THE VARIOUS KINDS OF THE HEART OR RATHER STOMACH-PAIN, CONSIDERED BY PETER VON SARN,
M. D. at Northampton.
Nemo tam Divos habuit faventes,
Crastinum ut possit Sibi polliceri.
SENECA,
Poeta,
242.
NORTHAMPTON:
Printed by CLUER DICEY; and sold by
J. Lacy,
Stationer at
Northampton; John Gregory,
at
Leicester;
Mess.
Fletcher
and
Hodson, Cambridge;
Mrs.
E. Rogers
and
W. Green, Bury St. Edmunds; W. Chase
and
Berry, Norwich; W. Eaton
and
P. Garr, Yarmouth,
&c.
THE PREFACE TO THE READER.
BEING not a Native of this Country
See
The Letter to the Impartial, Judicious, Benovolent. and Candid Reader, concerning
The Practice of Physick. Page
5.
[though I have for more than Thirteen Years past been in it] I might have written the following Treatise with greater Propriety of Style in
Latin;
but then, I apprehend, it would not have been so generally understood, and therefore, I hope the Candid Reader will overlook any Impropriety in the Language.
A PAIN of the HEART,
or rather
STOMACH, is a
Disorder
to which many of the Human Race are liable; and as it springs from such a Variety of Causes, the greatest Accuracy imaginable is required in the Composition of those Medicines that are designed for its Cure.
THE VARIOUS KINDS OF THE HEART OR RATHER STOMACH-PAIN.
SECTION I.
A
Pain
in the
Upper-Opening
or
Mouth
of the
Stomach,
where the
Oesophagus
or
Gullet
ends, &c. is generally called
Heart-Pain,
&c.
SECTION II.
THIS
Disorder
is
easily known,
but
hard
to
remove,
and consequently is none of the
least Evils
incident to
Human Bodies,
being of the Nature of those
Diseases
which affect both
Mind
and
Body.
SECT. III.
THE
immediate Cause
of this PAIN, as it may arise from different
Disorders
in the
Stomach,
cannot so easily be ascertained.
SECT. IV.
AS the
Stomach
is provided with a
Variety
of
Sinews
and
Nerves,
and so of
exquisite Sensation,
a
Pain
here must greatly affect those
Orifices
situated near the
Pit
of the
Stomach;
therefore, that the
Patient
may not be injured by
unskilful Treatment,
I shall beg Leave to offer the following
Observations,
drawn from a
long Practice.
SECT. V.
WHEN after taking any Sort of
Poison,
a
tormenting Pain
follows, let it be drawn off the
Stomach
as soon as possible by a
gentle Emetic,
drinking after the
Vomit
a Quantity of fat Mutton-Broth.
SECT. VI.
IF the
Stomach
is
overloaded,
it may be proper, if
Vomiting
does not follow, to provoke it, &c.
SECT. VII.
An
accurate Distinction
ought to be made, Whether this
Pain
comes only after
eating
and
drinking,
or whether it was felt
before;
if the
latter,
all
Vomiting,
either
voluntary
or by
Emetics,
is dangerous.
SECT. VIII.
IF a
Person
eats Things of a soft Digestion, and drinks emollient Liquors, and yet afterwards feels
Pain,
it is an Evidence that the Cause of that
Pain
is in the
Stomach,
and therefore cannot be cured by an
Emetic.
SECT. IX.
UPON the Whole, it is very difficult to find out the
immediate Cause
of this
Pain,
whether it proceeds from taking something of a
poisonous Kind,
or from
Worms,
or some
Defect
in the
Stomach
itself, or through
acrimonious Particles
prevailing in the Parts thereabout, &c.
SECT. X.
IF a
Pain
in the
Stomach
is occasioned by
Worms,
or if it proceeds from a
Weakness
of the
Stomach
itself, or arises from an
acid Acrimony, Vomits
cannot
free,
but
increase
the
Pain,
and however exact and careful a
Practitioner
may be, yet he will find it
difficult
to
distinguish
them from each other, and without a proper
Distinction,
his
Prescriptions
will be not only
ineffectual
but
hurtful.
SECT. XI.
IF after too
High-living,
&c. a
Person
is troubled with
corrupted sour Risings,
followed with an
acute Pain,
which
ceases
for a
Time,
when the
sharp corrupted Matter
is
discharged,
then this
Matter,
the
Cause
of it, must first be carried off by a
Vomit,
the
Stomach strengthened
by a
Continuation
of
corroborating Medicines,
and, to prevent a Return, Things hard of
Digestion
or
overloading
the
Stomach,
avoided.
SECT. XII.
BUT if the
Pain
is occasioned by an
Inflammation, Erysipelas, Ulcerations,
&c. all
Vomits
and
Medicines
of a
disturbing Nature,
must by all means, be omitted; because they not only
augment
the
Pain,
but most
certainly
prove
mortal,
as too often happens by an
unskilful Application.
