Curiosities of Medical Experience Part 1

Curiosities of Medical Experience.

by J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen.

INTRODUCTION.

The great success and correspondent utility of D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature," have induced me to add to the ample harvest of that ingenious writer a few gleanings from another field. They may not afford the same amusing variety to the general reader, but they may tend to draw some attention to many important points that affect the chequered lot of mankind. The progress that every science has rapidly made during the last half-century has been astounding, and seems to have kept pace with those struggles of the intellectual faculties to burst from the shackles of prejudice and error that had ign.o.bly bound them for so many ages. Groping in darkness, man sought the light, but unfortunately the sudden refulgence at times dazzled instead of guiding his steps in the pursuit of truth, and led him into errors as perilous as those that had surrounded him in his former mental obscurity. His gigantic powers were aroused, but, too frequently misapplied, they shook the social edifice to its very foundation. The daring hand of innovation destroyed without contemplating what better fabric could be raised on the ruin: and while the n.o.bler faculties with which Providence had gifted us were exerted for the public weal, the baser parts of our pa.s.sions sought liberty in licentiousness.

Ambition degenerated into ferocity, scepticism led to impiety, and even apparent virtue sought to propagate the doctrines of good, by a.s.suming the "goodly outside" of vice. Religion was overthrown because priestcraft had deceived, and high rank was held up to detestation because princes and n.o.bles had been corrupt; and to use Shakespeare's words,

Thus we debase The nature of our seats, and make the rabble Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope The lock o' the senate, and bring in the crows To peck the eagles.

In ten short years this mighty revolution in the intellect of man took place,--in a country too that may be considered the cradle of the future weal and woe, perhaps of the universe;--in ten short years we beheld Montesquieu, Raynal, Rousseau, Voltaire, Condillac, Helvetius, beaming like rising meteors in the dark firmament, and shedding a fearful gleam on the past, the present, and the future; boldly tracking a path once trodden with groping steps by Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, and Ga.s.sendi![1] No longer trusting in blind confidence to the scholastic rules of those dignitaries of science whose conclusions were considered sufficient to command our faith, man became sceptical and positive; doubt and disbelief were carried into every investigation; the reign of _prestiges_ was over; the former monopolists of power and of science, the two great levers of society (the more effective since their fulcra rested on timidity and ignorance), were thrown from their antiquated stand, and found themselves brought face to face in explanatory contact with their once all-believing and obedient pupils, but now become a neoteric generation;--the crown and the sceptre, the cap and the gown, were baubles in their eyes. When the faculty of reasoning was not able to prevail, the shafts of ridicule were drawn from the quiver of philosophic wit, and inflicted rankling wounds where they could not destroy. Ancient systems were exploded with ancient prejudices, theories were overthrown with dynasties, and doctrines with governments;--one might have imagined that the formidable power of steam had been communicated to the mind, ill.u.s.trating the words of Milton,

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of h.e.l.l, and h.e.l.l of heaven.

Science, now aimed at generalization-the physiologist, the chemist, became legislators, stepping from the academic chair to the senatorial seat, and from teaching how to benefit mankind they hurried to destroy, forgetful, in their ambitious dream, of the n.o.ble encomium of Cicero, "_Homines ad deos nulla se proprius accedunt, quam salutem hominibus dando_."

Philosophy and the study of medicine were now inseparable; this generous science was not to be attained in books only, but in the study of mankind.

Rousseau thus spoke of physicians when writing to Bernardin de Saint Pierre:--"_Il n'y a pas d'etat qui exige plus d'etude que le leur; par tous les pays, ce sont des hommes les plus veritablement savans et utiles_." Voltaire was of a similar opinion when he thus expressed himself:--"_Il n'est rien de plus estimable au monde, qu'un medecin qui, ayant dans sa jeunesse etudie la nature, connu les ressorts du corps humain, les maux qui le tourmentent, les remedes qui peuvent le soulager, exerce son etat en s'en defiant, et soigne egalement les pauvres et les riches_."

