PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
ON 
VENEREAL COMPLAINTS, 
Or, a plain, easy, safe, and certain 
METHOD OF CURE. 
Without endangering the Constitution with 
MERCURY.
An efficacious Mode of Curing Gleets, Seminal or Ve- 
nereal; and every other Malady of the Urinary Passage; 
with a new Remedy, confirmed by long Practice and Ex- 
perience.  
TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
SELECT CASES, 
Confirming the Success and restorative Power of the Me- 
dicine recommended, in weak, relaxed, and broken 
Constitutions, warranted by the most respectable cha- 
racters. 
ALSO 
Plain Rules how to distinguish Venereal Symptoms 
from those often mistaken for such by the Patient. 
By Mr. NEALE, Surgeon, 
Late of his Majesty’s Fifth Regiment of Infantry, and Surgeon 
in London. 
Experiendo didici,
Experiments cognovi. 
Ita prorsus existimo—in quam sententiam quum pedibus iretur, 
cœteri tribuni militum nihil contradicere 
LIV.V.IX. 
The SECOND EDITION. 
LONDON:
Printed for G. Burnett, No.184, near Arundel-street, 
Strand; J. Walker, Pater-noster-Row, and R. Faul- 
der, Bond-street. 
M,DCC,LXXXVI. 
[Price TWO SHILLINGS.]



INTRODUCTION. 
THE venereal disease, which, accord- 
ing to historians of the most un- 
doubted credit, is a native of some of the 
American islands, especially Hispaniola, 
was brought into Spain near the end of 
the fifteenth century, and thence carried 
into Naples, during the war between 
Ferdinand of Aragon, and the French, 
by some Spanish troops, who had con- 
tracted it in the aforesaid island; for these 
and the French soldiers having had dif- 
ferent times communication with the 
same women, according as the same towns 
alternately fell into the hands of the two 
contending parties, this filthy disease first
A spread 


(ii)
spread itself over the two armies, thence 
made its way into Italy, and has since in- 
fected most part of the inhabitable world; 
and I very well remember, that a certain 
English merchant, who had resided many 
years in Muscovy, assured me, that the 
venereal disease was hardly known in that 
country before the reign of the late Czar, 
Peter the Great, because till that time, 
the traffic carried on by the Muscovites 
did not require much communication, 
or dealing with foreigners; but after that 
Emperor had taken the resolution of vi- 
siting other parts of Europe, and had sent 
many of his subjects abroad to learn 
trades and manufactures, those carried 
back with them the dire effects of their 
amours into their native country, which 
raged there with the greater severity, as 
inflammations and ulcers are the more 
difficult to be cured in cold climates. 
Hence in process of time, the mutual 
intercourse of different nations became 
more frequent by wars, trade, and other 
causes, this contagious malady at length 
was spread far and wide. No distemper 
in medical history has appeared with such 
a variety

(iii)
a variety of symptoms, from the earliest 
accounts of it to the present time. Lit- 
tle mention was formerly made of the 
gonorrhœa, or clap, now usually the first 
and most frequent symptom attending 
the infection, and other venereal maladies 
which attack mankind, and in treating of 
which I beg leave to offer these few pages 
to the public, founded on long practice 
and experience. But if in the early ages 
of this distemper, mankind were not 
troubled with this more recent com- 
plaint, the patients were certainly much 
worse off, when blindness, and obsti- 
nate inflammation of the eyes, foul stains, 
and blotches of the skin, pains, and rot- 
tenness of the bones, violent head-achs, 
and falling off of the hair, were among 
the first of the terrible symptoms brought 
on in consequence of this almost univer- 
sal disease; these, now, however, but 
very rarely happen from the beginning, 
since the appearance of the clap. 
Whilst the newly imported venom was 
quickly diffused all over Europe, the most 
rational surgeons took this malady under 
their most serious consideration, and in 
A2 consequence

(iv)
consequence of the improvements now 
made in the method of its cure, there is 
a remarkable mitigation of all the symp- 
toms; and the venereal disease at present, 
even the most confirmed kind, is of lit- 
tle or no consequence, provided the suf- 
ferer be cautious to put himself under the 
care of an experienced surgeon, of abili- 
ties and integrity, who makes it his chief 
study to exert himself towards re-establish- 
ing the health of his patient, devoid of any 
other consideration. 
The application of mercurial ointment 
by friction, is said to have been first made 
use of by a surgeon at Montpellier; but 
I cannot learn that the same practitioner 
gave mercury internally. When this re- 
medy was first discovered, it was exhibit- 
ed in such quantities, with close confine- 
ment, restriction of regimen, and the 
patients rolled up in flannels, for several 
months together; that though the dis- 
ease might be conquered, two-thirds of 
the unfortunate sufferers generally died 
afterwards of pocky consumptions; and this, 
I am sorry to say, is still too much the 
fashion

(v)
fashion; hence we may readily account 
for the number of consumptive and ema- 
ciated figures to be seen every day in the 
streets of our metropolis. 
I have for these many years almost libe- 
rated my patients, in the worst of poxes, 
and I find that fresh air, and a little exer- 
cise, instead of doing any hurt, conduces 
surprizingly towards forwarding the cure. 
The medicine I make use of is of the gen- 
tle alterative kind, and never endangers 
their catching cold. 
When the pox is hereditary transmitted, 
the degree of virulence with which the 
child will be infected, must be extremely 
different, when we consider the follow- 
ing circumstances; children begot by pa- 
rents actually poxed, should have this dis- 
ease in the highest degree of infection, 
as not only the very principles of life, but 
those of nutrition also, are entirely con- 
taminated; if the parents have not ac- 
quired this disease till some time after the 
conception, the child will be still less in- 
fected, and I have seen some instances 
where


(vi)
where children have been born under such 
circumstances undiseased; the case of effect- 
ing a cure in those different cases, will de- 
pend on the degree of virulence. 
When this malady is acquired by coition, 
there are many circumstances which 
contribute to men and women’s receiving 
the infection in an high degree of viru- 
lence; this may be particularly observed 
in young people, who contract the disease 
in their first essays; the impetuosity and 
warmth of their passion, with the absor- 
bent state of the parts of generation, makes 
them extremely liable to the malignity of 
the disorder; and more so, if the party who 
communicates it has a virulent running, 
shankers, ulcers. &c. in the state of inflam- 
mation; this gives to the virus a superior 
degree of activity. In such cases, the ma- 
lady soon becomes developed, with every 
degree of virulence, and soon makes a quick 
progress. But it is not so with old vete- 
rans in amours, or in those that are of fri- 
gid constitutions; we often find such es- 
cape, when the female is actually diseased; 
in this I am perfectly well convinced, from 
the many instances that have fallen within
my

(vii)
my notice, of men and women’s cobatiting 
together, where the latter was evidently 
infected, and the former, notwithstanding 
frequent connection, continued free from 
every symptom of the venereal disease. 
Hence, from repeated experience, it ap- 
pears, that there are some particular habits 
of body, and dispositions in the parts of ge- 
neration, which, under the same circum- 
itances, are more readily infected than 
others. 
The advocates for exciting a salivation 
in the cure of poxes, think that a copious 
spitting is essentially necessary; saying, it 
critically depurates and expels the vene- 
real poison from the mass of blood; but 
when such opinions are brought to the 
test of experience, it will be found that 
they are egregiously mistaken; few con- 
stitutions will bear, with impunity, to be 
under the influence of mercury for two or 
three months together; nor can we in ge- 
neral, without imminent danger of debi- 
litating the texture of the vessels, break- 
ing down the healthy crasis of the blood, 
introduce it in such quantity as some gen- 
tlemen so familiarly speak of, as necessary
to

(viii)
to effect a cure; and l am convinced, from 
repeated experience, that when the system 
is overcharged with mercury, it often 
proves an unsurmountable obstacle to the 
healing of venereal ulcers. By persisting 
in a violent course of mercurials, many 
patients have lost their lives, or had their 
constitutions irreparably impaired; and we 
frequently find when mercury is left off, *
and the patient has recovered his flesh and 
strength those sores heal of themselves with 
but little surgical attention. 
As I am well convinced of the many 
dangerous consequences proceeding from 
giving mercury imprudently to patients, 
shall lay hold of this opportunity of re- 
commending to my readers, in the strongest 
terms, upon no account whatsoever to 
suffer themselves to be loaded with mer- 
cury; to cause the least discharge of sa- 
liva by the mouth, as the worst species of 
poxes are to be cured by a more gentle, 
easy, mild, and expeditious method, 
without doing the least detriment to the 
constitution. 
* Vide Case VIII. of Capt. Mathew. 
London, Jan. 9, 1785.


Practical Observations, &c. 
SECTION I. 
THE disease, which makes the sub- 
ject of the following tract, is one 
in which mankind are on many accounts 
much interested, very few of either sex, 
rank, or condition of life, being exempt 
from it; the rich, the poor, the lazy, 
and the laborious, are equally liable to it; 
and from its being improperly treated, 
it produces certain inconveniences to all 
who are afflicted. Obstructions in the 
urinary passage are not unfrequently the 
consequence, as sometimes to render the 
life of the patient miserable, and put it 
B to

(2)
to the hazard, obliging him ever after to 
have recourse to the bougie, to prevent 
the callosities formed in the urinary ca- 
nal, from closing up the passage, by 
which the emission of both the urine and 
seed would be prevented; which might 
at first have been guarded against, if the 
clap, or the disease of the urinary passage, 
with which the sufferer was afflicted pre- 
vious to his obstruction, had been pro- 
perly treated; or, in other words, if a 
proper application had been made to the 
urinary canal, when it was in a state of 
inflammation, proceeding from clappy 
matter, all the evil consequences might 
have been avoided. 
Let it be considered, that most com- 
plaints of the urinary passage proceed from 
ill-managed claps, when the unfortunate 
patient gets into the hands of the igno- 
rant, who make him swallow a quantity 
of mercury, &c. which might, with as 
much propriety, be given to a patient, 
who, with a good habit of body, had a 
scratch of a pin, or some other sharp 
instrument, upon his hand, or finger, 
so as to cause inflammation, pain, &c. 
a poultice

(3)
a poultice applied will be found to be 
the best remedy, and will soon perform 
a cure without the help of any other 
medicine. If such an application could 
be made to the inside of the urinary pas- 
sage, I am well assured, it would cure a 
clap with as much speed and success as 
the other. 
A gonorrhœa, or clap, is a local di- 
sease, confined to the urinary passage only; 
it is that species of venereal, where the 
blood and juices are not affected; the 
glands of the urinary passage become in- 
flamed, by the virus lodging on them, 
and exciting them, by irritation, to a 
greater secretion of mucus, which, from, 
the inflammation they are affected with, 
becomes purulent; hence I am inclined 
to think, that the virulent running of a 
clap, is nothing more than an increased 
secretion of the mucus, which is naturally 
secreted by the glands of the urethra. 
On diffecting those that died actually 
clapped, the disease appeared to me, to 
consist in an abrasion of the natural mucus 
of the urethra, the whole length of which 
B2 seemed

(4)
seemed more or less inflamed, red, and 
highly excoriated, the lacunæ of the mucus 
glands enlarged, from their being in- 
flamed, and slightly ulcerated, * After 
this discovery, I began to turn my 
thoughts towards making experiments on 
the different preparations thrown up into 
the part affected, with a view to act im- 
mediately on the inflamed urinary passage, 
having no longer any doubt of the disease 
being local. I was well convinced, that 
if an injection could be discovered, pos- 
sessed of a quality to remove this inflam- 
mation, the cure would be soon perform- 
ed; I had every opportunity for this pur- 
pose, having seldom less than between 
fifty and sixty men clapped, and I accord- 
ingly put my intention into execution. 
Every kind of mercurial injection had 
been tried, to discover which had the 
most
* This I particularly observed on the dissection of 
two men of the 16th regiment of light dragoons, in 
the month of January, 1777, at Brunswick, in the 
Jersies, North America; one was a corporal, the 
other private; the latter was shot on a patrolling 
party by the enemy, and had been under my care about 
a week; the former was killed by a fall from his horse, 
on the fourth day after he applied to me.

(5)
most favourable effect; the common one, 
prepared of calomel and mucilage of gum 
arabic, seems to have the preference; but 
this is far from answering the purpose we 
wish, for in subjects where the inflamma- 
tion runs high, calomel thrown up will 
certainly increase it, irritating the exco- 
riated parts, and causing the heat of urine 
to be intolerable. 
I turned my thoughts towards the ve- 
getable kingdom, in hopes to find a pre- 
paration superior, which I luckily hit 
upon; and its effects upon the inflamed 
and diseased passage were so speedy, as 
astonished both me and the patients.* At 
this time I had several whole claps were  
so inflammatory, as to occasion them, 
from the excruciating pain, to disturb 
their comrades, particularly when pas- 
sing of urine; and, on using this injection 
about twenty-four hours, they were re- 
lieved from their torment; and continu- 
ing to use it frequently, for the space of 
three days, they were perfectly well; all 
the
* This is the Plantain Water prepared by Dis- 
tillation. 


(6)
the medicine that was administered in- 
wardly, was an infusion of senna and 
cream of tartar, to keep their bowels 
free. Finding the success of my injec- 
tion, I soon changed my mode of prac- 
tice, which before had indeed been en- 
tirely erroneous to a fault, though I will 
venture to say, it was the method in ge- 
neral made use of by the leading men of 
the profession. 
I now saw the absurdity, and great im- 
propriety, of giving mercury in ever so 
small quantity, in the gonorrhœa, which 
was, and I am afraid is still, too much 
the practice in the present day; and there 
cannot be stronger proofs of this, than 
the number of gleets, and variety of com- 
plaints of the urinary passage, which I 
have met with in this metropolis, since 
my retirement from the army, and com- 
mencement of private practice. 
Strong drastick purges are highly im- 
proper in every complaint of the urinary 
passage, as well as the disorder occasioned 
by them in the bowels; they are destruc- 
tive to the tone of the canal and glands 
of

(7)
of the urethra, causing irritation, and 
not unfrequently a great debility ever 
after; by the use of such medicines, 
together with mercury, it is not difficult 
to account for the obstinate gleets, and 
other maladies of the urinary passage, 
which every now and then attack man- 
kind, and require nice judgment to con- 
quer. 
It is astonishing, that the unfortunate 
would suffer themselves to be so severely 
punished, when by a simple application 
to the part affected, and the bowels kept 
gently free, by whatever the patient him- 
self pleases, he obtains a found and speedy 
cure in a few days at farthest; this time 
is meant in the worst species of clap. I 
am happy to inform the public, that I 
have discovered such a remedy, and it is 
perfectly innocent in quality, prepared 
from the Plantain Root, proving highly 
friendly to the constitution, and I pledge 
myself to the world for its certainty and 
efficacy. 
We need not be surprised at such num- 
bers being afflicted with gleets, and ob-
structions

(8)
structions in the passage, when it is con- 
sidered the mode that was made use of to 
cure their claps. Let the reader observe, 
there never was a gleet, that has not been 
more or less preceded by a clap; and ac- 
cording to the means made use of to cure 
it, will the glands in the urinary passage 
be affected; or, in other words, the suf- 
ferer will be more or less troubled with a 
gleet, or weakness, and will be more or 
less liable to fungus, or callosities form- 
ing in the canal. There would be lit- 
tle occasion for bougies, was this disease 
treated properly at its beginning; and 
the state of the passage of urine at- 
tended to. 
Upon considering the old mode of prac- 
tice, handed down to us by some of the 
most respectable authors of the profession, 
it is not much to be wondered at so few 
surgeons differing from those learned men, 
who carried every thing before them in 
their day. Our English Hypocrates, the 
great Sydenham, as well as Wiseman, 
the first surgeon of his time, lays it down 
as

