Chapter III: Part 3

This Mucilage is formed from the purer Part of the Lymph and the serous Parts of the Blood, and separated in these Glands from the Mass of the Blood. In order to have a more distinct Notion of its constituent Parts, and to know how it comes to occasion the Gout, the following Experiments of Dr. _Havers_ may be very properly repeated in this Place. He made most of the Trials both when it was hot and when it was cold. Vinegar dropt into it, when it was hot, made a considerable Coagulation with a _Serum_; it must be observed that those Mixtures that were made with it cold, did produce the same Effect when it was warmed, namely a Coagulation with Acids and Stypticks, only in an higher Degree: And whereas the Coagulations, which were made when it was in one State, did only change it into a thick Jelly without any _Serum_, after the Manner of a Cheese when it is newly set, as they term it, which over the Fire afterwards exhibited two distinct Parts, a _Coagulum_ and a Whey; in the other, that is, when the Mucilage was hot, the Mixtures which coagulated it produced an harder Curd, and a _Serum_ distinct from it. By dropping in some of the Decoction of Galls into it, the whole turned into a gelatinous Mass, and it was all a Sort of _Coagulum_ like a Skin, of a whitish Colour, and so tough as to hang all together when it was taken up with a Needle. This _Coagulum_ or Jelly being laid in the Sun, and dried, the Parts of it stuck all together in one Piece, but was very friable and easily rubbed to a Powder, which was very much like fine Flower. The same Effect had the strong Infusion of Balaustia, red Roses, Pomegranate Bark, and the _Peruvian_ Bark, although there was some Difference in the Coagulation, according to the different Degrees of their Astringency. With a few Drops of _Aqua Fortis_ distilled upon it, the Mucilage was immediately coagulated, though the _Coagulum_, which was white, was so tender, that it would by Agitation be dissolved in fair Water, and make it of the same Colour almost like Milk; Spirit of Nitre made exactly the same Alteration in it as _Aqua Fortis_ did, a _Coagulum_ which was of a white Colour. Vinegar, Spirit of Salt of Vitriol, Oyl of Vitriol, and of Sulphur in some Mucilage which I tried it with, did not make any considerable Alteration when it was cold, but in some other it did more; when _Aqua Fortis_ and Spirit of Nitre did produce in all the same Effects in the same Degree. It was mighty observable, that so strong an Acid as Oyl of Vitriol should have no greater Effect upon it to alter it not, so considerable as that of Vinegar, which would incline one to think that it is not always the high Degree of Acidity that works this Change. But there seems to be something particular in Wines, which disposes them to coagulate this Liquor, when any of them are made Use of; and those Parts of them, which are apt to act thus upon it, are cast into those Interstices where they have the Mucilage singly to work upon. And therefore we find how readily any Wines do procure the Paroxysms of the Gout, where the Tone of the Glands is weakned, and the Patient hath a Disposition to this Distemper; which agrees with those Trials I have made with some of them: For Claret, white Wine, and even Sack, but the Claret especially, did make a _Coagulum_ like a Jelly; and it was not strange that Claret, which hath both an Acid and a Stypticity in it, should produce the greatest Coagulation. A mercurial Water made of Sublimate and _Aqua Calcis_, made a very considerable whitish Coagulation, and rendred it all a thick Jelly, which being held over the Fire, turned to a Curd and a _Serum_. A Solution of _Roman_ Vitriol produced a Coagulation likewise; so did Allum dissolved in Water, but it made a greater Alteration in some than it did in others, though the Mucilages were taken from subjects of the same Species. _Saccharum Saturni_ did inspissate it, which appeared to be a true Coagulation, because with the Fire they would turn to a distinct _Coagulum_ and _Serum_. Salt of Wormwood made no sensible Alteration, only it seemed a little thicker, to which I put some of the Decoction of Galls, which immediately produced a Coagulation. Upon dropping in some Spirit of Vitriol, to see what would be the Effect of the Colluctation of the Salt and Spirit, and I found, after it was over, that the _Coagulum_ and the serous Part were distinguished, and the _Serum_ limpid like Water. I took some of the Decoction of Galls, and added to it Spirit of Vitriol, intending to make a strong Acid austere, where I observed that these two by themselves produced a strong Coagulation; and stirring of them together, to see if the whole might not be brought to mix by that Means, I found the _Coagulum_ turned into a viscous Body, and a perfect soft Gum. Then I took out the Gum, and poured some Mucilage to the residuous Liquor, by which it was changed so as to assume a whitish Colour, but was not considerably coagulated; which it was the less, because the austere Parts were most of them, with some of the Acid, precipitated into the Gum which had been separated from the serous Part. But if the Spirit of Vitriol and the Mucilage are first mixed, and the austere Liquor be afterwards added, they make a very considerable and plentiful _Coagulum_, which will only be broken into smaller Parts, and not be dissolved in Water. _Aqua Fortis_, and the Decoction of Galls being both dropt into some of the Mucilage, made a white _Coagulum_, which likewise was not dissolved in Water, altho’ with _oleum Tartari per Deliquium_, and so with Spirit of _Sal Ammoniac_ dropt into it, I presently dissolved it. I found likewise, that the _Coagulum_ made with the Infusion of Pomegranate Peel, red Roses and Balaustia, being mixed with some of the Mucilage, to which an Acid had been put, made the _Coagulum_ more firm, so that it would not dissolve in fair Water; but yet the Oyl of Tartar by _Deliquium_, and the Spirit of _Sal Ammoniac_, did the Business in all of them. The _Coagulum_ of the Mucilage made with an Acid, and the Infusion of the _Peruvian_ Bark and several other Astringents, I kept and dried, which when they were first put to the Teeth, seemed a little gritty, though after they were moist they were of a softer Nature. All the Mixtures made of the Mucilage with an Acid and an Austere, produced not only a plentiful Coagulation of a white Colour, but such a one as was of a thicker Consistence, and not Soluble in fair Water, as that was which was made with an Acid only.

