out of those things that doe resist all sorts of poysons for neither butter nor milk nor oyle or other things which resist Arsenick and Corrosives are ingredients in their Antidote but they are selected out of the medicinall matter of Cordials to wit they would only have the heart to be defended against the malignity of the drugge and not the violence of the drugge it selfe to be repressed As some learned Physicians write that the poyson of the plague is of such a nature that its proper Antidote is not yet found out Therefore whatsoever things are prescribed against the pestilentiall venome they doe only corroborate the heart against the force of the morbificall cause Hence the deceitfulnesse of the Mountibanks Antidote may be observed and that it is not universall as they report Any man may conjecture the same by the price for how can they defray the expences of their companions and of their journeyes which are many times very chargeable if the Antidote were of any price A way to try the vertue of the Antidote which as I have often observed with the oyntment and balsame they sell but for twelve pence That the efficacie of it may be proved for here is a very grosse deceit in that they doe usually fore-arme themselves with the Antidotes of the Shops against the violence of the poyson this caution should be observed Let a dog be kept a whole night without meat and drink and let neither milk nor any fat thing which may abate the strength of the poyson be given him in the morning but give him some Arsenick and after he hath taken it let him have as much of the Antidote as the Mountibank pleases and so the efficacie of the remedy shall be sufficiently proved The same may be said concerning men for they make experiment of the poyson upon themselves and take it in the presence of the people If they will take the poyson with the fore-named cautions having seen the effect wee will commend the remedy But they shew themselves upon the Stage for the most part after noon after meat and after the use of fat things and such as doe asswage the force of it as milk and perhaps of Antidotes For meat especially that which is fat and milk doe strengthen the stomack and weaken the poyson therefore it is no wonder if they doe then take it more boldly which soon after they vomit forth at home and so all comes to nothing There is another experiment of theirs which the people doe very much admire The Mountibank will apply a Viper to his breast A deceit in their applicatiō of the viper about the left pap and taking the Antidote will feele no harm At this the people stand amazed the very naming of it is wonderfull But here is a manifold deceit For First as Matthiolus saith these fellowes have sundry wayes to tame their vipers and serpents Secondly the vipers in England in respect of the temperature of the aire are not so venemous as they are in hot Countries Therefore Galen gives strict charge that in the composition of triacle the vipers be not taken in the height of Summer which with them is excessively hot for then are they most full of venome but with us the vipers are lesse venemous by much whose height of summer is not equivalent to the spring-time of the Italians Thirdly the people is deceived in thinking that the force of the Venome is sooner communicated to the heart if the venemous creature be applyed to the breast because of the nearenesse of the heart But that is false for the venome is carried by the Veines and Arteries as appeares in that all the blood of them that have been bitten by a Viper doth turne into a pale greennesse And seeing that the veines in the papps are so very slender and doe not come unto the heart but with a great many long windings I affirme and it is more probable that if the Viper be applyed to the feet which are farthest remote from the heart it will sooner infect the heart than if to the paps but soonest of all if it be applyed to the armes Cleopatra applyed the viper to her arme And now the story of Cleopatra comes to my minde Petrus Victorius blames the Painters that paint Cleopatra applying the Aspe to her paps seeing it is manifest out of Plutarch in the life of Antonius and out of Plinie likewise that she applyed it to her arme Zonaras relates that there appeared no signe of death upon her save two blew spots on her arme Caesar also in her statue which he carryed in triumph applyed the Aspe to her arme For in the armes there are great Veines and Arteries which doe quickly and in a straight way convey the venome to the heart whereas in the paps the vessels are slender which by sundry circumvolutions onely do lead to the heart And therefore in Saint Paul the miracle was so much the greater in that he felt no harme from the Viper which layd hold on his hand for if it had assailed him on his breast he had had respite enough to take some Antidote which on his hand he could not doe CHAP. VIII Of the Balsame and Ointment of the Mountibankes THey seeme also to doe wonders in curing wounds by the help of their Balsame They cure onely greene wounds with their ointment Where it is to be noted that they cure onely simple wounds for which union alone is sufficient without a future therefore in old Wounds their Balsame is nothing worth But this cure is not very hard for oftentimes onely binding up doth suffice for the cure of such simple and green wounds Nature it selfe by the meanes of the blood as with the Balsame uniting the divided parts Besides there are many remedies of that nature to be found in Authours whereof two excellent ones are prescribed by Riolanus The very same also is described by Fabritius ab Aquapendente as may be seen in his workes and is extant in the last print of London Pharmacopoëa That the people may know that there is nothing admirable in those remedies of theirs nothing that Physicians and Surgeons cannot doe much better They have likewise an Ointment for burnings Their oyntment for burns for the most part made of Pomatum or butter washt in Vinegar with the salt of Leade Their deceit in washing with flaming oyle or leade But because some of them proceed so farre that they wash their hands in boyling Oyle or melted Leade something must be sayd of that likewise lest the people thinke that these things be unknown to Physicians Albertus Magnus hath sundry wayes of doing it First he takes Fish glew and Alome of each a like quantity let them bee powred saith he upon Wine-Vineger and annoint any thing with this oyntment and it shall not be burned with fire Secondly take Lime quenched with the water of beanes and a little Mandrake and Marsh-Mallowes mixe them well and
