Part 13
and it was a great part of their Industry and Sagacity to make good what they wanted in Pharmacy by other Means. As for the other more common Exercises, that were daily practis’d, as it is very manifest from _Celsus_, _Cælius Aurelianus_, _Theodorus Priscianus_, and the rest of the _Latin_ Physicians. And we don’t want Instances of the Cures wrought by these means. _Suetonius_ tells us, that _Germanicus_ was Cur’d of a _Crurum Gracilitas_, as he expresses it, I suppose he means an _Atrophy_, by Riding; and _Plutarch_ in the Life of _Tully_ gives us an account of his Infirmness, and that he recovered a great Measure of Health by Travelling, and excessive Diligence in Rubbing and _Chafing_ his Body; and he himself in his _Brutus, seu de claris Oratioribus_, relates his Case, That he was so weak, that his Friends and Physicians advis’d him to leave off Pleading, which struck him so, that he thought he would undergo any Fatigue, rather than lose the Glory of his Profession, and so betook himself to Travelling, which with other regular Courses brought him to his Health again. _Pliny_, _lib. 31. Cap. 6._ tells us _Annæas Gallio_, who had been Consul, was Cured of a Consumption by a Sea Voyage; and _Galen_ gives us such Accounts of the good Effects of particular Exercises, and all People so unanimously apply’d themselves with Patience and Resolution to these Practices, that it cannot be suppos’d, but they must have been able to produce great and good Effects. If any one should ask me how it comes to pass that Riding, which I have substituted as equivalent to any or all the Exercises of the Ancients, in the Case of Sickness, was so little regarded by their Physicians, but other less valuable Exercises insisted on; it may be reply’d, that the Ancients could not recommend Riding to weak People, because of their manner of Riding; they had not the same convenience, as we have; for in those days they rode without Stirrups, which must needs be tiresome to weak Persons. We find by comparing of Medals, that the Stirrup was an Invention of a much later date, than any of the Authors I have quoted, I think by about Seven Hundred Years; so that Riding was only an Exercise for Healthy and strong Men; besides Horses were not so common in the _Levant_, or in _Italy_, as they are with us; they were reserv’d for Military Men, or at least for Men of Plentiful Fortunes, and the Ass and the Mule serv’d for common Carriage; the Horse was a formidable Creature to People that were not accustom’d to him, and especially to weak Persons. We see such a Jolly Fellow as _Martial_, could advise his Friend _Priscus_, to have a Care how he hunted, _Lib. 12. Epig. 14._ _Parcius utaris, moneo, rapiente Veredo_ _Prisce, nec in Lepores tam violen ter eas._ And in the Close of the Epigram, _Quid te fræna juvant temararia! Sæpius illis,_ _Prisce, datum est equitem rumpere, quam Leporem._ And that this Humour still remains in those Countries, tho’ we have a better way of Riding, is evident from Dr. _Baglivi_, who tells us in the _Corollaries_ of the _8th_ Chapter of his _first_ Book, _de Fib. Motrice_, That he Cur’d two Hypochondriacal Persons, _Hominem Nobilem ac alium Divitem_, a Gentleman and another rich Man, that he says were desperately Ill, by Riding on Asses in the Country Air; and I believe all will agree to think they were desperately Ill, who could despense with the Ass-trot, when their Circumstances would have afforded them the Carriage of a better Creature. The _Italians_ plainly discover likewise, how little they are addicted to Horsemanship, in that Proverb of theirs which says, _That a Galloping Horse is an open Sepulchre_; and according to this Opinion, they manage their Horse-Races at _Florence_, for they make their Horses run without Riders upon ’em, something after the manner of a Paddock-Course; and to make ’em run the faster, they clap a Saddle upon ’em, cover’d with a Sort of Tinsey Stuff, that may make a fluttering with the Motion of the Horse, and fright him that he may run the faster; and instead of Stirrups, there hangs down Straps from the Saddle, at the end of which, there are Balls full of sharp Spikes, which leap up and down, and prick the Horse as he runs. This ridiculous way of Running their Horses, shews how great is the Prevalence of that habitual Timorousness, which keeps ’em from the Enjoyment of the best and most useful sort of Riding, as the Ancients could distinguish very well, as we find by _Oribasius_, in his Chapter _de Equitatione_, who after he has said, that Riding slowly was tiresome, (which was for want of Stirrups) he goes on to tell you, _Si vehementer impellatur_ (viz. Equus) _quamvis totum corpus laboriosè concutiat, tamen aliquid utilitatis affert, siquidem magis quam omnes aliæ Exercitationes, Corpus et præsertim Stomachum firmat, et sensuum instrumenta purgat, eaque reddit acutiora_. This is a sufficient _Encomium_ of Riding, coming from the Mouth of one of the Ancients, who relied so much upon other Exercises, tho’ we in these Northern Parts want no Recommendation from them, of a thing so much experienc’d by our selves; only we slight and neglect this Advantage, as we do many others, because it is common. I have now with sufficient Brevity, consider’d how much the Ancients depended on the Assistance of Exercises in their Practice; and I leave it to any one, that is not prejudic’d, to judge whether this may not pass for one Reason, why they cur’d so well with so bad a Theory, and such indifferent Materials; when we, with our Circulation and Splendid Pharmacy, are not perhaps able to outdo ’em proportionably to our larger Acquisition of