-- By this time
the company began to hold their noses; but the doctor, without
taking the least notice of this signal, proceeded to shew, that
many fetid substances were not only agreeable but salutary; such
as assa foetida, and other medicinal gums, resins, roots, and
vegetables, over and above burnt feathers, tan-pits, candle-snuffs,
&c. In short, he used many learned arguments to persuade
his audience out of their senses; and from stench made a
transition to filth, which he affirmed was also a mistaken idea,
in as much as objects so called, were no other than certain
modifications of matter, consisting of the same principles that
enter into the composition of all created essences, whatever they
may be: that in the filthiest production of nature, a philosopher
considered nothing but the earth, water, salt and air, of which
it was compounded; that, for his own part, he had no more
objections to drinking the dirtiest ditch-water, than he had to a
glass of water from the Hot Well, provided he was assured there
was nothing poisonous in the concrete. Then addressing himself to
my uncle, 'Sir (said he) you seem to be of a dropsical habit, and
probably will soon have a confirmed ascites: if I should be
present when you are tapped, I will give you a convincing proof
of what I assert, by drinking without hesitation the water that
comes out of your abdomen.
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