A rational account of the cause, nature, and cure of gleets: and other such weaknesses usually attending persons after former cures, self-abuses, &c. By the author of the Practical scheme. This book is given gratis only at the four following places, and no where else, viz. up one pair of stairs, between the Rose Tavern and the pamphlet shop, at the sign of the celebrated anodyne necklace, ... And (for the convenience of seafaring persons) at the Indian handkercher facing the New Stairs in Wapping. ...

CHAP. I. Some few Anatomical Observations necessary to be taken Notice of, in order to a right Knowledge of the true Cause, Seat, and Nature of Gleets, and other such Weaknesses.

BY a GLEET is understood an Involuntary and almost constant Efflux or Dripping away of Matter from a Human Body, and that in much the same Quanti∣ty, whether the Person be asleep or awake. From which Definition it naturally offers it self to our Consideration, to enquire into the Cause of this Efflux of Matter, and how

it happens that such a Quantity of Matter should thus Involuntarily come away. Which Difficulty will easily be remov'd by examining the inward Anatomical Structure of the Part where this Weakness is situated, which is the only thing that can give Light to our present Question: And then to examin if there is naturally any Liquor se∣parated in that Part, capable of becoming the Matter of that Epidemical Weakness and common Companion of Mankind, usually called a GLEET.

It is observable by Anatomy, that in the Nervo-Spon∣gious Substance of the Urethra or Urinary Passage, there are several Glandulous Openings, first discovered by that great Anatomist Mr. Cowper, which serve as so many ex∣cretory Ducts or Channels designed by Naure constantly to convey and furnish a certain viscid, clammy, Mucous kind of Liquor or Moisture into the Urinary Passage; The Use of which Liquor is to lubricate and besmear, by its Viscidity, the Pipe or Passage, and thereby to preserve and defend it from being fretted and corroded by the sharp Salts of the Urine which is daily passing thro' it, and which, without this defensative Liquor, would certainly be Fretted, and become Raw, and by consequence Sore, as any Fleshy Part wou'd be, that should have such a salt sharp acrimonious fretting Liquor as Urine so often passing on it, unless it were preserved by some such proper Defensa∣tive, as the continual anointing or besmearing it with some such smooth, soft, balsamick, unctious Substance would be: Insomuch that were it not for this unctious Liquor or Moisture that Nature is continually supplying the Urinary Passage with, by means of those Glandu∣lous Openings abovementioned, to keep it thus moist, it would in a little time become so fretted and Raw, by the Sharpness of the Urine daily passing thro' it, that All Mankind wou'd have a perpetual Scalding and Heat of Urine; by which I do not mean, that the Urine in it self would be Hotter, in that Supposition, than it is now, but that the Passage being raw and sore for want of that defensative slimy Moisture, which now protects it, it wou'd be fret∣ted by the Saltness of the Urine, and so wou'd smart, and seem as it were to Burn and Scald, whenever the Urine passed thro' it: Just as any other Raw Sore Place dive∣sted of its Scarf-Skin, wou'd smart and seem as it were to burn if one shou'd throw Urine, or Salt Water upon it.

This being thus establish'd from the nice Anatomical Inspection of the Urethra, we are now to consider what Changes and Alterations these Glandulous Openings in the Passage, are subject to, and capable of: And then whether or no such Changes can furnish us with such a large Supply of Matter as daily is experienced Involuntari∣ly to Drip away from Persons who have that Weakness commonly called a Gleet upon them. So that a thorough Enquiry into this Matter will lead us directly into an ex∣act Knowledge of the true Seat, Cause, and Nature of Gleets, without being put upon any Necessity of having Re∣course to any other Part, that in reality has no manner of Claim to fall under our present Consideration: As for Ex∣ample, the Prostatae, or Seminal Vessels, which tho' vul∣garly esteem'd to furnish the Matter of a Gleet, yet have no Share at all in it; and for this Reason it is, that the Vulgar commonly, tho' very ignorantly and impro∣perly call a Gleet a Gonorrhaea, which are widely different, as hereafter will appear; the true and only Seat of a Gleet, being the Urethra, or Urinary Passage, as by and by will clearly be made appear.

Our next Endeavour therefore must be to examine how the Urethra only and the Glandulous Openings abovemen∣tioned which it contains, are able to furnish so great a quantity of Matter, as is observed to be involuntarily dis∣charged in the course of a Gleet. In order to which we must consider, That Nature designing these Glands in the Urethra constantly to furnish and supply a certain Moisture to the whole Pipe or Passage, which may defend it from being fretted by the sharp Urine so frequently passing through it, as has been already shewed, the O∣rifices or Mouths of these Glands in entire healthy, sound, hail Persons are in some measure, (if I may use the Com∣parison servata always debitâ proportione) like the Sphin∣cter Muscles of the Anus, Bladder, &c. I mean by this, that the openings of these Glands, notwithstanding their being so very small, have a certain Springiness and Ela∣sticity proportionable to their Bigness and Size, belong ing to them, by which they are endowed with a certain power of straitning, contracting and drawing themselves, togather more or less upon every Emission of that Moi∣sture Nature designs them to supply the Urethra with: just as the Sphincter Muscle of the Bladder is endow∣ed

