painfull corrugations and farther Willis de cephalalgia lest the brain be invaded by the violent motion of the humours to the head and then which happens too frequently sleepy or convulsive diseases be brought on ¶ Some for inveterate Head-aches after once or twice purging fly to Quicksilver wherewith they rub the head and other aking parts These Men Encheir med pr. though sometime they remove the Pain yet they always increase the Cause and cool and moisten the brain more ¶ There are some that commend Empl. de Vigo cum Mercurio because it has been observed Ibid. that it hath put an end to an inveterate Head-ach having evacuated much phlegmatick humours by spitting ¶ Salivation terrifies several that are imployed in inventing dissuasives against it but experience dispels this vain fear Rolfinc meth spec p. 164. One that was sick of a grievous Head-ach and miserably afflicted with it being salivated recovered under our care and there was no sign of the Pox in him ¶ Willis in the place fore-quoted approves of Salivation in the Head-ach arising from the Venereal Disease In other cases he disapproves of it and produces some examples of ill success XXXVI An Oxyrrhodinum may not be applied in every Head-ach Abstain 1. When a Catarrhe is joined with it for the application of cold things increases the distillation and by its driness strains out the humour down to the Breast yet Trallianus allows it when the Head-ach has its original from the violent heat of the head which draws the humours like a Cupping-glass from the whole body this way it does good by taking away the cause 2. When plenty of gross humours or vapours cause the Head-ach in which case Oxyrrhodina doe more harm by obstructing than good by Repulsion 3. If the Head-ach be critical you may reckon it critical if in a Fever it fall upon a critical day if signs of Coction have preceded yet if the Crisis should be by Vomit they may safely be applied otherwise if Bleeding at the Nose were drawing on by driving back you would cause Death 4. They doe harm if bloud or another humour be firmly settled in the head for then Digesters must be made use of as Galen 13 m. m. 6. adviseth 5. In a Head-ach that is malignant or contracted from the Bite or Sting of a venomous Creature the Venom must rather be drawn outwards by Rarefiers XXXVII In the Head-ach caused by heat the juices of Purslane Housleek Kidney-wort and other things of the like nature Hollerius Perioch 2. but these things must be fresh not parched with heat and without juice Vinegar is good in Liquours but it is forbidden to Children and tender Bodies XXXVIII It is known that some Empiricks rashly undertake that they can cure all sorts of Head-aches with their Cephalick waters whereby many have been brought into perpetual tortures in their head I knew a Nobleman then but young who suffering a violent Head-ach from the ebullition of hot bloud through some bodie 's persuasion washed all his head in very strong Aqua vitae but by this unskilfull advice he was almost cast into Madness Oethaeus XXXIX Castor asswages pains in the Head coming from the Womb saith Hippocrates lib. 7. de Epidem and lib. 6. Great pain about the forepart of the Head and what-ever others arise from the Womb. Now indeed that Diseases by Sympathy are removed by curing what is first in fault and that this is the legitimate way of their Cure is very well known But Castor is commended for all Uterine Diseases I say those that are improperly called Uterine such as Fits of the Mother whether they be caused by suppression of bloud or seed or by wind by the joint consent of all Physicians Hippocrates in lib. de morb mulier makes frequent mention of it for the same purpose lib. 2. he prescribes Castor or Fleabane Therefore Castor taken inwardly cures the Head-ach from the Womb but then it cures Diseases of the Womb that are accompanied with the Head-ach i. e. Suppressions of the Menstrua retention of Seed and of the cold juices and wind Nor does it cure all Diseases of the Womb but onely cold ones for it will rather increase Inflammations and the Erysipelas Wherefore since the head-may ake for Inflammations of the Womb it is clear that Castor cures not all Head-aches from the Womb but such onely as come from its cold Diseases Vallesius Epid. p. 865. such as Galen affirms Fits of the Mother to be XL. It may so happen that a Disease of the head or of any one place may increase or grow better with the Disease of another part or place nor yet for all this be affected by Sympathy from that other part for it may chance that matter may flow from the self same fountain to divers parts at once and there may be no pain in the part that sends it nor any thing amiss known or perceived there As Hippocrates observed it happened to Agesius his Daughter 6. Epid. 3.4 who when she had a pain in her hip was oppressed with an Asthma and when her pain was eased she took her breath well Now seeing there is no communication between the Hip and the Breast it was very reasonable to suspect that the humour ran into each part from the same place and was dispersed at the same time The flux might be from the Brain or it might be from the Womb And therefore when two effects happen together a man must diligently observe whether the communication be from the head or from some other place Although Galen in his Comment upon this place says that an Imposthume was broken in her breast and when she had raised the matter her Asthma seased but upon small ground for it is more reasonable to think that in a Woman newly delivered the pain in her Hip came from the Ligaments of the Womb and her Asthma from the Sympathy of her Breast with the Womb and especially when she did not cleanse well which caused both these Ails and both these Accidents ceased when she did clease For the Womb in Lying-in-women is the occasion and root of all their Evils Casper Cald. lilustr Obs Med. 8. l. 2. and there is a great Sympathy between the Genitals and the Breast XLI That it is requisite the outer substance of the Brain and the Cerebellum should be open to the end the most spirituous part of the Bloud may penetrate it and be as it were percolated through it the cold of the Air Water or Snow vehemently affecting the head seems to prove after which not onely a Rheum but a more spare production of Animal Spirits uses to follow But whoever upon taking such a cold do let bloud or think to take away the cause of this evil by purge or vomit they indanger their Patient's life as I have more than once seen it done by men Sylvius de le BoeÌ p. m. 402. that are
be long before the Abscess be opened the Antecedent Matter sticks in the head when the Conjunct will not make way for it for that without hinders that within Idem IV. When the Abscess is opened we must abstain altogether from evacuating and diverting Medicines and must use only Clysters As also we must insist on Attenuants to wit store of Julepium Acetosum Idem with respect to the febrile heat V. In Parotides that come after other great Diseases I use burning in the very tumor presently without expecting any suppuration For we can no way better prevent the falling back of the swelling than if the Matter be purged out by the Ulcer which is inflicted Vallesius VI. One would scarce believe did not Experience testifie it what virtue there is in Quick-Silver which some reckon cold and moist to dissolve and discuss swellings of the Ears or any other Swellings Therefore it may safely be mixt in Cataplasms for it will not repel the Humour that is the cause of the Parotis inwards Ench. Med. Pract. but will discuss it by insensible Transpiration VII A young Man otherwise of a good Constitution being ill of the Parotides behind his Jaws was taken ill with a Fever Upon which he grew worse because perhaps they began to ripen and the Physicians taking little notice of it he was let Blood in the Arm after which the Swellings immediately went in difficulty of breathing followed his Fever increased much on the sixth day Exanthemata came out Rumlerus obs 56. with great weakness and within a little while after the Patient died VIII The Abscess may be opened with a Knife if the Patient be young his innate Heat brisk and if the Tumor be rather Phlegmonous or mixt with Bile than Oedematous or mixt with Phlegm Nor is the Knife always so safe that is when a Man is old the Native heat weak and the Febrile strong and the Humour the cause of the Swelling enclining to cold for then a Wound may cause a Gangrene for which reason we use a Cautery in stead of a Knife Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. Take of old Hogs Lard not salted 3 ounces Butter 1 ounce Wax 2 ounces burnt Oyster Shells powdered 2 ounces Fontanus Make a Plaister It is most effectual to discuss the Parotides 2. This is an admirable Unguent to asswage and dissolve Take of Oyl of Henbane expressed 1 drachm Oyl of Chamaemil distilled half a drachm of Saffron distilled 5 grains Hertod Mix them Partus or Womens Labour The Contents Whether Bleeding in the Foot help a hard Labour I. Where a Child may be cut out of the Mothers Belly II. Strong Emeticks help III. When the Childs Head pitches above the Os Pubis how it may be reduced IV. The Woman must be refreshed V. Violent forcing Potions are dangerous VI. If a Woman go with a live and a dead Child which must be delivered first if they both make way alike VII Quick-Silver given with success VIII How Labour may be made easie when the Bones will scarce part IX How we must help Swooning X. The Eagle-Stone tied to the Thigh must presently be removed after delivery XI Some must be left to Nature XII What way things that promote the Birth do act XIII Facilitaters of the Birth properly so called must not be given till the Child is ready to be born XIV Reduction of a vitious posture not always possible XV. Medicines I. HIppocrates 1. de Morbis Mulierum prescribes a Remedy for hard Labour almost omitted by all it is Bleeding in the Foot But if saith he a Pregnant Woman be kept a long time and cannot bring forth but is in Pains of Travel for several days If she be young and in her full strength and abound with Blood a Vein must be opened in the Foot and Blood taken away respect being had to the strength Although this be never put in practice by Practitioners but is rather dreaded because strength is absolutely necessary in Travel which is much weakned by Blood-letting Yet if difficulty of bringing forth arise from a Plethora which Hippocrates seems to intimate when he says if the Woman be young and in her full strength and abound with Blood no doubt but it may do much good seeing the Veins when they are full of Blood use to make all the inner passages much narrower therefore in the Nephritick Pain the like Bleeding often does wonders Riverius and facilitates the exclusion of Stones contained both in the Kidneys and Ureters ¶ In those that have hard Labour I have let Blood with great benefit Rondeletius ¶ It were better in the sixth or seventh Month to extenuate and lessen the Foetus by a spare Diet and Bleeding especially if the Woman be with Child of a Girl for Girls when they are born are always fatter than Boys Idem II. Many things are commonly disputed about a Caesarean Birth Bauhinus his Opinion to me seems probable who in his Preface to Fr. Roussetus his Book proves by Reasons That by no Art the Child can be cut alive out of the dead Mother And though an Example be brought such as Crato l. 5. f. 371. mentions out of J. C. Arantius he thinks the Mother was wronged before she was dead or it happened by chance that is the Surgeon by chance hit on that very last point of time when the Soul was just going out of the Body Sennertus seems not to be of this Opinion and he says the Child has a Soul which makes its Body to survive the dead Mother And though he seems there to have given an Epitome of Roussetus yet he contradicts not Bauhinus his Reasons nor according to his custom examines them Horstius also in Fab. Hildanus says the Child in the Womb lives not by its own Liâe but its Life depends upon the Mother which the Anatomy of an Infant does demonstrate and he gives a further demonstration Laurentius fol. 324. Anat. demonstrates the same where he had proved before That a Child in the Womb neither breaths nor breeds Vital Spirit Hoeferus Herc. Med. l. 7. c. 4. nor do the Heart and Arteries beat of themselves and therefore all parts belonging to these things as also all that belong to the first and second Concoction are idle in the Child and useless but all these things are communicated by the Mother ¶ We must know there are three cases in which we may think of this Chirurgery 1. When the Child is dead and the Mother alive 2. When the Mother is dead and ãâã Child alive 3. When they are both alive In the first case it is not necessary to expose a Woman who cannot easily be delivered to manifest danger Because if it cannot be got out by Surgery Nature has found other ways by the Anus Navil Groin as Histories do testifie The second case frequently happens That the Embryo is condemned to darkness before it see the
contrary affirming that in those who have never had any Flux of Blood by the Veins of the anus nor had them swelled yet an evacuation by setting on Leeches ought to be tryed namely in the Melancholy Pleurisie Head-ach Fevers distempered Spleen faults of the Kidneys and many others Aquapendent confirms his Opinion 1. By the Authority of Galen 4. Aph. 25. who writes that Blood expelled above what such soever it be is bad but below and by the Hemorrhoids good when Nature has heaped up much such Blood namely if the evacuation be moderate and be born well 2. By Experience which shews that Nature does often thereby free the Body from many Diseases and that she ought to be imitated 3. Those Vessels are naturally framed for this use that what hurtful thing abounds in the Body may be evacuated by them 4. That an evacuation made by Nature or the Physician as often as hurtful matter is present is good and not to be disallowed 5. That if one might not take away melancholick Blood by the Hemorrhoids then neither should a Vein be opened 6. That Nature is the curer of Diseases and so to be imitated and we often see her to open these for evacuating superfluities and therefore that 't is very fitting to attempt the same by Art Heurnius XIV In the mean time it is much to be heeded which Hemorrhoids are to be opened by Leeches and what Humours offend or where For if the Humours offend in the Vena cava it is more fit to open the external Hemorrhoids though they used not to bleed before if so be they swell Yet the same may also be opened if they swell or used to bleed although the vicious Humours lurk in the branches of Vena portae viz. because of the consent and inosculation of the internal and external Hemorrhoids though then if it can be conveniently done it is more profitable to open the internal whether they swell or not for the reasons produced by Aquapendent But let not the external be opened unless they swell seeing Nature endeavours not to expel any thing this way Idem ¶ But has the distinction of the internal and external Hemorrhoids a foundation Yea verily If you would take away thick Blood from the hemorrhoidal Veins so that the Vena Portae may be unloaded apply the Leeches towards the Rump-Bone and more towards the inside of the Arse-gut if you think upon emptying the Vena cava only you shall draw Blood from the sides of the anus and towards the Perinaeum Riolan Auth opogr and superficially XV. Yet in the mean time the difference of Natures and Countreys is to be consider'd here as Aquapendent admonishes For the opening of the Hemorrhoids is celebrated in Italy and the Southern Parts with greater benefit because the Inhabitants thereof have a more hot and adust Blood and therfore they are more subject to the flux of the Hemorrhoids than Northern People whose Blood is colder and the Hemorrhoids less familiar Though experience proveth that here the blind and swelling are frequent enough especially in them that are subject to hypochondriacal affections and the Scurvy which therefore it is necessary to open for the evacuation of the feculent and melancholick Blood that falls down toward the lower Parts Idem XVI It is to be observed that the Womb has great consent with the hemorrhoidal Veins because upon the retention of the Terms and Child-bed Purgations these Vessels swell very much Yet that they are not necessarily to be opened in affections of the Womb appears because the Blood redundant in this part may be discharged by proper Vessels and that far more safely for although those Veins may be easily opened yet they are hard to be clos'd again And if the Childbed Purgations succeed not they may be evacuated by proper uterine Purgers XVII Zacutus l. 3. Prax. Admir Obs 59. diligently admonishes us that the blind Hemorrhoids the painful the swelling and inflamed are in no wise to be scarified lest incurable and fistulous Ulcers follow Neither are they to be opened by Phlebotomy lest there follow an irreparable flux of Blood carrying a man off quickly Bringing the Example of a melancholick young man and of Don John of Austria Son to Charles V. Emperor both of whom having their Hemorrhoids opened with a Lancet and a large flux of Blood following died within a few hours And commending Leeches as safer Yet some famous Physicians are not afraid of opening them by a Lancet amongst whom are Massarias Sylvius P. Argellata Matthaeus Martini Yet the Lancet as also the incision made by it must be very small lest there happen a larger evacuation of Blood than is agreeable to Nature or can easily be stanch'd Severinus prefers the hooky prickle of the Fuller's thistle to which a piece of a leaden bullet is fitted that it may be thrust in the more steadily Heurnius XVIII That we may not always open them in Diseases of the Spleen will thus appear In Diseases of the Spleen we draw the Humours either out of the bowel it self or out of the neighbouring Vessels If out of the bowel then the opening of these Vessels is in vain for they have valves that hinder the flowing out of the Blood of the Spleen whatsoever Blood is drawn out by these it all comes from the Coeliack Artery and nothing from the Spleen But if we have a mind to empty from the neighbourhood in like manner the opening of these Vessels does not always profit for there are three sorts of Melancholists The first abound with that thick and sad juice all their Body over The second have lost their appetite and the last have it In the two former because all the ramus splenicus and Coeliack Artery are obstructed no benefit is had therefrom but the last do often find much relief for when these Vessels are opened the Coeliack Artery may discharge by them its abounding Blood and so the Spleen may be lighten'd Walaeus m. m. p. 86. Who thence infers that in these last Melancholists they may indeed be open'd but without all necessity for one Vomit he says can do more than ten times opening of these But seeing Nature does often of her own accord unlock the Hemorrhoids with advantage to Health why may not Art also in imitation try the same thing for Nature by opening these uses to deposite by them the faeces of the Blood as if a Purge had been taken which returning by intervals preserves not only from melancholick Diseases but others also the most dangerous It cures an hardned Spleen 6. Epid. 6. 8. dissolves Melancholy 6. Aph. 11.21 22. and all abundance of Humours is purged out by its vertue Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 16. p. 242. XIX In continual and malignant Fevers Aquapendent says an evacuation by the Hemorrhoids does more good than bleeding in the Arm because the larger branches of the Cava in which the offending matter sticks may thus
Fever seeing all the mischiefs to continue vigorous I advised to take eighteen ounces of Blood from him whereupon they all began so to decline that two days after there remained no foot-step of them From another Youth that was sick of the same disease but without a Looseness I ordered a pound of Blood to be taken When I order'd it it was the fourth day of his sickness but the second after the eruption of the Exanthemata and on the fifth day from the beginning of the disease he returned again to his usual occupation ¶ But in curing Exanthemata that arise without a Fever or which precede it such as were observed in many in the Summer of the Year 1575 both in Women and Youths and grown Men namely very thick Prominences all the Body over that were broad hard reddish or pale such as those caused by the stinging of Nettles sometimes with itching sometimes without seeing there is no Physician almost but presently flies to the proposed remedy there is therefore nothing remaining to speak of these save that it is an errour to Purge before Bleeding seeing the said disease for the most part happens from the effervescence and redundance of the Blood and in case of costiveness Clysters are to be used What I have said of Exanthemata breaking forth with a defective Crisis take the same things as spoken of Parotides Bubo's and other Abscesses of the like sort breaking out before the due time namely that it is best to let Blood in such case viz. Leon Botallus lib. de curat per s m. cap. 5. When the Fever neither grows less nor increases upon their breaking forth for this I have found to be very profitable in many c. XXX Phlebotomy uses often to amend the mixture and temperature of the Blood but in a manifold or several respect For 1. If any Heterogeneous thing be confounded with its Mass namely which can neither be rightly subdued nor easily separated and thrown off the Blood that flows out upon opening a Vein does often carry forth so much of that Matter with it that the remainder may either be conquered or expelled 2. The Blood departing from its temperature is often restored by Venesection for when its Mass hath degenerated from a fixt Sulphur or Salt or from both of them exalted together into an Acrimonious Salt or Salino-Sulphureous by letting forth a portion of the Blood there presently arises a new fermentation of it and often there is caused such a change of all the particles thereof that thereupon the Spirits do a little emerge with the Volatil Salt and recover their dominion the fixed Sulphur and Salt being subjugated as they ought to be For this reason it is that Bleeding often brings great help not only in Fevers but moreover in the Scurvy Jaundise yea in the beginning of a Phthisis or Consumption for the Blood after the Vessels are emptied like the Stomach unloaded does better concoct or assimilate all the humours received into it and what is Heterogeneous it the easilier separates and dischargeth But if the Crasis or mixture of the Blood begin to be much loosed and spoiled as in the Plague and Malignant Fevers abstain wholly from Venesection because by letting of Blood the store of Spirits is diminished which alone can free the Mass of Blood from putrefaction and corruption and so all things tend presently to a destructive dissolution Moreover if the Dyscrasie of the Blood be such that the more noble principles to wit the Spirit volatil Salt and Sulphur being depressed or wasted the watry and earthy particles are predominant the Blood ought by no means to be let out but to be preserved as the treasure of life Because when the Spirits are but few every loss of them causes all the faculties to stagger and strengthens the disease as in a Dropsie Cachexy Consumption and in other diseases where the active principles are greatly deprest to open a Vein is almost the same thing as to cut a mans Throat In the aforesaid cases where the Crasis of the Blood is respected it will be easie to determine whether Bleeding be convenient or no but in some others as especially in a continual putrid Fever when life and death turn upon this hinge there needs the greatest deliberation We must consider the state of the Blood the tendency of the morbifick Matter and the strength of Nature 1. If in a putrid Fever the Blood aestuating very much shall raise a great heat with thirst watching and drought in the Throat and there appear no eruption of plentiful Sweat or of Exanthemata nor is shortly expected Venesection is so plainly indicated that it is not lawful to omit it But on the contrary if in a languishing Body there arise a Fever that is slow and remiss yet continual with a weak pulse abstain from Bleeding and get the Fever off by Sweating Urine and Blistering In a middle state of the Blood and of the Fever Bleeding is indifferent of it self and it is to be determined by other respects Therefore 2. We must consider the tendency of the morbifick Matter or its impetus which if it be sluggish in the morbifick Matter and unfit for Secretion and so as it often uses making a translation into the Head instead of a Crisis threaten the Brain and Nerves Bleeding is seasonably made use of for preventing these mischiefs But if this matter being suddenly excited into a violent motion and either rushing inwards into the Viscera of the lower belly cause cruel Vomiting or dysenterical distempers or else being driven outwards seem about to produce the small Pox Measles or other breakings forth every such Impetus of Nature if good ought not to be disturbed if bad not aggravated by Bleeding For in these cases to let Blood is not only dangerous but oftentimes ignominious 3. As to Bleeding in a doubtful case we must moreover have regard to the strength of the Patient For in a sound constitution Youthful age the beginning of a disease and when the faculties both vital and animal are as yet in a brisk and indifferent condition Bleeding ought to be confidently prescribed Willis posth oper sect 3. c. 1. unless something contra-indicate But when it shall be otherwise as to these conditions proceed not rashly to this evacuation XXXI Avicen denieth that Blood is to be let in the beginning of diseases because thereby the noxious humours are then extenuated and impelled through all the Body and are so mixed with the pure Blood that nothing of the offending humour is brought forth with the wholesom juice lib. 1. fen 4. c. 20. Likewise lib. 3. tr 2. c. 7. in the cure of the Foot-gout and Sciatica he would not have us to let Blood in the beginning Because Phlebotomy says he stirs up the humours and makes them run into the Body and does not extract that which is necessary to be extracted So lib. 4. tr 2. cap. 42. in the cure of a burning Fever he
this of Seneca What uses to be done What ought to be done may in general be given in charge and written Such Advice may be given not onely to people absent but to Posterity This other When a thing should be done or in What manner no Man can advise at a distance deliberation must be taken with the things themselves But how can that Art well proceed by the conduct of Reason alone which by the Ancients was reckoned among Conjectural ones that is among such as do not always and every where obtain their end how expert soever the Artists are and practice never so exactly according to Rule It has not says Hippocrates lib. de Arte. as other Arts have things that are tractable for its Matter A Physicians subject is Man's Body not altogether so obedient but rebellious and intractable Many things happen which render the event of the Art uncertain and dubious and therefore make the Art it self Conjectural So according to Celsus l. 2. de re Medica In Physick what ought to be done is not perpetual yet something which it is convenient to follow is perpetual When a Physician is thus in the Mire Hippocrates lib. de Praecept that Physician will not behave himself unbecomingly who when his Patient's case seems dangerous and he is blinded chiefly by unskilfulness calls other Physicians that by friendly conference the Patient's case may be stated aright and they may together give their assistance to the cure For in the Violence and Constancy of affliction when the Disease increases through want of Advice the Opportunity of many things fit for the present occasion is slipt In truth the Consultations of Physicians are not useless and supervacaneous seeing in all Plenty there is Want says Hippocrates For how erudite and experienced soever the Physician is besides though he have a Wood of Medicines yet he is but a Man he may be deceived err slip and stumble sometimes on the plainest ground because of the incomprehensible variety of Particulars about which he is conversant And we say commonly In a Physician 's Work two Eyes see better than one as Zwingerus expresses himself comment in lib. cit Because even the Variety of things requires some Animadversions it is good for every one to know what he must most avoid and when as Celsus says very well Now either a Man's Fellows are taken into Consultation or such as have committed to Writing what in their Practice of Physick they have observed to be singular about their particular Patients and do offer to us the Knowledge of those Means whereby this or the other Man has obtained his health and this not in a single Disease always but in complicate contrary or opposite Diseases by which very thing General Rules are put in Use in a particular Subject Among them who have been eminently laborious in this Service Ludovicus Septalius of Millain is chief he published his Cautiones Animadversiones Medicae wherein as he himself says the Manners as it were and the daily Discipline of the Art are contained A Piece of that Excellency that Johannes Rhodius in Cista Medica Thomae Bartholini advises every one when he begins to practise Physick not onely to reade it over and over but by degrees to enlarge it with other Mens and his own Observations I being moved with this Advice did ten years ago publish some Medical Cautions and Animadversions taken out of Gulielmus Ballonius his Works digested in the same order as those of Septalius by the Title of Pharus Medicorum quite omitted in this present Work because another Edition larger by a third part and of a better Print is ready every moment for the Press I left out Septalius also himself and the worthy Rhodius who to fill up the Vacuities in Septalius published his Collections and Notes taken out of the Treasury of several Physicians He is sparing of his Words rich in Sense and Matter comprehending Cases in short Periods and onely touching the Heads of them which Cases I thought it the best way to describe at large as they occurr in Authours leaving him in a manner untouched that I might not seem willing to rob them of a Book of immense use who love short Treatises What things I had gathered in my reading of abundance of Authours I gave them the form of an Index and digested them in an alphabetical order after the example of those famous Men Joh. Andr. Schmitzius in suo Medicinae Practicae compendio and Dr. Thomas Burnet in his Thesaurus Medicus Practicus not according to the usual placing of Diseases according to the parts of Man's Body to the end the Physician may the sooner find what he looks for The Work recommends it self for its usefulness and novity For the Inventions of modern Anatomists have given a great deal of Light to the Methodus Medendi and have made it far plainer out of whose Treasury I have brought a great many things hither Certainly no small Light has been given to it since the Circulation of the Bloud has been discovered since the Thoracick Ducts Lymphatick Vessels Salival Glands c. have been found Add to these the Industry of Chymists which has furnished us with far more safe wholesome and gratefull Medicines Chymistry the most liberal Dispenser of practical Felicity does adorn bless and ennoble Mankind with many Benefits says Rolfinccius Dissertat Chymicorum prima I have compiled this Work out of many ascribing to every one his own The Observations that have no Authour's Name affixt to them crept hither out of my own Diary Some perhaps may blame me that I have made this up onely in a manner of borrowed things But if many Authours be perused it will appear that they plowed with another Man's Heifer Some blame Mercatus his voluminous Works as made up of several For he as Julius Guastavinius lib. 2. locor in Med. select observes transcribed many things out of Jacotius Fernelius Salius with very few Alterations and all out of Brudus Lusitanus Lazarus Riverius compiled his Practice out of Sennertus Thomas à Veiga Salius Varandaeus Zecchius Joh. Hartmannus Enchiridion Medicum Practicum and others Some have given their helping hand to the like Work by shewing the Mistakes of Physicians as Cardan Sanctorius Lazarus à Soto Mercatus out of whom Augerius Ferrerius took a Volume of Castigationes Medicae assuming them to himself I reckoned it a piece of Justice to render to every Man his own nor indeed could the Design well otherwise be finished Maximus in Cedrenus gives his judgment concerning Writers of Books Books says he are commonly written to these ends either for a Man 's own Memory or for others Good or for both Sometimes also to hurt others either to shew ones Wit or because Necessity so requires Certainly they deserve Commendation who study their own and other Mens Benefit and the publick Good as they often pay for their Rashness who gaping after Glory expose themselves to the uncertain Lottery
which Bonetus and Waltherus quoted ever were or are ever like to be in the English Tongue So that for this very Reason the Translation may deserve a higher Esteem among mere English than the Original among the Learned since these can understand the Principal Authours without an Interpreter the other cannot and so for want of one were it not for this Book might live in Ignorance of many Excellent things The Authour Bonetus is an ancient Dr. of Physick in Geneva a Man of great and succesfull Practice and of infinite Learning as other of his Works but this especially do shew He dedicated this to a Noble Personage of this Land as you may see before And how can we more gratefully acknowledge his kindness than by letting our Countrey-men understand how generous it is to all Men in his publishing so usefull a Work in Latine and in particular to our Countreymen in his dedicating it to a Noble Earl of our Nation Now because the Alphabetical Disposition of the Diseases according to the Latin Tongue will not be serviceable to the English Reader we have made an English Index whereby you may find the Disease which you want in the Book and then run but over the Contents and you will meet with your Case And after all I appeal to the Learned Whether these two Books both of which are valued by such when they are made One be not a Book of the greatest use in Physick that has ever been published in any Tongue and much more in English Farewell A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK I. Of Diseases beginning with the Letter A. Abortus or Miscarriage The Contents It ought not to be procured for the remedying of any diseases the woman with child is troubled withall I. How a simple voiding of bloud may be distinguish'd from it II. The distinction of its causes according to the times that the woman is gone with child III. The symptoms that use to accompany it require the providence of the Physician IV. How the concomitant Symptoms may be cured V. A prevention of it by frequent bloud-letting VI VII Plasters apâly'd are not to be kept on long VIII When there is occasion for Adstringents and when for Looseners IX An instant Abortion is not always to be hasten'd from the example of one that was prevented X. When it is imminent medicines that are hot must be mixed with Adstringents XI Sometimes Adstringents are onely to be applied to the Loins XII Remedies applied below are safer than those taken in at the mouth XIII Wine to be abstain'd from XIV Medicines I. DAILY Observation shews that Women with child are subject to many and great distempers both Chronical and Acute which are made more dangerous and are harder to cure from their being in that condition especially Acute diseases as Fevers Aphor. 30. lib. 5. Pleurisies c. Hippocrates says that it is deadly for a woman with child to be seiz'd upon by any acute disease And according to Galen there is a double danger one from the Fever 's killing the Child another from the thin diet that is requisite for acute Diseases but is injurious to Women with Child as also from the necessity of the greater remedies such as bleeding and purging But some rash men if they see their Patient in great danger advise the procuring of Abortion Now Abortion is more painfull and dangerous than a natural birth from the violent divulsion of the unripe Foetus whence very many die some escape but not without grievous symptoms And the danger is the greater if the Foetus be pretty big as if the Woman be gone seven or eight months or if the Woman her self be feeble and weak or if she labour under dangerous acute Distempers Even healthfull Women never miscarry without danger some retain the Foetus so pertinaciously that no medicines will make them miscarry Wherefore their advice is pernicious that counsel the procuring of Abortion in acute Diseases 1. Because in many it is not easily done 2. It cannot be done but by dangerous Remedies and those often repeated which aggravate and heighten acute Diseases 3. Nor is it safe seeing Abortion it self is a dangerous and deadly affection as experience shews for by the aphorism above cited it is deadly to a Woman with Child to be taken with an acute Disease from the Fever the thin diet and the danger of Abortion now 't is bad to add affliction to the afflicted the Mother often perishes by destroying the Foetus with such Remedies 4. Even a natural Birth seldom gives any relief to several Diseases much less will Abortion cure any Disease especially such as is acute no it will rather make it worse unless the Foetus be already dead for then indeed 't is necessary to exclude it Yet we must not abstain from necessary helps as bleeding and purging which often prevent Miscarriage and if it sometimes follow upon the use of them 't is not to be imputed to the Remedies being duly administred but to the sharpness of the Distemper that is too hard for all Remedies or to the weakness of the Mother or lastly to the death or debility of the Foetus Hippocrates in his oath promises Primâos de vulg err l. 4. c. 53. that he will give no Woman any Medicine to procure Abortion 'T is the part of a Physician not to destroy but to preserve as much as he can II. Midwives ought to be very heedfull for it sometimes happens that a Woman with Child voids by her Womb much bloud and imprudent Midwives think that she has miscarried which yet is not so but onely a Miscarriage is imminent which whilst it is it ought to be prevented by Adstringents but if it be actually made then we must help by Looseners Wherefore Midwives ought to examine diligently the matter that comes forth whether it be bloud or flesh or geniture or the Foetus for by washing what comes forth in water one may easily discern whether there have been truly an Abortion or not Cââivace âract l. 4. c. 8. III. Serapio's opinion is to be noted He thinks if a Miscarriage happen in the first or second month that it is caused by wind or a preposterous agitation of the Mother breaking the slender fibres if it happen in the middle months that slimy humours which loosen the acetabula or saucers of the Womb are the cause of it and lastly if it happen in the last months that it is commonly caused either from want of nourishment or straitness of the Womb. IV. The Wife of N. miscarrying she first voided the Secondines with much bloud which brought her very low and weak the flux of bloud abating the next day she excluded the Foetus that was four months old after this she seem'd to grow better and cleans'd indifferently well onely what came away was very stinking and cadaverous On the seventh day she was taken with a high Fever and voided the placenta or womb liver
which stunk extremely and was full of black-bloud whence she recovered by degrees The Lady N. being four months gone with Child miscarried excluding the Foetus with the membranes whence she was thought to be clear of all But afterwards she fell into a high Fever with frequent horrours and swoonings then she voided most fetid matter with clods of bloud and pieces of flesh On the seventh day she excluded the placenta which stunk very much whereupon she grew to be better and recovered These two Histories teach that the purgations of the Womb when they have a cadaverous smell for the most part signifie that some portion of the Secondines is staid behind in the Womb. River obs cent 1. obs 61. V. When after Miscarriage part of the Placenta hath remain'd in the Womb and a continual flux of Bloud for some months hath accompanied it I have observed it successfully expelled and the Patient restored by three ounces of the following Dâcoction taken twice or thrice a day Take of the Root of Bâstort two Drachms Franc. de le Boe Sylv. Prax. Med. l. â c. 6. sect 119. of the leaves of Marjoram Penniroyal each one Handfull Boyl them in Water and White Wine of each alike as much as is sufficient In twenty ounces of the Decoction clarified dissolve of Syrup of Mugwort two ounces of Cinamon Water half an ounce For by virtue of this a piece of the Placenta as big as ones Fist was voided and all further Flux of Bloud was stopt and cured VI. A Woman having suffered three Miscarriages one after another at different times of her gestation or going with Child being now gone but two months had great pains about her Navel and Loins which threatned an Abortion Two plasters being applied one to her Loins and another to her Navel made of the Plaster for fractures and dislocations she was somewhat helped for a while but afterwards her pains returned I being called observing the Woman to be young and sanguine order her to be let bloud whereupon in a few hours she was freed from her pains and fear of Miscarriage Her bloud was very serous For prevention I give her a drachm of Rhubarb in powder with Broth to be repeated once a week for a month These symptoms had happened just at the time when she us'd to have her Menstrues when she was not with Child Again in her third month the same symptoms return'd and were presently removed by bleeding In like manner in the fourth fifth sixth seventh and eighth months the same symptoms returning we opened a vein each time whereby she was forthwith freed of them The last time she was let bloud was eight days before the beginning of the ninth month with the same effect Idem centur 1. obs 53. and at the end of the ninth month she brought forth a live Son in good plight but a little paâeâ VII That which Hippocrates writes is not every way true That a Woman with Child miscarries if she be let bloud unless perhaps he understand it of such as have but little bloud or are weakly Many plethorick Women that used often to miscarry have come to retain the Foetus even to the ninth month by breathing a Vein If the superfluous bloud be not taken from such Women they either miscarry the mouths of the Vessels being unlocked by the too great abundance of bloud or else the Child grows so big that the Mother cannot be safely deliver'd of it To such repeated bloud-letting is very profitable after the second month or rather from the fourth to the seventh Idem ¶ It is very necessary to examine those things that have happen'd formerly For when one Medicine sometime yields no relief it will be the best way to try others When I once saw a Woman very like to miscarry that was five months gone with Child and had five times miscarried before considering first that adstringent Remedies both internal and topical that had been administred at other times by other Physicians had done her no good and secondly that she was very full of bloud I order'd her to be let bloud in the Arm and not in the Foot D. Panarol Pentec 1. obs 10. lest Abortion should have been caused and in the ninth month she was safely brought to bed of a living and lively Son VIII Concerning the Plasters that use to be apply'd this is to be noted that they must not lie long on at a time but must now and then be removed for otherwise by lying too long on the Loins they heat the Kidneys so that a Dysury or heat of Urine is caused River pract l. 15. c. 17. or Stones and Gravel are bred therein or sometimes piffing of bloud follows IX In a Miscarriage it is chiefly to be observed whether the Foetus be actually expell'd or there is onely fear that it will be For when it is actually excluded we must with Avicen abstain from Adstringents and use Looseners lest which often happens the Membranes or naughty excrements be left and staid in the Womb whence the Woman will certainly perish For this reason Avicen dislikes Adstringents and propounds a fuffumigation of bdellium hyssop origanum and mustard whereby both the exclusion of the foetus is help'd and the excrements are happily purged If the child be not dead nor as yet expell'd but an abortion is imminent and the foetus retreats Capivacc l. 4. c. 8. Heurn dem m. c. 7. then it is very convenient to use adstringents by the help whereof it comes to pass that abortion is prevented and the child preserved X. A woman in the thirteenth week after conception helping to brew and unwarily taking up a full pail had almost miscarried the membranes being broken and the embryo making its way forth A Mountebank being by chance present and casting about how to help this disaster advised to put the foetus up again forthwith into its place by the hand Laying the woman therefore with her thighs high and her head low the midwife very nimbly with her hand thrust in the Embryo that was coming forth and presently after the operation laid the mother in her bed that the foetus being put up again might fix in its former seat yet her lochia flow'd for three days The same Mountebank perswaded the woman to have her husband lie with her that the broken membrane might be generated anew Thom. Barthol cerââ 4. hist 57. Hence the foetus being retain'd was born at its full time and is still alive XI When there is not so very imminent danger of miscarriage binding plasters ought not to be apply'd to the belly lest they intercept the passion of the womb Heurn l. 2. but let them be laid on the loins and Os sacrum XII Have a care to mix some hot things with adstringents and strengtheners Idem lest the womb be enervated add mastick mint wormwood XIII It is observable that those remedies are safer which are administred
operate nothing at all which is an ill sign and such persons usually die But because according to Celsus Many things may well be done in a dangerous case which should otherwise be omitted therefore when the foresaid Remedies avail not we may come up to Antimonial Medicines especially those that are less violent such as Aqua Benedicta made of Crocus Metallorum which Purging both upwards and downwards brings away so great a quantity of Phlegm not onely from the Stomach and lower parts but from the Brain that sometime the Patient is cured by this Evacuation For I can truely testifie that I saw a Nobleman cured of an Apoplexy thrice in two years by this onely Remedy And although some condemn the use of Vomits in these cases yet we must rather trust experience which teaches us by daily experiments how comatous Children are with more speed and safety cured by Vomitive Salt of Vitriol Riverius than by any other Remedy XIV Here I must take notice of a frequent Errour in giving the Emetick Wine For timorous Physicians prescribe it in too small a Dose i. e. an ounce or an ounce and half at most and when they are frustrated of the effect expected Francisc Bayle Tract de Apoplexia c. 11. they blame and disparage the Medicine whereas to persons grown and of any strength it should be given to about three ounces in an Infusion of Senna XV. Walaeus saith that in the Apoplexy Clysters may be so strong of Coloquintida that they fetch the very bloud Nothing hinders it for Life must be saved and this Damage may easily be repaired And it may the better be done if the Apoplexy were caused by too much bloud XVI The Belly for Revulsion sake and to excite the dull Faculties may be provoked by administring sharp Clysters and Suppositories whereas otherwise they would scarce go to stool Suppositories because they provoke exceedingly and are quickly made and by reason Clysters cannot be kept for Senselessness are very convenient and should often be repeated Platerus in which some burning hot things since the Patient is without Sense will doe no harm XVII Some rub Hiera and Purging Electuaries on the Palate to no purpose in stead whereof it were better to use Confectio Anacardina Idem which inflames a little XVIII We rub the Palate with things that bring away Phlegm yet in that Quantity and Form that if they should fall on the Aspera Arteria they may not choak Take of Mustard-seed long-Pepper Pellitory of Spain powdered a like quantity mix them with as much Honey juice of Rue and Horseradish as is sufficient to make them into the form of an Ointment We leave out the Vinegar which some put in because it abates the strength of sharp things Idem as we see in Onions and Horseradish if they be eaten with Vinegar XIX Although the humour causing the Apoplexy cannot be cast out by Sneezing because it is not contained in the Ventricles yet in this most grievous and dangerous case we must try every thing that may remove the Matter However before Purging it is suspicious because by the motion of the Head and Breast there is a greater afflux of humours We may anoint the Nostrils with the same we anoint the Palate withall Platerus XX. Some provide Fumigations but they are not at all to be commended for they are dangerous to those that have difficulty of Breathing It is better to hold a little Rue Rondeletius or Castor or Galbanum to the Nostrils Some highly approve a Fume of Amber made immediately how destitute such are of Reason Crato learned Physicians can abundantly shew XXI Things taken inwardly are not to be neglected in the very beginning which encrease the Effervescency of the Bloud refresh the Spirits and raise the deficient Heat in Plethorick persons especially after bloud-letting in others both before and after The most spirituous and which abound with volatile Salt are best Such as are several sorts of Apoplectick Waters Spirit of Wine Tartarisate distilled Oils of Anniseed Rosemary Sage Cloves and the like with some Cephalick Water Volatile Salts especially bring great and present benefit that are separated and cleansed from all concretion of their Body such as are the volatile Salts of Sal Ammoniack Soot Bloud Hartshorn and which exceeds them all the volatile Salt of Vipers These Salts quickly pass through the whole Mass of Bloud Bay Tract de Apoplex and render it more fluid they infringe the force of Acids and dissolve grumous bloud XXII There are some who give Treacle or Mithridate to drink but under a great mistake because all the virtue of the Opium will not be lost though they be never so old To say nothing of the many Astringents are in them the strength whereof although it be qualified may be suspected because the humour that is the cause of the Disease and moistens the body of the brain is more deeply impacted by these Medicines Rândeâetius It is better to give a Scruple or two of Castor which because of its unpleasantness less hurts the brain XXIII When a continual Fever for one Intermitting presages Death accompanies the Apoplexy as it should do it needs no other help If it be too low it increases the Disease if too high it spends a Man For a Fever cures no other Apoplexy Crato in Consil than that which comes of cooling the bloud of crude humours and a flatulent spirit But here the Prudence of the Physician present is required XXIV Holleriuââ lib. curaâ Sect. 29. One taken with an Apoplexy was raised by rubbing and Motion a Fever followed gentle enough but with a Delirium Being negligently cured and not raising what fell upon his Lungs he died the ninth day after his Fever and the tenth after his Apoplexy XXV The question is about the Posture of the Patient namely Whether he must presently be put to bed or be kept up a-while Some very carefully observe the latter nor without reason because certainly there will be a greater propensity to sleep in bed and the bloud by the heat of the Clothes will be in a greater ferment and the more it blazes the more recementitious matter it discharges into the disaffected Brain On the contrary while the Patient is thin clad and set in a Chair the bloud runs slower and while the Vessels subside they seem fitter to receive the humours from the Head than to send more thither Wherefore if the Patient have strength sufficient perhaps it were better to sit up six or eight hours till the flux of the morbifick matter be past and the course of the bloud be made more sedate by letting of bloud and by other remedies carefully administred But such as are weak and of a tender Constitution must as soon as they are seized be laid on a bed either in it or upon it His posture must be not on his back but with his head a little raised
any one Tribe of them For although when we have occasion for the virtue of any Specifick Medicine the rule hold good The more simple the better yet when we propose to our selves to cure our Patient by answering this or that Indication every several Ingredient contributes its share to the cure of the Disease And in this case the greater the number of Simples is so much the more powerfully the Medicine will operate Therefore out of the Medicines mentioned and those of the same nature several Recipe's tending to this end may be made I prefer the form of an Electuary in the manner of Theriaca Andromachi before all others as excelling in virtue because the mutual confermentation of all the Simples increases their virtue producing as it were some third thing which in equal quantity is of more virtue in them conjoyned than in any one of them And for the sake of young Physicians I discover the Remedy I my self make use of which is compounded after this manner Take of the roots of Angelico Calamus Aromaticus Masterwort Elecampane Leaves of common Wormwood lesser Centaury white Horehound Germander Groundpine Scordium common Calamint Feaverfew Meadow Saxifrage St. John's Wort Golden Rod Mother of Time Mint Sage Rue Carduus Benedictus Southernwood Flowers of Chamaemil Tansie Lily Conval English Saffron Seeds of Treacle-Mustard Garden Scurvigrass Caroway Berries of Juniper of each a sufficient quantity Let all the Herbs Flowers and Roots be gathered at those seasons when they have the most virtue Let them be dried and kept in Paper Bags till they be fit to Powder Let 4 ounces of each be well mixt and made up with a Syrup of Canary Wine and Sugar into the form of an Electuary of a due consistence Let him take 2 drachms morning and evening Or in defect of this let him use this following Take of Conserve of Garden Scurvigrass 1 ounce and an half of Roman Wormwood and yâllow rind of Oranges each 1 ounce of Candied Angelico preserved Nutmeg each half an ounce Theriaca Andromachi 3 drachms Pulv. Ari. Comp. 2 drachms with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of Oranges make an Electuary Let him take 2 drachms twice a day drinking 5 or 6 spoonfulls of the following Scurvigrass Water upon it Take of Root of Horse-Rhadish sliced 3 ounces Garden Scurvigrass 12 handfulls Water Cresses Brooklime Sage Mint each 3 handfulls Orange Pills No. vj. Nutmegs bruised No ij Brunswick Mum 12 pounds distill them in the common Organs till onely 8 pounds of Water be drawn off for use Of all Medicines commonly known which help concoction Theriaca Andromachi is the best but because it is made up of very hot Simples and besides abounds with Opium the abovesaid Electuary may more conveniently be made of the chief heaters and strengthners with Sugar dissolved in Wine which will be more gratefull to the Stomach than Honey is We must take care in the mean time that those Simples be made use of that are more gratefull to the Patient's palate for seeing they must use it a long time i. e. almost as long as they live it is very convenient Idem p. 49. that it be not ingratefull to the Palate XXXIX This must be observed above all namely that all Digestive Remedies whatever whether they consist in Medicine or Diet or Exercise must not be used by the bye but constantly and daily with all diligence For since in this Disease as also in most Chronical ones its cause is passed into an habit and as it were a new nature no wise Man can think that any light and momentany alteration brought upon the Bloud and Humours by any kind of either Medicine or Diet can attain the scope of Cure but the whole habit of the body must be turned another way and the whole Man must as it were be new forged again upon the Anvil For neither is the case here as in some acute distemper when he that was as well as heart can wish but even now is on a sudden taken with a Fever and sinks down as if a Bridge broke under him from a very good state of health into a most dangerous disease The state of the Gout is far otherwise When a Man by leading an intemperate life for many years one after another omitting his accustomed exercise consuming in sloth and idleness or by too much study and unremitted intention of mind and other errors of life hath endeavoured as it were on purpose that the various ferments of the Body should be perverted and the Animal spirits which are the primary Instruments of Concoction are oppressed whereupon the preternatural Humours that are gathered do at length break out and give an overthrow when they are exalted to the highest degree and when the flesh is made soft and the joints effeminate they more readily receive the Humours falling upon them And so at length another Nature as it were is by degrees superinduced the pristine and natural oeconomy of the body being utterly overturned and destroyed For these Paroxysms which in a manner wholly take up the thoughts of the inconsiderate and less knowing sort are nothing else but a series and order of Symptomes dependent on that method which Nature commonly uses in expelling the matter which is the cause of the disease outwards Wherefore he loses his labour whoever goes about to stave off this disease by using this or that Medicine or Regiment likewise onely now and then But since this Habit is founded and consists chiefly in the spoiling of all the Digestions and in the loss of natural firmness in particular parts we must obviate both evils and as well the strength of Concoction as the firmness of parts must be reduced and restored by degrees that is according to the Model of the pristine and accustomed oeconomy of the body And however impossible this may seem to be done fully and perfectly not onely because every Habit is with great difficulty changed into its contrary but because old Age which commonly is companion and partner to this disease doth violently oppose yet as far as strength and years will allow the Cure must be attempted and as the Patient is younger or elder Idem p. 67. so he will more or less escape the Tyranny of the Gout XL. A Milk diet either of raw Milk or boiled taking nothing else unless a little Bread in it once a day has been in vogue for 20 years last past This did several good beyond all other Medicines for this disease so long as they exactly observed it but as soon as ever he returned to the diet of the Healthy were it never so mild and gentle who had used himself to this the Gout presently returning handled the Patient far worse than before for the Principles of Nature being by this course weakned the Patient is rendred more unable to keep off the disease and therefore afflicts him more dangerously and tediously He therefore that thinks of taking this course must first of all seriously
