*

Out of 20 fick perfons who die in the
country, two thirds would have reco-
vered if they were only lodged in a
place where the air was fweet, and sup-
plied with abundance of good water.

As long as there is a bitter or nau-
feous taste in the mouth, a loathing of A
food, a bad breath, heat and feverish-
nefs, with fetid ftools, and little and
a high coloured urine, fo long all
flesh, flesh-foup, eggs, and all food, of
which they make part, and all Venice-
treacle, wine, and cordials, are abfo-
lutely poifon.

The prejudices which act contrary
to these principles have coft Europe

-MILLIONS OF LIVES.

3dly. A third practice very common and very dangerous is the purging and vomiting a patient in the beginning of a difeafe; for though it is fometimes proper, yet it should be confidered as a general rule that they are hurtful.

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The intention of purging and vo-
miting at the beginning of inflamma-
tory diseases, is, to remove the load
and oppreffion at the ftomach which
caufes a difpofition to vomit, a dry D
mouth, a foul tongue, great thirst,
and general uneafinefs; but we may
judge of the inefficacy of that measure
by confidering the tongue as a kind of
fample of the ftomach; it may be
wafhed, gargled, and even scraped to
very little purpose at first, but when
the patient has diluted feveral days,
and the heat, fever, and fyzinefs of
the humours are abated, this foulness
will feparate and come away of itfelf:
Thus the ftomach may be purged a-
gain and again at the beginning, and
be ftill foul, like the tongue, after
washing, gargling, and fcraping, but F
after refreshing and diluting remedies
have been administered a proper time,
it will become clean by a natural ef-
fort, and the effects of its foulness will
difappear without purging.

Purging in thefe cafes, when it does
no good, does harm; it encreases the
pain and inflammation, it draws the G
humours upon thofe parts which were
before over loaded, and they discharge
the thinner part of the blood, and
confequently encrease the thickness of
what remains. They take the useful,
and leave the hurtful humours behind.

The vomit does worfe if administer-
ed before the humours have been di-
minished by bleeding, and diluted by
finall liquors; it produces inflamma-
tions of the ftomach, of the lungs, of
the liver, fuffocations, and phrenzy.

H

[Of the means proper to be used at the boginning of difeafes, and the fymptoms which indicate that a difeafe is contracted.]

The greater part of acute difeafes often give notice of their approach a few weeks, and commonly a few days before their actual invafion, by the following fymptoms:

1. Light laffitude, or wearinefs; ftiffness, or numbness.

2. Les activity and appetite than ufual; a small load or heaviness at the komach.

yet

3. Some complaint in the head.
4. A profounder degree of fleep,
with lefs refreshment.

5. Lefs gaiety and liveliness.

6. A light oppreffion at the breast, and a lefs regular pulse.

7: A chilliness, or propenfity to be cold.

8. An aptnefs to fweat, and fometimes a fuppreffion of an habitual difpofition to (weat.

During thefe fymptoms of an approaching difeafe, and before it is come on it may generally be prevented, or at leaft mitigated, by carefully obferving the following directions:

1. Omit all violent exercife, but still ufe a moderate degree.

2. Eat very little folid food, and wholly abstain from flesh, flesh broth, eggs, and wine; taking garden ftuff and fruits, with light fpoon meat in their flead.

3. Drink plentifully, that is, 3 or 4 pints daily, by fmall glaffes at a time, from half hour to half hour, of the ptifans already directed; or of warm water, to each quart of which add a little more than three fpoonfulls of vinegar, with two or three fpoonfulls of honey. A light infufion of elder, or linden flowers, or the blossoms of the lince may be used with advantage; fo may clear sweet whey, well fettled.

4. Glyfters of warm water fhould alfo be adminiftered, but great care

fhould be taken that the water fhould

be neither more nor less than blood.

her of the ptifans before directed, or if they cannot be had of the water with vinegar and honey, or even the water without either honey or vinegar, adding a few grains of common falt, and taking it warm.

During the cold fit the patients covet a load of cloaths, and they may be indulged, provided the load is leffened as foon as it abates. During the heats of the fever the covering fhould be lefs than usual, and the patient fhould lie on a matrafs rather than a bed.

When the rigour is gone, and the heat advanced, the following obfervations are abfolutely neceffary:

1. The air in the room must not be hot, the mildeft degree of warmth being fufficient.

prejudice. The fick ardently defire it, and I have, fays Dr Tjot, known fe veral patients who would certainly have died but for their having fecretly eaten large quantities of those fruits A which they fo paffionately defired, and which were fo zealously witheld from them.

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2. The fick fhould not be spoken to, and should hear as little noife as c poffible.

3. Whenever the patient has been at ftool, or made water, the veffel should be immediately carried out of the

room.

4. The windows should be certainly opened night and morning, and the D door at the fame time, at least for a quarter of an hour, if the feafon be not very cold, fo that the whole air of the room fhould, if poffible, be changed; but the patient fhould be carefully fecured from the ftream, by drawing the curtains clofe round his bed: If the season be very cold, a few minutes may fuffice.

