[269]It was a greengrocer in Paris.Berliner Vossische Zeitung, Sept. 2, 1833.[270]Carlstadt,Nic. Storch,Marcus Thomii,Marus Stubner,Marlin CellariusandThomas Münzer.[271]“For all love hath grown cold in all nations; the axe lieth at the root of the tree, the rope is already applied, no one observeth it. For the world is stricken with thick blindness, faith is extinguished. All singleness and Godly fear hath withdrawn from the land for ever, and nothing but false hypocritical make-believe work is to be found among the Baptists, and at most a false, fictitious, fruitless, dead, tottering faith in the other sects, and yet the world thinks, notwithstanding, that she sees and sits in light. In short, for the one devil of the Baptists whom she has driven out, she is beset with seven more subtle and wickeder spirits, though she think that she be freed, and that they all be gone forth.”Franck, fol. 248, a. This same Chronicle contains a very lively description of the Peasant-war.[272]Ad. ClarenbachandPeter Flistedt.[273]Schmidt, p. 308.[274]Nusquam pax, nullum iter tutum est, rerum charitate, penuria, fame, pestilenti laboratur ubique, sectis dissecta sunt omnia: ad tantam malorum lernam accessit letali sudor, multos intra horas octo tolleus e medio, etc.Erasm.Epist. L. XXVI. ep. 58. c. 1477. b.[275]Fuhrmann, Part II. p. 745.[276]Chronicon Monasterii Mellicensis. InPez, T. I. col. 285.[277]The Assembly of the Reformers began there on the 2nd of October.[278]The pamphlet written byMagnus Hundtis ornamented with a wood-cut, where, under the throne of God, and seated on lions who are spitting forth fire, a great host of angels, armed with swords, are hovering round men, whom they treat worse than Herod’s soldiers treated the children of Bethlehem.[279]Reimar Kock’sChronicle of Lübeck.[280]Kersenbroickin Sprengel, II. p. 687. CompareSleidan, L. VI. Tom. I. p. 380, who plainly and simply states the fact.[281]Culpam eius rei plerique conferebant in theologos concionatores, qui suppliciis impiorum placandam esse clamabant iram Dei, novo morbi genere nos verberantis.Sleidan, loc. cit. p. 380.[282]Haftitz, p. 131.Angelus, p. 319.Cramer, Book III. p. 76, and many others.[283]“Verum quamplurimi, tam nobiles quam populares viri ac mulieres, hoc morbo misere suffocati sunt,ob libellos erroneos, ab indoctissimis hominibus in vulgus emissos, qui in eiusmodi lue curanda peritiam et experientiam jactabant, multosque in Angliâ aliisque regionibus sese curasse dicebant, cum omnia falsa essent. Tales inquam minima pietate fulti erga ægrotos,illorum loculos tantum expilabant, ac in sui commodum convertebant, nullam de aliorum damnis nec morte ipsa curam gerentes, sed quæ sua sunt tantum curantes, nulla arte instructi miseros ægros, passim sua ignorantia trucidabant.”Forest.L. VI. obs. 8. p. 158. a.[284]“Ditissimi negociatores, lectis adfixi medicos ad se vocabant, montes auri promittentes, si curarentur.”Ditmar, p. 473.[285]“Nam occlusis rimis omnibus, et excitato igne copioso, opertisque stragulis, quo magis tutiusque suderent, æstu præfocati sunt.”Forest.loc. cit. p. 157. b.[286]Wild, inBaldinger, p. 278.[287]The printerFrantz.Schmidt, p. 307.[288]Stelzner, Part II. p. 219.[289]This appears from the Wittenberg regimen.[290]Reimar Kock’sChronicle of Lübeck.[291]Klemzen, p. 255.[292]InGratoroli:Petrus, proto medicus, fol. 90.[293]See his pamphlet.[294]I here give the whole pamphlet, which only occupies five pages. It is entitled, “The Remedy, Advice, Succour and Consolation against the dreadful, and as yet by us Germans unheard-of, speedy, and mortal Disease, called the English Sweating Sickness, from which may Almighty God mercifully protect us.”“When the disease and sweating sets in, ask what o’clock it is, and note it. “If any one be afflicted with this pestilence (may God protect us from it!) it attacks him either with heat or with cold, and he will sweat violently; and this will take place all over his body. Some take the disease with sudden eructations, and do not sweat; and to those who do not sweat, a flower of mace with warm beer is given, and then they sweat.“But if the pestilence and disease, from which may God preserve us! attack any one after he has lain down in bed, he must be left there; but if he has a feather bed, though a thin one, over him, cut it open and take the feathers out, that it may consist only of the ticking or covering. If it be too thin, add a cool coverlet, and let the patient lie under that, covered up to the neck, and take care that the air do not touch or strike upon his breast, or under his arms, and the soles of his feet, and let him not toss about.“Item. Two men should attend the patient, to prevent him from uncovering himself, and from going to sleep.“Item. The same two men must watch the patient, and guard him against sleeping: if they neglect this, and do not so prevent him, and the patient sleep, he will lose his senses, and go raving mad.“In order, however, that he may be prevented from sleeping, take a little rosewater, and by means of a sponge or clean napkin, bathe his temples with it between the eyes and the ears, and by means of a sponge or napkin, apply pungent wine or beer vinegar to his nose, and talk constantly to him so that he fall not asleep.“If he would drink, give him a thin beverage, which should be a little warm; and he ought not to be given more than two spoonfuls at a time.“Item. On the patient’s head should be placed a linen night-cap, and a woollen one over it.“Item. A warm towel should be taken, and with it the sweat wiped from the face.“Item. Whoever is attacked in the day-time must be put to bed: if it be a man, in his stockings and breeches; if a woman, in her clothes; and let them be covered over with not more than two thin coverings; and, above all things, no feather bed; and then treat them as above written.