CHAP. IV.

It is now proper to apply what hath been hitherto delivered, to the Distemper we are treating of, that from thence the Powers of Milk in the Cure may more clearly appear. We have shewed before how the Mass of the Blood becomes impregnated with a saline Acrimony, more or less Acid, from a sharp and indigested Chyle, and the Powers of Digestion weakned and impaired; whence is easily explained how the Lymph and acrid _Serum_ is communicated to the mucilaginous Glands, and the smallest Branches of the Arteries, so as to infect and coagulate the Mucilage, in Proportion to the Quantity of Salts they contain. The Fibres of the Membranes and Tendons are vellicated by the Acrimony of those Salts, so as to occasion intolerable Pain, and affect the Nerves to a very great Degree.

SECT. 2.

From the Diversity of Pains and other Symptoms in the Gout, it appears that these saline Particles are sometimes salt and pungent, sometimes more volatile, sharp and burning. That the mucilaginous Humour is frequently acid and corrosive in the Gout, appears from hence, that this Liquor is neither so easily coagulated, nor acquires so great a Degree of Viscidity by any other Mixture as with austere Acids, and from the Obstinacy and Duration of the Pain. It is frequently observed, that upon the Approach of a Fit, People complain of sowre Belchings, Wind, and vomit acid Humours, so that hypochondriac People, and such as are subject to the Gravel, are most apt to be seized with this Distemper; this may afford a good Reason why not only the drinking of acid Wines bring on a Fit in gouty Persons, but originally occasion the Gout in such Persons as frequently drink them. The Mixture of Wine with the Mucilage plainly evinces, that the acid Particles of the Wine give a Disposition to the Distemper, for it caused a greater Coagulation of the Mucilage than Oyl of Vitriol, whence easily appears what Mischief it may do to gouty Persons.

SECT. 3.

How this sharp acid Humour comes to be secerned in the Glands, seems to want Explanation, and this I judge to be in the following Manner. The Blood being first imbued with a sufficient Quantity of these saline heterogeneous Particles, which it receives from the corrupted Chyle, is by Degrees disturbed in its Motion, and the Fibres of the Nerves begin to be sensibly irritated, so as to cause irregular Motions of the animal Spirits. The Blood itself is thickned, because these saline and viscid Particles get into the small Ramifications of the Arteries, and occasion Obstructions there; by this Means the natural Functions and Secretions of the Humours, especially in the Glands, are disturbed, and proceed slower; and accordingly for some Time before the Fit, we find Complaints of Crudities in the Stomach, a swelling and Heaviness of Body, and Weakness and Numbness of the Limbs, which increase daily till the Fit is formed. At length the Blood, by continued Irritations, being put into more violent Motions, drives these saline heterogeneous viscid Particles through the obstructed Capillaries into the glandular Vesicles, whence without doubt the Juices there secerned, especially that of which we are speaking, _viz._ the Mucilage in the Glands in and about the Joints, is not only plentifully stored with these acid corrosive Salts, becomes more viscid and ropy, but also very corrosive and poignant; and while it irritates and corrodes the adjoining Membranes and Tendons, not only causes violent Pains, but also since by the Contraction of the Nerves the Blood cannot move so freely through the smallest Vessels, the Fibres are distended, and an inflammatory Tumor frequently succeeds.

SECT. 4.

The Reason why the Gout affects particularly the Hands and Feet, and not all the Joints together, where Glands of the same Nature are placed, seems to be this: The Blood vitiated in the Manner before explained, propelling these saline Parts into the Pores of the Glands, from the inequality of its Motion in the Time of a Fit, does not impel those Salts with an equable Force, but chiefly into such Parts (especially the Feet and other pendulous Members) where the Pressure and Impulse lies heaviest; so dilates the Cavities of the smallest Canals, till at length it deposits Part of such Salts, with other viscid Humours, upon those Glands. Thus being partly freed from those Salts, the Gout does not seize other Parts with the same Violence; for frequently a large Quantity of such vitiated Humours are secerned by Urine, Sweat, and other more open Passages; and it even often happens, that Persons whose Juices are much corrupted, have avoided the Distemper by the Laxity and Openness of their Vessels; yet these very Persons, when the Blood becomes oppressed by these saline Particles in so great Degree, as not to be readily discharged by the larger Passages, they affect the Mucilage in the Glands and occasion the Gout.

SECT. 5.

That this Distemper comes by Fits, appears owing to this, that upon the Approach of a Fit much of the morbifick Matter is thrown upon the Glands by the Blood, so that the Blood thus freed from sharp and viscid Particles, moves easier and freer, till such Time as a sufficient Quantity of morbifick Matter is again generated in the Blood; which by separating again, a viscid and sharp Mucilage, the Symptoms of the Gout, are repeated in another Fit. The feverish Chilliness and Shivering that attends the Gout, is to be accounted for from the irregular Motion of the Blood, occasioned by the Salt and viscid Particles; and it is very likely that those very Salts themselves, irritating the Nerves, and occasioning inordinate and violent Motions of the animal Spirits, contribute to such a Fever; this Sharpness of the Blood, while the Salts are thrown forth by Urine or Sweat, remits till the Blood be again infected. We observe that the Gout often prevents other Distempers; for by this Expulsion of the corrupted Parts from the Blood, Distempers which might have arisen from them are prevented.

SECT. 6.

