constantly an alka- 
lescent Diet; likewise well fermented Bread, 
and fermented Liquors; for Fermentation re- 
moves the Viscidity of all mealy Substances;
and high seasoned Food is proper for them; 
likewise Spices, Salt, Garlick, Leeks, Onions, 
Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Basil, 
Mustard, and all the hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks; for all these being highly alka-
lescent, exalt the Bile, which is necessary in
this Case, whereby the Viscidity of both the 
Aliments and Fluids of the Body is dissolved. 
Their animal Food, both Fish and Flesh,
should be nourishing, and easy to be digested;
their Drink should be good fermented Li- 
quors, hot mineral Waters, and generous 
good Wines, such as will put the Blood into 
a vigorous Motion. But for farther Satisfa- 
ction herein, see what is said of alkalescent 
Sub-

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 243
Substances, both animal and vegetable, in the 
foregoing Chapter. 
A fat or oily Constitution is so 
very well known to every one, as 
to the Symptoms, that it needs no 
Description, and falls in with the pletho-
rick and phlegmatick Constitution already de- 
scrib'd; it being but one Species or Sort of Cor- 
pulency, as there is often Bulk without Fat, 
from a great Quantity of muscular Flesh, which 
is the Case of robust People; for an Animal in 
the Course of hard Labour appears to be very 
little else than Bones, Vessels and muscular 
Flesh; but let the same Animal remain long 
at Rest, with tolerable good Food, it will 
probably double almost its Weight and Bulk, 
and this additional Surplus is nothing but Fat
or Oil. 
A fat Con-
stitution.
The common Causes of this Dis- 
order, besides a particular Family 
Disposition of the Body are, first, strong Or- 
gans of the first Digestion, and a Laxity of 
the Fibres of the circulating Vessels, especi- 
ally those about the Membrana Carnosa ‡ ; for 
by the Action of those Fibres of the Vessels 
upon the Fluids, if they are duly elastick, 
the oily Parts of the Chyle are intimately 
mixed with the Blood; but when this Action 
is not strong enough, and that the Chyle is
The Cause.
Q2 ex-
* The fleshy Membrane, is a fat Sort of a Membrane, in 
some Parts thick and musculous, in other Parts thin with many 
Ducts of Fat in it, and covers all the nervous and fleshy Parts 
of the Body, and is interwoven with an infinite Number of 
Blood-Vessels.

244 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
extremely redundant, then the thicker Oil is 
never intirely subdued by Circulation, and so
turns Fat. 2dly. Great Quantities of oily 
Nourishment, Milk, Butter, and oily fer- 
mented Liquors. 3dly, All Things which pro- 
duce Coldness in the Skin, so as to stop Per-
spiration, by which Means the fat or oily 
Parts are congealed, which Heat dissolves 
and attenuates; for the Inhabitants of cold 
and moist Countries are generally fatter than 
those of warm and dry Climates. But the most 
common Cause of all is, too great Quantity 
of Food, and too little Motion or Exercise; 
that is to say, Gluttony and Laziness, for 
which a spare Diet and Labour is the best Re- 
medy. 
Fat or Oil in all Animals, in due Propor- 
tion, is very necessary for both the Motion 
and Nourishment of the Fibres; but too great 
Abundance of it is very prejudicial to the hu- 
man Constitution; for it is an Impediment to 
the Motion of the Joints, rendering them 
more heavy, by filling the Spaces occupy'd 
by the Muscles when they contract and swell; 
it subjects them to all the Distempers depend- 
ing upon a defective Motion of the Blood; and 
as the Want of a due Quantity of Motion of 
the Fluids increases Fat, so the Disease seems 
to be the Cause of itself. 
It endangers them in all inflammatory Dis- 
eases; for a Fever resolves many Things which 
do not circulate, and among others the Fat, 
which mixing with the Blood, becomes vola- 
tile,


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 245   
tile, and causes an Acrimony much more dan- 
gerous than the saline one; for Salts can be 
dissolved and diluted with Water, but Oils 
cannot: And it is manifest that Fat is 
dissolved by Fevers, if we consider the great
Loss of it which People undergo in such Dis- 
eases. But among the many Inconveniencies 
and other bad Effects of a fat or oily Consti- 
tution, there is one Advantage to such as 
arrive at an advanced Age, that they are not 
subject to a Stricture and Hardness of Fibres, 
which is the Effect of old Age. 
As Gluttony and Laziness are, for 
the most part, the Causes of a fat 
Constitution, such People ought to eat sparing- 
ly, sleep little, and use much Exercise; in 
which the Cure of such a Disorder chiefly 
consists. 
The Regimen.
Substances which heat moderately, abound- 
ing with acrid and pungent Salts, are proper 
in this Case; such as Horse-Radish, Mustard,
Garlick, Leeks, Onions, Spices, and all the 
aromatick Plants us'd in Seasoning; likewise 
Saffron, all Seeds that expel Wind, Meats 
well season'd with Salt, Pepper and Vinegar, 
are all proper to dissolve Fat, and carry it 
off by Perspiration; but the only Inconveni- 
ency they have, is, that they create Thirst, 
whereby great Quantities of Liquids are drank, 
which increase the Disorder, by diluting and 
relaxing the Solids too much. 
They should avoid all oily Nourishment, 
and use Honey, ripe Garden Fruits of an acid
Q3 Taste.

246 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Taste, and the astringent sub-acid Vegetables 
mentioned in the Cure of a weak and lax 
State of the Fibres, in the Beginning of this 
Chapter; for the Fibres of fat People are com- 
monly too lax. Their Drink should likewise 
be the same as is there mentioned, to which
I refer the Reader. 
Tea and Coffee are also useful, as they 
dilute and stimulate moderately; but the 
frequent Use of oily spirituous Liquors, as 
Rum, Anniseeds, &c. is extremely hurtful, 
because they increase Fat; a moist Air is like- 
wise prejudicial to fat People, by relaxing the 
Fibres and stopping Perspiration both sensible
and insensible. 
Definition. 
An earthy Atrabilarian, or 
melancholy Constitution, is such a 
State of the Fluids, wherein the spirituous
and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissi- 
pated, so as to leave the Salts, Earth, and 
grosser Oil in too great a Proportion in the
Body. 
Diagnosticks.
The Signs of such a State, or a 
Tendency thereto, are known by 
Darkness, or Lividness of the Complexion, 
Leanness, Dryness of the Skin, and a quick 
penetrating Genius, with a slow Pulse and 
Respiration; Obstructions of the Belly, and
a Difficulty of being purged. 
The Causes. 
The Causes of it are all such as 
expel or evaporate the most volatile 
and subtile Parts of the Blood, and fix the 
rest: As great Applications of the Mind to 
some

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 247
some Objects or other, such as may produce 
great Joy or Sadness, both which equally ex- 
pel and dissipate the Spirits; likewise great
Exercise or Labour in hot Weather, with un- 
quenched Thirst; also Food of hard Dige- 
stion, such as dry'd and salted Fish or Flesh, 
unripe Fruits, unfermented mealy Substances, 
or the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects of such a Constitu- 
tion of the Fluids are Stagnation, 
Obstructions, Acrimony, Putrefactions, Visci- 
dity, and an imperfect Secretion of the Gall, 
a defective Circulation in the Vessels, especi- 
ally in the lateral Branches appointed for the 
Separation of the more fluid Parts; hence 
arise viscid and insufficient Secretions in the 
Glands: Likewise the Motion of the Blood 
through the mesenterick and * celiack Arteries 
being too slow, produce various Disorders in 
the lower Belly and † hypochondriack Regions; 
hence Persons are denominated Hypochondria- 
cal. And the Signs of most of these Disorders of
the lower Bowels, arising from too slow a Mo- 
tion of the Blood through the said Arteries, are, 
a Sensation of Weight, Anxiety, Repletion, and 
a bad Digestion, from whence different Sorts 
of Food acquire such a State in the alimentary
The Effects.
Q4 Passages,
* Arteries in the lower Belly needless to be described in 
this Place. 
† Are the two Regions lying on each Side of the Tip or 
Extremity of the Breast-Bone or Sternum, and those of the 
Ribs; which contain in one the Liver, and in the other the
Spleen. Hence Disorders of those Viscera, especially of the 
Spleen, are called hypochondriacal Affections.



248 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Passages, as they affect of their own Nature; 
that is, acid, if the Diet be of acid Vegetables; 
and alkaline, if of animal Substances, espe- 
cially Fat, which remains rancid, so as that 
the Spittle will flame in the Fire sometimes; 
and all this Indigestion owing to the Inactivity
of the Gall, which likewise occasions a Co- 
stiveness of the Belly, and a Difficulty of be- 
ing purged. 
This State of the Fluids will at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Visci- 
dity of the Matter impacted in them, and 
thereby endanger the Imagination; and like- 
wise produce Corruption in the Bowels of the 
lower Belly at last. 
Hence it is evident, that such a Disorder is
not to be removed by active Remedies *, no 
more than Pitch or Dirt sticking to a Skain 
of Thread is to be taken away by Violence; 
but the Viscidity should be gently attenuated, 
diluted, and carried off gradually, by a pro- 
per continued Course of Diet, avoiding al- 
ways all heating Substances, which still eva- 
porate and dissipate the volatile and fluid Parts 
more; therefore Waters impregnated with 
some of the pungent Salts, as that of Nitre, 
Tartar, &c. are found to be of great Effect
in this Disorder. 
Their
* Are such Medicines as produce sudden Alterations in the 
Body, by their penetrating and stimulating Qualities, acting 
upon the Fluids or Solids, or upon both, either inwardly ta- 
ken, or outwardly applied. 


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 249
Their Diet should be light, easy of Di- 
gestion, moistening, and resolvent
of the Bile, such as Honey, the 
Juices of ripe Fruits, emollient Pot-herbs, 
light Broths of animal Food, Lettuce, Spi- 
nage, Cichory, and Dandelion; and their 
Drink ought to be Water, Barley-water, and 
Whey. For farther Instructions herein, see 
the Diet directed for the Rigidity of the 
Fibres in this Chapter, which is likewise very- 
proper in this Case. 
The Regimen. 
One Thing to be observed is, that the Diet 
ought to be contrary to the particular Acri-
mony residing in the Fluids, which might 
have occasioned the Disorder; for if it pro- 
ceeds from Acidity, then an animal Diet is 
altogether proper; if from an alkaline Acri- 
mony, the contrary Method must be used; 
which may be easily distinguish'd, by ob- 
serving what has been already said of acid and
alkaline Constitutions, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
As there is a continual Dissipation or Waste 
in all animal Bodies, insensibly; so the fre- 
quent Repetition of Meat and Drink is ne- 
cessary, not only for repairing the Fluids and 
Solids, but likewise for preserving the Fluids 
from a putrifying alkaline State, which they 
would acquire by constant Attrition, without 
being soon and sufficiently diluted with fresh 
Chyle. Hence it appears, that long Fastings 
or Abstinence may be the productive Cause 
of great Distempers, especially in hot and 
bilious


250 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
bilious Constitutions; and very prejudicial to
acid Constitutions, occasioned by the uneasy 
Sensation and Vellication produced in the 
Stomach. 
Therefore the Quantity of Food necessary 
to preserve our Bodies in a due State of Health
and Vigour, ought to be divided into Meals 
at proper Intervals of the natural Day, that 
the former Food may be digested before any 
more be taken in, and at such a Distance from
Bed-time that our Digestion may be almost 
finished before we sleep; by which Method 
neither the Organs of Digestion, nor the Blood- 
vessels will be overloaded, nor the Fluids too 
long deprived of a fresh Supply of nutritive 
Chyle, 
Hence the grand Secret of Health conists
in keeping an Æquilibrium † between the 
Fluids and Solids; for when the Fluids move 
so equally, that they do not press upon the 
Solids with a greater Force than they can bear; 
and, on the other hand, when the Solids resist 
and act upon the Fluids so equally, that there is 
no uneasy Sensation, the Person is then in 
good Health; and whatever is in our Food 
or Actions that destroys this Æquilibrium, ei- 
ther by relaxing or contracting the Solids too 
much, or by attenuating or rendering the 
Fluids too viscid or acrimonious, must pro- 
duce the Effects already mentioned under 
each of those particular Heads, which see. 
From
† An exact or due Ballance.


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 251  
From what has been hitherto said of the 
Nature and Effects of Aliment, as also of the 
Nature and Difference of Constitutions in par- 
ticular, with the Diet proper for each, it will 
be as easy to determine Rules of Diet in the 
different natural healthy States, as in the mor- 
bid or sickly States of human Bodies; there- 
fore I thought it both useful and necessary to
lay down here some general easy Rules, for 
the Benefit of those who value Health and 
long Life; but with this Caution, that Re- 
gard must be always had to the Nature of 
the Constitution in particular. 
I. Infancy requires a thin and copious nou- 
rishing Food, such as lengthens their Fibres, 
without breaking or hardening them, by rea- 
son of their Weakness and State of growing; 
so Milk answers this Intention best.
II. The Solidity, Strength, and Quantity 
of the Food, ought to be in Proportion to 
the Strength of the Solids, Labour, and Ex- 
ercise of the Body; for such as labour and 
exercise much, have their solid Parts stronger 
and more elastick; therefore they require 
stronger Food, and more in Quantity, than 
those that are in their declining Age, or those
that lead a sedentary or studious Life. 
III. Youth being still in the State of 
Growth, their Diet ought to be emollient 
and relaxing, plentiful, and without Acri- 
mony. 
IV. In the State of Manhood the Diet 
should be solid, with a sufficient Degree of 
Viscidity;

252 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Viscidity; and their chief Drink Water, with 
a Quantity of fermented Liquors at Times, 
proportioned to their natural Constitutions. 
V. Ancient People require a Diet resem- 
bling that of Children, often repeated, and 
little at a Time, emollient and diluting, with 
a little Wine sometimes; because in old Age 
the Fibres harden, many Canals or Vessels 
are abolish'd, and the Solids grow together; 
from whence arises Dryness, Weakness, Im- 
mobility, Debilty of the vital Force of Di- 
gestion, Loss of Teeth, and Depravation of 
chewing, which terminate in Death at last. 
VI. Excess in Meat and Drink is to be 
avoided; for a little Food well digested and 
assimilated, preserves the Body stronger and
more vigorous, than Superfluity. 
VII. We should not eat, because the cu- 
stomary Time for it is come, unless our Ap- 
petite be so too; for to load the Stomach with
a fresh Supply upon a Semi-digestion of the 
former Meal causes Crudities, and a foul Sto- 
mach, which must overload the Blood, and 
thereby produce Diseases. 
VIII. It is better to eat twice a Day with 
Moderation, than to make one over-large 
Meal, tho' one abstains double the usual 
Time for Compensation; however, if one 
transgresses at any Meal, let such abstain from
the next, or let it be a very slender one. 
IX. Variety of Meats, and made Dishes, 
destroy a Multitude of People; for they pro- 
long Appetite far beyond what Nature requires, 
and

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 253
and by that Means over-charge the Stomach. 
Besides, different Meats have different Quali- 
ties, and some are sooner digested than others; 
whence arise Crudities, and a depraved Di- 
gestion: Therefore we ought to avoid Feasts 
and Banquettings as much as possible; for it 
is more difficult to refrain from good and deli- 
cate Cheer when present, than from the De- 
sire of it when away. 
X. A temperate Diet preserves from 
diseases; for such are seldom ill, but when 
they are, they bear it better, and are
sooner recovered. 2dly, It lengthens Life, 
and mitigates the Agonies of Death. 3dly,
It arms the Body against external Accidents, 
such as Heat, Cold, Labour; and if afflicted 
with Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises, they 
are much sooner and easier cured. 4thly, It 
maintains the Senses intire and vigorous, and
moderates Peoples Passions and Affections. 
5thly, preserves the Memory, sharpens the 
Wit and Understanding, and allays the Heat 
of Lust. 
XI. Galen, recommending a temperate 
diet, says, that those of a weak Constitution 
from their Mother's Womb, may attain to 
an extreme old Age, by Help of a sober and 
moderate coarse Diet; and that too without 
diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; 
and says farther, that tho' he never had a 
healthy Constitution of Body from his Birth, 
yet by using a proper Diet after the 27th Year 
of his Age, he never fell into any Sickness, 
2 unless

254 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
unless now and then into an Ephemera, that 
is, one Day's Fever, occasioned by Fatigue or 
Weariness. And it is very well known, that 
Galen lived to an hundred Years of Age. 
XII. In the Winter and Spring we require 
a greater Quantity of solid Food, and less 
Drink, than in the Summer and Autumn; 
because in the cold Season our Stomachs are 
hottest, and we sleep a great deal more; for 
as the Cold increases, so our Heat for the 
most Part recedes to the central Parts of the 
Body. And the Reason we require less Drink 
in Winter is, that then our Bodies are moi- 
ster, like the Seasons; and likewise, that the
Cold hinders the watery Vapours to be per- 
spir'd, and so turn into Humours in the 
Body. But in Summer what is wanting in 
Meat or solid Food, may be taken in Drink, 
and moist cooling Nourishment; for then the 
Body is dry, and the inward Heat is distri- 
buted thro' all the Parts thereof, and Perspi- 
ration is so considerably increased by the ex- 
ternal Heat, that the watery Vapours or 
Effluvia are exhal'd and carry'd off thro' the 
Pores. 
XIII. The same Rules for eating serve al- 
so for drinking, the chief Intention of which 
is to allay Thirst, to moisten and convey the
Food in the Stomach, and the Nutriment 
thereof into the respective Parts of the Body; 
to dilute the Blood, and dissolve the super- 
fluous Salts, and carry them off both by Per- 
spiration and Urine. But for farther Satis- 
faction

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 255 
faction herein, see the Particulars of the Use 
and Intentions of Drink, in the latter End of 
the foregoing Chapter. 
Here I must observe, that moist Food, 
such as Broths, Pottage, Soop, and boiled 
Meats, require little Drink, and the solid only 
a Sufficiency to moisten and convey it into 
the Stomach, and prevent Obstructions; there- 
fore they who drink much at Meals, especial- 
ty strong Liquors, incur a double Inconveni- 
ency; for first, by causing the Food to float 
in the Stomach, which ought to reside in the 
Bottom, they hinder Digestion, and by 
moistening the upper Orifice thereof too 
much, by which means it is kept open, it 
thereby occasions Vapours and Fumes to a- 
scend and disorder the Head. Secondly, it 
causes the Aliment to pass too soon out of 
the Stomach, crude and indigested; whence 
arise Fluxes in the Bowels, and putrid Cru- 
dities of the Blood in the Veins and Arteries. 
XIV. It is very prejudicial to eat or drink 
too much, or fast too long, or do any thing 
else that is preternatural; for whoever eats or 
drinks too much, must be sick, or vitiate his 
Juices at last. 
XV. Growing Persons have a great deal 
of natural Heat; therefore they require a 
great deal of Nourishment, otherwise the 
Body will gradually waste. 
XVI. Hippocrates fays, that a Person can- 
not be healthy, and digest his Food well 
without Labour, and that the Quantity and 
Quality






256 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quality of Diet must bear a due Proportion 
to the Labour. 
XVII. Young, hot, strong, and labouring 
People, may feed on Meats that afford a 
hard and gross Juice, such as Beef, Bacon, 
powder'd Flesh and Fish, hard Cheese, Rye- 
Bread, and hard Eggs, &c. which may 
nourish slowly, and be digested by Degrees; 
for if they did eat things of light Nourish- 
ment, either their Meat would be too soon 
digested, or else converted into Choler. 
XVIII. When a Person is sick or distemper'd, 
his Meats should be of contrary Qualities to 
his Disease; for Health itself is but a kind 
of Temper gotten and preserv'd by a conve- 
nient Mixture of Contrarieties. 
XIX. Fat Meats are only good for dry 
Stomachs; for in sanguine and choleric Sto- 
machs they are soon corrupted; and in Phleg- 
matics they procure Looseness, and hinder 
Retention. 
XX. Such as are of hot Constitutions, 
should abstain from violent Exercises, use 
Bathing in tepid Water, feed upon Mays, 
Pot-Herbs, and a cooling moist Diet. 
XXL. The Quantity of Food that Is suf- 
ficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct, 
and answers to the due Nourishment of the 
Body; hence it is evident, that we may eat 
a greater Quantity of some Meats than of 
others of a more hard Digestion. 
XXII. The Difficulty lies in finding out an 
exact Measure; but eat for Necessity, and not
for




Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 257
for Pleasure, for Lust knows not where Ne- 
cessity ends. 
XXIII. If a Person is dull and heavy after 
Meat, it is a Sign he has exceeded the due 
Measure; for Meat and Drink ought to re- 
fresh the Body, and make it cheerful, and 
not to dull or oppress it. 
XXIV. If we find those ill Symptoms, we 
are to consider, whether too much Meat or 
Drink occasions them, or both, then we ought 
to abate by little and little, till this Inconve- 
nience is remov'd. 
XXV. Pass not immediately from an ir- 
regular Life to a strict; and precise one, but 
by Degrees; for ill Customs come by Degrees, 
and are to be wore off gradually; for all sud- 
den Alterations in Extremes, either of Re- 
pletion, Evacuation, Heat or Cold, are dan- 
gerous. 
XXVI. Acids taken in too great Quanti- 
ties, especially such as are austere, as unripe 
Fruits, produce too great a Constriction of 
the Fibres, and thicken the Fluids; hence 
Pains, Rheumatism, and Gout, Paleness, 
Itch, and other Eruptions of the Skin. 
XXVII. Spices taken in too great Quantities 
produce Thirst, Dryness, and Heat, quicken 
the Pulse, and accelerate the Motion of the 
Blood, and dissipate the Fluids; hence Lean- 
ness, Pains in the Stomach, Loathings, and 
Fevers. 
XXVIII, Strong Liquors, especially distill'd
spirits, taken in great Quantities, intoxicate. 
R contract,




258 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
contract, harden, dry, and stimulate the 
Fibres, and coagulate the Fluids; they like- 
wise corrode and destroy the inward Coat of 
the Stomach and Intestines. 
XXIX. A Diet of viscid Food, such as un- 
fermented mealy Substances, Peas, Beans, 
Lentils, &c. creates Flatulency, and Crudi- 
ties in the Stomach, Obstructions in the small 
Vessels of the Guts, and in the Mouths of the 
Lacteals and Glands: Hence Tumours and 
Hardness of the Belly, Paleness of the Skin, 
and Viscidity in the Fluids. 
XXX. An oily Nourishment relaxes the 
Solids, and particularly the Stomach and In- 
testines; it creates foul Belchings, Loathings, 
oily and bitter Vomitings; obstructs the ca- 
pillary Vessels, by hindering the Entrance of 
the watery and fluid Part, with which it will 
not mix; it produces Thirst and Inflamma- 
tions. 
CHAP. IX. 
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
SLEEP is a Cessation of the external 
Senses from Action; for, when waking, 
we walk, talk, move this or that Limb, &c.
but in a natural or undisturb'd Sleep, there is 
2 no-




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 259
nothing of all these Actions; that is, when 
awake we perform several Motions by the 
voluntary Contractions of our Muscles; when 
asleep, those Muscles are only contracted, 
Whose Action is involuntary, or does it by a 
Habit, without the Intervention of the Rea- 
soning Faculty; such are the muscular Actions 
of the Heart, Breast, Lungs, and Arteries, &c. 
so that at this Time there is a kind of Re- 
laxation of the moving Fibres of the several 
Members of the Body. And this is one great 
Design of Sleep, to recover their former 
Force to the Parts overstretch'd by Labour 
or Motion; for when we compose ourselves 
to Rest, we must put our Body into that Pos- 
ture which favours most the particularly 
Weary'd Limbs. 
In the next Place it is very evident, that in 
Sleep there is not only a Rest and a Suspension 
from acting in most of our bodily Organs, but 
likewise of our Thinking Faculty too: That 
is, a Cessation from such Thoughts as, when 
awake, we are exercised about, which we re- 
flect upon, and Will to imploy our Mind 
with. 
For tho' Dreams are Thoughts, yet they 
are imperfect and incoherent ones; and are 
either so faint and languid Representations, as 
to be consistent with our Sleep, or else, if 
they be strong and lively, they are the Inter- 
ruption and Disturbance of it. 
From whence it will follow, that the Mo- 
tion of the arterial Fluid must be more se- 
R2 date




260 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
date, even, and regular, in the Time of sleep- 
ing than waking; for besides the various Al- 
terations it receives in this latter State, from 
the several Passions of the Mind, the very 
Contractions of the Muscles themselves, in 
the Exercises of the Body, will forward its 
Course differently and more unequal; where- 
as in Sleep the Motion of the Heart, Arte- 
ries and Veins is stronger, slower, more equal, 
and full; likewise Respiration is deeper, stron- 
ger, slower, and more equal, by which Means 
the Blood circulates and digests more commo- 
diously, and Secretion, Perspiration, and the 
Distribution of Nourishment are more success- 
fully carried on; the Humours circulating 
quicker through the Blood-vessels and the 
Parts near the Heart, but slower through the 
Sides of the Body, and the remote Parts, as 
well as the Muscles. 
Hence it also comes to pass, that the In- 
flux of the nervous Fluid into the Organs of 
the Body, as also its Reflux towards the 
Brain, is in Sleep either none, or very in- 
considerable; for it is muscular Action and 
Sensation that required this Fluid to be thus 
determined this Way or that, which are in 
this State hardly any: And yet, by the Arri- 
val of Blood at the Brain, this Juice will still 
be separated there, fit to be deriv'd into its 
Tubes and Canals; so that by this Means 
there will be a new Production, or a kind of 
Accumulation or laying up in Store, of Spi-
I rits, 



Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 261
rits, in order to perform our animal Func- 
tions. 
Thus we may look upon the 
Time of waking as the Time of
wearing out, or the Destruction of
the animal Fabrick; and the Time 
of Sleep, as that in which it is repaired and 
recruited; not only upon account of what 
has been just mentioned concerning the ner- 
vous Fluid, but also with regard to all other 
Parts of the Body, as well fluid as solid: For 
Action must necessarily impair the Springs 
and Organs; and in Motion something is 
continually abraded or fil'd off from the con- 
tractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be 
restored, than by their being at Rest from 
Tension. Besides, the regular and steady 
Course of the Blood, as has been observ'd, in 
Sleep, is by far more fit and proper for Nu- 
trition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Ves- 
sels; which an uneven Hurry of Nourish- 
ment is more apt to tear off and wash away.
The Use and
Benefit of
Sleep 
Sleep is occasioned, promoted, and 
increased by eating and drinking, 
in removing the Stimulus or painful 
Sensation of Hunger and Thirst, when the 
Stomach is empty, or by drinking plentifully, 
especially of strong Liquors; but some can- 
not sleep for a long Time when they drink 
much, because the Spirits are thereby too 
much heated and enraged. 
It is also encouraged by much or long con- 
tinued Labour, the Spirits being too much
The Causes
of Sleep.
R3 dissapted



262 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
dissipated and exhausted. In like manner, 
after the taking of Opium, or other sleepy 
Things, we are disposed to sleep; because they 
seize the Spirits by their volatile Oleosity; 
also a quiet Disposition of Mind; a Body 
free from Motion, and unaffected by external 
Objects; by Excess of Heat, Cold, or Care; 
and by all such Causes as hinder the Protru- 
sion or Impulse of the Blood into the glandu- 
lous Part of the Brain, or its Passage through 
its Vessels, and the necessary Separation of 
Spirits, and the Derivation of them into the 
Nerves, being the Organs of Sensation, and 
the Muscles serving to voluntary Motion; and 
the Reflux of them towards the Sensorium 
Commune †. 
Sleep is hindered by a continual Mixture of 
Water, or hot Liquors, with the Blood, or 
any sharp Thing that vellicates or twinges the 
Nerves of the Brain; also by violent Pas- 
sions of the Mind, or the Brain's being di- 
sturbed by any internal or external Cause. 
Therefore it appears from what has been 
said, that Sleep is such a State of the Brain, 
wherein the Nerves do not receive from it so 
large or so strong an Influx of Spirits, as is 
required for the Organs of Sense and volun- 
tary Motions to perform their Actions with 
Ease and Quickness. 
The
† The Seat of Common Sense, is-in that Part of the Brain, 
in which the Nerves, from the Organs of all the Senses, are 
terminated, which is in the Beginning of the Medulla Oblon- 
gata, and not in the Glandula Pinealis, as Des Cartes and o- 
thers would erroneously have it. 






Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 263
The most immediate Cause here- 
of is perhaps the Defect of a subtile
Spirit, which requires a long Time 
to prepare it, and being now spent and ex- 
hausted; so that the finest Vessels being emp- 
tied and flagg'd, for a Time fall together; or 
there is too great a Flux of thicker Blood im- 
pell'd to the Cortex of the Brain, so that the 
Medullary Part is compress'd, and the Motion 
of the Spirits hindered; therefore the natu- 
ral Cause of Sleep is every thing that may 
produce these two Particulars. 
The natural 
Cause of
Sleep
Therefore if we consider the Na- 
ture, Necessities, and Advantages of 
Sleep, already mentioned, we may 
easily perceive how too much Watching will 
deprive the Solids of that due Supply of Spi- 
rits so absolutely necessary to enable them to 
perform their several Functions; and that for 
want of a good Digestion Perspiration will 
be very much obstructed, which must render 
the Body dull and heavier; for, according to 
Sanctorius, “ interrupted and unquiet Sleep 
“ lessens the Quantity usually thrown off by 
“ Perspiration about a third Part:” * And 
likewise, “ whatsoever hinders Sleep, hinders 
“ also the Perspiration of that digested Matter, 
“ which ought to exhale;” § because interrupted 
Sleep keeps the Fibres in that Degree of Ten- 
sion, which is not suitable to forward the Juices 
to the Extremities, and let the Matter of Per- 
spiration go off by the Pores of the Skin: 
The Effects
of too much
Watching
R4 For
* Aph. 5. Sect. iv. § Aph. 8. Sect. iv.





264 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
For whatsoever hinders that easy Relaxation 
necessary for found Sleep, must likewise hin- 
der Perspiration; so that full, heavy, and 
luxurious late Suppers must hinder it; be- 
cause such a Load in the Stomach will 
keep the Fibres upon the stretch, and conse- 
quently our Sleep will be uneasy and inter- 
rupted, until that be removed. 
It is therefore very certain, that according 
as our alimentary Organs are easy, quiet, and 
not overloaden with Food, our Sleep is 
found, sweet, and refreshing; for if any Per- 
son not labouring under a Disease, is restless 
in his Sleepy it must arise from his Stomach's 
being overcharg'd with indigested Food, or 
Crudities not carry'd off by proper Exercise; 
or his Intestines are filled with Wind, Choler, 
or superfluous Chyle: and the restless Nights 
which are generally ascrib'd to Vapours, are 
entirely owing to the said Causes. There- 
fore all those that would preserve their 
Health, and lengthen out their Days, ought to 
avoid large and late Meat-Suppers; especially 
the sedentary, studious, and such as have 
little or no Labour or Exercise, should eat 
very light or no Supper; if any, it ought to 
consist of some vegetable Food; neither 
ought they to go soon to Bed after any Sup- 
per whatever. And such People in general 
should give Attention to this Aphorism of 
the Schola Salernitana, 
Somnus




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 265
Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi cœna brevis:
Viz. 
That your Sleep may be sweet, let your 
Supper be light. 
Immoderate Watching and want of Sleep, 
produces Diseases of the Head, corrupts the 
Temperature of the Brain, causes sometimes 
Madness, inflames the Humours, generates 
and excites a saline Acrimony in the Blood 
and Juices; hence arise cutaneous Eruptions 
of different sorts; likewise the want of mo- 
derate Sleep occasions bad Digestion, fills the 
Stomach with Crudities, and dissipates the 
Spirits, by which means a thorough Waste
and Decay of both the Solids and Fluids suc- 
ceed at last. 
Sanctorius observes, that * “ They who 
“ sleep well and do not dream, perspire 
“ well; and on the contrary, they who 
“ dream much perspire less.” Because dream- 
ing is a State between sleeping and waking, 
therein, altho' the Mind does not exercise 
such a Power over the Body, as to direct its 
Motions in the same Degree as when awake, 
yet by its Attention to those confused Ideas 
which pass thro' it, the Solids are kept in 
some Degree of Contraction, greater than is 
agreeable with found Sleep; and therefore 
Perspiration, which depends upon a settled 
Relaxation, cannot be perform'd so well at 
such times, as when in quiet and profound 
Sleep
* Aph. 27. Sect. IV. 







266 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Sleep, neither have they that Refreshment, 
Lightness and Agility, which spreads all 
over the Body, and principally the Brain, as 
those who sleep quietly without dreaming.
The Effects of
too much Sleep. 
Long and superfluous Sleep is 
very pernicious to both the Mind 
and the Body; for it chills the 
Body, weakens the natural Heat, breeds 
phlegmatic Humours, and fills it with Crudi- 
ties; whence arise much Sloth and Lazi- 
ness, the Parent of many Diseases; it like- 
wise fixes the Spirits, and renders them flug- 
gish and stupid; it dulls the Understanding, 
hardens the Excrements, and makes the Body 
costive, which is frequently the Cause of va- 
rious Distempers. In short, superfluous Sleep 
is neither good for the Body nor the Mind, 
nor for Business; for he who sleeps too much 
is but half a Man, Sleep rendering him in all 
Points like a dead Man, except his Digestion 
and the Pulsation of his Arteries; for he nei- 
ther sees, hears, speaks, or understands, and 
is absolutely depriv'd of all Reason, which for 
the Time is a perfect Death. Besides, too much 
Sleep occasions in both found and firm Bodies 
a Shortness of Breath, and is a constant Fore- 
runner and Disposition to an Apoplexy, Le- 
thargy, Palsey, and Numbness, by hindering 
the seasonable Evacuations of the Excrements, 
causing them to remain too long in the Body. 
Sanctorius is very clear on this Head, and 
says, * in one of his Aphorisms, “ By too 
“ much
* Aph. 50. Sect. IV.








Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 267
“ much Sleep both the inward and outward 
“ Parts grow cold, the Humours are obstru- 
“ cted and render'd unperspirable, and the 
“ whole Body heavier.” So that by the 
very same means by which moderate Sleep 
is serviceable and necessary, too much of it 
proves injurious; because too much Relaxa- 
tion overcharges the Nerves with too thick 
and too great a Quantity of Juices, which 
instead of rendering them fitter for Motion, 
clogs them, and makes them less capable of 
recovering their Springs afterward; so that 
when once the Solids fail, the Fluids of 
course slacken in their Motions, by which 
means the natural Heat decays, and the 
Flesh grows cold, and they themselves be- 
come also more fizy or gluey; for which 
Reason they suffer less to pass off thro' the 
Pores by insensible Perspiration, or otherwise, 
and consequently the Body is render'd heavier. 
Sleep in the Day time, or after Dinner, is 
not to be allow'd, unless a Person has ac- 
custom'd himself to it, or has not rested
Well the Night before, or if he perceives a 
kind of Lassitude or Weariness in his Limbs; 
in such Cases, I say, one may sleep an Hour, 
or half an Hour after Dinner, and even it is 
slow Digestion; for according to Sanctorius *, 
“ An Hour's Sleep at Noon after a Meal, 
“ sometimes occasions the Body insensibly to 
“ perspire a Pound, and sometimes half a 
“ Pound:
* Aph. 37. Sect. IV. 




268 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
“ Pound: a Pound when any of the per- 
“ spirable Matter of the former Day has 
“ been retain'd; when not, but half a Pound.” 
This is recommended as a most excellent Re- 
medy in weak People for imperfect Digestion, 
and there is a great deal of Reason why it 
should be of Service; because such an addi- 
tional Help every Day, may compensate for 
the Deficiencies of the last Night's Perspi- 
ration; but they must not be too free with 
this Practice, who are inclin'd to grow fat or 
phlegmatick. For according to the same Au- 
thor *, “ Immoderate Sleep after Dinner in- 
“ jures all the Bowels, and obstructs Perspi- 
“ ration.” 
So that altho' a little Sleep at such Times, 
and in the Cases above-mention'd, upon a 
full Stomach may be of Service, by perspi- 
ring what did not sufficiently pass off the 
Night before; yet if it be continued too long, 
there will such a Quantity of indigested Mat- 
ter follow, as will be too gross to pass, and
consequently stop up the excretory Ducts of 
the Body, and thereby occasion very conside- 
rable Disorders. 
The ordinary Time allow'd for Sleep is 
seven Hours; for that Time seems sufficient 
for perfecting Digestion, and recruiting the 
Spirits; but some require more Sleep, and 
some less: So Children, antient People, Cho- 
lerick and dry Constitutions require more, be- 
cause it moistens and restores the Spirits; but
fat
* Aph. 66. Sect. IV. 




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 269
fat and phlegmatick Constitutions of all People 
should sleep the least, for Reasons already 
given. 
As nothing seems more directly pointed out
to us by Nature, than the Day for Exercise 
and Labour, and the Night for Rest; so the 
fittest Time for Sleeping † is about four 
Hours after Supper, for then the Stomach is 
not loaded with Food, the first Concoction 
being then perfected, and by this Time the 
Chyle has got into the Blood; so that such a 
a quiet and relaxed State as Sleep produces, is 
most necessary to both Nutrition and Per- 
spiration: and the fittest Time for that Pur- 
pose is in the Night; because the Damps, 
Vapours, and Exhalations, which are rare- 
fy'd by the Heat of the Sun in the Day-time, 
are now condensed, and fall down upon the 
Surface of the Earth again, which must ob- 
struct the Pores of the Body, and consequent- 
iy hinder Perspiration, if exposed to such 
Damps by Night-watchings, or unseasonable 
Sittings-up; and this is one of the principal 
Causes of various Diseases, both acute and 
chronical, which soon break and shatter the 
Constitution, shorten Life, and beget a de- 
crepid Age; so that Watching by Night, and 
sleeping by Day, is of the most pernicious 
Consequence to Health and long Life, and 
plainly contrary to the Indications or Dictates 
of Nature, and the Constitutions of our 
Body. 
Therefore
† This is conformable to Aph. 28. Sect. IV. of Sanctorius.  



270 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Therefore all those who value Health and
long Life, ought carefully to avoid Night 
Damps and Dews, and unseasonable Watch- 
ing or Sitting-up, but go to Bed by eight, 
nine, or ten, and rise betimes in the Morn- 
ing, that is, by five or six; for according to
the old Proverb, Surgere diluculo saluberri- 
mum est; that is, To rise betimes is most con- 
ducive to Health. 
The following Rules ought to be carefully 
observ'd in regard to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed. In the first Place, we 
should never lie too close or too warm, which
may obstruct the Fumes and Vapours neces- 
sary to be exhal'd from the Body; and we 
should always lie with our Heads a little 
raised, to prevent the Food from rising from
the Bottom of the Stomach, to its upper 
Orifice. 
Secondly, We should never sleep upon our 
Back; because thereby we prevent the usual 
Excrements of the Brain, which are dis- 
charg'd by the Nose and Mouth, from fall- 
ing upon the Windpipe and Back-bone; but 
if we sleep upon our Back, we over-heat the 
Reins, by being pressed between the Inte- 
stines and the Bed, and thereby oftentimes 
produce Stone and Gravel, and send many 
Fumes and Vapours to the Head. 
Thirdly, It is necessary to take our first 
Sleep upon our right Side, to prevent the 
Liver's pressing the Stomach, then replenish'd 
with the Food we took in at Supper, which 
must


Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 271 
must happen if we lie on the left Side. Be- 
sides, by sleeping first on the right Side, what 
is concocted of the Food descends gradually 
and easily out of the lower Orifice of the 
Stomach into the Intestines, and then the 
Liver comes underneath it, and is instead of 
a Chasing-Dish to it, which promotes Di- 
gestion very much. After this, we should 
turn to the left, that thereby the Steams and
Vapours retain'd on the right Side may ex- 
hale. And lastly, when we go to Rest, we 
ought not to stretch our Joints, but rather 
bend them a little; for as * Galen observes, 
The Ease of the Muscles consists in a mode- 
rate Contraction. 
CHAP. X. 
Of MOTION and REST.
BY Motion, I mean here Exercise and 
Labour, as Walking, Riding, Running, 
playing at Ball, &c. They encrease natural 
Heat and consume the Crudities of the Body; 
for it is very certain, that all Sorts of Ali- 
ment tho' never so pure, have yet always 
something in them unlike our Nature, which 
can never be assimilated to either our Juices 
or Substance; so that some Excrement must 
always
* Galenus, lib. 1. de motu Musculari. 

272 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
always then remain in every Concoction, 
which being retained in the Body, may pro- 
duce a Multitude of various Diseases: But 
the grossest Excrements are discharged by a 
sensible Evacuation, and the most subtile are 
insensibly dissipated and resolved by Exercise 
or Labour. 
This made the divine Hippocrates very 
justly say, in his Book of Diet, that “ One 
“ cannot preserve Health, except he joins 
“ Exercise with his Diet; for the one repairs 
“ what is lost, and the other dissipates what 
“ is superfluous.” Hence moderate and re- 
gular Exercise prevents Repletion, which is 
often the Parent of many Diseases; by en- 
creasing the natural Heat, it keeps all the Ca- 
nals of the Body open, and free from Ob- 
structions; it renders the Body supple; pre- 
pares and disposes all the Superfluities for both
Secretion and Excretion, as well in general as 
in particular; it likewise fortifies the Nerves, 
and strengthens all the Joints which is con- 
firm'd by the great Hippocrates, in his Epi-
demicks, saying that, “ As Sleep is proper for 
“ the Bowels, so is Exercise for strengthen- 
“ ing the Joints.” Celsus also tells us, that 
“ Idleness makes the Body dull and heavy, 
“ but Labour strengthens and renders it firm
“ and active; Laziness makes us soon grow
“ old, but Exercise preserves Youth a long
“ Time †.” 
To
† Lib. I. Caput I. 



Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 273 
To prove the Necessity of Motion or Exer- 
cise, for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, it will be necessary to observe, that a 
human Body, as it comes under the Conside- 
ration of a Physician, is merely a Machine. 
Considering it therefore in this Manner, it is
divided into Solids and Fluids; the Solids are 
vascular, and have continually propell'd thro'
them some Liquor or other necessary for the 
Purposes and Support of the Machine: And 
these circulating Fluids are of different Kinds, 
arising from the different Agitations and Ve- 
locities impress'd upon them by the Vessels 
which circulate them. 
But in this View they have a necessary De- 
pendence upon each other; for as the Disten- 
sion and Power of Restitution in the Vessels, is 
owing to their being duly moisten'd by some 
convenient Fluid, separated and dispensed to 
them from the Blood, which is the common 
Promptuary of all the animal Juices; so 
likewise that due Constitution of the Blood, 
which fits it for yielding some of its Parts for 
that Use, depends upon its certain Degrees of 
fluidity, which are always as the Contraction 
of its circulating Vessels: But yet even in 
this the Solids have the principal Share; be- 
cause, as that Power by which the Blood is 
Preserv'd in a due Crasis or Constitution is de- 
rived from itself, that is, of beflowing upon 
the Solids a Juice necessary for the Preserva- 
tion of their Springs, yet that Constitution 
enabling it to afford such a Power, being pri-
S marily


274 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
marily derived from the Actions of the Solid
upon it, the chief Spring or Rise of Motion 
is in the Solids. 
To know therefore the most ready Ways 
of altering the Constitution of the Fluids, is
to find out the most convenient and effectual 
Means of influencing the Contractions of their 
Vessels; but this cannot be done, without 
knowing first upon what Texture and Me-
chanism of Parts their Powers of Contraction 
and Distension depend. 
And in order to come to any Certainty of 
this Matter, we are to consider, that it is
very well known, that any Membrane or Ves- 
sel may be separated or divided into very 
small Fibres and Threads, when just taken 
out of the Body, and that these Threads may
be drawn out a considerable Length beyond 
what is natural to them without breaking, 
and that when such external Force which so 
distended them is removed, they will again, 
by their Elasticity, restore themselves to their 
former Dimensions. And it is farther like- 
wise known, that these Properties of Disten-
sion and Contraction are preserved in them by a 
convenient Moisture; because, if one of these 
Threads be dried, it will immediately lose it, 
so that upon the Application of any Force to 
stretch it, it will break; as also its being 
soak'd too much in Liquor will render it 
flaccid; as likewise destroy its Elasticity or 
Power of Restitution when distended. 
But

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 275
But what is exactly the constituent Tex- 
ture, or what are perfectly the Shapes and 
Arrangement of those Parts which compose 
an animal Fibre, is scarce possible to be justly
determined; because they are too fine to be 
perceived by the naked Eye, or even by the 
Help of the best Microscopes when very mi- 
nutely divided; which Division proceeds so 
far at last, that the component Fibrillœ be- 
come so incredibly small, as to exceed the 
Power of Imagination; but Reason con- 
vinces us that there must be an End. 
However, as to the present Enquiry con- 
cerning the Effects of Motion or Exercise on 
the Solids and Fluids of a human Body, it 
will be sufficient, with what has been al- 
ready said, that it is known to a Demonstra-
sion, that all the Fibres in a living Body are 
in a State of Distension; that is, they are 
drawn out into a greater Length than they 
would be in, if separated from any Part, and 
taken out of the Body; which is easily de- 
monstrated, by cutting transverse, or dividing
of a Nerve or Artery, which are intirely a 
Composition of the Threads we are now 
speaking of; for immediately we see the di- 
vided Parts run up and leave a great Distance 
between them, as in Wounds, and the Fluids 
contained in them upon such Contraction, to 
be so squeez'd out; and this also makes it ap- 
pear, that their natural Distension is owing to
some Fluid being propell'd into the Vessels 
which they compose, with a greater Force 
S2 than


276 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than their Endeavours of Restitution, so far 
as to obtain a close Contact of all their 
transverse Surfaces, but yet lesser than that 
which is necessary to distend them, so far as 
to bring them to Coincidence, for in such a 
Case the Vessels would break. 
In the next Place then, this State of Di- 
stension of the Fibres must necessarily leave 
some little Vacuities or Interstices between 
all their transverse Surfaces, which Vacuities 
will continue as long as the longitudinal Sur- 
faces of their component Parts continue so 
close to one another, as to prevent the En- 
trance of any foreign Matter between, how 
subtile soever, for the same Reason as when 
the Embolus of a Syringe is drawn, and the 
Pipe is stopp'd, there must needs be a conti- 
nual nisus restituendi, or an Endeavour of 
Contraction. There is also a farther Necessity
of being supported in such a State of Disten- 
sion; because, if they were closely in Contact 
with each other in all Parts, they could not 
be put into, and continue in those undulatory
Motions, which they are always in, in a
living Body, without being very much al- 
ter'd both in their Figures and Contextures. 
But it being manifest that all the animal 
Fibres are continued by the perpetual succes-
sive Impulse of the Fluids, in such undulatory 
Motions; besides this Necessity of their being
distended, they also must be continually moi- 
sten'd with some convenient Fluid, otherwise 
their continual Attritions against one another
would

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 277
would soon wear out, and render it difficult 
to move them. 
The Fluid likewise suited for this Purpose 
must be very fine and subtile, because other- 
wise it cannot be insinuated into all the In- 
terstices the Fibres, without separating 
their Parts so far as is inconsistent with the
Contexture and Mechanism of a Fibre, al- 
ready described; and the Parts also of this 
Fluid must not only be very subtile, but like- 
wise soft and yielding, whereby the Motions 
of the Particles against one another may be 
Maintained the better; and also as by a Ce- 
ment, that they may be prevented in their 
receding from each other in their longitudinal 
Surfaces, so far as to admit of no foreign 
Matter to insinuate itself between their trans- 
verse Surfaces, in such Quantities as to hinder 
their Re-union when Occasion may require 
it. 
From what has been said it will appear, 
that the most natural Consequence of Mo- 
tion, will be the breaking still smaller and 
smaller the component Particles of that Fluid, 
which is dispensed to the Fibres to lubricate 
and facilitate their Motions; which Commi- 
nution will be continued till it is rendered so 
fine, as to fly off at last at the Surface of the
Body, being of no farther Use to Nature, 
whenever it happens to get there, and by that 
Means must be there continually made a Waste 
of, and that merely by such an Attrition of the
Parts, as necessarily arises from their due 
S3 Dis-

278 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Discharge of the vital Functions; and that 
Matter, which thus insensibly flies off, is the 
true Matter of insensible Perspiration, the 
Exhalation of which is absolutely necessary 
for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life. 
But this Waste makes it necessary that 
there be a continual Supply of what is lost; 
and this is made from what is taken in by 
the Stomach, which, after divers Digestions 
and Alterations, at last is mixed with the 
Blood, and there fitted for some of the finest 
Parts to pass through the Glands constituted 
for that Purpose in the Brain, which from 
thence are dispens'd through the whole ner-
vous System, in such a Manner, as constantly
to keep up a due Supply of this animal 
Fluid. 
Yet there is another Way by which the 
Fibres receive fresh Supplies, and that a much 
nearer; for, according to their natural Con- 
structures, it is very likely that even in the 
Stomach, and throughout the whole Passage 
of the Food into the Blood, the most subtile 
Parts of what is taken in, which are soon se- 
parated from the rest, and ready fitted for
this Use, may, when they chance to strike 
against any of the Interstices of a Fibre, be 
laid hold on, and by Degrees convey'd into 
the Substance of the Thread; for it is certain
the most subtile Part of the Chyle passes imme- 
diately into the Blood by the absorbent Ves-
sels 

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 279  
sels * of the Intestines, as I have observed in 
another Place, which discharge themselves 
into to the Mesaraick Veins †, and from thence 
are convey'd directly into the Liver and Spleen. 
Besides, this is farther supported by com- 
mon Experience, by which it is evident, that 
the Solids are invigorated with fresh Recruits 
of Spirits, immediately upon taking into the 
Stomach such Meats and Drinks as are spiri- 
tuous, and contain in their Composition plenty 
of Particles very fine and active, and easily to
be divided from the rest: And thus every one, 
Upon eating a good Meal, or upon drinking of 
any spirituous Liquor, especially if it be after 
long fasting, or a large Expence by hard La- 
bour or Exercise, finds himself immediately, as 
soon as it is in his Stomach, raised with new 
Spirit and Vigour; which could by no Means 
happen, were the Solids to obtain these Re- 
cruits altogether from the Chyle's passing 
through the Lacteals to the Thoracick Duct, 
S4 and
* Are Vessels which suck in. 
† They are Branches of the Vena Portœ, interspersed in 
great Numbers in and upon the Laminœ of the Mesentery, 
which is a membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the
Guts are connected, and they carry the Blood back to the 
Liver: Their Largeness and Number demonstrate what 
in said above; for they are numerous and vastly larger 
than their correspondent Arteries; besides, wherever there 
are Emissaries, which are little Vessels which throw out a 
Liquid, there are likewise absorbent Vessels; for Example, 
in the Skin, by the absorbent Vessels of which Mercury will 
pass into the Blood. Moreover Birds, which have strong and 
large Breasts, small Bellies, and their Ribs upon their Backs, 
have no Lacteals nor Thoracick Duct, and their Aliment passes 
immediately into the Mesaraick Veins, by which Means they 
receive their Nourishment intirely. 


280 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
and thence into the Blood; because it is im- 
possible that what a Person finds himself so soon 
recruited by, should in so short a Time have 
gone through the usual Digestions and Cir- 
culations, which require some Hours for that 
Purpose, according to Sanctorius, and a great
many Authors of undoubted Authority. 
Upon a View of what has been said, with 
what ease may be explained, how the Body, 
by moderate Exercise, is rendered lighter up- 
on a twofold Account! Because, in the first 
Place, there is occasion'd by it a Substraction 
of its absolute Weight, as it assists Digestion, 
and by breaking the Matter to be perspired 
finer; secondly, it promotes the Discharge of
that Matter through the Pores; and because 
by the Vibration of the Solids, at the same 
Time, there is a larger Quantity of fresh Spi- 
rits taken up by them from the circulating 
Blood, both by the Secretion made of them in 
the Brain, and in the Manner they are convey'd 
by the absorbent Vessels just now explained, 
whereby the Fibres become more invigorated, 
and so much the more able to carry on a due 
Discharge of all the vital Functions, inso- 
much that the Body will not have the Sense 
or Perception of so much absolute Weight as
before. 
Moreover, the Muscles and Ligaments are 
cleared of their Excrements by Exercise; 
that is, whatever superfluous Particles of the 
digested perspirable Matter may adhere to 
them, is by Motion dislodg'd and shook of:
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 281  
And the Spirits are rendered finer; that is, 
such Parts of the nervous Fluid as are just re- 
ceived by the Fibres, are by the Actions of 
their component Threads broke smaller, and 
tendered fitter for the Purposes of the whole 
Body. 
Upon this View likewise it will be easy to 
account for some Disorders this Fluid is likely 
to fall into, or how it is most liable to be di- 
stemper'd; which is very plain, that it must 
be either by becoming too gross and sizy, or 
too fine or exhalable. 
The first may be occasioned by a want of 
sufficient Agitation or Motion in the Solids, 
whereby its Parts attract each other, and form
viscid Cohesions, in the same Manner as it 
happens in the Blood in the same Case, which 
renders the Motions of the constituent Threads
of the Fibres very difficult and troublesome, 
and sometimes so obstructs or blocks up those 
little Vacuities or Interstices between their 
transverse Surfaces, which are necessary for the 
Support of their Elasticity, as to prevent, in a 
great Measure at least, their Power of Resti- 
tution when they are distended; as happens 
in a Leucophlegmatia, Anasarca, and such like 
Disorders, where the Springs of the Fibres 
are so much destroy'd, that by any small 
Pressure upon a Muscle, the Impression will 
sometimes remain a long Time before their 
constituent Threads can recover their natural 
Dimensions; or, as it is commonly express'd, 
the Part will pit. 
The

282 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The other Disorder of this Fluid, oppo- 
site to the former, is, its being broke too fine; 
which will render it so exhalable as to fly 
off in greater Quantities than the concoctive 
Power in the Stomach is able to recruit or 
supply; and this is often brought about by 
too violent Exercise, too large Evacuations, 
or drinking too great Plenty of spirituous and 
hot Liquors, whereby the Constitution of the 
Blood is so far weaken'd, as not to give due 
Resistance to the Constractions of the Vessels
which circulate the Juices, whereupon they 
vibrate quicker, and break the nervous Juice 
too fine; which brings on a Hectick, and 
Death, if not timely remedied. 
As to the first of these Disorders, it is evi- 
dent that it is to be remedied by giving brisker 
Motions to the Solids, and encreasing the Vi- 
brations of the contractile Vessels, in which 
how far Exercise may be useful, is evident 
from what has been said already; for every 
Thing which acts as a Stimulus comes under 
this Head; and their Efficacy is chiefly to be 
determined by their greater or lesser Power of 
stimulating, shaking, and contracting the Fi- 
bres, which Exercise rightly pursued produces 
more efficaciously, and with less Danger, than
any other Method whatsoever. 
For by such Means the component Threads 
of the Fibres are so put in Motion, as to 
loosen such Parts of the animal Oil, as are 
obstructed in their Interstices, and by Degrees 
break them small enough for Expulsion; and 
a fresh

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life 283
a fresh Stock of such Spirits will be supply'd, 
as will restore them to their natural Springs. 
As to the latter Disorder, it is to be re- 
moved by a Diet that agglutinates, and gives 
a greater or stronger Consistence to all the 
Fluids, and by all such Means as check the in- 
ordinate Motions of the Solids. So that upon 
the Whole it is evident, that to keep from ei- 
ther of these Extremes, Care is to be taken to
maintain a just Ballance between the elastick 
Force of the Solids and the Resistances of the
circulating Fluids, in which true Health con- 
sists; because, if the Equilibrium is lost on 
either Side, the Body cannot but fall into 
some Distemper; and in this consists the whole
Art and Business of a rational Practice, to 
know when to add to, or substract from, the 
Resistances of the Fluids, and when to check 
or spur the Motions of the Solids; as also to 
be well acquainted with the various Methods 
by which all these Intentions may be brought 
about. 
And here I cannot omit just taking Notice, 
how wonderfully the Effects of Musick in 
some extraordinary Cases are hereby account-
ed for; and tho' Musick, strictly speaking, 
may not be deem'd Exercise, unless it be so to 
those who exercise it themselves; yet it will 
manifestly appear otherwise, if we consider, 
that according to the Nature and Contexture 
of an animal Fibre or Thread, it is very plain 
that the least Stroke imaginable upon it, 
must move its component Fibrillœ in all 
their

284 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
their Parts; therefore every Wave or Undula- 
tion of the Air, which is made by a musical 
Instrument, gives the Fibres of the whole 
Body more or less correspondent Concussions, 
according to their Degrees of Tension, where- 
by all the component Fibrillœ are successively
moved from one to another throughout the 
whole Thread; and consequently the Spirits 
are not only raised and made finer, but like- 
wise the other animal Fluids are also more 
briskly agitated, and their preternatural Co- 
hesions and Viscidities destroyed: All which 
plainly prove, that Musick is not only good 
Exercise for the Mind, but likewise very use- 
ful for the Body, by the agreeable Concus- 
sions and Thrillings we sensibly perceive from
it in all the fleshy Fibres of the Body. 
Hence Musick has this Advantage above 
any other Exercise, that those Concussions
made upon the Fibres thereby are short, 
quick, and easy, whereupon the nervous 
Fluid is not only more briskly agitated, but 
also the natural Contexture of all the animal 
Threads are better preserved, being never o- 
verstrained hereby, as they frequently are 
with other Exercises: Therefore upon this 
View the extraordinary Effects of Musick in 
several Diseases, as that of the Bite of a ta- 
rantula *, &c. ceases to be a Wonder, and 
it
* Among all the wonderful Effects ascrib'd to the Power 
of Musick, none is more surprising and important than that 
of curing the venomous Bite of the Italian Spider, called the 
Tarantula. The Part bitten is soon affected with a very acute 
Pain, 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 285
it rather comes to be admired that it is not 
much more brought into Use here for the Be- 
nefit of valetudinary and weakly Constitu- 
tions, as it is in Italy and other Countries, 
and that even by the Direction of their Phy- 
sicians. 
What has been said farther explains that 
common Effect of Exercise, in its giving al- 
ways, conformable to Hippocrates's Opinion, 
a greater Firmness and Strength to the Solids; 
for the more a Fibre is kept in Action, the 
clearer it will keep its component Parts from
the Lodgement and Adhesion of any foreign 
and superfluous Matter upon them, by which 
Means whenever it is distended or stretch'd, 
there will be the more Room for each Par- 
ticle to draw up again, and consequently its 
Return will be with greater Force; but the 
Exercise which produces this Effect, is such
only as does not exceed the Powers of the 
Con-
Pain, and a few Hours after with Numbness; upon which 
ensues a profound Sadness, and a Difficulty of Respiration; the 
Pulse grows weak, the Sight is disturbed, and the Person loses 
Knowledge, Sense, and Motion. The Doctor is in vain con- 
sulted; the Musician here alone performs the Cure; he tries 
a Variety of Airs, and when he happens to hit on that Har- 
mony that accords with the Patient, he begins to move by 
Degrees, and keeps Time with his Fingers, Arms, Legs, and 
Body; then he raises himself up and dances, increasing in 
Strength and Activity. This dancing Fit continues six Hours, 
or a Day, or sometimes two Days. When the Musick ceases, 
the Person gives over dancing, and is put to Bed. And this 
Process is repeated till the Patient is recovered, which is by 
little and little; and every sick Person has a particular Tune 
or Air, and always a very brisk or sprightly one. See Der- 
ham's Physico-Theology, Book IV. Chap. iii. and Malcolm's 
Musick, Chap. xiv. Sect. 3. &c. 


286 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Constitution; for too much Exercise destroys
the Solids, by consuming the Fluids too 
much. 
But on the contrary, by too much Rest 
and Inactivity every Part will lose its Strength, 
and the less it is mov'd, be still render'd less 
able for Motion. And upon this Account it is 
that we see daily such a very great Diffe- 
rence between active and stirring Persons, 
and such whose Circumstances of Life in- 
ures them to Labour and Exercise, and those 
whose Inclinations and Condition indulge 
them in Ease and Inactivity; for the for- 
mer are strong, hardy, and healthful, but 
the latter tender, weakly, and diseas'd. 
From the Doctrine of this Chapter, it is 
manifest to a Demonstration, that there is 
an absolute Necessity for Labour and Exer- 
cise, to preserve the Body any time in a due
State to maintain Health, and prolong Life: 
For let whatever Diet be pursued, though 
never so well adjusted both in Quantity and
Quality, and let whatever Evacuations be 
used to lessen the Disorder, or any Succeda- 
neum or Equivalent be proposed to prevent 
the ill Effects; yet our Bodies are so made, 
and the animal Oeconomy so contriv'd, that 
without due Labour or Exercise the Juices 
will thicken, the Joints will stiffen, the 
Nerves will relax, and on these Disorders, 
chronical Distempers and a shatter'd old Age 
must soon ensue.
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 287
And tho' light Food may in a great mea- 
sure prevent the thickening of the Fluids, 
yet it cannot do it sufficiently without Exer- 
cise; nor can it at all keep the Fibres in due 
Tension, for to that Purpose Exercise is ab- 
solutely necessary: Even the joint Power of
warm Air and light Food, cannot supply the 
Place of Exercise in keeping them pliant 
and moveable, and preserving them from 
growing hard and stiff. But we should al- 
ways avoid too much Labour or Exercise, as 
I have just now observ'd; for Sanctorius tells
us, “ That by too much Exercise the Fibres 
“ become hard, whence old Age proceeds, 
“ which is an universal Hardness and Stiff- 
“ ness of the Fibres *.”
There are general and particular Exercises; 
the former, which move and stir the whole 
Body, are Walking, Dancing, Fencing, Run-
ning, Leaping, Bowling, Tennis, Pumping, 
Riding a Horseback, or in a Coach, &c. of 
all which Walking is the most natural, and
would be also the most useful, if it did not
exhaust the Spirits of weakly Constitutions 
too much; but Riding is certainly the most 
manly, the most healthy, and the least labo- 
rious and expensive of the Spirits of any, 
shaking the whole Body, and thereby pro- 
moting an universal Perspiration and Secre- 
tion of all the Fluids; to which may be 
added the various Changes of the Air thro' 
which they so quickly pass, the Alterations 
of
* Aph. 35. Sect. V.


288 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of which become as it were a new Bath, 
and by that means variously stimulating the 
Fibres to brace and contract them; besides 
the different Objects or new Scenes, which at
the same Time amuse the Mind. 
The immortal Sydenham laid so great a 
Stress on Riding, that he thought he could not
only cure slight Consumptions, but an almost 
desperate Tabes, attended with nocturnal 
Sweats, and a violent Diarrhœa, by Riding 
alone; nor did he believe Mercury more ef- 
fectual in the Cure of the Venereal Disease, or 
the Bark in intermittent Fevers, than Riding 
was in a Consumption. 
Those who cannot ride may use a Coach, 
Chaise, or Chair, which is the only proper 
Method for lame, old, and decrepid Persons, 
as well as for those who are so young, that 
they are not able to manage their own Exer- 
cise. 
There are also particular Exercises appro- 
priated to certain Parts of the Body; as 
Shooting, for the Breast; Talking, Singing, 
Hollowing, Blowing the Horn, or Wind-In-
struments, for strengthening, opening, and 
clearing the Lungs; Tennis or Foot-ball, for 
those who have weak Arms or Hams; Bowl- 
ing or Skettles, for the Reins and Loins;
Riding, for weak Nerves and Digestion, and 
those troubled with Head-aches. 
In short, there is no one particular Part 
of the Body, but might be strengthen'd and 
kept in due Plight by Labour or Exercise
rightly 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 289
rightly appropriated to the particular Organ; 
for it is very remarkable, how the several 
different Limbs of labouring Men are streng- 
then'd, and render'd fleshy and nervous, as 
they happen to be most employ'd in their 
different Occupations: so the Thighs, Legs, 
and Feet of Chairmen; the Arms and Hands 
of Watermen; the Backs and Shoulders of 
Porters, grow thereby thick, strong, and 
hard in time; for it is very certain, that 
using any Organ or Member frequently and 
forcibly, brings Blood and Spirits into it, and
by that means is render'd plump and strong. 
The following Conditions ought to be ob- 
serv'd with Regard to Exercise, in order to 
render it the most beneficial that may be. 
The first, that it be upon an empty Stomach, 
for then all the Matter which is digested 
enough for Perspiration, will thereby be 
easily discharg'd; but Exercise on a full 
Meal is very pernicious, for it subverts the 
Stomach, and forces the Aliment from thence 
crude and indigested, and so hurries it into
the Veins and Habit of the Body, whereby 
Secretions are precipitated, and the found 
Juices are carried off with the corrupted Hu- 
mours; hence arise frequently putrid Fevers, 
Pleurisies, Head-achs, weak Eyes, and a 
general Cacochymy, or a vitiated Constitu- 
tion. 
Secondly, the Morning Exercise is always the 
best, for then the two Concoctions are finish'd; 
and Hippocrates is very clear upon this Head, 
T in

290 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in one of his Aphorisms, wherein he says, 
Let us exercise before eating. But it should 
be moderate and equal; I call that Exercise 
moderate which is not tiresome, and equal 
when all the Parts of the Body are equally 
mov'd. 
Thirdly, They that are lean should exer- 
cise only ad Ruborem, that is, till the Body and
Spirits are gently heated, for that will help to 
fatten them; but they who are fat may exer- 
cise ad Sudorem, that is, till they sweat, for 
that will help to melt down Part of their 
Fat, and consequently extenuate the Body. 
Fourthly, We must carefully avoid drink- 
ing any cold Liquors after violent or great 
Exercise, or when we are hot and sweating, 
which Heat and Thirst intice us to do; 
the dangerous Effects of which, are chilling 
and almost extinguishing the remainder of 
the Heat which is left in the inward Parts, 
and surfeiting the Blood and Juices, by mix- 
ing cold Drink with the Fat, which is at 
that Time partly melted and floating in the 
Body. 
Fifthly, Another great Error to be avoid- 
ed is, drinking of strong and spirituous Li- 
quors after hard Labour or Exercise, in order 
to avoid the former Inconveniencies, not con- 
sidering that we thereby incur another, which 
is over-heating and drying our Bodies, too 
much heated and dry'd before; but to avoid 
both, and to refresh the Body at the same 
time, the best Way is, first to rest a while
warm,

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 291
warm, if we can conveniently, and then to 
drink a Draught of warm Ale or Beer, with 
a little Mace and Sugar in it, or some other 
innocent Supping, analogous in Heat or 
Warmth to that of our Bodies, by which 
means the Blood and Spirits will soon settle, 
and be refresh'd, and so the Limbs after 
Rest will be enabled with Ease to undergo 
new Labour. 
Sixthly, We should carefully avoid catch- 
ing of Cold after Exercise, by retiring into a 
warm Room, or some convenient Shelter 
from the Injuries of the Weather. 
CHAP. XI.
Of RETENTION and EXCRETION.
THE Things to be excreted or evacua- 
ted, and retained, are the Excrements 
of the Belly, Urine, insensible Perspiration, 
the Semen, and the Menses; for these must
be regulated, and evacuated in due Time, 
and in due Quantity, all which conduce very
much to the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, otherwise they will injure it, and bring
on a Multitude of various Diseases. There- 
fore in a natural and healthy State, we should 
go to Stool once in 24 Hours, and the Fœces 
should be of a due Consistence, that is, some- 
T2 what


292 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
what soft, and stick together, according to 
the old Saying, Oportet sanorum sedes esse
configuratas; that is, The gross Excrements 
in healthy Persons ought to be of such a Con- 
sistence, as to take the Impression of the Guts. 
They who are costive, and otherwise not 
well, have either over-heated their Bodies 
with spirituous Liquors, or have fasted too 
long, or eaten too sparingly, or they have 
too slow a Digestion, or too great Weakness
of the Intestines; and by that means the 
Food is retain'd too long before the Mouths 
of the Lacteals, and is thereby over-drain'd 
of its Moisture, and harden'd. 
The best Proportion of the gross Eva- 
cuation to the Quantity of the Food we take 
in, is about the third Part; for they who 
much exceed that, have the Mesaraick Veins 
stopt or obstructed, and so cannot be nou- 
rish'd; and if it exceeds it, 'tis certain that
the Body wastes, unless the Matter of some 
Disease be thereby evacuated; or else, if 
they have purging Stools, they have eaten 
too much of Things too strong for their 
Powers of Digestion; for it is very certain, 
that superfluous Nourishment leaves too 
much Chyle in the gross Excrements, which 
fermenting in the Guts, stimulates them so as 
to become purgative. 
But if the Looseness be not violent, and 
the Appetite remains good, it is not to be 
suddenly and rashly stopp'd; for Nature 
thereby frequently prevents, and often times
rids




Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 293
rids herself of many a Disease, which upon 
an unadvised Astriction would be riveted in 
the Body; and therefore the Rule is, first 
cleanse and then close. But if it be too vio- 
lent and frequent, and the Stomach thereby 
decay'd it must be carefully and speedily 
remedied; and in this Case Advice is very
necessary, for it is easy to commit an Error, 
but the Consequence is dangerous. 
Here I cannot omit inserting an Abstract
of some few Passages out of Cheyne's Essay 
of Health and Long Life, which are admi- 
rable upon this Subject, and very worthy 
of every Body's Perusal. ' I have often ob- 
' serv'd, says he, that a full Meal of strong
' Meat, as Fish, Beef, Pork, baked Meat, 
' or made Dishes, in tender Persons goes off 
' with the Hurry and Irritation of a Purge, 
' leaving the Bowels instated, colick'd, grip'd, 
' and the Spirits sunk to the last Degree. 
' The Food by its various Mixture, Weight, 
' and Fermentation, Stimulating all along
' from the Stomach to the Rectum *, and 
' being scarce ever drain'd of its Chyle, 
' without affording any Nourishment to the 
' Body, runs off thus crudely, and becomes 
' equal to a total Abstinence from Food for 
' a long Time. And hence we have a most 
' infallible Rule, † a Posteriori, to judge 
' if we govern'd ourselves in our Diet in 
T3 ' Pro-
* The straight or last Gut. 
† A Posteriori, i. e. after the Trial has been made.



294 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Proportion to the Necessities of Nature, 
' and the Forces of our concoctive Powers. 
' This is the very Reason why the Bark 
' over dosed, and given to Persons of weak 
' Digestion, so constantly purges them, and
' why Mercury given either inwardly, or 
' by Frictions, runs off in violent Purging,
' and cannot be raised into a Salivation; to
' wit, the not adjusting the Doses to the 
' Strength of the stomach and nervous Fi- 
' bres; for the Bark naturally binds, and 
' Mercury naturally rises to the most § per- 
' vious Glands. 
' And in this Sense I myself have frequent- 
' ly observ'd in weak and scrophulous Bowels, 
' even Diascordium and Venice Treacle to 
' purge: whereas, had the Doses been duly 
' proportion'd, or had they begun by un- 
' der-dosing, and taken a little longer time, 
' they might have been effectually answer'd, 
' as I have often experienc'd without ever
' failing. 
' 2. There is a very great Error commit- 
' ted in Nurses and Parents in rearing up 
' young Children; the perpetual Gripes, 
' Colicks, Loosenesses, hard Bellies, Choak-
' ings, Wind and Convulsive Fits, which tor-
' ment half the Children in England, are en- 
' tirely owing to the too great Quantities of
' too strong Food, and too rank Milk, thrust 
' down their Throats by their over-laying 
' Mothers
§ Pervious, i. e. the easiest or readiest Way to be passed
through. 

295 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
' Mothers and Nurses; for what else do their 
' slimy, their gray or chylous, their blackish, 
' and cholerick Discharges, the Noise and Mo- 
' tion in their Bowels, their Wind and Choak- 
' ings imply, but Crudities from superfluous 
' Nourishment? This is so certain, that they 
' are universally and infallibly cur'd by testa- 
' ceous Powders, which only absorb sharp Cru- 
' dities; by Rhubarb Purges, which at once 
' evacuate and strengthen the Bowels; and by 
' Milk Clysters, Issues, and Blisters; and by 
' obstinately persisting in these and the like, 
' (intended to evacuate and strengthen the 
' alimentary Passages) and a thin, spare and 
' nutritive Diet; for nothing nourishes but 
' Food duly concocted. 
' 3. I have often heard valetudinary and 
' tender Persons, and those of sedentary Lives,
' and learned Professions, complain of Head- 
' achs, Sickneses at the Stomach, Colicks and
' Gripes, Lowness of Spirits, Wind and Va- 
' pours; and yet pretended they were very 
' moderate and abstemious in their Eating 
' and Drinking; but upon Enquiry, I con- 
' stantly found these very Persons pursued 
' with purging Stools, which was an evident
' Proof to me, that they had taken down 
' more than they wanted, or could digest: 
' for 'tis universally certain, that those that
' do not exceed, must have either Costive, 
' or at least Stools of a middle Consistence. 
' There is nothing more ridiculous, than 
' to see tender, hysterical and vapourish Peo-
T4 ' ple,


296 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' ple, perpetually complaining, and yet per- 
' petually cramming, crying out, they are 
' ready to sink into the Ground and faint 
' away, and yet gobbling the richest and 
' strongest Food, and highest Cordials, to 
' oppress and overlay them quite. The pro- 
' per Remedy in this Case, is first, to cleanse 
' the fœtid Abyss, and then to preserve it 
' clean, by cutting off all the Inlets of Pu- 
' trefaction. This will require a little Cou- 
' rage, Labour and Pain; but the future 
' Ease and Sweetness will more than abun- 
' dantly recompence them; for there is no- 
' thing more certain, than that the Head-achs, 
' Colicks, and nervous Pains and Disorders, of
' those born found here in England, univer- 
' sally proceed from Idleness and Fulness of
' Bread. 
4. ' Those who pretend to cure themselves 
' of nervous Disorders, or any other chroni-
' cal Diseases, or preserve themselves from
' them, or lengthen out their Days, must
' under-dose themselves, even tho' they 
' should undergo the Pain of Costiveness;
' for it is impossible the Nerves of those who 
' have slippery Bowels, should ever be braced 
' or wound up; for there the Cure must be- 
' gin where the Evil began, and must be 
' communicated thence to the rest of the 
' System; as a Rope-maker begins the Twist at 
' one End of the Rope, and communicates 
' it to all the other Parts. 
' Our

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 297
' Our Access to the Nerves of the Sto- 
' mach and Bowels, is obvious and open; to 
' the rest the Way is difficult, and far about. 
' And since a Relaxation, Weakness, and 
' want of Spring in the Fibres, is the Origin 
' of all nervous Distempers, no Medicines 
' but such as contract, stiffen, wind up, and
' Shorten them, can remedy this Evil; and 
' they must necessarily contract and bind up 
' the Fibres of the Stomach and Guts, as the 
' Parts they first approach and exert their 
' Virtue upon. And he who without firm 
' Bowels, thinks to cure a nervous Distemper, 
' labours as much in vain, as he who would 
' keep a Fiddle-string soaking in Oil and 
' Water, to make it vibrate or play off a fine
' Composition of Musick. 
5. ' There happens also an Evacuation 
' both by Stool and Urine, to some weak 
' Persons of relax'd Nerves, that extremely 
' alarms them, and is not so readily account- 
' ed for in that Part of Physick, which teaches 
' the Causes of Diseases. It is when either 
' a white transparent, viscid Substance like 
' Gelly, is constantly voided by the Bowels, 
' more or less; or when a white, milky, gluey 
' Substance like Cream or laudable Matter, 
' settles in the Urine. Both these Appearances 
' are commonly ascrib'd to an Ulcer in the 
' Guts, or in the Kidneys; and yet I am 
' very certain, there is neither Ulcer or true 
' Matter in either Case, as I propose them. 
' For where there is violent and acute Pain,
' or

298 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Matter of different Colours or Mixtures, 
' there very possibly may be, nay certainly 
' there is an Ulcer. But in the Case I here 
' intend, there is very little or no Pain, no
' hectical Paroxysms, which always attend an 
' inward Ulcer; no bloody or sanious Mix- 
' tures, which always betray the inward Sore; 
' no fœtid Smell to imply Corruption. 
' The first Case I take to be either an 
' Obstruction of some of the Lacteals, where- 
' by the Chyle cannot be carried off in any 
' sufficient Quantity, but passing thro' the 
' Guts, and its more watery Part being eva- 
' porated, it becomes thick and gelatinous, 
' and is thrown off at last with the Remains 
' of the Food; else it must be an Obstru- 
' ction of those Glands of the Guts, by 
' which a viscid Matter for lubricating of 
' them is commonly secerned, by the Im- 
' prisonment and Evaporation of which Mat- 
' ter it thickens and turns like a Gelly (as it 
' does by Cold or Over-feeding, in the Glands 
' of the Mouth, Throat, and Windpipe) and 
' at last, by squeezing of the Guts is thrown 
' off. And in the same manner, I take that 
' milky Substance subsiding in the Water, in 
' such a Case as I have mention'd, to arise 
' from a Relaxation of the Glands of the 
' Kidneys and Bladder, and other urinary 
' Passages; and that both are to be cur'd the 
' same Way as other nervous Distempers are 
' cur'd; viz. by a proper Regimen of Diet,
and 


Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 299
' and a Course of contracting, strengthening, 
' and volatile Medicines.”
The second Evacuation is by Urine, be- 
ing a serous Humour strain'd in the Kid- 
neys, which comes with the Blood (which 
it diluted) to the Reins by the Arteries of
the Kidneys, but is separated from it as ex- 
crementitious, and that continually, as Part 
of the Blood is constantly driven to the Kid- 
neys to nourish them. 
The Urine contains not only the watery 
Part of the Blood, but the sharpest Salt, 
which is most subtile and volatile, and nearly 
of an alkaline Nature, render'd exceeding 
volatile. In the watery Part there is also a 
fœtid Substance contain'd, and a viscid Oil 
so attenuated, that it readily mixes with Wa- 
ter, and is scarce separable from it; which 
may therefore in some Measure be called a 
Spirit. 
The natural Salt of Urine is of a lixivi- 
ate, soapy Disposition, and much like Sal- 
ammoniac, yet in some Respects different 
from it: It also contains a fix'd Salt, of the
Nature of Sea-salt, being composed of a li- 
xiviate one, and a nitrous; of which Nature 
is that which swims in the Blood, the nitrous 
Parts being imbibed into it thro' the Lungs 
in Inspiration; so that the Salt in Urine in a 
found State, is neither acid, alkali, ammoni- 
cal nor briny, but of a peculiar Disposi- 
tion. 
But

300 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
But as Urine is a * Lixivium of the Salts 
contained in a human Body, and the proper 
Mark of the State and Quantity of such 
Salts; therefore very certain Indications may 
be taken from the Condition of Urine, to 
discover both the State of our Constitution, 
and the Regulation of our Diet; and tho' 
the Salts of human Urine be neither acid nor 
alkaline, as I have just now observ'd, yet by 
the violent Motion of the Blood, as in burn- 
ing and putrid Fevers, &c. they may be 
turn'd alkaline, and even corrosive; and when
they begin to turn so, they affect the small 
and tender Fibres of the Brain more sensi- 
bly than any other Part of the Body. 
When the Urine is of a bright Amber 
Colour, and of a moderate Thickness, with 
a light Cloud hanging in it, and in Quantity 
of about three Quarters of the Liquor taken 
in, it is best, and a certain Sign of a due Con- 
coction, a just Proportion of Food, and a to- 
tal Riddance of Repletion and Crudities; for 
they who live moderately, use due Exercise, 
and enjoy a perfect State of Health, always 
evacuate such Urine. 
But when it is retain'd too long, either 
by the Fault of the Kidneys or Bladder, or 
because the Matter of it is not sufficiently 
separated from the Blood, or that it is kept 
too long in the Bladder thro' Laziness or Bash- 
fulness, (as is often the Case) it occasions Stone
and Gravel, and sometimes Blotches and Erup-
tions 
* Lixivium, i. e. Lye, such as that of Soap.

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 301
tions upon the Skin, Dropsy, fainting, and sleepy. 
Diseases, with a great many other Disorders, 
too tedious to enumerate in this Place. 
If there be too great an Evacuation of 
Urine from any Cause whatsoever, by taking 
away the Serum, or watry Parts of the Blood, 
it will occasion a Stagnation of the Humours, 
encrease Heat, an unextinguishable Thirst, 
Crudities, and many Evils of the like Na- 
ture; and by depriving the Blood, and carry- 
ing out of the Body the most nutritive Parts, 
produce an Atrophy, or a total Decay, as in 
a Diabetes, and Death at last. 
The Urine differs both in Taste, Smell,
Colour and Quantity, according to the Diffe- 
rence of Ages, Constitutions, Sexes, Seasons
of the Year, and Alterations of their Way 
of living, and Diversity of Medicines; so 
that they who live freely, and make Quan- 
tities of pale, or limpid and sweet Urine, it is
a manifest Sign that their Perspiration is ob- 
structed; that neither the first nor the two 
last Concoctions * have been rightly perform'd; 
and that the Chyle has not been sufficiently 
attenuated, nor the minutest Secretions duly 
made by the lesser Drains of the Body, and 
that the urinous Salts are still retain'd in the
Habit. 
The
* Concoction in an animal Body is three-fold; the find is
confin'd to what Alterations are made of the Food in the 
Stomach and Intestines; the second is applied to the Alterati- 
ons made of it in the Blood-Vessels; and that made in the 
Nerves, Fibres, and minutest Vessels, is not improperly called 
the third and last Concoction.  

302 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Cure, as to Diet, consists in living re- 
gular, that is, in eating and drinking less, 
and using more Air and Exercise, drinking 
freely of small warm White-Wine Whey; 
likewise a little Gascoign's Powder, or Sir 
Walter Raleigh's Confection will be proper 
at the same time, in order to set Perspiration
to rights again. 
High-colour'd, foul, and very turbid 
Urine in small Quantities, proceeds from 
either an immoderate Use of strong or spi- 
rituous Liquors, or from too great abundance 
of Salts retain'd in the Body; which must be 
remedied by diminishing the Quantity of 
their Flesh Meats, and drinking small Li- 
quors, or Water with their Wine, otherwise 
they will hurry themselves into some acute 
Inflammatory, or dangerous Chronical Dis- 
ease. 
Dark Brown, or dirty Red-colour'd Urine, 
without any Sediment, and in small Quan- 
tity, in acute Distempers is always a sure In- 
dication of insurmountable Crudity, high 
Inflammation tending to a Mortification, and 
a dying Weakness in Nature: But in those 
who labour not under any visible Disease at 
the Time, it is a certain Sign of almost a 
total Weakness of the digestive Powers, an 
inseparable Cohesion of the component Parts 
of the Blood, and a Deadness in all the ani- 
mal Functions; in which Case, a Physician's
Advice is highly necessary. 
A

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 306
A bloody, mattery, wheyish Urine, or that 
with Films, Bits of broken Membranes, or 
white Gravel, denote or Gravel, or 
Symptoms of an Ulcer somewhere in the 
urinary Passages. Fat, which is observ'd 
upon the Top of the Urine, especially of 
consumptive People, signifies a wasting of
the Body. 
The third Excretion or Evacuation to be 
consider'd is insensible Perspiration, which
is imperceptibly discharg'd through all the 
Pores of the Skin, and other Parts of the 
Body, being the Recrements of the second 
and third Concoctions, divested of all that 
can be of any farther Use to the Parts of the
Body; the free and full exhaling of which, 
is as necessary to Health as any of the gros- 
ser Evacuations, being in Quantity at least
equal to all that is evacuated both by Stool 
and Urine; and an Obstruction thereof is ge- 
nerally the Parent of all acute Distempers, 
as it is a Consequence of all chronical Dis- 
orders. But having fully treated of this 
Matter in another Place already, for far- 
ther Satisfaction herein, I refer the Reader to
Page 99. Note *, Part II. 
Nothing hinders and obstructs Perspiration 
more than catching of Cold, which is nothing 
but great Quantities of moist Air impreg- 
nated with nitrous Salts imbib'd through the 
Passages of Perspiration, by which means not 
only the Blood and Juices are thicken'd, but 
likewise insensible Perspiration is obstructed, 
and

304 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and immediately a small Fever, and a Hurry 
in the whole animal System succeeds; which 
oftentimes lays a Foundation for Consumptions, 
Obstructions of the great Viscera †, and an 
universal Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body. 
Therefore, in order to remedy this Disorder, 
and prevent the ill Consequences of it, we 
should lie much longer in Bed than usual, 
drinking small warm White-Wine Whey 
plentifully, with some few Hartshorn-drops, 
Posset-drink, Water-gruel, Barley-water, or 
any other warm small Liquors, taking twenty
Grains of Gascoigns Powder Night and Morn- 
ing, and at the same Time living low upon 
Spoon-meats, Pudding, Chicken, and drink- 
ing every Thing during the Height of the 
Illness warm; but if any Cough or Spitting 
should encrease, Bleeding should be perform'd, 
and to take now and then a little Sugar- 
Candy, Oil of Sweet Almonds, or a Solution 
of Sperma Ceti, to render Expectoration free 
and easy; and afterwards to be cautious of 
going abroad too soon, and without being 
well cloathed. 
Gripes, Purging, Colical Pains, much 
belching of Wind, Low-spiritedness, Yawning 
and Stretching, are sure and certain Indica- 
tions that Perspiration is deficient or ob- 
structed; therefore, in order to remove these 
Disorders, we must have recourse to a 
greater Degree of Exercise and Abstinence, 
and to some gentle Purge or other, such as 
Sena
† Viscera, signify any of the Bowels or Intrails. 


305 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
Sena and Manna, or Rhubarb, &c. to clear 
the first Passages of the Load that oppresses 
them, otherwise the Person will suffer at 
last; and, as Sanctorius observes, Wind in
the Body is nothing but Perspiration † ob- 
structed. 
The fourth Evacuation to be considered is 
the Semen, consisting of a white, hot, spiri- 
tuous, thick, clammy, and saltish Humour, 
which is elaborated in the Testicles and Epi- 
didymes, out of the purest and most spiritu- 
ous Parts of the Blood. Considering it there- 
fore in this Light, Moderation in Coition is 
absolutely necessary, both for the Preserva- 
tion of Health as well as Pleasure; for in 
Immoderation we do not consult Delight, but 
Lust, and lose the Pleasure by being too in- 
tent upon it: And it is certainly true, that 
those Parents who are most continent, have 
more and the most healthful Children; for 
they meet their Pleasure by Necessity: In 
these it cheers the Heart and Spirits, and 
makes them breath free and easy; it appeases 
Melancholy and Sadness, mitigates Anger, and 
disposes to Rest. But then that Mode- 
ration receives its Difference very much from
the different Temperature of Constitutions; 
for less is sufficient for the Melancholy and 
the Cholerick, the Old and Emaciated; but 
more for the Sanguine and Plethorick, and 
those of a middle and flourishing Age: The 
Feverish if in any kind of Constitution must a- 
U void
† Aph. xiii. Sect. 3.  



306 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
void it, and likewise they who are subject to
the Gout, and Diseases of the Joints. 
On the other Hand, the immoderate Use 
of Coition not only hinders Perspiration, by
keeping the Fibres too strait, and lessening the
Passages, and thereby giving rise to all the Dis- 
orders which attend an obstructed Perspira- 
tion, but likewise it disorders and weakens 
that due Tension and Elasticity of the Solids, 
upon which depends a right Discharge of all 
the animal Functions. I say, therefore, what- 
ever weakens this Disposition of the Solids, 
cannot but very much prejudice the whole 
Constitution. And that all violent Actions, 
such as that of immoderate Coition is, are de- 
structive to the Textures of the Solids, can- 
not be doubted; for their constituent Fibres 
or Threads will not only be much injured in 
their Contextures, but also that animal Oil or 
Spirit which nourishes them, and facilitates 
their Motions, will be so much press'd out 
and wore away, as to disable them very much 
afterwards in their natural Motions; and the 
Body will be, by that means, so weaken'd and 
dispirited, that the several Parts will not be
able to discharge their respective Offices, 
whereby Digestion, Concoction, and all the 
natural Evacuations will be disordered. 
Hence follow a Dissolution of Strength and 
Spirits, Dulness of Memory and Understand- 
ing, Dimness of Sight, Diseases of the Nerves 
and Joints, as Palsies, and all kinds of Gouts, 
Weakness of the Back, and Consumptions;
Seminal 

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 307
Seminal Weaknesses, and sometimes bloody
Urine; a deprav'd Appetite and Head-achs, 
with a great many other Disorders needless to
be mentioned here; and, to conclude, there 
is nothing that so wonderfully shortens hu- 
man Life, as the immoderate Use of Venery. 
In the fifth Place we are to consider the 
Menses as a necessary Evacuation, which are
Excretions of arterial Blood every Month 
from the Womb: They begin usually when 
young Maids grow ripe at fourteen, and 
sometimes at twelve, but very seldom before: 
They cease naturally in pregnant Women, 
and those past bearing Children, and likewise 
those that give suck; yet it happens some- 
times that pregnant and suckling Women have 
them. 
The Quantity of them ought to be in pro- 
portion to the Quantity and Heat of the 
Blood; but, generally speaking, a certain 
Quantity cannot be limited, for some have a 
great many, and some but a few; nor do 
they continue upon all alike; some have them
two Days, some three, some four, some six or 
eight Days. 
They that have them too much are weak- 
en'd, and their Blood being rendered crude, 
watery, and pale, are subject to Faintings 
and Waste: Those in whom they are sup- 
press'd, become hysterical and breath diffi- 
cultly, look pale, and lose their Appetite, 
and fall into Fevers, Inflammations, and a 
U2 great


308 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
great many Diseases, both acute and chroni- 
cal, if they are not timely remedied. 
There are other Excretions which could 
not conveniently come in under the foregoing 
general Heads; such as Sweat, Spittle, Mucus
or Snot, Tears, and the Wax in the Ears. 
Sweat is a thin serous Fluid, mix'd with 
some Sulphur, a good deal of briny, but more 
volatile Salt, and a very little Earth: And 
the same Properties being found in Urine, we 
may conclude, 1. That Sweat and Urine may 
supply each other's Defects: Accordingly we 
find, that as Sweat is promoted, the Excre- 
tion of Urine is diminished, and on the con- 
trary. 2. That they may be provoked by 
the same Remedies: Thus Diaphoreticks, 
or such Medicines as promote Sweat, fail- 
ing to answer their Intention, prove Diu-
reticks; that is, purge by Urine. 3. That 
Sweat carries off many of the sharp Salts, 
with which the Blood abounds, and by that 
means may accidentally prevent or cure many
Distempers, is not to be doubted. 
Sweat therefore differs very much from, 
insensible Perspiration; for if it be encreased, 
and its Vessels enlarged, Perspiration must 
unavoidably be diminished, and its Vessels 
compress'd. Perspiration also is turn'd into 
Sweat, by violent Motion, and too much 
Heat, tho' by moderate Motion and gentle 
Heat it is very much promoted; but nothing 
can be more serviceable to promote it than 
gentle Friction of the Skin for some Time 
Night

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 309
Night and Morning, as I shall observe in a 
another Place. 
The Saliva or Spittle, (of which I have 
given a Hint before) is a thin transparent
Humour, almost void of Smell and Taste, 
which will entirely evaporate by Heat, but 
not curdle; and when shaken affords a ropy 
Froth. It is separated from the purer Part of
the arterial Blood or Serum by the Glands;
and when a Person is hungry it flows in great 
Quantities, and is then more fluid and sharp; 
after long fasting it is very penetrating and de- 
tergent; it ferments with Bread, Meal, or Sy- 
rup, and promotes Digestion. Men, as well as 
Brutes, swallow it in Health, and likewise 
wWhen asleep: When too much of it is spit 
out, it occasions loss of Appetite, slow Dige- 
stion, and an Atrophy or Consumption. It is 
composed of Water, Salt, Oil, and Spirit, all 
which can he extracted from it, which ren- 
ders it saponaceous, or of the Nature of 
Soap. 
This Fluid then being press'd out of the 
Glands, lays the first Foundation of assimi- 
tating the Food to the Body, and promotes 
the Mixture of oily and aqueous Substances, 
and a Solution of saline ones: It also pro- 
motes Fermentation, excites an intestine Mo- 
tion of the Parts of the Food in the Stomach; 
so that Digestion could not be perform'd 
without it. 
Therefore as this Fluid is of such great Use, 
when mixed with our Food, it ought not to the
U3 lavishly 

310 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
lavishly spit away; for when it is swallow'd, 
having perform'd its Office in the Mouth, and 
being return'd into the Blood, it is still far- 
ther improved by repeated Circulation and 
Digestion; and when separated in the Glands
again, is highly amended. 
Hence it is manifest, that they who im- 
mediately upon eating fall a smoaking or 
chewing of Tobacco, as is generally the Custom
here, and that even among People of the 
better Sort, commit two very great Errors, 
highly destructive to their own Constitutions : 
1st, In diverting the Saliva or Spittle from 
its natural Offices, by spitting it away in 
smoaking or chewing, being one of the chief 
Menstruums, or Medium, for promoting Di- 
gestion, as I have just now demonstrated.
2dly, In using that stupifying American Hen-
bane upon a full Stomach, which, besides the 
great Injury it does Nature, in depriving her 
too much of that necessary Fluid the Saliva, 
has also an intoxicating opiate Quality, by 
which (as all other Opiates do) it destroys the 
Appetite and hinders Digestion, the Truth of 
which is evident to all good Practitioners in 
Physick, Therefore, I sincerely advise all 
those who have any Regard for the Preserva- 
tion of their own Health, to avoid carefully
this pernicious Custom, and never to smoak 
but upon an empty Stomach, or at least till 
the greatest Part of the Food is out of it, 
which always requires some Hours after eat- 
ing; and, even then, no Body except gross
and


311 thro' the various Stages of Life.
Ch. XI. 
and phlegmatick People, should smoak at all; 
because lean, thin, scraggy, dry, and cholerick 
Constitutions are heated and dry'd too much 
by it, which throws them oftentimes into
Consumptions or other Decays. 
Mucus, or Snot, is a clammy and viscid 
Humour, which flows from the Extremities 
of the olfactory Nerves * through the Os Cri- 
briforme † into the Nostrils and Palate: It 
also signifies that slimy Liquor, or Mucilage, 
which daubs over and guards the Bowels, and 
lubricates the chief Passages in the Body from 
being corroded by any saline or sharp Hu- 
mours; but the Superfluities of it are excreted
by the Nostrils and Intestines. 
Tears are a serous Humour, prepared out of 
the arterial Blood in the Lachrymal Gland ‡,
and are of a saline, watery, clear, and smooth
Disposition, discharged always in a small 
Quantity, but more plentifully when the Eye 
is rubbed or compressed by the Orbìcular 
Muscle ‖. This Humour serves to moisten, 
U4 wash,
* Are those Nerves which give the Sense of Smelling. 
† It is a Bone full of small Holes, like a Sieve: It is also 
called Os Ethmoides, situated in the Middle of the Basis of the 
Os Frontis, or Forehead-Bone. 
‡ It is a pretty large conglomerate Gland or Kernel, being 
broad, compress'd, rough, and placed within the Orbit, to- 
wards the outward Angle of the Eye, near the rough Chink, 
and inclosed in Fat; is endowed with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, 
Lymphaticks, and Ducts, which carry a Humour to the Eye 
prepared from the arterial Blood. 
‖ It is the Muscle which serves to join the Eye lids toge- 
gether, contracting them like a Sphincter, and by a strong 
Contraction presses the Ball of the Eye, and squeezes out Tears 
upon the external Superficies of the Eye, which is thereby 
cleansed of its Filth, and the Eye itself washed. 



312 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
wash, and render the Eye slippery, and pre- 
vents it from sticking to the Eye-lids: It like- 
wise serves to wash off any Filth or external 
Bodies, which, by adhering to the Eye, might 
cause Pain, or darken the Sight; but if this 
Humour be too much, so that it cannot be 
received by the Lachrymal Points *, it flows 
from the Eyes, and is called Tears. 
Cerumen, or Ear-wax, is the Excrement of 
the Ears, which sweats or ouzes out of the
Cartilages and Glands bordering upon the 
Ears: It consists of Abundance of Salt and 
Sulphur, which gives it its Bitterness: It 
serves to hinder Dust, Motes, cr little Ani- 
mals from getting into the Ears. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
I Shall briefly treat of the Passions here, 
not as a Natural Philosopher, but as a 
Physician; therefore I shall not consider their 
Essences and Causes, but their Effects and In- 
fluence
* They are Holes in the Bone of the Nose, by which the 
Matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils; but if these 
Holes grow hard and are stopp'd, from an Ulcer in one of 
the Glands in the Corners of the Eyes, thence arises a Fistula
Lachrymalis.



Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 313
fluence upon human Bodies, and how their 
Regulation conduces to the Preservation of
Health and long Life. For as to the Manner 
how the Mind or Thought operates upon the 
Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind, 
and what that Tye or Bond of Union is, be- 
tween the Mind and the animal Fluids, is a 
Mystery unreveal'd to Man, being, at least
mechanically, not reducible to Reason, it be- 
ing impossible to represent and delineate, as 
we do corporal Substances, the several Steps
and Ways of Procedure of those Agents, 
which can by no means be brought under the 
Notice of our Senses, only in their Effects; 
and therefore we cannot have any Notion of 
the Procedure by which they are brought a- 
bout, as we can have of all those affected by
physical Agents. But as it is certain that the 
Passions of the Mind do influence very much 
and alter the Constitution, especially when 
very sudden and intense, so far as necessarily 
to bring it under the Physician's Care, still 
the wisest must herein be contented to e- 
stablish his Rules upon Observation and Expe- 
rience only. 
There is nothing more remarkable, than 
that violent Passions of the Mind waste and 
consume the Spirits, and plunge the Consti- 
tution into great Disorders; and this they 
seem to bring about by universally stimulating,
irritating, and twitching the Nerves and 
Fibres, in such a Manner as disturbs their re- 
gular Contractions: And altho' we cannot 
positively

314 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
positively tell, either how Thought can pro- 
duce such an Alteration in the Humours of 
the Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind; 
yet if by constant Observation and Experi- 
ence it can be found, that such a Passion or 
Temper of the Mind is always attended with 
such Consequences in the Constitution; and 
that such a particular Temperature of the 
Constitution always affects the Mind with such 
particular Passions and Dispositions, it will 
very sufficiently afford a Ground of Certainty
to any considerable Person, in his Reasoning 
upon their Consequences, and in the Mea- 
sures which ought to be taken in remedying 
the Disorders of either. 
For Instance, if Joy or Anger are always 
found to render the Body lighter, tho' we 
cannot tell how these particular Passions do 
first modify any particular Parts of the Body, 
so as to produce that Effect, yet it being plain
how physical Agents do the same, it will be 
most reasonable to conclude, that these do it 
also by the same Means; that is, thus far we 
know, that an Invigoration, or an Increase 
of the contractile Force of the Solids, will 
promote Digestion, increase the Evacuations, 
and render the Body lighter. 
Therefore we have the greatest Reason to 
believe, when we see the same to be the Con- 
sequences also of a Person's being passionate- 
ly angry or very merry, that these Disposi- 
tions of the Mind (altho' we know not how) 
do

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 315
do give that particular Modification likewise, 
and Degree of Tension to the Fibres, as Cold- 
bathing, a cold clear Air, or moderate Ex- 
ercise, when we see them attended with the 
same Consequences. 
But as we know these physical Causes have 
this Effect, by contracting and shaking the 
Fibres of the Solids, and thereby promoting 
their Power of Elasticity, and breaking the 
animal Juices finer; so it ought to be con- 
cluded, that these Passions of the Mind do 
likewise give the same Modifications to the 
Fibres, by which the same Effects are pro- 
duced. 
In like Manner, if Fear and Sorrow are 
found to be attended with an Increase of 
Weight in the Body, it is reasonable to think
that they do it by the same Means as by which 
all those physical Agents produce the same 
Effect; that is, by slackening the Fibres too 
much, diminishing Digestion, and conse- 
quently by lessening the Evacuations. 
Therefore when any Passion of the Mind 
is said to have this or that Effect upon the 
Body, we ought to consider that Passion only 
as a physical Agents that is, as it contracts or 
slackens the Fibres, and as it increases or di- 
minishes the Evacuations; but in this we are 
guided only by Observation and Experience, 
which is very sufficient to a Person of any 
tolerable Judgment. 
The chief Passions of the Mind, from 
whence all the rest proceed, are Joy, Grief,
Anger,

316 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Anger, Love, Hatred, Shame, Hope, and 
Despair. 
Joy or Mirth is a Delight arising from 
some Good we suppose we have obtained; 
and this, above all the rest, conduces to 
Health, at least if it be moderate; for it keeps 
the Fibres in their natural Tension, assists the 
Secretion and Derivation of the Spirits to all 
Parts of the Body, and consequently pro- 
motes the Circulation and Digestion, and 
raises thereby a plentiful Perspiration, and
renders the Body lighter; but immoderate 
Joy is very injurious, and proves sometimes 
mortal, the Spirits being thereby too much 
raised, and by the Suddenness of the Passion 
too much rarefied beyond their natural Stan- 
dard. 
Grief or Sorrow is a troublesome Languish- 
ment afflicting the Mind, arising from the 
Apprehension of some Ill happened or befall- 
ing us: By it the Spirits in the Brain and 
Nerves move slowly and very feebly; so that 
it produces a great Weight in the Breast, Suf- 
focation, and oftentimes Death, when sud- 
den and extreme. 
Anger is the Desire of Revenge, upon the 
Apprehension of some Injury done or offer'd to 
us: By it the Spirits are violently agitated in 
the Brain and Nerves: It encreases the natu- 
ral Heat, and, if moderate, it may be useful 
sometimes, in order to stir up a brisk Circula- 
tion of the languid Fluids in a cold and 
phlegmatick Constitution, by which means 
the

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 317
the Body is rendered lighter; that is, it will 
then perspire better: But, on the contrary, 
Anger is pernicious to hot, dry, and cholerick
Constitutions; because, in such it will dissi- 
pate the Spirits and dry the Constitution too 
much. 
Love is a certain Passion of the Mind, ex- 
cited in the Soul by the Motion of the Spirits, 
arising from an Object which we judge to be 
good, convenient, delectful, and amiable; so 
that the proper Effects of Love consist in this: 
That we consider ourselves as united to the 
Object we love, and that it is, as it were, ano- 
ther Part of us. 
Love may be properly distinguished into 
three Kinds: 1. The first is spiritual, as the 
supreme Love of the blessed Author of our 
Being, (to which our Love to all other created 
Beings is subordinate, at least it ought to be 
so,) which is that Union, Tendency, Biass, and 
Impulse of the Soul and other Spirits towards 
their blessed Creator, without any indirect 
Ends, without Deceit or Dissimulation, for his 
own Sake; because he is infinitely good, infi- 
nitely amiable, and infinitely perfect, abstract- 
ing from all other Considerations, even that of 
our own Happiness, in the Enjoyment of, or 
Union with him. Yet it is certain that these 
two, our Love to God and our own Happiness, 
cannot be actually separated: And this Love
was communicated by him to them in their 
original Formation, by Virtue of which they 
constantly tend, press, and urge to unite; and,
if

318 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
if Obstacles were removed, would unite with
one another, and so be all united with their 
omnipotent Maker. But now, alas! this 
principle of the intelligent Soul, in this her 
lapsed State, being drowned in Sense, chain'd 
and setter'd by Ignorance and Perverseness, 
drawn and hurried away by the Devil, the 
World, and the Flesh, is disabled from exert- 
ing this inherent and innate Principle of Re- 
union, and wants sufficient Light on the 
Understanding, and a right Turn of the Will, 
to be put in a Capacity of exercising it; but
in its proper Vacuity, and being freed from 
these Letts and Impediments, it would unite 
with its first Author, the Centre and Rock 
out of which it was hewn, and mount to- 
wards him like an Eagle towards the Sun. 
And even in this our lapsed and forlorn 
State, there remain evident Footsteps of this
innate Principle still uneffaced; such are the 
Checks of Conscience, natural Affection, and 
the universal Desire of Immortality, and the 
Dread of Annihilation; and the Worship be- 
stow'd by all Nations, who are not sunk into 
mere Brutality, on some superior and invi- 
sible Powers: I say, these are Remains of this
Principle, and its Operations, sufficient to 
shew its Reality à posteriori, as the Laws of 
Analogy, and the Nature and Attributes of 
the first Being, shew it à priori. For the Au- 
thor of Nature, who created intelligent Beings 
only in order to make them happy, could not 
leave them to so many different Attractions, 
without

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 319
without implanting into their Essence and Sub- 
stance, as an Antidote to so many Distrac- 
tions, an infinite Tendency, Bent, and Biass to- 
wards Beings of the same Nature, and towards 
himself, who was the Cause and Object of their 
Felicity: And those, who admit of Revela- 
tion, cannot doubt of it a Moment. Moses *
calls it, a Law engraven on the Heart of Man; 
and St. Paul †, the greatest Perfection of 
human Nature; whatever Men of Self-love 
and carnal Minds may think of it otherwise. 
The Second is Human, towards particular 
Persons and Things, as Parents, Wife, Children, 
Friends, or Things. Towards the first, Love 
ought to be sincere, hearty, constant, begotten, 
continued for their Sakes, and not for our 
own; but yet it should be limited and subor- 
dinate, Submission to the Will and 
Love of God: That to Things is not to be 
fixt, but changeable, as Necessity requires 
for our Support and Use; because the Things 
themselves are so, which we are to love, as if
we loved them not, according to the Apostle. 
The third Sort of Love, is that which is 
shewn from one Sex to another, and ends in 
Matrimony: This is naturally imprest upon 
us, and it is carefully to be preserved from
Dotage and Lust; for when it takes Fire 
from the last, it is never permanent, but soon
cloys itself, and vanishes upon Satiety: Rea- 
son is here lost, which is the principal Cause 
of so many unhappy Marriages we so fre- 
quently
* Deut. xxx. 14. † 1 Cor. xiii.

320 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quently see. As to Dotage, it is an impotent 
and unreasonable placing of the Affection up- 
on another, which gradually draws all the 
Faculties, both of the Soul and Body, into a 
Languor and Consumption, oftentimes pro- 
ducing Lunacy or Madness. 
However foreign this metaphysical Specula- 
tion, concerning spiritual Love, may seem to 
a physical Treatise about Health, which I pro- 
posed to avoid in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter; yet having seriously and attentively con- 
sider'd the Matter since, I found it both use- 
ful and necessary; because, if we steadily be- 
lieve it, and reduce its natural Consequences to
Practice, it will not only become the most 
effectual Means to prevent Diseases, but also 
the most powerful of any Thing to promote 
Health and long Life, which I shall evidently
make appear, before I finish this little Chap- 
ter. 
Hatred is the Apprehension of an Object 
which we judge hurtful or inconvenient; It is 
likewise Sorrow for the Good, and Chearfulness 
for the Ill of another. It occasions a slow 
and unequal Pulse; a sharp and stinging 
Heat, intermix'd with Cold piercing the Breast; 
the Stomach ceases from its natural Office, so 
that the Food being thereby crude and indi- 
gested, produces Nauseas and Vomitings, or 
is converted into corrupted Humours in the 
Habit of the Body, which are oftentimes the 
Parent of many grievous Diseases.
Shame 

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 321
Shame is an Uneasiness of Mind upon Ac- 
count of having done something that is un- 
seemly, or that lessens one's Esteem among 
others: It is likewise a great Apprehension
of Scandal: The Humours and Spirits being 
thereby variously agitated and confounded, 
frequently plunges the Body into fatal Dis- 
orders. 
Hope is a Desire of some future Good, 
which seems difficult to be obtained, but yet 
possible. By it a great Flow of Spirits tends 
to the Heart, which quickens its Pulsation, 
and accelerates the Motion of the Blood. 
And this Affection oftentimes prevents the ill 
Effects of other Passions, such as those of 
Grief or Sorrow, Hatred and Despair, &c. 
Despair is a Passion of the Mind arising 
from the Apprehension of some Good, which 
we judge impossible to be obtained. In De- 
spair the Pulse is generally very obscure, un- 
equal, and sometimes almost lost and creep- 
ing, the spirituous and most fluid Parts of 
the Blood being dissipated, so as to leave the
Salts, Earth, and grosser Oil in too great a 
Proportion in the Body, which at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Vis- 
cidity of the Matter impacted in them, that 
thereby the Imagination is disordered. Thus 
dark Melancholy, slow and long Grief hope- 
less love, and presumptuous Pride (which is 
a violent Degree of Self-Love) impair the 
Body, by causing the proper Times of ne- 
cessary Food and Exercise to be neglected, 
X and

322 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and thereby depriving the natural Functions 
of their usual Supplies, overworking and 
wearing out some Part of the nervous System, 
and leaving the other, as it were, to rust, and
so become too rigid and stubborn for want of 
Use: Besides, some of the Passions, as Pride, 
Love, and Grief, when immoderate and in- 
tense, terminate oftentimes in Lunacy and 
Madness; nay farther, even the Frequency 
and daily Increase of wanton and common 
Self-Murderers, are chiefly produced by these 
inordinate Passions, and their blasphemous 
and frantick Apologies grafted on the Prin- 
ciples of Infidels, and propagated by their 
Disciples, scarce known or heard of, at least 
not practised, in any Christian Nation but 
this, and her Daughters; for it is a manifest 
Truth, that those who have no Notion or 
Thought of a future State, with regard to 
either Happiness Misery, cannot have the 
true Love of God; and therefore such will 
always give a full Scope to all the Excesses of 
their brutish Passions, till at last, through some 
Disappointment, or Despair in gratifying their 
Sensualities, they most atrociously lay violent 
Hands upon themselves, contrary to the very 
Dictates of both the Law of Nature and their 
own Reason, revealed Religion being always 
a mere Phantom in the Thoughts of all such 
unhappy Wretchess; and thus, alas! they 
wantonly destroy both Body and Soul at 
once. 
The

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
The Passions may be divided very properly 
into acute and chronical, in the same Manner, 
and for the same Reason, as Diseases are. The 
acute Passions, either pleasurable or painful, 
produce much the same Effect, and act much 
after the same Manner, as acute Diseases do; 
for they cause a brisk and lively Circulation
of the Fluids, and brace up and contract the 
Solids for some Time. Thus sudden Joy, 
Grief, Pleasure, or Pain, stimulate and 
contract the nervous Fibres, and the Coats 
of the animal Tubes, and thereby accelerate 
the Motion of the included Fluids, for the 
same Time; but as the Motions of the Heart 
and Lungs are involuntary, they produce their 
more immediate Effects upon them; so that 
both sudden Joy and Grief occasion short 
and quick Breathing, and a small and fre- 
quent Pulse. 
A sudden painful Idea renders a quicker 
Circulation of the Blood, whereby a greater 
Quantity of it is thrown upwards, through 
the larger Branches of the great Artery, from 
the Heart, and makes it appear in the super- 
ficial Vessels of the Face, Neck, and Breast, 
which prodcues what we call a Blush. Thus 
we see that the Reasons why we sigh upon 
some Occasions, and blush at other Times, 
depend upon the different Structure of the 
Heart and Lungs, being the Organs of Pul- 
sation and Respiration; for a quick surprizing
Pain of the Mind acts immediately upon the 
Heart, because its Motion is altogether invo- 
X2 luntary;

324 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
luntary; so that any sudden Contraction takes 
Place there directly, to accelerate the Pulse. 
On the other Hand, we have some Power o- 
ver the Breathing; for we can retain it for a 
little while; because, when we think in- 
tensely, our Attention is partly the Cause of 
retaining our Breath, from whence proceeds 
Sighing rather than Blushing. 
The Effects of the Suddenness of these 
Passions being thus accounted for; yet when 
they become extreme, they drive about the 
Blood with such Violence, that Nature is o- 
verwhelm'd, like a Mill by a very great 
Flood; insomuch that what drove it only 
brisker round before, intirely stops it now, and
renders the Complexion pale and ghastly. 
Thus sudden and great Fear or Grief so 
much convulse the whole System of the 
Nerves, that they alter the very Position of 
the Parts sometimes, and fix them in another 
Place; so that in a great Fright the Hair 
stands upright, and the whole nervous System 
becomes so stiff and rigid, that they lose their 
Elasticity; by which Means the animal 
Functions cease from all Motion, and then 
Fainting, and oftentimes Death succeeds. 
Chronical Passions are called all those slow 
Passion of a long standing, which, like chro- 
nical Diseases, waste, wear out, and con- 
sume the nervous System; for those Nerves 
which are necessary for administering Ideas to
the Imagination, being constantly employ'd, 
are impair'd, broken, and worn out; and the 
rest,


Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 325
rest, for want of being used, become stiff 
and unactive, dull and destitute of a sufficient 
Quantity of warm Blood and due Nourish- 
ment, as I have observed already; so that the 
whole Fabrick languishes, and runs into a 
total Decay at last. 
But as the Passions, when slow and long 
continued, relax, unbend, and dissolve the 
nervous Fibres too much, so the violent and 
sudden ones contract, stretch, and bend them
in too great a Degree, by which means the 
Fluids are hurried about with violent Rapi- 
dity; so that all the Secretions are either 
stopp'd by the Contractions, Cramps or Con- 
vulsions produced by those Passions, or are 
precipitated crude and indigested into the Ha- 
bit of the Body, and so beget, or at least
dispose it to, Inflammations, Fevers, and Mor- 
tifications: For Example, a sudden and high 
Degree of Anger, Hatred, and Malice, are 
but Degrees of Frenzy, and that is one kind 
of a raging Fever. Hence it is evident, that 
the violent and sudden Passions, which I call 
acute, are more dangerous to Health than 
the slow and continued chronical ones, as a- 
cute Diseases are more pernicious than chro- 
nical. 
From what has been said, it is manifest 
that the Passions have very great Influence on
Health, being of such Force as not only to 
hurry us into Numbers of Diseases, but like- 
wise to bring upon us oftentimes sudden and 
unprovided Death, But if we would prevent 
X3 the

326 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the ill Effects, and totally extirpate all the Evils 
arising from our Passions, we must necessari- 
ly lead a sober and virtuous Life; make use 
of our Reason, which, assisted with the Di- 
vine Spirit, is able to keep down the Surges 
of all our Passions, and is given us, by the in- 
finitely wise Creator, to be a Check and Bridle 
to prevent and restrain all their Extravagance: 
So that notwithstanding the great Force of 
our Passions, yet are we not left without a 
sufficient Power of Resistance; but to yield 
to them for want of exerting that Reason, by 
which we might restrain them, would be 
base Cowardice, unworthy a rational Being, 
and the blackest Ingratitude to the glorious
Author of all Happiness. Towards him all 
our Thoughts should be bent; in him all our 
Hopes should center: Nor should our Affec- 
tions cease flowing to him incessantly, not 
only as he rewards and recompences Virtue, 
but as it is a Remedy against all those various 
Diseases that are ingender'd by Excess in the 
Passions; For as the Love of God is a sove- 
reign Antidote against all other Miseries, so, 
in particular, it prevents effectually all the
bodily Disorders the Passions produce, by 
keeping them within due Bounds; and, by that 
unspeakable Joy and perfect calm Serenity 
and Tranquillity it gives the Mind, becomes 
the most powerful of all the Means of Health 
and long Life. Therefore, if thou wouldst 
enjoy good Health, love thy Creator, keep 
thyself virtuous, and regulate thy Passions. 
I shall

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 327
I shall conclude this Chapter with an ex- 
cellent Passage upon this subject, from Dr. 
Cheyney's Essay on Health and Long Life, 
which, in his own Words, is as follows. 
' If Men would but observe the Golden 
' Mean in all their Passions, Appetites, and
' Desires; if in all their Thoughts, Words, 
' and Actions, they would but mind, I will 
' not say the End of their Being and Exi- 
' stence here, but the End to which their 
' Thoughts, Words and Actions tended in 
' their last Resort; and lastly, if in the Gra- 
' tifications of their Appetites, Passions, and 
' Desires, they followed the uncorrupted 
' Dictates of Nature, and neither spurred her 
' on beyond her Craving, nor too violently 
' restrain'd her in her innocent Biass; they 
' would enjoy a greater Measure of Health 
' than they do, have their Sensations more 
' delicate, and their Pleasures more exqui- 
' site, live with less Pain, and die with less
' Horror. For had it not been for the Lewd- 
' ness, Luxury and intemperate Gratificati- 
' ons of the Passions and Appetites, which first 
' ruined and spoiled the Constitutions of the 
' Fathers, whereby they could communicate 
' only a diseased, crazy, † and untuneable 
' Carcass to their Sons; so that with the 
' World's Decay, vicious Souls and putrified
' Bodies have, in this our Age, arriv'd to 
' their highest and most exalted Degrees; I 
' say, had it not been for these Evils, there 
X4 ' never
† The Temperature of Humours in an animal Body.



328 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' never had happen'd so much Sickness, Pain 
' and Misery, so many unhappy Lives, and 
' such wretched Ends, as we now behold 
' among Men. 
' But even in this our lapsed Estate and 
' Condition, had the Dictates of Nature and
' Reason, not to say Religion, been follow- 
' ed, we might have passed our Days in In- 
' dolence (at least from chronical Distem- 
' pers) if not innocent Pleasures, arrived at 
' a good old Age, with our Senses free, and 
' our rational Faculties clear, and at last de- 
' parted in Peace, as a Lamp goes out for 
' want of Oil. And let the Gentlemen of 
' Wit and Fire, of Banter and Sneer, hug 
' themselves ever so much in their boasted 
' Tranquillity and Security, gratify their Pas- 
' sions, Appetites, and Humours to the full, 
' and despise Futurity and Whining; I dare 
' promise when the Farce is ended, and the 
' last Minutes are drawing on, they would 
' prefer a Life thus led, and an End so calm, 
' to all the Pleasures of Lewdness and Sen- 
' suality, and the Bounces of a false and ig- 
' norant Security.”
A

(329)
A 
GUIDE to HEALTH &c.
Part III.
CONTAINING 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, 
and curative Indications both Medicinal 
and Dietetical of acute and chronical 
Diseases; with the Nature and Use of 
BATHING and FRICTIONS. 
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I proceed upon Fevers, as 
mention has been so often made of 
acute and chronical Diseases, it will not be 
improper to give the English Readers a clear 
Account of their Nature and Difference in 
this Place. 
Acute Diseases then are such, as within 
some short limited Time have their Periods 
either of a perfect Crisis and subsequent Re- 
covery, or of putting an End to Life and
the





330 The INTRODUCTION. 
the Disease both together; and they are there- 
fore called quick, sharp, or acute Diseases, 
being attended with an increased Velocity of 
the Blood; the Symptoms of which are more 
violent, their Duration shorter, and their 
Periods more quick, terminating either in a 
sudden Death, or a Victory over the Distem- 
per, and they are generally limited within 
forty Days. 
But those Diseases that run out longer be- 
come chronical, whose Periods are more 
slow, their Symptoms less severe, and their 
Duration longer: and they likewise would, 
by the Course and Efforts of Nature, and 
the animal Oeconomy, have their Periods, and 
terminate at last, if fresh Fuel had not been 
frequently added to them by Intemperance 
and Debauchery; for the Viscidity of the 
Fluids, and the Laxity of the Fibres, would 
be removed in time, by proper Remedies and 
a due Regimen, and so People would recover 
in these as well as in acute Disorders. 
But as this requires long Time, much Care, 
and great Caution, Patience, and Perseve- 
rance; and so long and continual a Course of 
Self-denial, that few People are willing to 
undergo it; so that it is become the Reproach 
of both Physick and Physicians, that acute 
Cases are cured by themselves, or rather that 
Nature cures them, and that chronical Dis- 
orders are never cured, as a great many do 
falsly









The INTRODUCTION. 331
falsly assert: for in acute Cases, Art and Care 
judiciously and timely applied, will always 
asswage the Symptoms and Suffering, and like- 
wise forward Nature to the Relief she points
out, and hasten the Crisis, which it will con- 
stantly bring about if the Disease is not too 
great for the Constitution; and even then it 
will allay the Pain, and lay the Patient gently
down. 
And as for the last Case, if due Care be 
had to follow seasonably the Advice of an 
honest and experienced Physician, certainly 
a Period may be brought about in most chro- 
nical Diseases, provided the great Viscera or 
Bowels are not spoiled and destroyed. And 
the Fault is commonly in the Patient him- 
self, who will not, or cannot deny himself 
for a sufficient time to bring about the Cure. 
There are some chronical Diseases indeed, 
such as either by having been gone too far, 
or by being hereditary, and interwoven with 
the Principles of Life, are never to be radi- 
cally cur'd or got over: and these last must 
rest contented with that Measure of Health 
their original Frame will admit of. Yet I 
am morally certain, that if the Rules and 
Directions set down in this Treatise, be care- 
fully and constantly observ'd and steadily pur- 
sued, very few chronical Distempers but will 
receive such Relief and Ease by them, as to 
render the remainder of Life tolerably easy, 
and free from grievous Sufferings; and that 
is

332 The INTRODUCTION. 
is all that is left for Art to do in the above- 
mention'd Case. But in other chronical Dis- 
eases, where the Bowels are not quite vici- 
ated, and taken in due time, by observing and
steadily following the same Rules, would in- 
fallibly bring about a perfect Cure. 
In acute Diseases, a quick Pulse is a cer- 
tain and distinguishing Sign; but in chroni- 
cal Cases it is slow: and the first consumes 
the Fluids, and wears out the Solids in a 
short Time; but the last will require a lon- 
ger Time to produce the same Effects. Some 
acute Diseases terminate sometimes in chro- 
nical ones; and some chronical Distempers 
towards the last fatal Period of Life turn 
acute. 
CHAP.



(333)
CHAP. I. 
Of FEVERS, both in general and particular. 
A Fever is an inordinate Motion, 
and too great an Effervescence 
of the Blood, attended with Cold first, and
afterwards with Heat, Thirst, and other 
Symptoms, whereby the animal Oeconomy is 
variously disturb'd; or according to our En- 
glish Hippocrates, Dr. SYDENHAM, 
' A Fever is nothing else but the 
' Effort of Nature to free herself of some 
' morbifick Matter, which she finds injuri- 
' ous, in order to establish a better Health.”
A Fever 
what
Sydenham's
Definition.
The learned Boerhaave says, that 
a Fever is the most frequent Di-
stemper that happens, an inseparable Com- 
panion of Inflammations of all kinds, and 
is ever attended with a manifold variety of
Symptoms. 
Boerhaave's
Sentiments.
In every Fever from an internal 
Cause, the three chief observable 
Symptoms are, first, an universal Trembling, 
then a quick Pulse, and an increased Heat, 
various as to Time and Degrees. When the 
Symptoms are very urgent, and very hastily 
make their Progress, the Fever is called acute;
but when more mild and gentle, it is deno- 
The Symptoms.
minated


334 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
minated a slow Fever. And a Fever almost
always begins with a sort of cold Shivering, 
soon after the Pulse growing quicker, affords
the primary Diagnostick * of a Fever; so 
that an increased Velocity of the Contraction 
of the Heart, together with a greater Re- 
sistance at the capillary Vessels, make up the
Idea of an acute Distemper, which may be 
produced by an infinite number of Causes. 
The Health of the Patient seems to be the 
primary Aim of Nature in Fevers; notwith- 
standing, Fevers often end in Death, and 
sometimes they degenerate into some other 
Diseases. 
The general 
Cure. 
The general Cure of Fevers is 
summarily comprehended in con- 
sulting the Strength of Nature, in correcting
and discharging Acrimony from the Blood, in 
dissolving gross Humours, and expelling them, 
and in mitigating the Symptoms: and if we 
perceive the Symptoms to run high, and 
Nature to grow exorbitant, we moderate it 
by enjoining Abstinence, a slender and cool- 
ing Diet, drinking tepid Water a little aci- 
dulated, Bleeding, cooling Clysters, &c. But 
if Nature seems to be too sluggish, she is to 
be excited by Cordials, Aromaticks, and Vo- 
latiles, &c. 
Of the Symptoms.
The Cause of the Fever be- 
ing taken away, the Symptoms 
will cease, in as much as they primarily de- 
pend
* Is that Judgment of a Disease that is taken from the pre- 
sent Symptoms, and Condition of the Patient. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 335
pend upon it; so that if they can be born 
without Danger of Life, they scarce require 
any particular Cure, nor many times are they 
to be interrupted without great Caution; but 
if they be unseasonable, and too violent, 
they are to be mitigated with proper Reme- 
dies, due Regard being had to the Cause and 
State of the Distemper. 
In the beginning of Fevers, 
if the Stomach has a natural 
Inclination to cast, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to give a Vomit; for else in
the Progress of the Fever, a Looseness will 
be apt to break forth, which may be of dan- 
gerous Consequence: and the proper time to 
give an Emetick is indeed in the Beginning; 
however, if it should happen to have been 
omitted, it may be given at any time of 
the Distemper, provided there be sufficient 
Strength to bear the Operation, and after it
some Anodyne, or quieting Medicine. After- 
wards, if Bleeding be not indicated, and 
there be no Looseness, a Clyster may be ad- 
minister'd every other Day, until the tenth or 
twelvth, at which time Nature inclining 
towards a Crisis, in my Opinion, some warm- 
ing Medicines may be given to hasten the 
Concoction. If the feverish Ebullition pro- 
ceeds regularly, and in due order, there seems
to be no need of giving any Medicines at all; 
for as much as the Depuration of the Blood 
is wholly and solely the Work of Nature. 
The Benefit of ex- 
hibiting a Vomit. 
Commonly


336 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Purge may be 
given towards 
the End with 
Advantage. 
Commonly about the 15th 
Day, if there be a laudable Se- 
paration in the Urine, and a Re- 
mission of the Symptoms, a 
gentle Purge ought to be given, left the no-
xious Humours secreted from the Blood be- 
ing absorbed again into it, should cause a Re- 
lapse; notwithstanding it is sometimes requi- 
site to defer the purging until the 17th Day. 
From repeated Trials, I affirm, that no- 
thing does so certainly and powerfully cool 
the Body as Purging after Bleeding; and 
any one may find it in Experience true, that
it abates and allays a Fever beyond any Re- 
medies whatever, both as it cleanses the In- 
testines, and prepares the Way for an Ano- 
dyne. Sydenham in his Schedula Monitor 
ria. 
The Cause of 
Fevers. 
The Cause of a Fever, accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, De Medic. 
Vet. ' is not Heat alone, but Heat
' and Bitterness together, Heat and Acidity, 
' Heat and Saltness, and an innumerable other 
' Combinations in the Blood.' It is however 
known by Experience, that Persons from 
found and perfect Health, where there has 
been neither Plethora, nor any ill Habit of 
Body to cause it, have fallen into a Fever; 
because some very extraordinary Change in 
the Air, or an Abuse in some of the rest of 
the Non-natural have happen'd; therefore 
found Bodies on such Occasions may, and 
are seized with a Fever, in order that their 
Blood



Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 337
Blood may acquire a new State and Condi- 
tion to accommodate itself thereby to the Al- 
teration of the Air, and the Way of Living, 
&c. 
By how much the more acute a 
Fever is, by so much the more 
sparing and slender the Diet ought 
to be; for in Fevers, tho' they lie many Days 
without eating any thing, it is so much the 
better, for no one ever starv'd to Death in a 
Fever; but rather upon eating and drinking 
the Fever would be exasperated; because in 
taking of Food, the Appetite prescribes the 
Rule, the Quantity, the Quality, and the 
Time. 
A Rule of 
Diet. 
The most natural and general 
Division of Fevers is into Essential 
and Symptomatick. 
Division of 
Fevers. 
An essential Fever is such, whose primary 
Cause lies in the Blood itself, which derives 
its Original from no other Distemper of the 
solid Parts of the Body, or is any way de- 
pending on them, and this is properly called 
a Fever. 
A symptomatick Fever is a secondary Fe- 
ver, which does not properly subsist of it- 
self, but owes its Original to the Disorder of 
some particular solid Part, and most com- 
monly depends on some remarkable Inflam- 
mation, from whence the Variety of inflam- 
matory Fevers so called. 
An essential Fever is divided into a Diary 
or Ephemεra, a continual, continent or re- 
mitting, and an intermittent Fever.
Y A





338 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Diary or Ephemera, so called by the 
Greeks, is the least compound of Continual 
Fevers, which doth begin, increase, arrive at 
its Height, and decline within the Space of 
24 Hours: It is occasion'd by the scorching 
Heat of the Sun, too much Exercise, or 
by some other Error committed in the Non- 
naturals. The Cure is easily perform'd by 
Abstinence, Rest, and Diluting. But if the 
said Fever lasts several Days, it is called a 
continual, not putrid Fever: Its Causes, 
Signs, and Cure, are the same, and chiefly 
require large Bleeding, and a cooling Diet 
and Medicines. 
A continual putrid Fever, call'd 
by the Greeks, Synochos, is that 
Sort of Fever which is continual, 
without any distinct Paroxysms or Remis- 
sions, but for many Days continues much 
the same, until it has run its full Length, 
and then its Period is determin'd; and it is 
distinguished from the preceding, by its being 
* putrid: of this Kind are malignant Fevers, 
pestilential Fevers, and even the Plague it- 
self. 
A putrid Fe- 
ver what. 
It proceeds from the following 
Causes, as flight Inflammations, an 
Obstruction of the Bowels, a Constriction of 
The Causes.
the
* A Fever is said to be putrid, where the Humours or 
Part of them have so little circulatory Motion, that they fail 
into an intestine one and putrify, as is commonly the Case 
after great Evacuations, or great and excessive Heat, where 
there is such a Scarcity of Spirits, that the Solids cannot suf- 
ficiently vibrate. 




Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 339
the Pores of the Skin, a Stoppage of almost 
all the capillary Vessels, and a very sharp Acri- 
mony in the Fluids. 
It is known by an intense Heat 
even to the Touch of the Finger or 
Hand, by a Pulse not only feverish. 
but at the same time unequal and inordinate; 
a thick, red, turbid Urine, and crude with- 
out any Sediment; from a hot and sanguine 
Constitution, Age and Complexion.
Diagnostick
Signs. 
This Distemper is more dangerous 
and mortal, as the Pulse is weaker, 
quicker, more unequal in Strength, 
more irregular as to Time, and more inter- 
mitting in its Stokes; as Breathing is more 
difficult, frequent, short, with a great Mo- 
tion of the Nostrils, the more painful about 
the Vitals, and the more inordinate in its 
Time; as Weariness and Weakness are 
greater, the Tossing of the Body more fre- 
quent; as the Urine is higher colour'd, thick- 
er, muddier, with the least Sediment; or as 
the same is thinner, more watry, more spar- 
ing, and difficultly retained; as the Patient 
trembles and shakes more, chiefly in his Hands 
and Lips, shy of being felt, plays with his 
Fingers and Hands, and as it were catches at 
Flies, or some Things he fancies to see upon 
the Bed-clothes, and about him; and as his 
Eyes appear more sorrowful and moist with 
involuntary Tears. Moreover, when the Pa- 
tient labours much in his Sleep, and wakes 
worse after it; when either livid or purple 
Prognostick 
Signs.
Y2 Spots











340 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Spots appear upon the Body, the Sides of the
Belly stiff and blown up, then Death is at 
hand. 
Continual putrid Fevers commonly require 
Bleeding in the Beginning, according to the 
Strength and Constitution of the Patient; but 
Malignant and Intermitting Fevers seldom 
admit of it: And in the Progress of all Fevers, 
when they draw near the Height, Bleeding 
is prejudicial, according to the unanimous 
Opinion of the Antients: For Cœlius Aure- 
lianus, Celsus, and the rest, allowed Bleed- 
ing only in the first three Days of a Fever, 
and not after; but there is no general Rule 
without an Exception. 
As for the Cure of the Symptoms, or ra- 
ther the Mitigation of them, which are more 
than ordinary pressing, they shall be account- 
ed for in another Place, where I shall treat 
of the Symptoms of Fevers in general: But 
here I must observe, that, in a putrid Fever 
the Patient ought to dilute plentifully with 
subacid Liquors, and take such Medicines as 
resist Putrefaction, such as the Juice of Le- 
mons and Salt of Wormwood made up into 
Draughts, or Mixtures, &c. 
A continent 
or remit- 
ting Fever. 
A continent or remitting Fever, 
called by the Greeks, Synechos, is in 
fact a continual Fever in regard to its 
Duration, tho' not in Degree: For it continues
many Days together without Intermission; but 
then it has its periodical Returns of Exaspe- 
ration and Remission, either every Day, or
every


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 341
every other Day, but no thorough Intermis- 
sion; nor has it any cold Shiverings, after the
manner of Agues or Intermittents. About the 
End of every Paroxysm, when the Violence 
of the Fever begins to remit, Sweats general- 
ly ensue, and the Urine, which during the 
Height of the Fit was intensely high-colour'd, 
in these Intervals of Remission usually depo- 
sits a laudable Sediment, which is the true 
Characteristick of a continent or simple re- 
mitting Fever. 
There is likewise a spurious 
Kind of remitting Fever, which 
is attended with outrageous Symptoms of the 
nervous Kind, imitating Rheumatisms, Pleu- 
nisies, Colicks, and other inflammatory or spas- 
modick Distempers: It also often affects the 
glandulous Parts, producing from thence ma- 
nifold Excretions, causing Vomitings, Cholera 
Morbus, Diarrhœa, Bloody-flux, &c. which 
greatly obscure the fundamental Signs of this 
Fever, rendering the Paroxysms or Fits un- 
certain as to their Access and Duration: For 
by how much more the Evacuations and 
Pains, now mention'd, are augmented, by so 
much the febrile Heat is diminish'd and the 
Pulse weaken'd, and vice versa. 
Of the Spurious 
A simple remitting Fever, as such, 
and as long as it remains such, is very 
seldom, if ever, mortal; for before it be- 
comes fatal it changes its Type and Kind, and 
degenerates into a continual malignant Fever. 
But the spurious Kind, tho' it is not in its 
Prognostick.
Y3 own



342 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
own Nature mortal, yet on the Account of 
the violent Symptoms accompanying it, it 
pretty frequently proves so. The more regu- 
lar the Fits are in point of Time, and the 
longer the Remissions are, the less dangerous 
they are, and vice versa. 
The Evacuations which Nature makes in 
these Fevers seldom procure any Benefit, they
being for the most part symptomatical. But 
the critical and salutary Evacuations are ei- 
ther by Sweats or Spitting; the first is the 
quickest, tho' the latter is equally certain, 
yet slow and troublesome. During the In- 
crease of the Distemper, it is a bad Sign if 
the Urine gradually changes thin and pale, 
and the Pulse becomes quicker, weak, and 
staggering, &c. On the contrary, a strong and 
constant Pulse, Urine much tinctured with 
Redness, and full of Settlement, particularly 
when there is a laudable Sediment, and the 
Distemper is come to the State or Height, 
they are good Signs. 
The Cure. 
A simple remitting Fever gives 
way to the Bark, as certainly as an 
intermitting one: For the feverish Ferment 
in both is almost the same. The Efficacy of 
the same Medicine in curing a spurious remit- 
ting Fεver, is almost as certain as in a simple 
one, provided it be rightly administer'd, Re- 
gard being had to the more violent Symp- 
toms; but it has not so quick an Effect, be- 
cause the Distemper is greater and stronger, 
and therefore requires a greater Quantity of 
the

Ch. I. 343 thro' the various Stages of Life.  343
the Medicine: So that the radical Care of 
these Fevers consists in the regular giving and 
Repetition of the Peruvian Bark, with due 
Regard to a proper Diet in all such Diseases. 
It will be necessary, in order to establish a 
rational Method of Cure of con- 
tinual Fevers; to have Regard to 
the Division of them into burning
and slow Fevers, because the Method of 
treating each of these is vastly different. 
A Division in- 
to burning and 
slow Fevers. 
Of a Burning Fever. 
In a Burning Fever the Person is 
affected with a most ardent Heat, a 
Dryness of the whole Skin, of the 
Nostrils, Ears, Mouth, and Tongue: Respi- 
ration is thick, difficult, and quick; the 
Tongue dry, yellow, black, rough, and burnt
up; Thirst unquenchable, sometimes going 
off suddenly without any other good Sign; an 
Aversion from all Sorts of Aliment; a Nau- 
seating, Vomiting, Anguish, Uneasiness, a 
great Weariness, a little Cough, a hollow 
Voice, a Delirium, Phrensy, obstinate Wake- 
fulness, Dozing, Convulsions; and on the odd 
Days a renewing and increase of the Fever.
The chief 
Symptoms.  
A Burning Fever very often kills 
on the third or fourth Day; it seldom 
gets over the seventh, if it be a perfect 
Causus: It often goes off with an Hœmor- 
rhage, which if but small and sparing on the 
third or fourth Day, the Fever commonly 
proves mortal: This may be foretold from 
Progno- 
sticks. 
Y4 the

344 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
the Patient's complaining of a Pain in the 
Neck, Heaviness of the Temples, Dimness 
of the Sight, a Working and Labouring of 
the Heart and Lungs without any Sense of 
Pain, involuntary Tears, without any other fa- 
tal Signs, Redness of the Face, and Itching of 
the Nostrils; but if it happens on a critical 
Day, it is most advantageous. A Solution of
this Fever also on a critical Day, may be 
expected by Vomiting, Looseness, Sweating, 
much Urine, spitting thick Phlegm; but 
growing worse on the second or fourth Day 
is a very bad Sign, on the sixth not so bad: 
Black Urine, thin and small in Quantity, is 
mortal; spitting of Blood and bloody Urine, 
are mortal; a Difficulty of swallowing is a 
bad Sign; nothing worse than Coldness of the
extreme Parts; the Face red and sweaty, is 
bad; a Swelling behind the Ears and not 
ripening, is mortal; the Belly too loose, fatal; 
a Trembling turning to a Delirium, ends in 
Death. This Fever often changes to an In- 
flammation of the Lungs, with a Delirium 
attending it. 
The Regimen in such a Fever is, 
keeping the Air of the Room pure and 
cool, untainted with Fire, or Smoke, or the 
Breaths of many People; and they ought to 
have no more Bed-cloaths than barely defends 
them from Cold; their Curtains ought to be 
kept open, so as to renew the Air; and their 
Posture in lying as erect as they can well 
bear. 
Regimen.
Their

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 345
Their Drink should be cool, mild, sub- 
acid, tepid, given in moderate Quantities, 
and often, as Water with Juice of Lemon or 
Tamarinds. Their Aliment out to be light, 
of mealy Vegetables, as Water-gruel, Prepa- 
rations of Barley, with some Juice of Lemon; 
Rice boil'd in Whey and strain'd; roasted 
Apples in the Progress of the Disease; a little 
toasted Bread sometimes, with Rhenish Wine 
and Water; Jelly of Currants; Broaths and 
Jellies made of Animal Substances, and quali- 
fied with Juice of Lemon or some other Acid, 
may be sometimes allowed. 
Bleeding is requisite in the Be- 
ginning of the Distemper, if there be
the Signs of a Plethora, or of a particular In- 
flammation, or that the Heat is intolerable, 
the Sweat too great, a Revulsion be necessary, 
the Symptoms very urgent, and hardly to be 
master'd by any other Means; in these Cases 
Bleeding is of an absolute Necessity. Some- 
times also gentle and cooling Clysters are to be
given, as often as the Heat of the Distemper 
or Costiveness shall require them. Diluents 
will likewise be proper, and Nitrous Me- 
dicines, and such as very gently loosen the
Belly. 
The Cure.
Here it will not be improper to take parti- 
cular Notice of what Walschmidius says, viz. 
A malignant Fever often in the Beginning ap- 
pears in the Shape of a Causus or burning Fever;
so that a Physician ought to be cautious lest he 
should fall into a Mistake about it; therefore 
let

346 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
let him be diligent to inform himself, whether 
the Patient complains of an Anxiety or Uneasi- 
ness at his Heart, a sudden Loss of Strength, 
and other grievous Symptoms: Let him also 
examine the Urine, &c. for the Cure of these
Fevers is very different. 
A Calenture is a Fever peculiar to Mariners, 
of a high inflammatory Nature. Those that 
are seiz'd with this Distemper are affected
with a peculiar Sort of Delirium; for they 
frequently say they will walk into the green
Fields, which they always seem to have in 
View, thinking they are just going into them, 
and, unless they are kept by Force, they jump 
into the Sea; and that is an inseparable Sign 
of this Distemper. Young lusty Men, of a 
sanguine Complexion, are most subject to it. 
The Cure chiefly consists in plentiful bleed- 
ing and diluting.
Of Slow Fevers.  
Slow Fevers, tho' they are not so acute as 
the Burning or Putrid Fevers, yet they are 
however continual, as they constantly afflict
the Patient labouring under them; but they 
pass through their several Stages more slowly, 
for which reason they are of a longer Conti- 
nuance, and the Symptoms not so violent. 
Catarrhal 
Fevers. 
In the Class of Slow Fevers we 
may justly reckon Catarrhal Fe- 
vers, which in the Beginning and 
Increase are attended with a Catarrh, a Run- 
ing at the Nose, a Cough, Hoarseness, &c.
These

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 347 
These Fevers are for the most part gentle and 
slow in the Day-time, and commonly some- 
what worse in the Evening: They are also 
attended with great Weariness of the Limbs, 
and the Symptoms continue, with an Increase 
of the Running at the Nose and Cough, till 
the Distemper rises to its highest Pitch, when
the Matter of the Catarrh is ripen'd, and the 
Mucus becoming thicker, is discharged, and 
the Fever goes off. The Seat of this Disease 
is in the Conglobate Glands †, more particu- 
larly occasioned by some Obstructions in the 
Pituitous Glands. 
A Decoction of Sassafras, with Li- 
quorish-root and Raisins, is very pro- 
per in Catarrhal Fevers, on account of the 
Acrimony of the Humours; likewise the 
Juice of Turnips, with a little Sugar; Vola- 
tiles and gentle Sudorificks; a Solution of 
Gum Arabick, and whatever besides is pro- 
per in Coughs and Hoarsenesses, will be like- 
wise useful in this Case. 
The Cure.
Besides the fore-mentioned, there 
are likewise Lymphatick or Pitui- 
tous Fevers, occasioned by the Fault of the
Lymphatick 
Fever.  
Pituita
† A Conglobate Gland is a little smoofh Body or Kernel, 
wrapp'd up in a fine Skin, by which it is separated from all 
the other Parts, only admitting an Artery and Nerve to pass 
in, and giving Way to a Vein and excretory Canal to come 
out. Of this Sort are the Glands in the Brain, as the Pi- 
tuitous Gland, the Pinealis Gland, the Glands of the Mesen- 
tery, Groin, Testes, and Labia: All the rest of the Glands in 
the Body are called conglomerated Glands, being composed of 
many conglobate Glands, tied together and wrapp'd up in one 
common Membrane. 


348 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pituita of the Conglomerate Glands, which 
discharge their Juice into some certain Cavity, 
of which the Parotid Glands and the Pan-
creas are remarkable, discharging the Liquors 
separated into the Mouth and Intestines, and 
consequently into the Mass of Blood; which 
Humours, when vitiated, become viscid, salt, 
and sharp, produce these Fevers, which are 
likewise sometimes not improperly call'd Scor- 
butick Fevers. Continual Acute Fevers, and 
sometimes Intermittents, degenerate into these 
Slow Fevers, and sometimes into Hecticks; 
and the Original of these Fevers is most com- 
monly in the Stomach, proceeding from In- 
digestion and Crudities. 
The Cure 
Therefore a gentle Vomit, as well 
in the Beginning as in the Increase 
of these Slow Fevers, ought to pave the Way 
for the Cure; and afterwards the Viscidity and
Acrimony to be corrected; and the Symptoms 
are to be mitigated, and the Stomach to be 
strengthen'd, &c. for which Purpose vitro- 
lated Tartar, Testaceous Powder, Diaphore- 
ticks, and Volatile Salts, &c. are proper. 
Of Intermitting Fevers. 
An Intermitting Fever is a præ- 
ternatural Heat, kindled in the 
Blood by an unusual Expansion of the Spirits, 
returning at certain Periods. In this kind of 
Fever a Chilness, Shivering, Heat, and Sweats 
successively follow one another. The Fit is 
attended with an universal Sickness, Nause- 
The Definition.
ousness,

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 349
ousness, and Vomiting; Pain of the Head, 
Loins, &c. The Paroxysm or Fit is very 
acute, but the Distemper in itself generally 
more or less chronical. 
A simple Intermitting Fever is easily known, 
for it discovers itself of its own Accord; and
how great a Variety soever there may be of 
them, let them be either Quotidians, Tertians, 
Quartans, &c. the morbifick Ferment of all 
is the same, which certainly yields to the 
Force of the Peruvian Bark, if duly and
skillfully administer'd. 
The common Species of Intermitting Fe- 
vers are simple Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; double Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; half Tertians, half Quartans, &c. There 
are likewise Intermitting Fevers which return 
every fifth, sixth, or seventh Day. 
Intermitting Fevers in this Country are 
sometimes very obstinate, often returning in 
spite of all Remedies; and by long Continu- 
ance they degenerate into Hepatical Fevers, 
and many chronical Distempers, as Jaundice, 
Dropsy, Schirrus's, and Scurvies; therefore 
in this Disease a right Method, both of Me- 
dicines and Diet, is very necessary. 
We should begin the Cure with a Vomit, 
or Purge, according to the Strength, Age, 
and Condition of the Patient, and afterwards 
administer the Bark often between the Fits, 
in good large Doses; but if the Patient's 
Strength and present Case will not allow of a 
Vomit or Purge, then the Bark should be 
given,

350 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
given, without any previous Preparation at all; 
and there is a different Regimen to be used 
during the Continuance and Absence of the 
Paroxysm, and in the Paroxysm itself, during 
the Rigor or cold Fit, the Heat and the 
Sweat. 
During the Rigor nothing is more proper 
than a Draught of warm Water, with a little 
Rhenish Wine, or Juice of Lemon and Su- 
gar, which dilutes and relaxes at the same 
Time, and will make the Symptoms wholly 
abate, and terminate the cold Fit sooner, and
throw the Patient into a Sweat, than the 
warmest Cordial. In this Case likewise strong 
Frictions of the Extremities relieve very much; 
Proper Care must be taken to shorten the Pe- 
riod as much as possible, and by warm Dilu- 
ents a little acidulated, to bring on the Sweat 
soon, but not to push it beyond its due Mea- 
sure; because an Intermitting Fever of itself 
relaxes and weakens the Body extremely. 
Between the Fits too great Abstinence is 
hurtful, as much as too great Repletion. As 
Intermitting Fevers are often of long Conti- 
nunace, extreme Abstinence is impracticable, 
and would reduce the Patient to a Condition 
not to be able to sustain the Shock of the 
next Attack. 
Between the Fits, such Substances as tem- 
per, correct and subdue the bilious Alkali, as 
acid Substances, nitrous Salts, small thin Wines, 
Chicken-Broth with Juice of Lemon, Wine 
with Bitters infus'd, are proper. 
Ex-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 351
Exercise, to as great a Degree as the Pa- 
tient can bear, is extremely beneficial between
the Fits. Bleeding in Intermitting Fevers 
seldom does any Good, but oftentimes a great 
deal of Harm; yet the Patient's Condition is 
to be considered in this Case. 
But there are spurious Intermitting Fevers, 
as was observ'd of Remittents: Their Symp- 
toms are sometimes very urgent and violent, 
and their fundamental Signs are disguised un- 
der the Appearance of some other Distem- 
per, as Vomiting, Diarrhœa, and some great 
Pain, &c. The true and genuine Sign of 
the real primary Distemper being chiefly 
known by the Exasperation and Remission of 
those violent Symptoms, and by the Urine of 
a Brick-dust Colour; but these spurious or 
illegitimate Intermittents creating a great 
Variety of direful Symptoms, such as enor- 
mous Vomitings, Griping, Looseness, Cholera 
Morbus, Colicks, Pains in the Side like pleu- 
ritick Pains, Apoplexies, Pains on one Side of 
the Head, Spasms or Cramps, nephritick 
Pains, &c. 
Notwithstanding the great Va- 
riety there may be of these Disor- 
ders, in their manifold Shapes and Forms, 
yet they all depend upon one and the same 
Ferment, and are certainly cured with that 
one fovereign Antidote the Peruvian Bark, 
if prudently administer'd, as well as any other 
Intermitting Fever. 
The Cure.
No

352 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Prognostick.
No one has been known to die 
of an Intermitting Fever, except it 
be in the cold Fit, that Excess of Coldness 
arising from a Viscidity in the Blood, and an
absolute Oppression of the Spirits. 
The proximate 
Cause of In- 
termitting 
Fevers. 
After an accurate Examination 
into the whole History of Inter- 
termitting Fevers, the proximate 
Cause is assign'd to be the Visco- 
sity of the arterial Liquid, there happening at
the same Time some Cause or other for a 
quicker and stronger Contraction of the Heart, 
and a Dissolution of the stagnating Viscidi- 
ties. Boerhaave. 
Having thus far treated of Benign Fevers, I 
shall now proceed to give the Reader a suc- 
cinct and clear Account 
Of Malignant Fevers. 
Diagnostick.
The first Sign of a Malignant 
Fever, is a remarkable Loss of 
Strength on a sudden, without any mani- 
fest Cause, with a weak Pulse: The external 
Heat is not so violent as in some other Fevers; 
the internal Heat is rather greater. It is attend- 
ed from the very Beginning with obstinate 
Watchings, and anxious Uneasiness: The 
Sick complains and shews the Region of the 
Stomach, or the Heart; the Urine is not 
unlike that of a Person in Health; the Coun- 
tenance looks hideous sometimes, and much 
changed from the natural State, sometimes of
a livid Colour. 
The Reason why the feverish Heat and 
Ebulli-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 353
Ebullition in these Fevers, is not do great as 
in other Fevers, is entirely owing to the Ma- 
lignity which has seiz'd the Blood; and is 
rather a Sign of some great Disorder of the 
Spirits, which are greatly affected, and as it 
were sphacelated or deaden'd, than of any 
Disturbance in the Humours; or it may be 
sometimes the said Disorders may be propa- 
gated into the Humours, especially the Blood, 
from the malignant Taints; from which 
arises great Confusion, and an inordinate in- 
testine Motion, which indeed produce an in- 
ternal Heat, but is not carried so sensibly to
the external Parts. By this means Nature 
being, as it were, oppress'd, is not able to 
exert those Symptoms more regularly, which 
are agreeable to, and might attend the Dis- 
ease. 
There is a great Variety of Malignant Fe- 
vers, on account of the Diversity of their 
Symptoms: In some there are very remark- 
able cutaneous Efflorescencies; in some more
abundantly, in others less; and in some no 
such Appearances at all; others, in fine, are 
attended with other kind of Symptoms. 
Some assert, from microscopical Observa- 
tions, that in all malignant Fevers and gan- 
grenous Ulcers, there is so great a Putrefac- 
tion of the Blood, that it gives Occasion for 
the Generation of a Multitude of little Worms, 
from whence they believe the great Variety 
of Symptoms so vexatious do arise; but these 
Worms cannot be bred without a preceding 
Z Putre-

354 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Putrefaction; and the Blood in Malignant Fe- 
vers is preternaturally fluid, insomuch that 
when it is let out of the Body it will not co- 
agulate as usually; but this is the Product of
the Distemper, and not the Cause. 
The very naming a Malignant 
Fever strikes a Terror into Mankind; 
because all Malignant Fevers are very 
dangerous, and as to the Event very uncertain; 
which made Galen assert that Malignant Fe- 
vers will not admit of a Prognostick. Deaf- 
ness in the Beginning portends the greatest 
Danger, but in the Height of the Distemper 
it is a favourable Symptom; but bleeding at
the Nose and a Looseness through the whole 
Course of the Distemper, are very bad Signs: 
And it is almost always reckon'd a very bad 
Symptom when they employ their Hands as if 
they were catching Flies, or picking up Straws 
or Bits of Threads. If on or about the eleventh
Day Buboes arise in the Groin, it betokens
well, and terminates the Fever. 
The Prog- 
nosticks.
The Cure, 
according 
to Etmuller 
and others. 
Malignant Fevers by no Means 
admit of Bleeding; for the more 
malignant they are, the more Mis- 
chief it would do, and the farther 
from the Beginning the worse. Vomits in 
the very Beginning of the Distemper are a- 
bove all Things exceedingly proper; but 
then they should be given before any cuta- 
neous Eruptions appear, otherwise the Op- 
portunity is lost; and afterwards the Cure 
is to be endeavoured by Medicines, and 
Sub-


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 355
Substances that procure Sweating, Nature 
herself teaching us so much; for frequently 
Sweating carries off the Cause and Fewel of
the Distemper. 
The greater the Malignity is, the more 
Sudorificks, or sweating Medicines, are to be
employ'd, regard being always had to the 
Nature of the Distemper, and its Diversity, 
as also the Strength of the Patient. Sudori- 
ficks are to be given at least three or four 
Times in twenty-four Hours; Analepticks 
and moderate Acids are to be used in the in- 
termediate Times, amongst which dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre is very good; also Tincture of
Saffron extracted with sweet Spirit of Nitre; 
likewise the Juice of Citrons and Quinces;
&c. Camphire is a noble Alexipharmick, but 
every Body cannot bear the Use of it, espe- 
cially some Women, and studious Men, whose 
animal Spirits are easily moved and dissipated. 
Blisters are of singular Use in the State or 
Height of the Distemper. The volatile Salts 
of Hartshorn, and of Vipers, are Sudorificks, 
and resist Malignity; and here the Mistura 
Simplex of Paracelsus takes Place, as well as 
in all pestilential Fevers, being a very noble
Remedy. Its Dose is from one Dram to 
two, to be given once in six or eight Hours, 
a proper Vehicle. 
Notwithstanding Bleeding in this Disease 
has been, and is accounted dangerous by a 
great many Practitioners, it only proves so 
when it is triflingly performed; for if a large 
Z2 Quantity


356 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Quantity of Blood be taken away in the very
Beginning, it secures the Party from Danger. 
But Bleeding had better been quite omitted, 
than not to be performed to a large Quantity, 
even almost to Fainting; and to prevent 
Fainting the Patient ought to be let Blood in 
his Bed. It is to be minded, that where 
there is a Plethora, or the Patient is of a strong
Constitution, more Blood may be taken a- 
way than in a weakly or a phlegmatick Con- 
stitution. After a sufficient Evacuation by 
Bleeding, plentiful Sweating must be pro- 
cured by proper Medicines and Drinks, such 
as Venice Treacle, Mithridate, Diascordium, 
London Treacle, Camphire. Lapis Contrayerva, 
Pulvis ad Guttetam, Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Confection, Treacle-water. Plague-water, Ca- 
stor, Saffron, Cochineal, &c. Of these and 
the like many excellent Sweats may be fram'd 
into either Bolus's, Draughts, or Mixtures, 
interlac'd with nitrous Medicines and Acids, 
according to the Exigency of the Case. When 
Spots appear, neither Bleeding, Vomiting, nor 
even Glysters are to be administered, but Su- 
dorificks and Blisters. 
If the Blood tends to a Dissolution, sweat- 
ing Medicines and spirituous Cordials are very 
improper; but Emulsions, acidulated Drinks, 
and the like, with Bezoarticks, Nitre, and 
gentle astringing Remedies, in order to re- 
duce the Humours to their natural Texture 
and Firmness. Their common Drink ought 
to

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 357
to be acidulated with Juice of Lemon, Spirit 
of Sulphur, Elixir of Vitriol, &c. 
Of Spotted Fevers. 
A Spotted Fever is a very ma- 
lignant one, in which, besides the 
Symptoms common to other ma-  
lignant Fevers, there is a very remarkable 
Weariness of the whole Body, an universal 
throbbing and pricking Pain: The Spots ap- 
pear sometimes the fourth Day, but oftener 
about the seventh, especially on the Breast 
and Shoulder-blades, then on the Belly, Legs, 
Arms, and Neck, seldom in the Face. Not 
only Spots, but likewise large Marks, black 
and blue, sometimes appear; and in the De- 
clension of the Distemper sometimes a Spitting
comes on, which carries it off. 
The Symptoms 
of a Spotted 
Fever.
The Spots in the milder Sorts of 
this Fever are florid and very red, 
like Flea-bites: Afterwards they grow pale, 
yellow, and so disappear: The more red they 
are, the better: On the contrary, those that 
are of a livid or pale red, or appear blackish, 
are the worst. If they strike in again, it 
foretells a great deal of Danger. 
Prognosticks.
These Distempers are contagi- 
ous, and sometimes epidemical or 
spreading: They are very danger- 
ous; for of those that are seiz'd with it, more 
die than recover. 
They are 
contagious. 
Spotted Fevers being a Species of 
the Malignant, the same Indications
of Cure are here required as were mentioned
The Cure. 
Z3 above

358 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
above for the Cure of malignant Fevers in 
general. If the Spots strike in too soon, 
Vesicatories are to be employ'd; upon which, 
tho' we are not to expect the Spots to appear 
again, yet in some Measure the Blistering 
answers the End of their not appearing, 
and sometimes very happily prevents the dire- 
ful Symptoms in the nervous System. No 
Evacuation of the Bowels must be attempted, 
such as Vomiting or Purging, or even by 
Glysters, as long as there is any Appearance 
of the Spots. 
CHAP II.
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms
attending Fevers. 
Rigor in 
Fevers. 
THE Coldness and Shiverings 
which happen in the Beginning 
of acute Fevers, are owing to a Diminution 
of the Contraction of the Heart, the Circu- 
lation then being less quick, and the Blood 
actually stagnating in the extreme Parts, and
pressing upon the Heart, creates great Anxie- 
ties, and may produce polypose Concretions 
about the Heart, and in other Parts of the 
Body; therefore a Rigor or Coldness encreases
an Inflammation. Those who die of Quartan, 
Fevers,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 359
Fevers, die in the cold Fit; and in truth, 
there is no Mischief but what may proceed 
from a Rigor of long Duration; for if it re- 
mains long, sudden Death sometimes ensues; 
and therefore the greater and longer such 
Coldness is, the more dangerous is the Fever. 
In such Rigor or Coldness, all warm Cor- 
dials and stimulating Substances are improper; 
for the first acting with Force upon the right 
Ventricle of the Heart, may drive the Blood 
with too much Force thro' the Lungs; and 
stimulating Substances, by contracting the 
Vessels, often increase Symptoms, which are 
best reliev'd by drinking warm Water with 
a little Rhenish-Wine, wherein a little Nitre 
is dissolved; likewise strong Frictions of the 
extreme Parts are very useful in this Case. 
See farther in the Cure of intermitting Fe-
vers. 
The Degree of feverish Heat may 
be known by the Thermoscope, the 
Sensation of the Patient, the Intense- 
ness of the red Colour of the Urine, the 
Siziness of the Blood, the Dissipation of ths
fluid Parts, which renders it thicker; the 
Hardness, Strength, and Frequency of the 
Pulse, which makes the Friction or Rubbing 
the stronger, to which the Heat is proportio- 
nal, the bad Disposition of the Humours,
the Temperament of the Body. 
Feverish
Heat.
This Heat is moderated by Bleed- 
ing, by muscular Rest, by mode- 
rate Ligatures, which compress the Veins 
The Cure.
Z4 only,

360 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
only, and often remov'd from Joint to Joint, 
by a mechanical Reason retard the Circula- 
tion; of such Sort is dry Cupping, Bathing 
the lower Parts, watery Liquors for Drink, 
not cold but warm; subacid, as Jelly of Cur- 
rants dissolv'd in tepid watery Liquors, De- 
coctions of mealy Substances acidulated, Sub- 
stances that are Anodyne, Substances which 
dissolve Concretions, such as Sugar, Honey, 
and the simple Oxymel; plentiful diluting, 
and restoring as much Water to the Blood, as 
is dissipated by the Heat; all demulcent and 
relaxing Substances, cooling the Air in the 
Room, opening the Curtains, and removing 
too heavy Bed-cloaths. All stimulating and 
styptick Substances are to be avoided; because
they increase the Force of the solid Parts. 
Lenient Glysters and Emulsions are also use- 
ful to mitigate such an excessive Heat.
Caution.  
But great Care is to be taken left 
by cooling too much, the Spirits shoul'd 
receive a sudden Damp, and by that means 
be depriv'd of their Elasticity, whereby the 
burning Fever might unwarily be changed 
into a malignant one, which has been many
a time the Case. 
In Thirst, attending Fevers, the 
Liquors should not be drank quite 
cold; for cold Liquors by constringing the 
Glands of the Palate and Throat, do not 
quench Thirst so well as Liquors moderately 
warm: In this Case acidulated small Liquors
should be plentifully drank. All Salts in-
Thirst.  
crease


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 361
crease Thirst, except Nitre, and dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre mix'd with Water, or the 
Patient's common Drink, is useful in this 
Case; so are Barley-Water and Emulsions, 
except in great Weakness and Flatulencies of
the Stomach; in such Case Water mix'd with 
a small Quantity of Rhenish-Wine is best of
all. 
In these Anxieties which at- 
tend Fevers, when the cold Fit is 
over, in such a Case a warmer Re- 
gimen may be allow'd; because Anxieties in 
Fevers often happen by Spasms, or Convul- 
sions from Wind, therefore Spices are useful. 
And in those Anxieties, saponaceous Sub- 
stances which dissolve the Blood are proper, 
as ripe Fruit, and especially Honey, Sugar, 
&c. 
Anxieties in
Fevers.
Sickness and Vomiting may be 
owing to an original Surfeit, and is 
one of the most troublesome Symp- 
toms attending Fevers; because it renders 
the Patient incapable of taking any thing. It 
is often prevented by giving a gentle Vomit, or 
cur'd by promoting the Vomiting for a while 
by warm Water, or thin Chicken-Broth; 
for which Purpose likewise Carduus Tea 
drank in large Draughts may do very well;
but if it does not of itself succeed well, half
a Dram of Salt of Vitriol, or a Spoonful of 
Oxymel of Squills, may be given with the 
Posset. 
Sickness and
Vomiting.
During


362 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
During the Symptom, acid Liquors, and 
even such as are austere and astringent, are 
to be used; because such strengthen the re- 
laxed Fibres of the Stomach; for which Pur- 
pose the following Julap is very effectual. 
Take of Salt of Wormwood 4 Scruples; 
of fresh Juice of Lemon, 2 Ounces; 
mix, and when Ebullition is over, add 
to it of Barley Cinnamon Water, 3 oz. 
of Mint-Water and Nephritick Wa- 
ter, each 1 Ounce; Spirit of Saffron, 
half an Ounce; Syrup of Quinces, 1 
Ounce; mix for a Julap, of which let 
the Patient take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls every 
3 Hours, or oftner. 
Diluting, and sometimes relaxing the Belly, 
and carrying the bilious Salts downwards, 
often cures this Symptom. And Attention 
is to be given to the Appetites of Patients in 
this and many other Cases, who sometimes 
covet odd things which have relieved them, 
as Salt, Vinegar, &c. 
Vomiting from a bilious Cause is cured by 
acidulated small Liquors; and vomiting from 
some putrid Cause, by Salts of all Sorts; and 
in such a Case, Water-Gruel with Cream of 
Tartar, Rhenish Wine with Water, Jelly of 
Currants, Marmalade of Quinces, Sorrel 
boil'd in Broths well skimmed from Fat, are 
exceeding beneficial. 
But


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 363
But if the Vomiting proceeds from a 
phlegmatick Cause, Spices and Bitters will 
relieve; for the Counterpoison must be adapt- 
ed to the Cause: As for Example, in Poison 
from sublimate Corrosive and Arsenick. In  
the first, alkaline Substances are properest; 
in the second, oily Substances are fittest, in 
both Diluents are proper. It will not be dif- 
ficult to judge of the Cause by what the Pa- 
tient throws up from the Stomach, 
Whether a Vomit may be 
safely or properly given, must be 
judg'd by the Circumstances; for 
if there be any Symptoms of an Inflamma- 
tion of the Stomach or Lungs, a Vomit is 
extremely dangerous. 
A Caution in 
giving Vomits.
A Diarrhœa or Looseness some- 
times happens in Fevers, which 
proves often a dangerous and fatal 
Symptom; and this Evacuation is not the 
genuine Motion of Nature for its Relief, but 
arises rather from the Impetuosity and Vio- 
lence of the Distemper, or the stimulating 
Acrimony of the Humours, which in reality 
is a symptomatical Diarrhœa, and ought to
be stopt; for it weakens, excoriates, and in- 
flames the Bowels, occasioning bloody Fluxes, 
thickening the circulating Juices, and ex- 
hausting the Strength of the Patient very 
much; however, a critical Diarrhœa is not 
to be stopt, for fear of incurring the same 
Dangers. 
A Looseness 
in Fevers. 
2 Attention

364 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Attention should be given to the Cause: If 
it proceeds from Acidity, it is to be cured by 
Anti-acids; but as in Fevers the Cause is 
more commonly alkaline and bilious, acid or 
four things relieve best; and it happens some- 
times, that oily Substances by blunting the 
Acrimony will do a great deal of good in 
Diarrhœas; for oily Substances of themselves 
do not irritate or provoke Loosenesses, they 
only lubricate or make the Bowels slippery. 
Vomiting, by evacuating the irritating Cause, 
often cures Diarrhœas. 
Anodyne Substances are proper, and gene- 
rally speaking, solid and dry Food rather than 
liquid. 
The white Decoction of burnt Hartshorn 
is very proper for common Drink, and absor- 
bent testaceous Powders mix'd with Diapho- 
reticks, are likewise very useful in the Case; 
and lastly, we may have Recourse to Venice 
Treacle, Diascordium, &c. But it is obser- 
vable in general, that Laxness of the Body in 
the beginning of Fevers is better than over 
Costiveness, but in the Progress of the Di- 
stemper it is worse. 
Strangury 
in Fevers. 
A Dysuria or Strangury in Fe- 
vers is very troublesome. The com- 
mon Emulsions are very proper to 
mitigate the Ebullition in burning Fevers; 
and commonly they very much asswage this 
vexatious Symptom; as likewise Oil of sweet 
Almonds, with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, or 
a Solution of Sperma Ceti: also a Solution 
of

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 365
of 1 Ounce of Gum-Arabick in a Quart of 
Barley-Water for common Drink, is an ex- 
cellent Remedy, especially when this Symp- 
tom is occasion'd by Blistering. 
Profuse Sweats which happen in 
Fevers, either in the Beginning of the 
Disease, or at any other Time before 
the Crisis, and before the Signs of Concoction 
appear, are symptomatical, and oftentimes 
Colliquative: They proceed from a Laxity 
of the Vessels, and too vehement a Circula- 
tion of the Blood, and ought therefore to be 
restrain'd by Art; for they are very trouble- 
some to the Patient, and they exasperate the 
Distemper, in depriving the Blood of its most 
fluid Parts, thicken and often cause Obstru- 
ctions; so that it is a very bad Practice to 
push Sweating too much in Fevers, except 
in such as are pestilential 
Profuse 
Sweats. 
In profuse Sweats, Care should be taken 
by diluting, to restore the Liquid which the 
Blood loses, and to use the Methods advised 
already in too great Heat, by taking away 
some of the Coverings of the Bed, and ad- 
mitting of cool Air, and using a Diet mo- 
derately astringent, and mild Acids, &c. 
Tinctura Antiphthisica, on Account of the 
Sugar of Lead in the Composition, is 
esteem'd an efficacious Remedy for suppres- 
sing such Sweats; and likewise Sage is very 
good in the Case of profuse Sweats. 
A


366 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pain of the 
Head. 
A violent Pain in the Head, 
Back, or in the Limbs, especially 
in the beginning of Fevers, requires 
Bleeding; and if that does not relieve, it will 
be proper to give a gentle Vomit if the Sto- 
mach be foul, otherwise a laxative Glyster 
may suffice. 
Watchfulness is a Symptom in Fevers, 
which is sometimes called a Coma Vigil, and 
often precedes too great Sleepiness, and is 
perhaps the most ill-boding Symptom of a 
Fever; therefore the Cause is to be narrow- 
ly enquir'd into; if it proceeds from too 
great Heat and Dryness, cooling and moisten- 
ing things are to be administred; if Pain be 
the Cause, we must endeavour to asswage it 
by proper Remedies, avoiding Opiates, with- 
out an absolute Necessity, especially about 
the time of the Crisis, when the Physician 
may perceive great Restlessness and Inquie- 
tude in the Patient; for it should be always 
remember'd as a Maxim, that a Space of 
time before the Crisis happens, is the most 
troublesome, Nox ante Crisin est molestissima. 
Other Expedients in this Case are, extreme 
Care to keep the Patient from Noise, and 
whatever makes any strong Impression upon 
his Senses, and some of those Helps used in 
a Delirium, for this is an Approach towards 
it; a moist softening Diet, ail Preparations of 
Barley, Emulsions of Poppy Seeds and Al- 
monds, Aliment of Lactecescent or milky 
Plants, especially Lettuces, Decoctions of 
Scorzonera 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 367
Scorzonera Roots, Almond Cream, and what 
is called Winter-Flummery, used as Aliment; 
Tea made of Cowslip Flowers, relaxing gent- 
ly the Belly. 
Coma, or Sleepiness in Fevers, is di- 
rectly contrary to the fore-mentioned Symp- 
tom Wakefulness; the Patient has a continual 
Propensity to doze or sleep, sometimes with a 
real Sleep, and often without it. A Coma 
will proceed either from a Pressure upon the 
Original of the Nerves in the Brain, by too 
great Repletion; or from a Penury or Waste 
of Spirits by too great Inanition.
Coma. 
Old People are subject to Comas by the 
Glewiness of the Fluids circulating in the 
Brain, which being resolved by the Fever, 
obstruct the small Canals of the Brain: But 
in young People it commonly proceeds from 
Fulness, and is best cur'd by Bleeding and re-
laxing the Belly. The Sign of such a Fulness 
is, a red Countenance and inflamed Eyes; but 
if it proceeds from a glutinous Oil, it ought 
to be resolved by Water, nitrous Salts, Soaps, 
Subacid Liquors, and Blisters, not forgetting 
the Use of sharp Glysters. 
In a feverish Delirium there is a small 
Inflammation of the Brain; therefore any- 
thing which increases the Circulation in the 
Lower Parts, and diminishes the Pressure on 
the Brain, is beneficial; as bathing the Feet 
in warm Water; nothing relieves the Head 
more than the Piles, therefore Suppositories 
of Honey, Aloes, and Rock-salt ought to be
Delirium  
made 

368 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
made use of; relaxing by emollient and wa- 
tery Substances, both in Drink and Glysters, 
especially Barley, Cream, and Barley-gruel, 
are to be frequently used: Likewise Bleeding 
in the Foot, and Blisters will be of great Ser- 
vice in this Case. 
Of Convulsions in Fevers. 
Convul-
sions. 
Nothing is of more Importance 
than rightly to know the Cause and the 
Seat of this Distemper, which is com- 
monly very obscure. In Infants Convulsions 
commonly proceed from Acidity in the Sto- 
mach and Intestines, which are cured by Ab- 
sorbents, such as testaceous Powders of all sorts, 
and gentle Purges and Glysters; but in such 
indeed Convulsions attending Fevers are not 
altogether so dangerous. 
Convulsions arising from Acrimony in the 
Stomach, or from any thing vellicating a 
Nerve in its Extremity, and not in its Origi- 
nal where it rises from the Brain, are not 
very dangerous; but Convulsions, which pro- 
ceed from too great Evacuations, as great 
Hæmorrhages attending Fevers, are very dan- 
gerous, and frequently mortal. 
Convulsions proceeding from an Inflamma- 
tion of the Membranes of the Brain are com- 
monly fatal: The Symptoms attending such 
are, a great Heat and Thirst, a hard Pulse, 
and a Delirium; so that the Remedies, and 
even those from Diet, are to be used accord- 
ing to the particular Seat of the Distemper; 
for

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 369
for if it be from the Stomach, such Aliments 
as are contrary to the particular Acrimony, 
Acid, Alkaline, or Oily, impacted there, as 
in the Case of Vomiting, already described. 
But if they arise from something obstructed 
in the Brain, such Convulsions are generally 
cur'd by Diluting, Relaxing, Revulsions, and 
softening both the Fluids and Solids, and 
using such Substances especially as open the 
Belly; and in general the Regimen prescribed 
in a Delirium or Coma: For it would be a 
Folly to rely here on the Medicines, which, 
by their pompous Titles of Anti-spasmodick 
and Anti-hystericks promise a specifick Cure; 
besides, all Volatiles, spicy and cordial Sub- 
stances, are here destructive.
Of Weakness in Fevers. 
A feverish Weakness proceeds from 
too great Fulness in the Beginning, and too 
great Penury or Inanition in the latter End of 
the Distemper; for whatever stops or retards 
the Circulation of the Fluids in the smallest 
Vessels, especially those in the Brain, produces 
this Symptom, which either of the Causes now 
mentioned will certainly do; And those two 
Causes require a different Method of Cure; 
for in the first, emptying and diluting is re- 
quisite; in the latter, a more plentiful Nou- 
rishrnent, the Use of Wine diluted with Wa- 
ter, and Spices in small Quantities, Jellies, 
Broths qualified with some gentle Acid, un- 
less there be Signs of Acidity; but in that 
Weakness. 
Aa Case

370 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Case the Diet should be contrary to that 
Symptom; in which Case Viper Broth, and all 
other Broths are both anti-acid and nourishing. 
In Weakness from too great a Loss of Blood, 
Wine and Food which is easily digested and 
assimilated or converted into Blood, is pro- 
per; for a small Quantity of Blood often- 
times brings the Patient into a Dropsy. Fric- 
tions of the Limbs relieve Weaknesses, as they 
promote a Flux of Juices and Spirits in the 
Joints and Limbs, by which Means they will 
bring Nourishment to those Parts. 
Fat People are most subject to the Symp- 
tom of Weakness in Fevers; because the Fat, 
being melted by the Heat of the Fever, Part 
of it obstructs the small Canals or Vessels, and 
consequently produces this Symptom; which 
is evident from the great Loss of Fat such 
Persons sustain in Fevers, by the Laxity of 
the Fibres, and the Emptiness of the smaller 
Vessels; and therefore such should be treated 
with particular Care, for after due Evacua- 
tions they ought to dilute plentifully both by 
Drink and Glysters, avoiding all fat and oily 
Things, and using Sugar, Honey, and ripe 
Fruits. 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in Fevers. 
In all these of any Kind whatever, as Small- 
Pox, Meazles, Purples, Scarlet-fever, Ery- 
sipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire, the Intention of 
Diet ought to be, to avoid strong Sudorificks, 
or sweating Things, which push out too great 
a Quan-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
a Quantity of the Matter upon the Skin; to 
use cooling and temperate Diluters, which 
will keep the Matter moveable, so that it may 
be secreted from the Blood; to keep warm 
during the Eruption; and that the Diet be 
cool; for which Reason the moderate Use of 
Acids, as Juice of Limons, &c, are necessary; 
and above all things Bleeding must not be 
omitted. 
A due Attention to the few Rules above- 
mentioned, in the several Symptoms, will 
prove successful in the Cure of most Fevers. 
Of the Small-pox. 
Notwithstanding I have taken notice just 
now of Eruptive Fevers in general, yet as this 
is one of the most dangerous and universal 
that infests Mankind, I shall treat of it in this 
Place in particular. Therefore, the greatest 
and most important Steps for the Recovery of 
the Patient must be made at the Time of the 
Invasion, or first State of this Distemper;
wherefore it is very necessary to know the first
Symptoms of it; for many have suffer'd by 
mistaking it for another Disorder. 
In general, young People who have not 
had the Disease, ought to be very care- 
ful in avoiding Irregularities in their Diet;
because the Small-pox which seizes such Per- 
sons often proves fatal. This Disease is like- 
wise more dangerous as the Fluids are more 
heated and dissipated, and the Solids more 
Aa2 strict 

372 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strict and compacted, and consequently it is 
more so, as People are advanced in Years. 
First
Stage. 
The first Symptoms are a Chilness 
and Rigor, succeeded by a Fever and 
constant Heat, a certain Splendor or Shining- 
in the Eyes, with a little Moisture, which is 
very observable in Children; a great Pain in 
the Head, with Drowsiness, Dullness, and 
Sleepiness; a Pain in the Back in some, but 
Pains in the Limbs in all; Anxiety, Inquie- 
tude notwithstanding their Drowsiness; loath- 
ing Sickness at the Stomach, Vomiting, and 
Convulsions in Infants shortly before the E- 
ruption; and the Blood taken away the first
Time, florid; but on the second, third, and 
fourth Time it appears sizy, like that of pleu- 
ritick People. 
Therefore it is manifest that in this State 
the Distemper ought to be treated as any 
other inflammatory Disease, by such Methods 
as if it were possible to hinder any Suppuration 
at all; and to resolve and digest as much of 
the feverish Matter as possibly we can; for the 
longer the Eruption is a coming, and the fewer 
when it comes, the Disease is less dangerous; 
therefore all the Methods practised in the Be- 
ginning of inflammatory Distempers are here 
necessary and proper, with a particular Care 
of cleansing the alimentary Passage by Vomit- 
ing and Glysters, the Impurities of which 
will otherwise be carried into the Blood. 
The learned Boerhaave says, that as there is 
not yet found any particular Antidote to the 
poisonous

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 373
poisonous Quality of this Disease; but that if 
any such could be found, as he is of Opinion 
it may, it must be in Antimony and Mercury 
brought to a great Degree of Penetrability,
without being too corrosive by a Saline Acri- 
mony, but well united; for the Effects of Mer- 
cury on all Ulcerations are notorious. 
In the first Stage then of the Small-pox, the 
whole Habit of the Body ought to be relax'd 
both inwardly and outwardly, and a free 
Perspiration through the Pores of the Skin, 
without violent Sweats be promoted; the 
Viscidity or Glewiness of the Fluids taken off 
by Diluters: All these Things may be affected 
by Glysters, Fomentations and Gargles, and 
a plentiful life of Drinks often repeated, made 
of thin Water-gruel and other mealy Decoc- 
tions, and such like cooling Liquors, with 
nitrous and acid Salts, or some other acid Sub- 
stances mix'd with them, such as the Juice of 
Oranges, Limons, Tamarinds, and other sub- 
acid Fruits, &c. no Flesh to be allow'd, un- 
less some small Chicken-broth at Times; the 
Air ought not to spoiled by Heat, or the Bed- 
Clothes so thick and heavy as to produce great 
Sweats. 
For more People are lost in the Small-pox, 
by being thrown into large and violent Sweats 
in the Beginning of the Eruption, than by any 
other Errors committed at all other Times: 
The Reason is, because great Sweats drain the 
small Blood-Vessels of the necessary Fluid, 
by which Circulation is hinder'd and the Blood 
Aa3 coagu-

374 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
coagulates, by which Means the Inflamma- 
tion is hurried on into a Gangrene, without 
being able to furnish the necessary Work of 
Impostumation in the Glands of the Skin, or 
of being dissipated by other proper Means. 
Second 
Stage. 
When this Disease has run off its first 
Stage, which is call'd by the learned 
Boerhaave, that of Contagion, it enters 
into the second, in the following Manner: 
The Skin of the Head and Face first, then of 
the Hands and Arms, and lastly of the Body 
and lower Parts, are mark'd with little red 
Points like Flea-bites; thereupon the Symp- 
toms abate, and the red Pustles increase every 
Hour in Largeness and Number; they con- 
tinually rise higher and higher, inflame more, 
and the Skin is stretch'd; they begin to pain 
and to burn ; the Circulation is interrupted, 
and Perspiration hinder'd; hence a great Re- 
turn of the Humours towards the inward 
Parts; a Fever arises, with Anxieties, Diffi- 
culty of Breathing, a Pain in the Jaws, some- 
times a Quinsy, a Looseness, Bloody-flux, 
Bloody-urine, Spitting of Blood. The Parts of 
the Skin free from Pustles are red and in- 
flamed, painful and hot; all which, or most 
of which, when they have lasted four, five, 
or six Days, are now intirely suppurated, and 
converted into as many small Impostumes. 
And this is likewise call'd by the above-men- 
tioned Author, the Stage of the Inflammation 
until the Suppuration: It lasts (according to 
the Difference of the epidemical Season, and 
that


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 375
that of the Patient, the Greatness and Vio- 
lence of each particular Case, and the Regi- 
men hot or cold made use of) most times 
four or five Days; so that the Suppuration is 
compleated about the eighth Day, reckoning 
from the first Beginning; and the Blood, if 
let out of a Vein, is extremely inflamed. 
From what has been said, the Diagnosticks 
and Prognosticks of the second State of the 
Small-pox may be learned, and the Rationale 
of it, and all its Symptoms, which will be 
plainer still by observing the following Rules. 
1. The gentler the State of Contagion, that 
is, the first Stage, the easier likewise is the in- 
flammatory State, which is the second Stage 
of the Distemper. 
2. The slower the Pustles break out, the 
longer therefore the State of Contagion, so the 
easier and milder is the whole Course of the 
Disease through all its Stages. 
3. The fewer, more distant, bigger, more 
remote from the Face, whiter and afterwards 
the yellower the Pustles are, and the later 
they appear, so much the better Event they 
promise. 
4. The more in Quantity, more mix'd and 
intangled, the less in Bulk those that stand 
single, the more they appear upon the Face, 
tawny or black, and the quicker they grow, 
so much the worse. 
5. The more the Matter of the Pimples is 
like to kind and perfect Pus, the better. 
Aa4 6. The

376 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
6. The more the Matter in the Pimples 
resembles a gangrenous Ichor, the worse. 
7. The more the Space between the Pim- 
ples appears red, is hot, stretch'd, and swell'd 
about the Time of their impostumating, so 
much the greater Hopes, because it is a Sign 
of the Circulation's being preserved there. 
8. But the more that same Space looks 
paler, or grows tawny or black, so much 
the worse; for there follows a mortal Quinsy 
or Peripneumony, unless a thin Salivation, or 
a great Swelling of the Hands or Feet doth 
ensue: The Reason is, because the Circula- 
tion of the Fluids is cut off in those Parts, 
and drove back and increased in the internal 
nobler Parts. 
9. If in the Space between the Pimples 
there appear purple Spots, it is a sign that a 
mortal Gangrene is at hand or present. 
The Indication in this second State of the 
Disease, is different according to the different 
Time that the Disease has lasted, and is like 
to last: for in the Beginning of the external 
Inflammation shewing itself, it appears rea- 
sonable to endeavour to prevent its proceeding 
to an Impostumation, as has been observed 
already; or, if that be neglected, Care ought 
to be taken that the Suppuration be as lit- 
tle as possible, and promoted slowly and far 
from the Head; which may be effected, first, 
by keeping the Patient to the thinnest Diet, 
which at the same time resists Putrefaction, 
Secondly, by giving him diluting, soft and sub- 
acid


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 377
acid Drink. Thirdly, Medicines that prevent 
the making of much Pus or Matter, such as 
are opening and diluting, in great Quantities 
and often given; likewise Blisters applied to 
the Hollows of the Feet and Legs. Fourthly, 
A cool Regimen, and chiefly by the Admis- 
sion of pure and fresh Air, (as was observed 
in the first State) and at the same Time co- 
vering the Limbs and lower Parts of the 
Body warm. Fifthly, If the Distemper pro- 
ceeds too violently on the fifth Night, a 
gentle Opiate may be safely given to an Ad- 
vantage, and repeated every Night to the 
End of the Disease, if the Lungs are not too 
much oppress'd, and Respiration very diffi- 
cult. 
After the running off of the 
second Stage follows the third 
State, being that of Impostumation, during 
which it increases and arrives at its Height: 
In this the Pustles, already purulent, grow 
larger every Day; then they ripen, turn 
white, yellow, and break on the third or 
fourth Day of this State. Then the whole 
Skin, and its subjacent Fat, abound with a 
moveable Pus or Matter; it is dried exter- 
nally, and inflamed in every Part free from 
Matter or Pus: Hence, from the Impedi- 
ment of Perspiration and Circulation, from 
the Irritation of the membranous and nervous 
System, from the absorbing of the Pus into the 
Veins, there comes on a Fever of the worst 
Kind, with the worst Symptoms; and if this
Third Stage.
puru- 

378 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
purulent Matter mix'd with the Blood is 
moved long, it putrefies: Hence, according 
to its falling upon different Parts of the Body, 
it produces cruel and scarce superable Effects, 
such as Deliriums, Phrensies, Quinsies, Peri- 
pneumonies, Pleurisies, Vomitings, Bloody- 
fluxes, Inflammations of the Liver, Impos- 
tumations of the same; Boils, Tumors, Ab- 
scesses, and Stiffness of the Joints; a Wasting, 
Consumption, and a great many more Evils. 
In this third State great Care ought to be 
taken to promote the Discharge of the Pus 
to the external Part, driving it from the In- 
ternals; which may be effected by relaxing 
the Skin with lukewarm softening Fomenta- 
tions, and often; constantly walking and 
gargling the Mouth and Throat; drinking 
much of warm, cordial, detergent, and o- 
pening Decoctions, which are contrary to Pu- 
trefaction; injecting daily a gentle, diluting, 
emollient, and laxative Glyster, and to be kept 
long; or sometimes a gentle Purge with Rhu- 
barb and Manna; dieting upon thin Broths 
duely salted and acidulated; allowing now 
and then a moderate Glass of good generous 
Wine; giving also a sufficient Dose of Syrup 
of White Poppies, or some other Opiate, a- 
gainst any violent or troublesome Symptoms 
that may arise. 
If the Small-pox proves to be of the worst 
Kind, and that there is rather a gangrenous 
Ichor than laudable Pus, that almost the 
whole Skin is beset with it; hence it may 
easily

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 379
easily appear, why this Disease is often so un- 
avoidably fatal, notwithstanding all the pos- 
sible Care taken; and it will be yet much 
plainer to any one acquainted with Dissections, 
that as the external Skin is full, so the Eyes, 
all the Membranes of the Nostrils, all the 
Covers of the Mouth, the Wind-pipe, the 
Bronchia, the Stomach, the Gullet, Intes- 
tines, Liver, Spleen, and Lungs, are full of 
the like Pustles; and hence he will under- 
stand what has been said, and see what is re- 
quisite for the Cure. Thus far the Senti- 
ments of Boerhaave concerning the Small- 
pox. 
The Greatness and Danger of this Disease 
is estimated by the Quantity of Pimples on 
the Face and Head; therefore the Matter 
ought to be solicitated to the lower Parts by 
all possible Methods, especially the Legs, by 
Fomentations, Bathing, Blistering, and, thro'
the whole Course of the Disease, keeping the 
Feet and Legs warm; the Breast and Head 
not any more cover'd than to keep them from 
the Injury of the cold Air. 
During the filling and ripening of the Pustles 
the Diet may be allow'd a little more plentiful, 
but yet not hot or inflammatory, with the due 
Use of anodyne Things, or such as allay Pains 
and Restlessness. In this State every Thing 
that abates Acrimony is proper; and, where 
the Circumstances of the Patient require it, 
a Spoonful or two of good White Wine, 
twice or thrice a Day, may be likewise useful.
The

380 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Diet in this State should also be adapted 
to the particular Symptoms of the Disease, 
as cleansing, attenuating, and expectorating; 
and to promote spitting by Diureticks. 
When the Temperament, Age, high Pulse, 
and especially Watchfulness and Delirium re- 
quire Bleeding in any other Case, why not 
in this State? which is known to have been 
used with great Success; for a great many 
Vessels in this State are almost unpassable by 
the Fluids; and those who die of this Distem- 
per have inward Inflammations, especially in 
the Lungs, all which seem to justify that 
Bleeding is necessary in the Case. 
But the gangrenous Disposition which ap- 
pears in the malignant Sort, is a Reason against
it; for hardly any Thing will avail in ex- 
treme malignant Cases. In such malignant 
Kinds, all that is left, is, at least to endeavour 
to evacuate the peccant Matter by other 
Ways, as Blistering and Stools, procured by 
Lenitives not irritating, which would only 
hurry the Humours and increase the Fever. 
For farther Particulars concerning this 
dreadful Distemper, see the celebrated Sy- 
denham's Account of the Distinct, Confluent, 
and Anomalous Small-pox, which nothing can 
excel. 
The Meazles and Scarlet Fever, (tho' not 
near so dangerous) require much the same 
Regimen, and the same Method of Cure, as 
the Small-pox, the Scarlet Fever not differing 
from the Meazles, except it be in the Manner
of 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 381
of the Efflorescence only, insomuch that it 
may not improperly be called the Confluent 
Meazles, for the Efflorescence in the Meazles 
makes its Appearance in different Figures and 
Shapes, from whence the Skin is diversify'd 
with several Colours; whereas in the Scarlet 
Fever the Skin is spread all over with one con- 
tinued Inflammation and Redness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of Inflammatory Diseases with a Fever. 
NOW those inflammatory Distempers are 
to be considered, which being attended 
with an acute Fever, do besides induce a sin- 
gular Inflammation of this or that Organ of 
the Body, the depraved Function of which 
gives a Name to each particular Disease of 
that Kind; such are the Phrensy, Quinsy, 
Pleurisy, Peripneumony, the Inflammation of 
the Breast, of the Diaphragm, Stomach, Li- 
ver, Spleen, Mesentery †, Guts, Kidneys, 
Bladder; of the Joints, as in Rheumatisms; 
and of the Surface of the Body, as in the 
Meazles, Scarlet Fever, and Small-pox. 
Of
† A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 


382 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of a Phrensy, or Inflammation of the Brain. 
True or symp- 
tomatick.
A Phrensy is either essential or 
symptomatick: An essential or 
true Phrensy is when there is a 
primary Inflammation of the Brain, or ra- 
ther of the Meninges ‡, with a Delirium and 
an acute Fever. The Symptomatick Phrensy, 
or Phrenitis, is occasioned by a Translation 
of the febrile Matter or Inflammation, &c. 
from other Parts upon the Brain. 
A true Phrensy kills the third, fourth, or 
seventh Day, or else it produces Madness, a 
Lethargy, or Coma; and a Phrensy coming 
upon a Peripneumony, or the Iliack Passion,
is mortal; upon the Small-pox, is very dan- 
gerous. 
This Disease, of all others, requires the 
most powerful Remedies without any Delay, 
which are able to remove the Inflammation 
of the Arteries of the Brain, and are chiefly 
to be taken from the general Cure of Inflam- 
mations in Fevers, describ'd in the foregoing 
Chapter, observing at the same time the fol- 
lowing Rules. 
Copious Bleeding, by opening the tempo- 
ral Arteries, or more Veins at once, in the 
Foot, Throat, and Forehead, with large Ori- 
fices, are the most effectual Remedies. Great 
Quantities of cooling Decoctions ought to be 
given
‡ Are Membranes which cover and embrace the Brain, 
and they are called the Dura Mater, and the Pia Mater, or 
Meninges.



Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 383
given often and warm, with large Portions of 
Nitre. Then cooling Purges, and at the 
Time of their working, to give Draughts of 
diluting nitrous Liquors. Sometimes Glysters 
of the like Kind, with lenitive Electuary, or 
Honey, or any such Openers may be given. 
Solliciting the Blood to other Parts of the 
Body; therefore tepid Bathings of the lower 
Parts, and emptying the Piles with Leaches, 
relaxing Fomentations apply'd to the Veins, 
which carry the Blood from the Head, re- 
lieve in this Disease. We should likewise ap- 
ply Blisters and Cupping-glasses to the inferior 
Parts; Blistering the Back, and even the Head 
sometimes, in phlegmatick Constitutions espe- 
cially, has been found useful. The Body 
ought to be kept moderately cool, and set 
upright if possible, for the warm Air of the 
Bed exagitates the Blood. 
But if the Phrensy has been occasioned by 
a pre-existent inflammatory Distemper in 
some other Part, it ought to be carefully 
minded, whether the Nature of that Illness 
will bear the Applications above-mention'd;
which if not, then it ought to be cured ac- 
cording to the Method peculiar to that ori- 
ginal Distemper, always adding the Reme- 
dies that divert from the Head, and that are 
externally apply'd. 
The Diet ought to be slender, of mealy 
Substances, as Water-Gruel acidulated, or 
subacid ripe Fruits, with their Jellies, the 
Drink small, diluting and cooling, Barley- 
Water,

384 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Water, and the Decoction of Tamarinds are 
all necessary and useful. For farther Satis- 
faction herein, see the Articles of Delirium 
and Watchfulness in the preceding Chapter. 
Of a Quinsy. 
A Quinsy without 
a Tumour almost 
always mortal.
There are two Species of it; 
the first is without any sensi- 
ble Tumour either externally 
or internally; but the other Species of a 
Quinsy is attended with a Tumour. The 
first Sort is commonly the Conse- 
quence of some very long continued 
Disease, chiefly after very large and often re- 
peated Evacuations. It is accompa- 
nied with a Paleness, Dryness, and 
Thinness of the Jaws; because for the most
part the Nerves and Muscles of those Parts 
being relaxed, are most times paralytick, and 
it is a Sign almost always that Death is just- 
at hand. It is seldom cur'd, and then 
only with Remedies which fill the 
empty Vessels with good vital Nourishment, 
and things that warm and strengthen the 
Body in general. 
The Cause. 
The Signs. 
The Cure. 
A Quinsy with a 
Tumour of various 
Sorts. 
The other Species of the 
Quinsy, viz. with a Tumour in 
the Throat, occasioning a Dif- 
ficulty of Breathing and Swallowing, may 
be of various Sorts; sometimes it proceeds 
from a Serosity obstructing the Glands, which 
may be watery, œdematous, or schirrous, ac-
cording

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 385
cording to the different Degrees of the Vi- 
scidity of the Humours, sometime inflam- 
matory, which Inflammation will sometimes 
terminate in a Suppuration, or Gangrene. 
The Regimen and Cure in those 
Quinsys, which proceed merely from 
watery, œdematous, and thin catarrhous Hu- 
mours obstructing the Glands, must be first, 
to use such warm Liquors as relax gently, 
soften and moisten these Glands; Secondly, 
such Medicines as carry off the redundant 
Serum, by Stools, Sweat, and Urine; or by 
stimulating, and opening the Emunctories of 
these Glands to secern the stagnated Hu- 
mours, which may be obtained by the Ap- 
plication of Cataplasms, Gargles, Injections 
with Syringes, and by lessening the Quan- 
tity of the Lympha with Masticatories, Bli- 
sters, and smart Purges that will promote 
watery Stools. 
The Cure. 
In a mere watery Tumour, the Diet may 
be more warm than in inflammatory Kinds; 
and therefore the moderate Use of Wine of- 
ten relieves the Patient. 
But a Difficulty of Breathing and Swallow- 
ing, proceeding from Schirrosities of the 
Glands, is not to be cured any other Way 
than by extirpating the Schirrus, which 
alone will be a safe Remedy: or the Surgeon 
must with Prudence endeavour to fix a Cau- 
stick in the middle of the Tumour, to eat 
the same out; which is feasible enough when 
the Seat is near the Jaws. 
Bb In

386 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
In the inflammatory Species of a Quinsy 
we ought, by all means possible, endeavour 
to procure a Resolution: First, By large and 
repeated Bleedings. Secondly, The Belly 
must be loosened stoutly with either Purges, 
or purging Glysters frequently injected. 
Thirdly, By a very thin and slender Diet, 
such as Whey with Tamarinds boiled in it; 
Decoctions and Emulsions of farinaceous 
Vegetables moderately acidulated, and such 
as abound with a cooling nitrous Salt. Fourth- 
ly, By Medicines of the nitrous and acid 
Kind. Fifthly, By soft, warm Vapours con- 
stantly receiv'd upon the Part, bathing and 
fomenting the Feet, and Derivations by Bli- 
sters. When Swallowing is totally abolish'd, the 
Patient may be nourish'd by nourishing Gly- 
sters, which is known to have been done for 
a whole Week, after which the Tumour sup- 
purated. 
If the Inflammation ends in a Gangrene, 
the Case proves generally mortal, except it 
be only in the Tonsils, Uvula, and Palate, 
and reach no farther, which Parts may be 
separated, and the Patient recover. 
Of a Pleurisy. 
Diagnostick. 
A Pleurisy is an Inflammation 
of the Pleura, being a double Mem- 
brane which covers all the Cavity of the 
Breast; tho' that is hardly distinguishable 
from

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 387
from an Inflammation of any other Part of 
the Breast, which are all from the same 
Cause, a stagnant Blood; for there is no Part 
of the Internal Integuments of the Chest, 
which is not capable of being seized there- 
with, whether it be the Pleura or the Me- 
diastinum; and therefore the pricking Pain 
may be felt in any Part of the Breast: But 
most commonly it attacks the Sides, and this 
having a Fever join'd with it, is a true 
Pleurisy; but if such a Pain affects the su- 
perior intercostal Muscles, it is called a spu- 
rious Pleurisy. 
In a true Pleurisy, Bleeding large- 
ly, and often repeated in the Begin- 
ning ought to be perform'd, and that by a 
large Orifice; and the Rule is, to repeat Bleed- 
ing so often until there appears no longer any 
Siziness on the Top of the Blood: and at the 
same time, Fomentations and Leniments 
may be used externally. For internal Use, Di- 
luters, Resolvents, Coolers and Lenients that 
will asswage Pain, are proper; and all such 
Things should be taken warm, and in great 
Quantities. 
The Cure.
Sometimes the Part inflamed tends to a 
Suppuration, which is known by the obsti- 
nate Violence of the Pain and Fever, &c.
and continuing longer than the 4th Day. That 
an Abscess is form'd may be known by a fre- 
quent shivering, a Remission of Pain, Short- 
ness of Breath, and being able only to lie on 
one Side, which is the Side that is affected. 
Bb2 When


388 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Abscess is broken, the purulent 
Matter falls into the Cavity of the Chest, 
and increases by the Discharge from the Ul- 
cer, which produces an Empyema, of which 
I shall give an Account hereafter. But some- 
times the Part affected becomes schirrous, 
with an Adhesion of the Lungs and Pleura; 
hence an Asthma and dry Cough, an incura- 
ble Distemper, unless perhaps there may be 
some Relief had from much Exercise and 
Riding. 
Sometimes a Pleurisy turns to a Gangrene, 
which causes sudden Death; that a Gangrene 
is begun, may be known from the Delirium, 
the livid Colour of the Chest, a sort of bi- 
lious Spitting, and from a Cessation of Pain. 
The Prog- 
nosticks. 
Hippocrates observes, that if in 
Beginning of a Pleurisy, within 
the space of three Days, the Spit- 
ting is Bloody, it shews that the Distemper 
will be but short; if the Spitting of Blood 
comes on later, the Distemper will likely run 
into a greater Length. He adds, that if 
Pleuritick Persons do not expectorate, an Ab- 
scess will be form'd in fourteen Days; and 
such may be freed from that, if they can 
fully discharge the Matter by spitting in forty 
Days from the Time of the Rupture of the 
Abscess, otherwise they fall into a Consump- 
tion. 
In this Distemper the Spitting is to be regard- 
ed more than the Urine; and a Pleurisy that 
seems slight in the Beginning, and proceeding 
so

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 389
so till the fifth Day, but growing worse the 
sixth, is commonly mortal. When the Sup- 
puration is made, or Matter form'd in a 
Pleurisy, the Side must be open'd to let out 
the Matter. 
Of a Peripneumony. 
A true Peripneumony is 
an Inflammation of the bron- 
chial and pulmonary Vessels, 
or of the whole Body of the 
Lungs, or of one Lobe only. If the whole 
Lungs are affected the Case is desperate, and 
deem'd incurable; because the Circulation 
must be stopt, and no Blood can flow back 
into the Heart; the others sometimes admit 
of a Cure. It is to be treated after the same 
Manner, and with the same Remedies as a 
Pleurisy, and most commonly it has the 
same Event. 
A true Peripneumony 
or Inflammation of
the Lungs. 
If the Inflammation be not dis- 
cussed in fourteen Days Time, an 
Abscess will be formed; the Signs of which 
are Shiverings, an Abatement of the Pain, and 
a low Pulse, Difficulty of Breathing, Thirst, 
and a slight Fever still remaining in the 
Evenings, &c. Upon this sometimes a sudden 
Suffocation happens from an Eruption of the 
purulent Matter into the Wind-pipe; some- 
times it is evacuated by spitting it up in great 
Quantities; or, if the Rupture so happens, it 
falls into the Cavity of the Chest, from 
whence proceeds an Empyema, a Phthisis, &c. 
Prognostick. 
Bb3 Lastly,

390 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Lastly, the purulent Matter is absorbed by 
the pulmonary Veins, and is mix'd with the 
Blood; and by means of the Circulation, is 
deposited in some one of the Viscera, as the 
Liver, the Spleen, the Brain, &c. Hence it 
comes to pass that peripneumonick Abscesses 
happen about the Ears, Legs, or Hypochon- 
dria, where if they suddenly disappear, and 
the Peripneumony returns, the Case is mor- 
tal. 
The Type of a 
spurious Peri- 
pneumony. 
A spurious Peripneumony com- 
monly proceeds from a thick pi- 
tuitous Matter, generated in the 
Mass of Blood, which gradually settling itself 
on the Lungs, forms the Distemper. Old 
People, and such as are of pituitous, cold, 
catarrhous Constitutions, and such as are 
troubled with Defluxions of Rheums, are 
more subject to this Distemper than others. 
It creeps on unawares upon People with a 
fallacious Lenity at first; they are slightly in- 
disposed, complaining of a sort of Weariness 
and Debility; they seem to be dispirited;
they grow short-breath'd, and feel an Op-
pression of the Breast; but as the Disorder is 
hardly considerable enough to raise any great 
preternatural Heat or Fever, they are not 
apprehensive of any Danger: After a while 
however they are seiz'd with Shiverings and a 
small Fever, from whence the Difficulty of 
Breathing and great Weakness increase, and 
Death approaches, which surprizes the By-
standers,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 391
standers, the Urine and Pulse having not such 
a sudden Change. 
This Distemper is cured by the 
following Method; first, let the Pa- 
tient be blooded out of a large Vein; second- 
ly, a Glyster ought be given every Day, till 
it appears that the Lungs are eased; thirdly, 
his Diet ought to be of thin Flesh Broths, 
Jellies with some Juice of Lemon or Oranges; 
his Drink also small, of Water and Honey; 
fourthly, to use diluting, cleansing, and gently 
opening Apozems, often and in large Quan- 
tities, bathing the Legs and Feet, and ap- 
plying many Blisters, 
The Cure.
Of an Empyema. 
An Empyema is a Collection of 
purulent Matter in the Cavity of the 
Thorax most commonly occasion'd 
by the Rupture of an Abscess, produced by a 
Pleurisy or Peripneumony: It is known, if 
for twenty Days after the Beginning of the 
Inflammation there has been no Expectora- 
tion; from a dry Cough, a Weight on the 
Diaphragm *, being able to lie only on one 
Side; from a fluctuating Noise of the Pus or 
Matter upon moving the Body, a slow Fever, 
Redness in the Cheeks, Hollowness of the 
Eyes, Heat in the Tops of the Fingers, Crook- 
edness of the Nails, and a Tumor of the 
Belly.
Empyema 
what. 
Bb4 As 
* It is a tranverse Membrane, which separates the Thorax
or Chest from the Abdomen or lower Belly.
 


392 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Cure. 
As to what relates to the Cure of 
an Empyema, when it is once known 
that there is a Rupture of an Abscess of the 
Lungs, Pleura, Diaphragm, or the Mediasti- 
tium †, or Pericardium ‡, endeavours must 
be used to discharge the Matter by Expec- 
toration, by the urinary Passages, or by Stool, 
if Nature offers to do it those Ways; for if 
purulent Mttter appears in the Urine, let diu- 
retick Medicines be given; if purulent Stools 
happen, laxative Purges; if Spitting offers, 
expectorating Medicines: Some make Issues 
with Causticks betwixt the Ribs. For inter- 
nal Use, Balsamicks, Vulneraries, Decoctions 
of the Woods, Jellies of Hartshorn, and 
Ground-Ivy, are very much commended. 
But if all Remedies fail, the Cure must 
be attempted by an Aperture of the Thorax, 
with a proper Instrument on the Side affected, 
between the 4th and 5th, or 5th and 6th 
Ribs, counting from the lowermost, drawing 
off the Matter gently and gradually: From 
the Nature of the Pus, when taken out, and 
other Circumstances of the Patient, one may 
deduce a Prognostick of what may likely be 
the Event. 
If the Empyema be of a long standing, 
and the Strength of the Patient exhausted, 
the Hair of the Head falling off, and there 
be a colliquative Looseness, the Habit of the 
Body
† Is a Membrane which divides the Lungs and other Vi- 
scera of the Breast into two Parts. 
‡ A Membrane which surrounds the whole Substance of 
the Heart. 


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 393
Body tabid, &c. the Operation of the Para- 
centesis will serve only to hasten Death. 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or an Inflammation of 
the Diaphragm. 
A Paraphrenitis is a Disease much like a 
Pleurisy, wherein the Diaphragm, or at least 
part of it, is really inflamed; and this is what 
happens more frequently than is commonly- 
believed, mistaking it for another Distemper, 
It is known by a continual Fever, an exqui- 
site Pain very much increased upon Inspira- 
tion, by which it is distinguish'd from a Pleu- 
risy, in which the greateft Pain is in Expira- 
tion; besides, the Breath is fetch'd deep, 
quick, and suffocating, and seems only to be 
performed by the Motion of the Breast; It 
is likewise attended with a Delirium, Fury, 
and an involuntary Laughter, and Convul- 
sions; and altho' the Whole of the Distem- 
per is known, yet it is generally mortal. 
This Distemper terminates as Pleurifies and 
Peripneumonies, but a great deal more fatal; 
If it suppurates the Pus, it is evacuated into 
the lower Belly, where it produces Putrefac- 
tion, and a most miserable and painful Death. 
The Regimen, if any can be successful, 
ought to be the same as in Pleurisies, and the 
Cure likewise. 
Of an Inflammation of the Stomach. 
As other Parts of the Body, so 
may likewise the Stomach he seized 
The Signs.
with 


394 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a true Inflammation: The Symptoms 
and Effects are a burning, fix'd, and pungent 
Pain in the Stomach, attended with an acute 
continual Fever, a great Exacerbation of this 
Pain the Moment after swallowing any thing, 
succeeded with Vomiting, a painful Hickup 
and great Anxiety, unquenchable Thirst, 
want of Sleep, and a continual Tossing of the 
Body; these are succeeded with Deliriums, 
and most times Convulsions, ending in 
Death. 
The Causes.
The Causes of these Symptoms 
are those common to all Inflamma- 
tions in general, a natural Weakness, and 
perhaps Erosion of the Coats of the Stomach, 
by acrid Substances taken as Aliment and 
Medicines. Care must be taken rightly to 
distinguish between an Inflammation of the 
Stomach, and that of the Liver: In the for- 
mer the burning Pain and Heat seem to lie 
deeper; when the Liver is inflamed the In- 
flammation is more limited, and the Symp- 
toms are milder. 
If this Disease is not speedily cured, it 
soon proves fatal; for People commonly die 
of it the third or fourth Day; and sometimes 
indeed, tho' seldom, it tends to a Suppuration, 
and the Abscess breaks either into the Cavity 
of the Stomach or lower Belly and even then 
they hardly ever escape. 
Of all Diseases this requires most a total 
Abstinence from any Thing that has Acrimo- 
ny in it; even the nitrous cooling Salts, which 
are

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 395
are beneficial in other Inflammations, irritate 
too much in this; likewise Vomits, all Cor- 
dials of volatile and spicy Substances; spiri- 
tuous Liquors are no better than Poison, and 
Milk generally curdles. Aliments must be 
given frequently, and by Spoonfuls at a time, 
for any Distension of the Stomach increases 
the Inflammation. 
A thin Gruel of Barley, Oatmeal, Whey 
with very little Sugar, or Honey, or Chicken- 
broth, are proper Aliments; Whey, emol- 
lient Decoctions of Barley-water, and Emul- 
sions, are proper Drinks; and it has been 
found by Experience, that Chalybeat Waters 
have been agreeable to the Stomach in this 
inflammatory State. If there happens an Im- 
postume, Honey, and even Honey of Roses, 
taken inwardly, is a good Cleanser, and a De- 
coction of Comfrey Roots is healing; Speedy 
and effectual Bleeding, Fomentations, and 
Glysters have the same good Effect in this as 
in other inflammatory Distempers, Likewise 
the same Regimen and Remedies ought to be 
used in a Schirrus or Cancer of the Stomach;
tho' nothing will prove quite effectual. The 
same Method is to be pursued in the Inflam- 
mation of the Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul. 
Of the Inflammation of the Liver. 
As other Bowels and Parts of the Body are 
capable of Inflammations, so is the Liver 
likewise; but as the Hepatical or Liver Ar- 
tery, and the Vena Portæ, carry the Blood 
into

396 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
into the Liver, the first being very small, and 
the Motion of the Blood being slow in the 
last, are the Reasons that Inflammations in 
the Liver are not so frequent as in some other 
Parts of the Body; but when they happen 
they are extremely dangerous, unless they 
take up but a small Part of the Liver; 
and such happen more frequently than is 
thought of. 
Diagnostick
Signs. 
The best Cautions, both in Diet 
and Cure, may be taken from the 
Causes and Symptoms of this Di- 
stemper, which, besides the general Causes of 
Inflammations, are extreme Fatness; for Fat 
dissolved by Heat and Inflammation obstructs 
the Vessels of the Liver very suddenly; and 
Cattle fatten'd by good Pasturage, after vio- 
lent Motion or Running, sometimes die sud- 
denly, in such the Liver is found to be in- 
flamed and corrupted. An atrabilarian a-
dust Temper of the Blood and Gall, an acri- 
monious or purulent Matter, stagnating in 
some other Organ of the Body, is more easily 
deposited upon the Liver than any other Part, 
especially if it is attended with the Use of 
hot and spicy Aliments, spirituous Liquors, 
great Heat and a Fever; Erosions of the 
Vessels by the Acrimony or Sharpness of the 
Gall, or Obstructions by Viscidity; likewise 
any Callosity, Schirrus, or Stone generated in 
the Liver; Thirst long endured, being sud- 
denly chill'd by cold Air, cold Water, or 
drinking cold Liquors after great Heat; Vo- 
mits

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 397
mits given injudiciously, when the Liver is 
already unsound, which, if they do not re- 
move the Obstruction, exagitate the Liver too 
much; inveterate hypochondriacal Diseases; 
are all Causes which may produce Inflamma- 
tions of the Liver. 
In such a Case therefore, the Liver being 
swell'd, compresses the Stomach, Diaphragm, 
and all the neighbouring Viscera of the lower 
Belly, stops the Circulation of the Juices, the 
Generation and Excretion of the Gall, and 
all Digestion; produces numberless bad Symp- 
toms, as the Jaundice, with all the Distem- 
pers depending upon it; for the Liver re- 
ceives the refluent Blood almost from all the 
Parts of the Abdomen or lower Belly, and is 
the chief Instrument of all the Digestions 
which are there made. A slow Fever, which 
is more or less acute; an Inflammation and 
pungent Pain on the Region of the Liver and 
Diaphragm; a Tension of the Hypochondres 
especially on the Right Side; Yellowness of the 
Skin and Eyes, and a saffron-coloured Urine, 
are Signs of an inflammatory Disposition of 
the Liver. 
This Distemper terminates as 
other Inflammations, being cured 
either by Resolution, Concoction, and Ex- 
cretion of the morbid Matter; or it ends in 
an Abscess, Schirrus, or Gangrene: When it 
suppurates, the purulent Matter is discharged 
sometimes by Stool, sometimes by Urine, 
sometimes by Expectoration, and sometimes 
Prognostick.
it

398 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it is dischargcd by manual Operation. For 
when a Tumor rises and grows to the Peri-
toneum, and forms there an outward Impos- 
tume of the Liver, easily discernable, then it 
is opened with a burning Iron, or with Caus- 
ticks; afterwards the Wound is widen'd with 
gentle corrosive and suppurating Applica- 
tions, untill there is a Penetration made into 
the very Bag or Vomica, which is in the Body 
of the Liver; then it is treated as an Ulcer, 
and cleansing internal Medicines are duely 
administer'd at the same Time. 
Indication 
of Cure. 
But during the first State of the 
Disease, that is, before there are any 
Signs or Suspicion of Impostumation, 
the Regimen should be cooling, resolving Li- 
quors taken inwardly, as Whey with Sorrel 
boil'd in it; outward Fomentations and fre- 
quent Injection of emollient and diuretick 
Glysters, Bathing, and Frictions, relax and 
render the Matter fluid and moveable; Honey, 
with a little Rhenish Wine or Vinegar, in- 
wardly taken, is likewise proper; also the 
Juices and Jellies of some ripe Garden-Fruits 
are useful, and those of some Plants of a 
milky Juice, as Dandelion, Endive, and Let- 
tuce, are Resolvents. Bleeding in the Be- 
ginning, especially in the Foot, will not be 
improper. Violent Purges hurt, but gently 
relaxing the Belly relieves. Diluters, with 
nitrous Salts, are beneficial, and Tamarinds 
boil'd in Water or Whey: Bloody Stools, not 
in a great Degree, or when streak'd with 
Blood,


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 399
Blood, ought not to be stop'd, because they 
help to resolve the Disease; and oftentimes 
Bleeding at the Nose produces the same good 
Effect. 
The Fever attending is often carried off by 
Urine, therefore diuretick Substances, that are 
not highly pungent and stimulating, are use- 
ful in this Case; and Sweating by high Cor- 
dials ought not to be attempted; but encourag- 
ing and promoting it with warm diluting Li- 
quors is proper. 
The Case is deplorable when the Inflam- 
mation of the Liver terminates in an Abscess, 
unless it points and appears outwardly, so that 
it may be open'd; for if the Matter be eva- 
cuated into the Lower Belly, it produces 
woeful Symptoms, as Putrefaction, or an in- 
curable Bloody-flux, &c. 
When the Pus or Matter of an Ulcer in the 
Liver grows thin and ichorous, it corrodes the 
Vessels, (for the Liver, of all the Bowels, is the 
most friable, and the easiest crumbled or dis- 
solved) and it is frequently carried into the 
Mass of Blood, and rejected by vomiting, 
with a cadaverous Smell, attended with great 
Thirst; but if it is carried downwards, it 
produces a purulent colliquative Looseness: 
In which Case the constant Use of subacid 
Decoctions, and other Substances of the acid 
Kind, relieve the best. 
If this Distemper happens to produce a 
Cancer, or Schirrus, as sometimes it does; 
yet the latter is not absolutely incurable, be-
cause

400 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
cause it is experimentally known that Grass 
and fresh Pasturage has cured it in Cattle, 
and some opening Plants have produced the 
same Effect sometimes in Mankind, as those 
of the lactescent or milky Plants already men- 
tioned, with a great many other Vegetables 
too tedious to insert in this Place. 
But it is to be observed, that the Diet re- 
commended here is likewise necessary in 
the Jaundice, and all Distempers of the 
Liver; and also an Abstinence from all such 
Things as induce Putrefaction, especially 
salt Fish and Flesh, and above all strong 
Liquors. 
Of an Inflammation of the Mesentery. 
Inflammations and Tumors of the Mesen- 
tary, (being a Membrane in the Lower Belly 
to which the Guts are connected, and through 
which all our Nourishment is convey'd to the 
Blood,) are frequently the Origin and Foun- 
dation of many obscure and latent chronical 
Distempers, which greatly afflict People la- 
bouring under them, and perplex those who 
undertake their Cure as well. 
Diagno- 
stick. 
Persons affected with these Disorders 
complain of Pain about their Back and 
Loins, sometimes in the Belly about the Navel, 
with Gripings, yet these Pains are commonly 
periodical and chronical; and every now and 
then comes on a small wandering Fever, and 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 401
the Pains come and go, having their Remis- 
sions and Exacerbations. 
When an Abscess in the Mesentery 
suppurates and breaks, it causes sometimes 
remarkable Shiverings and Shakings, which 
are followed by febrile Heats, and then the 
purulent Matter is most commonly discharged 
by Stool. 
Abscess.
The Body in this Case gradually 
wastes, the Breathing grows more 
than usually difficult; and every now and 
then they complain of something that is very 
troublesome to them, which they cannot well 
explain: They tell you, that it lies deep in 
their Belly about the Navel, or below it; they 
are most commonly very much troubled with 
Wind. These Tumours oftentimes continue 
many Years, being turn'd schirrous and 
strumous. 
Prognostick.
When the Disorders of the Mesen- 
tery are of a long standing, they are 
cured as other chronical Diseases, such as 
chachectick and hypochondriack Affections: 
Yet they are to be treated with Caution, and 
gently without any Violence. Externally, Em- 
plastrum de Cicuta cum Ammoniaco, de Ranis 
cum Mercurio, &c. are convenient. Inter- 
nally, Medicines that open Obstructions, such 
as Millepedes and Preparations of Steel, &c. 
likewise Remedies against strumous Distem- 
pers are proper, and opening of the hœmor-
rhoidal Veins by Leaches; but rough Purges 
are hurtful, and Glysters are useful. 
The Cure.
Cc Of

402 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of the Inflammation of the Guts. 
The Intestines or Guts, chiefly the small 
ones, are very often seiz'd with the like acute 
Inflammation in their Membranes, as the 
Stomach, from Causes common to 
all Inflammations carried thither; 
or from the Matter of acrimonious or sharp 
Drink, Aliments, high Sauces, Medicines or 
Poisons reaching those Parts, and detain'd in 
the Foldings of the Valvules and sticking to 
them; also from a sharp, putrid and fœtid, 
purulent, ichorous, gangrenous, bilious Mat- 
ter, convey'd hither from the Gullet, Stomach, 
Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul, which 
sticks also to them and corrodes them; or 
lastly, from a Convulsion filling them with 
Wind. 
The Cause. 
Symptoms.
The Symptoms are a total Stop- 
page of the Passage, a vehement fix'd 
burning Pain, irritated by Things taken in- 
wardly; when any thing touches the Part af- 
fected, it excites Vomitings, sharp griping 
Pains, with Wind in other Parts of the 
Bowels; and the Consequences of such an 
Inflammation are the Iliac Passion, or what 
is vulgarly call'd the Twisting of the Guts, 
but in fact is either a Circumvolution or In- 
sertion of one Part of the Gut within the 
other; an Impostume, Gangrene, Schirrus, 
Cancer; a very acute Fever, with great 
Weakness from the Fierceness of the Pain, 
and a very sudden Death. 
It

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 403
It is of the utmost Importance to know 
what the Causes of Colicks are; for as they 
are various, so the Remedies in one Case are 
quite opposite and destructive in the other; 
for spicy, warm, carminative Things, which 
are given in Colicks proceeding from a 
phlegmatick or cold Cause, are Poison in an 
inflammatory one; but they may be distin- 
guished by the Fever, high Pulse, Thirst, 
and high-colour'd Urine attending the In- 
flammation. As to the Heat, tho' it is like- 
wise great by the Violence of the Pain, yet 
the Extremities grow cold; and besides, there 
is a hidden Prostration of Strength, or Weak- 
ness, attending this inflammatory Colick more 
than any other. 
This Disease requires a speedy Remedy, or 
none; for otherwise it terminates in an Iliac 
Passion, and Mortification of the Bowels very 
soon; therefore plentiful Bleeding, and fo- 
menting and relaxing the Bowels with emol- 
lient warm Liquors, both taken inwardly by 
the Mouth, and by Glyster injected hourly, 
is the most sovereign Method that can be 
made use of; yet it has been known, that 
Acids have relieved in very desperate Cases, 
as Juice of Lemons taken by the Mouth, and 
Vinegar and warm Water given in Glysters, 
have saved the Patient; by Reason of the con- 
tinual Vomiting, Opiates likewise to quiet 
the Convulsions are oftentimes necessary; also 
Warm Fomentations, even of warm Animals 
applied to the Belly, are extremely useful.  
Cc2 When

404 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Inflammation happens to be in 
the Lower Guts, it is not so dangerous; and 
even when it suppurates it will admit of a 
Cure; for then it can be come at by proper 
Medicines in the Form of Glysters; and in 
the latter End of such a Case Chalybeat Wa- 
ters are very beneficial. 
If the Patient lives three Days, the Acute- 
ness of the Pain abates; and if a Shivering or 
Chilliness affects the Body, it is a Sign of a 
Suppuration, and in some few Days the Mat- 
ter flows either into the Cavity of the Belly, 
producing all the Symptoms which happen 
in an Impostumation of the Liver, or into the 
Cavity of the Guts, and causing a purulent 
Bloody-flux, and often a Consumption, Si- 
nus's and Fistulas; in which Case Whey 
and Chalybeat Waters are proper Drinks. 
The Aliment ought to be of such Substan- 
ces as generate little or no Excrements, as 
Broths of Flesh-meat, with Scorzonera, Par- 
sley, or Fennel boil'd in them: Goat's Whey 
is likewise excellent in the Case; but fat and 
oily Substances generally do harm. 
If the Fever continue with clammy Sweats, 
Paleness, an ichorous Loosness, fœtid, black, 
or like the Washings of Flesh, a small inter- 
mitting Pulse, and at last a Cessation of Pain 
totally, they are Signs of a Gangrene, and 
Death at hand. 
But if none of the foremention'd Signs hap- 
pen, and that the Fever abates, and the Per- 
son complains of a Weight, dull Pain, Stop- 
page

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 405
page of the Excrements, a Schirrus is form- 
ing, which increases daily, and may terminate 
in a Cancer; which Purging, and indeed all 
Medicines irritate: The Patient in such a 
Case may protract a miserable Life with an 
exact thin Diet of Whey, Broths, and such 
Things as produce no Fæces, or by nourish- 
ing Glysters. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys. 
The Kidneys as well as other Parts 
of the Body are subject to Inflam- 
mations: Which may be known 
from a pungent, burning, inflammatory Pain 
in the Region of the Kidneys, a Numbness, 
or dull Pain in the Thigh on the Side affected; 
likewise Colick, Wind, Vomiting, an acute 
continual Fever, Urine sometimes totally sup- 
press'd, often made in small Quantities, high 
colour'd; and which is worse, sometimes 
very watry and quite pale without any Sedi- 
ment. As to the outward Sensation of Heat, 
the Extremity of Pain oftentimes produces a 
Coldness in the extreme Parts, which is very 
consistent with inflammatory Distempers. 
Diagnostick 
Signs.
This is produced by all the Causes 
of a general Inflammation directed 
to the Kidneys; and therefore, whatever ob- 
structs the Blood in the Extremities of the 
Arteries of the Kidneys, will produce this 
Distemper; a Wound, Bruise, Abscess, Swel- 
ling, Lying often long on the Back, too vio- 
The Cause. 
Cc3 lent

406 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
lent Motion, especially walking, or hard rid- 
ing in hot Weather; and whatever obstructs 
the Passage of the Urine into the Pelvis, Ureter, 
or Bladder, as a viscid Matter, Gravel or Stone; 
likewise every thing which forces the gross Parts 
of the Blood into the urinary Passages, as Heat, 
hard Riding, Straining, too great Fullness of 
Blood, and especially sharp and forcing Di- 
ureticks; and lastly, a convulsive and invo- 
luntary Contraction of the small Vessels of the 
Kidneys, if long continued. 
Coffee-colour'd Urine is not a dangerous 
Sign; for it proceeds from the Mixture of a 
small Portion of Blood with the Urine, and 
oftentimes it prognosticates a Resolution of 
the obstructed Matter, and the Expulsion of 
Gravel, or a Stone after great Pain; but pale 
Urine is a Symptom which portends the Di- 
stemper to be more lasting and dangerous. 
The Cure is to be perform'd by plentiful 
and repeated Bleeding, avoiding carefully at 
the same time all stimulating Diureticks, 
which in this State would increase the Dis- 
ease: Afterwards the Expulsion of the ob- 
structing Matter is to be promoted by emol- 
lient and soft Liquors plentifully drank, and 
by Glysters of the same kind frequently inject- 
ed; by Bathing and outward Fomentations, 
by opiate and anodyne Substances, which 
both ease and relax the Fibres; and those 
soft Liquors should be drank plentifully not- 
withstanding the frequent Vomitings; for 
Vomiting is an Effort of Nature in order to 
pro-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 407
promote the Expulsion of the Gravel, Stone, 
or any other obstructing Cause. 
Therefore Whey, and in a great feverish
Heat, Butter-milk; likewise Emulsions of 
Barley and Poppy Seeds, Honey in Whey and 
Water, are all very proper Liquors for this In- 
tention; also a moist and soft Diet, Rest, and 
keeping out of a warm Feather-bed, and par- 
ticularly avoiding lying upon the Back. 
If the Pains or Convulsions be very urgent, 
without waiting for the Effects of other Re- 
medies, Opiates with due Caution ought to 
be given; but when the Gravel, Stone, or 
any other obstructing Cause is separated from 
the Kidneys, soft express'd Oils, and oily 
Substances relax the Passages; and if the Pain 
proceeds only from Gravel, or a Stone, then 
oily Substances may be safely join'd with sti- 
mulating Substances, as with Juice of Lemon, 
Juniper-Water, and some diuretick Syrup, 
as that of Marsh-mallow, &c. In this Case 
the Jolting in a Coach, and such-like Motion 
may be used with Advantage. 
If the Pain is protracted beyond se- 
ven Days, an Abatement of the Pain, 
its changing into a Beating or Throb- 
bing, often-returning Shiverings, a Heaviness 
or Numbness of the Part, are Signs that 
Matter is a forming, which when made will 
appear in the Urine; in which Case, soft and 
balsamick Substances are the most beneficial; 
for if the Matter remains long, the Case is in- 
curable.
Progno- 
sticks. 
Cc4 Some-

408 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Sometimes it happens to terminate in a 
Fistula, with which the Person may live 
many Years in no great Uneasiness. All Bal- 
samicks are good in Ulcerations of the Kid- 
neys: Likewise Butter-milk not quite sour 
has been deem'd a Secret in the Cure of 
Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Steel-waters have 
proved very beneficial to some; Spruce-beer 
is also a good Balsamick in such a Case; 
and soft Malt Liquors are preferable to 
Wines. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys terminate 
sometimes in a Schirrus, or large Stone. But 
a sudden Remission of the Pain, with cold 
Sweats, a weak and intermitting Pulse, Hick- 
up, no Urine, or in very small Quantity, 
black and fœtid, are sure Signs of a Mortifica- 
tion and ensuing Death. 
Regimen.
The Regimen of those who are 
subject to nephritick Disorders may be  
in some measure collected from what has been 
above-mention'd; and such ought to be ex- 
tremely careful of the Choice of their Li- 
quors; for sharp Wines which abound with 
Tartar, are very hurtful; soft Malt Liquors, 
not stale, are certainly much better to be 
made use of, and some of the softest diure- 
tick Substances often mention'd already; and 
to avoid acrimonious Things in their Food, 
use moderate Exercise, and not lie too hot, 
soft; nor much upon the Back. 
Of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 409
Of an Apoplexy. 
This Distemper is a sudden Sus- 
pension of all the Senses, both ex-  
ternal and internal, and a Privation of all 
voluntary Motion, by the Stoppage of the 
Flux or Reflux of the animal Spirits through 
the Nerves destin'd for those Motions, com- 
monly attended with a strong Pulse, and dif-
ficult Breathing, with Snoaring, together 
with an Appearance of a deep and continual 
Sleep. 
Definition.
The most common Causes of A- 
poplexies are a particular Conforma- 
tion of the Body, as a short Neck; for there 
are some Persons who have fewer Vertebræ 
in their Necks than others; polypous Concre- 
tions of the Blood, an inflammatory Spissi- 
tude of it, a thick, glutinous, or pituitous 
Blood, and a dull Inactivity of the whole 
Mass; a gross, plethorick, fat, or phlegma- 
tick Constitntion; whatever hinders the Mo- 
tion of the Blood thro' the Arteries of the 
Brain, as Tumours arising within the Cra- 
nium, or Polypus's, especially about the 
Heart, attended most commonly with an 
unequal Pulse, a Vertigo, and sometimes a 
momentary Loss of the Eye-sight; old Age, 
attended with a glutinous, cold, catarrhous, 
leucophlegmatick Constitution; for in suck 
the Forerunners of an Apoplexy are, Dulness, 
Inactivity, Drowsiness, Sleepiness, Slowness 
The Causes.
of

410 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
of Speech, and giving Answers, Vertigoes, 
Tremblings, Oppressions in Sleeping, Night- 
Mares, Weakness, Wateryness, and Turgi- 
dity of the Eyes, a great Fulness of Blood, 
with its Velocity increased by Heat and vio- 
lent Motion, a high Diet, and Spirituous Li- 
quors, a partial and imperfect Circulation of 
the Blood towards the lower Parts; the 
Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity, or 
Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain, 
which is the most common and immediate 
Cause of Apoplexy; violent Passions and 
Affections of the Mind. The immediate Fore- 
runners of an Apoplexy are most commonly 
a Vertigo, Staggering, Loss of Memory, Stu- 
por, Sleepiness, a Noise in the Ears, and a 
deep and laborious Breathing. To these 
may be added, Extravasations of the Blood or 
Serum from Contusions or Concussions, oc- 
casion'd by external Violence, and an innu- 
merable other latent Causes. 
The Division of Apoplexies into sanguine- 
ous and pituitous is of Use, but then it is not 
an exact and perfect Division; because there 
are other Kinds, viz. serous, atrabilarious, 
and polypous Apoplexies, &c. 
Prognosticks. 
A slight Fit of an Apoplexy is 
carried off by a plentiful, warm, 
and equable Sweat, a great Discharge of thick 
Urine, a Flux of the Piles, or of the Men- 
ses, by a Looseness, or a great Fever coming 
upon it. If the Apoplexy be more severe, 
it usually terminates in a paralytick Disorder
of 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 411
of some Part of the Body, or of all one Side, 
which is called a Hemiplegia; or sometimes of 
all the Body below the Head, which is called 
Paraplegia, and is seldom curable, but al- 
ways leaves behind it a great Defect of Me- 
mory, Judgment and Motion. An exquisite 
Apoplexy soon carries off the Patient; it is 
seldom known that they live beyond the se- 
venth Day. 
The Cure is to be varied ac- 
cording to the Difference of the 
Causes; for if occasion'd by a cold 
phlegmatick Cause, we ought immediately to 
endeavour that the Pressure of the glutinous 
Siziness may be diverted from the Head, by 
Derivation into other and opposite Parts, and 
universal Evacuations: for this Intention, 
Blisters, Causticks, Frictions, Ligatures, Anti- 
phlegmaticks, sneezing Medicines, and all 
sharp and stimulating ones are to be used, as 
Emeticks, strong Purges, and sharp purging 
Glysters. 
Yet in the Use of all these the Mischief is 
oftentimes increased, the Matter being there- 
by more violently moved and afterwards fix'd, 
and the Strength sinking under the Evacua- 
tions; therefore in endeavouring a Resolu- 
tion, we ought to insist upon Evacuations and 
Revulsions, as much as the Case will bear;
whence the Rule of Hippocrates, Bleeding 
except it relieves, kills; and Celsus says, that 
it kills or cures. But if the Apoplexy pro- 
ceeds from a hot Cause, and that the Dis-
The Cure va- 
rious.
temper

412 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
temper seems inflammatory, then presently 
take a large Quantity of Blood out of the 
Jugular Veins, and repeat it as often as there 
is Occasion; by which, if the Distemper is 
curable, some Relief will arise. A Loose- 
ness is by all means to be promoted, and we 
are to give Diluters, Attenuants and Diure- 
ticks at the same time, keeping the Patient 
as much as we can out of Bed, especially 
from lying down. 
As the Applications in the Fit are of a 
medicinal Kind, it being too acute a Disease 
to admit of any Helps from Diet, yet that 
may be of great Use for Prevention; there- 
fore a thin, slender, cool, and regular Diet, 
opposite to the particular Symptoms above- 
mention'd, will be useful; so that the Regi- 
men is to be varied according to the Cause 
of the Disease, which may be collected from 
the Constitution of the Patient in these Apo- 
plexies, which depend upon a sanguineous 
Cause; the Regimen prescrib'd in a sangui- 
neous Constitution, in Part II. of this Trea- 
tise is proper. Fat and phlegmatick People, 
who are very subject to this Distemper, ought 
to give Attention to the Rules set down in 
the same Place, in their Case; and as there 
are Apoplexies from inveterate Gouts, the Re- 
gimen of such must be different from both, 
as I shall explain hereafter in treating of the 
Gout, the Intention being to translate the 
Gouty Matter upon the Extremities of the 
Body: and all those who have a Disposition
to 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 413
to this Distemper, ought never to go to Bed 
with a full Stomach, nor to lie with their 
Head low. 
CHAP IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers.
Of a Palsy. 
A Palsy is a Resolution or Relaxa- 
tion of the nervous Parts from
their natural Tone, by which means their 
Motion and Sense, either one, or both, all 
over the Body, or in some particular Part or 
Parts, are impair'd, so as to be unable to exert 
their natural Functions. 
Definition. 
The best Rules of Diet in this 
Disease are taken from the Know- 
ledge of its Causes; for whatever stops either 
the Flux of the Spirits, or that of the Blood 
to any Part, induces a Palsy, for both are 
necessary for Sensation and Motion; such are 
all the Causes of an Apoplexy, an Epilepsy, 
extreme and lasting Pains, the Suppression 
of usual Evacuations, either natural or mor- 
bid, Translations of diseased Matter in acute 
Distempers, whatever distends, distorts, com- 
presses, or contracts the Nerves; strong and 
The Causes.
strait

414 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strait Ligatures, Luxations, Fractures, any 
Inflammation in the Integument, or mem- 
branaceous Sheath of a Nerve, especially in 
the Plexus, where they are tied together; 
likewise serous Defluxions, Excess in astrin- 
gent Aliment, chiefly unripe Fruits, drink- 
ing too much warm Water, is weakening 
and relaxing; also Excess in Tea or Coffee; 
extreme Heat or Cold, poisonous Fumes of 
Arsenick or Mercury. 
This Distemper is more or less dangerous 
according to the Cause, or the Extent and 
Seat of the Disease; for when the original of 
it is in the Brain, it is most dangerous; when 
it seizes the Heart or Organs of Breathing, it 
is fatal; because Life cannot be continued a 
Moment without the Use of those Parts. 
Difficult to 
cure.
A Palsy succeeding an Apoplexy, 
Convulsions, the Colick, and 
other Affections of the Brain or 
nervous System, if it does not grow better in 
a little time, or give Way to Medicines, it 
commonly remains incurable. 
Regimen.
The Regimen in this Distemper 
should be warm, attenuating, con- 
sisting of spicy and cephalick Vegetables, such 
as produce a feverish Heat; because such are 
necessary to resolve the Viscosity of the 
Fluids. Of such as consist likewise of an 
acrid, volatile Salt and Oil, as Mustard, 
Horse-Radish, &c. stimulating by Vomits, 
sneezing, relaxing the Belly by purging, and 
diluting strongly at the same time, promoting 
Sweat


415 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
Sweat by such Motions as can be used, or 
other Means, and strong Frictions are here 
very useful; but Bleeding is to be used or 
omitted according to the Symptoms which 
affect the Brain: It relieves indeed, in any 
inflammatory Disposition of the Coat of a 
Nerve, yet it is not convenient in general for 
all Persons; for some Paralyticks are cold, 
and others of a hot Constitution; therefore 
Remedies ought to be of a different Kind, as 
is usual in the Scurvy itself. 
The most noted Medicines in this Case, 
are of Vipers, Amber, Earth-worms, Wood- 
lice, Emets, Antimonials, Mercurials, Steel 
Preparations, the Antiscorbutick Juices,
with compound Horse-radish Water, and Juice 
of Oranges, Gum Guaiacum, Tincture of 
Amber, Spirit of Hartshorn with Amber, 
Bezoar Mineral, &c. And externally, Fo- 
mentations, Liniments, Cupping-glasses, Bli- 
sters, nettling the Members affected; also 
putting the relax'd Part into Grains, after the 
Wort is drawn off, or into the Belly of a 
Beast newly killed; or lastly, an artificial or 
natural Bath, as that in Somersetshire; like- 
wise Issues and Setons are proper in this Case. 
Of an Hemiplegia and a Paraplegia. 
A Hemiplegia is when only half of the 
Head, and of the rest of the Body on that 
Side is affected, after the manner of an Apo- 
plexy.
A 


416 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Paraplegia or Paraplexia, is, when the 
whole Body, except the Head, is affected by 
reason of the Spinal Marrow's being ob- 
structed; and more commonly this and a 
Hemiplegia are secondary Distempers, tho' 
sometimes they are primary; Sense and Mo- 
tion, or both, are either entirely lost, or 
much impaired. 
When either of those Distempers imme- 
diately follow an Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and o- 
ther Diseases, they are commonly called Pal-
sies; but a Palsy is a different Distemper, as 
plainly appears by what has been said of it 
already.
The Cure. 
Vomiting and purging are proper 
in all Paraplegia's, to cleanse the 
first Passages; and Bleeding is necessary in 
plethorick Bodies. In the next Place Sudo- 
risicks are very useful, mix'd with Specificks; 
a Decoction of Sassafras with Rosemary and 
Juniper-Berries is very proper; and for the 
rest of the internal Medicines for the Cure of 
these two Distempers, use those directed in 
an Apoplexy and Palsy. A Fomentation 
made with a Decoction of Emets and their 
Hillocks in common Water, used every Day 
to paralytick Limbs, often proves very bene- 
ficial, and sometimes procures present Re- 
lief, by restoring the Parts to their natural 
Strength. 
Of

417 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Of the Epilepsy or Falling-sickness. 
An Epilepsy is a Convulsion or 
convulsive Motion of the whole 
Body, or of some of its Parts, with the Loss 
of both internal and external Senses, attended 
with violent Concussions and reciprocal invo-
luntary Motions of all or some of the Muscles,
with alternate Rest, and new Insults thereof. 
It is called the Falling-sickness, because the 
Persons affected with it fall suddenly upon the 
Ground. 
The Definition.
The Causes of this Distemper are 
various; sometimes an hereditary 
or Family Disposition from Parents; 
a sudden Fright of the Mother when with 
Child of the Patient; an ill Affection of the 
Brain by Wounds, Bruises, Blows, or Con- 
tusions; Abscesses, acrimonious Serum, bony 
Excrescencies of the Inside of the Skull, its 
pressing down upon the Brain; Inflammation, 
Corruption, or Corrosion of the Meninges or 
Membranes of the Brain; Repletion or Ful- 
ness, Heat, Drunkenness, intense Study, Ter- 
ror; all violent Affections and Irritations of the 
Nerves in any Part of the Body; especially 
by acrimonious Things in the Stomach or 
Bowels, by Worms, by Teething, and Aci-
dity in the Stomach in Infants; by some 
Contagion or purulent Matter after acute 
Diseases; likewise by Suppression of usual 
Evacuations, as the Menses, Piles, and Urine, 
&c. also by hysterical Affections contracted
The Causes 
various. 
Dd by 


418 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
by Accidents in Lying-in; and often by too 
great Inanition or Weakness, occasioned by 
want of due Nourishment; by Fragments or 
Splinters of Bones, or sharp Instruments 
hurting the Meninges or Brain, or Quicksilver 
carried thither any how; by the Caries of a 
Bone, black Choler, or venereal Ulcers cor- 
rupting or corroding the Meninges or any Part 
of the Brain.  
Hence it is evident, that different Medi- 
cines and different Indications are requisite to 
cure this Disease, according to the known 
Variety of the Cause, the peccant Matter, 
and the Place to which the Remedy ought to 
be applied, and by which the Evil is to be 
eradicated: Hence likewise is sufficiently ex- 
posed the Vanity of the celebrated Specificks 
and Methods, which boasting idle People do 
brag of in this Disease. 
And it is also evident, that the proximate 
Cause of all true Epilepsies is always the too 
great Action of the Brain upon the Nerves 
serving for Motion, and the Privation of that 
in the Nerves dedicated to Sensation; and 
that the Causes which create the reciprocal 
Paroxysms are many in Number and Va- 
riety. 
The Cure.
The Intentions in the Cure of 
this Disease must be different, ac-  
cording to the Cause, as I have just now ob- 
served: Bleeding and plentiful Evacuations, 
when there is a Plethora or inflammatory Dis- 
position in the Brain, are necessary; and Ali- 
ments


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 419
ments that are without Acrimony, demulcent, 
avoiding every thing which stimulates, and 
taking such Things as are opposite to the par- 
ticular Acrimony that causes the Distemper; 
relaxing the Belly without irritating. In acute 
and periodical Pains to take anodyne Sub- 
stances; but if the Disease be the Conser 
quence of an hysterical Disposition, a warmer 
Regimen is necessary, in which Case anti- 
hysterick Medicines are proper. If the Cause 
is in the Stomach, generally Anti-acids re- 
lieve; if they are not flatulent or windy, se- 
veral have been cured by a Milk Diet; but 
in Case of Acidity in the Stomach it will do 
Harm. When the irritating Cause is in some 
outward Part of the Body, it is proper to e- 
radicate it by Suppuration; if it proceeds 
from Gnawings and Irritations of Worms, 
Teeth, sharp Humours turning Milk sour 
and curdled like Cheese, or any other Acid 
in Infants, Diacodium or Diascordium given 
them unseasonably, or the Contagion of the 
Small-pox in the first State: Hence the tes- 
taceous Powders, Anodynes, Paregoricks, An- 
tihystericks, all Medicines against Worms, and 
a seasonable Cutting of the Gums, and car- 
rying off the acrimonious Matter from the 
Bowels by gentle Purges; then all these, I 
say, become, by their Operation, Anti-epilep-
tick Medicines. 
But if the Cause proceeds from a Stoppage 
of the usual Evacuations, as the Menses, 
Cleansings in Women, the Piles, or Urine, &c. 
Dd2 it

420 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it may be remedied by dissolving the viscid 
Matter, and opening the Obstructions: In 
this Case Blisters, Issues made with Causticks, 
Steel Preparations, forcing Medicines, such as 
provoke the Menses and open the Piles, and 
Diureticks are all proper. 
An Epilepsy from Inanition or Weakness 
may be cured by a nourishing Diet, easy of 
Digestion, and a proper Use of nervine Me- 
dines; and the following are reckon'd amongst
the anti-epileptick Specificks; Native Cinna- 
bar, Wild Valerian, Male Piony Roots and 
Seeds, Flowers of Lilies of the Vallies, Seeds 
of Rue, Misletoe of the Oak, Castor, Cam- 
phire, Rosemary, Earth-worms prepared, the 
Gum and Wood of Guaiacum, the Salt and 
Oil of Amber, Peacocks Dung, with a great 
many more too tedious to enumerate in this 
Place. 
Epilepticks ought to breath in a pure Air, 
untainted with any Steams, even such as are 
very fragrant; and their Diet should be nou- 
rishing, of easy Digestion, avoiding Hogs 
Flesh, Water Fowls, and all Vegetables that 
are pungent, windy, and, generally speaking, 
all Fruits, especially Nuts; they should use 
but little Wine, and none if they have not 
been accustomed to it; they ought not to 
turn round nor stand on Precipices, to keep 
regular Hours for Eating and Sleeping, for 
every unusual Thing is a Stimulus: But of 
all Things, the most necessary is to avoid the 
Occa-

421 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Occasions of violent Passions of the Mind, 
and keeping themselves chearful. 
Of Melancholy Madness. 
That Disease is called by Physicians a Me- 
lancholy, under which the Patient labours long, 
and is obstinately delirious without a Fever, 
and always intent upon one and the same 
Thought. 
This Disease arises from that Malignity in 
the Blood and Humours, which the Ancients 
have called Black Choler; and tho' this Dis- 
ease begins in the Mind, yet it renders the 
Choler black in the Body very soon. 
It will be therefore necessary to give a small 
Sketch of this wonderful Disease, the Doc- 
trine of which is supposed to be so obscure, 
that Antiquity is unjustly blamed for it. 
If the most fluid Parts of all the Blood be 
dissipated, and leave the less moveable united 
in the Body, then will the Blood become 
thick, black, fat, and earthy; and this Defect 
is called by the Name of an atrabilarian 
Humour, or melancholy Juice. 
The Cause whereof is whatever 
expels the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood, and fixes the rest: A violent Exercise 
of the Mind; the dwelling Night and Day 
upon one and the same Object; a constant 
Wakefulness; great Motions of the Mind, 
whether Joy or Sorrow; great and laborious 
Motions of the Body, often repeated, chiefly 
in a very hot and dry Air; to these may be 
The Causes.
Dd3 refer'd

422 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
refer'd immoderate Venery; rough, hard, 
dry, earthy Aliments, long used without 
Motion or Exercise of the Body to digest 
them; the like Drink; Parts of Animals 
dried in Smoak, Air, or Salt, chiefly of old 
and tough ones; unripe Fruits, and mealy 
and unfermented Substances; astringent coa- 
gulating, sticking, and cooling Medicines, and 
slow Poisons of the same Nature; hot Fevers 
hanging about long, often returning without 
a good Crisis, and going off without the Help 
of diluting Means. 
When this Evil, already bred in the Blood, 
and produced by the abovementioned Causes, 
does yet infect equally all the circulating Mass 
of Humours, it will produce some Diseases, 
which will appear immediately, and are most- 
ly as follow: The Colour of the Patient in- 
ternally and externally is first paler, yellower, 
and more tawny; livid, black with like 
Spots; the Pulse flower; the Circulation 
through the Blood-vessels free, more sparing 
through the Side-vessels and less free; hence 
a slower, less, and thicker Separation of all 
the secretory and excretory Humours, and a 
less Wasting of them; a lessen'd Appetite; a 
Leanness, Sorrowfulness, Love of Solitude, 
all the Affections of the Mind violent and 
lasting; an Indifferency to all other Matters;
a Laziness as to Motion, and yet a very great 
and earnest Application to any Sort of Study 
or Labour.
Its 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 423 
Its Matter therefore is the Earth and thick 
Oil of the Blood united and closed up toge- 
ther, which is worse in its Effects, and more 
difficult to cure, according to its Degrees of 
Fluidity, Softness, Dryness, Thickness, inti- 
mate Mixture, and Time of being so. Hence 
the Diagnosticks and Prognosticks are plain 
enough, and the Rationality of the Cure does 
also occur easy enough from these Principles. 
Thus far I have transcribed the learned Boer- 
haave's Sentiments of this Distemper. 
The atrahilarian Constitution, or a black, 
viscous pitchy Consistence of the Fluids, 
which most frequently produces this Disease, 
makes all the Secretions difficult and sparing; 
the Intention therefore ought to be to render 
the Humours fluid, moveable, and carry them 
out of the Body, especially the Bile, which is 
viscous; but Sudorificks are not here so pro- 
per, because they thicken. 
Therefore the Diet prescrib'd, Chap. VIII. 
Part II. in an atrabilarian Constitution, is very 
proper in this Case, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
The learned Author just now mentioned 
relates an Instance of a Patient, who, by a 
long Use of Whey, Water, and ripe Garden- 
Fruits, evacuated a great Quantity of black 
Matter, or Choler, and recover'd entirely his 
Senses. Cold Bathing, and especially a sud- 
den Immersion into the Sea, has produced 
very good Effects by acting upon the Nerves 
and Spirits. 
Dd4 Madness

424 A Guide to Health Part III. 
Madness proceeding from a Plethora, or 
too great Fulness in young, strong, hale Peo- 
ple of a hot Constitution, is cured by plenti- 
ful Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, and other 
Evacuations, with Diluters; and the Weak- 
ness which succeeds Madness requires a more 
refreshing and warm Diet, and especially the 
Use of Chalybeat or Steel Waters. 
If this Distemper continues long, it pro- 
duces Foolishness, Epilepsies, Apoplexies, fu- 
rious Madness, Convulsions, Blindness, won- 
derful Fancies; for some will imagine them- 
selves to be Beasts, or to be earthen Vessels, 
or they will fancy themselves dead; others 
will crow like a Cock, believing themselves 
to be such a Creature; others laugh, sing, 
cry, sigh, groan and belch; others obstinate- 
ly refuse to eat any Victuals, as believing they 
are actually dead; some think themselves 
Kings, Prophets; others a Grain of Wheat, 
Grass, or Wax: Sometimes they have great 
Evacuations of Urine, clear like fair Water;
at other times very thick; a Retention, 
mulation, and often a sudden Excretion of 
bloody Fæces in the Vessels of the abdominal 
Viscera or Belly; an obstinate Costiveness, 
with a thin and frequent Spitting, and they 
can endure to be without Sleep, Aliment, or 
Fire, even to a Wonder. 
This Distemper grows worse upon taking 
Medicines that weaken and evacuate roughly, 
or such as put the Fluids into a violent Mo- 
tion; therefore the curative Indications will 
be

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 425
be to bring the Fluids of the Brain and 
Nerves into a good Order; by withdrawing, 
first, the Mind from the usual Object to 
others contrary to the same, and raising art- 
fully, if possible, another Passion of the Mind, 
contrary to the melancholy one; by siding 
sometimes with them in their false and de- 
prav'd Fancies, or often opposing the same 
with great Force. 
Secondly, By opening, softening, inciding, 
and stimulating the Obstructions, or the 
Cause, or the EfFects of a false Imagination, 
with Mineral Waters, Whey, Water and 
Honey, Splanchnick, Hepatick, or Anti-hypo- 
chondriack Medicines and Decoctions; like- 
wise Waters made with the Addition of lixi~ 
vious or compound Salts, especially Nitre; 
also loosening Mercurials, Vomits, Motions, 
Exercise, and Riding; and Medicines which 
cleanse and purge the Womb, or the Piles, 
Bathings, Ointments and Plasters, and easing 
the Symptoms by Bleeding, plunging into 
cold Water, and using Carminatives and Opi- 
ates sometimes. 
Of Madness from the Bite of a Mad Dog, or 
any other Creature, called Hydrophobia. 
The Fury or Madness mostly proceeding 
from the Bite of Mad-Dogs is call'd Dog- 
Madness; and from that terrible Symptom of 
dreading Water, an Hydrophobia.
It

426 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
It almost ever arises from other Animals, 
which were first mad, and that by Contagion; 
tho' also sometimes of its own accord in some 
acute Fevers, as has been observed, and is 
well attested. Almost all sorts of Animals 
may be affected with this Evil, and by their 
Contagion infect others, and even Men. 
Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Foxes, Horses, Asses, 
Mules, Oxen, Sows, Monkies, Turkey-cocks, 
and Men, all these being first mad themselves, 
have communicated the same Madness to 
others; but it is common to none so fre- 
quently as to Dogs, Wolves and Foxes, and 
it invades these chiefly from inward Causes, 
without catching it from any others. 
A hot Country, open and exposed to vio- 
lent Heats, or to very cold raw Weather; 
hot and dry Weather long continued; the 
living upon rotten, stinking and worm-eaten 
Meat; Want of Drink; Worms grown in 
the Kidneys, Guts, Brain, or the Inside of 
the Nostrils; all these are preceding Causes 
of Madness in Animals just now mentioned. 
The Symptoms of a Person infected with 
this Poison, after different Distances of Time, 
are much in the following Manner: The 
Place where he was bit pains him; then fol- 
low wandering uncertain Pains in other, but 
chiefly the nearest Parts; a Weariness, Hea- 
viness, and Slowness succeed in the whole 
System of the Muscles; his Sleeps are disturb- 
ed, uneasy, all with Frights, Convulsions and 
Catchings in the Tendons; he is continually 
restless,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 427 
restless, sighs, looks dejected, and affects to be 
alone; and it is much after this Manner that 
this Disease begins and finishes its first Stage. 
Then all the foregoing Symptoms are in- 
creased, and there follows besides a prodigious 
Narrowness and Pressure about the Heart and 
Chest, Breathing is difficult, and accompanied 
with Sighs; he frequently shakes all over; his 
Hair stands an end, and trembles all over at 
the Sight of Water, or any sort of Liquors, 
or even at the Sight of transparent Things, or 
reflecting like Looking-Glasses; he loses his 
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow any 
thing that is very dry and solid: The Touch of 
any Moisture, chiefly with his Lips or Tongue, 
creates an incredible Anguish, Tremors, vio- 
lent Convulsions, and a Raving; he vomits 
tawny glewish Choler, or green, like Leeks;
he grows very hot, feverish, sleepless; is trou- 
bled with a Priapism; and he thinks disor- 
derly of Things quite foreign and unusual.
Thus it goes on, and here ends its Second 
Stage. 
But afterwards every thing grows constant- 
ly worse; for he soon lolls out his rough 
and dry Tongue, gapes wide, speaks hoarse, 
has a great Drought, grows raving and fu- 
rious at every Attempt to drink, and at the 
Sight or Touch of all Drinkables and Liquors; 
he gathers Froth in and about his Mouth, 
endeavouring the spitting of the same upon 
the By-standers, and that even against his 
Will; bites and snaps at every thing within 
his

428 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
his Reach, and that likewise involuntarily, 
nor yet to be witheld from those; he gnashes 
his Teeth with Froth, snarling like a Dog; 
his Pulse and Breathing begin to fail, cold 
Sweats break out on all Sides; he raves in 
the highest Degree, notwithstanding which 
he is all the while sensible, and is afraid that 
he shall unwillingly hurt the By-standers. 
Hence you may always reckon upon his 
dying (within the fourth Day from the first 
State of his Illness, convulsed with a most 
terrible Anguish upon drawing his Breath. 
As Brevity, and the want of Leisure and 
Room at present, oblige me to proceed to the 
Method of Cure without any farther Disqui- 
sition about the Nature of this dreadful Con- 
tagion, I present the Reader with the follow- 
ing short, easy, and in all Probability the most 
infallible Method hitherto discover'd. 
A French Physician of the University of 
Bourdeaux, and a Gentleman of Note and 
great Merit in his Profession, has publish'd a 
Treatise * some few Years ago, in which 
there is a Dissertation on the Hydrophobia, 
wherein he candidly communicates a very 
rational Method of curing this terrible Con- 
tagion, after a new and easy manner, of 
which he has made several Trials, and always 
with the desir'd Success, as may be seen in 
his own Treatise at large; therefore as this 
Remedy
* Dr. Desault's Treatise translated from the French, by 
John Andree, M. D. and printed for John Clarke, under the 
Royal-Exchange, Cornhill, 1738. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 429
Remedy he proposes (in all human Probabi- 
lity,) may prove successful and certain, (at 
least it bids the fairest of any hitherto known 
in the Art of Physick for that desirable End) 
I thought proper and necessary to communi- 
cate the same to my Readers, in order to 
impart it to all their Friends and Acquaint- 
ance. 
The Remedy consists of a Powder called 
Palmarius's Powder, and an Ointment made 
in the following manner. 
The Powder. 
Take of the Leaves of Rue, Vervain, 
Sage of Virtue, Plantane, Polypody, 
common Wormwood, Mint, Baum, 
Betony, St. John's Wort, lesser Cen- 
taury and Coraline, of each equal 
Parts; mix them, and reduce them 
to a Powder. 
The Ointment. 
Take one third Part of Mercury reviv'd 
from Cinnabar, one third Part of hu- 
man Fat, and as much of Hog's 
Lard, mix all very well till all the 
mercurial Globules disappear. 
Here I give you the Author's Method in 
administering the Powder and Ointment in 
his own Words.
'I

430 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'I order one Dram of the Powder (says 
he) 'in White-Wine every Morning; and 
'Persons of the fair Sex, who cannot bear 
'Wine, take it in a Draught of warm Wa- 
'ter. 
'In this Method I continue 30 Days with 
'those who have been bit in an uncover'd 
'Place, or have receiv'd some considerable 
'Wound by the Bite; but to those who have 
'been bit in a Place that was cover'd, and 
'had only a few Holes made with the Teeth, 
'I give the Powder only 20 Days. 
'From the first Day of using the Powder, 
'I make them administer a Friction of one 
'or two Drams of the Ointment upon the 
'Wound and neighbouring Part, and spread 
'the Ointment all over the Part that was 
'wounded. 
'The Friction is repeated every other Day 
'in the beginning, and after the third time, 
'every third Day; after the 6th, every 4th, 
'till two or three Ounces of the Ointment 
'have been used; the Quantity of which 
'ought to be proportion'd to the Strength, 
'Age, Temperament, Sex, the Bite, &c. 
'But when the Patient comes to me seve- 
'ral Days after the Bite, for fear of Acci- 
'dent, and to prevent the Rabies or Mad- 
'ness, I order to make the Frictions every 
'Day to four or five times, and increase the 
'Dose of the Powder sometimes to half a 
'Dram; afterwards I leave a Day or two be- 
'tween to avoid a Salivation, which might 
'ensue

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 431
'ensue from the daily use of the Ointment, 
'altho' but a particular Friction. 
'In the last Place, I let him keep his 
'usual Meals, forbidding him all Excess; for 
'Experience proves, that they increase all 
'other contagious Distempers. I let him 
'drink Wine with moderation: I take Care 
'that they be not left alone, and desire their 
'Relations and Friends to keep them Com- 
'pany, forbidding them to mention Madness 
'to them, or mad Creatures. 
A more circumstantial Account of this 
Method may be seen in the Author's own 
Observations, to which I refer the Reader; 
but here I cannot omit observing, that if 20 
or 30 Grains of native Cinnabar were added 
to every Dose of the Powder, the Cure might 
be thereby perform'd with much greater 
Certainty. As for his directing to make the 
Ointment with human Fat, &c. it is need- 
less; for the common strong salivating Oint- 
ment, which is always ready prepar'd in the 
Shops, is every bit as good, if not better. 
The Experiments of the ingenious Dr. 
James seem to confirm the Efficacy of the 
above Method, at leasst that of Mercury, in 
curing the Bite of a mad Dog; wherefore I 
beg leave to transcribe Part of the Conclusion 
to his New Method of preventing and curing 
the Madness caused by the Bite of a mad Dog, 
laid before the Royal-Society, 1741. 
'Firft I would (says he) rub into the 
'Place wounded as soon as possible, a Dram 
'of

432 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'of the Ointment recommended by Desault. 
'I would then give Turpeth Mineral by 
'Way of Vomit, in a Dose proportion'd to 
'the Age and Constitution of the Patient;
'and this I would repeat more than once, at 
'Intervals, which would secure it from rais- 
'ing a Salivation, always remembring to rub 
'the Wound once in a Day, or oftener, with 
'the Mercurial Ointment. 
'But when thro' Neglect, any Symptoms 
'of approaching Madness should appear, I 
'would increase the Quantity of Mercurial 
'Ointment, and give Mercury in some Form. 
'or other internally, in as large Doses, and 
'those as often repeated as could be done, 
'without hazarding the Patient by a Saliva- 
'tion too precipitate. 
'In both Cases I would recommend the 
'Cold-Bath, as a Thing of great Conse- 
'quence, as soon as ever the Patient can 
'make Use of it without Danger; but in 
'this Case, as in all others, many accidental 
'Circumstances will occur, for which it is 
'impossible to lay down universal Rules; it 
'must therefore be left to the Prudence of a 
'Physician to guard against, and remedy In- 
'conveniencies arising from particular Acci- 
'dents. 
Of the Scurvy. 
It is impossible to define this Distemper by 
Words, containing any simple or distinct 
Idea; for it is rather a Name used to signify 
a

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 433
a Multitude of Symptoms, different and 
sometimes opposite in their Causes and Cures. 
It is a Disease affecting the Inha- 
bitants of cold Countries, and a- 
mong those, such of them as inhabit marshy, 
fat, low, moist Soils, near stagnating Wa- 
ters, fresh or Salt; and it invades chiefly in 
the Winter Season, such as lead a sedentary 
Life, or live upon salted and smoaked Flesh 
and Fish, or Quantities of unfermented 
mealy Vegetables, and drink bad Water; and 
likewise such as are Hysterical or Hypochon- 
driacal, and sometimes such as have taken.
great Quantities of the Bark, without pro- 
per Evacuations; so that from these Causes 
the best Rules for Prevention may be taken. 
The Cause. 
The Symptoms of this Distemper are a 
spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weari- 
ness, being unrefreshed by Sleep, laborious 
Breathing upon small Motion, cold Swellings 
in the Legs, going off and returning; some- 
times Paleness, or a livid Colour in the Face, 
Spots on the Skin of various Colours, as red, 
violet-colour'd, yellow, or livid; oftentimes 
an ill Smell in the Mouth, and of the Breath, 
painful and bleeding Corrosions of the Gums, 
and by these Means the Teeth grow bare and 
loose; Fluxes of all Sorts, untractable Ul- 
cers, especially in the Legs, with a gangre- 
nous Appearance in the Skin; the Itch, dry 
and crusty Eruptions, and sometimes a small 
Degree of Leprosy; the Blood when taken 
away is black, grumous, and the red Part 
Ee without

434 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
without a due Consistence; the Serum very 
salt, and of a yellowish green; wandering 
Pains in the Limbs, increasing when warm 
in Bed, and sometimes a feverish Heat. 
These Symptoms arise from a bad Tem- 
perature of the Blood, either too thin, or too 
thick, being of a saline Constitution, either 
from an acid, alkaline, or Muriatick Cause, 
which requires very different and oftentimes 
contrary Remedies; for which Reason, See 
Part II. Chap. VIII. where I have treated of 
acid and alkaline Constitutions. 
The Scurvy of Seafaring People is generally 
cur'd by Acids, such as all Sorts of ripe 
Fruits, Lemons, Oranges, Butter-Milk; but 
all alkaline Spirits do harm; and acid Spirits, 
as that of Salt and Nitre are proper for 
them. If the Symptoms are attended with 
an ill Smell of any kind, either in the Mouth, 
Breath, or Urine, with Drought, Heat, 
Bleeding of the Gums, or of any kind, such 
a Disease will be cur'd by the Use of Acids, 
and none better than Whey; and in this Sort of 
Scurvy Steel Waters are commonly effectual. 
But if the Scurvy be muriatick or briny, 
occafion'd by a Diet of sait Flesh or Fish, the 
Plants commonly called Antiscorbutick, as 
Water-cresses, Scurvy-grass, and Brooklime, 
may be taken with Success, but always 
mix'd with Acids, as the Juice of Lemons 
and Oranges; and all the Pot-Herbs which 
are antiacid, as describ'd in Part II. Chap. VI. 
are a proper Diet in this Case; but if there 
be

435 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
be a high Degree of Heat and Inflammation,
all the hot Antiscorbuticks will be very im- 
proper. 
When a Patient is pale, cool without 
Thirst, with pale or natural colour'd Urine, 
and has made Use of an acescent Diet for any- 
time, that the Eruptions are not of a high 
inflammatory or livid Colour, then the warm 
Antiscorbuticks, animal Food, and Salts are 
necessary. 
In the Scurvy great Attention should be 
always given to the Condition of the Mouth,
Gums and Teeth, from which the Nature 
and Degree of the Distemper may be pretty 
Well known. 
All sharp and strong Purges injure scorbu- 
tick Constitutions; but Lenitives are of great 
Service, and Bleeding is not proper, unless 
where the Symptoms are urgent and inflam- 
matory.
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body.
A Cachexy is so called from an ill 
Habit of the Body. It proceeds most 
commonly from the Intemperance of the 
Person, or the ill Cure of some preceding 
Disease; from a scirrhous Tumor of the Li- 
ver or Spleen, or from a too long and pro- 
fuse Flux of the Piles, or other Fluxes;
from long continual Fevers, or intermitting 
Fevers ill cur'd; from a Surfeit, or too plen- 
tiful use of spirituous Liquors; from the 
Causes. 
Ee2 Green- 

436 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Green-Sickness, from an Obstruction, or too 
great a Flux of the Menses; from Aliments 
of unfermented mealy Substances, as Pease, 
or such as are coarse, fibrous, fat, sharp, 
watry, and rough; from Bodies that cannot 
be digested at all, as Clay, Cinders, Chalk, 
Sand, Tobacco-pipes, Lime, &c. from a 
Defect of animal Motion in lazy and idle 
People, and such as sleep too much. 
Signs. 
The Diagnostick Signs are a Paleness 
of the Face, with a livid, yellow, 
greenish, or ruddy Colour; and frequently 
with a tumid or bloated Habit of Body, a 
Sluggishness; there is also often a slow Fever, 
scarce perceivable by the Person that has it. 
Cure.
The Cure is to be begun with a Vo- 
mit; but before a Vomit it will be ad- 
viseable to make use of saline Dlgestives to 
dissolve the Viscidities, as Cream of Tartar, 
vitriolated Tartar, Salt of Wormwood, Tin- 
cture of Salt of Tartar, Elixir Proprietatis 
with Tartar, and the absorbent testaceous 
Powders; but if an Emetick be not judged 
convenient in the Beginning, a Purge may 
be given, and repeated as need requires; and 
then after these Things have been done, we 
may advantageously proceed to the Use of 
Chalybeats, and Fuller's Ecphratick Mixture 
is a powerful Remedy in this Disorder. 
This Distemper sometimes disposes to Con-
sumptions, Bloatedness, and Dropsies, and is 
attended often with Palpitations of the Heart; 
therefore


437 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
therefore the Rules of Diet must be drawn 
from the Nature of the Symptoms. 
Of a Consumption. 
A Consumption is commonly defined to be 
a Wasting of the whole Body, arising from 
an Ulcer of the Lungs, but not justly; be- 
cause I have open'd the Bodies of several who 
died of this Distemper, whose Lungs I found 
without Ulcers, but full of Tubercles, Stones, 
and fabulous Matter; wherefore a Consump- 
tion is better defined to be a Wasting of the 
whole Body from a bad Conformation of the 
Lungs. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. Part II. 
Sect. I. Chap. 6. 
A Consumption, or Marasmus, is a Wasting 
of the whole Body, or some of its Parts, aris- 
ing from a Distemperature of the Fluids, or 
from their Defection, or an unequal and dis- 
proportionate Heat. Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
in his Theatrum Tabidorum, translated by 
Quincy, Page 135.
By these two last Definitions we see, that 
an Ulcer of the Lungs is neither the Ante- 
cedent, nor Concomitant Cause of a Con- 
sumption, but only a Symptom, as will evi- 
dently appear presently, in a few Passages ab- 
stracted from a Dissertation of a modern Au- 
thor *, supported by Reason and Observation, 
the surest and best Guides: afterwards I give 
the Reader his Method of curing this Di-
Ee3 stemper, 
* Dr. Desault's Dissertation upon Consumptions.


