Medica Sacra Part 1

Medica Sacra.

by Richard Mead.

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE and WRITINGS Of the Late Dr. MEAD.

It is a natural, nor can it be deemed an illaudable curiosity to be desirous of being informed of whatever relates to those who have eminently distinguished themselves for sagacity, parts, learning, or what else may have exalted their characters, and thereby ent.i.tled them to a degree of respect superior to the rest of their cotemporaries.

The transmission of such particulars, has ever been thought no more than discharging a debt due to posterity; wherefore it is hoped, that what is here intended to be offered to the publick, relative to a gentleman, who is universally allowed to have merited so largely in the republic of letters, and more particularly in his own profession, a profession, not less useful than respectable, will not be judged impertinent or disagreeable.

Our learned author was descended from a distinguished family in Buckinghamshire, and born at Stepney the second of August 1673. His father, Mr. Matthew Mead, was held in great esteem as a divine among the presbyterians, and was possessed, during their usurped power, of the living of Stepney; from whence he was ejected the second year after the restoration of king Charles the IId. Nevertheless, tho' he had fifteen children, of whom our Richard was the seventh, he found means, with a moderate fortune, to give them a compleat education. To this purpose he kept a tutor in his house to instruct them, and they were taught latin rather by practice than by rules.

Party-rage perhaps never run higher than about the latter end of Charles the IId's reign; hereby this little domestic academy was dispersed in 1683. The king, or rather his ministers, were determined to be revenged on those, whom they could not prevail on to concur with their measures. Mr. Mead (the father) was accused of being concerned in some designs against the court; wherefore being conscious that even his being a presbyterian, rendered him obnoxious to those in power, he chose rather to consult his security by a retreat, then to rely upon his innocence; to this purpose he sought and found that repose in Holland, which was denied him in his own country; having first placed his son Richard at a school, under the tuition of an able master of his own principles: under whose care our young gentleman, by a ready genius, strong memory, and close application, made a great proficiency. At seventeen years of age he was sent to Utrecht, to be further instructed in liberal knowledge, by the celebrated Graevius, with whom he continued three years.

Having determined to devote his attention to medicine, he removed from Utrecht to Leyden, where he attended Dr. Herman's botanical lectures, and was initiated into the theory and practice of physick, by the truely eminent Dr. Pitcairn, who then held the professorial chair of this science in that university: here our young student's a.s.siduity and discernment, so effectually recommended him to the professor, who was not very communicative of his instructions out of the college, that he established a lasting correspondence with him, and received several observations from him, which he inserted in one of his subsequent productions.

His academical studies being finished, Mr. Mead sought further accomplishments in Italy, whither he was accompanied by his elder brother,[1] Mr. Polhill, and Dr. Thomas Pellet, afterwards president of the college of physicians.

[1] Mr. Nathaniel Mead, who was at first destined to the service of religion, and preach'd two or three times at the meeting house at Stepney, built by his father, after his ejection from the parish church: but taking a dislike to theological studies, he applied himself to the law, and made as great a figure at the bar, as his brother did in physick.

In the course of this tour, Mr. Mead commenced doctor in philosophy and medicine at Padua, the twenty-sixth of August 1695, and afterwards spent some time at Naples and Rome: how advantageous to himself, as well as how useful to mankind he rendered his travels, his works bear ample testimony.

About the middle of the year 1696, he returned home, and settled at Stepney, in the neighbourhood where he was born: the success, he met with in his practice here, established his reputation, and was a happy presage of his future fortunes. If it be remembered, that our author was, when he began to practise, no more than twenty-three years old, that only three years, including the time taken up in his travels, were appropriated to his medical attainments, it may be, not unreasonably, admitted, that nothing but very uncommon talents, join'd to an extraordinary a.s.siduity, could have enabled him to distinguish himself, at this early a period of life, in so extensive, and so important a science.

