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

by S. A. D. Tissot

2. To bring the Complainant to content himself without any, or with very little, solid Food; and especially to renounce all Flesh, Flesh-broth, Eggs and Wine.

3. To drink plentifully, that is to say, at least three Pints, or even four Pints daily, by small Glasses at a Time, from half hour to half hour, of the Ptisans [Nº. 1] and [2], or even of warm Water, to each Quart of which may be added half a Glass of Vinegar. No Person can be destitute of this very attainable Assistance. But should there be a Want even of Vinegar, a few Grains of common [¹⁷] Salt may be added to a Quart of warm Water for Drink. Those who have Honey will do well to add two or three Spoonfuls of it to the Water. A light Infusion of Elder Flowers, or of those of the Linden, the Lime-tree, may also be advantageously used, and even well settled and clear sweet Whey.

4. Let the Person, affected with such previous Complaints, receive Glysters of warm Water, or the Glyster [Nº. 5]. By pursuing these Precautions some grievous Disorders have often been happily rooted out: and although they should not prove so thoroughly efficacious, as to prevent their Appearance, they may at least be rendered more gentle, and much less dangerous.

§ 33. Very unhappily People have taken the directly contrary Method. From the Moment these previous, these forerunning Complaints are perceived, they allow themselves to eat nothing but gross Meat, Eggs, or strong Meat-Soups. They leave off Garden-Stuff and Fruits, which would be so proper for them; and they drink heartily (under a Notion of strengthening the Stomach and expelling Wind) of Wine and other Liquors, which strengthen nothing but the Fever, and expel what Degree of Health might still remain. Hence all the Evacuations are restrained; the Humours causing and nourishing the Diseases are not at all attempered, diluted, nor rendered proper for Evacuation. Nay, on the very contrary, they become more sharp, and more difficult to be discharged: while a sufficient Quantity of diluting refreshing Liquor, asswages and separates all Matters foreign to the Blood, which it purifies; and, at the Expiration of some Days, all that was noxious in it is carried off by Stool, by Urine, or by Sweat.

§ 34. When the Distemper is further advanced, and the Patient is already seized with that Coldness or Shuddering, in a greater or less Degree, which ushers in all Disease; and which is commonly attended with an universal Oppression, and Pains over all the Surface of the Body; the Patient, thus circumstanced, should be put to Bed, if he cannot keep up; or should sit down as quietly as possible, with a little more Covering than usual: he should drink every Quarter of an Hour a small Glass of the Ptisan, [Nº. 1] or [2], warm; or, if that is not at Hand, of some one of those Liquids I have recommended [§ 32].

§ 35. These Patients earnestly covet a great Load of covering, during the Cold or Shivering; but we should be very careful to lighten them as soon as it abates; so that when the succeeding Heat begins, they may have no more than their usual Weight of Covering. It were to be wished perhaps, they had rather less. The Country People lie upon a Feather-bed, and under a downy Coverlet, or Quilt, that is commonly extremely heavy; and the Heat which is heightened and retained by Feathers, is particularly troublesome to Persons in a Fever. Nevertheless, as it is what they are accustomed to, this Custom may be complied with for one Season of the Year: but during our Heats, or whenever the Fever is very violent, they should lie on a Pallet (which will be infinitely better for them) and should throw away their Coverings of Down, so as to remain covered only with Sheets, or something else, less injurious than Feather-Coverings. A Person could scarcely believe, who had not been, as I have, a Witness of it, how much Comfort a Patient is sensible of, in being eased of his former Coverings. The Distemper immediately puts on a different Appearance.

