almost to the brims then fill the Poringer with the Spirit of Wine let it stand so four or five days then kindle the Spirit of Wine with a piece of burning Paper and keep it burning so until the Quick-silver and Tin are changed to an oyl in the Spirit of Wine of this oyl let the Patient take one grain at a time in a draught of the best wine warmed and let him keep himself well covered in his bed until he sweat A Treatise of Vlcers SECTION III. VVherein are described the Tinctures which are Catholique Medicines for all kinde of Ulcers THe diligence of wise men in former times was great in searching out the causes and preservatives of long Life the natures and uses of all kindes of remedies therefore they were called The students of Wisdom but they knew not the right way of preparing Medicines they learned this from the Alchymist So they and the Alchymist together have discovered many excellent Medicines the chief of which are the Tinctures but these Tinctures have been much abused by Gold Smiths and those who thought to change Metals into Gold with them I have shewed in some other of my writings how much may be done by them therefore I will not here speak any thing of it In former times they made Tinctures whereby they coloured Metals purged them and afterwards they used these Tinctures as Medicines for the bodies of men what great vertues are in these Tinctures are declared in the Books of Ancient Writers which have long time been kept hidden by false Physicians but I will publish them for I have had the experience of them and I know they have a wonderful faculty in cleansing the blood And because I now write concerning the cure of Ulcers I conceive it fitting that I shew you whence I have had these my remedies and I confess that I have learned them in the School of Chymistry But because many errors have crept into this Art of Chymistry partly through ignorance and partly through the envy of Chymists whereby those who followed the practice of Chymistry being much seduced they were forced to seek new ways and so of themselves they found out many things some profitable and some hurtful Therefore I have endeavored to reform this Art of Chymistry leaving those things which are hurtful or unprofitable I discover onely such things which are useful and good for the Body of Man This task I am able to perform so much the more happily in regard my first studies were in this way of Chymistry in which I took great delight and followed it with great diligence under excellent Masters who were most skilful in secret Philosophy My Masters were first William of Hohenheim my careful and loving Father and many others who hid nothing from me which they knew and besides I was much helped by the Books of learned men viz. Bishop Setgaius Erhradus Laventalius Bishop Nicolaus Hipponensis Trithemius Abbot of Spanheim and other most learned and experienced Chymists I have had also many Experiments from several Chymists and of those I will now name onely the most noble Sigismundus Fueger Schwatzensis who maintaineth many servants in the practice of Chymistry at great charges and hath enriched the Art of Chymistry with many Experiments To conclude I conceive that I may very well undertake this talk Of reforming Chymistry and Physick considering my knowledge in Philosophy and my skill of Chymistry and Physick And here I will give you some taste of my skill in the following Tinctures The Simples out of which the Tinctures are extracted are these viz. Gold Quick-silver Antimony the Philosophers Salt Balsom red Corals Mummy Baulm Celandine Valerian Germander Succory Swallow wort And beginning with Gold I will briefly and Methodically teach you the way to extract the Tinctures out of these Simples The Ancient Chymists who writ Fables more then serious matters if they had eased us of this labor we should have been very thankful to them but seeing they have failed us I will make up this defect The Tincture of Gold The Tincture of Gold is the purest part of the Gold wherein all its colour is contained and this being extracted there remaineth the white body of Gold this coloured part of the Gold differeth much from the white Body as the pure from the impure and therefore they must be separated or else you do nothing When you have extracted the coloured part you must exalt it to the highest degree and whereas the colour in Gold may be exalted to the twenty fourth degree the Tincture extracted must be exalted ten times more and no further This Tincture hath a wonderful vertue in cleansing renewing and restoring the Blood not onely in the part diseaâ—ed but also throughout the whole Body how much of this Tincture you must take at a time you shall hear afterwards I will now shew you how you must extract it First melt your Gold with Antimony that it may be well purged by the Antimony according to the usual way Take this Gold and dissolve it in the distilled water of common Salt this water of Salt must be made thus Take of the best white Salt made by the Sun and melt it in a very hot fire as Brass or Silver c. is melted several times Then make it into powder and mix it with the juice of Radishes and when the Salt is dissolved in the juice distil them together then take the water which you have distilled off from them and mix it with the juice of Bloodwort of each alike and distil them together take the water which you have distilled off from them and pour it again to the grounds remaining distil it again and so you must do five times