are profound If benigne and not malignant they are without a Swelling or profoundity If from blood they are hot and red If from Phlegm they are lesse hot lesse painfull and are white If they are made by Melancholy they are blackish and dark coloured Prog. All Ulcers of the mouth are hard to cure because the Medicament cannot conveniently adhere but those that are black stinking profound very painfull are very dangerous and is a most miserable horrid death of them which dye and are consumed by this Disease The Cure if the Ulcers are benigne they are cured by altering the temper and cicatrizing with cooling and astringing remedies If the milk be bad change the Nurse or correct the Milk by dyet and purging the Nurseas hath bin shewn the Ulcers are healed with Hony of Mulberries or Sirrup of Pomegranates Mirtles or Red Roses dryed with which the Nurse dipping her finger is to touch the Ulcers and if they be contumacious mingle a little powdered Alum with the Sirrup of Mulberries for the Powder of Alum hinders the spreading of the Ulcer and without any notable pain If the Child is somewhat great the dyet ought to be cooling and meats that may be suck'd is to be used as Broths and Eggs with Broth or Verjyce If the Ulcers are great commonly causing inflamations and drawing of the humours Cupping-glasses applyed to the Loins are convenient and to evacuate by them what the age and constitution of the body will permit then purge Gently the Medicaments to be applyed to the Ulcers are the same as in Infants or make a decoction of Millefoyle or Plantain with Red Roses Sanders and take of it four Ounces and mix with it an Ounce of the Sirrup of Mulberries wash the mouth with it In Malignant Ulcers in Infants Take of the Scordiuum finely powdered one Dram of the rinde and Pill of Pomegranes finely powdered two Scruples burnt Alum one Scruple Hony as much as will suffice If the Child is somewhat great the use of the Juyce of Granates especially sowre is good If this is not effectuall use Aqua Magistralis Aluminis Unguentum Egyptiacum or the Flower of braâ—s corrected with a little Sirrup of Mulberries These are not to be used but in great necessity because the Palate hath two broad ways one to the Lunges and another to the Stomach and therefore it is dangerous any venemous medicine should come thither wherefore it is better to use remedies in such a form as cannot go further then the Palat as when the Ulcers of the mouth are touch'd with the Oyle of Sulphur or Sublimate water which is an excellent remedy against all inveterate Ulcers Take of sublimated Mercury twelve Grains the water of Roses and Plantain of each eight Ounces boyle them to the consumption of a half part the use of it is that the Ulcer of the mouth be touched with one drop which if it cause a considerable pain then mitigate the pain with Milk that hath Steel quench'd in it CHAP. XI Of the Ranula of the Tongue THis Disease is an Inflamatory humour of the parts under the tongue and especially of the Veins in Children for the Veins under the tongue being with a petuitous blood sometimes Melancholy which is sweat out or goes out of the mouth of the Veins into the Passages of the flesh and there being collected the humour is elevated into a Tumour or Swelling which is called Ranula It sometimes resembles a soft Aedema which being opened a white matter like to the white of an Egg flowes from it The Cause is a petuitous blood or as some say a petuitous humidity The Signs are manifest to Sight there appears a Tumour with great pain and heat and a hinderance of Speech the colour of the humour is as it were mixt of the colour of the Tongue and Veins Prog. This Tumour if it be neglected is dangerous it sometimes makes a Feaver and suffocates Children The Cure is by a cooling and astringing Diet in using Vinegar Verjuice Limons and the like with meat Clysters are convenient Purges by the Mouth are hurtful If the Child is somewhat large Cupping-glasses applyed to the Thighes are convenient so are Friction and Ligatures after Astringents are good Salt of Armoniacum rubbed upon the part is commended by all Maryroom rubb'd upon the part stronger then it are Flower of Brasse Allume burnt Spunge and Tragacanthum burnt If these cure it not the Tumour must be cut off at the Roots for sometimes the humour is in a Coat which if it be not taken away the humour returns after the Cutting of the humour stay the blood with salt powder of Mirtles Totmentil or Bistorte then Cure it with Myrrh and drying things that cures wounds CHAP. XII Of Dentition and breeding of Teeth THE generation and perfection of Teeth is the work and intent of Nature but in regard the matter out of which they are made suffers not that this Work can be done without trouble and pain It causes that a Disease followes the generating of Teeth which Disease is not intended by Nature Dentition is an Eruption or breaking forth of Teeth first conceived in their proper holes