The medical adviser and guide to health

Introduction

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The sale and circulation of nearly forty thousand copies of this little work, since its first publication in August last, a space of little less than eight months, has satisfied me that, notwithstanding its brevity and absence of detail, or attempt at any thing like display in the exhibition of medical lore, it struck a chord in the minds of that large class of sufferers to whom it was particularly addressed, who acknowledged its general truthfulness, and the increasing demand for it from every section of the country, nas been the most grateful tribute I could have received, that my labors have been duly appreciated. In (iii)

IV MEDICAL ADVISER.

numberless instances I have received letters from almost every section of \he country, expressing the thanks and gratitude of my readers for the plainness and candor in which I had addressed them. In one, received but a few days since, the writer, evidently a gentleman of education and culture, says, " I have read your Medical Adviser and Guide to Health with care, and have become much interested in its contents. I think I can see my own case in it as if seen in a mirror." Such encomiums, coming from disinterested sources, are much more grateful to my feelings, than would be the flattering criticisms of the most learned. In the outset I did not undertake to compile a medical hand-book, to serve as a vade mecum to the professional practitioner, nor did I choose to put into the hands of the numberless irregular doctors who swarm in our midst, a treatise to enable them to

GUIDE TO HEALTH. V

obtain^ in a cheap way, that knowledge which I only obtained by long, laborious, and expensive stud} 7 and experience. I intended my book to be, as it professes, an adviser merely, and if popular testimony be of any value in a matter of this kind, I think I may very safely congratulate myself upon the success of my endeavor.

In preparing this second edition for the j3ress, I have complied with a wish, very generally expressed by my friends and correspondents, that I would add somewhat to the usefulness and convenience of the book, as a work of reference, in cases where I could not readily be consulted, if I gave some more specific directions as to treatment, in cases of emergency, with such simple formula, recipes, etc., for immediate application, as might arrest the progress of disease until I might be communicated with in reference to it. In yield-

VI MEDICAL ADYISER.

ing to these solicitations, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I have no intention of departing from my general line of professional conduct, nor the views I have expressed as to the impropriety of self-treatment in syphilitic complaints, — ^specially paraphrasing the legal aphorism, that u that he who (in law) argues his own case, has a fool for his client. 77 I am still of the opinion that the man who doctors himself, has a fool for a patient, even though he be a doctor, and generally successful in his treatment of others. The many inquiries made of me through the extensive correspondence which has been opened up through the instrumentality of the Adviser, has suggested the idea that some few pages, devoted to the investigation of complaints germaine to those chiefly discussed in the first edition, would be generally acceptable. The confidence kindly expressed by great numbers of my correspon-

GUIDE TO HEALTH. vil

dents, that I could convey much useful information and advice upon the diseases and complaints most prevalent in New England especially, hardly leaves me any alternative but to comply with their request. In doing this, I agree with them that I am, perhaps, whilst obliging them, merely performing a duty which, it is said, every man owes to his profession.

This book, thus enlarged both in matter and in the sphere of its usefulness, will not lose any of its distinctive features of extreme simplicity, directness, and facility to be understood by intelligent common sense people ; amongst whom, I apprehend, it will chiefly circulate, and by whom I prefer it should be read and judged. My acceptance of the responsible position of Medical Director and Consulting Physician of the Morrill Medical Institute, a new institution, located at No. 3 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass., has opened to me a wide

Vlll MEDICAL ADVISER.

field for medical investigation and usefulness, which I shall endeavor to improve to the best of my ability.

Hitherto, in my extensive private practice, for reasons which can be readily understood, I have committed as little to writing as possible ; my numerous engagements precluding any appropriation of time to that purpose. But now, with the liberal allowance made to me by the Directors of the Institute, I shall be enabled to avail myself of any assistance I may require, not only in keeping an exact record of cases, and the variations in treatment which every phase of disease may require, but materially to aid me in furthering the objects of the institution, and simplifying, so far as is practicable, the hitherto complicated practice and treatment of diseases which so long have been the sport, and constituted the chief income of scores of medical leeches, who have lived only by

GUIDE TO HEALTH. ix

drawing, as it were, their life-blood from the unwary and unfortunate.

