Chapter V: A NEW METHOD of curing CONSUMPTIONS by Specific Medicines

Written and Collected

By _WILLIAM BECKETT_,

Surgeon and _F. R. S._

_LONDON_:

Printed for E. CURLL, in _Rose Street, Covent-Garden_.
And Sold by C. RIVINGTON in St _Paul’s Church-Yard_,
Mess. BIRT, WARE, LONGMAN, HITCH, WOOD and Company,
in _Amen Corner, Paternoster-Row_, J. CLARK, in
_Duck-Lane_, and J. HODGES, on _London-Bridge_. 1740.

(Price Four Shillings.)

THE

CONTENTS.

I. _Some Account of Mr_ BECKETT’s Life _and_ Writings.
_Addressed to Sir_ HANS SLOANE.

II. Chirurgical Remarks _on_ Wounds _of the_ Head _and_ Brain.

III. New Discoveries _relating to the_ Cure _of_ Cancers.

IV. _The Case of Dr_ Keil _by Mr_ Rushworth _of_ Northampton.

V. _Three curious Dissections by_ John Ranby, _Esq; Surgeon
to his Majesty’s Household_.

VI. _A New Method of curing_ Consumptions _by Specific
Medicines, by_ Thomas Nevett, _Surgeon_.

VII. _The Natural_ Secret History _of both Sexes_. _By_ Luke
Ogle, _Esq_;

VIII. Laws _and_ Regulations _of the_ Stews _in_ England.

IX. _The_ History _and_ Antiquity _of the_ Venereal Disease
_in Three Letters to Dr_ Douglass, _Dr_ Wagstaffe
_and Dr_ Halley.

To the HONOURABLE

Sir _Hans Sloane_, Bart.

PRESIDENT

OF THE

_Royal Society_, and _M. D._

SIR,

It is with the greatest Satisfaction that I now lay before you the Performance of those Commands, with which you were pleased to honour me, of collecting the _Chirurgical Pieces_ which were singly published by Mr BECKETT in his Life time.

This Gentleman might be said to have been begotten in his Profession, as being the Son of Mr ISAAC BECKETT, Surgeon of _Abington_ in _Berkshire_, where he was born in the Year 1684.

He received his Education under Mr PLEDWELL, then Master of the excellent Free Grammar-School belonging to that Town, served four Years of his Apprenticeship with his Father, and the three last with Mr _Joseph Bateman_, of St _Thomas’s Hospital_ in _Southwark_.

Mr BECKETT died, SIR, at his Sister’s House in _Abington_, _November_ the 25th 1738, in the 54th Year of his Age, and lies interred in St _Hellen_’s Church there.

Of this his Native Place, he drew up a _Brief Account of it’s History and Antiquities_.[1]

[1] See Mr ASHMOLE’s Antiquities of _Berkshire_, 3 Vols. 8vo. p. 111
of Vol. 1st.

A faithful Account of his WRITINGS is prefixed to this Volume; your Generous Patronage of which, he would himself have looked upon as the greatest Honour and Friendship that could be conferred on his Labours, and for which, I most humbly request your Acceptance of the Grateful Acknowledgments of,

SIR,

_Your Obedient,
And Obliged,
Humble Servant_,

_June 29, 1740._ E. C.

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE

WRITINGS

OF

_WILLIAM BECKETT_,

Surgeon, and _F. R. S._

VIZ,

In the Year 1709, He Published, I. _Chirurgical Remarks, Occasioned by the Death of a_ CHILD, _whose_ CASE was _printed_ in that Year by _Daniel Turner_, Surgeon. To these Remarks Mr _Beckett_ subjoined, _An Account of a_ Wound _of the_ Brain _by_ a Bullet; _with Reflections thereon_. And at the End of this TRACT, Mr _Beckett_ gave an _Advertisement_ that He had almost ready for the Press, _Annotations and Practical Observations on the Learned and Ingenious Monsieur_ GENDRON’s _Enquiries into the Nature, Knowledge and Cure of_ CANCERS.