In fummer, if the weather is close and fultry, one window should be open day and night, with a curtain before it.

Pouring a little vinegar upon a red hot fhovel greatly conduces to restore the fpring, and correct the putres cence of the air.

5. The patient must now abstain from all food except the following:

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F

"Take half a pound of bread, a bit of butter the fize of a hazel-nut, and put them into three pints and a quarter of water. Boil them till the bread is reduced to a thin consistence, then ftrain it, and give the patient an G eighth part of it every three or four hours, or not quite so often if the fe- . ver is very violent."

In lieu of this spoon meat, the fick may be indulged in summer with raw fruit, good of its kind, and perfectly ripe, and in winter with boiled or ba- H ked apples, and dried plumbs and cherries.

That fruit is hurtful in fevers, is an old, an obftinate, but a most abfurd

Dr Tyot particularly recommends cherries, ftrawberries, raspberries, and mulberries; apples, pears, and plumbs, he fays, are rather lefs fucculent, and therefore lefs proper; he recommends alfo China oranges and lemons, but without any of the peal, either in fubftance or infufion; but, he fays, all these fruits should, in a continual fever, be taken often in fmall quantities.

6. The drink of the patient should be fuch as allays thirft, dilutes, relaxes, and promotes evacuation by ftool, u rine, and perfpiration, and the drink already directed, or water with about four fpoonfulls of the juice of any ripe fruit to a pint, fhould be taken to the quantity of fix, or even nine pints in a day, at about three or four ounces, or the fixth part of a pint, every quarter of an hour, the cold being juft

taken off.

If the patient has not two motions in 24 hours, if the urine is high-coloured, and small in quantity; if there is a delirium, and the pain in the head and loins is confiderable, with pains alfo in the belly, and a propenfity to vomit, the following glyfter fhould be given once a day, but not when the patient is fweating.

Take two pinches between the thumb and fingers of marsh-mallow leaves, and flowers cut fmall, ' and pour upon them a pint of boiling water; after it has food fome time, ftrain it, and add an ounce of honey; if mallows cannot be had, pellitory of the wall, lettuce, and even fpinnage may be used in its 'ftead.

7. As long as the patient is able, he hould fit up out of bed, at least one hour of the day, longer if he can bear it, and less if he cannot bear it so long,

but he should not be railed while he is fweating.

8. His bed fhould be conftantly made every day, and his fheets and linen fhould be changed every two days, taking, however, the greatest care that they are dry, even as tinder.

Nothing conduces more to continue a fever, than keeping the fick conftantly in bed, and refufing him a conftant fupply of fresh linen, though

an

an unhappy prejudice has established a Memoirs of GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, contrary notion, to the lols of many thousand lives that might otherwife have been prefei ved.

The obfervance of these fimple rules has radically cured many acute difeafes without other medical affistance, and it will certainly mitigate them all, and render other affistance, when it can be had, more effectual.

A

Diseases are not to be expelled at once by rough and precipitate usage; they must have their certain career and course, and violent medicines shorten this courfe only by killing the B patient,

When the fick is recovering, he must not be impatient to recover ftrength by eating folic food of high flavour, and fuppofed nourishing qua1ities, They thould encreafe the quantity by degrees, and when the fever is compleatly terminated, eat C fparingly of white meats, light broth, and fifh plainly dreffed.

In proportion to the abatement of the fever, the patient fhould also leffen the quantity of his drink; he fhould eat little and often; he should chew his folid food very well; he D fhould go abroad as oon as he is able; if he rides, it should be before his principal meal; and all exercise fhould rather be taken before that meal, than after it; they fhould eat very little food at night; they fhould not remain in bed above 8 hours; the fwelling of the legs and ancles, which ufually happens about this time, will go off of itself; it is not necessary the patient should go to ftool every day; but they should not be without one above two or three; on the third day they fhould have a glyfter, and fooner if they feel hot or puffed up, if they are restless, or have pains in the head.

If they continue weak with fome irregular fever from time to time, with a disorder of the ftomach, they should take three doses daily of the following prefeription:

One ounce of the best Jefuit's bark in fine powder, divided into 16 equal

parts.'

They must not return to their labour too foon.

(For the method of treating particular difeafes, we refer to the book, which we earnedly recommend to the public of every clafs and denomination, but especially country practitio mers in phyfick.]

E

King of Sweden. Extracted from a
Hiftory of that Prince lately published at
Amfterdam, by Profeffor D-M-.

GU

USTAVUS ADOLPHUS was born at Stockholm, December 9, 1594. His nativity was caft by a famous aftrologer, who predicted him a violent death, the ruin of his enemies, and the extinction of his illuftrious house.. Tycho Brahe had prognosticated more than ten years before Guftavus was born, that a new ftar difcovered in Cafhopea was nothing out a prince who was to be born in the North, and ho would be of fignal fervice to the Proteftants; fo great, even at that time, were the ignorance and fuperftitious credulity of the European nations, that every prince, as foon as born, had his nativity caft, aftrologers were retained in all courts, and the predictions which they hazarded were believed. "Tis well known that Lewis XIII. was named the juft, merely because he was born under the fign Libra. The reformation and found philofophy have happily deftroyed the credit of judicial aftrology, and have left one weapon lefs in the hands of knaves.

