Novum Lumen Chyrurgicum Vindicat: OR, A VINDICATION of the New Light of Chyrurgery.
THERE having lately stoln out into the World, a Scandalous Libel, Entituled, Novum Lumen Chyrurgicum Extinctum, wherein the Author, or rather Authors, (I being very well assured, that it was composed by a Club or Cabal of [Page 2] Surgeons) pretend to ridicule notorious and known Matter of Fact. He or they pretend to detect Imposture, and to vindicate the Cause of Truth. If so, I leave it to the impartial Judgment of any rational sober Person, whether the Author or Authors had any reason to have concealed their Names. I confess there are the two initial Letters of a Person's Name prefixed to the Title Page, which if they answer to the Person, whom I have some reason to suspect, if his Name had been written at length, his Life and Conversation is so very Scandalous (he having, last Year, been [Page 3] cashier'd the Regiment to which he belonged, for his Scandalous way of Living, as I have been credibly informed by some of the Officers of the said Regiment) that it had been sufficient to have deterred any one from reading any more than the Title Page alone.
The Authors have taken care to send this Libel into the World at a time, when I am full of business in making my Preparation for Flanders, and just upon the point of going away, and so not capable of writing so full an Answer as otherwise I would have done, and which may [Page 4] be expected at the end of the Campaign; and also when the Officers of the Army, who would have been my Compurgators, are gone out of Town.
Mr. Hall, Surgeon to the Honourable Collonel Fitz-Patrick's Regiment of Fusileers, who had a considerable Hand in writing this Piece, brings in the Major, and two Captains of the said Regiment to justify a most notorious untruth. The which, when it shall come to their knowledg, I suppose, he will have sufficient cause to repent of.
As for what is said by them concerning the Dogs [Page 5] wounded before the Right Honourable the Lord Cuts, and the Soldier that was wounded upon Tower-Hill; if I had time, I could sufficiently make appear the Truth of every tittle I have said in my Preface upon that Subject; and whoever will give himself the trouble of going to Mr. Sterkey, Surgeon, upon Little Tower-Hill, he will satisfy them that the man's case was most deplorable, and quite contrary to what they relate.
They say I have deserved ill of most Surgeons; which is no otherwise true than if to be Civil, and shew Respect [Page 6] in the highest degree, be to deserve ill. For I defy any one of that Fraternity to say, that I ever once denied them to shew what Experiments they desired, and to let them see my Patients dressed upon all occasions. And since Mr. Cooper is by them trumped up in relation to the Experiments made at St. Batholomew's Hospital; I shall represent that whole Business to the World, and then leave it to any impartial Person to judge, whether I was fairly dealt with, or not.
Having made some Experiments before Mr. Cooper, &c. upon a Dog first of all, making [Page 7] an Aperture in his Abdomen, then taking out one of his Small Guts, and wounding it, of which he was in three or four days well. Then we cut off one of his hinder Legs as close as possibly we could to his Body, and immediately stopped the Flux of Blood, without any hard Bandage, to the great satisfaction of all the Bystanders. I was then desired by one of the Master-Surgeons of the Hospital, to try my Medicines upon two Persons, who were to have the one a Leg, and the other an Arm cut off, which I readily granted. The Day before these Operations [Page 8] were to be performed, I receiv'd a Letter from the said Master-Surgeon of the Hospital, requesting me that I would come alone, and bring no one with me, that a Croud might be avoided, and his Brethren not displeased (which I leave to any ones Judgment, whether it did not look as if there were some design, and as the Sequel will demonstrate). Accordingly I went to the Hospital, with no one with me but my Boy, of about Fourteen years of Age. But (to my great surprize) when I came there, I found at least Twenty of their Fraternity. However knowing [Page 9] the justice of my Cause, I staid to perform the Business I came about. I confess my Powder was two or three times applied, before the Fluxes of Blood were stopp'd, which was occasion'd only by the irregular Application of