“Item. The disease attacks most people from great dread and from irregular living, from which a man should guard himself with great pains.“Once for all, the patient must not have his own way; what he would have you do for him, that must not be done.“Item. With respect to those whom it attacks in the night, and who lie naked, if they will not lie still, let them be sewn up in the sheets, and let the sheets be sewn to the bed, so that no air can come from beneath; and then cover them as before.“Summa. Whoever can thus endure for twenty-four hours, by the blessing of God, will be cured of the sickness, and get well.“If a man has held out for twenty-four hours, let him be taken up, and wrapped in a warm sheet lest he become cold, and throw something over his feet, and bring him to the fire; and above all things, let him not go into the air for four days, and let him avoid much and cold drink.“If he would sleep, provided twenty-four hours have been passed, let him sleep freely; and may God preserve him!“The Lord is Almighty over us! Amen.”The place of publication is wanting. It was, probably, either Leipzig or Wittenberg.[295]Magnus Hundt, fol. 27. a. “Nullis vero aliis medicamentis utuntur adversus ipsam, quam expectatione sudoris, nam quibus advenit, omnes fere evadunt, quibus autem retinctur, maxima pars perit.”Forest.loc. cit. p. 159. a. Schol.[296]Born about 1483; died 1549.[297]Born 1492; died 1555.[298]Died 1558.[299]Died 1545. “Vir gravis; eximia litterarum cognitione, singulari judicio, summa experientia, et prudenti consilio Doctor.”Aikin, p. 47.[300]InHenry VIII.[301]See their biography, inAikin.[302]Thomas Gale’sdescription of this class of medical practitioners gives the best notion of their abilities. “I remember,” says he, “when I was in the wars at Montreuil, (1544,) in the time of that most famous Prince, Henry VIII., there was a great rabblement there, that took upon them to be surgeons. Some were sow gelders, and some horse gelders, with tinkers and cobblers. This noble sect did such great cures, that they got themselves a perpetual name; for like as Thessalus’ sect were called Thessalions, so was this noble rabblement, for their notorious cures, called dog-leaches; for in two dressings they did commonly make their cures whole and sound for ever, so that they neither felt heat nor cold, nor no manner of pain after. But when the Duke of Norfolk, who was then general, understood how the people did die, and that of small wounds, he sent for me and certain other surgeons, commanding us to make search how these men came to their death, whether it were by the grievousness of their wounds, or by the lack of knowledge of the surgeons, and we, according to our commandment, made search through all the camp, and found many of the same good fellows which took upon them the names of surgeons, not only the names, but the wages also. We asking of them whether they were surgeons or no, they said they were; we demanded with whom they were brought up, and they, with shameless faces, would answer, either with one cunning man, or another, which was dead. Then we demanded of them what chirurgery stuff they had to cure men withal; and they would show us a pot or a box, which they had in a budget, wherein was such trumpery as they did use to grease horses’ heels withal, and laid upon scabbed horses’ backs, with verval and such like. And others that were cobblers and tinkers, they used shoemakers’ wax, with the rust of old pans, and made therewithal a noble salve, as they did term it. But in the end this worthy rabblement was committed to the Marshalsea, and threatened by the Duke’s Grace to be hanged for their worthy deeds, except they would declare the truth, what they were and of what occupations, and in the end they did confess, as I have declared to you before.”In another place Gale says, “I have, myself, in the time of King Henry VIII., holpe to furnish out of London, in one year, which served by sea and land, three score and twelve surgeons, which were good workmen, and well able to serve, and all English men. At this present day there are not thirty-four, of all the whole company, of Englishmen, and yet the most part of them be in noblemen’s service, so that if we should have need, I do not know where to find twelve sufficient men. What do I say? sufficient men: nay, I would there were ten amongst all the company, worthy to be called surgeons.”[303]Klemzen, p. 255.[304]Part I. cap. 8.[305]Gruner, Script, p. 11.[306]“Vix malevolorumcachinnosmorsusque præteriit.”Schiller, Epist. nuncupator. the title whichGruner, Script. p. 12, gives to the original work, still existing in the library at Strasburg, and a Latin extract from it.Gratoroli, fol. 39.[307]See the Catalogue in the Appendix, “Ein Regiment,” &c.[308]Any kind of weak beer with the chill off. Warm beer was a beverage in general use in the north of Germany. The beer ofEimbeckandBernauwas stronger, and was recommended by medical men during the convalescence.[309]“I had in my house seven lying ill with the same disease, of which, thank God, none died.” From the letter of an inhabitant of Hamburgh, given in the same pamphlet, “Ein Regiment,” &c.[310]Gratorol.fol. 87. b.[311]Gratorol.fol. 90.[312]Stettler, Part II. p. 33.[313]Wagenaar, op. cit. p. 509.[314]His proper name wasHenry Spaten, (GermanSpät, in Englishlate,) whereofCordus(the last born or late-born) seems to have been a translation.[315]The second of September.[316]℞ Pulveris cardiaci, (very complex, containing precious stones and many other ingredients,) Ʒij; Pulveris cornu cervi Ʒj; Seminis Santonici, Myrrhæ, aā Ʒſs ♏️. ft. Pulv. Sumt. Ʒj; in warm wine-vinegar.[317]Chronicle, p. 473.[318]Born 1505; died 1577.