this smell arise from sweat as most frequently it doth and that strong Feat smel stinking you may cal it that is somtimes ascribed unto the whol body is properly the smel of the Arm-pits And yet notwithstanding Martial as we find it extant in his sixth Book hath this Epigram upon Thais Thais stinks worse than Fullers Pot ere stunk that lay Fur'd up to th' brim but newly burst in th' midst of th' way Worse then the lustful Goat new come from 's Mate ere stank Worse then the Dogs skin stay'd beyond great Tibers bank Worse then th' Abortive Chick that 's found in rotten Eggs Worse then the Tankard marr'd with Corrupt Sauce and Dreggs This Cheat to damp her poysonous stink with sweet Perfumes Whenas she 's stript and takes the Bath she then assumes Psilothra Perfumes Oyntments or lies hid with Chalk And thus by shifts she keeps her stink from common Talk When sh ' hath us'd all her thousand Arts and thinks all wel Yet stil she stinks and Thais doth like Thais smel Prognosticks 1. This strong and stinking smel is loathsom and very offensive to the Standers by and such as is very unfit for Conversing with others and it oftentimes rendereth the Wife unacceptable and unpleasing in the Eyes of her Husband 2. And yet notwithstanding this stinking smel is a sure sign of an overmoist Body and a Body wherein there are many moist Excrements heaped and this the body is very easily obnoxious unto in Fevers and other Diseases arising from putridness The Cure The Cure respecteth either the stink it self that may be palliated and covered by a sweet smel on the very cause of it and this is the true Cure And therefore the bodies of them that are thus troubled are in a convenient manner by Venesection if need require and Purgation to be evacuated and its overgreat humidity to be dried up And here more especially there is commended Aloes Rosate which drieth the body and powerfully preserveth it from putridness Let the Diet likewise be so ordered that it may tend toward driness and resist putridness And therefore let his Meats be sauced with Vinegar the juyce of citrons oranges Rose-water Rose vinegar But there must be an abstinence from meats that are easily corrupted such as are Cucumbers Melons Musk Melons Figs and the like The overmuch use of Fish especially the softer sort thereof likewise to be avoided The Exercises of the body let them also not be neglected neither let the sleep be excessive Afterward we are wel to take notice from what part the stink exhaleth and accordingly that part is to be cleansed and washed with the Decoction of Barley Scabious Flowerdeluce Root Aloes Myrrh Guajacum wood Citron Rind Saunders Aspalathus or Thorny bush and after this a Cerote is to be imposed of Styrax Calamite Benzoin Cinnamom Cloves Myrrh and Aloes incorporated and made into a mash with Rosin and the Oyl of Lavender But seeing that before such time also at the Cause be quite taken away the said stink is troublesom and offensive unto al persons that come neer it may therefore be obscured by sweet smels and thereby be both depressed and palliated The Arm-pits therefore and the Groyns as there shal be need may be anointed with some sweet smelling Liniment or Unguent made of the Flowerdeluce Root of Florence Cinnamom Lign Aloes Cloves Gallia Moschata Styrax Calamite Oyl of Lavender or Balsam of the Citron Cloves Cinnamom or many of these mingled together adding thereto Musk and Ambar if it seem good unto you so to do Under the Arm-pits there may likewise be born sweet scented bals or an Ambar Pomander The said stinking and offensive smel is easily taken away if the Feet be every day washed with Water or Ley in which Bay Leaves the Leaves of Organy and Sage the flowers of Rosemary Roses Camomile and Flowerdeluce root are boyled or else the Feet may be washed in Wine in which Allum hath been dissolved After the washing we may likewise administer those Remedies that the Greeks cal Diapasmata which as Pliny writeth in his 13. B. chap. 2. consist of odoriserous things that are dry and they are the sprinklings of some dry Medicament that is made into a fine pouder with the which we are to rub the Feet and to sprinkle some thereof betwixt the Toes As Take Bay Leaves and Organy of each one ounce Flowers of red Roses the Florentine Flowerdeluce Root and Cypress root of each half an ounce Bean meal and Lupine meal of each two ounces Salt dried one ounce Make a Pouder The same course is to be taken if the whol body send forth a stinking smel And then frequent use must be made of Baths of the sweet smelling Herbs a little before mentioned And if the said offensive stink cannot otherwise be obscured and palliated we are then to make use of perfumed Garments sweet Bals Balsams and the like But it is better to take away the Cause of the offensive smel than to go about by sweet scents and perfumes to obscure and palliate it since that perfumes unless they be very strong they mingle themselves with the stink and are but as it were a vehicle unto it and so cause the smel to be the more unsavory Whereas the truth is that he that smels of nothing at al smels best of al. There is extant in the Physical Epistles of that famous Physitian Georgius Horstius Book 2. Sect. 10. a very memorable History of a stinking and offensive smel proceeding from the whol body where Dr. Sigismund Snitzerus writeth unto Dr. Andreas Libavius that a certain Augustane Virgin seventeen yeers of age was sent unto Bamberg and there put into the Monastery of the holy Sepulchre that so she might live as a Recluse and Nun of the said Order And that she was no sooner entered into that Monastery but she sent forth a stinking smel not unlike unto that of a dead putrefying Carcass greatly offensive and displeasing unto the rest of the Nuns whether she kept them company in their common meeting place or else kept her self close and mew'd up in her own Cell for even here also they smelt her as they passed by but a diligent enquiry and search being made into the cause thereof he came as he writeth at length to understand that this stink of hers proceeded not from any thing amiss in her Mouth Stomach Womb or any other particular part of the Body but from the general habit temper and constitution of the whol body Yet nevertheless Libavius in his Epistle wherein he returneth an answer doth not admit of this said proper Constitution and temperament of the whol Body in regard that to render the reason thereof is beyond the reach and power of any man living but he rather thinks that somthing happening from without brought upon her that alteration of her substance and so caused this offensive smel And he conceiveth indeed that this distemper was contracted in the
The Art of CHIRURGERY Explained in SIX PARTS Part I. Of Tumors in forty six Chapters Part II. Of Vlcers in Nineteen Chapters Part III. Of the Skin Hair and Nails in Two Sections and Nineteen Chapters Part IV. Of Wounds in twenty four Chapters Part V. Of Fractures in twenty two Chapters Part VI. Of Luxations in thirteen Chapters Being the whole FIFTH BOOK OF Practical Physick By Daniel Sennertus Doctor of Physick And R.W. Nicholas Culpeper Physitian and Astrologer Abdiah Cole Doctor of Physick and the Liberal Arts. Above Eight thousand of the said Books in Latin and English have been sold in a few Years LONDON Printed by Peter Cole and Edward Cole Printers and Book-sellers at the Sign of the Printing-press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1663. Physick Books Printed by Peter Cole at the Exchange in London Viz. 1. A GOLDEN Practice of Physick plainly discovering the Kinds with the several Causes of every Disease And their most proper Cures in respect to the Causes from whence they come after a new easie and plain Method of Knowing Foretelling Preventing and Curing all diseases Incident to the Body of Man Full of proper Observations and Remedies-both of Ancient and Modern Physitians Being the Fruit of One and Thirty years Travel and fifty years Practice of Physick By Dr. Plater Dr. Cole and Nich. Culpeper 2. Sennertus Practiâ—al Physick the firâ—â— Book in three Parts 1. Of the Head 2. Of the Hurt of the internal senses 3. Of the external Senses in five Sections 3. Sennertus Practi al Physick the second Book in four Parts 1. Of the Jaws and Mouth 2. Of the Breast 3. Of the Lungs 4. Of the Heart 4. Sennertus Third Book of Practical Physick in fourteen Parts treating 1. Of the Stomach and Gullet 2. Of the Guts 3. Of the Mesentery Sweetbread and Omentum 4. Of the Spleen 5. Of the Sides 6. 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The fourth Section Of the Symptoms which are in Conception The fifth Section Of the Government of Women with Child and preternatural Distempers in Women with Child The sixth Section Of Symptoms that happen in Childbearing The seventh Section Of the Government of Women in Child bed and of the Diseases that come after Travel The first Section Of Diseases of the Breasts The second Section Of the Symptoms of the Breasts To which is added a Tractate of the Cure of Infants Part 1. Of the Diet and Government of Infants The second Section Of Diseases and Symptoms in Children 6. Sennertus fifâ—h Book o Practical Physick Or the Art of Chyrurgery in six Parts 1. Of Tumors 2. Of Ulcers 3. Of the Skin Hair and Nails 4. Of Wounds with an excellent Treatise of the Weapon Salve 5. Of Fractures 6. Of Luxations 7. Sennertus sixth and last Book of Practical Physick in nine Parts 1. Of Diseases from occult Qualities in general 2. 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A Translation of the new Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London in Folio and in Octavo Whereunto is added The Key of Galen's Method of Physick 17. A Directory for Midwives or a guide for women The First and Second Part. 18. Galens Art of Physick 19. A new Method both of studying and practising Physick 20. A Treatise of the Rickets 21. Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the C mmon People 22. Health for the Rich and Poor by Diet without Physick 23. One thousand New Famous and Rare Cures in Folio and Octavo 24. A Treatise of Pulses and Urins 25. A Treatise of Blood-letting and Cures performed thereby 26. A Treatise of Scarification and Cures performed thereby 27. The English Physitian enlarged The London Dispensatory in Folio of a great Character in Latin 28. The London Dispensatory in Latin a small Book in Twelves 29. Chymistry made easie and useful Or the Agreement and Disagreement of Chymists and Galenists By Dr. Cole c. 30. 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aforesaid The Diet. As concerning the Diet in this case take this for a brief Directory Let all the Meats and Drinks be such as render the lower belly loose and slippery or as we use to express it in one only word Soluble and in the next place let them be such as are easily concocted but withal such as afford but little nourishment Let their Wine be thin and wel diluted i. e. made smal with Water Much fasting and a more than ordinary frequent abstinence from food and in a word a continual spare diet exceedingly furthereth the diminution of Corpulency Let them likewise accustom themselves to much and often exercise of the body by al means carefully avoiding a sedentary life And Galen tels us in his 14. Book of the Method of Curing and Chap. 15. where he professedly treats of the Cure of extream fatness and Corpulency that he on a time perfectly cured a man aged about fourty yeers who was exceeding fat and gross even to the admiration of al that beheld him and this he did partly by an Antidote compounded and prepared of Sal-theriack against the affects and diseases of the Joynts and partly likewise by the administring of the right Theriaca or Treacle made of Vipers as also by an extenuating Diet after it and for his exercise swift running was enjoyned him He saith moreover that he fitted and prepared this person for this exercise of running by a gentle and easie chafing and rubbing of him with hard and rough rubbing-cloaths made of new linnen cloth until the skin became red and then immediately upon the rubbing he anointed him with an Oyl that had in it some digestive Medicament and this Oyl the party was also to use as abovesaid after his running and more than usual exercise Chap. 5. Of an Inflammation BUt now that we may come to treat of Tumors properly so called arising from the blood those Tumors are indeed wondrous frequent and they appear very commonly in regard that they proceed not only of and from themselves but they likewise happen and follow upon divers other affects as Wounds Fractures disjoyntings and the like And this Tumor from the Blood is by the Grecians named Phlegmone by the Latines an Inflammation But now the word Phlegmone hath been very variously and in a far differing sence made use of by the ancient Physitians and those of later standing For with Hippocrates and generally al the Physitians before Erasistratus the word Phlegmone was used to signifie al sorts of Phlogosies that is every kind of extraordinary heat exceeding the bounds and transcending the limits of Nature although it be without any afflux of matter or any kind of swelling whatsoever But after Erasistratus his daies the word Phlegmone was accustomarily used to denote those Tumors alone in which there was not only a vehement and fiery inflamed heat but likewise also therewithal a certain kind of renitency or resistance and a beating in the part with a more than ordinary redness of color all which last mentioned Species of Tumors Hippocrates was wont to call Oedemata sclera and epodyna that is to say hard callous and painful swellings as Galen hath observed in his second Book of the difference of Respiration or breathing Chap. 7. and in his Book 3. Chap. 5. upon the fift Book of Hippocrates his Aphorisms Aphor. 