A Collection of Chirurgical Tracts

But the bare Proof of there having been anciently such a Disease as was called the Burning, may be thought to be insufficient, unless we were perfectly assured what it was, and how it was in those Times described: I shall therefore do it from an unquestionable Authority, which is that of John Arden, Esq; who was one of the Surgeons to King Richard II. and likewise to King Henry IV. In a curious Manuscript of his upon Vellum, he defines it to be, a certain inward Heat and Excoriation of the Urethra; which Description gives us a perfect Idea of what we now call a Clap; for frequent Dissections of those who laboured under that Disease, have made it evident, that their Urethra is excoriated by the Virulency of the Matter they receive from the infected Woman; and this Excoriation or Ulceration is not confined to the Ostiola or Mouths of the Glandulæ Muscosæ as has been lately thought, but may equally alike attack any Part of the Urethra not beyond the reach of the impelled malignant Matter. The Heat before described, which these Persons are sensible of, as well now as formerly, is a Consequent of the excoriated Urethra; for the Salts contained in the Urine must necessarily prick and irritate the nervous Fibrillæ, and excite a Heat in those Parts of the Urethra which are divested of its natural Membrane; which Heat will always be observed to be more or less, as the Salts are diluted with a greater or less Quantity of Urine; a thing I have often observed in Persons who have laboured under this Infirmity in hot Weather, when the perspirable Matter being thrown off in greater Quantities, the Salts bear a greater Proportion to the Quantity of Urine, and thereby make its Discharge at that Time so much the more painful and troublesome.

Thus we see this very early and plain Description of this Disease among us, to be entirely conformable to the latest and most exact Anatomical Discoveries. Here is no Tone of the Testicles depraved, according to Trajanus Petronius; no Exulceration of the Parastatæ, according to Rondeletius; no Ulceration of the Seminal Vessels, according to Platerus; no Seat of the Disease in the Vesiculæ Seminales, or Prostatæ, according to Bartholin; nor in those Parts and the Testicles at the same Time, according to our Countryman Wharton and others, who have falsly fixed the Seat of this Disease, and whose Notions, in this respect, are now justly exploded; but a single and true Description of it, and its Situation, about 150 Years before any of those Gentlemen obliged the World with their learned Labours.

Having, I hope, sufficiently made it appear, the Burning was a Disease very early among us, and given the Description of it, I shall proceed to say something of the ancient Method that was made use of to cure it. We are not to expect the Measures our Predecessors, in those early Times, made use of, should be calculated for the removing any Malignity in the Mass of Blood, or other Juices, according to the Practice in Venereal Cases at this Time; because they looked upon the Disease to be entirely local, and the Whole of the Cure to depend upon the Removal of the Symptoms: Hence it was they recommended such Remedies as were accommodated to the taking off the inward Heat of the Part, and cure the Excoriations or Ulcerations of the Urethra. The Process for the accomplishing of this, I shall set down from the before-mentioned John Arden, who wrote about the Year 1380, His Words are as follow: Contra Incendium. Item contra Incendium Virgæ Virilis interius ex calore & excoriatione, fiat talis Syringa (i. e. Injectio) lenitiva. Accipe Lac mulieris masculum nutrientis, & parum zucarium, Oleum violæ & ptisanæ, quibus commixtis per Syringam infundator, & si prædictis admiscueris lac Amigdalarum melior erit medicina. There is no doubt but this Remedy, being used to our Patients at this Time, would infallibly take off the inward Heat of the Part, and cure the Excoriations or Ulcerations of the Urethra, by which means what issued from thence would be entirely stopt: and this was all they expected from their Medicines, forasmuch as they were entirely unacquainted with the Nature of the Distemper; and did not in the least imagine, but if the Symptoms that first attack’d the Part were removed, the Patient was entirely cured.