It is said by some to be a violent work of Nature and the gums are as it were prick'd with needles whereby great pain is caused and a supernatural heat in those parts is excited which drawes the humours thither which are made putrid salt and sharp in those parts and being precipitated to the Stomach and guts strongly excites the expulsive faculty and consequently causes loosnesse and sometimes Dysenteries Bones and Teeth are the same according to kind and matter but differ in Species and name The difference of Bones and Teeth in their nature and particular beings appears 1. Teeth are made after the Birth of a Child all other Bones before grow to a certain time and have no sense and never are renewed but Teeth grow during the whole life have an acute sense and grow again It 's observed that amongst the Bones the Teeth only cannot be consumed by fire Neverthelesse they are corrupted and consumed by a putrid Phlegme besides Teeth have no marrow and fat as other Bones have and therefore they are the most hard body They are corrupted with hot things as by washing them with warm water but preserved by moderate cold as by washing them with cold water nor are they hurt by an actual extraordinary cold for in Frost they are not troubled but by a cold that is potential because Teeth have but a little heat and cannot resist a great cold Teeth were made for the breaking of hard meat for speaking and distinguishing of Tasts and therefore they have soft Nerves in them and although Histories relate several have been born with Teeth yet for the most part they break forth in Children about the 7th month sometimes sooner as in them which use more hot milk They are very slow in some sometimes to the Third or fourth year either by
Feaver it being contrary to its nature p. 44. Why Feavers are not dangerous and why sometimes they turn into Hectick Feavers p. 46. Why the Kings Evil exactly cured returns again p. 18 19. Why waterish humors are more often collected in the head of Children then other parts and in the Womb then out of it p. 7. What is the use of Lips and why are more often chopt in Children then in others and most frequently from cold p. 27. How good Milk from bad may be known p. 76. and how the bad Milk of a Nurse may be made good p. 78 79. How a good Nurse may be known from a bad one p. 78. Whither the Small Pox had a beginning or not and where and whither beasts have it or not and how it differs from the Measles which hath the same matter cause and cure p. 53. Why the cause is not the impurity of the Mothers blood as by most supposed p. 54 55. Nor is the cause the fault of the Air p. 56. Why scarce any one but hath it and that it is mortall to some and not to others happening most to Children p. 57. Why some have more breakings out and marks then others and the face most troubled and next to it the Feet and Hands p. 58. Why the Small Pox troubles the eyes more then the Measles p. 58. Why the Small Pox is infectious and more easily to kindred then others p. 58 59. Why some have twice rarely thrice almost all once p. 59. Why Scars and Blemishes are left chiefly in the Face Lips and foreskin p. 59. Why the Stone of the Bladder is seldome in Female Children and not so often in men as Children yet the Stone made in the Reins is oftner in men then Children pag. 147. How Teeth and Bones differ p. 130. The use of Teeth p. 131. and the order and time of their Growth p. 132 133. Worms why very Familiar to Children and in what parts they are made and found pag. 167. 168. The difference of Worms p. 168. Imprimatur Octob. 28 1663. Roger L'Estrange The First Book Of External Diseases in CHILDREN CHAP. I. The PREFACE IT will not be unprofitable to prepare a way for the ensuing Discourse of Childrens Diseases by premising these Particulars 1. What is Age and the Definition of it 2. The Division of Age 3. The Subject of the Discourse 4. Why Children are apt to Sickness 5. Why Childrens Diseases are so call'd 6. The Order and Method of the Discourse of Childrens Diseases It is answered 1. Every Age is obnoxious to all kinds of Diseases but one Age is more disposed to some Diseases then another is for every Age hath a peculiar temper and so a similitude with some Diseases whereby it is more easily affected and changed by them then by other Diseases nevertheless Age it self doth not produce Diseases but only disposes and makes one apt to receive certain sorts of Diseases for Age is a thing that is natural and a Determination of a time and it is defined by some to be a Space and Duration of Life in which the Constitution of the Body is manifestly changed by the Action of the natural heat upon the radical Moisture The Life of Man consists in Heat and Moisture the Heat consumes by degrees the Moisture whereby necessarily follows several Changes of the Temperament which are called Ages 2. The Division of Age is various by the Ancients some divide it into 7. parts other into 6. or 5. parts But the