it by one of themselves. But after the Fluxes were stopp'd, there was no other than mere retentive Bandage used, which is more than what any of them can pretend to, with any of their most celebrated Medicines▪ After our Patients were dressed up, and laid to Bed, we went all to the Tavern, where every one seemed to express very great satisfaction [Page 10] in what had been done. On the Morrow Morning, being at Tom's Coffee-house in St. Martins Lane, with one Mr. Clarke, I met with a certain Physitian, who told me that all was undone, for that one of the People had Bled afresh, and if Mr. Bernard had not been at hand to have taken off mine, and applied his own Medicines, he had Bled to Death. The truth of which I had no reason to believe, having sent one the Night before, and another that Morning, to make strict enquiry how they both did, who brought me word, that they were very well, but [Page 11] mentioned nothing of any such Accident. However, that I might be satisfied exactly in the truth of the said Report, I immediately went to the said Hospital, taking Mr. Clarke with me. In our way we met Mr. Blackstone, Apothecary to the Hospital, who told me the same Story the Physitian had done. When we came to the Bed where the Man lay, whom they said had Bled again; before I was capable of speaking to him, he rose up in his Bed, and prayed for me most heartily, telling me that he believed that no Man whoever had an Arm cut off, was so [Page 12] well as he was; upon which I asked him, whether he had not Bled again after I left him: He reaching out his Stump to me, did solemnly protest, that those very dressings were the same that had been put on in my presence, and that they had never in the least been touched from the time I saw him. I likewise asked him how he had been for Pain: To which he replied, That for four or five Hours after the Amputation, he had some Pains occasioned by an Inflamation just above the Stump; but that he had slept very well all Night, and was then perfectly [Page 13] at ease. We afterwards went up to the Boy, who told us the same that the Man had done, saying, he was perfectly at ease, and had slept well all Night. Some other Surgeons having said the same thing in relation to the Man's bleeding; I desired Mr. Colbatch, a Stationer in Cornhill; and Mr. Fisher, a Surgeon in Aldersgate-street, to go to the Hospital, and they being Strangers, the People would relate the whole truth to them; but instead of either of them owning that they had Bled, they declared they were infinitely obliged to the Person who made [Page 14] the new Experiment upon them, for that they were well to admiration. These Operations were performed (to the best of my remembrance) on a Tuesday; and the Friday following I was desired to be again at the same place to perform the same Operation upon another Person; but finding this ill usuage, I sent Mr. Baker, a Surgeon in Suffolk-street, who was wont to make my Experiments for me, with some other Friends, to be as Witnesses, and desired by Letter, that Mr. Baker might make the Application of my Medicines; but there being so many (about six Persons) [Page 15] witnesses of what might be done, they refused to let Mr. Baker do it, and deferred it to another time. I likewise in the same Letter, requested that I might have notice given me, when the two before mentioned should be opened, that I might be present, to see how the Stumps looked, which every body will own, was but fair: But to be short, I was put off from time to time, and never was admitted to see them at all. Now, if what I have said upon this Subject, does not argue a Combination, I do not know what can; and for the truth of all, when I have leisure, [Page 16] I will have it sufficiently attested before a Magistrate; nay, the Man and Boy (tho reported to be Dead) will both assist me in the confirming the truth of this my Relation.
As for the Case of poor Capt. Rogers, I know nothing of it, but was told by one Capt. [...], of Sir James Lesley's Regiment, at Mr. Man's Coffee-house, before Mr. Baker and others, that Capt. Rogers being opened after he was Dead, his Heart was found to be pierced. Whether he saw this himself, or had it related to him by some body else, I am not [Page 17] certain; but he declared that to his certain knowledg my 7th Experiment was true to a tittle, it being made upon a Soldier of the Regiment to which he belonged.
