either White Claret or Rhenish in their order observing the seasons with the inclination of celestiall orbes and the measure Iuventus being more hot and dry must also apply himselfe to these forenamed Wines somewhat more dilute which is easily effected by water Virile age holds out a cup of more rich Claret from 35 to 49. and goeth out with a draught of the smallest Sacke Which Senectus makes stronger by addition of Aligants and the richest Sacks and Muscadine and continueth them unto the last period of life Thus have I now applied it generally to every age and briefly cleered my proposition As for the Sex male or female betweene these I shall make no difference of temper Nor doe I give eare to some that make foule stirre de Lana Caprina or to prove divers temperaments of Sexes and that the procreation of women is more in the left then in the right side Ergo they must bee more cold and more weake But whatsoever they fancy this is only to bee observed without any further dispute That temperaments are not conflate out of heate more obtuse or vehement but depend on the perfusion and consent of the foure Elements Therefore having distinctly discoursed of temperaments I have also included Sexes As for the manner of using this subject Thus it is as followeth Hitherto I have taught the nature and use of Wine both Philosophically and medically and how familiar a nutriment it is to man and still say it must bee so both in respect of its substance and forme else I understand not Aristotle his alimentum simile and dissimile For although all aliment of what substance soever must receive forme of heate before it bee converted into bloud by which it doth nourish both fluent and fixt heate in us Yet such nor so apt is any substance for forme to sanguifie or nourish as Wine and if it be possible it will augment innate heate and moisture For 't is oyle not water that augments the flame a proportion observed else it puts it out so that it is the true Nectar by the use whereof Principles of life are augmented naturall humours multiplied spirits refreshed strength restored care expelled and bodies in youthfulnesse conserved To conclude 't is all in all to a naturall body For although in generall aliment is said to bee liquid airie and solid yet 't is humidity that nourisheth For medicament also I have proved it proper The Arabian Phisicians are of opinion that to take this liquor once every moneth in such a quantitie as shall be approved by the learned Phisicians is wholsome Phisicke it doth much recreate the Animal faculties reconcile sleep provoke urine and sweat dissolve superfluities and they affirme it to cure the Quartane with other diseases circumstances conducing to the profitable use of it after this manner which circumstances I obscure because I am desirous to entertaine time with substance only Custome is to be mentioned as somewhat substantiall for it over-ruleth the rest and the time generally most fit to receive Wine is with meate and then such Wine as best fitteth the temper of the Individuall But those that meane to use this subject rightly must not be without their Phisitian or out of their view for let their temper or distemper bee what it will so it be not some fatall stroke or wound by the wisdome of the Phisitian and his skill they may sinsibly perceive the prolongation of their life and by this meanes which is so pleasant to universall Nature The Chymist his best Rhetorick is exercised about the pleasantnesse of his extract smalnesse of quantitie But here I present a taste for pleasure beyond all mineralls forsafetie 't is incomparable either with them or Vegetals Excesse in this may be more easily repaired nor is the offence in nature of so great moment Now because there will be some difficultie in getting true naturall Wine without sophistication therefore I should thinke it fit were it so pleasing to Authority whereunto I humbly submit that as it hath beene heretofore with us and is still in other Countryes Apothecaries might have libertie to sell it and so by the direction of the Phisitian to make many medicate Wines fitted and in readinesse upon all occasions But that I may draw to a conclusion I will briefly lay downe or rather take up two maine objections one moved by Galen the other from the sacred Scripture apprehended erroniously both indeed at the first view or blast will seeme to shake both my foundation and edifice also Galen after all his ratiocination is raised out of his Urne and presents to me in his Commentary upon the Aphorismes these words Wine debilitateth as Venus and Frambesarius makes bold with his doctrine and delivereth it for a truth and in these words Vinum Venusque nocent eodem modo The objection I confesse is instar omnium and very materiall whether hee be taken to speake of the use or excesse of Wine In the first sence it doth oppose all that I have formerly taught and proved in the last a fit opposition to Avicenna Rhasis and Averrohes they advising wine once a moneth usque ad obrietatem Now if Galen bee not understood to speake of excesse then as I have said