Chapter XVI: Part II

There are no Historys in Physick which we may more safely take upon the Credit of the Authors who relate 'em, than such as we are now going to mention. In some Cases a Point may perhaps be strained to serve a darling Hypothesis which the Writer has taken up, but here we are much more likely to have pure Matter of Fact, because hitherto no one has pretended the Appearances of this kind to be within the Reach of any Scheme of Philosophy.

Epileptical Diseases besides the other Difficultys with which they are attended, have this also surprizing, that in some the Fits do constantly return every New and Full Moon; _the Moon_ (says Galen[25]) _governs the Periods of Epileptic Cases_. Upon this score, They who were thus affected were called Σεληνιακοὶ[26] and in the Historys of the Gospel Σεληνιαζόμενοι[27] by some of the Latins afterwards, _Lunatici_[28]. _Bartholin_[29] tells a Story of one Epileptic who had apparent Spots in her Face, which according to the Time of the Moon, varyed both their Colour and Magnitude.

But no greater Consent in such Cases was perhaps ever Observed than what I saw some time since in a Child about 5 years old, in which the Convulsions were so strong and frequent, that life was almost despair'd of, and by Evacuations and other Medicines very difficultly saved. The Girl, who was of a lusty full habit of Body, continued well for a few days, but was at Full Moon again seized with a most violent Fit, after which, the Disease kept its Periods constant and regular with the Tides; She lay always Speechless during the whole time of Flood, and Recovered upon the Ebb. The Father who lives by the _Thames_ side, and does business upon the River, observed these Returns to be so punctual, that not only coming home He knew how the Child was before he saw it, but in the night has risen to his Employ, being warned by Cries when coming out of her Fit, of the turning of the Water. This continued 14 days, that is, to the next great Change of the Moon, and then a dry Scab on the Crown of the Head, (the effect of an Epispastic Plaister, with which I had covered the whole _Occiput_ in the beginning of the Illness) broke, and from the Sore, tho' there had been no sensible Discharge this way for above a Fortnight, ran a considerable quantity of limpid Serum; upon which, the Fits returning no more, I took great care to promote this new Evacuation by proper Applications, with desired Success, for some time; and when it ceased, besides two or three Purges with _Mercurius Dulcis_, &c. ordered an Issue in the Neck, which being thought troublesome, was made in the Arm; the Patient however has never since felt any Attacks of those frightful Symptoms.

Whether or no it be thro' want of due Heed and Enquiry that we have not in all the Collections of Histories and Cases, any Instance of the like Nature so particular as this is, I know not; this is certain, that as the _Vertigo_ is a Disease nearly related to the _Epilepsy_, and the _Hysterical Symptoms_ do partake of the same Nature; so both one and the other are frequently observed to obey the Lunar Influence. In like manner, the raving Fits of Mad People, which keep Lunar Periods, are generally in some degree Epileptic too.

_Tulpius_[30] and _Piso_[31] afford us remarkable Instances of Periodical _Palseys_.

Every one knows how great a share the Moon has in forwarding those Evacuations of the weaker Sex, which have their Name from the constant Regularity they keep in their Returns; and there is no question to be made, but the Correspondency we here observe, would be greater still, and even Universal, did not many Accidents, and the infinite Varieties in particular Constitutions one way or other concur to make a difference. It is very observable that in Countries nearest to the Æquator, where we have proved the Lunar Action to be strongest; these Monthly Secretions are in much greater quantity than in those near the Poles, where this force is weakest. This _Hippocrates_[32] takes notice of, and gives it as one Reason why the Women in _Scythia_ are not very fruitful.

The Case being thus with Females, it is no wonder if we sometimes meet with Periodical Hæmorrhages answering to the times of the Moon in Males also. For as a greater quantity of Blood in proportion to the bulk in _one_ Sex, is the reason of its discharging it self thro' proper Ducts, at certain Intervals, when the pressure of the external Air being diminish'd, the internal _Aura_ can exert its Elasticity; so in the _other_, if at any time there happens to be a Superabundancy of the same Fluid, together with a weak Tone of the Fibres; it is plain that the Vessels will be most easily burst, when the Resistance of the Atmosphere is least. And this more especially, if any accidental hurt, or rarefying Force has first given occasion to the other Causes to take effect.

I know a Gentleman of a tender frame of Body, who having once, by over reaching, strained the parts about the Breast; fell thereupon into a spitting of Blood, which for a Year and half constantly return'd every New Moon, and decreasing gradually, continued always 4 or 5 days. The Fits being more or less considerable, according as his management about that time, contributed to a greater or lesser fullness of the Vessels.