II. _In the Year_ 1711, He published NEW DISCOVERIES _relating to the Cure of_ CANCERS. _Wherein the painful Methods of cutting them off, and consuming them by Caustics are rejected, and that of dissolving the Cancerous Substance_ is recommended; _with various Instances of his Success in_ this Practice _on Persons reputed incurable. Also a Solution of Four curious Problems concerning_ CANCERS, viz. I. Whether the Cancerous Juice _is corrosive or not_. II. _Whether_ Cancers _are contagious or not_. III. _Whether if the extirpating a_ Cancerous Breast _happens to be successful, it ought to be looked upon as a Consequence of performing the Operation better than our Predecessors_. IV. _Whether a_ Salivation _will Cure a_ Cancer.

_This Treatise came to a_ Second Edition _the following Year_ 1712: _To which, besides some Corrections_, Mr BECKETT _added_ TWO _other Problems with their Solutions_, viz. V. Whether _Cancers_ are curable by _Caustics_. VI. Whether _Cancers_ are curable by _Internal Medicines_. In this Piece all that he promised relating to GENDRON is inserted. And to the present _Third Edition_ He subjoined, by way of _Postscript_, a very valuable _Receipt_ for the Cure of _Cancers_, which he informs us was communicated to him by his late eminent Brother Surgeon Mr _Dobyns_ of _Snow-Hill_. He had it from Mr _Pain_ a Gentleman of _Northamptonshire_, in whose Family it had been, in the highest Esteem, for above 200 Years. Mr _Beckett_ likewise adds, that he transcribed it from the Original _Manuscript_.

At the End of the _Second Edition_ of his _Treatise_ on _Cancers_, Mr _Beckett_ gave an _Advertisement_ that “He was then preparing for the Press, _Chirurgical Collections_, which would consist of His own _Observation_ of _uncommon Cases_, also, the most curious things relating to Surgery, taken from the Performances of the _German Eruditi_, in their _Acta Lipsiæ_, the _Miscellanea Curiosa_, _Philosophical Transactions_. _Memoirs for the Curious_, _Voyages_, _Travels_, _Natural Histories of Counties_, and many other things that would afford useful Observations. In this Collection was to be a great number of Figures of Cases, Instruments, Machines, _&c_. all curiously engraven on Copper Plates. This Undertaking was wholly designed for the Improvement of the Art of Surgery; and the _Introduction_ to it was to give an Account of our famous _English_ Writers in _Physic_ and _Surgery_, for many hundred Years past.”

The great and deserved Practice which attended Mr _Beckett_’s _New Method of curing Cancers_, obliged him to postpone the Publication of his _Chirurgical Collections_, as above recited; and which, upon a mature Deliberation, he changed into a much more extensive and useful Design; and, by Mr _Innys_ at the West-End of St _Paul_’s, and Mr _Hooke_ in _Fleet-street_, Booksellers, He published _Proposals for printing by Subscription in 2 Volumes_ 4to, An Account of the Lives, Characters, and Writings, _both Manuscript and Printed_, of the most eminent _British_ Authors in _Physic_, _Surgery_, _Anatomy_, _Pharmacy_, _Botany_ and _Chemistry_, from the Conquest to the Year 1721. To which was to be added, A large Collection of Records, principally taken from the _Tower_, containing Grants of particular Favours and Privileges to the most noted _Physicians_ and _Surgeons_ by the Kings of this Realm for many hundred Years; whereby, besides other curious Affairs not to be met with elsewhere, the Time in which they lived was to be ascertained, as to several of them, has hitherto remained absolutely undetermined. The whole faithfully collected and reduced to the most exact Order of Time.

This Work was proposed at the Price of one Guinea in Sheets.

Between the Years 1717 and 1720, Mr _Beckett_ published in the _Philosophical Transactions_, Three Letters concerning the _History of the Antiquity of the Venereal Disease_. I. To Dr _Douglass_. II. To Dr _Wagstaffe_. III. To Dr _Halley_. Proving _That Disease_ to have been _known_ and _cured_ in _England_ long before the Discovery of the _West-Indies_.

Of these Pieces Dr _Astruc_, a _French_ Physician, full of the Vanity peculiar to his Countrymen, seems doubtful as to their Proof, because he had never seen the Manuscripts, nor rare printed Authorities, cited by Mr _Beckett_; and treating of Dr _Turner_’s _Syphilis_, speaks slightly of that Gentleman, because he is of the same Opinion with Mr _Beckett_.