438 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
stemper, which I found in many Instances 
to answer the Intentions he proposes. 
Before I declare the Causes of a Consump- 
tion (says he) I thought proper to give a 
Description of them in behalf of such as are 
not of the Profession who may read this Disser- 
tation. 
A Consumption attacks Youth sooner than 
other Ages; that is, from 18 till the 35th Year 
it makes its principal Havock. Hippocrates, 
Aph. 9. Sect. 5. Not that the other Ages 
are exempted from it, since we see consump- 
tive People under and above the Time set 
down in the Aphorism; but not so often. 
1. Those who have a narrow Chest, a long 
Neck, high Shoulders, like Birds Wings, are 
most subject to it; of those Hippocrates 
speaks in his first Book of Epidemicks. 
2. Those who have the Misfortune of be- 
ing born of consumptive Parents are very 
subjed to it; for this Distemper has this in 
common with many others, that it is propa- 
gated by Inheritance. 
3. Such as are obliged to live with con- 
sumptive People, to wait on them, may con- 
tract it, if they are any ways inclin'd to it, 
for it is contagious; thus Women who attend 
their consumptive Husbands catch it of them, 
and Husbands of their Wives. 
The Disorder manifests itself, and makes 
its Progress in the following manner. The 
Patient seems to have a Cold, he is seiz'd 
with a dry Cough, which fatigues him most
at

439 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
at Night: Afterwards he brings up a well- 
digested Phlegm of a sweet Taste. 
Nevertheless as this Cough continues, as 
it exceeds the Bounds of a common Cold, as 
it goes daily increasing, as the Patient's Legs 
are observ'd to waste, and the rest of the 
Body in Proportion, as his Colour changes, 
and he grows pale and yellow, as the Phlegm 
changes Taste, and becomes a little bitterish, 
as some small Quantity of Blood is mix'd 
with it, as a slow Fever associates with it, 
with a Pain in the Breast, and in short, when 
he is at the Brink of the second Stage, he is
frighted, and very much alarm'd. 
Besides these Symptoms which Authors 
have taken Notice of, and which establish
the first Degree, I have always found a con- 
siderable Disorder in the Liver, so that an 
Obstruction in this Bowel plainly appear'd 
from its Hardness, and sometimes a great 
Pain. I am surpriz'd to see, that Authors 
have not taken Notice of this, which how- 
ever is a Symptom deserving of great At- 
tention, since it is of great Importance for 
the Discovery of the Cause of Consumptions, 
and of the Agreeableness of the Remedy I 
have to propose. 
Notwithstanding all the Remedies, Se- 
crets, and other Specificks, the Patient grows 
worse, and comes to the second Stage, which 
makes itself known by the Cough being 
stronger and more frequent by Night, by 
Night Sweats, which fatigue and drain the 
Ee4 Patient,

440 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Patient, by the Quantity of Blood in his Spit-
ting, and lastly he comes to spit Matter. 
The Leanness to which he was reduced by 
the first Degree, increases considerably in the 
second; the Fever, stronger and more violent, 
has even some Returns, with cold Shiverings, 
which encourages his taking the Bark regu- 
larly, to stop at least the Returns complicated 
with the slow Fever, and to continue the 
Medicines to heal the Ulcer, the Existence 
of which is no more to be doubted. His 
Nails grow crooked, and the Distemper, be- 
comes contagious in this Stage. 
Let us observe, that it is not always ne- 
cessary the Patient should spit Blood, to die 
consumptive; neither is it even necessary for 
the Patient to spit Pus to determine the Exis- 
tence of a Consumption, as I shall prove by 
Observations made at the opening of con- 
sumptive Bodies. The Cough, the Spitting 
of certain Phlegm without Blood or Pus, 
the Wasting, the nocturnal Sweats, and last- 
ly a Looseness, put an End to Life, it not 
being essential to this Distemper to spit Blood 
or Pus. 
The Patient at last comes to the third 
Stage; his Leanness is at the last Period; he 
resembles a Skeleton covered with a human 
Skin, which is hard, wrinkled, and rough; 
his Breath smells strong, and what he expec- 
torates stinks so that he loaths it; he brings 
up almost pure Matter, and his Life termi- 
nates with a Looseness.
Let 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 441
Let us now speak of the Causes of a Con- 
sumption: We shall divide them into con- 
comitant and antecedent. The concomitant 
Cause of a Consumption, I say, consists in  
Tubercles and Concretions form'd in the Sub- 
stance of the Lungs, and which are spread 
thro' its Lobes. These Concretions are like 
Hail-stones, and of different Dimensions. 
These Tubercles in the Lungs are real, 
and fall under the Cognizance of the Senses, 
and are no Supposition invented by a System- 
monger, to explain the easier his Hypothesis. 
That great Observator Hippocrates speaks of 
them in his Book de Morbis: He makes 
them of two Sorts; some crude, which do not 
suppurate; and others which suppurate, and 
leave an Ulcer. 
Etmuller, who has compiled the Opinions 
of the Moderns, has a whole Chapter de 
Tuberculis Pulmonum, Lib. II. Part. II. 
Cap. 8. p. 436. 
Read Morton's Book upon Consumptions, 
he never open'd a consumptive Body where 
he did not find them: He mentions them in 
almost every Passage; he imputes to them 
all the Disorder, and thinks they are the 
Source of all the Symptoms of a Consump- 
tion. 
Bonetus, in his Practical Anatomy, Lib. 2. 
Sect. 7. proposes several Observations collect- 
ed from Dissections of Bodies, where the Tu- 
bercles have been deemed the true Cause of 
a Consumption, and the Pus and Ulcers only 
as

442 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
as the Consequence of these same Tubercles 
suppurated and degenerated into Ulcers. 
But why should we look for Proofs in An- 
tiquity, why employ the Evidence of Fo- 
reigners? I appeal to all the Surgeons who 
have open'd consumptive Carcasses, and to 
the Physicians who have assisted thereat: 
Have they not regularly found in all these Tu- 
bercles, tho' less in Quantity in those who 
died of a long Consumption, they having 
had Time to melt away, and be confirmed 
by Ulceration? Some however have always 
remained, Death having prevented their Sup- 
puration. This being allow'd to be the con- 
comitant Cause of a Consumption, it will be 
easy to explain all its Symptoms. 
The dry Cough in the Beginning comes 
from the Pressure of the Tubercles upon the 
Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria, dis- 
persed through the Substance of the Lungs. 
Morton, p. 36. The same Irritations which 
this Compression makes in the Aspera Ar- 
teria, squeeze at length a Phlegm out of the 
Glands, spread about the internal Membrane 
of the Trachea; and the Cough, which in the 
Beginning was dry and hard, becomes moist, 
and throws up the Matter press'd out of the 
Glands by the Strength of the Cough. Mort. 
p. 34. 
The Difficulty of Breathing comes from 
these Tubercles, which fill up part of the 
Lungs, and lessen in Proportion the Quantity 
of Air which used to enter there; besides, the 
Com-

Ch. IV. 443 thro' the various Stages of Life. 443
Compression they make upon the Ramifica- 
tions of the Aspera Arteria renders its Ad- 
mission more difficult. 
The Leanness and Wasting are the Effcts 
of these Tubercles, and not the Ulcer of the 
Lungs, as has been supposed; and as it is of 
the greatest Importance for the Indication, 
which should be pursued in this Distemper, 
to prove that the Ulcer is not the Cause of 
the Wastings, we shall insert here the follow- 
ing Proofs. 
1. Hippocrates, in his first Book of Epi- 
demicks, acknowledges a Consumption with- 
out an Ulcer of the Lungs. Ægrotabant 
macilenti citra Pulmonum Ulcus: They were 
sick and wasted without an Ulcer of the 
Lungs. 
2. Hippocrates has also observed, that Lean- 
ness has begun before the Rise of the Ulcer, 
and that it is even far gone when the Ulcer 
appears. Temporis autem progressu exaspe- 
ratur Pulmo, & intus ulceratur à Pituita 
inhœrente & putrescente, & gravitatem exhi- 
bet Pectori & Dolorem acutum ante & re- 
tro caloresque acutiores in corpus incidunt. 
It appears from these Passages of Hippo- 
crates, and especially the last, that the Wast- 
ing, Cough, Spitting, and slow Fever, have 
begun before the Ulcer comes on. Temporis 
autem progressu exulceratur Pulmo: It is only 
in the Course of the Distemper; temporis 
progressu, says he; in progress of Time. 
3. Lastly,

444 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
3. Lastly we prove by an invincible Rea- 
son, that the Ulcer of the Lungs is not the 
Cause of a Consumption. There have been 
Persons who died of a Consumption with the 
whole Train of Symptoms, yet during the 
whole Course of the Distemper never spit 
any Pus; and upon the opening of their 
Bodies no Ulcers were found in their Lungs, 
but Tubercles in great Numbers. For Proof 
of this Fact we shall introduce the Observa- 
tions † upon the Body of Mr. Clever, Mer- 
chant, of this City, and of a young Gentle- 
woman; and also Willis's Observations al- 
ready mentioned. 
The slow Fever depends as much upon 
the Obstructions of the Liver, as of the 
Lungs: When the Blood finds its Passage 
shut up in any Part, it rebounds in a greater 
Body into the other Vessels; besides, when 
the Blood, which has not been sufficiently 
broke in the Lungs, nor depurated in the Li- 
ver, does not give way, but resists the Im- 
pulse of the Heart and Arteries, it revives 
its Play, and occasions two or three Pulsa- 
tions, where one would be sufficient, if it 
did not resist, and was thin and fluid. 
The nocturnal Sweats are owing to the 
thick and gross Disposition of the Blood: 
When the Serum is not exactly mixt with 
the other Principles of the Blood, it easily 
escapes through the Pores. 
It
† Observations of the Author in his Dissertation upon 
Consumptions, which see. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 445
It is easy to comprehend the Spitting of 
Blood: Who can now be surprised, that a 
Vein squeezed between two Tubercles should 
open and furnish some Blood in the Spittle? 
We are now come to the second Stage: 
Some Tubercles come to be inflamed; Matter 
is formed there; the Fever increases, as also 
the Difficulty of Breathing; the Tubercle 
bursts, and the Pus comes away like Spittle, 
which the Patient voids in abundance. 
But as the Pus which was contained in this 
Tubercle served its Neighbours as a suppurating 
Cataplasm, they are not long before they are 
inflamed, and come to Suppuration in their 
Turn, and the Lungs are thus destroy'd and 
ulcerate every Day more and more. And 
now the Distemper becomes contagious, the 
Suppuration of the Tubercle breeds Worms, 
which institute the Characteristick of the 
Ulcer. These Worms spread themselves a- 
bout the neighbouring Tubercles, as proper 
Beds for their Nourishment and Breeding, and 
by their Means it is that the Distemper be- 
comes contagious. 
[The Author has shewn, in his Treatise on 
Venereal Disorders, that all Infection pro- 
ceeds from Worms.] 
The Looseness comes from hence, that the 
Pores are destroyed by the Dryness of the 
Skin, which has begun with effacing the 
Pores of the insensible Perspiration, and now 
even stops up those which evacuate Sweat: 
The Serum not being well mixt with the 
Blood,

446 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Blood, and finding no more its former Out- 
lets, falls upon the Feet and Legs, and after- 
wards upon the intestinal Glands, which 
brings on a Diarrhœa, and makes an End of 
Life. 
We come now to examine the antecedent 
Causes which produce Tubercles in the Lungs, 
and shall make it apppear, by an exact En- 
quiry, that they owe their Rise to eager and 
coagulating Juices, and not to sharp and cor- 
rosive ones. 
Authors tell us, and we see it confirmed 
by daily Experience, that Grief is a power- 
ful Cause to bring on a Consumption. The 
Soul being continually employ'd in Affliction 
about the Object which causes it, studies 
Night and Day to find out a Remedy: This 
continual Attention of the Soul employs the 
Spirits in the Brain, hinders their descending 
into the Stomach, the Appetite disappears, 
the Digestion suffers, the Chyle is sent gluti- 
nous and ill digested into the Blood, disposed 
to bring on Obstructions either in the Lungs 
or Liver. 
But the free Course of the animal Spirits is 
not only suspended in the Stomach, but also 
in the Organs of Respiration; for we see Per- 
sons under Affliction forget as it were to 
breathe to that Degree, that as the Blood 
stagnates in the Lungs, they are oblig'd to 
fetch at Intervals deep Sighs, which are called 
sorrowful Sighs. 
Besides,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 447
Besides, Grief suppresses the insensible 
Transpiration. Sanctorius, Aph. 2. Sect. 7. 
And Consolation restores it, Animi Consolatio 
liberam facit Perspirationem. Aph. 6. Sect. 7. 
For the same Reason Men of Letters, who 
keep their Spirits continually upon the stretch, 
by the Excess of Meditation are also subject 
to Consumptions, as Morton observes. 
The eager Wines, according to Etmuller, 
produce abundance of Consumptions in the 
Province of Moravia, as being very proper 
to form Coagulations and Concretions. 
[The Author mentions a Case in his Dis- 
sertation, which proves how apt this Cause is 
to bring on a Consumption.] 
Melancholick Persons, according to Mor- 
ton's Observation, are very subject to Con- 
sumptions, their Blood being disposed to form 
Obstructions and Tubercles: Likewise, pag. 
27, he has oserved, that Cold is always the 
Cause of Consumptions. His Observation a- 
grees with that of Hippocrates, Frigus genitor 
est phthiseos pulmonis, scilicet, venulis a fri-
gore constrictis ac convulsis. Cold is the Pa- 
rent of the Phthisis of the Lungs, viz. when 
the Veins are drawn together by Cold. 
Van Helmont has observed, that Steams of 
Spirit of Vitriol, and of Aqua Fortis, have 
sometimes occasioned Consumptions. This 
Effect proceeds from the Concretion of the 
Juices by these acid Vapours, which form the 
Tubercles.
From

448 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
From this Enquiry into the Causes which 
are capable of producing Tubercles in the 
Lungs, it appears, that they owe their Ori- 
gin to acid and coagulating Juices; and if 
afterwards the Fluids grow pungent by stag- 
nating there, it is an Effect of the Part which 
alkalises them, in like manner as we see some 
Fruits change their Taste, according as they 
come near to be ripe or rotten. 
The Question then is, to look out for Re- 
medies which can dissolve and destroy these 
Tubercles. This is the Indication which you 
ought not to lose out of Sight: They are 
the Obstacles which you must either conquer 
or die. 
The Roman Hippocrates, Baglivius, in se- 
veral Places of his practical Writings, exhorts 
us to give aperitive Medicines in all the Dis- 
orders of the Breast; and Duretus, in his 
Coac. p. 423. says, that the urinary Passages 
are the Emunctories of the Breast, the Flux 
of Urine being augmented, procures a Di- 
version of the Phlegm, which otherwise 
would take its Course to the Lungs. 
These Authors not only propose that Indi- 
cation, but also the Remedies which I make 
use of to discharge it. Read Morton, p. 81. 
I don't at all doubt, says he, but by a pru- 
dent Choice and frequent Use of a thin and 
sharp Air, and by a long Use of balsamick, 
mercurial, and chalybeat Medicines and Mil- 
lepedes, but more especially of Mineral Wa- 
ters, and other anti-scrophulous Remedies, 
those

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 449
those Tumors may as well be destroy'd in 
these Parts as any other, and the Patient 
be freed from a phthisical and scrophulous 
Disorder, as we have often found by Ex- 
perience.
This is very certain, for all the English 
Consumptions, generally speaking, proceed 
from a scrophulous Disposition; therefore, in 
the Accesses of such a Distemper, aperitive 
and deobstruent Medicines, free from much 
Acrimony, with the mild Anti-scorbuticks, 
will always prove the most effectual Reme- 
dies; but whatever heats too much, disposes 
to Suppuration; and it is upon these Princi- 
ples that the Author establishes his Method of 
Cure in the following Manner. 
'As soon as I am call'd to a consumptive 
'Person of the first Degree, fatigued with a 
'Cough, which at first was dry, and after- 
'ward is become moist, which exceeded the 
'Bounds of a common Rheum, accompanied 
'with a slow Fever, Difficulty of Breathing, 
'Leanness, &c. I examine immediately the 
'Liver, where I constantly find a conspicu- 
'ous Hardness and often a Pain. 
'I afterwards examine if any general Me- 
'dicines are indicated, in which Case I order 
'the Patient to bleed and purge; I even 
'repeat Bleeding when the Pain is violent, 
'and if the Patient is young, heated with 
'drinking of Wine, or spirituous Liquors, to 
'prevent the Inflammation of the Tubercles. 
Ff 'Then

450 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'Then I apply a great Plaster of the Empl. 
'Diabotanum upon the Region of the Liver, 
'with which Mercury revived from Cinnabar 
'is incorporated, or in default thereof the 
'Empl. Vigonis cum Mercurio. Every Night 
'I order the Plaster to be taken off, and the 
'Quantity of a Dram of the Mercurial Oint- 
'ment to be rubb'd in at the Swelling, and then 
'the Plaster is put on again, which remains 
'there Night and Day. 
'Internally I give twice a-day the follow- 
'ing Powder. 
'Take of prepared Mars, Millepedes, 
'Benjamin, red Coral and Crabs Eyes, 
'one Scruple of each; mix all well to- 
'gether to make into a Powder, to be 
'taken in the Morning and to be re- 
'eated at Night. 
'Or made up into Troches in the following 
'Manner:
'Take of Mars, Millepedes, Benjamin, 
'Coral and Crabs Eyes, of each half an 
'Ounce, Powder of Cinnamon three 
'Drams, fine Sugar half a Pound; mix 
'all together, and with the Mucilage 
'of Gum Tragacanth made with O- 
'range-flower Water, make Troches 
'of two Drams each, of which let the 
'Patient take one Night and Morning. 
'After every Dose of the Powder or Tro- 
'ches I order them to take a Draught of 
'Ptisane

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 451
'Ptisane made of Nettle-Roots, or Whey 
'well clarified, with which I mix two Oun- 
'ces of the Juice of Water-Cresses, and as 
'much of the Juice of Chervil; or some Broth 
'made of a Piece of Veal, Radishes, Cresses, 
'Brooklime and Chervil, or an Infusion of 
'Green Tea.' 
The Powder is in two great a Bulk, as he 
orders it, therefore it would be much a neater 
Way, and much easier for the Patient to take, 
if he had ordered the Steel, Millepedes, and 
Benjamin in a Bole with Syrup of Balsam, and 
the testaceous Powders in a Julap, or in an 
Emulsion of Sperma Ceti, to be taken by two 
or three Spoonfuls after each Bolus, and at 
other Intervals. This shews the Injudicious 
ness of foreign Prescribers in dosing their Me- 
dicines in a neat and proper Form, though 
otherwise never so learned. 
Our Author strenuously recommends Rid- 
ing twice a-day, in all Stages of a Consump- 
tion, if the Weather permits, the Usefulness 
of which he demonstrates from Observation,
Reason, and Experience. In the first Stage 
of a Consumption he allows light Meats of 
easy Digestion without any Seasoning; but 
in the second Stage, he orders the Medicines 
to be taken three times a-day, and makes the 
Patient live upon Cow's Milk, boil'd and 
skimm'd, and mix'd with an equal Quantity 
of Green Tea, and sometimes without it, but 
a thorough Forbearance from all manner of 
Ff2 Flesh-

452 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Flesh-meat: He likewise recommends the 
Use of Asses Milk, Chearfulness and Musick. 
Other Con-
sumptions.
As Consumptions are mostly occa- 
sioned by Tubercles in the Lungs, 
there are some also that owe their 
Origin to Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, 
Pancreas, Mesentery, Kidneys, Womb, and 
Bladder, &c. The Knowledge, Prognostick, 
Effects, Cure, and Palliation are easily drawn 
from the distinguishing Marks of each parti- 
cular Bowel, of which no good Physician 
ought to be ignorant. 
For a more ample Account of the Nature 
and Cure of this lingering Disease, I refer the 
Reader to the Author's Observations in his 
Dissertation upon Consumptions. 
Of a Dropsy. 
When a watery Serum is shed out of its 
Vessels and received into Cavities, or when 
stagnating it distends its Vessels too much, it 
is called a Dropsy. Which may take place 
consequently wherever there are such serous 
Vessels, that is, in the whole Habit of the 
Body, and in each Particular thereof. 
Therefore this Distemper may happen 
wherever there are serous Vessels; an Hydro- 
cephalus or Dropsy of the Head, which is 
only incurable when the Serum is extravasated 
into the Ventricles of the Brain; and it is 
generally fatal in Infants, when the Sutures 
are closed and the Skull will yield no more. 
A Dropsy

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 453
A Dropsy of the Breast is attended almost 
with the same Symptoms as an Empyema, 
and cured by the same Chirurgery. A 
Dropsy of the Lungs, either by Hydatides or 
Water-Bladders, or by Lympha extravasated 
in the Body of the Lungs. 
A Dropsy in the fore Part of the Windpipe 
like a Bronchocele. Likewise a Dropsy in the 
Oviarium, Testes, Scrotum, or Uterus. 
An Ascites, or Collection of Water in the 
Abdomen. First, in the Foldings of the Peri- 
toneum. Secondly, Between the Peritoneum 
and the Bowels. Thirdly, When the Water 
is contained in the membranaceous Coat of 
the Glands. 
Sometimes the Air is so rarified in the Tu- 
mor as makes it hard and tight like a Drum, 
and from thence it is call a Tympany. When 
the Tendon is from Air, it is easily distin- 
guished by the specifick Gravity of the Pa- 
tient, and so is Water. And when the Wa- 
ter or Lymph stagnates, or is extravasated
under the Skin, it is called Anasarca. What- 
ever hinders the Return of the Lymph 
into the Veins, or breaks the Lymphatick 
Vessels, or obstructs the absorbent Vessels, 
so as the Lymph cannot be absorbed, or exhal- 
ed, produces a Dropsy; likewise any Stop- 
page of the Circulation will occasion a 
Dropsy, as by strong Ligatures or Com- 
pression. 
The most of the Causes are hereditary Dis- 
positions; drinking great Quantities of wa- 
Ff3 tery


454 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
tery Liquors, which are not discharged again;
violent acute Distempers; stubborn Obstruc- 
tions of the Bowels; the Jaundice; obstinate 
intermitting Fevers; Bloody-fluxes; great 
Evacuations, especially of Blood; viscid Ali- 
ment and hard of Digestion; inveterate Scur- 
vies: But the most common and most perni- 
cious of all is the habitual and plentiful Use of 
spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects are a Swelling of the Legs at 
Night by Degrees, still rising higher; like- 
wise a Swelling of the Belly increasing; but in 
a Tympany, sounding and tense like a Drum; 
sometimes the Sensation and Noise of fluctu- 
ating Water; Shortness of Breath; Thirst; 
Urine in too small a Quantity; no Sweat; 
the stagnating Serum at last turns acrimonious, 
exulcerates and putrefies the Bowels, produc- 
ing most dismal Symptoms. 
The best Cautions and Rules of Diet may 
be drawn from the Enumeration of these 
Causes and Effects; for the Intentions to be 
pursued are in removing the Causes, as Ob- 
structions, dissolving the Viscidity or Glewy- 
ness of the Serum, and discharging it out of 
the Body. 
The Viscidity of the Serum is best correct- 
ed by such Things as contain abundance of 
alkaline and volatile Salts, Spices, acrimoni- 
ous pungent Vegetables, soapy Substances; 
and what has been prescrib'd in a phlegmatick 
Constitution, Part II. which see.
The
 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 455 
The only Contradiction in this is, too great 
Heat and Thirst, to which Attention is to be 
given, and indicates the Use of Acids, Juice 
of Lemons and Oranges, Sorrel, &c. And 
it may be taken for a general Rule, that when 
the Urine is high-colour'd Acids are proper, 
for they are contrary to that alkalescent State 
of the Humours, and resist the Putrefaction, 
which is the Product of acrimonious Serum. 
Their Drink should be sparing; but as the 
Thirst is sometimes insufferable, the Patient 
may be indulged the free Use of Spaw-water 
and Rhenish Wine: And the Aliment should 
be dry and diuretick; but Diureticks of the 
acid Kind are the best: Strong Frictions of 
the Skin are very beneficial, which attenuate 
and promote the Circulation of the stagnating 
Serum or Water. 
Vomiting in strong Constitutions has proved 
oftentimes very effectual; because the Con- 
cussion of the solid Parts dissolves and expells 
the stagnating Humours; and likewise Gly- 
sters of sharp and purgative Ingredients are 
very beneficial. 
Smart Purges are useful to carry off the 
Waters; but they should not consist of Vola- 
tiles, because such dissolve the Blood, which 
is pernicious. Abstinence from Drink is very 
beneficial, and eating dry Biscuit, which cre- 
ates no Thirst; likewise strong Frictions four 
or five Times a Day. 
When the Waters are carried off, the Diet 
ought to be such as stengthens the solid Parts,
Ff4 allow-

456 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
allowing Spices and generous Wine, but espe- 
cially the Use of Chalybeat Waters, dry Food, 
and astringent Vegetables, Exercise, especial- 
ly Riding; and in general, such a Diet as ge- 
nerates good Blood. 
When the Serum stagnates long, it turns 
acrimonious, and commonly renders the Pa- 
tient feverish and thirsty; then acid or four 
Things are properest, both to prevent and 
cure these Symptoms, as they are specifically 
proper against that alkaline Putrefaction. For 
a more circumstantial and accurate Account 
of this Distemper and its Cure in every Par- 
ticular, consult the learned Boerhaave's Apho- 
risms upon it.  
Of the Gout. 
This Distemper is a very painful Illness, 
seated principally in and about the Ligaments 
of the Bones of the Foot and its Joints, seiz- 
ing Persons mod commonly in the Spring 
and Autumn; which when undisturbed com- 
monly runs its own natural Stage, and is 
usually the Companion of People of the mid- 
dle Age, of the Male Sex, Men of acute and 
deep Sense, who exercise the same much, and 
study late by Nights, such as lead a voluptu- 
ous and debauched Life, and at Night drink 
great Quantities of Wine or spirituous Liquors: 
Such as have been much addicted to Venery 
in their younger and unripe Years; large ple- 
thorick Men; such as are much used to 
Acids

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 437
Acids, and cool their sweaty Feet too sud-  
denly; sweat in wet Stockings or Shoes;
hence such as do hunt or ride much in cold 
Weather; and finally, such as have it by 
Inheritance from Parents, or lie much with 
gouty People. 
This Distemper may affect any membra- 
nous Part, but commonly those which are 
the most remote from the Brain and Heart, 
where the Motion of the Fluids is the slow- 
ed, the Resistance, Friction, and Stricture 
of the solid Parts the greatest, and Sensation 
of Pain by the Obstruction of the small Ves- 
sels and Dilaceration of the nervous Fibres 
extreme. 
The most common Seat of it is in the 
Foot, its Tendons, Nerves, Membranes, Li- 
gaments and Periosteum, or Membranes in- 
vesting the Bones. The Patient immediate- 
ly is sensible of a stretching, tearing, strait- 
ning Pain, gradually increasing and decreas- 
ing again, with a Moistness, Redness, Tu- 
mor, ending with a breathing Sweat, an Itch- 
ing, furfuraceous Skinning, or changing into 
a chalky Substance, which breaks the Vessels. 
By all which it appears, that the proximate 
Cause of this Disease is a vitiated Temper of 
the least, and consequently the nervous Ves- 
sels in the Body; and also of the Liquid 
which waters those nervous Parts; and more- 
over, that this Liquid here is defective by its 
Acrimony and by its great Viscidity, and the 
solid Vessels by too great Rigidity and Nar- 
rowness:


458 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
rowness: Whence it shews itself in Parts 
the most remote from the Brain, as resisting 
Motion the most, because of their Solidity, 
Hardness, Exercise, and Weight incumbent 
upon them. Now the immediate Origin of 
this Defect is from an Indigestion of the 
Bowels, which do not sufficiently attenuate or 
assimilate the Aliment into a Substance fit 
to supply the Nerves with Juices proper for 
them, which require a most elaborate Con- 
coction. 
The Cure therefore is impossible, unless 
wrought by such Medicines as are able to 
mend these Defects entirely. So that the 
Gout has hitherto been reputed incurable by 
Antients as well as Moderns, if except a few 
Quacks and boasting Empiricks in all Ages. 
From the same may be known, that 
Bleeding does not reach either the Matter, 
Seat, or Cause of the Disease: yet that same 
is sometimes found not only beneficial, but 
also necessary to cause a Revulsion, and lessen 
the most urgent inflammatory Symptoms 
that often attend it. 
As one of the Causes of the Gout is the 
Suppression of Sweat and Perspiration, so 
the procuring a due Degree of these seems to 
be the best Preventative of it; and if the Feet 
could be made to sweat in due time, it would 
prevent the Gout, which invades in such 
Constitutions of the Air as suppress Perspi- 
ration.
Violent

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 459
Violent Purges in the Absence of the Fit, 
by agitating the Humours too much, often 
hurt, and may draw the Gout into the Sto- 
mach if given during the Paroxysm. 
The best Diet is Abstinence from all man- 
ner of Acids, high Sauces, and Gluttony; the 
moderate use of such things as promote Perspi- 
ration, as aromatick Substances with volatile 
Salts, which relieve Gouty People, by ren- 
dering the Body perspirable; diluting Li- 
quors, taken in such a Degree as not to in- 
jure the Stomach or Bowels, Moderation in 
Food of a nourishing light Sort, that is easily 
digested, as likewise in the use of strong 
Liquors; Exercise without Fatigue, such as 
Riding constantly in a pure, open Country 
Air, and Frictions and Motions of the Parts 
often repeated; going to Bed early, and ly- 
ing long in the Morning. 
It will be likewise necessary to restore the 
lost Vigour in the Bowels, by carrying off 
the corrupted Liquid flowing yet in the Ves- 
sels, or stagnating in the Places already as- 
sign'd. To the first relates the Us of aro- 
matick, bitter, antiscorbutick Plants, and 
chiefly the Juice with a little Honey; the use 
of lixivious fix'd Salts taken in small Doses, 
and often repeated for a long time together, 
observing at the same time the Diet as above 
directed. To the second (that is, the stag- 
nating of the Humours) will be useful, 1. 
Volatile Salts long taken and in small Quan- 
tities, in the Morning sometime before rising,
with 

460 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a large Draught of some softening Apo- 
zem, and thereby promoting a gentle breath- 
ing Sweat for about an Hour together. 2. 
Warm Frictions with dry Cloths. 3. Repeated 
Doses from time to time of such Medicines as 
purge serous or watery Humours, taking a 
gentle opiate Draught the same Night. 
In the Fit of the Gout, as temperate and 
as cool and diluent a Diet as the Patient can 
bear, abstaining from Opiates, except when 
the morbid Matter is separting, otherwise the 
constant Use of them is injurious; keeping 
the affected Part warm without the Applica- 
tion of Plasters, or Cataplasms; for even such 
as are emollient, weaken and relax too much. 
It will be of the greatest Importance to 
know if any Disease proceeds from a Trans- 
lation of the gouty Matter; for the Me- 
thods, especially Evacuations, used in an ori- 
ginal Distemper, would be very improper in 
a gouty Case, where the Intention must be 
to draw the Gout down to the Feet by Blis-
ters applied to the Thighs or Legs, and acrid 
inflammatory Cataplasms and Plasters. 
If a Person subject to the Gout, (except 
he has Chalk Stones) can bring himself en- 
tirely to a Milk Diet, he may by that means 
so change the whole Mass of the Juices of 
his Body, as to eradicate the Distemper.
The Effects
of Riding.
The English Hippocrates, Syden- 
ham, in recommending Riding in 
the Cure of this Distemper, says, 
that if a Medicine could be known to any 
one,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 461
one, and he could conceal it, that would be 
as effectual for the curing this Distemper as 
Riding on Horseback is; and not only here, but 
in most other chronical Diseases, he might get 
immense Riches by it. 
And Dr. Lister likewise says, 
that one single Golden Rule of Ab- 
stinence pleases me beyond all 
things, Parva cibatio summœ Curœ sit, viz.
Beware not to eat and drink too much, which 
is a thing every one ought to regard who has 
his Health at Heart; and this Abstinence is 
in all People's Power, in whatever State or 
Condition they are in, to be substituted in- 
stead of Exercise, when they have even lost 
the Use of their Feet. 
The Effects 
of Abstinence.
Of the Rheumatism.
This is a Distemper ally'd to the Gout and 
Scurvy, and is common in all the Northern 
Parts of Europe. 
Such are most subject to this Dis- 
ease as are of a sanguine Con- 
stitution, infected with some acrimonious De- 
fect, manly Age, plentiful Living, a sudden 
Cooling of a heated Body, Spring and Fall, 
Perspiration interrupted, an inflammatory 
Disposition, but appearing slower than in a 
Pleurisy. It begins with a continual Fever, 
causes a most terrible tearing Pain, increasing 
cruelly upon the least Motion, long continu'd 
and fix'd in one Place, seizing the Joints of 
Diagnosticks.
any


462 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
any Limbs, but most particularly trouble-
some to the Knees, Loins, and Rump-bone, 
tormenting and invading sometimes the Brain, 
Lungs and Bowels, with a Tumor and Red- 
ness of the Place, going off and returning 
again by Fits. 
The proximate 
Cause. 
The immediate Cause of this 
Distemper seems to be an Inflam- 
mation in the serous part of the 
Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries, and 
for that Reason affecting those Parts where 
the Vessels are the smallest, but not fierce 
enough to change it into an Impostumation. 
The Blood, as in other inflammatory Cases,
is sizy, the alkalescent Salts in the Serum a-
bounding with coreaceous or leathery Concre- 
tions. 
The Cure. 
The Cure consists in repeated 
Bleedings, cooling, repeated Purges, 
always allaying the Pain those Nights after 
purging with gentle Opiates join'd with mild 
Sudorificks, bathing in warm Water, and 
Fomentations apply'd to the Parts, and Bli- 
sters when it is obstinately fix'd in one Place. 
As for the Diet, it must be cooling, dilu- 
ting, and chiefly Vegetable. The constant 
Use of Whey is most effectual in rhis Disease, 
likewise a Milk Diet for changing the saline 
Constitution of the Serum of the Blood, is 
very useful and proper. 
Cream of Tartar taken either in Whey or 
Water-Gruel, for several Days together, will 
abate the Pains and Swellings considerably, 
by

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 463
by its Acidity correcting the alkaline Salts 
in the Blood. 
Of the Gravel and Stone. 
When any insoluble Matter stops in any 
Part of the Body, it gathers a Crust about it, 
which may grow into a Stone or stony 
Matter in any Part of a human Body; as a 
small Drop of concreted Blood may grow to 
be a Stone; for by the Evaporation of the 
most fluid Parts it grows hard, and by At- 
traction of new Matter it increases in Bulk. 
When these stony Concretions happen in 
the Kidneys, and are expell'd, or drop into 
the Ureters, they produce what is called Gra- 
vel; when they lodge and stick in the Body 
of the Kidneys, and grow to such a Bulk as 
not to drop into the Pelvis, or pass by the 
Ureters into the Bladder, they make the Stone 
in the Kidneys. But these Concretions hap- 
pen generally in the Kidneys and Bladder; 
and it is very certain, that if the Tartar and 
other Contents of the Urine were not con- 
stantly discharg'd, such Concretions would 
happen to all Mankind; for the Urine of 
most found Persons being inspected after it 
has stood a while with a Microscope, will 
discover a black Speck in it, which is Sand; 
and wherever this Sand sticks, it grows still 
bigger by the Apposition of new Matter.
The 

464 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The chief Signs or Symptoms of a Stone 
in the Kidneys are a fix'd Pain in the Region 
of the Loins, continually heavy like a Weight 
in the Substance of the Kidneys, with a 
kind of Numbness in the Part; but the Stone 
passing out of the Pelvis or Bason of the 
Kidneys into the Ureters, a most tormenting 
Pain follows, of all the most severe; an In- 
flexibility of the Back Bone, by the Exten- 
sion and Compression of the Nerves; a burn- 
ing Heat in the Loins, a Numbness of the 
Leg of the same Side, by means of the 
Nerves being affected; a Retraction of the 
Testicle for the same Reason; the Urine 
either bloody, upon any hidden Jolt or vio- 
lent Motion, or thin and watry, and little in 
Quantity; but after the Stone is fallen into 
the Bladder, the Urine presently becomes very 
thick, turbid, blackish, and in great Quan- 
tity. Fleshy Filaments, or Matter voided by 
Urine, are suspicious Symptoms of a Stone in 
the Kidneys, especially if the Patient has 
been subject to voiding of Gravel. 
The Symptoms of a Stone in the Bladder, 
are, a Titillation about the Neck of the Blad- 
der, and Parts thereabouts; a Sense of Weight 
in the lower Belly under the Share-bone, and 
the Region of the Groin; a perpetual Desire
of making Water, with a great Pain, espe- 
cially upon any hidden Motion, which causes 
a Concussion of the Bladder, a Dribbling dif- 
ficultly, and a hidden Suppression of Urine 
by the Stone's stopping the Orifice of the 
Bladder,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 465
Bladder, attended with great needing to go 
to Stool, and a burning Pain in the Urethra;
sometimes a white Mucus or Slime in the 
Urine; this may happen without a Stone in 
the Bladder: But the most certain Sign of all 
is, when it can be most certainly felt with 
the Finger in Ano, or by a Catheter. 
The Regimen in the Cure of the Stone in 
the Kidneys, is, by diluting and soft Diure- 
ticks, both medicinal and dietetical, to try 
to expel it, if it is small enough to pass; but 
if it is brittle, it will often crumble and pass 
in the form of Gravel by those Means: If 
the Stone is too big to pass, nor will not 
crumble, the only Method is to come to a 
sort of Composition or Truce with it, and 
use a cooling and diluting Diet constant- 
ly, to hinder, as far as possible, its Increase; 
to use Diureticks that resolve gently, as Pars- 
ley, Fennel, Scorzonera, Mallows, Tea, Dan- 
delion, Cichory, Sassafras, Oats, Barley, Honey, 
Vinegar and Honey; likewise nitrous Salts, 
and dulcify'd Spirit of Nitre; but the most 
soft and cooling Diluent of all is Whey, and 
the Emollients are Decoctions of Marshmal- 
lows and Linseed-Tea. 
Bathing in warm Water, and Glysters, are 
proper; seasoning the Food with Sea-salt 
moderately will not be amiss, for the mode- 
derate use of it is resolving and diuretick; 
and the Belly, in all Cases of the Stone, should 
be kept lax and open. In a confirm'd Stone 
in the Kidneys violent Exercise or Motion is 
dangerous. 
Gg While

466 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Stimulating 
Things not 
proper in the 
Beginning.
While the Stone is passing, we 
should avoid the Use of all forcing 
and stimulating Things at first; but 
relaxing and lubricating the Passages, 
and quieting the spasmodick Disorders by O- 
piates, is by far the safest and best Method; 
and where Bathing cannot be performed, Ox- 
bladders, half full of warm Water, constantly 
apply'd to the Part affected, may be very 
usefully substituted; and Bleeding takes off 
the Tension and prevents an Inflammation 
better than any Thing, and is therefore very 
necessary, especially when the Symptoms are 
urging and violent: When the Parts are suffi- 
ciently relaxed, forcing Diureticks joined with 
Opiates will be properly given. 
The best Way to prevent the Generating of 
a Stone, is to keep the Body open by Whey, 
Broth, and a liquid Diet, especially for all 
such as are troubled with Gravel. 
When the Stone is fallen into the Bladder, 
all Endeavours must be used to make it pass 
as soon as possible, otherwise if it should 
happen to continue there long, it would in 
Time become a large Stone, which nothing 
but the Operation could cure. 
If all the Symptoms abate without finding 
the Stone, it is not certain that it remains still 
in the Bladder, because a very small Stone 
may pass by Urine insensibly; and if the 
Stone has passed, it is not certain that the 
Affair is over, for there are often more Stones 
remaining, and therefore the usual Remedies 
ought not to be discontinued. 
When

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 467 
When the Stone stops in the Urethra, emol- 
lient Fomentations ought to be apply'd to the 
Parts, and Oil injected; or in Case of Extre- 
mity, an Instrument with a Cavity in it, dipt 
in Oil, may extract the Stone. 
Irritations in the Membranes of the Bladder, 
occasioned by a Stone, may be mitigated very 
much by an Injection of Linseed Oil, or that 
of Sweet Almonds into the Bladder.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing 
and Frictions. 
BATHING being either hot or cold, it 
will be necessary to enquire a little into 
the Nature of it, and what Alterations it 
produces in human Bodies, in order to know 
in what Cases and Constitutions the Use of it 
may be either beneficial or hurtful. There- 
fore I shall begin with Cold-Bathing, which 
was in the greatest Esteem with the Egyptians, 
Jews, Greeks and Romans, as evidently ap- 
pears by the Account given thereof in the 
Writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Pliny, Oribassius, Celsus, Ægineta, 
and others, needless to make mention of in 
this Place; But they who require to be fully 
satisfied as to that Point, may peruse Floyer 
and Baynard on Cold-Bathing, wherein they 
will likewise find a great many Instances of 
surprising Cures performed by Cold-Bathing 
Gg2 in


468 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Scurvies, Cachexies, 
Epilepsies, Gout, and Rickets, &c. 
It is experimentally known, that Cold 
contracts the Fibres, as I have observed in 
treating of the Qualities of Air, pag. 104. 
and the more suddenly it is applied to our 
Bodies, the more violently it operates: It has 
been likewise observed, pag. 87. that our 
Bodies undergo various Changes by the Al- 
terations of the Pressure of the Air, in its 
Weight and Elasticity: Now if we consider 
that Water is 800 Times heavier than Air, 
what Alterations must we not then expect
and be sensible of upon bathing or plunging all 
over into cold Water? For the Cold and 
Weight of the Water and Atmosphere acting 
all together, must consequently first brace up 
and straiten the Fibres and Vessels conside- 
rably in the Surface of the Body, and those 
Parts adjoining to it, and those at the Center 
the least and latest; so that the Blood will 
be forced in great Plenty upon the Viscera or 
Bowels, where there is the least Resistance: 
for which Reason it is never safe for those to 
bath who have weak or ulcerated Bowels, 
without endangering Life. 
But those Ends which are compassed by a 
greater Weight or Pressure, are more effec- 
tually obtained by whatever encreases the 
Weight of the Water, or contracts the Fibres 
of the Body: Thus Sea-Water, by reason 
of the Salt it contains, is heavier and more 
preferable; upon which Account all the 
Humours in the Body must be propell'd
with 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 469
with greater Force thro' the Vessels in which 
they circulate. Besides, the Tension of the 
Fibres being greater, their Vibration will be 
both quicker and stronger; so that the Blood 
and Spirits will not only move more swiftly 
through the Vessels, but also be much more 
ground and broken, digested and rendered 
fitter to pass the Glands and small Vessels: 
Moreover, as the Immersion into the Cold 
Bath mightily encreases the Blood in the Brain 
and Viscera, being forced thither where there 
is the least Resistance, whereby the Quantity 
of animal Spirits, of Urine, of Gall, of the 
pancreatick Juice, and of all other Secretions, 
will be very much encreas'd, these Humours 
being thrust forwards with greater Celerity, 
will probably remove any Obstruction that is 
not too long fixed and obstinate; for which 
Reasons, if we would have the Blood dis- 
solved, or any viscid Matter adhering to the 
Sides of the Vessels removed, or the Glands 
deterged, or a greater Quantity of Spirits se-
creted, and moved with greater Celerity thro' 
the Nerves, or would force Urine, or remove 
Obstructions in the Liver, Spleen, pancreatick 
and mesenterick Glands, if they are not grown 
too obstinate (in which Case it is very dange- 
rous) we should order Cold-bathing. In 
fine, whatever is to be effected by bracing the 
Solids, invigorating and quickening their Vi- 
brations, and accelerating the Blood's Motion, 
is with Certainty to be had from the Use of 
Cold-bathing. 
All Diseases therefore from a viscid Blood, 
Gg3 and

470 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
and a Lentor in the animal Juices (if the 
Elasticity of the Vessels is not worn out with 
Age and Debauches) will find Relief from 
this Practice. Besides, whatever Inconveni- 
ences proceed from a bad Perspiration, or 
when Humours are thrown upon the Surface 
pf the Body, which cannot get through the 
Skin, this Method will relieve; for upon 
Immersion the whole nervous System is so 
shook, that the very Capillaries feel the In- 
fluence, and the minutest Passages are forced 
open by an encreased Velocity of the circu- 
lating Fluids, whereby the Skin will be 
cleared, and instead of retaining gross and a- 
crimonious Humours in the cuticular Glands, 
will promote insensible Perspiration; and this 
is the Reason why People are so brisk and 
chearful after Bathing. 
And it is for the Reasons already given, 
that Cold-Bathing is proper in most cutane- 
ous Diseases, Scurvies, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, 
Rheumatisms, Lameness, Sciatica, Melancholy, 
Madness; some Palsies, Cachexies, Icteric and 
Hydropic Cases, before the Distempers be too, 
far advanced; it likewise stops Hæmorrhages, 
Gleets, Fluor Albus; and cures also venereal 
Impotency and nervous Disorders. 
Necessary Rules
to be observed
before Cold-
Bathing
1. To Bleed and Purge, and
use such proper Diet and Medi- 
cines, both before and after Bath- 
thing, as your Physician knows 
to be suitable to your Disease and Constitution. 
2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating, 
but cool; and not to stay in the Bath above 
two

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 471
two or three Minutes, as the Patient can bear 
it; and to go in and out immediately, on 
the first Bathing, after an Immersion of the 
whole Body, because staying in too long 
would relax the Solids too much, instead of 
contracting and strengthening them. 
3. To use the Cold-Bath before Dinner 
fasting, or in the Afternoon towards Four or 
Five o'Clock: It is dangerous to go in after 
great Drinking, or a full Stomach. 
4. To use Sweating with Cold-Bathing in 
Palsies, Rickets, and several Diseases affecting 
the Nerves with Obstructions. 
5. In Windiness or Siziness of the Hu- 
mours, no Sweating is necessary, nor where 
Bathing is used for the Preservation of Health, 
or the invigorating of the animal Spirits. 
6. Jumping in precipitantly, or throwing 
the Head foremost into the Cold-Bath, gives 
too violent a shock to Nature, and endangers 
too much the bursting some of the smaller 
Vessels; therefore the best Way is, holding 
by the Rope, to walk down the Steps as fast
as one can, and when got to the Bottom, 
bending the Hams to shorten their Length, 
so as to bring their Heads a good Way under 
Water, and then popping up again to take 
Breath; and thus alternately for two or three 
Times, and out again, rubbing themselves very 
well with a dry Cloth, before they are dress'd. 
They who have weak or little 
Heat, and are much decay'd, ought 
not to venture on Cold Bathing; nor 
they who are intemperate, and have 
Wherein 
Cold Bath-
ing is inju-
rious.
Gg4 eat


472 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
eat extraordinarily; because the Distribution 
and Consumption of an abundant Chyle being 
thereby stopp'd, must occasion Fevers or De- 
fluxions. 
If the Spirits are depress'd by Looseness, 
Vomiting, Venery, Watching, or any other 
Evacuation, we cannot well bear Cold Bath- 
ing; for the Spirits being weak, will be over- 
come by its Chilness. 
In the Fits of the Gout, Epilepsy, and in 
Inflammations of the Lungs or inward Parts, 
and in the Beginning of putrid Fevers, Iliac 
Passions, and the Gripes, Colicks, and dur- 
ing any Defluxion, Cold Baths are improper; 
for they hinder Expectoration, repell Pains, 
promote the present Defluxions, Fluxes, and 
Pains; but when these acute Diseases, or 
chronical Pains and Defluxions are ended, it 
may be safe and it is certain that Gout Pains 
are prevented by Cold Baths, and using to wash 
the Feet. 
Corpulency, unfound Viscera or Bowels, 
and inveterate Obstructions, forbid the Use of 
Cold Bathing; for first, in very fat Persons 
the Fibres are so stuffed round that they have 
not Room to vibrate or contract with the sud- 
den Squeeze of the Bath; and in unsound 
Viscera, or where any Part is much weaker 
than the rest, such an additional Force will 
press the Fluids upon that, very much to its 
Detriment, which may be either the burst- 
ing of the Vessels, or promoting the Discharge 
of some ill Humours upon that Part, which 
might otherwise drain somewhere else. 
in

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 473
inveterate Obstructions it is likewise improper, 
because the more violently the Fluids are pro- 
pelled, the more the Obstructions will be ri- 
veted and lock'd in. 
As the Pressure of Water is ren- 
dered more effectual by Cold, so its 
relaxing Power is augmented by a 
moderate Warmth; for a gentle Heat always 
relaxes the Fibres of our Body, it being plea- 
sing and agreeable to the Sense of Feeling. 
So that when we would have the Benefit of 
universal Relaxation, we ought to use a tem- 
perate Bath, which has only a mild Heat, 
like that of our Bodies, and is therefore less 
beneficial to cold Diseases, and less injurious 
to the Healthful, who use it chiefly to wash 
their Bodies, to temper the Natural Heat, 
and to take off Weariness. 
The Use
of Warm
Baths
But temperate Baths have many physical 
Uses besides Cleanliness and Pleasure, and are
observed to be beneficial in the following Cases. 
Tepid Baths moisten and warm; but if 
more hot, they heat and moisten less; they 
likewise open the Pores and promote a free 
Perspiration, and are proper in most Erup- 
tions and Foulnesses of the Skin, especially 
where the Obstructions will not yield to the 
Cold Bath; for they not only relax the Pores, 
but likewise dilute the obstructed Matter at 
the same time, in being absorbed by the cuti- 
cular Vessels. 
Warm Baths are proper in most scorbu- 
tick Habits, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Colicks, 
Gravel,

474 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Gravel, Costiveness, Gripes, Stiffness of the 
Joints and Muscles, and in most Cases pro- 
ceeding from an obstructed Perspiration. 
Temperate Baths are useful in all hot In- 
temperies, and are likewise proper in the bi- 
lious, viscid, or acrimonious State of the Blood: 
But they are injurious in Fevers, Inflamma- 
tions, and in all acute Diseases, especially be- 
fore the Concoction of the Humours. 
In using the Warm Bath, the Diet in ge- 
neral should be easy of Digestion, thin and 
diluting, and in many Cases sweating in Bed 
after warm Bathing is necessary; but in this 
and in other Circumstances which may occur, 
the Patient is to consult his Physician. 
The naturally hot Mineral Baths, such as 
that famous one at Bath in Somersetshire, 
are much more powerful in curing Diseases 
and removing Obstructions, than the Artificial; 
the Waters of the former being impregnated 
with balsamic, volatile, stimulating, and sub- 
astringent Particles, which the last can never 
have by any Art or Contrivance whatever. 
These natural hot Mineral Waters are 
like a Fomentation, which both supples and 
strengthens the Parts of the Body all over 
at once, and by gently shaking and undu- 
lating the Fibres, helps forward the vital Mo- 
tions, which are ready to be at a Stand. In 
old Pains and Aches, which have been the 
Remains of nervous Distempers, and where 
some particular Part continues contracted, or 
has any Humours fix'd upon it, which it can- 
not dislodge, these Waters pump'd upon it hot
from

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 475
from the Spring, do more towards a Cure 
than all the most efficacious Compositions of 
Medicines. 
Bathing all over in these Springs cannot but 
wonderfully open that almost infinite Number 
of secretory Orifices upon the Surface of the 
Body, and clear the cutaneous Ducts of the 
Matter which is apt to stick in them; by the 
opening of which Spiracula the Fluids of the 
whole Body have more Room to move in, and 
have proper Vents to reak out a great deal, 
which is of great Service to the Oeconomy to 
get rid of. 
These small Sulphur-Fountains likewise 
inwardly taken, to Astonishment warm and 
strengthen a decay'd Stomach, especially if 
relax'd and worn out almost with Luxury and 
Debauches: The most grievous Nauseas and 
Vomitings from these Causes have been re- 
moved by them: For they both soften again 
with proper Moisture the Fibres which have 
been render'd incapable to vibrate, by the Use 
of hot, burning, spirituous Liquors, and at 
the same time draw them into greater Tensi- 
ty; as a Cord which relaxes with over-drying, 
fills up and straitens upon the Contact and 
Attraction of a convenient Moisture. 
The small Share of fine Salt which likewise 
attends, and is as it were wrapped up in the 
Particles of Sulphur, cannot but contribute 
somewhat in restoring the Tone of such de- 
cay'd Parts. But besides the Benefit these do 
to the Stomach, they also carry along with 
them into the most remote Recesses of the 
Body


476 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Body, a Balsamic of Nature's own Prepara- 
tion; whereby such Decays in the Stomach, 
or in any of the Viscera or Bowels, from Ab- 
scesses, Ulcerations, or any like Causes, are 
with great Success reliev'd; and particularly if 
they be of the Kidneys and Urinary Passages, 
because they wash through them in more 
plenty, than where they come by the ordinary 
Course of Circulation. 
Of Frictions. 
Friction, or Rubbing with a Flesh-Brush, 
Cloth, Hand, &c. is, as it were, an alter- 
nate Compression and Relaxation of the Parts 
of the Body. A gentle Friction only com- 
presses the Veins; but by a stronger Degree, 
the Arteries are also compressed. By com- 
pressing the Veins by Friction, the Motion of 
the viscous Blood to the Heart is accelerated; 
hence the Motion of the Heart is roused: By 
which Means, the Blood is with greater Velo- 
city propell'd through all the Vessels. The 
vital Force may, therefore, be augmented to 
any Degree, by means of Frictions, without 
giving any Medicine internally; for by means 
of Frictions a burning Fever may be excited 
in the most dropsical Patients. 
In those Bodies where almost all the Or- 
gans of Digestion are so languid, as not duly 
to perform their respective Functions, Fric- 
tions with rough woolen Cloths over the 
whole Abdomen, or Belly, when the Patient 
is fasting, have been found to produce sur- 
prisingly happy Effects. Hence the Ancients
had 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 477
had Frictions in so great Veneration, not only 
for the Preservation of Health, but also for 
the Cure of Diseases, that the Grecians, Ara- 
bians, Romans, and Egyptians in general con- 
stantly practised that Method; and Galen 
wrote a whole Book, intitled de Frictionibus. 
Celsus likewise recommends the Usefulness of 
Frictions in his Works: But this Practice has 
been almost neglected among the Moderns 
till of late, and is now reviv'd again with no 
less Success than in former Days, tho' not so 
general; for it is experimentally known, that 
it will strengthen weak Limbs, and bring 
Nourishment to the Parts, and likewise cure 
the Rickets in Children, especially if Cold 
Bathing be used. 
Therefore I would recommend to all Mo- 
thers and Nurses, to rub the Back, Sides, 
Shoulders, Hips, and Limbs of their Children 
by a warm Fire Night and Morning, being 
very necessary to prevent Obstructions and 
Rickets, and to promote their Growth and Ac- 
tivity; and likewise to preserve their Limbs 
strong and straight. 
By Frictions a free and full Circulation and 
Perspiration may be usefully promoted; and 
this is performed by abiding Nature to throw 
off by Perspiration the Vapours and Recre- 
ments of the third Concoction, which are of- 
ten retained and pent in between the Scales of 
the Scarf-skin, as likewise in the Interstices 
of the outward Muscles and Membranes of the 
Body; so that by the Use of Frictions Nature 
is not only assisted in discharging by insensible 
Per-

478 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Perspiration those excrementitious Particles, 
which frequently hinder a full and free Cir- 
culation, but likewise Blood and Spirits are 
thereby attracted to those Parts mod remote 
from the Seat of Heat and Motion, by which 
Means also the natural Heat is increased, and 
the superficial Muscles are render'd plump and 
strong. 
Hence it is evident, that ancient People,
and such as have weak Nerves and lead a se- 
dentary Life, especially those who are subject 
to Numbness, Weakness, or Obstructions in 
their Joints, or are threaten'd with paralytick 
Disorders, in order to supply the Want of Ex- 
ercise of other Kinds, ought to have their 
whole Bodies, more particularly their Limbs, 
rubbed for half an Hour every Morning espe- 
cially, and at Night, with a Flesh-Brush, 
Flannel, or Napkin, till the Parts begin to 
grow red and warm. The Friction should 
be made first on the Arms, Hands, Feet, 
Legs, and Thighs, from whence we ought to 
proceed to the Shoulders, Back, and Breast; 
and the Head should be rubb'd the last of all. 
Among the Ancients there were Frictions 
of various Kinds, and subservient to different 
Purposes. Hence Hippocrates in his Treatise 
De Med. Offic. tells us, 'That Friction may 
'resolve, contract, incarn, diminish: Since 
'strong Frictions contract, gentle Friction 
'resolves, much Friction diminishes; and 
'moderate Friction condenses.' Any Part of 
the Body is render'd more lax, by being rub- 
bed with soft oleous Substances.
Nothing. 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 479
Nothing is more beneficial in curing a Weak- 
ness of the Fibres, than Frictions with rough 
warm woolen Cloths, especially if previously 
impregnated with the Smoke of burning Am- 
ber, or Mastick, that at the same time this 
aromatick and corroborating Steam may enter 
the relaxed Parts. But we are to proceed 
gradually in this Work, and not to use too 
strong Frictions at first; lest either the stag- 
nated Fluids in the preternaturally distended 
Vessels should be too copiously convey'd to the 
Heart, and by that Means overwhelm and 
suffocate it; or the tender Vessels should be 
broken by imprudently increasing the Motion 
of the Blood.
When the Ancients wanted to reduce exte- 
nuated Parts to their natural Situation, they sti- 
initiated and irritated these Parts so as to produce 
a gentle Inflammation and Swelling; for by this 
Means, the Humours being convey'd with a 
greater Impetus and a brisker Motion to the 
Parts, they distended the too rigid Vessels pro- 
portionably the more. By often repeating this 
Irritation, the top great Strength of the Ves- 
sels was so diminished, as to yield to the Hu- 
mours, which, in order to their good State of 
Health, must necessarily flow into them. 
Thus Galen, in the third Chapter of his fifth 
Book De Sanitate Tuenda, informs us, 'That 
'by Frictions with pinguious Substances, he in 
'a few Days restored the Flesh of many, who 
'had been for a long time emaciated.'
Hence Frictions with fat Substances are 
highly proper in these Cases, but only to such a 
Degree

480 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Degree as to excite a slight and gentle Redness 
of the Part; for when the Friction is violent, 
that which it attracts to the Part is discussed;
but, in this Case, a large Distension of the too 
strong Vessels is required. 
Galen, in the seventh Chap. of his seventh 
Book De Method. Medend. gives this Caution 
in the following Words: 'When, says he, we 
'intend to produce Flesh on any Part, we are 
'by Friction to heat it, so as to render it tu- 
'mid; but, when we intend to discuss and 
'evacuate, this Friction and Heat are to be 
'continued till the tumid Part subsides.' 
And in the sixteenth Chapter of his fourth 
Book De Method. Medendi, he tells us; 
'That it was customary with some to strike 
'emaciated Parts with slender Rods, slightly 
'anointed, till the Parts became moderately 
'tumid.' He also informs us, that by such 
a Percussion repeated daily, or every other Day, 
together with a moderate Friction or Stimulus, 
the diminutive and extenuated Buttocks of 
Children were wonderfully enlarged. 
Hence the Reason is obvious, why Friction 
sometimes produces opposite Effects; for a 
strong Friction with rough dry woolen Cloths, 
especially when impregnated with the Fumes 
of kindled Aromaticks, as I have observed be- 
fore, cures too weak Fibres; whereas a gentle 
Friction with pinguious Substances, by at- 
tracting the Humours, and relaxing the Solids, 
softens too rigid Fibres. 
FINIS. 

























A 
GUIDE to HEALTH
THROUGH THE 
Various Stages of LIFE. 
Wherein are Explained,
I. The different Degrees and 
Changes of Age, the prin- 
cipal and inevitable Causes 
of OLD AGE, and finally 
of our Dissolution; with 
a Chronological and Hi- 
storical brief Account of 
long LIVES from before 
the FLOOD to this present 
Time. 
II. The Nature, Properties, 
Qualities, and Influence of 
AIR. Of Aliments; the 
Choice of them; their 
Power upon Human Bo- 
dies, with their good and 
bad Effects. Of Sleeping 
and Waking; of Motion and 
Rest; of Retention and Ex-
cretion; and of the Passions 
of the Mind. 
III. Of the Definitions, Di- 
agnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
Curative Indications, both 
Medicinal and Dietetical;
of Acute and Chronical Dis- 
eases incident to Human 
Bodies; with the Nature 
and Use of BATHING and 
FRICTIONS.
The whole illustrated with useful ANNOTATIONS,
methodically and succinctly digested, and con- 
firmed by the Authority of the most celebrated 
Authors, both Ancient and Modern. 
By BERNARD LYNCH, M. D. 
Pugnandum tanquam contra Morbum, sic contra Senectutem. 
Crc. de Senectute 
Optima quæque dies miseris mortalibus ævi 
Prima fugit: subeunt Morbi, tristisque Senectus: 
Et labor. & duræ rapit inclementia mortis. 
VIRG. Lib. III. Georg.
THE SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON: 
Printed for M. COOPER in Pater-noster-Row. 1754. 




TO 
Dr. JOHN BEAUFORD. 
Sir,
THE Friendshlp you shew'd
gd me in the Infancy of my 
Practice has been too essen- 
tially useful to me ever to 
be forgotten; and it is with great 
Self-Satisfaction that I take this pub- 
lick Opportunity of acknowledg- 
ing the Obligations I lie under to 
you. My Interest in Town was not 
A2 only


iv DEDICATION. 
only strengthened and extended by 
the Share you were seen to take in it, 
but my Knowledge was enlarged by 
my Converse with you, and my Prac- 
tice was formed by my Observation 
of yours. 
I carefully examined the Modus 
of Practice here, of the most Emi- 
nent of the Profession, when I first
came to Town, intending to shape 
my own with that which should 
seem to me the most conformable to 
the Sentiments of the Great Hippo- 
crates; and finding none more na- 
tural and uniform than Yours, I took 
it for my Model, and have continued 
it ever since with all the Success I 
could hope for. 
The Profession of Physick is held 
in higher Esteem in this, than any
other Country in Europe; and no 
wonder; because none can produce 
so learned a Body of Physicians. But 
among that Body, more learned and 
skillful than any other in the World, 
your

v DEDICATION. 
Your long Experience, Sir, sets you 
in the first Class of it. This is a 
Truth unquestioned, not only by the 
Publick, but even by those of the 
Profession. 
You have a natural Right to the 
Patronage of the following Work, 
being founded chiefly on your own 
Maxims, and originally begun that I 
might have a publick Opportunity of
owning your Favours, and doing 
Justice to your Merit. How I have 
succeeded in the Choice and Con- 
texture of my Subject, I submit to 
the Publick with the utmost Defe- 
rence; but however I may have fail'd
in the Opinion of other learned Men, 
I have too often experienced your In- 
dulgence, not to flatter myself that 
you will view all Inaccuracy of Stile 
and Diction, and other as minute 
Imperfections, with your usual Can- 
dour and Good-nature. As for more 
capital Errors, I shall most readily
own and reform any such, and most 
A3 grate-

vi DEDICATION. 
gratefully thank any friendly Hand 
that shall be at the Pains of pointing
them out to me. I am, with the 
greatest Sincerity,
SIR,
Your obliged,
and most obedient
humble Servant, 
Stanhope-street, 
June, 1744. 
BERNARD LYNCH.

(VII)
PREFACE. 
WHERE a Title-Page is so expres- 
sive of the Contents of a Book as 
the foregoing, a Preface might 
seem unnecessary; and I should 
think it so, if Custom did not 
seem to exact that a Bill of Fare should be 
serv'd up to the Company before they sat 
down to Table. To comply then with the 
Humour of this modern Tyrant, I must in- 
form the courteous Reader, that the sole End 
of my Labour was to inform the Uninform'd
and to erect such Lights as might help them 
to form such a Judgment of their own Con- 
stitutions, as should prevent their fancying
themselves in a worse State of Health than 
they are, and running after every Empirick, 
who pretends to the Knowledge of Catholi- 
cons, or universal Remedies. These are the 
Bane of all Societies; and tho' Quacks are 
soon detected, yet as the Succession of them 
is so very constant and rapid, the Commonal- 
ty for the most part, see not the Injury done 
to them, nor the Wrong they suffer. This 
is a Misfortune to be lamented, but diffi- 
cult to be removed, whilst Man is prejudic'd
A4 in



viii The PREFACE. 
in Favour of Novelty, and in Disfavour of 
the Regular Physician, who can't afford to 
bellow the Fruits of his hard Labours on the 
Public promiscuously. 
There is one Thing in the following Sheets 
which the Author owns to have labour'd more 
than any Part of his Subject, which is the 
Doctrine of Non-naturals, the Knowledge 
of which, he thinks, no reasonable Man who 
values his own Health should be ignorant of; 
and which he presumes to say, has been more 
obscurely treated heretofore, than it ought to 
have been, or indeed he believes it was de- 
sign'd it should be. 
In treating of acute and chronical Diseases, 
there are general Remedies, but except in one 
or two Occasions, such as the Bite of a mad 
Dog, and some Consumptions, there are no 
formal Recipes, which, it is found by Expe- 
rience, are generally productive of more Evil 
than Good. For the general Ignorance, I 
may say Infatuation, is such, that the Vulgar 
too often make material Mistakes in the Pre- 
paration of the most plain and simple Reci- 
pes. Besides, that as the Nature of Diseases and 
Constitutions is so various and different, not 
to mention the Climate, Air, Season, Age, 
and a thousand other differing Circumstan- 
ces, it would be too presuming for the Au- 
thor to take upon him to prescribe for every 
particular Distemper. He would not do so 
great a Wrong to the Illiterate, nor, to use 
the learned Boerhaave'ss Words, Would do 
any



ix The PREFACE. 
any thing so prejudicial to the noble and ge- 
nerous Science of Physick, or expose it to Re- 
proach, as they must inevitably do, who pre- 
tend to adapt a particular Remedy to gene- 
ral Diseases. 
Having mention'd the ever-famous and-to- 
be-rever'd Boerhaave, the Author takes this 
Opportunity of owning his Obligations to him, 
not only in his Practice, but in this Work 
particularly. He has all along kept that 
Great Man in his View, nor has he been un- 
mindful or neglected any other eminent Wri- 
ter in Physick, either ancient or modern. He 
has frequently quoted their Words, and al- 
ways endeavour'd to conform himself to the 
Sentiments of the most approv'd Authors. 
And that his Gratitude to all such great Men 
as well as Justice may be seen, he has an- 
nex'd a Catalogue of such Authors as he owns 
himself indebted to in the Compilation of 
the following Treatise, thinking this Method 
more orderly and eligible than a constant 
Quotation.
A



A LIST of the Authors. 
Ægineta, Paulus. 
Anhornius. 
Arbuthnot. 
Boerhaave. 
Boyle. 
Borelli. 
Baglivius.
Blondell. 
Bonetus.
Baynard. 
Boutius.
Barlow.
Celsus, Aurel. Cornel.
Celius Aurelianus.
Cheyne. 
Duretus. 
Diodorus Siculus. 
Default. 
Etmuller.
Floyer, Sir John.
Galen. 
Hippocrates. 
Hugens. 
Hales. 
Halley.
Hook. 
Keil.
Lommius.
Laurentius.
Leeuwenhoek. 
Lister.
Livy.
Malpighi.
Mead, Richard.
Morton.
Newton, Sir Isaac.
Oribassius.
Paree, Ambrose.
Prosper, Alpinus.
Pliny.
Quincy.
Ruyschius
Riverius.
Romer.
Rowning.
Ramazini.
Robinson, Tancred.
Solomon.
Sydenbam.
Seneca.
Sanctorius.
Suetonius.
Torricellius.
Van Helmont.
Verulam.
Willis.
Wainright.
Waldschmidius.
A



A
LIS of the SUBSCRIBERS. 
A.
ARundel, the Rt. Hon. 
Lord 
Arundel, the Hon. Tho- 
mas, Esq;
Aston, the Hon. James, Esq; 
Astley, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books 
Aston, George Joseph, Esq;
Andree, M. D. 
Addis, Mr. Apothecary 
Asbridge, Mr. 
Adean, Mr. James 
Allanson, William, Esq;
B.
Beaufort, His Grace the 
Duke of 
Butler, the Hon. John, Esq; 
Bartholomew, M. D. 
Bennet, Philip, Esq; Mem- 
ber for Bath 
Burnham, Mr. 
Boult, Mr. Attorney at Law 
Boudon, Mr. Apothecary 
Benion, Mr. Apothecary 
Beauford, John, M. D. 
Butler, M. D. 
Bodkin, Mr. Valentine 
Brown, William, Esq; 
Barrabee, Mr. 
Bird, Edward, Esq; 
Bostock, M. D. 
Beaumont, Mr. Apothecary 
Beetenson, Mr. Surgeon 
Brewerster, Tho. M. D. 
Brett, Mr. Nathanael 
Bernardeau, Mr. 3 Books
Bradshaw, James, Mr. 
Button, Mrs.  
Barwell, Mr. 
Bolney, Mr. Henry 
Blake, Andrew, Esq;
Blake, D. Esq; 
Barry, M. D. 
Buckeridge, the Rev. Mr. 
Thomas 
Bateman, the Hon. Capt. 
Boswell, Mr. Thomas 
Backas, Mr. Apothecary 
Betts, Mr. John 
Bostock, Mr. Henry 
Bradley, Mr. 
Boyle, Henry, Esq; 
Butcher, Mr. Apothecary 
Bannister, Mr. Charles 
Bower, Archibald, Esq;
Bridgen, Mr. Robert 
Bridgen, Mr. Thomas 
C.
Cavendish, The Rt. Hon.
Lord James 
Clarke, Mr. 




xii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS. 
Carrol, Mr. 
Corless, Mr. Alexander 
Carmault, Mr. 
Coleman, Mr. 
Constable, Mr. John 
Cary, Esquire, Surgeon. 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cheeke, Mr. Apothecary 
Cibber, Colley, Esq; 
Caldwell, Mr. Robert 
Chittick, Mr. Surgeon 
Clempson, Mr. 
Coughlan, Mr. 
Cumming, Rev Mr. Wil- 
liam, A. M. 
Chettey, Mr. William 
Connel, Michael, M. D. 
Cooper, Mr. Apothecary 
Clarke, Mr. Apothecary, 
2 Books. 
Currer, Mr. Jun.
D. 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Frances Viscountess 
Dowager 
Dillon, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Bridget, Viscountess
Dowager 
Dawkins, Esq; Member for 
Woodstock 
Davis, Mr. William, Sur-
geon 
Dorrel, Mr. 
Daffy, the Hon. Capt. 
Draper, Mr. Apothecary 
Death, Mr. Apothecary 
Deschamps, Mr. 
Doyley, Mr. Edward, At- 
torney at Law. 
Delany, the Revd. Mr.
Duggin, Mr. John 
Dumbleton, Mr. Daniel 
Duggin, Mrs.
Davis, Mr. 
E. 
Ewer, Mr. 
Eliott, Mr. Apothecary 
Eyre, Mr. Edward 
Ebrall, Mr. Apothecary 
Emet, Mrs. 
Egan, Mr. 
F. 
Fairfax, The Rt. Hon. the 
Lady Viscountess 
Firebrace, Sir Cordell,Bart. 
Kt. of the Shire for Suf- 
folk  
Fisher, Mr. Thomas 
Fowler, Mr. Apothecary 
Foot, Mr. Asher, Apothe- 
cary
Firmin, Mr. 
Farrel, Mr. 
Francis, Mr. George 
Frazier, Mr. Apothecary 
Farrel, Mrs. 
Farrel, Mr. Apothecary 
Fort, Mr. Francis 
Firmer, Mrs. Hellena
Farrin, Mr. John 
Freeman, Samuel, Esq; 
Fitzgerald, Mrs. 
G. 
Graham, the Reverend Mr. 
3 Books 
Gammon, Mr. Robert, 
Apothecary 
Goodacre,




xiii A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Goodacre, Mr. Apothecary 
Godfrey, Mr. Ambrose, 
Chemist 
Gardiner, Mr. Thomas 
Griffin, Mr. Philip 
Garvan, Francis, Esq;
Gibbon, The Rev. Dr. 
John 
H. 
Hemet, Mr. Operator for the 
Teeth to his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Wales 
Harrison, Mr. Apothecary 
Hoddy, Edward, M. D. 
Hodgson, Mr. Apothecary 
Hernon, Mr. Apothecary, 
4 Books 
Hudson, Mr. Apothecary 
Henley, the Rev. Mr. A. M. 
Harriott, Mr. Surgeon 
Hawkins, Mr. Barnaby 
H—M—Mrs. 
Harrow, Mr. Robert 
Hibber, Mr. 
Haward, Mr. Watkinson, 
Attorney at Law 
Hayrick, Mr. Apothecary 
Horseman, M. D. 
Hall, Mr. 
I. 
Jones, Mr. Tho. 2 Books 
Jayer, Mr. Apothecary, 2 
Books 
Izard, Mr. 
James, M. D. 
Jernegan, M. D. 
Jernegan, Henry, Esq;
K. 
Kilby, Robert, Esq; 
Kirwood, Mr. William, 
Surgeon 
Kingsley, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. 
King, Mr. Maynard 
Kitchen, Mr. 
L. 
Litchfield, The Rt. Hon. the 
Earl of 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
Lord Viscount 
Lainsborough, The Rt. Hon. 
the Lady Viscountess 
Lynch, Sir Henry, Bart. 
Lynch, Robert, Esq; 
Lynch, The Rev. John. 
S. T. P. Dean of Can- 
terbury 
Lynch, George, M. D. 
Lynch, Robert, A. B. 
Lynch, Francis, Esq; 
Lynch, Mr. Nicholas 
Lynch, Mr. Isiodore 
Lynch, Mr. William 
Lynch, Mr. Thomas 
Lloyd, the Hon. Capt. 
Lyster, Mr. Apothecary 
Leake, Mr. 
Langley, Mr. 
L'Herondell, the Rev. Mr.
Lawley, George, Esq; 
Littlejohn, Alexander, Esq;
Lister, Richard, Esq; Kt. 
of the Shire for Salop 
Loukup, George, Esq; 
Lewis, Mr. 
Lucas, 




xiv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
Lucas, Mr. Jeremiah 
Lane, James, Esq;
Lawson, Esq; 
M. 
Mannington, Mr. 
Monins, The Rev. Mr. Ri- 
chard, A. M. 
Middleton, Capt. Christo- 
pher, Esq; 
Maul, Mr. Apothecary 
Marshal, Mr. Surgeon 
Macdonough, D. D. 
Montague, Mrs. 
Morgan, Mr. Apothecary 
Mills, John, Esq; 
Maud, Mr. Apothecary 
Maud, Mr. William 
Monkeman, Mr. Attorney 
at Law. 
Manby, Mr. Apothecary 
Mann, Mr. Thomas 
Macket, Wilmer, Esq; 
Mills, John, Esq; 20 Books 
Martin, Thomas, Esq; 
Metcalf, Mrs. 2 Books 
Morehead, William, Esq; 
Maurin, Mr. 
Metcalf, Mr.Roger, Surgeon 
Mayfield, Mr. Thomas 
Mitchel, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchell, Mr. Apothecary 
Mitchel, Mr. Francis, Sur- 
geen 
Macartey, Alexander, Esq;
Manley, Apothecary 
N. 
Nebot, Mr. Balthazar 
Nevil, Mr. John, Apothecary 
Noone, Mr. John 
Nesbit, Mrs. 
Nelson, Rev, Mr. Rector of 
Oakley 
O. 
Orton, Mr.
Oliver, Mr. Nicholas 
P. 
Parsons, Mrs. 
Parker, Mrs. 
Pack, Mr. Daniel 
Pile, George, M. D. 
Pearson, Mr. 
Poulson, John, Esq;
Prude, Mr. Apothecary 
Palmer, Mr. Benjamin 
Popham, Edward, Esq; 
Member for Wilts 
Pakington, John, Esq; 
Pakington, the Hon. Capt. 
R. 
Rust, Mr. 
Rawlins, Mr. Apothecary 
Rossel, The Rev. Mr. Sa- 
muel 
Raikes, Mr. Apothecary 
Richardson, Mr. 
Radford, Mr. William 
Reynolds, Mr. Christopher, 
2 Books 
Robinson, Tancred, M. D. 
Rivett, Thomas, Esq; 
Raoult, Mr. Surgeon 
Rankin, Mr. Thomas 
Redfern, Mr. 
S.




xv A LIST of the SUBCRIBERS.
S. 
Sweet, Mrs. Rebecca 
Street, Mr. jun. 
Scott, Mrs. 
Sadler, Daniel, Esq; 
Smith, Mr. 
Sedgwick, James, Apothe- 
cary 
Scrooby, Mrs. Elizabeth
Savage, Mrs, Anne 
Savage, Mr. George 
Savage, Mr. William 
Smith, Mr. Edward 
Sherwood, Mr. Noah, Sur-
geon 
Simmons, Mr. Edward 
SherifFe, Mr. 
Shepard, Mr. 
Smithson, William, M. D. 
Sams, Mr. Henry 
Smith, Thomas, Efq; 
Schamberg, Mayer, M. D. 
Schamberg, Isaac, M. D.
Seed, Mr. 
Shelton, Mr. Richard 
Stubbs, Mr. William, At- 
torney at Law. 
Snowden, Mr. 
Stuart, James, Esq;
Stuart, Simeon, Esq; 
Shaw, Mr. 
Smith, Mr. John 
Shipton, John, Esq; 
Stainforth, Mr, George, 
Merchant 
T. 
Tash, Mr. 
Thompson, Thomas, M. D.
Turbut, Mr. Benjamin 
Thompson, Francis, sen. 
Esq; 
Turnball, Mr. William 
Thomas, James, Esq; 
Thompson, John, Esq; 
Thompson, Francis, Esq; 
Turner, Mr.
Tonge, Mr. 
Trant, James, Esq; 
Trant, John, Esq; 
V. 
Venables, Mr. 
Vaughan, Mr. Attorney at
Law 
Umfreville, Edward, Esq; 
W. 
Wharton, Her Grace the 
Dutchess of 
Whiteall, Mrs. 
Wilton, Mr. 
Wilford, Mr. 
West, Lewis, Esq; 
Wilson, Edward, Merchant 
Williams, Mrs. 
Walker, Mr. 
Wilson, Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wells, Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, Mr. John 
Wilson, Mr. Edward 
Webb, Thomas, Esq; 
Westby, Robert, Esq;
Wilmot, Mr. 
Z. 
Zincke, C. F. Esq; 
ERRA-

ERRATA.
Page 35. Line 17, after wholsome Food, add, probably
they might. 
Page 214. Line 21, for immediately read intimately. 

(xvii)
THE 
CONTENTS. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes of Age;
the principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age; 
and, finally, of our Dissolution; with a brief 
chronological and historical Account of long 
Lives, from the Creation to this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's Life,
with a Description and Definition of Old Age. 
OUR Bodies subject to 
Changes page 1 
Man's Life divided into se- 
veral Periods ib. 
The Egyptians Opinion of 
Ages 2 
The Pythagoreans Doctrine 
of Numbers ib. 
Five remarkable Changes in
Man's Temperament, viz. 
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood, and old Age ib
Temperament what, Note *,
ib.
Infancy, Adolescency, Youth, 
and Manhood described 3
Old Age begins at fifty, and
is divided into three Pe- 
riods ib. 
The first is called Verdant 3
The second begins at Seven- 
ty 4 
The third is called Decrepid
ib.
The Pains and Miseries of de- 
crepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Prophet ib. 
An allegorical Description of
decrepid old Age, according 
to the Royal Author, So- 
lomon 5 
The same explained 6 
Some Men old at forty 7 
A great many young at sixty
ib. 
The different Qualities of 
Constitutions ib.
a The

xviii The CONTENTS. 
The melancholick Constitu-       
tion grows old sooner than        
any of the rest—p. 8              
Females grow old sooner than      
the Males—ib.                     
Hippocrates's Opinion con-     
cerning the same—ib.              
Sloth and Idleness soon bring
on old Age—ib.                     
The Causes of different Tem-      
pers or Constitutions—ib.         
The Proportion of the Parts         
of the Body, and their Con-       
formation, contribute to the        
Difference of Constitutions       
9
The different Tempers of the  
Parts of the Body, in re-           
spect of one another—10            
Sexes and Age make a Diffe-         
rence in Constitutions ib.         
Women colder than Men—ib.          
Infants and Children hot and  
moist—ib.                          
Heat decreases in old Age—ib.      
Different Climates, and the         
Manner of living, are               
Causes of different Consti-
tutions—11
The Definition of Old Age—ib.
The same explained—ib.
The great Secret and sole
Method of long Life, is, 
to preserve the Blood and 
Juices in a due State of 
Fluidity and Thinness—12
Nothing will bring a Person
to the State of universal 
Hardness and Stiffness of
the Fibres, and a Viscosity 
and Thickness of the Juices,
than indulging in strong 
high Meats and strong Li-
quors—13 
The only Method of pro-
curing a contrary State of 
the Solids and Fluids—14 
All the Parts constituting a
human Body are made up 
of small Fibres—ib. 
The Divison of the Fibres 
becomes so small at last, as 
to exceed the Power of
Imagination—15
CHAP. II
The principal and inevitable Causes of Old Age, and 
of our Dissolution. 
The Causes of the Alteration 
of our Bodies, and of our 
Dissolution, are either ex- 
ternal or internal—16 
The internal Causes are two—ib. 
The internal Causes what—ib.
The Principles of our Com- 
position what—17 
Animal Actions distinguish- 
ed into vital, natural, and 
animal—ib.
Vital what—ib. 
Natural actions what—ib. 
Animal Functions what—ib. 
The Principles of our Com- 
position being duly distri- 
buted through the whole 
Body, may be called an E- 
quilibrium between the So- 
lids and Fluids—18
Their Alliance is of short 
Duration, and why—ib. 
The






xix The CONTENTS. 
The inevitable Causes of 
Old Age, and of our Disso- 
lotion—p. 19 
Farther Particulars necessary 
to be considered to prove 
the same, concerning the 
Nutrition, Growth, and De- 
crease of the Body—ib. to 28 
The internal Causes of our 
Dissolution are born, grow, 
and are nouristied with us, 
and will bring on gradually 
and inevitably old Age, and 
destroy the Body at last—28 
All the great Promises made 
with Assurance, as to the 
Prolongation of Life for 
many hundred Years, are 
vain and imaginary, being 
unsupported both by Rea- 
son and Experience—ib. 
External Causes of our Disso- 
lution, which are likewise 
inevitable—ib. 
Other external Causes, which 
are accidental, as Wounds, 
Fractures, &c.—29 
CHAP. III.
An historical Account of Long Lives, from the 
Creation to the present Time. 
Men lived many hundred 
Years before the Flood—30 
None of the Fathers attained 
to the Age of a thousand—ib. 
This Length of Life was not 
peculiar to Grace or the 
holy Line only—ib. 
There are eleven Generations 
of the Fathers to the Flood 
31 
Of the Sons of Adam by Cain, 
eight Generations only—ib. 
The Length of Life was re-
duced to one half imme- 
diately after the Flood, in 
the Post-nati only—ib. 
Noah and Sem, who were 
born before the Flood, 
each of them liv'd 600
Years—ib. 
Of the Ages of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Ismael, and Sarah 
ib.
Of Joseph, Levi, Moses, Aaron, 
and Phineas, Grand-child 
of Aaron—32
Of Joshua, Caleb, and Job—33
Of Isaiah the Prophet, and 
Tobias the Elder and the 
Younger—34
Of Epimenides the Cretan, and 
Xenophanes the Colophonian 
36
Of Gorgias the Sicilian, and 
Democritus of Abdera—37 
Of Terentia, Cicero's Wife—39 
Of Simeon the Son of Cleophas, 
called the Brother of our 
Lord, and Bishop of Hie- 
rusalem; and Aquilla and 
Priscilla, St. Paul's Fellow- 
helpers—42 
Of St. Paul the Hermit, and 
St. Anthony the Monk—43 
The Popes of Rome, and their 
Number to this Time—44. 
Dando of Illyrinm, reported 
to have liv'd 500 Years—45 
Hippocrates of Cos, the Prince 
of Physicians, Euphrenor 
the Grammarian Seneca and
a2 Joannes




xx The CONTENTS. 
Joannes de Temporibus, a 
Native of France p. 46 
Of Cornaro the Venetian, and 
William Postell, a crazy 
Frenchman 47 
The surprizing Age of Henry 
Jenkins, a Yorkshireman ib.
Of Thomas Parr, a Shropshire- 
man 48 
Francisco Lupatsoli, Venetian 
Consul at Smyrna 49 
Remarkable Instances of Ab- 
stemiousness, Continency, 
and many other Virtues in 
the Life of Aurenzebe, one 
of the late Great Moguls 
ib. to 52 
Richard Lloyd, born within 
two Miles of Montgomery 
ib. 
John Bailes of Northampton 
53 
The Western Islands of Scot- 
land remarkable for long 
Lives ib. 
Mrs. Hudson's abstemious Life 
described ib. 
Mr Johnston's Life 54
A remarkable Inscription on 
the Tomb-stone of Mar- 
garet Scot, who liv'd 125 
Years ib. 
Of Margaret Paten's great 
Age 55 
—Bright, of Ludlow in 
Shropshire, likewise ib. 
Mrs. Agnes Milbourn's long 
Life, very remarkable for 
the great Number of Chil- 
dren she had by one Hus- 
band ib.
Instance manifestly proving
Milk to be of salubrious,
safe, and sweet Nourish-
ment ib. 
Temperance and a cool Diet 
are absolutely necessary to 
the Prolongation of Life 
56
Man' Life has stood much a- 
about the same Standard 
of Years, from the Time of 
Moses to our Days ib. 
The Continuation and Num- 
bers of Successions of Ge- 
nerations make nothing as 
to the Length or Brevity of 
Man's Life ib. 
People live longer when the 
Times are barbarous, and 
they fare less deliciously, 
and are more given to Bo- 
dily Exercises; but shorter 
in civiliz'd Times, People 
abandoning themselves to 
Luxury and Ease ib. 
The great Abridger of Age 
was undoubtedly the De- 
luge 57 
There were Men of Gigantick 
Stature before the Flood; 
but no such have been pro- 
duced any where since ib. 
The immediate Condition of 
the Parents conduces very 
much to the Length or 
Shortness of the Life of 
their Offspring 58 
The best Rule is to use mo-
deration in all things 59
Conjugal Love more condu- 
cive to Health and long 
Life than an unlawful one 
ib. 
The best Time for Genera- 
tion ib. 
PART


xxi The CONTENTS.
PART II.
Introduction to the Six Nonnaturals.
CHAP. I.
Of the Nature of Air.
Air defin’d—p. 60 
Air the principal Instrument
of Nature in all its Opera- 
tions—62
The Lower Parts of the Air
are impregnated of particles
ib.
Air is differently impregnated
in different places of the 
Surface of the Earth, which
must considerably alter its
State—ib.
Water, Earth, and Salts of
all Kinds, are Ingredients
of Air—63
Other Contents of Air—ib.
Vegetables of all Kinds per-
spire Particles, which float
in the Air—64
Animal Perspiration and the
Effluvia of all their other
Excrements, are Ingredi-
ents of the Air, which of-
ten infect that Part of the
Atmosphere, and produce
pestilential Disease—ib.
Doctor Hale's computation
of Animal Perspiration, and
how it may infect the Air—ib.
The Air in great populous
Cities, in Camps, or near
Numbers of dead Carcasses,
in a hot fultry Season, may
be infected so far as to dis-
posed the People to putrid
and malignant Fevers—6;
the Inhabitants of Countries
where great Numberss have
been slain in Battle, and
left unburied, were soon
after infested with pestilen-
tial Distempers—ib.
Several Instances to prove the 
same—66
It is of the utmost Consequence
to every one, to take care
what kind of Air they live
in—ib.
The first Consideration in 
building Houses and Cities
67
All high Hills and Mountains
are damp, and Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for
Reservoirs of Rain-water—ib.
Rain the Origin of Rivers,
and Fresh-water Springs—ib.
Dew is not mere Water, but
a Collection of watry, oily,
faline and volatile Sub-
stances exhaling from the
Earth—68
Dews of different Places are
of a different Nature—ib.
Why Air soon corrodes the 
Bricks and Tiles of House,
and rots the very Hangings
of Rooms in some Coun-
tries—69
Air in some Places impregnat-
ed with arsenical Steams—ib.
The Steams of Sulphurs and 
Charcoals extremely per-
nicious to human Bodies—ib.
a3 Sul-






xxii The CONTENTS.
Sulphureous Vapours infest 
Vegetables, and render the 
Grass pernicious to Cattle 
70 
How the sulphureous Steams 
and Vapours of Mines affect
the Miners—ib. 
Why Diseases are more fre- 
quent and more dangerous 
in Cities than in the Coun- 
try—ib.
Why the close and confin'd 
Air of Prisons, Bays, and 
Harbours, often produces 
mortal Diseases—71
To what the great Mortality 
that is so often in Camps, 
and Sieges, is chiefly owing 
ib. 
Infects and their Eggs often 
float in the Air we breathe 
in—ib. 
Why Infects floating in the 
Air are often the Cause of 
many grievous Diseases—72 
There are Showers of Rain 
sometimes in Africk, affect- 
ing the Inhabitants with 
Shivering?, a ltd Infects 
found in the Drops of these 
Showers—ib. 
Air in most Places contains 
near the same Quantity of 
Water—73 
All the different Ingredients 
of the Air are digested and 
attenuated ly the Heat of 
the Sun, and constantly agi- 
tated by Winds, which mix 
the Air of different Regions 
together—74 
The particular Causes of 
Thunder and Lightning—ib. 
The wonderful Effects of 
Lightning—75 
The Opinion of Philosophers 
upon these strange Effects 
ib. 
A Thunderbolt what, Note * 
ib.  
The Rays of the Sun are the 
true Cause of infinite varie- 
ty of Ingredients contained 
and floating in the Air—77 
Light is not above ten Minutes 
in passing from the Sun to 
the Earth—ib. 
The Earth is 10,000 of its 
own Diameters distant from 
the Sun—ib. 
The Velocity of Light to that 
of a Cannon Ball, will be 
as 25 Years to 10 Minutes 
ib. 
The Effects of the Rays of 
the Sun collected in the Fo- 
cus of a burning Glass upon 
Gold, which is unalterable 
by any artificial Fire—ib.
The Rays of the Sun are ca-
pable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies,
small Particles lighter when 
separate than the least com- 
pounding Particle of Air 
78 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of Air. 
The Properties of Air what 
p. 78 
Galileus was the first Lisco- 
verer of the Gravity of Air
79
The specifick Gravity of Air 
according to Sir Isaac New- 
ton and Dr. Halley—ib. 
Specifick Gravity what—ib. 
Note *





xxiii The CONTENTS. 
Air may possess a Space 520, 
000 times greater at one 
time than another 80 
The Specifick Gravity of the 
Air cannot be exactly de- 
termined ib. 
Air readily enters into the 
Vessels of Animal Bodies 
82
The same Thing happens in 
Vegetables and Liquids 83 
The Globules of the Blood 
contain Air 85 
Elasticity is a Property in Air 
which it never loses 89 
The Solids and Fluids of Ani- 
mals contain more Air in 
them in Proportion than 
any other Substances—90 
Fluidity is a Property in Air 
which cannot be destroy'd
91  
Air a Fluid in constant Mo- 
tion 92 
The difference between Flui- 
dity and Liquidity ib. 
Air is compressible and dila- 
table 93
Divisibility a Property of Air 
94 
CHAP. III.
Of the Qualities of Air. 
The Qualities of Air what 
95 
Heat is a Quality relative to 
our Senses 96 
The Spirit of Wine in Weather- 
Glasses is affected with the 
least Alerations of Heat or 
Cold 97
Why Languid and Hysterick 
People suffer in hot Wea- 
ther ib 
Excessive hot Air capable of 
reducing animal Substances 
to a State of Putrefaction 
98 
Dr. Boerhaave's Experiment 
upon a Sparrow and a Dog
ib.
Perspiration what 99 
Air not cool'd by the Motion 
of Winds 102 
Great Mischief arising from 
keeping the Air of the 
Rooms of People in Fevers 
too hot 103  
Cold condenses the Air in Pro- 
portion to the Degrees of 
it 104 
Cold suppresses Perspiration 
105 
The fatal Extremities of Cold 
in Greenland ib. 
The Effects of extreme Cold 
or extreme Heat 106 
The Effects of moist Air ib. 
Dryness, a Quality in Air 
producing different Effects 
to those of moist Air 109 
The Doctrine of absorbing 
Air thro' the Pores of the 
Skins of living Creatures 
demonstrated 111 
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of Air upon human Bodies. 
Hippocrates knew more of the 
Influence of Air than all 
his Predecessors and Suc- 
cessors 113 


xxiv The CONTENTS. 
Hipocrates's Advice concern- 
ing Air—ib. 
—Could foretell the 
Diseases from ths Weather 
115
The Affair of Generation is 
influenc'd by Air—116 
The different Shapes, Com- 
plexion, and Tempers of 
Mankind influenc'd by Air 
117
The different Forms of Go- 
vernment, and even the 
Courage of People, is ow- 
ing to the Influence of Air 
ib.
Air the Cause of most Dis- 
eases—118 
Astronomy useful in Physick 
119 
The Constitution of the Air 
according to Hippocrates 
120
Dr. Arhuthnot's Explanation 
of Hippocrates and others, 
concerning the Influence of 
Air—124  
The whole Constitution of 
the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends upon 
Air—147  
What we are to do when the 
Air is corrupted—148 
What regards ancient People 
concerning Air—ib. 
CHAP. V. 
Of Aliments in general. 
The first Stage of Digestion, 
and how it is perform'd 
150 
The second Stage of Diges- 
tion—155 
The most subtil Parts of the
Food pass immediately in- 
to the Blood by the absor- 
bent Vessels of the Inte- 
stines—156 
The last Stage of Digestion
161  
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of Aliments. 
All Animals are made either 
immediately or mediately 
of Vegetables—p. 164 
Vegetables consist of Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, and 
Earth—165
Of different Tastes—ib.
Of the properest Food of the 
vegetable Kingdom.—166 
Of the Qualities of Barley, 
Wheat, Oats, Rice, Rye, 
Millet, Panick and Maise 
167 
Of Peas, Beans, Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricocks, Plumbs, 
and Mulberries—168, 169 
Of Gooseberries, Currants, 
Cherries, Strawberries, O- 
ranges. Citrons, Limons, 
Grapes and Figs—170  
Of Quinces, Pomegranates, 
Tamarinds, Capers, Olives, 
Almonds, Walnuts, Hazle- 
Nuts, Chesnuts, Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and 
Melons—171 
Of Pot-Herbs—172
Of Artichokes, Asparagus, 
Parsley, and Celery—ib. 
Of Spinage, Beet, Sallads, 




xxv The CONTENTS. 
Potatoes, Turnips, Car- 
rots, Parsnips—173 
Of Garlick, Onions, Rock-  
ambole, Shalot, Leeks, 
Radishes, Horse-radishes, 
Cresses, Mustard, Truffles,
Morelles, and Mushrooms 
174 
Of Marjoram, Basil, Savory,  
Thyme, Rosermary, Sage 
175  
Of the Qualities of Tea, 
Coffee, and Chocolate—175, 
176, 177, 178
Animal Food more nourish- 
ing than Vegetable—ib. 
Animal Diet is anti-acid—179
Animal Flesh differs accord- 
ing as the Animal is terre- 
strial, aquatick, or am- 
phibious, and Fishes abound 
with more alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial animals 
ib.
The only Way of having 
found and healthful animal 
Food—180
The Flesh of Animals too 
old, unwholsome—181 
Salt Fish produces gress Hu- 
mours, and bad Juices—ib. 
Why the Flesh of wild Ani- 
mals keeps longer uncor- 
rupted than that of tame 
ones—182
Flesh boiled, wholsomer for 
weak Stomachs than roasted 
ib. 
Why Meats bak'd or fry'd,
are bad—183
Of Lamb, Veal, Kid, and 
Beef—ib.
Of Mutton, Rabies, young 
Hares, Pork and Bacon 
184
Of Brawn, Deer, Cream,
Butter. Marrow and Cheese 
185 
Milk, a most noble, nourish- 
ing, and wholsome Food 
l66 
A proper Diet for Women 
that give suck, or Nurses 
187 
Whey, good for hot Consti- 
tutions and Scurvies 188 
How to know the different 
Nature and Qualities of 
Birds or Fowls in general 
ib.  
Of Duck, Capon, Pigeons, 
Pheasants, Pullets, and 
Geese—189 
Of Turkey, Partridges, Plo- 
vers, Blackbirds, Larks, 
Sparrows, Peacocks, and 
Starts—190 
Of Thrushes, Quails, Turtle 
Doves, Woodcock, Snipe, 
and all other long-billed 
Birds—191
Of Fish in respect of Flesh, 
and why it is in general 
hard of Digestion ib. 
General Rules concerning Fish
192 
Of Eels, Carp, Lampreys, 
Pike, and Sturgeon—193 
Of Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, 
Turbut, Soles, Place, 
Perch, Tench, Gudgeons, 
and Smelts—194. 
Of Flounders, Salmon, Trout, 
Cod-fish, Haddock, Skate, 
Thornback, Barbel, Mac- 
karel, Herrings and Sprats
195, 196 
Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity 
are lightest of Digestion. 
ib. 
The larger and bigger the 
Vege-




xxvi The CONTENTS. 
Vegetable, or Animal is 
in its Kind, the Food made 
thereof is the stronger, and 
harder to be digested 197 
Sea Fish or Animals harder to 
be digested than Land Ani- 
mals 198
Vegetables and Animals a- 
bounding with oily, fat,
and viscid Substance, are 
harder to digest than those 
of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance ib. 
Of the Nature and Effects of 
Rock and Sea Salt 199 
Of Honey, Oil and Vinegar 
201, 202  
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bodies, with 
their good and bad Effects. 
Aliment what 203 
The Art of preserving Health 
consists in a Mediocrity of 
Diet 204
Substances which stimulate 
the folid Parts, produce 
the greatest Alterations in 
animal Bodies. 205 
The solid Parts of animal 
Bodies may be contracted 
variously by Diet 206
The more sulphurous or chy- 
mical Oil any Spirit con- 
tains, the more destructive 
it proves to the Constitu- 
uon, as Rum and distill'd
Spirits of Annifeeds, &c. 
ib.
Austere acid Vegetables have 
a Quality of contracting, 
and strengthening the Fi- 
bres without a great many 
of the bad Effects of di- 
stilled Spirits 207 
Warm Water the best Liquid 
for relaxing the Fibres ib.
How the Qualities and Quan-
tity of the Fluids of a hu- 
man Body may be chang'd 
by Diet 208 
Acrimony or Sharpness is not 
natural, but introduc'd into 
the Fluids of animal Bodies 
either by Food or Sickness
210 
The Juices of found Animals 
consist of Salts of a pe- 
culiar Nature, neither quite 
fix'd, nor quite volatile, 
nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline ib. 
Acrimony in the Blood con- 
sists of three Sorts, acid, 
alkaline, and muriatic or 
briny 211  
The proper Diet for the Cure 
of the acid Acrimony 212 
The Diet proper in the alka- 
line and briny Acrimony 
ib. 
Several Sorts of Antiscorbu- 
ticks proper in an alkale- 
scent State of the Fluids 
213 
Drink, an essential Part of 
our Food, and the chief In- 
tentions of it 214. 
Pure Water answers all the 
Intentions of Drink, best 
of any Liquor ib. 
The Usefulness of Water for 
the Purposes of human 
Life 215 
Water the best and most 
wholsome


xxvii The CONTENTS. 
wholsome Drink in gene- 
ral, some few Cases ex- 
cepted—ib.
Of Malt Liquors—216
Of strong Beer—ib. 
Of the Nature of fine Ales, 
or Home-brew'd, and how 
they are fin'd, which is 
pernicious, if not poison- 
ous to Health—ib.
Yorkshire, Nottingham, Welch,
and all fine Ales brew'd 
for Sale, destrudlive to 
Health—217
The frequent Use and Excess 
of distilled spirituous Li- 
quors, is become a Vice of 
so shocking a Nature among 
the People in general—ib.
The poisonous Qualities of di-
stilled Spirits consider'd—218
The direful Effects of the fre- 
quent Use of Dram-drink- 
ing explain'd—219 
The great Calamity of Dram- 
drinking farther consider'd 
220  
Next to Drams, no Liquor de- 
serves to be stigmatized and 
more detested than Punch 
ib.  
The principal Ingredients of 
Punch separately consider'd 
221 
When a Cordial may be use- 
ful 222 
A Sot the most contemptible 
Character in human Life—ib. 
The melancholy Effects of
Drunkenness explain'd—223 
A short Account of different
Wines in general—224 
Strong made Country Wines 
prejudicial—225  
The Conclusion, concerning 
Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors—ib. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, and the Diet proper for 
each. 
A general Method as to Diet, 
without Regard to parti- 
cular Constitutions absurd 
226 
Enumeration of the several 
Sorts of Constitutions 227 
Qf the Debility of the Fibres
ib.
The Causes and Signs of weak 
and lax Fibres assign'd—228
A Regimen for those of weak 
fibres—229 
The Effects of too rigid a 
state of the Fibres—230
Rigidity what, and likewise 
the Signs of such a consti- 
tution—ib.
The Regimen in such a State 
231 
The Definition, Cause, and 
proper Diet of plethorick 
Constitutions—232  
Of sanguinecus Constitutions 
and their Diagnostick Signs 
233 
The Diet proper for such Con- 
stitutions—235 
A saline Constitution of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, is 
either acid, alkaline, muria- 
tick, or briny—ib. 
Of acid Constitutions and their 
Effects—236 
Of Constitutions subject to an 
alkaline Acrimony—237



xxviii The CONTENTS. 
The Causes and Symptoms of 
such Constitutions—238, 239 
The Regimen for such—240 
The Causes and proper Diet 
for the muriatick or briny 
Scurvy—ib. 
Of phlegmatick Constitutions, 
their Causes, Signs, and 
proper Diet—241, 242 
Of fat or oily Constitutions, 
their Causes, Symptoms and 
proper Diet—243, 244, 245
Of atrabilarian or melancholy 
Constitutions, their Signs, 
Causes, Effects, and proper 
Diet—246 to 250 
The grand Secret of Health 
consists in keeping an Equi- 
librium between the Solids 
and Fluids—ib. 
Aphoristical Rules of Diet in 
the various Stages of Life 
251 to 258
CHAP. IX.
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
Sleep, what—258 
The Use, Benefit, and Causes 
of Sleep—261 
The natural Cause of Sleep 
263 
The Effects of two much 
Watching—ib. 
Late Meat suppers prejudicial 
to Health—264 
The Effects of too much 
Sleep—266 
Of sleeping in the Day-time, 
or after Dinner—267 
The ordinary Time allowed 
for Sleep—268 
The properest Time for sleep- 
ing 268 
Nothing more pernicious to 
the Constitution, than 
watching by Night and 
sleeping by Day—ib. 
Rules to be observ'd in regard 
to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed—270 
CHAP. X.
Of Motion and Rest.
The use of Motion and Rest 
271 
The Necessity of Motion 
or Exercise mechanically 
proved—273 to 282
Of the Effects of Musick—283
Its wonderful Effects in cur- 
ing the Bite of the Taran- 
tula, Note *—ib. 
The Effects of too much
Rest—286
The absolute Necessity of La- 
bour and Exercise for the
Preservation of Health far- 
ther consider'd—ib. 
The bad Effects of too much 
Labour or Exercise—287 
Of general Exercises—ib. 
Riding of all Exercises the 
best—ib.  
Of particular Exercises ap- 
propriated to certain Parts 
of the Body—28  
Conditions to be observ'd what
regard to Exercise—29
CHAP. 



xxix The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XI. 
Of Retention and Excretion.
What Things are to be ex- 
creted or evacuated, and 
what retain'd—291 
The Cause of costive Stools 
292
The best Proportion of the
gross Evacuations to the 
Quantity of Food taken in 
ib. 
Purging Stools how they dis- 
cover the Badness of the 
Regimen we use—293 
The Reason why Mercury 
will purge instead of sali- 
vating—294 
That the same Reason will 
make appear why Restrin- 
gents and Opiates prove
purgative—ib. 
A dangerous Mistake in rear- 
ing up Children—ib. 
Loose and purgative Stools 
discover intemperate Eat- 
ing—295 
The Mischief arising to Hy- 
sterical and Vapourish Peo- 
ple, by perpetually cram- 
ming and gobbling the 
richest and strongest Food, 
and highest Cordials—ib. 
The common Cause of Head-
Aches, Stomack-Aches, 
and Colicks—296 
The right Method of bracing
relax'd Nerves—ib. 
An uncommon Evacuation 
both by Stool and Urine, 
and the Causes of it—297 
Urine, and what it con- 
sists of—299 
Unite of a bright Amber Co- 
lour the best—300 
The Effects of Urine too long 
retained—ib. 
The Effects of too great an 
Evacuation of Urine—301 
Of the different Tastes, Smell, 
Colour, and Quantity of 
Urine—ib.
Of high-colour'd, foul, and 
turbid Urine—302
Of dark-brown, or dirty red- 
colour'd Urine—ib. 
Of bloody, mattery, or whey- 
ish Urine—303 
Obstructed Perspiration the 
Cause of most acute Di- 
seases, and the Effect of 
chronical ones—ib.
Catching of Cold what, and 
how dangerous—ib. 
A present, easy Remedy a- 
gainst it—304 
Certain Indications of Per- 
spiration's being deficient 
or obstructed, with Direc- 
tions how to remedy the 
same—ib. 
The Semen what, and the 
Effects of moderate Coition
305 
Immoderate Coition and its 
bad Effects—306 
The Menses a necessary Eva- 
cuation, and what,—307 
Of Sweat and the Nature of 
it—308 
Sweat different from insensible 
Perspiration—ib. 
Of the Saliva, or Spittle, and 
the Use of it—309 
Of Tobacco and its Effects 
310 
Of the Mucus or Snot, and 
Tears—311
Of Ear Wax and its Use—312 
CHAP. 

xxx The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
The Essence and Causes of 
the Passions not consider'd, 
but their Effects and Influ- 
ence upon Human Bodies 
312
The Manner how the Mind 
operates upon the Body 
313 
How the Passions of the Mind
consume the Spirits and 
disorder the Body—ib. 
Joy and Anger render 
Body lighter—314
Fear and Sorrow increase the 
Weight of the Body—315 
The Passions to be consider'd
as physical Agents ib. 
An Enumeration of the chief 
Passions of the Mind—ib. 
Of Love (properly distinguish
ed into three Kinds) and 
its Effects—317 
Of Hatred and its Effects—320 
Of Shame, Hope, Despair, 
and their Effects—321
The Passions are properly di- 
vided into acute and chro- 
nical—323 
The Effects of acute Passions 
ib. 
The Cause of Blushing—ib. 
The Cause of Sighing—324 
The Effects of the Suddenness 
of the Passions when ex- 
treme—ib.
Of chronical Passions—ib. 
The Effects of chronical Pas- 
sions—325  
The Passions have a very great 
Influence upon Health—ib. 
The Advantages of Spiritu-
al Love with regard to 
Health—326 
It banishes all those Vices 
winch must ruin Health, 
and gives continual Joy and 
Serenity, inseparable from 
Health—ib.  
The Conclusion—327 
PART III. 
CONTAINING, 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, and 
curative Indications both Medicinal and Dietetical 
of acute and chronical Diseases; with the Nature 
and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
The Introduction—329 
CHAP. 

xxxi The CONTENTS. 
CHAP. I. 
Of Fevers, both in general and particular. 
A Fever, what—333 
Sydenham's Definition—ib. 
Boerhaave's Sentiments—ib. 
The Symptoms of Fevers in 
general—ib.
The general Cure of Fevers
334 
Of the Symptoms—ib. 
The Benefit of giving a Vo- 
mit in Fevers—335
When a Purge may be given 
with Advantage—336 
The Cause of Fevers accord- 
ing to Hippocrates—ib. 
A Rule of Diet in Fevers—337 
A Division of Fevers—ib. 
Of an Ephemera and putrid 
Fever, what—338
The Causes of a putrid Fever 
ib.
The Diagnosticks and Prog- 
nosticks—339 
Of a continent or remitting
Fever—340 
Of a spurious remitting Fever, 
and its Prognosticks—341
Of a simple remitting Fever—ib. 
The Method of Cure—342 
A Division of continual Fevers
into Burning and Slow Fe- 
vers, with the chief Symp- 
toms and Prognosticks—343
The Regimen—344 
The Method of Cure—345 
Of a Calenture, and of Slow 
Fevers—346
Of Catarrhal Fevers—ib. 
The Method of Cure—347 
Of Intermitting Fevers—348 
The Method of Cure—349 
Of Spurious intermitting Fe- 
vers, and the Cure—351 
The proximate Cause of In- 
termitting Fevers—352  
Of Burning Fevers—ib. 
Great Variety of Malignant 
Fevers—353 
Prognosticks and Cure of Ma- 
lignant Fevers—354  
Of Spotted fevers; their 
Symptoms, Prognosticks, 
and Cure—357 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms attending 
Fevers. 
Of Rigor or Shivering in Fe- 
vers—358
Of Feverish Heat, and the 
Cure—359
Of Thirst, Anxieties, and Vo-
miting in Fevers—360, 361 
Of a Looseness in Fevers—363 
Of a Strangury, and profuse
Sweats in Fevers—364, 365 
Of a Pain in the Head, Watch-
fulness, Coma, and Deliri- 
ums in Fevers—366, 367 
Of Convulsions in Fevers—368 
Of Weakness in Fevers—369 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in 
Fevers—370 
Of the Small-Pox; its diffe- 
rent Stages and Cure, from 
371 to 380. 
CHAP.

xxxii the CONTENTS. 
CHAP. III. 
Of inflammatory Diseases attended with a Fever. 
Of a Phrensy, or Inflamma- 
tion of the Brain—382 
Of a Quinsy; its different 
Sorts, and Cure—384 
Of a Pleurisy—386
Of a Peripneumony, or In- 
flammation of the Lungs 
389 
An Empyema, what—391 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or Inflam- 
mation of the Diaphragm 
393 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Stomach—ib.
Of an Inflammation of the 
Liver—395
Of an Inflammation of the 
Mesentery—400 
Of an Inflammation of the 
Guts, Symptoms and Cure 
402 
Inflammations of the Kidneys
405 
Of an Apoplexy—409 
CHAP. IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers. 
Of a Palsy—413 
Of an Hemiplegia, and a Pa- 
raplegia—415 
The Cure—416
Of an Epilepsy, or Falling- 
Sickness—417
The Causes Various—ib. 
Of Melancholy Madness, and
the Causes—421 
Of Madness from the Bite of
a Mad-Dog—425 
A new and sure Method of
Cure—429
Of the Scurvy—432 
The Cause—433
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of 
Body—435 
The Signs, and Cure—436 
Of a Consumption—439 
Of the concomitant Cause of a 
Consumption—441 
The Method of Cure, from 
449 to 452  
Of a Dropsy—452 
Of the Gout—456 
The Effects of Abstinence in 
the Gout—461 
Of Rheumatism—ib. 
The Cause and Cure—462  
Of the Stone and Gravel—463 
CHAP. V. 
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing and Frictions. 
Of Cold Bathing—467 
Necessary Rules to be observ'd 
before Cold Bathing—470 
Wherein Cold Bathing is in- 
jurious—471 
The Use of warm Bathing—473 
The Use and Effects of hot 
Mineral Baths, such as that 
famous one in Somersetshire
474 
Of Frictions and their good 
and bad Effects—476 
A

(1)
A 
Guide to Health, &c. 
PART I. 
Of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age; the principal and inevita- 
ble Causes of Old Age; and, final- 
ly, of our Dissolution. 
To which is annex'd 
A brief, chronological, and historical Account
of LONG LIVES, from before the Flood to 
this present Time. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the different Degrees and Stages of Man's 
Life; with a Description and Definition of 
Old Age. 
As our Bodies are subject to Changes 
and Alterations, from the Minute 
we come into the World; so the 
Physicians, regarding the most ap- 
parent and sensible Changes only, have divided
man's whole Life into several Periods, which  
A they

2 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
they call Ages: The Egyptians reckon'd as 
many as there are ‡ Septenaries in a hundred; 
for they were of Opinion, that Man's Life 
could not exceed that Term. 
The Pythagoreans, who were very super- 
stitious in the Doctrine of Numbers, have 
publish'd in their Writings, that we undergo 
remarkable Changes every seven Years, as well 
in regard to the Temperature of the Body, as 
the Qualities of the Soul; all which must be 
referr'd to the Excellency and Perfection of 
the Number Seven.
But I will not enter into Disquisitions upon 
Numbers in this Place; it is enough for me to
have the Concurrence of all the most cele- 
brated Authors, that Man, according to the 
natural Course of Life, undergoes five remark- 
able Changes in his * Temperament, and passes 
five Ages or Periods; that is, Infancy, Ado- 
lescency, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. 
Infancy is hot and moist; but the Moisture 
is predominant, and keeps the Heat in such 
Subjection, that it can no way shew its Effects. 
It
‡ Septenarius, or Septennium, containing the Space of seven 
Years. Some of the Antients reckon'd every Constitution 
underwent some remarkable Change in every such Revolution, 
whence the seventh Year was call'd critical, or climacterick
Year. 
* Temperament is that Diversity in the Blood of different 
Persons, whereby it is apt to fall into some certain Combina- 
tions more in one Body than another, whether into Sanguine, 
Choler, Phlegm, or Melancholy; from whence Persons are said 
to be of a sanguine, cholerick, phlegmatick, or melancholy Tem- 
perament or Constitution. Of all which I shall speak more at 
large hereafter. 

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 3 
It continues to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
Year. 
Adolescency follows, which is likewise hot 
and moist, but the Heat begins to be predo- 
minant; for we see its Sparks shine and lighten 
every where. 
In Males the Voice then begins to grow 
loud and hoarse; they spread and dilate every
way, and cast their first Downs. In Females 
the Breasts grow visibly harder and larger, the 
Blood is in Motion thro' the whole Body, and 
pushes on all Sides till it finds Passage. This 
Period extends to the Age of four or five and 
twenty, which is the Term limited by Nature 
for Growth. 
This is succeeded by Youth, which is full of 
Heat, Vigour, and Agility: It runs to thirty- 
five or forty. In this Age the Body comes to 
its full State, and the Fibres, Membranes, and 
Bones to their due Solidity. This is what is 
call'd Manhood, and is the most temperate of 
the Ages of Man, participating of the four 
Extremes equally, and extending to the fiftieth
Year; where Old Age begins, which com- 
prises the Remainder of our Lives. 
Now this last Period of Man's Life may be 
divided into three Stages; but I pass over that 
which is call'd Senium ex morbo, that is, Old 
Age brough on by Sickness.
The first is call'd Verdant: It is accompa- 
nie with Prudence, and is full of Experience, 
and fit for governing Commonwealths, and 
managing Affairs of Importance. The se- 
A2 cond

4 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
cond begins at Seventy, and is attended with 
several little Ailments, and is cold and dry. 
As to the first, there are such apparent Marks 
of it, that none ever doubted it; for if we 
touch old Men of those Years, we shall find 
them generally very cold in all their Muscles; 
they have no lively or Vermillion Colour; all 
their Senses are weaken'd, and they are subject
to a great many cold Distempers: But as to 
the other Quality, Dryness, some have endea- 
vour'd to dispute it, saying that this Period is 
moist, but not dry. To this Galen replies, 
in his first Book de Sanitate Tuenda, that old
Men have all those Parts dry which are moist 
in Children; that is, the solid Parts, upon 
which the whole Constitution depends. This 
is even the Opinion of the Moderns, and what 
we should follow; for Leanness, Wrinkles, 
Hardness of the Nerves and Skin, the Stiff- 
ness of the Joints, are sufficient Demonstra- 
tions of this dry Temperament at that Age. 
At length comes the last Step of Old Age, 
and is call'd Decrepit; in which, according 
to the Royal Prophet, there is nothing but 
Pains and Grief; for all the Faculties of the
Soul and Body are weaken'd, the Sentiments 
dull and heavy, the Memory lost, the Judg- 
ment defective. 
This Last Period of Old Age is describ'd in 
the twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes, under so 
beautiful an Allegory, that nothing can excel 
it; and as the Royal Author was the greatest 
Philosopher and Naturalist that ever wrote, I  
will


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 5
will therefore present the Reader with his 
Description of this Stage of Life at large, 
which, besides its Beauty, will likewise serve 
Us for Instruction and Counsel.
Remember, says he, thy Creator in the Days 
of thy Youth, while the Sun, or the Lights or 
the moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor 
the Clouds return after the Rain. 
In the Day when the Keepers of the House 
shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow 
themselves, and the Grinders cease, because 
they are few; and those that look out of Win- 
dows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut
in the Streets, when the Sound of the Grinding 
is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the
Bird, and all the Daughters of Musick shall 
be brought low.  
And when they shall be afraid of that which 
is high, and Fears shall be in the way, and the 
Almond-tree shall flourish, and the Grashopper 
shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners 
go about the Streets. 
Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as 
it was: and the Spirit shall return to God that
gave it.
This is the Description of Stage of 
man's Life, which is admirable. In decrepit 
old Age, the Sun and the Stars are darken'd;
that is, the Eyes of Man, which are grown
dim; nor the Clouds return after the Rain;
A3 that


6 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
that is, after they have been weeping a long 
time, they seem to have thick Clouds before 
their Eyes. The Keepers of the House shall 
tremble; that signifies the Hands and Arms, 
which have been given to Man for the Defence 
of his whole Body. And the strong Men shall 
bow themselves; that is, the Legs, which are 
the Columns that support the whole Building. 
And the Grinders cease; that is, the Teeth, 
which grind and chew the Aliments. And 
those that look out of the Windows be darken'd; 
that is, the Eyes, which are troubled with 
Cataracts, and several other Disorders incident
to the Sight of decrepit old People. And the 
Door shall be shut in the Streets, when the 
Sound of the Grinding is low; those are the 
Chops, which cannot open to chew, or the 
Canals thro' which the Aliment us'd to pass, 
but are now grown straight and narrow. And 
be shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird; that
is, decrepit old People cannot sleep, and are 
always awaken'd by the Cock's Crowing. 
And all the Daughters of Musick shall be 
brought low; that is, their Voice, which fails 
them. And the Almond-tree shall flourish; 
that is, the Head, which is all white. And 
the Grashopper shall be a Burden; that is, the
Legs, which are swoln, &c. 
Having now describ'd the Ages terminated 
by Years, I would not however be so far con- 
fin'd to the usual Number into which Man's 
Life is divided, as if Youth and Old Age must
intirely depend upon it; We ought rather to
regu-

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 7
regulate ourselves by the * Temperament, or 
Nature of our Constitution: for we may 
call every Man that is cold and dry, an old
man; there are a great many such at forty, 
and a great number of young Men at sixty. 
some Complexions fail sooner, and others later. 
The sanguine are of long Duration, be- 
cause they have a deal of Heat and Moisture, 
which Constitution or Temper is most com- 
modious to Mankind, and qualifies them best
for Action, and is therefore most consistent with
Health and long Life; whereas the contrary 
Temper, viz. cold and dry, soon tends to 
Decay and Death; for the sooner a Body wi- 
thers and dries away, the sooner it grows old, 
and draws near its Dissolution. This Heat 
and Moisture hath also its several Degrees, 
but these Qualities are best when moderate; 
those which differ and recede from that Me- 
diocrity, are called hot and moist, hot and dry, 
or cold and moist, and cold and dry, tho' all 
in general are hot and moist in some Degree. 
These differences of Tempers are com- 
monly distinguish'd by the Denominations,
which I have observ'd already of Sanguine,
Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic Con-
stitutions, according tothe Nature and Dis-
position of the Juices in the several Bodies,
where the excrementitious Discharges answer
thereto. They whose Blood is of a mode-
rate Templer, between hot and moist, are
called sanguine; those who exceed in beat,
A4 and 
* Temperament, See Pag. 2. Note *

8 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
and whose Blood is dryer, are called Choleric; 
those who are cold and moist, Phlegmatic;
and lastly, those who are cold and dry, Me- 
lancholic; and this last Temper or Constitu- 
tion grows old sooner than any of the rest. 
As to what regards the Sexes, the Fe- 
male, generally speaking, grows old sooner 
than the Male, which Hippocrates justly ob- 
serves, in his Book concerning those Chil- 
dren who are born at the End of the seventh 
Month. The Females, says he, are later in 
forming and growing in the Womb than the 
Males; but when they are out of it, they 
grow faster, have earlier Understanding, and 
are sooner old, on account of the weakness of
their Bodies, and their manner of living. 
Weakness hastens their Growth, and brings 
them likewise sooner to old Age; for as the 
Plants which are short-liv'd grow in a few 
Minutes, so the Bodies which have no long 
Duration, soon come to their Perfection. 
Their manner of living likewise contributes 
very much to their growing old soon, as they
most commonly lead an unactive life; for 
nothing brings us sooner to old Age than 
Sloth and Idleness. 
As to the different Tempers and Constitu- 
tions of Men, they depend, in a great mea- 
sure, not only upon the various Dispositions 
of the Humours contain'd in the Body, but 
also on the peculiar Conformation and Struc- 
ture of the noble Parts, and their various 
Proportions in respect to each other, which 
disposes

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 9
disposes them to breed Humours of diffe- 
rent Kinds and Dispositions; and endows 
them with various Qualities, according to 
the several Alterations they undergo in diffe- 
rent Bodies, and the Proportion of such ani- 
mal Fluids differently fermented, exceeding 
or falling short in Degrees of Digestion; or 
being variously vitiated by the assimilating
Qualities of Humours already contain'd, or 
of fresh Food taken into the Body, which 
may pervert the Disposition of the Fluids al- 
ready contain'd in the Blood Vessels. 
The Proportion of the Parts of the Body, 
and their Conformation, may contribute to 
the difference of Constitution, as they sepa- 
rate and discharge Humours, not only diffe- 
rently prepar'd, but in greater or less Quan- 
tities: Thus, if the Heart be larger in Pro- 
portion to the Body than the rest of the 
Parts, the Blood must circulate more briskly, 
and with greater Force; if the Liver be 
large, and separate a great Quantity of Bile, 
the Chyle and Blood must be more bilious; 
and as the Stomach digests differently, the 
blood must be supplied with Nourishment 
in greater or less Quantities, more or less di- 
gested, and so occasion Sanguine, Choleric, 
or Phlegmatic Constitutions. Thus the noble 
parts contribute to the different Temper of 
the whole, as well as other particular Parts
themselves. 
Hence it is; that different Parts of the 
Body are, in respect of one another, esteem'd 
to

10 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
to be of different Tempers; as the Heart, up- 
on account of its Situation and constant Mo- 
tion, may be reckon'd one of the hottest 
Parts of the Body. The others reckon'd of 
a hot Temper, are the Liver, the musculous 
Flesh, the Spleen, the Kidneys, Lungs, Veins, 
Arteries, and Fat. The cold Parts are, the 
Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, Tendons, Nerves, 
Membranes, Spinal Marrow, and the Brain. 
Those which are accounted moist, are the
Fat, Marrow, Brain, Breasts, Testicles, 
Lungs, Spleen, Kidneys, musculous Flesh, 
Tongue, Heart, and the softer Nerves. The 
dry Parts are, Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments, 
Tendons, Membranes, Arteries, Veins, and 
hard Nerves. 
There is moreover another difference in 
the Tempers or Constitutions of human Bodies, 
in respect of Age and Sexes; thus Women 
are naturally colder than Men, too much 
Heat being supposed apt to consume and vi- 
tiate the tender Nourishment of Infants, 
which is to be prepar'd in the Mother. Age 
likewise alters Constitutions, according to
the several Stages and Periods, as I have ob- 
serv'd before; thus Infants and Children are 
hot and moist. Youth more temperate, Men 
and full-grown Persons hot and dry; where-
as in old Age the Heat decreases, and Nou- 
rishment is dry'd up for want of its usual 
Supplies. 
Another thing that makes Constitutions 
differ, is the difference of Climates, the
manner

Part I. 11 thro' the various Stages of Life. 11
manner of living, the nature of the Food 
they use, and the Liquors wherewith the 
more solid Parts of the Food are diluted; but 
for a more particular Account of different 
Constitutions, see Part II. Chap. IX. where 
I treat of the Diet proper for each respe- 
ctively. 
Having hitherto given the Reader an Ac- 
count of the different Degrees and Changes 
of Age, as likewise a Description of decrepit
old Age, supported by the Authority of the 
wise Solomon; and lastly, of the Causes and 
Nature of different Constitutions, I shall 
now finish this Chapter with the Definition 
of it, which will be of singular Use to such 
as will observe the Precepts hereafter men- 
tion'd, in order to preserve Health and long
Life. 
The incomparable Sanctorius, most ele- 
gantly and concisely defining old Age, says in
Aphorism xxxv. Sect. v. Senectus est univer- 
salis fibrarum durities, &c. that is, old Age is 
an universal Hardness of the Fibres, &c. which 
implies; that when there is a greater Waste 
of the nervous Fluid than can be repair'd, 
then the component Machinulœ * of all the 
Fibres of  the human Body, for want of a 
Sufficiency of this animal Oil or Fluidt are 
harden'd and dry'd, the Pores are thereby 
straiten'd
* Machinulœ signifies in Anatomyy the various Textures, 
Combinations and Decussations of the Fibres, compounding
the Muscles, Nerves, and Membranes of the Body; which is 
only a Diminutive from the Word Machine. 


