1758. Account of Dr. MEAD's Phyfical Admonitions. 223 A and unblemished; nor once in the hour of proper vehicles. Therefore the divine Au- N. B. The number of liverymen who polled at the former election of chamberlain was 6646, and at this laft election 4312. The learned Dr. Mead baving lately published a Book in Latin, called Phyfical Admonitions and Precepts, we shall give our Readers the Subftance of the Introduction and Conclufion, because they are of a general Concern; and indeed the Whole deferves a Place in the Study of every one that can purcbafe it, because the Doctor expreffes bimfelf fo clearly, and bis Precepts are fo plain, that they may be underflood even by thofe abo underftand norbing of Phyfick. His Introduction is in Substance as follows, viz. BE EFORE I begin to describe those diseases to which our body is liable, it will be worth while briefly to premise fomething of what it is when in full health and vigour. But this admirable engine ftill wants a first-mover, as it cannot move itself. Therefore the foul is appointed as its governor and director, and is the first cause of all our motions and fenfations; for whether it exifts in the head, as in its palace, or whether it exifts in no particular, but in every part of the body, as was maintained by Xenocrates, the disciple of Plato, it rules and governs us in every thing. Our motions, however, as well as our fenfations, are both internal and external: To the former are fubjected not only our vital parts, fuch as the heart, the lungs, the ftomach and intestines, but Moreover, the phyfical authors ufually put a very notable difference between the motions of our vital parts, and those of the other parts of the body: The former, after they have in our earliest infancy begun, they fuppofe do perfift, and necessarily continue, whether we will or no; but that the latter are directed by the judgment of Dthe mind, according as things happen. But in this they judge amifs, being deceived by this, that the former, without our being confcious of it, are obferved to continue thro' the whole courfe of life, without any fenfible interruption; yet nevertheless, if this affair be strictly examined, it will very clearly appear, that these vital Emotions do not feem to be free from the government of the mind, for any other reason, but because by immemorial custom we perform them fo readily and with fo little attention, that even tho' we would we cannot eafily ftop or reftrain them from executing their feveral functions. Something of this kind we experience, as often as we fhut our eyes, whether we will or no, upon turning them towards the rays of the fun, or any thing else that hurts them; and yet no one doubts of this motion's being made at the command of the mind. This I could prove and, illuftrate by many other examples; but it would be too tedious, and therefore I chuse rather to recommend to the reader a treatise pubGlished by that learned physician Porterfield, who has fo clearly elucidated this matter as to put it out of all doubt. If one would therefore form to himself a true idea of the human body, he ought to conceive in his mind a certain fort of F hydraulick machine constructed with the niceft art, in which there are innumerable canals fitted and accommodated for carrying fluids of divers kinds. Of these the chief is the blood, from whence are derived fluids which ferve for the different offices and purposes of life; particularly, that called the animal spirits, which being generated in the brain, and indued with a most extraordinary elaftick force, are the efficient caufe of all our motions and fenfations; neither of which offices they could reiform, if they were not contained in But this power of the mind appears in no cafe more manifeftly than in fevers, especially those that are called peftilential; for 224 The admirable Structure of our BODIES. for in thefe we may obferve, that the mind May Geometricians have long endeavoured to contrivé a machine, that should always of itself continue in motion, which they call a perpetuum mobile; but having never fucceeded to their with, they have hitherto laboured in vain. For in fuch machines fomething of the momentum of motion muft every instant be loft, as it neceffarily yields to, and is gradually diminished by the friction of the parts themfelves; therefore it is neceffary, that it should be perpetually restored. For this reafon it is alone the omnipotent Author of all things, that can bring fuch a machine to perfection: He refolved that our bodies fhould be fuch a machine, and he difpofed its several B powers in fuch a manner, that there should be a fort of circulation among them, by which