and no externall thing happen which may change the urine perhaps the womans urine may be in some respect discerned from the mans but otherwhiles not at all when oftentimes it is unknown from whence the urine is brought to the Physician And so it is to be understood which some Physicians write concerning the difference betwixt a mans water and a womans for because men are said to be hotter and are given to exercises they make thinner urine and higher coloured with fewer contents but women because colder make whiter urine with a larger sediment A whitish colour saith Fernel is a signe not onely of cruditie but of the Sex likewise But even the hottest man may make such urine by reason of the causes that change urine Therefore in this there is no certainty and it is too much rashnesse to pronounce any such thing by urine Concerning women with childe A woman cannot be known to be with child by urine it is a greater doubt and it is ordinary with women for this cause alone to send their waters to a Physician Avicenne teaches to know it by a sediment like unto carded cotten and by some other markes But seeing experience shewes the contrary he is deservedly to be rejected It is not necessary for every urine of a woman to have a sediment but that only which is well concocted First Hippocrates who hath exactly searched out all the signes of conception never made mention of urines Secondly the urine is not changed by the graviditie it selfe but onely by the suppression of the flowers which as cannot be denied may alter the urine by the reflux of blood and excrements into the veines But that same change of urine may appeare as well in Maids by the stopping of their flowers yea in all diseases that arise from the like suppression as also in the obstructions of other internall parts Thus urine will manifest here no proper or peculiar thing Wee see urines sometimes of a low colour as happens frequently in obstructions sometimes very high coloured sometimes like to the healthfull when the woman with childe is in health sometimes thinne sometimes thick such as may likewise be seen in other affects But if the woman bee sick the urine is so changed by the violence of the disease that all the signes of being with childe if there bee any are obliterate Thirdly that the knowledge of graviditie is not so easie Hippocrates himself shewes who after he had reckoned up many probable signes of it as if those were not certaine he betakes himselfe to some Empyricall signes Aphor. 41. lib. 5. If you would know saith he whether a woman hath conceived or no give her some water mixed with honey to drinke when shee goes to sleep if shee feeleth gripings of her belly shee hath conceived if not she hath not And in his booke of the Barren he saith Stampe Honey and Anise well together dissolve it in water give it her let her sleep if she feele gripings about her navell shee is with childe but if not she is not So that hence it may appeare how hard a thing it is to know if a woman be with childe before the stirring of the infant when besides many other signes Hippocrates hath recourse to such Empyricall signes How foolish then are they that professe themselves to be able so easily to divine that by urines Avenzoar a Physician of principall note among the Arabians reports that he was deceived in his own wife although hee had seen her urine and had other signs whereby he could know a woman to be with childe if the knowledg thereof were so easie Saxonia relates that he was judged by Physicians to be a * mole Or false conception and that his mother did take many medicines to destroy the conception which yet did not prevail And to this opinion do all the modern Physicians assent who have written of the diseases of women Hither is to be added a certain fable A merry story which hath been related to me as a story by men of good note and this is it A certain maid did carry her Mistresses urine to a Physician and having by chance spilled it not knowing now what to doe she catched the urine of a Cow which at that time by good hap staled and carryed it to the Physician he gave answer that the patient did eat too many sallets Indeed the Physician was worthy to be commended for his skill who could divine that I say this is a fable because I have heard the same in divers places of sundry Physicians as also because it is alwayes ascribed to some Physician that is dead the like to whom is no man living And its true indeed no man this day is living or ever was that could certainly know a beasts urine from a mans If the urine be like to that of beasts that are accustomed to the yoke Aphor. 70. lâ—b 4. paine of the head is either present or will ensue saith Hippocrates noting that a man may make urine like in colour and consistence to that of beasts Therefore hitherto it hath been doubted in what respects a mans urine might be discerned from other liquors I know there are some rules and marks prescribed by Avicenne and others whereby they may be discerned from each other but they are all false and uncertain And nothing is more easie then to deceive a Physician though wary by shewing him him other liquours and urines But if a man may make urine like to that of beasts how can a Physician not knowing from whence it comes discerne one from the other CHAP. III. The Solution of the arguments that seeme to favour looking into Vrines SOme that too much approve Ouroscopie or looking into Urines do use the authority and arguments of Hercules Saxonia a very learned Physician heretofore among the Italians who desired to patronize a little Ouroscopie For he would have not only the causes of diseases but also their Idea's magnitude and states to be known by urine not in generall only but also in particular whose opinion we will briefly lay down First saith he urines shew diseases in distemperature without matter and with matter A hot distemper without matter is either universall or of a determinate part and this is sometimes without a fever sometimes with a fever An hot universall distemper doe these urines shew to wit reddish saffron colour greene black fatty atomous branny or scaly sediments and sharp urines Neverthelesse these doe not shew a distemper without matter but with matter for urine hath not these colours but by the mixture of humours hence in a diary fever Galen writes that the urine is made somewhat reddish through the mixture of choler Moreover 1. ad Glauc cap. 2. 3. method cap. 2. 10. de crisib cap 12. these doe only betoken a hot distemper in generall not any particular sort of it for a hot distemper may be Synochus a burning fever or a tertian it
