I proceed now to give an Account of some of our early Writers, besides those already mentioned. And first of Maugantius, who was by Birth a Briton, a famous Physician and Mathematician; who, says Leland, for his eminent Learning, was made President of a noble College (in those Days) of two hundred Philosophers; which Geofrey of Monmouth extols to the Skies, under the Name of Legionum Urbs; which Bale supposes to be Chester, excelling all other British Cities, at that Time, in Wealth and Roman Structures. This Place being most pleasantly situated, Astrologers, and other Artists, settled in it to observe the Motions of the Stars, and undertook to forewarn Mankind from the Comets, and certain Indications of the Planets, what should come to pass. Hence Maugantius, said to be superior to all others in this Art, being questioned by King Vortiger, whose chief Physician he was, about the prodigious Conception of Ambrose Merlin, after a Recital of various Philosophical Reasons, did, at length, it seems, give him Satisfaction therein. This Person, who was the most renowned Scholar of his Country, and who is said to have composed several Books, flourished in the Year of Christ 470, when King Vortiger was much distressed by the invading Anglo-Saxons. I have before observed, that there were several Dignitaries of the Papal Communion as well as those of inferior Orders, besides the Monks, who very early took upon them to practise Physic; and that they were absolutely forbid to exercise that Profession, by the Roman Assembly, in 1139. Of this Sort was Frabricius, or Faricius, as he is sometimes written, who practised Physic not long before this Time. He was the eighteenth Abbot of the Monastery of Abington in Berkshire; to whose Care Godfrey de Vere committed himself, to be cured of a grievous Disease he then laboured under; and, as an Acknowledgment for the Care the Abbot had taken of him, he bequeathed to the Abbey before-mentioned, the Church belonging to his Estate, in the Village of Kensington, near London, with 240 Acres of Land, &c. which was confirmed by the King; a Copy of which Grant will be given in the Antiquities of that Town, and the History of it’s Abbey. This Abbot departed this Life the VIIth of the Calends of March, Anno 1117. Soon after him flourished Athelardus, a Monk of Bath, who was so diligent in searching out the Mysteries and Causes of Natural Things, that he deserves to be equalled with some of the ancient Philosophers. Having a very promising Genius, while very young, and continuing, as he grew up, to improve his Parts, and fit himself for great Affairs, he left his native Soil, and, with much Alacrity, went to visit foreign Parts. In his Travels through Egypt and Arabia, having found many Things he sought after, he came Home again with good Fruit of his Labours and Improvement of his Learning. He was, without Dispute, in Philosophy, Astronomy, Physic, Mathematics, and Rhetoric, no ordinary Proficient. Some of his Works he Dedicated to Richard, Bishop of Bayeux: In the first Work he treats of the Principles, Qualities, and Effects of Natural Things, against the vain Opinions of the old Philosophers. In the Preface it appears, he wrote in the Year 1130, under the Reign of Henry I. I might here enlarge upon the great Fame and Merits of John Giles, a Native of St Albans, who made such Progress in the Study of Physic, that he was made Professor of that Faculty at Paris and Montpelier, and Physician to Philip, King of France. After his Return to his own Country, he was, according to Matthew Paris, consulted by Robert Grosthead, the learned Bishop of Lincoln, in his last Illness; of which he died in 1253. He has written, De re Medica, and de Prognosticis, and some other Things. He flourished about the Year 1230, in the Reign of King Henry III. Hugh de Eversham, deserves in this Place to be remembred, who was a Man of great Learning, a Physician by Profession, and perhaps the best of his Age. He was well known in many Countries, being a great Frequenter of the Universities. With the severer Studies of his Art, he mingled the pleasant Science of the Mathematics, and particularly Geometry and Astronomy. This made him known to many in France and Italy, and among the rest, to Pope Martin IV, who invited him, by Letters, to come to him, and solve some Questions in Physic, which were then newly started: Accordingly he went without Delay, and performed what was required readily and learnedly. He published Super Opere Febrium Isaac. Medicinales Canones. Problemata quædam, and some other Things. He flourished the Year 1281; when he was created Cardinal Presbyter of St Laurence, by the said Pope Martin, in the Reign of Edward I. He is said to have died by Poison at Rome, Anno 1287; although Cicæonius, to palliate this Matter, says he died of the Plague.
Chirurgical Remarks ON A Wound of the Head RECEIVED
By a Child from the Blow of a Cat-Stick in throwing at a Cock on Shrove Tuesday, 1709.
Addressed to
Mr WILLIAM COWPER, Surgeon.
SIR,
I do not question but you have had the Curiosity to read over a very remarkable Case in Surgery, not only upon Account of the Recommendation the Name of the Author[2] gives it, but partly because I know you have been for a long time of opinion, That this Age wou’d distinguish it self by the Advances that Medicine has, and will receive; I need not observe, to a Man of your Capacity, how just, according to my Opinion, our Author has been in relating all the Particulars of the Case he gives us the History of: Nor need I intimate to you how peculiarly the Prescriptions were adapted to the several alterations that were observable in that little Patient: I will only take the freedom to make some Remarks on a considerable Circumstance, which perhaps we shall find obstructed so methodical a Procedure, in order for a Cure.
Our Author is of opinion, That his Death was owing to the effused Blood from some Vessel upon the Pia Mater, which had been ruptured by the Concussion or Shock of the said Vessel, from the Force of the Blow; which Blood pent in (for want of a Discharge) had formed an Abscess, thereby deluging the Surface of the Brain with Matter: And this, tho’ continually draining off thro’ the Orifice in the upper Membrane, yet some part thereof lying beyond the Elastic Power of the said Membrane to raise up, and out of the Reach of Medicine to deterge and mundifie, was at length imbibed by the Vessels, where missing the Salutary Crisis, sometimes observed in the Empieme and Pleuritic Cases, it was conveyed by the Circulation to the Heart, and at length, we are to suppose, somehow effected the Nervous System, bringing on the fatal Spasm.
Thus you see, Sir, how plain and consequential the Account of the Child’s Death is; but even here, I hope, I shall do no Injustice to the Author, if I inform you, I cannot perswade my self that the Matter was imbibed by the Vessels, purely because some part thereof lay beyond the Elastic Power of the Dura Mater to raise up, and out of the Reach of Medicine to deterge and mundifie, as our Author’s Words are; but that it is reasonable to believe, that some part of it was reassumed by the Vessels, when it could no longer discharge it self as before; for if you will give your self the trouble of looking back to the 32d Page, you will find, that no sooner was the Orifice choaked up by a caked Matter, but the mischievous Effects of the Suppression of the Discharge soon began to discover themselves by the Rigours the Child was attended with; and we find our Author soon after fearful of such a thing.
By this we may see how circumspect we ought always to be, lest we interrupt the Design of Nature when she is about to expel any morbifick Matter, the ill Effects that attend it oftentimes discovering themselves after different Manners; We look upon a continued Discharge of Matter to be, as it were, a natural Evacuation, and that it’s immediate Stoppage, without other Means, being made use of to divert and evacuate it, to be succeeded by a greater Fulness and Distention of all the Vessels, as is observable upon the Suppression of the Menses, Hemorrhoides, or insensible Transpiration, there is this Difference to be observed that the ill Accidents that attend the Stoppage of the Discharge of Matter are not so much owing to the Distention and Plenitude of the Vessels, but according to the ill Quality of it, ’tis disposed to render the Patient feverish more or less, which is generally ushered in by Rigours, and sometimes succeeded by Spasmodic Contractions.