Because there is a great Difference made between the fixed and wandering Gout, I shall observe a few Things thereon. As to the wandering Gout, it is observable that the Mucilage of the Glands is often very differently affected from the viscid and saline Particles of the Blood; sometimes these Particles are mixed in different Quantities with the Mucilage, neither have the Salts at all Times the same Degree of Volatility or Fixity; so that the Mucilage may at some Times be only lightly infected, and the Infection be more Volatile, and consequently it may easily move from one Joint to another, or attack many Joints at a Time. The Points of the Salts are in a Manner lixiviated, become more volatilized, and of Consequence are with more ease protruded from the Blood into the Glands, and render the mucilaginous Juices sharper; whence the nervous Membranes are irritated and distended, and the gouty Pain generated.

SECT. 7.

The Reason why this morbid Matter is not long fixed in a Place, but is apt to wander from one Joint to another, I take to be this: These saline volatile Particles, when their intestine Motions are increased, are very easily dissipated, either through the Pores of the Skin in sensible Transpiration and Sweat, or by insensible Perspiration, and so the Pain ceases; other Glands, whose Pores are more open to receive this acrid volatile Matter, are for the like Reasons infected, the same Tragedy repeated, and the Particles in like manner dissipated. This is the Reason why the Pains in the Gout are not fixed and permanent, but rather wandring and uncertain, the morbid Particles being attenuated, and pushing to get forth by the Methods now mentioned, vellicate the Nerves in various Directions. It may be further considered, that when by the smallness of the Pores or glandulous Vessels, or any other Disposition, the morbifick Matter cannot be separated from them in sufficient Quantity, and the Secretion once begun is stopped, it recurs to other Glands of the same kind, and thus the morbid Matter is suddenly translated from one Joint to another, and from one Sett of Glands to others, so as to produce this Effect.

SECT. 8.

As to the fixed Gout, where the morbid Matter remains long in a Place, I take it that many acid Salts and viscid Humours contained in the Blood, occasion a greater Coagulation and Viscidity in the Mucilage about the Joints and the Tendons, than can be easily dispersed and evacuated; and on the contrary growing more viscid and sharp, it distends and vellicates the small Fibres of the Tendons and nervous Membranes, and occasions a Pain proportional to the Degree of Acrimony and Viscidity in the Mucilage about the Joints and Tendons, generally pretty sharp. The Mucilage is affected in the same Manner as it would be from the Affusion of _Aqua Fortis_, Spirit of Vitriol, or any other corrosive acid or austere Substance, whence it is manifestly thickned and coagulated. This affords a Reason why such a Gout is not only fixed in a particular Limb, but also why it long remains there. The ingenious Dr. _Havers_ explains this Matter very well; he tells us that when the Matter happens to be thick and gelatinous, it is not to be expected that it should be easily and presently discharged out of the Interstices of the Joints, either by being resorbed or evaporated, when the Consistence of it renders it uncapable of insinuating itself into the minute Pores, and penetrating those narrow Avenues through which it is to pass. And according to the Degree and Nature of the Acid in the morbific Humour, it doth more or less coagulate the Mucilage, and the Part affected is sooner or later, with more or less Difficulty, freed from it, either by the Translation of it to another, or by the more happy Exclusion of it out of the Body. The same Author very elegantly explains the Cause of the Knots in the Joints, where he says that it seems to be no difficult Thing to account for that tophaceous Matter, which is sometimes found concreted in those Parts that have been afflicted with this Distemper. It hath been observed, that an Acid and an Austere, being both mixed with the Mucilage, did produce a plain, a notable and white Coagulation, where the _Coagulum_, though it was made when the Mucilage was cold, was not so soft and tender, nor dissolvable in Water like that which was made with Acids only; but though it would break, remained distinct in it, and being dried, was easily reducible to a fine Powder like Flower, or the fine Powder of Chalk. Whence he humbly conceives, that where-ever the Gout comes to be nodose, there is not only an Acidity in the preternatural Humour, which is separated by the mucilaginous Glands, and mixed with the Mucilage; but it is an Acid austere, which is no sooner thrown into the Interstices of the Joints and the Sinuses of the Tendons which are thereabout, but it produces a _Coagulum_ in the Mucilage, and that such a one as is not easily attenuated and dissolved, so that it lies fixed and imprisoned there, and in Time, as the aqueous and moist Particles are by the Heat and Spirits carried off, the terrestrial and saline Parts concentrated come nearer together, and coming to be immediately contiguous, do mutually adhere, and are concreted so as to produce that Chalk or tophaceous Matter which is in some arthritick Cases to be observed. And as the _Coagulum_, which may be made by an Acid austere, seems apt to make a Concretion of that nature, so the Colour of the tophaceous Matter doth answer to that of this Coagulation, so as to seem generated in this Manner.

SECT. 9.

The same Author explains the Reason why the Hands and Feet are most subject to this Disorder. In the Hands, as was shewn before, there not only are considerable Glands in all their Joints, but the Tendons which are there inserted, especially those of the _Musculi perforantes_, have their mucilaginous Glands, so that Nature hath a convenience in these Parts to depurate the Mass of Blood, and they must receive the morbifick Matter, when the Blood in its Circulation obtrudes it upon them, and the Glands are disposed to separate it. The same Thing may be observed of the Shoulder and of the Knees. But of all the Parts none are so frequently afflicted with this Disease as the Feet, and it is plain why they are so. For besides, that they have many mucilaginous Glands in their Joints, and others about the Tendons which are inserted into their Bones, as the great Chord or Tendon of the Muscles which extend the Foot, and those of the _Perforantes_; I say besides this, they are the inferior and pendulous Parts, so that as their Glands make them capable of entertaining, so their Situation does conspire with the Effort of Nature, to bring down the morbifick Matter into them. Thus far Dr. _Havers_, whom I have chosen to quote, because he hath exceeded all Authors in treating of the Nature of this Distemper. It is not necessary to add any more upon this Head. What I have omitted for Brevity’s Sake, the Reader may find in my _Encyclopædia Medica_, where I have treated of the Cause of this Distemper, and evidently shewed how from the Glands and Lymphatick Ducts about the Membranes and nervous Parts of the Joints, a large Quantity of sharp _Serum_ and other lixivial and acid Particles or other morbid Matter thickning and corrupting the Lymph, is secreted and deposited upon the Joints, where they corrode and vellicate the nervous Fibres. Upon the Addition of Particles more than ordinary acid, the Pains become more durable and fixed; insomuch as Salts of different Natures become jumbled together, and from the Agitation and Conflict of the Particles, the Membranes are vellicated and distended in a very painful Manner; neither doth the Pain abate till the Particles get forth of the Glands, or their Conflict being over, leave the Spirits at rest.

