false physicians when they hear of these secrets they cannot be brought to believe that they are true The Spider is a hateful creature yet it is of great vertue against Quotidian Feavers put the spider in a nut-shell and shut it up close in it and let the diseased person carry it about him but he must not know what it is let him carry it four dayes and he shall be well The Salamander is uselesse in Physick but the Alchimist hath laboured much in it to extract out of it a tincture f r metalls and thereby to make gold and for this it is indeed to be much regarded but you cannot meddle with it without great danger for the poyson of it is most deadly CHAP. VI. Paracelse compared with other Physicians HAving done with these hateful and poysonous creatures now I will speak concerning the other common contemptible small creatures and I hope I shall not be blamed for this nor shall these things I speak be esteemed as fained tales as false physitians do who will not use any common medicines such as may be gotten cheaply and easily not remembring this that God hath created nothing in vain but that even the least and most contemptible things have their peculiar vertues according to his divine pleasure And it is our fault that we know not these things for we are careless and incredulous and soon wearied in the search of nature Now if any do improve the gifts of God in them and are diligent in searching out the works of nature and do ingenuously declare their experiences publickly these corrupt Doctors will not be thankful to them for it nay they contemn such experiences they scoff at them and one way or other they will find fault with them Now I profess my self to be one of those who have found out the Secrets of Nature yea and that I am not one of the least of the searchers of nature and truly whatsoever art or experience I have I should have imparted it freely and plainly to you but your ambition and insolency hath made me change my mind because you will have all the praise to your selves and steale it from him who is your teacher therefore you are not worthy of my art which would be very advantageous to you if you would become true Physicians and lovers of your neighbours But you preferre the profit of your prrse and of your kitchin to the health of your patients and in this you are learned indeed and more skilfull then I. You accuse mee and blame mee because I doe not highly praise you It 's true I doe it not because I find you to be onely purse physicians such who are more able to cure the diseases of your purses then the diseases of your patients if it were not so how could you build such stately houses weare gold rings walke in your silkes You reproach me because of my poverty and mean clothes but if I should take as you do shamelesly such great rewards every where then I should be richer then any of you yet as I am I am richer then any of you for my riches are surer to me then your riches to you my skill is my great riches which neither thiefe can steale nor fire or water can devoure nor robber can take from mee They may take my life but they cannot get my Art that is hidden in mee and dieth with mee You see then what an excellent thing I enjoy which is farre better then your houses plantations clothes riches gold and silver and all your skill And if at any time I spend my mony largely amongst my pleasant companions yet I doe not diminish as the proverb is the principall sum that is my Art which through Gods gooddesse to me shall never leave me CHAP. VII The Medicinal vertues of Earth-worms NOw I will proceed to speak of that which I intended viz. of some simple medicines and of some living creatures and of some diseases of which no physicians before me have ever spoken any thing Truly I believe that they were ignorant of them or if they knew them then they slighted them so that these things were quite forgotten the most common and most inconsiderable Vermine are Earth-worms which after a showre creep out of the ground and who will believe that in these worms is so much Vertue for the good of the body of man they are especially good against that disease and pain which is in the fingers and toes which causeth extreme torment day and night The Whit flaw which the Ancients call'd the gnawing worm and indeed not without cause for they knew that this disease should be cured by the earth-worm the way is this Take an Earth-worm bigger or lesser according to the patient and the greatnesse of the pain if the patient be not very young but is of a good age and the pain very great then you must take a great earth-worm it must be large that it may be sufficient for the disease wrap this worm in a linnen cloth and so lay it upon the part where the pain is the space of twenty four hours till it dies and when it is dead the disease is cured and as it were dieth with the worm these things may seem to some to be superstitious and fained tales but by this it appears that God hath made nothing in the world so base and so contemptible which is not some way for the good of man CHAP. VIII The Medicinal Vertues of the Earth-worme and of the Crab fish Cancer THE Earth-worm is not only good against the foresaid disease but also against all kinds