reject clysters as being perillous and dangerous Physick but they are grossely mistaken for clysters are the most gentle and innocent Physick of all for they never touch any noble part in that they goe not beyond the great guts and therefore if the disease require it we sometimes adde to them very sharp remedies which another part of the body cannot endure and yet they are administred without any harine to the body at all Much lesse can mollifying and cooling clysters hurt the body which we prescribe in feavers and other diseases in which there is nothing except the quantity which might not be taken by the mouth Clysters good in many respects Now a clyster is profitable for divers parts of the body as the braine the eyes the stomack and all the inward parts for it doth not only loosen the belly but also by its liquid substance it doth deterge and cleanse the tunicles of the bowels from many grosse and viscous humours which cleave thereto and besides it lyes like a fomentation upon the kidneys and the bowels and therefore it oftentimes brings that out of the body which a reiterated purgation can never doe Galen experienced this in himselfe who being grievously tormented with the cholick with a clyster made of the oyle of Rue purged out grosse tough and viscous fleagm Seeing then the use of clysters may be so profitable they need not for the future be feared but ought rather to be more familiarly used 3 things necessary to be consideâ—ed Therefore I would admonish the people of three things First that they use a clyster before bloud letting and unto this doe all Physicians advise lest the impurity of that first region bee attracted by the empty veines and so the bloud bee tainted Secondly that if the belly be costive and there seems to be a necessity of taking a purge by the mouth it be first asswaged with a gentle clyster that the excrements may be more easily voided out For the belly being costive hinders the operation of the cathartick and seeing there is in every medicament a certaine generall vertue and propensity to purge out the excrements besides that proper power whereby it doth draw unto it selfe by a peculiar propriety the humours that are most familiar to it if the belly be very costive and the excrements hard they they cannot be extruded without great paine and gripings of the guts and many times the strength of the Physick is spent in thrusting them out and the humours that are attracted by the Physick not being purged out but kept within the bowels cause gripings the pain of the colick vomiting frenzie dizzinesse of the head and many such symptomes Hippocrates seems to have pointed at this when he saith Aph. 9. lib. 2. If one would purge let him first make the belly soluble Now seeing that by many wayes the belly may bee made soluble this by preparing clysters is not to be neglected and Galen commends this counsell Sect. 4. dâ— victu acut * Et aph 72. lib. 7. And in another place Hippocrates saith When one would purge the belly it is good to make it soluble and if thou wouldest make it fluxive upwards it is good to stay the belly if downwards to moisten it Now the belly cannot be more fitly moistned than with a clyster Thus Galen shewing for whom purging is convenient among the causes through which evacuation succeeds not well when one hath taken Physick reckons this for one Oftentimes saith he hard and dry ordure in some of the guts hinders evacuation Thirdly not only before purgation but also after it will not be amisse to inject a gentle deterging clyster as the best Physicians doe advise for to wash away the reliques of the humours which sometimes stick to the bowels For a clyster cleanses the guts and taketh away whatsoever noxious matter is left after a strong medicine especially if it bee of that sort of medicines which have Scammony for an ingredient for it by the sharpnesse and acrimonie thereof doth corrode the intestines and there is the same reason concerning all other strong medicines as among others Valleriola saies well in lib. 3. locor com cap. 16. CHAP. XXI That Clysters are not well injected by bladders SEeing then the administring of Clysters is such wholsome facile and harmlesse Physick we will in brief observe somewhat touching that manner of injecting clysters by an oxes bladder tyed to a pipe This I confesse is no very grosse errour for we see it many times well enough injected this way and it seemes to be the ancientest custome for I read in Galens fifth book of Method that the use of such bladders was very frequent in old time But now it is left off in many places beyond the Seas and that manner of injecting is altogether unknowne but they use a Syringe or a hollow pipe of tin or brasse and that with better conveniencie for it is both more easily injected and also more safely A near way for injecting Clysters and sooner and which availes very much in this businesse it goes higher and passes into all the great guts For seeing naturally a clyster doth not go beyond the great guts by reason of a certaine valvule placed in the beginning of the gut Colon and the end of Ilion it would be much to the commodity of the sick if a clyster could but goe so farre for so a great benefit would accrew to them by the washing of the guts But a clyster that is injected by a bladder doth not ascend so high but stayes in the strait gut and in the beginning of Colon. It were well therefore that these Syringes were brought into use of which almost all our Apothecaries except those of London are destitute But sometimes it happens that a clyster is vomited out of the mouth although but seldome I do not remember that ever I observed it save twice in two patients which happens when the forenamed valvule is loosed by reason of a vitiated and corrupted peristaltick motion of the bowels which opens an unwonted passage to the liquor yet how this can be done I doe not conceive I would rather think it comes to passe because the aforesaid Valvule is broken by some preternaturall cause and cannot any more execute its office Therefore if any man that is ignorant of the art of Physick chance to observe such a thing let him neither blame the Physician nor the Clyster seeing that no Physician can foreknow this but let him accuse the particular constitution of the sick and know that nothing happens then which hath not been heretofore nor let him be troubled at such an event CHAP. XXII Of vomits that possets ought not to be drunk immediately after one hath taken a vomit IT is not my purpose in this Chapter to treat of the commoditie and profitablenesse of vomits to the body of man I wil only give notice of thus much about the use therof that there are some