Modern considering that in all things there is a Beginning Increase State and Declination have divided Age into 4. parts alluding to the 4. Elements 4. Humours of Mans body and 4. seasons of the year 1. Adolescency or growing Age in which are contained Infancy Childhood and Puberty and it extends to 25. or 30. years 2. Youthfulness or flourishing Age extending to 36 or 40. years 3. Consistent Age extending to 45. or 50. years 4. Old Age which contains decrepit Age and extends to the end of Life 3. The Subject treated on will be the first Age and Adolescency as it extends only to 14. years for then and not before ought a man to be said perfect though some say at 7. years because as Plants are said then to be perfect when they first begin to bear fruit so Man ought to be called perfect in that time when he begins to be prolifick and procreable 4. Children are disposed to very many Diseases for divers reasons because of the 1. Impurity of the nourishment in the Womb by an erroneous Diet or Sickness of the Mother 2. Great labour and pains in the Birth and Getting out of the womb being a narrow passage whereby is weakness and very often are bruises 3. Cutting of the Navel String that the Infant may get forth whereby pains and Inflamations often follow 4. Diversity of Nourishment Children in the Womb are nourish'd with the purest blood of the Mother and they only perfect the third Concoction but after Birth they use Milk and other food and need the help of the Stomach and Liver for the first and second Concoction 5. Change of place being not used to the Air for Infants live in the womb in the greatest Lukewarmness and Tranquility but as soon they feel the cold Air outwardly and breath it in they are hurt which appears by their crying 6. The unsoftness and uneasiness of the things they lye upon for Infants lye very soft in the Womb. 7. Hot and moist temper which is very obnoxious to Corruption 8. The fault and badness of the Milk 5. Diseases of Children are so called not only such which trouble and affect only Children as Diseases arising from breeding of Teeth but also such Diseases which most frequently happen to Children are cur'd in a different manner in them then they are in other Ages 6. The Order and Method in the Discourse of Childrens Diseases will be 1. Of External Diseases and such as belong to the outward parts of the body 2. Universal Diseases which affect all parts of the body Thirdly and lastly Particular and inward Diseases of particular and inward parts of the Body proceeding from the Diseases of the upper parts to the lower parts CHAP. II. Of the Greatnesse Dropsie or Water of the Head THere is somtimes an immense largeness of the head vitiating the natural Actions of it yet the Head is not to be called diseased as if it needed the help of a Physician because it is natural and incurable that is not here intended but that which is called the Dropsie of the head and though sometimes it is in a peculiar part of the Head yet for the most part it is in the whole capacity of the head and it is more frequently in Children and Infants newly born then others of elder years in regard of the softness of their head and bones It is defined to be a Tumor of the Head contrary to nature hapning for the most part to Children or a
by the corruption or fault of the Milk or by meats and drinks that are hot salt or other things that heat the Liver The Signs are manifest The Cures are 1. By attemperating the humours with the Whey of the Milk of Goats and the Syrrup of Fumitory 2. In evacuating the humors Take a Dram of Rhabarb infuse it all night in a little Water strain it and add three Ounces of Whey and two Ounces of the Syrrup of Roses solutive 3. Mitigation of the pain and discussing of it by Baths of Water in which are Mallowes Cammomile or Pellitory So much of External Diseases The Second Book Of Universal Diseases in CHILDREN CHAP. I. Of Feavers in Children in Generall HItherto have been considered External Diseases Internal are either Universal which affect the whole body or perticular which affect some parts A Feaver is an Universal Disease so is the Small Pox and a Consumption which three Diseases will be considered in this Book Although Feavers and their Causes are common to all Ages yet in regard Infancy is most obnoxious to them and hath peculiar considerations in the Cure of them Limiting the strength quality and quantity of the remedy it will not be altogether improper to call Feavers Childrens Feavers Children are subject to Diseases that are accidental and Symptomatical proceeding from other Diseases as in breeding of the Teeth Inflamation of the Gums c. and also to Feavers essentiall and of their own accord and to all sorts of them but especially a Synoche Feaver in regard their bodies are hot and moist their temperament sanguine and their bodies dense by which transpiration of the heat is hindered which increases and produces a Feaver Children may have a