[319]It is theElectuarium liberans Gasseri:—℞ Spec. liberant. Galen, Spec. de gemm. aā Ʒj, Pulveris Dictamn., Tormentill, Serpentinæ, aā ℈iv, Pimpinell. Zedoariæ. aā Ʒſs, Bol. Armen, lot.; Terr. sigillat. aā ℈ij Rasur. Cornu cervin. ℈j, Zingiber. Ʒſs, Conserv. Rosar, rec. ℥ſs, Theriac. veteris ℥j, Syrup. acetositatis citri. q. s. ut ft. electuar. spiss.—Velsch, p. 19.—Gasserstates in his Augsburg Chronicle, that there were more than 3000 cases of the disease there, but that not more than 600 died. SeeMencken, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum.[320]Gratorol.fol. 74. b.[321]Gratorol.fol. 85. Probably this epistle does not differ essentially from the Latin work of this author on the sweating fever which appeared separately. (Deἱδροπυρετοῦseu sudatoræ febris curatione Liber. Coloniæ, 1529. 4.)[322]Gratorol.fol. 64.[323]Gratorol.fol. 69. b.[324]Videmus, quam multi de sudore convalescant, fol. 66. a.[325]This town is called in Flemish Tienen, (Thenæ in Montibus,) translated byDamianusDecicopolis.[326]Fol. 117. a.[327]Fol. 109. a.[328]Fol. 116. b.[329]Fol. 118. a.Damianuswrote his, by no means unimportant, treatise, during the prevalence of the epidemic sweating fever in Ghent.[330]He styles himselfSchiller von Herderen, from an estate in the village of that name close to Freiburg.[331]Schillersays with great naïveté, “that the symptoms of the disease are evident, and that those which he has not indicated must be imagined.” Sect. II. c. 1. fol. 206.[332]“Habet inconstantes notas morbus.”Schiller.“Diversos diversimode adoritur.”Damian.fol. 115. b.[333]See above, the remedium, p. 267, note e. Sudoris absentia plurimum nocebat.—Forest.p. 158. Schol.[334]See above, p. 245.Klemzen, p. 254.[335]Bayer, cap. 6.M. Hundt, fol. 5. a.[336]Bayer, loc. cit.[337]Angelus, p. 319.Schiller,Stettler, locis cit.: and many others.[338]Damian.fol. 115. b.[339]Schiller, loc. cit.[340]The Regimen of Wittenberg.[341]Damian.fol. 115. b.[342]Klemzen, p. 255.[343]“Ungues potissimum excruciat, alas ita comprimit, ut etiam si velis, non posses attollere.”Forest.p. 157. Schol. “In extremitatibus puncturis retorquentur dolorosis—extremitates obstupefiunt, dolet orificium ventriculi, nervorum contractiones nascuntur, plantarum pedumque dolores.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.[344]Damian.loc. cit.[345]Klemzen, loc. cit.[346]“Nec quenquam vidimus ita delirantem restitutum incolumitati.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.[347]Schiller,Stettler.[348]Somnolentia etinevitabilis sopor,Schiller;a deep sleep, in almost all the chroniclers.[349]Schiller.[350]“Aliis mox tument manus et pedes, aliis facies, quæ et in pluribus livet; nonnullis sola labia et superciliorum loca: mulieribus etiam inguina inflantur.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.[351]“Maximus denique calor haud procul a corde sentitur, qui ad cerebrum devolans delirium adducit, internecionis nuncium.”—Damian.loc. cit.[352]Damian.loc. cit.[353]Schiller, loc. cit.[354]“Primo insultu aliis cervices aut scapulas, aliis crus aut brachiumoccupavit,” p. 15.Kayedoes not state what he precisely means by this “occupare.” From an analogous more modern observation, it appears, however, that by it are meant tearing rheumatic pains. “Add to this, that the patients complained one and all, some more some less, of a tearing pain in the neck.”Sinner, p. 10.[355]Pulsus concitatior, frequentior. The only remark upon the pulse which is to be found in all the writers.Caius, p. 16. Probably most of the physicians were afraid of contagion, and, on this account, omitted to examine the pulse.[356]Page 252.[357]Odoris teterrimi.TyengiusinForest., p. 158.[358]Newenar, fol. 72. b.[359]Page 190.[360]Schiller,Kaye, loc. cit.[361]—— “cum alvi solutione ac lotii haud modica eiectione, in ea morbi specie, quæ curatum itura est.”Damian.fol. 116. a.[362]Rondelet, de dignosc. morbis, loc. cit.[363]To avoid exposure to cold, they preferred allowing the patient to pass his evacuations in bed. Bed-pans were unknown.Kaye, p. 110, and most of the other writers.[364]TyengiusinForest., p. 158. b. “Febrem sudor finiebat,post se relinquensin extremitatibus corporis,pustulas parvas, admodumexasperantesdiversas et malignas secundum humorum malignitatem.”[365]When care was not taken that the hands and feet were kept under the clothes they died, andtheir bodies became as black as a coal all over, and were covered with vesicles, and stunk so, that it was necessary to bury them deep in the earth by reason of the stench.Staphorst, Part II. Vol. I. p. 83.[366]Spots, (maculæ quas ronchas (?) vocant,) which were on other occasions considered as signs of approaching death, or which did not come out until death had occurred, broke out, after a return of sweating which had been repressed, all over the body of the learnedMargaretha Roper, the eldest daughter ofThomas More, who was the subject of sweating fever in 1517 or 1528, and recovered.Th. Stapleton, Vita et obitus Thomæ Mori, c. 6, p. 26. SeeMoriOpera.[367]And certainly only after very appropriate and careful treatment. See the Wittenberg Regimen,Kaye, loc. cit.Schmidt, p. 307, andKlemzer, p. 256.[368]Newenar, fol. 72. b.[369]Erasm.Epist. L. XXVI. Ep. 58. p. 1477. b. “Et crebro quos reliquit brevi intervallo repetens, nec id semel, sed bis, ter, quater, donec in hydropem aut aliud morbi genus versus, tandem extinguat miseris excarnificatum modis.”[370]Kaye, p. 110.[371]Idem. p. 113.[372]Staphorst, Part II. vol. I. p. 83.[373]“Immunes erant pueri et senes ab hoc malo.”Ditmar, p. 473. “Pueri infra decem annos rarissime hac febre corripiuntur.”Newenar, fol. 72. a. “Senibus solis quandoque pepercit,—præternavigavit etiam magna ex parte atrabilarios et emaciatos corpore, quoniam et horum corpora putris succi expertia erant.”Schiller, fol. 4. a.