CHAP. V.

In the next Place we are to enquire into the Properties of Milk, and to find out whence it hath such wonderful Powers in asswaging and curing this Distemper. There are some Authors, especially the Followers of _Sylvius_, who according to the chymical Scheme would have Milk produced from the Blood in the following Manner; Chyle, which is of a white Colour, may be turned into Blood by the Help of Alcalies; and again the Blood may be reduced to Chyle by the Help of Acids. _Junkius_, in his Chymistry, hath noted the Experiments when Milk is to be turned into Blood: Take a Pound of new Milk, and mix with it an Ounce of reverberated Salt of Tartar in a large Vessel; in a Quarter of an Hour the Mixture shall turn into a Blood red Colour, several Fibres swimming at Top like Cream. When the Blood is to be turned into Milk, take any Quantity of the foregoing Mixture, and drop in some Vinegar, and it shall immediately re-assume the Form of Milk. In the first Experiment they alledge, that the crude Sulphur of the Chyle is by the Alkali exalted into a red Sulphur; in the second, the exalting Alkali is depressed by the Acid, whence the Sulphur returns to its original white Colour. _Junkius_ is very justly doubtful of the Application of this Experiment; how the crude Sulphur of the Chyle, as they call it, should in so short a Time be changed into Blood by Alkalies, and the Blood, exalted by so many Circulations, be again changed into Milk by Acids, seems very strange. It requires a good deal of Time to change the Chyle into perfect Blood, and the Blood again into Milk, notwithstanding that Women who have no Milk find it in their Breasts soon after Childbirth.

SECT. 2.

In order to be fully satisfied of the Nature of Milk, it is necessary to examine into the Manner of its Generation: It seems reasonable to imagine, that the Chyle, once received into the lacteal Vessels, and at length mixed with the Blood, is never again let forth with the same Appearance; only in Women at the Time of Childbirth, when it is plentifully separated, through the Ramifications of the Arteries, by the conglomerate Glands of the Breast. There is evidently a great Agreement between the Milk and the Chyle, in as much as the Chyle consists of a watry, limpid and gelatinous Fluid, with oily or fat Globules swimming therein. These Globules are pellucid, and differ both in Size and Figure; the Reason of its Whiteness is to be imputed to this: The oily Globules are mixed with the watry ones, in such Manner that several very smooth Globules are formed, which reflecting the Rays of Light in right Lines, occasion a white Colour; the same thing is observable in making Emulsions with oily Seeds, or upon mixing resinous Essences with Water, or mixing Oyl and Water, and shaking them well together; in these Cases, the watry and oily Particles, being thoroughly mixed, occasion such a Superficies as reflects a white Colour. _Bolin_, and several Authors have proved, that the Milk is no other than oily or fat Lymph or Chyle, brought with the Blood to the Breasts, and there deposited in the milky Cells. _Berger_ hath very well explained the Manner of its Separation in the Breasts. The whole Substance of the Breasts, in Women giving Suck, is made up of various Ramifications of Arteries, from the thoracick and mamillary Arteries, which terminate in oval Cells, or glandulary Follicles; from hence the Breast swells with many milky Vessels, terminating in the Nipple; through these the more oily and chylous Parts of the Blood are derived from the Glands, where it is not only separated, and received, but gathered and preserved, while the remaining Mass of the Blood is returned by the Veins and Lymphaticks. These milky Rivulets, after breaking very small from the Ramifications of the Arteries, flow together into several larger Trunks, which in their Progress are united by Insertions of their Parts, in some Places more dilated, in others streightned, from several Cells and Cisterns, where the Milk is gathered and preserved, so as always to have a sufficient Quantity for the Nourishment of the Infant. Lastly, as the Chyle is separated from the Mass of the Food in the Bowels, not by any Precipitation, but by Percolation only; and as in the making of Emulsions, the oily Seeds communicate an oily Milkiness to the Water, and is separated from the grosser Parts by the Sieve, without the Intervention of any precipitating Medicine, so the chylous Juice is separated in the Bowels by gentle Pressure or the Peristaltick Motion, and strained through the Orifices of the lacteal Vessels, to be thence thrown into the Mass of the Blood. In like manner, the Milk is barely separated, by straining the milky Particles from the Blood, through the small Ramifications of the Arteries in the Glands of the Breasts.

SECT. 3.

_Nuck_ hath sometime ago demonstrated, that these conglomerate Glands are a Bundle of small Vessels; that their excretory Ducts are Continuations of the arterial Ramifications, and that these Glands owe their Origin to the smallest Branches of the Arteries: These Arteries, which enter the glandular Substance of the Breasts, are imperceptible to the naked Eye, and discoverable only by injecting a very fine Tincture (which _Nuck_ tells us is known to very few Anatomists) into the Artery; this may be so far propelled, as to render the milky Ducts conspicuous. For the better Discovery of this Matter, _Nuck_ instituted another Experiment equally curious and useful; having met a Nipple full of excretory Ducts, he pressed it, and the Breast adjoining, so as to empty all its Contents, and having pitched upon one of the widest Ducts, he injected _Mercury_ so artificially, that he immediately observed the milky Ducts spread like Branchings of Trees; some Part of the _Mercury_ was carried so far as to enter the Arteries, whence the milky Vessels were continued.

