Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	blood_n	body_n	humour_n	2,342	5	7.9583	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19740	The copy of a letter written by E.D. Doctour of Physicke to a gentleman, by whom it was published The former part conteineth rules for the preseruation of health, and preuenting of all diseases vntill extreme olde age. Herein is inserted the authours opinion of tabacco. The latter is a discourse of emperiks or vnlearned physitians, wherein is plainly prooued that the practise of all those which haue not beene brought vp in the grammar and vniuersity, is alwayes confused, commonly dangerous, and often deadly.	Duncon, Eleazar, 1597 or 8-1660.	1606 (1606)	STC 6164; ESTC S109182	59,222	56

knowledge of the Arte. Thirdly the maner of teaching differeth farre from the maner of practise and is not subiect to so many errours But on the other side as no Minister is able to confute a learned aduersarie that hath not skill at the least in the Latine tongue so no Empirike is able to encounter with sicknesse that great aduersarie to nature without weapons fetched from the Greeke or Latine tongue M. Latimer sayth in one of his sermons English Diuinity will neuer be able to expell Popery out of this land and it may as truly be sayd Engl●sh Physicians can not cure English diseases The third reason is They do many cures Th●s maketh much for their credit with them that perceiue not the falshood of it All cures are artificiall naturall or casuall No man of iudgement can ascribe artificiall cures to them that are not Artists I am not ignorant that nature is sayd to cure all diseases nor how that is to be vnderstood but by naturall cures I meane those that are performed by the strength of nature alone without any helpe of medicines and doubtlesse many of their cures are of this kinde for when the disease is dangerous or vnknowen as it is often to them there the most circumspect of them commonly giueth some light medicine that hath no power to alter the body or mitigate the disease as is required this is as one sayth to leaue a ship in a great storme to the violence of the waues If in this case the patient recouer by the aid of nature then this fortunate Empirike and his companions extoll and magnifie the cure as if rare and extraordinary skill had beene shewed in it when it was meerely naturall By casuall cures I meane not such as are meerely casuall and beside the purpose of them that giue the medicines of this kinde are the histories in Galen of two desperately sicke of the leprosie to both which was giuen wine wherein a viper had beene drowned both the giuers had a purpose to kill them the one of compassion the other of hatred but both the patients were cured by the secret and admirable vertue of the viper Like to this is that which we reade of a woman that gaue her husband the powder of a toad to rid him out of a painfull dropsie but by the violent operation of the poison all the matter of the disease was expelled and the man recouered But by casuall cures I vnderstand such as are performed by hap or chance in respect of the Arte being done without order or method as when one shooteth neglecting all the fiue things required in an Archer and yet hitteth the marke this is a meere chance and falleth out seldome Such are the cures of Empiriks Fulnesse of blood in the veines and of ill humors in the body are the common causes of most inward diseases here the learned Physician first collecteth all the signes of the disease then he referreth them to their causes and hauing diligently reuolued in in his minde all the indications belonging to the Art he proceedeth to the cure by taking away the cause of the disease The Empirike in the same case not knowing how to gather the signes of the sicknesse much lesse how to referre them to their causes attempteth the cure without consultation and by a weake and inartificiall coniecture openeth a veine or giueth a violent purger by both which rash and vnaduised courses many lose their liues but when any recouer the cure may fitly be called casuall more by good hap than by learning Light errors in the cure of a disease doe neuer appeare in a strong bodie as Hippoc. saith nor in a light disease no more than the ignorance of a pilot in a calme but a great disease and a violent storme trieth the skill of them both Sometimes grosse and gricuous errors are obscured and hidden for where the strength of nature weareth them out and the patient recouereth his health the Empericke can neuer be stained with the blot of them Therefore since almost all inward diseases proceed from fulnesse some are cured in strong bodies by emptying though that be done confusedly and without Arte. But this reason is further inforced that sundrie sicke persons recouer vnder them which came out of the hands of learned Physitians This is no argument of their knowledge for in long diseases patients are commonly desirous of change when somtimes the cause of the disease is taken awaie before and nothing required but time to gather strength Moreouer they that are tired with long sicknesse do vsually submit themselues to a stricter course both of