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diff --git a/75845-0.txt b/75845-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16a20f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/75845-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,472 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75845 *** + + + + + + THE GENUINE + + TRYAL + + OF + + Dr. _NOSMOTH_, + + A + + Physician in PEKIN; + + FOR + + The Murder of the MANDARIN TONWIN, Treasurer + to the Army of the Emperor of CHINA, + before the great Council of MANDARINES. + + ------------------ + + TAKEN + In short Hand by the LINGUIST of the + _English_ Factory. + + ------------------ + + _LONDON_: + Printed for M. COOPER, at the _Globe_ in + _Pater-noster-Row_. 1746. + + (Price Six-Pence.) + + + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE + + INTRODUCTION. + + +Before we enter upon this remarkable Tryal, it will not be improper to +inform the Reader of some Customs amongst the _Chinese_, which differ +from those in other Countries of _Europe_. + +Those People are great Encouragers of all useful Learning; which they +endeavour on all Occasions, to turn to the Benefit of the publick in +general, and the Ease and Happiness of every individual Subject in that +vast Empire. + +There are publick Schools in all the Provinces and great Cities of the +Empire, for the Education of Youth in the liberal as well as mechanick +Arts; where the Genius of the Children are carefully studied and +improved in those Arts to which Nature seems to have given them the +strongest Bent without consulting the Whim or Pride of the Parents; by +this means, it’s no rare thing to see the Son of a Nobleman drudging at +the meanest Handicraft; and that of a Peasant shining in the highest Orb +of Life. + +Birth, Title, or Riches, give amongst these people no Claim to the +smallest Preferment; Merit only recommends the Man to Encouragement in +that Sphere of Life, to which his natural Genius has fitted him. + +When a vacancy in any of the Offices happens, the Candidates are chosen +out of the publick Schools; and the Person fittest for the Employment +always is chosen, without Respect of Persons. + +In this Country, the _Physician_ is a very considerable Office; not only +in the Emperor’s Court, but in that of all the _Mandarines_ or great +Governors and Officers of State. + +Before any Man is preferr’d to the Office of Physician, either to the +Sovereign or to any of his great Men, he undergoes a strict and +impartial Examination, as to his Knowledge of the Theory and Practice of +Physick, as well as of the other Branches of Learning, which are +necessary to compleat the wise Physician. + +The Examiners are not those of his own Profession; but the Great Council +of _Mandarines_; who are Men who have been found universally qualified +in all the Branches of humane Literature, before they were admitted to +be of this Council; which is the supream Council of the Empire, and some +what resembles our House of Peers, only they seem to be vested with much +higher Powers. + +When the Person so examin’d is found qualified, he has a Certificate +sign’d by the President of the Court, which empowers him to practice, as +a Doctor under the Regulations which are prescribed by it; from whence, +he must deviate, upon no Account under the Pain of Death. + +The Physicians, are held in great Esteem and Veneration; are there +modest in their Behaviour; of strict morals, and universal Benevolence, +most of them observe as great a Chastity of Manners, as the Clergy; and +value themselves upon their Piety and the Veneration of the Gods, whose +Worship they think it is the Duty of their Function to propagate, as +much as if they were daily at the Altar: They are Men of good Nature and +Humanity, and abound in Acts of Benificence and Charity; Opportunities +to exercise which, they covet as much as Employment in their Profession: +They dare not refuse to attend the meanest Person who calls for their +Assistance; and if a Beggar, send for a Physician, before a _Mandarin_, +he must go to the Beggar, tho’ the _Mandarin_ should be in never so much +Want of him; and the good natured Man, not only assists his Patient with +his Counsel, but supplys his Wants. + +When the Physician, attends on a Patient, he enters upon a Book his +Case, with every minute Circumstance relating to the Distemper; together +with the Medicines administred and their Effects during the whole +Process; whether the Patient dies or Lives, this Book, he is obliged to +return within a limited Time, to an Office kept for that Purpose. If he +upon any Occasion falsifies the Case, or has gone out of the ordinary, +Course of Practice, if any Accident happens to the Patient he is surely +punished. + +The Emperor’s Physicians are always put to Death when he dies; and those +of other Persons, are try’d by the Court of Mandarines, upon Application +of the Friends of the deceas’d, and put to death or otherwise