Richard Blackmore

“ I have now done with accounting for the several Species of Small-Pox, but I must yet add one Sort, according to the Opinion of some, which is indeed very wonderful; and that is a Kind, which is not accompanied by any Spots, Pustules, or Eruptions whatsoever; when the wise Doctor tells the good People that it is the Small-Pox within, and would have appeared outwardly, if Nature had been strong enough to have thrown out the Matter; but she being defective and unequal to the Task, the Small-Pox without appearing destroys the Patient in a very clandestine Manner. ”

“ And is it not equally absurd to publish the Works of Hippocrates, who neither knew the Use of the Pulse, though as necessary in Physick as the Compass in Navigation, nor the Circulation of the Blood, nor the Benefits of Chymistry, for the Advancement of the Art of curing Diseases, and the Direction of Physicians at this Time, who are Masters of all this Knowledge, and a great deal more, of which the Greek Author was destitute? ”

“ And as the Knowledge of experimental Philosophy is greatly to be prefer’d to that of the Student, who deals in empty Speculations and scholastick Chimeras; so are the Acquisitions and Endowments of the experimental Physician, who has formed his Method of Practice upon sufficient Experience and Observations on the Nature, Progress, and various Symptoms of Diseases, as well as on the Operations and Force of Medicines, far more valuable than the abstruse and unsupported Notions of one, who owes all his Endowments to an active Imagination, and the contemplative Labour of the Closet. ”

“ But it must be acknowledged that a great Number of Persons, that are designed for this useful Profession, for want of native Genius, Judgment, and Penetration, are uncapable of making just Observations, or drawing right and beneficial Conclusions from them. Their Heads, such is their Unhappiness, are so thick and hairy, so heavy and slow is their Apprehension, and so incorrigible their Stupidity, that they are perpetually puzzled and cannot but with great Difficulty and Pains make any Thing out. ”

“ Let this be granted, tho' it might puzzle a considerable Philosopher to account for such an Effect, and tell the World how this can be done, that is, how the Inoculated Matter of a mild and gentle Nature should be endowed with so much Sagacity and Choice, as to stir up and assemble only friendly and gentle Particles like its own, having first disengaged them from their Union with others of a noxious Nature; I demand what is become of those malignant Parts, which would have made a terrible Disease, had they not been disengaged and divided from the others of a mild Disposition? ”

“ And lest I my self should be here mistaken by my Readers, and looked upon as a Writer of Raillery and Satyr upon Learning, I crave leave to explain my self as before, by saying, that I do by no means depreciate, or expose any Kind of useful Learning in any Art or Science whatsoever, but much esteem and honour the Masters of it. ”

“ And now the noxious Matter being subdued and entirely expelled from the Blood, Nature, as said, is more at ease, and seems to revive and triumph, as conscious of its own superiour Strength, and the Weakness of its Enemy, which clearly presages a happy Event. ”

“ It is to their great Honour that they were the first Inventers of the healing Art, or at least the first that made any considerable Improvement in it, and in this they deserved well of Mankind and excelled their Predecessors, as much as they fall short of those, who succeeded them. It was owing to their own good Sense and Diligence, that they knew so much, and to the Age they lived in, that they knew no more ”

“ It is very observable, that all the prevalent Medicines that serve the greatest Part of the Purposes of the Profession, namely, Steel, Mercury, Opium, and the Peruvian Bark, are more efficacious and successful, when they have not undergone any chymical Operation, but are used as Nature formed them: And as to Cordial Waters, Tinctures, and Spirits, they signify little for the Cure of Diseases, as all experienced and judicious Physicians must know, and the Art of making them is soon learned and without Difficulty. ”

“ When the enormous Pain in the Back happens at the beginning, it always presages a mortal or very doubtful Event; for the dangerous Nature of the Small-Pox may be foreseen by the Violence of the Symptoms. By this Account of the first Assault of the Small-Pox, before any Eruption appears upon the Skin, it is evident, that the animal Spirits bear the first Onset, and receive the first Impression of the Enemy’s Force; which is still more manifest, by observing that Lightness of Head, or Suspension of Reason and Reflection, often goes before the breaking out of the Distemper in Spots. ”

“ I believe the Remark is just; for a great deal of reading and crude and undigested Notions huddled together without Coherence, not only fit very awkwardly about a sleepy and spiritless Scholar, but they overwhelm and confound him to that Degree, that he is unable to Use them to any beneficial Purpose: On the contrary, for want of Skill and Prudence, he is very likely to do great Harm and Mischief; for Medicines are Weapons, that cannot be trifled with less Danger in the Hands of a Fool, than a Madman. ”

