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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42906	Various injuries & abuses in chymical and Galenical physick, committed both by physicians & apothecaries, detected for the benefit of such, who being conscientious and studious in physick, aim chiefly at the welfare of the sick, and of those patients, whether rich or poor, who are willing to preserve their lives & healths / by Robert Godfrey, Med. Londinensis.	Godfrey, Robert, Med. Londinensis.	1674 (1674)	Wing G927; ESTC R21846	100,532	224

friend a Chymical Physician Helmont also in one place gives an account of three Persons which were destroy'd by Vomits one of whom was his Wifes Brother and the other two were young N●ble Ladies and Sisters but to be brief both of them died at once for which they may thank I should say blam● their Physician But all three after Death being dissected Blackish and stinking Liquor see the excellency of Poysons floated on the Pylorus or lower mouth of the Stomach which was contracted through indignation against the admitted Venom But are only Antimonial Vomits hurtful No For all other whose virulency is such as with indifferency to work upon the Healthy and Sick are poysonous The cause of Vomiting after admitting such Venoms I must not wrong them by calling them Medicines being no other than a close shutting up of the Pylorus For though the Palate and tongue being cheated by the vehicle which 't is put in unadvisedly admit it unto the Stomach yet the lower mouth of the Stomach through its great sensibility perceiving an Enemy to the Life to have entred presently shuts up the passage into the Guts by contracting it self like a Purse Wise Nature by this designing the preservation of other cohereing parts Which being done she with her whole might endeavours to cast forth the Venomous Dose and at a chance if the Disease was from a surfeit and of no long continuance dislodgeth the cause of faex but not without hazarding the Life as also of leaving some Venomous Character or Thornynest behind it But if at any time whilst vomiting is intermitted the Pylorus having pretty well freed it self gives passage to any of the Poysonous Medicine then the neighbouring Bloud and Latex is summoned out of the Mesenterick veins and other cohereing parts to help Nature to cast forth the Venomous guest and thereby cause stools But if on the contrary as it sometimes happens the Lower mouth of the Stomach does not open Death unavoidably follows Let this admonish People to take a special care of their Stomachs and not endanger their Lives and Healths by poysonous or clogging Medicines but let them be assured 't is a blockish and Heathenish trick to cast out one Poyson by another or Diseases which act like Poysons and are virulent and leavenous My thus handling Mercury and Antimony reminds me of an eminently-unlearned pretender to Chymistry one that used not to write much above thirteen words of false English in twelve lines one that for all he understands Latin scarce more than a Horse yet has the confidente to tell us he read over the writings of those accounted the best Authors However I will clear him ●rom a Ly for I verily believe that those Authors he read were counted the best by Himself his Wife and same other such Sublime Learned Head● For you may without being counted a Cunning Man guess that his Authors were no l●s● than N●ch Culpepers works or some such ●●n●er-working Books of Physick seeing hr utterly defy'd all pittiful Latins Authors and such as write intelligible phrases Only he now and then amongst the honest Women would thunder forth such an All-astonishing word or two that were enough to amaze'em frightning'em with no less Bully-boes than Lapis Philosophorums for either such Aurum Potabile or Aurum Horozontale he much desired And having abus'd himself into a belief he should do wonders and obtain'd some small skill in Chymistry he resolv'd to get one of them by hook or by crook To which end therefore and the better to inform himself he would sometimes visit a Grave Ingenious Chymical Physician that for several years together had kept his Body in good plight though otherwise he was naturally of an infirm constitution This our Piece of Vnlearnedness you must understand by being the Doctors constant Patient had sometimes admittance into his Laboratory and was thereby doubtless the more excited to the study of Chymistry For he having seen various Furnaces and Glasses imagin'd according to likelyhood that he could do very strange things yea what could he not do For I have heard as if he could break Glasses as well as most and that he was an able Man at it too But as I said before he sometimes visiting this Grave Man amongst many other things would oft exceedingly please himself in talking Tara-tan-tara about the Philosophers stone and Horizontal Gold and gazing in our faces would magnify Mercury and Antimony and tell us there was a noble thing in 'em to which the Grave Doctor would say so what then or nod a little and that was as much as he could get Thus at last when he had told out a Tale of two or three hours long home he would go as Wise as he came But in the mean time you must needs think that to have our ears weekly boxt about with the Philosophers-stone Horizontal Gold and Noble Mercury was a very irksome thing as indeed it was yet I assure you the Repetition of his Mineralline conceits did abundantly recompence that injury by often produceing a smile or two at least But to proceed many such visits being past to work he went on Gold and Mercury amalgamized the first with the last conjoyn'd them with Antimony after a previous preparation and firmly resolv'd after he had made it into a Cinnabar that it should be Horizontal Gold and enumerating praises in no wise due to it striv'd to recompense the fewness of its vertues by a Swelling and Glorious Title This we having the sight of easily perceiv'd that 't was a Mock medicine first from its Taste secondly from its flying the Fire thirdly from the sparkling of the quick-silver disperst but not fixt in the composition so we or to say more truly my Tutor in my hearing told him 't was not the true Horizontal However he esteem'd on 't not a little but would tell the People 't was a rare Medicine for there was Gold in it and would thereby make them think that it was strangely good indeed inasmuch as 't is the custom of those who are ignorant in Physick to judge a Medicines Vertues according to the costliness of its ingredients or Mysteriousness of its composition not considering in the mean time that a price happens not in Nature that a Disease will not be baffled with a naked name and that God who is the Patron of the Poor has chosen in Nature as well as in Divinity the Mean things of this World to confound the Mighty This Medicine which wanted not for Price he therefore liberally made use of and manag'd his business so untowardly that few Practisers had worse success than he had till he had lost his practice wholly in a manner However I would not have you think but that some receiv'd good for many Mercurial and Antimonial Medicines don't hurt alwayes Nay I verily believe believ that some and those not a few receiv'd great benefit by it But yet some others were very much injured For when such

