great thirst Hippoc. forbiddeth drinke to them that are ready to go to bed because sleepe moisteneth sufficiently The third thing to be considered for the preseruation of health is exercise and rest Exercise is defined to be a vehement motion of the body whereby breathing is altered or wearinesse procured Galen sayth That all motion of the body is not to be accounted exercise but only that which is violent euen to the drawing of breath shorter Exercise is not safe in all bodies for if there be plethora or cacochymia fulnesse of blood in the veines or of some bad humors in the whole body there it may driue the superfluous matter into some principall part and so breed dangerous diseases or into the ioynts and procure extreame paines Therefore in this case the safest way is first to take away this fulnesse by opening a veine or by purging or by a slender diet and then to begin with gentle and moderate exercise increasing it dayly by small degrees for all sudden changes are dangerous as Hippocrates affirmeth The fittest time for exercise is the morning vpon an empty stomacke when the supper is perfectly concocted and fully digested for if any man feeleth any relikes of his supper after he ariseth in the morning it is farre safer for him to follow the counsell of Celsus and betake himselfe to sleepe againe than by exercise to send raw humours into the habit of the body Much more is that exercise to be condemned that is vsed soone after meat Galen sayth he that auoideth crudity and doth not exercise himselfe after meat shall neuer be sicke and when exercise is omitted before meat he teacheth a remedy for that parcius cibandum the meale must be th e lighter Hippoc. setteth forth the commendation of exercise moderatly vsed and at fit times in these few words Corpus robustum reddit It maketh the body strong And in another place he sayth Labour is to the ioynts and flesh as meat and sleepe to the inward parts Plato sheweth the benefit of exercise and the hurt of much rest Exercise strengtheneth Rest breedeth rottennesse in the body To these accordeth that of the Poet Cernis vt ignauum corrumpant otia corpus vt capiant vitium ni moâ—eantur aquae Idlenesse corrupteth a sluggish body as waters soone putrifie if they be not stirred Ludouic Mercat in commending exercise sayth it helpeth three wayes First it increaseth the naturall heat whereby commeth perfect concoction and plentifull nourishment Secondly the spirits thereby are caried with greater force which cleanseth the passages of the body and expelleth the superfluous excrements better Out of these two riseth a third commodity that the instrumentall parts of the body doe by this motion gather hardnesse and strength and are more inabled to resist the diseases incident vnto them The fourth thing to be obserued for continuance of health is sleeping and waking Of this is that aphorisme of Hippoc. Sleeping or waking exceeding measure are both ill This he further confirmeth in another place Too little sleepe hindereth concoction and too much is an enemy to distribution it hindereth the carriage of the chylus or iuyce of the meat into the veines by this grosse humors are ingendred the body made heauy and lumpish and the wit dull The night is much fitter for sleepe than the day because the spirits moue inward by reason of the darke I will not trouble you with the dissenting opinions of our authours about the maner of lying in sleepe it shall be sufficient to note that it is not good to lie all night vpon one side and that the worst maner oflying is vpon the backe The length of time allowed for sleepe is seuen or eight houres longer sleepe is required after a large supper than after a light Galen seemeth to allow nine houres for sleepe which Cardan a great patron of long sleepe taketh holde of Sleepe moisteneth the body therefore larger sleepe is permitted to drier bodies The olde rule of rising early presupposeth light suppers which are hardly warranted by Physicke but when full dinners go before or where there is some infirmity of the head Sleepe is not allowed vntil three or foure houres after supper for vpon a ful stomacke a whole cloud of fumes vapors ascend to the head in sleepe a great part wherof is dispersed in waking This reason doth inhibit sleepe after dinner as an vtter enemy to the head but when the stomacke is weake and the head strong a short nap sitting is allowed because it helpeth concoction by drawing the heat inward The fift thing for continuance of health is retention and expulsion of superfluous excrements at fit times Euery concoction hath it seuerall superfluity if any of these be reteined or kept too long in the body or expelled too soone or with great violence health is thereby impaired if the bowels empty not themselues at fit times the neighbour parts suffer offence thereby and the head also receiueth vnkinde fumes if the liuer and spleene want their timely vnloadings into the kidnies and bowels diseases of sundry sorts follow after if the kidnies and bladder holde their