65. and in his fourth Book of the Course of Diet in acute Diseases Tome 21. Comment 3. upon Hippocrates his Book of Fractures text 5. and elsewhere The subject of an Inflammation But now that we may make it apparent and manifest what an Inflammation is and how to be defined we wil in the first place exactly weigh and consider the subject and cause thereof for as for the form thereof it is of it self sufficiently evident and perspicuous Galen in his Book of Tumors Chap. 2. expresseth the subject by these terms Moria sarcode partes carnosas that is to say fleshy parts For he there tels us that the word Phlegmone ought to be used concerning those parts which are affected with a greater swelling than ordinary and which are ful of flesh stretched forth resisting grieved with a beating pain and therewithal somwhat reddish Whether the flesh alone may be inflamed Which Assertion of his notwithstanding seems to have in it somthing that is very doubtful and that may wel be questioned For a Phlegmone happeneth likewise unto the Membranous parts as to instance in a Pleurisie the Membrane that girts about and encompasseth the Ribs is inflamed in the Phrensie the Membranes of the Brain and so in like manner the smal Vessels and Membranes of the eyes suffer an Inflammation in the affect which we cal Ophthalmia or an Inflammation in the uppermost skin of the eye Neither are besides the flesh only the Membranous parts subject unto Inflammation but also the glandulous or kernelly parts are often inflamed and swollen up by reason of the blood flowing into them And last of al not only the musclely flesh but likewise also the substances of all the other bowels which have their flesh much differing from that of the Muscles are oftentimes afflicted with Inflammations as it is most apparently manifest in the Inflammations of the Liver Spleen Brain and all the rest of the Entrails And this very Truth Galen himself waves not neither doth he pass it over in silence whenas neer about the close of the Chapter alleadged he thus writes But likewise also in process of time the skin it self saith he takes unto it self somthing of a fluid and fluxile Nature as also do the Tunicles of the greater Vessels and so likewise even the Membranes themselves in the part inflamed and moreover also even the Nerves and Tendons themselves in process of time are made to partake of this very same Inflammation Thus much Galen himself acknowledgeth But now that we may the better acquit our selves in this present Controversie we must know that by the abovesaid Moria sarcode or fleshy parts we are not only to understand the flesh of the Muscles which indeed is flesh in the most proper acceptation of the word but we are likewise thereby to understand the several fleshes of the bowels which we evermore term Parenchymata Moreover also under the notion of a fleshy part are comprehended all the parts that are glandulous or kernelly yea likewise even the parts that are Membranous For these also may be said to have a flâ—sh peculiar and proper to themselves as Galen writes upon this very subject in the 10. Book of his Method of Physick Chap. 11. In each one of the Primary and simple parts there is saith he one part or portion of the substance thereof which is as it were fibrous another that is Membranous and a third that is fleshy As for example whenas a Vein hath but one only Tunicle and that likewise very thin we may even then and there discover many of the fibres in this one thin Tunicle which are interserted as
now those Humors are called forth unto the Skin when any one having been in the cold suddenly approacheth neer unto the fire or else betaketh himself to a hot Bath and so on the contrary when after heat the pores of the Skin shal be altogether close shut up by the external cold The Signs Diagnostick The little Bladders that resemble those that are raised by the fire or scalding hot water do suddenly break forth and when they are broken there issueth forth by little and little a yellowish humor the Crusts thereof wax hard and then they fal off By reason of the acrimony and fervent heat of the humor they excite an itching in the Skin Prognosticks 1. Phlyctaenae as Aetius tels us Tetrab 4. Serm. 2. Chap. 63. abide and continue somtimes for two or three daies 2. Phlyctaenae if they be not wel and rightly cured they now and then degenerate into an Herpes The Cure If such like vitious humors abound in the body then in the first place such a kind and course of Diet is to be prescribed thai wil not encrease those like Humors but such as may rather correct that Cacochymy And moreover the said vitious Humors are by convenient Medicaments to be evacuated Now as for Topicks let the Phlyctaenae first be fomented with the Decoction of Lentils Myrtle and Pomegranate Rinds Or Take the Mucilage of Fleabans or Fleawort seed Rose water extract six ounces the Juyce of Purslane and Nightshade of each two ounces mingle them and let the place affected be anointed therewith If they breâ—k not of their own accord and thereupon cause a grievous pain they are then to be pâ—â—ckt and pierced through with a needle and the Pustules are to be hard squeezed and upon the Ulcer lay this following Cataplasm Take Barley Meal the Meal of Lentils and of Beans the pouder of Pomegranate Rinds of each an ounce with a sufficient quantity of the Oyl of Roses make a Cataplasm Or Take the Leaves of Plantane Mallows Myrtle of each one handful boyl them to a softness and pass them through a hair sieve then add unto them Barley Meal the Meal of Lentiles and crums of white Bread of each as much as will suffice and make a Cataplasm Or else let a Liniment made of Swines Fat with the Spume or Froth of Silver in a Leaden Mortar he laid on Or Take Juyce of the Root of sowr Sorrel and Scabious of each two ounces Oyl of Roses four ounces the Fat of an old Hog six ounces boyl them until the Juyces be consumed and afterwards add Litharge of Gold one ounce live Sulphur six drams Turpentine half an ounce stir them wel together in a Leaden Mortar and 〈◊〉 a Liniment Or â—â—ke L tharge live Sulphur Myrtle Pouder 〈◊〉 one ounce stir them wel together with 〈◊〉 â—ar in a Leadâ—n Mortar and adding thereâ—â— a â—â—fficient quantity of the Oyl of Roses make â—â—Vnguent See more of this in Aetius Tetrab 1. Serm. 4. Chap. 21. Chap. 23. Of Vari or Pimples VAri are Tubercles or little Swellings somwhat neer of kin unto Psydracia by the Greeks called Jonthoi because that like unto Dung they are the defilement and the disgrace of the Countenance by fouling and disfiguring of the Face Galen in his second Book of the Method of Physick Chap. 2. reckons up these among those names that neither represent the place affected neither the cause that produceth them They are likewise by some named Acne or Acna as Aetius tels us Tetrab 2. Serm. 4. Chap 13. Although Hermolaus in his Gloss upon Pliny reads the word Acmas as if this kind of Affect were commonly so termed by the Greeks in regard that it is wont to seize upon those that are of ripe and ful age Celsus in his fifth Book Chap. 6. writeth thus It is almost but a meer folly saith he to attempt the curing of these Vari or Specks and Pimples in the Face or the little Pushes and heat-wheals of the same But Vari and Lenticuâ—ae or Pimples are very wel and commonly known and yet notwithstanding you cannot possibly take from Women the care they take in tricking themselves up and especially in trimming their Faces In Galens Opinion as we have it in his fifth Book of the Composition of Medicaments according to the place Chap. 3. and in his Book of making those Remedies that may be provided Chap. 51. Jonthos is an hard and little swelling in the Skin of the Face raised from a thick Juyce that is there gotten together The which in regard that it is altogether void of the wheyish moisture it is therefore not at al itching neither doth it require or stand in any need of scratching This Humor is for the most part alimentary insinuating it self into the Pores of the Skin But yet there is likewise oftentimes therewithal mingled an excrementitious Humor and atrabiliary blood Signs Diagnostick We have before told you out of Celsus that this Tumor is sufficiently and commonly known Prognosticks 1. This Affect hath in it no danger so that Celsus thinks it meer folly so much as to will or desire the Cure of this Tumor 2. Those Vari that arise only from the thicker and grosser Aliment are firm and stable But if an Excrementitious Humor be mingled with them the Tubercles pour forth an Ichor or thin Excrement and if they be suppurated they turn into Ulcers 3. If together with the Pushes there be an Intense and extraordinary redness in the face the Malady is then very hard to be cured if not altogether impossible and although the Pustules may be removed by strong Medicaments yet the redness wil notwithstanding remain and encrease unto a higher pitch 4. When there is a redness conjoyned with the swelling and puffing up of the Face and a hoarsness of the voyce this is a very shrewd sign of an approaching Lepra or Leprosie The Cure These Tubercles are to be cured by Emollients Discussers and likewise unless they in a short time yield and give place by corroding Medicaments As for instance Take Meal of Lupines of the bitter Vetch Orobus of each one ounce and half of Mallows peeled and Flowerdeluce Root of each two drams Salt Ammoniack one dram with Mucilage of Gum Tragacanth make Trochisques which at the time of using them may be dissolved in Milk Or Take Honey and the sharpest or sowrest Vinegar of each one ounce and half Mingle them Or Take Litharge of Gold three drams Turpentine half an ounce common Oyl as much as will suffice mingle them Or Let the Face be anointed in the Evening with bitter Almonds wel pounded and made into a Mash and so mingled with Vinegar and in the morning wash the Face with Milk If the Vari be harder than ordinary Take Black Soap half an ounce Animoniacum Frankincense of each a dram and half let them be dissolved in Water that they may get the thickness of a Cerote Or Take the Juyce of the sharp Dock two ounces Vinegar of
Scrofulae that are in Swine which we call the Swine pox The Breath stinketh the Voice is hoarse shril and obscure by reason that the Lungs and the parts serving for Respiration are filled and beset about with thick adust humors and by reason also of the driness and roughness of the Trachaea Arteria or the great rough Artery In the Hands the Muscles are extenuated especially between the Thumb and the fore Finger for whereas those Muscles are naturally lifted up into an hilly and manifest swelling the depression of them and their being emaciated happening by reason of the defect of aliment becomes the more manifest and remarkable in them the Nails are cleft there is present a stupidity and want of feeling in the Ankles and the Calves of the Legs and in the Feet also so that although the sick Persons shall be pricked with Pins or Needles in those places yet they feel it not in regard of the vitious matter filling up and obstructing the part hindering the access of the spirits The same likewise somtimes befalleth the Fingers and Toes in the which there is also perceived a coldness and a certain privation of al sense and feeling and somtimes likewise that stupidity and sleeping as they cal it chanceth unto the whol Skin between those Fingers and extendeth it self even unto the Arm from the Foot it extendeth it self even unto the Knees the Thighs and the Hips yea moreover the sense of feeling is diminished throughout the whol body in Elephantiack Persons For all the Nerves and Pores being obstructed and in a manner shut up by the thickness of the humors will not allow and afford any passage unto the Animal Spirits In some certain places under the Skin there is perceived and felt a kind of stinging such as is caused by Emmets or Pismires as if Nettles were rubbed thereupon and likewise a certain kind of itching and tickling as if there were Worms creeping there and this is by reason of the adust fumes and burnt vapors ascending up under the Skin The Skin it self is wholly