SECT. 4.

Hence it follows, that these milky Ducts are destitute of Valves, otherwise the _Mercury_ and the injected Liquors would have been obstructed in their Passage. It is indeed observable, that these Canals are in some Places streighter and narrower than in others, so as to give some kind of Obstacle to the Injection; this is not to be imputed to Valves, but to some kind of Hardness peculiar to the Substance of the Glands, by which the milky Vessels are compressed. From hence appears the immediate Inosculation of the milky Ducts, with the small Ramifications of the Arteries, of which these Glands are composed; so that the arterial Blood propels and deposits its chylous and serous Particles by gentle Pressure and Impulse in the milky Ducts, without other Mechanism than bare Straining and Secretion. For the further and more exact Description of these Ducts, see _Nuck’s Adenographia_.

SECT. 5.

It remains now to examine, of what kind of Particles chiefly Milk is composed; which appear to be these three: The first is a fat, butyraceous, oily, and sulphureous Substance. The second is cheesy, earthy, chalky, and saline. The third is the Vehicle of these, _viz._ serous, which is watry, with a Mixture of nitrous Salts. But these Parts don’t hold the same Proportion in the Milk of all Animals; Cows Milk is most used in Food, it is thick and fat, and contains more Butter than the Milk of other Animals; upon which account it nourishes more, and is more agreeable to the human Body. Ews Milk hath more earthy and cheesy Particles; Goats Milk is in a Mean between these two, only that its _Serum_ contains more of a nitrous Salt; whence _Etmuller_ conjectures, that it hath all the Virtues of Whey made from Cows Milk, especially in Heats and scorbutick Cases. Asses Milk is of all the thinnest, next to human; the Milk of other Animals, as not so usually brought into Food, I forbear to describe.

SECT. 6.

It is manifest, that every Part of the Milk exerts an Effect proper to it self; the fat Part, from which the Butter is formed, preserves from the Stone, which affords an evident Reason why Stones taken from the human Body, upon Distillation, afford so small a Portion of Oyl; whence I am of Opinion, that the Stone is most commonly generated in the Kidneys and Bladder, when the Blood is not sufficiently stocked with oily Particles. Upon this Principle it is easy to see why all oily Substances, as Oyl of Sweet Almonds, taken plentifully, is a Remedy in the Stone; for the oily Particles (as _Hoffman_ observes in his Notes upon _Poterius_) by their Hooks hinder the Saline _Spicula_ from uniting so as to form an hard Substance. It is known in the Chymistry, that Oyl resists Crystallization; and many Artists that are minded to have beautiful Crystals, add rectified Spirit of Wine to their Lye, in order to absorb the Oyl. Upon the same Principles, the Precipitation of the earthy Particles, and the lodging thereof in the Membranes of the Joints, so as to form chalky Knots, are prevented. _Poterius_ tells us of a Woman of Sixty, who was so reduced in her Flesh and Strength, that she was scarce sensible of Pain, who by the Help of Goat’s Milk, was in three Months Time restored to a State of perfect Health, notwithstanding a great Decay of Strength and Flesh, an Hectick Fever, and a Stone; she took at first but four Ounces of the Milk, which was at length increased to eight; at the End of fifteen Days she voided some oblong and Very hard Stones, upon which she began to recover. She continued the Use of the Milk for a Month, at which Time the Fever left her, her Appetite returned, and she began to gather Flesh. She was alive and hearty in the Sixty Eighth Year of her Age, when _Poterius_ gave his Account. Although in this Case the oily Particles of the Blood might contribute much to lubricate the Passages, yet probably the serous Part of the Goats Milk, impregnated with a nitrous abstersive Salt, attenuated the thicker Humours, and irritated the nervous membranous Parts to discharge the Stones. It is observable that after taking plentifully of Milk, the Urine is not only thin and watry, but made also in large Quantities. This fat Substance in the Milk also loosens the Bowels and softens Pain, it resists corrosive Poisons, in as much as it sheaths and anoints the sharp _Spicula_ thereof. Many Empiricks, to shew the Force of their Antidotes (which are generally good for nothing) to the ignorant Multitude, having lined their Stomachs well with Butter, or Oyl, either of Olive or Sweet Almonds, will securely swallow Mercury and even Arsenick, and afterwards taking the pretended Specifick, cheat the poor People of their Money. _Poterius_ experienced the good Effects of Milk, plentifully taken, to break the Force of Poyson; for a Woman, who being very dry, had drank _Aqua Fortis_ instead of Wine, was relieved from the immediate Danger of Death by drinking plentifully of Steeled Milk, with a Dram of Wax, a little Nutmeg, and _Terra Lemnia_. _Tulpius_, in his Observations takes Notice, that _Goldsmiths_, while they handle Mercury and Antimony, keep in their Mouths a bit of Bread thick buttered, or take fat Broths, to guard against their mischievous _Effluvia_. Milk, by reason of its Oiliness, is one of the best, temperate, and nourishing of Foods; nothing exceeds it in consumptive Cases. These Particles admirably temper any Sharpness in the Body, and are serviceable where the Kidneys are ulcerated, and to scorbutick People, especially if the Juice of Cresses or Scurvygrass be added to it, and taken two Hours before Meals. It is of great Service in Dysenteries, where there is great Sharpness in the first Passages, and chiefly after the Use of absorbent Medicines. Upon the same Account it eases Pains in the Eyes, and the serous Part of the Milk helps much to dilute the Salts; dropt into the Ear, it asswages Pains there, especially when it is attended with a buzzing Noise.

SECT. 7.