Then take of the water of the first distillation and in this dissolve your Gold when your Gold is dissolved put a little of the Spirit of Tartar into this water of Salt to make the Gold powder fall to the bottom then pour off this water of Salt from the Gold powder and wash your Gold powder with common Water distilled until all the Spirit of Salt be well washed from it Then take this Gold powder and put it in the Spirit of Wine which must be made thus Take of the best wine and put it in a Circulatory Vessel which must be very well closed up so that no vapor can get out fill the third part of your circulatory vessel with the Wine and leave two parts empty and how much of the circulatory vessel is filled with the Wine so much of it must be set in Balneo Maria the space of ten days then put it in a distilling vessel and distil it and that which comes out first is the Spirit of Wine the rest is onely sublimed Wine Put your Gold powder after it is washed with the distilled common water into this Spirit of Wine so much of it as that it may be a hands breadth above the Gold powder put them together in a
doubtless his cures and Physical Experiments which he hath left to us in his Writings the best part of which are in the following Treatises are very good as the experiences of many since his death who have tryed them do testifie to us viz Crollius Baptista Vanhelmont Dorneus and many other famous Physicians who have followed his way altogether yea those that profess that they will not follow his way do nevertheless use most of his Medicines in their Practise as their Writings and Apothecaries can witness it And Paracelsus in his life time gave proof thereof for he did such cures which never any Physician hath done the like He commonly cured those Diseases which all other Doctors accounted incurable the truth of which is well known in all Germany where he practiced for he was Physician to the most part of the Peers and Princes of Germany and many other Nations during his life as all who knew any thing of Paracelsus yea even his enemies do acknowledge it so that he cannot be defrauded of this praise See Sennertus his Book De Consensu dissensu Peripateticorum Chymicorum and therefore I do admire that any should put thâ—s scandal upon Paracelsus to say that he was a Mountebank since all even his enemies do confess that he did such great and strange Cures And certainly Basil which is one of the most famous Universities of the World would never have chosen him to be their Publique Professor of Physick if he had been a Mountebank or a weak man He was chosen to be their Professor when he was but thirty years of age and there taught Physick publickly many years and many came thither to hear his Physick Lectures from all parts of Germany from Spain Italy France Hungaria Poland Denmark c. See Sennertus in the aforesaid Book We also see many learned men approve of his way in the practice of Physick and have followed it whereby it appears that this man was no Mountebank as some do enviously and falsly scandalize him Reader I thought it fitting to bint these things to thee to prevent or remove thy prejudicial thoughts of Paracelsus which may be bred by those false scandals which are too common in the mouthes of those who know not the truth of these things lest by thy prejudicial thoughts of him thou be deprived of the benefit of those things which thou mayest meet with for thy good in these ensuing Treatises The Treatises of the Dispensatory I have given you in Paracelsus own words I have onely for thy benefit divided the Treatises into Chapters and to the Chapters I have added the Contents of them But his Chirurgery I have abreviated giving you onely the cures with the marks of those Ulcers and Aposthumes for which he hath appointed the Cures Very few of the remedies in the following Treatises are Chymical but they are such as any may themselves easily make them Paracelsus Chymical Medicines you shall have also shortly in English altogether with their Preparations fully and clearly explained W. D. The Table and Contents of this BOOK TREATISE I. OF the Medicinal Vertues and Preparations of Hellebore Chap. 1. There are two kindes of Hellebore viz. Younger and Elder the younger is for young people and the elder for old people pag. 1 Chap. 2. Hellebore a singular Medicine for prolonging life How it was used by the ancient Physicians pag. 6 Chap. 3. The cure of the Falling-sickness with black Hellebore and the several ways of preparing it pag. 10 Chap. 4. The cure of the Gout with black Hellebore pag. 17 Chap. 5. The cure of the Palsie and Hydropsie and other diseases with black Hellebore pag. 21 Treatise II. Of the strange vertues of Arsmart Chap. 1. How the Arsmart should be used for any Wound or Ulcer pag. 26 Chap. 2. What other diseases are cured by Arsmart viz Inflammations Tooth-ach c. pag. 32 Treatise III. Of the vertues and preparations of CORALS Chap. 1. What kinde of Coral is best The vertue of it against Spirits Melancholy vain Phansies c. pag. 39 Chap. 2. The vertues of Coral more particularly with their proofs shewing these operations of Coral to be true and natural pag. 44 Chap 3. The marks of the best Coral How it should be prepared and exalted the vertues of its Essence pag. 49 Treatise IV. Of the vertues and preparation of St. Johns-wort Chap. 1. The vertues of St. Johns-wort for phantastick Spirits worms and wounds pag. 54 Chap. 2. When the St. Johns-wort must be pulled out of the ground and how it