of Diseases and to instruct Practitioners what they were to do at the severall times when to moderate the dangerous symptomes when to Purge by Stoole or Urine they were to attend unto Concoction and not to meddle much before except in case of Turgency When they proceeded thus warily there were severall Translations or removals of Diseases and paines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are now scarce observable by reason of the Minoratives the Purges the Vomits and other Physique which is given not because it is best but because in fashion In those times when Nature was so left to her self I observe severall Translations or removeals of Diseases which came into my mind when I saw the effects of M r Greataricks Stroking Hippocrates in his Epidem l. 6. part 3. § 34 tells us that the Gout ceaseth if a man fall into the Colique and that fit of the Colique abates as his Gout encreaseth Thus Nature removeth the paine So in his Aphorismes he tells us that long Feavers Terminate in swellings and pains of the Joynts And elsewhere That a Dysentery suppressed creates an Apostemation in the Side Bowels or Ioynts That swellings of the Spleen and Bowels or inflamations thereof frequently terminate in Ioynt-aches So Quartane-agues often Terminate in the Gout It were infinite to relate out of Hippocrates the Translations and removals of paine which he relates viz. of Coughs and Asthmas falling into the Joynts and Testicles of Ulcers and outward distempers which have removed into the Head and Bowels All the Prognosticks illustrate this nor can any man be ignorant of the translations of Humours and paines from noble to ignoble parts and from ignoble to noble ones nor of the alteration of distempers upon such translation of the Morbifique Matter as of Asthmas and Coughs turning to the Gout or Tumour of the Testicles of Agues turning into pains in the Joynts of Feavours ending in a Parotis or other abscessus Not to mention the vagrant nature of Humours in the beginning of Diseases when they are Turgent and continually vary their station These Considerations made me think that God had been pleased to bestow upon M r Greataricks such a Complexion and Temperament that his Touch or Stroking should instantly maturate Diseases or render them Turgent whereupon the part touched being strengthned and the blood and spirits Invigorated the Heterogeneous Ferment or paine which if not occasioned by some evident and externall cause is caus'd by an Heterogeneous Ferment is expelled from the corroborated place to some other more weake that being corroborated it is driven upon another and so on till it be quite ejected If the Disease be such as lies in nothing but a Dyscrasy of the part it is cured without any such removeall of paine and so for such Coagulations of the Nervous liquor as in Palsyes c. there is no such removeall of paine and pursuing it either because they are not Dolorifique or that they Transpire in the part There remaine yet two things to be debated viz 1. How comes it to passe that these Heterogeneous Ferments removing thus by the force of Resuscitated Nature do not terminate in Apostemes or issue out in some grosse Body but go out in a vapour and invisibly 2. How comes all this to happen in so short a time To the first I answer That it is not unusuall for Nature to discharge her self of Heterogeneous Ferments by insensible Transpiration as well as Apostemes Sweat Diarrhaea and Urine so the Mesels are cured so many Crude and hard Tumours and in this Plague few swellings broke yet were they cured Nor is it to be said that the matter occasioning those Tumours was discussed so as to be reimbibed in the blood againe for in the Plague the recurses of the Pestilentiall Ferment are Mortall and such as took Powders and Antidotes gently promoting a Diaphoresis not sweat escaped they who did not dyed with those Bubones It is an affect of prejudice occasioned by the contemplation of the usuall effects of Nature and not of Reason to imagine that the Morbifique cause consists in a grosse Body because it is often evacuated so It is usuall for those subtile Ferments so to commix themselves and to occasion that transposition of Parts and Texture that Nature cannot eject the one without the expense of the other Thus we see that Beer or Ale in its Fermentation or Working casts out aboundance of Barme yet is not that Body the Ferment but it is implicated and incorporated therewith for with it there issues out aboundance of Beare so that the Brewers either pover the same or new in again to fill up the Barrel If the same Ferment be precipitated by Vineger or Allome there is not the like diminution So Kergerus saith that in Germany they put common Salt or cold Water into their Bear and precipitating the Ferment make it potable presently Many such instances are to be found in Dr VVillis and Kerger which sufficiently evince that the Ferment is distinct from the grosse Body it comes out in So in Diseases however some have vainly imagined to themselves a maturation of them and that the Morbifique matter