12 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
straiten'd and obstructed, by which means the 
natural Heat is stifled, and at last Death en- 
sues; hence it is, that the nearer a Person is 
brought to this State of an universal Hard- 
ness of the Fibres, &c. by any means what- 
ever, the farther such a Person may be said 
to be advanc'd towards old Age. 
Wherefore the great Secret and sole Me- 
thod of long Life, is to preserve the Blood 
and Juices in a due State of Fluidity and 
Thinness whereby they may be capable of 
making all those Circulations and Rounds 
thro' the animal Fibres, wherein Health and 
Life consist, with the fewest Rubs, and least 
Resistance that can be. But notwithstanding 
all our Efforts, Time and old Age will 
stiffen and fix our Solids at last; for Age 
and Time, by weakening the Appetite and 
Concoctions, impairing the natural Heat, 
which consists in a brisk and extended Circu- 
lation of the Fluids to all the Parts of the 
Body, by the converting those Juices into 
solid Substances, and thereby fixing and 
hardening these Solids, and depriving them of
their due Elasticity; so the remaining Fluids 
circulate slower, and with less Force, and 
seldom reach the Extremities and smallest Ves- 
sels, but only pass slowly through the larger 
Vessels..And tho' with all these unavoidable 
Circumstances, both the nutritious Juices, 
the serous and globular Part of the Blood be- 
come viscid, thick, and gluey, so that the 
Circulation must stop, and come to an end 
at last; yet it is certainly in a great measure 
in

Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 13 
in our own Power to put a Stop to the too 
quick Approaches of such an irremediable 
Period, by keeping our Juices in a due State 
of Fluidity and Thinness, and to render them 
such, if they are not corrupted to an extreme 
Degree; so that the remainder of Life be 
not too short to undertake such a Work; for 
it is very certain, that we may dilute and 
thin any Fluid, that has an Inlet and Outlet. 
And the smaller and finer the Parts of any 
circulating Liquor are, the less Force it will 
require to set it a going, and to continue its
Motion: And it is just even so in animal 
Bodies; for the more fluid and thinner the 
Juices are, they will not only circulate with
less Force, and with less Resistance or Pain, 
but they will likewise preserve, by their Cir- 
culation, the Solids the longer from harden- 
ing and stiffening. 
Now, as nothing brings a Person sooner 
to that State of universal Hardness and Stiff- 
ness of the Fibres, and a Viscosity and Thick- 
ness of the Juices, than indulging in strong high
Meats, which the concoctive Powers cannot 
divide small enough to be converted into red
Globules of Blood, or circulate thro' the 
small Vessels, but overload them with corro- 
sive urinous Salts, which run into Clusters, 
and first obstruct, and afterwards tear and 
break these small vessels, and likewise in 
swilling of strong Liquors, which by their 
caustick Quality dry up, burn, and destroy 
the tender and delicate Fibres of the Solids; 
I therefore


14 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
therefore I say, as nothing but such an Indul- 
gence, and such long-continued Excesses, and 
obstinately persisted in, can so soon produce 
such a State of the Fluids and Solids, and 
consequently bring on many fatal chronical 
Diseases, according to the particular Habit, 
Make, and Constitution of the Person: So 
it is evident, that the only Method and most 
effectual means that can solidly and thorough- 
ly accomplish the contrary State of the Blood
and Juices, is to render them thin, sweet, 
and in a continual flowing Condition, by 
taking the contrary Measures, in keeping to 
a strict Regimen of a fluid, thin, spare, plain, 
and lean Diet; for as Dr. Cheyne justly ob- 
serves, No voluptuous and lazy Person, unless 
be had an original Constitution of BRASS, 
ever liv'd to a great Age; and even then, 
as his Life has been more Misery and Pain, 
than ever a SOBER GALLY-SLAVE endur'd, 
his End, and the latter Part of his Days has
been RACK and TORTURE, HORROR and 
DESPAIR. So that Longœvity is scarce ever 
found but among the abstemious. 
As all the Parts of the human Body are 
made up of Fibres, which are small, trans- 
parent, solid, and elastick, or springy Threads
or Filaments, of which mention is made in 
the foregoing Definition of old Age, and 
which have been sufficiently demonstrated by 
Physician and Anatomists already; yet it will 
not be improper to give some Account of them 
here, for the sake of as many of the English
I Readers 


Part I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 15
Readers as may be unacquainted with either 
Physick or Anatomy, and for whose Benefit I 
have chiefly compiled this Treatise. 
Therefore these Fibres, or small Threads, 
that constitute the human Body, are of diffe- 
rent Sorts; some are soft, flexible, and a lit- 
tle elastick ‡, and these are hollow like small 
Pipes, or spongious, and full of little Cells, as 
the nervous and fleshy Fibres. There are 
others more solid and flexible, but with a 
strong Elasticity, as the membranous and car- 
tilaginous Fibres; and a third Sort hard and 
inflexible, as the Fibres of the Bones. And 
of all these some are very sensible, as those of
the Nerves, Blood-vessels, Membranes, Ten- 
dons, and Muscles; and others are destitute 
of all Sense, as those of the Bones; some so 
very small as not to be easily perceiv'd; and 
others, on the contrary, so big as to be plain- 
ly seen; but most of them, when examin'd 
with a Microscope, appear to be composed of 
still smaller Fibres, and may be divided still 
into less; and indeed this Division proceeds so
far, that at last they become so incredibly 
small as to exceed all the Power of Imagina- 
tion; but Reason will shew us, there must be
an End. 
Now these simple Fibres do first constitute 
the Substance of the Bones, Cartilages, Liga- 
ments,
‡ Elastick or springy, signifies a Force in Bodies, by which
they endeavour to restore themselves to the Posture from
whence they were displace by any external Force. 

16 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
ments, Membranes, Nerves, Veins, Arteries, 
and Muscles. And again, by the various 
Texture and different Combinations of some, 
or all these Parts, the more compound Organs 
are fram'd, such as the Lungs, Stomach, 
Liver, Legs, and Arms, the Sum of all which
makes the human Body. 
CHAP. II. 
The principal and inevitable Causes of OLD 
AGE, and of our DISSOLUTION.
I Shall shew in this Chapter, with what has 
been already said, such things as alter our 
Bodies, and whatever makes them grow old, 
and brings us at last to our Dissolution. 
The Causes, then, of the Alterations of 
our Bodies, and likewise of our Dissolution, 
are either external or internal: These last are
born with us, and always attend us, even to 
the Grave: The others come from without 
us, surround us on all Sides, and, tho' we can
guard ourselves against some of them, there is
however an infinite Number of them which 
we cannot escape. 
The internal Causes which come into the 
World with us, are two, viz. the Contrariety
of the Principles of which our Bodies are 
composed, and the Animal Actions or Func- 
tions of the human Body
The

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 17
The Principles of our Composition are, 
1. A Water or Phlegm. 2. A volatile Fluid 
or Spirit. 3. A saline Matter or Salt, both 
Volatile and fix'd. 4. A fat Substance or Oil, 
otherwise call'd Sulphur. 5. An Earth, or 
Caput Mortuum. But the Spirit being only 
a Mixture of Phlegm and Salt, these five may
be properly reduced to four †. 
The Animal Actions, or Functions, which 
happen in all the Parts of human Bodies, by 
the Motion of the Humours in their distinct
Vessels, and the Effects they have upon one 
another, are distinguish'd into vital, natural, 
and animal, Those call'd vital so much con- 
duce to preserve Life, that they are of abso- 
lute Necessity; as the muscular Action of the 
Heart, the secretory Action of the Brain, that 
of the Lungs, and of the Blood and Spirits, 
with their Motions thro' their proper Organs; 
and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves. 
The Natural Actions are those that so alter 
our Aliment, as that it may become Part of 
our Substance; and such are the Actions of the
Bowels, vessels and Humours that receive, re-
tain, move, change, mix, separate, apply, 
discharge, and consume. 
The Animal Functions are such as, when 
perform'd, the Understanding conceives Ideas 
of Things, united to that Action; or the Will 
is either concern'd in exciting such Actions, 
or mov'd by them when excited: Such are 
B the
† Boerhaave Institutiones Medic. de Natura & Part. Sang.  


18 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I. 
the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing, Per- 
ception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, 
Reason, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary 
Motions. From hence we may know, that 
Health is such a Disposition of the Body as fits 
it to exercise all its Actions, and that all the
Effects of those Actions respect determinate 
Motions, and the Change made in our Ali- 
ment. 
The Principles of our Composition just now 
mention'd, being duly distributed thro' the 
whole Body, may be call'd an Equilibrium 
between the Solids and Fluids of a Person in 
Health; or, which is the same thing, an exact 
Ballance of Contrarieties, making a kind of 
Agreement or Harmony amongst themselves, 
in order to mix and unite; wherein each of 
them quits something of its Sovereignty, and 
reduces itself to a Mediocrity, which is call'd 
Temperament. But this Alliance is of short 
Duration; for the Body, by the Actions inse- 
parable from Life, suffers such a gradual 
Change, that the smallest Vessels become stiff, 
and the minutest grow together into Fibres, 
unfit for the Humours to pass thro' them; the 
greater Vessels become hard and narrow, and 
all are contracted, and, being compress'd, grow 
together, which occasions Dryness, and Un- 
aptness to Motion in old People. By this 
means the Actions of the small Vessels are de- 
stroy'd, and the Humours stagnate and grow 
thick in them, and the Fibres adhere toge- 
ther: Thus the most subtile Parts of the 
Juices

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 19
Juices are wanting and dissipated, Digestion is
weaken'd, Nourishment is deficient, and the 
grosser Humours only circulate thro' the large 
vessels slowly, and  support Life alone, with- 
out the Animal Action till at last these 
Changes bring on Death from Old Age, the 
Successor of perfect Health; which happens 
sooner if the Actions of Life have been violent, 
but later if moderate; and this is one of the 
Causes of our Dissolution: It is inevitable, 
and we bring it with us from the Womb, 
But, in order to make this more evidently ap- 
pear, it is necessary to consider the following 
Particulars concerning Nutrition, Growth, 
and Decrease of the Body. 
As there is an Aptness to Motion requisite 
in the Vessels, Muscles, and Fibres of the hu- 
man Body, in order to enable it to make due 
Use of all the Motions of its Humours, Ves- 
sels, and Muscles, without Detriment there- 
unto; So, for this Purpose, the Parts which 
are coherent, should be partly free from Con- 
tact, and partly remain in it, which cannot 
be, unless the greater Parts consist of the 
smallest, thinest, and shortest ones; nor will 
that happen again, unless a renovating Hu- 
mour passes continually betwixt them, to hin- 
der their growing together; therefore, as the 
whole human Body is flexile, and subject to 
Changes from Contact, of Necessity it ought 
to consist of small Vessels.
But this very Motion, being continually 
and violently perform'd, in Vessels of such a 
B2 tender

20 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
tender Fabrick, the least Parts must of neces- 
sity be thereby worn off from the Solids; and 
thence, being mix'd with the Liquids, be 
mov'd round by the perpetual Circulation of
the Juices, as well as by the Action of the 
Muscles, and exhale. In the mean while the 
Fluids, being ground small by the continual 
Attrition of their Parts, and drove to the Ves- 
sels thro' which they exhale or transpire, are 
quite excluded out of the Body; and thus the 
Animal Body, from the very Condition of its 
Frame, is soon destroy'd. 
Therefore it is requisite, for the due Con- 
tinuance of Life, that as much Matter, and 
of the same Kind, should be continually re- 
stored to the Humours and solid Parts, as was 
lost by those Motions, which Action is call'd 
Nutrition. 
The Humours that are worn away, are 
again supplied, as to their Matter, by Air, 
Meat, and Drink. As to the Qualities re- 
quir'd, those are produced by the concurring 
Assistance of all the Parts of the Body, and by
means thereof applied to the Vessels where 
they are wanting. 
Every solid Part of the Body is composed of 
other less Solids, very like the greater; the 
Vessels, of smaller Vessels; and the Bones, of
smaller Bones. And this manner of Structure 
proceeds beyond all the Limits of Sense, as- 
sisted by what Art soever, as Malpighi, 
Ruysche, Leeuwenhoek, and Hook, have de- 
monstrated by accurate Experiments: yet this
Divi-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 21
Division scarce seems to proceed ad Infinitum, 
as appears by the Nature of the Nourishment 
and Fluids themselves. 
Moreover Microscopes, Injections, the least 
imaginable Wounds, Vesicatories, Comsump-
tions, and the withering away of the Body, 
inform us, that our solid Parts, in respect of
the Humours, are but very small; for it is al- 
most demonstrable, from the Consideration of 
the Rise and Generation of the Vessels, and 
the Resolution of the greater Canals into their 
least constituent Parts, that the whole solid
Mass of our Bodies is almost wholly compos'd 
of mere Nerves, consider'd in their primary
Composition and Communication. 
And truly all that Mass, except an incre- 
dible small Particle, at first grew together, 
from those which were before the most sub- 
tile Liquid of the Colliquamentum or Fluid, 
almost all which goes to compound the Body, 
being much like the nervous Fluid, according
to Malpighi; for the White of an Egg does 
not nourish, before it has been long brooded
upon, till that thick clammy Humour has 
pass'd thro' a vast many Degrees of Fluidity, 
by several Changes, to fit it at last for the 
Purposes requir'd; but even then, when it 
comes to supply the Embryo, it is very thick, 
and must be much more subtiliz'd in its Ves- 
sels and Bowels. 
The first tender solid Parts being made out 
of this most subtile Humour, which are then 
almost fluid, they pass again thro' a vast many
B3 diffe-

22 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
different Degrees of Solidity, before they ar- 
rive at the Perfection of solid Parts; as ap- 
pears from Malpighi's Experiments upon 
Eggs, and the incomparable Ruysche's upon 
Embryos and Fœtuses, and even from the differ 
rent Parts themselves. 
Hence it appears, that the solid Parts, in 
their first Origin, differ only from Liquids, 
whence they spring, by Rest, Cohesion, and 
their Figure; therefore such a Particle, while 
fluid, will become Part of Solid, to be form'd 
thereof, as soon as the Power that causes it to 
cohere with the other solid Parts, shall act, by
what means soever it be. 
This Cohesion of the Parts is best pro- 
duc'd in a Fibre already form'd, if there be 
a sufficient Place in the Solid, left by that 
Particle which was lost, and at the same time, 
another Particle in the Fluid of equal Bulk, 
Figure and Nature, and endow'd with suffi- 
cient Force to thrust it in, or fit it to that
Place. 
Therefore there will be a true Nutrition 
of the Solids in the smallest Vessels, which, 
by Addition, become greater; that is, in the 
Nerves or Vessels like them; which, since it 
cannot be perform'd without a Liquid be 
brought into those Vessels, seems very plain, 
that the most immediate matter of Nourish- 
ment is the most subtle, nervous Fluid, or 
some other like it; and therefore appears to
be perform'd and produc'd from the last and 
most refin'd Actions of Nature; and that it 
may


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 23  
may be well perform'd, all the preceding 
Actions ought to be perfect. 
The Chyle therefore may fill the greater 
Vessels, but cannot recruit the solid Parts;
but being attenuated, alter'd, rarefied, mix'd, 
and made fit to pass thro' some Vessels, by 
the force of Respiration in the Lungs, it is 
render'd the more proper indeed, but still not
fit Matter for this Purpose. 
However, by the repeated Effects of the 
Lungs, Bowels, and Vessels, it becomes a 
white, tenacious, forming Liquor, almost
Without Smell, thickens by the Heat of the 
Fire, or in Spirit of Wine; being then like 
the White of an Egg, and called Serum; and 
therefore is such a Fluid, as has all the requi- 
sites which ought to be in that Humour; 
whereof Experience teaches us, that all the 
solid Parts of an animal Body are constantly 
made or form'd, only by Incubation, or a 
constant Heat and Digestion. Thus then the 
Matter is brought a Degree nearer, but yet 
is not quite fit for Nutrition; much less is 
red Blood, which never enters the smallest
Vessels. 
But as the Heat of Incubation, so the 
action of the Viscera and Vessels, occasions 
divers Changes on this circulating Serum, till 
Part of it is turn'd into such a subtle Humour 
as is here requir'd; and being consumed, it 
is again supplied, and this at length becomes 
the true and immediate Matter of Nourish- 
ment; which, how simple it is, how insipid, 
B4 or

24 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
or without Smell, will appear from the Fire, 
Putrefaction, or the Art of Chymistry, for 
it leaves behind but a pure and exceedingly 
light Earth. 
Nor can this Matter be prepar'd, without 
undergoing the foremention'd Alterations: 
But the same Humour may, by too often and 
repeated turns of Circulation, grow sharper, 
or lose its Liquidity, and become thick; be- 
ing drain'd of its oily Parts, and render'd pun- 
gent by Salts, and then it is unfit for this 
Use; which may, perhaps, be partly dis- 
charg'd by Perspiration, and partly by Urine. 
Therefore there is a necessity of new Chyle, 
and consequently of Aliment, to supply this 
Nourishment. As to the Manner how, and 
the Cause why Nutrition is perform'd, that 
will appear from what follows. 
The Humour being forced forwards, thro' 
a full, conical, cylindrical, elastic, or stiff 
and rigid Tube, if it flows from a broad Part 
into an narrower, or with a Resistance against
its Motion, it will endeavour to extend the 
Sides of the Canal, according to its longer 
Axis; and this happens all over the Body, ex- 
cept in the Veins, and the Cavity of the Re- 
ceptacles. And by this Force, tho' small, be- 
ing constant and repeated, the Vessels will by
Degrees, and insensibly be lengthen'd; and 
by growing longer, will become thinner, and 
soon be more and more attenuated: By this 
means, the utmost Extremities of the Vessels, 
which are smallest, will be less coherent, and 
next

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 25
next to a State of Dissolution. And thus 
the Extremities of the Vessels will be ren- 
der'd much finer and weaker, and little 
different from Fluids. 
Whilst therefore this Motion perpetually 
proceeds in a continual Propulsion, it must
necessarily happen, that the last Particles of 
these very fine Tubes being worn away, will 
again put on the form of a Liquid, in what- 
ever Part of the Body they remain; and then 
the smallest Parts, which compose the finest
Fibres, by their Union will be so mutually 
separated from one another, as to leave small 
Intervals in those Places where they before 
grew together; and this will constantly hap- 
pen every where, as long as Life continues, 
especially where it is strong, and the Action
of the Body violent. 
But the same Humour wherein all this 
happens, contains a great many such Particles 
as were separated or lost, which it carries, ap- 
plies, and adapts to these very Intervals, with 
that very Force with which it endeavours to 
break the Vessels, and then fixes, fits and 
fastens those intercepted Particles in these 
Cavities; so that they grow together as the 
former: for the Matter, the Preparation and 
Application thereof, with the Force of Mo- 
tion, will always continue the same; and 
therefore what is lost will be easily restor'd, 
and so the solid Parts remain as they were, 
that is, they are nourish'd and preserv'd con- 
tinually,
And 

26 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
And this shews the wonderful Wisdom of 
our Maker, that the same Cause which in- 
evitably destroys, shall also at the same time 
repair the Structure of our Frame; and that 
too according to this Rule, that the greater 
the Loss, the larger shall be the Supply; and 
that those Parts, which by the Actions of the 
Body are first worn, are always the first sup- 
plied. 
It is plain then, that the more tender those
Vessels are, the newer, and the nearer to 
the moving Cause, so much the easier they 
are stretch'd, distended, destroy'd, and re- 
new'd; and consequently, the nearer our 
Bodies are to their Origin, the more they 
grow and increase. 
Whilst this Action goes forwards, the 
greater Vessels are more distended by the Li- 
quor they contain; but at the same time, the 
small Vessels, which being interwoven, com- 
pose the Membranes of the greater, are more 
compressed, dried, and grow nearer together 
which adds Strength to the Fibres, at the 
Expence of vascular Property; so that in 
time our Vessels turn to hard Ligaments, and
the Humours become firm and solid. By a 
Concurrence of these Causes, the Solids be- 
come strong, hard, stiff and thick. There- 
fore the vast number of Vessels that are in an 
Embryo, gradually decrease as Age comes on; 
and for the same reason, on the other hand, 
as Weakness decreases, Strength increases; 
and so in young Persons, the Quantity and 
Vigour

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 27   
Vigour of the Humours exceed that of the 
Solids; but in old People, the Solids in 
Quantity and Strength exceed the Liquids; 
from whence plainly appears the manner of 
the Increase, Decrease, and Death of the 
Body, merely from old Age, with the Causes
and different Appearances thereof. 
Whoever therefore considers this whole 
Account, and then compares these Accidents 
which happen to the Body therewith, will 
clearly perceive this to be the State of the 
Case; for the whole Cuticle every where per- 
petually scales off, perishes, and renews again; 
the Hair, Nails, Teeth, shav'd, par'd, cut 
off or wore, grow afresh; and Parts of the 
Vessels and Bones taken away, in a short 
time return on every side; and if the Filth 
in the Extremities of the Vessels throughout
the whole Body, that is either worn off, 
or collected there by Exhalation, be view'd 
in Water with a Microscope, after being eva- 
porated or diluted, it appears to consist of
Solids and Fluids; and the same when ob- 
tain'd by Washing, Rubbing, or Abrasion, ex- 
hibit the like Appearance. 
From hence appears the Reason why the 
Fabric of our Solids is not dissolv'd by the 
liquid Contents; and why our Machine con- 
tinues so long fit for Motion; why, when 
the Nerves are by any means corrupted, the 
Part to which they lead, loses its Nourish- 
ment; why in an Embryo there are no So- 
lids, in a Fœtus few, and in very old People 
a

28 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
a vast many; so that even the Nerves, Ten- 
dons, Arteries, and Receptacles in those, first 
become cartilaginous, and then bony. 
It is therefore evident from the foregoing 
Particulars, that the two internal Causes of 
our Dissolution already mention'd, viz. The 
Contrariety of the Principles of our Fabric, 
and the animal Actions or Functions of the 
human Body, are born, grow, and are nou- 
rish'd with us, and that, gradually and in- 
evitably, they bring on Old Age, and destroy
the Body at last: nor can all the Physicians 
in the World guard us against them; for the 
great Promises made with Assurance, as to 
the Prolongation of Life for so many hun- 
dreds of Years, are vain and imaginary, be- 
ing unsupported both by Reason and Expe- 
rience: Of this Tribe are Van Helmont's 
Primum Ens, Paracelsus's Elixir Proprie- 
tatis; the Primum Ens of Animals; all 
those precious Liquors, that potable Gold, 
those Conserves of Rubies, Emeralds, Elixirs 
of Life; that fabulous Fountain, that was 
reported to make People grow young, can- 
not hinder us from Decay and Old Age. Nor 
is it likely that Life should be prolong'd even
by the best Methods in Nature, so many 
Years as the Chymists pretend by their Art; 
but their own Experience is a Proof of their 
Temerity and Inability herein. 
There are other Causes of our Dissolution, 
which are external, and likewise inevitable; 
for as our Bodies consist of three dissipable 
Sub-


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 29  
Substances, one of which is subtile and airy, 
the second liquid, and the third solid; so we 
must necessarily have something that pro- 
ceeds from without us, in order to repair 
them, otherwise our Lives could subsist but a 
few Minutes. 
That which repairs our Substance is called 
Aliment, and is threefold. Air, Meat, and 
Drink; the first nourishes the spirituous Sub- 
stance, the second the Liquid, and the 
third the solid Substance. But this triple 
Aliment, tho' never so pure, has yet always 
something unlike our Nature, which can 
never be assimilated to either our Juices or 
Solids, which must then become excremen- 
titious; and where an Excrement is genera- 
ted, and being detain'd in the Body, con- 
sequently alters it, and causes an infinite
number of Diseases; by which means our 
Bodies are variously chang'd and affected, 
and often finally brought to an intire Disso- 
lution. 
I pass over all the other external Causes, 
such as too violent Exercises, an unactive and
sedentary Life, long and continual Watch- 
ings, those Passions of the Mind which are 
most capable of making us grow old, as Fear 
and Sadness, &c. I say nothing likewise of all 
accidental Causes, such as Wounds, Fractures, 
&c. I have only endeavour'd to demonstrate, 
that the living Creature must necessarily grow 
old and decay; that he nourishes the natural 
Causes of Death in himself, and that there 
I are


30 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
are likewise some external ones, which are 
inevitable. 
I thought proper to insert in this Place a 
Chronological and Historical succinct Account 
of long Lives, from before the Flood down 
to the present time; with a true and short 
Character or Elogy of each, faithfully col- 
lected from the Records of both sacred and 
profane History; which perhaps, may prove 
useful as well as entertaining to the Reader. 
Herein he will observe, not only the Ne- 
cessity of Temperance towards attaining long 
Life, but that the length of Life by the running
on of Ages, or Succession of Generations, has 
not in the least abated, from the Time of 
Moses to our present Days; for the Term of 
Man's Life has stood near about fourscore Years 
of Age ever since, as will appear by the 
following Account. 
CHAP. III. 
An Historical Account of Long Lives from 
the Creation to the present Lime. 
BEFORE the Flood, Men liv'd many 
hundred Years, as the Holy Scriptures 
relate; yet none of the Fathers attained to 
the Age of a thousand. Neither was this 
length of Life peculiar only to Grace, or 
I the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 31  
the holy Line; for there are eleven Genera- 
tions of the Fathers reckon'd to the Flood,
but of the Sons of Adam by Cain, only 
eight Generations; so that the Posterity of 
Cain seems to have liv'd longer. But this 
length of Life, immediately after the Flood was 
reduc'd to one half, in the Post-nati only:
for Noah, who was born before the Flood, 
equalled the Age of his Ancestors; Shem 
also lived six hundred Years. Afterwards, 
three Generations from the Flood being ran, 
the length of Man's Life was brought down 
to a fourth Part of the Primitive Age, that 
is, to about two hundred Years. 
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five 
Years, a Man of great Virtue, and was ab- 
stemious, and prosperous in all things. Isaac
arriv'd at the Age of an hundred and eighty 
Years; a chaste Man, who enjoy'd more 
Quietness than his Father. But Jacob, after 
many Crosses, and a numerous Progeny, liv'd 
a hundred and forty-seven Years; a patient, 
gentle, religious, and wise Man. Ishmael, a 
military Man, liv'd an hundred thirty-seven 
Years, and always observ'd Temperance to 
be his only Guide for obtaining Health and 
long Life. 
Sarah, whose Years only amongst her Sex 
are recorded, died in the hundred and twenty- 
seventh Year of her Age: she was a beautiful 
and virtuous Woman, a singular good Mo- 
ther and Wife, and yet no less famous for 
the Liberty from, than Obsequiousness towards  
her

32 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
her Husband. Joseph also, a prudent and 
politick Man, passing his Youth in Affliction, 
afterwards advanc'd to the Height of Ho- 
nour and Prosperity, liv'd an hundred and 
ten Years; he was sober, chaste, and reli- 
gious Man. But his Brother Levi, who was 
older than him, attain'd to an hundred thirty- 
seven Years; he was a Man that was revenge- 
ful, and impatient of Reproach or Affront, 
yet always temperate and moderate in his eat- 
ing and drinking. His Son liv'd almost to the
same Age, as also his Grand-child, the Fa- 
ther of Aaron and Moses: they were both 
strictly moderate in their way of living. 
Moses liv'd an hundred and twenty Years; 
a stout and virtuous Man, yet the meekest 
upon Earth, but of very slow Speech; how- 
ever he pronounces, that the Life of Man is 
but seventy Years; but if of a more than or- 
dinary Strength, eighty; which seems gene- 
rally to be the Term of Man's Life even at 
this Day. 
Aaron, who was three years elder, died 
the same Year with his Brother Moses: he 
was a Man of a readier Speech, and of a more 
easy Disposition, but less constant; he was 
religious, abstemious, and moderate in his 
Actions of Life. Phineas, Grand-child of 
Aaron, out of extraordinary Grace, may be 
collected to have liv'd three hundred years;
if so be that the War of the Israelites against
the Tribe of Benjamin, in which Expedi- 
tion Phineas was consulted, was perform'd in 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 33 
the same order of Time in which the Hi- 
story has ranked it; he was a Man of most
eminent Zeal and Virtue. 
Joshua, a martial Man, and an excellent 
Commander, and always victorious; yet he 
was religiously sober and moderate, and lived
to be an hundred and twenty Years of Age. 
Caleb, who observ'd Temperance, was his 
Contemporary, and seems to have lived as 
long as he did. Ehud the Judge, liv'd to 
the Age of an hundred Years; for after the 
Victory over the Moabites, the Holy Land 
remain'd under his Government eighty Years; 
he was a bold and an undaunted Man, and one 
that in a great measure neglected his own 
Life for the good of his People, and was like- 
wise a strict Observer of Temperance. 
Job liv'd after the Restauration of his 
Happiness, an hundred and forty Years, being 
before his Afflictions of such an Age, as to 
have Sons at Man's Estate; he was a politick
Man, eloquent and charitable, and the true 
Emblem of Patience. 
Eli the Priest liv'd ninety-eight Years; a 
corpulent Man, and of a calm Disposition, 
and indulgent to his Children. But Elizeus
the Prophet seems to have died when he 
was above an hundred Years old; for he is 
found to have liv'd after the Assumption of
Elias sixty Years, and at the time of that 
Assumption he was of those Years, that the 
Boys mock'd him, by the Name of Bald- 
head; he was a severe and vehement Man 
C against


34 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
against Vice and Luxury, and a Contemner 
of Riches. Isaiah the Prophet seems to 
have liv'd to the Age of an hundred Years;
for he is found to have exercised the Function 
of a Prophet seventy Years together, the 
Years both of his beginning to prophecy, and 
of his Death, being uncertain; he was a Man 
of admirable Eloquence, and an evangelical 
Prophet, full of the Promises of God, and 
of the New Testament, as a Bottle with 
sweet Wine. 
Tobias the elder, liv'd an hundred fifty- 
eight Years; the younger, an hundred and 
twenty-seven; both of them were merciful 
Men, and great Alms-givers; they were like- 
wise abstemious and moderate in all their 
Actions. 
It seems, that in the Time of the Capti- 
vity, many of the Jews who return'd out 
of Babylon, liv'd to great Ages, seeing they
could remember both the Temples, there be- 
ing no less than seventy Years between them, 
and wept for the Unlikeness of them. Many 
Ages after that, in the Time of our Saviour, 
liv'd old Simeon, to the Age of ninety Years; 
a devout Man, and full both of Hope and 
Expectation. Also Anna the Prophetess, 
who could not possibly be less than an hun- 
dred Years old; for she had been seven Years 
a Wife, about eighty-four years a Widow, 
besides the Years of her Virginity, and the 
Time that she liv'd after her Prophecy of
our

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 35
our Saviour; she was a holy Woman, and 
passed her Days in Fasting and Prayer. 
As to the long Lives mention'd in Heathen 
Authors, they have no Certainty in them, 
both for the intermixture of Fables, to which 
these kind of Relations were very liable, and 
for their false Calculation of Years. And we 
find nothing of Moment of the Egyptians in 
those Works that are extant, concerning the 
length of Lives; for their Kings, who reign'd 
longest, did not exceed fifty, or live and fifty 
Years, which is no great Matter, since many 
at this Day live to those Years. 
But the Arcadian Kings are fabulously re- 
ported to have liv'd very long; and, as that 
Country was Mountainous, full of Flocks of 
Sheep, and produc'd most wholsome Food; 
but when Fable is the only Guide, there can
be no Certainty. 
Numa King of the Romans liv'd to the 
Age of eighty; he was a peaceable and con- 
templative Man, and much devoted to Reli- 
gion. Marcus Valerius Corvinus compleated 
an hundred Years, there being forty-six Years
between his first and sixth Consulship; he 
was a Man full of Courage, affable, popu- 
lar, and always fortunate and sober, observ- 
ing constantly a cool and moderate Diet. 
Solon of Athens, the Law-giver, and one 
of the seven Wise Men, liv'd above eighty 
Years; a Man of high Courage, popular, and 
well affected to his Country; he was also 
C2 learned,


36 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part. I.
learned, given to Pleasures, but always mo- 
derate in his Diet. Epimenides the Cretan is 
reported to have lived an hundred and fifty- 
seven Years: this Matter is mix'd with a 
prodigious odd Relation; for he is said to 
have slept fifty-seven of those Years in a Cave. 
Half an Age after, Xenophanes the Colopho- 
nian lived an hundred and two Years, or ra- 
ther more; for at the Age of twenty five 
Years he left his Country, seventy-seven com- 
plete Years he travel'd, and after that return'd: 
A Man no less wandering in Mind than in 
Body; for his Name was chang'd, for the 
Madness of his Opinions, from Xenophanes, to
Xenomanes; a Man no doubt of a vast Conceit, 
and that minded nothing but Infinitums. 
Pindarus, the Theban, lived to eighty 
Years. He was a Poet of an high Fancy, 
singular in his Conceits, and a great Adorer 
of the Gods, but a sober Man. Sophocles, 
the Athenian, attain'd to the like Age; a lofty
tragick Poet, given over wholly to Writing, 
and neglectful of his own Family. 
Artaxerxes, King of Persia, lived ninety- 
four Years; a Man of dull Wit, averse from 
the Dispatch of Business, desirous of Glory, 
but rather of Ease. At the same time lived 
Agesilaus, King of Sparta, to eighty-four 
Years of Age; a moderate Prince, as being a 
Philosopher amongst Kings; but notwith- 
standing ambitious, and a Warrior, and no 
less stout in War than in Business. 
Gorgias,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 37
Gorgias, the Sicilian, was an hundred and 
eight Years old. He was a Rhetorician, and 
a great Boaster of his Faculty, one that 
taught Youth for Profit. He had seen many 
Countries; and, a little before his Death, 
said, that he had done nothing worthy of 
Blame since he was an old Man. Protagoras 
of Abdera lived ninety Years: This Man was 
likewise a Rhetorician; but profess'd not to 
teach so much the liberal Arts, as the Art of
governing Commonwealths and States; not- 
withstanding he was no less a Wanderer in 
the World than Gorgias already mention'd. 
Isocrates, the Athenian, lived ninety-eight 
Years: He was likewise a Rhetorician, but 
an exceeding modest Man, one that shun'd 
the publick Light, and open'd his School only
in his own House. Democritus, of Abdera, 
reach'd to an hundred and nine Years: He 
was a great Philosopher, and, if ever any Man 
amongst the Grecians, a true Naturalist; a 
Surveyor of many Countries, but much more 
of Nature. He was also a diligent Searcher 
into Experiments, and, as Aristotle objected 
against him, one that follow'd Similitudes 
more than the Laws of Arguments. 
Diogenes, the Sinopean, lived ninety Years, 
was a Man that used Liberty towards others, 
but Tyranny over himself; he lived upon a 
coarse Diet, and was a Pattern of Patience. 
Zeno, of Citium, wanted but two Years of 
an hundred; a Man of high Mind, and a 
Contemner of other Men's Opinions. He 
C3 was

38 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
was also a Man of great Acuteness, but yet 
not troublesome, chusing rather to take Men's 
Minds than to enforce them; the like where- 
of happen'd afterwards in Seneca. 
Plato, the Athenian; attain'd to eighty-one 
Years; a Man of great Courage, but yet a 
Lover of Ease. He was in his Notions sub- 
lime and full of Fancy, neat and delicate in 
his Life, rather calm than merry, and one 
that carried a kind of Majesty in his Counte- 
nance, and a strict Observer of Moderation in 
his Diet. 
Theophrastus, the Ethesian, lived eighty 
Years; a Man of sweet Eloquence, and sweet 
also for the Variety of his Subjects, and who
selected the pleasant Things of Philosophy, 
and let the bitter and harsh go. Carneades of 
Cyrene, many Years after, attain'd to the like 
Age; a Man of fluent Eloquence, and one 
who, by the acceptable and pleasant Variety 
of his Knowledge, delighted himself and 
others. But Orbilius, who lived in Cicero's 
time, no Philosopher nor Rhetorician, but a 
Grammarian, lived to the Age of an hundred 
Years. He was first a Soldier, then a School- 
master; a Man by Nature tart both in his 
Tongue and Pen, and severe towards his 
Scholars. 
Quintus Fabius Maximus was Augur sixty- 
three Years, which shew'd him to be above 
eighty Years of Age at his Death; tho' it is 
true, that in the Augurship Nobility was 
more respected than Age. He was a wise 
Man,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 39
Man, and a great Deliberator, and in all his 
Proceedings moderate, not without Affability, 
severe. Masinissa, King of Numidia, lived 
ninety Years; and, being more than eighty-
five, got a Son. He was a daring Man, and 
trusting to his Fortune, who in his youthful 
Days had tasted of her Inconstancy; but in 
his succeeding Age was constantly happy. 
But Marcus Porcius Cato lived above ninety
Years of Age; a Man of an Iron Body and 
Mind. He had a bitter Tongue, and loved 
to cherish Factions. He was given to Hus- 
bandry, and was, to himself and his Family, 
a Physician. 
Terentia, Cicero's Wife, lived an hundred 
and three Years. She was a Woman afflicted 
with many Crosses; first with the Banish- 
ment of her Husband, then with the Diffe- 
rence betwixt them, and lastly with his last
fatal Misfortune. She was also very often 
troubled with the Gout. 
Luccica, the Actress, must needs exceed an 
hundred by many Years; for it is said, that 
she acted a whole hundred Years upon the 
Stage; at first perhaps representing the Person
some young Girl, and at last of some old 
decrepit Woman. 
Galeria Copiola, a Player also and Dancer, 
was brought upon the Stage very young, but 
in what Year of her Age is not known; and 
ninety-nine Years after, at the Dedication of
the Theatre by Pompey the Great, she was 
shewn upon the Stage again; not now for 
C4 an

40 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
an Actress, but for a Wonder; neither was 
this all, for after that she was shewn a third 
time upon the Stage in the Solemnities ce- 
lebrated for the Health and Life of Augustus. 
She is reckon'd to have liv'd sober and vir- 
tuous from her Youth. 
There was another Actress somewhat in- 
ferior in Age, but much superior in Dignity, 
who liv'd very near ninety Years, I mean 
Livia Julia Augusta, Wife of Augustus 
Cæsar, and Mother to Tiberius (for if Au- 
gustus's Life was a Play, as he himself would
have it, as when upon his Death-bed he 
charg'd his Friends that they would give him 
a Plaudite after he was dead) certainly this 
Lady was an excellent Actress, who could 
carry it so well with her Husband, by a dis- 
sembled Obedience, and with her Son, by 
Power and Authority; she was an affable 
Woman, and yet of a Motherly Carriage, 
pragmatical, and upholding her Power. But 
Junia, the Wife of Caius Cassius, Sister to
Marcus Brutus, was also ninety Years old; 
for she surviv'd the Philippic Battle sixty- 
four Years. She was a magnanimous Woman, 
in her great Wealth happy; in the Calamity 
of her Husband and near Relations, and in 
a long- Widowhood, unhappy; yet much ho- 
nour'd by all, for her Sobriety and Virtue. 
The Year of our Lord seventy-six, hap- 
pening in the time of Vespasian, is memora- 
ble, in which we shall find as it were a Ca- 
lendar of long Lives; for that Year there 
was

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 41  
was a Taxing; (now Taxing is the most au- 
thentic and truest Informer as to People's
Ages) and in that Part of Italy which lies 
between the Apennine Mountains and the 
River Po, there were found an hundred and 
twenty-four Persons, that each of them ei- 
ther equalled or exceeded an hundred Years of
Age; namely, fifty-four Persons of an hun- 
dred Years each; fifty-seven Persons of an 
hundred and ten; two only of an hundred 
and twenty-five; four Men of an hundred 
and thirty; four more of an hundred and 
thirty-five or seven; three Men of an hun- 
dred and forty. 
Besides these, Parma in particular pro- 
duc'd five, whereof three fulfilled an hun- 
dred and twenty years each, and two an 
hundred and thirty. Bruxels produc'd one 
of an hundred and twenty-five years old, 
Placentia one aged an hundred and thirty- 
two. Faventia one Woman, aged an hun- 
dred and thirty-two. A certain Town situ- 
ated in the Hills about Placentia, then called
Velleiacium, afforded ten, whereof fix ful- 
filled an hundred and ten Years each, and 
four an hundred and twenty Years of Age 
each. Lastly, Rimino one of an hundred 
and fifty years, whose Name was Marcus 
Aponius. And it will not be amiss to ac- 
quaint the Reader here, that all upon this 
foregoing List observ'd Temperance and So-
briety during most part of their Lives. 
As 

42 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
As there are but few found among all the 
Grecian, Roman, Gallick and German Em- 
perors to our Days, that have lived to the 
Age of fourscore Years, and none that ex- 
ceeded ninety; I will not therefore trouble 
the Reader with any farther Account of 
them, but proceed to the Princes of the 
Church. 
St. John, an Apostle of our Saviour, and 
the beloved Disciple, liv'd ninety-three Years; 
he was rightly denoted under the Emblem of 
the Eagle, for his piercing Sight into the 
Divinity, and was as a Seraphim among the 
Apostles, in respect of his burning Love. 
St. Luke the Evangelist compleated eighty- 
four Years; an eloquent Man, and a Tra- 
veller; St. Paul's inseparable Companion, 
and a Physician. Simeon the Son of Cleo- 
phas, called the Brother of our Lord, and 
Bishop of Hierusalem, liv'd an hundred and 
twenty Years, tho' he was cut off at last by
Martyrdom; he was a stout Man, constant, 
and full of good Works. 
Dionysius Areopagita, Contemporary to 
St. Paul the Apostle, liv'd ninety Years; he 
was called the Bird of Heaven for his sub- 
lime Divinity, and was famous as well for 
his holy Life, as for his Meditations. Aquila 
and Priscilla, first St. Paul's Hosts, and 
afterwards his Fellow-helpers, lived together 
in happy Wedlock at least to an hundred 
Years of Age apiece; for they were both 
alive under Pope Xystus the first; a noble
Pair,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 43  
Pair, and prone to all kinds of Charity, who
among their other Comforts, which doubt- 
less were great to the first Founders of the
Church, had this added, to enjoy each other 
so long in a happy married State. 
St. Paul the Hermit lived an hundred 
and thirteen Years; his Diet was so slender 
and strict, that it was thought almost im- 
possible to support human Nature therewith; 
he passed his Days in a Cave, only in Medi- 
tations and Soliloquies, yet he was not illi- 
terate, or an Idiot, but learned. St. Hie- 
rome, by the Consent of most Writers, ex- 
ceeded ninety Years of Age; a Man power- 
ful in his Pen, and of a manly Eloquence, 
variously learn'd, both in the Languages and 
Sciences, also a Traveller, and lived strictly to- 
wards his old Age in a private State, and not 
dignified; he had high Spirits, and shined far 
out of Obscurity. 
St. Anthony the Monk lived to the Age of 
an hundred and five Years; his Life was au- 
stere and mortifying, notwithstanding he 
lived in a kind of glorious Solitude, and ex- 
ercised a Command, having his Monks under 
him, and besides many Christians and Phi- 
losophers came to visit him as a living Image
worthy of their Veneration, on account of 
his holy Life and pious Works. 
St. Athanasius exceeded the Term of eighty 
Years; he was a Man of invincible Constancy,
commanding Fame, and not yielding to the 
Frowns of Fortune; he was free towards the 
Great,

44 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Great, gracious and acceptable to the People, 
wise and couragious in delivering himself from 
Oppositions, and always leading an abstemi- 
ous and religious Life. 
The Popes of Rome are in number to this 
Day 246; but of so great a number, few 
only have attain'd to the Age of 80, or up- 
wards, as I could find recorded in History: 
yet the full Age of twenty-eight of the first
Popes was intercepted by the Prerogative and
Crown of Martyrdom. 
John, the twenty-third Pope of Rome, ful- 
filled the ninetieth Year of his Age; he was
abstemious and frugal, an Enemy to Luxury, 
and acquir'd a good deal of Riches and Trea- 
sure for the Support of the Church; he al- 
ter'd many Things much for the better. 
Gregory the twelfth, created in Schism, 
and not fully acknowledg'd Pope, died ninety
Years old; of him, in respect of his short 
Papacy, there is nothing found in History to
make a Judgment upon, but that he liv'd 
strictly virtuous and abstemious. 
Paul the third lived eighty-one Years; he 
was a temperate Man, and of profound Wis- 
dom and Learning, greatly skill'd in Astro- 
nomy, and always careful of his own Health. 
Paul the fourth liv'd eighty-three Years; 
he was a Man naturally tart, and somewhat 
severe, and a little prone to Anger; his Speech 
was eloquent and ready, his Diet was always 
lean, thin, and cool, by which means he 
kept

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 45  
kept his Passions under Subjection, and ar- 
riv'd at that good old Age with all his Senses. 
Gregory the thirteenth liv'd to the same 
Age, and was absolutely a good and great 
Man, found in Mind and Body, politick, tem- 
perate, religious, full of good Works, and a 
great Alms-giver. 
The following Instances are more promis- 
cuous in their Order, and more doubtful as 
to the Certainty of their Ages. King Argan- 
thonius, who reigned at Cadiz in Spain, live
an hundred and forty Years, according to 
some Historians, of which he reigned eighty 
Years. Cyniras King of Cyprus, living in the 
Island then called the happy and pleasant 
Island, is affirmed to have lived an hundred 
and sixty Years. Two Latin Kings in Italy, 
the Father and Son, are reported to have 
lived, the one eight hundred Years, and the 
other six hundred: But this Account is de- 
liver'd unto us by certain Philologists, who
tho' otherwise credulous enough, yet they 
themselves have suspected the Veracity of this 
matter. Others record some Arcadian Kings 
to have lived three hundred Years; the Coun- 
try no doubt is a Place apt for long Life, but 
the Relation is justly suspected to be fabu- 
lous. 
One Dando, in Illyrium, is reported to 
have lived without the Inconveniency of 
Old-Age, to five hundred Years; but the ju- 
dicious Reader will make the necessary Al- 
lowance.  
Hippocrates


46 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
Hippocrates of Côs, the Prince of Physici-
ans, lived an hundred and four Years, or ac- 
cording to some, an hundred and nine: He 
was skill'd in the several Particulars requisite 
for the Knowledge of Physick, and provided 
with numerous Observations of his own, 
composed out of the whole a System of 
Physick, and was the first that truly deserved
the Title of Physician; He joined Learning 
and Wisdom together, was most conver- 
sant in Experience and Observation, and did 
not hunt after Words, but severed the very 
Nerves of Science, and so taught them. 
Enphrtœnor the Grammarian grew old in 
his School, and taught when he was an hun- 
dred Years old. Seneca, according to some 
accounts, lived to an hundred and fourteen
Years of Age. But Joannes de Temporibus, 
among all the Men of our latter Ages, 
according to common Fame and vulgar Opi- 
nion, lived the longest, even to a Miracle; 
his Age being reputed to be above three 
hundred Years: He was a Native of France, 
and followed the Wars under Charles the 
Great. 
Among the Venetians there have been 
found a great many long Livers, and those 
of the more eminent fort of the People;
but the most memorable is that of Cornaro, 
who being in his Youth a sickly Person, be- 
gan first to eat and drink by measure, to a 
certain Weight, to recover his Health there- 
by; this Cure, by Use, turn'd into a Diet, 
that

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 47 
that Diet into an extraordinary long Life, 
even of an hundred Years and better, with- 
out any Decay in his Senses, and a constant 
Enjoyment of his Health. 
In latter times, William Postell, a French 
Man, lived to an hundred and twenty Years; 
he was a Man somewhat crazy, and of a 
Fancy not altogether sound, a great Travel- 
ler and Mathematician. 
Henry Jenkins, a Yorkshire Man, attain'd 
the Age of one hundred sixty-nine Years; he
was twelve Years old when the Battle of 
Flowden-field was fought, which happen'd 
upon the 9th of September, in the Year of 
our Lord 1513, and departed this Life the 
8th of December 1670, at Ellerton upon 
Swale, This Henry Jenkins was a poor 
Man, could neither Read nor Write; there 
were also four or five in the same Parish 
where he then liv'd, that were reputed all of
them to be an hundred Years old, or within 
two or three Years of it, and they all affirm'd 
he was an elderly Man ever since they knew 
him, for he was born in another Parish, and 
before any Registers were in Churches, as it 
is thought. In the last Century of his Life 
be was a Fisherman, and used to wade in 
the Streams. His Diet was coarse and sower, 
but towards the latter End of his Days, he 
begg'd up and down. He hath sworn in 
Chancery and other Courts to above 140 
Years Memory, and was often at the Affixes 
at York, whither he generally went on foot. 
It

48 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
It was likewise affirm'd by some of the 
Country Gentlemen, that he frequently swam
in the Rivers after he was past the Age of
an hundred years. * 
Thomas Parr was a poor Countryman of 
Shropshire, whence he was brought up to 
London by Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, 
and died at the Age of 152 Years, 9 Months, 
after surviving nine Princes. Nov. 6, 1635, 
being open'd after his Death by Dr. Harvey,
his Body was found still very fleshy, his 
Breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, and
they served to confirm the Report of his 
having undergone public Censures for his In- 
continency. At the Age of one hundred and 
twenty he married a Widow, who owned he 
acted the Part of a Man, and that for twelve
Years after. He had a large Breast, Lungs 
not fungous, but sticking to his Ribs, and 
distended with much Blood; his Face livid, 
having had a Difficulty of breathing a little
before his Death, and a lasting Warmth in 
his Arm-pits and Breast after it. His Heart 
was great, thick, fibrous and fat; the Blood 
in the Heart blackish and diluted, the Carti- 
lages of the Sternum not more boney than 
in others, but flexible and soft; his Viscera 
were sound and strong, especially his Stomach; 
and it was observ'd of him, that he used to 
eat often both by Day and by Night, taking 
up with old Cheese, Milk, coarse Bread, 
* An Abstract of Dr. Tancred Robinson's Letter, giving an 
Account of Jenkins's Age. 
Small-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 49 
Small-beer, and Whey; and which is more 
remarkable, he eat at Midnight a little be- 
fore he died. All his inward Parts appear'd 
so sound, that if he had not chang'd his Diet 
and Air, he might in all Probability have 
liv'd a great while longer. His Brain was en- 
tire and firm; and tho' he had not the Use 
of his Sight, or of his Memory, several Years 
before he died, yet he had his Hearing and 
Apprehension very well, and was able, to the
130th Year of his Age, to do any Husband- 
man's Work, even Threshing of Corn. * 
Francisco Lupatsoli, a Venetian Consul at 
Smyrna, lived 113 Years, and had by his 
Wives and other Women, fifty Children; he
drank nothing but Water and Milk, some- 
times a small Sherbet; his usual Diet was 
small Soups of Flesh, sometimes of Bread, 
Water and Figs. He saw at that Age with- 
out Spectacles, and could bear well; he 
drank neither Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, nor 
any fermented Liquor, as Mr. Ray, then En- 
glish Consul there, relates; and farther adds, 
that he saw a Tooth cut in his upper Gum 
that great Age. 
In the Life of the great Aurengzebe, one 
of the late Moguls, we have such a nota- 
ble and shining Example of Abstemiousness, 
Continency, and many other Virtues, as may 
well recommend this Royal Infidel to the 
Admiration and Imitation of all Christian 
Princes upon Earth; wherefore I make no 
D Doubt
* Phil. Trans. No. 44. p. 886.  


50 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part I.
Doubt but the following Account of that 
Emperor will no less instruct, than entertain 
the Reader. 
There was no Part then of this great 
Prince's Time, which he did not assign to 
some useful Purpose; for early in the Morn- 
ing, before break of Day, he bathed, and spent 
some Hours at his Devotions; then having 
eaten a little Rice or Sweat-meats, he shut 
himself up with his Secretaries, and before 
Noon he gave publick Audience to his Sub- 
jects; after which he pray'd again, and then 
went to Dinner, his Table being furnish'd 
only with Rice, Herbs, Fruits, or Sweet- 
meats, for neither Flesh or Fish, or any strong
Liquors were ever brought before him. In 
the Afternoon he gave Audience again, which 
being over, he prayed a third and a fourth 
time; and the remainder of the Day, till 
two Hours after it was dark, he spent in the 
private Concerns of his own Family; then 
he supp'd, and slept afterwards only three 
Hours, after which, it is said, he read the Al- 
coran, and pray'd all the remaining Part of 
the Night. And here we have a remarkable 
Instance of what vast Advantage an abste- 
mious regular Course of Life is towards pro- 
curing Health and long Life, and rendering 
a Prince always fit for the most important 
and intricate Affairs; for this Emperor, not- 
withstanding he was an indefatigable Hearer 
of Causes, and constantly directed the Af- 
fairs of so vast an Empire, and conquer'd se- 
veral

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 51
veral large Kingdoms, lived without con- 
tracting any Distemper; neither his Judg- 
ment, Memory, or other Senses, were at all 
impair'd when he was ninety Years of Age. 
Aurengzebe, it is true, had several hundreds 
of fine blooming Girls in his Haram, or 
Seraglio, as all Eastern Princes have; but 
these seem to have been kept only for State, 
or in Conformity with the Custom of the 
Country; for it is related of him, that even 
in his Youth, having singled out a young 
Lady in the Haram to lie with him one 
Night, and she had dressed and prepar'd 
herself to receive her Royal Lover, the King
coming into the Apartment at the appointed 
Hour, instead of going to Bed, fell to read- 
ing, and between his Books and his Devoti- 
ons he passed the whole Night, without ever 
taking Notice of the expecting Lady. 
When the Eunuch came the next Morn- 
ing to acquaint the Emperor that his Bath 
was ready, which is ever used by the Maho-
metans when they have been with their Wo- 
men, the Lady answer'd, There was no need 
of a Bath, for the Sultan, had not broke 
Wind, intimating that he had been at his 
Prayers; for if a Mahometan has the Mis- 
fortune to break Wind at his Prayers, then 
he immediately bathes, looking upon himself 
to be too much polluted to go on with his 
Devotions, till he has washed off the Impu- 
rity contracted by such an Accident. 
D2 From

52 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
From this short Account of the Life of a 
Mahometan Prince, we may learn an exceeding 
useful Lesson, worthy of being imitated by 
all Christian Princes and others, who value 
Health and long Life; for notwithstanding 
he was depriv'd of the Light of Gospel 
Truth, yet so strong were his Notions of a 
Supreme Being, that he most constantly and, 
fervently adored that Being, by which means 
he led a Life religiously abstemious, conquer'd 
and regulated the Surges of the rest of his Pas- 
sions, amidst so many Allurements and Temp- 
tations of numbers of fine blooming Ladies, 
vast Riches, Power and Grandeur, which he 
always had at his Will without Controul, and 
like a true Christian Hero, preferr'd the Ado- 
ration of his Creator, and the Preservation of
his Health, to all the Pleasures which his 
vast Dominions and great Power could afford 
him. 
Richard Lloyd, born within two Miles of 
Montgomery, was aged 133 Years within two 
Months; he was a strong, strait, and upright
Man, wanted no Teeth, had no grey Hairs, 
could hear well, and read without Glasses; 
he was fleshy, and full cheek'd, and the 
Calves of his Legs not wasted or shrunk, 
could talk well, and was of a tall Stature: 
his Food was Bread, Cheese, and Butter, for 
the most Part, and his Drink Whey, But- 
ter-milk, or Water, and nothing else; but 
being persuaded by a neighbouring Gentle- 
woman to eat Flesh Meat, and drink Malt
Liquors,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 53
Liquors, soon fell off and died. He was a 
poor labouring Man in Husbandry, and the 
Truth of his great Age has been confirm'd 
to Dr. Baynard and others, by a produc'd 
Copy of the Register. 
John Bailes of Northampton, was 128 
Years and a half old when Dr. Baynard ex- 
amin'd him: he was a short broad-breasted 
Man; his Food was for the most part brown 
Bread and Cheese; he cared not much for 
Flesh Meats; he was never drunk in his Life, 
and his Drink was Water, Small-beer, and 
Milk. He told the Dr. that he had buried 
the whole Town of Northampton, except 
three or four, twenty times over; strong 
Drink, says the old Man, kills them all. He 
was a sensible old Fellow, and had no Dis- 
ease but Blindness, which Misfortune he did
not experience above four or five Years be- 
fore his Death. 
Mr. Martin, in his Description of the 
Western Islands of Scotland, says, that Do- 
nald Roy, who lived in the Island of Sand, 
where they have neither Physic nor Physi- 
cian, died lately in the hundredth Year of his
Age, and was able to travel and manage his 
Affairs till about two Years before his Death. 
He makes mention of one that died some 
Years before, aged one hundred and forty; 
and of another, who, they said, died at one 
hundred and eighty Years of Age. 
Mrs. Hudson, Mother to Mr. George Hud- 
son, a Sollicitor in Chancery, lived an hundred 
D3 and

54 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
and five Years, and then died of an acute 
Disease, by catching Cold: her Eyes were so
very good, that she could see to thread a 
Needle at that great Age; her Food was 
little or nothing else all her Life-time, but
Bread and Milk. 
Mr. Johnston, the Father of Dr. Johnston 
of Warwick, who was always a strong and 
lusty Man, died at an hundred and eleven 
Years: his usual Drink was Milk and Ale, 
or Milk and Small-beer mix'd together. 
An Inscription on the Tomb-stone of Margaret
Scot, who died at Dalkeith, twelve Miles 
from Newcastle, Feb. 9, 1738. 
Stop, Passenger, until my Life you've read, 
The Living may get Knowledge by the Dead. 
Five times five Years I liv'd a Virgin Life, 
Ten times five Years I was a virtuous Wife;
Ten times five Years I liv'd a Widow chaste,
Now, tir'd of this mortal Life, I rest. 
I, from my Cradle to my Grave, have seen 
Eight mighty Kings of Scotland, and a Queen. 
Four times five Years the Common-wealth I saw. 
Ten times the Subjects rose against the Law. 
Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 
And twice the Cloak was humbl'd by the Gown. 
An End of Stuart's Race I saw: no more, 
I saw my Country fold for English Ore. 
Such Desolations in my Time have been, 
I have an End of all Perfection seen.
2 Margaret

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 55
Margaret Paten, born at Locknugh near 
Paisly in Scotland, died in St. Margaret's 
Workhouse Westminster, June 26, 1739, at 
the Age of one hundred thirty-eight Years, 
and enjoy'd the Use of all her Senses to her 
very last Hours. She lived the most Part of 
her Life upon Oat-bread, Butter, Milk, and 
Roots, especially in her own Country; but 
here in England she indulg'd herself with 
the moderate Use of Flesh, and fermented
Liquors. 
January 1743, died at Ludlow in Shrop- 
shire, one Bright, aged one hundred and five, 
who had his Memory and Eye-sight to the 
last, insomuch that he could discern to pick
a Pin off the Ground. He was called the se- 
cond old Parr, and was born and always
liv'd in the same County; his Food was, 
for the most part, coarse Bread, Cheese, 
Milk, Butter, Small-Beer, of Water. 
February 1743, died in St. Luke's Work- 
house, London, Mrs. Agnes Milbourn, one 
hundred and six Years of Age; she had 29 
Sons and a Daughter by one Husband, 20 of 
whom she has had following her to Church 
at a time for several Years, but out-lived all 
her Children and Grand-children, save only 
one Grand-son. She religiously observ'd 
Temperance, and always avoided the Use of 
Spirituous Liquors as Poison; her usual Drink 
was Milk, Ale, or Small-Beer. 
From these Instances it is manifest, that 
Milk is of a salubrious, safe and sweet Nou- 
D4 rishment,

56 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
rishment, as also by the many Nations be- 
fore and since the Flood, that eat much of 
it, and lived to great Ages, of which num- 
berless Examples may be found both in sa- 
cred and profane History, to confirm the 
Doctrine of Temperance and a cool Diet, 
as absolutely necessary to the Prolongation of
Life; but, as Dr. Baynard rightly observes, if 
an Angel from Heaven should come down 
and preach it, one Bottle of Burgundy, or a 
full flowing Bowl of Bunchy would be of 
more Force with this Claret-stew'd d Gene- 
ration, than ten Ton of Arguments to 
the contrary, tho' never so demonstrable and
divine. 
By what has been said thro' the Course of 
this Chapter, we see, that from the Time of
Moses to our Days, the Term of Man's Life 
has stood much about the same Standard of 
Years, (a few Lives here and there being ex- 
cepted:) so it evidently appears, that the Con- 
tinuation and Number of Successions of Ge- 
nerations, make nothing to the Length or 
Shortness of Life, tho' a great many People 
imagine the contrary. It is certain however, 
that there are Times in all Countries, where- 
in People are longer or shorter liv'd: longer, 
for the most part, when the Times are barba- 
rous, and Men fare less deliciously, and are
more given to bodily Exercises: shorter, 
when the Times are more civiliz'd, and
People abandon themselves to Luxury and 
Ease. Therefore from what has been hither-
to


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 57
to advanc'd, it is likewise evident to a De- 
monstration, that Temperance, moderate Ex-
ercise, and a cool Diet, are absolutely requi- 
site for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, as I shall shew more at large in the 
Sequel. 
The same, no doubt, happens in other li- 
ving Creatures; for neither Horses, Oxen, 
nor Sheep, are abridg'd of their usual Ages, 
even at this Day; and therefore the great 
Abridger of Age was certainly the Deluge; 
and perhaps some notable Accidents, such as 
Inundations, universal Droughts, Earthquakes, 
or the like, may produce the same Effect again. 
And the like Reason may be given, in re- 
gard of the Dimension and Stature of hu- 
man Bodies; for they are not lessen'd by the 
Succession of Generations, notwithstanding 
what Virgil (led by the vulgar Opinion) di- 
vin'd, that After-ages would bring forth less 
Bodies than those in his time; whereupon he 
says, Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa Se- 
pulchris; that is, After-ages shall admire the
great Bones dug out of ancient Sepulchers. 
But tho' it is not denied that there were, some 
time before the Flood, Men of Gigantic Stature, 
(the Bones of such as, for certain, have been 
found in ancient Sepulchers and Caves in 
Sicily, and else where:) yet for these last three 
thousand Years, a Time whereof we have 
authentic Records, no such have been produc'd 
in those Places, nor indeed any where else; 
for which Reason it is evident, that they are 
very

58 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
very much mistaken, who are wholly carried 
away with an Opinion, that (by Succession 
of Ages) there is a continual Decay, as well 
in the Term of Man's Life, as in the Stature 
and Strength of his Body; and that all things
decline, and change to the worse. 
Therefore, as the Succession of Generations 
contributes little or nothing, either to the
Length or Brevity of Life, as appears from 
what has been said already, yet the imme- 
diate Condition of the Parents, without doubt, 
conduces very much to it; for some are be- 
gotten of old Men, some of young Men, 
some of middle-aged Men; again, some are 
begotten of healthful Fathers, and well dis- 
posed, others of diseased and languishing ones; 
again, some of Fathers after Repletion, or 
when they are drunk; others after Sleeping, 
or in the Morning; others again, after along
Intermission of Venus, some upon the Act
repeated; again, some in the Fervency of the 
Father's Love; others after the cooling of it, 
as happens in long-married People. 
The same things ought to be consider'd on 
the Part of the Mother; to which we must 
add her Condition during her Pregnancy, as 
concerning her Health, her Diet, and man- 
ner of living; the time of her bearing in the 
Womb, as to the seventh, eighth, ninth, or 
tenth Month. But to reduce all these things 
to a Rule, how far they concern long Life, 
is difficult; for those things which we often 
conceive to be the best fall out to the con- 
trary;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 59
trary; as for Instance, that Alacrity in a 
Generation that begets lusty and lively Chil- 
dren, will be less profitable to long Life, be- 
cause of the Acrimony and inflaming of the 
Spirits, which soon dissipate, and leave the 
Body dry and wither'd: so that the best Rule
is to use Moderation in all things, conjugal 
Love rather than an unlawful one; the best 
time for Generation being in the Morning, 
or after a due Concoction of our Aliments, 
and after Sleep, but never when the Body is 
in a languishing or sickly or too much 
fatigued. 
A GUIDE


(60)
A GUIDE to HEALTH, &c.
Part II.
INTRODUCTION.
AS the principal and inevitable Causes of
Old Age, and finally of our Dissolu- 
tion, are three, viz.* the Contrariety of the
Principles of our Composition, the Actions in- 
separable from Life, called Animal Actions, 
and the Excrements, which are unavoidably 
engender'd by Aliment in our Bodies; there- 
fore we must (if we would preserve the 
Body in a good State, and guard ourselves 
against the too quick Approaches of old Age) 
dispose these three things in such a manner, 
that the Harmony and Union of our Princi- 
ples, which are called Temperament, be well 
Supported, that the Spirits which are dissi- 
pated every Moment be repair'd, and the 
Excrements retain'd in the Body be expell'd. 
All this may be easily obtain' by the 
means of a good Regimen, without the Assi- 
stance of any Medicine: and this Regimen com- 
prehends many things, which are all reduc'd 
* See the Explication of these three things at large, in 
Chap. II. Part. I. 

INTRODUCTION. 61 
to fix general Heads. They are called, by
the Physicians, Nonnaturals; because, if we 
manage them with Dexterity, and make 
proper use of them, they preserve Health, 
and may be called Naturals; but if they 
are abused, or fall short, or exceed a just
Proportion in the least, they cause Distem- 
pers, and, in that Sense, may be said to 
be against Nature. These Nonnaturals are,
Air, Meat and Drink, Sleeping and Watch-
ing, Motion and Rest, Retention and Excre- 
tion, and the Passions of the Mind; of which
I shall now discourse in order. 
CHAP. I. 
Of the Nature of AIR.
IN order to account for the different Ef- 
fects, and Influence of Air upon Hu- 
man Bodies, in the following Discourse, it 
is necessary to premise in this Place, that Air, 
(according to its Nature, and the Idea we 
can form of it) is, that thin and invisible 
Fluid, in constant Motion, wherein we 
breathe and move, encompassing the Earth 
and Seas on every side, and containing the 
Vapours, Clouds, and other Meteors; the 
whole Body of which is called the * Atmo- 
sphere;
* From the Greek Words, 'AΓμòs a Vapour, and εφûeα., 
a sphere; so that Atmosphere in English, is a round Body of
Vapours; and such is the Air surrounding the Earth, as 
being constantly repleat with Vapours exhaled by the Rays 
Of the Sun. 

62 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sphere; and that it is the principal Instrument 
of Nature in all its Operations: for no Ve- 
getable, Animal, Terrestrial, or Aquatic can 
be produced, live, or grow without it: So that 
Air is the chief Instrument in the Genera- 
tion, Resolution, Accretion and Corruption 
of all terrestrial Bodies; for it is certainly
true, that it enters into every Composition, 
more or less, of all Fluids and Solids, all 
which produce great Quantities of Air. 
The lower Parts of the Air, in which all 
Animals live and breathe, are impregnated 
with an infinite Variety of the Effluvia, Steams, 
and Particles of terrestrial, aqueous, metal- 
line, vegetable and animal Substances, which, 
by Attrition, become so small and light as to 
float in it. Hence it is evident, that the Air 
must be differently impregnated in different 
Places of the Surface of the Earth, which 
produce considerable Alterations in its State, 
whereby human Bodies are differently affect- 
ed, as will plainly appear heareafter. 
Water being an Ingredient of the Air, is 
continually exhaled, and as continually de- 
scends; for when the Air is overcharged with 
it, it returns again, and falls upon the Surface of
the Earth, in Rain, Hail, Snow or Dew; but 
the Dew falls chiefly when the Sun is down. 
Earth, when calcined, flies off into the 
Air; and the Ashes of Vulcanos or burning 
Mountains: Likewise Salts of all kinds are 
ingredients of Air; for even fixed fossil Salts
may

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 63 
may be digested, and thereby rendered volatile, 
and evaporate into the Air. There are besides 
Particles of all Minerals whatever in the Air;
even Gold, the most compact and heaviest of 
them, can be evaporated and exhaled into Air, 
as will be made appear in the latter End of 
this Chapter. 
The Smoke and Fumes which are raised 
by natural or artificial Fires, all vanish into
the Air. The Steams of fermenting Liquors, 
and the poisonous Fumes of Mines, impreg- 
nated with sulphureous Exhalations, and 
combin'd with different Salts, or Metalline 
Particles, which are stinking, oily, and in- 
flammable, evaporate into the Air, and make 
up part of its Contents; which must neces- 
sarily so alter its Constitution, as to render 
it not only insalubrious, but even pernicious 
to every Animal that breathes in it. 
The watery Exhalations, with the fragrant 
and volatile Spirit of all Vegetables, being 
Ingredients of the Air, contribute very much 
towards its Salubrity, or Insalubrity, as well 
when growing, as when cut down and in a 
decaying State; for the most volatile parts of
Vegetables will evaporate into the Air, by a 
Degree of Heat much less than that of Sum- 
mer; as is evident both by Chymistry* and 
the sense of our own Smelling; for spicy 
Odours are smelt at a great Distance from 
the Countries where the Spices grow; so that 
the Quantity of vegetable Perspiration must
be very considerable in Summer-time; and 
by
* Boerhaave Chem. vol. 2. Process. I. 

64 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by the Reverend Dr. Hale's * Experiments 
we are farther convinced, that Vegetables 
of all kinds perspire Particles which float in 
the Air, and are either wholsome or destruc- 
tive to human Bodies, according to their dif- 
ferent Qualities. Hence we may infer, that 
upon the account of the Perspiration of 
Vegetables, the Summer Air must be very 
different from that of the Winter. 
Animal Perspiration is another Ingredi- 
ent of the Air, as well as the Effluvia of all 
their other Excrements, which oftentimes in- 
fect that Part of the Atmosphere, as to pro- 
duce pestilential Diseases. The Perspiration 
of a human Body, according to Mr. Hale's, ‡
Computation, is about I-50 Part of a Inch in
24 Hours all over the Surface of the Body; 
and the Quantity of the Moisture, by Respi- 
ration from the Lungs, he computes at 9792 
Grains, or I. 39, in 24 Hours; § the Surface 
of the Body he computes at 2160 square Inches, 
or 15 square Feet consequently the Surface of the
Skins of 2904 such Bodies, would cover an Acre 
of Ground, and would make an Atmosphere 
of the Steams of their own Bodies about 
71 Foot high in 34 Days, which would be- 
come Pestiferous in a Moment, if not dis-
persed by Winds.
The great Quantity of Animal Substances 
imbibed into the Air, farther appears from this, 
I that
* Hale's Veg. Stat. p. 49, 50.
‡ Veg. Stat. p. II. Exp I. 
§ Hæmast. p. 326. p. 328.


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 65
that all the Excrements of all the Carcasses 
of Animals, such as those that are burnt, 
those that are exposed later, and those that 
Are buried, in length of Time all vanish in- 
to Air at last, except a small Quantity of
Bones, which turn into Earth. From 
hence we may infer, that living in great 
and populous Cities, or in Camps, or near 
Numbers of dead Carcasses in a hot or sultry
Season, may infect that Air so far, as to 
dispose the People to putrid and malignant 
Fevers, of which we have several instances in 
History, too tedious to insert in this Place. 
And though Nature makes use of all pos- 
sible Means to preserve the Mass of this he- 
terogeneous Fluid, wherein we breathe, in a 
wholsome State; yet it must necessarily hap- 
pen, that the Air of particular Regions, Sea- 
sons and Places may differ very much in the 
Proportions of the Mixture of Ingredients 
already mentioned; so that such Air must 
affect human Bodies variously, by such Ex- 
cesses or Defects; For Air, when too moist, 
affects us with one Class of Diseases; and 
when too dry, with another. Air impreg- 
nated with the Effluvia of Animals, espe- 
cially of such as are rotting, has often pro- 
duced pestilential Diseases in that Place, as 
we find by Experience: for the Inhabitants 
of such Countries, where great Numbers 
of Men have been slain in Battle, and left 
unburied, were soon after infested with 
pestilential Distempers; as that which hap- 
E pened

66 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part I.
pened * at Massanissa, where 80,000 Persons 
were destroyed, and at Utica, wherein 30,000 
Persons died of the Plague. That menti- 
oned by ‡ Livy, which invaded the greatest 
Part of Italy, owed its rise to the dead 
Bodies of the Romans and Fidenates left 
unburied in the Field of Battle. The Plague 
mentioned by Ambrose Paree, 1562 §, was 
occasioned by Carcasses thrown into a Ditch. 
Great Quantities of dead Locusts driven into 
the Sea, by Winds, and from thence cast up in
Heaps on the Shore by the Waves, produced 
the same Effects, as Diodorus Siculus relates: 
And likewise the Steams of great Quantities 
of corrupted Vegetables have produced the 
like Effects in their Neighbourhood. The 
Steams and Effluvia of human living Crea- 
tures are extremely corruptible, as has been
observed already; and likewise the Water 
in which human Bodies wash and bathe, by 
keeping, smells cadaverous, a great part of
which evaporates into the Air.
From hence we may conclude, that it will 
be of the utmost Consequence to every one, 
to take care what kind of Air it is they sleep
and wake, breathe and live in, and are per- 
petually receiving into the most intimate 
Union with the Principles of Life; for as 
the Air being attracted, received into our 
Bodies, and mixed with our Fluids every 
Instant
* Sane. August, lib. 3. de Civit. Dei Cap. 31. 
‡ Histor. Roman. 
§ Lib. 21. de Peste. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 67
Instant of our Lives, any ill Quality abounding 
in it, so continually introduced, must in Time 
cause fatal Effects in the Animal Oeconomy. 
The first Consideration then, in Building 
of Houses and Cities, should be* to make 
them open and airy, and well perflated;
therefore we should never build upon 
high Hills, very near any great Confluence 
of Water, or in the Neighbourhood of any 
great Mines, near Beds of Minerals, or on 
marshy or mossy Foundations; but either 
in a champaign Country, or on the side of
some small Eminence, sheltered from the 
North and East Winds, or upon a light 
gravelly Soil. The best Method of finding 
out the Nature of the Soil, will be known 
from the Plants and Herbs that it produces,
and from the Nature of the Waters that spring
out of it, which ought to be sweet, clear, 
light, soft and tasteless. 
All high Hills or Mountains are damp, 
for it is common to see it rain or snow on 
Mountains, when the Valleys below are clear, 
dry, and serene. All great Hills are Nests of
Minerals, and Covers for Reservoirs of Rain- 
Water, and the Clouds are only great Fleeces 
of ratified Water floating in the Air, and 
these high Hills intercepting them, are com- 
pressed into Rain or Dew, and are con- 
stantly straining down the Chinks of the 
Mountains into the Sea and other Reser- 
voirs of Water; and Rain is allowed to be 
the Origin of Rivers and Fresh-Water 
E2 springs.


68 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Springs. Moreover, these Mountainous Places 
are always exposed to great and almost con- 
tinual Winds; and where any great Con- 
course of Water is, the Air must needs be 
always damp there, because the Sun is per- 
petually exhaling Dews and Vapours from 
these Waters. 
Dew is another Ingredient of the Air, 
which is not mere Water, but a Collection 
of the watry, oily, saline, and volatile Sub- 
stances, exhaling and transpiring from the 
Earth, and are not to be seen, as long as 
they are agitated by the Sun, but in its Ab- 
sence, and as soon as the Air cools, they 
become visible; and as the Air is a thin or 
rare Body, it cools much sooner than the 
Earth, which continues to transpire this 
Substance after Sun-set; and a great deal 
of it falls down again in the Form of Wa- 
ter, by the Cold of the Night; for it is ob- 
servable, that when there is no Wind, there 
is a Coat of this Vapour generally to be 
seen Surface of the Earth. 
Dew then, being a Composition of all 
the Substances that are exhaled from that
Tract of Earth, must of consequence be ve- 
ry different in different Tracts of Ground, 
for which Reason, according to the learned 
Boerhaave ‡, the Chymists can never agree 
about the component Parts of it; be- 
cause they make their Experiments upon 
Dows of different Places, and consequently 
of a different Nature of Ingredients; for 
in
‡ Chym. vol. I. pag. 471. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 69 
in some Places it produces such volatile and 
explosive Salts, as to break Glasses in Distil- 
lation; in others it stains the Glass like the 
Colours of the Rain-bow, which nothing can 
efface. 
In some Countries, as in Bermuda *, the 
Air being impregnated with corrosive Salts 
of different kinds, will corrode the Bricks 
and Tiles of Houses, and even rot the very
Hangings in Rooms, as has been observed 
by many. The Perspiration of metalline 
acid Salts from certain Places of the Earth, 
which, upon the account of their Gravity, 
rise only to a certain Degree of Height, are 
exceedingly offensive when taken in by the 
Breath; for they either contract the Vesicles, or 
immediately coagulate the Blood in the smaller 
Vessels, which creep along the Surfaces of 
the little Aërial Bladders of the Lungs, that 
Are in immediate Contact with the outward 
Air; and such are those arsenical Steams in 
the Grotto Del Cane near Naples, and in 
some Mines in Carniola, Campania, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
Of all the Collection of Ingredients in the 
Air, none are more pernicious to human Bo- 
dies, than Sulphurs; and also Charcoal Steams 
confined in close Places, such as Cellars and 
Caverns under-ground, will suffocate Ani- 
mals in a Moment; but when sulphureous 
Vapours abound too much, then kind Nature 
fets them on Fire by Lightning. Sulphureous 
E3 Vapours
* Boerhaave Chym. vol. I. p. 494. 

70 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Vapours likewise infect Vegetables, and ren- 
der the Grass and Herbs very pernicious to 
the Cattle that feed upon it, as Mr. Jones * 
and others relate. 
The † Observations of the Learned made 
on several Mines, give an Account, how the 
sulphureous Steams and Vapours differently 
affect and frequently destroy the Miners who
work in them; some fall into Convulsions, 
Faintings, Palsies, and apoplexies; others are 
instantly suffocated; and others again are kill'd 
by Explosion, resembling in its Nature that 
of Thunder or Gunpowder, as soon as the 
sulphureous Matter takes Fire: yet it must be 
allow'd, that Sulphur in itself, is neither un- 
wholsome nor unfriendly to the Lungs; for 
the Exhalations from Tracts of Earth abounds 
ing with Sulphur, are esteem'd wholsome in 
the open Air, such as those about the City of
Naples; but it must be observ'd, that these 
Exhalations are in the free and open Air, 
and not in too great Abundance, and in all 
Probability unmix'd with any other perni- 
cious Salts, which those in Mines must be im- 
pregnated with. 
From what has been said already, in Page 
65 and 66, it must follow, that the Air 
in great and populous Cities differs very 
much from that in the Country, and that it 
is from offensive Smells and Fumes, among 
other things, that Diseases are more fre- 
quent
* Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 101. and likewise Philos. Trans. 
abridg. vol. 2. p. 180. 
‡ Philos. Trans. vol. 2. p. 575. 


Ch. I. thro' the various, Stages of Life. 71
quent and more dangerous in the former than 
they are in the latter. Great Calms have often 
preceded the pestilential Constitutions of the 
Seasons; hence the close and confined Air of 
Prisons often produces mortal Diseases; and in 
Bays and Harbours,the Crews of Ships turn 
sickly, that would be healthy in the open Seas; 
and the great Mortality that is so often in 
Camps is chiefly owing to offensive Smells and 
Steams; for nothing contributes more to the 
Production of Distempers than the infected 
Air that they breathe in, occasion'd by the 
Filth which is the necessary Attendant of such 
Places; especially at Sieges, where the cor- 
rupted Particles of dead Bodies, both of Men 
and Beasts, fill the Air with an intolerable 
Stench. Besides, the Effluvia and Steams of 
Perspiration exhal'd into the Air, from the 
Bodies of Men and other Animals, must so 
charge that Air, as to encrease its Weight very
much; and at the same time the Heat of the 
Camp will weaken its Spring so considerably, 
as to render it very unfit for Respiration; for 
thereby the Blood will remain unbroken in 
the Lungs, and so dispose the People to those 
Distempers, occasion'd by a Viscidity in the 
Blood; such as malignant Fevers, Dysenteries
and Agues. 
According to the learned Boerhaave and 
others, the Eggs of Infects, and even Infects 
themselves very often are floating in the Air, 
and are so small as to be generally invisible 
by the Assistance of the best Microscopes, 
E4 which

72 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
which render the Air very unwholsome, 
and are often times the Cause of many 
grievous Diseases, being suck'd in with our 
Breath, and swallow' down with our Food; 
and the low and marshy Grounds are most
commonly subject to be infected with them; 
for there we always find great Quantities of
Flies and other Infects. Caterpillars and o- 
ther Infects, which eat up and destroy the 
Leaves of Trees and Plants, are proba- 
bly produced by the Eggs of those Infects 
floating in the Air; otherwise we cannot 
easily conceive how they can be generated in 
the Plants themselves. Historians relate, that 
there are Showers of Rain sometimes in 
Africk which affect the Inhabitants with 
Shiverings, and that there are Infects found in 
the Drops of these Showers; hence it appears 
that there are Infects in the Air, though not 
visible to the naked Eye: for it has been ob- 
serv'd, by the Help of Glasses, that in part of
a Room illuminated with the Beams of the 
Sun, Flies are seen sometimes darting like 
Hawks upon a Prey. 
Tho' the Air on or near the Surface of the 
Earth is impregnated with an infinite Num- 
ber of heterogeneous Particles, as appears evi- 
dently by what has been said already; yet the 
wise Author of the Universe has so temper'd 
this Mixture, as to render it wholsome to all 
the Animals that live and breathe in it, except
in some few accidental Cases; for doubtless 
pure Air without any such Ingredients would 
be

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 73
be very unfit for Animals and Vegetables to 
subsist in; therefore, in order to render salubri- 
ous this Element wherein we breathe, infinite 
Wisdom has so ordained, that the whole Mass 
is never overcharged with these Contents; for 
as human Creatures are unable to bear Ex- 
cesses of any kind, such as too much Heat, 
too much Dryness or Moisture, there is a con- 
tinual Circulation of Water and other Ingre- 
dients in the Air, and in mostPlaces the 
Air contains near the same Quantity of Wa- 
ter: for as the Sum of all the Force of the Sun
upon the same Surface of Land and Water, 
and the Heat of the Surface of Earth within 
the Year is very near uniform, consequently 
the Quantity of Exhalation is the same: And 
as the Air has a Power of imbibing and su- 
staining only certain Quantities of Water with
other Ingredients, and the Sum of all the 
Quantity that falls from the Air over the 
Surface of the Earth in Rain, Hail, Snow, 
and Dew, is the same; yet, by accidental 
Causes, such as Winds, the Stoppage of the 
Clouds by Tracts of Mountains, more of these 
Exhalations or Vapours may be carried and 
fall in one Place than another. 
This Water is again carried, by its natural Gra- 
vity, in Streams into the Sea, and other Reser- 
voirs of Water, and from thence again exhal'd, 
of which there is only left a sufficient Quantity 
for the Nourishment of Plants and Animals, 
the Perspiration of whose Bodies is again 
exhaled; and this Circulation is constantly 
main-

74 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
maintained and directed by the wise Order of 
Divine Providence. And all these different 
Ingredients of the Air are digested and atte- 
nuated by the Heat of the Sun, and they are 
constantly stirr'd and agitated by Winds, which
mix the Air of different Regions together. 
There are likewise Fermentations in the Air, 
which are succeeded by violent Motions and 
Explosions in Thunder and Lightning; by 
which Means the redundant sulphureous 
Steams, and other pernicious Particles are 
destroyed and consumed in those Storms. 
The particular Causes of Thunder and 
Lightning seem to be nothing else than the 
Sun exhaling moist Particles into the Air, 
these condense and gather into Clouds, and 
when these inclose a Quantity of sulphureous, 
nitrous and bituminous Exhalations, and like- 
wise Salts of various Sorts, Acids and Alka-
lies, extracted both from the Earth and Ocean, 
which being violently agitated by the Oppo- 
sition of Heat and Cold, and the Motion of 
the Air, operating upon those sulphureous and 
nitrous Particles, together with a watery Mat- 
ter, till at last they ferment and are kindled; 
then the Fire bursts open the Cloud with Ex- 
plosion in Thunder and Lightning, where the 
Passage is most easy, and the Cloud not able 
to make any farther Resistance: Sometimes 
the Opening is very wide, and stands a smali 
time, with a firey Edge about it; the Cloud 
is then dash'd with great Violence, the Air 
assisting with its Motion, and the sulphureous
Matter

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 75
Matter breaks out again in various Sounds:
the first Discharge being over, presently suc- 
ceeds a second, and this is back'd with a thirds 
fourth, fifth, &c. as long as the Store of 
combustible Matter holds out to maintain the 
Fire, till at last the Equilibrium of the Air is 
perfectly restored. 
The Effects of Lightning are wonderful; 
it being a most subtile and refin'd Matter, 
will sometimes burn a Person's Cloaths, while
his Body remains unhurt; and on the con- 
trary, it will sometimes break a Man's Bones, 
while his Cloaths and Flesh receive no 
Harm. In like manner it will sometimes 
melt or break the Blade of a Sword in the 
Scabbard, and the Scabbard remain un- 
touch'd. It has drank up Vessels of Water, 
the Cover being left untouch'd and no other 
Token remain'd. Gold, Silver, and Brass, 
have been melted, and the Bags wherein they 
were contain'd not burnt, nor even the Seal 
off Wax defac'd. Marcia, Queen of the 
Romans, was Thunder-struck when she was 
big with Child, which was killed in her 
Womb, and she receiv'd no Harm. 
The Reason of these strange and contrary 
Effects, Philosophers can but conjecture at, 
imputing it to the different Figure and Qua- 
lity of the Particles of the * Lightning, as 
2 to
* There is a fort of Stone or Mineral, which is vulgarly 
called a Thunder-bolt, and it is thought, that it falls from the 
Clouds in a Clap of Thunder, and thereby great Mischief is
done many times. But this is a vulgar Error; for the Stone 
seems to resemble more an artificial than a natural Producti- 
on,


76 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
to the Rarity and Thickness of the Fire; for 
the more subtile penetrates more easily, and 
the thicker with more Difficulty; whence 
the latter does more Harm than the former; 
and tho' it produces various and wonderful 
Effects, yet it is of such singular Use to the
Inhabitants of the Earth, that they could 
scarce subsist without it; for it clears the Air, 
destroys and consumes all the redundant and 
noxious Steams and Particles that float in it, 
breaks the Clouds, and sends down Rain up- 
on the Earth. 
* It is certain, from undoubted Experiments, 
that the Air near the Surface of the Earth 
is more or less impregnated with all those 
Heterogeneous Particles already mention'd, 
and a great many more not possible to enu- 
merate. And in truth it cannot be otherwise, 
by the known Laws of Nature; for by 
what means soever a Body becomes divided, 
till some of the Particles become less than the 
component Particles of Airy and by that 
means become lighter, they will be elevated 
into the Air, until by their * Coalescence, 
their Gravity be so much encreased, as to 
fink
on, by the Make and Figure of it; and being most common- 
ly found where Sepulchers have been, makes the Learned in- 
cline to think, that they are some Remains of Antiquity, and 
were formerly of Use in War and Arms, which was cu- 
stomary with the Ancients to bury with their Ashes. See
Rowning's Comp. System, p 146. Part II. and Philos. Trans. 
No. 313, 316, 319, 331. 
* Coalescence, is the gathering together and uniting into a 
sensible Mass, those minute Particles floating in a Fluid, which 
were not before visible in it. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 77
sink them again to the Earth. And for the 
Production of such wonderful Effects, even 
in the hardest and most solid Bodies, we need
have Recourse to no other Cause than the 
Rays of the Sun; for as it has been demon- 
strated by † Astronomical Observations, that 
Light is not above ten Minutes in passing 
from the Sun to the Earth, and as the Earth 
is at least 10,000 of its own Diameters distant
from the Sun; therefore it must run 1000 of 
these Diameters in a Minute, which is above 
100,000 Miles in a Second. So that if a 
Bullet, moving with the same Velocity with 
which it leaves the Muzzle of a Cannon, re- 
quires 25 Years to pass from the Earth to 
the Sun, as Huygens ‡ has computed it, then 
the Velocity of Light, to that of a Cannon- 
Ball, will be as 25 Years to 10 Minutes; 
therefore we may expect proportionable Ef- 
fects from such Particles, notwithstanding 
their exceeding Smallness. And we may guess 
at the Effects of the Rays of Light separate- 
ly, by what we can observe when collected in 
the Focus of a burning Glass; for no Body, 
tho' ever so hard and compact, is able to 
resist their Force: even Gold, which is un- 
alterable by any artificial Fire, may be * * vi- 
trified by the concenter'd Rays of the Sun, 
one
† Mr. Romer's Observations on the Eclipses of the Satellites 
Of Jupiter. 
‡ Huygens in his Treatise upon Light and Gravity. He was 
a celebrated Mathematician. 
** Vitrified, made or chang'd into Glass by the Force of 
Fire 

78 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
one Part of it exhaling into the Air, as 
the other is turned into Glass; and that in a 
few Seconds of Time, according to Mr. 
Blundel and others. 
Hence it appears, that the Rays of the Sun 
are not only capable to abrade and file off 
from the most solid Bodies, such small Par- 
ticles as will be render'd lighter when sepa- 
rate, than the least compounding Particle of 
Air, but also by the Celerity with which 
they will be reflected, will thereby be capa- 
ble to carry into the Air such little Collec- 
tions of Matter, as are in Fact heavier than 
the Air they mount up in, which, when the 
Force impressed becomes less than will im- 
pel them higher, they must necessarily fall 
down to the Earth again, which will vari- 
ously affect human Bodies, both in their As- 
cent and Descent, according to their different
Nature and Properties. 
CHAP. II. 
Of the Properties of AIR. 
THE Properties of Air are, Gravity, 
Elasticity, Fluidity, and Divisbility. 
They are so called, because they constantly
remain in the whole Mass and in every part 
of it. 
The


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 79 
The Gravity of the Air was first dis- 
cover'd by Galileus, by trying to what Height
Water might be raised by pumping; and 
when he found it could not be raised higher 
than 33 feet, justly concluded, that it was 
from the Counter-ballance of the Weight of 
the Air that it was raised so high. 
The * specifick Gravity then of Air, 
when the Barometer † stands at 30 Inches, 
according to Sir Isaac Newton's Observations, 
and Dr. Halley s, is to that of Water, about 
1 to 800, and to that of Mercury as 1 
to 10,800; So that the Air we breathe 
in,
*Specifick Gravity, is the appropriate and peculiar Gravity or 
Weight which any Species of natural Bodies have, and by which 
they are plainly distinguishable from all other Bodies of diffe- 
rent Kinds, when compared with them: And it is not im- 
properly called relative Gravity, to distinguish it from absolute 
Gravity, which encreases according to the Proportion of the 
Bulk or Bigness of the Body weighed. Thus, if a Body 
weighs a Pound, one as big again will weigh two Pounds; and 
let the Bodies be of what Nature or Degree of Specifick Gra- 
vity soever, a Pound of one will be as much as a Pound of 
the other absolutely considered. Thus a Pound of Feathers is 
as heavy as a Pound of Lead; but if we consider Lead and 
Feathers relatively, the specifick Gravity of the former will be 
much greater than the later; or Lead, Bulk for Bulk, will be 
much heavier than Feathers, and Gold heavier than Lead. 
† Barometer is a Glass Tube or Instrument to measure the 
height of the Atmosphere by; it is about three Feet in Length, 
and 1/16 or 2/10 of an Inch bore, seal'd up at one End, and at 
the other End it is fill'd quite full of Quicksilver, and thus 
immersed in a small Vessel of Quicksilver, that will fink 
down in the Tube, or run out into the Vessel, till it remains 
in the Tube between 28 and 31 Inches perpendicular height; 
and this Column of Mercury in the Tube, is equal in Weight 
to a Column of Air of the same Basis, and of the Height 
of the Atmosphere, and consequently is suspended by it; 
which therefore by its rising higher or falling lower, shews 
the proportionally greater or lesser Weight or Pressure of the 
Atmosphere 

80 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in, takes up 10,800 times the Space that the 
like Quantity of Mercury would. And the 
Honourable Mr. Boyle proves by Experi- 
ments †, that the Air without any adven- 
titious Heat, may, by the Force of its own
Spring, possess 13,000 times the Space it 
does when pressed by the incumbent Atmo- 
sphere; and therefore may possess a Space 
one hundred forty-five Millions, and six hun- 
dred thousand times greater than the same 
Weight of Mercury; and that by the Ad- 
dition of Heat, it may be forced to fill a 
Space much larger. And if we consider that 
the Air we breathe in, may be compressed 
into 40 times less Space than that which it 
now fills; therefore Air may possess a Space
520,000 times greater at one time than ano- 
ther. 
The Gravity of Air counterpoises a Co- 
lumn of Mercury from 27 1/2 Inches to 30 1/2,
the Gravity of the Atmosphere varying some- 
times 1/10, which are its utmost Limits, so 
that the specifick Gravity of the Air cannot 
be exactly determined. And the Account that 
Dr. Halley gives of the Causes of the Variation
of the Gravity of the Air, seems very clear and
conclusive; for they must either proceed 
from the Air's being more or less charged 
with Quantities of ponderous Ingredients in 
one Time and Place, which, as has been said in 
the former Chapter, arc plentifully exhaled 
into
‡ Boyle's Tracts about the wonderful Rarefication of the 
Air. 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 81
into it, or by its being accumulated more in 
one Place than in another by Currents of 
Winds; thus contrary Currents of Air com- 
ing to the same Place, must accumulate the 
Air in that Place, and consequently raise the
Mercury in the Barometer; but two Currents 
of Air from the same Place, must link the 
Air in that Place, and consequently the Mer- 
cury in the Barometer. 
This is very possible in Liquids, and hap- 
pens even in the Motion of the Tides; for 
if there was a perfect Calm always, the Equi-
librium could only be charged by the greater 
or smaller Quantity of ponderous Ingredi- 
ents in the Air; in Confirmation of which 
it is discovered, that where the Winds are 
not variable, as near the Line, the Al- 
terations of the Barometer are very small; 
And these Variations of the Air's Weight 
cannot proceed from letting its ponderous In- 
gredients fall, as in great and heavy Showers: 
Tho' it is certain, that a heavy Body falling 
through a Fluid, during its Descent, does not 
press upon it, but by the Resistance which the
fluid gives to its Motion in Descent; but the 
Decrease of the Atmosphere's Weight during 
the fall of Rain, Snow, or Hail, is not pro- 
portionable to this Cause, therefore cannot be 
accounted for from it. 
As the incumbent Atmosphere is fluid and 
heavy, it presses equally upon the Surface 
of a human Body, with a Weight equal 
to a Column of Mercury, whose Basis is 
F equal

82 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
equal to the Surface of a Human Body; and 
Altitude, that of the Barometer, as in a mid- 
dle-siz'd Man, with a Weight of 32,000 
Pounds; for as it is possible for the Air to 
vary 1/10 in its Weight, so that such a human
Body must sustain a Weight of 3,200 Pounds 
Weight more at one Time than at another; 
and if the Mercury varies only one Inch in 
Height, there will be a Difference of about
1000 Pounds Weight: Such Alterations would 
affect both the Solids and Fluids of hu- 
man Bodies very much, were it not that 
the Ballance between the Air within and that 
without the Body is quickly restor'd, by the 
free Communication that is between them; 
so that these Changes are suffered without 
any sensible Inconvenience to healthful Peo- 
ple. 
This proves the ready Admission of the 
Air into the Vessels of human Bodies, and 
the Egress of aërial Particles from within the 
Body, in each Case of the Variation of the 
Weight of the external Air, from less to 
more, or from more to less; for if this Bal- 
lance between the external Air, and that 
within the Body was not kept, the Fibres 
and Fluids being elastick, in case of an In- 
crease of the Weight of the external Air,
both the Fluids and Solids would be too much 
compress'd; and in case of a Decrease of 
this Weight, they would be dilated with a 
painful Sensation, and endanger the Life of 
the Individual; for the Fall of the Mercury 
in

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 83
in the Barometer is the same with the Ex- 
suction of so much Air in the Air-pump; 
and the Rise of the Mercury the contrary. 
This Alteration happens in Vegetables and
in fermenting Liquors, as well as in Animals; 
and how these considerable Changes are made 
by Heat, Cold, or great Winds in fermenting 
Liquors, is an Observation of every one con- 
versant with them; for all these Changes 
are brought about by altering either the
Weight or Spring of the circumambient 
Air: It is for this Reason like wise, that se- 
veral People, by their Akings and Pains, can 
foretell any considerable Change of the Wea- 
ther; for their Blood being more rarefied at
the approach of wet Weather, or high 
Winds, will more forcibly press upon the 
sensible Membranes of the Body, so as to 
cause Pains that they were free from before: 
And this the rather happens, because the 
Blood hereby becomes not in the least the 
more fluid; for Froth, which is only Water 
blown into Bubbles by Air, is less fluid than 
Water itself; and the Globules of the Blood be- 
ing blown larger by the contained Air, when 
the Pressure of the external Air is removed, 
the Blood then is rendered less fluid, and 
will pass through the Capillaries with great 
Difficulty. 
A Fluid must have its Parts small, smooth, 
spherical, or approaching thereunto, and of 
equal Density, if the Fluid be homogeneal *, 
F2 accord-
* homogeneal is such Particles as are pure, entire, un- 
mixed, and altogether like one another.

84 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
according to Borelli ‡: and it is not neces- 
sary that the Parts of a Fluid should be in 
Motion, because it is neither apparent that 
the Parts of all Fluids are so, nor that the 
Parts of some solid Bodies are not so; there- 
fore, the Blood in this rarefied State is rather 
less, than more fluid, in which Condition it 
will remain, whenever the Gravity of the 
Air is lessen'd, or its Spring weakened, by 
any Cause whatever. 
There is no Liquor that can be blown up 
into Bubbles, but what is somewhat viscid, and
the more tenacious the Parts of any Liquids 
are, the fitter it is for this Use; for the Bubbles 
will be both larger and more lasting; for 
Example, a Mixture of Soap and Water may 
be blown into Spheres or Bubbles above six 
Inches in Diameter; and human Blood con- 
sists of Parts like what is in such a Mix- 
ture; for there are watry, oily, and saline 
Particles in the Blood, as is evident to our 
Senses: And that the Blood is blown into 
such little Spherulœ beyond dispute, is what 
may be observed with a Microscope in the 
Tail of a Fish; for the Globules of Blood 
being too large to pass through the smallest
Arteries, they change their spherical* Fi- 
gure to a spheroidal † one; and when they 
come into a wider Channel, they recover 
their former Figure again. Now as it is the 
Property
‡ Borelli de motibus à gravitate factis, Præpos. p. 142. 
* Spherical, round like a Ball.
† Spheroidal, an oblong Sphere or Ball. 


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 85
Property of an Elastick Body alone, that 
when its Figure is changed, to recover it again;
and nothing being Elastick but Air, or at 
least, what contains Air in it; it is a 
plain Reason that the Globules of the Blood 
must contain Air in them. 
From what has been said, it appears, that 
whenever the Blood is too viscid, so that the 
Force of Cohesion be not greater than that by
which the Air contained in the Blood endea- 
vours to expand itself, in such a Case the 
Person will be more sensibly affected by the 
Alteration of Weather; from hence better 
Indications may be taken both for the Cure 
and Prevention of those Diseases that pro- 
ceed from a Viscidity in the Blood, than from
any other Source whatever. 
Human Species can live in Air of very dif- 
ferent Gravity; for the Air in the same 
Place may differ 1/10 in Weight, the Variation 
of the Mercury in the Barometer being so 
much; but what is still more extraordinary, 
human Creatures can live in Airs, where the 
difference of the Weight is double; for Exam- 
ple, in the Bottom of deep Mines, where the 
Mercury stands in the Barometer at 32 Inches, 
and at the Top of the highest Mountains, 
supposing 'em to be 3 Miles high, the Mercury 
then mud stand at a little above sixteen 
inches. 
Notwithstanding human Creatures can sus- 
tain such a Difference of Weight or Pressure 
of Air, as (in the common Variation of Gra- 
F3 vity

86 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vity in the same Place) makes the Difference 
of Pressure upon a Person of a middle Size 
3600 Pounds Weight, and in the Difference 
of Height in the Bottoms of Mines, and at 
the Tops of the highest Mountains the Dif- 
ference of 18000 Weight; which Difference 
of Pressure or Weight must produce great 
Alterations in the bending or stretching of the 
Fibres, and in dilating the Fluids of a Human 
Body: For in the case of a greater Weight, 
the Fibres will be more strongly braced, and
the Fluids will be rendered more compact; 
and, as has been observed already, were there 
not a free Communication between the outward 
Air, and that within the Animal Fluids, these 
Alterations would be insupportable; for the 
Animal would be, in such a Case, as in an 
Air-pump with the Exsuction of half the 
Air; in which Case the Blood would boil 
up and expand itself to a very great Degree, 
by having so much of the Pressure of the 
outward Air taken off. 
And it seems very reasonable, that in di- 
minishing the Force of the Pressure of 
the outward Air upon human Bodies, the 
Fibres thereby will be rendered more un- 
braced, and consequently must create a 
Weakness in Muscular Motion; which is the 
Reason, in a great Measure, that People 
breathe shorter and with more Difficulty 
than usual, in going up to the Tops of high 
Hills and Mountains; for the Air in ascend- 
ing is a great deal lighter than at the Bot- 
2 tom,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 87 
tom, and by the Diminution of the Pressure 
of the Air upon the Muscles, less Exercise 
puts People out of Breath; and likewise the 
Over-ballance of the Air contained in the 
Cavity of the Breast, may help to produce 
this Effect But then perhaps it will be said, 
that the Inhabitants of Mountains are not 
weaker nor less active than those of lower 
Situations: In answer to which it must be 
observed, that the Excess of Coldness of the 
Air on the Tops of Mountains above that 
of the low Countries, counter-ballance the less 
Weight of the Air, and braces the Fibres 
more strongly: Another Reason is, that such 
as live in a rarer or lighter Air, as on high
Mountains, are accustomed to the Exercise 
of a greater muscular Strength; as in the 
Case of Birds performing their Motions in a 
thinner Fluid, must always use a greater 
muscular Strength, which, though Nature 
has accustomed them to the Use of this Ele- 
ment, must strengthen their Fibres; for 
which Reason tame Birds cannot fly so well 
as wild ones. 
The Alterations of the Pressure of the 
Air in its Gravity and Elasticity, must pro- 
duce proportional vibrating Motions, both in
the Solids and Fluids of human Bodies; and 
when these Variations are frequent and ex- 
treme, such violent Motions of the Fluids 
and Solids must cause great Changes in hu- 
man Bodies; for which there was no Ne- 
cessity of having recourse to any occult or 
F4 hidden

88 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hidden Qualities in the Air, as a great ma- 
ny have imagined; and though the Air does 
not much hurt the Animal Fibres, by the 
Softness of its Contact; yet the alternate 
bracing and unbracing of the Fibres strongly, 
may produce these Changes; and such Al- 
terations are not only producible by the Va- 
riations of the Air's Gravity and Elasticity, 
but likewise by its Qualities, such as Heat, 
Cold, Moisture and Dryness, which will be 
the Subject of the next Chapter. 
* Elasticity is another Property of the 
Air, which is a Force equal to its Gravity; 
for, as the Honourable Boyle and others have
proved by Experiments, the smallest Bubble 
of Air by its Elasticity or Spring can bal- 
ance, resist, and equiponderate the whole 
Atmosphere of equal Density, as far as it is
exposed thereunto; for otherwise it would 
be more compressed than in Fact it is; and 
by these two Qualities of Gravity and E- 
lasticity, and the Alterations of them, the 
Air produces great Effects in living Creatures; 
for by these, Respiration is performed, and 
the Equilibrium or Ballance is kept between
the outward Air and that contain'd in the 
Vessels of the Body. 
True
* Elasticity or Springiness, which most Bodies have more 
or less, is a Power in a Body to return to its first Place and 
Condition, as a Stick which is forcibly bent; and the Air 
has it in a very remarkable manner, which being compressed, 
it endeavours with a very great Force to restore itself to its 
former State.

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 89  
True Air never loses its Elasticity, as 
Steel, Wood and other Bodies do; yet it exerts
it only when it is collected into a Mass;  
which is confirmed by the Air-Gun; for 
Mons. De Roberval of the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, having let his Air-Gun remain 
charged for the Space of 16 Years, found on 
discharging it, that the Air's Elastick Force 
was not at all abated, but produced the same 
Effect as at first *. By this Elastick Force 
the Air insinuates itself into the Spaces of 
Liquors not sufficiently filled with it already; 
there it remains divided in its minutest Par- 
ticles, and as it were in a fixed State, till it is
expanded by Heat, or the incumbent Pres- 
sure is taken off, and then it is collected in- 
to greater Masses, and exerts its Elasticity 
in Proportion to the Diminution of the in- 
cumbent Pressure. 
The Elasticity of the Air has been suffi- 
ciently demonstrated by various Experiments 
of the Air-pump, and otherwise: One very 
plain is this; an empty Bladder, the Neck of 
which being tied round fast, that no Air 
could either get in or out, and being put into
the Receiver of an Air-pump, and the ex- 
ternal Air therein exhausted, the small mat- 
ter of inclosed Air in the Bladder, will, by 
its own proper Spring or Elasticity, gradual- 
ly expand itself, and at last will so extend 
the Bladder as to burst it: Thus also the Air 
compressed in a Wind-Gun, will, by its Elas- 
tick
* Hist. de l'Academ. Roy. 1695. p. 368. 

90 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tick Force (being discharged) drive a Ball 
through a Board at several Yards Distance, 
in the same manner as with Gun-powder. 
The Solids and Fluids of Animals contain 
more Air in them in Proportion, than any 
other Substances; and Animal Solids contain 
more Air than Fluids; and they contain a 
greater Proportion of Air than any other watery 
Fluid: For example, Blood contains 1/27 Part 
of its Weight in Air, and 33 times its Bulk; 
whereas 54 Inches of Well-water yield only 
1 Inch of Air; but Spaw and Pyrmont Wa- 
ters yield double the Quantity of Air, to 
that of common Water; and therefore 
the Activity of Steel and Mineral Waters is 
owing to some aërial Particles in them; 
for when these are evaporated, the Waters 
become insipid, and without any Virtue, by 
the Quantity of Air lost, which the Blood 
and other Fluids of Animals contain, as has
been often demonstrated by Experiments of 
the Air-pump; for they will expand them- 
selves in an exhausted Receiver to a great 
Degree, in the same Manner as in the Ex- 
periment of the Bladder just now mention'd. 
Hence the Alteration of the Weight and Spring, 
or elastick Force of the Air, which dilates 
and expands proportionably the Liquors, with
which the external Air communicates, must
produce sensible Effects in animal Fluids; 
for as Air is a principal Instrument in the 
Animal Oeconomy, and consequently a prin- 
cipal Ingredient in the Composition of all 
animal

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 91
animal Substances, it must in a particular man- 
ner affect animal Bodies, and by its Changes 
differently influence all their Operations. 
Fluidity is a Property of Air, which can- 
not be destroy'd or congealed like Water or 
other Fluids, by any Power of Art or Na- 
ture hitherto known: and this Property of 
Fluids arises from the exceeding Tenuity or 
Smallness of the constituent Particles of such
Bodies, and their Disposition to Motion, 
from the Sphericity or Roundness, and Lubri- 
city or smooth Slipperiness of their Figures, 
whereby they can easily slide over one ano- 
ther's Surfaces all manner of Ways, and can 
touch but in few Points; so that Particles 
thus modified, must always produce a fluid
Body or Substance, as Water, Fire, &c. No 
Coagulation, Fermentation, or Condensation 
of any Mixtures where Air resides, have 
ever destroy'd its Fluidity; for it preserves it 
in Cold 44 Degrees greater than any natural 
Cold, which Property is absolutely necessary 
to an Element, in which both Animals and 
Vegetables live and grow. 
As Water is a Fluid much denser or thicker 
than Air, it supports and keeps together the
Bodies of larger Animals than Air can do. 
The Air is pellucid or transparent to such a 
Degree as not to be discernible even by the 
best Microscopes, by reason of the great Po- 
rosity thereof; for the Pores and Interstices of
the Air being so very great and large, it not 
only admits the Light in right Lines, but in 
such


92 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
such great plentiful Rays, that the Brightness 
and universal Lustre thereof, not only renders 
the Air diaphanous or transparent, but en- 
tirely hinders the Opacity or Darkness of the 
very small Particles of Air from being at all 
seen; and the whole Body of the Air must
consequently be invisible. But notwithstand- 
ing the Minuteness of the Particles of Air, 
many thicker Fluids will pass where it can- 
not; for Oil, Water, and Liquids will enter 
thro' Leather, which will exclude Air. 
That Air is a Fluid in constant Motion, 
may be easily perceiv'd in that Part of a 
Room illuminated by the Rays of the Sun, 
entering at a small Hole or Crevice, where- 
in the visible and floating Corpuscles or Atoms
are in continual Motion; likewise a constant 
undulatory Motion in the Air may be seen 
by the help of a Telescope; and these Undu- 
lations or Wavings of the Air to and fro, 
affect small and tender Bodies, but not so much 
as to alter their Figure. 
The Difference between Fluidity and Li- 
quidity is, that the former is a general Name 
for all Bodies whose Parts yield to the small- 
est Force or Impression; and thus a Quan- 
tity of Sand as well as Water, is called a 
Fluid: But what is properly called a Liquid 
or Liquor, is only that Kind or Species of 
Fluids which cleaves to the Touch, or sticks 
to the Finger, &c. or, as may be said, wets 
it, as Water, or any kind of Juices do: 
And the Reason of this Difference is owing 
to


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 93
to the exceeding Smallness of the Particles 
of Liquids above those of fluid Bodies; and 
also to their Ponderosity or Weight: for by 
these means, the Particles of Liquids enter 
the Pores of the Body which touches them, 
and by their Gravity or Weight, cohere or 
stick to, and abide therein, and cause Wetness. 
Air is compressible as well as dilatable; for it 
can be compressed into a less Compass, and 
smaller Volume, like a Fleece or Lock of 
Wool, either by its own Weight, or by any 
other Force; which Weight or Force being 
remov'd, it immediately recovers its former 
Bulk and Dimensions again by its Spring. 
Heat will encrease the Force of the Elasti- 
city of the Air to a prodigious Degree, accord- 
ing to the Experiments of Mr. Boyle, as has 
been observ'd in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter. To prove which by an easy Experiment, 
take a Bladder entirely empty as you think, 
and tie the Neck of it very well with a Pack- 
thread, and lay it before the Fire, the Heat 
will presently so dilate and rarefy the little 
Air inclosed, as to make it extend the Blad- 
der to its utmost Stretch, and if continued, 
will break through it with a Report like 
that of a Pistol. That Air also may be com- 
pressed by Art, so as to take up but 1/60 Part
of the Space it possessed before, has been 
prov'd by Numbers of Experiments made by 
Boyle and others; for farther Proof and Sa- 
tisfaction thereof, see Sir Isaac Newton's Op- 
tics, p. 342.  
Divisi-

94 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Divisibility is a Property of Air, by which 
living Creatures move in it without much 
Resistance; for it is always divisible by the 
smallest Force imaginable. Fishes and Birds 
move thro' their respective Element after the
same manner; and Fishes may be called the 
Birds of the Water; they pass thro' an Ele- 
ment which is 800 times thicker than Air, 
as has been observ'd in p. 71; for which 
Reason Fishes must employ a Force propor- 
tional to the greater Resistance of the Fluid. 
On the other Hand, a great deal of the Force 
of Birds is employ'd to support themselves in 
a much thinner Fluid; but the Bodies of 
Fishes are poised or equilibrated with the 
Water in which they swim. However Air 
has some Degree of Tenacity or Adhesion, by 
which its Parts attract one another, as is ma- 
nifest by the round Figure of Water-Bubbles, 
which attract and run into one another; and 
at the same Time the Particles of Air, by 
their Elasticity, have a Power in other Cir- 
cumstances, of flying off from one another, 
which two Properties are consistent, as may 
be seen in Light. 
The Resistance of Air is very considera-
ble in Bodies swiftly moving thro' it, or by 
its swift Motion against Bodies. In the first 
Case, the Resistance increases in the dupli- 
cate Proportion of the Swiftness of the mov- 
ing Body; that is, the Resistance is a hun- 
dred times greater when the Velocity is but 
ten times; so that for this Reason, if light 
Bodies are moved with great Swiftness, the 
Air's

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 95
Air's Resistance will throw them back in 
another Direction. 
Air moving with Rapidity, as in violent 
Storms or Winds, produces very sensible Ef- 
fects in human Bodies, to which if we add 
the Motion of the Person moving opposite, 
then the Pressure will be very considerable; 
hence Walking or Riding against great 
Winds is a great and laborious Exercise, the 
Effects of which are a Redness and Inflamma- 
tion of all the Parts exposed to the Air, be- 
ing like the Effects produc'd by a soft Press
or Stripes, Heat and Drowziness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of the Qualities of Air. 
THE Qualities of Air are Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture; they are called 
Qualities of the Air, because they are change- 
able, and do not constantly reside in the 
whole Mass, nor in the Parts thereof. 
By these variable Qualities of Heat, Cold, 
Dryness, and Moisture, the Air must of Ne- 
cessity produce various Alterations in human 
Bodies. For if we consider, that human 
Blood is a Fluid continually warm, and in- 
closed in a Composition of thin and flexible 
Tubes, to which the outward Air has Admit- 
tance

96 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tance or Entrance by the innumerable Pas- 
sages of the Pores of the Body: Again, if 
we consider this Machine, with its inclosed
Fluids steaming and reaking hot thro' num- 
berless Pores, and often changing Situation, 
sometimes within, sometimes without Doors, 
and exposed to the hot, cold, dry, or moist
Air, and all the various Alterations that oc- 
cur in that Element; the Changes which 
must happen to a human Body in such Cir- 
cumstances, must be very considerable, and 
far greater than we generally suppose or ima- 
gine; for besides the real Influence of the 
circumambient Air, human Bodies are affect- 
ed by these Changes with a painful or plea- 
sant Sensation, which they have not always 
in their Power either to escape or possess. 
Heat is a Quality relative to our Senses 
excited in the Mind, by a great and swift 
Agitation of Particles of the hot Body ex- 
erting its Action or Influence on us; so that 
Heat in us is only the Idea thereof; and in 
the hot Body, Activity and Motion, and no- 
thing else: for no Heat is sensible, unless the
Particles of the Body which act upon us, be 
greater than the Motion of the Organ or Part 
of the Body acted upon. But when the 
Motion of the Particles of the Body acting, 
is less than that of our Organs of feeling, 
then it causes in us the Sensation or Idea of 
Cold, which is only a Privation or less Degree 
of Heat or Motion. 
The


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 97
The Spirit of Wine in Thermometers * or 
Weather-Glasses, is affected with the least 
Alterations of Heat and Cold; and therefore 
is the best Guide to know the Variations of 
the Weather, tho' the Degrees marked in the 
Tubes of them do not exactly measure their 
Quantity. The natural Heat of a grown 
Person is 92, and of Children 94 Degrees;
but no Animal can live long in Air of 90 
Degrees, or near the natural Heat of the 
Body. 
The Rarity or Thinness of the Air ren- 
ders it more sensible of the Alterations of
Heat and Cold, than any other Fluid what- 
ever; for the least Increase of Heat dilates 
it, but a Diminution thereof contracts it im- 
mediately. The Degrees of Expansion of 
the Air cannot be determin'd; for the great- 
est Heat will not totally expel it, but by 
this continual Expansion and Contraction, by 
different Degrees of Heat, it is kept in con- 
stant Motion. 
Heat, but not so great as to destroy ani- 
mal Solids, relaxes the Fibres, and rarifies the
Humours; whence proceeds the Sensation of 
Faintness and Weakness, and whence lan- 
quid and hysteric People suffer in a hot Day; 
for the Fluids are dilated, as is manifest to 
both the Sight and Touch, and the external 
G Parts
* Thermometer or Weather-Glass, is a Glass Tube filled 
with Spirit of Wine of a red Tincture: It is an Instrument of 
great Use in the Hands of skilful Persons, in discovering the 
Degrees of Heat and Cold in Air, animal and vegetable Bo- 
dies, Liquids, Hot-Beds, &c. 

98 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Parts swell, and are plumper in hot than in 
cold Weather. 
Excessive hot Air is capable to reduce ani- 
mal Substances to a State of Putrefaction, and
therefore very hurtful to the Lungs in parti- 
cular; for the Blood, by its Circulation thro'
the Lungs, is heated to a degree so as to render 
it spumous; and the Surface of the Vehicles 
of the Lungs being exposed to the external 
Air, which has a free Communication to it; 
so that Refrigeration by cool Air is one, tho' 
not the principal Use of Air in Respiration: 
but when the outward Air is many Degrees 
hotter than the Substance of the Lungs, it 
must necessarily destroy and putrify the Solids 
and Fluids: Which is confirm'd by an Ex- 
periment of the learned Dr. Boerhaave, who 
relates, that he put a Sparrow into a Sugar- 
Baker's drying Stove, where the Air was 
heated 54 Degrees more than the natural Heat 
of Human Blood, which died in two Mi- 
nutes; a Dog being put in began to pant very
much for Breath in seven Minutes, and in a 
Quarter of an Hour express'd very great Un- 
easiness; soon after he grew very faint, and ex- 
pired in 28 Minutes; he drivell'd a great Quan- 
tity of red Foam most part of the Time, which 
stunk so intolerably that a labouring Man 
that went near it was almost struck down in- 
stantly with the Stench. Dr. Boerhaave ob- 
serves in this Experiment the direful Effects of
this Degree of Heat, how soon it occasion'd 
a most acute Disease, with violent and mortal 
Symptoms;

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 99
Symptoms; and how suddenly the Humours 
were changed and thoroughly putrified in 28 
Minutes: He moreover observes, that these 
were not the mere Effects of the Heat of the 
Stove; for if the Flesh of a dead Animal had 
been hung up there, it would have dried, and 
not turn to a pestilential Corruption; which 
must arise from the Friction caused by the 
Circulation of the Blood through the Lungs, 
and being not in the least refrigerated, as in
this Case. 
By the Degrees of the Heat of the Air act- 
ing upon Human Bodies, the Quantity of 
* Perspiration both sensible and insensible is 
regulated; for, by the Journals of the industri-
cus
* Perspiration is twofold, sensible and insensible; by the 
first is meant what we discharge by Spittle, Sweat, Urine 
and Stool; by the latter is understood what is imperceptibly
exhaled or expell'd through the whole external Skin of the 
Body, as also from that of the Mouth, Nose, Jaws, Larynx, 
Lungs, Gullet, Stomach, Intestines, Bladder and Womb; so 
that the Quantity of it exceeds that of all other Excretions 
join'd together; for when the Body is strong and healthy, and 
after moderate living, especially in a warm Climate, such as 
Italy, that which is discharged insensibly by the Pores of the 
external Skin, Mouth, Nostrils, &c. is five Eighths of what is 
taken into the Body in Meat and Drink. It will not appear 
incredible, that animated Bodies should thus perspire, when 
we find by Mr. Boyle's Experiments, that he has observ'd the 
like even in the most solid and inanimate Substances. Besides, 
we see the Air, when return'd in Respiration from the Lungs,
brings along with it a Vapour, which in cold Weather con- 
denses into considerable Drops. We likewise find that a Fin- 
ger, or any other Part of the Body, or our Breath, applied to 
a Glass, or polish'd Metal, will presently moisten and tarnish 
it. This perspirable Matter, according to the learned Boer- 
haave, is a Mixture of Phlegm, volatile Salt, and Oil, in cer- 
tain Proportions; and after a long Course of Circulations in 
G2 all

100 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ous and learned Dr. James Keil of Northamp- 
ton, it appears, that the Perspiration in Eng- 
land scarcely equals all the other Excretions, 
and that in Summer it is near double to that 
in Winter; whereas we find, by the incom- 
parable Sactorius's Aphorisms, that the Per- 
spiration in Italy the Year round is to all the
other Evacuations as five to three, and pro- 
bably the Proportion may be still greater in 
hotter Climates; and yet the same Author 
tells us in Aphorism vii. Sect. I. that the 
Quantity of insensible Perspiration varies ac- 
cording
all the Forms of the Animal Fluids, is deprived of all that can 
be of farther Use to any Part of the Human Body; and is 
secreted by the capillary Arteries, and passes off insensibly and
almost invisibly through the Pores of the Skin, and other Parts 
of the Body. But whenever this Evacuation is either dimi- 
nish'd or obstructed, it is almost an infallible Indication of Dis- 
eases, and probably the Cause of them, likewise. And Nature 
has so provided, that if by any external Cause this Evacuation 
is hinder'd in any one Part, it is always increased in another, 
or otherwise a Distemper will ensue; for which Reason when 
the Coldness of the Air, which more immediately affects the 
outward Skin, or any thing else lessens the Discharge of insen- 
sible Perspiration that Way, either the sensible Evacuations are 
increased, as commonly the Urine, or greater Quantities are 
carried off by Respiration from the Lungs and Parts about the 
Mouth, as we see in frosty Weather, like Smoak out of the 
Mouth; or else it is perspir'd into the Cavities of the Stomach 
and Guts, which afterwards is discharged by breaking of 
Wind either upwards or downwards: For as long as the Im- 
pulse within remains the same, wherever there is the least Re- 
sistance, there will be always the greatest Derivation of the 
perspirable Matter. And from hence it is, that we so fre- 
quently find, when the Body is more than usually exposed to 
the external Cold, Gripings, Loosnesses, Colics, and great 
Uneasinesses in the Bowels, which is nothing else but some 
Part of the perspirable Matter, that ought to have passed the 
outward Skin, check'd by the Cold, and by an opener Pas- 
sage


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 101 
cording to the Differences of Constitution,
Ages, and Countries, Seasons, Distempers,
Diet, and the rest of the Non-naturals:
Which must occasion a great Diversity of 
Constitutions and Distempers, according to 
the different Climates; for the serous Part of
the Blood is carried off by Sweats or sensible 
Perspiration, in far greater Quantities in hot 
Countries, than in cold or temperate Cli- 
mates, which must consequently render the 
Crassamentum or fibrous red Cake of the Blood
larger; hence we may know the Reason why 
the Blood of People residing in those hot 
G3 Coun-
sage within thrown off that Way. Leeuwenhoek by the Help 
of Glasses, has discover'd the Texture of the Scarf-Skin to be 
scaly; and that those Scales cover one another in several Lays, 
more or less, according to the different Thickness of the Scarf- 
Skin in the several Parts of the Body; and that in the Com- 
pass of one cuticular Scale he reckons there may be 500 
Excretory Channels, and that one Grain of Sand will cover 
125000 Orifices; and that from these a most subtile Humour 
continually transpires in all the Parts of the Body; which was 
first observ'd by the incomparable Sanctorius, to whom alone 
the Glory and Perfection of this Discovery is entirely owing. 
Insensible Perspiration therefore, both as to the Matter and 
Quantity of it, is so absolutely necessary to the Health of a 
human Body, that a Distemper can neither be removed, nor 
Health preserv'd, unless it be rightly digested and discharg'd; 
For which Reason it ought to be of the utmost Concern to a 
Physician not only thoroughly to acquaint himself with the 
Nature of this Evacuation, but likewise thoroughly to know by 
what Means it is to be promoted or lessen'd, according to the 
several Exigencies of his Patients, either for the Preservation
or Recovery of their Health: For according to the last men- 
tion'd Author, in Aphorism ii. Sect. I. ' If a Physician who 
' has the Care of another's Health is acquainted only with 
' the sensible Supplies and Evacuations, and knows nothing of
' the Waste that is daily made by insensible Perspiration, he
' will only deceive his Patient, and never cure him unless by
' Accident.'

102 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Countries is commonly thick and black when 
drawn from any Part of a human Body, as 
Experience teaches. 
Air is not cooled by the Motion of Winds, 
but by the Air of cooler Regions that they 
bring along with them; for the Thermometer 
will not change by Winds or by the strongest 
Blasts of Bellows, unless it is blown through 
Ice or some other Body colder than Air, ac- 
cording to Mr. Boyle's Experiments, but then 
such a Blast will sink it considerably. Winds
cool animal Bodies by driving away the hot 
Steams that surround them; for if we sup- 
pose that the Heat of a human Body is 90 
Degrees, and the Heat of the Air 48, by 
blowing off the hot Steam, then the animal 
Body will be surrounded with an Atmosphere 
of 48 Degrees, and consequently near the one 
half of its natural Heat taken off in a Second
of Time. Therefore, if immediately after Ex- 
ercise we rest in a cold Air, we run a great 
Hazard of falling into great Diseases, of which
there has been frequently woeful Instances, 
especially such Distempers as affect the Lungs, 
as Inflammations, Asthmas, Pleurisies and Ca- 
tarrhs; for this Change of their Atmosphere 
happening every Second of Time, is, much 
the same thing as putting on a cold Suit of 
Cloaths every such Time. 
Therefore, as human Bodies may be cool'd 
by Air cooler than their own Temperament, 
so there may be great Use made of tempera- 
ting feverish Heat by the outward Air, pro- 
2 vided

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 103 
vided it be done with Caution; which is very 
well known by Experience, as in inflamma- 
tory Diseases, such as the Small-Pox, Measles, 
&c. scarcely can any Liquor taken inwardly 
cool human Blood sooner than cool Air; for, 
by its Admission into the Pores of the Skin, 
and its being in immediate Contact with the 
Vesicles upon the Surface of the Lungs, it cools 
the Blood in a very little Time: So that great 
Mischief frequently happens by keeping the 
Air of the Rooms of People in Fevers too 
hot, by depriving them, in the first Place, of 
the Benefit of being refresh'd by it, and in 
the next, by the bad Effects of animal Steams 
pent up in the Room, which spoil the Air 
and destroy its Elasticity or Spring. Therefore
it is the Opinion of the most celebrated Phy- 
sicians, that renewing and cooling the Air in 
a Patient's Room, by giving it a free Admis- 
sion, in opening the Door sometimes, the Bed- 
Curtains, and in some Cases the Windows, 
or letting it in by Tubes or Pipes, in order to
change the hot Atmosphere about the Patient, 
(provided the Intention of keeping up a due 
Quantity of Perspiration is not disappointed) 
and in general the right Use and Manage- 
ment of the Air, is one of the principal Parts 
of a Regimen in all inflammatory Diseases; 
but, through the Ignorance and scrupulous 
Care of Nurses, in so material a Point as this, 
the Distemper is frequently increas'd, lengths 
en'd, and at last proves fatal; and this Mi- 
stake proves far more dangerous to strong, 
G4 vigorous.