Quartan Feaver though their natural temper be contrary to it because 1. Humours partake aswell of the matter as of the Agent and Temperament of the body wherefore as Humours and Excrements of the body do not shew the Temperament for old men are cold and dry of temper yet they abound with Phlegme so do they not only depend on it but on Diet likewise which in Children is very often grosse and unorderly eaten and so Crudities and very thick humours are made 2. If the Mother was elderly and of a Melancholy temper the menstruous blood with which the Child was nourish'd may much alter the temper of the Child 3. A Quartan Feaver is not always made from Melancholy but may be made from any humour that is thick The Internal Causes are the humours of the body The External Causes are chiefly 1. The Air If the Winter be cold and dry and the Spring hot and moist bodies cannot be cooled in the Summer but burn and cause Feavers besides in the Summer Childrens bodies are more thin and spare 2. Unseasonable and immoderate exercise being full or empty 3. Immoderate and ill Diet whence are Crudities Obstructions and Putrefying and so Feavers Presage All Feavers in Children for the most part are not dangerous because the natural Faculty is strong and active in them and can resist powerfully the Causes of Feavers Children sometimes by Feavers have an Hectick Feaver not by the difficulty of the Curing it or the greatnesse of the Feaver but by the morosity of the Child that will not be govern'd The Cure is If the Child suck the Nurse is to be cur'd with such things that alter and purge as the kind of Feaver seems to require It is much doubted how blood is to be lessened in Children that have Feavers Some think that after the Fifth Month Cupping-glasses may be applied and blood drawn out by them Others think not before a year which opinion is most safe because this Age is wont greatly to be overcome by pain and trouble and Cupping glasses are painful but after a year Cupping glasses may be applied but only to sanguine and strong Children And then not to the part above but on the Thighs because the Spirits and strength are not so wasted from those parts as from above And only to the taking away an Ounce of blood and no more Besides these remedies others may be added Inwardly may be taken the Juice of Granates which is highly praised with Oxymel and Citron It may be made thus Take of the Juice of Granates one Ounce of Simple Oxymell half an Ounce you may give the Child a Dram at a time unto half an Ounce but it is better to mixe the lesse quantity of Oxymel because the Childs Nerves are very infirm and Oxymel and all sower things hurt the Nerves wherefore the Syrrup of Maidenhair Syrrup of Red Poppies are good If the Child is bound in his belly you may not use purging Medicaments because the Childs body is hot naturally and is more heated by the Feaver so it is dangerous to add the heat of a purging Medicament wherefore it is better to use a more gentle Clyster or Suppository Take of Whey half a pint of Hony half an Ounce of Salt half a Dram mingle them make a Suppository of Flesh and Hogs grease or the common Suppository for strong Suppositories are dangerous Outward remedies may be used 1. Things very gentle may be applied to the head or Feet to provoke sweat as the Root of a Reed if the Childs body which is Dense be opened by Sweat the heat and putrid vapours will go forth 2. Cloths dipped in Cichory Endive Plantane or Rosewater applied to the Breast Side or Back for cooling The Liver and Stomach ought to be helped in Concoction in all Feavers much more here which is done by cooling and binding remedies applied to them Take of the Oil of Mastick half an Ounce powder of Red Corall Sanders and Red Roses of each two Scruples of Wax a little make an Oyntment of it but if the Child be between seven and fourteen years he must be handled in another manner which shall be set forth in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Of a Synoche Feaver EVery Synoche putrid Feaver in Children is from obstruction made by gross humours in hot moist and sanguine bodies and the putrid matter is in all or the greater veins The Cure of it in a Child between 7. and 14. years will be in removing the obstructions and tempering the Febrish heat which will be done by 1. A convenient Diet let the Air be cold motions of the body and mind avoided if the belly move not use a Clyster or Suppository let the Drink be water or Barly water the Diet sparing only Barly broth or Broth of Meat But because this will be accounted too strict and hard to indulge you may add to the Broth bread and sometimes the Yelk of an Egge but be careful you do not nourish too much because the strength and the Disease are nourish'd together The time of eating let it be as it was when the Child was well 2. Blood-letting Some think that Blood-letting ought not to be before the Child is 14. years old because that which the opening of a Vein ought