before neither Wine nor Venery can hurt debilitate and weaken the body for both rightly used are profitable the one to preserve the individual the other to propagate the species and venus as well as vinum both exhilarate the minde cheare the spirits refrigerate the body and cause sleepe So that at the first view Galen doth seeme to speake of excesse only or principally But that I may reconcile him with the Arabian Phisitians my part is now to explicate and render him in his owne proper sence and meaning This exception is not so much or principally against the quantity as the qualitie and misapplication both in respect of time and temper As when the quality of wine exceedeth in strength the temper of the body to which it is given and at a time unseasonable as upon a fasting stomacke and then to exercise the act of Venery intemperatly upon it and in this sence is Galen to bee conceived chiefly But I apprehend Plato and Ambrosius in another sence meerely distasting the nimium ebriety and intoxication in a voluptuous way and to speake truth after such manner abused 't is poyson both to mind and body inflameth the bloud debilitateth the nerves vexeth the head and to bee short is worse then any poyson For this cause Moses not only calleth it Venenum but the poyson of Dragons which admitteth of no cure Therefore Wine in this manner taken and according to this sence is more detestable for the strongest poyson of Animalls or minerals can but vulnerate the flesh but wine is powerfull to wound the soule Yet such is my candid censure of those Arabian Princes in Medicine that they never used it after this manner themselves or advised it in a voluptuous way to others
offer them medicinally to publike view The qualities generally received amongst Phisitians are to nourish Et super omnia alimentā if you will accept the testimony of Galen It doth also evacuate corroborate correct putrefaction open obstructions exhilarate the spirits and what more is wanting or needfull for the preservation or restauration of life and health then these except we should preferre circumstance before substance nor can there be any thing more securely practised then that which is so familiar to nature and universall principles of mixt bodies or humane tempers or so undoubtedly knowne to us in our Region in any of these respects incomparable either with vegetall or minerall For though we be very curious in our scrutation wee shall find either a difference irreconciliable in their figure or quality and for the last if it bee argued home in most drugges it will put us or rather force us to our hidden quality and if wee speake of remote drugges which are transported from other Regions then I dare bee bold to say wee know them not at all or not in such a degree of perfection as wee ought considering the frequent use of them However the use of them cannot but be doubtfull for if we know them either wee cannot have them or else such is their alteration and change in transportation as must force us to fault the Ancients for their high commendation of them we finding either no such vertues as they affirme of them or none so effectuall as they avouch To this purpose Christophorus Barri a Iesuite in his relation to the Pope of Cochin-china professeth that the rhubarb which hee brought with him from thence was so changed in transportation from what it was as that he did not know it to bee the same thing either by the vertue or colour of it And Symphorianus a learned Phisitian hath adventured to challenge most of our pharmacall compositions upon this very ground and doth affirme the chiefe ingredients to be altogether unknowne or found in the shops of European Apothecaries For better satisfaction take this expression in his owne words Sed quòd res quasdam vel non afferri vel non sine macula vel in totum ignorari puto ea sunt balsamus Cardamomum Myrrha Nardus indica Cassia Scordium Cinnamomum radix Pentaphylli Calamus odoratus Xylobalsamum Now if no man hitherto hath answered his challenge which for my owne part I suppose unanswerable Then let us view our Pharmacopea and judge what use can be made of our greatest compositions How uncertaine how unsafe the practice of them which in a plaine expression is but pugnare contra hostem clausis oculis I could start other doubts about many other things much in use amongst us as Unicornes horne and Bezoard-stone or such like but my intention is not to enter into controversie yet desire either to be better informed or else to informe others for which cause I now fall upon this subject so well knowne to all Nations that there is such a thing as Wine and that this or that is without question such a kind of wine and familiarly used in this or that place And if I prove not the aforesaid qualities to be in it I neither looke to satisfie my selfe nor the reader Therefore that which was last in my intention shall now bee first in execution And though I make not an Index of Authors yet now my arguments shall be altogether a Testimonie not doubting in our subsequent discourse to cleere the point more artificially