open a Vein in the Head it self But if the fullness come from the whole Body we must bleed in the Arm if abundance of bloud and the disease of the Head proceed from suppression of the Menses or Haemorrhoids we must consider the quantity of the abounding bloud and the greatness of the Disease in the Head that depends upon it For if the quantity of bloud be less and the Disease will give truce we may bleed in the foot first and that several times because these Veins make both Abatement and Revulsion But since these Veins in the feet as being small do evacuate the bloud but slowly if there be a great quantity of it Sennertus l. 1. p. 1. c. 8. and the Disease be violent and therefore present help be required we may first bleed in the Arm and then take care to recover the course of Nature At length when the Body is evacuated and the Flux ceased if the Illness go not off a Vein may be opened in the Head II. The Circulation of the Bloud teaches how we may succour the Head Riolanus Anthropogr in fine l. 6. when sick For if the Bloud ascend to the Brain onely by the Carotides and descend by the Jugulars to bleed often in the Arm will doe good And Cupping bloudy and dry frequently applied to the top of the Shoulders the Neck and Poll hard rubbing of the Limbs both above and below will conduce to the revulsion and derivation from and evacuation of the part affected ¶ But Experience shews that opening the Saphaena does better and sooner quiet several cephalick affections especially the Head-ach than any Vein in the Arm Perhaps the Reason may be brought from the same Circulation of the Bloud because the mouths of the Arteries lye here more open to the Veins the Bloud that is drawn thence is of a more arterious nature The same Reason may be given for the Salvatella in the Hands of the Efficacy whereof no one doubts III. Hippocrates 2. Epidem Sect. 6. v. 36. proposes a Vomit for taking away a fulness of the Head whereby it is successfully and quickly purged and those that vomit know as much for when they vomit great store of Humours run out at their Mouth Eyes and Nose Wherefore 4. Aphor. 18. Diseases above the Diaphragm that want Purging signifie they should he purged upwards And lib. de loc v. 173. sect 2. In a Defluxion from the Head a Vomit is good Therefore farewell they that are so fearfull of a Vomit in Diseases of the Head and think the Head is stuffed the fuller by it Martianus comm in Hipp. For although in the very act of Vomiting it seem to be a little filled yet because such fulness is from Vapours which as soon as the Vomiting is over do vanish we cannot say the Head is filled by Vomiting ¶ Extraneous Ferments whereever in the Body they be bred and the deeper Seeds of Diseases can never be got out without the use of Vomits but Vomits are found very beneficial in the Diseases especially of the Brain and nervous kind for by this sort of Physick not onely the filth of the Stomach and Bowels that corrupts the Chyle and Bloud is plentifully discharged but the Glands likewise which are planted in the Bowels for Emunctories of the Bloud and nervous Juice Willis Tharm rat cap. 2. sect 2. are squeezed out the choledochal vessels and other receptacles of Excrements are abundantly evacuated insomuch that these being emptied are more ready to receive the recrements and superfluities of either humour that would otherwise be apt to overflow the Head IV. Galen's advice lib. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã must be observed that in all Diseases of the Head whatever humour be the cause Medicines that purge Phlegm must be mixt with the rest V. Paulus lib. 7. cap. 4. writes that they who give a Purge at night or after meat doe harm the Food corrupting and the Physick working less than it should Reason seems to confirm this for so concoction is interrupted distribution of the Aliment vitiated and the Physick works imperfectly its purgative virtue being weakned by the Food But Experience contradicts it which shews that Pills given after Supper do purge the Head very well without the forementioned Inconveniences as J. R. Saltzmannus declares in Hildanus cent 3. obs 72. I light saith he not long since on Damascenus and upon that Aphorism of his wherein he orders if you have a mind to purge the Head or any other remote part that you give Pills after meat But our Methodus medendi is contrary to this which persuades us to give our Purges especially such as purge any particular humour upon an empty Stomach or if they are very strong to take a little Broth before them I shall not here give reasons But Experience confirms Damascenus his rule for oftentimes in several cases our chief Physicians give Pills after Supper with great success as I after their example have done several times And to speak the truth I have not yet observed a more present Remedy to purge the Brain from all superfluous humours And which is wonderfull they are given in a much less Dose than those that are taken in the morning fasting They are taken an hour or two after a light Supper sleeping upon them About four five or six by the clock in the morning they work gently and without any grievous symptom viz. reaching vomiting loss of appetite gripes or any other And they may be repeated sometimes every night sometimes every other night And thus several have been purged by a little Dose who before could not be moved with twice as much when they took it in the morning fasting VI. It is also the opinion of many that the Head is emptied better by Pills than by Potions or Bolus's because they draw more violently from the distant part through their long abode in the Stomach This indeed is certain that Pills do purge the Head effectually but they have this not from their form but from the strong Medicines of which they are made This mistake had its rise from a false supposition that Purgatives taken into the Stomach did draw the bad humours from the whole Body thither which is not true for were it so Plasters to the Navel and Purgatives held in ones hand or smelled to would not purge but they doe it by transfusing something of themselves into the Body whence there arises a commotion and fermentation of the humours upon which the expulsive faculty being provoked and driving the humours with the Purge headlong into the Guts Sennertus excretion follows VII Do not purge the Head of a man in a Fever lest he go mad for purgative Medicines heat the Head and the Heat that is in the Medicine joining the febrile heat causeth Madness saith Hippocrates lib. de loc in hom Which to me seems very consentaneous to reason and therefore if a man have a violent Fever and especially in
cured by drawing a Tooth XIII A Head-ach caused by the Pox cured by Pumping XIV A stubborn one caused by Mercury retained in the Brain XV. A stubborn one cured by a Seton XVI One caused by the Pox cured with Emplastr de Vigo XVII An old one cured with Sugar of Roses XVIII One cured with eating Pomegranates XIX One cured with a Cautery behind in his Head XX. With the Rising of a Scurf XXI A reciprocal Pain between the Head and the Foot cured by applying a Cupping-glass to the Foot XXII Whether Purging be good for every Head-ach XXIII The Dose of Purgatives must be large XXIV Odoriferous things must not be put in Clysters XXV Juleps must be given in great quantity XXVI Diureticks are good for some Head aches XXVII Sweats not proper for all XXVIII For what sort Washing of the Head is proper XXIX Plasters must not be too hot XXX Ointments doe little good XXXI Hot Fomentations doe harm cold are good XXXII Euphorbium suspected XXXIII When Narcoticks are seasonable XXXIV Salivation hurtfull XXXV Oxyrrhodina are not to be applied to all XXXVI To whom Vinegar cannot properly be applied XXXVII Cephalick Waters outwardly applied are often hurtfull XXXVIII Castor not good for every Head-ach that ariseth from the Womb. XXXIX Increasing with the Disease of another part not always to be cured as Sympathick XL. All Vacuation hurts one caused by Cold. XLI The cure of one with sense of internal Cold. XLII The cure of one from the fault of the nervous juice XLIII From the fault of the nutritious juice XLIV From the Pox. XLV Medicines I. HIppocrates in the Head-ach depending on a Cacochymy which is cured by concocting and purging the humours abstains from Bloud-letting as is manifest from lib. 3. de morbis v. 14. because the Brain being cooled by Bloud-letting Concoction is hindred and thence arises great Prejudice to the Patient which Halicarnassensis perceived who is mentioned 7. Epid. sect 2. v. 462. Halicarnassensis his Ear aked in Winter and his Head very much now he was about 50 years old he was let-bloud Pr. Martianus comm in V. 34. l. 3 de merbis his Head being evacuated and cooled was hurt for no Suppuration was made he became phrenetick and died For seeing the Patient could not escape this Disease unless as Hippocrates saith the humour had run at his Ear letting-bloud did cause Death by hindring this running Which I would have our modern Physicians who let bloud so confidently take good notice of ¶ The Head-ach is either by Idiopathy or by Sympathy from the Bowels below and from the heat and evaporation of humours The idiopathick Head-ach when a Cacochymy is gathered in the Brain or some cold Mass of humours requires Purging the other by Sympathy Bloud-letting So 5. Epidem A Woman in Pheri that had been long troubled with the Head-ach and to whom no body could give any relief no not when her Head was purged yet she was better when she had her Menses easily and when her Head did ake she found benefit by Sweets applied to her Womb. Lo a Head-ach by Sympathy from the Womb grew appeased by the discharge of Bloud and applying odoriferous things to the Womb. So 2. de morbis in Head-aches where the Veins discharge the bloud into the Head he makes no mention of Purging but onely recounts the advantages of Bloud-letting But in lib. de affect speaking of the Head-ach by Idiopathy these are his words The Pains come from Phlegm that is gathered and moved in the Head therefore if you will ease the Head-ach you must purge Phlegm And 2. de morbis when he had proposed a sudden Head-ach with loss of Speech and throtling he lays the whole stress of the Cure in Purging But Hippocrates lib. de locis intimates that Bleeding not Purging is proper in the Head-ach by Sympathy from some inflamed part or boiling humour Purge not the Head of a man in a Fever lest he go mad for Purgatives heat the Head and truly the heat that is in the Medicine added to the febrile heat Sinibaldus Antiphon l 3. Ant. 15. causes Madness For such a Head-ach is by accident from the heat of the Fever therefore we must not provide for the head by Purging which would cause Madness but by such things as chiefly destroy the Fever among which Letting of bloud has the chief place II. One was held with a grievous Head-ach by Sympathy from the whole by Bleeding in the right foot the pain was taken away from his head on that side and after that J. Rhodius cent 1. obs 73. the same succeeded according to his desire on the other side also III. Nor must I conceal a present Remedy for a pertinacious Hemicrania tried by Spigelius upon himself and several others The opening the Vein that runs between the Forefinger and the Thumb Idem obs 50. IV. One that was grievously troubled with the Head-ach through the violence of the Vital Bloud turned that way made use of several Remedies but all in vain but at length letting bloud in his Temples he recovered And this Bloud was of a florid colour but of so thin and light a substance that like a Sponge it swam upon its Serum Its surface was smooth and shining as if it had been covered with a fatty film And the whole texture of it was so rare Tulpius lib. 1. c. 48. that you could scarce touch it with the edge of a Knife but it would sever into various parts ¶ A Man of fifty was troubled with a sharp Head-ach for two years which seized the right-side from his Crown to his Temples It would return three or four times a year make him keep his bed and bring him almost to despair without either Fever Thirst or Heat but with a great beating in his Temples on that side Pachequus obs Riverio comm When I had tried many things in vain and the Pain was violent I proceed to open an Artery in his Temples the Bloud lept forcibly out to five ounces his Head-ach went away in half an hour and never returned ¶ When the Arteries beat Fâodius cent 1. oâs 7â the Pain is onely on the out-side which the Physician ought to take especial notice of V. A Woman had been held with a violent pain in her head twelve days her Physicians prescribed her Clysters Purging Bleeding in the Arm Sheeps Lungs her Head-ach continued at last having applied Cupping-glasses to the part grieved Velsâhius Syllâg ââs 10. a great quantity of bloud run out by Scarification for stopping of which Tinder made of Linen-cloth was strowed on it And presently her Head-ach ceased VI. In the Head-ach oftentimes Matter lies between the Skull and the Pericranium You must touch the place gently with your finger that if you find any Matter there the place may be opened and much rather if the pain be fixt in that very place For frequently when the place is opened and the
be used XX. Hot Cephalicks are not proper for every one XXI Whether a Decoction of Guaiacum be proper XXII Whether Guaiacum be the Lignum Heracleum Rulandi XXIII The Foecula of Paeony ineffectual XXIV For what sort Cinnabar of Antimony is proper XXV A succedaneum to Oil of Amber which should be rejected because of its stink XXVI One by consent with the Stomach exasperated by Medicines and ending upon leaving them off XXVII Cured by voiding Worms downwards XXVIII By the use of Spleneticks XXIX By drinking Vinegar and Water XXX Abstinence from Wine is of great moment for the prevention of it XXXI Whether Apium be hurtfull XXXII Indications for its Cure and Prevention XXXIII Medicines I. PEtrus Salius Diversus l. de affectib partic c. 3. proves clearly that the Epilepsie is caused by Bloud from Hippocrates 4. acut tom 23. He judges the cause to be an Irruption of the bloud into the upper parts and a Repletion of the vessels of the brain made on a sudden which being of a heavy nature and it may be also of a molesting quality causes the Epilepsie while nature rises to the expulsion and discussion of it Hippocrates in the same place calls that Oppression of Bloud ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Epidemiis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Foësius in his Oeconomia translates it the stopping of the Bloud flowing with violence and swelling By which words Hippocrates intimates the interrupted Circulation of the bloud was known to himself as is clear from his Book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nourishment passes to the Hair and Nails and to the outmost superficies of the Body from things within and from things without nourishment passes from the outmost superficies to the inner parts And since the innate heat goes in danger of being extinguished by this Repletion of the vessels through the abundance that threatens Suffocation no other Remedy to prevent so great a danger seems to be indicated than plentifull Bloud-letting Salius in the said place does therefore assign the very same Cure to an Epilepsie when it is bred as to an Apoplexy which arises from the same cause that is plentifull Bloud-letting in the inner Vein of the right Arm according to Hippocrates his opinion in the forequoted place ¶ Yet at this day saith Sennertus scarce any one would advise or attempt any such thing in the very Paroxysm seeing at that instant neither Bloud can conveniently be let nor if it could were it in his Judgment either safe or beneficial by reason of the violent contest between Nature which is then highly oppressed and the morbifick cause as the hurt in respiration and other actions by reason the influx of animal spirits is interrupted The Physician therefore might incur the censure of rashness and pay for it with disgrace if the Patient should dye upon letting bloud while he was in a Fit ¶ It is the part of an experienced Doctor saith Paul Barbette in his Praxis to distinguish a-right about letting-bloud in a Fit ¶ I and other Physicians with me have observed that taking away a little bloud in the fit has sometimes done good namely to get motion in the Bloud which is as it were coagulated ây an austere Acid otherwise Bloud-letting both in the Fit and out of it does in a manner always so much harm that the fits grow more violent every day after Bleeding saith Deckers in his Notes upon the place II. In the year 1675. a Noble Boy of Berne was upon a Fright taken with a cruel Epilepsie his face was red and swollen and when his Fit had held him already three hours by my advice and Dr. Cramer's the Cephalick Vein in his left Arm was opened whence the Bloud sprang with such violence that one might have taken it all away in the twentieth part of an hour The Fit was then presently over and the next day he was well without any Relapse A red hod Iron had been applied to him a little before ¶ Hippocrates 2. Epidem sect 5. bids us open the inner Veins if the Disease be very violent ¶ A Girl about twelve years old was frequently taken with an Epilepsie and when she was taken with a Pleurisie she was several times let bloud and from that time was never troubled with her Epilepsie Riverius cent 4. obs 38. Hence you may gather the efficacy of Bleeding in this Disease ¶ A Boy eight years old was taken with an Epilepsie from Plenitude and when all other Remedies had been tried in vain he was let bloud in the Arm several times once a month and recovered through the great alteration of his Body by this Remedy which nevertheless should scarce be allowed except in a Disease by consent with the venous kind Rhodius cent 1. obs 64. and exceeding hot Bloud III. Ben. Sylvaticus cured a middle aged Nobleman of an Epilepsie Idem obs 65. by opening the haemorrhoid Veins once a month IV. A young Man about twenty five years old was troubled with the Falling-sickness once a month I opened one of his temporal Arteries and when he had been free from it four months and there was hopes he would be well he brought it upon himself again by drinking strong Wine which was his custome ¶ A Man about forty three years old had frequent Fits a Wind running up from his Hand to his Brow upon the same side From whom I guessing it came from some halituons cause took three ounces of Bloud But the bandage being loosed much Bloud ran out after which fortuitous evacuation notwithstanding he was well a long time after so that he seemed cured ¶ Alphonsus N. a very melancholick person who from a child had been troubled with this Disease 9 10 15 20 or 30 days together in nature of a certain light vapour ascending gently from his Arm to the upper parts was very much relieved by Bleeding in the temporal Arteries Severinus V. P. Merenda writes that in a very violent one that comes often in a small interval and will not yield to Remedies he has by applying Blisters to their Neck and Shoulders brought several to the former use of their Reason in a short time and freed them of their Fits who afterwards by orderly cure were restored to perfect health But observe that they as also Issues and Setons should be used onely when the Disease is essential to the Brain and after Purging Jacotius except the Disease be very urgent VI. By a Seton according to the opinion of that most Learned Physician Hollerius I cured a young Man about twenty years old of the Falling-sickness who had frequent Fits of it before the ichorous matter as it may justly be believed which fed the Disease being by this means derived Paraeus l. 9. c. 24. ¶ An Epilepsie succeeded the Cure of a Ring-worm from a hot humour in a Gardiner Rhodius obs 62. cent 1. which by Spigelius his advice was cured by putting Hellebore root into a Seton in his
in the Lungs for those that were made purulent by a Catarrh falling on the Lungs when I observed it was odious not onely to the Patients but to the by-standers also and that it was distastefull to most by reason of its too much foetidness whether they used it by anointing outwardly or in Lozenges or Pills inwardly or any way else I have now for some years used Balsam of Peru in its stead to the advantage of my Patients I know Chymists do now correct it and take away the offensiveness of the smell by repeated distillation after washing it But I have found that after washing it is much weakned and does but little good wherefore I think we should rather use Balsam of Peru or the natural Balsam brought from Syria Heer obs 17. till we are taught how to distill an Oil of Amber without stink XXVII A Boy fell into an Epileptick fit once a day for fifteen days together The best Physicians thought it came from some disorder in his Head But the more Medicines they gave the worse the Disease grew so that in twenty four hours he had above one hundred and fifty fits yet they were small ones for he had onely a little commotion of his Head with a buble at his Lips Whereby notwithstanding they knew the Disease was not from any disorder in the head but by consent with the Stomach Trincavella l. 1. cons 25. Wherefore when they left off to trouble him with Physick and strengthened him the Child grew very well XXVIII I observed wonderfull shapes of Worms in an Epileptick Woman as she was athirst she drank greedily and frequently in her journey coming from Italy of any Water she met withall Her Epilepsie was very grievous with a swelling and an ill colour all her body over She was not relieved by Antepilepticks At length upon the repeated use of my Mercurial Pills she voided a great quantity of multiform Worms As soon as they were displaced her Epileptick-fits likewise ceased Bartholinus hist 7. cent 4. He also Cent. 6. Hist 20. produces the example of a young Man often troubled with Convulsions whose cure succeeded much better after his voiding of Ascarides XXIX A Youth about fifteen years old had a pain in his Pubes afterwards as his pain shifted to the left-side his Spleen grew presently ill and from Sympathy with it the Brain for he fell into most violent Fits of the Falling-sickness which came upon him onely by pressing the region of the Spleen with ones finger Among several Remedies nothing was better than Chalybeate-wine or black Hellebore Tulpius observ l. 1. c. 9. upon taking of which he voided so much black Choler that at last he came to himself XXX An Epileptick Maid was cured by the use of Vinegar and Water she took a glass of it every day in the morning and before the time of her Fit pure Vinegar When this disease was cured Riverius Cent. 4. Obs 1. she was troubled with a pain in her Limbs which also was cured by the use of the Bath XXXI I have known some young Men who might easily have been cured of this disease but because they would not abstain from Wine they became incurable All Men know that the Epilepsie affects the Nerves especially And because Wine turns sowre in all who have an infirm Stomach and a weak Brain and Vinegar is an open enemy to the Nerves hence Epileptick persons may easily gather how much they ought to avoid Wine and Venus Besides according to Aristotle and Averroes the Epilepsie is caused like sleep that is by a vapour Heer Obs 24. wherefore all vaporous things especially strong Wines should be avoided XXXII It is disputed by many Whether Apium be hurtfull for Epileptick persons That by Apium Parsly must be understood no Man will question who reads a passage in Pliny l. 20. c. 11. and Galen 2. de alim facult for this is the true garden or domestick Apium of the Ancients and ours is the Paludapium or Apium Palustre Pliny in the cited place says That if a Lying-in-woman eat Parsly the Child that sucks her will have the Falling-sickness Avicenna rejects Parsly especially from among Meats because by an innate property it causes the Falling-sickness And others following their steps forbid it Jacchinus is of another judgment opposing Galen and in a Counsel for an Epileptick Child allows of Parsly But an opinion that is held by so many learned Men must not be esteemed a figment it being without doubt founded on Experience which must be consulted They to whom it did no hurt were either not inclined to an Epilepsie or they used it onely as a Sauce and not as Meat So Galen in his advice allows one to taste it at least as he does Alexanders also by which notwithstanding the head is filled as he writes But the Ancients that are quoted speak of it taken as Meat Sennertus XXXIII In the cure of this Disease we are forced to leave the common method For the prescriptions of the Dogmatists in which they usually endeavour to carry off and totally eradicate the morbifick cause onely by Purges doe little or no good in the Falling-sickness yea they use often to doe harm I have known some eminent Practitioners who totally omitting the train of therapeutick intentions have betaken themselves to certain Empirical Medicines without any provision for the whole This sort of Practice though sometimes it succeeded well yet it would much more certainly have attained the proposed cure if by other Medicines also when the body had been rightly prepared all impediments had been removed Wherefore the Indications about the cure of the Falling-sickness will be either Curatory which respect the fit or Prophylactick which respect the cause of the disease As to the first general Evacuaters are scarce of use But the thing of most importance is to fix the animal Spirits that are too fierce and volatile and to suppress their explosions already begun To which ends two sorts of Remedies especially conduce that is 1. Things that give a check to the animal spirits when they are apt to be unruly and disorderly and that repell them as it were with a smell ingratefull to them and bring them into order which thing Medicines endued with a Volatile and Ammoniack Salt or with a Vitriolick Sulphur effect Such as are Salt and Oil of Amber Spirit of Bloud Hartshorn Soot Tincture of Castor c. for these taken inwards or applied to the nostrils often give relief and are thought to drive away the evil Spirits of this disease just as the fume of a Fishes-gall burnt drave away the Devil in Tobias 2. The Animal Spirits are either diverted or hindred from making their explosions when they are enticed and kept employed in some work familiar to them Wherefore when a fit is violent rubbing all the body over and continued often does good But the most of a Physician 's care lies in preservation that the cause
ceased or not All these things considered Vallesius l. 7. Epâd we must either Purge or not Purge according to the common rules not onely on the sixth day but on the fifth fourth third or even the first if the case will allow it ¶ Andreas being sick of a Fever took Mercury to Purge him on the sixth day and it wrought well indeed yeâ he was no better but rather worse on the seventâ An excellent example indeed what harm a Purgââ unseasonably given before concoction of the mââter does namely it increases Fevers and of simple ones makes double of intermittent continual although the Purge seem to have wrought well to those that are by Nay sometimes a Man is hurt so much the more by how much more freely he Purges by reason such Stools are caused by colliquation And I have seen many presently upon unseasonable Purging fall into a Consumption So much ought the common practice of them be avoided who Purge in all Fevers on the sixth day when notwithstanding it can be given properly but to a few on that day Because in most sick persons the beginning is over on the sixth day or near it and the time of concoction not yet come And we Purge about this time but seldom Idem yet sometimes for necessity's sake we doe it X. In the second sort of Burning fever caused by salt Phlegm raging in the greater Veins Hippocrates 4. de vict Acut. orders Attractive Broths to be given that is to mix loosning Medicines with broth Wherefore as in the first which a bilious Ichor running through the Venous kind and especially through the outer small Veins does breed he tried to Purge first by a Clyster and then by Asses Milk because the matter being thin and ready for motion it might easily be carried off by any gentle Medicine So in this wherein the peccant humour is salt Phlegm and far thicker Purging could not be administred by the same Medicines wherefore it was necessary to give a Medicine that by its Purgative faculty might draw off the humours but lest it should doe hurt by its strength and violence he orders it to be given in broth For by this means the saltness of the peccant humour is taken off by the broth and the driness caused by the Fever is corrected and that which a Purge usually causes is much hindred and the Body is at the same time also refreshed And the noxious humour is partly carried off by virtue of the Medicine that is given by which evacuation Nature being relieved can more easily judge the disease And he would have these broths to be given as often as the Belly is not loose of it self by no means when it is loose Martianus comâ ãâ¦ã v. 20. â lâââi for then the solution of the disease is expected from Nature rather than Art XI In a spurious Burning Fever when manifest signs of coction appear to wit when the Fever declines some gentle Purge may be given more boldly than in a legitimate one And I should think that in this especially Hippocrates propounded his attractory Broths so that we should mix Broth with attractive Physick Fortis or give it presently after the Physick to avoid too much heat and drought XII Some reject Rheubarb because it heats And Manna and Syrup of Roses because they being sweet may easily turn to choler But if Rheubarb be infused in cooling Waters or Decoctions or Manna and the other dissolved they can cause no inconvenience especially if Tamarinds which are highly commended for this purpose be added to the said decoctions Riveriââ or the Pulp of them be given also XIII If any one inquire at what time of the Fever I would have a Vomit given I say plainly I would give a Vomit in the beginning of the Fever if I might have my wish for so we might fore-arm the Patient from those horrible Symptoms which derive their original from the filthy humours lodged in the Stomach and parts thereabout Yea and perhaps we may crush the disease in the very shell which would otherwise increase and grow long-lived to the hazard of the Patient for it is nourished by these said humours which being in their substance transmitted to the inner parts of the body are mixt with the mass of bloud or being made worse by their tarrying there and infected with a poisonous pravity and passing continually from their focus they breathe a malignant vapour on the bloud The disease Cholera gives us an instance of this for it sometime happens that they who endeavour to stop the Vomiting unseasonably in that disease whether it be done by Laudanum or by astringent Medicines bring on a troop of evils no less dangerous when it is stopt For the sharp and corrupt humours whose exclusion should have been so long let alone as till they had been sufficiently evacuated being by this means repelled exercise their violence and cruelty on the bloud and kindle a Fever which as it usually is ill-disposed and accompanied with grievous Symptoms so it can scarce be cured but by giving a Vomit though the Patient have then no inclination to it But if as it often happens I be called too late and so cannot provide for my Patients health by giving a Vomit in the beginning of the Fever yet certainly I think it is convenient to doe it at any time of the disease if the disease have not spent the Patient so far that he have not strength to bear the violence of a Vomit Indeed I have not scrupled to order a Vomit the twelfth day of the Fever even when the Patient had lost his inclination to it and not without success for I stopt a Loosness which hindred the bloud in finishing its despumation Sydenham de Fâbr and I should not scruple at all to give one later were it not that weakness forbids it XIV After the Patient is let bloud I inquire carefully whether he Vomited or was troubled with any inclination to Vomit when his Fever took him It any such thing had happened I ever prescribe an Emetick except tender Age or great weakness lunder Certainly it is so necessary to give it when such a propensity to Vomit has gone before that unless that humour be discharged it will become a sink of many difficult evils which will create trouble to the Physician through the whole course of his cure whence there is no small danger The principal and most usual of these is a Loosness which follows in the defervesceny of a Fever as often as a Vomit when it was necessary was omitted For in the progress of the Fever when Nature has something conquered the malignant humour in the Stomach and sent it to the Guts they are so corroded by the sharp humour and by this fountain that is always running that a Loosness cannot chuse but follow therefore dangerous because the Patient who is already weakned with the disease is made weaker still and besides in the
declination of a Fever at what time the bloud ought to contract it self and exert its strength to perform its office of despumation it is wholly hindred by this evacuation And I have often observed that when a Loosness is once come astringent Medicines doe little or no good whether used inwardly or outwardly Nevertheless I have observed in Fevers which are abroad in the beginning of Spring that omission of a Vomit although a propensity to it have gone before does not of necessity cause a Loosness which yet at any other time of the year it causes therefore then I think the use of one not so necessary Idem though usefull XV. In the evening after a Vomit has been given I always make it my business to appease the tumult raised in the humours by the Emetick and to cause rest and therefore I order some Paregorick Draught at night about the hour of Sleep E. g. Take of Red Popy-water 2 ounces Aqua mirabilis and Syrupus de Meconio each 3 drachms Syrup of Red Popy half an ounce Idem Mix them make a draught XVI This is to be observed if the condition of the Patient require both Bleeding and a Vomit you must Bleed before you give a Vomit for otherwise while the Vessels are distended with Bloud there is danger lest by violent straining to Vomit either some Vessel be broke in the Lungs or the Brain be hurt by violent forcing of the bloud Idem and so the Patient be taken with an Apoplexy and dye XVII We must consider also whether notwithstanding the foregoing evacuations the bloud be not even still in such a heat that bounds should be yet set to its effervescence In which case that the dangers thence imminent may be avoided the next day after the Vomit I prescribe a Clyster and order it to be repeated as there shall be occasion whereby it often comes to pass that the bloud having received vent its heat is sufficiently bridled Unless we be forced to repeat Bloud-letting once and again by reason of a very sanguine temper flower of ones age or an inflammatory disposition brought upon the bloud by drinking too much Wine But abate the foresaid cases and we may well enough repress the heat by help of Clysters Wherefore if the bloud be over hot I order a Clyster to be given every other day and to the eleventh day or thereabout Yet if great store of bloud have been let or the Patient be old then I prescribe none although the bloud ferment very much For it is certain that by use of them the strength of the bloud is diminished and the tone of it if I may so say made lax insomuch indeed Idem that the work of Nature in old Men especially is interrupted and hindred XVIII Concerning Clysters it is to be observed that in the beginning and through the whole course of the disease one must be given every or every other day if the Belly be not loose enough of a decoction of emollients and coolers yet in a more violent Fever it is better not to add Oils because they are easily inflamed 2. As to Coolers in a decoction for one onely two or three Pills of Housleek must be prescribed because it cools most powerfully and used in a greater quantity it might spoil the Guts 3. In all Cholerick Fevers Clysters should be given not actually hot Riverius but onely a little warm XIX As for Cordials because it is found by experience that if they be given too soon they doe considerable hurt therefore it is always my care not to give them in the beginning unless the Patient be weak with former evacuations or stricken in years But upon the twelfth day of the disease when the business is toward secretion I think we may freely indulge them hot Medicines if we do not fear that the febrile matter may be driven to the principal parts For at this time the more I heat the sooner I hasten concoction Nor can I apprehend what Physicians do mean when they so often inculcate their rules about giving Medicines to promote Concoction and at the very same time prescribe Medicines which may temper the Fever Indeed the Fever it self is Nature's Instrument whereby she separates the impure parts from the pure which is not so manifest in the beginning of the Disease something more apparent at the height most apparent in the declension which the Urine does shew The concoction of the febrile matter signifies nothing else than the separation of the peccant matter from the sound therefore that you may accelerate this we must not be taken up with I know not what Attemperants but the effervescence of the Fever must be permitted so far as the safety of the Patient will permit But when it is toward an end and in the Declension the Secretion being then conspicuous then we must follow it with hotter things to accomplish the business sooner and surer And this is in truth to promote concoction of the matter whereas evacuation and cooling prolong and hinder the cure as I have often observed If Fermentation proceed aright despumation will be finished about the fourteenth day But if you use any coolers later than that and so by their means the effervescence be stopt no wonder if the Fever run out one and twenty days Sydenham or longer XX. The Physician must not use astringents in a legitimate Burning fever nor very cold things seeing for the most part it ends in Bleeding or Sweating Both which ends such things do oppose and much less may we use them in such as are not legitimate seeing the humour in this Fever is difficult of concoction for thick and glutinous phlegm is bred of cold things which is the reason that this Fever usually ends in an Abscess Mercatus as Galen 4 de rat v. saith XXI We must observe that Syrup of Violets and other sweet Syrups must not be given alone both because they make the Stomach lax and also because before they penetrate into the veins they are converted into a hot vapour by the heat of the Stomach which afterwards increases thirst therefore a little of some sowre Syrup must be always mixt with them that they may the more easily penetrate into the veins and more strongly resist the febrile heat Riverius ¶ I abstain on purpose from Syrups and Conserves in the Plague and in all Fevers and in the Bloudy-flux for because Sugar easily turns to choler I certainly know it affords fewel to the Fever and Bloudy-flux H. ab Heer 's Obs 22. ¶ Galen 11. meth says That for the most part the rich are worse cured than the poor for which although he alledge other reasons it is certain that they who in these Fevers took Syrups Conserves and other things made up with Sugar did usually dye Sugar and Honey are too apt to turn to choler and so they increase Fevers and the Symptoms of Fevers It is therefore expedient to
continuance of the Fever that as long as Medicines are given so long the Fever will continue for Nature is wearied which gathering strength again concocts the cause of the disease and expells it when concocted ¶ If a right fermentation of the bloud have gone before the despumation of the morbifick matter will be wholly made within the usual time But if cooling Medicines or Clysters have been given too late the Fever will run out a great deal longer especially in elderly Men that have been ill looked after To whom I being sometimes called after they had been sick of a Fever forty days and above have tried every thing that I might bring a despumation on the bloud but the bloud has been so weakned partly by Age partly by Clysters and cooling Medicines that I could never attain my end either by Cordials or any other strengthning things but either the strength of the Fever remained firm or though the Fever seemed to be gone the Patient's strength was very low and well nigh dead And being deprived of success in other Medicines I was glad to turn my counsel another way with no common success namely by applying the lively and brisk heat of young persons to the Sick Nor is there any reason that any one should wonder why the Patient should be so much strengthened by this method though unusual and debilitated Nature-helped so that she may discharge her self of the relicks of the matter to be separated and discharged since one may easily imagine that good store of brisk effluvia is transfused from a sound and lively body into the exhausted body of the Sick Nor could I ever find that the repeated application of warm clothes was in any measureable to doe that which the method now prescribed did perform where the heat applied is more connatural to Man's body and also gentle moist equal and lasting And this way of transmitting Spirits and Vapours it may be Balsamick ones into the Sick Man's Body from the very time when I made use of it although at first it seemed strange has been made use of by others with great success Sydenhâm XXIX In the cure of very acute and pernicious Fevers we must take diligent notice of this that they are seldom caused without some inward and peculiar disaffection of some of the Inwards and often with an Inflammation Wherefore the cure of the Hypochondria Head Breast Womb Kidneys and Bladder Riverius must never be omitted that by some means or other we may find out which of these parts is remarkably ill and may help it as much as may be ¶ As soon as I find a great burning in people in a Fever if signs of an inward inflammation which I diligently inquire do not appear yet I think of some such disaffection and I direct the course of my cure thither c. Scarce ever any one of those Fevers appears that burn violently so as to have the tongue burnt or wherein the Belly voids adust stuff but some of the inner Bowels especially suffers an inflammation Eryfipelas or at least some over-heating And they are perceived by some remarkable hardness swelling pain or heat in that region where the inward part is seated Vallesius XXX But if by reason of much loss of bloud which the Patient has sustained in the method of his cure or through often Vomiting or going to Stool or because for the present the Fever is quite off or because of his weakness or of the age of the Fever already declining there now remains no more danger of raising an Ebullition for the future then setting aside all fear instead of a Paregorick draught I give a pretty large dose of Diascordium either without any thing else or mixt with some Cordial-water It is certainly an excellent Medicine Sydenham if it be given in such a quantity as may make up a Medicine rather than an empty title XXXI To the constitution of a Continual Fever we require that its Cause be either in the Vessels that carry the Bloud and so in the Bloud it self and the multifarious parts of it or such other part of the Body as has continual commerce with the Bloud and so with the Heart it self but so as that it cannot be hindred or interrupted unless wholly nor be restored again at certain times which usually happens in Agues by internal causes We add that the Bloud may be so affected sometimes by external sometimes by internal causes that it may produce a continual Fever Among the external causes of this Epidemick Fever I observed the Air was then very hot and it penetrating as well the skin on all hands and therefore the Bloud it self as being drawn into the Lungs and there joined to the Bloud did not kindly temper it again as it was in a ferment according to Nature but by communicating to it its fiery and saline volatile parts it dissolved melted and rarefied it too much and so it greatly vitiated the vital Effervescency in the heart with its additional heat and produced a continual Fever Among internal causes I blamed Bile bred of the same fiery and saline-volatile parts of the Air but made more sharp volatile and abundant by the sharp ones and therefore causing a vitious effervescency as well in the small Guts as the Heart it self and indeed joined with notable heat and therefore without doubt a Fever The various and in many respects vitious humours which must of necessity be produced by the whole mass of Bloud being by little and little corrupted could not so well be called the cause of the Continual Fever that was then so rise as of the various Symptoms which did many ways vex divers Patients The Cure therefore of the Continual Fever as such ought to consist 1. In avoiding or correcting the bad Air. 2. In tempering the sharp Bile fixing the volatile and diminishing the abundance of it 3. In moderating stopping and reducing to its natural temper the vitious effervescency that is indeed joined with a notable and troublesome heat 4. In gently coagulating the Bloud too much dissolved condensating the too much rarefied and cooling it when over-hot or reducing it to a laudable integrity Fr. Sylvius when it is otherwise vitiated ¶ But though in the cure of our Fever we made no mention of Bloud-letting because we could very well want it and several have been happily cured without it yet it is not to be contemned since especially it is usefull to temper the heat of the Bloud and to prevent Suffocation in Plethorick persons Therefore it may be usefull for Plethorick persons for young people for those that are used to it for those that are sensible of much heat for those that desire it and for those who Idem in their imagination conceive great benefit from it XXXII Hippocrates in a Legitimate Burning-fever allows as much Water and Honey boiled there must be store of Water as the Patient shall desire and he carries the Patient with
taking a strong Purge to carry off the Remainder of the febrile matter have presently relapsed One would be ready to say that the matter of this Disease before laid asleep was by this means stirred up and brought into act by the Purge Yet if you consider the thing a right one would rather say that the frame of the bloud is much hurt by the violent Purge and whereas before it was prone to a bilious dyscrasie so as it could scarce assimilate the alible Juice it will presently for this evident cause degenerate the more and immediately pervert the nourishment into fermentative matter Willis ãâ¦ã and so be susceptive of a feverish disposition XII The hindring an Ague fit is accomplished by Medicines which stop fermentation And although this Remedy be among Physicians accounted immethodical and very uncertain yet it is certain that Agues have been often cured in this manner when Medicines would doe no good at all Onely here we must observe this that the use of such things is most beneficial after Purging and Bleeding if this be necessary Willis ibid. and unless these things be rightly promised the other seldom stop a sit ¶ There are not wanting Men who to abate or stop the fit give Opiates On the other hand also there are some who judge that Agues must not be stopt at the very first but that the fit should be suffered for awhile Hence an Ague once begun if it end in any reasonable time is vulgarly termed rather Physick than a Disease for by this means the impurities of the bloud blaze out the obstructions of the bowels are opened and indeed the whole body receives Vent so that it is wholly freed from all excrementitious matter and from the Seminary of growing Diseases And we grant this in part to wit if it end in a reasonable time but if it be protracted long it is the cause of many Diseases and long Sickness For hereby the mass of bloud is much spoiled of the vital spirit and like over-high fermented Wine it palls In the mean time the saline and earthy parts are too much exalted wherefore the Jaundice Scurvey Dropsie and other Cachexies follow this Fever too late cured For as a House set on fire from without is easilier delivered from danger of Burning than if Vulcan were pulling down the inner Rooms so also it is more easie to drive away Agues from humane bodies in the beginning than after the Agues have invaded the inner oeconomy of the bowels And of a depurative fermentation of the humours if it should exceed measure Fird Hosmannuâs mân p. 37â a corruptive one may easily be made Sylvius his method of Cure XIII Forasmuch as we have made the Cause of Agues as Agues to be the pancreatick Juice by reason of an Obstruction made in its lateral Ducts by Phlegm coagulated therein and then made sharper and Sowrer by stagnation and carried hence by making way through the obstructing Phlegm to the small Guts and there vitiously fermenting with the Bile in its way and the Phlegm in the Guts and then at length creeping along with them under one form or other to the right Ventricle of the Heart and in it not onely by irritating the Heart with its acrimony or flatulency raising a more frequent Pulse but moreover divers ways altering and disturbing the vital effervescency and sanguification it self and producing many symptoms in divers places Their Cure may be performed if first the obstructing Phlegm that is more or less glutinous and coagulated be cut and loosned and then as offending in Place be removed and at least be brought as far as the small Guts if not cleared of the Body it self Secondly if the acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice that is increased be tempered and corrected Thirdly if the vitious effervescency of the Bile in the small Guts be hindered or amended The obstructing Phlegm is cut by Aromaticks and any volatile Salt but especially so used that the whole body may be hot at once to the end the virtue of the Medicine being dispersed every way may reach also to the Pancreas it self and to its Lateral Ducts and so to the place affected and the Source of the Disease Which things are proper especially for phlegmatick and melancholick Persons Let the following Mixture serve for an Instance a spoonfull of it at a time to be taken several times a-day But two or three hours before the coming of a new fit to take three spoonfulls of it at the same time gently increasing the heat of the body either by motion or cloths or fire or a bath till the Sweat come for so it will doe more good and sometimes take the Ague happily away Take of Waters of Parsley 2 ounces Fenil 1 ounce Theriac simpl or Vitae Matthioli 1 ounce and an half Volatile Salt of Amber 1 scruple Syrup of Carduus benedictus 1 ounce Mix them As often as the complexion of the Patient is observed to be cholerick use loosners and sowre cutters Take of Fumitory-water 3 ounces Sal Ammoniac or Tartarum Vitriolatum 1 drachm Antimonium Diaphoreticum half a drachm Syrup of Fenil 1 ounce Mix them As often as both phlegmatick and cholerick humours abound in the same Patient of the two Subcontraries that were now commended these Mixtures may be made Take of the Waters of Cardaus benedictus Cichory each 1 ounce and an half Theriac simpl distilled Vinegar each 6 drachms Crabs-eyes in Powder half a drachm Syrup of the five opening roots 1 ounce Mix them If the obstructing Phlegm be not very glutinous oftentimes at once such Sweating the obstruction is wholly removed and the cause of it is carried into the small Guts and the Ague is cured In a Body that has but little Phlegm in it but more Bile a Vomit may be given three or four hours before the return of the fit by means whereof not onely the redounding Bile but also the obstructing Phlegm is forced to the small Guts hence to the Stomach and at last out at the Throat and Mouth and so the Ague is said to be destroyed To which end I have often with success used a Vomitory Sapa prepared by me of Glass of Antimony and other Medicines may in like manner be prepared of Antimony which is here proper above all other things Things that purge downwards now and then will doe the same thing but ever adding things that at the same time cut and carry off viscid Phlegm for example Take of the mass of Pilul fatid maj half a scruple Trochiscs of Alhandal Mercurius dulcis each 5 grains Oil of Amber 2 drops Mix them Make 5 Pills Let them be taken four or five hours before the next fit and they will purge gently The augmented acidity and acrimony of the pancreatick Juice will be happily allayed with volatile Salts and all Aromaticks not neglecting Opiates Therefore the Mixture above proposed of Waters of Parsley Fenil c. will be proper which will be
Cure is to be varied Therefore we must always have regard to all the Humours that any way offend in the Body seeing they are the cause why the obstructing Phlegm is more or less sharp and therefore why the fit varies in all its circumstances and symptoms For as often as Bile has dominion in the Body so often will Phlegm be less viscous and the Pancreatick juice less sharp and therefore the Ague will upon this account be cured with greater ease and speed if so be it be cured aright But as often as Phlegm shall predominate above the rest of the humours so often will the Pancreatick juice and bile be more dull and so the obstructing Phlegm it self will be more glutinous wherefore the Ague will be cured more slowly though easily enough having all its symptoms commonly more slight And as often as the redundant Acid exceeds the other humours so often will the bile be more broken and dull but then the Phlegm is more glutinous and especially when the acid inclines to austerity Sometimes it is more fluid and serous especially when the Acid is sharp and bile is intimately mixt with the saline part and together with the more fluid Phlegm makes a salt Serum but a briny one wherefore then the Ague will be cured more slowly and difficultly But after what manner he should proceed Sylvius the Reader may gather from what has been said before XVII Specificks for Fevers seem to have place chiefly in Agues some of them fix the morbifick cause not onely by their Narcotick Sulphur or as others will have it by their Salt but also they dissolve and they consist of Opiates Others by precipitating they abound in a fixt Salt and act by stopping fermentation and ebullition Such are Crabs eyes Others act by sweating and when they have raised a sweat they exert their antifebrile virtue Some of them are internal and use to be given an hour or two before the fit and they doe good especially to Bodies that are not very soul for unless the source be exhausted by Universals they may produce abundance of mischief This is commonly known Half a drachm of Carduus Benedictus Leaves powdered taken in a little warm Wine Some antisebrile Specificks act by evacuating Rolfinâk ãâã Febr. c. 1â3 such is that of Riverius in the Appendix of his Centuries XVIII Empirical Remedies that cure Agues are such as keep off the fit as it is coming without any evacution either taken inwards or applied outwardly especially where the Pulse beats and are chiefly tied to the region of the Heart the Wrists or the Soles of the feet The reason of their effect consists in this that by the use of them the turgescency and fermentation of the Bloud with the febrile matter may be stopt That is some Corpuscles or Effluvia are communicated from the Medicine bound about the Vessels to the Bloud which very much fix and bind the particles of it or by fusing and moving do as it were precipitate it The spontaneous heat of the Bloud is hindred either way just as when cold water is poured into a boiling Pot or as when Vinegar or Alume is poured into new Beer as it is working the working presently ceases and the liquor acquires a new tasie and consistency Things that are taken inward have thas tendency to break off the habit of habitual Paroxysms which if we obtain Nature recollects her self and upon her proper motion easily recovers her former state of health And although such an Intention be sometimes accomplished by giving a Vomit a little before the fit for it often stops the febrile motion of the Bloud by raising another motion contrary to this yet this indication may far more certainly be accomplished by such Medicines as do not at all evacuate from the Bowels but bring a certain fixation or precipitation of the febrile matter for the time upon the Bloud Whom I had in my hands to cure having first given a Vomit or a gentle Purge about three hours before the fit I applied Plasters to the Wrists and at the same time gave them some Febrifuge Powder in generous Wine and ordered my Patients to be kept in a gentle sweat in Bed It seldom so fell out but at the first or second time the Ague was by this means stopt and by repeating the Remedy a few times the Disease was perfectly cured Here something must be said of that famous Febrifuge the Peruvian Bark otherwise called China China or the Jesuits Bark The common way of giving it is to infuse 2 drachms of the Powder in thin or generous Wine in a Vessel close stopt for two hours and then as the fit is coming to give the Liquor and the Powder to the Patient as he lies in his Bed This potion sometimes stops the fit as it is coming yet oftentimes this coming after its usual manner it prevents the next following But however the fit be stopt at the first second or third period and the Disease seem to be cured it usually returns in twenty or thirty days And then the Powder being given again the fit is staved off about the same space of time and in this manner I have known those that have been troubled with Quartans who have had but a very few fits all the Autumn and Winter and so have kept the Enemy at Push of Pike till the Spring coming on by the help of the season of the year and Physick the disposition of the Bloud was altered for the better and so the disease by degrees has vanished Those who in this manner got truce of their Quartans went brisk and chearfull about their business whereas otherwise they grew feeble and pale and were reduced to a languishing and a vitious habit of body Scarce one of an hundred tried this remedy in vain It is not onely given in a Quartan but in other sorts of Agues with success But they that stop Agues with this Medicine onely seem to give cheating Physick But the use of this Medicine will be onely proper when the Patient's strength is too much spent with too great frequency of the fits and a truce is by this means procured Willis de Febr. c. 6. that Nature may recollect her self and thenceforth more powerfully oppose the Enemy XIX Riverius called Water impregnated with the Salt of Tartar his Aqua Febrifuga He infused Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Sulphur with a drachm or two of Senna and sometimes half a drachm of Jalap either in Spring-water onely or in some appropriate decoction so he cured all Agues even Quartans He also called Mercurius dulcis six times sublimed Calomelanos which certainly makes a laudable and never a noxious Purge The dose is to 1 Scruple whether Refin of Jalap or of Scammony half a scruple whose Dose may be diminished or increased And he affirms he never saw any other effect than good from this Medicine in innumerable cases and in all ages XX. Beside these things which
till both of them be extinguished with proper Remedies And there is another sort of this Disease though more rarely occurring This invades a Man at any time of the year and that usually for this reason to wit because the Patient has given himself to drink subtile and attenuating Wines a little too freely or some such spirituous liquour The Fever which leads the Van is attended by the breaking out of Pustules almost all the body over which resemble the stinging of Nettles and sometimes rise in Blisters and then striking in again hide themselves like little knots under the Skin with a most biting and intolerable Itch. Here I judge the peccant matter mixt with the bloud should by right be evacuated and the ebullition of the same bloud should be stopt with Remedies that temper it and lastly that the matter which is now setled in the parts should be got out and discussed That these things may be done as soon as I come I order a large quantity of bloud to be taken from the Arm which indeed almost ever resembles the bloud of pleuritick persons The day following I give the gentle Purging Potion familiar to me in my practice and at the hour of sleep if perhaps the Patient have Purged too much some Paregorick Draught as Syrupus de Meconio in Cowslip-flower-water or some such thing When the Purge has done working I order the part grieved to be fomented with the following Decoction Take of the Roots of Marshmallow and Lily each 2 ounces Leaves of Mallows Elder Mullein each 2 handfulls Flowers of Melilot Tops of St. John's-wort and Lesser Centaury each 1 handfull Linseed and Faenugreek-seed each half an ounce Boil them in a sufficient quantity of Water to 3 pounds Let the Liquour be strained and at the time of use add to every pound of the Decoction Spirit of Wine 2 ounces Let some folds of thin Flannel be dipt in this decoction and strained out and then applied warm to the part twice a day which after fomentation may daily be anointed with this following Mixture Take of Spirit of Wine half a pound Venice-Treacle 2 ounces Powder of Long Pepper Cloves each 2 drachms Mix them Let a brown Paper wet in this Mixture be wrapt about the part Moreover I advise the Patient to feed onely on Barley and Oatmeal-Grewel and rosted Apples and also to drink very small Beer and to keep up for some hours every day from his Bed By this Method both the Fever and other Symptoms are for the most part quickly put to flight But if not I again breathe a Vein which now and then must be done a third time a day always passing between to wit if there be a bad disposition in the bloud and a violent Fever The days he does not bleed I prescribe a Clyster of Milk and Syrup of Violets and cooling Juleps of Water of Water-Lily c. already mentioned in the cure of the Rheumatism to be used any hour of the day But for the most part once Bleeding and a Purge following if they be used in time doe the business That sort which resembles the stinging of Nettles with an Itch must be got away by the like means but that this stands in less need of outward applications II. Certainly in my judgment we may see no obscure resemblance of the Plague with that Inflammation which the Latins call Ignis sacer and we in our own Language St. Anthony's Fire For this Disease is with sound Physicians a continual Fever deriving its original from the thinner part of the bloud being corrupted and inflamed from which that Nature may free her self she expells it to some external part of the body in which a Tumour or rather seeing oftentimes no such remarkable Tumour appears a red broad spreading spot which they call the Rose appears And this Fever after it has afflicted the Patient a day or two ends critically in this Swelling and farthermore there is sometimes a pain in the Glands under the Arm-pits or in the Groin And this Disease commonly seises a Man as the Pestilence with a chillness and a Feverish Heat following so that they who have never had it before think they are taken with the Plague till at last the Disease shew it self in the Leg or in some other part Besides some Authours suspect that there is something of Malignity in this Disease and therefore they determine the cure to be in the use of Sudorificks and Alexipharmacks This flame indeed when it has stirred up an Ebullition by means whereof the particles of the bloud being slightly singed and as it were blasted are in a short time cast out is extinguished of its own accord without attempting any farther mischief Febris Haemorrhagica Haemoptoïca or The Bleeding and Bloud-spitting Fever It s Description and Cure SOme Fevers may deservedly be reckoned among the Intercurrent which because some way or other they immediately make way for themselves and end in this or that Symptome are vulgarly not accounted Fevers although originally they were truely such and that affection from which the Disease borrowed its name is onely a Symptome of the Fever which is at last terminated therein At present I shall onely take notice of two Bleeding at the Nose and Spitting of Bloud Bleeding at the Nose annoys a Man at every season of the year especially them that have a hot bloud and are of a weakly Constitution and that more in Age than Youth Usually at its first approach it makes some shew of a Fever in that while it makes its way where it confined it pain and heat in the Forehead do yet torment Men the Bloud runs for some hours then it stops a while by and by it bursts out again and so by turns till at length being stopt either by the use of Medicines or of its own accord because of the abatement and loss of a great quantity it wholly ceases yet so as that the Patient may fear a Relapse every year if he should happen to heat himself either with Spirituous Liquours or on any other occasion whatever This is the end I propose to my self that the too great heat and ebullition of the bloud whence the said extravasation arises contrary to the usage of Nature may be by all means restrained and its violence turned another way Therefore I frequently open a Vein in the Arm and take bloud liberally away in colour ever answering the bloud of pleuritick persons I injoyn a cooling and thickning course of Diet as of Spring-water 8 parts and one of Milk boiled together to be drunk cold baked Apples Barley-Grewel and the like things abstaining from Flesh I order them to sit up from Bed a little while every day and to take a lenient cooling Clyster every day and not to omit it for one day Moreover the fury of the bloud is restrained as if it were bound with a Chain by a paregorick draught of Diacodium at the hour of sleep But when a sharp Lympha