“ And it is to be observed, that in the worst Kind of Small-Pox, as in the Plague and high malignant Fevers, the Patients feel little Pain or Sickness, and are insensible of their Danger, and wonder when they are told they have so short a time to live; which is the Case of those that die of Gangreens or Mortifications in the solid Parts, either external or internal; for when the Mortification begins, the Pain ceases, and the Patient is actually dying, when on a Sudden he is at Ease, and looks upon himself as in a better Way of Recovery. ”

“ And all Progress and Improvement must have been denied to all useful Learning, and the succeeding Ages must have sat down satisfied with knowing no more than the dry and jejune Schemes of antient Greece, had not some of a more inquisitive Genius, and better Judgment in these later Times, plainly seen that the eldest Philosophers began at the wrong End in searching after Science; that they formed precarious and extravagant Systems, and built Castles of Philosophy in the Air, which had no Pillars, that is, no Observations and Tryals able to support them. ”

“ For what can be expected but crude and unprofitable Conceptions, from Gentlemen, that imagine they have acquired great Attainments in the Art of Curing, and are accomplished Physicians, before they have had the Advantages of Experience and Observation? They may as well imagine they can learn to swim in their Parlours without going into the Water, as to become useful and able Physicians, without being verst in Business, and seeing the various Operations of various Medicines. ”

“ Every one should be discouraged from such Researches and long Labour in the Fire, by the Example of that valuable and excellent Person, the Honourable Mr. Boyle, a curious and indefatigable Searcher into Nature, who by all his chymical Toyl and Lucubrations, has for the Service of Physick and Cure of Diseases produced only a little Collection of Remedies and Receipts sold for twelve Pence, but too dear. ”

“ A native Genius and Capacity accompanied with a competent Degree of Learning, must conspire to make an accomplished Physician, but if these are separated, the first improved by Experience is far preferable to the last: A Man by Nature dull and unanimated, let his Head be ever so much stuffed and crowded with old Authors, scholastick Ideas, and Common-Place Collections, will never acquire any tolerable Qualifications for the Profession of Physick. ”

“ But I do not look upon it as reasonable, to administer a Vomit either before such short Breathing happens, merely for preventing what may never come to pass, nor to promote the swelling of the Face, till it be seen that Nature is defective in its Duty, and being unable to perform her Task requires the Help of Medicines. It will be Time enough for the Physician to advance with his Auxiliary Remedies when Nature is actually wanting to her self, and is pushed too hard by the Enemy, and not to fall on rashly before file has given the Word and demands Assistance. ”

“ Nature her self often works out her own Deliverance when guided and led, and not driven: She will turn, and wind, and shift in many surprising Ways to save Life, and escape the Enemy. At first she drives to free her self from the putrid Matter of the Disease, by excluding and lodging it in the Skin; and when this does not prove a sufficient Separation, but still many corrupt or mortified Parts remain in the Blood, to supply the Defeat of the first Expulsion, she opens the Sluices of the Mouth, and lets through a Torrent of Serum by Salivation ”

“ Bacchus and Ceres had their Priests and Temples, one for his being the first Planter of the Vine, and the other for finding out the Way of sowing Bread-corn; and yet if any Man could give us an Account of the first raw Attempts and imperfect Practice in these Arts, he might indeed gratify the curious Lover of unprofitable Philology, but never oblige the present Age by any useful Knowledge. ”

“ Is it any Wonder that one that reads that Greek Author should be mistaken, and think that he had found out in him, what was never there and so deceive himself and afterwards lead others into the same Error? ”

“ Hence it comes to pass, that the longer it is before Men have this Distemper, the more dangerous it proves; and this likewise is the Reason why the Confluent Kind is so rife among those who inflame their Blood with excess of Wine and strong Liquors, and fare deliciously every Day: These luxurious Persons, that live high, and use little Exercise to purify and free the Blood, are full of noxious Impurities, which combined with the Seeds of the Small-Pox, raise them to a malignant and pernicious Nature. ”

“ Many more Instances might be insisted on, as the Art of making Clocks, and that of comick and tragick Poetry in their first Rise, to shew the Vanity and Unreasonableness of propounding the Examples of the Antients, when Arts and Inventions were green and scarcely begun, for the Service and Imitation of others many Ages afterwards, when those Arts and Inventions are brought to a great Degree of Perfection. ”