Curiosities of Medical Experience Part 3

Unlawful cures, as they were called, being thus anathematized, lawful remedies were resorted to, and the patient was first ordered to pray with due devotion before he took his physic; or, as Burton observes, not one without the other, but both together; for, as he adds, to pray alone, and reject ordinary means, is to do like him in aesop, that, when his cart was stalled, lay flat on his back, and cried out "Help, Hercules!" However, Hyperius maintains that no physicians can hope for success unless "with a true faith they call upon G.o.d and teach their patients to do the like."

Comineus, when he addressed the Christian princes after the overthrow of Charles of Burgundy, bade them "first pray with all submission and penitency, confess their sins, and then take physic."

Another question of importance that led to much controversy was, whether it were lawful to seek the aid of the saints; the learned Burton's remarks on this controverted point are so curious that they are worth relating.

"They (the papists) have a proper saint for almost every peculiar infirmity: for poisons, gout, agues, Petronella; St. Roma.n.u.s, for such as are possessed; St. Vitus for madmen, &c.; and as, of old, Pliny reckons up G.o.ds for all diseases. All affections of the mind were heretofore accounted G.o.ds: Love and Sorrow, Virtue, Honour, Liberty, Contumely, Impudency, had their temples; Tempests, Seasons, _Crepitus Ventris_, _Dea Vacuna_, _Dea Cloacina_. Varro reckons up thirty thousand G.o.ds; Lucian makes Podagra, the gout, a G.o.ddess, and a.s.signs her priests and ministers.

'Tis the same devil still, called heretofore, Apollo, Mars, Venus, &c.; the same Jupiter, and those bad angels, are now worshipped and adored by the name of St. Sebastian, St. Barbara, &c.; and our Lady succeeds Venus in many offices; and G.o.d often winks at these impostures, because they forsake his word, and betake themselves to the devil, as they do, that seek after holy water, crosses," &c.

Amidst this violent denunciation against popery and devilment, evil spirits and saints, it is somewhat singular to find a spirit of anomalous perversity which justifies suicide to rid ourselves of disease and suffering; and these very sanctimonious censors quote ancient and modern authorities to sanction a practice which every Christian must condemn. Let us pursue the disquisition of our learned bookworm Burton:--"Another doubt is made by philosophers, whether it be lawful for a man in such extremity of pain and grief to make away himself, and how those men that do so are to be censured. The Platonists approve of it, that it is lawful in such cases upon a necessity. Plotinus (_L. de Beat.i.tud._) and Socrates himself defend it (_in Plato's Phaedon_): _If any man labour of an incurable disease, he may despatch himself, if it be to his good_. Epictetus and Seneca say, _Quamcunque veram esse viam ad libertatem_;--any way is allowable that leads to liberty. _Let us give G.o.d thanks no man is compelled to live against his will. Quid ad hominem claustra, carcer, custodia? liberum ostium habet._ Death is always ready at hand: _Vides illum precipitem loc.u.m, illud flumen?_ There is liberty at hand. _Effugia cervitutis et doloris sunt_, as that Laconian lad cast himself headlong, _Non serviam, aiebat puer_; to be freed of misery. Wherefore hath our mother earth brought out poisons (saith Pliny) in so great a quant.i.ty, but that men in distress might make away themselves? which kings of old had ever in readiness, _ad incerta fortunae venenum sub custode promptum_. Many worthy men and women, _quorum memoria celebratur in ecclesia_, sayeth Leminctius, killed themselves to save their chast.i.ty and honour, when Rome was taken. Jerome vindicates the same, and Ambrose commendeth Pelagia for so doing. Eusebius admired a Roman matron for the same fact, to save herself from the l.u.s.t of Maxentius the tyrant. Adelhelmus, the Abbot of Malmesbury, calls them, _beatas virgines quae sic, &c._ Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia, commends voluntary death if one be _sibi aut aliis molestus; especially if to live be a torment to him_, let him free himself with his own hand from this tedious life, or from a prison, or suffer himself to be freed by others." However, be it said in justice to our worthy Burton, he condemns this practice as "a false and pagan position, founded in prophane stoical paradoxes and wicked examples;" and although he denounces most fulminating anathemas on papists, he concludes by saying, "we ought not to be rash and rigorous in our censures, as some are; Charity will judge and hope best; G.o.d be merciful unto us all!"

