Antiscorbuticks The Hypochondriack suffocation having great affinity with the Scurvy the same medicines are proper for both The following Julep is both Diaphoretick and Diuretick and very profitable for the sick in these diseases to be taken two or three days in a week Take the Waters of Penny-royal Scurvigrass Iulep Treacle Syrup of the juice of Fennel of each two ounces Tincture of Castor half an ounce Oils of Amber Mace and Cloves of each six drops Spirit of Salt Armoniack twenty drops mix it and give three spoonfulls every two or three hours This Electuary may also be prefer'd Take of Conserves of Scurvigrass three Electuary ounces Confectio Alkermes half an ounce Powder of Crabs-eyes two drachms Flowers of Salt Armoniack Tarter vitriolated of each half a drachm Spirit of Castor one drachm Oil of Cloves twenty drops mix it and give two drachms morning and evening After the frequent use of this Electuary you may purge with this Powder Take Powder of Cream of Tartar half a drachm Salts of Wormwood Amber Purging Powder Scurvigrass Resin of Scammony of each ten grains mix it for two doses If the Patient like Pills better these may serve For Example Take Extract Catholicon Rudii of each ten grains Resin of Jallop Agarick Salt Armoniack of each six grains Oils of Amber Cloves of each two drops make it into eight Pills for two doses A Medicinal Wine may be prepar'd very effectual in these distempers Take of Water-cresses Brook-lime Scurvigrass Medicinal Wine Rue of each one handfull Roots of Polypodium Jallop Horse-radish Angelica Cream of Tartar of each half an ounce white Nettle-seed one ounce Orange-peel Cinamon Salt of Tartar of each two drachms let them be cleansed bruised and infused in three quarts of White-wine for two or three days then strain it and give four spoonfulls in the morning fasting In the Hypochondriack suffocation you may often hold to the Nostrils a glass with a narrow mouth containing the Spirit of Salt Armoniack for by its sharp smell the sick for the most part are wont to be rais'd both from that suffocation and from the Epilepsie If the Gums are putrified let the mouth be washed with the following Tincture mixed with some Plantain water and Syrup of Mulberries Take Powder of Gum Lacca one ounce Tincture burnt Alome half an ounce the small Spirit of Salt Armoniack one quart let them digest together 'till it be of a red colour then filtrate it through brown paper and keep it for use If the sick hath a costive Body you may administer a Carminative Clyster once or twice a week In pains of the Belly and Hypochondries this linament is effectual Take Oils of Earth-worms Scurvigrass Linament Chamomel of each one ounce Oil of Mace by expression half an ounce mix it with which anoint the parts affected This Antiscorbutick water will be very profitable to be taken two or three spoonfulls at a time morning and evening Take the Barks of Ash and Capers the Roots of Tamarisk Polypodium Horse-radish Water against the Scurvy of each three ounces Water-cresses Scurvigrass Brook-lime Sorrel Centaury the less Harts tongue of each four handfulls Berries of Bays and Juniper Goose-dung of each one ounce the Seeds of Citrons Mustard Carduus benedictus Cloves Cinamon Nutmegs Ginger of each half an ounce let them be cleansed bruised and digested in one Gallon of White-wine and two quarts of Spirit of wine being close covered for three days then distill them with a glass Still according to art and keep it for your use Frictions Ligatures Ventoses Sternutatories c. are all profitable to stir up the sick in the Hypochondriack suffocation CHAP. XV. Of the Green-sickness and Suppression of the Courses THE Green-sickness is called in Latin Icteris Febris alba In English the Virgin 's Disease the White Fever and the White Jaundice because in this disease the native colour of the Face is pale This disease is caused either from defect of Bloud or it proceedeth from plenty of Cause crude viscous phlegmatick humours obstructing the veins about the Womb by which the courses are supprest the veins of the Matrix being obstructed that superfluous Bloud which nature hath ordained to be evacuated that way having not passage doth return to the greater Vessels and is circulated with the whole mass of Bloud and humours by which they are in time vitiated and a Cachexie or ill habit of body is thence caused for the Bloud and natural humours being indued with a vitious quality the nourishment of all the parts of the body will be deprav'd several ways according to the variety of the quality peccant whence likewise not onely the fermentation of Food but also the Appetite of it is deprav'd wherefore Anxieties and Palpitation of the Heart c. troubleth the sick as well before as after Food taken in This distemper may be also caused by external coldness of the air c. and sometimes great fear and sudden shame may be the cause of the suppression also aliments and medicaments that are too astringent taken inwardly In these diseases the Urine cometh away Signs crude thick and less colour'd because the phlegmatick watry humours abounding incorporating with the Bloud do diminish the desired effervescency so that the separation much less excretion of the excrementitious parts to be voided together with Urine doth not follow If the Hypochondries be afflicted and the veins of the Womb obstructed there will be great loathing of wholsome Food and a desire after those things which ought not to be eaten as Ashes Salt Coals c. which is called Pica and in Women with Child Malacia of which we have hinted in the Chapter of Hungar Vitiated page 145 146. 1. These distempers are sometimes of long Progn continuance causing much weakness and oft times barrenness in them that have been so afflicted and if they do conceive they bring forth weak and sickly Children and those that are very melancholy are in danger of falling into madness or other grievous affects as Palpitation of the Heart Swouning Vertigo Epilepsie Apoplexy c. 2. If the obstruction be onely of the vessels of the Womb and have not been of long continuance it may be easily cur'd 3. Bleeding at the Nose is sometimes beneficial but if the Bloud doth disburthen it self by the Eyes Ears Mouth or Bladder it is preposterous from whence may arise other bad Symptoms In the cure of these distempers such medicines Cure are to be selected which will mildly and by degrees alter correct and evacuate tough and glutinous Phlegm seeing that all prolong'd diseases depend on it either wholly or at least in part for by the frequent use of such medicines the Bloud and peccant humours will be the easier reduc'd to their natural constitution especially by the help of good Food easy of digestion in the mean while not neglecting the moderate use of the rest of the nannatural things An obstruction
the strength of the sick repeat it either in the first place or make a new Apertion Thus you may doe every day till the matter be all discharged By this Instrument may a Hydrocele be also discharged and likewise the Dropsie of the Breast and Abdomen They that desire more directions in this Operation may peruse Hieronymus Fabricius ab aqua pendente in Libro de Operationibus Chirurgicis CHAP. III. Of the consumption or Phthisick and an Hectick Fever THE Consumption is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabesco because in this disease the sick doth consume or waste away It is called in Latin Tabes which is a general Tabes name for all Consumptions whether it be Atrophia Cachexia or Phthisis but it may most properly be taken for an Extenuation of the whole body caused by an Ulcer of the Lungs The purulent matter of the Ulcer circulating with the bloud doth infect and by degrees corrupt the whole mass of it which makes it unfit for nourishment hence it is that all the parts of the body do waste and consume The causes are many sometimes purulent Causes matter may be communicated to the Lungs from the Plurisie or Empiema inflaming and corrupting them which causeth an Ulcer Sometimes a salt and sharp Rheum flowing down from the Head to the Trachea Arteria which doth not onely cause a vehement Coughing but doth corrode the Lungs being naturally tender Hence an Ulcer will be caused Also many times Pustules or Tubercles are generated in the Lungs and coming to suppuration they break and the matter flowing to the Bronchia it may be spit up if the Patient have strength but oft times an Ulcer remaineth which causeth a Consumption These causes depend sometimes on Choler sometimes on the juice of the Pancreas sometimes on Spittle sometimes on Chyle sometimes on Lympha any way Vitiated by which the mass of bloud in time becomes also corrupted When the Lungs decline from their Natural consistency they Will soon become hard and tumorous and so by degrees they will be corrupted and ulcerated and the matter of the Ulcer corrupting and makeing the mass of bloud glutinous in circulating with it doth so weaken and corrupt all the parts of the body that they become unfit to perfect natural nourishment and therefore of necessity the universal body must consume and pine away sometimes it is caused by an obstruction of the lacteal veins which hindreth the natural passage of the Chylus Authours mention many more causes of Consumptions as Gonorrhoea Nocturnal Pollutions want of Nourishment c. The signs of a Consumption begun are a Signs great defluxion of Rheum into the sharp Artery causing a violent Cough by which the Lungs are exasperated and there follows a Hectick Fever sometimes putrid from the purulent matter flowing into the Veins To know whether the Lungs be ulcerated let the Patient spit into water if it sinks it is matter which is an infallible sign of an Ulcer for Phlegm always swims in water When the Ulcer is confirm'd there is difficult breathing and wasting of the whole body the spittle is thick and of various colours If the Ulcer of the Lungs and Consumption Progn hath not been long and the strength of the sick remains there may be hopes of recovery e contra The Hectick Fever is called in Greek Febris Hectica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. ab habitu quod in habitu corporis vel in partibus solidis consistat It is an unnatural heat which hath seized upon the solid parts and wasteth the moisture of them The heat in an Hectick Fever is but little and therefore rarely troublesome to the sick except one or two hours after meat at which time the heat is a little sharpned and increased which may be known by an over frequent though weak Pulse but it soon returns again to its former equality But here it will not be amiss to shew you that there is a threefold moisture in the body viz. bloud in the Veins and Arteries a dewy substance in every part and also a glutinous moisture which doth not onely nourish but moistneth it and keepeth the substance of each part together In the beginning when the moisture begins Signs to fail the Hectick Fever is not easily discerned because there is still sufficient moisture to entertain the natural heat but if by the long continuance of the Hectick Fever the radical moisture of the solid parts begins to consume it may then be easily known for there follows a continual and lingring leanness of the whole body which being reduc'd to its extremity may be call'd in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in English an extenuating Fever The Latin Authours call it Marcor which signifies Corruption or Rottenness It is an immoderate dryness and Consumption of the whole body by reason of the defect of the substantial humidity There are two degrees of it according to Liber 12. de marc cap. 4. Galen the one is when this extenuation of the body is in fieri in consuming the other is when it is in facto esse or consummate in which the body is reduc'd to such leanness that it seemeth to be nothing else but a walking Sceleton The causes of an Hectick Fever are External Causes or Internal The External causes are all that may occasion any of the other Fevers for oft times Hectick Fevers are observ'd to follow other diseases and especially Fevers of one day proceeding from a great errour in Diet and also from continual and intermitting Fevers when they are very vehement but most frequently from Inflammations of the Bowels especially of the Lungs for when an Ulcer follows then the whole mass of bloud is infected by matter and gets a singular glutinousness which being communicated to the other humours spoils them with the same fault and renders them unfit to perform the natural Functions rightly Sometimes Hectick Fevers are observ'd to arise immediately from excess of the nonnatural things as most vehement anger too much watchings immoderate sorrow continued labour want of food c. The Internal cause is the over viscousness of the bloud and humours because of which not onely the appetite of all food is diminished and at length dejected but the nourishment of all the parts of the body is dayly decreas'd for when there is loathing of food then fermentation separation of usefull from unusefull parts sanguification generation of the Animal Spirits c. is hindred and destroyed whence the toughness and sluggishness of Choler Spittle the juice of the Pancreas and Lympha is dayly augmented and the evil becomes by degrees greater and at length incurable If you perceive that there is so much of Progn the radical moisture remaining as is able to cherish the natural heat which you may discern if the colour of the body be fresh if the figure be decent if the proportion of the
with those intermitting having some fits and again remissions so that they are not intermitting but still remain continual These fits come sometimes every day sometimes the third and sometimes the fourth day whence it may deservedly be nam'd either a Quotidian Tertian or Quartan continual Fever These Fevers upon the account of their divers causes may not unfitly be distinguish'd into Cholerick and Lymphatick Fevers And because under the general name of Lympha we do not onely comprehend that Lympha which goes from the conglobated Glandules and other parts to the Heart but also the Juice of the Pancreas and Spittle it self proceeding from the conglomerated Glandules and also the Liquour that ariseth from the three-fold sway of the Guts all mixt together with Lympha and the bloud in circulating with it Hence may Lymphatick fevers be subdivided into glandular pancreatick and salivary Fevers All these Fevers may differ something according to the divers Constitution of other humours together being in the Body But I shall wave the nice descriptions and differences of Fevers and let the dextrous and judicious Physician put a difference between them as their Symptoms shall direct and indicate for though there are many sorts of continual Fevers not putrid yet the Cure is almost the same in all I shall therefore in a few words mention some of their differences taken from the more grievous Symptoms oft accompanying them after the example of famous Practioners and chiefly great Platerus and the most famous Helmont and judicious Sylvius c. 1. First let us take notice of the exceeding heat and most urgent burning which Symptomes attend some Fevers It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie Causes burning in which the sick is very dry and thirsty which is hard to be quenched This heat is not of the essense of the disease but proceedeth from the inflamed spirits as is before mention'd in page 98. Neither doth the great thirst in Fevers proceed from heat and driness as in a true and natural thirst but from some excrementitious matter which adhereth to the sensitive faculty of the internal membrane of the Stomach which is common to the Throat Mouth and Lips as that famous Physician and ingenious Anatomist Doctour Alexander Read did well observe which is also the cause that those parts are always afflicted in this dry and thirsty distemper In this Symptome Choler is peccant not onely in a salt Acrimony but also an inflamable oiliness hence the Pulse is very great and over frequent c. 2. Raving may be oft observ'd in many Fevers which is grievous to the sick for some time chiefly when the Fever is malign or epidemical The cause of this is Choler peccant as aforesaid which so diminisheth the viscousness of the Juice of the Pancreas that it causeth a vitious Effervescency with it and being made sharper it produceth a