vnprofitable burdens beyond their iust times they are weakened by that heauy weight by extending the parts and by increasing of heat if sweat or insensible transpiration be hindered obstructions and putrefactâ—on succeed and after them agues of sundry kinds if any of there or any other humour rush out of the body with great force or issue quietly in too great quantity the naturall heat and spirits passe out with them whereby the whole body is weakened There was a custome amongst the Egyptians to empty their bodies with medicines three dayes together in euery moneth that no superfluous humour might hold long possession there By this it appeareth what great danger they esteemed it to nourish their enemies within the walles of their city But this course can not be iustified by the rules of physicke it agreeth farre better with health to preuent this fulnesse by a slender diet and moderate exercise The errours committed in these two are commonly the cause of the excesse and defect in this point The sixt and last thing is the affections of the minde the excesse of any of these ouerthroweth the naturall and perfect state of body as Galen affirmeth Plato held opinion that all the diseases of the body haue their beginning from the minde Moderate ioy and mirth do both preserue health and driue away sicknesse the spirits are thereby stirred vp heat is increased and the humours are extenuated and clarified Quintus Fabius that renowmed Romane captaine being twelue yeeres afflicted with a quartane ague was freed from it by the ioy of a victory obteined against Hannibal An ancient English poet singeth thus As long liues neuer thee as euer thee and a yere the longer for his meritee But
THE COPY OF A LETTER written by E. D. Doctour of Physicke to a Gentleman by whom it was published The former part conteineth rules for the preseruation of health and preuenting of all diseases vntill extreme olde age Herein is inserted the Authours opinion of Tabacco The latter is a discourse of Emperiks or vnlearned Physitians wherein is plainly prooued that the practise of all those which haue not beene brought vp in the Grammar and Vniuersity is alwayes confused commonly dangerous and often Deadly ECCLES 38. 1. Honour the Physician with that honour that is due vnto him for the Lord hath created him LONDON Printed by Melchisedech Bradwood 1606. THE PVBLISHER to the Reader GEntle Reader let it not seeme strange that I publish vnto thee a priuate letter There are three principall causes which haue moued me hereunto First a world of examples both of moderne and ancient Writers whose epistles perhaps priuatly intended as this was haue now their publike vse Secondly my loue vnto the Authour a man deseruing loue of all but specially of me vnto whom I am beholding next vnto God for that health which Ienioy Thirdly the woorth of the worke it selfe wherein looke not for hyperbolicall phrases or curious affectation for as in his life he preferreth deeds before words so in his writings shalt thou finde more substance than shewes Yet so hath he ioyned profit with pleasure sound discourse with sweet delight that if my loue deceiueth me not and some learned Physicians who at my request haue perused it as the Poet sayth Omne tulit punctum His rules of health vnto those that will be ruled by them are full of health his discouery of bastard Physicians will make wisemen beware their ignorance their arrogancie their rashnesse is here layd open not with iesting termes for that he accounteth no lesse than an artificiall iniury but with such euident demonstrations as he that hereafter shall know them and will not eschew them shall be deemed accessary to his own ouerthrow I haue named the former part Healths Preseruatiue and the latter A Discourse of Empiricks and vnlearned Physicians I wish as much good to come vnto thee by this my friends labour as was meant vnto my selfe Be thine owne friend Take heed of Empiricks And so farewell Healths Preseruatiue SIr I haue here sent you an answer to your kinde letters though not so soone as you expected yet assoone as my businesse and the large handling of the matter protracted farre beyond my first purpose would permit Your request standeth vpon two scuerall parts the one is To set downe rules and directions out of our Art for the preseruation ofhealth and preuenting of diseases the other is To deliuer my opinion concerning Empericks Touching the former though health be a precious thing and the greatest blessing belonging to this life yet the meanes of preseruing it are little thought of and lightly regarded of most that haue full fruition of it and are in their flourishing yeeres If this your request proceedeth from a resolution to obserue those things which you desire to heare Dignus es Nestoris annis Crotonis salubritate You are worthy oflong life and perfect health Some place their felicitie in honour some in wealth other in other things but if health be not a continuall attendant vpon these this supposed happinesse is soone changed into