when the Sun is in the Equinox the light on the Horizon and have neither perfect night nor perfect day so these only enjoy a kind of twilight betwixt sleep and waking The Waking Coma is rarely a Disease of it self but for the most part it is a symptom coming upon other Diseases as the Feavour Phrensie Lethargy and the like wherefore it requires not a Curatory Method peculiarly but there is only need that to the Remedies prescribed for the first or primary Disease there should be added other Cephalicks which may dispel these clouds and meteors of the Brain or if both will not be expelled together the same Medicine which cherishes the parts of the one getting the better will immediately overcome the other so in the Waking Somnolency it is convenient to procure either perfect sleep or perfect waking and in this case I have often given Narcoticks with good success CHAP. VI. Of the Incubus or Night-Mare THUS much concerning the morbid exorbitancies of irregular sleep and waking which are almost proper and as it were of the region of the Brain and affect not the Cerebel but rarely and that secondarily and collaterally as hath been shown But there remains a distemper commonly called the Night-Mare in Latine the Incubus which is both peculiar to this Region and also seems in some measure analogical to the sleepy diseases forasmuch as its fits arise for the most part from sleep by reason of the Animal Spirits being bound in the Cerebel or suppressed their eclipse or interruption though short about the exercise of the vital function is induced That the subject nature and causes of this Disease may be the better known we shall first consider its Phaenomena or the appearance of it The fits of the Incubus or Night-Mare for the most part and indeed only falling on one in sleep are used to be excited mostly after the stomach is loaded with undigested meats and lying on the back in Bed They who labour with it seem to feel the hurt chiefly in the Breast and about the Praecordia for respiration being suppressed and very much hindred they think that a certain weight lying heavily upon their Breast doth oppress them which weight mocks their imaginations with the Image of some spectre or other and this whilst they think to shake off or put away by the moving of their Body or members they are not able to stir themselves any way But after a long space and sometimes till they are almost dead they at last awake with a strugling about their heart and being more fully rouzed from sleep the imaginary weight suddenly vanishes and the motive force of the body is restored but for the most part a trembling of the heart remains and frequently a swift and violent beating of the Diaphragma Then the fit being over the deception of the phantasie conceiving the horrid image of the Incubus or spectre is perceived The common people superstitiously believe that this passion is indeed caused by the Devil and that the evil spirits lying on them procures that weight and oppression upon their heart Though indeed we do grant such a thing may be but we suppose that this symptom proceeds oftenest from mere natural causes though what they are and in what place the Morbific matter doth subsist is not agreed on among Authors nor indeed is it easily to be assigned Because the imagination is deceived and the error being propagated further into the senses themselves so imposes on the sight and feeling that they believe they plainly see and feel a monster of this or that shape or figure lying upon them and for that the loco-motive faculty of the whole body is hindred in the mean time some have placed the seat of this Disease wholly in the Brain and would have the oppression of the breast to be merely phantastical But although we grant the monstrous shape of the Incubus which is conceived to be a mere dream the Precordia to be truly affected is apparent and the motion of the Pulse and breathing is suppressed or hindred for that the heavy weight of the breast is plainly felt by most in their waking yea and when thorowly fresh awaked and when that is removed the tremblings of the Heart and Diaphragma and inordinate motions follow whence it follows that these parts labour and suffer a real hurt Wherefore others that they might the more easily unloose this knot dividing the Morbific Cause assign a portion of it to the Brain and another to the Breast for they say that the motion of the Lungs are hindred by a viscous and very gross humor impacted about them and that doth excite as it were the oppression of a bulk lying on them with want of breathing then Vapors being raised to the Head do fill the principal Nerves and so hinder the loco-motive force which opinion no more likely than the conceptions of those troubled with the Night-Mare deserves not to be assented to because there are not any signs of this humor heaped up about the Praecordia which appear before or after the fit yea when this region is very much burthened as in the Phthisis Asthma or Dropsie of the Breast the Incubus does not therefore infest more frequently or more grievously Further it appears not how the matter heaped up in the Praecordia should be only troublesome in sleep or by what passage or way the Vapours from thence so suddenly inducing want of motion should be elevated to the Head Wherefore the Reason or Aetiology of this Distemper I think to be taken or judged of far otherwise Therefore this heavy weight or load lying on the breast seems indeed to be left because the motion of the Heart and the organs serving for breathing is hindred for from the motion of the heart ceasing or being hardly performed the Blood in its bosoms and in the breathing or Pneumonick Vessels statgnating and being there very much streightned a sense of as it were a weight opresses the region of the breast which also seems therefore the more grievous because the Lungs Diaphragma and Muscles of the Thorax being hindred in their motions and as it were bound together at the same time with the heart do labour with a great endeavour to exercise or to put forth themselves But the most hard question yet is concerning the Cause by reason of which the motion or action of the Praecordia is suppressed or hindred This seems impossible to be done by matter impacted in the organs themselves of which indeed there must be a very great deal to suffice for the hindrance of so many parts and some signs of it at least would appear somewhat out of the fit wherefore it seems that we may rather say that the action of those parts are hindred because the influx of the animal spirits are hindred or suppressed This is frequently done in Convulsive Distempers as we have elsewhere declared and have clearly shewed by
if the business will admit it let the Paralytick members be covered over with hot grains or with the refuse of the Grapes when flung out of the Wine-press or let them be thrust into the belly of a Beast new slain or bathed in an artificial Bath or in the natural Baths and be kept for a long while in any of these But if these help not you must then come to universal Remedies or great Remedies of which sort in the first place are Diaphoreticks or sweating Medicines Mercurial Medicines stirring up Salivation and strong Vomiting Medicines of each of which we shall speak briefly In the Cure of the Palsie sometimes Diaphoreticks or Medicines causing sweats do very much help and that they sometimes are hurtful the common people do ordinarily observe Wherefore it is very requisite that we should unfold the reasons of this so different effect and that so indications may be taken as to the use or rejection of them Therefore a plentiful sweating is wont to be helpful sometimes to Paralyticks chiefly for two reasons to wit for that it doth thrust forth or exterminate in a great measure the impurities of the Blood and the nervous juice being apt to breath forth so that the Morbific matter doth not flow any more to the Brain and the distemper'd parts and that whatever hath already flowed forth from them is partly conveyed forth of doors Then Secondly Because the Effluvia's of heat falling away from the boiling blood do very much open the nervous Passages before obstructed whilst in evaporating they pass thorow them and make an open way for the Spirits Wherefore this administration is chiefly and almost only convenient for those whose Blood is not stuffed with fixed Salt and Sulphur but is diluted with a limpid and saltless Serum For on the contrary Paralyticks whose blood and humors are full of fierce Exotick and fixed Particles of enormous Salts and Sulphur and unfit to be exhaled do often receive great harm by a violent and forced sweating Of this kind of effect we have assigned these two causes to wit because that the Morbific Particles by reason of agitation being too much exalted become more outragious then secondly because these being more plentifully brought to the Brain and nervous Stock they oftentimes increase the old obstructions and not rarely produce new That a plentiful sweating or Diaphoresis may be easily provoked both internal Medicines and outward administrations are wont to be made use of The former stir up either the Blood or Serum into an heat or provoke the heart into more swift motions and for that cause whether one or both be done when the bloody liquor is rapidly circulated thorow the Heart and Vessels and is wrought into a frothy swelling up there is a necessity that very many Effluvia's which are the matter of sweat should go away from it For this end Medicines of a various kind are commended to Paralyticks of which the most noted are a Decoction of Guaicum Sarsaparilla c. Spirits and Oyl of Guaicum the simple mixture Flowers and Spirits of Sal Armoniack Aurum Diaphoreticum the Salt of Vipers as also the Powder and Wine of the same the solar Rezoartick minerale Tincture of Antimony c. External administrations move sweat because they hold in and stir up the moderate heat in the whole body and so the blood being made hot is compelled to move more swiftly and to evaporate more and at the same time the Pores of the skin being unlocked readily let forth all the Particles that are apt to exhale For this use besides the Bed-cloaths which only hold in the Effluvia's of heat sent from the body about it still there are little sweating Chairs or Stoves made hot with Coals or with the Spirits of Wine also Hot-houses and Baths of various kinds and forms and our natural Baths are wont to be made use of But of all of them our natural Baths of the Bath if they agree with the temper of the sick are thought to be the best Remedy which the many Crutches hung up as so many trophies of this Disease being overcome belonging to many Cured of the Palsie do sufficiently shew But as the best Medicines if they prove not a Remedy to the Disease often pass into poisons so the use of Baths when it cures not some Paralyticks renders them much worse so that when as the sick had before many members distemper'd and resolved or loosened there was no other occasion for them of leaving behind them there their Crutches unless it were because they could use them no longer We have above shewed the cause of this to wit because bathing shaking or moving the blood and all the humors more exalts all the Morbific and extraneous particles and they becoming more outragious drives them from the Viscera into the bloody mass from whence when they cannot easily evaporate entring into the Brain and nervous Stock increase the Paralytick Distemper and very often adds to it the Convulsive For this reason Bathing sometimes actuates or stirs up the Nephritick and the Gouty disposition and further in many where there was not a disposition it causes a spitting of blood the Asthma or Consumption Wherefore Baths ought not to be tryed without the advice of a Physician and then having tryed them if they seem not agreeable they are to be soon left I have by my own experience sufficiently try'd and known also by that of several other Physicians that some Paralyticks have been cured by Salivation excited by Mercury But I think this kind of Remedy is only to be used to the habitual Palsie to wit which hath its foregoing cause in the Blood and Brain easily moveable and its conjunct cause in the nervous appendix not very fixed But when this Distemper is caused from an outward and great hurt or follows upon the Carus Apoplexy or Convulsions a Salivation or spitting is attempted in vain and sometimes not without great hurt But whoever are indued with a weak and too loose a Brain and are obnoxious to frequent Convulsive motions are not rashly to make use of Mercury Yet sometimes a Salivation in an habitual Palsie are not very fixed hath highly profited forasmuch as by taking away the impurities of the blood it cuts off all the nourishment of the Disease also because some Mercurial Particles whilst passing thorow the Brain and entring the nervous passages divide the Morbific matter impacted in them and drawing its parts one from another variously disperse some forward and others backwards when oftentimes it is the fault of other Medicines that they only urge forward the heap obstructing the ways of the Spirits so that if they pull in not to pieces they drive it more firmly into the obstructed places In some measure it is for this reason also that Vomits do frequently yield notable help in the Cure of the Palsie to wit because they draw away the nourishment of the
his belly swell'd his breathing was yet more hard and troublesome that he could now scarely draw breath His Pulse was very weak and upon any motion of his Body he had frequent swoonings away and loss of Spirits Hence as there 〈…〉 rce any place left for purging Cordials and Antiparalytick Remedies were only to be insisted on but notwithstanding the use of which this sick man within a fortnights time labouring for many hours under a Dyspnoe or want of breath at length expired The immediate cause of whose Death I suspect to have been the manifold concretions of the blood in the Heart for when the motion of the Praecordia for a long time was very much hindred there seems nothing more probable than that these kind of gobbets as it were fleshy should increase within the Ventricles of the Heart For the illustrating of the Theory of the Palsie a little more and also of the Lethargy and Carus I shall add this other example with Anatomical observations which happened whilst the former were in the Press A little one a little above three years old of a moist or humid Brain as appeared by most grievous sore Eyes and the watry whelks or pustles of the face to which it was sometimes obnoxious falling ill about the beginning of Autumn with a slow Feavour and lost Appetite it became very torpid and sleepy so that it would sleep almost continually day and night but being awake he knew those standing about him and answered very aptly to their Questions To this Child fit Remedies being presently and diligently given viz. Clysters Blistering Plasters Purges also Juleps Spirits of Harts-horn Powders with many others used in these cases they prevailed so much that within six or seven days the sick Child being free from its Feavour waking enough and desiring Food seemed to grow well and to have scarce any more need of a Physician But in a short time after by what occasion uncertain falling into a relapse and again sleepy was presently seised with a most grievous stupefaction so that it was hardly to be awakened and scarce knew any one or what it did it self the next day being plainly stupid though being strongly pulled it did open its Eyes it would roll them about hither and thither and saw nothing but within a day or two a Palsie follow'd in its whole right side The former Remedies were repeated and besides sneezing Medicines chawing Medicines to draw down Rheum by the mouth a taking away of Blood with Poultisses applied to the Feet and all its Head being shaven drawing Plasters were put all over its Head with other Medicines and ways of administrations prescribed in order nothing profited but that this sick Child after its lying so insensible for four or five days at length its breath and Pulse failing dyed It s dead Body being opened we found almost all things sound enough in the lower and middle bellies i. e. in the Belly and Breast unless that in the right Kidney a whitish mattery Humor or as it were a thin Corruption had begun to be heaped together which plentifully flowed forth out of some parts of the Kidney being disfected and squeezed together This did seem to have been the beginning or a certain rudiment of a future Imposthum and perhaps by reason of the Serum not sufficiently separated here it s greater plenty had slowed to the Brain For the top of the Skull being taken away the anterior region of the Head almost to the insertion of the fourth bosom swelled up being covered with clear water shining thorow the Membranes which presently flowed forth when the Meninges were dissected Further in this place portions of the Brain being by pieces cut off appeared too wet and without any red or bloody pricks but in the hinder border of the Brain the Vessels were red with blood and the Cortical substance appeared without tumor or deluge of water more close and firm From these as we have affirmed before it manifestly appeared that the cause of the Lethargy did depend upon the watry flood or as it were Anasarca or Dropsie of the outward part of the Brain The Brain being cut piece-meal and an hole made in the anterior cavity distended by the water the clear water being before as it were penned up within a more narrow space leaped forth a great plenty of which had filled all the Ventricles to the top and as it seems by compressing the Optick chambers as in the other case above described brought in blindness and by entring or pressing together one of the Streaked Bodies or its Pores caused the Palsie The Choroeidal Infoldings appeared as it were half boiled whitish and almost without blood It is probable that the water did flow forth of these Vessels by which the Ventricles of the Brain were overflown all or at least the greatest part of it although in this case if as some think the watry Latex or Humor sliding down lower from the shelly part of the Brain the Brain being at length thorowly passed thorow did rain down into these bosoms we may from thence aptly fetch a reason wherefore the Lethargy at first thought to be cured returned afterwards more cruel accompanied with blindness and the Palsie to wit because at first the stock of the sleepy matter falling down from the shelly part of the Brain into its cavity the animal function was a little cleared but afterwards when new matter sprung up in the Cortex of the Brain and this sliding forward into its bosom was heaped up to a fulness for that reason happened the relapse of the former Disease with those companions of blindness and the Palsie But although the Dropsie of the interior Brain or the inundation of its Ventricles by compressing either the Streaked Bodies or the optick chambers raised up the Palsie or blindness or by pulling the beginnings of the Nerves the Convulsive Distempers yet it appears most evidently by our late Anatomical observation that the Lethargy did not arise from any such cause but only from the exterior part of the Brain being overflowed or pressed together A certain Gentleman a long time unhealthy after he had laboured almost for five months with the Colick or rather with a wandring Scorbutical Gout in which not only the Viscera and Loins were troubled with great torments but moreover the Membranes and Muscles of the whole Body were almost continually tormented and at length he suffered sometimes most horrid Convulsions in his Members sometimes resolutions and sometimes a Phrensie in his Head and sometimes as it were Apoplectical fits or a darkness in his Eyes so that being worn out his strength and spirits wholly exhausted he dyed Almost seven days except the last but one before he dyed being more strong as to his Sense and Intellect he lived almost perpetually without sleep though gentle or the more strong Opiates were given him yet he could not sleep at all A little before this waking from a Vesicatory applied to the hinder
inkindled in the Lungs or doth it burn with a plentiful and enough clear flame within the passages of the Heart and its vessels but is apt to be repressed and almost blown out with every blast of wind Hence when that the vital flame is so small and languishing that it shakes and trembles at every motion it is no wonder if that the Melancholick person is as it were with a sinking and half overthrown mind always sad and fearful By reason of this kind of saltish Dyscrasie of the Blood Melancholicks rarely have a Feavour yet being taken with it by reason of the irregular burning of the Blood they are more in danger No less doth it come to pass by the fault of the Heart that Melancholick persons become sad and fearful by reason of the course of the Blood being retarded and called back from thence for because that Muscle is actuated but with an inflowing of weak and enormous Spirits it cannot perform its contractions strongly enough and constantly whereby the Blood may be driven forward into the whole body without stop or leaping back So the Blood and the Animal Spirits affect one another mutually with a reciprocal evil and bring hurt one to the other That is the Melancholick Blood consisting of Saline Particles carried forth together with Sulphureous begets Animal Spirits indued with an Acetous nature as hath been shown and these Spirits wrongly performing the offices of the Vital Function cause such an evil disposition of the Blood to be increased Thus much of Melancholy in general viz. of its Essence Conjunct Causes and chief Symptoms together with the reasons of them Before we proceed to the kinds and differences of this Disease we ought to explain from what kind of causes both Procatartick and Evident it is wont to arise and to be cherished and first from whence either part of the Soul viz. both Animal and Vital doth acquire their morbid dispositions First we say the former of these to be Acetous like to the Spirit of Vitriol or Vinegar and this to be Salino sulphureous or Atrabilary or Melancholick further as the one doth cherish the other so they at first beget one another For sometimes Melancholy beginning and for a long time persisting from the Animal Spirits being disturbed and driven into a certain confusion causes the Melancholick disposition of the Blood and sometimes also the Blood at first contracting this evil disposition perverts the nature of the Spirits That Melancholy doth very often arise from the Animal Government every common body doth sufficiently note to wit forasmuch as the Animal Spirits conceive inordinations from violent passions of the mind in which when they remain long they bend the whole Soul yea and the Body from their due temper and constitution So especially destroying Love vehement sadness panick fears envy shame care and immoderate study are wont oftentimes to excite this Distemper For by reason of these kinds of occasions the Animal Spirits being thrust down beyond their wonted paths of expansion and remaining in their error by reason of the assiduity of Passion at last they go into these deviating tracts which afterwards observing they are hardly reduced into their former due ways Then forasmuch as for that reason the motion and vigoration of the Heart as hath been shewed is lessened therefore the Blood is defective in its due temper and sanguification and is from thence made more fixed and Salino-sulphureous and the Animal Spirits coming from it are but degenerate into a sourness and so the Blood being depraved by the latter encreases to the Melancholick disposition begun from the Spirits No less often doth it come to pass that the seeds of Melancholy being at first laid in the Blood do at length impart their evil to the Spirits For this reason some are made obnoxious to this Disease from their Parents But an inordinate living long intermission of wonted exercise usual evacuations as of the Menstrual Blood or the Piles or bleeding at the Haemorrhoidal Veins also the Seed or the Serous Matter being suddenly suppressed and many other occasions easily infect and foul the Blood and render it Melancholick whose depraved disposition is of necessity communicated to the Spirits But we cannot here yield to what some Physicians affirm that Melancholy doth arise from a Melancholick humor somewhere primarily and of it self begotten and they assign for its birth several places to wit the Brain Spleen Womb and the whole habit of the Body for besides for that no such mines of such an humor appear unless perhaps some be planted in the Spleen moreover the Blood it self is it which conceives at first the Melancholick intemperance or any other by it self and then deposes the Recrements of the same nature in proper emunctories or receptacles For neither is the yellow Bile or Choler laid up in the Gall-Bladder or the black Bile so called or Melancholick humor in the Spleen unless the bloody Mass begets those humors before hand If at any time these or other Recrements being any where laid up are received of the Blood they produce its effervescency or growing hot but not presently or easily its intemperature Therefore because sometimes the original of Melancholy is ascribed to the Head and the intemperature of the Brain from these to wit too hot and accused to be from those too cold I rather think it ought to be affirmed that this Distemper doth sometimes at first begin from the Brain and the Soul dwelling in it because Hippocrates also plainly asserts it 6 Epidem Sect. 8. T. 58. For distinguishing Epileptical and Melancholick persons beings made so together or else successively as to the formal reasons of the Diseases he saith The defluxion which floweth from the Brain from the ill affection state or temperament thereof if it flows into the Body causeth the Falling-sickness if into the cogitation or the mind Melancholy So in Melancholy he grants the Soul distinctly and as it were apart from the Body or Brain to be affected Secondly Because sometimes the original of this Disease is deduced from the Womb it is not to be thought that the Melancholick humor is there at first generated but the occasion of Melancholy doth proceed from thence either bacause the whole Blood being infected and made degenerate by reason of a stoppage of the Menstrua strives to go into a Melancholy Dyscrasie or intemperature or because by reason of the provocations of Venus or Lust being restrained not without great reluctancy of the Corporeal Soul the Animal Spirits being for a long time forced and restrained become at length more fixed and Melancholick Thirdly It is a common opinion and also ours that sometimes Melancholy is either primarily excited or very much cherished from the Spleen being evilly affected and so from thence is called by a peculiar word Hypochondriack as we have shewed at large in another Tract of Convulsive Diseases But the Blood is first in fault begetting in
being suppressed within stirs up Preternatural Heat and renders the Flame of the Blood unequal more smoaky and troubled yea sharp and biting and so troublesom to the Heart and Brain and also to several Viscera and sometimes to the whole Nervous Kind all which notwithstanding Sleep allays yea whil'st the Animal Spirits lye quiet like allayed winds the Sea of the Blood presently becomes Calm Nor is the Blood disturbed by reason of its proper Effervescency less quieted by Sleep for when it grows hot from such a Cause it flames not forth with a clear and bright Flame but fumes up with Smoak and Soot and therefore being less eventilated diffuseth a very troublesom and sharp heat which also is more infestous because the Recrements of the Blood to wit the Serum and adust and otherways viscous Particles being involved with its smoaking Latex cannot be separated and carried away But in Sleep the Blood is soon quieted and passes more slowly thorow the place of inkindling to wit the Lungs wherefore being there first more inkindled it burns with a clearer Flame and also more mildly and so the smoak presently ceasing and some Heterogenious Particles being burnt all the rest extricating themselves from Confusion what are profitable are imployed in their designed Offices and what are unprofitable are bolted or sifted forth partly by Breathing Transpiration or Sweat and partly thorow the other Emunctories 3. The Blood burning forth more clearly and plentifully in Sleep at that time also performs better yea chiefly or almost only its Offices the chief of which are the Stilling forth of the Animal Spirits and the Nutrition of the solid Parts And first it Prepares best of all Matter for both these to wit it well subdues dresses and ripens the Chyme infused into its Mass then it instills the more pure and more subtil Part into the Shell of the Brain from which the veterane Spirits during Sleep depart for the end that a way may be open for the Nervous or Spirituous Liquor to restore their Stores and in the mean time the other part of the Chyme is conveyed every way by the Arteries to the solid Parts and whil'st they are quiet it is best of all put upon them and suffered to grow to them otherwise by their too great Motion and Agitation as in Waking it is apt to be shaken and wiped off But that Nutrition and the Production of Animal Spirits may be rightly performed in Sleep it is not to be presently indulged after Eating for so the aforesaid Offices are wont not only to be hindred but perverted into Evil because if any one Sleep with his Belly full the Chyle as yet Crude is snatched into the Blood then before it can be there broken small and mixed with the Blood exactly it is exposed to a more full inkindling within the Lungs that from thence the Lungs themselves not rarely draw as from Juyces and Vapours there sent forth from the Crude inkindled Matter as it were from green Wood an Evil which thing indeed is observed of many falling into the Phthisis or Consumption of the Lungs Thirdly At length from the Chyme so evilly prepared neither pure Spirits are dispensed to the Brain nor laudible nourishment to the solid Parts yea that is obscured and made dull by Fumes and Vapours and these are disposed into a Cachexie or Atrophie So much concerning the Effects and Alterations of Sleep which indeed are wont to be more immediately impressed on the Flamey part of the Soul rooted in the Blood but mediately on the Parts of the Body depending upon it Now let us see next what this Passion brings to the other Part of the Soul viz. the Lucid and its Subjects to wit the Brain and Nervous Stock Concerning these we will shew what Sleep contributes to the dispensation of the Nervous Liquor and to the generation of Spirits out of it we shall also further Consider what sort of influence it has on their Exercises and Government As to these First It is to be noted which we before-mentioned to wit that the Spirits of the Regiment of the Brain the Executors of every Spontaneous Function are employed only Waking and that others arising from the Cerebel both Waking and in Sleep There is need for Sleep only for the former whil'st they are well that their Expences or consumed Stores might be by it repaired yea and that the languishing or weariness of those remaining might be refreshed This every one experiences in himself and feels that there is no farther need of explaining it But if the same Spirits by some Morbifick Cause being provoked are moved into disorder that they become irregular about the Acts of Motions or of the Senses whether Interior or Exterior and stir up a Delirium Convulsions or Pains Sleep like a Charm fully quiets these Spirits how mad and devilish soever they be wherefore if it comes not of it self in these Cases it ought to be fetch'd with Opiats But as to the Spirits the inhabitants of the Cerebel because in Waking they are disturbed by the business and tumult of the Spontaneous Functions and being called away from their Labours are hindred therefore they perform their tasks better in the rest and deep silence of the others Hence the Concoction and the distribution of the Food and the Separation of the Excrements yea and the Oeconomy of the whole Animal Function is best performed by reason of Sleep Hence if at any time too much Meat or more gross than is wont being eaten molests the Stomach and inducing fulness nauseousness or bitter and acid belching to it approaching Sleep for the most Parts takes away these Evils and facilitating the Concoction of the Chyle clears it from its sharpness foulness and bitterness The reason of which is because the Animal Spirits which actuating the Fibres of the Stomach serve for Digestion whil'st awake being forced to bear its manner or guise towards the Brain and its Parts are distracted here and there and are called away from their proper work so that the Meat being as it were unfermented and undigested stays in the Ventricle This every one plainly experiences in himself if presently he sits down after feeding to Study or serious Reading for then the Brain being full and disturbed the ponderous and heavy Chyle in the Stomach is deprived of Digestion But in Sleep the Spirits inhabiting the Ventricle being freed from the Businesses of the Brain do best of all perform their task and rightly digest and exalt by Fermentation the Chyle in the Stomach like an Elixir in a Furnace with an equal and convenient heat I might here enumerate other benefits of Sleep for as much as it refreshes the whole Faculties of the Soul renews the vigour of the Intellect or Wit sharpens the Senses stops the tumults of Passions recollects the forces of the Cogitations as often as they are either wholly enervated or distracted by immoderate Study
or thirdly and lastly which impress on the Fibres themselves predisposed to painful Convulsions this Distemper by the consent of the other parts afar off they belong to this rank As to the former the Blood and its inmate humors to wit the Serous and nutritious also the bilous acid and otherwise vicious recrements are apt to be moved from various Causes and to be transferred into the Membranes of the Head viz. many accidents from without ordinarily effect this as great and sudden mutations of the Air or the season of the year excess of heat or cold or of moisture plentiful feeding drinking of Wine Bathing immoderate Venus violent passions yea many other occasions sufficiently known and to be avoided by all subject to Headaches Further these humors sometimes swell up of their own accord and without any external Cause or other ways evident being moved drive themselves forward into the Head in which place when they come and settle upon the Fibres before indisposed though they constitute a part of the Conjunct Cause yet they when they are first in motion or flux become the means of the Evident Cause Wherefore when we have first unfolded by what means the Blood with its contents being carried to the distempered Membranes stir up Headaches we shall then shew by what means and upon what occasions the same humors are wont to be moved and to be snatched into the Membranes And first the Blood growing hot of its own accord and by reason of the strife and intestine motions of its particles imparts its trouble to the Head It s frequent and wandring turgency or boiling up happens not only in the fits of Feavours but also without any cause or suspicion of disease which in others scarce perceiveable those obnoxious to the Headach sufficiently take notice of and feel neither doth the blood only bestow the hurt to the Head from its own proper provision but receiving it elsewhere sends it thither Oftentimes the Blood receives the incongruous matter from the Stomach Spleen Mesentery Liver and other parts or Inwards infestous to it self or nervous Stock which growing hot a little time after that it might extrude or thrust it forth it pours it upon the Membranes of the Head and so produces the Headach commonly called Sympathetick viz. by a consent excited in other parts which kind of Distemper being transmitted from other parts to the Head sometimes also it happens after another manner as shall be by and by declared When the Mass of Blood abounds with Serum it is sometimes excited to the putting it off by meer fulness wherefore it conceives a flux or as it were a certain melting to wit by which the thin and watery part may be separated from the thick and bloody Then because the Blood becomes more diluted in its swelling up and passes more swiftly and more copiously thorow the Arteries than can be carried back by the Veins almost all that is serous is sent away by the spaces between the Vessels being poured sometimes on these parts and sometimes on those as falling down in many places it causes tumors or Catharrs so lying on the Membranes of the Head it stirs up fits of pains But the serous heap from many other causes sweating forth from the Blood suffering a flux rushes on the Meninges and the Pericranium and causes in them most troublesome Headaches A sudden Constipation or closing of the Pores by Cold or Wet almost constantly produces such a Distemper in most obnoxious to this Disease Sharp and thin Wines Cyder yea and Beer that by reason of its soureness is apt to ferment because they fuse the Blood and precipitate its serosities are forbid to those troubled with Headaches as so much poyson And lastly whatever is wont to cause a Flux in those troubled with the Gout the same also for the like reason causes it in these for the rising Serum in either flows to the distemper'd part where it oftentimes grows hot with the nervous humor Further not only the meer and simple Serum of the Blood dropping forth upon the Membranes of the Head stirs up pains but sometimes other humors joyning together and by this passage being admitted to the distemper'd part encrease the tragedy of the Disease it often happens that a thin and watery humor doth suddenly flow forth from the Lymphic Vessels the Glandula's and perhaps from the Passages and Pores of the solid parts in which it is gathered together and is poured forth into the Blood in the Veins from whence presently passing thorow the bosom of the Heart and being confused with the Arterious Blood and by that soon separated is cast back by any way it can find therefore being partly sent away by the Reins it causes a flowing down of a clear and copious Urine also sometimes partly redounding on the Brain or Nervous Originals produces Sleepy or Convulsive Distempers as we have elsewhere shown Yea sometimes a certain part of the same limpid humor being snatched with the Serum into the Membranes of the Head raises up fits of a most cruel Headach For indeed I have observed in many a watry and very plentiful Urine either to precede or accompany the fits of this Disease But we may believe other manner of recrements of the other parts viz. bile from the Liver black bilary feculencies from the Spleen and perhaps incongruous humors from the Stomach Reins Pancrace c. are supped up by the Serum of the Blood and deeply boiled with it by which whilst it is infected it more readily conceives Effervescencies and so rushing impetuously into the Cephalick Vessels and there fermenting with the nervous Liquor brings forth Convulsions and painful and very troublesome pullings or haulings The serous heap whether it be simple or as we have shown complicated is sufficiently infestous to the Head whenever its usual evacuation thorow its due and accustomed ways is hindred viz. whether if the Pores being bound up transpiration be inhibited or by reason of the evil distemper of the Reins an Evacuation by Urine is not copiously performed either defect greatly punishes those subject to Headaches Further the Membranes of the Head are oppressed by reason of the passages of the Blood being obstructed in other places for if the lower or middle parts of the Belly and especially the Liver and Lungs are troubled with an obstruction so that the Blood can scarce pass thorow in those places it s more full torrent is directed into other parts and especially towards the Head so that for this Cause I have known to have followed not only Headaches but also soporiferors or sleepy and sometimes deadly distempers 3. As the Serum in the bosom of the Blood so the nourishing Juice that is the fresh Chyme made out of the Aliments lodges there too and is circulated with it and forced to follow its inexorbitances being as it were in the current of the same River Wherefore when the Blood presently after eating
motion and emanation lye down in a profound and inextricable sleep but they are hindred either by the proper vice of themselves because having taken or being distemper'd by some Narcotick they are as it were coagulated and become immoveable or because their exterior tracts or paths in the Brain are obstructed and possessed by some strange guest so that there is no fit space granted them for their expansion The symptoms of this Disease which now come in order to be explained the chief are Sleep and forgetfulness or a cessation of every other knowing or spontaneous function unequal and slow breathing a Feavour and oftentimes the distemper growing worse Convulsions a leaping of the Tendons and at length universal and deadly Cramps or Convulsions As to the too former of these we mentioned before that Memory is deficient altogether for the same reason as Sleep exceeds to wit forasmuch as the Spirits inhabiting the outward part of the Brain being either bound up or expulsed from their tracts do not irradiate or beam forth from the Callous Body into the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain by which imagination or waking is made nor do they being carried inwards and repeating their former footsteps represent the Ideas or Images of things before acted Indeed Sleep Watching and Memory are affections of the same parts and places of which it is no light sign and which vulgarly appears by experience that Opiate Medicines by which Sleep is provoked being often given hurt the Memory Yea I my self knew one having taken a strong Hypnotick or Medicine to cause sleep after being sick with a Feavour lived many nights and days without sleep and almost wholely lost his Memory especially as to any thing long past As to what respects the other faculties of the Corporeal Soul to wit the Imagination Appetite or desire Sense and Motion although no Narcortick or sleepy chains are cast upon the Spirits destinated to these offices and that the Pores and passages of the interior Brain within which they are wont to expatiate are seen to be open enough yet these Spirits because during the fit they are denied their commerce with the others bound up of themselves lye down and are overcome by Sleep For as a continual sleepiness beginning about the root of the sensitive Soul to wit the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain immediately its whole province is obscured as it were with a veil to wit the knowing desiring and self-moving part of the Soul and also the intellect it self its windows being every where shut up hardly speculates or beholds any thing Further the power or force of this Disease is seen to be extended to the other part of the sensitive Soul presiding o're the Cerebel and its Regiment wherefore during the fit of the Lethargy the respiration and Pulse are altered for that becomes unequal and slow sometimes drawing the breath deep and long sometimes short repeated and as it were double and this being great and swift diffuseth a feavourish heat thorow the whole body The reason of the former if I am not deceived is this to wit that the same Morbific Cause which infects the outward part of the Brain and its inhabitants infects also in part the Cerebel and the Spirits there serving for the motions of the Precordia which being by that means disturbed and hindred though they omit not thir tasks yet they perform them difficultly and with interruption hence the Diaphragma and Muscles of the Thorax do not so easily and swiftly as before perform their Systoles but laboriously and with a longer straining or endeavour and sometimes with repeated tryals or forces This kind of unequal long and difficult breathing frequently happens also in a Phrensie wherefore some judge the cause both of this and that to be from the inflammation of the Midriff or Diaphragma but amiss because the symptom in both these Cephalick Diseases depends on the Cerebel participating the hurt of the Brain grievously distemper'd As to the Feavour of one troubled with a Lethargy to be known by the great and quick Pulse hot breathing with a burning of the Tongue and Mouth without any heat in the extream parts some deduce this from the same cause as the Lethargy to wit either from Phlegm putrefying in the Brain or from a cold inflammation of the Brain Others on the contrary affirm the Feavour to be the primary effect and thence the Morbific Matter to be carried into the Head from the burning Blood Concerning these we grant that a Lethargy comes often after a Feavour but we can say nothing of the Phlegm putrefying in the Brain or of its frigid Inflammation which is as much as to say icy fire for if this be malignant or of evil custom happening also to Children old Men and other Phlegmatick Scorbutick or very Caecochymical persons or such as are full of ill humors about the height of a Disease not well Cured oftentimes in the place of a Crisis the feavourish matter being snatch'd into the Head induces a cruel and oftentimes a deadly Torpor or sleepiness which notwithstanding ought not to be esteemed the symptom of the Disease but of that Feavour After this manner I have often observed and elsewhere have particularly described that Soporiferous Feavours and as it were marked with a certain sleepiness have raged and become Epidemical at sometimes by reason of the evil constitution of the year But it is no less usual when a Lethargy is the principal distemper for a Feavour to follow and to owe to it as much its original as its Cure for a Feavour beginning after a continual sleepiness that being shaken off or discussed ceases soon of it self such a Feavour we think to arise not from the Blood growing hot by reason of the strife of intestine particles but because of the impulse of the containing and neighbouring bodies variously altering and disturbing its course For indeed the right temper of the Blood very much depends not only on its particles being truly mixt and overcome but also upon the motion impressed on the Heart and the Vessels or the Organical Circulation to wit that its Liquor may every where flow with an equal and alike flowing and ebbing which if finding any where a stop or Remora it be retarded its motion is made more impetuous and with a Feavourish tumult in the whole channel besides This manifestly appears in violent passions acute pains a breaking of the unity in all which the Blood being obstructed in one place or straitned it is snatched more vehemently in others and conceives a Feavourish heat for this cause to wit lest the thread of its circulation should be broken on which life necessarily depends wherefore as the Proverb says None dyes without a Feavour For how poor or deficient soever the Blood is and that the strength of all the moveing parts are weak yet in the instant agony of Death by the mere impulse of
Brain may be prevented and also that what is already impacted may be discussed or taken away Further the Animal Spirits ought to be rouzed up or excited and all sleepiness or stupidity shaken from them For this end ought to be applied Purging Blood-letting Cupping-glasses Blistering Plasters repelling and discussing Topicks and Cephalick Medicines to be given and chiefly such as are impregnated with a Volatile Salt and many other means of administrations already recited But if this Disease coming upon other Distempers happens to a person whose Body is already much worn out the Blood vitiated or greatly depauperated you must seriously deliberate before taking away of Blood or Purging yea also abstain very much from them Yet sometimes that the Conjunct Cause or matter of the Disease impacted in the Brain may be put into motion it may be expedient to take away Blood moderately either from the Forehead or Temples by Leeches or from between the Shoulders by Cupping-glasses and Scarification Here Blistering Plasters are in chief esteem to be applied not only to the hinder part of the Neck or Head but to the Legs and Arms and other parts of the body by turns Further let there be given frequently the Spirits of Harts-horn of Sut of Sal Armoniack Amber or a Mans Scull Coral and others impregnated with other Cephalicks with a Iulep or any other proper Liquor The forms or Receipts of these and of other Remedies used in these cases together with the Histories of the sick and examples of Cures are extant in the description of the aforesaid soporiferous Feavor so that there is no need to inculcate here again the same or such like There yet remains an other sleepy Distemper or kind of Lethargy or continual sleeping commonly called Carus which is greater than the Lethargy and somewhat lesser than the Apoplexy and is so near akin to this that it often passes into it but yet it is wont to be differenced from either For those sick with the Carus breath well for the most part and when they are strongly pulled they move their Members sometimes lift themselves up open their Eyes and often speak which Apoplectical persons do not yet the same though excited or moved do scarcely understand any thing or plainly discern in which respect they are distinguished from such as have the Lethargy From these it appears that the Conjunct Cause of the Carus doth penetrate deeper towards the middle part of the Brain and hath its seat in the outmost border at least of the Callous Body wherefore the Animal Spirits being restrained from their wonted expansion within this Emporium the acts of the Imagination and Memory cease and although the Species being impressed from a more strong sensible is directed inwards and oftentimes the local motion is retorted to it yet because this impression reaches not to the Callous Body by reason the Spirits are there amazed or stupefied the sick know nothing what they feel or do The Conjunct Cause of this Disease therefore is very often the same but somewhat more strong than that of the Somnolency Coma and Lethargy The Morbific Matter is seen to possess both the Cortex of the Brain and the Marrow lying under and being carried forward some greater bosoms of the middle part and the upper borders of the Callous body yea sometimes as this matter is partly carried forward by degrees these Diseases arise and every next is but the augmentation of the former But sometimes the Morbific Cause without any gradual progress thorow these parts affects the middle part of the Brain at the first assault and there as it is more lightly or more deeply placed causes the Carus or the Apoplexy In which case it is not to be thought that the whole compass of the Callous Body like the Cortical part of the Brain should be possessed by the soporiferous matter because it is sufficient this matter rushing into any one place and invading some part of the middle Marrow that presently for that reason an Eclipse or at least a beating down of the Spirits follows in all that region After this manner it is wont to be when the Carus comes upon a malignant or ill handled Feavour or upon the Headach or some Convulsive Distempers or when it is excited by a blow on the Head or by a fall or by reason of an Imposthum broken in the Meninges for by reason of these accidents the interior Marrow of the Brain is wont to be so pressed together shaken or otherways altered that presently the tracts or paths of the Spirits are obliterated or blotted out The prognostick of the Carus for the most part is but evil especially if this Disease comes upon a malignant or a long continued a gentle and not Cured Feavour or on a Woman in Childbed no less danger is also threatned if it follows after other Cephalick Diseases or is excited by reason of a Wound in the Head but yet in these cases all hope of Cure is not presently to be cast off for I my self have observed some sick after this manner and esteemed desperate or past all hope to have recovered The event of this Disease is wont to be various either in Death or in health The Carus passes not rarely into a soon killing Apoplexy that after first the animadvertive faculty being lost with a short breathing and without motion then by reason of the evil being transmitted to the Cerebel there follow alterations of breathing and the Pulse and quickly death it self But sometimes the Morbific Matter setling more deeply and falling from the Callous Body into the streaked Body one or both together the Brain clears up a little so that the sick look about them talk and know things yet in the whole body besides a Palsie or Dead-Palsie on one side follows but so that life is not out of danger for oftentimes when the Brain begins to be restored the Cerebel grows worse that for that cause the Spirits there being evilly disposed or affected which perform the offices of the vital function and merely natural either Convulsions are stirred up in the Bowels and Precordia or deadly impediments of the Pulse and respiration yet sometimes when the Morbific matter is not so plentiful nor very malignant it is partly supped up into the Blood and partly shook off so that the sick grow perfectly well again The Curatory Method suggests the same intentions of Healing and requires wholly the same Remedies as those which are wont to be administred in the Lethargy and the Apoplexy Wherefore there will be no need to add here a company of Indications nor to heap together a great pile of Medicines But what seems more to the purpose that I give you one or two Histories of sick people of which I have many by me A known person of about forty years of Age who having through Intempernace lost his health took I know not what Medicines
same is wholly darkened and suffers a full eclipse The word Apoplexy denotes percussion and by reason of the stupendous nature of the Disease containing as it were something divine it is called a Sideration or Blasting for those taken with it being as it were Planet struck or with an invisible Numen fall suddenly to the ground and being deprived of sense and motion and the whole animal function ceasing unless that they breath they lye a long time as if dead and sometimes yield to death But if they revive oftentimes they are taken with an universal Palsie or else of one side The immediate subject of the Apoplexy and the nearest are the Animal Spirits inhabiting that region of the Brain where the principle faculties of the knowing or understanding soul reside to wit the Callous Body but we conclude the mediate subject to be the middle part of the Brain because from hence the instincts of all spontaneous motions proceed and in this the perceptions of all sensible things are terminated by what means the Cerebel and Praecordia and all the other parts both Animal and Vital are secundarily affected we shall shew anon when the symptoms of this Disease and their reasons are delivered Upon the coming of the Apoplectick fit all the acts of every spontaneous and knowing function to wit which depend upon the brain it self are forthwith hindred and cease the reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being suppressed in their chief place of meeting to wit the Callous Body both their next motion of expansion in that place as also their flowing forth into the nervous appendix is wholly defective For therefore by reason of such an eclipse of them in that place an immediate and an universal darkness is caused in the whole animal region which is under this government yet in the mean time the Pulse and respiration as also the motion of the Ventricle and Intestines are after a sort performed either perfectly and freely or at least interruptedly and with pain forasmuch as their actions proceed wholly from the Cerebel which is not at all or but little hurt by the Morbifick matter But it will seem difficult to be explained after what manner and from what causes the Animal Spirits are so suddenly and all at once suppressed and as it were extinguished about their first spring of emanation so that all sense and motion depending thereon ceases every where Concerning this there are many and diverse opinions of Authors whilst some place the cause of the Apoplexy in the Heart and others in the Brain then some lay the fault on the intemperance of that and others on the evil conformation of this Further the obstruction of the Brain is said by some to cause the Apoplexy in the greater Ventricles by others in its Pores or lesser passages then the obstruction being taken for the cause of the Disease and wholly binding up the lesser Pores of the Brain is said to excite the fit either because the afflux of the blood for the begetting of Spirits is hindred from those parts or because the flowing forth or emanation from thence of the Animal spirits is kept back It would be a tedious thing to examine the opinions of every one and to consider the weight of their reasons The Theory of this Disease seems to be very exactly delivered by the famous Webferus for in the first place for the finding out of its so abstruse and hidden causes he brings Histories or Anatomical observations in which the Phaenomena are declared in many dead Carcases of those dying of this Disease to wit in three struck or blasted he had found the blood extravasated or out of the Vessels here and there in great clodders and had largely marked the substance of the Brain in another the Serous Colluvies had overflowed the whole head both without and within the Skull From these footsteps of this most hidden Disease thus detected the Author concludes That the principal places affected are not the greater Ventricles but the middle marrowy substance of the Brain and Cerebel which is every where porous and indued with very small passages both that the vital spirits may flow in thither from the blood and that the animal may flow forth But indeed he affirms That the whole cause of every Apoplexy doth consist in these two viz. either in one of them or both of them together to wit either because the flowing of the blood thorow the Arteries to the Brain is deny'd or else by reason that the flowing forth of the Animal Spirit from the Brain and Cerebel thorow the Nerves and Spinal Marrow is prohibited or for both these causes together As to the former he proposes a threefold means whereby the blood may be hindred viz. First Either by reason of the obstruction of the inner Carotid Arteries and of the Vertebrals to wit which happens in the greater Vessels and chiefly about the ascent of the Brain from the blood concreted into cloddery pieces or in the lesser Vessels which pass thorow the brain from a Viscous Matter planted in them Or Secondly the flowing in of the blood is detained from the brain by reason of the compression of those Vessels which sometimes happens because the Paristhmia or Kirnels of the hinder part of the Neck do so swell up from a Serous heap of watry Humors that by pressing together the Arteries passing thorow shuts forth the passage of blood to the Head Or Thirdly The bloody flood may be hindred because a Vessel being preternaturally opened within the Skull great quantity of blood is poured forth which should otherways go to the benefit of the brain As to the other cause of the astonishing Disease viz. from the flowing forth of the Spirits being hindred he affirms that may be caused by two ways to wit either by reason of the obstruction of the beginning of all the Nerves caused by a serous inundation or by a sudden compression of the same which is caused either by an heaping up of too much blood in the Meninges or in some parts of the brain it self or in its Ventricles or else by a disposition of the Phlegmonodes These most ingenious reasons indeed seem to challenge our assent for that more probable or more likely are not easily to be brought but because we think some of these are to be altered and others to be added therefore we shall here institute though not a different yet somewhat another reason of this Disease And in the first place though we grant that the flowing in of the blood may be sometimes denyed to the Brain yet we do not believe that it only happens after the aforesaid ways nor that for that reason the Apoplexy doth arise We have elsewhere shewed that the Cephalick Arteries viz. the Carotides and the Vertebrals do so communicate one with another and all of them in several places are so ingraffed one in another mutually that if it happen that many
