1. The College of Physicians may now be said to possess one of the most complete collections of Materia Medica in Europe. That collected by Dr. Burgess, and presented to the College after his death by Mr. Brande, to whom it was bequeathed, has lately been collated with the cabinet of Dr. Coombe, purchased for that purpose. Its arrangement has been directed by a feeling of convenience for reference, rather than by any theoretical views relative to the natural, chemical, and medicinal histories of its constituent parts. Under proper regulations, it is accessible to the studious and respectable members of the profession.
2. A late foreign writer impressed with this sentiment has given the following flattering definition of our profession. ‘Physic is the art of amusing the patient, while Nature cures the disease.’ This is a sarcasm which can only be equalled by the churlish and ill-humoured apostrophe of our own Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, in speaking of the profession of physic, exclaims ‘It is a melancholy attendance on misery; a mean submission to peevishness; and a continual interruption of pleasure.’
3. Observation, says professor Leslie, is the close inspection and attentive examination of those phenomena which arise in the course of Nature; Experiment, as the term implies, consists in a kind of trial, or artificial selection and combination of circumstances, for the purpose of searching after the remote results.
4. The refractive power of an inflammable body bears also a proportion to its perfection, whence it may be sometimes used as a test of its purity; thus Dr. Wollaston found that genuine Oil of Cloves had a refractive power of 1.535, while that of an inferior quality did not exceed 1.498.
5. Elizabeth Woodcock, who was buried in the snow for the space of eight days, in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and whom I frequently visited, died in consequence of the stimulants which she could not resist, and which in her peculiar state of excitement she was unable to bear. In the first volume of the Memoirs of the Philosophical Society of Manchester, a case of a Miner is recorded, who after remaining for eight days without food, was killed by being placed in a warm bed, and fed with chicken-broth.
6. For this purpose it appears that the toad was baked alive. The following is the receipt in Colborne’s Dispensatory; ‘Bufo Præparatus.’ “Put the toads alive into an earthen pot, and dry them in an oven moderately heated, till they become fit to be powdered.”!
7. The application of the reeking entrails of a recently slain animal, appears to have been one of the earliest methods adopted for the relief of pain.
8. The words ‘Incantation,’ and ‘Charm,’ appear to have been derived from the ancient practice of curing diseases by Poetry and Music. (Carmen) Thus Cœlius Aurelianus, decantare loca Dolentia. Democritus says that many diseases are capable of being cured by the sound of a flute, when properly played. Marianus Capellus assures us, that fevers may be cured by appropriate songs; Asclepiades actually employed the trumpet, for the relief of Sciatica, and tells us that it is to be continued until the fibres of the part begin to palpitate, when the pain will vanish.
9. similar superstition is still practised by the Indians. There is a species of green jasper found in many parts of America, particularly in New Spain, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Piedra de la Hyada, and is used for curing the Cholic by being applied to the navel.
10. Lib. viii. c. 2. 5.
11. From this Art of Solomon, exhibited through the medium of a ring, or seal, we have the eastern stories which celebrate the Seal of Solomon, and record the potency of its sway over the various orders of Demons, or of Genii, who are supposed to be the invisible tormentors or benefactors of the human race.
12. Let the tradition respecting the discovery of the virtues of the bark serve as an illustration. We are told, that an Indian being ill of a fever, quenched his thirst at a pool of water, strongly impregnated with the bark from some trees having accidentally fallen into it, and that he was in consequence cured.
13. As these persons were ambitious to pass for the descendants of Esculapius, they assumed the name of The Asclepiades. The writings of Pausanius, Philostratus, and Plutarch, abound with the artifices of those early physicians. Aristophanes describes in a truly comic manner the craft and pious avarice of these godly men, and mentions the dexterity and promptitude with which they collected, and put into their bags, the offerings on the altar. The patients, during this period, reposed on the skins of sacrificed rams, in order that they might procure celestial visions. As soon as they were believed to be asleep, a priest, clothed in the dress of Esculapius, imitating his manners, and accompanied by the daughters of the god, that is, by young actresses, thoroughly instructed in their parts, entered, and delivered a medical opinion.
14. Odyss Δ.
15. Hence, the Tincture of Opium has been called Thebaic Tincture.
16. The Laurel was sacred to Apollo, with plantations of which his temples were surrounded. Lucan informs us (Pharsal. lib. v.) that the speedy death of the priestess was often occasioned by the ceremony.
17. Allusions to this plant frequently occur in the medical writings of antiquity; we are told that Galen, in the decline of life, suffered much from morbid vigilance, until he had recourse to eating a lettuce every evening, which cured him.
18. Iliad Δ.
19. The Plague of London was supposed to have arisen from such a cause, as we learn from the writers of that period. I shall quote a passage from a pamphlet by W. Kemp, M. A. dedicated to Charles the Second. ‘One cause of breeding the pestilence is that corruption of the air, which is occasioned by the influence of the Stars, by the aspects, conjunctions, and oppositions of the Planets, by the eclipses of the Sun and Moon, and by the consequences of Comets.’ ‘Astra regunt homines, sed regit astra Deus.’ Hippocrates advises his son Thessalus to study numbers and geometry, (‘Epist. ad Thessalum.’) because, says he, the rising and setting of the Stars have a great effect upon Distempers. Citois, the historian of the celebrated Colic of Poitou (Colica Pictonum), which raged with such epidemic fury in that province during the Sixteenth century, drops a hint, apparently with a view to account for the origin of the disease, viz. that to the great astonishment of Astrologers, ‘a new Star had, in the same year made its appearance in the constellation of Cassiopeia’.—(Diatriba de novo et populari, apud Pictones, dolore colico bilioso.)