§ 36. As soon as the Heat after the Rigor, or Coldness and Shuddering, approaches, and the Fever is manifestly advanced, we should provide for the Patient's Regimen. And

1, Care should be taken that the Air, in the Room where he lies, should not be too hot, the mildest Degree of Warmth being very sufficient; that there be as little Noise as possible, and that no Person speak to the Sick, without a Necessity for it. No external Circumstance heightens the Fever more, nor inclines the Patient more to a Delirium or Raving, than the Persons in the Chamber, and especially about the Bed. They lessen the Spring, the elastic and refreshing Power, of the Air; they prevent a Succession of fresh Air; and the Variety of Objects occupies the Brain too much. Whenever the Patient has been at Stool, or has made Urine, these Excrements should be removed immediately. The Windows should certainly be opened Night and Morning, at least for a Quarter of an Hour each Time; when also a Door should be opened, to promote an entire Renovation or Change of the Air in the Room. Nevertheless, as the Patient should not be exposed at any Time to a Stream or Current of Air, the Curtains of his Bed should be drawn on such Occasions; and, if he lay without any, Chairs, with Blankets or Cloaths hung upon them, should be substituted in the Place of Curtains, and surround the Bed; while the Windows continued open, in Order to defend the Patient from the Force of the rushing Air. If the Season, however, be rigidly cold, it will be sufficient to keep the Windows open, but for a few Minutes, each Time. In Summer, at least one Window should be set open Day and Night. The pouring a little Vinegar upon a red-hot Shovel also greatly conduces to restore the Spring, and correct the Putridity, of the Air. In our greatest Heats, when that in the Room seems nearly scorching, and the sick Person is sensibly and greatly incommoded by it, the Floor may be sprinkled now and then; and Branches of Willow or Ash-trees dipt a little in Pails of Water may be placed within the Room.

§ 37. 2. With Respect to the Patient's Nourishment, he must entirely abstain from all Food; but he may always be allowed, and have daily prepared, the following Sustenance, which is one of the wholesomest, and indisputably the simplest one. Take half a Pound of Bread, a Morsel of the freshest Butter about the Size only of a Hazel Nut (which may even be omitted too) three Pints and one quarter of a Pint of Water. Boil them 'till the Bread be entirely reduced to a thin Consistence. Then strain it, and give the Patient one eighth Part of it every three, or every four, Hours; but still more rarely, if the Fever be vehemently high. Those who have Groats, Barley, Oatmeal, or Rice, may boil and prepare them in the same Manner, with some Grains of Salt.

§ 38. The Sick may also be sometimes indulged, in lieu of these different Spoon-Meats, with raw Fruits in Summer, or in Winter with Apples baked or boiled, or Plumbs and Cherries dried and boiled. Persons of Knowledge and Experience will be very little, or rather not at all, surprized to see various Kinds of Fruit directed in acute Diseases; the Benefit of which they may here have frequently seen. Such Advice can only disgust those, who remain still obstinately attached to old Prejudices. But could they prevail on themselves to reflect a little, they must perceive, that these Fruits which allay Thirst; which cool and abate the Fever; which correct and attemper the putrid and heated Bile; which gently dispose the Belly to be rather open, and promote the Secretion and Discharge of the Urine, must prove the properest Nourishment for Persons in acute Fevers. Hence we see, as it were by a strong Admonition from Nature herself, they express an ardent Longing for them; and I have known several, who would not have recovered, but for their eating secretly large Quantities of those Fruits they so passionately desired, and were refused. As many however, as are not convinced by my Reasoning in this Respect, may at least make a Tryal of my Advice, on my Affirmation and Experience; when I have no doubt but their own will speedily convince them of the real Benefit received from this Sort of Nourishment. It will then be evident, that we may safely and boldly allow, in all continual Fevers, Cherries red and black, Strawberries, the best cured Raisins, Raspberries, and Mulberries; provided that all of them be perfectly ripe. Apples, Pears and Plumbs are less melting and diluting, less succulent, and rather less proper. Some kinds of Pears however are extremely juicy, and even watery almost, such as the Dean or Valentia Pear, different Kinds of the Buree Pear; the St. Germain, the Virgoleuse; the green sugary Pear, and the Summer Royal, which may all be allowed; as well as a little Juice of very ripe Plumbs, with the Addition of Water to it. This last I have known to asswage Thirst in a Fever, beyond any other Liquor. Care should be taken, at the same Time, that the Sick should never be indulged in a great Quantity of any of them at once, which would overload the Stomach, and be injurious to them; but if they are given a little at a Time and often, nothing can be more salutary. Those whose Circumstances will afford them China Oranges, or Lemons, may be regaled with the Pulp and Juice as successfully; but without eating any of their Peel, which is hot and inflaming.