In 1702, Dr. Mead exhibited to the public, a manifest evidence of his capacity for, as well as application to medical researches, in his _mechanical account of poisons_; which he informs us was begun some years before he had leisure to publish it. These subjects, our author justly observes, had been treated hitherto very obscurely, to place therefore the surprizing phnomena, arising from these active bodies in a more intelligible light, was his professed intention; how well he succeeded, the reception this piece universally met with, even from its first publication,[2] sufficiently declares. In 1708 he gave a new edition of it, with some few additions, the princ.i.p.al of which consists in some strictures on the external use of mercury in raising salivations. He has considerably further explained his sentiments upon the same head, in the edition of this work printed in 1747.

[2] An abstract of this work was thought deserving a place in the philosophical transactions (N 283) for the months of January and February 1703.

This last edition has received so many additions and alterations, as might almost ent.i.tle it to the character of a new performance.----A stiffness of opinion has been but too commonly observed, especially among writers on science; and age has been seldom found to have worn out this pertinacity: a favourite hypothesis has been defended even in opposition to the most obvious experiments, with a degree of obstinacy ever incompatible with the real interests of truth. On the contrary, our ingenious author has set before his literary successors, an example of sagacity and fort.i.tude, truely worthy of imitation, in the victory he obtained over these self-sufficient pre-possessions; length of years was so far from rivetting in him an inflexibility of sentiment, that, joined to a most extended experience, it served only to teach him, that he had been mistaken: his candid retraction of what he thought to have been advanced amiss by himself, cannot be better expressed than in his own words. "Neither have I, says he,[3]

been ashamed on some occasions, (as the Latins said) _caedere vineta mea_, to retrench or alter whatever I judged to be wrong. _Dies diem docet._ I think truth never comes so well recommended, as from one who owns his error: and it is allowed that our first master never shewed more wisdom and greatness of mind, then in confessing his mistake, in taking a fracture of a skull, for the natural suture;[4] and the compliment, which Celsus[5] makes to him on this occasion, is very remarkable and just;" nor is it less applicable to Dr. Mead at present than it was to the Coan sage in his day. "_More scilicet_, inquit, _magnorum virorum, & fiduciam magnarum rerum habentium. Nam levia ingenia, quia nihil habent, nihil sibi detrahunt: magno ingenio, multaque nihilominus habituro, convenit etiam simplex veri erroris confessio; praecipueque in eo ministerio, quod utilitatis causa posteris traditur._"

[3] Advertis.e.m.e.nt prefixed to the last edition of the essay on poisons, p. 4.

[4] Epidem. lib. iv. -- 14.

[5] Medicin. lib. viii. c. 4.

The insertion of additions and improvements in the t.i.tle of new editions of books, has been too generally, though sometimes justly, understood as little else than a contrivance of the bookseller, to animate a languishing sale; but this is far from being the case in respect to the works of our author, whose maturer sentiments on many of the subjects, he had before treated of, cannot be well comprehended, unless by a careful perusal of his later corrections, seeing the alterations he has thought fit thereby to make in his earlier productions, are not less necessary to be attended to by the prudent pract.i.tioner, than they are really interesting to the unhappy patient: the truth of which cannot be more manifestly evinced, than by his last publication of his essays on poisons; wherein he entirely subverts his former hypothesis, and builds his reasonings upon a new foundation; he also tacitly admits his former experiments to have been too precipitately made, and the conclusions deduced from them, to have been too hastily drawn.

To ill.u.s.trate what has been advanced upon this head, it will not be improper to observe, that when Dr. Mead first wrote these essays, he was of opinion, "That the effect of poisons, especially those of venemous animals, might be accounted for, by their affecting the blood only: but the consideration of the suddenness of their mischief, too quick to be brought about in the course of the circulation, (for the bite of a rattle snake killed a dog in less than a quarter of an hour)[6] together with the nature of the symptoms entirely nervous, induced him to change his sentiments,[7]" and to conclude, that the poison must be conveyed by a medium of much greater quickness, which could be no other than the animal spirits.

[6] Philosophical transactions N 399.