Unctuous and Oyly so that Water poured upon it wil hardly stick and abide by reason of the melting of the fat under the Skin and the effusion of fat excrements thereinto Others there are that unto these signs add other signs also They advise us to take some few grains of Salt and to cast it upon the Blood because that if the Blood be infected the Salt is presently resolved and melted but on the contrary if the Blood be not infected They command us likewise to cast this Blood into the purest and clearest Water and if it swim at top it is corrupted but the contrary if it sink to the bottom Others there be that take the Blood and putting it in a clean Linen Cloth they wash it for if there then appear in it certain blackish rough and as it were sandy bodies it argueth a leprosie But there are other signs also of this Malady and indeed there is scarcely any evil mischief or inconvenience that is not annexed thereunto and in the which there is hardly any thing within or without that is sound But yet notwithstanding the Face is especially to be considered neither is any one rashly to be accounted Leprous unless the figure of the Face be corrupted And therefore since that in some Common-wealths there is instituted and appointed an Annual Examination and Search in and about these Elephantiack persons and that this is the chief if not the whol business of the Physitian he ought therefore to use the utmost of his endeavor and to be very cautious that through imprudence or by a rash and precipitate Judgment he do not cause such to be exiled and banished from al society that are not infected with this Disease and on the other hand for those that are infected therewith that he do not permit them to live and converse with such as are sound to the great endangering of them And this he may easily do if he have in his eye al the signs before recounted and mentioned and if he wil likewise but duly weigh and consider which of them are proper unto them and inseparable from them and what they have common with other Diseases In the serious examination of al which Franciscus Valeriola hath taken extraordinary pains in the sixth Book of his Enarrations Enarrat 5. the Reader may do wel to consult the place alleadged We must not here also pass by in silence that which Marcellus Donatus hath in his first Book of the History of things wonderful in Physick Chap. 4. by which we have occasion given us to think and conjecture how great the corruption of the blood may possibly be in those that are Leprous Annibal Pedemontanus saith he having been for two yeers vexed and afflicted with an incurable Lepra he was at the end thereof taken and surprized with a Pleurisie and having a Vein opened this strange thing befel him the hot Vrine that came from him being in quantity more than the pot could wel hold and upon which there swam a blood at least six ounces in weight so soon as it was cooled was by the said blood thickned in such a manner just as if the water had been Milk and the blood the Curd thereof so that in its consistency it seemed to be very like unto curdled Milk yet still retaining its own proper color of the which there was not one drop indeed to be found that was severed from the rest and not curdled The cause hereof is given by the Author before cited who conceived it to be and imputeth it unto the thickness and clamminess of the blood which being throughly mingled with the Water the actual heat of both of them assisting and furthering the distribution in their mingling together when it had abated of its great heat and was now become cool gave the occasion of the said coagulation or curdling And he conceiveth likewise that here the very same thing happened that cometh to pass when the smal parts and pieces that are cut from Hides and Skins are boyled in Water for the making of Glew For so soon as ever that Water is cooled it instantly is thrust and forced close together by reason of the clamminess and sliminess of the juyce and the like also happeneth in some kind of meats that we eat that are made of Calves feet and the feet of other living Creatures Prognosticks 1. By al which iâ— appeareth That this Malady is most grievous and dangerous hard to be cured and the truth is not at al curable unless it be taken in hand in the very beginning and first rise thereof neither then without much ado and difficulty For an Elephantiasis inveterate and confirmed wil at no hand admit of any Cure For if a Cancer being but a particular disease only wil allow of no cure how much less wil the Elephantiasis that is an universal Cancer of the whol body admit and receive any And
threds or else the Tumor being opened about the midst of it after the emptying forth of what is therein contained we cut off the skin that being left remaining that was tied about and then a long spleen-like Plaister wel moistened in Wine and Oyl being laid thereon we conclude and perfect the Cure by Liniments But who is he that seeth not that this kind of Cure is not only cruel and so cruel that few or none wil submit unto it but that it hath likewise much danger in it and yet for al that doth not heal the sick person For although the Artery be bound about yet notwithstanding after the threds are loosened there is cause to fear lest that either an Haemorrhage follow or else that a new Aneurysma be caused And therefore the more secure and safe course is only to bind hard and press together the Tumor with Bands and Medicaments that so it may not gain any further augmentation Chap. 44. Of the swoln Veins caled Varices VArix with the Greeks Kirsos this being the name given unto it by the Greek Physians only for we find Aristotle in the third Book of his History of living Creatures Chap. 11. and 19. and Plutarch in the Life of Caius calling it Ixia as Galen in his tenth Book of the Method of Physick and last Chap. defineth it and as out of him Paulus Aegineta hath transcribed it in his sixth Book Chap. 82. and Aetius Tetrab 4. Serm. 2. Chap. 48 is the dilatation of a Vein this said dilatation of a Vein being called Varix as that before mentioned dilatation of an Artery was termed by the Greek Physitians Aneurysma of which in the foregoing Chapter But now these Varices happen in divers parts of the body but most frequently in the Thighs and yet notwithstanding somtimes likewise in the Temples as Paulus telleth us in the place before alleadged and somtimes in the lowest part of the Belly under the Navel and oftentimes also about the Testicles and the Cods which said Tumor is in special called Kirsocele The Causes They are generated from great store of Melancholly blood which as Galen writeth in his Book of black Choler Chap. 4. Nature oftentimes transmitteth unto those Veins that are in the Thighs by the which being distended and dilated they are rendred Varicose or swoln up and the skin that toucheth upon these kind of Veins in process of time becometh of a blackish color But now as for such in whom there is only great store of blood flowing in that is not Melancholy it resting indeed and wholly relying upon those Veins which there in that place are naturally more weak than elswhere doth dilate them but scarcely even dye them of such a like color as it happeneth when Melancholy blood shal produce these Varices For such are in very great danger if any one assay to cut forth the Veins affected of being surprised with Melancholly For this is frequently seen to happen not only in Varices but even in the Haemorrhoids also that consist of the same kind of humor even as the coming of them upon those that are mad is wont to be a freeing and discharging of them from their madness as Hippocrat in the sixth of his Aphorisms Aphor. 21. And yet notwithstanding scarcely ever doth good blood though it abound never so much by its great plenty alone produce and cause Varices as it doth if it be both plentiful and withall if it be thick which by its weight tendeth downward unto the Thight Whereupon it is also that the Varices have not their being until the ripeness of age as Hippocrates in Coac praenot toward the end teacheth us in regard that a thick and melancholly blood is not generated sooner in the Body And likewise Pliny in his eleventh Book and Chap. 45. writeth that the Varices happen in the Thighs of Men only and very rarely in Women Such likewise as are bald in these the Varices become not great but for such as while their baldness is upon them are afflicted with these Varices these come again to receive their Hair Hippocrat in the sixth of his Aphorisms Aphor. 34. Which yet notwithstanding Galen asserteth to be a falshood in his Comment unless haply any one wil understand this of that affect that Physitians call Madarosis that is the shedding or falling off of the Hair For this Affect since that it hath its original from vitious humors as likewise the Alopecia hath and also that we call Ophiasis if those very depraved humors being translated into the Thighs do cause the Varices the sick Persons may then possibly recover and receive their Hair again For if at the first the loss of the Hair proceeded from vitious humors their corrupting and corroding the very roots of the Hair then questionless these said humors taking now their course into some other place the Hairs will again return unto their naturall State The more remote Causes all those that make for then generating and breeding of thick and melancholly blood and especially the Spleen when it is distempered maketh much unto and helpeth forward the generation of these Varices And that likewise which much furthereth the flowing of the aforesaid humors unto this part may be comprised under on of these Heads to wit either a blow or streining overmuch long and tedious foot journeys extream hard labor and the like Signs Diagostick These Varices are easily known whenas swelling Veins is the very superficies of the Members and especially of the Thighs appear unto the very sight it self and the part affected appeareth either Leaden coloured or black and the Tumor being pressed down seemingly retreateth back but forthwith returneth again Prognosticks 1. These Varices of themselves carry little or no danger in them neither bring they any unto the Party thus affected but they rather preserve and free such as have them from other Diseases especially Melancholly Diseases touching which Hippoc. in the sixth of his Aphorisms Aphor. 21. thus writeth If Varices or the Haemorrhoids happen unto such as are mad they are thereby freed of their madness and the whole Body is by them throughly purged from all flatulent Blood 2. But if they be unseasonably taken away as Galen in his Book of Venesection against Erisistratus and Chap. 6. and in his Book of black Choler and Chap. 4. teacheth us Madness the Pleurisie the pain of the Reins the Haemorrhoid Flux the Cough and spitting of Blood the Apoplexy Cachexy Dropsie and other Diseases arise 3. Sometimes these Varices do pass into the Elephantia of the Arabians touching which we shal speak further in the next following Chapter The Cure Unless therefore the Varices be of the biggest size and that the Veins and the Skin by reason of their extension be so extenuated that there be great cause to fear a Rupture a profusion of blood and Death it self and again unless they be inflamed and extreamly painful or that there be present some great and