over intervening concerning which Spots Practioners doubt whether they come symptomatically or critically I indeed sometimes have observed that by reason of the quantity and quality of the bloud and corrupt Serum which Nature was not able to correct have appeared unhappily and portended Death it self I have also observed them to break out critically as well as the Small Pox and Measles which were kindly But these forementioned Spots in Malignant fevers are the effects of a very bad Cause as it argues so great a corruption of the bloud in the live Body that the Fermentation causes such a diacrisis or apocrisis in the mass of bloud as that the volatile Salt it self appears Simon Pauli D grâs de Feb. M ââgâ Sect. 52 5â which is naturally apt to pass subject to subject and is by consequent a poison which acts in its whole substance and this is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or morbid excretion of Hippocrates XXV Lest any one should accuse us as if we were ignorant of the methodus medendi because when they that are sick of a Malignant fever with a hot and dry Intemperature and that notorious enough to the touch indeed gentle and kindly we presently fly to Sudorificks Diureticks and finally to Salts and I add that I willingly allow him this although it be not universally true that all these things are hot as to our last refuge when the Fever requires cooling things I will here introduce Hofmannus his reason namely why Diseases of hot Intemperature are cured with hot Medicine fetched from his de Medicam Officin lib 2. cap. 128. Because it holds good not onely in the Venereal Disease whose cure he treats of in the forecited place but in Malignant fevers and many other Diseases called Occult and in such as wherein the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Hippocrates which word many understand amiss is said and believed to be In that place after Fallopius he inveighs against them who granting Guaiacum to be bitter and biting and therefore hot and dry yet would have it most temperate and as like our Body as any aliment because they observe that some grow corpulent upon the use of this Wood. By which contradiction some being constrained saith Hofmannus have held that this wood cures the Pox indeed whether it depend on hot humours or cold by propriety of substance or some occult property and other Diseases joined with it by manifest qualities But indeed they are very much deceived For if it be thus when it cures the Pox it self does it lay aside its manifest qualities They will not say so I hope Therefore these Problemes still remain undiscussed Why Hot fights with Hot and Dry with Dry And if it be such in adjunct Diseases why is it not in the root it self But is it hot and moist perfectly and does it nourish more than gelly Broth of a Chicken Then this is sure Guaiacum is hot and dry and how does it drive away a Disease that is hot and dry It is by discussing and wasting the hot and dry humours I add that they appear such or are really hot and dry because of the Salt wherewith the bloud of Persons infected with the Pox does without all controversie most exuberantly abound for certainly this Plague of theirs is contagious which is cooling by accident So Rheubarb cocls by purging such humours but it does it not indifferently and without the Laws of Method without which those who have tried it have been greatly hurt Yet does it noârish For they take the Body of it It nourishes not at all for since aliment is a passive Word that is is a thing which is conquered who can believe that so hot a Medicine can be conquered and turned into the substance of the thing nourished Yet People grow fat upon it You kill me for I said but now it was done by accident the hot humours being discussed and the obstructions of the Bowels being opened which hindred the generation of Bloud But how bad a Logician are you in that you distinguish not what is of it self and what by accident c. But this is the summ of the matter that the Venereal Disease a hot and dry one is cured with a hot and dry Medicine by accident and that indeed by a simple Decoction of Guaiacum Which we must affirm is done likewise in a Malignant and Spotted fever while we use Sudorificks Diureticks and Salts in particular namely that sharp and hot things are good for them by accident why Because while in it no crisis or but an imperfect one intervening the Salt in the mass of bloud being now made fixt in the hands or feet or rather in the Anastomoses of the Veins and Arteries of the said parts far distant from the Heart hinders the free circulation these Salts render it volatile which being either attenuated or made volatile and discharged by the benefit of Circulation by sweat or being more fixt and as it were in fusion by the Urinary passages it does again freely doe its duty which being procured the bloud is truly cleansed and as it were ventilated not onely in the said Fever but in other malignant and contagious Diseases hereupon Health is procured and the Malignity dispatched But when in this acute Disease and in a Malignant fever Nature receives no assistence then at length whatever upon the ceasing of the Fever or fermentation in the mass of bloud is corrupt and remains Idem ibid. breeds divers imposthumes and swellings in divers parts XXVI And as there is extreme danger in purging in Malignant fevers so it is well known that those Medicines which are commended against Fevers and those commended against poisons are diametrically opposite one to another and why Because some Antifebrile Medicines have been found out not by Indications but by Empiricism And since the manner of the corruption of our bloud in Fevers and especially in Malignant and Spotted ones varies and as it were eludes the industry of Physicians hence it usually falls out that both Agues and especially Malignant and Spotted fevers when we come to them we call Antifebrile and Specifick Medicines are so hard to cure that they are cured rather by chance than reason And the Cause besides that I brought from the corruption of the bloud is this for that there is no Fever without fermentation or ebullition Therefore if for example's sake Nutmeg Alume Powder of Tormentill Antefebrilis Crollij prepared of long Oyster shells with Wine Vinegar Pearl Coral Bezoar stone Pretious Stones and the like be given to People in Fevers it sometimes happens that the Fever ceases and Why Because that Ebullition is stopt by them just as we find that the heat of the Stomach is stopt by the alone use of simple Chalk powdered But if you weigh these simples in the Balance of Reason you will find it very likely that they act what they do act by drying and by their earthy parts for they are in an
it be certain that one Remedy has given relief in some one pestilential constitution yet it has been found to be useless in another which must be ascribed to the diversity of the pestilential poison Therefore some have likened it well enough sometimes to the Nature of a Viper Hemlock Monkshood and sometimes to the nature of the Asp See Quercetan in Pestis Alexicaco Sennertus says this is very usefull to perform the Cure aright Hence perhaps the specifick Remedy being unknown so many hundreds of Men dye when onely the vulgar Antidotes Treacle Mithridate c. are given that is the specifick nature of the Plague not being known before several have died Therefore we must not insist on one Remedy but they must be varied till a certain and specifick one be made manifest XXIV Juleps are very necessary yet we may not use them every where and always I never prescribed them without adding Sudorificks which the sequel will declare and this is the safest way For if the Patient use a simple cooling Potion when the Sweat runs plentifully both the Sweat often returns inwards and the Poison is communicated to the Heart whence at length Death follows Barbettâ XXV The Sweat as it runs must be wiped off with a warm linen Cloth and such another linen Cloth must be put to the Breast for I have hitherto observed that Shirts and other Linen is never changed Barbette but with great harm yet its excessive moistness sometimes compells us ¶ Let the Patient when he has taken this Medicine compose himself in bed to promote a Sweat covering himself moderately that is with so many Clothes as he can bear without tumbling After half an hour if neither Sweat Vomiting nor a Stool follow let him take some Broth or Beer or Wine warm and let this be repeated ever and anon till you find some evacuation or other follow and that sufficiently But if after an hour or two none follow nothing hinders to give the Patient a new Medicine nay upon urgent hazard a third For this you must take notice of that unless after taking a Medicine whether sudorifick or vomitory either Sweat or Vomiting or Purging do follow or the Anxiety of the Heart be removed or at least diminished the Patient is in very great danger for it is a sign that there is a Pestilential poison either copious or very volatile or very sharp in the Body wherefore there is little hope But on the contrary if there be Excretion either upwards or downwards or at least plentifull Sweat and the Anxiety of Heart and Loathing abate and the Pulse grows greater and stronger we may hope well of a happy Cure And that it may be hastned both during the Sweat and when it is ended Cordials mixtures consisting chiefly of Acids may be given the Patients by spoonfulls at short Intervals to the end the Acid that is destroyed in them may be restored and that its consistence may be kept or restored to the Bloud without which it is not possible for any man to remain long alive And still as long as any sign of the yet urgent Plague remains in the Patient so long you must persist in Medicines that fix a volatile Salt temper a sharp one and restore the Acid lest the Poison neglected and left to it self recruit its strength and surprize the too secure Patient unawares and take him off Certainly by this way and method I have successfully cured many Patients But when it was neglected I have seen many perish and oftentimes the wilfull and careless although I admonished them in vain and so satisfied my own Conscience XXVI Sudorificks must be taken twice at least every day yea it will doe a great deal of good to use them thrice in 24 hours time There are found some who in the space of 6 hours give a new Sudorifick with great success Nor is there any reason slightly to desist from the practice of these Physicians although the Patient cry he is well for in a short time it will appear Idem the Disease has cheated you both ¶ Who causes not a Sweat four times or oftner in 24 hours in those that are taken with the Plague Roâfincââus truly he will doe but little good XXVII Diaphoreticks and Cordials especially Acids are in this case highly necessary most certain and therefore are the best for they bring consistence to the bloud expell malignity dissolve phlegm in the stomach and guts temper bile the cause of many mischiefs Nevertheless the variety of the Disease and its symptoms require them to be variously changed because otherwise they would not perform what they are able to perform in an acute Disease Barbette XXVIII Seeing the Pestilential poison should not onely be expelled but moreover does upon the account of its volatility and lixivial acrimony indicate its alteration and correction that is its fixation and contemperation we are not without reason solicitous about the matter of the Remedy indicated and which especially fixes the volatile Salt and contempers the sharp And I scarce know any such among Vegetables which are able to doe it nor among Animals so that we are forced to have recourse to Minerals as to our last refuge Among which it may be Tartar is one or rather its distilled Oil but because of its foetidness and several other reasons it cannot conveniently be made use of But among Minerals Salt-petre or Nitre can doe much towards the fixing of Volatile Salts for who knows not that Arsenick Orpiment Antimony and such like things consisting of a volatile Salt are fixt by the benefit of Nitre as well crude as first changed into an acid spirit It may therefore be used with good success in the Plague But the most excellent thing and which is worthy of a farther search is mineral Sulphur and that first fixed by Art whose excellency and efficacy in fixing a volatile Salt few have observed And I commend it to all men and I advise them to learn to prepare the best out of any subject whatever for they will have a most gratefull and excellent Medicine in the Plague and in very many other Diseases not onely fit to fix a volatile Salt Sylâius de lâ B e. but also to temper the same when it is too sharp XXIX Whether Garlick be convenient in the Pestilence for prevention and cure As for prevention if any one be accustomed to it in health without doubt it ought not to be left off for it were a piece of imprudence to leave off a custome in a pestilential constitution because it is not lawfull then to give an occasion of being sick But if he be one who sometimes uses Garlick and sometimes not and neither finds his Head ake nor himself hotter than ordinary after the use of it it may be allowed him I think as he used it otherwise especially in Winter time Reapers may serve for an instance who eat it with bread in the heat of
benignity there is a certain way to remove the morbifick cause in other diseases but in this the way is but slippery and inconstant From hence it follows that the Physician who in the cure of other diseases is bound to follow Nature's duct and propensity very close must here refuse its guidance Wherefore since it is by no means secure to tread in Nature's steps in exterminating this Disease we must now look about us by what means we may satisfie the second intention that is of endeavouring another and a different solution from the natural And this I think may be done two ways that is by bleeding or by Sweating As to the former I am not ignorant that many make conscience of Bleeding But not to heed the prejudices of the Vulgar I first of all appeal to those Physicians that stay'd in London in the time of the late Plague whether any of them observed that plentifull and repeated Bleeding before any Swelling appeared proved mortal to those that were sick of the Plague We need not at all wonder indeed that the letting of a little bloud when the Swelling begins to appear is always hurtfull Because when onely a small quantity of bloud is taken hereby the management of the affair is taken out of Nature's hand which applies her whole strength to the protrusion of the tumour nor is there any other way of evacuating the morbifick matter efficacious enough substituted in its stead And when the Swelling already appears and bloud is then let seeing it draws from the circumference to the centre it causes a motion quite contrary to the motion of Nature which is from the Centre to the Circumference But that bleeding in the Plague is convenient many grave Writers have long ago adjudged But there is onely one that I know of who places the whole business of the cure such as we require in bleeding plentifully that is Leonardus Botallus a most famous Physician of the last Age I saith he think there is no Plague for which this may not be more wholesome than any other remedies so it be used opportunely and in a convenient quantity And I think it has sometimes proved useless because it was used either later or less than was necessary or because there was an errour about using it in both respects And a little after But in so great a timidity and spare detraction how can any one rightly judge what good or harm it does in a Pestilential Disease For the Disease for whose cure the taking away of four pounds of bloud was necessary in which onely one is taken if it kill a Man does not therefore kill a Man because bloud is let but because it was not let in a just quantity or it may be not seasonably All which he confirms by experience and goes to examples of cures But here I will relate a very rare history of a matter as it was acted with us in England When among the calamities of a Civil War the Plague also raged in several places and by chance was brought from some other place to Dunstur-Castle in Sommersetshire after some of the Soldiers had died suddenly with Spots and it had seized several others a certain Chirurgeon who was returned from travelling in far Countries who at that time among others served for pay asked leave of the Governour of the place that he might doe his best to help his Fellow-soldiers who consenting he took immediately from every sick Man at the first coming of the Disease before any Swelling appeared a great quantity of bloud till their feet began to fail them for he bled them standing and in the open Air nor had he any Porringers to measure the bloud in this being done he sent them to lie down in their huts and although after bleeding he used no remedy at all yet of abundance whom he treated in this manner which is a wonderfull thing there died not one Man But although I am not onely sensible of the benefit of this practice in my judgment but have long since found it so indeed by experience yet the dissipation of the Pestilential ferment by transpiration pleases me upon several accounts better than Evacuation by Bleeding because it does not so much weaken Patients nor expose Physicians to the danger of Infamy But this also does not want its difficulties for first of all Sweats are difficultly procured in several people especially in young Men of a hot constitution Which sort of Patients the more you endeavour to raise a Sweat by strong Hydroticks and heaping on much clothes on them the more danger you bring them into of a Phrenzy or which is of a sadder portent being held so long in expectation at last instead of Sweat you will produce the Tokens For seeing the principal fault in this Disease consists in the more spirituous part of the mass of bloud wherefore the exagitation of the more gross particles is for the most part more languid than in other inflammations and this thinner portion being put in a greater rage by the accession of new heat does at length by its assault wholly break all the fibres of the bloud distended beyond the measure of their texture from which dissolution of the fibres of the bloud I think the cause of the Tokens may be fetched For just as the Marks that are inflicted upon some musculous part of the body by a violent blow so they at first appear very red in the Skin and in a short time after appear black and blew But then in bodies that are apt to Sweat if the Sweat be broke off sooner than it should that is before all the morbid matter be dissipated the condition of the Buboes which indeed began to come out well enough towards the latter end of the Sweat becomes worse afterwards for part of the matter being subtracted which ought to raise them they either easily strike in again or they never come to legitimate abscesses as it usually happens in the Small Pox whenever the Patient has Sweat violently in the first days and then at length the cruel enemy being received within the walls a commotion is raised in the bloud by means whereof oftentimes Spots the Tokens of imminent death are forced out And I continued this custome of bleeding freely to which also the use of Ptisane and such cooling Diet was added in many Patients with wonderfull success till at length failing of the wonted success in managing of some out of the wilfullness of some By-standers who were possessed with vain Prejudices and would not suffer a due quantity of Bloud to be let to the Patient 's great damage from whom at least while the scope of Cure turned on this hinge either Bloud was not taken in a sufficient quantity or not at all I perceived a great stop put to my endeavours and therefore I reckoned another way of opposing this Disease than Bloud-letting if it could be found would be of great use First if the Swelling did not yet
should be treated not onely as grievously wounded men but as having got a febrile indisposition from the disturbed frame and temper of the bloud Because the bloud in them has long since been too much exalted and being as it were touched with an impure Infection upon the accession of any sulphureous fewel it quickly takes fire After Diet the second care is lest the pores be closed or the Lochia stopt by carelesly admitting the outward Cold For upon a very small occasion when the order of transpiration is altered the bloud which was before effervescent is disordered And the Womb also at the approach of the Air contracts it self and the mouths of the Vessels so that the Lochia are stopt from running wherefore I would have Women kept at least five days in Bed The third intention remains that the flux of the Lochia may be continued by a gentle proritation of the bloud The cure departs far from the method used in Putrid fevers For in this we must not expect that the bloud touched with a febrile burning should cool gradually and then that it should conquer the adust recrements gathered in its mass and separate them by crisis But rather as is done in a Malignant fever assoon as the bloud begins to be in an immoderate ferment it is convenient that it be gently stirred by Diaphoretick Medicines and that its heterogeneous and impure mixture be cast out Wherefore among the vulgar and that not amiss it is the custome presently to give Sudorificks By this means the Bloud being eventilated its Effervescence is stopt and the Lochia that are apt to be stopt by the agitation of the bloud are provoked to run When therefore a Lying-in Woman is first taken with this Fever we must forthwith doe our endeavour that the fewel may plentifully be subtracted from the burning bloud by a prescribed Diet and forbidding of flesh and broth thereof In the mean time all cold and styptick things must be equally avoided for they fix and thicken the bloud too much and hinder its purging which is very requisite both by the Lochia and by cutaneous transpiration But rather although the Fever be urgent let moderate hot things be given Decoctions or distilled waters of Marigold flowers leaves of Pennyroyal Mugwort roots of Scorzonera and Bezoartick powders Spirit of Hartshorn fixed Salts of herbs c. If the Lochia be stopt we must doe all our endeavour that their flux may be again promoted If the Belly be bound it must be loosned with an emollient Clyster We must have a care of too violent provocation for it is manifest that in Child-bed as well as in a Malignant fever by much going to stool the strength is spent together with a fainting of the Spirits If at any time with a suppression of the Lochia there be a disturbance in the bloud vomiting thirst and watching I have known Laudanum mixt with Saffron often given with good success 2. If notwithstanding the use of these Remedies the Fever still grow worse and be sensibly encreased with a worse apparatus of Symptoms as if besides Disorders in the Bloud the Brain and Nervous parts begin to be affected Medicines though many of several sorts be tried are oftentimes able to doe but little good yea in this case the Indications do co-incide with those that are to be used in the Plague it self since the Lochia when they have been some time stopt cannot easily or scarce at all be brought again in a great confusion of bloud and humours Therefore it is good to quicken the motion by Diaphoreticks namely that the corruption impressed on the bloud and nervous juice and restagnating from the Womb may in some measure be cast off by sweat and insensible transpiration Wherefore here Bezoartick Powders and Confections Spirit of Hartshorn or Soot Tincture of Corals or Pearl are good I have seen sometimes a little hope appear by the help of these Medicines with the Pulse and other Symptoms growing better for a little while yet the cure seldom succeeded but when the use of these Cordials was left off the Patients forthwith died with a weak Pulse as soon as ever a Loosness came 3. While the condition of the Patient does still grow worse as when wich the encrease of the Fever the Pulse is weak and unequal and there are frequent shakings and convulsive Motions in the whole Body with a Delirium and Stupidity then the Physician having first given the prognostick of Death must insist on a few remedies and those generally onely cordial and let him abstain from Bleeding Scarifying Blisters and Cupping-glasses for such administrations onely beget hatred and calumny so that for that reason they are accounted as Executioners and hard hearted among the Women III. The acute Diseases of Lying in Women are sometimes attended with some notorious Symptome that is Quinsey Pleurisie Peripneumony Dysentery Small-pox and the like and then they carry the names of these affections I judge that all these Symptoms proceed from a certain Coagulation of the bloud and from an Extravasation of it But while the Bloud is extravasated in one part all its natural and critical Efflux is stopt in another wherefore there is danger lest while the bloud begins to be coagulated either in a particular and usual focus of congelation or universally in its whole mass the running of the Lochia be forthwith stopt which truly usually happens and therefore these Diseases are usually mortal to Lying-in Women Among these the Quinsey Pleurisie and Peripneumony because of the Analogy of their Cause and Cure may be considered together When a Lying-in Woman is affected with any of these at the very first we must endeavour that the Bloud which is fixt any where and begun to be extravasated may be restored to circulation and not cause an Imposthume because Lying-in Women are very seldom when they are taken with these Symptomatical Fevers cured either by abscess of the matter or spitting Wherefore internal Remedies which melt the bloud and free it from Coagulation must be used such as are especially Diaphoreticks full of a volatile Salt as Spirit of Harts-horn Soot Urine and also the Salts themselves also testaceous and bezoatick powders Lapis prunellae Decoctions and Juleps of Vegetables that provoke the Menses or Urine among which things appropriate to the Womb may be mixt not neglecting things externally discutient In the mean time let the impetuous motion and immoderate effervescence of the bloud be put far away and the recrements thereof be still carried downward by all means possible frictions c. By bleeding if the plethory be great in the whole and the inflammation very acute in any part And if necessity be urgent in the Arme after this another bleeding in the Legs if it can be admitted may follow But I must caution you that you must be very carefull how you practise bleeding in these cases for unless it give ease which I know seldom so happens presently the Pulse grows weak
of Cure by the edge of a Syringotomus and a thread which joins the opinions of Celsus and of the later Chirurgeons XVI Yet Fistulae in ano in old Men deriving their original from some old Fluxion as from the Haemorrhoids of long continuance cannot safely be cured unless before the Wound be healed an Issue be made in the Thigh three or four inches above the Knee for evacuation of the matter daily gathered which used to be evacuated by the old Fistula Sâultetus XVII Penetrating Fistulae are very easily and safely cured without an actual Cautery which some commend to consume the Callus in Fistulae if when the Syringotomus is passed through the Bloud be stopt and Haemorrhagie prevented and the Callus wasted with this Medicine Take of Mercury precipitate half a drachm Honey of Roses half an ounce For the sphincter according to Hippocrates lib. de Haemorrh may safely be cut any way without prejudicing its office if but an eighth part of it be left untouched otherwise an involuntary excretion of the faeces would follow and then most certain Death Idem Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. I have seen Fistulae of the Feet often cured with this Remedy First wash them with a Lye of Vine-ashes then use an Unguent made of Sugar Oil-olive Mercury and Wine each equal parts Borelâus 2. This wonderfully cures Fistulae if they be often washed and the hollow of them filled with an Arcanum mixt with Tincture of Aristolochia rotunda drawn with Spirit of Wine Faber 3. The Bulb of Cornflag mixt with Starch Vinegar and Foxes grease cures Fistulae and running Sores most effectually Laurembergius 4. This is highly commended by many Authours especially for drying up and healing a Fistula Take of Water of the Vine 2 ounces Malmsey wine 1 ounce Honey of Roses 10 drachms Myrrh root of Peucedanum each 2 drachms Sarcocolla Aloe Epatica each 1 ounce and an half Mix them Let them boil up onely once moderately and let it be injected by a Syringe into the Fistula Pâcâettius 5. A wonderfull Water for Fistulae Take of green Shells of Wall-nuts let them stand in the shade distill them Take of the distilled Water 7 pounds distill it again add of Honey 2 pounds distill it again and keep it for use Praevotius 6. After Universals are used some commend this Potion Take of Sanicle Mugwort Speedwell Saracene's Consound Winter-green each 1 ounce Savine 1 ounce and an half Horse-tail half a drachm Boil them in White-wine Make a Potion which if you would have more effectual in every Dose mix of prepared Crabs-eyes half a scruple For Savine and Crabs-eyes are very good to expell Bones Pus broken Veins and the like Senner 7. This is a most secret Medicine Take of Tops of lesser Centaury 3 handfulls Roots of greater Plantain fresh 1 pugil Leaves of Germander Scabious each 1 handfull New-wine 3 pounds and an half Boil them to half Let the Herbs and Roots be well pounded and strained out hard then boil them on a gentle Fire to the consistency of Honey and keep it Stokkerus 8. This is an approved Medicine for a Fistula Take of Leaves of red Cabbage and the Seeds of the same Roots of Madder each equal parts Bruise them in some Wine and boil them to a third strain out the Liquour and boil them to the consistency of Honey Give two spoonfulls morning and evening every day ¶ Filipendula and the Grains found at the end of its Root are good for the same Tulpius Fluor Muliebris or Womens Whites The Contents How it may be known from a Gonorrhoea I. The blame must not always be laid upon the Womb. II. Bleeding is sometimes good III. Cured within a month by taking a loosning Ptisan IV. Whether Diureticks be proper V. Whether they be always good VI. Every one must not be cured by a Sudorifick Diet. VII Astringents and Strengthners must be seasonably used VIII Issues in the Legs are good IX Sometimes it is caused by the use of Catharticks and Baths X. Those Women that have a dry Nose are usually subject to it XI The Womb must be strengthned XII A Malignant one imposes upon the Physician XIII Medicines I. SOme Women that are ill of a virulent Gonorrhoea hiding their fault under an innocent name pretend they are ill of the Whites because in both cases abundance of filth is voided But the Chirurgeon may easily distinguish the Whites from a Gonorrhoea and he may satisfie himself a Gonorrhoea will never be cured without Salivation Paraeus II. The cause which continually breeds the corrupt humour is sometimes in the Womb sometimes in other principal parts They are therefore grievously mistaken who ascribe the cause of all that comes from the Womb and of the suppression of the Menses to the Womb alone For in what Women cold Bowels or obstructed or scirrhous have caused Crudities an ill Habit or Dropsie the corrupted humour being poured into several parts of the body often falls upon the Womb and tending that way purges the Body which is done in some others by urine or stool Fernelius III. Seeing the Whites depend upon a Cacochymie and it being drawn to the Veins by Phlebotomy may infect the mass of Bloud there seems no room for Phlebotomy Besides since in this chronical Disease strength decays much and the Body is often brought to a consumption it appears it ought not to be farther wasted by Bleeding and be deprived of its Aliment Yet it is thus determined that if this Flux be not solitary and pure but be mixt with a little bloud and look red then bloud may be let As also if there be any great heat in the Liver or acrimony of the bilious juice joined with this Flux But in other cases especially when the case is grown inveterate it is better to abstain from Bleeding Rivârius IV. A Woman of forty had been long troubled with the Whites after many Medicines tried in vain she was perfectly cured with taking a laxative Ptisan every day for a month The Composition was this Take of cleansed Senna 1 drachm Coriander-seed prepared and scraped Liquorice each 1 drachm and an half Spring-water wherein three drachms of Tamarinds and 1 drachm of Mastich-wood have been boiled one glass Infuse them cold for one night and let her take the colature two hours in the morning before she eat Idem V. There is no small difficulty to tell whether Diureticks be proper for they do not onely provoke urine but the menstrua by heating and attenuating the humours contained in the Veins Yet they are approved by all Authours and by Galen himself who used them in Boëthius his Wife The reason is because Diureticks provoke urine primarily and the menses secondarily and as it were by accident then the Kidneys draw the serous matter continually the Womb onely receives it Wherefore it is likely that
me for these troublesome and dangerous Symptoms This Noble person was not against such things as might reduce him to his former state Universals premised two Issues were made in his Legs His Feet were washed for a Month in a Lixivium made of detersives and softners He walked much and by these means his former effluvium being recalled his dreadfull Symptoms ceased XIV Vulgar Physicians debar every contumacious pain that afflicts any part of the body without inflammation the help of bleeding because as they say these Diseases come of a cold cause falling from the brain To which cause they subject not onely the said pains but also all Chronical Coughs concerning all which things the Physicians think they have satisfied their enquiring Patients when they have told them that the remedy proposed can by no means be convenient for them but they must onely purge and keep a low diet and such things But that both the Physicians and Patients are deceived the thing it self and examples do shew Mr. de Varennes 75 years old had a continual lingring pain in his neck and shoulders for many Months which the Physicians endeavoured to cure by giving of Purges and applying hot Ointments By which when he found small benefit I told him I thought Bleeding would doe him good He on the contrary objected that he never used to be let bloud that he was old the Winter was beginning that the Disease came of cold humours and wind But he was forced at last by the increase and continuance of his illness to admit of Bloud-letting I ordered 10 ounces of bloud to be taken out of the Arm on the side affected And in a few days a like quantity on the opposite side with great benefit and then again out of the other and so he was cured Yet in the mean time we did not neglect the use of Purgatives and hot and discutient Unguents In such another contumacious pain in the neck with a heaviness of his head when the Physicians endeavoured in vain to cure the Reverend N. by Purging and other remedies I cured him by thrice bleeding him a pound and an half at a time contrary to the expectation and consent of other Physicians Therefore in cold Diseases or such as we think to be cold to abstain from bleeding is not always good but sometimes hurtfull And in contumacious Diseases although they come of cold matter it is not the part of a prudent Physician utterly to abstain or to bleed less than is proper Seeing it is certain that every part of the body is nourished by that matter which is in the veins which the colder and thicker it is the Disease caused by that matter must needs be rendred more grievous and contumacious Which matter we say Botallus l. de curat per S. M. c. 12. ought partly to be abated by bleeding and partly by purging and a thin diet to the end that when the mass of bloud is purged and renewed the Disease may be cured Haemoptysis or Spitting of Bloud The Contents Whether bloud may be let I. In what place it may be let II. We must have a care of bleeding if it come from bile III. The use of Cupping-glasses IV. The place for Issues V. Whether the Menses may be provoked in Women that spit bloud VI. The cure of one complicated with a Pleurisie VII We must be carefull in using things that dissolve clotted bloud VIII The use of them IX When Posca may be given X. Narcoticks may be given wâth safety XI We must not insist long upon internal Astringents XII Hot and thin things must be added to them XIII XIV What Medical Waters are proper XV. Eclegmata doe little good XVI Spirituous and thin things doe no good XVII Tincture of Corals is suspected XVIII Scaliger's Powder XIX Whether Nettle Juice be proper XX. The virtue of Linseed-Oil XXI We must not use every sort of Starch XXII Galen's way of cure is methodical XXIII The method of Purging XXIV When the bloud comes out in abundance we must not stop it on a sudden XXV The dissolution of concrete bloud must be promoted or the concretion of it hindred XXVI Even when the Disease is cured we must persist in the use of Medicines XXVII Medicines agreeable to every individual should be sought for XXVIII The Physician must be sagacious in enquiring the causes XXIX The excellency of Revulsion to the most distant parts for Revulsion sake XXX External Astringents are not always proper XXXI A thin and attenuating Diet is hurtfull XXXII What kind of Air is proper XXXIII Medicines I. THis is a dangerous Disease for the possession of life the bloud is wasted Wherefore here is need of a speedy and strong remedy such is Venaesection Galen let bloud in a young Man who having got cold in his Breast spate bloud Aretaeus is of the same judgment If saith he the veins be distended with bloud one must be opened in every profusion of bloud whether the bloud come by breaking or erosion It is good also when rarefaction is the cause lest a Vein be broken with the Abundance Yet if saith he the Patient be lean and scarce of bloud do not open a Vein Trallianus also prudently advises Heurnius l. de morb Pâct c. 6. We must by all means saith he bleed in the Arm But when they spit out bloud hy erosion avoid bleeding for such Mens bodies are dry and inclinable to a consumption II. Galen 5. meth c. 8. opens the inner vein of the Arm and he opens it again the next day Trallianus l. 7. c. 1. says He did more good by bleeding in the Foot than in the Arm because the revulsion is stronger Mesue and Avicenna for prevention open the Saphoena for the cure a vein iâ the Aâm and they doe well For when the matter is fallen upon the Breast and is still plentifully falling so that an inflammation may be feared a vein opened in the Foot brings help too slowly therefore we must bleed in the Arm. If the bloud come from the Liver we must bleed in the right Arm according to Archigenes If from the swollen Spleen in the left Salvatella as also in the same if it come from the Breast and Lungs without violence But in Women we must have respect to the Menstrua the freedom whereof blesses them with many conveniences And here we must use distinction When it comes at the set time it is good and it is scarce raised at another if the Menses be at hand in a haemoptoïck Woman be they suppressed or not bleed in the Saphoena So the Physician Nature's Servant will help her by drawing the bloud to the Womb whither belongs Aphor. 5.32 If the time of the Menstrua be afar off there is need of distinction for if there be signs of bloud being gathered about the Womb and it does not as then fall with violence upon the Breast let bloud in the Foot If it fall with great violence on the Lungs and
proper nor may the Cough be stopt though it may break the Vessels Here the Physician is at a stand and Galen 1. Aphorism 16. says he must take care of that which is most urgent But I would offer him a Patient in whom both Maladies were extreme urgent whose Spitting of bloud endangered his bleeding to death And if the Pleurisie were not purged there would be danger of strangling Here a Physician would not know what to doe While I was considering with my self this Difficulty it came into my mind that both Cures might agree sometimes namely If the matter of the Pleurisie be still crude and thin if the Bloud also sweat through because of tenuity or make its way by its Acrimony for then both the Pleurisie and the Spitting of bloud require incrassating things The Pleurisie indeed that it may easily be raised by Spittle because it is brought up by impulse to wit by Cough which is done more conveniently where some resistence is for a thin humour when it is raised is divided by the breath and falls back in coughing And Spitting of bloud if it come from tenuity and acrimony could be moderated no way better than by thickning it But if the matter of the Pleurisie stick not through thinness but viscidity then because we must needs hurt the Spitting of bloud in curing the Pleurisie for we want Inciders it must be done moderately and not without giving the Prognostick first For here the case is almost deplorable Step. Rod. Castr de Complexu morb 6. c. 22. yet not so as that the Patient should be given over and left to the Prognostick VIII The Difficulty is at what time we should use things to dissolve clotted bloud for they open the Vessels not shut them Therefore we must consider whether the violent Bleeding or the Concretion of the bloud be more violent If there be a breach of the Vessels of the Lungs or fear of Inflammation or if the bloud come violently it must presently be stopt but when it is partly stopt that is when the Bloud does not come so fast or its colour is not so florid things to dissolve the grumous bloud are proper after which we must proceed to glutinating things or to such as consist of both that is Oxymel and Syrup of Purslain with Bole-armenick But if Spitting of bloud follow the breaking of the Vessels of the breast because from thence there is no danger of a Consumption the Bloud must be dissolved and discharged before agglutination There must be the same method and we must endeavour the dissolution of the concrete bloud if it come from an Anastomosis of the Vessels of the Lungs for there is no fear of an Inflammation Aretaeus advises that those things which are given must be tenacious to the end Concretion may succeed Among such things Hare 's Rennet is commended which must be given sparingly for a great deal of it is mortal as the same Aretaeus says IX Grumous bloud must be dissolved in the beginning lest glutination be hindred which may be done by taking three or four ounces of warm Oxycrate twice or thrice a-day But it must be so made as that it may be pleasant to drink lest too much Vinegar cause a Cough If this will doe nothing we must proceed to stronger things as Rennet of Hare Kid Crabs-eyes Mumy Sperma ceti Antimonium diaphoreticum These things must be given at the beginning if it come from an Anastomosis But if from Rupture the Flux must first be stopt for it is more urgent than Concretion and then the Bloud must be dissolved X. Galen and Aetius allow Posca onely Averroes condemns it because seeing it is made of Vinegar diluted with Water upon account of the Vinegar it is hurtfull both for the Cause and the Disease it raising a Cough and increasing the Fluxion by extenuation of the bloud Indeed before the bloud congeals into clods it must not be used lest we run hazards But when it is clotted and mortal Symptoms are imminent from it upon account of the urgency it may be given if there be no Cough in respect whereof it is better to use Rennets Treacle Diacurcuma with Scabious water and a Decoction of Maiden-hair c. XI If Bloud be not stopt with Astringents and Glutinants we must flye to Narcoticks which incrassate thin humours and cause a sleep which stops all fluxions For Experience has taught us that Pills of Opium made for the purpose never hurt any one if so be the quantity were accommodated to every ones Nature and not given but to strong Constitutions Enchir. Med. Pract. XII If Bloud retained in the Lungs by the use of Astringents begin to putrefie give opening and dissolving things that the black and filthy bloud may come out Heurnius c. 6. l de Morb. Pect and afterwards the part may be cleansed and cured by glutinant Medicines ¶ When a Patient spits bloud with his Cough two Indications are urgent for through necessity of respiration the Wings of the Lungs ought to expand themselves wherefore there is need of expectoration But effusion of bloud forces us to endeavour astriction of the breast Syrupus myrtinus has a certain admirable property of answering both these ends Syrup of Purslane may be added Idem Meth. l. 2. c. 8. to thicken the bloud XIII All Astringents contract and close the passages and besides they knit and bind the substance of the parts that stick one to another and they doe this more or less according to the quantity of Astriction But by astringing and condensing the outside of the body which they astringe their virtue is shut out and hindred from going deep in For which reason some Physicians have curiously contrived to put other subtile and sharp Medicines into such as these whereby the virtue of Astringents may be carried deep into the body But when the Bleeding happens in places about the Stomach or Belly or Guts there is no need of such a mixture of Medicines Galenus XIV Concerning a methodical Cure Galen's advice 4. m. m. and 7. de comp med K. T. to wit that both hot Medicines and of thin parts must be mixt with Medicines for Spitting of bloud that the astringent Medicines may better be distributed therefore he advises to mix Honey He has a mind to intimate that Medicines earthy and of a thick substance which onely stop breed anxiety at the Heart W. Wedelius Misc curan 1671. obs 43. and difficulty of breathing must not be given but such as leave the motion free to the Air and check the effervescent bloud XV. Concerning Spitting of bloud I will tell you what I observed while I was in Tuscany at the Baths called Villenses I say therefore I saw several cured of Spitting of bloud and preserved from a Consumption by drinking of those Waters but I observed one thing worth the notice which is that they who drank the Water for Spitting of bloud and presently voided the Water
obstructions or increases preceding ones whence much damage may follow and it hinders Purging if it so happen that there be occasion for it afterwards Therefore as much as may be I avoid the use of such things Nor do I allow them to wounded persons nor to such as are troubled with Bleeding except such as bleed for no other cause but the thinness of bloud especially them whose bloud is corrupt In these unless there be manifest obstruction of the Bowels we must use thickning Diet and Medicines And the greatest share of such a Diet is to drink very little because driness thickens the bloud If there be a thinness of bloud without any manifest obstruction we may use thickning Meats and astringent and thickning both Meats and Medicines But if there be any obstruction it is better to use a dry Diet without thickning and cooling and dry Medicines And if any Bowel also labour of a cold intemperature we must abstain from all these things using onely a dry Diet as rosted flesh good and tender and little drink and if the caâe require it we must give Potions contrary to the aforesaid that is hot and thin ones that they may open But we must place all our hopes in other Remedies that is in Revulsions Frictions Ligatures Cupping-glasses and then in local Medicines I use to make a Powder of Gall Alume Flowers of Pomegranate wild and planted Comfrey and Mastick which I order to be blown into the Nostrils violently for it presently comes to pass Vallesius comm in eum locum by its mixture that the Bloud congeals and violently stops the Veins for the Bloud it self is fibrous and stopping II. S. a Clergy-man sanguine and lusty having been subject to bleed at his Nose from his youth fearing some mischief thereby when he was grown up for prevention he stopt it by hanging a certain Amulet about his Neck whereupon he was taken with an Apoplexy and twelve hours after he was dead Hildanus cent 3. obs 11. abundance of Bloud ran out at his Nose and Mouth III. It being presupposed that immoderate Bleeding comes either through some fault in the Moveable or Bloud or in the containing and conveighing Vessels we say that all Ischaimous Medicines respect the Bloud it self inwardly indeed inasmuch as they check Rarefaction and Ebullition either Precipitants earthy things of all sorts of Coral Bloud-stone Spodium c. Or tempering things that are watery and cooling as Water of Shepherd's purse Plantain Purslain Water-lily Frog-spawn Phlegm of Alume c. Or coagulating and congealing Acids as Tincture of Roses Violets and acid Spirits Thus I have cured some scorbutick persons who were frequently taken with Bleeding at the Nose onely with Spirit of Vitriol joined with the Tincture of Violets For Acids obtund and invert the volatile and too moveable particles and do as it were fix concentre and hinder them from overflowing And things that incrassate and astringe the ichorescent Bloud inasmuch as it is too serous sharp and fluid wherefore we may partly hope for Remedy from strengthning and tonick things and partly from strong astringents and concentring things So in a manner all red Roots stop Bloud Tormentil Bistort Alkanna Heurnius his Powder is excellent for Spitting of bloud Take of Seed of white Henbane white Popy each 1 drachm Bloud-stone red Coral each half a drachm Campâire half a Scruple Give half a drachm morning and evening sometimes he adds Terra Lemnia and with Conserve of Roses he makes an Electuary And fixing things the common Remedies of all Fluxions Wedelius de sâm sâct p. 531. Laudanum opiatum c. IV. Both Revellents and things that cause a motion the contrary way are good outwardly So Venaesection is conveniently made in a contrary part So a dry Cupping-glass is set to the Nape of the Neck an Arcanum among the Moderns Ligatures are made in the extreme parts c. and cooling Repellents either actually such or potentially as Oxycrate S. Pauli Quadr. Botan p. 508. says that Starch and Bole-armenick mixt with the white of an Egg spread upon some combed flax of such a length that it may reach beyond the Coronal Suture to the root of the Nose if it be applied to the Vertex along the Sagittal Suture does upon his frequent experience stop Bleeding at the Nose A sudden Fright as it suddenly recalls the bloud from the circumference to the centre and a Leipothymie supervening stops bloud Sudden application of very cold Water Vinegar or Ice to the Nape of the Neck does the same And Astringents and Compriments as Bloud-stone and other things as well by actual cold as potential constriction from their Martial and earthy particles held in the Hand or under the Arm-pits I have known the Root of Cockle held a little while under the Tongue stop onely a slight Bleeding but not a violent one A piece of Money thrown into cold Water first and then tied hard to the Forehead to compress the Vessels and cool is good Idem V. Ischaimous Medicines that respect the passages and pores of the Vessels which being any way opened it is absolutely necessary that the bloud left to it self must run out Inwardly indeed they are the same which we have spoken of already Consolidants Astringents and Agglutinants Outwardly they are Compriments for though the compression of the opening it self may seem onely to give momentany relief which ceasing the Bleeding returns yet by this means the Lips being constantly prest Nature may attend healing wherefore it is a Remedy proper enough Thus the Wound of a bled Vein is stopt a whole day onely by the compression of a Spleniolus so the Bleeding of other Wounds is stopt onely with Binding if a Chirurgical hand can come at them An Example hereof Virulam has Histor Nat. cent 1. n. 66. in the Prince of Orange the orifice of whose Wound was stopt with Mens Thumbs for two days other things being in vain So some Haemorrhagies of the Arteries cannot be fully cured but onely by Compression And things that stop bloud upon which account the Fuz-ball is famous wherefore Van Horn Microtechn writes that if it be tough and soft and cut into slices and the slices be squeezed in a Press they are able sufficiently to stop any Haemorrhage especially if some stegnotick Powder be strewed on them One in Grulingius cent 1. cur 42. was cured by the Powder of Egshels wherein Chickens had been hatched And Astringents that are watry austere and sharp So pieces of a fungus growing on Birch stopt an external Haemorrhage to a Miracle according to Crollius and things that coagulate and reduce the Bloud as it were to a Crust for it is glutinous and another glutinous thing meeting with it as it comes out glues up the Vessels See an Example in Platerus Obs l. 3. p. 725. of a Malefactour who had his Hands cut off and the stumps immediately clapt into a Cock newly opened alive upon which the bloud wholly stopt
by opening some apparent or manifest Vein in the Leg or Foot the taking of Bloud out of which does not provoke the Haemorrhoids as it does the Menses because these Veins are not continued with the haemorrhoidal Veins as they are with them whereout the Menstrua come and therefore not by attraction but as I said by revulsion in this Bloud-letting the Haemorrhoids are rather stopt than provoked Platerus IV. There are some that open the Haemorrhoids with the point of a Knife but some bleed immoderately and the Bloud will stop with no Remedies Besides the Wound made with the Instrument becomes cacoethick Leeches cleansed from their slime should be preferred but before they are applied the Skin must be mollified and attenuated with an emollient fomentation for so they easily wound the part Enchirid. Med. Pract. If they refuse to fasten on the place it must be smeared with Hen's bloud V. Hippocrates 6. Aphor. 12. says that in the Cure of old Haemorrhoids unless some one be kept open there is danger of a Dropsie or a Consumption impendent Therefore Aetius must not be heard who says they must all be healed up For if a true preparation of the body be made before the Cure and if a due course of Diet be kept afterwards there will be no fear of a Consumption or Dropsie or any great Mischief But if one be kept open it cannot be called a Cure And nevertheless it will afflict for the prudent old Man let Aetius doe or say what he pleases will have one kept open for 4. acut t. 126. where he proposes the Cure of the Haemorrhoids he says You must always keep one open afterwards you must purge with Hellebore then let him be exercised and sweat and be much rubbed Let him vomit thrice a month let him drink yellow Wine austere watry and little In which words he shews the way how to avoid dangers although one be kept open And they are not to be regarded who reconcile Aetius saying that where the Flux is melancholick one should always be kept but where it is pituitous then all of them may be cured seeing the Bloud that comes by the Haemorrhoids offends either in quantity or quality and what way soever it comes unless one be kept there is great danger of Life Fonseca cons 27. tom 1. and though one be kept that afflicts much less than more would ¶ A dogmatick Physician should have the scope of urgency which exceeds all eternally in his memory wherefore if they have bled immoderately both long and much then the Bleeding must be stopt because he is in danger of dying suddenly for Life consists in Bloud therefore it must be stopt presently for all excretion of Bloud is toto genere preternatural and if sudden Death do not follow a Dropsie Cachexy c. will follow What therefore should we stand upon when the strength is brought low and the Patient feels himself sensibly hurt and especially when the Bloud runs out of the external Veins in Ano For there are two branches of Veins near the Anus some internal or in the coats of the Intestinum rectum arising from the branches of the Porta that is from the anous Vessels allotted to the Spleen which are the evacuations of the Cacochymie and feculent Bloud Others are external which are in the Muscles of the Anus and derive their original from the Vena cava which evacuate a Plethora and pure and laudable Bloud If therefore the Bloud be superfluous and voided by the external Veins and is not black as that which comes from the internal Veins then it must be stopt by all means for the abovesaid Reasons But if the Bloud that is yet voided be much come from the internal Vessels and be black what must be done Whether must all the Veins be shut or one left open If this superfluous Bloud come from the internal Veins and be black not of many years continuance nor accustomed to the Man's nature because what things Men are accustomed to are almost natural and in the beginning of a full Age they may all be shut whether the Patient have two three or four or but one for it is very likely the inner Bowels have contracted no contumacious and notorious hurt or intemperature and especially if the Man have not been ill of melancholick Diseases yet so as that every year at certain times he refuse not to bleed and purge and to keep an exquisite and curious course of Diet. On the contrary if this Flux be inveterate and hath been of an old standing then they must not all be shut by no means but one must be left open For no Man can inviolably use so curious a course of Diet Bleeding and Purging but the reliques of a fierce melancholick humour may be bred again in the Body since in chronical Diseases there must ever of necessity be great intemperatures in the Bowels and rebellious and contumacious hurts Wherefore without doubt there will be a greater portion of the melancholick humour which will breed afterwards more and more than it is possible by the efficacy of Art to evacuate wholly seeing Mens dispositions are such especially in our times where greater errours by far are committed in Diet than in ancient times And if Hippocrates would always have one kept open Epiphanius Ferdinandus Hist 6. why may not the same be done in our time VI. If the Flux be grievous the inner Vein of the Arm may be opened which is a ready and effectual Remedy If the Flux have lasted long and spent the strength lest there should be a sudden loss of spirits it is good to bleed a little at several times so the strength will be less prejudiced and the revulsion will be more evident by iterated retractions Solenandeâ VII In a Man who had had an immoderate Flux of the Haemorrhoids for four years I endeavoured the suppression of it that so not onely what was troublesome might be suppressed but also that the good Bloud the treasure of Life might be stopt not regarding the Tales of those Physicians who talk that they can set bounds to this Flux as if at their pleasure and when there is occasion it were in their power to open or stop it while in the mean time they cast their miserable Patients into Cachexies Atrophies Dropsies and Death Nor are they less to be derided who persuading themselves that they can defend Hippocrates or Galen's opinion do not onely suffer the Flux of melancholick thick Bloud for whose sake at the beginning Nature uses to raise the Haemorrhoids but of the good also as in process of time it very often yea always happens except in a few who at set times are moderately purged by the sedal Veins and thereby are preserved and defended from very many Diseases enumerated by Hippocrates Others also have interpreted Hippocrates foolishly who Aphor. 6. 12. seems to advise them that would heal this inveterate Disease with a chirurgical