I shall now, as a farther Confirmation of what I have advanced, proceed to prove, that by this Brenning or Burning is meant the Venereal Disease, by demonstrating that succeeding Historians, Physical and Chirurgical Writers, and others, have all along with us in England used the very same Word to signify the Venereal Malady. In an old Manuscript, I have, written about the Year 1390. is a Receipt for Brenning of the Pyntyl, yat Men clepe ye Apegalle; Galle being an old English Word for a running Sore. They who know the Etymology of the Word Apron, cannot be ignorant of this. And in another Manuscript, written about 50 Years after, is a Receipt for Burning in that Part by a Woman. Simon Fish, a zealous Promoter of the Reformation in the Reign of Hen. VIII. in his Supplication of Beggars, presented to the King, in 1530, says as follows, These be they (speaking of the Romish Priests) that corrupt the whole Generation of Mankind in your Realm, that catch the Pockes of one Woman and bear them to another; that be Burnt with one Woman and bear it to another; that catch the Lepry of one Woman and bare it unto another. But to make this Matter still more evident, I am to observe, that Andrew Boord, M. D. and Romish Priest, in the same Reign, in a Book he wrote, entitl’d The Breviary of Health, printed in 1546, speaks very particularly of this sort of Burning; one of his Chapters beginneth thus, The 19th Chapiter doth shew of BURNING of an Harlot; where his Notion of communicating the Burning is very particular. He adds, that if a Man be Burnt with an Harlot, and do meddle with another Woman within a Day, he shall Burn her; and as an immediate Remedy against the Burning, he recommends the washing the Pudenda 2 or 3 times with White Wine, or else with Sack and Water; but if the Matter have continued long, to go to an expert Surgeon for Help. In his 82d Chapter, he speaks of two sorts of Burning, the One by Fire, and the Other by a Woman thro’ carnal Copulation, and refers the Person that is Burnt of a Harlot to another Chapter of his for Advice, what to do, yf he get a Dorser or two, so called from its Protuberancy or bunching out: For I find about that Time the Word Bubo was mostly made use of, to signify that sort of Swelling which usually happens in pestilential Diseases.

From hence it appears, the Burning, by its Consequents, was Venereal; since every Day’s Experience makes it evident, that the ill Treatment of the first Symptoms of the Disease, either by astringent Medicines, or the removing them by cooling and healing the excoriated Parts, will generally be attended with such Swellings in the Groin, which we rarely observe to happen from any other Cause whatsoever.

I shall give a few more Instances of this Disease being call’d the Burning, and conclude. In a Manuscript I have of the Vocation of John Bale to the Bishoprick of Ossory in Ireland, written by himself, he speaks of Dr. Hugh Weston (who was Dean of Windsor in 1556. but deprived by Cardinal Pole for Adultery) as follows; “At this Day is lecherous Weston, who is more practised in the Art of Brech-Burning than all the Whores of the Stews. And again, speaking of the same Person, he says, “He not long ago brent a Beggar in St. Botolph’s Parish. The same Author says of him elsewhere, “He had ben sore Bitten with a Winchester Goose, and was not yet healed thereof; which was a common Phrase for the Pox at that Time, because the Stews were under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester. Mich. Wood, in his Epistle before Stephen Gardiner’s Oration de vera Obedientia, printed at Rhoan, 1553. gives another Evidence of the Burning. And William Bullein, a Physician in the Reign of Queen Eliz. in a Book he publish’d, call’d The Bulwark of Defence, &c. printed in 1562. bringing in Sickness demanding of Health what he should do with a Disease call’d the French Pockes, Health answers, “He would not that any should fishe for this Disease, or to be bold when he is bitten to thynke thereby to be helped, but rather to eschewe the Cause of thys Infirmity, and filthy rotten Burning of Harlots.

William Beckett,

London, Feb. 4.

1717–18.