We have two notable Instances of the like nature in our Philosophical Transactions; the one[33] of a Person, who from his Infancy to the 24th Year of his Age, had every full Moon an Eruption of Blood on the right side of the Nail of his left Thumb, at first to 3 or 4 Ounces, and after his sixteenth Year, to half a Pound each time; which when by searing the part with a hot Iron, he stopp'd, he fell into a _Sputum Sanguinis_, and by frequent Bleeding, _&c._ was very difficultly saved from a Consumption. The other[34] is a Story of an _Inn-Keeper_ in _Ireland_, who from the 43rd Year of his Life, to the 55th (in which it killed him) suffered a Periodical Evacuation at the point of the Fore-Finger of his Right-hand; and altho the Fits here kept not their returns so certain as in the forementioned Case, (it may be either from the irregular way of living of the Patient, or the mighty change every Effusion made in his habit of Body, the quantity seldom amounting to less than four Pounds at a time) yet there is this remarkable Circumstance in the Relation, that the first beginning of this _Hæmorrhage_ was at _Easter_, that is, the next Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox, which is one of the two Seasons of the Year, at which we have proved the attraction of the Air, or lessening of its Pressure, to be greater than at any other time whatsoever.

But we are besides this to consider, That the Static Chair, and nice Observation taught _Sanctorius_,[35] That _Men do increase a Pound or two in their weight every Month, which overplus is discharged at the Months end, by a Crisis of copious, or thick turbid Urine_.

It is not therefore at all strange that we should once a Month be liable to the returns of such Distempers as depend upon a Fullness of the Vessels, that these should take place at those times especially, when the ambient Air is least able to repress the Turgency; and that tho' New and Full Moon are both of equal Force, yet that sometimes one, and sometimes the other only should Influence the Periods, according as this or that happens to fall in with the inward Repletion.

The Afflux of Humours to Ulcers is sometimes manifestly altered by this Power; [36] _Baglivi_ was acquainted with a Learned Young Man at _Rome_, who labour'd under a _Fistula_ in the _Abdomen_, penetrating to the _Colon_, which discharged so plentifully in the Increase, and so sparingly in the Decrease of the Moon, that he could make a very true judgment of the Periods and Quadratures of the Planet, from the different quantity of the _Matter_ that came from Him.

_Nephritic_ Paroxysms have frequently been observed to obey the Lunar Attraction: _Tulpius_[37] relates the Case of Mr. _Ainsworth_, an _English_ Minister at _Amsterdam_, who had a Fit of the Gravel and suppression of Urine every Full Moon, of which he found no relief till the Moon decreased, unless by Bleeding at the Arm. After his death two large Stones were taken out of his Bladder, and the _Pelvis_ of the left Kidney was enlarged to that degree by the quantity of Urine so often stopt there, as to contain almost as much as the Bladder it self.

I was present, not long since, at the Dissection of a Child about 5 or 6 Year old, who dyed of the frequent returns of _Nephritic_ Fits, attended with Vomitings and a _Diarrhæa_. The Kidneys and Ureters were quite stuffed with a slimy calculous Matter, and it was very instructive to see the different degrees of Concretion in the several parts of it, from a clear limpid Water, to a hard friable Substance. Dr. _Groenvelt_, who had tended the Boy in his Illness, observed him to be seized with his Pains at every Full Moon for several Months together, which generally ended with the voiding of a Stone.

What Influence the Moon has in _Asthma's_,[38] _van Helmont_ takes Notice, _Exacerbatur Paroxysmus_ (says he) _Lunæ Stationibus, & ævi tempestatibus quas ideo præsentit & præsagit_.[39] And Sir _John Floyer_, who has given us a more particular History of this Disease than any Author, observes, that _The Fits usually return once in a Fortnight, and frequently happen near the Change of the Moon_.

'Tis a more uncommon Effect of this Attractive Power that is related by the Learned _Kerckringius_.[40] He knew a Young Gentlewoman, whose Beauty depended upon the Lunar Force, insomuch that at Full Moon she was Plump and very Handsome, but in the decrease of the Planet so Wan and ill Favoured, that she was asham'd to go abroad till the return of the New Moon gave _Fullness_ to her Face, and _Attraction_ to her Charms.