an Ichor thin waterish humour and that it is by Ebullition appears in the heat colour and Accidents that happen By this we may resolve our selves 1. That in our dayes scarce any man but hath this Disease because it is hereditary which came first by the fault of the Stars which affected all or almost all and now is propagated As Indians now generate children with long heads which in former Ages they endevoured to make by Art and now is become a natural disposition 2. This Disease is mortal to some and not to others by the abundance and badness of humours and ill constitution of body that the blood and Ichors boyling causes an unquenchable Fire and remedilesse putrefaction besides the badnesse of the Air and errors in the ordering of the person 3. They happen most to Children because they are full of blood and thin waterish humidity and abound with heat being nearest to the principle of Generation besides they are given much Motion 4. They that have most thin and waterish humours have most breakin gs out and the thicker and more tenacious the humours are the worse the marks and deformities are 5. The face is most troubled because of the Ebullition of the blood the vapours ascend to the head and so impetuously that neither the Spirits of the head or face or the Air to which the face is exposed can resist besides the face is moist and rare and apt thereby to receive them 6. The Feet and hands next to the face are chiefly troubled notwithstanding the Skin is hard because of the Sympathy between these parts and the Liver which is seen in a hot Liver by the burning of the hands and feet 7. The Small Pox troubles the eyes more then the Meazles because the matter is thicker and can be lesse resisted and repelled 8. The Small Pox is contagious and infectious by the boyling of the blood which sends vapours at a great distance which enter into other persons and infect them as it is in those that have sore eyes and by the Hereditary Propriety so that consanguineous persons are more easily affected in regard of the Similitude of their temper and for that reason whole Families in a Plague are destroy'd 8. Some have this Disease twice very rarely thrice almost all once because this Hereditary Disposition only disposes and continues as long as the Seminary parts in which it is implanted doth remain which most commonly is consum'd the first time the Blood is inflam'd and set on fire especially the second time when the Blood Ferments 9. Scars and blemishes are left chiefly in the Face Lips and Foreskin because the Skin of them is without Flesh or hath but very little and therefore difficult to heal The mediate causes of the Small Pox are 1. Internall hot and moist temper soft and fat habit of body and tendernesse of Age. Boys are more dispos'd to it then Girles by the disparity of heat in them boys being hotter 2. External hot and moist Air Southern constitution Spring time and an hot and moist region or Contagion or other things that move or corrupt the thin and waterish part of the Blood By what hath been said the Small Pox may be defin'd to be a disease having Pustules in an outward part of the Skin with a continual Feaver by the peculiar Effervessency and Ebullition of the Ichorous Blood excited by the expulsive faculty The Signes that this Disease is Imminent and coming which either immediately accompany the Disease or proceed it are Pain in the Neck and Breast with a heavinesse of the Eyes Itching of the Nose Shortnesse of Breath Suddain trembling and starting Often Sneesing Urine sometimes muddy sometimes sound weepings of the Eyes and tears falling of their own accord from them a continuall Feaver The Signes of the Disease present are manifest being little swellings and spots in the Meazles they are Red and not high in the Small Pox they first appear as the head of an Needle or Pin immediately after they are greater and red and daily increase untill they are ripen'd grow white are made an Ulcers and Soars and are dryed up Presage If the Small Pox and Meazles are White and a few appear without any other accident or if many appear and the Feaver is diminish'd and other accidents and the breathing easie there is no danger If the Small Pox are black or green or if few or many appear and the other accidents are worse and exasperated and the breathing difficult then it is pernitious and Mortall They who dye of the Small Pox dye either with a Sounding an Inflamation with which they are strangled or a looseness of the Belly which destroys the strength of the Child The Cure is in 1. Preserving the inward and outward parts the outward are call'd so because they are seen and they are the Eyes Ears Nose and Mouth The internall are Liver Lungs and chiefly the Guts the eyes are frequently troubled with heat and a tenacious Ichor that Exulcerates them whereby the Children cannot sleep which is helpt by cooling and moderately binding Medicaments as the water of Roses or Plantain