The Virginia Gazette

Continuation of the MEMORIAL.

HENCE is the Inference fair and unavoidable, that this Root must serve for more Uses than to cure the Bite of the Rattle-Snake, and also that it must answer some great Purpose; for whatever will so certainly give a Reprieve against Death, which is so sudden in this Case, must do the same in other Cases analogous to it. Qualis est Caussa talis est Effectus; & vice versa. But the Question arises, What are the Cases wherein this Root will answer to the Patient's Advantage? The Solution is as clear and evident as the general Inference from the first Fact: For the Answer is, that whatever can remove or dissolve such a Coagulation of the Blood as succeeds the Bite of the Rattle-Snake, which produceth Death in a short Time, must certainly be of Service in all Coagulations of the Blood. Which Answer, I justify from the following Reasons.

By Observation it appears, that Death follows the Bite of the Rattle Snake in a few Minutes often, sometimes in an Hour or two, at other Times in three or four Hours; and in some Cases the Patient may live a Day or two, after the Misfortune. Now, these Differences of the Effect of the Venom, in Point of Time, I think must be admitted to be owing to two Causes: 1. The Season of the Year when the Poison is more or less virulent. 2. The Part bitten by the Snake. It appears that the Venom of the Creature is more or less virulent according to the Season, from the greater or lesser Activity observable in it at different Seasons, being much more fierce in an hot than cold Season; and the Venom then much more deadly, as appears from Facts. And that the Effect of the Venom is greater or lesser, according to the Part bitten, must be granted for two Reasons: I. If the Cause of Death be from the Saline Spiculae of the Venom entering the Mass of Blood, and destroying its Globules by cutting, tearing, and dissolving them, its Fluidity will thereby be lost, being an heterogeneous Fluid; for, in such a Fluid, which, by the regular and due Motion of the Heart and animal Springs, is kept up to an uniform and similar Consistence, whenever a Cessation of this Motion is produced by these Sharp Spiculae acting on the Blood, a Coagulation must follow; because, by such a Dissolution the more fibrous and solid Part of it is separated from that more fluid: And then, the larger the Blood Vessels are into which this pointed Venom is emitted by means of the Snake's Teeth, the greater Quantity thereof will enter the Mass of Blood; and in that Case will produce Death sooner than when the Snake bites among smaller Vessels. 2. If the Cause of Death be from the Acrimony and Pointedness of the Venom acting or impressing some kind of Effect upon the Nerves, by which they lose that Harmony which is established between them and the Fluids, wherein the true Circulation of the Blood consists, then a Coagulation of the Blood will follow sooner or later, according to the Part bitten, being more or less nervous.

Here appears the Cause of the Difference of the Time of a Patient's Death bitten by the Rattle-Snake: But on which Side of the Controversy the Truth rests, is hard to determine, there being such an intimate and reciprocal Communication between the Solids and Fluids, that which either of them are primarily affected in any Disorder, the other is also very soon or immediately.

This however is Fact, that the Blood is coagulated, as appears from the unfortunate Patient's spitting up coagulated Blood, which I thus account for. That the more solid and fibrous Part of the Blood meets with a small Resistance in the Lungs, because of their loose Composition; and therefore it there stagnates, and distends the Branchings of the pulmonary Artery to such Degree that it is extravasated, and gets into the Branchings of the Wind-pipe, and from thence is thrown up.

So that all the Difficulty remaining to be solved, is the Mode of the Operation of the Venom upon the Human Body, whether it affects the Nerves or Fluids primarily: Could this be known, several Advantages no doubt would arise from it. But since it is not yet known in what Mode muscular Motion is performed, whether by an Influx of Animal Spirits into the Nerves, or by an harmonious Proportion of Tenacity or Elasticity of the Nerves without such Influx, an Enquiry into the present Doubt is certainly needless, it being impossible to solve it without a more certain Knowledge of the Animal Oeconomy; for a certain Solution of this Difficulty depends upon a most perfect Knowledge of the Mode of the Action of the Solids and Fluids upon one another, and primary Cause thereof; which Advancement this Age has not yet arrived to.

Therefore, with Respect to the curative Part, accurate and numerous Observations upon Facts are to be made, which, by the Help of sound Philosophy, will lead to great Advances therein; and then, by having many Data, this great Difficulty may also be solved.