But why should we marvel at the credulity and superst.i.tion of our forefathers, when we daily observe equal absurdities? Fanaticism and bigotry will ever strive to speculate on human weakness, and endeavour to surround with impenetrable mists every rebel to their power who gropes for the shrine of reason and of truth. Johanna Southcote had her votaries, and Prince Hohenlohe is still considered by many a pious person, as a vicarious instrument of divine mercy. No miraculous recovery recorded in the dark ages can surpa.s.s the tenebral absurdity of the following relation of one of his cures:

Miss O'Connor was a nun in a convent near Chelmsford, and in December 1820, being about thirty years old, was suddenly attacked by a violent pain in the right hand, which extended with much swelling and inflammation up the arm. The whole limb became red, swollen, extremely painful, and entirely useless. Every remedy, both topical and directed to the system, was tried in vain for a year and a half. There was no suppuration, nor any formation of pus; but the malady continued obdurate, and yielded to no application. The resources of the flesh having manifestly failed, Mrs.

Gerard, the worthy superior, very properly betook herself to those of the spirit. She made a request through a friend to Prince Hohenlohe to a.s.sist the patient in this her extreme case; when the following precious doc.u.ment, which it would be impious to translate into heretical English, was received:

"_Pour la Religeuse Novice d'Angleterre._

"Le trois du mois de Mai, a huit heures, je dirai, conformement a votre demande, pour votre guerison, mes prieres. Joignez-y a la meme heure, apres avoir confesse et communie, les votres, avec cette ferveur angelique et cette confiance pleniere que nous devons a notre Redempteur J. C.: excitez au fond de votre coeur les vertus divines d'un vrai repentir, d'un amour Chretien, d'une croyance sans bornes d'etre exauce, et d'une resolution inebranlable de mener une vie exemplaire, afin de vous maintenir en etat de grace. Agreez l'a.s.surance de ma consideration.

"PRINCE ALEXANDRE HOHENLOHE.

"Bamberg, Mars 16, 1822."

It is to be regretted that this letter, which was no doubt a circular to his proselytes, with necessary blanks to be filled up _pro re nata_, as the doctors have it, was not drawn out in better French. Howbeit, on the appointed day, a.s.serts Dr. Baddely (the lady's unsuccessful medical attendant), Miss O'Connor went through the religious process prescribed by her princely physician. Ma.s.s being said, Miss O. not finding the immediate relief she expected from her faith, or faithfully expected, exclaimed somewhat impatiently, not having the fear of Job before her eyes, "Thy will be done, O Lord, since thou hast not thought me worthy of this cure;"

when behold! _immediately_ after she felt an extraordinary sensation throughout the whole arm to the end of the fingers. The pain _instantly_ left her, the swelling gradually subsided, and Dr. B., who no doubt was the pet physician of the nuns, declares that the hand shortly resumed its natural size and shape.

Now, Miss O'Connor was most likely a young lady from Ireland, where this miraculous cure was re-echoed in every chapel. The protestants were naturally offended by a report which seemed to impugn the sanct.i.ty of the reformed religion, and they thought it inc.u.mbent on them, for the welfare of church and state, to get up a miracle of their own which would cast Prince H., Nun O., and Dr. B. in the shade. The following statement was therefore published and certified upon oath by sundry most respectable and most worthy Orangemen:

"I pledge you the word and honour of an Orangeman that the following facts, sworn to by all present, occurred yesterday evening. A party of gentlemen dined with me, and after dinner a vase, containing some orange lilies, was placed upon the table by my directions. We drank several toasts; but on the glorious and immortal memory being given, an _unblown lily_, which the party had remarked, _expanded its leaves and bloomed before us_ in all its splendour!" How appropriate are the lines of Otway when applied to the propagators of such absurdities, who dare to call upon our faith to give credence to their impostures.

You want to lead My reason blindfold like a hamper'd lion Check'd of its n.o.ble vigour; then, when baited Down to obedient tameness, make it crouch And show strange tricks, which you call signs of faith: So silly souls are gull'd, and you get money.

A curious anecdote is related of Lord Chief Justice Holt. When a young man, he happened, with some of his merry companions, to run up a score at a country inn, which they were not able to pay. In this dilemma they appealed to Holt, to get them out of the sc.r.a.pe. Our young lawyer had observed that the inn-keeper's daughter looked very ill, and, pa.s.sing himself for a medical student, asked her father what ailed her, when he was informed that she suffered from an ague. Holt immediately gathered various plants, mixed them up with great ceremony, and after rolling them up in parchment, scrawled upon the ball some cabalistic characters. The amulet, thus prepared, he suspended round the neck of the young woman, and, strange to say, the ague did not return. After this cure the doctor offered to pay the bill, to which the grateful landlord would not consent, allowing Holt and his party to leave the house.