punish’d +according to the Nature of their Crime, from whence we may judge, that +it is a very dangerous thing, to be of that Profession in this Country; +however there are but few Instances where the Physicians of private +Persons have been put to death; as a Pretence to the Knowledge of +Physick, rashness or Impudence, will not in this Country, obtain a +_Diploma_, none but Men of Merit are of the Faculty: These are obliged +to make Conscience of their Business; and dare not venture to try +Experiments; there are no Apothecary’s whose Interest the Doctor has +Occasion to consider in the _Recipe_; he prepares the Medicine himself, +and is too much interested in the Success, to give any more than he +thinks necessary; the Officinals in their Dispensary, are so few, that +you may write them all on a quarter of a Sheet of Paper; and he never +makes a Bill for his Druggs? but is paid so much a Visit, whether he +gives any Physick or not. Thus he is not under the least Temptation to +make an Apothecarys Shop of his Patient’s Belly; but carefully watches +Nature; and assists her when she is weak to the best of his Skill; but +leaves her to her self, when she is strong enough to bring about her +Designs without his Aid. + +Before the present Tryal, there had not been one at _Pekin_, for near +twenty Years; which made this make a considerable Noise through the +whole Empire: The Patient happened to be the _Mandarin_ TONWIN; a Man of +great Authority, much esteemed and trusted by the Emperor; who had made +him Treasurer to his Army; by whom he was not less loved than by the +People in General; as he did Justice to the first, in their Pay, and +promoted the Interest of the last to the utmost of his Power; he was a +Friend to Mankind in General, but particularly to the virtuous, and +thought that Day Ill-spent wherein he had not given them Proof of his +Humanity and Bounty: The Death of this great Man, so universally +esteemed, was somewhat sudden; and his Physician was blamed by some, +tho’ not by the _Mandarines_ nearest Friends; however, it was wispered +about, that he had deviated from the Rules laid down by the great +Council of _Mandarines_; and by the Malice of the Doctor’s Enemies, the +Clamour became publick; in so much, that the great Council, ordered the +Register of the Case to be inspected; and the _Senescal_ was ordered to +draw up an Accusation against the Doctor; with a Copy of which he was +served and taken into Custody; and a Time appointed for a solemn Tryal +before that High Tribunal. + +People were variously affected with the Preparation for the Tryal; some +thought the Doctor guilty; others thought him innocent; and this only +the Effects of the secret Machinations of his Enemies: Those of his own +Profession, for what Reason I am not able to learn, were his most open +Enemies; and thought by all to be his secret Accusers; however, the +Doctor seem’d not at all dismay’d; but hugg’d himself in reflecting on +his own Innocence, which comforted him the more, that he had not the +least Suspicion, that the high Tribunal, before which he was to be +try’d, would mix any Partiality in their Sentence. I have taken Care to +use as few _Chinese_ Terms of Law as possible; and have chose such +_English_ Words, as seem’d to come nearest to the Meaning of the +Original; and in order to make the whole more comprehensible to an +_English_ Reader, I have all along substituted some _English_ Forms, +where I could with Propriety, especially where they served to make the +Tryal more Intelligible. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE + + TRYAL, &c. + + +On the Day appointed for the Tryal, the great Council of Mandarins +assembled in a great Hall, in the second Court of the King’s Palace, the +President was seated on a Throne, under the Canopy of State; the Ensigns +of his high Office being carried before him, and attended by twenty four +Officers with drawn Sabres in their Hands, who stood round the Steps of +the Throne; the rest of the Mandarins were ranged on each Hand of him in +their Robes of Honour. Silence being commanded in the Name of the +Emperor, the Prisoner was brought to the Bar, to which he approached by +making three Obeysances, and then lay prostrate on his Face, till the +President commanded him to rise; acquainting him, that he had nothing to +fear but his own Guilt; for if that was not found in him, the Court +would not only acquit him, but load him with new Honours; after a short +Speech to this Purpose, Silence was again commanded, and the _Mandarin_ +Secretary, was ordered to read his Indictment; which was conceived in +Words to this Effect. + +You _Nosmoth_, Doctor of the Divine Science of Physick, stand indicted +before this Sovereign Court, at the Suit of our Sovereign Lord the most +High, mighty, and Puisant Emperor, _Abdaer_ Emperor to the World, Lord +of Vast Territories, Commander of Kings, and Beloved of the Sun, to whom +all are Slaves &c. &c. For, that you not