must be used against Phantastick Spirits pag. 59 Chap. 3. How the St. Johns-wort should be prepared for wounds bruises Fractures of the bones and Ulcers and how it should be used when it is prepared pag. 62 Treatise V. Of the vertues of the Load-stone Chap. 1. The vertues of the Load-stone and how it should be used pag. 69 Chap. 2. In this chapter you have the vertues of the Load-stone more particularly for several diseases pag. 76 Treatise VI. Of the Preparations and Medicinal Vertues of Turpentine of Ebbony and of Mummy Chap. 1. The difference of the wilde and the planted Larch-tree and that the natural place of the Larch-tree maketh much for the good of the Turpentine pag. 83 Chap. 2. That the right Turpentine is equal to the Indian Balsom in its preserving Vertue and how it hath this vertue by the influence of the Stars and by the Elements is fully explained pag. 87 Chap. 3. The vertues of Turpentine pag. 94 Chap. 4. The preparations of Turpentine pag. 98 Of Ebbony Wood. Chap. 1. The preparations and vertues of Ebbony-wood pag. 104 Chap 2. The vertues of Mummy pag. 108 Treatise VII Of the secrets and wonderful Medicinal vertues of Vermin Chap. 1. The Medicinal vertues of Serpents p. 111 Chap. 2. The Medicinal vertues of Serpents pag. 114 Chap. 3. The medicinal vert es of Serpents pag. 116 Chap. 4. Preservatives to keep us from the harm of Serpents Adders and Snakes pag. 118 Chap. 5. The medicinal vertues of the Toad and Spider pag. 121 Chap. 6. Paracelsus compared with other Physicicians pag. 123 Ch. 7. The Medicinal vertues of Earth-worms pag. 126 Chap. 8 The Medicinal vertues of the Earth-worm and of the Crab-fish Cancer pag. 128 Chap. 9. The vertues of the Crab-fish Cancer pag. 131 Chap. 10. The cure of those marks in the body which the patient hath from the mothers womb pag. 135 Treatise VIII Concerning common Salt and Brimstone their medicinal Vertues and Preparations Chap. 1. pag. 139 Treatise IX Of the Medicinal and Chymical Vertues and Preparations of Coperas Chap. 1. The kindes of Coperas and the marks of the goodness of Coperas pag. 161 Chap. 2. The Medicinal vertues of Coperas unprepared and of Coperas calcined pag. 166 Chap. 3. Of the true Spirit and true oyl of Coperas how they are made and what are their vertues pag. 171 Chap. 4. Of the red oyl of Coperas commonly called The
may be rectified in a Circulatory vessel not the Circulatory vessel of the vulgar Alchimists who call themselves Alchimists and can do nothing but prate TREATISE IV. Of the Vertues and Preparations of St. Johns wort CHAP. I. The vertues of S. Johns wort for phantastick Spirits worms and wounds I Have oft-times declared how by the outward shapes and qualities of things we may know their inward Vertues which God hath put in them for the good of man So in St. Johns wort we may take notice of the form of the leaves and flowers the porosity of the leaves the Veins 1. The porositie or holes in the leaves signifie to us that this herb helps both inward and outward holes or cuts in the skin and strengthens Nature in expelling that which should be evacuated through the pores of the skin 2. The flowers of Saint Johns wort when they are putrified they are like blood which teacheth us that this herb is good for wounds to close them and fill them up 3 The straikes in the leaves like veines shew us That this herb drives away from a man Ghosts and night-spirits and spirits begot by imagination whether they be within a man or without and these phantastick Spirits which are begot by Phansie do beget Ghosts so that a man shall see spirits visions and hear such phansies and all these are naturall effects they are diseases which bring men to dotage and madnesse and make men sometimes to kill themselves 4. By the whole herb we may know this that if there be any of the aforesaid evils in any part of man it shall be expell'd by this herb so that this herb is an universall medicine for the whole man Lastly The tast of this herb is unpleasant to worms therefore the worms do hate it You may observe four vertues which are in St. Johns wort viz. for Wounds Worms Spirits and its Balsome-vertue Concerning these Phantasms or phantastick spirits which are without body or substance they are a disease which in the spirit of contemplation beget another spirit whereby the man is governed The which spirit begets in a man such thoughts and gestures as are contrary to his nature And for this disease there are no more remedies known that are created by God but only Coral and St. Johns wort Let the Physician here take notice of this that this Phantasm or phantastick Spirit is not a disease proceeding of Melancholy as the University Doctors fain but it is a spirit which cannot be driven away by those things which cure Melancholy but only by such Remedies in which there is a power and strength to drive them away by force Such a vertue as this is not to be found in those compounded Receipts which are made by the Apothecaries but it is a Medicine made by God himself without a Physician it is compounded and made wholly by Nature And therefore when wee would use it against these Phantasmes we must take it alone without addition or composition There be divers sorts of Wormes there be some Worms to which Rue is an enemy there be others to which Angelica is an enemy c. and others to which St. Johns wort is an enemy not only because of the taste but because of that vertue of St. Johns wort which as it is an enemy to all phantastick Spirits so it is also