of worms in the body of man if it be dried and made into a powder and so it is to be taken in some liquor the best liquor is the whay of Goats milk for the powder of Earth-worms taken in this whay purgeth by stool all worms of the stomack or that stick in the guts The Mouse called the field Mouse is a great Secret for the ptisick And that kind of Crab called the Cancer hath often cured the disease called the Canker viz. thus bind a linnen cloth about the fish Cancer and about its toes and lay the toes of this fish Cancer upon the place where the Ulcer Canker is untill the fish-Cancer be dead and when it is dead the ulcer Canker is also kill'd but if the Canker was broken out into a sore then after it is mortified with the fish-Cancer you must apply the plaister which is used for thrusts or deep wounds By this fish-Cancer have been also cured Feavers and Hydropsies thus first you must cut off all the nailes of the patients fingers and toes then you must bind the fish Cancer to his back afterward put it into a river and let it goe and so the patient shall be cured Do not you think these to be vaine superstitious or Mountebank cures I assure you they are the true operations of nature and wrought by God himself who was pleased to give
we commonly see that after it hath rained the wayes may be dryed â—gain but thereafter it mâ—◠〈◊〉 rain again as to fill 〈◊〉 â—ennels and Rivers Thu◠〈◊〉 in the Gout therefore we must add to this Root of Hellebore some Correctives for the preventing of new defluxions and in this respect this addition is very necessary Unskilful Physicians do not consider this who use such correctives as do weaken the purging faculty of this herb they add to it Terra Sigillata and other things which are contrary to the nature of this Herb and take away the strength of it wheras it should not lose any of its natural Vertues but rather have them heightened But the true Correction of it which best agreeth with Physick Rules is thus After the humour is purged out you must do that which may prevent the collection of the humour again And that is done by two Roots Avens or herb Bennet and the Acorus of the shops as I have more fully shewed elsewhere in their particular Treatises It oft-times falls out that a great many other griefs do accompanie the Gout which were not known to the Ancients for daily they increase and grow more viâ—lent and therefore in these our times there must bâ—â—â—culiar Treatises concerning the Gout in wâ—â—â—h we must set down remedies for the several 〈…〉 which do accompany it What I speak of the Gout here is only how to take away the Cause or the root of it by the Hellebore which is the most considerable part of the cure Therfore the purging power of this Root is not to be lessened but rather augmented Then the best way of preparing it is as I have shewed before by the spirit of Wine But use it what way you will it is a profitable purge The patient must be often purged by the aforesaid root betwixt fits for in so doing those defluxions which are the cause of the Gout are purged out of the whole bodie so that in the time of the fit the patient shall have but little pain The ancient Philosophers by purging often cured every kind of Gout even an old setled Gout But the Humourists when they had thrust themselves into the number of Physicians they presumed to do more in an hour then nature can do in a year if they may be believed and so this Medicine was cast aside and forgot CHAP. IV. The Cure of the Palsie and Hydropsie and other Diseases with black Hellebore THis Root of black Hellebore cures likewise the Palsie and Hydropsie but not fully it only purges out the causes or root of those diseases there must be some addition proper to these diseases used with the Hellebore as hath been said before of the Falliâ—â— sicknesse and of the Gout And the Hellebore with those Additions becomes a perfect Cure of those Diseases There must be a great quantity of this purge given at a time to those who have the Palsie so much as the strength of the Patient can bear for this disease is not easily driven out we must deal with it violently The Addition to be used besides the Hellebore for this disease is set down in a peculiar Treatise concerning the Palsie They who are troubled with the Hydropsie must be purged slowly and gently taking once every week so much of this Root as a skilful Physician shall prescribe and so the humour shall be by degrees purged away first that which is upward which is gathered about the brest stomack lungs liver melt afterwards the humour which lyeth in the groins and hips is purged out then the swelling of the feet and legs doth evanish and lastly the swelling of the belly falls low The humour is purged away in some Patients by Vomit in some by Stool in others by Sweat in others by Urine When the Patient is sufficiently purged by the Hellebore then follows the Addition which takes away the relicks of the disease and makes up the full cure The Addition is the Tincture of Steel The Hellebore purgeth out the humour already gathered the Tincture of Steel hinders any such collection of humours to be afterwards Now to conclude this Treatise of Hellebore which is a purge so excellent that