Richard Mead

“ I am well aware, that all this is related, as if God himself had struck the house with this plague. But it is well known, that that way of speaking is not uncommon in the jewish history; as in unexpected evils and dreadful calamities, which are sometimes said to be done by the hand of God, tho’ they may be produced by natural causes. Nor can I be easily induced to believe, with some divines, that God, who commanded his people to be always free from [26] every sort of uncleanness, would vouchsafe to work a miracle, in order to inflict this most filthy punishment on any person. ”

“ Sleep is the sweet soother of our labours, and the restorer of our exhausted strength. But the loss of appetite, and disgust to our food, generally robs us of this comfort. Hence subjoining this evil of old-age to the foregoing, he says: he shall rise up at the voice of the bird; that is, the old man is awaked at the cock’s first crowing. Wherefore his sleep is short and interrupted, tho’ his weakness would require longer rest.
But he returns to the senses, among which he gives the third place to hearing; for receiving the benefits of which the Creator gave us the use of ears. ”

“ For in the whole catalogue of diseases, which afflict mankind, there is no other, that seems [75] so much to surpass the force of nature, as this, in wretchedly tormenting the patient by fierce distractions of the mind, and excessively strong, tho’ involuntary, motions of the body. But most certainly we find nothing sacred in all this, nothing but what may arise from a natural indisposition of body. And in order to place this my opinion in the stronger light, it may not be improper to give a short discourse on madness ”

“ Wherefore all madness is a disease of an injured imagination, which derives its origin from the mind, having been too long a time fixed on [76] any one object. Hence proceed uneasiness and anxieties of mind concerning the event. And by how much the things, whose images incessantly occur to the imagination, are of greater moment in life, the more violently they disturb the person; examples of which we see particularly in love and religion, wherein hope, fear, despair, and other contrary passions, succeeding each other by turns, drag the person different ways. ”

“ The surface of the body has a number of spots and tumors on it; and their redness is by degrees changed into a dusky or blackish colour. The surface of the skin is unequally thick and thin, hard and soft; and is scaley and rough: the body is emaciated; the mouth, legs and feet swell. When the disease is inveterate, the nails on the fingers and toes are hidden by the swelling. [56] And the accounts left us by the Arabian physicians, agree with these descriptions. Avicenna, the chief of them, says that the Leprosy is a sort of universal cancer of the whole body. ”

“ Why then do we admire, if we can hardly unlearn, and clear our minds of, some false notions, even when we are advancing to old age? Nor will this be deemed indeed a matter of little importance by him, who considers the serious evils, into which mankind are often led, [xiii] by things that to some may appear trifling, as being nothing more than bugbears of children and women. ”

“ One kind of contagion [14] is more subtile than another; for there is a sort, which is taken into the body by the very breath; such as I have elsewhere said to exist in the plague, small pox, and other malignant fevers. But there is another sort, which infects by contact alone; either internal, as the venom of the venereal disease; or external, as that of the itch, which is conveyed into the body by rubbing against cloaths, whether woollen or linnen. Wherefore the leprosy, which is a species of the itch, may pass into a sound man in this last manner ”

“ Whereas [83] then, as Cicero very justly observes, there is no nation so savage, no man so rude, as not to have some notion of the gods; [108] it is no wonder, that men conscious of wicked deeds, should be struck with the fear of God, whose empire over all created things they acknowledged. For, as they attributed every good thing, every benefit of this life, to the gods; so they were of opinion, that evils and calamities were sent down by them in punishment of crimes. ”

“ For as old folks are unsure of foot, even in a plain smooth way, by reason of the weakness of their limbs; so when they come to a rugged uneven road, thro’ the dulness of this sense, they do not soon enough perceive the depressions or elevations of the ground whereby they run the hazard of stumbling and hurting their feet. Therefore they are not unjustly represented as being afraid.
The only one that remains of the senses is that of smelling, the diminution [49] of which in old men, he describes with equal elegance and brevity in this manner: the almond tree shall flower. ”

“ But we know, that those things, which God executes either thro’ clemency or vengeance, are frequently performed by the assistance of natural causes. Thus having threatened Hezekiah with death, and being afterwards moved by his prayers, he restored him to life, and made use of figs laid on the tumor, as a medicine for his [89] disease. He ordered king Herod, upon account of his pride, to be devoured by worms [90] . And no body doubts but that the plague, which is generally attributed to the divine wrath, most commonly owes its origin to corrupted air. ”

“ But when the disease is accompanied by a fever, nothing is more proper than nitre, given in as large quantities as the stomach will bear. Lastly, the patient is to be kept to a slender diet, and compelled to use exercise. But in all evacuations, a certain degree of moderation ought to be used, lest the madness be changed into a contrary disease, which the ancients termed morbus cardaicus, [126] that is, an excessive weakness of body. In which case, the patient is so far exhausted, that medicines are of no avail; but the miserable dejected man drags the remains of life, alass! ”

“ But in the remaining part of the discourse we are admonished, that their miseries in this life are not confined within these bounds, but that sometimes there is still an accession of others.
For loss of strength in old age does not terminate at the limbs, or extremities of the body; the spine of the back also loses considerably of its firmness, by the daily diminution of power in its muscles and ligaments: hence an old man can seldom stand upright, but stoops his body towards the earth, which is shortly to cover it. ”

“ Lastly it is to be observed, that the patient is either frantic or melancholic, according as his habit of body is disposed to receive this or that injury.
But that the casting out of devils, is nothing more than the removal of madness, many do not believe, upon this account, that those things which [79] happen to persons thus affected, seem to them impossible to be done by the force of nature. But certainly these gentlemen are too much strangers to physic, and have not sufficiently attended to phœnomena no less surprizing, which daily occur in other diseases. ”

