does not only cool and refresh the Spirits and the whole Body but also powerfully strengthens the Action of the Stomach But I pity the young Children most who are so tender and of so delicate a Nature both in their Body and Spirits that every Disorder does wound them to the very Heart Nothing is more grateful and refreshing to them than the pleasant Air It comforts their Spirits and causeth a free Circulation of the Blood and Radical Moisture begets Appetite and makes them grow in Strength But on the contrary hot sulphurous Airs with great Fires and warm Clothing do not only hinder the Circulation of the Blood but suffocate the Spirits and destroy the Appetite causing an unnatural Heat to possess the whole Body whence does proceed various Disorders and Diseases making them to cry and be very froward Also close Bindings and over-warm Clothings and thick hot Airs do oft in weak-spirited Children cause Convulsions Vapours and Fumes to fly into the Head sometimes occasioning Vomiting which People call Windy Diseases Again The Food of most Children of late Years is so enriched with West and East-India Ingredients that is with Sugar and Spices that thereby their Food becomes so hot in operation that it does not only breed too much Nourishment which generates Obstructions and Stoppages but it heats the Body drying up and consuming the Radical Moisture and infecting the Blood with a sharp fretting Humour which in some Complexions and Constitutions causeth Languishing Diseases contracting the Breast and Vessels of the Stomach and hindering the Passages of the Spirits so that the Joynts and Nerves become weak and feeble in others with the help of bad Diet and other Uncleanliness does cause Botches Boils and various sorts of Leprous Diseases Also many that have wherewithal will frequently give their Children Sack strong Drinks and fat Meats as long as they will eat which is abominable and absolutely contrary to the Nature of Children There are a hundred other Disorders and Intemperances that many Mothers and ignorant Nurses affect their Children with which I have no room in this Place to discourse of Therefore I commend unto the Women Milk that is raw only made so hot as the Mothers or Nurses Milk is when the Child sucks it and sometimes Milk and Flower boyled together giving it the Child about the warmness of Breast-milk and indeed neither Children nor others ought to eat any Food hotter Also no Children ought to drink any kind of strong Drink I could commend Water as the most wholesom but it being contrary to our Custom ordinary Beer may do well or rather small Ale If Women did understand but the hundredth part of the Evils and Diseases those indulging and intemperate Ways do bring both to themselves and Children they would quickly be of my mind which I never expect They are too wise A SHORT DISCOURSE OF THE PAIN in the TEETH Shewing from what Cause it does chiefly proceed and also how to prevent it THE terrible Pains and Diseases of the Teeth do chiefly proceed from two Causes The first is â—rom certain filthy phlegmy Matter which the Stomach and Vessels do continually breathe and send forth which does lodge or center in the Mouth especially between the Teeth and on the Gums and some People having fouler Stomachs than others such do breathe forth very sowr stinking phlegmy Matter which does not only increase the Pain but causeth the Teeth to become loose and rotten And for want of continual cleansing and washing those Breathings and this Phlegmy Matter turns to Putrifaction which does eat away the Gums as though Worms had eaten them And this Defect is generally attributed to the Disease called the Scurvey but it is a mistake the Cause is chiefly as is mentioned before from the Stomach or for want of Cleansings 2. This Distemper of the Teeth and Gums does also proceed from the various sorts of Meats and Drinks and more especially from the continual eating of Flesh and fat sweet things compounded of various things of disagreeing Natures which do not only obstruct the Stomach but fur and foul the Mouth part thereof remaining upon the Gums and between the Teeth For all such things do quickly turn to Putrifaction which does by degrees corrupt both the Teeth and Gums Besides our Beds take up near half the time of our Lives which time the Body is not only without motion but the Bed and Coverings do keep it much hotter than the Day-garments especially of those that draw the Curtains of their Windows and Beds so close that the pure Spirits and thin refreshing Vapours of the Air are hindred of having their free egress and regress which does dull and flatten the Action of the Stomach and this is the chief Cause why Suppers lie hard in the Stomach and require more than double the time for perfect Concoction than the same Food does when a Man is up and in the open Air For this Element if it hath its free Influences is sucked in as by Spunges through all the Pores of the Body and does wonderfully refresh comfort open and cleanse all the Parts having power to assist and