miserie An ancient Poet sayth O blessed health when thou art present all things flourish as in the Spring without thee no man is happy To this agreeth that of Pindarus If a man possesse riches ioyned with health and hath with them a good report there is no cause why he should desire to be a god Health is thus defined by Galen Sanitas est calidi frigidi humidi siccitemperies an equall mixture or proportion of the foure elements not equall by iust proportion ofweight of euery element alike which is called temperatum ad pondus but temperatum ad iustitiam such a proportion as is most agreeable to the preseruation and continuance oflife and health and as it were due by the right ofiustice The same author in another place sheweth more plainly what health is in these words We call that constitution of body health wherein we are not vexed with paine nor hindred in the actions of our life This perfect constitution is altered impaired two wayes the one by inward the other by outward ward things The inward are bred and borne with vs and it is not in our power to resist them they are in number three Drinesse continuall decay or wasting of the substance of our bodies and breeding of superfluous excrements Of these Galen discourseth at large in the foresaid booke but I omit them as things out of our power and come to the outward which haue equall or greater force to ouerthrow our health if they be lightly regarded and much vertue to preserue vs from sicknesse if we vse them rightly These are almost in our power and most of them may be obserued by vs if we endeuor to liue free from sicknesse That they haue ability to effect this it doth plainly appeare in the booke before cited in these words He that leadeth a free life and hath a care of keeping his health shall neuer be troubled with so much as a bile And in another place They which haue a good state of bodie and free transpiration and vse not too violent exercise and keepe their stomacke and liuer warme it is impossible for them to haue an ague This warrant of so great a Physician to liue vntill extreame olde age without any disease may moue you to a carefull and diligent obseruation of the rules required to this happy state of life These outward things are in number six The aire meat and drinke exercise and rest sleepe and waking expelling and retaining of superfluities and the affections of the mind All these are in our arte comprised vnder the name of Diet as Galen doth testifie in plaine words These are called things not naturall because they are not of the essence or nature of the body They are called by Galen Causae couseruatrices because they keepe and preserue the body in perfect health vntill it commeth lege adrastriae by ineuitable fate neere the graue being withered and consumed for want of moisture Of these six the aire hath the first place because our life beginneth with that and we haue a continuall vse of it as well by night as by day both sleeping and waking it is of it owne nature bot and moist but it is subiect to many alterations from the earth from the waters from the windes and from the heauens it ministreth nourishment to the spirits and cooleth them and receiueth their superfluous fumes it passeth by the mouth nose and arteries into the braine lungs heart and all parts of the body what substance or qualities soeuer be in it those it infuseth first into the spirits then
into the humours and so into the whole body Cleere subtile pure sweet and temperate aire lighteneth the spirits clarifieth the blood dilateth the heart and lifteth it vp with ioy and delight it preuenteth obstructions stirreth vp naturall heat increaseth appetite perfecteth concoction and inableth euery part to expell it superfluitie at fit times These are the excellent properties which Hippocrates Galen and other ascribe vnto a good aire Columella aduiseth them that buy land to regard principally the healthfulnesse of the aire lest they purchase the meanes of shortening their liues Also Aristotle counselleth that cities shuld be built in a pure clere aire Herodotus affirmeth the Egyptians to be the healthfullest of all nations because the aire of that countrey is so pure and not subiect to alterations as in other places The best aire is commonly about the highest places that aâ—e open towards the East for there the Sunne hath most perfection to clarifie it and the winde most power to disperse the grosnesse and superfluitie of it as Hippocrates testifieth S. Edmunds-Bury is the most famous place in this country for good aire Lelandus maketh it inferiour to no citie of the world for situation and the Physicians of Cambridge do vsually send their Patients diseased in the lungs to liue here whereby many haue recouered their health On the contrary part grosse thicke and impure aire receiuing continuall exhalations from moores fennes bogges and such like or being barred from the benefit of the Sunne and winde by hilles woods or other meanes is an vtter enemie vnto health for it oppresseth the heart infecteth the