against some hard thing and the like or from an inward cause to wit for that the Blood being sharp and thin and the little mouths of the Vessels and the places between being too loose it growing more than ordinarily hot either of its own accord or occasionally and flowing forth thorow these easily breaks into the soft and yielding substance of the Brain Further although we have assigned the seat of this Disease in the Callous Body yet the blood because effused somewhere nigh or above it because it compresses the underlying Marrow by intumifying the distemper'd places causes the Apoplectick fit Secondly An Imposthum or Ulcer is rarely wont to be excited within the Brain but often in the Meninges and almost for the same occasions by which the extravasation of the blood happens while it is ripening it causes only an Headach or heaviness but when it is broke the filthy stuff flowing from it into the shelly part of the Brain gnaws and putrâ—â—ies it and then by degrees instilling its putrid particles and very infeâ—tous to the Spirits into the middle or marrowie part of the Brain raises up at lasâ— the fit of the astonishing disease Thirdly The Serous heap or deluge being poured forth from the blood into the Head though rarely or never of it self yet sometimes by reason of more strong evident causes runs so suddenly into the Brain that filling and stuffing soon all its Marrowie Pores causes astonishment or deprivation of sense and motion And this I have known to happen to some from drinking of sharp thin Wine or Spaw-waters and sleeping upon it and I have observed the like effect from a long and total suppression of Urine also in Haemorrhages or fluxes of blood being suddenly stopped And lastly the Serous Recrements in malignant Feavours being translated to the Head by a critical transposition often causes a mortal senselessness or becoming speechless Another kind of evident causes from which sudden blasting or being smitten is wont to be caused consists in the sudden profligation or extinction of the Spirits which indeed doth not seldom or rarely happen from strong Narcoticks or Medicines causing sleep and also from the immoderate drinking of hot waters Though we have already discoursed concerning the use and effects of Opiates I cannot however pass over their way of affecting assigned by that most famous Doctor Webfer This Learned Man affirms That Narcoticks only do too much open and dilate the Pores and passages of the Brain and as it were open the doors of it before fast shut whereby every extraneous and incongruous thing is admitted into the Chamber or sleeping place of the Spirits together with the subtil liquor poured forth from the blood and so by a violent incursion dissipates their ranks and orders But indeed it appears from what hath been above said that Narcoticks do not only or always operate so for we have shewn that whilst they are yet within the Ventricle they often cause sleep and sometimes death it self Besides it should follow from thence that Opiates being often given should bring still a greater evil because by dilating more and more the Pores of the Brain they cause a much more easie entrance to all manner of impurities but truly it is clear enough that Narcoticks are most hurtful at the first time being taken and afterwards being often taken do little hurt so that some accustomed to Opium will devour a great quantity of it without hurt which is certainly a sign that this doth not so much alter the conformation of the Brain as that it doth immediately agitate or work upon the Animal Spirits whom at first because so very improportionate to them it slays with a mere blast then afterwards there being a certain familiarity between them and this Medicine it disturbs them not Thus much concerning the causes of the accidental and sudden Apoplexy which falls indifferently upon all men though not at all predisposed for which also there can be no preventive Medicines instituted and it is rarely that it is cured But besides we observe that this Disease is sometimes habitual and that it remains as a constant disposition in some men by reason of which at first they are exercised only with light skirmishes but after some time they become more grievous and of which at last for the most part they dye Concerning this therefore we shall inquire 1. what the Conjunct Cause of this Disease may be and the formal reason of it 2. In what the Apoplectick Disposition or Procatarxis of the Disease consists Then 3. What Evident Causes it hath 1. As to the first we may suppose upon the coming of the Apoplectick fit that a certain matter before heaped up and dispersed in the compass of the Brain at length doth descend into its middle or marrowie part and there doth assault all the Spirits and suppress and beat them down in the very fountain of their emanation Although it doth not plainly appear whether they effect it either by stuffing only the Pores of the Marrow or by driving away the Spirits themselves or by inflicting on them a numness notwithstanding it is likely that it may be done by either of the ways And indeed we say the medullary Pores of the Brain may be somewhat stopped or obstructed because the same matter which at first setling on the Callous Body caused senselesness being sliden down from thence lower into the Callous Body and then stuffing its Pores is wont to excite the Palsie of one side But yet we may not conclude that the sideration or being struck doth arise only from the Pores of the Brain being stopped because then the fit would oftentimes creep on them gently and by little and little forasmuch as all the Pores cannot be possessed by the inflowing matter at once but successively and some after others But when as this Distemper leaps upon one suddenly and like lightning what can we conceive less than that the Spirits are struck down as it were by a blast from the malignant contact of the matter rushing upon them For it seems that its particles descending on every side from the compass of the Brain into its middle part or the Callous Body and entring it from every part do presently fill the passages how strait so ever they be and drive to flight hither and thither the Spirits and compel them into a close place who being then beset and reduced to a strait corner when they can neither resist long or are able to penetrate into other Pores possessed by the Morbifick matter at length are struck flat down letting go every function of the knowing soul but then they do not easily nor quickly rise up again because they are not able to quit themselves from the embraces or bonds of the malignant matter nor pass any where into empty or open places wherefore they lie long suppressed till at length sometimes perhaps that matter though leasurely is dssâ—pated or supped up into
so these being admitted within the middle part of the Brain for the acts of the Animal Functions do not quickly pass thorow and irradiate all the Pores and Passages but like little acid Atoms creep about here and there slowly but incessantly and as it were with a certain unquiet motion of tingling or creeping diffuse themselves by little and little thorow the whole neighbourhood Hence a storm of thoughts is perpetually stirred up by which the Brain is wont to be busied without intermission so that Melancholic persons have continually day and night disturbed Phantasies for that their Animal Spirits consist of a continually moveable matter Hence also they look with eyes turned inwards or fixed or obliquely and sullen or dogged and exercise the other faculties both sensitive and loco-motive inadvertently because the Spirits being worn out and distracted by continual motion do not well actuate or beam into the nervous System 2. Though the Effluvia's continually fall away from an Acetous Spirit prepared by Chymical Art yet they do not go far but gather together on an heap thickly near the superficies of the liquor and penetrate only the neighbouring bodies not touching those that are at a distance Hence the Spirits of Vitriol Salt or Vinegar will not ascend out of the Cucurbit into the Alembick unless urged with a very strong heat but being included in a low Phial they shall corrode and pierce thorow the stopple It is after the same manner concerning the Phantasie of Melancholick persons for inasmuch as the Animal Spirits being degenerate into an acid nature do not irradiate or quickly pass thorow the whole compass of the Brain as before but flowing in the middle part are carried with its force only into the nearest Pores and Passages therefore cogitations raised up from thence though they be continual yet they comprehend but a few things and so as when many bands of Spirits are thrust together in strait bounds every small object and of very little moment seems to them very great and of notable weight certainly after the same manner and for the same reason as when the visible images passing thorow a Microscoptick Glass are carried to the Eye for because many beams of the same thing are concenter'd its magnitude seems to be increased into an immense greatness so when as every intentional Species or Image by the conflux of very many spirits together is formed in the Brain it appears to the soul greater and of more weight than usual Every one may experiment this truth in himself For when as we become thoughtful from eating gross or melancholick meats or by reason of the passion of sorrow the reason of which affection is because the Animal Spirits are unfit for a more free expansion then we are very solicitous and fearful concerning every little thing as if then our health or fortune were for ever in danger Hence also because the Animal Spirits though almost ever in motion are notwithstanding still limited within the same short bounds Melancholick persons persist a long while in thinking and revolving in their mind often the same thing 3. But there yet remains another similitude of the Animal Spirits with those distilled from Vitriol and other saline bodies to wit that as the Effluvia's sent away from these kind of Acetous Spirits do not evaporate so much from open spaces and tracts before made as they cut out Pores and Passages that are new for themselves in an objected body so that they easily pass thorow and render friable or crumbling the Cork or stopple to the Vessel where they are which happens not from the Spirit of Wine to any thing that stops up the Phial so indeed in Melancholick persons it is usually wont to be For because the Animal Spirits being as it were pointed with saline Particles whilst they flow from the middle of the Brain they observe not their former tracts and ways of their expansion but they thickly make for themselves new and unwonted little spaces within the globous substance of the Brain Hence cogitations are brought before the Soul not such as they were wont to be but new and incongruous and for the most part absurd But indeed because the Phantasie is prevaricated about the Conceptions of things and by reason that the acts of judgment and reason are falsly framed the only cause is for that the Animal Spirits leaving their former walks and going backward and forward in their ways in the Brain being carried hither and thither obliquely and transverse affect altogether unaccustomed and bye ways which indeed is proper for them to do out of the Acetous disposition with which they labour to wit forasmuch as the Effluvia of those kind of Liquors expand themselves not in a direct or free emanation as the rays of light but by a bending motion and as it were creeping they craul on every side into the neighbouring part Thus much for the primary Melancholick Distemper to wit a Delirium or Raving being excited by reason of the vices of the Spirits inhabiting the Brain The beginnings of which although they proceed chiefly and oftentimes almost only from the Acetous disposition of the Spirits yet afterwards the conformation of the Brain it self is often brought to be a part of the cause to wit forasmuch as the Recrements of the Melancholick Blood being perpetually poured forth renders its substance more thick and dark and the primary tracts or paths of the Animal Function being near blotted out new oblique and by-paths are made insomuch that the Spirits though better should be begotten could not easily irradiate the Brain or presently recover their former passages Melancholy is not only a Distemper of the Brain and Spirits dwelling in it but also of the Praecordia and of the Blood therein inkindled from thence sent into the whole Body and as it produces there a Delirium or idle talking so here fear and sadness but by what means we shall now see First in Sadness the flamy or vital part of the Soul is straitned as to its compass and driven into a more narrow compass then consequently the animal or lucid part contracts its sphere and is less vigorous but in Fear both are suddenly repressed and compelled as it were to shake and contain themselves within a very small spaces in either passion the Blood is not circulated and burns not forth lively and with a full burning but being apt to be heaped up and to stagnate about the Praecordia stirs up there a weight or a fainting and in the mean time the Head and Members being destitute of its more plentiful flux languishes The formal reasons of these Distempers and their causes we have before exposed But because these are habitual in Melancholick persons the cause is partly in the Blood and partly in the Animal Action of the heart For the Blood because of the saline particles being exalted becomes less inflamable from whence it is neither sufficiently
character 54. 't is of kin to boldness ibid. Animals reduced into classes 7. as Fire and Light are chiefly energetical in mechanical things so in Animals In perfect ones there ought to be many senses 56 Animal spirits what they are 23. to what compared ibid. they abound in an objective and an active virtue 24. they are the efficient cause of sense and motion 56. a most swift communication of them implanted within all the parts ibid. an opposite tendency of them effect both sense and motion ibid. they pass through the sensible species and not the effluvia of the object penetrate even to the head 59. they actuate the Rainbow of the Eye very much 85. they are the immediate subject of sleep 87. and the immediate subject of the Vertigo 147. their distemper being after a diverse manner as it is the cause of the phrensy so it is of Melancholy Madness and Stupidity 188. from what disposition of them the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium proceed ibid. as they are compared to light they are call'd opacous or full of darkness 189. these kind of spirits in melancholy compar'd to those in Chymical Liquors ibid. they are not like the spirit of Blood as they should be nor like the spirit of Wine for such is rather in the Phrensy ibid. they are like acid spirits distill'd out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like ibid. Stygian Waters are like the nature of the Animal Spirits in madness ibid. three chief affections of acetous Chymical Liquors which agree with them in Melancholy first the effluvias falling away from these Liquors are perpetually in motion in like manner also the Spirits in the Phantasy of a Melancholick Person thence the effluvias from acetous Chymical Liquors do not proceed far in like manner the imagination of a Melancholick Person though always imployed comprehends only a few things and therefore every thing is conceived with a greater Image than it should be Lastly effluvias from acetous Liquors do not evaporate so much from open Pores as they make new and in like manner whilst the Animal Spirits form new tracts in the Brain produce unwonted and incongruous notions 190 191. after they have for some time been vitiated in melancholy the conformation of the Brain is also hurt 191. how they acquire a disposition like to Stygian Water 202. they are the subject of Madness 201 Antiscorbutick Medicines good for pains in the head 116 Apoplexy its seat 153. a description of the disease ibid. its subject ibid. the spontaneous functions only deficient in it ibid. the opinions of others concerning this disease ibid. the theory of this disease is best shown by Webser 154. a reason added by the Author ibid. a twofold Apoplexy 155. The Theory of the former delivered ibid. this disease either accidental or habitual ibid. the cause of the former 156. an extinction of the Spirits comes from opiates or immoderate drinking of hot Waters ibid. the formal reason of the habitual Apoplexy ibid. what its conjunct cause is 157. it consists in the Pores of the Callous Body being suddenly stopp'd and the spirits being driven away by the contact of malignant matter ibid. what the nature or disposition of the morbifick matter ibid. the procatartick cause of the habitual Apoplexy ibid. the differences of this disease 158. its prognosticks ibid. the curatory method ibid. what is to be done in the fit and in what position the sick ought to be kept ibid. Phlebotomy and other administrations noted as Vomiting-medicines Comforters Cupping-glasses hot or glowing Iron 159. the preservatory method ibid. purging and bleeding Spring and Fall ibid. Cephalick remedies ibid. Spirits and Tinctures Lozenges Tea Coffee and Chocalet prepared how to be made and taken 160 a medical Ale ibid. Examples and Histories of Apoplectical Persons ibid. an Anatomical observation 161 Appetite it stirs up local motion 36. the Appetite Imagination and Phantasy in the callous Body of the Brain 25 Approach of the sensible object is made either by contact or effluvias sent forth or by reflected or repercussed particles of the Air Breath or Light 56 Arguments and Reasons of very many Authors perswade that the Soul of Brutes is not only Corporeal but Fiery 5 Artery cutting what it may profit in the head-ach 120 121 Authors for two distinct Souls in man 40 B. BAths when their use is hurtful to the Palsy 173 Bewailing wherefore oftentimes joined with weeping 80 Blasting or withering of Trees like the Palsy 164 Blood animated but hardly sensible 55. its disorders allayed by sleep 92. it performs its offices which are the generation of the Animal Spirits and nourishing the parts better in sleep ibid. how it excites the head-ach 108. the Blood and its contents are sometimes the means of the conjunct sometimes of the evident cause in head-achs 109. for what causes it is wont to be moved and bring hurt to the distempered head ibid. it delivers to the head the morbifick matter received from any other part 110. its inordinations how they may be taken away and prevented 114. its exclusion from the Brain does not easily happen because all the Arteries communicate one with another and some of them supply the defects of others 154. its total exclusion from the Brain sometimes happening causes a terrible Syncope 155. which depends oftnest on the motion of the heart being hindred and so either by reason of the Cardiak Nerves being bound together or by reason of the Spirits in the Cerebel being hindred from their flowing into the Nerves ibid. the original of madness either from the Blood or the Spirits themselves 203 Bloody Brutes why some more hot some more cold 13 Bloodless Creatures whether they have Fiery Souls ibid. Brain and Cerebel 2. Roots of the sensitive Soul 23. a twofold action in the Brain and its Appendix of begetting and dispensation and of Exercise and Government 24. the reason and manner of the former ibid. an exact anatomy of the Brain through its corticated or shelly part 25. the Brain and Praecordia the two Roots of the Soul 48. vices of the Brain noted 148. its distempers wherein the reason is hurt as wel as the other Animal functions 179. what its indisposition is to the Phrensy 183. the Procatartick cause of the Phrensy partly in the Brain 184. Melancholy a distemper of it and the Heart 188. its conformation is hurt after the Animal Spirits being for some time vitiated in melancholy Diseases 191. the Brain labours in stupidity as to its magnitude and figure 209. as to its substance or texture 210. and in its evil conformation as to its pores and passages ibid. Bridges passing over them looking down from on high places and drunkenness how they cause a turning round of the head 146 Brutes their various kinds with their Souls described 7. all their Souls after the manner of Fire want a twofold Food viz. a Sulphurous and Nitrous 6. the more perfect Brutes are indued with knowledge either inbred or
acquired 34. what natural instinct brings to them ibid. some examples and instances of it ibid. Brutes in some things are taught by the impressions of sensible things 35. the direct sensible Species creates in them the Phantasy and memory ibid. the reflected the Appetite 36. by example imitation and institution also 37. how far 't is they are able to know ibid. their Syllogisms 38. their raciocination what and how vile 39 A Burning-Glass placed before a dark Chamber declares how light is made 77 C. CAros how it differs from the Lethargy and Apoplexy 136. its seat a little deeper in the Brain than that of the Lethargy ibid. it s conjunct cause ibid. 't is either a primary Disease or comes upon other distempers ibid. its prognosticks 137. its cure the same with the Lethargy and Apoplexy ibid. its Histories ibid. Cartesius and others their opinions concerning the Souls of Brutes 3 Coma waking its description 141. its causes shown ibid. more often a Symptom than a Disease ibid. V. Caros Colick whence its denomination 225. why counted among the Diseases of the Nervous stock ibid. its description ibid. its seat not always or often in the Gut Colon neither in its Cavity or Coats ibid. it s conjunct cause are not the contents of the intestines nor the humour impacted in the Membranes 226 the Nervous Liquor seems most of all to contribute to its cause ibid. its seat and part affected 227 228. why pains of the Loins often come upon Colick pains ibid. in what the foregoing cause consists ibid. the evident cause 229. the differences of this disease ibid. its prognosticks ibid. its câ—re ibid. to 233. its Histories 233 234 Corporeal Soul the subject of the rational 41. after what manner 't is affected in melancholy and madness 191 Custome its force 89. a notable example thereof ibid. D. DEafness sometimes proceeds from the loosness of the Drum 73 Declination of age disposes some to foolishness 211 Delirium what it is 179 its formal reason ibid. its causes either from the blood or ex teriour Spirits planted in the Nervous Stock 180. by what and how many ways it is caused by the blood ibid. how it proceeds from the irregularities of the exteriour spirits 181. its prognosticks ibid. its cure ibid. the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium and from what dispositions of the Spirits they proceed 188 Desire and aversion chiefly imploy the Soul 51. how excited c. ibid. to 53 Digby and others their opinion of the Souls of Brutes 3 Dreams what they are 93. sometimes excited by the Spirits inhabiting the Brain sometimes inhabiting other parts viz. the Stomach c. 94. they sometimes stir up local motions ibid. Drunkenness and looking down from high places c. how they cause a Vertigo 146 E. EAR and its uses 71 72 Eating is a certain solution 62 Epicurus and his late followers opinion that the Soul is made of Atoms 2 3 Epilepsy its seat the middle of the Brain which is the seat of the Apoplexy also 161. Eye its description and reason of its diverse conformation inquired into à p. 78 to 86 F. FEar its character c. 53 54 Feeling more thick but most ample of all the senses 60. its kinds c. from 60 to 62. what its proper organ 168 Fire its definition agrees by its causes and essences with the Soul of Brutes 5 Fishes why they rejoice rather in the Water than Air ibid. they breath by the Gills ibid. Flame V Fire part of the Soul 22 31 33. its difference from light 76 Foolishness V. Stupidity G. GAssendus his assertion of the Soul 4 according to him every body is either lâ—cid or illustrated 77 Gometius and Pereira deny the Souls of Brutes to have sense and perception 2 Gout a distemper of the Nervous Stock 214. its subject its appearances rehearsed ibid. parts affected 215. morbiâ—ick matter not any simple humour ibid. in its mine two humours concur and mutually grow hot exemplifyed how ibid. the Blood full of a fixed Salt as it were its feminine the Nervous Liquor being sharp the masculine seed 216. its foregoing causes ibid. 217 218. the evident causes of the goutish fit 218. whence the debility of the Ioints 217. differences of the Gout 219 wont to be complicated with the Scurvy and Stone and the reason of that shewed ibid. its prognostick ibid. cure ib. a notable history of the Stone converted into the Goâ—t and of the Gout into the Stone 224 H. HEad-ach the most common and chiefest affection among diseases 105. its causes so manifold that they can hardly be methodically recited ibid. hence its cure often instituted empirically ibid. what things belong to its pathology ibid. its subject ibid. it s formal reason differences and kinds 106. either within or without the Soul universal or particular ibid. many 〈◊〉 differences noted ibid. an habitual one hath always a more remote cause besides the evident ibid. its causes a p. 107 ad 110. arising from the Nervous Liquor it chiefly infests in the morning 108. how stirred up by many humours meeting together and growing hot ibid. the habitual one chiefly depends on the fault of the Nervous humour 109. its kinds noted at large 112 113. how it seems to arise from the Spleen mesentery or womb ibid. its prognosticks 113. cure from 114 to 125. Histories ibid. a continual headâ—ach not to be accounted incurable 123 Hearing its excellency as to use and activity performed at a distance c. 69. its organ described 71 Heart hardned what it is 47 Histories of head-achs from 121 to 125. of one killed presently by taking too large a dâ—se of Opium 128. of Lethargick 232 c. of continual sleepiness 135 137. of long waking 140. of the Vertigo 151 152. of the Apoplexy 160. of the Palsie 174 175 176 177. of the delâ—rium or Phrensy 187. of Melancholy 197 198. Histories of mad people are to be sought in Hospitals for mad people 208. A notable History of the Stone converted into the Gout and the Gout into the Stone 224. of the Colick 233 234. of a mortal madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs-bane 204 Hope 53 54 I. IMages light and colour are of the same substance 75 Imaginary Metamorphosis of melancholick persons 200 Imagination V. Phantasy Incubus or Night-mare its seat in the cerebel 142. its description ibid. it most often proceeds from natural causes ibid. its seat falsely placed in the Brain ibid. the Praecordia truly labour in this Disease ibid. its cause doth not stick partly in the Brain and partly in the Breast ibid. its next cause is the hindrance of the inflowing of the Spirits to the Praecordia 143. this not in the parts affected nor Nerves themselves but in the cerebel where the first spring of the spirits is ibid. from whence the sense of the weight and loss of motion proceeds ibid. why the fit being so grievous is so often ended without leaving any evil ibid.
whence the trembling of the Heart and Praecordia after the fit ibid. the Incubus of it self rarely dangerous ibid. its prognosticks 144. its Cure ibid. how infants and boys obnoxious to this Disease ought to be handled ibid. Insects appear to have fiery Souls because they want sulphurous and nitrous food 8 Instances of passion merely Physical 46 Instinct natural what it is 34. what it brings to Brutes ibid. examples of it ibid. it dictates to them what 's wholesome what not 35. leads not only to simple actions but to very complicate ones ibid. yet those always and in all of one kind only ibid. how 't is wont to be compared with acquired notions 37. and with the impressions of sensible things ibid. with habits learned from example or institution ibid. with notions learned from experience and imitation ibid. Intellect in man presides o're the imagination c. 38. and discerns its errors sublimates its notions and divests them from matter and contemplates immaterial substances judges and directs its propositions deduces from these others more sublime thoughts beholds it self by a reflected action and contemplates other things remote from sense as God c. 39. it depends upon the Phantasy 41. by reason of the various constitution of this and the Brain Souls seems unequal 42 Issues made upon or near the distemper'd place help little 119 K. ALL Knowledge from sense 57 L. LEthargy its seat the same with that of Sleep and Memory 125. its Fits are call'd by this name ibid. and the soporiferous disposition also 126. of which are various kinds ibid. its causes ibid. to 128. what things belong to its theory 129. the chiefest of its symptoms ibid. by what means the other faculties of the Soul as the knowing desiring and locomotive are affected ibid. it s evil reaches also to the cerebel ibid. hence breathing often hurt or altered ibid. which proceeds â—ot from the inflammation of the midriff ibid. its Fever from whence ibid. and 130. none dyes without one ibid. its prognosticks ibid. its cure 131 to 133. Histories ibid. its ends or limits as to the places distempered are constituted ibid. some sleepy distempers lesser than it the Caros greater ibid. Light Colours and Images the same substance 75. Light and Flame their differences 76. wherefore Light either reflected or refracted goes forward only in streight lines ib. it can pass through a Chamber in the mean time not to be perceiv'd ibid. 't is primary or secundary ibid. the differences of these 77 Lobster its Anatomy 11 12 Local motion stir'd up by the appetite 36 Love how excited 50. it and hatred transitory passions 51. its object set up like an Idol in the Phantasy and worshipped 50 Love-madness 199. reasons of its symptoms ibid. Lucid part of the Soul 22. shines diversly 31. alteration of the flamy part impressed by it 32 Lungs how differ in Birds and four footed Beasts 17. for what end perforated in Birds ibid. M. MAdness and Melancholy are a-kin 201. the subject of Madness are the Animal Spirits the disposition of which are like to Stygian Water ibid. three chief accidents in Madness which are also to be found in Stygian Water 201 202. the conjunct cause of Madness what it is ibid. the original of Madness either from the Spirits themselves or from the Blood 203. it begins from the Spirits from two occasions ibid. by what means it comes upon Melancholy 204. how upon a Phrensy ibid the original of Madness sometimes from the Blood ibid. it is either hereditary the reason of which is shown 204. or acquired and so either by reason of errors in the six non-naturals or by reason of Poysons ibid. History of a mortal Madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs-bane ibid. the reasons of the symptoms of Madness explained 205. wherefore mad-men are audacious ibid. from whence their immense strength ibid. wherefore they are never tired ibid. wherefore they are not easily hurt ibid. the differences in respect of the original magnitude and time ibid. the prognosticks ibid. the cure from the indications of continual Madness 206. the curatory indication as to discipline ibid. as to Medicines ibid. the preservatory indication consists in altering Medicines as whey c. specificks c. ibid. the vital and curatory indications 208 Melancholy its definition 188. 't is a distemper of the Brain and Heart ibid. its Examples or Types various and almost in finite ibid. 't is either universal or particular ibid. the primary Phaenomena of a melancholick Delirium and from what disposition of the Spirits they proceed ibid. as they are compared to light they are call'd opacous or full of darkness 189. these kind of Spirits in Melancholy compared to those in Chymical Liquors ibid. they are not like the Spirit of Blood as they should be nor like the Spirit of Wine for such is rather in the Phrensy ibid. but these are like acid Spirits distill'd out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like ibid. the formal reason of Melancholy aptly represented by acetous Chymical Liquors ibid. there are three chief affections of these which agree with the Animal Spirits in Melancholy 190 191. in Melancholy after the Spirits being for some time vitiated the conformation of the Brain becomes also hurt 191. in this Disease the affection of the Praecordia as to fear and sadness is delivered ibid. after what manner the corporeal Soul is affected in Melancholy and Madness ibid. the cause of either depends partly on the Blood and partly on the Animal action of the Heart ibid. the Procatartick causes of Melancholy are partly the acetous nature of the Spirits and partly the Melancholy discrasie of the Blood and the distemper begins sometimes from this sometimes from that 191 192. how it begins from the Spirits and the Animal Government 192. by what means it arises from the Blood ibid. Melancholy doth not arise from any atrabiliary humour heaped up in some pâ—ace or mine ibid. by what means according to the Ancients 't is said to arise from the Head ibid. how from the Womb ibid how from the Spleen ibid. how from the whole Body 193. the differences of this Disease in respect of its first subject and by reason of the temperament of the Sick and in respect of its next cause as it is singular or conjunct and in respect of the imagination being diversly hurt ibid. its prognosticks ibid. in the Cure the evident cause is first to be removed ibid. and herein are three primary indications first Curatory c. 193 194. secondly Preservatory c. 149 altering Medicines are here of greatest moment and not purging as the Ancients thought 196. Histories of this Disease 197. particular Melancholy is excited by reason of two sorts of affections concerning good or evil 199 Melancholick persons their imaginary Metamorphosis 200 Metamorphosis imaginary of melancholick Persons 200 Millepedes notably help in the cure of the head ach 118 N. NEmesius attributes sense and perception to corporeal Souls and farther the
a twofold Knowing Power and a twofold Appetite The Rational Soul of it self without Affections how it gâ—verns and orders the Phantasie and Affections In things to be Known the Corporeal Soul obeys the Rational but not in things to be done The Corporeal Soul inclining her self to the Flesh Fights against the Rational How it is reduced to Obedience It often seduces the Mind Wars are moved between them Affections of Conscience nigh to Man A Twofold state of the Corporeal Soul Tranquil or Quiet And Disturbed In which either part of the Soul is moved And is either too much inlarged Or Contracted The Trouble of the Soul impressed on the Sensitive Part by and by is Communicated to the Blood The quiet of the Soul happens not only in sleep but often waking when pleasing or unhurtful things are met with On the Contrary when from the Objects Good or Evil is promised Then first the Imagination afterwards the Appetite is mâ—â—ed The Reason of Good and of Evil either concerns The Corporeal Soul by it self Or her united to the Body Or her subjected to the Rational Soul Hence Passions are called either Physical Metaphysical or Corporeal Passions merely Physical are Sympathies and Antipathies Some Instances of Passions merely Physical Passions Metaphysical By these first the Rational Soul Then the Sensitive and Sanguineous part of the other are affected Wherefore and how the Praecordia are esteemed the seat of Holy Affections What it is to have the Heart hardened Wherefore the Praecordia are called also the seat of Prudence and Wisdom Three Corporeal or Moral Passions The two Primary Gestures or Affections of the Soul are Pleasure and Grief They affect the two Roots of the Soul to wit the the Brain and the Praecordia Grief and Pleasure first of all arise from the Sense Afterwards both from this and also from the Phantasie and Memory Some are more Pathetical or moved than others How the Affections are wont to be iterated also how allayed or obliterated The Number of the Passions uncertain Pleasure and what Affections are subordinate to it Love Hope Boldness c. Grief with the Affections subordinate to it Hatred Aversion Fear c. Next to Pleasure and Grief are Love and Hatred The Objects of these are Sensible or Imaginary things By what means desirable things affect the Spirits and the Blood A Pleasant Sensation is described Love is excited by Opinion The Object of this is set up like an Idol in the Phantasie And Worshipped Hatred excited by the Sensible or Imaginary Species How the first of these Affects the Spirits and Blood The Imaginary Evil affects both the Blood and Spirits Love and Hate are transitory Passions Quickly changed into Desire and Aversion The Soul is chiefly employed by these Both proceed either from the Sense or Opinion The desire of a sensible thing is excited either from Natural Instinct or from Custom The former is moderate and easily satisfied Desire got through Custom despising moderate things aspires to new things The reason declared Because the Agent and Patient ought to be unlike The Desires of sensible things tend chiefly to Luxury or Lust. Phantastic Desires are immense But are chiefly carried to Riches or Honors Aversion is excited either from the Sense or from Opinion This Passion being frail is soon changed into Desire Sensible Desire affects both the Spirits and the Blood What Alterations Imaginarâ— Desire brings upon them The Fluctuation of the Mind Plaâ—t Hope and Fear Succeed to Desire and Aversion The Provision of Hope It s Obâ—ect both the Sense and the Imagination Affects both the Spirits and the Blood A Character of Fear How it Affects the Spirits and all the Faculties How the Blood It often passes into Desperation In like manner Hope into Audaciousness To which Anger is of Kin. The Character of Anger There are more than Eleven Affections Pity Envy Boasting Shame c. A Character of Shame Innate Affections Viz. An Inlargement of the Individual A begetting of its Kind Venus an Enemy to the Brain and Nerves The madness or fiery of Lust. Reason suppresses its flowing The Blood is animated but hardly sensible The lucid part of the Soul feels or perceives the impulse of all Objects and is moved by them Sense and Motion are the chief Advancers of the animated Body The efficient Cause of either are the Animal Spirits A most swift Communication of them implanted within all the Parts An opposite tendency of them effect both Sense and Motion What the Sense is The approach of the sensible Object is made either by Contact or by Effluvia's sent forth or by reflected and repeâ—â—â—ssed Particles of the Air Breath or Light As these several are made manifâ—ld they requiâ—e divers Sensories All Knowledge from Sense In Perfect Animals there ought to be many Senses That one of the Touch or Feeling suffices not How the same Spirits receive sensible Species so very divers Than this may be done are required First a Structure of the Organ after a diverse manner Secondly a Various Constitution of the Animal Spirits After what manner Sension is made All sensible Impressions do beam forth from all the Organs into the streaked Bodies In every Sension is required First That the Species be impressed on the Sensory Secondly That it be carried thence by the passage of the Spirits to the Common Sensory How the divers sensible Species are distinctly represented in the same Common Sensory It is shown by an example of the Air whose divers Particles have divers carryings forth Also by the example of Water in which many wavings being at once made are all distinct The like is in the Airy Hyposiasis of the Corporeal Soul For the divers Perceptions of which together in the Common Sensory there are many and distinct Tracts produced Sensible Impressions as they are stronger weak stir up other Powers either more or fewer All the other Powers of the Soul proceed at first from Sension The Animal Spirits pass thorow the sensible Species and not the Effluvia of the Object penetrate even to the head The bounds and passages by 〈◊〉 and into which the Species pass thorow The Number of the Senses is well affirmed to be Five So many and not more are requisite The Sense of Feeling is more thick but the most ample or large Exhibits Signs of Iudgment to the rest of the Senses It hath a mighty diffusive Sensory or Organ Which are the Nervous Fibres In all the Parts both External and Internal Which Fibres thô every where of the same Conformation Yet Exhibit various Species according to the various approaches of tangible things Tangible Species immediately carried either to the Cerebel or to the streaked Bodies And from thence goes forward sometimes to the other Faculties Viz. the Imagination Memory and Appetite The Kinds and Differences of Feeling are either In respect of the Object In respect of the Sensory And so it is either manifest or private Pleasant or Sad. The Taste a
well as the other Animal Functions Who are said to be Foolish or to talk idly This is either shorter as the Delirium or longer and with a Feavour called Phrensie or without a Feavour as melancholy madness stupidity What the Delirium is It s formal Reason The Causes of the Delirium 1 Either from the Blood Or 2 From exterior Spirits planted in the nervous Stock By what and how many ways the Delirium is caused by the Blood 1 By reason of its too great heat 2 By reason of untameable Particles carried from it into the Brain 3 By reason of malignant Particles suffused from it 4 By reason of Effluvias or venomous Particles obtruded also on the Brain 5 By reason of its afflux being denied to the Brain How a Delirium proceeds from the irregularities of the exterior Spirits The Prognostick of a Delirium It s Cure Of the Phrensie what it is The Paraphrenesis Their Conjunct Causes The Phrensie not from the Inflammation of the Meninges The Paraphrenesis not from the Inflammation of the Diaphragma Wherefore breathing is hurt in this Disease The formal Reason of the Phrensie This Disease proceeds from the burning of the Animal Spirits The Inflammation of the Meninges stirs up rather the inveterate Head-ach or the Lethargy than the Phrensie Prosper Martianus also asserts this Chymical Spirits in their distilling are sometimes inflamed So the Animal Spirits What the Indisposition of the Brain is to the Phrensy The Procatartick Causes of the Phrensy which are partly in the Blood and Partly in the Brain The evident causes of the Phrensie The differences of it The Prognostick The Cure of the Phrensie Phlebotomy Clysterâ— A Iulep An Apozem A Drink Hypnoticks External Medicines causing Sleep Epithems The means for the preserving of strength Cordials The Histories of sick persons in Hippocrates Lib. Epidem A notable History The Distemper of the Animal Spirits being after a 〈◊〉 manner as it is the cause of the Phrensie so it is of Melancholy Madness and Stupidity The definition of Melancholy That it is a Distemper of the Brain and Heart Its Examples or Types various and almost infinite Melancholy is â—ither 1. Vniversal or 2 Particular The primary Phaenomena of a Melancholick Dâ—â—â—rium From what disposition of the Spirits they proceed As they are compared to Light they are called opacous or full of darkness These kind of Spirits in Melancholy compared to those in Chymical Liquors 1 They are not like the Spirit of Blood as they should be 2 Nor like the Spirit of Wine Such rather in the Phrensie 3 But these are like acid Spirits distilled out of Salt Vinegar Box and such like 4 Stygian Waters are like the Nature of the Animal Spirits in Madness The formal Reason of Melancholy aptly represented by acetous Chymical Liquors There are three chief affections of these which agree with the Animal Spirits in Melancholy 1 Effluvias falling away from these Liquors are perpetually in motion In like manner also the Spirits in the Phantasie of a Melancholick person 2 Effluvias from acetous Chymical Liquors do not proceed far In like manner the imagination of a Melancholick Person though always employ'd comprehends only a few things And therefore every thing is conceived with a greater Image than it should be 3 Effluvias from acetous Liquors do not evaporate so much from open Pores as they make new And in like manner the Animal Spirits whilst they form in the Brain new Tracts produce unwonted and incongruous Notions In Melancholy after the Animal Spirits being for some time vitiated the Conformation of the Brain is also hurt The Affection of the Praecordia in this Disease as to fear and sadness is delivered After what manner the Corporeal Soul is affected in these two passions The cause of either depends partly on the blood and partly on the Animal Action of the Heart The procatartick Causes of Melancholy are Partly the acetous Nature of the Spirits and partly the Melancholy Dyscrasie of the Blood The Distemper begins sometimes from this sometimes from that How it begins from the Spirits and the Animal Government By what means this Disease arises from the Blood Melancholy doth not arise from an atrabilary humour heaped up in some place or mine By what means according to the Antients it is said to arise from the Head How from the Womb. How from the Spleen How from the whole Body The Differences of the Disease 1 In respect of its first Subject 2 By reason of Temperament of the Sick In respect of the next Cause as it is singular or conjunct In respect of the Imagination diversly hurt The Prognostick of this Disease The Cure of the Disease The evident Cause first to be removed Three primary Indications 1 Curatory The healing of the Spirits is best performed by admonitions and artificial inventions concerning the business of Life Yet oftentimes there is need of Medicine besides The Preservatory indication concerning the Procatartick Causes of the Disease Phlebotomy Purging Vomiting Vomitories Purgers Pills Powders Syrups Altering Medicines are of the greatest moment and not pargiâ—g Medicines as the Antients thought An Electuary A Iulep A Distilled Water Lozengâ—s An Apozem Spaw-Waters Chalybâ—ates Steeled Medicines Whey Broths Iuices of Herbs A Bath Hypnoticks The first History An Example of Melancholy beginning from the Spirits The Cure The second History An Example of Melancholy arising from the Blood The Curatory Method proposed Vniversal Melancholy De Morbis Convulsivis Cap. 2. Particular Melancholy is excited by reason of two sorts of Affections concerning Good or Evil. Love-Madness The Reasons of Symptoms in mad Love Iealousie Superstition and Desperation The reason of the Symptoms The imaginary Metamorphosis of Melancholick Persons Madness and Melancholy are akin The Subject of Madness are the Animal Spirits The dispositionâ— of which are like to Stygian Water Three chief Accidents in Madness Which are also to be found in Stygian Water 1 The Particles of this are always in motion And in like manner the Animal Spirits in Mad-men 2 The Effluvia's of Stygian Water every where make new Pores and Passages In like manner also the Animal Spirits in Mad men 3 The Effluvia's of Stygian Water are diffused far In like manner as the Animal Spirits in Mad-men What the Conjunct Cause of Madness is How the Animal Spirits acquire a disposition like to Stygian Water It is shewed in the first place that corrosive and as it were Stygian Particles are begot in the humane Body Wherefore the Nervous Liquor oftentimes becomes corrosive Because the volatile Salt most easily degenerates into an acid and most sharp with the acquired Sulphur Hence the Reasons of Tumours and Vlcers in the Kings Evil and the Cancer are given Hence also the Madness of the distempered Spirits The Original of Madness either from the Spirits themselves or from the Blood It begins for two occasions from the Spirits 1 By Reason of a violent Passion by which They
medium between the Body and the Soul but that the members and parts of the Body are the Organs of the Soul what can we think else or affirm but that many and distinct portions of the same Extended Soul actuate the several members and parts of this Body Besides it is seen in several living Creatures whose Liquors both the Vital and Animal in which the Soul as to all its parts immediately subsists are viscous and less dissipable that the Soul is also divided with the Body and exercises its Faculties to wit of Motion and Sense in every one of the divided members layd apart by themselves So Worms Eeles and Vipers being cut into pieces move themselves for a time and being pricked will wrinkle up themselves together But that we have affirmed the Soul of the Brute to be not only Corporeal and Extended but that it is of a certain fiery nature and its Act or Substance is either a Flame or a Breath neer to or a-Kin to Flame besides the large Testimonies of Authors both Ancient and Modern Reasons and Arguments almost demonstrative have also induced me to it Some of the Chief of these we have of late Exposed in the Treatise concerning the Inkindling of the Blood there remains many others of no light moment to be added hereafter As to what appertains to the suffrages of others that I may not seem to stand upon the Authority of one Gassendus who has maintained this Hypothesis I shall here Cite many both Ancient Physicians and Philosophers For not to mention Democritus Epicurus Laertius Lucretius and their followers Hippocrates Plato Pythagoras Aristotle Galen with many others tho disagreeing about other things in this Opinion to wit That the Soul was either a Fire or something analogical to it they all shook hands to whom also have joyned themselves of the Moderns Fernelius Heurnius Cartesius Hogelandus and others and lately Honoratus Faber hath delivered in Express words That the Soul of the Brute is Corporeal and its Substance Fire it self But indeed he far otherwayes Explicates his saying than is propounded in our Hypothesis For having shewn this Soul to be material and supposed all sublunary matter to be nothing else but the four Elements he therefore Concludes the Soul of the Brute because it is not seen to be any thing Compounded out of the rest of the simple Elements or of many of them That it is mere Fire Tract 2. l. 2. pr. 33. ad 38. I shall take notice of one or two of our Countrymen The most noble Verulam chiefly distinguishes animals from inanimals in this respect for that the spirits of those are otherways inflamed and inkindled than the spirits of these Natur. Histor. Cent. 7. The most Learned and Famous Physician George Ent in his Apology against Parisanus That Blood even as Fire desires two things to wit Food and Ventilation hath most clearly demonstrated Wherefore after so many Learned Men it will be no Paradox to affirm That the Soul lying hid in the Blood or Vital Liquor is a certain fire or flame which Opinion agrees well enough with right Reason as appears by what follows Indeed if Fire and Flame are to be defined or unfoulded not by those External accidents of burning glowing and of heat which are not its proper Passions but by intrinsic Causes we conceive very easily the substances of them to be even as the Souls of the Brutes or altogether of the same sort For truly Fire if we would describe it according to its Essence it signifies an heap of most subtil Contiguous particles and existing in a swift motion and with a continued generation of some renewed by the falling off of others which indeed Conserves both its motion and substance for that its Food on which it continually feeds is perpetually supply'd from the subject matter which is Sulphur or some other nitrous thing in the Air that Compasses it about for from thence out of the Food of either the Particles being most minutely resolved and agitated with a most rapid motion the forms of Fire and Flame which differ only in more or less result Since we have in another place discoursed largely enough of these things it will not be needful to add any more here What if we should in like manner say That the Souls of Brutes are an heap of these sorts of most subtle Atoms heaped up together and extreamly moveable To wit which being stirred up with Life into motion as it were an infiring Continue the same and likewise its subsistance so long as Nutriment out of the apposite matter which is by degrees Consumed within Sulphureous and without Nitrous from the ambient medium is granted to it For that we say That the Souls of all Brutes so long as they live and flourish after the manner of fire do want Constantly either kind of aliment to wit Sulphureous and Nitrous That this is true is shewed hereafter as well concerning Insects and other bloodless Creatures also concerning Fishes and the more frigid bloody Creatures as well as in the more hot and perfect Creatures that have blood Which Conditions however are required to the Act and Subsistance of no subject besides But no motion either of Fermentation Ebullition Vegitation or of any other thing besides Life and Fire is immediately supprest by reason of the taking away of the Air. Concerning the Corporeal Soul in general these Three things first fall under our Consideration viz. First What kind of Subsistence or Hypostasis it is of Secondly In what its Life or Act consists And Thirdly What are its primary Offices or Operations As to the first we may believe That the Brutal Soul doth consist of Particles of the same matter out of which the organical Body is formed but that they are choyce most subtle and highly active which as a flower arising out of the grosser mass do mutually come together and do constitute fit passages which they produce thorow the whole frame of the Body having got one continued Hypostasis to wit very thin and as it were Spirituous and equal and extended to the whole For indeed so soon as any matter is disposed towards Animation by the Law of Creation and not by a Fortuitous Concourse of Atoms at once the Soul which is the form of the thing and the Body which which is called Matter begin to be formed under a certain Species or Kind according to the Model or Form impressed upon them Wherefore the more nimble and Spirituous Particles rowling away from the rest heap themselves together and by leasure grow Turgid These being thus moved stir up others more thick and dispose them into destinated places where they ought to stay and to increase and so they frame the Body according to its destinated Species In the mean time this heap of subtle Particles or the Soul which explicating it self more largely and insinuating its Particles into other more thick and weaving them together frames
