AN ANSWER To the PRETENDED Refutation OF Dr. Olyphant's DEFENCE  
EDINBURGH, Printed by J. W. for Thomas Carruthers, and Sold at his Shop in the Parliament Closs, M. DC.XC.IX.   

An Answer to the pretended Refutation, etc.  
ONE might very justly imagine, that this Refutation had been rather designed for that of the Melius Inquirendum, than of Dr. O's Defence, if it was not for the Title-Page: And I appeal to any Man that had any Confidence in the Refu●●r's Ingenuity, if the Matter of Fact as it is ●ow set down in the Refutation, be not ●●ite different from what he imagined it was ●y the Melius Inquirendum. The Apothecary and the File in his Shop before appealed 〈◊〉 as Witnesses, to testify the Patient's being several times Vomited, are now declined; the File he confesseth proves no such thing, ●nd the Apothecary, says he, cannot purge himself of partial Counsel, which is calling in ●●estion the Honesty of that Gentleman, ●hom all of his Acquaintance know to be of ●●ch steady and firm Principles; that even his ●wn Interest when at Stake, or that of his ●earest Relations, could never bias him to do ●ny thing he thought unjust or disingenuous. But it is pleasant to hear how he Declines the Patient, because, says he (if we may believe himself) a very mannerly Supposition by the by, He remembers nothing that passed for Four or Five days together after the taking the Vomit. Why, what if he did not; does that prove he remembered nothing before he took the Vomit? Now I hope, the Refuter doth not pretend he Vomited the Patient after the Dr. had done it. It was unlucky indeed the Patient should have remembered the Dr's Vomit, and the great Benefit he found by it (which he as justly as Generously, owned on all Occasions, and frequently to the Dr. himself) and in the mean time have forgot that the Ordinary had given him severals before. However, I do assure the Refuter, had the Dr. known any thing of his giving warm Water or Whey for Vomits, he would have been far from denying them place among his other Achillean Cures and Pen-gun-Artillery. And here I must take notice of a most admirable turn of Gigantic Wit in the Refutation; the Dr. in his Defence is speaking of the Answerer's Remedies as no better Artillery to attack the Disease, than Pen-Guns would be to take a Fort; and here the Refuter most waggishly turns the Cannon on the Dr. by turning the Body of the Patient into the Cannon: I do confess indeed, says he, they are but Pen-Guns in Respect of the Dr's Artillery, the Discharging of which had in stead of taking the Fort, almost split the Cannon, which was no great mark of a very good ●unner. Now, had the Ordinary by an overcharge of Milk and Sugar, burst his Cli●er-pipe, and at the same time taken the ●ort, I am certain the Dr. would have been ●r from upbraiding him with his small Skill ●n Gunnery.  
I shall say nothing to the Refuter's most Christian way of defaming a Man safely, by making his Words have a double meaning, ●s he does also the Representation of the Matter of Fact, especially after his own fair Confession in the Refutation, where he flatly acknowledgeth he had answered both unjustly and Irregularly. And if, says he, in any thing I have Transgressed, my Adversary is to blame, who attacked me both unjustly and irregularly; and every man must defend as he is attacked.  