with a Power of retaining, holding, and keeping in the Urine. And by this means it is, that just so much and no more of this Moisture is thrown out of these Glands into the Urethra, than is just necessary for the Lubrication and Moistening of it, preparatively for the pas∣sage of the Urine. Nor is this at at all to be questioned, viz. That the Orifices and Mouths of these small mi∣nute Glands in the passage, have every one of them a pro∣per power of opening and contracting themselves, pro∣portionable to their bigness and size, not unlike, as I just now said, to the Sphincter Muscles in other Parts of the Bo∣dy, since we see that even a small Mite, taken for Example out of corrupted Cheese, and which is scarce discernable by the naked Eye, yet by the help of a good Microscope, it appears to be an Animal as compleatly furnished with all necessary Parts, as other Animals whose size makes them the conspicuous Objects of our unassisted Sight So that as by reason of the strength and vigour of the Sphincter Muscles, for Example of the Bladder; the Neck and Mouth of it is endowed with a power of straitening, contract∣ing and closing it self together after every Emission of Urine, every one experiences in themselves a power of either holding or letting go their Water: So, much in the same manner, by reason of the strength and vigour of the Orifices of these Glandules, they are endowed with not an unlike power of straitening, contracting, and drawing themselves together (which I desire my Reader always to suppose to be in a degree proportionable still to their Bigness) after every Emission of the mucous slimy Liquor they contain: Which strength being once lost, the power also of retaining and keeping in this Liquor is also lost with it. The State then and Condition of these Glandulous openings (or as Dr. Drake calls them Mucous Glands) from their thus furnishing and supplying the Pas∣sage with this Mucous Liqor,) being thus consi∣der'd in healthy Persons. Our next Enquiry must be into the state of these Mucous Glands in Persons afflicted with a Gleet. Which state we shall soon be apprised of by con∣sidering that when a Person has been under Cure for the Secret Disease, the fatigue of Antivenereal Medicines, es∣pecially if ill administred, by a frequent pressure upon, and irritation of these Glands, has rendred them flaccid, limber, weak, and loose, which before were healthy, vigo∣rous,

springy and strong. The truth of these Assertions (abstracting from the reasonableness they carry along with them) will appear by giving my Reader an Account of the state of these Glands as they have been observed in some Anatomical Dissections made of that particular part where all Gleets are seated, I mean the Urethra or U∣rinary Passage.

That great Anatomist Mr. Cowper tells us, that to in∣form himself the better in this Point, he Dissected the Urinary Passage of several Criminals who had been Exe∣cuted: Some of which were healthy found Persons: The others were Executed with Gleets upon them. In the healthy sound Persons, he found these Glandulous open∣ings to be so firm, as to have had a perfect Elasticity, or Springiness: Insomuch that upon pressing them, he says, they discharged a certain quantity of a transparent viscous Liquor, such as it shews it self, and ought to be in statu sano; whereas if these Glands had not had such a firmness and strength, in which consisted their power of retain∣ing or letting go the viscid clammy Liquor they contain; this Liquor would have slipped out of them without any Pressure at all: And by consequence, its not owzing out, but upon such a pressure, was an evident mark of their springyness and strength. He also observed the whole U∣rethra to be besmeared and lined with a Liquor of a vis∣cous clammy contexture, which he supposed to have been discharged from these Glandulae Mucosae, in order to lubricate the Passage.

But in the Urethra of Criminals Executed with a Gleet actually upon them, and which they had had many Years, the Case was quite different. He observed the Mucous Glands to be limber, flaccid, and loose, very much stretched and dilated: And their Orifices by the help of a nice Microscope to be visibly open, and thereby totally destitute of their Strength and Vigour, from whence he judiciously concluded, that they were also entirely deprived of their retentive Faculty and Springyness, ha∣ving no power left of contracting themselves upon any emission of that mucous clammy Liquor they contain, as those other Glands could do in the Criminals that were Executed in perfect Health. After this he examined in the Executed Criminals that were thus dissected, the state of the Prostatae, the Vesiculae Seminales and the Parastatae, all

which he found to be as perfectly sound and entire, as in any healthy Person he ever dissected in his life; which is a convincing Proof, that neither the Prostatae, Vesiculae Seminales nor the Parastatae have any the least share at all in the Seat or Cause of a Gleet. This will appear still more clear, by an Example from Persons who have a Dia∣betes upon them: For from the loss of the Springiness and Tone of the Sphincter Muscle of the Bladder; the Neck and Mouth of it is so weakened and relaxed, as to be deprived of its retentive Faculty, through a want of that power of contracting and drawing it self together after any Emission of Urine which healthy Persons ex∣perience in themselves: from whence it follows, that the Urine comes away involuntarily from them, being alto∣gether deprived of both that Expulsive, as well as Re∣tentive power which healthy Persons have.

These Observations being thus premised, and which are fully sufficient to convince any one whose Eyes are not shut against demonstration, that what the Ancients gene∣rally thought as to the Cure of Gleets was built upon a very wrong Foundation: viz. An erroneous Notion of its Cause and Seat. We must now enquire how it happens that this change of state of these Mucous Glands, viz. from an Elastick, Springy, and strong state, to a limber, loose, and flaccid one can produce and be the Cause of that quantity of Matter which continually drips and comes away in the course a Gleet: Or in other Terms, (but the meaning is still the same) whether or no the productive cause of a Gleet i. e. the Relaxation of the Ori∣fices of the mucous Glands in the Urethra can so far en∣crease the quantity of Liquor naturally produced by these Glands, as to be such as is daily experienced by Gentlemen and others who have this Infirmity upon them.