or blown up with pride is seen to grow very great and not be able to be contained within its proper Dimension Besides these Kind of Alterations which the Soul properly sensitive or the lucid part receives from the Vital and flamie variously changed many other things happen which disturb its Systasis or Constitution and its wonted manner of Order immediately both from a certain affection of the Brain and Nervous stock and also from external Objects because in the night the Brain it self from a too great infusion of the nutricious Juce or from the black darkness or vapours is filled so that the lucid part of the Soul in sleep is wholly obscured as it were with darkness not seldom from a morbiâ—ic matter somewhere gathered together and as it were obstructing the Spirts or the ways of their Beams there arises an Eclipse of some or more of their faculties sometimes the Animal Spirits themselves are not light or airey enough but are infected with heterogeneous effluvia's to wit either Saline Vitriolic Nitrous or otherwise Cloudy which deform the sensible species change them into some affrightful thing and excite inordinate Motions Hence it comes sometimes that the whole Soul suffers various Metamorphoses or Changes and puts on strange species's as often happens in Melancholy diâ—eaâ—es or to mad men As to the various gestures of the Soul by which for the variety of sensible objects it expresses now Joy and Pleasure by and by loathing and trouble it is observed that sometimes it is allured more outwardly by the Organ of this or that sense and as occasion serves almost wholly to wander into the Eye or Ear Palate or any Sensory meeting with something pleasant sometimes on the Contrary for the sake shunning or flying away from some approaching evil that she retires inwardly and leaving her watch hides her head so that we think or Imagine nothing without being touch'd but that the whole Soul almost is moved and trembles at every apprehension of the sensible object and its Systasis is variously agitated as it were the leaves of a Tree exposed to the blasts of Winds Nor do these sensible Impressions induce Metamorphoses only to the sensitive soul or the beamy Texture of the Animal spirits but undulations or waverings being brought to it presently they go forward an impress alterations on the vital Soul lying in the blood and move about its flame as â— were with blasts driving it hither and thither and unequally inkindling it For as we mentioned before the same moment in which an object carried from the sense or memory stops at the Imagination as that Comes under the shew of good or evil it affects the Animal Spirits destinated to the Motion of the Precordia and causes the Precordia by the influx of them to be variously Contracted or dilated and for that Cause it is that the inordinate motions and inkindling of the Blood are so performed But of these there will be a more opportune place of treating when we shall speak especially of the Affections of the Soul CHAP. VI. Of the Science or Knowledge of Brutes WE have hitherto spoken of the Original Nature and manner of the Soul of the Brutes subsisting in the Body as also of its various degrees or species and as it hath in the more perfect Living Creatures Parts or Constitutive Members Further the Hypostasis figure and dimensions of the same Soul being rightly delineated we have Considered how that she is capable of Impressions from outward Objects also to what passions and alterations besides she is obnoxious yet from all this furniture of the Corporeal Soul and of its powers being put together it doth not plainly appear what the same is able to do beyond the Virtue or force of any other machine and to perform by its own proper Virtue or strength For altho an Impression of an Object driving the Animal spirits inwards and harmonizing them by a certain peculiar manner causes sensation and the same spirits for as much as they leap back from within outwardly as it were by a reflected undulation or waving stir up local motions yet it is not declared how this Soul or any part of it perceives it self to feel and is driven according to that perception into divers Passions and Actions directed to the Appetite or desire of this or that Action and sometimes as we have generally observed in some Beasts for the prosecution of the desired thing doth pick out and choose Acts which seem to flow from Council or a certain Deliberation In Man indeed it is obvious to be understood that the Rational Soul as it were presiding beholds the Images and Impressions represented by the sensitive Soul as in a looking Glass and according to the Conceptions and notions drawn from thence exercises the Acts of Reason Judgment and Will Yet after what manner in Brutes Perception a discerning or discrimination of Objects Appetite Memory and other species or Kinds of Inferiour Reasons as one may say are performed seems very hard to be unfolded therefore when some could not solve this Knot or difficulty they attributed to Brutes Immaterial Souls and subsisting after their Bodies Which if that were true I Know not why Four footed Beasts should not be indued with reasoning and understanding as well as man yea and might learn Sciences and Arts for as much as in either besides their immaterial souls alike there is altogether the same Conformation of the Animal Organs upon which indeed it appears that the Rational Soul whilst in the Body hangs or depends as to its acts and habits because the Organs being hurt or hindred a privation or an Eclipse of these succeeds wherefore that the Soul of the Brute using the same Organs as man can Know nothing clearly nor rise above the Acts and material Objects it planly follows that she is different from the Rational Soul and also that she is much inferiour and Material But that it is objected that all matter whatsoever is not only insensible and sluggish but also meerly passive therefore incapable of sense and animal activity omitting here many instances of aequivocal productions the Epicureans affirm to be equally stupendious and inexplicable of which we shall discourse anon we shall propose as to the former this one thing as very Consentaneous to our Hypothesis to wit that there is not much more difference between an insensible and a sensible Body than between a thing uninkindled and a thing kindled and yet we ordinarily see this to be made from that why therefore in like manner may we not judge a sensible thing or Body to be made out of an insensible Every matter as it is not Burnt so not animated but being disposed by either of the active Elements it behoveth it to be indued with Spirit chiefly with Sulphur and Salt Combustible things as Oyl Rosin Wood and the like of themselves torpid and sluggish lye unmoved without fire heat or some agitation of the
parts or particles But as soon as they have taken flame from some incentive being put to it by and by their Particles being rapidly moved and as it were animated produce a shining with Heat and Light and not only make light all about them but Create innumerable Images of all things that are seated near them and thickly object them on every side In like manner the Vital humour in an Egg remains torpid and sluggish in the beginning and like to unkindled matter but as soon as it is actuated from the Soul being raised up presently like an inkindled fire it excites Life with Motion and Sense and in the more perfect Creatures with heat Further the Animal Spirits as Rays of Light proceeding from this Fire are Configured according to the Impressions of every of their Objects and what is more as it were meeting together with reflected irradiations cause divers manner of motions Then what is vulgarly delivered that Matter out of which Natural things are made is meerly passive and cannot be moved unless it be moved by another thing is not true but rather on the contrary Atoms which are the matter of sublunary things are so very active and self-moving that they never stay long but ordinarily stray out of one subject into another or being shut up in the same they cut forth for themselves Pores and Passages into which they are Expatiated Yet it may be argued That if the Soul of the Brute be Composed out of these whilst the same is Extended and is Corporeal it cannot perceive For it admits the Species of the Object into its whole self or into some part of it self not the first because then neither the Senses would be distinguished one from another nor any of them by a perception or common sensation of these But if as indeed it is it shall be said that all the sensible Species being received by appropriated Sensories to a certain part of the Soul to wit the first or common Sensory where they are perceived Then it may be again objected That so manifold and divers Species or Images of sensible things which at once are Conceived from Objects cannot be painted forth in a certain small part of the Brain but that some should obliterate or blot out or at least Confound others I say none ought to wonder who hath beheld the Objects of the whole Hemisphere admitted thorow an hole into a dark Chamber and there on a sudden upon Paper exactly drawn forth as if done by the Pencil of an Artist Why then may not also the Spirits even as the Rays of light frame by a swift Configuration the Images or Forms of things and exhibit them without any Confusion or Obscuring of the Species But yet tho it be granted That the Images of sensible things are represented in a certain part of the Soul to wit actuating the Brain it self to which there happens a most speedy Communication with the whole and also with the several Parts however we are yet to inquire of what Kind of power that is which sees and knows such like Images there delineated and also according to those Impressions there received chooseth Appetites and the respective Acts of the other Faculties That we may go on to Philosophize concerning this matter I profess indeed whilst I consider the Soul and the Body to wit either of them by it self and distinct I cannot readily detect in this or in that or in any material subject any thing to which may be attributed such a Power with a self-moving energy But indeed when I consider the animated Body made by an Excellent and truly Divine Workmanship for certain Ends and Uses nothing hinders me from saying That it is so framed by the Law of Creation or by the Institution of the most Great God that from the Soul and Body mixed together the same Kind of Confluence of the Faculties doth result by which it is needful for every Animal to the Ends and Uses destinated to it In most Mechanical things or those made by humane Art the Workmanship Excels the matter who would think there could be an Instrument made out of Iron or Brass being most fixed and sluggish Mettals whose Orbs like to those of the Celestial without any external Mover should observe almost continual motions the Periods of which being renewed at a constant turn or change should certainly shew the spaces of Time No Body admires that a rude and simple sound is given by wind blown into a Pipe but indeed by Wind sent into musical Organs and that being carryed variously thorow manifold openings of Doors into these or those pipes that it should create a most grateful Harmony and Composed Measures of every Kind this I say deservedly amazes us and we acknowledg this Effect far to Excel both the matter of the Instrument and of the hand of the Musitian striking it Further altho the Musical Organ very much requires the labour of him playing on it by whose direction the spirit or wind being admitted now into these anon into those and into other Pipes causes the manifold harmony and almost infinite Varieties of Tunes yet sometimes I have seen such an Instrument so prepared that without any Musitian directing the little doors being shut up by a certain law and order by the mere Course of a Water almost the same harmony is made and the same tunes equal with those Composed by Art And indeed Man seems like to the former in which the rational Soul sustains the part of the Musitian playing on it which governing and directing the animal spirits disposes and orders at its pleasure the Faculties of the Inferior Soul But the Soul of the Brute being scarce moderatrix of its self or of its Faculties Institutes for Ends necessary for it self many series of Actions but those as it were tunes of harmony produced by a water Organ of another Kind regularly prescribed by a certain Rule or Law and almost always determinated to the same thing This indeed holds good concerning the more imperfect Brutes in whose Souls or Natures are inscribed the types or ways of the Actions to be performed by them which they rarely or never transgress or go beyond and that according to the vulgar saying in the Schools They do not so much act as are acted yet in some more perfect Brutes whose Actions are ordained to many and more noble Uses there are far more Original Types and to their Souls there ought to be attributed a certain faculty of Varying their Types and of Composing them in themselves for the Brutal Soul it self being so gifted naturally as she is Knowing and Active concerning some things necessary for it she is taught through Various Accidents by which she is wont to be daily affected to know afterwards other things and to perform many other and more intricate Actions But how all this may be done without calling an immaterial Soul into play to wit by what
humidity therefore the Spirituous Effluvias or the lucid part of the Soul which ought to irradiate these Bodies is very much obscured as the beam of the Sun passing thorow a thick Cloud Wherefore at this time the strokes of sensible things being not deeply fixed are presently obliterated and in them local motions hardly follow yea in some Beasts in whom the Blood being continually and habitually thick and who have a less Clear Brain tho through their whole Life some acts of the Exterior Senses and Motions are performed yet few Characters are left of any interiour Knowledg Wherefore we shall here inquire only concerning Brutes that are more docil to wit in whom are besides local motions and the five Exterior Senses Memory and Imagination and in these we may conceive this kind of Introduction or Method of Institution concerning the Exquisite Knowledge by the sense with which they are wont to be imbued Therefore as soon as the Brain in the more pefect Brutes grows Clear and the Constitution of the Animal Spirits becomes sufficiently lucid and defecated the exterior Objects being brought to the Organs of the Senses make Impressions which being from thence transmitted for the continuing the Series or Order of the Animal Spirits inwards towards the streaked Bodies affect the Common Sensory and when as a sensible Impulse of the same like a waving of Waters is carried further into the Callous Body and thence into the Cortex or shelly substance of the Brain a Perception is brought in concerning the Species of the thing admitted by the Sense to which presently succeeds the Imagination and marks or prints of its Type being left constitutes the Memory But in the mean time whilst the sensible Impression being brought to the common Sensory effects there the Perception of the thing felt as some direct Species of it tending further creates the Imagination and Memory so other reflected Species of the same Object as they appear either Congruous or Incongruous produce the Appetite and local motions its Executors that is the Animal Spirits looking inwards for the Act of Sension being struck back leap towards the streaked Bodies and when as these Spirits presently possessing the Beginnings of the Nerves irritate others they make a desire of flying from the thing felt and a motion of this or that member or part to be stirred up Then because this Kind or that Kind of Motion succeeds once or twice to this or to that Sension afterwards for the most part this Motion follows that Sension as the Effect follows the Cause and according to this manner by the admitting the Idea's of sensible things both the Knowledg of several things and the habits of things to be done or of local Motions are by little and little produced For indeed from the beginning almost every Motion of the animated Body is stirred up by the Contact of the outward Object to wit the Animal Spirits residing within the Organ are driven inward being strucken by the Object and so as we have said constitute Sension or Feeling then like as a Flood sliding along the Banks of the shore is at last beaten back so because this waving or inward turning down of the Animal Spirits being partly reflected from the Common Sensory is at last directed outwards and is partly stretched forth even into the inmost part of the Brain presently local Motion succeeds the Sension and at the same time a Character being affixed on the Brain by the sense of the thing perceived it impresses there Marks or Vestigia of the same for the Phantasie and the Memory then affected and afterwards to be affected but afterwards when as the Prints or Marks of very many Acts of this Kind of Sensation and Imagination as so many Tracts or Ways are ingraven in the Brain the Animal Spirits oftentimes of their own accord without any other forewarning and without the presence of an Exterior Object being stirred up into Motion for as much as the Fall into the footsteps before made represent the Image of the former thing with which when the Appetite is affected it desiring the thing objected to the Imagination causes spontaneous Actions and as it were drawn forth from an inward Principle As for Examples sake The Stomach of an Horse feeding in a barren Ground or fallow Land being incited by hunger stirs up and variously agitates the Animal Spirits flowing within the Brain the Spirits being thus moved by accident because they run into the footsteps formerly made they call to mind the former more plentiful Pasture fed on by the Horse and the Meadows at a great distance then the Imagination of this desirable thing which then is cast before it by no outward Sense but only from the Memory stops at the Appetite that is the Spirits implanted in the streaked Bodies are affected by that Motion of the spirits flowing within the middle part or Marrow of the Brain who from thence presently after their former accustomed manner enter the origines of the Nerves and actuating the Nervous System after their wonted manner by the same Series produce local Motions by which the hungry Horse is carried from place to place till he has found out the Imagined Pasture and indeed enjoyes that good the Image of which was painted in his Brain After this manner the sensible Species being intromitted by the benefit of the Exterior Organs in the more perfect Brutes for that they affix their Characters on the Brain and there leave them they constitute the Faculties of Phantasie and Memory as it were Store-houses full of Notions further stirring up the Appetite into local Motions agreeable to the Sensions frequently they produce an habit of Acting so that some Beasts being Taught or Instructed for a long time by the assiduous Incursion of the Objects are able to know and remember many things and further learn manifold works to wit to perform them by a Complicated and Continued series and succession of very many Actions Moreover this Kind of acquired Knowledg of the Brutes and the Practical habits introduced through the Acts of the Senses are wont to be promoted by some other means to a greater degree of perfection For in the third place it happens to these by often Experience that the Beasts are not only made more certain of simple things but it teaches them to form certain Propositions and from thence to draw certain Conclusions Because draught Beasts having sometimes found water to be Cooling they seek it far as a remedy of too much heat wherefore when their Precordia grow hot running to the River they drink of it and if they are hot in their whole Body they fearlesly lye down in the same In truth many Actions which appear admirable in Brutes came to them at first by some accident which being often repeated by Experience pass into Habits which seem to shew very much of Cunning and Sagacity because the sensitive soul is easily accustomed to every Institution or
As there are manifold Examples of these kind of Perturbations by which the Corporeal Soul being too much swell'd up or Contracted or otherways distorted it becomes as it were unequal and not Conformable to the Body the Chief of them may be referred to these two Heads To wit First Sometimes this Soul as it were leaping forth erects and stretches out it self beyond measure and so dilating its Hypostasis desires to reach it self beyond the bound of the Body Hence the Animal Spirits being respectively moved in the Brain enlarge the Sphear of their Irraâ—iation and as they so shake the Praecordia by a more full inflowing they Compel the Blood therefore to be snatched together and to be poured forth more freely into all the Parts Secondly Sometimes on the contrary this Soul being struck is more narrowly Compressed within it self so that being drawn inwardly and sinking down within its wonted Compass of Emanation becomes less than the Body wherefore the Animal Faculties wonderfully flagg and their Acts are either sluggishly or perversly performed Moreover the Praecordia also being destitute of their due influx of Spirits almost sink down and suffer the Blood to stay too long there and to stagnate oftentimes There are besides some other Gestures of the aforesaid Soul by which the same departing from its equal Expansion becomes not Congruous to the Body and in these kind of Cases chiefly the Sensitive Power according to the received Impressions affects a new Species and brings the Brain and Imagination into its Party Then by and by by the passage of the Nerves it affects the Praecordia as it were with a certain stroke and determinates them after her measure so that according to the Idea received from the Imagination the Motion of the Blood is Composed as it were after the measures of a Dance we shall add anon Instances and Examples of these when we shall treat of the Passions particularly In the mean time that we may inquire into the Causes of the Passions in general it plainly appears from what hath been said that the Corporeal Soul is found under a twofold state to wit either of Quiet or Commotion That she is like a Calm Sea with a smooth Superficies and squared altogether gentle and serene or she becomes troubled like water shaken into various Circles and wavings by the blasts of the Winds or by some solid things cast into it The former state of the Soul is perceived not only in Sleep when the Spirits are bound up or lye quiet of themselves but often in Waking to wit as often as objects or sensible things being brought from without or imaginary things conceived within do import nothing of Good or Evil to us and that we only know and apprehend them for so without any Trouble or Molestation they pleasantly slide into the common Sensory and Imagination and thence quickly pass away but if the object is offer'd under the Species of Good or Evil presently the Sensitive Soul prepares for the embracing or the avoiding it and not only procures to its Endeavors the Animal Spirits but also the Blood and Humors yea draws the solid Parts to help her For as soon as the Imagination conceives any thing that is to be embraced or shuned presently the Appetite is formed by the Spirits inhabiting the Brain ordered into a Series then by an impression sent to the Praecordia as they are either dilated or contracted the Blood is carried into various Motions of Fluctuations and then by an instinct of the Appetite transmitted to the proper Nerves the respective Motions are drawn forth And upon these kind of Furnitures and Affection of the Spirits and Humors and of the solid Parts the Affections or Passions of the Mind wholly depend we have elsewhere shewed after what manner and by what Trajection or Irradiation of the Spirits within the Nervous Processes such quick Commerces are made between the Brain and the Praecordia and between both these and other Motive Parts But that we may yet more fully describe the Affections or Passions of the Corporeal Soul as they are chiefly to be found in Man it is here to be noted That not every Species or Appearance of Good or Evil does excite these Commotions of the Soul because we behold undisturbed the prosperous or adverse things of others not related to us But further 't is requisite that the Goodness or the Malice of the Object belongs properly to a Man althô what happens to our Friends or Relations is as if it happened to our selves Also besides Good and Evil happen to the same Man after various ways and under a diverse reason both in respect of the Object and also in respect of the Subject Concerning the former we shall speak anon As to the other Good or Evil being brought to Man either respect the Corporeal Soul by it self and as it were abstracted from any other Relation or they respect her as conjoyned to the Body and intimately dear to her Or lastly they respect her as subdued by the Rational Soul so indeed althô the Affection is continually poured into the Corporeal Soul yet it respects Good or Evil either of this or that or of another Subject and is excited for the sake of that And according to this threefold Relation of the Sensitive Soul the Passions by which she is affected are called either Physical or Metaphysical or Corporeal or Moral we shall discourse singly and a little more plainly of these First Therefore as to the Passions merely Physical we say That the Sympathies and Antipathies of a diverse Kind which are as it were proper and intimate Affections seem to belong to the Corporeal Soul by it self and abstracted from all Relation Besides the highly attractive Species of Beauty and Fairness by the sight of which this Soul is wont to be insnared most certainly so that neglecting the Care of the Body and laying aside the dictates of Reason cleaves most closely to her Lover Also sometimes less fair things which every whole Man would forsake snatches this Soul drawn as it were by Witchcraft and leads it Captive as indeed lost Lovers though they see better things and approve them yet follow the worse the reason of which is that the Sensitive Soul enters into Friendships of which the Affections are not knowing with certain things in Secret and inseparably and firmly loves them Concerning Antipathies we meet with many things to be admired as some sensible Objects innocent of themselves yea and grateful enough to many Men and sought with delight become most horrid to some others and more Killing than the Head of Medusa at the sight only So some abhor the presence of a Cat others an Eel or Toad and others this or that Dish of meat made ready Nor do they only fly things by the sight but also received by the smell yea when they lye hid and are not at all suspected they suffer Swounings and Fainting of their
diffused within the Brain and stock of Nerves is Co-extended or equally stretched forth with the Organical Body and almost with all its Parts is affected with every Contact or with the meeting of other Bodies she perceives all Impressions either outwardly objected or raised up within and as she is moved by these every where diversly inflicted she indues according to the various impulse of the Objects various Gestures and Species in her self and also draws the Members and Parts of the Body it self with her wholly into the same Figures and Motions For indeed it is the Energie or the Act of the Soul it self from which every Function of the animated Body primarily and chiefly arises If at any time any Stroke or Impression be inflicted any where to the animated Body presently a certain Fluctuation or waving is stirred up in the Hypostasis of the whole Soul or of the struck Member by which some Animal Spirits or subtil Particles shut up in the Organical Parts as a blast of Wind in a Machine being struck run hither and thither and so produce the Exercises of Sense and Motion in the whole Body or respective Parts Truly among the various Gestures of the Corporeal Soul by which she altering her Species or Hypostasis brings a change to the containing Body the Sensitive and Locomotive Powers obtain the chief place for as much as they are Common almost to all living Creatures at least to the more perfect to which also all the rest of the Faculties may easily be reduced These are the chief Advancers of the animated Body upon which all the other Wheels of this Self-moving Divine Machine depend But the Internal and next efficient Cause both of Sense and Motion are the Hypostasis of the Sensitive Soul or the Animal Spirits instilled from the inkindled Blood into the Brain and from thence diffused into the Nervous Stock which being distributed from the Brain as the Fountain thorow the Nerves to the whole Body imbue irradiate and blow up all the Parts and bring a certain Tensity or stretching forth to each so that the passages of the Nervous Bodies like Cords stretched forth straitly on every side from the Brain and its dependencies reach forth into all the Exterior Parts by which so stretch'd forth and actuated by a certain Continuity of the Soul if one end be struck presently the stroke is perceived through the whole so that every Intention conceived within the Brain presently performs the designed work in every Member or Part and on the other side every impulse or stroke which is inflicted from without to any Member or to the Sensitive Body is communicated instantly to all Parts within the Head If that an Impression or force tends from the Brain outwards thorow the Nerves into the moving Parts Motion is produced but if they being made outwardly are directed inwards towards the Brain Sense arises But whil'st either of these are performed it is not so to be understood as is commonly asserted as if the same Spirits make hast and leap back presently as it were from one end of the Course or Circuit to the other but as the Soul is stretched forth thorow the whole with a certain Continuity its Particles viz. the Spirits contiguous one with another are set like an Army in Array for they after a Military fashion whil'st they move not from their station and keep Order perform their Offices and whether they be set in Battel Array or on the Watch they perform the Commands carried outward from the Brain themselves being almost immoveable and effect Motion and deliver presently to the Brain the news of any sensible thing impressed whereby Sensation is made So indeed the same Animal Spirits thô with an opposite and inverse tendency and aspect of them cause Motion and Sense But both Faculties as to the Exercises of their Acts require something divers Organs yea the Animal Spirits planted within the same for the performing the divers Offices of their Faculties are ordered with a various Affection and with a different manner of Orders That each of these may be the more clearly illustrated we shall first of all speak of the Sense and of whatsoever belongs to it both in General and in Special and then afterwards concerning Motion The Sense as it is taken in a more strict acceptation viz. for the proper Function in animated Bodies and by which they are distinguished from inanimates is wont to be described after this manner That it is the faculty of perceiving Sensible objects Because the Sensitive soul as hath been said being apt to be affected or moved by every Contact or Impulse of an exterior Body forces its constitution to vary in the whole or in part according as it is struck But exterior Bodies because they consist of Particles of a various Kind and diversly figured therefore when some are applied to others their approaches one among another are not always made after one and the same manner but after a manifold manner and with notable variety to wit either by Corporeal Contacts or by Effluvia's falling from them or by Particles of Air Breath or Light reflected from them issuing from them on every side like Darts Further and to every one of these Kinds many Species are attributed Because not only Concretes but also various little Bodies of the same Subject shew and impress manifold Types of their Contacts several of which as they are received and so known distinctly by living Creatures the Sensitive Soul using Corporeal Organs hath many Sensories fitted for such variety of Objects and divers representations of things in which several both the Conformation of the Pores as also the disposition of the Animal Spirits are proportionated to the little Bodies sent in from the Object which are only of one Kind fitly to be received By this means sensible Impressions at least that may be of use to any Animal are perceived and from this manifold way of Sension proceeds the Knowledge of all things according to that of the Philosopher All Knowledge is made by the Sense when on the contrary if Bodies and their Particles should strike the Systasis of the naked Soul or part of it always after one and the same manner nothing at all would be known because one thing or parts from another or these from those Members would not be distinguished Wherefore that all the chief Objects and their Accidents might be distinctly noted it is so provided that some Particles strike this Organ and not that so that they affect their several respective Sensories only the rest being untouched From hence it is clear that 't is necessary that there should be many Sensories in perfect Animals which may perform divers Actions both for the preserving of Life and propagating the Kind and also for the knowing many things and chiefly for the embracing of what things are Congruous to themselves and for the shunning all incongruous things for this things 't
the Sense are not distinctly painted in the Common Sensory as on a Table but every Impression there shown depends on the Motion as it were by a certain waving of some Spirits separate from others and within these or those peculiar Tracts of them Nor is it irrational to affirm that some Spiritual Particles are moved within the Hypostasis of the Sensitive Soul and her the same Portion of it whil'st others lye quiet lying between them for it plainly appears and which afterwards is more largely shown that within the Body of the Air the lucid Particles are agitated whil'st the rest lye at ease yea also that Sonorifick yea and odorous little Bodies and perhaps many others of another Kind are moved by a distinct and peculiar Agitation apart by themselves from the other texture of the Air for both Images pass thorow Sounds are poured out Odors flow warm or cold Effluvia's and other little Bodies are variously carried yet notwithstanding others in the mean time are neither driven by force by some others nor is the Consistency of the whole Air disturbed by some Singulars Yea various Impressions not only pass thorow the Air unchanged but also the Superficies of the Water for we have observed in a River or a Fish-pond when many wavings have been stirr'd up by various and divers strokes together that all of them however they meet one another pass thorow or cut one another continue still distinct and inconfused why then may we not suppose that in the Airy Systasis of the Soul which is also is founded in a Watry Humor there are Particles of a various and unlike make and that manifold Species by their passing thorow may be at once brought to the Common Sensory without Confusion As for Example Suppose that for seeing most Subtil and as it were Aetherial Particles others almost Saline and notably moveable for the Hearing and so for the other Senses Spirits endowed after this or that manner to be interwoven together and every peculiar Sension to be produced by a particular affection of them to which it happens that for the various passing thorow of the Spirits of so diverse a Nature divers Tracts or Paths are produced both in the Organ it self and in the Common Sensory and so when the Animal Spirits are affected which are of this or that Nature apart from others which are of another Nature and as there are beamings forth of several kinds as it were within various Inlets or Passages 't is no wonder if in divers Organs distinct Acts of Sensions are performed and that all of them however different in Kind and coming together from many ways are shewn within the same Common Sensory to wit the streaked Bodies because in this Marrowy Part Spirits of every kind abound and also passages of every sort of Conformation are found therefore every Impression impressed on any Organ from without may be distinctly represented in this same Body That it is so it more clearly appears from hence because both the streaked Bodies and the way leading to these consist of many white Ligatures which seem as so many soft Nerves or marrowy Tracts for the divers ways of receiving the Impressions of sensible Species When a sensible Impression is brought through the Animal Spirits being affected by a continued Series from the Organ to the Common Sensory if it be light it is there terminated and the perception of the External Sense quickly vanishes without any other Affection but if which more often happens the impulse of the Object be stronger the Sense excited from thence like the vehement waving of waters in a Whirl-pool both partly passes thorow the streaked Bodies and going forward to the Callous Body it oftentimes raises up two other Internal Senses to wit the Imagination and Memory either one of both of them and also is partly reflected from them and from thence by a declining of the Spirits leaping into the Nerves local Motions are made For indeed Impressions of sensible things from the beginning furnish both the Imagination with the Memory and Appetite and induce the first attempts of local Motions It is first effected for as much as the sensible Impulse is often propagated beyond the streaked Body into the marrowy part of the Brain or the Cortex or the extream Confines of it But local Motions ordinarily succeed to Sension for as much as the Animal Spirits being struck back from the bolt or stay of the streaked Bodies spring up outwardly and as they enter these or those Nerves by a certain Consequence or by chance they excite fortuitous local Motions or depending on the previous Sense for in the reciprocal exercise of these Faculties to wit of Sense and local Motion before Animals are imbued with Phantasie and Memory almost the whole Animal Function consists because Brutes or Men whil'st they as yet know not things want Spontaneous Appetite So long therefore they being destitute of the Internal Principle of Motion move themselves or Members only as they are excited from the impulse of the External Object and so Sension preceding Motion is in some manner the Cause of it Therefore in every Sension the Animal Spirits are moved and their Motion being excited in the utmost Sensory from the approach of the Object and harmonised according to its Impression turns inwards and as hath been said is conveyed to the first or Common Sensory wherefore it is not to be thought that the little Body 's sent from the Object do penetrate deeply and enter the inward parts of the Brain it self as some have asserted but it suffices that they being cast forth like Darts from the sensible thing do affect the Spirits placed in the fore-front and then they from thence most swiftly pass thorow by their Irradiation the impressed Motion As to the Parts within which the Animal Spirits dwelling do carry thorow as it were by Pipes and Dioptrick Glasses the impressed Species of sensible things they are the Fibres Nerves and the Oblong Marrow and chiefly the tops of it to wit the streaked Bodies The Fibres being stretched forth in every Sensory as it were Nets spread abroad take the Particles of the Object diffused and entring here and there from which whil'st the Spirits implanted in those Fibres are affected and are marked with the type of shaddow of the Objected thing forthwith the same Character being expressed by a continued Series of Spirits passes forward thorow the little Pipes of the Nerves and the Medullary Trunk into the streaked Bodies and is there represented as upon a white well But the Rational Soul easily beholds the Image of the thing there painted or perhaps carried forward beyond into the Callous Body the Imagination and Phantasie being excited But after what manner Brutes perceive themselves to feel and by reason of that Sension they either imprint it in their Memory or draw forth the Acts of the Appetite we have shewn elsewhere Concerning the number
both these benefits requisit for the Spirits to wit their sedation and refreshment are granted and almost only to Animals in Sleep For althô in Waking pleasant sensible Objects do something please the Spirits and that the nourishing Liquor supplied from Aliments newly received in may something cherish them yet a fuller refreshment and quieting by which they are sufficiently fortified for the lively performing the Animal Functions are not obtained but in Sleep for then the Spirits being at leisure for some time from Motion get to themselves new stores and in the mean time the Brain like a dry Sponge imbibing most greedily the nutritious Liquor takes it for Provision for it self which after a little space it dispenses to the several Parts both of its proper Regiment and also of its Appendix yea plenty of the Spirits and their food being somewhat exhausted the Brain as it were another Stomach seems to be hungry after Sleep greatly to desire it and not to be satisfied unless it daily enjoys it and that in its wonted measure for in the space of every Night there is a certain Necessity of Sleeping for so many hours as we have formerly accustomed our selves to if at other times as after Eating an evil Custom indulges Sleep we afterwards more hardly want it than our Dinner for the privation of due Sleep or what often accustomed to is as it were a fasting to the Brain by which if long affected that and its Nervous Appendix languish as it were for hunger Therefore for the taking of Sleep by which the Brain may be filled with the Nutricious Humor and the Spirits wearied or exhausted by Motion may be refreshed a certain Law of Nature or Necessity is incumbent upon us and calls it upon us oftentimes against our Minds But this kind of Disposition being innate to most Animals and chiefly to Man whose Spirits are most of all employed is the Final or Procatartick or more remote Cause of Sleep but its formal or Conjunct Cause consists in these two things viz. in the Vacation or Rest of the Spirits and in the Irrigation or watering the Parts containing them by which as common to either Affection a relaxation follows from a Tensity or Inflation of the Brain and Nervous Parts As to the evident Causes or occasions by which Sleep is wont to be introduced first we must distinguish concerning Sleep That it is either Natural or Ordinary which every one enjoys daily for so many set hours and its accession and duration depends upon either Conjunct Cause existing together in Act viz. at the same time the Spirits remitting their tasks sink down and the nourishing Humour flows into the Brain then this being sufficiently watered and they refreshed Waking returns Or Sleep is not Natural or Extraordinary which for some occasions follows in an undue measure and inconvenient time Concerning preternatural Sleep we shall speak more properly of it in another place when we shall treat of Soporiferous or Sleepy Diseases But as to the Non-natural we have observed that it is of a double Kind according to the Complication of the Conjunct Cause For either the Spirits first lye down and so the Brain imbibes more copiously the apposite Liquor or first the Brain is too much moistned with Humor and so the Spirits being as it were drowned are forced from their watches For when the Blood every where washes the Cortex of the Brain by almost innumerable Ramifications of Vessels a certain spirituous Water from these bloody Rivulets always stands at the Door and is ready to be instilled into the Medullar Substance of the Brain which for as much as it is copiously received within presently overwhelms the Spirits and obstructs their passages and so Sleep being call'd upon every Animal Function ceases for a time yet lest this should be too frequently and untimely done the Animal Spirits so long as they are lively and active inflate the Substance of the Brain and keep it extended so that the Spirituous Liquor which is also Soporiferous is not admitted but only in a small quantity such as may suffice for the exciting of Sleep But if either the Spirits being weary lye down of their own accord or are compelled by the boyling Blood coming impetuously to the borders of the Brain to give place to it the aforesaid Liquor rushing in on heaps produces almost invincible Sleep Wherefore according to which either the Animal Spirits open the doors of the Brain of their own accord or the Nervous Liquor besieging them impetuously breaks thorow The Prophases or evident Causes of Sleep are of this or that rank there are many Kindes of both of these and ways of being done the chief of which we shall briefly touch upon First In the first place therefore there are many Causes for which the Animal Spirits begin of their own accord to keep Holy-day among which the force or power of Custom obtains the chief place For when we have accustomed our selves to Sleep at certain set hours the Spirits about the same time as it were dismissing the force of their Motion leaving presently all work and External Commerce retire inward and indulge themselves with Rest The reason of which is because the sensitive Soul for as much as it is void of all Science and proper direction determinates this or that thing to be done by outward Accidents and Circumstances wherefore the Animal Spirits in what path they are once led unless they be hinder'd will repeat to an hair their former tracts Hence it is that we both Sleep and also Awake at set and wonted hours also we expect and hardly can pass by the same times of Dinner and Supper So solemn the manner of Nature is to do the same thing which it did before and till being taught new things it is the manner of its Government constantly and exactly to observe the old An Example of this Kind of Natural assiduity is admirable which was told me for certain of a Fool living some years in our Neighborhood who thô he were silly and foolish yet did he know exactly without any sign the interspaces of the Hours and as often as the space of an whole Hour was elapsed as if he had been a living Clock he would presently personate the like Number of the Hour with so many hoarse founds and no business or employ about any other occupation could make him omit this Task He at the beginning was wont to imitate aloud by making a noise every stroke of the sounding Clock and as often as he heard the sounding of the Bell of the Clock presently he cry'd One Two Three c. repeating successively the several Pulsations hence it hapned afterwards that the Animal Spirits by daily imitation being accustomed to be stirred up to such a Motion according to the set spaces of Time at length they were able to distinguish the same Periods of their own accord nothing directing as if the sliding
spaces of time had been measured out by the wheels of a Clock Secondly The Animal Spirits being wearied by the hard labour of the Body or too serious intention of the Mind indulge themselves with Sleep of their own accord For when after immoderate exercise by reason of Heat and Sweat flowing forth the Spirits plentifully exhale and those which are left being as it were poured forth and distracted one from another as soon as those have left them they presently lay aside all work that they may Concentre themselves within and recollect their forces for the like reason after vehement study or long Contention of the Mind by reason that the Animal Spirits become very much tyred we grow Sleepy yea sometimes serious Meditation and when imployed with Hearing chiefly of Sacred things and great Attention procures an invincible Sleep the reason of which is not that the Spirits are so much consumed or wearied but because they are gathered together in two great heaps in the Brain and so with them too great plenty of the Nervous Humor is poured in whereby the Brain is overflowed Hence also it is that if presently after Eating Reading or Philosophical Lectures be attended to they shall cause Sleep sooner than an Opiat to wit because these more grave Exercises of the Mind both convey more plentifully to the Head the Blood and at the same time the Spirits Concentre together on every side towards the middle Part of the Brain wherefore from the Blood coming to its border a mighty heap of Nervous juice is admitted in by which the Spirits are presently overturned and their spaces stuffed up the contrary happens as often as any one after a full Banquet shall go to the Theatres to see Plays for the Spirits being stretched forth by delectation blow up and distend the Brain so that the coming in of the Sleepy Humor thô heaped up at the Door is kept out Thirdly We may observe that the Animal Spirits when delighted with a soft Harmony are invited inwards from the Organs of the Senses and being there recreated slide into Sleep So a certain Musical and soft modulation of the Voice the gentle murmur of Waters the soft whispering of the Wind also pleasant Fancies as when we Imagine our selves to be in a green Meadow or splendid Houses because by this means the Spirits gently Concentre together Sleep is wont to creep upon one Fourthly There remains another manner of introducing Sleep to wit when the Animal Spirits are oppressed by Narcoticks or Opiats taken inwardly or applied outwardly and so are inhibited the exercise of their Function For Opiats because they Poison the Spirits extinguish their forces as Water poured upon Fire or Sulphur laid on the Kitchin Fire and cause a Torpor or Numness wherefore if they are more largely taken that they cannot be overcome by the Spirits put to flight who by little and little being recollected renew the Systasis of the Soul a deadly or perpetual Sleep follows Fifthly To this rank ought to be referred the Penury or evil Constitution of the Animal Spirits for when they are either deficient in Plenty or are dull and Torpid that they can neither tolerate daily or hard Exercises nor actuate the Brain nor defend it against the Inundations of the serous Humors from thence are wont to be induced a Torpor or Numness and frequent Sleepiness of the Animal Faculty as is to be observed in Dropsical and Scorbutical People but the Consideration of this Kind of Torpor we shall refer to another place where we speak of Soporiferous Diseases 2. Another Kind of evident Causes by which Sleep is introduced consists in this that the Brain is first affected then by its Consent the Animal Spirits being half overthrown betake themselves to rest these Kind of Effects are chiefly brought in when an heap of Serum is poured in upon the Brain from the Blood too much stuffed with a watery Humor which watering it with too much moisture rushes overs its Pores and Passages and as it were drowes the Animal Spirits flowing in them Such an Inundation of Spirits is produced either from a too great taking in of Food whence the Blood swelling up above measure with the nourishing Humor too much puts down upon the Brain the plentiful provision of Nervous Juyce wherefore presently after a more full feeding or drinking men become Sleepy or also the Blood as to its Temper being made more watery moistens the Brain as it were with a perpetual shower and so renders those affected continually Sleepy as is wont to come to pass ordinarily in Dropical and Scorbutical People To these may be added and oftentimes is partly the Cause the imbecillity or weakness of the Brain and the loosness of its Pores so that they gaping too much most easily admit the serous heap whereby Sleepiness is brought in For it is observed That Drunkards especially such as drink Wine fall asleep with it on the least occasion and not only become Drunk but also Drowsie or Sleepy The reason of which is that when the passages of the Brain are more often and untimely unlocked with the Particles of the Wine at length become so feeble that the Blood growing hot above measure pours forth its Recrements upon the Brain and so causes from thence a torpor or stupidness therein These are the chief means whereby Sleep is effected when it is excited by reason of the overflowing of the Nervous juyce and as it were the over-turning of the Animal Spirits But as to these it hath been far otherways taught by the Opinion of the Vulgar to wit that fumes and vapors are raised up from the Chyle or Humors growing hot within the Viscera of Concoction which cloud the Brain and so cause a Numness But this Opinion easily falls since the Circulation of the Blood and the more plentiful Suffufion of it on the Brain have been known and that the rather because a passage from the Stomach into the Head thorow so many Inwards and bony Cloysters like stops seem impervious or not passable for the sending up of fumes Without doubt much the greatest part of the Humor with which the Brain is watered and the Spirits inhabiting it over-turned during Sleep is carried by the Arteries and distilled in immediately from the Mass of Blood But althô we deny vapors elevated from the Stomach to the Head to cause Sleep yet by reason of some affections of the Ventricle it manifestly appears that Sleepiness is induced for as much as Opiats being taken they begin to operate oftentimes presently and before the virtue or any of their Particles can come to the Brain by the passage of the Blood This also appears because we become Sleepy from more gross Meats and of ill Digestion which stay long in the Stomach and burthen it The reason of which seems to be because when as the Corporeal Soul or a principle portion of it is the immediate
moving Parts and drive them into Motions before accustomed to hence the divers movings of the Body and Members are produced But because the tendency of the Spirits excited is made only outwards and is not at all reflected inwards into the streaked and Callous Bodies therefore for that the Common Sensory nor the Imagination are affected they neither perceive nor remember the Actions they had done If it should be demanded for as much as the Common Sense at this time is stupified or asleep by what instinct the Animal Spirits are determined according to the Impressions of Sensible Things for the performing of local Motions of this or that Kind It may be said That this reciprocation of Sense and Motion depends chiefly upon Custom viz. The Spirits being before accustomed to be ordered after this or that manner and having gotten the Liberty of Action in Sleep compose themselves of their own accord for the performing of their wonted Measures even as when an Harper whil'st he is thinking of some other thing his Fingers being before taught the Nâ—mbers of the Tune exactly strike the Strings with wonderful agility and discretion Therefore the Cause of walking in Sleep seems to consist in this viz. That the Animal Spirits are too fierce and unquiet and will not all lye down together but that some of them more fierce than the rest leap forth of their own accord and enter into Motion like as perhaps one or two Dogs starting out without government leave the company of the rest and fall to Hunting For that Cause also the Spirits so apt to wander and roam about for Excursion obtain their more free spaces in the Oblong Marrow nigh the Nervous Original rather than in the Brain or in its middle or marrowie Part. For it seems that during Sleep the Pores and Passages in the globous frame of the Brain are stuffed up so that the Spirits there like to water frozen are thrust in hard together in the mean time the Substance within the Medullar Processes of the Brain and the Oblong Marrow which lead towards the Nervous Original is more loose and possessed less with an adventitious Humour that the Spirits there being ready for Motion easily make way for themselves to go forth and entring the little heads of the Nerves produce local Motions of which the Common Sense and the Superior Faculties of the Soul are utterly ignorant For such a Disposition of the Brain and its Appendix which inclines to wandring by Night as if it depended upon a certain peculiar Conformation of the Organ is proper to some Men from their Birth nor does it indifferently happen to all Men or is ever contracted by the reason of inordinate Living I have known in a certain Family where both the Father and all his Children were obnoxious to this Affection the Brothers would often run up and down in the Night in their Sleep sometimes meet and lay hold upon one another and so awake one another But others who had not this Evil impress'd upon them from their Birth have fallen into this Distemper without any fore-warning or manifest Occasion Thus much concerning Sleep and by the by of Dreams we have largely handled thus the Nature of it because this Speculation very much Conduces to the illustrating the Affections of the Brain and the Nervous Stock It behoves us next that we consider of the Aurora of Sleep to wit Waking but this may be considered under a twofold respect either First for as much as it succeeds Sleep it is its bound or Secondly according to its proper Essence As to the former we Awake or Sleep is shaken off either because it ends of its own accord or because it is interrupted That it may end of its own accord two things are requisite to wit that the Animal Spirits being enough refreshed rise up of their own accord and return to their wonted watches which indeed they for the most part do at a set-time unless hinder'd Secondly That what ever is superfluous of the serous Humor by whose Embraces the Spirits are bound be evaporated for after Banquetting or often Drinking by which a greater plenty of the serous and spirituous Latex is carried to the Brain we Sleep longer so that there is need that Sleep be longer protracted that it may suffice to spew forth the untamed Wine But Rest is very much interrupted by a violent Sensation to wit some Spirits dwelling about the Extremities of the Nerves being awakned by the impulse of some strong object awake others in the Common Sensory whereby Sensation is performed and then the stroke being further continued all being as it were at a Sign given called to Arms awake suddenly and fall to their watches This kind of troublesom Sensation which awakes the Animal Spirits from Sleep is not only brought in from an outward sensible thing as when a great sound or stroke made on the Flesh shakes off Sleep but sometimes the Nervous Parts are pulled by a sharp Humor Physick Worms and other Internal Distempers and so a Convulsion or Pain arising the Spirits are compelled into Motion and for that reason we are excited from Sleep As often as Sleep is broken off sooner than it ought often yawning and reatching for the most part follows the reason of which is because the Spirits being awakned strive by contracting and extending those Parts to shake off the Dewie Humor not sufficiently evaporated from the Brain and Nervous Parts Further If we are forced to awake before the Spirits are refreshed with their wonted Provision they from thence become dull and heavy and less ready for the exercise of the Animal Function As to the Essence or formal Reason of Waking it consists in the liberty and expansion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain and the whole Nervous Stock For these like standing Souldiers desire to watch both to meet the sensible Object also by reason of their obedience towards the Superior Powers of the Soul so long as they are fit for this work But that the Animal Spirits may be able to perform their watches in a just time and with their whole strength it is required that they should be free without any Impediments to wit that they be not irritated with any gross or otherways Excrementitious Humor nor drowned with a serous heap but that being free from all burthen they might remain ready and still nimble for the swiftest Motions Then Secondly That the Spirits may rightly perform their watches there is need that they should be only intangled in moderate Affairs Being fitted by these Kind of defences they lively accomplish their Task and daily for so many hours continue their Motion like the Wheels of a Clock and then the time being expired they go to Rest of their own accord The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART PATHOLOGICAL OR Of the DISEASES which belong to the Corporeal Soul and its Subjects viz. The Brain and the Nervous Stock CHAP. I. Of the Headach THE
