the imperfections that are to be met with there are a great many Candid Ingenious men who will make as favourable a construction of this as they have done of my former Undertakings And if men of Candor are but pleased I care not what the envious Criticks say Villers-street York-Buildings May 1. 1698. JO. Colbatch A Relation of a very sudden and extraordinary Cure of a Person Bitten by a Viper by the means of Acids ON Saturday March the twenty sixth one Mr. Stringer a Chymist in Villers-street in York-buildings was seeing a Collection of Rarities which were exposed to publick view in Stocks-market amongst other things there was a live Viper Kept in a Glass of Bran. The person who shew'd the Collection upon some inducement or other took the Viper out of the Glass to shew Mr. Stringer but handling him more rudely than he ought to have done enraged the Viper and he bit him by the Finger and from the place into which the Tooth entred there issued forth a few drops of Blood it was just above the upper joynt of the fore Finger where the Tooth entred At first the man whose name is Philipson made nothing of it but in a little time his Finger swelled and pained him exceedingly upon which by the direction of somebody a Hot Iron first and afterwards Venice Treacle and Oyl of Vipers were applied to the part but the symptoms not abating by these methods Mr. Stringer advised him to seek out for further help he perceiving that Mr. Stringer had some knowledg of the matter desired his assistance upon which Mr. Stringer sent to Mr. Francis Molt a Chymist for some Salt of Vipers but Mr. Molt not being at home and that not being to be had he sent to another place for some dulcified Spirit of Niter a large quantity of which he gave him in Claret and with the rest he embrocated his Finger and Hand which at the present afforded him some relief he being then in extream Agonies and had such a trembling in his Hand and Arm as is scarce conceivable But in a little time the symptoms returning the dulcified Spirit of Niter not being powerful enough to overcome so subtile a Poison Mr. Stringer again pressed him to seek for further help upon which he told Mr. Stringer that he had a Brother in Pal Mal who was an Apothecary to whom he would apply himself for assistance and advice so to his Brother he went in a Coach Mr. Stringer accompanying him When he came to his Brothers the symptoms were so aggravated that his Brother was under very great concern for him and proposed sending for Dr. Sloane and several others but Mr. Stringer mentioning me he readily assented to take my advice in the matter upon which they got into the Coach and drove to Mr. Stringer's House by which time the man was grown so weak that he could scarce stand After they had gotten him into a Room they sent for me but I not being at home Mr. Stringer sent for Mr. Alexander Small a Surgeon in New Round Court a young Man of great Honesty and Industry and one whom I frequently imploy Mr. Small having never seen any thing of the like nature before was at a stand what to do he first of all thought of scarifying the Finger but when he considered that the Tumor had extended it self even to his Shoulder in which part he had very acute Pains and from the other symptoms that attended him concluding the Poison had dilated it self through the whole mass of Blood he altered his first resolution and instead of scarification made use of the following method Before I give an account of which I shall take notice of his circumstances as they were related to me by Mr. Small Mr. Stringer and Mr. Philipson Apothecary the man's Brother His Hand and Arm as is before related were extreamly swelled and inflamed and full of pain but the pain in his Finger where the Bite was and that in his Shoulder did much exceed the pain in other parts he had a great Vertigo or Giddiness a Deliquium Animi or Faintness even to such a degree that he could scarce sit without being held in the Chair an extraordinary and violent Strangury also attending him with cold sweats and great disorders in his Stomach and Bowels and his Countenance turned extreamly Yellow and stretched out almost as dead Mr. Small and Mr. Stringer provided a good quantity of my Elixir Vitrioli an account of which and its preparation may be met with in the second Edition of my Essay of Alkaly and Acid. With this Elixir Mr. Small embrocated the Fingers Hand and Wrist for near half an hour together and two or three times in the said space he dipped the end of the bitten Finger in plain Oyl of Vitriol in the interim he gave him two or three Drams or more of the Elixir Vitrioli inwardly in a large quantity of water when the man finding a great propensity to vomit Mr. Small advised him to put his Fingir in his Throat and help it forwards after he had vomited plentifully Mr. Small plied him afresh with the Elixir Vitrioli in water the quantity he took after his