(9)
as a rule, that as the venereal venom is of 
a very inflammatory nature, the princi- 
pal intention in its cure should be eva- 
cuation. In a clap, he says, recourse must 
be had to strong drastic purges, which 
ought to be persisted in for a long time; 
the first fourteen days of the disease, he 
purged his patients every day, then every 
second day, and towards the latter end 
twice a week; and should the cure go 
on but slowly, he accounts a mercurial 
vomit to be given extremely effectual; 
when his patients rejected purgatives by 
the mouth, he ordered clysters; and he 
closes the cure with balsam of Mecca, or 
turpentine. 
They thought injections did much more 
mischief than good, hence it is no won- 
der that so many fell victims to this pre- 
posterous mode of treatment, few consti- 
tutions being able to endure it, and it is 
very evident that every constitution must 
be more or less injured by it. 
I have been often led to imagine, that 
Sydenham, when treating of the clap, 
wrote more from theory than practice; 
C for 

(10)
otherwise, the many ill-consequences 
that must attend such a mode of prac- 
tice would have soon convinced this sa- 
gacious physician of his error, and the 
ingenious candour that so strongly cha- 
racterises this great man, would have in- 
duced him, for the good of mankind, 
publicly to confess it. 
The mode of cure laid down by Wise- 
man and Sydenham, were for a long 
time, with no material variation, followed 
throughout Europe by practitioners, till 
the time that the celebrated Astruck gave 
to the world a most complete treatise of 
the venereal disease. 
This ingenious author, considering a 
clap as an inflammatory complaint, orders 
copious bleeding immediately on its first 
appearance, large quantities of emulsions, 
&c. to be drank to obtund the acrimony 
of the urine, and a cooling injection to 
be thrown into the passage; after the 
heat and pain are abated, he overthrows 
every thing he was doing before, by or- 
dering his patients strong purges of sca- 
mony, jalap, and calomel. 
Hence

(11)
Hence it must be obvious to every 
understanding, that throwing such strong 
medicines into the stomach, can do no 
manner of good to a disease situated in the 
urinary canal, but it most certainly must 
do a great deal of mischief, by disordering 
the bowels, and relaxing the excretory 
glands, running the sufferer into the 
hazard of having obstinate gleets, and ob- 
structions of the urethra. 
By the use of the preparation which 
I have already recommended, every per- 
son afflicted with either gleet or clap, 
may cure themselves with expedition and 
safety. 
It is an unfortunate circumstance for 
the progress of physic in general, and 
really not singular in regard to this disease, 
that practitioners who have adopted a 
mode of treatment, that may in the course 
of their practice prove generally successful, 
become so prejudiced in its favour as to 
give it the preference to the exclusion of 
all others. 
C2 At

(12)
At the same time, I am not ignorant 
what opposition all new discoveries must 
meet with, from many prevalent propen- 
sities in human nature. The minds of 
men grown old in any way of thinking, 
are like heavy bodies on the surface of 
the earth, which by long lying have sunk 
into the ground, and formed to them- 
selves a bed, from which they cannot 
be easily removed, even with very great 
strength; there is a kind of vis inertiæ of 
foul as well as body. Novelty, though 
it be true and convincing to them, may 
yet be displeasing; because it puts them 
in mind of their having been wrong all 
their lives, and there are other reasons 
which weigh and effect the same purpose. 
It is well known, that very important 
discoveries, like rich mines, have lain 
long unattended to, slighted, or misun- 
derstood, and yet have been afterwards 
universally adopted, and brought into phi- 
losophy and use. 
Notwithstanding these considerations, 
those few pages are published to the 
world,


(13)
world, respecting my remedy, with its 
safe, convenient, and speedy effects of 
healing the urinary passage, and of cur- 
ing the most obstinate gleets of ever so 
long standing, without the use of bougie; 
it has a wonderful effect of removing ob- 
structions in the urethra, where bougies 
have failed, and of giving vigour and 
strength to the emissions of both the 
urine and seed. 
The true reason of all the difficulties 
which attend the cure of claps and gleets, 
and the sometimes apparent impossibility 
of curing some of the latter, is entirely 
owing to the erroneous mode of treatment, 
the primary cause of which was, getting 
into the hands of the ignorant; the con- 
sequence of which is, the diseased glands 
of the urethra become more and more in- 
fected, and the virus in time forms small 
ulcers in the passage. A similar com- 
plaint would happen to a small wound on 
any part of the body, attended with in- 
flammation, if the patient had ever so 
powerful medicines administered internal- 
ly, and no attention paid to poultice, and 
properly dress the sore, it would in time
form

(14)
form a Cavity, get callous edges with 
fungus flesh, form an ulcer, and become 
an object of singular attention to both 
surgeon and patient. Long experience 
has enabled me to assert this, proved by 
practice, and not supported by theory only, 
which, I am of opinion, should never be 
depended upon, for the treatment of di- 
seases incident to the human body.— 
When we consider how few opportunities 
present themselves, of demonstratively as- 
certaining the actual state of the urinary 
passage in a clap or in a gleet. &c. a 
point which can only be obtained by dif- 
fection, it is not in the least surprizing 
that practitioners differ so very much in 
opinion about the mode of treating them, 
as well as to the existence of some of 
those obstacles I have mentioned. The 
several affections of the urinary passage, 
to which mankind are subject, and which 
arise in consequence of ill-managed claps, 
and not unfrequently oppose the free eva- 
cuation of the urine, &c. may be di- 
stinguished as follow: carnosities, or ca- 
runcles; constrictions in different parts of 
the urethra, from the callus marks of 
former ulcers; enlargement of the glands, 
that

(15)
that separate the mucus, generally attend- 
ed with a varicous state of the vessels; 
fungus ulcers, seated about the ducts of 
the prostate gland, with an enlargement 
of the same, and glands of the urethra. 
Of the variety of complaints to which 
those are exposed, who have had long 
continued ill-cured claps, there is not 
one more to be dreaded than an habitual 
stranguary; the great danger of an entire 
stoppage of urine, which attends this 
disease;* the frequent desire the sufferer 
feels, and the painful endeavours he is 
obliged to exert in order to expel his 
urine, render life as precarious, as it 
must be miserable. 
It rarely happens, that those complaints 
immediately succeed a clap; it more 
frequently occurs, that the patient feels 
no pressing symptoms for some months, 
or even years, after he has been to all 
appearance perfectly cured; and there are 
very few so attentive as to take notice of, 
or be any way alarmed, even though they 
should
Vide Case IX.

(16)
should not urine in as full a stream as they 
were used to do; so that the disease is of 
some time standing before the patient 
finds any inconvenience from it, or ap- 
plies for advice, which he generally does 
not, until from the progress of this com- 
plaint, he perceives that he is both a 
longer time, more frequently solicited, 
and obliged to use greater efforts in mak- 
ing water. 
That all these inconveniences arise 
from long continued, injudiciously treated 
claps, is proved almost every day, by those 
conversant in this kind of business; and I 
am well aware, the afflicted, on reflection, 
must be of this opinion; and repent, 
when it is too late, their misfortunes, in 
the improper mode that was made use of 
to cure them. 
When the clappy matter fixes, as I 
have said before, on the fine membrane 
of the urethra, it excites a general inflam- 
mation throughout its whole tragit, the 
mucus glands become enlarged, and se- 
crete a preternatural quantity of mucus, 
which is poured into the passage by 
the

(17)
the lacuna, and becomes purulent, from 
the state of inflammation, and excoria- 
tion, or superficial ulceration, with which 
the passage is affected; but when this in- 
flammation is subdued by the application 
of my injection, the mucus glands lessen 
to their natural size; the running becomes 
viscus and ropy, and soon totally disap- 
pears. The same success attends the use 
of this injection in gleets of the most 
obstinate kind, of ever so long standing, 
by its powerful effects on the urinary ca- 
nal; by the balsamic quality with which 
it is endowed, it heals firmly any sores 
that may be in the urethra, and gives 
vigour and strength to the genital parts. 
On the contrary, when the disease in 
the urinary passage is imprudently ma- 
naged, the mucus glands will become en- 
larged, with a disposition readily to be- 
come more so, and be farther productive 
of a derangement in the freedom of cir- 
culation, in the spongy substance of the 
urethra, at different places; hence habitual 
maladies will infallibly succeed. Stran- 
guries, particularly those that appear so 
immediately after a clap, are caused by 
D an

(18)
an injudicious mode of treatment, and 
the premature stoppage of the venereal 
running, notwithstanding the patient has 
no other complaint of the infection, yet 
there is a strong presumption that he is 
not perfectly clear of it. 
If he should have no gleety purulent 
running appear, either before or after 
making water, or soreness along the 
urethra, there is little reason to suspect 
the passage to have ulcers. 
Caruncles and fungus are often met 
with, and prove disagreeable obstacles to 
the efforts of both urine and semen, and 
enlargement of the glands becomes still 
more frequent. 
When we wish to ascertain the state of 
the urinary passage, it is adviseable to in- 
troduce a bougie smeared with oil; if 
there are enlargements of any moment, 
they will be sensible to the touch; but 
if we find none, and that the patient, 
notwithstanding, cannot expel the last 
drop of his urine completely, but that it 
dribbles

(19)
dribbles from him; if in coition the se- 
men is not ejected with a proper degree of 
force, but runs off gradually on the penis 
becoming flaccid, there is a strong pre- 
sumption that the great gland, called the 
prostate, at the neck of the bladder of 
urine, is affected, or otherwise enlarged, 
and that the excretoria of the vesiculæ se- 
minalis, or bladder of semen, is affected 
likewise. 
To ascertain this, the finger should be 
introduced in ano, and those different 
circumstances will plainly point out the 
seat of the malady; in such cases I found 
the extract of hemlock do wonders, and 
often perform cures, when my injection 
was made use of at the same time. 
There is no disease that requires more 
experience for a surgeon to become master 
of, than the one now in question, and a 
very strict attention to overcome; great 
discernment is required in order to enable 
the practitioner to judge whether the 
complaint is merely local, and the patient 
D2 free

(20)
free of the venereal virus, and to what 
kind of obstacle we are to impute it. 
It is but seldom a patient puts himself 
under the surgeon’s direction, immediately 
on perceiving a diminution of the stream 
of his urine; he seldom applies for ad- 
vice, until the frequent calls to make 
water, with painful efforts in expelling 
of it, are troublesome, or a retention of 
urine from any irregularity, and not un- 
frequently inflammation and suppuration 
in perineo.*
Practitioners, for the various obstruc- 
tions in the urinary passage, have unani- 
mously recourse to bougies in a number 
of forms, but most of them are liable to 
one objection, which is, that except 
where the obstacles are such as oppose but 
a slight resistance, they do not possess a 
sufficient degree of elastic firmness, to pre- 
vent their losing their form; when we 
attempt to introduce them beyond any 
considerable obstacle they bend, and if 
force
* Vide Case XVII.

(21)
force is used any way through the stric- 
ture, upon extraction the end appears 
broken and twisted, like a cork-screw, 
which is of great disadvantage, as it ex- 
cites much pain without doing any kind 
of good. 
To obviate the consequences of such 
defects, I have for these many years past, 
formed the bougies I use, on cat-gut, of 
a proportionable thickness, which answers 
every intention, having a proper degree 
of firmness and flexibility, without any 
danger either of their breaking or be- 
coming twisted, and their introduction is 
attended with no pain whatsoever. 
Bougies are frequently made use of in 
this metropolis, for complaints in the 
urinary passage, with great impropriety; 
several cases of this kind having lately 
come under my care, particularly that of 
a field officer, who had a gleet for three 
years and upwards, and for the cure of 
which he had put himself under the care 
of a very eminent surgeon; he had taken 
a large quantity of astringents, and wore 
bougies

(22)
bougies every now and then, for ten 
months, but all without the wished-for 
effect. Sometimes, he said, it would 
diminish a little, and at others, return 
with redoubled violence, and frequently, 
intolerable pain of the urinary passage; 
this I readily inferred, was occasioned 
from the irritation by the frequent use of 
the bougie. He at length was recom- 
mended by a friend of mine, to consult 
me; I, without hesitation, advised laying 
it aside, and to try my injection, which 
performed a found cure in the space of 
three weeks; at the end of which, the 
urinary passage was perfectly healed, and 
all the medicine he took, during this 
time, was a little rhubarb to keep his 
bowels free. 
When the inflammation is violent in 
the parts engaged in a fresh clap, which 
by the bye, is more frequent in young 
subjects, who are caught in their first 
essays, than in old veterans in amours, 
who, in general, have not a third part of 
the pain, I advise but little variation in 
my patient’s diet; he is to be very exact
in 

(23)
in the frequent use of my injection, till 
his symptoms are abated, which it gene- 
rally does in a few days; and as the 
cure seldom exceeds a week at farthest,
he is to avoid using violent exercise dur- 
ing that time; when the inflammation is 
abated, the injection used three or four 
times a day will be sufficient. 
Experience will convince the most 
cautious surgeon, of the expediency of 
this method of cure, in preference of 
what hitherto has been used, as it cuts 
short the former supposed necessity of 
long continued purging, and giving mer- 
cury, to the great detriment of the con- 
stitution. 
As it is a circumstance of the utmost 
consequence to distinguish, sometimes, 
fresh claps from gleets, particularly if the 
judgment of the practitioner employed 
is doubtful; for if the first is mistaken 
for the last, and is neglected, or treated 
according to his mode of practice, any 
wise like it, the sufferer runs great hazard
of

(24)
of getting a confirmed pox;* on which 
account, I shall conclude my observations 
on the diseases of the urinary canal, pre- 
viously giving my readers such marks of 
distinction between a recent clap and a 
gleet, as will enable them, in some mea- 
sure, to judge for themselves. 
The gonorrhœa, or clap, is malignant 
and inflammatory. A gleet most fre- 
quently arises from relaxation, and bodily 
weakness; itching, inflammation, and 
heat of urine, are the forerunners of the 
discharge in a clap. The orifice of the 
urinary canal is prominent, and often pain- 
ful, and the sufFerer is attacked with a 
frequent inclination to make water. In 
a gleet, pains of the loins are not unfre- 
quent, and loss of strength attends the 
discharge; if any pain or heat of urine 
follow, it is in much less degree, and 
only after long continuance of the dis- 
charge, which turning sharp and acri- 
monious, excoriates the surrounding parts. 
In a clap the discharge suddenly appears; 
but in a gleet it comes on more slowly,
and
Vide Case XIV.

(25)
and may be produced by irregularities, 
too frequent coition, &c. or whatever 
weakens the bodily powers. In a clap 
the discharge is less in quantity, and of 
a deeper dye, and not attended with the 
same symptoms of debility. Gleets are 
more or less in quantity after taking cold, 
or using much exercise.
E SECTION 


(26)
SECTION II. 
REMARKS founded upon experience, 
are the surest and safest pilots to 
truth in every profession; and which, 
when applied to the cure of maladies in- 
cident to the human body, are certainly 
more likely to succeed, than pompous and 
plausible theories, however refined. As 
the practice of medicine originally com- 
menced without theory, it is the opinion 
of some of the most learned of the 
science, that it might subsist as well with- 
out it. Who had any share in giving 
hints, or directing the wild Indian to a 
remedy for his disease? He cures him- 
self by the wild vegetables of the field,*
and 
* Those sagacious people were the discoverers of 
the powerful antidote against the bite of a rattle- 
snake, which till then was always mortal, but now  
is

(27)
and as relief is the only thing he regards, 
or cares for, he never enquires into the 
cause. Hence practice, built upon simple 
knowledge, supplies the place of specu- 
lation, and teaches the unlettered tribe to 
place a value on their discoveries accord- 
ing to the relief it procures them. 
The rude and uncultivated Africans, 
who are subject to the most terrible spe- 
cies of the venereal disease, known by 
the name of yaws, a malady very fre- 
quent among the black nations, whose 
sagacity in the mode of its cure, is not to 
be equalled by any other people on earth; 
for, as if directed by instinct, when co- 
vered over with running sores, they fly to 
the vegetable kingdom for relief, and by 
drinking a decoction prepared from the 
root of a certain plant, a native of both 
Africa and the West-India islands, they 
soon cure themselves of this loathsome 
distemper. Mercury has been found to 
fail in the cure of it,* of which I was an 
E2 eye
is of little consequence, provided the remedy is at 
hand; which is the juice of the plaintain and hore- 
hound, equal parts, taken inwardly, and a cataplasm, 
of the leaves bruised, and applied to the wound. 
* Vide Case IV. 

