A continuation of the account of the nature causes, symptoms and cure of the distempers that are incident to seafaring people illustrated with some remarkable instances of the sicknesses of the fleet during the last summer, historically related : to which is prefix'd an essay concerning the quantity of blood that is to be evacuated in fevers : being the third part of the work / by William Cockburn ...

Observation XIX.

M—Captain of his Majesty's Fireship—was taken ill for a great while of a pain in his Heel, in the evening, so that sometimes he was so lame in the morning, that he could hardly walk till nine or ten of the clock.

In my first visit, I found he had a great may symptoms that happen to people in Agues, and for that reason, I was the ap••er to think it one, since I have seen twice before such strange personating of Agues, particularly in a Lady of Quality, Sir Thomas Mil∣lingtoun and I was concern'd in, who had an Ague personated by the most violent hysterical fits, that ever were describ'd by any Author, but I forbear relating it, because it hap∣pened not at Sea. Yet whoever un∣derstands perfectly the Theory of Agues, and especially about their Return, will easily be perswaded, that there may be such obstructions in the smaller and less comprest vessels that may produce such effects, and these 〈◊〉〈◊〉 suppl••ied and discussed, that very

way end one paroxysm and begin ano∣ther: tho I must confess, that the diligent Doctor Sydenham was the first, who took any particular no∣tice, and gave us a plain account of any such fact; tho he thought the reason was never to be assigned. This he does in his letter to the learn∣ed Doctor Brady, at present Kings professor in Cambridge.

Hic autem, says he, commemorare libet, quod sub primus▪ hujus constitutionis annos sympto∣ma qaoddam insigne Febribus intermit∣tent ibus quandoque supervenerit. Nempe ear um paroxysmi non cum ••igore & horrore, quas postea Febris exci pit in∣vadebant sed aeger ijsdem plane symptomatis tentabatur ac si Ap••plexia vera laborasset quae tamen nihil ali••d esset, utcunque hunc affectum, aemularetur, qua•• ipsa Febris caput impetens; ut ex alijs signis, it a ex colore urinae satis liquebat: quae intermittentibus ut pluri••um rubore saturato extat, qualis c••rn••tur in uri∣na eorum qui Ictero laborant, etsi non adeo intense rubet, & pariter se∣dimentum deponit pulverem laterum fere referens. Hoc autem in casu, &c.

But I must now take notice that a very considerable symptom at∣tended these intermitting Fevers, about the beginning of this consti∣tution. Their paroxysms made not their approach with a shaking and shivering, and then had the Fever following; but the sick person was affected in that very way, as if he had been ill of a true Apoplexy; which, nevertheless was nothing else but the Fever it self attacking his head. However, it imitated that disease, as was most evident by a great many signs, but more particu∣larly by the colour of the Urine, which, in Agues, is commonly of a deep red, such as that is in those that are ill of the Jaundice, tho it be not quite so red, and likewise breaks into a sediment almost like Brickdust. But in this case, &c.

The great Doctor Sydenham is imi∣tated in this by Doctor Morton, who endeavours to follow so exact a guide in writing observations of some dis∣eases; but whatever people may think of that way of writing, I think it is the hardest thing to perform well in the world, which makes the

observations of Platerns, Horstius, and a great many more Authors, who have been mightily commended of so little real use. I say that Doctor, Morton does here pursue the hint from Doctor Sydenham at greater length about the 82 and 83 page of his Pyraetolog, and give us the patho∣gnomical sign, the Ʋtinam bone tinctam, sedimento lateritio saturatam, an Urine of a deep colour, stuffed with a sediment like Brickdust.

And therefore, by the conduct of Doctor Sydenham, for I had not read the other Author when such a symp∣tome first appeared to me, and the reason I have already assigned. I believ'd in my former patients and in this, that he had an Ague perso∣nated by a fit of the Gout. Du∣ring the paroxysin I endeavoured to allay the pain, but design'd to prevent a relapse by the Jesuits powder, which succeeded very well given this way.

On the 8th of May he had a fit in the evening; next day, he dined by eleven in the forenoon, and at five took this vomit.

℞ Vin. emetic. ℥i. Oxym. seyllit. ℥ss. aq. theriacal. ʒij. M. ac exhibeatur cum regimine.

This made him vomit six times, and gave him one stool, and having his Fit in the evening, he began the Powder in the night; it was made up into an Electuary this way.

℞ cons. ros. rub. ℥j. pulv. chin. chin. ʒvi. syr. de succ. limon. ••q. s. f. electuar. molle, quod consumat ante reditum sequen∣tis. paroxysmi.

He took it accordingly, and pre∣vented the Fit; he had the Tincture too, for the design I use to give it, and suffer'd no relapse.