having the fear of the Mighty +Gods before your Eyes, but being Instigated thereto, by the Suggestion +of the Black Angel, who Commandeth the Burning Lake; and with malice in +your Heart, and out of Envy and premedicated spite, to the Great +_Mandarin Tonwin_ Slave of our Great Emperor, and Treasurer of his +Invincible Armies, Didst on the Sixth Day, of the Second Month, of the +Year of our Empire, six thousand seven hundred and forty six, conspire +and contrive the Death of the said _Mandarin_; that is on one or other +of the Days of the said second Month; thou didst maliciously, with a +certain Instrument made of Steel, called a _Lancet_, stab the said +_Mandarin_ in the right and left Arm, and didst take from him, a large +Quantity of his Blood, to the amount of fifty seven Ounces; and likewise +didst prevail with the said _Mandarin_, by false unreasonable, and +scandalous Suggestions, to swallow certain Quantities unknown, of +poisonous Drugs, for sixteen or seventeen Days together; and likewise +caused during the said Space of Time, to be introduced into the _Anus_, +(Anglice A——se,) of the said Mandarin, a certain Machine, call’d a +Clister-Pipe, through which was squeezed a certain further Quantity of +poisonous Drugs, into his Bowels; and contrary to the Duty of your +Profession as a Physician, ordered the said Mandarin, then your Patient, +to eat of Meats and Drinks, improper for his Condition, and neglected to +administer such Medicines, as you knew by the Help of the great God +Paphor,[A] would have restored him to Health; by all which your Acts of +Malice, before-mentioned, you permitted the Angel of Death, to carry +away the said _Mandarin_; by which Means our great Emperor, has lost a +faithful Slave, the Empire an useful Member, and the distressed a great +Protector; this is your Accusation, are you Guilty or not Guilty. + +----- + +Footnote A: + + The God of Physick amongst the _Chinese_. + + + _Council for the Prisoner._ + +My Lord President, before we, that have the Honour to be of Council for +the Prisoner, can permit him to plead, we humbly beg Leave to offer some +Reasons to the august Court, why an Indictment in this Case does not lye +against our Client, we humbly apprehend, that the Consent of the Friends +of the Deceased, ought to have been specified in the Indictment, since +the great Mandarin, the Manner of whose Death is now in Question, is not +of the Blood Royal; there never has been an Instance before, where a +Physician has been tried, but upon the Application of the Friends of his +Patient: This is introducing an unheard of Practice, and subjecting the +Gentlemen of that Profession, to uncommon Hardships; who are already but +too much at the Mercy of the designing and malicious: We have an +Affidavit ready to read to your Lordships, sign’d by the nearest agnat +of the deceas’d Lord; wherein they disclaim the Prosecution, and express +their Satisfaction; both of the Skill and Integrity of our Client; +therefore we hope this august Court will quash this Indictment. + + + _Council for the Emperor._ + +My Lord, We are not a little surpriz’d to find the Council for the +Prisoner, make such an extraordinary Motion; when they must certainly +know, what gave Rise to this Tryal: The Prisoner at the Bar, in +Conversation with some of his own Profession, found that they did not +approve of his Method in this Particular; he was offended at their +pretending to find Fault with his Practice; which he asserted he could +justify; This produced a Dispute amongst them, in which he thought he +was scandaliz’d, and brought his Complaint before this Court, for the +Scandal: Your Lordships did not think fit to try the Cause upon that +footing, but to come at the Bottom of the whole Affair, order’d the +Emperor’s _Seniscal_ to prosecute in this Manner. + +Thus the Tryal was at first brought on by the Doctor himself; which he +now declines, why? because it’s not in the Shape he projected, which +shews a more than ordinary Kind of Obstinacy in his Temper, an +Ingredient very unfit to compose a Physician. + +But my learned Brother is likewise mistaken in Point of Law; Tho’ we +have not the Precedents he mentions; yet it’s founded on the Nature of +Things: The august Emperor has an Interest in the Life of every Subject; +and is in Reality in the Quality of Father to each of them; and often +more a Parent than their own natural Fathers: Does he not in all other +criminal Cases, prosecute without the Consent of the Party damag’d; why +may he not then in this? Unless the Physicians claim a Priviledge not +common to the rest of the Subjects of this Empire. + +The Court, after a short Debate, overruled the Objection to the +Indictment; and ordered the Prisoner to plead; he thereupon pleaded not +guilty; and submitted to the Judgment of the Court. + +Here the Court broke up and adjourned the farther hearing to next Day, +when the learned Body being again assembled, in Court, and the President +seated