NUMBER III A Second Letter on the same Subject to William Wagstaffe, M. D

SIR,

BEFORE I engage farther, in proving that the Venereal Disease, when it came to be confirmed, was frequently known among us some hundreds of Years before the Siege of Naples: I shall endeavour to refute the Opinion of those Persons, who believe it to have had its Rise there, if any such shall remain. True indeed it is, that there have not been wanting several modern Authors, who have asserted it; but I determine to make it appear to be an Error as inconsiderately, and hastily received, as started by some Chimerical Author; who, because several Writers about that time, observing the Disease to begin in the Pudenda, separated it from another, with which it was before confounded, must likewise take upon him to assert its being a new Distemper, and to assign a certain Time and Place for its Rise. Now one might with all the Reason in the World expect, that if the Disease had its Original there, it must have been so certainly and infallibly known, that there could have been no doubtful or uncertain Opinions about it, but that the Physicians, who resided in or near the Place, and those more especially, who interested themselves so far as to write of it, must have, all of them to a Man, agreed upon the Certainty of a thing, the Knowledge of the Truth of which was so easily attainable. But on the contrary, Nicholas Leonicenus, who was the first Italian Physician, that wrote of this Disease, and who lived at the very time, when Naples was besieged, is so far from acknowledging it to have had its Rise there, from the French Soldiers Conversation with the Italian Women, and so little did he know of its true Cause, that he does not allow it to be the Consequent of impure Embraces. About this time it was likewise, that Pope Alexander the VIth engaged Gaspar Torella to write of this Distemper. This Pope was in League with Alphonsus King of Naples, against Charles VIII. King of France, to prevent his passing thro’ Italy, when he went to besiege Naples; yet this Author is so far from allowing it to have had its Original there, that he tells us, the Astrologers were of opinion, that it proceeded from I know not what particular Constellations. Nor does Sebastianus Aquilanus, who lived at that time, allow it to be any other than an ancient Disease; or Antonius Scanarolius, who wrote in 1498, which was but 4 or 5 Years after that Siege. Nor do several other Authors, then living, say one Word about this Neapolitan Story. But it seems Ulricus de Hutten, a German Kt. no Physician, positively affirms this Disease to have had its Rise there; but how he should come to know this, who lived at such a distance from the Place, and they, who were Physicians residing as it were upon the Spot, be ignorant of it, will be as much credited, as his following inconsistent Relation, which will sufficiently prove, how little care he took to be apprised of the Truth of what he wrote. This very Author tells us, the Disease was unknown till the Year 1493, or thereabouts; that he himself had it, when he was a Child, and so consequently that it was hereditary, or from the Nurse. He Wrote his Book of this Distemper at Mentz, where it was printed by John Scheffer in 4to, 1519. Now if we allow him to be but 27 Years of Age, when he wrote, (for he cannot be suppos’d to be less, who before this took upon him to cure his Father of the Venereal Disease, without the Assistance of any Physician or Surgeon,) he must have had the Distemper upon him, according to his own Account, before ever it was in being. Thus we may see, how Persons may be impos’d upon by a hasty and inconsistent Writer, no way qualified for such an Undertaking, and greedily receive in Falshoods instead of Truths, if they will not be at the Pains of consulting the Original Writings of our Predecessors, the only sure Method of overthrowing such chimerical and imaginary Notions.

I have in my former Letters, to Dr. Douglass, sufficiently I think proved that the first Degree of the Venereal Disease was very common among us some hundreds of Years before it is commonly said to have been known in Europe; there will be no Reason for any body to conceive we were at that time in any measure Strangers to it, when it came to be confirmed; more especially, when we consider the Methods of Treatment in those Times, which consisting principally in topical Applications, many of their Patients could not possibly escape having it confirmed on them. Now when it was in this confirmed State, the Writers of those early times looked upon it as an entirely new Disease, and not a Consequent of any Evil before contracted, because they were not apprised, that the first Symptoms being removed, and the Disease to Appearance cured, it should afterwards discover it self in such a manner, as should not seem to have the least Analogy with the Symptoms, that first attack’d a part which had been for a considerable time free from any Misfortune. But because the Symptoms are the only true Characteristicks, whereby we are infallibly able to know one Disease from another, it may be expected, that I produce sufficient Authorities to demonstrate they were all of them known and described by ancient Physical and Chirurgical Writers, just as they appear to be in the