Medicina Gymnastica

Medicina Gymnastica - or, A treatise concerning the power of exercise, with respect to the animal oeconomy; and the great necessity of it in the cure of several distempers

The Generality of Men, have for a long time had too Narrow Thoughts of Physick, as if it were in a manner Confind to little more than Internals, without allowing themselves the Liberty of common Reasoning, by which they easily might have found that the Humane Body is liable to, and requires several Administrations of a very Different Nature, and that it is very unreasonable to suppose, that since there are so many ways for Diseases to enter upon us, there should be so few for Health to return by. Internals do indeed make up the far greatest part of the Means of Cure, but yet there are Considerable Cases, where the very Nature of the thing requires other Methods; and this would appear very obvious, if it were not for our too Partial Consideration of the Body of Man, by attributing too much to the Fluids, and too little to the Solids, both which, tho they have a Mutual Dependance upon one another, yet have each of em some Proprieties, and if out of Order, require something particular in the Application to restore em again. Consent in the Solids, answers to Mixture in the Fluids; and as an ill Ferment, as soon as it comes into the Blood, diffuses and mixes it self with the whole Mass, and cannot often be extirpated, till the Medicine given for that end, has been taken so long as to be diffusd and intimately mixd with the Blood likewise; so a Violent Seizure in one of the Solid Parts, commonly draws all the rest into Consent, and a particular Application to the Place primarily affected shall do no good, when a Universal one shall Cure; and a thing which would be trivial and Vain, if usd as a Topick, shall by a Universal Administration prove of the greatest Importance. We see Contraries often prove Remedies to one another in the Juices, and Poisons become Beneficial, when opposd to certain Humours, why should we not then allow of the same Rule, in the Containing Parts of the Body? If by a Supine Course of Life, the Nervous parts are weakned and relaxd, why should we not suppose the contrary way of Living, the most likely to repair em? Since the Vigour of those parts is acquird by Use; they are the Active part of the Man, and not always liable to the Impressions of the Fluids, for tho you invigorate the Blood ever so much by the most generous Medicines, the Nerves may remain Effete and Languid notwithstanding; but if the Nervous parts are extended and exercisd, the Blood and the Humours must necessarily partake of the Benefit, and soon discover it by the Increase of their Heat and Motion. There is so much of a Relative Nature in every thing, that can concern the Health or Distemperature of the Individual, that there is scarce any thing so prejudicial, or seemingly Absurd, but may in different Circumstances prove as Advantageous. The World has lately had full Evidence of the good Effects of an Intense Cold, equally applyd to all the Parts of the Body at once, which Method of Curing would, not many Years agoe, have been thought very Extravagant, and certainly Destructive. On the contrary, there are other Cases, where a Warm Bath is only prevalent; and though some People have supposd it to be only a kind of a last Resort, when other things have been tryd in Vain, yet it is quite otherwise, it being impossible to remove some Diseases of the Limbs, without an universal equal Relaxation. Again, quite different from this is the equal Distribution of a greater Degree of Heat throughout the whole Body, which is procurd by Habitual Exercise; in the former Method, the Parts are relaxd, in this they are strengthned, and in every Respect the Effects are widely different, tho in both ways there is a considerable Encrease of Heat. But to carry this enquiry farther, there are some Distempers, and those not altogether so rare neither, in the Cure of which no Positive Physick of any sort whatsoever, can be serviceable, nothing but a gradual Substraction of the Cause, an Alterative abstinence, if I may so speak, being necessary; as there have been some Gouts in some temperate Persons, of a strong and rank Constitution, which nothing could remove but a very low Diet, and an entire Abstinence from Flesh; to them Flesh being as Wine is to others, who Contract that Distemper by their Excess: and the same Observation holds good likewise in the Opthalmia, and some other Cases of the Eyes, as any that will duly weigh the Circumstances of some Persons often subject to em, will find Reason to believe, so that some Men are by their Constitutions condemnd to an Antidiluvian Diet of Roots and Vegetables, or else to suffer worse Inconveniences; and when those happen, it is absurd to expect, by the most Celebrated Remedy to cure the Disease, when the Cause continues. These are Instances of several Methods, widely differing from one another, and yet of absolute Necessity in their particular Cases, which shews us, that we ought not to be so eager after Courses of Pharmacy in all Cases, without distinguishing where other ways are most rational. It is one thing to dispose Nature to collect her own Strength, and throw off her Enemy; and it is another to assist her by the Corpuscula, the Minute parts of a Medicine given inwardly; the first way has Regard to the whole Animal Oeconomy; the second reflects the Blood and Juices chiefly; the first may succeed, where the second cannot, because here the Laws of Motion, and the Rules of the Oeconomy are enforcd, and brought to be assisting to a Recovery of Health, which in some few Cases cant be effected by a private and simple Attempt upon the Blood only. These are Notices which dont lie so far out of the reach of any Man, that will give himself leave to animadvert upon the Misfortunes of his Neighbours, but that they may discernd; and if they were duly considered, there could be no room for Empiricism, for that is founded on the Folly, or Negligence of Mankind; and if Men will give themselves up to Expectation, and resolve to be always alike Passive, in Hopes the Miracle will be wrought upon em, without any Concurrence on their part, it is but just they should suffer something from the Pedantry, the little things of the Profession, which they are so disposd to receive. As for the Exercise of the Body, which is the Subject of this ensuing Discourse, if People would not think so superficially of it, if they would but abstract the Benefit got by it, from the Means by which it is got, they would set a great Value upon it; if some of the Advantages accruing from Exercise, were to be procurd by any one Medicine, nothing in the World would be in more Esteem, than that Medicine would be; but as those Advantages are to be obtaind another way, and by taking some Pains, Mens Heads are turnd to overlook and slight em. The habitual increasing of the Natural Heat of the Body, as I took Notice above, is not to be despisd; but if we consider that it is done without charging Nature with any subsequent Load, it ought to be more valuable, for I may by some generous Medicine, or a Glass of Wine, raise Nature to a great Pitch for a time, but then when these Ingredients come to be digested and resolvd into their Principles, Nature may be more oppressd with the Remains of the Medicine, than she was at first relievd by it: Therefore if any Drug could cause such an Effect, as the Motion of the Bodies does, in this Respect, it would be of singular Use, in some tender Cases upon this very Account; but then add to this the great Strength, which the Muscular and Nervous parts acquire by Exercises, if that could be adequately obtaind likewise by the same Internal Means, what a Value, what an extravagant Esteem, would Mankind have for that Remedy, which could produce such wonderful Effects? But since those Benefits are to be procurd another way, how difficult is it to bring People to conceive it? To build up such a Belief in the Minds of Men, is to raise a Structure, the Foundations of which, can be laid with no less Difficulty, than the removing of the Rubbish of a Vulgar Error. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 63497
Author: Fuller, Francis
Release Date: Oct 18, 2020
Format: eBook
Language: English