pain of the Head is wont to be accounted the chiefest of the Diseases of the Head and as it were to lead the troops of the other Affections of that part for that it is the most common and most frequent symptom to which indeed there is none but is sometimes obnoxious so that it is become a Proverb as a sign of a more rare and admirable thing That his Head did never ake The Headach though it be a most frequent Distemper hath so various uncertain and often a contrary original that it seems most difficult to deliver an exact Theorie of its appearance containing the solutions of so manifold and often opposite things This Disease being constant to no temperament constitution or manner of living nor to no kind of evident or adjoyning causes ordinarily falls upon cold and hot sober and intemperate the empty and the full bellied the fat and the lean the young and old yea upon Men and Women of every age state or condition Hence because they cannot satisfie any one sick with this Distemper with the causes of it most commonly they say they all proceed from Vapours Further the Cure of this Disease is more happily instituted not so much by certain Indications as by trying various things and at length by collecting an Extempory method of Healing from things helping and hurting Wherefore if I should go about to untye this hard knot by drawing forth the matter more deeply and more accurately I must ask for pardon if I am carried by a long compass thorow the various Series and Complication of Causes and if at length by any means the Aeriology or the Reason of this Disease may be fully detected a more certain way to its Cure may be opened Therefore that we may go on more fully to institute this Pathology or shewing the Causes or symptoms of this Disease we ought first of all to unfold the Subject and the formal reason of this Disease together with the Causes and differences then to subjoyn the Curatory method and to illustrate it with some more rare Cases and Observations As to the former as all pain is a hurt or violated Action or a troublesome sension or feeling depending on a Convulsion or a Corrugation of the Nerves the Subject of the Headach are the most nervous parts of the Head that is the Nerves themselves as also the Fibres and Membranes and such as are more and most sensible seated both without and within the skull But the parts of this kind which are affected with pain are first the two Meninges and their various processes the Coats of the Nerves the Pericranium or skin compassing the skull and other thin skinny Membranes the fleshy Panicle of the Muscle and lastly the skin it self As to the Brain and Cerebel and their Medullary dependences we affirm That these Bodies are free from pains because they want sensible Fibres apt to be wrinkled and distended the same for the like reason may be said of the Skull 2. But whensoever pain is excited any where about the nervous parts of the Head its formal reason consists in this That the Animal Spirits being drawn one from another and put to flight cause the containing Bodies to be pulled together and wrinkled and so stir up a troublesome sension or feeling But that which so distracts the Spirits that from thence a troublesome feeling arises is some improportionate thing rushing upon the Spirits themselves or on the Bodies containing them which entring the Pores of and spaces between the Fibres pulls them one from another and so drives the spirits dwelling there into disorder 3. As to the differences of the Headach the common distinction is That the pain of the Head is either without the Skull or within its cavity The former is a more rare and a more gentle disease because the parts above the Skull are not so sensible as the interior Meninges nor are they watered with so plentiful a flood of Blood that by its sudden and vehement incursion they may be easily distended or inflamed above measure Secondly The other kind of Headach to wit within the Skull is more frequent and much more cruel because the Membranes cloathing the Brain are very sensible and the Blood is poured upon them by a manifold passage and by many and greater Arteries Further because the Blood or its Serum sometimes passing thorow all the Arteries at once both the Carotides and the Vertebrals and sometimes apart thorow these or those on the one side or the opposite bring hurt to the Meninges hence the pain is caused that is interior which is either universal infesting the whole Head or its greatest part or particular which is limited to some private region and sometimes produces a Meagrim on the side sometimes in the forepart and sometimes in the hinder part of the Head There are many other differences of this Disease to wit That the Pain is either light or vehement sharp or dull short or of continuance continual or intermitting its approaches sometimes periodical and exact sometimes wandring and uncertain Also by reason of the Conjunct Cause which as shall be declared by and by sometimes is the Blood sometimes certain excrements of it as either the Serum or nourishing juice or vapours or wind sometimes it is the nervous liquor sometimes a congression or striving of it with the bloody liquor The Headach may be called either bloody and that either simple or else serous vaporous or otherways excrementitious or else Convulsive from the humor watering the nervous Fibres and irritating them into painful Corrugations Concerning these that we may proceed methodically we shall rehearse in a certain order the various kinds of this Disease with their Causes and it seems good that we distinguish the Pain of the Head to be either accidental or occasional and habitual The former is wont to be excited without any foregoing cause or previous disposition by the solitary evident cause as when an Headach happens almost to all men after the drinking of Wine Surfetting lying in the Sun or vehement exercise also in the fitts of Feavours to wit forasmuch as the Blood being incited more than it was wont and boiling up immoderately very much blows up and distends the Membranes it passes thorow yea the Serum and Vapors copiously sent forth from it then growing hot and rushing on the Membranes pull and provoke the nervous Fibres Secondly The habitual pain of the Head hath some procatartick or more remote Cause fixed somewhere by reason of which it is troubled either constantly or often so that though it sometimes intermits yet it often returns of its own accord and is excited also upon every light occasion but this whether it be continual or intermitting hath neither always nor only the Suffusions or too great Evaporations of the Blood or Serum for the Conjunct Cause although these are often present where notwithstanding they are rather
instead of the Evident Cause than the Conjunct but beside an evil procatarxis or a certain predisposition is always affixed to the part affected or wont to be distemper'd by reason of which the aforesaid Causes also the inordinations of the Nervous Liquor and the meeting and growing hot of it with the bloody Serum or the Nutritious Juice raise up the fits of pains Although the more remote Cause of the Headach be manifold and diverse so that its several kinds can scarcely be number'd yet for the constituting it these two to wit either one or both of them do chiefly or for the most part lead the way viz. First The evil or weak Constitution of the affected part Secondly Then because of the more easie and ready heaping up of the Morbiâ—ic matter in it As to the former the parts of the Head obnoxious to pains are the Nervous Fibres belonging to the Membranes Tendons the Musculous flesh and other sensible Bodies the Morbid provision of which consists in their evil conformation or debility Of these that the former is sometimes innate and hereditary appears from hence because the Disease is often delivered from the Parents to the Children and seems to be done chiefly by this means because the covering of the Head being made more thick or more close than it ought neither the humors nor the vapours do easily pass thorow wherefore being by these restrained and hindred in their Motion and so heaped up the Meninges Pericranium and other sensible parts being too much stuffed or inflated or hauled receive pains to which happens that sometimes by reason of the original intemperance of the Brain the Humors or Vapours about the parts hanging like an arch over it are variously heaped up together 2. But it more often comes to pass that the Vices of an evil Conformation by which these or those parts of the Head are disposed to the Headach are contracted anew and that by a various kind of production for sometimes by Cold taken by reason of the Northern winds Snow or Rain the Pores of the skin in some region of the Head yea and the nervous Fibres themselves are so closed up or otherwise perverted or weakned that they are not able to bear the outward air nor the agitations of the Blood or Humors but presently the Headach arises Nor is the predisposition of the Headach less rarely produced in the disorderly useing the six not natural things For the Blood being stirred up above measure upon any cause whatsoever impresses by its boyling up or by the insinuation of the Serum or Vapours a breaking of the unity in some nervous parts or some other sort of hurt for which reason as there is a present Headach by and by stirred up so afterwards there is a disposition to the same upon every light occasion But oftentimes a disposition to the Headach not easily blotted out is induced by a vehement Passion Surfeit Drunkenness also by a blow wound or contusion of the Head so that either the proper or excrementitious humors being heaped up and standing in those parts being afterwards moved of themselves or growing hot with other inflowing juices stir up inflations or painful haulings or pullings Yea I have known Inflammations Imposthumes Whelks Scirrhous tumors growing to the Meninges with the Skull and other Diseases of an evil conformation excited in the Membranes of the Brain by which at first for a long time frequent Headaches and most cruel and then afterwards a sleepy and deadly distemper hath been induced the cause of the Disease not detected but after death by Anatomy and indeed it is to be suspected that inveterate and pertinacious pains in the Head which return and dayly become more tormentive in spight of all Remedies depend upon some such invincible cause 2. Not only an evil conformation or the breach of unity but also sometimes a meer weakness or enervation renders some parts of the Head obnoxious to the Head-ach for when as the Fibres are somewhere so infirm that they are neither able of themselves to rule the proper humor nor to resist the incursions of a strange humor the part so disposed by reason of any light occasion is moved into painful wrinklings These kind of debilities of the Fibres sometimes external accidents as the excess of cold or heat sometimes also errors in Dyet or living as Surfeit Drunkenness and especially sleeping at noon moreover great Catarrhs and a long lodging of a sharp Serum are wont to bring in So much for the primary more remote cause of the Headach which is also fixed and rooted The other cause of it secondary and moveable consists in a ready and easie heaping up of the Morbific matter about the predisposed parts from which come the fits of pains and their approaches But as the matter is manifold it is wont to be heaped up after a diverse manner and to excite pains which affect after a diverse sort This as we have said is either the Blood or its Serum or the nourishing Juice or the nervous Liquor Every of these being variously disposed or imbued with feculences or dregs are by degrees heaped up about the predisposed parts of the Head sometimes before the fit and sometimes that coming they are plentifully cast down But sometimes one only humour with its plenitude and acrimony distends or provokes the sensible Fibres sometimes more meeting together by their mutual growing hot pull or haule the Fibres and so stir up painful Convulsions We shall briefly take notice of the several kinds of these with their signs and the manner of their being made When therefore a part of the Head as chiefly the Meninges or some region of the Pericranium is predisposed by reason of an evil conformation or debility to the Headach the approaches or fits of the Disease are wont to be excited by reason of the various incursions or coming together of the following humors sometimes of this sometimes of that humor and sometimes of many together 1. Sometimes the Blood it self being incited into a more rapid motion and boiling up into the Head is straitned or stopp'd in its passage about the predisposed places and from thence being by and by heaped up there distends the Vessels greatly blows up the Membranes and pulls the nervous Fibres one from another and so brings to them painful corrugations or wrinklings For this reason those obnoxious to the Headach are forced to shun all occasions by which the Blood should grow hot above measure as drinking of Wine Exercise Baths c. 2. The Serum being more copiously heaped up in the bloody Mass oftentimes conceives a sudden Flux either of its own accord through meer fulness or stirred up by an evident cause and so presently running forth from the Blood doth not only rush into the Lungs but very often into the Head and being poured upon its Membranes or Muscles is copiously heaped up about the parts predisposed to
the Head-ach and there induces painful Corrugations and Inflations Further the Serum carries with it infestous Recrements as sulphureous saline sharp acid bilous or melancholic or of some other kind and fixes them to the nervous Fibres which cause an acute or dull a shorter or a longer pain The Headaches arising by reason of this kind of remote cause infest more grievously in the Winter time in a moist Air and in a Southern Wind Moreover Catarrhs of the Face Mouth Larynx and of other parts oftentimes accompany this Disease 3. The nourishing Juice or fresh Chyme being carried from the Blood to the solid parts and laid upon them by reason it becomes improportionate to some parts of the Head evilly disposed is wont to excite periodical fits of the Headach For this provision being laid up near some nervous Fibres because it cannot be assimilated begins to trouble them or burthen them after some stay and at length provokes them into wrinklings to expulse that which troubles them An Headach proceeding from such a cause as I have observed in many doth dayly come at so many hours after eating and continues a like space of time yea the times alter according to the manner of taking their repast both as to the quality and quantity and so also the fits of the pains are wont to vary 4. The nervous Liquor is a cause of pains by its inordination as oftentimes in other parts so also not seldom in the Head for this either degenerating from its temper or being imbued with dregs or filthiness does not pass thorow so freely the nervous Fibers but is apt to stagnate and to be heaped up in them to an irritative fulness and that chiefly within the Fibres made weak beforehand or of an evil conformation such as are sometimes the Membranes of the Head because in these predisposed the watering Liquor being hindred in Motion easily arises to an aggravating or provoking fulness so that the Fibres being so filled like the stomach too much crammed enter into Convulsions and painful wrinklings for the putting away their contents nor do they cease from them till they are freed of their burthen which notwithstanding afterwards being heaped up again sometimes sooner and sometimes later cause from thence others and so again other fits of pains The Headach arising from such a cause springs oftentimes without any notable turgescency of the Blood and gently and as it were of its own accord without any errors in dyet or living yet sometimes it may sooner arise by reason of disorders in the non-naturals and other accidents This is wont to come more often in the Morning and after long sleeping when the nervous Fibres have drunk in this humor more largely In the aforesaid Headaches the Morbifick matter is made up for the most part of one singular humor and so the fits of the pains are something more gentle and oftentimes sooner pass over But there is another Cause of this Disease when two humors like divers kinds of Salts meet together and grow mutually hot and so from the strife of dissimilar particles the Fibres are very much pulled and moved into very acute and cutting pains and are most commonly longer infested with them In this case one of the champions is always the nervous liquor but the other either the serous water or the nourishing juice We exempt the Blood because it only washes the passages of the Nerves and does not enter them deeply but the nervous humor by reason of the vices but now recited sometimes of it self pulls the containing Fibres and provokes them into painful Convulsions If that another humor either the Nutritious or Serous for both of them are wont to be guilty being little of kin be plentifully poured upon this so predisposed and copiously heaped up within the Fibres presently all the particles being raised up strive among themselves and so by a mutual effervency notably distend and haule the Fibres that from hence from their being long and greatly wrinkled most sharp and long remaining pains are induced Whether it be this or that humor meeting with the nervous juice that causes the Headach may be easily known from the proper irregularities above described of either peccant humor by it self By what means and for what more remote causes the humors either Nutritious or Serous offend as often as meeting with the Nervous humour contained within the Fibres move the fits of pains shall be declared anon in the mean time I think it sufficiently appears that the more frequent and habitual Headaches are produced chiefly by the fault of the nervous liquor because this is most intimate both with the Fibres themselves which are wrinkled and the Spirits which are moved into painful distractions also because the pains of the Head sometimes arise without any disorder or tumult of the Blood Serum or nourishing Juice and these being emptied or allayed after what manner soever oftentimes the Headach most pertinaciously continues But concerning the nervous Liquor when it is the cause of the Headach we observe that its fault is sometimes universal and sometimes private for sometimes it doth acquire its evil from the distempered part to wit forasmuch as being constrained to subsist or stagnate within the Fibres hurt by their conformation it is so perverted that at length being infested fermenting either by it self or with some other humor it irritates them into painful Corrugations Yet sometimes and especially in the more grievous Headaches we may suppose that the whole Mass of the nervous Liquor is in fault but the nervous parts of the Head partake of its evil before any others in the whole Body because these are the chief and nearest springs of the nervous Liquor and are also highly sensible wherefore the nervous Liquor when ever it is vicious either swelling up of its own accord or growing hot by another humour being poured unto it within the Meninges and other Membranes of the Head more than in the other parts of the Body becomes painful The thing appears to be so because a long and grievous Headach is wont to be Cured not so much by Remedies applyed or proper for the Head as by those which restore the Crasis or Constitution of the nervous Juice and the bloody Mass and such are Chalybeats or Steel Medicines and Antiscorbuticks or Medicines against the Scurvy Which certainly argues that the nervous Liquor where-ever it is in fault thorow the whole Body chiefly punishes the parts of the Head Thus much for the causes of the Headach both the procatartick or foregoing and the Conjunct there yet remain others more remote called Evident which raise up the former and provoke them into act or the painful means of affecting But they are of a various kind and of a divers operation to wit Whatever things are apt first to transfer the Morbific matter from another place into the part affected or secondly to move it before lodging in it
is carried impetuously or inordinately to the Head and the nourishing Juice being half Concocted or depraved is fixed there to the Membranaceous Fibres it causes painful pullings or haulings to follow for hence it is that exercise bathing violent passions reading or any serious intention of the Mind upon a full stomach hurt those troubled with Headaches Sometimes the nutritious Juice is not presently or easily mixed with the Blood but being carried fresh to it by and by stirs up a turgency so that many constantly after eating are troubled with an high Colour and oftentimes also with an Headach This commonly but amiss is imputed to the obstruction of the Liver when indeed it proceeds from an evil disposition of the Blood hardly bearing the mixture of the fresh Chyme Wherefore such a distemper follows for the most part dangerous Feavours and especially the Small Pox and sometimes great Surfeits 4. There yet remains another sort of Evident Causes to wit by which the leading Causes or predispositions to the Headach are actuated plainly different from the former irregularities of the Blood Serum and nourishing juice to wit when Headaches very often most terrible follow by reason of Convulsions begun in other parts and from them continued to the Head 'T is an usual thing for a certain sense or feeling of a Formication or little pricking to creep forward from the Hypochondria as also from the region of the Stomach Mesentery Womb yea sometimes from the Members or outward parts to the Head and by and by sometime after to excite a pain that will last for a good while This kind of Distemper which is wont oftentimes to be the forerunner of the Vertigo also of the Epilepsie or the Apoplexie is commonly believed to be the ascent of Vapours when indeed it is only a Convulsion begun in the extremity of some Nerve which creeping upward towards its original and then coming to the Skull for as much as it either is communicated to the parts within the Head or to the Meninges either one or both of them it stirs up Convulsions or pains Which passions notwithstanding follow this Formication or tingling brought from elsewhere sometimes as a sign and sometimes as the cause We have in another place largely enough unfolded the reason of the former to wit it being shown that when the Morbifick matter possesses the beginnings of the Nerves or the nearest parts to them in the Head a Convulsion oftentimes beginning from the ends of the same Nerves being carried thence upwards towards the places first distemper'd ascends as it were by a creeping forward wherefore not only upon the Vertigo but upon the Headach a Vomiting comes very frequently But further an Irritation in some distant Member or Viscera is sometimes the occasion and in a sort the cause of the Headach to wit when the Morbifick matter is heaped up even to a fulness of Turgency in the part of the Head already disaffected there is need only of a light Vellication or pulling of the Containing Fibres that this matter being stirred should cause a fit of the Disease to which movement it often suffices that by intimate concent of some distant Inward as the Ventricle Spleen or Womb with the Head the nervous Fibres should be pulled or hauled for presently from thence the trouble being communicated by the Nerves some Membranaceous Fibres of the Head being evilly disposed and burthened with the Morbific Matter begin to be strained and wrinkled and so when the Mine of the Disease is moved from its moved Particles the Fibres are urged into grievous and continual Corrugations Headaches that seem to begin after this manner from the Viscera and commonly called Sympathetic are wont to be ascribed to Vapors viz. by supposing a Mine of the noxious humor to lye hid in some Inward from which being moved whilst the Effluvia ascend into the Head and there sharply pierce thorow and pâ—ll the nervous Fibres pains are excited We have already so plainly refuted this doctrine that there is no need here to bring any other reasons to oppose it But in the mean time let us inquire whether pains of the Head do not arise also by other means besides a Convulsive communication thorow the Nerves by reason of the Morbific Cause lodging in the Stomach Spleen and other places Concerning this we may suppose that Matter oftentimes degenerate is heaped up in remote parts which carries its hurt to the Head by the passage or Circulation of the Blood 'T is a usual thing for Corrupt humors viz. sometimes sharp sometimes acid or austere to be heaped up in the Ventricle Bile in the Liver atrabilary or melancholic dregs about the Spleen yea and other sort of degenerate Matter about the Mesentery Womb or other parts from which being heaped up to a fulness of swelling up a Fermentative Miasm or Infection is fixed to the Blood from which that being as it were imbued with rage impetuously grows hot and partly by its swelling up and partly by transferring what is incongruous into the Membranes of the Head stirs up fierce and cruel fits of pains As to the Ventricle that it is so some obnoxious to this Disease have plain experience Because some of them after the Bile or Choler flowing in the Stomach and others after a noted soureness and ravenous hunger most certainly expectia fit of the Headach The reason of which seems partly to be that those contents of the Ventricle being supped up by the Blood make it hot and stir up in the same a Cephalic Turgency or swelling up moreover from this kind of sharp Vitriolick or otherways infestous matter being heaped up and moved within the Stomach a Convulsion or Corrugation very troublesome is impressed on the Fibres and the extremities of the Nerves there inserted which immediately being continued into the Head by the passages of the same Nerves of the eighth pair and of the Intercostal is communicated to the Membranes and the nervous Fibres predisposed to painful wrinklings By reason of the same Reciprocal Communication between the Stomach and the Head a nauseousness and Vomiting as we said but now follows upon the Headach viz. the Membranes being stirred up into painful wrinklings by the Morbifick matter even as is wont by a blow or wound and transferring the evil by the passage of the Nerves to the Ventricle guiltless of it self a vain endeavour of Vomiting sometimes arises nothing remaining within the Ventricle that should be cast forth yet sometimes from a cruel shaking of the Inwards in striving to Vomit the Gallish or Pancreatick humor either one or both of them being thrust forth into the Duodenum and cast forth by Vomit is ignorantly taken for the Cephalick matter 2. The pains of the Head are wont to be imputed no less to the Spleen than the Ventricle and indeed 't is ordinarily observed in Hypochondriacks obnoxious also to this Disease when a Pain
lawful to declare the event of the Disease either safe or very dangerous or wholely uncertain Truly if any one enjoying formerly a perfect Health should fall into something a cruel Headach and of some long standing by reason of a more strong Evident Cause as drinking of Wine Surfeit Venus immoderate Exercise or such like forasmuch as the fore leading Morbid Cause is not as yet firmly laid we may pronounce such a Distemper to be safe enough and not pertinacious But if the Morbific disposition should be inveterate so that for many years the fits repeat often of their own accord and upon every light occasion this though not dangerously sick yet we predict it not easie to be Cured Further the Cure will be yet more difficult if Hypochondriack or Hysterical Distempers oftentimes troublesome are oft wont to excite the Headach at every turn or if the taint of an inveterate Venereal Disease be rooted in any distemper'd part If that the pain of the Head shall be not only inveterate but almost continual that we might suspect it to arise from an Inflammation or a Scirrhous Tumour an hot Swelling an Imposthum or Worms there is none or very little hope of Cure especially because the sick will refuse great remedies as Salivation or opening the Skull which if they be made use of perhaps at any time with any fruit or success yet the former and this two for the most part are wont to be tedious to the sick before they can effect any thing worth the trouble and expectation The pain of the Head either Continual or Periodical if it be great and hath joyned with it a Vertigo Vomitting or other Convulsive or Soporiferous Distempers shews a suspicion of great danger even which often passes into a deadly Apoplexie and not seldom into an Epilepsie Palsie Blindness Deafness and other funestous and incurable Diseases The Curatory method of the Headach comprehends many Indications and those of a various kind according to the manifold Species Causes and differences of this Disease which will not be an easie thing here to set down and rehearse in order The accidental Pain of the Head with the remote Evident Cause and its consequences ceases for the most part of its own accord or at least is taken away by letting of Blood Rest and Sweat The habitual Pain by reason of the diversity of Causes viz. both the Procatartick and also the Conjunct suggests also different intentions of Healing we shall here briefly touch upon the chief of these and to which all the rest may be placed In every habitual Headach whether Continual or Intermitting there are two chief scopes or intentions of Cure to be met with to which all the other Curatory intentions ought to be aimed and by which we should provide against either Cause of the Morbid Procatarxis 1. To wit in the first place that all the Tinder or inkindling of the Disease be cut off you must endeavour that both the matter flowing to the distempered places of the Head or those evilly disposed or apt from thence to flow to them be supprest or called from thence to another place then moreover that Convulsions in other places excited and that are wont to be propagated from thence into the Head be prevented 2. Then secondly it must be indeavoured if it may be done that the Disease it self or its Conjunct Cause may be rooted out that the places of the Head predisposed to Headaches whether they be only enfeebled or hurt in their Conformation whilst they are defended from the frequent Excursions of the infestous matter may recover their former state and vigour Which kind of Indication though it be very seldom suddenly or wholely performed yet sometimes the Cure is by degrees laboured out by diligence and care however fixed and rooted the Morbid matter be As to what appertains to the first scope of healing which is first and especially to be regarded we said that the Matter or Humours which are wont to be gathered together about the parts of the Head predisposed to the Headach and to excite the fits of the Disease are either the Blood or the Serum or the nourishing or nervous Juice or Liquor Moreover with every one of these Vapours and Effluvia's as also Recrements sometimes Bilous sometimes Melancholic sometimes Acid Salt Sulphureous and of some others of a various kind taken into the Blood from the Viscera sometimes from those and sometimes from these we have shewed to be transferred by its passages into the Headâ— against the force and incursion of all these Medicinal fortifications are to be instituted 1. And in the first place if the leading cause to pains or a disposition thereto lye about the Membranes of the Head for that the Blood being hot and apt to rise up rushes by heaps into the Membranes of the Head and when it cannot easily pass thorow them distending the Vessels above measure and pulling the nervous Fibres excites the fits of this Disease whose signs are a Sanguine temperament heat and a flushing or redness about the head and face also an high pulse and shaking with veins distended with Blood presently it must be endeavoured both that the Blood be made more sedate that it may not be so readily moved into rage or swelling up as also that it be not incited and boiling up may not be carried with a greater tendency or inclination into the Head than into other parts nor in like manner be compelled to stagnate by reason of the bosomes of the Meninges being too full Wherefore if the fit infests long let blood in the Arm or the Jugular Vein out of the fit sometimes it is expedient to take Blood from the Sedal Veins with Leeches to wit by this means that the Blood by chance boiling up may be brought down towards that place to which it often tends of its own accord Let there be Medicines of Vinegar Rosecakes and Nutmeg or some other Epithems or Medicines of the same nature applyed to the Head Also give to drink Iuleps Emulsions or Decoctions which allay the fervour or madness of the Blood Let the Belly be cooled and kept soluble by the use of Clysters Moreover for prevention use at times Whey or Spaw-waters also drinking of Water a thin and a cooling diet help the shunning of Wine spiced Meats Baths Venus violent motions of the mind or body yea and of all hot things is to be ordered Then for the fixing of the Blood its Effervescencies or growing hot must be prevented for which Distilled Waters Juices of Herbs or Decoctions Electuaries Powders and especially Crystal Mineral are in frequent use There is no need here to add a method or particular forms of Medicines when in this case almost every body labouring is wont to be his own Physician being taught by frequent experience from things hurting or helping 2. It is rarely that the Blood alone or only by it self is
in the fault more often other humors being carried by its passage to the Head and there disposed cause the hurt Therefore when ever the Serous Colluvies or heap goes out from the Blood as was shown but now it causes Headaches frequently the signs of which are Catarrhs about other parts viz. the Nose Mouth or Throat being infested with them then abstinency and rest is to be ordered and that the belly be emptied by a Clyster for the allaying the flux of the Serum and that the matter be suffered to evaporate from the Membranes of the Head if these do not succeed and that the Headach ceases not quickly and of its own accord oftentimes in a more hot Constitution Phlebotomy is convenient to wit because the Vessels being emptied of Blood sup up the extravasated Serum But in frigid tempers Vesicatories or Blisters are of notable use applied to the hinder-part of the Head or nigh the Ears Then after the Belly is emptied by a Clyster the Flux may be allayed by the use of Anodynes or more gentle opiats that being allayed it may be convenient to exhibit a gentle Purge then Medicines which either move by Urine or Sweat or by both together that so they may gently evacuate the superfluous Serosities Medicines fit for this purpose may be every where found in Books which notwithstanding are not to be made use of by Empericks rashly and without distinction but ought to be designed according to the judgment and skill of a prudent Physician always having a respect to the Constitution the temperament and proper disposition of the Patient and to other accidents and circumstances and to be compounded or altered according as the matter requires yea sometimes to be prescribed extempore Wherefore since it will be altogether needless here to heap up many Receipts and a great pile of Medicines it shall be sufficient to propose in this place one or two forms only of every sort of Medicines respecting the chief intentions Take Pills of Amber half a dram Resine of Ialap four grains of Peruvian Balsam what will suffice to make four Pills let three be taken when the Patient goes to sleep and the other in the morning if they work not enough Or Take of sulphurated Scammony half a scruple of the Ceruse of Antimony fifteen grains of the Cream of Tartar eight grains make a Powder to be taken in a spoonful of Grewel early in the morning Take of the Sulphur of Antimony four grains of the Refine of Ialap five grains of the Cream of Tartar six grains bruise them together and with what will suffice of the Conserve of Violets make a Bolus to be taken early in the morning with care or by government Take of the Roots of Butchers-Broom Burdocks Cherefoil Avens each one ounce of preserv'd Eryngo an ounce and an half of the Florentine Iris three drams of the lesser Galangal a dram and an half of the Seeds of Burdock three drams of the dryed leaves of Betony Sage Vervine female Betony each half an handful of Raisins of the Sun stoned two ounces boil these in four pints of fair water till a third part be consumed then add to it of white Wine half a pound strain it and sweeten it if need be with syrup of the Five Roots two ounces take of this six ounces warm twice or thrice in a day a good while after meals For such as are indued with a more Cold and Phlegmatick Constitution the like Decoction of the Wood of Guaicum Sasafrass Sarsaparilla with the addition of the aforesaid Ingredients make an Apozem of which take six or eight Ounces twice or thrice in a day warm For the poor and oftentimes with good success for the rich I was wont to prescribe a Decoction of the dry'd leaves sometimes of Sage or Betony Vervine or Rosemary made of Spring-water and impregnated with the tincture of the Powder of the Berries of Coffee taken warm twice a day about six or eight Ounces 3. If that with the running out Serum Saline Acid Bilous or otherways Infestous particles received either wholely from the Mass of Blood or by its means from the Viscera are carried into the Membranes of the Head and being there fixed bring forth great acute and continual pains then it will be convenient to iterate spareingly the taking away of Blood yea and sometime a gentle Purge to apply cooling Medicines Anodynes and sweetners to the distemper'd places so oftentimes also to exhibite more gentle Hypnoticks or Medicines causing sleep at every turn also Apozems and the Juices of Herbs pressed forth which allay the fervour of Choler carry it forth gently by Stool or Urine and are of known use but in the mean time more sharp Medicines or the more strong whether they be purgative working by Sweat or Urine helping it for that they too much fuse and shake the Blood and Humors are carefully to be shunned I have frequently observed in those labouring with an acute and pertinacious pain in the Head the Serum swimming in the Blood being let forth to be dyed with a yellowness or Bilous Recrements being boiled in it also in this case let Phlebotomy be sparingly but often celebrated and the drinking Whey or Spaw-waters plentifully have helped before any thing else 4. Further by the fault of any Inward as the Stomach Liver Spleen or Womb or of any other by reason of the transmission of an evil Ferment the parts of the Head suffer then in the Cure of the Disease Remedies for the Spleen are to be given with Cephalicks or such as are proper to the Head Hence the Stomach being also in the fault these often times are helpful to such as are troubled with Headaches Elixir Proprietatis the Elixir of Vitriol of Mynsich the sacred Tincture Vitriol of Steel the Powder of Aron Compound and others ordinarily had for the Stomach for others whose heads partake of the evils of the Spleen Chalybeats or Medicines made of Steel often yield help Some Women troubled with Headaches have felt ease from Hysterical Remedies In like manner when the vices of other parts contribute to the Head-ach let there be joyned with the former shown you things to be taken for those parts 5. Sometimes the nourishing Juice as we showed already is the cause of the periodical Headach viz. forasmuch as this being poured on the Blood and not rightly assimilated by reason of disagreeing particles causes a swelling up in it so that the Blood boiling up into the Head carries its leavings or superfluities into the Meninges or into some of their predisposed parts and by this means stir up the Fibres into painful Convulsions I have known many for this cause to have been obnoxious to dayly Headaches whose Mass of Blood hath been vitiated after the Small Pox Measels and other Feavours and sicknesses viz. so many hours after eating sometimes sooner and sometimes later first a flushing of redness in the
from the Head being carefully administred profited nothing so that death soon followed His Skull being opened the Vessels leading to the Meninges were full of Blood and very much distended as if the whole Mass of Blood had flowed thither so that the bosoms being dissected and opened the Blood presently rushing forth flow'd to the weight of several ounces above half a pint Further the Membranes themselves being distemper'd thorow the whole with a fiery Tumor appeared discoloured These coverings being taken away all the infoldings of the Brain and of its Ventricle were full of a clear water and its substance being too much watred was wet and not firm Without doubt in this case the incursion of the heated blood into the Meninges and the heaping of it up there exciting the Phlgemon or fiery swelling was the cause of the Headach and of the following Delirium Then the Blood being accumulated there when it could not circulate flung from it self plenty of Serum by which the whole inward part of the Head was over-flowed so that the Disease at first perhaps curable by Phlebotomy from thence afterwards became mortal I remember another Academick who after a long Headach under the temporal Suture tormenting him perpetually for three weeks together immediately fell into a deadly Apoplexie His Head being opened a fiery swelling had grown in the Meninges near the place where the pain was from which being ripened and broke the filthy bloody matter falling on the Brain had distemper'd its substance with a rottenness and blackness Besides these invincible causes detected by Anatomy I observed more chances after the same manner as of other sick people by which we may conclude its Aetiology to be the same or very near of kin with the signs and symptoms of the like nature and but now described But although a continual Headach especially if it be without intermissions for many weeks is not without danger yet we ought not therefore to despair of its Cure because the cause of this how fixed and immoveable soever it seem oftentimes by the long use of Medicines and sometimes without them is helped by Nature and time however in a case almost desperate there is need of some Medicines lest the present Distemper should pass into a worse to wit a Soporiferous or Convulsive Thus much for a Continual Headach it now remains that we should propose some more rare examples and instances of the Intermitting Therefore that we may let alone here the Headaches whose fits being wandring and uncertain proceed from the Blood or Serum rushing on the distemper'd places as cases very well known and commonly seen we shall now shew you now some select Observations of this Disease either periodical or caused by the consent of some Inward As to the first we have shown the periodical fits of the pains of the Head to be produced by the nutritious Humor or by the nervous Juice we shall now shew you Examples of either A venerable Matron of about forty five years of Age of a lean habit of Body and indued with a Cholerick Temper after she had lived for a long time obnoxious to Headaches wont to be caused occasionally she began about the beginning of Autumn to be troubled with a periodical pain of the Head This Distemper invading her about four of the Clock in the Afternoon was wont to continue till midnight when being wearied with pain and watching she was compelled to sleep then afterwards awaking out of a profound sleep she found her self well again She being sick after this manner for three weeks suffered the daily fits of this Disease and forbore to take any Medicine which she greatly abhorr'd but at length her Appetite being lost and her strength worn out being forced to seek for Cure after letting blood and a gentle Purge she took twice a day for a week or two the quantity of a Chestnut of the following Electuary and grew perfectly well Take of the Conserve of the Flowers of Succory and Fumitory each three ounces of the Powder of the Root of Aron Compound two drams and a half of Ivory one dram and a half of yellow Sanders and of Lignum Aloes each half a dram of the Salt of Wormwood one dram and a half of Vitrial of Steel one dram of the Syrup of the Five Roots what will suffice to make an Electuary In this Case that after a disposition to the Headach the fits of the Disease became at length periodical after the manner of intermitting Feavours the cause without doubt was the assimilation of the Chyme or nourishing Humor into Blood being hindred because when its provision being received into the Mass of Blood could not be overcome it was wont after a little stay to disagree and with its particles to grow hot therefore presently the Blood swelling up that it might shake off the incongruous mixture laid aside its recrements as in other parts so especially and with a greater sense of trouble into the before weak Fibres of the Meninges or hurt in their conformation This Matter being poured on the Head or rushing of it self thorow the sensible Fibres or growing hot with the Juice watering them raised up the fit of the pain but now described which continued until the heterogeneous particles growing hot with their mutual coming together were either subdued or exhaled A very comely Woman tall and slender being for a long time grievously obnoxious to distempers of the Head was wont sometimes to be troubled for many days yea weeks every day as soon as she awaked in the Morning with a most Cruel Head-ach afflicting her for three or four hours and in the mean time she was vexed with a weight of her whole Head a numness of her sences and a dulness of mind which kind of Distemper together with the pain like discussed Clouds vanished before noon and left her quiet and calm Then again the next morning it possessed her Head like a dark Cloud For the Curing of it I prescribed the use of Purging Pills Phlebotomy sparingly besides a Blistering and Spirits of Harts-horn or of Sut with Cephalic Juleps or Waters That in this Lady otherways than in the other sick Lady the pains of the Head rather followed after sleep than were healed by it the reason seems to be because in this morning Headach the Morbific Matter resided in the nervous Juice whose more notable crudity and fuller aggestion about the Head happen immediately after sleep as we have elsewhere shown at large But the other Evening fits of this Disease depended upon the fulness and swelling up of the nourishing Liquor within the bloody Mass and therefore happening so many hours after dinner was not allayed but by sleep which quiets the disorders of the Blood It doth no less clearly appear that the fits of the Headach do arise sometimes by consent from other parts viz. the Womb Spleen Stomach c. and though the complaints and
the experience of the sick declare it to arise from Vapors yet from the Histories of them and their appearances rightly weighed 't is most clear that this proceeds from another reason than from Vapors carried to the Head from the distempered inward And in the first place as to the pains of the Head that seem to arise from the Womb there is nothing more frequent than that upon the suppression of the Monthly Flowers or the Lochia after being brought to bed or as they call it the flooding for cruel Headaches to succeed Further although the Terms do rightly flow yet some at the instant of its flowing others at the stopping of the same are wont to be troubled with a cruel pain of the Head But indeed though at the same time as the Head the Womb also is distemper'd however it doth not follow that the evil is transferred from hence thither immediately but the Blood it self which fixes the Morbific Matter to the Head carries it sometimes begotten in its proper bosom and destinated to the Womb wrongfully into the Meminges of the Brain and sometimes snatching it from the parts of the Womb delivers it with greater malice to the Head This same reason may also serve for the Headach commonly attributed to the Stomach Spleen and other parts A beautiful and young Woman indued with a slender habit of body and an hot Blood being obnoxious to an hereditary Headach was wont to be afflicted with frequent and wandring fits of it to wit some upon every light occasion and some of their own accord that is arising without any evident cause On the day before the coming of the spontaneous fit of this Disease growing very hungry in the Evening she eat a most plentiful Supper with an hungry I may say greedy appetite presaging by this sign that the pain of the Head would most certainly follow the next Morning and the event never failed this Augury For as soon as she awaked being afflicted by a most sharp torment thorow the whole forepart of her Head she was troubled also with Vomiting sometimes of an Acid and as it were a Vitriolick Humor and sometimes of a Cholerick and highly bitterish hence according to this sign this Headach is thought to arise from the vice of the Stomach That I may render a reason of this first it appears that a Vomiting will succeed a hurt upon the Head to wit after a blow or wound or a fall yet a pain of the Head rarely or never follows upon Vomiting the pain of the Heart or the Stomach any otherways labouring unless the Blood comes between Wherefore in the aforesaid case of the sick person as it appears plainly that the Meninges of the Brain were before disposed to Headaches its fits were stirred up by every agitation of the Blood hence it is obvious to be conceived when the heterogeneous particles are heaped up together to a fulness in the bloody Mass by reason of the vice of the Chyle presently a flux of it arising for the expulsion of the trouble those being but evilly match'd being separated by the Blood and partly poured forth out of the Arteries into the Ventricle do raise up its Ferment and so produce hunger and partly rushing into the predisposed Meninges of the Head do there dispose the tinder or rather incentive of the Headach about to follow This sick Gentlewoman averse to all Physick when she would undergo no method of Medicine at length became obnoxious also to Paralytick and Convulsive distempers Out of these it will be easie to design the reason of every other Headach viz. of the Hypochondriac Hepatic or otherways Sympathetical so that there need not here to be added any more Histories or Observations CHAP. III. Of the Lethargy THUS far we have described by what Disease chiefly and after what sort the out-skirts of the Head or the coverings of that enclosed within the Skull are wont to be affected and now descending to its more internal part and which lyes next to the Cortical or shelly substance we shall see to what distempers this part is found to be chiefly obnoxious We have shew'd at large in another place that the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain is the seat of the Memory and the porch of sleep wherefore we rightly referr the Disease which is wont to cause an excess of sleep and an eclipse or defect of memory to wit the Lethargy to that Cortical part of the Brain The word Lethargy is wont to signifie two sorts of Distempers which are as it were the act and the disposition of this Disease for those who are said to labour with this Disease or are sick of its great assaults are overwhelmed with so great sleepiness that they can scarce be excited by any impression of a sensible object yea if by chance being prick't or pinch't they open their Eyes or move their members presently they let them fall again and become insensible and oftentimes when left to themselves indulging a perpetual sleep by an easie transition they pass into death it self whose type this Disease is which kind of fits have often a Feavour joyned with them which when the sick awake and return perfectly to themselves for the most part ceases of its own accord Or secondly they are accounted Lethargical who being oppressed with an immoderate torpor or numness of the senses are found to be almost ever prone to sleep so that in the midst of a journey yea at dinner or though busied about any thing they presently fall into a drousieness But as there are diverse degrees and various manners of this sleepy distemper so also they constitute the various kinds of this Lethargick disposition We shall for the present speak first of the former Lethargy and properly so called and afterwards of continual Sleepiness also of the Coma Caro and other soporiferous Diseases akin to it and likewise of Continual Waking In the mean time it is to be noted that almost in every kind of Lethargy there is always as its Pathognomick sign a Torpor or Sleepiness and oblivion or forgetfulness Those who suffer the more grievous fits of this Disease if they are awakened by any force in their declination forget all things nor are they able to remember their own nor the names of their Friends also those who have drunk more sparingly of this forgetful cup as much as they are proclive to Sleep so much are they deficient in Memory so that they forget late actions and oftentimes repeat things done and very often ask the same questions As to the other faculties as Reason Phantasie the sensitive and loco-motive powers the failings or defects of them are proportionate according to the enormities of Sleep and Memory Wherefore that the formal reason and the causes of the Lethargy may be the beter known we should here first of all discourse concerning sleep and oblivion and for what causes they are excited But having already
