The Virginia Gazette

Mr. Parks,
February 21, 1736/7

Please to publish the following Representation in your next Gazette, and you will oblige

Sir,

Your very humble
Servant
John Tennent.

Representation to the Public.

When, for the Advantage of this Country in Particular, and Mankind in General, I wrote and published An Essay on the Pleurisy, the most Epidemic Disease to which it is subject, and so Mortal, that in One Year, some Thousands are swept off thereby; and this frequently happens: And as I proposed, for good Reasons, and from some Experience, a Remedy adequate to it; I conceived, that all reasonable Men would, upon the same Motive, and in the same Manner, have remarked thereupon, if they thought differently from me in a Matter so considerable to the Country, especially as my Proposal, even at first Appearance, met with no small Credit; or that they would have acquiesced therein, 'til Experience satisfied them in the Truth of the Subject proposed: But contrary to this Conception of the Matter, I find, that some Doctors of considerable Repute endeavour, with notable and mean Ways, to persuade the World, that my Reasoning and Proposal are absurd, and inconsistent with Reason, and consequently can be of no Use to the Country.

And tho' Experience will at last determine the Point in Question between my Opponents and me; yet the Credit they may have gained by their Way of introducing themselves, 'tis likely may prevent many People of doing themselves the Service, to put it on that fair Issue of readily as they would: And, as in my Essay, I left several Things to be implicitly understood, I Shall here offer some Reasons, which, to all unprejudiced Persons, will demonstrate the Truth of the Point in Dispute, as far as the Nature of the Subject will admit; which is, Whether it appears, with great Probability, that the Rattle Snake Root is a very proper Remedy in a Pleurisy?

For this is the greatest Certainty that can be arrived to in Physical Reasoning.

It is allowed by the greatest Authority of the present Age, that there is an Analogy between the Coagulation of all Fluids; that the immediate Cause of a Pleurisy, or Peripneumony, is a coagulated Blood, and that the Viper Venom, which is the same in Quality with that of the Rattle-Snake, induces a Coagulation of the Blood: Now, since there is an Analogy between the Coagulation of all Fluids, it follows, that Coagulations of the same Fluid must be nearly related, tho' produced by different Causes: For it is most certain, that different Causes will produce like Effects. Whence it is evident, that whatever will dissolve the Coagulation or Viscosity of Blood, the Effect of the Rattle-Snake's Venom must do the same in a Pleurisy or Peripneumony, and consequently cure the Diseases because the Blood's Coagulation is here the primary Cause; and if that is removed, all the Symptoms will cease. Sublata Causa tollitur effectus.

And to prove more clearly the near Relation of this coagulated State of the Blood, tho' produced by Causes so different as the Rattle-Snake's Venom, and the Circumstances of this Climate, I refer to the Likeness of Effects in those Two Cases.

Therefore, as it is well known, that the Rattle-Snake Root is an infallible Remedy against the Effects of the Rattle Snakes Venom, I presume, that it appears to the highest Probability, that this Root must be a very proper Medicine in a Pleurisy or Peripneumony: And I persuade my self, that unless those considerable Gentlemen, my Adversaries, state their Objections publicly, that I may be able to fix what they say, and to answer them, they will discover to the World, that they deserve an Epithet no way consistent with the Character they have acquired.

As I understand, that a great many People conclude that they are under a Necessity of giving the Valerian with the Rattle-Snake Root, I therefore inform the Public, that Blood-letting, and a Decoction of the Root alone in Water, is sufficient to effect, in any Case, the Cure of a Pleurisy or Peripneumony.

Let the Root be reduced to the gross Powder, and the Proportion Three Ounces to a Quart of Water; and let near one Half be evaporated. Dose Three Spoonfuls every Six Hours.

Bleeding must be repeated as often as the Symptoms return; for tho' every Dose of the Decoction will mend the Patient; yet in some particular Cases, the Symptoms return; and it is in such, that Bleeding is to be repeated.

If the Decoction should purge so much, as to affect the Strength of the Patient, Cinnamon boil'd in Water, or weak Cinnamon Water, is the most proper Thing to stop it; but this seldom happens, and I think hardly ever will, if the ordinary Drink be Tea of Marsh-Mallow Roots.