104 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
vigorous, compact, and heavy Constitutions, 
than to lax ones; according to this Axiom, 
Heat is detain'd in proportion to the Density
of Bodies. 
Cold is a Privation or Diminution of so 
many Degrees of Heat, as I have observ'd al- 
ready in Page 96, and it produces a propor- 
tionable Abatement of the Effects of Heat; 
so that, from what has been said already con- 
cerning hot Air, the Effects of cold Air may 
be inferr'd. Cold Air, according to Philoso- 
phers and Naturalists, is the immediate 
Cause of freezing; it first begins in the Air, 
by congealing the watery Particles in it; but 
the Effects of this Cold sometimes do not 
reach so far as to freeze the Water on the Sur- 
face of the Earth; as in Summer Hail and 
Icy Showers. 
Cold condenses the Air in proportion to the 
Degrees of it; and likewise contracts animal 
Fibres and Fluids, which are denser; for as 
Cold braces the Fibres, not only by its con- 
densing Quality, but likewise by congealing
the Moisture of the Air which relaxes; so 
for this Reason Animals in cold Weather. 
are of less Dimensions than in hot Weather. 
Extreme Cold produces at first a pricking 
Sensation in human Bodies, and afterwards a 
glowing Heat, or a small Degree of Inflam- 
mation in all the Parts of the Body exposed to
it; and by bracing the Fibres more strongly, 
thickening the Fluids, and stimulating, it pro- 
duces Strength and Activity in human Bodies, 
of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 105 
of which healthy People are very sensible in
clear and frosty weather.
Now, if the Effects of cold Air be so con-
siderable upon the Surface of the Body, why
may not they be much more so upon the 
Lungs, wherein the Blood is much hotter,
and the Membranes or Coats very thin, and
in immediate Contact with the external Air?
But were it not that the warm Air is not alto-
gether expell'd out of the Lungs in Expira-
tion, the Contact of the cold Air would be
insupportable to human Creatures; and the
Effects of cold Air in producing Inflammations
of the Lungs in all Nations is common, espe-
cially upon the blowing of cold north-easterly
Winds in Europe, or north-westerly Winds in
America.
Cold suppresses some of the grosser Parts of 
the perspirable Matter, by which Means a
great many Salts, that would b exhaled in
warm Weather, are detain'd, by contracting
the Pores of the Skin, and cooling the Blood
too much in the Vessels that are exposed to the
Air; as also by Stimulus the cold Air vel-
licates and inflames these Vessels, as has been
obser'd already, and at the same time pro-
ducing Scurvies with dismal Symptoms, being
a Distemper of cold Climates; the fatal Ex-
remities of which we may see in Captain
James's Journals, in Gerat de Veer'd a Hol-
lander, and in Captain Middleton's, and in
those of many others, who have win-
ter'd in Greenland, and other cold Coun-
tries; for the Cold that froze their spirituous
I Liquors


106 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Liquors produc'd almost the same Effect in 
their Blood, by reducing the animal Substan- 
ces of some to a gangrenous State, with Mor- 
tifications of their Limbs and Gums, being 
oblig'd to cut off the putrid or rotten Flesh; 
a total Incapacity of chewing, not capable to 
move themselves, and intolerable Pains in 
many Parts of the Body, with black and blue 
Spots and Blisters on their Skins; and by sup- 
pressing Perspiration, and retarding the Cir- 
culation of the Blood, others were seiz'd with 
Giddiness, Sleepiness, Pains in the Bowels, 
Looseness, Bloody-Fluxes, Iliack Passions, and
a Mortification in the Guts; but seldom any 
Loss of Appetite, which is very surprizing: 
All such dismal Symptoms could not be attri- 
buted to the Effects of Salt Provisions, in as 
much as they frequently had fresh both ani-
mal and vegetable. 
Extreme Cold or extreme Heat will de- 
stroy animal Substances, or reduce them to a 
gangrenous State, but with this Difference, 
that a Degree of Cold that will produce a 
Mortification in living Bodies, will preserve 
those that are dead from Putrefaction; and 
in order to produce such a Change, there must
be a Concurrence of Heat and Motion in the 
animal Fluids with the Stimulus of the Cold 
to produce the Change; for which Reason, 
Blisters cannot be raised on dead Bodies by the 
strongest blistering Plaisters imaginable. 
Moisture is a Quality of Air which affects
animal Bodies in relaxing and lengthening
their


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 107
their Fibres; for it has been often demon- 
strated by Experiments, that the single Fibres 
both of Animals and Vegetables are lengthen'd 
by moist Air, and that it relaxes is likewise 
evident from daily Experience upon Leather, 
Vellum, Paper, and a Drum. By cold Bath- 
ing there is a momentary Contraction of 
the Fibres of the Body effected by the Cold- 
ness of the Water only, and the Sensation of
which works as a Stimulus in human Bodies; 
but the Water in its own Nature would re- 
lax, and continually does so, if we remain 
too long in it; which is the Reason that Peo- 
ple using the Cold Bath are order'd not to 
stay in above half a Minute, or a Minute: 
and warm Water relaxes a great deal sooner 
than cold, and Swimming fatigues and dispi- 
rits more by relaxing the Fibres than Exer- 
cise. 
Air, by the Assistance of Moisture, will 
sooner insinuate itself into the Pores of Bo- 
dies than otherwise; for a dry Bladder will 
sooner burst than let Air pass thro' it, but 
when it is moisten'd it easily passes. Yet Moi- 
sture diminishes the Elasticity of Air, for 
in rainy Weather it is less Elastic; so that
Moisture relaxes human Fibres, by weaken- 
the Spring of the Air; but dry Air will 
lessen those Effects, or produce their Con- 
traries, such as bracing and contracting the
animal Fibres, which were before both re- 
lax'd and lengthen'd by too much Moisture. 
And a great many Symptoms which People 
are

108 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
are sensible of in moist or rainy Weather, 
are chiefly owing to the Relaxation of the 
Fibres by moist Air, by which means they 
lose some Degree of their elastic Force for cir- 
culating the Fluids; hence arise those Aches 
and Pains which are felt in the Parts of the 
Body, where the Circulation of the Fluids is 
not perfect, as in Cicatrices, or Scars of 
Wounds, old Sprains, Dislocations, or bruised 
Parts. Likewise a moist and foggy Air, espe- 
cially where the Country is low and marshy, 
will so weaken the Tone of the Vessels, as to
hinder a proper Discharge of what ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, ac- 
cording to Sanctorius *; and particularly 
weaken those of the Lungs, by which means 
the Viscidity of the Blood will be increased; 
hence arise Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions,
Asthmas, Pleurisies, Head-aches, Dulness, 
and Stupidity, Epilepsies, Hoarseness, cuta- 
neous Eruptions, pale and languid Complexions: 
and such People are also subject to scorbutic 
Habits, weak Appetites, Fevers of different 
kinds, Diarrhœas, Dysenteries, and Drop- 
sies.†
When the Air is overcharg'd with Va- 
pours near the Surface of the Earth, and 
when
* Med. Stat. Sect. 2. Aphor. 8. 
† Hippoc. Aph. 16. lib. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aqua & Lo- 
cis; in which last Book Hippocrates tells us, that the Phasians, 
who inhabited a low and marshy Country, were frequently 
subject to the above-mention'd Distempers, and which is 
commonly, and almost always the Fate of all such Situations, 
as both History and Experience teach. 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 109
when those Vapours are more in a falling 
than in an ascending State, it is then properly
called moist Air; tho' the Body of the Air 
may contain more Water in it at other 
times; but then the Water and Air are more 
intimately mix'd, and the Vapours are higher, 
and a less Quantity of them in contact with 
our Bodies; so that Air in such a State may 
be justly called dry; and sometimes the Air 
may be said to be in a State of exhaling and
imbibing, and at other times in a State of 
precipitating its Waters and other Contents. 
Dryness is another Quality of Air, by 
which it produces Effects contrary to those 
of moist Air: and as dry Air exhales and 
imbibes volatile Spirits, and Oils of animal 
Bodies, so it does consequently influence 
Perspiration. But great Dryness is capable of 
changing the very Texture, as well as the Si- 
tuation of the Pores of the Skin of human 
Bodies; and either extreme Dryness, or ex- 
treme Moisture have very often proved dan- 
gerous, if not fatal to human Bodies; and 
tho' our Bodies are not capable of bearing 
Excesses of any kind, yet of the two, ex- 
treme Dryness has been found most destru- 
ctive to animal Bodies. 
By the Properties and Qualities hitherto 
enumerated and explain'd, Air must pro- 
duce very great Alterations in human Bodies; 
for it does not only operate by outward 
Contact, but we likewise imbibe it at all the 
Pores of the Body, as is evident by what has 
been

110 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
been said already; otherwise the Air could 
not have a free and constant Admittance in- 
to the Body, and consequently the Ballance 
between the outward Air, and that within 
the Vessels, could not be so quickly restor'd; 
and it is upon the due Ballance of the Air 
within and without the Body, that the Life 
of ail Animals depends. 
The Skins of Animals dry'd exclude Air;
but those of living Creatures being moist and 
oily, it will easily pass thro' them; for where- 
ever there are Emissaries, there are also ab- 
sorbing Vessels: And to prove this Assertion 
farther, many Bodies a great deal thicker and 
heavier than Air, such as Mercury, Spanish 
Flies, and Garlick, &c. readily enter the 
Pores of the Skins of animal Bodies. So that
while we perspire, at the same time we ab- 
sorb part of the outward Air; and the Quan- 
tity of perspir'd Matter, discover'd by the 
Method of weighing, is only the Difference 
between that and the Air absorb'd; therefore 
after great Labour and Abstinence, which 
produces an Emptiness in the Vessels, and 
consequently a great Diminution of Perspi- 
ration, it is very probable, that in such a 
Case, the Quantity of the Air absorb'd may 
exceed that of the perspir'd Matter: which 
must be true, if Sanctorius's and Dr. Keil's 
Journals of Perspiration be faithful and ex- 
act; for there is an Instance in the Doctor's
Journals, of a Person's growing 18 Ounces 
heavier by absorbing Air. The Doctrine of
absorbing 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 111
absorbing Air thro' the Pores of the Skins of 
living Creatures, was taken for granted both 
by Hippocrates, Galen, and their Followers, 
which has been since confirm'd and demon- 
strated by that accurate and most ingenious 
Observer of Nature, Mr. Hales, in many 
Bodies, particularly in Vegetables, by plain
and easy Experiments; by which it appears, 
that Air freely enters thro' the Bark, Stem, 
Leaves, and all the Surface of Vegetables. 
By absorbing external Air, with all its Qua- 
lities and Contents, many great Effects must
necessarily follow, and many sudden Altera- 
tions happen in human Bodies; and nothing 
can account more clearly for epidemical 
Distempers seizing People inhabiting the same 
District of Land, and who have nothing else 
in common that affects them, except Air, 
which is confirm'd by * Hippocrates, † Sy- 
denham, and many others. 
* Hippocrates, Epid. lib. 3. Sect. 3. & lib. de Aëre, Aq. & 
Locis. 
† De Febribus Intermit. Thucydid. lib. 2. p. 130. 147. 
Diod. Sicul. p. 101, 102. 
Hallerius libel. de Peste, p. 577. 
Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297. & lib. 6. de Morb. po- 
pular. Sect. 8. p. 1199.
CHAP.

112 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
CHAP. IV. 
Of the Influence of AIR upon Human 
Bodies. 
THE Influence or Power of the Air up- 
on human Bodies is as different as the 
Diversity of the Weather, Seasons, Climates 
and Countries; but the true Knowledge of it 
is very obscure and imperfect, especially in 
that Part which will be always difficult to 
find out, that is, the different Qualities of the 
Air, and the manner of their acting upon 
human Bodies; yet if Journals of Diseases, 
compar'd with the Weather, had been kept 
for some Centuries in many Places and 
Kingdoms, we should at last have come to 
more than a conjectural Knowledge of this 
important Matter. 
The divine Hippocrates, after a Series 
of many Years indefatigable Practice and just
Observations, has left us in his Books of 
Epidemics, and third Section of Aphorisms, 
an inestimable Treasure of Golden Rules to 
go by for this Purpose; and tho' he had nei- 
ther * Barometer, † Thermometer, nor ‡ Hy-
groscope
* Barometer, See Page 79. Note ‡.
† Thermometer, vid. p. 97. Note *. 
‡ Hygroscope is a useful Instrument to be made several Ways, 
for-measuring the Moisture and Dryness of the Air.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 113
groscope, to measure either the Weight, Heat, 
Cold or Moisture of the Air by, yet knew 
more of the Influence of Air on human 
Bodies, than all his Predecessors and Succes- 
sors put together; for none of them ever 
made such just and curious Observations up- 
on Airy and its Effects, as he did, which 
plainly appears in his Works: he judg'd only
according to Reason and his Senses, which 
are surer Guides than the Thermometer, in re- 
spect to the Effects of Heat and Cold upon 
our Bodies; for by the Thermometer, stagnant 
Water is of the same Degree of Heat as the 
ambient Air, but if apply'd to our Bodies, 
we shall feel it much colder; therefore, Air 
abounding with more or less watery Particles, 
is colder or hotter to our Senses, tho' the 
Thermometer still remains at the same Height.* 
This sagacious Great Man tells us, that ‖ 
Whoever would understand Physic, it is first
necessary to understand the Seasons of the Year, 
and then their Effects on our Bodies; and that 
† we ought to know the Constitutions of the 
Air, what they are, and in what Times and 
Regions they mostly appear. He says likewise, 
‡ That Distempers seldom arise from any other 
H Cause
* According to Lord Verulam's Observations, Water seems
colder than Air; and the Froth of any Liquor seems warmer 
than the Liquor itself; and the Powder of any solid Body, 
warmer than that solid Body, tho' the Thermometer still proves 
the same Degree of Heat in each to be alike. Hist. Nat 
& Experiment. de Ventis, cap. de forma Callidi, p. 143. 
‖ Hippoc. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis, p. 280. 
† Hip. lib. 4. p. 1138. de morb. Epidem.
‡ Hip. lib. de Flatibus, p. 297 


114 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cause than the Air; for either it is too much
or too little, or abounds with infectious Filth. 
He tells us in another Place ‖, That the Air 
is to he consider'd as to its Heat or Cold, 
Thickness or Thinness, Dryness or Moisture, 
and their several Changes. 
According to his Instructions, we are like- 
wise § to consider the Situation, Air, and 
Water of a City, in order to come at the 
Knowledge of their popular Diseases, and 
their Seasons: for Instance, that Cities ex- 
posed to the ‡ hot Winds, such as blow be- 
tween the rising and setting of the Sun in 
Winter, to which Situation such Winds are 
peculiar, and at the same time are defended
from the Northerly Winds, abound with 
Water of a saltish Taste, which as it comes
from above, must needs be warm in Sum- 
mer, and cold in Winter; but Cities that are
well situated as to the Sun and Winds, and 
at the same time supply'd with wholsome 
Water, are free from many Distempers, 
which those in different Circumstances are 
subject to, as has been already mention'd: 
that if the Summer proves dry, the Diseases
are of a shorter Duration than in a wet one
in which they prove obstinate, and apt to de- 
generate into Suppurations, Heat and Moi- 
sture in the Air producing Putrefaction: that 
Defluxions,
‖ Idem de morb. popular, lib. 6. p. 1199. 
§ Hip. lib. de Aëre, Locis & Aquis. 
‡ Hippocrates means in this Place a Southerly Situation, 
and the Winds that blow from thence. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 115
Defluxions, much Phlegm, and Hoarseness 
are occasion'd by cold Weather: that Deflu- 
xions from the Head, and Disorders of the 
Belly, from Phlegm distilling downwards, 
producing Fluxes, were the Effects of the 
Winter, which made Women subject to 
Miscarriages, and Children to Convulsions; 
likewise such as were exposed to Cold, sub- 
ject to Inflammations of the Eyes and Lungs. 
This great Man could foretell the Diseases 
from the Weather, and says, that Heat 
coming upon a wet Season will produce se- 
rous Defluxions upon the Head and Belly, 
and acute Fevers. That cool Weather, about, 
the Dog-Days, if not succeeded by a tem- 
perate Autumn, is dangerous for Women 
and Children, producing Quartan Fevers, 
and from these they fall into Dropsies: if the 
Winter is mild and rainy, and succeeded by 
Northerly Winds in the Spring, it will be 
dangerous for Women that happen to be with 
Child, producing Abortions, likewise Deflu- 
xions upon the Lungs, Dysenteries and Co- 
licks in the Phlegmatick, and Inflammations 
in those that are Bilious, because of the Heat
and Dryness of their Flesh; and that Ob- 
structions after Relaxations produce Palsies, 
and sometimes sudden Death in old People. 
A rainy Summer and Autumn must; needs 
make a sickly Winter; burning Fevers will 
happen in People above 40 and Phlegmatic;
in the Bilious, Pleurisies, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs: but if the Summer be dry with
H2 Northerly

116 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Northerly Winds, succeeded by a wet Au- 
tumn with Southerly Winds, Head-aches and 
paralytick Diseases are likely to happen in 
the Winter; likewise Hoarseness, Stuffings 
in the Head, Coughs and Consumption: but 
a dry Autumn with Northerly Winds is pro- 
fitable to phlegmatic Constitutions, and ex- 
tremely hurtful to the Bilious, the watery
Parts which dilute the Gaul being exhaled. 
He says farther, that whoever considers 
these Things, may know before-hand the 
greatest Part of what will happen from the 
Changes of the Seasons, and advises to con- 
sider the Constitution of the Air in Opera- 
tions of Surgery; excepts against cutting for 
the Stone in the Solstices *, especially in the 
Summer Solstice. 
The divine old Man goes still farther, and 
says, that the Affair of Generation is influ- 
enc'd by the Difference of the Constitutions 
of the Air, and that such a Variety should 
thus happen in the Formation or Mixture of 
the Semen, which is not always the same in 
the same Person, in Summer and Winter, in 
wet Weather and dry, that it is oftener cor- 
rupted in the Formation or Mixture of it, 
where the Seasons change frequently, than 
where
* Solstice is the Time when the Sun being come to either 
of the Tropical Points, is got farthest from the Equator, and 
seems to be at a stand for some Days before it returns back, 
which happens twice a Year in the Summer and Winter. The 
Summer Solstice is when the Sun entering the Tropick of 
Cancer on June 11, makes the longest Day, and the shortest
Night. 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 117
where they remain pretty near alike. He 
likewise attributes the different Shapes, Com-
plexions, Tempers of Mankind, and even 
their different Forms of Government, to the 
Influence of the Air: that the fertile Coun- 
tries of Asia, upon the account of moderate 
Heat and Moisture, produce large and hand- 
some Animals; and that the Softness of 
their Climate disposes them to Mildness and
Effeminacy, not enduring Labour or Hard- 
ships of any Kind, like the Greeks, frequent 
Changes in the Body, produced by Labour 
and the Alterations of the Weather exercis- 
ing both Body and Mind; for which Reason 
the Asiaticks are less bold and couragious, 
they are slavish and subject to Masters, and 
tho' they are forc'd, yer they are not willing
to quit their Ease and Families, or to endan- 
der their Lives for the Power and Wealth of 
others, in Expeditions from which they are 
to reap no Advantage to themselves: that on 
the contrary, the Greeks and Northern Asi- 
aticks were bold, hardy, and full of Courage;
and that, being at their own Disposals, wil- 
lingly underwent Dangers and the greatest 
difficulties, because the Reward of the Vic- 
tory was to be their own. 
He says besides, that as the Equality of
the Temperature of the Seasons render'd the 
Asiaticks indolent and lazy; so the great va- 
riety of Heat and Cold, by differently affect- 
ing Body and Mind, render'd the Europeans 
couragious and active; Activity, Labour, and 
H3 Exercise

118 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Exercise begetting Bravery, and Bravery 
begetting Laws to secure Property; and 
being govern'd by such, they were enabl'd 
to reap the Benefit of the Fruits of their In- 
dustry, which those that live under Abso- 
lute Monarchy are not capable to enjoy: 
Here this great and wise Man expresses his 
Dislike to Despotick Government. 
The Phasians *, says he, are tall, soft, 
bloated and pale, on account of the excessive
Moisture of the Air they breathe; for their 
Country is marshy, hot, watery, woody, and 
subject to violent Showers at all Seasons, and
such Effects proceed from lax Fibres occasi- 
oned by excessive Moisture; but such as in- 
habit Mountainous Places, where they are of 
a large Make, have a variety of Weather, 
and are bold, fierce and active; and the Inha- 
bitants of fertile Plains, with stagnating Waters, 
are the reverse; for a fat Soil produces dull 
and heavy Understandings. The Inhabitants 
of barren and dry Soils, with cold Winters, 
are passionate, warm in their Tempers, posi- 
tive, proud, and of a quick Understanding. 
In one of his Books ‡, he attributes the 
Causes of all Diseases, especially of the Pesti- 
lential, to proceed from the Influence of
the Air: And in another Place †, he far- 
ther
* The Phasians were Inhabitants of the City Phasis, in the 
ancient Kingdom of Colchis, upon the eastermost Side of the 
Black Sea, between Georgia and Circassia, not far from the 
ancient Sauromatœ. 
‡ Hippoc. lib. de Flatibus. 
† Hippoc. lib. de Morbo Sacro. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 119
ther affirms, that Air gives Sensation, Life 
and Motion to all the Members of Animal 
Bodies; for which Reason he strenuously re- 
commends Astronomy as an essential Part of 
the true Knowledge of the Art of Healing; 
and says, that if any one should think it to
be only Meteorological Speculations, he may 
soon learn, if he can part with his Opinion, 
that Astronomy is so far from being of little 
Use in Physick, as to be of the greatest; for 
as the Seasons change, so do the Constitutions 
of Men likewise §: And to prove the Useful- 
ness of Hippocrates's Doctrine and Opinion in 
this Particular, we need only consult a Treatise
of a Cotemporary learned Author, who is not 
only an Honour to his Country, but likewise an 
Ornament to his Profession, wherein we shall 
find not only the Usefulness of Astronomy in 
the Art of Physick, but likewise the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies geometrically de-
monstrated †.
Hippocrates goes on still farther in the 
same Book, and says, that where the Variety
of the Weather is oftenest, and the Diffe- 
rence between the Seasons greatest, there 
the Nature, Customs, and Habits of the 
People will be found most different, which 
are the principal Causes of all the Changes in
Nature; and next to these, the Country 
wherein we are brought up, and the 
Waters we are obliged to drink; for we 
H4 shall
§ Hippoc. in his Book of Water, Air, and Situation. 
† Richardus Mead de Imperio Solis & Lunæ in Corp. Hum. 


120 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
shall generally find that the Complexions 
and Manners of the People correspond with
the Nature of their Country. 
He has left us a curious History of 
Diseases, and the Weather, in his valuable
Books of Epidemics, from whence he drew 
many useful and nice Observations; and 
where we may see a vast Conformity between 
the Constitution of the Air, and that of Dis- 
tempers, throughout the whole Work. 
The Constitution mentioned in his 1st Sec- 
tion, was a wet Autumn, the Winter dry, 
with southerly Winds and very little norther- 
ly, the Spring cold, with southerly Winds, a 
little wet, a cloudy and dry Summer, with 
little or no northerly Winds to cool the Air; 
in this Constitution he observ'd some few 
burning Fevers of a good sort, some with 
Hæmorrhages; a great many had Swellings 
behind both or one Ear, but generally with- 
out a Fever, and disappear'd without much 
Inconvenience or Suppuration.
The Constitution of the next Year, related
in Section the Second, was a wet Autumn, 
with northerly and southerly Winds; the Win- 
ter was moist and affected with cold norther- 
ly Winds, attended with great and heavy 
Showers of Rain and Snow, and a cold and 
northerly Spring, both watery and cloudy; 
the Summer not very Scorching, and was 
continually affected with northerly Winds, 
and a great deal of Rain fell again sudden- 
ly; so that the whole Year being cold and 
moist,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 121
moist, and attended with northerly Winds for 
the most part, produced Inflammations of the 
Eyes in the Spring, and in the Summer, Co- 
licks, Fluxes of the Belly, with Bilious Purg- 
ings, and sometimes Bilious Vomitings with 
Phlegm and indigested Food, some with Cat- 
tarrhous Fevers, others again without Fe- 
ver or Confinement; but they all in gene- 
neral sweated, Moisture being then so redun- 
dant every where. 
In the Autumn and Winter continual Fe- 
vers appear'd; there were likewise diurnal, 
nocturnal, tertians, semitertians, some quar- 
tans and erratick Fevers; besides some were 
afflicted with Catarrhs and Defluxions upon 
their Joints; Convulsions were also frequent
among Children; all such Diseases being the 
natural Product of a Cold and Moist Year, 
affected by too much Moisture in the Air, 
which human Bodies continually breathe and 
imbibe. 
He tells us in his third Section, that the 
Constitution of that Year was a cold dry
Winter attended with northerly Winds, as 
was likewise the Spring and Summer till to- 
wards the beginning of the Dog-Days, then 
scorching Heats and Droughts continu'd till 
Autumn, which prov'd to be moist and rainy: 
This Year was remarkable for Paraplegias or 
Palsies, which were epidemical in the Winter; 
likewise Hæmorrhages of all Kinds and Dy- 
senteries reign'd in the Spring and Summer, be- 
ing the Effects of a Constriction of the Fibres, 
oc-


122 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
occasion'd by too much Cold and Drought;
burning Fevers with Delirium and Thirst, be- 
ginning with Shiverings, Watchings, Nauseas, 
and Anxiety continued, which were most dan- 
gerous and fatal to young and vigorous Peo- 
ple, especially in the Autumn, but most of all 
in the Winter, when the Hæmorrhages ceas'd. 
In his Second Book he attributes the great 
Frequency of Carbuncles and other large 
Pustules of the putrid kind in Summer to 
the great suffocating Heats attended with 
Calms and Moisture; and that Sweats suc- 
ceeded Showers, because Moisture relaxes the 
Fibres of the Body; that inflammatory Dis- 
cases, such as burning Fevers, Pleurisies, &c. 
are most violent in a dry and hot Summer; that 
in constant and settled Weather and Seasons, 
the Distempers will be more equal and of a 
good Sort and easily determined; but that if 
the Weather is variable they will likewise 
be irregular and resolv'd with difficulty; that
the Diseases of the Spring are least destruc- 
tive of any of the other Seasons: He like- 
wise remarks that a mild Winter, attended 
with southerly Winds, a dry Spring, and a 
moist Summer with small Rains, produced 
Fevers, and Tumours or Swellings behind the
Ears. 
In his third Book he observes a kind of a 
Pestilential Season, which proceeded from a 
hard Winter, a rainy warm Spring, succeed- 
ed by an excessive hot Summer with little 
or no Winds; it was notable for all inflam- 
matory



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 123
matory Pimples and Eruptions upon the 
Skin, and likewise for all Distempers of the
putrid Kind, such as Erysipelas, Aphtas and 
Ulcers in the Mouth and Throat, burning 
Fevers with Deliriums, Tubercles upon the 
Private Parts, Inf animations of the Eyes, 
Carbuncles, Swellings in the Groins, Abscesses
and Defluxions upon the Joints, some with 
Suppurations of Pus well digested, and others
again with a copious Running of putrified 
Matter of different sorts. 
He remarks in his sixth Book, that the 
frequent Alterations of the Winds from 
South to North, are very often the Cause of 
Inflammations of the Lungs and other Parts 
of the Body; and that, generally speaking, the
Nature of the Diseases is determined by the 
Seasonableness of the Weather, as it happens 
sooner or later, either dry, cold, hot, moist, 
and attended with Winds or otherwise. 
From these few Instances, we may easily 
discover the great Genius, Sagacity, and In- 
dustry of this Divine old Man, as likewise 
with what Assiduity and Integrity he apply'd 
himself to study the Nature and Influence of
the Air upon human Bodies; wherein he suc- 
ceeded better than any one of his Profession: 
And if his Successors had laid aside all their ri- 
diculous, and, as I may fay, absurd Hypotheses, 
together with their useless metaphysical Specu- 
lations, and followed the same Method with the 
same Perspicuity and Honesty as he did, to this 
present Time, we then should have had more  
than



124 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than a conjectural Knowledge, both of the 
Nature and true Causes of Diseases, especial- 
ly of Epidemics, which at this Time puzzle 
even the greatest Physicians. Therefore Rea- 
son join'd with Observation is the only cer- 
tain Method we should pursue in order to 
come at the true Knowledge of Diseases 
and their Cure; for it evidently appears in 
the Annals of Physick, that the small Num- 
ber of Physician who have happily attended 
to it, made so considerable a Figure in their 
Profession, that they will always shine, even
to the latest Posterity. 
The ingenious Dr. Arbuthnot having ex- 
plain'd Hippocrates and others upon the Sub- 
ject of the Influence of Air on human Bo- 
dies and Diseases, so accurately well, accord- 
ing to Mechanical Principles, that nothing 
can excell it; therefore, I thought it not 
only proper, but likewise very useful and 
necessary to give the Reader an Abstract of 
what he says upon that Head in this 
Place. 
He observes, that as this Subject has not 
been treated of by modern Physicians with 
that Accuracy it deserves, Observations of 
that kind are but few, and there is no Series 
of them in any Country: What would give 
most Light in this Matter, is a Collection of 
Observations in Countries where both the 
Qualities of the Air have great Excursions 
towards Extremes, where the Seasons and 
these Excursions, and the Diseases depending 
upon

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 125
upon them are regular. Egypt is a Coun- 
try which answers all these Intentions in 
some Degree: It is situated between Ethi- 
opia, the Mediterranean Sea, Arabia and 
Barbary, which lie, in the Order mention'd. 
South, North, East, and West of it. Grand 
Cairo, where Prosper Alpinus, a very emi- 
nent Physician, practis'd and made his Ob- 
servations, lies in 30 Degrees Northern La- 
titude, as Ptolomy says, 6 Degrees beyond 
the Tropick of Cancer. This great City 
is situated at the Foot of the Mountains 
of the Stony Arabia, which lie towards 
the East. It is quite expos'd to the north- 
erly Winds which blow over the Mediter- 
ranean: Southerly of it there is a hot 
sandy Soil; so that the Alterations of Heat
and Cold, as the Winds blow North and 
South, over the Mediterranean, or over this 
hot Sand are excessive, and the Alterations 
of Heat and Cold from the other Winds 
but small, lying near the Tropick; and as 
it is a sandy Soil, fructify'd only by the 
Slime of the River Nile, without Rain, 
there is hardly any humid Perspiration from 
the Ground itself, the Air receiving Mois- 
ture only from the watery Surface of the 
Nile during the Inundation, or from the 
Vapours brought from the Mediterranean 
by the northerly Winds. 
From these Causes the Air is extremely 
hot, and the tropical Heats would be insuffe- 
rable, were it not for the Northerly Winds. 
And

126 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
And in fact, the Heats are sometimes so ve- 
hement, that the Inhabitants defend them- 
selves from them by many Contrivances, 
such as Fountains in the middle of their 
Houses, Pipes to convey fresh Air by Grottos, 
and high Edifices, by which their Streets are 
shelter'd from the Sun, and a temperate 
Diet. During the tropical Heats *, the Air 
is sometimes so much moisten'd and cool'd by 
the Notherly Winds, and the watery Surface 
of the Nile, that the acute and pestilential 
Distempers are check'd by this Constitution 
of the Air: the Inhabitants often suffer from
Catarrhous Distempers, more than in North- 
ern Countries, their Bodies being more de- 
licate, and their Pores more open by the pre-
ceding Heat. 
As to their Seasons, their Spring lasts from 
the Beginning of January to March; their 
Summer is double, the first, from the Begin- 
ning of March to the Solstice †, and the se- 
cond, from the Solstice to the Beginning of 
September; and this second Summer is more 
constant, healthy, and less scorching than the 
first, by reason of the difference of the Winds,
and other Causes hereafter mention'd. Their 
Autumn lasts September and October; and 
their Winter, November and December. 
The extreme Heat of the first Summer 
proceeds from the hot Winds which blow 
from
* Tropical Heat, see p. 116. Note *. 
† Solstice is likewise explain'd in the same Note.


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 127
from the South and South-East, called by 
the Inhabitants Campsin from their Conti- 
nuance of fifty Days; tho' they have no 
determin'd Time, but last sometimes more 
than three Months, and reign March, April, 
and May; they blow over the Sands, which 
they raise in Clouds, sometimes so as to darken
the Sun: during this Time, many epidemi-
cal Diseases rage, especially Inflammations of 
the Eyes, a Fever, which the Inhabitants 
call Demelmuia, attended with a Delirium, 
and proves often mortal in a few Hours, and 
even the Plague itself. And this extreme Heat 
has sudden Interruptions of Cold, which 
renders the Inhabitants still more unhealthy, 
and they live under Ground during the 
Campsin. 
The Heat during the Months of June 
and July, which by the Course of the Sun 
should be the greatest, is so moderated by
the Northerly and moist Winds blowing over 
the Mediterranean, and by the overflowing 
of the Nile, that the Inhabitants grow heal- 
thy, and sow their Seed in the Months of 
September and October, Their Winter has 
seldom any Snow, Frost, or Rain, or any 
thing besides Dew, unless in some Places 
bordering upon the Mediterranean, and re- 
ceiving Clouds from thence. So that the 
reigning Winds in Egypt are the Southerly, 
blowing as it were from an Oven; and the 
Northerly, moist and cold over the Mediter- 
ranean, and this last perhaps two Thirds of 
2 the



128 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Year, and during the greatest Solar 
Heats. 
Another Cause by which both the Heat 
and Drought of the Air is temper'd, is the 
overflowing of the Nile, which rising in the 
Mountains of Ethiopia, bends its Course 
Northerly thro' a Tract of Land near 30 
Degrees. By the Rains falling in those 
Mountains, the Nile has ever since the Me- 
mory of Man begun to swell the 17th of 
June New Stile; and it rises every Day about
8 or 10 Inches, and begins to fail in August,
and decreases till May, when it is in a man- 
ner stagnating. The Limits of its Height 
are, from 26 the highest of all, to 18 the 
lowest, in Cubits; the middle 24; 18 is a 
Height barely sufficient to make an Inunda- 
tion. Its Water not only refreshes the Air 
with a kindly Moisture, but is the most de- 
licious Drink in the World, when purify'd 
by the Deposition of its Sediment, being of 
itself a Cure for most Distempers, where 
Dilution, a Diuresis or Sweating is necessary, 
as Prosper Alpinus found by Experience. 
There are several remarkable Things in 
the Constitution of the Egyptian Air; for 
the Perspiration of the Soil, which is sandy 
and barren, cannot affect the Air very much, 
the Exhalations being mostly either from the 
Surface of the Inundation, or the Mud and 
Slime after it is over. The natural Heat 
and Dryness of the Air, and the Change 
from that to cooler Moisture; the Abate- 
ment

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 129
ment of the Tropical Heats by Northerly 
Winds; the Extremity of Heat and Drought, 
by the Southerly Winds blowing over Sands, 
and the Moisture again induc'd by the Clouds
from the Mediterranean, and the Inundation; 
the Exhalations from stagnating and putrid 
Water, when the Inundation is quite over;
and lastly, the Temperance and regular Diet 
of most of the Inhabitants, must give a fair 
Experiment of the Effects of Air upon hu- 
man Constitutions. And accordingly, those 
who labour and live hard, and cannot defend
themselves from the Injuries of the Wind, 
mostly hot and dry, are extreamly lean and 
squalid. The Rich, by a plentiful and nourish- 
ing Diet, and preserving themselves from the 
Heat and Drought, by Bathing, Relaxation 
of their Fibres by drinking the Water of the 
Nile, are often fat. 
The Air of Egypt having no noxious
Qualities from the Perspiration of the Ground, 
Were it not from the accidental ones above- 
mention'd, would be extremely wholsome; 
and the People who know how to defend 
themselves from those Accidents, live to great
Ages. The frequent Changes of Heat and 
Cold, Moisture and Drought, produce all 
the Distempers of the Catarrhous Kind, and 
Arthritick Diseases; and by the strong Per- 
spiration, Leprosies, even Elephantiasis, The 
Effects of a hot dry Air by a Southerly 
Wind, blowing over a sandy Country, are 
felt strongly; inflammatory Distempers, es- 
I pecially

130 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
pecially a raging Fever with a Phrenzy, called 
Demelmuia, mortal in a few Hours: they 
feel likewise all the good Effects of the A- 
batement of this Heat and Drought by Nor- 
therly Winds, and the overflowing of the 
Nile. They are likewise subject to all the 
Diseases from putrid and stagnating Water, 
and Exhalations from Heat after the Inunda- 
tion is over, and these are often pestilential. 
Pestilential Distempers are frequent in 
Egypt, and what I think demonstrates the 
Plague to be Endemial * to that Country, 
is its regular Invasion and going off at cer- 
tain Seasons, beginning about September, the
time of the Subsidence of the Nile, and end- 
ing in June the time of the Inundations. In 
the first Case, are all the Causes productive
of Putrefaction, Heat, and putrid Exhala- 
tions, and no Winter Frost to check them. 
But what is wonderful, the Plague, and the 
Fevers from the Heat of the Campsin, go 
off by the Northerly Winds, and the over- 
flowing of the Nile: and the wholsome Qua- 
lity of Northerly Winds for checking pesti- 
lential Distempers, has been observ'd by all 
ancient Physicians, And to shew that the 
Plague depends upon the Temperature of the 
Air, Prosper Alpinus takes Notice, that up- 
on the swelling of the Nile, the Infection, 
and
* Endemial or Endemick, is a Disease that infects a great
many in the same Country, proceeding from some Cause pe- 
culiar to the Country, or the Place where it reigns, such as 
the Scurvy to the Northern Climes, the Plague to Turkey and
Egypt.

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 131
and even the Danger from infected Cloath
and Furniture goes off; besides the cooling of
the Air, the Northerly Winds may dissipate 
the stagnating Vapours, and the running of 
the Nile the stagnating Waters. Hippocrates 
and Galen have both observ'd, that the 
Etesiæ, or Northerly Winds blowing in Sum- 
mer, made a wholsome Season; but this Ob- 
servation is more sensible in hot Countries 
than in ours. 
Boutius, a very learned and sagacious Phy- 
sician, has left us a Description of the Air 
and Diseases of the Inhabitants of Java: it 
is situated under the Line, and is very hot;
it is likewise moist, from the great Quantities 
of Rain and stagnant Waters; and from Heat 
and Moisture, and Salts produc'd from those 
Qualities, the putrifying Quality of the Air 
is very manifest in rotting of Cloaths, and 
rusting of Metals. From these Qualities the 
Air feels to human Bodies piercing and active; 
and as all the Inhabitants of hot Countries have 
that  Sensation of the penetrating Qualities of 
Air, Cold after great Heats, which proceeds 
chiefly from the Pores of their Skin being 
relaxed before by Heat, such Bodies must
imbibe Air faster. 
In Java, as in Egypt, the Northerly 
Winds render the Air wholsome, by abating 
The extreme Heat; some Land Winds carry- 
ing along with them the stagnant Vapours, 
are often otherwise. The Soil being here 
fruitful and rich, emits Steams, consisting of 
I2 volatile





132 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
volatile and active Parts, which fructify the 
Soil, but are hurtful to human Bodies. 
The Seasons here cannot be distinguish'd 
by their Heat, by reason of the Smallness of 
their Latitude: there are only two, what may 
be called Winter is the rainy Season; this 
Season is attended with Diseases which de- 
pend upon Putrefaction. The Inhabitants 
measure their Seasons of Heat and Cold by 
the times of the Day; the Mornings and 
Evenings are cooler by the Absence of the Sun, 
and by the Sea Breezes; the scorching Heat 
of the middle of the Day makes that Time 
unfit for Business. 
The popular Diseases here are, a kind of 
Palsy, called by the Inhabitants Beriberium, 
the Cause of which is evidently cold Air, 
imbib'd by the Pores of the Skin, extreamly 
relaxed by Heat before, and therefore in- 
vades such as incautiously expose themselves 
to the Morning Air, or throw their Bed- 
clothes off in the Night. Another Disease, 
called * Catalepsis, is likewise popular in this 
Country, proceeding from the penetrating 
Qualities of the Air imbib'd by relax'd 
Bodies, which renders the Patient rigid like a 
Statue, and dies in a few Hours. Diarrhœas 
and Dysenteries are common from the same 
Cause, by sudden Suppression of Perspiration. 
It is a Matter of Observation, that great 
Heats exalt the Bile, by exhaling the watery 
Particles which dilute it, by a strong sensible 
Per-
* Catalepsis, is a convulsive Disease like an Apoplexy. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 133
Perspiration; and therefore the Cholera Mor- 
bus †, and other Diseases of the Liver, are 
common and fatal in the East-Indies; and 
from diseased Livers, Dropsies and Atrophies 
are frequent in Java: and in this Country 
Fevers are seldom intermitting, but conti- 
nual, with Phrensies, and other dreadful 
Symptoms, as during the Campsin in Egypt,
proving mortal in a short time. 
It seems agreeable to Reason and Expe- 
rience, that the Air operates sensibly in 
forming the Constitutions of Mankind, the 
Specialities of Features, Complexion, Tem- 
per, and consequently the Manners of Man- 
kind, which are found to vary much in dif- 
ferent Countries and Climates. As to Fea- 
tures, what an infinite Variety arises from the 
Combination of the Parts of a human Face! 
so that since the Creation of the World, per- 
haps there were never two, upon a narrow 
Inspection, that perfectly resembled one ano- 
ther; for there are Faces not only individual, 
but Gentilitious and National; European, 
Asiatick, Chinese, African, Grecian Faces, 
are characteris'd: and this Diversity of Na- 
tional Features and Shapes is not altogether 
the Effect of Propagation from the same ori- 
ginal Stock; for it is known by Experience, 
that Transplantation, changes the Stature and 
outward Shape both of Plants and Animals. 
I3 Hippo-
† Cholera Morbus, is a convulsive Motion of the Stomach 
and Guts, whereby the bilious Excrements are discharg'd in 
great Plenty, both upwards and downwards.  





134 A GUIDE to HEALTH 
Part II.
Hippocrates makes great Account of the 
Influence of the Air upon the Fœtus, both 
before and after Birth. He is of Opinion, 
that the great variety of European Faces, is 
owing to that of the Air and Seasons, as has 
been observ'd in another Place, there being 
such great Excursions in the Extremities of 
Heat and Cold, that their Offspring is as it 
were begot and brought forth in different 
Climates. 
That the Shape of Animals should be modi- 
fy'd by the Air, is in no Ways unaccountable; 
for an Animal growing, expands its Fibres in 
the Air as a Fluid, which by a gentle Pres- 
sure resists the Motion of the Heart in the 
Expansion and Elongation * of the Fibres; 
and tho' the Fibres of several Animals shoot 
as it were in this Fluid, according to their 
original Shapes, yet such a Fluid resisting by 
its Pressure, is, in respect to the Animal, like 
a soft Mold, in which the Body is form'd; 
and therefore, according to the Quantity of
its Pressure, depending upon its most perma- 
nent State of dense, rare, hot, cold, dry, 
moist, must have some Influence in forming 
the outward Figure of such a Body in a State 
of Acretion or Growing : besides this out- 
ward Pressure, the Air being mix'd with the 
Animal Fluids, determines their Condition 
as to Rarity, Density, Viscosity, Tenuity, 
and several other Qualities.
That
* Lengthening. 




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 135
That the Complexion depends much upon 
the Air, is plain from Experience; the Com- 
plexion of the Inhabitants of several Coun- 
tries being fair, swarthy, black or adust, ac- 
cording to the Degrees of Heat, Drought, 
Moisture, or Coolness of the Air they live 
in; for the Inhabitants of Countries in great 
Latitudes are generally fairer than those that 
live nearer the Sun. 
That the Temper and Passions are influ- 
enc'd by the Air, is no less certain: People 
of delicate Nerves and moveable Spirits, are 
often joyful, sullen, sprightly, dejected, hope- 
ful, despairing, according to the Weather; 
and these Changes happen in stronger Con- 
stitutions, but pass unobserv'd. 
There are Days in which the intellectual 
Faculties of Memory, Imagination, Judg- 
ment, are more vigorous; therefore it seems 
probable, that the Genius of Nations de- 
pends upon that of their Air; for Arts and 
Sciences have hardly ever appear'd in very 
great or very small Latitudes. The Inhabitants 
of some Countries succeed best in those Arts 
which require Industry and great Application 
of Mind; others in such as require Imagi- 
nation: from hence some Countries produce 
better Mathematicians, Philosophers, and 
Mechanics; others better Poets, which be- 
sides the Rules of Art, require Imagination; 
and it seems, that Labour is more tolerable 
to the Inhabitants of colder Climates, and 
Liveliness of Imagination to those of hot.
I4 There






136 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
There are two Things common to all 
Mankind, Air and Aliment, and both differ 
very much in their Qualities, in different
Countries and Climates but those of the 
Air perhaps are more different than those 
of the Aliment or Food. In perusing the 
Accounts of the Temper and Genius of the 
Inhabitants of different Countries, we dis- 
cover in them a great Uniformity, even tho' 
the Race has been chang'd; for the Temper 
of the Gauls, describ'd by Cæsar and other 
Writers, is much the same with that of the 
present French, of which there is a remark- 
able Instance in the Misopogon of the Em- 
peror Julian; he tells us, that he had passed
a Winter at Paris, where there were more 
Comedians, Dancers, and Fiddlers, than there 
were Citizens besides. And I believe if a Race 
of Laplanders were transported thither, in a 
few Years they would be found in the Con- 
dition describ'd by the Emperor Julian. 
If we consider the Causes assign'd by Hip- 
pocrates, of the different Temper of the 
Inhabitants of different Climates, we shall 
find them sufficiently proportion'd to their 
Effects. In Northern Countries, where the 
Alterations of the Height of the Mercury in 
the Barometer, and consequently of the 
Weight of the Air, are frequent and great, 
the Fibres of human Bodies are in a continual 
oscillatory * Motion from a Pressure of 1200, 
1800,
* Oscillatory Motion is properly the Swing or Motion of a 
Pendulum of a Clock, and thence comes to be used for all 
tremulous or undulating Motions having Resemblance thereto. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 137
1800, nay, 3600 more at one time than 
another; and tho' this, by the Softness and 
Rarity of the Fluid, is insensible, and not 
painful, it is a sort of Exercise, which the 
Inhabitants of Countries where the Variation 
of the Height of the Mercury is small or no- 
thing, do not feel. 
By the Difference of the Tension of the 
Fibres, the whole nervous System and the 
animal Spirits are in some manner affected; 
And let us consider again the Extremes of 
Heat and Cold in great Latitudes, operating 
after the same manner, relaxing and con- 
stringing the Fibres by turns, and the ex- 
treme Cold acting likewise as a Stimulus, in
consequence of which we find an Activity 
and Tolerance of Motion and Labour in 
dry frosty Weather, more than in hot; 
whereas the People within the Tropicks are 
constantly in the State of our hottest 
Weather. 
Therefore, whoever considers Mankind in 
such different Circumstances, will find, that 
the Temper both of their Body and Mind 
must be different, and that a greater Varie- 
ty in the Oscillatory Motion of the Fibres of 
Northern People, must produce the same in 
their Spirits; and therefore a proportional 
Inequality in their Passions, and consequent- 
ly greater Activity and Courage. 
That the Inhabitants of Climates, where 
the Difference of the Weight, Heat and 
Cold of the Air is but small, feel only the 
Changes

138 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Changes of the Tension of their Fibres pro- 
ceeding from Drought and Moisture, being 
free from the Agitations and uneasy Sensa- 
tions of northern People, proceeding from 
the Causes above-mention'd; and the Mo- 
tions of their Fibres and Spirits being more 
uniform, they may be for that Reason, and 
from excessive Heats, lazy and indolent. 
That the Constitutions of Mankind differ 
according to the Qualities of the Air in 
which they live, is an uncontested Matter of
Fact, and depends upon obvious Causes: 
For as Hippocrates observed, that the In- 
habitants of moist Countries were bloated, 
leucophlegmatic, and dull, from the Rela- 
xation of their Fibres, and the Moisture im- 
bib'd with the Air; and contrary Causes 
must; produce contrary Effects: Heat indeed
relaxes the Fibres, but by absorbing the 
Moisture may likewise harden, and render 
them more solid: For the Bones of Ani- 
mals in hot Countries are more solid, and 
specifically heavier than those in cold Cli- 
mates, as may be seen in comparing the 
Bones of the Limbs of African Horses with
those of northern Countries. 
The Blood likewise in hot Countries is 
thicker and blacker, by the Dissipation of 
the serous Part by sensible Perspiration, 
which is Matter of Fact well attested by 
Physicians who have practised in those hot 
Countries: And from this black adust State 
of their Blood, they are Atrabilarious; for 
great

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 139
great Heats exalt the Bile, by dissipating the 
Moisture which dilates it; but Bile, of 
itself, is the most unperspirable of Animal 
Fluids, for it stops at the Surface of the Skin, 
and discolours it. 
There is some Anology * between Plants 
and Animals, and both are longer in coming
to Maturity in cold and moist Air; for the 
prolifick Age of Mankind is much earlier 
in hot than cold Countries, the Females be- 
ing in that State at ten Years of Age. And 
the Inhabitants of warm Countries are not 
subject to be fat, for a strong Perspiration
keeps an Animal from being so; yet a copi- 
ous Diet and Inactivity will always occa- 
sion Exceptions from the general Rule. 
Cold and moist Air must necessarily pro- 
duce phlegmatic and lax Constitutions, and 
by stopping Perspiration, with a copious Diet, 
accumulate the Animal Oil: But dry and 
cold Air in a Degree tolerable to human 
Bodies, which is a state of our Winter 
Frosts, creates a strict or tight Constitution 
of the Fibres, and all the Effects thereon 
depending, as Vigour and Activity, &c. 
As the Force of human Bodies is limited, 
they are not capable of bearing Extremities 
of any kind, of too great Rarety, Density, 
Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought in the 
Air. From the same cause human Bodies 
do
* Analogy is the Relation which one Thing bears to ano- 
ther.


140 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
do not easily sustain violent and sudden 
Changes, which agitate the Fluids and Solids
too much; for as the State of our Fluids 
and Solids change with the Air, violent Alte- 
rations in the latter produce the same in 
the former. For Example: Suppose such 
a State of the Air as makes a great Stric-
ture of all the external parts of the Body, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Cir- 
culation in the Vessels exposed to the Air, 
and in those which immediately communi- 
cate with them: Suppose again, the Air is
suddenly changed from this State to one 
which violently relaxes the Fibres; by their 
Relaxation it is possible that the Vessels which
were destin'd before to carry the Serum or 
Lymph, may admit the Blood, which is an 
inflammatory State: Accordingly we find, 
that inflammatory Distempers of several 
kinds are rise in moist and warm Weather, 
preceded by hard and lasting Frosts: Frosts
stop the Perspiration of the Earth, which 
being restored by Thaw, fills the Air 
with an unusual Quantity of Vapours, 
which affect human Bodies, not only by 
Relaxation, but as they imbibe them with
the Air. 
Cold both congeals the Fluids and con- 
stringes the Solids; for it acts like a small Li- 
gature upon the Vessels affected with it, by 
which the Circulation through the Vessels 
is retarded; the natural Effect of which is a 
greater Secretion of Serosity through the 
Glands




Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 141
Glands contiguous; for the Extremities of
the Vessels near the Glands being press'd, 
they cannot so plentifully carry off the re- 
fluent Fluid, by which there must be a 
greater Flux of Liquor towards the Glands, 
and consequently a greater from its Emuncto-
ries; therefore Catarrhs, or serous Defluxions 
upon all the Parts of the Body, but especially
from the Glands of the Head and Throat, 
are a natural Effect of Cold. 
Obstructions by Cold in the outward Parts 
of the Body, drive the Blood pressing with 
greater Force upon the inward Parts, and in- 
crease Heat, and likewise may occasion a 
Siziness in the Blood: And Cold, by sup- 
pressing the Perspiration of Salts in the Blood, 
by congealing the Blood, and likewise by a 
painful Stimulus corroding the Skin, is apt to
produce Scurvies, and other cutaneous Erup- 
tions, and in extremity is capable of freezing
the Fluids, and reducing Animal Substances 
to a gangrenous State. 
Cold Air is also capable of rendering in- 
flammatory Distempers with cutaneous E- 
tuptions more dangerous, by hindering the 
Relaxation of the Skin; as the Small-pox is
found to be most fatal during hard Frosts, 
and cold north-easterly Winds. Cold Air 
likewise, by its immediate Contact with the 
Surface of the Lungs, is capable of abating 
or stopping the Circulation of the Blood, 
and bringing them into an inflammatory 
State, and by producing Catarrhs and Coughs, 
is


142 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is productive of all the Effects of such De- 
fluxions upon the Lungs, as Ulcerations, and
all Sorts of Pulmonick Consumptions. 
Hot and moist Air producing Relaxations, 
and consequently an Abatement of the Force 
of the Solids in propelling the Fluids, must
produce Stagnation, Tumours, and Putrefac- 
tion in the Liquids, and all the other Diseases 
depending upon a lax State of the Fibres: 
Hippocrates observed such Diseases always 
consequent upon a moist Constitution of 
Air with southerly Winds, which are warm; 
and the same has been often observed here in 
England. 
As Perspiration is the last Action of per- 
fect Animal Digestion, that Constitution of 
Air which suppresses Perspiration, must
hinder Digestion; therefore cold and moist
Air must be hurtful to the Stomach:
And as Catarrhs and Coughs are the Effects
of cold and moist Air, and those habitually 
affecting the Lungs, they often produce pul- 
monick Consumptions; yet it seems probable, 
that where those Consumptions are a po- 
pular Disease, they proceed from some par- 
ticular Acrimony in the Air of that Country, 
affecting that tender Organ by immediate 
Contact, and perhaps most of the Glands 
of the Body; for our Consumptions are for 
the most part scrophulous, and scrophulous
Distempers are common in this Country.
And where the Air is charg'd with any 
saline acrid Particles, they will naturally co- 
agulate

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 143
agulate the Fluid where they touch; and 
from the abundance of Mineral Waters of all 
Sorts in England, it may be inferr'd, that 
there are abundance of Mineral Steams, which
are capable of producing such Distempers. 
From what has been said on the Subject 
of the Influence of Air upon human Bo- 
dies, it is plain that no vitious State, either 
of the Solids or Fluids, but is producible 
by the common Properties and Qualities of 
Air, and their Changes and Combinations. 
By the Qualities of the Air, the solid Parts 
may be stimulated: For example, the Sti- 
mulus of extreme cold Air is very sensible. 
Heat, or any Quality of Air, so excessive
as to produce a painful Sensation, acts as a 
Stimulus: And what obstructs the Passages 
of the Vessels which communicate with the 
Air, is stimulating, by increasing the Force
of the Heart and Fibres to overcome the 
Obstruction; this either Cold or Moisture 
may do, which often produce, first a Chil- 
ness, and then a succeeding Heat, which are 
feverish Symptoms. Many volatile Particles 
floating in the Air, as the Odoriferous Ve- 
getables, act as a Stimulus, and produce 
Heach-Achs, as we often find. 
That the Fibres are constring'd and re- 
lax'd by the Alterations of the Properties and 
Qualities of the Air, has been already de- 
monstrated; and that the Fluids may be 
Vitiated in the same manner, is no less 
plain: That the Blood may be condensed 
by



144 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
by Heat, by absorbing the most fluid Part; 
That a certain Degree of Heat will attenuate, 
and a greater coagulate the Serum; and that 
Heat in general is capable of producing great 
Acrimony and putrid Fevers of all Sorts, is true 
from Experience: And any Degree of Heat 
greater than that of a human Body will do 
so; for our natural Heat is near the Degree 
of Coagulation. Cold likewises condenses 
the Fluids in immediate Contact with it; 
and is capable of producing Siziness and 
Viscosity of the Blood: And by the same 
Causes Acrimony of all Sorts, to the De- 
gree of Putrefaction, is producible by Air. 
Evacuations of all Sorts, from all the 
glandulous Parts of the Body, are producible 
by the Stoppage of Perspiration by Cold; 
for there is no diuretick Medicine that works
so strong in a Flux of Urine, as a Suppression
of the perspirable Matter in hysterical Cases. 
Cold likewise promotes all Catarrhs and 
Coughs; and moist Air, Diarrhœas, and 
copious Secretions from the Glands of the 
Guts, without which Evacuations, Stoppage 
of Perspiration produces a Plethora or Ac- 
cumulation of the Humours in the Vessels. 
From these Considerations it appears, that 
die Diseases, especially the Acute of any Sea- 
son, chiefly depend upon the Constitution of 
the Air, by which they are modified as 
to their Rifeness, Duration, Degrees of 
Danger, their particular Symptoms, Circula- 
sons and Periods; In which we must not
only



Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 145 
only consider the present, but likewise the 
preceding State of the Air; because, as
they are more similar, or contrary, so the 
Alterations produced in human Bodies are 
more or less violent; particularly it will be 
found, that sudden Changes from the Ex- 
tremes of Cold and Dry, to Heat and Mois- 
ture, are Causes which operate strongly in 
modifying the Diseases of that Season. 
That long and excessive Heats, by inducing 
Weakness, are apt to stamp the Succeeding 
Fevers with nervous Symptoms: That such 
a dry Constitution of Air, as is apt to con- 
tract the Skin, and obstruct its Pores, makes 
the Crisis by sweating more difficult; and 
perhaps the different Periods of Fevers, Quo- 
tidian, Tertian and Quartan, may depend 
upon a preceding greater Viscosity, or Ob- 
struction in the Vessels, produced by the 
Constitution of the Air: That the more 
dangerous State of the Small pox, and other 
inflammatory cutaneous Eruptions, depends 
upon the Air; and it seems very plain, as it 
induces a greater Laxity or Stricture of the 
Fibres, or creates Obstruction in the Vessels 
of the Skin. 
That Diseases of the Lungs, as far as they 
are not the product of bad Diet, depend 
chiefly upon the Qualities of the Air, seems
evident; for the Lungs are expos'd to the 
outward Air, which has an immediate Ad- 
mission into the Air-bladders, and perhaps 
into the Blood-vessels; and whatever Effect
K the


146 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the Air has upon the Skin, this must be ex- 
pected upon the Lungs in a particular Man- 
ner. Thus far I thought necessary to give 
the Reader an Abstract of the ingenious Dr. 
Arhurthnot's Explanations of Hippocrates,
and others, on the Subject of the Influence 
of Air upon human Bodies. 
But to conclude, I shall only add; that 
of all the Causes that are capable of altering
our Bodies, no one is so necessary and so 
sudden as the Air; the Necessity of which 
is evident from the use of Air in Respiration; 
for if it happens, that any of the chief Or- 
gans appropriated either for the Entrance or 
Reception of Air receive any great Injury, 
the Animal dies suddenly by Suffocation; 
whereby it manifestly appears, that Air and
Life in perfect living Creatures are insepe- 
rable. 
According to Hippocrates, natural Heat is 
preserv'd by moderate cool Air; for if you 
take away the Air from Fire, it will not
burn, but will immediately be extinguish'd: 
and our Spirits, which are the principal In- 
struments of the Soul, are generated and 
nourish'd by Air, and supported by its going 
in and out; and it is principally for this Rea- 
son that our Bodies are every where perfora- 
ted or porous, that our Arteries are continu- 
ally beating, and that Nature has made such 
admirable fine Mouths to the two Vessels 
called the Lungs; so that the Air is as ne-
cessary

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 147 
cessary to a living Creature as the Soul it- 
self. 
As to the Suddenness of the Air, we feel 
it every Moment; for it instantly ascends to 
the Brains by the Nose, and traversing almost 
an infinite number of minute Passages, which 
are to be seen in the admirable Net-work of
animal Bodies; proceeds to the inmost Re- 
cesses of the Body, and descends with incre- 
dible Velocity into the Lungs by the Mouth, 
and thence to the Heart: it likewise pene- 
trates the Pores of the Skin insensibly, and 
enters the Arteries by Transpiration, as far as 
the deepest Cavities of our Bodies; it sur- 
rounds us always, and never abandons us one 
Minute; so that we must constantly imbibe 
or suck it in whether we will or not. 
The Divine Hippocrates, being thoroughly 
acquainted with the Power of Air upon hu- 
man Bodies, tells us in his Epidemicks, and
in the second Book of Diet, that the whole 
Constitution of the Spirits, Humours, and 
the Body, depends entirely upon the Air. 
Therefore the Choice of good Air, and a 
pleasant Habitation, must always claim the 
first Rank in the Regimen of Health; so 
that such as would preserve their Health, and 
obtain a long Life, ought to know the Good- 
ness of the Air, as well in regard to its Sub- 
stance as to its Qualities. 
As to its Substance, when it is pure and 
has no Seeds of Corruption, and that it is 
K2 not

148 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
not impregnated with malignant Vapours pro- 
ceeding from dead Bodies, or from the Sinks
or common Shores of great Cities, or stand- 
ing Waters; or from the sulphureous Exha- 
lations of Mines, combin'd with different 
Salts, or metalline Particles, which are stink- 
ing, oily, and inflammable, of which I 
treated at large already in Part II. Chap. I. 
But if the Air happens to be corrupted or 
infected, and that we cannot remove as soon 
as we would, it must be purified with artifi- 
cial Fires made of Rosemary, Juniper, Lau- 
rel, Cyprus, and Perfumes made of Aloes- 
wood, Juniper-berries, and other Aromatics; 
likewise the Steams of Vinegar correct the 
Malignity of the Air in a surprizing man- 
ner. 
As to the Qualities of the Air, all Ex- 
cesses of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, 
are pernicious; for which Reason we should 
chuse moderate Air if possible; therefore 
serene Air moderately hot and dry, blowing
from clear inland Places, or from Rivers 
with a gentle Breeze, free from sudden and 
great Changes, open and rural, purg'd of salt 
and oily Exhalations, is generally the best
to preserve Health. 
As to what regards ancient People, a warm 
Air is certainly the best for them, and their 
Chambers should never be without Fire, es- 
pecially in the cold Seasons of the Year; for 
it is experimentally true, that their State of 
Health is much better in Summer than in 
Winter;

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 149
Winter; because they always carry the Win- 
ter along with them. Their Bed-Chambers 
should be in the upper Apartments, and their 
Houses open to the East, that the Morning 
Sun might enter their Rooms: there should 
likewise be an opening on the North Side, in
order to let in Air from that Side, and by 
that Means to purify the Air, and expel all 
noxious or offensive Steams and Vapours out 
of their Chambers. 
CHAP. V. 
OF ALIMENTS in general.
ALIMENT includes all that is taken
in as Meats and Drinks, from whence 
Nourishment is expected, which is what sup- 
plies Nutrition. And what comes under this 
Term is threefold: First, all that passes in 
the first Stage from Mastication, or Chewing, 
the Chyles's Entry into the Blood is so call'd. 
And Secondly, the Apposition of new Parts 
in the Room of those wore off by Action. 
Thirdly, when the Chyle after various Circu- 
lations with the Blood, is deprived of all that
can be of farther Use to any Part of the Body, 
it is carried both sensibly and insensibly 
through the Emunctories of the Body. 
K3 The

150 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The first State
of Digestion.
The first is carried on in the 
following Manner: The Parts of
Food being divided by Chewing, 
and moisten'd with Spittle, that it may be 
render'd softer in order to undergo a farther 
Comminution, is thrust down into the Sto- 
mach; wherein, by the Assistance of the con- 
tinual Motion arising from the musculous 
Coats of the Stomach, and of Respiration, 
by which the * Diaphragma alternately presses
the Stomach downwards, the Parts of the 
Food soften'd by the Saliva or Spittle, and
other serous Liquors from the Glands, is 
shook about, ground and divided into yet 
smaller Parts, until it acquires such a Fine- 
ness as is requisite, together with the glandu- 
lous Fluids and Liquors drank down, for 
composing that milky Fluid call'd Chyle ‡. 
But here we are to observe, that the Parts of
the Food are not dissolv'd into essential Parts, 
or Elements, whether chymical or any other, 
by the Assistance of any Ferment in the Sto- 
mach; that is to say, by a Separation of some 
Parts of different Kinds combined together, 
and an Union of other Parts that were before 
separated, as it happens in all Fermentation 
of Wine, wherein tartarous Particles, before 
united
* Diaphragma, or Midriff, is a transverse Muscle which 
separates the Thorax or Chest from the Abdomen or Belly; in 
the Middle it is membranous; the Gullet, the great Artery, 
and the great hollow Vein all pass through it: It conduces to 
Respiration with other Muscles, and pressing upon the Guts 
helps forward the Secretion of the Excrements. 
‡ Chyle is that milky or Emulsion-like Juice, which the 
Food is immediately converted into by Digestion. 


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 151  
united with others, are separated; and Parti- 
cles of Phlegm and Oil, before in Separation, 
are brought nearer together, and form a true 
Spirit. 
But by the Concoction that is perform'd in 
the Stomach, the Food is divided into integral 
Parts, not differing from what they were be- 
fore, only in obtaining a lesser Bulk; altoge- 
ther in the same Manner as Coral is grinded 
upon a Marble with Water, and reduced to 
an impalpable Powder, whose Parts are only 
small Pieces of Coral, and not any Principled
into which Coral is resolv'd. For the Proof 
of which there is no need of any other Argu- 
ment, than that in the Stomach and the In- 
testines of the larger Fish, that devour and 
digest the lesser, the Chyle is nothing else but
a Liquor filled with the Fibres of the devour- 
ed Fish, as may be easily discerned with a 
Microscope; or the small Parts of Fibres no 
way differing from the larger, only in Magni- 
tude, that is, indigested Pieces of Flesh.
The Chyle being thus elaborated in the 
Stomach by its alternate Contractions, and 
the Force of the neighbouring Muscles, is 
thrown out into the Intestines, at its Entrance
into which it is diluted with the Bile and 
pancreatic Juice: which Liquors undergo 
no manner of Effervescence * with the Chyle, 
or with one another, but are smoothly and 
K4 quietly
* Effervescence signifies an intestine Commotion produced 
by mixing two Bodies together that lay at rest before; attend- 
ed sometimes with a hissing Noise, Frothing, and Ebullition
For

152 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quietly mixed therewith, and with each other, 
as appears by many Experiments; and by their 
Means the Chyle is render'd more fluid. 
Hence it follows, that the Parts of the Food, 
in some measure dissolved by the Motion of 
the Stomach, but not sufficiently separated
from each other, thro' want of a due Quan- 
tity of Fluid, every one yet being in some 
measure in Contact with one another, pass 
over the Pylorus * into the Guts; and when 
these greater or less digested Particles cannot
be strain'd in any considerable Quantity into 
the Lacteals † by reason of their Magni- 
tude, they are yet thrust farther into the in- 
testinal Tube ‡, and therein putrify, as they 
are out of the Limit of Circulation, which 
begins at the Lacteals: For all Things, such
as the Flesh of dead Creatures, Herbs, &c.
that are capable of Putrefaction out of the 
Animal, are capable of Digestion in it. 
Hence
For Example, Acids, such as Juice of Limons, Spirit of
Nitre, &c. and Salt of Wormwood, Tartar, or other Alka- 
line Substances, being mixed together, will produce an Efferve- 
scence or Ebullition, 
* Pylorus, or Janitor, the right Orifice of the Ventricle or 
Stomach, which sends the Food into the Guts. 
† Lacteals are long and pellucid Vessels or Veins, which 
arise from all Parts of the small Guts, from whence they re- 
ceive the Chyle, and run to the Glands of the Mesentery. They 
are call'd Lacteals of the first Sort, being so very small; and 
from thence they convey the Chyle to the common Receptacle, 
and being larger are call'd Lacteals of the second Sort, and 
thence it is carried into the Thoracick Duct, and from that into 
the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein. 
‡ Intestinal Tube, the hollow Pipe of the Guts from one
End to the other, which is divided into six Parts.



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 153
Hence it is certain, that Digestion is much 
more effectually and expeditiously perform'd 
in the Day-time, or when we are awake, 
than in the Night, or during Sleep; because 
while we wake we breathe thicker, and the 
Diaphragma and Muscles of the Belly, and 
even the whole Body is more exercised, and 
consequently the Stomach is oftener com- 
press'd. It also follows, that by gentle walk- 
ing, or while we exercise ourselves in any mo- 
derate Motion, Digestion is more effectually 
and expeditiously performed, than while we 
fit in Idleness and without Motion; and still 
much better than when we fit hard at Study, 
because by this Means the Mind is so diverted, 
that our Respiration then is rarer, even than 
in our Sleep, and the Muscles are thereby less 
contracted: And that we digest better in 
Winter than in Summer, is a Confirmation 
hereof; because in the Winter, to drive away 
the Sense of Cold, we are oftener put upon 
Exercises and greater Activity of Body than in 
the Summer Season; as likewise, because the 
Muscles and solid Parts are more tense, and 
consequently stronger in their Contractions and
Attritions *. 
But as for a Ferment in the Stomach, ac- 
cording to the wrong Notions of some, whe- 
ther it be Spittle or Serum ouzing out from 
the Glands of the Stomach, it cannot contri- 
bute any thing to the Digestion of the Food, 
any farther than by softening it, whereby it 
is
* Rubbing, grinding. 



154 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
is capable of being farther divided. Neither 
do any Liquors flow into the Stomach in order 
to promote Digestion; but Digestion, that is, 
the Motion of Chewing, Swallowing, and of 
the Stomach, are the Cause why these Li- 
quors are press'd out, and that they drain into
the Stomach: For that those Liquors contri- 
bute nothing farther to Digestion than by 
softening the Food, is manifest from hence, 
that if Herbs or Meat be mixed with them in 
any convenient warm Place as warm as the 
Stomach, but without Motion, they will 
never be changed into Chyle; so that it is sur- 
prizing that any should ascribe to the Serum 
of the Blood, as it is excerned by the Glands, 
a Faculty of changing solid Meats into the 
Form of Chyle, when it is evident that Serum 
is not a fit * Menstruum for the Solution of 
Bread, Meat, or Herbs. But this whole Af- 
fair will be much better understood from con- 
sidering Boyle's Machine for Digestion, where- 
in, without the Help of any Ferment, but by 
the Assistance only of Warmth, and the Pres- 
sure of rarefy'd Air confined, Bones and 
Flesh, with the Addition of a small Portion 
of Water, are turned into a Jelly; where no- 
thing is wanting to its being made real Chyle, 
but the rough Superficies of a Body to grind 
and often shake it about. 
The
* All Liquors are so call'd which are used as Dissolvents to 
extract the Virtues of Ingredients by Distillation, Infusion
Decoction, &c.


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 155
The Chyle being thus made, 
washes over the Pylorus into the 
intestinal Tube, where, by its 
peristaltic Motion *, and by the Pressure of
the Diaphragma, and the Muscles of the 
Abdomen †, the thinner Parts are strained 
through the narrow Orifices of the Lacteal 
Veins, while the grosser Parts continue their 
Progress downwards until they are quite eject- 
ed by Stool. What passes through the Lacte- 
als is carried by them into the Glands of the 
Mesentery ‡,  where they receive a fine thin 
Lymph from the ‖ Lymphaticks, whereby the 
Chyle is diluted so as to pass easier the rest of
its Course: For beyond the first Glands they 
unite in larger Canals, and those in still larger, 
until at last it enters the common Receptacle 
of the Chyle, which is a kind of Bason form'd 
for it by the Union of the Lacteal and Lym- 
tick Vessels. From thence it ascends thro'
the Thoracick † Duct, and is thence discharg- 
ed into the Blood in the left Subclavian Vein, 
and therewith descends into the right Ventri- 
cle of the Heart, where it is but imperfect- 
The second stage
of Digestion.
ly
* Alternate Motion of Contraction and Dilatation, com- 
monly tending downwards. 
† The Belly, which contains the Stomach, Guts, Liver, 
Spleen and Bladder. 
‡ A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 
‖  Are slender pellucid Tubes arising in all Parts of the 
Body, which permit a thin transparent Liquor to pass through 
towards the Heart, which shut like Flood-Gates upon its re- 
turning. 
† A Canal through which the Chyle passeth from the Lac- 
teals the Blood.



156 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ly mixed; and in its Passage it receives the
Lympha from all the upper Parts of the 
Body. 
But here I must observe, that the most 
subtil Parts of the Chyle pass immediately into
the Blood by the Absorbent * Vessels of the 
Intestines, which discharge their Contents into
the Mesaraick Veins, the Largeness and Number 
of which demonstrate the same, for they are 
numerous and vastly larger than their corre- 
spondent Arteries; and wherever there are 
† Emissaries, there are likewise Absorbent 
Vessels: for Example, by the Absorbent Ves- 
sels of the Skin, Mercury will pass into the 
Blood. But Mr. Hale's ‡ Experiment proves 
this beyond despute; and if we consider the
Straitness of the Thoracick Duct, and the 
Slowness of the Passage of the Chyle by the 
Lacteals thro' it, and at the same time the 
great Quantity of some Liquors and several 
other Things, which pass in a very small Time 
by Urine, and give it a Flavour and Taste; 
by an easy Calculation we may be able to de- 
monstrate, that such a Quantity could not pass, 
into the Blood by the Thoracick Duct in so 
short a Time. 
For which Reason, thin and liquid Ali- 
ments are-most proper, when immediate Re- 
freshment is requir'd, to cheer up the Spirits 
after great Abstinence and Fatigue; and the 
same
* Which suck in. 
† Vessels which throw out a Liquid.
‡ Hœmast. Pag. 123. Exp. 14.

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 157
same Reason may be likewise given, why 
Chalybeat Waters are a proper Remedy in 
Hypochondrical Disorders, and in most Ob- 
structions in the Mesenterick Glands, Liver, 
and Spleen; for their subtle Parts are taken 
immediately into the Mesaraick Vessels, and 
from thence carried directly into the Liver 
and Spleen. 
The Chyle first mixes with the Blood in the 
lest Subclavian Vein, as I have already men- 
tioned, and enters with it into the right Ven- 
tricle of the Heart, where they are very im- 
perfectly mixed; from thence they are pro- 
pelled * into the Lungs, which are the chief
and first Instrument of Sanguification, or 
making Blood: For the Wind-pipe is divid- 
ed into a great Number of Branches, call'd 
Bronchia, and these end in small Air-Blad- 
ders dilatable and contractible, which are ca- 
pable to be inflated by the Admission of 
Air, and subside at the Expulsion of it. The 
Pulmonary Artery and Vein pass along the 
Surfaces of these Air-Bladders in an infinite 
Number of Ramifications or Branchings, like 
a Net-work ‡. A great Number of those 
Air-Bladders form what are call'd Lobuli, 
which hang upon the Bronchia like Bunches 
of Grapes upon a Stalk; and these Lobuli 
constitute the Lobes of the Lungs, which al- 
ways sink in Water before they have been 
in-
* Driven forwards. 
‡ Malphig. de Pulmon. Epist. 1, 2. Tab. I. Fig. 1, 2, 3. 



158 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
inflated with Air, but after it has once enter- 
ed them, they will always swim in it; by 
which Means we may know whether Children 
are born dead or alive. 
The crude Mixture of the Blood and Chyle 
passes from the right Ventricle of the Heart, 
through all the Ramifications of the Pulmo- 
nary Artery; and the more Ramifications 
there are, the Mixture will still be render'd 
the more perfect; yet this is not all, for as this
Mixture of the Blood and Chyle passes through 
the arterial Branches, it is press'd by two con- 
trary Forces; first, that of the Heart driving
it forward against the Tubes; secondly, the 
Elastick Force of the Air pressing it on the 
opposite Side of those Air-Bladders, along
the Surface of which this arterial Tube 
creeps. 
By these two opposite Forces the Parts of
the Liquor are more intimately mix'd and 
compress'd together, and by the Ingress and 
Egress of the Air the Vessels are alternately
compress'd and dilated, by which Means the 
Liquor is still farther attenuated, dissolv'd, 
mixed, and almost assimilated with the Blood, 
but not so perfectly as to serve the animal 
Purposes; for it is very well known by Experi- 
ments of Blood-letting, that sometimes eight 
Hours after eating, some of the Chyle remain'd 
unmixed with the Blood, swimming a-top 
like an oily Substanee. 
The wonderful Mechanism of Nature in 
converting our Aliment into animal Sub- 
stances,


Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 159
stances, consists principally in two Things; 
first, in mixing constantly with it animal 
Juices already prepar'd; and secondly, in the 
Action of the solid Parts, as it were churning
them together. This is evident, considering 
the vast Quantity of Saliva * mix'd with 
the Aliment in chewing, the Liquor of 
the Stomach, the Bile †, and Pancreatick 
Juice ‡, the Quantity of the Lymph § from
the Mesenterick Glands, and from the Lym- 
phatick Vessels of the whole Body; so that 
the Juices of an animal Body are as it were 
new distill'd, being excreted out of their 
respective
* Saliva or Spittle, is a thin Liquor secreted immediately 
from the arterial Blood: it is of a soapy Nature, and conse- 
quently is attenuating, resolving, penetrating, and cleansing, 
being composed of Salt, Oil, Water, and Spirit, all which 
can be extracted from it. Too great a Discharge of it by 
smoaking or chewing of Tobacco has often prov'd fatal to 
People of thin Habits of Body, by falling into Decays. 
† Bile or Gall is of two Sorts; the Cystick, or that con- 
tain'd in the Gall-Bladder, and the Hepatick, which flows 
immediately from the Liver. The Cystick Gall is thick, of a 
yellow Colour, and intensely bitter. The Hepatick Gall is 
more fluid, and not so bitter; both Sorts are saponaceous, and 
like Soap, take out Spots from Wool or Silk. Its Use is 
to sheath or blunt the Acids of the Chyle descending from the 
Stomach into the Intestines; likewise it is the principal Dis- 
solvent of the Aliment, and when it is peccant or deficient, 
there can be no right Digestion. 
‡ Is an Humour like the Saliva or Spittle, secreted from 
a conglomerate Gland called the Pancreas or Sweet-bread, 
situated at the bottom of the Stomach, and lies across the 
Belly, reaching from the Liver to the Spleen, separating 
about a Pound of Liquor in 12 Hours. Its Use is to dilute 
the Gall, and to temper its Bitterness and Acrimony after it 
has done its Office, and likewise to dilute the Chyle, with 
other Liquors in the Guts. 
§ Lymph is the most spirituous and elaborated Part of the 
Blood, continually flowing from the lymphatick Vessels. 



160 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
respective Glands and Vessels, and admitted 
again into the Blood with the fresh Aliment: 
during which time the solid Parts act upon 
the Mixture of Aliment and animal Juices, 
in order to make the Mixture still more in- 
timate and compleat; so that we may com- 
pute that our Aliment, before it gets into 
the Blood, is mix'd probably with four times 
the Quantity of animal Juices. 
From whence we may conclude, that an 
Animal whose Juices are unsound, or solid 
Parts weak, can never be duly nourish'd; for 
unsound Juices can never duly repair the Fluids
and Solids of an animal Body, and without 
a due Action of the solid Parts, they can 
never be well mixed; and as the Stomach, 
the Intestines, the Muscles of the lower 
Belly, all act upon the Aliment: Besides, as 
the Chyle is not suck'd, but squeez'd into the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by the Action of 
the Fibres of the Guts, it is evident, that 
the Chyle is peccant in Quantity or Quality, 
when these Actions and Organs are too weak; 
and whatever strengthens the Solids, must 
help Digestion. 
Hence it appears, that Diarrhœas and 
strong Purgings must spoil the first Digestion, 
because of the great Quantities of animal 
Fluids which are thereby expell'd the Body, 
such as, the Saliva, Mucus *, and all the 
Liquors
* Mucus, is that slimy Liquor or Moisture, which daubs 
over and guards the Bowels, and all the chief Passages in 
the Body; and it is separated by the mucilaginous Glands in
most Parts of the Body. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 161
Liquors that are separated in the Glands of
the alimentary Duct †, both Sorts of Gall, 
the Pancreatic Juice, Lymph, and sometimes 
Blood. Considering therefore the Quantity 
of these Secretions, it will plainly appear, 
that almost the whole Juices may be carried 
off by purging; and when those Liquors, 
destin'd by Nature to mix and convert the 
Aliment into an animal Liquid, are expell'd 
out of the Body, the Digestion cannot be so 
Well perform'd. Hence follow Consump- 
tions, Dropsies, and often an Obstruction of
the Mesenterick Glands, which is a great Im- 
pediment to Nutrition; for the Lymph in 
those Glands is a necessary Constiuent of the 
Aliment before it mixes with the Blood. 
The Mixture of the Blood and 
Chyle, after its Circulation thro'
the Lungs by the pulmonary Arteries, being 
brought back into the left Ventricle of the 
Heart, is thence, by the Force of the Heart, 
drove into the Aorta ‖ quite thro' the whole 
The last Stage 
of Digstion.
L Body:
† The whole Passage from the Mouth to the Fundament. 
‖ Aorta, is the great Artery which proceeds from the left 
Ventricle of the Heart, and carries the Blood thro' the Body, 
and every Particle of the Body receives some Branch from it, 
except some of the solid Parts of the Liver, which receive 
the blood from the Vena Portœ. The Arteries are elastick 
Channels or Tubes, endued with a contractile Force, by which 
they drive the Blood still forward, it being hinder'd to go 
backward by the Valves of the Heart. They are also coni- 
cal Vessels, that is, tapering and diminishing by Degrees, 
with their Bases or upper and broader Part towards the Heart; 
and as they pass on, their Diameters grow still less and less, 
and consequently the Celerity of the Motion diminishes by 
the Increase of the Friction of the Fluid against the Sides of
the



162 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Body: and thus the Aliment, circulating thro'
the animal Body, is at last reduc'd almost to
an imperceptible Tenuity or Thinness, before 
it can serve the animal Purposes, in nourish- 
ing both the Fluids and Solids; and after 
various Circulations, and when it is depriv'd 
of all that can be of farther Use to any Part 
of the Body, it is carried off, both sensibly
and insensibly, by the Emunctories * of the 
Body. But for farther Satisfaction concern- 
ing Nutrition, Growth, and Decrease of the 
Body, turn to Part I. Page 19, to 28. 
By the foregoing Doctrine it is evident, 
that Acrimony and Tenacity or Glewiness, 
are the two Qualities in what we take in- 
wardly most to be avoided; for Acrimony or 
Sharpness destroys the capillary Vessels, and 
when it is so great as to affect the solid Parts, 
the Sensation of Pain is intolerable. 
As
the Tubes; and without this Motion, both the Blood and 
Chyle would soon be converted into one solid Mass; but on 
the contrary, by its Continuance, the Fluid being compressed
by the Sides of the Tube, especially in the small Vessels, 
where the Points of Contact are more, the Blood and Chyle 
are still more intimately mix'd, and by Friction attenuated;
by which means the Mixture acquires a greater Degree of 
Fluidity and Similitude of Parts. Hence appears the Neces- 
sity of Exercise to promote a good Digestion. And the Strength 
of the Aliment ought to be proportion'd to the Strength of
the solid Parts of tire Body; for as Animals that use a great 
deal of Labour and Exercise, have their solid Parts more
elastick and strong, they can bear, and ought to have stron- 
ger Food, too thin Nourishment being quickly dissipated by 
the vigorous Action of the solid Parts. 
* Are those Parts of the Body where any thing excremen- 
titious is seperated, and collected to be in readiness to be ejected. 



Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 163
As to the Viscidity or Glewiness of what is 
taken inwardly, when the peristaltick Motion 
of the Guts is so weak, as not to be able to propel 
or drive it forward, the Consequence is dange- 
rous, and often fatal to the Life of the Indi- 
vidual; for when the Tenacity of any Sub- 
stance exceeds the Powers of Digestion, it 
will neither pass, nor be converted into Ali- 
ment; whereas hard Substances will pass 
undissolv'd. Moreover, the Mouths of the La- 
cteals in People of weak and lax Constitutions
may permit Aliment too acrimonious, or not 
sufficiently attenuated, to enter; but the 
Sphincters † in such as have strong Fibres will 
shut against them. 
Besides, a viscid Mucus may shut up the 
Mouths of the Lacteals, by which means the 
Chyle will pass by Stool, and the Person falls 
into an Atrophy or Decay of Flesh. Wind 
with Distention of the Bowels are Signs of 
bad Digestion in the Intestines, and likewise 
Diarrhœas, which proceed from Acrimony, 
Laxity of the Bowels, or Obstructions of the 
Lacteals. 
Those Parts of the Body where the Circu- 
lation of the Fluids, and the elastick Force of 
the Fibres are both smallest, must be most 
subject to Obstructions; and such are the 
Glands, which are the Extremities of Arte- 
L2 ries
† Sphincter, is a Name ascrib'd to such Muscles as draw 
up, strengthen, and keep shut the Parts, such as the Sphinc- 
ter of the Bladder, Womb, Anus, &c.


164 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ries form'd into cylindrical ‡ Vessels. Hence 
we may easily perceive, that too solid or vis- 
cid Aliment must be very hurtful to scrophu- 
lous and consumptive Persons. 
Having endeavour'd to give the Reader an 
Idea of animal Digestion, by shewing how 
our Aliment is converted into animal Substance, 
in as succinct a manner as could be in so nar- 
row a Compass: I shall now proceed in the 
same manner to give an Account of the 
Choice of them, that what is either beneficial 
or hurtful may be easily seen, according to
the Nature and Difference of Constitutions. 
CHAP. VI. 
Of the Choice of ALIMENTS.
AS all Animals are made either immediate- 
ly or mediately of Vegetables §, that is, 
by feeding on them, or on Animals that are 
fed on Vegetables: I shall therefore begin
with the Vegetable Kind. 
Vegetables
‡ Cylindrical, in Anatomy, signifies Vessels that are so 
shaped, as not to be narrower at one End than another, but 
that all their Parts are equally distant in all Places from their 
Center; or which is the same thing, that they are of the 
same Diameter in all Places, contrary to conical Vessels, which 
are tapering and growing narrower. 
§ Vegetables are such natural Bodies as grow and increase 
from Parts organically form'd, as Trees, Plants, and Roots, 
&c. but have no proper Life or Sensation.



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 165
Vegetables are proper Food enough to re- 
pair Animals, as they consist of the same 
Parts with animal Substances, such as Salt, 
Oil, Spirit, Water, and Earth, all which 
are contain'd in them, and may be extracted 
from them. Their Salts are capable of re- 
solving the coagulated Humors of a human 
Body; and of attenuating, by stimulating the 
Solids, and dissolving the Fluids: Salts like- 
wise promote Secretion. Oils also relax the 
Fibres, and are Lenient, Balsamick, and abate 
Acrimony in the Blood; and by Virtue of 
this Oil, Vegetables are nutrimental; for this
Oil is extracted by animal Digestion, as an 
Emulsion from Seeds by a Pestle and Mortar. 
But Aromatick Plants, tho' they abound with 
Oil, yet it is not soft and nutritious, and
when mix'd with a Spirit, is too heating. 
Tastes are Indexes or Marks of the different 
Qualities of all Sorts of Aliment; and diffe- 
rent Tastes proceed from different Mixtures 
of Salt, Oil, Water, and Earth, but princi- 
pally from the Spirit and Oil, mix'd with 
some Salt of a particular Nature. A Mu-
riatick or briny Taste, is produc'd by a 
Mixture of an acid and alkaline Salt; for 
Spirit of Salt being an Acid, and Salt of Tar- 
tar, which is an Alkali * when they are 
L3 mix'd
* The Word Alkali comes from an Herb called by the 
Egyptians Kali. This Herb they burnt to Ashes, and boiled 
them in Water, and after having evaporated the Water, there 
remain'd a white Salt, which they called Alkali. It is cor- 
rosive, and will produce Putrefaction if apply'd to the Flesh,
and 



166 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
mix'd, produce a Salt like Sea-Salt, bitter and 
acrid, differing only by the sharp Particles of 
the first being intangled or involv'd in a 
greater Quantity of Oil than those of the 
last. 
Acid or four, proceeds from a Salt of the 
same Nature without a Mixture of Oil; 
and in austere Tastes, the oily Particles have 
not disentangl'd themselves from the Salts and 
earthy Parts, for such is the Tastes of unripe 
Fruits. In sweet Tastes, the acid Particles are 
so attenuated and dissolv'd in the Oil, as to 
produce only a small and grateful Sensation 
and Titillation; but in oily Tastes, the Salts
seem to be entirely disentangled. As Vege- 
tables contain acid or alkaline Salts, so they
produce different Effects upon human Bodies, 
and are to be used according to the different
Constitution of the Body at that time, as 
will appear by what I shall say hereafter. 
The properest Food of the vegetable King- 
dom that Mankind make Use of, is taken 
from the mealy Seeds of some culmiferous or 
Stalk-bearing Plants, as Barley, Wheat, Oats, 
Rice, Rye, Mays, Panick, and Millet; or 
from some of the Pulse or Leguminous Kind, 
such as Pease and Beans, &c. and as those 
are Seeds containing the most elaborate Part 
of
and ferments with Acids, as all lixiviate Salts will do, which 
are Anti-acids, that is, contrary to Acidity. 
As for acid or four Salts, one has a Notion of from Taste, 
Sourness being one of those simple Ideas which one cannot 
more plainly describe; so that whatever being mix'd with an 
Acid, causes an Effervescence or Ebullition, is called Alkali. 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 167
of the Plant, they are oily, and consequent- 
ly proper to be converted readily into an 
animal Emulsion or Chyle: Besides, their Oil 
is not highly exhalted and hot, as that of 
the aromatical and acrid Plants, but on the 
contrary, mild, benign, and nourishing to 
the human Body. 
Barley is detergent, emollient, and expe- 
ctorating, and it was first chosen by Hippo- 
crates as proper Food in inflammatory Dis- 
eases. 
Wheat is the properest of any Grain for 
Bread, which, if not entirely purg'd from 
the Bran, is laxative and stimulating to the
Bowels. 
Oats are cleansing, resolving and pectoral, 
which being outwardly apply'd mix'd with 
Batter, will dry Scabs on the Head. 
Rice, which two thirds of Mankind per- 
haps feed on, is most kindly nourishing and
benign, good in Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes of
Blood, and proper for consumptive Persons; 
but the Bread made of it is more acid and 
tess nourishing than that of Wheat. 
Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nou- 
rishing than Wheat. 
Millet is cleansing, diuretic, and therefore 
good in Distempers of the Kidneys. 
Panick is opening, and boil'd with Milk 
temperates Acrimony. 
Mays affords strong Nourishment, but not 
being so easily brought to a Fermentation as 
other Grains, is more viscous or glewy, and 
L4 conse-


168 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
consequently harder to digest. All the fore- 
mention'd Plants are highly Acescent †, ex- 
cept Pease and Beans. 
Pease are mild, and demulcent in a great 
Degree, being depriv'd of all aromatick Parts. 
Green Pease are very pleasant to the Taste, and
provoke Appetite; but they are injurious to 
many, being full of aërial Particles, creating
Flatulency when dissolv'd by Digestion. 
They are alkalescent §. 
Beans cleanse and fatten, and resemble
Pease in most of their Qualities, but are more 
windy, and occasion sometimes Colic Pains, 
and disturb the Head. The French or Kid- 
ney-Beans are best, being less windy. People 
that live a sedentary Life should not feed 
much upon Pease or Beans, by reason of their 
Viscosity creating top much Flatulency. 
The mealy Parts of the above-mention'd 
Plants dissolv'd in Water for constant Food, 
is too viscid an Aliment, and for that Reason 
justly condemn'd by Hippocrates; and upon 
that Account, Mankind have found the 
means to make them more easy of Digestion, 
by fermenting and making some of them in- 
to Bread, which is the lightest and properest 
for
† See Note following. 
§ Substances which are not perfectly Acid, but naturally 
turn so, are called Acescent; and Substances that are not per- 
fectly Alkaline, but naturally turn so, are called Alkalescent. 
See the Explanation of Alkali in Note *, p. 165. 
These two Qualities in Bodies are not merely imaginary, 
but have very different and contrary Effects upon human 
Bodies. 

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 169
for human Food; for the Leaven, by its acid 
Salt, divides the slimy and oily Parts of the 
Meal. 
The next Sort of vegetable Substances that
Mankind feed upon, are Fruits of Trees and 
Shrubs: They all contain an essential Salt, 
combin'd with Earth, Water, and Oil, much 
elaborated; and their different Qualities are 
known by their sharp, sweet, four, or styptic 
Taste. 
Apples are pectoral, cooling, laxative, and 
open the Breast; they differ considerably in 
Kind, and their Qualities are easily known by 
their Taste. 
Pears have most of the same Qualities, 
but they are more cordial, by their high Fla- 
vour, than Apples. 
Peaches are likewise cordial and pectoral; 
the best are those that are odoriferous, well 
colour'd, and full ripe. 
Apricocks quench Thirst, excite Appetite, 
provoke Urine; their Kernels are good against
Worms, and excellent for the Heart-burning: 
unless they are mellow and full ripe, they are 
rather somewhat styptick. 
Plumbs purge Choler, extinguish Heat, 
take away Thirst in Fevers; but they are bad 
for weak and cold Stomachs, and for phlegma- 
tic Persons, and such as are subject to Colics. 
Those of the austere Kind are astringent. 
Mulberries are pectoral, and correct a bi- 
lious Alkali.
Gooseberries

170 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Gooseberries extreamly ripe are lenient; 
but unripe, they are both sour and astrin- 
gent. 
Currants are good in spitting of Blood, ex- 
treamly cooling, and somewhat astringent. 
The Jelly or Rob of Currants mix'd with 
Water, is an excellent Drink in bilious Fevers. 
Cherries are cooling and laxative, and their 
Kernels are good for the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys. 
Strawberries, by their fragrant Smell are 
Cordial. Their Juice mix'd with that of Li- 
mons in Spring-Water is an admirable Drink 
in bilious Fevers. 
Oranges that are sweet are more relaxing 
than the Seville Oranges; but these last are 
an excellent Remedy for the hot Scurvy. The 
sweet Oranges increase Choler. 
Citrons or Limons excite Appetite, stop 
Vomiting, cut gross Humours, are good in 
Fevers, and their Juices are more cooling
and astringent than those of Oranges. 
Grapes taken in moderate Quantities when 
ripe, help the Appetite and Digestion; but 
in great Quantities, they dissolve the Gall too 
much, and produce Fluxes; and dry'd they 
are pectoral. 
Figs are great Correctors of Acrimony, 
they are good in Coughs and Hoarseness; 
they are likewise extremely emollient, relax- 
ing the urinary Passages, diuretick, and good
in bloody Urine. 
Quinces

Ch. VI. 171 thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
Quinces are often useful to weak Stomachs, 
and good in stopping Fluxes of Blood. 
Pomegranates likewise, containing an astrin- 
gent Juice, are extremely cooling. 
Barberries and Medlars are useful in 
Bloody-Fluxes. 
Tamarinds are cooling and astringent, yet
laxative to the lower Belly. 
Capers are astringent and diuretick; they 
excite the Appetite, and are good for phleg- 
matic and melancholy People. 
Olives are Anti-acids, or contrary to Aci- 
dity by their Oil; but all oily Substances be- 
get an Acrimony of another Sort. 
Almonds are pectoral, especially the Oil. 
Walnuts are cordial and Anti-hysteric, and 
promote Perspiration in a small Degree. 
Hazle-Nuts are in some Degree good 
against spitting of Blood; but they are very 
hard to be digested, they cause Wind, Coughs, 
and Pains in the Head. 
Chesnuts are good against some Female 
Weaknesses, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment. 
There are other Fruits of the low pomise- 
rous Kind, which contain a great deal of 
cooling and viscid Juice, combin'd with a ni- 
trous Salt, which renders them often offen- 
sive to the Stomach; and such are Pompions, 
Cucumbers, Gourds, and Melons; tho' the 
last, when good, have a rich Juice, and some- 
what aromatick; they are diuretick, and 
there are Instances when eaten in great Quan- 
tities,



172 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tities, to have thrown People into bloody 
Urine: they are likewise cooling and refreshing, 
good for hot Stomachs, and the Kidneys; they 
ought to be taken fasting. The Juice of Cu- 
cumbers is too cold for weak Stomachs, and 
ought not to be taken by such as have thin 
and poor Blood. 
Among the alimentary Leaves, the Pot- 
Herbs afford an excellent Nourishment: Of 
those are all the Cole or Cabbage Kind, which 
are emollient, laxative, and resolvent, and 
for that Reason proper against Acidity. There 
are likewise amongst the Pot-Herbs some * 
Lactescent Plants, as Lettuce, Endive, Ci- 
chory, and Dandelion, which contain a milky 
Juice extremely wholsome, resolvent of the 
Bile, anodyne, cooling and diuretick, and 
very useful in the Distempers of the Liver. 
Artichokes are pleasant to the Taste, pro- 
voke Urine, and contain a rich, nutritious and 
stimulating Juice; they are good against Aci- 
dity. 
Asparagus is opening and diuretic; by the 
fœtid Smell it gives the Urine, it is suspected 
to be hurtful to the Kidneys; it is likewise 
good against Acidity. 
Parsley provokes Urine, the Courses, 
cleanses the Kidneys, and removes Obstru- 
ction and Wind; but it is bad in Bloody- 
Fluxes. 
Celery contains a pungent Salt and Oil; it 
is diuretick and aperient, and exceeding good 
for cold Constitutions. 
Spinage
* Vegetables containing a milky Juice. 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 173
Spinage is emollient or opening, good in 
Inflammations. 
Beet is emollient, nutritive, and relaxing, 
good in hot and bilious Constitutions. 
Sallads of all Sorts, mix'd with sweet Oil 
and Vinegar, are good for hot and strong 
Constitutions; because they are cooling, diu- 
retick, and emollient; but they are not pro- 
per for phlegmatick or weak Constitutions, or 
those that are subject to Colics or Indige- 
stion. 
Of the alimentary Roots, some are pulpy, 
and very nutritious; as Potatoes, Turnips, 
and Carrots, &c. 
Potatoes, of all Roots in general, are the 
best and most nourishing for healthy People, 
and there are Instances enough to prove the 
same both in Ireland, and in other Provinces, 
where two Thirds of the Husbandmen, and 
meaner Sort of People, constantly feed upon 
them, and are the principal Part of their 
Food; yet they are healthy, active, and vi- 
gorous, and for the most Part live long. 
Turnips are very nutritious, good in Con- 
sumptions, Asthmas, and all Diseases of the 
Breast; they are emollient and diuretick. 
Carrots are fattening, they provoke Urine, 
and the Menses, and likewise help to open 
Obstructions; but they are windy, and there- 
fore not proper for colicky or weak Sto- 
machs. 
Parnisp is a very nourishing and palatable 
Root; it fattens, and is a Provocative; it 
opens,




174 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
opens, attenuates, and cleanses; but it is 
hard to digest, and not good for asthmatick 
and consumptive People. 
There are other Roots which abound with 
an acrid, volatile Salt; as Garlick, Onion, 
Rockambole, Shalot, Leeks, Radishes, and 
Horse-radishes: They contain a pungent, vola- 
tile Salt and Oil; they are extremely diure- 
tick, and when stimulating Diureticks can 
be safely used, they are very effectual. 
Experience teaches, that Garlick is a very 
excellent Remedy in Dropsies, Jaundices, 
and in Asthmas proceeding from a cold and 
viscid Phlegm. 
Cresses and Mustard contain likewise, in 
their Degrees, a pungent Salt and Oil, as well 
as the last mention'sd Roots; and as all of 
them subdue Acidity, they are very improper 
in Cases where the Blood is too much dissol- 
ved, as in spitting of Blood, and bloody 
Urine, or where the Blood or Juices have a 
Tendency to a State of alkaline Putrefaction; 
and in general they are fitter for cold Con- 
stitutions and old People, than for the young 
and sanguine. Mustard indeed is a very 
powerful Remedy in viscid and cold phleg- 
matick Cases. 
The Fungous Kind, as Truffles, Morelles 
and Mushrooms, contain an Alkaline volatile 
Salt, and an exalted Oil of a grateful Savour; 
but are heating, and the best Method of cor- 
recting them is by Vinegar: Some of them 
being poisonous, render the rest justly suspi-
cious;





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 175
cious; the poisonous Sort operate in a suffo- 
cating Manner, in which Case the best Re- 
medy is Wine, or Vinegar and Salt, and vo- 
miting as soon as possible. 
There are Vegetables used by Mankind in 
Seasonings, which afford an exalted aroma- 
tick Oil, and of a spicy Nature, as Marjoram, 
Basil, Savory, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage and 
Mint: They are heating, and most of them 
hard to digest: Other Spices of a more power- 
ful Nature, as Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, 
Cloves, Ginger and Pepper, abound with a 
high exalted Oil and volatile Salt, by which 
Principles they are heating, and act powerfully 
upon the Fluids and Solids, by stimulating the 
Solids and resolving glutinous and fat Sub- 
stances: They are all proper in phlegmatick 
cold Constitutions. But Sage being a stimu- 
lating, drying, and astringent Plant, when used 
in great Quantities will produce Disorders like 
Drunkenness; therefore the Infusion or Tea 
made of it is very improper in all inflamma- 
tory Fevers as a Diluter. 
Of Tea, Coffee, 
and Chocolate.
As the Infusions and Deco- 
ctions  make so considerable a Part 
of Aliment at present, especially among the 
Female Sex, it will not be improper to say 
something of their Qualities in particular. 
Of Tea, Coffee,
and Chocolate.
Tea, by its Manner of affecting the Organs 
of Taste and Smell, affords very little of a vo- 
latile Spirit its bitter and astringent Rosin or 
fix'd Oil cannot be extracted by Water, but 
requires






176 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
requires rectify'd Spirit of Wine for that Pur- 
pose. The most active Principles of it that 
can be extracted by Infusion are the most se-
parable Parts of its Oil or Gum, and Salt. 
Its Salt and Gum are astringent, as appears by
mixing it with Chalybeat-Waters, which will 
produce a Tincture of the same Colour as that 
of Oak-leaves; it is * Acescent, as appears by 
its affecting Stomachs troubled with Acidity, 
which Disorder it will rather promote than 
correct: By its astringent Quality it moderate- 
ly helps to correct the relaxing Quality of the 
warm Water; and by its styptick and stimu- 
lating Quality, it affects the Nerves, very of- 
ten producing Tremors. By the frequent 
drinking too great Quantities of it, as is now 
become a common Practice, it will relax and 
weaken the Tone of the Stomach; from 
whence proceed an Inappetency, Nausea, 
Reachings or Vomitings, Indigestion and 
Sickness at the Stomach; and generally speak- 
ing, a pale and wan Complexion, with a 
Weakness of the Nerves and Flabbiness of the 
Flesh, the Solids and Fluids being thereby 
deprived of their proper Nourishment. 
Hence we may easily perceive, how perni- 
cious Tea-drinking may prove to the Seden- 
tary, especially the Female Sex, who for the 
Generality have weak and tender Nerves; 
but as Milk abates some of the fore-mention- 
ed bad Qualities, by rendering it softer and nu- 
tritious, and Sugar as a Salt, encreases it stimu- 
lating
* See Note §, Page 168. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 177
lating Quality, it may be a proper Breakfast e- 
nough, as a Diluent, to those who are strong, and 
live full and free, in order to cleanse the alimen- 
tary Passages, and wash off the scorbutick and 
urinous Salts from the Kidneys and Bladder. 
But Persons of weak and tender Nerves, as 
I have just now observ'd, ought carefully to 
avoid and abstain from it, as from Drams and 
cordial Drops; for such fall into Lowness, 
Trembling and Vapours, upon using it with 
any Freedom, by its Irritation on the tender 
and delicate Fibres of the Stomach *. 
As to Coffee, it is a meer Calx, or a kind of 
burnt Horse-Bean, but lighter on the Sto- 
mach and somewhat of a better Flavour; and 
what is extracted from it by hot Water, is 
the most separable Parts of its Oil, which of- 
ten appears at the Top of the Decoction. This 
Oil is volatile, and affords very little Nourish- 
ment, producing all the bad Effects of a vola- 
tile Oil and aromatic Acrimony, such as Heat, 
Dryness, Stimulation, Tremors of the Nerves; 
for which Reason, it has been deem'd to cause 
Palsies, Watchfulness, Leanness, and destroy 
masculine Vigour: Hence it is very plain, 
that it must; be pernicious to hot, dry, and 
bilious Constitutions, and only beneficial to 
Phlegmaticks, if moderately us'd; but when 
drank in too great a Degree of Strength or 
M Qua-
* For further Satisfaction herein, see Dr. Thomas Short's 
learned and elaborate Dissertation upon Tea, in which the 
Author has not only given us the Natural History of the Plant, 
but likewise its Analysis, with great Skill and Industry.



178 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quantity, it will prove destructive even to 
phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Chocolate is undoubtedly much the best of 
the three; for its Oil appears to be both rich, 
nutritious and anodyne *, and is as soft as that 
of Sweet-Almonds: This Oil combin'd with 
its own Salt and Sugar renders it saponaceous † 
and detergent; by this Quality it often helps 
Digestion and excites the Appetite; and is only 
proper for some of the leaner and stronger 
Sort of phlegmatick Constitutions, and some 
ancient healthy People, who are accustom'd 
to bodily Exercise. 
There are other Preparations of Vegetables 
by Fermentation, whereby they are changed 
into spirituous Liquors, which are, or may be 
called by the general Name of Wines; Such 
fermented Liquors have different Qualities 
from the Plants that produce them; for no 
Fruit taken crude has the intoxicating Quality 
of Wine. Of these Liquors I shall take par- 
ticular Notice, after I have given the Reader 
a short Account of the Nature of animal 
Diet, as far as it regards the Nourishment of 
Human Bodies. 
Animal Food is more easily converted into 
animal Substance than Vegetables; and there- 
fore more nourishing to human Bodies: And 
the
† Easing, or taking away Pain. 
‡ Sope is a Mixture of Oil and fix'd alkaline Salt, and in 
common Use its Virtues are cleansing, penetrating, attenuat- 
ing, and resolving; so that any Mixture of an oily Substance 
with Salt maybe call'd a Sope; hence Bodies of this Nature 
are call'd Saponaceous.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 179
the Nature of Animal Diet must depend up- 
on the Nature, Age, Food, and other Cir- 
cumstances of the Animal we feed upon. 
The Animal as well as Vegetable Juices are 
in their greatest Perfection, when the Ani- 
mal is full grown; for young Animals par- 
take of the Nature of their tender Food, as 
Sucklings of Milk, &c. 
All Animal Diet in general is anti-acid, 
or contrary to Acidity or Sourness; because 
no found Animal has any acid Salt in it, as 
has been often prov'd by Experiments. Those 
Animals that feed upon other Animals have 
their Flesh and Juices more alkalescent, that 
is, more anti-acid than those that live upon 
Vegetables; such are most Fishes, all Birds 
which feed upon Worms and Infects, several 
kinds of Water-Fowls, Woodcocks, Snipes, 
and several kinds of small Birds; which, for 
that Reason, afford a more exalted Nou- 
rishment than those that feed upon Grain or 
other Vegetables. 
Animal Flesh differs according as the Ani- 
mal is terrestrial, aquatick, or amphibious;
and the same Species of Animals differs accord- 
ing to the Soil and Air it lives in, and the 
Food which it takes; as those that live in 
Mountains and Marshes; the Flesh of Oxen, 
Sheep, Deer and Hogs in different Pastur- 
age. 
Fishes abound more with alkaline Salt and 
Oil than terrestrial Animals; for which Rea- 
son they are sooner corrupted: And amphibi-
ous Animals partake somewhat of their Na- 
M2 ture





180 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ture by feeding upon them, and are therefore 
oily; and notwithstanding the Redundancy of 
Oil in Fishes, yet they do not increase Fat 
so much as Flesh-meat, by Reason of their 
watery Quality; and as Fish and Water- 
Fowls are highly alkalescent, and abound 
with a great deal of rancid Oil, they should 
be always qualified by a due Quantity of Salt 
and Vinegar. 
The most healthy Animals afford the best
Aliment, and the Castrated are better than 
those that are not so; and the only Way of 
having found and healthful animal Food, is 
to leave them to their own natural Liberty in 
the free and open Air, and in their own pro- 
per Element, with Plenty of Food and due 
Cleanness, and a Shelter from the Inclemency 
of the Weather when they have a Mind to 
retire to it. Therefore we should never make 
Choice of cramm'd Poultry, or stall-fed Butch- 
er's Meat for our Food, did we consider the 
foul, gross, and filthy Manner in which they 
are confin'd, and the stinking, putrid, and 
unwholsome Food with which they are fed, 
especially Poultry and Hogs; for we may be 
well assured, that perpetual Foulness and 
Cramming, gross Food and Filthiness will 
rot the Juices, and mortify the muscular Sub- 
stance of human Creatures, and consequently 
can do no less in Brute Animals, and thus 
make even our Food Poison. Besides, stall-fed 
Cattle and cramm'd Fowls are often diseas'd 
in their Livers. The same may be likewise 
said





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 181 
said of Plants and Vegetables, forc'd and pro- 
duced by Hot-beds. 
Animals, Herbs, Fruits and Corn are to 
be chosen in high Places, such as are refresh'd 
with wholsome Winds and cherish'd with 
the warm Beams of the Sun, and where there 
are no Marshes, Lakes, and standing Waters; 
for in such Places they are quickly corrupted; 
and likewise the Flesh of all Animals that live 
in Fens and standing Pools are to be avoided, 
such as Ducks, Geese, &c. 
The Flesh of Animals too old is unwhol- 
some, being hard, dry, sinewy, and of little 
Nourishment, and hard to be digested; and 
on the contrary, such as are too young abound 
with too much Moisture, and are full of Su- 
perfluities, and therefore cannot nourish so 
well as an Animal full grown, in as much as 
they partake of the Nature of their tender 
Food, as I have observ'd already. 
Salt Fish produces gross Humours, and 
had Juices in the human Body; for it dries 
much, and breeds many Superfluities, and is 
of little Nourishment; it occasions Thirst, 
Hoarseness, Acrimony, or Sharpness in the 
Blood, and Erosion of the small Fibres, Pains, 
and all the Symptoms of the Muriatick or 
briny Scurvy, upon account of the Salt, 
which is unalterable in all the Circulations of 
the human Body, and therefore very improper 
Food for all Constitutions, except some strong 
labouring People, and even in those it will pro- 
duce very bad Effects, if they feed upon it 
M3 for





182 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
for a Constancy, as we see in Sea-faring Peo- 
ple. The same may be said of Salt Flesh. 
The Flesh of Birds is lighter, drier, and 
easier digested than that of four-footed Beasts,
and for that Reason, more agreeable to those 
of a studious Profession, who exercise the 
Mind more than the Body; for as they are 
more easily digested, so they breed better 
Blood, that is, clear, clean, and full of Spi- 
rits, which is fit for the Exercises of the 
Mind. 
The Flesh of the wild Kind of Animals, 
such as frequent Woods, high open Places, 
and Mountains, is better than that of tame 
ones, having more Exercise and no Confine- 
ment, have their Juices more elaborated, and 
their Flesh will keep longer uncorrupted; be- 
cause they live in a better Air, and feed upon 
what they like best without Constraint; for 
the same Reason their Fibres are harder, es- 
pecially when old. This Rule in some mea- 
sure holds true with Fishes; for Sea-fish and 
River-fish living in an Element more agitated, 
are better than those in Ponds. For these Reasons 
Hippocrates commends the Flesh of the wild 
Sow preferable to the tame; and doubtless the 
Animal is more or less healthy, according to 
the Air it lives in; for the Flesh of the same 
Species differs very much, as the Animal 
lives in Marshes or Mountains. 
Flesh boil'd is more wholsome (especially 
for weak Stomachs) than roasted; for boiling 
draws more of the rank and strong Juices
from




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 183
from it, and renders it more diluted, lighter, 
and easier of Digestion, tho' not so nutritive; 
but on the other hand, roasting leaves it ful- 
ler of the strong nutritive Juices, harder to 
digest, and wanting more Dilution *; there- 
fore those who eat the Flesh of full-grown 
Animals, ought to eat it well boil'd, if their 
Digestion is weak. They who live upon 
young animal Food, which is best for weak 
Stomachs, ought to eat it roasted, and lessen 
the Quantity in respect of the same Food 
boil'd, but they must dilute it more; for as 
roast Meat has a stronger Flavour, more 
Nourishment, and lies more compact in the 
Stomach; so it will require to be more di- 
luted with some small Liquors to soften its 
more rigid and crisp Fibres. 
Meats bak'd, fry'd, and broil'd, generate 
nauseous Humours and Crudities in the Sto- 
mach, and are very difficult to be digested, 
tho' they are very nourishing. 
Lamb, Veal, and Kid, afford excellent 
Nourishment, and are easy to be digested, 
and therefore proper Food for those of a se-
dentary Life and studious Professions. 
Beef affords great Nourishment to those 
that labour and exercise much, and generates 
much Blood; but it is too strong for tender, 
weak, and sedentary People, especially when 
Stall-fed, and very large; for Grass Beef and 
M4 Mutton
* Dissolving or making thinner any Substance, with the 
addition of Fluids or Liquids, which are called Diluents or
Diluters.




184 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Mutton are lighter than Stall-fed Oxen and 
Sheep. 
Mutton breeds good Blood, nourishes ex- 
ceeding well, and is easily digested; and by 
Experiment is found the most perspirable of all 
animal Food, and Hogs-Flesh and Oysters the 
least. 
Rabits are of a good Nourishment, they 
consume the superfluous Moisture and Phlegm 
in the Stomach, and the Flesh is not near so 
dry as that of a Hare, and therefore nou- 
rishes better, and is much easier to be di- 
gested. 
Young Hares are very sweet and pleasant 
to the Stomach when well dressed, they 
are good for such as are too fat. It is said, 
that the Blood of a Hare fry'd and eaten, is 
good against the Bloody-Flux, inward Im- 
postumations, and the Gravel in the Kid- 
neys; and that the Brains of a roasted Hare 
cures Tremors, and facilitates the breeding of 
Teeth in Children; but the Moderns justly 
despise such whimsical and groundless Pra- 
ctice. 
Pork and Bacon afford great Nourishment, 
but as they feed the foulest of any Creature, 
and their Juices are the rankest, their Sub- 
stance is the most surfeiting; and as they are 
the most subject to † cutaneous Diseases and 
Putrefaction of any Creature, they are highly 
injurious to valetudinary, sedentary, and stu- 
dious People; for they cause the Gout and 
Stone
† Diseases of the Skin, such as Pimples, Scabs, Mange, &c. 





Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 185
Stone in Kidneys, Scurvy, and cutaneous 
Eruptions. The Flesh of sucking Pigs is 
endued with the same bad Qualities, tho' 
not in so great a Degree. 
Brawn made of the Flesh of young Boars 
is tolerable good eating, having not so much 
Slime and excrementitious Moisture as Pork, 
Pig, and Bacon; but the hard and horny Part 
is very difficultly digested. 
Deer affords good Nourishment, and is 
apt to make lean such as are too fat, accord- 
ing to the Observations of some Authors, but 
I very much doubt the Veracity of such As- 
sertions, for it seems even contradictory to 
say, that whatever affords good Nourish- 
ment, shou'd render corpulent and fat People, 
thin or lean. 
Of all the Parts of Birds and other Beasts, 
some are better than others; for all the Ex- 
tremities, as the Head, Neck, Feet, and Tail, 
in respect of the rest, are of a hard, viscid, 
and gross Nourishment; but the Parts about 
the Wings, Back and Breast, are better, and 
more savoury. 
Cream, Butter, and Marrow, are all leni- 
ent and nourishing: Marrow is excellent in 
the dry Scurvy with crackling of the Bones, 
where it performs its natural Office in moisten- 
ing them. 
Cheese that is new fattens, tastes pleasant- 
ly, and is not very injurious to the Stomach, 
especially Cream-Cheese, which is the best
and most wholsome when newly made. 
Cheese





186 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Cheese of no kind is good for Children or 
weak People, for it lies too heavy in the 
Stomach, is apt to breed Slime and Worms 
in Children, and it ought to be eaten only 
after Meals, to close up the Mouth of the 
Stomach at such times; but too much of it 
is bad at any time, especially old Cheese, for 
it occasions Thirst, inflames the Blood, and 
is often the Cause of the Gravel and Stone 
in the Kidneys or Bladder; therefore it is 
only proper for Mechanics and labouring 
People, or those that are strong and healthy, 
and use much Exercise. 
Milk is a most noble, nourishing, and 
wholsome Food; it is neither Acid nor Al- 
kaline; but when there is an Acid and Al- 
kali mix'd in it, they presently manifest 
themselves by their Fermentation and Con- 
flict. Milk, after standing some Time, na- 
turally separates into an oily Substance called 
Cream, and a thinner, blue, and more pon- 
derous Liquor called skimm'd Milk, and nei- 
ther of these Parts is naturally acid or alka- 
line, nor in the least acrimonious; for being 
dropp'd into the Eye, they cause no manner 
of Pain or Sensation of Sharpness; but by 
standing too long, they will turn both sharp 
and four. Milk is a kind of Emulsion, or 
white animal Liquor, resembling Chyle, after 
it has been mixed with the Spittle, Bile, and 
pancreatick Juices, &c. is easily separated 
from them again in the Breasts.
A




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 187
A Nurse that would abstain from all acid 
vegetable Food, from Wine, and Malt Li- 
quors, and feed only upon Flesh, and drink 
Water, her Milk, instead of turning sour, 
would become putrid, and smell like Urine; 
so that an alkalescent Diet †, (as is often the 
Case of Nurses in great Families) Subjects 
the Child to Fevers; but on the other hand, 
the Milk of poor People that feed upon an 
§ acescent vegetable Diet, subjects the Child
to Diseases that proceed from Acidity in the 
Bowels, such as Colics, Gripes; the Symp- 
toms of such a Constitution are a four Smell 
in their Excrements, four Belchings, Disten- 
sions or Swellings of the Bowels, and Pale- 
ness of the Flesh. 
The Cure of both Diseases is effected by 
a Change of Diet in the Nurse, that is, from 
Alkalescent to Acescent, or contrary ways, as 
the Case requires. But the best Diet for Nurses 
is a Mixture of both, and no Nurse should 
give Suck after twelve Hours fasting;
for then her Milk is apt to turn yellow, which 
is an early Sign of a Fever in the Nurse. 
It appears from the fore-mention'd Quali-
ties, that Milk is a very proper Diet for hu- 
man Bodies, especially for thin, hectical, and 
emaciated
† Alkalescent Diet is the Flesh, Broths, and Juices of all 
Animals, both Terrestrial and Aquatick, which in a found 
State have no manner of Acid in them, as is very well 
known by Experiments. 
§ An Acescent vegetable Diet, is taken from Plants, Fruits, 
and their Juices, and all fermented Liquors, which are either 
actually acid, or naturally turn so. 



188 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
emaciated People, and where Acrimony in 
the Blood and Juices is to be subdued or 
avoided; but it is not proper for those that 
are troubled with the Colic or Stone, neither 
is it proper in Obstructions of the Vessels, it 
being void of all saline Quality. 
Whey is good for such as are of a hot Con- 
stitution, it quenches Thirst, promotes Sleep, 
and of all Drinks is the most relaxing, and 
is a powerful Remedy in the hot Scurvy. 
The different Nature of Birds is known by 
the Time, Age, Food, Place, and Air they 
live in; because Domestick as well as Wild 
Fowl, grow lean, and feed little at the Time 
of their coupling. And some Birds are best in
Spring or in Summer, at which Time they 
feed upon Corn; others in Autumn, because 
they eat Grapes, Figs, Apples, Berries, and
such like. Others again are best in Winter, 
such as Thrushes. Blackbirds, wild Geese, 
Cranes, and all Water Fowl. 
Some live on Worms, Infects, and Fish, as 
Woodcocks, Snipes, &c. but most feed on 
Grain, as Pigeons, Doves, and all Dome- 
stick Fowls, and the like: Some are nourish'd 
on Land, others in Rivers, Lakes, and in 
the Sea, and a great many Birds feed upon 
Herbs; and it is very remarkable, that the 
Flesh of wild Fowl has always the Taste of 
such Things as they feed on, as Fish, Slime, 
Mud, Worms, and other Infects. 
Mountain Fowls are always preferable to 
the rest; besides, castrating or cutting a Fowl,
renders

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 189
renders it fat and sweet, as appears in the 
Flesh of Capons; and the Flesh of young 
Birds is always better than that of old ones. 
Duck is the hottest of all tame Fowl; the 
Wings and Liver are the best, but of hard 
Digestion, and gross Nourishment; it is good
in cold Weather for strong Stomachs, and 
such as labour much. 
Capon nourishes better than all other tame 
Fowl, and breeds good Blood and Juices in 
the human Body. 
Pigeons afford good Nourishment; they 
are very hot, and therefore only proper for 
old and phlegmatic People, or such as labour 
much, who generally speaking, will digest 
any Food without any Trouble or much Dan- 
ger.
Pheasants are very agreeable to human Na- 
ture; they comfort and strengthen the Sto- 
mach, afford great Nourishment, and fatten 
very much. 
Pullets nourish exceeding well, are easily
digested, and generate good Blood and found 
Juices; but old Hens are dry, hard to be di- 
gested, and afford little Nourishment; and 
the Flesh of a Cock is drier, hot, and sul- 
phurous, and therefore very improper Food 
for any Body, and fit for nothing else than to
make Broth of it, with a little Mutton, Veal, 
or both. 
Geese, especially the young Geese, afford 
good Nourishment; but old ones, that feed 
and live in Fenny Places, are coarse, and 
hard

190 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
hard to be digested, and not fit Food for 
tender People, or weak Stomachs. 
Turkey is good Food, and affords good 
Nourishment, but harder to be digested than 
Capon or Pullet; yet a Turkey-Pout is deli- 
cate eating, breeds good Blood, and is easily
digested. 
Partridges afford good and sweet Nourish- 
ment, and are easily digested; they fatten, 
and likewise dry up the superfluous Moisture 
of the Stomach, and contribute much to the 
Preservation of Health, their Flesh being bet- 
ter than that of Pullets. 
Plovers, especially the Grey Sort, are good
wholsome Food, and afford good Nourish- 
ment, only they are somewhat of melan- 
choly Juice, according to some Writers. 
Blackbirds nourish sufficiently when they 
are fat and young; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion. 
Larks, if they are fat, nourish well, and 
are easily digested; they are best in Autumn 
and Winter. 
Sparrows, when young, afford good Nou- 
rishment, and are reckon'd to be Provoca- 
tives; but they are not easily digested. 
Peacocks nourish poorly, and are of a hard 
and slow Digestion, and breed melancholy 
Blood, therefore not worth any Body's eat- 
ing. 
Stares, if young and fat, nourish pretty well, 
but old ones are good for nothing. 
Thrushes

Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 191
Thrushes nourish very well, and are easily 
digested, and the Mountain Thrushes are the 
best. 
Quails are very nourishing, and pleasant to 
the Taste, they are likewise good for melan- 
choly People; but some Authors say, that 
they cause the Cramp, and falling Sickness, 
with which it is said, this Bird is troubled. 
This, by the by, I take to be only the ground- 
less Opinion of some credulous and whimsi- 
cal Writers. 
Turtle Doves nourish exceeding well, and
are easily digested; they are good for the 
Stomach, and, according to some Authors, 
quicken the Understanding. 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all other long-billed
Birds that suck only animal Juices, or that 
feed upon Worms and other Infects, have their 
Juices more elaborate and exalted than those 
of Pullets, Turkeys, Pheasant or Partridge; 
and for that Reason they are much harder to be
digested, tho' they are very nourishing. 
Fish in respect of Flesh is less nourishing, 
because it is gross, phlegmatic, cold, and full 
of watery Superfluities. The old nourish 
better than the young, and those that live 
among Stones, Rocks and Gravel, are best. 
Fish in general are hard of Digestion; for 
they feed upon one another, and their Juices
abound with an alkaline Salt, that corrupts 
the Blood and causes chronical Diseases; for 
it is very remarkable, that those who live
much

192 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
much on Fish are afflicted with the Scurvy, 
Breakings-out upon the Skin, and other Dis- 
eases of a foul Blood: Besides, a true Sign of 
their Indigestion is, that every Body finds him- 
self more thirsty and heavier than usual after 
a full Meal of Fish, tho' ever so fresh; and is 
commonly forc'd to have Recourse to a Dram 
of some Spirit or other to carry them off. 
The following Rules concerning Fish may 
be of use to the Reader. 
First, That all fresh Fish should be eaten 
hot, and to eat less of Fish than of Flesh- 
meat. 2dly, Not to eat them too often, nor 
after great Labour and Exercise; for then 
they easily corrupt; neither should they be 
eaten after other solid Food. 3dly, Fish and 
Milk are not proper together; nor are Eggs 
to be used unless with Salt-Fish. 4thly, Great 
and slimy Fish are better pickled than fresh; 
and observe, that the clearer and deeper the 
Water is, the better are the Fish that are 
nourish'd therein. 5thly, Sea-Fish are whol- 
somer than fresh water Fish; for they are 
hotter and not so moist, and their Nourish- 
ment comes near that of Flesh-meat. 6thly, 
Of all Sea and River Fish, those are best that 
live in rocky Places; next to these, in gravel- 
ly or sandy Places, in sweet, clear, and run- 
ning Water, where there is no Filth: but 
those Fish are bad that live in Pools, muddy 
Lakes, Marshes, and in any still or muddy 
Water. 7thly, Amongst all the Fish both 
Sea






Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 193
Sea and River, those which are not too large 
are the best, and which have not hard and 
dry Flesh, that taste and smell well, and are 
crisp and tender, and have many Scales and 
Fins. 8thly, Fish are bad for cold and 
phlegmatic Constitutions, and only proper for 
hot and choleric People. The best Way of 
dressing Fish is to broil it; to boil it is the 
next, and to fry it is the worst.
Eels for want of Exercise are fat and 
slimy; they are of a delicate Taste, and nou- 
rish very much; but they offend the Sto- 
mach, and are hard to be digested, and be- 
ing used too often, are apt to breed the Stone 
in the Kidneys and Bladder, and occasion 
the Gout and Spasmodic Disorders; therefore 
whoever eats much of them, and often, en- 
dangers his Health. 
Carp of all Pond-fish is certainly the best, 
and the most noble, being of a very pleasant 
and grateful Taste, and nourishes well, in 
whatsoever manner it is eaten. 
Lampreys are of great Nourishment; they 
are of a most delicate Taste, and are al- 
so Provocatives; but they are hard of Di- 
gestion, and bad for gouty People, and such 
as ate troubled with Convulsive Disorders. 
Pike is a clean, sound Fish, and nourishes
very much; but is of hard Digestion. 
Sturgeon nourishes well, and excites Ve- 
nery; but is very hard to be digested. Of 
the Spawn or Row of this Fish pickled, is
N made




194 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
made what is called Caveer, which excites 
Appetite, and makes Liquor relish well. 
Crabs and Lobsters are much of the same 
Nature; the Broth of them is good for thin 
and emaciated People, for they nourish very 
much; but they are, like all other Shell-Fish, 
hard to be digested. 
Oysters are very nourishing, and preferable 
to all Shell-Fish, and ought to be eaten al- 
ways before Dinner, and never to drink spi- 
rituous Liquors upon them, which harden 
them in the Stomach, and prevent their being 
digested. They are likewise very hard of Di- 
gestion when stew'd; therefore the Substance 
of them dressed in that manner is very im- 
proper for weak Stomachs. They cure the 
Heart-burn proceeding from Acidity or Sour- 
ness in the Stomach, and are proper Food in 
such, and many other Cases. 
Turbut, Soles, and Plaice, are highly com- 
mended among Sea-Fish; for they have de- 
licate Flesh, and afford very good Nourish- 
ment, are not easily corrupted, nor hard to 
be digested. 
Pearch are reckon'd fine Fish; but they 
have soft, moist, and tender Flesh; they 
nourish but little, and are full of Excremen- 
titious Juices, therefore they are not near so 
good as People imagine them to be. 
Tench are very nourishing, but hard of Di- 
gestion.
Gudgeons and Smelts, of all small Fish are 
the best; they are wholsome Aliment, easily 
digested,




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 195
digested, and may be as safely given to sick 
People as Whitings unless they are fry'd. 
Flounders are good wholsome Aliment 
enough, and proper now and then as a Change 
for sickly People, and weak Stomachs, as 
they are not hard to be digested. 
Salmon is grateful to the Palate, and very 
nourishing, affords good Juices, but is too 
luscious to make a hearty Meal upon it, or 
live on it for any considerable Time. 
Trout is delicate eating, nourishes very 
well; the biggest, and such as is bred in gra- 
velly Rivers, and sweet running Waters, is 
best. Trout is good for hot and young Peo- 
ple, but bad for those that are decrepid, and 
for phlegmatick Constitutions. 
Cod-Fish, when fresh and in Season, is very 
good Nourishment, and not hard to be di- 
gested; but if it be dry or Salt, it is gross 
Food, and of hard Digestion. 
Haddock is much of the same Nature, but 
drier, yet it affords very good Nourishment. 
Skate and Thornback are Fish of good 
Nourishment, and delicate eating, when 
rightly manag'd; for if they are newly taken 
and dressed, they are scarcely digestable even 
by the strongest Stomachs; but if they are 
too stale, then they smell Urinous, and are in 
a State of Putrefaction. 
Barbel is very pleasant to the Palate, and 
the little ones are better than the great, and 
such as live in stony Places, and clear running 
N2 Waters;




196 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Waters; but their Flesh being hard, are not 
easily digested. The Roe of this Fish is care- 
fully to be avoided, it having the Quality of 
a strong Cathartick. 
Mackarel are very agreeable to the Taste; 
but their Flesh being hard, dry, and easily cor- 
rupted, is of little Nourishment, hard of Di- 
gestion, and therefore not proper Food for 
tender, weak, or sickly People. 
Herrings afford a great deal more Nou- 
rishment than the former; but their being 
so very hard of Digestion, renders them im- 
proper for every Body, except some hard la- 
bouring People. 
Sprats newly catch'd, and being either 
boiled or broil'd, afford good Nourishment, 
and are very agreeable to the Taste; but 
they are windy, and for that Reason not pro- 
per for such as are subject to Flatulency. 
Here it will be very necessary to give At- 
tention to the following Particulars in the 
Choice of our Aliments. 
1. That those Vegetables and Animals that 
come soonest to Maturity, are lightest of Di- 
gestion: thus the Spring Vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, some Sorts of Sallading, and 
Strawberries, are more easily digested than 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, and Nectarines;
because they have less of the Solar or Sun-Fire 
in them; for their Parts are united by a weaker 
Heat, that is, with less Velocity, and besides 
they contain little or no strong or fix'd
Salts. 
2. Among



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 197
2. Among Animals, the common Poultry,
Sheep, Kids, Hares, and Rabits, &c. which 
come to their Maturity, and propagate their 
Species in the same or a few Years, are much 
more tender, and readily digested, than Cows, 
Oxen, Boars, &c. for the Reason already 
given; and because their Parts cohere less 
firmly. And it is observable, that Vegetables 
which are longest in ripening, that is, whose 
Juices contain most of the Solar Heat in 
them, their fermented Juices produce the 
strongest vinous Spirits, such as Grapes, El- 
der-Berries, and the like: and that Animals, 
which are longest coming to Maturity, their 
Juices yield the most rank and most fœtid 
Urinous Salts. 
3. That the larger and bigger the Vege- 
table, or Animal is in its Kind, the Food 
made thereof is the stronger, and harder to 
be digested. Thus a large Onion, Apple, or 
pear, and large Beef and Mutton, are har- 
der to be digested than the lesser ones of the 
same Kind; not only, as their Vessels being 
stronger and more elastic, their Parts are 
brought together with a greater Force; but 
also, because the Qualities are proportionably 
more intense in great Bodies of the same 
Kind. Thus a greater Fire is proportionably 
more intensely hot than a lesser one; and 
likewise, the Wine contain'd in a larger Ves- 
sel becomes stronger than that contain'd in a 
lesser, and consequently the Juices of larger 
Vegetables and Animals are more rank 
N3 than





198 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than those of smaller ones of the same 
Kind. 
4. Sea-Fish or Animal's, are harder to di- 
gest than Land Animals; because, generally 
speaking, their Food is other Animals; and 
the Salt Element in which they live, renders 
their Flesh more firmly compact, Salts having 
a stronger Power of Cohesion † than any 
other Bodies. And for the same Reason, salt- 
water Fish is harder to digest than fresh-wa- 
ter Fish. 
5. Vegetables and Animals, that abound 
with oily, fat, and viscid Substance, are har- 
der to digest than those of a drier, fleshy, and 
more fibrous Substance; because oily and fat 
Substances commonly elude the Force and 
Action of animal Digestion, especially in such 
as have little Exercise and weak Stomachs; 
for their Parts attract one another, and unite 
more strongly than any other Substances, ex- 
cept Salts; inasmuch as their Softness and 
Humidity relax and weaken the Tone and 
Force of the Stomach, the Fat and Oil be- 
ing shut up in little Bladders, that are with 
Difficulty broken and separated. Thus Nuts of 
all Kinds, as they contain a great deal of Oil, 
pass thro' the Alimentary Duct almost undi- 
gested; for the same Reason, Olives are more 
difficult to digest than Pease, and fat Meat 
than the lean of the same. 
6. That all Vegetables and Animals of a 
strong, pungent, and aromatic hot Taste, are 
harder
‡ Sticking together.




