I Ought To Make An Apology For Troubling You With Such An
Unentertaining Detail, And Consider That The Detention Of My
Books Must Be A Matter Of Very Little Consequence To Any Body,
But To - Your Affectionate Humble Servant.
LETTER III
BOULOGNE, August 15, 1763.
SIR - I am much obliged to you for your kind enquiries after my
health, which has been lately in a very declining condition. In
consequence of a cold, caught a few days after my arrival in
France, I was seized with a violent cough, attended with a fever,
and stitches in my breast, which tormented me all night long
without ceasing. At the same time I had a great discharge by
expectoration, and such a dejection of spirits as I never felt
before. In this situation I took a step which may appear to have
been desperate. I knew there was no imposthume in my lungs, and I
supposed the stitches were spasmodical. I was sensible that all
my complaints were originally derived from relaxation. I
therefore hired a chaise, and going to the beach, about a league
from the town, plunged into the sea without hesitation. By this
desperate remedy, I got a fresh cold in my head: but my stitches
and fever vanished the very first day; and by a daily repetition
of the bath, I have diminished my cough, strengthened my body,
and recovered my spirits. I believe I should have tried the same
experiment, even if there had been an abscess in my lungs, though
such practice would have been contrary to all the rules of
medicine: but I am not one of those who implicitly believe in all
the dogmata of physic. I saw one of the guides at Bath, the
stoutest fellow among them, who recovered from the last stage of
a consumption, by going into the king's bath, contrary to the
express injunction of his doctor. He said, if he must die, the
sooner the better, as he had nothing left for his subsistence.
Instead of immediate death, he found instant case, and continued
mending every day, till his health was entirely re-established. I
myself drank the waters of Bath, and bathed, in diametrical
opposition to the opinion of some physicians there settled, and
found myself better every day, notwithstanding their unfavourable
prognostic. If I had been of the rigid fibre, full of blood,
subject to inflammation, I should have followed a different
course. Our acquaintance, doctor C - , while he actually spit
up matter, and rode out every day for his life, led his horse
to water, at the pond in Hyde-Park, one cold frosty morning,
and the beast, which happened to be of a hot constitution,
plunged himself and his master over head and ears in the water.
The poor doctor hastened home, half dead with fear, and
was put to bed in the apprehension of a new imposthume; instead
of which, he found himself exceedingly recruited in his spirits,
and his appetite much mended. I advised him to take the
hint, and go into the cold bath every morning; but he did not
chuse to run any risque. How cold water comes to be such a
bugbear, I know not: if I am not mistaken, Hippocrates recommends
immersion in cold water for the gout; and Celsus expressly says,
in omni tussi utilis est natatio: in every cough swimming is of
service.
I have conversed with a physician of this place, a sensible man,
who assured me he was reduced to meer skin and bone by a cough
and hectic fever, when he ordered a bath to be made in his own
house, and dipped himself in cold water every morning. He at the
same time left off drinking and swallowing any liquid that was
warm. He is now strong and lusty, and even in winter has no other
cover than a single sheet. His notions about the warm drink were
a little whimsical: he imagined it relaxed the tone of the
stomach; and this would undoubtedly be the case if it was drank
in large quantities, warmer than the natural temperature of the
blood. He alledged the example of the inhabitants of the Ladrone
islands, who never taste any thing that is not cold, and are
remarkably healthy. But to balance this argument I mentioned the
Chinese, who scarce drink any thing but warm tea; and the
Laplanders, who drink nothing but warm water; yet the people of
both these nations are remarkably strong, healthy, and long-lived.
You desire to know the fate of my books. My lord H - d is not yet
come to France; but my letter was transmitted to him from Paris;
and his lordship, with that generous humanity which is peculiar
to his character, has done me the honour to assure me, under his
own hand, that he has directed Mr. N - lle, our resident at Paris,
to apply for an order that my books may be restored.
I have met with another piece of good fortune, in being
introduced to general Paterson and his lady, in their way to
England from Nice, where the general has been many years
commandant for the king of Sardinia. You must have heard of this
gentleman, who has not only eminently distinguished himself, by
his courage and conduct as an officer; but also by his probity
and humanity in the exercise, of his office, and by his
remarkable hospitality to all strangers, especially the subjects
of Great-Britain, whose occasions called them to the place where
he commanded. Being pretty far advanced in years, he begged leave
to resign, that he might spend the evening of his days in his own
country; and his Sardinian majesty granted his request with
regret, after having honoured him with very particular marks of
approbation and esteem. The general talks so favourably of the
climate of Nice, with respect to disorders of the breast, that I
am now determined to go thither. It would have been happy for me
had he continued in his government.
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