discoursed concerning the former of these we shewed that the essence of Sleep did consist in the corporeal souls withdrawing it self by little and little and contracting the sphere of its irradiation left destitute and as it were shut forth of doors the outmost compass of the Brain or its shelly part and so the exterior and all the organs of sense and motion from the emanation of the spirits so that they for refreshment sake being called inward lye down and give themselves to rest in the mean time the Pores and passages of the outward part of the Brain being free and empty from the excursions of the spirits are prepared for the coming of the nervous Liquor stilled forth from the Blood for a new provision of Spirits In accustomed and natural Sleep these two causes conspire and happen together as it were out of a certain mutual compact of Nature viz. at the same time the Spirits give place the nervous Humor enters but in unnatural sleep or that which is extraordinary sometimes this cause and sometimes that is the former for the Spirits being wearied or called away first withdraw themselves and so offer an entrance to the nervous humor heaped up before the doors or else the nervous humor driving to those places more plentifully and as it were making its way by force repels the Spirits and entring into their passages does as it were drown them we have particularly assigned the various occasions of either of these and after what manner they come to pass Concerning the eclipse or desect of the Memory we need not speak much here because it is wholely from the same cause as immoderate Sleep to wit the exclusion and an interdiction for a time of the passing up and down of the Animal Spirits from the exterior passages of the Brain full of some humor Preternatural Sleep or an insatiable sleepiness which is the chief symptom in the Lethargy and sleepy Diseases seems to arise wholely from the same causes as non-natural Sleep carried forth only with greater force or energy to wit either the Animal Spirits being first distemper'd leave the outward compass of the Brain and give an entrance not only to the nervous but to the serous and some other vicious Humor or else the superfluous and excrementitious humors together with the nervous break thorow the cortical doors of the Brain and as it were overflowing its Pores and passages drive thence and repel the Spirits sometimes this is chiefly the cause sometimes the former and sometimes both together We shall first speak of that which is the more frequent cause of the Lethargy to wit the eruption of either too much or too incongruous humor upon the confines of the Brain and then afterwards of the departure of the Spirits from the affected part I have often found by Anatomical observation that the Lethargy doth arise from the Serous heap rushing into the outward infoldings of the Brain and entering into its Pores and Cortical passages for in many dead of this Disease I found the spaces between the foldings of the Brain full of clear water yea and its outmost substance soft and infirm from too much wet moreover in some I found the interior cavities swelled with water and the whole frame of the Brain overflowed with a Dropsie or rather a flood When therefore in a great and mortal Lethargy it hath appeared that it has been after this manner we may well suspect in a lesser and cureable sleepiness that the out-borders of the Brain are at least too much watered with humor and the tracts of the Spirits overflowed especially if there appear any signs of water or of Serum abounding about other parts of the Head A grievous sleepiness is wont to be excited not only from the Serum being too much or from the over plenty of any other Morbific humor but sometimes from its malignity for it often happens that a certain infestous and virulent matter is instilled from the Flood into the Brain which entering the Pores of the Cortical substance profligates the Spirits and either extinguishing them or driving them away inwards so that this region being left destitute of them a sleepiness and forgetfulness succeeds There is none almost who hath not taken notice that this often happens in malignant and ill handled Feavours also in the Scorbutick Cachexie the Yellow Iaundice and certain other Chronical Diseases oftentimes a sluggish and vapid or tastless water is sent in instead of the subtil and spirituous nervous Juice that is the parent of forgetfulness and of sleepiness This Conjunct Cause of the Lethargy to wit the heaping up of too much Humor or too incongruous within the shelly part of the Brain depends upon other Causes to wit more remote leading causes and also evident causes As to the former they are wont to be in fault both when the Blood supplies the distemper'd part with Morbific matter and also because that the Brain it self too easily admits it For indeed the Blood transfers to the Head in some a great quantity of a watery humor and in others of a salt or scorbutical humor also again in others excrementitious humors and deadly to the animal government sometimes taken from these bowels and sometimes from those and as occasion serves instills them together with the nervous Juice out of the Arteries on the outer borders of the Brain and there by little and little insinuating this kind of Morbific Matter by a long congestion causes a dark cloud or else by a sudden transportation of it overflows at once all the outward part of the Brain and drives away the inhabiting Spirits like a Sea breaking in and compels them to run more inwardly But indeed the Morbific Matter how copiously or infestous soever it be and poured on the Head doth not induce the Lethargic Distemper unless the very weak or vicious constitution of the Brain be also in fault for if this be strong and of good temper it easily resists the assaults of all those yea it bears without hurt the errors and enormities in thâ— six non-naturals Those who have this part too humid or too cold as Children and old Men also those distempered with Cacochymical Humors the Dropsie Scurvy or Humors gathered about the mouth of the Stomach are very prone to sleep and sometimes fall from a stronger Evident Cause into a continual drowsiness Besides those who have a weak Brain and their Pores too lax or open that by that means the feculencies obtruded from the Blood find a more easie passage often become obnoxious to sleepiness yea and to the Lethargy for such as are given to Surfeiting and Drunkenness are wont presently after to fall asleep which weakens the tone of the Brain and fill and too much open its Pores with a crude and filthy Juice so that when it hath been for a long time accustomed by reason of these occasions to admit into them the Serous superfluities it afterwards refuses
nothing brought to it but that its passages like a course or wide strainer suffers all the grosser particles both Saline watery and earthy easily to pass thorow them Besides these more remote leading causes which become the act of the stirred up Morbific there are more strong Evident Causes for so great danger does not hang over the Brain as that its whole compass should be invaded from every morbid provision nor upon every light occasion But there are many and diverse occasions by which the sleepy assaults are seen to be incited the chief of these are great Surfeits Drunkenness especially of Wine or the Drinking immoderately of Strong-waters then after such excess to lye all night or sleep in the open Air further an evacuation of the Serum by otherways after having been long suppressed also if Spaw-waters being drunk in a larger quantity and not again render'd presently by Urine threaten a Lethargy And so also do recrements of other Diseases either not well or not at all Cured being translated to the Head so as a continual sleepiness often happens after acute Feavours or such as continue long and other Chronical Diseases and especially the Headach Frensie Empyema or collection of gross Humors upon the Lungs and the Colick Thus much of the Lethargy whose assault proceeds from the Cortex or shelly part of the Brain being affected to which succeed either an eclipse or an exclusion of the Spirits there inhabiting with a sleepiness and oblivion But as non-natural sleep so sometimes what is preternatural begins from the Spirits being first dejected and which is usual to succeed another Cause It is obvious to any one that this ordinarily happens from more strong Opiates without any previous flood or stopping of the cortical part of the Brain for it is not probable that Narcoticks stir up the Humors and send them to the Brain when it plainly appears that all the effervescences and flowings of these are allayed by them But if it should be asked after what manner and by what means Opiates cause sleep and sometimes a deadly Torpor or sleepiness we say That this Medicine is a certain kind of poison beating down or extinguishing the Animal Spirits by its blasting the Blood and solid parts in the mean time being almost untouch'd Wherefore when the Animal Spirits become raging and as it were struck with madness running hither and thither and will not be quieted and allayed Opiates being administer'd like water flung upon a flame destory some of the outmost bands of them so that the rest being lessened and flying inwards quietly lye down We have at large discoursed of these things in a particular Tract Of the Operations of Medicines on the Humane Body For the present we shall note which is to the purpose that Narcoticks or Medicines causing rest being taken at the mouth do put forth their powers partly in the Ventricle and indeed immediately and partly in the Brain both that and the Mass of Blood mediating By what means Narcoticks do operate whilst in the Ventricle and provoke sleep we have shewn Chap. XV. When they are moderate in either province they gently intoxicate some unquiet Spirits and so immediately quiet the rest but if any one takes Opiates in too large a Dose he shall presently feel hurt both in the Ventricle and in the Brain and a little after being insensible shall suffer a greater evil in either to wit a mighty heaviness and as it were an immoveable weight in the Stomach which seems to opress both it and the neighbouring parts indeed by this sign the Fibres of this place the Spirits which before actuated them being broken become without life and as it were dead then by reason of the Opiate particles being carried about with the Blood to the frame or compass of the Brain and instilled into its Cortical or shelly part the Spirits being driven away from thence or extinguished an irresistable and oftentimes a deadly sleep follows yea I have sometimes known from a more grievous hurt inflicted on the Ventricle only by the use of a more strong Narcotic Death it self to have followed before sleep could creep upon them coming by a long way about A strong man vexed with a most cruel Colick for ease sake whilst a Physician was sent for took rashly a great quantity of Opium a little after he had taken it he complained of a great burthen oppressing and mightily weighing down the Ventricle His Friends and the by-standers gave him Cordial waters Wine and Strong-Waters but without any ease This oppression creeping wider ahout the Precordia raised up pains and swoonings but still being awake and constant in mind he cryed out that his spirits more and more failed him till about three hours after complaining that his sight was gone he presently dyed But that we may return to the Lethargy as it is a Disease and not the effects of Opium whence we digressed concerning which we are yet to enquire whether it may arise from a Narcotick Humor begotten in us as some Chymists assert We shall tell you our conjecture that we think this 't is sufficiently plain that there are other sorts of Morbific particles produced in our Bodies than those commonly called Elementary and Humoral and that they do affect after a various manner viz. besides the Watery Earthly Bilous Phlegmatick or Melancholic we may find others Vitriolick Nitro-sulphureous and others participating of enormous Sulphurs and Salts and active to our evil The Convulsive Pathology can by no other means be delivered and explained unless by supposing that some extraneous little bodies and as it were Nitro-sulphureous which sticking to the Spirits and at last cast off by them stir up the Explosive that is Convulsive force In like manner we may think that others of another nature may perhaps be begotten such as are of a Sulphureous Vitriolick or Narcotick nature which when they creep into the Brain and nervous Stock fall upon some Animal Spirits which they by chance do meet with extinguishing and fixing them ordinarily induce their losses and eclipses such as happen in the Vertigo Apoplexy or Palsie as we shall more fully shew hereafter In like manner in a great fit of the Lethargy though it be improbable that these kind of Narcotick particles should be in heaps derived from the Blood into the Brain in so great a quantity that they should at once overturn the spirits dwelling in its whole precincts and fix them yet we may believe that this may be some part of the Cause Wherefore in every long sleepiness or Lethargick disposition we do suspect the Animal Spirits to be burthened with such a Lethaean Copula and that we should direct the darts of every Medicine against it Thus much concerning the formal reason subject and causes of the Lethargy properly so called the summ of all which is That the Animal Spirits the inhabitants of the exterior Brain being hindred from their wonted
it self by reason of some foregoing cause before lying in the Blood or Brain then a Vomit or Purge being given at the beginning when the matter is flowing doth oftentimes more hurt than good because the Humors whilst in motion are more shaken and agitated and when they cannot be subdued and brought away they drive them into the distempered part On the second day if the numness doth not remit let Phlebotomy be repeated if the Pulse shew it fitting or else instead thereof take forth blood from the Shoulders after Scarification by Cupping Glasses then a little after if nothing hinders let a Vomit or Purge be administred Take of the Sulphur of Antimony five grains of Scammony sulphurated eight grains of the Cream of Tartar six grains mingle them make a Powder let it be given in a spoonful of the afore prescribed Iulep Or Take of Scammony sulphurated twelve grains of the Cream of Tartar fifteen grains of Castor three grains make a Powder and let it be given after the same manner In the mean time let altering Medicines or such as derive the matter from the place the same or such like be still continued On the third day and afterwards ought to be applied such things which are forbid at the beginning of the Disease for fear of a new Fluxion viz. Errhines or things that Purge the Head at the Nose Sneezing Medicines or Powders Apophlegmatisms or Medicines which draw the Humors from the head by the mouth Further it is then sometimes expedient to apply the warm intrails of some animal new killed to the forepart of the Head after the hair is clipped or shaven off and often changed also sometimes to foment those places with a Discussing and Cephalick Decoction or Fomentation but before all other Topicks I have known great help brought from a large Vesicatory or Blistering with many running sores made all over the compass of the Head I saw two sick with the Lethargy after the Disease held long and that not only the Memory but almost all knowledge was lost Cured chiefly by this Remedy for in both of them the â—â—eyed places when they could not be easily covered poured forth great plenty of thin matter about half a pint every day It will not be needful to set down any more Medicines of this nature being commonly and every where to be had it now remains that we illustrate what we have said with some Histories of sick people which I shall here add A Country-man about thirty years old of a Phlegmatick Complexion something inclining to Sanguine being a long time obnoxious to frequent Headaches about the beginning of Winter became sleepy and very stupid and one day whilst he was following the Plow in the Fields lying down on the ground he fell into a profound sleep and when he could not be awakened by his servant and others calling him he was carried home and put to bed his Friends in the mean time expecting that after he had finished his sleep he would awake of himself After the space of twelve hours being past when he could not be awakened by pulling thumping noise and other means they sent for me as soon as I came I applied Blistering Plasters large ones all about the hinder part of the Neck then taking from him about sixteen ounces of Blood I caused him to take a strong Clyster and his Face and Temples to be anointed with Oyl of Amber and Frictions and painful Ligatures to be applied to his Legs Also I prescribed him to take oftentimes in a day Spirit of Sut with a Cephalick Julep Notwithstanding he lay all that day stupid without any sense and if being provoked by some strong or hard pulling he lifted up himself a little and opened his Eyes presently falling down again and shutting them he fell into his continual sleep again About Evening I took care to have Cupping Glasses with a great flame to be applied to his shoulders which done he began a little to awake and about that time he had a great stool and very much Serum flowed forth from the Blisters the Plasters being taken off then we had great hopes of his health And therefore at every turn remedies being applied that night awaking in the morning following he knew his Friends and answered aptly to those who interrogated him But as yet the whole cloud was not vanished but that being sleepy he remained several days oblivious till at length being purged twice he perfectly grew well This case has the exact type of the Lethargy properly so called where for the conjunct Cause it had an heaping up of abundance of Serum about the compass of the Brain and then a breaking in of it into its infoldings and when by a timely use of Remedies the flowing in of new matter was hindered and that which lay upon the part was partly supped up into the Blood and partly being rarified into Vapours and Effluvia's was shaken off the Cure of the Disease quickly and wholely followed An Oxford Gardiner being sick of a Feavour about the height of the Disease instead of a Crisis he fell into a continual Sleep and lay drowned in it for three or four days so that he could not be awakened by the use of any Remedies But at length his Head being shaven Blistering Plasters were applied all over his Head and many running sores left open and awakening he recovered the use of his senses a little But his Memory being almost wholely lost he became so stupid that he remembered the name of no Man nor their words and remained like a Bruit When he had thus remained foolish for the space of almost two months and still very sleepy the cloud began a little to be dispelled and at length he returning to his wonted labour was in indifferent good health but he never had afterwards the same vigor of mind and wit as he had before this Disease In this case you have an example of a Lethargy coming upon an ill Cured Feavour in which the Morbific Matter by a sudden translation of it into the outward part of the Brain had for a little while filled not only all the Pores and passages but also had so hurt their Conformation that the Spirits being for some time excluded and at length freed they could not recover their former paths or wonted tracts till of a long time after I remember very well the example of a Lethargy arising from the use of Opiates in a Country Village where I lodged by chance one night by reason of the foulness of the weather For being about to go to bed mine Host asked me if I would visit two poor people his Neighbours distemper'd after a wonderful and miserable manner When I shewed my self ready to do the office not only out of Charity but led also by curiosity I was carried willingly into a small and poor Cottage where I found the Father an old Man and his Son both of them in
or shuts up their passages Hence it follows that preternatural Waking or that which is immoderate depends upon these two either on one or both together for either they being grown too outragious and as it were struck with a fury will not lye down of themselves or the nervous Liquor doth not so fill and stop up the Pores of the outward part of the Brain that from thence the Spirits may be compelled inward to rest Examples of both of these are ordinarily to be met withal And first of all we shall take notice that the Animal Spirits sometimes becoming outrageous and so Elastick or shooting forth or otherways enormous that they will not only not lye down and be quieted but scarce be contained within the proper sphere of their emanation wherefore being spread abroad in continual waking so fill the Brain and keep it extended that the nervous Juice though it lyes heaped up at their doors cannot be admitted but if it enters of it self and the Spirits are called back inwards from the Cortex of the Brain presently they being forced thither or tumultuating within the middle part of the Brain raise up many and often most horrid phantasies whereby sleep is driven away or directing thence their declination further into the nervous Stock there stir up great disorders which continually drive away and break off Sleep though it seems ready to creep upon them As to the former of these I have often observed that some being disturbed with waking were afraid to sleep though desiredly coming upon them for as soon as they shut their eyes to sleep presently leaping up they would cry out they should grow mad with a multitude of confused phantasms so that they were necessitated to abstain from sleep Secondly whilst the Spirits become more outrageous and are for sleep sake recalled towards the interior compass of the Brain sometimes they convert their rage into the nervous Stock and then tumultuarily rushing in upon the Nerves destinated for the Precordia or the Inwards raise up inordinations in the respective parts hence in those thus distemper'd as often as they shut their eyes to invite sleep either tremblings leapings and binding up of the heart with loss of Spirits and breathing stopped or inflations and rising up of the Bowels with a sense of choaking and other symptoms commonly called or taken to be Hysterical follow or else secondly the Spirits being recalled from their watches and turning on the nervous Stock transfer their rage sometimes on the spinal Marrow and the Nerves reaching from thence into all the exterior Members Wherefore in some whilst they would indulge sleep in their beds immediately follow leapings up of the Tendons in their Arms and Legs with Cramps and such unquietness and flying about of their members that the sick can no more sleep than those on the Rack Once I was consulted with for a noble Woman who was in the day-time cruelly tormented with the pain about the heart and Vomiting but in the night she was hindred from sleep though it seemed to approach by reason of these kind of Convulsive Distempers invading her with it nor indeed could she sleep all the night unless she had before taken a large Dose of Laudanum wherefore this Medicine at first being permitted her only twice a week afterwards she took it daily for three whole months contracting by it no hurt either in her Brain or about any other function and when in the mean time by the use of other Remedies the Dyscrasies of the Blood and the nervous Juice were amended and the Animal Spirits were made more benign and gentle she having after that wholly left off her Opium could sleep indifferently well These kind of sleep-destroying Distempers stirred up either within the middle part of the Brain or within the nervous Stock either more inward or more outward do depend wholly on the evil constitution of the Animal Spirits for those who ought to be gentle clear and bright and to actuate gently the containing bodies and to influence them with a benign influence become sharp and fierce and like Effluvia's sent from Stygian Waters unable to be restrained do distend them too much and refuse to be governed by the command of the will and to be quieted by sleep yea being restrained in one place they immediately grow tumultuous in another Such a constitution of the Animal Spirits proceeds from the acid and oftentimes as it were Vitriolick Dyscrasies of the Blood begetting it and of the nervous Juice cherishing and increasing it as shall be more fully shewed hereafter when we speak of madness In the mean time as to what belongs to the Cure of thorow or long waking which we but now described because it cannot be long tolerated therefore those things which may bring present ease ought first to be administred for this end those things which sooth the Spirits and gently moderate their disorders are convenient as those commonly called Anodynes viz. Distilled Waters Decoctions Syrups and Conserves of the Flowers of Water-Lilies Cowslips Mallows Violets Hearts-ease of the leaves of Willow Lettice Purslain also Emulsions or Juicy expressions If that the unquiet Spirits will not be allayed by gentle flatteries you must compel them into quietness as it were with bonds and strokes plenty of them ought to be diminished and the places also to be inlarged in which they may expand themselves in freedom and without tumult and quitted from the intanglements of other Humors to wit of the Blood and Serum For which ends sometimes the opening of a Vein is convenient and Blisterings are always to be made use of also Diacodium and Laudanum if it be convenient are frequently given and in the mean time whilst that Opiates give some truce to the Disease the cause of it ought carefully to be rooted out by the use of other Remedies as much as may be wherefore such as take away the sharpness of the Blood and nervous Juice and render a sweetness to them are to be administred day after day in Physical hours In which rank are shelly Powders Apozems and Distilled Waters Alterers made out of temperate Antiscorbuticks the more gentle prepared Chalybeats Spirits of Harts-horn and of Sut and almost before all other things the Tincture of Antimony is much esteemed There remains another sort of thorow or long Waking the cause of which in some if not in the greatest part consists in almost a continual openness or too much gaping of the Pores or passages in the Cortex of the Brain For besides that the Animal Spirits becoming sharp and somewhat outragious refuse to lye down of their own accord and to indulge rest moreover no stop or yoke is imposed upon them from the nervous Liquor entring into the Pores of the Brain but being free and quitted of all burthens they are also expanded within the exterior spaces of the Brain every where open wherefore for this cause those troubled with long Waking
feel no sleepiness or heaviness in the fore part of their head no desire or approach of Sleep I have known some distemper'd after this manner who when they had lived for many nights continually without Sleep seemed still chearful active strong in their stomach and ready for business and not to want Sleep The cause of this without doubt is because the burnt and melancholy Blood supplies the exterior part of the Brain with a nervous Juice that is not soft and favourable but too much parched and stuffed with adust particles which for that reason is apt neither to stay long within the Pores of the Brain nor gently to embrace and hold the Animal Spirits Further the Spirits themselves procreated out of it become of their own nature too Elastick and unquiet so that they are not easily setled or are prone of their own accord to Sleep But these more fixed do not readily fly away nor being wearied do suddenly grow faint but indure for a long time without any great refection and yet remain lively Concerning this waking disposition of the Animal Spirits as it is the same in Melancholicks we shall have an opportunity of speaking of it more largely hereafter We may also here take notice that for the same reason to wit that the adust Particles of the Melancholick and torrid Blood being poured into the Brain together with the nervous Juice causes waking the drinking of Coffee also in use formerly among the Arabians and Turks which is drunk by our Country Men either Physically or out of wantonness all sleepiness being driven away doth produce unwonted waking and an unwearied exercise of the Animal faculty that some having a necessity to study late in the night or presently after drinking or a full meal by drinking a due quantity of this Liquor become still waking and perform any hard task of the mind without sleepiness Surely the cause of this is because this drink insinuates adust particles of which it is full as may be perceived both by the smell and taste immediately into the Blood and then into the nervous Juice which still detain the pores of the Brain open by their agility and inquietude and add to the Spirits all sleepiness being shaken off certain provocatives and madness by which they are excited to a longer performance of their offices Further we shall deliver afterwards where we speak of Melancholy those things which belong to the preventive Cure of this long waking or the removing of the Morbific cause In the mean time for the taking away immediately this symptom as often as it is grievously troublesome we noted that Opiates were little profitable for a bare Dose being given doth rarely cause sleep and render the sick more weak and languishing It often better succeeds if they go to bed and take some soft and pleasing Liquor as our own Ale clear and mild or Posset-drink with Cowslip Flowers boiled in it or an Emulsion of Melon Seeds and Almonds in a great quantity to wit two or three pints I was some times past consulted with about an old Hypochondriacal person who besides other Symptoms usual in that case was for many years obnoxious to frequent very troublesome and noisie belchings he was wont every day two or three times for about two hours continually to belch with such a noise that he might be heard far and near at a great distance But sometimes for a week or two and sometimes for a month this belching would be changed into a long waking for having that Distemper much remitted this Gentleman was kept without sleep almost whole nights and when he had thus been for three days and sometimes more perfectly waking he seemed not to want sleep and complained not of sleepiness dulness or languor of spirits And when Narcoticks rarely brought to him any help he took sometimes in the evening a Posset made of Ale and Canary Wine and night coming on he sometimes drunk Distilled Waters by the use of which oftentimes he got some sleep then afterwards his waking perfectly vanishing by degrees his belching returned Hence it appears there was but one cause for either to wit the adust particles and irritative being poured forth from the bloody Mass sometimes into the coats of the Ventricle and sometimes into the Cortical part of the Brain Secondly besides these distinct Distempers of Sleep and Waking or their inordinations there remain other conjunct or complicated irregularities of them in which the acts of either function are prevaricated together Which indeed is observable in that Distemper or affection called the Waking Coma of which we shall now speak briefly Those sick with the Waking Coma although they are continually prone to Sleep yet they can scarce sleep at all but after the manner of Tantalus up to the chin in the Lethaean River to tast which as soon as he stoops down the water slides away from him and sinks lower For they feel a cruel heaviness in their Heads with a sleepiness or numness of all their senses and faculties that they hardly endure to turn themselves in their Bed or to be disturbed by the by-standers with talking and expect they shall presently fall into a sweet sleep but when they would indulge it and endeavour strongly to embrace it various phantasms rolling about in their mind keep them still waking neither are they suffered to take any sleep at all which seems to them to be still at hand Upon this not seldom follows a Delirium that whilst the sick lye with their eyes shut they perpetually talk absurd and senseless things and fling about hither and thither their Arms and Legs excessively and being raised up they look about them doggedly It is an usual thing for those sick of Feavours to remain a whole night as it were drowned in sleep and in the mean time are scarce silent a minute of an hour but murmur various things to themselves also sometimes cry out houl and leap out of Bed If the reason of these be inquired after we may say that the Pores and passages in the Brain which are the walking places of the Spirits are very much possessed with a thick and so periferous matter poured forth from the Mass of the Blood that the Spirits being very much hindred from their wonted expansion and mutual commerce an heavy and invincible sleep seems to hang over them but because some sharp and highly active particles like so many goads cleave to these Spirits they are perpetually incited into motion and so some of them break thorow the ways howsoever fast shut and stopped with mounds and run forth either directly or obliquely as they can and thus such motions of theirs however confused and diverted by reason of impediments and not able to exercise compleatly the Animal function yet they easily drive away or hinder its cessation and rest for this reason indeed such who are distemper'd with this Disease are like those living under the Pole who only see
good dyet let her take also Morning and Evening a Dose of Cephalick Powder or Electuary drinking after it a draught of Posset drink with the leaves of Sage or Betony or the Roots or Seeds of Poeony boiled in it Let the Infant take twice a day a spoonful of proper Distilled Water Let him have an Issue made in the nape of the Neck and let it lye sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other and rarely or never on its back If a Neck-lace of Coral or little balls of the Seeds or Roots of the male Poeony be worn about the Neck or at the pit of the Stomach it is not altogether useless if that in sleep being often and grievously shaken they are seen to be more dangerously troubled with this Distemper let Blisters be raised in the hinder part of the Neck or behind the Ears also Evening and Morning let there be daily given a Dose of the Powder of Ammoniacum or other proper Dose in a spoonful of Distilled Water or Iulep CHAP. VII Of the Vertigo or a turning round in the Head HAving viewed the exterior compass of either part of the Head and detected the Diseases which beset the sensitive soul about the first beginnings and last springs of the Animal Spirits we shall next descend to the middle part of the Brain where the phantasie and common sense reside and behold what kind of passions these parts are obnoxious to Concerning this in the first place we shall note that sometimes troops or rather mighty armies of Spirits inhabiting these places are affected and sometimes also small handfuls or bands then again many of them are affected together or else only a few at a time or they become Elastick from an heterogeneous Copula and so are compelled into inordinate motions or as it were explosive or shooting off as in the Epileptick fit or suffering an eclipse as in the Apoplexy are deprived of all motion Concerning the former disposition of the Spirits we have formerly treated largely enough and the astonishing Disease we shall handle afterwards But in this place we shall speak of a certain Passion or distemper belonging to these parts viz. the Vertigo in which a certain band or handful of the Spirits are affected and their motions are seen to be partly perverted and partly suppressed Being but little solicitous about the names by which the Vertigo is wont to be known we shall describe the nature or formal reason of it after this manner viz. The Vertigo is an Affection or Distemper in which the visible objects seem to turn round and the sick feel a perturbation or confusion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain that they do not rightly flow into the Nerves Wherefore the visive and the loco-motive faculties do often in some measure fail that those labouring with it fall and oftentimes are covered with darkness In this fit it is observed that the imagination and the common sense are in a manner deceived whilst they believe the quiet objects to be moved but the rational judgment remains for we understand our error and we presently ascribe this fallacy to the inordination of the Animal Spirits for that we plainly know that the spirits flowing within the Brain do decline from their wonted irradiation or beaming forth and do not rightly perform the offices of motion and sensation during the fit That we may find out the Morbific Cause and the preternatural manner of the Vertigo we shall inquire after what manner this same affection or Distemper how extempory or sudden soever it be is wont to be excited from non-natural things for men ordinarily become Vertiginous or have a turning in their head with a long turning round of the body looking down from an high place passing over Bridges Sailing and by Drunkenness and many other ways It will be worth our while to consider a little further the means of affecting by which these exterior actions stir up this turning or rolling about from whence it will the better appear what kind of intrinsick causes â—ay be able to excite this passion In the first place therefore when men are foâ—â—ome time turned about both in that motion all things seem to be turned about and also they ceasing from turning about that still continues in the phantasie so that the affected oftentimes fall to the ground further though they shut their eyes they still perceive as it were a turning round like the turning about of a Mill in the Brain The reason of these is not that the deception of the sight is first brought to the eyes and afterwards continued for some time because this affection is caused by the turning round of the body whether they look with or shut their eyes But indeed the cause of this apparition wholly depends upon the fluid substance of the animal spirits For that the spirits flowing within the Brain are even like to water or a thick heap of Vapors included in a Phial which being shaken round about together with the Vessel and made so to turn about continues for a time that motion though the Vessel stands still in like manner also when the body of a man is turned round about the spirits inhabiting the Brain from that turning about of the Head like the containing Vessel are agitated into spiral or round motions and when therefore they cannot irradiate the Nerves with their wonted influx and direct beams from hence oftentimes a Scotomy or dizzness and a failing of the feet together with a rotation or whirling about of visible objects are induced The visible Hemisphere seems to turn round because as the sensible impression is received by the means of the recipient so the objects as the spirits seem to be moved round about Secondly looking from on high and passing over Bridges stir up a Vertigo or giddiness in the Head for that there is a terror cast on the imagination from unaccustomed objects as also from the site of the body or going in danger whence that being very solicitous how it should rightly order and more firmly direct the spirits into the bodies of the Nerves calls them back into the middle part of the Brain and so perverts them from their wonted afflux and irradiation and whilst it indeavours to set their battel in better array and to direct them more surely by too great a care drives them into a certain confusion and irregular motion Wherefore 't is observed that drunken men and very bold because they are not careful or solicitous concerning the guiding of the animal spirits suffer no such thing Sailing or riding in a Coach causes a turning in the Head by the like reason as the turning round of the Body because the very fluid spirits being too much agitated like water shaken in a Glass leap hither and thither disorderly Further it is wholly for the same reason why many going by Ship or by Coach are subject also to cruel Vomiting to wit because the spirits being snatched
into disorder by too great a motion and confused fluctuation run inordinately into the heads of the Nerves of the wandring pair and for that reason stir up Convulsions and Convulsive motions in the Bowels Thirdly 'T is observed that the Vertigo comes upon Drunkenness as a known symptom and that to those unaccustomed the drinking though moderately of Wine or strong Ale also the taking of Tabaco easily induces the same affection the reason of which is because from the Liquor or vapour so taken certain fierce particles and untameable are carried into the Brain by the passages of the Blood and nervous Juice which being improportionate and incongruous to the Animal Spirits drive them hither and thither from their wonted tracks of flowing and reflowing or ebbing and so move them into whirlings and turnings about These are the chief occasions or solitary evident causes which do use to bring the Vertigo or turning round in the Head to some men how sound of constitution soever they be which kind of effect these occasions produce forasmuch as the Animal Spirits being disturbed beyond their set courses and orders are moved inordinately fluctuating here and there both within the passages of the Brain and also some of them like a thred broken off from their wonted irradiation into the nervous Stock For these being always reciprocal depend mutually one of another to wit a perturbation of the Spirits within the middle part of the Brain and their flowing forth into the nervous Stock being hindered for from what ever cause either effect is induced the other immediately follows A turning round of the body going in a Coach or in a Boat or Ship also Drunkenness and the unaccustomed fume of Tabaco compel the spirits in the Brain to fluctuate and shake disorderly which for that cause are presently inhibited from their wonted flowing into the Nerves that those so affected can hardly go or stand in like manner on the contrary looking from on high passing over Bridges a languishment or syncope falling on them recal the spirits from their wonted emanation who for that cause tumultuating within the Brain or being moved inordinately cause a Scotomy or dizziness or a turning round of the objects These things being thus premised concerning the Vertigo raised up by reason of an outward accident or from a solitary evident and non-natural cause we shall next inquire how and by what means it is wont to be induced from an intrinsick and preternatural cause Concerning these take notice that the Vertigo is sometimes a symptom depending upon some other Distemper placed sometimes within the Brain and sometimes without it but sometimes this is a Disease of it self which being raised up within the middle part of the Brain becomes very troublesome and often terrible and very hard to be Cured As to the former many Cephalick Diseases or such as belong to the Head viz. Acute pain the Lethargy Epilepsie Carus Apoplexy with many others do often accompany the Vertigo to wit because the equal expansion of the Spirits in the Brain and therefore their irradiation into the nervous Stock from such like various Morbific causes are easily hindred or disturbed as shall hereafter appear when we deliver the Aetiology or reason of the Vertigo as it is a Disease of the Brain But sometimes this symptom is wont to be produced by reason of other Distempers placed a long way from the Brain and that chiefly by two ways or means For first it is usual for a dizziness to arise by reason of the flowing of the Blood being suddenly called away from the Brain as in a Syncope or Swooning great want coming near it wicked hard labour great Haemorrhagies or expence of blood long fasting in passions of violent sadness and fear yea by reason of other occasions when the motion of the blood is deficient or fails in the heart so that the affected are proclive to faintings and swooning away presently because the tribute of the vital liquor is withdrawn the animal Spirits growing deficient in the Brain withdraw their radiation from the nervous Stock for when their spring is cut off those that remain leaping back from their emanation wander about confusedly in the Brain and very often stir up the Vertiginous Distemper Secondly an inordinate recourse or flowing back of the Animal Spirits from some inward or from some outward member often causes the Vertigo forasmuch as the Spirits being disturbed from the affected part by a long series thorow the passages of the Nerves at length disturb others inhabiting the middle part of the Brain and drive them into the like disorders for this cause it is that sharp humors gnawing or pulling the Fibres of the Ventricle because the infestous and irritative matter being moved in the Spleen Pancreas or Intestines causes light dizzinesses in the Brain I have known from an accute pain an Ulcer or a mortified Inflammation in the Foot or Arm frequent tremblings and failings though short in the Brain to have been induced Whilst that the conceived inordination of the spirits is transferred from the distemper'd part thorow the Nerves into the Brain a certain Formication or tingling or as it were the ascent of a cold air is seen and perceived wherefore the cause of this Distemper is commonly ascribed to Vapours arising up to the Head which error we have elsewhere sufficiently confuted Further many are wont when they have fasted or stayed long beyond their hour of dineing to have a dimness before their eyes and their heads to have a turning and then afterwards those clouds vanish having eaten a little this does not so happen according to the vogue of the people for that wind or vapours ascend to the Head from the empty Stomach which the aliments being taken in do immediately suppress but because the Fibres of the Ventricle and the nervous Filaments or little strings being destitute of the nervous Juice with which they desire to be watered are wont to enter into corrugations or wrinklings and light Convulsions which kind of Convulsions and disorders of Spirits for that they are continued thorow the passages of the Nerves into the Brain produce the Vertiginous Distemper which as soon as the Fibres of the Stomach remit their wrinklings ceases of its own accord For this reason I have known some by a Vomit being given tearing the coats of the Ventricle to have been taken with a cruel Vertigo yea I do suspect that this Distemper does sometimes arise from meats of ill digestion and ungrateful to the stomach But the Vertigo is not only a symptom but sometimes a primary Disease of it self whose nature that we may the better search into we ought to inquire into its subject the formal reasons and causes of it and then these being found out and truly unfolded we will proceed to its prognostick and Cure Without doubt the immediate subject of the Vertigo are the Animal Spirits which every one labouring with this Disease
finds to be greatly disturbed and wandring up and down but the mediate subject are those parts of the Brain in which the Imagination and common sense reside and whence the next way lies into the nervous Stock These are the Callous and streaked bodies For indeed the Animal Spirits love to expatiate themselves and to he expanded or stretched forth on every side within these medullary places as in a most ample Field and pleasant Garden wherefore like beams of light with a full and streight ray they pass thorow all the Pores and most thick passages of the marrow hence it is that whilst they gently flow in one line from the outmost border of the Callous body to wit from the streaked bodies and turnings and windings of the Brain towards its middle part they represent pleasant imaginations and phantasies and whilst in another line they flow forth perhaps thorow other passages from the middle of the Callous body into the infoldings or windings about of the Brain they transferr thither signets or marks of notions for the Memory and then whilst they tend into the streaked bodies and the beginnings of the Nerves they actuate all the moving parts and carry to them as often as there is occasion the instincts of the motions they are to perform But in the Vertigo these equal emanations of the Spirits as it were rays of light seem to be intercepted and diversly perverted in various places because some bands or handfuls of the Spirits are obscured others are bended another way and moved hither and thither into turnings round and whirling about and oftentimes snatched transverse or cross one another Wherefore confused phantasms wandring and inconstant images or actions of sensible things are represented in the Brain by reason of the Spirits so disturbed Then forasmuch as the irradiation into the nervous stock is lessened or hindred a dizziness and failing of the motive function follows If that we should yet further inquire into what hinders or obstructs the ways whereby the Spirits are compelled thus to go aside or tumultuate within the Brain it seems probable that these inordinations of theirs do depend upon a two sold cause viz. first that certain fierce and extraneous Particles being entred deeply into the Brain together with the nervous Juice stick close to the spirits and move them into enormous motions but this as appears from common experience happens to every one on the immoderate drinking of Wine or Strong-waters or the unaccustomed taking of Tobacco by the eating of some Vegetables or being anointed with Mercury for that some Heterogeneous bodies and infestous to the Spirits follow them and are snatched with them even to the middle part of the Brain why may not such kind of Morbific particles and Vertiginous be supplied from the Blood and other humors very much vitiated and insinuated into the inmost conclave of the Brain Then secondly we may suspect that when the serous foulness doth by degrees creep forward with the nervous Juice and at length penetrated deeply that it doth contaminate these pure marrows and greatly stuff up its Pores so that the Animal Spirits do not shine or beam forth with a clear and full light but with a weak broken and as it were with many shadows mingled or interspersed with it In an habitual Vertigo and inveterate it seems to be plain that the Conjunct Cause doth contain both these from the proof and that not light taken from things that are hurtful and helpful For I have observed in many that this affection or Distemper hath been altered much for the worse or for the better upon two occasions for whatsoever things being inwardly taken that beget turgid particles and apt to grow too hot and rageing as Wine Strong-waters spiced pepper'd and flatulous or windy food always hurt those troubled with the Vertigo and for the same occasions no less hurtful are those things by which the brain is filled and more stuffed as Surfeits sleeping at Noon or overlong in the Morning the Southern wind a cloudy thick and moist air a low and watry habitation on the contrary the same persons are much helped as they easily perceive by a slender and light dyet also by a clear air and an open soil where the wind has a thorow passage Thus much concerning the subject the formal reason and the conjunct cause of the Vertigo now in the next place let us inquire into its Procatartick or more remote leading cause by reason of whose morbid provision or predisposition these two evils are wont to be induced on the spirits inhabiting the middle part of the Brain But here we apprehend both the Brain it self with the watering Liquor and also the Blood with its infected humors to be in fault The vice of this is most often that it turns from its right temper into a sour acid and otherways vicious disposition and being degenerate perverts the nourishing Juice and also gathers in its bosom a Serum and filthiness of diverse kinds which it is ready to pour forth into the Head But there are many evident causes to wit an evil dyet and errors in the non-naturals also the Scurvy a long or malignant Feavour and other Diseases going before by reason of which the Blood becomes so full of ill humors and so hurtful to the Head In the mean time the crime of the Brain is for that its temper is humid and weak its frame loose and infirm with its Pores too much open and gapeing more than they ought so that all the heterogeneous strange and elastick Particles together with the serous or otherways diseased recrements being poured forth from the Blood into the Head are easily admitted into the Brain together with the nervous Juice and because of its more open Pores fall down without any let or stop into the middle part viz. the Callous and streaked Bodies This kind of too dissolute or loose habit of the brain is in some innate and originally further those who are of a tender constitution to wit delicate soft and luxurious Men and Women whose spirits are not able to suffer any thing strongly easily contract a Vertiginons Distemper or rather increase it to wit because when the spirits of the Brain cannot resist the incursions of strangers they give way to every matter that is drove to them but in others though strong inordinate feeding a sedentary life frequent surfeiting also intemperate sleep and study an inveterate Scurvey evil gross humors a long â—eavour and other diseases of the Head do very often cause this kind of evil disposition of the Brain From what hath been said the differences of this Disease are easily gathered for that I may pass by what we but now mentioned that it was either a primary Distemper of it self or secondary arising or depending upon others further we noted that the primary Vertigo so it were light and not deeply rooted was only troublesome with fits excited from an
of them should be stopped or pressed together at once yet the blood being admitted to the Head by the passage of one Artery only either the Carotid or the Vertebral it would presently pass thorow all those parts both exterior and interior which indeed we have sufficiently proved by an experiment for that Ink being squirted in the trunk of one Vessel quickly filled all the sanguiferous passages and every where stained the Brain it self I once opened the dead carcase of one wasted away in which the right Arteries both the Carotid and the Vertebral within the Skull were become bony and impervious and did shut forth the blood from that side notwithstanding the sick person was not troubled with the astonishing Disease wherefore it may be doubted whether the blood excluded from the Brain by reason of some Arteries being obstructed or compressed doth bring forth this Disease Certainly there is more of danger that the cause of the Apoplexy should be from its too great incursion and extravasation within the Brain as it was in the three Apoplectick people cited by the Author and that not only because the marrowie substance of the Brain was deprived of the Blood coming to its use for such a defect might have been supplied by the other Vessels extending their branches every where but rather because by the extravasated Blood and not seldom being concreted into an hard and mighty bulk the marrow of the Brain is pressed together the passages of the Spirits being by that means shut up But indeed though we deny this to the afflux of the blood into the Brain being hindred in any part only yet it may be granted to its total exclusion for therefore we have often noted a want of all motion to be caused which Distemper however hath been rarely taken for the astonishing disease but rather is wont to be called a Syncopy or Swooning away or the Hysterical Passion If at any time the motion of the Heart be wholly suppressed presently the Blood being retained without the Brain the Animal Spirits fall down even as the light vanishes when the flame is put out The action of the Heart is stopped or hindred either by reason of the improportionate flowing in of the Blood as in the violent passions of fear or sadness or by reason of the Animal Spirits which serve for its motion being denyed by the Cerebel This we think to happen sometimes because of the Cardiack Nerves being Distemper'd with a Convulsion or otherways bound together after which manner it is usual in Convulsive and Hysterical Passions sometimes for the outward parts as the Arms and Legs and sometimes the Inward to wit the Praecordia and Viscera one after another to be affected but a want of motion follows the inordinations of these in which the sick lie for some time without motion or sense with a small or seldom beating Pulse as if dead Which indeed so seems to come to pass by reason of the Cardiack Nerves being contracted at that time and so the Spirits which were about to flow being suspended though we believe such a want of motion sometimes to be produced by the mere confusion of the Spirits within the Brain but in this case the heart it self is lively enough moved and the Pulse is also strong and landable But besides it seems most likely that the motion of the Heart is ofen suppressed or inhibited by reason of the Animal Spirits destinated to the vital function being suppressed in the fountain it self to wit within the Cerebel We have mentioned this to be done in the Distemper of the Incubus but without doubt it ought to be attributed to this cause for that I have observed in some a failing of the Spirits with a sudden privation of all the Animal functions to follow upon a great weight in the hinder-part of the Head in which the sick become senseless and immoveable with the Pulse and breathing very much lessened and scarce perceivable and lye quite cold for many hours yea oftentimes a day or two more like dead than living persons I have known sometimes those distemper'd to be stiff and cold Pulse and breathing to be thought quite gone and to be indeed esteemed quite dead and put into their Coffin yet after two or three days to have reviv'd again but whoever awakes out of this fit whether it be of short or long continuance does not for that reason fall into a Palsie or half Palsie of one side as those for the most part do who are distemper'd with the Apoplexy Further no doubt but that many die from such a Morbific cause whose death wrongfully hath been ascribed either to the mortal Syncopy or to the Apoplexy properly so called Truly the case afterwards described can only have the like reason given for it Wherefore though it may seem a Paradox yet it is not incongruous to reason that we affirm that there is a twofold Apoplexy one in the Cerebel which we but now described the other seated in the middle of the Brain into the causes of which and the manner of it we shall now inquire But here in the first place we must distinguish concerning the various assault or fit of this Disease to wit forasmuch as sometimes being excited without any previous disposition or Procatarxis from a sudden and solitary cause it is often invincible and for the most part mortal against this there can be no preventive method of healing or preservatories instituted and the Curatory method which is wont to be taken proves very oft ineffectual Or Secondly the Apoplectick fit having an antecedent cause or previous Procatarxis is brought into act by reason of various occasions or evident causes As to what belongs to the blasting or being stricken of the former kind to wit suddenly and unthought of its conjunct or next cause is either a great solution or breach of the unity happening some where within or near the middle of the Brain by reason of which its Pores and passages being obstructed or pressed together the whole emanation of the Spirits is suppressed or else it is an huge and sudden profligation of the Spirits or an extinction of those dwelling in the Brain We shall shew the formal reasons of both of them particularly and the several ways of their being affected Extravasated Blood the breaking of an Imposthum and a great flood of Serous humor plentifully flowing forth are wont to effect the greater breach of the unity within the Brain From Blood effused or extravasated within the Brain and there either growing together in clodders or striking on the affected places doth often times cause mortal Apoplectick fits as I my self have proved by Anatomical inspection in some others besides the instances brought by the famous Webfer but such Morbific extravasations of the Blood within the Brain proceed either from an external cause as a fall from on high or by a blow on the Head or by hitting it