Venereal Disease at this Day, if I would prove that Disease to be of a much more ancient Date, than is generally thought; and if I do this, I cannot but think it will be satisfactory, since we can have no other way of coming to a Knowledge of any one Distemper, than by its Symptoms. The Method of laying down the exact Succession of them, will be impossible to be reduced to any certain and infallible Rule, there being so great a Variety of Causes, that obstruct such a Regularity; for which Reason, I shall take notice of them in such Order as they most generally appear, which was upon no account to be expected from our antient Writers, insomuch as they mention every particular Symptom by it self, not knowing but that they were independent of each other, and that each of them was a distinct Disease. However, the proving these Symptoms were in being in these early times, will be as strong an Argument to prove the Antiquity of this Distemper, as if they had been register’d in the most exact Order of Succession, because we shall, upon the strictest Examination, find they are peculiar to the Venereal Malady only. I have, I hope, sufficiently made it appear in my former Letter, that the first Degree of this Disease was anciently known among us by the name of Brening, or Burning; and that it was the same Thing with what we now call a Clap, The Symptoms, which are usually its Concomitants, are the Phymosis, and Parahphymosis, both which are accurately described, and proper Remedies, for them set down by John Arden, Esq; in another Manuscript of his, curiously written upon Vellum, and beautifully illuminated. The imprudent Method of Cure of this first Degree of the Venereal Malady, is sometimes attended with a Caruncle in the Urethra, which was a Disease very common among us anciently: For not to mention other early writers, Arden gives us the Case of a certain Rector, who had such a Substance, like a Wart, growing in the Penis, which he says frequently happens, and of another which had such an Excrescence as big as a small Strawberry, which (says he) proceeded from the corrupted Matter remaining in the Urethra. And indeed there is not any Symptom of the Venereal Disease, that I find so often mentioned as this of the Caruncle, insomuch that it seems to have been more common in those early Times, than at this Day. But this must be certainly owing to the smooth and oily Remedies they were continually injecting, which, by their relaxing and softning the Fibres of the Part, must necessarily dispose the Contexture of small Blood Vessels, lodged at the bottom of the little Ulcerations, to fill with nutritious Juices, and to extend themselves so, as to form such fungous Excrescences; and so solicitous were they for removing these Inconveniences, that they made use of several Ways by Corrosives and other Methods, to accomplish this end; and a very early Writer among us, has given a very methodical and curious Tract on this Subject, wherein he recommends the removing them by the medicated-Candle, which we use at this Day, and lays down divers other Instructions, in relation to it, which makes it probably the best Discourse on this Subject, that was ever yet written. He takes notice of those contumacious-Ulcers, which happen upon the Glans and the neighbouring Parts, which we now call Shankers; and the great Trouble our ancient Authors found in attempting their Cure, sufficiently discover them to have had their Original from a Venereal Infection. These several Symptoms of the Venereal-Malady our early Writers are very full in their Accounts of, and others, when the Disease was in a more confirmed State, to which they appropriated particular Names, perhaps more significant and expressive than those imposed by modern Authors. Thus the Buboes in the Groin they called Dorsers, which I have given a Reason for before; and the Venereal-Nodes on the Shin-Bones they termed the Boon-haw, which gives us a perfect Idea, not only of the Part affected, but after what manner it was diseased; for the old English Word Hawe, signified a Swelling of any Part. Thus for instance, a little Swelling upon the Cornea, was anciently called the Hawe in the Eye; and the Swelling that frequently happens on the Finger, on one side the Nail, was called the White-Hawe, and afterwards Whitflaw. The Process this Author recommends, for the Cure of the Boon or Bone-Hawe, is by making use of a Plaister, which had a Hole cut in the midst, to circumscribe it; and applying a Caustic of unslacked Lime, and black Soap incorporated together; which Plaister and Bandage were to be secured on the part 4 Hours, and longer, if that was not found sufficient: After this he proceeds to the separating the Slough, &c. This Practice of his seems to have been found out by accident. For he tells us, when he was a young Practitioner, he having applyed both the Natural and Artificial Arsenic to the Leg of a Man, who was his Patient, it so mortified the Flesh, as surprized him; but by proper Digestives, the Eschar coming off, and leaving the Bone bare, he scraped it with an Instrument for several Days, and drest it with Incarnatives, designing to have ingendred Flesh on it; but this proving unsuccessful, he continued to scrape it, till he observed it move under the Instrument; after which having