Many years after, when on the bench, a woman was brought before him, accused of witchcraft--the very last person tried upon such a charge. Her only defence was, that she possessed a ball invariably efficacious in the cure of agues. The charm was produced, handed to the judge, who recognised the identical ball which he had prepared in his youthful frolics.

Not only did these victims of superst.i.tion firmly believe that evil spirits had the power of inflicting disease, and afterwards salve the mischief, but they were also invested with the privilege of killing and subsequently restoring to life. The story related of the truly learned Agrippa, who was falsely represented as a necromancer, is curious.

Agrippa had occasion one time to be absent for a few days from his residence in Louvain. During his absence he intrusted his wife with the key of his museum, but with an earnest injunction that no one on any account should be allowed to enter it; Agrippa happened at that time to have a boarder in his house, a young fellow of insatiable curiosity, who constantly importuned his hostess, till at length he obtained from her the forbidden key. The first thing that attracted his attention was a book of spells and incantations. He spread the volume before him, and, thinking no harm, began to read aloud. He had not long continued this occupation, when a knock was heard at the door of the chamber. The youth took no notice, but continued reading. Presently there followed a second and a louder knock, which somewhat alarmed the reader. The s.p.a.ce of a minute having elapsed, and no answer been made, the door opened and a demon entered.

"For what purpose am I called?" said the unwelcome visitor in a stern voice: "What is it you demand to have done?" The youth was seized with the greatest alarm and struck speechless. The demon then rushed upon him, seized him by the throat, and strangled him, indignant no doubt in having been interrupted in some more interesting pursuit to no purpose.

At the expected time Agrippa came home, and to his great surprise found a number of devils capering about, and playing strange antics on the roof of his house. By his art he caused them to desist from their gambols, of which he demanded the cause. The chief of them then related to him what he had done, how he had been disturbed and insulted, and how he had thought proper to revenge himself. Agrippa became much alarmed at the probable consequences of this unfortunate adventure, and he ordered the demon, without loss of time, to reanimate his victim, and walk about the streets with him, that the public might behold him alive. The infernal spirit reluctantly obeyed, and went forth with the student in the marketplace and promenades. This excursion over, however, he maliciously allowed his companion to fall down, when life once more flitted from his body. For a time it was thought that the student had been killed by a sudden attack of illness; but, presently, the marks of strangulation became evident, and the truth came out. Agrippa was thus suddenly obliged to quit the town, and seek refuge in a distant state.

It was further related of this supposed wizard, that he was always accompanied by a familiar spirit in the shape of a black dog; and that when he lay on his deathbed he was earnestly exhorted to repent of his sins. Struck with remorse, he took hold of the dog, and removed from his neck a collar studded with cabalistic nails, exclaiming, "Begone, wretched animal, that has been the cause of my perdition!" and lo! the dog immediately ran away, and, plunging into the river Soane, disappeared. It is to be regretted that historians do not relate whether the water hissed or not when the canine devil took his last leap.

It merits notice, that the mystic and medicinal celebrity of various substances have to this hour survived the traditions of their superst.i.tious origin; coral, for instance, which was considered as possessed of the power of keeping off evil spirits, and rendering effete the malefices of the evil eye, was constantly worn as an amulet; and Paracelsus informs us that it should be worn round the necks of infants, as an admirable preservative against fits, sorcery, charms, and poisons.

We still find necklaces of this substance suspended by fond mothers and nurses round the necks of infants. In the West Indies these chaplets are worn by the negroes as a magic protection against Obiism, and they even affirm that the colour of the coral is affected by the state of health of the wearer, and becomes paler when he is ill.

The irrational belief in the mysterious powers of certain remedies went so far in former days, that when they were applied to the weapon that had inflicted an injury, their indirect sympathetic action was considered as effectual as if they had been used to heal the wound. The sympathetic powder of Sir Kenelm Digby, which was nothing else but pulverized green vitriol, was eulogized in a discourse p.r.o.nounced by its inventor, at Montpellier, in 1658. Our James I. purchased this wonderful discovery from Sir Kenelm, who pretended that he had obtained it from a Carmelite friar, who had learned it in America and Persia. This superst.i.tious practice is alluded to by Walter Scott, in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel:"

But she has ta'en the broken lance, And wash'd it from the clotted gore, And salved the splinter o'er and o'er.

Dryden has also ill.u.s.trated this absurdity in his "Enchanted Island,"

where Ariel says,

Anoint the sword which pierced him, with this Weapon-salve, and wrap it close from air Till I have time to visit it again.