The first then is That wine nourisheth above all other aliment they that have read Galen know these are his words translated Indeed some nourish more some lesse according to their specificall quality as Vina aquea perexiguum alimentum corpori praebent quae verò crassa sunt colore rubea plus alimenti habent quà m reliqua vina Gal. Secondly that it doth corroborate Vinum confortat spiritum ad spiritum convertitur fortificat virtutem Avicenna Thirdly that it doth evacuate Vivacrassa dulciaque quod alvum deijciant nemini ferè ignotum est sicut mustum quod tametsi aegrè concoquatur crassumque succum inflationes faciat alvum tamen movet Gal. Fourthly that it doth open obstructions Vinum dulce vehementer aperit oppilationes pulmonis Avicenna Fiftly that it doth exhilarate the spirits take sacred Scripture so that hitherto I have cleered and plainly discovered these qualities in wine medically and confirmed all by ancient classick authority Yet if further satisfaction be expected then looke upon the qualities of Wine in grosse as they are obviously laid downe by most or all the chiefest Ancients White wine may bee adhibited in all acute and hot distempers ut voluit Hippo. Sweet wine in cold diseases because it heateth the body more yet cum calefactione temperata Gal. No White wine is sweet and that which is pure and subtile moveth Urine very much leaveth no impression in the head because it doth not manifestly heate it doth sensibly refrigerate and is commanded to bee administred in febre continua Gal. Wine in generall taken moderately doth purge choler by Vrine exhilarate the mind and refresh the senses Wine also that is dilute may safely be given in Fevers and White wine doth manifestly refrigerate and cleanse the lungs sweet Wines also may be taken in acute passions as Plurisies and inflāmations of lungs to provoke expectoration when the matter is digested according to Oribasius Haliabbas Constantius Monachus Wine also that is white subtile and thinne is not turbulent to the stomack but of easie digestion soone penetrateth the veines provoketh urine and is profitable in Fevers because it doth not make hot the body or disturbe the mind nor offend either braine or nerves But if it bee mixt then it quencheth thirst better if you will credit Isaac the sonne of Salomon an Arabian King Lastly White wine is said to be insipid dilute coagulate with cold because in such are more parts of water then of wine yet under favour in respect of its universall parts there can be no such coagulation as is affirmed by Iohannes Portugalensis once a Pope of Rome These are the generall opinions of the Ancients But reason still urgeth to prove further the possibility of these seeming contraries in one and the same nature as to open and shut or shut and open to corroborate and weaken or to weaken and strengthen and that these contrary acts should appeare together at the same time in the same subject to whom it is applyed As that wine as you have heard should generally evacuate excrements of the body or particularly purge bilious matter by urine and yet the same specificall wine shall corroborate the whole and every part it worketh upon at the same time But when I consider or contemplate the super-excellency of this plant in a naturall perfection and mixture transcending all other vegetals as doth plainly appeare by the purity of its nature in it selfe and
is the innate or sixt spirit in power and accordingly all the functions in a corporall Republique administred which by sence and reason are plainly comprehended so that the excellency of this fluent heate is not only admirable but also of absolute necessitie And if such a cause may be admitted as we call causa sine qua non then this may be so accepted for without this mutuall commerce of fluent and innate heate all bodily actions are stayed and quiet These being then the prime existence and subsistence of humane nature and powerfull agents both in conformation and nutrition their Spheare of motion may be more or lesse adaptated by externall meanes either homogeneall or heterogeneall For tempers then in generall there is no such aliment no such medicament as Wine For the smallest wine is a truer pabulum to the fluent spirit then egges or milke sucked from any creature they all laying some burthen upon Nature to concoct and in concoction there must be some expence both of fluent and radicall heate and by so much is mans life shortened But Wine is so pure in its owne nature that it receiveth a sudden mutation and in this very alteration addeth light and heate to the fore-named principles and it is as oyle to those naturall lampes therefore to bee preferred in my opinion Fernelius seemeth to favour my reason where hee saith that diseases that are cold admit of a safer remedy or cure then hot distempers because contraria contrarijs curantur and thus regularly applying to the cold affect wee foment and maintaine naturall heate Contrarily in taking away praeternaturall heate in the other naturall heate doth either suffer or is extinguished but both in cold and hot affects