help Concoction but hot dull thick Airs do destroy the Action of the Stomach and as it were suffocate the pure Spirits drying up and consuming the Radical Moisture Therefore the Night does foul the Mouth more than the Day furring it with a gross slimy Matter especially those that havâ— foul Stomachs and are in Years which ought to be well cleansed every Morning 3. Whatsoever are the Disorders in the Body the Mouth does always partake of them besides the Evils that the variety of Food and the improper mixtures of Flesh and Fish and many other things which do foul and hurt both the Teeth and Gums When any Person is disordered with inward Diseases does not the Mouth quickly complain of the Evils thereof This very few do consider in time 4. It is to be noted That most People do attribute the Diseases of the Teeth to Colds and Rheums and other outward Accidents It is true outward Accidents will further this Disease but then there must be Matter before-hand otherwise outward Colds can have no power to cause this Pain The same is to be understood in all Stoppages of the Breast and other Obstructions as Coughs and the like For if any Part be obstructed or there be Matter for Distemper then on every small occasion of outward Colds or the like Accidents Nature complains If your Teeth and Gums be sound and free from this Matter take what Colds you will and your Teeth will never complain as daily Experience doth shew For all outward Colds and other Accidents of the like nature have no power to seise any part of the Body except first there be some inward Defect or Infirmity Suppose the Teeth be defective then the Disease falls on that Part or if it be the Head Eyes Breast Back or any other Part or Member of the Body that is
firmness being plump or swelled when boyled having a brisk and lively Taste and that after eating it feels easie and pleasant in the Stomach The third is by its taking Salt well for if your Flesh be free from Heat and Surfeits and not over-fed which charges the Body with gross Phlegm as also if it be not kept longer after it is killed as indeed it ought not than it be thought to be cold before it is salted all such Flesh will take Salt greedily and it will not only keep longer from Putrifaction but it will eat much sweeter and breed better Nourishment For if any sort of Cattel be over-fed furfeited or any other Inconveniency attends them and they be killed before they have recovered themselves of those Injuries or if it be in August September or October this Flesh will not take Salt so well as the former neither will the Salt preserve it half so long from Corruption Also as it is before-mentioned if Flesh be kept too long after it be killed such Flesh will not receive Salt into it as other will which is salted as soon as it is cold For by keeping it does certainly lose its pure Spirituous Quality so that the Body becomes heavy gross and dull Does not the Life and Spirits of most sorts of Food waste and evaporate by keeping if there be not a proper way of Preservation used If Flesh by any Inconveniencies have lost its pure lively Spirits and Vertue Salt then hath no power to preserve such Flesh from Putrefaction For Salt cannot preserve the Body from Corruption but by vertue of the pure subtile Spirits which are a pleasant Habitation for the Salt to incorporate it self with For Salt will not preserve Flesh from Putrifaction any longer than the Vertue and Power of the Spirit does continue as it does appear by all salted Flesh and Fish For through length of time the Spirits become either suffocated or evaporated and then it presently falls into Putrifaction And yet this same Flesh does still continue Salt for Salt does not destroy and purge the Flesh from its Corruption but incorporates it self with the Essential Spirits and those two do as it were tie or hold the corrupt Part Captive till the Spirit and Life of the Flesh be spent or wasted and then the Flesh falls into Putrifaction which cannot be recovered eitheir by Salting or any other Art to its first state But if the Salt had purged or destroyed the Humidity and gross part then there would have been no Room nor Matter for Putrifaction and then it would have continued firm and sound as many other things do which are freed from that gross humid Matter from which Putrifaction does proceed Therefore Flesh is naturally the most unclean of all Food it being of a gross phlegmatick Nature and if Care be not taken and Order and Temperance observed in the Eater it generates abundance of crude and noxious Humours 2. Cleanness in Houses especially in Beds is a great Preserver of Health Now Beds for the most part stand in Corners of Chambers and being ponderous close Substances the refreshing Influences of the Air have no power to penetrate or destroy the gross Humidity that all such Places contract where the Air hath not its free egress and regress In these shady dull Places Beds are continued for many Years and hardly see the Sun or Elements Besides Beds suck in and receive all sorts of pernicious