at the fame time that they perform their refpective functions, they always mutually restore each other. In this manner care is taken, when the whole machine is in danger; but it fometimes happens to be neceffary to take care of a particular part, and even then the mind is never wanting in its duty; for if any particular part be by chance viliated, left it should be oppreffed, and fink under too great a weight, nature has fo provided, that the blood and other fluids may find a paffage thro' the neighbouring canals. This is brought about by that wonderful formation of the body, by which the little tubes for the paffage of the fluids are fo intricately interwoven among themselves, C and every where so spread, that the blood may país not only from vein to vein, but from the fmallest arteries into others; therefore this artificial difpofition is chiefly apparent where obftructions are moft to be feared, fuch as the head, the lower part of the belly, and thofe long windings of the ducts which are adjoining to the genitals. And fuch a conftruction of our fabrick D is the more neceffary, because, even tho' no difcafe fhould happen, yet the cuftomary motions of the body fometimes require, that the fluids fhould be carried thro' (ome of the ducts more freely than thro' others; from whence it happens, that in different forts of men, by reafon of their different employments, the fame E blood veffels are wider or narrower, according as they are more or less dilated by the perpetual motions of the fluids: So the wine-bibbers have the arteries of the bead, and the luftful those of the genitals, larger, than fober perfons, or perfons less given to venery. F To thefe I may add, that it can hardly otherwife be, but that the texture of the animal parts, tho' moft convenient for life, fhould now and then meet with fome fhocks; much in the fame manner as in the frame of the world it fometimes neceffarily happens, that in fome places there fhould be ftorms of thunder and lightning, hurricanes, inundations, peftilences, and fuch like calamities. But as the fupreme G Governor of the world reftrains and circumfcribes thefe laft evils, according as the nature of things requires, fo for those to which our little world is fubje&t he has provided proper remedies. From hence it is manifeft, that the ani mal machine is not formed by piece-meal, but all at once; for it is impoffible, that this circle of motions which depend upon each other, should be performed, if any of their utenfils were wanting. For example; let me afk, how the heart could contract itself, in order to expel the blood, without the help of the animal spirits and they again could not be produced without the brain. The fame question may be afked with respect to every other principal part. Thofe animalcules therefore, that by the help of microfcopes, are found to be fwimming in femine mafculino, are really little children, which being received into the female womb, are there cherished, as if it were in their neft, where they increafe, and are brought forth in due time. Therefore Hippocrates of old justly said, That in a body there is no firft part, but every part is both firft and laft. To what I have already faid, I shall only add, that every animal machine is of fuch a nature, that there is a fort of infinity in its conftituent parts; fo that as far as we can observe, we find the parts proceeding in fibres fo infinitely fmall, that tho' affifted by the best microscopes; and they escape the obfervation of our fenfes, if it were otherwife, the nourishment could not be diftributed thro' the whole body, nor could the functions of life be performed. Upon the whole therefore, a regular motion of the fluids, and a proper state of the folids, is what conftitutes health; and the deviations of thefe are diseases, which being almoft innumerable, and one often begetting another, it may seem to be almost a miracle, fhould any animal body reach to extreme old age. And from hence, furely, we may clearly fee, how extenfive the ufe of phyfick is, and how far it excels all other sciences, But 1751. RULES for the Prefervation of HEALTH. But the Almighty and Divine geometrician has formed this machine, the only one that has perpetual motion, fo as to laft for a longer or shorter time, according to the different circumftances of the animals; for that this body of ours fhould for ever remain alive, is impoffible; because the membranous fibres of the canals, by which A the blood is conveyed, and which we have faid to be indued with an elastick force, for pushing forward the liquor inclofed, grow harder and more fiff; from whence they become unfit for their proper uses, and the fecretions