separated it, he found the Sore covered with new Flesh, and that the Bone was 4 Inches in length, 2 in breadth, and very thick, upon the Removal of which the Patient was soon cured. Thus it’s probable this Observation of this great Man led our Predecessors to practice the very same Method; and we do at this Day in our Hospitals treat the Venereal Nodes on the Shins exactly as is here described, where we observe the same Appearances, he so long before took notice of; and it is not in the least to be doubted, but the Boon-Haw and our Venereal Nodes are the same Disease. By the Appearance of some of the last of these Symptoms, we infallibly judge the Patient has had the Infection upon him a considerable time, and that the Disease is making its gradual Advances, to the corrupting and destroying the whole Frame of the Body. That this was the Conclusion of the Miseries of those Persons, who gave themselves up to the deceitful-Delights and Entertainments of lewd-Women, in those early-times as well as now, I cannot better prove than by those remarkable Instances you quoted from a MS. in Lincoln-Colledge, in Oxon, Viz. Novi enim ego Magister Thomas Gascoigne, licet indignus sacræ Theologiæ Doctor, qui hæc scripsi & collegi, diversos viros, qui mortui fuerunt ex putrefactione membrorum suorum genitalium & corporis sui; quœ corruptio & putrefactio, ut ipsi dixerunt, causata fuit per exercitium copulæ carnalis cum mulieribus. Magnus enim dux in Anglia, scil. J. de Gaunt, mortuus est ex tali putrefactione membrorum genitalium, & corporis sui, causatâ per frequentationem mulierum. Magnus enim fornicator fuit, ut in toto Regno Angliæ divulgabatur, & ante mortem suam jacens sic infirmus in lecto, eandem putrefactionem Regi; Angliæ Ricardo secundo ostendit, cum idem Rex eundem Ducem in suâ infirmitate visitavit; & dixit mihi qui ista novit unus fidelis sacræ Theologiæ Baccalaureus. Willus etiam longe vir maturæ ætatis & de civitat. Londonii, mortuus est ex tali putrefactione membrorum suorum genitalium, & corporis sui, causatâ per copulam carnalem cum Mulieribus, ut ipsemet pluries confessus est ante mortem suam, quum manu sua propria eleemosynas distribuit, ut ego novi, anno Dni. 1430. Now what those Instances mentioned from Arden, or these from Gascoigne, who was then Chancellor of Oxford, could possibly be, but Venereal-Cases, I would be obliged to any body to inform me. Certain it is, no Disease was ever known to be gotten by the carnal Conversation of Women, which first attacked the Genitals, causing a Corruption and Putrefaction of them, and afterward of the whole Frame of the Body, but that which is Venereal. For nothing is more commonly known at this Day, than that after the Venereal-Engagement with an impure Woman, the Penis is the Part where the Scene is first laid for the succeeding Tragical Appearances; and there, and in the Neighbouring Parts, do the Symptoms of the Disease, as its Retainers, always first assemble, till the malignant Poison taint the Blood and other Juices; which being convey’d over the whole Frame of the human Fabric, if not check’d, soon brings about its total Corruption.

We do not indeed find the Disease mentioned by Gascoigne, was distinguish’d by any particular Name: But great Numbers must unavoidably die of the Venereal-Malady at that time, from the imperfect Knowledge of those who had the Treatment of the first Degrees of it. It must necessarily follow, therefore, that when the whole Frame of the Body had receiv’d a Taint from the Venereal-Poison, so as to occasion its breaking-out in Scabs and Ulcers, almost all over its Surface, it must generally be called by the Name of some particular Disease, whose Appearances had somewhat of an Affinity to it. Now if we examine the Nature of all the Diseases, that attack the Human Body, we shall not find the Venereal-Malady, when it arrives at this State, to bear a greater Similitude to any than the Leprosy, as it is described by the Ancients: Nay, so great was the Analogy betwixt these Diseases supposed to be, that Sebastianus Aquilanus has endeavoured to prove from Galen, Avicen, Pliny, &c. that the Pox is only one Species of the Leprosy; and Jacobus Cataneus, a Writer almost as early as the Rise of the Name of the Pox, tells us, ’tis not only possible there may be a Transition from one of these Diseases into the other; but that he saw two Persons in whom the Pox was changed into the Leprosy: That is, from having great Pocks or Pustules on the Surface of their Bodies, from whence the Pox is denominated, to have become Ulcerous or Scabby. This particular State of the Disease anciently put the Surgeons to a great deal of Trouble: For they finding that these Ulcers were of a very contumacious and rebellious Nature, were obliged to make use of great Numbers of Remedies, in order to conquer the evil Disposition of them. But they observed that all of them were useless, unless Mercury was joined with them. Now the dressing each particular Ulcer being so very tedious, they ordered the Patients to daub the Ointments over the Parts which were ulcerated; which done, they were wrapt in Linnen Cloths till the next dressing: But after a few Days they were extreamly surprised, to find their Mouths began to be sore, and that they spit very profusely; but they tell us to their