A treatise of incurable diseases: containing, I. An essay on the proper means to reduce the number of incurables. II. An attempt to settle a just notion of incurable in physick. III. A specimen of a rational method to discover the cures of reputed incurable diseases / [Peter Shaw].

  • Peter Shaw
Date:
1723
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise of incurable diseases: containing, I. An essay on the proper means to reduce the number of incurables. II. An attempt to settle a just notion of incurable in physick. III. A specimen of a rational method to discover the cures of reputed incurable diseases / [Peter Shaw]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    coverablc ones have after the beft Manner been experienc'd. Now if all thefe Advantages have not been acquir'd in our Days, as no confiderate Perfon will fay they have, it follows, that no Diftemper can properly by us be called Incurable, but where fome evident Caufe of its being fo, ap¬ pears from the Nature of the Thing it felf. For unlcfs this Caufe be ma- nifeft, to pretend a Difeafe is not to be alleviated in any of its Stages, or that a Cure can be carry'd no farther, when we doiTt know why, is a bold Guefsj and to pronounce the Cafe Incurable, even after we have done our utmoft, will mean no more than that the Remedies hitherto ufed in it, have fail’d of the defir'd Effed. But wou'd notiuch a Cenfure be equally Ridiculous, as to fay, ten or an hundred unfuccefsful Experiments have been made to tranfmute Metals, and therefore their Tranfmutation is tin- difcoverable ? Here then is a Foundation for a^ juft Diftindion between real and reputed incurable Difeafes. Thus we lee in Chirurgery, thofe Wounds are properly adjudg'd Mortal, or Incurable, which happen in fuch Parts of the Body whofe Union was of abfolute neceflity to the continuance of Life 5 as for Example, a tranf- verfe Sedionof the Larynx> which intirely flops Refpiration * adifunion of the CeYebelliiMy which prevents the Influx of the Fluid there fecreted into the Heart $ &c. Thefe and the like Cafes are juftly deem'd Incurable, from the very Inftant when the Wounds were firft inflidedj becaufe here the vital Fundions are evidently deftroyed, without any opportunity be¬ ing allow'd for the Ufe of Remedies. This is the moft determin'd and genuine Senfe of the Word, and therefore the Ufe of it in other Cafes ought to be judg'd of, by its Approach to, or Recefs from this original Meaning. And accordingly where the Fatality of Wounds is lefs hid¬ den, and lefs certain, as in Obftrudions of the animal Faculties, fup- pofe by a tranfverfe. Sedion of the CEsopbagusy the Term Incurable can¬ not with equal Certainty be apply'd at the Inftant the Wound was re¬ ceiv'd, becaufe there may be othef Ways contriv'd of conveying Nu¬ triment to the Body, befides by the Mouth 5 and in the mean Time, Op¬ portunities may be afforded, of applying the proper Remedies. But if the Body could be fupply’d with Nutriment only by the Mouth, and there
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