being concocted issued out in that white Hypostasis at the end of Diseases yet is it no such thing nor is there any such concoction in Nature as they phansy but the Morbifique matter or Ferment being intimately commixed with some good and profitable parts of the Blood and Humours is ejected together with them according to the nature of the Eumuctory by which the Crisis or Metastasis is made or the nature of the Bodies constituting that humour Nature dealing therein just as she does in the Fermentation of Beer and Wine in the aforesaid Kerger and D r VVillis whence proceed their wayes of curing Agues by Precipitation of the Morbifique Ferment without any such Evacuations of grosse Bodies This Paradox appeares further by the several Crises of Diseases sometimes by Vomit sometimes by Stoole sometimes by bleeding at the Nose and Sweat In all which circumstances the Urine shew one sort of Concoction whilst the Morbifique Ferment issues out severall wayes in severall Bodies Nor is it to be doubted I think that all grosse bodyed Ferments have their Virtue and efficacy from a subtile Body which is no more in that grosse Body then the Spirit of Sugar is in Sugar of which See Angelus Sala's Saccharologia many other instances might be given as that if the grand Ferment were a grosse Body how comes it to evaporate as I have seen in the Distillation of Sugar Sugar-cance-juyce and other Liquors Fermented for Spirits without any diminution of the Liquors From all which it appears that one may conceive how upon the efficacious Touch of M r Greataricks he refuscitating the Blood and innate Temperament the Morbifique Ferment may be ejected and the remaining grosse Body by a Transposition of its Texture and a new impregnation of Vitality be reimbibed into the Blood and become nutritious Thus
he cures Asthmas all the obstructions from impacted phlegme in the Lungs being discharged and the phlegme Naturalised But if the grosse body of the Morbifique matter be Incorrigible and Preternaturall then the efficacy of his Touch doth not discusse them but the strengthning the part and Nature the whole collection is separated and ripened as I observed which appears in Wenns and scrophulous Tumours some whereof he maturates and others are discussed To the second Question how all this happens in so short a time I answer that it is the efficacy of the Ferment implanted in Mr Greataricks Body We are not to deny powerfull causes proportionate effects We are all Indians and Salvages in what we have not accustomed our senses what was Conjuring in the last Age is Mathematiques in this And if we do but consider the sole effects of Gun-powder as it is severally to be used and revolve with our selves what we would have thought if we had been told those Prodigies and not seen of them will we think it strange if men think the actions of extraordinary Ferments impossible Here I might instance in the effects of Poysons from Macastar and Brasil but the acts of sensation of paine sufficiently shew the effects of suddain causes that Lipothymies and shivering should happen upon a fright a touch of cold Water or a pinch that Tumours should in an instant imbody to a great bulke that in such as are Planet-struck or said to be so all or any of their Limbs should be taken away these are such events that if we could not alleadge Amulets and outward applications to produce a suddain alteration for the better would make it seem credible that there may be as powerfull means for mans Recovery as his Sicknesse I forbear to mention the suddain effects of Sleep and Waking Freezing and Thawing or of Heat and Cold all which would illustrate the suddaine and powerfull motions of Nature SIR I shall now draw to a Conclusion having given you by these impertinencies a greater trouble then my self in Writing them I knew not how to entertain my self better nor you worse But I am sure that the suppositions I have made agree exactly with the Phaenomena of M r Greataricks Cures And from hence it is easy to judge why some are not Cured others finde but a momentany alleviation and some are perfectly recovered All which are undenianbly true let any man salve these accidents more agreeably then I have done Et Phyllida solus habeto It is worth consideration Whether such as come unto him ought not first to advise with a discreet Physician what their Distempers are and where Originally seated the better to direct him in his Stroking For it is not unusual for the Disease to be seated in one place and to discover it self in another by the Symptomes in regard to which they have recourse to him only for in such cases if they have no better successe then such have who meet with ignorant Physicians that go about to cure Symptomes without regard to the principall cause it is no marvaile if they are not Cured Thus I have observed some who upon a giddinesse and qualmes of the Stomack occasioned by Hystericall vapours have been stroked by him severall times without any or inconsiderable benefit in the parts sensibly affected So in the Kings-evil I have observed some