(28)
eye witness; and at last recourse must be 
had to this valuable medicine of their 
own, which in a short time conquers 
this loathsome distemper; it acts most 
powerfully by insensible perspiration and 
urine, gently opening the bowels, thereby 
ridding the blood of a malady, which 
otherwise would soon destroy the miser- 
rable sufferer. 
Man’s body is admirably contrived, and 
made to prevent evils; so no less art and 
caution have been used to get rid of them, 
when they do happen. When by any 
misfortune wounds or hurts do best, or 
when by our own neglect we pull down 
diseases and mischiefs upon ourselves, 
what emunctories,* what admirable pas- 
sages
* One of nature’s most constant methods here is 
by the glands, and the secretions made by them; here 
are grounds to admire the contrivance of our blood, 
which, on some occasions, so soon as any thing destruc- 
tive to the constitution of it comes into it, immedi- 
ately by an intestine commotion, endeavoureth to 
thrust it forth, and is not only freed from the new 
guest, but sometimes what likewise may have lain 
lurking therein for a great while.
And

(29)
sages are dispersed throughout the body, 
what incomparable methods doth nature 
take, what vigorous efforts is she enabled 
to make to discharge the peccant humours, 
to correct the morbific matter, and, in 
a word, to set all things right again? 
The
And from hence it comes to pass, that most part of 
medicines, when duly administered, are not only sent 
out of the body themselves, but likewise great quan- 
tities of morbific matter. 
Hippocrates, Lib. de Alimentis, takes notice of the 
sagacity of nature, in finding out methods and pas- 
sages for the discharging things offensive to the body. 
Valsalva discovered some passages into the region of 
the ear drum, of mighty use (among others) to make 
discharges of bruises, imposthumes, or any purulent 
or morbific matter from the brain, and parts of the 
head. Of which he gives two examples, one, a per- 
son, who from a blow on his head had dismal pains 
therein, grew speechless, and lay under an absolute 
suppression and decay of his strength, but found cer- 
tain relief, whenever he had a flux of blood, or puru- 
lent matter out of his ear, which, after his death, 
Valsalva discovered was through those passages. 
The other was an apoplectical case, wherein he 
found a large quantity of extravasated blood, making 
way from the ventricles of the brain, through those 
same passages. Vide Valsal, de aur human, C. 2, 14, 
and C. 5, 8. 

(30)
The body is so contrived, as to be well 
enough secured against the mutations in 
the air, and the lesser errors we daily run 
upon, did we not in our excesses of eat- 
ing, drinking, thinking, loving, or some 
other folly, let in the enemy, or lay vio- 
lent hands upon ourselves. Nor is the 
body fitted not only to prevent, but also 
to cure, or mitigate diseases, when by 
these follies brought upon us. In most 
wounds, if kept clean, and from the air, 
the flesh will glew together with its own 
native balm. Broken bones are cemented 
with the callus which themselves help to 
make. 
There are many instances of distempers 
of our bodies being highly serviceable to 
the discharge of malignant humours,* 
and preventing greater evils. No less 
kind than admirable, is the contrivance 
of man’s body, that even its diseases 
should many times be its cure; that when 
the
* For the blood in a fever, if well-governed, like 
wine upon the fret, dischargeth itself of all hetero- 
geneous mixtures; whereby that which threatens 
death, tends often, in conclusion, to the prolonging 
of life. 

(31)
the enemy lies lurking within to destroy 
us, there should be such a reluctancy, and 
all nature excited with its utmost vigour 
to expel him thence. To which pur- 
pose even pain itself is of great and ex- 
cellent use, not only in giving us notice 
of the presence of the enemy, but by 
exciting us to use our utmost diligence 
and skill, to root out so troublesome and 
destructive a companion. 
What can possibly be better contrived 
for animal motion and life, than the 
quick circulation of the blood and fluids, 
which run out of sight in the capillary 
vessels, and very minute ducts, without 
impediment (except in some diseases) be- 
ing all directed to their peculiar glands 
and channels, for the different secretions, 
sensible and insensible; whereof the last 
is far the greatest in quantity and effects; 
as to health and sickness, acute distempers 
frequently arising from a diminution of 
transpiration, through the cutaneous chim- 
nies, and from chronical ones from an 
augmentation; whereas obstructions in 
the liver, pancreas, and other glands, may 
only cause a schirras, a jaundice, an ague, 
a dropsy,


(32)
a dropsy, or other slow diseases. So an 
increase of their secretions may accompany 
the general colliquations, as in fluxes, 
hectic sweats and coughs, diabetes, and 
other consumptions. 
It is astonishing, the wise contrivance 
there is to preserve these due secretions 
from the blood, (on which life so much 
depends) by frequent attritions and com- 
minutions of the fluids, in their passage 
through the heart, the lungs, and the 
whole system of the muscles! What 
meanders and contortions of vessels in the 
organs of separation? And what a con- 
course of elastic bodies from the air, to 
supply the springs and continual motions 
of some parts, not only in sleep and rest, 
but in long violent exercises of the mus- 
cles, whose force drives the fluid round 
in a wonderful rapid circulation through 
the minutest tubes, assisted by the con- 
atant pabulum of the atmosphere, and 
their own elastic fibres, which impress 
that velocity on the fluids! 
The air have also a very great share in 
all the digestions of the solid and fluid
parts.

(33)
parts. For when the system of air comes 
to be corrupted with poisonous acrimoni- 
ous steams, what havock is made in all 
the operations of living creatures? The 
parts gangrene and mortify under blotches, 
and other tokens; and indeed the whole 
animal œconomy is ruined; of so great 
importance is the air to all parts of it. 
Having already considered the local ve- 
nereal affections, with the easy mode by 
which they may be removed, when the 
patients get into proper hands, I shall now 
relate to my readers the safe, and expedi- 
tious method of curing every species of 
pox, without a day’s confinement, re- 
straint of diet, or endangering the con- 
stitution with mercury, by the impro- 
per use of which thousands are sent, ei- 
ther sooner or later, from this great me- 
tropolis to their untimely graves. 
Without entering into any prolix de- 
tail of the various opinions of the pre- 
parations made use of to re-establish the 
health of the sufferer, I will only offer 
what I have found, on attentive observa- 
tion, the most effectual method of cur- 
F ing


(34)
ing this disease, under different loathsome 
circumstances. This medicine is the 
Montpellier Apozem, endowed with the 
most powerful alterative quality; the su- 
perior degree of penetrability (if I may be 
allowed the expression) which this medi- 
cine possesses, above all mercurials; and its 
action being chiefly determined to the sur- 
face, may be the reason why it is found so 
powerful a resource in all venereal cases, 
when salivation has failed.* It is judi- 
ciously observed by an ingenious physi- 
cian, that this medicine will speedily re- 
establish the health of patients labouring 
under pocky symptoms, and who are af- 
flicted at the same time with a hawking 
cough, who have a husky dry breast, and 
whose nervous system is excessively irri- 
table, or who are subject to any hemor- 
rhage; for it is well known, that such 
will not bear mercury, and which will 
inevitably destroy then, even although 
it be ever so prudently administered. It 
is to be drank to the quantity of a pint or 
two a day, and generally eradicates the
most 
* Vide Case X.


(35)
most confirmed infection, in a few weeks; 
an extract is also prepared from it, for the 
convenience of those who travel, which 
may be either taken in the form of a pill, 
or dissolved in a glass of capillaire and wa- 
ter, or any liquid the patient prefers; it 
has the same effect as the Apozem; it 
may be had by application to me, either 
personally, or by letter, and sent to any 
part of the world. 
There are no poxes, in general, harder 
to cure than those attended with venereal 
warts; I have seen cases of this kind re- 
sist; every mode of treatment, particularly 
repeated mercurial frictions; which when 
too long persevered in, have terminated 
in a fatal rapid hectic*. I found that the 
Montpellier Apozem bids fairer for re- 
moving them, than any other mode of 
treatment I have seen practised; beside, 
the patient has this comfort, that his 
month is never affected, nor the breath 
never tainted, nor the gums and teeth in- 
jured, all which evils are occasioned by 
mercury, as all those who have been for 
F2 any
* Vide Case V.


(36)
any time under the influence of that pla- 
net must allow. 
In venereal enlargements of the bones, 
and cutaneous eruptions, which we of- 
ten find elude the force of mercury, this 
Apozem frequently effects a cure. 
It is a general received opinion among 
practitioners, that in cases where the ve- 
nereal virus is combined with a scorbutic 
habit of body, mercury is not only ren- 
dered very precarious, but its administra- 
tion extremely dangerous. In such cases 
the Apozem speedily and effectually cures 
both. Mercury is by all allowed danger- 
ous in universal weakness of the body; 
and where the patient is in the least con- 
sumptive, he might sink under a salivary 
discharge; or, where the blood vessels, 
from their decay, lose their vibrating 
power, and cannot sufficiently react upon 
the circulating fluids; in this case mer- 
cury diffused throughout the blood, will 
not only prove ineffectual, but further in- 
flame, break down, and destroy the parts 
already diseased. When this distemper is 
complicated with the gout or rheuma- 
tism,

(37)
tism, the exhibition of mercury is highly 
improper, those disorders are aggravated 
by its use; whereas the Apozem effects a 
cure with safety, by correcting the blood, 
and evacuating the putrid humours by the 
discharges of insensible perspiration, urine, 
and stool. 
The dangerous effects of mercury are 
very clearly pointed out by Dr. Robinson, 
an ingenious physician, who has wrote an 
excellent treatise on the venereal disease; 
and has laid down a number of cases 
where it was found highly prejudicial, and 
frequently fatal to the patients; hence all 
candid judges will give the preference to 
the mode of cure by this alterative me- 
dicine, which is gentle and mild in its 
effects, being much more safe, as well as 
more certain, in totally eradicating every 
species of the venereal disease, and re- 
pairing the injuries done to the constitu- 
tion, by the improper use of mercury. 
A proper

(38) 
A proper Distinction between Venereal Symp- 
toms, and those often mistaken for such by 
the afflicted. 
As nothing can so much impair health 
as a state of constant suspence and unea- 
siness of mind, the following distinguish- 
ing marks, selected from the observations 
of the learned Dr. Astruc, who is justly 
allowed the best author on the venereal 
disease, are laid down for the satisfaction 
and information of my readers. 
The propriety of such observations will 
be readily allowed, when it is told, that 
it will enable the patient in some measure 
to judge for himself; hence it is evident, 
that not unfrequently from the want of 
them, the timorous have often been drove 
to despair, and forced into the hands of 
the ignorant, who might turn such un- 
necessary fears to their illicit gain. On 
this occasion, I have thought proper to 
quote the authority of the above author, 
rather than deliver opinions of my own. 
“ No wonder that pocky symptoms are 
so often doubtful and mistaken by the 
patient,

(39)
patient, for those of other diseases, since 
men of judgment and extensive know- 
ledge in the medical profession, sometimes 
find it difficult to know the real differ- 
ence; and it is chiefly from repeated ex- 
perience, that we are enabled to distin- 
guish them more truly. 
“ The nature of the signs are two-fold, 
viz. either such as are demonstrative and 
certain, because they are peculiar to the 
venereal disease only; or such as are equi- 
vocal and uncertain, because they are com- 
mon to other disorders. 
“ The demonstrative signs of infection 
in women are, frequent abortion, or the 
sickly constitution of children, born at their 
full time, viz. such as scrophulous, ricket- 
ty, hectic, and emaciated; especially if 
these disorders happen in most or all the 
children of the same family. 
“ When local venereal symptoms, such 
as shankers, excrescences, warts, or bu- 
boes, appear either spontaneously at first, 
or after an apparent cure break out afresh, 
without connection with a suspected fe- 
male

(40)
male, they are certain signs of the strongest 
infection. 
“ All eruptive disorders of the skin
when they happen without a manifest 
cause, and obstinately resist the force of 
common medicines, are suspicious signs 
of a venereal taint; but such cutaneous 
affections ought to be distinguished from 
other diseases of the skin, which are cri- 
tical and not venereal; or from yellow or 
livid scorbutic spots, which most abound 
where the other marks of a confirmed 
scurvy appear. 
“ Ulcers of the throat, nose, palate, and 
gums, with rottenness, or caries of the 
adjacent bones, are often observed in an 
inveterate pox; but there is need of cau- 
tion to avoid confounding them with such 
as are scorbutic, which are nearly related 
to them in situation, malignancy and dif- 
ficulty of cure, but very different in other 
respects. For instance, venereal ulcers 
first attack the tonsels, glands, and throat, 
then the gums, but more rarely and slow- 
ly; on the contrary, scorbutic ulcers first 
attack

(41)
attack the gums, and afterwards the 
throat and tonsils. 
“ Venereal ulcers frequently seize on the 
nose, with a rottenness of the subjacent 
bones; but scorbutic ulcers seldom or 
never. 
“ Venereal ulcers corrode and form ca- 
vities; scorbutic ones shoot out spongy 
excrescences, or proud flesh. 
“ Likewise, venereal ulcers are joined 
with other signs of the venereal disease; 
and scorbutic ones with those of scurvy; 
except in the scorbutic pox, where the 
symptoms are complicated and uncer- 
tain. 
“ Care should also be taken, not to 
mistake venereal pains for those which are 
scorbutic, rheumatic, or gouty; the for- 
mer are generally increased by heat of the 
bed, and are therefore called nocturnal. 
“ Venereal pains are chiefly confined to 
the solid, or middle part of the bones of 
the legs, and arms; scorbutic or rheu- 
G matic

(42)
matic ones usually invade the joints and 
membranous parts of the body. The 
first are not relieved by common remedies, 
and only yield to a venereal treatment; 
the last are mitigated by the use of flan- 
nel, or warm weather; they often go off 
and return by irregular periods, and fre- 
quently are produced by manifest causes, 
such as intemperance, catching cold, or 
living too long on salt, or indigestible 
provision. 
“ If a deep seated, violent pain has occu- 
pied the same part for a considerable time, 
obstinately resisting all remedies; or if 
the patient for several evenings successive- 
ly, has been seized with chilliness, or 
slight shivering fit, succeeded by feverish 
heat, and sweats towards the morning, 
they are signs of a latent pox, particularly 
where there are other corresponding symp- 
toms. 
“ Tumours of the glands do sometimes 
happen from causes which are not vene- 
real; particularly from scrophulous hu- 
mours, or a ricketty disposition; there is, 
notwith-

(43)
notwithstanding, need of great caution to 
distinguish them truly. 
“ The equivocal, or more remote and 
Uncertain signs of infection, are inflam- 
mation of the eyes, head-ach, hissing noise 
in the ears, with thickness of hearing, 
giddiness of the head, and wasting of the 
body, with universal weakness, and a 
slow intermitting fever. 
“ If after shankers suddenly dried up, a 
buboe repelled, or gonorrhœa restrained,
by art, or accident, the same complaint 
breaks out again, without any fresh cause, 
then it is evident the patient is poxed; 
so it is probable there is latent infection; 
or if he is subject to a falling off of the 
hair, ulcers in the throat, or nose, pains 
in the bones, or muscles, an atrophy, or 
wasting of the body, and slow intermit- 
ting fever.”
G2 CASE