humour not much unlike black Choler which causeth the Head-ach and Watchings and hence Ravings and at length sometimes Convulsions and Death it self There are many more Symptoms belonging to continual or synochal Fevers 1. As first a speedy wasting of several parts of the body caused by Choler the Cure whereof may be referred to the Cure of a Hectick Fever 2. A malignity which suddenly dejecteth the vital strength without manifest cause which for the most part is Epidemical But of this I intend to treat particularly in Chap. 8. of this Book 3. The last Symptome which I shall here mention is seldom observ'd in which all the time of the disease the external parts are cold while the internal parts burn and therefore 't is called by the Latins Lipyria febris and in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia destituitur Lipiria febris ardore externo Some think this distemper consists of a double Fever Cholerick and Pancreatical and not without reason because such like vapours may be continually rais'd in the small guts by the Juices of the Pancreas universally over-sour which may be confus'd onely with the Mass of Bloud and breed a sense of cold in the habit of the Body whilst a burning heat is stir'd up in the internal parts by a Fever caused by Choler more oily than sharp The cause of every continual Fever not Cause putrid is sometimes Choler vitiated sometimes Lympha together with the Juice of the Pancreas and Spittle and many times all these together are ill affected These vitiated humours flowing always to the Heart cause a continual Effervescency in the right Ventricle of it whence the Pulse is continually produc'd more frequent against nature Fevers in Children are caused either by the Food abounding in quantity or by some vitious quality of it or from an ill disposition of the digestive ferment Milk is the general Food of Children and there is such a propensity in its own nature to curdle that if it be not quickly digested it obeyeth the acid Ferment of the Stomach and is soon coagulated like new tough Cheese and if it be not speedily vomited up it begets a putrefactive Ferment which produceth terrible Symptoms as griping scouring vomiting c. I know a Woman that had a young Child Hystory about a Month old which was taken very ill with Convulsions after which followed a thorough Thrush with a Fever accompanied with the aforesaid Symptoms as griping c. which continu'd many days till the whole body was so maciated that it was in a total Atrophia and when there was no hopes of recovery the Nurse gave the Child a little of the infusion of the Antimonial Cup which caused it to vomit up a Curd three or four inches long very green and as tough as new Cheese After which the Child did wonderfully recover and grow fat Continual acute Fevers are oft times accompanied Progn with a secret malignity and therefore dangerous parvoe febres quandoque valde malignoe The Stomach in continual Fevers is Pars affecta most commonly primarily affected through undigestion or else from Excrements not being separated and orderly evacuated which causeth an irregular Ferment or nonnatural heat in the Stomach which though begun else where is much aggravated by vitiating Juices found in this first Elaboratory of decocting Nature For as in humane frame the first heat of Nature preparatory to all her depending motions is the digestive heat for Chylification in the Stomach so likewise the corrupting or exasperating of the same either by the sour Ferments or too much of the overflowing Gall is the Cause of most Fevers Therefore in the beginning of the Cure Cure evacuation by vomiting never ought to be neglected by the carefull Physician provided it be duely timed because then most commonly it removeth the sole cause of the feverish Intemperature without the help of any other means And here I commend Antimonials well prepared before all others seeing that Antimony as well rightly prepar'd as administred serves no less to purifie Man's body than
gangrene of the Guts attended with a violent vomiting of the excrements 'till death do put a period to the Patient's misery These evils are often encreas'd by fomentations too hot apply'd as also by a preposterous and strong rubbing of the swell'd part and violence us'd to repell the Guts The immediate causes of the cholerick Causes of the cholerick passion passion are sharp putrid cholerick humours collected in the Stomach and Bowels because of external errours commited in diet or by the taking of poison uncorrected which doth immediately disturb and corrupt all the humours The cause of vomiting bloud is to be deduced Causes of vomiting Bloud most commonly from the Pancreas by reason of some vessel open'd by its over sharp juice caused by a vitious effervescency with Choler from whence most of it is driven up to the Stomach to be vomited out whilst some of it may descend downward to be voided by stool This distemper may also be caused by bloud flowing out of the vessels of the Stomach or Guts either broken by vehement Coughing or corroded by sharp humours 1. If vomiting be from repletion or be critical Progn 't is a good benefit of nature and therefore must not be stopped but if it be symptomatical 't is an ill sign especially if it be caused by inflammation of the Stomach or adjacent parts or by poison taken 2. If the cause of Ileos be from excrements indurated in the Gut Ileon it may be cur'd if taken in time but if it be from a Rupture of the Peritonaeum 't is dangerous and for the most part mortal especially if there be inflammation and Tumour of the Guts c. 3. If the sick vomit bloud 't is dangerous neither is the cholerick passion without danger The Cure of this manifold vomiting may Cure be performed diversly according to the variety of each cause If vomiting be rais'd too much by an Emetick or any other nauseous thing taken it may be represt by this aromatick Opiate or one like it Take of Mint-water four ounces Tincture Cordial Opiate of Cinamon half an ounce Syrups of Mint Erratick Poppies of each six drachms Laudanum opiatum six grains Spirit of Nitre twenty drops mix it Let the sick take a spoonfull of this every quarter of an hour till the vomiting ceaseth If a Catarrh be the cause of vomiting look for the cure in its proper Chapter If the cholerick passion be caused by Cure of Cholerick Passion poison or plentifulness of cholerick humours in the Stomach c. then nothing hinders but that a gentle Antimonial Emetick may be given to which may be added those things which will temper the too great effervescency of the aforesaid humours For example Take of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum Vomit Mint-water of each six drachms Cinamon-water two drachms Syrup of Erratick Poppies half an ounce Laudanum opiatum two grains mix it After the evacuation of the peccant humours upward and downward an Opiate may be profitably used because it will not onely temper the Acrimony of Choler but asswage the acid juice and stupefie the outward sense and procure rest which will be very gratefull to the sick Take the waters of Fennel Plantain Mint Cordial Opiate Purslain of each two ounces Cinamon-water Syrups of Myrtles Purslain white Poppies of each one ounce Confect de Hyacintho Diascordium Venice-treacle of each two drachms Laudanum opiat eight grains Spirit of Niter twenty drops mix it Let the sick take two Spoonfulls of it often which will conduce to amend the faultiness of any humours whether acrimonious salt or sour for in the disease of Cholera it will powerfully asswage the too much effervescency that is raised in the small Gut staying the fierce motion of the troubled humours A bloudy vomiting requireth speedy help Cure of bloudy vomiting whence soever the bloud cometh The following Astringent medicine will wonderfully conduce to the cure Take the waters of Plantain Comfrey Astringent Iulep of each three ounces Cinamon-water distill'd Vinegar of each an ounce and half Syrups of Mirtles Quinces of each one ounce Powder of Dragons-bloud half a drachm Laudanum opiatum six grains mix it The sick may take two or three Spoonfulls of this Astringent Julep every hour with good success for it will cure the most ruptions of Vessels and stop the flux of bloud beyond expectation After Vomiting is supprest if the Patient be troubled with belching of wind c. in this case the following exemplary mixture may bear the praise for it doth not onely conduce to curb and discuss wind remaining as well in the Stomach as Guts but it doth temper and correct both Phlegm and Choler and hinder wind in its rise and will dissipate it when it is bred Take the waters of Mint Fennel of each Carminative Iulep four ounces the Carminative water of Sylvius Syrup of Mint of each two ounces Spirit of Niter twenty drops Chymical Oil of Mace ten drops Laudanum opiatum ten grains mix it Let this be taken by Spoonfulls often or more slowly as pains or stretchings do more or less urge If bloud be thought or feared to be clotter'd in the cavity of the Guts to dissolve it you may add to the above mentioned Carminative Julep pul ocul Cancror Antimon Diaphoret Sperma Coeti of each one drachm The voiding of matter by vomiting and stool is not to be staid but mildly promoted seeing it is wholly unnatural and hurtfull to the Body but its new rise is to be hindred as much as may be seeing it is bred of bloud which is the fuel of our vital fire and the sustenance of all parts of the Body Among all the medicines that move or promote the voiding of matter and hinder the continual breeding of it out of corrupt bloud I prefer and commend Antimonials rightly prepar'd as well Emeticks as other preparations of it as Antimonium Diaphoretic and above all a Balsam made artificially of its flowers which will powerfully conduce to alter and correct the harms befalling the Body by matter and hinder the new producing of it Also Balsam of Sulphur with Oil of Anise-seed is excellent to cleanse and consolidate any inward Ulcer if two or three drops of it be taken often in a day in any pleasant healing vehicle In all preternatural vomitings keep the Belly open so that the sick may have at least every day a stool either by Nature or Art and let the peccant humours remaining be emptied out by siege with these or the like Pills Take Extract Rudii half a drachm Resin Purging Pills of Jallop Salt of Wormwood Tartar vitriolated of each ten grains Oil of Cinamon three drops mix it for two doses to be taken in the morning The cure of Ileos or Iliaca passio may Cure of Iliaca passio for the most part be performed by the aforesaid medicines But for the sake of young Practitioners I shall add some few directions for
hard Labour are easily known Signs if the Child do stir and there be strong pains and no water appear the Secundine is strong If pains be weak and long before they return and more in the Back than Belly the Infant is weak If the Woman be little and her Husband big and full shouldred then there is a great Child which will cause tough work 1. Hard travel in Child-birth is very dangerous Progn for sometimes the Mother sometimes the Child and many times both do lose their Lives 2. If the Woman be in Travel above four days the Child can hardly be alive and therefore must be drawn away before it be too late for if it be neglected it will cause Fevers Faintings Convulsions Sleepiness c. which are the Forerunners of Death 3. If sneezing cometh of its own accord it is a good sign of deliverance First give this Cordial to strengthen both the Mother and Child Indications Take Waters of Baum Vervain Cinamon Cordial Iulep of each two ounces Syrup of Clove-gilliflowers Saffron of each six drachms Spirit of Saffron Confectio Alkermes of each one drachm mix it If the Child be situated on Os pubis it must be removed and all other unfit Postures must be rectified Then such things as hasten the Birth may be safely administred To encrease the Pains and further the Womans Labour I commend sneezing and also the following Medicines Take the Livers of Eels prepar'd with Cinamon-water Powder and dried one drachm Powder of Borax whitest Amber Mirrh Saffron Dittany of Crete round Birth-wort of each half a drachm mix it and give a Scruple of it at a time in three spoonfulls of this Julep Take the Waters of Vervain Mugwort Iulep of each two ounces Syrup of Saffron one ounce Confectio Alkermes one drachm Extract of Saffron six grains Oils of Cinamon Amber of each three drops mix it Some things have a peculiar property to help the Birth as the stone Aetites Loadstone Storax the Eyes of a Hare c. held near the privities The time being come the Woman must be put into a posture which every Midwife doth understand and let her not labour too much till strong pains come and then let her resolve on patience and not be disorderly in the time of her Travel If she be faint you may give her some of the formention'd Cordial Julep to comfort her Let your hands be anointed with some Anodine Ointment After the water is broke if the Head cometh with the Face towards Anus receive it if not endeavour to place it right Then turn your Finger round about the Child's head gently to make way for the Birth If the Child cometh any other way you must endeavour to gain the Feet and bring it away with the Face towards Anus as before mention'd The Child being born you must bring away the Secundine gently by degrees after which put a Closure to the Woman to prevent Cold from entring the Womb. Then prepare her for the bed and give her some Sperma Coeti or Irish-slate in a little burnt White-wine with Cinamon If the Woman doth flood much or be troubled with after-pains give her some of the following Cordial Opiate Take of small Cinamon-water the waters Cordial Opiate of red Poppies Baum of each two ounces Syrups of Clove-gilliflowers white Poppies of each one ounce Laudanum opiat three grains Oil of Cinamon two drops mix it and give three spoonfulls of it often If the Child be born alive after the Navel string is secured give the Child ten grains of prepar'd Coral in a little Breast milk or black Cherry-water dulcifi'd with Syrup of Peony to which you may add a little Oil of sweet Almonds new drawn If the Child be troubled with gripes you may give it a little Powder of Anise-seed in the Pap. But if the Child be dead and the Labour gone or if the Child's head be very big and the passage too strait so that the Midwife cannot doe her Office you must then speedily implore the help of the Man-midwife as we are called If a Woman in Child-bed hath a costive Body give her a Suppository of Castile-soap or Honey boiled and after three or four days you may administer an emollient carminative Clyster Clyster If a Woman after hard Travel cannot hold her Urine bathe her secret Parts and Region of the Womb with this or the like Decoction Take of Plantain Comfry Shepherds-purse Tops of Brambles Penny-royal Rosemary Fomentation Sage Stoechas of each one handfull let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in a Gallon of Smiths-water till half of it be boiled away then strain it and bathe the parts affected very warm with woollen Stuphs Afterward anoint the grieved parts with this Linament Take the Ointment Comitissoe Oil of Mace by expression of each one ounce Oils of Earth-worms Foxes Lillies Goose-grease of each half an ounce mix it CHAP. XXI Of Nephritick pains and of the Stone in the Reins and Bladder DIseases of the Reins are called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ren. In Latin they are called morbus Renum which comprehends not onely any Ach in the Kidneys but also the Stone and Gravel in the Reins Nephritick pains may be caused divers Cause ways 1. First by a sharp salt matter or a sharp and serous Lympha in the Kidneys which doth easily concrete into a Stone especially when the Ferment of the Reins is much vitiated which may be known by those cruel torturing Fits that come by intervals 2. Worms in the Kidneys which for the most part arise from Bloud there corrupted may be the cause of pain 3. An Abcess or Tumour in the Kidneys following an Inflammation doth hinder the passage of Urine and is always accompanied with great pain 4. It may also be caused by glutinous Phlegm obstructing the fleshy parts of the Kidneys and hindring the separation of Urine so that it is not strein'd into the Funnels of the Reins as usual but is deprav'd and vitiated Whence the natural descent of the Urine through the Ureters into the urinal Bladder is also hindred The same also may happen sometimes by Observacion a stone sticking in the Funnel and stopping the entrance of the Ureters Although I think that Stones sticking in the Ureters themselves cannot long hinder the passage of Urine because it hath been found by experience in dissecting of dead Bodies that Stones near the bigness of a Doves-egg have been sticking in the Ureters by the sides of which Stones Urine descended freely which was evident because the Ureter was no were distended unless where the Stone did stick Neither was there any Urine contain'd in the Ureter above the obstruction besides when the Party was living there was no stoppage of Urine Those fits which come by intervals are caused by a debility or vitiousness of the Ferment of the Kidneys which generates crude salt and sharp matter which causeth those cruel Tortures
