A Collection of Chirurgical TractsBeckett, William
Science
A Collection of Chirurgical Tracts
Beckett, William
Surgery
no good Effect here, nor will they consume the remaining Part of the
_Cancerous Mass_. We have elsewhere shewed, that this Substance upon
boiling becomes hard and friable; and we will here take the Liberty to
give our Opinion of the Use of Cauteries in this Case. The _Cancerous
Substance_ we take to be nothing more than a Transformation of the
small glandulous Bodies, which form the Breast, and a Lymphatick Juice,
intimately incorporated therewith, into a hard, close, whitish, and
(by common Medicines) indissolvable _Mass_. In some Cases, perhaps, it
may receive some Addition from some Juices, which may distil from the
contiguous Fibres. This being granted, what Benefit, can we reasonably
imagine, will ensue on this painful Method? Will not the Fire, by
causing the more Fluid Parts of the _Mass_ to evaporate, actually dry
up, torrefy, and harden it; and so dispose it for displaying a Train
of mischievous Effects, on the contiguous Parts? and all this without
any very apparent Decrease of it too: Nay, the very reducing of it to
such a Consistence, which very much resembles a Piece of burnt Horn,
is sufficient to procure a perpetual Pain, seeing Medicines can hardly
soften it, so as to reduce it to its first State.
PROBLEM IV.
_Whether_ Salivation _will Cure a_ Cancer.
The extraordinary Success this Method has been attended with, in some
Cases of the greatest Difficulty, has so far recommended it to the
World, that it is at this Time become of so great Repute, that there
are few Persons but what will willingly embrace it, if proposed to
them, provided they have found former Methods prove ineffectual. We
once knew a Person, who laboured under an ulcerated _Cancer_ in her
Breast, advised to it, and who had certainly under-gone it, though
contrary to the Opinion of some Persons concerned, if in three or four
Days time she had not been reduced to such a weak Condition, that it
put an End to the Controversy. That a _Salivation_ has cured the most
malign and spreading Ulcers, and those that have been of several Years
continuance, notwithstanding their Edges have been high, inverted and
assumed the Consistence of a callous Body, we have found by several
Instances; but that it should cure a _Cancerous Ulcer_, an _Ulcer_
which is chiefly seated in a transformed animal Substance, and which
has no Correspondence with the contiguous Parts, is what we cannot
believe. One of the principal Effects of _Mercury_, if prudently given,
is, that it attenuates the Juices, clears the Canals, destroys the
ill Quality of that Fluid that has a Hand in causing any Obstruction,
and renders the Juices temperate and sweet. By effecting this, it is,
that it cures so many different Diseases, which perhaps have not so
great a Diversity in their Causes, but have different Appearances,
which depend upon the Variety of Parts, where the Cause operates.
From hence any One may judge, that a Person who discovers a certain
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