(44)
CASE I. 
Peterborough, March 1776. 
A robust man, aged twenty-two, was 
three months in the hospital at Leeds in 
Yorkshire, for a swelled testicle, subse- 
quent to a clap, the surgeons having used 
the common methods in such cases in 
vain, and in putting on a schirrhous aspect, 
condemned it for amputation, to which 
the young man would not consent, but 
desired to be discharged, and having no 
mode of subsisting, he enlisted with a re- 
cruiting party of the 70th regiment, who 
were then in town; but when the fer- 
jeant brought him to the surgeon, on ex- 
amining the testicle, he would not pass 
him. He then left Leeds and came to 
Peterborough, where he had some rela- 
tions, and enlisted into the 16th regiment 
of light dragoons quartered there; as I 
then was assistant surgeon to this corps, 
he was brought to me for examination; 
his testicle was of a prodigious size, not 
having it suspended, it occasioned a vio- 
lent pain in his back, and from the long 
journey which he had taken on foot all 
the

(45)
the way, he was rendered weak, languid, 
and feverish. It felt hard and insensible 
to the touch, the spermatic chord was 
considerably enlarged; my opinion was, 
that I did not think him a fit person for a 
soldier, and in consequence, he was dismissed 
by the non-commissioned officer. Major- 
General Harcourt, who then was Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of the regiment, seeing 
him in a little time after with the serjeant 
in the street, and taking notice of his 
being a well made man, was sorry to hear 
I had not passed him, and accordingly 
sent for me, to know if I thought it was 
possible to cure him; I could give the 
General but small hopes, indeed, for the 
testicle had every appearance of a confirm- 
ed schirrhous; as he was a desirable recruit, 
the General expressed a strong desire for 
me to take him into the regimental hos- 
pital, ordering him daily pay as a soldier. 
On putting a few questions to him, he 
gave me to understand, that about eigh- 
teen months before he had a running from 
the penis, for which he applied to a 
country practitioner, whose care he had 
been under three months; the first month. 
of


(62)
of which he used to take a powder 
every third morning, which worked four- 
teen or fifteen times by stool, and the in- 
termediate days he took two or three pills 
at night; that those contained mercury I 
had no doubt, as he told me his mouth 
became very sore, and some of his teeth 
were loose, his running still continued, 
and when his mouth got well, he was 
ordered to bathe every day in a cold spring; 
this stopped the running, and in about 
another month the epididimy became hard 
and painful, and by degrees the body of 
the testicle became also hard, enlarged, 
and increased, till it arrived at the present 
state. 
I began by administering to him a 
powerful alterative preparation, com- 
pounded of antimony; between whiles, 
he took the extract of hemlock, and I 
applied a cataplasm prepared of the same, 
to the diseased testicle; in the course of 
twenty-nine days, it was astonishing the 
good effects of this treatment, as the tes- 
ticle now changed from that hard insen- 
sible feel, to be foster and sensible to the 
touch; in about three weeks more I could 
plainly

(47)
plainly distinguish the epididimy, and in 
the space of ten weeks from the com- 
mencement of taking his medicines, it 
was reduced nearly the size of his other, 
being changed from a highly diseased 
state, to a perfect found one in every re- 
spect, which before had been condemned 
for amputation; he was now discharged 
the hospital to learn his exercise, when 
he afterwards went to America with the 
regiment, and was shot in an action with 
the enemy at Prince Town. 
CASE II. 
Peterborough, April 1776. 
A young gentleman, aged twenty-three, 
a« officer of dragoons, applied to me for 
a running from the penis, which, he said, 
had been more or less upon him, since 
March 1774, at which time he had been 
clapped, and was under the care of a 
country practitioner, from whom he had 
taken mercury till his tongue was swelled, 
and his mouth intolerably painful, with 
a violent spitting; when the effects of 
the mercury abated, his running still con- 
tinued till the present time; being con-
vinced

(48)
vinced there was no virus in the discharge, 
I put him under a course of bracing 
medicines, which were continued two 
months, with little or no benefit; I then 
tried a bougie, with various applications 
to the urethra, but all seemed to do no 
good, his gleet still continued. At this 
time we were on our passage to New- 
York, and advised bathing every morning 
in the salt water, by plunging into a cask 
filled on deck, for that purpose; from 
this he received some benefit, but a little 
after our arrival at New-York, it returned 
again with the usual violence, and con- 
tinued till February 1777, which was the 
time I discovered the injection, which I 
have already spoken of, by the use of 
which for twenty days, he got perfectly 
well. 
CASE III. 
LAT. 41, 50, July 1776. 
In my passage with the troops to Ame- 
rica, a boat came along side from a trans- 
port, one morning, with a message from 
an officer of the army, requesting me to 
go and see him, that he was very ill in 
his bed. When I arrived on board the 
transport

(49)
transport in which he was, I found him 
with his head leaning over the side of his 
bed, and the saliva running from his 
mouth in an entire full stream; his 
tongue was swelled to such a degree, as to 
extend his cheeks; he could swallow no- 
thing, and was totally deprived of his 
speech. I immediately perceived it was 
the effects of mercury, and desired his ser- 
vant to get pen, ink, and paper, to write 
some account of his case, and what mode 
had been used by him to get into that 
condition. He gave me to understand, 
that having applied to a surgeon of emi- 
nence in London, for the cure of some 
eruptions, which had many years affected 
his breast, he gave him three boxes of 
pills, with directions to take one or two 
every night, not doubting but they would 
perfectly cure him in the course of the 
passage, of which he had only taken six, 
till all at once he was seized in the man- 
ner I saw him. I sent him an emollient 
application for his mouth, and proper 
medicines to take, in order to carry the 
mercury out of the system as soon as 
possible. The fourth day he was enabled 
to speak to me, and to swallow some
H nourishment;


(50)
nourishment; it was thirty days before 
his mouth was healed. He was now 
emaciated, and melted down to a skele- 
ton, and seized with a cough and inter- 
mitting fever. Notwithstanding all this 
severe discipline, the spots on his breast 
still remained; they were of the copper 
coloured kind, with the skin peeling off 
now and then. When we arrived at New- 
York, he put himself under my care; 
and by a course of the Alterative Apozem, 
for nine weeks, was restored to perfect 
health; is now in London, and has never 
had the smallest return. 
CASE IV. 
New-York, Aug. 1778. 
An English merchant, who had lately 
arrived from Martinico, where he had 
been a prisoner some time with the 
French, employed me to attend him for 
a few pustulor and leprous eruptions, in 
different parts of his body. He had a 
small abcess in each arm-pit, and some 
small warts about the anus; his genital 
parts were quite free from any symptom 
whatever; his hands and feet were consi- 
derably

(51)
derably swollen, with large fissures, from 
whence issued a very stinking ichorous 
matter. I opened the abscesses in his arm- 
pits, and put him immediately under a 
course of mercurials, which was con- 
tinued three weeks; but instead of gain- 
ing ground on the disorder, he got worse, 
the eruptions became now running sores, 
did not seem in the lead disposed to heal 
up, but vented a vast deal of stinking sa- 
nious matter; nay, even new ones broke 
out under each arm-pit, and a large tu- 
mour formed on his rump, which soon 
discharged the same kind of virulent mat- 
ter. His body became now covered with 
scales, which grew so hard and stifF, 
that he could scarce bend a limb or 
finger; a number of ulcers broke out in 
his thighs and buttocks, from whence 
flowed great quantities of purulent and 
somewhat bloody matter. A very large 
tumor was also risen in his right breast, 
and soon after on the left, voiding pro- 
digious quantities of the same kind of 
matter. It was observable in this gentle- 
man’s case, that wherever any of these 
ulcers appeared, they ran only under the 
skin, being entirely seated in, and feed- 
H2 ing

(52)
ing on the adipose membrane (which 
confirms the opinion of the Professor 
Boerhaave, about the seat of the venereal 
disease) the muscles and tendons under- 
neath appeared as fair and florid, as in 
the most healthy constitation. I was 
really quite confounded at this dreadful 
face of things, and seriously bethought 
me, what farther method could be taken 
against so terrible an enemy. I did not 
hesitate to pronounce it the worst species 
of pox, called the yaws, which he had 
contracted from some of the Negro 
wenches, when he was a prisoner. I had 
recourse to a warm emollient bath, in 
which his whole body was immerged, after 
which he was well anointed with an 
emollient liniment; this was done for 
seven days successively. I found there 
was nothing to be done by mercury in 
any form, and therefore determined to 
run it off by insensible perspiration; for 
this purpose he drank, by my direction, 
a quart of the Montpellier Apozem a day, 
at the same time keeping up a most plen- 
tiful dilution, attempting withal, to de- 
tach the scaly cuticle, by continued emol- 
lient baths. By this means, the scales 
came


(53)
came off apace, just in the manner usual 
in the confluent small-pox, only much 
larger, several being above four or five 
inches over. In about a week’s time this 
coat of mail was pretty well cleared off, 
and his breath, from being the most hor- 
ribly nauseous I ever smelt, became as 
sweet as that of an infant; he was, 
in consequence, exceedingly emaciated, 
wherefore I ordered him a plentiful 
nourishing diet, but withal to keep to 
his Alterative Apozem, of which he drank 
three pints every twenty-four hours. He 
now began daily to gather strength and 
spirits; in the space of ten weeks, from 
his first putting himself under my care, 
his health was perfectly re-established, 
and he is at present in the city of Lon- 
don. 
CASE V. 
New-York, Dec. 1778. 
A young gentleman of fortune, a na- 
tive of Jamaica, aged about twenty-four, 
during his residence at New-York, got 
poxed; his symptoms were an ulcer in 
the left tonsel, and two or three shankers 
on

(54)
on the nut of the penis, for the cure of 
which, he put himself under the care 
of a surgeon of deserved reputation in 
that city, who recommended him to con- 
fine himself to his chamber, and to rub 
in the mercurial unction every night; this 
was continued for thirty-five days, till he 
spit between three and four pints a day; 
the shankers were by this time healed up, 
and his throat almost well. On the 
thirty-ninth day he was seized with a 
violent purging, accompanied with great 
pain in his bowels, and violent straining 
when at stool. His surgeon being alarm- 
ed, desired I would accompany him on 
his visit. I found him in great agony, 
almost constantly on his close-stool; we 
agreed to give him an opiate immediately, 
and an emollient clyster, in which some 
opium was dissolved every hour; after 
having three, he was much easier, and 
went to sleep. The next day the violence 
of his pain was much abated, but his 
purging still continued; about the third 
day he passed the mucus, that lines the 
intestines, more or less, in every stool; 
the opiates were continued, but with lit- 
tle or no effect. At this time, what food 
he

(55)
he swallowed, passed off by stool, with 
little or no change. He remained in this 
miserable state for upwards of ten days, 
when he was entirely emaciated, and na- 
ture quite exhausted, at length changed, 
the flux stopped, and he began to acquire 
strength by very slow degrees. He was 
now seized with a hawking cough, and 
had every appearance of having a pocky 
consumption. I was now ordered to join 
the army, and could make no farther re- 
marks on his case; but in twelve months 
after I was informed, that he died shortly 
after his arrival at Montego Bay, in Ja- 
maica, where he went to his estate. 
CASE VI. 
New-York, May 1779. 
An officer of distinguished rank in the 
army, who had great dependence on a 
celebrated preventive, sent for me one 
morning, having a pain in both testicles, 
and the glands of both his groins enlarged, 
I had no doubt, after examining, that it 
was venereal; but to this I could hardly 
persuade him, he attributed it to violent 
exercise he had taken the preceding day,
and


(56)
and he added, the caution he took after 
the act, by steeping the nut of his penis in 
the specific, he was sure saved him from 
being infected, if used any time within 
eight hours. I was astonished at his faith. 
and could not help observing, that it had 
at last completely deceived him. In two 
or three days more he was of my way 
of thinking, the swelling in his groins 
enlarged, and became very painful, his 
testicles also inflamed very much. I had 
them immediately suspended, and applied 
an emollient cataplasm, and took away a 
large quantity of blood; there was neither 
running nor shanker, but the inflamma- 
tion was the most obstinate I had ever 
seen before, attacking both testicles, each 
of which was swelled to the size of a 
large cocoa-nut; it was four weeks before 
I could conquer it, during which time 
one of his buboes dispersed, the other 
came to suppuration, and discharged pro- 
digiously. When his fever and inflamma- 
tion of the testicles abated, his appetite 
became voracious, eating double the quan- 
tity he was ever known to do before, 
when in perfect health. By persisting in 
the use of the Alterative Apozem, in the 
space


(57)
space of six weeks his buboe was com- 
pletely healed, without the least scar, and 
his testicles of their natural size; he 
looked now full as well as before he was 
taken ill, having a fair and florid coun- 
tenance, with his health perfectly re- 
stored. 
CASE VII. 
Chatham Barracks, May 1780. 
A non-commissioned officer, aged 26; 
got clapped, and being afraid of its com- 
ing to the knowledge of his wife, for the 
greater privacy, applied to a surgeon in 
Rochester to be cured; in taking his me- 
dicines about a fortnight, his foreskin 
swelled and inflamed; he, however, did 
his duty, and kept attending his doctor, 
who was puzzled what to do; at last his 
phymosis got to such a pitch, as to bind 
the orifice of the urinary passage, and im- 
pede the discharge of his urine. All this 
time the clappy matter had insinuated it- 
self between the glans, or nut of the 
penis, and the foreskin, and had made 
terrible havock. He was now in a high 
fever, and unable to get up; his wife 
then


(58)
then came, requesting I would go to see 
her husband, who, she said, was taken 
very ill in the night. On asking him a 
few questions, I soon discovered the cause 
of his fever, and desired that he might 
be brought to the hospital. When he 
arrived, I made an incision of the fore- 
skin, upwards of two inches, laying bare 
the glans, which was no sooner done, 
than the major part of it sloughed entirely 
away, being completely mortified; by 
a course of antisceptic and alterative me- 
dicines, with proper dressings to the part, 
he was perfectly well in the space of 
thirty-one days, except the mutilation of 
his penis, the out of which was now 
pointed, and not much thicker than a 
small wooden scewer. 
CASE VIII. 
Chatham Barracks, May 1780. 
The surgeon of the garrison requested 
I might accompany him, to see a non- 
commissioned officer of the 54th regi- 
ment, who had a buboe in the right 
groin, laid open by caustick, about five 
weeks before; it had made the most
astonishing 

(59)
astonishing havock on the surrounding 
parts, I had ever seen; the muscles of 
the thigh were laid bare about six inches, 
and it extended upwards far above Fallo- 
pius ligament; it had a very unfavourable 
aspect, large portions of the muscles and 
tendons, sloughing away at every dressing, 
till at length the great artery was almost 
naked; he had been salivated, and at 
this time was spitting near two pints a 
day; he had a hectic fever on him, and 
every sign of a pocky consumption, and in 
about three weeks after this died. 
CASE IX. 
New-York, August 1778. 
A robust man, aged forty-two, mate of 
a ship belonging to Bristol, had been af- 
flicted with a gleet for four years and up- 
wards, in consequence of an ill-cured 
clap, during which time he had applied 
to many of the faculty for relief, some 
of whom, to use his own words, patched 
him for a few days, and sometimes weeks, 
but as soon as he performed the venereal 
act, it as constantly returned. 
I2 On

(60)
On his arrival at New-York, he put 
himself under the care of an apothecary 
of that city, who gave him pills made up 
of rosin and balsam of capiva, in very 
large quantities; the fifteenth day of tak- 
ing these, he was seized all at once with 
a suppression of urine, accompanied with 
violent pain about his bladder, and a high 
fever. His captain sent for me to come 
and see him, I found him in most excru- 
ciating pain; he had passed no urine for 
eighty-six hours, and he was deprived, 
in a great measure, of the intellectual fa- 
culty. 
I immediately took a large quantity of 
blood away, ordered a clyster to be thrown 
up, and got him, as soon as possible, into 
a hot bath, where I drew off his urine; 
he was now, as he expressed himself, in 
another world, having by these means 
had relief, felt easy, and comfortable, 
took an opiate, and went to sleep. His 
urine, however, did not come away in a 
stream for near a month afterwards; the 
tone of the bladder and the neighbouring 
parts being so destroyed, by the irritating 
medicines that had been made use of. 
After