I am now come to these few Answers given to the Dr's Authorities in the Refutation, and shall begin with what is said to that of Fernel, which I find the Refuter looks on as the most Material thing he has to say. He allegeth that in the first Quotation brought by the Dr. from Fernel, that Author speaks only of intermitting Fevers. Now to cut off all further Debate, I shall grant it be true; but in the mean time, if the Reasons that moved Fernel to Vomit in intermitting Fevers, can be used for doing the same in continued ones when attended with Vomiting and overflowing of Gall, is it not the same thing for the Dr's purpose. And that it is, so is evident by the Quotation which I shall again insert Quum per accessiones multoe bilis spontanea vacuatio contingit, febris sine Medicamento integre solvi potest. At quum ea aut nulla aut parcior existit medicatio adhibenda, ne neglecta Febris speciem mutet & deterior vel prolixior evadat. When, says he, there happens by turns a great Evacuation of Bile if its own accord, the Fever may end without any Medicine; but when that is either none at all or too little, Medicaments are to be given, lest the Fever by being neglected, change its Species, and become worse and of longer continuance. And afterwards, Quum enim precipue impura sit prima corporis Regio, in qua & humour noxius fluctuat, statim initio ejus nonnihil tempestive expurgandum est, presertim si vel oris amaror, vel Cordis dolour, vel Nausea vel in appetentia vel suffocatio acrius urget. For seeing the Stomach and intestins (which is the Prima Corporis Regio) in which the Noxious Humour fluctuats, are most unclean, some of it is to be timeously evacuated in the beginning, especially if there be bitterness in the Mouth, Oppression of the Heart, or squeamishness or want of Appetite or suffocation. Now, I would gladly know if any Man ●a show the least Reason, why all that may 〈◊〉 be applied to Continued Fevers that ●ve Remissions, and are attended with ●dounding Choler, as are these Fevers ●e Dr. first discoursed of. And in effect the Affinity between Agues and most ●f our Fevers is so great, that not only Vomiting, but the Kinkina or Jesuits Bark, ●e true Specific Cure of Agues has been ●ery successfully introduced into the Cure of them.  
He comes next to Celsus, whom the Dr. owned both in his first discourse and defence ●o have used warm Water for a Vomit, and gives a good Reason for it; but to ●ive that now for one in any case, except perhaps after a slight Surfeit, is truly to ●reat the practice of Medicine in Ridicule. And I wonder if the Refuter would use the Kinkina in an Ague, or the Ipeca Coanha in 〈◊〉 Dysentery, because Celsus knew nothing of them.  
After that he passeth over those pat Quotations of Willis, Silvius, Etmuller, Michael Hartman, and Dr. Tournefort's Testimony, that it was the Practice of the best Physicians in France, not only to give Antimonial Vomits, and the other most Drastick Medicines; but to mix Vomiting and Purging Medicines together, all which the Dr. had Riveted in his Defence; until he comes ●o Sydenham. Neither doth he Answer the Quotations brought from him, but tells us from the Schedula Monitoria, that he used Blooding & Purging in Febribus quamplurimarum specierum, in very many sorts of Fevers, & not in most part of Fevers, as the Refuter Translates it; which is very true, but these were properly Symptomatical Fevers of the Inflammatory kind, and quite different from these the Dr. speaks of, which are ten to one the most ordinary here, and even Sydenham had practised a long time before he had seen any other, as he tells himself in the Preface to these Fevers he Cures by Vomiting, Quo quidem tempore, says he, nondum mihi innotuerat, aliam aliquam Febris speciem in rerum natura inveniri. At which time (which was a good time after he had Practised Physic) it was not known to me, there was any other sort of Fever to be found in Nature. And how much a Kin those Fevers were to Agues he tells in the same Preface in these Words. Dicta itaque Febris continua Intermittentium quasi Compendium quoddam, & e contra singuli earum Paroxysmi Compendium hujusce m●●i videbantur; atque adeo discrimen in hoc maxime versari, quod continuae conceptam semel effervescentiam Sunechoos eodemque semper tenore perficerent; intermittentes autem partitis vicibus ac diversis temporibus eadem ●●ungerentur. Therefore, says he, the foresaid continued Fever seemed to me as a sort of compend of the Intermitting Ones, and on the other hand, each Fit of those seemed a Compend of this; so that the Difference lay mostly in this, that the continued Fevers did hold out in the ●●me Tenor, and did perfect without Intermission the Effervescence they had begun; whereas the Intermitting Fevers did the same at different times and by Intervals. And that this is positively true in most Fevers we have, and most remarkably so in these we have had this Season, every Man that hath accuratly observed will easily be convinced.  
At last he comes to Dr. P's Dissertation of the Cure of Fevers by Evacuation, and tells us, that there Sweeting is proposed as the best and readiest Evacuation for Curing all Fevers, without any respect to the Seat of the Morbific Matter. I Answer, that Dr. P. did not Design that Discourse for the Use of any who did not know that nothing could be Evacuated by Sweeting which did not immediately come from the Blood, so that the Morbific Matter must of necessity be Seated in the Blood and Blood-Vessels, before it could be brought away by Sweeting, and not in the Stomach as Dr. O. supposed.  