blood-letting for any man though hee bee well stricken with age The same may be said of children before they be fourteen years old for even childhood hath its strength Children may bee purged or blooded for even childhood hath its strength and vigour according to the proportion whereof why shall it not be lawfull to evacuate especially if he be a boy of a good habit of body with large veines well and freely educated They endure purging why not also blouding They are wont sometimes to bee wounded and to bleed very much without any harme at all to them why may they not also abide artificiall emission of bloud There is therefore no age which may not endure some measure of evacuation Wherefore seeing that properly the disease and strength onely are necessary marks to direct unto this remedy they alone are to bee considered and not the age except as it doth concur with them CHAP. XXIV That it is but a vaine thing to bee so curious in the choice of the veines in the arme SEeing that the veines in the arme are wont to be opened either for preservation from diseases or for curation of diseases therefore the sick doe many times aske what veine is to be opened For they have heard something touching the distribution of the veines in the arme one of which they depute to the head another to the liver the third they make doubtfull available for either of these two regions of the body which opinion not Galen nor Hippocrates but the moderne Physicians did set abroach before the clear knowledge of Anatomy which at this day the people do follow and not they only but also very many practitioners in Physick are still in the same errour meerly out of their ignorance of Anatomy It is manifest enough that all the veines of the arme in that they proceed from one and the same trunck do evacuate from the same parts and that which is called the cephalick vein and is referred to the head doth no lesse evacuate from the liver than that which they call the basilick and liver vein although this same cephalick veine because it sometimes receives a little branch from the head is thought to be more profitable for the affects of the head yet both of them do equally help the diseases of the inward parts and draw bloud alike from the hollow vein And in very deed these termes basilick and cephalick although they be Greek words were neverthelesse unknowne to Galen Hippocrates and others but were invented by late writers which did ill in bringing in this opinion concerning the choice of veines Which thing that it may more plainly appeare wee will describe the originall and beginning of the veines in the arm The hollow vein ascending out of the Liver to the upper parts An anatomicall difcourse of the distribution of the veines in the arm as soone as it comes to the channell bones is divided into large branches which take their name Subclavij from the situation of the part because they lye under the throat and channell bones which are called Claviculae One part of these branches sends out many veins within the breast the other part springing forth of the breast is carried to the arme-holes which are called in latine Axillae from whence it hath the name Axillaris and in the beginning of the arme is divided into two great branches called the cephalick and basilick veines in bruits the cephalick hath its beginning from the jugular but in men alwayes from the axillar veine neverthelesse it doth receive a little small branch from the externall iugular veine From these two branches doe all the veines of the arme arise which are carried unto the extremities of the fingers which now to describe is altogether needlesse it being sufficient for our purpose to have shewn their beginning Seeing then all the veines which are in the arm do proceed from one and the same trunck of the hollow veine in the throat in vain is one chosen rather than another for they all draw bloud from the same fountaine And lest it should seem to be onely our owne private opinion know that even the best Anatomists do assent thereto Vesalius the chief of all the Auatomists that ever were yet Lib. 3. Anatomes cap. 8. although he seemes to derive the cephalick from the externall jugular yet he saith our Aesculapij forsooth do ridiculoufly contend whether the shoulder veine or the common or the axillar veine must be divided in the hand as if some peculiar veine from every affected part of the body might bee found in the arme when indeed from one only trunk of the hollow vein divided in the throat all the veines of the arme doe proceed as in that place he declares more at large To him assents Boehinus in his Theatre of Anatomy where he affirmes that it is but a triviall thing to bee so curious in the choice of those veines seeing that each of them have the same beginning Quae magis turget magis urget wherfore hee counsels alwayes to take that which is most * conspicuous Of the same opinion is Riolanus in his Anthropography Gabriel Fallopius in his institutions of Anatomy Bartholinus and other Physicians that excelled in the knowledg of Anatomy CHHP. XXV That it were better to observe the quantity of bloud by measures then by ounces pounds and weights IT is an ordinary thing not only with the people but also with Physicians when they let bloud to define the quantity thereof by ounces and pounds which also was Galens custome who sometimes drew bloud even to many pounds If this be a commendable custome then they should alwayes have weights at hand that the weight of the bloud that is drawn out may be certainly known which they have not but both the Physicians and the by-standers do guesse thereat Bloud-letting saith Hippocrates is comprehended under the head called the emptying of the vessels 2 aph lib. 1. and is not used but when the bloud is faulty now the bloud is not faulty in weight but in quantity or quality And though it be heavy yet it is not drawne out for that but because of the quantity or some other fault now the quantity of liquids is better discerned by measures than by weights for one bloud is heavier than another As for example let us suppose Titius his bloud to bee heavy he having a plethore or fulnesse thereof ad vasa and Sempronius his bloud to bee light he having a fulnesse thereof ad vires if you take six ounces of bloud from each of them Titius his bloud because it is heavier will be contained in fewer vessels and Sempronius his bloud because it is lighter will fill more vessels So that if from each of them the same weight of bloud bee taken yet the latter hath bled more than the former The bloud in the veines and arteries is contained as it were in vessels Now repletion or inanition hath reference to