(61)
After this he put himself under my care 
for his gleet, which was the most copious 
I had ever seen. I recommended him to 
use my injection five or six times a day, 
keeping his bowels at the same time 
gently open, causing little or no altera- 
tion in his diet. About ten days after the 
gleety matter changed to be quite thick 
and ropy, and in ten days more it entirely 
disappeared. His ship remained at New- 
York three months after this, during 
which time he had frequent connections 
with the fair, but not the least return of 
his gleet; since my return to England, 
I have seen a particular friend of his, 
who assures me, he never had the least 
return of it, but remains in perfect 
health. 
The following case is related in the pa- 
tient’s own words, agreeable to the let- 
ter which he did the favour to send me, 
after his recovery; and which, by his 
particular request, was published in 
most of the public papers.
CASE

(62)
CASE X. 
SIR, 
As it appears to me a duty incumbent 
on every individual, who receives benefit 
from his fellow-creature, and particularly 
where the invaluable blessing, health, is 
concerned, not only to return that person 
thanks by whose skill such benefit has 
been derived, but also to acknowledge it 
in a public manner, for the good of those 
unfortunate persons, who may labour un- 
der a malady similar to mine; you have 
my permission to make what use you please 
of the following: 
About ten months ago, I contracted a 
venereal complaint, at Kingston in Ja- 
maica, which did not make its appearance 
upon me, till I had been four weeks at 
sea, in my passage home; and having no 
surgeon on board, unfortunately got no 
assistance, any farther than what a small 
medicine box afforded, agreeable to the 
written directions. It was twelve weeks 
before we made the English Channel, 
during

(63)
during which time the disease had made 
rapid progress; I was all over covered 
with spots and blotches, my skin peeling 
off on the least touch; my right testicle 
was swelled to six times its natural size, 
exceeding hard to the touch, and an ab- 
scess formed in the urinary passage, be- 
tween the scrotum and fundament, which 
pressing upon the passage, stopped the 
free discharge of my urine. I applied 
immediately on my arrival in London, by 
direction of a captain in the army, who 
was my passenger, to an eminent surgeon 
in the West end of the town, noted for 
his skill in venereal complaints, who ad- 
vised me to confine myself to my cham- 
ber, and I accordingly took a lodging 
near him, for the better convenience of 
his attendance. I was soon put under a 
course of mercury, and a spitting excited, 
to upwards of two quarts a day; this 
was continued, less or more, for seven 
weeks, during which time my symptoms 
did not at all abate, as was expected, but 
only the spots partly disappeared; my 
testicle still continued its usual hardness, 
though free from much pain, and still of 
an uncommon size. The abscess formed 
in

(64)
in my urinary passage, became now a 
running fistulas ulcer, through which my 
urine passed when I made water. I was 
now seized with a hawking cough and 
low continual fever, with total loss of 
appetite, my gums, mouth, and teeth, in 
horrid condition, when my friend, Lieut. 
Maigill, of the Queen’s American Ran- 
gers, calling to see me, advised me to 
send for you, which I immediately did, 
when you positively gave it as your opi- 
nion, that if I did not leave off mercury, 
I should be soon a dead man, and that 
another mode of treatment must be adopt- 
ed, having had too much mercury al- 
ready. My first surgeon proposed to have 
my testicle taken off, to which you ob- 
jected, and I accordingly put myself under 
your care. 
It is above my abilities. Sir, to express 
my gratitude to you, for your singular 
skill and attention towards me, in such 
a deplorable state, as I was now become a 
nuisance to all about me, and apparently 
in a deep consumption. I was removed, 
by your order, to an airy situation in 
Tottenham-Court-Road. When I began 
to

(65)
to drink the Montpellier Apozem, to the 
quantity of a quart a day; by your order 
I rode out in a carriage, as often as the 
weather was pleasant, which, with the 
addition of no other medicine, and the 
dressings and applications to the urethra, 
and testicle, I obtained in the space of 
eight weeks a complete cure, being hap- 
pily relieved from all my symptoms. My 
urine, which before passed through the 
fistula in my urethra, came now the na- 
tural way, the sore being completely 
healed, and my testicle, (which the first 
gentleman said was become schirrous) was 
now of its natural size; my cough and 
fever left me; my appetite became good, 
and I daily after gathered strength, con- 
trary to the expectation of my friends, 
acquaintance, and all who knew my case. 
I remain, Sir, your ever obliged, 
and obedient servant. 
JAMES MATTHEW, 
Master of the ship Mary, 
in the Jamaica trade. 
Wellclose-Square, March 10, 1784. 
To Mr. Neale, Surgeon, late of 
the fifth Reg. of Foot, No. 9, 
Old Compton-street, Soho.
K CASE 


(66)
CASE XI. 
London, March 1783. 
A captain in a regiment of infantry, 
being about to change his condition, and 
fearful of any lurking venereal infection, 
applied to me, to know whether or not 
the disease would make its appearance in 
the course of a month, in case the last 
female with whom he had connection, 
had infected him. He added, that he 
thought himself very lucky to escape; for 
he had learned, that one or two of his 
acquaintances were injured, and had rea- 
son to suspect they had caught it from the 
same person. There was an unusual 
itching about his scrotum, but that, he 
continued, could be nothing, as he sup- 
posed it arose from heat; I desired to see 
it, when I discovered several spots, the 
cuticle, or outer skin, in many places, 
broke, with a slight degree of inflamma- 
tion; this, he said, his nails had occa- 
sioned; however, as it had the real cri- 
terion of being venereal, and determined 
always to do my duty, as well for my 
own credit, as my patients welfare, I did 
not hesitate to tell him it was the pox. 
There

(67)
There being nothing the matter with the 
penis, he was of a different way of think- 
ing, and went away to his quarters, about 
twelve miles in the country. Falling in 
company with a practitioner there, he 
related his complaint, who gave his opi- 
nion, that it certainly arose from the heat 
in walking, and was no more than com- 
mon. The doctor gave him some gou- 
lard to wash it with, which he made no 
doubt would soon cure him; after using 
it about a week, the scrotum got hard 
and inflamed, with a large running, and 
spreading sore, and a number of scaly 
eruptions. The captain was now alarm- 
ed, and the doctor candidly told him, he 
had better apply to a surgeon, who had 
experience in those kind of complaints. 
The captain returned to me again on 
the twelfth day from my first seeing him; 
his scrotum was now in a state of violent 
inflammation, and the eruptions running 
a purulent matter. His testicles were 
not in the least affected, the disease being 
fixed in the skin only; by emollient ap- 
plications to the parts, with the Altera- 
tive Apozem, that gentle mode, as is my 
custom in all pocky symptoms, he was 
K2 perfectly

(68)
perfectly well in twenty-nine days, dur- 
ing which time he looked as fat and 
ruddy as ever, and in a little time after 
entered into matrimony. 
CASE XII. 
London, May 1783. 
Being in company with a gentleman 
going to the city, he requested I would 
step into a woollen draper’s shop, till he 
settled some business with the master, 
who I perceived behind the counter, 
afflicted with a violent cough and spitting 
of phlegm. On his expressing a wish to 
his acquaintance, with whom I was in 
company, to be cured of his cough, he 
instantly introduced me. I could not 
help smiling, little thinking to be em- 
ployed on the occasion; I looked narrow- 
ly at him, and perceived he had that 
aspect which is so well known to all prac- 
titioners, who are much accustomed to 
venereal practice; he was about twenty- 
four years of age, and of a delicate con- 
stitution.
He
 

(69)
He observed, that besides his cough, 
which was so very troublesome, he had 
been afflicted with the scurvy for some 
years; opening his breast, and shewing 
me a number of spots, which gave him 
vast uneasiness, for the cure of which, he 
observed, he had tried all the quack me- 
dicines in vain. Now and then, he said, 
a few spots broke out on his head, but 
this he attributed to the hair-dresser’s 
comb. When I examined minutely into 
the state of his health previous to this, 
as well as the appearance of his present 
symptoms, I candidly told him, that he 
must not be surprised to hear me assure 
him, it was a confirmed venereal com- 
plaint; and that I had no doubt, but his 
cough was occasioned by the pocky mat- 
ter falling on his lungs, which might 
terminate in a consumption, and destroy 
him, if proper methods were not soon 
pursued. He was much amazed at first, 
till, after a little reflection, he readily con- 
sented to comply with any mode I should 
prescribe for his cure, and accordingly put 
himself under my care. He had a burn- 
ing fever on him every night, as regu- 
larly as the night came, little or no ap- 
petite,

(70)
petite, and every appearance of being hec- 
tic. As there was no time to be lost, he 
began the next day to drink the Mont- 
pellier Apozem; I gave nothing barely 
for his cough, being convinced that, as 
well as his fever, was symptomatical, and 
would abate as the virus became more 
and more destroyed. In this it turned 
out as I expected, for in a fortnight the 
fever entirely left him, and he began to 
come to his appetite. In twenty-one days 
more his cough abated, and from a pale, 
sallow, plumbane countenance, his com- 
plexion became perfectly clear, and he 
began to have colour in his cheeks. He 
now expressed a desire to drink two quarts 
of the Apozem'a day instead of one, by 
the use of which alone, in the space of 
nine weeks, he was perfectly freed from 
all his symptoms, his health perfectly re- 
established, and happily saved from an un- 
timely grave. 
CASE XIII. 
London, April 1784. 
A gentleman picked up a girl in the 
street, went into an hotel, and lay with 
her;

(71)
her; in about three weeks after, he had 
several shankers on the nut of his penis, 
the foreskin became inflamed, with a ter- 
rible phymosis; I attended him, and in 
a short time he got well. Before the dis- 
order appeared, he had frequent connec- 
tions with his wife, who never had the 
least complaint in consequence. 
CASE XIV. 
London, April 1784.
An officer of the royal navy applied 
to me, for advice in a running from 
the urinary passage, which, he said, was 
brought on by a strain, and that he was 
well convinced it could not proceed from 
any venereal cause, depending on the 
foundness of the subject with whom he 
cohabited. Upon examining the orifice 
of the urinary passage, and the colour of 
the discharge, I told him, that instead of 
a strain, I had not the least doubt but 
that he was clapped, and would under- 
take to serve him on no other terms. He 
replied, that as his girl had nothing of 
the kind, it was impossible, and thus 
went away in surprize. In about a
month

(72)
month afterwards, he sent for me to his 
lodgings, where I found him in bed, 
scarcely able to get up, having a large 
buboe in each groin, enlarged to such a 
degree, as to fill up the cavity, and the 
fluctuation of matter was very easily felt 
with the finger. 
He told me, that he now repented his 
not having taken my advice, and unfor- 
tunately had applied to a medical gentle- 
man in the country, where he had been 
for a few days, and who differed widely 
in opinion with me, assuring him it was 
a gleet, and wondered that any surgeon 
could make so egregious a mistake. This 
doctor accordingly gave him a bracing 
electuary, and some drops; at the same 
time recommending to him, in the 
strongest terms, to bathe his thighs and 
buttocks in a tub of cold water, every 
morning. This treatment in about a 
fortnight stopped the discharge, and the 
glands of the groins became then pain- 
ful and enlarged, till at length he was 
unable to walk. In two days after this I 
made a small opening in each of them, 
and they discharged a prodigious quantity
of

(73)
of matter. The next day he got up, and, 
with the help of his crutches, limped 
about; I then put him under a course of 
the Alterative Apozem, and in thirty-one 
days the buboes were completely healed, 
the marks scarcely to be observed; dur- 
ing the whole time, he lived as usual, 
and took fresh air, and exercise. 
CASE XV. 
London, June 1784. 
A member of parliament did me the 
honour to consult me, in a case of run- 
ning from the urethra, which had trou- 
bled him, more or less, for two years 
and upwards. On enquiry, I found he 
had taken mercury for the cure of a 
clap preceding his gleet, and also strong 
purges; he gave me to understand it had 
afflicted him ever since. Before I was 
consulted, bracing medicines, bougies, 
and cold bathing had been tried, but all 
to no purpose. As he was obliged to go 
down to Devonshire, upon business of im- 
portance, I packed up a few bottles of 
my injection, that he might carry with 
him to apply in the usual way. In five 
L weeks

(74)
weeks after, he was so obliging as to fa- 
vour me with a letter, informing me, 
that he was completely braced up, with- 
out the least discharge whatsoever; and 
his urine, which before dribbled in con- 
sequence of the lax and debilitated date 
of the parts, came now in a strong and 
full stream. 
CASE XVI. 
London, July 1784. 
A field officer called on me, desiring I 
would visit a courtezan, who, he said, 
was exceeding ill in bed; that she had 
already employed a practitioner for a con- 
siderable time past, without receiving any 
benefit. I found her in a high fever, 
and in violent pain, with a great discharge 
of saliva from her mouth, in consequence 
of the mercury he had taken; upon ex- 
amining farther, I found a remarkable 
large abcess on the right labia,* complete- 
ly suppurated; I did not hesitate to make 
a small opening into it, which discharged 
a prodigious quantity of matter. This 
gave her instant relief, and when I visited 
her
* The right side of the genital parts. 


(75)
her the next day, she was up, and walk- 
ing about her chamber; I perceived a 
small ulcer on her left tonsel, for which I 
put her under a course of the Montpellier 
Apozem, by the use of which, and pro- 
per applications to the parts affected, her 
health was perfectly restored in twenty- 
one days. 
CASE XVII. 
London, Sept. 1784. 
An officer of a provincial regiment, 
aged 46, who had been clapped about 
seven years ago, unattended with any par- 
ticular circumstance, about the sixth year 
after began to make urine with difficulty, 
and in a much smaller stream than usual. 
He informed me, that he had been purg- 
ed very much by the medicines his sur- 
geon had given him, and his mouth made 
exceeding sore for upwards of six weeks, 
and that it was upwards of two years be- 
fore the running (which in consequence 
of maltreatment became a gleet) stopped. 
In September he had a small abcess form- 
ed in perinœo,* and another on one side of 
L2 the
* The space between the testicles and fundament. 


(76)
the anus; the former bursted of itself be- 
fore he applied, and the latter I opened 
with the lancet. In three or four days 
after this, his urine dripped away through 
the one in his urinary passage; and on the 
fifth day after I was astonished, on re- 
moving the dressings, to find near an inch 
and half of the urethra like a honey- 
comb, all round the first mentioned fistu- 
la, making in all six more holes, each of 
which communicated with the urinary 
passage, through which most of his urine 
passed, very little coming the natural way. 
The under part of the scrotum, perine- 
um, and one side of the anus, were ex- 
tremely enlarged and callous; I immedi- 
ately applied a suppurative bougie, which 
was continued for some time; by which 
I procured an abundant discharge, and 
the strictures were now so far removed, 
as to admit the introduction of a ca- 
theter, when I introduced one invented 
by the ingenious Mons. Pettit, which I 
covered with the bougie plaister. This 
procured every advantage that could arise 
from drawing off the urine in the natural 
way, and to prevent it from dripping 
through


(77)
through the holes, or fistulas in the pas- 
sage. It was surprizing to think how 
soon the enlargements began to subside, 
and the callosities to be melted down. 
I however took the precaution during this 
treatment, to put him on a slight course 
of alteratives, and the most effectual I 
ever tried, is the Montpellier Apozem, 
of which he drank about a wine quart a 
day; he now makes water in a full stream, 
and the enlargement and callosities are 
entirely vanished; and at this time there 
appears only the smallest oosing out of 
one of the fistula, and I have every pro- 
bability that he will shortly be perfectly 
well. 
CASE XVIII. 
LONDON, Nov. 1784. 
A master coach-maker applied to me 
in a case of a sore throat, for which he 
had been under the care of an apothecary 
six weeks, who had bled, blistered, purg- 
ed, and loaded him with draughts, to 
use his own words, as much as would 
fill a barrel, but all to no purpose. 
on

(78)
On examining his throat, I found the 
uvula * sloughy and ulcerated; but before 
this, his voice was a sufficient criterion 
for me to be convinced of his being 
poxed. I could give him but small hopes 
of saving the uvula, the disease had made 
so great a progress, and large portions of 
it sloughed away every now and then in 
the gargle. At this time a venus’ crown 
broke out on his forehead, and his breath 
became so intolerably fetid, or stinking, 
that few could bear to fit any time in 
his chamber, and it really was a punish- 
ment to be near him. 
I recommended him to drink as much 
of the Montpellier Apozem as he could 
with ease, in the course of the day, and 
he accordingly made it his common drink, 
both with his meals and when thirsty, by 
this mode he consumed three quarts a 
day, for ten days successively, when the 
malady was overtaken and checked. In 
another week his breath became perfectly 
sweet, but the uvula was entirely destroy- 
ed, without the least vestige of it remain- 
ing.
* A portion of the palate of the mouth. 


