Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health

by S. A. D. Tissot

And finally I hope that many Surgeons, who are spread about the Country, and who practice Physic in their Neighbourhood, will peruse it; will carefully enter into the Principles established in it, and will conform to its Directions; tho' a little different perhaps from such as they may have hitherto practiced. They will perceive a Man may learn at any Age, and of any Person; and it may be hoped they will not think it too much Trouble to reform some of their Notions in a Science, which is not properly within their Profession (and to the Study of which they were never instituted) by those of a Person, who is solely employed in it, and who has had many Assistances of which they are deprived.

Midwives may also find their Attendance more efficacious, as soon as they are thoroughly disposed to be better informed.

It were heartily to be wished, that the greater Part of them had been better instructed in the Art they profess. The Instances of Mischief that might have been avoided, by their being better qualify'd, are frequent enough to make us wish there may be no Repetition of them, which it may be possible to prevent. Nothing seems impossible, when Persons in Authority are zealously inclined to prevent every such Evil; and it is time they should be properly informed of one so essentially hurtful to Society.

The Prescriptions I have given consist of the most simple Remedies, and I have adjoined the Manner of preparing them so fully, that I hope no Person can be at any Loss in that Respect. At the same time, that no one may imagine they are the less useful and efficacious for their Simplicity, I declare, they are the same I order in the City for the most opulent Patients. This Simplicity is founded in Nature: the Mixture, or rather the Confusion, of a Multitude of Drugs is ridiculous. If they have the very same Virtues, for what Purpose are they blended? It were more judicious to confine ourselves to that, which is the most effectual. If their Virtues are different, the Effect of one destroys, or lessens, the Effect of the other; and the Medicine ceases to prove a Remedy.

I have given no Direction, which is not very practicable and easy to execute; nevertheless it will be discernible, that some few are not calculated for the Multitude, which I readily grant. However I have given them, because I did not lose Sight of some Persons; who, tho' not strictly of the Multitude, or Peasantry, do live in the Country, and cannot always procure a Physician as soon, or for as long a Time, as they gladly would.

A great Number of the Remedies are entirely of the Country Growth, and may be prepared there; but there are others, which must be had from the Apothecaries. I have set down the Price [⁷] at which I am persuaded all the Country Apothecaries will retail them to a Peasant, who is not esteemed a rich one. I have marked the Price, not from any Apprehension of their being imposed on in the Purchase, for this I do not apprehend; but, that seeing the Cheapness of the Prescription, they may not be afraid to buy it. The necessary Dose of the Medicine, for each Disease, may generally be purchased for less Money than would be expended on Meat, Wine, Biscuits, and other improper things. But should the Price of the Medicine, however moderate, exceed the Circumstances of the Sick, doubtless the Common Purse, or the Poors-Box will defray it: moreover there are in many Country Places Noblemens Houses, some of whom charitably contribute an annual Sum towards buying of Medicines for poor Patients. Without adding to which Sum, I would only intreat the Favour of each of them to alter the Objects of it, and to allow their sick Neighbours the Remedies and the Regimen directed here, instead of such as they formerly distributed among them.

It may still be objected, that many Country Places are very distant from large Towns; from which Circumstance a poor Peasant is incapable of procuring himself a seasonable and necessary Supply in his Illness. I readily admit, that, in Fact, there are many Villages very remote from such Places as Apothecaries reside in. Yet, if we except a few among the Mountains, there are but very few of them above three or four Leagues from some little Town, where there always lives some Surgeon, or some Vender of Drugs. Perhaps however, even at this Time, indeed, there may not be many thus provided; but they will take care to furnish themselves with such Materials, as soon as they have a good Prospect of selling them, which may constitute a small, but new, Branch of Commerce for them. I have carefully set down the Time, for which each Medicine will keep, without spoiling. There is a very frequent Occasion for some particular ones, and of such the School-masters may lay in a Stock. I also imagine, if they heartily enter into my Views, they will furnish themselves with such Implements, as may be necessary in the Course of their Attendance. If any of them were unable to provide themselves with a sufficient Number of good Lancets, an Apparatus for Cupping, and a Glyster Syringe (for want of which last a Pipe and Bladder may be occasionally substituted) the Parish might purchase them, and the same Instruments might do for the succeeding School-master. It is hardly to be expected, that all Persons in that Employment would be able, or even inclined, to learn the Way of using them with Address; but one Person who did, might be sufficient for whatever Occasions should occur in this Way in some contiguous Villages; with very little Neglect of their Functions among their Scholars.

Daily Instances of Persons, who come from different Parts to consult me, without being capable of answering the Questions I ask them, and the like Complaints of many other Physicians on the same Account, engaged me to write the last Chapter of this Work. I shall conclude this Introduction with some Remarks, necessary to facilitate the Knowledge of a few Terms, which were unavoidable in the Course of it.

The Pulse commonly beats in a Person in good Health, from the Age of eighteen or twenty to about sixty six Years, between sixty and seventy Times in a Minute. It sometimes comes short of this in old Persons, and in very young Children it beats quicker: until the Age of three or four Years the Difference amounts at least to a third; after which it diminishes by Degrees.

An intelligent Person, who shall often touch and attend to his own Pulse, and frequently to other Peoples, will be able to judge, with sufficient Exactness, of the Degree of a Fever in a sick Person. If the Strokes are but one third above their Number in a healthy State, the Fever is not very violent: which it is, as often as it amounts to half as many more as in Health. It is very highly dangerous, and may be generally pronounced mortal, when there are two Strokes in the Time of one. We must not however judge of the Pulse, solely by its Quickness, but by its Strength or Weakness; its Hardness or Softness; and the Regularity or Irregularity of it.