vomiting Mr. Small guesseth to be near if not quite half an ounce In less than half an hour after Mr. Small came to him all the symptoms except the swelling of his Hand and Arm and that was sensibly lessened were totally vanished and he able to walk from York-buildings to the Grecian Coffee-house in Essex-buildings to find me out to desire my further directions in the matter Now the violence of the symptoms being abated and gone I prescribed him more temperate Acids than those he had before taken and that had been applied to the affected parts â„ž Fol. Rutae Contus manip Duos Rad. Angelicae Hispan pul Unc. Duas Micar Panis Albi Unc. quatuor Aceti Acerrimi lib. duas coquantur ad debitam consistentiam cui adde Ol. Scorpion Unc. duas M. f. Cataplasma â„ž Elix Vitrioli Dracm. Duas Sp. Vini Rect. Unc. Duas m. f. Mixtura â„ž Fol. Rutae Manip Unum Rad. Serpentariae Virgin Dracm. sex Angel Hispan Unc. Unam Petasitidis Unc. Unam semis Vini Albi Aceti Acerrimi ana lib. Unam Infunde calide per horam coletur Sig. the Infusion â„ž Ol. Vitrioli Dul. per digest fact Unc. semis Sig. Dulcified Oyl of Vitriol I ordered the man to go to his Lodging which was in Black Fryars and because his Brother could not get the forementioned things ready under three or four hours I advised him as soon as he came home to take three ounces of Treacle Water in my opinion one of the best Medicines in the London Dispensatory and as soon as he had taken it to go to Bed I ordered that the Cataplasm should be applied warm to the Hand and Arm as far as the swelling reacht every six hours and before the application of the Cataplasm that the parts should be well
embrocated with the Mixture Of the Infusion he took four Ounces every four hours Whenever he was thirsty I advised him to take twenty Drops of the Dulcified Oyl of Vitriol in a draught of White Wine and Water One Sunday morning about eleven a Clock I went to visit him and when I came to his Lodgings I found Dr. Sloan with him the Doctor said the method that had been used was new but that the Man was in a very good condition and out of all danger He had slept well the whole night and was not in the least Feverish neither had he the least disorder upon him only a very small pain in his Finger the swelling of his Hand and Arm being greatly abated I ordered the continuing of his former method the which I had no reason to vary But Dr. Sloan proposed that if his Infusion should make him puke as it once had done then in the room of it he should at the same intervals take half a dram of Virginian Snake Root in pouder drinking afterwards two or three ounces of treacle-Treacle-water sweetned with Syrup of Gilliflowers the which I consented to it no way thwarting the Methods that had before been taken At night I visited him again and then found him as brisk and well as if nothing had ailed him the Infusion had not disagreed with him and therefore he took not the Powder of Snake Root but I mixed the treacle-Treacle-water and Syrup of Gilliflowers with the remaining part of the Infusion and ordered him to take four ounces of it morning and evening only so long as it lasted The next day I visited him again when I found him up and eating his Dinner very heartily I then ordered him to continue the use of the Cataplasm so long as he found the least swelling in any part and then dismissed him from my care there not being any more need of my further attendance A small swelling of his Finger continued for some time after but without trouble or pain I believe I may without vanity say that considering the symptoms that attended this man which were as severe as possible and he survive it there has not been a more extraor-dinary Cure wrought nor such symptoms raised upon such an occasion ever taken off in so short a space Now did the poison of Vipers consist in a Volatil Acid as some would make us believe how is it possible for any one to conceive that ever these dreadful Symptoms could be so soon taken off by giving more Acids and that in so extravagant a quantity as they were at first given by Mr. Stringer and Mr. Small Nay had the Poyson been an Acid it is very reasonable to believe that the more Acids they had given him the more his Symptoms would have been aggravated Whereas on the contrary it plainly appears that by the repeated large quantities that they gave him the Symptoms were so soon abated that it is almost past belief I cannot but observe that in the strange relation that Dr. Stubbs gives of the severe Symptoms that attended the man at VVarwick that was bitten with an Adder the only thing that put him out of danger of losing his life was the Mixtura simplex that was given him which is a most noble Acid but this man had not the Mixtura simplex given him in such quantities or in any proportion to the Acids that Mr. Philipson took neither was his Cure either so expeditious or so easie as may be seen in Dr. Stubbs's