lungs dulleth the wit diminisheth naturall heat hindereth appetite weakeneth concoction and subiecteth the body to many other infirmities Therefore sith there is so great power in the aire both to preserue and ouerthrow a perfect state of body you are to haue a speciall care to liue alwayes in a good aire and also to auoid all obiects offensiue to the sense of smelling Here I may fitly giue you a taste of Tabacco for it is taken not much vnlike to the drawing in of aire by breathing and it hath great power to alter the body This Indian simple is hot and drie almost in the third degree as those that wrote first ofit affirme and the smell and taste do confirme In respect of the excesse of these first qualities it can not be safe for yoong and sound bodies though it yeelded pure nourishment for the diet of yoong men must be moist without excesse ofheat and in cholericke complexions somewhat cooling as Galen affirmeth but it is a strong purger as hath beene often tried by experience and an vtter enemie to most stomacks for a small quantity of it infused mooueth violently vpward and in many downward also In this respect it is very hurtfull to all sound bodies for Hippocrates sayth healthfull bodies do hardly beare any purging at all And Celsus in the very beginning of his booke hath these words Nourishment is fit for them that are in health and physicke for the sicke onely What though it be vsually taken by fume and not in substance or infusion yet that way it worketh the same effect in many and in all it draweth thin and moist humours which all beholders perceiue distilling or rather flowing from the mouth nose and eyes of the takers of it But admit that it doth not purge which is very euident yet it altereth the body much and how can that be done in yoong and strong men without hurt It consumeth the moisture and increaseth the heat of perfect constitutions as the fire and Sunne doe sensibly heat and drie things exposed to them Heat and moisture in their iust mixture are the preseruers of life if the proportion of heat be increased it consumeth moisture the faster if moisture be diminished there followeth a necessary decay of heat for it is maintained and fed by that as a lampe with oile therefore Tabacco being armed with the excesse of both these qualities professed enemies to youth doth exercise cruell tyranny vpon it Galen sayth Moistest bodies liue longest To this agreeth that of Aristotle They that inhabit hot countries are of shorter life for the heat of the Sunne draweth out much moisture from the body and the continuall drawing in of hot aire by breathing doth dissipate and consume it and consequently hasteneth a drie and withered distemper the messenger of death approching Doth not Tabacco then threaten a short life to the great takers of it The often drawing in of this hot and drie fume maketh them somewhat like those that liue in hot regions though this be not continuall as that is yet the heat and drinesse of this doth farre exceed that Plato would not allow yoong men to drinke wine though moderatly because it carieth them headlong to lust and anger Doth not Tabacco this much more Wine is hot and moist Tabacco exceedeth it farre in heat for from the excesse of that it hath the strong smell and fretting taste and it hath drinesse associated to it in stead of the others moisture Beside this Wine nourisheth Tabacco purgeth So it is euery way farre more hurtfull than Wine It is in greatest request amongst our yoonger and stronger sort of gentlemen and the quicker spirits and hoter complexions are caried most violently to the often taking of it being like to the yoong man that Horace describeth Euery man that hath but tasted of Naturall philosophy may easily comprehend it to be a dangerous and pernitious thing to cholericke constitutions it inclineth them to burning agues phrensies and hectikes or carieth them into an vntimely melancholy for the vnkinde heat of it exceeding the naturall heat of the bodie doth waste and destroy that and so breedeth a melancholicke distemper by the long continued vse of it Choler is like to a coale burning cleere with his full heat whose moisture as it consumeth so the heat diminisheth and in time it becommeth blacke drie and cold euen so the often drinking of this herbe doth by his vehement heat burne the cholericke bloud and maketh it grosse thicke and blacke This is wrought by small degrees and insensibly youth together with often powring in of drinke which is vsuall with them not suffering such alteration to be made in short time Galen sayth the best complexions haue the best maners and he writeth a whole booke to prooue that the affections of the minde follow the temper and constitution of the body What though that be specially vnderstood of the originall temperature that we haue from our parents yet as that changeth with our age naturally or accidentally by Tabacco or any other outward meanes so there is with that great change of the affections and inclinations of the minde As heat sharpnesse increase in the blood so do hastinesse and furie in the minde and when the blood