natural Constitution also all the Functions being in time vitiated For the spinalis medulla being primarily affected all the Nerves which proceed from it in its passage through the spina Dorsi must of necessity be stupifi'd and vitiated with a loose Feebleness hence also all the nervous membranous and fibrous parts through which those Nerves are carried or inserted into must consequently be vitiated with an inward weak Slipperiness so that the very ends of the bones as well as all the Faculties of the Body bear a share in this Distemper When the Rickets is confirm'd in Infants it seems to have some affinity with divers other Diseases viz. a Chronical fever an extenuation or leanness of the Body and an Hydrocephalus and many more which are frequently complicated with this affect And indeed not onely this but most other Observatio Diseases in process of time do unite unto themselves other affects of a different kind and therefore for the most part there is a complication of Chronical diseases before Death The Causes are either external or internal Causes The external may be any of the Non-naturals exceeding either in excess or defect All things cold and moist do powerfully contribute to this Disease especially an over cold and moist Air which is most frequent in the Spring the Air being then cloudy thick rainy and full of vaporous Exhalations Hereupon the Children of those which inhabit near the Banks of the Sea or great Rivers Ponds or Marshes that are obnoxious to too much Rain or are fed with a great Number of Springs are more or less subject to this affect for by the Continuance of such cold and moisture the Bloud and Humours becomes too slippery and therefore in their Circulation they must unavoidably cause a softness and looseness in all the parts Also experience testifieth that those Children which are born and nursed near the Lead-mines in Derby-shire c. are generally affected more or less with a languidness of the Limbs For the Air being infected with noxiousmetalline Exhalations which for the most part fight against the inherent Spirits of the parts by a kind of venemous malignity by which the spirituous pulsificative Force of the external parts is extinguished and the strength of the Limbs and whole Body much weakned and diminish'd Hither we may also refer fine soft Linen applied actually cold and moist being not well dried by reason of the moistness of the weather to the Spine of the Back which is near the Original of the Nerves the use thereof being too long continu'd it cherisheth the Roots of this Disease in that tender Age. Likewise Aliments of any kind which are too moist and cold or too thick viscous and obstructive do manifestly cherish this Distemper And I am induced to believe that Ebriety in English people especially the Gentry and eating of much Flesh and not using frequent labour or exercise may be a reason why this Disease is more common and natural to Children in England than in other Regions perhaps far exceeding it both in cold and moisture as Scotland Holland c. wherein this affect hath not been observ'd to be very common And therefore ebriety and eating of much Flesh and defect of motion and want of exercise doth most frequently and most effectually concur to the production of it because the inherent heat in stupid and sluggish People is not sufficient to resist and expell the superfluous moisture by a due transpiration By which means the Circulation of the Bloud is become slow and lesned and the production of the vital heat very feeble and weak so that nature is thereby forced to permit all the parts of the Body to be affected with a certain softness looseness and internal lubricity more than is meet which do sufficiently evince that this is an efficacious cause and a part of the essence of this Disease Hence we may easily infer that the Children of such Parents are more inclined to this distemper than others who drink moderately and eat less Flesh and are more active and lively The internal Causes are excrementitious Humours luxuriant in the Body especially Phlegm and serous humours retained and vitiated being naturally cold and moist and little spirituous and affected with an internal slipperiness wherefore upon a superfluous accumulation of these humours the production of this affect succeedeth because thereby a Colliquation of the parts and a dissipation of the inherent Spirits will be easily introduced whereby all the parts will afterwards be rendred obnoxious to this cold and moist Distemper Many diseases preceding this affect may be the cause of it especially those which do extenuate and much weaken the Body as all Fevers c. And also all cold and moist phlegmatick and cachochymick Distempers which will induce a stupour and dulness in the affected parts and cause obstructions Also any great Pain Inflammation Tumour Fracture Luxation or any other preternatural affect that hinders the standing and playing of the Child may be some cause of this Disease Presently after the beginning of the Disease Signs a kind of slothfulness and numbness doth invade the Joints and by little and little is increased so that daily they are more and more averse from motion besides in the beginning of this affect there is usually observ'd a certain laxity softness and flaccidity of all the first affected parts after which followeth a great debility languidness and enervation of all the parts subservient to motion so that for the most part they speak before they walk which is vulgarly held to be a bad Omen and if it vehemently increase they do not onely totally lose the use of their Feet but can scarce sit with an erected posture and their weak and feeble Neck can hardly sustain the Burthen of the Head In the progress of the Disease the Head and Face increaseth in bigness but the fleshy parts below the Head are daily more and more worn away There is also observ'd in this affect certain swellings and knotty excrescencies about some of the Joints these are chiefly conspicuous in the Wrists and somewhat less in the Ancles and in the tops of the ribs the Bones in the Armes and Legs and sometimes the Thighs and Shoulder-bones wax crooked the Teeth come forth slowly and with greater trouble than usual and at length the Breast becomes narrow and the Abdomen swollen with an extension of the Hypochondriacal parts which hindreth the free motion of the Diaphragma downwards and by consequence doth somewhat interrupt the breathing so that respiration becomes difficult accompanied with coughing the Pulse being also weak and small and in the increase of the Disease all these signs become more intense and evident and many and more grievous are daily accumulated 1. If this Disease be light and gentle the Progn Children affected therewith may be easily restored to health sometimes by the sole benefit of Age the vital heat being increased and summoned forth to the external parts by
Vera Effigies Roberti Iohnson Praxis Medicinae Reformata OR THE Practice of Physick REFORMED BEING AN Epitome of the whole Art Wherein is briefly shewed The true Causes Signs Prognosticks and Cure of most Diseases Published for the Benefit of all Persons By Robert Johnson Med. Professor Medicina Experientiâ Ratione fundari debet LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil 1700. TO THE READER IN this little Tract I have bestowed some Pains in searching out and proposing the true Causes and Cure of Diseases Which I hope will induce other Ingenious-spirited Artists to a farther Enquiry that so the Art of Physick may be the better illustrated and many things in it that are yet obscure may be made known The Chief End of Physick is to maintain and recover Health wherefore I think it would be more for the Honour of all Learned Physicians to employ themselves in the Improvement of the Materia Medica which have been hitherto too much neglected than to content themselves with a formal Way of Practice For Diseases cannot be cured by Scholastick Twattle or Fine Words but by good Remedies The great Platerus Helmont and the famous Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius c. did endeavour to reform the Practice of Physick and excelled many others their Contemporaries in the most difficult Cures yet because they had recourse to Chymical Remedies in the Cure of many Diseases the more lazy Tribe of Physicians made it their Business to traduce them Truly there are too many such carping Zolius's at this Day who envy Glory to all except themselves from whom I must expect the same Fate I can do no more but pray for them Lord forgive them for they know not what they do From the lower-most Door on the Right-hand in Norfolk-street in the Strand THE INTRODUCTION Containing the CAUSES and CURE OF DISEASES In GENERAL AS ALSO Some Choice SPECIFICKS for the Cure of DISEASES THE Causes of Diseases depend on Lympha any way vitiated because it will in time corrupt the whole Mass of Blood Quicquid enim sive Bilis sit sive Pituita sive succus Pancreaticus sanguisve menstruus Lympham reddere potens acriorem dolorem morbos facile causat parte affecta male sese habente This is the Hypothesis of most eminent Physicians both Ancient and Modern Spittle being continually swallowed down and adhering to the Gut the more fluid part of it is dissolved by the continual Conflux of Choler and the Juice of the Pancreas or Sweet-bread in the small Guts If Choler which abounds with a bitter volatile Lixivial Salt be mixt with the Juice of the Pancreas which is naturally sourish as hath been sufficiently evinced by the indefatigable Industry of the most ingenious Anatomist Regnerus de Graaf they must of necessity stir up an Effervescency in their Concourse there As long as the aforesaid Humours are well tempered the Effervescency will be mild and friendly to Nature and therefore cannot be perceived in healthy People The Humours rising from this mild Effervescency pierceth into the Lacteal Veins and circulates with the Lympha to the Heart and seems to give the natural Consistency to the Bloud The more viscous part of these Humors passeth by degrees to the thick Guts and being there mixed with the Excrements makes them more viscous and yellow and helps the Excretion of them But if there be an Obstruction of the Lacteal Ducts or Branches of the Panereas or Sweet-bread by reason of viscous Flegm which being separated from the Bloud by the Glandules of the Pancreas is there collected by degrees it is sent from thence in too large a quantity to the main Duct or Pipe thereof which detaineth the Juice of the Pancreas contrary to Nature which ought continually to flow into the small Guts The Juice of the Pancreas being compelled to stagnate or stand still in its passage quickly grows acrimonious because the volatile Spirit which is naturally conjoin'd to it to temper it doth gradually fly away by which it becometh more acrid and acquires a putrefactive Ferment whence at length it makes way through the obstructing Flegm and is effused into the small Gut called Duodenum where meeting with Choler peccant in a Lixivial Salt Acrimony it stirs up a vitious Effervescency or preternatural Ferment which raiseth acrimonious Humors and halituous or flatulent Vapours which are carried through the Lacteal Veins and Thoracick Passage and so through the Vena Cava ascendens to the right Ventricle of the Heart from whence it circulates with the spirituous Blood and Lympha vitiating and corrupting the whole Mass of it with its fermental Acrimony Which is the Cause of most Chronical Diseases as the famous Franciscus de le Boe Sylvius hath accurately observed If the acrid Humours do affect the Head it may cause most Distempers incident to it as Head-ach Convulsions Epilepsie Palsie Apoplexy c. If it invades the Lungs it causeth Difficulty of Breathing Inflamations Ulcers and Phthisis or Consumption If it penetrates the Membrane Pleura it causeth the Pleurisie If it possesseth the Joints it causeth Arthritick Pains or the Gout which hath its Name from the Part affected If there be a Defluxion of acrid Humors on the Reins Bladder or Womb it may cause Inflammations Ulcers or Cancers in them If it be conveyed to the obscene Parts especially after too much impure Coition it may cause malign Eruptions c. If the Lympha becomes very acrid in the conglobated and conglomerated Glandules and if Nature be over-burthened by its plentifulness it may be the Cause of Catarrhs Rheumatisms Scrophula c. If acrid Humors be luxuriant in the Blood and Lympha it may be the Cause of all Eruptions as Itch Scabs Erisipela's Leprosie c. Acrimonious and flatulent Vapours may be the Cause of all Ague-Fits with all their Symptoms as in the beginning Horror Chilness Cold Shaking c. then follows Reaching Yawning and Vomiting c. At length these sharp halituous Vapors are carried to the right Ventricle of the Heart and by their Acrimony alters and troubles its Vital Effervescency and by over-stirring the Heart causeth a more frequent Pulse and many times produceth grievous Symptoms as great Heat and Thirst Difficulty of Breathing Raving Heart-ach Swooning and all other Symptoms that happen in all Intermitting Fevers If Choler become peccant not only in a Lixivial salt Acrimony but also an inflamable Oyliness the Humours that are produced from its vitious Effervescency with the too tart Pancreat Juice and over-viscous Flegm in the small Guts will be the more acrid and fervid and circulating with the spirituous Blood and Lympha to the Heart will cause an Effervescency in the right Ventricle of it which will stimulate and incite it to a more forcible Motion whence the Pulse is continually produced more frequent against Nature after which follows great Heat and Burning c. and therefore may be called a Fever so that this may be the