Tho' this is indeed no more than an Influence of the same kind, with that the Moon has always been observed to have upon Shell-Fish, and some other living Creatures. For as the old _Latin_ Poet _Lucilius_ says,[41]

_Luna alit Ostrea & implet Echinos, Muribu' fibras
Et Pecui addit---- ---- ----_

And after him _Manilius_[42]

_Sic submersa fretris concharum & Carcere clausa,
Ad Lunæ motum variant animalia corpus._

It is very well worth the pains to enquire what share such an Alteration in the Weight and Pressure of the Atmosphere may have in the _Crises_ or Changes of Acute Diseases. The Ancients made great Account of _Critical_ Days, and regulated their Practice according to the Expectation they had from them; This Part of Physick is grown now into disuse, quite slighted, and even ridiculed; and that I suppose chiefly for these two reasons. In the first place, because the earliest Observations of this kind, which were drawn into Rules being made in _Eastern_ Countries, when these came to be applied to the Distempers of _Northern_ Regions, without allowance given for the difference of the Climate, they were oftentimes found not to answer. And secondly, Fevers of old were treated with few or no Medicines, the Motions of Nature were carefully watched, and no Violence offer'd to interrupt her Work. The Histories therefore of _Crises_, tho' of great Use, and certainty under such Management as this, were at length unavoidably set aside and lost; when Acute Cases came to be Cured, according to this or that Hypothesis, not only by Evacuations, but hot or cold Alteratives too; there being no longer any room for those Laws of Practice which supposed a regular and uniform Progress of the Distemper.

Wherefore, in order to understand a little both what might Induce the first Masters of our Profession to so nice and strict an Observance in this point; and what grounds there may be now, for a more due regard to their Precepts, even upon the score of the Lunar Attraction only, I propose the following Remarks.

1. All Epidemic Diseases do in their regular course require a stated time, in which they come to their height, decline, and leave the Body free.

This is so constant and certain, that when a Fever of any _Constitution_ which is _continual_ in one Subject, happens from some other cause, in another to be _intermitting_, the Paroxysms do always return so often as all together to make up just as many days of Illness as he suffers, whose Distemper goes on from beginning to end, without any abatement.

Dr. _Sydenham_, a sworn Enemy to all Theories, learn'd thus much from downright Observation; and gives this reason why Autumnal Quartans hold six Months, because by computation the Fits of so long a time amount to 336 hours, or 14 days, the period of a continual Fever of the same Season.[43]

So _Galen_ takes notice that when an Exquisite Tertian is terminated in seven Paroxysms, a true Continual at the same time has its Crisis in seven days; that is, the Fever lasts as long in one as in the other, in as much (says he) as _a Fit in an Intermitting Feaver answers to a day in a Continual_[44]. Now this so comes to pass, because

2. In these Cases there is always a Fermentation in the Blood, which goes not off till the active Particles are thrown out by those Organs of Secretion, which, according to the Laws of Motion, are most fitted to separate 'em. And

3. As different Liquors put upon a Ferment, are depurated in different times, so the Arterial Fluid takes up a determined Period, of which it is discharged of an induced Effervescence.

4. The Symptoms, during this Ebullition, do not proceed all along in the same Tenour; but on some days particularly, they give such evident Marks of their good or bad Quality, that the nature of the ensuing _Solution_ may very well be guess'd at, and foretold by 'em.

Things being thus, Those days on which the Disease was so evidently terminated one way or other, might very justly be call'd the days of _Crisis_; and those upon which the tendency of Illness was discovered by most visible Tokens, the _Indices_ of the _Critical Days_.

And thus far the Foundation was good, but when a false Theory happen'd unluckily to be joined to true Observations, this did a little puzzle the Cause. _Hippocrates_, it is plain, knew not to what to ascribe that remarkable regularity with which he saw the Periods of Feavers were ended on the _Seventh_, _Fourteenth_, _One and Twentieth_ day, _&c._ _Pythagoras_ his Philosophy was in those Ages very Famous, of which _Harmony_ and the _Mysteries of Numbers_ made a considerable part, _Odd_ were more Powerful than _Even_, and _Seven_ was the most perfect of all. Our great Physician espoused these Notions,[45] and confined the Stages of acute Distempers to a _Septenary_ Progression[46], upon which this Inconvenience follow'd, that when a Crisis fell out a day sooner or later than this Computation required, his Measures were quite broken; and that this must necessarily oftentimes happen, will appear by and by.