[7] Introduction to the last edition of the essays on poisons, page 12.

From hence our author is led to prefix to the last edition of this performance, an inquiry into the existence and nature of this imperceptible fluid, with which we have been but very imperfectly acquainted. He has also added several new experiments, tending to confirm this theory, and explain the properties of the viperine venom, particularly by venturing to _taste_ it; at the same time he has likewise contradicted some of those he had formerly made, whereby he had been induced to believe, this poison partook of a degree of acidity: for instance, he formerly a.s.serted that he had seen this sanies, "as an acid, turn the blue tincture of _heliotropium_, to a red colour;[8]" whereas his more modern trials convinced him, it produced no alteration at all.

[8] Second edition of those essays, page 10.

The essays on the _tarantula_ and _mad dog_, are likewise considerably enlarged in the last impression; especially the latter, in which is now comprehended a regular and elegant history of the symptoms attending the bite of this enraged animal, the reason of the consequent _hydrophobia_, and more extensive directions for the cure: also an accurate description of the _lichen cinereus terrestris_, its efficacy, and manner of acting. A composition of equal parts of this plant and black pepper, was inserted, at our author's desire, into the London dispensatory, in the year 1721, under the t.i.tle of _pulvis antilyssus_, which he afterwards altered by using two parts of the former, and only one of the latter, as it now stands: in 1735 he also recommended the use of this medicine in a loose sheet, int.i.tled, _a certain cure for the bite of a mad dog_.

In treating of poisonous minerals, exclusive of what is added concerning mercurial unctions, our author has given a new a.n.a.lysis of the antient and modern _a.r.s.enic_; and his essay on deliterious plants, has afforded him an opportunity of enquiring into the _cicuta_, so much in use of old for killing, especially at Athens, and which is said to have been administered to _Socrates_ in consequence of his condemnation. To this he has likewise subjoin'd an appendix, concerning the mischievous effects of the simple water distilled from the _lauro-cerasus_, or common laurel, which were first observed some years since in _Ireland_, where, for the sake of its flavour, it was frequently mixed with brandy.--His observations upon venemous exhalations, are not less extended, nor ought the, as well useful as ornamental, plates added to this last edition, to pa.s.s unnoticed, particularly, "The anatomical description of the parts in a viper, and in a rattlesnake, which are concerned in their poison," by our great anatomist the learned and ingenious Dr. Nichols.

In 1703 Dr. _Mead_ communicated to the royal society, a letter published in Italy in 1687 (a copy of which he met with in the course of his travels) from Dr. Bonomo to Seignor Redi, containing some observations concerning the worms of human bodies;[9] whereby it is intended to prove, that the disease, we call the itch, proceeds merely from the biting of these animalcules: this opinion is espoused by our author in one of his latest performances,[10] wherein therefore he directs only _topical_ applications for the cure of this troublesome disease.

[9] An abstract of part of this letter was inserted in the before-cited number of the philosophical transactions. Vid.

supra p. 10.

[10] Monita & praecepta medica, p. 211, &c.

The proofs our young physician had already given of literary merit, recommended him soon after the above-mentioned communication, to a seat among that learned body; in the same year he was also elected one of the physicians of St. Thomas's hospital, and was employed by the surgeons company to read anatomical lectures at their hall, which he continued to do for some years.

In 1704 appeared his treatise _de imperio solis ac lunae in corpora humana, & morbis inde oriundis_. At this time the Newtonian system of philosophy, from whence our author had chiefly deduced his reasonings upon this abstruse subject, were neither thoroughly understood, nor universally received: nevertheless whatever cavils were raised against his hypothesis, it was generally admitted, that his observations had their uses in practice.

