Vertues, as would secure them from the Infection. But much the greater Number were supplied with arsenical Amulets, from Empiricks and Mountebanks; these were compounded of Arsenick alone, with Wax; or had many other Things added thereunto, appropriated to the Disease. One of the chief Forms of this Kind is the following:
[a]℞] Dictamni cret. pulv. [a]℈] vij. pulv. sinapi [a]ʒ] [a][ss.] Benzoin. [a]ʒ] ij. Arsenici veri [a]ʒ] iij. ol. cinnam. gutt. vij. ceræ opt. [a]ʒ] v. cum mucilag. gum. tragacanth. aceto rosac. parat. F. pasta, unde placentæ multiformes depsaticæ parentur, ad pondus [a]ʒ] ij. vel iij. cordis regioni admovendæ, linteo serico priùs involutæ. For it commonly prevailed amongst the Populace, that Arsenick, by some magnetick Vertue, draws away all Poison, especially that of a Pestilence. The wearing also of a dried Toad was a mighty Secret with some.
BUT to give my Thoughts concerning the good or bad Effects of these appended Remedies, I do not remember any one who had their Expectations answered thereby; but many confiding too much in them, neglected other more necessary Means of
Preservation, and brought themselves into great Hazard of their Lives by wearing them; a remarkable Instance of which I met with in an elderly Lawyer, who upon wearing an Arsenical Amulet upon his Breast, had a pestilential Carbuncle rise under it, the third Day after which he died. In some others large Vesications appeared, not from any Venom drawn out, but from the Caustick Quality of the Charm it self, and the Communication of its own Poison to the Part: What Madness was it, in such a terrible Calamity, to put the Hazard of Life upon such idle and ridiculous Experiments?
BUT to pass over such Baubles, and proceed to Means that are conformable to Reason, and the Rules of Medicine, Issues are not to be forgot; for by these all kinds of Impurities are allowed to flow out along with the pestilential Poison, as through an open and ready Passage; and the more of these little Ulcers are made, the better, although their Largeness may answer as well as more in Number; that is, if they are big enough to hold 4, 6 or 8 Peas together. If any one hath a Mind for two Issues, let one be made in the left Arm, and the other
in the opposite Leg. And as for the Usefulness of these, I can speak it of my own Experience, that whensoever I was most beset with pestilential Fumes, in the Course of my Business, I could then immediately perceive a shooting Pain in my Issue, and had a great deal of an ill conditioned Matter discharge from it; and this I always looked upon as a sure Warning to have timely recourse to Alexipharmicks.
GREAT Service was likewise found in the Preservation against the Pestilence, as well as in its curative Part, by the Application of Blisters, and keeping them open a good while.
HAVING thus come to a Conclusion, I think it not amiss to recite the Means which I used to preserve my self from the Infection, during the continual Course of my Business among the Sick.
AS soon as I rose in the Morning early, I took the Quantity of a Nutmeg of the Antipestilential Electuary; then after the Dispatch of private Concerns in my Family, I ventured into a large Room, where Crowds of Citizens used to be in waiting for me;
and there I commonly spent two or three Hours, as in an Hospital, examining the several Conditions and Circumstances of all who came thither; some of which had Ulcers yet uncured, and others to be advised under the first Symptoms of Seizure; all which I endeavoured to dispatch, with all possible Care to their various Exigencies.