8/10/2019 Dr Richard Russel - Brighton Seawater Article - 2:2

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Section

of

th e History of

Medicine

D

E

TABE

GLANDULAR]

S

I VE

Ds

U s u

AQUA

MARINAI

I N

M.O.RBIS

GLANPULA.RUJ

DISS.ERT.ATIO.

u cRIc cDO

RUSSELL

Mi

BmiM.I Ig.

~gm.V.zz

Fig

2

Title

page

of De

tabe glandulari

received from

eminent friends.

The

Dissertation

is

in two sections

the

first

a

Discourse on

Glandular

Consumptions

and th

use

of Sea

Water

in these

Diseases ,

and

the

second

section

on the

Reasonableness

of

the

Method of Cure

and the

Medicines . There

follows

a

history

of

39

cases described

in

detail

and

th e treatment with

sea water.

Then

there is

a

section on Aphorisms, of

which there

are

49,

the first

being:

Nature cures

by

her own Efforts

many

Diseases ;

th

second

is

advice

to

follow

th

methods

of Nature

for

cure.

The book

concludes

with an appendix

on

the

Quercus

marina

and

letters

from Dr

Frewin, Dr

Wilmot and

Dr

Lewis,

in

which they describe

patients

treated with sea

water

together

with

Russell s comments

and,

in

the English

transla-

tion,

an

Epistolary

to

Richard

Frewin

in

which

he

discusses

the

history

of sea water

treatment

from

ancient

times.

The conditions

he

describes

seem

to be

mainly

diseases

of

the

lymphatic glands, mostly tuber-

culous

in

nature;

Russell s

treatment

was

based

upon

taking

sea

water

in

prescribed

amounts

internally,

by sea

bathing

under appropriate

conditions and

by

th e external

application

of sea

water and sea

weeds, al l

associated

with

a

strict

regime

and various

medicines.

Russell

made

it

[ v

clear

that treatment with sea

water should

not

be

used

for

all

diseases,

nor indeed fo r

all

stages

of the

same disease, but

the method

should be

used

with caution

and

only

under

th e

direction

of

a

physician well

versed

in

it s

use.

Throughout his

writings he

refers

to

others

who have used this

treatment

and he shows

an

extensive knowledge

of medicine as

practised

by

the

Ancients and

particularly

their use

of sea

water; he makes

it

clear

that while the

know-

ledge

and

experience of

th

Ancients

should

be

revered, this does not

mean

they

were

always

iight

and

the physician

should

make hi s own

judgments, observations

and

experiments,

not

arriving

too

hastily

at conclusions.

Russell s

last book, Oeconomia nature

in

morbis

acutis

et

chronicis

glandularum

Fi g

3),

is also

dedicated

to

the

Duke

of Newcastle

and

was

published

in

English

translation at the

same

time

in

1755.

This is an entirely different

work

dealing

mainly with th

glands

of

internal

secretion but

it

attracted little attention.

The

introduction is to

Dr Wilmot:

The

design

of

the

following

pages being

to show

the

method which

Nature t k s

either

in altering or

putting on

foot new glandular secretions

at different

Fig

3

Title

page

of

4economia

naturae

31

329

8/10/2019 Dr Richard Russel - Brighton Seawater Article - 2:2

2/2

330

Proc. roy.

Soc.

Med.

Volume

67 May

1974

32

Fig

4

Memorialplaque to

Dr

Richard Russell in

South

Mailing Church

times

or stages in our

lives; and

also to point

out

the

means

by

which she

aids and relieves th e

organs ofany

particular

part

There

follows

a

series

of

observations

on

animals

and

experiments with

deer

ar e recorded.

With castration

no

horns

appear,

with

partial

castration

rudimentary

horns

and with

old bucks

horns are shed

very

readily.

Russell

discusses

birth,

childhood,

dentition,

puberty

and

the

climacteric,

and stresses

th e period puberty to

the

thirty-fifth year in man

and forty-fifth or

forty-

sixth in

woman; from then

until

the

sixty-third

year, which is

commonly

called the

grand

climacteric and

from th e

grand

climacteric

to

th e

end

of

old age.

From

the

time of

puberty to the

thirty-fifth

year the

greatest

care

should be taken

if

we

would la y th e foundation

fo r a

happy and

comfortable old

age.

He

goes

on to

say:

This

is

the

time of

life

at which th y are

exposed

to

th e

greatest danger;

partly from

violence

and

im-

petuosity

of youth

for at that

age

youth

is impatient

and

eager in the pursuit

of pleasure;

al l

exercises ar e

performed with violence

and what

was

intended by

Nature fcfr our

greatest

good

and

benefit becomes th e

very reverse

by their

own excess

and want of modera-

tion.

The passions are

violent

and they disregard

any

prudence

and

caution,

hence

excess in

wine,

venery

and banquetings .

Dr Richard Russell

may well be

said to

be

the

father of

Brighton and indeed

of the

seaside and

bathing

resorts

of

Britain

and perhaps even of

the Continent

in that

his

book le d to a

general

interest and

acceptance

of

sea

bathing

if

not as a

method

of

cure,

then

certainly of health. On

his

memorial tablet

F ig 4) in South

Malling

Church

appears again

th e quotation

from

Euripides but

this time

with 7TaVTa

omitted: The

Sea

washes

away

th e l ls

of Men .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abraham J J

1933) Lettsom. His Life,

Times,

Friends

and

Descendants. Heinemann, London

Awsiter

J

1768)

Thoughts on

Brighthelmston

concerning Sea

Bathing,

and drinking Sea

Water, with some

directions

fo r their

use,

in a

letter

to

a

friend. Wilkie,

London

Bishop J

G

1892)

Peep

into

the Past

Brighton

in the

olden times.

Bishop, Herald,

London

Brighton Corporation

1952) Dr

Richard Russell s

Bicentenary Celebration

Challen

H

1955)

Sussex Notes and

Queries

14,

73-78

Dale 1954) Sussex

Notes and Queries

14,

16-19

Erredge J

1862)

History

of

Brighthelmston.

Lewis, Brighton

Gilbert

E

1954)

Brighton:

Old Ocean s

Bauble.

Methuen, London

Horsfield

T

1824)

The

History and

Antiquities

of

Lewes.

Baxter, Lewes

Innes

Smith

R

J

1932) English

Speaking

Students

of

Medicine

at

the

University

of

Leyden.

Oliver

Boyd,

London

Lower

(1865) The

Worthies of

Sussex.

Bacon, Lewes

Martin

H

1871) The

History ofBrighton and

Environs.

Beal,

Brighton

Musgrave

C

1970)

Life in

Brighton.

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Faber,

London

Russell

R

(1713)

Philosophical

Transactions

28,

276-278

(1724)

Thesis, Leyden

1750)

De tabe

glandulari

sive de us u

aquam marine

in

morbis

glandularum

dissertatio.

Fletcher, Oxford,

and

Rivington,

London

1755)

Oeconomia naturm

in

morbis

acutis

et

chronicis

glandularum.

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and

Rivington,

London

Simmonds

H

C

1969) History of

South

Malling

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Pamphlet