AN ACCOUNT OF A MOST
Efficacious Medicine
FOR SORE EYES.
[Price SIX-PENCE.]
AN ACCOUNT OF A MOST
Efficacious Medicine
FOR SORENESS, WEAKNESS, And SEVERAL OTHER DISTEMPERS of the EYES.
BY Sir
HANS SLOANE,
Bart.
Physician to his Majesty,
&c.
THE SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
Printed for DAN. BROWNE, at the
Black-Swan,
without
Temple-Bar.
TO THE KING.
SIR,
THIS Account of my most
Effectual Medicine
for the Cure of
Sore
and
Weak Eyes,
is now made public for the Benefit of Mankind; and most humbly Dedicated to your MAJESTY, by,
Your
MAJESTY'S,
Most Dutiful, and Most Obedient, Subject and Servant,
HANS SLOANE.
AN ACCOUNT OF A MOST
Efficacious Medicine
FOR SORE EYES.
THROUGH an earnest Desire to be useful in my Profession, the Practice of Physic, to which I was led by a strong natural Inclination, I was always very attentive to Matters of Fact, and the real Cures that fell under my Observation. Of these I saw many performed upon
sore Eyes
by Doctor
Luke Rugeley:
whereupon I applied to a very understanding Apothecary of his particular Acquaintance and mine, and endeavoured, though without Effect, to procure some Knowledge of the Medicine he made use of. After the Doctor's Death I still pursued my Enquiry, by searching into his printed Books, and Manuscript Papers, and particularly into a very curious
Materia Medica
left by Him: but all in vain; 'till at length a Person, whom I believe he had employed in making his Medicine, came to me; and for a pecuniary Reward, joined to a Promise of not divulging it to his Prejudice, delivered me up the genuine Receipt, in the Docctor's own Hand-Writing; which, as I reformed, improved, and used it many Years, is as follows.
THE RECEIPT.
TAKE of prepared Tutty, one Ounce; of
Lapis Haematites
prepared, two Scruples; of the best Aloes prepared, twelve Grains; of prepared Pearl, four Grains. Put them into a Porphyry, or Marble Mortar, and rub them with a Pestle of the same Stone very carefully, with a sufficient Quantity of Viper's Grease, or Fat, to make a
Liniment;
to be used daily, Morning or Evening, or both, according to the Conveniency of the Patient: as hereafter directed.
This Medicine I soon tried, and, though a Composition, found it so surprizingly beneficial, that by the right Use of it not one in five Hundred missed of a Cure: unless their Disorder proceeded from a Venereal Taint.
Several Years after I had been in Possession of this Secret, in turning over some Manuscripts of Sir
Theodore Mayerne,
I found he had known the same Ointment, or Liniment, and had entered it in his
Pharmacopoea,
under his own Name: though I afterwards discovered, that it was not originally his, but had been communicated to him by Sir
Matthew Lister,
a Member of the College of Physicians; who had performed a Cure with it on a Lady
Savile,
which Sir
Theodore
thought a very extraordinary one. And 'tis very probable, that he afterwards communicated it to Dr.
Thomas Rugeley,
Father of Dr.
Luke Rugeley:
as I find they were Cotemporaries, and Friends.
The Method, which has best succeeded with me in facilitating the efficacious Use of this Liniment, is to bleed, and blister in the Neck and behind the Ears, in order to draw off the Humors from the Eyes; and afterwards, according to the Degree of the Inflammation, or Acrimony of the Juices, to make a Drain by Issues between the Shoulders, or a perpetual Blister. And for washing the Eyes, I generally recommend Spring Water: which I think preferable to any spirituous Lotion, whether simple or compound. And the best inward Medicines I have experienced to be Conserve of Rosemary Flowers; Antiepileptic Powders, such as
Pulvis ad Guttetam;
Betony, Sage, Rosemary, Eyebright, wild Valerian Root, Castor,
&c.
washed down with a Tea made of some of the same Ingredients: as also Drops of
Spirit. Lavendulae composit.
and
Sal volat. oleos.