Astonishment, that in a little time the Sores became healed, and the Patients cured. And by this Accident it was the Method of Salivating by Unction was first discover’d, which is in so much use among us at this Day. From these and some other Instances I have given of the Industry and Application of our Predecessors, and with what Sagacity they applied every accidental Hint, to the relieving their distressed Fellow-Creatures from the Misfortunes they laboured under; we ought to be led to the highest Esteem and Veneration of them; and so much the more most certainly forasmuch as they were principally our own Country-Men, who, I can prove, not only from several Persons coming from Foreign-Parts to be cured of their Diseases here, but for other Reasons, that they excelled most of their Cotemporaries in the Divine Art of Healing. Now altho’ those Foreign-Authorities, I before mentioned, might be looked upon as sufficient to convince any one, how our Ancestors blended these two Diseases together; yet I shall prove from our own Writers, long before those, that altho’ the Pox was not only among us, but in distant Nations, anciently confounded with the Leprosy; yet, so exact were our Writers in their Observations of the Infectious Nature of one Species of that Disease, and describing the Symptoms, as was sufficient to lead any Person to the distinguishing between them, so as to separate one Disease from the other. I shall therefore first enquire into the manner how the Leprosy was sometimes said to be gotten in those early Times, and then examine the Symptoms of the Disease, that attacked the Patient. John Gadisden, a very learned and famous English Physician, who flourished about 1340, in an excellent Work of his, he entitles Rosa Anglica, speaking de Infectione ex Coitu Leprosi, vel Leprosæ, says as follows, Primo notandum quod ille qui timet de excoriatione & arsura Virgæ post coitum statim lavet Virgam cum aqua mixta aceto, vel cum urina propria, & nihil mali habebit; and in another Place speaking de Ulcere Virgæ, he says, Sed si quis vult membrum ab omni corruptione servare, cum a Muliere recedit, quam forte habet suspectam de immunditie, lavet illud cum aqua frigida mixta cum aceto, vel urina propria, intra vel extra preputium. He likewise speaking still of the Leprosy, recommends a Decoction of Plantain and Roses in Wine, to be made use of by the Woman immediately after the Venereal-Encounter; upon which he tells us she will be secure. From hence it is evident some of their Leprous Women (as they call’d them) were capable of communicating an infectious Malady to those that had carnal Conversation with them; which proves, the Pudenda of the Women must be diseased, for as much as we are absolutely assured Infections of that Nature only happen when a sound Part comes to an immediate Contact with a diseased one; for the Symptoms always first display themselves in those Parts, thro’ which the Virulency is first conveyed. Now in a true Leprosy we never meet with the mention of any Disorder in those Parts, which, if there be not, must absolutely secure the Person from having that Disease communicated to him by Coition with Leprous-Women; but it proves there was a Disease among them, which was not the Leprosy altho’ it went by that Name; and that this could be no other than Venereal, because it was infectious; for there is no other Disease that is capable of being communicated this way but the Venereal-Disease, seeing the Pudenda are only in that Distemper so diseased as to become capable of communicating their Contagion. I find the learned Gilbertus Anglicus, who flourished about 1360, reasoning concerning the manner how it is possible a Man should be infected by a Leprous-Woman; where if we allow him to call the Malignant Matter, which is lodged in the Vagina [the Womans seed] we shall find he acurately describes the very first Venereal-Infection, by part of the virulent Matters being received into the Urethra; from whence by the Communication of the Veins and Arteries, it is conveyed into the whole Body, after which (says he) ensues its total Corruption. Let us now examine the Symptoms of one sort of their Leprosy, for it must be necessarily divided into different Species, when another Distemper was blended with it, in which we observe such a diversity of appearances; and this I shall the rather do in this Place, because it will furnish us with the next Succession of Symptoms after those already mentioned, as the Venereal-Ozænas, the Ulcers of the Throat, the Hoarsness, the proof of its being communicable from the Nurse to the Child, by Hereditary-succession, &c. All which we find to be true in the Venereal-Disease at this Day. Our Country-Man Bartholomew Glanvile, who flourished about 1360, in his Book de Proprietatibus Rerum, translated by John Trevisa Vicar of Barkley in 1398, tells us, some Leprous-Persons have redde Pymples and Whelkes in the Face, out of whom oftene runne Blood and Matter: In such the Noses swellen and ben grete, the virtue of smellynge falyth, and the Brethe stynkyth ryght fowle. In another place he speaks of unclene spotyd glemy and quyttery, the Nose-thrilles ben stopyl, the wason of the Voys is rough, and the Voys is horse and the Heere falls. Among the Causes of this sort of Leprosy, he reckons