How came it then that these great observers did not partake of the prejudices of Montaigne, Moliere, and other writers, who invariably stigmatized the practice of physic? simply because it was no longer a dogmatic profession exercised with scholastic pedantry, but a science founded on the study of nature, and the immutable laws of sound philosophy. Although a cla.s.sic education forms an indispensable part of a physician's education, yet it is in more important pursuits that his experience should be obtained: the knowledge of ancient languages is princ.i.p.ally useful in discovering the errors of the olden writers, and in detecting the barefaced plagiarisms of the moderns.

Much valuable time, however, may be lost in the pursuit of ancient lore; and Montaigne has justly observed, "There are books which should only be read, but others that must be learnt." This discrimination is of the utmost importance; for it may be said of the bookworm's library, "_Mult.i.tudo librorum saepe est nubes testium ignorantiae possessoris_."

Aristippus very properly replied to a man who boasted of his reading, "It is not those who eat the most that are hale and healthy, but those who can best digest." Hence the distinction that arose between the philosophical physician and the dogmatizer. The one was guided by the observation of facts, the other by glossarial records. Men of erudition are seldom men of genius. The exploring mind is ever anxious to take flight from the prison-house of scholastic restraints. Scepticism, moreover, is frequently the result of deep study, which leads the neophyte into such a labyrinth of conflicting opinions, that decision and conviction are not easily attained. Laugier, a most learned German physician, had no faith in his profession: being reproached with his incredulity, he replied, "_Credo, Domine, adjuva incredulitatem meam_."

The preceding observations lead to an important, and at the same time a painful reflection. Will this rapid intellectual progress tend ultimately to meliorate the condition of mankind? Nations have been compared to Man: having once reached the acme of prosperity and strength, their vigour like his gradually declines. History offers nothing more than a chronicle of such facts. Whatever may be the causes of this degeneracy, is a matter foreign to my present subject; although I may be permitted to observe by the way, that it may have arisen from the great disparity and inequality in the condition of society that tends to lull the wealthy into apathetic indifference and blind security in their power, while it urges the poor and the bold to rapine and destructive deeds. This perilous state can only cease to exist when general education is improved: if this most important source of real prosperity is attended to, we perhaps need not seek in particular events, gloomy antic.i.p.ations of the future.

Whatever may be the destinies of nations in the wreck of empires and the destruction of men, the philosopher calmly seated on ruins that often "speak that sometime they were a worthy building," reflects with pride that science has withstood the withering hand of time. It is true, that in every study errors have been heaped upon errors; but truth will often result from falsehood, and doubt that brings on investigation, leads to comparative certainty. Locke has justly observed, that the faculty of reasoning seldom or never deceives those who trust to it: its consequences, from what it builds on, are evident and certain; but that which it oftenest, if not only, misleads us in, is, that the principles from which we conclude, the grounds upon which we bottom our reasoning, are but a part--_something_ is left out which should go into the reckoning to make it just and exact. This _something_ is the constant pursuit of the philosopher. The name of a country may be obliterated from a map, the deeds of heroes be effaced from the annals of the world; the pursuit of truth can only cease when man is no more;--its light may be veiled by ignorance, craft, or cupidity,--but it cannot be extinguished. The cities that gave birth to the ill.u.s.trious philosophers of old have long ceased to exist, yet the immortal works of those sages that have escaped the ravages of time, are still as fresh and luxuriant as when their glorious oratory enchanted and captivated their disciples' ears.

No science has been cultivated with more difficulty than that of Medicine.

The following papers will show how fearfully it has had to contend in turn with the power of priestcraft, that sought to monopolize its practice, as a privilege from the G.o.ds, and with the furious opposition of contemporary members of the profession, whose cupidity and vanity were alarmed by the introduction of novel doctrines, which they were too old, too busy, or too obstinate to learn. The extracts from Medical Literature that I have given will show that most of our modern notions were known to the earliest writers, and were only improved in succeeding ages, as in like manner our present doctrines will in all probability be advanced by future generations. The destruction of kingdoms and of chronicles, the inroads of barbarism,--the more destructive inroads of ignorance and bigotry, have not been able to produce a void in the world of science; the catenation of philosophic inquiry has never been broken in its connexions. Oppression only riveted the chain more firmly, as if to resist the united power of man and time. Adversity, which

Like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in its head,

has always been considered the best school of practical wisdom: and it is thus that, amidst the portentous events which have shaken every inst.i.tution, and which perhaps still menace further dissolution, the fane of science has oftentimes been more vividly illumined by the surrounding conflagration.