is called stupor corporis it being an Abolition of sense and motion through the whole Body The parts affected are the Brain Spinalis medulla and Nerves the motion of the Animal spirits through them being deprav'd The causes are either external or internal The external is much cold and moisture Cause which doth chill and over moisten the Head and extreme parts and this seems to prove Cause internal that phlegmatick and watry Humours abiding about the Ventricles of the Brain and Nerves may over moisten and perhaps so far loosen the Tunicles or Membranes of them that it may render them unfit to let the Animal spirits pass through them hence it is that sometimes one particular Member hath been Paralytick by too much Cold and Moisture and sometimes more parts have more or less lost sense and motion It is the opinion of most eminent Physicians both ancient and modern that the Animal spirits being severed from the Bloud in the Brain c. are from thence carried through all the Nerves to exercise the external senses and Animal motion which is continual and equal in healthy persons but changeable and unequal according to the divers diseases of the Body or Mind Wherefore when no Animal spirits are carried to the Organs of the external Senses or Animal motion the functions of seeing smelling tasting hearing and touching and the sense of heat as also of motion in the Palsie and Apoplexy cease all that time The Signs of the Palsie are manifest to wit deprivation of sense and motion of the Signs Paralytick parts the Eye and half the Tongue viz. of that side affected is much weakned and deprav'd The signs of the Apoplexy approaching are these a sudden crying out for help with an abolition of sense and motion 1. If the Palsie or Apoplexy do invade the sick in the decrease of the Moon and the Patient Progn be old 't is an ill sign 2. If the sick do snort and is droughty and cast spume or froth out of the Mouth and have great sweat with difficult breathing 't is mortal But if the Person be young and a strong Fever immediately happen 't is a good sign for the Fever consumes the superfluous moisture and makes a Dissipation of the gross and phlegmatick Matter 3. A Palsie coming after the Apoplexy is ill and many times turns to the Apoplexy again When any of the extreme parts be Paralytical Cure or when the Head is ill affected by the external coldness of Air Water or Snow or a stoppage of the Head be also bred thereby or the defect of the Animal spirits chiefly urge then the sick may be cur'd by driving out whatsoever cold has pierc'd into the Head or any other parts of the Body which may be done by spirituous and volatile Sudorificks for they do not onely alter and correct the cause of Cold and other Evils accompanying it but do also amend the harm entring into the Body containing and contained To this end I commend this following Form Take of Treacle-water one ounce Fennel-water Cordial to cause sweat and Epidemical-water of each two ounces Syrup of red Poppies and Syrup of the Juice of Scurvigrass of each half an ounce Bezoar-mineral Antimony Diaphoretick of each ten grains Laudanum opiat three grains Spirit of salt Armoniack twenty drops Oil of Cloves four drops mix it give the sick three or four spoonfulls of it and expect to sweat being meanly covered and a spoonfull every half hour afterward till the sweat break forth then give them some pure Broth with a little Wine in it whereby strength may be recreated and the Patient enabled to bear a Sweat longer for nothing so much helps the sick as a sweat continued mildly a while which experience hath often taught me For by the help of this spirituous and volatile and also Aromatick medicine or one like it the troublesome Cold and dulness of motion are discust They who let bloud in this Distemper caused Observation by external Cold or think they can carry out the Cause of this Evil either by vomit or siege put the sick into danger of death or at least of most grievous Evils But when phlegmatick and watry Humours stick about the Nerves c. And too much moistening and loosening their Membranes and Marrow be the cause of the Palsie and Apoplexy and if the same humours much abound in the Body then Phlegmagogues and Hydragogues may conduce to the Cure after Clysters and internal Aromatick Sudorificks Wherefore to begin the Cure of this you may first give this or the like Clyster which must be made strong Take of sweet Marjoram Betony Sage Penny-royal Clyster Hyssop Rue Mercury Marsh-mallows the lesser Centaury the Flowers of Chamomel and Stoechas of each half a handfull Anise-seed sweet Fennel-seed Juniper-berries of each half an ounce let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in a quart of Fountain-water till half of it be boiled away then strain it and dissolve in it the Electuary Diaphoenicon benedicta laxativa of each half an ounce pil Cochioe twenty grains common Salt one drachm Oil of Rue two ounces mix it for a Clyster The next day if the sick have a Plethorick body you may draw bloud from either arm to eight or nine ounces If Phlebotomy cannot be done apply Ventoses with Scarification to the shoulders afterward sweat the Patient with the aforesaid Sudorifick Sometimes Suppositories may be used in stead of Clysters This may serve for Example Take the Powders of Coloquintida Salt-niter Suppository Hiera-picra simple of each one drachm Euphorbium half a drachm Honey boiled as much as will make it into a Suppository But if it appear that phlegmatick and viscous Humours do abound in the Body Purgers may be prescrib'd most conveniently in the form of a Pill because the Gums are most apt above all other Medicines to loosen and cut viscous Phlegm neither can they be easily dissolv'd in any liquour Let this or such a like form of Pills serve Take the Gums Amoniacum and Galbanum of each two drachms dissolve them in Vineger Purging Pills of Squills strain it and boil it to a due consistence then add Powders of Troches Alhandal Scammony Mastick of each one drachm Oil of Anise-seed eight drops make it into a Mass of Pills according to Art Let the sick take five or six small Pills of this in the morning fasting and an hour after drink some thin broth If the humours be more serous I commend this Electuary Take Juniper-berries one pound boil them in six pints of Fennel-water till Purging Electuary half of it be boiled away then add the Fruit of Tamarind eight ounces and pulp them both through a Sieve To which add Powder of Jalap and Scammony prepar'd of each three ounces Cinamon sweet Fennel-seed of each half an ounce white Sugar one pound make it into an Electuary according to Art The dose of this effectual Medicine is to half an
mortal so likewise is it very pernicious if it turn either to the Lethargy or Convulsion In the Mania or Madness if the stomach or appetite decay and the sick be very fearfull and hath continued long it is most difficult to cure but if the party be merrily conceited it is not so dangerous 3. If the swelling of the Veins in the Legs called Varices or the Haemorrhoids or Menses or any other flux of bloud should happen to them that are mad or frantick there may be hopes of recovery And that we may pass on to the cure of Cure these lamentable diseases let the following Golden precept be speedily observ'd Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras For unless speedy help be procur'd for the Phrensie it killeth the party in a short time and likewise Mania or Madness becomes oft by degrees so stubborn and rebellious that it can be cur'd onely late or never Ttherefore the friends of the sick are to be admonish'd to consult with the honest Physician so soon as the signs begin to be manifest for when it hath taken deep root it is hard to be eradicated or overcome unless by an Herculean labour First therefore let a Clyster be administered Take of Mallows Marsh-mallows Violets Clyster Lettice Beets Pellitory of the wall Mercury Centaury Water-lillies of each one handfull Damask Prunes twenty Boil them in a quart of Barley-water till half be consumed then strain it and add Electuary Lenitive Syrup of Violets Roses Solutive of each one ounce Oil of Violets two ounces Common Salt one drachm Mix it for a Clyster After the Operation of it you may open a Vein in the Arm. But if Menses or the Haemorrhoids be suppressed then open the Saphena in either Foot and let the orifice be made pretty large because thereby sharp and fatty vapours may more plenteously be effus'd together with the bloud whereby the troublesome heat will be the better temper'd and not a little diminisht Neither will it suffice to let bloud once but this evacuation is oft to be iterated till by the diminisht feverish heat it appears that the cause is remov'd or overcome But let Phlebotomy be warily done where choler abounds because sanguis est fraenum Bilis wherefore I advise the young Practitioner to take away but little bloud at a time which may be done so often as need requires either by an instrument or leeches to the Haemorrhoids Ventoses with scarification may be applied to the shoulders also Vesiccatories to the armes thighs inter scapulas in extremis morbis extrema sunt adhibenda remedia Choler over plenteous in the body may be safely diminisht by a mild chologogue for example Take of Dandelion Succory Sorrel of Iulep each two handfulls Tamarind-fruit two ounces Boil them in a quart of Barley-water till half be consumed Strain it and add the waters of Cinamon and Fennel of each one ounce The best Manna Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb of each three ounces Spirit of Niter twenty drops Let the sick take oft a draught of this Julep till the body be made soluble but if there be a strong constitution of body I refer you to those excellent Medicines prescribed in page 8. 9. of this book which evacuates choler more powerfully by stool But where the Stomach is full and nauseous let a vomit be administred without delay and here I prefer Antimonials before all o-thers both because they do most happily empty any humours promiscuously and because they are most friendly to humane nature bringing all the humours by degrees after a peculiar manner to a most laudable state And because in this distemper the sick is always attended with a greivous and furious raging let those things be given which will not onely promote sleep but powerfully temper the sharp cholerick humours To this end I commend any fixt Mineral Sulphur of Vitriol or Antimony which will temper the Acrimony of choler and free the bloud from such matter perhaps before all others But where these choice Medicines are not to be had Opium well prepared will conduce beyond any commonly known Medicine which may be used both Internally and Externally This Cordial Opiat is of great virtue Take the Waters of Sorrel Lettice Penny-royal Opiat Fennel of each two ounces Cinamon water Syrups of red and white Poppies of each one ounce Laudanum ten grains Tartar vitriolated half a drachm Oil of Vitriol ten drops mixit and give two spoonfulls of it often whereby the body may the sooner be reduc'd to sleep and the mind to tranquillity The following Epitheme and Linament may be used outwardly to give ease and promote sleep Take the Waters of Betony red Roses of Epitheme each two ounces Vinegars of Roses and Marygolds of each half an ounce Opium twenty grains Mix it Let Linen cloaths be dipt in it being warm and applied to the Forehead and region of the Temples and as often as the cloaths are dry moisten them with the same till pain be diminisht and sleep follow Take Populion half an ounce Opium dissolv'd Linament in Oil of Poppies half a drachm mix it for a Linament wherewith anoint each region of the Temples and spread some of it on brown Paper and apply it Let the diet be very thin and cooling Avoid hot spices Wine and other strong Liqours Dieta and let the common drink be Barley-water with Syrup of Limmons Pigeons cut asunder and applied to the Soles of the Feet do many times avail by drawing down hot Vapours and Fumes from the Head By this you may know how to cure not onely Phrensies but all ravings and watchings which are ingendred by Fevers for it will not be very hard from what is aforesaid to frame or join such helps as may conduce to the same In mania or madness when Phlegm is over viscous and the Juice of the Pancreas too tart and harsh exceeding and over-ruling the other humours in the Body whereby sharp halituous Vapours are continually rais'd disturbing the sick both in Body and Mind Speedy care must be taken to correct and educe the vitiated humours to amend and discuss the hurtfull flatuous Vapours and also to compose the immoderate passions of the mind Volatile Salts and Aromatick Oils do not onely correct viscous and acid Phlegm but sour and tart Vapours also for they have power to cut and dissolve that which is viscous to temper and correct that which is sour and tart and to discuss and dissipate what is vaporous and windy The following Julep whose power is singular and stupendious may be deservedly preferr'd before many others Take the Waters of Parsley Fennel Mint Iulep Penny-royal Scurvigrass of each two ounces the Waters of Treacle and Cinamon of each half an ounce Syrups of Fennel Poppies and the five opening Roots of each one ounce Laudanum opiat twenty grains Spirits of Salt Armoniack and Niter of each twenty drops Oils of
prefer'd Take the Waters of Hyssop Fennel of Pectoral Iulep each two ounces Cinamon-water distill'd Vineger of each half an ounce Syrup of Hore-houud one ounce Powder of Crabs-eyes Antimony Diaphoretick of each half a drachm mix it and give two or three spoonfulls every two hours If the Lungs be ulcerated the Cure thereof will be promoted if you add two or three drops of Balsam of Sulphur with Oil of Annise-seed to every spoonfull that you give of the aforefaid medicine or in any pectoral Decoction it must be given oft in a day the better to finish the Cure In all Catarrhs if the Rheum have been long you may use a Decoction of China which will wonderfully temper the humours or you may add lign sanctum sassaphras sarsaparilla c. which will dry up the Rheum by degrees The sharp humours being temper'd and the matter of Rheum partly evacuated by Phlegmagogues and Hydragogues c. outward means that dry up Rheum are likewise to be used as Caps for the Head Perfumes Errhines Sternutatories Masticatories Apophlegmatisms c. Ventoses with Scarification may be also applied to the Neck and Shoulders and Fontinels may be made in the Neck and Arm for they have been often profitable in Catarrhs Also Vesiccatories applied to the Coronal future and inter scapulas will avail much Let the Temples and parts adjacent be anointed with Oil of Amber Oil of Nutmegs c. and let the Fume of Amber or Mastick be often drawn up into the Nostrils Also a Sternutatory such as is prescrib'd in page 21. in the Cure of the Palsie is very effectual to cause sneezing twice or thrice in a day A Cap may be also quilted for the Head of the following things with Cotton-wool and red Sarcenet Take of sweet Marjoram Betony Baum For a quilted Cap. Bazil Red-rose buds of each half a handfull the Berries of Mirtle and Juniper the Seeds of Peony and white Poppy of each one drachm Calamus aromaticus Nutmegs Cloves Frankincense Mastick Styrax calamitis Laudanum of each two drachms let them be all beaten into a gross Powder for a quilted Cap. Also this following Powder may be prepar'd to fumigate the Head and Cloaths morning and evening Take of Olibanum Styrax calamitis Amber Powder to fume the Head c. of each two drachms red Roses Coriander-seeds prepar'd Mastick Gum of Ivy Cloves Mirtle-berries white Poppy-seeds of each one drachm let them be all beaten into a gross Powder Also this Masticatory may be often used Take of Mustard-seed Roots of Pellitory Masticatory of Spain Master-wort Capers Mastick Amber of each one drachm let them be all beaten into a gross Powder and tye up some of it in a Linen-rag and chew it in the mouth every day before Dinner and Supper Or you may chew either Mastick Amber or the Root of Pellitory of Spain by it self which will draw the serous humours away by spitting Errhines may also be used they are either moist or dry the dry are made with Pepper Betony Rosemary Stavesacre c. The liquid are made with the Juices of Rosemary Ivy Beets Mercury sweet Marjoram c. And it may here be noted that when Rheum doth flow down to the Throat Lungs c. then Errhines may be used but when the humours flow to the Eyes Nose c. then use Masticatories for a Revulsion Revulsio enim est humoris fluentis attractio in partem contrariam The Spirit of Salt Armoniack held to Note the Nose in a narrow mouth'd Glass doth wonderfully conduce above all others not onely to dissolve the viscous phlegmatick humours obstructing the Glandules But also temperates the acid Saltness of Catarrhs Plaisters may be also applied to the Head being first shaved to dry up the Rheum and strengthen the Brain This may serve for Example Take of the Plaisters ad Herniam and Plaster for the Head Cephalick Taccamahac of each half an ounce mix it and spread it on leather and apply it to the Head Let the Rheumatick live in a warm and dry Air and use a drying Diet with moderation in eating drinking sleeping and all other things Jejunet vigilet sitiat qui Rheumata curat BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Shortness of Breathing SHortness or Difficulty of Breathing is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiro vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. afflo calidum ori Asthma It is a disease in which the Bronchia of the Lungs are so stuffed with viscous Phlegm that the sick can hardly breathe but with wheasing blowing or puffing and do make a great noise with snorting in which the Diaphragma and intercostal Muscles are violently moved If the Lungs onely are stuffed it is without snorting and is then called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aegre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiro In this the conduits of the Lights are much stopped causing hardness or straitness of breath and pursiness But if the Patient fetcheth breath with much difficulty with the Neck stretched upright it may then be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiro i. e. erecta cervice spirare The cause of this disease is the Juice of Cause the Pancreas growing more sour by its obstruction joined to viscous Phlegm in the small gut by which it becomes more flatulent and being stir'd up in its effervescency with Choler it riseth to the Thoracick passage by the Lacteal Veins and so to the Heart and Lungs and filling the airy conduits thereof and sticking there it causeth a breathing with snorting The same humour is also carried to the Stomach which causeth many sour Belchings in this distemper and if these flatuous humours become more sharp than viscous so often as they come to the Lungs they pierce into the sharp Artery and do so provoke and molest it that thereby the Lungs are compelled to cough by which the Expiration of Air is deprav'd If there be much moisture contain'd in Progn the sharp Artery it will be the easier expelled by the help of coughing but if the Trachea Arteria be affected with driness then nothing is spit out though with great and much labour but the universal Body is wearied in vain with indeavouring to cough whence there is sometimes raised a vehement Pain both of the Head and Hypochondries and other parts yea sometimes a Rupture is bred by it and the Urine and Excrements are thereby often involuntarily extruded 2. If this disease be not speedily removed it will prove chronical and hard to be cur'd unless the Patient be young and of a strong constitution for otherwise it will end in a Cachexie or Dropsie An Asthma or wheasing Anxiety may Cure happily be cured in the beginning by an Antimonial vomit especially in those who do vomit easily because the Phlegmatick humours which are contained in the sharp Artery c. are thereby