mix'd with Sumach Take of the water of Roses and Plantain of each five Ounces Sumach half an Ounce infuse them all night and with a little white of an Egge mix them wet a little Cotten in it and wet the eye often with it if there be pain and Itching take the water of roses and milk and add a little Myrrh to them the scratching of the Eyes are to be avoided If the Ears be pain'd itch and run let them be kept open if the pain be great dip a Spunge in hot water with the Oyle of roses and lay it to the Ear the scratching whereof is very hurtfull The Nose is defended from Ulcers if Roses or Plantain be boil'd in water and the steam taken in at the Nosthrills The Mouth is helpt by this Gargarisme Take of the water of Barly one Pint and an half the leaves of Plantain and Flowers of Roses of each one Dram to which you may adde the Juice of Barbaries or Orange and wash the mouth with it 2. In helping of nature in expelling the humour which is perform'd by 1. Dyet that is convenient The Air is to be temperate or rather somewhat hot that the Pores may be opened and the coming forth of the Small Pox promoted therefore let the child be kept in a close room that the cold Air by no means may come in by the opposition of the Air many Children have dyed with a Benigne and gentle Small Pox the matter of the Disease being repercuss'd to the interior Parts let a red cloth be laid next the Skin which is conceiv'd by divers to be helpfull by a similitude it hath with the boyling Blood Be carefull your cloathing be not too much lest the Child be Smothered and Swound and so provide that the outward Parts are rather hot then cold but that neither the heat of the Air
Scabs drye not of themselves fast enough use Aloes Litharidge Cerusse and Sanders and wash them in salt water in which Plantain Roses or some other drying thing is that may take away the acrimony of the Salt If they do not ripen fast enough boil Figs and Mallowes together and dip a Cloth in it and touch them often with it being warm it mitigates pain and ripens them In the end of the Disease the Scabs sometimes turn into Ulcers which are cur'd with the Ointment of Litharidge and Cerusse and an ill colour is left which is taken away thus Take of Lupine Barly and Beans of each two Drams bruise them and boil them in a convenient quantity of water until it is thick and with it wash morning and evening the Childs hands and face until the Scales fall off The Scars and holes left by the Pox is hardly cureable the fat of a man and the Oil of Egs is very much commended Chap. IV. Of the Consumption A Consumption is called Leanness Gracility and Tenuity If it be considered as an habit and a certain durable and permanent state of the body and as hurting the Actions of the body it is a Disease if as it depends on a vitiated Nutrition and as a simple Disposition then it is rather to be called a Symptome and an effect of a Disease A Consumption is an Extabescency and Exiccation of the whole body arising from a want of nourishing of the body The Subject is the whole body the harder part whereof may be dried and diminish'd the Veins and Nerves may be so extenuated that they may seem to be much lesse that a great vein may seem to be a little vein c. but these parts cannot be so lessened as that the whole body should decrease wherefore the whole body is said to be extenuated in respect of the more soft parts as the fat and flesh the fat is first consumed because it is caused by cold and whatsoever is concreted by cold unlesse it be vehement is easily dissolved by heat Moreover fat hath scarce any other use but to preserve the natural heat After the fat the flesh is consumed which is as a bond of the Constitution of mans Body but not necessary to Life but the seminary parts as Veins Nerves Arteries c. are the foundation of Life and cannot be consumed with the preservation of Life as the flesh can be which is not necessary for Life and it is of three sorts 1. Musculous which consists of Veins Membranes and Arteries 2. Glandulous as that of the Breast anp Testicles 3. Pure Flesh as that which is between the Teeth and in the top of the Yard These three sorts of Flesh consume in this order First the the Musculous Flesh. Secondly the Glandulous and last of all the pure flesh The immediate cause of this Disease is the frustration of nourishing either by the fault 1. of the Aliment being deficient and too little or vitious that it is not assimilated or attracted by the parts of the Body 2. or fault of the Nutritive faculty when the naturall heat and radicall moisture is Defective The nourishment and food is too little when the appetite in the Stomach and other parts is wanting as in an Universal weaknesse or when it is not distributed the Meseraick Veins by their drynesse are often so shut and close that the Chile cannot passe from the Stomach into the rest of the Body and so the parts are extenuated So likewise as often as the meat is prepar'd and sent