The doctor thought proper to revise this juvenile production, and to give a new edition of it in 1748; when he not only altered the disposition of some of the _old_, but also introduced more than a little _new_ matter into that work: particularly he has placed some mathematical points in a clearer light, than they before appeared; he has entered into the discussion of "a difficult question, which has raised great contention among philosophers: viz. whereas water is more than eight hundred times heavier than air, how does it happen, that the latter when replete with watery vapours, depresses the mercury in the barometer; so that its fall is an indication of rain?[11]" he has also enquired into "the weight of the atmosphere on a human body, and its different pressure at different times;[12]" and he has ill.u.s.trated and confirmed the medicinal part by several additional observations and cases, that promise real utility to the practice of physic. To the whole is now first adjoined a corollary tending to strengthen his reasonings upon the subject, by observations of the effects of storms on the human body; wherein, from the case of a lady who was seized in an instant with a _gutta serena_, (that rendered her totally blind) on the night of the great storm which happened in 1703, he is led to give a distinct account of the cause and cure of that melancholly distemper. This work is also remarkably distinguished by many curious observations our author received from his ingenious preceptor in the art of healing, Dr. _Pitcairne_.

[11] Stack's translation of the influence of the sun and moon, p. 21.

[12] Ibid. p. 30.

Our author's distinguished genius for, and sedulous attention to the interests of his profession, procured him an acquisition of farther honours, as well as recommended him to the patronage of the most eminent of the faculty: in 1707 his _Paduan diploma_ for doctor of physick, was confirmed by the university of Oxford; in 1716 he was elected fellow of the college of physicians, and served all the offices of that learned body, except that of president, which he declined when offered to him in 1744. Radcliff, the most followed physician of his day, in a particular manner espoused Dr. Mead, and in 1714, upon the death of the former, the latter succeeded him in his house, and the greater part of his practice; some years before which, he had quitted Stepney, and had resided in Austin Fryars.

Party-principles were far from influencing his attachments; though he was himself a zealous whig, he was equally the intimate of _Garth_, _Arbuthnot_, and _Friend_: his connections, more especially, with the latter, are manifested not only in their mutual writings, (of which, more hereafter) but in that when Dr. _Friend_ was committed a prisoner to the Tower in 1723, upon a suggestion of his being concerned in the practices of Bishop _Atterbury_ against the government, Dr. _Mead_ became one of his securities to procure his enlargement.

In 1719, an epidemic fever made great ravages at Ma.r.s.eilles; and tho'

the French physicians were very unwilling to admit, this disease to have been of foreign extraction or contagious; yet our government wisely thought it necessary, to consider of such measures as might be the most likely to prevent our being visited by so dangerous a neighbour; or in failure thereof, to put an early stop to the progress of the infection. Dr. _Mead_, whose deserved reputation may not unjustly be said to have merited that mark of distinction, was consulted on these critical and important points, by command of their excellencies, the lords justices of the kingdom, in his majesty's absence: how equal he was to this momentous talk, sufficiently appears from the discourse he published on that occasion: the approbation this performance met with, may be estimated from the reception it universally found; seven impressions were sold of it in the s.p.a.ce of one year, and in the beginning of 1722, the author gave an eighth, to which he prefixed a long preface, particularly calculated to refute what had been advanced in _France_, concerning the absence of contagion in the malady that had afflicted them: he also now added a more distinct description of the plague, and its causes; and confirmed the utility of the measures he had recommended, for preventing its extension, from examples of good success, where the same had been put in practice: to these he has likewise annexed, a short chapter relating to the cure of this deplorable affliction.--In 1744, this work was carried to a ninth edition, wherein, to use the doctor's own expression, he has "here and there added some new _strokes_ of reasoning, and, as the painters say, retouched the _ornaments_, and heightened the _colouring_ of the _piece_." Here it may not be improper to take notice, that it is in this last impression of his _discourse on the plague_, that our author appears to have first adopted his theory of the properties and affections of the _nervous fluid_, or _animal spirits_, upon which he has also founded his latter reasonings on the subject of poisons, as well as in respect to the influence of the sun and moon on human bodies.