of the fluids in the feveral parts are by little and little diminished. Befides, the emitting of the ufelets fluids by perfpiration through the fmall pores of B the fkin, which is abfolutely neceffary for life, grows in old age infufficient, as has been demonstrated by diffecting the bodies of aged perfons; which diffections have fometimes fhewn, that the interior parts of the arteries were here and there covered with an offified fubitance, fo that they had almost quite loft the r elasticity: And far. C ther, the orifices of the natural ducts have often, in fuch cafes, been found to be grown as hard as a cartilage. Two notable examples of this fort I shall blood, William Harvey, who found all the E F The other example is recorded in our Philofophical Tranfactions. The story is of a decrepid old Swiss, a miner, who died in 1723, at the age of 109 years and three months; and it was tranfmitted to us by that learned physician John Jacob Sceuchzer of Zurich. In diffecting his body the exterior coat of the spleen was found to be full of white spots, zubich at first view refembled the puftules of the small-pox, and which were altogether as hard as a cartilage, and rifing a little above the fuperficies of the rest of the G coat; the prominences of the breaft, where it joins with the ribs, were become quite offified; that tendon by which the arteries are inferted in the beart, quas either entirely offified, ar May, 1751 225 at leaft cartilaginous; the femilunar valves, efpecially of the arteria aorta, quere perfectly cartilaginous; and that membrane if the brain called the dura mater was thrice as thick as ufual, and was found to be of a fubftance like leather.. After this the doctor proceeds to explain, and to prefcribe for, the feveral difeafes incident to the human body; and concludes with fome rules for the prefervation of health; in which he obferves, that those difeafes which proceed from too much abRinence are more dangerous than thofe which proceed from repletion; because it is eafier to empty than to add. For this reafon he advifes, that to preferve health and vigour, we fhould now and then indulge a little more than usual both in eating and drinking; but excefs in drinking is fafer than excefs in eating; and if at any time we exceed in the latter, he advifes us to conclude with a draught of cold water, and even fometimes to add a little lemon juice. After eating, he fays, we ought to keep awake for fome time, and then to take a nap; and if upon any account we are to faft for a long time, we ought to avoid any fort of hard labour; nor ought we ever to faft long after a full meal, nor to eat a full meal after long fafting; neither ought we to go to immediate reft after very hard labour, nor run into violent exercife after long reft; therefore all changes ought to be made by little and little. Our kind of life ought likewife, he fays, to be variegated; fometimes in thec ountry, fometimes in town, fometimes navigating, fometimes hunting, and fometimes refting, but more frequently exercifing; because fluggishness weakens, but exercife ftrengthens the body. But in all these things a medium is to be obferved, for we ought not to fatigue too much, or exercife too frequently or too violently, tho' before eating we ought always to take a little exercife. Of all kinds of exercife riding, he fays, is the beft, or if too weak for that, to be carried in a coach, or at leaft in a litter or chair. Then he recommends military exercises, tennis, or cricket, and running, or walking; but old age, he fays, has often this difadvantage, that tho' exercife be neceffary for the body, it has not strength to bear it. In this cafe he recommends frequent rubbing with a flesh brush, either by one's felt, or by the help of a fervant. Then he confiders fleep, which he calls a (weet relief from our cares, and a restorer of our ftrength; but cautions us against indulging it too much, because it then ftupifies our fenfes, and renders them unfit for the common offices of life. Night he recommends as the fittest time for fleeping, FI because 226 An old MAID's APOLOGY. because of its da knefs and filence; efpecially for the ftudious, whose minds and bodies are more liable to injuries.. As to food, he recommends the tender and lighter fort for children, and the ftronger for thofe of riper years; but old people, he fays, ought to diminish their quantity of food, and increase that of their drink. A Something, however, is to be allowed for custom, especially in cold climates, such as this, where the appetite is keener, and the digeftion easier. Lafly, he confiders copulation, as to which, he fays, nature may be indulged by the