that have received onely a momentany advantage onely because that such Diseases affect the Mesentery with glandulous Tumours as well as the outward parts and if the whole Morbifique Ferment be not expelled the Disease recurres paululum fermenti totam massam fermentat Another thing to be considered by the Patient to be stroked is that there may be a complication of Diseases in which the Cure of one may be impeded by another as in the Spleen and Scurvey Eugalenus and others observe so in Sore-eyes occasioned by the Evill or a suffusion proceeding from an Acid or Nidorous quality in the Stomack and many Diseases whereto Malignancy is joyned In these cases the Heterogeneous Ferments may be united in a looser way and upon his Touch separate and whilst the one is driven out the other may remaine in the Body and by unloosing the Texture of the Body of the blood and other Humours give opportunity for more formae subjugatae of the same kind with the former to discover themselves In like manner it is possible that where the Morbifique Ferment is not sufficiently united and imbodyed so as that one part ejected by way of Similar Attraction I confesse I must favour that Phylosophy from the Phenomena of Physique and Nature too his Touch may disunite those incoherent Corpuscles and the patient not regarding the smaller and scarce sensible paines the which depends upon the parts and Humours the Ferment incorporates with may direct him to pursue the most afflicting paine which may not be the greatest whilest the other remaines in the Body and afterwards occasions the same distemper or perhaps another whose paines may so resemble the former that we may take it for the same as our senses discerne not betwixt the Salt of one Plant and another or betwixt the cauteriseing with Iron or Gold but there is a difference herein which by effects a diligent and curious observer may discover Concerning these intimations I discoursed with M r Greataricks who seemed well satisfyed with them and did thereunto willingly ascribe severall miscarriages and Faylours Another thing I proposed unto him was whether after that he had touched severall persons and diminished the Preternaturall Ferment or diverted it and put the Humours into a Turgency whether it might not be convenient to Vomit Purge and take those courses Physique directs us unto And from this he was so little averse that in my hearing he recommended to a Gentlewoman the taking some Cochiae Pills after he had touch'd her Eyes I asked also if after he had dissipated and repelled a setled Humour it might not be convenient to corroborate the Part with Topicks which he approved of and though but to few I saw him give Eye-salve to some Patients You know what pains wee Physicians take in Revulsions and Derivations of the Humours Morbifique from severall Parts and do not you think a great part of our work were done could M r Greaterick's miraculous Touch remove or put into motion those Humours we cannot repel or stirre Let us Sir be just and ingenious and confesse that this Antichrist of Physicians may be of the greatest service to them in the World if they preferre the recovery of their Patients before their Credit or Rules of Art Rarà non sunt artis You have observed how great things Nature does when alleviated and the effects of that principle of Restitution when the prohibiting causes are removed As to the allaying of paines after crushing of sores or bruises and the miraculous stanching of Blood I think both them depend upon the restauration of the Temperament of the part and Blood As to
pains it is easy to grant this And as to the effusion of Blood you know there is a Balsame in it which heales it self to illustrate which I recommend to you a Note of Plateruâ— in his Observations I want my Library how an Hangman of Basil cut off mens Hands and stopped the Bleeding of the Veines and Arteries by slitting the Arse of an Hen and thrusting the Hand into it If this do not convince you the Discourses of Sympathetique Cures may do it especially an Observation of Panarolus may convince you that such steemes as vapours may effect it which is the reason why I assigne not one Ferment to him but think there may be more which yet may not produce their effects in every case nor exert their influences in all cases no more then the Menstruum upon a disagreable occasion produce all its effects This needs not to be illustrated to you I think I have now rendered you a tolerable account of this Miraculous man of whom I dare make that Proclamation which a Roman Emperour did upon the occasion of the Ludi seculares or sports celebrated once in an hundred years Come and behold what no man living hath seen or shall see again I would not be understood to derogate from this miraculous Gift not yet ascribe more unto it then I ought lest I should hear the reprehension in Iob Will you tell a lye for God There are a sort of men if they were onely Women it were tolerable that think it not lawfull to have recourse unto his Cures Though I have already too much cause not to entermeddle