As for Mr. Dun, I know nothing more than this, That he being in a Publick Coffee-house, where there were at least twelve People, he complained of two or three Wounds he had received by a Cock's Spur, and that there had been something applied by another Surgeon; his Hand was much swelled and inflamed, and he in great Pain, and in great fear of some further ill Consequence▪ [Page 18] so he requested me to apply my external Medicine, which I did, and gave him some of the Tincture in Ale; and in about a quarter of an hours time he declared before all the Company, that his Pain was altogether abated. On the Morrow he came to me again, and desired me to make a fresh dressing, which I finding his Hand in a good way of being well, refused; telling him that one dressing was sufficient. Now he being unaccustomed to such sorts of Methods, thought I had slighted him, so he applied himself to Mr. Johnson; who every body will allow advised [Page 19] him to take off my dressings, and make use of his; so what became of him after, I know not.
My time will not permit me at present, to make Remarks upon the whole, which however I shall take a convenient time for. And the World may expect a full Vindication of my self. For it is Truth and its Cause I am contending for, and therefore am not ashamed to fix my Name to it. I confess (using the Words of the Famous Dr. Lock) the Imputation of Novelty is a terrible Charge amongst those who judge of mens Heads, as they [Page 20] do of their Perukes, by the fashion; and can allow none to be right but the received Doctrines. Truth scarce ever carried it by Vote any where at its first appearance: New Opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason, but because they are not already common. But Truth, like Gold, is not the less so, for being newly brought out of the Mine. 'Tis Trial and Examination must give it price, and not any Antick Fashion: And tho it be not yet Currant by the Publick Stamp, yet it may for all that be as old as Nature, and [Page 21] is certainly not the less Genuine.
I did expect my Hypothesis would have been overthrown, and a better erected in its place, for which I should have thanked them; but instead of that, I find they have neither overthrown mine, nor erected a new one of their own, but have stood at a distance and barked at me, shewd their Teeth, but either durst not or could not come near enough to bite me in that place where I lay open to them. For in laying down an Hypothesis, it is as in building a House, no Man can be certain, that he which [Page 22] comes after, cannot erect a better Fabrick.
But for my Experiments, I relating them as Matter of Fact, am obliged to stand by them, and I defy all their united Force in the least to overthrow.
To the number of my Experiments, I shall add two or three made in England; the one made whilst I was in Flanders, and the other since I came home.
Experiment I.
A Servant belonging to one Mr. Norris, a Member of Parliament for Leverpole in Lanchashire, driving a Cart, by Accident fell down before the Wheel; the Wheel running over his Head, divided the Scalp from off all the hinder part of it, and in the Words of the said Mr. Norris, the Scull was altogether as bare as if scraped with a Razor, for the breadth of three or four Inches; his Lower Lip (by a Splinter, or [Page 24] some such thing) was divided the length of an Inch or more. The Man was presently brought into the said Mr. Norris's House, who says, That he was the most miserable Spectacle that he ever saw; but having some of my Medicines by him, he gave a Maid-servant of his Directions how to use it. She made a Solution of my Powder in Water, and with the said Solution she washed the Scalp and Scull, to free them from Dirt and Sand that were lodged upon them. Then she laid the divided Scalp upon its proper place, and bound it up. Then she stitched up the [Page 25] Lip, and made an Application. Mr. Norris has several times publickly declared in the Grecian Coffee-house, in Essex-Buildings that in four days time, both the Man's Head and Lip were perfectly well. He has likewise declared, That the Flux of Blood was so great, that he believes he could not have lived, whilst they had sent three Miles for a Surgeon, unless my Medicines had been applied. He says, That the great Curiosity of the thing was such, and the Cure so speedy, that it drew a great many Surgeons of the Country thereabouts to see the Man, and to be informed [Page 26] exactly of the Wounds, and the manner of Cure, who all declared, That they did not believe there had been any such thing in nature; and that if they had been sent for, they could not have told what to have done. If Mr. Norris be gone out of Town, there are a great many Gentlemen who frequent the Grecian Coffee-house, that have heard him relate this thing. I must beg Mr. Norris's pardon for taking the liberty to use his Name without first asking his leave; but since I have been obliged to it, to vindicate truth, I hope it will be the more easily excused.
Experiment II.
Performed by Mr. Baker, by my Order, which compared with the 13th Experiment in my Novum Lumen, is (I suppose) a Confirmation of the truth of what I there say.