the Blood or issuing forth from the little Pores of the Marrow slides forward into the Ventricles of the Brain or at length that matter sliding a little lower and being impacted on the Streaked Bodies either one or both of them causes the Hemiplegia or half Palsie or the Palsie In the mean time as the Spirits within the Callous Body grow free and getting wider spaces they resume their wonted offices which they indeed execute until new matter springing again in the compass of the Brain and being by degrees increased descending into the Callous Body brings on another fit out of which if the Spirits get not by either of the aforesaid ways being wholly discomfited they perish by degrees If you should ask after the nature or disposition of this Morbific matter it may be suspected that the Animal Spirits in the Apoplexy are plainly affected after another manner than in Convulsive passions to wit those obnoxious to this blasting obtain a Copula contrary to the explosive that is Vitriolick rather than Nitro-sulphureous and so by it their spiritous-saline particles are wholly fixed and are hindred from entring into any motions or explosions even as when the Vitriolick particles being beaten and combined with the fulminating gold they quite take away its explosive or letting off virtue and congeal and render immoveable all other active particles like the blowing of a freezing air The Animal Spirits seem to be not unlike the same and their Copula's have divers sorts of adjuncts some of which induce an Elastick and very explosive virtue as in the Convulsive Distempers and others a stupor numness or immobility as in the sleepy Diseases and also in the Apoplexy and Palsie Thus much concerning the Conjunct Cause and formal reason of the Apoplexy as to its Procatartick or fore-leading Causes they are much after the same manner as in most other Cephalick Distempers to wit both the Blood is in fault for that it affords to the Head extraneous particles and very contrary or as it were destructive to the Texture or constitution of the Animal Spirits either begotten in it self or taken from some other place and then the Brain is in fault for that being weak in its disposition and so its Pores and passages too dissolute and lax so that it always and easily admits without impediment the Morbific matter poured forth from the Blood There is no need that we should here reherse or unfold particularly the peculiar reasons of either and the various ways by which it is done but we shall rather referr you to what we have already said very largely concerning the foreleading causes of the inveterate Headach and also of the Lethargy Further the like or the same evident causes which were noted in those Distempers and in other sleepy Diseases ought here to be taken notice of to be shunned carefully by Apoplectick people From what hath been said the differences of this Disease may be easily known 1. What we mentioned but now The Apoplexy is either accidental which is suddenly and at once excited without any foregoing cause and almost indifferently in all from some strong evident cause or it is wont to be esteemed habitual which depending upon a previous disposition hath frequent fits by reason of several occasions 2. From the reason of the subject this Disease is said to be proper either to the Brain or Cerebel or common to both previous and frequent Scotomies or dizziness with mists before the eyes and the Distemper of the Vertigo denote the Brain more obnoxious to this Disease A frequent Night-Mare intermitting Pulse often Swooning and failing of the Spirits argue the Cerebel to be evilly disposed 3. In respect of magnitude it is either universal every function both merely natural and the spontaneous ceasing or it is partial this or that part being affected by it self then for that the faculties of either now all now many only yet none excepted suffer an eclipse for in either regiment the morbific matter descending to the middle or marrowie part possesses sometimes all its whole substance sometimes part of it to wit the fore part hinder or middle part 4. In respect of the antecedent cause the Apoplectical disposition is either hereditary or innate or acquired by means of an evil dyet or other accidents The prognostick or fore-judging of this Disease is always denounced deadly or dubious for the Apoplexy is never without present or future danger But it is worst of all in which besides the abolition of all the spontaneous functions the Pulse and breathing also are either deficient or are performed laboriously and then for the most part it happens with a foam at the mouth and snorting upon which comes a sweat which is often like melted greace and indicates a very sudden death to be at hand Those who are blasted or strucken and are presently deprived of Pulse and breathing and a little after growing cold and seem dead or without any life are not presently to be had from bed or left destitute of Medicinal helps further though there be no hopes of life they ought not to be buried under three or four days because such do sometimes revive again either of their own accord or by the use of Rememedies which certainly comes to pass not because a vital heat is at last stirred up in the heart for it is not there extinguished altogether but because the Morbific matter being discussed or evaporated from the Cerebel the motion of the heart is restored like a Clock when the weights are put on In the Apoplectical fit if any help follows upon letting of Blood there is hope of health But if after this and other Remedies the Distemper continues without intermission above the space of a night or a day or grows worse the case is desparate If after the first speechless fit being over the sick person becomes more nummed and duller and distemper'd with a Scotomy and frequent Vertigo it is a sign that he will be obnoxious to more fits of this astonishing Disease for the aforesaid distempers proceed from the Morbific matter already laid up in the compass of the Brain and there flowing sprinklingly and thence descending thorow the very small Pores only into the middle part which matter whether Vitriolick or Narcotick growing to a greater fulness calls on this blasting or being suddenly smitten The Therapeutick Method is either Curatory for the taking away the fit when it is upon one or preservatory to prevent it that it may not return the former belongs to every Apoplexy the other only to the habitual The assault or fit of this Disease being come if it proceeds not from some outward or vehement hurt of the head although it is not known whether it be excited or no from an invincible cause such as the Blood being let forth of the Vessels or the breaking of an Imposthum in the Brain yet we ought carefully to endeavour the Cure of it And because the
blood being too hot or swelling up is wont sometimes to bring in the Morbific cause or at least to increase it and the same sinking down and becoming more setled sometimes carries it away therefore in the first place you ought to deliberate concerning the moderating its course And hâ—re a question arises concerning the placing of the Patient to wit whether he ought presently to be put to bed or to be detained out of it for some time some religiously observe the latter and that not without reason to wit because in Bed there is a greater propensity to sleep and the blood growing hot and flaming forth more plentifully by reason of the heat of the Bed-cloaths pours forth still more recrementitious matter into the distemper'd Brain on the contrary whilst the sick is thinly cloathed and placed in a Chair the blood flows more slowly and the sinking Vessels seem more apt rather to sup back the humors out of the Head than to send them thither Wherefore if the Patient be strong enough it will be expedient perhaps to let him stay out of bed for six or eight hours till the fâ—ux of the Morbific Matter passes over and the course of the Blood be made more quiet by Phlebotomy and other Remedies carefully administred but the weak and who are of a tender constitution let them be put to bed as soon as they are smitten But let not the sick whether in bed or up lye upon his back but with his head somewhat upright and inclining either to one side or the other Phlebotomy necessary almost in all Apoplectical persons is not to be deferred but the Blood is copiously drawn back by a strong Clyster In the Clyster may be dissolved the Species of Hierae Diacolycinthia and a troubled Infusion of Crocus Metallorum Let a large Blistering Plaster be applied to the hinder part of the Head and other drawing Cataplasms to the Legs and Feet Let the Temples and Nostrils be anointed with proper Oyls and Balâ—oms and let painful rubbings be used almost to the whole Body In the mean time let things that stir up the Animal Spirits and help them out of their bonds be given them viz. Spirits of Harts-horn Sut and the like with a Cephalick Iulep After this the sick being placed in the bed if he be able and doth easily Vomit let an Emetick be given him of the Salt of Vitriol Oxymel of Squills or an Infusion of Crocus Metallorum and then with a Feather put down the throat provoke vomiting four or five times drinking between whiles Posset-drink Vomiting being over let there be given Comforters as the Elixir Vitae of Quercitan Spirits of Lavender or Camphorated Treacle Tincture of Poeony or of Amber or of Coral with Apoplectical Water or other appropriate Waters in a convenient Dose and repeated as the business requires On the second day the same Remedies being still continued let dry Cupping-Glasses or with Scarification be applied between the shoulders or to the hinder part of the Neck or if more blood ought to be taken away let the jugular Vein be opened the Clyster repeated apply to the Nose Spirit of Sal Armoniack or a fume of Galbanum boiled in strong Vinegar Besides let Errhines or Sneezing Powders and things to chew in the mouth to draw away Rheum be used Then in the Evening let a Purge be ordered of Pil. Rudii or a Solutive Electuary of Roses dissolved in some liquor None of these things helping though there be small or no hope the top of the Head being shaven let glowing Iron be held over it or a large Blister made upon it and let the other part especially the Forehead and forepart of the Head be bathed with Bezâ—ardick Vinegar let Leeches be set to the Temples or behind the Ears let also a large Dose of Spirits of Harts-horn or of Sut be often poured down the throat these and other the like administrations are to be used till you see death at hand which as Celsus faith these sort of Remedies only defer but some times hasten life The Prophylactick or preventive Method respects both those who have been troubled with one or more fits and also those who are seen to be prone to it as those who are born of Apoplectick Parents or are frequently obnoxious to the Vertigo the Incubus or Swooning away also such who have short and brawny Necks Let Purging and Bleeding be ordered Spring and Fall where it is convenient as to the former those who are easie to vomit let them first take an Emetick of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum with the Salt of Vitriol or of the Sulphur of Antimony and then after three or four days let there be given a Dose of Pil. Rudii or of Amber and after a due distance between let it be repeated three or four times Let two large Issues be made between the shoulders or if that place doth not please some let them be made in one of the Arms and in the opposite Leg. On other days free from purging let altering and Cephalick Medicines be taken twice a day Take of the Conserves of the Flowers of the Lilies of the valley or of the male Poeony six ounces of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony half an ounce of humane Skull prepared three drams of the Seeds and the Flowers of the male Poeony powdered each two drams of red Coral prepared of Pearls and of the whitest Amber each one dram of the Salt of Coral four scruples of the Syrup of the Flowers of the male Poeony what will suffice to make an Electuary The Dose two drams morning and evening drinking after it two or three ounces of the following Water Take of the Roots of the male Poeony of Imperatorian Angelica each half a pound of the Root of Zedoary of the lesser Galangal each one ounce of the leaves of the Orchard Mifleto of Rue Sage and Betony each four handfuls of the outer rind of ten Orenges and eight Lemons of Cardomums Cloves Nutmegs each half an ounce all being cut and bruised pour to them of white Wine in which two pints of the dung of the Peacok hath been infused for a day ten pints let them infuse close shut for three days then distil it according to art and let the whole liquor be mixed together Take of the Species of Diambrae two drams of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony of Zedoary picked each one dram and a half of Pearl one dram of the Oyl of the purest Amber half a dram of the whitest Sugar half a dram being dissolved in six ounces of the water of Poeony and boiled up to a consistence make Lozenges according to art each weighing half a dram Let the Patient eat one or two often in a day at his pleasure Within the fifteenth or twentieth day that the Remedies may not be irksome and may profit the better let them be
changed therefore instead of the Electuary let there be substituted for two or three weeks sometimes the Spirit of Sal Armoniack with Amber or Coral or else impregnated with humane Skull or Castor sometimes Elixir of Poeony or Tincture of Amber or Coral or Elixir Vitae of Quercitan or the simple mixture also instead of it may be drunk compounded Waters or Water of black Cherries or Walnuts or the simple Waters of Rosemary or Lavender sometimes a draught of Posset-drink with Flowers of the male Poeony or the Lilies of the valley boiled in it or a draught of Tea or Coffee in the morning let the water of which it is prepared have such ingredients first boiled in it or let Chocolate be prepared after this same manner Take of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony of humane Skull prepared each half an ounce of the Species of Diambrae two drams make a Powder to every paper add of the Kirnels of the Cocoe Nuts one pound of Sugar what will suffice of this make Chocolate take of it half an ounce or six drams every Morning in a draught of the Decoction of Sage or of the Flowers of Poeony or such like Take of the Powder of the Root of the male Poeony of humane Skull prepared each one ounce and a half of the pick'd Root of Zedoary Cretick Dittany Angelica Contrayerva each two drams make a fine Powder of them all add to it of the yellow of Orenges and Lemons Candied each two ounces let all be beaten to a Powder take about half a dram or a dram an hour before and after meals For ordinary drink let a Vessel of four gallons be filled with ordinary Ale in which six handfuls of white Horehound dryed had been boiled of Anacardine and Cardomums cut and beaten each one ounce and a half of it make a bag to hang in it First of all a very strict dyet ought to be ordered let a temperate dry and open air be chosen let good and wholesome meats be eaten and slender meals Let suppers be sparingly taken or none at all Let noon-sleeps drinking bouts and other customary things about the non-naturals be shunned I could here propose many Histories of Apoplectical persons to wit of some who were once or twice touch'd and yet living and of others who have dyed at the first assault or in the second or third fit The most Reverend Father in God the Lord Gilbert Archbishop of Canterbury recovered of a grievous Apoplectical Fit six years ago God prospering our medicinal help to whom we render eternal thanks and from that time though he sometimes suffer'd some light skirmishes of the Disease yet he never fell or became speechless or senseless But we shall not stay upon this or other examples to unfold them largely because there is nothing in them very rare that may illustrate the Aetiology of this Disease Some of their dead Carcases I have dissected but only of such as the cause of death was from some former great hurt of the head as some blow or by means of some blast in all which the extravasated Blood or an Imposthum was the cause of their death We have been prohibited often by their Friends from opening those dying of an habitual Apoplexy who expecting to have them revive again held it as a deadly thing and so wholly forbid Anatomy But I shall here relate a notable Anatomical observation taken about five years since at Oxford An ancient Divine an honest and a godly Man indued with a fat body a short and brawny Neck being long unhealthy and living a sedentary life contracted a very Scorbutick evil disposition being troubled with a difficult and laborious breathing with an heaviness of the Head and unwonted numness was scarce able to endure any thing of labour or exercise more than that he daily went and came from his Chamber to the Chapel and Hall one Morning he came to the Chapel a little before Prayers begun and while he was on his knees he was suddenly struck and immediately became speechless and senseless and fell on the ground but being carried thence and his cloaths taken off he was put into a warm Bed I and other Physicians being presently sent for and coming as soon as we could possibly we found him not only without Pulse sense and breathing but all his Body cold and quite stiff nor could he be recalled to life or heat by any Remedies or ways of administrations though used for some time by which we suspected that the Pulse of his heart was wholly hindred at the first stroke and that its flame being put out presently all motion of the Blood was suppressed The next day seeing the Carcase dead enough and stiff we opened it nothing doubting but that the Distemper so suddenly mortal would shew clear marks of it within the Head But there or in any other part was not the least shadow of this most cruel Disease The Vessels watering the Meninges were moderately filled with Blood without any Inflammation or Extravasation The Brain the Cerebel and the oblong Marrow with all their processes and prominences appeared every where thoroughout firm and well coloured both without and within nor was there any Serum or Blood poured forth any where within the Pores or passages nor yet within the greater Ventricles nor heaped up yea the Choroeidal Infoldings placed both within the cavity of the Brain and behind the Cerebel seem'd free from all fault so that the Morbific matter equally thin and subtil like the Animal Spirits whom it affected remained wholly invisible and we could only argue its presence by the effect But lest this should lye hid some where without the Head after the contents of the head were diligently inspected we came to the Breast where the discoloured Lungs being through the whole stuffed with a frothy matter manifestly shewed the cause of the short and difficult breathing But the Heart was sound and firm enough free from any obstruction or fleshy Concretions Further neither in the neighbouring parts or in others about the Viscera was found any Imposthum or Ulcer by whose contact or stink the Heart could be suddenly oppressed or the Vital Spirits if this be possible might be choaked Wherefore in this case nothing could be suspected else but that the Animal Spirits implanted within the middle of the Cerebel were put to flight and as it were extinguished suddenly by some malignant or narcotick or otherways deadly Particles so that the motion of the Heart presently failing like the first moving wheel in a Clock or Watch immediately all the other functions their impulses being taken away wholly ceased CHAP. IX Of the Palsie THE middle of the Brain or the Callous Body to which we have assigned the seat of the Vertigo and Apoplexy seems also to be the primary distemper'd place in the Epilepsie Concerning which as also concerning Convulsie Diseases since we have elsewhere largely treated we shall
opening them any longer But we shall rather pass to the other conjunct cause of the Palsie which more immediately affecting the Animal Spirits and sometimes striking down and as it were extinguishing them by mere contact or as it were by a malignant blast brings in a resolution or loosening in the respective parts What we before affirmed in the Apoplexy we now again do the same in the Palsie that there are deadly Particles not only oppilative or stopping but sometimes Narcotick or Stupefactive and as it were extinguishers of the Spirits which kind of affection if it be strong causes sometime Paralytick Symptoms without any great obstruction of the ways The breath or steams of Antimony Mercury or Auripigment often causes weaknesses tremblings and loosening of the Members in such as are long conversant among the Furnaces of Chymists and of Metals We may in like manner believe that in some Scorbutick and very Cacochymical people heterogeneous Particles and as it seems of a Vitriolick nature passing thorow the Brain and its marrowy appendix do enter into the nervous passages together with their watering Juice and cast down some handfuls of the Spirits in them or suppress their motion Hence suddenly arise stupors numness or looseness in the Members or Muscles sometimes in these sometimes in those and soon after vanishing in one place presently spring up again in another But at length when these sort of Particles being abundantly poured forth into the Nerves and laid up in heaps they become variously fixed here and there and moreover shut up the ways of the Spirits and so cause a fixed and permanant Palsie And indeed in every Palsie made by obstruction the Morbific matter is not thick and cold Phlegm as Galen and many other Physicians have asserted for such doth not pass thorow the Brain much less the nervous passages but it seems to consist of most subtil and very active Particles though infestous or deadly to the animal regiment But indeed the Palsie happens in Men no otherwise than the blasting or burning or withering in Trees because some winds being indued with very frigid or cold blasts to wit with a Nitrous or a Vitriolick Spiriâ—â— when they blow upon the green and tender sprigs of trees cause them suddenly to wither for that the tender stalks like Nerves every where inter-woven with the sprigs and leaves are bound together by the blast of the malignant air so fully that they receive not any more the Juice sent from the Trunk or Root by reason of which defect they wither Much after the same manner extraneous Particles and as it were Vitriolick being admitted within the organs of sense and motion for that they at once bind up the Pores or cast down or suppress from motion the Animal Spirits cause in the respective parts as it were a withering or drying up But this is not so caused by mere Phlegm or a Serous â—â—ood as plainly appears because those indued with a moist and cold Brain have always their Nose and Eyes moist with the distillation of a snotty or watry humor yea those who are troubled with a Dropsical Brain in which the Brain and the tops of either Marrow do as it were swim in water are not for that reason disposed to the Palsie unless by the pressing together of the Marrow We have hitherto described the various cases of the Palsie and the means by which it is caused together with their â—everal formal reasons and conjunct causes As to what belongs to the other causes of this Disease we must first distinguish that it is either accidental or habitual The former happens to some from a solitary evident cause such as a stroke wound bruise and excess of either heat or cold without any previous disposition and besides this and the conjunct cause which for the most part is a compression or breach of the unity it hath none The habitual Palsie depends upon a Procatartick cause which is always an extraneous and as it were a Vitriolick matter begotten somewhere before and heaped up which being from thence suffused into the organs of sense and motion for that it stops up the marrowy or nervous Tracts or sometimes profligates the Spirits by mere contact or effects both together brings forth loosenings in the respective parts by reason of the influence of the Spirits being deny'd them This kind of Procatarxis or foregoing Cause depends upon a twofold antecedent or secret leading cause to wit one remote which is a vicious Blood carrying to the Head a Morbific matter either begotten in it self or taken from the Bowels or some other place and the other more near which is an indisposed Brain to wit weak and too lax or loose or otherways evilly made and so easily admitting heterogeneous or strange and deadly Particles The Morbific matter being brought to the Brain sometimes induces the Palsie primarily but more often secondarily and not but after other Diseases first excited The reason of the former to wit that the habitual Palsie be a primary Disease and by it self requires these two things viz. That the heterogeneous Particles be disposed chiefly for the causing or stirring up the Palsie then that they be admitted by degrees and but in small quantity for if they enter in great heaps they would first cause the Carus or Apoplexy and if they be not of a plain Vitriolick nature or quality when having passed thorow the Brain they come to enter into the organs of Sense and Motion they would first occasion in them Convulsive and painful Distempers yea sometimes the Colick Gout or Scurvy first and then at length the Palsie 2. The secondary Palsie often succeeds Distempers for the most part Chronical after the natural and vital faculties being by them very much hurt a slow and long Feavour strength being at length worn out causes oftentimes enervations or resolutions of the whole Body or of some Members Long and immoderate sadness a Consumption a Scorbutick Atrophy or wasting being long fixed in Bed unhealthy old Age yea and many other passions after a notable evil first brought to the Brain and nervous Stock at length brings on the Palsie But indeed this Disease more frequently comes upon some other Distempers either of the Brain as chiefly the Carus and Apoplexy or of the nervous stock and such chiefly are the Scurvy Convulsions Colick and Gout By what means it succeeds Cephalick Diseases we have already shewed in this and how the Scurvy in another tract we shall now inquire how it is often the off-spring of the other three 1. We have shewn already that the Spasme or Cramp or Convulsion doth sometimes bring in the Palsie to wit when from contrary or opposite Muscles being one of them loosened and the other pulled together Further it is an usual thing for those who are long obnoxious to Convulsive Distempers to suffer at length debilities in some members and at length resolutions or want of motion I
as if they were enervated and cannot stand upright and dare scarce enter upon local motions or if they do cannot perform them long yea some without any notable sickness are for a long time fixed in their Bed as if they were every day about to dye whilst they lye undisturbed talk with their Friends and are chearful but they will not nor dare not move or walk yea they shun all motion as a most horrid thing Without doubt in these although the Animal Spirits do after a manner actuate and irradiate the whole nervous Stock yet their numbers are so small and in so few heaps that when as many spirits ought to be heaped together somewhere in it for motion there is great danger lest presently in the neighbouring parts their continuity should be broken Wherefore when the spirits inhabiting the Brain are conscious of the debility of others disposed in the Members they themselves refuse local motions for that it would be too difficult a task to impose on their companions wherefore the sick are scarce brought by any perswasion to try whether they can go or not Nevertheless those labouring with a want of Spirits who will exercise local motions as well as they can in the morning are able to walk firmly to fling about their Arms hither and thither or to take up any heavy thing before noon the stock of the Spirits being spent which had flowed into the Muscles they are scarce able to move Hand or Foot At this time I have under my charge a prudent and an honest Woman who for many years hath been obnoxious to this sort of spurious Palsie not only in her Members but also in her tongue she for some time can speak freely and readily enough but after she has spoke long or hastily or eagerly she is not able to speak a word but becomes as mute as a Fish nor can she recover the use of her voice under an hour or two In this kind of spurious Palsie arising from the defect or rather the weakness of the Animal Spirits than from their obstruction it may be suspected that not only the Spirits themselves as to their first numbers of them and particular originals are in fault but besides that sometimes the imbecillity and impotency of local motion doth in some measure also depend upon the fault of the explosive Copula suffused every where from the blood into the moving Fibres For indeed from a very Cacochymical blood or full of juice and for that cause vappid and liveless as the Animal Spirits are but few that are instilled into the Brain so it is probable that those themselves derived from the Brain into the Nerves being disposed at length within the muscular Fibres do meet with other Nitro-sulphureous Particles which we have somewhere shown to be necessarily required to the Musculary motion from the so vitious blood that are but dull and degenerate from the Elastick power wherefore indeed the Spirits being concreted so evilly within the Muscles even as Gun-powder being full of more thick feculences rarely and weakly perform the acts of explosions As to what belongs to the other species of the Palsie in which the sensitive faculty is also affected we say that this is hurt either by it self or together with the motive and such an hurt of both together doth almost only happen forasmuch as the passages and ways of the Spirits are more firmly shut up so that whether they tend forward or backward all their irradiation is intercepted That sometimes happens though rarely from the Morbific matter fallen down from the Brain into the oblong Marrow but more often by reason of a grievous hurt of the Spine or Back-bone as from a fall from on high stroke or wound inflicted on them For from such occasions by compressing the marrowy cord or by too much distending or writhing it all the tracts of the Spirits are blotted out Sometimes the sensitive faculty is hurt by it self the motive being still safe this is sufficiently obvious and the reason very clear of the organs whose Nerves are only sensible to wit as of the sight hearing tast and smell But indeed that in the extream habit of the body or members the touch or feeling sometimes perishes the loco-motive power being unhurt as is ordinarily discerned in Lepers those distemper'd with the Elephantiasis and some Mad-men who are wont to go naked and lye on the ground whose skin and musculous flesh are so benumned that they feel not the gashes made in their flesh with a Pen-knife nor Needles any where thrust into them this I say seems very hard to be unfolded But as to this it may be said that perhaps the same Nerves carry the instincts of motions and the impressions of sensible things forward and backward or to and fro but that the same Fibres which are loco-motive are not altogether or chiefly sensible We have elsewhere shewed that its power is performed by the tendinous and musculous Fibres but the sensible Species is almost only received by the membranaceous Fibres wherefore the outer skin is the primary organ of feeling after this the Membranes covering the Muscles and lastly those constituting the Viscera are somewhat affected by the Tangible object Wherefore the loss or hurt of feeling arises by reason of an hurt brought to the exterior Membranes to wit when the Fibres of these are obstructed by a Vitriolick matter or are benummed very much by excess of cold so that the Animal Spirits which ought to receive their impressions are excluded from their organs And indeed from hence it appears that these inhabiting the exterior Membranes are only affected because sense being lost the members wither not as when deprived of motion but remain full and round which is a sign that the Animal Spirits entring still the Nerves and fleshy Fibres do contribute their virtue to the office of nourishment after what manner we have already shewn but when motion is lost the Spirits are almost wholly banished from those parts and the flesh consumes because the nourishing matter though carried thorow the Arteries is not assimulated We have largely discoursed of this in our Treatise of the Nerves The Theory of this many-form'd Disease being now at length finished its kinds and differences all or at least the most and chiefest of it together with the reasons of each of them being rehearsed in order we shall shew next those things which belong to its prognosticks and Cure 1 Every Palsie whether accidental or habitual and either of them whether universal or partial or whether suddenly excited or by degrees if it happens that the knowing and vital faculty be unhurt it ought not to be accounted an acute Disease but being free from sudden danger admits a long Cure or at least an endeavour of it 2. This Disease coming from a solitary evident cause as from a stroke a fall wound c. or coming upon the Apoplexy Carus Convulsion the Colick
part of his Neck an immense quantity of water flowed and from that time even till he dyed it still flowed forth hence as I suspect he became so waking by reason of the watry humor being so greatly drawn away from the Brain The head of this dead Man being opened the interior cavities of the Brain or all the Ventricles being filled to the top with clear water appeared as if they were distended yea the medullary cord it self about the top of the Back-bone seemed to be drowned and compassed about with water laid up there Without doubt for this reason the Pains and Convulsions so cruelly tormented him in his Loins Members and all over his Body and by reason of the deluge in the Ventricles he became obnoxious to blindness of his sight and to frequent loosenings of his limbs Nevertheless hence no Lethargy but a waking was induced by reason of the waters being so much derived from the compass of the Brain by the Blistering Plasters He had also a Dropsie in his Breast by reason of his Lungs being much vitiated His Liver appeared of a mighty bulk besprinkled every where with white spots and almost without blood so that to these faults of the Viscera the vices of the Blood and nervous juice ought in some measure to be ascribed CHAP. X. Of the Delirium and Phrensie THUS much concerning Cephalick Diseases by which the Animal Functions by themselves and as they are Corporeal without any respect to the Animal Soul are wont to be hindred or perverted In some of which viz. the Vertigo and Palsie the Intellect for the most part remains clear and lively and in the rest like the eye placed in an obscure place it beholds the species either not at all or a few objects only of a more rude appearance but is not easily snatched into any great error or fury which kind of symptoms are ordinarily induced by reason of other Distempers of the Head and of the Spirits inhabiting it of which we are now about to treat For if at any time the Imagination is so disturbed or perverted that it falsly conceives or evilly composes or divides the species and notions brought from the Sense or Memory presently for that reason the intellect beholds or forms conceptions and thoughts only deformed distracted one from another and very confused Which indeed are represented to it from the Brain evilly affected and as it were monsters from a multiplying or distorted Glass As there are many ways by which the Imagination and by consequence the mind and will and the other powers of the superior soul are wont to be perverted or depraved all of them are noted by the common word Foolishness or talking idly But this Distemper is distinguished into shorter which is called a Delirium and into a longer or continual which is either conjoined with a Feavour and termed Phrensie or it happens without a Feavour and then their is joyned with it either raving sadness or stupidity and so it is divided into madness melancholy and morosity or foolishness we shall speak of each of these in order and first of the Delirium and Phrensie Although the Delirium is not a Disease of it self but only a symptom proceeding from other Distempers yet because it happens in some of them that for the most part it is cured by Remedies appropriate to it therefore it will not be amiss for us to inquire a little more strictly into the causes and nature of it This word taken after an especial manner is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a going crooked or out of the right or straight way and denotes an hurt of the same Animal Function such as ariseth in fits of the Feavour Drunkenness and sometimes in the passions called Hysterical and induces men for a short time to think speak or do absurd things either some of these or all of them together The Delirium is excited forasmuch as the Animal Spirits being either too much irritated or acted into confusion are carried tumultuously into disorders hither and thither within the globous compass of the Brain where the Phantasie and Memory have their seats and so whilst the various images of the imagination and the memory being excited at once are confounded together they object only incongruous and absurd phantasies to the rational Soul and so both the acts of the intellect and the will are only inordinately chosen or drawn forth In like manner it happens by reason that the Animal Spirits being moved within the middle of the Brain or the Callous Body that incongruous conceptions and confused thoughts are objected to the rational Soul as in a long circumgyration or turning about of the body the images of visible things are carried to the common sense whence all things seem to be turned about and sometimes to be lifted up and sometimes to be depressed to the ground that nothing is beheld stable or standing in its due place and position In a Brain rightly disposed the motion of the Animal Spirits are performed as it were in certain numbers ways and measures whilst some Spirits are raised up in these tracts others lye still in those and so they succeed one another in their motions and the several acts of every faculty are made distinct like so many wavings of water in a River but in the Delirium all the Spirits leap forth at once and meeting one another tumultuously or variously laying hold on one another are agitated like mad Bacchanals Further even as these being struck with such a fury within the compass of the Brain do stir up manifold and very much disturbed cogitations so whilst they are carried without its confines into the nervous original they produce incongruous speeches absurd gestures of the body and members and not rarely Convulsive motions But for that such a rage of the spirits otherways than in the Phrensie or Madness presently grows cool and their tumult being over none of their wandring tracts are imprinted in the Brain the Delirium soon passes over and the distemper'd come immediately to themselves again without any marks left of their foolishness or idle raving If it be demanded from whence this short fury is impressed on the spirits inhabiting the Brain that the Reins of the mind being shaken off they turn thus all things upside down in their government we say that they conceive this kind of inordination from a twofold reason to wit this rage or madness is brought immediately to them from the blood washing the frame of the Brain or some Animal Spirits outwardly dwelling in the nervous Stock enter first of all into some disorder then the same being communicated by the nervous passages affecting in like manner the spirits there inhabiting stirs them into a Delirium There are various causes and kinds of either of these the chief of which we shall here touch upon and first shall be shewed how and for what occasions the Blood being either
as Powder of Coral and Pearl black Cherry Water or Water of Cowslip Flowers or Poppy Water and others sweetning and cherishing the spirits These being thus premised concerning the first and most light manner of foolishness or talking idly we will proceed to its higher degree viz. the Phrensie which is far longer and more durable than the former Distemper In the Delirium a perturbation of the Spirits inhabiting of the Brain being excited is like a waving of waters from a stone flung into a River but in a Phrensie their commotion seems as it were the storm of waters raging in a tempest The Phrensie is defined to be a continual dotage or deprivation of the principal faculties of the Brain arising from an Inflammation of the Meninges with a continual Feavour To this Disease there is another of kin viz. the Paraphrensie commonly called or additional Phrensie whose cause is not an inflammation of the Membranes which cover the Head but as they affirm of the Diaphragma Further in either Distemper as also in the Pleurisie but falsly it is affirmed that the Feavour doth arise as it were only symptomatical from the same conjunct cause viz. from the Inflammation of some part But indeed that the Phrensie doth rather succeed the Feavour and is produced because the boiling blood doth transfer its adust or burnt recrements to the Head Hippocrates long since and now every common body observes to wit for that the Urine of one sick of a Feavour being changed from a troubled and thick into a thin and waterish Urine shews a Phrensie at hand Wherefore from hence the cause of this Distemper is concluded to be a translation of the Feavourish matter into the Brain But as to the conjunct causes of the Phrensie and Paraphrenesis we may easily shew that the former doth not always proceed from the Inflammation of the Meninges nor this latter from the Inflammation of the Midriff I have often seen in Anatomical Dissections the Meninges yea sometimes also the exterior compass of the Brain beset with an inflamed tumor and the sick not distemper'd with a Phrensie but on the contrary with a stupidity and have dyed with a Carus or some other sleepy Diseases And truly that it is so reason plainly declares for the Meninges being inflamed and by that made more tumid press together the Brain very much and about its compass shut up the ways and passages of the Spirits so that the functions of waking and memory being hindred the Lethargy as it appears de facto necessarily follows Nothwithstanding far otherways in the Phrensie all the passages and Pores of the Brain for the excursions of the Spirits seem to be too largely open because the Images hidden or laid up are raised all at once out of the utmost and all the places of the memory which together with others suggested from the Phantasie to the common sensory tumultuously bring forth such manifold and highly confused notions There is only wanting to the sensitive soul for its expansion to be straitned or loosened within the Head which certainly the inflammation of the Meninges would effect rather than that it should be dilated above measure and that all the Pores of the Brain should be unlocked and carried beyond its wonted compass Perhaps it may happen from a long continuance of this Disease that the Blood being greatly heaped up within the Vessels of the Meninges and there stagnating that it may at length bring forth an Inflammation in them and then for that reason we may suspect because it often so falls out that the Phrensie doth pass into the Carus or Lethargy of which phrensical persons often dye No less do we reject the Inflammation of the Diaphragma which cause of the Paraphrenesis Galen in times past and moved by this authority most Physicians in every age since asserted Anatomical observations plainly prove the contrary Some time since dissecting the dead Carcase of a Maid dying of a sudden Leipothymy or swooning away we found in the fleshy part of the Diaphragma a great Imposthume with a bag full of filthy matter and watery little bladders yet she was not troubled ever with a Delirium or Phrensie Some time since also when we had made an Anatomical Inspection of a Gentleman of the University of whom we have made mention in a late Tract who dyed of a long spurious Pleurisie it manifestly appeared that a great Imposthume being ripened in the Pleura and the intercostal Muscles and broke inwardly that a vast plenty of matter had flowed forth into the cavity of the Thorax which gnawing the Diaphragma lying under had made a great hole in it nor was this man however in all his sickness Delirious or Frantick Wherefore I think this Distemper scarce ever to be produced from such a cause but that opinion seems to arise from hence because oftentimes in a true Phrensie together with a continual raving the motion of the Diaphragma is wont to be hindred or perverted as is gathered from the unequal and difficult breathing to wit sometimes anhelous or breathing short and as it were suspended sometimes short and swiftly repeated with sometimes a double breathing which kind of symptoms and also at the same time the alienation of the mind are said to proceed from the Midriff being inflamed and for that reason convulsed wherefore the Ancients called the Diphragma Phrenes But there was no need for this if they had consider'd that the whole action of the Diaphragma doth depend upon the flowing forth of the Animal Spirits from the Cerebel and therefore there is a necessity if the Phrenetick matter invading the Brain some part of it should with it rush into the Cerebel that besides the raving the motion also of the Midriff though of it self innocent should be altered as we have shewed elsewhere more largely Therefore the formal reason of the Phrensie seems to consist in this that the Animal Spirits being at first very much irritated in the whole Brain are driven into inordinate very confused and also impetuous motions so that the acts of every Animal Function are depraved and variously perverted and at the same time very many Ideas of things being raised up out of the memory the old are confounded with the new and some evilly joined or wonderfully divided are confounded with others the imagination suggests manifold Phantasms and almost innumerable and all of them only incongruous and the common sensory represents the images of sensible things distorted double or incoherent that hence the mind and the will choose or pick out nothing but ridiculous and impertinent conceptions and passions and cause the actions of the body to become almost only irregular Moreover the spirits being struck as it were with madness tumultuate not only in the Brain but also in the Cerebel and every where in the nervous Stock wherefore Frantick people not only talk idly but breath unequally speak aloud strike with their fists fling about their hands
and feet yea and stretch forth all their members with a mighty strength and a most strong force that indeed the whole Soul seems to grow hot and furious in the whole body to be mad or rather as it were to be inflamed with a sudden burning And truly a Phrensie cannot be more aptly defined than that it is a burning or inflammation of the whole sensitive soul or animal spirits as to their whole Hypostasis or Constitution This burning always beginning from the spirits inhabiting the Brain and wandring from thence into the other parts of the sensitive soul seems to receive from the Blood first growing hot and raging with a Feavourish fire both the first incentive matter and then the constant food of the burning For indeed it is probable that the blood burning Feavourishly doth pour forth on the Brain sometimes sulphureous Particles together with the spirituous which being half inflamed and after a sort burning forth penetrate together with the others and from thence immediately entring into all the marrowy and nervous passages adhere every where to the spirits and so render them being inflamed highly rageing and implacable Certainly it is more likely that the Phrensie is rather excited after this manner by an inflammation of the Spirits than from that of the Meninges or of the Brain which more surely causes an Headach or Lethargy than a Fury as we have frequently found by Anatomy And indeed that it is so is not only ours or any new opinion but that great follower and best interpreter of Hippocrates Prosper Martianus who hath affirmed the same thing almost in express words viz. Comment on his Book De Morbis 3. vers 99. pag. 151. he says That Hippocrates doth call the Phrensie a Delirium with a Feavour which is continual and depends upon a firm and stable Distemper to wit from an inflammation of those parts which serve to institute Nature Reason and the Mind For so the Animal Spirits whose viciousness cause the Delirium do not grow hot as it were by a simple quality but are altered as to their substance This Man manifestly distinguishes between heat and flame and affirming that to be in respect of quality and this an alteration in respect of substance plainly ascribes the cause of the Phrensie to the inflammation of the spirits He has in the same place more things apposite to our matter to wit that the containing cause of the Phrensie was not the inflammation of the Meninges but of the Spirits whose substance is indeed altered that is forasmuch as it is become fiery such a continual Delirium is excited I have oftentimes compared the production of the Spirits from the Blood into the Brain to a Chymical Distillation of which it is observed if the spirituous sulphureous liquor be provoked with too strong fire that in Distilling it sometimes takes fire and ascends in the Alembick with a very great flame This is known of Oyl of Turpentine of it self or with the Flowers of Sulphur to the great loss of some In like manner we may believe that the blood growing more strongly hot doth often communicate also a burning to the Spirits distilled out of it viz. that some half burnt Particles do insinuate themselves into the Pores of the Brain which rushing into all the passages of the Spirits both there and in its appendix every where inkindle the Spirits and compel them into most swift motions almost like Lightning But because the Phrensie doth not come upon all Feavours but only on those highly burning the reason is plain by what follows to wit the closure of the Brain ought to be so shut up that not only any extraneous thing might not be poured into them but that the more intense flame of the Blood however burning it be and though planted round about might not be able to break thorow wherefore some distemper'd with a burning Feavour although the Blood grows hot thorow the whole the Bowels burn the Marrow rages the Tongue and Jaws rosted like a coal yet the Brain being still firmly shut up all the Animal Functions remain whole and sound But on the contrary others who have a weak and too loose a Brain and their Blood more sulphureous than it ought become Phrensical not only from a burning Feavour but sometimes from a more gentle visit By reason of what foregoing cause and for what occasions or evident causes this is wont to happen is the next thing we shall inquire into Hitherto hath been shown that the immediate subject of the Phrensie is the sensitive Soul or the Hypostasis of the Animal Spirits and that the formal reason of the Disease doth consist in their Inflammation and that the conjunct cause is the sulphureous particles poured forth from the Blood into the inclosures of the Brain and there continually inkindling the Spirits and now it is no difficult matter to assign its procatartick or foregoing causes which we find partly in the Blood and partly in the Brain and its inhabitants The previous disposition of the Blood disposing to the Phrensie is sometimes simple sometimes twofold the former is an hot sharp or bilous constitution of it to wit that contains very many sulphureous Particles in it self which are apt to inflame the Blood in a Feavour more than ought to be and to insinuate its burning into the Brain This disposition when it is very potent and active often produces this Disease of it self but for the most part there is another disposition of the Blood which helps that former and renders it more efficacious to wit that besides the sulphureous and inflameable Particles there are others sharp and penetrative which enter into the Pores and open them so that the former more easily enter in or are introduced This the saline little Bodies conjoined with the sulphureous do in a manner effect hence Cholerick and Melancholick persons growing Feavourish are more prone to become furious but much more do the Heterogeneous Particles implanted in the Blood and moved by a Feavour open the doors of the Brain and intromit all that are inflameable wherefore a Phrensie frequently comes upon the Small-Pox and malignant and Pestilential Feavours The other provision to a Phrensie which is of the Brain consists partly in its temper and conformation and partly in the disposition of the Spirits inhabiting it As to the former those indued with an hot and dry Brain are found to be most prone to a Phrensie not because that constitution is more obnoxious to an inflammation or burning for to this it is less apt but because in such a Brain otherwise than in an hot and moist or cold and dry the Pores and passages are more open and too much gaping and so give an entrance to the incentive matter suggested from the Feavour which besides they much more easily admit if the Spirits being very fugacious or apt to flight or pathetick or passionate are upon every light occasion ready to fall