vessels A pitcher that is half full of iron or heavy stones is not so full as if it were filled to the top with the most light spirit of wine although the former weigh heavier So likewise in emptying a vessell he takes more away that out of one vessell drawes a pottle of the spirit of wine than he that out of another takes half a pottle of stones although perhaps this weighs heavier Seeing then there is the same reason in bloud because one is more ponderous than another if in letting bloud we only consider its weight we shall never define well the quantity thereof for it is contained in the veins not as heavy but as filling unlesse one imagine the same ponderosity and weight of bloud in all men which I think no man will dare to affirm The quantity of bloud saith Galen is indicated by the more or lesse faultinesse of it and by the strength of the party and according to these two is more or lesse bloud to be drawne So that in a great distemper of the bloud the strength being vigorous we must use a larger evacuation but in a light distemper the strength being feeble we must let bloud more sparingly But if you judge of the quantity by the weight it may so fall out that when the sick is feeble in strength you may draw more bloud than when he is most lively vigorous which is a grosse trespasse against the rules of Physick For if in debility of strength the bloud be lighter and in validity of strength it be heavier if in this latter case you take halfe a pound of bloud and in the former but foure ounces the vessels into which these foure ounces are taken will be as full by reason of the levity of the bloud as those vessels which receive the half pound of the other ponderous bloud and so the same quantity of bloud is taken from them both which should not have been done Nor do I see any reason why the drawing of bloud should bee defined by weight more than the dejections of the belly in a purgation seeing that out of the veines the humours also are purged for under the manition of the vessels is purging contained as faith Hippocrates 2 aph lib. 1. Seeing therefore the vessels are not replete with any thing as heavy for the capacity of the vessels is not varied although the weight of the contents be different and it is apparent that a greater quantity of oyle than of honey goes to an ounce it will be better for the future if the quantity of bloud be accounted by measures and not by ounces and pounds seeing the judgment thereof may be so deceitfull I know there were among the Ancients as well pounds in measure as in weight for their vessels were drawn about with lines whereby the pounds and ounces were marked out and whatsoever they measured after this manner they called Mensurall As for example a mensurall pound of oyle or wine which perhaps Galen meant when he drew bloud according to ounces and pounds But because the things that were measured were of divers weight the pound in weight did seldome countervaile the pound in measure for though there may be the same measure of oyl wine and hony yet there is not the same weight and therefore that manner of measuring was very uncertaine and we now adayes have no such vessels as doe marke out ounces and pounds nor if wee had plenty of them could wee use them without a manifest errour in respect of the different weight of the bloud Therefore though I doe not disallow the received custome yet I thinke it safer to judge of the quantity of bloud by measure than by weight CHAP. XXVI That Sleep and Drink ought not to be wholly forbidden after bloud-letting AMong many observations of the people this is not the least that they are very wary lest the sick sleep or eat and drink presently after he hath been let bloud which was also the opinion of some Physicians because they think the bloud returnes to the heart which neverthelesse is not alwayes true except there bee an immoderate evacuation of bloud or timorousness which may cause swouning However no reason enforces that that return of the bloud should be so pernicious And first concerning sleep the bloud is wont in sleep to recoile into the inward parts to the exceeding great refreshment of nature The benefit of sleep to the sick Now in them that be sick who have not slept for many nights all men know what great benefit a little sleep affords for it repaires the strength concocts the morbous humours and corrects them wherefore we are oftentimes forced to apply remedies to provoke sleep Therefore if immediately or a little after bloud-letting sleep doe ensue it may be good both as a signe and a cause As a signe because it shewes that nature which was oppressed with the morbous humours is now refreshed and so doth performe its naturall functions As a cause it may be good because when once sleep ensues nature doth concoct the remainder of the morbous humour In what cases sleep is forbidden I know in some diseases sleep is not good as in the inflammations of the internall parts in the beginnings of fits and in pestilentiall diseases Therefore in those diseases it is not good to sleep immediately after bloud-letting but in other diseases I see no reason why the Patient may not sleep Galen saith that if the sick after long and tedious watching do fall to sleep it indicates a perfect crisis for sometimes it falls out Ex 2 Prorhetic * that the sick after the crisis sleeps a whole day especially when he hath not slept of a long time before and that to the great solace and refreshment of nature Yea sometimes it happens that the sick sleeps in the very crisis If therefore sleep be good after other evacuations why not also after bleeding Moreover sometimes it falls out that in some feavers such a preternaturall sleep possesses the sick that he can scarce be awakened and yet many times in such feavers it is very good to let bloud as of late I did to a woman that lay in an acute feaver possessed with an heavy sleep who otherwise had scarce recovered being adjudged of all as a dying woman If therefore with good success bloud may be drawne from one that is actually asleep why shall sleep be hurtfull immediatly after blouding Galen seemes to account it a good thing 9 method cap. 4. that the sick after blouding falls into a sound sleep Two houres saith he after hee was let bloud having given him a little meat and commended him to rest I departed And returning at the fifth houre I found him lying in a sound sleep insomuch as he did not feele me when I touched him Then comming againe at the tenth houre I found him still fast asleep Afterward having beene abroad to visit some other Patients I came againe in