Since it appears that Milk, by reason of its oily Particles, is thus serviceable in mitigating and curing these Disorders, there is no room to doubt, from Parity of Reason, that the frequent Use of it in the Gout should not break and invert the austere, sharp, saline Particles, and drive them forth of the Body by Perspiration, Urine, or other Discharges; for, (as _Waldsmid_ observes) Salts predominate in this Distemper, which is evident from the itching in the Skin observed to attend the Decline of a Fit. The volatile Salt of the serous Humour going off, insensibly frets the Skin, while that which is fixed in the thick and viscid Humour, and cannot easily fly off, hardens into Knots. I have observed, upon the Application of Blisters to gouty Persons, a Liquor of an high corrosive Nature to flow from the Part.

SECT. 8.

I now come to examine the second essential Part of Milk, _viz._ that which is cheesy, earthy, and somewhat saline. I am not of Opinion that the Acid of the Stomach is increased by this Part, for there is no Acid naturally in the Stomach; if there were, it would be mischievous. Although it be certain that Cheese is acid, and turns sharper by Age, yet those Particles which are precipitated into Chese, are vastly different in the Chyle and the Milk, from what they are in a State of Separation, and after being exposed to the Air. The Salts, which before were nitrous, and of a middle Nature, somewhat volatile, and mixed with oily, sulphureous, or earthy Particles, being agitated by an inward Motion, become more stiff and complicated. These Salts, while in a State of Union with the Milk and Chyle in the Body, by Means of the progressive Motion, are more disunited and smaller, the serous and oily Particles keeping them asunder; and there is neither Time nor Rest allowed them in their natural State to produce fresh Combinations, as they have when deprived of their progressive Motion, in a State of Separation from the Body. That Milk in warm Weather turns sowre, is to be imputed to its intestine Motion, where the Salts, before small and somewhat nitrous, mixed with the oily Particles by the Influx of the Air, change their natural Texture and Figure, and become more rigid and heavy, and so precipitate the light, viscid, and earthy Particles. That the Air contributes much to this Change, appears from hence, because that alone produces a remarkable Quantity of acid Salts in some Bodies. If a Piece of Alum be calcined in the open Fire, upon exposing it again to the Air, it shall double its Weight; so that a large Quantity of aluminous acid Salt may be drawn from thence: And although Milk be coagulated in the Breasts, it happens either from an acid Acrimony in the Blood, or its Motion being stopped, and some Obstructions of the milky Vessels. It doth not appear from any Experiment yet known, that healthy Milk fresh drawn contains any Acid; the Manner in which this Part of the Milk acquires this Tendency, I conceive to be this: We have already asserted, that Milk, in its natural State, contains no Acid, although after being exposed to Warm Air, by Means of some Fermentation and inward Motion, it becomes acid, which is to be look’d upon as a new Production, no way relating to Milk in its natural State. The cheesy Particles of Milk, if I may so call them, when in the Body differ extremely from those which out of the Body form the Cheese; for while in the Body, they are in the Shape of earthy, subtile, viscid Particles, mixed with the Milk, Chyle, and Blood; they give a due Consistence to the Milk, by duly mixing the oily, fat and serous Particles with them, and while in their due progressive Motion, keep the Milk in a proper Temperature, and occasion a slower Motion of the Milk through the milky Vessels.

SECT. 9.

It may be asked, How this Part of the Milk comes to be serviceable in the Gout, and other scorbutick Disorders? Because its Parts are slimy, chalky, and earthy, they gently temper the Acrimony of the Humours, and imbibe and absorb it; and this is the Reason why the Milk of Nurses who feed upon Acids, or whose Blood hath a Tendency that Way, soon turns; for such acid Particles being separated in the Glands of the Breasts, by coagulating and thinning the Milk, by separating from the other Particles of the Milk, and staying behind, are the Occasion that the Milk comes out unfit for Nourishment.

SECT. 10.

The third Part of the Milk, which is serous, contains watry, gelatinous and nitrous Particles; if Milk sowres and coagulates out of the Body, the gelatinous Parts of the _Serum_, being somewhat thicker and more earthy, change their Motion and Situation, and being more closely mixed with the oily Particles, become that cheesy Substance we before took Notice of. The Power of the _Serum_ is to be attributed to its watry and abstersive nitrous Particles, by Means whereof it hath a Power of deterging, consolidating, sweetning and tempering the Acrimony of the Humours, and of increasing the Discharges by Urine and Siege; it removes Obstructions in the Bowels, heals Ulcers, and corrects the Sharpness of the Humours, in as much as it dilutes the acrid and volatile Salts, and fixes them by means of its nitrous Particles. It is of great use in feverish Heats, and by its alexipharmick Power is much esteemed in malignant Fevers, so that its Virtue in the Gout is less to be wondered at. In the Gout, the fixed morbid Matter sticking in the small Canals, and the Interstices of the Membranes and mucilaginous Glands, is very tough, viscid, sharp and austere; the serous Particles of the Milk easily pass through and pervade those Ducts and Canals, and by the watry Particles dilute those sharp Salts and stagnating Humours, and partly imbibe and absorb them; so that either by insensible Perspiration, Urine, or some other Discharge, they send them forth of the Body. For this End they correct and break them so as to make their Passage easier. It is observable, that the Salts of the _Serum_ easily assimilate themselves to other Salts, and upon this Account a difference of Food occasions different Milk. Goats that have fed upon purging Herbs, Spurge or Scammony, as in _Syria_ or other Countries where such Herbs grow wild, give Milk endowed with a strong purgative Power; and Saffron frequently given communicates both its Smell and Colour to the Milk.

SECT. 11.