there is no other like it for it purgeth out whatsoever is in our bodies hurtful to us There is nothing better then this Root to bring down womens monthly Courses it purgeth the Mother and driveth out untimely Births false Conceptions Worms and every unnatural thing bred within the Womb. Every purgative doth not bring down womens monthly Courses and expell Worms and untimely Births c. But this is above all others a singular secret of nature and if it be rightly used it is so agreeable to the bodies of men and women that whatsoever it meets with contrary and hurtfull to us it will root it out That Doctor who knows the right use of this Herb and Root alone without addition shall by this one herb have more infallible knowledg and skill in curing diseases then all the Empericks or Doctors whosoever as experience makes it appear abundantly Those who knew the right use of this Herb and Root in ancient times lived to a great age very healthfully but when the Humorists began to be respected who contemn the secrets of Nature and judg of every thing according to their own ill-grounded theory being without the true knowledg of the properties of Nature they found out their new way of Purgations Clysters and Syrups c. whereby they rashly thought to do as much in one day as this Herb can do in twenty or thirty years and so they brought this Herb to be contemned and forgotten bringing their own Purgations and Clysters in the place of of it I remember in my time I have known many who have been much troubled with Itch Catarrhs c. who using this Root after the way of the Ancients were perfectly restored to health their nature being thereby throughly renewed I have known such diseases thus cured which the Humorists could never cure neither know they how to cure them they can talk much but cannot perform any thing They took every morning half a drachm till they were three score years of age afterwards once in two daies half an ounce till they were seventy years of age then afterwards every sixth day to the end of their lives one drachm Titulary Doctors need not admire that Nature can do more then Art can do He hath little Art who knows not what Nature can do There is more to be found in this one herb then is to be found in all the writings of University Doctors for the prolonging of life And I do delight in this Medicine of the Ancients more then in any other Herb or Vegetable whatsoever for the preservation of long life TREATISE II. Of the strange Vertues of Arsmart CHAP. I. How the Arsmart should be used for any Wound or Ulcer ARsmart cureth all Sores both in man and in beasts also Wounds which being badly cured are
Spirit of wine being separated from that Oyl there will remain the essence of the Root sweet without any addition This Essence doth much differ from that way which was used by the Physicians in ancient times for this Essence doth not purge out a great deal of humours but rather the Epileptick body it self i. e. the humour wherein the Disease or poyson of the Disease chiefly lurks which is the root of the Disease Therefore this Essence is a safer and more effectual purge and a more certain cure then that which was used in former times against this Disease Now this Essence will be more effectual against this disease if you join with it in the Spirit of wine the Misteto of Oak and Pellitorie and the seeds of Pionie that the medicinal spirit of these three may be mixed with the Essence of the Black Hellebore and so to be given to the sick person so much of it at a time as the skilful Physician shall think fit This disease must be driven out slowly and by degrees considering the Nature of the sick person of the Disease and of the Countrey where they live c. Addit The Root is to be pull'd out of the earth in the decrease of the Moon the Moon being in the Signe of Libra which Signe is most agreeable to the Falling-sicknesse upon the Friday or in an hour of Venus and it must be dryed in the shade with a dry North wind It was the custome of the Antients to use the Herbs as they are pulld out of the earth without any addition but my way of using this Root is thus Let the Patient who is troubled with the Falling-sicknesse be purged three dayes before the fit comes upon him if it can be done giving him for a purge two drams of the powder of this Root to young people in milk to old people in wine Another Preparation of the Leaves and Root of Hellebore It s certain that the vertue of this herb is great and admirable not much differing from a Balsome He which can bring out the Balsome which lurks in this herb hath a most precious treasure of Nature The way to make of this herb a Balsome is thus This herb must be putrified in its own water being placed in warm dung the glass being close stop'd afterwards the water must be separated from that which is putrified and the putrified matter must be separated from the grounds the grounds must be kept by themselves then you have the Balsome with two degrees of moistnesse and twenty two degrees of putrifaction The dose of that which is putrified according to degrees and of the water according to the quantity is to be considered in the administration of it according to the first proceeding This Balsome