Sir Kenelm's sympathetic powder was applied in the same manner; the weapon being covered with ointment and dressed three times a day. But it was not mentioned that at the same time the wound was to be brought together, and bound up with clean linen bandages for seven days. This wonderful cure was then simply the process of what surgeons call healing by first intention, which means uniting the lips of the wound without suppuration. Dr. Paris apprehends that this secret was suggested to the worthy knight by the cures operated by the rust of the spear of Telephus, which, according to Homer, healed the injuries it had occasioned; and this rust was most probably verdigris.

To this day the Irish peasantry, and even many of the superior cla.s.ses, firmly believe in the malevolent and destructive effect of the evil eye, when cast upon man or beast. Hence the absurd custom that prevails, especially in the western provinces, of adding "G.o.d bless it," to any expression of admiration; and if perchance a Sa.s.senagh traveller exclaimed "What a sweet child!" or, "What a fine cow!" without the adjunctive benediction, he would be suspected of malefice, and the priest forthwith summoned to save the devoted victim of sorcery. In Scotland dairy-maids drive cattle with a switch of the mountain ash, or roan-tree, considered as held sacred since the days of Druidism; and in some districts the sheep and lambs are made to pa.s.s through a hoop of its wood on the first day of May.

The toad was also considered to be possessed of marvellous qualities for the cure of various maladies, more especially the stone that was supposed to be occasionally found in the reptile's head, and which was called _c.r.a.paudina_. Lupton, in his seventh book of "Notable Things," thus instructs us how to obtain it. "You shall knowe whether the tode stone be the ryght and perfect stone or not. Holde the stone before a tode, so that he may see it; and if it be a ryght and true stone, the tode will leape towarde it and make as though he would s.n.a.t.c.h it, he envies so much that man should have this stone." This famous toadstone is simply one of the fossil teeth of various fishes, and is chiefly formed of phosphate of lime. Its high polish and convexity has often induced lapidaries to have it set in rings and other jewels, to which marvellous powers were attached.

Pulverized toads were not only employed in medicine with supposed advantage, but were also considered a slow but certain poison. Solander relates, that a Roman woman, desirous of poisoning her husband gave him this substance; but instead of attaining her criminal desire, it cured him of a dropsy that had long perplexed him. Boccaccio relates the story of Pasquino and Simona, two young lovers, who, wandering in a garden, plucked some sage-leaves, with which Pasquino rubbed his teeth and gums.

In a few minutes he fell ill and expired. Simona accused of being his a.s.sa.s.sin, was brought before a magistrate, who ordered an immediate investigation of the matter, when, on proceeding to the garden, Simona, after relating the particulars of the case, took some leaves from the same plant and used them in a similar manner. In a few minutes the lovers were reunited in death; when it was discovered that a large toad was under the root of the plant to which it had communicated its deadly venom.

Regarding unlawful cures, have we not seen vaccination, when first introduced, condemned from the very pulpit as an impious interference in a disease which seemed to have been a.s.signed to mankind by the Creator as an inevitable doom? Did not these desperate bigots even p.r.o.nounce that we were not warranted to seek in the brute creation a human remedy or preservative? What is still more worthy of remark, is the coincidence of a similar idea in India, where the greatest obstacle vaccination encountered arose from a belief that the natural smallpox was a dispensation of a malicious deity, called _Mah-ry-Umma_, or rather that the disease was an incarnation of the G.o.ddess herself into the person who was affected by it: the fear of irritating her, and of exposing themselves to her resentment, necessarily rendered the natives averse to vaccination, until it was impressed upon their easy belief, that _Mah-ry-Umma_ had altered her mind, and chosen this new and milder mode of manifesting her visits to her votaries.

Could there ever have existed a more superst.i.tious belief than that which vested in the regal touch a healing power? Yet from Edward the Confessor to the accession of the House of Hanover, it was generally thought in these realms that our kings could cure scrofula with their anointed fingers!

Dr. Paris's truly philosophic remarks on this subject, in his valuable work, ent.i.tled Pharmacologia, are worthy of quotation:--"Credulity, although it is nearly allied to superst.i.tion, yet differs from it widely.