In 1723, Dr. _Mead_ was appointed to speak the anniversary Harveian oration, before the members of the college of physicians, when, ever studious of the honour of his profession, he applied himself to wipe off the obloquy, thought to be reflected upon it, by those who maintained the _practice_ of _physic_ at _Rome_, to have been confined to _slaves_ or _freed-men_, and not deemed worthy the attention of an _old Roman_: which oration was made publick in 1724, and to it was annexed, _a dissertation upon some coins, struck by the_ Smyrnaeans, _in honour of physicians_.[13]

[13] Dissertatio de nummis quibusdam, a _Smyrnaeis_, in medicorum honorem, percussis.

This publication was smartly attacked by Dr. _Conyers Middleton_ in 1726,[14] who was replied to by several, and particularly, as it is said, by Dr. _John Ward_, professor of _rhetoric_ in _Gresham College_. This gentleman was supposed by his opponent, to have been employed by Dr. _Mead_, who did not chuse to enter personally, into this little-important debate; upon which presumption, Dr. _Middleton_ published a defence of his former dissertation in the succeeding year;[15] wherein he treats his respondents with no little contempt.[16] The merits of this dispute are not intended to be here discussed, but it may not be amiss to observe, that however displeased Dr. _Middleton_ may have been with his antagonists; in a work published several years after, he speaks of our author in the most respectful manner. In treating of an antique picture, he says, he believes it to be the first, and only one of the sort ever brought to _England_, "_donec_ Meadius _noster, artis medicae decus, qui vita revera n.o.bilis, vel principibus in republica viris, exemplum praebet, pro eo, quo omnibus fere praestat artium veterum amore, alias postea quasdam, & splendidiores, opinor, Roma quoque deportandas curavit_."[17]

[14] In a piece ent.i.tled, _De medicorum apud veteres_ Romanos _degentium conditione dissertatio; contra viros celeberrimos_ Jac. Sponium & Rich. Meadium, M.D.D. _Servilem atque ign.o.bilem eam fuisse ostenditur_, published in the fourth volume of his works, p. 179.

[15] Dissertationis, &c. contra _anonymos_ quosdam _notarum brevium, responsionis_ atque _animadversionis_ auctores, desensio, ibid. p. 207.

[16] Speaking of the answer ascribed to Dr. _Ward_, Dr.

_Middleton_ says, _quamvis enim nomen suum celavisset, sensi tamen hominem e_ rhetorum turba _conductum esse oportere; cui scilicet generi concessum novimus, omnia_ tragice ornare, augere, ementiri: _is mihi solum scrupulus restabat, quod in ejus quidem sermone, nihil plane, quod_ rhetorem oleret, _nihil venustatis, nihil ornatus, sed inculta potius omnia nec satis latina invenirem_.

_Hujusmodi itaque scriptorem, haud magis quam alterum illum (cui neutiquam sane eum anteserendam censeo) cogitatione ulla mea aut animadversione dignum judica.s.sem; ni hanc potissimum hominem a_ clarissimo Meadio _ad hoc_ respondendi munus _delectum; librumque ipsum_ ejusdem cura & sumptibus _in lucem emissam; amicisque suis_ manu propria inscriptum & dono a Meadio ipso missum _intellixissem_.

[17] Germana quaedam antiquitatis erudita monumenta, &c. first published in 1745, and inserted in the before-cited volume of his works, p. 2.

In respect to this controversy, our author's _eulogist_[18] takes notice that there is reason to believe, that Dr. _Mead_ himself had some thoughts of more determinately explaining or confirming his sentiments upon this subject, in a work which he left unfinished, and which was designed to have been int.i.tled, _medicina vetus collect.i.tia ex auctoribus antiquis non medicis_.

[18] The ingenious Dr. _Maty_, who in his _journal britannique_ (a work not less useful than entertaining) for the months of _July_ and _August_ 1754, has inserted a piece, which he t.i.tles, _eloge du docteur Richard Mead_, composed, as himself takes notice, from materials communicated to him by Mr. _Birch_; to which piece these memoirs are obliged for some anecdotes relating to our learned author.