Armoniack twenty drops Laudanum opiat ten grains mix it let the sick take a spoonfull of it every quarter of an hour till they get some ease If the distemper hath persever'd long the peccant humours must be emptied out by purging and to educe them I prefer before all others Pills to be made of Gums seeing they loosen the glutinous humours and dispose them to be easier carried out For example Take of Galbanum prepar'd with Vinegar Purging Pills half an ounce Powder of Scammony prepar'd Troches Alhandal of each two drachms Oil of Carraway twenty drops make it into a Mass for Pills Take five or six of these Pills in the Morning fasting twice a week They who abhor Pills may use an Aromatick and purging Decoction The following though bitter is very efficacious Take the five opening Roots of each one Purging Decoction ounce Roots of Angelica Berries of Bay and Juniper of each half an ounce the best Senna Orange-peel Carraway-seed Coloquintida of each one drachm Guiacum four ounces let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in two quarts of Fountain-water till half of it be boiled away then strain it and add Syrup of Roses with Senna four ounces Cinamon-water two ounces mix it Let the sick take four ounces of this bitter Decoction every other Morning which will by degrees diminish and mildly educe the hurtfull humours by purging But seeing not onely the cause ought to be removed but also the Symptomes asswag'd by refreshing the Heart you must administer cordial Medicines which have power to corroborate the Heart and to cherish and strengthen nature The following Cordial may be preferred in this Case Take the Waters of Baum Mint Borage Cordial Iulep Cinamon of each three ounces Syrups of Baum red Poppies of each two ounces Laudanum opiat Amber-greese of each ten grains mix it Let the sick take two spoonfulls of this rich Cordial every three hours which will wonderfully refresh and delight the sensible Stomach from whence the perfumed impressions will soon be communicated to the whole Body by which all the vital and animal Functions will be refreshingly cherished and strengthned and the Palpitation of the Heart eased and abated If the Patient hath a costive Body let a carminative Clyster be sometimes administred and if a Plethora concur let a vein be opened either with an Instrument in the Arm or by Leeches applied to the Haemorrhoids CHAP. V. Of an universal Languishing as also of Swouning and Syncope AN universal Languishing of the strength of all the parts and functions is sometimes observ'd to remain after some disease preceding not rightly cured especially when the Infirmity hath been grievous for then a weariness or defect of the Animal motion doth usually concur together with a weak or little pulse and dulness and debility of the internal and external senses whereby the sick continues weak and more languishing by certain intervalls than is natural All the kinds of Swounings may be divided for methods sake into two viz. the lighter kind and the most grievous The lighter kind of Swouning or fainting is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin animae defectio ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deficere because it is an Imbecility or Feebleness of the Heart and Courage The most grievous and singular kind of swouning is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syncope concido to cut away quod praeceps virium omnium lapsus It is also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. pulsus privatio because there is no pulse neither indeed presently in the fit is there any Animal or voluntary motion or respiration to be observ'd so that they are more like dead than living Creatures The signs of these fits approaching are Signs yawnings a Cardialgy Anxiety of Compression of the Heart griping and distension of the Belly tinkling in the Ears dimness before the Eyes and a Giddiness and at the approach of a Syncope there are often Convulsive motions with a cold and glutinous sweat and paleness of all the parts of the Body The causes of these distempers are either Causes external or internal The external are many as extreme weariness of the Body exceeding passions of the mind prolong'd hunger or thirst ungratefull smells the sight of any Person or thing that is envied too great effusion of Bloud Seed or Milk over great evacuation of the humours by Vomit Stool Sweat Urine c. It may also be caused by the biting or stinging of any venemous Creature and by any other vehement pain Sometimes it is produc'd by a great heat either of the Sun Fire Bath or Fever Any of these Causes mention'd being extreme may so change and diminish the natural effervescency and rarefaction of the bloud that the Heart it self is not thereby enough expanded and contracted So that the vital bloud cannot be sufficiently effus'd into the Arteries and therefore the Pulse is felt less and more languishing yea sometimes none The internal Cause is glutinousness encreased in the bloud and the other humours and sometimes an encreased Acidity in the Juice of the Pancreas Lympha and Spittle by which the Circulation of the Bloud and Humours becomes too slow hence the Ventricles of the Heart are not enough dilated which causeth the Pulse to be weaker than is natural for the effervescency of the bloud and humours being not potent enough cannot provoke the Heart to contract it self and therefore a Swouning or Syncope will inevitably ensue They who are much subject to a Swouning Progn or Syncope dye suddenly Those fits which are produc'd from some evident cause as vehement passions of the mind immoderate evacuations c. are less dangerous than those which come from an internal cause as glutinousness of the bloud and humours c. Which in a great measure hindreth its free Circulation through the Ventricles of the Heart whereby there is a sudden and swift sailing of the vital Spirits and consequently of all strength To cure an universal languishing as also a Cure Swouning and Syncope the phlegmatick glutinous and acid Humours must not onely be corrected but when they abound must be diminish'd and educ'd out of the Body Therefore to correct and amend the said humours abounding both in the universal Body and Bloud I will here set down some forms of select medicines for the sake of young Physicians The following Decoction is an efficacious Medicine Take the Roots of Elicampane Galangal Decoction Angelica Calamus Aromaticus the sive opening Roots of each one ounce Sage Baum Betony sweet Marjoram the Tops of Hore-hound Centaury Wormwood the Flowers of Rosemary Staechas Chamomel Clove-gilliflowers of each one handfull the Seeds of Anise Sweet-fennel Parsley Cardamoms Berries of Bays and Juniper of each two drachms Orange-peel Cinamon of each half an ounce Nutmegs one drachm let them be cleansed bruised and infused
later if so be that their continuance and the grievousness of Symptoms daily accompanying be diminish'd There is great diversity among Authours concerning the Causes of intermitting Fevers which I shall not insist on but in a few words will set down the true Causes of them The causes then are either external or Causes internal The external Cause of Agues is a stop of the usual necessary discharge of fermenting humours the porous skin being shut by external sudden cold denies passage to the constant discharge of the sweatty humours which happens most commonly about Autumn and likewise when any comes suddenly out of a hot Climate into a cold Region for the sweatty Vapours being detain'd by the Constipation of the skin or shutting of the Pores the same condense and thence become sour which chills the external parts and causeth the shaking or shivering cold fit at the first invasion of this disturbing Foreigner after which the inflaming Ferment of Choler being exasperated doth act its part and having gain'd Dominion it doth rarefie the Bloud by degrees whence the Pulse becomes greater and stronger which is increas'd by an irritation of the Acrimony of Choler and the rarefaction of the Bloud at the Heart for the heat and burning in the Heart and thence in the whole Body is increas'd by Choler successively over-ruling The internal Cause of Agues or intermitting Fevers is an obstruction of one or more of the lateral ducts or branches of the Pancreas or Sweet-bread by reason of viscous Phlegm which being separated from the Bloud by the Glandules of the Pancreas is there collected by degrees whence it is sent in too large a quantity to the main duct or pipe thereof which detaineth the Juice of the Pancreas contrary to nature which ought continually to flow into the small Gut called Duodenum The Juice of the Pancreas which is naturally sourish being compelled to stand still in its passage quickly grows more acrimonious or acid because the Volatile Spirit which is naturally conjoin'd to it to temper it doth gradually fly away by which this Juice becoming more sharp and acid acquires a putrefactive Ferment whence at length it makes way through the obstructing Phlegm and is effused into the Duodenum where meeting with Choler it stirs up a vitious effervescency or preternatural Ferment from whence comes the Ague fit with all its Symptoms as in the beginning Horrour Chilness Cold Shaking c. then presently follows Reachings Yawning and Vomiting c. At length acrimonious and flatulent Vapours raised by the aforesaid vitious Effervescency are carried through the Lacteal veins and Thoracick passage and so through the Vena cava ascendens in what form soever to the right Ventricle of the Heart and by its Acrimony alters and troubles the vital Effervescency and by over stirring the Heart causeth a more frequent Pulse and many times produceth grievous Symptoms as great Heat and Thirst difficulty of breathing Heart-ach Raving Swouning and all other Symptoms that happen in all intermitting Fevers The nature of viscous Phlegm is such The cause of the Return of the fit that though it be pierced through by the Juice of the Pancreas too acid and acrimonious yet it doth presently run together and unite again and so repairs and renues the obstruction that was in part opened and the Juice of the Pancreas being stopped as before grows sour by standing still as aforesaid so that it forceth through the Phlegm that stopped its natural passage and so produceth a new fit sooner or later as the Phlegm obstructing the lateral passage of the Pancreas is pierced through by the foremention'd Juice For if the obstructing Phlegm be not very glutinous and the Juice of the Pancreas be plentifull and acid a new fit of an intermitting Fever will return in the space of twenty four hours and therefore 't is called a Quotidian Quotidian But if the Phlegm be very viscous and plentifull and the Juice of the Pancreas be little in quantity and also tart and obtuse so much the slower will the new fit of the intermitting Fever be produced so that it is sometimes three sometimes four days before the returning of the fit from whence it is called a Quartan or Quintan c. So likewise as oft as the obstructing Phlegm and the Juice of the Pancreas are in a medium viz. The Phlegm more glutinous and plentifull than in the Quotidian but not so much as the Quartan as likewise the Juice of the Pancreas is more in quantity and more acid than in the Qutartan but not so plentifull and acid as in a Quotidian so oft new fits of intermitting Fevers will return almost every other day from whence they may be called Tertians which much differ in their Symptoms beyond what other intermitting Fevers do although none of them return in the exact intervall of the Days or Hours before mention'd but return quicker or slower for the most part The Cure of all intermitting Fevers will Cure be perform'd 1. First if the glutinous coagulated Phlegm which is the cause of the obstruction be cut and dissolv'd and wholly carried out of the Body 2. If the increas'd Acidity and Acrimony of the Juice of the Pancreas be temper'd and corrected 3. If its vitious Effervescency with Choler c. In the small Gut behindred and amended Phlegm obstructing will be cut most commodiously with Aromaticks and any Volatile Salt This Volatile Aromatick Julep may serve for Example Take the Waters of Carduus Parsley Fennel Fumitery Succory Treacle Cinamon Cordial Iulep of each one ounce Syrup of Carduus the five opening Roots of each an ounce and half Powder of Crabs-eyes Tartar vitriolated of each one drachm Salt of Amber Antimony Diaphoretick of each half a drachm Laudanum opiat ten grains Oil of Cloves six drops mix it Take a spoonfull of this Volatile Medicine often in a day throughout the whole Cure using some exercise that thereby the whole Body may grow warm and the force of the medicine being disperst over all the Body may come at last to the lateral passages of the Pancreas and dissolve the obstruction Three or four hours before the coming of the fit you may give three or four spoonfulls of the aforesaid Cordial which will not onely cause a breathing sweat but will temper and correct the increas'd Acidity and Acrimony of the Juice of the Pancreas and hinder and amend its vitious Effervescency with Choler c. in the small gut which will conduce much to a Cure Three hours before the return of the next fit administer an antimonial Emetick which is in this case proper before all others for by the help thereof not onely Choler abounding but also phlegm obstructing will be expell'd to the small gut and thence to the Stomach and at length by the mouth and the straining to vomit doth many times procure a stool or two which is very beneficial But if the sick be a Female or vomiting be prejudicial or not