had rather prevent all mischief by a frugal Diet Exercise Bleeding and Purging XIII It seems an old Flux should be stopt 1. The Flux is toto genere preternatural 2. Nature is weakned by spending of the spirits 3. The Body is cooled and deprived of its aliment thereby It seems it should not be stopt 1. Upon the Authority of Hippocrates 6. Aphor. 12. 2. For fear of the recourse of the Bloud to the Liver and to the noble parts 3. Divers mischiefs follow the stopping it especially a Quartane-ague and a Jaundice from the Spleen as Joubertus lib. de Quart cap. 9. says For the decision of this case we must observe that this Flux as it is made by the expulsive faculty forced by the superfluous and noxious Bloud in an absolute propriety of speaking is preternatural wherefore in that thing it differs from the menstruous Flux because this is commonly agreeable with sound Constitutions inasmuch as provident Nature hath granted a redundance of good Bloud and will have the same discharged by the Womb that in its proper time it may serve to nourish the Child Therefore the Flux of the Haemorrhoids does not happen to nor should be procured in well and healthy Constitutions as Solenander sect 3. cap. 20. says But to whom it is peculiar and by custome natural in them it must be governed by singular medical prudence that it may neither be suppressed longer than is good for the Body nor void the humour in greater abundance than is consistent with the Rules of Health Therefore Jacchinus in 9. Rhas c. 72. says well Sometimes it must be let alone if it return at periods and be not excessive Sometimes it must be stopt if it hurt the strength so that Concoction is vitiated and a Dropsie may thence follow Yea we must observe here what Salvus Sclanus has Comm. in Art Med. Gal. l. 3. That in many Diseases and Fevers evacuation is made by the haemorrhoid Veins by applying Leeches which must be set not onely to such as use to be opened but to whom this evacuation is not usual if we conjecture that adust Bloud does abound for this evacuation eases the Body of that unprofitable burthen and also drives away all those Diseases to which Melancholy affords matter which Hippocrates lib. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã reckons up To the Arguments we must say that the affirmative do conclude as to a Flux of laudable Bloud in Natures not used to it coming without any periods That the negative do intend those Haemorrhoids that evacuate peccant Bloud in Natures used to them Horstius Dec. 6. probl qâ 8. and at certain times in such as are endued with a sort of neutral constitution of Body XIV The Flux of the Haemorrhoids is sometimes so pertinaceous that it is impossible to stop it by revulsion or by astringent Medicines I experienced such a pertinacy in a Noble-man at Venice 26 years old of a sanguine Complexion in Spring-time who was first ill for he had never had them before of the external Haemorrhoids running too much When I was called to him when neither Bloud-letting nor dry Cupping-glasses set to his Back nor Ligatures nor astringent Medicines internal and external did any good and the Patient was then in danger of his Life I propounded according to Hippocrates and Aetius contrary to Aquapendent the Burning of the Veins that bled I confirmed my opinion by Aph. 6. sect 1. and Aph. 6. sect 8. And when the Patient found that Death was not far off he admitted of Chirurgery Wherefore making haste home I furnished my self with pointed or oval Instruments and when I came back gave them to a Servant to bring them to me red hot With which being very hot I touched severally all the little mouths of the haemorrhoidal Veins which poured out the Bloud and brought a crust on them beginning with the highest first lest the Bloud falling from them untouched should quench the hot Irons before the operation was finished Thus the Noble-man recovered his former health If Nature had formerly often opened the Haemorrhoids and had been accustomed to transmit the superfluous Bloud to this part onely I had left one untouched to be stopt by Plasters and Astringents so that it might either be opened of it self or very easily by Art and a passage might be made whereby the Bloud which is gathered daily in the Body and uses to be evacuated at set times might be evacuated to prevent those Diseases Scaltetus Arm. Chir. Tab. 44. which Hippocrates mentions 6. Aph. 12. and 6. Epid. sect 3. text 33 34. XV. In the Cure which is performed by Medicines care must be taken of the Liver and Spleen because the mesaraick Vessels are inserted into these parts especially if they be hot or weak Also obstructions of the Bowels and mesaraick Veins must be opened if they give the original to this Disease And I have sometimes cured this contumacious Flux perfectly with Steel-pills At the same time above all things the fault of the Bloud must be amended with the greatest Care which seems to be the primary cause of this Flux Which if it be sharp and bilious must be corrected by an Infusion of Rheubarb often repeated especially with Tamarinds which according to Mercurialis have an admirable faculty to check both in Decoctions and given in substance instead whereof our tart Prunes may be given frequently eaten before Meals If the Bloud be hot and thin it must be cooled and thickned if watry it must be dried if much there must be a thin Diet. For it is vain to think of stopping the Flux Riverius before the original of it be removed XVI The Pain of the Haemorrhoids proceeds from bad humours transmitted to the sedal Veins and not onely from melancholick ones as Galen seems to believe lib. de atra bile 4. Forti cons 97. cent 2. but sometimes from bilious and pituitous ones according to Avicenna XVII For Haemorrhoids to be prickt that are distended with the afflux of much Bloud is no new thing Massaria is of opinion that they should rather be opened with a Knife than have Leeches applied to them Where the Pen-knife seems too cruel especially in Children Women and in a word the effeminate let alone the Knife and take the hamulous Pericarpium of the Teazle fix a piece of a Leaden Bullet to it that you may drive it the more certainly in so you may strike the part and take away as much of the humour as is requisite Many testifie that this small thing may be done with safety Severinus Med. Esâ p. â1 XVIII The haemorrhoid Veins are sometimes prominent outwardly but often are latent within Some bleed others not Pain sometimes precedes excretion of Bloud they often bleed without Pain and they are painfull also when no bleeding follows The Pain may be so violent that the Bladder being ill by Sympathy a stoppage of Urine follows A Man was troubled with the blind and internal
been dismissed by their Physicians For after pus is made and the Pain and Fever are greatly abated many are thought to have come to an end of their Disease and to security who have pus gathered inwardly in some Imposthume Some of whom by the benefit of a strong Nature are cured by breaking of the Imposthume and voiding the pus Others die consumptive when the pus putrefies malignantly and with it the internal parts or of a constant Fever which putrid Vapours carried from the part to the Heart do cause Or the Imposthume breaks but too late and when the strength is too low to bear a discharge of the pus Therefore it behoves us much to know the signs of an internal Inflammation turning to pus And many do not know them because they are not able to discern internal Inflammations and laying aside all care of latent Ails they consider nothing almost but what they can comprehend by their Senses without any ratiocination how to know the parts affected and to be able to distinguish them from other dolorous Diseases or the great from little ones For whether they will cause an Abscess or Suppuration I know from three things the Place Magnitude and Manner of the Inflammations themselves For Inflammations of hot parts unless prevented by discussion do suppurate more than those of colder parts and therefore as it is said in the Prognosticks Swellings in the Belly do imposthumate less than those in the Hypochondria and they least of all that are below the Navel Moreover small Inflammations most of them are dispersed especially if they be in hot places Great ones in hot places indeed do suppurate in cold ones they remain crude and invincible As to the manner they that are round and eminent circumscribed in a proper place and gathered into one signifie there will be Suppuration But they that are extended and broad and dispersed do not often suppurate If they be small or of thin matter they disperse If great or of thick matter they have a Crisis by bleeding or by some evacuation Vallesius if the event of them be good XII Unguents are not so proper for Inflammations unless to promote Suppuration wherefore Unguents are forbid in an Erysipelas though there be some by name Rondeletius who prescribe Unguents in this Disease It is certain also that Ointments improvidently applied to external Inflammations have often caused a Gangrene And therefore in Quinsies they are not generally so proper as you may find them in Books Welelius See Abscessus BOOK I. Ischiadius Dolor or The Sciatica The Contents Bleeding is proper I. Vomiting is better than Purging II. Sharp Clysters are good III. The Benefit of Issues and Causticks IV. Where they must be applied in a bastard Sciatica V. A pertinacious one cured with a red hot Iron VI. The benefit of Vesicatories VII Of Cupping-glasses VIII The cure of the Sciatica coming from fluid matter according to Hippocrates his mind IX The Cure of the Sciatica coming from fâât matter according to his mind X. The Cure of one proceeding from a hot cause XI Sometimes it arises from Bile XII A Sciatica from Driness XIII A compendious Cure of one arising from Cold. XIV Medicines I. THough Bloud do not abound if the Disease be inveterate Bloud must be taken out of the Vena poplitis or malleoli of the side affected without all contradiction because by Bleeding in this Vein a great derivation is obtained but because it is very difficult to open the Vena poplitis instead thereof a certain Vein was found by the Chirurgeons of Rome within these few days which a little above the Heel runs towards the Ankle to the outside It is truly a branch of the Vena poplitis if it be opened and eight or nine ounces of Bloud taken thence in the very same hour which is wonderfull the Pain of the Sciatica be it never so inveterate ceases Bleeding also with Leeches in the haemorrhoid Veins is admirable good for the Sciatica for there is a great consent between the Veins of these two places Zecchius cons 43. ¶ Mr. Puri of Newemburg a Man of Sixty sanguine and as he himself said one that took a course to breed much bloud had been confined to his bed six weeks by the violence of the Sciatica in his left Hip. All the time he kept his bed he thought there was no need of a Physician and therefore he sent not for me At length being tired by the diuturnity and violence of the pain he called me I presently order the most turgid Vein of the opposite Foot and they were all very turgid to be opened the Bloud ran full stream black and thick to about a pound with so much relief that the next day he left his Bed and the third day after bleeding his Chamber I can give a fresher instance of the efficacy of bleeding in the Sciatica while this is printing in the Month of April anno 1681. I am called to a lusty Man about 28 years old of a sanguine and bilious complexion well set and a stout Souldier He had been confined 15 days to his Bed by a painfull Sciatica in his left Hip About 18 days before he had by the advice of a Chirurgeon for revulsion as he said opened a Vein in the Arm but to no purpose I reckoning the Disease came from abundance of bloud settling there having first loosned his belly order a good quantity of bloud to be taken out of the opposite foot and likewise out of the foot on the same side with so good success that the next day he went about his business Anointing with Vnguentum dialthaeae Nitre and Oil of Elder which used to doe others good exasperated his pain II. Many prefer Vomits before Purges because they evacuate the humours by a way remote from the part affected Rondeletius prefers Asarum Riverius ¶ Sciatica Pains will not bear purging for thereby the humours fall more on those places ¶ But Sennertus thinks this must be understood of insufficient purging Grato III. Sharp Clysters may be given even to bring bloud for so I have seen them doe some good in the Sciatica Crato IV. Issues are made in three places in the Leg in the inside outside and hind part of the Calf Here Spigelius used to make an Issue in the Sciatica with good success Clandorpiti Zecchius because the Vena Poplitis runs that way ¶ I must greatly commend a Cautery below the Knee on the outside of the same side that is affected for derivation sake V. In the Joint of the Thigh about the cavity of the Os Ischii the Gout is bred which they call the Sciatica If the Humour run into the Acetable and force the head of the thigh-bone out this Disease in sight proves difficult of cure and will at length cause halting if the Humour fall upon the origination of that great Nerve which creeps along the back part of the
bloud downwards by opening the lower veins Idem obs 2. cent 1. especially about the time the Patient used to have her Terms II. It happens sometimes that the stopt Terms being retained in the Veins acquire a bad quality by reason whereof the bloud is rendred less fit to nourish the parts whereupon a Leanness and Extenuation of the body follows though the veins remain full of much but bad bloud Then bleeding with a liberal hand uses to doe much good Which is confirmed by a plain Instance in Galen who 3. 6. Epidem by taking away no small quantity of Bloud from a Woman who had had a suppression of her Terms for eight months and was extreme lean quickly restored her to her proper habit Idem III. By this method See Section XIII which is easie and gentle without all violence I have brought down the Terms in several Maids using no letting or evacuation of bloud for that end unless excess of bloud which is very rare did concur which indeed sometimes is afterwards observed in the suppression of the Terms scarce ever when they are not yet come down nor unless some great errour be committed in Diet about the time when they are first ready to come down For the sake of young Physicians I explain the matter I think that bloud scarce ever abounds in Girls in whom the Terms do not come down of themselves at the time of Pubescence except they have committed some great errour in their diet though they be often suppressed in the elder when they are plethorick For young Girls are more carefully looked to by their Mothers or Governesses and they have not so great a liberty of Diet allowed them as to be able to commit any notable Errour But the case is otherwise in them that are grown who as being better exercised in humane affairs have a greater liberty and opportunity of offending allowed them I said that a Plethora is very rarely observed in Girls about the time of Pubescence because about that time their bodies grow most and in that growth much of the bloud is spent so that abundance of it scarce ever concurs But after the body is grown to a due stature no wonder in a healthy body when the mind is chearfull and their food is of a laudable juice and they eat a sufficient quantity of it if a Plethora and abundance of bloud be produced And when there is a Plethora in those that are grown and are beyond the first years of their Pubescence no wonder also if when they have a suppression of their Terms Venaesection now and then have place not so much to move them again as to diminish the Plethora But if when there is no remarkable disease or fault in the vessels of the Womb the Terms nevertheless do not flow because of a Plethora of the bloud and the motion of it hindred thereby who does not see if bloud be then taken away and the Plethora of it be also abated that its motion is increased and renewed whereupon its motion to the Womb and through the Womb is promoted Nor is it any wonder if in such a case Bleeding in the Arm do as much or more good than Bleeding in the Foot and especially because the bloud comes in greater plenty and violence out of the Arm than out of the Foot and therefore better able to renew and augment its motion For how much more powerfully the bloud is moved through the vessels of the whole body so much more powerfully and easily it makes its way through the Womb which is here required This therefore is the reason why at the time of Pubescence a Plethora scarce ever is observed and why Bleeding is then scarce ever necessary to promote the Terms But when the Menstrua have come at Pubescency and a Plethora is made for the said causes if they then be suppressed bloud may profitably be let And though sometimes it may so be that the Terms come too slow because of a Plethora and therefore they are promoted onely by letting of bloud seasonably yet because for the most part some fault in the vessels of the Womb does concur arising from a bad diet therefore Medicines are usually required to open the obstruction of these vessels whether they alone be sufficient or upon the urgency of a Plethora Bloudletting be joined with them Sylvius de le Boë ¶ When the Terms or Lochia stop in the Womb then they are commodiously evacuated by its neck as well the Internal as External and indeed partly by External remedies partly by Internal Among the Internal Bleeding in the Foot may very well be reckoned since often when the bloud is prepared for its natural flux especially when there is a Plethora and therefore the bloud runs too slow the Terms and Lochia which are stopt by a Plethora are often by means hereof moved and brought to their natural flux But when either of them stops because of an obstruction in the vessels of the Womb and in the orifices of the vessels then unless there be a Plethora Bloudletting does more harm than good because by diminishing laudable bloud not exceeding in Quantity it onely weakens Women and does not at all restore the flux of either Then there is need of such medicines both Internal and External as remove and amend the Harm if any be done to the Womb by the External Cold of the Air Water Snow a Floor c. And such things as incide attenuate and make fluid congealed and obstructing Phlegm and that may move and remove it c. See Section XIII IV. If the Saphoena cannot be opened because the Feet are swollen or if the Patient be against it and bleeding in the Ham and against setting Cupping-glasses to the inside of the Thighs let Leeches at least be set to the Sedal Veins and let a moderate quantity of bloud be taken thence Nor is it any hindrance that by this way derivation is made from the Womb upon which account the operation appears suspicious that is lest the Terms should be hindred for when the thick and feculent bloud is evacuated thereby the bloud that remains will easily be made more fluid and will run to the usual places especially if after this remedy the Womb be fomented and dry Cupping-glasses be set to the Hips But we must take notice that this must not be done Sylvaticus when the Terms are present or at hand V. For the motion of the humours lodged in the Womb Galen 13. Meth. 19. propounds the applying of Cupping-glasses to the Pubes and Groin But a safer and more successfull derivation may be had from a replete Womb by setting of Leeches to the Veins of the Neck of the Womb for a good quantity may be taken away well enough Hieronymus Nigrisolius first began to put this operation in practice Forâis VI. In Women and Maids that labour of an obstruction of the Menstrua which arises not from any foulness in the
of Amber eight grains Mix them Let the Patient take a draught of this Apozeme warm early in the morning and being well covered with clothes let her lye to Sweat but if within an hour after it do not come let her promote it by taking broth let her often repeat it and about the usual time of her Terms to the end the bloud also may at last be forced to the Womb. But if the said Phlegm redound not onely in the bloud but in the Head and Guts it will be good and beneficial now and then to abate and evacuate it by Phlegmagogues among which Agarick Turbith Hermodactyls Coloquintida c. are vulgarly commended And among the Chymical ones Sylvius de le Boë all Medicines made of Mercury are chief both praecipitate and sublimate especially Mercurius dulcis Among External Medicines Baths Fomentations and Fumes are deservedly commended from which either the arising Exhalations Vapours Fumes or the Penetrating Liquour do incide and attenuate the Phlegm or other glutinous humours sticking in the Orifices and Vessels of the Womb and causing Obstructions and so make them fluxible and apt to give way to the bloud then or afterwards desiring an exit or to go out with it Baths certainly in which Women use then to sit above the Navel do by their moisture insinuate themselves into the outer Neck of the Womb and then into the inner and do set loose and dissolve every glutinous humour whatever that so frequently sticks in the cavity of the inner Neck and that being within a-while removed thence they penetrate inwards and incide and dissolve and so make fit for efflux the glutinous humour there also that sticks to and in the Orifices of the Vessels of the Womb. But warm Baths are used that so they with more speed ease and efficacy produce their desired effect As to the Liquour of the Bath Water may conveniently be used and at the time of Use a little strong White-wine not Red may be added as also Spirit of Wine and Volatile Salt though this do not augment the Liquour so much as it promotes and intends the virtue of the rest of the things that are decocted As for the things that are to be boiled therein I commend aromatick Plants i. e. strong smelling ones that have a sharp and gratefull taste but especially those they call Hysterick But since drying Baths are observed not always to promote but often to hinder the Flux of the Terms here also Roots of Lilies Seeds of Line and Fenugreek c. will be proper to boil not onely to incide and conveniently to attenuate by the Aromaticks which are often too drying and therefore incrassating but also to mollifie For so the glutinous humours being partly attenuated partly mollified are more easily made fluid nay they are brought to a Flux and Efflux and so the high-way for the stopt bloud is cleared again and laid open But it is good for the Bath not to be over hot lest too much Sweat be caused whereby when the more serous parts of the bloud are exhausted the glutinous humours would be rendred more glutinous Nor must she continue long in the Bath for the same reasons for unless by means of it the Obstruction be removed quickly that benefit will scarce be obtained by tarrying long therein Fomentations are made of the same things with Baths and are applied to the Pudenda and that most fitly with Sponges or woollen Cloths but not with linen for they as well as Sponges soak up more Liquour than linen nor do they so easily let it run away besides they keep the heat of the Liquour longer in them without which Fomentations doe more harm than good Akin to these is the Vapour arising from a Decoction heated and received into the pudenda through an open Chair and so penetrating inwards Thus Exhalations doe good which may commodiously be made of Salt of Tartar or of any other fixt Salt and Sal Ammoniack which because it is most penetrant will doe very much good here and is deservedly preferred before many other things Idem XIV Pessaries and Uterine Clysters ought onely to be prescribed for Women that are married and that lye with Men but for Maids Nascalia Fomentations Insessions and Suffumigations Riverius XV. Suffumigations are approved of above all ways for so the Medicine acts most effectually and a Fume also of Spices brings down Womens Terms Aph. 28. 5. For the virtue of Medicines is abated in their passage when they are given in form of a Powder Potion Pills or Bolus before they get to the Womb which it is not when they are administred in form of a Suffumigation Besides since things that provoke the Terms are hot they often by the way hurt a hot Liver for the Terms are often stopt by the thickness of the bloud which is caused by a hot Liver And this way is preferred before the rest according to Galen because you may meet with some Women who will not endure Clysters or Pessaries who will admit Fumes and they penetrate more The onely hindrance is Weakness of the Head for some Womens Heads are easily disturbed by Aromaticks But in administring of a Suffumigation two things must be observed from Galen 1. That Women be girded 2. That the Fume ascend through a Pipe into the Neck of the Womb Capivaccius for so the Fume does not easily get into the Head XVI In a diminution of the Terms Mercurialis Cons 8. highly commends two Issues below the Knees on the inside And Cons 108. he says that an Issue below the Knees on the inside of each Leg is very effectual XVII I have hitherto observed that we must make no more haste than good speed and that more may be done by gentle Medicines than by strong That therefore the Cure may be safe Sylvius de le Boë we must abstain from all things that have any danger in them XVIII Avicenna orders when Women spit bloud because of a Stoppage of their Terms that they must be provoked by Bleeding Cupping Frictions and other such things yet not by Medicines that move the Terms but near the usual time we may add a spoonfull of distilled Savine Water or five drops of its Oil to a Decoction of white Saunders Guaiacum Box Rhodium root c. And outwardly at this time that is an effectual Remedy Hempen Thread newly boiled and still warm Fortis cent 2. cons 163. applied twice a-day for an hour to the region of the Womb for we may not go higher XIX The lower parts must be kept warm and the upper cold Women offend often herein when they cover the whole body with Bed-clothes and hereupon all the parts draw upwards and downwards Walaeus XX. Medicines must be given at the usual time of their coming For if a Physician should stimulate Nature in the full Moon that was accustomed to her excretion in the new he would then labour in vain unless he used most violent
contracted from Mines of Vitriol Iron Salt and others they corrode all Ulcers in the inner parts for these villanies as Pliny l. 25. c. 3. speaks they ought to be repudiated XIII Among Balsamicks according to Galen Cyprus Turpentine is chief a Medicine fit for many uses and exceeding proper for Inflammations especially where the peccant matter lies in the Loins and about the Kidneys and causes Pain yet it cannot safely be given to such as are inclined to Epilepsies Martini or to other grievous Diseases of the Head XIV Of all the Guts onely the Colon is subject to Exulceration which produces pus which many think does run from an Ulcer in the Mesentery and they unhappily use Purges and Clysters after which the Disease grows worse Riolanus XV. When the first ways are emptied we must cautiously proceed to the opening of Obstructions both with Preparatives and Aperients and with Purges themselves For Aperients and Attenuants that are too strong do not onely prepare the Humours but carry them to the Liver and there is the same Inconvenience in strong Purgatives Fortis Mola or A Mole The Contents Extraction must not be undertaken rashly but Expulsion must rather be tried by Medicines I. Paraeus his way of extracting it by a Griffon's Claw II. Hildanus his way by a toothed Forceps III. Cast out by Purging IV. Medicines I. SInce usually we are not certain of a Mole though there be great suspicion of it yet to set upon the thing with strong Medicines and to endeavour to cast out the Conception by force seeing if it were a true Conception we should destroy it is a very hazardous thing and should not be rashly undertaken but when we make the least doubt of it it should be omitted And it is better then either to leave the business to Nature and wait the event till we be certain of the thing or at least to hinder the growth of it by taking away a little nourishment from it by Bleeding or by giving of Purges to solicit Nature that as she expells other Uncleannesses so perhaps ââe would vouchsafe to force away a Burthen that is grievous and strange to her Nor let us fear to give them because if perhaps it were a true Conception there might be an Abortion seeing we have observed that it does not follow in many Women with Child who have often been so evacuated or have had long Diarrhoea's and Nature is not so easily moved to the Excretion of things that are natural as of things that are preternatural and burthensome to her But if we be certain of it by many concurrent signs especially if after the time of Birth is over a swelling and hardness of Belly be found by the touch then that Nature may endeavour Excretion we must excite her by giving and applying and injecting things and we must open and dilate the passages Platerus that it may get out of the Womb. II. If it so happen that a Mole cannot be parted and when it is parted if Nature be not able to expell it the Chirurgeon must set the Woman in the same posture as we said she must be set in extraction of a Child from the Womb Then opening the Pudendum and putting in an extractory Instrument which from its likeness is called a Griffon's Claw And when it is got into the Womb it being opened and dilated take hold of the Mole Nor can it otherwise be taken hold of especially if it be a thick one because of its roundness for it has no handle to take hold by And when it is onely sought for with the Hand it slips away because of its lubricity and runs like a Ball all over the capacity of the Womb. But it may more easily be taken hold of by the Griffon's Claw if the Woman's belly be squeezed this way and that and then the Mole be run into some corner whence it cannot easily slip for so at length being taken hold on it may easily be extracted When the Mole is extracted the same care must be taken as of a Lying-in-woman Petraeus III. In Extraction of a Mole some use sharp Hooks or a Griffon's Claw as they call it but in my opinion not without extreme hazard For if a Hook should miss it might easily tear the Womb. For this reason I have invented a Forceps whose extremities are made in form of a Duck's Bill but deep enough to receive the Hooks In the middle whereof there are three teeth square and very sharp so as that they stand in a right line one against the side of another Therefore when the Forceps is shut not a tooth appears and besides let the Forceps miss never so much Hildanus it can never hurt the Neck of the Womb. IV. There is a manifold difference in Moles and this may be reckoned among the rarer sort which I had the hap to see this present year 16â1 in the month of March A Noble Woman I am an ocular Witness about thirty two years old who had first been happily brought to bed of a Child thought her self with Child within three months she was sickly all that time having by the Prescription of her Physician taken a Purge she fell into Pains of Travel then abundance of various things came from her Womb bloudy membranous watry things clotted and black bloud and which is the most to be admired at an infinite number of Eggs as big as Pease sticking one to another just as in the Row of a large Pike or a Trout but besides there was an Ovi-form piece on the outside like the Parenchyma of a fat Capon 's Liver the inside full of black clotted bloud All these things were promiscuous and filled a large Bason It is very likely these Eggs were inclosed in the torn Membrane which being thrown into warm water were not dissolved Several such examples are found in Schenckius Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. There is not a better Secret than the Powder of a Secundine given in water of Mugwort Mather or Penny-royal Hartman performed the Cure in several successfully with this Grulingius 2. Before Bathing let the Belly be chafed with Malmsey-wine if there be a Child it will be strengthned but if not the Woman will void abundance of bad humours by her Womb. It has been often tried Maroldus Morbilli or The Measles The Contents A bad method of Cure sometimes makes them mortal I. The safe method of Cure II. The mitigation of the Cough which is familiar to them III. The Prevention of them from turning to a Peripneumony IV. The Cure of the Loosness that follows them V. A hot regiment and taking of hot Medicines does harm VI. I. THIS Disease after Shivering and Chilness begins the Tragedy with inequality of Heat and Cold which follow one another by turns at length on the second day it ends in a perfect Fever attended with great Sickness Thirst a White Tongue but not dry a
Cough Heaviness of Head and Eyes and a perpetual Drowsiness for the most part an humour runs out at his Nose and Eyes the Patient sneezes as if he had taken Cold his Eye-lids swell that is a little before they come out he vomits he has often a Loosness with green stools The Symptoms usually grow worse till the fourth day at which time usually little red Spots like Flea-bites begin to break out about the Fore-head and rest of the Face They go away usually on the eighth day at which time the Vulgar being deceived by the time the Small-pox use to continue hold they strike in though indeed they have finished their course designed them by Nature and the Symptoms that supervene when they go away they think they come therefore because the Measles struck in too soon for then one may observe the Fever and Difficulty of Breathing is increased and the Cough is more troublesome Children especially that are kept over hot or they who have taken Medicines to bring the Measles out are subject to this mischief which shews it self when the Measles are going away upon which they are thrown into a Peripneumony which kills more than either the Small-pox themselves or any Symptome whatever which belongs to that Disease though the Measles if they be skilfully treated have no danger at all in them A Loosness also follows such not without extreme hazard to the Patient Sometimes also after a very hot regiment the Spots are livid and then black but this onely happens in grown persons who may be given up for dead as soon as that Blackness appears except they be presently relieved with Phlebotomy and the refreshment of a more temperate regiment Sydenham II. As the Measles do in their Nature agree with the Small Pox so also in their method of cure hot Medicines and a hot regiment are very full of danger how frequently soever they be made use of by ignorant Nurses to this end that they may keep the Measles from the heart I have had the best success in this method above any In which the Patient was kept in his Bed three or four days after their coming out to the end the bloud might gently according to the Nature of the Disease discharge by the pores of the skin the inflamed particles easily separable by which it was hurt adding neither more clothes nor more fire than what he used when he was well I kept him from all flesh I allowed him Oatmeal and Barley Grewel and sometimes a roasted Apple His drink was small Beer or Milk boiled with thrice as much Water I would ease the Cough which is almost constant to this Disease with a draught now and then of some pectoral Decoction He that takes this course seldom dies nor is he afflicted with any new Ails besides the necessary and inevitable symptoms of the Disease Idem III. The Cough is the most tiresome of all in which notwithstanding there is no danger till the Disease is gone and when it still continues for a week or two it may easily be removed by a good Air a Pectoral Decoction Syrup of Violets Maiden-hair with Oil of Sweet Almonds and other things good for the Breast yea it decreases by degrees of it self and at length goes away Idem IV. But if the Patient after taking of Cordials or too hot a Regiment or while the Measles are still high or after they are gone which is most usual be brought into hazard of his life by a violent Fever shortness of breath and other accidents such as use to afflict Peripneumonicks I always breathe a Vein with very good success even in the Arms of tender Infants taking away such a quantity of Bloud as the Age and Strength require Sometimes also when the disease is urgent I have not been afraid to bleed again Truely through GOD's blessing I have saved several Childrens lives by letting of bloud when they have been just ready to be killed by this Symptome And this befalls Children after the Measles are gone it is so destructive to them that it may well be reckoned one of Death's prime Instruments which kills more than the very small Pox and I have not yet met with that Man who could help it by any other certain method Idem V. Moreover a Loosness which often follows the Small Pox is in like manner cured by bleeding for seeing it owes its rise to exhalations of the inflamed bloud getting into the Guts which is usual also in a Pleurisie Peripneumony and other Diseases created by an Inflammation whereby they are stimulated to excretion onely letting of bloud will give relief whereby both revulsion is made of these sharp humours and the Bloud also is reduced to a due temper Idem VI. What I have said of the cure of these Symptoms which come when the Measles are going away may sometimes agree with them when they are at the height if to wit they owe them to an artificial if I may so say and ascititious heat This year 1670. I visited a servant Maid who lay ill of the Measles with a Fever shortness of breath and Purple Spots all over her body and other very dangerous Symptoms and because I attributed all of them to over-hot keeping and Medicines abundance of which she had taken I ordered her to be let bloud in the Arm and I prescribed her a pectoral and cooling Ptisan to be taken often by means whereof and of a more temperate regiment both the Spots and all the other Symptoms vanished by degrees Idem For the Medicines See Variolae BOOK XVIII A GUIDE TO The Practical Physician BOOK XII Of Diseases beginning with the Letter N. Narium Affectus or Diseases of the Nostrils The Contents A Polypus scarce gives way to Medicines I. The Cure by Pricking II. Not onely a livid one but a white one endangers a Carcinoma III. We must take care of the Inwards rather than of the Brain IV. The Cure of one by Medicines V. The Restitution of the Nose when cut off VI VII A safe Remedy for the Haemorrhoids Polypus and any Excrescence in the Nostrils VIII Vlcers are best cured by Fumigations IX The Cure of a Red Nose X. I. CELSVS says that a Polypus sometimes withers away which perhaps is true in a little one in one beginning and in a soft Polypus Otherwise Experience shews that such Medicines doe no good both because they cannot stick long on by reason of their moisture and because if they have a burning faculty they inflame and put to pain the inside of the Nostrils Rubaeus in Celsum and therefore it is evident it can onely be happily cured by Excision ¶ Applying of Medicines does more harm than good therefore a Polypus must be taken away by Chyrurgery by means of an Instrument in Scultetus tab 12. fig. 1 2. To which this may be superadded namely that two or three square and sharp teeth must be made in the concave
Honey and mixt with Syrups VI. Septalius l. 6. Anim. 74. rejects Sudorificks and prefers things that provoke Urine and he thinks Physicians generally commit a great Error that omitting promoters of Urine they use Hidroticks because thick Matter is also carried off by Urine And when the thinner part is evacuated by Sweat the thicker is rendred more hard obstructive and difficult as to Motion and Evacuation But grant all this to be true in Diseases whose cause lies in the Bowels and Hypochondria or in the Veins yet the reason does not hold in the Palsy For seeing the cause of the Disease sticks about the Nerves I see not how it can easily get from thence to the ways of Urine But Evacuation by the ambit of the Body is easie Nor need we fear that by the use of Sudorificks the Matter will grow too hot because it is cold and so requires heating insomuch that some think a Fever should be raised which may heat and melt it Nor that it will grow thick Sennertus seeing Hydroticks have an Attenuative virtue VII Opiates are much commended by Practitioners which because of the Opium are very much suspected by me in the stupidity and imbecillity of the Nerves And they give Treacle Mithridate Aurea Alexandrina Platerus c. VIII There is not one among the vulgar but may easily observe that Diaphoreticks do much good and sometimes much harm Wherefore it is of much moment to explicate the Reasons of so different an Effect Therefore plentiful Sweating is sometimes good for Paralyticks upon a twofold account especially namely because it plentifully exterminates the Impurities of the Blood and Nervous Juice that are apt to exhale And that the Morbifick Matter may flow no more to the Brain and parts affected and that what is flown already may in part be thrown off And secondly because the effluvia of heat flying from the aestuating Blood do very much open the Nervous Ducts stopt before and open a passage for the Spirits while in Evaporation they pass that way Wherefore this Administration is proper for them especially and in a manner for them only whose Blood not being very full of fixt Salt and Sulphur is diluted with a limpid and insipid serum For on the contrary Paralyticks in whose Blood and Humours there are abundance of wild exotick Particles of enormous Salts and Sulphurs that are fixt and unfit for exhalation do find a great deal of harm from violent Sweating Of which Affection we assign these two Causes namely That the Morbifick Particles through agitation being too much exalted become more outragious 2. That when abundance of them is driven into the Head and Nervous Kind they often increase old Obstructions and not seldom produce new ones Willis IX If Pains about the Arms and Shoulders do accompany it we order Sweating in Bed to be raised with heated Bricks or Bottles full of hot Water that the Matter sticking among the Muscles may be digested and resolved yet above all these things Sweat must rather be raised by the ambient heat than by the internal use of a Medicine or Decoction that melts or thins the Humours which is proper only when in the Stove Sweat does run plentifully all the Matter being put into fusion Whereas otherwise if the antecedent Humours be dissolved in the Veins by a Decoction and when they are dissolved be not discharged but tarry in the Body they will increase Pain Which as Reason it self teaches us so I have found true by Experience so that I can never do enough to extirpate this abuse Therefore when the Matter is but little and therefore the Pain but small when we intend not to move or put into fusion the antecedent Humours residing in the whole Body we only give a Decoction of Groundpine so much commended by Matthiolus upon Dioscorides in these cases Whereto if you add a little China it may not be amiss abstaining nevertheless from Misletoe of the Oak and such melting things Fortis as also from Sanders which hinder Sweat X. The Head also should be dried with a Sudorifick Decoction but that is very much suspected by me for I am afraid lest the Humours of the whole Body and of the Head being melted fly into the Head violently and cause an Apoplexy Wherefore I should more willingly use some Decoction not very colliquating but cherishing the innate heat and dissipating the Matter impacted into the Nerves as well as drying the Head the Matter being rather derived to the Center by Urine than to the Circumference by Sweat The Decoction may be made of Mastiche Wood Rosemary Misletoe of the Oak and a little Sassafras in Pigeon Broth giving first Turpentine with Salt of Iva Arthritica and Sal Theriacalis Idem XI Loosning and alterative Clysters are very convenient having a care of over emollient ones whereby the Spine being more relaxed would be further hurt so that not without reason the Vulgar think Clysters in the Colick occasion the Palsy Platenus Which nevertheless rightly prepared both do good and if the Cause lye about the lower part of the Back may serve for Topical Remedies XII But indeed as generous Medicines if they turn not to Alexitericks often prove Poysons So going into the Bathes has made these Paralyticks much worse whom it did not cure so that when more parts and those that were affected before grew more Paralytick the Lame leave their Crutches there for no other reason but because they cannot use them when they are made more impotent The reason hereof is because Bathing by disturbing the Blood and all the Humours does more exalt all the Morbifick and Heretogeneous Particles and forces them being enraged out of the Bowels into the Mass of Blood whence because they do not easily evaporate entring the Brain and Nervous Kind they increase the Palsy and often cause a Convulsion For this reason Bathing sometimes first actuates the Stone in the Kidney and the Gout and brings a Spitting of Blood Asthma or Consumption upon many when there was no disposition to it Wherefore the Bathes should not be tried without the advice of a Physician and if when they are tried they do not agree Willis they must be quickly left XIII Bituminous Sulphureous Bathes cure a Palsy suceedaneous to the Colick And they do good not only by drying the Humours and strengthning the Parts but I rather think that the adust salt nitrous and tartareous impuritie of the Humours and Vapours in Man which spoââ the virtue of the Nerves are quite dissolved by the virtue of the Bathes and being dissolved are by a peculiar and Mineral Analogy which the qualities of the Bathes have with the divers Humours and Juices in Man drawn to the ambit of the Body and so our Bodies are delivered from the Enemy that besets the Nervous Kind not without corroboration The Efflorescence of the Skin in such as use the Bathes often sometimes coming with a troublesome Itch
delivered Bayrus let it be taken off immediately that the Matrix fall not out 3. If a Woman before her Travel drink Oyl Olive it vvill prove easie Borellus and she will not be troubled vvith after-pains They say Water of Adders-Tongue does the same 4. To cause Pain for the more easie delivery Take of vvarm Water 2 ounces Claudinus Honey vvhat is sufficient Mix them Give this Dose at any time vvhen there is occasion 5. This vvas communicated to me for an Infallible Secret Take Nettle-Roots boil them in Wine Corbaeus and in a draught of that Wine put of povvdered Cinnamon 2 drachms Saffron 1 scruple Let her drink it 6. This is an excellent Secret and never fails in hard Travel Take of the Seed of Lavender half a drachm Plantain Endive Simon Paââ of each tvvo scruples Pepper one scruple Make a Povvder Take it in the Water of Endive and Woodbine of each four drachms 7. This has been found to be excellent by long Experience Take of the Bark of Cassia Fistula Asarum of each one drachm Cinnamon Saffron Savine of each halâ a drachm Make a Powder Eustach Rhudius The Dose is one drachm in Chicken or Pigeon Broth. 8. Ol. ligni Heraclini 16 drops were given to a Woman in Labour and a dead Child with the After-burthen came away within an hour the Mother who had hard Labour being safe Rulandus 9. This Powder has been tried by Experience Take of White Dâttany Amber of each one drachm and an half Sennertus Mâke a Powder Give half of it in White Wine for one Dose Pectoris Pulmonum vitia in genere or Diseases of the Breast and Lungs in general See Thoracicks Book XIX The Contents Blood is not to be let to Swooning I. 'T is profitable to open the Hemorrhoids II. Whether Purgers be hurtful III. Whether Manna be friendly IV. Vomiting is not always hurtful V. Antimony is both the Medicine and Poison of the Lungs VI. Purging Clysters hinder Expectoration VII Things that incide too much do sometimes hinder it VIII Eclegma's or Lambitives sometimes rather hinder than promote it IX They are not good if a Fever be present X. When they are to be prescribed XI The too much use of them hurts the Stomach and Liver XII Sweet things hinder Expectoration in Cholerick Distempers XIII Astringents are profitably added to Expectoraters XIV The excellency of the Decoction of Turnips XV. The efficacy of Suffumigations XVI Whether the Smoak of Tobaco be profitable XVII When Diureticks are proper XVIII Those things which pass into the Lungs by the Wind-Pipe act more effectually than such as are swallow'd XIX Whether sweet or harsh Wine be best XX. Anointings of the Breast are oft hurtful XXI The correction of the Flowers of Sulphur XXII When Sulphureous Waters may be drunk for strengthening the Lungs XXIII Whether the Origin of Fluxions be always from the Head XXIV When Lambitives are hurtful XXV They are unfit to astringe XXVI Simple Flowers of Brimstone are better than the Compound XXVII Acids are to be temper'd with sweet things XXVIII How the Serum when it is too Acrimonious is to be temper'd XXIX The Serum must be thickened that it may be expectorated XXX The Correction of an Humour offending in Acidity XXXI I. THough Galen says 1. Aph. 23. That in great Inflammations and especially burning Fevers Blood is to be let to Swooning away yet it is very dangerous to Bleed to that degree in Diseases of the Spiritual Parts Wherefore though we ought to Bleed plentifully and even almost to fainting away yet we must not proceed so far as till the Patient swoon which the skiâful Physician will understand by feeling the Pulse P. Salius Diversus com in lib. 1. Hip. de Morb. t. 60. Fortis cons 50. cent 2. II. Evacuation out of the Hemorrhoidal Veins has great consent with the Breast III. I do not approve of Evacuations in Pectoral Diseases from a Catarrh and those Physicians who are but indifferently learned and verst in the practice of Physick know the Reasons For what good do Evacuations do as to the Concoction or Evacuation of the Matter out of the Breast What do they do towards derivation seeing they move and roil it the more What do they do as to the strengthning of the Head and Stomach What towards the Correcting of the Temperature of the Liver I know something may be said against me but I have found by Experience that in Pectoral Diseases it is most profitable to abstain from Purging Medicines Thus Crato in Scholtzius cons 4. yet he uses them in difficulty of breathing from a Catarrh ¶ Fortis cons 7. cent 2. writes thus Let strong Purgation follow Lenients and Preparatives for it is not to be queried whether Purgers draw from the Breast or no for besides that they may draw forth Humours by the Vena sine pari whilst the whole Body is purged part after part the Breast it self is also purged for there is one and the same Conflux one Conspiracy all things consenting ¶ Indeed though they be not proper in respect of the Matter that is passed out of the Vessels yet they bring forth the antecedent Matter at least whether it flow from the Brain seeing 't is manifest that the stronger Purgatives draw from thence or through the Pulmonary Artery into the Lungs which has conveyed thither the Cacochymie mixt with the Mass of Blood IV. Their Opinion ought to be rejected who understanding that Manna is friendly to the Breast give it to those who have their Breast loaden with Crudities not seeing that Crude Humours are made more thick and unapt for Concoction when the Serum is discharged I have often observed such to be thrown into a very bad state by the giving of Manna Nature desires that thick Humours should be made fluid but those who give Manna or Scammony separate the Ichors Sanctor method l. 5. c. 10. Martian 4. de acut victâ or watry part and make the remainders of the Humours thicker Johan Baptista Montanus considering this gives Manna with the Cream of Tartar for the bringing forth of the thicker Humours I lately saw the efficacy of Manna given after that manner in an Asthmatical Woman whose Lungs being turgent with Serum she was cured the same day a great quantity of Serous Humours being carried off V. Vomiting is not good if there be a solution of Continuity in the Lungs but if they be full of thick and Viscid Humours only 't is an excellent Remedy Hence 't is false That Vomiting is hurtful in every Disease of the Breast It often happens that a slimy tough Matter lies a Fingers breadth thick upon the upper side of the Midriff which kills the Patient unless it be taken away by Vomit So died a certain Landâgrave of Hessen Walaeus m. m. p. 56. in whose dead Body being opened there was found such a Matter ¶ When an Empyema follows a
to the perforation of the Urinary Passage XIII There sometimes happens an odd kind of Distemper to those who are too much addicted to Venery some call it a Node of the Yard though when that is faln and become flaggy there appear nothing amiss yet he that handles the part throughly may perceive a certain small Tumour resembling a Bean or Glandule I have known several that have been ignorant of the Cause apply Emollients hereto thinking to discuss that hardish substance as if it were filled with some Humour But they have been so far from discussing of it Jul. Caesar Arantius l. de Tumor cap. 50. Sennert pract l. 4. part 9. s 1. c. 8. that the Patients have daily grown worse their Yard bending like a Rams Horn to that side where the Tumour was c. Those things therefore are to be used which are prescribed for a Rupture of the Navel or other Ruptures Astringent Fomentations c. XIV If a Phimosis and Paraphimosis proceed from a vehement Corius the Glans remaining still tumefied if it be fomented a good while with very cold Water it will detumefie and then the Prepuce may easily be drawn over the Glans Riolan Enchir Anat. l. 2. c. 31. This is an admirable Secret XV. I knew a Surgeon in Holland that to such as were troubled with a virulent Phimosis and Paraphimosis gave presently at the beginning an infusion of Stibium Hyacinthinum which is not much to be found fault with in the strong and Phlegmatick especially if Crocus Metallorum should be used in stead of Stibium for it not only evâcuates the offending Matter but also revels from the part affected but in the wasted and weak Practitioners know it to be no safe Medicin And we must diligently also consider whether the Whore had the Pox for then we must abstain from the Crocus Metallorum because with a certain violence it draws even from the remotest parts to the centre of the Body as also from all Medicins that purge violently by Vomit lest the offending Matter be drawn from the Genitals to the Liver and an universal Disease be made of a particular one which I have observed to happen in some Fabr. Hild. cent 5. obs 57. 'T is better therefore as I have always done with the greatest success to purge the Body gently XVI Some because they see an Inflammation present do forthwith apply Coolers and Repellers to the part affected but they do ill for by that means they repel the viru ent and malignant Matter contracted from impure Embraces and rivet it as it were into the part whence afterwards there arise virulent and malignant Ulcers But in respect of the Pain which is the principal symptom I apply an Anodyne Cataplasm of the Flowr of Beans and Barley the Seeds of Quinces and Fenugreek Red Rose Leaves pouder'd Saffron and Milk with the Yelks of Eggs anointing the whole Yard unless the vehemence of the Inflammation hinder for Oyl is bad for Inflammations as Galen teacheth with this Oyl Take of Oyl of Sweet Almonds newly drawn and of Roses of each an ounce of the Yelks of Eggs half an ounce Mix them Idem ibid. XVII It happens sometimes that from the bad Diet of the Nurse an Acrimonious Humour falls upon the Genitals of the Infant and there causes an itching and upon rubbing of the part there happens a Paraphimosis that is the Prepuce turns back to behind the Glans and cannot be drawn over it again the Humours flowing together betwixt the Glans and Prepuce yea there sometimes happens an Inflammation from the Acrimony of the Urine Some foolish Barbers cruelly handle Infants thus diseased with deep Scarifications and applications of Acrimoniouâ Medicins Therefore I will here set down the Remedies whereby I have cured many I first prescribe to the Nurse a thin and cooling Diet then I purge her according to the nature of the predominant Humour But if the Child be weaned I give it at several times from one to three drachms of the compound Syrup of Roses Solutive If the Nurse be Plethorick after purging her I bleed her From the beginning if there be Pain and Inflammation I apply this Cataplasm Take of the Crumb of White Bread three ounces the Pouder of Roses and Balaustins of each two drachms of Saffron a scruple of fresh Butter an ounce of Cows Milk as much as suffices with the Yelk of an Egg make a Cataplasm If the Disease be stubborn I use the following Take of Bean-Flowr two ounces the Pouder of the tops of Wormwood Chamomel Flowers Elder Flowers of each three drachms of the Pouder of Fenugreek Seed two drachms of Cummin Seed three drachms boil them in harsh Wine and make a Cataplasm If there be Excoriation in stead of the Wine I use a Decoction of the Flowers of Chamomel Melilot Elder and Roses Idem ibid. obs 58. Peripneumonia or Inflammation of the Lungs The Contents Whether a Vein be to be opened I. Bleed freely II. Blood is to be let till its colour change III. Let the Orifice be large and the Blood suffer'd to run out in one continued Stream IV. Cupping-Glasses ought to be applied first to the Arms and afterwards to the Breast and Back V. Purging is sometimes good in the beginning VI. Sometimes in the progress VII Purging and Vomits generally do harm VIII Clysters ought to be often injected but such as are gentle IX Let Expectoraters be alter'd according to the state or season of the Disease X. Incrassating Eclegââs are prudently to be administred XI Hot Attenuaters do hurt XII Whether drinking of cold Water be good XIII Whether sweet things be to be given XIV The Patients may be allowed to drink freely XV. Whether Wine be to be granted XVI The application of Repellents does harm XVII How to remedy Vigiliae or want of sleep in this Disease XVIII I. THere is no small dispute concerning Phlebotomy for 't is written that Blood is to be let out by common Veins whereas no Vein that uses to be opened has any communication with the Veins of the Lungs nor are any branches distributed to the Lungs from the Vena Cava as Galen has in several places disputed against Erasistratus Besides the motion of Nature shews this for whereas in Diseases of the Viscera and burning Fevers bleeding at the Nose is Critical it is not so in a Peripneumony because the Veins of the Nose that pour forth the Blood have no communication with the Lungs If it be true that the Blood does naturally pass from the right Ventricle of the Heart to the Lungs and from thence is brought back into the left Ventricle that it may be sent forth by the Aorta and if the Circulation of the Blood be admitted who sees not that in Diseases of the Lungs the Blood flows thither in greater plenty and oppresses the Lungs unless it be first evacuated freely and afterwards often a little at a âime to relieve them This
or Ulceration of the Lungs with such Balsam of Sulphur or other Oleous Balsamicks made of the Flowers of Sulphur with destilled Oils For it is well known that in a Phthisis or Ulcer of the Lungs or other Internal Viscera there is always either a previous or a present Inflammation and that not without an inflaming and painful Acid 'T is also well known to all that the destilled Oils and other things of which the said Balsamicks are made are also hot inflammable and resinous though few perceive that this is to be imputed to their acid Particles Destilled Oils and other fat things do hârm in Distempers of the Skull and Bones being anointed therewith and in Erysipelatous Distempers they bring on a Gangrene by reason of their occult Acid With what sound reason therefore can these things be given in a Phthisis or Ulceration of the Lungs Besides seeing then the digestive ferments of the Viscera are likewise very weak and these Oleous Balsamicks because of their unctuous Acid that is immersed in the Volatil salts do rather fight against those ferments as appears from the belching after taking of them they cannot be brought into act and converted into Volatil salts agreeable to Nature whence remaining thus crude they are wholly offensive to Nature and cause an irreparable mischief Furthermore in such Diseases the whole Mass of Blood together with the Lympha is otherwise grown vappid as it were so that the Volatil salt Oleous and Balsamick Particles which are congruous to Nature being spent or resolved herein the Spirit of Life being become weaker loses of its light yea becomes very little and when such Sulphureous Preternatural very hot Oils are made use of what else will happen but that as a greater flame extinguishes a less so also these things which are hot in an high degree do utterly extinguish the remainder of the vital flame or in stead of the vital heat introduce an Hectick As to the second reason why they may be used viz. because they refresh the Vital Spirits I say it matters little though by their sulphur they seem to cheer them a little unless they did also thereby consume the Morbifick Cause and unlock the stopt and obstructed ways and strengthned the ferments of the Viscera As to the third 't is confest indeed that destilled Oils do allay the corrosive vertue of Aqua fortis whilst a weaker Acid corrects a stronger but what signifies this to their Internal use And lastly the reason why these Balsamick Oils being dropt into Flesh-broth preserve it from stinking and corruption is because they defend it from the injury of the Air even as we see that the Oil of Sweet Almonds made by expression or the Oil of Olives keeps Wine in the Vessel from corrupting But what is this to the present business It proves nothing for the operation of these Balsams in Mans Body differs far from that which they have in other things without the Body Frid. Hofm clav Schrod p. 375. In the former there is a fermental heat in the later a putredinal elementary XXII Amongst Abstergers and Mundifiers of an Vlcer I have hitherto found no Medicin which being used either outwardly or inwardly has so safely and quickly not only cleansed but also closed up fresh Ulcers as the Balsam of Sulphur when the Patients could and would make use of it Now I prefer that before the rest which is made with the Oil of Aniseeds Sylv. tract 4. append sect 180 186. though it may be also made with the Oils of Amber Juniper Venice Turpentine Nuts and other things ¶ The toughness of the Matter which hinders Respiration is loosned by inciding Medicins and so is easilier cough'd up For this purpose I do in like manner commend the Balsam of Sulphur prepared with the Oil of Aniseeds as being not only good for cleansing and closing up of the Ulcer but also makes the Pus it self more thin and fluid Idem sect 199. and so promotes and facilitates its excretion XXIII In this case some commend not only the Flowers of Sulphur and the Balsam but also the Milk whereof yet I never observed any notable effect though I have oft given it to my Patients Idem sect 190. and have also seen it given by others XXIV Injections made into the cavity of the Breast help very much when the outer surface or substance of the Lungs is Ulcerated if the Ulcer be caused by a Wound in the Breast that extends to the Lungs seeing in that case there is an open way whereby this may be done And by the use hereof such things being in the mean time given also inwardly as are proper in other Exuâcerations I have seen a Man recovered and live many years after who was stabb'd in his Breast as far as his Lungs from whence there arose an Uâcer therein and corrupted pieces of his Lungs came sometimes forth of the Wound and the Man was become quite Tabid I know another also who evacuated a Bloody sanious and purulent Matter through a Wound in his Breast Plater tom 3. p. 436. that by the use hereof was relieved a good while ago and is still alive XXV The Catarrh is first to be stopt Therefore I persuade the whole Head to be shaven and Vesicatories to be applied thereto first of the more gentle but at length I come to the stronger even to Cantharides I applied Vesicatories to the Head of a certain Noble Lady that labour'd under a Phthisis improperly so called namely that arose from a Catarrh descending from the Head and putrefying in the Lungs whereby the Body uses to waste and the same symptoms follow as do upon an Exulceration of the Lungs and Nature supplied that which we could not do all her Head being cover'd with Bladders and Crusts and she was cured of this Catarrh and is still alive Afterwards I would come to the draining also of the Breast and Lungs and would blister all the Breast and at length would make Issues upon both Arms and so the Matter would exhale every where and the putrefaction by that means cease and there will be a diversion of the Matter Whence Galen in a true Phthisis orders Cauteries or Issues upon the Breast Montan. cons 147. to drain it XXVI The diversion of a Catarrh is most conveniently performed by Fontanels or Issues which I cannot sufficiently commend seeing I my self have seen such cured by them as have been half Phthisical who cough'd up both Blood and Matter for the Acrimonious Humour that flows from the Head upon the Breast is fitly evacuated by them I knew a Man who had been Consumptive a long time of a Melancholick Constitution of Body and who had used divers other Remedies in vain whom I not only cured in a fortnight of the defluxion from his Head upon the inferior parts by making an Issue in his left Arm but his Body also somewhat recovered its vigour and lost Flesh Fabrit