For these Reasons those that feed upon Milk should take Care that the Animal they take it from have sweet and good Pasture; Cows give sweeter and better Milk in Summer, when fed upon odoriferous Grass, than in Winter on Hay and Straw. I do not think it necessary here, to recite all the Virtues of the serous Part of the Milk in the Cure of other Distempers, because they are well known to Physicians; but it may be observed, that the several essential Parts of Milk, which I have here explained, being united and thoroughly mixed, as they are in the Milk, exert a greater Efficacy in dissolving and breaking the Salts and viscid Humours that lodge about the Joints, and expelling the gouty Matter. When the Blood is impregnated with Milk, it yields a softer Liquor to the mucilaginous Glands of the Joints, so that the Membranes and Tendons are lubricated with a soft insipid Mucilage, and the natural Motions are performed without Pain or Uneasiness; or if the Membranes be too dry, or complicated with any sharp Matter, which occasions Obstructions, they are so relaxed, that upon removing the Obstruction they regain their former Force and Vigour. Care must be taken of what I before advised, that before the Milk be thoroughly brought into Use, the latent Acid in the Bowels be first corrected and discharged by absorbent and cleansing Medicines, and a laudable Diet premised for some Time, that no Coagulation of the Milk, or other Inconveniencies, be incurred. Upon this Foot a certain Cure is to be expected. A prudent Physician will easily dispose a Body whose Powers are not entirely destroyed to receive this Diet. Perhaps some may object here, that the Gout being caused by an acid Salt, rendring the Juices about the Joints more viscid and sharp, therefore so long as there remains a Disposition to the Gout, from this Cause, Milk cannot safely be brought into Use. To this I answer, That the Gout is often caused by a singular lixivial Salt, and bilious Acrimony, especially in Persons of a sanguine Constitution, where no volatile Acid is observable, either in the first Passages, or in the Blood; or if there be any acid Salts in the first Passages, by frequent Circulations they are so joined with the volatile Salt of the Blood, that they become lixivial and bilious. But when there really are acid Humours in the Body, by taking alcaline Absorbents and Cleansers of the Blood, and by proper Diet, they may be so corrected, as from Acids to become lixivial, and assume the Nature of middle Kind of Salts. Upon the frequent Use of alkaline Absorbents, the Pains of the Gout are mightily lessened, because the solid _Spicula_ of the Acid are broke and changed. Upon this Principle, Dr. _Willis_ his Mixture of the Solution of Salt of Tartar, and _Sal Ammoniac_, in Rain Water, externally applied, is an excellent Remedy. A Friend of mine used to remove the Pains of the Gout instantly, by an Ointment made of Quick Lime; and upon the same Principles, Spirit of _Sal Ammoniac_, Camphire, Spirit and Oyl of Tartar, and even Urine, wonderfully remove the Pain; as also Spirit of Scurvygrass, Cresses, _Sal Volatile_, Amber, and others of that Class. When the Humours that cause the Gout are more bilious, lixivial, and corrosive, these Medicines are not so proper; for volatile and spirituous Medicines increase the Distemper; but the more fixed nitrous Absorbents, oily and acid, ought to be externally applied; as Balsam of _Sulphur_ with Amber, Bathing, and Spirit of Pismires, sowre Buttermilk, Herring Brine, the Juice of Earthworms expressed with Wine, as being full of nitrous Salts, a Poultice of Bread and Milk, with a little Saffron, or Bole, or sealed Earth, or the inward Use of the Decoctions of the Woods, and many other earthy Absorbents. _Caspar Rheinbold_, his Highness’s Principal Apothecary, prepares a Medicine from Gold chemically, which is an admirable Secret in the Cure of the Gout, of which I can attest the Truth. It is also excellent in the Stone, prevents its growing, and mitigates the Pain of it. The Antients exhibited the Juice of Earthworms expressed in Milk, with Success: By these Means the corrosive and volatile Salts are inverted, fixed, and thrown forth of the Body by Urine and Sweat.

SECT. 12.

Because the morbid Matter rests chiefly about the Tendons and nervous Membranes, especially in the mucilaginous Glands, and cannot suddenly and at one Push be driven out of such narrow Vessels and Cells; it is necessary to continue the Diet for a good while, till the Body be thoroughly purged of vicious Humours, and begins as it were to renew its Youth. Lenient and laxative Purgers are sometimes to be used, because the Stomach and Bowels in gouty Persons are weak; so that it often happens that Milk, by reason of the slow Progress of Chylification, by its intestine Motion, is vehemently agitated and precipitated, so as to occasion a Slime in the first Passages; but in a little Time this Evil is prevented by such Medicines as strengthen the Stomach, and prevent Coagulations in the Milk; the most lenient Purgatives are the best, and Rhubarb to be preferred for at the same Time that it evacuates, it gives a fresh Tone to the Fibres of the Bowels.

SECT. 13.

The Excellency of Milk, not only in the Gout, but in other Disorders, having been thus demonstrated, I shall subjoin the Judgment of some Authors in its Favour. _Emmanuel Konig_, in his _Regnum Animale_, admires the wonderful Power of Milk in Medicine, as well as Nourishment. _Wepfer_, in his Observations, says, there is certainly somewhat divine in Milk, since we see gouty Persons relieved by it, Hypocondriack and Nephritick Persons relieved by its use, the whole Habit strengthened, the Complexion cleared up, and fresh Powers acquired to the Body. He tells us, that he knew a Gentlewoman at _Friburgh_, who was in an almost miraculous Manner relieved from terrible Convulsions, Suffocation of the Womb, Hysterick Symptoms, by the Use of Milk alone, obstinately persisted in for some Years. Milk, by its asswaging, sulphureous Power, and its nitro-saline deterging Quality, dulcifies the sharp and acid Humours, whence its Cream and Butter thence arising, are very anodine; the one beat up with Sugar of Lead, corrects the corrosive Acid in cancerous Tumours; and the other drank warm in a _Diarrhœa_, mitigates the sharp Twitches in the Bowels that attend that Distemper, and immediately asswages and stops the Pain and Gripings. Externally applied and rubbed in a proper manner, it gives Relief in the Stone, and helps to propel it into the Bladder. _Daniel Ludovicus_ hath asserted, that Butter either by it self, or mixed with other Ingredients, exceeds all the Officinal Ointments and compound Oyls. In Consumptions and Hecticks its Powers are very well known. _Solenander_ and _Konig_ advise a Pound of Milk, in which an Handful of Elder Flowers have been boiled, drank every Morning for nine Days successively in _May_, as a Specifick in St. _Anthony_’s Fire. _Tachius_ tells us of what great Use it was in restoring crippled Limbs to a Person that was quite tired out with Baths, and other Remedies. In the _German Ephemeris_ there is an Instance of an Hypocondriac Epilepsy cured by three Ounces of Milk, in which was dissolved half a Drachm of _Spanish_ Soap, taken every Morning. And _Sylvius_ tells us of many Icterical People cured by that Medicine.