for drinke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cuppe Seeing therefore the hornes which are carried about for the Unicornes horne are diverse in colour magnitude and figure it is probable that they come from diverse creatures Therefore whether it be the horn of the Indian Asse which Aelian commends or of the Rhinoceros or of some water creature it is all one so there be experience of the vertue of it Wherefore I would not curiously enquire whether it be an Unicornes horn or some other creatures so it be good and efficacious yea and it is no matter whether the creature hath two hornes or but one Yet it is most certaine as we have said before that Elephants teeth and Whale-bones and Sea-horse teeth and common hornes burnt and those which are digged out of the earth which we have spoken of and other counterfeit and artificiall hornes Elephants and Sea horse teeth commonly sold for Vnicornes hornes are commonly sold for the true Unicornes horne Cardanus saith that Elephants teeth may bee made so pliable by art that they may be made streight like hornes and so set out for the Unicornes horn Neither give eare to them saith Amatus the Portugall who when they goe about to try an Vnicornes horn do infuse the scrapings and powder thereof in water which they say forthwith is troubled and bubbles up for you may perceive the same to happen from the scrapings of any bone infused in water as you may make triall in Ivory So likewise we must take heed that wee doe not give credit to other such experiments which some use to prove the goodnesse of the Unicornes horne for they say that if poyson or some venomous creature be neare unto it it sweats as if it did suffer and were affected with the poyson as also they bid make a circle of the powder of it into the middle of which or into an hollow horn they put a spider which if she passe over they will have it to bee a counterfeit horn but if she burst and die it is naturall all which are false but enough of this CHAP. XXXIX Of certain distilled waters ordained amisse for to drive away feavers BEcause it is such an usuall thing here in England both for men and women to hoard up remedies for divers diseases and to communicate them to one another for secrets we will speak somewhat of certain feaver curing waters which many use especially for agues the which although sometimes they may do good yet many times they are hurtful and pernicious In some Physick-Authors also such waters are found described Quercetanus in his Pharmacopoeâ restitutâ as he calls it names two which he saith are speciall waters for all sorts of feavers especially agues but principally for bastard and exquisite tertians so confidently doe these Chymists make promises of health 1 ad Glauc 3 de simp med Galen himselfe prescribes worm-wood a very hot plant for Tertians and in another place he commends cammomile for the same There are some that will provoke sweat with such hot things And in generall all those waters that I have seen were distilled out of hot simples which adventurously they will use in any intermitting feaver many times to the great hurt of the sick First therefore it is to be noted that intermitting feavers are caused by divers humours both hot and cold unto which one and the same remedy cannot fitly be applyed Secondly seeing that every disease is cured by its contrary it is certain that cholerick humours are inflamed more and increased by the use of these hot remedies and so of an intermitting feaver it may become a continuall Thirdly the cause of an intermitting feaver most commonly lies in the mesentery veines the panereas and other the first passages which dregge it is too dangerous to bring into the habit of the body by such remedies lest the bloud of the veines be polluted especially in cholerick feavers whose cause is for the most part thin and very moveable Fourthly Galen forbids to use vehement and hot remedies in the beginning of a quartane ague which is caused by a cold and dry melancholick humour and he tels a story of Eudemus a Philosopher who in that he did unseasonably use triacle for a quartane ague of a simple it became a double quartane whom neverthelesse Galen cured with the very same remedy seasonably and rightly administred Therfore these hot things are good in those feavers only which are procreated by cold humours or in a bastard Tertian in which there is a great quantity of flegmatick humours mixed with the cholerick Aguish waters not to be used till the humour be concocted or when there are very gross and stubborne obstructions and the bowels very feeble and weakened but not before the concoction of the humour thus Galen for a quartane prescribes a medicine of succus cyrenaicus but not untill the humor is concocted So hee commends wormewood in a Tertian but utterly dislikes it before concoction In like manner and by the same reason these hot waters are to be rejected but after the concoction of the morbous humour in a stubborne disease they may be profitable Therfore these hot things are not to be rashly administred in feavers for one that had adventurously used them in a quartane feaver of a simple made it a double quartane as we said before And there is the same cause of feare likewise lest the same happen by the use of these waters The advise of a learned physician ever requisite Therefore let the advice and counsell of a skilfull learned and faithfull Physician bee alwayes taken who may appoint convenient times for all remedies Nor let the people rashly trust to their Receits as they call them for they are even the hand of God when they are administred by a skilfull Physician but as it were a sword in the hand of a mad man when one meddles with them who doth not well understand the rules of Physick CHAP. XL. That Iuleps and other cooling Potions are to bee administred in a large dose I Have often observed when Physicians prescribe Apozemes Juleps and other cooling potions for them that bee sick of feavers that the by-standers doe usually administer them in a very little dose as but 2 or 3 spoonfuls But here is to be noted that those remedies that are prescribed to prepare the humours are not of the nature of them that contain much strength in a very little quantity but contrary wise seeing they work by the first and second qualities unlesse there be a proportion in quantity betwixt the humour that is to be altered and the Physick it is but in vaine prescribed for if they doe notovercome the humour they are overcome by it and corrupted In a very hot feaver if the aforesaid Juleps be either altogether denied The necessity of cooling and altering juleps in feavers or but sparingly administred the body is dried by the heat of the feaver and decaies so as