another way there is Leannesse as in Vomiting and Fluxes so it is by worms consuming the nourishment that ought to be turned into flesh The Blood is faulty cause of Leanness when it is too Melancholical for where the Spleen flourishes the rest of the body growes Lean and where the rest of the body consumes the Spleen growes So likewise when the Blood is too Cholerick for then it is offensive to nature for no blood can be turn'd into the substance of the body that hath Choler mixt with it or if it be waterish whereby bodies also consume as in Dropsies so likewise if the blood be Salt leannesse is caused for Salt things are Earthy Dry and contrary to nourishment and dry the body and is not assimilated and therefore consume and extenuate directly and naturally by accident Salt may conduce to nourishment by exciting an Appetite and distributing the Food but naturally it is contrary to nourishment insomuch that some have Writ that Fishes are not nourish'd with Water or Juyces that are Salt but with sweet things or other things that are found in the Sea Nourishment is also hindered by the fault or distemper of the Part that should assimilate the nourishment when it is too dry so it happens to old walls to which Lime cannot be agglutinated by reason of the great drynesse of it Moreover Leanness is also made by causes that dissolve the fat and flesh as great Feavers do but in Children it is caused for the most part by the defect of nourishment being either too little or vitious and unusefull proceeding from the fault of the milk wherefore it is that Children by one Nurse fattens and consume by another or Worms destroying their nourishment and sometimes by a distemper of some principall part as the Stomach Liver or Heart and it is observ'd that an old and contumations and native consumption cannot be without the Liver be affected and the temperament dry but that which is new may be from any one of the causes aforesaid The external causes of a Consumption are a hot or dry Air hence it is that most Aethiopians are lean and most men consume in Summer Watching and Care consumes a Body and as it were eats it Meditation Grief Study Immoderate Venery natural Bathes that drye Scarcity of Food and feeding once a day consume men and Children of which quality are sharp things It is also conceived that Children by reason of the softnesse and tendernesse of their body grow lean and consume by Fascination proceeding from their touching unhealthy bodies or the unwholsome vapours out of the Eyes or Mouthes of Women not well which truely is not Fascination for Witchcraft is rather the work of the Devil then by any proper power of the Sages The Signs of a Consumption are manifest for the Flesh and Fat are visibly consum'd the face like one that is dead and the figure of the whole hody deprav'd If it is from a cause that melts and dissolves the Fat and Flesh there was or is a violent Feaver If from want of food it is known in elder Children by their not taking what is necessary in Sucking Children by the Flagginess and Emptiness of the Nurses Breast the ill dyet of Nurses the Child pisses little and doth not wet his Cloaths cryes and Sucks eagerly If the want of food is the cause because nourishment goes into other parts it is known by the loosness of the Belly
Ounces of it with a little Sugar the Stomach being empty Outwardly are useful the rubbing and compressing the hands being annointed with the Oyl of Scorpions If it help not boyle the Pellitory of the Wall in the Oyl of Rue and make a Plaister and lay it to the parts about the neck of the Bladder or Take a Cruce Glass in which Oyl hath been kept a long time put it in hot water then put the Yard of the Child into the Mouth of the Cruce Glass and it is very effectual CHAP. XVII Of the Stone of the Bladder CHildren are very obnoxious to the Stone of the Bladder and are often troubled with it by their much eating causing much crude humours which stay not in the Reyns but is expelled into the Bladder Female Children are seldome troubled with it because they have the Channel of the Bladder broad straight not contorted and crooked The Stone of the Bladder which is immediately made in the Bladder is more often made in Children then in old men because Children are great Eaters thereby abound with much crude humours which is the matter of the Stone and falls into the Bladder besides Childrens native heat is strong which easily hardens the matter into a Stone old men although they abound with crude and earthy humours because their heat is weak in the Bladder the Stone is not made to which may be added the strength of the expulsive faculty the narrowness of the passage and the tenuity of the humour in Children The Stone which is first made in the Reins is in old men more often then in Children as is proved by experience because old mens expulsive faculty is infirm and the Ureters wide so that the thickest and grosse matter is detained in the Reins