[374]Schmidt, p. 307.[375]As for instance,Schiller, to name but one among thousands. “Juvit etiam auxitque malum frequens multaque crapula, et in potationibus otiosa vita nostra,” fol. 3. b.[376]Let it be observedunder similar circumstances. It ought not to be affirmed that they are free from rheumatic diseases, but only that they are less disposed to be affected by them.[377]Thata rheumatic state makes the body an isolator,A. von Humboldtdiscovered as early as 1793, and he found that the observation was confirmed by subsequent experiments. “I have observed in myself that, when labouring under a severe attack of catarrhal fever, I was unable, by the most powerful metals, to excite the galvanic flash before my eyes; that I interrupted every connecting link between the muscular and nervous apparatus. As the rheumatic malady lessens the irritability of organs, so also it seems to diminish their conducting power. How is this? As yet nothing is known about it. I have every now and then met with isolating persons who were in perfect health, but can we not yet, amidst such an ocean of uncertainty, discover a condition by which we may determine every case?”Versuchein Vol. I. p. 159.Pfaffbelieves that, during the existence of rheumatic diseases, the proper electricity of the body sinks down to nothing. See his Essay on the peculiar Electricity of the Human Body inMechel’sArchiv. Vol. III. No. 2. p. 161.[378]The author has at times made extraordinary experiments of this kind upon himself.[379]This phenomenon may justly be compared with the very similar but more enduring morbid sequelæ of cholera. Paralysis and a repletion of the returning vessels must be regarded in the same light in both.[380]AfterHenryVIIIth’s death in 1547,EdwardVI., who was only nine years old, came to the throne. He died in 1553.[381]Caius, p. 2.[382]Ibid. p. 28.[383]Godwyn, p. 142.Stow, p. 1023.[384]Caius, p. 3.[385]Ibid. p. 7.[386]“Which miste in the countrie wher it began, was sene flie from toune to toune, with suche a stincke in morninges and evenings, that men could scarcely abide it.”—Kaye.See Appendix, also Lat. edit. pp. 28, 29. It is to be remarked here, that in the year 1529,Damianusobserved in Ghent, that more people sickened in the morning at sunrise than at any other time. p. 115. b.[387]Hosackadmits in cases of this kind, a “fermentative or assimilating process” in the atmosphere. T. I. p. 312. Laws of Contagion.Lucretiushad already expressed the same thought in poetry. L. VI. v. 1118. to 1123.[388]Caius, p. 29.[389]Ibid. pp. 2–8.[390]Holinshed, p. 1031, and others.[391]Stow, p. 1023.Baker, p. 332.[392]Godwyn, p. 142.[393]Among others, the Duke ofSuffolkand his brother.Godwyn, loc. cit.[394]“And the same being whote and terrible, inforced the people greatly to call upon God and to do many deedes of charity: butas the disease ceased, so the devotion quickly decayed.”Grafton, p. 525.[395]History of Medicine, Vol. II. p. 136.
[269]It was a greengrocer in Paris.Berliner Vossische Zeitung, Sept. 2, 1833.
[270]Carlstadt,Nic. Storch,Marcus Thomii,Marus Stubner,Marlin CellariusandThomas Münzer.
[271]“For all love hath grown cold in all nations; the axe lieth at the root of the tree, the rope is already applied, no one observeth it. For the world is stricken with thick blindness, faith is extinguished. All singleness and Godly fear hath withdrawn from the land for ever, and nothing but false hypocritical make-believe work is to be found among the Baptists, and at most a false, fictitious, fruitless, dead, tottering faith in the other sects, and yet the world thinks, notwithstanding, that she sees and sits in light. In short, for the one devil of the Baptists whom she has driven out, she is beset with seven more subtle and wickeder spirits, though she think that she be freed, and that they all be gone forth.”Franck, fol. 248, a. This same Chronicle contains a very lively description of the Peasant-war.
[272]Ad. ClarenbachandPeter Flistedt.
[273]Schmidt, p. 308.
[274]Nusquam pax, nullum iter tutum est, rerum charitate, penuria, fame, pestilenti laboratur ubique, sectis dissecta sunt omnia: ad tantam malorum lernam accessit letali sudor, multos intra horas octo tolleus e medio, etc.Erasm.Epist. L. XXVI. ep. 58. c. 1477. b.
[275]Fuhrmann, Part II. p. 745.
[276]Chronicon Monasterii Mellicensis. InPez, T. I. col. 285.
[277]The Assembly of the Reformers began there on the 2nd of October.
[278]The pamphlet written byMagnus Hundtis ornamented with a wood-cut, where, under the throne of God, and seated on lions who are spitting forth fire, a great host of angels, armed with swords, are hovering round men, whom they treat worse than Herod’s soldiers treated the children of Bethlehem.
[279]Reimar Kock’sChronicle of Lübeck.
[280]Kersenbroickin Sprengel, II. p. 687. CompareSleidan, L. VI. Tom. I. p. 380, who plainly and simply states the fact.
[281]Culpam eius rei plerique conferebant in theologos concionatores, qui suppliciis impiorum placandam esse clamabant iram Dei, novo morbi genere nos verberantis.Sleidan, loc. cit. p. 380.
[282]Haftitz, p. 131.Angelus, p. 319.Cramer, Book III. p. 76, and many others.
[283]“Verum quamplurimi, tam nobiles quam populares viri ac mulieres, hoc morbo misere suffocati sunt,ob libellos erroneos, ab indoctissimis hominibus in vulgus emissos, qui in eiusmodi lue curanda peritiam et experientiam jactabant, multosque in Angliâ aliisque regionibus sese curasse dicebant, cum omnia falsa essent. Tales inquam minima pietate fulti erga ægrotos,illorum loculos tantum expilabant, ac in sui commodum convertebant, nullam de aliorum damnis nec morte ipsa curam gerentes, sed quæ sua sunt tantum curantes, nulla arte instructi miseros ægros, passim sua ignorantia trucidabant.”Forest.L. VI. obs. 8. p. 158. a.