Laudanum prescrib'd for it will much conduce to ease the sick of all these symptoms If there be a Bubo apply a strong Vesiccatory and when the Blister is well raised open it and dress it with Mustard and Basilicon of each equal parts after cure it according to Art If there be a Carbuncle apply Leeches or Ventoses with scarification or the Actual or Potential Cautery after which often apply Mithridate 'till the Eschar be separated then dress it with Unguent Basilicon and Aegyptiacum or else you may use Butter of Antimony 'till the Ulcer be well cleansed and fitted for the last consolidation which may be performed by any desiccative Medicine CHAP. X. Of the Small-pox and Measles THE Small-pox and Measles are called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin Morbilli quasi parvi morbi vel parvorum morbi They are also called Variolae Pustulae ex vario vel varium facio quod cutis fit varia Because the skin is of various forms These distempers are most commonly attended with a Malign Fever which oft proves Epidemical Contagious and Mortal and therefore may justly be termed Pestilential The Small-pox is a cutaneous Eruption or large Pustules something like to Warts on the Skin with Inflammation which in few days comes to suppuration if the sick recover The Measles are little Pustules in the Skin with a deep redness and may be best perceived by feeling they are usually discussed in five or six days without suppuration There is an other sort of Pustules or Tubercles like little Bladders incident to Men Women and Children which are without Inflammation or redness and also without a Fever Some call them Cristals others Blisters but Country people call them Swine-pox Hen or Chicken-pox c. To these also may be referred those red fiery spots which break out about the fourth or fifth day in Malign Fevers all over the Body and if the sick recover they vanish about the eighth day after which the Cuticula cometh away in flakes this is commonly called the Scarlet Fever The signs of the Small-pox approaching Signs are pains of the Head shining before the Eyes with redness and swelling of the Face and sometimes bleeding at the Nose also a grievous pain of the Back which reacheth to the Neck with great heat and pricking all over the Body there is often loathing of the Stomach and vomiting with trembling of the Heart great terrour in sleep difficulty of breathing and sometimes raving and convulsion The cause of the Small-pox and Measles Causes is an ill quality or impurity of the Mothers bloud with which the Child was nourish'd in the Womb which doth communicate pollution and defile the mass of Bloud and after the Child is born when there is an ill disposition of the Air proportionable to the disease there followeth a peculiar effervescency or ebullition of the Bloud and other humours by which nature is inraged and provoked to cast forth the impurity The excrementitious matter is either thin or thick if it be thin the Measles follow if thick the Small-pox are produced And if there be a Malignant constitution of the Air it causeth not onely a purging forth of the corrupt matter of the Bloud c. but corrupteth the whole mass of Bloud and so produceth a dangerous and Epidemical Small-pox If they come out red and soon ripen or Progn turn white being round pointed and outward in the skin if the voice and breathing be free without any grievous symptoms there is no danger but if there be a great Fever which is not abated after their eruption with great thirst and difficulty of breathing also black or bloudy Urine or Stool Hemorrhage at the Nose Mouth c. doth signifie a great acrimony and malignancy of the bloud that nature is compelled to evacuate it by such preposterous ways and are most commonly mortal signs So likewise if it be long e'er they come out and they be green blewish or black and sink in again the sick is in great danger of Death As for the Cure of these distempers if they be Malignant or Epidemical let the same Cure means be used as is prescrib'd in Malignant Fevers but if there be little or no sign of Malignancy you may first administer an Antimonial Emetick and after its operation give this or the like Cordial Take the Waters of Carduus Dragons Cordial Iulep Treacle Scordium compound of each two ounces Venice-treacle two drachms Syrups of the Juice of Limmons Carduus Saffron of each one ounce Confection of Hyacinth one drachm mix it for a Cordial Let the sick take two or three spoonfulls of this every half hour till a sweat be promoted after sweating keep the Patient in a warm Room till the danger be over Before the Eruption if there be eminent signs of a Plethora and the sick be adult Phlebotomy may be used with good success Phlebotomy Bezoar and Gascoign's Powder and Diascordium are commonly used in these Diseases You must endeavour to defend the inward parts with the pectoral decoction to which you may add a little Saffron Also a Saffron Stay in which is put a few Sows called Millepedes bruised is excellent to defend the Throat For the Eyes this water is good Take the Waters of Plantain white Roses Water for the Eyes of each three ounces of Camphire Saffron of each ten grains mix it Or you may use Womens milk and Saffron If the Throat and Mouth are inflamed make a Gargarism with Plantain-water and Gargaris Syrup of Mulberries To defend the Nose put up this with a rag or feather Take of red Rose-water Vinegar of red Roses of each one ounce Powder of red Nodulas Saunders Camphire of each one drachm mix it When the Small-pox begins to dry anoint them often with Oil of sweet Almonds and Oil of the Yelks of Eggs which will prevent their pitting OF DISEASES OF THE BELLY BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the Thirsty disease THIS is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sitio to be thirsty In Latin 't is called sitis morbosa Thirst is the first natural Passion of Mankind and also of Beasts as is manifest by their first sucking milk out of the Breast to asswage it The causes of thirst augmented are either Cause external or internal The external are the Air over heated by the Sun over salt Food too much exercise of body vehement passions of the mind as much anger c. prolong'd watches the Body either too costive or too loose much sweating Urine voided too plentifully any notable Evacuation of Bloud Milk or Seed c. The internal Cause is deduced for the most part from too sharp Choler carried down into the small Gut where it raiseth such an Effervescency with the Juice of the Pancreas flowing thither that thence are elevated salt Vapours to the Stomach and Gullet and there produceth a sense of drought It
Hicket is the Symptome of any other grievous disease as an acute Fever Inflammation Progn c. it is dangerous and sometimes mortal In most ordinary Hickets the party is easily Cure restor'd either by stopping the Breath or by suddenly surprising them with fear But as often as sharp poisonous Food or Medicines or any flatuous humours be in the Stomach c. causing the Hicket they must be presently expelled by an Antimonial Emetick which will not onely empty the peccant humours upward and downward but will correct and amend the hurtfull humours in the Body After the Operation of the Emetick the following Cordial Opiate will conduce to dissipate the molesting Vapours which remain about the Mouth of the Stomach and will stay the Hicket and mildly procure sleep Take the Waters of Treacle Cinamon Cordial Opiat Syrup of Mint of each one ounce the Waters of Baum and Mint of each two ounces Coufectio Alkermes two drachms Laudanum opiatum six grains Spirits of Harts-horn Niter dulcified of each twenty drops mix it Let the sick often take two spoonfulls of this Opiate till they be dispos'd to rest If this distemper be obstinate and yields not to the aforesaid Medicine it shews that over-viscous Humours are conjoin'd to its Cause Therefore in an obstinate Hicket it is better that the peccant humours be emptied downwards with such Medicines as will both cut and educe them For which I commend these Pills Take pil foetidae ex duobus of each fifteen Purging Pills grains Oil of Harts-horn four drops make it into Pills take them in the Morning fasting Let these or the like Aromatick Pills with gums be taken at least twice a week which will not onely educe the hurtfull humours but discuss Vapours and Wind. In the interim let not the frequent use of the aforesaid Cordial Opiate be neglected for it will wonderfully conduce to the Cure Sometimes it is good for the Patient to sneez for it hath often prov'd succesfull Drinking of warm Milk from the Cow is also much commended because it will asswage the hurtfull humours which remain about the Stomach c. CHAP. V. Of Belching BElching is called in Latin ructatio ructuatio esculenta quae fit ab homine saturo because it comes most commonly after a full Stomach Any thing which breaks up from the Stomach in the kind of a rift or windy Vapour and is expell'd by the Mouth with noise may properly be called belching The cause of this distemper is either outward Cause or inward The outward is from windy food or other flatuous things taken as Beans Pease Radishes c. The internal cause is either from a phlegmatick viscous humour adhering to the Stomach where it is rarefied into wind by Aromaticks taken or from the same viscous humour in the small Guts turned into wind by Choler over fat and volatile and thence it is driven forward to the Stomach whereby the Fermentation of Food is deprav'd into a noisome Crudity whence Belches like rotten Eggs c. are rais'd which doth distend and gnaw the Stomach If the Phlegmatick matter which cleaveth Progn to the Ventricle or small Guts be very tough the belching is more hardly excluded whence often a swelling and troublesome Distension of the Stomach follows e contra The Cure may be safely and happily perform'd Cure onely by correcting and educing the Phlegmatick viscous humours abounding for which there are variety of Medicines prescrib'd in the third and fourth Pages in the Cure of the Head-ach CHAP. VI. Of Vomiting and of the Cholerick and Iliack Passion VOmiting is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vomo It is a deprav'd motion of the Stomach and a certain sign of health weakned for in perfect health nothing is wont to be expell'd out of the Stomach by the Mouth In vomiting sometimes food either crude or more or less fermented is cast out by the Gullet and Mouth sometimes Bloud sometimes Choler and other times manifold humours and matter of divers Colours Taste and Consistency and sometimes the Excrements returning to the Stomach as in Iliaca passio is expell'd by that preposterous way of vomiting wherein omnia naturae praepostera legibus ibant All the differences occurring in several sick People are very difficult to be numbred or reduc'd into a certain order and much more to make an exact Examination of all the Symptoms and thence to give a solid Judgment of every one In this distemper the Stomach is either primarily or secondarily affected The Stomach is primarily affected to vomit when the cause is in it self As by taking a Vomit or when there is an Inflammation or Exulceration of it for then it is easily stir'd up by food or any other thing swallowed to a violent and preternatural Contraction and turning of its motion whereby it is compell'd to cast out whatsoever is contain'd in it The Stomach is secondarily affected when it is drawn by consent of other parts first distemper'd as by the contracting motion of the Guts either in part or wholly in that most grievous disease called Ileos or Iliaca Ileos passio or by the vehement shaking of the Midriff together with a potent Contraction of the Muscles of the Belly caused sometimes in a grievous Cough By which all the Bowels contain'd in the Belly are compressed upward toward the Breast and urge the Stomach to change its natural motion As often as Cholerick humours are plentifully voided out as well upward as downward with great force accompanied with troublesome Anxieties of the Midriff it is Choler Cholerica passio called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bilis And in Latin cholerica passio When there is a forcible pouring out of Bloud by vomiting it is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin vomitio sanguinis Hoemoptysis The Cause of Ileos or Iliaca passio is an Cause of Ileos excrementitious viscous matter that doth adhere unto the Gut called Ileo which in time is coagulated into a very hard substance almost in the form of Bullets of which I have had large experience whence all passage through for the excrements by siege is stopt and anon their regress and ascent to the Stomach follows with a miserable vomiting of them The Rupture of the Peritonaeum may be also the cause of this grievous disease especially if it be so great that not onely the small Guts but the great ones also fall through the lacerated hole either by reason of their weight or else by the perpetual approaching of what is contain'd in them which renders them uncapable to be reduc'd or put back through the same hole whence the excrements having not passage downwards are more and more hardned to that degree that they can hardly be dissolv'd so that a hard and unsupperable Tumour doth soon follow which hinders the reflux of bloud and causeth an inflammation and consequently a
the cure of this lamentable contracted motion Wherefore to appease the troublesome irritation of the Guts let fat Broths be often taken in at the Mouth and also injected into the Fundament as a Clyster but if an emollient Clyster can conveniently be made let the following be prepared and often used the Decoction of which may be also taken at the Mouth with a few drops of Oil of Anise-seed Take the Roots of Marsh-mallows two ounces of Mallows Marsh-mallows Mullein Clyster of each two handfulls the Seeds of Anise Sweet-fennel Coriander Flax Faenugreek of each two ounces let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in a quart of Spring-water till half be consumed then strain it and add oil of white Lillies the Fat of a Hen of each one ounce mix it for a Clyster Of which ingredients you may also make Fomentations and Cataplasms to be applied to the region of the Navel moderately hot adding Swines or Goats dung to the Pultess The following Emulsion will conduce not onely to allay the irritation and temper the sharp humours but will make the passages slippery and by degrees moisten the hard Excrements contained in the small Gut and in the mean time will mildly procure rest and stop vomiting Take of sweet Almonds blanched white Poppy-seeds of each two ounces French-barley Emulsion boiled four ounces the waters of Fennel Plantain Roses of each half a pint Barley-water a pint let it be made an Emulsion to which add Syrup of Violets three ounces confectio Alkermes de Hyacintho of each two drachms Laudanum twenty grains Spirit of Niter forty drops mix it Let the sick take three Spoonfulls of it often In this grievous Disease nothing is to be neglected either outward or inward that may procure ease to the Patient The intrails of Animals as sheep c. applied very warm in hot cloaths and often repeated are very effectual Also Ventoses applied to the Navel have prov'd succesfull after which let a little Civet wrapt in Cotten be put to the Navel and upon it apply a Plaster e Cymino or Sylvius's Carminative Plaster or else let the aforemention'd Pultess be applied warm Golden bullets swallowed are excellent but for want of them leaden bullets may serve Some give great Pills of Antimony and crude Mercury or Quick-silver well depurated is also highly commended to be given to three pound at a time and walk or ride after it to agitate the Body but before you give either of them let the sick take an ounce of oil of sweet Almonds or Sallet oil and likewise after it and be sure that no acid thing be given after the Quick-silver till it be evacuated lest it coagulate the Mercury and hurry the Patient to the grave CHAP. VII Of pain in the Stomach and of various pains of the Guts as Cholick c. THE pains of the Stomach may be distinguish'd or divided into two sorts viz. of the upper and lower orifice If the upper orifice of the Stomach which is of exquisite sense by reason of the intertexture of Nerves with which it is wonderfully furnish'd from the vaga sexta whereof branches are also communicated to the Heart be affected it is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor. It is also called in Latin Cardiacus dolor cui os Ventriculi dolet per consensum cordis ergo vocatur affectio Cordis seu oris ventriculi For the Mouth or upper orifice of the Stomach being primarily affected the Heart suffers by consent If the lower orifice called Pilorus be affected it is called dolor seu colica ventriculi especially if it come of wind The pains of the Guts may also be distinguish'd because one while the small guts and other whiles the thick guts are griev'd As often as the upper part of the small gut nearest the Stomach is pain'd because that part of the gut is over the right Region of the Lions it maketh the Patient and sometimes the Physician think that the pain is in them But if that part of the small gut which