thin there is no unsavory and stinking smel neither in the Vlcer nor in its Tumor There is no Inflammation the pain is but little and moderate nothing creepeth therein and therefore it bringeth along with it no great danger yet however it is not easily cured There it somtimes a thin Cicatrice brought all over it but this is again soon broken and the Vlcer renewed It happeneth most especially in the Feet and in the Thighs The same Celsus seeing that he maketh no mention of Telephian Ulcers it is not to be doubted but that he thought them to be the same with the Chironia as likewise Paulus Aegineta doth when in his fourth Book and 26. Chap. he thus writeth Inveterate Vlcers saith he and such as hardly admit of a Cicatrice some cal them Chironia as though they needed a Chiron himself to heal them others there are that cal them Telephia because that Telephus continued long troubled with such a like Vlcer Those that think that both the Chironium and the Telephium Ulcers consist not so much in their corrosion as in this that they are both of them malignant and contumacious so that they are wont to continue with the sick persons even unto their old age these dissent from Galen who in the second Book of the Method of Healing Chap. 2. and 14. of the said Method Chap. 17. thinketh that Phagedaena consisteth in erosion and that Chironium and Telephium are a species hereof Where we must know as Galen acquaints us in his Commentary upon the sixth of the Aphorism Aphor. 45. that al Ulcers that become greater and worse the Ancients called al these Ulcers Phagedaenae and if in this manner we take Phagedaenae then Chironia and Telephia may be called a Species or lâ—nd of Phagedaena But there are some certain of the latter Writers that have endeavered to distinguish them giving unto each of them a proper and peculiar appellation and some of these they cal Chironia others of them they term Telephia and a third sort Phagedaenae So that Phagedaena being taken for a corroding Ulcer is one while the Genus of Chironium and Telephiuns Ulcers and another while a certain determinate Species of a corroding Ulcer differing from Chironium and Telephium which to wit besides the skin eateth through the flesh it self and yet nevertheless is not altogether so malignant as Chironium or Telephium or the Cancer To wit Telephian Ulcers are the same with Chironia so called from Telephus who was a long time afflicted with such an ulcer And what Galen in the fourth Book of the Composition of Medicaments according to their kinds Chap. 4. hath written touching Chironia to wit They cal saith he those Chironian Vlcers that are not meanly and indifferently malignant or contumacious but such as are so in the highest degree The same is likewise to be taken and understood of the ulcers Telephia The Causes Now such like Ulcers have their original from a Melancholy humor having some though not much black Choler mingled together with it Signs Diagnostick Such like Ulcers are known in that they have their lips il colored and for the most part they are red and itching and although the Ulcer be never so lightly and gently handled or wiped yet there is a pain perceived the parts lying round about it swel up and the Ulcer is from day to day dilated and not only the skin but the flesh likewise that lieth under it is eaten through Prognosticks Every sort of these Ulcers is Contumacious and hard to be cured as we told you before The Cure As touching the Cure Universals being premised and the body emptied of the vitious humor and a fit course of Diet prescribed there are to be applied unto the Ulcer Medicaments that are compounded of such things as are cold and dry astringent and withall Dicussive and such are Plantane Nightshade the tops of the Black-berry or Dog-berry bush the Flowers of Roses Cypress Nuts Pomegranate flowers and rinds Mastick the bark of Frankincense burnt Lead Litharge and the like And therefore in the first place let the Ulcer be washed and fomented with this or the like Decoction Take Plantane one handful Flowers of red Roses Pomegranate flowers and Cypress Nuts of each half an ounce Myrtle berries Pomegranate rinds Sumach of each three drams Alum burnt half an ounce boyl them in Water and wash the Vlcer wel therewith Or Take the Juyce of the Bramble Plantane Nightshade Shepherds-staff of each four ounces the whites of six Eggs Alum four ounces destil them in a Leaden Alembick Let the Ulcer be washed and fomented with this Water and let the parts likewise that lie neer unto it be anoynted over with some Defensive After the Ulcer is thus washed let the Unguent Diapompholyx be laid thereon as also the white Camphorate Unguent and the Unguent de Minio Or Take Tutty prepared half an ounce burnt Lead Ceruss washed of each an ounce let them be wel mingled together in a Leaden Mortar pouring in unto them by little and little the Juyce or water of Plantane and make hereof a Mass afterwards add of Bolearmenick three drams Oyl of Roses and Wax of each as much as will suffice and make an Vnguent More of these like Medicaments shal be declared in the Chapter following Chap. 15. Of the Ulcer Phagedaena Phagedaena what it is ANd because as we have told you there is likewise mention made of Phagedaena among the Ulcers we shal therefore here in this Chapter explain it and shew you what it is It is so called from the Greek word Phagein from its Eating and this whether Tumor or Ulcer hath received its name from eating through and corroding because it eateth through the parts lying neer unto it And indeed it is properly an Ulcer But yet nevertheless in regard that the Lips of the Ulcer strutting forth with black Choler are lifted up into a Tumor it is therefore by some referred unto Tumors and there is mention hereof made by Galen in his Book of Tumors Chap. 14. But we wil treat here of it among Ulcers But yet nevertheless as touching its name this is to be noted that it is not alwaies taken in one and the same signification For somtimes as Galen tels us in Epidem 6. Comment 3. Text 37. Phagedaena signifieth an appetite unto and eating of much meat and hence by the Author of the Medicinal Definitions it is defined to be a Constitution in which Persons having an appetite unto much Food and devouring much thereof are not able to retein and keep it but when they have cast it up they again desire more and in this manner it is also defined by Aurelianus in the third Book of his Chronic. Chap. 3. So that Phagedaena being taken in this manner and in this sence is nothing else but that we cal the Dog-like appetite And therefore Pliny in his Book 20. Chap. 5. 13. and in his Book 30. Chap. 9. and Book 35. Chap. 13.
destruction of the innate and natural heat as on the contrary the life of the part dependeth upon the preservation and safety of the said Native heat we conclude that whatsoever destroyeth the Native heat of the part that same may likewise be accounted a cause of the Gangrene and Sphacelus Now the Native heat is destroyed when by its contrary it is either corrupted or suffocated or dissipated or altogether extinguished for want of Aliment It is destroyed by its contrary either acting by a manifest quality and cold or else by a secret and hidden quality as by poyson It is suffocated when the transpiration it hindered It is dissipated by a greater heat It is extinguished if necessary food and sustenance be denied so that there are as you see five causes of the Generation of a Gangrene and Sphacelus to wit overmuch cold a poysonous quality the hinderance of transpiration a vehement external heat and a defect of Aliment and the heat flowing in For first of al we see that oftentimes in the Winter those that take Journeys in the Snow and Ice have the extream parts of their feet and of their hands their Ears and their nostrils almost dead with cold by reason of the vehemency thereof and thus it happeneth somtimes also that by reason of Medicaments over cooling in a Phlegmone or an Erysipelas carelessly and incauteously administred the part is taken and surprised with a Gangrene or a Sphacelus although I had rather refer this case unto transpiration hindered There is also a very great power of destroying the innate heat in those things that are poysonous and such things as destroy our Bodies by a secret and hidden quality For somtimes the humors in our bodies do so degenerate and acquire so great a malignity that they bring a Necrosis or deadness unto those parts whither they are by Nature thrust as we see it done in a Carbuncle And so in like manner the biting and stingings of poysonful Creatures do corrupt and putrefie the parts And the same also is done by the Septick Medicaments which if they be not wisely and carefully administred have in them a power of corrupting the flesh especially in places that are hot and moist as in the Emunctories the privy parts and the other places that are like unto these Thirdly Transpiration hindered exciteth likewise a Gangrene For whereas our heat standeth in need of perpetual ventilation and cooling if this be denied it is suffocated by the abundance of Vapors And for this very cause in great Inflammations and especially in the moist parts there very frequently happeneth a Gangrene the Native heat being extinguished as otherwise likewise we see that a little flame is extinguished and put out by casting thereon good store of water and that the flame is stifled if it be put under a Cupping-glass that hath no hole or vent in it or any other Vessel whatsoever that is kept covered which is preserved in a Cupping-glass that is perforated or any other Vessel that is open And this chiefly happeneth if in Feavers especially if they be malignant the humor be with violence either thrust forth or that of their own accord they rush unto any one part And so I remember that here a certain Citizen that was taken with a malignant Feaver from the humors that were thrust down unto the Scrotum had the said Scrotum al of it so inflamed and mortified with a Sphacelus that there was a necessity of cutting off the whol Scrotum or Cods so that the stones hung down altogether naked and bare which yet notwithstanding the Gangrene being cured became afterwards covered again with flesh that grew out of the Groyns That Inflammation likewise which the Gangrene followeth is sometimes caused by Wounds and these not alwaies great but oftentimes also very smal and sleight Wounds that seem inconsiderable and of no moment So Henricus ab Heer relateth in the first Book of his rare Physical Observations Obser 12. That he was present and saw a man fifty nine yeers of Age who having pared the Nails of his Toes and cut them to the quick was presently surprized with a Gangrene and within a very short space died thereof And he telleth us likewise of two other eminent persons who being desirous to have the hard and callous brawniness of their feet pared away were both of them taken with a Gangrene that within a short time caused their deaths And this may likewise be done by Emplastick Medicaments in great Inflammations and especially if they be unseasonably applied in moist places which frequently produce there a suffocation of the Native heat Fourthly A preternatural heat likewise and such as is extraneous and from without produceth the Gangrene by wasting the Radical moisture and the Native heat and so many times a Gangrene followeth after great burnings And lastly A Gangrene ariseth from the defect of Aliment to wit the blood and the spirit flowing in that is altogether necessary and requisite for the cherishing of the Natural heat implanted within For whereas the innate heat standeth in need of continual Nutriment as the flame doth of Oyl if this be denied it languisheth and is extinguished like as is the flame when the Oyl in the Lamp faileth And in this manner a Gangrene happeneth unto the external parts of the body somtimes in an Atrophy Consumption and the like Chronical and long continued Diseases that extenuate the body And for this very cause it is that when the greater Joynts are put out of Joynt if they be not again wel and rightly set then the disjoynted bone presseth together the vessels that lie neer and hindereth the influx of the blood and of the Spirits into those parts that lie underneath from whence there followeth a leanness and consumption of the said parts and in process of time very frequently a Gangrene also And so it is found by experience that from a hard Tumor about the Vena Cava where parting several waies it descendeth into the Thighs pressing the same together and hindering the descent of the blood into the Thigh a Gangrene very often ariseth And in this manner a Gangrene likewise happeneth if any part be too hard and long bound about with Ligatures and bands or else if Medicaments that are over astringent shal be imposed upon any part Signs Diagnostick It is no hard matter to know the Gangrene For the color of the part beginneth to be changed and turned unto black the flesh to grow loose and flaggy the pulse and sense to be diminished and the heat to be abolished Which said Symptoms the more the Gangrene tendeth unto a perfect corruption and a Sphacelus by so much the more are they increased and made more evident For in a perfect and absolute corruption and Sphacelus the life and sense of the part are wholly abolished there is no pulse at al to be perceived the part whether you cut or burn it is insensible of pain the flesh appeareth to be