contrary to the spirits of worms and all vermin which by their naturall instinct do hate and fly from this vertue of St. Johns wort As the sun-beam pierceth through glasse so this vertue pierceth through the Spirits of men and beasts even as musk which by its smell gets into the inmost part of the brain Therefore worms fly from this herb and leave the place where it is This herb is also good for wounds not as it is in it self but if it be rightly prepared And let every Surgeon know that there is not any herb in all Germany or in any other Nation whose vertue by preparation can be so much exalted for the curing of wounds as St. Johns wort and this vertue being so exalted cannot be fully described There is no other Medicine which can close up a wound so soundly and perfectly without any harm which may follow thereupon as St. Johns wort Indeed there is not a more wholesome herb and better for Wounds to be found upon the earth then Saint Johns wort All the Books that ever have been written concerning the cure of Wounds being compared with this herb they are vain and uselesse and have nothing in them but vain talk For the greatest vertue and foundation of a vulnerary Cure is to be found in this herb and by it there may be a Balsome made whose vertues may contend with a naturall Balsome not that there is any natural Balsome essentially in it but by preparation as it shall be afterwards shewed Every understanding Physician will take these things well which I speak here for there are more and greater things taught in this Chapter then in all the Chirurgery of Galen er Avicen c. CHAP. II. When the St. Johns wort must be pulled out of the ground and how it must be used against Phantastick Spirits WHen we would use Saint Johns wort against these Phantasms we must observe the time of the heavenly Influences which is most contrary to these Spirits and it is chiefly in Mars or in Jupiter or in Venus it is to be done not with the Moon but against the Moon not in the afternoon or after Sun-set but a little before Sun-rising or in the dawning of the day in a place looking towards the East in a place where many other good herbs and flowers grow Saint Johns wort growing in such a place is the best and the longer it is and the more flowers it hath it is so much the better It is to be pull'd up when it hath flowers and then carry it constantly about you as a Nosegay or you may carry it in your cap or in your bosom in the night time you may lay it under your pillow hang it about the chamber and you may hang some of it in every room of your house And let all Physicians be assured of this that God hath hid a great secret in this herb especially against Spirits and such Phantasms which make men mad and bring them to dispair which are not from the Divel but from Nature For God hath created for every disease a remedy proper to it therefore it is the duty of the Physician to learn and to search out where God hath hid such secrets When the St Johns wort must be pulled out of the earth and how it should be used for Worms St. Johns wort needs no correction for the worms but we should use it as God himself hath made it for us It should be pull'd out of the earth the Moon being in those Signes wherein she is when trees are lop'd or cut down or when Argoile is dig'd up in which Signs no worms or moths
and without danger of harm by weapons or enemies thereby they also became very prosperous and had great victories and many other strange effects have been done by these Sigils of which we will not speak now There have been found words written and Characters and Sigils and strange Images delineated upon Vergin-paper or cut in Metals or in Gamehen's or in precious Stones as Saphires c. with strange shapes in some the shape of a man in some the shape of a beast And such were the unspeakable vertues of those Characters Sigils c. that they seemed to go beyond all the bounds of Nature it self and so Ptolomeus Hermogenes Balenius Virgilius Albertus Magnus have declared But the books of these Authors are fouly corrupted with those superstitious Ceremonies which are in them so that we cannot safely trust to every thing in those books therefore we must make a separation and take the kernel leaving the unprofitable shell in their writings CHAP. III. The medicinal vertues ef Serpents I Will not counsel you to practise or to trust to every thing in these books but I leave it to every man to doe as he thinks best and albeit Virgilius and Albertus Magnus deserve better to be believâ—d then the rest of these Writers yet the best things the greatest secrets which they know these things they would not set downe in their books but carried them with them to their graves And now there are no writings better and larger concerning this supernaturall Science then those which Techellus the Jew hath left to us there is but little of his writing now remaining and these of his writings which are extant they are contemn'd because he was a Jew a famous master in Israel and a most subtle searcher of Nature But now I return to my present purpose concerning the Serpent or Adder the skin of the Adder hath a singular faculty in curing wounds if you make a powder of this skin and strow it upon the wound Some when they go to fight bind this skin about that arm which holds the sword or other weapon wherewith they fight and so they fight happily and get the victory If a woman with child or in child-birth bind this skin about her neck or about her body she thereby