may be more exalted in its essence if the aforesaid work be done again by adding to this water and putrified matter new or fresh Hellebore and if it be dry especially the Root it s so much the better The Root is thus corrected Take of this Root cut in large slices two ounces of flesh a quarter of a pound cut very small of the water of Nutmeg one ounce of the water of large Pepper one dram put these together in a pot very well stopt and put your pot in boyling water three or four hours then take out your pot and pour out the liquor which you shall keep for your use then throw away the flesh and the herb Of this liquor you are to give so much as the disease the sick person and necessity requires Another Addition You have already heard that this Root cures four principall diseases and that it is a conservative of long life But now I will shew you how Hellebore can do greater Cures then any I have yet mentioned Take of this Balsome of black Hellebore one ounce of naturall Balsome half a scruple let them be so exactly mixed that there appear but only one and not two For Balsom and Hellebore are of the same nature in respect of Conservation Natural Balsom is such a Medicine which preserves us from all the infections of the Stars from the Plurisie and from the Pestilence Now we should provide Remedies not onely against our earthly infirmities and diseases but also against those diseases which come from the celestiall influences And against such diseases there is no Medicine more powerfull then Balsome If the Falling-Sicknesse could be cured by purging then this Root were a sufficient remedie Some Herbs are fit purges for the Falling Sicknesse other herbs for the Jaundies c. Every disease requires its own purge which is agreeable to it yet a Purgation is not a full Cure we must do something else to perfect the Cure therefore when the Patient is purged so as he should be then follows the Cure of the Falling Sickness which consists in the Secret or Arcanum of the Essence of Coperas By this method both old and young may be cured Neverthelesse the Physician must observe that this order of Purgations and Essences is not to be learned by the Apothecaries Art but by the natures of things which do teach us both the way how the Medicine is to be given and how much is to be given CHAP. III. The Cure of the Gout with black Hellebore THere are two kinds of Gout one kind of it comes of bloud the other comes of defluxions from the head In the Bloud-Gout the bloud doth rage and by Astronomie it appears that the bloud Gout is enraged by the influence of the Dog-stars as in another place I have fully proved Now Hellebore cannot help this kinde of Gout but it is good for that Gout which comes of saltish sowr sharp corrosive defluxions These qualities of the defluxions are the cause of the Gout and not heat or cold or moistnesse or drynesse but if the diseased person be much troubled with great heat or great coldnesse in his joynts it is by reason of the contention betwixt nature and the disease betwixt that which is sound and that which is diseased The Antient appâ—oved Physicians gave Hellebore to those who were troubled with such defluxions and with it purged them For this Root is the best of all purging Medicines which were known to the Ancients both for preventing Defluxions and for expelling them out of the body This Purge was made by the Ancients not according to the Rules of the Physicians of later times but it was judiciously without curiosity prepared They regarded not such Medicines which were made up of Syrups c. and such other vaine additions They gave this root alone without any addition to the patient a little of it every day and not all at one time For Purgations must be given moderately in long Diseases purging rather often and gently then violently This Root of elder Hellebore thus prepared and given every day as the Patient and Disease requires doth so cure defluxions by its natural vertue that no Root or Herb can do he like As
of Camphire two drams of the juice of Poppy and the juice of Henbane of each one ounce mix them and lay them to the Ulcer to take away the heat of it Then take of the Apostolorum Plaister and the Diaquilon Plaister of each half an ounce of Mummy three ounces of Cerusse or white Lead two drams of Camphire one dram Mix them over the fire and make them into a Plaister which must be applyed to the soar until the Cure be done LIII For Corns in Feet or Hands Caution You must not cut Corns so deep as to cut the quick flesh and you must not use Corrosive Waters to them for in so doing you may cause a dangerous Ulcer to follow Cure Take the Oyl of Juniper Berries and Agarick of each one dram of Ox Gall two drams mix them and lay them to the Corn until the Corn groweth dry and black and begins to moulder away then apply to it the Plaister Oppodeltoch some four or five weeks until the cure be done Another Take Realgare one scruple of the Oyl of the yolks of Eggs half a dram of slacked Lime half a dram mix them and lay them to the Corn and they will make the Corn black and consume it The Oppodeltoch Plaister Take of Colophony two ounces the powder of Celendine and the powder of Orange skins of each half an