Upon this score _Asclepiades_ rejected this whole Doctrine as vain,[47] and _Celsus_ finding it to be too nice and scrupulous, observes that the _Pythagorean Numbers led the Ancients into the Error_.[48]

_Galen_ being aware of this, succeeded much better in his reasoning upon the Matter, and very happily imputed the Critical Changes not to the Power of Numbers, but to the Influence of the Moon; which he observes, _has a mighty Action upon our Earth, exceeding the other Planets, not in Energy, but in Nearness_[49]. So that according to him, the Septenary Periods in Diseases are owing to the _Quarterly Lunar Phases, which are the times of the greatest Force, and which return in about seven days_.[50]

The result of the whole Affair, in short is this, A _Crisis_ is no more than the Expulsion of the Morbific Matter out of the Body, thro' some or other of the Secretory Organs; in order to which, it is necessary that this should be prepar'd and comminuted to such a degree, as is required to make it pass into the Orifices of the respective Glands; and therefore _as_ the most _perfect Crisis_ is by _Sweat_, (both by reason that the Subcutaneous Glands do naturally discharge more than all the other put together, and also that their Ducts being the smallest of any, whatsoever comes this way is certainly wery well divided and broken) _so_ the most _imperfect_ is an _Hæmorrhage_, because This is an Argument that what Offends is not fit to be cast off in any Part, and consequently breaks the Vessels by the Effervescence of the Blood. An _Abscess_ in those Organs which separate thick, slimy Juices is of a middle nature betwixt these two.

Now it is very plain, That if the time, in which either the Peccant Humour is prepar'd for Secretion, or the Fermentation of the Blood is come to its height, falls in with those Changes in the Atmosphere which diminish its pressure; the _Crisis_ will then be more compleat and large. And also, that this Work may be forwarded or delay'd a day, upon the account of such an Alteration in the Air; the Distention of the Vessels upon which it depends, being hereby made more easie, and a weak Habit of Body in some Cases standing in need of this outward Assistance. Thus a Fever which requires about a Week to its Period, may sometimes, as _Hippocrates_ observed, have a good Crisis on the sixth, and sometimes not till the eighth day.

In Order therefore to make true Observations of this kind, the time of Invasion is to be considered, The genuine course of the Distemper must first be watched, which is not to be interrupted by any violent Methods: The strength of Nature in the Patient is to be considered, and by what Secretions the Crisis is most likely to be performed; and it will then be found, that not only the _New_ and _Full_ Moons, but even the _Southings_, whether visible or latent, of the Planet, are here of considerable Moment.

For Confirmation of which, we need only to reflect on what Mr. _Paschal_ has remark'd, _concerning the Motions of Diseases and Births and Deaths_[51]. Dividing the Νυχθήμερον into Four Senaries of Hours, the first consists of three hours before the Southing of the Moon, and three after; the second of the six hours following, and the third and fourth of the remaining Quarters of the natural day; He takes notice that none are born, or die a natural Death in the first and third Senaries, which he calls first and second Tides, but all either in the second or fourth Senaries, which he calls first and second Ebbs. In like manner, that in Agues, the tumult of the Fits generally lasts all the Tiding time, and then goes off in kindly Sweats in the Ebbs. From whence he very rationally concludes, that Motion, Vigour, Action, Strength, _&c._ appear most, and do best in the _Tiding Senaries_; and that Rest, Relaxation, Decay, Dissolution, _&c._ belong to the _Ebbing Senaries_.

[25] Τας τῶν ἐπιλήπτων τηρεῖ περιόδους. _De Dieb. Critic. lib._ 3.

[26] _Alexand. Trallian._ lib. 1. c. 15.

[27] Matth. c. 17. v. 15.

[28] _Apuleius de Virtutib. Herbar._ cap. 6. & 95.

[29] _Anatom. Centur._ 2. H. 72.

[30] _Observ. Med._ lib. 1. cap. 12.

[31] _De Morb. à serosâ Colluvie_, Obs. 28.

[32] _De Aere Aquis & Locis._

[33] Nᵒ 272.

[34] _Philos. Trans._ Nᵒ 171.

[35] _Medicin. Static._ Sect. 1. Aph. 65.

[36] _De Experiment. circa Sanguin._ p. m. 341.

[37] _Observat._ Lib. 2. c. 43. _vid. etiam Observ._ 52.

[38] _Asthma & Tuss._ § 22.

[39] _Treatise of the Asthma_, p. 17.

[40] _Observat. Anatomic._ 92.

[41] _Apud_ A. Gellium, lib. 20. c. 8.

[42] _Astronomic._ lib. 2.

[43] _De Feber. Intermit._ Ann. 1661. pag. _m._ 65.

[44] _Comment. in Aphor._ 59. lib. 4. & _de Crisib._ lib. 2. c. 6.

[45] _Epidem._ lib. 1. Sect. 3.