Excrements that are breathed forth by the Sweating of various sorts of People which have Leprous and Languishing Diseases which lie and die on them The Beds I say receive all theâ—â— several Vapours and Spirits and the same Beds are often continued for several Generations without changing the Feathers until the Ticks be rotten Besides we have many Feathers that are Imported from several Countries which are the Drivings of old Beds the Uncleanness whereof is not considered As to the Nature of Feathers they are of a strong hot fulsom Quality for Fowls of all Creatures are for the most part the hottest and their Feathers contain the same Nature Therefore the constant lying on soft Feather-beds does not only over-heat the Back and Reins weakning the Joynts and Nerves but they have power also not only to receive but retain all evil Vapours and Excrements that proceed from and are breathed forth by various Diseased People Hence it comes to pass that sundry Distempers are transferred from one to another by lying upon or in such Beds which Distempers do secretly steal on a Man by degrees so that he cannot imagine whence the disorder proceeds or what the Cause thereof should be But I would not have the Reader mistake me all People are not subject to get Diseases this way There are some whose Constitutions are strong and their Natural Heat and Spirits are vigorous and lively by the Power and Vertue whereof they withstand and repel all such evil Vapours and Scents as do proceed from such Beds when a Man is hot and sweats in them that they have no power to seise the Spirit But on the contrary when such People shall lie on such Beds whose Natural Heat is weak their Spirits few and whose Central Heat is not able to withstand or repel those Vapours and Scents which such Beds send sorth when a Man is hot in them this last sort of People are subject to receive Injuries and contract Diseases For those evil Vapours do powerfully penetrate the whole Body and if they are not withstood by the Central Heat and Power of the Spirits then these evil Vapours do seise the Spirits and incorporate themselves with their Likenesses For every particular thing does sensibly and powerfully seek out its Likeness and wheresoever it finds its Simile it hath power to incorporate and become essential These are the chief Reasons why one Man gets Diseases by lying with Diseased Persons and in unclean Beds and others not It is a general Custom when Men go abroad or travel to desire clean Sheets imagining them to be a sufficient Bulwark to defend them from the pernicious Fumes and Vapours of old stale Beds buâ— it is too short For it is certain that most or all Beds do perfectly stink not only those in Inns and Houses of Entertainment but others Not but that every ones Bed does smell indifferent well to himself but when he lies in a strange Bed let a Man but put his Nose into the Bed when he is thorowly hot and hardly any Common Vault is like it Now this sort of Uncleanness which does proceed from old Beds is not only the greatest but also the most injurious to the Health and Preservation of Mankind and the least care is taken to prevent it Every one that can will have plentiful Changes both of Linen and Woollen Garments for if they have not Experience does shew that the Excrements and Breathings of the Body will generate Vermin Also do not most People take care that their Furnitures are daily brushed
First You are to destroy all Press-Bedsteads which stand in Corners of Rooms being made up with Boards so close that the Air cannot penetrate or dry up and consume the moist sulphurous Vapours that are contracted These sorts of Beds that stand so are apt to have them more than others Also you are to set your other sorts of Beds as near as you can in the most Airie Places of your Rooms exposing them to the Air the most part of the day with your Chamber-Windows open that the Air may freely pass which is the most excellent Element that does sweeten all things and prevents Putrifaction In the Night also you ought not to have your Window-Curtains drawn nor your Curtains that are about your Beds for it hinders the sweet refreshing Influences of the Air so that the Air of all close Places becomes of a hot sulphurous Nature and Operation the thin pure Vapours which do wonderfully refresh Nature are as it were suffocated And this preventing the Influences of the Air is in an especial manner observable when People are sick or out of order as though the sweet pleasant Air had been the Cause of their Disease such Rooms being so very close with great Fires in them that if a healthy Person do but continue three or four Hours in them the fulsom Steams and thick Vapours will much disorder him and take away the edge of his Appetite And if so what will the Operation be on those whose Spirits are weak and disordered with Distempers What is more pleasant and healthful than good Air It chears and comforts the Spirits it opens the Passages of the Joynts and Nerves it purifies the Blood creates an Appetite increasing