(79)
ing. The Apozem was continued for 
three weeks longer to a quart a day, which 
made six weeks from his first putting 
himself under my care, at the end of 
which his throat was perfectly healed, and 
the eruptions on his forehead entirely 
gone, his health re-established in every 
respect, except his voice, which was 
quite altered, in consequence of the un- 
fortunate loss of the uvula. 
CASE XIX. 
London, Nov, 1784. 
A gentleman employed me to attend a 
favourite courtezan, who had a venereal 
complaint, and at the same time far ad- 
vanced in her pregnancy; her symptoms 
were, an ulcer on the left tonsel, and seve- 
ral shankers below. She began to drink 
a quart of the Montpellier Apozem a-day, 
which was continued regularly for twenty- 
one days; afterwards a pint a-day for ten 
days more, at the end of which time, 
being in all thirty-one days, her com- 
plaints totally vanished; during this time 
no alteration was made either in her diet, 
or usual exercise. About a month after,
she 


(80)
she was brought to bed of as fine and 
healthy a looking boy, as I ever saw, 
quite free from spot or blemish, and has 
every appearance of thriving well. 
CASE XX. 
London, Nov. 1784. 
The master of a ship in the New-York 
trade, applied to me in a case of an en- 
largement of his right testicle, which had 
been coming, he informed me, for two 
years past; he had been under the in- 
fluence of mercury for two months before 
he left America, but the testicle was not 
decreased in consequence. 
His bladder had in a great measure lost 
its natural tone, and his urine came fre- 
quently away involuntary; he was fifty- 
two years of age, and had previous to 
this enjoyed a good state of health. The 
stream of his urine diminished, he said, 
for the last year remarkably, became 
forked, and at last so feeble that it 
dribbled away. There was not the least 
obstruction in his urinary passage, as ap- 
peared when I introduced the bougie, and 
the


(81)
the * prostate gland felt found to the touch. 
The testicle was hard and insensible, and 
a fluctuation of water was conspicuous, 
rendering it a complicated complaint. 
When I represented to him the necessity 
of drawing off the water previous to any 
attempt towards a cure, he readily con- 
sented. When I introduced a small tro- 
char, and drew off a pint of water, I 
was enabled to examine the testicle more 
minutely, and also to give him encourage- 
ment. He soon began to drink the Mont- 
pellier Apozem a quart a-day, from which 
he found so much benefit, that at his own 
request, it was increased to two a-day, 
which he continued forty-five days, at 
which period the bladder, &c. had ac- 
quired so much tone, as to enable him to 
make water in a full stream, and his tes- 
ticle became soft and sensible, very near- 
ly the size of the other. The absorbents 
appear now to do their duty, his health 
is re-established, and I have every proba- 
bility of his continuing so. 
M CASE
* A gland at the neck of the bladder, very subject 
to be diseased by this malady. 


(82)
CASE XXI.
London, 1784. 
A gentleman from Northumberland, 
that had been under the hands of a phy- 
sician in town, famous for his knowledge 
in this disease, and had taken his leave as 
perfectly cured of a gonorrhœa; about a 
month after the running returned with 
uncommon degrees of virulence, he 
thought it time to wait on his doctor 
again, who by his electuaries and turpen- 
tine (on which last, he said, he almost 
dieted) he became easy for a few months, 
and returned to the country, when the 
discharge again made its appearance. Be- 
ing a married man, it made him very un- 
happy in his mind, and he kept corre- 
sponding with his physician for a con- 
siderable time, to little purpose; till de- 
spairing of his gleet, a worthy friend of 
mine, a Member of the most Honorable 
House of Commons, did me the honor 
to recommend me to him. He took post- 
chaise and determined to come to Lon- 
don, travelling upwards of two hundred 
and sixty miles; I advised the Alterative 
Apozem


(83)
Apozem in small dozes, together with 
the frequent use of the injection, he be- 
came in twenty-one days as perfectly 
well as ever he was in his life; but still 
fearing relapses, which he had been used 
to, he desired to continue the course a 
little longer, which was done about a 
fortnight, and so confirmed his cure, that 
he continues now as free from that gleet, 
as if never afflicted with it. 
CASE XXII. 
London, 1784. 
A gentleman, aged thirty-three, after 
a clap ill-managed by a country apothe- 
cary, who, it appeared, had actually sa- 
livated him, by the copious exhibition of 
mercury; whether his design was to sti- 
mulate the glands to that degree or not, 
I will not pretend to say; however, the 
case proved too much for him, and his 
patient was so relaxed, that it was above 
his abilities to stop his gleet, notwith- 
standing many months trial. When he 
applied to me, he had not only a most 
abundant gleety discharge from the urina- 
ry passage, but his semen discharged it- 
M3 self


(84)
self involuntarily when at stool; he was 
likewise troubled with a clammy humor, 
that issued from his scrotum, and the 
inner parts of his thighs. This gentle- 
man was perfectly restored to his pristine 
health, by taking the bark, and making 
frequent use of my injection, washing the 
parts outwardly affected, as well as throw- 
ing it into the urinary passage. 
CASE XXIII. 
London, 1784. 
A gentleman having got rid of all 
symptoms attending a gonorrhœa, which 
he had been afflicted with, and had con- 
tinued in good health in every respect, 
was afterwards perplexed with a whitish 
foulness, that gathered between the fore- 
skin and the nut of the penis, which by 
detergents, astringents, and other appli- 
cations, for near two years, he could not 
get rid off. It was generally, he observ- 
ed, most troublesome to him spring and 
fall, and was of that nature, that if not 
daily washed, and kept clean, it would 
gather again; and if not removed, would 
in

(85)
in time make angry, inflame, and exco- 
riate both the nut and prepuce. This 
put him under several apprehensions, 
whether this might not proceed from his 
former gonorrhœa, and having made ap- 
plication to me, I told him my opinion, 
and believed it to be more a sharpness of 
the humors, than any venereal taint. In 
this it turned out as I expected, for it was 
only a gleeting humor, of the same na- 
ture as gleets that issue through the pas- 
sage of the yard; only the one oozes from 
the glands, or nut of the penis, and the 
other from the glands in the urethra, or 
passage of the yard. I ordered him the 
most gentle alteratives, and to wash the 
parts, and inject very frequently with the 
injection, which had the good effect I 
expected, and never have occasion to 
doubt of; so that this gentleman was 
perfectly cured, to his no small joy, after 
an utter despair of ever being so, or ever 
being capable of the marriage-bed, by 
reason of the tenderness, as well as debi- 
litation of those muscular and nervous 
parts, necessarily employed in the act of 
generation. 
CASE


(86)
CASE XXIV. 
London, 1784. 
A gentleman of no small figure in this 
town, aged about forty-three years, was 
all on a sudden taken with pains in his 
limbs, which, his physicians said, was the 
rheumatism; they directed what they 
thought necessary, and in a great measure 
released him from his pains; upon which 
ensued scurvy spots (as was termed) or 
breaking out all over him, to remove 
which they sent him to Bath; where 
upon drinking the waters, all to appear- 
ance vanished, and the gentleman return- 
ed home, to his thinking, in a perfect 
state of health. A month or two after, 
his breaking out appeared again all over 
him; his face not being free made him 
very unhappy; upon applying again to 
one of his physicians, he told him, it was 
the scurvy, and prescribed for him ac- 
cordingly, but it was to little purpose. 
The patient at length calling to mind an 
old venereal taint, he had a strong suspi- 
cion it proceeded from thence, though 
he

(87)
he had been married ten years, and his 
lady, to all appearance, as well as any 
one in the world. Upon this thought, 
and hearing me spoke of in company he 
was with at a coffee-house, the next day 
came to my house, and told me the 
whole story. Upon viewing his spots, I 
told him they were certainly venereal, and 
gave him the Montpellier Apozem, re- 
commended for old venereal remains, 
which he took but for three weeks, and 
it perfectly cured him; it is now four 
months since, and I dare affirm, he will 
never have cause to complain of his old 
disaster. He was so well pleased, that by 
all means his lady must go into the same 
course, who, by his persuasion, (not know- 
ing for what reason, or from whom) did 
so for about a fortnight, under the notion 
only of sweetening her blood, and by 
way of prevention, but truly for the sake 
also of being secured. 
CASE XXV. 
London, 1784. 
An artist in the city, having had con- 
nection with a soul woman, got a shanker 
on

(88)
on the nut of the penis, with which he 
ran to a surgeon, to have something to 
heal it, making no more of it than a 
scratch of a pin; the surgeon also called 
it a trisle, which could be skinned over in 
a few days; and in this he was as good as 
his word. The patient returned home 
well pleased, took the same freedom wkh 
his wife as usual, thinking all the danger 
over; a while after the man was afflicted 
with violent pains; his wife complained 
of a sore eye, and all this was supposed to 
be from catching cold, as it is commonly 
called, and as such treated by the apothe- 
cary to the family; but he having no 
success, a physician was called, who term- 
ed it a Rheumatism in the man, and the 
King’s Evil in the woman; but his efforts, 
for a considerable time, made but small 
abatement. At length, the husband sus- 
pecting the cause, and hearing of a cele- 
brated diet drink that is published, be- 
tween them they took thirty pounds 
worth of it, but to as little purpose as 
before. By this time, both their throats 
were full of ulcers; the man, in short, 
lost his uvula, and the bones of his pa- 
late and nose were affected; the woman 
lost


(89)
lost the sight of one eye, and indeed, they 
were both rendered miserable objects, at 
the time I was recommended to them. 
I immediately prescribed the Montpel- 
lier Apozem, to the quantity of a quart 
a-day, to each, and made proper applica- 
tions to the throat and nose of the man; 
the woman had also a tumor formed in 
her neck, which by the medicines was 
discussed. In the space of thirty-six 
days they were both retrieved, the disease
overtaken and destroyed, but not without 
Venus’s fears, which can never be re- 
medied, loss of substance not being to be 
repaired. 
That the venereal infection is commu- 
nicated frequently by the mouth, as well 
as by the parts of generation, is a certain 
fact, as instances of this has often occured 
to me in the course of practice. We 
sometimes find a shanker attack the mouth 
of both young and old, without ever per- 
forming the venereal act; and this shanker 
will be attended with violent pain, and 
N sympto-

(90)
symptomatick fever, as happens not un- 
frequently with a shanker on the nut of the 
penis; this mutual accord, consent, and 
sympathy of the members of our body, 
there is no reason to doubt, is made by 
the commerce of the nerves,* and their 
artificial positions and curious ramifica- 
tions throughout the whole body, which 
is incomparable. To give a description 
of the nerves from their origin in the 
brain, the cerebellum, and spine, and so 
through every part of the body, would 
be tedious, and perhaps insipid to my 
readers; one instance may suffice for a 
sample of the whole, and that shall be, 
the great sympathy occasioned by the 
fifth pair of nerves, which I choose to 
instance, rather than the par vagum, or 
any
* Galen well observes, that the nerves ministring 
to motion, are hard and firm, to be less subject to in 
jury; but those ministring to sense are soft and tender; 
and that for this reason it is, that four of the five 
senses are lodged so near the brain, viz. partly to par- 
take of the brain's softness and tenderness, and partly 
for the sake of the strong guard of the skull. Vide 
Galen de us Part, Lib. 8, Cap. 5, 6. 

(91)
any other of the nerves; because, al- 
though we may have less variety of noble 
contrivance, and art, than in that pair, 
yet we shall find enough for our purpose, 
and which may be dispatched in fewer 
words. Now this fifth conjugation of 
nerves is branched to the ball, the mus- 
cles, and glands of the eye; to the ear, 
to the jaws, the gums, and teeth; to the 
muscles of the lips,* to the tonsils, the 
palate, the tongue, and the parts of the 
mouth; to the præcordia; also, in some 
measure, by inosculating with one of its 
nerves; and lastly, to the muscles of the 
face, particularly the cheeks, whose san- 
guiferous vessels it twists about, 
From hence it comes to pass, that 
there is a great consent and sympathy be- 
tween all parts of the human body; a 
gustable thing seen or smelt, excites the 
N2 appetite
* Doctor Willis gives the reason, Cur mutua 
amasiorum oscula labiis impressa, turn præcoadia, turn 
genitalia, afficiendo, amorem ac libidinam, tam facile 
irritant, to be from the consent of those parts, by the 
branches of the fifth pair. Vide Nerv. Deser. Cap. 22. 

(92)
appetite, and affects the glands, and parts 
of the mouth; that a thing seen or heard 
that is shameful, affects the cheeks with 
modest blushes; but, on the contrary, if 
it pleases and tickles the fancy, then it 
affect the breast and muscles of the mouth 
and face with laughter; but a thing 
causing sadness and melancholy, doth ac- 
cordingly exert itself upon the breast; 
and demonstrates itself by causing the 
glands of the eyes to emit tears,* and 
the muscles of the face to put on the 
sorrowful aspect of crying. 
Hence also, that torvous look pro- 
duced by anger and hatred, and that gay, 
and pleasing countenance accompanying 
love and hope. 
In
* Tears serve not only to moisten the eye, to clean 
and brighten the cornea, and to express grief, but 
also to alleviate it, according to that of Ulysses to 
Andromache, in Senecas Troas. v. 762.
Tempus moramque dabimus, arbitrio tuo impler,
Lachrymis fletus ærumnas levat. 


(93)
In short, it is by means of this com- 
munication of the nerves, that whatever 
affects the soul, is demonstrated (whether 
we will or no) by a consentaneous dispo- 
sition of the breast within, and suitable 
configuration of the muscles without. 
By which means (as Pliny faith †) the 
face of man alone is the index of sorrow, 
or joy, of pity, or severity. 
† Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. 11, C. 37.
CASE XXV.