with Child even in their eighth Month Childbed-Women or Women that are not with Child whose Terms are flowing yea Infants and Children of seven years old are all very well relieved by opening the Basilica of the side affected Ench. Med. Pract. River III. Though Blood-letting be chiefly profitable in the beginning yet if it were omitted then or were not large enough a Vein may be opened even after the seventh ninth or eleventh day by the Example of Hippocrates who let Anaxion Blood on the eighth day either because he was called no sooner or because in a very Crude Pleurisy which hardly begun to be concocted on the eleventh day the Disease granted truce But when a free and liberal Expectoration begins then we must abstain because it is thereby supprest and the Patient brought into danger of his Liâe Lazar. River IV. Hippocrates 2. de rat vict in acut t. 10. hath deliver'd to Posterity an excellent Rule and such as is very profitable in practice to let Blood till it change its colour Namely if at the first or second Bleeding the Blood appear Crude Phlegmatick or Watry the Evacuation is to be continuâd every day or twice a day till the Blood that is drawn look red or yellowish But if it come forth red at the beginning Venesection is to be repeated so often as till it appear livid or black for 't is signified that the later Blood flows out from the part affected or the Veins that neighbour upon it which indeed is alter'd by the heat of the inflamed part and of crude is made red or of red is made black or livid by adustion Now though the observation of this Precept do for the most part succeed well in practice yet sometimes that change of colour is not pertinaciously to be expected but we must desist from Bleeding sooner namely when either the Patient is weak or his Spirits low or he is of a rare and very resoluble habit or the Season is very hot Idem V. Some think that Diseases which draw their origin from a suppression of the Terms or Hemorrhoids are only to be cured by opening the Veins in the Leg which I willingly grant ought to be done in Chronical Distempers and such as give truce but in Acute Diseases such as the Pleurisy a Vein is not always to be opened in the Ankle or Foot but a distinction is to be used For if such Evacuations as use to happen at certain stated times be suddenly and wholly supprest and there be manifestly perceived a motion of the Blood to the upper parts and an afflux thereof to the Side the Cure is by all means to be begun by opening the Ham Vein or the like But if the suppression be now of long continuance whereby there is accumulated by little and little a Plethora or some Cacochymie and an abundance of Humours in the upper parts and also it be not near the season of the Terms then the Cure is to be begun by opening a Vein in the Arm for the Acute Disease requireth it nor permits it delay till the Terms or Hemorrhoids be again provoked for it may be whilst we are taking pains to procure the Terms or Hemorrhoids the Patient may die through the violence of the Disease but the suppression of the Terms or Hemorrhoids endure delay and regard may be had thereto afterwards when the Patient is past the danger of the Acute Disease and endeavours may be used to provoke the suppressed Blood Sennertus VI. Nor must we omit to admonish seeing a Pleurisy does oft follow or accompany a Fever and primary Disease which often has a notable malignity joined with it as uses to happen frequently in an Epidemical Pleurisy that diligent regard is then to be had to the Malignity and it is to be considered whether it admit of Venesection Gesner lib. 1. Epistol p. 19. makes mention of a certain Epidemick Malignant and Contagious Pleurisy of which many died and wherein Bleeding in the Arm did no good but Bleeding in the Ankles and Sweating in the beginning by a certain Antidote gave more relief And by all means in such Malignant Pleurisies the Malignity is first to be assailed Sennertus and other things to be done afterwards ¶ The same Gesner Epist 49. says In this Pleurisy I found nothing better than half an ounce or more of Linseed Oil which presently relieves the Breath and very well evacuates the Belly Hence it is that Asclepiades in Coelius Aurelianus testifies that at Athens and Rome he saw the Pleuritical become worse by Venesection but in Parius and the Hellespont that they were relieved by it Wierus in his Observations p. m. 53. mentions a Pestilent Pleurisy which went about in the years 1564 and 1565. in some parts of the lower Germany wherein it was observed that Venesection was very hurtful Those things which are prescribed in other Pleurisies to help Expectoration could do no good through the increase of the Febrile Putrefaction and Pestilent Poison And contrary to the observation of the common Rule they were to be helped by the giving of Acids as the Syrup of the Juice of Sorrel Lemons c. as also by Pectoral Potions prepared with a mixture of bitter Medicins c. I will speak a few things of that which is common in every ones mouth that a Pleurisy is sometimes found so malignant that for those years it cannot admit Phlebotomy at least not so often repeated as this Disease commonly requires Indeed I think that a true and essential Pleurisy which infests indifferently in all Constitutions of every year does every year indifferently indicate Venesection to be repeated alike yet it sometimes happens that the Fever of that year that is properly Epidemick is apt upon any sudden change of the manifest qualities of the Air to deposite the Morbifick Matter in the Pleura or Lungs and the Fever notwithstanding remain altogether the same In this case as Venesection may be granted to relieve this symptom if it rage much yet to speak generally we ought not to draw forth much more Blood upon the account of the symptom than ought to have been drawn forth on the account of the Fever on which that symptom depends For if this be of that nature as to admit of repeated Bleeding it may be repeated in the Pleurisy which is a symptom of it But if the Fever admit not of repeated Venesection the same will not help yea it will do harm in the Pleurisy which will stand or fall with the Fever And this indeed I was therefore bound not to conceal because I think that he wanders in a doubtful Path and is led by an uncertain Thread who in the Cure of Fevers has not presently before his Eyes the Constitution of the year as it enclines to the production of this or the other Disease epidemically and to turn all other Diseases that concur with it into its own likeness and form I thus treated
be obtained but in several months space XI Let us take heed not to bleed those who are emaciated by a long Tabes when they fall into a pain of their Side For I have seen many such Bodies dissected and observed their Lungs to be preternaturally close grown to the Membrane that covers the Ribs so that when a windy Vapour gets in betwixt this Connexion Heurn lib. de morb pect it pulls off the continuity and so causes the Pain ¶ This Pain is taken away and cured by heating things as by a fomentation of the Flowers of Chamomel and Cummin which hath benefited many They must be put up in a Bag which being dipt in White Wine is applied hot to the pained part Those who are so rashly bold as to Bleed take away so much of their Patients Life as they do of his Blood Dodon obs cap. 22. XII Experience sometimes shews that the saying of Hippocrates apb 31. sect 5. is not always true viz. If a Woman with Child be taken with an Acute Disease it is extream dangerous for sometimes both the Mother and Child escape danger While I was a Printing these things I was called June 27. 1681. to a Woman about Thirty years old the Wife of one Bardot a Tanner that was nine Months gone with Child She was faln into a very grievous Pleurisy on her left Side by travelling in the Sun and drinking of Wine She was Plethorick and her Face was much flusht Premising a lenient and cooling Clyster I order ten ounces of Blood to be taken out of the Arm on the Side affected which came forth putrid with some relief The next day because she was vexed with an Acute Pain and spit Blood I bled her again to seven ounces which looked more corrupt than the former and therefore though her Husband was against it I prescribe a third Phlebotomy on the day following upon which the Pain not yet ceasing and the redness of her Face with signs of a Plethora continuing I advise a fourth Bleeding though both her Husband and the Women were against it upon which fourth Venesection the Blood looking still worse the Pain quite ceased and she coughed up easily On the fifth day of July she had an easie labour of a Girl that was plump and of a good Constitution and her Lochia flowing orderly she not only lived but was freed of both her Pleurisy and Fever c. The Disease was the more grievous because besides that the faculty of breathing was intercepted by the greatness of the Phlegmon and the vehemence of the Fever the foetus kicked and sprawled strongly against her Diaphragm XIII 'T is not necessary to let those Blood who have Fluxions often fail from their Heads through abundance of Crudities presently upon the invasion of the Disease especially if they cough up easily and what they cough up be white or bloody and the Pain light for a Flatuous Substance uses so to distend the Veins of the Pleura that the Pores being rarefied the Blood issues out with pain and is expelled by coughing imitating a Pleurisy wherein if you let Blood you will do as much hurt as if you did so in the weak and Catarrhous who are ill of a light Fever Mercatus ¶ In a Pleurisy that is caused by a defluxion from the Head Venesection has no power to draw back the Rheum that is in motion nor to withdraw that which is setled and therefore it does much harm in increasing the Catarrh by the generation of cold Duretus comm in Coacas and in exciting the same by weakening the retentive faculty XIV Seeing the first indication is by all means to take away as soon as may be the Phlegmon or Obstruction of the Blood in the Pleura for this purpose Bleeding has used to be prescribed as the chief Remedy by all Physicians in all Ages except some Fanaticks and Pseudochymists The reason whereof is altogether the same as in a Peripneumony and many other Diseases that are caused by the stay and collection of the Blood in some place namely that the Blood-Vessels being much emptied may not only cut off the fomes of the Disease but also resorb and carry to another place the Matter which is the Conjunct Cause Wherefore bleed very freely in a Pleurisy if the Patient be strong and his Pulse big And truly 't is far better to bleed largely at first and so every time afterwards so often as 't is necessary to repeat Venesection than to bleed often a little at a time In as much as very many portions of the slimy and viscous Blood are collected about the part affected which unless they be called away from thence by emptying the Vessels very much by a plentiful Bleeding and be suffer'd to flow out the greatest part of them the desired effect will not succeed So that when some Physicians prescribe Blood to be let in a Pleurisy even to fainting away it seems not to be incongruous to Reason though that practice is not to be rashly undertaken because every Evacuation ought to be proportion'd to the tenour and tolerance of the strength which Rule such Phlebotomy exceeds Willis XV. In the year 1679. May 9. I was called to one Vilars a Baker a Man of about forty lean melancholick and who had used to be troubled with a pain in his Spleen This Person had been ill of a Quartan Ague for seven Months having got rid of it a Month before he was taken with a violent Pleurisy of his right Side with a very Acute Fever On the second day of the Disease he had gotten himself let Blood which was very putrid without any remission of his Pain His Water was very high colour'd shining whilst it was hot and depositing a red tartar when it was grown cold Wherefore I order him to be bled again and his Blood was putrid as it was before without any easing of the Pain his Spittle crude which he could hardly bring up and without any remission of the Fever On the sixth day of the Disease he is bled again a corrupt Blood still coming forth and all things abiding in the same state On the seventh day there came a plentiful Sweat which continued to flow to the end of the eighth whereupon the Fever grows more mild the Urine is not so high colour'd and Expectoration proceeds better On the ninth day the Fever grows worse wherefore I order Bleeding again always out of the right Side because his strength held up still and his Pulse was full and strong the Blood was still corrupt On the tenth day the Fever is much milder the Pain in his Side ceases his Urine is concocted and with a laudable sediment On the eleventh day his Fever was quite gone On the twelfth I gave him a Purge upon which he recover'd The first three days he was troubled with a Vomiting which ceased after the second Bleeding whence I thought there had been a Peripneumony for such whose Lungs are
of Hedge-Mustard Scurvygrass both Garden and Water Cresses c. the Waters called Theriacal if so be they have a vertue to loosen and dissolve coagulated Phlegm or concreted Blood Amongst External things these are good Vnguentum Martiatum the compound Ointment of Marshmallows c. the Oils of White Lillies Chamomel Bricks c. which may be fitly mixt together and anointed on the outside of the affected part premising or adding sometimes the rectified Spirit of Wine as well the simple as the compound Aromatick In this case also there may be applied outwardly Cataplasms but rather such as are called Dissolvents than Emollients and Ripeners such namely as may incide and loosen the Coagulated Humour and are prepared of Acrimonious and Aromatick Plants As for example Take of Onions roasted under the Ashes and bruised two ounces the Leaves of Hedge-Mustard Chervil Garden Cresses Elder of each an handful and half of the Flowr of Beans and Lupines of each an ounce one Swallows Nest of Album Graecum an ounce boil them according to art in Butter-Milk to the consistence of a Cataplasm This is to be applied indifferent warm by the help whereof Internal Obstructions also may be opened Note that it must be renewed presently as soon as it begins to be dry Fr. Sylv. l. 1. pract c. 40. XXX That the Fluxed Matter may be digested and yet incrassated nothing is better than the Flower of red Poppy which though some use indifferently thinking it to be profitable in a Pleurisy from its whole substance yet is it an hurtful Medicin save in this case It digests indeed moderately but it has a vertue to incrassate and therefore is good when the Fluxed Matter is little and only when the flowing Matter is thin but if this hot and thin Matter be flown already for the greatest part Incrassaters are to be let alone Saxonia ¶ Let the Flowers of red Poppy of Blue Bottles Burnet Stags Pizle the Pouder of a Bores Tooth be given at the beginning of the Disease not when it is come to Expectoration for they straiten the Vessels through which the Blood flows to the part affected Heurn Rondelet and so does Coral XXXI When in the year 1666. I passed through the Dales of the County of Newenburg to bid farewel to the Inhabitants amongst whom I had practised Physick being about to return into my own Countrey it happened that my dear Wife and Companion N. Joanna Spanheim being three Months gone with Child falling from her Horse a mile or two from the City upon the Plain hit her left Side against the Ground wherein there began presently a great Pain with a Cough and difficulty of breathing to all which a little while after was added a Fever Notwithstanding we must need go forward to the City where presently about the time of going to Bed we met happily with a Surgeon whom I got to let her Blood on the same side her bruise was on The next Morning premising a Clyster I gave her a draught of the Vulnerary Decoction by the vertue whereof after a few hours some clods of Blood as big as an Hens Egg were expelled and there forthwith followed health that was very much desired even upon this account that all things were prepared for our departure the next day in which we were not preventâd XXXII Antimonium Diaphoreticum see lib. 19. of Sudorificks is a great Arcanum and greatly commended in the Pleurisy whether true or spurious In the former it notably discusseth the collected Humours absorbs the Acor asswageth Pains promotes Expectoration and so satisfies all indications especially if at first by a concise and true method of Cure Volatils were given and this Medicin be afterwards joined with others as Boars Tooth prepared Philosophically it is first boiâ'd for some days in simple Water or in a Copper Vesica and then it is put in an hot Furnace where its being chapt shews it to be well prepared Crabs Eyes and Opium it self with which though it be given alone it is a most sufficient Remedy In the spurious or windy Pleurisy how much Antimonium Diaphoreticum will do those know to whom its notable carminative vertue is manifest for it is good outwardly being mixt with discussing Plasters G. Wolfg. Wedel misc curat anni 1672. obs 72. where Flatus insinuate themselves betwixt the Muscles and also inwardly in Flatulent Tumours especially in Children for whose Gripes it is also excellent XXXIII The Pleurisy is to be conquer'd by Specificks but how these perform their operation all are not agreed Helmont seeing he makes the next cause of every Pleurisy to be Extravasated Blood which is caused by its acidity does suitably determine that its Remedy cures in as much as it averts the Archeus from the conception of acescence And therefore he thinks that the said appropriate Remedies are friendly to the Archeus that they correct the immediate cause in the Archeus take away acidity and dispose the Blood to a Diaphoresis and ease the Pain by extinguishing the Acidity Also the ferment of the Acidity being taken away they resolve as much as may be of the Extravasated Blood and do seasonably cast up the remainder by Cough not designing to bring it to Pus Which is the cause also why the same Remedies are given in bruises from falls in as much as they resolve the Blood that is they take away the Spine or Thorn remove the Poison and in that regard incarn the place Now there is nothing that more easily corrects takes away and disposes to a Diaphoresis that acidity which is hostile to the Blood and Veins than Hydrotick or Diaphoretick Specificks such as are Goats Blood the Pouder of Stags or Bulls Pizle Frid. Hofm m. m. l. 1. c. 11. 14. the Juice of wild Succory Poppy Flowers Boars Tooth Horse-Dung the Herb Daisy c. XXXIV The next cause of a Pleurisy is the Blood stopt through its roapiness in the smaller Vessels and Interstices of the Pleura or else extravasated and the same is the next cause of a Peripneumony also Hence arises a preservatory indication designed against the Lentor and Effervescence of the Blood which prescribes such Remedies as consisting of a Volatil or Alkalizate salt do destroy the combinations that the acid fixed or otherwise Morbifick salts have entred into with other thicker particles For which purpose the Eyes or Claws of Crabs Boars Tooth Carps Stones the Jaws of a Pike the Bone of a Stags Heart a Stags Pizle Sal prunella the salt of Coral the salt of Urine or of Hartshorn the Pouder of dried Goats Blood the infusion of Horse-Dung the Spirit of Hartshorn of Sal Armoniack the Spirit of Tartar mixtura simplex bezoardicum minerale Antimonium Diaphoreticum the Flowers of Sal Armoniack are very famous Remedies in the Pleurisy Willis XXXV In March 1645. I begun to have a grievous pain in the mornings that seised upon my left Side and Breast-Bone whence I had
is little and sticks not firmly to the sides of the Womb that has not as yet acquired a thickness capacious enough to suck up and contain the Blood that is as yet fluid about the Womb in the Hypogastrick Vessels by Bleeding in the Foot it may be recalled as in the Menstrual Purgation and so be withdrawn from the Womb Riolan anthropogr l. 6. in fine and therefore an Abortion would follow IV. The Diseases that seise upon Women not with Child as Vomiting want of Appetite and the like in them need Purging rather than Bleeding because they are caused by a Cacochymie abounding in the Stomach and the whole Body But in Women with Child they need Bleeding more because they are caused by the Blood retained from the very beginning of their being with Child And Experience hath taught that the Vomitings which often afflict Women with Child in the first Months are aggravated by Purgations but are much relieved by Bleeding yea are wholly removed if it be repeated every Month till the symptom wear off River V. According to Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. one would think that we should reckon Purging to be safer than Bleeding for he there permits Purging in a certain case and time but on the contrary concerning Venesection he writes absolutely 5. aph 10. that it causes Abortion But Purgers do cause a great agiration and generally have a quality that is injurious to the Body and besides provoke the Terms and cause Gripings Whereas on the contrary Bleeding is administred with less perturbation of the Humours nor does it hurt any otherwise but as it deprives the Foetus of its aliment which fear is vain if there be a Plethora And it appears by Experience that Bleeding has better success than Purging when there is present the same reason of Indicants and Permittents Add that many Acute Diseases spring from plenty of Blood for which Bleeding is the properest Remedy VI. Hippocrates aph 1. sect 4. hath defined the use of Purgation in Women with Child Women with Child are to be Physick'd if the Matter be Turgent in the fourth Month and till the seventh but these later more sparingly But we must have a care when the Foetus is very young or when it is full grown Galen in comment says that Foetus are like to the fruits of Trees Now these when they are newly shaped or set have but weak Stalks and therefore they easily fall off when a violent Wind shakes them but afterwards when they are grown somewhat bigger they are not so easily shaken off the Trees and yet when they are come to their full growth and are ripe they fall off of their own accord and without any extrinsick violence In like manner Women suffer Abortion in the first and last Months because in those Months the Foetus is not so firmly knit to the Womb. But in our times Purgers are administred almost in every Month of their being with Child in Diseases which are produced by a predominance of Excrements and a Cacochymie when the Matter is turgent or concocted as often as there impends greater danger on the part of the Cacochymie than from the commotions raised by the Purge Physicians have been made bolder herein upon the account of the gentle and harm ess Medicins that we use now adays as Rhubarâ Myrobalans Cassia Manna Senna Agarick and the like Yet we must always have regard to Hippocrates's opinion that Purgers may be given more safely in the middle Months but are to be used more waâily in the first and last River ¶ Being with Child hinders Purgation for fear of Abortion and though even Acute Fevers be present and the Matter be Turgent yet the offending Humours may be corrected and evacuated by divers Remedies without strong Purgers For such Medicins are common at this day as prepare the Humours and bring them to the ways of the Ducts without making use of any violent Remedy And we must know that in the Diseases of Women with Child there is sometimes a very great fermentation of the Blood because of some Preternatural ferment raised in the mass of Blood which Purging Medicins as such can no ways bridle and moreover 't is very doubtful as yet whether that fermental Effluvium will follow the guidance of the Purgers See Zacut. M. P. H. l. 3. hist 14. Fr. Hofm m. m. p. 53. Schenkius obs l. 4. p. 554. VII Cassia is not to be given to Women with Child as no more are most Diureticks because through the nearness of the Womb with the Bladder which they provoke to expulsion they may do much harm Besides Cassia by its superfluous moisture relaxeth the Womb and weakens the Cotyledons and 't is also suspected for breeding Wind. Zacutus thinks that it may be so corrected by the addition of Spices and Carminatives as to become harmless but Experience witnesseth that it is not sate to use it VIII And the Evacuation that is made by Clysters is altogether unsafe because it may cause Abortion by compressing the Womb. When therefore there is need of them and Women have been accustomed to this kind of Remedy they ought to be made up in a less quantity and to be made of those things which are endued with a vertue rather to mollify and loosen than to purge strongly IX The use of Pills ought always to be suspected both because they disturb the Body more and also because of the Aloes which for its notable bitterness is offensive to the Foetus and is believed to open the mouths of the Veins But if its use seem necessary at any time in the more grievous Diseases of the Stomach which are often wont to afflict Womân with Child in their first months of being so let it be well washed with Rose-Water that its acrimony may be taken away or let it be mixt with astringents and strengtheners as Mastich and the like X. Diureticks because they are apt to provoke the Terms also ought to be suspected and if the necessity of the Disease do sometimes require them let the more gentle be chosen XI The drinking of Acidulae or Mineral Waters is to be denied viz. the Medicinal drinking not the extraordinary wherein a draught or two is granted for pleasure or to quench thirst First because by opening inciding attenuating and absterging they provoke the Terms whereby Aliment is withdrawn from the Womb Secondly because the Belly is thereby loosened but things provoking to Stool are hurtful aph 34. 5. and 27. 7. Hereby the Foetus is deprived of Aliment the bands whereby it is tied to the Womb are loosened and the Foetus is offended by the frequent stench of the Excrements as they pass by XII Sudorificks if they be of the milder sort may be safely used Experience teaching that they are beneficial to Women with Child that are infected with the Pox or Plague or the like Diseases for when there are vitious Humours in the Body if Nature be not infirm such thângs help
your Hand and the Foetus being caught by the Legs must be pulled out For in this case we must proceed no otherwise than if some House were on fire in which case we break open the Doors if they be shut There is only this way of safety both to the Woman and her Burthen Obstetrix Gallic in obs and the omission of it hath been destructive to many XXIII The Wife of N. thirty years old in the beginning of her ninth Month received a slight blow on her Belly and the next day moving her Arms strongly in making a Bed there began a small flux of Blood from her Womb which continued for two or three days but ceased betwixt whiles But on the twelfth day after there flow'd out so great plenty of Blood that in three or four hours time she was brought very low First Bleeding her in her Arm astringent Clysters were order'd her but the Flux continuing and the Patient perceiving no motion of the Foetus whence we thought it was dead and that the Womb endeavouring to free it self of an unprofitable Burthen contracted it self continually and expelled the Blood but yet that it did not perform that motion so strongly as was necessary for the Birth we judg'd it necessary to use all art for provoking the Birth that the immoderate profusion of Blood might be stanched which otherwise was like to bring the poor Woman to her end Wherefore a Clyster was ordered of the Emollient decoction with Catholiâon and Diaphoenicon of each six drachms of the Oil of Lilies three ounces with a drachm of Salt with which she was well purged and presently after she had parted with it the Flux of Blood was much lessened which may seem strange seeing such Clysters are likelier to increase the Flux But I think this happened from hence that the Womb was pressed by Excrements contained in the streight Gut from which oppression so soon as it was freed it begun to collect it self and to restrain that preposterous motion that it might betake it self to a more natural But seeing after the Clyster was parted with the Womb attempted nothing but the Efflux of Blood still continued and it was evident the Foetus was dead to exclude it there was given a drachm of the salt of Vitriol in four ounces of Bugloss Water which seemed proper in two respects First Because by raising a Vomit the Womb was also irritated to exclusion because in Vomiting all the parts of the Abdomen do violently contract themselves Secondly Because the salt of Vitriol is endued with a very great astringent vertue whereby it may conduce to the stanching of Blood She Vomited twice pretty sorely and cast up much Bilious Phlegmatick and Serous Stuff and a little after her Travailing Pains came on which having continued for four or five hours this Potion was given to further the Birth Take of Dittany of Crete both Birthworts and the Troches of Myrrhe of each half a scruple of Saffron and Cinamon of each twelve grains of Confectio Alkermes half a drachm of Cinamon Water half an ounce of Orange Flower Water and Mugwort Water of each an ounce and half Upon the taking of this within a quarter of an hour with very strong and twice or thrice repeated strainings she excluded the Foetus whose Skin beginning to putrefy seem'd torn in divers places A little while after she excluded the Secundines also half-rotten her Lochia flowing moderately after that Riv. cent 3. obs 24. XXIV There is great difficulty about the use of Astringents and on that account the Cure is very difficult for if we retain the Blood by things that astringe then we run into more cruel symptoms because the clodded Blood being retained breeds six hundred times more grievous symptoms according to 6. aph 20. For as much as Blood in the Vessels is friendly to Nature so much injurious does it become afterwards when extravasated for it becomes like Poison How must we proceed therefore I answer That all Internal Remedies ought to be astringent and the External especially about the region of the Belly and Womb by no means astringent for by that means they should be destroyed languishing especially when they void clodded Blood Epiph. Ferdinand hist 3. yet Astringents may be applied to the Reins Pruritus or Itching The Contents A stubborn Itching cured by Issues I. A scabby one cured by Scarification II. I. MR. N. having been ill for some months of a Sciatick pain and a troublesom or rather painful itching almost all over his Body and could hardly go any longer leaning on a Staff I advised him to empty his Body of bad Humours for he was very Cacochymical and to free his Viscera from obstructions But he being averse from Physick I made two Issues one in the left Arm and another in the right Ham by the benefit whereof the Sciatick pain and also that very troublesom itching remitted by degrees And the acrimonious salt and naughty Humour the immediate cause of each Distemper being by the help of Nature plentifully discharged by the Issues it caused for some months pains in the Hams by twitching the Nervous parts Hild. cent 4. obs 75. II. An old Nun being almost for two years troubled with a scabby itching of her Hands which she used almost to tear in pieces with scratching when it could be allayed by neither Internal nor External Medicins Severin med eff p. 76. I cured it by making frequent Scarifications Puerperarum affectus or the Diseases of Childbed Women The Contents When Venesection is to be used I. The manner of Purgation in their Acute Diseases II. Cooling Alteratives are necessary when they fall into a Fever III. The allaying of the After-pains by giving the Pouder of the Secundine IV. When the pains arise from Wind how they may be allayed V. They have ceased by a cold draught VI. Eggs are hurtful VII Wine is to be denied VIII If they be costive how they are to be loosened IX Sleep is not to be granted presently after delivery X. Of the Fevers of Childbed Women see Book 6. The After-pains ought to be allayed XI They cannot be cured unless the cause be known XII I. AUthors disagree much about Venesection in the Acute Diseases of Childbed Women there are scarce two to be found that agree in the same opinion Omitting Circumlocutions I shall in the following Theorems propound here that opinion which comes nearer the mind of the wiser Physicians and succeeds the more happily in practice An Acute Disease invades a Childbed Woman either in the beginning or in the middle or in the end of her lying in If it happen in the beginning and the Woman be plentifully purged no other Evacuation of Blood is to be attempted than that which is directed by Nature working rightly and conveniently But if her Purgations be supprest or diminished let the lower Veins be opened and let Blood freely because then the Evacuation ought to be large according to
her Itch. 9. Whey especially of Goats milk is in this case very useful which indeed in a moist Itch may be given at first with 2 ounces of juice of Roses that it may both purge and then for 4 or 5 dayes attenuate If the Itch be dry 2 or 3 ounces of juice of Fumitory may be added or also 2 ounces of an Emulsion of Melon Seeds which way it is a most efficacious Medicine for the Scab and Itch. ¶ This is an experienced Medicine in any Itch Take the root of sharp-pointed Dock-green of Elecampane green each half a pound Hogs-lard 3 ounces beat them in a Morter Sennertus boyl them a little on a gentle fire then strain them out violently and make an Unguent 10. This is a most excellent Oyntment Take of the inner yellow rind of black Alder 3 handfuls fresh Butter 1 pound the best Wine half a pound Arnold Weikarduâ Boyl them to the Consumption of the watry part strain it violently through a linnen Cloth Keep it for use it Cures the Itch admirably especially in the younger sort But the Body must first be well purged Scorbutus or the Scurvy The Contents Northern People alone are not subject to it I. Blood must be taken but in a small quantity II. When the Spots appear a Vein may be breathed III. Purging must be seldome and gradual IV. Things that act by a Specifick virtue must be used V. Their Heat and Acrimony must be corrected VI. The juice of Plants is to be preferred before Decoction VII It s Cure differs not much from the Cure of Hypochondriack Melancholy VIII Sugared things do harm IX Many Diseases are taken for Scorbutick which are not so X. The preservatory Method in a Salino-Sulphureous dyscracy XI In a Sulphureo-Saline XII Of the Curatory Method for the Scurvy whereby we oppose the Disease and the most urgent Symptomes XIII Of the vital Indication wherein are Comprehended Cordial Medicines Opiates and Diet requisite in the Scurvy XIV Medicines I. EXperience has taught us that our Country does not altogether want the Scurvy for although it be not attended with all the Circumstances which are reckoned up by Northern Authors yet it affords some Symptomes which are sufficient to establish its nature many whereof we have observed in several Patients 1. The first and most evident sign the affection of the Mouth Gumbs and Teeth In the Gumbs there is a redness itching putrefaction bleeding and stinking smell which affections are sometimes communicated to the jawes and palate and also to the Teeth which are found loose and black 2. Spots coming in the Arms and Legs 3. Difficulty of breathing and straitness of Breast by gross Vapors coming to the Diaphragm and by the swelling of the Pancreas that is filled with some thick humour 4. A spontaneous lassitude and heaviness of Body 5. Various Urines sometimes thick with a red and thick sediment without any suspicion of the Stone sometimes thin 6. A weak and unequal Pulse and almost formicating 7. Pains seizing several parts of the Body sometimes the Loins whence it is sometimes called Lumbago by some 8. Divers hurts of motion so that sometimes a Palsie arises sometimes Tremulous and Convulsive motions 9. A Flux simple or bloody 10. A stinking Breath 11. Frequent shivering not attended by any Heat 12. Agues far differing from the Characters of common Agues 13. Swellings in divers parts of the Body sometimes hard Riverius sometimes soft 14. Extream Atrophy II. This Disease as Galen advises admits not of plentiful Bleeding And if this Disease have taken root and there be a great corruption of the Blood and Cacochym with no abundance of Blood and if it hath seized the whole Body so as that already break out and other external Signs appear in the Body here and there bleeding must not be ventured on lest the more pure and subtil Blood running out and the more viscid and thick remaining in the Veins the Patient's strength be weakned But we must then rather fall on preparing and evacuating the Scorbutick Cacochymic Sennertus III. Many reckon it an unpardonable mistake to let Blood in Scorbutick Spots being only intent upon Anti-scorbuticks because of the Scorbutick malignity which is held to exclude this generous Remedy But although Blood-letting be not proper for a Scorbutick Malignity of it self yet I do not see why in the beginning while strength is yet good and while the Disease has not as yet Infected the whole mass of Blood a Vein may not be breathed in the Scurvey by accident as well as in other Cacochymies to the end that part of the ill Blood being taken away the Body may be relieved and so the remainder may more easily be brought under and conquered especially since Nature shows the same who sometimes in the Scurvy pours out Blood not only by the Haemorrhoids and Menses but also by other Veins as by the Nose Feet c. Nevertheless this Disease admits not of large Bleeding Frid. Hofmannus m. m. l. 1. c. 13. but a repetition of it is best in several places thrice at least but at some dayes distance IV. As for preparation and purgation since the Scurvy will not bear strong purgatives but is rather exasperated by them as Eugalenus informs us and all learned Physicians being so taught by experience testifie that the bad Humours cannot be evacuated all at once Gradual purgation is the best to be insisted on so to wit that the matter may first be prepared and concocted and the corruption and putrefaction of the Humours may be conquered and restrained and then gentle purgation may be made And seeing the Scorbutick matter is not all of the same substance but is mixt of divers humours we may again come to preparation and then if there be need the prepared Humours may again be evacuated by fit Medicines But if this should not be observed and purgatives should be given while the matter were crude and the specifick corruption of the Humours not as yet conquered the matter being moved and disturbed would produce great anxieties Yea it has been observed that several have recovered without the use of Purgatives Sennertus by using of attenuating and inciding Anti-scorbuticks V. It is not for nothing that Eugalenus informs us that several times Physicians otherwise learned have laboured in vain in curing this Disease which they understood not rightly who without doubt used both aperient alterative evacuating and strengthening things but in vain because they understood not a Scorbutick Cacochymie For all aperients and alteratives of the Melancholick Humour are not here sufficient but such things must ever be used and mixt withal Sennertus as respect the nature of this Humour VI. Since divers other Humours abounding in the Body may be mixt with the crude and gross Humour that is the cause of the Scurvy and they oftentimes cholerick and hot and since the Humors detained in the Hypochondria do as it were
Applications of other kind which ease pain may be outwardly applied Of the wandring Scorbutick Gout Concerning this affection Eugalenus Wierus Medicus Campensis and Gregorius Horstius have writ on purpose It is said to be very frequent in the North-parts of Holland of which they take a certain sign by applying a live Worm to the place pained for it begins immediately to leap wriggle and slide off and usually dies which indeed I have often by experience observed in this Disease among our own Country-men The reason of which experiment as I think is this we make the cause of the Pain and Swelling in the part affected to be because Saline or lixivial Feculencies that are left by the Blood and also by the Nervous Liquor in the same place do mutually ferment just as Spirit of Vitriol mixt with deliquated Salt of Tartar moreover as from such struggling and agitation of dissimilar particles Pain and Swelling are caused so indeed very sharp and as it were corrosive effluvia do plentifully fly out which kill the Worm when it is applied to the pained place just as if it were hung over these ebullient Liquors Because of the effect of this experiment the Cure of the Disease is managed by Worms that is by Medicines made of them which yet I know not whether taken inwardly they will as certainly cure the Disease as they applied outwardly are killed by the Disease However Worms as also Snails Sows and other exanguous Animals inasmuch as they abound with a volatil Salt so they often yield a Medicine effectual enough Henricus Petraeus tells of two Remedies for this Disease much used in Westphalia 1. Take 9 Worms bruised with 2 spoonfuls of Wine in a Mortar and strained through a Cloth to these add half a pint of Wine Take 3 spoonfuls Morning Noon and Night for several dayes 2. Take 2 or 3 sprigs of Savine Virgin Honey 2 spoonfuls Boyl them in a pint of Wine till it sink 2 Inches Let 4 or 5 spoonfuls of the colature be taken thrice a day A certain vulgar potion cited by Horstius is near of kin to the first Medicine it is called Potio Monasteriensis Take of Sage Betony Rue each 5 Leaves a little Savine and two roots of Devils bit Bruise them with water of Elder flowers and let the juice strained out be given to cause a Sweat The like prescription also is propounded by Medicus Campensis in Forestus Certainly in this Disease Aqua lumbricorum magistralis set down in the London Dispensatory is excellent good I have often used Spirit and Salt of Harts horn Spirit of Blood and flowers of Sal Ammoniac with good success Moreover Testaceous powders to wit of Crabs Eyes Corals Pearl and Vegetables which are reckoned Antidotes for the Gout as Root of Birthwort Leaves of Ground pine Germander and the like joyned with Antiscorbuticks are good for the cure of this Disease Beside outward Anodynes to asswage the pain which are used in form of Liniment Fomentation or Cataplasm oyl of Worms Frogs and Toads are often very beneficial I had it from an excellent Person who was very subject to this Disease that a water distilled off the Contents in the Stomach of an Ox newly killed and taken out and applied warm with Clothes in manner of a Fomentation does give most certain relief Of Convulsive and Paralytick Affections that usually come upon the Scurvy If at any time the Scorbutick Infection break into the Brain and Nervous kind and very much infect the irrugious Liquor of either Province for this reason indeed divers affections and especially Paralytick and Spasmodick ones usually arise namely according as the Morbifick matter brought by the regiment is either narcotick or explosive Which sort of affections although in this case they be Symptomatick yet when they grow worse they challenge to themselves both the name and better part of the Cure so that the Patient may be rather said to be sick of the Palsie or Convulsion than of the Scurvy Medicines also proper for these Diseases should be preferred before all other at that time however requisite for other intentions To cure such Diseases brought upon the Scurvy we should make it our business that Remedies appropriate to them may be rightly complicated with Antiscorbuticks Of an Atrophy and also the Scorbutick Fever which is either the cause or effect of it There are 3 kinds of causing depending in a certain order of one or more of which a Scorbutick Atrophy without a Consumption of the Lungs is usually produced to wit either the Chyle is perverted through the fault of the first wayes so that either not enough or not good is carried to the Blood Or secondly when it is brought thither yet by the fault of the Blood it is not rightly changed into Blood and nutritious juice Or thirdly the nutritious juice being rightly prepared in the mass of Blood through the fault of the Nervous Liquor is not rightly assimilated to the solid parts Remedies proper for this Symptome either respect the emendation of the first wayes or of the foresaid Humours As to the former it sometimes happens that through the broken tone or vitiated ferment of the Stomach what food is taken is not rightly concocted but turns into an useless putrilage For such ails gentle Catharticks Digestives and Strengthners may be used Yet the work of Chylification is oftner hindred by a Scirrhous Tumor rising sometimes in the Stomach sometimes in the Mesentery and other Parts thereabout In this case opening and dissolving things are proper the use of Spaws is before any other Remedy Moreover Fomentations Liniments or Plaisters must be outwardly applied Furthermore sometimes it happens that without any Tumor arising in the Bowels the lacteal Vessels are so much obstructed with a thick viscid matter settled in them that a sufficient store of Chyle though made laudable and with plenty sufficient cannot be carried to the Blood In this case the Belly is for the most part very loose the stools are white and like curdled Milk and not tinged with bile or stinking like other Peoples Excrements The reason whereof is because the depauperated Blood breeds but little yellow bile from the pouring out of which in the Guts the colour and stink of the Excrements proceed In this case Spaws are chiefly proper and when openers are given inwardly Liniments Fomentations and Bathings may be used outwardly For a Marasmus arising from the Blood 's degenerating from its frame these things are good Asses or Cows Milk diluted with Barley water or some proper distilled water often do good Broth or Milk with Snails boyled in them Moreover Waters distilled off Milk or Whey with Snails and temperate Antiscorbutick Herbs are very good in this case for this purpose also Decoctions of vulnerary and Antiscorbutick Herbs are taken with good success In the mean time frictions to the out parts may be used every day with Clothes bedewed with unguentum resumptivum or fresh Oyl of sweet Almonds and
intention consisting in a due constitution of the Pores is commonly performed only by outward administration Willis VI. An old Man 72 years of Age was in the year 1657 very ill of a Diaphoretick Sweat so that he was all over in it almost Night and Day and what ever he eat or drank he immediately perceived it pass out at the Pores of the Skin The Cause of this Disease was abundance of serous Humors complicated with the Scurvy which were gathered in the Mass of Blood by a depraved and vitious fermentation in the Organs designed for Sanguification which did not transmute the acid Salts of the Meat into volatil Salts The Disease had lasted 3 Months before my Advice was taken but it was quickly cured by me only with Ivory without Fire and an Emulsion made of the four greater cold Seeds and Cichory and Bugloss-water giving now and then Jalap and Crystall of Tartar Forbearing Wine Sowr Meats and other things that breed Scorbutick Blood He lived until he was fourscore and three years old Hofmannus Suffocatio or Suffocation or Strangling The Contents Bleeding is often convenient I. Fear of Suffocation from the Lungs distended with Wind. II. How they that are strangled with an Halter may be recovered III. By what means they that have been Suffocated in the Water have been brought to Life again IV. The Cure of those that are Choaked with Smoak V. With the Steam of Must VI. With the Veins too full of Blood VII With Worms coming into ones Throat VIII With the swelling of the Thymus IX With poysonous Mushromes X. Men may be taken with Fits like Hysterick ones XI An easy Remedy in fear of Strangling XII 1. FOr them that are Strangled or Choaked the suffocating Humor having recourse to the Throat either because the Blood is forcibly carried to the Heart or Brain whether it come from the Womb or from some other Place Bleeding is never amiss in this Symtome that is if you find the Pulse strong and the Veins full Bleeding is also good when it comes from drinking cold Water as Diascorides advises for Bleeding is not convenient because the Water is alwayes hot or because Infectious but because there is much in the Veins Bocallus II. Sometimes Wind distends the Lungs so violently that it causes Suffocation unless help be given by opening the Breast by Paracentesis which is often done at Paris to the great advantage of the Patient and the ease of the Breast though no Water run out but Wind break out violently Hippocrates calls them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whose Breast is distended with Wind. Riolanus III. Anne Green a lusty young Woman about 22 years of Age was tried for killing her Child and hung on the Gallows for half an hour Her kindred who stood by that she might be dispatched of her punishment by a speedy Death some of them beat the poor Wretch on the Breast others hung on her Feet and others lift up her Body that as it fell down again it might draw the Halter closer She was reckoned by all People to be Dead and was taken from the Gallows The Physicians waited for the Body to dissect it but Dr. Petty and Dr. Willis who were to dissect it observing her to breathe altered their Minds and consulted how they might save her Life They directed all there Care to procure the free and accustomed Motion of the Blood Therefore forcing open her Mouth they poured in Spirits and Waters which in a small quantity do very efficaciously strengthen the Heart They diminished the quantity of Blood which would otherwise have been burthensome to the oppressed Heart and took at several times repeated in all to the quantity of 20 ounces that the Heart might when eased of the abundance of Blood more easily and readily distribute the rest into the whole Body and might the more eagerly draw to it self that which stagnated in the Veins or moved too dull They laid Cataplasms round her Neck and anointed her all over with Oyls and hot Spirits that the Bruises might be discussed and that the Blood might pass more freely to the Head by the Carotides and repass by the Jugulars They ordered Clysters full of Spices to be given her both that they might get out the Excrements which perhaps might be troublesome to the Guts and might prove more prejudicial to other Parts and that they might quicken the Motion of the dull Blood in the mesenterick Vessels Upon this she first scratched her Hands by and by she could open her Eyes and move several Parts and was able to Cough Afterwards being further helped by the dexterity of the Physicians she could understand the by standers talk observe and laugh She found a Pain and numbness in the bruised Parts and in a few dayes time she was well and was able to go about her Affairs Wepferus IV. A Girl not three years old fell into a Vessel full of Soap-water and being full of it she seemed to Breathe her last she slept profoundly rattled and scarce drawing any Breath was quite Choaked such a murmuring Noise coming upon her as is usual in People that are dying I was called and I ordered that a Decoction of Barly unhusked Liquorish and Figs should continually be poured in a little warm and when she had Vomited gently and had cast up all the Soap-water and freed her in a few hours from Suffocation her Mother if I had not hindred her had given her Rhenish Wine which indeed is amicable to Nature but it might not only have easily carried the poysonous Matter in the Soap to the Heart but it might easily have raised an inflammation and a Fever In the year 1577. when a great many Boyes and Girles had got upon an old rotten Bridge to see a Soldier that was fallen into the Water The Bridge broke and a great number fell into the Water and were in danger of their Lives to whom when I was called they all escaped by taking a Decoction of Chamaemil Flowers in Beer by which we made them sweat in Bed which I did to several others and they all recovered Forestus My Son Frederick Bonet 20 Months old she that tended him having left him was walking over a Pit full of new quenched Lime and being thrust by one about his own Age he fell into it She who had the care of him coming immediately jumped into the Pit threw him upon the edge of it and she her self could scarce get out by reason of the deepness of the Pit and softness of the Lime She immediately poured some Wine that happened to be in the way into his Mouth when he breathed not at all but seemed as one dead by means whereof he vomited the Water and some signs of life appeared By and by lest the Acrimony of the Lime wherewith his whole Body was smeared should hurt him she cut the Girdle wherewith his Clothes were tied and put him naked into a Pale of Water and
proper XIII Medicines I. WHether may Blood be let when People are in a swoon In a spurious Syncope which the stopping of the Blood in the Veins breeds which according to Hippocrates and Galen l. 4. acut must be esteemed twofold one from store of Blood in the greater Vessels another only from the Carotides and jugulars Blood must immediately be taken away ere it being deprived of its Spirits become concrete and the Disease be incurable as much as convenient considering the strength and fulness of the Body Which when done and a spare course of diet is followed we must divert what is contained in the Body to the lower parts and afterwards what concrete Blood there is we must make it fluid with drinking hot things and by gently rubbing the whole Body But in this case it is very rare that one can make the Blood fluid unless the Spirits be much stronger than before for if not or if the Pulse be bad it is a sign that the Blood is then concrete in which case we must wholly abstain from Blood-letting and make use of such Remedies as may make the concrete Blood fluid as Hares-rennet in water and Honey or water and Honey with Marjoram boyled in it with the addition of a little Oxymel or half a drachm of Treacle or Mithridate dissolved in the said water But if you be certain that the Blood is not concrete you can no way sooner bring the Patient to life again than by letting him Blood Which when you have done once if the Patient bear it well and if the Blood run high you may try the Remedy again till you find the Patient relieved but if no Blood will come you may reckon it is concrete and you need try no more II. A Woman as she saw her Husband fighting with his Neighbour fell into a Swoon I was called and by my order she was cured by Bleeding In this sick Woman the Blood had for fear and grief retired to the Heart as to a tower by which when the Heart is suffocated I have observed several have died both because the vital faculty is extinguished by too great abundance and because the Spirits cannot pass through the Vessels for want of which the extream parts grow dead In so great decay of Spirits let the Physician never omit Bleeding But âf by reason of extream loss of strength and the abolition of the pulse in a manner the Physician be doubtful let Cupping-glasses be set to his Hips and Thighs with scarifications instead of Bleeding Fontanus III. It often counterfeits an Apoplexy but without ratling nor does it leave a Palsie behind it If it return often violently at length it oppresses and suffocates the Heart not only because the excursion of the Blood is intercepted by the plenitude of the Vessels but because some thick substance of the Blood being forced within the Ventricles of the Heart oppresses it which causes an Asphyxy in the motion of the Heart and Arteries This Disease is as frequent among the Germans as the Apoplexy from their athletick habit of Body which is contracted from their continual good fellow-ship and drinking Yet they take no care to take down that plethorick habit by Bleeding liberally And so no wonder if through such abundance of Blood Riolanus they fall into an Apoplexy or a Cardiack Syncope IV. Vinegar of Roses is not good for every Syncope for seeing contrary causes must needs be removed by contrary Remedies therefore it is manifest that the dissolution of the Spirits must be cured one way and their suffocation or infection another Wherefore we conclude with Capivaccius 2. pract cap. 9. that a Syncope coming from a dissolution of the Spirits may be very well taken off by the use of cooling things applied especially to the Forehead Face region of the Heart and Wrists in which case Vinegar of Roses is proper for Vinegar penetrates and Roses cool and concentre the Spirits But if suffocation be the cause attenuation and dissolution of the Morbifick matter is of necessity required which cannot at all be done by cooling things wherefore here we must have recourse to Cresses Nigella Mithridate Cinnamon water rubbing the extream parts c. If there be Malignity we must provide for the Heart by Bezoarticks No wonder then if in the absence of Physicians Patients often dye in a Swoon For it may so happen that the Spirits which are otherwise suffocated may by applying some common cooling Remedy be further conglobated about their principle and by this means the vital faculty may be utterly suppressed Horstius V. When a Patient is liker to one dead than alive so that he can neither open nor shut his Mouth much less swallow any thing as he should then it will be the best way to take some Aromatick Oyls either simple or compound mingled only and stirred together a little with rectified Spirit of Wine or more nearly joyned together by a greater artifice and long circulation and pour 3 or 4 drops into the Patient's Mouth and sometimes more and especially by a Silver or Golden pipe into the Throat to the end they may penetrate both into the Stomach and Guts from whence the cause of so grievous an evil is often dispersed to all parts and into the Pipes of the Lungs to the very Blood that sticks in the Pulmonary Vessels Sylvius de le âoë and so correct and amend this urgent harm VI. A Noble-man complained to me that he immediately fell into a Swoon as he turned himself on his left Side and his Spirits were so far gone that he was got out of it with much difficulty When I inquired into the cause I reckoned some Melancholick Humour having some ill quality in it sent a poysonous Vapor from the Spleen to the Heart which must be the cause of this Malignant Symptome nor was I deceived in my conjecture For when he was put in a right course of Diet after his Body had universally been purged of Melancholy and particularly his Spleen by giving Medicines to open the Obstructions thereof and his Heart strengthened Riverius he was cured of it VII In a Swooning Fit sometimes such things must be given as powerfully concentrate the Spirits and acid Vapors and sometimes such as discuss glutinous ones Subtil things to the end they may penetrate to all parts may be mixt with them such are Spirituous things and volatil and Oyly Salts especially such as are prepared by art of divers parts of Animals or of certain Plants These are good Aromatick Tinctures drawn by means of rectified spirit of Wine from divers Spices or from any Aromatick parts of Plants or Animals either by infusion alone or also by destillation for example Take of water of Mint Fenel each 1 ounce Scurvy-grass Aqua vitae Matthioli each half an ounce Laudanum opiatum 2 grains Syrup of Mint 1 ounce oyl of Cloves Nutmeg destilled each 2 drops Mix them Give it by spoonfuls Let no