IN the
Cases
above-mentioned, there is a
continual Pain
in the
Stomach,
whether it is
empty
or
full,
which
increases
after eating, &c and if it
causes
the
Person
to
vomit,
it then becomes so
excessive,
that
fainting
away instantaneously ensues.
HOW
judicious
and
skilful
then should the
Physician
be, to find out proper
Medicines
for that
Pain
which the
Patient
then
labours
under?
SECT. XIII.
THO' this
Pain
may proceed from the above
different Causes,
yet it may likewise arise from others; for
Example:
The
unnatural Motion
of the
Stomach,
occasioned by a
Fever
IN the Year 1486 there was an
Epidemic
or
Endemic Sweating-Fever,
first in
England,
afterwards in other
Kingdoms,
&c. terminating within 24 Hours either in
Life
or
Death.
The common
Symptoms
(called
Hydropyretos
) of this
Disorder
were,
Sudden Weakness, Anxiety, Palpitation
of the
Heart, Head-Ach, Swooning-away,
a
weak unequal Pulse, profuse Sweating,
also a
Heart
or
Stomach-Pain.
as well as the
Matter
of the
Fever
itself, brought to the
upper Orifice
of it, causes an
intolerable Pain
there, which
Pain
is
heightened
or
diminished
according as the
Fever increases
or
abates;
and in regard to the
Pain
itself at that
Juncture, Vomits
and
hot Medicines
(too often
unskilfully
given) are not only
ineffectual
but
prejudicial, augmenting
instead of
asswaging
the
Pain,
by causing
violent Reachings.
In this Case a few
Drops
of the
Tinct. Thebaic,
or
Syr. é Meconio
mixed in the
Febrifuge Mixtures
are only
serviceable.
SECT. XIV.
THIS
Pain
is brought also upon
Persons
of a
Delicate
and
Weak Constitution,
by
Fretting, Uneasiness,
&c. attended with
great Anxiety, Loss
of
Appetite
and
Strength, Strainings
to
vomit, Difficulty
of
Breathing, Trembling,
a
Coldness
of the
extreme Parts, Restlessness,
&c. when the
Stomach
cannot then bear any
Kind
of
Meat
or
Drink,
nor even a common
Spoonful
of
soft Medicines,
much less the
Calefacientia,
or
hot Kind,
&c.
SECT. XV.
THIS
Pain
may likewise arise from a
flatulent
and
windy Disorder
in the
Stomach,
and continue there for a Time, 'till expelled by the
Carminatives
mixed with the
Anodines,
and tho' thus expelled, yet it may return after
eating, drinking,
or sitting in the
Draught
of a
Door, Window,
&c. This
Pain
is not
dangerous
though a
Person
be
subject
to it thro' the whole
Course
of his Life.
SECT. XVI.
SHOULD the
Rheumatism,
which sometimes flies from one
Part
of the
Body
to another, and sometimes takes its
Seat
in the
muscular
or
membranous Parts
of it, fall upon the
Stomach,
it may, for a Time, produce a
continual
but not a
dangerous Pain,
because, by proper
Application
it may be expelled thence to the
adjacent Extremes
E. G. under the
Breast-Bone, Shoulder-Blades, Arms, Wrist,
&c.
SECT. XVII.
WHEN an
Arthritic
or
gouty Pain
changes its
Seat
from the
Chinagra
the
Hands, Gonagra
the
Knees,
or
Podagra
the
Feet,
&c. to the
Stomach,
leaving then the
extreme Parts
free from Pain, the
Patient
is in immediate
Danger
of
Death,
unless the
Pain
can be removed back again from the
Stomach
to the
Extremities
of the
Body,
therefore it is
requisite
in this
Case,
to have something to give always ready at Hand.
SECT. XVIII.
BUT the most
uncommon Pain
is caused by
Convulsions
or
Spasm,
which communicates its ill
Effects
thro' the whole
Nervous System,
and is discovered by its well known
Symptoms:
The
Cure
must be
directed
according to the
Disease; Medicines
given in
small Quantities
every
Quarter
of an
Hour,
'till the
Pain
ceases, and then proper
Means
used to
prevent
a
Return.
SECT. XIX.
THUS have I treated the above
Disorder
in as concise a Manner as possible, as it may arise from the
various
and
different Causes
here subjoined.
Different CAUSES of the HEART or STOMACH-PAIN.
Acrimonious Particles. § 9
Convulsions § 18
Delicate Constitutions § 14
Drinking § 7
Eating § 7
Erysipelas § 12
Fault of the Stomach itself § 8
Fever § 13
Flatulency § 15
Gout § 17
High-living § 11
Inflammation § 12
Overloading the Stomach § 6
Poison § 5
Rheumatism § 16
Soft - digested Eatables § 8
Spasm § 18
Ulcerations § 12
Weak Constitution § 14
Weakness of the Stomach § 10
Wind § 15
Worms § 9, 10
SECT. XX.
I MIGHT have greatly enlarged on this
Subject,
and interspersed it with proper
Prescriptions,
but that would have been incompatible with my present
Design;
this, if found necessary, shall be done hereafter.
FINIS.