the blood of the party wounded is joyned unto the ointment the spirits that are in the blood are by reason of sympathy joyned with the spirits of the ointment being both of the same kind and so doth take the vertues of the ointment and carry it unto the party wounded And not only the vertues of the ointment but also the affects which follow the administration of ointments which are such as happen either by a too strait or too loose ligature as also those which may ensue if a wound be left uncovered in a place that is either too cold or too hot And there is so much force in these spirits that they are able to conveigh the vertue of the ointment from the East into the West from the North to the South And Crollius calls them all fooles who think that this cure is Magicall and hee will have it to be done by a magneticall and attractive vertue caused by the starres which is carried unto the wound by the Aire being the Medium and that by reason of the sympathy of Nature and Balsame of bloud which is in every man and by reason of the influence of caelesticall bodies And thus Hartman explaines it when the weapon is anointed the salt of the blood which is on the weapon doth by a magneticall vertue draw the animal spirits out of the ointment which two spirits by the concurrence of the spirit of the world are friendly united into one But if the spirit which is in the bloud of the weapon cannot attract the spirit of the ointment without the annointing that is to say without reall contract how can it bee sayd to draw it with a magneticall vertue Now this spirit of the world hee will have to bee diffused throughout all things in the world to be that which carries the formes of seeds and all proportions which knits all things together and which applies actives to passives Hence it comes to passe that what commoditie or discommoditie that bloud congealed without the veines doth receive it is presently by sympathy communicated to its connaturall blood that resides within the veines Thence it is that the partie is in paine if the weapon bee held to the fire or exposed to the cold aire and contrariwise if the patient chance to eat Onions Mustard or Garlick it may presently be perceived in the weapon namely because those spirits doe communicate their passions one to another From what hath been premised it will be very easie to demonstrate the vanity of that manner of curing The vanity of curing by the ointment of which I confesse I never did nor yet desire to make any tryall Yet I doubt not but I shall plainly shew the frivolousnesse of it even from their own principles For instead of the ground-worke they lay downe many things that are very dubious and uncertaine as that which Hartman talkes of the spirit of the world which what or where it is no man as yet hath been able to demonstrate which saith hee is diffused throughout all things when but a little before hee had said that it is conveighed into these inferiour things by raine dewes and frosts and so in a clear and caime aire this spirit may be to seek when perhaps there would be most need of it And lest we should conceive it to be a spirituall and incorporcall substance he calls it Mercurius Mundi and questionlesse it must be corporcall which stands in need of corporeal means to carry it also he supposes the spirits to be perpetual and unalterable in the bloud although it be corrupted when notwithstanding the blood even in the body and veins may be so corrupted that it may lose its form much more without the veines and doubtlesse the bloud that is in the ointment hath quite Jost its form the efficacie of its spirits and so the analogie and sympathie of the spirits of the partie wounded and of the ointment is much weakened Now that some do call this a magicall forme of curing it is not improbable Probable arguments to prove it magicall seeing that vertue of curing which is sayd to be in the ointment doth stand in need of the spirit of the world to carry it that is to say the Divell who is called the Prince of the world But I rather thinke this manner of curing is false than magicall because many follow it which are very farre from that impious and detestable crime Nor matters it that experience confirmes the truth of this form of healing for onely such wounds have been healed which might have been healed by natures endeavour alone without any help of Art and therefore it may yet be questionable whether the cure were performed by vertue of the ointment or no as we shall manifest afterwards First then it is false that this ointment is a more speciall gift of God than other ointments remedies are It s not a special gift of God as is pretended seeing by their own confession the whole cure is done by naturall means We must needs confesse that every thing is the gift of God whatsoever we eat drinke or use for the health of mans body But in this sence they call it not the gift of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God hath miraculously taught it men as if every Science Art and all knowledge of remedies were not from God who hath created Medicine out of the earth But let us see whether this cure be possible or no. That there are great and divers sympathies and antipathies of things experience it selfe shewes the reasons whereof it is impossble to render Yet all things are contained and terminated within a certaine spheare of activitie Wee dayly see that the Loadstone drawes not iron but within a certaine distance I knew one that could not endure Cat to be in the roome although he saw her not but being put out of the chamber with a wall or doore between hee returned to himself again and so of all others There is no stronger antipathy then that which is betwixt the heavens and these inferiour things because it comprehends all things within its circumference and being of great force to act is able to dilate its qualities and vertues every way so that this inferiour orbe and every parcell thereof is within the spheare of the activitie of those caelestiall bodies yet we see that sympathy to languish by the distance of places The Loadstone tends to the Pole Artick but the further it is from the Pole the more it declines from it and so by little and little it tends not to the Poles of the world but to the Zodiack and perhaps rather to some other part of the heavens then to the North. If this bee true of the Caelestiall bodies it must needs be more true of these inferiour things Therefore how can the vertue of that ointment be carried so farre as sometimes it must be and not bee hindred by the interposition of buildings seas