Accordingly, I shall now shew from Observations and Facts, joined with Philosophy, that the Seneca Rattle-Snake Root promises to be of Service in all Coagulations of the Blood: But I desire it may be well observed, that I don't say it will be of equal Service in such Cases; nor that I pretend to demonstrate beyond a Probability in any thing. ---- I differ from them who attempt to reduce Physick to mathematical Demonstration, which is absolute and undeniable Certainty: Because the Subject of Physick admits of no such Method of Prosecution; all that can therein be demonstrated, is a Certainty to our Senses of a Probability, which often fails, under great Appearance of Truth.

It appears then highly probable, that the Cause I have assigned for the Death of the Patient after being bitten by the Snake, is the real one; and that those which produce the Difference of the Time thereof are real, is also probable; that is to say, that the Coagulation of the Blood is the immediate Cause of Death, and the Degrees of the Coagulation produce it sooner or later. Now, if it be true, as it certainly is, that Nature acts by the most simple Means, which already I have deduced from Theology, and is apparent in all her Operations, it follows that there must be an Analogy between the Coagulation of all Fluids, otherways Nature would transgress against her Law of Simplicity, which is absurd to suppose. But to illustrate this Point, I will shew how a Coagulation is produced in any Fluid. An homogeneous Fluid consists of Parts that are precisely alike; and being so, cannot be coagulated without the Addition of some foreign Matter, which then renders it an heterogeneous Fluid. Thus an homogeneous Fluid is incapable of Coagulation; but whether there is such a Fluid in the Universe, properly speaking, is what I don't take upon me to determine: However, considering an homogeneous Fluid, in the most
In the most abstract Sense, it cannot be coagulated without the Addition of some Foreign Matter, which then renders it a Fluid of unequal and dissimilar Parts, or what is called heterogeneous. From whence it follows, that a Coagulation can exist only in heterogeneous Fluids. Now, when an heterogeneous Fluid is in a State of Fluidity, the immediate Cause of its coagulating or growing viscid, can only be the Particles that are of a similar Nature attracting one another, of which the Fluid consists, which will render it of an uneven Texture, or coagulated. The remote Causes of this Tendency of the similar Particles towards one another, may be of a very different Kind, which renders these Particles capable of Inaction: An excessive Heat and Motion which wastes and evaporates the fluid Parts, whereby the solid Ones subside: An Abatement of Motion, ab extra, upon a Fluid circulating in a Vessel, will cause it to coagulate by the similar Particles having no other Force upon them than that by the Law of Nature, of attracting those that are similar to themselves; and this Abatement of Motion may arise from too great an Addition of the same Fluid, or of another, by which, the containing Vessel, from which Part of the Force upon the Fluid proceeds, is hindered from impelling its due Force: It may also proceed from a Diminution of the Quantity of the contained Fluid, whereby the containing Vessel is not mutually impelled upon to such Degree, as to return a Force to hinder similar Particles combining; which Combination forms the Coagulum. But however different may the remote Causes of a Coagulation in a Fluid be, it is very evident that a Separation or Dissolution of the Particles is previous to such an Effect.

(Hence it appears, that of whatever Nature a Fluid is, it cannot coagulate without a Separation of the Particles that are similar to one another, from those they are mixt with that are dissimilar. Whence it follows, that in this Respect, there is an Analogy between the Coagulation of all Fluids in the Universe. And consequently I infer, that in Coagulations of the Blood, the Analogy is less remote; and therefore, a Medicine which removes so strong a Coagulum as produceth Death in a few Minutes, claims a Place in all Coagulations, and certainly will answer to a great Degree in many Cases; and the nearer the Relation is to that Coagulum which succeeds the Rattle-Snake's Bite, the greater will its Effect be, since it suits that Case so well.)

In order to judge of the Nearness of the Relation of any State of Viscidity or Coagulation of the Blood, is from the Symptoms of the Case, and several antecedent Circumstances; which, when compared together, will lead any judicious Enquirer pretty near to the true State of the Matter: For without a Retrospect to other Circumstances besides the Symptoms, the Enquirer or Physician will in all Likelihood be deceived; because it is often to be seen, that the same Symptoms are produced from Causes of a very different Nature; so that the Likeness of Effects alone, are by no Means sufficient Ground to build upon. But with Respect to the Application of this Root in a Pleurisy or Peripneumony, the Likeness of the Symptoms of the two Cases, which I observed upon, in my Essay on the Pleurisy, was not entirely my Ground-work; for my Inference was drawn from the Reasons, that are already here offered, and shall further appear, viz. that the immediate Cause of all Coagulations and Viscidities of the Blood, depends upon a Dissolution or Separation of its Particles, and likewise of all Fluids in the Universe; and the immediate Cause of a Disease, when known, is all that regards its Cure; and that is to be discovered by a proper Enquiry into the remote Cause.

[To be continued.]