in the Formalites as before gave Orders for proceeding on the +Tryal, which was accordingly done by the Council for the Emperor, who +rising up opened the Case as follows. + + + _Council for the Emperor._ + +My Lord, the Prosecutors for his Imperial Majesty, are so far from +taking any rigorous Advantage of the learned Genman at the Bar, that +they are resolved to try the Cause upon his own State of the Case now in +the _Mandarin_ Secretary’s Hand: They are to suppose, that he has +according to his Duty, fairly stated the Symptoms of the Disease under +which his Right Honourable Patient laboured; and that he has given a +just Account of the Medicines he ordered to be administred in order to +effectuate a Cure; and from this his own State of the Facts, we hope to +convince this august Court, that the Doctor, has followed a Practice, +quite different from those prescribed by your Lordships in similar +Cases; apply’d Medicines improper for the Patient’s Distemper; and in +every Circumstance, acted, as if he rather intended, to increase the +Malady, than save his Patient’s Life; we shall make it appear, that the +Doctor instead of assisting Nature, has endeavoured to convert the Order +of Things, and obstructed her as much as lay in his Power; and we shall +likewise make it appear beyond Conjecture, that the Method used with the +Patient, during the Process of his Illness; hasten’d his End, much more +than the Fever it self: Out of Respect to the _Diploma_ issuing out of +the Court, which entitled the learned Gentleman to practice the divine +Science of Physick, we dare not attribute his Misconduct to Ignorance; +Charity forbids us to suppose it Malice; and good Manners hinders us to +use the Word Obstinacy; but to whatever Motive we may ascribe it the +Facts are incontestable, and the Effects have been fatal to the noble +Lord once an illustrious Member of this great Court. + +Your Lordships, will observe from the Case, that a reumatick Fever, +attended with Pains in the Limbs and a sore Throat, was the Disorder +which afflicted the _Mandarin_ TONWIN, and there never was during the +seventeen Days which the Fever lasted, any thing else administred, to +obtain a Cure; but Bleeding and Purging; how far that was proper in the +Patients Circumstances, we shall very soon determine, we are to observe, +that from the Beginning of the Doctors Attendance, the Patient shewed a +great Disposition to sweat; especially in the Night-time, when it was +sometimes according to the Doctors Report, to Excess. This My Lord, we +look upon as an Attempt of Nature, to get rid of the malignant feverish +Matter, which oppress’d her, by Means of Perspiration; and is by all +Physicians, looked upon as the most common as well as the most natural +Crisis of all feverish Disorders; it was my Lord the Doctors Duty, to +have taken hold of this favourable Disposition of Nature, to have +assisted her, by giving Medicines which would have provoked +Perspiration: But he followed a quite different Course; he willfully +obstructed the Grand Physician; instead of encouraging the Sweat, he +made the Patient get out of Bed to avoid it; seem’d obstinately bent to +obtain a Cure by nothing but purging and bleeding. + +As to the purging, he alledges the Patient was costive; we admit he was; +but does it follow from thence, that he must be purged for seventeen +Days together: The harder the Patient was to work upon, the greater +Reason the Doctor had to desist purging; especially using any Medicine +that would inflame the Bowels, which Jallop certainly does; purging +naturally weakens the strongest Constitution, without the Assistance of +an acute Distemper; but how weak must that Patient be, who suffer’d the +Weight of both, and another Evacuation as destructive of natural +Strength as the other, _viz._ Bleeding. As to the Bleeding, the Doctor +would insinuate from this Case, that he could not take too much Blood +from the Patient, since notwithstanding the monstrous Quantity taken, +the Vessels seemed overcharged, and it burst out at the Nostrils; but +the Doctor is not aware that two Causes absolutely different, will +produce the self same Effect as too great a Quantity of Blood may +produce an Hemorrage; and too small a Quantity the same; in the one Case +the Vessels are distended beyond their proper Tone, and in the other as +much below it; which was certainly the Case of the honourable Patient +unhappily the Subject of the present Debate; the Texture of the Blood +and Vessels were broken by the vast Quantity taken away, and a +Mortification of the Ulcers in the Throat naturally followed; as Nature +had not sufficient Strength left, to stimulate the Blood, and keep it in +its proper Motion; besides, the Regimen of Dyet prescribed by the +Doctor, was quite preposterous; Milk is naturally hot, and as it is of +the Nature of prepared Chyle, turns too soon to Aliment, to be proper in +those Diseases, which require the Patient to be kept low; upon