(94)
CASE XXV. 
London, July, 1785. 
L. S. Esq. A gentleman of singular 
worth, fortune, and fashion, had been 
afflicted for a considerable time with an 
ulcer at the neck of his bladder, and ano- 
ther near the orifice of the urinary pas- 
sage; there was a considerable degree of 
stricture, and whenever he used frequent 
coition there was an ozing of matter from 
the urinary canal: being on a visit in town 
and having been a little intemperate, the 
ulcers discharged large quantities of mat- 
ter, without occasioning any pain in the 
urinary passage; he was much alarmed, 
and employed Mr. Tomkins, Surgeon, to 
attend him for this complaint. 
Mr. T. taking it for granted that it was 
a fresh clap he had caught, began to ad- 
minister small quantities of mercury, and 
gave an injection to be thrown into the 
passage;

(95)
passage; this was continued for between 
three and four weeks, but instead of gain- 
ing ground Mr. S. got worse and worse, 
and began to be much alarmed, more es- 
pecially as he was now seized with cold 
night sweats, and violent irritation about 
his bladder, his rest entirely discomposed, 
with a total loss of appetite and sympto- 
matic fever. 
In this situation Mr. S. sent for me, 
having previously told Mr. Tomkins that 
he intended putting himself under my 
care. On the 29th day of July, I vi- 
sited him in Buckingham-street, York- 
Buildings, where I found him in the 
condition already described; he was re- 
clining upon a couch, and really unable 
to get up to speak to me in an erect pos- 
ture: at first, I was obliged to give him 
an opiate to compose him, as he was of an 
irritable temperament. My injection I ad- 
vised to begin immediately, and the next 
day he commenced the extract, both of 
which agreed with him perfectly well.
It

(96)
It is unnecessary to give the detail dur- 
ing my attendance on this gentleman, let 
it suffice to say that he mended daily un- 
der my care; on the 20th of August he 
was perfectly freed from every symptom, 
and on the 24th he went to Southampton 
to spend the summer. On the 5th of 
December following, he did me the fa- 
vour to call on me, previous to his go- 
ing to his home in the country, and I 
was happy to hear that he has continued 
in perfect health ever since, being freed 
from all his complaints: he is so obliging 
as to permit me to give a reference to 
any gentleman requesting it. 
CASE XXVI. 
London, Sept. 1785. 
SAMUEL C—K, Esq. was recom- 
mended to consult me, by Thomas Sand- 
ford, Esq. of Ingatestone, Essex; this 
gentleman had been afflicted with an ul- 
cer near the neck of his bladder for near 
four

(97)
four years; there was a constant discharge, 
more or less, of matter, which issued from 
it through the urinary canal, whenever he 
happened to drink hard, or live intempe- 
rate; the neck of his bladder was seized 
with inflammation, and a stoppage of urine 
was generally the consequence, so that 
his life was three or four times put to the 
hazard, and his urine during this time, 
was always obliged to be drawn off by a 
catheter, or the artificial tube, made for 
that purpose. This was an alarming situa- 
tion to be in, and his mind was made 
very unhappy. In September 1785, he 
consulted me in this unfortunate situa- 
tion, which I found was entirely occa- 
sioned from an ill-cured clap: he was very 
much emaciated, with a very sallow coun- 
tenance, his stomach impaired and relax- 
ed to an amazing degree; he had been 
under the care of all the country practi- 
tioners in his neighbourhood, as well as 
some of the Doctors of this metropolis, 
but in vain, for notwithstanding the bou- 
gies and various internal medicines, his 
symptoms still continued more or less 
O violent.

(98)
violent. On the 10th day of the last 
mentioned month, he commenced tak- 
ing the Montpellier extract, and began 
the use of the vegetable injection, which 
he had not used a week till he found him- 
self quite a different man; the irritation 
about the bladder abated, and the ulcer 
discharged a milder matter, the night 
sweats, which he was subject to, entirely 
left him, and his rest became much 
more composed; in a word, on the 
29th of November following, he did me 
the favour to inform me by letter, that 
he found himself restored to perfect health, 
being entirely freed from all those 
alarming and dangerous symptoms; and 
he is so obliging as to permit me to 
give a reference to any gentleman that 
may require it. 
CASE


(99)
CASE XXVII.
London, September, 1785. 
J. B. W. Esq. of Woolwich, a young 
gentleman about twenty-three years of age, 
had been afflicted with the tabes dorsales, 
or a seminal weakness, for near three years; 
it had reduced him to a very weak state, 
and had brought on various other disa- 
greeable symptoms in consequence. 
On the 10th of September he applied to 
me, though with little expectations on his 
part of a cure; having been already under 
the care of some of the profession, eminent 
for their abilities. The remedy which I 
ordered him, agreed with him so well that 
in the space of a fortnight he was happy 
to inform me that he had found great be- 
nefit. He attended me regularly in town, 
every two or three days after the first week, 
during which he remained in my neigh- 
bourhood.
O2 I shall

(100)
I shall not take up any more of my rea- 
der’s time in this case, but briefly inform 
him, that by the 28th of November he 
was restored to perfect health, acquiring 
his natural complexion, and had got in- 
to flesh, which before was sallow and 
emaciated. l am permitted to give a re- 
ference whenever called upon by a gen- 
tleman. 
APPENDIX.

APPENDIX. 
PARTICULAR Directions for taking 
the Montpellier Extract will be gi- 
ven along with it, but it will also be ne- 
cessary for the patient to observe the foL 
lowing general rules. The Extract usually 
keeps the body gently open, procuring two 
motions each day, but this effect will vary 
according to the state of the bowels, and 
strength of the patient’s constitution, there- 
fore in very costive habits, it may be ne- 
cessary occasionally to increase the quan- 
tity. 
It being soft, balmy and restorative, it 
agrees with every stomach, and requires 
no


(102)
no confinement; the patient may use mo- 
derate exercise, and go abroad in his usual 
manner, but ought to attend to the fol- 
lowing regimen. He should avoid acids, 
and things salt or high seasoned; fat meats, 
hogs flesh, and four vegetables are at this 
time prejudicial; dry food, white meats 
roasted, such as veal, rabbits, fowls, &c. 
are preferable. He should abstain from 
the immoderate use of liquors, especially 
those of the spirituous kind; and, at meals, 
drink sparingly of any of the light wines 
diluted with water. 
Such was the method observed in ad- 
ministring this medicine at Paris and 
Montpellier, by the ingenious Monsieur 
Plank and Monsieur Petit, where it suc- 
ceeded in the most deplorable cases of the 
venereal disease, and other chronic dis- 
orders, arising from impure humours or a 
distempered blood, after all other medi- 
cines had proved ineffectual. 
The venereal poison is generally ima- 
gined to be of an acid, corrosive, and fixed
nature,

(103)
nature, but this cannot be affirmed with 
certainty, that these qualities actually re- 
side in it, because we can only judge of 
the nature of this poison by the effects it 
produces. 
I presume it will evidently appear, from 
a general review of the number of authors 
who have written on this disease, that it 
is not attended with those malignant and 
dreadful symptoms, as at its first introduc- 
tion into Europe. This I think may be 
justly attributed to the progress that has 
been made in the knowledge and proper 
method of its cure; by which the activity 
of the virus being generally lessened, the 
disease is not communicated with that de- 
gree of virulence; but notwithstanding its 
symptoms do not make that rapid and fa- 
tal progress, they did a century ago, yet 
they are fully sufficient to curtail life by 
flow but sure degrees. 
The nature of venereal poison being 
such as to communicate acrimony, and 
dispose the blood to a viscid or ropy
state

(104)
state, the cure will be soonest brought 
about by such things as blunt the acri- 
mony, thin the blood, and evacuate the 
offending matter by perspiration, urine, 
and stool. 
The venereal poison is deemed corrosive 
from the strong tendency observed in ve- 
nereal ulcers to spread and eat deeper, 
the blood therefore being altered from 
its found state, by the acrimony of this 
poison, all the fluids separated from it 
will become vitiated and unfit for the 
purposes of life; the solids will not only 
be robbed of their due supply of nou- 
rishment, but also suffer from the sharpness 
of the juices, irritating, and at last co- 
roding the vessels in which they circu- 
late. 
By the saline deterging quality of the 
Montpellier Apozem, it dissolves the 
coagulated lymph, and powerfully opens 
the obstructed glands; whilst by its soft 
balsamic parts, it becomes friendly to the 
constitution, desending the solids, and 
sheathing

(105)
sheathing the acrimony of the sharp juices, 
which fret and irritate their tender fibres. 
This medicine being possessed of all the 
above properties, is directly suited to an- 
swer every intention of cure; being com- 
posed of saline penetrating subtle parts, 
with a soft restorative balsam, readily 
mixing with the animal fluids, and with 
them easily conveyed to every part of the 
body; it occasions no tumult in the blood, 
but goes the whole length of the circu- 
lation, and searching to the extremities of 
the finest strainers, subdues and evacuates 
the venereal poison, or other offending 
humours. In this manner the Montpel- 
lier Apozem purifies the blood, and gra- 
dually changes it from a distempered to a 
found state. Thus it effects a radical cure 
without disordering the patient, or leav- 
ing him in that languid, death-like con- 
dition, which unavoidably follows a 
course of mercurials. This remedy be- 
comes highly restorative, by giving bal- 
sam to the vital fluid, and for the same 
account it will repair injuries done to 
the constitution, by the baneful mineral 
P mercury.

(106)
mercury. I have known many get into 
flesh during its use, who before were 
thin and emaciated, as in Cases fourth 
and tenth. 
I would from long practice and ex- 
perience recommend this medicine, in 
constitutions where the patient is inclin- 
ed to inward decay, for such is a very 
improper subject for to use mercury; 
even after salivation has proved in vain, 
and left the sufferer hectic or consump- 
tive, or any eruptions on the skin, head- 
ach, or wandering pains. 
Those whose strength is impaired by 
the bane of youthful vigour (Self P—) 
will find effectual and permanent relief 
from this remedy, there are many com- 
pounds sold in this Metropolis, commonly 
called restoratives, which are generally 
prepared with Spanish flies, or such 
heating stimulating ingredients, which 
can only produce a temporary effect, 
by stimulating the urinary passage, and 
will consequently leave the afflicted more
debilitated

(107)
debilitated afterwards, by laying an addi- 
tional strength on parts which were much 
too weak before. 
No medicine, properly speaking, can be 
considered truly restorative, but such as 
has a power to soften the sharp thin blood, 
and restore that fine balmy lymph, which 
nourishes the body, and invigorates the 
whole vital flame. 
Imbecility in men, and barrenness in 
women, may be often removed by the 
Montpellier remedy, as I have had occa- 
sion to observe in several instances. This 
prolific effect in the former was probably 
brought about by its rendering the blood 
richer and more balmy, and by which a 
greater quantity of semen was secreted; 
and in the latter by repairing the fe- 
male constitution, and restoring the menses 
to their natural quantity, and regular pe- 
riods, without both which women do not 
usually become pregnant. 
I have


(108)
I have lately had some female patients, 
who from a bad state of the blood, and 
irregularities peculiar to their sex, were 
debilitated and relaxed, (a remarkable in- 
stance of this occurred in the case of Mrs. 
D. of Dean-street, Soho) she had been 
afflicted for years with the fluor albus, 
and she might with propriety be said to 
have remained barren, or being with 
child, constantly miscarried about the 
fourth month. April 20th, being then 
pregnant, and in this languishing condi- 
tion, having long laboured under ill 
health, and was of a delicate frame and 
a valetudinary babit of body. She had at 
this time also a troublesome cough, and 
her spittle was now and then tinged with 
blood: her physician had ordered re- 
peated bleeding, and kept her on low 
diet, indeed she was reduced to the last 
extreme of weakness, and she began to 
take the Apozem with so much relief, 
that her strength, spirits, and appetite 
increased every day, and she was happily 
delivered at her full time of a strong male
child;

(109)
child; this lady has been so kind as 
to allow me the liberty of making a re- 
ference. 
In particular cases of nervous disorders 
arising from a venereal taint, scrophulous 
or scorbutic humours, the use of this me- 
dicine will be found equally salutary, by 
eradicating the seeds of those latent di- 
seases, for so long as they remain in the 
blood, and poison the sanguineous fluid, 
or that vital source from which all the 
parts of the body are supplied with nou- 
rishment, so constant will the nervous 
system remain weak, languid, and in- 
firm. 
Doctor Morton, a very celebrated phy- 
sician, in his Book upon Consumptions, 
and I am of opinion the best that ever 
was written on that subject, distinguishes 
this fatal malady into two kinds, viz. the 
original and the symptomatic consump- 
tions, the first, he says, arises from some 
defect in the natural structure of the bo- 
dy, where medicines can do but little
service;

(110)
service; the last from the effect of other 
distempers, which particular species of 
consumption can only be cured when 
those are taken away. Of this kind are 
the venereal consumption, the scrophu- 
lous consumption, and the scorbutic con- 
sumption, where the blood is tainted 
with the leven of these diseases. Stupor 
and giddiness of the head, confusion of 
ideas, and loss of memory, attended with 
sluggishness, low spirits, and slow fever, 
often proceed from the venereal poison; 
sometimes from an immoderate use of 
mercury, or from a scrophulous or scor- 
butic cause, which all rob the blood of 
its nourishing balsam, and risking the 
danger of a consumption. 
Every species of consumption, arising 
from those causes, this medicine will re- 
lieve or cure when duly administered, 
for being constantly and for a considera- 
ble time admitted into the blood, it will 
by degrees correct its morbid quality, 
and by its active attenuating salt, dissolved 
in a soft balmy liquor, will so dilute and 
lessen

(111)
lessen the cohesion of the animal fluids, 
that the venereal poison, scorbutic or 
scrophulous acrimony, will be readily se- 
perated from the found juices, and washed 
out of the body by the several discharges 
of perspiration, urine, and stool. 
Whoever mistrusts the efficacy of this 
remedy, from its want of that ponder- 
ous quality with which mercury and 
other minerals are endued, will please 
to attend to a very common experiment, 
which will entirely overthrow that ob- 
jection; for instance, the bones of ani- 
mals, which have for some time eaten 
their food with a mixture of madder root, 
do by such means acquire a very florid red 
colour, even in their most solid compact 
parts, this circumstance is mentioned 
particularly by that deservedly great man, 
and first Anatomist of the age, professor 
Monro, of Edinburgh, who speaking of 
the vessels of the bones, relates the fol- 
lowing circumstance: 
“ The

(112)
“ The clearest demonstration of the in-
“ timate distribution of these small arte- 
“ ries, is to observe the effects of such 
“ a tinging substance, as can retain its 
“ colour when swallowed, digested 
“ and mixed with the blood of any liv- 
“ ing animal; and at the same time has 
“ particles small enough to be convey- 
“ ed into the vessels of the bones, such 
“ is Rubia Tinctorum, Madder Root:* 
“ for we see the gradual advances that 
“ this tincture makes from the peri- 
“ osteum into the more internal parts 
“ of the bones; and how universally the 
“ distribution of liquors is made, the 
“ whole bony substance being tinged.” 
From hence it will appear evident that 
all the parts of the body, even the very 
bones, abound with vessels infinitely small, 
which admit of circulation, for human 
bones, as well as those of any other ani- 
mal,
* Philos. Trans. No. 442, Art. 8. No. 443, Art. 
2. No. 457, Art. 4. Memb. de Acad. des Sciences, 
1739. 