medicines and diet vnder their second Physitian and though nothing be administred in either of these agreeable to Art yet some few may escape as a shippe or two in the losse of a great fleet may passe by rockes and sands and a●iue at the wished hauen Also some that haue beene afflicted with long sicknesse are willing to submit themselues to a farre stricter course vnder their second Physitian than vnder their first and are easily induced both to abstaine from things hurtfull be they neuer so pleasing to them and to take that which is offensiue And although the best of these vnlearned Practitioners cannot prescribe diet or medicine fitting to the temper of the body and agreeing to the nature of the disease yet a slender diet of rosted meats and a drying drinke which is a common course with them all doth sometimes cure an old disease proceeding from a cold and moist humour though all things be done confusedlie without order or methode Fernelius affirmeth that some great and dangerous diseases haue had an happie end by a slender and strict diet onel●e without any Arte. And this is the reason why learned Physitians doe sometimes faile in the cure of diseases of this kind because intemperate patients will not be barred from eating drinking according to their appetite but as fast as the Physitian diminisheth the matter of the sicknesse by emptying so fast they renew it againe by filling Therefore a seruant that by the basenesse of his condition is bound to follow all that which is prescribed agreeable to the rules of our Arte is cured in a shorter time and with more facility than those which are free and wi●l not subiect themselues to ordinarie meanes An Empiricke then that hath opportunity to draw patients ●rom their owne houses where they haue all pleasant things at command and to bring them into his strict custodie may well heale some by abstinence onely as Plin. reporteth of one Iulius a Romane and B●neuenius telleth of a patient of his both which were cured of a dropsie by abstaining from drinke Furthermore ignorance the mother of boldnesse maketh Empiriks more aduenturous in their practise and more hardy in the vse of strong and violent medicines by reason whereof they plucke vp the roote of some disease

this affection how profitable soeuer it be ifit exceedeth the limits bounds of moderation it is sometimes deadly therefore Fernel sayth it disperseth the spirits like lightning that they can not returne to mainteine life There is a lamentable example of one Di●goras who had three sonnes crowned Victors in one day at the solemne games of Olym●us and whiles he embraced them and they put their garlands vpon his head and the people reioycing with them cast flowers vpon him the olde man ouerfilled with ioy yeelded vp his life suddenly in the middes of the assembly But examples of this kinde are rare and therefore not to be feared Sorow Sorow and griefe hath great power to weaken the ablest state of body it doth as Plato speaketh exercise cruell tyranny Tuscul quest Cum omnis perturbatio m●sera est tum carni●icina est agritu do c. Tully discoursing of the affections of the mind hath these words Euery perturbation is miserable but griefe is a cruell torment lust hath with it heat mirth lightnesse feare basenesse but griefe bringeth farre greater things wasting torment vexation deformity it teareth it eateth and vtterly consumeth the mind and body also Histories affoord many examples of those that haue beene brought into consumptions and to death by sorrow and griefe Feare Feare is an expectation of ill it is commonly the forerunner of griefe it calleth the bloud suddenly from the outward parts to the heart and leaueth them destitute of their naturall heat for want whereof they tremble and shake the heart then suffereth violence also as appeareth by the weake and slow pulse and it is sometimes suddenly ouercome and suffocated by the violent recourse of bloud Feare killeth many Thus Publius Rutilius and Marcus Lepidus ended their liues as Pliny reporteth There are sundry examples in histories of those that through extreame feare haue had their haire changed into a whitish hoarenesse in one night Skenk obseruat This opinion is confirmed by Scaliger contra Cardan and the reason annexed Anger Anger may adde somewhat to health in colde and moist bodies for it is an increase of the heat of bloud about the heart Gal. de sanit tu enda lib. 2 ex Aristot This bringeth much hurt to cholericke bodies it is comprehended vnder the first of the fiue generall causes of agues it is also sometime the cause of an epilepsie or the falling sicknesse as a De locis affectis lib. 5 cap. 5. Galen affirmeth in the history of Diodorus the Grammarian but this affection be it neuer so violent taketh not away the life suddenly as b De sympt caus lib 2. Galen and most other Physitians affirme for in cold and weake constitutions it can not be vehement Magnani●s ob nullam animi aegritud moriuntur Gal. de locis affect lib. 5. and the strength of hot bodies wherein it is alwayes most violent will not yeeld vnto it I know that some c Cardan consil 1. are of contrary opinion but I may not enter into controuersies hauing