Strength and Vigour But on the contrary hot thick sulphurous Airs do not only obstruct the Passages of the Spirits but suffocate them loading the Joynts and Nerves with evil Juices whereby the Limbs and Members become full of pain causing a general Tenderness to possess the whole Body and destroying the Appetite and the Power of the Digestive Faculty in the Stomach Also do not all Houses and Places grow musty and contract too great store of Moisture if the Air be any way prevented by Window-shutters or the like that it cannot have its free egress and regress Therefore moderate Clothing hard Beds Houses that stand so as that the pleasant Briezes of Wind may air and refresh them and also Houses that are full of Windows are to be preferr'd For where the Air hath not its free Influences the Spirit becomes dull and heavy this being the true Life of the Spirit in every thing 7. Now the certain Means and Way not onely to prevent the Generation of this Vermin but also to preserve Health and Strength are Straw or rather Chaff-Beds with Ticks of Canvas and Quilts made of Wooll or Flocks to lay on them which certainly is the most easie and pleasant Lodging that can be invented and a little Custom will make it appear friendly to Nature and in every respect far beyond the softest Feather-beds on which when a Man lies down he sinks into them as into an Hole with Banks rising on each side of him especially if two lie together when first they go to Bed they lie close and after a little time when they begin to be hot or sweat they are generally willing to lie a little further off that they may cool themselves but cannot do it without great difficulty and trouble by reason of the softness of the Bed and those Banks that rise on each side Besides such soft Feather-Beds do over-heat the Reins and Back making all the Parts tender and causing Sweatings and many other Inconveniencies to attend the Body Feather-beds also are nothing so easie as Quilts after a little time being accustomed to them they are also extream fulsom and by their Heat they do powerfully dry up the Radical Moisture causing a general Faintness to attend the whole Body But on the contrary hard even Beds that lie smooth are not only easie through custom as is mentioned before but a Man may turn freely both sleeping and waking They harden and strengthen the whole Body especially the Back and Reins make the Nerves and Sinews strong preventing the immoderate Evacuations by Sweating and keeping the Body in a temperate Heat Besides such Beds may be often changed with but little Trouble and less Cost they send forth no stinking Fumes or Steams as Feather-beds do but are sweet and clean Certainly nothing is more healthy next to Temperance in Meat and Drink than clean hard Beds 8. All sorts of Beds especially Feather-beds ought to be changed driven or washed at the least three or four times in a Year or else it is impossible to keep them sweet and clean and to prevent the Generation of Vermin or the other Inconveniencies before-mentioned Would not every one condemn a Man if he should wear a Shirt a Year and lie in Sheets seven Years Which if any should do it would not either endanger his Health or bring half the Inconveniencies on his Body as old stinking Feather-beds do which possibly stunk before ever they were lain on by reason of the fulsom Excrements that the Quills of the Feathers contain Also Feathers do certainly contain an unclean putrified Matter that hath a near affinity with the Nature of Bugs and therefore Feather-beds are more apt to breed them than Wooll or Flocks though both will do it if the forementioned Rules be not observed But if you are not willing or so lowly-minded to have Straw or Chaff-Beds under your Quilts then you may have Flock-Beds with Canvas Tickings which may be both aired and washed as often as you please with little Trouble and Charge If any shall question the Truth of what I have alledged concerning Beds I desire they would please but to try the Experiment by filling a Bed with the freshest and cleanest Straw or Chaff which will smell very pleasant and having so done let them lie on it half a Year in a corner of a Room as Beds generally stand and then smell to it and in stead of sending forth a pleasant Scent as it did at first it will send forth a strong fulsom musty Steam or Fume And if this will do so what will Feathers do that in the Root of Nature are unclean fulsom Excrements of a hot strong Quality Therefore they have the greater power not only to attract and suck in to themselves the fulsom Excrements that are breathed forth of the Body by Sweatin̄gs and the like but they have also power to retain such evil Vapours and when others come to lie on them and are throughly hot it awakens those pernicious Steams which often bring many Inconveniencies on the Body Besides it is very unpleasant to lie in such Beds a Man must always be forced to keep his Nose above-board Indeed each Mans own Bed does not stink or smell strong to himself because he is accustomed to it neither does a