ANALYSIS OF
BELLOSTE
's PILLS, AND THEIR Manner of operating in the Human Body, by the Author himself; with full DIRECTIONS for Using of this Remedy.
I T is a Thing universally known, that
England
has, of old, been the Nursery of Men of Learning, and that she is still, this very Day, the Mother of Arts and Sciences; and amongst those that this flourishing Kingdom has cultivated with an inimitable Care, Physick is placed in the first Rank. It is to the celebrated Professors of these famous Universities, as well as to the Knowledge and Experience of the excellent Practitioners of this Country, that it owes its finest Lustre: Therefore all the World ought to preserve a respectful and grateful Memory for those great Men who have publish'd so many learned Works, and have made Discoveries upon the human Body of a prodigious Utility for the Preservation of Mankind, and the Cure of the Sick.
Yet one cannot deny that there has been, in foreign Countries, consummated Practitioners, who having exercised their Profession, during a great Number of Years, and who having had favourable Opportunities of employing the happy Talents which Providence had bestow'd upon them, with a sound Judgment and particular Lights, have, upon a long Experience, made Discoveries, and found out Remedies unknown to the preceding Ages; whereby the Glory they have acquired by their Art, is not less considerable than the infinite Service done to the Publick by their Studies, and indefatigable Assiduity.
I think I may be allow'd to speak particularly on this Subject, as being the Son of a Father so much distinguish'd in Surgery, by a successful Practice of Sixty Years, which made him worthy of the most eminent Employments, that a Man of his Profession could aspire to, and whose Writings are translated into most of the Languages of
Europe;
who having found out the salutary Effects that
Mercury
produceth in the Human Body, spent three Quarter Parts of his Life in discovering the safest Manner of taking it successfully, and without the Danger of any Accident, be it ever so small.
He has been so lucky in his Search, that he has performed with this Mineral a vast Number of Cures, most of them of a different Nature, which, in the Beginning, have even surpassed his Expectation; and he has observ'd, that all these good Effects could be attained only by crude
Mercury,
being first very well cleansed of all its terrestial and arsenical Parts whereof it is loaded, coming from the Mine, ty'd by a Curb that hinders it from sublimating, and mix'd only with gentle and suitable Purgatives, without any Preparation by Fire, which is always very dangerous, as he has judiciously express'd it in his second Volume.
He has had the most favourable Opportunities to try it, having been, for a long Time, Surgeon Major of the Hospitals of the
French
King's Army in
Italy,
and afterwards first Surgeon to Madam Royal at
Turin,
during twenty-six Years, till that Princess died; where he has made, with the
Mercury
thus prepared, several Cures, which have been admired by all the Court; and where his Person, and what he did, will not soon be forgotten.
He was sufficiently satisfied that
Mercury
(whereof he alone has found the true Preparation) is a rare Gift of Providence, capable to obviate so many different Distempers; since (in the Manner he gives it) it has the principal Qualifications required for curing all the Disorders occasioned by the bad Constitution of the Blood, which are to evacuate superfluous and peccant Humours, to absorbe the Sharpness of the Blood, and of the Humours, and to dissolve the Thickness thereof. It tempers besides the Ferments of the Stomach, when they are in a manner viciated, and puts them again in a Condition to make a good and perfect Digestion, which is the Spring of Life and Health; and, on the contrary, when it is adulterated, it is the first Cause of most Distempers that attack the Human Bodies.
In effect, when this vital Function comes to be disordered by the Misusage that is made of Food, which is the most common, How many Diseases is it not subject to breed? When there can only result, from the Concoction of bad Ailments, a sharp or viscous Chylus, and sometimes both, which can only produce a Blood of the like or same Nature.
From the Thickness of the Blood and of the Humours, comes a great Number of Infirmities; as the Obstructions in the Entrails and the Kernels, a Slowness in the Circulation; from thence the Retardment, and sometimes the Stoppage of the Secretions, and of the Distributions of the nutricious and other necessary Juices, for the Preservation of the animal Oeconomy.
Their Sharpness is not less dangerous, as being very often the Occasion of the Disorders above-mention'd, and the Cause of Overflowings, and the Thickenings of the Lymph in the different Parts of the Body, the Irritations of the Nerves, and the Contractions of the Fibres.
These two Causes, well consider'd, it is easy to conceive, that from them proceed most of the Disorders that afflict Human Body; as the Tumours in the Liver, the overflowing of the Choler in the Surface of the Body, or its spilling in the Ventricle; the Obstructions of the Kernels in the Mesentery, or in Womens Breasts, Schirrus or Cancers, Oppilations, Green-sickness, stopping of the Courses, hysterical Vapours, spilling of Milk in Women after their Lyings-in, Pains in the Head, Swimmings in the same, Megrim, Scurvy, Fevers, St.
Anthony
's Fire, Surfeits, Consumption, Oppressions in the Breast, and Shortness of Breath, Sciatica, Rheumatism, the Gout, the Griping of the Guts, Nephretick Cholick, the Gravel, the Strangury, the Hypochondriac Disease or Melancholy; as likewise, the King's Evil.