[284]“Ditissimi negociatores, lectis adfixi medicos ad se vocabant, montes auri promittentes, si curarentur.”Ditmar, p. 473.
[285]“Nam occlusis rimis omnibus, et excitato igne copioso, opertisque stragulis, quo magis tutiusque suderent, æstu præfocati sunt.”Forest.loc. cit. p. 157. b.
[286]Wild, inBaldinger, p. 278.
[287]The printerFrantz.Schmidt, p. 307.
[288]Stelzner, Part II. p. 219.
[289]This appears from the Wittenberg regimen.
[290]Reimar Kock’sChronicle of Lübeck.
[291]Klemzen, p. 255.
[292]InGratoroli:Petrus, proto medicus, fol. 90.
[293]See his pamphlet.
[294]I here give the whole pamphlet, which only occupies five pages. It is entitled, “The Remedy, Advice, Succour and Consolation against the dreadful, and as yet by us Germans unheard-of, speedy, and mortal Disease, called the English Sweating Sickness, from which may Almighty God mercifully protect us.”“When the disease and sweating sets in, ask what o’clock it is, and note it. “If any one be afflicted with this pestilence (may God protect us from it!) it attacks him either with heat or with cold, and he will sweat violently; and this will take place all over his body. Some take the disease with sudden eructations, and do not sweat; and to those who do not sweat, a flower of mace with warm beer is given, and then they sweat.“But if the pestilence and disease, from which may God preserve us! attack any one after he has lain down in bed, he must be left there; but if he has a feather bed, though a thin one, over him, cut it open and take the feathers out, that it may consist only of the ticking or covering. If it be too thin, add a cool coverlet, and let the patient lie under that, covered up to the neck, and take care that the air do not touch or strike upon his breast, or under his arms, and the soles of his feet, and let him not toss about.“Item. Two men should attend the patient, to prevent him from uncovering himself, and from going to sleep.“Item. The same two men must watch the patient, and guard him against sleeping: if they neglect this, and do not so prevent him, and the patient sleep, he will lose his senses, and go raving mad.“In order, however, that he may be prevented from sleeping, take a little rosewater, and by means of a sponge or clean napkin, bathe his temples with it between the eyes and the ears, and by means of a sponge or napkin, apply pungent wine or beer vinegar to his nose, and talk constantly to him so that he fall not asleep.“If he would drink, give him a thin beverage, which should be a little warm; and he ought not to be given more than two spoonfuls at a time.“Item. On the patient’s head should be placed a linen night-cap, and a woollen one over it.“Item. A warm towel should be taken, and with it the sweat wiped from the face.“Item. Whoever is attacked in the day-time must be put to bed: if it be a man, in his stockings and breeches; if a woman, in her clothes; and let them be covered over with not more than two thin coverings; and, above all things, no feather bed; and then treat them as above written.“Item. The disease attacks most people from great dread and from irregular living, from which a man should guard himself with great pains.“Once for all, the patient must not have his own way; what he would have you do for him, that must not be done.“Item. With respect to those whom it attacks in the night, and who lie naked, if they will not lie still, let them be sewn up in the sheets, and let the sheets be sewn to the bed, so that no air can come from beneath; and then cover them as before.“Summa. Whoever can thus endure for twenty-four hours, by the blessing of God, will be cured of the sickness, and get well.“If a man has held out for twenty-four hours, let him be taken up, and wrapped in a warm sheet lest he become cold, and throw something over his feet, and bring him to the fire; and above all things, let him not go into the air for four days, and let him avoid much and cold drink.“If he would sleep, provided twenty-four hours have been passed, let him sleep freely; and may God preserve him!“The Lord is Almighty over us! Amen.”The place of publication is wanting. It was, probably, either Leipzig or Wittenberg.
I here give the whole pamphlet, which only occupies five pages. It is entitled, “The Remedy, Advice, Succour and Consolation against the dreadful, and as yet by us Germans unheard-of, speedy, and mortal Disease, called the English Sweating Sickness, from which may Almighty God mercifully protect us.”
“When the disease and sweating sets in, ask what o’clock it is, and note it. “If any one be afflicted with this pestilence (may God protect us from it!) it attacks him either with heat or with cold, and he will sweat violently; and this will take place all over his body. Some take the disease with sudden eructations, and do not sweat; and to those who do not sweat, a flower of mace with warm beer is given, and then they sweat.
“But if the pestilence and disease, from which may God preserve us! attack any one after he has lain down in bed, he must be left there; but if he has a feather bed, though a thin one, over him, cut it open and take the feathers out, that it may consist only of the ticking or covering. If it be too thin, add a cool coverlet, and let the patient lie under that, covered up to the neck, and take care that the air do not touch or strike upon his breast, or under his arms, and the soles of his feet, and let him not toss about.
“Item. Two men should attend the patient, to prevent him from uncovering himself, and from going to sleep.
“Item. The same two men must watch the patient, and guard him against sleeping: if they neglect this, and do not so prevent him, and the patient sleep, he will lose his senses, and go raving mad.
“In order, however, that he may be prevented from sleeping, take a little rosewater, and by means of a sponge or clean napkin, bathe his temples with it between the eyes and the ears, and by means of a sponge or napkin, apply pungent wine or beer vinegar to his nose, and talk constantly to him so that he fall not asleep.
“If he would drink, give him a thin beverage, which should be a little warm; and he ought not to be given more than two spoonfuls at a time.
“Item. On the patient’s head should be placed a linen night-cap, and a woollen one over it.
“Item. A warm towel should be taken, and with it the sweat wiped from the face.