In offering this second edition/ I do not claim for it either completion or perfection ; but it is all I consider necessary to be placed in the hands of those for whom it is designed. Very few care about reading a dry, exclusively medical treatise, however sound and correct it may be ; such books are proper only for the medical student and practitioner ; but a book which mirrors forth to each reader facts and symptoms, the truthfulness of which they recognize as coming within their own personal experience, is always sought for and read, with avidity. Whilst I adhere to the opinion which formerly induced me to publish, in separate and distinct treatises, my Gentleman's Medical Adviser, and The Ladies' Guide to Health, I am only complying with the wishes of many of my friends, by including, in this new and

X MEDICAL ADVISER.

revised edition, some general observations and directions in regard to the pathology and treatment of not only diseases kindred to, and similar to those particularly alluded to in the preceding pages, but such other diseases to which females are peculiarly liable, and for the proper treatment of which, they ever find it most advantageous to apply to some physician, well known as having made the subject of female complaints one of especial study and investigation. I may, I think, without vanity, assert that, in this speciality, my varied and extensive experience entitles me to a consideration beyond that usually extended to a large majority of my professional brethren ; as, during an uninterrupted practice of over thirty years, by far the greater number of my patients have been females, suffering under some one or more of the various forms of what are commonly termed sexual, or delicate diseases, or else diffi-

GUIDE TO HEALTH. XI

culties resulting from some organic or functional derangement, about which the general run of the " faculty " are as innocent of any practical knowledge as the child unborn. I am free to confess that the skill which I am supposed to possess, and the great success I have met with in this department of my profession, has been attained fully, as much, and probably more, from my habits of close observation, comparison, and analysis, for the employment of which I had ample scope in my large practice, than from the perusal of books and authorities, no matter by whom written or compiled. But, whilst devoting myself to the study of disease, as displayed in the great book of Nature, and the living subject, T have by no means neglected the pages of standard authors, nor the lighter, but no less valuable, emanations of t\ie periodical press. It has ever been my pride to keep

Xll MEDICAL ADVISER,

" posted " in every thing which is going on in all the departments of medical learning and science in every part of the world ; and, although 1 never . fail to investigate each newly heralded discovery or improvement, I very seldom find anything to add to the knowledge I had not already attained by my own experience, nor to induce me very essentially to depart from my system of treatment which has so long availed me in my extensive practice. The attentive reader of either sex must have noticed that I do not spread before him or -her, pages of technical lore, tedious and wearisome, even to the most devoted book-worm, nor a re-hash of other men's brains, filched from some foreign or antiquated book now out of print, and seldom found; thus rendering the plagiarism less likely to be detected. My book, such as it is, is my own ; and I am not ashamed to acknowledge its pater-

GUIDE TO HEALTH. xiii

nity. It has been written, from beginning to end, without reference to any similar work in existence ; and I defy the world to point out a stolen sentence in it. If it contains ought of truth and consistency, if it embodies any knowledge of facts or science worth the remembering, or useful to the invalid and sufferer, the composition is mine, and my. own brain has alone guided and directed me in my labors. Pseudo professors may pretend to criticise, and even go so far as to attempt to sneer down, in their quack advertisements, a production, the effects of which they too sensibly feel, in their declining practice, and mushroom* popularity ; but after all,

THE TRUTH WILL PREVAIL.

1 have long been satisfied that a vast amount of unnecessary pain and suffering is constantly being inflicted and borne, — too patiently borne, I think, — by the mothers, wives, and daughters of New

XIV MEDICAL ADVISER.

