An impartial and uncontrollable account of the effects of the late Dr. William Cockburn's specific, for curing diarrhoeas, bloody fluxes, &c. since its revival, i.e. within three months past : exemplified in various cures performed by it, when all other medicines had been tried for many years together, to no purpose ... / By John Dove.

  • Dove, John, active 18th century.
Date:
1751
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An impartial and uncontrollable account of the effects of the late Dr. William Cockburn's specific, for curing diarrhoeas, bloody fluxes, &c. since its revival, i.e. within three months past : exemplified in various cures performed by it, when all other medicines had been tried for many years together, to no purpose ... / By John Dove. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mention, and leave him to judge. But before v/e proceed to the Cafes, it will be ne- eelTary to anfwer an Objeftion which will be thrown in at Point Blank. “ It is confefled “ you have a good Medicine in your Hand, but you have no Skill to ufe it; you are noPhy- <c lician, and may mifcarry as much by the Mifufe, as by the Abufe of it; your Education is <•< not fufficient, nor can you be fuppofed to know, when to flop and when to promote a Loofenefs; and if a fymptomatic one be ftopt too foon,or if one that is habitual and original “be not flopt at all, theLife of thePatient is endangered ; and how fhould you know the Dif- “ ference of Fluxes,or how to proceed with Safety?7’ Afhrewd Objeftion indeed,and when it comes from the Faculty, they fhall have an Anfwer fit for them to c-onfider; but for the prefent, I fhall anfwer in my own Way, and let them alone. It is confefled I a n no Phy- tician ; what then ? 1 am a Gurer\ I have Common-fenfe, and fome Know ledge of the animal (Economy, of Nature, and her invariable Laws. The true Practice of PhyficJ think, Hands on thefe Foundations, or I confefs I know not in what it confifts, nor on what it is founded ; and if I am miftaken here, in this Cafe I am fo far from being a Pbyncian, that I am a Fool, and truly Fool enough I am, to think the true Pr aft ice of Phyfic can never be founded on Metaphyfics, mifapplied Mathematics, falfe Philofophy, idle Theories, or occult Qualities. 'I'he true Praftice of Phyfic never was, nor ever will be contrary to Common-fenfe. This and Nature are Correlates; the filly Syftems of the Schools and Nature, are Alienr., I look upon the Scull of a Theorift, a meer Schoolman, to be like a Warehoufe filled with Lumber, or a Bladder puffed with Wind. While thefe remain there is no Room for any Thing elfe. Common-fenfe tells me, that a violent Bloody-Flux ought to be Hopped. Ha that has a Remedy for this, and knows how to do it, is certainly in that Point on a Level with, if not fuperior to, the Phyfician who is fetched from a great Diftance, and at a great Expenee; and when he is come, cannot do it. . If I know not when, and how to Hop a Diarrhoea or Bloody Flux, &c. I am a Cheat, a dangerous Fellow, and ought to be treated as a Murderer; but if I do know it, the Objeftion has no Force. That I do know it, I aver, I pledge my Reputation, I pledge my Veracity upon it, and call aloud on any that denies it to confute me, to confront mein a fair Trial, and I promife not to decline the firfl: that offers, even before a thoufand Judges. I had not made this Propofal, if I had not firfl: been ufed ill and affronted publicly by fome, who though they profefs to know, are yet Strangers to the firfl Principles of Phyfic; therefore I hope to Hand excufed by the candid Reader, when I have given him an Account of the fol¬ lowing Fafts, which I promife to do with all conceivable Impartiality and Faithfulnefs. CASE I. —--Servant to Mr. William Croger, Tobacconift in the Minories. When I came, flie cold me, her Head arid Stomach were out of Order, and in Pain, her Bowels griped, her Loins weak, and that Hie was but jufl able to crawl about, and could fcarcely get up Stairs. Her Mafter and Miftrefs expefted She would have kept her Bed the next Day. Her Puife was high, fhe was hot and droughty, her Countenance languid, and very much funk, with more than twenty watry Stools in a Day, fometimes four in an Hour. I gave her the Medicine at Eight o’Clock on the Saturday Morning, before Noon flic told me Hie was better. I doubted; fhe faid fhe was fure of it; that her Head, Stomach and Bowels were eafy, and that fhe had not gone to Stool fo often as before. Mr. Croger, her Mailer called at my Houfe the fame Evening about Bufinefs, and told me Ihe was mended, and that fhe was brifk and lively; I called to fee her the next Night, and before her Mailer and Miftrefs, fhe told me fhe was almoft well, and was afraid file fhould be cured too fuddenly. In three Days fhe was quite well, though fhe had been in that Con¬ dition for Six Weeks before. * CASE II. \\T Hile I had this Perfon in Hand, I was fent for to a Gentlewoman next Door to the “ Cocky in Bovj-lane. She was thought by many to be dying ten Days before I came, and thought by many all that had been done for her by an experienced Apothecary, had had no Effeft. When I came, I refuted to meddle with her, believing her Bowels were excoriated, and that file would die, and the Blame fall upon me. Her Daughters afTured me if fhe died the next Ko*r, neither myfelf nor the Medicine fhould be blamed; for that as fhe was, fhe muft die.