“Item. Whoever is attacked in the day-time must be put to bed: if it be a man, in his stockings and breeches; if a woman, in her clothes; and let them be covered over with not more than two thin coverings; and, above all things, no feather bed; and then treat them as above written.
“Item. The disease attacks most people from great dread and from irregular living, from which a man should guard himself with great pains.
“Once for all, the patient must not have his own way; what he would have you do for him, that must not be done.
“Item. With respect to those whom it attacks in the night, and who lie naked, if they will not lie still, let them be sewn up in the sheets, and let the sheets be sewn to the bed, so that no air can come from beneath; and then cover them as before.
“Summa. Whoever can thus endure for twenty-four hours, by the blessing of God, will be cured of the sickness, and get well.
“If a man has held out for twenty-four hours, let him be taken up, and wrapped in a warm sheet lest he become cold, and throw something over his feet, and bring him to the fire; and above all things, let him not go into the air for four days, and let him avoid much and cold drink.
“If he would sleep, provided twenty-four hours have been passed, let him sleep freely; and may God preserve him!
“The Lord is Almighty over us! Amen.”
The place of publication is wanting. It was, probably, either Leipzig or Wittenberg.
[295]Magnus Hundt, fol. 27. a. “Nullis vero aliis medicamentis utuntur adversus ipsam, quam expectatione sudoris, nam quibus advenit, omnes fere evadunt, quibus autem retinctur, maxima pars perit.”Forest.loc. cit. p. 159. a. Schol.
[296]Born about 1483; died 1549.
[297]Born 1492; died 1555.
[298]Died 1558.
[299]Died 1545. “Vir gravis; eximia litterarum cognitione, singulari judicio, summa experientia, et prudenti consilio Doctor.”Aikin, p. 47.
[300]InHenry VIII.
[301]See their biography, inAikin.
[302]Thomas Gale’sdescription of this class of medical practitioners gives the best notion of their abilities. “I remember,” says he, “when I was in the wars at Montreuil, (1544,) in the time of that most famous Prince, Henry VIII., there was a great rabblement there, that took upon them to be surgeons. Some were sow gelders, and some horse gelders, with tinkers and cobblers. This noble sect did such great cures, that they got themselves a perpetual name; for like as Thessalus’ sect were called Thessalions, so was this noble rabblement, for their notorious cures, called dog-leaches; for in two dressings they did commonly make their cures whole and sound for ever, so that they neither felt heat nor cold, nor no manner of pain after. But when the Duke of Norfolk, who was then general, understood how the people did die, and that of small wounds, he sent for me and certain other surgeons, commanding us to make search how these men came to their death, whether it were by the grievousness of their wounds, or by the lack of knowledge of the surgeons, and we, according to our commandment, made search through all the camp, and found many of the same good fellows which took upon them the names of surgeons, not only the names, but the wages also. We asking of them whether they were surgeons or no, they said they were; we demanded with whom they were brought up, and they, with shameless faces, would answer, either with one cunning man, or another, which was dead. Then we demanded of them what chirurgery stuff they had to cure men withal; and they would show us a pot or a box, which they had in a budget, wherein was such trumpery as they did use to grease horses’ heels withal, and laid upon scabbed horses’ backs, with verval and such like. And others that were cobblers and tinkers, they used shoemakers’ wax, with the rust of old pans, and made therewithal a noble salve, as they did term it. But in the end this worthy rabblement was committed to the Marshalsea, and threatened by the Duke’s Grace to be hanged for their worthy deeds, except they would declare the truth, what they were and of what occupations, and in the end they did confess, as I have declared to you before.”In another place Gale says, “I have, myself, in the time of King Henry VIII., holpe to furnish out of London, in one year, which served by sea and land, three score and twelve surgeons, which were good workmen, and well able to serve, and all English men. At this present day there are not thirty-four, of all the whole company, of Englishmen, and yet the most part of them be in noblemen’s service, so that if we should have need, I do not know where to find twelve sufficient men. What do I say? sufficient men: nay, I would there were ten amongst all the company, worthy to be called surgeons.”
Thomas Gale’sdescription of this class of medical practitioners gives the best notion of their abilities. “I remember,” says he, “when I was in the wars at Montreuil, (1544,) in the time of that most famous Prince, Henry VIII., there was a great rabblement there, that took upon them to be surgeons. Some were sow gelders, and some horse gelders, with tinkers and cobblers. This noble sect did such great cures, that they got themselves a perpetual name; for like as Thessalus’ sect were called Thessalions, so was this noble rabblement, for their notorious cures, called dog-leaches; for in two dressings they did commonly make their cures whole and sound for ever, so that they neither felt heat nor cold, nor no manner of pain after. But when the Duke of Norfolk, who was then general, understood how the people did die, and that of small wounds, he sent for me and certain other surgeons, commanding us to make search how these men came to their death, whether it were by the grievousness of their wounds, or by the lack of knowledge of the surgeons, and we, according to our commandment, made search through all the camp, and found many of the same good fellows which took upon them the names of surgeons, not only the names, but the wages also. We asking of them whether they were surgeons or no, they said they were; we demanded with whom they were brought up, and they, with shameless faces, would answer, either with one cunning man, or another, which was dead. Then we demanded of them what chirurgery stuff they had to cure men withal; and they would show us a pot or a box, which they had in a budget, wherein was such trumpery as they did use to grease horses’ heels withal, and laid upon scabbed horses’ backs, with verval and such like. And others that were cobblers and tinkers, they used shoemakers’ wax, with the rust of old pans, and made therewithal a noble salve, as they did term it. But in the end this worthy rabblement was committed to the Marshalsea, and threatened by the Duke’s Grace to be hanged for their worthy deeds, except they would declare the truth, what they were and of what occupations, and in the end they did confess, as I have declared to you before.”