England, from their quiet submission to the old, threadbare, and everywhere else discarded notions regarding the treatment of themselves, when in peculiar circumstances of sickness and debility ; by the antiquated and effete systems usually pursued by the ordinary country practitioner. Not that these men are not, in their way and limited sphere, as good as ought to be expected, but they have neither the opportunities to familiarize themselves with either the new developments of disease, or modes of treatment necessary to its successful management, which a large city is constantly offering to the physician of extensive practice. In the city, where competition is sharp, professional rivalry compels the aspirant after success, to perfect himself by every means within his reach, in every art which has the least bearing toward success. He reads, he studies, he examines and com-

GUIDE TO HEALTH. XV

pares, until every avenue is explored, and goes to his work neither groping nor doubtful of his course, but with a boldness and confidence, which a self-conscious ability always confers upon its possessor.

With these preliminary observations, I submit this new and revised edition, somewhat changed as to its title, so as to render it conformable to the wider range of topics treated upon, to the candid examination and criticism of a discerning public. Unlike any other book of the kind, it will be found to contain nothing which should exclude it from the family centre-table, the school-room, or the maiden's collection of choice reading. There is not a word or sentence in it, which should preclude its open perusal at any time, in any place, or in any company, and all, from the boy and girl, to the father and matron, may study its pages, with the certainty that, by doing so, they will be

XVI MEDICAL ADVISER.

adding to their stock of useful knowledge, which, at some period of their lives, will be found of essential, perhaps of vital service to them.

F. MORRILL, M. D.

No. 3 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass,

PBEFA O E

TO THE

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.

The Medical Adviser axd Guide to Health, comprising an edition of over sixty thousand copies, has now been before the public nearly a year, in which time it has probably had a larger circulation, and a more general perusal, than any similar production in this or any other country. Its clear, condensed, yet popular style, adapted it at once to the taste and wants of a people inquisitive upon the topics which it discussed and illustrated, whilst its perusal and study ever satisfied the reader that it was addressed to his reason (xvii)

XVlll MEDICAL ADVISER.

and common sense for his good, rather than to his fears and apprehensions, with a design to ensnare him into a patronage, or a compliance with covert suggestions, having for their object the pecuniary and professional emolument of the author, through his book as an advertising medium.

In the preparation of this enlarged and revised edition, the author has, with great pleasure, availed himself of the suggestions of friends and correspondents, both in this country and in Europe, in whose judgment he places great confidence, and whose opinions are of great value in matters of this kind.

The second part, devoted exclusively to women and her dangers, diseases, and duties to herself in the various relations she sustains, as maiden, wife, and mother, has been prepared, as will be seen, with great care, not only in respect to the matter, but in the

GUIDE TO HEALTH. XIX

manner of its composition. Not a word or sentence has been introduced, calculated to wound or give offence to the most delicate, modest, or refined ; and which may not be as properly placed in the hands of the school girl of fifteen, as in those of the accoucheuse, or matron of fifty. Indeed, it has been one of the chief objects of the author, to place before the young and rising generation, a text book upon subjects hitherto sadly neglected in their early education, and upon which, it is now universally conceded, they should be better instructed. How well he has succeeded in doing this, he does not fear, (though not presumptuously nor arrogantly) to appeal to an intelligent and impartial public opinion. In common with every responsible member of his profession, the author- has been long accustomed to view, with an alarm bordering upon disgust, the publication of books with captivating titles, and

XX MEDICAL ADVISER.

sought to be embellished with portraits and cuts of not merely doubtful, but of actual meretricious tendency, as totally unfit for any useful purpose of enlightenment upon the topics they pretend to treat, as they are improper, on the score of good morals, to be placed within the reach of those to whom they are unblushingly and impudently addressed. With a view to substitute something better, and no£ obnoxious to the just objections hitherto made to such publications ; as well as to supply an actual want, clearly indicated by an increasing demand ; this work, carQfully and conscientiously prepared, is now submitted to the professional, as well as general reader, confident that, if in its general scope and minuteness of detail, it does not constitute a complete vade mecum for the former, it can neither offend, or disappoint the latter, on the score of propriety, or as a safe guide in all those important

GUIDE TO HEALTH. xxi

and interesting matters upon which it may be deemed necessary to consult its pages.