relation of that matter The hot Iron was equally useless in this as in that Case and I am apt to believe doth never do any service at all unless applied at the very instant of time that the bite is received Mr. Philipson did suck his Finger as soon as he was bit and to that a certain Physitian attributes a great deal and says it help'd to expedite the Cure Whereas there are several Authors of undoubted credit who have given relations of persons that have died by so doing And if this man had sucked out any great quantity of the Poison with his mouth how came the whole Hand and Arm to be so immediately affected in so dreadful a manner Lemery in his Course of Chymistry does confess that the Viper doth abound more with Volatile Alkalious Salts than most other Creatures and assigns a very good reason for it viz. from the extraordinary closeness of the Cutaneous Pores by which means they do not perspire so freely as other Creatures do Nay he confesseth that their Poison consisteth in the emission of a very great quantity of Volatile Salts at the time of their being enraged or angred but then to square himself with the vulgar Opinion he tells us that these Volatile Alkalious Salts are instantaneously at the time of their emission during the time of the Vipers short rage turned into Acids of the most volatile nature this is such Jargon that nothing can be imagined like it The transmutation of Metals even to those who are the greatest enemies to it is a mere jest to it If we look into Moses Charras his account of the German that was bit at his house after all the pother that he makes about his Volatile Salt of Vipers yet the Cure of that man was not performed without a great deal of hazard and trouble and the intermixture of a great many other Medicines besides that of the Volatile Salt and those even Acids too as Treacle-water and slices of Citrons with Sugar but these Acids could not so effectually operate as otherwise it 's probable they would have done by reason of their being obtunded by the Volatile Salt that was so frequently given him But Hoffman in his Clavis Pharmaceut Schroderi pag. 45 46. as I have elsewhere observed doth wholly attribute the Cure of this man to the Juice of Citrons after all other things had proved ineffectual and ridicules Charras for feigning the Poison to be an Acid For if this were so says Hoffman how could the juice of Citrons which is an Acid afford the Patient any relief I shall conclude this subject with this one observation viz. That Physicians get more reputation by keeping their Patients a long time in hand and in continual danger of their lives than by quick and expeditious Cures As for instance One Physician has a Patient sick of a Fever he takes such a method that his Patient lies a month in continual danger and hazard but at last recovers and gets abroad he then proclaims to every body the miraculousness of the Recovery and the Danger he was in upon which enquiry is made who was the Physician he immediately replies the Famous Doctor such a one and if he be a Person of any Note the Physician 's work is done Another Physician has a Patient that has the very same Fever this Physician takes care to obviate all symptoms and his Patient is abroad in eight or ten days and perhaps has never been in the least hazard
their Effects they will soon grow warm 'T is evident they do not stand still but move very briskly before they are warm And what is the Heat of these Bodies occasioned by but their Fermentation or intestine Motion Surely it cannot be by Accension Remark That the Life of Man is a Flame I think I have sufficiently demonstrated before and shall here endeavour to make it somewhat more plain The Phosporus is a thing that is to be obtained from all Animal Substances and that the Phosporus is a Fire is past dispute it performing all those things that common Fire will do viz. enkindle inflammable Bodies give heat and warmth to those things that are near it afford Light in the Dark c. and yet in very many things doth differ from common Fire Now if this Fire were not actually existent in Animal Bodies how is it possible that it should be extracted from them Common Brimstone Tallow Pitch c. do abound with Sulphur and so of consequence are inflammable yet from none of these by any Artifice now known is there the least quantity of Phosporus or any thing like it to be obtained The Phosporus won't burn without a free access of Air any more than common Fire But herein is a very great difference between the Phosporus and common Fire Let any inflammable Body be never so well enkindled and afterwards the Flame or enkindled part of it immerged in water and it will instantaneously be extinguished so as not to be able to recover it self tho exposed to never so free an Air without being again applied to some enkindled Body Let a piece of Phosporus in a dark night be placed upon a sheet of Paper it