youthful and vigorous, but ought never even by them to be provoked; and old ple ought to be particularly careful not to cut fhort their thread of life, by making a pain of a pleafure. peo And for the comfort of the poor, he concludes with comparing their condition with that of the rich; upon which he gives the preference to the former, unless the latter be accompanied with, and governed by great prudence. From the Rambler, May 7. I May ftanding. He had not any power in himfelf of pleasing or amufing, but fupplied his want of converfation by treats and diverfions; and his chief act of courtship was to fill the mind of his mistress with parties, rambles, mufick, and shows. We were often engaged in fhort excurfions to gardens and feats, and I was for a while pleafed with the care which Venuftulus dif covered, in fecuring me from any appearance of danger, or poffibility of mifchance. He never failed to recommend caution to his coachman, or to promise the waterman a reward if he landed us fafe, and his great care was always to return by daylight for fear of robbers. This extraordinary folici. Btude was reprefented for a time as the effect of his tenderness for me; but fear is too strong for continued hypocrify. I foon difcovered that Venuftulus had the cowardife as well as the elegance of a female. His imagination was perpetually clouded with terrors, and he could fcarcely refrain from fcreams and outcries at any accidental furC prize. He durft not enter a room where a rat was heard behind the wainscoat, nor crofs a field where the cattle were frifking in the funshine; the least breeze that waved upon the river was a storm, and every clamour in the ftreet was a cry of fire. I have feen him lofe his colour when my squirrel had broke his chain, and was forced to throw water in his face on the fudden entrance of a black cat. I was once obliged to drive away with my fan a beetle that kept him in diftress, and chide off a dog that yelped at his heels, to whom he would gladly have given up me to facilitate his own efcape. Women naturally expect defence and protection from a lover or a husband, and therefore you will not think me culpable in refusing a wretch, who would have burthened life with unnecessary fears, and flown to me for that fuccour, which it was his duty to have given. Ꭰ T is not very difficult to bear that condition to which we are not condemned by neceffity, but induced by observation and choice; and therefore 1, perhaps, have never yet felt all the malignity, with which a reproach edged with the appellation of old maid (wells in fome of thofe hearts, in which it is infixed. I was not condemned in my youth to folitude, either by neceffity or want, nor piffed the earlier part of life without the flattery of courtship, and the joys of triumph. I have danced the round E of gaiety amidst the murmurs of envy and gratulations of applaufe, been attended from pleafure to pleafure by the great, the fprightly, and the vain, and feen my regard folicited by the obfequiousness of gallantry, the gaiety of wit, and the timidity of love. If, therefore, I am yet a stranger to nuptial happiness, I fuffer only the con My next lover was Fungofo, the fon of a flockjobber, whofe vifits my friends, by the importunity of perfuafion, prevailed upon me to allow. Fungofo was indeed no very fuitable companion, for having been fequences of my own refolves, and can look F bred in a counting-houfe, he fpoke a lan bick upon the fucceffion of lovers, whofe addreffes I have rejected, without grief, and without malice. When my name firft began to be inferibed upon glaffes, I was honoured with the amorous profeffions of the gay Venustulus, a gentleman, who, being the only son of a wealthy family, had been educated in all G the wantonnefs of expence, and foftness of effeminacy. He was beautiful in his perfon, and eafy in his addrefs, and, therefore, foon gained upon my eye at an age when it is very little overuled by the under guage unintelligible in any other place. He had no defire of any reputation but that of an acute prognofticator of the changes in the funds; nor had any means of raifing merriment, but by telling how somebody was over-reached in a bargain by his father. He was, however, a youth of great fobriety and prudence, and frequently informed us how carefully he would improve my fortune. I was not in hafte to conclude the match, but was fo much awed by my parents, that I durft not difmifs him, and might, perhaps, have been doomed for ever to 1751. EXTRACT from the SCRIBLERIA D. to the groffnefs of ignorance, and the jargon of ufury, had not a fraud been difcovered in the fettlement, wh.ch fet me free from the perfecution