If the Inflammation returns, drawing about six Ounces of Blood from the Temples by Leaches, or Cupping on the Shoulders, is very proper.
The Liniment is to be applied with a small Hair Pencil, the Eye winking or a little opened.
In prosecuting the Cure of sore Eyes, I have been sometimes surprized by want of Success; 'till at length I found, that the Cause was a lurking intermitting Fever, every Fit of which affected the Eyes, and rendered their Disorder obstinate: wherefore upon taking off the Fever by a proper Use of the Bark, the Cure has been effectually performed.
This Medicine has cured many, whose Eyes were covered with opake
Films,
and
Cicatrices
left by Inflammations and Apostems of the
Cornea;
which, though they happen to Persons of all Conditions, yet are more common among the poorer Sort of People: many of whom were so totally deprived of Sight, as to be under a Necessity of being led to me; and after some time could perfectly well find their Way without a Guide, to my great Satisfaction. And it is not only very beneficial in such Cases, but also where there is an excessive Pain in the Eyes, shooting thence up into the Head: as I particularly remember in a great Lady, who had such Pains in her sore Eyes, and Head, that she had, when I first saw her, taken about fifty Drops of
Laudanum
thrice in twenty four Hours, if I remember right; of which Complaints she and many others have been relieved by this Medicine, without the Help of any Opiate.
Monsieur
Anisson,
who was sent hither with the Duke
d'Aumont,
Commissioner for settling a Treaty of Commerce with
England,
brought me recommendatory Letters from some Friends in
France.
I observed a great Soreness and Weakness in his Eyes: of which the Application of my Medicine very soon cured him. Whereupon he assured me, that he would procure me from the King his Master any Reward I should think fit to ask for the Secret; he being accustomed to oblige his Subjects that way: but I answered him, that I was then bound by a Promise to conceal it.
It is to be observed (contrary to the common Practice, and to the Opinion which I myself entertained in my earlier Days, and communicated to the Public in the Introduction to my
Natural History of Jamaica
) that Cathartics, especially with the Addition of
Mercury,
are prejudicial in the Diseases of the Eyes, which are cured by this Medicine.
It is also worthy of Remark, that People afflicted with weak Eyes are over-fond of Hoodwinking, or covering them from the Light; which sometimes retards the Cure, by keeping their Eyes too warm: and therefore I have constantly advised them to throw away these Coverings, as soon as they could possibly bear the Light.
I was intimately acquainted with Dr.
William Stokeham,
a very ingenious Gentleman, Physician to King
William
III. who had formerly spent some Years at
Padua,
and had been acquainted with the most eminent Physicians of that University, and also with
Tachenius
of
Venice,
one of the greatest Chemists of the last Age. He told me, he had learnt the great Virtue of
Viper's Grease or Fat,
in the Cure of Discases of the Eyes; which is recommended for that Purpose by
Daniel Ludovicus,
in his Book
De Pharmacia moderno seculo applicanda, Gothae,
1671. 12o . And this, indeed, I judged so very reasonable, that I substituted that Grease, or Fat, in the Place of the Hog's Lard, which was in the original Receipt; and found, that it added so much to the Efficacy of the Medicine, as to make it do, what I thought, Wonders. And as I was not bound to Secrecy, with regard to this Improvement, I communicated it to the late Dr.
Arbuthnot:
who, after repeated Trials of that Fat alone on sore Eyes, had so high an Opinion of its Virtues, that he looked on it as equally beneficial with the whole Medicine.
I have since read in some
Missionary Letters,
that Serpent's Fat is used by the
East-Indians,
for the same Purpose.
It is an Observation made by many Naturalists, that those Serpents cast their Skins every Year, and with them the Coverings of their Eyes: but how far, or whether at all, their Fat is concerned in this
Phaenomenon,
I leave to others to determine.
