Upon these Considerations I can’t but admire, that the same Administrations, or with very little difference, (excepting the Chalybeates which may be allow’d in both Cases) are thought proper for Temperate Women, and Men of Intemperance, when they happen to fall into the Hypochondriacal Affect, as is frequently enough known; one would think that when the Disorder in these latter is owing to the excess of a Liquor, both wholsom enough and Cordial enough in it self, which by its too frequent use has relax’d the Nerves, and consequently impair’d the Spirits, there should be little likelyhood it should be remov’d, and taken off by hot Medicines in a Solid form, which perhaps don’t differ so much as most People imagine, in their real intrinsick Energy from that Noble Liquid, to which these Gentlemen owe their Malady; I say, one would think that some such surmises as these, should naturally lead us to an immediate attempt, upon the parts affected, viz. the Nerves, which must be done by means suitable to ’em, that is by Exercise.
Wherever there is a Dejection of the Mind, and a Propensity to Phantastick and Imaginary Fears, there is reason to suspect the Solids, that is, the Nerves are more in fault than we think for; we may consider that when a Man is Drunk, he seldom loses his intellectual Faculties to any great degree, till the Nerves are quite stress’d with the Load of Wine, and his Feet go commonly before his Reason; and if this were a proper place, perhaps, I could shew some Reasons for us to suspect the same, in the Deliriums of People in a Feaver, that the intense heat must first evidently impair the whole body of the Nerves, before the Understanding will be quite lost. We don’t know what a great deal of Rotation and irregular Agitation the Spirits strictly taken will bear, without any Damage receiv’d; but when the Nerves, the Container of those Spirits, are considerably affected, the Spirits contain’d must partake of the Mischief. We know but little of that inconceivable connexion of Soul and Body, but the wonderful Bond of Union, seems to terminate very much in the Fibre. For we may observe, that those Poisonous Vegetables which intoxicate, and attack the Rational Faculty, do chiefly display their Power on the Nerves, ’tis in their very Nature, and in the least quantity to hurt the Nerves; and when Wine, tho’ in its Quality most agreeable, is by the Quantity and Repetition of it, made to be prejudicial to the Nervous System, I can’t imagine, how other Cordial Medicines, which must still in some Measure keep up the Stress upon the weakned Nerves can be the adequate Remedy of this Disease, but that the Nerves, must be assisted after their own way, after a manner suitable to their Nature, that is by Exercises; for it is, and ever will be one of the Properties of a Fibre, to be the stronger for Motion, the better for wearing; and it is but a Law of Nature, arising from the Necessity of the Constitution, that while the Fluids are continually wasting and running off the faster, for the Motion of the whole Individual, the other part of the Constitution, the Solids, the Fibres should by the same Means reap some Advantages proper, and in some measure sufficient to Balance the Consequences of such a Dispendium.
All this receives certain weight from the Argument which is so Naturally suggested to us, by the familiar and daily Observations, which every one cannot but make on the Health of the Poorer sort of People, especially their immunity from this Distemper. That it is matter of wonder that the Spasms, the Tremors, the Shiverings, the Watchings, and all the very numerous Plagues of an Hysterick Person, should not be able to rouze People into a Quest of Health, upon Measures suitable to the Causes of things; that such Painful experience should not animate ’em, into a Resolution to exchange the Pains of a sedentary, for the Indolence at least, not to say, the Pleasures of an Active Life. I am confident no one could forbear making these Inferences, and reducing ’em to practice, who has been any considerable time infested with this Distemper, were it not for the present Comfort and false Hope, which are conceiv’d from some Palliative Remedies, in too much use in this Case; I mean Vinous Spirits, and Compositions Distill’d upon ’em, which because in the beginning of this Distemper, they are found to be comfortable and really useful, entice People to have recourse to the use of ’em, oftner than they ought to do, and in time seduce ’em so much by that Delusive flash of Ease, which they give in the first Moments of their Drinking, that they cannot have a due Regard to the Evil Consequences of such a Practice; these Liquors prove a meet Charm, they creep into the Understanding, and teach People to impose upon themselves, and fansie Excuses for the use of ’em, till they come to be so blinded as to think that Health it self, is scarce an equivalent for the Pleasures which must be deny’d, in the Abstinence from ’em. They who have brought themselves to such a Custom, are not unlike some of our Debtors, who after they have been some time in a Prison, and learn’d the way, of living an Idle Life upon other Folks Cost, tho’ under Confinement, they lose all sense of Liberty, and never desire to subsist again, upon the severe Conditions of Industry and Labour; and so those who have learn’d to sip of this Spirituous Lethe, quite forget the value of Health and Strength; they can drown their Vapours, blunt their Pains, and rub on without great danger a good while, and therefore as for brisk Exercise, the Cold Bath, and the like, they desire to be excus’d; there’s too much Danger in the Practice, there’s a Lyon in the Way; and thus a sickly complaining Life they lead, because they will not take Courage, to use the Just endeavours after a real State of Health. These I take to be some of the Reasons, why this Distemper is so seldom totally extirpated, and is become the Opprobrium both of the Patient and Physician; for else it would be impossible, that People should generally resist the Consequence of that Observation which I hinted before: For if the Labour of the Poor generally secures ’em from this Distemper, and if this Distemper, whenever it seizes, is of so nice and tender a Nature, that it will scarce allow of any of the common Methods us’d in the Cure of other Distempers, certainly it behoves the Persons so griev’d, to try whether those Means which are Preservative to others, may not prove Curative to them; which, by reason that the Subject of the Distemper, viz. the Spirits and Nerves are primarily affected by Exercise, proves highly probable. For why there should be such dependance on Internals universally, and even in this Case, I can’t see; to me it seems almost as Ridiculous, as if a Workman should use but one sort of Tool in working on Wood, Stone, Brass, and all other Materials.