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 199
harder to digest than those of a softer, mild- 
er, and more insipid Taste; because such 
Substances abound with a great deal of Salts, 
or an Oil extremely active and heating; for 
high Relish comes from abundance of Salts 
and exalted Oils. A great deal of Salts sup- 
poses such Vegetables and Animals as are a 
long time coming to Maturity; and where 
Salts abound, the Fibres are dryer, harder, 
and more firmly in Contact with each other; 
for that Reason they are more difficultly sepa- 
rated, and harder to be digested. 
But however, Sea-Salt, or Rock-Salt, being 
fixed and of the same Nature, of all Season- 
ings is the best, without which no Food is 
good, and is used by Mankind in their Ali- 
ments for the following Reasons. 1. That 
thereby the Food may descend easier into the 
Stomach, and render it more savoury. 2. Be- 
cause it resists Putrefaction; consuming by its 
Dryness, that Moisture whereby Putrefaction 
might have been occasion'd. 3. It excites 
the Appetite, and digestive Faculty, and pre- 
vents Nauseating. 4. It dissolves, attenuates, 
and dries up the superfluous Moisture, pro- 
vokes the Bowels to discharge the Excrements, 
and is therefore used in Clysters and Supposi- 
tories. Besides, as all animal Substance contain 
no fix'd Salt, they want the Assistance of 
those, in order to promote Digestion, which 
preserve them both within and without the 
Body from Putrefaction; and as these fix'd 
Salts pass unalter'd thro' all the Strainers of a 
N4 human





200 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
human Body, the moderate Use of them is 
very proper to preserve Bodies through which 
they pass from Corruption. 
But on the other Hand, the immoderate 
Use of Salt produces a Multitude of woeful 
Disorders; such as Melancholy, Vapours, and 
bad Nourishment; it dries up the Blood, and 
causes the Muriatick, or Briny-Scurvy, Scab- 
biness and Itchy Ring-worms or Tetters, and 
even the Leprosy, with a great many other 
foul Humours and Eruptions in the Face 
and other Parts of the Body; and likewise it 
occasions Obstructions in the Urinary Passages, 
which oftentimes produce Ulcerations, Stone, 
and Gravel in the Kidneys and Bladder. 
And it will easily appear, that Salt can 
produce all these bad Effects, if we consider 
that Salts consist of hard and plain Surfaces, 
and in all Changes recover their Figure, and 
unite the most firmly of all Bodies whatever; 
for their plain Surfaces bring many Points in- 
to Union and Contact, and their Hardness and 
constant Figure render them durable and un- 
alterable; and thereby the active Principle, 
and Origin of the Qualities of Bodies, if in 
a Strict Sense there be any such Thing as a 
Principle; and when they approach within 
the Sphere or Limits of one another's Activity, 
they firmly unite in Clusters, all which ren- 
der the Separation of their original Particles 
the more difficult, and by that Means they 
obstruct the cuticular Glands, which are the 
Emunctories or Strainers of the whole Body, 
thro'



Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 201 
thro' which not only the peccant Humours 
pass, but likewise the greatest Part of the Li- 
quors we drink, after having convey'd the 
Aliments into the Blood, being part of their 
Office, and in the next Place to dissolve the 
saline or terrestrial Particles to be carried off 
thro' the Glands of the Skin and Kidneys. So 
that when Salts adhere and unite in Clusters in 
the excretory Ducts of the Glands of the Skin, 
or the Kidneys, in the former they stop and 
pen in between the Scales of the * Scarf-skin 
the excrementious Humours, which ought to 
be carried off by insensible Perspiration, and 
thereby corrode the Skin, and produce Scur- 
vies, and other cutaneous Eruptions; in 
the latter, they cause Inflammations, Ulcera- 
tions, Suppression of Urine, and, as I have ob- 
served before, Stone and Gravel. Thus we 
may plainly see, how the immoderate Use of 
Salt is capable of producing not only all the 
disorders already mentioned, but likewise a 
great many more in the animal Oeconomy, 
Honey is the most accurate or exact Pro- 
duction of the vegetable Kind, perform'd by 
the Bee, being a most exquisite vegetable 
Soap, resolvent of the Bile, balsamick and 
pectoral: It is likewise detersive and opening, 
provokes
* It is the outermost Covering of the Body, and is that 
soft Skin which rises in a Blister upon any Burning, or the 
Application of a Blistering-Plaister. It sticks close to the 
Surface of the true Skin, to which it is tied by the Vessels 
which nourish it, tho' they are so small as not to be seen.




202 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
provokes Urine, and cleanses its Passages, and 
is excellent for old and phlegmatick People of 
a cold Constitution; for it warms the Sto- 
mach, moves the Body, resists Corruption, and 
breeds good Blood; but sometimes it causes 
Wind and Gripes in some Constitutions. 
Oil of Olives is sweet and pleasant, and 
very agreeable to Nature; and it is best when 
two Years old, and ought to be made of ripe 
Olives. 
Oil of Sweet Almonds, when fresh drawn, 
is next to it in Goodness, and much properer 
for Sick People, it being of a cooler Nature, 
and more easily digested, tho' not so agreeable 
to the Palate. 
Oil fattens, and taken in great Quantities, 
is excellent to expel Poison by vomiting, and 
by sheathing the Coats of the Stomach from 
its corrosive Salts; but eating Oil too often 
destroys the Appetite, because all Oils are very 
hard to be digested, as I have already proved. 
Vinegar: The best is that which is made 
of the best Wine: It is an Acid of very pe- 
culiar Quality, different from that of all other 
Acid; for it is cooling, and yet not coagu- 
lating; for it gently dilutes the Serum of the 
Blood, as has been often proved by Experi- 
ments. It is inciding, digestive, and opening. 
It is good against the Redundancy of Bile, 
and to extinguish the Heat of Choler and 
Thirst. It strengthens the Gums, excites the 
Appetite, removes Obstructions, helps Diges- 
tion, and is good for hot Stomachs, and re-
sists 




Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 203
sists Putrefaction; therefore it is very useful a-
gainst pestilential Diseases, especially in Time 
of the Plague: But too much Use of it 
breeds melancholy Humours, injures the 
Nerves, emaciates some Constitutions too 
much, offends the Breast, and makes People 
look old and withered, with pale Lips. 
CHAP. VII. 
Of the Power of Aliments upon human Bo- 
dies, with their good and bad Effects.
ALL Bodies which can be changed into 
the Fluids and Solids of our Bodies by 
the animal Powers, are called Aliment, as has 
been observed in the first Paragraph of Chap. 
VI. And to take it in the largest Sense, by 
Aliment is understood every Thing which a 
human Creature takes in common Diet, as 
Meat, Drink; and Seasoning, as Salt, Spice, 
Vinegar, &c. 
Our Food therefore consists, not only of such 
Particles as are proper for the Nourishment 
and Support of the Body, but likewise contains 
in it certain active Principles, such as Salts, 
Oils, and Spirits, &c. which are endued with 
such Properties, as both to vellicate and sti- 
mulate the Solids, to quicken the Circulation, 
and by attenuating the Fluids, render them 
more




204 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
more fit to undergo the necessary Secretions of
the Body. The Art then of preserving Health, 
and obtaining long Life, chiefly consists in a 
Mediocrity of such Diet as neither increases 
the Salts and Oils, so as to produce Distem- 
pers, nor too few, so as to suffer the Solids to
become too much relaxed; and if this desirable 
Medium be attained, by following the common 
ordinary Diet of the healthiest People in any 
Country or Climate; that is then, indisputably, 
the best Method in general to prefer Health. 
For it is certainly true, that the infinitely 
wise Creator has provided Food proper and 
peculiar to every Country and Climate, which 
is best for the Support of the Creatures he has
placed therein, as may be seen by the Chear- 
fulness and Health of the middling Sort of 
People of all Nations, who use only a simple 
Diet, without lusting after voluptuous or fo- 
reign Delicacies. Yet the Diseases of human 
Bodies often require Substances of more active 
Principles than what are found in common 
Aliment, in order to produce sudden Altera- 
tions; but where such Alterations are not 
necessary, the same Effect may be obtained 
by the repeated Force of Diet, with more 
Safety to the Body, where the sudden Changes 
are less to be apprehended. The smaller Ac- 
tivity of the Aliment is compensated by its 
Quantity; for according to the Laws of Mo- 
tion, if the Bulk and Activity of Aliment and 
Medicines are in reciprocal Proportion, the Ef- 
fect will be the same; for they both only bring 
about

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 205
about the Effect, by acting either upon the So- 
lids or Fluids, or upon both; upon the first, by 
stimulating, contracting, or relaxing; upon 
the last, by attenuating, coagulating, or ren- 
dering them acrimonious or mild, or by in- 
creasing or diminishing their Motion through 
the Vessels. 
That all these Actions can be performed by
Diet as well as Medicine, is evident from
Reason, Experience, and in some Cases by 
ocular Demonstration; as in Chirurgery, in 
Wounds and Sores, where the Influence of 
Diet upon them is plainly seen; for a Diet 
too relaxing weakens the Spring of the Ves- 
sels so much, that they cannot sufficiently re- 
sist the Influx of the Liquid, and so begets a 
a Fungus, or proud Flesh; and when too as- 
tringent, it produces a Cicatrice, or callous 
Substance. The Effects of warm Water and 
mealy Substances in relaxing; of Spirits, in 
stopping Hæmorrhages, or Fluxes, and conso- 
lidating the Fibres; the Power of Alkaline 
Absorbents in subduing Acidity, and Oil in 
stopping Perspiration, is very well known to
both Physicians and Chirurgeons. 
All those Substances which stimulate the 
solid Parts, produce the greatest Alterations 
in animal Bodies; for violent Sneezing pro- 
duces Convulsions in all the Muscles of Re- 
spiration, and an universal Secretion of all the 
Humours, as Tears, Spittle, Sweat, Urine, 
&c. And even all this Alteration can be pro- 
duced by the tickling of a Straw or Feather; 
there-



206 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
therefore acrid or sharp Substances, that are 
minute enough to pass into the capillary Tubes, 
must stimulate the small Fibres, and irritate 
them into greater Contractions. And many 
Things which we take as Food, or with our 
Food, have this Quality in some Degree: Such 
as the Juices of acid Vegetables, fermented 
Liquors, especially sharp Wines, and ferment- 
ed Spirits; aromatical Vegetables, as Savory, 
Fennel, Thyme, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Mus- 
tard, all which abound with a volatile pungent 
Salt; and, in short, all Spices in general, and all 
Vegetables, which being corrupted, easily re- 
solve themselves into a fœtid, oily, alkaline 
Substance. 
The solid Parts of an animal Body may be 
contracted variously: First, by dissolving their 
Continuity. For as a Fibre is cut through, it 
contracts itself at both Ends; therefore all 
Things that are so sharp as to destroy the 
small Fibres, must contract them. Secondly, 
Whatever empties the Vessels, gives Room to 
the Fibres to contract; so that Abstinence 
produces this Effect in the best Manner: And
whatever shortens the Fibres, by insinuating
itself into their Parts, as Water in a Rope, 
contracts them; and fermented Liquors pos- 
sess this Quality in a great Degree. 
The more sulphurous or chymical Oil any 
Spirit contains, the more pernicious it proves 
to the human Body, because it is harder to be 
wash'd away by the Blood; therefore Brandy 
is more easily carried off than Spirit of Ju-
niper; 


Ch. VI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 207 
niper; and that than Spirit of Annise-seed or 
Rum. Compound aromatical Spirits destroy, 
first, by their fermentative Heat; 2ndly, By 
their oily * Tenacity: 3dly, By a caustic 
Quality residing in all Spices apt to destroy
the solid Parts. However these Qualities may
tender them proper in some Cases, taken in 
small Quantities. 
Austere acid Vegetables have this Quality 
of contracting and strengthening the Fibres, 
without a great many of the bad Effects of 
distilled Spirits, such as all Sorts of Sorrel, 
the Virtues of which consist in an acid, astrin- 
gent Salt, which is a Sovereign Remedy a- 
gainst a putrescent, bilious Alkali; and seve- 
ral kind of Fruits, as Quinces, some Sorts of
Pears, with the Marmalades made of them; 
likewise Medlars, Capers, Barberries, Pome- 
granates, and Purslain, all such are easily
distinguish'd by a rough and styptic Taste. 
And amongst Drinks, austere Wines, unripe 
Fruits likewise have the same Quality; but 
they are apt to cause foul Eruptions on the 
Skin, to obstruct the Nerves, and occasion 
Palsies.
Relaxing the Fibres, is rendering them 
flexible, or easy to be lengthen'd without Rup- 
ture or Breaking, which is perform'd only in 
the capillary vascular Solids. 
Of all Liquids endued with this Quality of 
relaxing, warm Water is the first; and next 
to it, the watery Decoctions and Infusions of 
Mealy
* Adhering or sticking together.

208 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of Mealy Vegetables, or Grains, as Oats, Bar- 
ley, &c. likewise all sweet and mild Garden 
Fruits, and almost all Pot-Herbs, as Spinage, 
Beets, Cabbage, Coleworts, and all that Class;
lactescent Plants, such as yield a milky Juice, 
as Lettuce, Succory, and Dandelion, if un- 
fermented, for Fermentation changes their 
Nature; also fresh oils of mild Plants, or 
Nuts, Cream, Butter, Marrow, and Whey; 
all which Things help to weaken and relax 
the Fibres, and are therefore proper Reme- 
dies for a too rigid, strong, or elastic State. 
The Qualities of the Fluids of a human 
Body can be likewise chang'd by Diet; as by
attenuating or diminishing the Cohesion of 
the Particles of the Fluid: and the Cohesion 
of the Particles depends upon the Weight and
Quantity of Fluids; therefore Abstinence and 
a slender Diet attenuates or thins them, be- 
cause emptying the Vessels gives room to the 
Fluid to expand or dilate itself. Besides, 
whatever penetrates and dilutes at the same 
Time, as Water impregnated with some pe- 
netrating Salt, attenuates very powerfully; and
the great Effects of medicated Waters may 
be justly ascrib'd to this Quality; likewise 
all saponaceous Substances composed of Oil 
and Salt, such are Honey, and the Robs and 
Gellies of most Fruits; Vinegar and Honey 
mix'd is a powerful Resolvent. All stimula- 
ting Substances, by increasing the Motion of 
the Blood, attenuate, unless they increase the 
Motion

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 209
Motion so much, as at last to produce Coagu- 
lation. 
The second manner of operating upon the 
Fluids is by thickening the Blood, which is 
perform'd by dissipating the most liquid Parts 
of it by Heat, or by insinuating some Sub- 
stances which make the Parts of the Fluid 
cohere more strongly: and the acid, au- 
stere Vegetables just now mention'd, have 
this Quality of condensing the Fluids, as well 
as strengthening the Solids. 
Another manner of operating upon the 
Fluids, is by increasing or lessening their 
Quantity: and the first is effected by a plen- 
tiful Diet, and the Suppression of Evacuations; 
the latter, either by a spare Diet, or promo- 
ting the animal Secretions, that is, expelling
the Fluids out of the Body; which may be 
perform'd by Substances that are laxative, as 
animal Oils, fresh Butter, Cream, Marrow, 
or fat Broth; the Oils of mild Vegetables, as 
that of Olives, Almonds, and the Fruits 
themselves; likewise all oily and mild Fruits, 
as Figs, and most Garden Fruits, by the Salts 
they contain, lubricate the Intestines; and some 
saponaceous Substances which stimulate gent- 
ly, as Honey, Hydromel, or boil'd Honey and 
Water, and even brown Sugar. Besides, Sub- 
stances that are diuretick, are proper for this
Intention, such as Whey, and Salts of all 
Kinds, Parsley, Celery, Sorrel, Chervil, As-
paragus, Eringo, and Nutmegs, &c.
O Acrimony

210 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Acrimony or Sharpness is not natural, but 
introduc'd into the Fluids of animal Bodies, 
either by Sickness, as in Cachexies, or ill 
Habits of Bodies, and Scurvies, &c. or by 
Diet that is either briny or acid, which con- 
sists of two Sorts, that is, of Things natural- 
ly acid, or render'd so by Fermentation; or 
alkaline aromatick Substances, consisting of 
Salts, and highly exalted Oils intimately uni- 
ted, which by increasing the Velocity of the 
Blood beyond what is natural, occasions an 
Attrition of the Parts, and thereby disposes 
the Blood and Juices to an alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
But the Juices of found Animals consist of 
Water impregnated with Salts of a peculiar 
Nature, which are neither acid, nor perfect- 
ly volatile; for, in the Evaporation of hu- 
man Blood by a gentle Fire, the Salt will not 
rise, but only the Spirit and Water, nor per- 
fectly fix'd; for human Blood calcin'd, yields
no fix'd Salt, nor is it a Sal Ammoniac; for 
that remains immutable after repeated Distil- 
lations, and Distillation destroys the ammonia- 
cal Quality of animal Salts, and turns them 
alkaline. So that it is a Salt neither quite fix'd, 
nor quite volatile, nor quite acid, nor quite 
alkaline, nor yet quite ammoniacal; but soft 
and benign, approaching nearest to the Na- 
ture of a Sal Ammoniac. 
Hence we may easily perceive, that the 
elementary Salts of found Animals are not the 
same as they appear by Distillation; for these
Alte-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 211
rations are produc'd by Fire: and those Salts 
are of a peculiar, benign and mild Nature in 
healthy Persons, who have * vital Force to 
subdue all the Substances they feed upon; but
in such who have not that vital Force, or 
commit some Errors in their Diet, these Salts 
are not sufficiently attenuated, and retain their 
original Qualities, which they discover in 
Cachexies, or ill Habits of Bodies, Scurvies 
of several Kinds, and many other Distempers; 
the Cure of which chiefly depends upon the 
Choice of Aliment with Qualities opposite to
the Nature of these Salts. 
Acrimony in the Blood commonly consists 
of three Sorts, according to the Nature of the 
Salts in which it resides; that is, either Acid, 
Alkaline, Muriatic, or briny, as in the Sea- 
Scurvy; but this last approaches more towards
the alkaline State, and admits of the same 
Cure. Acid Acrimony resides chiefly in the 
first Passages, that is, the Stomach and Inte- 
stines, proceeding often from the Weakness 
of Digestion, and the too long Duration of 
Vegetables, and Milk, or fermented Liquors 
the Stomach. All animal Substances are 
alkalescent; and of Vegetable Substances some 
are acid, others alkalescent, and each Sort is
to be used according to the two different In- 
tentions hereafter mention'd. 
O2 The
* By vital Force, is understod the Sum of all these Pow-
ers in an animal Body, which convert; his Aliment or Food in- 
to its own Nature. 

212 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The proper Diet for the Cure of the acid 
Acrimony, are Vegetables of all Kinds, as 
Garlick, Onions, Leeks, and Celery; the an- 
tiscorbutick Plants, as Cresses, Brooklime, 
Scurvygrass, &c. Carrots, Turnips, Pota- 
toes, Eringo Roots, Asparagus, Horse-radish, 
Mustard, and Cabbage. All animal Substan- 
ces being likewise Alkalescent, or contrary to
Acidity, are also very proper Food in this 
Disorder, more particularly all Fishes of the 
Shell-kind. Water, by its diluting Quality, 
subdues Acidity very powerfully. Oils are 
Anti-acids, so far as they blunt Acrimony; but 
as they are sometimes hard of Digestion, they 
may produce Acrimony of the alkaline Sort. 
The alkaline Acrimony being opposite to 
the former, is cur'd by a proper Diet made 
of the Decoctions of farinaceous or mealy 
Substances, especially such as are made of 
Oats are proper, as having an acescent Qua- 
lity. Therefore this alkaline Acrimony requires 
a plentiful Use of Vinegar, and acid Fruits, 
such as Oranges, which contain a Juice most
effectual in the Cure of the muriatic or briny
Scurvy of Sea-faring People; the Juice of 
Lemons is likewise proper, and more cool- 
ing and astringent than that of Oranges: and 
in this Case all the mild Antiscorbuticks are 
indicated, as Sorrel, Cichory, Endive, Lettuce, 
and Apples, &c. and of Liquids Whey. On 
the contrary, all the acrid Antiscorbuticks, 
as Horse-radish, Mustard, and Scurvygrass, 
&c. are very hurtful in this, and all other hot 
Scurvies. 
Other

Ch.VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 213
Other Sorts of Antiscorbuticks proper in 
this alkalescent State of the Fluids, are called
Astringents, such as Pomegranates, Capers, 
and most of the common Pickles prepar'd 
with Vinegar, And as the Extremity of Al- 
kali is Putrefaction; so all acid Substances, 
and Sea-Salt, resist such a putrescent Quality in 
the Fluids; but as the latter is a sharp solid 
Body, and unalterable in all the Circulations 
of the animal Body, and when it is taken 
constantly in a Diet of Salt Meat in too great
Quantities, (as I have taken Notice of in the 
latter End of the preceding Chapter) it breaks 
the Vessels, produces Erosions of the solid 
Parts, and all the Symptoms of the briny 
Sea-Scurvy, which is to be cur'd by acid Ve- 
getables, and not by the hot Antiscorbutics, 
as I have just now observ'd. 
There are other Sorts of Substances which 
are proper in the Cure of both Sorts of Acri- 
mony, which are demulcent or mild, because 
they sheath these sharp Salts, as farinaceous 
or mealy Pulse, such as Pease, Beans, Len- 
tils; native Oils of Animals, as Cream, But- 
ter, Marrow. Likewise all Plants that are 
without Smell or pungent Taste are demulcent; 
and also all the alimentary Parts of found Ani- 
mals; for none of their Juices will hurt or 
smart either the Eye or a fresh Wound. 
As Liquors make a considerable Part of our 
Aliment, it will not be improper to give a 
short Account of their principal Qualities in 
O3 this

214 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
this Place, before I treat of different Consti- 
tutions, with the Diet proper for each in Par- 
ticular. 
Drink being an essential Part of our Food, 
is either Water, Milk, or Whey; or ferment- 
ed Liquors, such as Malt Liquors of different
Sorts, Cyder, Wines, or a Mixture of these: 
And as the chief Intentions of Drink are, 1st, 
To moisten and convey our Food into the 
Stomach, and the Nutriment thereof to the 
respective Parts of the Body, and to allay 
Thirst; 2dly, To dilute the Blood, that it 
may circulate through the minutest Vessels;
3dly, To dissolve and carry off; by Urine and 
Perspiration, the superfluous Salts we take in 
our Food, which are unalterable in a human 
Body, as I have observ'd in one or two Places 
already: so pure Water answers all these Intenti- 
ons best, except in some few Cases hereafter 
mentioned; for no Liquor that we drink will 
circulate so well, or mix with our Fluids so im- 
mediately as Water; because all other Liquors 
we drink are impregnated with Particles that 
act strongly either upon the Solids or Fluids, 
or both; but as Water is the only simple 
drinkable Fluid, and being altogether inac- 
tive, so it is the fittest and most innocent Li- 
quor for diluting, moistening, and cooling; 
which are the chief Ends of Drink pointed 
out to us by Nature: Besides, nothing will 
dissolve Salts and carry what is superfluous of
them out of Body, so well as pure Water, 
that


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 215
that being the proper Menstruum or Vehicle 
for dissolving all Kinds of Salts. 
The benign, mild, and other useful Qua- 
lities of Water plainly shew, that it was de- 
sign'd by the most wise Creator for our com- 
mon Drink; and, without doubt, was the 
primitive original Drink: And happy had it 
been for Mankind that other mix'd and arti- 
ficial Liquors had never been invented; for 
Water is so necessary to our Subsistence, that
we could not live a Moment without it; be- 
cause this Element furnishes all the fluid Parts 
of our Humours, without which they could 
not circulate; and it dissolves all the Salts in the 
Blood, whereby some are carried to their pro- 
per Places within the Body, and others to 
proper Emunctories for their Expulsion from 
it. It serves to prepare our Food, and then 
for a Vehicle to convey it out of the Stomach 
into every little Meander of the Body, both 
for Health and Nourishment: So that Water 
alone is sufficient and effectual for all the 
Purposes of human Wants as to Drink. 
Therefore it is evident from what has been 
said, that Water is the best and most whole- 
some Drink in general; but in some Constitu- 
tions, where something is necessary to warm 
and act as a Stimulus, then fermented Li- 
quors taken in Moderation are proper, such 
as Beer, Ale, Cyder, Wine, &c. the Quan- 
tity and Choice of which depends upon the 
Age, Constitution, and Manner of Living of 
the Drinker; for in Youth, Milk, Water, or 
O4 Whey


216 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Whey are the properest, and in a middle Age 
a little more generous Liquors may be some- 
times allow'd; but most of all in old Age; 
for according to the old Saying, Lac senûm
est Vinum, Wine is old Men's Milk. 
As to Malt Liquors, small Beer well boil- 
ed, and of a due Age, is the best for common
Drink; otherwise it must be very hurtful to 
Persons of weak Nerves and flow Digestion; 
for by fermenting anew in the Bowels it will 
fill the whole Cavity of the Belly with Fumes 
and Vapours, which will at last produce very
bad Effects in a weak Constitution. 
As for strong Beer, it should be made of 
Water that will bear Soap; be well hopp'd 
and boil'd, that it may keep till all the gross
and viscid Parts fall to the Bottom of the 
Vessel, without the Help of any pernicious 
Composition for fining Liquors, too frequent- 
ly made Use of to the Destruction of thou- 
sands; for it is very notorious, that all your 
fine Ales, or Home-brew'd, as they are call'd, 
have neither due Age or Hops enough to cla- 
rify of their own Accord, being brew'd one 
Week and drank the next, or soon after; so 
that the Seller is obliged to have Recourse to
some Art or other to fine them down, which 
is very often with unslack Lime, or at best a 
Mixture of Ising-glass *, and other Ingredients 
* Is a very strong Glew, made of a Kind of Fish catch'd in
great Quantities in Rivers in Hungary and other Parts: It is 
used by Cabinet-makers, and sometimes ordered as a Medicine to 
stop Fluxes and Seminal Weaknesses; but it is very improper 
for

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 217
very destructive, if not poisonous, to many 
Constitutions: Besides, these Liquors are of 
so agglutinating and thickening a Nature, as 
to produce Stone, Gravel, Gout, Bloatedness, 
and great Thirst, with the Loss of Appetite: 
And to prove the agglutinating Qualities of 
all such Liquors, it is experimentally known, 
that they make excellent Bird-lime; and 
when simmer'd for some Time over a slow 
Fire, make the most sticking and best Plaister 
for old Strains. 
We have likewise convincing Reasons to 
have the same Opinion of the Yorkshire, Not- 
tingham, and Welch intoxicating Ales; and, 
in short, all fine Ales brew'd for Sale: For it 
is certainly true, that all these fine Liquors, 
far fetch'd and dear bought, have always some- 
thing in their Composition hurtful to our Con- 
stitution, more than meer Water, Malt, and 
Hops; therefore I would advise all those, 
who have any Regard for their own Health or 
Lives, to avoid, as much as possible, the use
of all such Liquors, and more especially the 
valetudinary, sedentary, studious, and contem- 
plative People; and, in fine, all such as have 
weak Nerves and slow Digestion. 
As the frequent Use and Excess of Drams,
or distill'd Spirituous Liquors, is a Vice of so
horrid 
for such as are otherwise in good Health; for the constant Use 
of it will produce Gravel, Stone, Blotches, and Eruptions on the 
Skin, by glewing up as it were the Urinary Passages, and 
likewise stopping insensible Perspiration; and, in short, it will 
produce the same bad Effects in human Constitutions, as the 
common Glew used by Joyners and Carpenters.

218 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
horrid a Nature in itself, and now become 
epidemical, not only among Mechanicks and 
Tradesmen, but among Persons of the brightest
Genius, and finest Taste and Accomplish- 
ments; and, alas! even among the finest
Part of the Creation, I mean the Fair Sex; 
and those of them too, which is still more a- 
stonishing, who are in all other Respects 
blameless, and of the strictest Virtue! I say, 
as the Case is so, it will not be improper to 
explain the poisonous Qualities and direful Ef- 
fects of such pernicious Liquors, which de- 
stroy Millions, both in Body and Soul. 
Let us then consider, that distill'd Spirits are
but an Accumulation of fine Salts and light Oil, 
compacted together into the smallest Bulk; the 
Salts are so hard and solid as naturally to re- 
tain their Heat and Activity the longest, into
which Water cannot enter; the Oil † is so 
inflammable, that it most readily receives Heat 
and Fire, and by that Means defends the Salts 
from the Power of Water over them: So 
that in the continued Distillation of Spirits, 
this
† They are guilty of a gross Error, who imagine that the 
more oily any distill'd Spirit is, the more wholsome it will 
prove to the Constitution; for they do not consider that it is a 
very subtile, sulphurous, chymical, inflammable Oil, blended 
with Portions of very fine Salts, raised by the Force of Fire, 
and that it is quite different in its Nature and Quality from 
the benign and pectoral Oil of Olives or Sweet Almonds, or 
any other express'd Oils produced without Fermentation or 
Fire. Hence it is evident that Rum, or double-distill'd Spirit 
of Annise-seeds, and Spirits distill'd from aromatick Plants, are 
much more difficult to be digested and carried off than Brandy, 
or Spirit of Juniper; and that for no other Reason, than that 
they contain too great a Quantity of burning Oil. 



Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 219  
this Action of the Fire is so strong as to re- 
duce the Spirits at last into liquid Flames, 
which will, of their own accord, evaporate 
in visible Flames and Fumes. 
Besides, it is observable that every Thing 
that has pass'd the Fire so long a Time as to 
divide and penetrate its Parts as far as it pos- 
sibly can, retains ever afterwards a corrosive 
and burning Quality. This is manifest from 
the firey and burning Touch and Taste of new- 
distill'd Spirits; as also from the burning of
a Lime-stone, which retains its heating and 
drying Quality ever after, tho' extinguish'd by
Water. 
Hence it will manifestly appear, that run- 
ning into the frequent Use and Habit of Dram- 
drinking will as certainly kill as Laudanum, 
or Arsenick, tho' not so soon; for such Li- 
quors contract, harden, and consolidate many 
Fibres together, abolishing many Vessels, or 
Canals in the Body, especially where the Fi- 
bres are the tenderest, as in the Brain, by 
which Quality they destroy the Memory and 
intellectual Faculties, abrade and wear off the 
villous Coat of the Stomach, and thereby ex- 
pose its nervous Coat to the Insults of the most
firey, corroding, saline, and caustick Particles
of the Spirits; by which means the Springi- 
ness or Elasticity of the Fibres is so weakened, 
that the whole Stomach becomes at last soft, 
flabby, and relax'd. Hence a Loss of Appe- 
tite, and an Inability to digest the small Quan- 
tity of Food that is taken in; whence arise 
Cru-

220 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Crudities, Nauseas, Vomitings, Tremors, ner- 
vous Convulsions, Consumptions, Dropsies; 
likewise Gout, Stone, Rheumatism, raging Fe- 
vers and Pleurisies, which for the most part 
nothing but Death alone can remove at last. 
What a melancholy Scene do we daily be- 
hold, in all Parts of this great Capital, of
Numbers of miserable Creatures, render'd not 
only useless to themselves, to their Families, 
Friends and Relations, but likewise burthen- 
some to the Publick, and a Scandal to both Chri- 
stianity and the rest of their Fellow-Subject! 
And all this great Calamity entirely ow- 
ing to the Folly of a bewitching Habit of 
Dram-drinking. And what is still most sur- 
prising, we see even the Moral, and the Sen- 
sible, bound in these Chains and Fetters, that 
nothing less than Almighty Grace, or the un- 
relenting Grave can release them; for they 
are deaf to Reason, and to their own Experi- 
ence, and even to the express Words of the 
Scripture, which says, That the Drunkard 
shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 
From this Doctrine it will appear, to the 
Evidence of a Demonstration, that next to 
Drams, no Liquor deserves to be stigmatized 
and detested more than Punch; for it is a 
Composition of such Parts, that not one of 
them, except the pure Water and Sugar, is 
wholsome, or friendly to any Constitution, espe- 
cially to valetudinary, tender, weak, and studious 
People. The chief Ingredient being either 
Arrack, Rum, Brandy, or Malt-Spirits, and 
all

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 221
all of them rais'd by Fire, from the fermented 
Juices of Plants brought from hot Countries, 
or which have born the Heat of the Sun 
longest in our own Climate; for it is observable 
that Vegetables, whose Juices have most Solar 
Heat in them, their fermented Juices yield 
the strongest Spirits in Distillation. 
The other principal Part of the Composition 
being sour Juice of unripe Oranges or Li- 
mons. And if we consider, that the Juice of
a Crab-Apple, of unripe Goosberries, or 
Grapes, or even the Juice of Sorrel, would 
come up at least to their Virtue in extinguish- 
ing the Heat of the burning Spirits, if not to
their Flavour; And yet every body who is 
not depriv'd of his Senses, must know how 
destructive an Ingredient such Juices would 
be to the fine Fibres of the Stomach and 
Bowels. 
For it is evidently true, even from Experi- 
ence, that all fermenting Juices, such as these 
are in a very great Degree, must be highly 
injurious to the human Constitution; for 
meeting with Crudities in the Bowels, they 
must raise a new Struggle or Fermentation there, 
and so fill up the whole Cavities of the Body, 
with acrid Fumes and Vapours, which is ex- 
tremely prejudicial to the Bowels, especially 
when the Constitution is tender and weak. 
And in the West-Indies, where the People 
are forced to drink much Punch, by reason 
of the Violence of the Heat, and for Want of 
other proper Liquors there, tho' the Limons 
and


222 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and Oranges are in full Perfection, yet the 
Inhabitants are universally afflicted with ner- 
vous and mortal Dry-Gripes, Cramps, Pal- 
sies, and Convulsions, which kill them in a 
few Days, and all intirely owing to this 
poisonous Mixture, Punch. 
Notwithstanding what I have advanced 
against the deliterious † Qualities of Drams 
and Punch, at least when taken for any Con- 
stancy, or in any great Quantity, for some 
Poisons are only so by their Quantity, yet I 
would not be understood here to discourage 
the innocent Means of enlivening Conversa- 
tion, promoting Friendship, comforting the 
Sorrowful, and raising the drooping Spirits, 
at proper Times with a chearful Glass of 
some good wholsome Liquor or other; for the
Sober can receive no Prejudice from a mode- 
rate Use of Liquors: On the Contrary, it 
will help to invigorate and re-establish the 
Constitution, especially after the Fatigues of
Labour or Study. Neither am I against the 
taking a proper cordial Dram sometimes, as 
in an actual Fit of the Colick or Gout in the 
Stomach; or upon a full Meal of Fish, Pork, 
&c. when a Glass of good Wine cannot be 
had. 
But the Frenzy of being given to the too 
frequent Use and Excess of Liquors, is abo- 
minable; for a Sot is the lowest and the most 
contemptible Character in human Life; and 
as for the Profligate, the Sensual, and Vo- 
luptuous,
† Poisonous.


Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 223
luptuous, they are past reclaiming, and there- 
fore deserve no Advice, at least they will take 
none. However, I present them here with 
a short Sketch of the Effects of Drunkenness,
to contemplate upon at their Leisure, if they
can spare any Time from the bewitching 
Folly of sotting and drinking. 
The Effects then of Drunkenness render 
the Blood inflamed into a Gout, Stone, and 
Rheumatism, raging Fevers, Pleurisies, Small- 
Pox, or Measles. 
2. The Passions are enraged into Quarrels, 
Murder, and Blasphemy; the Juices are 
dry'd up; and the solids scorched and shri- 
velled. 
3. A Resolution of the Nerves, Cramps, 
and Palsies. 
4. Inflation of the Belly and Dropsies. 
5. Redness and Rheums, with an Inflamma- 
tion in the Eyes. 
6. Tremblings in the Hands and Joynts, 
Head-Aches, Quinsies, and Scurvies of all 
Kinds. 
7. Sicknesses at the Stomach, with four 
Belchings, Reachings and Vomitings. 
8. A furious and unmanageable Disposition 
to Lust, which hurries them to the base and
sordid Company of Harlots, and impure Wo- 
men, by whose Means they most commonly 
acquire a foul Disease, under which they 
often labour for the greatest Part of the 
Remainder of their Lives, in Shame and Tor- 
ments;


224 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
ments; nay some become incurable, and even 
rot by Piece-meal, before their Dissolution. 
9. A Decay of Memory and Understanding, 
Loss of Credit and Reputation. 
10. An Unfitness for Business, or the Dis- 
patch of the Affairs of Life; and a Readiness
of discovering all Secrets. 
These, with a great many more, are the 
bitter Fruits of Drunkenness, even in this
Life; and in the next, according to the 
express Words of holy Writ, will be re- 
warded with everlasting Miseries, as being
thereby excluded the Kingdom of Heaven. 
A short Account
of different
Wines in gene-
ral.
As it would be endless to enter 
into a long Account of the diffe-
rent Qualities of all Sorts of Wines, 
therefore I shall only say in gene- 
ral, that all the light Wines, of a moderate 
Strength, due Age, and full Maturity, are 
much more wholsome for the Constitution, 
and preferable for Conversation, Cheerfulness, 
and Digestion, than the rich, hot, strong and 
heavy Wines: For the light Wines inflame 
the Juices of the Body less, and go off the 
Stomach with less Difficulty; they likewise 
afford longer Time for Conversation and 
Cheerfulness, with less Danger. 
Red Port Wine is strong and astringent; 
but white Port and Spanish Wines are stimu- 
lating and attenuating. French Wines are 
lighter, and not so strong as the Portugal 
and Spanish Wines; which renders them 
2 whol-

Ch. VII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 225
wholsomer for thin and dry Constitutions. 
Fine old Rhenish and Moselle Wines are very 
wholsome, especially the Former, which is 
exceedingly good for most Constitutions. 
Strong made Country Wines are prejudicial 
to all Constitutions, being very windy, heavy, 
and heady, taken in any considerable Quan- 
tity; therefore it is surprising the extreme 
Fondness People of the better Sort in England 
have run into, for such Liquors; and for no 
other Reason that can be thought of, than 
the only one the Vulgar give for drinking 
Brandy or Gin, that they sooner intoxicate 
them. 
The last Thing I have to say concerning 
Liquors, is, that Wine, and all other strong 
Liquors, are as hard to digest, and require as
much Labour of the concoctive Powers, as 
solid and strong Food itself; and this is not
only evident with respect to Persons of weak 
Stomachs and Digestion, but also from strong 
and healthy People, who only drink either 
water or Small Beer at their Meals, and shall 
be able to eat and digest almost double the 
Quantity of what they could, did they drink 
strong Liquors. Therefore it appears very 
Plain, that we should always drink very little
strong Liquors at our great Meals, otherwise 
we must certainly impair the Constitution, and 
load it with various Diseases at last; for such
Liquors, by their Heat and Activity, hurry 
the Food unconcocted into the Habit of the 
Body, and by that Means lay a Founda-
P tion

226 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
tion for Fevers, Colicks, and several 
chronical Distempers. 
CHAP. VIII. 
Of different Constitutions, the Diet 
proper for each. 
ALthough I have given an Account of Tem- 
peraments or Constitutions in general in the 
Begining of Part I. Chapter I. of this Treatise;
yet it will be necessary to treat of them in a more 
peculiar Manner in this Place, that every one 
may easily know the Nature of his own in 
particular. And as I have explained the Na- 
ture and Qualities of Aliment, in the two
preceding Chapters, with their good and bad 
Effects upon human Bodies, it will be like- 
wise necessary to lay down Rules of Diet pro- 
per for each Constitution in particular, in this
Chapter, by which Means it will not be diffi- 
cult for any one to observe a sure and easy 
Method in regard to what may be either use- 
ful or prejudicial to his own Constitution in 
particular, in order to preserve Health and 
prolong Life; or when impair'd, to restore it
again, which are the chief Ends of the noble 
Art of Physick. 
A general Method as to Diet, without re- 
gard to particular Constitutions, is absurd. 
3 The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 227
The most common Difference of human 
Constitutions proceeds either from the solid † 
Parts, or from the different State of the 
Fluids, (as I hinted in the first Part of this
Book.) From the former, as to their different 
Degrees of Strength and Tension; for in 
some Constitutions they are too lax and weak, 
in others they are too strong and elastick; 
from the latter, as they consist of Water, Spi- 
rit, Oil, Salts, and earthy Parts, they differ 
according to the Redundance of the Whole, or 
of any of the said Ingredients in particular; 
and for which Reason they may be justly 
called either plethorick, sanguine, phlegmatick, 
saline, oily on fat, earthy or melancholick Con- 
stitutions. 
The Fibres of the Solids in a human Body 
are too weak and lax, when the Cohesion of 
their Parts is so small, that they may be re- 
solved or broken by a Force not much greater 
than what happens commonly in the Body of 
a healthy Person; and when the Weakness of 
the Vessels or Organs, proceeding from a 
too small Cohesion of their constituent Parts, 
renders them unable to discharge the com- 
mon Functions of Life, consider'd in a State 
of Health. 
And notwithstanding there is a Debility or 
Weakness of Fibres in Infants, yet it is no 
P2 Disease,
† The Solids of an animal Body are composed of small Fi- 
bres or Threads, which may be divided into still less; and this 
Division proceeds so far, as that at last they become so incre- 
dibly small, as to exceed the Power of Imagination; but 
Reason tells us that there must be an End at ast.



228 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Disease, because they lengthen by the Influx 
of the Liquids, which is the Cause of their 
Growth; but in grown Persons, when their 
Fibres cannot any more give way or stretch, 
they must either break or lose their Spring. 
The common Causes of Weakness of the 
Fibres are, either a Defect or great Loss of 
the nutritious Juices; for if there is not a 
Sufficiency of Blood, the Chyle cannot be ea- 
sily assimilated to nourish the Fibres. And 
People who lose great Quantities of Blood 
daily, by Blood-letting or otherwise, become 
dropsical; for when a Fibre, which is natu- 
rally elastick like a Bow, loses its Spring, it is
only passive, and consequently useless to the 
Individual. Likewise Nourishment too glu- 
tinous or viscid to be subdued by the concoc- 
tive Powers of Digestion. Also a sedentary 
and lazy Life; for Motion or Exercise en- 
creases the Circulation of the Fluids, and of
Course an Application of the solid Parts to- 
gether. People who live healthy in a dry Air, 
commonly fall into Diseases that depend upon 
weak and relax'd Fibres when in a moist one. 
Lastly, a natural Weakness from the Frame 
and Constitution of the Body, which is too 
often the Case. 
The Sign of weak and lax Fibres are, a weak 
Pulse, Paleness, flabby and soft Flesh, 
Palpitations of the Heart, Bloated- 
ness, Lassitude, and scorbutical Spots; 
Coldness of the Skin, four Belchings upon taking 
vegetable Food, or foul Eructations, like that of 
The Signs of
weak Fibres.
rotten

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 229
rotten Eggs, after eating animal Food, are also 
Signs of weak Fibres in the Organs of Diges- 
tion; likewise Atrophy, or a Decay of the 
Flesh, which indicates a Destruction or Ob- 
struction of the Vessels that convey the Nou- 
rishment; and Dropsies proceed from a Weak- 
ness and Laxity of the Fibres, as having lost
their Elasticity or Springiness to return the 
Fluid. And, in short, most of all the chro- 
nical Diseases proceed from Weakness and 
Laxity of the Fibres. Therefore the chief In- 
tention of Cure must be to restore the Tone 
of the solid Parts; for all other Attempts, 
without this, will prove fruitless. 
So that they who have weak Fibres ought 
to forbear all great Evacuations, especially 
Bleeding, viscid Substances, and all other Food
hard of Digestion; they Should likewise avoid 
a sedentary Life and moist Air as much as 
possible: They should eat often, but in small 
Quantites, of such Things as are nourishing, 
and of easy Digestion, as Milk, Broth, and 
Jellies made of Flesh Meat, Rice Gruel, Pa- 
nadas, &c. And their Drink should be some 
of the light Wines of due Age and Maturity, 
mix'd with Water, for Water alone is too re- 
axing; or any good Wine with acidulated 
and Steel Waters, such as Pyrmont or Spaw,
&c. They should likewise use in their Diet 
austere or acid Vegetables, if their Stomachs
can tolerably bear them; such as Pears, 
Plumbs, Quinces, Pomegranates, Barberries, 
Medlars, Sorrel, Purslain, Burnet, Tama-
P3 rinds.

230 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
rinds, Limons, Capers, or any other Pickles
they like best.
The Fibres are too strong and too elastick, 
when the Cohesion of their Parts is 
in such a Degree of Rigidity or Stiff- 
ness as renders them inflexible to the 
Causes they ought to yield to, so as to pre- 
serve the Animal in Health; for too great 
Elasticity is not only a Quality by which they 
resist against being lengthen'd, but likewise they
restore themselves, by that Means, with too 
great a Force and Pressure upon the moving 
Fluids, to the Detriment of the Ani- 
mal. 
Too strong
Fibres.
Rigidity of the Vessels or Organs is such a 
Degree of Cohesion as prevents their being ex- 
panded so far as is necessary to carry on the 
vital Functions *, as usual in a true State of
Health. And the Rigidity of the Fibres must 
necessarily produce a Rigidity of the Vessels 
and Organs, because the Fibres make up their 
constituent Parts. 
The Cause of such a State, besides the na- 
tural Frame and Constitution of the Body, 
is old Age, in which the Fibres are conspicu- 
ously rigid and dry; or too long a Course of 
such Diet as strengthens the Fibres too much; 
likewise hard Labour or Exercise. 
Signs. 
The Signs of such a Constitution 
are, a hard, dry, hairy, scraggy, and 
warm
* Vital Functions are the muscular Action of the Heath,
the secretory Action of the Brain, that of the Lungs, and of
the Blood and Spirits, with their Motions through their pro-
per Organs; and also the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves.



Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 231  
warm Body., without a Disease, with firm and
rigid Muscles, a strong Pulse, Activity and 
Promptness in the animal Actions *; and 
such Constitutions are most subject to inflam- 
matory Diseases. 
Their Diet should be Things contrary to 
those already mentioned in the 
State of too great Laxity of the 
Fibres; that is, of such Things as are emol- 
lient and cooling, the Pulps, Jellies, Juices, 
Mucilages, and Decoctions of Vegetables that 
are softening and relaxing; such as all Pot- 
herbs of the emollient Kinds, Lettuce, Ci- 
chory, Spinage, Beets, Carrots, Barley, Rice, 
Mays, Millet, Pease, and Beans; animal Oils, 
such as Cream, Butter, Marrow, and all 
Things which relax or increase Fat, refrain- 
ing always from Things season'd with Spice, 
and with as little Salt as possible, for Salt har- 
dens the Fibres: Their animal Food should
be boil'd Meat and Broths without Seasoning, 
preferable to any other Form: Their Drink 
should be Water, Barley-water, Milk and 
Water, or Whey; avoiding all fermented 
Spirits and austere Wines, and Pickles of
all Kinds, all which are extremely hurtful to
such Constitutions. Bathing in warm Water 
The Regimen.
P4 often
* Are such, as when perform'd, the Understanding con- 
ceives Ideas of Things united to that Action; or the Will is 
either concerned in exciting such Actions, or moved by them 
when excited; such are the Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, 
Hearing, Perception, Imagination, Memory, Judgment, Rea- 
son, Passions of the Mind, and voluntary Motions. 

232 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
often is beneficial to such, but immoderate
Labour or Exercise very injurious. 
How the Fluids act upon the Solids of a 
human Body, so far as to cause Diversities of 
Constitutions and Diseases, is accounted for 
in the following Pages, in treating of different
Constitutions. 
The Definition.
A plethorick Constitution is such 
as abounds with too great a Quan- 
tity of laudable and good animal 
Juices; the Causes of which are 
strong Organs of Digestion and Chylification, 
a good Stomach, plenty of nourishing Diet, 
little Exercise, much Sleep, Laziness or want 
of muscular Motion, a moist Air, and a Suppres- 
sion of some of the usual Evacuations, especially
that of Perspiration. Therefore the 
Cure proper for this Constitution, is 
to avoid the Causes of it, just now mentioned, 
and use a more sparing Diet, greater Ex- 
ercise, and proper artificial Evacuations, in 
order to restore the natural ones; for 
The Cause.
The Cure.
This Constitution is subject to a Stoppage 
of the Circulation, by too great a Weight of 
Blood upon the Heart; Rupture of the Ves- 
sels, Suffocation, and sudden Death. But it 
is to be observed, that long Abstinence is not 
proper in the Cure of such a Constitution; 
for in that Case the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood fly off, and the grosser remain in the 
Vessels. Likewise frequent Bleedings, in small 
Quantities, often increases the Disorder, by 
augmenting the Force of the Organs of Di- 
gestion.

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
gestion, and by that Means promote Fatness. 
Persons of such a Constitution should al- 
ways avoid all oily and too nourishing Sub- 
stances; therefore Vegetables, being less nou- 
rishing than animal Food, are more proper; 
and, by the same Rule, to feed upon Fish pre- 
ferable to that of Flesh-meat. 
A sanguine is that Constitution is that 
which abounds with a great deal of 
good Blood; and the common outward Sign 
of such a Constitution, is a florid 
Colour in the Complexion, a Ful- 
ness and Blueness of the Veins, and 
a particular fair and lively Colour of the Skin, 
without Paleness. Those of a sanguine Con- 
stitution are subject to frequent Bleedings at
the Nose and other Parts, and Inflammations 
of the Lungs, Impostumations, and often to 
scrophulous or evily Diseases. 
Definition.
Diagnostick 
Signs. 
The Blood is the most universal Fluid in 
the animal Body, from which all the rest of 
the Juices are derived; for the red Part of it
differs from the Serum, the Serum from the 
Lymph, the Lymph from the nervous Juice, 
and that from the several other Humours that 
are separated in the Glands.
The red Globules of the Blood are elastick, 
and one Globule will break into six small ones, 
and then turn yellow; those yellow Globules 
break into others less, and so proceed till they
become white and transparent at last; for 
the Vessels which admit the smaller Globules 
to pass, cannot admit the larger without a 
Rupture,



234 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Rupture, or some other Disorder. So that 
as the Blood circulates thro' the smaller Chan- 
ness, the Redness will disappear more and more. 
A strong and free Motion of the Blood will 
occasion a Floridness upon the Skin of such 
Constitutions; for such a strong Motion will 
force the red Part of the Blood into more ca- 
pillary Vessels, Besides, another Cause com- 
monly concurring is the greater Transparency 
of the Vessels, occasioned by the Delicacy 
and Thinness of their Coats, which is evident 
from the large Veins of sanguineous Constitu- 
tions appearing blue and transparent, by the 
Colour of the Blood circulating in them. 
And if the Vessels are in a State of too 
great Rigidity, so as to be inflexible, a strong
Motion of the Blood will occasion a Rupture 
of them, with Hæmorrhages; especially in 
the Lungs, where the Blood is more abun- 
dant, and the Vessels more delicate: But if 
the Vessels yield instead of bursting, the Per- 
son is subject to the Inconveniences of a faulty
Circulation; that is, the Blood forces into 
the Vessels appointed to carry Serum or 
Lymph, from whence proceed Inflammations 
and Obstructions. And as the Delicacy and 
Thinness of the Vessels run through the whole 
Body, it must affect the Glands and Lympha- 
ticks, as well as the Blood-vessels; so that 
such Constitutions must be subject to glandu- 
lous and evily Tumours, and Ruptures of the 
Lymphaticks. 
The


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 235
The Diet of such Constitutions 
should be cooling and relaxing, 
with Moderation in the Quantity of all Things, 
They ought to avoid every Thing that acce- 
lerates the Motion of the Blood, as violent 
Exercise and Watching; likewise they ought 
to abstain from the Use of all Things that a- 
bound with an acrimonious Salt, as Onions, 
Garlick, Leeks, Mustard, and the hot Herbs 
used in Seasoning, and all Spices in general; 
but Vinegar is exceeding useful to such as will 
use it constantly with their Food, for it will 
very much abate their florid Colour. 
The Regimen.
For more particular Directions, as to the 
Diet proper in this Constitution, I refer the 
Reader to the Diet prescribed for the Cure of
Rigidity and Elasticity of the Fibres, which
answers this Intention in every Particular. 
A saline Constitution of the Fluids 
in an animal Body; is either acid,
alkaline, or muriatick †. 
A Saline
Constitution
It has been proved in the foregoing Chapter, 
that the Juices of a found Animal are nei- 
ther acid nor alkaline; for all the Solids and 
Fluids of such, even fed with acescent or acid 
Substances, yield no Acid; because the vital 
Force of such Animals converts the acid Sub- 
stances they take in Food, into soft nutritious
animal Liquids of their own Nature. A Cow 
fed with Daisies, Trefoil, and Sorrel, will 
give Milk in which there is not the least Aci- 
dity; but if the vital Force is weak, it is not 
sufficient
† Briny.


236 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
sufficient to subdue the Acidity of the Food 
taken in. 
Therefore as there is no Acid naturally in 
a found Animal Body, but what must be ta- 
ken in by Food; so that if it be not subdued 
in the Passages of the Chyle, it will get into 
the Blood; and if there is not a due Quantity 
of Blood, and a sufficient Strength of Circu- 
lation to subdue it, it will infect the Fluids, 
so as to produce various Distempers. 
The Effects of a Constitution subject to
Acidity, are sour Belching, a crav- 
ing Appetite, Sourness in the Sto- 
mach, with Pains; Green-sickness, 
the Case of a great many Girls craving after 
earthy Substances, such as Clay, Chalk, Meal, 
Cynders, &c. Colick Pains about the Navel, 
Dry Gripes, such as those in the West-Indies, 
chiefly occasioned by too great Quantities 
of the Acid of Lime-Juice in their Punch, 
with a great deal of other Acids in their Sea- 
sonings. The Colicks in Infants proceed 
from Acidity, and the Air expanding itself in 
the fermenting Food in the Stomach; the true 
Signs of which are a sour Smell of the Excre- 
ments, acid Sweats, Paleness of the Skin, and
oftentimes Convulsions, from Acidity passing 
into the Blood, and affecting the tender Fi- 
bres of the Brain. Eruptions of the Skin, 
such as Scurvy and Itchy, and even Leprosies, 
are produced by feeding much and often 
upon acid unripe Fruits, and mealy Substances 
that are acescent. 
Effects of an
acid Consti-
tution.
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 237
The most subject to this Disorder are Chil- 
dren, by reason of the Weakness of their 
Fibres and Digestion, and a Milk Diet; like- 
wise such as lead a sedentary Life; and others 
again, who eat and drink much Bread and 
Wine, and acid Vegetables; and lastly. Ar- 
tificers, who deal much in the Preparations
of Acids. 
As Acidity is not the natural State of the 
Fluids in an animal Body, but introduc'd into
the Habit by Food; so it is to be cur'd by 
Aliment of a contrary Quality, for which 
the Reader is referr'd to the Diet proper for 
acid Acrimony, in the foregoing Chapter, 
Page 212. 
All anti-acid Medicines being ineffectual 
without a proper and continued Diet of the 
same Nature, here I must observe, that an 
Abstinence from strong fermented Liquors is 
absolutely necessary in the Cure of this Dis- 
order; and likewise that Acidity in the In- 
fant may be cur'd by a Flesh-Diet in the 
Nurse.
An alkaline Constitution of the 
Fluids in a human Body is opposite 
to the former, and abounds with 
alkaline Salts, the Nature and 
Quality of which I have explain'd in Note *, 
Page 165, which see. And tho' no Animal 
unputrify'd, when burnt, produces any alka-
line Salt, yet being putrify'd, it produces a 
volatile Alkali; so that in a found Animal 
no true Alkali is found, as I have observ'd 
A Constitution 
subject to an
alkaline Acri- 
mony. 
in

238 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in the preceding Chapter; but when an Ani- 
mal degenerates from a true State of Health, 
by such Diseases or Food as increases the At- 
trition and Heat of the Fluids, the animal 
Salts that were before mild and benign, now 
become almost of an alkaline Nature; for 
found human Blood when first drawn, is so 
mild as not to make an Eye, or a fresh Wound
smart; but let it stand in a Degree of Heat 
equal to that of a human Body, and it will 
grow fœtid in three Days time, and produce 
a volatile rancid Oil, as likewise a volatile 
alkaline Salt, which will ferment with Acids; 
so that the Blood in the Vessels, after it has
passed thro' almost infinite Degrees of Circu- 
lation, may come to that State at last, which 
is the Case in pestilential and malignant Fe- 
vers, where neither the Strength of Nature 
or Art can prevail to save the Life of the In- 
dividual. All animal Substances being de- 
priv'd of Life, and exposed to the Air, turn 
presently alkaline of their own Accord, and
consequently will soon putrify. 
Causes.
The Causes of such a Constitution 
are commonly a plentiful and con- 
stant Use of animal Diet, such as Fish and 
Flesh, and all Vegetables which abound with 
an acrimonious Salt, such as Mustard, Onions, 
Leeks, Spices, and all hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks, &c. likewise a plentiful Use of 
Salts in general, for all animal Salts are alka- 
line; and tho' Rock and Sea-Salts are of a 
mix'd Nature, yet they increase the Disorder. 
All

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 239
All Animals that live upon other Animals 
have their Juices more alkalescent than those 
that live upon Vegetables, and for this Reason
Fishes are more alkalescent than terrestrial A- 
nimals, for they putrify sooner in the open Air; 
and no Person is able to support a Diet of 
Flesh and Water without Acids, such as Salt, 
Vinegar and Bread, without falling into a 
putrid Fever. 
Another Cause of this Distemper is a vigo- 
rous Action of the Vessels thro' which the 
Fluids circulate; for which Reason the strong 
and healthy, and young People, are more in 
danger by pestilential Fevers, than the weak 
and old; for violent animal Motion by Attri- 
tion produces this alkaline State. 
The Symptoms of such a Constitu- 
tion in any great Degree, are Heat, 
Thirst, foul Belchings, Foulness of the Tongue 
and Palate, a bitter and hot Taste in the 
Mouth, Sickness, Loathing, bilious Vomi- 
tings, Stools with a cadaverous Smell, Pains 
in the Belly. Besides, such a State dissolves the 
Blood, and disposes it to Putrefaction, hinders 
Nutrition, for no Chicken can be hatch'd of 
a rotten Egg; and likewise the Blood turning 
Acrimonious, corrodes the Vessels, producing 
Hœmorrhages. Eruptions on the Skin, dark, 
livid, Lead-colour'd, and of a gangrenous 
Nature, and likewise a hot Scurvy, and al- 
most all Distempers of the Inflammatory 
Kind.
Diagnosticks.
The

240 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Diet of such Persons ought 
to be a plentiful Use of acid Sub- 
stances, such as much Bread, and Seasoning 
of Vinegar, and all other Acids without Spi- 
ces, and live much upon Food made of 
Grain or mealy Substances; in short, they 
should live on such a Diet as is describ'd for 
an alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing Chap- 
ter. 
The Regimen.
Plethorick Constitutions are apt to fall into 
this alkaline State of the Fluids, which is more
hurtful than that which proceeds from Aci- 
dity; for the Bile being redundant, is the 
strongest Anti-acid, and when it is raised to 
a high Degree, and acrimonious, is sufficient 
to produce all the terrible Symptoms of ma- 
lignant and pestilential Fevers, as is mani- 
festly evident from the Experiments that were 
made at Marseilles in Time of the Plague;
and nothing subdues the Acrimony of the 
Bile more than the acid Diet already men- 
tion'd, so that by a timely Use and Applica- 
tion of such Remedies, many fatal and dan- 
gerous Diseases might be prevented. 
A briny State
of the Blood.
A muriatick or briny State of 
the Fluids, which is common 
among Sailors, is commonly introduc'd into 
the Habit of the Body by too great Quanti- 
ties of Sea-Salt; and its usual Symptoms are 
a Salt Taste in the Spittle, Itching, and red 
Breakings out of the Skin, a lixivial Urine 
with a fat Substance swimming on the Sur- 
face of it. 
The

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 241   
The Cure of this Disorder is per- 
formed by the constant Use of a 
Diet of fresh and unsalted Things, watery and
cooling Liquors acidulated; mealy and emol- 
lient Substances, with a plentiful Use of acid 
Fruits; Sower Milk, Butter-Milk, avoiding 
all Spices, and the hot Antiscorbuticks of the 
pungent Kind: In a Word, the Diet ordered 
in the Alkaline Acrimony in the foregoing 
Chapter is proper in this Case. 
The Cure.
A phlegmatick Constitution is such 
a State of the Fluids, wherein Phlegm 
or a cold, viscous watery Humour predomi- 
nates; and the Causes of it are, 
commonly viscid Food, such as 
mealy Substances unfermented, and taken in 
great Quantities; for the Flower of all Sorts
of Grain, mix'd with Water, make a Paste 
that sticks like Glue, having an Oil in them 
which causes a Cohesion of their Parts toge- 
ther; the frequent Use of unripe Fruits; like- 
wise great Loss, or Want of Blood, which 
preserves itself and the Food, by constant 
Motion, from Coagulation; a Weakness and 
Indigestion in the alimentary Passages, by 
which the Food is rendered slimy and vis- 
cous; a Defect, or Want of Bile, which is 
the principal Resolvent of the Food; and a 
Stagnation of the Fluids, from a Weakness of 
the Instruments of Excretion; for if the 
Phlegm stagnates, it must grow viscid by the 
Heat of the Body.
Definition.
The Causes.
Q Like-


242 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Likewise Tumours and Inflations of the 
Belly, with Paleness, are Signs of a phlegma- 
tick Constitution; as when a Child grows 
pale, and his Belly swells, which happens to 
those that are rickety, there must be cer- 
tainly tough Phlegm in the Intestines, which 
shuts up the Mouths of the Lacteals, and 
prevents the Nourishment from getting into 
the Blood. But no Cause whatever produces 
a Viscidity in the human Fluids, more than a 
sedentary Life, and Laziness, and no Reme- 
dy more effectual than good Labour and Ex- 
ercise. 
The Cure. 
Cold phlegmatick Constitusions 
ought to use constantly an alka- 
lescent Diet; likewise well fermented Bread, 
and fermented Liquors; for Fermentation re- 
moves the Viscidity of all mealy Substances;
and high seasoned Food is proper for them; 
likewise Spices, Salt, Garlick, Leeks, Onions, 
Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Basil, 
Mustard, and all the hot and pungent Anti- 
scorbuticks; for all these being highly alka-
lescent, exalt the Bile, which is necessary in
this Case, whereby the Viscidity of both the 
Aliments and Fluids of the Body is dissolved. 
Their animal Food, both Fish and Flesh,
should be nourishing, and easy to be digested;
their Drink should be good fermented Li- 
quors, hot mineral Waters, and generous 
good Wines, such as will put the Blood into 
a vigorous Motion. But for farther Satisfa- 
ction herein, see what is said of alkalescent 
Sub-

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 243
Substances, both animal and vegetable, in the 
foregoing Chapter. 
A fat or oily Constitution is so 
very well known to every one, as 
to the Symptoms, that it needs no 
Description, and falls in with the pletho-
rick and phlegmatick Constitution already de- 
scrib'd; it being but one Species or Sort of Cor- 
pulency, as there is often Bulk without Fat, 
from a great Quantity of muscular Flesh, which 
is the Case of robust People; for an Animal in 
the Course of hard Labour appears to be very 
little else than Bones, Vessels and muscular 
Flesh; but let the same Animal remain long 
at Rest, with tolerable good Food, it will 
probably double almost its Weight and Bulk, 
and this additional Surplus is nothing but Fat
or Oil. 
A fat Con-
stitution.
The common Causes of this Dis- 
order, besides a particular Family 
Disposition of the Body are, first, strong Or- 
gans of the first Digestion, and a Laxity of 
the Fibres of the circulating Vessels, especi- 
ally those about the Membrana Carnosa ‡ ; for 
by the Action of those Fibres of the Vessels 
upon the Fluids, if they are duly elastick, 
the oily Parts of the Chyle are intimately 
mixed with the Blood; but when this Action 
is not strong enough, and that the Chyle is
The Cause.
Q2 ex-
* The fleshy Membrane, is a fat Sort of a Membrane, in 
some Parts thick and musculous, in other Parts thin with many 
Ducts of Fat in it, and covers all the nervous and fleshy Parts 
of the Body, and is interwoven with an infinite Number of 
Blood-Vessels.

244 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
extremely redundant, then the thicker Oil is 
never intirely subdued by Circulation, and so
turns Fat. 2dly. Great Quantities of oily 
Nourishment, Milk, Butter, and oily fer- 
mented Liquors. 3dly, All Things which pro- 
duce Coldness in the Skin, so as to stop Per-
spiration, by which Means the fat or oily 
Parts are congealed, which Heat dissolves 
and attenuates; for the Inhabitants of cold 
and moist Countries are generally fatter than 
those of warm and dry Climates. But the most 
common Cause of all is, too great Quantity 
of Food, and too little Motion or Exercise; 
that is to say, Gluttony and Laziness, for 
which a spare Diet and Labour is the best Re- 
medy. 
Fat or Oil in all Animals, in due Propor- 
tion, is very necessary for both the Motion 
and Nourishment of the Fibres; but too great 
Abundance of it is very prejudicial to the hu- 
man Constitution; for it is an Impediment to 
the Motion of the Joints, rendering them 
more heavy, by filling the Spaces occupy'd 
by the Muscles when they contract and swell; 
it subjects them to all the Distempers depend- 
ing upon a defective Motion of the Blood; and 
as the Want of a due Quantity of Motion of 
the Fluids increases Fat, so the Disease seems 
to be the Cause of itself. 
It endangers them in all inflammatory Dis- 
eases; for a Fever resolves many Things which 
do not circulate, and among others the Fat, 
which mixing with the Blood, becomes vola- 
tile,


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 245   
tile, and causes an Acrimony much more dan- 
gerous than the saline one; for Salts can be 
dissolved and diluted with Water, but Oils 
cannot: And it is manifest that Fat is 
dissolved by Fevers, if we consider the great
Loss of it which People undergo in such Dis- 
eases. But among the many Inconveniencies 
and other bad Effects of a fat or oily Consti- 
tution, there is one Advantage to such as 
arrive at an advanced Age, that they are not 
subject to a Stricture and Hardness of Fibres, 
which is the Effect of old Age. 
As Gluttony and Laziness are, for 
the most part, the Causes of a fat 
Constitution, such People ought to eat sparing- 
ly, sleep little, and use much Exercise; in 
which the Cure of such a Disorder chiefly 
consists. 
The Regimen.
Substances which heat moderately, abound- 
ing with acrid and pungent Salts, are proper 
in this Case; such as Horse-Radish, Mustard,
Garlick, Leeks, Onions, Spices, and all the 
aromatick Plants us'd in Seasoning; likewise 
Saffron, all Seeds that expel Wind, Meats 
well season'd with Salt, Pepper and Vinegar, 
are all proper to dissolve Fat, and carry it 
off by Perspiration; but the only Inconveni- 
ency they have, is, that they create Thirst, 
whereby great Quantities of Liquids are drank, 
which increase the Disorder, by diluting and 
relaxing the Solids too much. 
They should avoid all oily Nourishment, 
and use Honey, ripe Garden Fruits of an acid
Q3 Taste.

246 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Taste, and the astringent sub-acid Vegetables 
mentioned in the Cure of a weak and lax 
State of the Fibres, in the Beginning of this 
Chapter; for the Fibres of fat People are com- 
monly too lax. Their Drink should likewise 
be the same as is there mentioned, to which
I refer the Reader. 
Tea and Coffee are also useful, as they 
dilute and stimulate moderately; but the 
frequent Use of oily spirituous Liquors, as 
Rum, Anniseeds, &c. is extremely hurtful, 
because they increase Fat; a moist Air is like- 
wise prejudicial to fat People, by relaxing the 
Fibres and stopping Perspiration both sensible
and insensible. 
Definition. 
An earthy Atrabilarian, or 
melancholy Constitution, is such a 
State of the Fluids, wherein the spirituous
and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissi- 
pated, so as to leave the Salts, Earth, and 
grosser Oil in too great a Proportion in the
Body. 
Diagnosticks.
The Signs of such a State, or a 
Tendency thereto, are known by 
Darkness, or Lividness of the Complexion, 
Leanness, Dryness of the Skin, and a quick 
penetrating Genius, with a slow Pulse and 
Respiration; Obstructions of the Belly, and
a Difficulty of being purged. 
The Causes. 
The Causes of it are all such as 
expel or evaporate the most volatile 
and subtile Parts of the Blood, and fix the 
rest: As great Applications of the Mind to 
some

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 247
some Objects or other, such as may produce 
great Joy or Sadness, both which equally ex- 
pel and dissipate the Spirits; likewise great
Exercise or Labour in hot Weather, with un- 
quenched Thirst; also Food of hard Dige- 
stion, such as dry'd and salted Fish or Flesh, 
unripe Fruits, unfermented mealy Substances, 
or the immoderate Use of spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects of such a Constitu- 
tion of the Fluids are Stagnation, 
Obstructions, Acrimony, Putrefactions, Visci- 
dity, and an imperfect Secretion of the Gall, 
a defective Circulation in the Vessels, especi- 
ally in the lateral Branches appointed for the 
Separation of the more fluid Parts; hence 
arise viscid and insufficient Secretions in the 
Glands: Likewise the Motion of the Blood 
through the mesenterick and * celiack Arteries 
being too slow, produce various Disorders in 
the lower Belly and † hypochondriack Regions; 
hence Persons are denominated Hypochondria- 
cal. And the Signs of most of these Disorders of
the lower Bowels, arising from too slow a Mo- 
tion of the Blood through the said Arteries, are, 
a Sensation of Weight, Anxiety, Repletion, and 
a bad Digestion, from whence different Sorts 
of Food acquire such a State in the alimentary
The Effects.
Q4 Passages,
* Arteries in the lower Belly needless to be described in 
this Place. 
† Are the two Regions lying on each Side of the Tip or 
Extremity of the Breast-Bone or Sternum, and those of the 
Ribs; which contain in one the Liver, and in the other the
Spleen. Hence Disorders of those Viscera, especially of the 
Spleen, are called hypochondriacal Affections.



248 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Passages, as they affect of their own Nature; 
that is, acid, if the Diet be of acid Vegetables; 
and alkaline, if of animal Substances, espe- 
cially Fat, which remains rancid, so as that 
the Spittle will flame in the Fire sometimes; 
and all this Indigestion owing to the Inactivity
of the Gall, which likewise occasions a Co- 
stiveness of the Belly, and a Difficulty of be- 
ing purged. 
This State of the Fluids will at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Visci- 
dity of the Matter impacted in them, and 
thereby endanger the Imagination; and like- 
wise produce Corruption in the Bowels of the 
lower Belly at last. 
Hence it is evident, that such a Disorder is
not to be removed by active Remedies *, no 
more than Pitch or Dirt sticking to a Skain 
of Thread is to be taken away by Violence; 
but the Viscidity should be gently attenuated, 
diluted, and carried off gradually, by a pro- 
per continued Course of Diet, avoiding al- 
ways all heating Substances, which still eva- 
porate and dissipate the volatile and fluid Parts 
more; therefore Waters impregnated with 
some of the pungent Salts, as that of Nitre, 
Tartar, &c. are found to be of great Effect
in this Disorder. 
Their
* Are such Medicines as produce sudden Alterations in the 
Body, by their penetrating and stimulating Qualities, acting 
upon the Fluids or Solids, or upon both, either inwardly ta- 
ken, or outwardly applied. 


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 249
Their Diet should be light, easy of Di- 
gestion, moistening, and resolvent
of the Bile, such as Honey, the 
Juices of ripe Fruits, emollient Pot-herbs, 
light Broths of animal Food, Lettuce, Spi- 
nage, Cichory, and Dandelion; and their 
Drink ought to be Water, Barley-water, and 
Whey. For farther Instructions herein, see 
the Diet directed for the Rigidity of the 
Fibres in this Chapter, which is likewise very- 
proper in this Case. 
The Regimen. 
One Thing to be observed is, that the Diet 
ought to be contrary to the particular Acri-
mony residing in the Fluids, which might 
have occasioned the Disorder; for if it pro- 
ceeds from Acidity, then an animal Diet is 
altogether proper; if from an alkaline Acri- 
mony, the contrary Method must be used; 
which may be easily distinguish'd, by ob- 
serving what has been already said of acid and
alkaline Constitutions, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
As there is a continual Dissipation or Waste 
in all animal Bodies, insensibly; so the fre- 
quent Repetition of Meat and Drink is ne- 
cessary, not only for repairing the Fluids and 
Solids, but likewise for preserving the Fluids 
from a putrifying alkaline State, which they 
would acquire by constant Attrition, without 
being soon and sufficiently diluted with fresh 
Chyle. Hence it appears, that long Fastings 
or Abstinence may be the productive Cause 
of great Distempers, especially in hot and 
bilious


250 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
bilious Constitutions; and very prejudicial to
acid Constitutions, occasioned by the uneasy 
Sensation and Vellication produced in the 
Stomach. 
Therefore the Quantity of Food necessary 
to preserve our Bodies in a due State of Health
and Vigour, ought to be divided into Meals 
at proper Intervals of the natural Day, that 
the former Food may be digested before any 
more be taken in, and at such a Distance from
Bed-time that our Digestion may be almost 
finished before we sleep; by which Method 
neither the Organs of Digestion, nor the Blood- 
vessels will be overloaded, nor the Fluids too 
long deprived of a fresh Supply of nutritive 
Chyle, 
Hence the grand Secret of Health conists
in keeping an Æquilibrium † between the 
Fluids and Solids; for when the Fluids move 
so equally, that they do not press upon the 
Solids with a greater Force than they can bear; 
and, on the other hand, when the Solids resist 
and act upon the Fluids so equally, that there is 
no uneasy Sensation, the Person is then in 
good Health; and whatever is in our Food 
or Actions that destroys this Æquilibrium, ei- 
ther by relaxing or contracting the Solids too 
much, or by attenuating or rendering the 
Fluids too viscid or acrimonious, must pro- 
duce the Effects already mentioned under 
each of those particular Heads, which see. 
From
† An exact or due Ballance.


Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 251  
From what has been hitherto said of the 
Nature and Effects of Aliment, as also of the 
Nature and Difference of Constitutions in par- 
ticular, with the Diet proper for each, it will 
be as easy to determine Rules of Diet in the 
different natural healthy States, as in the mor- 
bid or sickly States of human Bodies; there- 
fore I thought it both useful and necessary to
lay down here some general easy Rules, for 
the Benefit of those who value Health and 
long Life; but with this Caution, that Re- 
gard must be always had to the Nature of 
the Constitution in particular. 
I. Infancy requires a thin and copious nou- 
rishing Food, such as lengthens their Fibres, 
without breaking or hardening them, by rea- 
son of their Weakness and State of growing; 
so Milk answers this Intention best.
II. The Solidity, Strength, and Quantity 
of the Food, ought to be in Proportion to 
the Strength of the Solids, Labour, and Ex- 
ercise of the Body; for such as labour and 
exercise much, have their solid Parts stronger 
and more elastick; therefore they require 
stronger Food, and more in Quantity, than 
those that are in their declining Age, or those
that lead a sedentary or studious Life. 
III. Youth being still in the State of 
Growth, their Diet ought to be emollient 
and relaxing, plentiful, and without Acri- 
mony. 
IV. In the State of Manhood the Diet 
should be solid, with a sufficient Degree of 
Viscidity;

252 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Viscidity; and their chief Drink Water, with 
a Quantity of fermented Liquors at Times, 
proportioned to their natural Constitutions. 
V. Ancient People require a Diet resem- 
bling that of Children, often repeated, and 
little at a Time, emollient and diluting, with 
a little Wine sometimes; because in old Age 
the Fibres harden, many Canals or Vessels 
are abolish'd, and the Solids grow together; 
from whence arises Dryness, Weakness, Im- 
mobility, Debilty of the vital Force of Di- 
gestion, Loss of Teeth, and Depravation of 
chewing, which terminate in Death at last. 
VI. Excess in Meat and Drink is to be 
avoided; for a little Food well digested and 
assimilated, preserves the Body stronger and
more vigorous, than Superfluity. 
VII. We should not eat, because the cu- 
stomary Time for it is come, unless our Ap- 
petite be so too; for to load the Stomach with
a fresh Supply upon a Semi-digestion of the 
former Meal causes Crudities, and a foul Sto- 
mach, which must overload the Blood, and 
thereby produce Diseases. 
VIII. It is better to eat twice a Day with 
Moderation, than to make one over-large 
Meal, tho' one abstains double the usual 
Time for Compensation; however, if one 
transgresses at any Meal, let such abstain from
the next, or let it be a very slender one. 
IX. Variety of Meats, and made Dishes, 
destroy a Multitude of People; for they pro- 
long Appetite far beyond what Nature requires, 
and

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 253
and by that Means over-charge the Stomach. 
Besides, different Meats have different Quali- 
ties, and some are sooner digested than others; 
whence arise Crudities, and a depraved Di- 
gestion: Therefore we ought to avoid Feasts 
and Banquettings as much as possible; for it 
is more difficult to refrain from good and deli- 
cate Cheer when present, than from the De- 
sire of it when away. 
X. A temperate Diet preserves from 
diseases; for such are seldom ill, but when 
they are, they bear it better, and are
sooner recovered. 2dly, It lengthens Life, 
and mitigates the Agonies of Death. 3dly,
It arms the Body against external Accidents, 
such as Heat, Cold, Labour; and if afflicted 
with Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises, they 
are much sooner and easier cured. 4thly, It 
maintains the Senses intire and vigorous, and
moderates Peoples Passions and Affections. 
5thly, preserves the Memory, sharpens the 
Wit and Understanding, and allays the Heat 
of Lust. 
XI. Galen, recommending a temperate 
diet, says, that those of a weak Constitution 
from their Mother's Womb, may attain to 
an extreme old Age, by Help of a sober and 
moderate coarse Diet; and that too without 
diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; 
and says farther, that tho' he never had a 
healthy Constitution of Body from his Birth, 
yet by using a proper Diet after the 27th Year 
of his Age, he never fell into any Sickness, 
2 unless

254 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
unless now and then into an Ephemera, that 
is, one Day's Fever, occasioned by Fatigue or 
Weariness. And it is very well known, that 
Galen lived to an hundred Years of Age. 
XII. In the Winter and Spring we require 
a greater Quantity of solid Food, and less 
Drink, than in the Summer and Autumn; 
because in the cold Season our Stomachs are 
hottest, and we sleep a great deal more; for 
as the Cold increases, so our Heat for the 
most Part recedes to the central Parts of the 
Body. And the Reason we require less Drink 
in Winter is, that then our Bodies are moi- 
ster, like the Seasons; and likewise, that the
Cold hinders the watery Vapours to be per- 
spir'd, and so turn into Humours in the 
Body. But in Summer what is wanting in 
Meat or solid Food, may be taken in Drink, 
and moist cooling Nourishment; for then the 
Body is dry, and the inward Heat is distri- 
buted thro' all the Parts thereof, and Perspi- 
ration is so considerably increased by the ex- 
ternal Heat, that the watery Vapours or 
Effluvia are exhal'd and carry'd off thro' the 
Pores. 
XIII. The same Rules for eating serve al- 
so for drinking, the chief Intention of which 
is to allay Thirst, to moisten and convey the
Food in the Stomach, and the Nutriment 
thereof into the respective Parts of the Body; 
to dilute the Blood, and dissolve the super- 
fluous Salts, and carry them off both by Per- 
spiration and Urine. But for farther Satis- 
faction

Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 255 
faction herein, see the Particulars of the Use 
and Intentions of Drink, in the latter End of 
the foregoing Chapter. 
Here I must observe, that moist Food, 
such as Broths, Pottage, Soop, and boiled 
Meats, require little Drink, and the solid only 
a Sufficiency to moisten and convey it into 
the Stomach, and prevent Obstructions; there- 
fore they who drink much at Meals, especial- 
ty strong Liquors, incur a double Inconveni- 
ency; for first, by causing the Food to float 
in the Stomach, which ought to reside in the 
Bottom, they hinder Digestion, and by 
moistening the upper Orifice thereof too 
much, by which means it is kept open, it 
thereby occasions Vapours and Fumes to a- 
scend and disorder the Head. Secondly, it 
causes the Aliment to pass too soon out of 
the Stomach, crude and indigested; whence 
arise Fluxes in the Bowels, and putrid Cru- 
dities of the Blood in the Veins and Arteries. 
XIV. It is very prejudicial to eat or drink 
too much, or fast too long, or do any thing 
else that is preternatural; for whoever eats or 
drinks too much, must be sick, or vitiate his 
Juices at last. 
XV. Growing Persons have a great deal 
of natural Heat; therefore they require a 
great deal of Nourishment, otherwise the 
Body will gradually waste. 
XVI. Hippocrates fays, that a Person can- 
not be healthy, and digest his Food well 
without Labour, and that the Quantity and 
Quality






256 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Quality of Diet must bear a due Proportion 
to the Labour. 
XVII. Young, hot, strong, and labouring 
People, may feed on Meats that afford a 
hard and gross Juice, such as Beef, Bacon, 
powder'd Flesh and Fish, hard Cheese, Rye- 
Bread, and hard Eggs, &c. which may 
nourish slowly, and be digested by Degrees; 
for if they did eat things of light Nourish- 
ment, either their Meat would be too soon 
digested, or else converted into Choler. 
XVIII. When a Person is sick or distemper'd, 
his Meats should be of contrary Qualities to 
his Disease; for Health itself is but a kind 
of Temper gotten and preserv'd by a conve- 
nient Mixture of Contrarieties. 
XIX. Fat Meats are only good for dry 
Stomachs; for in sanguine and choleric Sto- 
machs they are soon corrupted; and in Phleg- 
matics they procure Looseness, and hinder 
Retention. 
XX. Such as are of hot Constitutions, 
should abstain from violent Exercises, use 
Bathing in tepid Water, feed upon Mays, 
Pot-Herbs, and a cooling moist Diet. 
XXL. The Quantity of Food that Is suf- 
ficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct, 
and answers to the due Nourishment of the 
Body; hence it is evident, that we may eat 
a greater Quantity of some Meats than of 
others of a more hard Digestion. 
XXII. The Difficulty lies in finding out an 
exact Measure; but eat for Necessity, and not
for




Ch. VIII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 257
for Pleasure, for Lust knows not where Ne- 
cessity ends. 
XXIII. If a Person is dull and heavy after 
Meat, it is a Sign he has exceeded the due 
Measure; for Meat and Drink ought to re- 
fresh the Body, and make it cheerful, and 
not to dull or oppress it. 
XXIV. If we find those ill Symptoms, we 
are to consider, whether too much Meat or 
Drink occasions them, or both, then we ought 
to abate by little and little, till this Inconve- 
nience is remov'd. 
XXV. Pass not immediately from an ir- 
regular Life to a strict; and precise one, but 
by Degrees; for ill Customs come by Degrees, 
and are to be wore off gradually; for all sud- 
den Alterations in Extremes, either of Re- 
pletion, Evacuation, Heat or Cold, are dan- 
gerous. 
XXVI. Acids taken in too great Quanti- 
ties, especially such as are austere, as unripe 
Fruits, produce too great a Constriction of 
the Fibres, and thicken the Fluids; hence 
Pains, Rheumatism, and Gout, Paleness, 
Itch, and other Eruptions of the Skin. 
XXVII. Spices taken in too great Quantities 
produce Thirst, Dryness, and Heat, quicken 
the Pulse, and accelerate the Motion of the 
Blood, and dissipate the Fluids; hence Lean- 
ness, Pains in the Stomach, Loathings, and 
Fevers. 
XXVIII, Strong Liquors, especially distill'd
spirits, taken in great Quantities, intoxicate. 
R contract,




258 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
contract, harden, dry, and stimulate the 
Fibres, and coagulate the Fluids; they like- 
wise corrode and destroy the inward Coat of 
the Stomach and Intestines. 
XXIX. A Diet of viscid Food, such as un- 
fermented mealy Substances, Peas, Beans, 
Lentils, &c. creates Flatulency, and Crudi- 
ties in the Stomach, Obstructions in the small 
Vessels of the Guts, and in the Mouths of the 
Lacteals and Glands: Hence Tumours and 
Hardness of the Belly, Paleness of the Skin, 
and Viscidity in the Fluids. 
XXX. An oily Nourishment relaxes the 
Solids, and particularly the Stomach and In- 
testines; it creates foul Belchings, Loathings, 
oily and bitter Vomitings; obstructs the ca- 
pillary Vessels, by hindering the Entrance of 
the watery and fluid Part, with which it will 
not mix; it produces Thirst and Inflamma- 
tions. 
CHAP. IX. 
Of Sleeping and Waking. 
SLEEP is a Cessation of the external 
Senses from Action; for, when waking, 
we walk, talk, move this or that Limb, &c.
but in a natural or undisturb'd Sleep, there is 
2 no-




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 259
nothing of all these Actions; that is, when 
awake we perform several Motions by the 
voluntary Contractions of our Muscles; when 
asleep, those Muscles are only contracted, 
Whose Action is involuntary, or does it by a 
Habit, without the Intervention of the Rea- 
soning Faculty; such are the muscular Actions 
of the Heart, Breast, Lungs, and Arteries, &c. 
so that at this Time there is a kind of Re- 
laxation of the moving Fibres of the several 
Members of the Body. And this is one great 
Design of Sleep, to recover their former 
Force to the Parts overstretch'd by Labour 
or Motion; for when we compose ourselves 
to Rest, we must put our Body into that Pos- 
ture which favours most the particularly 
Weary'd Limbs. 
In the next Place it is very evident, that in 
Sleep there is not only a Rest and a Suspension 
from acting in most of our bodily Organs, but 
likewise of our Thinking Faculty too: That 
is, a Cessation from such Thoughts as, when 
awake, we are exercised about, which we re- 
flect upon, and Will to imploy our Mind 
with. 
For tho' Dreams are Thoughts, yet they 
are imperfect and incoherent ones; and are 
either so faint and languid Representations, as 
to be consistent with our Sleep, or else, if 
they be strong and lively, they are the Inter- 
ruption and Disturbance of it. 
From whence it will follow, that the Mo- 
tion of the arterial Fluid must be more se- 
R2 date




260 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
date, even, and regular, in the Time of sleep- 
ing than waking; for besides the various Al- 
terations it receives in this latter State, from 
the several Passions of the Mind, the very 
Contractions of the Muscles themselves, in 
the Exercises of the Body, will forward its 
Course differently and more unequal; where- 
as in Sleep the Motion of the Heart, Arte- 
ries and Veins is stronger, slower, more equal, 
and full; likewise Respiration is deeper, stron- 
ger, slower, and more equal, by which Means 
the Blood circulates and digests more commo- 
diously, and Secretion, Perspiration, and the 
Distribution of Nourishment are more success- 
fully carried on; the Humours circulating 
quicker through the Blood-vessels and the 
Parts near the Heart, but slower through the 
Sides of the Body, and the remote Parts, as 
well as the Muscles. 
Hence it also comes to pass, that the In- 
flux of the nervous Fluid into the Organs of 
the Body, as also its Reflux towards the 
Brain, is in Sleep either none, or very in- 
considerable; for it is muscular Action and 
Sensation that required this Fluid to be thus 
determined this Way or that, which are in 
this State hardly any: And yet, by the Arri- 
val of Blood at the Brain, this Juice will still 
be separated there, fit to be deriv'd into its 
Tubes and Canals; so that by this Means 
there will be a new Production, or a kind of 
Accumulation or laying up in Store, of Spi-
I rits, 



Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 261
rits, in order to perform our animal Func- 
tions. 
Thus we may look upon the 
Time of waking as the Time of
wearing out, or the Destruction of
the animal Fabrick; and the Time 
of Sleep, as that in which it is repaired and 
recruited; not only upon account of what 
has been just mentioned concerning the ner- 
vous Fluid, but also with regard to all other 
Parts of the Body, as well fluid as solid: For 
Action must necessarily impair the Springs 
and Organs; and in Motion something is 
continually abraded or fil'd off from the con- 
tractile Fibres, which cannot otherwise be 
restored, than by their being at Rest from 
Tension. Besides, the regular and steady 
Course of the Blood, as has been observ'd, in 
Sleep, is by far more fit and proper for Nu- 
trition, or an Apposition of Parts to the Ves- 
sels; which an uneven Hurry of Nourish- 
ment is more apt to tear off and wash away.
The Use and
Benefit of
Sleep 
Sleep is occasioned, promoted, and 
increased by eating and drinking, 
in removing the Stimulus or painful 
Sensation of Hunger and Thirst, when the 
Stomach is empty, or by drinking plentifully, 
especially of strong Liquors; but some can- 
not sleep for a long Time when they drink 
much, because the Spirits are thereby too 
much heated and enraged. 
It is also encouraged by much or long con- 
tinued Labour, the Spirits being too much
The Causes
of Sleep.
R3 dissapted



262 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
dissipated and exhausted. In like manner, 
after the taking of Opium, or other sleepy 
Things, we are disposed to sleep; because they 
seize the Spirits by their volatile Oleosity; 
also a quiet Disposition of Mind; a Body 
free from Motion, and unaffected by external 
Objects; by Excess of Heat, Cold, or Care; 
and by all such Causes as hinder the Protru- 
sion or Impulse of the Blood into the glandu- 
lous Part of the Brain, or its Passage through 
its Vessels, and the necessary Separation of 
Spirits, and the Derivation of them into the 
Nerves, being the Organs of Sensation, and 
the Muscles serving to voluntary Motion; and 
the Reflux of them towards the Sensorium 
Commune †. 
Sleep is hindered by a continual Mixture of 
Water, or hot Liquors, with the Blood, or 
any sharp Thing that vellicates or twinges the 
Nerves of the Brain; also by violent Pas- 
sions of the Mind, or the Brain's being di- 
sturbed by any internal or external Cause. 
Therefore it appears from what has been 
said, that Sleep is such a State of the Brain, 
wherein the Nerves do not receive from it so 
large or so strong an Influx of Spirits, as is 
required for the Organs of Sense and volun- 
tary Motions to perform their Actions with 
Ease and Quickness. 
The
† The Seat of Common Sense, is-in that Part of the Brain, 
in which the Nerves, from the Organs of all the Senses, are 
terminated, which is in the Beginning of the Medulla Oblon- 
gata, and not in the Glandula Pinealis, as Des Cartes and o- 
thers would erroneously have it. 






Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 263
The most immediate Cause here- 
of is perhaps the Defect of a subtile
Spirit, which requires a long Time 
to prepare it, and being now spent and ex- 
hausted; so that the finest Vessels being emp- 
tied and flagg'd, for a Time fall together; or 
there is too great a Flux of thicker Blood im- 
pell'd to the Cortex of the Brain, so that the 
Medullary Part is compress'd, and the Motion 
of the Spirits hindered; therefore the natu- 
ral Cause of Sleep is every thing that may 
produce these two Particulars. 
The natural 
Cause of
Sleep
Therefore if we consider the Na- 
ture, Necessities, and Advantages of 
Sleep, already mentioned, we may 
easily perceive how too much Watching will 
deprive the Solids of that due Supply of Spi- 
rits so absolutely necessary to enable them to 
perform their several Functions; and that for 
want of a good Digestion Perspiration will 
be very much obstructed, which must render 
the Body dull and heavier; for, according to 
Sanctorius, “ interrupted and unquiet Sleep 
“ lessens the Quantity usually thrown off by 
“ Perspiration about a third Part:” * And 
likewise, “ whatsoever hinders Sleep, hinders 
“ also the Perspiration of that digested Matter, 
“ which ought to exhale;” § because interrupted 
Sleep keeps the Fibres in that Degree of Ten- 
sion, which is not suitable to forward the Juices 
to the Extremities, and let the Matter of Per- 
spiration go off by the Pores of the Skin: 
The Effects
of too much
Watching
R4 For
* Aph. 5. Sect. iv. § Aph. 8. Sect. iv.





264 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
For whatsoever hinders that easy Relaxation 
necessary for found Sleep, must likewise hin- 
der Perspiration; so that full, heavy, and 
luxurious late Suppers must hinder it; be- 
cause such a Load in the Stomach will 
keep the Fibres upon the stretch, and conse- 
quently our Sleep will be uneasy and inter- 
rupted, until that be removed. 
It is therefore very certain, that according 
as our alimentary Organs are easy, quiet, and 
not overloaden with Food, our Sleep is 
found, sweet, and refreshing; for if any Per- 
son not labouring under a Disease, is restless 
in his Sleepy it must arise from his Stomach's 
being overcharg'd with indigested Food, or 
Crudities not carry'd off by proper Exercise; 
or his Intestines are filled with Wind, Choler, 
or superfluous Chyle: and the restless Nights 
which are generally ascrib'd to Vapours, are 
entirely owing to the said Causes. There- 
fore all those that would preserve their 
Health, and lengthen out their Days, ought to 
avoid large and late Meat-Suppers; especially 
the sedentary, studious, and such as have 
little or no Labour or Exercise, should eat 
very light or no Supper; if any, it ought to 
consist of some vegetable Food; neither 
ought they to go soon to Bed after any Sup- 
per whatever. And such People in general 
should give Attention to this Aphorism of 
the Schola Salernitana, 
Somnus




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 265
Somnus ut sit levis, sit tibi cœna brevis:
Viz. 
That your Sleep may be sweet, let your 
Supper be light. 
Immoderate Watching and want of Sleep, 
produces Diseases of the Head, corrupts the 
Temperature of the Brain, causes sometimes 
Madness, inflames the Humours, generates 
and excites a saline Acrimony in the Blood 
and Juices; hence arise cutaneous Eruptions 
of different sorts; likewise the want of mo- 
derate Sleep occasions bad Digestion, fills the 
Stomach with Crudities, and dissipates the 
Spirits, by which means a thorough Waste
and Decay of both the Solids and Fluids suc- 
ceed at last. 
Sanctorius observes, that * “ They who 
“ sleep well and do not dream, perspire 
“ well; and on the contrary, they who 
“ dream much perspire less.” Because dream- 
ing is a State between sleeping and waking, 
therein, altho' the Mind does not exercise 
such a Power over the Body, as to direct its 
Motions in the same Degree as when awake, 
yet by its Attention to those confused Ideas 
which pass thro' it, the Solids are kept in 
some Degree of Contraction, greater than is 
agreeable with found Sleep; and therefore 
Perspiration, which depends upon a settled 
Relaxation, cannot be perform'd so well at 
such times, as when in quiet and profound 
Sleep
* Aph. 27. Sect. IV. 







266 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Sleep, neither have they that Refreshment, 
Lightness and Agility, which spreads all 
over the Body, and principally the Brain, as 
those who sleep quietly without dreaming.
The Effects of
too much Sleep. 
Long and superfluous Sleep is 
very pernicious to both the Mind 
and the Body; for it chills the 
Body, weakens the natural Heat, breeds 
phlegmatic Humours, and fills it with Crudi- 
ties; whence arise much Sloth and Lazi- 
ness, the Parent of many Diseases; it like- 
wise fixes the Spirits, and renders them flug- 
gish and stupid; it dulls the Understanding, 
hardens the Excrements, and makes the Body 
costive, which is frequently the Cause of va- 
rious Distempers. In short, superfluous Sleep 
is neither good for the Body nor the Mind, 
nor for Business; for he who sleeps too much 
is but half a Man, Sleep rendering him in all 
Points like a dead Man, except his Digestion 
and the Pulsation of his Arteries; for he nei- 
ther sees, hears, speaks, or understands, and 
is absolutely depriv'd of all Reason, which for 
the Time is a perfect Death. Besides, too much 
Sleep occasions in both found and firm Bodies 
a Shortness of Breath, and is a constant Fore- 
runner and Disposition to an Apoplexy, Le- 
thargy, Palsey, and Numbness, by hindering 
the seasonable Evacuations of the Excrements, 
causing them to remain too long in the Body. 
Sanctorius is very clear on this Head, and 
says, * in one of his Aphorisms, “ By too 
“ much
* Aph. 50. Sect. IV.








Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 267
“ much Sleep both the inward and outward 
“ Parts grow cold, the Humours are obstru- 
“ cted and render'd unperspirable, and the 
“ whole Body heavier.” So that by the 
very same means by which moderate Sleep 
is serviceable and necessary, too much of it 
proves injurious; because too much Relaxa- 
tion overcharges the Nerves with too thick 
and too great a Quantity of Juices, which 
instead of rendering them fitter for Motion, 
clogs them, and makes them less capable of 
recovering their Springs afterward; so that 
when once the Solids fail, the Fluids of 
course slacken in their Motions, by which 
means the natural Heat decays, and the 
Flesh grows cold, and they themselves be- 
come also more fizy or gluey; for which 
Reason they suffer less to pass off thro' the 
Pores by insensible Perspiration, or otherwise, 
and consequently the Body is render'd heavier. 
Sleep in the Day time, or after Dinner, is 
not to be allow'd, unless a Person has ac- 
custom'd himself to it, or has not rested
Well the Night before, or if he perceives a 
kind of Lassitude or Weariness in his Limbs; 
in such Cases, I say, one may sleep an Hour, 
or half an Hour after Dinner, and even it is 
slow Digestion; for according to Sanctorius *, 
“ An Hour's Sleep at Noon after a Meal, 
“ sometimes occasions the Body insensibly to 
“ perspire a Pound, and sometimes half a 
“ Pound:
* Aph. 37. Sect. IV. 




268 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
“ Pound: a Pound when any of the per- 
“ spirable Matter of the former Day has 
“ been retain'd; when not, but half a Pound.” 
This is recommended as a most excellent Re- 
medy in weak People for imperfect Digestion, 
and there is a great deal of Reason why it 
should be of Service; because such an addi- 
tional Help every Day, may compensate for 
the Deficiencies of the last Night's Perspi- 
ration; but they must not be too free with 
this Practice, who are inclin'd to grow fat or 
phlegmatick. For according to the same Au- 
thor *, “ Immoderate Sleep after Dinner in- 
“ jures all the Bowels, and obstructs Perspi- 
“ ration.” 
So that altho' a little Sleep at such Times, 
and in the Cases above-mention'd, upon a 
full Stomach may be of Service, by perspi- 
ring what did not sufficiently pass off the 
Night before; yet if it be continued too long, 
there will such a Quantity of indigested Mat- 
ter follow, as will be too gross to pass, and
consequently stop up the excretory Ducts of 
the Body, and thereby occasion very conside- 
rable Disorders. 
The ordinary Time allow'd for Sleep is 
seven Hours; for that Time seems sufficient 
for perfecting Digestion, and recruiting the 
Spirits; but some require more Sleep, and 
some less: So Children, antient People, Cho- 
lerick and dry Constitutions require more, be- 
cause it moistens and restores the Spirits; but
fat
* Aph. 66. Sect. IV. 




Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 269
fat and phlegmatick Constitutions of all People 
should sleep the least, for Reasons already 
given. 
As nothing seems more directly pointed out
to us by Nature, than the Day for Exercise 
and Labour, and the Night for Rest; so the 
fittest Time for Sleeping † is about four 
Hours after Supper, for then the Stomach is 
not loaded with Food, the first Concoction 
being then perfected, and by this Time the 
Chyle has got into the Blood; so that such a 
a quiet and relaxed State as Sleep produces, is 
most necessary to both Nutrition and Per- 
spiration: and the fittest Time for that Pur- 
pose is in the Night; because the Damps, 
Vapours, and Exhalations, which are rare- 
fy'd by the Heat of the Sun in the Day-time, 
are now condensed, and fall down upon the 
Surface of the Earth again, which must ob- 
struct the Pores of the Body, and consequent- 
iy hinder Perspiration, if exposed to such 
Damps by Night-watchings, or unseasonable 
Sittings-up; and this is one of the principal 
Causes of various Diseases, both acute and 
chronical, which soon break and shatter the 
Constitution, shorten Life, and beget a de- 
crepid Age; so that Watching by Night, and 
sleeping by Day, is of the most pernicious 
Consequence to Health and long Life, and 
plainly contrary to the Indications or Dictates 
of Nature, and the Constitutions of our 
Body. 
Therefore
† This is conformable to Aph. 28. Sect. IV. of Sanctorius.  



270 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Therefore all those who value Health and
long Life, ought carefully to avoid Night 
Damps and Dews, and unseasonable Watch- 
ing or Sitting-up, but go to Bed by eight, 
nine, or ten, and rise betimes in the Morn- 
ing, that is, by five or six; for according to
the old Proverb, Surgere diluculo saluberri- 
mum est; that is, To rise betimes is most con- 
ducive to Health. 
The following Rules ought to be carefully 
observ'd in regard to the Position or Posture 
of our lying in Bed. In the first Place, we 
should never lie too close or too warm, which
may obstruct the Fumes and Vapours neces- 
sary to be exhal'd from the Body; and we 
should always lie with our Heads a little 
raised, to prevent the Food from rising from
the Bottom of the Stomach, to its upper 
Orifice. 
Secondly, We should never sleep upon our 
Back; because thereby we prevent the usual 
Excrements of the Brain, which are dis- 
charg'd by the Nose and Mouth, from fall- 
ing upon the Windpipe and Back-bone; but 
if we sleep upon our Back, we over-heat the 
Reins, by being pressed between the Inte- 
stines and the Bed, and thereby oftentimes 
produce Stone and Gravel, and send many 
Fumes and Vapours to the Head. 
Thirdly, It is necessary to take our first 
Sleep upon our right Side, to prevent the 
Liver's pressing the Stomach, then replenish'd 
with the Food we took in at Supper, which 
must


Ch. IX. thro' the various Stages of Life. 271 
must happen if we lie on the left Side. Be- 
sides, by sleeping first on the right Side, what 
is concocted of the Food descends gradually 
and easily out of the lower Orifice of the 
Stomach into the Intestines, and then the 
Liver comes underneath it, and is instead of 
a Chasing-Dish to it, which promotes Di- 
gestion very much. After this, we should 
turn to the left, that thereby the Steams and
Vapours retain'd on the right Side may ex- 
hale. And lastly, when we go to Rest, we 
ought not to stretch our Joints, but rather 
bend them a little; for as * Galen observes, 
The Ease of the Muscles consists in a mode- 
rate Contraction. 
CHAP. X. 
Of MOTION and REST.
BY Motion, I mean here Exercise and 
Labour, as Walking, Riding, Running, 
playing at Ball, &c. They encrease natural 
Heat and consume the Crudities of the Body; 
for it is very certain, that all Sorts of Ali- 
ment tho' never so pure, have yet always 
something in them unlike our Nature, which 
can never be assimilated to either our Juices 
or Substance; so that some Excrement must 
always
* Galenus, lib. 1. de motu Musculari. 

272 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
always then remain in every Concoction, 
which being retained in the Body, may pro- 
duce a Multitude of various Diseases: But 
the grossest Excrements are discharged by a 
sensible Evacuation, and the most subtile are 
insensibly dissipated and resolved by Exercise 
or Labour. 
This made the divine Hippocrates very 
justly say, in his Book of Diet, that “ One 
“ cannot preserve Health, except he joins 
“ Exercise with his Diet; for the one repairs 
“ what is lost, and the other dissipates what 
“ is superfluous.” Hence moderate and re- 
gular Exercise prevents Repletion, which is 
often the Parent of many Diseases; by en- 
creasing the natural Heat, it keeps all the Ca- 
nals of the Body open, and free from Ob- 
structions; it renders the Body supple; pre- 
pares and disposes all the Superfluities for both
Secretion and Excretion, as well in general as 
in particular; it likewise fortifies the Nerves, 
and strengthens all the Joints which is con- 
firm'd by the great Hippocrates, in his Epi-
demicks, saying that, “ As Sleep is proper for 
“ the Bowels, so is Exercise for strengthen- 
“ ing the Joints.” Celsus also tells us, that 
“ Idleness makes the Body dull and heavy, 
“ but Labour strengthens and renders it firm
“ and active; Laziness makes us soon grow
“ old, but Exercise preserves Youth a long
“ Time †.” 
To
† Lib. I. Caput I. 



Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 273 
To prove the Necessity of Motion or Exer- 
cise, for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, it will be necessary to observe, that a 
human Body, as it comes under the Conside- 
ration of a Physician, is merely a Machine. 
Considering it therefore in this Manner, it is
divided into Solids and Fluids; the Solids are 
vascular, and have continually propell'd thro'
them some Liquor or other necessary for the 
Purposes and Support of the Machine: And 
these circulating Fluids are of different Kinds, 
arising from the different Agitations and Ve- 
locities impress'd upon them by the Vessels 
which circulate them. 
But in this View they have a necessary De- 
pendence upon each other; for as the Disten- 
sion and Power of Restitution in the Vessels, is 
owing to their being duly moisten'd by some 
convenient Fluid, separated and dispensed to 
them from the Blood, which is the common 
Promptuary of all the animal Juices; so 
likewise that due Constitution of the Blood, 
which fits it for yielding some of its Parts for 
that Use, depends upon its certain Degrees of 
fluidity, which are always as the Contraction 
of its circulating Vessels: But yet even in 
this the Solids have the principal Share; be- 
cause, as that Power by which the Blood is 
Preserv'd in a due Crasis or Constitution is de- 
rived from itself, that is, of beflowing upon 
the Solids a Juice necessary for the Preserva- 
tion of their Springs, yet that Constitution 
enabling it to afford such a Power, being pri-
S marily


274 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
marily derived from the Actions of the Solid
upon it, the chief Spring or Rise of Motion 
is in the Solids. 
To know therefore the most ready Ways 
of altering the Constitution of the Fluids, is
to find out the most convenient and effectual 
Means of influencing the Contractions of their 
Vessels; but this cannot be done, without 
knowing first upon what Texture and Me-
chanism of Parts their Powers of Contraction 
and Distension depend. 
And in order to come to any Certainty of 
this Matter, we are to consider, that it is
very well known, that any Membrane or Ves- 
sel may be separated or divided into very 
small Fibres and Threads, when just taken 
out of the Body, and that these Threads may
be drawn out a considerable Length beyond 
what is natural to them without breaking, 
and that when such external Force which so 
distended them is removed, they will again, 
by their Elasticity, restore themselves to their 
former Dimensions. And it is farther like- 
wise known, that these Properties of Disten-
sion and Contraction are preserved in them by a 
convenient Moisture; because, if one of these 
Threads be dried, it will immediately lose it, 
so that upon the Application of any Force to 
stretch it, it will break; as also its being 
soak'd too much in Liquor will render it 
flaccid; as likewise destroy its Elasticity or 
Power of Restitution when distended. 
But

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 275
But what is exactly the constituent Tex- 
ture, or what are perfectly the Shapes and 
Arrangement of those Parts which compose 
an animal Fibre, is scarce possible to be justly
determined; because they are too fine to be 
perceived by the naked Eye, or even by the 
Help of the best Microscopes when very mi- 
nutely divided; which Division proceeds so 
far at last, that the component Fibrillœ be- 
come so incredibly small, as to exceed the 
Power of Imagination; but Reason con- 
vinces us that there must be an End. 
However, as to the present Enquiry con- 
cerning the Effects of Motion or Exercise on 
the Solids and Fluids of a human Body, it 
will be sufficient, with what has been al- 
ready said, that it is known to a Demonstra-
sion, that all the Fibres in a living Body are 
in a State of Distension; that is, they are 
drawn out into a greater Length than they 
would be in, if separated from any Part, and 
taken out of the Body; which is easily de- 
monstrated, by cutting transverse, or dividing
of a Nerve or Artery, which are intirely a 
Composition of the Threads we are now 
speaking of; for immediately we see the di- 
vided Parts run up and leave a great Distance 
between them, as in Wounds, and the Fluids 
contained in them upon such Contraction, to 
be so squeez'd out; and this also makes it ap- 
pear, that their natural Distension is owing to
some Fluid being propell'd into the Vessels 
which they compose, with a greater Force 
S2 than


276 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
than their Endeavours of Restitution, so far 
as to obtain a close Contact of all their 
transverse Surfaces, but yet lesser than that 
which is necessary to distend them, so far as 
to bring them to Coincidence, for in such a 
Case the Vessels would break. 
In the next Place then, this State of Di- 
stension of the Fibres must necessarily leave 
some little Vacuities or Interstices between 
all their transverse Surfaces, which Vacuities 
will continue as long as the longitudinal Sur- 
faces of their component Parts continue so 
close to one another, as to prevent the En- 
trance of any foreign Matter between, how 
subtile soever, for the same Reason as when 
the Embolus of a Syringe is drawn, and the 
Pipe is stopp'd, there must needs be a conti- 
nual nisus restituendi, or an Endeavour of 
Contraction. There is also a farther Necessity
of being supported in such a State of Disten- 
sion; because, if they were closely in Contact 
with each other in all Parts, they could not 
be put into, and continue in those undulatory
Motions, which they are always in, in a
living Body, without being very much al- 
ter'd both in their Figures and Contextures. 
But it being manifest that all the animal 
Fibres are continued by the perpetual succes-
sive Impulse of the Fluids, in such undulatory 
Motions; besides this Necessity of their being
distended, they also must be continually moi- 
sten'd with some convenient Fluid, otherwise 
their continual Attritions against one another
would

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 277
would soon wear out, and render it difficult 
to move them. 
The Fluid likewise suited for this Purpose 
must be very fine and subtile, because other- 
wise it cannot be insinuated into all the In- 
terstices the Fibres, without separating 
their Parts so far as is inconsistent with the
Contexture and Mechanism of a Fibre, al- 
ready described; and the Parts also of this 
Fluid must not only be very subtile, but like- 
wise soft and yielding, whereby the Motions 
of the Particles against one another may be 
Maintained the better; and also as by a Ce- 
ment, that they may be prevented in their 
receding from each other in their longitudinal 
Surfaces, so far as to admit of no foreign 
Matter to insinuate itself between their trans- 
verse Surfaces, in such Quantities as to hinder 
their Re-union when Occasion may require 
it. 
From what has been said it will appear, 
that the most natural Consequence of Mo- 
tion, will be the breaking still smaller and 
smaller the component Particles of that Fluid, 
which is dispensed to the Fibres to lubricate 
and facilitate their Motions; which Commi- 
nution will be continued till it is rendered so 
fine, as to fly off at last at the Surface of the
Body, being of no farther Use to Nature, 
whenever it happens to get there, and by that 
Means must be there continually made a Waste 
of, and that merely by such an Attrition of the
Parts, as necessarily arises from their due 
S3 Dis-

278 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Discharge of the vital Functions; and that 
Matter, which thus insensibly flies off, is the 
true Matter of insensible Perspiration, the 
Exhalation of which is absolutely necessary 
for the Preservation of Health and long 
Life. 
But this Waste makes it necessary that 
there be a continual Supply of what is lost; 
and this is made from what is taken in by 
the Stomach, which, after divers Digestions 
and Alterations, at last is mixed with the 
Blood, and there fitted for some of the finest 
Parts to pass through the Glands constituted 
for that Purpose in the Brain, which from 
thence are dispens'd through the whole ner-
vous System, in such a Manner, as constantly
to keep up a due Supply of this animal 
Fluid. 
Yet there is another Way by which the 
Fibres receive fresh Supplies, and that a much 
nearer; for, according to their natural Con- 
structures, it is very likely that even in the 
Stomach, and throughout the whole Passage 
of the Food into the Blood, the most subtile 
Parts of what is taken in, which are soon se- 
parated from the rest, and ready fitted for
this Use, may, when they chance to strike 
against any of the Interstices of a Fibre, be 
laid hold on, and by Degrees convey'd into 
the Substance of the Thread; for it is certain
the most subtile Part of the Chyle passes imme- 
diately into the Blood by the absorbent Ves-
sels 

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 279  
sels * of the Intestines, as I have observed in 
another Place, which discharge themselves 
into to the Mesaraick Veins †, and from thence 
are convey'd directly into the Liver and Spleen. 
Besides, this is farther supported by com- 
mon Experience, by which it is evident, that 
the Solids are invigorated with fresh Recruits 
of Spirits, immediately upon taking into the 
Stomach such Meats and Drinks as are spiri- 
tuous, and contain in their Composition plenty 
of Particles very fine and active, and easily to
be divided from the rest: And thus every one, 
Upon eating a good Meal, or upon drinking of 
any spirituous Liquor, especially if it be after 
long fasting, or a large Expence by hard La- 
bour or Exercise, finds himself immediately, as 
soon as it is in his Stomach, raised with new 
Spirit and Vigour; which could by no Means 
happen, were the Solids to obtain these Re- 
cruits altogether from the Chyle's passing 
through the Lacteals to the Thoracick Duct, 
S4 and
* Are Vessels which suck in. 
† They are Branches of the Vena Portœ, interspersed in 
great Numbers in and upon the Laminœ of the Mesentery, 
which is a membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the
Guts are connected, and they carry the Blood back to the 
Liver: Their Largeness and Number demonstrate what 
in said above; for they are numerous and vastly larger 
than their correspondent Arteries; besides, wherever there 
are Emissaries, which are little Vessels which throw out a 
Liquid, there are likewise absorbent Vessels; for Example, 
in the Skin, by the absorbent Vessels of which Mercury will 
pass into the Blood. Moreover Birds, which have strong and 
large Breasts, small Bellies, and their Ribs upon their Backs, 
have no Lacteals nor Thoracick Duct, and their Aliment passes 
immediately into the Mesaraick Veins, by which Means they 
receive their Nourishment intirely. 


280 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II. 
and thence into the Blood; because it is im- 
possible that what a Person finds himself so soon 
recruited by, should in so short a Time have 
gone through the usual Digestions and Cir- 
culations, which require some Hours for that 
Purpose, according to Sanctorius, and a great
many Authors of undoubted Authority. 
Upon a View of what has been said, with 
what ease may be explained, how the Body, 
by moderate Exercise, is rendered lighter up- 
on a twofold Account! Because, in the first 
Place, there is occasion'd by it a Substraction 
of its absolute Weight, as it assists Digestion, 
and by breaking the Matter to be perspired 
finer; secondly, it promotes the Discharge of
that Matter through the Pores; and because 
by the Vibration of the Solids, at the same 
Time, there is a larger Quantity of fresh Spi- 
rits taken up by them from the circulating 
Blood, both by the Secretion made of them in 
the Brain, and in the Manner they are convey'd 
by the absorbent Vessels just now explained, 
whereby the Fibres become more invigorated, 
and so much the more able to carry on a due 
Discharge of all the vital Functions, inso- 
much that the Body will not have the Sense 
or Perception of so much absolute Weight as
before. 
Moreover, the Muscles and Ligaments are 
cleared of their Excrements by Exercise; 
that is, whatever superfluous Particles of the 
digested perspirable Matter may adhere to 
them, is by Motion dislodg'd and shook of:
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 281  
And the Spirits are rendered finer; that is, 
such Parts of the nervous Fluid as are just re- 
ceived by the Fibres, are by the Actions of 
their component Threads broke smaller, and 
tendered fitter for the Purposes of the whole 
Body. 
Upon this View likewise it will be easy to 
account for some Disorders this Fluid is likely 
to fall into, or how it is most liable to be di- 
stemper'd; which is very plain, that it must 
be either by becoming too gross and sizy, or 
too fine or exhalable. 
The first may be occasioned by a want of 
sufficient Agitation or Motion in the Solids, 
whereby its Parts attract each other, and form
viscid Cohesions, in the same Manner as it 
happens in the Blood in the same Case, which 
renders the Motions of the constituent Threads
of the Fibres very difficult and troublesome, 
and sometimes so obstructs or blocks up those 
little Vacuities or Interstices between their 
transverse Surfaces, which are necessary for the 
Support of their Elasticity, as to prevent, in a 
great Measure at least, their Power of Resti- 
tution when they are distended; as happens 
in a Leucophlegmatia, Anasarca, and such like 
Disorders, where the Springs of the Fibres 
are so much destroy'd, that by any small 
Pressure upon a Muscle, the Impression will 
sometimes remain a long Time before their 
constituent Threads can recover their natural 
Dimensions; or, as it is commonly express'd, 
the Part will pit. 
The

282 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The other Disorder of this Fluid, oppo- 
site to the former, is, its being broke too fine; 
which will render it so exhalable as to fly 
off in greater Quantities than the concoctive 
Power in the Stomach is able to recruit or 
supply; and this is often brought about by 
too violent Exercise, too large Evacuations, 
or drinking too great Plenty of spirituous and 
hot Liquors, whereby the Constitution of the 
Blood is so far weaken'd, as not to give due 
Resistance to the Constractions of the Vessels
which circulate the Juices, whereupon they 
vibrate quicker, and break the nervous Juice 
too fine; which brings on a Hectick, and 
Death, if not timely remedied. 
As to the first of these Disorders, it is evi- 
dent that it is to be remedied by giving brisker 
Motions to the Solids, and encreasing the Vi- 
brations of the contractile Vessels, in which 
how far Exercise may be useful, is evident 
from what has been said already; for every 
Thing which acts as a Stimulus comes under 
this Head; and their Efficacy is chiefly to be 
determined by their greater or lesser Power of 
stimulating, shaking, and contracting the Fi- 
bres, which Exercise rightly pursued produces 
more efficaciously, and with less Danger, than
any other Method whatsoever. 
For by such Means the component Threads 
of the Fibres are so put in Motion, as to 
loosen such Parts of the animal Oil, as are 
obstructed in their Interstices, and by Degrees 
break them small enough for Expulsion; and 
a fresh

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life 283
a fresh Stock of such Spirits will be supply'd, 
as will restore them to their natural Springs. 
As to the latter Disorder, it is to be re- 
moved by a Diet that agglutinates, and gives 
a greater or stronger Consistence to all the 
Fluids, and by all such Means as check the in- 
ordinate Motions of the Solids. So that upon 
the Whole it is evident, that to keep from ei- 
ther of these Extremes, Care is to be taken to
maintain a just Ballance between the elastick 
Force of the Solids and the Resistances of the
circulating Fluids, in which true Health con- 
sists; because, if the Equilibrium is lost on 
either Side, the Body cannot but fall into 
some Distemper; and in this consists the whole
Art and Business of a rational Practice, to 
know when to add to, or substract from, the 
Resistances of the Fluids, and when to check 
or spur the Motions of the Solids; as also to 
be well acquainted with the various Methods 
by which all these Intentions may be brought 
about. 
And here I cannot omit just taking Notice, 
how wonderfully the Effects of Musick in 
some extraordinary Cases are hereby account-
ed for; and tho' Musick, strictly speaking, 
may not be deem'd Exercise, unless it be so to 
those who exercise it themselves; yet it will 
manifestly appear otherwise, if we consider, 
that according to the Nature and Contexture 
of an animal Fibre or Thread, it is very plain 
that the least Stroke imaginable upon it, 
must move its component Fibrillœ in all 
their

284 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
their Parts; therefore every Wave or Undula- 
tion of the Air, which is made by a musical 
Instrument, gives the Fibres of the whole 
Body more or less correspondent Concussions, 
according to their Degrees of Tension, where- 
by all the component Fibrillœ are successively
moved from one to another throughout the 
whole Thread; and consequently the Spirits 
are not only raised and made finer, but like- 
wise the other animal Fluids are also more 
briskly agitated, and their preternatural Co- 
hesions and Viscidities destroyed: All which 
plainly prove, that Musick is not only good 
Exercise for the Mind, but likewise very use- 
ful for the Body, by the agreeable Concus- 
sions and Thrillings we sensibly perceive from
it in all the fleshy Fibres of the Body. 
Hence Musick has this Advantage above 
any other Exercise, that those Concussions
made upon the Fibres thereby are short, 
quick, and easy, whereupon the nervous 
Fluid is not only more briskly agitated, but 
also the natural Contexture of all the animal 
Threads are better preserved, being never o- 
verstrained hereby, as they frequently are 
with other Exercises: Therefore upon this 
View the extraordinary Effects of Musick in 
several Diseases, as that of the Bite of a ta- 
rantula *, &c. ceases to be a Wonder, and 
it
* Among all the wonderful Effects ascrib'd to the Power 
of Musick, none is more surprising and important than that 
of curing the venomous Bite of the Italian Spider, called the 
Tarantula. The Part bitten is soon affected with a very acute 
Pain, 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 285
it rather comes to be admired that it is not 
much more brought into Use here for the Be- 
nefit of valetudinary and weakly Constitu- 
tions, as it is in Italy and other Countries, 
and that even by the Direction of their Phy- 
sicians. 
What has been said farther explains that 
common Effect of Exercise, in its giving al- 
ways, conformable to Hippocrates's Opinion, 
a greater Firmness and Strength to the Solids; 
for the more a Fibre is kept in Action, the 
clearer it will keep its component Parts from
the Lodgement and Adhesion of any foreign 
and superfluous Matter upon them, by which 
Means whenever it is distended or stretch'd, 
there will be the more Room for each Par- 
ticle to draw up again, and consequently its 
Return will be with greater Force; but the 
Exercise which produces this Effect, is such
only as does not exceed the Powers of the 
Con-
Pain, and a few Hours after with Numbness; upon which 
ensues a profound Sadness, and a Difficulty of Respiration; the 
Pulse grows weak, the Sight is disturbed, and the Person loses 
Knowledge, Sense, and Motion. The Doctor is in vain con- 
sulted; the Musician here alone performs the Cure; he tries 
a Variety of Airs, and when he happens to hit on that Har- 
mony that accords with the Patient, he begins to move by 
Degrees, and keeps Time with his Fingers, Arms, Legs, and 
Body; then he raises himself up and dances, increasing in 
Strength and Activity. This dancing Fit continues six Hours, 
or a Day, or sometimes two Days. When the Musick ceases, 
the Person gives over dancing, and is put to Bed. And this 
Process is repeated till the Patient is recovered, which is by 
little and little; and every sick Person has a particular Tune 
or Air, and always a very brisk or sprightly one. See Der- 
ham's Physico-Theology, Book IV. Chap. iii. and Malcolm's 
Musick, Chap. xiv. Sect. 3. &c. 


286 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Constitution; for too much Exercise destroys
the Solids, by consuming the Fluids too 
much. 
But on the contrary, by too much Rest 
and Inactivity every Part will lose its Strength, 
and the less it is mov'd, be still render'd less 
able for Motion. And upon this Account it is 
that we see daily such a very great Diffe- 
rence between active and stirring Persons, 
and such whose Circumstances of Life in- 
ures them to Labour and Exercise, and those 
whose Inclinations and Condition indulge 
them in Ease and Inactivity; for the for- 
mer are strong, hardy, and healthful, but 
the latter tender, weakly, and diseas'd. 
From the Doctrine of this Chapter, it is 
manifest to a Demonstration, that there is 
an absolute Necessity for Labour and Exer- 
cise, to preserve the Body any time in a due
State to maintain Health, and prolong Life: 
For let whatever Diet be pursued, though 
never so well adjusted both in Quantity and
Quality, and let whatever Evacuations be 
used to lessen the Disorder, or any Succeda- 
neum or Equivalent be proposed to prevent 
the ill Effects; yet our Bodies are so made, 
and the animal Oeconomy so contriv'd, that 
without due Labour or Exercise the Juices 
will thicken, the Joints will stiffen, the 
Nerves will relax, and on these Disorders, 
chronical Distempers and a shatter'd old Age 
must soon ensue.
And

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 287
And tho' light Food may in a great mea- 
sure prevent the thickening of the Fluids, 
yet it cannot do it sufficiently without Exer- 
cise; nor can it at all keep the Fibres in due 
Tension, for to that Purpose Exercise is ab- 
solutely necessary: Even the joint Power of
warm Air and light Food, cannot supply the 
Place of Exercise in keeping them pliant 
and moveable, and preserving them from 
growing hard and stiff. But we should al- 
ways avoid too much Labour or Exercise, as 
I have just now observ'd; for Sanctorius tells
us, “ That by too much Exercise the Fibres 
“ become hard, whence old Age proceeds, 
“ which is an universal Hardness and Stiff- 
“ ness of the Fibres *.”
There are general and particular Exercises; 
the former, which move and stir the whole 
Body, are Walking, Dancing, Fencing, Run-
ning, Leaping, Bowling, Tennis, Pumping, 
Riding a Horseback, or in a Coach, &c. of 
all which Walking is the most natural, and
would be also the most useful, if it did not
exhaust the Spirits of weakly Constitutions 
too much; but Riding is certainly the most 
manly, the most healthy, and the least labo- 
rious and expensive of the Spirits of any, 
shaking the whole Body, and thereby pro- 
moting an universal Perspiration and Secre- 
tion of all the Fluids; to which may be 
added the various Changes of the Air thro' 
which they so quickly pass, the Alterations 
of
* Aph. 35. Sect. V.


288 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
of which become as it were a new Bath, 
and by that means variously stimulating the 
Fibres to brace and contract them; besides 
the different Objects or new Scenes, which at
the same Time amuse the Mind. 
The immortal Sydenham laid so great a 
Stress on Riding, that he thought he could not
only cure slight Consumptions, but an almost 
desperate Tabes, attended with nocturnal 
Sweats, and a violent Diarrhœa, by Riding 
alone; nor did he believe Mercury more ef- 
fectual in the Cure of the Venereal Disease, or 
the Bark in intermittent Fevers, than Riding 
was in a Consumption. 
Those who cannot ride may use a Coach, 
Chaise, or Chair, which is the only proper 
Method for lame, old, and decrepid Persons, 
as well as for those who are so young, that 
they are not able to manage their own Exer- 
cise. 
There are also particular Exercises appro- 
priated to certain Parts of the Body; as 
Shooting, for the Breast; Talking, Singing, 
Hollowing, Blowing the Horn, or Wind-In-
struments, for strengthening, opening, and 
clearing the Lungs; Tennis or Foot-ball, for 
those who have weak Arms or Hams; Bowl- 
ing or Skettles, for the Reins and Loins;
Riding, for weak Nerves and Digestion, and 
those troubled with Head-aches. 
In short, there is no one particular Part 
of the Body, but might be strengthen'd and 
kept in due Plight by Labour or Exercise
rightly 


Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 289
rightly appropriated to the particular Organ; 
for it is very remarkable, how the several 
different Limbs of labouring Men are streng- 
then'd, and render'd fleshy and nervous, as 
they happen to be most employ'd in their 
different Occupations: so the Thighs, Legs, 
and Feet of Chairmen; the Arms and Hands 
of Watermen; the Backs and Shoulders of 
Porters, grow thereby thick, strong, and 
hard in time; for it is very certain, that 
using any Organ or Member frequently and 
forcibly, brings Blood and Spirits into it, and
by that means is render'd plump and strong. 
The following Conditions ought to be ob- 
serv'd with Regard to Exercise, in order to 
render it the most beneficial that may be. 
The first, that it be upon an empty Stomach, 
for then all the Matter which is digested 
enough for Perspiration, will thereby be 
easily discharg'd; but Exercise on a full 
Meal is very pernicious, for it subverts the 
Stomach, and forces the Aliment from thence 
crude and indigested, and so hurries it into
the Veins and Habit of the Body, whereby 
Secretions are precipitated, and the found 
Juices are carried off with the corrupted Hu- 
mours; hence arise frequently putrid Fevers, 
Pleurisies, Head-achs, weak Eyes, and a 
general Cacochymy, or a vitiated Constitu- 
tion. 
Secondly, the Morning Exercise is always the 
best, for then the two Concoctions are finish'd; 
and Hippocrates is very clear upon this Head, 
T in

290 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
in one of his Aphorisms, wherein he says, 
Let us exercise before eating. But it should 
be moderate and equal; I call that Exercise 
moderate which is not tiresome, and equal 
when all the Parts of the Body are equally 
mov'd. 
Thirdly, They that are lean should exer- 
cise only ad Ruborem, that is, till the Body and
Spirits are gently heated, for that will help to 
fatten them; but they who are fat may exer- 
cise ad Sudorem, that is, till they sweat, for 
that will help to melt down Part of their 
Fat, and consequently extenuate the Body. 
Fourthly, We must carefully avoid drink- 
ing any cold Liquors after violent or great 
Exercise, or when we are hot and sweating, 
which Heat and Thirst intice us to do; 
the dangerous Effects of which, are chilling 
and almost extinguishing the remainder of 
the Heat which is left in the inward Parts, 
and surfeiting the Blood and Juices, by mix- 
ing cold Drink with the Fat, which is at 
that Time partly melted and floating in the 
Body. 
Fifthly, Another great Error to be avoid- 
ed is, drinking of strong and spirituous Li- 
quors after hard Labour or Exercise, in order 
to avoid the former Inconveniencies, not con- 
sidering that we thereby incur another, which 
is over-heating and drying our Bodies, too 
much heated and dry'd before; but to avoid 
both, and to refresh the Body at the same 
time, the best Way is, first to rest a while
warm,

Ch. X. thro' the various Stages of Life. 291
warm, if we can conveniently, and then to 
drink a Draught of warm Ale or Beer, with 
a little Mace and Sugar in it, or some other 
innocent Supping, analogous in Heat or 
Warmth to that of our Bodies, by which 
means the Blood and Spirits will soon settle, 
and be refresh'd, and so the Limbs after 
Rest will be enabled with Ease to undergo 
new Labour. 
Sixthly, We should carefully avoid catch- 
ing of Cold after Exercise, by retiring into a 
warm Room, or some convenient Shelter 
from the Injuries of the Weather. 
CHAP. XI.
Of RETENTION and EXCRETION.
THE Things to be excreted or evacua- 
ted, and retained, are the Excrements 
of the Belly, Urine, insensible Perspiration, 
the Semen, and the Menses; for these must
be regulated, and evacuated in due Time, 
and in due Quantity, all which conduce very
much to the Preservation of Health and long 
Life, otherwise they will injure it, and bring
on a Multitude of various Diseases. There- 
fore in a natural and healthy State, we should 
go to Stool once in 24 Hours, and the Fœces 
should be of a due Consistence, that is, some- 
T2 what


292 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
what soft, and stick together, according to 
the old Saying, Oportet sanorum sedes esse
configuratas; that is, The gross Excrements 
in healthy Persons ought to be of such a Con- 
sistence, as to take the Impression of the Guts. 
They who are costive, and otherwise not 
well, have either over-heated their Bodies 
with spirituous Liquors, or have fasted too 
long, or eaten too sparingly, or they have 
too slow a Digestion, or too great Weakness
of the Intestines; and by that means the 
Food is retain'd too long before the Mouths 
of the Lacteals, and is thereby over-drain'd 
of its Moisture, and harden'd. 
The best Proportion of the gross Eva- 
cuation to the Quantity of the Food we take 
in, is about the third Part; for they who 
much exceed that, have the Mesaraick Veins 
stopt or obstructed, and so cannot be nou- 
rish'd; and if it exceeds it, 'tis certain that
the Body wastes, unless the Matter of some 
Disease be thereby evacuated; or else, if 
they have purging Stools, they have eaten 
too much of Things too strong for their 
Powers of Digestion; for it is very certain, 
that superfluous Nourishment leaves too 
much Chyle in the gross Excrements, which 
fermenting in the Guts, stimulates them so as 
to become purgative. 
But if the Looseness be not violent, and 
the Appetite remains good, it is not to be 
suddenly and rashly stopp'd; for Nature 
thereby frequently prevents, and often times
rids




Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 293
rids herself of many a Disease, which upon 
an unadvised Astriction would be riveted in 
the Body; and therefore the Rule is, first 
cleanse and then close. But if it be too vio- 
lent and frequent, and the Stomach thereby 
decay'd it must be carefully and speedily 
remedied; and in this Case Advice is very
necessary, for it is easy to commit an Error, 
but the Consequence is dangerous. 
Here I cannot omit inserting an Abstract
of some few Passages out of Cheyne's Essay 
of Health and Long Life, which are admi- 
rable upon this Subject, and very worthy 
of every Body's Perusal. ' I have often ob- 
' serv'd, says he, that a full Meal of strong
' Meat, as Fish, Beef, Pork, baked Meat, 
' or made Dishes, in tender Persons goes off 
' with the Hurry and Irritation of a Purge, 
' leaving the Bowels instated, colick'd, grip'd, 
' and the Spirits sunk to the last Degree. 
' The Food by its various Mixture, Weight, 
' and Fermentation, Stimulating all along
' from the Stomach to the Rectum *, and 
' being scarce ever drain'd of its Chyle, 
' without affording any Nourishment to the 
' Body, runs off thus crudely, and becomes 
' equal to a total Abstinence from Food for 
' a long Time. And hence we have a most 
' infallible Rule, † a Posteriori, to judge 
' if we govern'd ourselves in our Diet in 
T3 ' Pro-
* The straight or last Gut. 
† A Posteriori, i. e. after the Trial has been made.