becomes victorious in this duel of nature she happily goes through with the business of child-birth Now you must remember this that it is not every skin of the Serpent or Adder hath such a power but only that skin which the adder casts The same is to be understood of the Adders tongue it is not every tongue that hath such vertue but only that which is pluck'd out of the Adder alive CHAP. IV. Preservatives to keep us from the harm of Serpents Adders and Snakes BUt that I may hasten to make an end of this subject know this That in the fat and flesh of a Serpent there is a singular faculty of healing both new wounds and all venemous bitings and evill ulcers The flesh of the Adder hath the like vertues yea more it hath in it a singular secret and great medicinal vertues if you cut off the head and tail and let the blood run out in which is all the poyson But in this place I will be brief concerning these things because I have spoken of them largely elsewhere Now I will speak something of those who do consecrate Serpents this is a thing which they do not rightly understand and in this they are contrary to the wayes of God and Nature And although by these consecrations Serpents are tamed and made tractable neverthelesse such doings are not to be approved of as consecrations and other superstitions whereby people are made sick or well For if according to the course of nature we may do such things by the power of a strong faith and by the strength of imagination then why should we use these superstitious Ceremonies Yet it cannot be denyed but that there be some words which if they be pronounced against Serpents it makes them tractable and obedient There are also some Preservatives which if used will keep us from the hurt of any venemous creature But we need not much fear this kind of Serpent of which we speak in this Treatise which is by nature lesse hurtfull then any other kind of Serpent But we must be very cautious of starry Serpents which are speckled over with Stars Sirens Crocodiles Salamanders Basilisks which be all severall kinds of Serpents most venemous and great enemies to man their venome is exceeding strong and violent Albeit there be few of these kindes of Serpents in Germany yet I speak of them that people should be warie of them where they are I know not any preservative better and more certain against the poison of these Serpents then Camphore dissolved in Rock-oyl otherwise call'd oyl Petreole wherewith you must annoint your hands and your feet and other naked places of your body and so thou mayest safely handle them but because this preservative can do no good or is not efficacious enough against the most fierce and most poisonous Serpents as that kind of Serpent which leaps at a man being a great way off and the Crocodile which devours a whole man albeit he be dead and the Basilisk which kills a man by its sight only therefore those who dwel in those places where these Serpents are carried about them Gameheu's which were made in the shape of a man with his left foot trampling upon the neck of a Serpent and they esteem'd of this as a singular preservative against these Serpents Of this and other things Techellus hath written who hath gone farre beyond all other writers in this kind but some wicked deceivers have kept his works from 〈…〉 and have retain'd them to themselves and in their stead they give out to the world their own opinions and vain fancies and since now it is so done the event of it we must leave to God I conceive it not needful that I should say any more of Serpents now because I will treat of them largely and discover many more wonderful things of them in that book which I will write concerning Sacraments and things woncerful CHAP. V. The Medicinal vertues of the Toad and Spider THere lurks many great Secrets not only in the Serpent but also in other abominable creatures which strike terror into a man even with the sight of them as the Toad of which I have spoken before it is a great help against the plague and the bitings of venemous creatures if after it is well dried it be applied outwardly to the part infected it speedily draweth poyson out of the body it hath preserved the life of those who have despaired of help by any other remedies I have seen the Morphew cured by it throughly and speedily thus the Toad must be boiled alive in oyl till it dies and with this oyl annoint the place where this disease is this oyl is also very good against evil Ulcers But
be burned in hot fire sometime and afterwards it be mix'd with these juices before mentioned or any other which you find to be best and then if you dissolve it into a liquor and distill it c. There be several things which will much augment the drying faculty of Salt if you beat them together with Salt and put them in a wind-furnace till the Salt run like metal viz. Bole Armoniack the flower of brass Terra sigillata Chimolea Tutia Lapis Calaminaris Having taken them out of the furnace lay them in a moist place til the Salt dissolve to a liquor this liquor keep for your use If you mix common Salt with Salt niter of each alike much and put them together in a wind furnace till they runne together like metall after they are cooled lay them in a moist place till they be dissolved to a liquor take this liquor and distill it and that water which you distill from it pour it again upon the grounds which were left in the distilling and if you do thus three or four times or oftner viz. distilling and pouring the water again