I need not here take Notice of any of the particular Symptoms of this variable Disease, they all being liable to the same Regimen; I have already in another place hinted what Relief may be procur’d by this Method in the Hysterick Colick, and in the obstinate Watchings, which will scarce submit to the use of Laudanum, or at least without ill Consequences. Therefore I shall conclude they all fall under the Power of a Resolute Course of Exercise.
The Exercises most proper here are Riding, and the use of the Cold Bath; the first prepares for the second; which Rule if some People, who are the most weakly, wou’d observe, they might secure themselves, from some of those few Accidents that have befel the too rash entrance into the Cold Bath. Instead of Riding on horse-back, Women may take a Chaise, which will allow of swift Motion, and comes little short of the Horse for Agitation of the Body; tho’ I can’t see any breach of Decorum, if a Lady, attended with a Servant, should ride on Horse-back daily for Health, if she like it best; as for those, who upon the Account of their being very Fat, have some Reason to be cautious, how they go into the Cold Bath, lest some Apoplectick Symptoms should ensue, they may have recourse to another of those Exercises, which I shall treat of, viz. the use of the Brush, or Chafing, which if us’d in good earnest, will not prove so trivial as perhaps some People imagine it to be.
These are the Chief Exercises which I would recommend in this Case, and which if us’d with Prudence and Application, I doubt not are able to effect a compleat and Eradicative Cure of this Distemper, as certainly as more violent internal Means are expected to succeed in any other Case, the Spirits and Nerves being not so much more untractable, than the Blood and Humours, if treated after a manner suitable to their Nature.
What I have said of these three Cases, may serve to illustrate the necessity of this Method in some few other Cases, which I need only Name; as the Scorbutick Rheumatism, which being a Nervous Case, will admit of the three Exercises I have mention’d, which if strenuously put in Practice at proper Seasons, will do Wonders in the removing of those Pains. The Nervous Atrophy is another Case, which may be remov’d by a Gymnastick Method, when all the Pompous Internal Medicines will not avail.
Lastly, there is one more Case, to which Riding seems to be in a peculiar manner appropriated, and that is, that Decay of Nature which is occasion’d by Passions of the Mind, which we commonly call, Breaking the Heart; here the Spirits are broke, and ruined by the stress of Thought, the Mind drinks up the Vital Fluids, and the Ravage proceeds so fast, that nothing can avail, but what can in some Measure interrupt the Eagerness of Thought, and repair in Proportion to the wast of the Spirits, which Riding seems most likely to do, because it gives an Alacrity beyond that of Wine; because the Briskness of the Motion, must take a Man off from close thinking, and such Exercise continued long, even to some Journeys, must by Tiring incline to Rest, and break off those voluntary Wakings and anxious Thoughts, which are so pernicious; and if some intervals of Ease can be gain’d in this Case, there is hopes that Reason or Religion may take place, and the Passions may be laid: For ’tis the first Fury that is the most Dangerous and Violent; if that can be manag’d, the Point is gain’d, and there is nothing like Hurrying the Body, to divert the Hurry of the Mind.
These are most of, if not all, the Cases which fall under the Power of Exercise as Curative; as for the Benefit which may be obtain’d by Exercise, in the Gravel, the Gout, and the like, it is purely Palliative, and therefore out of the Scope of my intention in this Treatise: I shall now proceed to consider briefly, those several Sorts of Exercise, which seem proper to my Design.