[46] αἱ μὲν οὖν ἡμέραι ἐπισημόταταί εἰσιν ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις αἵτε πρῶται καὶ ἑβδομιαῖαι, πολλαὶ μὲν περὶ νούσων, πολλαὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐμβρύοις. _de Septimestri Partu._

[47] _Vid. Celsum_ lib. 3. c. 4.

[48] _Ibid._

[49] _De diebus Decretor._ lib. 3.

[50] _Ibid._

[51] _Philos. Transact._ Nᵒ 202.

A COROLLARY.

It having bin explained in the Beginning of this Discourse, how those Influences of the Heavens, which favour the _Returns_ of _Diseases_, may likewise raise _Winds_ at the same times; and that We feel the different Effects of _These_ according as other Causes do concurr to the Motion of the Air; it will not be amiss, to shew in one Instance or two, how much Natural History confirms this Reasoning.

There happened on the 26th of _November_, 1703. a little before Midnight, a most terrible _Storm_ of _Wind_, the Fury of it is still fresh in every ones Mind, which lasted above six Hours.

It is not to the present purpose to relate its History and Causes; What we observe is, That the Moon was at that time _in Perigæo_, and just upon the change to _New_. Upon both which accounts its Action in raising the Atmosphere must be great; And hence indeed the _Tides_ which followed were also very great, and the _Mercury_ in the _Barometer_, at least, in most places, fell very low.

This Influence was, without all doubt, assisted by some such other Causes of _Winds_, as we have mentioned; These we can't know, but may however take notice how much the manifest State of the Air contributed to this Calamity.

After a greater quantity of Rains than ordinary had fallen in the Summer and Autumn, in those places where the Storm was felt, the Winter came on much warmer than usual; so that the Liquor in a Thermometer, of which the 84th Degree notes Frost, never fell below the 100th.[52]

Hence we may very well believe, that the Atmosphere was at that time fill'd with Atoms of _Salts_ and _Sulphur_, out of the Vapours raised by the Heat from the moist Earth, which being variously combined and agitated, gave that deadly force to the Motion of the Air.

A Proof of this we have not only from the frequent _Flashes_ of _Lightning_, observed a little before the Storm, but also from what the Country People took notice of the next day, that the Grass and Twiggs of the Trees, in Fields remote from the Sea, tasted very salt, so that the Cattle wou'd not feed on them.

Our Histories mention another Storm, which if not equal to this last in Violence, is however thought the greatest that had then ever been known and memorable from the time at which it happened, _viz._ on the 3d of _September_, 1658. the day on which the Usurper _O. Cromwel_ died.

No _Ephemerides_ that I know of relate the Condition of the Air that Year, but it is sufficient to remark, That whatever other Causes concurr'd, their force was accompanied with a _Full Moon_, just before the time of the _Atumnal Equinox_.

Upon the same score it comes to pass, That in those Countries which are Subject to frequent _Inundations_, these Calamities are observed to happen at the times of the _Moon_'s greatest Influence, so that the Learned _Baccius_[53] has rightly enough laid the Cause of such Mischiefs upon immoderate _Tides of the Ocean_, being unhappily accompanied with the _attractive Force_ of some or other _Stars_.

Dr. _Childrey_ in his _Britannia Baconica_[54] has from several Instances shewn the _Lunar_ Action in Damages of this kind.

Such and the like _Natural_ Causes have _Storms_ and _Tempests_; for as to the Question of Divine Power, whether or no Calamities of this kind do not sometimes, by the Anger of Heaven, happen out of the Course of Nature, it is not my Business to Dispute, nor would I by any means indeavour to absolve Mens Minds from the Bands of Religion. For although we must allow all the Parts of the Machine of this World to be framed and moved by Established Laws, and that the same Disposition of its Fabrick, which is most beneficial to the Whole, must of necessity, in some few Places now and then occasion Hurts and Mischiefs; it is however most highly reasonable, that we should yield to the Supreme Creator an absolute Power over all his Works; Concluding withal, that it was perhaps agreeable to Divine Wisdom, to order the Make of the World after such a manner as might sometimes bring Mischiefs and Calamities upon Mankind, whom it was necessary by the Frights of _Storms_, _Thunder_ and _Lightning_ to keep in a continual Sence of their Duty.

[52] _Vid._ Philos. Transact. N 289.

[53] _Del_ Tevere, lib. 3. p. 228.

[54] Pag. 97.

_The End._

End of Project Gutenberg's Miscellanea Curiosa, Vol 1, by Edmond Halley