294 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Proportion to the Necessities of Nature, 
' and the Forces of our concoctive Powers. 
' This is the very Reason why the Bark 
' over dosed, and given to Persons of weak 
' Digestion, so constantly purges them, and
' why Mercury given either inwardly, or 
' by Frictions, runs off in violent Purging,
' and cannot be raised into a Salivation; to
' wit, the not adjusting the Doses to the 
' Strength of the stomach and nervous Fi- 
' bres; for the Bark naturally binds, and 
' Mercury naturally rises to the most § per- 
' vious Glands. 
' And in this Sense I myself have frequent- 
' ly observ'd in weak and scrophulous Bowels, 
' even Diascordium and Venice Treacle to 
' purge: whereas, had the Doses been duly 
' proportion'd, or had they begun by un- 
' der-dosing, and taken a little longer time, 
' they might have been effectually answer'd, 
' as I have often experienc'd without ever
' failing. 
' 2. There is a very great Error commit- 
' ted in Nurses and Parents in rearing up 
' young Children; the perpetual Gripes, 
' Colicks, Loosenesses, hard Bellies, Choak-
' ings, Wind and Convulsive Fits, which tor-
' ment half the Children in England, are en- 
' tirely owing to the too great Quantities of
' too strong Food, and too rank Milk, thrust 
' down their Throats by their over-laying 
' Mothers
§ Pervious, i. e. the easiest or readiest Way to be passed
through. 

295 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
' Mothers and Nurses; for what else do their 
' slimy, their gray or chylous, their blackish, 
' and cholerick Discharges, the Noise and Mo- 
' tion in their Bowels, their Wind and Choak- 
' ings imply, but Crudities from superfluous 
' Nourishment? This is so certain, that they 
' are universally and infallibly cur'd by testa- 
' ceous Powders, which only absorb sharp Cru- 
' dities; by Rhubarb Purges, which at once 
' evacuate and strengthen the Bowels; and by 
' Milk Clysters, Issues, and Blisters; and by 
' obstinately persisting in these and the like, 
' (intended to evacuate and strengthen the 
' alimentary Passages) and a thin, spare and 
' nutritive Diet; for nothing nourishes but 
' Food duly concocted. 
' 3. I have often heard valetudinary and 
' tender Persons, and those of sedentary Lives,
' and learned Professions, complain of Head- 
' achs, Sickneses at the Stomach, Colicks and
' Gripes, Lowness of Spirits, Wind and Va- 
' pours; and yet pretended they were very 
' moderate and abstemious in their Eating 
' and Drinking; but upon Enquiry, I con- 
' stantly found these very Persons pursued 
' with purging Stools, which was an evident
' Proof to me, that they had taken down 
' more than they wanted, or could digest: 
' for 'tis universally certain, that those that
' do not exceed, must have either Costive, 
' or at least Stools of a middle Consistence. 
' There is nothing more ridiculous, than 
' to see tender, hysterical and vapourish Peo-
T4 ' ple,


296 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' ple, perpetually complaining, and yet per- 
' petually cramming, crying out, they are 
' ready to sink into the Ground and faint 
' away, and yet gobbling the richest and 
' strongest Food, and highest Cordials, to 
' oppress and overlay them quite. The pro- 
' per Remedy in this Case, is first, to cleanse 
' the fœtid Abyss, and then to preserve it 
' clean, by cutting off all the Inlets of Pu- 
' trefaction. This will require a little Cou- 
' rage, Labour and Pain; but the future 
' Ease and Sweetness will more than abun- 
' dantly recompence them; for there is no- 
' thing more certain, than that the Head-achs, 
' Colicks, and nervous Pains and Disorders, of
' those born found here in England, univer- 
' sally proceed from Idleness and Fulness of
' Bread. 
4. ' Those who pretend to cure themselves 
' of nervous Disorders, or any other chroni-
' cal Diseases, or preserve themselves from
' them, or lengthen out their Days, must
' under-dose themselves, even tho' they 
' should undergo the Pain of Costiveness;
' for it is impossible the Nerves of those who 
' have slippery Bowels, should ever be braced 
' or wound up; for there the Cure must be- 
' gin where the Evil began, and must be 
' communicated thence to the rest of the 
' System; as a Rope-maker begins the Twist at 
' one End of the Rope, and communicates 
' it to all the other Parts. 
' Our

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 297
' Our Access to the Nerves of the Sto- 
' mach and Bowels, is obvious and open; to 
' the rest the Way is difficult, and far about. 
' And since a Relaxation, Weakness, and 
' want of Spring in the Fibres, is the Origin 
' of all nervous Distempers, no Medicines 
' but such as contract, stiffen, wind up, and
' Shorten them, can remedy this Evil; and 
' they must necessarily contract and bind up 
' the Fibres of the Stomach and Guts, as the 
' Parts they first approach and exert their 
' Virtue upon. And he who without firm 
' Bowels, thinks to cure a nervous Distemper, 
' labours as much in vain, as he who would 
' keep a Fiddle-string soaking in Oil and 
' Water, to make it vibrate or play off a fine
' Composition of Musick. 
5. ' There happens also an Evacuation 
' both by Stool and Urine, to some weak 
' Persons of relax'd Nerves, that extremely 
' alarms them, and is not so readily account- 
' ed for in that Part of Physick, which teaches 
' the Causes of Diseases. It is when either 
' a white transparent, viscid Substance like 
' Gelly, is constantly voided by the Bowels, 
' more or less; or when a white, milky, gluey 
' Substance like Cream or laudable Matter, 
' settles in the Urine. Both these Appearances 
' are commonly ascrib'd to an Ulcer in the 
' Guts, or in the Kidneys; and yet I am 
' very certain, there is neither Ulcer or true 
' Matter in either Case, as I propose them. 
' For where there is violent and acute Pain,
' or

298 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' Matter of different Colours or Mixtures, 
' there very possibly may be, nay certainly 
' there is an Ulcer. But in the Case I here 
' intend, there is very little or no Pain, no
' hectical Paroxysms, which always attend an 
' inward Ulcer; no bloody or sanious Mix- 
' tures, which always betray the inward Sore; 
' no fœtid Smell to imply Corruption. 
' The first Case I take to be either an 
' Obstruction of some of the Lacteals, where- 
' by the Chyle cannot be carried off in any 
' sufficient Quantity, but passing thro' the 
' Guts, and its more watery Part being eva- 
' porated, it becomes thick and gelatinous, 
' and is thrown off at last with the Remains 
' of the Food; else it must be an Obstru- 
' ction of those Glands of the Guts, by 
' which a viscid Matter for lubricating of 
' them is commonly secerned, by the Im- 
' prisonment and Evaporation of which Mat- 
' ter it thickens and turns like a Gelly (as it 
' does by Cold or Over-feeding, in the Glands 
' of the Mouth, Throat, and Windpipe) and 
' at last, by squeezing of the Guts is thrown 
' off. And in the same manner, I take that 
' milky Substance subsiding in the Water, in 
' such a Case as I have mention'd, to arise 
' from a Relaxation of the Glands of the 
' Kidneys and Bladder, and other urinary 
' Passages; and that both are to be cur'd the 
' same Way as other nervous Distempers are 
' cur'd; viz. by a proper Regimen of Diet,
and 


Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 299
' and a Course of contracting, strengthening, 
' and volatile Medicines.”
The second Evacuation is by Urine, be- 
ing a serous Humour strain'd in the Kid- 
neys, which comes with the Blood (which 
it diluted) to the Reins by the Arteries of
the Kidneys, but is separated from it as ex- 
crementitious, and that continually, as Part 
of the Blood is constantly driven to the Kid- 
neys to nourish them. 
The Urine contains not only the watery 
Part of the Blood, but the sharpest Salt, 
which is most subtile and volatile, and nearly 
of an alkaline Nature, render'd exceeding 
volatile. In the watery Part there is also a 
fœtid Substance contain'd, and a viscid Oil 
so attenuated, that it readily mixes with Wa- 
ter, and is scarce separable from it; which 
may therefore in some Measure be called a 
Spirit. 
The natural Salt of Urine is of a lixivi- 
ate, soapy Disposition, and much like Sal- 
ammoniac, yet in some Respects different 
from it: It also contains a fix'd Salt, of the
Nature of Sea-salt, being composed of a li- 
xiviate one, and a nitrous; of which Nature 
is that which swims in the Blood, the nitrous 
Parts being imbibed into it thro' the Lungs 
in Inspiration; so that the Salt in Urine in a 
found State, is neither acid, alkali, ammoni- 
cal nor briny, but of a peculiar Disposi- 
tion. 
But

300 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
But as Urine is a * Lixivium of the Salts 
contained in a human Body, and the proper 
Mark of the State and Quantity of such 
Salts; therefore very certain Indications may 
be taken from the Condition of Urine, to 
discover both the State of our Constitution, 
and the Regulation of our Diet; and tho' 
the Salts of human Urine be neither acid nor 
alkaline, as I have just now observ'd, yet by 
the violent Motion of the Blood, as in burn- 
ing and putrid Fevers, &c. they may be 
turn'd alkaline, and even corrosive; and when
they begin to turn so, they affect the small 
and tender Fibres of the Brain more sensi- 
bly than any other Part of the Body. 
When the Urine is of a bright Amber 
Colour, and of a moderate Thickness, with 
a light Cloud hanging in it, and in Quantity 
of about three Quarters of the Liquor taken 
in, it is best, and a certain Sign of a due Con- 
coction, a just Proportion of Food, and a to- 
tal Riddance of Repletion and Crudities; for 
they who live moderately, use due Exercise, 
and enjoy a perfect State of Health, always 
evacuate such Urine. 
But when it is retain'd too long, either 
by the Fault of the Kidneys or Bladder, or 
because the Matter of it is not sufficiently 
separated from the Blood, or that it is kept 
too long in the Bladder thro' Laziness or Bash- 
fulness, (as is often the Case) it occasions Stone
and Gravel, and sometimes Blotches and Erup-
tions 
* Lixivium, i. e. Lye, such as that of Soap.

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 301
tions upon the Skin, Dropsy, fainting, and sleepy. 
Diseases, with a great many other Disorders, 
too tedious to enumerate in this Place. 
If there be too great an Evacuation of 
Urine from any Cause whatsoever, by taking 
away the Serum, or watry Parts of the Blood, 
it will occasion a Stagnation of the Humours, 
encrease Heat, an unextinguishable Thirst, 
Crudities, and many Evils of the like Na- 
ture; and by depriving the Blood, and carry- 
ing out of the Body the most nutritive Parts, 
produce an Atrophy, or a total Decay, as in 
a Diabetes, and Death at last. 
The Urine differs both in Taste, Smell,
Colour and Quantity, according to the Diffe- 
rence of Ages, Constitutions, Sexes, Seasons
of the Year, and Alterations of their Way 
of living, and Diversity of Medicines; so 
that they who live freely, and make Quan- 
tities of pale, or limpid and sweet Urine, it is
a manifest Sign that their Perspiration is ob- 
structed; that neither the first nor the two 
last Concoctions * have been rightly perform'd; 
and that the Chyle has not been sufficiently 
attenuated, nor the minutest Secretions duly 
made by the lesser Drains of the Body, and 
that the urinous Salts are still retain'd in the
Habit. 
The
* Concoction in an animal Body is three-fold; the find is
confin'd to what Alterations are made of the Food in the 
Stomach and Intestines; the second is applied to the Alterati- 
ons made of it in the Blood-Vessels; and that made in the 
Nerves, Fibres, and minutest Vessels, is not improperly called 
the third and last Concoction.  

302 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
The Cure, as to Diet, consists in living re- 
gular, that is, in eating and drinking less, 
and using more Air and Exercise, drinking 
freely of small warm White-Wine Whey; 
likewise a little Gascoign's Powder, or Sir 
Walter Raleigh's Confection will be proper 
at the same time, in order to set Perspiration
to rights again. 
High-colour'd, foul, and very turbid 
Urine in small Quantities, proceeds from 
either an immoderate Use of strong or spi- 
rituous Liquors, or from too great abundance 
of Salts retain'd in the Body; which must be 
remedied by diminishing the Quantity of 
their Flesh Meats, and drinking small Li- 
quors, or Water with their Wine, otherwise 
they will hurry themselves into some acute 
Inflammatory, or dangerous Chronical Dis- 
ease. 
Dark Brown, or dirty Red-colour'd Urine, 
without any Sediment, and in small Quan- 
tity, in acute Distempers is always a sure In- 
dication of insurmountable Crudity, high 
Inflammation tending to a Mortification, and 
a dying Weakness in Nature: But in those 
who labour not under any visible Disease at 
the Time, it is a certain Sign of almost a 
total Weakness of the digestive Powers, an 
inseparable Cohesion of the component Parts 
of the Blood, and a Deadness in all the ani- 
mal Functions; in which Case, a Physician's
Advice is highly necessary. 
A

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 306
A bloody, mattery, wheyish Urine, or that 
with Films, Bits of broken Membranes, or 
white Gravel, denote or Gravel, or 
Symptoms of an Ulcer somewhere in the 
urinary Passages. Fat, which is observ'd 
upon the Top of the Urine, especially of 
consumptive People, signifies a wasting of
the Body. 
The third Excretion or Evacuation to be 
consider'd is insensible Perspiration, which
is imperceptibly discharg'd through all the 
Pores of the Skin, and other Parts of the 
Body, being the Recrements of the second 
and third Concoctions, divested of all that 
can be of any farther Use to the Parts of the
Body; the free and full exhaling of which, 
is as necessary to Health as any of the gros- 
ser Evacuations, being in Quantity at least
equal to all that is evacuated both by Stool 
and Urine; and an Obstruction thereof is ge- 
nerally the Parent of all acute Distempers, 
as it is a Consequence of all chronical Dis- 
orders. But having fully treated of this 
Matter in another Place already, for far- 
ther Satisfaction herein, I refer the Reader to
Page 99. Note *, Part II. 
Nothing hinders and obstructs Perspiration 
more than catching of Cold, which is nothing 
but great Quantities of moist Air impreg- 
nated with nitrous Salts imbib'd through the 
Passages of Perspiration, by which means not 
only the Blood and Juices are thicken'd, but 
likewise insensible Perspiration is obstructed, 
and

304 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and immediately a small Fever, and a Hurry 
in the whole animal System succeeds; which 
oftentimes lays a Foundation for Consumptions, 
Obstructions of the great Viscera †, and an 
universal Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body. 
Therefore, in order to remedy this Disorder, 
and prevent the ill Consequences of it, we 
should lie much longer in Bed than usual, 
drinking small warm White-Wine Whey 
plentifully, with some few Hartshorn-drops, 
Posset-drink, Water-gruel, Barley-water, or 
any other warm small Liquors, taking twenty
Grains of Gascoigns Powder Night and Morn- 
ing, and at the same Time living low upon 
Spoon-meats, Pudding, Chicken, and drink- 
ing every Thing during the Height of the 
Illness warm; but if any Cough or Spitting 
should encrease, Bleeding should be perform'd, 
and to take now and then a little Sugar- 
Candy, Oil of Sweet Almonds, or a Solution 
of Sperma Ceti, to render Expectoration free 
and easy; and afterwards to be cautious of 
going abroad too soon, and without being 
well cloathed. 
Gripes, Purging, Colical Pains, much 
belching of Wind, Low-spiritedness, Yawning 
and Stretching, are sure and certain Indica- 
tions that Perspiration is deficient or ob- 
structed; therefore, in order to remove these 
Disorders, we must have recourse to a 
greater Degree of Exercise and Abstinence, 
and to some gentle Purge or other, such as 
Sena
† Viscera, signify any of the Bowels or Intrails. 


305 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. XI. 
Sena and Manna, or Rhubarb, &c. to clear 
the first Passages of the Load that oppresses 
them, otherwise the Person will suffer at 
last; and, as Sanctorius observes, Wind in
the Body is nothing but Perspiration † ob- 
structed. 
The fourth Evacuation to be considered is 
the Semen, consisting of a white, hot, spiri- 
tuous, thick, clammy, and saltish Humour, 
which is elaborated in the Testicles and Epi- 
didymes, out of the purest and most spiritu- 
ous Parts of the Blood. Considering it there- 
fore in this Light, Moderation in Coition is 
absolutely necessary, both for the Preserva- 
tion of Health as well as Pleasure; for in 
Immoderation we do not consult Delight, but 
Lust, and lose the Pleasure by being too in- 
tent upon it: And it is certainly true, that 
those Parents who are most continent, have 
more and the most healthful Children; for 
they meet their Pleasure by Necessity: In 
these it cheers the Heart and Spirits, and 
makes them breath free and easy; it appeases 
Melancholy and Sadness, mitigates Anger, and 
disposes to Rest. But then that Mode- 
ration receives its Difference very much from
the different Temperature of Constitutions; 
for less is sufficient for the Melancholy and 
the Cholerick, the Old and Emaciated; but 
more for the Sanguine and Plethorick, and 
those of a middle and flourishing Age: The 
Feverish if in any kind of Constitution must a- 
U void
† Aph. xiii. Sect. 3.  



306 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
void it, and likewise they who are subject to
the Gout, and Diseases of the Joints. 
On the other Hand, the immoderate Use 
of Coition not only hinders Perspiration, by
keeping the Fibres too strait, and lessening the
Passages, and thereby giving rise to all the Dis- 
orders which attend an obstructed Perspira- 
tion, but likewise it disorders and weakens 
that due Tension and Elasticity of the Solids, 
upon which depends a right Discharge of all 
the animal Functions. I say, therefore, what- 
ever weakens this Disposition of the Solids, 
cannot but very much prejudice the whole 
Constitution. And that all violent Actions, 
such as that of immoderate Coition is, are de- 
structive to the Textures of the Solids, can- 
not be doubted; for their constituent Fibres 
or Threads will not only be much injured in 
their Contextures, but also that animal Oil or 
Spirit which nourishes them, and facilitates 
their Motions, will be so much press'd out 
and wore away, as to disable them very much 
afterwards in their natural Motions; and the 
Body will be, by that means, so weaken'd and 
dispirited, that the several Parts will not be
able to discharge their respective Offices, 
whereby Digestion, Concoction, and all the 
natural Evacuations will be disordered. 
Hence follow a Dissolution of Strength and 
Spirits, Dulness of Memory and Understand- 
ing, Dimness of Sight, Diseases of the Nerves 
and Joints, as Palsies, and all kinds of Gouts, 
Weakness of the Back, and Consumptions;
Seminal 

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 307
Seminal Weaknesses, and sometimes bloody
Urine; a deprav'd Appetite and Head-achs, 
with a great many other Disorders needless to
be mentioned here; and, to conclude, there 
is nothing that so wonderfully shortens hu- 
man Life, as the immoderate Use of Venery. 
In the fifth Place we are to consider the 
Menses as a necessary Evacuation, which are
Excretions of arterial Blood every Month 
from the Womb: They begin usually when 
young Maids grow ripe at fourteen, and 
sometimes at twelve, but very seldom before: 
They cease naturally in pregnant Women, 
and those past bearing Children, and likewise 
those that give suck; yet it happens some- 
times that pregnant and suckling Women have 
them. 
The Quantity of them ought to be in pro- 
portion to the Quantity and Heat of the 
Blood; but, generally speaking, a certain 
Quantity cannot be limited, for some have a 
great many, and some but a few; nor do 
they continue upon all alike; some have them
two Days, some three, some four, some six or 
eight Days. 
They that have them too much are weak- 
en'd, and their Blood being rendered crude, 
watery, and pale, are subject to Faintings 
and Waste: Those in whom they are sup- 
press'd, become hysterical and breath diffi- 
cultly, look pale, and lose their Appetite, 
and fall into Fevers, Inflammations, and a 
U2 great


308 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
great many Diseases, both acute and chroni- 
cal, if they are not timely remedied. 
There are other Excretions which could 
not conveniently come in under the foregoing 
general Heads; such as Sweat, Spittle, Mucus
or Snot, Tears, and the Wax in the Ears. 
Sweat is a thin serous Fluid, mix'd with 
some Sulphur, a good deal of briny, but more 
volatile Salt, and a very little Earth: And 
the same Properties being found in Urine, we 
may conclude, 1. That Sweat and Urine may 
supply each other's Defects: Accordingly we 
find, that as Sweat is promoted, the Excre- 
tion of Urine is diminished, and on the con- 
trary. 2. That they may be provoked by 
the same Remedies: Thus Diaphoreticks, 
or such Medicines as promote Sweat, fail- 
ing to answer their Intention, prove Diu-
reticks; that is, purge by Urine. 3. That 
Sweat carries off many of the sharp Salts, 
with which the Blood abounds, and by that 
means may accidentally prevent or cure many
Distempers, is not to be doubted. 
Sweat therefore differs very much from, 
insensible Perspiration; for if it be encreased, 
and its Vessels enlarged, Perspiration must 
unavoidably be diminished, and its Vessels 
compress'd. Perspiration also is turn'd into 
Sweat, by violent Motion, and too much 
Heat, tho' by moderate Motion and gentle 
Heat it is very much promoted; but nothing 
can be more serviceable to promote it than 
gentle Friction of the Skin for some Time 
Night

Ch. XI. thro' the various Stages of Life. 309
Night and Morning, as I shall observe in a 
another Place. 
The Saliva or Spittle, (of which I have 
given a Hint before) is a thin transparent
Humour, almost void of Smell and Taste, 
which will entirely evaporate by Heat, but 
not curdle; and when shaken affords a ropy 
Froth. It is separated from the purer Part of
the arterial Blood or Serum by the Glands;
and when a Person is hungry it flows in great 
Quantities, and is then more fluid and sharp; 
after long fasting it is very penetrating and de- 
tergent; it ferments with Bread, Meal, or Sy- 
rup, and promotes Digestion. Men, as well as 
Brutes, swallow it in Health, and likewise 
wWhen asleep: When too much of it is spit 
out, it occasions loss of Appetite, slow Dige- 
stion, and an Atrophy or Consumption. It is 
composed of Water, Salt, Oil, and Spirit, all 
which can he extracted from it, which ren- 
ders it saponaceous, or of the Nature of 
Soap. 
This Fluid then being press'd out of the 
Glands, lays the first Foundation of assimi- 
tating the Food to the Body, and promotes 
the Mixture of oily and aqueous Substances, 
and a Solution of saline ones: It also pro- 
motes Fermentation, excites an intestine Mo- 
tion of the Parts of the Food in the Stomach; 
so that Digestion could not be perform'd 
without it. 
Therefore as this Fluid is of such great Use, 
when mixed with our Food, it ought not to the
U3 lavishly 

310 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
lavishly spit away; for when it is swallow'd, 
having perform'd its Office in the Mouth, and 
being return'd into the Blood, it is still far- 
ther improved by repeated Circulation and 
Digestion; and when separated in the Glands
again, is highly amended. 
Hence it is manifest, that they who im- 
mediately upon eating fall a smoaking or 
chewing of Tobacco, as is generally the Custom
here, and that even among People of the 
better Sort, commit two very great Errors, 
highly destructive to their own Constitutions : 
1st, In diverting the Saliva or Spittle from 
its natural Offices, by spitting it away in 
smoaking or chewing, being one of the chief 
Menstruums, or Medium, for promoting Di- 
gestion, as I have just now demonstrated.
2dly, In using that stupifying American Hen-
bane upon a full Stomach, which, besides the 
great Injury it does Nature, in depriving her 
too much of that necessary Fluid the Saliva, 
has also an intoxicating opiate Quality, by 
which (as all other Opiates do) it destroys the 
Appetite and hinders Digestion, the Truth of 
which is evident to all good Practitioners in 
Physick, Therefore, I sincerely advise all 
those who have any Regard for the Preserva- 
tion of their own Health, to avoid carefully
this pernicious Custom, and never to smoak 
but upon an empty Stomach, or at least till 
the greatest Part of the Food is out of it, 
which always requires some Hours after eat- 
ing; and, even then, no Body except gross
and


311 thro' the various Stages of Life.
Ch. XI. 
and phlegmatick People, should smoak at all; 
because lean, thin, scraggy, dry, and cholerick 
Constitutions are heated and dry'd too much 
by it, which throws them oftentimes into
Consumptions or other Decays. 
Mucus, or Snot, is a clammy and viscid 
Humour, which flows from the Extremities 
of the olfactory Nerves * through the Os Cri- 
briforme † into the Nostrils and Palate: It 
also signifies that slimy Liquor, or Mucilage, 
which daubs over and guards the Bowels, and 
lubricates the chief Passages in the Body from 
being corroded by any saline or sharp Hu- 
mours; but the Superfluities of it are excreted
by the Nostrils and Intestines. 
Tears are a serous Humour, prepared out of 
the arterial Blood in the Lachrymal Gland ‡,
and are of a saline, watery, clear, and smooth
Disposition, discharged always in a small 
Quantity, but more plentifully when the Eye 
is rubbed or compressed by the Orbìcular 
Muscle ‖. This Humour serves to moisten, 
U4 wash,
* Are those Nerves which give the Sense of Smelling. 
† It is a Bone full of small Holes, like a Sieve: It is also 
called Os Ethmoides, situated in the Middle of the Basis of the 
Os Frontis, or Forehead-Bone. 
‡ It is a pretty large conglomerate Gland or Kernel, being 
broad, compress'd, rough, and placed within the Orbit, to- 
wards the outward Angle of the Eye, near the rough Chink, 
and inclosed in Fat; is endowed with Arteries, Veins, Nerves, 
Lymphaticks, and Ducts, which carry a Humour to the Eye 
prepared from the arterial Blood. 
‖ It is the Muscle which serves to join the Eye lids toge- 
gether, contracting them like a Sphincter, and by a strong 
Contraction presses the Ball of the Eye, and squeezes out Tears 
upon the external Superficies of the Eye, which is thereby 
cleansed of its Filth, and the Eye itself washed. 



312 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
wash, and render the Eye slippery, and pre- 
vents it from sticking to the Eye-lids: It like- 
wise serves to wash off any Filth or external 
Bodies, which, by adhering to the Eye, might 
cause Pain, or darken the Sight; but if this 
Humour be too much, so that it cannot be 
received by the Lachrymal Points *, it flows 
from the Eyes, and is called Tears. 
Cerumen, or Ear-wax, is the Excrement of 
the Ears, which sweats or ouzes out of the
Cartilages and Glands bordering upon the 
Ears: It consists of Abundance of Salt and 
Sulphur, which gives it its Bitterness: It 
serves to hinder Dust, Motes, cr little Ani- 
mals from getting into the Ears. 
CHAP. XII. 
Of the Passions or Affections of the Mind. 
I Shall briefly treat of the Passions here, 
not as a Natural Philosopher, but as a 
Physician; therefore I shall not consider their 
Essences and Causes, but their Effects and In- 
fluence
* They are Holes in the Bone of the Nose, by which the 
Matter that makes Tears passes to the Nostrils; but if these 
Holes grow hard and are stopp'd, from an Ulcer in one of 
the Glands in the Corners of the Eyes, thence arises a Fistula
Lachrymalis.



Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 313
fluence upon human Bodies, and how their 
Regulation conduces to the Preservation of
Health and long Life. For as to the Manner 
how the Mind or Thought operates upon the 
Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind, 
and what that Tye or Bond of Union is, be- 
tween the Mind and the animal Fluids, is a 
Mystery unreveal'd to Man, being, at least
mechanically, not reducible to Reason, it be- 
ing impossible to represent and delineate, as 
we do corporal Substances, the several Steps
and Ways of Procedure of those Agents, 
which can by no means be brought under the 
Notice of our Senses, only in their Effects; 
and therefore we cannot have any Notion of 
the Procedure by which they are brought a- 
bout, as we can have of all those affected by
physical Agents. But as it is certain that the 
Passions of the Mind do influence very much 
and alter the Constitution, especially when 
very sudden and intense, so far as necessarily 
to bring it under the Physician's Care, still 
the wisest must herein be contented to e- 
stablish his Rules upon Observation and Expe- 
rience only. 
There is nothing more remarkable, than 
that violent Passions of the Mind waste and 
consume the Spirits, and plunge the Consti- 
tution into great Disorders; and this they 
seem to bring about by universally stimulating,
irritating, and twitching the Nerves and 
Fibres, in such a Manner as disturbs their re- 
gular Contractions: And altho' we cannot 
positively

314 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
positively tell, either how Thought can pro- 
duce such an Alteration in the Humours of 
the Body, or how such a Constitution of the 
Humours can affect the Passions of the Mind; 
yet if by constant Observation and Experi- 
ence it can be found, that such a Passion or 
Temper of the Mind is always attended with 
such Consequences in the Constitution; and 
that such a particular Temperature of the 
Constitution always affects the Mind with such 
particular Passions and Dispositions, it will 
very sufficiently afford a Ground of Certainty
to any considerable Person, in his Reasoning 
upon their Consequences, and in the Mea- 
sures which ought to be taken in remedying 
the Disorders of either. 
For Instance, if Joy or Anger are always 
found to render the Body lighter, tho' we 
cannot tell how these particular Passions do 
first modify any particular Parts of the Body, 
so as to produce that Effect, yet it being plain
how physical Agents do the same, it will be 
most reasonable to conclude, that these do it 
also by the same Means; that is, thus far we 
know, that an Invigoration, or an Increase 
of the contractile Force of the Solids, will 
promote Digestion, increase the Evacuations, 
and render the Body lighter. 
Therefore we have the greatest Reason to 
believe, when we see the same to be the Con- 
sequences also of a Person's being passionate- 
ly angry or very merry, that these Disposi- 
tions of the Mind (altho' we know not how) 
do

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 315
do give that particular Modification likewise, 
and Degree of Tension to the Fibres, as Cold- 
bathing, a cold clear Air, or moderate Ex- 
ercise, when we see them attended with the 
same Consequences. 
But as we know these physical Causes have 
this Effect, by contracting and shaking the 
Fibres of the Solids, and thereby promoting 
their Power of Elasticity, and breaking the 
animal Juices finer; so it ought to be con- 
cluded, that these Passions of the Mind do 
likewise give the same Modifications to the 
Fibres, by which the same Effects are pro- 
duced. 
In like Manner, if Fear and Sorrow are 
found to be attended with an Increase of 
Weight in the Body, it is reasonable to think
that they do it by the same Means as by which 
all those physical Agents produce the same 
Effect; that is, by slackening the Fibres too 
much, diminishing Digestion, and conse- 
quently by lessening the Evacuations. 
Therefore when any Passion of the Mind 
is said to have this or that Effect upon the 
Body, we ought to consider that Passion only 
as a physical Agents that is, as it contracts or 
slackens the Fibres, and as it increases or di- 
minishes the Evacuations; but in this we are 
guided only by Observation and Experience, 
which is very sufficient to a Person of any 
tolerable Judgment. 
The chief Passions of the Mind, from 
whence all the rest proceed, are Joy, Grief,
Anger,

316 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
Anger, Love, Hatred, Shame, Hope, and 
Despair. 
Joy or Mirth is a Delight arising from 
some Good we suppose we have obtained; 
and this, above all the rest, conduces to 
Health, at least if it be moderate; for it keeps 
the Fibres in their natural Tension, assists the 
Secretion and Derivation of the Spirits to all 
Parts of the Body, and consequently pro- 
motes the Circulation and Digestion, and 
raises thereby a plentiful Perspiration, and
renders the Body lighter; but immoderate 
Joy is very injurious, and proves sometimes 
mortal, the Spirits being thereby too much 
raised, and by the Suddenness of the Passion 
too much rarefied beyond their natural Stan- 
dard. 
Grief or Sorrow is a troublesome Languish- 
ment afflicting the Mind, arising from the 
Apprehension of some Ill happened or befall- 
ing us: By it the Spirits in the Brain and 
Nerves move slowly and very feebly; so that 
it produces a great Weight in the Breast, Suf- 
focation, and oftentimes Death, when sud- 
den and extreme. 
Anger is the Desire of Revenge, upon the 
Apprehension of some Injury done or offer'd to 
us: By it the Spirits are violently agitated in 
the Brain and Nerves: It encreases the natu- 
ral Heat, and, if moderate, it may be useful 
sometimes, in order to stir up a brisk Circula- 
tion of the languid Fluids in a cold and 
phlegmatick Constitution, by which means 
the

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 317
the Body is rendered lighter; that is, it will 
then perspire better: But, on the contrary, 
Anger is pernicious to hot, dry, and cholerick
Constitutions; because, in such it will dissi- 
pate the Spirits and dry the Constitution too 
much. 
Love is a certain Passion of the Mind, ex- 
cited in the Soul by the Motion of the Spirits, 
arising from an Object which we judge to be 
good, convenient, delectful, and amiable; so 
that the proper Effects of Love consist in this: 
That we consider ourselves as united to the 
Object we love, and that it is, as it were, ano- 
ther Part of us. 
Love may be properly distinguished into 
three Kinds: 1. The first is spiritual, as the 
supreme Love of the blessed Author of our 
Being, (to which our Love to all other created 
Beings is subordinate, at least it ought to be 
so,) which is that Union, Tendency, Biass, and 
Impulse of the Soul and other Spirits towards 
their blessed Creator, without any indirect 
Ends, without Deceit or Dissimulation, for his 
own Sake; because he is infinitely good, infi- 
nitely amiable, and infinitely perfect, abstract- 
ing from all other Considerations, even that of 
our own Happiness, in the Enjoyment of, or 
Union with him. Yet it is certain that these 
two, our Love to God and our own Happiness, 
cannot be actually separated: And this Love
was communicated by him to them in their 
original Formation, by Virtue of which they 
constantly tend, press, and urge to unite; and,
if

318 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
if Obstacles were removed, would unite with
one another, and so be all united with their 
omnipotent Maker. But now, alas! this 
principle of the intelligent Soul, in this her 
lapsed State, being drowned in Sense, chain'd 
and setter'd by Ignorance and Perverseness, 
drawn and hurried away by the Devil, the 
World, and the Flesh, is disabled from exert- 
ing this inherent and innate Principle of Re- 
union, and wants sufficient Light on the 
Understanding, and a right Turn of the Will, 
to be put in a Capacity of exercising it; but
in its proper Vacuity, and being freed from 
these Letts and Impediments, it would unite 
with its first Author, the Centre and Rock 
out of which it was hewn, and mount to- 
wards him like an Eagle towards the Sun. 
And even in this our lapsed and forlorn 
State, there remain evident Footsteps of this
innate Principle still uneffaced; such are the 
Checks of Conscience, natural Affection, and 
the universal Desire of Immortality, and the 
Dread of Annihilation; and the Worship be- 
stow'd by all Nations, who are not sunk into 
mere Brutality, on some superior and invi- 
sible Powers: I say, these are Remains of this
Principle, and its Operations, sufficient to 
shew its Reality à posteriori, as the Laws of 
Analogy, and the Nature and Attributes of 
the first Being, shew it à priori. For the Au- 
thor of Nature, who created intelligent Beings 
only in order to make them happy, could not 
leave them to so many different Attractions, 
without

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 319
without implanting into their Essence and Sub- 
stance, as an Antidote to so many Distrac- 
tions, an infinite Tendency, Bent, and Biass to- 
wards Beings of the same Nature, and towards 
himself, who was the Cause and Object of their 
Felicity: And those, who admit of Revela- 
tion, cannot doubt of it a Moment. Moses *
calls it, a Law engraven on the Heart of Man; 
and St. Paul †, the greatest Perfection of 
human Nature; whatever Men of Self-love 
and carnal Minds may think of it otherwise. 
The Second is Human, towards particular 
Persons and Things, as Parents, Wife, Children, 
Friends, or Things. Towards the first, Love 
ought to be sincere, hearty, constant, begotten, 
continued for their Sakes, and not for our 
own; but yet it should be limited and subor- 
dinate, Submission to the Will and 
Love of God: That to Things is not to be 
fixt, but changeable, as Necessity requires 
for our Support and Use; because the Things 
themselves are so, which we are to love, as if
we loved them not, according to the Apostle. 
The third Sort of Love, is that which is 
shewn from one Sex to another, and ends in 
Matrimony: This is naturally imprest upon 
us, and it is carefully to be preserved from
Dotage and Lust; for when it takes Fire 
from the last, it is never permanent, but soon
cloys itself, and vanishes upon Satiety: Rea- 
son is here lost, which is the principal Cause 
of so many unhappy Marriages we so fre- 
quently
* Deut. xxx. 14. † 1 Cor. xiii.

320 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
quently see. As to Dotage, it is an impotent 
and unreasonable placing of the Affection up- 
on another, which gradually draws all the 
Faculties, both of the Soul and Body, into a 
Languor and Consumption, oftentimes pro- 
ducing Lunacy or Madness. 
However foreign this metaphysical Specula- 
tion, concerning spiritual Love, may seem to 
a physical Treatise about Health, which I pro- 
posed to avoid in the Beginning of this Chap- 
ter; yet having seriously and attentively con- 
sider'd the Matter since, I found it both use- 
ful and necessary; because, if we steadily be- 
lieve it, and reduce its natural Consequences to
Practice, it will not only become the most 
effectual Means to prevent Diseases, but also 
the most powerful of any Thing to promote 
Health and long Life, which I shall evidently
make appear, before I finish this little Chap- 
ter. 
Hatred is the Apprehension of an Object 
which we judge hurtful or inconvenient; It is 
likewise Sorrow for the Good, and Chearfulness 
for the Ill of another. It occasions a slow 
and unequal Pulse; a sharp and stinging 
Heat, intermix'd with Cold piercing the Breast; 
the Stomach ceases from its natural Office, so 
that the Food being thereby crude and indi- 
gested, produces Nauseas and Vomitings, or 
is converted into corrupted Humours in the 
Habit of the Body, which are oftentimes the 
Parent of many grievous Diseases.
Shame 

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 321
Shame is an Uneasiness of Mind upon Ac- 
count of having done something that is un- 
seemly, or that lessens one's Esteem among 
others: It is likewise a great Apprehension
of Scandal: The Humours and Spirits being 
thereby variously agitated and confounded, 
frequently plunges the Body into fatal Dis- 
orders. 
Hope is a Desire of some future Good, 
which seems difficult to be obtained, but yet 
possible. By it a great Flow of Spirits tends 
to the Heart, which quickens its Pulsation, 
and accelerates the Motion of the Blood. 
And this Affection oftentimes prevents the ill 
Effects of other Passions, such as those of 
Grief or Sorrow, Hatred and Despair, &c. 
Despair is a Passion of the Mind arising 
from the Apprehension of some Good, which 
we judge impossible to be obtained. In De- 
spair the Pulse is generally very obscure, un- 
equal, and sometimes almost lost and creep- 
ing, the spirituous and most fluid Parts of 
the Blood being dissipated, so as to leave the
Salts, Earth, and grosser Oil in too great a 
Proportion in the Body, which at last affect 
the tender Vessels of the Brain, by the Vis- 
cidity of the Matter impacted in them, that 
thereby the Imagination is disordered. Thus 
dark Melancholy, slow and long Grief hope- 
less love, and presumptuous Pride (which is 
a violent Degree of Self-Love) impair the 
Body, by causing the proper Times of ne- 
cessary Food and Exercise to be neglected, 
X and

322 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
and thereby depriving the natural Functions 
of their usual Supplies, overworking and 
wearing out some Part of the nervous System, 
and leaving the other, as it were, to rust, and
so become too rigid and stubborn for want of 
Use: Besides, some of the Passions, as Pride, 
Love, and Grief, when immoderate and in- 
tense, terminate oftentimes in Lunacy and 
Madness; nay farther, even the Frequency 
and daily Increase of wanton and common 
Self-Murderers, are chiefly produced by these 
inordinate Passions, and their blasphemous 
and frantick Apologies grafted on the Prin- 
ciples of Infidels, and propagated by their 
Disciples, scarce known or heard of, at least 
not practised, in any Christian Nation but 
this, and her Daughters; for it is a manifest 
Truth, that those who have no Notion or 
Thought of a future State, with regard to 
either Happiness Misery, cannot have the 
true Love of God; and therefore such will 
always give a full Scope to all the Excesses of 
their brutish Passions, till at last, through some 
Disappointment, or Despair in gratifying their 
Sensualities, they most atrociously lay violent 
Hands upon themselves, contrary to the very 
Dictates of both the Law of Nature and their 
own Reason, revealed Religion being always 
a mere Phantom in the Thoughts of all such 
unhappy Wretchess; and thus, alas! they 
wantonly destroy both Body and Soul at 
once. 
The

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 323
The Passions may be divided very properly 
into acute and chronical, in the same Manner, 
and for the same Reason, as Diseases are. The 
acute Passions, either pleasurable or painful, 
produce much the same Effect, and act much 
after the same Manner, as acute Diseases do; 
for they cause a brisk and lively Circulation
of the Fluids, and brace up and contract the 
Solids for some Time. Thus sudden Joy, 
Grief, Pleasure, or Pain, stimulate and 
contract the nervous Fibres, and the Coats 
of the animal Tubes, and thereby accelerate 
the Motion of the included Fluids, for the 
same Time; but as the Motions of the Heart 
and Lungs are involuntary, they produce their 
more immediate Effects upon them; so that 
both sudden Joy and Grief occasion short 
and quick Breathing, and a small and fre- 
quent Pulse. 
A sudden painful Idea renders a quicker 
Circulation of the Blood, whereby a greater 
Quantity of it is thrown upwards, through 
the larger Branches of the great Artery, from 
the Heart, and makes it appear in the super- 
ficial Vessels of the Face, Neck, and Breast, 
which prodcues what we call a Blush. Thus 
we see that the Reasons why we sigh upon 
some Occasions, and blush at other Times, 
depend upon the different Structure of the 
Heart and Lungs, being the Organs of Pul- 
sation and Respiration; for a quick surprizing
Pain of the Mind acts immediately upon the 
Heart, because its Motion is altogether invo- 
X2 luntary;

324 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
luntary; so that any sudden Contraction takes 
Place there directly, to accelerate the Pulse. 
On the other Hand, we have some Power o- 
ver the Breathing; for we can retain it for a 
little while; because, when we think in- 
tensely, our Attention is partly the Cause of 
retaining our Breath, from whence proceeds 
Sighing rather than Blushing. 
The Effects of the Suddenness of these 
Passions being thus accounted for; yet when 
they become extreme, they drive about the 
Blood with such Violence, that Nature is o- 
verwhelm'd, like a Mill by a very great 
Flood; insomuch that what drove it only 
brisker round before, intirely stops it now, and
renders the Complexion pale and ghastly. 
Thus sudden and great Fear or Grief so 
much convulse the whole System of the 
Nerves, that they alter the very Position of 
the Parts sometimes, and fix them in another 
Place; so that in a great Fright the Hair 
stands upright, and the whole nervous System 
becomes so stiff and rigid, that they lose their 
Elasticity; by which Means the animal 
Functions cease from all Motion, and then 
Fainting, and oftentimes Death succeeds. 
Chronical Passions are called all those slow 
Passion of a long standing, which, like chro- 
nical Diseases, waste, wear out, and con- 
sume the nervous System; for those Nerves 
which are necessary for administering Ideas to
the Imagination, being constantly employ'd, 
are impair'd, broken, and worn out; and the 
rest,


Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 325
rest, for want of being used, become stiff 
and unactive, dull and destitute of a sufficient 
Quantity of warm Blood and due Nourish- 
ment, as I have observed already; so that the 
whole Fabrick languishes, and runs into a 
total Decay at last. 
But as the Passions, when slow and long 
continued, relax, unbend, and dissolve the 
nervous Fibres too much, so the violent and 
sudden ones contract, stretch, and bend them
in too great a Degree, by which means the 
Fluids are hurried about with violent Rapi- 
dity; so that all the Secretions are either 
stopp'd by the Contractions, Cramps or Con- 
vulsions produced by those Passions, or are 
precipitated crude and indigested into the Ha- 
bit of the Body, and so beget, or at least
dispose it to, Inflammations, Fevers, and Mor- 
tifications: For Example, a sudden and high 
Degree of Anger, Hatred, and Malice, are 
but Degrees of Frenzy, and that is one kind 
of a raging Fever. Hence it is evident, that 
the violent and sudden Passions, which I call 
acute, are more dangerous to Health than 
the slow and continued chronical ones, as a- 
cute Diseases are more pernicious than chro- 
nical. 
From what has been said, it is manifest 
that the Passions have very great Influence on
Health, being of such Force as not only to 
hurry us into Numbers of Diseases, but like- 
wise to bring upon us oftentimes sudden and 
unprovided Death, But if we would prevent 
X3 the

326 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
the ill Effects, and totally extirpate all the Evils 
arising from our Passions, we must necessari- 
ly lead a sober and virtuous Life; make use 
of our Reason, which, assisted with the Di- 
vine Spirit, is able to keep down the Surges 
of all our Passions, and is given us, by the in- 
finitely wise Creator, to be a Check and Bridle 
to prevent and restrain all their Extravagance: 
So that notwithstanding the great Force of 
our Passions, yet are we not left without a 
sufficient Power of Resistance; but to yield 
to them for want of exerting that Reason, by 
which we might restrain them, would be 
base Cowardice, unworthy a rational Being, 
and the blackest Ingratitude to the glorious
Author of all Happiness. Towards him all 
our Thoughts should be bent; in him all our 
Hopes should center: Nor should our Affec- 
tions cease flowing to him incessantly, not 
only as he rewards and recompences Virtue, 
but as it is a Remedy against all those various 
Diseases that are ingender'd by Excess in the 
Passions; For as the Love of God is a sove- 
reign Antidote against all other Miseries, so, 
in particular, it prevents effectually all the
bodily Disorders the Passions produce, by 
keeping them within due Bounds; and, by that 
unspeakable Joy and perfect calm Serenity 
and Tranquillity it gives the Mind, becomes 
the most powerful of all the Means of Health 
and long Life. Therefore, if thou wouldst 
enjoy good Health, love thy Creator, keep 
thyself virtuous, and regulate thy Passions. 
I shall

Ch. XII. thro' the various Stages of Life. 327
I shall conclude this Chapter with an ex- 
cellent Passage upon this subject, from Dr. 
Cheyney's Essay on Health and Long Life, 
which, in his own Words, is as follows. 
' If Men would but observe the Golden 
' Mean in all their Passions, Appetites, and
' Desires; if in all their Thoughts, Words, 
' and Actions, they would but mind, I will 
' not say the End of their Being and Exi- 
' stence here, but the End to which their 
' Thoughts, Words and Actions tended in 
' their last Resort; and lastly, if in the Gra- 
' tifications of their Appetites, Passions, and 
' Desires, they followed the uncorrupted 
' Dictates of Nature, and neither spurred her 
' on beyond her Craving, nor too violently 
' restrain'd her in her innocent Biass; they 
' would enjoy a greater Measure of Health 
' than they do, have their Sensations more 
' delicate, and their Pleasures more exqui- 
' site, live with less Pain, and die with less
' Horror. For had it not been for the Lewd- 
' ness, Luxury and intemperate Gratificati- 
' ons of the Passions and Appetites, which first 
' ruined and spoiled the Constitutions of the 
' Fathers, whereby they could communicate 
' only a diseased, crazy, † and untuneable 
' Carcass to their Sons; so that with the 
' World's Decay, vicious Souls and putrified
' Bodies have, in this our Age, arriv'd to 
' their highest and most exalted Degrees; I 
' say, had it not been for these Evils, there 
X4 ' never
† The Temperature of Humours in an animal Body.



328 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part II.
' never had happen'd so much Sickness, Pain 
' and Misery, so many unhappy Lives, and 
' such wretched Ends, as we now behold 
' among Men. 
' But even in this our lapsed Estate and 
' Condition, had the Dictates of Nature and
' Reason, not to say Religion, been follow- 
' ed, we might have passed our Days in In- 
' dolence (at least from chronical Distem- 
' pers) if not innocent Pleasures, arrived at 
' a good old Age, with our Senses free, and 
' our rational Faculties clear, and at last de- 
' parted in Peace, as a Lamp goes out for 
' want of Oil. And let the Gentlemen of 
' Wit and Fire, of Banter and Sneer, hug 
' themselves ever so much in their boasted 
' Tranquillity and Security, gratify their Pas- 
' sions, Appetites, and Humours to the full, 
' and despise Futurity and Whining; I dare 
' promise when the Farce is ended, and the 
' last Minutes are drawing on, they would 
' prefer a Life thus led, and an End so calm, 
' to all the Pleasures of Lewdness and Sen- 
' suality, and the Bounces of a false and ig- 
' norant Security.”
A

(329)
A 
GUIDE to HEALTH &c.
Part III.
CONTAINING 
The Definitions, Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, 
and curative Indications both Medicinal 
and Dietetical of acute and chronical 
Diseases; with the Nature and Use of 
BATHING and FRICTIONS. 
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE I proceed upon Fevers, as 
mention has been so often made of 
acute and chronical Diseases, it will not be 
improper to give the English Readers a clear 
Account of their Nature and Difference in 
this Place. 
Acute Diseases then are such, as within 
some short limited Time have their Periods 
either of a perfect Crisis and subsequent Re- 
covery, or of putting an End to Life and
the





330 The INTRODUCTION. 
the Disease both together; and they are there- 
fore called quick, sharp, or acute Diseases, 
being attended with an increased Velocity of 
the Blood; the Symptoms of which are more 
violent, their Duration shorter, and their 
Periods more quick, terminating either in a 
sudden Death, or a Victory over the Distem- 
per, and they are generally limited within 
forty Days. 
But those Diseases that run out longer be- 
come chronical, whose Periods are more 
slow, their Symptoms less severe, and their 
Duration longer: and they likewise would, 
by the Course and Efforts of Nature, and 
the animal Oeconomy, have their Periods, and 
terminate at last, if fresh Fuel had not been 
frequently added to them by Intemperance 
and Debauchery; for the Viscidity of the 
Fluids, and the Laxity of the Fibres, would 
be removed in time, by proper Remedies and 
a due Regimen, and so People would recover 
in these as well as in acute Disorders. 
But as this requires long Time, much Care, 
and great Caution, Patience, and Perseve- 
rance; and so long and continual a Course of 
Self-denial, that few People are willing to 
undergo it; so that it is become the Reproach 
of both Physick and Physicians, that acute 
Cases are cured by themselves, or rather that 
Nature cures them, and that chronical Dis- 
orders are never cured, as a great many do 
falsly









The INTRODUCTION. 331
falsly assert: for in acute Cases, Art and Care 
judiciously and timely applied, will always 
asswage the Symptoms and Suffering, and like- 
wise forward Nature to the Relief she points
out, and hasten the Crisis, which it will con- 
stantly bring about if the Disease is not too 
great for the Constitution; and even then it 
will allay the Pain, and lay the Patient gently
down. 
And as for the last Case, if due Care be 
had to follow seasonably the Advice of an 
honest and experienced Physician, certainly 
a Period may be brought about in most chro- 
nical Diseases, provided the great Viscera or 
Bowels are not spoiled and destroyed. And 
the Fault is commonly in the Patient him- 
self, who will not, or cannot deny himself 
for a sufficient time to bring about the Cure. 
There are some chronical Diseases indeed, 
such as either by having been gone too far, 
or by being hereditary, and interwoven with 
the Principles of Life, are never to be radi- 
cally cur'd or got over: and these last must 
rest contented with that Measure of Health 
their original Frame will admit of. Yet I 
am morally certain, that if the Rules and 
Directions set down in this Treatise, be care- 
fully and constantly observ'd and steadily pur- 
sued, very few chronical Distempers but will 
receive such Relief and Ease by them, as to 
render the remainder of Life tolerably easy, 
and free from grievous Sufferings; and that 
is

332 The INTRODUCTION. 
is all that is left for Art to do in the above- 
mention'd Case. But in other chronical Dis- 
eases, where the Bowels are not quite vici- 
ated, and taken in due time, by observing and
steadily following the same Rules, would in- 
fallibly bring about a perfect Cure. 
In acute Diseases, a quick Pulse is a cer- 
tain and distinguishing Sign; but in chroni- 
cal Cases it is slow: and the first consumes 
the Fluids, and wears out the Solids in a 
short Time; but the last will require a lon- 
ger Time to produce the same Effects. Some 
acute Diseases terminate sometimes in chro- 
nical ones; and some chronical Distempers 
towards the last fatal Period of Life turn 
acute. 
CHAP.



(333)
CHAP. I. 
Of FEVERS, both in general and particular. 
A Fever is an inordinate Motion, 
and too great an Effervescence 
of the Blood, attended with Cold first, and
afterwards with Heat, Thirst, and other 
Symptoms, whereby the animal Oeconomy is 
variously disturb'd; or according to our En- 
glish Hippocrates, Dr. SYDENHAM, 
' A Fever is nothing else but the 
' Effort of Nature to free herself of some 
' morbifick Matter, which she finds injuri- 
' ous, in order to establish a better Health.”
A Fever 
what
Sydenham's
Definition.
The learned Boerhaave says, that 
a Fever is the most frequent Di-
stemper that happens, an inseparable Com- 
panion of Inflammations of all kinds, and 
is ever attended with a manifold variety of
Symptoms. 
Boerhaave's
Sentiments.
In every Fever from an internal 
Cause, the three chief observable 
Symptoms are, first, an universal Trembling, 
then a quick Pulse, and an increased Heat, 
various as to Time and Degrees. When the 
Symptoms are very urgent, and very hastily 
make their Progress, the Fever is called acute;
but when more mild and gentle, it is deno- 
The Symptoms.
minated


334 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
minated a slow Fever. And a Fever almost
always begins with a sort of cold Shivering, 
soon after the Pulse growing quicker, affords
the primary Diagnostick * of a Fever; so 
that an increased Velocity of the Contraction 
of the Heart, together with a greater Re- 
sistance at the capillary Vessels, make up the
Idea of an acute Distemper, which may be 
produced by an infinite number of Causes. 
The Health of the Patient seems to be the 
primary Aim of Nature in Fevers; notwith- 
standing, Fevers often end in Death, and 
sometimes they degenerate into some other 
Diseases. 
The general 
Cure. 
The general Cure of Fevers is 
summarily comprehended in con- 
sulting the Strength of Nature, in correcting
and discharging Acrimony from the Blood, in 
dissolving gross Humours, and expelling them, 
and in mitigating the Symptoms: and if we 
perceive the Symptoms to run high, and 
Nature to grow exorbitant, we moderate it 
by enjoining Abstinence, a slender and cool- 
ing Diet, drinking tepid Water a little aci- 
dulated, Bleeding, cooling Clysters, &c. But 
if Nature seems to be too sluggish, she is to 
be excited by Cordials, Aromaticks, and Vo- 
latiles, &c. 
Of the Symptoms.
The Cause of the Fever be- 
ing taken away, the Symptoms 
will cease, in as much as they primarily de- 
pend
* Is that Judgment of a Disease that is taken from the pre- 
sent Symptoms, and Condition of the Patient. 

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 335
pend upon it; so that if they can be born 
without Danger of Life, they scarce require 
any particular Cure, nor many times are they 
to be interrupted without great Caution; but 
if they be unseasonable, and too violent, 
they are to be mitigated with proper Reme- 
dies, due Regard being had to the Cause and 
State of the Distemper. 
In the beginning of Fevers, 
if the Stomach has a natural 
Inclination to cast, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to give a Vomit; for else in
the Progress of the Fever, a Looseness will 
be apt to break forth, which may be of dan- 
gerous Consequence: and the proper time to 
give an Emetick is indeed in the Beginning; 
however, if it should happen to have been 
omitted, it may be given at any time of 
the Distemper, provided there be sufficient 
Strength to bear the Operation, and after it
some Anodyne, or quieting Medicine. After- 
wards, if Bleeding be not indicated, and 
there be no Looseness, a Clyster may be ad- 
minister'd every other Day, until the tenth or 
twelvth, at which time Nature inclining 
towards a Crisis, in my Opinion, some warm- 
ing Medicines may be given to hasten the 
Concoction. If the feverish Ebullition pro- 
ceeds regularly, and in due order, there seems
to be no need of giving any Medicines at all; 
for as much as the Depuration of the Blood 
is wholly and solely the Work of Nature. 
The Benefit of ex- 
hibiting a Vomit. 
Commonly


336 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Purge may be 
given towards 
the End with 
Advantage. 
Commonly about the 15th 
Day, if there be a laudable Se- 
paration in the Urine, and a Re- 
mission of the Symptoms, a 
gentle Purge ought to be given, left the no-
xious Humours secreted from the Blood be- 
ing absorbed again into it, should cause a Re- 
lapse; notwithstanding it is sometimes requi- 
site to defer the purging until the 17th Day. 
From repeated Trials, I affirm, that no- 
thing does so certainly and powerfully cool 
the Body as Purging after Bleeding; and 
any one may find it in Experience true, that
it abates and allays a Fever beyond any Re- 
medies whatever, both as it cleanses the In- 
testines, and prepares the Way for an Ano- 
dyne. Sydenham in his Schedula Monitor 
ria. 
The Cause of 
Fevers. 
The Cause of a Fever, accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, De Medic. 
Vet. ' is not Heat alone, but Heat
' and Bitterness together, Heat and Acidity, 
' Heat and Saltness, and an innumerable other 
' Combinations in the Blood.' It is however 
known by Experience, that Persons from 
found and perfect Health, where there has 
been neither Plethora, nor any ill Habit of 
Body to cause it, have fallen into a Fever; 
because some very extraordinary Change in 
the Air, or an Abuse in some of the rest of 
the Non-natural have happen'd; therefore 
found Bodies on such Occasions may, and 
are seized with a Fever, in order that their 
Blood



Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 337
Blood may acquire a new State and Condi- 
tion to accommodate itself thereby to the Al- 
teration of the Air, and the Way of Living, 
&c. 
By how much the more acute a 
Fever is, by so much the more 
sparing and slender the Diet ought 
to be; for in Fevers, tho' they lie many Days 
without eating any thing, it is so much the 
better, for no one ever starv'd to Death in a 
Fever; but rather upon eating and drinking 
the Fever would be exasperated; because in 
taking of Food, the Appetite prescribes the 
Rule, the Quantity, the Quality, and the 
Time. 
A Rule of 
Diet. 
The most natural and general 
Division of Fevers is into Essential 
and Symptomatick. 
Division of 
Fevers. 
An essential Fever is such, whose primary 
Cause lies in the Blood itself, which derives 
its Original from no other Distemper of the 
solid Parts of the Body, or is any way de- 
pending on them, and this is properly called 
a Fever. 
A symptomatick Fever is a secondary Fe- 
ver, which does not properly subsist of it- 
self, but owes its Original to the Disorder of 
some particular solid Part, and most com- 
monly depends on some remarkable Inflam- 
mation, from whence the Variety of inflam- 
matory Fevers so called. 
An essential Fever is divided into a Diary 
or Ephemεra, a continual, continent or re- 
mitting, and an intermittent Fever.
Y A





338 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Diary or Ephemera, so called by the 
Greeks, is the least compound of Continual 
Fevers, which doth begin, increase, arrive at 
its Height, and decline within the Space of 
24 Hours: It is occasion'd by the scorching 
Heat of the Sun, too much Exercise, or 
by some other Error committed in the Non- 
naturals. The Cure is easily perform'd by 
Abstinence, Rest, and Diluting. But if the 
said Fever lasts several Days, it is called a 
continual, not putrid Fever: Its Causes, 
Signs, and Cure, are the same, and chiefly 
require large Bleeding, and a cooling Diet 
and Medicines. 
A continual putrid Fever, call'd 
by the Greeks, Synochos, is that 
Sort of Fever which is continual, 
without any distinct Paroxysms or Remis- 
sions, but for many Days continues much 
the same, until it has run its full Length, 
and then its Period is determin'd; and it is 
distinguished from the preceding, by its being 
* putrid: of this Kind are malignant Fevers, 
pestilential Fevers, and even the Plague it- 
self. 
A putrid Fe- 
ver what. 
It proceeds from the following 
Causes, as flight Inflammations, an 
Obstruction of the Bowels, a Constriction of 
The Causes.
the
* A Fever is said to be putrid, where the Humours or 
Part of them have so little circulatory Motion, that they fail 
into an intestine one and putrify, as is commonly the Case 
after great Evacuations, or great and excessive Heat, where 
there is such a Scarcity of Spirits, that the Solids cannot suf- 
ficiently vibrate. 




Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 339
the Pores of the Skin, a Stoppage of almost 
all the capillary Vessels, and a very sharp Acri- 
mony in the Fluids. 
It is known by an intense Heat 
even to the Touch of the Finger or 
Hand, by a Pulse not only feverish. 
but at the same time unequal and inordinate; 
a thick, red, turbid Urine, and crude with- 
out any Sediment; from a hot and sanguine 
Constitution, Age and Complexion.
Diagnostick
Signs. 
This Distemper is more dangerous 
and mortal, as the Pulse is weaker, 
quicker, more unequal in Strength, 
more irregular as to Time, and more inter- 
mitting in its Stokes; as Breathing is more 
difficult, frequent, short, with a great Mo- 
tion of the Nostrils, the more painful about 
the Vitals, and the more inordinate in its 
Time; as Weariness and Weakness are 
greater, the Tossing of the Body more fre- 
quent; as the Urine is higher colour'd, thick- 
er, muddier, with the least Sediment; or as 
the same is thinner, more watry, more spar- 
ing, and difficultly retained; as the Patient 
trembles and shakes more, chiefly in his Hands 
and Lips, shy of being felt, plays with his 
Fingers and Hands, and as it were catches at 
Flies, or some Things he fancies to see upon 
the Bed-clothes, and about him; and as his 
Eyes appear more sorrowful and moist with 
involuntary Tears. Moreover, when the Pa- 
tient labours much in his Sleep, and wakes 
worse after it; when either livid or purple 
Prognostick 
Signs.
Y2 Spots











340 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Spots appear upon the Body, the Sides of the
Belly stiff and blown up, then Death is at 
hand. 
Continual putrid Fevers commonly require 
Bleeding in the Beginning, according to the 
Strength and Constitution of the Patient; but 
Malignant and Intermitting Fevers seldom 
admit of it: And in the Progress of all Fevers, 
when they draw near the Height, Bleeding 
is prejudicial, according to the unanimous 
Opinion of the Antients: For Cœlius Aure- 
lianus, Celsus, and the rest, allowed Bleed- 
ing only in the first three Days of a Fever, 
and not after; but there is no general Rule 
without an Exception. 
As for the Cure of the Symptoms, or ra- 
ther the Mitigation of them, which are more 
than ordinary pressing, they shall be account- 
ed for in another Place, where I shall treat 
of the Symptoms of Fevers in general: But 
here I must observe, that, in a putrid Fever 
the Patient ought to dilute plentifully with 
subacid Liquors, and take such Medicines as 
resist Putrefaction, such as the Juice of Le- 
mons and Salt of Wormwood made up into 
Draughts, or Mixtures, &c. 
A continent 
or remit- 
ting Fever. 
A continent or remitting Fever, 
called by the Greeks, Synechos, is in 
fact a continual Fever in regard to its 
Duration, tho' not in Degree: For it continues
many Days together without Intermission; but 
then it has its periodical Returns of Exaspe- 
ration and Remission, either every Day, or
every


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 341
every other Day, but no thorough Intermis- 
sion; nor has it any cold Shiverings, after the
manner of Agues or Intermittents. About the 
End of every Paroxysm, when the Violence 
of the Fever begins to remit, Sweats general- 
ly ensue, and the Urine, which during the 
Height of the Fit was intensely high-colour'd, 
in these Intervals of Remission usually depo- 
sits a laudable Sediment, which is the true 
Characteristick of a continent or simple re- 
mitting Fever. 
There is likewise a spurious 
Kind of remitting Fever, which 
is attended with outrageous Symptoms of the 
nervous Kind, imitating Rheumatisms, Pleu- 
nisies, Colicks, and other inflammatory or spas- 
modick Distempers: It also often affects the 
glandulous Parts, producing from thence ma- 
nifold Excretions, causing Vomitings, Cholera 
Morbus, Diarrhœa, Bloody-flux, &c. which 
greatly obscure the fundamental Signs of this 
Fever, rendering the Paroxysms or Fits un- 
certain as to their Access and Duration: For 
by how much more the Evacuations and 
Pains, now mention'd, are augmented, by so 
much the febrile Heat is diminish'd and the 
Pulse weaken'd, and vice versa. 
Of the Spurious 
A simple remitting Fever, as such, 
and as long as it remains such, is very 
seldom, if ever, mortal; for before it be- 
comes fatal it changes its Type and Kind, and 
degenerates into a continual malignant Fever. 
But the spurious Kind, tho' it is not in its 
Prognostick.
Y3 own



342 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
own Nature mortal, yet on the Account of 
the violent Symptoms accompanying it, it 
pretty frequently proves so. The more regu- 
lar the Fits are in point of Time, and the 
longer the Remissions are, the less dangerous 
they are, and vice versa. 
The Evacuations which Nature makes in 
these Fevers seldom procure any Benefit, they
being for the most part symptomatical. But 
the critical and salutary Evacuations are ei- 
ther by Sweats or Spitting; the first is the 
quickest, tho' the latter is equally certain, 
yet slow and troublesome. During the In- 
crease of the Distemper, it is a bad Sign if 
the Urine gradually changes thin and pale, 
and the Pulse becomes quicker, weak, and 
staggering, &c. On the contrary, a strong and 
constant Pulse, Urine much tinctured with 
Redness, and full of Settlement, particularly 
when there is a laudable Sediment, and the 
Distemper is come to the State or Height, 
they are good Signs. 
The Cure. 
A simple remitting Fever gives 
way to the Bark, as certainly as an 
intermitting one: For the feverish Ferment 
in both is almost the same. The Efficacy of 
the same Medicine in curing a spurious remit- 
ting Fεver, is almost as certain as in a simple 
one, provided it be rightly administer'd, Re- 
gard being had to the more violent Symp- 
toms; but it has not so quick an Effect, be- 
cause the Distemper is greater and stronger, 
and therefore requires a greater Quantity of 
the

Ch. I. 343 thro' the various Stages of Life.  343
the Medicine: So that the radical Care of 
these Fevers consists in the regular giving and 
Repetition of the Peruvian Bark, with due 
Regard to a proper Diet in all such Diseases. 
It will be necessary, in order to establish a 
rational Method of Cure of con- 
tinual Fevers; to have Regard to 
the Division of them into burning
and slow Fevers, because the Method of 
treating each of these is vastly different. 
A Division in- 
to burning and 
slow Fevers. 
Of a Burning Fever. 
In a Burning Fever the Person is 
affected with a most ardent Heat, a 
Dryness of the whole Skin, of the 
Nostrils, Ears, Mouth, and Tongue: Respi- 
ration is thick, difficult, and quick; the 
Tongue dry, yellow, black, rough, and burnt
up; Thirst unquenchable, sometimes going 
off suddenly without any other good Sign; an 
Aversion from all Sorts of Aliment; a Nau- 
seating, Vomiting, Anguish, Uneasiness, a 
great Weariness, a little Cough, a hollow 
Voice, a Delirium, Phrensy, obstinate Wake- 
fulness, Dozing, Convulsions; and on the odd 
Days a renewing and increase of the Fever.
The chief 
Symptoms.  
A Burning Fever very often kills 
on the third or fourth Day; it seldom 
gets over the seventh, if it be a perfect 
Causus: It often goes off with an Hœmor- 
rhage, which if but small and sparing on the 
third or fourth Day, the Fever commonly 
proves mortal: This may be foretold from 
Progno- 
sticks. 
Y4 the

344 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
the Patient's complaining of a Pain in the 
Neck, Heaviness of the Temples, Dimness 
of the Sight, a Working and Labouring of 
the Heart and Lungs without any Sense of 
Pain, involuntary Tears, without any other fa- 
tal Signs, Redness of the Face, and Itching of 
the Nostrils; but if it happens on a critical 
Day, it is most advantageous. A Solution of
this Fever also on a critical Day, may be 
expected by Vomiting, Looseness, Sweating, 
much Urine, spitting thick Phlegm; but 
growing worse on the second or fourth Day 
is a very bad Sign, on the sixth not so bad: 
Black Urine, thin and small in Quantity, is 
mortal; spitting of Blood and bloody Urine, 
are mortal; a Difficulty of swallowing is a 
bad Sign; nothing worse than Coldness of the
extreme Parts; the Face red and sweaty, is 
bad; a Swelling behind the Ears and not 
ripening, is mortal; the Belly too loose, fatal; 
a Trembling turning to a Delirium, ends in 
Death. This Fever often changes to an In- 
flammation of the Lungs, with a Delirium 
attending it. 
The Regimen in such a Fever is, 
keeping the Air of the Room pure and 
cool, untainted with Fire, or Smoke, or the 
Breaths of many People; and they ought to 
have no more Bed-cloaths than barely defends 
them from Cold; their Curtains ought to be 
kept open, so as to renew the Air; and their 
Posture in lying as erect as they can well 
bear. 
Regimen.
Their

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 345
Their Drink should be cool, mild, sub- 
acid, tepid, given in moderate Quantities, 
and often, as Water with Juice of Lemon or 
Tamarinds. Their Aliment out to be light, 
of mealy Vegetables, as Water-gruel, Prepa- 
rations of Barley, with some Juice of Lemon; 
Rice boil'd in Whey and strain'd; roasted 
Apples in the Progress of the Disease; a little 
toasted Bread sometimes, with Rhenish Wine 
and Water; Jelly of Currants; Broaths and 
Jellies made of Animal Substances, and quali- 
fied with Juice of Lemon or some other Acid, 
may be sometimes allowed. 
Bleeding is requisite in the Be- 
ginning of the Distemper, if there be
the Signs of a Plethora, or of a particular In- 
flammation, or that the Heat is intolerable, 
the Sweat too great, a Revulsion be necessary, 
the Symptoms very urgent, and hardly to be 
master'd by any other Means; in these Cases 
Bleeding is of an absolute Necessity. Some- 
times also gentle and cooling Clysters are to be
given, as often as the Heat of the Distemper 
or Costiveness shall require them. Diluents 
will likewise be proper, and Nitrous Me- 
dicines, and such as very gently loosen the
Belly. 
The Cure.
Here it will not be improper to take parti- 
cular Notice of what Walschmidius says, viz. 
A malignant Fever often in the Beginning ap- 
pears in the Shape of a Causus or burning Fever;
so that a Physician ought to be cautious lest he 
should fall into a Mistake about it; therefore 
let

346 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
let him be diligent to inform himself, whether 
the Patient complains of an Anxiety or Uneasi- 
ness at his Heart, a sudden Loss of Strength, 
and other grievous Symptoms: Let him also 
examine the Urine, &c. for the Cure of these
Fevers is very different. 
A Calenture is a Fever peculiar to Mariners, 
of a high inflammatory Nature. Those that 
are seiz'd with this Distemper are affected
with a peculiar Sort of Delirium; for they 
frequently say they will walk into the green
Fields, which they always seem to have in 
View, thinking they are just going into them, 
and, unless they are kept by Force, they jump 
into the Sea; and that is an inseparable Sign 
of this Distemper. Young lusty Men, of a 
sanguine Complexion, are most subject to it. 
The Cure chiefly consists in plentiful bleed- 
ing and diluting.
Of Slow Fevers.  
Slow Fevers, tho' they are not so acute as 
the Burning or Putrid Fevers, yet they are 
however continual, as they constantly afflict
the Patient labouring under them; but they 
pass through their several Stages more slowly, 
for which reason they are of a longer Conti- 
nuance, and the Symptoms not so violent. 
Catarrhal 
Fevers. 
In the Class of Slow Fevers we 
may justly reckon Catarrhal Fe- 
vers, which in the Beginning and 
Increase are attended with a Catarrh, a Run- 
ing at the Nose, a Cough, Hoarseness, &c.
These

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 347 
These Fevers are for the most part gentle and 
slow in the Day-time, and commonly some- 
what worse in the Evening: They are also 
attended with great Weariness of the Limbs, 
and the Symptoms continue, with an Increase 
of the Running at the Nose and Cough, till 
the Distemper rises to its highest Pitch, when
the Matter of the Catarrh is ripen'd, and the 
Mucus becoming thicker, is discharged, and 
the Fever goes off. The Seat of this Disease 
is in the Conglobate Glands †, more particu- 
larly occasioned by some Obstructions in the 
Pituitous Glands. 
A Decoction of Sassafras, with Li- 
quorish-root and Raisins, is very pro- 
per in Catarrhal Fevers, on account of the 
Acrimony of the Humours; likewise the 
Juice of Turnips, with a little Sugar; Vola- 
tiles and gentle Sudorificks; a Solution of 
Gum Arabick, and whatever besides is pro- 
per in Coughs and Hoarsenesses, will be like- 
wise useful in this Case. 
The Cure.
Besides the fore-mentioned, there 
are likewise Lymphatick or Pitui- 
tous Fevers, occasioned by the Fault of the
Lymphatick 
Fever.  
Pituita
† A Conglobate Gland is a little smoofh Body or Kernel, 
wrapp'd up in a fine Skin, by which it is separated from all 
the other Parts, only admitting an Artery and Nerve to pass 
in, and giving Way to a Vein and excretory Canal to come 
out. Of this Sort are the Glands in the Brain, as the Pi- 
tuitous Gland, the Pinealis Gland, the Glands of the Mesen- 
tery, Groin, Testes, and Labia: All the rest of the Glands in 
the Body are called conglomerated Glands, being composed of 
many conglobate Glands, tied together and wrapp'd up in one 
common Membrane. 


348 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pituita of the Conglomerate Glands, which 
discharge their Juice into some certain Cavity, 
of which the Parotid Glands and the Pan-
creas are remarkable, discharging the Liquors 
separated into the Mouth and Intestines, and 
consequently into the Mass of Blood; which 
Humours, when vitiated, become viscid, salt, 
and sharp, produce these Fevers, which are 
likewise sometimes not improperly call'd Scor- 
butick Fevers. Continual Acute Fevers, and 
sometimes Intermittents, degenerate into these 
Slow Fevers, and sometimes into Hecticks; 
and the Original of these Fevers is most com- 
monly in the Stomach, proceeding from In- 
digestion and Crudities. 
The Cure 
Therefore a gentle Vomit, as well 
in the Beginning as in the Increase 
of these Slow Fevers, ought to pave the Way 
for the Cure; and afterwards the Viscidity and
Acrimony to be corrected; and the Symptoms 
are to be mitigated, and the Stomach to be 
strengthen'd, &c. for which Purpose vitro- 
lated Tartar, Testaceous Powder, Diaphore- 
ticks, and Volatile Salts, &c. are proper. 
Of Intermitting Fevers. 
An Intermitting Fever is a præ- 
ternatural Heat, kindled in the 
Blood by an unusual Expansion of the Spirits, 
returning at certain Periods. In this kind of 
Fever a Chilness, Shivering, Heat, and Sweats 
successively follow one another. The Fit is 
attended with an universal Sickness, Nause- 
The Definition.
ousness,

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 349
ousness, and Vomiting; Pain of the Head, 
Loins, &c. The Paroxysm or Fit is very 
acute, but the Distemper in itself generally 
more or less chronical. 
A simple Intermitting Fever is easily known, 
for it discovers itself of its own Accord; and
how great a Variety soever there may be of 
them, let them be either Quotidians, Tertians, 
Quartans, &c. the morbifick Ferment of all 
is the same, which certainly yields to the 
Force of the Peruvian Bark, if duly and
skillfully administer'd. 
The common Species of Intermitting Fe- 
vers are simple Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; double Quotidians, Tertians, and Quar- 
tans; half Tertians, half Quartans, &c. There 
are likewise Intermitting Fevers which return 
every fifth, sixth, or seventh Day. 
Intermitting Fevers in this Country are 
sometimes very obstinate, often returning in 
spite of all Remedies; and by long Continu- 
ance they degenerate into Hepatical Fevers, 
and many chronical Distempers, as Jaundice, 
Dropsy, Schirrus's, and Scurvies; therefore 
in this Disease a right Method, both of Me- 
dicines and Diet, is very necessary. 
We should begin the Cure with a Vomit, 
or Purge, according to the Strength, Age, 
and Condition of the Patient, and afterwards 
administer the Bark often between the Fits, 
in good large Doses; but if the Patient's 
Strength and present Case will not allow of a 
Vomit or Purge, then the Bark should be 
given,

350 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
given, without any previous Preparation at all; 
and there is a different Regimen to be used 
during the Continuance and Absence of the 
Paroxysm, and in the Paroxysm itself, during 
the Rigor or cold Fit, the Heat and the 
Sweat. 
During the Rigor nothing is more proper 
than a Draught of warm Water, with a little 
Rhenish Wine, or Juice of Lemon and Su- 
gar, which dilutes and relaxes at the same 
Time, and will make the Symptoms wholly 
abate, and terminate the cold Fit sooner, and
throw the Patient into a Sweat, than the 
warmest Cordial. In this Case likewise strong 
Frictions of the Extremities relieve very much; 
Proper Care must be taken to shorten the Pe- 
riod as much as possible, and by warm Dilu- 
ents a little acidulated, to bring on the Sweat 
soon, but not to push it beyond its due Mea- 
sure; because an Intermitting Fever of itself 
relaxes and weakens the Body extremely. 
Between the Fits too great Abstinence is 
hurtful, as much as too great Repletion. As 
Intermitting Fevers are often of long Conti- 
nunace, extreme Abstinence is impracticable, 
and would reduce the Patient to a Condition 
not to be able to sustain the Shock of the 
next Attack. 
Between the Fits, such Substances as tem- 
per, correct and subdue the bilious Alkali, as 
acid Substances, nitrous Salts, small thin Wines, 
Chicken-Broth with Juice of Lemon, Wine 
with Bitters infus'd, are proper. 
Ex-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 351
Exercise, to as great a Degree as the Pa- 
tient can bear, is extremely beneficial between
the Fits. Bleeding in Intermitting Fevers 
seldom does any Good, but oftentimes a great 
deal of Harm; yet the Patient's Condition is 
to be considered in this Case. 
But there are spurious Intermitting Fevers, 
as was observ'd of Remittents: Their Symp- 
toms are sometimes very urgent and violent, 
and their fundamental Signs are disguised un- 
der the Appearance of some other Distem- 
per, as Vomiting, Diarrhœa, and some great 
Pain, &c. The true and genuine Sign of 
the real primary Distemper being chiefly 
known by the Exasperation and Remission of 
those violent Symptoms, and by the Urine of 
a Brick-dust Colour; but these spurious or 
illegitimate Intermittents creating a great 
Variety of direful Symptoms, such as enor- 
mous Vomitings, Griping, Looseness, Cholera 
Morbus, Colicks, Pains in the Side like pleu- 
ritick Pains, Apoplexies, Pains on one Side of 
the Head, Spasms or Cramps, nephritick 
Pains, &c. 
Notwithstanding the great Va- 
riety there may be of these Disor- 
ders, in their manifold Shapes and Forms, 
yet they all depend upon one and the same 
Ferment, and are certainly cured with that 
one fovereign Antidote the Peruvian Bark, 
if prudently administer'd, as well as any other 
Intermitting Fever. 
The Cure.
No

352 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Prognostick.
No one has been known to die 
of an Intermitting Fever, except it 
be in the cold Fit, that Excess of Coldness 
arising from a Viscidity in the Blood, and an
absolute Oppression of the Spirits. 
The proximate 
Cause of In- 
termitting 
Fevers. 
After an accurate Examination 
into the whole History of Inter- 
termitting Fevers, the proximate 
Cause is assign'd to be the Visco- 
sity of the arterial Liquid, there happening at
the same Time some Cause or other for a 
quicker and stronger Contraction of the Heart, 
and a Dissolution of the stagnating Viscidi- 
ties. Boerhaave. 
Having thus far treated of Benign Fevers, I 
shall now proceed to give the Reader a suc- 
cinct and clear Account 
Of Malignant Fevers. 
Diagnostick.
The first Sign of a Malignant 
Fever, is a remarkable Loss of 
Strength on a sudden, without any mani- 
fest Cause, with a weak Pulse: The external 
Heat is not so violent as in some other Fevers; 
the internal Heat is rather greater. It is attend- 
ed from the very Beginning with obstinate 
Watchings, and anxious Uneasiness: The 
Sick complains and shews the Region of the 
Stomach, or the Heart; the Urine is not 
unlike that of a Person in Health; the Coun- 
tenance looks hideous sometimes, and much 
changed from the natural State, sometimes of
a livid Colour. 
The Reason why the feverish Heat and 
Ebulli-

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 353
Ebullition in these Fevers, is not do great as 
in other Fevers, is entirely owing to the Ma- 
lignity which has seiz'd the Blood; and is 
rather a Sign of some great Disorder of the 
Spirits, which are greatly affected, and as it 
were sphacelated or deaden'd, than of any 
Disturbance in the Humours; or it may be 
sometimes the said Disorders may be propa- 
gated into the Humours, especially the Blood, 
from the malignant Taints; from which 
arises great Confusion, and an inordinate in- 
testine Motion, which indeed produce an in- 
ternal Heat, but is not carried so sensibly to
the external Parts. By this means Nature 
being, as it were, oppress'd, is not able to 
exert those Symptoms more regularly, which 
are agreeable to, and might attend the Dis- 
ease. 
There is a great Variety of Malignant Fe- 
vers, on account of the Diversity of their 
Symptoms: In some there are very remark- 
able cutaneous Efflorescencies; in some more
abundantly, in others less; and in some no 
such Appearances at all; others, in fine, are 
attended with other kind of Symptoms. 
Some assert, from microscopical Observa- 
tions, that in all malignant Fevers and gan- 
grenous Ulcers, there is so great a Putrefac- 
tion of the Blood, that it gives Occasion for 
the Generation of a Multitude of little Worms, 
from whence they believe the great Variety 
of Symptoms so vexatious do arise; but these 
Worms cannot be bred without a preceding 
Z Putre-

354 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Putrefaction; and the Blood in Malignant Fe- 
vers is preternaturally fluid, insomuch that 
when it is let out of the Body it will not co- 
agulate as usually; but this is the Product of
the Distemper, and not the Cause. 
The very naming a Malignant 
Fever strikes a Terror into Mankind; 
because all Malignant Fevers are very 
dangerous, and as to the Event very uncertain; 
which made Galen assert that Malignant Fe- 
vers will not admit of a Prognostick. Deaf- 
ness in the Beginning portends the greatest 
Danger, but in the Height of the Distemper 
it is a favourable Symptom; but bleeding at
the Nose and a Looseness through the whole 
Course of the Distemper, are very bad Signs: 
And it is almost always reckon'd a very bad 
Symptom when they employ their Hands as if 
they were catching Flies, or picking up Straws 
or Bits of Threads. If on or about the eleventh
Day Buboes arise in the Groin, it betokens
well, and terminates the Fever. 
The Prog- 
nosticks.
The Cure, 
according 
to Etmuller 
and others. 
Malignant Fevers by no Means 
admit of Bleeding; for the more 
malignant they are, the more Mis- 
chief it would do, and the farther 
from the Beginning the worse. Vomits in 
the very Beginning of the Distemper are a- 
bove all Things exceedingly proper; but 
then they should be given before any cuta- 
neous Eruptions appear, otherwise the Op- 
portunity is lost; and afterwards the Cure 
is to be endeavoured by Medicines, and 
Sub-


Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 355
Substances that procure Sweating, Nature 
herself teaching us so much; for frequently 
Sweating carries off the Cause and Fewel of
the Distemper. 
The greater the Malignity is, the more 
Sudorificks, or sweating Medicines, are to be
employ'd, regard being always had to the 
Nature of the Distemper, and its Diversity, 
as also the Strength of the Patient. Sudori- 
ficks are to be given at least three or four 
Times in twenty-four Hours; Analepticks 
and moderate Acids are to be used in the in- 
termediate Times, amongst which dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre is very good; also Tincture of
Saffron extracted with sweet Spirit of Nitre; 
likewise the Juice of Citrons and Quinces;
&c. Camphire is a noble Alexipharmick, but 
every Body cannot bear the Use of it, espe- 
cially some Women, and studious Men, whose 
animal Spirits are easily moved and dissipated. 
Blisters are of singular Use in the State or 
Height of the Distemper. The volatile Salts 
of Hartshorn, and of Vipers, are Sudorificks, 
and resist Malignity; and here the Mistura 
Simplex of Paracelsus takes Place, as well as 
in all pestilential Fevers, being a very noble
Remedy. Its Dose is from one Dram to 
two, to be given once in six or eight Hours, 
a proper Vehicle. 
Notwithstanding Bleeding in this Disease 
has been, and is accounted dangerous by a 
great many Practitioners, it only proves so 
when it is triflingly performed; for if a large 
Z2 Quantity


356 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Quantity of Blood be taken away in the very
Beginning, it secures the Party from Danger. 
But Bleeding had better been quite omitted, 
than not to be performed to a large Quantity, 
even almost to Fainting; and to prevent 
Fainting the Patient ought to be let Blood in 
his Bed. It is to be minded, that where 
there is a Plethora, or the Patient is of a strong
Constitution, more Blood may be taken a- 
way than in a weakly or a phlegmatick Con- 
stitution. After a sufficient Evacuation by 
Bleeding, plentiful Sweating must be pro- 
cured by proper Medicines and Drinks, such 
as Venice Treacle, Mithridate, Diascordium, 
London Treacle, Camphire. Lapis Contrayerva, 
Pulvis ad Guttetam, Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Confection, Treacle-water. Plague-water, Ca- 
stor, Saffron, Cochineal, &c. Of these and 
the like many excellent Sweats may be fram'd 
into either Bolus's, Draughts, or Mixtures, 
interlac'd with nitrous Medicines and Acids, 
according to the Exigency of the Case. When 
Spots appear, neither Bleeding, Vomiting, nor 
even Glysters are to be administered, but Su- 
dorificks and Blisters. 
If the Blood tends to a Dissolution, sweat- 
ing Medicines and spirituous Cordials are very 
improper; but Emulsions, acidulated Drinks, 
and the like, with Bezoarticks, Nitre, and 
gentle astringing Remedies, in order to re- 
duce the Humours to their natural Texture 
and Firmness. Their common Drink ought 
to

Ch. I. thro' the various Stages of Life. 357
to be acidulated with Juice of Lemon, Spirit 
of Sulphur, Elixir of Vitriol, &c. 
Of Spotted Fevers. 
A Spotted Fever is a very ma- 
lignant one, in which, besides the 
Symptoms common to other ma-  
lignant Fevers, there is a very remarkable 
Weariness of the whole Body, an universal 
throbbing and pricking Pain: The Spots ap- 
pear sometimes the fourth Day, but oftener 
about the seventh, especially on the Breast 
and Shoulder-blades, then on the Belly, Legs, 
Arms, and Neck, seldom in the Face. Not 
only Spots, but likewise large Marks, black 
and blue, sometimes appear; and in the De- 
clension of the Distemper sometimes a Spitting
comes on, which carries it off. 
The Symptoms 
of a Spotted 
Fever.
The Spots in the milder Sorts of 
this Fever are florid and very red, 
like Flea-bites: Afterwards they grow pale, 
yellow, and so disappear: The more red they 
are, the better: On the contrary, those that 
are of a livid or pale red, or appear blackish, 
are the worst. If they strike in again, it 
foretells a great deal of Danger. 
Prognosticks.
These Distempers are contagi- 
ous, and sometimes epidemical or 
spreading: They are very danger- 
ous; for of those that are seiz'd with it, more 
die than recover. 
They are 
contagious. 
Spotted Fevers being a Species of 
the Malignant, the same Indications
of Cure are here required as were mentioned
The Cure. 
Z3 above

358 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
above for the Cure of malignant Fevers in 
general. If the Spots strike in too soon, 
Vesicatories are to be employ'd; upon which, 
tho' we are not to expect the Spots to appear 
again, yet in some Measure the Blistering 
answers the End of their not appearing, 
and sometimes very happily prevents the dire- 
ful Symptoms in the nervous System. No 
Evacuation of the Bowels must be attempted, 
such as Vomiting or Purging, or even by 
Glysters, as long as there is any Appearance 
of the Spots. 
CHAP II.
Of the Cure of the most urgent Symptoms
attending Fevers. 
Rigor in 
Fevers. 
THE Coldness and Shiverings 
which happen in the Beginning 
of acute Fevers, are owing to a Diminution 
of the Contraction of the Heart, the Circu- 
lation then being less quick, and the Blood 
actually stagnating in the extreme Parts, and
pressing upon the Heart, creates great Anxie- 
ties, and may produce polypose Concretions 
about the Heart, and in other Parts of the 
Body; therefore a Rigor or Coldness encreases
an Inflammation. Those who die of Quartan, 
Fevers,

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 359
Fevers, die in the cold Fit; and in truth, 
there is no Mischief but what may proceed 
from a Rigor of long Duration; for if it re- 
mains long, sudden Death sometimes ensues; 
and therefore the greater and longer such 
Coldness is, the more dangerous is the Fever. 
In such Rigor or Coldness, all warm Cor- 
dials and stimulating Substances are improper; 
for the first acting with Force upon the right 
Ventricle of the Heart, may drive the Blood 
with too much Force thro' the Lungs; and 
stimulating Substances, by contracting the 
Vessels, often increase Symptoms, which are 
best reliev'd by drinking warm Water with 
a little Rhenish-Wine, wherein a little Nitre 
is dissolved; likewise strong Frictions of the 
extreme Parts are very useful in this Case. 
See farther in the Cure of intermitting Fe-
vers. 
The Degree of feverish Heat may 
be known by the Thermoscope, the 
Sensation of the Patient, the Intense- 
ness of the red Colour of the Urine, the 
Siziness of the Blood, the Dissipation of ths
fluid Parts, which renders it thicker; the 
Hardness, Strength, and Frequency of the 
Pulse, which makes the Friction or Rubbing 
the stronger, to which the Heat is proportio- 
nal, the bad Disposition of the Humours,
the Temperament of the Body. 
Feverish
Heat.
This Heat is moderated by Bleed- 
ing, by muscular Rest, by mode- 
rate Ligatures, which compress the Veins 
The Cure.
Z4 only,

360 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
only, and often remov'd from Joint to Joint, 
by a mechanical Reason retard the Circula- 
tion; of such Sort is dry Cupping, Bathing 
the lower Parts, watery Liquors for Drink, 
not cold but warm; subacid, as Jelly of Cur- 
rants dissolv'd in tepid watery Liquors, De- 
coctions of mealy Substances acidulated, Sub- 
stances that are Anodyne, Substances which 
dissolve Concretions, such as Sugar, Honey, 
and the simple Oxymel; plentiful diluting, 
and restoring as much Water to the Blood, as 
is dissipated by the Heat; all demulcent and 
relaxing Substances, cooling the Air in the 
Room, opening the Curtains, and removing 
too heavy Bed-cloaths. All stimulating and 
styptick Substances are to be avoided; because
they increase the Force of the solid Parts. 
Lenient Glysters and Emulsions are also use- 
ful to mitigate such an excessive Heat.
Caution.  
But great Care is to be taken left 
by cooling too much, the Spirits shoul'd 
receive a sudden Damp, and by that means 
be depriv'd of their Elasticity, whereby the 
burning Fever might unwarily be changed 
into a malignant one, which has been many
a time the Case. 
In Thirst, attending Fevers, the 
Liquors should not be drank quite 
cold; for cold Liquors by constringing the 
Glands of the Palate and Throat, do not 
quench Thirst so well as Liquors moderately 
warm: In this Case acidulated small Liquors
should be plentifully drank. All Salts in-
Thirst.  
crease


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 361
crease Thirst, except Nitre, and dulcify'd 
Spirit of Nitre mix'd with Water, or the 
Patient's common Drink, is useful in this 
Case; so are Barley-Water and Emulsions, 
except in great Weakness and Flatulencies of
the Stomach; in such Case Water mix'd with 
a small Quantity of Rhenish-Wine is best of
all. 
In these Anxieties which at- 
tend Fevers, when the cold Fit is 
over, in such a Case a warmer Re- 
gimen may be allow'd; because Anxieties in 
Fevers often happen by Spasms, or Convul- 
sions from Wind, therefore Spices are useful. 
And in those Anxieties, saponaceous Sub- 
stances which dissolve the Blood are proper, 
as ripe Fruit, and especially Honey, Sugar, 
&c. 
Anxieties in
Fevers.
Sickness and Vomiting may be 
owing to an original Surfeit, and is 
one of the most troublesome Symp- 
toms attending Fevers; because it renders 
the Patient incapable of taking any thing. It 
is often prevented by giving a gentle Vomit, or 
cur'd by promoting the Vomiting for a while 
by warm Water, or thin Chicken-Broth; 
for which Purpose likewise Carduus Tea 
drank in large Draughts may do very well;
but if it does not of itself succeed well, half
a Dram of Salt of Vitriol, or a Spoonful of 
Oxymel of Squills, may be given with the 
Posset. 
Sickness and
Vomiting.
During


362 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
During the Symptom, acid Liquors, and 
even such as are austere and astringent, are 
to be used; because such strengthen the re- 
laxed Fibres of the Stomach; for which Pur- 
pose the following Julap is very effectual. 
Take of Salt of Wormwood 4 Scruples; 
of fresh Juice of Lemon, 2 Ounces; 
mix, and when Ebullition is over, add 
to it of Barley Cinnamon Water, 3 oz. 
of Mint-Water and Nephritick Wa- 
ter, each 1 Ounce; Spirit of Saffron, 
half an Ounce; Syrup of Quinces, 1 
Ounce; mix for a Julap, of which let 
the Patient take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls every 
3 Hours, or oftner. 
Diluting, and sometimes relaxing the Belly, 
and carrying the bilious Salts downwards, 
often cures this Symptom. And Attention 
is to be given to the Appetites of Patients in 
this and many other Cases, who sometimes 
covet odd things which have relieved them, 
as Salt, Vinegar, &c. 
Vomiting from a bilious Cause is cured by 
acidulated small Liquors; and vomiting from 
some putrid Cause, by Salts of all Sorts; and 
in such a Case, Water-Gruel with Cream of 
Tartar, Rhenish Wine with Water, Jelly of 
Currants, Marmalade of Quinces, Sorrel 
boil'd in Broths well skimmed from Fat, are 
exceeding beneficial. 
But


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 363
But if the Vomiting proceeds from a 
phlegmatick Cause, Spices and Bitters will 
relieve; for the Counterpoison must be adapt- 
ed to the Cause: As for Example, in Poison 
from sublimate Corrosive and Arsenick. In  
the first, alkaline Substances are properest; 
in the second, oily Substances are fittest, in 
both Diluents are proper. It will not be dif- 
ficult to judge of the Cause by what the Pa- 
tient throws up from the Stomach, 
Whether a Vomit may be 
safely or properly given, must be 
judg'd by the Circumstances; for 
if there be any Symptoms of an Inflamma- 
tion of the Stomach or Lungs, a Vomit is 
extremely dangerous. 
A Caution in 
giving Vomits.
A Diarrhœa or Looseness some- 
times happens in Fevers, which 
proves often a dangerous and fatal 
Symptom; and this Evacuation is not the 
genuine Motion of Nature for its Relief, but 
arises rather from the Impetuosity and Vio- 
lence of the Distemper, or the stimulating 
Acrimony of the Humours, which in reality 
is a symptomatical Diarrhœa, and ought to
be stopt; for it weakens, excoriates, and in- 
flames the Bowels, occasioning bloody Fluxes, 
thickening the circulating Juices, and ex- 
hausting the Strength of the Patient very 
much; however, a critical Diarrhœa is not 
to be stopt, for fear of incurring the same 
Dangers. 
A Looseness 
in Fevers. 
2 Attention

364 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Attention should be given to the Cause: If 
it proceeds from Acidity, it is to be cured by 
Anti-acids; but as in Fevers the Cause is 
more commonly alkaline and bilious, acid or 
four things relieve best; and it happens some- 
times, that oily Substances by blunting the 
Acrimony will do a great deal of good in 
Diarrhœas; for oily Substances of themselves 
do not irritate or provoke Loosenesses, they 
only lubricate or make the Bowels slippery. 
Vomiting, by evacuating the irritating Cause, 
often cures Diarrhœas. 
Anodyne Substances are proper, and gene- 
rally speaking, solid and dry Food rather than 
liquid. 
The white Decoction of burnt Hartshorn 
is very proper for common Drink, and absor- 
bent testaceous Powders mix'd with Diapho- 
reticks, are likewise very useful in the Case; 
and lastly, we may have Recourse to Venice 
Treacle, Diascordium, &c. But it is obser- 
vable in general, that Laxness of the Body in 
the beginning of Fevers is better than over 
Costiveness, but in the Progress of the Di- 
stemper it is worse. 
Strangury 
in Fevers. 
A Dysuria or Strangury in Fe- 
vers is very troublesome. The com- 
mon Emulsions are very proper to 
mitigate the Ebullition in burning Fevers; 
and commonly they very much asswage this 
vexatious Symptom; as likewise Oil of sweet 
Almonds, with Syrup of Marsh-mallows, or 
a Solution of Sperma Ceti: also a Solution 
of

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 365
of 1 Ounce of Gum-Arabick in a Quart of 
Barley-Water for common Drink, is an ex- 
cellent Remedy, especially when this Symp- 
tom is occasion'd by Blistering. 
Profuse Sweats which happen in 
Fevers, either in the Beginning of the 
Disease, or at any other Time before 
the Crisis, and before the Signs of Concoction 
appear, are symptomatical, and oftentimes 
Colliquative: They proceed from a Laxity 
of the Vessels, and too vehement a Circula- 
tion of the Blood, and ought therefore to be 
restrain'd by Art; for they are very trouble- 
some to the Patient, and they exasperate the 
Distemper, in depriving the Blood of its most 
fluid Parts, thicken and often cause Obstru- 
ctions; so that it is a very bad Practice to 
push Sweating too much in Fevers, except 
in such as are pestilential 
Profuse 
Sweats. 
In profuse Sweats, Care should be taken 
by diluting, to restore the Liquid which the 
Blood loses, and to use the Methods advised 
already in too great Heat, by taking away 
some of the Coverings of the Bed, and ad- 
mitting of cool Air, and using a Diet mo- 
derately astringent, and mild Acids, &c. 
Tinctura Antiphthisica, on Account of the 
Sugar of Lead in the Composition, is 
esteem'd an efficacious Remedy for suppres- 
sing such Sweats; and likewise Sage is very 
good in the Case of profuse Sweats. 
A


366 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Pain of the 
Head. 
A violent Pain in the Head, 
Back, or in the Limbs, especially 
in the beginning of Fevers, requires 
Bleeding; and if that does not relieve, it will 
be proper to give a gentle Vomit if the Sto- 
mach be foul, otherwise a laxative Glyster 
may suffice. 
Watchfulness is a Symptom in Fevers, 
which is sometimes called a Coma Vigil, and 
often precedes too great Sleepiness, and is 
perhaps the most ill-boding Symptom of a 
Fever; therefore the Cause is to be narrow- 
ly enquir'd into; if it proceeds from too 
great Heat and Dryness, cooling and moisten- 
ing things are to be administred; if Pain be 
the Cause, we must endeavour to asswage it 
by proper Remedies, avoiding Opiates, with- 
out an absolute Necessity, especially about 
the time of the Crisis, when the Physician 
may perceive great Restlessness and Inquie- 
tude in the Patient; for it should be always 
remember'd as a Maxim, that a Space of 
time before the Crisis happens, is the most 
troublesome, Nox ante Crisin est molestissima. 
Other Expedients in this Case are, extreme 
Care to keep the Patient from Noise, and 
whatever makes any strong Impression upon 
his Senses, and some of those Helps used in 
a Delirium, for this is an Approach towards 
it; a moist softening Diet, ail Preparations of 
Barley, Emulsions of Poppy Seeds and Al- 
monds, Aliment of Lactecescent or milky 
Plants, especially Lettuces, Decoctions of 
Scorzonera 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 367
Scorzonera Roots, Almond Cream, and what 
is called Winter-Flummery, used as Aliment; 
Tea made of Cowslip Flowers, relaxing gent- 
ly the Belly. 
Coma, or Sleepiness in Fevers, is di- 
rectly contrary to the fore-mentioned Symp- 
tom Wakefulness; the Patient has a continual 
Propensity to doze or sleep, sometimes with a 
real Sleep, and often without it. A Coma 
will proceed either from a Pressure upon the 
Original of the Nerves in the Brain, by too 
great Repletion; or from a Penury or Waste 
of Spirits by too great Inanition.
Coma. 
Old People are subject to Comas by the 
Glewiness of the Fluids circulating in the 
Brain, which being resolved by the Fever, 
obstruct the small Canals of the Brain: But 
in young People it commonly proceeds from 
Fulness, and is best cur'd by Bleeding and re-
laxing the Belly. The Sign of such a Fulness 
is, a red Countenance and inflamed Eyes; but 
if it proceeds from a glutinous Oil, it ought 
to be resolved by Water, nitrous Salts, Soaps, 
Subacid Liquors, and Blisters, not forgetting 
the Use of sharp Glysters. 
In a feverish Delirium there is a small 
Inflammation of the Brain; therefore any- 
thing which increases the Circulation in the 
Lower Parts, and diminishes the Pressure on 
the Brain, is beneficial; as bathing the Feet 
in warm Water; nothing relieves the Head 
more than the Piles, therefore Suppositories 
of Honey, Aloes, and Rock-salt ought to be
Delirium  
made 

368 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
made use of; relaxing by emollient and wa- 
tery Substances, both in Drink and Glysters, 
especially Barley, Cream, and Barley-gruel, 
are to be frequently used: Likewise Bleeding 
in the Foot, and Blisters will be of great Ser- 
vice in this Case. 
Of Convulsions in Fevers. 
Convul-
sions. 
Nothing is of more Importance 
than rightly to know the Cause and the 
Seat of this Distemper, which is com- 
monly very obscure. In Infants Convulsions 
commonly proceed from Acidity in the Sto- 
mach and Intestines, which are cured by Ab- 
sorbents, such as testaceous Powders of all sorts, 
and gentle Purges and Glysters; but in such 
indeed Convulsions attending Fevers are not 
altogether so dangerous. 
Convulsions arising from Acrimony in the 
Stomach, or from any thing vellicating a 
Nerve in its Extremity, and not in its Origi- 
nal where it rises from the Brain, are not 
very dangerous; but Convulsions, which pro- 
ceed from too great Evacuations, as great 
Hæmorrhages attending Fevers, are very dan- 
gerous, and frequently mortal. 
Convulsions proceeding from an Inflamma- 
tion of the Membranes of the Brain are com- 
monly fatal: The Symptoms attending such 
are, a great Heat and Thirst, a hard Pulse, 
and a Delirium; so that the Remedies, and 
even those from Diet, are to be used accord- 
ing to the particular Seat of the Distemper; 
for

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 369
for if it be from the Stomach, such Aliments 
as are contrary to the particular Acrimony, 
Acid, Alkaline, or Oily, impacted there, as 
in the Case of Vomiting, already described. 
But if they arise from something obstructed 
in the Brain, such Convulsions are generally 
cur'd by Diluting, Relaxing, Revulsions, and 
softening both the Fluids and Solids, and 
using such Substances especially as open the 
Belly; and in general the Regimen prescribed 
in a Delirium or Coma: For it would be a 
Folly to rely here on the Medicines, which, 
by their pompous Titles of Anti-spasmodick 
and Anti-hystericks promise a specifick Cure; 
besides, all Volatiles, spicy and cordial Sub- 
stances, are here destructive.
Of Weakness in Fevers. 
A feverish Weakness proceeds from 
too great Fulness in the Beginning, and too 
great Penury or Inanition in the latter End of 
the Distemper; for whatever stops or retards 
the Circulation of the Fluids in the smallest 
Vessels, especially those in the Brain, produces 
this Symptom, which either of the Causes now 
mentioned will certainly do; And those two 
Causes require a different Method of Cure; 
for in the first, emptying and diluting is re- 
quisite; in the latter, a more plentiful Nou- 
rishrnent, the Use of Wine diluted with Wa- 
ter, and Spices in small Quantities, Jellies, 
Broths qualified with some gentle Acid, un- 
less there be Signs of Acidity; but in that 
Weakness. 
Aa Case

370 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Case the Diet should be contrary to that 
Symptom; in which Case Viper Broth, and all 
other Broths are both anti-acid and nourishing. 
In Weakness from too great a Loss of Blood, 
Wine and Food which is easily digested and 
assimilated or converted into Blood, is pro- 
per; for a small Quantity of Blood often- 
times brings the Patient into a Dropsy. Fric- 
tions of the Limbs relieve Weaknesses, as they 
promote a Flux of Juices and Spirits in the 
Joints and Limbs, by which Means they will 
bring Nourishment to those Parts. 
Fat People are most subject to the Symp- 
tom of Weakness in Fevers; because the Fat, 
being melted by the Heat of the Fever, Part 
of it obstructs the small Canals or Vessels, and 
consequently produces this Symptom; which 
is evident from the great Loss of Fat such 
Persons sustain in Fevers, by the Laxity of 
the Fibres, and the Emptiness of the smaller 
Vessels; and therefore such should be treated 
with particular Care, for after due Evacua- 
tions they ought to dilute plentifully both by 
Drink and Glysters, avoiding all fat and oily 
Things, and using Sugar, Honey, and ripe 
Fruits. 
Of inflammatory Eruptions in Fevers. 
In all these of any Kind whatever, as Small- 
Pox, Meazles, Purples, Scarlet-fever, Ery- 
sipelas, or St. Anthony's Fire, the Intention of 
Diet ought to be, to avoid strong Sudorificks, 
or sweating Things, which push out too great 
a Quan-

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 171
a Quantity of the Matter upon the Skin; to 
use cooling and temperate Diluters, which 
will keep the Matter moveable, so that it may 
be secreted from the Blood; to keep warm 
during the Eruption; and that the Diet be 
cool; for which Reason the moderate Use of 
Acids, as Juice of Limons, &c, are necessary; 
and above all things Bleeding must not be 
omitted. 
A due Attention to the few Rules above- 
mentioned, in the several Symptoms, will 
prove successful in the Cure of most Fevers. 
Of the Small-pox. 
Notwithstanding I have taken notice just 
now of Eruptive Fevers in general, yet as this 
is one of the most dangerous and universal 
that infests Mankind, I shall treat of it in this 
Place in particular. Therefore, the greatest 
and most important Steps for the Recovery of 
the Patient must be made at the Time of the 
Invasion, or first State of this Distemper;
wherefore it is very necessary to know the first
Symptoms of it; for many have suffer'd by 
mistaking it for another Disorder. 
In general, young People who have not 
had the Disease, ought to be very care- 
ful in avoiding Irregularities in their Diet;
because the Small-pox which seizes such Per- 
sons often proves fatal. This Disease is like- 
wise more dangerous as the Fluids are more 
heated and dissipated, and the Solids more 
Aa2 strict 

372 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strict and compacted, and consequently it is 
more so, as People are advanced in Years. 
First
Stage. 
The first Symptoms are a Chilness 
and Rigor, succeeded by a Fever and 
constant Heat, a certain Splendor or Shining- 
in the Eyes, with a little Moisture, which is 
very observable in Children; a great Pain in 
the Head, with Drowsiness, Dullness, and 
Sleepiness; a Pain in the Back in some, but 
Pains in the Limbs in all; Anxiety, Inquie- 
tude notwithstanding their Drowsiness; loath- 
ing Sickness at the Stomach, Vomiting, and 
Convulsions in Infants shortly before the E- 
ruption; and the Blood taken away the first
Time, florid; but on the second, third, and 
fourth Time it appears sizy, like that of pleu- 
ritick People. 
Therefore it is manifest that in this State 
the Distemper ought to be treated as any 
other inflammatory Disease, by such Methods 
as if it were possible to hinder any Suppuration 
at all; and to resolve and digest as much of 
the feverish Matter as possibly we can; for the 
longer the Eruption is a coming, and the fewer 
when it comes, the Disease is less dangerous; 
therefore all the Methods practised in the Be- 
ginning of inflammatory Distempers are here 
necessary and proper, with a particular Care 
of cleansing the alimentary Passage by Vomit- 
ing and Glysters, the Impurities of which 
will otherwise be carried into the Blood. 
The learned Boerhaave says, that as there is 
not yet found any particular Antidote to the 
poisonous

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 373
poisonous Quality of this Disease; but that if 
any such could be found, as he is of Opinion 
it may, it must be in Antimony and Mercury 
brought to a great Degree of Penetrability,
without being too corrosive by a Saline Acri- 
mony, but well united; for the Effects of Mer- 
cury on all Ulcerations are notorious. 
In the first Stage then of the Small-pox, the 
whole Habit of the Body ought to be relax'd 
both inwardly and outwardly, and a free 
Perspiration through the Pores of the Skin, 
without violent Sweats be promoted; the 
Viscidity or Glewiness of the Fluids taken off 
by Diluters: All these Things may be affected 
by Glysters, Fomentations and Gargles, and 
a plentiful life of Drinks often repeated, made 
of thin Water-gruel and other mealy Decoc- 
tions, and such like cooling Liquors, with 
nitrous and acid Salts, or some other acid Sub- 
stances mix'd with them, such as the Juice of 
Oranges, Limons, Tamarinds, and other sub- 
acid Fruits, &c. no Flesh to be allow'd, un- 
less some small Chicken-broth at Times; the 
Air ought not to spoiled by Heat, or the Bed- 
Clothes so thick and heavy as to produce great 
Sweats. 
For more People are lost in the Small-pox, 
by being thrown into large and violent Sweats 
in the Beginning of the Eruption, than by any 
other Errors committed at all other Times: 
The Reason is, because great Sweats drain the 
small Blood-Vessels of the necessary Fluid, 
by which Circulation is hinder'd and the Blood 
Aa3 coagu-

374 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
coagulates, by which Means the Inflamma- 
tion is hurried on into a Gangrene, without 
being able to furnish the necessary Work of 
Impostumation in the Glands of the Skin, or 
of being dissipated by other proper Means. 
Second 
Stage. 
When this Disease has run off its first 
Stage, which is call'd by the learned 
Boerhaave, that of Contagion, it enters 
into the second, in the following Manner: 
The Skin of the Head and Face first, then of 
the Hands and Arms, and lastly of the Body 
and lower Parts, are mark'd with little red 
Points like Flea-bites; thereupon the Symp- 
toms abate, and the red Pustles increase every 
Hour in Largeness and Number; they con- 
tinually rise higher and higher, inflame more, 
and the Skin is stretch'd; they begin to pain 
and to burn ; the Circulation is interrupted, 
and Perspiration hinder'd; hence a great Re- 
turn of the Humours towards the inward 
Parts; a Fever arises, with Anxieties, Diffi- 
culty of Breathing, a Pain in the Jaws, some- 
times a Quinsy, a Looseness, Bloody-flux, 
Bloody-urine, Spitting of Blood. The Parts of 
the Skin free from Pustles are red and in- 
flamed, painful and hot; all which, or most 
of which, when they have lasted four, five, 
or six Days, are now intirely suppurated, and 
converted into as many small Impostumes. 
And this is likewise call'd by the above-men- 
tioned Author, the Stage of the Inflammation 
until the Suppuration: It lasts (according to 
the Difference of the epidemical Season, and 
that


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 375
that of the Patient, the Greatness and Vio- 
lence of each particular Case, and the Regi- 
men hot or cold made use of) most times 
four or five Days; so that the Suppuration is 
compleated about the eighth Day, reckoning 
from the first Beginning; and the Blood, if 
let out of a Vein, is extremely inflamed. 
From what has been said, the Diagnosticks 
and Prognosticks of the second State of the 
Small-pox may be learned, and the Rationale 
of it, and all its Symptoms, which will be 
plainer still by observing the following Rules. 
1. The gentler the State of Contagion, that 
is, the first Stage, the easier likewise is the in- 
flammatory State, which is the second Stage 
of the Distemper. 
2. The slower the Pustles break out, the 
longer therefore the State of Contagion, so the 
easier and milder is the whole Course of the 
Disease through all its Stages. 
3. The fewer, more distant, bigger, more 
remote from the Face, whiter and afterwards 
the yellower the Pustles are, and the later 
they appear, so much the better Event they 
promise. 
4. The more in Quantity, more mix'd and 
intangled, the less in Bulk those that stand 
single, the more they appear upon the Face, 
tawny or black, and the quicker they grow, 
so much the worse. 
5. The more the Matter of the Pimples is 
like to kind and perfect Pus, the better. 
Aa4 6. The

376 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
6. The more the Matter in the Pimples 
resembles a gangrenous Ichor, the worse. 
7. The more the Space between the Pim- 
ples appears red, is hot, stretch'd, and swell'd 
about the Time of their impostumating, so 
much the greater Hopes, because it is a Sign 
of the Circulation's being preserved there. 
8. But the more that same Space looks 
paler, or grows tawny or black, so much 
the worse; for there follows a mortal Quinsy 
or Peripneumony, unless a thin Salivation, or 
a great Swelling of the Hands or Feet doth 
ensue: The Reason is, because the Circula- 
tion of the Fluids is cut off in those Parts, 
and drove back and increased in the internal 
nobler Parts. 
9. If in the Space between the Pimples 
there appear purple Spots, it is a sign that a 
mortal Gangrene is at hand or present. 
The Indication in this second State of the 
Disease, is different according to the different 
Time that the Disease has lasted, and is like 
to last: for in the Beginning of the external 
Inflammation shewing itself, it appears rea- 
sonable to endeavour to prevent its proceeding 
to an Impostumation, as has been observed 
already; or, if that be neglected, Care ought 
to be taken that the Suppuration be as lit- 
tle as possible, and promoted slowly and far 
from the Head; which may be effected, first, 
by keeping the Patient to the thinnest Diet, 
which at the same time resists Putrefaction, 
Secondly, by giving him diluting, soft and sub- 
acid


Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 377
acid Drink. Thirdly, Medicines that prevent 
the making of much Pus or Matter, such as 
are opening and diluting, in great Quantities 
and often given; likewise Blisters applied to 
the Hollows of the Feet and Legs. Fourthly, 
A cool Regimen, and chiefly by the Admis- 
sion of pure and fresh Air, (as was observed 
in the first State) and at the same Time co- 
vering the Limbs and lower Parts of the 
Body warm. Fifthly, If the Distemper pro- 
ceeds too violently on the fifth Night, a 
gentle Opiate may be safely given to an Ad- 
vantage, and repeated every Night to the 
End of the Disease, if the Lungs are not too 
much oppress'd, and Respiration very diffi- 
cult. 
After the running off of the 
second Stage follows the third 
State, being that of Impostumation, during 
which it increases and arrives at its Height: 
In this the Pustles, already purulent, grow 
larger every Day; then they ripen, turn 
white, yellow, and break on the third or 
fourth Day of this State. Then the whole 
Skin, and its subjacent Fat, abound with a 
moveable Pus or Matter; it is dried exter- 
nally, and inflamed in every Part free from 
Matter or Pus: Hence, from the Impedi- 
ment of Perspiration and Circulation, from 
the Irritation of the membranous and nervous 
System, from the absorbing of the Pus into the 
Veins, there comes on a Fever of the worst 
Kind, with the worst Symptoms; and if this
Third Stage.
puru- 

378 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
purulent Matter mix'd with the Blood is 
moved long, it putrefies: Hence, according 
to its falling upon different Parts of the Body, 
it produces cruel and scarce superable Effects, 
such as Deliriums, Phrensies, Quinsies, Peri- 
pneumonies, Pleurisies, Vomitings, Bloody- 
fluxes, Inflammations of the Liver, Impos- 
tumations of the same; Boils, Tumors, Ab- 
scesses, and Stiffness of the Joints; a Wasting, 
Consumption, and a great many more Evils. 
In this third State great Care ought to be 
taken to promote the Discharge of the Pus 
to the external Part, driving it from the In- 
ternals; which may be effected by relaxing 
the Skin with lukewarm softening Fomenta- 
tions, and often; constantly walking and 
gargling the Mouth and Throat; drinking 
much of warm, cordial, detergent, and o- 
pening Decoctions, which are contrary to Pu- 
trefaction; injecting daily a gentle, diluting, 
emollient, and laxative Glyster, and to be kept 
long; or sometimes a gentle Purge with Rhu- 
barb and Manna; dieting upon thin Broths 
duely salted and acidulated; allowing now 
and then a moderate Glass of good generous 
Wine; giving also a sufficient Dose of Syrup 
of White Poppies, or some other Opiate, a- 
gainst any violent or troublesome Symptoms 
that may arise. 
If the Small-pox proves to be of the worst 
Kind, and that there is rather a gangrenous 
Ichor than laudable Pus, that almost the 
whole Skin is beset with it; hence it may 
easily

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 379
easily appear, why this Disease is often so un- 
avoidably fatal, notwithstanding all the pos- 
sible Care taken; and it will be yet much 
plainer to any one acquainted with Dissections, 
that as the external Skin is full, so the Eyes, 
all the Membranes of the Nostrils, all the 
Covers of the Mouth, the Wind-pipe, the 
Bronchia, the Stomach, the Gullet, Intes- 
tines, Liver, Spleen, and Lungs, are full of 
the like Pustles; and hence he will under- 
stand what has been said, and see what is re- 
quisite for the Cure. Thus far the Senti- 
ments of Boerhaave concerning the Small- 
pox. 
The Greatness and Danger of this Disease 
is estimated by the Quantity of Pimples on 
the Face and Head; therefore the Matter 
ought to be solicitated to the lower Parts by 
all possible Methods, especially the Legs, by 
Fomentations, Bathing, Blistering, and, thro'
the whole Course of the Disease, keeping the 
Feet and Legs warm; the Breast and Head 
not any more cover'd than to keep them from 
the Injury of the cold Air. 
During the filling and ripening of the Pustles 
the Diet may be allow'd a little more plentiful, 
but yet not hot or inflammatory, with the due 
Use of anodyne Things, or such as allay Pains 
and Restlessness. In this State every Thing 
that abates Acrimony is proper; and, where 
the Circumstances of the Patient require it, 
a Spoonful or two of good White Wine, 
twice or thrice a Day, may be likewise useful.
The

380 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Diet in this State should also be adapted 
to the particular Symptoms of the Disease, 
as cleansing, attenuating, and expectorating; 
and to promote spitting by Diureticks. 
When the Temperament, Age, high Pulse, 
and especially Watchfulness and Delirium re- 
quire Bleeding in any other Case, why not 
in this State? which is known to have been 
used with great Success; for a great many 
Vessels in this State are almost unpassable by 
the Fluids; and those who die of this Distem- 
per have inward Inflammations, especially in 
the Lungs, all which seem to justify that 
Bleeding is necessary in the Case. 
But the gangrenous Disposition which ap- 
pears in the malignant Sort, is a Reason against
it; for hardly any Thing will avail in ex- 
treme malignant Cases. In such malignant 
Kinds, all that is left, is, at least to endeavour 
to evacuate the peccant Matter by other 
Ways, as Blistering and Stools, procured by 
Lenitives not irritating, which would only 
hurry the Humours and increase the Fever. 
For farther Particulars concerning this 
dreadful Distemper, see the celebrated Sy- 
denham's Account of the Distinct, Confluent, 
and Anomalous Small-pox, which nothing can 
excel. 
The Meazles and Scarlet Fever, (tho' not 
near so dangerous) require much the same 
Regimen, and the same Method of Cure, as 
the Small-pox, the Scarlet Fever not differing 
from the Meazles, except it be in the Manner
of 

Ch. II. thro' the various Stages of Life. 381
of the Efflorescence only, insomuch that it 
may not improperly be called the Confluent 
Meazles, for the Efflorescence in the Meazles 
makes its Appearance in different Figures and 
Shapes, from whence the Skin is diversify'd 
with several Colours; whereas in the Scarlet 
Fever the Skin is spread all over with one con- 
tinued Inflammation and Redness. 
CHAP. III. 
Of Inflammatory Diseases with a Fever. 
NOW those inflammatory Distempers are 
to be considered, which being attended 
with an acute Fever, do besides induce a sin- 
gular Inflammation of this or that Organ of 
the Body, the depraved Function of which 
gives a Name to each particular Disease of 
that Kind; such are the Phrensy, Quinsy, 
Pleurisy, Peripneumony, the Inflammation of 
the Breast, of the Diaphragm, Stomach, Li- 
ver, Spleen, Mesentery †, Guts, Kidneys, 
Bladder; of the Joints, as in Rheumatisms; 
and of the Surface of the Body, as in the 
Meazles, Scarlet Fever, and Small-pox. 
Of
† A membranous Part in the lower Belly, to which the 
Guts are connected. 


382 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of a Phrensy, or Inflammation of the Brain. 
True or symp- 
tomatick.
A Phrensy is either essential or 
symptomatick: An essential or 
true Phrensy is when there is a 
primary Inflammation of the Brain, or ra- 
ther of the Meninges ‡, with a Delirium and 
an acute Fever. The Symptomatick Phrensy, 
or Phrenitis, is occasioned by a Translation 
of the febrile Matter or Inflammation, &c. 
from other Parts upon the Brain. 
A true Phrensy kills the third, fourth, or 
seventh Day, or else it produces Madness, a 
Lethargy, or Coma; and a Phrensy coming 
upon a Peripneumony, or the Iliack Passion,
is mortal; upon the Small-pox, is very dan- 
gerous. 
This Disease, of all others, requires the 
most powerful Remedies without any Delay, 
which are able to remove the Inflammation 
of the Arteries of the Brain, and are chiefly 
to be taken from the general Cure of Inflam- 
mations in Fevers, describ'd in the foregoing 
Chapter, observing at the same time the fol- 
lowing Rules. 
Copious Bleeding, by opening the tempo- 
ral Arteries, or more Veins at once, in the 
Foot, Throat, and Forehead, with large Ori- 
fices, are the most effectual Remedies. Great 
Quantities of cooling Decoctions ought to be 
given
‡ Are Membranes which cover and embrace the Brain, 
and they are called the Dura Mater, and the Pia Mater, or 
Meninges.



Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 383
given often and warm, with large Portions of 
Nitre. Then cooling Purges, and at the 
Time of their working, to give Draughts of 
diluting nitrous Liquors. Sometimes Glysters 
of the like Kind, with lenitive Electuary, or 
Honey, or any such Openers may be given. 
Solliciting the Blood to other Parts of the 
Body; therefore tepid Bathings of the lower 
Parts, and emptying the Piles with Leaches, 
relaxing Fomentations apply'd to the Veins, 
which carry the Blood from the Head, re- 
lieve in this Disease. We should likewise ap- 
ply Blisters and Cupping-glasses to the inferior 
Parts; Blistering the Back, and even the Head 
sometimes, in phlegmatick Constitutions espe- 
cially, has been found useful. The Body 
ought to be kept moderately cool, and set 
upright if possible, for the warm Air of the 
Bed exagitates the Blood. 
But if the Phrensy has been occasioned by 
a pre-existent inflammatory Distemper in 
some other Part, it ought to be carefully 
minded, whether the Nature of that Illness 
will bear the Applications above-mention'd;
which if not, then it ought to be cured ac- 
cording to the Method peculiar to that ori- 
ginal Distemper, always adding the Reme- 
dies that divert from the Head, and that are 
externally apply'd. 
The Diet ought to be slender, of mealy 
Substances, as Water-Gruel acidulated, or 
subacid ripe Fruits, with their Jellies, the 
Drink small, diluting and cooling, Barley- 
Water,

384 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Water, and the Decoction of Tamarinds are 
all necessary and useful. For farther Satis- 
faction herein, see the Articles of Delirium 
and Watchfulness in the preceding Chapter. 
Of a Quinsy. 
A Quinsy without 
a Tumour almost 
always mortal.
There are two Species of it; 
the first is without any sensi- 
ble Tumour either externally 
or internally; but the other Species of a 
Quinsy is attended with a Tumour. The 
first Sort is commonly the Conse- 
quence of some very long continued 
Disease, chiefly after very large and often re- 
peated Evacuations. It is accompa- 
nied with a Paleness, Dryness, and 
Thinness of the Jaws; because for the most
part the Nerves and Muscles of those Parts 
being relaxed, are most times paralytick, and 
it is a Sign almost always that Death is just- 
at hand. It is seldom cur'd, and then 
only with Remedies which fill the 
empty Vessels with good vital Nourishment, 
and things that warm and strengthen the 
Body in general. 
The Cause. 
The Signs. 
The Cure. 
A Quinsy with a 
Tumour of various 
Sorts. 
The other Species of the 
Quinsy, viz. with a Tumour in 
the Throat, occasioning a Dif- 
ficulty of Breathing and Swallowing, may 
be of various Sorts; sometimes it proceeds 
from a Serosity obstructing the Glands, which 
may be watery, œdematous, or schirrous, ac-
cording

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 385
cording to the different Degrees of the Vi- 
scidity of the Humours, sometime inflam- 
matory, which Inflammation will sometimes 
terminate in a Suppuration, or Gangrene. 
The Regimen and Cure in those 
Quinsys, which proceed merely from 
watery, œdematous, and thin catarrhous Hu- 
mours obstructing the Glands, must be first, 
to use such warm Liquors as relax gently, 
soften and moisten these Glands; Secondly, 
such Medicines as carry off the redundant 
Serum, by Stools, Sweat, and Urine; or by 
stimulating, and opening the Emunctories of 
these Glands to secern the stagnated Hu- 
mours, which may be obtained by the Ap- 
plication of Cataplasms, Gargles, Injections 
with Syringes, and by lessening the Quan- 
tity of the Lympha with Masticatories, Bli- 
sters, and smart Purges that will promote 
watery Stools. 
The Cure. 
In a mere watery Tumour, the Diet may 
be more warm than in inflammatory Kinds; 
and therefore the moderate Use of Wine of- 
ten relieves the Patient. 
But a Difficulty of Breathing and Swallow- 
ing, proceeding from Schirrosities of the 
Glands, is not to be cured any other Way 
than by extirpating the Schirrus, which 
alone will be a safe Remedy: or the Surgeon 
must with Prudence endeavour to fix a Cau- 
stick in the middle of the Tumour, to eat 
the same out; which is feasible enough when 
the Seat is near the Jaws. 
Bb In

386 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
In the inflammatory Species of a Quinsy 
we ought, by all means possible, endeavour 
to procure a Resolution: First, By large and 
repeated Bleedings. Secondly, The Belly 
must be loosened stoutly with either Purges, 
or purging Glysters frequently injected. 
Thirdly, By a very thin and slender Diet, 
such as Whey with Tamarinds boiled in it; 
Decoctions and Emulsions of farinaceous 
Vegetables moderately acidulated, and such 
as abound with a cooling nitrous Salt. Fourth- 
ly, By Medicines of the nitrous and acid 
Kind. Fifthly, By soft, warm Vapours con- 
stantly receiv'd upon the Part, bathing and 
fomenting the Feet, and Derivations by Bli- 
sters. When Swallowing is totally abolish'd, the 
Patient may be nourish'd by nourishing Gly- 
sters, which is known to have been done for 
a whole Week, after which the Tumour sup- 
purated. 
If the Inflammation ends in a Gangrene, 
the Case proves generally mortal, except it 
be only in the Tonsils, Uvula, and Palate, 
and reach no farther, which Parts may be 
separated, and the Patient recover. 
Of a Pleurisy. 
Diagnostick. 
A Pleurisy is an Inflammation 
of the Pleura, being a double Mem- 
brane which covers all the Cavity of the 
Breast; tho' that is hardly distinguishable 
from

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 387
from an Inflammation of any other Part of 
the Breast, which are all from the same 
Cause, a stagnant Blood; for there is no Part 
of the Internal Integuments of the Chest, 
which is not capable of being seized there- 
with, whether it be the Pleura or the Me- 
diastinum; and therefore the pricking Pain 
may be felt in any Part of the Breast: But 
most commonly it attacks the Sides, and this 
having a Fever join'd with it, is a true 
Pleurisy; but if such a Pain affects the su- 
perior intercostal Muscles, it is called a spu- 
rious Pleurisy. 
In a true Pleurisy, Bleeding large- 
ly, and often repeated in the Begin- 
ning ought to be perform'd, and that by a 
large Orifice; and the Rule is, to repeat Bleed- 
ing so often until there appears no longer any 
Siziness on the Top of the Blood: and at the 
same time, Fomentations and Leniments 
may be used externally. For internal Use, Di- 
luters, Resolvents, Coolers and Lenients that 
will asswage Pain, are proper; and all such 
Things should be taken warm, and in great 
Quantities. 
The Cure.
Sometimes the Part inflamed tends to a 
Suppuration, which is known by the obsti- 
nate Violence of the Pain and Fever, &c.
and continuing longer than the 4th Day. That 
an Abscess is form'd may be known by a fre- 
quent shivering, a Remission of Pain, Short- 
ness of Breath, and being able only to lie on 
one Side, which is the Side that is affected. 
Bb2 When


388 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Abscess is broken, the purulent 
Matter falls into the Cavity of the Chest, 
and increases by the Discharge from the Ul- 
cer, which produces an Empyema, of which 
I shall give an Account hereafter. But some- 
times the Part affected becomes schirrous, 
with an Adhesion of the Lungs and Pleura; 
hence an Asthma and dry Cough, an incura- 
ble Distemper, unless perhaps there may be 
some Relief had from much Exercise and 
Riding. 
Sometimes a Pleurisy turns to a Gangrene, 
which causes sudden Death; that a Gangrene 
is begun, may be known from the Delirium, 
the livid Colour of the Chest, a sort of bi- 
lious Spitting, and from a Cessation of Pain. 
The Prog- 
nosticks. 
Hippocrates observes, that if in 
Beginning of a Pleurisy, within 
the space of three Days, the Spit- 
ting is Bloody, it shews that the Distemper 
will be but short; if the Spitting of Blood 
comes on later, the Distemper will likely run 
into a greater Length. He adds, that if 
Pleuritick Persons do not expectorate, an Ab- 
scess will be form'd in fourteen Days; and 
such may be freed from that, if they can 
fully discharge the Matter by spitting in forty 
Days from the Time of the Rupture of the 
Abscess, otherwise they fall into a Consump- 
tion. 
In this Distemper the Spitting is to be regard- 
ed more than the Urine; and a Pleurisy that 
seems slight in the Beginning, and proceeding 
so

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 389
so till the fifth Day, but growing worse the 
sixth, is commonly mortal. When the Sup- 
puration is made, or Matter form'd in a 
Pleurisy, the Side must be open'd to let out 
the Matter. 
Of a Peripneumony. 
A true Peripneumony is 
an Inflammation of the bron- 
chial and pulmonary Vessels, 
or of the whole Body of the 
Lungs, or of one Lobe only. If the whole 
Lungs are affected the Case is desperate, and 
deem'd incurable; because the Circulation 
must be stopt, and no Blood can flow back 
into the Heart; the others sometimes admit 
of a Cure. It is to be treated after the same 
Manner, and with the same Remedies as a 
Pleurisy, and most commonly it has the 
same Event. 
A true Peripneumony 
or Inflammation of
the Lungs. 
If the Inflammation be not dis- 
cussed in fourteen Days Time, an 
Abscess will be formed; the Signs of which 
are Shiverings, an Abatement of the Pain, and 
a low Pulse, Difficulty of Breathing, Thirst, 
and a slight Fever still remaining in the 
Evenings, &c. Upon this sometimes a sudden 
Suffocation happens from an Eruption of the 
purulent Matter into the Wind-pipe; some- 
times it is evacuated by spitting it up in great 
Quantities; or, if the Rupture so happens, it 
falls into the Cavity of the Chest, from 
whence proceeds an Empyema, a Phthisis, &c. 
Prognostick. 
Bb3 Lastly,

390 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Lastly, the purulent Matter is absorbed by 
the pulmonary Veins, and is mix'd with the 
Blood; and by means of the Circulation, is 
deposited in some one of the Viscera, as the 
Liver, the Spleen, the Brain, &c. Hence it 
comes to pass that peripneumonick Abscesses 
happen about the Ears, Legs, or Hypochon- 
dria, where if they suddenly disappear, and 
the Peripneumony returns, the Case is mor- 
tal. 
The Type of a 
spurious Peri- 
pneumony. 
A spurious Peripneumony com- 
monly proceeds from a thick pi- 
tuitous Matter, generated in the 
Mass of Blood, which gradually settling itself 
on the Lungs, forms the Distemper. Old 
People, and such as are of pituitous, cold, 
catarrhous Constitutions, and such as are 
troubled with Defluxions of Rheums, are 
more subject to this Distemper than others. 
It creeps on unawares upon People with a 
fallacious Lenity at first; they are slightly in- 
disposed, complaining of a sort of Weariness 
and Debility; they seem to be dispirited;
they grow short-breath'd, and feel an Op-
pression of the Breast; but as the Disorder is 
hardly considerable enough to raise any great 
preternatural Heat or Fever, they are not 
apprehensive of any Danger: After a while 
however they are seiz'd with Shiverings and a 
small Fever, from whence the Difficulty of 
Breathing and great Weakness increase, and 
Death approaches, which surprizes the By-
standers,

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 391
standers, the Urine and Pulse having not such 
a sudden Change. 
This Distemper is cured by the 
following Method; first, let the Pa- 
tient be blooded out of a large Vein; second- 
ly, a Glyster ought be given every Day, till 
it appears that the Lungs are eased; thirdly, 
his Diet ought to be of thin Flesh Broths, 
Jellies with some Juice of Lemon or Oranges; 
his Drink also small, of Water and Honey; 
fourthly, to use diluting, cleansing, and gently 
opening Apozems, often and in large Quan- 
tities, bathing the Legs and Feet, and ap- 
plying many Blisters, 
The Cure.
Of an Empyema. 
An Empyema is a Collection of 
purulent Matter in the Cavity of the 
Thorax most commonly occasion'd 
by the Rupture of an Abscess, produced by a 
Pleurisy or Peripneumony: It is known, if 
for twenty Days after the Beginning of the 
Inflammation there has been no Expectora- 
tion; from a dry Cough, a Weight on the 
Diaphragm *, being able to lie only on one 
Side; from a fluctuating Noise of the Pus or 
Matter upon moving the Body, a slow Fever, 
Redness in the Cheeks, Hollowness of the 
Eyes, Heat in the Tops of the Fingers, Crook- 
edness of the Nails, and a Tumor of the 
Belly.
Empyema 
what. 
Bb4 As 
* It is a tranverse Membrane, which separates the Thorax
or Chest from the Abdomen or lower Belly.
 


392 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The Cure. 
As to what relates to the Cure of 
an Empyema, when it is once known 
that there is a Rupture of an Abscess of the 
Lungs, Pleura, Diaphragm, or the Mediasti- 
tium †, or Pericardium ‡, endeavours must 
be used to discharge the Matter by Expec- 
toration, by the urinary Passages, or by Stool, 
if Nature offers to do it those Ways; for if 
purulent Mttter appears in the Urine, let diu- 
retick Medicines be given; if purulent Stools 
happen, laxative Purges; if Spitting offers, 
expectorating Medicines: Some make Issues 
with Causticks betwixt the Ribs. For inter- 
nal Use, Balsamicks, Vulneraries, Decoctions 
of the Woods, Jellies of Hartshorn, and 
Ground-Ivy, are very much commended. 
But if all Remedies fail, the Cure must 
be attempted by an Aperture of the Thorax, 
with a proper Instrument on the Side affected, 
between the 4th and 5th, or 5th and 6th 
Ribs, counting from the lowermost, drawing 
off the Matter gently and gradually: From 
the Nature of the Pus, when taken out, and 
other Circumstances of the Patient, one may 
deduce a Prognostick of what may likely be 
the Event. 
If the Empyema be of a long standing, 
and the Strength of the Patient exhausted, 
the Hair of the Head falling off, and there 
be a colliquative Looseness, the Habit of the 
Body
† Is a Membrane which divides the Lungs and other Vi- 
scera of the Breast into two Parts. 
‡ A Membrane which surrounds the whole Substance of 
the Heart. 


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 393
Body tabid, &c. the Operation of the Para- 
centesis will serve only to hasten Death. 
Of a Paraphrenitis, or an Inflammation of 
the Diaphragm. 
A Paraphrenitis is a Disease much like a 
Pleurisy, wherein the Diaphragm, or at least 
part of it, is really inflamed; and this is what 
happens more frequently than is commonly- 
believed, mistaking it for another Distemper, 
It is known by a continual Fever, an exqui- 
site Pain very much increased upon Inspira- 
tion, by which it is distinguish'd from a Pleu- 
risy, in which the greateft Pain is in Expira- 
tion; besides, the Breath is fetch'd deep, 
quick, and suffocating, and seems only to be 
performed by the Motion of the Breast; It 
is likewise attended with a Delirium, Fury, 
and an involuntary Laughter, and Convul- 
sions; and altho' the Whole of the Distem- 
per is known, yet it is generally mortal. 
This Distemper terminates as Pleurifies and 
Peripneumonies, but a great deal more fatal; 
If it suppurates the Pus, it is evacuated into 
the lower Belly, where it produces Putrefac- 
tion, and a most miserable and painful Death. 
The Regimen, if any can be successful, 
ought to be the same as in Pleurisies, and the 
Cure likewise. 
Of an Inflammation of the Stomach. 
As other Parts of the Body, so 
may likewise the Stomach he seized 
The Signs.
with 


394 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a true Inflammation: The Symptoms 
and Effects are a burning, fix'd, and pungent 
Pain in the Stomach, attended with an acute 
continual Fever, a great Exacerbation of this 
Pain the Moment after swallowing any thing, 
succeeded with Vomiting, a painful Hickup 
and great Anxiety, unquenchable Thirst, 
want of Sleep, and a continual Tossing of the 
Body; these are succeeded with Deliriums, 
and most times Convulsions, ending in 
Death. 
The Causes.
The Causes of these Symptoms 
are those common to all Inflamma- 
tions in general, a natural Weakness, and 
perhaps Erosion of the Coats of the Stomach, 
by acrid Substances taken as Aliment and 
Medicines. Care must be taken rightly to 
distinguish between an Inflammation of the 
Stomach, and that of the Liver: In the for- 
mer the burning Pain and Heat seem to lie 
deeper; when the Liver is inflamed the In- 
flammation is more limited, and the Symp- 
toms are milder. 
If this Disease is not speedily cured, it 
soon proves fatal; for People commonly die 
of it the third or fourth Day; and sometimes 
indeed, tho' seldom, it tends to a Suppuration, 
and the Abscess breaks either into the Cavity 
of the Stomach or lower Belly and even then 
they hardly ever escape. 
Of all Diseases this requires most a total 
Abstinence from any Thing that has Acrimo- 
ny in it; even the nitrous cooling Salts, which 
are

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 395
are beneficial in other Inflammations, irritate 
too much in this; likewise Vomits, all Cor- 
dials of volatile and spicy Substances; spiri- 
tuous Liquors are no better than Poison, and 
Milk generally curdles. Aliments must be 
given frequently, and by Spoonfuls at a time, 
for any Distension of the Stomach increases 
the Inflammation. 
A thin Gruel of Barley, Oatmeal, Whey 
with very little Sugar, or Honey, or Chicken- 
broth, are proper Aliments; Whey, emol- 
lient Decoctions of Barley-water, and Emul- 
sions, are proper Drinks; and it has been 
found by Experience, that Chalybeat Waters 
have been agreeable to the Stomach in this 
inflammatory State. If there happens an Im- 
postume, Honey, and even Honey of Roses, 
taken inwardly, is a good Cleanser, and a De- 
coction of Comfrey Roots is healing; Speedy 
and effectual Bleeding, Fomentations, and 
Glysters have the same good Effect in this as 
in other inflammatory Distempers, Likewise 
the same Regimen and Remedies ought to be 
used in a Schirrus or Cancer of the Stomach;
tho' nothing will prove quite effectual. The 
same Method is to be pursued in the Inflam- 
mation of the Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul. 
Of the Inflammation of the Liver. 
As other Bowels and Parts of the Body are 
capable of Inflammations, so is the Liver 
likewise; but as the Hepatical or Liver Ar- 
tery, and the Vena Portæ, carry the Blood 
into

396 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
into the Liver, the first being very small, and 
the Motion of the Blood being slow in the 
last, are the Reasons that Inflammations in 
the Liver are not so frequent as in some other 
Parts of the Body; but when they happen 
they are extremely dangerous, unless they 
take up but a small Part of the Liver; 
and such happen more frequently than is 
thought of. 
Diagnostick
Signs. 
The best Cautions, both in Diet 
and Cure, may be taken from the 
Causes and Symptoms of this Di- 
stemper, which, besides the general Causes of 
Inflammations, are extreme Fatness; for Fat 
dissolved by Heat and Inflammation obstructs 
the Vessels of the Liver very suddenly; and 
Cattle fatten'd by good Pasturage, after vio- 
lent Motion or Running, sometimes die sud- 
denly, in such the Liver is found to be in- 
flamed and corrupted. An atrabilarian a-
dust Temper of the Blood and Gall, an acri- 
monious or purulent Matter, stagnating in 
some other Organ of the Body, is more easily 
deposited upon the Liver than any other Part, 
especially if it is attended with the Use of 
hot and spicy Aliments, spirituous Liquors, 
great Heat and a Fever; Erosions of the 
Vessels by the Acrimony or Sharpness of the 
Gall, or Obstructions by Viscidity; likewise 
any Callosity, Schirrus, or Stone generated in 
the Liver; Thirst long endured, being sud- 
denly chill'd by cold Air, cold Water, or 
drinking cold Liquors after great Heat; Vo- 
mits

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 397
mits given injudiciously, when the Liver is 
already unsound, which, if they do not re- 
move the Obstruction, exagitate the Liver too 
much; inveterate hypochondriacal Diseases; 
are all Causes which may produce Inflamma- 
tions of the Liver. 
In such a Case therefore, the Liver being 
swell'd, compresses the Stomach, Diaphragm, 
and all the neighbouring Viscera of the lower 
Belly, stops the Circulation of the Juices, the 
Generation and Excretion of the Gall, and 
all Digestion; produces numberless bad Symp- 
toms, as the Jaundice, with all the Distem- 
pers depending upon it; for the Liver re- 
ceives the refluent Blood almost from all the 
Parts of the Abdomen or lower Belly, and is 
the chief Instrument of all the Digestions 
which are there made. A slow Fever, which 
is more or less acute; an Inflammation and 
pungent Pain on the Region of the Liver and 
Diaphragm; a Tension of the Hypochondres 
especially on the Right Side; Yellowness of the 
Skin and Eyes, and a saffron-coloured Urine, 
are Signs of an inflammatory Disposition of 
the Liver. 
This Distemper terminates as 
other Inflammations, being cured 
either by Resolution, Concoction, and Ex- 
cretion of the morbid Matter; or it ends in 
an Abscess, Schirrus, or Gangrene: When it 
suppurates, the purulent Matter is discharged 
sometimes by Stool, sometimes by Urine, 
sometimes by Expectoration, and sometimes 
Prognostick.
it

398 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it is dischargcd by manual Operation. For 
when a Tumor rises and grows to the Peri-
toneum, and forms there an outward Impos- 
tume of the Liver, easily discernable, then it 
is opened with a burning Iron, or with Caus- 
ticks; afterwards the Wound is widen'd with 
gentle corrosive and suppurating Applica- 
tions, untill there is a Penetration made into 
the very Bag or Vomica, which is in the Body 
of the Liver; then it is treated as an Ulcer, 
and cleansing internal Medicines are duely 
administer'd at the same Time. 
Indication 
of Cure. 
But during the first State of the 
Disease, that is, before there are any 
Signs or Suspicion of Impostumation, 
the Regimen should be cooling, resolving Li- 
quors taken inwardly, as Whey with Sorrel 
boil'd in it; outward Fomentations and fre- 
quent Injection of emollient and diuretick 
Glysters, Bathing, and Frictions, relax and 
render the Matter fluid and moveable; Honey, 
with a little Rhenish Wine or Vinegar, in- 
wardly taken, is likewise proper; also the 
Juices and Jellies of some ripe Garden-Fruits 
are useful, and those of some Plants of a 
milky Juice, as Dandelion, Endive, and Let- 
tuce, are Resolvents. Bleeding in the Be- 
ginning, especially in the Foot, will not be 
improper. Violent Purges hurt, but gently 
relaxing the Belly relieves. Diluters, with 
nitrous Salts, are beneficial, and Tamarinds 
boil'd in Water or Whey: Bloody Stools, not 
in a great Degree, or when streak'd with 
Blood,


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 399
Blood, ought not to be stop'd, because they 
help to resolve the Disease; and oftentimes 
Bleeding at the Nose produces the same good 
Effect. 
The Fever attending is often carried off by 
Urine, therefore diuretick Substances, that are 
not highly pungent and stimulating, are use- 
ful in this Case; and Sweating by high Cor- 
dials ought not to be attempted; but encourag- 
ing and promoting it with warm diluting Li- 
quors is proper. 
The Case is deplorable when the Inflam- 
mation of the Liver terminates in an Abscess, 
unless it points and appears outwardly, so that 
it may be open'd; for if the Matter be eva- 
cuated into the Lower Belly, it produces 
woeful Symptoms, as Putrefaction, or an in- 
curable Bloody-flux, &c. 
When the Pus or Matter of an Ulcer in the 
Liver grows thin and ichorous, it corrodes the 
Vessels, (for the Liver, of all the Bowels, is the 
most friable, and the easiest crumbled or dis- 
solved) and it is frequently carried into the 
Mass of Blood, and rejected by vomiting, 
with a cadaverous Smell, attended with great 
Thirst; but if it is carried downwards, it 
produces a purulent colliquative Looseness: 
In which Case the constant Use of subacid 
Decoctions, and other Substances of the acid 
Kind, relieve the best. 
If this Distemper happens to produce a 
Cancer, or Schirrus, as sometimes it does; 
yet the latter is not absolutely incurable, be-
cause

400 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
cause it is experimentally known that Grass 
and fresh Pasturage has cured it in Cattle, 
and some opening Plants have produced the 
same Effect sometimes in Mankind, as those 
of the lactescent or milky Plants already men- 
tioned, with a great many other Vegetables 
too tedious to insert in this Place. 
But it is to be observed, that the Diet re- 
commended here is likewise necessary in 
the Jaundice, and all Distempers of the 
Liver; and also an Abstinence from all such 
Things as induce Putrefaction, especially 
salt Fish and Flesh, and above all strong 
Liquors. 
Of an Inflammation of the Mesentery. 
Inflammations and Tumors of the Mesen- 
tary, (being a Membrane in the Lower Belly 
to which the Guts are connected, and through 
which all our Nourishment is convey'd to the 
Blood,) are frequently the Origin and Foun- 
dation of many obscure and latent chronical 
Distempers, which greatly afflict People la- 
bouring under them, and perplex those who 
undertake their Cure as well. 
Diagno- 
stick. 
Persons affected with these Disorders 
complain of Pain about their Back and 
Loins, sometimes in the Belly about the Navel, 
with Gripings, yet these Pains are commonly 
periodical and chronical; and every now and 
then comes on a small wandering Fever, and 
the

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 401
the Pains come and go, having their Remis- 
sions and Exacerbations. 
When an Abscess in the Mesentery 
suppurates and breaks, it causes sometimes 
remarkable Shiverings and Shakings, which 
are followed by febrile Heats, and then the 
purulent Matter is most commonly discharged 
by Stool. 
Abscess.
The Body in this Case gradually 
wastes, the Breathing grows more 
than usually difficult; and every now and 
then they complain of something that is very 
troublesome to them, which they cannot well 
explain: They tell you, that it lies deep in 
their Belly about the Navel, or below it; they 
are most commonly very much troubled with 
Wind. These Tumours oftentimes continue 
many Years, being turn'd schirrous and 
strumous. 
Prognostick.
When the Disorders of the Mesen- 
tery are of a long standing, they are 
cured as other chronical Diseases, such as 
chachectick and hypochondriack Affections: 
Yet they are to be treated with Caution, and 
gently without any Violence. Externally, Em- 
plastrum de Cicuta cum Ammoniaco, de Ranis 
cum Mercurio, &c. are convenient. Inter- 
nally, Medicines that open Obstructions, such 
as Millepedes and Preparations of Steel, &c. 
likewise Remedies against strumous Distem- 
pers are proper, and opening of the hœmor-
rhoidal Veins by Leaches; but rough Purges 
are hurtful, and Glysters are useful. 
The Cure.
Cc Of

402 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Of the Inflammation of the Guts. 
The Intestines or Guts, chiefly the small 
ones, are very often seiz'd with the like acute 
Inflammation in their Membranes, as the 
Stomach, from Causes common to 
all Inflammations carried thither; 
or from the Matter of acrimonious or sharp 
Drink, Aliments, high Sauces, Medicines or 
Poisons reaching those Parts, and detain'd in 
the Foldings of the Valvules and sticking to 
them; also from a sharp, putrid and fœtid, 
purulent, ichorous, gangrenous, bilious Mat- 
ter, convey'd hither from the Gullet, Stomach, 
Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and Caul, which 
sticks also to them and corrodes them; or 
lastly, from a Convulsion filling them with 
Wind. 
The Cause. 
Symptoms.
The Symptoms are a total Stop- 
page of the Passage, a vehement fix'd 
burning Pain, irritated by Things taken in- 
wardly; when any thing touches the Part af- 
fected, it excites Vomitings, sharp griping 
Pains, with Wind in other Parts of the 
Bowels; and the Consequences of such an 
Inflammation are the Iliac Passion, or what 
is vulgarly call'd the Twisting of the Guts, 
but in fact is either a Circumvolution or In- 
sertion of one Part of the Gut within the 
other; an Impostume, Gangrene, Schirrus, 
Cancer; a very acute Fever, with great 
Weakness from the Fierceness of the Pain, 
and a very sudden Death. 
It

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 403
It is of the utmost Importance to know 
what the Causes of Colicks are; for as they 
are various, so the Remedies in one Case are 
quite opposite and destructive in the other; 
for spicy, warm, carminative Things, which 
are given in Colicks proceeding from a 
phlegmatick or cold Cause, are Poison in an 
inflammatory one; but they may be distin- 
guished by the Fever, high Pulse, Thirst, 
and high-colour'd Urine attending the In- 
flammation. As to the Heat, tho' it is like- 
wise great by the Violence of the Pain, yet 
the Extremities grow cold; and besides, there 
is a hidden Prostration of Strength, or Weak- 
ness, attending this inflammatory Colick more 
than any other. 
This Disease requires a speedy Remedy, or 
none; for otherwise it terminates in an Iliac 
Passion, and Mortification of the Bowels very 
soon; therefore plentiful Bleeding, and fo- 
menting and relaxing the Bowels with emol- 
lient warm Liquors, both taken inwardly by 
the Mouth, and by Glyster injected hourly, 
is the most sovereign Method that can be 
made use of; yet it has been known, that 
Acids have relieved in very desperate Cases, 
as Juice of Lemons taken by the Mouth, and 
Vinegar and warm Water given in Glysters, 
have saved the Patient; by Reason of the con- 
tinual Vomiting, Opiates likewise to quiet 
the Convulsions are oftentimes necessary; also 
Warm Fomentations, even of warm Animals 
applied to the Belly, are extremely useful.  
Cc2 When

404 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
When the Inflammation happens to be in 
the Lower Guts, it is not so dangerous; and 
even when it suppurates it will admit of a 
Cure; for then it can be come at by proper 
Medicines in the Form of Glysters; and in 
the latter End of such a Case Chalybeat Wa- 
ters are very beneficial. 
If the Patient lives three Days, the Acute- 
ness of the Pain abates; and if a Shivering or 
Chilliness affects the Body, it is a Sign of a 
Suppuration, and in some few Days the Mat- 
ter flows either into the Cavity of the Belly, 
producing all the Symptoms which happen 
in an Impostumation of the Liver, or into the 
Cavity of the Guts, and causing a purulent 
Bloody-flux, and often a Consumption, Si- 
nus's and Fistulas; in which Case Whey 
and Chalybeat Waters are proper Drinks. 
The Aliment ought to be of such Substan- 
ces as generate little or no Excrements, as 
Broths of Flesh-meat, with Scorzonera, Par- 
sley, or Fennel boil'd in them: Goat's Whey 
is likewise excellent in the Case; but fat and 
oily Substances generally do harm. 
If the Fever continue with clammy Sweats, 
Paleness, an ichorous Loosness, fœtid, black, 
or like the Washings of Flesh, a small inter- 
mitting Pulse, and at last a Cessation of Pain 
totally, they are Signs of a Gangrene, and 
Death at hand. 
But if none of the foremention'd Signs hap- 
pen, and that the Fever abates, and the Per- 
son complains of a Weight, dull Pain, Stop- 
page

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 405
page of the Excrements, a Schirrus is form- 
ing, which increases daily, and may terminate 
in a Cancer; which Purging, and indeed all 
Medicines irritate: The Patient in such a 
Case may protract a miserable Life with an 
exact thin Diet of Whey, Broths, and such 
Things as produce no Fæces, or by nourish- 
ing Glysters. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys. 
The Kidneys as well as other Parts 
of the Body are subject to Inflam- 
mations: Which may be known 
from a pungent, burning, inflammatory Pain 
in the Region of the Kidneys, a Numbness, 
or dull Pain in the Thigh on the Side affected; 
likewise Colick, Wind, Vomiting, an acute 
continual Fever, Urine sometimes totally sup- 
press'd, often made in small Quantities, high 
colour'd; and which is worse, sometimes 
very watry and quite pale without any Sedi- 
ment. As to the outward Sensation of Heat, 
the Extremity of Pain oftentimes produces a 
Coldness in the extreme Parts, which is very 
consistent with inflammatory Distempers. 
Diagnostick 
Signs.
This is produced by all the Causes 
of a general Inflammation directed 
to the Kidneys; and therefore, whatever ob- 
structs the Blood in the Extremities of the 
Arteries of the Kidneys, will produce this 
Distemper; a Wound, Bruise, Abscess, Swel- 
ling, Lying often long on the Back, too vio- 
The Cause. 
Cc3 lent

406 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
lent Motion, especially walking, or hard rid- 
ing in hot Weather; and whatever obstructs 
the Passage of the Urine into the Pelvis, Ureter, 
or Bladder, as a viscid Matter, Gravel or Stone; 
likewise every thing which forces the gross Parts 
of the Blood into the urinary Passages, as Heat, 
hard Riding, Straining, too great Fullness of 
Blood, and especially sharp and forcing Di- 
ureticks; and lastly, a convulsive and invo- 
luntary Contraction of the small Vessels of the 
Kidneys, if long continued. 
Coffee-colour'd Urine is not a dangerous 
Sign; for it proceeds from the Mixture of a 
small Portion of Blood with the Urine, and 
oftentimes it prognosticates a Resolution of 
the obstructed Matter, and the Expulsion of 
Gravel, or a Stone after great Pain; but pale 
Urine is a Symptom which portends the Di- 
stemper to be more lasting and dangerous. 
The Cure is to be perform'd by plentiful 
and repeated Bleeding, avoiding carefully at 
the same time all stimulating Diureticks, 
which in this State would increase the Dis- 
ease: Afterwards the Expulsion of the ob- 
structing Matter is to be promoted by emol- 
lient and soft Liquors plentifully drank, and 
by Glysters of the same kind frequently inject- 
ed; by Bathing and outward Fomentations, 
by opiate and anodyne Substances, which 
both ease and relax the Fibres; and those 
soft Liquors should be drank plentifully not- 
withstanding the frequent Vomitings; for 
Vomiting is an Effort of Nature in order to 
pro-

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 407
promote the Expulsion of the Gravel, Stone, 
or any other obstructing Cause. 
Therefore Whey, and in a great feverish
Heat, Butter-milk; likewise Emulsions of 
Barley and Poppy Seeds, Honey in Whey and 
Water, are all very proper Liquors for this In- 
tention; also a moist and soft Diet, Rest, and 
keeping out of a warm Feather-bed, and par- 
ticularly avoiding lying upon the Back. 
If the Pains or Convulsions be very urgent, 
without waiting for the Effects of other Re- 
medies, Opiates with due Caution ought to 
be given; but when the Gravel, Stone, or 
any other obstructing Cause is separated from 
the Kidneys, soft express'd Oils, and oily 
Substances relax the Passages; and if the Pain 
proceeds only from Gravel, or a Stone, then 
oily Substances may be safely join'd with sti- 
mulating Substances, as with Juice of Lemon, 
Juniper-Water, and some diuretick Syrup, 
as that of Marsh-mallow, &c. In this Case 
the Jolting in a Coach, and such-like Motion 
may be used with Advantage. 
If the Pain is protracted beyond se- 
ven Days, an Abatement of the Pain, 
its changing into a Beating or Throb- 
bing, often-returning Shiverings, a Heaviness 
or Numbness of the Part, are Signs that 
Matter is a forming, which when made will 
appear in the Urine; in which Case, soft and 
balsamick Substances are the most beneficial; 
for if the Matter remains long, the Case is in- 
curable.
Progno- 
sticks. 
Cc4 Some-

408 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Sometimes it happens to terminate in a 
Fistula, with which the Person may live 
many Years in no great Uneasiness. All Bal- 
samicks are good in Ulcerations of the Kid- 
neys: Likewise Butter-milk not quite sour 
has been deem'd a Secret in the Cure of 
Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Steel-waters have 
proved very beneficial to some; Spruce-beer 
is also a good Balsamick in such a Case; 
and soft Malt Liquors are preferable to 
Wines. 
Inflammations of the Kidneys terminate 
sometimes in a Schirrus, or large Stone. But 
a sudden Remission of the Pain, with cold 
Sweats, a weak and intermitting Pulse, Hick- 
up, no Urine, or in very small Quantity, 
black and fœtid, are sure Signs of a Mortifica- 
tion and ensuing Death. 
Regimen.
The Regimen of those who are 
subject to nephritick Disorders may be  
in some measure collected from what has been 
above-mention'd; and such ought to be ex- 
tremely careful of the Choice of their Li- 
quors; for sharp Wines which abound with 
Tartar, are very hurtful; soft Malt Liquors, 
not stale, are certainly much better to be 
made use of, and some of the softest diure- 
tick Substances often mention'd already; and 
to avoid acrimonious Things in their Food, 
use moderate Exercise, and not lie too hot, 
soft; nor much upon the Back. 
Of


Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 409
Of an Apoplexy. 
This Distemper is a sudden Sus- 
pension of all the Senses, both ex-  
ternal and internal, and a Privation of all 
voluntary Motion, by the Stoppage of the 
Flux or Reflux of the animal Spirits through 
the Nerves destin'd for those Motions, com- 
monly attended with a strong Pulse, and dif-
ficult Breathing, with Snoaring, together 
with an Appearance of a deep and continual 
Sleep. 
Definition.
The most common Causes of A- 
poplexies are a particular Conforma- 
tion of the Body, as a short Neck; for there 
are some Persons who have fewer Vertebræ 
in their Necks than others; polypous Concre- 
tions of the Blood, an inflammatory Spissi- 
tude of it, a thick, glutinous, or pituitous 
Blood, and a dull Inactivity of the whole 
Mass; a gross, plethorick, fat, or phlegma- 
tick Constitntion; whatever hinders the Mo- 
tion of the Blood thro' the Arteries of the 
Brain, as Tumours arising within the Cra- 
nium, or Polypus's, especially about the 
Heart, attended most commonly with an 
unequal Pulse, a Vertigo, and sometimes a 
momentary Loss of the Eye-sight; old Age, 
attended with a glutinous, cold, catarrhous, 
leucophlegmatick Constitution; for in suck 
the Forerunners of an Apoplexy are, Dulness, 
Inactivity, Drowsiness, Sleepiness, Slowness 
The Causes.
of

410 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
of Speech, and giving Answers, Vertigoes, 
Tremblings, Oppressions in Sleeping, Night- 
Mares, Weakness, Wateryness, and Turgi- 
dity of the Eyes, a great Fulness of Blood, 
with its Velocity increased by Heat and vio- 
lent Motion, a high Diet, and Spirituous Li- 
quors, a partial and imperfect Circulation of 
the Blood towards the lower Parts; the 
Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity, or 
Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain, 
which is the most common and immediate 
Cause of Apoplexy; violent Passions and 
Affections of the Mind. The immediate Fore- 
runners of an Apoplexy are most commonly 
a Vertigo, Staggering, Loss of Memory, Stu- 
por, Sleepiness, a Noise in the Ears, and a 
deep and laborious Breathing. To these 
may be added, Extravasations of the Blood or 
Serum from Contusions or Concussions, oc- 
casion'd by external Violence, and an innu- 
merable other latent Causes. 
The Division of Apoplexies into sanguine- 
ous and pituitous is of Use, but then it is not 
an exact and perfect Division; because there 
are other Kinds, viz. serous, atrabilarious, 
and polypous Apoplexies, &c. 
Prognosticks. 
A slight Fit of an Apoplexy is 
carried off by a plentiful, warm, 
and equable Sweat, a great Discharge of thick 
Urine, a Flux of the Piles, or of the Men- 
ses, by a Looseness, or a great Fever coming 
upon it. If the Apoplexy be more severe, 
it usually terminates in a paralytick Disorder
of 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 411
of some Part of the Body, or of all one Side, 
which is called a Hemiplegia; or sometimes of 
all the Body below the Head, which is called 
Paraplegia, and is seldom curable, but al- 
ways leaves behind it a great Defect of Me- 
mory, Judgment and Motion. An exquisite 
Apoplexy soon carries off the Patient; it is 
seldom known that they live beyond the se- 
venth Day. 
The Cure is to be varied ac- 
cording to the Difference of the 
Causes; for if occasion'd by a cold 
phlegmatick Cause, we ought immediately to 
endeavour that the Pressure of the glutinous 
Siziness may be diverted from the Head, by 
Derivation into other and opposite Parts, and 
universal Evacuations: for this Intention, 
Blisters, Causticks, Frictions, Ligatures, Anti- 
phlegmaticks, sneezing Medicines, and all 
sharp and stimulating ones are to be used, as 
Emeticks, strong Purges, and sharp purging 
Glysters. 
Yet in the Use of all these the Mischief is 
oftentimes increased, the Matter being there- 
by more violently moved and afterwards fix'd, 
and the Strength sinking under the Evacua- 
tions; therefore in endeavouring a Resolu- 
tion, we ought to insist upon Evacuations and 
Revulsions, as much as the Case will bear;
whence the Rule of Hippocrates, Bleeding 
except it relieves, kills; and Celsus says, that 
it kills or cures. But if the Apoplexy pro- 
ceeds from a hot Cause, and that the Dis-
The Cure va- 
rious.
temper

412 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
temper seems inflammatory, then presently 
take a large Quantity of Blood out of the 
Jugular Veins, and repeat it as often as there 
is Occasion; by which, if the Distemper is 
curable, some Relief will arise. A Loose- 
ness is by all means to be promoted, and we 
are to give Diluters, Attenuants and Diure- 
ticks at the same time, keeping the Patient 
as much as we can out of Bed, especially 
from lying down. 
As the Applications in the Fit are of a 
medicinal Kind, it being too acute a Disease 
to admit of any Helps from Diet, yet that 
may be of great Use for Prevention; there- 
fore a thin, slender, cool, and regular Diet, 
opposite to the particular Symptoms above- 
mention'd, will be useful; so that the Regi- 
men is to be varied according to the Cause 
of the Disease, which may be collected from 
the Constitution of the Patient in these Apo- 
plexies, which depend upon a sanguineous 
Cause; the Regimen prescrib'd in a sangui- 
neous Constitution, in Part II. of this Trea- 
tise is proper. Fat and phlegmatick People, 
who are very subject to this Distemper, ought 
to give Attention to the Rules set down in 
the same Place, in their Case; and as there 
are Apoplexies from inveterate Gouts, the Re- 
gimen of such must be different from both, 
as I shall explain hereafter in treating of the 
Gout, the Intention being to translate the 
Gouty Matter upon the Extremities of the 
Body: and all those who have a Disposition
to 

Ch. III. thro' the various Stages of Life. 413
to this Distemper, ought never to go to Bed 
with a full Stomach, nor to lie with their 
Head low. 
CHAP IV. 
Of Chronical Distempers.
Of a Palsy. 
A Palsy is a Resolution or Relaxa- 
tion of the nervous Parts from
their natural Tone, by which means their 
Motion and Sense, either one, or both, all 
over the Body, or in some particular Part or 
Parts, are impair'd, so as to be unable to exert 
their natural Functions. 
Definition. 
The best Rules of Diet in this 
Disease are taken from the Know- 
ledge of its Causes; for whatever stops either 
the Flux of the Spirits, or that of the Blood 
to any Part, induces a Palsy, for both are 
necessary for Sensation and Motion; such are 
all the Causes of an Apoplexy, an Epilepsy, 
extreme and lasting Pains, the Suppression 
of usual Evacuations, either natural or mor- 
bid, Translations of diseased Matter in acute 
Distempers, whatever distends, distorts, com- 
presses, or contracts the Nerves; strong and 
The Causes.
strait

414 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
strait Ligatures, Luxations, Fractures, any 
Inflammation in the Integument, or mem- 
branaceous Sheath of a Nerve, especially in 
the Plexus, where they are tied together; 
likewise serous Defluxions, Excess in astrin- 
gent Aliment, chiefly unripe Fruits, drink- 
ing too much warm Water, is weakening 
and relaxing; also Excess in Tea or Coffee; 
extreme Heat or Cold, poisonous Fumes of 
Arsenick or Mercury. 
This Distemper is more or less dangerous 
according to the Cause, or the Extent and 
Seat of the Disease; for when the original of 
it is in the Brain, it is most dangerous; when 
it seizes the Heart or Organs of Breathing, it 
is fatal; because Life cannot be continued a 
Moment without the Use of those Parts. 
Difficult to 
cure.
A Palsy succeeding an Apoplexy, 
Convulsions, the Colick, and 
other Affections of the Brain or 
nervous System, if it does not grow better in 
a little time, or give Way to Medicines, it 
commonly remains incurable. 
Regimen.
The Regimen in this Distemper 
should be warm, attenuating, con- 
sisting of spicy and cephalick Vegetables, such 
as produce a feverish Heat; because such are 
necessary to resolve the Viscosity of the 
Fluids. Of such as consist likewise of an 
acrid, volatile Salt and Oil, as Mustard, 
Horse-Radish, &c. stimulating by Vomits, 
sneezing, relaxing the Belly by purging, and 
diluting strongly at the same time, promoting 
Sweat


415 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
Sweat by such Motions as can be used, or 
other Means, and strong Frictions are here 
very useful; but Bleeding is to be used or 
omitted according to the Symptoms which 
affect the Brain: It relieves indeed, in any 
inflammatory Disposition of the Coat of a 
Nerve, yet it is not convenient in general for 
all Persons; for some Paralyticks are cold, 
and others of a hot Constitution; therefore 
Remedies ought to be of a different Kind, as 
is usual in the Scurvy itself. 
The most noted Medicines in this Case, 
are of Vipers, Amber, Earth-worms, Wood- 
lice, Emets, Antimonials, Mercurials, Steel 
Preparations, the Antiscorbutick Juices,
with compound Horse-radish Water, and Juice 
of Oranges, Gum Guaiacum, Tincture of 
Amber, Spirit of Hartshorn with Amber, 
Bezoar Mineral, &c. And externally, Fo- 
mentations, Liniments, Cupping-glasses, Bli- 
sters, nettling the Members affected; also 
putting the relax'd Part into Grains, after the 
Wort is drawn off, or into the Belly of a 
Beast newly killed; or lastly, an artificial or 
natural Bath, as that in Somersetshire; like- 
wise Issues and Setons are proper in this Case. 
Of an Hemiplegia and a Paraplegia. 
A Hemiplegia is when only half of the 
Head, and of the rest of the Body on that 
Side is affected, after the manner of an Apo- 
plexy.
A 


416 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
A Paraplegia or Paraplexia, is, when the 
whole Body, except the Head, is affected by 
reason of the Spinal Marrow's being ob- 
structed; and more commonly this and a 
Hemiplegia are secondary Distempers, tho' 
sometimes they are primary; Sense and Mo- 
tion, or both, are either entirely lost, or 
much impaired. 
When either of those Distempers imme- 
diately follow an Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and o- 
ther Diseases, they are commonly called Pal-
sies; but a Palsy is a different Distemper, as 
plainly appears by what has been said of it 
already.
The Cure. 
Vomiting and purging are proper 
in all Paraplegia's, to cleanse the 
first Passages; and Bleeding is necessary in 
plethorick Bodies. In the next Place Sudo- 
risicks are very useful, mix'd with Specificks; 
a Decoction of Sassafras with Rosemary and 
Juniper-Berries is very proper; and for the 
rest of the internal Medicines for the Cure of 
these two Distempers, use those directed in 
an Apoplexy and Palsy. A Fomentation 
made with a Decoction of Emets and their 
Hillocks in common Water, used every Day 
to paralytick Limbs, often proves very bene- 
ficial, and sometimes procures present Re- 
lief, by restoring the Parts to their natural 
Strength. 
Of

417 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Of the Epilepsy or Falling-sickness. 
An Epilepsy is a Convulsion or 
convulsive Motion of the whole 
Body, or of some of its Parts, with the Loss 
of both internal and external Senses, attended 
with violent Concussions and reciprocal invo-
luntary Motions of all or some of the Muscles,
with alternate Rest, and new Insults thereof. 
It is called the Falling-sickness, because the 
Persons affected with it fall suddenly upon the 
Ground. 
The Definition.
The Causes of this Distemper are 
various; sometimes an hereditary 
or Family Disposition from Parents; 
a sudden Fright of the Mother when with 
Child of the Patient; an ill Affection of the 
Brain by Wounds, Bruises, Blows, or Con- 
tusions; Abscesses, acrimonious Serum, bony 
Excrescencies of the Inside of the Skull, its 
pressing down upon the Brain; Inflammation, 
Corruption, or Corrosion of the Meninges or 
Membranes of the Brain; Repletion or Ful- 
ness, Heat, Drunkenness, intense Study, Ter- 
ror; all violent Affections and Irritations of the 
Nerves in any Part of the Body; especially 
by acrimonious Things in the Stomach or 
Bowels, by Worms, by Teething, and Aci-
dity in the Stomach in Infants; by some 
Contagion or purulent Matter after acute 
Diseases; likewise by Suppression of usual 
Evacuations, as the Menses, Piles, and Urine, 
&c. also by hysterical Affections contracted
The Causes 
various. 
Dd by 


418 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
by Accidents in Lying-in; and often by too 
great Inanition or Weakness, occasioned by 
want of due Nourishment; by Fragments or 
Splinters of Bones, or sharp Instruments 
hurting the Meninges or Brain, or Quicksilver 
carried thither any how; by the Caries of a 
Bone, black Choler, or venereal Ulcers cor- 
rupting or corroding the Meninges or any Part 
of the Brain.  
Hence it is evident, that different Medi- 
cines and different Indications are requisite to 
cure this Disease, according to the known 
Variety of the Cause, the peccant Matter, 
and the Place to which the Remedy ought to 
be applied, and by which the Evil is to be 
eradicated: Hence likewise is sufficiently ex- 
posed the Vanity of the celebrated Specificks 
and Methods, which boasting idle People do 
brag of in this Disease. 
And it is also evident, that the proximate 
Cause of all true Epilepsies is always the too 
great Action of the Brain upon the Nerves 
serving for Motion, and the Privation of that 
in the Nerves dedicated to Sensation; and 
that the Causes which create the reciprocal 
Paroxysms are many in Number and Va- 
riety. 
The Cure.
The Intentions in the Cure of 
this Disease must be different, ac-  
cording to the Cause, as I have just now ob- 
served: Bleeding and plentiful Evacuations, 
when there is a Plethora or inflammatory Dis- 
position in the Brain, are necessary; and Ali- 
ments


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 419
ments that are without Acrimony, demulcent, 
avoiding every thing which stimulates, and 
taking such Things as are opposite to the par- 
ticular Acrimony that causes the Distemper; 
relaxing the Belly without irritating. In acute 
and periodical Pains to take anodyne Sub- 
stances; but if the Disease be the Conser 
quence of an hysterical Disposition, a warmer 
Regimen is necessary, in which Case anti- 
hysterick Medicines are proper. If the Cause 
is in the Stomach, generally Anti-acids re- 
lieve; if they are not flatulent or windy, se- 
veral have been cured by a Milk Diet; but 
in Case of Acidity in the Stomach it will do 
Harm. When the irritating Cause is in some 
outward Part of the Body, it is proper to e- 
radicate it by Suppuration; if it proceeds 
from Gnawings and Irritations of Worms, 
Teeth, sharp Humours turning Milk sour 
and curdled like Cheese, or any other Acid 
in Infants, Diacodium or Diascordium given 
them unseasonably, or the Contagion of the 
Small-pox in the first State: Hence the tes- 
taceous Powders, Anodynes, Paregoricks, An- 
tihystericks, all Medicines against Worms, and 
a seasonable Cutting of the Gums, and car- 
rying off the acrimonious Matter from the 
Bowels by gentle Purges; then all these, I 
say, become, by their Operation, Anti-epilep-
tick Medicines. 
But if the Cause proceeds from a Stoppage 
of the usual Evacuations, as the Menses, 
Cleansings in Women, the Piles, or Urine, &c. 
Dd2 it

420 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
it may be remedied by dissolving the viscid 
Matter, and opening the Obstructions: In 
this Case Blisters, Issues made with Causticks, 
Steel Preparations, forcing Medicines, such as 
provoke the Menses and open the Piles, and 
Diureticks are all proper. 
An Epilepsy from Inanition or Weakness 
may be cured by a nourishing Diet, easy of 
Digestion, and a proper Use of nervine Me- 
dines; and the following are reckon'd amongst
the anti-epileptick Specificks; Native Cinna- 
bar, Wild Valerian, Male Piony Roots and 
Seeds, Flowers of Lilies of the Vallies, Seeds 
of Rue, Misletoe of the Oak, Castor, Cam- 
phire, Rosemary, Earth-worms prepared, the 
Gum and Wood of Guaiacum, the Salt and 
Oil of Amber, Peacocks Dung, with a great 
many more too tedious to enumerate in this 
Place. 
Epilepticks ought to breath in a pure Air, 
untainted with any Steams, even such as are 
very fragrant; and their Diet should be nou- 
rishing, of easy Digestion, avoiding Hogs 
Flesh, Water Fowls, and all Vegetables that 
are pungent, windy, and, generally speaking, 
all Fruits, especially Nuts; they should use 
but little Wine, and none if they have not 
been accustomed to it; they ought not to 
turn round nor stand on Precipices, to keep 
regular Hours for Eating and Sleeping, for 
every unusual Thing is a Stimulus: But of 
all Things, the most necessary is to avoid the 
Occa-

421 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
Occasions of violent Passions of the Mind, 
and keeping themselves chearful. 
Of Melancholy Madness. 
That Disease is called by Physicians a Me- 
lancholy, under which the Patient labours long, 
and is obstinately delirious without a Fever, 
and always intent upon one and the same 
Thought. 
This Disease arises from that Malignity in 
the Blood and Humours, which the Ancients 
have called Black Choler; and tho' this Dis- 
ease begins in the Mind, yet it renders the 
Choler black in the Body very soon. 
It will be therefore necessary to give a small 
Sketch of this wonderful Disease, the Doc- 
trine of which is supposed to be so obscure, 
that Antiquity is unjustly blamed for it. 
If the most fluid Parts of all the Blood be 
dissipated, and leave the less moveable united 
in the Body, then will the Blood become 
thick, black, fat, and earthy; and this Defect 
is called by the Name of an atrabilarian 
Humour, or melancholy Juice. 
The Cause whereof is whatever 
expels the most fluid Parts of the 
Blood, and fixes the rest: A violent Exercise 
of the Mind; the dwelling Night and Day 
upon one and the same Object; a constant 
Wakefulness; great Motions of the Mind, 
whether Joy or Sorrow; great and laborious 
Motions of the Body, often repeated, chiefly 
in a very hot and dry Air; to these may be 
The Causes.
Dd3 refer'd

422 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
refer'd immoderate Venery; rough, hard, 
dry, earthy Aliments, long used without 
Motion or Exercise of the Body to digest 
them; the like Drink; Parts of Animals 
dried in Smoak, Air, or Salt, chiefly of old 
and tough ones; unripe Fruits, and mealy 
and unfermented Substances; astringent coa- 
gulating, sticking, and cooling Medicines, and 
slow Poisons of the same Nature; hot Fevers 
hanging about long, often returning without 
a good Crisis, and going off without the Help 
of diluting Means. 
When this Evil, already bred in the Blood, 
and produced by the abovementioned Causes, 
does yet infect equally all the circulating Mass 
of Humours, it will produce some Diseases, 
which will appear immediately, and are most- 
ly as follow: The Colour of the Patient in- 
ternally and externally is first paler, yellower, 
and more tawny; livid, black with like 
Spots; the Pulse flower; the Circulation 
through the Blood-vessels free, more sparing 
through the Side-vessels and less free; hence 
a slower, less, and thicker Separation of all 
the secretory and excretory Humours, and a 
less Wasting of them; a lessen'd Appetite; a 
Leanness, Sorrowfulness, Love of Solitude, 
all the Affections of the Mind violent and 
lasting; an Indifferency to all other Matters;
a Laziness as to Motion, and yet a very great 
and earnest Application to any Sort of Study 
or Labour.
Its 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 423 
Its Matter therefore is the Earth and thick 
Oil of the Blood united and closed up toge- 
ther, which is worse in its Effects, and more 
difficult to cure, according to its Degrees of 
Fluidity, Softness, Dryness, Thickness, inti- 
mate Mixture, and Time of being so. Hence 
the Diagnosticks and Prognosticks are plain 
enough, and the Rationality of the Cure does 
also occur easy enough from these Principles. 
Thus far I have transcribed the learned Boer- 
haave's Sentiments of this Distemper. 
The atrahilarian Constitution, or a black, 
viscous pitchy Consistence of the Fluids, 
which most frequently produces this Disease, 
makes all the Secretions difficult and sparing; 
the Intention therefore ought to be to render 
the Humours fluid, moveable, and carry them 
out of the Body, especially the Bile, which is 
viscous; but Sudorificks are not here so pro- 
per, because they thicken. 
Therefore the Diet prescrib'd, Chap. VIII. 
Part II. in an atrabilarian Constitution, is very 
proper in this Case, to which I refer the 
Reader. 
The learned Author just now mentioned 
relates an Instance of a Patient, who, by a 
long Use of Whey, Water, and ripe Garden- 
Fruits, evacuated a great Quantity of black 
Matter, or Choler, and recover'd entirely his 
Senses. Cold Bathing, and especially a sud- 
den Immersion into the Sea, has produced 
very good Effects by acting upon the Nerves 
and Spirits. 
Dd4 Madness

424 A Guide to Health Part III. 
Madness proceeding from a Plethora, or 
too great Fulness in young, strong, hale Peo- 
ple of a hot Constitution, is cured by plenti- 
ful Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, and other 
Evacuations, with Diluters; and the Weak- 
ness which succeeds Madness requires a more 
refreshing and warm Diet, and especially the 
Use of Chalybeat or Steel Waters. 
If this Distemper continues long, it pro- 
duces Foolishness, Epilepsies, Apoplexies, fu- 
rious Madness, Convulsions, Blindness, won- 
derful Fancies; for some will imagine them- 
selves to be Beasts, or to be earthen Vessels, 
or they will fancy themselves dead; others 
will crow like a Cock, believing themselves 
to be such a Creature; others laugh, sing, 
cry, sigh, groan and belch; others obstinate- 
ly refuse to eat any Victuals, as believing they 
are actually dead; some think themselves 
Kings, Prophets; others a Grain of Wheat, 
Grass, or Wax: Sometimes they have great 
Evacuations of Urine, clear like fair Water;
at other times very thick; a Retention, 
mulation, and often a sudden Excretion of 
bloody Fæces in the Vessels of the abdominal 
Viscera or Belly; an obstinate Costiveness, 
with a thin and frequent Spitting, and they 
can endure to be without Sleep, Aliment, or 
Fire, even to a Wonder. 
This Distemper grows worse upon taking 
Medicines that weaken and evacuate roughly, 
or such as put the Fluids into a violent Mo- 
tion; therefore the curative Indications will 
be

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 425
be to bring the Fluids of the Brain and 
Nerves into a good Order; by withdrawing, 
first, the Mind from the usual Object to 
others contrary to the same, and raising art- 
fully, if possible, another Passion of the Mind, 
contrary to the melancholy one; by siding 
sometimes with them in their false and de- 
prav'd Fancies, or often opposing the same 
with great Force. 
Secondly, By opening, softening, inciding, 
and stimulating the Obstructions, or the 
Cause, or the EfFects of a false Imagination, 
with Mineral Waters, Whey, Water and 
Honey, Splanchnick, Hepatick, or Anti-hypo- 
chondriack Medicines and Decoctions; like- 
wise Waters made with the Addition of lixi~ 
vious or compound Salts, especially Nitre; 
also loosening Mercurials, Vomits, Motions, 
Exercise, and Riding; and Medicines which 
cleanse and purge the Womb, or the Piles, 
Bathings, Ointments and Plasters, and easing 
the Symptoms by Bleeding, plunging into 
cold Water, and using Carminatives and Opi- 
ates sometimes. 
Of Madness from the Bite of a Mad Dog, or 
any other Creature, called Hydrophobia. 
The Fury or Madness mostly proceeding 
from the Bite of Mad-Dogs is call'd Dog- 
Madness; and from that terrible Symptom of 
dreading Water, an Hydrophobia.
It

426 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
It almost ever arises from other Animals, 
which were first mad, and that by Contagion; 
tho' also sometimes of its own accord in some 
acute Fevers, as has been observed, and is 
well attested. Almost all sorts of Animals 
may be affected with this Evil, and by their 
Contagion infect others, and even Men. 
Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Foxes, Horses, Asses, 
Mules, Oxen, Sows, Monkies, Turkey-cocks, 
and Men, all these being first mad themselves, 
have communicated the same Madness to 
others; but it is common to none so fre- 
quently as to Dogs, Wolves and Foxes, and 
it invades these chiefly from inward Causes, 
without catching it from any others. 
A hot Country, open and exposed to vio- 
lent Heats, or to very cold raw Weather; 
hot and dry Weather long continued; the 
living upon rotten, stinking and worm-eaten 
Meat; Want of Drink; Worms grown in 
the Kidneys, Guts, Brain, or the Inside of 
the Nostrils; all these are preceding Causes 
of Madness in Animals just now mentioned. 
The Symptoms of a Person infected with 
this Poison, after different Distances of Time, 
are much in the following Manner: The 
Place where he was bit pains him; then fol- 
low wandering uncertain Pains in other, but 
chiefly the nearest Parts; a Weariness, Hea- 
viness, and Slowness succeed in the whole 
System of the Muscles; his Sleeps are disturb- 
ed, uneasy, all with Frights, Convulsions and 
Catchings in the Tendons; he is continually 
restless,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 427 
restless, sighs, looks dejected, and affects to be 
alone; and it is much after this Manner that 
this Disease begins and finishes its first Stage. 
Then all the foregoing Symptoms are in- 
creased, and there follows besides a prodigious 
Narrowness and Pressure about the Heart and 
Chest, Breathing is difficult, and accompanied 
with Sighs; he frequently shakes all over; his 
Hair stands an end, and trembles all over at 
the Sight of Water, or any sort of Liquors, 
or even at the Sight of transparent Things, or 
reflecting like Looking-Glasses; he loses his 
Appetite entirely, yet he can swallow any 
thing that is very dry and solid: The Touch of 
any Moisture, chiefly with his Lips or Tongue, 
creates an incredible Anguish, Tremors, vio- 
lent Convulsions, and a Raving; he vomits 
tawny glewish Choler, or green, like Leeks;
he grows very hot, feverish, sleepless; is trou- 
bled with a Priapism; and he thinks disor- 
derly of Things quite foreign and unusual.
Thus it goes on, and here ends its Second 
Stage. 
But afterwards every thing grows constant- 
ly worse; for he soon lolls out his rough 
and dry Tongue, gapes wide, speaks hoarse, 
has a great Drought, grows raving and fu- 
rious at every Attempt to drink, and at the 
Sight or Touch of all Drinkables and Liquors; 
he gathers Froth in and about his Mouth, 
endeavouring the spitting of the same upon 
the By-standers, and that even against his 
Will; bites and snaps at every thing within 
his

428 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
his Reach, and that likewise involuntarily, 
nor yet to be witheld from those; he gnashes 
his Teeth with Froth, snarling like a Dog; 
his Pulse and Breathing begin to fail, cold 
Sweats break out on all Sides; he raves in 
the highest Degree, notwithstanding which 
he is all the while sensible, and is afraid that 
he shall unwillingly hurt the By-standers. 
Hence you may always reckon upon his 
dying (within the fourth Day from the first 
State of his Illness, convulsed with a most 
terrible Anguish upon drawing his Breath. 
As Brevity, and the want of Leisure and 
Room at present, oblige me to proceed to the 
Method of Cure without any farther Disqui- 
sition about the Nature of this dreadful Con- 
tagion, I present the Reader with the follow- 
ing short, easy, and in all Probability the most 
infallible Method hitherto discover'd. 
A French Physician of the University of 
Bourdeaux, and a Gentleman of Note and 
great Merit in his Profession, has publish'd a 
Treatise * some few Years ago, in which 
there is a Dissertation on the Hydrophobia, 
wherein he candidly communicates a very 
rational Method of curing this terrible Con- 
tagion, after a new and easy manner, of 
which he has made several Trials, and always 
with the desir'd Success, as may be seen in 
his own Treatise at large; therefore as this 
Remedy
* Dr. Desault's Treatise translated from the French, by 
John Andree, M. D. and printed for John Clarke, under the 
Royal-Exchange, Cornhill, 1738. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 429
Remedy he proposes (in all human Probabi- 
lity,) may prove successful and certain, (at 
least it bids the fairest of any hitherto known 
in the Art of Physick for that desirable End) 
I thought proper and necessary to communi- 
cate the same to my Readers, in order to 
impart it to all their Friends and Acquaint- 
ance. 
The Remedy consists of a Powder called 
Palmarius's Powder, and an Ointment made 
in the following manner. 
The Powder. 
Take of the Leaves of Rue, Vervain, 
Sage of Virtue, Plantane, Polypody, 
common Wormwood, Mint, Baum, 
Betony, St. John's Wort, lesser Cen- 
taury and Coraline, of each equal 
Parts; mix them, and reduce them 
to a Powder. 
The Ointment. 
Take one third Part of Mercury reviv'd 
from Cinnabar, one third Part of hu- 
man Fat, and as much of Hog's 
Lard, mix all very well till all the 
mercurial Globules disappear. 
Here I give you the Author's Method in 
administering the Powder and Ointment in 
his own Words.
'I

430 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'I order one Dram of the Powder (says 
he) 'in White-Wine every Morning; and 
'Persons of the fair Sex, who cannot bear 
'Wine, take it in a Draught of warm Wa- 
'ter. 
'In this Method I continue 30 Days with 
'those who have been bit in an uncover'd 
'Place, or have receiv'd some considerable 
'Wound by the Bite; but to those who have 
'been bit in a Place that was cover'd, and 
'had only a few Holes made with the Teeth, 
'I give the Powder only 20 Days. 
'From the first Day of using the Powder, 
'I make them administer a Friction of one 
'or two Drams of the Ointment upon the 
'Wound and neighbouring Part, and spread 
'the Ointment all over the Part that was 
'wounded. 
'The Friction is repeated every other Day 
'in the beginning, and after the third time, 
'every third Day; after the 6th, every 4th, 
'till two or three Ounces of the Ointment 
'have been used; the Quantity of which 
'ought to be proportion'd to the Strength, 
'Age, Temperament, Sex, the Bite, &c. 
'But when the Patient comes to me seve- 
'ral Days after the Bite, for fear of Acci- 
'dent, and to prevent the Rabies or Mad- 
'ness, I order to make the Frictions every 
'Day to four or five times, and increase the 
'Dose of the Powder sometimes to half a 
'Dram; afterwards I leave a Day or two be- 
'tween to avoid a Salivation, which might 
'ensue

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 431
'ensue from the daily use of the Ointment, 
'altho' but a particular Friction. 
'In the last Place, I let him keep his 
'usual Meals, forbidding him all Excess; for 
'Experience proves, that they increase all 
'other contagious Distempers. I let him 
'drink Wine with moderation: I take Care 
'that they be not left alone, and desire their 
'Relations and Friends to keep them Com- 
'pany, forbidding them to mention Madness 
'to them, or mad Creatures. 
A more circumstantial Account of this 
Method may be seen in the Author's own 
Observations, to which I refer the Reader; 
but here I cannot omit observing, that if 20 
or 30 Grains of native Cinnabar were added 
to every Dose of the Powder, the Cure might 
be thereby perform'd with much greater 
Certainty. As for his directing to make the 
Ointment with human Fat, &c. it is need- 
less; for the common strong salivating Oint- 
ment, which is always ready prepar'd in the 
Shops, is every bit as good, if not better. 
The Experiments of the ingenious Dr. 
James seem to confirm the Efficacy of the 
above Method, at leasst that of Mercury, in 
curing the Bite of a mad Dog; wherefore I 
beg leave to transcribe Part of the Conclusion 
to his New Method of preventing and curing 
the Madness caused by the Bite of a mad Dog, 
laid before the Royal-Society, 1741. 
'Firft I would (says he) rub into the 
'Place wounded as soon as possible, a Dram 
'of

432 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'of the Ointment recommended by Desault. 
'I would then give Turpeth Mineral by 
'Way of Vomit, in a Dose proportion'd to 
'the Age and Constitution of the Patient;
'and this I would repeat more than once, at 
'Intervals, which would secure it from rais- 
'ing a Salivation, always remembring to rub 
'the Wound once in a Day, or oftener, with 
'the Mercurial Ointment. 
'But when thro' Neglect, any Symptoms 
'of approaching Madness should appear, I 
'would increase the Quantity of Mercurial 
'Ointment, and give Mercury in some Form. 
'or other internally, in as large Doses, and 
'those as often repeated as could be done, 
'without hazarding the Patient by a Saliva- 
'tion too precipitate. 
'In both Cases I would recommend the 
'Cold-Bath, as a Thing of great Conse- 
'quence, as soon as ever the Patient can 
'make Use of it without Danger; but in 
'this Case, as in all others, many accidental 
'Circumstances will occur, for which it is 
'impossible to lay down universal Rules; it 
'must therefore be left to the Prudence of a 
'Physician to guard against, and remedy In- 
'conveniencies arising from particular Acci- 
'dents. 
Of the Scurvy. 
It is impossible to define this Distemper by 
Words, containing any simple or distinct 
Idea; for it is rather a Name used to signify 
a

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 433
a Multitude of Symptoms, different and 
sometimes opposite in their Causes and Cures. 
It is a Disease affecting the Inha- 
bitants of cold Countries, and a- 
mong those, such of them as inhabit marshy, 
fat, low, moist Soils, near stagnating Wa- 
ters, fresh or Salt; and it invades chiefly in 
the Winter Season, such as lead a sedentary 
Life, or live upon salted and smoaked Flesh 
and Fish, or Quantities of unfermented 
mealy Vegetables, and drink bad Water; and 
likewise such as are Hysterical or Hypochon- 
driacal, and sometimes such as have taken.
great Quantities of the Bark, without pro- 
per Evacuations; so that from these Causes 
the best Rules for Prevention may be taken. 
The Cause. 
The Symptoms of this Distemper are a 
spontaneous Lassitude or Sensation of Weari- 
ness, being unrefreshed by Sleep, laborious 
Breathing upon small Motion, cold Swellings 
in the Legs, going off and returning; some- 
times Paleness, or a livid Colour in the Face, 
Spots on the Skin of various Colours, as red, 
violet-colour'd, yellow, or livid; oftentimes 
an ill Smell in the Mouth, and of the Breath, 
painful and bleeding Corrosions of the Gums, 
and by these Means the Teeth grow bare and 
loose; Fluxes of all Sorts, untractable Ul- 
cers, especially in the Legs, with a gangre- 
nous Appearance in the Skin; the Itch, dry 
and crusty Eruptions, and sometimes a small 
Degree of Leprosy; the Blood when taken 
away is black, grumous, and the red Part 
Ee without

434 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
without a due Consistence; the Serum very 
salt, and of a yellowish green; wandering 
Pains in the Limbs, increasing when warm 
in Bed, and sometimes a feverish Heat. 
These Symptoms arise from a bad Tem- 
perature of the Blood, either too thin, or too 
thick, being of a saline Constitution, either 
from an acid, alkaline, or Muriatick Cause, 
which requires very different and oftentimes 
contrary Remedies; for which Reason, See 
Part II. Chap. VIII. where I have treated of 
acid and alkaline Constitutions. 
The Scurvy of Seafaring People is generally 
cur'd by Acids, such as all Sorts of ripe 
Fruits, Lemons, Oranges, Butter-Milk; but 
all alkaline Spirits do harm; and acid Spirits, 
as that of Salt and Nitre are proper for 
them. If the Symptoms are attended with 
an ill Smell of any kind, either in the Mouth, 
Breath, or Urine, with Drought, Heat, 
Bleeding of the Gums, or of any kind, such 
a Disease will be cur'd by the Use of Acids, 
and none better than Whey; and in this Sort of 
Scurvy Steel Waters are commonly effectual. 
But if the Scurvy be muriatick or briny, 
occafion'd by a Diet of sait Flesh or Fish, the 
Plants commonly called Antiscorbutick, as 
Water-cresses, Scurvy-grass, and Brooklime, 
may be taken with Success, but always 
mix'd with Acids, as the Juice of Lemons 
and Oranges; and all the Pot-Herbs which 
are antiacid, as describ'd in Part II. Chap. VI. 
are a proper Diet in this Case; but if there 
be

435 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
be a high Degree of Heat and Inflammation,
all the hot Antiscorbuticks will be very im- 
proper. 
When a Patient is pale, cool without 
Thirst, with pale or natural colour'd Urine, 
and has made Use of an acescent Diet for any- 
time, that the Eruptions are not of a high 
inflammatory or livid Colour, then the warm 
Antiscorbuticks, animal Food, and Salts are 
necessary. 
In the Scurvy great Attention should be 
always given to the Condition of the Mouth,
Gums and Teeth, from which the Nature 
and Degree of the Distemper may be pretty 
Well known. 
All sharp and strong Purges injure scorbu- 
tick Constitutions; but Lenitives are of great 
Service, and Bleeding is not proper, unless 
where the Symptoms are urgent and inflam- 
matory.
Of a Cachexy, or ill Habit of Body.
A Cachexy is so called from an ill 
Habit of the Body. It proceeds most 
commonly from the Intemperance of the 
Person, or the ill Cure of some preceding 
Disease; from a scirrhous Tumor of the Li- 
ver or Spleen, or from a too long and pro- 
fuse Flux of the Piles, or other Fluxes;
from long continual Fevers, or intermitting 
Fevers ill cur'd; from a Surfeit, or too plen- 
tiful use of spirituous Liquors; from the 
Causes. 
Ee2 Green- 

436 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Green-Sickness, from an Obstruction, or too 
great a Flux of the Menses; from Aliments 
of unfermented mealy Substances, as Pease, 
or such as are coarse, fibrous, fat, sharp, 
watry, and rough; from Bodies that cannot 
be digested at all, as Clay, Cinders, Chalk, 
Sand, Tobacco-pipes, Lime, &c. from a 
Defect of animal Motion in lazy and idle 
People, and such as sleep too much. 
Signs. 
The Diagnostick Signs are a Paleness 
of the Face, with a livid, yellow, 
greenish, or ruddy Colour; and frequently 
with a tumid or bloated Habit of Body, a 
Sluggishness; there is also often a slow Fever, 
scarce perceivable by the Person that has it. 
Cure.
The Cure is to be begun with a Vo- 
mit; but before a Vomit it will be ad- 
viseable to make use of saline Dlgestives to 
dissolve the Viscidities, as Cream of Tartar, 
vitriolated Tartar, Salt of Wormwood, Tin- 
cture of Salt of Tartar, Elixir Proprietatis 
with Tartar, and the absorbent testaceous 
Powders; but if an Emetick be not judged 
convenient in the Beginning, a Purge may 
be given, and repeated as need requires; and 
then after these Things have been done, we 
may advantageously proceed to the Use of 
Chalybeats, and Fuller's Ecphratick Mixture 
is a powerful Remedy in this Disorder. 
This Distemper sometimes disposes to Con-
sumptions, Bloatedness, and Dropsies, and is 
attended often with Palpitations of the Heart; 
therefore


437 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV.  
therefore the Rules of Diet must be drawn 
from the Nature of the Symptoms. 
Of a Consumption. 
A Consumption is commonly defined to be 
a Wasting of the whole Body, arising from 
an Ulcer of the Lungs, but not justly; be- 
cause I have open'd the Bodies of several who 
died of this Distemper, whose Lungs I found 
without Ulcers, but full of Tubercles, Stones, 
and fabulous Matter; wherefore a Consump- 
tion is better defined to be a Wasting of the 
whole Body from a bad Conformation of the 
Lungs. Willis Pharmaceut. Rat. Part II. 
Sect. I. Chap. 6. 
A Consumption, or Marasmus, is a Wasting 
of the whole Body, or some of its Parts, aris- 
ing from a Distemperature of the Fluids, or 
from their Defection, or an unequal and dis- 
proportionate Heat. Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
in his Theatrum Tabidorum, translated by 
Quincy, Page 135.
By these two last Definitions we see, that 
an Ulcer of the Lungs is neither the Ante- 
cedent, nor Concomitant Cause of a Con- 
sumption, but only a Symptom, as will evi- 
dently appear presently, in a few Passages ab- 
stracted from a Dissertation of a modern Au- 
thor *, supported by Reason and Observation, 
the surest and best Guides: afterwards I give 
the Reader his Method of curing this Di-
Ee3 stemper, 
* Dr. Desault's Dissertation upon Consumptions.


438 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
stemper, which I found in many Instances 
to answer the Intentions he proposes. 
Before I declare the Causes of a Consump- 
tion (says he) I thought proper to give a 
Description of them in behalf of such as are 
not of the Profession who may read this Disser- 
tation. 
A Consumption attacks Youth sooner than 
other Ages; that is, from 18 till the 35th Year 
it makes its principal Havock. Hippocrates, 
Aph. 9. Sect. 5. Not that the other Ages 
are exempted from it, since we see consump- 
tive People under and above the Time set 
down in the Aphorism; but not so often. 
1. Those who have a narrow Chest, a long 
Neck, high Shoulders, like Birds Wings, are 
most subject to it; of those Hippocrates 
speaks in his first Book of Epidemicks. 
2. Those who have the Misfortune of be- 
ing born of consumptive Parents are very 
subjed to it; for this Distemper has this in 
common with many others, that it is propa- 
gated by Inheritance. 
3. Such as are obliged to live with con- 
sumptive People, to wait on them, may con- 
tract it, if they are any ways inclin'd to it, 
for it is contagious; thus Women who attend 
their consumptive Husbands catch it of them, 
and Husbands of their Wives. 
The Disorder manifests itself, and makes 
its Progress in the following manner. The 
Patient seems to have a Cold, he is seiz'd 
with a dry Cough, which fatigues him most
at

439 thro' the various Stages of Life. Ch. IV. 
at Night: Afterwards he brings up a well- 
digested Phlegm of a sweet Taste. 
Nevertheless as this Cough continues, as 
it exceeds the Bounds of a common Cold, as 
it goes daily increasing, as the Patient's Legs 
are observ'd to waste, and the rest of the 
Body in Proportion, as his Colour changes, 
and he grows pale and yellow, as the Phlegm 
changes Taste, and becomes a little bitterish, 
as some small Quantity of Blood is mix'd 
with it, as a slow Fever associates with it, 
with a Pain in the Breast, and in short, when 
he is at the Brink of the second Stage, he is
frighted, and very much alarm'd. 
Besides these Symptoms which Authors 
have taken Notice of, and which establish
the first Degree, I have always found a con- 
siderable Disorder in the Liver, so that an 
Obstruction in this Bowel plainly appear'd 
from its Hardness, and sometimes a great 
Pain. I am surpriz'd to see, that Authors 
have not taken Notice of this, which how- 
ever is a Symptom deserving of great At- 
tention, since it is of great Importance for 
the Discovery of the Cause of Consumptions, 
and of the Agreeableness of the Remedy I 
have to propose. 
Notwithstanding all the Remedies, Se- 
crets, and other Specificks, the Patient grows 
worse, and comes to the second Stage, which 
makes itself known by the Cough being 
stronger and more frequent by Night, by 
Night Sweats, which fatigue and drain the 
Ee4 Patient,

440 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Patient, by the Quantity of Blood in his Spit-
ting, and lastly he comes to spit Matter. 
The Leanness to which he was reduced by 
the first Degree, increases considerably in the 
second; the Fever, stronger and more violent, 
has even some Returns, with cold Shiverings, 
which encourages his taking the Bark regu- 
larly, to stop at least the Returns complicated 
with the slow Fever, and to continue the 
Medicines to heal the Ulcer, the Existence 
of which is no more to be doubted. His 
Nails grow crooked, and the Distemper, be- 
comes contagious in this Stage. 
Let us observe, that it is not always ne- 
cessary the Patient should spit Blood, to die 
consumptive; neither is it even necessary for 
the Patient to spit Pus to determine the Exis- 
tence of a Consumption, as I shall prove by 
Observations made at the opening of con- 
sumptive Bodies. The Cough, the Spitting 
of certain Phlegm without Blood or Pus, 
the Wasting, the nocturnal Sweats, and last- 
ly a Looseness, put an End to Life, it not 
being essential to this Distemper to spit Blood 
or Pus. 
The Patient at last comes to the third 
Stage; his Leanness is at the last Period; he 
resembles a Skeleton covered with a human 
Skin, which is hard, wrinkled, and rough; 
his Breath smells strong, and what he expec- 
torates stinks so that he loaths it; he brings 
up almost pure Matter, and his Life termi- 
nates with a Looseness.
Let 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 441
Let us now speak of the Causes of a Con- 
sumption: We shall divide them into con- 
comitant and antecedent. The concomitant 
Cause of a Consumption, I say, consists in  
Tubercles and Concretions form'd in the Sub- 
stance of the Lungs, and which are spread 
thro' its Lobes. These Concretions are like 
Hail-stones, and of different Dimensions. 
These Tubercles in the Lungs are real, 
and fall under the Cognizance of the Senses, 
and are no Supposition invented by a System- 
monger, to explain the easier his Hypothesis. 
That great Observator Hippocrates speaks of 
them in his Book de Morbis: He makes 
them of two Sorts; some crude, which do not 
suppurate; and others which suppurate, and 
leave an Ulcer. 
Etmuller, who has compiled the Opinions 
of the Moderns, has a whole Chapter de 
Tuberculis Pulmonum, Lib. II. Part. II. 
Cap. 8. p. 436. 
Read Morton's Book upon Consumptions, 
he never open'd a consumptive Body where 
he did not find them: He mentions them in 
almost every Passage; he imputes to them 
all the Disorder, and thinks they are the 
Source of all the Symptoms of a Consump- 
tion. 
Bonetus, in his Practical Anatomy, Lib. 2. 
Sect. 7. proposes several Observations collect- 
ed from Dissections of Bodies, where the Tu- 
bercles have been deemed the true Cause of 
a Consumption, and the Pus and Ulcers only 
as

442 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
as the Consequence of these same Tubercles 
suppurated and degenerated into Ulcers. 
But why should we look for Proofs in An- 
tiquity, why employ the Evidence of Fo- 
reigners? I appeal to all the Surgeons who 
have open'd consumptive Carcasses, and to 
the Physicians who have assisted thereat: 
Have they not regularly found in all these Tu- 
bercles, tho' less in Quantity in those who 
died of a long Consumption, they having 
had Time to melt away, and be confirmed 
by Ulceration? Some however have always 
remained, Death having prevented their Sup- 
puration. This being allow'd to be the con- 
comitant Cause of a Consumption, it will be 
easy to explain all its Symptoms. 
The dry Cough in the Beginning comes 
from the Pressure of the Tubercles upon the 
Ramifications of the Aspera Arteria, dis- 
persed through the Substance of the Lungs. 
Morton, p. 36. The same Irritations which 
this Compression makes in the Aspera Ar- 
teria, squeeze at length a Phlegm out of the 
Glands, spread about the internal Membrane 
of the Trachea; and the Cough, which in the 
Beginning was dry and hard, becomes moist, 
and throws up the Matter press'd out of the 
Glands by the Strength of the Cough. Mort. 
p. 34. 
The Difficulty of Breathing comes from 
these Tubercles, which fill up part of the 
Lungs, and lessen in Proportion the Quantity 
of Air which used to enter there; besides, the 
Com-

Ch. IV. 443 thro' the various Stages of Life. 443
Compression they make upon the Ramifica- 
tions of the Aspera Arteria renders its Ad- 
mission more difficult. 
The Leanness and Wasting are the Effcts 
of these Tubercles, and not the Ulcer of the 
Lungs, as has been supposed; and as it is of 
the greatest Importance for the Indication, 
which should be pursued in this Distemper, 
to prove that the Ulcer is not the Cause of 
the Wastings, we shall insert here the follow- 
ing Proofs. 
1. Hippocrates, in his first Book of Epi- 
demicks, acknowledges a Consumption with- 
out an Ulcer of the Lungs. Ægrotabant 
macilenti citra Pulmonum Ulcus: They were 
sick and wasted without an Ulcer of the 
Lungs. 
2. Hippocrates has also observed, that Lean- 
ness has begun before the Rise of the Ulcer, 
and that it is even far gone when the Ulcer 
appears. Temporis autem progressu exaspe- 
ratur Pulmo, & intus ulceratur à Pituita 
inhœrente & putrescente, & gravitatem exhi- 
bet Pectori & Dolorem acutum ante & re- 
tro caloresque acutiores in corpus incidunt. 
It appears from these Passages of Hippo- 
crates, and especially the last, that the Wast- 
ing, Cough, Spitting, and slow Fever, have 
begun before the Ulcer comes on. Temporis 
autem progressu exulceratur Pulmo: It is only 
in the Course of the Distemper; temporis 
progressu, says he; in progress of Time. 
3. Lastly,

444 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
3. Lastly we prove by an invincible Rea- 
son, that the Ulcer of the Lungs is not the 
Cause of a Consumption. There have been 
Persons who died of a Consumption with the 
whole Train of Symptoms, yet during the 
whole Course of the Distemper never spit 
any Pus; and upon the opening of their 
Bodies no Ulcers were found in their Lungs, 
but Tubercles in great Numbers. For Proof 
of this Fact we shall introduce the Observa- 
tions † upon the Body of Mr. Clever, Mer- 
chant, of this City, and of a young Gentle- 
woman; and also Willis's Observations al- 
ready mentioned. 
The slow Fever depends as much upon 
the Obstructions of the Liver, as of the 
Lungs: When the Blood finds its Passage 
shut up in any Part, it rebounds in a greater 
Body into the other Vessels; besides, when 
the Blood, which has not been sufficiently 
broke in the Lungs, nor depurated in the Li- 
ver, does not give way, but resists the Im- 
pulse of the Heart and Arteries, it revives 
its Play, and occasions two or three Pulsa- 
tions, where one would be sufficient, if it 
did not resist, and was thin and fluid. 
The nocturnal Sweats are owing to the 
thick and gross Disposition of the Blood: 
When the Serum is not exactly mixt with 
the other Principles of the Blood, it easily 
escapes through the Pores. 
It
† Observations of the Author in his Dissertation upon 
Consumptions, which see. 


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 445
It is easy to comprehend the Spitting of 
Blood: Who can now be surprised, that a 
Vein squeezed between two Tubercles should 
open and furnish some Blood in the Spittle? 
We are now come to the second Stage: 
Some Tubercles come to be inflamed; Matter 
is formed there; the Fever increases, as also 
the Difficulty of Breathing; the Tubercle 
bursts, and the Pus comes away like Spittle, 
which the Patient voids in abundance. 
But as the Pus which was contained in this 
Tubercle served its Neighbours as a suppurating 
Cataplasm, they are not long before they are 
inflamed, and come to Suppuration in their 
Turn, and the Lungs are thus destroy'd and 
ulcerate every Day more and more. And 
now the Distemper becomes contagious, the 
Suppuration of the Tubercle breeds Worms, 
which institute the Characteristick of the 
Ulcer. These Worms spread themselves a- 
bout the neighbouring Tubercles, as proper 
Beds for their Nourishment and Breeding, and 
by their Means it is that the Distemper be- 
comes contagious. 
[The Author has shewn, in his Treatise on 
Venereal Disorders, that all Infection pro- 
ceeds from Worms.] 
The Looseness comes from hence, that the 
Pores are destroyed by the Dryness of the 
Skin, which has begun with effacing the 
Pores of the insensible Perspiration, and now 
even stops up those which evacuate Sweat: 
The Serum not being well mixt with the 
Blood,

446 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Blood, and finding no more its former Out- 
lets, falls upon the Feet and Legs, and after- 
wards upon the intestinal Glands, which 
brings on a Diarrhœa, and makes an End of 
Life. 
We come now to examine the antecedent 
Causes which produce Tubercles in the Lungs, 
and shall make it apppear, by an exact En- 
quiry, that they owe their Rise to eager and 
coagulating Juices, and not to sharp and cor- 
rosive ones. 
Authors tell us, and we see it confirmed 
by daily Experience, that Grief is a power- 
ful Cause to bring on a Consumption. The 
Soul being continually employ'd in Affliction 
about the Object which causes it, studies 
Night and Day to find out a Remedy: This 
continual Attention of the Soul employs the 
Spirits in the Brain, hinders their descending 
into the Stomach, the Appetite disappears, 
the Digestion suffers, the Chyle is sent gluti- 
nous and ill digested into the Blood, disposed 
to bring on Obstructions either in the Lungs 
or Liver. 
But the free Course of the animal Spirits is 
not only suspended in the Stomach, but also 
in the Organs of Respiration; for we see Per- 
sons under Affliction forget as it were to 
breathe to that Degree, that as the Blood 
stagnates in the Lungs, they are oblig'd to 
fetch at Intervals deep Sighs, which are called 
sorrowful Sighs. 
Besides,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 447
Besides, Grief suppresses the insensible 
Transpiration. Sanctorius, Aph. 2. Sect. 7. 
And Consolation restores it, Animi Consolatio 
liberam facit Perspirationem. Aph. 6. Sect. 7. 
For the same Reason Men of Letters, who 
keep their Spirits continually upon the stretch, 
by the Excess of Meditation are also subject 
to Consumptions, as Morton observes. 
The eager Wines, according to Etmuller, 
produce abundance of Consumptions in the 
Province of Moravia, as being very proper 
to form Coagulations and Concretions. 
[The Author mentions a Case in his Dis- 
sertation, which proves how apt this Cause is 
to bring on a Consumption.] 
Melancholick Persons, according to Mor- 
ton's Observation, are very subject to Con- 
sumptions, their Blood being disposed to form 
Obstructions and Tubercles: Likewise, pag. 
27, he has oserved, that Cold is always the 
Cause of Consumptions. His Observation a- 
grees with that of Hippocrates, Frigus genitor 
est phthiseos pulmonis, scilicet, venulis a fri-
gore constrictis ac convulsis. Cold is the Pa- 
rent of the Phthisis of the Lungs, viz. when 
the Veins are drawn together by Cold. 
Van Helmont has observed, that Steams of 
Spirit of Vitriol, and of Aqua Fortis, have 
sometimes occasioned Consumptions. This 
Effect proceeds from the Concretion of the 
Juices by these acid Vapours, which form the 
Tubercles.
From

448 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
From this Enquiry into the Causes which 
are capable of producing Tubercles in the 
Lungs, it appears, that they owe their Ori- 
gin to acid and coagulating Juices; and if 
afterwards the Fluids grow pungent by stag- 
nating there, it is an Effect of the Part which 
alkalises them, in like manner as we see some 
Fruits change their Taste, according as they 
come near to be ripe or rotten. 
The Question then is, to look out for Re- 
medies which can dissolve and destroy these 
Tubercles. This is the Indication which you 
ought not to lose out of Sight: They are 
the Obstacles which you must either conquer 
or die. 
The Roman Hippocrates, Baglivius, in se- 
veral Places of his practical Writings, exhorts 
us to give aperitive Medicines in all the Dis- 
orders of the Breast; and Duretus, in his 
Coac. p. 423. says, that the urinary Passages 
are the Emunctories of the Breast, the Flux 
of Urine being augmented, procures a Di- 
version of the Phlegm, which otherwise 
would take its Course to the Lungs. 
These Authors not only propose that Indi- 
cation, but also the Remedies which I make 
use of to discharge it. Read Morton, p. 81. 
I don't at all doubt, says he, but by a pru- 
dent Choice and frequent Use of a thin and 
sharp Air, and by a long Use of balsamick, 
mercurial, and chalybeat Medicines and Mil- 
lepedes, but more especially of Mineral Wa- 
ters, and other anti-scrophulous Remedies, 
those

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 449
those Tumors may as well be destroy'd in 
these Parts as any other, and the Patient 
be freed from a phthisical and scrophulous 
Disorder, as we have often found by Ex- 
perience.
This is very certain, for all the English 
Consumptions, generally speaking, proceed 
from a scrophulous Disposition; therefore, in 
the Accesses of such a Distemper, aperitive 
and deobstruent Medicines, free from much 
Acrimony, with the mild Anti-scorbuticks, 
will always prove the most effectual Reme- 
dies; but whatever heats too much, disposes 
to Suppuration; and it is upon these Princi- 
ples that the Author establishes his Method of 
Cure in the following Manner. 
'As soon as I am call'd to a consumptive 
'Person of the first Degree, fatigued with a 
'Cough, which at first was dry, and after- 
'ward is become moist, which exceeded the 
'Bounds of a common Rheum, accompanied 
'with a slow Fever, Difficulty of Breathing, 
'Leanness, &c. I examine immediately the 
'Liver, where I constantly find a conspicu- 
'ous Hardness and often a Pain. 
'I afterwards examine if any general Me- 
'dicines are indicated, in which Case I order 
'the Patient to bleed and purge; I even 
'repeat Bleeding when the Pain is violent, 
'and if the Patient is young, heated with 
'drinking of Wine, or spirituous Liquors, to 
'prevent the Inflammation of the Tubercles. 
Ff 'Then

450 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
'Then I apply a great Plaster of the Empl. 
'Diabotanum upon the Region of the Liver, 
'with which Mercury revived from Cinnabar 
'is incorporated, or in default thereof the 
'Empl. Vigonis cum Mercurio. Every Night 
'I order the Plaster to be taken off, and the 
'Quantity of a Dram of the Mercurial Oint- 
'ment to be rubb'd in at the Swelling, and then 
'the Plaster is put on again, which remains 
'there Night and Day. 
'Internally I give twice a-day the follow- 
'ing Powder. 
'Take of prepared Mars, Millepedes, 
'Benjamin, red Coral and Crabs Eyes, 
'one Scruple of each; mix all well to- 
'gether to make into a Powder, to be 
'taken in the Morning and to be re- 
'eated at Night. 
'Or made up into Troches in the following 
'Manner:
'Take of Mars, Millepedes, Benjamin, 
'Coral and Crabs Eyes, of each half an 
'Ounce, Powder of Cinnamon three 
'Drams, fine Sugar half a Pound; mix 
'all together, and with the Mucilage 
'of Gum Tragacanth made with O- 
'range-flower Water, make Troches 
'of two Drams each, of which let the 
'Patient take one Night and Morning. 
'After every Dose of the Powder or Tro- 
'ches I order them to take a Draught of 
'Ptisane

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 451
'Ptisane made of Nettle-Roots, or Whey 
'well clarified, with which I mix two Oun- 
'ces of the Juice of Water-Cresses, and as 
'much of the Juice of Chervil; or some Broth 
'made of a Piece of Veal, Radishes, Cresses, 
'Brooklime and Chervil, or an Infusion of 
'Green Tea.' 
The Powder is in two great a Bulk, as he 
orders it, therefore it would be much a neater 
Way, and much easier for the Patient to take, 
if he had ordered the Steel, Millepedes, and 
Benjamin in a Bole with Syrup of Balsam, and 
the testaceous Powders in a Julap, or in an 
Emulsion of Sperma Ceti, to be taken by two 
or three Spoonfuls after each Bolus, and at 
other Intervals. This shews the Injudicious 
ness of foreign Prescribers in dosing their Me- 
dicines in a neat and proper Form, though 
otherwise never so learned. 
Our Author strenuously recommends Rid- 
ing twice a-day, in all Stages of a Consump- 
tion, if the Weather permits, the Usefulness 
of which he demonstrates from Observation,
Reason, and Experience. In the first Stage 
of a Consumption he allows light Meats of 
easy Digestion without any Seasoning; but 
in the second Stage, he orders the Medicines 
to be taken three times a-day, and makes the 
Patient live upon Cow's Milk, boil'd and 
skimm'd, and mix'd with an equal Quantity 
of Green Tea, and sometimes without it, but 
a thorough Forbearance from all manner of 
Ff2 Flesh-

452 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Flesh-meat: He likewise recommends the 
Use of Asses Milk, Chearfulness and Musick. 
Other Con-
sumptions.
As Consumptions are mostly occa- 
sioned by Tubercles in the Lungs, 
there are some also that owe their 
Origin to Obstructions of the Liver, Spleen, 
Pancreas, Mesentery, Kidneys, Womb, and 
Bladder, &c. The Knowledge, Prognostick, 
Effects, Cure, and Palliation are easily drawn 
from the distinguishing Marks of each parti- 
cular Bowel, of which no good Physician 
ought to be ignorant. 
For a more ample Account of the Nature 
and Cure of this lingering Disease, I refer the 
Reader to the Author's Observations in his 
Dissertation upon Consumptions. 
Of a Dropsy. 
When a watery Serum is shed out of its 
Vessels and received into Cavities, or when 
stagnating it distends its Vessels too much, it 
is called a Dropsy. Which may take place 
consequently wherever there are such serous 
Vessels, that is, in the whole Habit of the 
Body, and in each Particular thereof. 
Therefore this Distemper may happen 
wherever there are serous Vessels; an Hydro- 
cephalus or Dropsy of the Head, which is 
only incurable when the Serum is extravasated 
into the Ventricles of the Brain; and it is 
generally fatal in Infants, when the Sutures 
are closed and the Skull will yield no more. 
A Dropsy

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 453
A Dropsy of the Breast is attended almost 
with the same Symptoms as an Empyema, 
and cured by the same Chirurgery. A 
Dropsy of the Lungs, either by Hydatides or 
Water-Bladders, or by Lympha extravasated 
in the Body of the Lungs. 
A Dropsy in the fore Part of the Windpipe 
like a Bronchocele. Likewise a Dropsy in the 
Oviarium, Testes, Scrotum, or Uterus. 
An Ascites, or Collection of Water in the 
Abdomen. First, in the Foldings of the Peri- 
toneum. Secondly, Between the Peritoneum 
and the Bowels. Thirdly, When the Water 
is contained in the membranaceous Coat of 
the Glands. 
Sometimes the Air is so rarified in the Tu- 
mor as makes it hard and tight like a Drum, 
and from thence it is call a Tympany. When 
the Tendon is from Air, it is easily distin- 
guished by the specifick Gravity of the Pa- 
tient, and so is Water. And when the Wa- 
ter or Lymph stagnates, or is extravasated
under the Skin, it is called Anasarca. What- 
ever hinders the Return of the Lymph 
into the Veins, or breaks the Lymphatick 
Vessels, or obstructs the absorbent Vessels, 
so as the Lymph cannot be absorbed, or exhal- 
ed, produces a Dropsy; likewise any Stop- 
page of the Circulation will occasion a 
Dropsy, as by strong Ligatures or Com- 
pression. 
The most of the Causes are hereditary Dis- 
positions; drinking great Quantities of wa- 
Ff3 tery


454 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
tery Liquors, which are not discharged again;
violent acute Distempers; stubborn Obstruc- 
tions of the Bowels; the Jaundice; obstinate 
intermitting Fevers; Bloody-fluxes; great 
Evacuations, especially of Blood; viscid Ali- 
ment and hard of Digestion; inveterate Scur- 
vies: But the most common and most perni- 
cious of all is the habitual and plentiful Use of 
spirituous Liquors. 
The Effects are a Swelling of the Legs at 
Night by Degrees, still rising higher; like- 
wise a Swelling of the Belly increasing; but in 
a Tympany, sounding and tense like a Drum; 
sometimes the Sensation and Noise of fluctu- 
ating Water; Shortness of Breath; Thirst; 
Urine in too small a Quantity; no Sweat; 
the stagnating Serum at last turns acrimonious, 
exulcerates and putrefies the Bowels, produc- 
ing most dismal Symptoms. 
The best Cautions and Rules of Diet may 
be drawn from the Enumeration of these 
Causes and Effects; for the Intentions to be 
pursued are in removing the Causes, as Ob- 
structions, dissolving the Viscidity or Glewy- 
ness of the Serum, and discharging it out of 
the Body. 
The Viscidity of the Serum is best correct- 
ed by such Things as contain abundance of 
alkaline and volatile Salts, Spices, acrimoni- 
ous pungent Vegetables, soapy Substances; 
and what has been prescrib'd in a phlegmatick 
Constitution, Part II. which see.
The
 

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 455 
The only Contradiction in this is, too great 
Heat and Thirst, to which Attention is to be 
given, and indicates the Use of Acids, Juice 
of Lemons and Oranges, Sorrel, &c. And 
it may be taken for a general Rule, that when 
the Urine is high-colour'd Acids are proper, 
for they are contrary to that alkalescent State 
of the Humours, and resist the Putrefaction, 
which is the Product of acrimonious Serum. 
Their Drink should be sparing; but as the 
Thirst is sometimes insufferable, the Patient 
may be indulged the free Use of Spaw-water 
and Rhenish Wine: And the Aliment should 
be dry and diuretick; but Diureticks of the 
acid Kind are the best: Strong Frictions of 
the Skin are very beneficial, which attenuate 
and promote the Circulation of the stagnating 
Serum or Water. 
Vomiting in strong Constitutions has proved 
oftentimes very effectual; because the Con- 
cussion of the solid Parts dissolves and expells 
the stagnating Humours; and likewise Gly- 
sters of sharp and purgative Ingredients are 
very beneficial. 
Smart Purges are useful to carry off the 
Waters; but they should not consist of Vola- 
tiles, because such dissolve the Blood, which 
is pernicious. Abstinence from Drink is very 
beneficial, and eating dry Biscuit, which cre- 
ates no Thirst; likewise strong Frictions four 
or five Times a Day. 
When the Waters are carried off, the Diet 
ought to be such as stengthens the solid Parts,
Ff4 allow-

456 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
allowing Spices and generous Wine, but espe- 
cially the Use of Chalybeat Waters, dry Food, 
and astringent Vegetables, Exercise, especial- 
ly Riding; and in general, such a Diet as ge- 
nerates good Blood. 
When the Serum stagnates long, it turns 
acrimonious, and commonly renders the Pa- 
tient feverish and thirsty; then acid or four 
Things are properest, both to prevent and 
cure these Symptoms, as they are specifically 
proper against that alkaline Putrefaction. For 
a more circumstantial and accurate Account 
of this Distemper and its Cure in every Par- 
ticular, consult the learned Boerhaave's Apho- 
risms upon it.  
Of the Gout. 
This Distemper is a very painful Illness, 
seated principally in and about the Ligaments 
of the Bones of the Foot and its Joints, seiz- 
ing Persons mod commonly in the Spring 
and Autumn; which when undisturbed com- 
monly runs its own natural Stage, and is 
usually the Companion of People of the mid- 
dle Age, of the Male Sex, Men of acute and 
deep Sense, who exercise the same much, and 
study late by Nights, such as lead a voluptu- 
ous and debauched Life, and at Night drink 
great Quantities of Wine or spirituous Liquors: 
Such as have been much addicted to Venery 
in their younger and unripe Years; large ple- 
thorick Men; such as are much used to 
Acids

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 437
Acids, and cool their sweaty Feet too sud-  
denly; sweat in wet Stockings or Shoes;
hence such as do hunt or ride much in cold 
Weather; and finally, such as have it by 
Inheritance from Parents, or lie much with 
gouty People. 
This Distemper may affect any membra- 
nous Part, but commonly those which are 
the most remote from the Brain and Heart, 
where the Motion of the Fluids is the slow- 
ed, the Resistance, Friction, and Stricture 
of the solid Parts the greatest, and Sensation 
of Pain by the Obstruction of the small Ves- 
sels and Dilaceration of the nervous Fibres 
extreme. 
The most common Seat of it is in the 
Foot, its Tendons, Nerves, Membranes, Li- 
gaments and Periosteum, or Membranes in- 
vesting the Bones. The Patient immediate- 
ly is sensible of a stretching, tearing, strait- 
ning Pain, gradually increasing and decreas- 
ing again, with a Moistness, Redness, Tu- 
mor, ending with a breathing Sweat, an Itch- 
ing, furfuraceous Skinning, or changing into 
a chalky Substance, which breaks the Vessels. 
By all which it appears, that the proximate 
Cause of this Disease is a vitiated Temper of 
the least, and consequently the nervous Ves- 
sels in the Body; and also of the Liquid 
which waters those nervous Parts; and more- 
over, that this Liquid here is defective by its 
Acrimony and by its great Viscidity, and the 
solid Vessels by too great Rigidity and Nar- 
rowness:


458 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
rowness: Whence it shews itself in Parts 
the most remote from the Brain, as resisting 
Motion the most, because of their Solidity, 
Hardness, Exercise, and Weight incumbent 
upon them. Now the immediate Origin of 
this Defect is from an Indigestion of the 
Bowels, which do not sufficiently attenuate or 
assimilate the Aliment into a Substance fit 
to supply the Nerves with Juices proper for 
them, which require a most elaborate Con- 
coction. 
The Cure therefore is impossible, unless 
wrought by such Medicines as are able to 
mend these Defects entirely. So that the 
Gout has hitherto been reputed incurable by 
Antients as well as Moderns, if except a few 
Quacks and boasting Empiricks in all Ages. 
From the same may be known, that 
Bleeding does not reach either the Matter, 
Seat, or Cause of the Disease: yet that same 
is sometimes found not only beneficial, but 
also necessary to cause a Revulsion, and lessen 
the most urgent inflammatory Symptoms 
that often attend it. 
As one of the Causes of the Gout is the 
Suppression of Sweat and Perspiration, so 
the procuring a due Degree of these seems to 
be the best Preventative of it; and if the Feet 
could be made to sweat in due time, it would 
prevent the Gout, which invades in such 
Constitutions of the Air as suppress Perspi- 
ration.
Violent

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 459
Violent Purges in the Absence of the Fit, 
by agitating the Humours too much, often 
hurt, and may draw the Gout into the Sto- 
mach if given during the Paroxysm. 
The best Diet is Abstinence from all man- 
ner of Acids, high Sauces, and Gluttony; the 
moderate use of such things as promote Perspi- 
ration, as aromatick Substances with volatile 
Salts, which relieve Gouty People, by ren- 
dering the Body perspirable; diluting Li- 
quors, taken in such a Degree as not to in- 
jure the Stomach or Bowels, Moderation in 
Food of a nourishing light Sort, that is easily 
digested, as likewise in the use of strong 
Liquors; Exercise without Fatigue, such as 
Riding constantly in a pure, open Country 
Air, and Frictions and Motions of the Parts 
often repeated; going to Bed early, and ly- 
ing long in the Morning. 
It will be likewise necessary to restore the 
lost Vigour in the Bowels, by carrying off 
the corrupted Liquid flowing yet in the Ves- 
sels, or stagnating in the Places already as- 
sign'd. To the first relates the Us of aro- 
matick, bitter, antiscorbutick Plants, and 
chiefly the Juice with a little Honey; the use 
of lixivious fix'd Salts taken in small Doses, 
and often repeated for a long time together, 
observing at the same time the Diet as above 
directed. To the second (that is, the stag- 
nating of the Humours) will be useful, 1. 
Volatile Salts long taken and in small Quan- 
tities, in the Morning sometime before rising,
with 

460 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
with a large Draught of some softening Apo- 
zem, and thereby promoting a gentle breath- 
ing Sweat for about an Hour together. 2. 
Warm Frictions with dry Cloths. 3. Repeated 
Doses from time to time of such Medicines as 
purge serous or watery Humours, taking a 
gentle opiate Draught the same Night. 
In the Fit of the Gout, as temperate and 
as cool and diluent a Diet as the Patient can 
bear, abstaining from Opiates, except when 
the morbid Matter is separting, otherwise the 
constant Use of them is injurious; keeping 
the affected Part warm without the Applica- 
tion of Plasters, or Cataplasms; for even such 
as are emollient, weaken and relax too much. 
It will be of the greatest Importance to 
know if any Disease proceeds from a Trans- 
lation of the gouty Matter; for the Me- 
thods, especially Evacuations, used in an ori- 
ginal Distemper, would be very improper in 
a gouty Case, where the Intention must be 
to draw the Gout down to the Feet by Blis-
ters applied to the Thighs or Legs, and acrid 
inflammatory Cataplasms and Plasters. 
If a Person subject to the Gout, (except 
he has Chalk Stones) can bring himself en- 
tirely to a Milk Diet, he may by that means 
so change the whole Mass of the Juices of 
his Body, as to eradicate the Distemper.
The Effects
of Riding.
The English Hippocrates, Syden- 
ham, in recommending Riding in 
the Cure of this Distemper, says, 
that if a Medicine could be known to any 
one,

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 461
one, and he could conceal it, that would be 
as effectual for the curing this Distemper as 
Riding on Horseback is; and not only here, but 
in most other chronical Diseases, he might get 
immense Riches by it. 
And Dr. Lister likewise says, 
that one single Golden Rule of Ab- 
stinence pleases me beyond all 
things, Parva cibatio summœ Curœ sit, viz.
Beware not to eat and drink too much, which 
is a thing every one ought to regard who has 
his Health at Heart; and this Abstinence is 
in all People's Power, in whatever State or 
Condition they are in, to be substituted in- 
stead of Exercise, when they have even lost 
the Use of their Feet. 
The Effects 
of Abstinence.
Of the Rheumatism.
This is a Distemper ally'd to the Gout and 
Scurvy, and is common in all the Northern 
Parts of Europe. 
Such are most subject to this Dis- 
ease as are of a sanguine Con- 
stitution, infected with some acrimonious De- 
fect, manly Age, plentiful Living, a sudden 
Cooling of a heated Body, Spring and Fall, 
Perspiration interrupted, an inflammatory 
Disposition, but appearing slower than in a 
Pleurisy. It begins with a continual Fever, 
causes a most terrible tearing Pain, increasing 
cruelly upon the least Motion, long continu'd 
and fix'd in one Place, seizing the Joints of 
Diagnosticks.
any


462 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
any Limbs, but most particularly trouble-
some to the Knees, Loins, and Rump-bone, 
tormenting and invading sometimes the Brain, 
Lungs and Bowels, with a Tumor and Red- 
ness of the Place, going off and returning 
again by Fits. 
The proximate 
Cause. 
The immediate Cause of this 
Distemper seems to be an Inflam- 
mation in the serous part of the 
Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries, and 
for that Reason affecting those Parts where 
the Vessels are the smallest, but not fierce 
enough to change it into an Impostumation. 
The Blood, as in other inflammatory Cases,
is sizy, the alkalescent Salts in the Serum a-
bounding with coreaceous or leathery Concre- 
tions. 
The Cure. 
The Cure consists in repeated 
Bleedings, cooling, repeated Purges, 
always allaying the Pain those Nights after 
purging with gentle Opiates join'd with mild 
Sudorificks, bathing in warm Water, and 
Fomentations apply'd to the Parts, and Bli- 
sters when it is obstinately fix'd in one Place. 
As for the Diet, it must be cooling, dilu- 
ting, and chiefly Vegetable. The constant 
Use of Whey is most effectual in rhis Disease, 
likewise a Milk Diet for changing the saline 
Constitution of the Serum of the Blood, is 
very useful and proper. 
Cream of Tartar taken either in Whey or 
Water-Gruel, for several Days together, will 
abate the Pains and Swellings considerably, 
by

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 463
by its Acidity correcting the alkaline Salts 
in the Blood. 
Of the Gravel and Stone. 
When any insoluble Matter stops in any 
Part of the Body, it gathers a Crust about it, 
which may grow into a Stone or stony 
Matter in any Part of a human Body; as a 
small Drop of concreted Blood may grow to 
be a Stone; for by the Evaporation of the 
most fluid Parts it grows hard, and by At- 
traction of new Matter it increases in Bulk. 
When these stony Concretions happen in 
the Kidneys, and are expell'd, or drop into 
the Ureters, they produce what is called Gra- 
vel; when they lodge and stick in the Body 
of the Kidneys, and grow to such a Bulk as 
not to drop into the Pelvis, or pass by the 
Ureters into the Bladder, they make the Stone 
in the Kidneys. But these Concretions hap- 
pen generally in the Kidneys and Bladder; 
and it is very certain, that if the Tartar and 
other Contents of the Urine were not con- 
stantly discharg'd, such Concretions would 
happen to all Mankind; for the Urine of 
most found Persons being inspected after it 
has stood a while with a Microscope, will 
discover a black Speck in it, which is Sand; 
and wherever this Sand sticks, it grows still 
bigger by the Apposition of new Matter.
The 

464 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
The chief Signs or Symptoms of a Stone 
in the Kidneys are a fix'd Pain in the Region 
of the Loins, continually heavy like a Weight 
in the Substance of the Kidneys, with a 
kind of Numbness in the Part; but the Stone 
passing out of the Pelvis or Bason of the 
Kidneys into the Ureters, a most tormenting 
Pain follows, of all the most severe; an In- 
flexibility of the Back Bone, by the Exten- 
sion and Compression of the Nerves; a burn- 
ing Heat in the Loins, a Numbness of the 
Leg of the same Side, by means of the 
Nerves being affected; a Retraction of the 
Testicle for the same Reason; the Urine 
either bloody, upon any hidden Jolt or vio- 
lent Motion, or thin and watry, and little in 
Quantity; but after the Stone is fallen into 
the Bladder, the Urine presently becomes very 
thick, turbid, blackish, and in great Quan- 
tity. Fleshy Filaments, or Matter voided by 
Urine, are suspicious Symptoms of a Stone in 
the Kidneys, especially if the Patient has 
been subject to voiding of Gravel. 
The Symptoms of a Stone in the Bladder, 
are, a Titillation about the Neck of the Blad- 
der, and Parts thereabouts; a Sense of Weight 
in the lower Belly under the Share-bone, and 
the Region of the Groin; a perpetual Desire
of making Water, with a great Pain, espe- 
cially upon any hidden Motion, which causes 
a Concussion of the Bladder, a Dribbling dif- 
ficultly, and a hidden Suppression of Urine 
by the Stone's stopping the Orifice of the 
Bladder,


Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 465
Bladder, attended with great needing to go 
to Stool, and a burning Pain in the Urethra;
sometimes a white Mucus or Slime in the 
Urine; this may happen without a Stone in 
the Bladder: But the most certain Sign of all 
is, when it can be most certainly felt with 
the Finger in Ano, or by a Catheter. 
The Regimen in the Cure of the Stone in 
the Kidneys, is, by diluting and soft Diure- 
ticks, both medicinal and dietetical, to try 
to expel it, if it is small enough to pass; but 
if it is brittle, it will often crumble and pass 
in the form of Gravel by those Means: If 
the Stone is too big to pass, nor will not 
crumble, the only Method is to come to a 
sort of Composition or Truce with it, and 
use a cooling and diluting Diet constant- 
ly, to hinder, as far as possible, its Increase; 
to use Diureticks that resolve gently, as Pars- 
ley, Fennel, Scorzonera, Mallows, Tea, Dan- 
delion, Cichory, Sassafras, Oats, Barley, Honey, 
Vinegar and Honey; likewise nitrous Salts, 
and dulcify'd Spirit of Nitre; but the most 
soft and cooling Diluent of all is Whey, and 
the Emollients are Decoctions of Marshmal- 
lows and Linseed-Tea. 
Bathing in warm Water, and Glysters, are 
proper; seasoning the Food with Sea-salt 
moderately will not be amiss, for the mode- 
derate use of it is resolving and diuretick; 
and the Belly, in all Cases of the Stone, should 
be kept lax and open. In a confirm'd Stone 
in the Kidneys violent Exercise or Motion is 
dangerous. 
Gg While

466 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Stimulating 
Things not 
proper in the 
Beginning.
While the Stone is passing, we 
should avoid the Use of all forcing 
and stimulating Things at first; but 
relaxing and lubricating the Passages, 
and quieting the spasmodick Disorders by O- 
piates, is by far the safest and best Method; 
and where Bathing cannot be performed, Ox- 
bladders, half full of warm Water, constantly 
apply'd to the Part affected, may be very 
usefully substituted; and Bleeding takes off 
the Tension and prevents an Inflammation 
better than any Thing, and is therefore very 
necessary, especially when the Symptoms are 
urging and violent: When the Parts are suffi- 
ciently relaxed, forcing Diureticks joined with 
Opiates will be properly given. 
The best Way to prevent the Generating of 
a Stone, is to keep the Body open by Whey, 
Broth, and a liquid Diet, especially for all 
such as are troubled with Gravel. 
When the Stone is fallen into the Bladder, 
all Endeavours must be used to make it pass 
as soon as possible, otherwise if it should 
happen to continue there long, it would in 
Time become a large Stone, which nothing 
but the Operation could cure. 
If all the Symptoms abate without finding 
the Stone, it is not certain that it remains still 
in the Bladder, because a very small Stone 
may pass by Urine insensibly; and if the 
Stone has passed, it is not certain that the 
Affair is over, for there are often more Stones 
remaining, and therefore the usual Remedies 
ought not to be discontinued. 
When

Ch. IV. thro' the various Stages of Life. 467 
When the Stone stops in the Urethra, emol- 
lient Fomentations ought to be apply'd to the 
Parts, and Oil injected; or in Case of Extre- 
mity, an Instrument with a Cavity in it, dipt 
in Oil, may extract the Stone. 
Irritations in the Membranes of the Bladder, 
occasioned by a Stone, may be mitigated very 
much by an Injection of Linseed Oil, or that 
of Sweet Almonds into the Bladder.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and Use of Bathing 
and Frictions. 
BATHING being either hot or cold, it 
will be necessary to enquire a little into 
the Nature of it, and what Alterations it 
produces in human Bodies, in order to know 
in what Cases and Constitutions the Use of it 
may be either beneficial or hurtful. There- 
fore I shall begin with Cold-Bathing, which 
was in the greatest Esteem with the Egyptians, 
Jews, Greeks and Romans, as evidently ap- 
pears by the Account given thereof in the 
Writings of Hippocrates, Galen, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Pliny, Oribassius, Celsus, Ægineta, 
and others, needless to make mention of in 
this Place; But they who require to be fully 
satisfied as to that Point, may peruse Floyer 
and Baynard on Cold-Bathing, wherein they 
will likewise find a great many Instances of 
surprising Cures performed by Cold-Bathing 
Gg2 in


468 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Scurvies, Cachexies, 
Epilepsies, Gout, and Rickets, &c. 
It is experimentally known, that Cold 
contracts the Fibres, as I have observed in 
treating of the Qualities of Air, pag. 104. 
and the more suddenly it is applied to our 
Bodies, the more violently it operates: It has 
been likewise observed, pag. 87. that our 
Bodies undergo various Changes by the Al- 
terations of the Pressure of the Air, in its 
Weight and Elasticity: Now if we consider 
that Water is 800 Times heavier than Air, 
what Alterations must we not then expect
and be sensible of upon bathing or plunging all 
over into cold Water? For the Cold and 
Weight of the Water and Atmosphere acting 
all together, must consequently first brace up 
and straiten the Fibres and Vessels conside- 
rably in the Surface of the Body, and those 
Parts adjoining to it, and those at the Center 
the least and latest; so that the Blood will 
be forced in great Plenty upon the Viscera or 
Bowels, where there is the least Resistance: 
for which Reason it is never safe for those to 
bath who have weak or ulcerated Bowels, 
without endangering Life. 
But those Ends which are compassed by a 
greater Weight or Pressure, are more effec- 
tually obtained by whatever encreases the 
Weight of the Water, or contracts the Fibres 
of the Body: Thus Sea-Water, by reason 
of the Salt it contains, is heavier and more 
preferable; upon which Account all the 
Humours in the Body must be propell'd
with 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 469
with greater Force thro' the Vessels in which 
they circulate. Besides, the Tension of the 
Fibres being greater, their Vibration will be 
both quicker and stronger; so that the Blood 
and Spirits will not only move more swiftly 
through the Vessels, but also be much more 
ground and broken, digested and rendered 
fitter to pass the Glands and small Vessels: 
Moreover, as the Immersion into the Cold 
Bath mightily encreases the Blood in the Brain 
and Viscera, being forced thither where there 
is the least Resistance, whereby the Quantity 
of animal Spirits, of Urine, of Gall, of the 
pancreatick Juice, and of all other Secretions, 
will be very much encreas'd, these Humours 
being thrust forwards with greater Celerity, 
will probably remove any Obstruction that is 
not too long fixed and obstinate; for which 
Reasons, if we would have the Blood dis- 
solved, or any viscid Matter adhering to the 
Sides of the Vessels removed, or the Glands 
deterged, or a greater Quantity of Spirits se-
creted, and moved with greater Celerity thro' 
the Nerves, or would force Urine, or remove 
Obstructions in the Liver, Spleen, pancreatick 
and mesenterick Glands, if they are not grown 
too obstinate (in which Case it is very dange- 
rous) we should order Cold-bathing. In 
fine, whatever is to be effected by bracing the 
Solids, invigorating and quickening their Vi- 
brations, and accelerating the Blood's Motion, 
is with Certainty to be had from the Use of 
Cold-bathing. 
All Diseases therefore from a viscid Blood, 
Gg3 and

470 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
and a Lentor in the animal Juices (if the 
Elasticity of the Vessels is not worn out with 
Age and Debauches) will find Relief from 
this Practice. Besides, whatever Inconveni- 
ences proceed from a bad Perspiration, or 
when Humours are thrown upon the Surface 
pf the Body, which cannot get through the 
Skin, this Method will relieve; for upon 
Immersion the whole nervous System is so 
shook, that the very Capillaries feel the In- 
fluence, and the minutest Passages are forced 
open by an encreased Velocity of the circu- 
lating Fluids, whereby the Skin will be 
cleared, and instead of retaining gross and a- 
crimonious Humours in the cuticular Glands, 
will promote insensible Perspiration; and this 
is the Reason why People are so brisk and 
chearful after Bathing. 
And it is for the Reasons already given, 
that Cold-Bathing is proper in most cutane- 
ous Diseases, Scurvies, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, 
Rheumatisms, Lameness, Sciatica, Melancholy, 
Madness; some Palsies, Cachexies, Icteric and 
Hydropic Cases, before the Distempers be too, 
far advanced; it likewise stops Hæmorrhages, 
Gleets, Fluor Albus; and cures also venereal 
Impotency and nervous Disorders. 
Necessary Rules
to be observed
before Cold-
Bathing
1. To Bleed and Purge, and
use such proper Diet and Medi- 
cines, both before and after Bath- 
thing, as your Physician knows 
to be suitable to your Disease and Constitution. 
2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating, 
but cool; and not to stay in the Bath above 
two

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 471
two or three Minutes, as the Patient can bear 
it; and to go in and out immediately, on 
the first Bathing, after an Immersion of the 
whole Body, because staying in too long 
would relax the Solids too much, instead of 
contracting and strengthening them. 
3. To use the Cold-Bath before Dinner 
fasting, or in the Afternoon towards Four or 
Five o'Clock: It is dangerous to go in after 
great Drinking, or a full Stomach. 
4. To use Sweating with Cold-Bathing in 
Palsies, Rickets, and several Diseases affecting 
the Nerves with Obstructions. 
5. In Windiness or Siziness of the Hu- 
mours, no Sweating is necessary, nor where 
Bathing is used for the Preservation of Health, 
or the invigorating of the animal Spirits. 
6. Jumping in precipitantly, or throwing 
the Head foremost into the Cold-Bath, gives 
too violent a shock to Nature, and endangers 
too much the bursting some of the smaller 
Vessels; therefore the best Way is, holding 
by the Rope, to walk down the Steps as fast
as one can, and when got to the Bottom, 
bending the Hams to shorten their Length, 
so as to bring their Heads a good Way under 
Water, and then popping up again to take 
Breath; and thus alternately for two or three 
Times, and out again, rubbing themselves very 
well with a dry Cloth, before they are dress'd. 
They who have weak or little 
Heat, and are much decay'd, ought 
not to venture on Cold Bathing; nor 
they who are intemperate, and have 
Wherein 
Cold Bath-
ing is inju-
rious.
Gg4 eat


472 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
eat extraordinarily; because the Distribution 
and Consumption of an abundant Chyle being 
thereby stopp'd, must occasion Fevers or De- 
fluxions. 
If the Spirits are depress'd by Looseness, 
Vomiting, Venery, Watching, or any other 
Evacuation, we cannot well bear Cold Bath- 
ing; for the Spirits being weak, will be over- 
come by its Chilness. 
In the Fits of the Gout, Epilepsy, and in 
Inflammations of the Lungs or inward Parts, 
and in the Beginning of putrid Fevers, Iliac 
Passions, and the Gripes, Colicks, and dur- 
ing any Defluxion, Cold Baths are improper; 
for they hinder Expectoration, repell Pains, 
promote the present Defluxions, Fluxes, and 
Pains; but when these acute Diseases, or 
chronical Pains and Defluxions are ended, it 
may be safe and it is certain that Gout Pains 
are prevented by Cold Baths, and using to wash 
the Feet. 
Corpulency, unfound Viscera or Bowels, 
and inveterate Obstructions, forbid the Use of 
Cold Bathing; for first, in very fat Persons 
the Fibres are so stuffed round that they have 
not Room to vibrate or contract with the sud- 
den Squeeze of the Bath; and in unsound 
Viscera, or where any Part is much weaker 
than the rest, such an additional Force will 
press the Fluids upon that, very much to its 
Detriment, which may be either the burst- 
ing of the Vessels, or promoting the Discharge 
of some ill Humours upon that Part, which 
might otherwise drain somewhere else. 
in

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 473
inveterate Obstructions it is likewise improper, 
because the more violently the Fluids are pro- 
pelled, the more the Obstructions will be ri- 
veted and lock'd in. 
As the Pressure of Water is ren- 
dered more effectual by Cold, so its 
relaxing Power is augmented by a 
moderate Warmth; for a gentle Heat always 
relaxes the Fibres of our Body, it being plea- 
sing and agreeable to the Sense of Feeling. 
So that when we would have the Benefit of 
universal Relaxation, we ought to use a tem- 
perate Bath, which has only a mild Heat, 
like that of our Bodies, and is therefore less 
beneficial to cold Diseases, and less injurious 
to the Healthful, who use it chiefly to wash 
their Bodies, to temper the Natural Heat, 
and to take off Weariness. 
The Use
of Warm
Baths
But temperate Baths have many physical 
Uses besides Cleanliness and Pleasure, and are
observed to be beneficial in the following Cases. 
Tepid Baths moisten and warm; but if 
more hot, they heat and moisten less; they 
likewise open the Pores and promote a free 
Perspiration, and are proper in most Erup- 
tions and Foulnesses of the Skin, especially 
where the Obstructions will not yield to the 
Cold Bath; for they not only relax the Pores, 
but likewise dilute the obstructed Matter at 
the same time, in being absorbed by the cuti- 
cular Vessels. 
Warm Baths are proper in most scorbu- 
tick Habits, Sciatica, Rheumatism, Colicks, 
Gravel,

474 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Gravel, Costiveness, Gripes, Stiffness of the 
Joints and Muscles, and in most Cases pro- 
ceeding from an obstructed Perspiration. 
Temperate Baths are useful in all hot In- 
temperies, and are likewise proper in the bi- 
lious, viscid, or acrimonious State of the Blood: 
But they are injurious in Fevers, Inflamma- 
tions, and in all acute Diseases, especially be- 
fore the Concoction of the Humours. 
In using the Warm Bath, the Diet in ge- 
neral should be easy of Digestion, thin and 
diluting, and in many Cases sweating in Bed 
after warm Bathing is necessary; but in this 
and in other Circumstances which may occur, 
the Patient is to consult his Physician. 
The naturally hot Mineral Baths, such as 
that famous one at Bath in Somersetshire, 
are much more powerful in curing Diseases 
and removing Obstructions, than the Artificial; 
the Waters of the former being impregnated 
with balsamic, volatile, stimulating, and sub- 
astringent Particles, which the last can never 
have by any Art or Contrivance whatever. 
These natural hot Mineral Waters are 
like a Fomentation, which both supples and 
strengthens the Parts of the Body all over 
at once, and by gently shaking and undu- 
lating the Fibres, helps forward the vital Mo- 
tions, which are ready to be at a Stand. In 
old Pains and Aches, which have been the 
Remains of nervous Distempers, and where 
some particular Part continues contracted, or 
has any Humours fix'd upon it, which it can- 
not dislodge, these Waters pump'd upon it hot
from

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 475
from the Spring, do more towards a Cure 
than all the most efficacious Compositions of 
Medicines. 
Bathing all over in these Springs cannot but 
wonderfully open that almost infinite Number 
of secretory Orifices upon the Surface of the 
Body, and clear the cutaneous Ducts of the 
Matter which is apt to stick in them; by the 
opening of which Spiracula the Fluids of the 
whole Body have more Room to move in, and 
have proper Vents to reak out a great deal, 
which is of great Service to the Oeconomy to 
get rid of. 
These small Sulphur-Fountains likewise 
inwardly taken, to Astonishment warm and 
strengthen a decay'd Stomach, especially if 
relax'd and worn out almost with Luxury and 
Debauches: The most grievous Nauseas and 
Vomitings from these Causes have been re- 
moved by them: For they both soften again 
with proper Moisture the Fibres which have 
been render'd incapable to vibrate, by the Use 
of hot, burning, spirituous Liquors, and at 
the same time draw them into greater Tensi- 
ty; as a Cord which relaxes with over-drying, 
fills up and straitens upon the Contact and 
Attraction of a convenient Moisture. 
The small Share of fine Salt which likewise 
attends, and is as it were wrapped up in the 
Particles of Sulphur, cannot but contribute 
somewhat in restoring the Tone of such de- 
cay'd Parts. But besides the Benefit these do 
to the Stomach, they also carry along with 
them into the most remote Recesses of the 
Body


476 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Body, a Balsamic of Nature's own Prepara- 
tion; whereby such Decays in the Stomach, 
or in any of the Viscera or Bowels, from Ab- 
scesses, Ulcerations, or any like Causes, are 
with great Success reliev'd; and particularly if 
they be of the Kidneys and Urinary Passages, 
because they wash through them in more 
plenty, than where they come by the ordinary 
Course of Circulation. 
Of Frictions. 
Friction, or Rubbing with a Flesh-Brush, 
Cloth, Hand, &c. is, as it were, an alter- 
nate Compression and Relaxation of the Parts 
of the Body. A gentle Friction only com- 
presses the Veins; but by a stronger Degree, 
the Arteries are also compressed. By com- 
pressing the Veins by Friction, the Motion of 
the viscous Blood to the Heart is accelerated; 
hence the Motion of the Heart is roused: By 
which Means, the Blood is with greater Velo- 
city propell'd through all the Vessels. The 
vital Force may, therefore, be augmented to 
any Degree, by means of Frictions, without 
giving any Medicine internally; for by means 
of Frictions a burning Fever may be excited 
in the most dropsical Patients. 
In those Bodies where almost all the Or- 
gans of Digestion are so languid, as not duly 
to perform their respective Functions, Fric- 
tions with rough woolen Cloths over the 
whole Abdomen, or Belly, when the Patient 
is fasting, have been found to produce sur- 
prisingly happy Effects. Hence the Ancients
had 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 477
had Frictions in so great Veneration, not only 
for the Preservation of Health, but also for 
the Cure of Diseases, that the Grecians, Ara- 
bians, Romans, and Egyptians in general con- 
stantly practised that Method; and Galen 
wrote a whole Book, intitled de Frictionibus. 
Celsus likewise recommends the Usefulness of 
Frictions in his Works: But this Practice has 
been almost neglected among the Moderns 
till of late, and is now reviv'd again with no 
less Success than in former Days, tho' not so 
general; for it is experimentally known, that 
it will strengthen weak Limbs, and bring 
Nourishment to the Parts, and likewise cure 
the Rickets in Children, especially if Cold 
Bathing be used. 
Therefore I would recommend to all Mo- 
thers and Nurses, to rub the Back, Sides, 
Shoulders, Hips, and Limbs of their Children 
by a warm Fire Night and Morning, being 
very necessary to prevent Obstructions and 
Rickets, and to promote their Growth and Ac- 
tivity; and likewise to preserve their Limbs 
strong and straight. 
By Frictions a free and full Circulation and 
Perspiration may be usefully promoted; and 
this is performed by abiding Nature to throw 
off by Perspiration the Vapours and Recre- 
ments of the third Concoction, which are of- 
ten retained and pent in between the Scales of 
the Scarf-skin, as likewise in the Interstices 
of the outward Muscles and Membranes of the 
Body; so that by the Use of Frictions Nature 
is not only assisted in discharging by insensible 
Per-

478 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Perspiration those excrementitious Particles, 
which frequently hinder a full and free Cir- 
culation, but likewise Blood and Spirits are 
thereby attracted to those Parts mod remote 
from the Seat of Heat and Motion, by which 
Means also the natural Heat is increased, and 
the superficial Muscles are render'd plump and 
strong. 
Hence it is evident, that ancient People,
and such as have weak Nerves and lead a se- 
dentary Life, especially those who are subject 
to Numbness, Weakness, or Obstructions in 
their Joints, or are threaten'd with paralytick 
Disorders, in order to supply the Want of Ex- 
ercise of other Kinds, ought to have their 
whole Bodies, more particularly their Limbs, 
rubbed for half an Hour every Morning espe- 
cially, and at Night, with a Flesh-Brush, 
Flannel, or Napkin, till the Parts begin to 
grow red and warm. The Friction should 
be made first on the Arms, Hands, Feet, 
Legs, and Thighs, from whence we ought to 
proceed to the Shoulders, Back, and Breast; 
and the Head should be rubb'd the last of all. 
Among the Ancients there were Frictions 
of various Kinds, and subservient to different 
Purposes. Hence Hippocrates in his Treatise 
De Med. Offic. tells us, 'That Friction may 
'resolve, contract, incarn, diminish: Since 
'strong Frictions contract, gentle Friction 
'resolves, much Friction diminishes; and 
'moderate Friction condenses.' Any Part of 
the Body is render'd more lax, by being rub- 
bed with soft oleous Substances.
Nothing. 

Ch. V. thro' the various Stages of Life. 479
Nothing is more beneficial in curing a Weak- 
ness of the Fibres, than Frictions with rough 
warm woolen Cloths, especially if previously 
impregnated with the Smoke of burning Am- 
ber, or Mastick, that at the same time this 
aromatick and corroborating Steam may enter 
the relaxed Parts. But we are to proceed 
gradually in this Work, and not to use too 
strong Frictions at first; lest either the stag- 
nated Fluids in the preternaturally distended 
Vessels should be too copiously convey'd to the 
Heart, and by that Means overwhelm and 
suffocate it; or the tender Vessels should be 
broken by imprudently increasing the Motion 
of the Blood.
When the Ancients wanted to reduce exte- 
nuated Parts to their natural Situation, they sti- 
initiated and irritated these Parts so as to produce 
a gentle Inflammation and Swelling; for by this 
Means, the Humours being convey'd with a 
greater Impetus and a brisker Motion to the 
Parts, they distended the too rigid Vessels pro- 
portionably the more. By often repeating this 
Irritation, the top great Strength of the Ves- 
sels was so diminished, as to yield to the Hu- 
mours, which, in order to their good State of 
Health, must necessarily flow into them. 
Thus Galen, in the third Chapter of his fifth 
Book De Sanitate Tuenda, informs us, 'That 
'by Frictions with pinguious Substances, he in 
'a few Days restored the Flesh of many, who 
'had been for a long time emaciated.'
Hence Frictions with fat Substances are 
highly proper in these Cases, but only to such a 
Degree

480 A GUIDE to HEALTH Part III.
Degree as to excite a slight and gentle Redness 
of the Part; for when the Friction is violent, 
that which it attracts to the Part is discussed;
but, in this Case, a large Distension of the too 
strong Vessels is required. 
Galen, in the seventh Chap. of his seventh 
Book De Method. Medend. gives this Caution 
in the following Words: 'When, says he, we 
'intend to produce Flesh on any Part, we are 
'by Friction to heat it, so as to render it tu- 
'mid; but, when we intend to discuss and 
'evacuate, this Friction and Heat are to be 
'continued till the tumid Part subsides.' 
And in the sixteenth Chapter of his fourth 
Book De Method. Medendi, he tells us; 
'That it was customary with some to strike 
'emaciated Parts with slender Rods, slightly 
'anointed, till the Parts became moderately 
'tumid.' He also informs us, that by such 
a Percussion repeated daily, or every other Day, 
together with a moderate Friction or Stimulus, 
the diminutive and extenuated Buttocks of 
Children were wonderfully enlarged. 
Hence the Reason is obvious, why Friction 
sometimes produces opposite Effects; for a 
strong Friction with rough dry woolen Cloths, 
especially when impregnated with the Fumes 
of kindled Aromaticks, as I have observed be- 
fore, cures too weak Fibres; whereas a gentle 
Friction with pinguious Substances, by at- 
tracting the Humours, and relaxing the Solids, 
softens too rigid Fibres. 
FINIS.