F. M.

The Morrill Medical Institute,

Xo. 3, Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass. March 1, 1871.

THE

AND

GUIDE TO HEALTH.

Chapter I

MANY years ago, when I first entered upon my professional career in the city of Boston, as a new and comparatively unknown candidate for distinction and success, I found time to compile several medical treatises, bearing upon a certain class of diseases always greatly prevalent in our large cities. These works, the fruits of careful study and investigation, contrary to any expectations which I had dared to form, became at once exceedingly popular, and edition after edition was rapidly -exhausted. Whilst they served in (i)

part to give publicity to my name, as one particularly devoted to the treatment of diseases arising from imprudence and exposure, and all other complaints of the genital organs, the extensive range of study and examination of authorities and cases necessary to prepare me to discuss the subject properly and intelligibly, almost unconsciously to myself, created that interest in my mind, as to induce me to select that branch of medical science as a specialty, and to make it the leading object of my future investigations. Finding myself thus theoretically and practically prepared to combat these dread enemies of man's pleasure and comforts as well, perhaps, as any one of my age, I determined to break away from those restraints which a false notion of dignified professional' propriety had imposed, and at the risk of ostracism from the brotherhood, and to be classed with those who are considered as interlopers, I resolved to advertise my abilities and to make myself useful in a sphere wherein I felt satisfied that I could successfully compete with any of my brethren. The consequence has been that, instead of a limited and precarious practice, extending only to a few personal friends, I have, each succeeding year, seen added to my list of patients persons from every section of the country, as well as from the adjoining British Provinces and foreign lands. Completely absorbed in the cares and duties imposed upon me by this increase of patronage, I have not been able to revise and republish those works to to which, I believe, I am in a great degree, indebted for my early success in obtaining so large and remunerative a practice as I now enjoy.

These thirty years of close application to my profession have yielded an experience which, added to theoretical attainmerits, acquired when professional calls did not press so heavily upon me, have, I believe, fully qualified me now to yield to the repeated solicitations of my friends and patrons, to prepare, for their use, a manual which shall serve them as a guide in those cases of accident and exposure to which all are liable, whatever may have been their training and culture, or however strong their sense of moral and religious obligations, to avoid temptation and excess, in whatever shape it may assail them.

Amidst all of the vast catalogue of diseases which afflict the human race, there are none which reach so many, and sting so sharply, as those denominated " sexual." From the stripling, hardly arrived at the age of puberty, to the hoary-headed patriarch of three score years and ten, we find that none are exempt. Even the infant, before it has been expelled from the body of its mother, is too frequently tainted, its blood corrupted, and its fair form mutilated by a disease communicated to it by its erring parents. Did this great social evil limit its effects merely to a temporary disability of its immediate victims, and were it apparent only in the hospitals and doctor's apartments, where it seeks to assuage its pains, and find a cure for the evils arising from it, though severe and often revolting, its consequences would be slight in comparison with what they really are. Were such diseases merely local in their character, the actual cautery, and the dissecting knife might be relied upon for their extirpation; but, unhappily, this is not so. When once the infection has gained a foothold upon the human system, it is not merely those parts most immediately exposed and affected, but like a fiery devil, it pervades every part of the bodily organization. It seizes upon the blood, the very life of man, and along its currents it carries the infection through every vein and tissue ; and coursing its way through the spinal column, it seizes upon the citadel of man's power, the brain, and if unchecked and unsubdued, paralyzes and enfeebles the organs of thought as well as action.

