Burnt Brandy and spiced Wine are very pernicious in the Beginning of Colds, and the Omission of them must be a very prudent Omission. If any good Effects have ever been known to attend the Use of them, it has been towards the going off of the Cold; when the Disorder maintained its Ground, solely from the Weakness of the Patient. Whenever this is the Case, there is not the least Room for farther Relaxation; but the Powders [Nº. 14], should be taken every Day in a little Wine; and should the Humours seem likely to be thrown upon the Lungs, Blisters ought to be applied to the fleshy Part of the Legs.
§ 134. Drams, or Liqueurs, as they are called in French, agree so very little in this last State, that frequently a very small Quantity of them revives a Cold that was just expiring. There really are some Persons who never drink them without taking Cold, which is not to be wondered at, as they occasion a light Inflammation in the Breast, which is equivalent to a Cold or Distillation.
Nevertheless, People in this Disorder should not expose themselves to violent cold Weather, if there is a Possibility of avoiding it: though they should equally guard too against excessive Heat. Those, who inclose themselves in very hot Rooms, never get quite cured; and how is it possible they should be cured in such a Situation? Such Rooms, abstracted from the Danger of coming out of them, produce Colds in the same Manner that Drams do, by producing a light inflammation in the Breast.
§ 135. Persons subject to frequent Colds, which Habits are sometimes termed fluxionary, or liable to Distillations, imagine, they ought to keep themselves very hot. This is an Error which thoroughly destroys their Health. Such a Disposition to take Cold arises from two Causes; either because their Perspiration is easily impaired; or sometimes from the Weakness of the Stomach or the Lungs, which require particular Remedies. When the Complaint arises from the Perspiration's being easily disturbed and lessened, the hotter they keep themselves, the more they sweat, and increase their Complaint the more. This incessantly warm Air lets down and weakens the whole Machine, and more particularly the Lungs; where the Humours finding less Resistance, are continually derived, and are accumulated there. The Skin, being constantly bathed in a small Sweat, becomes relaxed, soft, and incapable of compleating its Functions: from which Failure the slightest Cause produces a total Obstruction of Perspiration; and a Multitude of languid Disorders ensue.
These Patients thus circumstanced, redouble their Precautions against the Cold, or even the Coolness of the Air, while their utmost Cautions are but so many effectual Means to lower their Health; and this the more certainly, as their Dread of the free Air necessarily subjects them to a sedentary Life, which increases all their Symptoms; while the hot Drinks they indulge in, compleat their Severity. There is but one Method to cure People thus situated; that is, by accustoming them gradually to the Air; to keep them out of hot Chambers; to lessen their Cloathing by Degrees; to make them sleep cool; and to let them eat or drink nothing but what is cold, Ice itself being wholesome in their Drink: to make them use much Exercise; and finally, if the Disorder be inveterate, to give them for a considerable Time the Powder [Nº. 14], and make them use the cold Bath. This Method succeeds equally too with those, in whom the Disease originally depended on a Weakness of the Stomach, or of the Lungs: and in fact, at the End of a certain Period, these three Causes are always combined. Some Persons who have been subject, for many Years, to catch Colds throughout the Winter; and who, during that Season, never went out, and drank every thing warm, have been evidently the better, during the Winter of 1761, and 1762, for the Direction I have given here. They now walk out every Day; drink their Liquids cold; and by this Means entirely escape Colds, and enjoy perfect Health.
§ 136. It is more customary indeed in Town, than in the Country, to have different Troches, and Compositions in the Mouth. I am not for excluding this Habit; though I think nothing is so efficacious as Juice of Liquorice; and provided a sufficient Dose be taken, it affords certain Relief. I have taken an Ounce and a half in one Day, and have felt the good Consequences of it very remarkably.
Chapter VIII.
Of Diseases of the Teeth.
Sect. 137.