the matter of the disease is discussed by outward medicines and requireth neither of these two helps Sometimes there is a fit vse of fomentations and after them of bleeding as Hippoc. did when the disease could not be mitigated by these outward meanes he opened a veine the eighth day In many other cases it is necessary to take away a great quantity of bloud in the beginning therefore Heurnius sayth Blood can not be taken away too soone nor in too great a quantity if the patient be strong but in weaknesse it must be done often by small quantities In some bodies Arte forbiddeth taking away of any bloud though the patient be strong and inioyneth purging In some cases the passages are to be stopped and the humor to be made thicke after bleeding lest new matter should flow to the place affected After the flux is stayed then the weake parts are to be strengthened and the matter impact in the side to be prepared or tempered that it may be cast vp by coughing with greater facility Heere is a broad gate opened to a large field of medicines of sundry sorts as ointments plaisters syrups potions c. Some of these are very hot and much opening some very cold and binding In the vse of these and also of all the former things the Empirike is plunged into many doubts and the patient into as many dangers if he take away too little blood he taketh not away the disease if too much he taketh away life if he purgeth when he should open a veine or doth this when that is required he committeth a pernicious errour if he iudgeth not rightly of the humor abounding of the complexion c. of which only Arte is the competent iudge he can attempt nothing in the cure safely nor so much as appoint a fit diet If he prescribeth locall or outward medicines of too hot operation the heart is thereby inflamed the ague exasperated and life indangered If there be in them any defect of heat the matter of the disease is bound faster into the side and chest with as great perill If inward medicines be not proportioned to euery vnnaturall affect in the body and to euery offensiue quality as now heating then cooling now moistening then drying sometimes extenuating or making the humor thinne sometimes incrassating or making it thicke sometimes opening somtimes stopping c. the patient doth neuer receiue any good but commonly much hurt by them Neither is the Pleurisie only to be respected but there must be a vigilant eye vpon the Ague also which alwayes accompanieth the other and may kill the patient as well as the Pleurisie Moreouer there may be great malignity in the humor as Gesner reporteth in an epidemiall Pleurisie all died in whom a veine was opened and all liued that receiued cordials In the great variety of these doubts difficulties and distinctions there is a necessary vse of sound iudgement confirmed by long study and profound knowledge both in Philosophy and Physicke It is therefore cleere that the practise of Empiriks being destitute of these helps must needs be vnfit and full of perill It may well be compared to his that Forestus mentioneth who wrot out sundry receits ouer night and put them confusedly into a bagge in the morning when patients came to him after he had looked on the vrine he put his hand into the bagge saying to the party Pray that you may haue a happy lot and plucking out that which came first to hand he gaue it as a remedy for the disease Though our Empiriks haue a farre better colour for their practise than this was yet in effect they often agree But I proceed to lay open some few of their grosse and palpable errors in their practise for to speake of all requireth a whole volume I will begin with their mistaking of diseases a common errour with them exceeding dangerous to their patients Diseases are knowen and distinguished by their signes The knowledge of this is comprehended vnder the second part of Physicke before mentioned whereof because they are ignorant they must needs fall often into this fault This is seldome discouered but when rationall Physicians haue opportunity to looke into their practise then they see the disease taken to be in the liuer when it is in the lungs or kidneis to be in the heart when it is in the head or mouth of the stomacke to be in the brest when it is winde in the stomacke extending that region and many such What though they can iudge of the gout the palsie and the dropsie so can simple women doe but to iudge rightly of the causes and differences of these diseases of the manifold differences of Agues of simple and compound sicknesses and of sundry diseases of the head that requireth Arte which is not in any Empirike Hippoc. sheweth the misery that fel vpon many of the Scythians by mistaking their disease and the causes of it and thereupon by taking a wrong course in the cure of strong and able men they became as effeminate as weake women and spent all the remainder of their wretched life in the offices of that sex Heurnius reporteth that an