One of the most eminent and learned Chirurgical Authors, to whom I had a particular Regard in my Practice, cautions his Readers against the Use of Oil in Discases of the Eyes: by which, I suppose, he meant Olive-Oil. Agreeable to this Caution, I confess, I never used any Oil, either alone, or mixed with other Medicines, for the Eyes; being unwilling to try Remedies, whose Effects were doubtful, and may possibly be pernicious: which I afterwards observed to be the Case with regard to Olive-Oil, when used by some People (to whom I had given the Liniment) in order to make it more liquid, upon drying; for the Liniment, in that State, has caused very considerable Complaints. This, in my Opinion, proceeds from some hot, sharp Particles, contained in the Oil; though it is generally reckoned very soft and mild in outward and inward Use: for I remember, when at
Montpellier,
I was informed by Monsieur
Magnol,
and others of my Acquaintance there, that the feeding of tame Rabbits with Olive Leaves, in want of other Food, has caused their making bloody Urine.
I had formerly, as already said, promised Secrecy with regard to this Medicine: which I have religiously kept 'till now, that I think myself, for many Reasons, abundantly absolved. I have had some other Medicines of the like Nature communicated to me under the same Restriction: and exclusive of these few Cases, I cannot charge myself with making the least Mystery of my Practice. For in Consultations, in a Number of Cases of Importance, I have been always very free, and open; far from following the Example of some Physicians of good Morals and great Reputation, who have on many Occasions thought proper to conceal Part of their own acquired Knowledge, alledging the Maxim:
Artis est celare Artem.
And that I have not been inclined to conceal or monopolize Medicines of great Use, the following Instance will sufficiently shew.
Sir
Robert Southwell,
a very worthy President of the Royal Society, who was a Patron to many Persons of Merit, and among others to Captain
Dampier,
told me, that the Captain in Conversation let him know, that his Family, at
Exmouth
in
Devonshire,
had a secret Medicine, whereby they infallibly cured all Men and Beasts, bit by mad Dogs and other Creatures. Whereupon I earnestly entreated Sir
Robert
to use his Interest with the Captain, to procure, if possible, a full Account of it, as a Matter of great Consequence to the Public. Sir
Robert
readily complied, and at his Request Captain
Dampier
obtained from his Relations the Account thereof, which I published entire in the
Philosophical Transactions
No . 237, with all the necessary Circumstances to be observed: several of which were afterwards omitted by the Abridgers of that Paper. But soon after the said Account had been put into my Hands, having assured Sir
Robert,
that
Jews-Ears,
mentioned therein as a principal Ingredient of the Medicine, must be a Mistake, inasmuch as that Vegetable is pernicious, taken inwardly; I desired him to procure a Sample of the Herb so named in the Account, in order to examine what it was, and likewise a Dose of the Medicine, to know the Quantity to be taken. This occasioned both the one and the other to be sent up from the Family; by which means I discovered, that it really was, not
Jews-Ears,
but, the
Lichen cinereus terrestris
of Mr.
Ray,
who had first publicly taken notice of it, in his Catalogue of
English
Plants, printed in the Year 1670: He at the same time wondering, that it had escaped the Observation of all former Botanists. And this Instance, by the by, shews the Usefulness of observing non-descript Simples; which may possibly be found, as his since was, to be of great Importance to the Welfare of Mankind. This Point being settled, I accompanied the Publication of the Letter, or Account, with a Remark; without which, as manifestly appears, it either would have had no Effect, or have been of bad Consequence. I at the same time acquainted Mr.
Petiver,
Mr.
Doody,
Mr.
Rand,
and other Botanists, with the Discovery of this Matter; and recommended to them to provide a Quantity of this
Lichen,
sufficient to answer all Occasions. It was accordingly made use of with the same Success, with which it has ever since been attended.
THE END.