riseth up from the Loins and Mesenterie Towards the left Hypochondrium be afflicted with rendings and distensions with a notable hardness this is attributed to the Spleen even by some Physicians although without any solid reason when indeed this distending pain is altogether Hypochondriacal If the pain be in the Gut Ileon it is thence called Iliaca Passio which hath been already treated of Whatsoever pain is rais'd in the Gut Colon may be called Colica Passio These may be distinguish'd from one another chiefly from the situation of either Gut For the Gut Ileon is for the most part contorted hither and thither up and down about the region of the Navel and from thence a little upward but the Colon from the Navel downward the pain of the Cholick generally pressing to the bottom of the Belly as well as to each side and the Back c. according as the Gut is writhed which is almost in the manner of a Roman S. being roll'd to the Navel and from thence with a remarkable winding through the middle of the Belly it is writh'd to the left kidney and groin and so down to the Os sacrum and bladder and ends in the right Gut whence the pain rising in the circuit and circumference of the Belly below the Navel may truly be called Cholical Sometimes there is a hot distending pain Cholica Passio with pulsation and inflammation in the latter part of the thick Guts called Rectum and this is either with a troublesome rending as in the internal or blind Hemorrhoids or else it is a corroding pain accompani'd with more or less itching perpetually provoking to siege as in the Tenesmus which oft times Tenesmus follow a Dysentery or bloudy flux In these various pains of the Guts there Signs is one while a hot burning with pulsation and other whiles a cold chilness seemeth to be fixt pricking and as it were boring the bowels sometimes there is a distension of the bowels pressing them with a sense of weight wonderfully writhing and contorting them with such a tearing corroding pain that the sick cannot give an explanation of the grief and misery which they endure The causes are either external or internal Causes The external are wounds or contusions caused by external violence The internal causes are divers sometimes Worms may be the cause But a burning pain is produced either by an obstruction of the Capillary veins of the Stomach or Guts by which the bloud is forc'd to stand still in the vessels till at length after a great distension the vessels burst and the bloud is effus'd which breedeth an inflammation and a manifest pulsation about the part affected by which it may be distinguish'd from any other Kind But for the most part a burning and corroding pain riseth from Choler too fat powerfully and vitiously raising an effervescency with the
Dysentery doth proceed either from the Cause of a Dysentery thickness of the bloud by reason of over viscous phlegm being mixed with Lympha or the juice of the Pancreas too acid accompani'd with sorrow of mind whereby the bloud doth become too gross for its wonted circulation through the Capillary Vessels of the Guts wherefore it causeth a great distension of them till at length they burst and pour out the bloud into the cavity of the Guts Or else it may be caused from Choler too salt sharp and plenteous in the bloud whereby it doth become extravagantly serous and eager through extraordinary fermentation extremely agitating the humours to a Colliquation especially where fierceness of anger or great heat of mind do concur by which the bloud is the more rarifi'd to pierce through the tender restraint of the vessels and doth flow out by indirect ways sometimes by great loss to the endangering of life A Tenasmus is caused by a phlegmatick viscous Cause of Tenasmus humour joyned with a sharp acid humour which doth fret the Gut about the siege stirring up a troublesome Ulcer there The flux of the Hemorrhoids and of the Cause of Hemorrhoids c. Liver is to be deduc'd from much serous matter mixt with the bloud and also relaxing the vessels The Hemorrhoids are either critical which useth to ease the sick or symptomatical and much weakneth them The signs of Fluxes are manifest from Signs what hath been said 1. If any looseness continue long with loathing Progn 't is an ill sign especially if it be with a Fever 2. If the small Guts are affected the pain is sharper than when it is in the thick Guts 3. In the Dysentery if the dejections be very bloudy or black and fetid with great Thirst Hicket c. for the most part they are mortal signs but if the erosion be onely in the internal membrane of the Gut and there be no great pain nor other bad symptome there is great hopes of recovery If the bloud and humours be too thin and Cure serous they must be corrected and evacuated Chalk and Harts-horn or any other burnt bone reduc'd to powder and given often in a small quantity doth imbibe and correct watry moisture and also over much fatness which may be the cause of a looseness After which the peccant humours may be evacuated by stool with Hydragogues and by sweat and urine with Sudorificks and Diureticks Toasted Rhubarb will satisfie to many indications seeing that it doth not onely evacuate water together with Choler abounding but will soon correct the over-loose body by its mild tartness Wherefore when the Bloud doth abound with much serous liquour let the sick take this Powder in a little Broth. Take the Powder of Jallop Cinamon of each fifteen grains Powder of Rhubarb Purging Powder tosted half a drachm mix it After the operation of it you may give the following Cordial by spoonfulls Take the Waters of Plantain Comfry Cordial Iulep of each two ounces Cinamon-water half an ounce Syrup of Mirtles one ounce Confectio de Hyacintho Diascordium of each one drachm Laudanum opiat four grains mix it It will be also convenient sometimes to educe the humours by urine and sweat for which I commend the following Decoction of China c. Take the Roots of Burdock the five opening Decoction Roots Sarzeparilla Contra yerva of each one ounce China four ounces Gromwell-seeds Juniper-berries of each half an ounce let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in two quarts of fountain water 'till half of it be boiled away then strain it and add Syrup of the five opening Roots six ounces Spirit of Niter one drachm mix it Lâ—t the sick take a quarter of a pint of this warm twice or thrice a day and especially in the morning fasting which will the easier procure a breathing sweat or else urine more plentifull by which the serosity of the bloud will be consum'd by little and little so that the bloud and humours will thereby become more pure If a Dysentery or Bloudy-flux arise from a sharp humour corroding the Vessels it may be cur'd by correcting and tempering the sharp acid humours and consolidating the Vessels fretted The following Powder is excellent to correct and amend the aforesaid acid humours and stop all fluxes of bloud Take the Powders of red Coral Pearles Powder prepared white Chalk Dragons bloud of each half a drachm mix it for six doses which may be taken in three spoonfulls of the following Julep every two or three hours Take the Waters of Plantain Comfry of Astringent Iulep each two ounces Tincture of Cinamon Syrups of Quinces Mirtles of each one ounce Laudanum opiat ten grains Oil of Juniper ten drops mix it If there be an Ulcer in the thick Guts and Clysters can come to the part affected let the following be often injected and instruct the sick to retain them so long as they can Take new Milk wherein Steel hath been Clyster quenched one pint Honey of Roses one ounce Venice Turpentine half an ounce the Yelk of one Egg Balsam of Sulphur four drops mix it The following Bolus may be sometimes given in the Morning fasting Take the Powder of Rhubarb tosted two Purging Bolus Scruples Nutmeg one scruple make it into a Bolus with Conserves of red Roses And this Bolus may be given at Night going to bed Take Diascordium Conserves of red Roses Bolus Opiat of each half a drachm Laudanum opiat three grains mix it By the frequent use of these choice Medicines the Ulcer will be cleans'd the Gripes asswag'd and the Consolidation of the ulcerated Gut both in the Tenasmus and Dysentery c. will be wonderfully promoted But if the Ulcer be in the small Guts the following vulnerary Decoction will more conduce to the Cure Take the Roots of Comfry Plantain Knot-grass Decoction of each two ounces the Tops of Saint John's wort Sanicle Germander red Roses of each one handfull Shavings of Harts-horn Cinamon of each half an ounce let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in three quarts of Fountain-water wherein steel hath been quenched till half of it be boiled away then strain it and add Syrup of dried Roses Tincture of Cinamon distill'd Vinegar Syrup of Marsh-mallows of each two ounces mix it and give the sick four spoonfulls every two or three hours If you add two or three drops of Balsam of Sulphur made with Oil of Anise-seed to every dose of the Decoction c. it will be the more effectual both to cleanse and consolidate the Ulcer The flux of the Hemorrhoids if it be symptomatical and weaken the sick is then to be hindred which may be effectually done by the afore-mention'd Medicines If much serous Liquour can so dilute the Bloud and relax the Vessels that part of it may be carried out of them into the Guts and produce a Flux like the washing of Flesh commonly called a Flux of
sorrow of mind or great passion be the Cause it ought to be prevented as much as may be both by Philosophical and Theological reasons about any troublesome matters and by confirming the mind whereby the sick may be the better enabled to bear and suffer stoutly any adversity This ought to be observed also in all other Diseases If Ebriety be the cause I commend Sobriety to cure it Sublata causa tollitur effectus If the humours be over viscous or glutinous the following Decoction will not onely alter and correct but mildly educe the peccant humours by which the Jaundice may in a short time be cured Take of Rhubarb the Roots of Madder Smallage the greater Celandine of each Decoction one ounce the Flowers of Broom one handfull Hemp-seed two ounces the Seeds of Anise Parsley and Columbines of each half an ounce Saffron two drachms white Tartar three drachms let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in White-wine and Fountain water of each three pints till the third part be boiled away then strain it and add the best Manna Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb of each three ounces mix it Let the sick take four spoonfulls of this three times a day till the viscous phlegm and Choler be sufficiently evacuated and the natural colour of the body restored As oft as the Jaundice is caused by the poison of a Viper or any other venemous thing whatsoever you must administer as soon as possible a volatile sudorifick to correct and expell the venome The following will serve to both indications Take the waters of Carduus Fennel Fumitory Sudorifick of each two ounces Treacle-water Syrups of the juice of Carduus red Poppies of each one ounce tincture of Saffron two drachms Venice-treacle half a drachm Bezoar-mineral Antimony diaphoretick Salt of Harts-horn of each one scruple Spirit of Salt-Armoniack six drops Laudanum opiatum six grains mix it and give three or four spoonfulls to provoke sweat and after it breaks forth give a spoonfull or two now and then to promote it Also this Decoction or one like it may be prescrib'd for the Icterick patient it being both Sudorifick and Diuretick Take the Roots of Scorzonera Juniper of Diuretick Decoction each two ounces Roots of Master-wort Sassaphras of each half an ounce Berries of Juniper and Bays of each one ounce and half Seeds of Nettles Hemp and Columbines of each one ounce shavings of Harts-horn three drachms the tops of Carduus Scordium Scabious the lesser Centaury of each one handfull let them be cleansed bruised and boiled in two quarts of Fountain-water till half of it be boiled away then strain it and add Syrup of the juice of Carduus four ounces Treacle-water two ounces Salt of Tartar vitriolated two drachms mix it and give four spoonfulls every two or three hours Soap of any sort conduceth to the cure of the Jaundice upon a twofold account both by reason of its fixt lixivial Salt and also by reason of its fatness or oil for the Lixivial Salt doth correct and diminish the over volatileness and spirituousness of the vitiated Choler and the oil doth blunt the sharpness of the volatile and spirituous Salt ruling in Choler The following mixture is very effectual Take of Hemp-seed two ounces Soap two Opiate drachms bruise the seed and boil it in half a pint of new Milk till half of it be consumed then strain it and add Syrup of Saffron half an ounce tincture of Saffron two drachms Laudanum opiatum four grains mix it and give half of it in the morning fasting and the remainder at night going to bed CHAP. XII Of a Cachexy AN ill Habit of Body is called in Greek Cachexia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitus It may be called in Latin mala corporis habitudo There are many causes of this Distemper which may be distinguisht according to the diversity of the conjoin'd Symptoms It doth accompany all Chronical Diseases as Dropsies of all kinds Hypochondriack suffocation Scurvy Pox and Gout c. for it doth spare none neither Peer nor Peasant of any age or sex but it most frequently seizeth on Women when their monthly terms are supprest The cause is either external or internal The external cause is either bad Diet a long time receiv'd or for want of good refreshing Food after sickness for the Stomach being weak cannot digest course Diet by which the nutriment of the Body doth by degrees become peccant in quality vitiating the humours and Bloud it self so that an ill nourishment of the Body doth follow The internal cause may be the suppression of the Terms in Women which is more or less corrupted about the Womb having not its natural evacuation from whence the whole mass of Bloud is indued with a vitious quality by which the nourishment of all parts of the Body is deprav'd Also Choler and the juice of the Pancreas which are always confus'd with the Bloud being alike vitious or peccant in quality do not onely corrupt the separation of usefull and unusefull parts but by the vitious effervescency of these humours manifold flatuous vapours are rais'd which do not onely increase anxieties about the Midriff but being carried to the Heart there follows a pressing pain and palpitation thereof and in circulating through the Lungs it causeth a Dyspnoea or difficult breathing and being thence transferr'd every way throughout the Body it doth breed a general weariness in all parts But when the vitious humours abound together in plenty then several kinds of the Dropsie at length succeed if not the universal Body groweth lean by degrees From what hath been said the production of every Cachexie may easily be deduced by a judicious Physician The signs are paleness of the Face shortness Signs of breath palpitation of the Heart and often apressing pain of it accompanied for the most part with a lingring Fever either continual or intermitting or compounded of both in which the Urine is crude or watry at length there is a weariness of the universal Body which in some doth pine and become lean but in others the Body doth swell and is turgid If this Disease be not helpt in time it will become by degrees so stubborn and rebellious Progn that it will puzzle the wisest and most experienced Physicians to cure it for by the long continuance thereof phlegm becometh very tough and glutinous on which all Chronical or prolong'd Diseases depend besides all the other humours are by degrees vitiated which incorporate with the Bloud and diminish its effervescency so that the separation and excretion of the excrementitious parts to be voided together with Urine do not follow from whence many grievous symptoms succeed which oft proves mortal The cure of every Cachexie will consist in Cure the correction and amendment of the Bloud any way vitiated If flegm be tough and glutinous it must be corrected and evacuated for which
