Volume 1

A short treatise on the all-cleansing,--all-healing,--and all-invigorating qualities of the simple earth ... To which are added, a description of ... earth bathing, etc / [James Graham].

  • Graham, James, 1745-1794
Date:
1790
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A short treatise on the all-cleansing,--all-healing,--and all-invigorating qualities of the simple earth ... To which are added, a description of ... earth bathing, etc / [James Graham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fnuflfl—the ^//mighty’s univeHally-given Cordial, the open air !—and as to miilcular exercife, or loco-motion, without both of which no animal can be perfectly or long healthy, the Profeffor feemed utterly to abhor them, inafmuch as he has been carried about the ftreets of that city daily for thirty years in a little clofe black box, by two of his own fellow creatures, one of whom, while he was on this duty, that fpring, actually dropt down dead ; but even this did not admoniih, nor cure the Dr. of his folly and barbarity ;—for the man’s place was toon fupplied by another of the fame hardy and condefcending breed of Highland or Hibernian cattle.-*-It is a fname that men fhould be fo degraded* or fuifered fo to degrade themfelves. But if we look upon the molt authentic accounts we ha-ve, of the painful, and miferabiy difeafed lives, and premature death, of Paracelfus, Van-Helmont, Boerhaave, and indeed of molt of the world’* wife-men, great chemifts, and phyficians, we fhall have but very little reafon to applaud their Art, or to follow their fteps. Indeed, if an entire ftranger was to pick out the uglieft, aurkwardeft, proudeft, molt deiltical, molt profane, molt Cadaverous, and molt tickly-like men in any large town, or company, he would on enquiry find, that three-fourths of them were Chemifts, Phyficians, Philofophers, Surgeons, and Apothecaries. Phyficians, and the foolifh dupes their Patients, (very properly fo called) or inftead of Patients, they might be called their Jobs, or Jqbbs ; Phyficians, and their Patients, I fay, totally neglecting the obvious and zW-btefirngfimplicity, and the riches of Nature,'—and the infinite wifdom, and molt provident Bounty of Nature’s God!-— which in every part of the world holds out to the wife and at¬ tentive, the means of health, and the eafielt, fpeedieft, and molt infallible cures for all difeafes, without much trouble, and without any expence;—inftead, I fay, of Phyficians, Surgeons, and their Patients obferving and profiting by all this,— they are continually having recourfe to the torturing and confufed mixture of the milder fimples, and to arming and exalting the poifon of the liarlher and more deadly articles of their Materia Medica, by chemical, pharmaceutical, and culi¬ nary precedes. They import from far diftant countries, with great danger, and at an enormous expence, certain Drugs, which, though they might perhaps be falutary, and proper for the alleviation or cure of the difeafes of the natives, or inhabitants of thofe countries where they fpontaneoufiy, or with the moil ordinary cultivation grow,-—yet are by no means proper, nor congenial to the conftitutions of the natives or inhabitants of this, or of any other countries, than of thofe that fpon- taneoufly produce them. Not to mention the fophiftications, and the lofs of any virtues they poffelfed, by cruel and avaricious men,—by long and improper keeping, preparation, or exhibition. But it a drug is deleterious, poifonous, and produces very terrible effects ;—if it requires much fkiil and care in the admi- niftration of it,—if it be very far fetched, fcarce, and colts a great deal of money, that drug is fure to become the univerfal favourite or rage of Phyficians and of fools, till it gives way to a newer, and perhaps, to more dangerous fafhian. How happy would it have been for mankind if fuch men had never Cxifted in this world, as Storck, Prieftley, Goulard, Brown, Withering, Fowler, and feveral others I could mention ?—who fo publicly have recommended the too univerfal exhibition to the human fpecies of Hemlock and Henbane 3—of ele<ftri- city, artificially produced airs, and dangerous if not damning religious doctrines ; —of that deadly poilbn lead;—of the foul and body-killing po-ifons Opium, Tobacco, fermented and fpirituous LiquorsFox-gloveand even Arfenic ltfelf. I afiert, and do infill upon it, that perpetual health may bdpreferred, and all difeafes when they happen among the children of vice, of art, folly, ignorance, or perverfenefs, cured, with the remedies that are every where to be found, and which may be procured without one farthing expence, even by every lonely and Wind beggar. As to the two famous expen five foreign medicines or nonfenfical luxuries, which are fo continually and fo univerfally uled among us, I mean farfaparilla root, and B Peru-