of grovelling pride and pecuniary impudence. I was afterwards fix months without any particular notice, but at last became the idol of the glitrering Flofculus, who prescribed A the mode of embroidery to all the fops of his time, and varied at pleasure the cock of every hat, and the fleeve of every coat that appeared in fashionable affemblies. Flofculus made fome impreffion upon my heart by a compliment which few ladies can hear without emotion; he commended my skill in drefs, my judgment in fuiting colours, and my art in difpofing ornaments. But Flofculus was too much engaged by his own elegance, to be fufficiently attentive to the duties of a lover. He expected to be repaid part of his tribute, and ftaid away three days because I neglected to take notice of a new coat, I foon found that Flofculus was ra. ther a rival than an admirer, and that we hould probably live in a perpetual struggle C of emulous finery, and spend our lives in ftratagems to be firft in the fashion. I had foon after the honour, at a feast, of attracting the eyes of Dentatus, one of thofe human beings whofe only happiness is to dine. Dentatus regaled me with foreign varieties, told me of measures that he had laid for procuring the best cook in France, and entertained me with bills of fare, the arrangement of dishes, and two fauces invented by himself; at length, fuch is the uncertainty of human happiness, I declared my opinion too hastily upon a pie made under his own direction; after which he grew fo cold and negligent, that he was eafily difmiffed. B 227 Argument of the Fourth Book of the SCRI- HE queen appearing to Scriblerus, as TH he lies in a fwoon, informs him that all his misfortunes are owing to the murder of the Acroftich, for whofe death he must make atonement, and celebrate games to his memory. The heroe returns to the violated ifland, and fubmiffively fues for peace. Then follow the games. Scriblerus establishes a lafting friendship with the iflanders, and retires loaded with prefents. He purfues his courfe up the Red Sea, and travels over the defart to Cairo. He briefly touches his journey from thence in quest of the petrified city, and concludes with his affliction for the loss of his treasures. The pilgrims condol ng with him thereon, are interrupted by an omen which they interpret in his favour; then praying for his fuccefs, and prefenting him with the most valuable of their treasures, they depart. We felect the following lines in the games, for the fake of the note. Once more, I thus bespoke th'attentive Advance the skilful marksmen on the plain, High on the fummit of yon lofty hill, E Many other lovers, or pretended lovers, I have had the honour to lead a while in triumph. But two of them I drove from me by difcovering that they had no taste or knowledge in mufick; three I difmiffed because they were drunkards; two, because they paid their addreffes at the fame time to other ladies; and fix, because they attempted to influence my choice by bribing F my maid. Two more I difcarded at the fecond vifit for obfcene allufions, and five for drollery on religion. In the latter part of my reign I sentenced two to perpetual exile, for offering me fettlements by which the children of a former marriage would have been injured; four, for misrepresenting the value of their eftates; three, for concealing their debts; and one, for raif. ing the rent of a decrepit tenant. After all that I have faid, the reproach ought not to be extended beyond the crime, nor either fex to be condemned, because fome women er men are indelicate or difhoneft. This radiant ftore of matchlefs butterflies. Such representations on the fides of hills are not uncommon. We have a remarkable defcription of one by a learned antiquary, in a letter to Dr. Mead, concerne ing fome antiquities in Berkshire, particularly fhewing, that the white horse, which gives name to the vale, is a monument, &c. "Our horfe is formed on the fide of a fteep hill. His dimenfions are extended over an acre of ground, or thereabouts. The horse, at first view, is enough to raise the admiration of every curious spectator, being defigned in fo master-like a manner, that it may defy the painter's fkill to give a more exact defcription of that animal. The neighbouring inhabitants have a cuf tom of fcouring the horse, as they call it ; at which time a folemn feftival is celebrated, and manlike games with prizes exhibitGed. If ever the genius of king Alfred ex erted itself (and it never failed him in his greatest exigencies) it did remarkably upon the account of this trophy, that may hereaf ter vie with the pyramids for duration, and perhaps exift when thefe fhall be no more." Ffa |