“ Nor is their case different, in my opinion, who persuade themselves that they see ghosts and hobgoblins. For deliriums are a kind of dreams of people awake; and the mind in both cases affects the body differently, according to the nature of its objects.
From what we have said, it manifestly appears, how many different ways the lessons of imagination, when they are confirm’d by long habit, are capable of affecting a man, and entirely ruining his whole frame. But every body knows, that the human mind is disturbed by nothing more than by fear ”

“ Nevertheless those who contend for a miracle in this place, say that there are no baths known, which can cure all distempers; nor any that retain their virtue but one single month in the year: they likewise add, that it was the action of the angel troubling this water, that gave it its sanative qualities. Those who are of a different sentiment, enumerate a number of waters, which become salutary at certain times of the year, by being then charged with metallic salts; the mud of which being brought up from the bottom, has been serviceable in many diseases. ”

“ Moreover, every body knows how wonderfully the mind is disturbed in melancholies. One of them thinks his head is made of glass, and is afraid of stirring abroad, for fear of having it broken: another believes himself to be actually dead, and refuses food, because the dead ought not to eat. ”

“ Now with regard to the infection of the cloaths, it has been found by most certain experiments, not only in the plague, and some other malignant eruptive fevers, as the small pox and measles, but even in the common itch; that the infection, once received into all sorts of furs or skins, woollen, linnen, and silk, remains a long time in them, and thence passes into human bodies. Wherefore it is easy to conceive, that the leprous miasmata might pass from such materials into the bodies of those, who either wore or handled them, and, like seeds sown, produce [22] the disease peculiar to them. ”

“ But there is the less necessity for torments and stripes, because all mad men are of such a cowardly disposition; that even the most frantic and mischievous, after being once or twice tied, surrender at discretion, and thence forward refrain from committing any outrage, thro’ fear of the punishment.
As to the medical part, the gross humors of the body are to be thinned, and the disorderly motion of the animal spirits is to be calmed. For which end blood-lettings, emetics, cathartics, blisters, and setons, also sometimes coolings of the head are to be employed. ”

“ Now as to the disease, it is plain that it was cuticular, and as it is certain that the bodies of the Hebrews were very liable to foul ulcers of the skin from time immemorial; upon which account it is, that learned men are of opinion that they were forbid the eating of swine’s flesh (which, as it affords a gross nourishment, and not easily perspirable, is very improper food in such constitutions) wherefore by how much hotter the countries were which they inhabited, such as are the desarts of Arabia, the more severely these disorders raged. ”

“ Certainly all the wonderful things done by him for the good of mankind, such as restoring sight to the blind, firmness and flexibility to relaxed or contracted nerves, calling the dead to life, changing the properties of the elements, and others of the same kind, are testimonies of the omnipotence of the creator of the world, and demonstrate the [x] presence of God; who alone commands all nature, and at his pleasure changes and inverts the order of things established by himself. ”

“ The disease of Judas. In the number of diseases, I rank the death of Judas, the wicked betrayer of Christ; of which I shall treat the more willingly, because very learned interpreters of the holy scriptures have run into different opinions concerning it. And about fifty years ago, two famous professors of history in the university of Leyden, Jacobus Gronovius and Jacobus Perizonius, handled this controversy in print with too much passion. For polite literature does not always polish its admirers. ”

“ Pimples arose in the skin; the hair was turned white; the plague (or sore) in sight was deeper than the skin, when the disease had been of long standing; a white tumour appeared in the skin, in which there was quick flesh; the foul eruptions gained ground daily, and at length covered the whole surface of the body. And the evil is said to infect, not only the human body, but also the cloaths and garments, nay (what may seem strange) utensils made of skins or furs, and even the [13] very walls of the houses. ”

“ Who would believe that any man in his right senses could boast, as a [xiv] matter of merit, that he had capitally condemned about nine hundred persons for witchcraft, in the space of fifteen years, in the sole dutchy of Lorraine? [31] And yet from many histories, which he relates of those who suffered, it manifestly appears, that every individual of these criminals, had no compacts with devils, as they themselves imagined, but were really mad, so as openly to confess that they had done such feats as are impossible in the nature of things. ”

“ For it is well known, that the surface of the body, let it appear ever so soft and smooth, is not only full of pores, but also of little furrows, and therefore is a proper nest for receiving and cherishing the minute, but very active, particles exhaling from infected bodies. ”

“ And first of all, particular care should be taken, to keep the patient’s mind employed in thoughts directly contrary to those, which possessed it before: for one set [90] of ideas gives place to another, and by effecting this change, the mind is brought out of the state in which it was: a circumstance, to which the generality of physicians do not give sufficient attention. When this can be brought about, the disease is sometimes speedily cured. But when either the long standing of the distemper, or some other cause, renders this total change impracticable ”

“ Who could with the same propriety take upon himself to be an instructor and legislator in the medical world, as he who had been taught to distinguish truth from falsehood, in the course of so extended an experience, protracted now to almost threescore years? ”

“ And as to devils, we have treated of them sufficiently. But with relation to the moon, there is not the least reason to doubt, but that the regular returns of the paroxysms at certain times of the month, gave occasion to men to believe, that this disease was lunar. For that planet has such a real influence on this disease, that it frequently happens to some patients, never to be seized with the fit but about the new and full moon; which seems to join its energy to those causes, that are adapted to produce this evil. ”

“ If it be remembered, that our author was, when he began to practise, no more than twenty-three years old, that only three years, including the time taken up in his travels, were appropriated to his medical attainments, it may be, not unreasonably, admitted, that nothing but very uncommon talents, join’d to an extraordinary assiduity, could have enabled him to distinguish himself, at this early a period of life, in so extensive, and so important a science. ”