beene already so long Other affections I omit as being neere the nature of some of these and hauing lesse power to hurt the body You see sir with what efficacy the affections of the minde worke into the body therefore it is as necessary for health to holde a meane and moderation in them as in the fiue other forenamed things For though we liue in a sweet and pure aire obserue a strict diet vse sleepe and exercise according to the rules of Physicke and keepe fit times and measure in expelling superfluities out of our bodies yet if we haue not quiet calme and placable mindes we shall subiect ourselues to those diseases that the minde yeelding to these passions commonly inflicteth vpon the body these are many in number grieuous to suffer and dangerous to life Thus I haue briefly run ouer these six things which being rightly vsed with speciall care and regard will preserue all strong bodies in continuall health and preuent all diseases vntill the radicall moisture be consumed and no oile left to maintaine the light of the lampe A Discourse of Empiricks or vnlearned Physicians A Preface to the Reader THe life of man is so precious as that all which a man hath he will giue for the ransome thereof Neither is this care of preseruing his owne life alone naturally implanted in the heart of man but that he may saue the life of others also how dangerously will he aduenture somtimes casting himselfe into deepe waters to saue one from danger of drowning sometimes breaking into an house flaming on euery side to deliuer one from perishing in the fire And this naturall instinct hath beene the cause also that publike persons haue by holesome lawes prouided for the safety thereof and priuate men haue spent their thoughts in discouering those stratagems whereby the life of man is oppugned Now because none are more pernicious enemies to the same than are these Empericks who vnder colour of drawing out the threed of mans life doe most cruelly cut the same in sunder before the time there haue beene some in all ages that haue vehemently inueighed ●ga●●st them and laboured with all diligence to suppresse them as it were to quench some gri●uous fire But hitherto all labour hath beene lost that was spent that way for like the Lernean monster against which Hercules fought in the roome of one seuen others haue arisen and haue by opposition growen both in number and estimation also with many and that partly by their owne diuellish and detestable practises and partly by the folly of others And first for themselues they will falsly vaunt what admirable cures haue beene performed by them that No mottall man is able to doe more than they can doe They will promise confidently to cure any disease though neuer so desperate as to breake a confirmed stone in the bladder or els To lodge it in some part of the bladder that it shall neuer paine them after And vnto such as are therefore left by the iudicious Physician because sentence of death hath already passed against them on an Indicatory day they will warrant life and that to the end they may be imployed after their betters which is no small credit vnto them Now if they be found to haue missed the cushion and the party dies as was foretold then will they pawne their liues that the disease was mistaken by the first Physitian and that if they had beene called to the cure but one day sooner it had beene a matter of nothing to haue saued his life for the partie died because he was let bloud if that were aduised by the other with good discretion or because he was not let blood if that were omitted vpon iust cause On the contrary the learned Physitian though he haue no religion will not for his credit sake be found to vtter any vntrueth is very sparing in reporting

the matter of the disease is discussed by outward medicines and requireth neither of these two helps Sometimes there is a fit vse of fomentations and after them of bleeding as Hippoc. did when the disease could not be mitigated by these outward meanes he opened a veine the eighth day In many other cases it is necessary to take away a great quantity of bloud in the beginning therefore Heurnius sayth Blood can not be taken away too soone nor in too great a quantity if the patient be strong but in weaknesse it must be done often by small quantities In some bodies Arte forbiddeth taking away of any bloud though the patient be strong and inioyneth purging In some cases the passages are to be stopped and the humor to be made thicke after bleeding lest new matter should flow to the place affected After the flux is stayed then the weake parts are to be strengthened and the matter impact in the side to be prepared or tempered that it may be cast vp by coughing with greater facility Heere is a broad gate opened to a large field of medicines of sundry sorts as ointments plaisters syrups potions c. Some of these are very hot and much opening some very cold and binding In the vse of these and also of all the former things the Empirike is plunged into many doubts and the patient into as many dangers if he take away too little blood he taketh not away the disease if too much he taketh away life if he purgeth when he