When the evidences of such destruction are daily presented to our view, can the physician overestimate the importance of the mission to which he is called, and can he, if possessed of a spark of manly feeling, shrink, through a false estimate of professional pride, to give to such cases the very best efforts of his professional skill ? Human health and life are equally dear to all. The wealthy merchant, the venerable clergyman, — the centre and delight of a highly cultivated and fashionable congregation, — the millionaire, reclining at his ease in his sumptuous " stone front/ 7 may, and do ; from their position and power of their wealth, command the attendance and exercise of the best skill the country can produce ; and the petted favorite of such exalted patronage is looked upon as particularly fortunate, and eminence is awarded to him, simply because Croesus and Dives head the list of his patrons. The equally, and frequently more skilful physician, who, with a strong and manly heart, and firm hand, nerves himself to a daily and hourly contest with disease, the result of libidinous desires and unholy passions, is looked upon too frequently with scorn, and treated as an empiric because he advertises to the world his ability and willingless to treat those cases which his more delicate and sensitive brethren regard with contempt. For myself, I am ready to alleviate human misery and distress wherever it may be found, and in whatever form it may present itsel£ I have seen as much sincere goodness, as much downright honesty, elevated and high-toned principle and friendship in the unhappy victims of venereal and syphilitic diseases, as in any people I have had to deal with.

For the rescue of the miserable victims of intemperance, laws are enacted, which have engrossed the time and attention of legislators, session after session ; bodies of executive officers, costly to be maintained, are organized and set in motion ; retreats and asylums are established, and whole communities and States are convulsed, from centre to circumference, with the exciting questions of prohibition or non-prohibition, license or no license, and the advocates of temperance are canonized as the apostles of all good. Yet a social evil of far greater magnitude than any caused by mere intemperance in the use of alcoholic and stimulating drinks, stalks abroad in our midst at noon-day, at eventide, and in the still watches of the night, selecting its victims from the young, the beautiful and the lovely. The heart of society is cankered to its core, and he who devotes himself to assuage, eradicate, and stay this great evil, is denounced as a quack, or perhaps shunned as an ignorant pretender. For one I am willing to bear the imputation, so long as / know that I am benefitting my fellow men. Thirty years of professional intercourse and dealing with this unfortunate class of patients, have taught me lessons which neither books nor the more learned of my fellow-men could furnish ; and the best tribute of thanks which I can render them now, is that, whilst in the full meridian of life, with faculties ripened and matured, and in the enjoyment of a full and lucrative business, I devote the leisure hours that may be afforded me, in furnishing to them and all others who may be interested in the subject, such advice, counsels, and directions, as will enable them to avoid those dangerous strands and breakers upon which so many have suffered shipwreck.

By this I do not wish to have it understood that I design to furnish such a book as will enable any one to " doctor himself. 77 Very far from it. Of all the mischiefs resulting from any of the diseases incident to early imprudence, excessive indulgence, or unclean sexual intercourse, not the least are those consequent upon the application of supposed remedies unadvised by a competent physician. There can hardly occur any degree of infection, however slight, but at once demands the inspection and the treatment of one able at .a glance, to see the extent of the danger, and restrain its further ravages. Men are crippled, their features and limbs distorted for life, simply because of some self-application of corrosive and dangerous mineral preparations by those who have become infected; and who, in the first moments of alarm, have, with a view to the concealment of their condition, resorted to these poisonous and deadly drugs for relief. Cases which, even if let alone to pursue the work of destruction unmolested, could not have assumed more dangerous or disgusting forms, have, by a dangerous and unwise meddling with, been driven into the system, distributing the virus to every vital part, until, from what was at first a mild attack in its simplest form, the victim is now enveloped in a flame from which he can be rescued only by the boldest and most courageous efforts.

