Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

MEDICINE,
5. Aged.
6. Blind.
7. Maimed.
Military Hofpitals :
Prifoners of War.
Lazarettoes.
Work-houfes.
Prifons.
Hofpitals for the Sick.
Maniacs.
Convalefcents.
Incurables.
Obfervatlons on the Means of preferring Headth.
Having now treated of all the moil important difeafes
to which the human body is fubjefled, we fhall conclude
the article Medicine, with a few obiervations on the
means of preferving health, both for the general manage¬
ment of valetudinarians, and of thofe alfo who with to
obtain long life and good health by avoiding the caufes
of thofe difeafes which the human fpecies often bring
upon themfelves. On this fubject much has been writ¬
ten at almoft every period of medicine. And we may
refer thofe readers who with for a full and extenlive
view of this intereding fubjedl to a very elaborate work
lately publifhed by Sir John Sinclair, Bart, entitled the
Code of Health and Longevity. Here we cannot pro-
pofe to give even an abridged view of this extentive in¬
quiry ; but mutt content ourfelves with offering only a
very few general obfervations.
I. Rules for the Management 0/Valetudinarians.
That part of the medical fyftem which lays down
rules for the prefervation of health, and prevention of
difeafes, termed Hygieina, is not to be llri£lly underltood
as if it refpe&ed only thofe people who enjoy perfedl
health, and who are under no apprehenfions of difeafe,
for fuch feldom either defire or attend to medical ad¬
vice •, but is rather confidered as relating to valetudi¬
narians, or fuch as, though not actually lick, may yet
have fufficient reafon to fear that they will foon become
fo : hence it is that the rules muft be applied to correft
morbific difpofitions, and to obviate various particulars
which were fhown to be the remote or poflible caufes of
difeafes.
From the way in which the feveral temperaments
are commonly mentioned by fyfteraatic writers, it Tumid
feem as if they meant that every particular con'nfution
might be referred to one or other of the four *, but this
iis fir from being the cafe, fince by .much the greater
number of people have temperaments fo indiftinftly
marked, that it is hard to fay to which of ihe tempera¬
ments they belong.
When wre a&ually meet writh particular perfons who
have evidently either,
1. Top much ftrength and rigidity of fibre, and too
much fenfibiliiy ;
2. Too little ftrength, and yet too much fenfibi-
% >
3. Too much ftrength, and but little fenfibility $
«r,
4. But little fenfibility joined to weak refs ;
we should look on fuch perfons as more or lefs in the
Vol. XIII. Part II.
48c
valetudinary ftate, who require that thefe morbific dif- ''cans of
pofitions De particularly watched, leii mey lali into !™ei:v
thofe difeafes which are connected with the different, ^ ~ .
tempt raments.
People of the firft-mentioned temperament being
liable to fuffer from continued levers, efpecialiy of Lue
inflammatory fpecies, their fcheme of preferving health
ftiould confift in temperate living, with reipect Doth to
diet and exercife ; they ihould itudiouiiy avoid immo¬
derate drinking, and be remarkably cautious left any
of the natural difeharges be checked. People ot this
habit bear evacuations well, efpecialiy bleeding : they
ought not, however, to lofe blood but when they really
require to have the quantity leffened ; becaule too
much of this evacuation would be apt to reduce the
conititution to the fecond-mentioned temperament, in
which ftrength is deficient, but fenfibility ledundant.
Perfons of the fecond temperament are remarkably
prone to fuffer from painful and fpafmobic diieales, and
are eafily ruffled j and thofe of the fofter lex who have
this delicacy of habit, are very much difpoled to hyfte-
rieal complaints. The fcheme here Ihould be, to
ftrengthen the folids by moderate exercife, cold bath¬
ing, cinchona, and chalybeate waters } particular at¬
tention fhould conftantly be had to the ftate of the
digeftive organs, to prevent them from being overload¬
ed with any fpecies of faburra which might engender
flatus, or irritate the fenfible membranes of the liomach
and inteftines, from whence the difoider would foon be
communicated to the whole nervous fyftem. Perfon#
of this conftitution fhould never take any of the draftic
purges, or ftrong emetics ; neither fhould they lofe
blood but in cafes of urgent neceflity. But a principal
{hare of management, in thefe extremely irritable con-
ftitutions, conlifts in avoiding all fudden changes of
every fort, efpecially thofe with refpefl to diet and
clothing, and in keeping the mind as much as poifible
in a ftate of tranquillity : hence the great advantages
which people of this frame derive from the ufe of me¬
dicinal waters drank on the fpot, on account of that free¬
dom from care and ferious bufinefs of everv kind, which
generally obtains in all the places plan: ed lor the re¬
ception of valetudinarians.
The third-mentioned temperament, where there is
an excels of ftrength and but little fenfibilfty, does not
feem remarkably prone to any ditlreffing or dangerous
fpecies of difeafe \ and therefore it can hardly be fup-
pofed that perfons fo circumftanced will eh her of them¬
felves think of any particular fcheme of management,
or have recourfe to the faculty for their inflruclions;
fuch conftitut ions, however, we may obferve, bear
all kinds of evacuations well, and form-times require
them to prevent an over-fulnefs, which might end in
an oppreffion of the brain or fome other organ ot im¬
portance.
But the fourth temperament, where we have weak-
nefs joined to want of fenfibility, is exceedingly apt to
fall into tedious and dangerous difeafes, arifing from a
deleft of abforbent power in the proper fets of vefiels,
and from languor of the circulation in general :
whence corpulency, dropfv, jaundice, and different
degrees of fccrbutic affeftion. In order to prevent
thefe, or any other fpecies of accumulation and depra¬
vation of the animal fluids, ihe people of this cenfti-
tution Ihould ufe a generous courfe of diet, with hr ilk
3 P texercife,
appendix.
Means of
prefer vuig
Health.