The evils that desolate society too frequently arise from the hasty acts of intemperate men, who deem it necessary to meet the tumultuous demands of the mult.i.tude with decided and energetic, but, at the same time, perilous measures: the progress of science, on the contrary, is gradual, and of course more likely to be eventually permanent. While political speculations are daily becoming more uncertain in their operations, the triumph of intellectual superiority over prejudice is every where apparent;--unjust disabilities are being abolished, and the gates of learning thrown open to every candidate, whatever may be his religious or his political tenets.

In our country, more than in any other, industry and perseverance have ever had a fairer chance of attaining social pre-eminence, despite the shackles imposed upon the candidate for fame by inst.i.tutions framed in the darker ages. What then may we not expect, when we behold the bright era that opens before us,--when exclusive inst.i.tutions will be considered the obsolete remnants of expiring bigotry and intolerance! May we not indulge in the most sanguine hope, that our former glories are only the historic earnest of still more glorious days? If the spirit of the immortal Locke could hover over our earth, he would feel, with some degree of pride, that his admonitions have not been unheeded; and that "those who live mewed up within their own contracted territories, and will not look abroad beyond the boundaries that _chance_, _conceit_, or _laziness_ have set to their inquiries, but live separate from the notions, discourses, and attainments of the rest of mankind," have at last felt the necessity of yielding to the voice of reason, or rather of their own welfare.

In the following work I merely rank myself as a compiler. I have only sketched--sometimes perhaps with too fanciful a pencil, subjects of great importance, which, by being thus rendered popular, may induce abler pens to imbody them in a more permanent form. The variety of matter introduced has obliged me to be discursive, and to have recourse to some repet.i.tions that were necessary to ill.u.s.trate subjects not easily abridged. Whenever I have held up errors and evil pa.s.sions to exposure, I have not, in one single instance, I trust, been influenced by any hostility towards men or parties--ranks or creeds. If I have unwillingly and unwittingly given offence, I shall most sincerely lament it. My materials have been gleaned from the works of many contemporaries, whose well-known and justly-appreciated names will in general appear: but I should be wanting in candour, did I not avow that I have derived much valuable information from _Le Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales_, an elaborate compilation, containing more "CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL EXPERIENCE" than any existing work.

_48, Eaton Square, January, 1837._

CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL EXPERIENCE.

OBESITY.

Various are the opinions concerning the cause of excessive corpulence. By some it is attributed to too great an activity in the digestive functions, producing a rapid a.s.similation of our food; by others, to the predominance of the liver: while indolence and apathy, such as is commonly observed in the wealthy monastic orders, are considered as occasioning a laxity of fibre favourable to this _embonpoint_. Boileau has thus described one of these fat lazy prelates, who

Muni d'un dejeuner, Dormant d'un leger somme, attendait le diner.

La jeunesse en sa fleur brille sur son visage; Son menton sur son sein descend a triple etage; Et son corps rama.s.se, dans sa courte grosseur, Fait gemir les coussins sous sa molle epaisseur.

It is certain that exercise, anxiety of mind, want of sleep, and spare food, are circ.u.mstances opposed to fatness. This fact is ill.u.s.trated by Shakspeare, when Caesar says to Antony,

Let me have men about me that are fat,-- Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights; Yon Ca.s.sius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Antony and Dolabella were both men of some corpulence. The Roman ladies dreaded above all things too voluminous a development of the bosom: to prevent it they were in the habit of applying to their b.r.e.a.s.t.s the raw flesh of a fish called Angel. Hippocrates has maintained that obesity was an obstacle to conception. This a.s.sertion which was partaken by other medical writers, may, in some measure account for the dread of corpulence. Strange indeed have been the fancies on this subject amongst various nations.

