1798.] 
the power of relaxing them when they 
are too rigid; that it fhould moderate the 
nerves in a ftate of preternatural fenfibi- 
jity, and again reftore to them the pro- 
per degree of irritability when they are 
in a contrary itate? who will be {o filiy 
as to believe that it is poflible for one 
edicine to cure the following lift of 
difeafes, which, trom a quack-bill now 
lying before me, is aflerted to be effecTu- 
ally done: {curvy, king’s-evil, cancers, 
gout, rheumatifm, {prains, bruifes, dif- 
eales incident to women, coughs, colds, 
fevers, confumptions, complaints in the 
bowels, coftivenefs, venereal complaints, 
weaknefs, nerveus affections, lols of ap- 
petite, &c. &c. &c. 
Indeed, the belief in an wuniverfal re- 
medy, appears to lofe ground every day, 
even among the vulgar, and has been 
long exploded among people of fenfe and 
education. Still, however, every new!- 
paper teems with advertifements of a fet 
of privileged charlatans, who impole 
upon the lower and lefs enlightened clafles 
of the community. It is difficult to de- 
cide, whether the boldnefs, or the induf. 
try, with which thefe knaves endeavour 
to eftablifh the reputation of their poifons, 
be the moft prominent feature in their 
character. It was jultly obferved by the 
fagacious and ¢comprehenfive Bacon : 
‘© That a reflecting phyfician is not di- 
re€ted by the opinion which the multitude 
entertain of a favourite remedy ; but that he 
muft be guided by a found judgment; and, 
confequently, he is led to make very im- 
portant ‘diftin€tions between thofe things, 
which only by their name pafs’ for medical 
remedies, and others which in reality pot- 
fefs healing powers.” 
I aim induced to avail myfelf of this 
quotation, as it indirectly cenfures the 
conduct of certain medica! practitioners, 
who do not fcruple to recommend patent 
or quack medicines, the compofition of 
which is carefully concealed from the 
public; fo that the very men who pre- 
fcribe them, are ignorant of their compo- 
nent parts. Thefe noftrums having ac- 
quired their ill-merited reputation by 
mere chance, and being fupported by the 
mott refined <artifices to delude the un- 
wary, we are unable to come at the evi- 
dence of perhaps nine-tenths of thofe 
who have experienced their fatal effects, 
and who are now no Jonger in a fituation 
to complain. The tranfition from fa- 
maceas, or wuniverfal remedies, to the 
nofirums, or fpecifics; Lach, for inftance, 
as are pretended to cure tne fume diféa/e 
ian every patient, is ealy and ‘natural, 
Dr. Willich on Quack Medicines. 
19% 
With the latter alfo, impofitions of a 
dangerous tendency are often practifed. 
Tt will probably be afked, how far they 
are practically admiffible, and in what 
cafes they are wholly unavailing? It is 
not very difficult to anfwer this queftion. 
In thofe difeafes, which in every inftance 
depend upon the fame caufe, as in agues, 
the fmall-pox, meafles, and many other 
contagious diftempers, the poflibility of 
{pecifics, 72 a limited fenfe, may be ra- 
tionally, though hypothetically, admit- 
ted. But in other maladies, the caufes 
of which depend upon a variety of con- 
current circumftances, and the cure of 
which, in different individuals, frequently 
requires very oppofite remedies, as in the 
Gropfy, the various {pecies of cholic, the 
almoft infinite variety of confumptions, 
é&c. &c. a [pecific remedy is an infolent 
burlefque upon the common fenfe cf man- 
kind. . 
Thofe who are but imperfectly ac- 
quainted with the various caufes, from 
which the fame diforders may originate in 
different individuals, can never entertain 
fuch a vulgar and dangerous notion. 
They will eafily perceive, how much de- 
pends upon af{certaining with precifion 
the feat and caufe of the affection, before 
any medicine can be prefcribed with ad- 
vantage or fafety; even life and death 
are too often decided by the fix? fleps of 
him, who offers or intrudes his advice 
upon a fuffering friend. 
The following inftances will fhew the 
danger attending the precipitate applica- 
tion of the fame medicine, in fimilar dif- 
orders: —A perion violently troubled with 
the cholic, took a glafs of juniper-{pirits, 
commonly cailed Hollands, from which 
he received almoft inftantanéous relief; 
as the affection proceeded from flatulency. 
Another, who found himfelf attacked 
with fimilar pains, was induced by the 
example of his friend, to try the fame 
expedient ; he took it, and died in a few 
hours after. No wonder that the confe- 
quences here were fatal, as the cholic in 
the latter cate was owing to.an inflamma- 
tion in the inteltines, A third perfon 
was afflicted with a cholic, arifing from 
poisonous mushrooms he had eaten; the 
immediate adrniniftration of an emetic, 
and after it fome diluted vegetable acid, 
reftored him to health. A fourth perfon 
had an attack of this malady from an ez- 
cyficd bernia, ov an inward ruptyre: the 
emetic, which had relieved the former ’ 
patient, neceflarily proved fatal to the 
latter; for it burft the -bag of inclofed 
Matter, poured the contenis within the 
Cavities 
4 