ounce of the best Turpentine so much as to make them into a plaister LIV. When in any part of the body there is a hard immovable tumor or Excrescency of flesh growing to the Muscles which groweth still bigger and at last makes the member crooked where it is it also weakens the guts causing great windiness in them Caution You must not use the Chyrurgions Instruments to this nor any such Medicines which are used for Aposthumes Cure You must do no more to such tumors or Excrescencies but to hinder their increasing which is done by this Oyntment Take of the Oyl of Myrtles two ounces of the oyl of Nutmeg half an ounce of the marrow of an Ox two drams of Petroleum two ounces and a half Mix them Herewith you shall annoint those places where the Spermatick vessels lie most outwardly the back and thighs once a moneth LV. When there are spots in the skin of the face or elsewhere of a yellow or clay colour c. If they stay constantly in the place or if sometimes they evanish and return again Cure Take of Turnsole and Germander of each three ounces of the best Manna half an ounce of Parmacity and Bay-berries of each ten drams the water of Baulm the water of Vervain the water of Valerian of each five ounces Put your Herbs into the Waters and let them lie in the waters two or three days and when the spots begin to come out upon the skin take three or four ounces of those Waters at a time Observe That Turnsole is a singular good Herb it wonderfully reneweth the blood and flesh A Treatise concerning long Life CHAP. I. All Medicines divided into three sorts according to the threefold Age of Man shewing that each Age must have its own Medicines proper for it SEeing there are Medicines which can preserve the Body of Man for many Ages from Diseases Corruptions and Superfluities or if there be any infirmity or corruption in the Body they can cure it It ought to be the care of every Physician to know them and to know them throughly for there are very many tedious Diseases and many Maladies incident to the Body of Man which are rooted out by these Medicines which prolong life In this discourse of long Life I will first give you the Theory of it and then the practice that you may fully know all that concerns long Life I would not have any to doubt of this that life may be prolonged for these two Reasons 1. Because it doth not appear that there is any certain day or hour of any mans death 2 Because we have Medicine prepared for us by him who hath created us both to preserve us from Diseases and to drive out Diseases Hence we may conclude that neither Diseases bring Death neither is Death the cause of Diseases nay Death and Diseases agree no better then fire and water A natural Disease hates Death as every part of the living Body hates Death I intend in this discourse to speak to those of my own way who by great skill and daily experience have searched into and do know the propertieâ— and natures of things which are hid and unknown to presumptuous and titular Doctors And I do affirm this as a most certain truth That the Body may be restored changed to the better yea wholly renewed As it is to be plainly seen in Metals which may be so purified that they shall be afterwards free from any rust so likewise dead Bodâ—es if they be embalmed do not putrifie afterwards Some perhaps may dislike my Writings because they are short and because of those Examples which I use but my Writings are not therefore to be slighted seeing I use onely the examples of such things which are or may be done by Nature as in this comparison of Mettals with the Body of Man I know that there is great difference betwixt these two yet they are both preserved one way as experience teacheth If a dead Body can be preserved by Balsom from putrefaction or decay how much more may a living Body be so preserved Now there are three parts of Mans Age viz. yong Age middle Age and old Age and each of these must have such Medicines for prolonging life as are proper and suitable to them therefore there must be also three kindes of Medicines for the conservation of Life according to these three Ages We may likewise say that there are three parts in long life according to those three parts of mans Age for many might die in their Infancy many in their middle age c. if their life were not prolonged by the help of Medicines We cannot have any certainty that an Infant or a strong yong man shall outlive a weak old man No part of mans age hath any certain time of death appointed to it the Infant in the Mothers Womb may have many things befal it which may be the cause of great weakness in the childe or incline the childe to diseases and that Infant which is very weak when it is born the strength of Nature is abated and lessened in it as it is in old age And therefore those Medicines which are the helps of long life must be given to this Infant anointing the Nurses breast therewith which the childe doth suck c. as you shall hear more at large afterwards in the practice of long life For by these Medicines of long life the strength of Nature is increased and life prolonged after the same maner in an Infant as it is in old age Or if a yong man runs into so great excess of Drinking or Venery c. that thereby