will immediately or its own accord afford a Light will heat your Fingers and burn the Paper this piece of Phosporus being put into water will in all appearance be totally extinguished but tho it has lain in the Water for a whole Year upon being taken out will of it self burn c. in the same manner it did when put into the Water Upon stroking of some Cats in the dark multitudes of small flashes of Fire will follow ones hand as I have frequently experienced Now this gentle stroking can never cause so violent a Motion as you make Fire to be and indeed is unless it were actually existent in the Animal before Altho I confess Fire to be a Substance that is constantly in motion and that this motion is a very brisk one yet all brisk motion is not a Fire which from the Cartesian Hypothesis seems to be a necessary conclusion But I can assure you I know several Fluids that the more briskly they are moved the colder they are as for instance a River is always colder in that part where there is a quick Current than where the Water stands still The Air is always more or less cold according as the Motion of it is greater or less and I can assure you I have been almost starved when forced to travel in high Winds in the Winter-time at which season the Air is most full of Nitrous Particles which you own to be inflammable and behold here your Nitrous Particles in violent motion and yet a Man almost starved by them nay several have actually been so so that you may see it is not all kinds of violent motion tho of Particles inclined to take Fire that will cause a Flame So that you see I have sufficient reason to maintain my assertion that meer Motion tho never so much excited will not occasion Heat in fluid Bodies and that there is a difference in some respects between the Vital Flame and common Culinary Fire tho in many things they agree I shall here again enumerate some things wherein Animal Fire and Common Fire do agree and disagree Animal Fire won't burn without a due access of Air no more won't Common Fire Animal Fire causeth Heat and Warmth so doth Common Fire Animal Fire cannot subsist without a constant supply of sulphurious-Acid Particles neither can Common Fire subsist without a supply of the same Particles c. Animal Fire for so I call the Phosporus being immerged in Water and afterwards taken out again will regain all its properties of Light Heat c. without being applied to other enkindled Bodies This Common Fire will not do for let it be once extinguished by immersion in Water or otherwise and it is never able to recover it self I do still assert that those Bodies which are the proper Pabulum for Fire are those which are composed of Acid and Sulphur but those which abound with most Sulphur burn with the greatest violence those which abound most with Acid more slowly and some Acid Substances which have little Sulphur in them will scarce burn at all especially if much diluted with Phlegm such as Vinegar Juice of Lemons Spirit of Vitriol c. and therefore when the Heat of the Body is too intense I give those Acids which are least impregnated with Sulphur to abate the violence of the Flame when the Heat is too remiss I then give sulphurous Acids to excite the Flame You say you know but one Acid in Nature which is inflammable and that is Niter Now I do assure you it is my opinion nay I am very well able to demonstrate that most if not all the pure Acids in Nature have their origins from the Niter of the Air but pure Niter alone will scarce burn at all unless mixed with some kind of Sulphur As for fixing a particular place for the existence of the Vital Flame I did not think there was any reason for so doing but now I tell you that I suppose it is diffused through all the parts of the Body and if by accident any part is destitute of it a mortification ensues But then again you say it is a hard matter to conceive a Flame in that Body of which no part is inflammable Pray what do you think of the Oily Fat Particles contained not only in the Blood but all other parts are not they inflammable The reason why we are warmer in Bed and after violent exercise is not to be attributed to any unknown Doctrin of Fermentation but because we have a freer Perspiration at these times and so of consequence the Flame must burn more freely The Comparison you make between the Heat of the Blood and that occasioned upon the mixture of the Spirit of Harts-Horn and Spirit of Vitriol will not hold good for in the mixing of those two Liquors or in any kind of Fermentation there is a very sensible commotion and hurry in all the parts of the said Liquors whereas in the Blood of well Persons there is no such thing to be discerned I confess by the impulse of the Heart it is driven progressively from the center to the extremities to supply the necessities of the Parts but besides this progressive Motion I know no other it has all the Secretions being performed by proper