Knowledge; I say, I think this may be one Reason, for I know there is another may be alledg’d likewise, and I think I speak without any undue Aggravation. The Power of Exercises us’d at proper Seasons, and with great and exact Patience, must needs be very great; and if it be true, that in the _Roman_ Common Wealth there was no profess’d Physician for the first Five Hundred Years, there is no way to account for it but by their incredible Temperance, and Variety of Exercises; the few Chronical Distempers they had among ’em, were in all likelyhood, for the most part subsequent to Acute Distempers, which no Temperance can always prevent, and the little vegetable Physick, which they could not but know, with their resolute and indefatigable Application to some of their Exercises, might suffice to help ’em to get clear of ’em. This may perhaps by some be thought rather a Gloss than an Argument, who do no duly consider their wonderful Patience in this respect; the _Pletherismus_, and _Pitylismus_, two odd uncouth Exercises mention’d by _Galen_, are sufficient to convince any Man, that they that would heartily drudge at them in the middle of the _Stadium_, would do any thing that was possible to recover their Health, and might expect the very utmost Benefit that could be obtain’d from the various Motion of the whole, or any part of the Body. I will grant, that they carried these things too far, the whole Education of the _Athletæ_ was blameable; I will grant likewise that they were too Nice in the Exercises for the Preservation of Health; I can’t admire _Pliny_’s Course of Life, which he gives us an Account of in the _Thirty sixth Epistle_ of his _Ninth_ Book. _Ubi hora quarta vel quinta (neque enim certum dimensumq; tempus) ut dies suasit, in Xystum me, vel Cryptoporticum confero, reliqua meditor & dicto, vehiculum ascendo, ibi quoque idem quòd ambulans, aut jacens, durat intensio, mutatione ipsa refecta paulum redormio, deinde ambulo, mox orationem Græcam Latinámve clarè & intentè; non tam vocis causa, quam Stomachi lego, pariter tamen & illa firmatur iterum Ambulo, ungor, exerceor, Lavor_. Nor can I approve of _Spurinnas_ abundant Regularity, as _Pliny_ relates it in his _first_ Epistle of his _third_ Book, he tells us, thus _Spurinna_ manag’d himself, _Ut manè lectulo contineretur, hora secunda indueretur, ambularetque millia passuum tria, mox legeret, vel colloqueretur, deinde consideret, tum vehiculum ascenderet, peractisq; ita septem millibus passuum, iterum ambularet mille, iterum resideret, vel se Cubiculo aut Stylo redderet; ubi hora balnei nunciata foret, (quæ erat byeme nona, æstate octava) in sole, si caruisset vento, ambularet nudus, dein pila moveretur vehementer, & diu; postmodùm lotus accumberet, & paulisper cibum differret_. This is a great deal too much, this is over-doing, Life is not worth such anxious Regularity, a generous Negligence is much more preferable in a State of Health; but if a Man happens to be seiz’d with a Distemper of such a Nature, that Exercise is absolutely necessary to the Removal of it, he would be wanting to himself, and very much to be blam’d, if he should think any Fatigue too great to be undergone for the sake of a Recovery; and I fansie there is scarce any Man in this Case, but would take Pains enough, provided he thought they would not be in Vain, which most People are now apt to suppose, because the World has lost the Sense of the Efficacy of Exercises, since the _Goths_ over-run the Southern Nations of _Europe_, and abolish’d and suppress’d many of their Customs, that they might the easier introduce their own; so that in this respect we are in opposite Extreams, if they prosecuted these Measures too much, we do too little; and I am very sensible how difficult a thing it is, with the best of Arguments, to influence those who are propense to the contrary of what you propose. And we are so habituated to other Methods and other Expectations, have so many Conveniences for Support and Palliation under a Sickness, that most People are supinely content rather to rub on in a Sickly Condition, that does not carry the greatest Danger with it, than resolutely endeavour by vigorous Means to be quite deliver’d from it. And if it be a Distemper that threatens immediate Peril, these Means are presently thought too trivial to have any Weight in the Cure, and People can with more Ease despair of Help, than struggle with Pain in hope of an uncertain Cure; so that in some Cases, it may be very well said of the Wise, the Rich, the Valiant, and the Mighty, as was formerly said of one of King _David_’s Generals; who, because he was kill’d upon a Surprize, (which yet no Humane Precaution can always prevent,) was lamented with that severe _Epicedium, Died ~ABNER~ as a Fool dieth_? THE APPENDIX. I did not design, either when I begun or when I ended this Treatise, to add the following Account of my own Distemper, which gave me the unhappy Occasion of many of these Observations, both because it is no new thing for Nervous Cases to vary extremely in their Anomalous Symptomes, and because the Rise of the Distemper was eminently owing to my own Rashness and Folly; but having since been importun’d by some of my Friends to make it Publick, I have been the more easily prevail’d with so to do, because I conceive there scarce ever was any Instance, either among the Ancients or in our days, which does so palpably illustrate the Power of my Subject. My Distemper was caus’d thus; I happen’d several Years ago to catch a Certain Cutaneous Infection, more troublesome than dangerous, and which I might easily have got rid of, if I had had but so much Prudence or