In another place Gale says, “I have, myself, in the time of King Henry VIII., holpe to furnish out of London, in one year, which served by sea and land, three score and twelve surgeons, which were good workmen, and well able to serve, and all English men. At this present day there are not thirty-four, of all the whole company, of Englishmen, and yet the most part of them be in noblemen’s service, so that if we should have need, I do not know where to find twelve sufficient men. What do I say? sufficient men: nay, I would there were ten amongst all the company, worthy to be called surgeons.”
[303]Klemzen, p. 255.
[304]Part I. cap. 8.
[305]Gruner, Script, p. 11.
[306]“Vix malevolorumcachinnosmorsusque præteriit.”Schiller, Epist. nuncupator. the title whichGruner, Script. p. 12, gives to the original work, still existing in the library at Strasburg, and a Latin extract from it.Gratoroli, fol. 39.
[307]See the Catalogue in the Appendix, “Ein Regiment,” &c.
[308]Any kind of weak beer with the chill off. Warm beer was a beverage in general use in the north of Germany. The beer ofEimbeckandBernauwas stronger, and was recommended by medical men during the convalescence.
[309]“I had in my house seven lying ill with the same disease, of which, thank God, none died.” From the letter of an inhabitant of Hamburgh, given in the same pamphlet, “Ein Regiment,” &c.
[310]Gratorol.fol. 87. b.
[311]Gratorol.fol. 90.
[312]Stettler, Part II. p. 33.
[313]Wagenaar, op. cit. p. 509.
[314]His proper name wasHenry Spaten, (GermanSpät, in Englishlate,) whereofCordus(the last born or late-born) seems to have been a translation.
[315]The second of September.
[316]℞ Pulveris cardiaci, (very complex, containing precious stones and many other ingredients,) Ʒij; Pulveris cornu cervi Ʒj; Seminis Santonici, Myrrhæ, aā Ʒſs ♏️. ft. Pulv. Sumt. Ʒj; in warm wine-vinegar.
[317]Chronicle, p. 473.
[318]Born 1505; died 1577.
[319]It is theElectuarium liberans Gasseri:—℞ Spec. liberant. Galen, Spec. de gemm. aā Ʒj, Pulveris Dictamn., Tormentill, Serpentinæ, aā ℈iv, Pimpinell. Zedoariæ. aā Ʒſs, Bol. Armen, lot.; Terr. sigillat. aā ℈ij Rasur. Cornu cervin. ℈j, Zingiber. Ʒſs, Conserv. Rosar, rec. ℥ſs, Theriac. veteris ℥j, Syrup. acetositatis citri. q. s. ut ft. electuar. spiss.—Velsch, p. 19.—Gasserstates in his Augsburg Chronicle, that there were more than 3000 cases of the disease there, but that not more than 600 died. SeeMencken, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum.
[320]Gratorol.fol. 74. b.
[321]Gratorol.fol. 85. Probably this epistle does not differ essentially from the Latin work of this author on the sweating fever which appeared separately. (Deἱδροπυρετοῦseu sudatoræ febris curatione Liber. Coloniæ, 1529. 4.)
[322]Gratorol.fol. 64.
[323]Gratorol.fol. 69. b.
[324]Videmus, quam multi de sudore convalescant, fol. 66. a.
[325]This town is called in Flemish Tienen, (Thenæ in Montibus,) translated byDamianusDecicopolis.
[326]Fol. 117. a.
[327]Fol. 109. a.
[328]Fol. 116. b.
[329]Fol. 118. a.Damianuswrote his, by no means unimportant, treatise, during the prevalence of the epidemic sweating fever in Ghent.
[330]He styles himselfSchiller von Herderen, from an estate in the village of that name close to Freiburg.
[331]Schillersays with great naïveté, “that the symptoms of the disease are evident, and that those which he has not indicated must be imagined.” Sect. II. c. 1. fol. 206.
[332]“Habet inconstantes notas morbus.”Schiller.“Diversos diversimode adoritur.”Damian.fol. 115. b.
[333]See above, the remedium, p. 267, note e. Sudoris absentia plurimum nocebat.—Forest.p. 158. Schol.
[334]See above, p. 245.Klemzen, p. 254.
[335]Bayer, cap. 6.M. Hundt, fol. 5. a.
[336]Bayer, loc. cit.
[337]Angelus, p. 319.Schiller,Stettler, locis cit.: and many others.
[338]Damian.fol. 115. b.
[339]Schiller, loc. cit.
[340]The Regimen of Wittenberg.
[341]Damian.fol. 115. b.
[342]Klemzen, p. 255.
[343]“Ungues potissimum excruciat, alas ita comprimit, ut etiam si velis, non posses attollere.”Forest.p. 157. Schol. “In extremitatibus puncturis retorquentur dolorosis—extremitates obstupefiunt, dolet orificium ventriculi, nervorum contractiones nascuntur, plantarum pedumque dolores.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.
[344]Damian.loc. cit.
[345]Klemzen, loc. cit.
[346]“Nec quenquam vidimus ita delirantem restitutum incolumitati.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.
[347]Schiller,Stettler.
[348]Somnolentia etinevitabilis sopor,Schiller;a deep sleep, in almost all the chroniclers.
[349]Schiller.
[350]“Aliis mox tument manus et pedes, aliis facies, quæ et in pluribus livet; nonnullis sola labia et superciliorum loca: mulieribus etiam inguina inflantur.”—Damian.fol. 116. a.
[351]“Maximus denique calor haud procul a corde sentitur, qui ad cerebrum devolans delirium adducit, internecionis nuncium.”—Damian.loc. cit.
[352]Damian.loc. cit.
[353]Schiller, loc. cit.
[354]“Primo insultu aliis cervices aut scapulas, aliis crus aut brachiumoccupavit,” p. 15.Kayedoes not state what he precisely means by this “occupare.” From an analogous more modern observation, it appears, however, that by it are meant tearing rheumatic pains. “Add to this, that the patients complained one and all, some more some less, of a tearing pain in the neck.”Sinner, p. 10.