and the Skin it self For albeit while the place of the Itch be scratched there is perceived a certain seeming pleasure yet nevertheless this pleasure doth not belong to the Nature of the Itch but it followeth only upon the scratching whilst that the parts that were gnawn by a sharp matter do suddenly return unto their natural state and their wonted smoothness For like as there is a pain excited from that sudden motion unto a preternatural state so in like manner there is a certain pleasure felt from this sudden motion and return unto their Natural state Now the truth is the Itch it self ceaseth after scratching because that the matter which was the cause of the Itching is evacuated and because also that the solution of Continuity that exciteth the pain is again brought unto an Union and quietness if the scratching be any thing strong The Causes The neerest cause of the Itch is a salt Excrement that is biting and sharp to wit either meer pure Choler or else black Choler commonly called Melancholy or else a salt flegm Which excrement albeit that it be present also in the scabby Affect yet in the Itch it is more thin and insinuateth it self through the least particles But it sticks between the true skin and the scarf-skin and thereupon by its acrimony it goadeth as I may so say and pricketh the sensible particles in the skin and provoketh them unto scratching And indeed like as the Nature of the excremens it self maketh much for the sticking of the said Excrement in the Skin this Excrement although it be thin yet having in it a certain kind of clamminess and glewishness by the which it sticketh very close and pertinaciously unto the parts so doth likewise the thickness of the skin it self by reason of which it cannot exhale But now that excrement is collected by reason of the heat and driness of the Liver the use of sharp meats and many Spices And hence it is that old men those especially of them that in their youth had a hot Liver and such of them as then used a hot kind of Diet in their meat and drink are in their old age so sensible of the Itch and at length come to be troubled with scabbiness See further hereof in Galen his second Book of the Causes of Symptoms and the sixth Chapter The Differences Now according to the variety of the humor and the nature of the places affected there is a certain difference likewise of the Itch. For look how the matter is more or less sharp so the Itch that is excited is more or less contumacious and troublesom And somtimes there is felt an itching in the skin of the whol body and somtimes in some parts only Prognosticks 1. The Itch is for the most part the forerunner of Scabbiness shortly to follow For if the Itch be of any long continuance there is then at the length collected a greater abundance of the matter and this receiving a putridness is rendered more sharp and it corrodeth the Scarf-kin and exciteth Pustules 2. By how much the worse the humor is that exciteth the Itch by so much the worse is the malady also To wit the Itch that is excited from burnt blood or Choler is sooner ended and gone but that which proceedeth from salt slegm lasteth longer and longest of al that which hath its original from burnt Melancholy 3. The Itch in which there is great pleasure taken in the scratching thereof is evil because that it ariseth from a sharp Choler 4. The Itch in old people is seldom cured especially in those that are decrepit For since that old age is fit for the treasuring up of these salt humors that disposition of the body is hardly changed and brought unto a better state And yet notwithstanding if diligence and care be shewn it is somtimes healed And Mercurialis in his Tract of the Diseases of the skin Chap. 3. relateth that Leonellus Pius a man fourscore yeers old was freed from an extraordinary great Itch by the benefit of Medicaments 5. Hippocrates in Coacis writeth that the Itch in those that have Consumptions if it succeed the suppression and binding of the Belly is not only dangerous but deadly For by reason of the trouble and disquiet of the Itch those in Consumptions can neither sleep nor take any restr whereupon there is little or no Conconction and therefore they have their death hastened upon them The Cure The Itch seeing that it is a pain if it be extraordinary great and vehement and cause watchfulness thereby decaying the strength sheweth that mitigation by Anodynes is to be procured but the Cause that it dependeth upon calleth for evacuation And indeed the next Cause since that it is a sals humor sticking in the Skin this is likewise to be evacuated from the Skin And in regard that this said next cause is nourished by a like humor contained in the Veins therefore this is likewise to be evacuated And because that this humor is generated from a distemper and vitious disposition of the Bowels it is therefore to be anointed and so the generating of such like humors is to be prevented Those Moisteners take away the Itch that mitigate the sharp matter that is the Cause of the Itch. Now those things that evacuate these excrementitious humors from the Skin are those Medicaments that Cleanse Mollifie and make thin Purgers take away the Antecedent Cause Alterers amend the vitious disposition of the Bowels but more especially a good course of Dier And therfore in the first place the Salt Nitrous and sharp humor is to be prepared and evacuated The humor is prepared by such Medicaments as have in them a power of Cooling and Moistening and such as withall attenuate the Thick Clammy humor such as are Succoâ—y Endive Borrage Bugloss Fumitory Hope Maidenhair Asparagus Roots Polypody Mother of Time and Syrups made out of these and more especially that oâ— Hops Fumitory Succory the Byzantine Syrup and the Syrup of Maidenhair Now the Humors are evacuated by the Leaves of Sene Polypody black Hellebor Jalap the compound Syrup of Polypody the Electuary Dracatholicon Confection of Hamech Extract of black Hellebor the Melanagoge Excract The forms oâ— these are elsewhere propounded and so they are also in the Chapter of the Scabs And sometimes also Venesection if the Age and strength wil bear it is to be instituted and because that it often falleth out that either the Haemorrhoids or the Courses suppressed and kept it may afford matter and occasion unto this Evil it wil therefore not be amiss to provoke and draw forth these Haemorrhoids or Courses But for the tempering and allaying the heat of these Adust humors as also of the Bowels themselves there is nothing that doth it sooner then the Whey of Goats Milk which may be given from one pint to three But it wil be better for use if there be added some Juyce or Syrup of Fumitory But that which more especially correcteth the
of the Head alone but that Alopecia may be extended even unto the very Beard also The Causes The Cause of both these Maladies is a depraved and sharp humor of eating assunder the roots the Hair of whatsoever kind it he But for the most part notwithstanding this Malady iâ— caused by a salt flegm adust or putrified Whereupon Galen in his Book of the differences of Symptoms and Chap. 4. writeth that these Vices follow a depraved Nutrition of the Skin of the Head But that one while the Alopecia another while the Ophiasis is excited and that the Hairs do sometimes constitute a strait and direct Area and sometimes that that is winding and writhed the Cause of this is the great abundance and the quality of the matter For if there be an extraordinary great store thereof and it be likewise thin then it equally and alike eateth through the Hair in the more and greater places but if the Matter be less and mingled with a thick humor then there followeth an unequal and writhed Defluvium or shedding of the Hair because that the humors being unequal and mingled do not flow right forward but creeping along obliquely they gnaw assunder the hair The more remote Causes are the heat of the Liver and Head and especially the fault of the first and second Concoction by reason whereof salt and sharp humors are generated which although it may happen in every age yet nevertheless it happeneth more especially in Childhood and Youth and it followeth the Affects Tinea Achores and Favi by reason of the Causes that we mentioned in the Diseases of Children And somtimes likewise External and Malignant Causes make very much for the generating of this Disease among which Galen in his first Book of the Composit of Medicam according to the places Chap. 2. reckoneth up Mushroms because that they make very much for the generating of vitious and corrupt humors And hither likewise belongeth the poyson of the French Disease in regard that this also eateth through the roots of the hair which other poysons may likewise do Signs Diagnostick We have already before told you in what respects this falling of the Hair differeth from baldness and that shedding of the Hair that we call Defluvium But Alopecia differeth and is known from Ophiasis by the very figure of the Area and because that in the Alopecia the hair only falleth off without any hurt as all of the Skin But in the Ophiasis there is not only a falling off of the hair but likewise an excoriation of the Skin And the very color of the skin is also changed and in some it appeareth more whitish in some more pale and in others more black and if it be pricked there floweth forth a serous whitish blood Touching the difference between Alopecia and Ophiasis Celsus in his sixth Book and Chap. 4. hath these words That Area saith he that is termed Alopecia is dilated under all kind of Figures and it happeneth in the hair of the Head and in the Beard But that which from the likeness of a Serpent is called Ophiasis beginneth from the binder part of the Head and is not extended above two fingers in length it Creepeth on both sides the Head even unto the Ears and in some unto their Foreheads also the former of these in all Ages but this latter only in Infants But Alopecia and Ophiasis differ from Tinea in this because that in Ophiasis the Excoriation of the Skin is superficial and when it is cured the hair groweth again But in Tinea the excoriation and Ulceration is more deep and the skin is oftentimes so corrupted that the hair never groweth again As for what concerneth the signs of the Causes the Skin it self sheweth what kind of humor it is that offendeth which that it may be the more exactly known the hair that remaineth behind is to be shaven away and the Skin to be gently rubbed there are other signs also that wil instruct and teach us what kind of humor it is that aboundeth in the body The hairs likewise that grow anew by the various colour that they have according to the Nature of the peccant humor wil shew us what humor is the Cause of this Malady Prognosticks 1. Alopecia and Ophiasis although they bring not much danger along with them yet nevertheless they cause a great deformity and among the Romans those Slaves that were disfigured by the said Area and especially by the Alopecia were sold at a far lower rate then other Slaves And in our daies also these Areae in regard that they cause a suspition of the French Pox are therfore accounted very disgraceful unto him that is affected therewith 2. But whether the Ophiasis or the Alopecia may be soonest and most easily cured it is a great question among Authors and they herein much differ Celsus and Avenzoar are of Opinion that Ophiasis is more easily cured then Alopecia And on the Contrary Alexander in his first Book Chap. 2. and Serapio in his first Book Chap. 1. teach us that the Alopecia is more easily cured then Ophiasis But Celsus seemeth to speak only of the Alopecia of Infants which in the course of yeers and change of age is of it self oftentimes cured But if Alopecia and Ophiasis be such as are grown to maturity or likewise in one and the same age be compared the one with the other then the Ophiasis seemeth to be altogether the more difficult to be cured in regard that it hath its original from a matter more thick and far worse then the former and such as doth not only eat assunder the roots of the hairs but likewise even the very Skin it self which is never done in the Alopecia 3. Yet notwithstanding by how much the longer either of these Maladies hath been and continued by so much the more difficult is the Cure thereof and by how much the less while they have continued by so much the more easily are they cured 4. If by Rubbing the place become red there is then hope of Cure the sooner it is thus the more easie the Cure but if it wax not red at all then there remaineth no hope at all of any Cure 5. That kind of Areae is also the worst that hath made the Skin thick and somwhat fat and slick or slippery in all the parts affected 6. Alopecia and Ophiasis that proceed from the Leprosie are altogether incurable and that that hath its original from the French Disease is not to be Cured untill the Disease it self be Cured 7. There then shines forth some hope of a Cure to follow when the excremities of the Areae that are neerest unto the remaining hairs do again begin to send forth other hair For then those parts that are nigh unto the sound have the less receded from their Naturall State and so consequently will the sooner again return unto their Natural State and begin to produce hair The Cure If a Vitious humor abound in the whole body