for so they retract the Malignant matter peccant either in quantity or quality to the upper parts not without great damage to the Patient Therefore Aquapendent p. 1. oper chirurg c. 95. did well who was not afraid to make an Issue above the Knee for a swelled foot which besides the revulsion it makes does moreover intercept the matter and stop its way that it cannot get downwards And I following his Footsteps have cured several of a Swelling in their Feet especially about the Ankle by making an Issue in the Thigh above the Knee and they are still well And you must take notice that in Men I chuse the outside but in Women always the inside of the Thigh above the Knee Glandorpius because of the Womb. XLI Men set little by Corns but they are to blame for if an error be committed in the Cure of them a grievous Disease may easily arise I knew a Nobleman die of such Whenever therefore Men ignorant in their Art do cut a Corn to the quick and apply a drop or two of Oyl of Vitriol or Aqua fortis or some Arsenick to it most acute pains Inflammations Convulsions and other things do follow yea and death it self as in the foresaid Nobleman But I use this safe Method First of all because this Disease proceeds from rubbing and straitness of the Shooes strait and hard Shooes must be left off Afterwards prepare a Bath of emollient things in which sook your Feet for 2 hours then wipe them and do so for 3 dayes So when the Corns are well softned scrape and cut off with a Razor all that is hard but by degrees and only the superficies not cutting from the superficies to the Center When the Corn is thus cut to the roââ which is done without pain let Emplastrum de Cicata be applied and so tied on that it may stick on night and day At first renew it every 4 dayes afterwards once a Month but it must be worn many Months yea for a year which it may without trouble Hildanus Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians For watry Tumours 1. A Plaster of Mustard Seed is the best thing can be thought of for any watry or flatulent Tumour This is it Take of Mustard Seed Nettle Seed Brimstone round Birthwort Spuma maris Bdellium each 1 drachm Chalmetaeus Gum Ammoniac old Oyl Wax each 2 drachms mix them make a Plaster For other Tumours 1 I have cured an oedematous Tumour arising about the emunctories of the Brain by applying Emplastrum calcinatum Paracelsi which is made thus Take of Balsame of Sulphur 1 drachm white Wax 6 drachms oyl of St. John's wort 1 drachm Mercury precipitate red and washed 1 drachm terra mortua of Colcothar half a drachm Mix them Make an Unguent by use of which all oedemata and scrophulous Tumours are cured for by the virtue of Balsame of Sulphur and Oyl of St. John's-wort they are concocted and ripened and by vertue of the Mercury and earth of Vitriol they are well cicatrized Joh. Pet. Faber as I have often seen by experience 2. Hops are excellent in allaying outward pains of the parts which the vulgar are not ignorant of for in Strains and oedematous Tumors as also in Bruises they often apply them boyled in Beer to the part in form of an Epitheme with good success Simon Pauli Tussis or a Cough The Contents The Method of Cure I. Whether Blood may be let II. We must purge variously III. A Vomit often does good IV. We must have a care how we use things that stop the defluxion V. The Head which oft is innocent must not be vexed with Medicines VI. It often arises from obstructions in the Hypochondria VII Arising from a Nut kernel getting into the Lungs VIII From a Worm IX One ceasing upon application of Cauteries to the Head X. By an Issue in the Arm. XI By the use of Laudanum XII Of Wine XIII The use of Sugar and of Sugared things must be spare XIV And of Emulsions XV. The Causes and Cure of a violent Cough as one went to Bed XVI Often caused by Wind. XVII By Blood coming down from the Head to the Breast XVIII The prevention of it from turning to pus XIX From coagulating in the Aspera Arteria XX. Mucilaginous Syrups must not be added to mixtures that hinder Concretion XXI The Cure of a dry Cough caused by breathing in the cold Air. XXII The cure of a Spasmodick one XXIII The cure of an Epidemick one XXIV Whether Reading aloud be proper XXV Medicines I. ALthough only empirical Remedies are wont to be used for a new Cough and there is not a man among the common sort but is furnished with many and divers Remedies of this nature which many without the advice of a Physician take confidently and immethodically and give them so to others yet persons that are of a tender constitution or hereditarily inclined to a Consumption or formerly have been in danger from a Cough should upon the first approach of it have a care and immediately betake themselves to the Rules of Physick According to which that the Method of cure may rightly be insisted on the therapeutick Indications will be especially these three First to appease or remove the disorders of the Blood from which the defluxions of the Serum proceed Secondly to derive the recrements and all the refuse of the Blood that are apt to separate from it from the Lungs to the Pores of the Skin or the Urinary passages or to other Emunctories Thirdly to strengthen the Lungs against the susception of the Serum and other Humours and also to guard them against meeting with the external Cold whereby they are usually most hurt The first Indication respects both the effervescency of the Blood when by reason of effluvia kept in it aestuates and boyls up in the Vessels and the dissolution of it that is when being dissolved in its frame it too much lets go its hold of the Serum and other Humours For taking away both these a thin course of Diet must be kept and the injury of the external air being carefully avoided a little more plentiful transpiration must be procured or at least the usual restored Yet if the Cough grow worse Bleeding if the strength and constitution will bear it is often used with Benefit which when over Hypnoticks almost always do good inasmuch to wit as they retard the motion of the Heart and by consequence the too precipitate course of the Blood moreover they bring it to pass that this traverses the Pneumonick Vessels gently and moderately without much rejection of Serosities And pectoral Decoctions also in as much as they destroy the sharpness of the Humours and hinder the Dissolution of the Blood and its fusion into Serosities must be used By parity also of reason and manner of working Medicines made of Sulphur do such remarkable Service against a Cough The second Indication to wit that
while and therefore renders this Method which we would not use but against our will Idem not so dangerous and doubtfull XX. It appears from what has been said why so few of the common People dy of this Disease compared with the rich that are killed by it Which indeed can scarce be ascribed to any other cause then that because of their Poverty and Country way of Living they have scarce Power to hurt themselves by a more accurate and delicate Regiment Idem p. 199. ¶ In the year 1680. the Small Pox were Epidemical at Geneva in the Winter There died to the beginning of the Month of January 1681. Young and Old an hundred and eleven In the Hospital forty Boys had them and only one or two died Although I would not at all detract from the Physician 's Skill yet I adhere rather to the former reason for that they were committed to Nature observing no accurate course only taking a Decoction of Harts-horn and Lentils I had some under my Care whom I saved by the benefit of the foresaid Method XXI But this Disease has killed more of the common People since they learned the use of Mithridate Diascordium Decoction of Harts-horn c. than in Ages more unlearned indeed but far wiser for now there is not a House Sydenham ubi prius p. 200. where there is not some one foolish pragmatical Woman or other which practises that Art to Man's destruction which she never learned XXII But if the Small Pox Flux the case is hazardous for I reckon this sort is no less different from the other than the Plague is from this although among the Vulgar who take Names and Words for Things the Cure of both is said to be alike In this sort of Disease since it is the product of a more intense inflammation of the Blood greater care also must be taken that the Patient be not heated But although this sort in its own Nature require greater cooling than the other yet to promote the swelling of the Face and Hands without which the Patient is lost and the rising and increase of the Pustules and because the Patient by reason of his painful Exulcerations cannot keep up from his Bed it is expedient that he keep both himself and his Hands in it so he have not too many Clothes and have but the liberty of turning his Body to any part of the Bed as he please as we mentioned in the distinct kind Especially toward the latter end of the Disease when the Fever of Maturation is at hand the Patient may not only not be deprived of this Liberty but he must be put in mind to use it and he must be turned night and day frequently that the great Heat may be qualified and Sweats may be avoided Idem p. 200. by which the gentle Humor is carried off wherewith the Small Pox should be diluted that they may grow Mild. XXIII If a Salivation come upon this Disease as it is often observed to happen in grown Persons after a hot Regiment and Cordials we may hope well Many certainly who have been so handled ascribe their Health to this Symptome For the Disease being diverted from the natural way by which it tried to purge it self attempts this new one by Salivation and therefore thence forward less care need be taken for the Pustules but Spitting must chiefly be regarded and we must take care that it proceed in a laudable manner You must also have a care that you do not any way hinder or disturb Salivation Wherefore abstain from Gargarisms upon what pretence soever by using of which I have observed sometimes that Death has been caused while they hindred the Spittle that would otherwise have passed I would here only use small Beer a little warm with which if need were Idem the Patient's Mouth may be washed And seeing Salivation constantly accompanies this sort which since it is one of Nature's principal evacuations and serves instead of that which ought to have been made by Pustules which evacuation indeed by Pustules in this low and depressed sort proceeds not so well as in the other we must earnestly endeavour that the said Salivation may continue and be kept up in its vigour and not be stopt before its time either by the use of hot Medicines or by keeping the Patient from drinking small Beer or some such other Liquor Now since the manner of Salivation according to Nature is to begin with the first coming of them out and to abate on the eleventh day but not to give over altogether as yet for a day or two if it wholly cease before that day the Patient's case is dangerous For seeing the Swelling of the Face by which a little of the Morbifick matter is evacuated does ever disappear on that day if Salivation also withdraw it self at the same time the Patient is infected with the Variolous matter which now putrefies as with Poyson And seeing now there is no part more by which it may be evacuated he is at death's door unless perhaps as sometimes it falls out the swelling of the Hands which as it shows it self later than that of the Face so it goes away more slowly be of that moment as to save him from the Gates of Death Salivation which is here so valuable and so necessary is very much promoted if the Patient have store of small Beer given him or some such other Liquor as may neither heat him Idem nor provoke him to sweat XXIV Besides that this violent ebullition of the Blood may be quieted wherein this sort of Small Pox far exceeds the other and that Salivation may be kept up to wit the necessary evacuation of this Disease Narcoticks are convenient above all other things whatever Which for the incrassating virtue that is in them though they may seem to hinder the bringing up of Phlegm yet I have long since quit my self of that prejudice and have made use of them in this Disease the success ever answering so the Patient were beyond pubescencie For since the Blood of Infants and Children does ferment more gently it wants no such cooler and moreover a Loosness which nature has appointed to be an evacuation for Children in this sort of Disease is by the use of them stopt to the Patient's damage But Paregoricks if they be frequently used bring these advantages with them 1. By heating moderately they restrain and prevent the too violent ebullition of the Blood and thereby a Phrensy 2. By the use of them the Swelling of the Face and Hands which nature has as a chief evacuation in this Disease comes on the better 3. The Swelling by means of Narcoticks is kept up and protracted to Nature's due term which conduces much to the Patient's safety seeing oftentimes the swelling of the Face falls sooner to the endangering of the Patient For when the heat of the Blood is qualified the inflamed particles are opportunely carried to the
effectual ¶ In whatever cause Bread tosted dipt in Vinegar of Roses and bestrewed with powder of Mint Cloves and Roses is good ¶ This is a certain experiment and reckoned as a secret by some After the takeing of Antimonial Medicines which vomit too much to give a spoonful or two of Spirit of Wine Sennertus and it gives present help 9. Dried Coriander infused in Vinegar does admirably in a hot cause Stokkerus 10. Sower Leven soaked in strong Vinegar and juice of Mint applied and renewed twice or thrice most certainly stops Vomiting by Purging and due Revulsion Varendaeuâ 11. A few Coriander Seeds in Vomiting after the taking of a violent Medicine Welkardus have an admirable property to stop it if they be chewed Vomitus Sanguinis Puris or Vomiting of Blood or Corruption The Contents Purging is good I. It must not be stopt in all II. Things that are hot and of subtil parts must be put into the Applications III. Oyly things are hurtful IV. Vinegar must not be given alone V. Caused by swallowing a Leech VI. From the Spleen VII The Cure and Prevention of Vomiting of Pus VIII Medicines I. GEntle and frequent Purging must be celebrated whereby the Blood is purged from those serous and bilious Humours which produce this Disease Which kind of Purges celebrated by a prudent Physician do wonders as I have learned by experience And they must be made of Rheubarb Myrobolans Tamarinds and triphera Persica which Medicines purge and bind and no way disturb the Humours so that you need not fear any vomiting of Blood will be caused thereby Riverius II. There were two Women at Padua who the day before their Menses came Vomited Blood they perceived the Vomit before it came which if the Physician tried to stop Rhodius divers Symptomes would arise and go away with vomiting III. In Oyntments Epithemes and other applications we must take care that they have some heat with their astriction for though the flux be stopt with cold and astringent things yet this is done upon taking the indication from the function of the part that is the Stomach and from the time Cyperus Spike Cassia and Cinnamon are the best among other Astringents For besides that they preserve the nature of the part they help also the penetration of the astringent and cold things which are of gross parts IV. In vomiting of Blood the use of Oyls is suspected because they open the orifices of the Veins rather than close them Therefore Aloysius Mundella denies Oyl of Sweet Almonds to all that vomit Blood Bartholinus V. The use also of Vinegar alone is suspected because it exasperates the parts and raises a Cough whereby it promotes a new fluxion Therefore it must be sweetned with Honey or Sugar VI. A Country-Man was ill of Vomiting of Blood that would give way to no Remedies for several dayes The Physician being desirous to carry off the Blood that was gathered in the Stomach by vomit prescribed him 2 ounces of Oyl of sweet Almonds which made him vomit and he brought up clotted Blood and a Leech also that moved upon the ground Riverius Obs 26. Cent. 4. This was an unknown and rare cause of vomiting of Blood The Patient said afterward that he drank of a rivulet where he had swallowed a Leech with the water VII In the year 1662. I saw in the Town Boudri within the Territory of Newenburgh a Notary fifty years old who vomited at one time a pound of clotted black Blood and as he said he had vomited as much the day before His Stomach was then squeamish with a sense of a load wherefore I gave him a little warm Oxycrate for there was nothing else at hand which brought up no less quantity Because the strength was good I prescribed him a bolus of Conserve of Roses with I drachm of the powder of Rheubarb which brought away a great deal of clotted Blood mixt with the Stools Then I proceeded to strengthners For Preservation I ordered him to Bleed at the Haemorrhoids twice a year for the flux came from his Spleen as the swelling of it returning at times did testifie giving him Chalybeates and openers of Obstructions He followed this wholesome advice for 2 years which being neglected the third year his vomiting returned with greater violence which deprived him of Life I have known many sayes Dodonaeus cap. de Absynthio l. hist stirpium who have brought up Blood by vomiting I remember I saved one or two by my advice after once vomiting and indeed by the frequent use of Worm-wood all manner of wayes VIII The excretion of Pus by Vomit and Stool must not be stopt but gently promoted seeing it is an Humour toto genere preternatural and every way hurtful to Man But the new growth of it must be hindred as much as can be since it is bred of Blood the fewel of our vital flame and the food of all the parts of the Body as well containing as contained Among all things which move or promote excretion of Pus I prefer and commend Antimonial Medicines for I have often observed that they have not only a virtue of correcting the mischief which comes from Pus but also of hindring the breeding of new Pus for rightly prepared and administred it serves no less for the purifying of Man's Body than for purifying of Gold Also Balsamus Sulphuris Anisatus and any other stops the continual generation of Pus out of corrupt Blood if 2 or 3 drops be taken several times a day from which also the cleansing and certain healing of the Ulcer may be expected and perhaps more certainly than from any other Medicine To this end also Antimonium Diaphoreticum will conduce Sylvius de le Boe. and any other altering Medicine made of Antimony and a Balsame artificially made of its flowers Medicines especially made use of by eminent Physicians 1. To stop vomiting of Blood I gave these with success Take of Mummy 1 drachm juice of Horse-tail 1 ounce water of Plantain Horse-tail each 1 ounce and an half After the Patient had drank this cold his Bleeding and Vomiting stopt ¶ To a Woman who brought up her Menses by vomit I gave this Clyster for diversion Take of Chicken broth wherein a few Prunes Raisins and Aniseeds were boyled Cassia for Clysters 1 ounce oyl Olive of sweet Almonds Chamomil each 1 ounce common salt 1 drachm Sal Gem. half a drachm the yolk of an Egg. Mix them Make a Clyster She recovered beyond expectation with this one Remedy But every Month before her vomiting came Forestus she was bled in the Foot 2. Practitioners use to apply Remedies to the Spleen as I have observed from experience when the Patients have vomited great quantities of black Blood the vomiting has been presently stopt by this Plaster Take of Barley flower A corns root of Comfrey each 1 ounce and an half blood-Dock 2 drachms Plantain water and red
Wine each what is sufficient Mix them Grembs ¶ Pomegranates also are very good to allay the fury in this case 3. Trochisci de Carabe de Terra Sigillata each 1 drachm Water of Shepherds purse Purslain Plantain each one ounce Mix them Grulingius This immediately does good 4. An Amulet of a Plate of lead or a flat pot of lead with Quick-silver in it Kozak if it be hung to the back is very good in this case 5. This is certainly true I remember a certain young Noble-Man who voided such abundance of pure Blood at his Mouth sometimes without sometimes with Coughing that you would have sworn he would have vomited up his purple Soul This Person at the time of his Fit held fast in his Hand some Shepherds-purse and out of his Fit put some Shepherds-purse to the soles of his Feet and both his Vomiting and Spitting of Blood stopt But I recommended to him as to other Phthisical Persons the fume of the best native Sulphur which he was ordered to receive with his open Mouth by which means he was not only cured of his Vomiting of Blood but he married a Wife Simon Pauli 6. That the Blood may not congeal upon the Stomach two ounces of Simple Oxymel should be given But if it be congealed the best Remedy is 1 ounce of Hares Rennet Rhudius with 3 ounces of Vinegar given in drink 7. This applied to the Breast and Stomach quickly suppresses vomiting of Blood Mart. Rulandus Take of Rye-Bread 3 handfuls Salt 1 handful Vinegar what is sufficient Mix them Make a Plaster Urinae Incontinentia or Incontinence of Vrine The Contents When Blood may be let I. The Cure of it when caused by tearing the Bladder II. I. IF the Menses or Haemorrhoids be stopt then indeed if you can easily bring them down you must bleed in the Foot sparingly and at times as much as may suffice to abate the abundance but if the stopt Blood be crude as it often is you must bleed more sparingly and then Purge and afterwards proceed to things that strengthen the part But if it come from a defluxion of fluid Phlegm which is ever running or of thick Phlegm which having gathered there caused that mischief we must have a care of letting Blood Mercatus unless the Body in like manner abound in Blood II. In the year 1608. I was called to a young Woman of her first Child whose Bladder a foolish Midwife had torn so that she could not keep her Urine one moment Whereupon her Skin of the Labia Pudendi was first excoriated with the continual running then there grew so many Warts but soft ones as I believe no man's two hands could hold them both her Buttocks also were almost eaten away with her Urine I ordered her to be carried to Liege being desirous to cure her As soon as I fell upon the cure I anointed thick that ugly great lump of Warts with the Magma of crude Antimony and Sublimate out of which they distil the Butter of Antimony which being often scraped off the Labia Pudoris did at length on the third day show themselves deep buried and the putrid eaten flesh of her Buttocks gave some hopes of Cure As soon as I could part the Labia and observe the Sphincter of the Bladder I fitted a Silver Pipe to it the shorter end whereof I put into her Bladder and to the longer which stood out four inches I fastned a Pot The Urine in this manner being carried another way and the Ulcers cicatrized she seemed well and the Nineteenth day after she came to Liege she called her Husband to her with whom she had not lain for two years by whom when I had taught her to put off and on her Silver Pipe which was necessary in their embraces she was with Child and was safely delivered But after I had used several things in vain for the stopping of that dropping of her Urine I left her glad of this one thing that though she was troubled with the Pot yet she lived without Pain Afterwards I met her very well and she offered me the Silver Pipe again if I had any occasion for it I was amazed how she could be rid of her incontinence of Urine and she shewed me a Bag hung about her Neck wherein there was the Powder of a Toad which had been burnt alive in a new Pot. A Cingar had taught her this and that she would hold her Water as well as before her Bladder was torn Heer 's Oâs 14. Urinae Suppressio or Stoppage of Vrine See Ischuria Book IX Uteri Affectus or Diseases of the Womb. The Contents Vinegar does not alwayes hurt I. It delights in sweet things II. The Haemorrhoids must not be opened III. It throws off its impurities to the Groin IV. Sugar is an Enemy V. In an Abscess of the Womb after the Suppression of the Lochia what Vein must be opened VI. What Vein must be opened in its Inflammation VII Whether we may use Vomits VIII When Flesh may be allowed IX An uterine Fungus taken away by Section X. Whether there be any such thing as the falling out of the Womb XI A Vomit must not be given XII A Semicupe must be used with Caution XIII When Astringents are proper XIV One resembling the Sciatica XV. What such the Candle or Obturamentum should be XVI In an Inflammation Clysters must frequently be given XVII Sudorificks and Narcoticks are proper in it XVIII The Efficacy of Fomentations and the way of applying them XIX A Caution about Fumes XX. The Cure of an abscess upon the alae Pudendi XXI The Cure of Warts of the Vulva XXII A huge swelling in the Pudendum taken away XXIII An easie Cure of inflation of the Womb. XXIV Narcoticks may be given in a Cancer of the Womb. XXV Medicines I. ALthough Hippocrates 4 Acut. says that Vinegar is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or painful to the Womb and affirms that Women are more hurt by it than Men yet he often uses it in their Diseases which arise from some fault in the Womb for he used it not only applied outwardly and gave it by the Mouth but he also injected it into the Womb in Collutions and Fomentations made of Vinegar as is manifest from Lib. de Morb. Mul. to wit because of the remarkable faculties which Vinegar has of cutting attenuating drying and cooling with tenuity of parts which are not found equal in another Medicine we are often forced to use it though it may do some harm that is when the benefit which results from its foresaid Virtues is greater than the inconvenience that comes from its smell ¶ Riverius orders Clysters of Oxycrate in Fits yea he gives a glass of it by which he says the Fit is presently stopt Martianus Com. in loc the vapors which cause it being repressed and coagulated II. There must always be this caution in things of the Womb the serous Remedies must
they must be destilled in an open fire Sixteen times always pouring back what is destilled upon the faces Last of all the essence of the Wine is drawn 6 times from the Oyl in Balneo Mariae by cohobation then you have an Arcanum 1 Scruple whereof with a Drachm of Treacle Boëtius de Boot and a few Ounces of Fumitory water given Morning and Evening performs what is said and more 3. Oyl of Cloves makes Wounds that if it be put in presently their pain immediately ceases without Inflammation and it brings sordid Ulcers to a Cicatrice Crato and cleanses them it stops Blood nothing more 4. For healing of Wounds use this Balsame Take of the Decoction of Aristolochia rotunda in White Wine 1 Pound common Oyl red Oyl of St. John's wort 1 Pound Venice Turpentine half a Pound juice of Comfrey root 6 Pounds Mix them and boyl them to a consumption of the Decoction and Juice till they be of a consistence of a Balsame wherewith if you anoint Wounds you will bring them to a Cicatrice in a short time ¶ Crocus Martis is very effectual to stop Blood especially that which is made of red hot Steel quenched in Vinegar till it turn into rust or a red Powder which Powder digested in Vinegar till the Vinegar be coloured and then the Vinegar evaporated it leaves a soft substance in the bottom of the Alembick this Liquor mixt with Bean-flower or Bole-Armenick makes an effectual Plaster to stop Blood J. Pet. Faber ¶ The Terra mortua or Caput mortuum of Vitriol quickly stops all Haemorrhagies internal and external externally it is mixt with the whites of Eggs internally half a Drachm of it is given with Juice of Sowre Pomegranate or of Lemons 5. I make a most excellent Balsame only of Turpentine and Gum Elemi the Preparation whereof is of small trouble but is of most excellent use in Wounds after their Suppuration and Digestion in Ulcers and Fistulaes after their Mundification Namely I âake Oyl of Turpentine which comes over a glass âetort in a strong fire of a red colour I take of this 3 Ounces pure Gum Elemi half an Ounce Gâith Fabricius I mix them in a Frying-pan upon a gentle fire till the Gum be dissolved then I strain it and keep it for use 5. This is a most excellent Medicine to heal the Wounds of Nervous Parts a description whereof I had from a Spanish Priest who well deserved Credit Take old Oyl 4 Ounces Turpentine 6 Ounces whole Wheat 1 Ounce and an half St. John's wort 2 Ounces Roots of Carduus Benedictus Valerian each 1 Ounce Frankincense powdered 2 Ounces let the Roots and Herbs be bruised grosly and infused in White wine for 3 days when the Infusion is made add the Oyl and Wheat and boyl them to the consumption of the Wine Then having made a strong Expression add the Turpentine and Frankincense and let them boyl a little It is kept in a Glass It cures Wounds as they say Hier. Fabricius in 24 hours time if the Wound be first washt with Whitewine and then anointed with this warm 7. This Emplastrum glutinans Galeni is a most precious and admirable Plaster which I use with exceeding good success if not the first day at least on the second Take dry Pitch half a pound yellow Wax 6 pounds and 8 ounces Pine resin 5 pounds and 4 ounces Asphaltum or Bitumen Judaicum 4 pounds and let this be chosen of the best ¶ There grow some follicles in Elms near the leaves full of a Liquor like Honey I never saw any thing better for healing of Wounds certainly I have seen wonders from this Liquor it may be kept and is of use in Gouty Defluxions especially when it is rancid This Oyl is gathered in the Month of May and a glass bottle being filled with it and stopt with Wax and a Cloth we make a hole in the Ground about a foot deep and put in the bottom of the hole a little common Salt and set the bottle upon it which we cover all over with Earth Fallopius after 20 days it is taken out and this Juice is kept for the Gout and healing of Wounds 8. This cures all Wounds to a Miracle Take of Aqua Vitae thrice destilled and well rectified 2 pounds St. John's-wort Hyssop Millefoil each 2 handfuls Frankincense Myrrhe powdered each 3 ounces Infuse them for 4 days and destill them in Balneo or in Sand. Keep it When you have closed the Wound wet it with this Water by pouring it upon the Wound and laying on Pledgits wet in it with Powder of Myrrhe Mastiche Frankincense Sarcocolla Bole-Armenick Dragon's Blood each equal parts Make a Powder and strew it upon the future wet with water and apply upon that a Pledgit wet in oyl of Turpentine and bind it do not unbind it till the fourth day and once every day foment the Wound as it is bound and wet it with the same Aqua Vitae On the fourth day loose the Ligature and you will find the Wound healed but if you should not find the Wound healed do the same again and open it not for 3 days wet the Wound every day as before then loose it and cure it as before for 2 days 9. An Astringent Balsam is made of Tartar if upon Tartar calcined to whiteness Spirit of Wine be poured which must be distilled with a strong fire and poured back again till the Spirit be sweet This Spirit is a Specifick Medicine Grembi which heals Wounds 10. This is admirable for Suppuration Take of Marrow of a Stag fat of a Calf Arsenick fresh Butter made of Cows Milk the best Honey Oyl of Roses Myrrhe each 1 ounce the Myrrhe must be mixt with the Honey and boyled gently on the Coals after which the rest must be added Hafenraffeâ and carefully mixt 11. The Bleeding of an Artery could not be stopt in a certain man by any common Medicines a little Magisterium Opii was applied to the wounded Artery and the violent bleeding stopt to a Miracle Horstius the Wound was closed with Emplastrum Stipticum Crollii afterwards and healed 12. Take of Venice Turpentine half a pound Gum Elemi 4 ounces oyl of St. John's-wort 3 ounces bole Armenick and Dragon's Blood each 1 ounce Aqua Vitae 2 ounces Melt them on a gentle fire Mix them Add of Powder of Florentine Orrice Aloes Mastich Myrrhe each 1 drachm Mix them Make a Balsame This is of excellent virtue in agglutination of simple Wounds therefore when it is poured in some Emplastrum diachalcit Paraeus dissolved in oyl of Roses and Vinegar must be applied over it 13. This is a most excellent vulnerary Potion Take of Periwinkle red Mother-wort each one handful boyl them in stale Beer half away Strain it and keep it in a glass well stopt Let the wounded Man take of this in the Morning fasting at Noon and when he goes to Bed 3
seeing these being taken into the Body do only like slak't Lime as it were whiten over the Stomach and Guts and oppress them by sticking long upon them undissolv'd or if they glide out of the Stomach by obstructing the Mesaraick Vessels and hindring Concoction they are apt to cause at length grievous Diseases I will confirm this by an Instance A Nobleman complained of a weight of his Breast and Stomach of a nausea want of Appetite with a lingring but continual Fever though he used a very good diet and Cordial and Cephalick Powders Although he were naturally weak yet I thought good to begin the Cure with some general Remedy and suspecting from his nausea that some crude matter stuck in his Stomach and its upper Orifice I got him to consent to take a gentle Vomit which wrought very gently twice upwards and thrice downwards In the afternoon I found him pretty well and he told me that he found great ease about his praecordia His Lady bringing out a Silver bason shewed me what he had Vomited which was about a quart of thick and viscid Phlegm in the bottom whereof there was a Powder like white ashes a Fingers thick for a sediment Looking upon his Stools also they likewise lookt just as if they had been mingled with a great deal of ashes Now several dayes before he had taken daily a precious Powder almost of the same colour made of the Magisteries of Perls and Corals of Harts-horn burnt and prepared and an Epileptick Powder Zwelf append ad animadv in Pharm Aug. p. m. 92. c. ¶ It is to be noted that the greatly cryed up Magisteries prepared of Coral Perl c. especially by the Oyl of Tartar answer not the promises of their Authors seeing by such preparation their vertue to temper fix and concentrate acids Franc. de le Boë Sylvius Pract. l. 1. c. 7. is broken if not quite abolished It is therefore better to use them only reduced into a fine Powder than so prepared or rather corrupted XXII In the dissolution of Perles it is a common errour to pour distilled Vinegar upon them For it is sure the Liquor that ascends in distilling of it is insipid and altogether unfit for dissolving of Perles and that which remains in the bottom after distillation by its corrosive vertue dissolves both Perles and other things and reduces them into a powder as it were and calcines them now this is not to draw out the Spirit of perles but to corrupt their whole substance The Bishop above-mentioned took often of such magistery of perl as this and when he was dead the coats of his Stomach appeared black and corrupted Marquess John's Lady had the same hap in whom the Coats of the Stomach were plainly eroded There is indeed hardly any Glass that it is kept in Monav. in Epist Scholtz Ep. 163. so firm but it will erode it and turn it to ashes XXIII Among Alexipharmacks Tormentil and Bole are worst for those who have a dry Belly Dunc Liddel l. 3. c. 5. for by their earthy adstriction they cause obstruction and putrefaction XXIV Lest those who are accustomed to the use of the Volatil Salt of Vipers find unexpected effects of it and such as are contrary to its Nature I would admonish them that they carefully avoid the mixing any thing with it that is very acid especially Spirits such as are those of Salt Vitriol Sulphur and the like M. Charras tr âtat de vipera c. 9. for by those it would be fixed and its operation wholly hindred XXV Sulphureous Spirits kindle the Sulphur of the Blood Volatil Vrinous ones rarefie it and Acid Spirits tame and dull or blunt it All these used inwardly restore the heat and motion of the Blood encrease and vigorate its balsamick oleous parts whence Apoplectick Hysterick Cordial Spirits and the like revive the Spirits remove fainting and recall the languishing faculties But seeing both these and the rest are very active they are all of them to be given warily For being given unseasonably 1. they fill the head and intoxicate 2. they deject the appetite which yet being used moderately they are in their own Nature rather apt to restore by exciting the heat of the Stomach 3. they make men Phthisical and Hydropical the former by consuming the dewy Nectar of the parts the Serum and by making the Humours more acrimonious the latter by destroying the tone and temperature of the Viscera Whence Hofman in his Preface De medic Officin writes rightly that our Countrey Brandy whether it be made of the Lees of Wine or of Wheat or Spelt or of Juniper-berries is so hurtful to the Liver that in two or three months by bringing a colliquation it causes a Dropsie that is deadly to all that fall into it I have often observed the same thing my self that all those stout drinkers of Brandy have at length become phthisical or Dropsical or both But Vrinous Spirits rarefie the Blood and by making the Serum halituous and fluxile provoke sweat whence whensoever there is need of volatilising let these be at hand for they promote motion and heat far more powerfully than the Spirit of Wine they expell also whence they are very powerful in driving out the small Pox they drive away drowziness in the Apoplexy Epilepsie and fits of the Mother hence they are good in malignant diseases if any be but we must take heed that by too much rarifying we do not dissolve the Blood and hasten death Hence those admirable effects are to be referred hither that are here and there ascribed to them as Hartman relates of the Spirit of Soot that it has raised to life again those that were even a dying Neither yet is there any reason why we should so much esteem the Spirit of Vipers and Soot that is more stinking and ungrateful so as that we should attribute more to them than to others for as good as any are of the more Sulphureous and Bezoardick the Spirit of Ivory and Harts horn and of the purer the Spirit of Sal armoniack Lastly seeing Acids tame and blunt the Sulphur of the Blood acid Spirits do this in general yet these also vary in regard of special effects and qualities thus Spirit of Vitriol is hurtful to the Breast the Spirit of Nitre is an Anticolick the Spirit of Salt performs all the offices of an acid in the first degree as it were and indifferently Wedel Pharm p. 201. The rest are to be referred to these XXVI Such Gellies are to be chosen as are 1. new for old grow rancid and have an ingrateful and musty taste 2. such as are tender and whitish not the black dusky hard like horn or such as are not at all grateful or agreeable to the Stomach hence when not many years ago a very great quantity of Harts-horn Gelly was given to a Child of a noble Family lying ill of the small Pox by the advice of an eminent Physician
remain so little of Excrements that it may be drawn aside by the Bath it is better to let alone the Diarrhâa that is ready to cease of it self than to vitiate the whole Body for a thing that is not at all necessary But neither does he grant a Bath to those who are too Costive and adding and was not loosened before he shews the Cause namely some are costive after a great loosness as men are generally after Purging Physick in which case bathing is not prejudicial but if the Belly be bound and no evacuation went before it then contains a great deal of Excrement and Filth and we said before that we must not bathe when the Belly is full of Meat how much less when it is full of Excrements and in such case therefore one must not bathe unless his Belly be first loosned namely if upon any account we be compelled to bring such to the Bath we must first draw down the Excrements with a Clyster as we are wont to do for letting of Blood Nor must those bathe whose Faculties languish namely this Remedy is a pretty strong evacuator and therefore it requires strength to bear it Now that the evacuation is great that is caused by a Bath is shewn in the next Paragraph Yet we will not on this account keep the Hectick from Baths but according to their strength we will bathe them more or less gentlier or stronglier and some indeed not at all Neither those who are troubled with a Nausea or belch somewhat that is bilious these namely are the signs of a great Cacochymie which we have shewed to be a sufficient hindrance of bathing Nor those who Bleed at the Nose unless they bleed less than they should do for if they bleed less it is good to bathe whether the whole Body receive benefit from the flux of Blood more than by any other Remedy as in those that labour under a Plethory of the whole Body or the Head only be profited as in those who have only a Plethory thereof The cause whereof doubtless is that a Bath promotes the flowing of the Blood liquating of it and loosening the mouths of the Veins But it is clear that this is meant of a Bath of hot or tepid water for immersion into cold water stops fluxes of Blood which Women have learned by daily Experience who therefore when their Terms flow shun cold water We know also that by pouring on of cold water or by dipping any Parts of the Body into it bleeding at the Nose uses to be stopt and so from whencesoever the Blood issue the using of cold water profiteth unless it flow out of some internal Part and especially if out of the Lungs for then the Blood fleeing back toward the Heart it may chance to abound more about the Lungs But an hot Bath increases all evacuations of Blood and therefore it is to be avoided unless when an evacuation is seasonable Idem and the Blood proceeds not accordingly as is requisite VII There is no reason why a Physician should slight that evacuation that is caused by a Bath as small and not worth mentioning for from one long-continued lotion in the water of a Bath that was made with violent pourings on of the water I have seen more filth and tough and thick Phlegm such as might not be seen only but also drawn in length by the fingers or a piece of a stick drawn out this way than is used to be by the most plentiful Blood-letting not unlike to that which is wont to appear in the bason upon bleeding in the Foot Idem VIII Whether must we not forbear bathing till the Disease be wholly cured I answer by distinction If the Patient perceive the Bath to agree with his Strength and Nature and that the Disease lessens daily let him continue the use thereof till it wholly cease If he be little or nothing benefited let him take his leave of the Bath because his Distemper is greater than can be overcome by it But note that although the benefit be not manifest if so be the Patient be not weakened he must not presently desist because as Experience testifies many that have perceived no benefit all the time they bathed have some Weeks or Months after their return home been either wholly cured or at least much helped because Nature the strength being recruited by a good and orderly diet is wont to obliterate all the footsteps of the Disease says Aretaeus IX Those err who make the term of staying in the Bath to be till the Fingers and Toes become wrinkled for all have not the same habit of Body in some it is rare and lax in others hard and dense the Humors that are dispersed through the Flesh are few and thin in some in others many and thick and perhaps such would sooner faint away than their Fingers and Toes wrinkle Others expect sweat upon the Forehead but the same causes will make it to break forth more easily or more difficulty in several Persons They who define a certain space of time are deceived for respect is not to be had so much to the hours as circumstances and the endurance of the strength is the just bound for old Women the cold and moist the robust those that have a dense and compact habit of Body the fat those that are accustomed to bathing do endure it longer especially in the Spring and Autumn than Young men boyes old men the hot dry rare weak lean or People unaccustomed to Baths For the former are less dissolved and are not so subject to fainting as the latter To which add that some Baths are more generous and effectual than others and such require a less stay in them and that some Diseases are more rebellious and fixed than others and such require a longer bathing From all which it is clear that no certain number of hours can be prescribed for bathing in so great variety of circumstances X. I have observed that washing or abiding in sweet and hot water is not without danger A man of Seventy years old lusty for his Age coming out of the Countrey towards Evening and finding himself somewhat weary commanded a Bath of common water to be presently got ready Wherein having hardly stayed an hour and perceiving a fainting Fit a coming he betook himself to bed in which being presently taken with an Apoplexy he died that very Night Another having heated himself in such a Bath a Swooning and a great and long Disease followed with a very great weakness Hence it appears how full of danger washing in water is whether it be Simple or Medicinal by Nature or Art unless the Body be first prepared for by bathing especially in common water the Body is made slippery the Pores and all the ways are widened the Viscera are heated the Blood boils in the Vena cava and hence the Humours are diffused this way and that way c. Fabr. Hild. Cent. 6. Obs 96. XI
Helmont reckons the frequent use of Thermae or hot Bathes amongst the impediments of life It is certain indeed that by their use the antecedent cause as fluxions or Humours turgid with wild or preternatural Salts is removed whence they have profited some gouty persons whose members were swelled by the preceding distemper and they have found ease for a time but what becomes in the mean time of the minera or fountain of the Disease this being left untoucht especially in Diseases that consist of their ferments how should it not be made more fierce and tyrannize more over the Body Not to mention that being sometimes administred to the hypochondriacal by operating more vehemently on the ferments of the viscera they destroy them without our observing it and change the whole mass of Blood and the nervous juice by their violent action and exalt the heat of the Bowels which is the cause that occasion is given for new ebullitions afterwards and a source of new fluxions springs up the members become slippery and relaxed the Body being softned by them and lurking fluxions especially in less prepared Bodies being dissolved thereby from a little fire there has arisen a great flame the malady growing worse Whence Omichius in Epist 7. l. 5. Timaei speaks very much against their use saying That he had so ill success from the use of Thermae or hot Baths in the Gout that contracting an Hectick heat thereby he was almost become tabid yea and that his fits were more frequent and cruel than they used to be ever before I have known none proceeds he that was freed from fits of the Gout by the use of them but that every one found the fits rather stronger and frequenter as soon as they enter'd into such Baths Hence some attribute to some Thermae a certain arsenical poison that is an enemy to the vital powers F. O. Grembs l. 3. c. of the shortness of Man's Life § 77. p. 472. Perhaps through the arsenical poison of the Sulphur whose halitus affect some mens nostrils Although besides this deleterial quality they want not others also which are like those occult ones that are drawn from the class of Minerals seeing it is clear by experience that they have in process of time produced in the indisposed besides erosions of the viscera cachexies atrophies in some swoonings and other admirable Symptomes So that some are of opinion that the same thing happens to some Thermae especially taken inwardly which Disp contr Paracels p. 3. p. 211. Th. Erastus T. Zwingerus in his preface that he prefixed before Santis Ardoyni's book of poysons and Oporinus in his Epistle concerning Paracelsus's Medicines and their deleterial vertues have left written viz. That many who for a time have found help from these Remedies have died in a short while after The examples are odious but I leave these things to be further examined by others See Moser of the abuse of Thermae and Acidulae Fred. Hofm Meth. Med. lib. 2. c. 6. and the history of the Life and Death of Bacon Lord Verulam XII Dry Baths in an heated air seeing they too much inflame the Body and drive Humours violently toward its surface are not so approved of as moist Yet if such Bath be made of the steam or smoak that arises from the decoction of a moist Bath we may a little heat our Body thereby and so dispose it for its entrance into the moist bath that this latter may operate the better XIII Note that Baths are not so convenient when Epidemical distempers rage especially the plague for by opening the pores they make the entrance for the contagion the easier Wedel de c. m. ext p. 98. XIV Baths are not good when the Serum is much encreased or moved whether in a state that is partly according to Nature or in a preternatural whether as to the whole Body or to some certain parts hence they are wont not to succeed so well in the cacochymical and plethorick whence they do hurt in the cachexie Dropsie as also in the cough coryza catarrhs upon the breast yea there have been some who being troubled with a coryza or defluxion of rheum into the Nose or Ears have upon their entrance into a Bath lost their smell or hearing Nor are they good in Inflammations of the parts In Catarrh deliram p. 360. as in an erysipelas Nor is Helmont's opinion to the contrary to be regarded who says that such Baths are often good in destillations because they are not profitable even to the Gouty themselves for we have observed that the parts being thereby swelled Wedel de c. m. ext p. 101. have occasioned the greater afflux of Humours XV. It is clear by experience that hot and Sulphureous Baths do very much exalt the Saline and other morbid particles in Mans Body that dwell within the viscera or are contained in the Humours and bring them suddenly to the highest pitch namely by exagirating of them they make them more unruly and drive them forward out of the first ways into the Blood and from thence into the Brain and genus nerveâum and moreover join together those that were severed and quiet before and excite them into a certain effervescency Wherefore those that are subject to either an hereditary Gout or Stone and as yet have had no fits of those distempers do often perceive that by the use of Baths the fruits of both these Diseases are presently ripen'd in them Willis de morb Convuls cap. 9. XVI Sulphureous Thermae or hot Baths contain four things 1. Water 2. An oiliness 3. An acid Spirit 4. A little lixivial Salt For Chymists know that all Sulphur does chiefly consist of an oil and an acid Spirit and it is manifest 1. from its ready burning whereby it is clear that oil abounds in it for only fat and oily things are the fuel of fire 2. From its long continued burning which depends upon an acid Spirit 3 From the oil that may be drawn from it per campanam which testifieth its acid Spirit Seeing therefore Sulphur consists of an acid Spirit and oil it is manifest that Sulphureous Baths abound with the same Now these are generated of a Water endued with a very acrimonious lixivial Salt concurring with the minera of Sulphur by which Salt and the acid Spirit of Sulphur there is raised an effervescence and with the effervescence an heat and so the Water also and the Oil do join after a sort into one These Baths have a notable penetrating vertue wherefore they reach to the inmost parts of the Body that are affected Now that which penetrates so is the acid Spirit that is intimately mixt with the lixivial Salt and temper'd with the oil by the vertue of which oil it tempers also the acrimonious Humour that sticks to the Membranes and twitches them and gives occasion for convulsions c. I say it both tempers it by its oily substance and also corrects the same by
both by too much resolution and by too much coagulation Hence we must note that acids being joyned with Bezoardicks do by their penetrating vertue strengthen the Bezoardick and Sudorifick vertue as for instance the mistura-simplex where neither the theriacal Spirit nor the Spirit of Tartar do so much move sweat much less the Spirit of Vitriol yet these being joyned together promote it notably Hither may be referred what was said of the first class of rarefiers And these are good also in palpitation of the Heart Fainting away Malignant Fevers c. And such Medicines as perform these things eminently namely that defend and preserve the consistence of the Spirits and Blood that it may neither decline to a state of fusion resolution and ichorefcence nor of coagulation I say such as these are properly and are called Bezoardicks All diaphoreticks also do the same thing and especially Alexipharmacks Nor hinders it that these and especially the temperate are not carried immediately to the Heart it is enough that they vibrate their operations presently out of the Stomach into the Blood whose crasis is hereby changed and whose energie and affection results to the Heart yea such Cordials do often respect and take away at least the antecedent cause G. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 93. however their operation obtains their end in the Heart II. Where there is great debility of the faculties we must not presently flee to comforting Cordials nor indeed to them alone but the causes are to be removed whether there be a Plethora suffocating the Spirits or a Cacochymie defiling them whence often either Bleeding or Purging will do the business The vulgar are here mistaken Idem p. 96 III. Let all Volatils consist within the bounds of Mediocrity both in Diet and Pharmacy and that both in the Sulphureous and Urinous So those that in their youth drink too much Wine or Brandy do in their following age hereby lose the strength of their Stomach inasmuch as their decreasing heat does hence require some stronger heater so also Medicines with Camphor Idem and distilled oyls do often hurt IV. Hence we must never so rarefie as not to mind at the same time the consistence of the Blood that it may be brought to a natural state Nor must we so use Resolvers as not to observe the tone and due rarefaction of the Blood Whence those offend who for instance in Malignant Fevers exhaust their Patients only with volatils and perpetual sweats when they ought to discuss indeed and preserve the rarefaction but to temper it when it is too much So those who use Resolvents more unwarily easily make the compages of the Blood too lax so that the Spirits perish as it were and dissipate which must be noted in particular of Cinnabarines for they do most of all resolve the Blood But do nothing too much and in all cases having premised universals tonicks are to be interposed and moderate astringents V. Comforting Cordials are to be rightly distinguished whence where Serum for instance is wanting scarce any thing will do so much good as actually moist and watery things without omitting acid or nitrous Medicines and on the contrary let us not give one thing for another nor confound the same VI. We must not rely too much on moschated Medicines which do greatly rarefie the Blood for while they too much exalt and heighten the Mercurial particles instead of comforting they easily hurt Nature and commonly they do more good outwardly than inwardly or at least unless when seasonably given Idem they have their use but then they must be used rightly Carminatives or discussers of wind The Contents The way how to know to discuss wind or to hinder its generation depends on the knowledg of its production I. X. The preservatory and curatory Indications II. Many while they endeavour to dissipate flatus produce them III. VIII Opiats discuss them IV. Carminatives are either halituous and rarefying V. Or absorbing and tempering VI. Or they help the heat and ferment of the Stomach VII The hot and thinnest are not always to be used VIII They are not good in driness of the Intestines and where the excrements are hard IX They are to be varied according to the variety of causes X. I. Wheresoever flatus are those things contribute to their excretion that take away the impediments through which they inhere the more firmly in the parts viz. the clamminess and glutinousness of the Phlegm from which they are produced and such as are Aromatick and abound with an Aromatick oil Now I think that flatus are truly discuss'd inasmuch as their very tenacious matter is incided and broken whence the pituitous matter that was distracted and distended into flatus subsides and falls into a little globule of Phlegm For it seems to be done in the same manner as when Boys are wont to raise bubles through a straw-Pipe from soap dissolv'd in water The bile being joined to the glutinous Phlegm by rarefying of it distracts it into flatus which by further rarefaction at length are broken of their own accord and so by and by the Phlegm that was before distracted and rarefied consides and returns to its former Nature and consistence the action of the Bile ceasing then through want of matter to act so upon unless it can insinuate it self into some other piece of Phlegm Sylv. de le Boe Meth. Med. lib. 2. c. 21. which it may distract into flatus and rarefie in like manner II. The production and mischief of flatus is to be corrected 1. by gently cutting the more glutinous flegm 2. by discussing and dissipating or otherwise suffocating these flatus 3. by correcting the acrimony of the bile that is the Efficient cause of the flatus And the Phlegm after it is loosed by the bile and turned into flatus must be gently incrassated again but not be made very glutinous The Phlegm may be incided by volatil Salts and all Aromaticks and most Acids but these are chiefly good where there is fear to encrease and heighten both effervescencies both in the heart and in the small Gut in which case 't is adviseable to abstain from volatil Salts as also from Aromaticks both lest the store of flatus be increased and also lest the bile be made either more acrimonious or more volatil Among those Acids the chief place is to be given to the Spirit of Nitre as well pure as sweet seeing it not only cuts glutinous Phlegm but also discusses and breaks the flatus yea and also tempers the acrimony of the bile and fixes it when it is too volatil This Spirit of Nitre may fitly be taken in ones usual drink or any other Medicinal one and that indeed in an indifferent quantity whereby neither a nausea may be caused nor its operation be either too strong or too weak III. As to the discussion of the Flatus themselves already raised and in being I know nothing comparable to
red through the Blood that was drawn thither After the use of these her pains presently seem'd more mild the following night they decreased by degrees Scult Ch. Obs 85. and the next morning her Courses flowing they vanished wholly VIII When the Blood is not fibrous enough 't is very dangerous to draw it out by Cupping-glasses with scarification Prevotius saw a Girl who upon the fastning of Cupping-glasses in that case died of a pertinacious flux of Blood which could not be Remedied by Art Rhod. Cent. 3. Obs 69. IX That the thick Blood may also flow out according to Avicen's direction c. de ventosis we must bathe and stay an hour Wherefore in Practice this is to be observed that the part where the Cupping glass is to be applied be fomented with a Sponge dipt in sweet warm water Capivac pract l. 6. c. 16. that the Blood may be attenuated and fused X. Cupping-glasses attract for the avoidance of a vacuum on this manner A piece of Tow of Flax or Hemp is kindled in the cavity of the Cupping-glass then the Mouth of the glass is fasten'd upon the Body and so the flame is smother'd and goes out by and by the contained air that was much rarefied by the flame grows more dense and takes up lesser room therefore lest there should be a vacuum the Skin must needs be lifted up to fill up that space that before was possest by the rarefied air whence Cupping-glasses draw by so much the more by how much the ambient air is the colder And those mistake who cover them with Linen Clothes c. for the colder the ambient air is the more is the included air condensed and the more it is condensed the less space it possesses and so the Skin that is comprehended by the mouth of the glass is raised the higher Plemp in Instit This reason is ingenious indeed but experience refutes it Those that have stood by when Surgeons have applied Cupping-glasses do testifie that if the ambient air be cold they draw nothing forth yea scarce raise the Skin at all but on the contrary if the Patient sit by an hot fire or be diligently covered with hot cloaths they draw effectually speedily XI Of Cupping-glasses drawing by the sucking of the Mouth see Book I. under the title of the Atrophy XII Reason perswades and daily experience demonstrates that Cupping glasses not only with scarification but the dry also supply the place of Venesection for derivation and revulsion when the weakness of the strength or faculties do not permit this latter Dry Cupping-glasses perform this without any loss of Spirits for the Blood that is revelled or derived by them from any part is only drawn for a little while into the dilated Vessels under the Cupping-glass and assoon as the Glass is removed it will return again by and by into the larger Veins now in this case the Glass chiefly benefits if it be removed after the part which is a receiving the fluxion or has already receiv'd it being freed from the influx of Humours has restored it self to a better state this I say is manifest But it is not so certain that any thing can be called out by the application of dry Cupping-glasses For whether you place the Patient in a warm Bed covering him well or give him a strong Diaphoretick you shall thereby procure sweat but by such Remedies you shall not presently draw the Morbifick matter from the Patient along with the sweat however not considerably unless it be concocted and separated from the Blood or be nearly disposed for separation Although those things which being taken inwardly provoke sweat have a faculty also to separate those things that are foreign from the Blood yet they produce not such an effect being given at any time or after any manner but only when given in convenient circumstances without which they hurt more than benefit That the like happens about Cupping-glasses I think can hardly be doubted when flatus afflict dry Cupping glasses being applied bring sudden benefit for seeing flatus are freed from the mixture of other Humours they are not hindred from passing out through the open pores of the parts that lie under the Cupping-glasses but such things as are mixt with the Blood although together with it they fill the Blood-vessels expanded under the Cupping-glasses yet they forsake not their companion in whose embraces they are straitly detained but assoon as the Glasses are removed they return with the Blood into the larger vessels unless through the vehemence of the attraction the capillary vessels being opened and the very substance of the Flesh gaping they stick with the Blood in the rimulae of the Flesh or Skin their return into the vessels being stopt after that those upon taking off the glasses have restored themselves to their former situation and then the extravasated Humour concreting it stains the Skin with black or livid spots of which in the following section If therefore the malignant particles be exactly mixed with the Blood and be not easily separable from it dry Cupping-glasses are applied in vain If they be separated or be nearly disposed to separation in my opinion 't is better to administer diaphoreticks inwardly and outwardly to use gentle frictions By the former Remedy the poisonous infection is not cleared from any particular portion of the Blood but from its whole mass and by the latter not any particle of the Skin but the whole habit of the Body is prepared to yield a ready exit to the poison both of them benefit without any trouble to the Patient or loss of his strength But with a portion of the Blood to call out a small part of the poisonous infection to certain places that it may return back again with the Blood into the Vessels I see not what benefit can accrew from hence with respect to the Malignity whose expulsion is here chiefly sought But I am only certain that the Patient is vexed with an incommodious situation of his body and a distraction of his flesh and skin especially when many Cupping-glasses are applied at once But when the matter that partakes of Malignity is a separating from the Blood or already separated the ways by which it is cast forth are very rightly loosened whether such relaxation be by Cupping-glasses or by anointings c. The Serum in which the poison is chiefly lodged is always fitly cast forth by Vesicatories not only because these open the pores of the Skin and of the glands that lie next under it but because by their volatile Salt they attempt a separation of the Serum from the Blood Some will object That in malignant Fevers the Patient has presently manifest relief upon the application of dry Cupping-glasses I answer that that often happens not in respect of the Malignity that is called out but by reason of the revulsion of the Humours from the inner parts the oppression whereof is suspended for a time