Neither is it my intention to pander to a prurient and debased curiosity and appetite, which seeks gratification in the perusal of books devoted to subjects ordinarily supposed to come within the range of the physician's or midwife's care and attention exclusively. My design will be simply to point out the various disorders and complaints incident to youth and manhood, through an abuse, overindulgence, or unguarded indulgence of the generative organs. To do this I do not deem it at all necessary that I shall t enter into all the minutise. of their anatomical structure, nor into a pathological description and inquiry as to the origin and character of the diseases themselves. I am not writing for doctors nor learned professors of physiological and pathological science, but for those who, unlearned and unskilled in all these matters, are, after once being satisfied that help is requisite in their cases, to be restored to health, if at all, it must be by the. counsels and guidance of another, and that, the physician of their choice.

Setting aside for the present all allusions to hereditary taint and disease, and addressing myself chiefly to those presumed to have received from their parents at least an ordinary healthy and strong constitution, I believe I do not err in the opinion that, not one in fifty has escaped the influence of evil example, or, through such faultless physical training as not to have frequently indulged in, if not become addicted to, the habits of masturbation. I make use of this term because I believe it to be generally understood by the most artless and inexperienced. The artificial forms of living, the universal use of stimulating food and drinks, the intimate and unguarded association of the sexes in all the various forms of social and fashionable life, have been, and are such as to lead to a premature development of the virile passions and desires which, implanted in our nature for the sole purposes of procreation, and the perpetuation of the human species, have, under this unnatural and premature stimulus, suggested the artificial and ready means of relief in self-pollution and abuse. Whilst the boy has been tenderly and carefully trained in everything else necessary to the full and useful development of all his faculties, by a fatal mistake, arising through ignorance on the part of parents and guardians, this great evil has been ignored, and left to pursue its deadly ravages unchecked. Physiology and the laws of life ; the very uses of the organs of procreation, other than for purposes of bodily evacuation, have been studiously concealed from our youth, and they have been left to acquire from associates and evil example a knowledge of vices and habits which, before they are aware of it, and long ere their natural guardians have any suspicions of it, have laid the foundation of a train of evils and diseases which, if unchecked, will inevitably lead to early decay and death.

How many of these victims have I known, whose broken down constitutions, indicated by the faltering gait, the vacant stare, and almost idiotic countenance, are pointed out as objects of commiseration, because of a supposed too close application to study and an overtasked brain ; and the cause of their failure in life attributed to anything but the true one. I do not now remember that out of the thousands of cases in which I have been consulted, and where this vice has been the chief, and perhaps the only cause of disease and trouble, but it has turned out in the course of my examination that this habit has been indulged in innocently, and from an entire ignorance of its deadly and fearful consequences. " Had I have known, had I have been forewarned, what a world of misery and wretchedness I should have escaped/ 7 has been the invariable exclamation of those from whom I have " wormed out/' as it were, the secret history of their past habits and indulgences. My reader, Jet me put the question to you. It is not necessary that I should put you under a rigid examination to extort from you, by an artful system of professional inquiry, whether you are faultless in this respect. It is not necessary that I should inquire of you whether the weakness in the back, the pains in side and breast, the troubled sleep, the lascivious dreams, the fading and disordered vision, and the wavering mind, the disinclination to society, and gradual failure of all manly power of which you complain, are attributable to this vice or not ! You know. Memory and reason have not yet become unseated, and the past is open before you; and you may trace, as in an open book, the records of those early indulgences and youthful indiscretions which have, step by step, conducted you to the precipice upon which you now stand. It is to you these pages are addressed. You have long felt that you were on untenable ground, and that everything before you was dark and dreary as the grave to which you looked forward as a last and almost welcome refuge from the pains and miseries of life. Were the consequences limited only to yourself, the pangs of remorse, as well as the pains arising from your numerous ills, might be patiently, even if hopelessly borne ; but if, as is most likely to be the case, there is another interested in your happiness, or what is equally as unfortunate, whose happiness is dependent upon your fulfilment of plighted vows for reciprocal affection, how wretched is your lot. By your own hands you have placed a barrier between yourself and the accomplishment of your brightest earthly hopes. You know yourself to be unequal to the performance of all the duties of manhood in the interest*