ON the 8th of March, in the Evening, I was sent for to one Roger [...], a Corporal, in the Company of Capt. Armstrong, in the [Page 28] Regiment of Coll. Tiffany. There was one Mr. M. a Surgeon in Bloomsbury with him at the same time, who had dressed him from the first time the Wound had been received, which was about eleven Days before, it being given with a large Bagonetsword. It entred about the middle of the Leg, between both Focils, glancing upon the Tibia, and so passed on, that it went almost through: For the Point of the Sword made a sort of a Tumour in the Calf; it wounded the Artery, but the Artery lying very deep, the Flux of Blood was not very violent. He [Page 29] dressed it that time, and so on for about five Days, it bleeding now and then, but not much, in which time the Wound was much enlarged, for at first he could not have put in above four or five Dosils; but then twenty perhaps or more, as both Mr. Armstrong, and all the Family, told me. On the fifth Day it bled with that impetuosity, that it frighted the whole Family: He stopt, or rather pent in the Blood with good store of Dosils and tite Bandage. It continued bleeding thus at times for many Days; in which time (as the Family told me) he lost about twelve [Page 30] or fourteen Pints of Blood, even so much that he look'd like a perfect Cadaver; his Hands were shrivelled, and as yellow as a Hawk's foot. But on the eleventh Day after the Wound was inflicted, he Bled again with the greatest Violence imaginable, which was the reason I was sent for. When I came, Mr. M. ask'd me, whether or no I thought I could stop the Flux of Blood. I answered, I hope I can: For he had declared before, that nothing but Amputation could save his Life. He then opened the Wound, pulling out most of his Dressings, the [Page 31] Wound was so big, that four or five Fingers would easily have gone into it. The Dressings were not all pulled away with Mr. M's Forceps, but the Blood rose in a most violent manner. I can liken it to nothing, but to a hole dug in the Ground (of about two foot Diameter) over a Water-pipe, in which, if you bore a large Hole, after the Ditch is full to the Brims, and runs over, the Water boils up in the middle somewhat high; just so did the Blood. I put my Fore-finger into the Wound, could feel both Bones very plain (but not the bottom of [Page 32] the Wound) with the violent pulsation of the Artery; I really believe that the Artery was almost, if not totally divided. The Leg was swelled to the highest degree, the Blood being extravasated, and filling up the Interstices of the Muscles, (having been so often, both by too tite Bandage and Dossels pent in, as it were, by main force, till the greater force overpowred, and made its way through all;) so that besides the often Bleeding, nothing less than a Mortification was to be feared But having made my Application ready, I injected some of [Page 33] the Solution of the Powder into the Wound, but it was washed away before by the impetuosity of the Flux, before it could arrive to the wounded Artery: However, with soft Pledgets dipt in the Solution, I drest it up for that time, and the Flux seemed to be stopped; yet it bled somewhat that Night, but with no great violence, and soon stopt again. It did so twice or thrice, so that I was satisfied, that unless I could empty the Wound of the Blood, and come to apply the Medicine to the Artery it self (the case being [Page 34] quite different from what it had been, had the Wound been a fresh one, the Parts being all perfectly Rotten, as will appear by the Sequel) I had little hopes of staying the Flux; upon which I made use of the Turnicat, compressing the Vessels in the Ham, which retarded the Impetuous course of the Blood; so I emptied the Wound as much as I could, and applied the Solution with a Pledget to the very Artery, and filling the rest with soft Tow, using no Compress, only retentive Bandage. He had little [Page 35] or no Pain from the first time these Medicines were applied, except a little Tensive, Pulsifick Pain, before the Flux was totally stopped. After this Application, not one drop of Blood appeared, nor did it ever Bleed afterwards, tho I dressed him not in five or six Days; but in the mean time the Swelling abated, and from the Wound was discharged a quantity of coagulated, corrupted Blood. I continued dressing him with the same Solution only, four or five times, in which time he was removed from his [Page 36] Master's House in Southampton-street, Bloomsbury, to a Nurses near So-ho-Square. The day after