A Succinct Account of the Plague at Marseilles by Francois Chicoyneau (best romantic novels in english .txt) 📕

Different Methods that have been used towards the Infected, as they are included in the Five Classes mentioned above.

Having finish’d the preceding Relation the Tenth of November, and applying to the Magistrates to procure Writers to copy a sufficient Number, to satisfie the Desires of all the Persons who have done us the Honour to consult us on this Subject, those Gentlemen replied, that by reason they could not get Transcribers enow, they would willingly take upon themselves the Care of having it printed; so that we have accepted their Offer, being persuaded that it is the shortest and most commodious Expedient to answer to all the Consultations that we receive from all Quarters on this Subject; but having reflected that this same Relation would be of no Use but to Persons of the Faculty who are instructed and experienced in the Knowledge and Cure of Diseases, we have thought proper to add here an Abstract of the different Methods which we have made use of in treating the different Kinds of diseased Persons contained in the five Classes mentioned above; presuming that they may be of Service to the young Physicians and Surgeons that are actually engaged in looking after infected Persons in divers Places of this Province. And we are the more readily determined to give this small Instruction to the Publick; since Mons. Lebret, first President of the Parliament, and Intendant of this Province, a Gentleman zealous for its Preservation, and very active in his Assistance in this time of Calamity, has done us the Honour frequently to ask of us an exact Account of the Treatment of this Malady.

If we afford but the least Attention to the Nature of the Symptoms related in the first Class, that is to say, to the small, unequal, and concentrated Pulse; to the Shiverings; to the universal Chilliness, especially in the extreme Parts, and to the almost continual Sickness at the Stomach; to those Lead-coloured, dismal and cadaverous Faces; it will be very easy to judge, that we have nothing to do in this Case, but to prescribe the most active and generous Cordials; such as are Venice Treacle, Diascordium, the Extract of Juniper Berries, the Lilium; the Confection of Hyacinth, of Alkermes; the Elixirs drawn from Substances that abound the most in a volatile Salt; the Treacle Waters, those of Juniper Berries of Carmes; the volatile Salts of Vipers, of Armoniack, of Hartshorn; the Balms the most spirituous; in one Word, all that is capable to animate, excite and strengthen; augmenting, doubling, and even tripling their ordinary Dose, according as the Case shall be more or less pressing.

All these Remedies, and others of the same Nature, are without doubt very proper to animate and raise the almost extinguished Strength of these poor sick Persons; nevertheless we have with Grief seen almost all of them perish on a sudden, which presently confirmed us in the Opinion generally received, that the Malignity of the pestilential Ferment is of a Force superior to all Remedies; but as we have also seen them succeed in some particular Cases, there is Room to presume, and one is but too much convinced of it by fatal Experience, that the Desertion and Inactivity of the greatest Part of the People who might have given Assistance, that the Want of Nourishment, of Remedies and Attendance, that the fatal Prejudice of being seized by an incurable Distemper, that the Despair of seeing ones self abandoned without any Relief, one is, I say, well convinced that all these Causes have not less contributed than the Violence of the Disease, to the sudden Destruction of so great a Number of the Sick, not only of this first Class, but also of the following; seeing that in Proportion as this mortal Fear of the Contagion is diminished, and that one is mutually assisted, that the Hopes and Courage of the People are returned; that, in one Word, the good Order is re-established in this City by the Authority, Firmness and Vigilance of the Chevalier de Langeron, by the great Care of the Governor, and by the constant and indefatigable Endeavours of the Sheriffs; one has beheld the Progress and Violence of this terrible Scourge to diminish insensibly, and we have been more successful in curing the infected.

Returning then to the Method proposed to treat the sick Persons of this First Class, supposing that by the Remedies mentioned, we were able to revive their dying Forces, and to disengage them from the sad Condition described above, it would remain to examine with Attention the new Changes and Accidents that would arise, which according to our Observations, may be reduced to some of those we have related under the following Classes, and ought by consequence to be treated by some of the Methods which we shall now deliver.

The Treatment of the Sick of this Second Class has much more employed us than the preceding, in respect to the Multiplicity and Variety of Accidents that offer at the same time several Indications to satisfy.

All these Indications, however, may be reduced to two principal ones, which demand the greater Attention and Prudence, since they are opposite; for we have observed in the same Patient a strange mixture of Tension and Relaxation, of Shivering and Heat, of Agitation and Sinking; insomuch, that we were obliged constantly to endeavour at the expulsion of the noxious Ferments lodged in the primæ Viæ, or dispersed through the whole Mass of Blood, without exasperating them at the same time; or to correct and lessen their Action, without weakening the Patient. We ought, for Example, to vomit or purge without irritating or exhausting; to procure a free Perspiration or Sweating, without too much animating or inflaming; to fortify without augmenting the Heat contrary to Nature; lastly, to dilute and temperate without overcharging or relaxing. And this is what we have endeavoured to execute by the following Method.

Suppose that we were called at the Beginning, and before the Patient was exhausted, we should order immediately a Medicine proper to cleanse the Stomach, that is to say, a gentle Vomit, such as is the Ipecacuanha, in a Dose proportioned to the Age and Temperature of the sick Person, to be taken in a little Broth or common Water; we have seldom used the Emetick Tartar or Vinum Benedictum, for fear of too great Irritations, unless we had to do with very robust and plethorick Bodies, or that some particular Accident seemed to demand them; we promoted the Operation of the Medicine by a large quantity of warm Water, or of Tea, or a Decoction of Carduus Benedictus.

The Effect of this first Medicine being commonly a lessening of the Strength, we endeavoured to fortify, by some gentle Cordial, especially by Venice Treacle and Diascordium, by reason they are proper to prevent or stop an over-working of the Vomit.

To these two Remedies succeed moderate and diluting Catharticks, to cleanse away without irritating the Load of gross Humours which may hinder the Action of the other Medicines, or prevent their free Passage into the Vessels: These Purges are laxative Ptisans, made with Sena and Crystal Mineral, ordered in Phials; the Decoction of Tamarinds, or vulnary Infusions, wherein are dissolved Manna