Credulity is an unbounded belief in what is possible, although dest.i.tute of proof, and perhaps of probability; but superst.i.tion is a belief in what is wholly repugnant to the laws of the physical and moral world. Credulity is a far greater source of error than superst.i.tion; for the latter must be always more limited in its influence, and can exist only, to any considerable extent, in the most ignorant portions of society; whereas the former diffuses itself through the minds of all cla.s.ses, by which the rank and dignity of science are degraded, its valuable labours confounded with the vain pretensions of empiricism, and ignorance is enabled to claim for itself the prescriptive right of delivering oracles, amidst all the triumph of truth and the progress of philosophy. Credulity has been justly defined _belief without reason_, while scepticism, its opposite, is _reason without belief_, and the natural and invariable consequence of credulity; for it may be observed that men who believe without reason are succeeded by others whom no reasoning can convince."

VOICE AND SPEECH.

Blumenbach has given us a most ingenious definition of this wonderful function. The voice, properly speaking, is a sound formed by means of expiration in the _larynx_, which is a most beautifully constructed organ, fixed upon the top of the windpipe, like a capital upon a column. It is composed of various cartilages, united in the form of a little box, and supplied with numerous muscles, that, moving altogether or separately, produce the variations of sound.

The part of the _larynx_ most concerned in producing the voice is the _glottis_, or narrow opening of the windpipe, having the _epiglottis_ suspended over it like a valve. The air expired from the lungs strikes upon the glottis, and thus becomes sonorous. The change that the glottis undergoes in the modulation of the voice has been matter of much controversy. Aristotle and Galen compared the glottis to a wind instrument; Ferrein a.s.similated it to a chorded one. This latter hypothesis was objected to, on the principle that a chord, to vibrate, should not only be in a state of tension, but dryness; characters which this organ does not possess, being constantly lubrified with mucus, and in a state of greater or lesser relaxation. Fulgentius considers the human voice to be composed of ten parts: the four first are the front teeth, so useful for the appulse of the tongue in forming sounds, without which a whistle would be produced instead of a voice; the fifth and sixth are the lips, which he compares to cymbals striking against each other; the seventh the tongue, which serves as a plectrum to articulate sounds; the eighth is the palate, the concavity of which forms the belly of the instrument; the ninth the throat, which performs the part of a flute; and the tenth the lungs, which supply the place of bellows.

That every degree of action in the _glottis_ is due to the muscles of the _larynx_ is proved by the experiment of tying or dividing the recurrent nerves, when the voice is destroyed or weakened.

Speech is a peculiar modification of the voice adjusted to the formation of the sounds of letters, by the expiration of the air through the nostrils and mouth, and in a great measure by the a.s.sistance of the tongue applied and struck against the neighbouring parts, the palate and front teeth in particular, and by the diversified action of the lips. This is Payne Knight's doctrine, in his a.n.a.lytical essay on the Greek alphabet, and an ill.u.s.tration of the notions of Fulgentius.

Singing is compounded of speech and a musical modulation of the voice, a prerogative peculiar to man even in his most savage state; for, despite the a.s.sertions of the visionary Rousseau, who maintained that it is not natural to our species, we find that even in the uncivilized regions of Ethiopia, Greenland, and Kamtschatka, singing is a solace and a comfort.

The mechanism of speech and articulation is so intricate, that even the division of letters and their distribution are attended with difficulties.

The following is the division of Amman in his work _Surdus Loquens_, published at Amsterdam in 1629, and enlarged under the t.i.tle of _Dissert.

de Loquela_, 1700, and is, perhaps, the most natural and intelligible.

He divides into, I. Vowels; II. Semi-vowels; III. Consonants.

I. The vowels are _simple_, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_; and _mixed_ _a_, _o_, _u_: these are formed by the _voice_ only. The semi-vowels and consonants are articulated by the mechanism of _speech_.

II. The semi-vowels are _nasal_, _m_, _n_, _ng_ (_n_ before _g_, which is nearly related to it), that is, the labio-nasal _m_, the dente-nasal _n_, and the gutture-nasal _ng_; or _oral_ (lingual), _r_, _l_, that is, _r_ with a vibration of the tongue, or _l_ with the tongue less moved.

III. The consonants he distinguishes into _sibilant_ (p.r.o.nounced in succession), _h_, _g_, _ch_, _s_, _sh_, _f_, _v_, _ph_, that is _h_, formed in the throat, as it were a mere aspiration; _g_ and _ch_, true consonants; _s_, _sh_, produced between the teeth; and _f_, _v_, _ph_--formed by the application of the lower lip to the upper front teeth--and _explosive_ (which are as it were suddenly exploded by an expiration for a time suppressed, or interrupted), namely _k_, _q_, formed in the throat; _d_, _t_, about the teeth; _p_, _b_, near the lips; and _double_ (compound), _x_, _z_.[3]