lying in the Sheets after them, easing Nature after them; and others which the first Writers on the Pox looked upon to be capable of communicating that Contagion: Also, says he, it comyth of fleshly lykeng by a Woman, after that a Leprous-Man hathe laye by her; also it comyth of Fader and Moder; ann so thys Contagyon passyth into the Chylde as it ware by Lawe of Herytage. And also when a Chylde is fedde wyth corrupt Mylke of a Leprous Nouryce. He adds, by what ever Cause it comes, you are not to hope for Cure if it be confyrmyd; but it may be somewhat hidde and lett that it distroye so soone. Thus we see how our Author, under the Name of one Species of the Leprosy, gives a Summary of the Symptoms of the Pox, and the several ways whereby it is at this time communicated. Now when these two Diseases were anciently blended together, and passed under the Name of the Leprosy only, it must be the real Cause why that Disease seemed to be so rife formerly; for two Distempers passing under one Name must necessarily make it more taken notice of and much more frequent; not but that much the greater Number of those who were formerly said to be Leprous were really Venereal, seems to be very evident; for since that Disease has been separated from the Leprosy, it has drawn off such vast Numbers, that the Leprosy is become as it were a perfect Stranger to us. Those who are acquainted with our English History well know the great Provision which was anciently made throughout all England for Leprous-Persons, insomuch that there was scarce a considerable Town among us but had a Lazar-House for such diseased. In a Register which belonged to one of these Houses, I find there were in Hen. the VIIIth’s time 6 of them near London, (viz,) at Knight’s-Bridge, Hammersmith, Highgate, Kingsland, the Lock, and at Mile-end, but about 40 Years before I find but 4 mentioned: and in 1452 in the Will of Ralph Holland, Merchant-Taylor, registred in the Prerogative Office, mention is made but of 3, which, with his Legacies to them, are as follow. Item lego Leprosis de Lokes, extra Barram Sti Georgii 20s. Item lego Leprosis de Hackenay (which is that at Kingsland) 20s. Item lego Leprosis Sti Egidii extra Barram de Holborn 40s, from which it is worth while to note, that the Lock beyond St. Georges Church, and that at Kingsland, are at this time applyed to no other use than for the Entertainment and Cure of such as have the Venereal-Malady. Some of our learned Antiquaries have been much concerned to know the Cause why the Leprosy shou’d be so common in those early times, and so little known among us now: But I believe the Reason will be impossible to be assigned, unless we allow, according to the Proofs which I have already brought, that the Venereal-Disease was so blended with it, as to make up the Number of the diseased. It seems to have been the same thing with them in France as with us: For Mezeray tells us, that the House of the Fathers of the Mission of St. Lazarus, was formerly an Hospital for Leprous-People, but that Disease being ceased in this last Age (since the Pox has been separated from it) these Lazar-Houses have been converted to other Uses; and it may not be perhaps foreign to my purpose to take notice that the Writ de Leproso amovendo contained in the Register of Writs was (according to Coke upon Littleton) to prevent Leprous Persons associating themselves with their Neighbours, who appear to be so by their Voice and their Sores; and the Putrefaction of their Flesh; and by the Smell of them. Well then, let us examine what Method was to be taken to prevent this noysom and filthy Distemper, the Leprosy; why truly that which would infallibly prevent their getting the Pox after the usual Method, and that was Castration. It is certain that Eunuchs are rarely or never troubled with the Leprosy, according to Monsieur le Prestre, a Councellor in the Parliament of Paris, who has these Words, Antipathia vero Elephantiasis veneno resistit: Hinc Eunuchi & quicunque sunt mollis, frigidæ & effeminatæ naturæ nunquam aut raro Lepra corripiuntur, & quidem quibus imminet Lepræ periculum de consilio medicorum sibi virilia amputare permittitur. (Cent. I. Cap. 6. de Separatione ex causa Luis Venerea.) And Mezeray says, he has read in the Life of Philip the August, that some Men had such Apprehensions of the Leprosy, (that shameful and nasty Distemper) that to preserve themselves from it, they made themselves Eunuchs. Now it is highly probable that those Persons who submitted to such a painful Operation, having before observed, that those who gave themselves up to a free and unrestrained use of Women, fell at length under such unhappy circumstances; and so found the only measures to preserve themselves from it was to be disabled for such engagements, which sufficiently proves this Species of the Leprosy was infectious; and for the reasons before assigned could be no other than Venereal; for how the true Leprosy should be prevented by such means will be, I believe, impossible for any Person to determine. There yet remains one very considerable Symptom of the Venereal-Malady for me to take notice of, because it is looked upon to be the most remarkable in that Disease, which, is the falling of the Nose; but since it has been already proved, that this Disease when it had