All this, at first Sight, seems to be a Paradox; yet every thing rightly considered, and weighed with Judgment, and without Prejudice, it shall plainly be found, that one and the same Cause produces many different Effects, if it be observ'd, that all these Distempers are occasion'd by the Sharpness or the Viscosity of the Humours, which slide into different Parts of the Body, as they find them disposed to receive them.
The Worms, to which Children more particularly are very subject, by the ill Use that one allows them to make of Fruit and Sweat-Meats: There perishes a prodigious Number of these innocent Creatures, by Causes very often unknown, and for want of giving them the proper Remedies to destroy those dangerous Insects.
There are also Disorders which the Depravation and the Licentiousness of the Age have render'd too common, produc'd by a Ferment, which is extraneous, sharp and malignant, and on which, tho' there be much to be said, I chuse to be silent.
As my Father has labour'd all his Life for the publick Good, in the first Volume of his Book, intitled,
The Hospital Surgeon;
he has given a short and easy Method of Curing, in a short Time, all Sorts of Wounds: In the second Volume, he has mechanically explain'd the Virtues of
Mercury,
and its Manner of operating on the Mass of Blood in the Human Bodies. Those that shall think fit to read it, they shall find an Account of a Distemper of each Specie of those that he cured with this Remedy. The Learned and the Curious may have Recourse to it; my Intention being only to give an Idea or a general Notion of the Effect which this Remedy produces, to those that are not at hand for to provide themselves with the said Book, or who will not give themselves the Trouble of reading an entire Volume.
This Remedy ought not to be consider'd separately, neither as a single Purgative, soft and gentle, nor singly, as a Mineral Liquid, and penetrating; but as a specifick Remedy compounded of both, in a Manner which renders it almost universal, since it perfectly tempers the bad Quality of the Blood, and of the Lymph, and that it evacuates without Trouble or Alteration, the superfluous and peccant Humours by the usual Ways of Nature.
It is certain, that the Roundness of
Mercury,
and its Activity, are the two main Qualities that we are to consider in the Effect which it produces on the Mass of Humours, since its Weight is only of some Consequence, when it is united in a certain Volume, as it is given in the Twisting of the Guts.
When it comes then to dissolve in the Stomach, the most volatile Part of
Mercury
that separates by Means of the Ferments and the Heat of the Stomach, slips, with the Chylus, into the lacteal Veins, that are carried together, and by the same Way into the Mass of the Blood; there, by its Roundness, and its natural Motion, which is augmented by the Vibration of the Arteries, it circulates into the Blood and lymphatick Vessels, dividing it self, as we conceive it, into infinite small Parts, it runs through all the capillary Veins: If it meets in its Way any Obstacle in the Glands or Entrails, it strikes and beats against it, it loosens Part of it, until at last, by often repeating the same Action, it makes it self a free Passage, and thereby procures to the Humours a clear Way, which, to them, for a long Time, was become impracticable: By its continual and successive Rubbings, it blunts the Points and Edges of the Acids that it meets with, it wastes and divides them, it drags and hurries them out of the Body, partly by Transpiration, by Urine, and by Stools, by assistance of the proper Purgatives, fit to dissolve and evacuate the slimy and ropy Matters, and all extraneous Bodies out of the Stomach and Intestines, apt to breed various Distempers, which, though slight and insignificant in their Beginning, are sometimes of a very dangerous Consequence.
Thus it is that I have often seen Persons cured which were afflicted with inveterate Obstructions in the Entrails of the lower Belly, and in the Mesenterick Glands, which were become schirrous, and which permitted the Passage only to the Part of the Chylus, the most waterish and less nourishing; and the Blood not receiving sufficient Reparation, in proportion to the Losses it makes by the Transpiration, the Urine, and other Evacuations, there had ensued a total Leanness in the Body, which evidently tended to a Consumption.
It is after the same manner of operating that this Medicine has often cured old Ulcers, Tetters over all the Body, hysterical Convulsions, with seventeen Relapses in a Day, old Stoppages of the Courses, spilling of Milk after Delivery, which had obliged the Woman to keep her Bed for Eight Years, Looseness and Disenteries, Gripings of the Guts, Nephretick Cholicks, with Loss of Blood by Urine, Hypochondriack Diseases three Years old, Gouts, Rheumatisms all over the Body, and venereal Distempers so old and obstinate, as to have resisted all the other usual Remedies: These are Cures publickly known, which have been performed in
France
by the Help of my Pills, even with the Knowledge of the Physicians of the Court.
It is to be observed, that when these Sorts of Distempers are new, they are cured with an admirable Quickness and Facility; but when they are of an old Date, and inveterate, one must not flatter one's self; they cannot be cured but by a long Course of Physick, more or less, according to the Age and the Constitution of the Patient, who, rather than to discontinue, ought to go on with a very moderate Dose, which purging him only three Times, or thereabouts, may not give him any Trouble, or discourage him, the Distemper, at last, will be conquer'd: For it is ridiculous and absurd, to imagine that one Dose or two of any Physick whatsoever, may cure a Chronical Disease.