and consequently turn then into a Stone The material causes are humours thick petuitous and tenacious the efficient cause is the greatnesse of the heat The immediate internal causes are chiefly the narrownesse and straightnesse of the passage or Channel then the hereditary disposition and propriety from parts and the Milk of the Nurse being bad either from Diet or temper for when the Child doth suck impure Milk if the Child hath large Veins from the Stomach to the Bladder the impure matter is carried to the Bladder where it settles with the Urine as muddy water shak'd together in some Vessell and then resting makes a Sediment in the middle which Sediment of the Urine afterwards is conglobated and made round by Phlegme like a little hill and is hardned as Iron in a Furnace The External Causes are the same as in the Strangury The Signes are 1. Groaning and pain in making water 2. The making water by drops 3. The Blood is often mix'd with the Urine 4. The water is somewhat white crude sometimes with a slimy sometimes with a Sandy Sediment 5. Inflamation of the Bladder 6. Itching of the Preputium and foreskin and frequently scratching of the Privities Prog. The Stone of the Bladder is very dangerous and difficult by reason of the pain and in curing Suppression of the Urine which often happens The Stone if it cannot be cur'd by cutting it is mortal for the most part because the Stone growes in Children so great that as the years increase Nature cannot sustain it The Cure is If the Stone be Small and newly begun by such things that break and diminish the Stone by a quality that is either 1. Manifest as by Goats Blood Restharrow Ceterach Saxifrage the Root of Parsley and Fennell Lapis Spongia Lapis Judaicus the Stone that is found in the Call of an Oxe powdered and drank in White wine or a Decoction of Restharrow Take 2. or 3. drams of Turpentine wash'd and melted and mingle it with two Ounces of the Water of Restharrow it is much commended 2. Or an Occult quality and propriety as the Throat of a Hen burnt and powdered and given in Wine So Eryngoes boyled breaks the Stone by propriety Before the use of these remedies the Child is to be put into a Bath Water for some dayes in which Mallows are boyled that the matter may be somewhat softned and more easily and safe done in Children in Men. CHAP. XVIII Of Costivenesse and being bound in the Belly COstivenesse is a preternatural disposition in Children by which they discharge not the filfth and Ordure of the Body either in a due hour and time or in a due measure The Filth ought every day to be expelled and if much be eaten or that is not nourishing the greater the quality of the Excrements ought to be expelled The Causes are the offending the Guts either not by sending the expulsive faculty to them by a resolution of some Nerve or Muscle by a distemper or obstruction or because Choller is not sent to the Guts by which the Guts are stimulated and excited to an Expulsion Or the Expulsive faculty of the Guts is hurt by some Tumor or Skin or some distemper The Guts are offended also by some Errors within by viscid and thick humors wrapp'd and mix'd with the Filth and so gather the Filth together that they fasten them to the Guts that they cannot go forth or with great difficulty or Externally by the coldness of the Air for it is certain that Costivenesse is more in the Winter than Summer much sleep idleness great Meditations they drye the Belly drink that is thick and binding and sparingly used the same Errors also in meats as also preposterous eating taking first astringent things afterwards liquid and they that are accustomed to dine and omit it are bound in their Bellies The Signs are the Child 's not discharging his Belly every day and complaining and if the Child is somewhat great it is troubled in the head and when the Child empties it self it is with pain groaning If it proceed from a cold distemper the body consumes is pale windy and belching if from gross and viscid humours they will appear in the Filth if from the want of Choller sent to the Guts the Colour of the body will be muddy and the Filth of the Guts white or somewhat Ash-coloured Prog. The Astriction of the Belly in most are dangerous especially in Children which great eaters for which Diseases are generated in them in time and in the Time of breeding of Teeth cause Inflamation Feavers and Convulsions the body being full The Cure is 1. In moving the Belly in sucking Children that the Nurse use meat that loosen the Belly as Mallows Dry Figs Raisins and the Broth of Coleworts and all such meats which can loosen the Belly for as the Milk is made out of Blood and it out of meat so it is not to be doubted that the Milk is affected with such meats as the Nurse eats The remedies that are to be used to the sucking Child ought raiher to be External then Internal The External are Suppositories made out of hard Hony or the roots of Mallowes Garlick roasted in Ashes and put