arrived to such a pitch as to discover it self by those direful Symptoms, as are the immediate forerunners of this, was by the Ancients confounded with the Leprosy, and called by that Name, it must be among the Symptoms of that Disease we are the most likely to meet with it, if any such thing as the falling of the Nose was known among them. Now the most likely Method of coming to a certain Knowledge of the Infallible Symptoms of the Leprosy of the Ancients in its more confirmed State, is to consult the Examinations those unhappy Persons were obliged to undergo, before they were debarred the Conversation of Human Society, and committed to close confinement: But this being a thing some Ages since laid aside, no Author that I know of having the particular History of it, I shall do it as briefly as I can from what Remains I have met with in Records, and other scattered Papers. First then, after the Persons appointed to examine the Diseased had comforted them, by telling them this Distemper might prove a Spiritual Advantage; and if they were found to be Leprous, it was to be looked upon as their Purgatory in this World; and altho’ they were denied the World, they were chosen of God: the Person was then to swear to answer truly to all such Questions as they should be asked; but the Examiners were very cautious in their Inquiries, lest a Person who was not really Leprous should be committed, which they looked upon to be an almost unpardonable Crime: They considered the Signs as Univocal, which properly belonged to that Disease, or Equivocal, which might belong to another, and did not, upon the appearance of one or two Signs, determine the Person to be a Lazar; and this I find to be the Case of the Wife of John Nightingale Esq; of Brentwood in Essex, who in the Reign of Edw. the IVth, An. 1468, being reported to be a Lazare, and that she did converse and communicate with Persons in public and private Places, and not (according to custom) retire herself, but refused so to do, was accordingly examined by William Hattecliff, Roger Marcall, and Dominicus de Serego the Kings Physicians; but they upon strict Inquiry adjudged her not to be Leprous, by reason the Appearances of the Disease were not sufficient: Some of the Questions put to the Leprous-Persons, which will more fully confirm what I have before advanced, I shall now give as I transcribed them from an Ancient Book of Surgery, yf there were any of his lygnage that he knew to be Lazares and especially their Faders and Moders; for by any other of their Kynred they ought not to be Lazares, then ought ye to enquire yf he hath had the Company of any lepress Woman, and yf any Lazare had medled with her afore him; and lately because of the infect matter and contagyous filth, that she had received of him. Also his nostrils be wyde outward, narrow within and gnawn. Also yf his lips and gummes are foul stynking and coroded, Also yf his voice be horse, and as he speaketh in the nose. Now the Signs which are here mentioned, were looked upon to be Univocal: And these were they who made the Examiners principally determine the Persons to be Leprous; but what Determinations any one would immediately give from such Symptoms now, no Person is surely ignorant of. But even these certain appearances would not always satisfy some Persons, if we may believe Fælix Platenus in his Medicinal and Chirurgical Observations, Lib. 3. who tells us, some did not look upon them to be so, till they had an horrible aspect, were hoarse and Noses fell. Likewise in the Examen Leprosorum printed in the De Chirurgia Scriptores Optimi, the Author speaking of the Signs of the Leprosy relating to the Nose, begins thus, Si nares exterius secundum exteriorem partem ingrossentur, & interius constringantur, & coarctentur, secundo si appareat cartilaginis in medio corosio, et casus ejus significat Lepram incurabilem. And the before mentioned John Gadisden in his Chapter de Lepra says as follows, Signa confirmationis etiam incurabiliter sunt corrosio cartilaginis quæ est inter foramina & casus ejusdem. Thus, Sir, have I proved we had a Distemper amongus some hundreds of Years before the Venereal-Disease is said to have been known in Europe, which was called the Burning; that this Burning was Infectious, and that it was the first Degree of the Venereal Disease; that this being common at that time, from their Method of Treatment; the Pox must be unavoidable: That it had exactly the same Appearances it has now, altho’ they were generally called by different Names, that the Ancients confounded it with the Leprosy; that the vast Numbers of Leprous-Persons among us, before the Venereal-Disease was separated from it, and the small Number we observe at this Time, is a flagrant Proof of the former; that in describing the Symptoms of the Leprosy, they give us those of the Venereal Malady; and, by mentioning how it is communicated, they describe the Ways by which the Pox is gotten at this Day; that such Remedies were by them recommended to prevent the first Attack of the Leprosy, as are at this Time in Use to prevent the first Symptoms of the Pox; and that the falling of the Nose, which has been look’d upon to be the most remarkable Symptom of the Venereal-Disease, was commonly observed in what they called the Leprosy in former Ages.