I have now done with my Answer to that Refutation of the Defence, and leave it to be judged by any Man that is Impartial, whether or not it deserves that Title. I am quite Tired with the Subject, and shall conclude all with a Letter the Dr. received from a Physician at London of his Acquaintance, concerning his Short Discourse, which I hope the Reader will neither find Impertinent nor Tedious, it being written by one whose Wit and Good Humour are equal to his Learning and Ingenuity.   

DEAR SIR.  
I Thank you for the Present of your small Treatise about Vomiting in Fevers, ●ut at the same time, I approve of your Reasons, you must give me leave to condemn your Conduct: I know you begin to storm at this; But have a little Patience. There was a Physician of this Town, perhaps the most Famous in his time, being called to his Patient, complaining (it may be) of an Oppression at his Stomach; he would very safely and cautiously order him a Gentle Decoction of Carduus, sometimes hot Water; I don't know but he would allow now and then fat Mutton Broth too. The Patient was Vomited, and the Doctor could justify himself that he had not omitted that necessary evacuation; this was his constant Practice. Being Chid by his Colleagues, who well knew he neglected Antimony, not out of Ignorance or Fear, he would Roguishly tell them, Come, come Gentlemen, that might cure my Patient, but it would kill the Distemper, and I should have less Money in my Pocket. A pretty Business indeed, a Rich Citizen overgorges himself, which by Management may be improved into a good substantial Fever, worth at least Twenty Guineas; and you would have me nip the Plant in the Bud, have a Guinea for my Pains, and lose the Reputation of a safe Practitioner to boot. The Gentleman had Reason; all Trades must live. Alas! our People here are grown too quicksighted, they will have Antimonial Vomits, and a Physician dares not omit them, tho' it is many a good Fee out of his Pocket. Join I say with these Wise Gentlemen; they wish well to the Faculty; procure an Order of the College, and banish Antimony the City of Edinburgh, and the liberties thereof. 'Tis a Barbarous thing in these hard times to strangle an Infant Distemper; they ought no more to be murdered than young Cattle in Lent. Let it be as great a Crime to kill a Fever with an Antimonial Vomit, as to Fish in Spawning time. The Dutch Physicians are like the rest of their Nation, Wise; they banish that Heathenish Jesuitical Drug that would quickly reduce their Practice to a narrow Compass in the hopefulest Distemper of the Country. These Rogues that Dream of nothing but Specificks and Panaceas, I would have them all hanged, not so much for the folly of the Attempt, as the Malice of their Intention; Rascals, to starve so many worthy Gentlemen, that perhaps know no otherwise to get their Liveliehood. Will the Glasiers ever puzzle themselves to make Glass Malleable, would the Knitters ever so much as ●ave dreamt of a Stocking-Loom, or the ●oung Writers Petitioned to have Informations Printed; All those are Wise in their Generation, and must the Physicians be the on●y Fools?  
We all know here there is no danger in Antimonial Vomits, but this is inter nos; you must not tell your Patient so, let them believe as I said before, that Antimonial Vomits are dangerous, deleterial, break the ●ibres of the Stomach, etc. and that you cannot safely give them. So shall you be ●iled a cautious safe Physician, one that ●on't spoil the Curll of a Man's Hair to pull him out of a River. We have some dangerous Dogs here, that in a Quinsy, when a Man is ready to be chocked, will blood him forty Ounces at once; is not this extremely hazardous? They cut off Limbs, cut for the Stone; is this safe? I tell you the Reputation of a wary safe Physician is worth all the Parts of his Character besides. Now I hope you will allow I have Reason for what I said.  
I have seen the Melius Inquirendum, and am too well acquainted with the Style and Spelling, not to know that it is Dr. Eyzat's; but here I must be with you again, how come you to write against one that says two Drams of Emetic Wine is a sufficient Dose for a Man. Suffer not such things to come abroad; they will imagine you are not got so far as the Circulation of the Blood in Scotland; writ seriously against such People. Fie upon't, I will never allow them to be above the Dispensation of Ballads and Doggrel, etc. I am  
Sir Yours, etc. London, August 23, 1699.  
FINIS.