The education which Guftavus received was thoroughly calculated to improve his ftrength, his courage, and his understanding. He was nurfed with the utmolt fimplicity and frugality; he was foon accuftomed to an active and laborious life, to fatigues, and the inclemency of feafons. He was never accustomed to that exceffive delicacy by which a blind and impru dent tenderness enervates children in courts and wealthy families. All the amufements of his infancy and of his youth were useful exerciles, fuch as tended to ftrengthen his conftitution, to render him fupple, dexterous, vigorous, and to infpire him with courage. He alto difcovered in his tendereft years an aftonishing firmuels of mind and intrepidity. He was not above five or fix years old, when, as he was one day running among the bushes, being told, in order to deter him, G that there were great fnakes there, he replied, without the leait emotion, Give me a fick, then, that I may kill them, But this courage was without ferocity; it did not prevent him from being amiable by the goodness of his heart, and by a noble generofity. A peafant brought him a little horfe; I am going faid the young prince, to pay you, for probably you have not given it me for no:

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thing, and you want money; upon which he pulled out a little purfe full of ducats, and poured them all into the peafant's hands. When he was once taken from the women, the King appointed the Marfhal of the court, O. tho de Marner, a gentleman of diftinguished worth, to be his governor, and M. Skytte, one of the beft scholars of the age, to be his preceptor. Under him Guftavus learned the ancient languages, eloquence, hiftory, civil law, and politicks. A happy genius, A prodigious memory, a docility equally rare and neceffary, and a great deare of learning, enabled him to make fo quick a progrefs, that at 12 years old, he talked and wrote in Latin, German, Flemish, French, and Italian, as well as in Swedish; and he had also a general knowledge of Polish and Ruffan. From the age of 17 he had given fuch ftriking proofs of the extent of his understanding, of the fuperiority of his genius and his talents, of a confummate knowledge in the fcience of war and of government, of his prudence and of his love for his country, that after the death of his father, Charles IX. the ftates of the kingdom thought proper to annull in his favour the law, which enacted that the fuccef for to the crown should not act as king and as his own mafter till he was turned of 24. The Queen his mother, Duke John of Eaft Gothland, and fix of the chief fenators, to whom the late king had left by his will the regency E of the kingdom, voluntarily renounced it, through a principle of confidence in his capacity and virtues. Gustavus, therefore, afcended the throne Dec. 13, 1611, and he fignalized his acceffion by making fo judicious a choice of the beft fubjects to fill the vacant places, as well at court as in the army and the F finances, that his enemies themselves were aftonished at his difcernment and penetration. He then chofe for chan. cellor the celebrated Axel Oxenfiern, whofe genius and talents were a fort of prodigy, and who became afterwards one of the greatest men in Europe. Though Guftarus was detached from pleasures by a variety of important and difficult affairs, which feemed fufficient to engrofs his whole attention, his fufceptible heart did not escape the alJurements of love. The young Countefs of Brabe infpired him with the most tender and lively paffion, infomuch that he would have married her if the Queen his mother, without condemning his choice, or feeming to oppofe his

defign, had not artfully prevailed with him to defer it, which gave time for his love to abate and vanish. Thefe young lovers carried on a correfpondence by letters, which are ftill preferved. They are valuable, fays M. de M. on account of that fimplicity and virtue which characterise them. Amidst the expreffions of the moft lively tenderness, we difcover au ingenuou nefs, a purity of fentiment, an innocence of heart that are equally interelting and delightful. There even fhines in full fplendor that piety, that fear of God, that fund of Religion, which always effentially diftinguished this great king. This paffion was diffipated by the tumult of arms, and Cuflavus efpoufed, in 1620, the Prin ceis Mary Eleonora of Branderbourg.

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This prince was remarkable for a rectitude of mind, for a love of juftice that no interefted views ever could vary. At the beginning of his reign an occafion offered of difplaying it. He was engaged in a law-fuit with a gentleman named Seiblat, on account of fome lands. The caufe being to be tried by the fupreme court, the king repaired thither, and would alfo fit in judgement; but he defired the magif trates to regard nothing but their confciences in the decree which they were about to make. The judges gave fentence in the gentleman's favour, and the king having examined the evidence, condemned himself, and applauded the integrity of the judges.

So great was the confidence which all the Proteftants had in his zeal and his understanding, that the university of Heydelberg flattered herself that he would be readily difpofed to terminate the divifions that prevailed between the Calvinifts and Lutherans, and with this view the fent to him the celebrated David Paraus, in order to reprefent to him that nothing could do him greater honour than the compofing thefe differences, and establishing an unity of doctrine between the two Proteftant communions. Guflavus loaded Paraus with commendations

and prefents; he approved of the object of his deputation, as being a defign whofe execution was desirable; but thinking it impracticable, he declared, that very important reafons did not permit him to intermeddle in an affair of that nature; that be wished the Proteftants would be united in heart if they could not in fpirit; and that he prayed God to re-unite all men in charity, it being morally im