Wine rightly applyed and upon true judication is the excellent and inoffensive remedie That it is a remedy and such a remedy I shall thus indeavour to prove If it were by the ancient Phisitians given as a wholsome and safe remedy in Feavers then is it a remedie in hot diseases but so it hath beene applyed by the Ancients as is before shewed Againe if it hath beene also by the same authority affirmed and adhibited in cold affects Then 't is a proved remedy in both And if wee take along with us the specificall difference of Wine then we shall soone observe this remedy to bee regular according to the Rule of contrariety For Wine as it is naturally apperient it openeth obstruction and oppilation is the next cause of putrefaction and putrefaction of Feavers so that opening being contrary to oppilation Wine being opening is a true contrary remedy per se in obstruction and per accidens in the putrid Feavers Now let me descend to particular affects of each kind hot and cold and in either of these prove Wine to bee a specificall remedy agreed upon by counsels aswell as the foresaid Fathers beginning with a Iew that laboured with melancholy his temper hot and dry from a vitious praedominion over the bloud his body leane colour black ill disposed to sleepe prompt to all actions prone to anger of an excellent wit and discourse but at this time mute and hath beene so for Six dayes his temper thus agreed upon with his distemper in a counsell of Doctors they come now to six upon two wayes of cure the one being of humectation the other opening obstruction and in respect of both Wine is concluded a proper remedy Another great consultation was had about one of the Chanons of Rome labouring with a Feaver whether or no Wine might be prescribed About this point was much controversie and at last concluded and adhibited the remedie For in all this consult I read of no other medicament In the next place I present a young Gentle-woman epilepticall or labouring with the falling sicknesse her temper hot and moist and so concluded in counsell for they found her body fat and fleshie In this case they determined Wine to be most convenient for the attenuation of humours and to be administred as a specificall remedy This also was agreed upon in a burning Feaver for a young Spaniard in a great distillation pro Episcopo Lucensi in various affects and distempers pro Aloysio Fos Careno in vertigine proceeding from a cold and moist distemper of the braine pro Cive Lucensi against all affects of the kidnies and bladder pro Magnifico Contareno with many others which were easie to produce were it not prolix Enough being spoken to prove Wine in all tempers to bee proper aliment and in all distempers as proper medicament concluded by Fathers and Councels in medicine thus farre have I urged Wine in its owne simple nature not but that I take notice of medicate Wines and their excellencies in distempers above simple wine So I passe to every age and sexe and shew how it is to bee used as aliment and at what times Humane bodies are not only obnoxious daily to affects of ayre dyet exercise passions of the mind c. but also from our implanted and internall heate which by little and little doth dry up and demolish our originall humidity which ariseth out of it selfe and doth so depopulate and waste it as that it doth bring upon it many mutations which are conscribed with certaine periods and conversions of ages For every Animall newly sprung ex semine sanguine as it were compounded of its prime humidity is most humid in whom all parts aswell bones and cartilages as flesh are soft tender and fluxible which by progression in age doth stiffen dry wither and consume In like manner are the mutations and vicissitudes of temperaments faculties humours distempers and manners Therefore age is but a course and space in which the constitution of the body by it selfe is perspicuously altered and changed Six notable differences of ages with their temperaments are to bee observed The first is Child-age which from the birth is extended to the foureteenth or fifteenth yeare and this hot and moist and is more hot then ripe and juvenall age by reason of fixt not fluent heate for by how much neerer it is to its originall by so much the more doth it participate of innate heate Contrarily by how much it doth recede from its first Principles by so much is this innate heate exhausted And this first age one of the Ancients divideth into foure orders viz. Infancy Dentity and another betweene this and ripe age and then puberity it selfe which also comes in fitly and opportunely to bee discoursed because 't is the second age in the order of Nature This age of puberity beginneth at the Fifteenth yeare and is extended to the Eighteenth and is lesse moist and more hot The third age is adolescency beginneth at the Eighteenth yeare and is extended to Twenty five and of a middle temper The fourth age is juvenile or flourishing yong age which beginneth at the Five and twentieth yeare and extends to Thirty five and in comparison with the next foregoing age is of a temper hot and