vnlearned Physician by mistaking the cause of the disease put his patient into a bath wherein he died presently and the Empirike was iustly accused for killing of him Guanerius setteth forth the deadly error of another in the cure of a sicke man who after extreme intolerable paines ended his life A learned Physician hauing a melancholike patient depriued of the right vse of his inward senses amongst other things in the cure appointed his head to be shauen and then to be anointed and bathed according to arte an Empirike hearing of this cure gat the receit of the outward medicines vsed in it and not long after lighting vpon one sicke of a phrensic or inflammation of the braine thought it to be the same disease with the former because both the patients were madde therefore he followed the steps of the other with great confidence of the cure this grieuous error in mistaking both the disease and the cause of it brought the miserable man to a speedy and of his life farre more cruell to himselfe and more terrible to the beholders than the sicknesse could haue done The reason of this is plaine and euident to euery meane Physician The cause of rauing in the former was a cold humor in the latter a hot therefore hot medicines which were fit to cure the one were as fit to kill the other But admit the Empirike had beene called to the cure of the same disease proceeding from the same cause yet he could not haue obserued the circumstances which arte required and therefore his receit was vaine and vnprofitable If the course of these blinde practisioners could be obserued it would be found to be like to this in euery disease Our books are full
of such wofull examples A huge volume will not conteine all the tragicall histories of the sicke of this age manifestly killed by the ignorance of Empiriks being not able to discerne one disease from another or to distinguish of their causes or to proceed orderly in the cure The eye can not discerne colours but by the light nor Physitians diseases but by learning In the night not only indiui lua but species are mistaken as a man for a beast or a tree for either of them It is alwâ—â—es night with Empiriks ignorance is darknesse and knowledge is as the cleere light of the sun And doubtlesse the learned Physitian hath as great aduantage ouer Empiriks in discerning of diseases as they that iudge of the eyes obiect by the sunne ouer those that iudge of it by the starres They do the oftener fall into this errour because some diseases agree in two or three signes and yet are farre different The perfect examining and comparing of signes and referring of them to their seuerall causes can not be performed without Arte. But suppose they could distinguish of most diseases whereof they come farre short yet to know the disease is not one step to the cure vnlesse the method and maner of proceeding in it be as well knowen But to proceed in discouering their errours the two most effectuall and vsuall meanes for the cure of most diseases are opening a veine and purging The speciall obseruations that are required in both these are farre aboue the apprehension of vnlearned Empiriks therefore they can not vndertake any thing fitly and safely in either of them What a great regard is to be had in preseruing bloud in his naturall quantity and qualities is euident in that it giueth nourishment and strength to the whole body and it is as it were the meat whereby the natiue heat is fed as Galen sayth therefore it may not be drawen out of the body without mature deliberation The things that are to be obserued in opening a veine are reduced vnto ten heads these I must not mention because I labour to be short Many of these conteine such doubts and difficulties as require much reading and deepe knowledge Empiriks alwayes take away blood without due examination of these for how can they examine those that they know not therefore oft times they take away life also Experience their only mistresse can not teach the difference of diseases of complexions and of the rest What though they can iudge of them in a large latitude as to perceiue a difference betwixt a great disease and a light betwixt strength and weaknesse this euery ideot can do as when two plots of ground are obiect to the eye the one farre exceeding the other in greatnesse euery beholder perceiueth a great difference but the iust proportion of that difference can not be found out but by measuring them according to the rules of Geometry So Empiriks for want of learning can not iudge of these things in so strait a latitude as arte requireth But beside the foresayd ten heads other consultations are necessary whereof Empiriks are lesse capable than of the former as what veine is to be opened whether a large or small orifice be fitter what quantity of bloud should be taken whether it be safer to doe it at once or at sundry times whether emptying simply or reuelling or diuerting be required at what time of the disease it should be done how many things do inhibit opening of a veine or