DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.634#0138
"4
A Definition os Surat,
Letter HI.
Remedies out
ward and in-
ward.
more healthy than Moist, it hastening Digestion, and sacilitating
Excretion, when no Fevers that are treacherous root themselves in a
deep Putrefa&ion. About the Variable Months they are miserably
asssicted with Coughs and Catarrhs, Tumors of the Mouth and
Throat, Rheumatisms, and intermitting Fevers; Also Small Pox
invades the Youth, as in all India, so here: In the extreme Heats,
Cholera jtfor&«,lnssammations of the Eyes by Dust and the fiery Tem-
per of the Air: In the Rains, Fluxes, Apoplexies, and all Disternpers
of the Brain, as well as Stomach; to correct which, the Natives eat
ffi/ig, a sore of liquid Assix Fcctida, whereby they smell odioussy.
For ail Lethargick Fits they use Garlick and Ginger, given in Oyl
or Butter.
To Cup they use Ventosoes, without Scarifications. They have
good Escaroticks and Vcsicatories, made by a certain Nut, the same
they chop or mark their Calicuts black with instead of Ink.
They apply Cauteries moil unmercifully in a Mordisheen, called
so by the Tcrtu^als, being a Vomiting with a Loosness ; the like is
done in a Calenture.
Physick here is now as in former days,open to all Pretenders; here
being no Bars of Authority, or formal Graduation, Examination or
Proof of their Prosiciency; but every one venturcsjand every one dif-
sers; and those that are mest skiiled,have it by Tr.:dition,or former Ex-
perience descending in their Families j not considering either altera-
tion of Tempers or Seasons, but what succeeded well to one, they
apply to all.
In Fevers their Method is to prescribe Coolers, till they have ex-
tinguished the Vital Heat; and if the Patients are so robust to con-
quer the Remedies used to quench the Flame of the Acute Diseasc,
yet are they left labouring under Chronical ones, as Dropfy, Jaun-
dice , and III Habits, a long while before they recover their Pri-
sline Heat.
They are unskill'd in Anatomy, even those of the Moors who fol-
low the Arabians, thinking it unlawsul to disfer^: Human Bodies;
whereupon Phlebotomy isnorunderstood, they being ignorant how
the Veins lye; but they will worry themselves Martyrs to death by
Leeches, clapping on an hundred at once, which they know not how
to pull ofs, .till they have filled themselves, and drop of their own
accord.
Chirurgery is in as bad a plight, Amputation being an horrid
thing : Yet I confess it is strange to see, that what Nature will esfect
on such Bodies, Intemperance has not debauched.
Pharmacy is in no better condition; Apothecaries here being no
more than Perfumers or Druggists, at best; for he that has the bold-
ness to pra&ise, makes up his own Medicines, which are generally
such Draughts, that if their own Energy work not, yet the very
Weight mult force an Operation.
They pretend to understand the Pulse, but the Urine they will
not look on.
I have seen a Barber undertake the Cure of a Bloody Flux, by-
pretending the Guts were displaced, and laying the Patient on his
Back, and gently tickling his Reins, thrust on each side the Abdo-
A Definition os Surat,
Letter HI.
Remedies out
ward and in-
ward.
more healthy than Moist, it hastening Digestion, and sacilitating
Excretion, when no Fevers that are treacherous root themselves in a
deep Putrefa&ion. About the Variable Months they are miserably
asssicted with Coughs and Catarrhs, Tumors of the Mouth and
Throat, Rheumatisms, and intermitting Fevers; Also Small Pox
invades the Youth, as in all India, so here: In the extreme Heats,
Cholera jtfor&«,lnssammations of the Eyes by Dust and the fiery Tem-
per of the Air: In the Rains, Fluxes, Apoplexies, and all Disternpers
of the Brain, as well as Stomach; to correct which, the Natives eat
ffi/ig, a sore of liquid Assix Fcctida, whereby they smell odioussy.
For ail Lethargick Fits they use Garlick and Ginger, given in Oyl
or Butter.
To Cup they use Ventosoes, without Scarifications. They have
good Escaroticks and Vcsicatories, made by a certain Nut, the same
they chop or mark their Calicuts black with instead of Ink.
They apply Cauteries moil unmercifully in a Mordisheen, called
so by the Tcrtu^als, being a Vomiting with a Loosness ; the like is
done in a Calenture.
Physick here is now as in former days,open to all Pretenders; here
being no Bars of Authority, or formal Graduation, Examination or
Proof of their Prosiciency; but every one venturcsjand every one dif-
sers; and those that are mest skiiled,have it by Tr.:dition,or former Ex-
perience descending in their Families j not considering either altera-
tion of Tempers or Seasons, but what succeeded well to one, they
apply to all.
In Fevers their Method is to prescribe Coolers, till they have ex-
tinguished the Vital Heat; and if the Patients are so robust to con-
quer the Remedies used to quench the Flame of the Acute Diseasc,
yet are they left labouring under Chronical ones, as Dropfy, Jaun-
dice , and III Habits, a long while before they recover their Pri-
sline Heat.
They are unskill'd in Anatomy, even those of the Moors who fol-
low the Arabians, thinking it unlawsul to disfer^: Human Bodies;
whereupon Phlebotomy isnorunderstood, they being ignorant how
the Veins lye; but they will worry themselves Martyrs to death by
Leeches, clapping on an hundred at once, which they know not how
to pull ofs, .till they have filled themselves, and drop of their own
accord.
Chirurgery is in as bad a plight, Amputation being an horrid
thing : Yet I confess it is strange to see, that what Nature will esfect
on such Bodies, Intemperance has not debauched.
Pharmacy is in no better condition; Apothecaries here being no
more than Perfumers or Druggists, at best; for he that has the bold-
ness to pra&ise, makes up his own Medicines, which are generally
such Draughts, that if their own Energy work not, yet the very
Weight mult force an Operation.
They pretend to understand the Pulse, but the Urine they will
not look on.
I have seen a Barber undertake the Cure of a Bloody Flux, by-
pretending the Guts were displaced, and laying the Patient on his
Back, and gently tickling his Reins, thrust on each side the Abdo-