into passions of sadness fear anger or hatred so that they resist not the incursions of the extraneous matter and more readily conceive a burning themselves The evident causes of the Phrensie are either more remote viz. whatever things are wont to excite a Feavourish intemperance as Surfeits Drunkenness a very vehement disturbance of either body or mind usual evacuations being suppressed with many others or more near as a Feavour and its dependences and adjuncts to wit if it be pestilential malignant or after an evil manner if it arises by reason of a Surfeit taken from very incongruous Meats or Drink or if it succeeds violent passions as of Love hatred envie indignation or sadness or immoderate studies for these kind of occasions render the Blood and Animal Spirits growing Feavourishly hot very propense to the frantick Distemper Since that this Disease depends rather and more immediately upon the Soul than upon the Humors or solid parts being distemper'd its kinds and differences are neither various nor manifold In respect of magnitude the Phrensie is either great or moderate also continual or intermitting to wit according as the Animal Spirits are more or less inflamed and as they receive the food of their burning continually from the Blood or by turns Secondly As the burning begins only in the Brain or together with it in the Cerebel it is commonly distinguished into the Phrensie or the Paraphrenesis which is as much as to say that either the spontaneous Animal Functions are only or chiefly hurt or else together with them the vital also But this Disease as to the Feavour on which it depends hath its nature and manner malignant or free from malignity also according to the temper of the sick the Phrensie is distinguished into Sanguineous Cholerick Phlegmatick or Melancholick and this not improperly for the Animal Spirits are wont to grow hot and burning after a diverse manner in this Disease according to their various dispositions The Prognostick in this Disease is always doubtful and the event is to be instituted with an evil suspicion For the Phrensie of it self as Trallianus says is a most acute and most dangerous Disease then if it comes upon a Pestilential or malignant Feavour or of some other evil kind we cannot but expect the end of it to be mortal If a Phrensie happens in a sound body well habited of a Sanguine temperament and young there is greater hopes of health than if it were sickly aged lean or Cholerick and obnoxious to violent Passions If the Phrensie remitting by frequent turns have lucid intervals it is better than if the fury should be undiscontinued But if the sick sometimes seem to be better yet after moderate sleep to awake always furious it is a sign that the Disease is pertinacious and for that reason dangerous for that a new stock of incentive matter is from thence carried to the Brain which indeed we have elsewhere shewn to be made far more plentifully in sleep than waking A Phrensie is in a short time terminated with the Feavour either in health or death or else it is protracted and remains after the Feavour or at length it is healed or passes into other Diseases to wit the Lethargy or Madness or Melancholy If the Feavour having a laudable Crisis either by Sweat or great quantity of Urine is fully cured for the most part the Phrensie also ceases but if the Feavour be not cured and carries still the Morbific matter to the Head so that besides the Animal Functions being depraved the vital begin to fail which appears by the Pulse and breathing being altered for the worse if the Urine be pale if that frequent bleeding at the Nose if Vomiting and Convulsion happen the Physician concludes death to be at hand Sometimes a Feavour though it be not at once or fully Cured yet passing away afterwards slowly and by degrees leaves a Phrensie or a talking idly behind it which if it doth not by its stay obliterate the former tracts of the Spirits in the Brain either will end by little and little of its own accord or is to be healed by the help of Remedies If that by reason of the Phrensie being long protracted the Meninges or the Cortex of the Brain be possessed from the Blood or Serum there heaped up and stagnating with an inflamed tumor or a serous deluge the Lethargy or sleepy Diseases follow the Cure of which is often very difficult or not at all But if from a long Phrensie either the Animal Spirits though their burning should cease contract a vicious nature or that the passages and Pores of the Brain are perverted a perpetual raving oftentimes succeeds the former Disease passing into Madness or Melancholy or foolishness or stupidity Wherefore it is vulgarly said of those that are Frantick and not soon Cured that their Brains are crack'd or broken so that after that they are always Mad or raving In the Cure of the Phrensie we ought to respect at once the Feavour and the Fury The Feavourish burning of the Blood or its immoderate growing hot which for the most part is the antecedent cause of the other effect ought in the first place to be appeased and allayed and the Animal Spirits to be cherished and freed from any great burning If the Phrensie happens about the beginning of the Feavour or the middle of it the same Remedies in a manner and the same method or curing conduce to either end But if this Distemper comes upon this whilst it is at a stand or at its height the means of Curing are oftentimes repugnant to either and there is need of great caution lest whilst we endeavour to help one Disease we do not increase the other in this case the vital indication concerning the preserving of strength obtains the first place and the taking away of blood or purging is not to be rashly and copiously celebrated In the former case when the Feavour and the Phrensie are almost both of an age Phlebotomy rarely or never is to be omitted but is presently to be performed and if strength will bear it let it be afterwards repeated For nothing depresses and diminishes the immoderate flame of the blood like to this Remedy and nothing more averts or recals its burning from the Animal regiment Wherefore if the matter requires it let a vein be opened sometimes in the Arm or Hand sometimes in the Leg or Foot and sometimes in the Neck or forehead perhaps sometimes it may be expedient to open the temporal Artery yea also to take away blood in other places by Leeches and sometimes by Cupping-Glasses For this gives the chiefest help and according to Galen is the most powerful and principal Remedy and is wont to fulfil very many indications in a Phrensie But for the prevention of the Feavourish matter being carried from the Bowels into the Head Clyters are of chief use with which if need be let the Belly be continually kept slippery Vomiting
it self fom the beginning Melancholick foulnesses deposes them in the Spleen which receiving again after their being exalted into the nature of an evil Ferment is more vitiated in its disposition by their foulness Fourthly But besides it is said there is another kind of Melancholy distinct from the Hypochondriack and the former that is begotten in the whole Body together this is nothing else than the Mass of Blood being degenerated from its true nature by reason of errors in the six non-naturals and for many other occasions doth acquire at Atrabilary or Melancholick disposition that is where the Spirit being depressed the Sulphureous Particles together with the Saline and also with some Earthy are carried forth for the Melancholick disposition of the Blood is very much a-kin to this Sulphureous-saline which we have shewed oftentimes to excel in some kind of Scurvy For what causes and upon what occasions this is wont to be produced may be sufficiently known from the Aetiology of that Disease being at large explained The differences of this Disease may be easily gathered from what hath been said for in respect of its first subject which is sometimes the Soul sometimes the Body or rather the Blood it is called either Animal or humeral Melancholy Again it is impressed according to that with various powers to wit it is first impressed either on the Rational Will or the sensitive concupiscible or irascible Appetite also it is divided into very many kinds as it is employed about diverse things to wit either Sacred or Magical or Humane the huge cense or bead-roll of which is almost infinite the chief of which that are wont to come within the Cure of Medicne are Religious Amorous and Jealous Melancholy 2. By reason of the temperament of the sick according to which the Particles of the Melancholick blood being made sometimes Sulphureous sometimes Saline or Earthy the Spirituous being depressed are exalted more or less a Delirium or sadness fury or stupidity are more or less variously joined to Melancholy 3. The Disease is either continual or intermitting according to the conjuct cause either stronger both the Hypostasis of the Spirits and also the bloody Mass being both together vitiated or else lighter and less deeply fixed so that the Distemper'd sometimes are well enough for many days or months yet apt to relapse upon any great occasion 4. In respect of the hurt Imagination there are very many types of Melancholicks to be met with yea almost innumerable yet the chief difference of which is that some are dilirious in all things and others in one thing only The Prognostick of this Disease though as to health or death it is for the most part safe yet by reason of the event it is very uncertain For some quickly grow well others not of a long time and others are never cured This Distemper suddenly excited from a solitary evident cause as a vehement Passion is far safer than by leasure invading after a long Procatarxis or foregoing cause For the former if the evident cause be presently removed often ceases of its own accord or with a little help but in this latter for that the Mass of Blood and the whole heap of Animal Spirits are departed from their due disposition and not rarely the conformation of the Brain as to the tracts of the Spirits is altered The Cure very difficultly and not under a long time succeeds Melancholy being a long time protracted passes oftentimes into Stupidity or Foolishness and sometimes also into Madness further sometimes it brings on Consulsive Distempers or the Palsie or Apoplexy yea sometimes a violent Death As to the Cure there is little or no hopes if the Distemper'd being very contumacious and refractory reject all Medicines and every method of Physick Further there is scarce any better thing to be expected from them who lying sick with only imaginary Diseases take all Remedies and require still more and of diverse kinds to be given them As the Cure of Melancholy as it is always difficult and long so it is wont to be mighty intricate and perplexed for that it ought to be diversly and variously instituted in respect of the evident Procatartick and Conjunct causes of its kind also by reason of the Symptoms daily arising Neither is it only behoveful oftentimes to change the Remedies and Method of healing but also variously to make use of between whiles warnings deceits flatteries intreaties and punishments But first of all the Evident Cause of this Disease if any noted thing went before should be inquired into and if it may be either presently removed or else its removal to be in some sort feigned Further the affections of the mind being vehement and stirred up from thence are either to be appeased or subdued by others opposite Wherefore to desperate Love ought to be applied or shewed indignation and hatred Sadness is to be opposed with the flatteries of Pleasure Musick a desire or vain glory or also a pannick terror In like manner as to the rest of the Passions you must proceed to quiet or elude them The Curatory Method accommodated for the healing of Melancholy suggests many other indications the chief of which and to which the rest may be the better placed are these three commonly noted viz. Curatory which respects immediately the Disease and its Conjunct Cause Preservatory which cuts off the Procatartick and Evident Causes and Vital which is imployed about conserving of strength As to the first Indication the intention of the Physician is so much to lift up make volatile and corroborate the more fixed or dejected Animal Spirits that being also apt to go backwards or out of the way that afterwards they may irradiate more freely being stretched forth the whole Brain with a full and not broken beam for the Acts of the Imagination Judgment and other principal faculties and so lively actuate the Praecordia and make them to vibrate or beat strongly that the Blood being more plentifully inkindled it may be projected from thence without stop or stagnating into the whole Body Therefore for the healing of the Spirits first of all it is to be procured that the Soul should be withdrawn from all troublesome and restraining passion viz. from mad Love Jealousie Sorrow Pity Hatred Fear and the like and composed to chearfulness or joy pleasant talk or jesting Singing Musick Pictures Dancing Hunting Fishing and other pleasant Exercises are to be used They who care not for Sports or Pleasures for to some Melancholicks they are always ingrateful are to be roused up by imploying them in more light businesses sometimes Mathematical or Chymical Studies also Travelling do very much help moreover it is often expedient to change the places of habitation in their native soil Those who will still stay at home are to be warned that they take care of their Houshold affairs and that they should govern their Family that they should
build Houses plant and order Gardens Orchards or Till the Ground For the mind being busied with necessary cares or duties puts aside and at last deserts more easily vain and mad cogitations Melancholy persons are seldom to be lest alone for that then they indulge their airy phantasies and speculations and suffer them to continue longer The Soul sinks down inwardly and leaving the body enters into a certain Metamorphosis and puts on a new shape and oftentimes different from humane manners Wherefore the Distemper'd ought to be disturbed almost always with the discourses of their familiar Friends to wit that the Animal Spirits being called outwards may be solicited from their diversions into their former and accustomed tracts But if the sick be seduced with phantastical illusions and imagine some prodigious things of themselves and firmly believe them their mind is to be drawn from them by artificial inventions very many causes and examples of this sort of Cure are to be found in Books and a discreet Physician may institute the like as occasion serves Although a fresh Melancholy may be cured sometimes by the mere discipline and institution of the mind and Animal Spirits yet in a long or inveterate where the Spirits have contracted an acetous nature and the Blood an Atrabilary or Melancholick disposition and that the Brain is hurt as to its Pores and passages other Indications called Preservatory are required for the taking away of the Procatartick causes Concerning this thing the Medical intentions are first that the Blood be reduced to a better temper and genuine to wit a spirituous saline then to enliven the Brain and to render it bright and clear its Pores being unlocked and also to corroborate the Animal Spirits and to excite them into a lively flowing forth For which ends the following method I think good to propose which notwithstanding ought to be varied according to the various constitutions of the sick The taking away of Blood has place almost in all Melancholicks and sometimes it is often to be iterated For the adust and liveless Blood being at times drawn away a new and more spirituous comes in its place Concerning the quantity place and manner of celebrating this Remedy Authors have various opinions but the motion and the affections of the Blood being truly weighed it will at first suffice to take a moderate quantity out of the Arm and afterwards if need be a lesser or to draw it from the Sedal Veins by Leeches How the Salvatella Veins being opened as is said should bring such notable help to Melancholicks I confess I cannot understand perhaps it may help them if the Melancholick persons be firmly perswaded that this Phlebotomy will cure them before any others the frequent opening the Hemorrhoidal Veins invites Nature to an endeavouring afterwards for that evacuation which succeeding of its own accord as Hippocrates says does not seldom Cure this Disease Purging for that it draws back the nourishment of the Disease from the firsts ways and removes the impediments of other Remedies ought to be celebrated at the beginning and repeated at intervals But that some think for the sooner rooting out of this Disease Hellebore or Elateriums are chiefly to be used and cite Hippocrates for their Author we apprehend if the success be minded those things do not ordinarily agree with yea more often do hurt to the sick For indeed more strong Purgers do not take away the cause of the Disease to wit the Dyscrasie of the Blood but rather encrease it besides they more debilitate and strike down the Animal Spirits before dejected But Hellebore was so often prescribed by Hippocrates because in his Age other Catharticks were scarcely known or at least they were not in frequent use But now it is thought much better gently to draw forth the receptacles of the humors by more gentle and easie Purgers and to cleanse only the Viscera and the first ways without any great commotions of the Blood and Spirits Vomiting Medicines as in most Cephalick Diseases free from a Feavour are wont to help after a peculiar manner in all mad Distempers The reason of this partly consists in this because the viscous load of the Ventricle which as we have elsewhere shewn doth very much burthen the Soul being purged forth the Spirits by that means being more free expand themselves more lively and chearfully Further forasmuch as Vomiting presses together and evacuates the neighbouring receptacles of the humors to wit the Gall Bag the passage of the Pancreas and the Glandulas of the Mesentery procures that their contents be not transferred into the Head Take Oxymel of Squills one ounce and a half of Wine of Squills one ounce of the Syrup de Peto two drams mix them and make a Vomit if it doth not work or but slowly provoke Vomiting with a great deal of Carduus Posset-drink Take of the Decoction of the middle bark of Elder four ounces of the Salt of Vitriol one scruple to two scruples of Oxymel simple three drams mix them and take it after the same manner To robust and well-set persons may be given of the Infusion of Crocus Metallorum or of Mercurius Vitae also the Emetick Tartar of Mynsicht or the Sulphur of Antimony Take of the Root of Polypodium of the Oak half an ounce of Epithimum three drams of Sena half an ounce of Tamarinds six drams of the seeds of Coriander three drams of yellow Saunders two drams let them be boiled in fourteen ounces of Spring-water till it comes to ten ounces adding to the Colature or when it is strained of Agarick two drams of Rhubarb one dram and a half being clarified add of the Syrup of purging Apples two ounces let six ounces be taken and repeated within three or four days Take of the best Sena three drams Epithym Rhubarb each one dram and a half of Yellow Saunders half a dram of Coriander seed two scruples of the Salt of Wormwood half a dram of Celtick Spike a scruple put these into white Wine and the Water of Pipins of each four ounces kept close all night to the liquor being strained five ounces add of the Syrup of Epithimum six drams of Aqua Mirabilis two drams mix them and make a Potion In strong bodies or hard to work on may be added to these of the strings of black Hellebore macerated in Vinegar one dram or two For those who had rather make use of Pills Boluses Powders or Syrups take the following Take of the Pil. Tartar of Quercitan or of Amber of Crato half a dram of the Resine of Ialap or of Scammony six or eight grains or Tartar vitriolated half a scruple of Ammoniacum dissolved in Aqua Mirabilis what will suffice to make a Pill let four be taken going to sleep and unless they work first one in the morning following Take of Calamelanos of the extract of black Hellebore each one scruple of the Resine of Ialap six grains of
It easily occurs if the reason of these be inquired into that the Latex watering the Brain and nervous Appendix doth contain in it self together with a subtil Spirit great plenty of volatile Salt Therefore when this is so depraved that the Spirit being depressed the Saline Particles degenerate into a flux and acquire to themselves little Sulphureous bodies it becomes plainly Corrosive and Stygian Wherefore malignant humors and Ulcers chiefly happen in the nervous parts and their Emunctories and there are excited upon any light occasion as when a small hurt happens to the Breast of a Woman a Cancer follows because indeed the nervous humor being hindred somewhere in its passage doth there stagnate presently the Spirit being depressed or flying away the Saline Particles degenerating from a volatile to a four nature get to themselves soon after strange companions and snatching either Eartâ—y or Sulphureous little bodies or of some other kind begin to congeal into Sâ—â—â—hous Strumous or Cancrous Tumors And when after this manner by the stagnating of the nervous Liquor and by its getting an heterogeneous concretion the Mine of a Tumor is blown up in some part and the supplements of the same liquor are continually perverted into the like nature of viciousness to which also happen the Melancholâ—ck impurities poured forth from the Blood and other humors which with their joined forces encrease the rage even as when diverse Salts and Sulphurs are destilled together and constitute in the distemper'd part a Septick matter and like to the Escharotick or crusting up of Stygian Water According to this reasoning or Aetiology the irregularities of these kind of Tumors as also the appearance of the Kings-Evil are most aptly unfolded If that the nervous Liquor so corrosive and made degenerate doth not grow into Tumors flowing into the nervous Fibres it is wont to cause here and there most cruel Pains and Cramps But as this Liquor of the Nerves being depraved after this manner stirs up the aforefaid Distempers in the nervous parts so it is not difficult to conceive that the same water for that it is for a Vehicle of the Animal Spirits flowing in the Brain doth acquire together with those Spirits a Corrosive and as it were a Stygian nature and for that reason excites Madness The depravation of the Animal Spirits together with the juice watering the Brain or the disposition of Madness is wont to arise after various ways and for diverse causes but truly for the most part this Distemper as we have observed of Melancholy begins either from the Spirits themselves or else from the Blood First Madness beginning from the Spirits arises sometimes from an evident solitary cause as a violent Passion sometimes also it proceeds from a foregoing cause lying in the Brain as when it comes upon Melancholy or a Phrensie We shall a little weigh the reasons of either case and the various manner of their being made 1. As to the former when a vehement affection puts any one besides himself that happens to be made thus either because the Animal Spirits are too much overthrown and hurried into confusion or because they are elevated above measure and endeavour to stretch themselves forth beyond their sphere First The Spirits are wont to be cast down by a violent and terrible Passion so it often happens that some being struck with a panick fear by seeing a true or an imaginary Spectre or Ghost afterwards fall into a perpetual Madness Further some by reason of some notable disgrace or repulse others by reason of their hopes of obtaining their Love being suddenly and unthought of frustrated and others by reason of a rash breaking their oaths or vows and violated Conscience being first highly troubled in mind anon become Mad. The reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being driven beyond their orders and wonted passages and put into confusion do make for themselves new and devious ways which entring into immediately they bring forth delirious Phantasms in the mean time the Saline Particles of the nervous juice the spirituous being depressed depart from their volatileness and suffering a flux assume to themselves the Sulphureous little bodies poured forth from the Blood into the then weak and open Brain From whence this Liquor being most sharp like Stygian Water and the Animal Spirits becoming fierce and very much incited become furious Secondly Sometimes the Animal Spirits whilst they are too much elevated almost after the same manner induce both to themselves and the nervous juice the mad disposition Hence Ambition Pride and Emulation have made some mad the reason of which is because whilst the Corporeal Soul swelling up with an opinion and pride of its own excellency lifts up it self and endeavours on every side to expand or stretch it self forth most amply beyond the border or sphere of its body the Animal Spirits being tumultuarily called into the Head will not be contained within their wonted bounds but being there broken and diversly reflected by reason of their too much excretion are compelled into new and plainly devious tracts wherefore both they being thrust forth from the course of their proper emanation and also the nervous Liquor do quickly acquire a sharp and incitative Disposition as was said but now for that reason Madness follows Thus much concerning Madness excited by reason of a solitary evident cause but this Disease doth also arise from a Procatartick cause preexisting in the Brain and chiefly from Melancholy or the Phrensie going before in that the Animal Spirits with the nervous juice being a little more exalted and in this a little more depressed acquire the disposition of Madness As to the former it is a vulgar observation that sudden and great Melancholy is for the most part next to Madness the reason of which is because when the Animal Spirits together with the nervous liquor degenerate into a sourness are perverted there only wants the accession of Sulphur by which they afterwards getting a Stygian nature may induce Madness as when an acid Liquor distilled out of Vitriol or Salt by the addition of Sal Nitrosus becomes Aqua fortis but indeed in a great passion of Melancholy because the Spirits being disturbed the passages of the Brain are too open the Sulphureous Particles carried from the Bilous and Rancid Blood find an easie entrance and so the former sour or acid disposition turns into a Stygian or Maddish Hence it is observed if any one of a more hot temperament falls into a Melancholick Delirium with fear and sadness forasmuch as the Sulphureous Particles in its humors are joyned to the Salts being depressed into a flux that sadness and thinking at the beginning very readily a short time after becomes madness Secondly for that also a Phrensie often ends in Madness the reason is almost the same with the former but inverted to wit because in a Phrensie the Spirits and the nervous Liquor becoming Sulphureous
and too much inflamed afterwards burning forth get to themselves Saline Particles and so in like matter get a most sharp and as it were a Stygian nature wherefore the Feavour then ceasing the Fury becomes fixed and continual 2. The disposition of Madness hath no less frequently its roots in the bloody Mass and is at length produced into act to wit when as the Blood being depraved and becomes Nitro-sulphureous it either perverts the nervous Liquor as also the Animal Spirits or supplies them but evilly Which kind of taint of the Blood is either hereditary or acquired First It is a common observation that men born of Parents that use sometimes to be mad are obnoxious to the same disease and though they have lived above thirty or forty years prudent and sober yet afterwards without any occasion or evident cause they have fallen into Madness The reason of which is for that the Blood at that time bending from its due temper by degrees into a Nitro sulphureous affords to the Head Animal Spirits and also the nervous juice participating as hath been said of a most sharp nature We have formerly shewn that in our Complexion Elementary Particles do persist during life apart from the secondary afforded by nutrition and have their times of crudity maturity and defection wherefore we suppose the morbid seeds do ripen into fruit according to the periods of Ages Further we take notice that oftentimes the fruits of Diseases of this kind do remain ripening for a long time or perpetually as long as life yet sometimes falling off as it were of their own accord do wither away then sometimes in another tract of time from the infection being left new fruits do spring up and by little and little rise up to their height Wherefore Hereditary Madness is sometimes continual and sometimes intermitting Its fits are wont sometimes to come again after a shorter time and sometimes after a longer interval Secondly As the foregoing Cause of Madness sticking in the Blood is oftentimes innate or original so sometimes the same is by degrees begotten either by an evil manner of diet or by the suppression of usual evacuations or by reason of a Feavour going before or for some other causes and at length being brought to maturity breaks forth into Madness It is an usual thing in great want of sustenance that some poor people being constrained to feed only on very disagreeing meats and of ill digestion become at first sad with an horrid aspect louring and dark and a little after Mad. The Haemorrhoids and the after flowings of Women in Child-bed being restrained in their flux or some evil and foul running Ulcers being suppressed dispose some towards this Disease Further those who originally or by acquisition are indued with a more sharp temper and with fierce manners and threatning countenance by reason of the dispositition of their Blood being nigh to a Nitro-sulphur are in danger to fall into Madness from some strong evident cause Thirdly Venomous Ferments being insinuated to the Blood and nervous juice as first of all from the biting of mad Animals or by the taking of some poisons are wont to stir up Madness Concerning the reasons of the former we have proposed our conjectures in another place Of late a very Noble Lady and to be credited told me from her own knowledge that a certain Gentleman having eaten at dinner time the tender leaves of Wolfs-bane in a Sallad with other herbs in the Evening found himself ill and complaining of a great unquietness and agitation of his Blood and Spirits he desired his Friends to send for a Chirurgeon to let him blood or that otherwise he should grow Mad which indeed as he said came to pass for before he could be let blood he fell into Madness and dyed in a nights space This kind of deadly Distemper so suddenly happened for that this poison had not only perverted the Blood and Animal Spirits as to their temper but had slain or beat them down immediately with its malignant Ferment Thus much for the formal Reason and Causes of Madness The primary Symptoms of it we have mentioned to be a Delirium and a Fiâ—ry the reasons of which appear clear enough from what has been already said To these we may moreover add Boldness Strength and that they are still unwearied with any labours and suffer pains unhurt of which we will speak briefly Mad-men are not as Melancholicks sad and fearful but audacious and very confident so that they shun almost no dangers and attempt all the most difficult things that are The reason of which is because the Animal Spirits being very fierce and provoked both fortifie the Imagination that no object may seem greater or bigger than it is wont to be and actuate also the Praecordia with vigor so that they cast forth the Blood strongly and swiftly and drive it forwards lively to the utmost borders of the Body In this Distemper the Soul endeavours to be carried forth and to lâ—ap beyond the compass or sphere of the Body and so striving on every side against the incursions of any exterior things bears it self without fear Secondly Mad-men are still strong and robust to a prodigy so that they can break cords and chains break down doors or walls one easily overthrows many endeavouring to hold him The certain cause of which is because in the Blood and nervous juice of Mad people are contained Particles as it were Nitro sulphureous or otherways most sharp and as it were Stygian from whence the Animal Spirits are indued or are strong with an Elastick or Explosive force stupendous great and far beyond what 's natural Thirdly it is observed that Mad men are almost never tired for although by playing mad pranks and striving many days and nights they strongly exercise their members and live in the mean time without sleep or eating yet they scarce languish at all nor desist from their agonies for want of strength Which without doubt comes to pass for that the Animal Spirits though very moveable and Elastick are not however volatile and easily dissipable but by reason of the Saline Particles being depressed from their volatileness into a flux being joined with the Sulphureous become firm and more fixed and therefore continue longer in their activity In like manner as we have observed in Aqua fortis which though it be contained in a vessel that 's open perpetually sends forth very many Effluvia's and yet still retains its substance unwasted and its corrosive force otherwise than the spirit of Wine or Blood the virtue of which soon evaporates In the fourth place almost for the same reason Mad-men what ever they bear or suffer are not hurt but they bear cold heat watching fasting strokes and wounds without any sensible hurt to wit because the spirits being strong and fixed are neither daunted nor fly away Further the blood having gotten a Nitro sulphureous
boiled in it For those who have their Animal Spirits too poor and liveless let them take Chocolate as we have described it above which seems most profitable For ordinary drink let small Ale or Beer be prepared in a vessel containing three or four Gallons and after it has work'd put into it in a little bag these following things Take of the leaves of Sage the sharp leaved and dryed four handfuls of Cubebs one ounce of Cloves and of Nutmegs bruised c. Mix them according to art Outward Applications have also a place here such are a quilted Cap Plasters and Liniments and sometimes let these sometimes those or others be administer'd Take of the flowers of the Lily of the valley Rosemary flowers Stoechadoes each one handful of Celtick Spike two drams of the roots of Cypress the lesser Galingal the Florentine Iris each three drams of Labdanum Benzoin of Toluvian Balsam of Amber each two drams of Nutmegs Cloves Mace Cinamon each one dram and a half make of them all a fine powder quilting it in a Cap with silk between Take of the Plaster of Floris unguent so called two ounces of Tachamahac of Carranae of the Balsom of Tolu each three drams of the Powder of Amber Myrrh each two drams of Cloves Nutmeg Mace each one dram being all liquefied or melted together let them be made into a mass of which make a Plaster spread it on leather and the head being shaved put it to it Take of the Oyl of Palms half an ounce of Capive Balsom three drams of the Balsom of Peru one dram of the Oyl of Nutmeg by expression two drams Oyl of Amber half a dram make an Ointment for the Head I might here add many other Medicines and ways of Administrations but in this almost desperate case where oftentimes no Remedies are wont to help and the Cure never perfected these may suffice CHAP. XIV Of the Gout AMong the Diseases of the Head and the nervous stock we may refer hither some Distempers that are chiefly wont to infest the Feet and the Belly to wit the Gout and the Colick That the seat of either is in the nervous parts we may very well conclude from the primary Symptom to wit pain The cause of this latter Charles Piso has affirmed to exist within the Head and Fernelius affims the same of the other Wherefore we shall endeavour to deliver the Pathologie of either together with the apposite means of healing them and first we shall speak of the Gout The name of the Gout denotes plainly its subject because that it is almost only Articulate or is in the space where the heads of two or more Bones meet together This Disease is wont to be excited more frequently about the Internodia or knittings of the Bones of the Feet because this part being greatly declining and remote from the Praecordia and the fountain of Heat receives readily the Morbisick matter and does not easily overcome it or quickly put it off Yet the Gout often happens in the jointings of the Hip or huckle bone the knee the bending of the arm the shoulder the wrist the ancle and of other parts The fits of this Disease which are almost ever intermitting invade either wandringly or periodically which being finished sometimes sooner sometime more slowly the intervals happen lucid or quiet enough presently after the first assault of it for the most part pains arise without any tumor though afterwards about the height of the Disease the distemper'd part often swells up the pains in the beginning yield to no Remedies but are made more cruel by Catharticks and are not presently put to flight by Topicks or wont to be allayed The Fit most often falls upon one without any previous distemper but suddenly yet sometimes there will be an heat of the blood or a little feavourish distemper going before The disposition to this Disease is sometimes hereditary and sometimes acquired by reason of an evil manner of living The occasions or causes which being wont to move this disposition stir up the Gouty pains are all violent alterations or passions inflicted on the humors or spirits Hence Surfeiting immoderate drinking especially of sharp and thin Wines transpiration being hindred wrath or indignation immoderate Venus or Lust sadness also the changes of the air and of the year and any great mutations ordinarily induce fits of this Disease Those obnoxious to this disease are sometimes in danger to be distemper'd also with the Stone or Gravel in the Reins and so on the contrary those obnoxious to the Stone are wont to be troubled with the Gout Yea the Gout growing grievous it every where heaps up about its nests to wit in the joynts a calculous or stony matter and there excites a stony or hard bulk The distemper'd parts whose pains are stirred up in the hauled Fibres for the most part are the Periostea or the heads clothing the Membrane of the Bones and perhaps the Tendons and Ligaments there planted about But sometimes the pain in these parts wholly depends upon a breach of the unity and this proceeds from a certain matter being impacted in those Bodies or lying upon them first of all we shall inquire what sort of morbific matter this is secondly from whence it comes and thirdly by what means it so stirs up periodical Gouty Fits by breaking the unity in them As to the Morbifick Matter it seems first that it is not the Blood or nervous juice of it self nor is it one only simple humor laid up a part from the others We deservedly excuse the Blood from this censure because these pains only infest Bodies for the most part without Blood yea and almost them only For although in the neighbouring parts by reason of the course of the Blood being hindred sometimes a tumor happens with an inflammation yet this is not the Disease but a Symptom and for the most part comes upon the Gout Further it appears that the nervous juice how ever sharp or biteing or pricking or pulling it is supposed to be does not excite of it self the pains of the Gout because then the Distemper would cause pains also or as much in some other passages of the nervous parts and also in the Internodia or knittings of the Bones It is improbable for the same reason that any singular excrementitious or superfluous Humor or Matter deposited from the Blood or nervous juice to cause the pains of the Gout For if such were only carried thorow the Nerves it would excite pains by order and a continual tract not first in the feet or extream joints but by irritating the nervous Stock in its whole journey If that according to the opinions of Hollerius Sennertus and other Moderns it be affirmed that some impurities falling off from the heated Blood and received by the joints is the material cause of the Goutish pain then it should follow that all who are greatly
it will seem to the purpose for us to inquire into the reasons A long Gout oftentimes gets to it the Scurvey and some Scorbutick Distempers are so like the Gout that they are not easily distinguished The reason of the former is both the like Dyscrasie of the Blood in either Distemper depending upon a fixed Salt as also for that Gouty people being for a long time fixed either to their Bed or Chair the Scorbutick disposition easily comes upon them Secondly The Scorbutick Distempers which imitate the Gout are the Rheumatism and the wandring Scorbutick Gout the reasons and causes of which and how they may be discerned from the Gout we need not repeat here having already delivered them in our tract of the Scurvey The Gout hath so near a relation to the Stone or Gravel in the Reins that either distemper as if they had the same original most often meet together for scarce any is sick of the Gout but is found to be also obnoxious to the other Disease Further an inveterate Gout is wont to excite stony Concretions in the Joints such as the Stone doth in the Reins Hence I think it is most likely that the Stone or Gravel in the Reins doth arise from a like if not wholly the same cause that we assigned for the Gout to wit the Saline fixed matter being deposited from the Blood in the Reins doth grow hot with the acid humor being there poured forth thorow the nervous passages and by that means doth frequently induce Nephritick pains or of the Reins then from either matter being coagulated after growing hot doth form the Stone For the illustrating this Pathology farther here being no place for it it shall be deferred to another time Every Body is wont to give a Prognostick of the Gout to wit that it is safe enough but most hard to be Cured 1. As to the former this Distemper is not only free of it self from danger but on the contrary preventeth most other Diseases For Gouty people by reason of the Saline fixed Dyscrasie of the Blood are little obnoxious to Feavours but for the most part live free from a Consumption and other more grievous Distempers of the Bowels or Head because the Recrements of the Blood and nervous Juice are continually laid up in the Joints 2. But as to the latter the so great difficulty of Cure the reason is that for the taking away the foregoing cause of this Disease there is required a most perfect amendment of a double Humor viz. of the Blood and nervous Juice to wit that they may beget no Saline fixed or plainly acid Particles and moreover a restitution of the weakned Joints neither of which can ever be easily obtained And besides this it happens that the Conjunct Cause of this Disease subsists in places greatly at a distance so that the virtues of no Medicine are able to reach them Sometimes it happens by reason of the Fluxions of the Gouty Matter being suppressed or beat back that sometimes torments of the Ventricle of the Bowels and of the Belly sometimes a straitness of breathing an Asthma or other Distempers of the Breast and sometimes also an Apâ—plexy and other sleepy or Convulsive Diseases are excited which being observed it may be objected that the Mine of the Gout is not the same as we but now described because its Saline part if it were the same which is destinated for the nourishing of the Joints would not be from thence expelled or deferred or laid up elsewhere then as to the other part to wit the laying up of the acid seeds in the accustomed place it seems that it should not be easily repercussed or of it self suppressed in its way or any where else translated to be very hurtful to any part But indeed it is easie to reply to this that an acetous portion of the Gouty Matter may be repelled or suppressed flowing thorow the nervous passages and so it being poured in to other parts doth oftentimes excite most grievous evils Indeed the nervous Liquor and its Recrements for that they consist of very subtil and active Particles upon every light stop or repulse are driven into diverse deflections and flowings moreover when these grow turgid or meet with the Particles of humors of another kind and grow hot with them they stir up various Distempers or such as are painful and Convulsive and not rarely because the dissimilar Particles are mutually coagulated sometimes Strumons sometimes Cancrous or otherways malignant Tumors arise Instances very remarkable of these kind of effects we have shewn in our Treatise of Convulsive Diseases But especially concerning a Maid who by reason of the Inguinal Glandulas or the Kirnels about the Groin being hardly pressed and hurt with a Truss for a Rupture fell into a Vertigo and Convulsive Distempers and shortly after had great Scropulâ—'s or running Sores growing on the same side in the Neck After the same manner by reason of the Goutish Mine being restrained from its wonted place and suppressed within the nervous Passages or otherways translated sometimes most wicked Distempers arise Whilst I was writing these I was sent for to a Noble Matron who sometimes past being obnoxious to the Gout and that very much after about three months last past she had laboured almost continually with a languishing of the Ventricle with a queasiness â—auscousness and vomiting at length I know not upon what occasion falling into frequent swoonings or loss of spirits a little after she was troubled with a Vertigo with a loss of memory and sometimes with a light Delirium and when she had continued thus for some days and free in the mean time from the Gout and growing well in her stomach she eat with an appetite broth twice or thrice in a day and once a day flesh meat and digested it without any trouble by this manifest sign indeed it appears that the Recrements of the nervous humor which were wont before to fall down by the Spinal Nerves into the Feet to the Mine of the Gout afterwards being deposited in the Ventricle thorow the Nerves of the wandring pair and the Intercostals did stir up the continual troubles in it which at last partly restagnating in the Brain and being partly translated into the Cardiack Nerves or those going to the Heart those last Distempers of Swooning of the Vertigo and the Delirium succeeded The Curatory method suggests three primary Indications the first of them Curatory to be administer'd only in the Fits for the allaying the pains and for the sooner ending of them Secondly Preservatory being destinated for the intervals of the fits endeavours the taking away of the foregoing cause of the Disease that the fits of the pains may more rarely or less or not at all be repeated Thirdly Vital which institutes by what kind of food and by what Remedies strength may be sustained in the cruel Torments and life be prolonged and also refreshed or
the Loins yet as often as they are repeated in the same sick person they mostly observe the same nest For the unfolding the Aetiology of this Disease it is not enough to affirm that the Intestines are pulled either by their sharp contents or irritated by the Blood and other humors poured into them and breaking the continuity For as to the former it is extreamly improbable that the Bile or Choler or Phlegm or the Pancreatick Juice or any other simple humor or growing hot or fermenting with others should be able to excite such fixed cruel and long continuing pains Besides because the Intestines being besmeared with their own dung cannot be easily pricked by the Contents though sharp nor are they wont to be exasperated by them insomuch that the sharpest stools which oftentimes fetch off the skin at the Fundament very little trouble or not at all the passages of the Guts further these being grievously provoked whatever is troublesome contained in their cavity is easily shaken forth and either by driving it forward upwards or downwards is quickly thrust forth as is plainly perceived in the Disease of the Choler and other Dysentrick Distempers nor indeed is there almost any loading of these provoking the Membranes and stirring up pains which may not be exterminated or carried forth of doors by one purge or other Then secondly as to what respects the suffusions of the Blood or Serum within the coats of the Intestines by which an Inflammation or painful Tumors are excited Indeed we grant that sometimes it may so come to pass yea I have known it by ocular inspection but from thence we have observed not the Colick but the Iliack passion to have been excited For when I have opened several dying of the Iliack passion I found almost in all that the cause of the Disease and of their Death was an Inflammation or Ulcer of some Intestine neither is this any wonder because a Solution of the continuity in a very tender and highly sensible Membrance doth stir up Convulsions and painful Corrugations or wrinklings together and so continual and cruel that therefore the Peristaltick motion of the distempered Intestine whereby the dung or dregs of the Belly are carried forward toward the Anum or Arse-Gut should be hindred and wholly inverted Therefore that we may thorowly inquire out both the Matter and Mine as also the seats and the ways of flowing to them of this Disease of the Colick by some other means it may deservedly be suspected that it is the nervous Juice and its Recrements and that the rather because this passion hath so intimate an agreement or consent with the other Distempers of the Brain and the nervous Stock as we have already shewed Charles Piso hath affirmed That as most distempers of the whole Body so also the pains of the Colick are excited by a Serous heap or deluge gathered together in the head and he contends that the seat of this Disease is neither in the coats nor cavities of the Intestines but in the Peritonaum or inner rim of the Belly and that the cause sticks wholly in the Brain near the original of the Nerves To wit he supposes which he saith he hath found by Anatomical observation The serosities laid up in the hinder region of the Brain to beset the little heads of the Nerves of the wandring pair and so some of the utmost branches and shoots of them inserted into the Peritonaeum or inner rim of the Belly by the Caul to move into Convulsions and from the contraction or drawing together of this most cruel pains both in it and in the underlying Viscera as it were breaking them to pieces to be excited For the proof of this opinion he brings an example of a certain man dissected being dead of a most grievous fit of the Colick in whom the hinder region of the head near the Cerebel was so much drowned with a clear water as also the nervous original of the wandring pair that the marrowy substance appeared very much moistened like wet Paper Sect. 4. Chap. 2. But indeed though we should grant that the Colick should arise from the humor of the Brain and from the default of that watering the nervous parts yet we think that this painful passion is excited not after that manner as this Author has laid down Because we think neither the seat of this Disease to subsist in the Peritonaeum nor its primary cause to be within the head For as to this although the Morbifick matter being heaped up in the head near the origine of the Nerves doth sometimes produce in the parts at a great distance Numnesses Cramps and Convulsive motions as we have elsewhere shewn by many instances with the reasons of the Distemper yet it is much otherwise in a very cruel pain such as the Colick is wont to be For as to this being excited which always proceeds from a breach of the continuity it is required that the dolorifick cause or improportionate object should be fixed in the distemper'd member itself or at least a certain part or portion of it Neither is it sufficient to say that the Convulsion proceeds from a remote cause and so the pain from the Convulsions For although pain oftentimes doth produce Convulsive motions yet these do not produce pain of themselves at least great and continuing long Wherefore in the pain of the Colick the matter drawing asunder the sensitive Fibres and pulling them one from another and so provoking them into painful Corrugations or wrinklings doth not still stay in the Brain but descending from thence thorow the nervous passages towards the Intestines seems to be heaped up somewhere in their neighbourhood nigh to the pained parts and there either growing turgid or swelling up by reason of their fulness or growing hot with some other humor do bring in the fits of this Disease We indeed reject the Mine of the Colick from the Peritonaeum because this Membrane being very thin and gifted but with very few and only small Vessels is neither capable of any great affluxions of Humors neither can it self though pulled together be able to urge the Viscera lying under it into pains by compressing or drawing them together But the Morbific matter being slid down from the Head by the Nerves into the Belly finds very convenient nests in the Mesentery in which very many and great Nerves have there their noted infoldings and distributions Wherefore as this part is very sensible and very much obnoxious to the flowings in of the humors of the nervous Stock it may be deservedly affirmed to be the seat of this Disease of the Colick We have shewn formerly the causes of some Convulsive motions in the Abdomen which are commonly called Hysterical to lye hid in the Mesenterick Infoldings moreover in the same places we did then assert That the Colick pains had sometimes their nests and confirmed it sufficiently by Anatomical observation But
use of an inferiour reason 3 Nervous Liquor how a cause of the head-ach 108. the habitual head-ach depends chiefly upon its fault c. 109 wherefore it oft-times becomes corrosive c. 202 Nutritious juice how it excites the head-ach 108.110 111 O. OPâ—ats how they cause sleep 128. how they operate in the Ventricle or Brain how as assigned by Webfer 156 P. PAlace or seat of the humane mind in the Phantasy 41 Palsie what it is 161. its seat ibid. it s conjunct causes 162. in the Palsie either motion or sense only or both together is hurt ibid. spontaneous motion is abolished by reason of the ways being obstructed either in the beginnings or middle passages or about the ends ibid. the ways are obstructed by impletion or compression or by a breaking of the unity ibid. an obstruction in the streaked Bodies causes the universal Palsie or the Palsie of one side ibid. why sense is not hindered as well as motion in every Palsie 163. why all Muscles of the Eyes and Face are not loosened in an universal Palsie ibid. a compression of the streaked Body sometimes stirs up the Palsie ibid. a paralytick obstruction doth sometimes happen in the oblong and spinal Marrow ibid. a Palsie often succeeds Stupidity ibid. a Palsie sometimes from the pressing together of the Marrowy chord ibid. sometimes from the unity being broke 164. the seat of the Palsie sometimes in the Nerves themselves which are either obstructed or compressed or the unity broken ibid. an obstruction sometime in the beginning of the Nerves sometimes in the middle or in their utmost processes ibid. the other conjunct cause of the Palsie ibid. in every Palsie the matter is not so thick or cold as it is vitriolick and other ways infestous to the Spirits ibid. the blasting or withering of Trees like the Palsie ibid. the more remote foregoing causes of the Palsie ibid. the Palsie is either a primary Distemper and a Disease of it self or secondary coming upon or succeeding other Diseases ibid. why the Palsie often succeeds convulsive Diseases ibid. why the distemper of the Colick 166. why the Gout ibid. the evident causes of the habitual Palsie ibid. want or paucity of Spirits oftentimes the cause of the spurious Palsie ibid. for which reason old men are obnoxious to this Disease 167. also scorbutical Persons and such as are full of ill humours ibid. also others long sick ibid. hence some dare not venture on local motion others endeavouring cannot bear it long ibid. the second kind of Palsie in which motion and sense are hurt at once ibid. the third kind in which sense only is affected 168. why feeling is sometimes lost and motion safe ibid. the Prognostick ibid. the Cure 171. Histories and Examples of Paralyticks 174 Paraphrenesis what it is 181. its conjunct causes 181 182. wherefore breathing is hurt in this Disease ibid. its Prognosticks 184. Cure 185 Parts of the corporeal Soul 22. parts serving for hearing how they differ in man and some four-footed Beasts 74 Passions their History from 45 to 55 Phantasy or imagination the power thereof in Brutes 38. 't is often deceived ibid. in man 't is the intellect presiding over the imagination V. Intellect the seat or palace of the humane mind in it 41. the pleasing of it and the senses cause sleep 90 Phantastick desires are immense 52 Phrensy V. Delirium Platonists and Pythagoreans affirm'd the Soul of Brutes to be an incorporeal substance 2 Pleasure and Grief the two primary affections of the Soul 48. they affect the two roots of the Soul viz. the Brain and Praecordia ibid. and 49 Praecordia wherefore and how esteemed the seat of holy affections 47. why call'd the seat of Prudence and Wisdom ibid. they and the Brain the two roots of the Soul 48. they truly labour in the Incubus 142 Prototype of a sound by and by stirs up innumerable Ectypes 70 Pupil of the Eye in some round in others longish the reason inquired into 83. its colour in some black in others grey reddish or otherwise colour'd the reason shewn ibid. R. REasons of very many Authors perswade that the Soul of Brutes is not only corporeal but fiery 5. the reason of good and evil either concerns the corporeal Soul by it self or united to the Body or subjected to the rational 45. reasons of Colours and Images unfolded 77. reasons of the symptoms in Love-madness explained 199. of Tumors and Vlcers in the Kings Evil c. 202 203. of symptoms in Madness 205. why wise and strong men are not always begot of strong and wise men 210 S. SAlivation in inveterate head-achs without suspicion of the Venereal Disease whether it ought to be administred 119. the means and manner of salivating by Mercury unfolded 119 120 Sense what it is 56 57 to 60 Serum how it excites the head-ach 108. its evacuation through its right way being suppressed brings its Flux to the head 110 Sight the most noble Sense 75 77 78 Sleep unknown or greatly controverted what it is 86. Schneiderus's opinion that it is an inorganical faculty of the Soul ibid. its subject not the whole Body 87. the Animal Spirits its immediate subject ibid. all the Spirits injoy rest but not in sleep c. ibid. it s immediate subject is the knowing part of the sensitive Soul ibid. the mediate are the Bodies contemning it 88. its formal reason and beginning ibid. and causes 89. 't is either natural not natural or preternatural ibid. by what and how many ways it begins from the Brain first affected 90. not from fumes ibid. its matter conveyed only by the Arteries 91. why raw and indigested meats induce sleepiness ibid. how it seems to begin in the Eyes ibid. the effects thereof 92. why those that sleep are apt to be cold outwardly ibid. the Blood performs its offices better in sleep ibid. what it affords to the lucid part of the Soul ibid. benefits of sleep noted ibid. Soul the contemplation thereof whereto it conduces 1. divers opinions of the Soul 2 3. three things to be considered in the Soul of Brutes 6. various kinds of Brutes Souls described c. 7. Insects have fiery Souls c. 8. whether fiery Souls in Bloodless Creatures 13. the corporeal Soul in man subject to the rational 18. a double subject of the Brutal Soul 22. whence two parts thereof c. ibid. the sensible part divisible 23. the Animal Spirits constitute its Hypostasis ibid. its beginning 29. frames it self before the Body and increases with it ibid. the Bodies duration depends upon it ibid. like flame it has its trepidations c. 31. as strong in sense and motion as a machine 32. if immaterial also rational ibid. the common sensory not the whole Soul 33. 't is like a self-moving musical Organ 34. the rational far exceeds the Brutal how both joyn'd in man and how they frequently disagree 38. the rational Souls priority ibid. the first act of either is simple apprehension ibid.