How can one expect to render, in a short Time, fluid, a thick and viscous Blood, to dissipate old Tumours, to melt inveterate Obstructions, to render balsamick sharp Humours, to restore the animal Secretions, return to the Fibres their natural Springiness; in short, to restore all the Parts of the Body in a perfect State of Health? Which can only be performed by a good Dissolvant and Absorbent, taken in a suitable Dose, during a sufficient Time, for to fulfil these Indications.
It only belongs to
Quacks
to promise very speedy Cures; and therefore the Success never, or seldom answers; that is, the right Name and Character of those Impostors, who, by dint of Untruths, gather Riches, deceiving the easy Credulity of an ignorant Publick, so far as to falsify good Remedies, and to sell them under the Name of the true Author: So that one cannot take Precaution enough in making use of Remedies, and especially specifick ones; one ought to get them from the Author himself, or from Persons of Probity, who are in Correspondence with him.
Those that shall make Use of this Remedy, shall find by Experience, that insensibly it expels out of the Body all that is foul, malignant, and extraneous, and that it averts the Infirmities of Old Age.
It is by that Means that my Father has lived above eighty Years, without feeling those Ailments to which one is subject at that Age: But, at last being dead, if he could not leave me his Learning, and his happy Talents, he has made me the Heir of his Secret, of his Honesty, and of his unalterable Uprightness, as well as an invincible Hatred for Fraud and Falshood.
The whole Dose, which is one Pill, is not to serve for a Rule to every Body; for it must be alter'd and proportion'd to the Age, and to the Constitution of the Patient, as well as to the Effect it produces: For an Instance; if it purges four or five Times, it is enough; if eight or ten times, it must be lessen'd one Quarter, one third Part, or one Half; and if it purges only two or three Times, and but little at a Time, then the Dose must be increased in Proportion: Yet, if it should sometimes happen in lusty Persons, full of gross Humours, that a common Dose should occasion a plentiful Evacuation, one must not be discouraged; for then, the more the Physick operates, the more one feels the Illness decreasing, and one's Strength augmenting. But as there are likewise some Constitutions, the Humours whereof are difficult to be evacuated, and that even one Dose and a half purges them but little, the Patient then must take a Glister the Day of a second taking, or the Day following; it softens the viscous and clammy Humours, it loosens the Fibres of the Intestines, and empties what has been put in Motion by the Pills; and it is very proper to make Use, now and then, of such a Remedy.
In Cases of extraordinary Cholick, as the Twisting of the Guts, the Dose must be doubled, and even trebled; but in this last Case, if the Intestine should be fallen into the Scrotum, the taking of the Pills must be suspended, until it be reduced again into the Abdomen.
If the Gout be newly come, or just growing upon one, it radically cures it: But if it be of a long Standing, it puts off the Fit, and lessens the Violence of the Pains.
As this Remedy is very safe in its Operation, it is given with Success, and without the least Danger to Child-bearing Women, and to Nurses, in a moderate Dose; for it increases and cools their Milk.
Those Persons that use to take a Purge by Precaution, will be entirely satisfied with the Effect of this Remedy; for it evacuates the Flegm and the Choler to Admiration, without Pains, Gripes, or any Alterations; it creates an Appetite, and promotes Sleep.
A Proof that it is no violent Medicine is, that it has cured Children under a Twelve-month old, of a Fever, caused by bad Food, and Convulsions, occasion'd by the Worms; observing to give them only a little Dose proportion'd to their Age, divided into small Parts, that they may swallow it in Lumps or Grains, without being dissolv'd before taking (for the Dissolution of this Physick must absolutely be made in the Stomach) and to that Purpose one may wrap the Pills into Wafer-Paper, roasted Apples, Sweet-Meats, or the like.
They are taken every other Night, two or three Hours after a very light Supper, with Mutton-Broath, Water-Gruel, or Tea, as hot as one can drink it. The next Day one may take again some such hot Liquid, in order to help the Operation of the Medicine. It also may be taken in the Morning fasting, which is better than at Night.
One is not obliged to keep in Bed nor the Chamber, nor to observe a very rigorous Diet; but only to take Care not to catch Cold; to forbear all Acids, unripe Fruit, all Things made of Milk, Pork Flesh, and salt Meat.
These Pills will never spoil, if kept in a Box, in a temperate Place.
They are to be Sold only at Mrs.
Clocker
's, a Packer, at the
Blue Flower-Pot,
in
Great Bell Alley, Coleman-street,
and at Mrs.
Giles's,
a
Milliner,
at the
Blue Ball
near the
Temple-Gate
in
Fleet-street,
at twenty Shillings
per
Box with eight Doses, or ten Shillings the half Box with four Doses, with these Directions.
N. B.
All Sold at any other Places are Counterfeits.
The
HOSPITAL SURGEON, by
Augustine Belloste,
&c. is Sold by
John Clarke,
Bookseller, under the
Piazza
of the
Royal Exchange, Cornhill.
FINIS.