this is first of all to be evacuated for otherwise it wil continually cherish the Malady by fomenting the matter thereof And so if the French Disease be Joyned therewith this is first to be cured in regard that the Areae cannot be taken away unless this be first removed As likewise the distemper of the Bowels upon which the breeding of the vicious humors doth very much depend is to be corrected And the antecedent Cause being taken away the Containing Cause of the Areae is then to be removed which Galen doth by Repressers and Digestives but we ought withal to do our endeavor that the skin may be restored unto its natural temper And therefore in the first place the whol body is to be purged by fit and proper Medicaments according to the Nature of the peccant humor And moreover Galen for the particular evacuation of the head administreth Apophlegmatisms also which we have elsewhere explained But for the matter which is yet in its flux and in the beginning thereof before the Areae are yet made Galen maketh use likewise of Repellers And the same likewise we are taught by Avicen where he telleth in that the Medicaments in the Alopecia ought likewise by a moderate astriction to corroborate the skin of the head for in the seventh part of his fourth Book Tract 1. Chap. 6. he saith thus And it is requisite that there be in those Medicaments a comforting and strengthening thereby to prevent and hinder in the head the reception of malignant matter But otherwise and if the Alopecia and Ophiasis be already present Repelling Medicaments have then no place even as likewise they have no place in Scabies or Scabbiness But if the Areae be already made and the matter impacted into the skin we ought then to use Digestives Now these are hot of thin parts and not greatly drying For if we make use of those things that dry overmuch not only the vitious humors but even the very aliment of the hair wil be then discussed Yea since that in the Areae confirmed the distemper of the skin is hot and dry therefore cold and moist Medicaments are to be mingled with the rest But now these Medicaments that take away the nighest cause of this Malady are termed Metasyncritica of the preparing of which Galen teacheth in his first Book of the Composition of Medicaments according to their places Chap. 2. and in his fourteenth Book of the Method of Physick Chap. 12. To wit in the first place if there yet remain any hairs that are corrupted these are to be plucked out either with the Volsella an Instrument purposely made to pul out hairs or they are to be drawn forth with a Dropacism or else the place may be shaven with a Razor And then afterward let the head be washed with a Ley in which Maidenhair Golden Maidenhair Southernwood and the like Plants have been boyled After the washing let the place be rubbed with a Linen cloth that is not over moist nor yet over dry until the skin begin to be red when this is done then let Topicks be administred Now such like Medicaments are Mustard seed Cresses white Lily Roots which as it is said wil likewise restore those hairs that burnt places have been deprived of by fire or scalding Rocket seed Nitro Oyl of Bayes liquid Pitch Sulphur the pouder and ashes of Southernwood the Root of Sowbread and Hellebor the seed of Stavesacre and Doves dung and these being the strongest and most powerful of al Thapsia and Euphorbium Which aforesaid Medicaments notwithstanding by how much the newer and fresher they are by so much the sharper they are also and the older they be the more they lay aside their sharpness and tartness But out of these such of them are to be made choyce of that are proper and convenient unto each of these Affects and these are also rightly to be administred For those Medicaments that were by us even now mentioned they are not al of them fit for al kinds of Areae or at al times or after any manner administred or in al ages but unto each of these there are such Medicaments as are fit and proper and each of these Medicaments have likewise their due time and manner of use and unto the Malady when it first begins and being yet but smal the weaker sort of them are to be administred but if the Malady be inveterate then the stronger sort of them and unto the softer bodies such as are the bodies of Children and Women the weaker Medicaments but unto such as are at their ful age and unto Men the stronger sort of Medicaments are to be applied Galen acquaints us with divers Compositions that had been examined by long Experience and approved of in his first Book of the Composition of Medicaments according to the places Chap. 1. to wit Those of Heras Crito Orestinus Ortho the Sicilian Cleopatra Archigenes Asclepias Dionysodorus Soranus and others Galen himself commendeth this following Take Leaves of the Greek Reed burnt half an ounce the Vrchin burnt one dram Moufedung two drams bruise and mingle them wel with Vinegar and so anoint the place therewith Or Take ashes of the burnt Reed Goats hair burnt Maidenhair Bears fat liquid Pitch Rosin of the Cedar of each alike and this he calleth the admirable Remedy Or Take House Mice burnt a piece of linen Cloth burnt Horse Teeth burnt Bears Fat the Marrow of a Hart the rind of the Reed equal parts of al Honey as much as wil suffice and make an Vnguent Or Take Euphâ—rbium Thapsia Oyl of Bayes of each two drams live Sulphur both the Hellebors of each one dram Add Wax six drams which may be moistened with Oyl of Bayes or old Oyl or liquid Pitch and mingle them together And this Medicament is of al other the strongest and therefore most convenient for the Malady when it is become inveterate In the Malady that is more mild it wil be sufficient to use a Medicament made of Southernwood or the roots of the Reed burnt mixt and incorporated with old Oyl Oyl of Bayes or liquid Pitch Or Take Rocket seed Cresses Nitre equal parts of them al and let them be mingled with Oyl of Bayes or liquid Pitch This that followeth is yet more mild and therfore fit for Women and Children Take Southernwood the ashes of the Root and Rind of the Reed Frankincense of each of these equal parts Bears Fat and Oyl of bitter Almonds of each as much as wil suffice and make a Liniment But if it be needful to make it stronger then add thereto Spuma Maris live Sulphur Bulls Gall Rocket seed Nitre or even Thaplia also Or Take Mustard seed Thapsia the seed of Cresses equal parts of them al when you have beaten them into a very fine pouder then add Oyl of Bayes and Rosin of each alike as much as will suffice and at the fire make hereof an Emplaster according to art Such like Medicaments good store of them
now become far worse than before the color of the hair should likewise be changed neither that the hairs that retain their own natural conformation and nutrition even until a mans death should only from some filth and snot that is wont to happen unto those things that putresie suffer any such like thing as that we now speak of But now that in Vitiligo and Leuca this color is preternaturally changed it is doubtless from this That in the said Affects there is not supplied unto the hair so good an aliment but such as is full of excrements and especially flegmatick excrements But in such as are hoary before their time in these no doubt there is a fault and somthing amiss even in the very humors and if not in the whol body yet at least in the head and temper of the brain Neither is it impossible but that these who are thus hoary in their youth or middle age may come to be thus affected and to suffer what we are now speaking of either by reason of the Seed or some disposition in the Testicles and we have already told you before that evermore the Seed and the Testicles do make very much in the change of the color of the hair And again since that the Passions and Affects of the mind especially fear and terror may possibly effect such notable changes in the humors and that they may likewise greatly affect the brain it is therefore no wonder that in a short time hoariness should be produced from that change that is made in the humors For if from a smal Cloud or the Air or a hurtful Wind blowing upon Trees the color of their Leaves may be changed and the Leaves mâ—â— thereupon wither the Tree it self and other parts thereof remaining safe and untouched it is not impossible also but that the color of the hairs as of the most ignoble parts of out body may likewise be changed from some humor or spirit suddenly invading and seizing upon them And this may be also confirmed even by that which Hollerius in his first Perioche writeth to wit That the hairs have suddenly been turned white and hoary by the vapor of Hydrarge Signs Diagnostick The change of the color of the hair into whiteness or hoariness is sufficiently manifest of it self neither is there any need of signs to discover it And if in the declining age the hair grow hoary it is no more than what is natural and this change is made but slowly as coming by degrees as age encreaseth Bur if this happen before old age although it be but slowly yet it is preternatural but it is much more preternatural if a man or woman become hoary al on a sudden Prognosticks 1. That hoariness that is natural as happening in old age can no way be amended as neither likewise can the witheredness in old age yea indeed it ought not so much as to be attempted by the Physitian since that the hoary head is rather an ornament unto those that are old than any thing of which they should be ashamed 2. But that which is preternatural as it ought to be corrected in regard that it signifieth some kind of preternatural affect and vitious disposition in the brain more especially so it also may be amended since that if the said vitious disposition be amended the color of the hair wil likewise be changed 3. That hoariness that is from the Vitiligo a kind of Leprosie is upon the curing of the said Disease likewise amended The Cure The hoariness that is incident unto old age as we have already told you cannot any waies he amended neither indeed ought it to be palliated and hid with any artificial fucus and he that shal attempt any such thing may deservedly be laughed at touching whom Martial in the fifth Book of his Epigrams thus Thou seemst Lentinus by thy dy'd hairs young again And soon art made a Crow that wast erewhile a Swan Thou canst not al deceive for Proserpine wel knows Thy hoary head and wil discover thy false shews But that hoariâ—â— that is caused by Vitiligo and Alphus is taken away upon the removal of the said Diseases and especially if Medicaments that prolong the haiâ—â—â—â—ministred For then new hair growing up from the good aliment those old hoary hairs wil be soon abolished But if immaturely and before the due time this hoariness threaten or suddenly invade any person whether man or woman the better to preserve from it and to cure it if present we must do our best endeavor that good blood may be produced in the whol body and especially in the head that may supply unto the hair a good and fit aliment and withal the vitious humors if there are any such present are to be evacuated Neither ought the particular evacuation of the head by Steâ—nutatories and Erâ—hines to be omitted And after this we are to make use of those Medicaments that strengthen the Native heat of the body and more especially the brain touching which we have already spoken in their proper place The Arabians commend this Confection Take of the black Myrobalans without their Kernels five ounces Ginger Ammi or Bishops weed of each ten drams let them be throughly moistened with Butter and then add Sugar of Penidies to the quantity of the one half give often of this Medicament one dram Topicks As for what concerneth Topicks Galen indeed in his first Book of the Composition of Medicaments according to the places Chap. 3. propoundeth Medicaments that are hot and of thin parts when he had a purpose to discuss and scatter the snotty filth and to dry up the superfluous humidities in the skin But unless that there afterward flow thereto such a like aliment that may again generate hair of the Natural color such Medicaments as these wil avail but little Others there are therefore that make use only of those Medicaments that dye and make black the hair In doing of which notwithstanding we are well to heed and weigh what honesty wil allow of and withal we are to take heed that by no means we bring any hurt unto the Brain For these Medicaments that make black having most of them an astringent power and being withal cold are very apt to produce the Apoplexy Epilepsie deep and profound sleep Catarrhs and the like Maladies and this Galen tels us he hath seen and observed to befal some certain Women in his time But now among these like Medicaments Galen preferreth Cadmia or Brass Oar before al the other in regard that by this Medicament the haiâ—s are made black the rottenness and filthy snot is discussed and the il disposition of the head amended The Oyl of Costus is also commended and so is the Oyl of Coloquintida or bitter Gourd of Nightshade and of Mustard seed Some few hours after the anointing let the head be washed with a Ley of the ashes of Beans Nutshels in which Litharge hath been boyled or with a Ley in which the Pulp