(113)
mal would be dyed red in the same man- 
ner, provided madder was to be mixed 
with our food, as they are pervious to 
the subtle particles of medicine, which 
act not at all by their gravity, but ra- 
ther by a specific quality, which with the 
animal fluids is constantly propelled by 
the heart, and by degrees transmitted to 
the affected part, so that let the disease 
be ever so inveterate, and the patient in- 
fected even to the bones, as in Cases 
fourth and twenty-fifth, provided he will 
conform to some rules, and continue the 
Apozem for a sufficient time, he may in 
the end, with certainty, depend upon an 
absolute cure. 
Mercurials, when judiciously given, 
may cure the pox in robust habits, yet 
there are many constitutions which have 
suffered so much, from the long conti- 
nuance of the disease, and improper use 
of this mineral, that they are unable any 
longer to withstand the force of severe
remedies, and would unavoidably sink 
under a salivation, which, with a long 
Q course

(114)
course of abstinence, during the progress 
of it, would bring on such a waste of body, 
as never to be repaired; so that many pa- 
tients, though perhaps cured of the di- 
sease, would languish out their days, and 
and at last die of a consumption. This I 
have often seen with much concern, es- 
pecially in delicate constitutions. 
Almost every person, from his own 
experience, may know the inconvenience 
attending a simple sprain in any part 
of the body, and how long it is before 
the affected part regains its former strength; 
the same cause, though in a less degree, 
will also account for the excessive weak- 
ness that so often follows the immode- 
rate use of mercury; for in both cases the 
nature of the injury is the same, viz.
the application of a greater force to the 
solids than their natural structure can bear; 
only in the first, the effect is instantane- 
ously produced in a particular part, with 
the sense of pain; but in the last is uni- 
versal, brought about by degrees so slow 
and

(115)
and insensible, as not to give such mani- 
fest marks of approaching danger. 
Indigestion and dejection of spirits, are 
likewise disorders more immediately aris- 
ing from relaxation than any other cause; 
as is evident, by the means which relieve 
them; for whatever braces the fibres, and 
increases muscular motion, seldom fails of 
restoring the appetite and spirits. 
It very rarely happens, that a new me- 
thod of cure in any disease gives univer- 
sal satisfaction, for there never are want- 
ing some men of so inviduous a turn of 
mind, that their principal pleasure con- 
sists in decrying the productions of others, 
as if what they strip their neighbours of, 
was to be added to their own characters. 
Old venereal complaints, when combin- 
ed with scorbutic or scrophula, causes a len-
tor in the capillary blood vessels, and as 
this fizy blood is gradually pushed for- 
wards, by the force of the circulation 
into the veins, it there becomes putrid, 
Q2 and


(116)
and impregnates the rest of the mass with 
a malignant quality, which is communi- 
cated both to the internal and external 
parts of the body. 
Confirmed poxes I call all those which 
are accompanied with some sort of poison: 
now of whatever nature this happens to 
be, it not only infects and corrupts the 
blood, but more particularly seizes on the 
subtle nervous liquor, which is called the 
animal spirits; hence it is, that these 
poxes act with greater rapidity and vio- 
lence, and are much more difficult to cure 
than the other sorts. 
But there is one circumstance common 
to all poxes, that Nature endeavours to 
conquer the disease by same struggle or 
other, and by which notice is given that 
the enemy is at hand, as Nature wishes 
always to throw forth from the body 
whatever is prejudicial to life. 
Now, whereas the word Nature is made 
use of by physicians in the cure of all di-
sease,

(117)
seases, I will here, once for all, plainly de- 
clare my sentiments of what we ought to 
understand by that word. That there is 
something within us that perceives, 
thinks, and reasons, is manifest beyond 
contradiction; and yet the nature of that 
something cannot be fully and perfectly 
comprehended in this life. Wherefore I 
shall resign the disquisition of this point 
to those who while they know too little 
of and care less for things falling under 
their senses, take great pleasure of investi- 
gating those things which human reason 
is incapable of conceiving. However, thus 
far the soundest philosophers agree con- 
cerning it, that it is somewhat incorpo- 
real. 
For how can sluggish matter, which is 
of itself void of all motion, be the source 
and first cause of thought, the most ex- 
cellent of all motions? Wherefore, it is 
evident sufficiently, that this first mover 
within us is a spirit of some kind or other, 
entirely different and separable from ter- 
restrial

(118)
restrial matter, and yet most intimately 
united with our body. 
To me it seems probable, that this 
active principle is not of the same sort in 
all; that the all-wise Creator has endow- 
ed man with one sort, and brutes with 
another; that the former so far partakes of 
a divine nature, as to be able to exist and 
think after its reparation from the body; 
but that the latter is of such an inferior 
order, as to perish with the body. The 
former was by the ancients called Ani- 
mus, and the latter Anima; * and they 
believed that they were both engendered 
in our species; but this I take to be an 
erroneous position; for as their anima 
suffices for the functions of life in brutes, 
so our animus stands not in need of such 
an assistant. Now this matter, if I am 
not mistaken, stands thus: such is the 
composition of our fabrick, that when any 
thing pernicious has got footing within
the 
* Mundi principio indulsit communis conditor illis 
Tantam animam, nobis animum quoque. 
JUV. SAT. XV. 148. 

(119)
the body, the governing mind gives such 
an impulse to those instruments of moti- 
on, the animal spirits, as to raise those 
commotions in the blood and humours, 
which may relieve the whole frame from 
the danger in which it is involved. In- 
deed those very motions which are com- 
monly called natural and vital, as those 
of the heart, lungs, and intestines, which 
persevere through the whole course of life, 
even when the will cannot be concerned 
in them; as they have their beginning 
from the mind, so they are perpetually 
under its direction. I could easily bring 
many arguments in confirmation of these 
sentiments, but they would be superfluous 
in this place; besides, l am happily anti- 
cipated by the late learned Dr. Porterfield, 
a fellow of the Royal College of Edin- 
burgh, in his curious dissertation on this 
subject. 
From philosophy I return to medicine. 
The sagacious Dr. Sydenham was so far 
of this opinion, as to assert, that a di- 
sease is nothing else but an effort of na- 
ture


(120)
ture to throw off the morbific matter, for 
the health of the patient. * And Hip- 
pocrates, in his usual manner, laconically 
expressed the same thing thus: Nature is 
the curer of diseases. Now this I have 
observed more particularly in pestilential 
diseases, in which the violence of the 
distemper breaks forth on the skin in the 
form of pustules, carbuncles, and buboes, 
all which are the very venom of the di- 
sease, as the common experiment of giv- 
ing the small pox by innoculation plainly 
demonstrates. 
That malignity appears in such various 
forms, according to the different nature 
of the infection, that its characteristic 
signs have given various appellations to 
the lues venerea; it is always a difficult 
task, and sometimes a needless one to in- 
vestigate the true causes of things; but 
as my reader may perhaps expect, that I 
should account for the above mentioned 
differences
* Vid. Observation Medic. circa morborum accer- 
torum Historiam, at the beginning. 

(121)
differences in this disease, I shall say, that 
the principal reasons of those differences 
which have occurred to me upon mature 
consideration, are the almost infinite va- 
riety of temperaments in various indivi- 
duals; for such is the power of tempe- 
raments of body, that they descend to 
those of the same blood, by a sort of he- 
reditary right; whence some diseases are 
found to be samiliar and fatal to certain 
families. 
While the nerves of the animal ma- 
chine continue justly modulated or braced, 
according to the regular standard of Na- 
ture, the mind will perceive itself perfect- 
ly at ease, and free from all manner of pain 
and uneasiness. 
But some perhaps may ask, how shall 
we know when this animal machine is ex- 
actly braced and modulated, agreeable to 
the exact standard of Nature's laws? and 
what are the mechanical powers on which 
that modulation depends? to which I an- 
swer, that the mind perceiving itself per- 
R fectly

(122)
fectly at ease, will be the clearest indica- 
tion, that the several undulating fibres 
are acceding nearest to the balance of 
Nature; for it is impossible that any organ 
of the reasoning instrument can be out 
of tune, but that the mind will perceive 
it, so that upon those grounds we have a 
standard to go by, or a director to inform 
us, whenever this system of matter and 
motion is any way affected, and not only 
so, but this thinking being is capable of 
pointing out the very part it perceives pri- 
marily affected, which still gives us the 
greatest assurance, that a disease subsists in 
the body. 
Indeed the harmony of the human fa- 
bric is so surprizingly contrived, that the 
mind and body shall equally suffer under 
all the various circumstances of life; so 
that if the bodily organs be faint, weary, 
or any ways disconcerted in their springs, 
the mind perceives their affection and is 
affected with the change. Now the ques- 
tion is, whether the means made use of 
for the recovery of the patient labouring 
under

(123)
under any disease, acts upon the body or 
mind? and from ail observations, it most 
certainly appears to act upon the bodily 
organs, for, by raising the contraction of 
the arteries, we at the same time increase 
the circulation of the blood, raise the 
beating of the pulse, the motion of the 
heart, and quicken the secretion of the 
animal fluids, whereby all the senses are 
revived, the faculties and the soul itself 
cleared by their fine, soft, undulating 
motions, that the fibres, thus braced or 
assisted, strike upon the passions. 
Indeed the kind and benificent author 
of our nature has implanted in every 
human individual a principle of reason, 
whereby he might discover the laws of 
Nature, as far as they concern his con- 
duct of life; and as diseases are one of 
the greatest evils he can guard against, so 
is it the business of the physician to dis- 
cover truly and certainly, on what causes 
they are grounded, what matter they 
consist of, the principal organs in which 
they are lodged, and how they may safely 
R2 be

(124)
he eradicated without the least detriment 
to the body; and whatever has hitherto 
been accounted the essential definition of 
a physician, I will venture to speak it in 
one word, that he is best deserving of that 
character, who best knows how to cure 
diseases, and remove the obstructions that 
embarrass and overturn the motions of the 
animal oeconomy. 
It is impossible that he can know abso- 
lutely and properly how to cure a disease 
unless he understands their symptoms, 
causes, the principles on which they de- 
pend; the progress they make, and the al- 
terations and changes they infer upon the 
constitution of animal bodies; and as all 
the alterations, symptoms, and phænome- 
na, have their dependence entirely on the 
changes that happen in those external, ob- 
vious, sensible qualities of heat, cold, dry 
and moisture, are dependent on the mo- 
tions of the solids and fluids, and altera- 
ble from their different degrees of im- 
pulse; so it follows that all diseases 
must necessarily arise from the so- 
lids

(125)
lids and fluids being rendered in their 
motions, above or beneath the balance 
of Nature; so in like manned will the 
different degrees of diseases always 
be attended with different degrees 
of these motions, which will infer dif- 
ferent changes in these external obvious 
sensible qualities, in proportion as the 
motions are increased or remitted; so 
will it follow that the peculiar symp- 
toms indicating the height or severity 
of any disease, will be discoverable from 
the intenseness of their external, obvious,
sensible qualities; hence the contorsions 
that often involuntarily affect the muscles 
of the countenance in divers nervous di- 
seases. When it happens to fall out 
that these external obvious sensible qua- 
lities should retreat inwardly upon the 
habit; even here the pulse will dis- 
cover that retreat, for it is impossible that 
the qualities of heat, cold, &c. can re- 
treat, but that the motion will accom- 
pany them, or that the motions can re- 
treat, unless there be obstructions formed 
inwardly upon the habit: or that ob- 
structions

(126)
structions can be formed upon any of 
the internal organs, but that the beat- 
ing of the heart must be enforced; or 
that the beating of the heart can be 
enforced, without the variation of the 
pulse, because the beating of the pulse 
has an immediate dependence upon the 
artery that goes to the heart; so that 
in this very case, which seems most re- 
mote from an intuitive knowledge, the 
pulse will inform us not only of this 
retreat, but of the degrees of motion 
that attend it. Thus it appears that we 
have the surest grounds to go upon, 
even in the most perplexing cases, and 
even when the external habit changes its 
temperature. 
These external, obvious, visible, or 
sensible qualities of heat, cold, &c. there- 
fore are of the same consequence to a 
physician, that the sea chart or compass 
is to the mariner, and as the latter in- 
forms the sailor of the course he is to 
steer, so the former directs the physi- 
cian to clearest indications, not only to 
discover

(127)
discover the most abstruse causes, but 
also to administer a cure in the most 
stubborn and perplexing diseases. 
And thus we arrive at the highest 
degree of certainty, in judging of the 
internal motions, and their different de- 
grees, from the external, obvious, sen- 
sible qualities; for their qualities always 
depend on the internal motions, and 
are certain indications to what height 
and degree these inward motions ar-
rive.
Human understanding indeed may be 
mistaken in judging of objects, not pro- 
perly applied to their view, or placed in 
an improper medium, or at too great a 
distance; but what every one in health 
feels and sees, he certainly knows to 
be a perception; and if I see and feel the 
habit of the body hot and dry, it is as 
evident a demonstration to me as any 
mathematical problem whatever, that it 
is endued with those properties I call hot 
and dry; and consequently that the inter- 
nal


(128)
nal motions of the solids are forcibly 
impressed on the fluids, the secretions 
of the juices accelerated, and the blood 
greatly divided, which are all properties 
absolutely necessary to make the habit hot 
and dry. 
These changes in the external, sen- 
sible qualities, upon a change in the 
internal motions of animal bodies, there- 
fore, give us an intuitive knowledge of the 
nature, cause, and symptoms of diseases; 
which, as Mr. Locke very well ob- 
serves, is the highest kind of evidence 
our state and condition is capable of; 
and which arises from our perceptions 
themselves; than which we cannot have 
any greater certainty, that things are 
what they are. 
The criterion, therefore, by which we 
judge, when all the motions of the a- 
nimal fibres are regular, that is when 
the body is in a state of perfect health, 
is discoverable from the natural power
of

(129)
of our perception, which depends on the 
natural course of the humours, on the 
natural secretions of the juices, and on 
the natural contractions of the solids; 
for it is impossible that any particu- 
lar secretion can be vitiated, but that 
there will be pain and uneasiness, or 
that there can be pain or uneasiness in 
any organ, but that the mind will 
perceive it. This perception arises from 
the necessary connexion, consent, and 
agreement, that all those fine springs 
and fibres, that compose the animal ma- 
chine, hath with the mind and its fa- 
culties. 
The perception of pain is an idea 
quite different from the perception of 
danger; the former always arises from 
real causes, and is a certain perception 
in the mind, depending on the inter- 
nal symptoms of the bodily organs; but 
the knowledge of danger is to be calcu- 
lated from the circumstances of the 
parts affected, that depend on a chain 
of consequences out of the reach of the 
S patient

(130)
patient to comprehend, so that in all 
cases of diseases we ought to distinguish 
Between the perceptions and the know- 
ledge that accompany those perceptions. 
The perceptions are always real appre- 
hensions, from an intuitive view that 
the mind has of the degrees of pain 
and uneasiness that at any time affect it, 
through an irregular impression of the 
corporeal organs; he, therefore, may cer- 
tainly perceive his pains and uneasi- 
nesses to be what they are, without 
perceiving the danger that attends those 
impressions, and which has nothing to 
do with those degrees of perception. In 
a word, every perception of pain is a 
certain indication that the body is af- 
fected; but every consequence drawn 
from the degrees of that perception, is 
no certain indication of danger, but 
must be judged of from the visible cir- 
cumstances of the parts affected, and 
from the known phaenomena incident 
to affect the several parts under this 
disease. 
I am

(131)
I am not at all surprized at the fre- 
quent complaints we hear abroad, of 
many people losing their sight and hear- 
ting, when some gentlemen are so ready 
to resolve the defects of those noble or- 
gans into whim and fancy, by which 
means their disorders are suffered to gain 
ground, and affect the patient with an ir- 
recoverable blindness and deafness. 
These motes which now and then af- 
fect the eyes of some people, are no- 
thing less than corpuscles of the fluids 
attracting each other, which, as they pass 
before the retina, darken the atmo- 
sphere in certain points; which points 
appear to the patient as if they were 
real motes. 
The cause of these phænomena arises 
from the crystaline humour being too 
grossly secreted, which demands the im- 
mediate application of some proper re- 
medy, that may divide, attenuate, and 
resolve the obstructions of those fibres 
that secrete this humour; and for this 
S2 purpose

(132)
purpose the Montpellier diet drink is a 
sovereign remedy. 
I have known some gentlemen in treat- 
ing their patients, labouring under pains 
of the back, limbs, and sides, and va- 
rious other symptoms, expressed by the 
sufferers; I say, when their physicians per- 
ceived the disease untractable, and not 
easily yielding to the force of medicines;
are very ready to charge it upon spleen and 
vapours, or what is generally termed 
hypochondriac, or, according to their ac- 
ceptation of these words, whim and 
fancy; and having been rallied out of 
a real disease by an ignorant pretender, 
fell a sacrifice in consequence, changing 
one world for another, a change that very 
few of us are willing to make, so long 
as we can conveniently reside in this. 
From the foregoing arguments and 
reasonings upon this subject, it clearly 
appears, that to be in health, and perceive 
it is the same thing; and that it is im- 
possible that any man can be in health 
and


(133)
and not perceive it, and that there is a 
necessary inseparable connexion between 
the existence of health, and the per- 
ception of that existence; from which 
whoever deviates, has a demonstration as 
evident as the nature of the thing will 
admit, that his constitution is starting 
from its natural standard. 
Indeed I shall not deny, as I have 
already observed, but that the mind 
may sometimes be mistaken, in judg- 
ing of the degrees as well as danger of 
a disease; but still the cause of that 
wrong judgment must arise from some 
disaffection in the glands of the brain, 
the immediate instrument of regular 
thinking; still there must be some real 
disorder in the bodily organs, some real 
foundation for complaint, still the springs, 
wheels, and pullies of the constitution, 
must by some means or other be dis- 
concerted, or else the mind can never 
receive the impression of a disease. 
FINIS.