網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

tree. Such things as have a ftrong tafte, are like wife commended, that is, all in which a falt prevails, because its acrid nature difagrees with the worm, and obliges it to leave the body. For this reafon, I would propofe falt-petre, and fal-ammoniac; and mineral waters, both cold and hot. The common people are not ignorant of the ufe of thefe. People who inhabit the fea coafts, give their children fea water to drink, and thofe who live inland, cure them with wa ter used in the refining of falt. Neither would I reject the vitriolic falts obtained from metals, fuch as fal martis, and lunar cryftals. Orange and lemon juice, fpirit of vitriol, fpirit of falt-petre, and clyffus of antimony, are beyond every thing in putrid fevers, proceeding from worms: but the dofe must be cau tioufly prescribed, as the too great acidity of these remedies would convert the chyle into a folid fubftance. The rifque of mistaking, with regard to children at the breaft, obliges me to warn against the confequences; for whatever the proportion might be, it would not fail to coagulate the milk on their. ftomach. Hartfhorn, fal ammoniac, and other volatile fpirits have likewife the properties of a vermifuge. The fame may be faid of aftringents: various experiments on tea, the rind of the pomegranate, and root of the mulberry have long ago brought them' into repute. Purgatives, likewife, ought not to be rejected, provided they be accompanied with turbeth or jalap, and that care is taken to prepare the patient by fuitable medecines. If opium be thought proper, or other anodynes, I would ftrongly recommend caution, for inftead of a cure, the confequence might be a fever.

[ocr errors]

When worms have got into the ftomach, we fhould not only proceed in the manner directed above, but they must be attracted towards the lower intestines, by injections of honey and milk. Dulci

[ocr errors]

died mercury is, in this cafe, confidered as the prime fpecific; but, in the use of it, two things must be attended to, with great care: First, not to give it in the form of powder, or in too great quantity: Secondly, to abftain from it, when the duodenum is furcharged with acrimony. In my opinion, it would be beft to prescribe it in the form of an electuary, or rather in troches, which feems to be the safest way. But the physician muft judge, and prefcribe for his patients, according to their age, their strength and conftitution: he must find the means of fpeedily discharging thofe worms which he has been fuccefsful in deftroying, left they become more prejudicial after their death, than they were when alive.

The poifon of infects is cured with the affiftance

of antidotes. If any external part is affected, terra figillata may be applied, root of gentian, and angelica, leaves of carduus benedictus, fage, rue, juniper berries, oil of citron, ferpent stone, fcorpion, tarantuła, and other venomous infects, provided they are bruifed. These are so many emollients and aperi. tives, but which would not be fufficient for any internal part. Whether the poifon of an infect, which has been swallowed, refides in the ftomach, or has already mixed with the mafs of blood, there is a neceffity for counterpoifons, as active and effectual; fuch as the gloffopetræ, cinnabar, oil of almonds, mallows, and wormwood, gentian wine, milk, butter, lard, viper's flesh, oil of fcorpions, &c.

Of antidotes in general, none appears to me fo fingular, as that for the bite of the tarantula. It confifts not in the fympathy of animals, nor in the ftrength of metals, nor in the quinteffence of vegetables: it is in mufic alone that it must be fought. It has fo much influence on the affected perfons, that it puts all their fluggish members in motion, fo that they

li 2

they get up and dance till they put themselves inte a profound fweat, and then fall down in a lethargy. The perfpiration continues, during this ftate of rest, which frees the body from the poifon diffused thro' it. Another fingularity is, that the fame air does not always produce the fame effect; various kinds muft be tried, till one fuited to the quality of the poifon is found; there is, however, one favourite air, which is agreeable to almost all the patients; it is called, by the Italians, l'Aria Turchefea. Neither is the fame inftrument of mufic always ufed, one patient defiring the tambour, another the flute, the hautboy, the harp, the violin, &c. and each dances and agitates himself, till the strength of the poifon is evaporated by the violence of the motion. The difference of fymptoms obfervable in different patients, is obferv. able in the tarantulas themselves. They are of various colours, and when taken, they are placed on thin boards, laid over a veffel of water. At the found of a musical iuftrument, fome are feen to leap, others remain at rest, according to the difference of their temperament.

Before concluding this chapter, I have to mention one or two other methods of deftroying flies. Regulus of arfenic is a moft deadly poifon to them, and the use of it could not be fufficiently recommended, if it were poffible to expect the neceffary attention from thofe employed in preparing it; but, the careleffness of most people, makes me almoft in clined to decry this method, notwithstanding its fuc cefs. I leave it, therefore, to the prudence of those who are acquainted with its effects, and who are cau tious in trying the experiment, to provide for the fafety of themselves and their families. This poison is given to flies in a cup, or in earthen veffels made on purpose.

In 1735 appeared an anonymous work containing the defcription of an apparatus for deftroying fleas. In 1729 was published the third edition of a curious work on a fort of trap for these infects. The reader may confult these works, and profit from the receipt of Dr Southall an Englishman, who acknowledges his having got it from a negro. This receipt has the fingular effect of attracting the whole fleas in a house to the fame fpot where their death awaits them.

CHAP. VI.

OF THE IMPROPER USE OF INSECTS IN THE AFFAIRS OF LIFE.

WHEN mankind neglect to make a good ufe of reason, and give themselves up to vain and chimerical speculation, there is nothing in nature which they may not pervert into a fource of delufion. Every object however which we behold is diftinctly marked with its own peculiar character which cannot be mistaken unless we willingly deceive ourselves. This is the cafe of thofe perfons who prefume to look into futurity, and who apply things to other ufes, than thofe for which God intended them. Matthiolus tells us that every gall that grows on the oak, if it has not a hole in it, does without exception contain either a fly, or a spi. der or a worm; that the firft foretokens war, the fecond

fecond peftilence, and the third famine. The rage for predicting future events is carried ftill farther: other vifionaries combine the events of the former prophecy and affert that a fwarm of locufts is a certain fign, that the country will be afflicted with thefe, three fcourges at one and the fame time. Nay we have seen people mad enough to maintain that they have read on the wings of thefe infects characters fignificant of the above predictions. Ignorance and learning have both contributed to the delufion, there is hardly any thing in life, which does not give notice of fomething good or bad about to happen. Among our domestic infects there is one that gnaws and beats with fo much regularity, that it imitates the beating of a watch, and has accordingly got the name of the death-watch, because when it is heard fome foolish people believe that the death of fome perfon in the family will foon happen. To confirm fuch predictions, examples are produced; but what reliance can he had on proofs fo ill founded? When two things happen in fucceffion who hath told us that God meant to point out by the peculiarities of the one, the circumftances that would accompany the other? There have been years in which those infects have exceffively abounded, which are confidered as ominous, but which however have neither produced war, nor famine, nor peftilence nor unufual mortality. Thefe accidents may have occurred a long time afterwards, but could not therefore be the confequence of thofe pretended indications. Many people will forego nothing of their prejudices, but obftinately maintain that this effect flows from the cause they attribute it to; but how will they demonftraté the connection? How will they perfuade us that thofe infects which appear in one country have been. the forerunners of calamity in another? The world is a great theatre where the fcene is perpetually occupied by fimilar tragedies; fo that no time perhaps

« 上一頁繼續 »