perswade delay The learned Physician is bound by the rules of his Arte to consult of all these and many other before he dare attempt so great a worke but the Empirike not foreseeing the perill of omitting these consultations runneth rashly into it and abuseth this excellent remedy to the losse of the life of many a patient as Galen plainly sheweth Errours in this kinde are obuious and common to them one openeth a veine vnder the tongue by following some English booke or imitating some learned Physician not knowing the obseruations necessary in that he attempteth in a squinsie the patient being full of blood and the disease in the beginning whereupon followeth present suffocation by drawing a greater flux to the place affected An other as ignorantly openeth a veine on the arme vpon the criticall day when there are signes of the crisis by bleeding at the nose by this action nature is crossed in her regular course and compelled to yeeld to the disease A third omitteth letting of blood in a sharpe disease sundry indications which he vnderstandeth not concurring to perswade it and none to disswade A fourth taketh away too little blood in a great disease or too much in a light All these Empiriks increase their credit out of these deadly errours by extolling their owne skill falsifying strange cures performed by them and affirming that if they had come in time they would not haue failed in the cure of these diseases now they had performed all that arte required the best Doctour in the land could haue taken no other course They that are eye and eare witnesses of these secret tragoedies can hardly suspect the ignorance of these confident and glorious Empiriks to haue beene the cause of them Thus you see Sir how infortunate or rather indiscreet they are that commit their bodies to the cure of an Empirike whose ignorance often bringeth death where the disease threateneth no danger at all It is a miserable thing when greater peril hangeth ouer the patient from the Physician than from the disease The countrey is full of such pitifull practise The Empiriks lance is oft times as deadly as the Butchers knife He that promiseth life with his tongue bringeth the instrument of death in his hand Therefore whosoeuer regardeth his life let him not suffer a veine to be opened without the aduice of a learned Physician In other cases where life is not presently indangered grâ—euous effects follow The taking away of blood from women and weake men casteth them into palsies gouts dropsies and such like diâ—eases Galen in many places doth inculcate the danger of opening a veine often it wasteth consumeth the spirits diminisheth naturall heat strength and hasteneth old age accompanied with many infirmities Yet the common people ignorant of this flocke together to Empiriks in the Spring to be let bloud as if it were a preseruatiue against all diseases Few or none are refused because they bring money few receiue good many hurt because the fornamed obseruations are neglected The blame of this publike hurt lieth iustly vpon the head of Empiriks who partly for their owne gaine and partly for want of iudgement haue led the multitude into this errour Touching purging as it is more common and vsuall than letting of bloud so the errours committed in it are as many and in many cases procure equall danger to the sicke It is called a great worke for it bringeth
knowledge of the Arte. Thirdly the maner of teaching differeth farre from the maner of practise and is not subiect to so many errours But on the other side as no Minister is able to confute a learned aduersarie that hath not skill at the least in the Latine tongue so no Empirike is able to encounter with sicknesse that great aduersarie to nature without weapons fetched from the Greeke or Latine tongue M. Latimer sayth in one of his sermons English Diuinity will neuer be able to expell Popery out of this land and it may as truly be sayd Englâ—sh Physicians can not cure English diseases The third reason is They do many cures Thâ—s maketh much for their credit with them that perceiue not the falshood of it All cures are artificiall naturall or casuall No man of iudgement can ascribe artificiall cures to them that are not Artists I am not ignorant that nature is sayd to cure all diseases nor how that is to be vnderstood but by naturall cures I meane those that are performed by the strength of nature alone without any helpe of medicines and doubtlesse many of their cures are of this kinde for when the disease is dangerous or vnknowen as it is often to them there the most circumspect of them commonly giueth some light medicine that hath no power to alter the body or mitigate the disease as is required this is as one sayth to leaue a ship in a great storme to the violence of the waues If in this case the patient recouer by the aid of nature then this fortunate Empirike and his companions extoll and magnifie the cure as if rare and extraordinary skill had beene shewed in it when it was meerely naturall By casuall cures I meane