finger thick exceeding dreadful to look upon and much resembling the Gorgont head Which tufts of hair they suffer to grow in a sloven-like and regardless fashion for some superstitious ends inducing them thereunto neither wil they at al suffer it to be cut neither at any time to be parted and severed with the Comb being altogether perswaded that the most grievous Fomenters of the diseases of the head that is to say the matter of the Apoplexy Palsie Madness and especially the pertinacious Cephalalgie and the like Diseases are wholly or at least in great part consumed in nourishing these tufts of hair And thus being lead either by Superstition or the long and exact observation of other men they wil admit of any thing rather than the kembing or cutting short of these bushy locks of hair as a thing altogether ominous and deadly and having made their Essayes both of Experiment and History they stiffly maintain their own Opinion But those of them that would be accounted more neat and spruce hide these their deformed tufts of hair those of their heads within their hats but those of their beards rolled up together under somthing they purposely wear upon their breasts that so they may not be seen But there are likewise others of them who although it be even in the publique Assemblies cannot possibly conceal these monstrous and deformed bushes of matted and intangled hair if they would never so fain neither would they if they could So that it is a thing so wel setled and resolved on without the least doubt or scruple in the minds both of those that wear these horrid and strange intangled locks and likewise of al those that behold them that even in their publick Assemblies without any the least shame or disgrace and as a thing altogether necessary for the sustaining of life they expose them to open view And some certain of them there are as we have already told you that during their whol life do in this manner nourish and cherish these their ugly locks hoping that thereby they may possibly be preserved from al other dangerous and difficult diseases that continually threaten them The vulgar likewise if they chance to light into the company of any thus affected they then presently suspect them to be diseased with some hidden undiscernable and some one or other difficult Malady of the head In which thing whether their Superstition convince their Experience or their Experience exceed and surpass their Superstition I wil not at present trouble my self to judg thereof Only this indeed I conceive fit to tel you That as I incline very much unto the vulgar Opinion so that I may conceal nothing I think also that the Seminary of these kind of Diseases is not from thence so much argued as nourished and that by this means it may be prevented that they invade not as we are likewise further taught by the received Opinion of Physitians touching the Causes of the generation of Hair the Events and the Cures there accrewing also for our further assurance the common and constant attestation of the vulgar and which at this day passeth as from hand to hand among them I have not as yet found that this vice of the hair is sufficiently known unto other the Europeans neither is it known in the most parts of Germany but unto al the Brisgoi Alsatians Dutch and in many Tracts neer unto the River Rhine it is in a manner Epidemical and generally wel known likewise unto the people where I live I my self knew here above thirty Citizens of whom some are even yet living that were famous and remarkable for this kind of hair The common people cal it Marenfletcht Maren wiirkung ynd Schrottlinszopff as if we should say The contorsions or writhings of the hairs or the locks and hairy tufts of the Incubi for they conceit that the Incubi and Fauni as the Ancients called them draw forth these hairs in the night time by sucking them Others there are that name them Marenlock that is to say the locks and tufts of Swine because they now and then observe some long tufts like unto the former growing out of the neck of these Swine and hanging down very low As for Histories there are two that in special he reckoneth up the one out of Johan Stadlerus a Physitian the other out of Moccius and both of them he relateth in their own words The first is this Thou bringest unto my remembrance that noble person Casparus of Horstein Brother unto the Commendator Sigismund in Alsatia and Provincial in Burgundy lately deceased whom when the Commendator on a time sharply reprehended by reason of his uncombed writhed and intangled beard which horrid and frightful as it was he ware before him and withal threatning to remove him from his Table a man of about fifty yeers of age unless he would cut it off he then answered that he would more willingly be deprived of his Diet and freely depart the Court rather than want his intangled and altogether Gorgonean Beard This happened in the yeer of Christ 1564. when from Friburg I went to Alschusa for fear of the Plague Thus much out of Stadlerus The other History is thus related Of late saith Moccius one rashly cutting off these Locks of an old woman she died within the space of three daies For they cry up this as a thing very fatal even unto such oftentimes as for want of good advice have frivolously been hurt although there are likewise some that tel us another tale For we know the man who was wel acquainted with a certain Countess that having such a monstrous head of hair would often cause it to be cut even unto the neck This out of Moccius and thus far Schenckius I have heard from a certain Captain of Horse that this Malady is likewise not unknown unto the Hungarians and that in Hungary not only Men but even the Horses also are subject unto this kind of Disease and that he himself brought out of Hungary as far as Dresda a Horse that had such a Plica or intangled Lock of Hair hanging down unto the very feet Unto the aforesaid Epistle of the Rector of the University of Zamoscium Hercules Saxonia answereth in a peculiar Book which he entituleth de Plica or of the monstrous intangled and writhed Hair Johannes Thomas Minadous hath likewise published the Consultation they had at Padua touching this sad Affect on the 15. of the Calends of January in the yeer 1599. and he inscribeth it de Helotide Rodericus a Fonseca hath published likewise a Consultation touching this same Disease the which we find in the first Tome of his Consultations Consult 1. Al which are to be seen in these before mentioned Authors But now whether or no the Polonians received any considerable benefit by these Consultations of the Italians I leave it unto themselves to judg I think that to be a very Ingenuous Confession which that most eminent and famous man Dr.
Johannes Prevotius principal Professor of Physick in the University of Padua maketh in that Letter of Advice and Counsel which he wrote unto the Illustrious and most generous Lord Nicolaus Sapieha chief Standard-bearer unto the great Dukedom of Lituania and Earl of Coden c. I shal anon give you the whol Letter at large where he thus writeth The Nature of this poyson saith he is altogether unknown so that as it seems to me it was truly spoken by that illustrious person who said in my hearing that the Boors inhabiting within his Territories had sound out more of the original of this Plica the progress and the Cure thereof than any of those Authors that had written concerning it of which there hath been never a one of them that as yet hath had the fortune to restore unto perfect health any one that hath been afflicted with the said Plica The Physick Professors of Padua have indeed made trial there of very many Remedies but al to no purpose The same aforesaid Noble person Count of Coden himself told me that a certain Padua Physitian induced thereunto as it were by the signature shape of the Disease for they that are affected with the true and perfect Plica seem in a manner to have Serpents hanging down from their heads and as it were the head of the Monster Gorgon prescribed him some Vipers to eat but without any success at al. And that another of them had provided him a Psilothrum Oyntment to use instead of the usual Ley perswading him to condescend unto the cutting off of his hair promising him an artificial covering for his head but that being advised to the contrary by a German a student in Physick unto whom this Disease was not altogether unknown and one who wel understood the danger that was like to follow upon the rooting out al his hair he therefore refused it But although I dare not arrogate unto my self a perfect knowledg of this Disease and albeit that in no case we cannot attain unto the perfect and exact knowledg of Diseases that depend upon an occult and secret Cause yet nevertheless what I know touching the Nature of this Disease by means of my converse with the Noble Earl before mentioned who was afflicted therewith and what I conceive touching the Cause thereof I wil here briefly acquaint you with that in so doing I may give a further occasion and encouragement unto such as live in those Regions where this Disease is commonly and familiarly known to publish what is come to their knowledg touching this Disease It seems not to me to be any new Disease For although it hath hitherto been unknown unto the people of Italy and most of the European Regions yet nevertheless I see no reason at al why it should not be common and frequent in Polonia many Ages past as wel as now since that the causes that produce the same at this day might then be present as wel as now only that there were then wanting Physitians that might inquire into and acquaint us with what they knew touching the Nature of this Disease Now as for the Nature of it we are first to take notice of this to wit that this Disease as for what concerns the name thereof is known indeed from the intricateness and intangling of the hairs yet notwithstanding that the said Plica is only somwhat that is Critical as it were arising from the expulsion of the vitious matter out of the body and that the said Plica bringeth no danger at al along with it unto the affected person who oftentimes bears it about with him al his whol life without any the least damage But that which most of al threateneth danger unto the diseased party is that vitious humor which yet sticking fast in the body exciteth those most grievous symptoms that have been before recounted in the History of this Disease which cease al of them afterward so soon as the matter is thrust forth unto the hair And moreover this is further to be added unto the History That in such as are thus affected especially if the Disease proceed unto the height not only the hairs are vitiated but the nails also and more especially in the feet but most of al in the great Toes thereof which become rough long and black like unto the horn of a Goat and this I observed in the afore mentioned noble Lord Nicolaus Sapieha and I have heard that the very same hath also befallen unto others But now this Vice is not without cause referred unto and reckoned among Diseases in regard that the hairs are not wholly to be excluded out of the number of the parts And it is to be referred unto the Diseases of Conformation seeing that the hairs neither retain that figure that they ought naturally to have neither do they every of them appear single and severed as they should but are variously complicated among themselves and entwisted one within the other so that of many hairs there is made one long thick intangled and frightful lock And yet notwithstanding that the Distemper of the hairs is likewise changed cannot be denied in regard that there floweth unto them a preternatural humor and such like hairs as these when they are cut pour forth blood As touching the Causes thereof in the first place these things that are commonly believed and by tradition pass from hand to hand touching the paines that is taken by the Incubi Infants not baptized and other Spirits besides in the weaving of the long ugly and frightful Locks there is none but may easily perceive that they are meerly fabulous and superstitious But that this vice of the hair as wel as many other Diseases may somtimes proceed from Witchcraft and Inchantment appeareth even by the Observation of Christophorus Rumbaumus Doctor and Professor of Physick and my fellow Citizen which Hercules Saxonia reporteth to be Extant in the Observations of Johannes Schenckius the Elder in the seventh Book in these very words of Rumbaumus In the yeer 1590. while I was a long time bestowing my pains though all in vain in the Cure of a Mans Wife who out of the Lees of Beer artificially destilled Brandy Wine at Uâ—atislavia being newly brought to bed and by reason of a great and sudden affrightment upon occasion of a lamentable sire burning the next adjoyning houses taken with an Inflammation of the Lungs upon the retention of her Courses Secundine and what should afterward have come from her and this Inflammation through her own carelessness terminating in an Impostume of the Lungs and the Consumption a certain Emperick an old Woman came unto her and offering her pains promised present help Which she would by no means admit of Whereupon the Emperical old Woman growing much enraged uttering many threatning words she causeth her to be shut out of doors and then presently as she was wont she fals a washing and Cleansing away the filth of her Head having first Combed plaited