[355]Pulsus concitatior, frequentior. The only remark upon the pulse which is to be found in all the writers.Caius, p. 16. Probably most of the physicians were afraid of contagion, and, on this account, omitted to examine the pulse.
[356]Page 252.
[357]Odoris teterrimi.TyengiusinForest., p. 158.
[358]Newenar, fol. 72. b.
[359]Page 190.
[360]Schiller,Kaye, loc. cit.
[361]—— “cum alvi solutione ac lotii haud modica eiectione, in ea morbi specie, quæ curatum itura est.”Damian.fol. 116. a.
[362]Rondelet, de dignosc. morbis, loc. cit.
[363]To avoid exposure to cold, they preferred allowing the patient to pass his evacuations in bed. Bed-pans were unknown.Kaye, p. 110, and most of the other writers.
[364]TyengiusinForest., p. 158. b. “Febrem sudor finiebat,post se relinquensin extremitatibus corporis,pustulas parvas, admodumexasperantesdiversas et malignas secundum humorum malignitatem.”
[365]When care was not taken that the hands and feet were kept under the clothes they died, andtheir bodies became as black as a coal all over, and were covered with vesicles, and stunk so, that it was necessary to bury them deep in the earth by reason of the stench.Staphorst, Part II. Vol. I. p. 83.
[366]Spots, (maculæ quas ronchas (?) vocant,) which were on other occasions considered as signs of approaching death, or which did not come out until death had occurred, broke out, after a return of sweating which had been repressed, all over the body of the learnedMargaretha Roper, the eldest daughter ofThomas More, who was the subject of sweating fever in 1517 or 1528, and recovered.Th. Stapleton, Vita et obitus Thomæ Mori, c. 6, p. 26. SeeMoriOpera.
[367]And certainly only after very appropriate and careful treatment. See the Wittenberg Regimen,Kaye, loc. cit.Schmidt, p. 307, andKlemzer, p. 256.
[368]Newenar, fol. 72. b.
[369]Erasm.Epist. L. XXVI. Ep. 58. p. 1477. b. “Et crebro quos reliquit brevi intervallo repetens, nec id semel, sed bis, ter, quater, donec in hydropem aut aliud morbi genus versus, tandem extinguat miseris excarnificatum modis.”
[370]Kaye, p. 110.
[371]Idem. p. 113.
[372]Staphorst, Part II. vol. I. p. 83.
[373]“Immunes erant pueri et senes ab hoc malo.”Ditmar, p. 473. “Pueri infra decem annos rarissime hac febre corripiuntur.”Newenar, fol. 72. a. “Senibus solis quandoque pepercit,—præternavigavit etiam magna ex parte atrabilarios et emaciatos corpore, quoniam et horum corpora putris succi expertia erant.”Schiller, fol. 4. a.
[374]Schmidt, p. 307.
[375]As for instance,Schiller, to name but one among thousands. “Juvit etiam auxitque malum frequens multaque crapula, et in potationibus otiosa vita nostra,” fol. 3. b.
[376]Let it be observedunder similar circumstances. It ought not to be affirmed that they are free from rheumatic diseases, but only that they are less disposed to be affected by them.
[377]Thata rheumatic state makes the body an isolator,A. von Humboldtdiscovered as early as 1793, and he found that the observation was confirmed by subsequent experiments. “I have observed in myself that, when labouring under a severe attack of catarrhal fever, I was unable, by the most powerful metals, to excite the galvanic flash before my eyes; that I interrupted every connecting link between the muscular and nervous apparatus. As the rheumatic malady lessens the irritability of organs, so also it seems to diminish their conducting power. How is this? As yet nothing is known about it. I have every now and then met with isolating persons who were in perfect health, but can we not yet, amidst such an ocean of uncertainty, discover a condition by which we may determine every case?”Versuchein Vol. I. p. 159.Pfaffbelieves that, during the existence of rheumatic diseases, the proper electricity of the body sinks down to nothing. See his Essay on the peculiar Electricity of the Human Body inMechel’sArchiv. Vol. III. No. 2. p. 161.
[378]The author has at times made extraordinary experiments of this kind upon himself.
[379]This phenomenon may justly be compared with the very similar but more enduring morbid sequelæ of cholera. Paralysis and a repletion of the returning vessels must be regarded in the same light in both.
[380]AfterHenryVIIIth’s death in 1547,EdwardVI., who was only nine years old, came to the throne. He died in 1553.
[381]Caius, p. 2.
[382]Ibid. p. 28.
[383]Godwyn, p. 142.Stow, p. 1023.
[384]Caius, p. 3.
[385]Ibid. p. 7.
[386]“Which miste in the countrie wher it began, was sene flie from toune to toune, with suche a stincke in morninges and evenings, that men could scarcely abide it.”—Kaye.See Appendix, also Lat. edit. pp. 28, 29. It is to be remarked here, that in the year 1529,Damianusobserved in Ghent, that more people sickened in the morning at sunrise than at any other time. p. 115. b.
[387]Hosackadmits in cases of this kind, a “fermentative or assimilating process” in the atmosphere. T. I. p. 312. Laws of Contagion.Lucretiushad already expressed the same thought in poetry. L. VI. v. 1118. to 1123.
[388]Caius, p. 29.
[389]Ibid. pp. 2–8.
[390]Holinshed, p. 1031, and others.
[391]Stow, p. 1023.Baker, p. 332.
[392]Godwyn, p. 142.
[393]Among others, the Duke ofSuffolkand his brother.Godwyn, loc. cit.
[394]“And the same being whote and terrible, inforced the people greatly to call upon God and to do many deedes of charity: butas the disease ceased, so the devotion quickly decayed.”Grafton, p. 525.
[395]History of Medicine, Vol. II. p. 136.