divers Conformation inquired into The Pupil of the Eye in some round in other longish The reason of this inquired into The Colour of the Pupil in some black in others gray reddish or otherways Coloured The reason of this shown The Parts of the Eye are the Coats and Humors The Coats greater or lesser The greater are three The Sclerotick The Albugine grows to this The Sclerotic Coat is in some round and in others depressed The Vessels of this Coat The Coat Chorocoeides Is black in most Animals but not in all A Portion of this in most Brutes is of a diversified Colour otherwise than in Man The reason of this is shown The Rainbow of the Eye is described and its use declared The strength and irradiation of the Eye from the Rainbow The Animal Spirits actuate it very much The Retine Coat It s description and use The Humors of the Eye Three Chrystalline It s description and uses The watery Humor and its uses described The glassy Humor Its uses The plenty of the glassy Humor varies according to the Figure of the Chrystalline Humor Sleep Necessary for all Animals What it is unknown or greatly Controverted The Opinion of Schneiderus He affirms Sleep to be an inorganical faculty of the Soul The Subject of Sleep not the whole Body The Animal Spirits are the immediate Subject of Sleep All the Spirits enjoy rest but not in Sleep The Spirits only arising from the Brain and who are the Authors of voluntary Functions enjoy Sleep Not those Procreated in the Cerebel Tâ—e immediate Subject of Sleep is the Knowing Part of the sensitive Soul The Mediate are the Bodies containing it The formal reason of Sleep The beginning of Sleep is in the Cortical part of the Brain which is also the seat of the Memory The Causes of Sleep First what the final is To wit a refection and quieting of the Spirits The formal Cause of Sleep consists in the Rest of the Spirits and in the watering of the containing Parts The evident Causes Sleep either Natural or not Natural or Preâ—ernatural Sleep not Natural sometimes begins from the Spirits being brought low Sometimes from the Cortex of the Brain being too much watered For what Causes the Spirits lye down of their own accord The force of Custom A notable Example of Natural Custom or Assâ—duity 2 The Spirits being weary lye down on their own accord The pleasing of the Senses and the Phantasie cause Sleep The Spirits are Compelled into Sleep by Narcoticks Their Penury or want perswades to Sleep By what and how many ways Sleep begins from the Brain first affected When its Compass it overflow'd by the Serum coming to it To which may be added the iâ—â—â—cilliâ—y of the Brain and loosness of the Pores Sleep not from fuâ—â—s or vapoâ—â—s The Matter of Sleep conveyed only by the Arteries Why raw and indigested meats induce Sleepiness That happens by reason of the Consent which is between the Stomach and the Brain and which it has with the whole Soul besides How Opiats Cause Sleep whilst they operate in the Ventricle How Sleep seems to begin in the Eyes Of the Effects of Sleep 1 Towards the Vital or Flamey part of the Soul The Blood is more inkindled and inflamed in Sleep than in Waking Wherefore those that Sleep are apt to be Cold outwardly 2 Sleep allays the disorders of the Blood Whither they are induced by the conteining Bodies The Internal boyling up of the Blood is also allayed by Sleep The Blood performs its Offices which are the generation of the Animal Spirits and the nourishing of the Parts better in Sleep Sleep is not to be yielded to presently after Eating Such Sleep burts the Lungs and Brain Makes the Spirits more dull and gives evil nourishments What Sleep affords to the lucid part of the Soul It refreshes the wearied Spirits inhabiting the Brain And allays them being out of order The Spirits inhabiting the Cerebel are disturbed in Waking with the Spirits of the other Regiment Why those being disturbed do perform their Offices better whil'st these lye quiet in Sleep Other benefits of Sleep are noted Hence Chyâ—ification and other functions merely Natural are performed best of all in Sleep Of Dreams What they are They are sometimes excited by the Spirits inhabiting the Brain Sometimes by Spirits inhabiting other Parts to wit the Stomach Spleen Genitals Dreams sometimes stir up local Mocions Of Waking A double Consideration of it 1. As it follows upon Sleep Waking is either Natural or Violent The Essence or formal Reason of Waking The Pain of the Head the chiefest and most common affection among Diseases The Causes of it manifold and very diverse that they 〈…〉 be methodically recited Hence it is that its Cure is often instituted Eâ—pirically What things belong to its Pathology The Subject of this Disease The formal Reason of it The differences and kinds Pain is either without or within the Skull Or universal or particular This either before behind or on the side Many other differences of it noted Of which the chiefest is that it is either occasional or habitual The reason of the former unfolded The habitual Pain of the Head hath always a more remote Cause besides the evident Cause The evils or the weak Constitution of the affected part and the easie flowing in of the morbific matter concur to this more remote cause The Parts of the Head predisposed and their vices viz. an evil or weak conformation are noted The former often times is innate and hereditary But more often is contracted anew And chiefly from Cold Also by reason of the inordinations in the six non naturals By accident From internal Corrections 2 The debility of the distemper'd part is also a more remote cause of the Headach which outward accidents and errors in feeding and other Distempers are wont to produce The other part of the more remote Cause secondary and moveable consiâ—ting in the flowing iâ— of the morcific matter This matter is either the Blood or its 〈◊〉 or the nutritioâ—s or nervous 〈◊〉 Which sometimes alone sometimes â—â—â—ing together 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 How the Blood excites the Headach 2 How the Serum 3 How the nutritious Iuice 4 How the nervous Liquor is a cause of this Disease The Headach arising from the fault of the nervous Liquor infests chiefly in the Morning 5 How many humors meeting together and mutually growing hot stir up Headaches The habitual Headach depends chiefly upon the fault of the nervous hamor The fault of the nervous liquor is either universal or particular proper to the place distempered The more remote or evident Causes of the Head-ach are noted Of which sort are first those which move the morbific matter flowing from another place to wit either the Blood or Serum or nourishing juice and stir it up within the places affected of the Head The Blood and its contents in Headaches are sometimes the means of the Conjunct sometimes of the Evident Cause For
what Causes the Blood is wont to be moved and to bring 〈◊〉 to the distempered Head The Blood delivers to the head the morbific matter received from any other part A Flux of the Serum sometimes from meer fullness Sometimes from other Causes Sometimes the watry humor suffering a flux offends the Head Hence in those that have the Headach as in Convulsive Diseases there is often a clear and copious Vrine The recrements of other parts often carried violently to the head with the Serum The evacuation of the Serum thorow its right ways being suppressed brings its flux to the Head 3 The nutritious juice sometimes the cause of the Headach either 1 Because it is carried with the Blood into the Head 2 Because not being agreeable to the blood it stirs up its effervescency Sometimes the evident causes of the Headach are Convulsions somewhere begun and continued by the passage of the nerves into the Head Convulsions beginning after off are sometimes signs of an Headach shortly to follow Sometimes also the cause of it Coâ—vniâ—â—â—e Headaches seem to arise so from the Viâ—â—era not from Vapours But this sympathetick Distemper perâ—â—ps proceeds elâ—ewhere by reason of an evil ferment communicated to the blood So sometimes it seems to be caused from the Ventricle The Head and the Stomach intimately conspire and mutually affect one another 2 How the Head-ach seems to arise from the Spleen The like reason is for this Disease arising from the Liver Mesentery or Womb. The kinds of habitual Headach are noted It is either Continual â— Intermitting The Fits of the intermitting either periodical or certain â—â— iâ—certain and wandring The prognostick of the 〈…〉 is â—asie or diffiâ—â—lt to secured also the 〈◊〉 of the Disease safe or dangerous By what signs we may pronounce it safe and easie to be cured By what difficult By what scarce possiâ—le By what dangerous Accidental Headach easily cured The habitual affords more indications Two chief scopes of Cure 1 To cut in two the Bed â—â— Root of the Disease 2 To root out the Conjunct Cause The â—â—st or Tinder of the Disease the blood serum nourishing juice nervous Liquor and the Recrements caried thorow the Blood How the inordinations of the Blood may be taken away and prevented The pain of the Head from the serous heap â—ow to be cured Phlebotomy Purges Pills Purging Powders An emetick Powder An Apozem A decoction of woods A Cephalick Decoction impregâ—ated with the Tincture of Coffee Tâ—e Headach from other barious mixt with the serum how to be cured The Headach arising from any Inward how to be cured Rais'd up from the fault of the nourishing Iuice how to he handled Frequently follows the Small Pox and Measles Easily cured An Electuary A Iulep Antiscorbutick Remedies good for it The Headach raised up from the vice of the nervous humour how to be cured It s fault either private or particular Or universal and then letting of blood or stronger Purges are not convenient Remedies called Cephalicks proper here Of which sort are these which are convenient in Disâ—ases of the Brain and in these kind of Headaches A great many of these every where to be found in Physical Books An Electuary Iulep A distilled Water Tablets Tinctures Spirits The use of millepedes notably helps The other part of the conjunct Cause consisting in the weakness or evil conformation of the distempered part how to be handled We are not to despair of the Cure Here those Medicines are only profitable that cut off the inkindling or root of the Disease Chyrurgical Remedies chiefly help here of which are 1. Plasters Medicines raising Whelks and Blisters Liniments Fomentations and Bathings help not An Embrocation or a dipping of the head in cold water oftentimes helps Issues Issues made upon or near the distempered place help little The opening of the Skull cry'd up by many but rarely or never attempted Whether salivation in inveterate Headaches without any suspicion of the Venereal Disease ought to be administred The means and manner of salivation by Mercury unfolded Salivation not always safe wherefore to be suspected in Headaches What the cutting of the Artery may profit in this Disease Nevertheless in this Distemper it is often helpful and by what means is shown Farriers use the like practice And perhaps it may be convenient for the curing of strumous or running humours such as the Kings Evil. The History of a continual and a deadly Head-ach A continual and inveterate Headach passing into a Lethargy A second History of an incurable Headach in a most noble Lady labouring with it for twenty years Remedies of every kind for the curing this Headach try'd in vain Conjectures concerning the reason of this cruel Disease A third History of a deadly continual Headach A conjecture concerning the reason of the Disease A fourth History of an Head-ach excited from a fiery Swelling or an Inflammation of the Meninges An History of an Headach raised up from an Impostâ—ume in the Meninges A continual Headach we always to be accounted incurable An intermitting Headach whose Fits are uncertain are so frequent that we need shew no instances of it The sixth History of a periodical intermitting Headach The Cure of the same The reason of this Case unfolded The seventh History of the same Distemper excited by the default of the nervous Liquor The Cure of it The reason of the Case unfolded An Instance of an intermitting Headach which seem'd to be excited from the womb The eighth History of an intermitting Headach seeming to aâ—ise from the Stomach A reason of this Case delivered The like reason is for other Headaches seeming to arise from the Spleen Liver Mesentery c. The Seat of the Lethargy is the same with that of Sleep and Memory to wit about the Shell of the Brain By this name both the Fits of the Lethargy are called And also the soporiferous disposition or Sleepiness Of which there are various kinds The continual Sleepiness the Coma c. In every Lethargick Distemper there is an excess of Sleep and a defect of Memory The essence and causes of natural and non-natural Sleep rehearsed The causes of preternatural Sleep are An infartion or obstruction of the outward part of the Brain and a recess of the Spirits from thence Sometimes this sometimes that is the cause The Lethargy oftentimes from the serous heap overflowing the outward part of the Brain And sometimes from a Dropsiâ— of the whole Brain Not only a plenty of humour but the malignity often causes this Disease The proâ—atarctick causes of the Lethargy In what respect they are in fault Both the Blood begetting evil humours and sending them to the Brain and the Brain too easily receiving them Vpon what occasions the Brain is prone to the Lethargy The evident causes of this Disease Another conjunct cause of the Lethargy consists in the afflicting the Spirits with some narcotick How opiates causes Sleep How they operate in the Ventricle 〈…〉
what meaâ—â— in the Brain The History of one presently kill'd by taking too large a Dose of Opium Sometimes a Lethargy arises from Narcotick Particles begotten in the Body Even as Convulsions from a nitro-sulphureous or explosive matter What things belong to the Theory of the Lethargy Its symptoms The chief of which are a sleepiness and oblivion By what means the other faculties of the Soul to wit the knowing desiring and locomotive are affected The evil of the Disease reaches also to the Cerebel Hence breathing is often hurt or altered This proceeds not from the Inflammation of the Midriff From whence the Lethargick Feaver Not from Phlegm putrifying in the Brain Nor is the former always the cause of it in the Lethargy Lib. de Morb. Convuls Cap. viij p. 96. More often the effect of this Disease proceeds from the Organical Circulation of the Blood being hindred or altered How none dyes without a Feaver The Prognostick of the Lethargy When the Disease is desperate When it is only so When some hope may be conceived From whence more hope may be had Whence more of hope than of fear A red Swelling coming upon a Lethargy sometimes cures it Lib. 9. of Convulsive Diseases The Cure of the Lethargy Phlebotomy almost always necessary Outward Administrations Internal Rememedies Iulep Spirits A Powder A Vomit or Purge How they are indicated When to be avoided Starification Catharticks Erthines Sneezing Powders and Apophlegmatisms c. A Blistering applyed to the Forepart of the Head very much helps The first History The reason of this A second History The third History The Cure described Sleepy Diseases do not arise by reason of the Ventricles of the Brain being filled with water The ends or limits of the Lithargy as to the places distempered are constituted Some sleepy Distempers lesser than that viz. Sleepiness and the Coma The Caros is greater than it Continual Sleepiness described It s Seat assigned In what respect it differs both from the Lethargy and the Coma. The conjunct cause of Sleepiness What the deluge or Anasarca of the Cortical part of the Brain is To which happen an heaping up or as it were a stagnation of the Blood about the compass of the Brain Also a Torpor or Sleepiness of the Spirits The Cure of Somnolency An History The 〈…〉 Sick 〈◊〉 The sleepy Coma. The reason of it The Coma is either a primary Disease or it comes after other Distempers The Cure of it when it is a Disease of it self The Cure of the Coma as it is the symptom of another Disease In Lib. Of Convulsive Diseases Chap. viij 3 Of the Caros How it differs from the Lethargy and the Apoplexy The Seat of the Caros is a little deeper in the Brain than that of the Lethargy It s Conjunct Cause The Caros is either a primary Disease or it cometh upon other Distempers The Prognostick of the Carus The event of this Disease is various sometimes it passes into an Apoplexy Sometimes into the Palsie It s Care is the same with the Lethargy and the Apoplexy The first History Another History Long Waking is either the symptom of other Diseases or else is a Disease of it self The cause of natural Waking consists in the restlessness of the Spirits and the openness of the Cortical part of the Brain In like manner also preternatural Watching depends upon one or both The former means described by shewing how many ways the unquiet or elastick Spirits stir up long waking First Because being recalled for Sleep into the middle part of the Brain they grow tumultuous Secondly Because being called back into the nervous Stock they impetuously leap forth And so either into the interior Nerves serving the Praecordia and Viscera Or into the Spinal Marrow and the exterior Nerves The causes of the aforesaid Distempers assigned The Cure of them declared The second sort of thorow or long waking arising both from the too much openness of the Brain and from the unquietness of the Spirits its foreleading Cause Which also causes waking in Melancholick People For the same reason Coffee causes waking An History shewing an example of this Disease A description of the waking Coma The cause of this Distemper shewn It is more often a symptom of other Distempers than a Disease of it self The Seat of the Incubus is in the Cerebel A Description of it It most often proceeds from natural causes The Seat of this is falsly placed in the Brain The Praecordia truly labour The cause doth not stick partly in the Brain and partly in the Breast The next cause of this is the hindrance of the inflowing of the Spirits to the Praecordia This not in the Parts affected Nor in the Nerves themselves But happens in the Cerebel where the first Spring of the Spirits is From whence the sense of the Weight proceeds Whence loss of motion proceeds Wherefore the fit being so grievous is so soon ended without leaving any evil Whence after the Fit the tremblings of the Heart and the Praecordia The Incubus of it self rarely dangerous The Prognostick of the Incubus The Event of it is shewn It s Cure Infants and Boys obnoxious to this Disease how they ought to be handled The Stat of the Vertigo A Description of it The Causes and the Manner of the non-natural Vertigo The Reasons of them shewn Why looking down from on high and passing over Bridges cause a turning round in the Head How Drunkenness A perturbation of the Spirits in the Brain and a revocation of them from their flowing into the Nerves depend mutually on one another From what causes the preternatural Vertigo is wont to be excited Sometimes the Vertigo is a symptom of other Cephalick Diseases Sometimes it is excited by reason of the Distemper of other distant parts viz. from the stomach spleen c. and so by two means 1. Either by reason of the Flood of the Blood being kept back 2 Or by reason of an inordinate recourse or flowing back of the Spirits towards the Brain Not by reason of vapours elevated from these parts is it excited The immediate Subject of the Vertigo is the Animal Spirits The mediate the Callous Body It s formal reason It s Conjunct Cause 1 From the perturbation of the Spirits 2 From their ways or passages being obstructed This is seen by things helpful and hurtful The more remote foregoing cause of the Vertigo consists both in the vice of the Bloud and of the Brain The Reason of the former explained The vices of the Brain noted The differences of this Disease It s Prognostick The Cure of the Vertigo There are three chief intentions of healing 1 To take away the root or feeding of the Disease 2 To remove the procatartick causes 3 To take away the Conjunct Cause The Curatory Method as shewn Why vomiting Medicines are so much noted in this and other Diseases of the Head What is to be done out of the Fit for prevention sake Electuary A
distilled Water Tablets Chalybeats or Steel-Medicines Spirits Powders Cases and Examples of the Sick The first History The second History The Reason of the Case described The third History The Seat of the Apoplexy A Description of the Disease It s Subject The spontaneous Functions only deficient in the Apoplexy The opinions of others concerning this Disease The Theory of this Disease is best shewn by the famous Dr. Webfer Another Reason given by the Author The Exclusion of the Blood from the Brain does not easily happen Because all the Arteries communicate one with another and some of them supply the defects of the others A total Exclusion of the blood from the Brain sometimes hapning causes a terrible Syncopy This depends oftenest on the motion of the heart being hindred and so either because of the Cardiack Nerves being bound together Or By reason of the Spirits in the Cerebel being hindred from their flowing into the Nerves Hence there is a twofold Apoplexy one in the Brain the other proper to the Cerebel The Theory of the former delivered This Disease either accidental or habitual The cause of the former is either a great breach of the unity in or near the middle of the Brain Or a sudden stupefaction or extinction of the Spirits 1 A Solution of the unity either from blood let forth of the Vessels Or 2 From an Imposthume or the breaking of an Vlcer Or 3 From a Deluge of the Serum An extinction of the Spirits from Opiates or from immoderate Drinking of hot Waters The operation of Opiates as it is assigned by the famous Webfer The formal reason of the habitual Apoplexy 1 What its Conjunct Cause is It consists in the Pores of the callous Body being suddenly stop'd and the Spirits being driven away by the contact of malignant matter What the nature or disposition of the morbifick matter is The procatarctic Cause of the habitual Apoplexy The differences of this Disease Its Prognosticks The Curatory Method What is to be done in the Fit In what position the Sick ought to be kept Phlebotomy Other ways of Administration noted Vomiting Medicines Comforters Cupping-glasses Hot or glowing Iron The preservatory Method Purging and Bleeding Spring and Fall Cephalick Remedies An Electuary A distilled Water Lozenges Spirits and Tinctures Tea Coffee and Chocolate prepared how to be made and taken A Powder Medical Aâ— Examples A very rare History An Anatomical Observation The middle of the Brain which is the Seat of the Apoplexy is also the Seat of the Epilepsy The streaked Bodies the Medullar Trunks and the Nerves are the Seat of the Palsy what the Palsie is It s Conjunct Causes are Obstruction of the passages and the Impotency of the Spirits In the Palsie either motion or sense only or both together is hurt Spontaneous motion is abolished by reason of the ways being obstructed either in their beginnings or the middle passages or about the ends The ways are obstructed by Impletion or Compression or by a breaking of the Vnity An obstruction in the streaked Bodies causes the Vniversal Palsie or the Palsie of one side Why sense is not hindred as well as motion in every Palsie In an universal Palsie why all the Muscles of the Eyes and Face are not loosâ—ed A Compression of the streaked Body sometimes stirs up the Palsie A Paralytick obstruction doth sometimes happen in the Oblong and Spinal Marrow A Palsie often succeeds stupidity or becoming foolish A Palsie sometimes from the pressing together of the Marrowy Cord. Sometimes from the unity being broke The Seat of the Palsie sometimes in the Nerves themselves which are either obstructed or compressed or the unity broken 1 An Obstruction Sometimes in the beginning of the Nerves 2 Sometimes in the middle 3 Or in their utmost processes The other conjunct cause of the Palsie to wit the impotency of the Spirits Often arises from narcotick or vitriolick Particles by which the Spirits are put to flight In every Palsie the matter is not so thick or cold as it is vitriolick or other ways infestous to the Spirits The blasting or withering in Trees like the Palsie The more remote foregoing causes of the Palsy which are two 1 More remote to wit a vicious Blood and for that reason pouring forth a deadly matter upon the head 2 Nearer to wit a weak and loose Brain admiting the evil Particles The Palsy is either a primary Distemper and a Disease of it self Or secondarily viz. Coming upon or succeeding other Diseases Wherefore the Palsie often succeeds Convulsive Diseases Wherefore the Distemper of the Colick 3 Wherefore the Gout The evident Causes of the habitual Palsie Want or paâ—city of Spirits oftentimes the Cause of the Spurious or Bastard Palsy For this Reason Old Men are obnoxious to this Disease 2 Also Scorbutical Persons and such as are full of ill humours 3 Also others long sick Hence some dare not venture on local motion Others endeavouring cannot bear them long The Impotency of the Spirits proceeds in some measure from the default of the explosive Copula 2 The kind of Palsy in which Motion and Sense are hurt at ones 3 Kind in which sense only is affected Wherefore feeling is sometimes lost and motion safe What is the proper Organ of feeling The Prognostick of the Palsy It s Cure Three means of healing according to which this Disease is 1. Either accidental 2. The off-spring of another Disease 3. Habitual 1 The Cure of the former A Powder for a Fall Topicks to be applyed to the Distempered part 2 How the Palsie coming upon another Disease is to be cured The Cure of the habitual Palsie Whilst it is In fieri or doing The Intentions of healing respect the Blood and the Brain Bloodletting A Purge Cephalick Remedies 2 How the Disease in habit is to be cured Bloodletting and Purging cautiously and rarely to be admitted Altering Medicines ought to be given with choice How the Palsy is to be healed in a cold temperament Electuary Coffee A Decoction Spirits A Distilled Water Tinctures and Elixirs Powders Lozenges Pills How the Cholerick or hot Palsie is to be cured An Electuary A Distilled Water Chalybeats or Steeled Medicines A Decoction The juice and expressions of Herbs Pills Topick and particular Remedies Vniversal Remedies 1 Diaphoreticks They are not to be administred indifferently to all They often hurt the Cholerick Sweating Medicines Stoves Baths Natural Baths When the use of Baths is hurtful in the Palsie Salivation Vomitories Histories and Examples of Paralyticks The Example of the Palsie habitual excited of it self The first History The Reason of it The second History more rare and notable An Anatomicâ— Observation â— which the Caâ— is explained â— The third History The Reason of this The fourth History The Câ—rt expoposed The Reason of it The fifth History shâ—wing when the Baths are hurtful An example of the Palsie from a Lethargy The Distempers of the Brain follow in which Reason is hurt as
are either too much cast down Or elevated above measure 2 Madness beginning from the Spirits succeeds Melancholy or the Phrensie 1 By what means it comes upon Melancholy 2 How upon a Phrensie 2 The Original of Madness sometimes from the Blood 1 It is either Hereditary The Reason of which is shewn 2 Or acquired and so either By reason of errours in the six Non-naturals Or by reason of Poysons An History of a Mortal Madness from eating the leaves of Wolfs Bane The Reasons of the symptoms of Madness explained 1 Wherefore Mad-men are audacious 2 From whence their immense strength 3 Wherefore they are never tired 4 Wherefore they are not easily hurt The Differences 1 In respect of the Original 2 By reason of the Magnitude 3 In respect of Time The Prognostick The Cure What the indications are of continual Madness 1 The Curatory Indication As to Discipline As to Medicine Phlebotomy Vomiting Medicines Purging Medicines The preservatory Indication Altering Medicines Whey An Expressions An Electuary A Iulep Distilled Waters Specificks A Decoction and Infusion of Apples Other Chirurgical Remedies 3 The vital Indication Histories and Examples of mad people are to be sought in Bedlam or Hospitals for mad people The Cure of Intermitting Madness The Curatory Indication Preservatory Stupidity arises chiefly from the failing of the Imagination and Memory Wherefore the Organs of these Faculties labour in this Disease 1 As to Magnitude 2 By Reason of the Figure 3 As to its Substance or Texture 4 The evil conformation of the Brain as to its pores and passages 3 Stupidity sometimes proceeds from both of them being in fault together What the Antecedent Causes of Foolishness are 1 An Hereditary Disposition Why strong or wise men are not always begotten of strong and wise Man The first Reason A Second Reason 2 Ripeness and the Declination of Age dispose some to Foolishness 3 Great hurts of the Head sometimes cause Doting or want of Ingenuity 4 Frequent Drunkenness 5 Vehement Affections 6 The more grievous Diseases of the Head oftentimes excite Foolishness The Differences of this Disease How foolishness and stupidity differ Degrees of stupidity The Prognostick of the Disease Evil if from an hurt of the Head What is excited from a Lethargy admits a Curt. Sometimes it is cured by a Feavour The Cure requires both a Master and a Physician What the labour of the former ought to be What the Medical intentions art What kind of Remedies are shewn 1 Evacuating Remedies 2 Altering Medicines Spirits A Distilled Water Tinctures Elixirs An Electuary Coffee Chocalate Physical Beer Outward Applications A Cap or quilted thing for the Head A Plaster A Liniment The Distempers of the Gout and Colick are Distempers of the nervous Stock The Subject of the Gout Its appearances rehearsed The parts affected The Morbifick Matter It is not any simple or singular Humour suggested from any of them In the Mine of this Disease two humours concur and mutually grow hot In like manner as when the Spirits of Vitriol are poured upon Oyl of Tartar A Vitriolick Matter partly supplied from the Nervous Liquor Either Matter growing degenerate or depraved turns to the Gout 1 From the Blood for that it becomes full of a fixed Salt 2 From the nervous Liquor for that it is acetosous or sharp The former is as it were the feminine Seed of the Gout The other masculine The Procatartick or foregoing Causes of the Gout 1 A Mine of fixed Salt laid up about the Internodia or Knitting togegether of the Bones This Matter is not meerly Excrementitious nor a Bilous or Phlegmatick Humour To this previous procatarxis to wit a fixed Salt the Discrasie of the bloud and the debility of the Distemper'd Member doth help What the Saline Particles of the bloud ought to be to wit in a middle state between fixation and volatilisation When being too fixed they become Morbifick And so they bring forth the Scurvy Dropsie and other Diseases and especially the Gout The Saline fixed or Arthritical Disposition of the Blood proceeds from various Causes 1 Sometimes it is Hereditary 2 Oftentimes acquired by reason of an evil manner of living From what Causes the debility of the Ioynts is excited 2 The other foregoing Cause of the Gout from the acetous part of the nervous humour Such an acetous disposition does not come upon the whole Mass of the nervous humour but only some portions or recrements of it It is shewn that acetous fluxions do proceed from the nervous humour And so part of the Gouty Mixt is sent from the Brain and Nerves The evident Causes of the Goutish Fit 1 The drinking of sharp Liquors 2 Immoderate Exercise 3 Evacuations being suppressed 4 The Circulations of the Heaven Air and Year The differences of the Gout 1 As to the places affected 2 As to its Original 1 In respect of other Diseases It is wont to be complicated with the Scurvy 2 With the Stone The Reason of this is shewed The Prognostick of this Disease The Gouty Matter being restrained or any other way translated oftentimes excites dangerous Distempers The acetous recrements of the nervous Liquor do chiefly effect this The first Instance of such aâ— Effect A second Instance The Cure Three primary Indications 1 Curatory for the allaying the pains in the Fits 1 For the taking away of the Breach of the Continuity Phlebotomy Purging Forms of Purges Vomiting Altering Medicines or such as preserve from the Gout Pills An Electuary 2 The Spirits ought to be allayed or quietâ—d 1 By Topick Remedies Pultesses A Fomentation Outward Narcoticks Resolving Topicks consisting chiefly of Saline Particles even analogic or correspondent to the Morbific Mine Forms of these Plasters in the declination of the Fit Opiates 2 The preservatory Indication out of the Fit Usual Purging and Vomiting Phlebotomy Altering Medicines called Antidotes of the Gout Pills A Distilled Water Tinctures Powders Medicated Beer A Milk Diet. Drinking of ones own Vrine A notable History of the Stone converted into the Gout and on the contrary of the Gout into the Stone The reason of this shewed by Anatomical Observation Why the Colick is counted among the Distempers of the Brain and the nervous Stock From whence the denomination A description of the Disease The seat of the Disease is not always or often in the Intestine or Gut Colon. viz. neither in its Cavity or Coats Pains commonly taken for Colicks These are merely accidental or habitual These latter are properly the Disease The conjunct cause of the Disease are not the Contents of the Intestines Not the humors impacted in the Membranes The nervous Liquor seems most of all to contribute to the cause of this Disease Charles Piso 's Opinion cited and examined The seat of the Morbiâ—ick Matter not in the Brain The part primarily affected in the Abdomen not in the Peritonaeum But more rightly it seems to be the Mesentery Where the seat of the Distempers called Hysterical often lyes hid The Colick-mine is affirmed to be within the nervous and other mesenterick infoldings of the Abdomen From which planted thereabouts the Colick Symptoms are excited The yellow or green Bile or Choler that is cast forth by vomiting in the Colick-Fits is not the material cause of this Disease Wherefore pains of the Loins often come upon the Colick pains In what the foregoing cause of this Disease consists 1 The nervous Liquor is in fault because the Morbifick Matter is gathered together in it 2 The nerves of the wandring pair and their mesenterick Infoldings because they receive into themselves this matter The evident causes of this Disease The differences of this Disease It s Prognostick The Cure 1 The first Indication Curatory What the chief Medical intentions are in the Fit For the most part Clysters are to be begun with Which are at first to be gentle afterwards more sharp Clysters Fomentations Pultesses An Oyntment Cold Fomentations Opiates Evacuating Medicines Vomiting Medicines Purges Salivation Baths Diureticks Mineral Purging Waters 2 The Vital Indication suggests Remedies Cardiack Hypnoticks 3 The Preservatory Indication by which are indicated Vomiting Purging Altering Remedies The Objection of Charles Piso solved The first History The Reason of it The second History The Reason of it The third History The Reason of it shew'd