them the vertue of curing seeing there are more spirits left behinde in the body in vaine is the vertue of the oyntment implored Fourthly it appeares from the circumstances that this is an unprofitable manner of curing For they say that from the too loose or too strait binding of the weapon the same symptomes doe happen in the sick which are wont to come by such tying when it is used to the body Now these symptomes doe proceed either from the oyntment or from the binding Not from the ointment because it hath power to heale but not to hurt Nor from the binding because an artificiall thing hath no power to work at distance and upon another subject then to which it is applyed And therefore because Crollius prescribes sundry formes of applying it the oyntment is to be subspected for in naturall things that curious manner of anointing cannot change the property and of beneficiall make it to become hurtfull as likewise appeares in the Loadstone Nor doth it depend on them both because the magneticall vertue of the oyntment seeing it is defined to be meerly naturall and is seated in the oyntment doth proceed from meanes that work naturally as are the simples of which it is compounded and not from artificiall meanes which depend meerely on the will of him that anoints with it Furthermore they say that whatsoever commodity or discommodity that spirit which is in the bloud of the weapon doth receive it communicates the same by sympathy to that which is in the veines thence it is that the Patient is in pain if the weapon bee exposed the heat of the fire or to the cold aire But thus not only the vulnerary vertue of the oyntment but also the externall cold shall have a magnetick quality which is an absurd thing to suppose So that noxious cold might be carried from the weapon to the Patient through a hot medium as in the greatest heat of Summer As if the weapon should bee anointed in a Northern Country and the Patient be in Africk in a hot Country suppose the weapon to bee cold the Patient likewise shall be cold in Africk yea perhaps being near the sire Now seeing that cannot bee done but by the aire as Crollius confesses the aire of the Northerne Countrey shall have power to refrigerate the aire in Africa which who sees not to be a grosse absurdity But I would demand further seeing there is such a mutuall sympathy of spirits and the maintainers of this magneticall cure write that on the contrary if the sick shall observe an ill dyet and eat garlick onyons and mustard it is presently discerned in the weapon If the Patient doe lye neare the fire in Africk very hot and the weapon be exposed to the cold aire in the Northern Countryes why shall rather the person wounded bee made cold than the weapon be made hot because they will have the spirits to communicate their passions one to another These externall accidents cooling or heating do happen to the spirits either from the oyntment or not If not then they will not affect the party because the oyntment is necessary for the magneticall vertue that is in it and not in the ambient aire or other externall things and through the oyntment alone is the communication of the vertues from the weapon to the wounded Nor from the oyntment for it hath neither power to coole nor heat they are therefore nothing else but externall things not permanent but are changed according to the alteration of the ambient aire for in a hot aire the weapon being well covered and bound both the spirits and the oyntment will be hot and the contrary Then I demand how it comes to passe that they are not againe refrigerated in the way by the aire for they may bee carried through such such a medium which is cold as the winds which are by nature cold passing through hot climates doe become bot as the South winds In like manner if one loose a few ounces of bloud by a wound or bloud-letting or bleeding or by some other meâ—â—es it is a woulder that bloud being changed and cooled that the person doth not feele such effects if there be such a great sympathy of the spirits among themselves that what commodities or inconveniences they receive from externall causes they communicate them to that within the veines and so those spirits being refrigerated have power to refrigerate and coole that body out of which they issued If one or two drops of the bloud on the weapon by the anointing of the ointment be of power to heat the wounded body if it be kept in a hot place by reason that the spirits themselves are hot it is a wonder that the rest of the bloud that was spilled which hath more spirits than this being left behind and exposed to the open aire doth not likewise at the same time refrigerate the body seeing that in a greater quantity there is alwayes greater vertue if that bloud be cast into the fire why shall not the Patient feele the heat of the fire or if that bloud be putrified how is it that the body also doth not putrifie if there be such a great affinity betwixt the spirits and the body out of which they issued In like manner if the weapon cannot be had they say it sufficeth to besmear another weapon or a willow stick with a drop or two of the bloud that comes out of the wound I demand therefore if when this viceweapon is anointed with the oyntment that weapon which made the wound be first cast into the fire or water why shall not the sick be in great paine be cold or hot For there is no reason why it should suffer rather from one part of the spirits than another It is absurd therefore to imagine that this heating or cooling is communicated by any magneticall power Hence the Reader may observe that whatsoever they say of the sympathy of the spirits among themselves is true with them only of that part of the spirits which they faine to be united with the spirits of the oyntment by the aanointing and all these symptomes whether good or evill which they say doe happen to the wounded doe arise from thence But the spirits which are in the remainder of the bloud that was spilled doe neither hurt nor good and so their sympathy is vanished when neverthelesse they are of the samekind with the other spirits And who can but thinke these things are magicall especially if the actions of Magicians be compared therewith A comparison betwixt Magicall operations and this salve Who knows not that it was an ordinary thing with Magicians to make waxen statues by the help of which they did much harm and especially which concerns this heating at distance Virgil writes in his Pharmaccutriâ Limus ut hic durescit haec ut cera liquescit Vâ—o eodemque igni isic nostro Daphnis amore In English thus As clay growes hard by fire and