not such as are meerely casuall and beside the purpose of them that giue the medicines of this kinde are the histories in Galen of two desperately sicke of the leprosie to both which was giuen wine wherein a viper had beene drowned both the giuers had a purpose to kill them the one of compassion the other of hatred but both the patients were cured by the secret and admirable vertue of the viper Like to this is that which we reade of a woman that gaue her husband the powder of a toad to rid him out of a painfull dropsie but by the violent operation of the poison all the matter of the disease was expelled and the man recouered But by casuall cures I vnderstand such as are performed by hap or chance in respect of the Arte being done without order or method as when one shooteth neglecting all the fiue things required in an Archer and yet hitteth the marke this is a meere chance and falleth out seldome Such are the cures of Empiriks Fulnesse of blood in the veines and of ill humors in the body are the common causes of most inward diseases here the learned Physician first collecteth all the signes of the disease then he referreth them to their causes and hauing diligently reuolued in in his minde all the indications belonging to the Art he proceedeth to the cure by taking away the cause of the disease The Empirike in the same case not knowing how to gather the signes of the sicknesse much lesse how to referre them to their causes attempteth the cure without consultation and by a weake and inartificiall coniecture openeth a veine or giueth a violent purger by both which rash and vnaduised courses many lose their liues but when any recouer the cure may fitly be called casuall more by good hap than by learning Light errors in the cure of a disease doe neuer appeare in a strong bodie as Hippoc. saith nor in a light disease no more than the ignorance of a pilot in a calme but a great disease and a violent storme trieth the skill of them both Sometimes grosse and gricuous errors are obscured and hidden for where the strength of nature weareth them out and the patient recouereth his health the Empericke can neuer be stained with the blot of them Therefore since almost all inward diseases proceed from fulnesse some are cured in strong bodies by emptying though that be done confusedly and without Arte. But this reason is further inforced that sundrie sicke persons recouer vnder them which came out of the hands of learned Physitians This is no argument of their knowledge for in long diseases patients are commonly desirous of change when somtimes the cause of the disease is taken awaie before and nothing required but time to gather strength Moreouer they that are tired with long sicknesse do vsually submit themselues to a stricter course both of medicines and diet vnder their second Physitian and though nothing be administred in either of these agreeable to Art yet some few may escape as a shippe or two in the losse of a great fleet may passe by rockes and sands and aâ—iue at the wished hauen Also some that haue beene afflicted with long sicknesse are willing to submit themselues to a farre stricter course vnder their second Physitian than vnder their first and are easily induced both to abstaine from things hurtfull be they neuer so pleasing to them and to take that which is offensiue And although the best of these vnlearned Practitioners cannot prescribe diet or medicine fitting to the temper of the body and agreeing to the nature of the disease yet a slender diet of rosted meats and a drying drinke which is a common course with them all doth sometimes cure an old disease proceeding from a cold and moist humour though all things be done confusedlie without order or methode Fernelius affirmeth that some great and dangerous diseases haue had an happie end by a slender and strict diet onelâ—e without any Arte. And this is the reason why learned Physitians doe sometimes faile in the cure of diseases of this kind because intemperate patients will not be barred from eating drinking according to their appetite but as fast as the Physitian diminisheth the matter of the sicknesse by emptying so fast they renew it againe by filling Therefore a seruant that by the basenesse of his condition is bound to follow all that which is prescribed agreeable to the rules of our Arte is cured in a shorter time and with more facility than those which are free and wiâ—l not subiect themselues to ordinarie meanes An Empiricke then that hath opportunity to draw patients â—rom their owne houses where they haue all pleasant things at command and to bring them into his strict custodie may well heale some by abstinence onely as Plin. reporteth of one Iulius a Romane and Bâ—neuenius telleth of a patient of his both which were cured of a dropsie by abstaining from drinke Furthermore ignorance the mother of boldnesse maketh Empiriks more aduenturous in their practise and more hardy in the vse of strong and violent medicines by reason whereof they plucke vp the roote of some disease