in the Urine by little and little and in that very respect yields an undoubted sign that the greatest part of the Phlegm is corrected and overcome Which I would have to be taken notice of here for the sake of the Juniors because there are some Seniors who being less versed in the preparation of the more powerful volatil Salts and therefore also less accustomed to observe their virtues do make slight of them not without some suspicion of envy Franc. Sylvius de le Boë pract lib. 1. cap. 34. Thus many find fault with those things they do not understand nor will be at the pains to learn XXV Let Tartar with its off-spring carry the Bell amongst Diureticks and let it be of the choicer sort and as if it had been crystallized of it self what hinders why it should not be given washed only as we have long and securely used to do even with the shining red without any depuration invented by some Mens too great officiousness which manifestly carries away the most subtil part as the remaining water that serves for the solution of many things teaches but not wholly the arenosities or if any fear some feculency which yet is very full of volatil Salt let him depurate it only once and that warily as it commonly comes under the name of Acidum Tartari without the vain affectations or separate repositions of the white D. Ludovici pharm 386. cream or crystals that are indeed indifferent XXVI The Roots of crude Asarum though they cause Vomit with great anxiety yet being boiled in water and not in Wine they are changed into a deoppilative Diuretick and a Remedy for slow Fevers which shews that there is an aroma hid therein To this as to the only Remedy did D. Oheimius fly in long continued Fevers that depended on inveterate obstructions of the Hypochondres Frid. Hofin m. m. l. 1. cap. 12. XXVII Now amongst Diureticks I observe that two sorts are recommended by Authors some more gentle that bring no force upon the Body and others more violent which finding no noxious Humours in the Body to act or put forth their vertue upon or that may also blunt them do bring harm to the Body yea expel pure Blood and sometimes the Soul with it together with the Urine and therefore these are dangerous and suspected by me and I think we should neither use them rashly nor often Amongst these are first the Scorpion the ashes whereof being burnt are given in Wine even according to the Ancients to provoke Urine Secondly Hog-lice whose juice they give pressed out with Wine Thirdly Cantharides whose use is frequent enough in a virulent Gonorrhoea See their preparation § 23. Fourthly May worms that are black Sylv. de le Boë m. m. l. 2. c. 1ââ very stinking and powerfully provoke Urine in the Feet-gout XXVIII But we must note that these latter Diureticks are not so proper for bringing out by Urine Humours abiding in the Blood or otherwhere as for expelling the Urine already separated so that the gentle Diureticks are more universal and to be used in all cases these latter more particular and more proper in some certain Distempers These latter inasmuch as they sometimes drive forth pure Blood instead of Humours from the Blood or offend otherwise are deservedly reputed dangerous Medicines and therefore not to be used but with great continual and prudent caution yet they may be sometimes but prudently used where the more gentle have been given in vain and where a great malady urgeth always attending to the effect which as long as 't is good their use may be persisted in Idem but assoon as the least hurt is observed we must cease from their further use Emmenagogues or provokers of the Terms See Mensium suppressio Book XII The Contents They either respect the wayes I. Or the coagulated Blood it self II. Or they promote its rarefaction III. Or they stimulate and do both IV. Or they restore the Blood it self V. They are not to be given to Women with Child VI. They are not to be given to all indifferently VII The order to be observed in the use of Remedies VIII I. MEdicines provoking the Terms respect either the wayes which namely ought to be free in all the microcosmick Common-wealth such as are both all Aperients except the acid and nitrous which namely are contrary to the other intention unless the same be so directed that under the dominion of others they may assist the action of the same Baths also do greatly help here which both by their gentle heat and their notable vertue to moisten do very well open the passages Likewise suffumigations that loosen the Pores and draw away mucus belong hither as for example Timaeus in his Counsels commends the suffumigation of Coloquintida received into the Womb by a Funnel which Remedy takes place after Bathing And therefore by experience your Emmenagoga denote nothing else but specifick uterine Aperients II. Or they respect the Blood it self the state whereof as the Terms do in a special manner shew so do they altogether follow the condition thereof Now those are notable Emmenagogues which promote the motion of the Blood which in specie they do two manner of wayes either first they take away the impediments that fix as it were and coagulate the Blood which are two acid Humours and Phlegmatick or coagulated Serum amongst these are Martial Medicines for instance Crocus aperitivus Sulphuratus with Salts Quercetan's Cachectick powder his Stomachick powder yea some give the infusion of the crude filings of Steel or Gold with the same intention that they may absorb and repress the constringing acidity but those Steel-Remedies are best that have withal a faculty to moisten as the tincture of Steel pomated or cydoniated which are excellent the tartareous tincture of Steel and the like that at the same time both the driness may be respected and the deficient fermentation of the Blood promoted and others that liquate fuse resolve and attenuate the coagulating Serum or Phlegm such as are bitter things and others of thin parts III. Or Secondly they promote its rarefaction and stimulate that upon the excitation and exaltation of its Sulphureous and volatil Saline particles it may become the more active and losing its sluggish lentor or clamminess may take up more room in quality and motion to which belong all Balsamicks volatil and mean as well Sulphureous for instance Saffron Myrrh Bay-berries Savin likewise the distilled oyls of Savin Cinnamon Balm Saffron c. as Saline fixed and volatil Salts the tincture of Tartar Borax salt of Mugwort of Salt and Vitriol c. the Spirit of Sal Armoniack Harts-horn the volatil Salt of Amber Hence is this practick rule appropriated to both intentions Those things that provoke urine do for the most part also provoke the Terms IV. Or they both stimulate and rarefie and hither belong even Purgers themselves inasmuch as they do not only attenuate and bring out the
evacuated at least by accident Therefore when Galen denies that the whole Body is diminished by friction he means not in that manner as Purgers evacuate Rub. in cap. 14. l. 2. Celsi in comparison whereof he there speaks IV. Scratching is profitable for many Diseases for it calls out to the Skin from the viscera and discusses thence Valles in Epid. p. 686. in short it is as beneficial as hard friction Glands or Suppositories The Contents Their too great length is unprofitable I. They empty not from the Guts only II. I. IT is to be noted that it is unprofitable to make Suppositories so long as they are commonly made seeing they irritate not the expulsive faculty save only in that part where they touch the podex or extremity of the Arse-gut therefore 't is better to shape them shorter Mereat ex Rondelet and about as thick as ones Finger II. If Suppositories be made of the stronger Medicines they may evacuate even out of the Mesaraick Veins yea out of the whole Body for experience witnesseth this by which it is manifest that Suppositories made of Hellebore have had the same operation as if it had been taken inwardly by the Mouth Grumos solventia or dissolvers of congealed Blood The Contents They respect either the hindred circulation of the Blood I. Or the coagulated Blood it self Acids dissolve concreted Blood II. I. DIssolvers of clods of Blood are of a middle nature as it were betwixt Diaphoreticks and Diureticks for here we apply H. Saxonia's Rule who * Praelect pract part â c. 38. § 3. sayes Those things which mollifie the stone the same attenuate clods of Blood For as the very grumefaction supposes 1. Blood extravasated that is slid for a certain time and space out of the Vessels its circulation being hindred whether that be in fieri or in facto that is whether the Blood be but now a sliding or be already slid 2. Blood ready to coagulate inasmuch as without its proper element and sphere it putrefies corrupts and remains unmoved so those things which loose and fuse it when concreted so that it may either be received again into the Veins or if it be no longer capable of returning to its former state and nature it may be dissipated and evacuated I say those very Medicines do perform their operation two manner of wayes chiefly for they respect either 1. the hindred motion and circulation of the Blood whether it rush of its own accord into some certain and definite weaker part as in Inflammations or by the breaking of the Vessels and some outward hurt it be thrown out of the Vessels and be collected somewhere And of this sort are all Diaphoreticks in a special manner as well volatils that enjoy a thinness of parts which make the Blood more fluxile and cause it to return into order by quickening its motion and making it more subtil and rare as Balsamicks Myrrhe Zedoary and likewise fixts as antimon diaphoretic hence the tincture of Bezoar the Spirit of Harts-horn mistura simplex antimon diaphoret Zedoary opium c. are excellent in this case and bring present help And these profit likewise in the former case in all kinds of Inflammations of the Pleura Liver c. new wounds in new falls from on high imposthumes that are a breeding c. in regard by this means the coagulation and concretion it self is hindred and is destroyed in the blade as it were for assoon as the circulation is reduced into order a collection is no longer to be feared II. Or 2. the coagulum or coagulated Blood it self being now of a greater consistence and finished as it were whither belong divers resolvers ranked under Nephriticks whether Sulphureous as sperma ceti which is a notable resolvent in this respectis excellent in an Asthma or Saline of these both 1. Acids such as are simple Vinegar and Vinegar of Squills oxymel scillit the juice of Lemons Spirit of Vitriol And so our Thesis stands unmoved Acids resolve coagulated Blood whence it may peculiarly be here noted to discuss these things more throughly that Acids are not so proper in the first degree to wit while the Blood is extravasating or rushing somewhither with a Rheumatism unless by a secondary intention and under the Dominion of Volatils for then they more promote the coagulation which they commonly call repelling as in the second where the extravasation or coagulation is already made and also 2. Alkali's and Alkalines as Crabs-eyes and other Diureticks and Lithontripticks and those Herbs which for this very Alkali are called Traumaticks or Wound-herbs and their juice decoction essence c. Whence the reason is clear why in the Pleurisie according to Helmont himself the same are accounted specificks which are otherwise good for coagulated Blood namely that the matter may be so far resolved as that it may be expectorated These things are good in falls from on high whence pulvis ad casum Augustan is famous So also Goats Blood to say nothing of Crabs-eyes is an Antipleuritick Gr. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 183. dissolving clodded Blood and the stone chiefly through the volatil Salt that it is furnished with The opening of the Hemorrhoids The Contents How the latent Hemorrhoids may be called forth I. The opening of them in Children and Youths is unprofitable II. Leeches rather draw from the Arteries than Veins III. Leeches may be used when they are newly caught IV. They may be set on with ones hand only V. Their Tail is not always to be cut off VI. They are not to be pulled of by force VII They leave no malignity behind them VIII The mouths of the Vessels are to be sought that they may be set upon them IX They sometimes drain Blood from a great depth X. They draw the thick also XI How they are to be got out when they creep in at the Arse hole XII Whether Nature should be accustomed to a flux by applying Leeches XIII Which Hemorrhoids the internal or external be to be opened XIV Such evacuation agrees not alike to all Countreys and Natures XV. Whether they are to be opened in affections of the Womb. XVI Whether to be opened with a Lancet XVII Whether they draw any thing from the Spleen XVIII How they profit in malignant Fevers XIX I. ONe being troubled with the Pain of the Hemorrhoids by Intervals and having them always cease at the expulsion of the black Blood through defect of this evacuation fell into a melancholy When no Remedies could provoke the retarded evacuation and Leeches had been thrice applied in vain as sucking only from the external Veins I coming advise to set them on again but first to set on a Cupping-glass that might comprehend the whole anus This invention was of that moment that the orifices of the Veins that lay hid within Zacut. M.P. pag. 6. prax admir l. 2. Obs 83. strutting out there followed a large flux
of Blood whereby the offending Humour being evacuated the Patient was recovered II. The Hemorrhoidal Veins in Children and Youths as being slender and not yet widen'd with melancholick Blood Fortis consult 8. Cent. 3. if they be open'd are wont to send forth but little thick Blood III. 'T is worthy observation that Leeches draw more Blood from the Arteries than the Veins Barbette Chirurg part 1. cap. 17. and therefore they ought to draw forth the less IV. Some cleanse Leeches newly caught from their filth with a Sponge or course cloth and throw them into very pure water which they change often and for nourishment put in a little Sugar But I have learned by Experience that if they be squeezed a little presently after they are caught and be cleansed from their sordes or filth in warm water with a Sponge they have been wholly hurtless without any more ado and have caused no other Symptoms Heurnius tract de hirâd supposing that they be taken out of pure waters and be not virulent V. Some put them in a hollow Cane or Reed or a long Glass so that the head only may stand out and so set them on but because this way is more troublesom and often succeeds not well because of their slipperiness and the sometimes thicker sometimes slenderer extension of their Bodies it is better and easier to hold them in a cloth and set them on with your hand Idem VI. Note that 't is not always necessary to cut off their tails because when they are applied to any larger and more eminent Vein as to the Hemorrhoidal Jugular or to the larger vessels of the Arms and Legs they may so open them by their bite and attract the Blood that after their fall off when they are filled the Blood may continue to issue out so plentifully that there may be sometimes need to stop it with Plasters Idem VII After they have suckt Blood enough unless they fall off of their own accord sprinkle ashes or salt on their head which having tasted they will presently fall off But they are not to be snatcht off by force lest they leave their heads that are affix'd behind them which may be the cause of incurable Wounds which thing as Pliny relates happen'd to Messalinus a Roman Senator Idem VIII Avicen and others would have a Cupping-glass set upon the bitten place and a little Blood drawn therefrom that the malignity of the bite may be corrected But because our Leeches seem to have no such malignity there is no need of such setting on of Cupping-glasses In the mean time he that for the greater security will wash the bitten place with salt water or vinegar let him I can testifie I have several times applied them and after their falling off have perceived no mischief or virulence only an itching which went off in a little time Idem IX If they be to be applied to the Hemorrhoidal Veins first let the Fundament be fomented with a decoction of Mallows Chamomel and other Emollients and then let the place of the Hemorrhoidal Veins be chafed because by that means the orifices of the Veins will appear to every of which let a several Leech be applied How to make the Veins appear see § 1. Idem If the Blood suckt by the Leeches appear sometimes subtil and ruddy as I have often seen it I think this happens through the error of him that applies them who set them not upon the mouths of the Veins but upon the edge of the anus 'T is necessary to turn the anus a little inside out and by Cupping-glasses to draw the Hemorrhoids outwards that you may see them which is not known to all that apply them Now I know they have been rightly applied when the Leech being cut with a pair of Scissors pours forth much thick black Blood but if it be ruddy and thin I know that he that set them on has mistaken But if after the thick is drawn out the thin follow I. Baptist Theodot Epist 27. 't is well enough X. The Greeks Galen and Oribasius say that Leeches suck only the Blood contained in and next under the Skin Avicen and the Arabians say they draw it deep out of the Body determine that the extraction of Blood that is made by them is deeper than the extraction that is made by Cupping-glasses But these Authors may easily be reconciled to one another if the place to which the Leeches are applied be distinguished For if they be applied to the larger vessels in the Arm Forehead Legs or to the strutting Hemorrhoids we see that the Blood is sometimes so largely evacuated that Causticks and Emplasticks are necessary to stop it and there sometimes follows a Cachexie and Dropsie Now it is certain that so much Blood must needs flow from the whole Body But the matter is otherwise if they be applied where the Veins are not so wide Heurniââ but slenderer and lying just under the Skin XI Some think they attract only the cutaneous Blood leaving the thicker as Mercurialis because the Wound that is made is so small that the thinner part only can pass out But from Zacutus Lib. 1. Hist Princ. 4. it appears he was greatly deceived for besides that the Ancients used to set Leeches on the Part affected in Diseases springing from a thick Humour the hole made by them especially by the larger is so large that the thickest Sordes may flow out by it and there often happens a plentiful Bleeding to stop which there is sometimes need of astringent Remedies XII A man desiring Leeches to be applied to his anus one slipping out of the Surgeon's Fingers entred a good way in at the Fundament I commanded to be applied to the anus dry Ox-dung indifferently hot sprinkling first the Powder of Wall-lice upon it as also very good Castor by the fume whereof and by a Clyster made of the juice of Onion alone Zacut. l. 1. Obs 7. Hist Princ. Med. the Leech was voided with the Excrements half dead XIII Whether are Leeches to be applied to the Hemorrhoids and Nature to be accustomed to discharge her self by this way Sennertus Lib. 3. Pract. Part. 2. Sect. 2. c. 12. handles this question elegantly and cites chiefly Vidor Trincavellius who Pract. l. 9. c. 14. disswades from this operation because none of the Greeks or Arabians have mention'd it and because Galen 4. Aph. 25. does plainly advise not to accustom our selves to an evacuation by the Hemorrhoids because it is not without danger if black Humours flow the evacuation may indeed be profitable but if thin and clear Blood or in a greater quantity be expelled it is unprofitable As Trincavellius writes that he has observed that the Blood drawn by Leeches out of the Veins of the anus is commonly bright not black especially when those Veins do not swell of their own accord or first are painful But Aquapendent resolves the
coloquintida in them whereby Nature may be solicited to expurgation and if the Purge stop let it be called out by an acrimonious and provoking Clyster Observe this carefully when you give Narcoticks with Catharticks Idem XLVII In the Plague it is a principal Remedy being mixt with Cordials namely because by its congealing vertue the Arsenical Spirits that are most deadly to the Heart are fixed as it were and the matter which is most pernicious while it is in flux is staid and remains almost unmoved whence it comes to pass that Nature recollecting her strength can the more easily apply to her self the vertue of the Remedy and Alexipharmacks For in the Plague it provokes sweat especially if mixt with Cordials As for example Take of the water of Scabious Meadow-sweet Carduus bened scordium of each an ounce of the Electuary of an Egg a scruple of the Salt of Wormwood and Card. bened of each eight grains of Laudanum two grains Make a Potion which is to be given especially when a Phrensie and burning Fever rages This was tried in the Daughter of Guesnault the Apothecary See Gesner in his Epistles and also above Book 6. under the Title of Pestilential Fever and the Plague who uses Opium for a Sudorifick in the Plague A Doctor of Physick being sick of the Plague Phrenetick and exceeding Cholerick by taking Laudanum came the next morning to himself the Malady returning again towards evening to which the same Remedy brought the same ease He was let Blood twice or thrice Cordials were given him especially Contrayerva About eleven his pulse was tremulous all signs of death were present Spots like Flea-Bites broke forth there was a great Carbuncle about the os sacrum Laudanum was given him he slept and at last recovered Idem he took it six times commonly in a day XLVIII In continual Fevers especially the burning it is good to cool the heat allay thirst appease inquietude procure sleep strengthen Nature and to promote its Critical motion and endeavour It often happens that on the very day or the next day after it is given the Fever is extinguished without return But observe not to give it the day before solemn Remedies See above Idem § 36. 45. XLIX It is sometimes profitable a little before the Fit in Tertian Agues the Body being first well Purged Whether is it because the motion of the morbifick cause being appeased or rather hindred as it were its ascent up to the Heart was hindred and intercepted and therefore the causa sine qua non of the Fit it self was extinguished or laid to Sleep Idem L. But if it be given in Agues to interrupt the course of the Disease let the Body be very well Purged afterwards Idem LI. I approve not of that Laudanum which has Henbane in it because it disturbs the mind Idem and makes Men stupid dull and giddy for some hours Lac augentia minuentia or things encreasing and lessening Milk The Contents The same things increase Milk which increase Chyle I. Or which make the wayes open II. Or which promote an afflux to the Breasts III. Those things which provoke the Terms do not increase Milk IV. Those things lessen the Milk which soften and loosen the wayes V. Or which hinder restagnation VI. Or which hinder a further afflux VII Fat things are not to be applied to the Breasts when there is a restagnation VIII Repellents are not always to be used IX Things that repel the Milk are better applied to the Heart X. The curdling of the Milk is to be hindred by any means XI I. IT seems an easie request for Women to desire the increase of their Milk yet the Physician often finds it great enough if he will undertake to gratifie it As for the things that increase Milk they either 1. Increase the Chyle and the more serous and chylous parts of the Blood not only alimentous things that are eafily convertible into chyle and blood as rear-Eggs Almond milk or Pottage plentiful drinking Cows Udders which are better reckoned among Aliments than Medicines because they easily contract an hogo but also Medicamentous which have oily parts that communicate and are immersed with watry which is very suitable to the chyle and milk which is nothing else but the substantifick oily parts mixt with the watry such as Carduus seed c. Other temperate oily things have the same effect also as the Seeds of Fennil Parsnip c. II. Or 2. They open the ways and free the Pores so that the Milk may freely flow to the Breasts whence Langius says that all Sudorificks Miscel Curios p. 46. to wit the kindly and temperate work that effect namely absorbers that hinder coagulation and by their alkaline Nature as Salt is the interpreter of the conjunction of oily Parts with watry procure this commixture Thus the same Person commends as a secret the decoction of dried Elder flowers in Cows milk as a most approved Experiment Likewise Crystal prepared Earth-worms prepared and before all Lac Lunae Periwinkle also is good taken any way III. Or 3. They promote the afflux of the Milk to the Breasts as Frictions and fomentations of Decoctions fresh Burnet laid between the Breasts is commended Among Minerals Crystal and especially Quicksilver is powerful as appears by the tryal of the Women at Padua who when their Milk fails buy for themselves of the Apothecaries a filberd shell that has the kernel got out of it through a little hole bored in it and fill'd with Quicksilver the little hole being stopt with wax and hang it about their Necks to restore their Milk which falls out according to their desire * Praât Med. p. 858. H. Saxonia gives a double reason of its manner of acting 1. That the Women are of opinion that it is good for fascinations and that when the Milk is lost by bewitching it is restored by this means 2. That Quicksilver has a vaporous substance in it and is of so thin parts that it cannot only insinuate it self into all the thinner parts but can also dissolve and digest gritty Tumours whence he argues that it therefore profits in the failure of Milk because it can fuse and attenuate the thick Blood which for its thickness and clamminess could not enter into the Venae Mammariae and Glands We have advised the same thing with success but the effect in this case is rightly ascribed to the Quicksilver because it makes the Humours viz. the Bood and Serum more fluxile whence it is more strongly stirr'd up to motion and Milk is collected in the Breasts according to Nature IV. Those things that provoke the Terms do not increase Milk for they are both contrary indications and opposite motions Now though it may be alledged to the contrary that by Experience the flowing of the Terms and the presence of Milk may stand together and that some things as Fennil promote both yet if the thesis be
of the Juice of Lemon or Vinegar into it and then taking it presently off the fire for there will forthwith be a separation of the Whey from the cheesie part which by straining and clarifying with the white of an Egg becomes very clear and may be taken in a large quantity without offence to the Stomach so that it is often drunk by some like Mineral waters with great benefit River cent 1. Obs 98. XIV When the Stomach is inflamed Whey is good but not that which is depurated with acids for sharp things exasperate Inflammations according to Galen xi Meth. 19. Put into it the juice of sweet-scented Apples Fortis cons 86. cent 2. XV. I suspect too much Whey seeing all unprofitable moistures in the Veins either grow sowr or salt Idem cons 3. cent 1. XVI Hercules Saxonia gives this admonition concerning Whey that if it be to be given daily in the hotter Diseases Temperaments c. it is to be made loosening or diuretick or to be given in a moderate quantity For says he as I have found by Experience they that take much of it and retain it grow worse perhaps because it is vaporous as Milk also is Lenients or Looseners See Alvus adstricta or Costiveness BOOK I. The Contents They are to be used in the beginning of every Disease I. When to be taken II. Some work by accident III. Some per se or of themselves IV. Whether they be always convenient V. I. They may be given with meat VI. They may be mixed with Purgers VII If Lenients suffice not to carry down the Excrements of the first Region Purgers are to be given VIII Sometimes we must use Emollients sometimes Cleansers IX Things sprinkled with Night-dew loosen effectually X. How to loosen the Belly by a Decoction of Prunes XI I. SOme think now adays that we must use Lenient Medicines in the beginning of every Disease 1. Because mens Bodies are far more filled and impure than in Hippocrates's time 2. Then unless the first ways be clear the Humours that are to be brought forth from a far will be forbid an exit and give great disturbance 3. That by consequence they are communicated to the Vessels about the Liver infect the Blood contained therein and so may beget new Diseases or increase those that are in being already We must always begin at that without which we cannot safely execute something else 4. There is no profitable substance in the mucous and cholerick Humours in the Guts nor in the foul moisture that besets the Glands of the Mesentery and Caul These are already separated from the profitable juice and neither desire nor admit of concoction 5. Hippocrates contradicts not when 1. Aph. 22. he bids us medicate things concocted and not crude for there he speaks only of the Humours that are in the second and third Region Others grant that the use of Lenients is sometimes necessary but not always nor in every Patient nor in every form 1. There is present an indication to purge and to pull up the roots of the Disease by stronger Medicines Our sluggishness is the cause that we cure not great Diseases because we will never have done with Lenitives That Physicians may avoid calumny they commonly prescribe no Remedy that is generous 2. When the Body is crude 't is safer to move nothing especially when the Faculties are weak 3. There is sometimes greater need of Bleeding 4. Some when they hear of Physick presently nauseate especially such things as use to be given in a larger quantity as Lenitives This distinction is to be used By reason of divers circumstances Lenients are necessarily premised in the first place but sometimes they may be omitted or postponed Rolfink m m. spec p. 450. if the great causes rehearsed be present II. Lenients for curation when a Chronical Disease invades must be taken before Preparatives to cleanse the first ways in the Mornings For preservation to keep the Belly soluble they must be given at the same time Let us inquire whether it may be done before Meat or in a short while after Galen 2. de Aiim Facult c. 31. seems to affirm that Meat is not to be taken presently after a Medicine for speaking of Prunes loosening the Belly he says thus It is clear that after we have eaten them it is profitable for loosening the Belly to drink sweet wine and to interpose some time and not presently after to Dine and we must remember that this is common to all things that loosen the Belly Some are afraid of lessening the loosening vertue if one either eat presently after a Medicine or it be taken as one Dines or Sups for they think there is danger that either the vertue of the Medicine will be dulled or that it will be utterly corrupted from the mixture with the Meat especially if meats be thrown in without any choice and be contrary to the Medicine as hard and astringent As in the composition of a purging Medicine there are some things added to increase its operation as Ginger Sal gemmae so it is not to be doubted but amongst aliments there are some to be found which do dull Purgers and weaken their operation 2. The same Persons are afraid of corruption or at least of a diminution of concoction Meats are corrupted because Medicines are enemies to Nature and spur her forward to Excretion They are concocted imperfectly whil'st by the motion of Fermentation they disturb the action of Chylification which is performed quietly closely and leisurely Moreover the Chyle is communicated crude to the lacteal Vessels and the fault of the first concoction is communicated to the second 3. Others will have Lenitives to be taken extraordinarily either a little before or just with the Meat Things perswading this are 1. The nauseating nature of the Patient which cannot take Medicines alone 2. The nature of the Medicines which being not strong do slowly execute their office besides they cannot resist the heat of the Stomach unless Meat taken either with them or a while after them hinder it 3. They may also be turned into Aliment by an hungry Stomach Experience teacheth that Lenitives as pills of Aloes taken half an hour before Dinner or Supper in the midst of them yea or in the end of either do their office very well in a just dose being continued for two or three times the action it self may be confirmed by reasons Idem and strongly defended from the force of their arguments that think otherwise III. If inquiry be made concerning the manner of their action and operation we say that it differs not from that of Purgers For Lenients irritate both by accident and per se or properly and of themselves Those things do it by accident that dissolve the consistence of the faeces hinder their compaction and make them fluxile when they are more easily expelled such as are 1. things watry moist and which may be drunk whence we observe
disgregation alone is thought to be the immediate cause of the Humours becoming crude For whereas they may offend three manner of ways as Hippocrates teacheth l. de N. b. v. 60. in Quantity in Quality and because they are disgregated from one another neither a fault in quantity alone nor a simple alteration as to quality are apt of themselves to breed crudity for neither of them is corrected by concoction for if the Humours exceed or come short in quantity we must only remedy it by evacuation or repletion for the Diseases that repletion causes emptying cures and on the contrary according to Hippocrates So neither does their fault as to quality make them crude because as Hippocrates says l. de v. Med. All these are thus cured that those who are affected with coldness be heated and those that are affected with heat be cooled and these things are soon obtained for there is no need of concoction Seeing therefore neither a fault in the quantity nor the quality can of it self introduce crudity upon the Humours it is necessary to affirm that the Humours contract crudity only because they are disgregated or sever'd from one another Wherefore because Concoction is opposed to crudity Hippocrates describing Concoction hath affirmed l. cit de vet Med. that it is wrought by a mutual permixtion and temperature as it were by boiling Now by Disgregation of the Hamours we understand not an exact separation of one from another so that they occupy divers places but a dissolution of that mixture by means whereof they are corrected and contemperated to one another and when it is dissolved every one acts according to its proper vertues and qualities By the means therefore of this disgregation is a Crudity introduced upon the Humours which while they are reduced to their former Union and Concord are said to be concocted From which we may collect that not all Diseases that depend on the abundance or alteration of the Humours shew signs of crudity or concoction but only those wherein is the aforesaid Disgregation And this Hippocrates l. de vet Med. would intimate to us whilst reckoning up the Diseases that are cured by concoction he only enumerates Fevers Tubercles or Tumours and Destillations for these Diseases do necessarily presuppose a Disgregation of Humours Therefore Concoction is in vain to be expected in those Diseases wherein seeing the Humours were never crude they are in like manner unconcoctible and far less in the Humours of the healthful whom we intend to Purge for prevention for in these only the width of the ways is attended to which Hippocrates meant in Aph. When Bodies are to be Purged they must be made fluid Reducing which Precept to Practice he uses before Purging both drinking more largely and bathing or fomenting all the Body over this latter chiefly before he would Purge downward Martian comm in Aph. 22. 1. and the former when he would Vomit ¶ Whereas there may be many causes of Disgregation I find them all reduced to three heads in the Doctrine of Hippocrates 1. When any Humor is so much increased in the Body that it far exceeds the rest in plenty 2. The second cause is motion or perturbation and agitation 3. A notable alteration as to the first qualities chiefly Now that the Humours may be disgregated through the excess of one of them as to quantity is consonant to reason so that it refuseth to be associated and contemperated to the rest as excelling of them Hippocrates shews us this cause of disgregation l. de insomn v. 31. For by some repletion says he made within there happens a certain secretion that disturbs the Soul where by secretion he understands not any evacuation but the aforesaid disgregation But concerning the causes thereof we must note that these sometimes cause a Disease of themselves and primarily without disgregation sometimes by its means otherwise there would only be one cause of Diseases The first cause therefore is the excess of any Humour in quantity And that the Humours are disgregated through motion which is the second cause Hippocrates teacheth 4. de morb by the example of Milk by the agitation whereof the Butter Whey and Cheese are separated And lastly that an alteration as to qualities makes the same disgregation is shewn also by the example of Milk which is conglobated or curdled upon pouring Liquor into it not by coldness alone as Hippocrates would but by any great alteration that may proceed to corruption of substance thus Milk is curdled with excess of heat without Runnet When therefore the Humours are so altered as to their proper qualities that the alteration tends to the destruction of the substance this is said to difference it from simple alteration whereby the Humours are not removed from their natural state their natural union is dissolved and they are disgregated from one another Idem l. de Nat. hum v. 272. so that although every one remain in the same place yet each is rendred intemperate as to its proper nature Franc. de le Boe Sylvius seeks the causes of Crudity and Concoction in a looser or stricter union of the execrementitious Humours with the Bloud He says Prax. l. 1. c. 55. § 16. Physicians mean the Crudity and Concoction of the Humours that constitute the Mass of Bloud and are mixt with it when they treat of them in the Examination and Cure of Diseases especially the acute and when they so greatly and deservedly desire the concoction of the Humours that the Cure may succeed according to wish for as often as the Bloud is infected and evil affected immediately or by intermediate Humours contained in the Body without the Mass of Blood viz. choler the Pancreatick juice Lympha and Phlegm so often the vital effervescence that is peculiar to it is altered vitiated likewise and that so as that presently more or less there is a disturbance of that natural and loose confusion between the Blood those Humours that flow continually with it to the Heart whether they be then joined to it more straitly and intimately or more loosly and less intimately Now when the other Humours are joyned to the Bloud more intimately and strictly than usual then a more watry Urine is made and such as has less tincture and other contents and this they call Crude that is a sign of crudity But after that the Urine by degrees becomes more tinged and brings more contents with it it is commended and is called concocted namely signifying that concoction is more or less begun or promoted which comes to pass as often as the abovesaid humours as excrementitious and before too strictly and intimately united to the Blood are by degrees separated from it again and are partly expelled together with the Urine which is good and profitable for a man as the other was bad and hurtful for according to Nature and in an healthful State the Urine has something at least of a Yellowish tincture but no content
med l. 2. c. 4. they will advise to do it sparingly ¶ Yet we sometimes observe that bleeding does good in an intire and compleat cacochymy But then it must be moderate and let it be performed by little and little at a time repeating it often And in the intervals use altering and strengthning Medicins and meats of easie digestion as we know Galen did I knew one that was Physician to the King of France change his own ill habit of Body thus letting himself Blood Fifteen or Twenty times in a Year Walaeus m. m. p. 72. ¶ Though in bleeding when there is such a cacochymy of the Veins all the humours issue forth equally and there remain one and the same proportion of the humours yet because when part of the load wherewith Nature was burthened is with-drawn the faculties become never the weaker but rather more brisk they better bear that which remains and more easily tame and consume it Fernel m. m. l. 2. c. 4. ¶ I deny not but many Diseases that spring from a cacochymy are happily cured by Bleeding that is as I interpret that it is used with profit amongst other Medical remedies For part of the vitious humours are with-drawn by it and so Nature is eased of part of her Burthen so that afterwards she corrects more easily what is capable of correction and being helped by a purging Medicin more readily expells what is fit for excretion Now this emolument is then to be expected from Venesection when either the cacochymy abounds chiefly in the outer Veins or is equally diffused through all For if it be in the inner as being remote and larger you shall indeed take nothing away from the cacochymy by opening a Vein but shall however deprive Nature of her more laudable Blood Which thing whether it will turn to the advantage of the Patient any one understands Moreover if a Cacochymy as such does of it self indicate Venesection then it shall be administred in all diseases that spring from a cacochymy But do you open a Vein in a bilious cacochymy and what disturbance you will raise the event will teach you sufficiently If you order the same in a Phlegmatick cacochymy you shall thereby increase it the more and shall precipitate the Body into a cachexy and from that into a Dropsie The reason why bleeding is useful for the Mad is because their fervid Blood is partly cooled by it and partly hindered from rushing so impetuously into the Head To undertake by repeated Venesection only to bring forth those vitious humours that cannot be taken away by Purgers I think to be full of danger For in my opinion the Blood may be safelier defecated or clarified by diureticks and hydroticks ¶ As to bleeding in a câcochymy M. Doring Ep. 80. Cent. â I for my part do not defend it Only this I would admonish you of of which you are not ignorant that Nature often uses to drive forth Vitious humours to the external Veins whence by opening a Vein in Fevers a good part of the cacochymy is often happily taken away As also of that which F. Platerus Tr. 1. Pract. P. 143. alledges that in the Mad and Melancholick a cacochymy has often been taken away by repeated Venesection Sennert Epist 85. ¶ I add 'pray let you and me consider Whether Practitioners oftner open a Vein in the cacochymical or Plethorical I think that of ten which are Bled you shall hardly find One Plethorick for Nine cacochymical And yet these things are done daily and that by the advice of Physicians and not always with bad success The reason whereof I think to be this Nature being solicitous for Man's health always takes care to expel from the Royal way of the Body or Vitals whatsoever vitious humours there are either to the first ways or guts or to the Superficies of the Body and so to keep the Noble Viscera safe Hence from the expulsion of vitious humours there arise Scabs and Infinite kinds of Tumors Tubercles But before the Matter bursts forth in the Surface of the Body it abides in the Veins of the Limbs Whence when we open a Vein often hardly the fourth part of that which comes forth deserves the Name of Blood Therefore seems it not more adviseable by opening a Vein to evacuate the cacochymy out of the Veins in the Limbs whither it is driven forth by Nature than by purging to recall it into the inner parts of the Body again Idem Epist 92. and to defile or taint the Viscera if it be not all of it evacuated ¶ All Physicians agree that a Plethora or Plenitude is an excess of sincere Blood that is of such as is fit for the nourishment of the Body and that a cacochymy is a redundance of Vitious humours and that purging is a convenient way to expel and bring forth a vitious humour lodged in the Body But most Physicians affirm more importunely than truly that a vitious humour is not to be drawn forth by such a kind of Purgation as Bleeding but by purging by stool by vomiting by sweating c. yea they say that by these means only that which is vitious and unprofitable to the Body is expelled but by bleeding that also which is profitable is drawn forth Nature namely not separating hereby the unprofitable from the profitable but suffering whatsoever is contained in the Veins to flow out indifferently as well the good as the bad whence there is more harm than benefit But if a cacochymy be distributed through the whole Body as all are of Opinion 't is certain that 't is partly contained also in the Veins of the whole Body And I pray by what Art or what kind of Purging can the vitious Blood that is in the Limbs be purged off 'T is weak to think it can be done by stool and more foolish to believe it can be done by vomit or coughing or by Urine though all these are sometimes profitable in Diseases of the Limbs but that only by accident namely because thereby is taken away some part of the humour that might feed and increase the cacochymy and consequently the said Diseases For there is no retreat granted to the humours from the Limbs to the said Emissaries except in deadly evacuations as in a vehement diabetes almost all the Serum and in a great loosness all the humour of the Body almost may be poured forth Therefore seeing a cacochymy my lodges not in one part only of the Body but possesses almost all of it it is to be evacuated out of its various parts namely out of the Veins what is contained in them that which lies next under the skin by scarifying or sweating or insensible transpiration by Stool what is seated in the Bowels and thereabouts by Vomit what is contained in the Stomach by Urine what in the Kidneys by blowing the Nose or Coughing what burthens the Head or Lungs and in a word from every part is its proper burthen to
s m. cap. 8. does transpire the more easily or is expelled by the assistance of Nature IV. Why are we so much against Bleeding in a Phlegmatick plenitude if the Phlegm by further elaboration being turned into Blood do strengthen the faculties and supply the want of Blood This happens on divers accounts 1. Because seeing the mouth of the Stomach is the receptacle of Phlegm the same is often likewise hurt whereby as also because of the vicinity of the Heart there follows a Syncope or swooning as appears in the Syncopal Fever 2. The coldness of the Phlegm is very adverse to Nature 3. When Phlegm by its plenty overcometh Melancholy it dulls extinguishes and suffocates the innate heat For seeing Phlegm is a crude humour when it abounds in the Vessels it hinders the access of the Blood to the parts to be nourished 4. Seeing Phlegm may obstruct on three accounts both by its quantity thickness and toughness or clamminess in an obstruction arising from these causes there is an hindrance of a sufficient transpiration of the Air to nourish the Spirits Thom. à Veiga l. de diff febr comm 3. from a defect whereof springs a weakness of the faculties V. In a Melancholick plenitude we may Bleed more largely and boldly 1. Because the Melancholick have much hot Blood for the ventilation and evacuation whereof Bleeding is very availeable 2. That humour though it be thick yet is not clammy which clamminess seeing Phlegm partakes of and sticks more to the Vessels it is not so readily brought forth with the Blood 3. By evacuating the Blood the Melancholick humour is likewise evacuated because it is the faex or dreggy part of the Blood but so is not Phlegm nor any other crude humour 4. Natural Melancholy is more agreeable to the nature of the Blood than Phlegm is seeing it is generated by a temperate heat but so is not Phlegm but by a diminished heat 5. Melancholick Blood is thick and can neither be consumed by abstinence nor bathing therefore it ought to be evacuated by Bleeding as Jacchinus says pr. c. 15. 6. Because Phlegm if it stay long in the Body may be corrected and turned into Blood by further Concoction Zacut. princ med hist lib. 2. hist 78. But Melancholy cannot pass into Blood and by staying long in the Body becomes atra bilis or black adult choler VI. Avicen 4. 1. c. 20. forbids Bleeding in a great effervescence of choler When the Vrine is thin and Fiery that is is very Cholerick we must have a care how we Bleed For if we Bleed a victory of choler and an effervescence thereof is to be feared because when the Blood is extracted which is the bridle of the bilious humour choler prevails more This opinion of Avicen that is exploded by many is agreeable to the doctrine of Galen For he says comm in 6. Epid. s 3. t. ult An impedimânt in those that spit Blood is the season of the year a pleurisie choler where by impediment he means a prohibition of Bleeding Therefore redundance of choler even in a disease that requires Bleeding hinders it The same 4. de san tu 4. says that when the humours recede a little from the nature of Blood we must let Blood boldly but if further then more warily but if very much we must take away none at all Likewise 9. meth cap. 5. reckoning up the indications that dissuade from venesection he abstains therefrom when the mouth of the Stomach abounds with bitter choler Also 2. ad Glauc 2. he forbids it in an exquisite Erysipelas and Herpes The same he does in an exquisite Tertian 1. ad Glauc 9. And he gives the same advice in every other distemper that is the offspring of a bilious fluxion and where choler recedes very much from the nature of Blood for in such there is not a due strength of the faculties And on the same account fasting hurts because in the defect of alimental moisture such Bodies being dried wax hot So by Bleeding they are more dried and inflamed and the humours ferment more For the same reason Galen 1. ad Glauc 14. says that Bleeding is to be feared in climates that are excessive hot He teaches the same 11. meth 4. especially if the Blood be little and the choler very much for though the humours flow out promiscuously and abide in the same proportion in the vessels there follows an evident harm without benefit because a great deal of Blood is let out for a small quantity of choler and the vertue that ought to rule the bilious humour is dissolved which humour being no longer under Natures government does thereupon ferment and putrefie But Avicen's opinion is to be understood when the bilious humour is either in the first region of the Body or in its Ambitus or surface For the Veins being emptied by Bleeding instead of the Blood that is let forth they snatch the bilious humour out of the first region of the Body or from its habit by the admission whereof the Mass of Blood is defiled and made more acrimonious In which câse Bleeding cools not but heats and Purging should be used instead of it or at least go before it Thus Hippocrates and Galen 4. acut 1. admonish us that continual Fevers are caused through the Veins being drained in the Summer time and drawing acrimonious humours to them And 1. Epid. 2. comm 20. he says that Tertians spring from choler heaped up in the genus carnosum or fleshy parts For then when there is a Cacochymy in the habit of the Body the Veins being emptied and dried through heat are yet further emptied by letting Blood and by the attraction of acrimonious ichors the heat becomes unbridled and the choler effervesces with fear lest the raging choler Zacut. princ med hist 63. lib. 1. being thin and hot should by its restless motion come to fall upon some principal part c. VII When the Blood it self is redundant it is most powerfully and quickly lessened by Venesection which benefit one shall in vain expect therefrom in the redundance of other humours For though by Bleeding the Serum be lessened in the Body together with the rest of the Blood yet it is not lessened in that respect that it abounds Now the Serum is said to be redundant in the Body when there is more of it generated and heaped up therein than its natural proportion with the rest of the Blood requires Therefore when Serum is to be lessened we must not think that it matters not though the Blood be diminished withal whose proportion is then changed and indeed so that we should rather wish that the other parts of the Blood besides the Serum Sylv. de le Boe Append tract 6. §. 156 seqq could be increased than that they should be lessened together with the Serum VIII Blood is esteemed the greatest darling of Nature by whose help she performs all her operations and which we can hardly withdraw
which being hot and moist hath an analogy with the Air below this is Melancholy which being of an Earthy nature descends to the lowest place by its weight Phlegm which resembles the nature of water they say is mixed with Melancholy as Water is easily mixed with Earth Besides they say that the said humours do yet more betray themselves by their colour especially Blood and Melancholy The manifest token of the former is a splendid redness and of the latter a blackish colour Indeed those who think thus do notably accommodate these phaenomena to their Hypotheses But from what has been said it is evident that the uppermost part of the Blood is red because it is very quickly cooled and is more immediately affected by the pulse of the Air and that the lowest is blackish because it is cooled by degrees and the Air acts only remotely upon it Wherefore it depends on the pleasure of the Surgeon whether all the Blood that is poured forth of any Vein shall look intensely red or no for so it will look if it be received in a wide Bason but blackish if in a narrow and deep Vessel or if it be set to coagulate in a warm place Thus Blood may be accounted almost all of it Melancholy or all of it Blood in specie so called as it cools on this or that manner Therefore it is a weak argument that is taken from the colour of the different parts of the Blood cooled in a Vessel Idem See below §. 21. to prove that its elements are the four vulgar humours XVI Nor may we always from the colour being changed infer that the substance is changed or corrupted for we see many Bodies change colour without any sensible detriment to their chief faculties seeing they put forth the same actions as before and with the same strength But in Heterogeneous Liquors there can hardly be induced a colour much different from what they use to have but they must undergo a great change especially if they be of the kind of those that are very easily alter'd through the mutual action of the parts that constitute them whether those parts be determin'd to act upon their fellows by external agents or be stirred up to divorce by the mixture of extraneous Bodies by which ways both Blood and Milk are very easily changed suffering on this side divers Secretions and on that Concretions of their constituent parts Hither does that retire that is thin and more fluid and there does that coagulate which is more thick All which things can hardly happen but there must be some change in colour and hardly can Blood undergo such a change but these things preceded Wherefore one would think that the colour of the Blood might shew whether and how great its putrefaction is Moreover a livid or black colour both in the Blood and in the Flesh signifies that there is a putrefaction a growing or already grown therein as we may observe in a Gangrene and Mortification And though Pus or Matter be the offspring of the Blood or Flesh putrefying in a certain manner yet they are not changed into Pus till they have past into a sublivid Sanies Putrefaction consists in the dissolution of the parts from one another so as that they fall asunder or be very ready so to do Putrefaction I mean properly so called which is in the Bodies of Animals Such dissolution of the parts is necessarily accompanied with blackness the parts being dissipated that reflect the light more strongly and plentifully or being however become softer Therefore when the Blood looks black not only in the bottom of the Vessel for the reasons given in the preceding Paragraphs but also in the very surface where through its proper constitution from the sudden cooling and appulse of the Air it ought to be red 't is a certain sign that there is some putrefaction in it If the Blood be not only black but also do not coagulate it signifies that the putrefaction is diffused through the whole Mass the Fibres being corrupted by which the Blood should curdle If the Blood look red in its surface in one place and in another incline to livid if here it look palish and there yellowish c. it is a sign there is a great disposition to putrefaction For that variety of colours cannot happen unless many and Foreign and diverse things be mixed with the Mass of Blood which whilst they act upon one another corrupt the Mass of Blood There are innumerable things to be inquired concerning the colour and consistence of the Blood the knowledge whereof is greatly necessary for the knowing of diseases and Morbifick causes Idem probl 6. XVII When in Venesection the Blood that runs forth is received into Water that part that gives redness to the whole Mass is separated from the rest and mixt with the Water and the remainder or a great part of it for the most part grows together into whitish Fibres Some think that what is Phlegmatick in the Blood or Phlegm it self passes into such Fibres It cannot be denied but Phlegm is always mixed with the Blood seeing even in the healthful something of Phlegm does continually destil from the Brain upon the Fauces and from thence into the Stomach But I can hardly be brought to believe that the Filaments that grow together in the Water are mere Phlegm but I should rather think that it is that part of the Blood which was ready to pass into the substance of the solid parts for both of these are white And it is an argument hereof that such as have more and more firm Flesh and a more robust Body in the same is the Fibrous part of the Blood the more plentiful And in the lean whose Blood is more acrimonious or corrupted there are fewer of those Fibres Therefore from those whitish Fibres it cannot be inferred that the Blood is Phlegmatick but that it has a greater or lesser consistence accordingly as these Fibres abound more or less Besides from the colour of the Fibres it may be inferred whether the Blood incline to a Cholerick Phlegmatick or Melancholick constitution Thus heretofore Hippocrates knew by the rags of a menstruous Woman having first wiped away the red part of the Blood whether the Blood were bilious Idem probl 7. c. XVIII I do not think that snivel which sometimes swims a top of the Red Blood is always excrementitious Phlegm but rather the crude part of the Blood elaborated from the chyle but not as yet concocted enough nor brought to that perfection it ought to have but wants to be perfected by the repeated circulation of the Blood Aristotle himself calls that Muccago or Snivel the crude and unconcocted part of the Blood Harvey lib. de generat animal p. 319. says that that part is found in the more hot and robust Animals as Horses Oxen and Men also of a vivid constitution and swims a top like Hartshorn gelly or the white of an
might break some inward Vein or some inflammation might invade the agitated parts or the restless straining to Vomit and the Fever might so grow upon him that afterwards there might be no place for remedies I therefore order him to Bleed presently to fifteen ounces which remedy proved so seasonable and effectual that the provocation to Vomit ceased even while the Blood was a running and the fever abated and declining by degrees was quite cured on the seventh day I did thus not only on the day of the exarcerbation but also in the very hour of the greatest affliction The like I did in the siege of Rochel in many up and down in the Army that were ill of a very violent and greatly putrid Fever yea that was somewhat pestilential Of all which Patients of mine not one died that used Venesection Wherefore to return I say again that Bleeding is a most effectual remedy when the disease is urgent where the end is suspected Whither belongeth that of Celsus lib. 2. c. 10. Blood ought to be let when any one is strangled with a Quinsie and when the foregoing fit of an Ague almost killed the Patient and 't is probable the next may be as bad and the strength of the Patient seems not able to sustain it Which ought to be understood both of an intermitting and continual Fever that has exacerbations for this ought to be done in both and in any other disease save where there are no hopes of recovery wherein there is greater suspicion that it will grow to a greater height than decline And that is the whole time of the vigor or state according to Physicians whilst the disease for some space of time seems to maintain an equal combat with the strength of the Body not but that it is either increased in it self or in some regard diminished but it is unknown to us LVII And shall this remedy be thought unprofitable in the declensions of diseases Some have thought it to be so for this reason That nature can overcome the residue that is less if she could lessen that which was greater in the state of the disease That indeed has for the most part been observed yet often also it is false according to that of Hippocrates Those things which are left in diseases use to cause relapses Some say here that these reliques of diseases ought not to be taken away by Bleeding but Purging but I am of the contrary opinion Leon Botal l. de cur per s m. c. 22. namely rather the former way than the latter yet not in all diseases but in very many See the reasons § 29. of this chapter LVIII If it happen that there be a great necessity for Bleeding but the strength be very languid from the beginning of the disease to the very state and Bleeding were neglected at the beginning What is to be done in such a case We must know that before all things the feebleness of the strength is to be consider'd whether it arise from oppression or from resolution If the strength be oppressed seeing it suffers nothing in its own nature we must not omit to Bleed though we did omit it in the beginning On which account Hippocrates 4. de rat vict in Acut. and Galen in commentar admonish us to let Blood in the case of the intercepting of the Blood and shutting of the Veins But if the strength be resolved and suffer as to 't is essence I had rather with Sennertus de febr follow Galen in this case who persuades us to omit those remedies that may cast down the strength of the Body and get the Physician an ill fame and to use prognosticks rather than by a doubtful remedy to take away the remainders of the strength with the life For it is contrary to all method of cure to exhaust more the vital spirits which are already exhausted And we consult more for the dignity of Physick Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 13. if in such a case we insist upon comforting things and expect a convenient time for Venesection LIX In the progress of diseases especially Fevers that there is no place for Venesection is determin'd by Joubertus 1. Because of aphor 23. 2. In the beginning of diseases if any thing seem to be moved move it then which Galen also understands of Phlebotomy 2. There is no place for it where Purging is most required but seeing as the disease proceeds the febrile intemperies does daily corrupt the Blood and seeing it makes it feculent serous and ill coloured it becomes clear that purging is rather required 3. The strength being brought down by such a taint of the Blood and the continuance of the disease does dissuade from it And let us suppose that the tainted or infected Blood is also evacuated by Venesection yet this will not be with fruit because the good Blood is diminished with the offending humours On the contrary Gaudinus often Bleeds in the progress of the disease 1. Because the Cacochymy which a febrile intemperies introduceth upon the Blood when the Fever is vigorous has always a preternatural heat which is not only alter'd by Venesection but a good part also of the offending matter evacuated 2. As often as the faults of crudity shew themselves and there are new putrefactions if the Patient be not very weak Blood is conveniently taken away And though in the progress of the disease it be done a second or a third time it is neither unseasonable nor unreasonable 3. Is it not true in all Venesection that all things are moved inwards all places are made more open and all the humours better scattered which things are of great moment for the cure of Fevers 4. If for the sake of a Cacochymy Blood be withdrawn in the beginning why not also in the progress of the disease These things being laid down Gaudinus concludes that in each Plethora the mother of Fevers if the strength consent 't is profitable in the beginning of the disease to withdraw that which is shut up in the coction of the Blood and that not once but a Second and a Third time more largely in that Plethora which is such with respect to the Vessels more sparingly in the other which is burthensome and offensive to the strength and in both again more sparingly in the augment of the disease and more largely on the first days thereof And a little after Seeing there are many kinds of Cacochymy Purging is a proper and an accommodate remedy for them all whereby the impurity is withdrawn and evacuated sooner and more easily or slower and more hardly accordingly as the parts of the body are situated Yet in a Cacochymy of the Veins Blood is let for many reasons yet so as that what is not drawn forth by Venesection be drawn forth by Purging Here I will only mention a febrile Cacochymy which is far more profitably taken away by Bleeding again and again than by Purging because either all of it is drawn forth or