20. The precious stones were, at first, only used as Amulets, or external charms, but like many other articles of the Materia Medica, they passed, by a mistake in the mode of their application, from the outside to the inside of the body, and they were accordingly powdered and administered as specifics. An analogous case of the perverted administration of a popular remedy is afforded in the history of the Tench; which Sennertus describes as a remedy capable of curing the Jaundice, which he allows is effected ‘by secret attraction, and the power of Amulets.’ In the course of time, it became a reputed food in the cure of that disease, and Tench broth was prescribed upon all such occasions.
21. Mystery is the very soul of Empiricism; withdraw the veil, and the confidence of the patient instantly languishes; thus Pliny, ‘Minus credunt quæ ad suam salutem pertinent, si intelligunt.’
22. It was this historian who said, that Medicine was invented by Apollo, improved by Esculapius, and brought to perfection by the physician of Cos.
23. Paracelsus exclaims, ‘Stellas terrenes esse Plantas, quæ celestes plantas, i. e. Stellas, respiciant, ita ut quævis planta suam habeat stellam specificam.’
The Druids of Gaul and Britain, who were both priests and physicians, gathered and cut the Missletoe with a golden knife, only when the Moon was six days old, and being afterwards consecrated by certain forms, it was considered as an antidote to poisons, and a preventive of sterility. Plinii. Lib. xvi, c. 44.
The Vervain, (Verbena Officinalis,) after libations of honey, was to be gathered at the rising of the dog-star, when neither sun nor moon shone, with the left hand only; when thus prepared, it was said to vanquish fevers, and other distempers, was an antidote to the bite of serpents, and a charm to conciliate friendship. Plin. Lib. xxv. c. 9. I shall however hereafter shew that the medicinal reputation of this herb derived its origin from a source more ancient even than that of Druidism. Magnenus (Exercitat. de Tabaco,) has given us the following precept,—‘Tabacum seratur luna crescente, colligatur autem decrescente luna.’
24. In later times these heathen symbols were dropped, and others were adopted to propitiate the favour and assistance of heaven; for this purpose the Alchemists stamped the figure of the cross upon the vessel in which they were to obtain their long sought for prize; a superstitious practice, from which the term crucible derived its origin. I am well aware that another explanation has been given, and that the word has been derived from Crucio, since in the language of the Alchemists, the crucible was the vessel in which the metals were tortured to force them to assume the form of gold.
25. Mr. Boyle was pre-eminently credulous with respect to specifics, and contributed very greatly to the encouragement and diffusion of empiricism, by publishing many prescriptions as affording infallible remedies, which were communicated to him by a variety of persons, who either from ignorance or design vouched for their efficacy.
26. The Soothsayers attributed many mystic properties to the Coral, and it was believed to be capable of giving protection against the influence of ‘Evil Eyes;’ it was even supposed that Coral would drive away Devils and Evil Spirits; hence arose the custom of wearing amulets composed of it, around the neck, and of making crowns of it. Pliny and Dioscorides are very loud in their praises of the medicinal properties of this substance, and Paracelsus says that it should be worn around the necks of infants as an admirable preservative against fits, sorcery, charms, and even against poison. It is a curious circumstance, that the same superstitious belief should exist among the Negroes of the West Indies, who affirm that the colour of Coral is always affected by the state of health of the wearer, it becoming paler in disease. In Sicily it is also commonly worn as an amulet.
27. See “Sir Kenelm Digby’s Discourse upon the Cure by Sympathy, pronounced at Montpellier, before an assembly of Nobles and learned men. Translated into English, by R. White, Gentleman, and published in 1658.” King James the First obtained from Sir Kenelm the discovery of his secret, which he pretended had been taught him by a Carmelite Friar, who had learned it in America or Persia.
The Sympathetic Powder was, as we learn from cotemporary physicians, ‘calcined green vitriol.’
28. This superstitious practice is repeatedly alluded to by the poets: thus Sir Walter Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel—
Dryden has also introduced the same superstition in his Enchanted Island. Act. v. Scene ii.
Again, in Scene 4th, Miranda enters with Hippolito’s sword, wrapt up:—
29. At the same time it must be acknowledged that many of these revolting applications have actually produced benefit by a physical operation; we need only mention the nauseous remedies recommended by many writers on Midwifery to expedite delivery, which induced the desired effect by producing nausea, or vomiting. Hartman says (Opera. Fol. p. 72) that he has often witnessed amongst the poor, that difficult labour has been accelerated by a draught of the husband’s urine! and, he adds, that horse dung infused in wine is efficacious in expelling the Placenta. Sarah Stone, a midwife who published some cases in 1737, mentions several instances of women in labour, to whom was given the juice of leeks, mixed with their husband’s urine, in order to strengthen the pains. Nauseous remedies have always enjoyed the confidence of the vulgar; this prejudice would seem to be the result of a species of false reasoning, by no means uncommon, that as every thing medicinal is nauseous, so must every thing that is nauseous be consequently medicinal.
30. Edward the Confessor was the first English king who touched for the Evil, but the foolish superstition has been wisely laid aside ever since the accession of the House of Hanover.
31. This superstitious notion is not confined to the ancients, but is even cherished at this day, in some of the more remote districts of the kingdom; and we find frequent allusions to it in the popular poetry of the seventeenth century.
Sir Walter Scott, in his “Lay of the last Minstrel”—
The reader will also find the enumeration of several charms for this purpose, in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 273.
We learn also from Sennertus, that the older Surgeons had recourse to prayers and magic for the extraction of foreign bodies from wounds; a very interesting summary of their superstitions, and peculiar notions concerning wounds, will be found in this author, under the head, “De Rebus alienis e vulnere eximendis.” Lib. v. Pars, iv. Practicæ Medicinæ.