Sardonian Laughter wherin the sick persons die laughing For whereas the Diaphragm receiveth Nerves from the third and fourth vertebra of the Neck and that these are mingled with those smal branches that are propagated throughout the Muscles that move the Jawbones and the Lips if they suffer a Convulsion in that part by which they reach even unto the Diaphragm they then contract and draw together along with them those little branches of the Muscles of the face by which the Jawbones and the lips being involuntarily moved to and fro hither and theither cause a resemblance and seeming appearance of laughter which Hippocrates in the 5 of his Epidem accounteth among those signs that are deadly by the Example of Tycho whom he bringeth in for an instance And yet nevertheless neither are those very wounds that are also in the nervous part of the Diaphragm alwaies mortal so far forth indeed that the party wounded in that place must of necessity presently die albeit we grant it to be a thing altogether impossible that those who are thus wounded should ever be perfectly cured or live long in that manner A notable instance and history of this which I have likewise before related in the second Book of my Institutions part 2. Chap. 13. and in the second Book of my Pract. Part. 2. Ch. 15. was given me by my Father in law Doctor Andreas Schato somtimes Physick Professor in this University of Witteberg which I must not here in this place pass over in silence Take it therefore thus In the year 1582 the 20. of September a certain Student by name Henricus Euscherhovius returning out of the lower Saxony unto Witteberg and much addicted to Melancholy before the gate ran himself through with his own sword But yet notwithstanding with in two monthes he was cured of this wound But the yeer following the 28. of April he began again to be much amiss and the days following he vomited very often first a certain water and whatsoever food he had eaten then after that such things as were green and at length on the second of May his vomitings were altogether black and that in very great abundance and so after the last vomit the same second day of May he died We opened his Body and there we found that the wound had penetrated thorow the Lungs and the Diaphragm and as it seemed to us the Diaphragm was run thorow in the Nervous circle We found very little or nothing of his Lungs on the left side that was run thorow but only a very smal portion thereof which stuck above unto the short Ribs the rest of it no doubt had gone forth thorow the wound together with the purulent matter The whole stomack was ascended into the left side of the Thorax and it had driven the Heart with its Case out of its proper place into the right side where while he was yet alive and after the wound was restored unto a good degree of health he would wish us to observe the motion of his heart by putting our hands there An instance not much unlike unto this we have in Ambrosius Paraeus his ninth Book And Chapt. 30. Of a certain Captain that was by a bullet shot out of an hand-gun wounded and shot quit thorow the Diaphragm but it was in the fleshly part thereof who dying eight months after this wound received we found in his dead body when we had opened it that a very great part of the Gut Colon being puffed and swoln up with much wind had thorow the wound of the Diaphragm gotten up into his Thorax VVounds of the Stomack Seventhly As for the wounds of the Stomack for the most part they are not to be recounted in the number of the wounds simply Mortal and which suddenly strangle and destroy a man since that we have every where exstant examples of wounds in the stomack that have been cured That History is generally wel knowen which is related both by Julius Alexandrius in the fourth chapter of his sixth Book of Galen his Therapeutick method and likewise by Matthias Cornax in his Epist in answer unto Dr. Aegid Hertogh of a certain Bohemian Boor who received a wound in his stomack and that from a broad hunting spear and yet notwithstanding lived a long while after this story we told you a little before and therefore shall say no more of it here Neither is that other history unknown of a certain Boor in Bohemia which as others have related it so we find it likewise mentioned by Crollius in the preface to his Basilica Chimica in these very words In the year 1602. at Prague in the new Town we saw a certain Bohemian Boor by name Matthaeus about thirty six years old who for two years together by an admirable and unheard of dexterity that he had in his throat would oftentimes in the company of his drunken companions hide in his wide throat as it were in a sheath an Iron knife of a fit size First of al thrusting in the horn haft thereof with the wonted sleight of a Jugler drinking upon it a large draught of beer that they gave him for this purpose and afterward he would pul it back again by the point thereof at his pleasure by a singular art and dexterity that he had but at length the morrow after Easter I know not by what unhappy and mad rashness of his he had swallowed it so far down that it wholly descended into his stomack and could no more by al his art and cunning be from thence drawn back And after that half dead in a manner with the apprehension of death undoubtedly and suddenly to follow he had lodged in his stomack the said knife seven wol weeks and two days by the use and help of attractive emplasters of the Loadstone and other the like the point of the knife by a natural impulse began to make its way forth neer unto the orifice of the stomack which was no sooner perceived by the patient but he instantly and earnestly requested of the Chirurgeons who notwithstanding disswaded him from it by reason of the extream hazard of his life thereby that it might by cutting be drawn forth Which at the length upon his continual importunate desires and yet not untill such time as he was come unto a most desperate Condition both in respect of his poverty and weakness was yielded unto and the business undertaken by the principal Chirurgeon both of the kingdom and that City Florianus Matthias by name a Brandeburger on the thursday after the feast of Pentecost at seven of the clock in the morning and by him with Gods assistance it was happily effected The colour of the knife after he had cut it forth it being as long as nine thumbs in breadth was so changed in his stomack as if it had layn all that while in the fire and was immediatly laid up among the Rarities of the Emperour having been first shewn a thing most strange incredible and
of blood and the matter of the inflammation may be withdrawn and kept back And indeed by how much the danger in the wound is the greater by so much the more spare ought his diet to be but so soon as the danger of the wound is diminished then his diet may be by degrees augmented so that he may feed somwhat more fully but yet stil with a due moderation And therefore albeit that Hippocrates in his B. of Affects saith that Wounded persons ought to be pinched and afflicted with hunger this is not simply so to be taken but that we are alwayes to heed the danger of the wound and especially of the inflammation conjoyned therewith and according as this danger shal be greater or less so the diet prescribed may be more ful or ought to be more sparing as we may see out of the same Hippocrates in his Book of Fractures comment â— Text. 44. and Comment 3. Text. 12. as also out of Galen in his Commentary upon those Texts of Hippocrates But yet notwithstanding there is some consideration and respect to be had unto the Age time of the year Region Custome and Temperature according to that 17. Aphorism of the first Section As touching the Patients drink in our Regions Beer may fitly and conveniently enough be drunk His Drink I mean that drink that is made either of Barly or of Wheat and this is to be made somtimes weaker and somtimes stronger according to the state and condition of the wounded party and the wound it self Wine is not allowable in those wounds that are dangerous and where there is present or the danger of an Inflammation threatened and neer at hand in regard that it may by reason of its heat and thinness be a vehicle or means to convey the humors unto the part affected And therefore Hippocrates in his Book of Ulcers text 1. writeth in this manner A small and moderate quantity of Meat and the drinking of water is mostly fit and requisite in all Wounds whatsoever but yet rather in those that are new and fresh then in those that are old and of a long standing and then especially when in the wound there is present an Inflammation or if there shal be any feared or when there is any danger lest that any thing may be vitiated or when the wounds of a joynt are attempted by an inflammation or when there is any fear of a convulsion at hand and lastly when the Belly hath received a Wound And therefore for those that have been long accustomed to drink water and where there is no great plenty of beer either simple and pure water may be administred unto the patient or else a Medicate water destilled out of the juice of Pomgranates Coriander seed Citron rinds of Barley water or the water destilled out of the whol Citron When the danger of the inflammation as past then that wine that is thin and weak may be allowed the patient how and then In wounds that are more grievous and ful of danger Medicate drinks may be provided and made of vulnerary herbs As for what Concerns the motion and rest of the body Motion and rest which of them fittest for those that are wounded Rst is most convenient for wounded persons but more especially for the wounded part For motion moveth and scattereth the humors and rendereth them apt to flow and the moving of the wounded Member exciteth a pain in it and yet nevertheless for the Patient to walk casily and gently his leggs being sound unhurt it wil be no way amiss but very good for him so to do touching which Celsus in his fifth Book and Chapt. 26. thus gives us his opinion The best Medicament likewise saith he is Rest and quietness and to More and walk unless for those that are sound and in health is not so fit and convenient but yet nevertheless it is least dangerous in those that are wounded in their head or Arms but more unto such as are wounded in their inferior parts But motion or walking is then least of all convenient when the wound is either in the Thigh or the Leg or the Foot The Commotions likewise and all perturbations of the mind are carefully to be avoyded Affects of the mind how they are to be ordered and more especially wrath and Anger And therefore those persons that may be an occasion of incensing and provoking to anger the sick person are not to be permitted to come where he is nor so much as any mention to be made of them in his hearing But the Patient ought rather to be moved and stirred up unto a moderate and fitting mirth and cherefulness and all possible tranquillity and calmness of Mind And of all other things that are prejudicial unto the Patient at this time the use of Venus and the company of women is the most hurtful Immoderate and overlong watchings are also very offensive in regard that they inflame and cause a commotion in the humors The sick persons belly must be kept open and soluble and if it chance at any time to be stopt and shut up it is then again to be opened and loosened with mild and gentle Clysters Chap. 13. Of keeping the flux of humors from the Wounded part And thus much touching the general cure of Wounds which yet notwithstanding is somtimes to be varyed according to the variety of the subjects the Nature of the wounded part and the condition of the diseases and the symptoms that flow thereupon and of this we shall now speak And first of all indeed it oftentimes happeneth that the body that is wounded may not be exactly and perfectly sound but that it may be either Plethorical or cacochymical so that there may be great cause to fear lest that either great abundance of blood or the vitious humors that have been long treasuring up in the body may by occasion of the wound rush unto the affected part and there excite various evils And therefore we are to use our utmost endeavour to hinder and prevent the afflux of the humors unto the wounded part Now this flux is especially prevented if care be taken to hinder all those causes that may excite the said flux and moreover al those things that may overmuch and prâ—ternaturally heat the wounded part excise a pain therein or render the same soft loose and so consequently the more apt to receive the flux or overheat the humors disperse them and so render them the more fit for motion are wholly to be removed and taken quite away And such a care and orderly course there ought also to be taken in point of dyet that it may not in any wise generate either too great abundance of blood or had and corrupt humors And furthermore we are likewise to succour and help the weak and infirm part by those things that corroborate and strengthen it the pain if there shall be any is to be mitigated if there be present any heat it is to be