will quote two or three of the most noted amongst them and begin with Count Trevisan first Quicunque cupit artem veram addisc●re versetur cum sapientibus i. e. istorum Libros legat non impostorum licet obscuris verbis eam doceant nullibi eni● claris apertis verbis descriptos ejusmodi Libros reperies Whosoever saith he desireth to learn true Art let him be conversant with the Wise that is let him read their Books and not those of Impostors though they teach it in obscure words For thou shalt nowhere find such Books written in words plain and clear Which saying of Count Trevisan much contradicts the Actions of Receipt mongers or such who would find it stitcht up in an Old-Doublet for if we shall no where find it written in plain and intelligible phrases never expect that the secret of secrets for those who write of it call it so will be committed to half a sheet of Paper And if it is impossible as Dionysius Zacharias saith it is to find all things written in order which are necessary to the Art and that one Book expounds another because what is wanting in one is supplied in another doubtless all Recipes and such-like half witted-stories must needs be exploded as error his words are Unus liber alio declaratur siquidem quod fortasse in uno deest suppletur in alio impossibile namque est sic disponente divino consilio reperiri omnia ex ordine Scripta quae ad hanc artem sunt necessaria Thus he Nor sayes the Author of Correctio Fatuorum much less in his Prologue whilst he speaks of the benefit of Study Imprimis inquit est necessarium perstudium hujus suavis operis scientiam acquirere Qui autem studuere abhorruerint tamen laborare voluerint impossibile est iis secreta Philosophorum ad perfectum finem praeparare De his sapientes dicunt quod ii transeunt ad practicam sicut asinus ad coenam nescientes ad quid rostrum porrigant Ideo omnes hujus artis apicem diligentes studiis conentur insistere ex libris haurire veritatem non ex mendosis alias nidosis neque fabulis fictis quia haec ars non inveniatur nisi per continuum studium Philosophorum dictorum cognitionem It is saith he a thing chiefly necessary to obtain by study the knowledge of this pleasant work But they who abhor study and yet are willing to go to Labour to such it is a thing impossible to bring the secrets of Philosophy to perfection Concerning these the wise say that they go to practice like an Ass to supper not knowing to what they reach forth their snouts therefore all the lovers of this Arts perfection endeavour to persist in their studies and to gather Truth from Books and not from lying though otherwise plausible Fables nor yet from seigned ones Because this Art is not found unless through continual study and through the knowledge of the sayings of Philosophers Many more Authors I could quote you to this very purpose did I not judge these three had said enough to satisfie those that are intelligent Therefore I shall next with as much brevity as I may speak a little concerning the Writings of Johannes Rudolphus Glauberus as being those that have injured and abus'd many Concerning Glauber When I view Glaubers works and examine the forepart of them I must needs conclude he wrote not a few things that were very good and useful though methods tedious enough in Praeparation are delivered But when I view the latter part to wit the Appendix to the fifth part of Phylosophick furnaces his Annotations to his Appendix his way of making Aurum Potabile and his separation of Gold out of Flints Sand Clay c. By the assistance of the spirit of Salt it makes me even admire at the Man and judge if he was not mad nor out of his Wits when he wrote those impertinent discourses yet conclude he was resolv'd to abuse the World with a parcell of Figments and fictions and out of a desire to impose on the too-credulous pretend to teach lucriferous secrets I could wish with all my heart I might be acquainted with or at least wise hear which I never yet could of some persons that had been profited by his gain-bringing Arts or that ever made his Aurum Potabile and found its vertues answering his Charactet or that ever produced Gold from Flints Sand Clay c. in such wealthy quantities that they could get a tolerable subsistance at it that so I might without wronging my own judgement count him neither Knave Fool nor Mad-man For on the other hand I have in his discommendation met with an Anonymous Latin Treatise publisht in Holland in the year 1660. that has fully painted out his deceit Concerning which had the Author been silent and not blamed him for defrauding several Persons of their monies under pretence of selling wonderful secrets his own writings would have so amply manifested it to the intelligent if thorowly con'd that no other proof had been wanting For if it was not to defraud the too-credulous and perswade them into the belief of an imposture what meant he by exposing Gainful Arts to sale whilst himself was poor and use whining Religious Phrases and make use of the name of the thrice-holy God to back and cloak his deceit Truly I could heartily wish that the name of the Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ were not thus made a cloak for roguery But it ever was and ever will be in this world we may believe that where true Men are associated in fellowship a crew of whining smooth-tongu'd Hypocrites will enter that under the notion of Religion they may with more ease and a fairer gloss impose on the simple and unwary But to return to Glauber again I say unless it were to deceive his Reader what made him publish gainful Arts whilst he manifesteth himself a wanter of such for in his Preface after his Appendix he tells us He had lived in these places meaning Holland many years with disprofit and therefore was resolv'd whether the peace of Germany succeeded or not to betake himself to such places where he might have opportunity to handle Coals and Mines Of which what need was there seeing he himself could teach such gainful Arts as the separation of Gold out of Flints Sand or Clay If these Arts were really such how came he to live idle with disprofit What were neither Flints Sand nor Clay in Holland nor the Provinces adjoyning that he might in some sort profit himself For Charity begins at home what were none of them there Surely then 't is such a Country as is not in the World beside Besides is it not strange that he himself could n●ver meet with one of those whole rocks nor half ones and mountains of Gold and great mountains filled with Golden Sand and Clay of which he speaks in the first part of his