upon the grounds you shall so doing have a water of a singular drying and binding vertue and if Crocus Martis or Cerus or the flower of brass be added to it they will exalt this drying faculty to the highest degree Note that if you adde the juice of unripe sloes to the liquor before it be distilled and then proceed as hath been said it will be made thereby very powerfull in binding and closing wounds or sores searching to the bottom of any sore These things I have thought fit to shew you concerning Salt and the vertues of it and preparations of it for others who have undertaken to write of the natures of medicines have not written any thing of this because they themselves know not the Art how to exalt the Vertue of a medicine from four degrees to twenty four or thirty two degrees this Art I have here shewed you and it is a worthy and excellent Art thus to augment the Vertues of Medicines for when our natures meet with such medicines which are in themselves powerful they do more readily work with such medicines Many have taken great pains in writing of Herbals and concerning the natures and properties of meats and medicines but if you take notice of it you will find that they writ nothing but what they have heard from others and whether these things be true or false they know not after them comes the later and modern writers who gathering together many things out of the writings of the ancient physitians make up large volumus not caring whether they writ truth or lies These books certainly contain many lies in which you find such expressions often used viz. the experiment of such a one c. Probatum est c. If you search further when they have it you will at last find it to be some old womans conceit He who publisheth books should not write these things which he hath only by report but what he knowes by his own experience but indeed the most part of writers have been too carelesse trusting too much to the tales and dreams of old women and so have built their house upon the sand therefore every disease is stronger then any medicine which they describe The world is now full of such writings and such scriblers who spend all their time in making up a bundle of lies all they care for is to get themselves a name and applause and seeing the world would be deceived they gather together all the fine fables they can find in poesie or prose that so they may seem to be diligent such are all their writings which indeed are not worth the reading The Medicinal and Chymecal vertues and preparations of Brimstone MAny have written much of Brimstone but none have truly discovered the Vertues of it for they themselves knew it not it was their ambition which moved them to write such unprofitable vain books But I have found by experience these Vertues of Brimstone which I here describe And I assure you that so great are the vertues of Brimstone that we cannot admire them enough that if God doth not hinder then it must be the fault of the artist when the effect of the Brimstone is not answerable to its vertue and indeed most Physicians and Chymists can doe nothing but prate little of their knowledge or skil appears in publick there are not many medicines which can excell brimstone or can be compared to it for its Vertues both in Physick and Chirurgery which are wonderful but it is not to be used either in Physick or Chimistry before it be prepared and when it is rightly prepared it is an excellent medicine It may be prepared thus let it be sublimated twice or thrice from Myrrh and Aloe then take of this sublimed brimstone ten ounces of Roman Myrrh one ounce and a halfe of the best Aloepaticum one ounce of Oriental Saffron half an ounce mix them together and make them a powder which you shall keep for your use This is an excellent preservative against the pestilence plurisie all imposthumes and all putrefactions of the body if you take some of it in a morning you need not fear that day the pestilence or plurisie c. Another way of preparing brimstone is thus let it be sublimated oft-times from Coperas the oftner you do it the better it will be and so it draweth the spirit and essence of the Coperas into it self being thus prepared it is a good preservative and remedy for all fevers and all Coughs whether new or old it is also a preservative for the falling sicknesse and cureth it in children if it be taken daily it preserveth health very much It is also a preserver of wine it will keep wine a long time from decaying it will correct it and make it found and wholesome whatsoever impurity is in the wine it will purge it out and the wine which is thus corrected by this brimstone it will not breed the stone or sand in kidnies or bladder nor Apoplexie nor any kind of imposthume nor defluxions nor coughs nor fevers c. When the brimstone is well purged from its impurities and poyson and that which is uselesse in it then it is a worthy Medicine it is a precious jewel There are several sorts of brimstone a yellow brimstone a red brimstone a purple a black a white and an ashie coloured brimstone but the yellowest brimston is the best to be used in physick the other kinds of brimstone have much of Arsenick and Realgare c. in them and therefore they are not fit to bee used in physick they are best for Alchimy they are also good for the outward diseases of the body as tetters c. because of the arsenical spirits which are in them they are better for this purpose then the yellow brimstone so that if they be often sublimed from Coperas or