Patience as to have submitted to the Common, tho’ not very agreeable Method of Cure; but I must needs take to a more cleanly, but desperate Course, by making an Application to my Skin of a Substance well charg’d with a dangerous Mineral, and which I us’d to such a Time, and after so extreamly Rash a manner, as I believe never one did before me; I wore it for several Months by times, keeping it on till the Humour disappear’d, and then leaving it off till it broke out again; thus I did till I began to consider that this would not last always, and so I quite laid it aside; but the Mischief was begun, tho’ I was not aware of it; for about a Month after I had left off that Pernicious Practice, I wak’d one Morning with an unusual Giddiness, and in a little time after, I found several Convulsions begin to come upon me, not only slight ones, in the Capillary Arteries of my Eyes and other Parts, but some deeper; as sometimes I should have one of my Hands drawn in, my Fingers brought to the Palm of my Hand involuntarily. When I found things thus, knowing what I had done, I was not a little terrifi’d, as any one may imagine, but by applying to a good Physician, by the Help of Bleeding and other proper Means, the Severity of the Symptomes went off, and I remain’d only with a Giddiness, which was very troublesome, but notwithstanding which, I might be said to be in pretty good Health, as having a good Habit of Body, and being more strong and robust, than many People that are free from such an Inconvenience; and thus I continued for several Years without any great Alteration happening, except that once upon Drinking the Bath-Waters too long, that vertiginous Rotation was so increas’d, that I was laid up for a Month with it, being scarce able to go about without Staggering like a Drunken Man; this, considering the Strength I had notwithstanding, made it reasonable to suspect, as most that I consulted did, that there might be some Mercurial Particles lodg’d in some Excretory Ducts of my Brain, but this Extremity abated, and I remained Healthy under that Giddiness for several Years, till happening once to be more indispos’d than usually, upon the taking of a Chalybeate, the Humour struck deeper into the Nerves of the Pectoral Muscles, so that I found my Shoulders sometimes begin to be contracted involuntarily, and upon walking, I found a Shortness of Breath, which I could plainly discern, was caus’d _ab extra_, that is, by the Preternatural Pressure of those Muscles, upon my Breast, which I have sometimes resisted so far, when it has happen’d to come upon me in the Streets, before I could get to a House that I knew, that it has made my Eyes flash, and brought other Epileptick Symptoms upon me, in so much that I have been forc’d to take into a Shop, and desire leave to rest me for a time. These things continued on me a Year or more, during which time, if I had then known the Prevalency of Riding, I might have prevented a long Scene of Sickness; for declining under these Spasms of my Breast, I was at length quite confin’d to my Home, for near Three Months, all the while growing worse and worse, in Spite of the Power of any Medicines I took; when it happen’d that I was casually directed to the Use of Riding by the great Alteration I found in me, upon being one Day carried out in a Coach about a quarter of a Mile, when I was in that low Condition, that made me reflect on some of Dr. _Sydenham_’s Notions, which, like others, I had before slighted and disregarded, and I determined to try what Riding would do; in Order to which, I remov’d to _Hamstead_ for the Conveniency, where I rode at least twice a Day for the Space of Seven Weeks, without so much as intermitting one day; and I had Encouragement enough to keep close to it; for I found as Manifest a Progress in my Recovery, as ever was discern’d in any thing that is either Natural or Artificial; and I can’t here omit one thing very Remarkable, and which gave me the greatest Assurance of Success, and which shews beyond Contradiction, how peculiar this Exercise is to Cases of the Nerves; after I began to Ride, I found constantly upon the Use of that Exercise, a Tingling in the Ends of my Fingers, which was accompanied with a Sense of a gentle glowing Heat; and as I grew stronger, and persisted in those Means, I perceiv’d this Sensation proceed farther, for then I felt it in the Crown of my Head, and at length in my Tongue, in my Eyes, and at last all over my Body. This I acquainted my Physician with, who thought it a certain Pledge of my Recovery, as being assur’d that it was caus’d by the Spirits Recovering the Passage of the Nerves as in a State of Health, and so it prov’d; for as they pass’d farther and farther in the same manner, the Sense extended it self to my Wast, where I should have, after Riding, a Sense of Tingling and Heat, as strong, as if I had expos’d my Breast to the Sun, or pour’d warm Water upon it; any one may imagine what a Pleasure this must needs be to one in my Circumstances, to find my self as it were, _Renasci_, and all the parts of my Body gradually receive a kind of New Life. By this it is plain, how much I was Relax’d before, and how agreeable to the Nature of the Nerves, that most Excellent Exercise is. This _Phænomenon_ has given me very Serious Reflections, when I have known some, who have stood almost in as much need of the same Measures as my self, tho’ their Indispositions have Rise from different Causes, and in whom in all Likelyhood the same Method of Riding would have produc’d some of the same hopeful Symptoms; I say, it has given me serious and troublesome Reflections; when upon such Occasions,