Fat is a fluid similar to vegetable oils, inodorous, and lighter than water; besides the elements common to water, to oils, and wax, it contains carbon, hydrogen, and sebacic acid, which is pretty similar to the acetic.

Human fat, like that of other animals, has been frequently employed for various purposes. A story is told of an Irish tallowchandler, who, during the invasion of Cromwell's army, made candles with the fat of Englishmen, which were remarkable for their good quality; but when the times became more tranquil, his goods were of an inferior kind, and when one of his customers complained of his candles falling off, he apologised by saying, "I am sorry to inform you that the times are so bad that I have been short of Englishmen for a long time."

Obesity may be considered a serious evil, and has exposed corpulent persons to many _desagremens_. The ancients held fat people in sovereign contempt. Some of the Gentoos enter their dwellings by a hole in the roof; and any fat person who cannot get through it, they consider as an excommunicated offender who has not been able to rid himself of his sins.

An Eastern prince had an officer to regulate the size of his subjects, and who dieted the unwieldy ones to reduce them to a proper volume. In China this calamity is considered a blessing, a man's intellectual qualities are esteemed in the ratio of corporeal bulk.

There are cases on record among ourselves where unwieldiness led to estimation. The corpulent antiquarian Grose was requested by his butcher to tell all his friends that he bought his meat from him; and the paviers of Cambridge used to say, "G.o.d bless you, sir!" to a huge professor when he walked over their work. Fatness has often been the b.u.t.t of jocularity.

Dr. Stafford, who was enormously fat, was honoured with this epitaph:

Take heed, O good traveller, and do not tread hard, For here lies Dr. Stafford, _in all this church-yard_.

And the following lines were inscribed on the tomb of a corpulent chandler:

Here lies in earth an honest fellow, Who died by fat and lived by tallow.

Dr. Beddoes was so uncomfortably stout that a lady of Clifton used to call him "the walking feather-bed." At the court of Louis XV. there were two l.u.s.ty n.o.blemen, related to each other: the king, having rallied one of them on his corpulency, added, "I suppose you take little or no exercise?"

"Your majesty will pardon me," replied the bulky duke, "for I generally walk two or three times round my cousin every morning."

Various ludicrous anecdotes are related of fat people. A scene between Mrs. Clive and Mrs. Pritchard, two corpulent actresses, must have been very amusing. They were playing in the parts of Lady Easy and Edging, in the Careless Husband, when the former desires Edging to pick up a letter she had dropped; and Mrs. Clive, who might as well have attempted to raise a hundred pound weight, exclaimed, "Not I indeed, take it up yourself if you like it." This answer threw the audience into roars of laughter, when Mrs. Pritchard replied, "Well, if you won't take up the letter, I must find some one who will;" and so saying, she beckoned to a servant in the wing, who came forward and terminated the dispute.

In some countries, especially in the East, moderate obesity is considered a beauty, and Tunisene young ladies are regularly fattened for marriage; a different practice from that of the Roman matrons, who starved their daughters, to make them as lean as possible on such occasions. Thus Terence,

Nostrae virgines--si bono habitu sunt, matres pugiles esse aiunt, et cib.u.m deduc.u.n.t.

Erasmus states that the Gordii carried their admiration for corpulence to such an extent, that they raised the fattest amongst them to the throne.

It is well known that the preposterous size of some of the Hottentots is deemed a perfection, and one of their Venuses was not long since exhibited in London.

There is no doubt that food materially influences this condition of mankind, although we frequently see enormous eaters who are miserably lean, and fat persons whose diet is most scanty. During the late war, a ravenous French prisoner was known to eat four pounds of raw cow-udder, ten pounds of raw beef, and two pounds of candles, per diem, diluting his meals with five quarts of porter; yet this carnivorous brute was a perfect skeleton.

Amongst the many predisposing causes of obesity we may rank emasculation.