should open a veine or doth this when that is required he committeth a pernicious errour if he iudgeth not rightly of the humor abounding of the complexion c. of which only Arte is the competent iudge he can attempt nothing in the cure safely nor so much as appoint a fit diet If he prescribeth locall or outward medicines of too hot operation the heart is thereby inflamed the ague exasperated and life indangered If there be in them any defect of heat the matter of the disease is bound faster into the side and chest with as great perill If inward medicines be not proportioned to euery vnnaturall affect in the body and to euery offensiue quality as now heating then cooling now moistening then drying sometimes extenuating or making the humor thinne sometimes incrassating or making it thicke sometimes opening somtimes stopping c. the patient doth neuer receiue any good but commonly much hurt by them Neither is the Pleurisie only to be respected but there must be a vigilant eye vpon the Ague also which alwayes accompanieth the other and may kill the patient as well as the Pleurisie Moreouer there may be great malignity in the humor as Gesner reporteth in an epidemiall Pleurisie all died in whom a veine was opened and all liued that receiued cordials In the great variety of these doubts difficulties and distinctions there is a necessary vse of sound iudgement confirmed by long study and profound knowledge both in Philosophy and Physicke It is therefore cleere that the practise of Empiriks being destitute of these helps must needs be vnfit and full of perill It may well be compared to his that Forestus mentioneth who wrot out sundry receits ouer night and put them confusedly into a bagge in the morning when patients came to him after he had looked on the vrine he put his hand into the bagge saying to the party Pray that you may haue a happy lot and plucking out that which came first to hand he gaue it as a remedy for the disease Though our Empiriks haue a farre better colour for their practise than this was yet in effect they often agree But I proceed to lay open some few of their grosse and palpable errors in their practise for to speake of all requireth a whole volume I will begin with their mistaking of diseases a common errour with them exceeding dangerous to their patients Diseases are knowen and distinguished by their signes The knowledge of this is comprehended vnder the second part of Physicke before mentioned whereof because they are ignorant they must needs fall often into this fault This is seldome discouered but when rationall Physicians haue opportunity to looke into their practise then they see the disease taken to be in the liuer when it is in the lungs or kidneis to be in the heart when it is in the head or mouth of the stomacke to be in the brest when it is winde in the stomacke extending that region and many such What though they can iudge of the gout the palsie and the dropsie so can simple women doe but to iudge rightly of the causes and differences of these diseases of the manifold differences of Agues of simple and compound sicknesses and of sundry diseases of the head that requireth Arte which is not in any Empirike Hippoc. sheweth the misery that fel vpon many of the Scythians by mistaking their disease and the causes of it and thereupon by taking a wrong course in the cure of strong and able men they became as effeminate as weake women and spent all the remainder of their wretched life in the offices of that sex Heurnius reporteth that an vnlearned Physician by mistaking the cause of the disease put his patient into a bath wherein he died presently and the Empirike was iustly accused for killing of him Guanerius setteth forth the deadly error of another in the cure of a sicke man who after extreme intolerable paines ended his life A learned Physician hauing a melancholike patient depriued of the right vse of his inward senses amongst other things in the cure appointed his head to be shauen and then to be anointed and bathed according to arte an Empirike hearing of this cure gat the receit of the outward medicines vsed in it and not long after lighting vpon one sicke of a phrensic or inflammation of the braine thought it to be the same disease with the former because both the patients were madde therefore he followed the steps of the other with great confidence of the cure this grieuous error in mistaking both the disease and the cause of it brought the miserable man to a speedy and of his life farre more cruell to himselfe and more terrible to the beholders than the sicknesse could haue done The reason of this is plaine and euident to euery meane Physician The cause of rauing in the former was a cold humor in the latter a hot therefore hot medicines which were fit to cure the one were as fit to kill the other But admit the Empirike had beene called to the cure of the same disease proceeding from the same cause yet he could not haue obserued the circumstances which arte required and therefore his receit was vaine and vnprofitable If the course of these blinde practisioners could be obserued it would be found to be like to this in euery disease Our books are full