CHAP. VI.

Before I finish this Discourse, I shall endeavour to give some Account why People that have been cured by this Method, and have lived many Years free from the Gout, at certain Times of the Year, particularly upon Change of Weather, or at that Time of the Year when they used to have the Fits, perceive some slight and obscure Pains about the Joints of those Limbs that were formerly attacked. This I suppose to arise from the Blood and Humours being thickned by the preternatural Influence of the Air at those Seasons; if upon such a Cause the Humours become thicker in the mucilaginous Glands, the Membranes must of course be distended. Now because this doth not proceed from any particular Acrimony, but from a Fullness and slight Distention, therefore the Pain thence arising is hardly perceivable, and vanishes upon gentle Exercise and walking, in which the Motion of the Blood is a little increased.

SECT. 2.

It is necessary in the next Place to propose and confute some Objections of Persons who refuse this Diet as extremely noxious. Altho’, _say they_, Persons have found great Benefit by strictly adhering to this Diet, yet upon returning again to the Use of common Food, however mild and gentle, they have been afflicted with the Gout worse than ever. The Powers of the Body being weakned by this Diet, have been less able to resist the Force of this Distemper, it hath become more dangerous, and the Fits of longer Continuance. If we may give Credit to Experience as well as Reason, we shall find this Matter far otherwise, for it appears from what we have said, that many Persons have not only been freed from the Gout in this Method, but have likewise continued free many Years after they have left it off; particularly the three Gentlemen now living at the _Hague_, the Marquiss _de Bongi_, Monsieur _Chamar_, and the Counsellour _de Talo_. It is observable, that having gone through the Diet, they returned to different kinds of Food, and have now lived with their Friends as usual without any Inconvenience for several Years, excepting the Marquiss, who twice or thrice in the Compass of nine or ten Years hath been afflicted with it, (probably owing to some Error in the Non-Naturals;) it is no less reasonable to believe, that where the Aliments are easier changed into good Chyle, and communicated to the Blood in proper Quantities, better Spirits should be produced, and of Consequence the Vigour of the Parts should be restored and augmented. That this is natural to Milk, appears from common Experience in the Diet of such as use chiefly Milk and Water, (as the Country People in _Switzerland_) for they exceed those of other Countries and Places who live upon Flesh-Meats, in the Largeness and Health of their Bodies, and the Floridness of their Complections, and you shall seldom find any among them subject to the Gout, the Scurvy, Hypochondriack, or other Distempers.

SECT. 3.

If any object that gouty Persons, in the Beginning of the Diet, find their Stomach and Limbs weakned by the Milk, so that they have need of Stomachick and other strengthening Medicines, let it be remembred that the Glands of the Stomach and Bowels in gouty Persons, that furnish the Stomachick and intestinal Juices, are obstructed and furred with a viscid kind of Matter, so that only the more subtile and liquid Fluids can enter their Pores; hence the watry Part of the Milk, with very few oily nutritious Particles, enter those Pores and Canals, so that the Chyle becomes too watry, not being sufficiently impregnated with a proper Quantity of oily Particles. This Chyle not being sufficiently stored with nutritious Particles, being delivered into the Blood, occasions a Languor and Weakness, while the thicker Parts of the Milk go off with the Excrement. But after a while, when the watry Parts of the Milk have frequently entered the Mass of the Blood, and have resolved, imbibed and inverted the corrosive Salts that coagulate the Humours, and expelled them by Perspiration or Urine; then by Degrees, those Humours that are separated in the Glands, and serve to the Concoction and Digestion of the Aliment, as the Spittle, the Juices of the Stomach and Bowels, the Bile, the pancreatick Juice, become thinner, and the Canals and Pores of those Glands are rendred fit, not only to receive the watry Parts of the Milk, but the oily nutritious Parts also, and of forming them into good and laudable Chyle. The Reason why gouty People using their ordinary Aliment, retain more Strength and Vigour, is this, not only the Pores of the Glands of the Stomach and Bowels are by long use more apt to admit Particles from their ordinary Food, but its Parts also are more thick and heavy, so that the chylous Part is protruded by the Weight of the superincumbent Particles. To this concurrs a particular Acrimony, by Means whereof the Coats of the Stomach are vellicated, and exert a greater Force in separating the Chyle, whereas Milk which presses more gently, does not so easily enter Pores stuffed with viscid Humours, but rather insinuates itself by Degrees in those Canals where it can find Passage. If the Tone of the Bowels be in a natural State, and the first Passages be not loaded with acid and viscid Humours, Milk from a natural Affinity, is more easily converted into Chyle, and nourishes and strengthens the Body more than any other Food, which takes more Time in its Digestion, especially if some fine unfermented Wheaten Bread be taken along with it; for by this Means the Parts of the Chyle are rendred more heavy, and easily enter the lacteal Vessels, communicate a solid Nourishment to the Body, and the Strength thereof is mightily restored, without the least Hazard of any Damage.

SECT. 4.