From the Publication of a small Pamphlet consisting but of 24 Pages, 8vo, Intituled, “A _Letter_ from a Gentleman at _Rome_, to his Friend in _London_, giving an Account of some very surprizing _Cures_ in the _King’s-Evil_ by the _Touch_, (of the Chevalier _De St George_) lately effected in the Neighbourhood of that City, 1721. Wherein is contained the compleatest History of this _miraculous Power_, formerly practiced by the _Kings_ of _England_, ever yet made public; the _Certainty_ of _which_ is confirmed by the most eminent Writers of this Nation, both _Catholics_ and _Protestants_, as, _Malmsbury_, _Alured_, _Brompton_, _Polydore Virgil_, _Harpsfield_, &c. and Drs _Tooker_, _Heylin_, Mr _Collier_, Mr _Echard_, &c. _Translated_ out of the _Italian_.” And the following Motto prefixed by the Catholic Translator, _viz._

_King_ Edward the Confessor, _was the first that cured this Distemper, and from him it has descended as an Hereditary Miracle upon All his Successors_. To dispute the _Matter of Fact_, is to go to the _Excess of Scepticism_, to _deny our Senses_, and to be _incredulous_ even to _Ridiculousness_. See _Collier_’s Ecclesiast. History Vol. I.

Mr _Beckett_ took an immediate Occasion to explode all these Legendary Assertions, and fully proved the Truth of Mr _Collier_’s positive _ipse dixit_ to lye on the other side of the Question, in two Letters which he Published, I. To Dr _Steigerthal_, intituled “A Free and Impartial Enquiry into the Antiquity and Efficacy of _Touching_ for the _King’s-Evil_.” II. To Sir _Hans Sloane_ in “order to a compleat Confutation of that supposed _supernatural Power_ descending from _Edward the Confessor_ to the succeeding _Kings_ of _England_. Also, A Dissertation concerning the ancient Method made use of, for the curing _Diseases_ by _Charms_, _Amulets_, &c.” To which is added, _A Collection of Records_.

When in the Year 1722, it was feared that we should be visited with the _Plague_ in _England_, after it had raged so violently at _Marseilles_ in _France_; Dr _Mead_ published his _Preservative_ against _Pestilential Distempers_. And, among several other _New_ Pieces written, and _Old_ ones revived upon this Occasion, Mr _Beckett_ voluntarily lent his helping Hand for the good of his Country, by giving his Judgment, and Publishing (Anonymously) _A Collection of Pieces_ Written during the _Plagues_, which happened in the two last Centuries.

Mr BECKETT’s _Chirurgical Observations_, made at St _Thomas_’s Hospital _Southwark_; Published last Summer, were prepared for the Press by Himself, and Inscribed to Sir _Hans Sloane_ and the _Royal Society_.

TO

Sir HANS SLOANE.

_Honoured Sir_,

The last Paper Mr _Beckett_ ever wrote, was an Address to you for a private Favour; in which he says, he likewise had reason to believe that Dr _Mead_ would be his Friend. He therein acquainted you that he had, “contracted such a Cold by sitting to write, with his Neck against a North-Window, as he feared would be his Death; and if so, _adds he_, it may be said I dye a Martyr to the _Improvement_ of the History of _Physic and Surgery_.” Thus concluded his Paper which he did not live to sign; it was found among his _Collections_ relating to the _Lives of the British Physicians, Surgeons_, &c. He had copied fair, for the Press, the greatest part of his Papers; and tho’ it was an _unfinished Work_, yet from his Character, and the great Pains he had taken, I knew it would be very acceptable to the Public. Accordingly I put it to the Press, and intended to have published it in two Volumes in _Octavo_. Young Dr _B_ * * * *, was recommended to me as a proper Editor: I sent for him and shewed him the Papers; but soon found, that he was much too young both in Character and Ability for such an Undertaking. I printed one Sheet, in _Octavo_, (of which there were but two Copies taken off) upon this, Dr _Milward_ informed me, that he had been for some Years compiling _An Universal History of Physic_. He expressed his Desire of purchasing Mr _Beckett_’s Papers, and being fully convinced, from his Learning and Candour, that he would do Justice to the _Author_’s Memory, I readily let him have them. And Sir, that you, might in some measure be apprized of Mr _Beckett_’s PLAN, I have to this Volume prefixed his Introduction to the Work.

_I Remain,
Honoured Sir,
Your Most Obliged,
And Obedient,
Humble Servant_,

E. CURLL.