with Divinity or cases of Conscience any more yet I cannot but take notice of their Principall Objection for to say that Miracles are ceased is a groundlesse folly if not a difingenuous impudence in giving the Lye to several Histories of various Religions They say Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sinne that it being impossible for them to be convinced that this man works by the immediate gift of God they cannot repaire to him lest they be found to repaire to a delusion of the Devil But I reply That the principle of doing nothing that is not of Faith is sufficiently invalidated by Mâ— Hooker in his Church-Policy and it is a Principle hath occasioned so much of Troubles in our State that I wonder it is not layd aside In Moral Philosophy which is not established on demonstrations and Physique I am sure it will put us all to confusion for who knowes the efficacy of things Naturall how Purges and Vomits c. do worke Nay who knowes whether second causes have any effect but that God doth operate ad praesentiam causarum secundarum as the admirable Durandus held And may not the Divel do so How shall this be reduced to Faith I am sure and have seen things ascribed to the Divel that it is now confessed have another Originall Did all that came to Christ believe in him you know the story of the tenne Lepers if to come to Christ were not to believe in him further then that they thought he could Cure since they saw him Cure how is it in M r Greataricks The thing they come for is good such as may be begged of God there is nothing evidently unlawful practised about them where is their Charity that thinks no Evil where is their Divinity that think a good and perfect work should come elsewhere then from Heaven If the case be not to be tolerated because not ordinary as there is but one Mr Greataricks so there is but one Sunne To be extraordinary hinders it not from being consistent with Faith but to be unlawfull or absolutely impossible as to impossibilities we know not what is impossible with God or Nature And for the unlawfulnesse thereof let M r Greatarick's works bear witnesse of him If he doth the things that never man did except Christ and the Apostles c. judge what we are to think I conclude with this Apology for my recommending some Physicall directions after his Stroaking that it takes not off from the Miracle no more then that God gave the gift of Tongues to the Apostles yet needed they Rhetoricall instructions to imbellish their Language S t Paul was balbus sermone and you know that the polite style of S t Luke evinces the imperfections of the Language in the other Writers oâ— the New-Testament as Isaiah disgraceth Amos in the Old All things are not given to all men in perfection but the gifts that are given to every man are given them to profit with I begge your pardon for the tediousnesse as well as rudenesse of these lines since by them I expresse my self to be Your affectionate humble-servant HEN STUBBE Stratford upon Avon Feb 18. 1665. The account of a Leprosy cured by M r Greatarick in the presence of the Lord Conway A Boy about fourteen years Old Sonne to a Prebend of Gloucester recommended to the Lord Conway by the Bishop of Glocester came with a Letter to Ragly he was afflicted with a Leprosy judged incurable and had been so tenne years At his coming to my Lords he found M r Greatarick touching people in the Field whereupon he pressed upon him and got him to stroke his Body all over this happened upon Wednesday on Friday Morning the Boy came to my Lord and delivered his Letter whereupon my Lord sent for him up to his Chamber and causing him to be stripped they found that the moist Salt and brinish Humour which caused a moist Leprosy was dryed up and in some places Scaled off the Skinne under it was Red as under all crusts falling off there was no itching or pricking at all nor Heat with which Symptomes he had been formerly troubled M r Greatarick stroked him againe and rubbed his Body all over with Spittle My Lord ordered the Boy to return if he were not Cured but he came no more Proofs that he revives the Ferment of the Blood M r Bromley's brother of Upton upon Severne after a long Quartane Ague had by a Metastasis of the Disease such a chilnesse in the habit of the Body that no Clothes could possibly warme him he wore upon his Head many spiced Caps and tenne pounds weight of Linnen on his Head M r Greatarick stripped him and rubbed him all over and immediatly he sweat and was hot all over so as that the Bath never heated up as did the Hand of M r Greataricks this was his own expression But M r Greatarick causing him to cast off all that multitude of Caps and Clothes it was supposed that it frustrated the happy effect for he felt the recourse of his Disease in some parts rendered the Cure suspicious But as often as M r Greataricks came and rubbed him he would be all in a flame againe for half an hour the Experiment whereof was frequently practis'd for five or six dayes at Ragly Of the Metastasis of Diseases A Woman of Worcester having a paine driven into those