the whole +your Lordship will be of Opinion, that Nature itself would have operated +a Crisis, had she not been interrupted by the Doctor; and that the +excessive Bleeding and Purging, only hastened the Approach of his Angel +of Death; therefore we hope your Lordships will find the Prisoner +guilty, in order to deter others from following their own Conceits, in +Cases where the Life of a Subject is concerned. + + + _Council for the Prisoner._ + +My Lord, the Charge against our learned Client, as open’d by my Brother +the Attorney General, is of a very deep Nature; but I hope we shall +convince this august Court, that the whole Prosecution is founded upon +Malice, and has no other Foundation; but the Envy of some of the Doctors +Brethren, who can not with any Patience, see any Reformation in their +old Practice; they are Men so wedded to old antiquated Opinions, and +superanuated Customs, that the strongest Reason cannot convince their +Understandings, or the most glaring Truths, have any Influence upon +their obstinate Minds, they are all a Parcel of old Women, who have +learned a Sett of Notions from their Grandmothers, which they argue upon +without Reason; and put in Practice necessarily on all Occasions, and +are now so old, that like Children they cannot walk without +Leading-strings. + +Your Lordships are sensible, that its impossible to lay down any certain +Rules for the Practice of Physick; they must differ as Constitutions, +Times and Seasons, alter those Regulations, which might have been +reasonable in the Days of our Grandfathers, are now out of Date; the +Luxury of the present Age, the difference in Dyet, Exercise and +Diversions of the present Generation, have produced a new Catalogue of +Diseases, unknown to our Ancestors; and for which our antient Writers +have not so much as dreamed of a Cure now; when the old Women of the +Faculty meet with any such, they still persist in their old Recipes; and +by that means killed thousands of his Majesty’s Subjects every Day with +Impunity; and that out of Laziness, that they will not be at the Trouble +to search for new Cures to new Cases; now our Client has been more +indefatigable, he has found out not only a Cure more expeditious for our +old Native Distempers; but one that will totally eradicate all our +exotick Diseases with which this great Empire abounds; he does not mean +to keep this great Catholicon a Secret, he is proud of having this +Opportunity of divulging it to Mankind, for whose Benefit he has +laboured till he is grown expert in the _Profession_; his _Recipe_ is +short and eazy, its only _Bleed_ and _Purge_: He apprehends the +Reasonableness of this Practice, is like a self-evident Truth in the +Mathematicks; all Diseases flow from peccant Humours, being mix’d with +the Mass of Blood, which are so closely united to it, that they cannot +be discharged by Perspirations or other natural Secretions; _but if you +purge and bleed away all the Humours in the Body, we are sure none that +are peccant will remain Quod erat Demonstrandum_. This answers all +Cases, all Circumstances, Times, Seasons and Climates, and is an +Improvement in Physick, for which we hope our Client will be rewarded +with a Statue instead of a H——r. + +They have made a deal of Pother about Sweating, but is it not plain, +that alone would not have served the Patient; when its well known that +in Spite of all the Doctors Endeavours to hinder it, it increased +immoderately, and yet produced no such wonderful Effects as they would +attribute to it: Grant that Bleeding and Purging weakens; so does +Sweating; our Client My Lord, apprehends, that if he had bled more +plentifully, he would at least have got the better of the Fever some +Days sooner than he did; the Patient might have died its true, but that +would not have been his Fault if he had used the Means to disburthen him +of his Blood, where the Malady lay; therefore we hope the Court will +acquit the Prisoner. + +Its not the Custom in that Country for the Judge to give a Charge as +there is no Jury, but the Prisoner was ordered to withdraw, and in a +little Time he was called back and acquainted with his Sentence, which +we must beg of the Publick to excuse us from publishing. + + + _FINIS._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Transcriber's Notes + + ● The following issues should be noted, along with the resolution: + + 11 it was wispered about, that he had _sic_: wispered + 12 before which he was [he was] to be try’d, Removed. + 13 especially w[h]ere they served to make the Added. + 14 S[c]ience of Physick, stand indicted before Added. + 15 Instigated thereto, by the Sug[g]estion Added. + 17 sign’d by the nearest agnat of the deceas’d _sic_: agnat + 20 rigorous Advantage of the learned Genman _sic_: Genman + 21 as if he rather inten[d]ed, to increase the Added. + 21 practice the divine Science of Ph[i/y]sick, Replaced. + + ● Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75845 *** |