A certain Merchant had a Carbuncle upon his Arm, a little below the Elbow,
but what was most unhappy was, that at the Beginning he was so Impatient of the Pain, that he applyed a Cooling Cataplasm to it of his own ordering, for suddenly thereupon it changed into a Gangrene, to obviate which, Scarrification was immediately had recourse to, in the Execution of which, the Surgeon inadvertently cut a large Vein, which caused such a Flux of Blood, as could not be stopped by either actual Cautery, or any other Means; whereupon followed such a Sinking of his Spirits, that the unfortunate Gentleman died in three Hours time.
LASTLY, A Carbuncle appeared on the Finger of a young Woman, to eradicate which, we took all imaginable Care; and all Things at first seemed to answer our Wishes; but the Uncertainty of humane Expectations! for the Patient with her old Nurse Supping plentifully upon French Beans, that very Night the Distemper returned; and although she vomited as much as her Strength would bear, by the Provocation of an Emetick given her, after which were used the most Cordial Remedies, and the most warm Alexipharmicks, early in the Morning, a fresh Carbuncle came
in the Place of the old one; she was delirious all that Day, and in the Evening she expired. After the Bearers came that Night to bury her, and talked of fetching away the old Woman next, as a Person dead, the poor Wretch, as awakened from Sleep, cried out, she was not dead; but she disappointed not their Agreement, and died time enough to be carried away the same Night to the burying Place.
I might easily imploy a Volume in a Recital of all the particular Circumstances of these Carbuncles; but however, before I dismiss this Subject, I cannot omit that the pestilential Venom was in a very great Manner communicable from one Carbuncle to another; or to speak perhaps more properly, the saline Virulence of a Carbuncle would generate another wheresoever it lodged.
THE Number of Carbuncles was undeterminate, sometimes two, three, four, or more, would come out at once, the pestilential Venom being diffused to many Parts at the same Time; but the rest we shall leave to that Section concerning the Cure of Carbuncles; we shall here therefore subjoin
somewhat concerning pestilential Spots, called Petechiæ.
THE Petechiæ then are little Spots upon the Skin, not easily distinguishable from a Flea-Bite; though this Difference may be observed, in a Flea-Bite there may be seen a Puncture in the middle, where the little Creature had struck in its Teeth, and round it an Inflammation, with a little extravasated Blood: But these Spots are more uniform in their Colour, more fixed, and difficult to be removed, whereas upon any Pressure with the Finger a Flea-Bite gives Way, except in the central Puncture. Furthermore the pestilential Petechiæ are to be distinguished from the Spots of a malignant Fever, as they are deeper coloured; and likewise to be known (as before observed) from Scurvy Spots, which are much broader, and not always exactly round; although these are likewise sometimes intermixed with the pestilential ones, and by Means of the aforementioned Affinities between them, hardly in some Cases to be distinguished.
TO this it may be added, that the pestilential Petechiæ do not always fix in the
same Parts, and sometimes they disappear, after a short Stay in one Place, and immediately rise in others: And indeed there is no Part altogether exempted from them, although they chiefly come out in the Neck, Breast, and Back; whereas those of the Scurvy come mostly in the extream Parts. The Reason of this in the former Case may probably be from the Proximity of the larger Vessels, and the Largeness of the Pores about the Trunk of the Body; and in the Scurvy, the Legs particularly are most spotted, from the Tendency and Precipitation of the saline Particles downwards.