his removal I drest him, and with the Cloath that was applied over the Wound, there came away a large Core, made up of the contused, rotten Fibres, coagulated Blood, and some Dosils which Mr. M. had left in the Wound. This was about three Weeks after I had first seen it. The Wound within looked very ruddy and well, but the side of the Tibia, or thin Bone (by which the Musculus Anticus lies) was bare, without [Page 37] any Periostium, about two Fingers in length. There was an extraordinary Cavity after the Core was discharged, and much Matter of a very ill smell, which obliged me to dress him oftner than usual; this Matter was the extravasated Blood, pent up long between the Muscles, that in this time had formed for it self some Chambers. Yet in three days the whole contained Matter was all come away, the Leg fallen to its wonted Bigness, so that you might press every Part without [Page 38] any pain; all this while I never put in a Pledget, only squeezed in the Solution, and spread the Pledget over, covering it with a clean Linnen Rag, and the former retentive Bandage only. All this while I never used any thing else but the said Solution to the discover'd Bone, which were it a Caustick, what pretty work would it have made? Afterwards I dressed him not above once in five, six, or seven days; he daily recovered Strength, so that he rose, and by degrees walked with a Stick. The [Page 39] great Cavity very fast, full of Flesh, the Bone hid, and by the 20th of April he was quite well. But this is very remarkable, that in the beginning of the Cure by me, he took every day the Tincture in White-Wine or Claret, a Quart or Three Pints a day, yet never was in the least Feverrish, altho at the same time he never had a Stool for eleven Days, but always slept well, and gained Strength.
I mention nothing here to derogate from the former [Page 40] Surgeon, whom every one will allow deserves well in sending for Assistance, when he was put to a Nonplus.
Experiment III.
ON the 14th of January, 1694/5, David Hunter, Waiter at the Roe-buck Tavern in Great Suffolk-street; in a Scuffle received a large Wound, quite cross the Carpus, or Wrist, in which the Artery was wounded, and two of the Tendons of the Flexores Digitorum, or Muscles which move the Fingers, quite divided. Their Extremities were actually seen by all By-standers. [Page 42] Within an hour after the Wound was given, I was sent for, it had bled much, but what with Napkins kept close on, together with the coagulated Blood, the great Flux was in some measure checked. When I came in, I found a Dutch Physitian there, who when I proposed to stitch up the Wound, would by no means have it done; so I dressed it only with the Medicines commonly used by us Surgeons, and bound it up: But at Midnight I was alarmed, that he was bleeding to Death. I made all the haste I could [Page 43] to him; when I came, I found him fainting, and having great Convulsions. I found two Chamber-pots of Blood that he had lost, before I could come to him, besides what was lost on the Ground, Sheets, &c. I presently put my Thumb on the Artery, which beat and bled with that Violence, that it almost threw off my Thumb. And altho I made made several Applications of the best common Restringents, I could not in the least stop the Flux, so I sent the Man's Wife for some of Dr. Colbatch's Powder I had [Page 44] by me at my House, I having forgotten to take it with me. When she came, I having no Water by me, mixt it with the White of an Egg, and with a Pledget of Lint, applied it to the bleeding Artery, and another the whole length of the Wound, using only such moderate Bandage, as was just enough to keep on the Applications. In a moment the Flux of Blood was intirely stopped, and he slept well all Night; but on the next day he was a little in pain: so I took off the Rouler, and just lifted up one of the Pledgets, from [Page 45] under which came away about half a Spoonful of extravasated Blood, which had been pent up by the glutinous Quality of the White of the Egg. After the discharge of which, he was presently at ease. I opened it not again, till four days after, at which time there was by the same Dutch Physitian, and two English Surgeons, my Friends; when to the great Amazement of us all, the Artery was quite hid, the Extremities of the divided Tendons not to be seen, and the whole Wound incarned, so that only Cicatrization was wanting. [Page 46] In fifteen days time he was well, and had the use of his Hand, as well as ever in his Life; and the Powder was never but twice applied.