is to be forced to Bleed but if he cannot be brought to it having pronounced the danger of neglect 't is safer for cooling of the Fever to satisfie the indication in some measure with Leeches and Cupping-glasses with scarification and if he will not admit of these then 't is best to go away and do nothing at all But in other Diseases where the necessity of one or other is equal we must perform that which the Patient shall choose but unless you use either purging or Bleeding first we cannot provoke sweat or urine without hurt for those do not excuse the necessity of purging or Bleeding But in such as are let Blood for a pain fall or blow we may safely provoke sweat instead of Bleeding which Nature of her own accord uses to do with great relief But when there is need of both Remedies and the Patient refuseth both the difficulty is greater we must then follow Aëtius's counsel l. 3. s 4. c. 17. Some are so fearful and extremely soft that they cannot endure the name of either Bleeding or Purging It were not only better but also more fortunate never to meet with any such And yet if we be forced to take care of such Patients we ought to predict that they will be long troubled with pains watchings rackings of the Joints especially if the influx of the Blood be thick and much Therefore abstinence is to be injoyned indifferent strong Clysters are to be injected things are to be applied to the Navel Mercat ibid. cap. 7. and when the Belly is loosened we must use discussing ointments and frictions c. Galen 4. de san tuend c. 4. says thus If any either through age or fearfulness will by no means yield to be bled the same must be more largely purged or if he be afraid of that also what is superfluous must be drawn forth some other way From which it is clear that where the Disease requires Bleeding if the strength cannot bear it or because of age or for some other reason we may not undertake it then we must use purging which may evacuate Choler Melancholy and Phlegm for 't is better that Blood alone should superabound than that the other Humours should do so as well as it And moreover part of the plenitude is taken away by purging and the Humours are more readily ventilated But if the Disease depend both on a plethora and Câcochymie for this the Belly is to be purged more freely than it would need if we had leave to open a vein Zacut. Pr. Hist p. 569. namely that purging alone may supply the place of both evacuations ¶ If phlebotomie cannot be made whether can purgation alone or spareness of Diet or exercise frictions or sweating supply its place I believe its place may be supplied if there be no Fever present Riolan in Ench. Augen tom 1. Epistol p. 77. especially by such things as exhaust the Serum out of the Veins for by this means the Veins being emptied the rest of the Body may be extenuated and this foreign Nations do which are afraid of Bleeding LXIX Two things hinder a Cacochymie from being easily taken away by purging The one when the Body is not liquid and fit for expulsion The other when the noxious Humour tends not at all towards the ways of purging That Body is not liquid wherein the noxious Humour is immoderately thick or viscous and not at all fluxile or wherein there is so great an obstruction of the Liver or lower Veins that there is hardly a way open by which the Humour can be derived out of the Veins by the Belly In such case therefore the noxious Humour that is shut up is to be taken away by Venesection lest being turgent there with fury as it were and intercepted in the passages it should break in upon some noble part and fasten it self there The other impediment of purging a Cacochymie is when the part affected is seated so far from the ways of purgation that the noxious Humour cannot be dissolved and derived into them in which event and condition of things a large and apparent Vein is directed which shall be opened if the greatness of the Disease and symptom persuade Feânel lib. ratione de vacuandi ratione So if a phlegmatick destillation rushing upon the fauces or Lungs be like to suffocate it is taken away by venesection ¶ 'T is more convenient to use Bleeding before Purging than this before that for this loosens the wayes which the Body needs very much in order to its being purged the other weakens the strength than which there is nothing more dangerous in order to bleeding Again impurity resists not bleeding but repletion hinders purging Therefore 't is more unprofitable to let Blood that is already purged than before it was purged unless it happen that by the purging there is raised a new heat in the viscera which chiefly falls out when a sufficient bleeding did not precede for then nothing is more adviseable than to bleed after purging Otherwise when there is need of both evacuations bleeding must precede for the aforesaid reasons Whence again it comes to pass that bleeding alone does oftener perform the cure than purging alone namely because that evacuation is the first in order and it is more natural that that which is latter should succeed that which is first than that which is first that which is latter Therefore upon bleeding the Body is often Purged on Nature's own accord either by a Loosness Vomit or Sweat following thereupon But upon purging the Body there seldom uses to follow a flux of Blood unless sometimes the menstruous Valles m. m. l. 2. c. 3. nay neither can the Body be well purged when the chanels are full ¶ It is manifest indeed that in every kind of repletion of the Vessels especially a Plethorick if we first evacuate the Body by bleeding the Purge that we give afterwards shall find the Veins and Passages of the Body not so filled and obstructed but that its vertue by the guidance of Nature may penetrate through the whole bulk of the Body and with great easiness bring forth the noxious Humours But if the Vessels be filled with Blood or other Humours and the Veins about the Liver and Mesenterie be obstructed the Purge will cause intolerable Gripings and Faintings and will pull the Veins indeed but draw nothing therefrom worth speaking of Wherefore Hippocrates in almost all acute Diseases 4. acut wherein the Humours are not turgent in a Phlegmon and other internal Tumors and Apostems of the viscera and in such Diseases as have all the Humours increased in an equal proportion begins the cure with venesection if the Strength and Age of the Patient give leave But if only one of those Humours abound or be putrefied or there be but a small quantity of good Blood and it be overcome by the plenty of other Humours then he begins evacuation first with purging In the
could never be stanched by any Remedies no not by a Cautery it self but the Patient died of it Idem Obs 66. XI Scarification in general is very much suspected by some whence also Grembs in Arb. ru in t l. 3. c. 1. § 48. disallows of Scarification pretending that a no small hindrance of long life is the bad custom of Venesection and Scarification which hath so prevailed that in some Families they use Scarifications once a Month and Venesection twice a year whereby they lavishly spend the treasure of life But experience says the contrary for some may be found of Sixty yea I have known some of Seventy that even from their Childhood have used this Remedy without hurt Nor is that true That he who has once scarified must necessarily continue it all his life long unless he will precipitate himself into danger of his life I knew one sayes D. Mabius that when he was a Boy of about Eight years old being subject to frequent Ophthalmies and Fluxions upon his Eyes by the advice of a skilful Physician used Scarifications twice a Month till he was Ten years old with good Success And when these Diseases ceased he left off the Scarifications also without falling into any Disease Fr. Hofman m. m. l. 1. c. 18. and is still alive and healthful and sprightly XII There arise a great many Veins from the Loins which you cannot plainly see unless you cut the Skin from that Part wherefore Scarifications of the Loins are very good to revell from the upper Parts and in some Countreys those Veins are opened if they appear to the Phlebotomist Riolan Anthropogr l. 2. c. 6. if we will believe Platerus in his Anatomy XIII We must not make incision with too sharp a Launcet which a Surgeon once doing in a Boy thinking that by that means he should do it with the less Pain caused a great Convulsion for often either the Membranes under the Skin or the Nerves are hurt besides that the thick Blood is not evacuated thereby but only the thin as Hippocrates lib. de Medico teacheth who for that reason bids us use Launcets that are crooked at the end and not very narrow yea sometimes serous and sanious Humours become viscid and thick whence there is danger they should stay in the too narrow gashes That the Scarification should be made by drawing the Knife along and not by stabbing it in Rubeus in Celsum lib. 2. c. 11. Experience shews and Reason perswades XIV 'T is certain that in foul and Cacochymical Bodies there are often raised malignant Defluxions upon several Parts I order'd dry Cupping-glasses to be applied to the Buttocks and Back of one infected with the Pox for a cruel pain in his Head which having done one by the Loins grew into so great a bulk that for the Tumour and great redness he that made the Application was forced without my advice to Scarifie it But he could never heal up the Ulcer yea a virulent Humour flowing out by it and Blisters full of black Blood being raised there arose a Gangrene spreading deep upon the Spine Zacut. Prax. admir l. 3. Obs 67. and thereupon Convulsions all which brought the man to his end Spleneticks The Contents They respect either acid sowr Humours I. Or the acrimonious saline lixivial II. Or the tartareous and viscid Phlegmatick sliminess of the Blood III. How Steel-remedies profit the Hypochondriacal IV. They profit not all alike I. Volatils often hurt V. Acids are often beneficial VI. The Spleen requires strong Aperitives VII How Steel remedies are to be used VIII I. AS the Liver does more dispense the Sulphur of the Blood so does the Spleen its salt and serum Now Spleneticks and Hepaticks are good together and they are commonly one and the same hence likewise Aperitives chiefly belong hither Spleneticks respect either I. acid austere humours that fix the Blood and induce Melancholy Dullness c. such as are 1. all aqueous diluting and mitigating Remedies chiefly Nitrous Medicinal Waters Whey which besides their Salts borrow the greatest part of their vertues from their watry Particles 2. Gentle aromatick and bitter things ranked under Hepaticks 3. Fixt Lixivials and volatâl Alkali's thus the Salt of Wormwood of Centaury the tincture of Tartar Spirit of Sal Armoniack Antiscorbutick Plants c. belong hither For as those acid Humours concentrate and fix the Blood so these very volatil Saline and Sulphureous do set at liberty subtilize and volatilize it so that from that Lye that it was reduc'd unto it is again invigorated 4. Earthy Medicines coming towards the nature of Alkali's and Resolvents Thus Helmont extols Crabs Eyes boiled in Wine and that have acquired a lixivial taste Thus also Glauber affirms that the Powder of Corals does profit the Hypochondriacal only because they absorb an acid thus the filings of Steel even taken in substance profit And hence also as good as all and a Panacea of the Hypochondriacal are 5. Steel-remedies the reason of whose action is no other than that by absorbing they invert saturate sweeten and render profitable those acid Humours No otherwise than as aqua fortis and acid Spirits being poured on Steel grow sweet their Particles being blunted and turning to Vitriol These very Remedies are profitable on this account in Hypochrondriack Melancholy in Pains of the Hypochondres Cachexie the beginning of a Dropsie Scurvy palpitation of the Heart Swooning c. Vitriolate Remedies themselves belong hither also both those which are originally such and chiefly those which are regenerated of Steel as Vitriolum Martis c. which after their manner do also absorb strengthen and saturate also acid pontick Humours II. Or 2. Acrimonious saline lixivial humours whether they be more eminent apart or concur in Predominancy with acids And such Remedies indeed besides watry diluents which are common as it were consist of 1. Acids in regard they fix as it were the volatility of the serum and are profitable in the too great Hemorrhagies of the Cachectick and Scorbutick as by these means I have cured some that have been so affected 2. Austere Remedies which do concentrate the same as it were and hinder a too great rarefaction as the anti-phthisical tincture of Grammanus styptick Powders c. and they are good when the Serum is too fluxile in colliquative Fluxes immoderate Sweats in which case there is sometimes place also for Opiats 3. Earthy things inasmuch as these also absorb and precipitate as has been explained elsewhere Among Spleneticks Ceterach or Spleenwort c. are good as in other cases so in inflammations anxieties and pains at the Stomach c. of the Hypochondriacal III. Or 3. the tartareous and viscid Phlegmatick ââiminess of the Blood immersed in a greater or lesser quantity of serum such as are chiefly 1. Acids Whence it is not unreasonable to think that even mineral acid Spirits do sometimes much if not all in curing the Hypochondriacal affection for they
and that Galen is to be understood of that which is soft and gentle XVII When the Blood stagnates and stops in its Vessels motion is most happily procured to it by Sudorificks sometimes by Venesection by the help of those the Blood is not only made more fluid and moveable but the same is moreover actually moved and more and more rarefied by the volatil Salt that is in them and by its stay alone does by degrees loose the Blood more or less concreted by its own acid Spirit and therefore agitates it Whence a more frequent and greater pulse uses to be the companion of sweat for whilst the volatil Salt of Sudorificks arrives at the right ventricle of the heart and the Blood there becomes more rare and does not only of its own accord seek an exit for it self but by further widening the ventricle of the Heart it excites the same to both a more frequent and stronger contraction of it self Sylv. de le Boë pract l. 1. c. 34. §. 29. and therefore moves the Blood more that before was somewhat deficient in its motion and promotes its course every way from the Heart XVIII Not only Medicines taken inwardly yea and hot drink drunk freely provoke sweat but many external things also Thus the air alone heated by art and making a dry bath in a stove or sitting by a good fire powerfully draw forth sweat and when a watry humidity is redundant in the Body it is driven forth by sweat this way easily and happily enough but so is not a sowr or acid or Salt Muriatick Humour though a glutinous Humour may thus also be both attenuated and expelled by sweat if so be it be continued long enough lest the same Humour being dissolved by the fire and driven all about be again coagulated in the capillary Vessels and there breed obstructions and many mischiefs that follow thereupon Idem m m. l. 1. c. 11. § 27. XIX Bezoardicum minerale is prepared of the Butter of Antimony by pouring thereon the Spirit of Nitre or aqua Stygia Where it is to be observed that whilst these two liquors are mixed together the Salts meeting by and by with one another are strictly combined and in the mean time the Sulphureous particles which are in great plenty being utterly excluded fly away carrying some saline Bodies with them raise an heat and very stinking smoak these being driven away the saline that are left are more strictly combined with some earthy ones of the Antimony and at length having undergone the fire that the Emetick Sulphur may wholly exhale and the corrosive stings of the Salts may be destroyed they make an excellent Diaphoretick inasmuch namely as the different Salts of the Medicine do meet with the Salts of our Body with which being joined the compages of the Blood and Humours are loosened Willis âharm rat p. m. 208. so that there lies open a free passage to the serous recrement The dose is from a scruple to a drachm XX. Though a certain preparation of Antimony be called Diaphoretick I know not to what sort of its particles this vertue can be attributed and I have often in vain expected such an effect from this Medicine It is often profitably given to stay fluxions of the Serum or Blood because this earth being deprived of its proper Salts does imbibe strange acid Salts which it meets with by chance in the Body which kind of vertue Crocus Martis prepared by a reverberatory fire seems to obtain from the like cause XXI Antimonium diaphoreticum is rightly given with the species de hyacintho pulvis ruber Pannonicus and others for the promoting of expulsion But we must note that it ought to be rightly and newly prepared for as it grows old it returns to its own Nature and Emetick vertue Wherefore I advise never to mix Antimony with those Powders but at the time when you are about to use them Ign. Franc. Thiermair cons l. 1. c. 7. for till then 't is best to keep them apart XXII Let Physicians be mindful that those who are engaged in a Diet of Guaiacum if they be not Purged every 8th or 10th day and unless they go to stool every day once Heer de Acidulis p. 100. do incur very grievous Symptoms XXIII Most now esteem that Paradox for truth that Decoctions of Guaiacum Sarsa Sassafras China and the like make People fat Which Horat. Guargantius in his resp medic p. 235. thus explains These Decoctions do attenuate indeed and dry up naughty and excrementitious Humours but leave the good and profitable untoucht Therefore they bring no hurt to the wasted and emaciated For seeing leanness and a fleshless habit proceed from bad nutrition and bad nutrition from acrimonious and salt Humours which consume the sweet and profitable Blood and hinder the Fat from being agglutinated therefore it follows that when those vitious juices are consumed by the foresaid Decoctions the Body is of course rightly nourished and fatned Thus far Guargantius Arcaeus's way of curing Phthisical People by a Decoction of the Wood is well known whereby he affirms they are not only hurt but also grow fleshy XXIV There are some who with an hydrotick Decoction give a Bolus of Turpentine and Ground-Ivy c. but I like not the raising of two motions at the same time therefore rather make a Bolus of the powder of Harts-horn Fortis Cent. 1. Cons 65. Vipers and some appropriate Salt XXV Besides Opium Salts promote Sweat namely by their fusory quality but 't is necessary they should be depurated whence common Salt and sal gemmae promote it not at all All Herbs that contain much Salt in them drive forth also much sweat as Wormwood Carduus bened being given in a sufficient Dose XXVI It is an error of the Moderns to use Decoctions with water for fluxions seeing it is clear that whatsoever Remedies are taken under the form of drink though they be of a dry Nature yet they alwayes increase moisture in the Body especially if they be taken at Meals Now I guess that the Physicians our predecessors were deceived by the Diet that uses to be prescribed to them who use hydrotick Decoctions Who having observed that some troubled with long continued destillations were cured thereof by a Decoction of Guaiacum or sarsaparilla or the like which they had taken for the cure of the French Pox brought in Decoctions of drying Woods and Roots which had not at all been used for this purpose before for the cure of Destillations and the cure succeeded happily as long as they observed that exact Diet of thoroughly-baked Bread or Bisket with Raisins limited to a certain quantity and wholly abstain'd from drinking of Wine But after that our Physicians indulging the complaints of their Patients began to allow them Flesh Eggs and Wine it has been seldom observed that Destillations have been cured by these Decoctions which is an evident argument that the Catarrhs were cured
out of the Pores and Glandules of the Skin partly out of the mouths of the Arteries and partly out of the ends of the nervous Fibres perhaps out of the mouths of the Veins a little of that juice that is newly received into them but it does not seem that much can be sent back again 1. The Skin which consists of a double coat very porous and is likewise thick beset with very numerous Glands with fat also with the ends of the Vessels and Fibres that terminate in it and are variously woven with one another wherefore when the cuticle is taken off by a Vesicatory and the true Skin lies bare the nervous Fibres being twitched do constringe and wring the Glandules and Pores so that the serous Humour contained in them both is plentifully squeezed forth Moreover seeing the Pores open one into another the serum flows not only out of the blistered Part but sometimes a portion of the Serum coming from the neighbouring Parts succeeds in the Pores that were first emptied and then by and by issues forth Wherefore in the Dropsie called Anasarca Blisters raised by a Vesicatory drain the water from all about in great plenty and draw it forth from all the neighbourhood yea sometimes from afar 2. The mouths of the Arteries about the blistered Part being uncovered and twitched do not only spue out that portion of Serum that is accustomably brought to them but the serous Humour being through the whole mass of Blood imbued with the Stimuli of the Medicine is thenceforward separated more plentifully from the Blood and every time it circulates with the Blood a greater quantity of it is cast off by the same mouth of the Arteries being continually irritated Moreover together with the serum sent thus from the whole mass of Blood to the Blisters other Recrements and sometimes the morbifick matter it self do plentifully separate therefrom also and are sent off through the same Emissaries and this is the reason why in malignant Fevers yea in all putrid ones that have difficult Crises when the Recrements and Corruptions of the Blood being unfit for excretion threaten the Heart or Brain Vesicatories which continually and by degrees drain them forth do often notably relieve To which add that the same do moreover alter and restore the Blood degenerous or depraved as to its Salts yea by opening or subtilizing its compages dispose it to an eucrasie Wherefore this kind of Remedy is often very profitable not only in a febrile state of the Blood but also when it is otherwise vitious or cacochymical 3. That Vesicatories do evacuate a certain Humour out of the Nerves and nervous fibres and therefore profit in Spasmodick or Convulsive Maladies is witnessed both by Reason and Experience For I have shewn in another place that the liquor that waters the Brain and genus nervosum does sometimes abound with heterogeneous Particles Moreover it appears by frequent and familiar Observation that the impurities and recrements of that liquor together with a watry latex do sometimes of their own accord upon the arising of a fluor sweat out of the Nerves and nervous Fibres and either restagnating into the mass of Blood are carried off by Urine or Sweat or being deposited into the Cavities of the viscera are sent forth by Vomit or Stool Wherefore when by the application of a Vesicatory the extremities of the Nerves and nervous Fibres are any where laid bare and are greatly irritated presently the Humour that flows in their extremities is spued out yea and therefore the whole latex though seated a great way off in their Ducts is both freed from its stagnation and withal the heterogeneous Particles mixt with that nervous latex being every where agitated and derived from the Brain do by degrees glide towards the newly open'd Emissary Willis and at length are sent out II. From what has been said we may gather for the curing of what Diseases this kind of Remedy is chiefly profitable for through the evacuation that it makes out of the Pores and Glandules of the Skin as often as a serous salt acrimonious or otherwise mischievous Humour is collected in these Parts or in their neighbourhood and being excluded from the circulation of the Blood sticks pertinaciously there there is certainly no readier or easier way of draining it forth than by applying a Vesicatory above or below the Part affected Wherefore a Vesicatory is not only indicated by an Anasarca and by all defilements or eruptions of the Skin whatsoever but moreover is required in Pains whether arthritical or scorbutical fixed any where in the outer habit of the Body or in any member 2. In respect of the Blood which wants both to be leisurely cleared from any heterogeneous and morbifick matter and also to be alter'd from its too acid or salt or otherwise vitiated condition into a right temper Vesicatories are always made use of in malignant Fevers yea they are of excellent use in all putrid malignant Fevers and which are of a difficult Crisis Therefore likewise in the Scurvy Leucophlegmatia Green-sickness and also in every other Cacochymie is this kind of Remedy very profitable Moreover Vesicatories are applied with good effect not only for amending of the Blood it self but also as often as it being depraved does impart its corruptions to other Parts and so is the first cause of Diseases in the Head Breast Belly or Members and raises their Paroxysms Wherefore in Head achs Vertigo or sleepy Distempers this is a common and vulgar Remedy and no less in a Catarrh and any defluxion whether into the Eyes Nose Palate or Lungs does every one even of the vulgar without advising with a Physician prescribe Cantharides for himself as a revulsory Remedy I confess that many times when I have been taken with a cruel Cough with a great deal of thick Phlegm to which I am originally subject I have been helped by nothing more than by Vesicatories and therefore I am wont while the Disease is strong upon me first to apply Blisters upon the vertebrae of the Neck when those are healed up then behind the Ears and afterwards if it shall seem needful upon the Shoulder-blades for so the serous illuvies issuing out of the too much loosened compages of the Blood is derived from the Lungs and moreover the mixture of the Blood in regard its irregular Salts are destroyed by this means does sooner recover its Crasis 3. In respect of the Humour which is to be evacuated or derived out of the genus nervosum and the Brain it self Epispasticks as they are of very common use so they are often wont to give the greatest relief in sleepy Convulsive and painful Diseases Was ever any taken with a Lethargy Apoplexy or Epilepsie but presently those about him claw'd his Skin off with Cantharides I have successfully applied large Vesicatories in several Parts of the Body at once in strange Convulsive motions and now and then changing their places have continued repeating
to six Horstius observed that in the adult it may safely be given to an Ounce See his Seventh Book of Observations Obs 30. XXXIV I remember that I have read that white Vitriol was prescribed by Heurnius to two Grains but that does nothing Walaeus it must be taken to half a Scruple twelve or sixteen Grains XXXV If much filth load the Bowels especially the Stomach gentle Vomits with aqua benedicta are to be prescribed for it has this peculiar vertue that it not only throws out the filth bur also instigates the Stomach to Concoction whence after the use of aqua benedicta we always observe the appetite even though buried as it were for a long time Hartman Pr. chym p. 185. to be revoked and increased XXXVI When a Disease yields not to the vertue of Antimony white Hellebore is called in to assist if the Patient be strong Herophilus compared it to a valiant Captain for having mustered all within he said it marches first out Heurn Meth. med lib. 2. c. 21. where he delivers divers Preparations of it amongst which he extols the Electuary and divers cautions in giving it that therefore the Ancients mistook in giving it in too small a Dose seeing the more of it is given the sooner it comes forth But then it must be accurately prepared seeing as Oribasius witnesses heretofore many have been kill'd by it because they knew not how to prepare it XXXVII The same thing almost is to be corrected in Quercetan's Oxymel of Tabaco where also the quantity of the Vinegar is too great and of the Tabaco too little for the intention of raising a Vomit Therefore I think that the weight of the Tabaco ought to be doubled The Dose is two or three Spoonfuls by it felf or with some pectoral Decoction It is approved of by Horstius c. Hoefer XXXVIII In the giving of Vomits with Preparations of Vitriol Beguin tyrocin l. 2. c. 17. we must carefully take heed of an Asthma and other Diseases of the Breast XXXIX Amongst Vomitories I prefer Antimonials before all others as often as Choler chiefly offends where Phlegm abounds I commend Mercurials Sylv. Append tract 8. § 160. either alone or mixt with other things because they do above all other bring forth tough Phlegm and moreover incide it XL. Among the stronger Vomitories we use now adays is the salt of Vitriol rightly prepared of Vitriol rightly calcin'd For if the calcin'd Vitriol acquire not a dull purple colour you shall extract nothing but a Vitriol of the same colour and shall obtain no white Salt But if you exceed and so by calcining the Vitriol too much spoil it of its acid Spirits you shall not get much of that Salt out of it which will vomit Sal Martis rightly prepared of Vitriolum Martis has a better vertue Quercetan in tetradaff capit bestows on it the name of a celestial Manna A. Sala in his ternary of Vomitories commends it to the Skies Yet note from Zwelfer in Append. ad Animadv p. m. 7. that this is improperly called a Salt seeing it is nothing but the substance it self of the Vitriol separated from all impurities and metallick substance seeing 't is commonly prepared without any preceding calcination only by repeated Solutions Filtrations and Coagulations whence it ought to be called Frid. Hofman m. m. p. 112. white Vitriol vomitive and not salt of Vitriol XLI The glass of Antimony is not given safely in substance but 't is more safe to use it in infusion or by correcting it with Nitre only for the amending its noxious Nature For because it is nothing but the meer Marchasite of Lead having in it an Arsenical Mercury and an external auripigmental Sulphur certainly it is not void of all poisonous quality Idem l. 1. c. 9. XLII Dioscorides says that Vitriol causes vomiting which is to be understood of the crude for being badly prepared Chymists call it Gilla it causes a mortal vomiting and death One to empty his Stomach that was overcharged with salt Herrings took a Gilla prepared by himself and died on the same day vomiting His Stomach was found persorated in three places Henr. ab Heer 's de Acid. p. 28. excepting only the thin outmost coat to which the Gilla stuck fast and had eaten into it XLIII Salt of Vitriol is prescribed to be made divers ways viz. of an elixiviate Colcothar of a blue calcin'd and elixiviate Vitriol according to Ang. Sala and of white Vitriol purified by often solutions and coagulations which Medicine is commonly called Gilla Theophrasti and is altogether safe and easie to make Yet the two first Medicines are notably styptick and inasmuch as they have endured the fire are somewhat corrosive but the last being kindly enough does gently pull the Fibres of the Stomach and causes them somewhat to contract themselves so that for the casting off what is troublesom they are at length convuls'd and cause strainings to vomit yet such as soon pass over and the disturbance of the Stomach is allayed in a short time Salt of Vitriol is the more esteemed because it seldom gives any disturbance beyond the Stomach nor like Antimonials brings on Convulsions of the viscera and disorders of the Blood or fainting away yet it is blamed for that it works but dully and sometimes not at all so that after the taking of Vitriol and drinking a great deal of Posset-drink 't is often necessary to provoke vomiting by putting a feather down the Throat Willis Pharm rat p. 60. or by drinking Carduus Posset or oxymel of Squills XLIV Asarum is better in infusion than substance for thereby it becomes milder in Decoction its volatil vertue is more driven away whence it almost ceases to be a vomitive unless it be boiled but gently I have observed the root to be milder than the leaves A strong man died of a superpurgation that had taken a spoonful of the Powder of the leaves Idem Antidotes being given in vain XLV Divers descriptions of Rulandus's aqua benedicta go about some asfirming it to be made of crocus but that of the Author himself is the best Cent. 5. Obs 95. Take of crocus metallorum from the bigness of a Lentil to the quantity of a Pease of Water Wine Beer Mead or other Liquor proper for the Disease Gr. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 161. as much as suffices Steep it for a Night or in case of urgent necessity boil it strain it and the Dose is from half an Ounce to two Ounces XLVI But note that that crocus metallorum which I would have to be understood also of all other Antimonial Emeticks for so even the glass may be given and that made by it self without Borax is not here to be made use of that is made with the addition of Tartar but that which is made of an equal quantity of Antimony and Nitre alone whether the whole be detonated all at once
first it protracts the Cure for if such Wounds or Contusions were cured according to Art they would be well in eight or at farthest ten days though they were very large whereas these fellows scarce cure them in two or sometimes three Months Besides while they open the Wound to the Skull they endanger the Patient's life because sometimes before he is cured they must of necessity take out no small portion of his Skull it being corrupted by the open Air getting to it which otherwise had neither been corrupted nor hurt And it often happens Franciscus Arâaeus l. 1. c. 1. that not onely the Superficies but the whole Thickness of the Skull is corrupted One had a Wound in the right side of his head laid open in form of a Cross three Inches square when there was not the least sign of a Fracture whence it came to pass that not onely so much of the Skull as was laid open but a greater Portion on all sides was corrupted ¶ If it chance that upon a blow a Patient lose his Understanding with a deprivation of sense or motion unless the other symptoms enumerated by Hippocrates do also appear there is no danger of Life Marchetti obs 15. and therefore you must let alone all manner of operation as laying open and trepanning the Skull for I have seen some who having their head hurt by a fall or a blow and this Symptom onely appearing were well the next day ¶ Such a Contusion is with admirable success cured by applying the Skins of new killed Animals especially of a Dog or a Mouse for if they be applied while they are yet hot to the contused place and left on for 20 hours or more they notably discuss the Tumour I prefer a Lamb's skin being both easily come by and having as good a faculty to digest Sculterus Cattierus By this one and well experienced Remedy I have cured several children and grown persons II. There are often in children under 7 years old Contusions very like those faults we see in brass Vessels so that when the Skin is not hurt and when the Table of the Skull behind is not crackt yet that before is often hurt for the tenderness of the Bone at that age sometimes is the Cause that the Skull may be depressed and yet now and then not hurt otherwise oftentimes also that it is both hurt and broken and that the Skins encompassing the Brain are broken Lately a Boy about four years old was brought to me to be cured who had received a violent blow upon the coronal Commissure by the fall of a wooden Shutter from a Window by which blow both sides of the Bone and both the Membranes were broken and also some part of the Brain came out three several times in the process of his cure yet the Child was cured without laying open the Wound and without any loss of his Skull and he was not above twenty days under cure Now to cure such Compressions in Childrens heads there is no need of any more laying open the Wound than what is made by the blow it self And if there be no Wound made nothing must be opened no not if one certainly knew that all the Bones were hurt and broken to pieces And this will be the safest way of curing such Wounds for whatever useth to be done contrary to this method we have now mentioned it hath most certain danger The way of Cure is this if the Contusion shew no manifest Wound in the first place we use this Remedy Take Oil of Roses Chamaemil each half an ounce Oil of Myrtle one ounce the White and Yelk of an Egg with a little Bean and Barly-flower of each alike Myrtle powdered 1 ounce Mix them all into the form of a Plaster and lay it on the bruised place And the next day we use another Plaster but scrape the first clean off Take of the Dross in Beehives or of new Dreggy Wax common Honey each 1 ounce Powder of Bloud-stone Pumice-stone each 1 ounce of Cummin-seed Wormwood common Bran each 2 drachms Mix them upon the Fire and make a Plaster to be laid to the depressed place two inches broader than the place round about The efficacy of this Plaster is so wonderfull that within twelve days it raises the contused and compressed Bones and I think for this purpose there is no Medicine more effectual But if beside the Depression and Fracture of the Bone there be a Wound also it must first of all be cured with the White and Yelk of an Egg stirred together applying soft and thin Raggs Tow and Bolsters wherewith the Wound must be covered And the next day we must use the Balsam often commended by us The Wound must be gently anointed with a Feather dipt in the Balsam whose present virtue in this kind will easily be seen for it wonderfully concocts mundifies and breeds flesh but it must be melted yet not too much lest it should burn the Patient or the Medicine should lose its virtue by over-heating but this you must have a care of that you take not out one bone though it were manifest they were all broke to pieces and you must cover the wound with dry lint and press it not too much Upon this you must lay the Plaster hot that we but now described which to the great delight and admiration of him that cures sucks out all manner of Pus that is bred within and also quickly raises the compressed bones and restores them to the same state they were in by nature For I safely affirm I have frequently used this and the like method of cure Arcaeus de cur vuln l. 1. c. â and do attest that by God's blessing I have cured them of most grievous wounds III. On Saturday the 28. of February 1679. a Child about four years old the son of Mr. John Stone of Plimouth had his head crushed between the heavy end of a Field-gate so heavy that a Man could scarce lift it and a small Stone that stood above the level of the ground this stone bore against the left Bregma somewhat above the Ear opposite to which on the other side about the same distance from the Ear a pin of wood an inch square that stood out half an inch from the gate being forced by the weight of the gate made a small wound but a very great depression it bled much the Child cried a little did not faint nor convulse onely vomited two or three times I presently laid it bare and upon examination by my fingers found where this little wound was and that the Skull under it was largely depressed I shaved it and entring my Probe at the wound I found the Scalp separate from the Skull a great way and a large depression of the latter When I withdrew my Probe some of the Brain came out upon it I entred my Probe again with the eye forward and brought out as much as two pease and upon dilating it
several parcels of Brain appeared among the bloud I drest it up with Dossils dipt in Mel rosatum and Spirit of Wine made warm and covered all with a Plegent of Linimentum Arcaei I examined the rest of the Head and found on the other Bregma an Ecchymofis and under it another depression I shaved off the hair from thence also and with the same Rasor excised a piece of the Scalp as big as a shilling which laid bare the depression and fracture which was such as I could not then elevate I filled this with dossils of dry Lint covered with a plegent of Arcaeus Liniment over all laid a Plaster rolled up the Head and laid the Child who endured all with incredible courage to bed his head bolstered as high as he could well lie I gave the Father a dreadfull Prognostick and desired the assistence of Doctor Spenser That evening I gave the Child a Clyster which wrought twice or thrice I gave him something Cephalick and Diaphoretick to comfort the Brain and prevent Coagulation or other mischievous effect of the Contusion The Child slept quiet and sweat well The next morning the Child being brisk and lively the Doctor came a fomentation and all things ready he being taken up and held on a woman's Lap I cut off all the hair close to the head and opened the left wound first where we found a depression with a fracture I could not enter an Elevatory and therefore at that time left it as it was and drest it up as the day before Opening the other wound and taking out the dossils that I had laid in the day before several small portions of the Brain shewed themselves among the grumous bloud and on the dress and a prodigious piece of skull beaten in and wholly separated from the rest and which was a very ill circumstance the outward Table being broken narrower than the innermost made the deepest piece larger than the hole it had made so that at that time we could not get it out So that having cleared the part of Matter I then onely made yesterdays incision into a Cruciate we dressed him as before I rolled up his head upon a Stuphe dry wrung from the fomentation The Clyster was repeated every day for some considerable time his diet was Water grewel and Chicken broth with some proper things boiled in them his drink was sometime small bear with a tost and Nutmeg sometime his Cordial Julep The second night the Child slept indifferently well We again opened the left side and after some attempts in vain to raise the depressed Skull we strewed Cephalick powder on it and dressed it up with dry plegents of Lint as before Upon opening the other we saw again some little owzing of the Brain among the matter we now resolved to extract the piece of Skull After some little time I did it by turning it so that the narrowest part of it might come to the broadest of the Gap when holding it fast with a Crow's bill it easily came forth and left a dreadfull breach The wound on the Membranes we saw plainly with some effusion of the Brain but it happened that it was below the edge of the sound Skull so that it became succored thereby and the Child being young the Membranes more soft and apt to consolidate coalesced the sooner for after four days we saw no Brain We made our dress this time after this manner We had a good guard of hot Stuphes to defend from the air and having cleansed out the Part and smoothed the uneven edge of the Skull we dipt a Syndon that is a piece of fine cloth bigger than the extracted Skull having a thread fastened to the middle to draw it forth by into a mixture of warm Spirit of Wine Honey of Roses and Balsam of Peru and with a Probe thrust the edge of it between the Skull and Dura Mater Upon it was strewed Cephalick Powder covered with dry Lint Then I snipt off the lips of the Cruciat and laying on a plegent armed with Arcaeus Liniment rowled him up This day we ordered Tinctura Ambrae Griseae in his Cordial six or eight drops at a time as there appeared need The next day being the fourth from his hurt we found he had had a good night I shaved the whole head anointed with a Cephalick balsamous liniment and laid on a Plaster of equal parts of Opodeldoch and Empl. de Betonica then dressed the wounds as before and covered them with Plasters made of equal parts of Diapalma and de Betonica The Skull scaled but slowly as is usual in Children therefore towards the end we used more drying Cephalick Powders than ordinary to prevent a fungus and quicken desquammation mixing Guaiacum Bark in Powder The Dura Mater united in four or five days the unition was confirmed so as we used digestives after five more digestion was procured in a week after And in about six weeks from the first dress the Skull scaled the flesh grew up from the Dura Mater and under the scalings of the Skull and became level with the skin it would sometimes be exuberant and soft or spongy before it could be cicatrized a gentle touch of Roman Vitriol and sometimes strewing prepared Lapis Calaminaris thereon shrank it up and cicatrized the lest wound in seven weeks but the right remained three months For it was not onely difficult to make a final deficcation thereof because of the moisture gleeting from within the Cranium but necessary to delay it that the matter might discharge itself as it gradually decreased James Yonge Wounds of the Brain proved curable In performing this last part I used a very desiccative Sparadrap Plaster that is made by dipping cloths in it when relented which being laid double served not onely as a desiccative and a defender from confluxion by its gentle adstringency but by its stubbornness and strength defended the part from hurt by blows falling and such other accidents as Children are liable to IV. The depression of the Skull has been cured in several by setting a Cupping-glass with much flame upon the Depression after once or twice being let Bloud sometimes with incision and much scarification and sometimes without them A certain man was struck with a stone on the left side of the head and was left for dead bloud came out at his mouth and nose he could scarce speak or open his eyes If one pressed the depressed part of his skull a little with ones finger he was troubled with a reaching to vomit I ordered him to be shaved and a large Cupping-glass to be applied with much flame which though it was set on the sound and solid parts put the Patient to much pain After the Cupping-glass was taken off and incision made upon the part affected and the Cupping-glass was applied again he found great ease and his pain was over after which he began to speak D. Des Grand Pres. Observ 3. apud Riverium and knew
him to use moderate Exercise and to take the open Air He drank now and then some cooling pectoral Ptisan These little things were sufficient both to conquer the Cough and the Fever and to prevent other Symptoms For as by abstaining from flesh and spirituous Liquours and also by the use of cooling things the bloud was so contempered as to be less apt for a febrile Impression so also by the help of Exercise the hot Effluvia of the Bloud which when the Pores of the Body were stopt by sudden Cold being driven inwards raised a Cough did more opportunely exhale and were dispersed to the Patient 's great benefit As for stopping of the Cough danger was not wanting in attempting it by Narcoticks and Anodynes Nor was there less danger if one attempted the same by spirituous Liquours and hot Medicines because when the matter of the Cough was inviscated and hardned both these ways those Exhalations which leaving the Bloud quietly and insensibly by Coughing vanished into Air now when a passage was denied them being shut up in the mass of bloud caused a Fever there And this oftentimes succeeded very ill with many who while they endeavoured to put a stop to the Cough by burnt Brandy and other hot Liquours did invite Pleuritick and Peripneumonick Affections Nor were they in a less errour who would by provoking Sweat exterminate the Cause of the Disease For though Sweat bursting out spontaneously does often expell the morbifick Cause above all other Remedies whatever yet it is clear that while we extort it we inflame the bloud and may kill him whom we would cure The Fever and its worst Symptoms were best opposed by bleeding in the Arm and a Blister applied to the Neck for a pain in the Head Back and Limbs followed the Cough and by giving a Clyster every day In the mean time I advised my Patient every day to keep up from his Bed for some hours to abstain from flesh and to sup some Ptisan or cooling lenient Broth c. When two or three days were over if the Pain in his side were not abated but troubled him still violently I took away some bloud a second time and I persuaded him to continue yet the use of Clysters While in this manner we allowed the Disease time that the Bloud might by degrees get off those hot particles that were fixt on the Pleura and Lungs all the Symptoms used quietly to vanish Whereas they that set upon the Disease in a hostile manner making as it were War with a huge force of Remedies either lost their Patients or at least were forced to redeem their Life by bleeding oftner repeated than the nature of the Disease did require or indeed did safely admit For whereas in the true Pleurisie repeated Venaesection does the whole business and is alone sufficient for cure if so be that over hot Medicines and a regiment which fight against it do not hinder On the contrary in this Symptome it was sufficient to open a Vein once or at least twice if so be the Patient were allowed to rise from his Bed and use a cooling drink But there was no necessity to take bloud away oftner unless where the said Symptome was very much increased by the accession of heat from without Nor even in this case was it without danger altogether Sydenham Febres Puerperarum or Fevers of Women in Childbed The Contents The Description and Cure of a Milk fever I. Of a Putrid fever II. Of a Symptomatical fever III. Whence we must take the beginning of the Fever from the day of bringing to Bed or of the coming of the Fever IV. I. FEvers of lying-in Women are reckoned as it were of three sorts a Milky a Putrid and a Symptomatick fever The Milk fever arises because when the Breasts are filled and much distended with Milk the bloud-vessels are compressed so that they cannot easily transmit the bloud that flows that way Whereupon the bloud being stopt in its Circuit begins to be tumultuous in the whole mass and when the Spirits are inordinately moved and wholly confused it conceives an effervescence and makes a simple Synochus Or because the matter of the Milk traverses the bloud a great share whereof is in the Mass of bloud and having left the Womb that Liquour is translated to the Breasts Which if it exceed the due store of the nutritious juice and so all of it cannot be assimilated but moreover abounds with heterogeneous parts it does as some extraneous thing and not miscible create trouble to the bloud and a febrile effervescence of three days continuance is spent in throwing of it out This Fever is wholly committed to Nature and as long as the Lochia go right proceeds for the most part successfully enough without the help of Physick for after the effervescence of the bloud which is finished in three or four days either plentifull sweat or free transpiration ends this affection Yet in the mean time above admission of Milk we must observe that it is usual for them that will not give suck within two or three days after they are brought to Bed to cover all their Paps with some astringent Plasters as Emplastrum de Minio c. for so the glandulous substance of the Paps is a little contracted so that they do not so readily receive the milky humour that way scaturient Yet this sort of remedy must be cautiously used lest if milk be wholly excluded or forced too violently out of the Breasts as it restagnates suddenly into the bloud it cause a disorder of the same a forerunner of a Putrid or a Malignant fever II. It proves a very difficult task to Physicians to cure the Putrid fevers because all manner of Physick is accounted by the Vulgar not onely useless but hurtfull for lying-in Women wherefore Physicians are rarely called but when there is no place left for Remedies and all opportunity of doing good is over But a twofold Methodus Medendi ought to be gone upon as in contagious Diseases a Prophylactick and a Therapeutick Although this Fever how Malignant soever it be is never got by contagion and those that are by need not fear the taking of any poisonous infection from without yet all Child-bed Women have an inbred Mine of Virulence Wherefore they have need of an exact Regiment to the end that after their Delivery the impurities of the bloud and humours may be rightly purged without the danger of a Fever Therefore these three things must be inculcated to Physicians First that they prescribe an exact course of Diet namely to feed of Oat-meal Caudle sometimes of Beer sometimes of white Wine and Water mixt together sometimes of Panada and other light things for a Week at least Because they are much emptied they may sup something the oftner but no solid or strong food must be given them For I diligently observed that the over hasty eating of flesh and dainty food has brought these Fevers For lying-in Women
antecedent cause viz. viscid and clammy Humours and so open and respect the ways but also help the rarefaction and fermentation of the Blood so that the flux returns on the very day whereon the Purge is taken And amongst other things Aloes also helps here whence Frid. Hofman relates that he had a Maid whose Terms could be no other ways promoted but by the use of pil Ruffi V. Or they restore and recruit the Blood it self and so make it fluxile whither belong Restoratives and a full Diet for it would be absurd if it fail in quantity to promote its motion Hence as women have a more serous and fluxile Blood namely such as is apter for turgescency and on this very account acquire a serous Plethora so we must also wholly provide for this VI. Emmenagogues are not to be given to women with Child whence they are always warily to be prescribed to those we suspect for whores when they complain of an obstruction of their Terms for though unless when there is a disposition to abortion they often drink the decoction of Savin c. in vain yet in a doubtful case we must not ascend above Steel-Remedies and moderate Aperients Neither are too hot Medicines to be given to Women with Child such as heighten the rarefaction of the Blood for as Women with Child through such preternatural rarefaction and fermentation or being seized upon by burning Fevers use for the most part to have their Terms preternaturally and consequently to suffer abortion so we must much less intend that by Medicines which also is the very reason why Purgers are not so convenient VII Aperients alone or provokers alone are not to be used indifferently Physicians often err egregiously who gives Term-provoking decoctions yea the distilled oyls of Juniper or Savin the Spirit of Sal Armoniack and the like all day long and indifferently thinking these to be Specificks whereas those are chiefly to be esteemed for such which satisfie this or that more special intention VIII 'T is therefore the best to begin with Aperients and to subjoin Provokers or drivers both internal and external Hence for a week or two before the accustomed time are wont to be given Aperients moisteners digestives preparers yea Purgers themselves and Blood-letting upon which the hinge of the matter turns G. W. Wedel de s m. fac p. 189. are not to be made use of at another time for if they be the whole curation will be to no purpose and ineffectual Frictions The Contents Whether they be convenient when a crude juice abounds I. They are suspected in hot and cold Diseases II. Whether they evacuate all the Body III. Scratching supplies the place of Friction IV. I. FRiction or chasing may seem to some to be inconvenient for those in whom is heaped up a plenty of crude juices because * 4. deruend valerud Galen writes that those who have but little good Blood and abundance of crude Humour must neither be bled nor purged nor must they use exercise or bathing and therefore neither friction seeing it also moves the Humours and because he forbids bathing which hath the same vertues as friction seeing both draw towards the Skin Galen also in * â Meth. c. 4. another place in the cure of Fevers that arise from obstruction forbids to cleanse the Skin before the evacuation of the whole Body lest a crude abstersion draw to the Skin whence there will be a greater obstruction of the pores which same thing will happen upon friction But Galen is indeed of a contrary opinion for in lib. de s m. c. 6. he says thus of this affection that those who are so affected are not to be evacuated by Bleeding but by frictions and indifferently heating unctions c. And 12. meth c. 3. he cures those who fall into a swooning through the abundance of crude Humours by much and strong friction of the whole Body yet he denies bathing to the same persons which though it have the like vertue as friction yet differs there from in that it rather melts the Humours than incides and attenuates them whereas friction does the contrary Hence it comes to pass that bathing causes fluxions those Humours flowing which are melted I say it causes a distribution of crude Humours which friction does not do as attenuating more than melting wherefore where there is need of moistening Galen uses bathing rather and where of opening obstructions friction rather But friction also draws towards the Skin wherefore it will also encrease obstructions I said that friction as it draws does likewise attenuate and seeing it draws less than bathing and extenuates more it is the far more profitable of the two in this affection and besides what is already said if by chance it should cause something of obstruction by extracting the crude Humours that might be amended by anointing with some oyl that is moderately heating and concocting so that friction and unction ought to be used by turns but not bathing at all as also neither Exercise because it causes a distribution of crude Humours from the inmost parts In Fevers that spring from obstruction we abstain from cleansers of the Skin till we have evacuated the whole because in that case the obstruction of the Skin is a great part of the malady and such as ought to be removed before the Fever it self and in the mean time we may use great evacuations but in this affection we speak of the evil is least at the Skin for it has its seat principally in the viscera Swooning hinders great evacuations to be used Valles l. 8. contr c. 7. and therefore we are glad to fly to frictions II. Frictions in hot and acute Diseases such as the Pleurisie have always been suspected by me for 't is certain that the Blood and Humours wax hot thereby are rendred more Acrimonious and therefore rush with the greater violence to the part affected In cold Diseases as Apoplexy Epilepsie Palsie and the like they may seem to have place but because thereby the Blood and Humours wax hot and like a vehicle carry the crude and cold Humours to the part affected we must use them warily Fabr. Hild. Cent. 5. Obs 30. especially in the beginning of the Disease and while the matter is yet in fluxion III. Galen 4. aph 2. teaches plainly that by much friction the whole Body is not diminished nor evacuated Yet it is most true that as to the external parts and such as are next to the Skin the whole is exhausted as far as the vertue of the friction can reach as the same person hath explain'd himself 14. meth c. 7. and Hippocrates himself 6. Epid. where he hath written that friction in a great compass doth heat and dry the Body and thereby empty the Spirits And indeed seeing the Veins and Arteries are heated by it and thereupon an heat is both excited and called out by little and little we must hold that the whole Body is