there are variety of choice medicines prescrib'd in the fourth page of the cure of diseases of the Head in the use whereof you must persevere for some time or else the laudable success and happy wisht for cure will be expected in vain Any other humours that are peccant in quality by which the bloud is vitiated must be alter'd and reduc'd to their natural Constitution by selected Medicines which will amend and empty them out by degrees In the interim good Food which is easie of digestion and wholsome nourishment must not be neglected whereby nature may be cherished and health by degrees procured Those Medicines which are prescrib'd for the Cure of the Dropsie and Scurvy are proper for this Disease wherefore I shall forbear prescriptions here CHAP. XIII Of Dropsies THE Dropsie is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hydrops ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aqua quod nomen sumpsit ab aquoso humore Cutis The Ancients have assigned three sorts of Dropsies 1. The first is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascites uter pellis 'T is called in Latin aqua intercus ex inter cutis because the Water is between the Skin and the Flesh. This is the most proper Dropsie in which the Abdomen Secrets Thighs and Legs are affected 2. The second is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod tumor est ad similitudinem tympani vel tympani sonum referens As this is the most rare so 't is the most cruel and afflictive 3. The third is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caro quod hydrops toto corpore diffusus It is also called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 album 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 phlegma vel pit uita because it is caused of white Phlegm gathered in all parts of the Body Some Authours make a difference between Anasarca and Leucophlegmatia that Anasarca is caused by a serous humour and Leucophlegmatia by a phlegmatick and more viscous humour but all Dropsies except Tympanies seem to me to be little less than a distinction of degrees of one and the same Disease Cause The Ancients did take the Liver to be the chief part male-affected in these distempers but Helmont who was happy in a remedy to cure it doth severely reprove them and is so bold to tax the whole Schools with the ignorance of Anatomical dissections he having inspected many Carcases of dropsical Persons of whom he makes distinct mention doth assert the Livers of them all no-way vitiated and therefore he concludes the Liver faultless in dropsical affects and he derives the Cause of Dropsie to be an obstruction of the Kidneys with the Stone or Gravel and so the water which should be transferr'd through the Kidneys to the Bladder to be evacuated by pissing is forced into the Cavity of the Abdomen But experience teacheth that Dropsies may be caused many ways wherefore I shall betake my self to a more evident description thereof The causes of Dropsies are either external Cause or internal The external Cause is the Constipation of the porous Skin impeding transpiration whereby the discharge of sweaty Vapours through the Habit of the Body is lessned and interrupted hence what moisture is usually carried off by sweating doth rebound inwards and condense into an Ichorous water and is there by degrees aggravated and increased through the hindrance of the necessary transpiration till at length a great quantity of water is accumulated and stagnating in the affected parts in time may work farther alterations on the subjected Bowels Matter of fact hath evinced this to me having cured several Hydropical patients onely by sweating and external applications The internal Cause of the Dropsie may be over viscous Chyle or Phlegm of the Guts coagulated in the lacteal Veins and causing an obstruction in more or fewer of their Branches so that the Liquour rising either from the continual Conflux of Choler the Juice of the Pancreas and the Phlegm of Spittle or else from Chyle or from drink plentifully drunk being stopt and intercepted in its motion it doth by degrees more and more distend the Vessels that at length they burst and the moisture receiv'd into them is poured out between the Membranes of the Mesentery and presently after into the Cavity of the Abdomen This disease is sometimes suddenly produc'd by much drinking in a burning Fever join'd with an urgent and permanent Thirst. After the same manner though difficult to be known may a Dropsie of the Breast be caused viz. by an obstruction of the lateral Lymphatick Vessels by glutinous Phlegm carried together with Lympha into the said Vessels and there coagulated by which the motion of Lympha is hindred so that the Lymphatick vessels being much distended by the great quantity of Lympha gathered in them at length they burst and the Lympha piercing through the Pleura into the Cavity of the Breast procureth a Dropsie in it The cause of a Tympany is wind together Cause of a Tympany with a serous humour piercing through the Guts into the Cavity of the Belly and being there detained it is more and more rarified by which the Peritonoeum is not onely expanded but the whole Abdomen inflated and violently distended The signs of Ascites are swelling and Signs of Ascites fluctuation of the Belly difficult breathing a dry Cough accompanied sometimes with a symptomatical Fever and great Thirst. The signs of Anasarca are weakness faintness Signs of Anasarca and swelling of the whole Body which being pressed with the Finger it doth pit and leave an impression breathing is also difficult with a continual Fever In a Tympany the Belly is distended and Signs of a Tympany being struck upon there is a noise like a little Drum 1. Every Dropsie is difficult of Curation Progn especially if it hath been of long continuance 2. If the Hydropical persons have a good digestion and void more moisture both by stool and urine than they either eat or drink it is a hopefull sign of recovery e contra Dropsies may be cured by strong Hydragogues Cure Sudorificks and Bathing and sometimes by a Paracenthesis or boring the Belly The Best Hydragogues are prepared of Elder Dwarf-elder Jallop-roots Elaterium Gum-gutty Crystals of Silver c. of which you may prepare purging Infusions Pills c. for example Take the Roots of Flower-de-luce Dwarf-Elder Purging Infusion Madder Liquorish the five opening Roots of each one ounce the tops of Saint John's wort Centaury the less Agrimony the best Senna of each one handfull the Barks of Capers Ash Tamarisk Cinamon of each six drachms Flowers of Beans Elder Dwarf-elder Broom of each half a handfull seeds of sweet Fennel Parsley Gromwell Juniper-Berries of each one ounce and half Cloves Salt of Tartar of each half an ounce let them be cleansed bruised and
of it be sure she is fruitfull If Barrenness be caused by any Disease afflicting either the man or the woman then Progn there may be hopes of Conception when health is procured but if it be evil shape of of the members in the woman or the man not fit for Venus-School patientia est optima virtus In the cure you must endeavour to remove Cure whatsoever hindreth Conception Many things are antipathetical to fecundity as Jet Glow-worms Saphires Smaragds the Matrix of a Goat or Mule likewise Vinegar Mints Watercresses Beans c. all which I advise you to avoid and make use of those things which have a peculiar virtue to help or cause Conception and remove Barrenness The After-birth of a Woman dried and powdred and taken often a drachm at a time also the Stones and Liver of a Bore-pig the Juice of Sage the Roots of Satirion and Eringo candied are all good There are many medicines prescrib'd in Authours to help Conception Quercetanus doth commend this infusion Take the Matrix of a Hare and the Stones of a Ram prepar'd with Whitewine of Cinamon Infusion Ginger Mace Cloves Seeds of Bishops-weed of each half an ounce Saffron two drachms Kernels of Fistick-nuts one ounce let them be all bruised and infused in a quart of Muskadel-wine for two or three days then strain it and add more Wine to the ingredients for a second infusion The following Electuary is also excellent Take the Roots of Satirion and Eringo Electuary candied of each one ounce candied Ginger and preserv'd Nutmegs of each two drachms Kernels of Hazle-nuts and Fistick-nuts of each half an ounce Powder of a Bull's-pizle of Ivory Seeds of Rocket Bishops-weed of each one drachm Species Diambroe Diamosc dulcis of each six drachms Confectio Alkermes one ounce and half with Syrup of the juice of Citrons make it into an Electuary according to Art Let the Woman take the quantity of a Nutmeg of it every night going to bed and drink a glass of Sack or Muskadel or of the aforementioned Infusion after it If a cold and moist distemper of the Body and Womb accompanied with the Whites be the cause look for the cure in its proper Chapter If it be caused by Witchcraft there are some things commended by Authours to be worn about the party against Fascination viz. the Pizle of a Wolf a Diamond a Jacinth-stone Rue Squills Sea-holly Sagapenum Amara dulcis Hypericon c. But above all let fervent and devout Prayers be put up to the Throne of grace for help and reject and despise Incantations or Charms and all other Diabolical means CHAP. XIX Of Abortion or Miscarriage ABortion is called in Latin Abortus vel intempestivus foetus Because it is an untimely Birth the Child being brought forth either dead or alive before its fit time of deliverance This is the worst Symptom that attends breeding Women It may happen from the first Moment of Conception to the end of the sixth Month but it is most usual in the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth Month. The causes are either external or internal Causes The external Causes are a great excess in things nonnatural as too great Anger Fear and other Passions or else it may be through defect for if the Mother undergo Penury or Famine or lose much Bloud the Child wanteth Nourishment Many times things longed for and not obtained kill the Child Also strong purging Medicines that provoke the terms and all fetid smells falls blows lifting carrying dancing running riding or any other outward violence may be the Cause of Abortion The internal Causes may be the depravedness of the humours by which the Mass of Bloud becometh vitious also Acute or Chronick diseases especially of the Womb and also violent Coughing Sneezing Vomiting Convulsions and Fluxes of the Belly may loosen the Ligaments of the Womb and so cause miscarriage The signs of Abortion at hand are great Signs pain about the Loins and Share-bones sometimes with shivering the Breasts growing little and flaggy the Situation of the Child changed towards the Bottom of the Belly with a bearing down and evacuation of Bloud c. 1. Women who have moist and slippery Progn Wombs are most subject to miscarry but with little danger except it be the first Child and that very big 2. Much bleeding with fainting raving or Convulsions is for the most part mortal To prevent Abortion if there be an evil Cure disposition of the Body or Womb you must endeavour to remove it if the Woman hath a plethorick Body let a Vein be opened in the Arme especially in the first six months If ill humours abound purge often with gentle means This purging Infusion may serve Take of Cinamon Rhubarb Anise-seed of each two drachms let them be bruised Purging Infusion and infused in four ounces of Plantain-water very hot for the space of a Night then strain it and add Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb the best Manna of each half an ounce mix it and give it in the Morning fasting Also the Pills prescrib'd in page 240. may be used in this case If the Woman be troubled with a Rheumatick distemper accompanied with Wind and if she be pretty strong you may sweat her gently sometimes with this or such like Cordial Diaphoretick Take the Waters of Treacle Carduus Fennel Cordial to cause sweat of each one ounce Cinamon-water two drachms Syrups of the Juice of Carduus Coral of each half an ounce Confectio de Hyacintho half a drachm Spirit of Niter six drops Oil of Cinamon two drops Laudanum opiatum three grains mix it and give to provoke sweat Let the Womb be strengthned with Cordial Astringents Those prescrib'd in page 239. 240. are excellent CHAP. XX. Of hard Travel in Child-birth HArd labour may be called in Latin partus vel enixus laboriosus quod ipse nitendi pariendi actus The time of a natural Birth ought to be accomplished in the space of twenty four hours if the Womans travel continue longer time with vehement pains and dangerous Symptoms it may be called hard labour or difficult Travel in Child-birth There are various Causes of hard Labour sometimes tender Women by reason of pain Causes are very fearfull and do endeavour to hinder pains and consequently the Birth also Sometimes the Child being weak or dead and not following the Water in Due-time before the passage be too dry may be the Cause especially if the Mother be weak by reason of any Disease afflicting her or by too much Evacuation of Bloud or there be not sufficient Motion of the Womb and Muscles of the Belly Sometimes the Child's head may be too big or the passage too strait Also the Child may be turned in the Womb and the Hands Shoulders Back Belly or Buttocks c. may come forward to the Birth and then the endeavour to bring forth will be painfull and difficult The signs of
is incurable according to Ovid Tollere nodosam nescit medicina Podagram But if there be no Knots in the Joints and the Patient is laborious and the Body is for the most part soluble and there be swelling of the Veins called Varices then it may be happily cured 3. If it becomes habitual to the sick the morbifick Idea is implanted in the vital Spirit and transfer'd through the seed which makes it Hereditary The Cure of the Gout will consist Cure 1. First in defending the afflicted Joints as well against future Pain as freeing them from that which doth molest at present 2. In the universal amendment of the juice of the Pancreas 3. In the correcting and evacuation of the vitious Choler 4. In the altering and diminishing of Phlegm any way peccant To asswage the present Pain I commend the following Medicaments which will conduce much to mitigate the sharpness of the acrimonious humours in all Gouty people and ease the part affected When there is excessive heat you may bathe the Gouty part with this Fomentation very hot with wollen Stuphs which must be often renewed Take the Waters of the Spawn of Frogs Fomentation Fumitory Elder of each one quart Vinegar of Mary-golds one pint Opium Camphire of each half an ounce mix it according to Art But when the Pain is more corroding than burning I commend the following to be used as the former Take of Treacle-water half a pint the Waters of the Spawn of Frogs Parsley of each one quart Opium Camphire of each half an ounce mix it After Bathing with either of these apply this Cataplasm Take Powders of the Roots of Marsh-mallows Pultess Flax-seed Barley-meal of each four ounces new Milk three pints boil it to the Consistence of a Pultess and add Oils of Flax-seed Earthworms the Ointment Martiatum of each three ounces Camphire half an ounce mix it according to Art Where exceeding heat doth concur and the Body abounds with sharp Choler instead of sweet Milk you may substitute Butter-milk Also a Pultess made of the Crums of White-bread new Goats or Cows milk and Saffron with Oil of Lin-seed and Earth-worms may be deservedly commended to asswage any Pain If the sick be very phlegmatick and impotency of motion doth afflict more than pain then Opiats may be omitted and things more Aromatical may be used in all external Applications The following Pultess or one like it may serve for Example Take the Powders of Orris-roots the Cataplasm Flowers of Chamomel and Elder Cummin-seeds Barley-meal of each four ounces the Tops of Wormwood Mints of each four handfulls boil them in two quarts of water of the Spawn of Frogs to the Consistence of a Pultess when it is almost cold add Treacle-water Oils of Chamomel Earth-worms of each three ounces mix it Also the Root of Briony and Cuckow-pintle bruised and made into a Pultess with Cow-dung is excellent If you add Volatile Salts of Animals or Vegetables to your Medicines whether Fomentations Cataplasms or Ointments they will be the more effectual You may prepare an excellent Volatile Salt of Earth-worms of great Virtue for the Gout which may be resolved into Liquour by fermentation and putrefaction If the Gouty Patient do abound with Phlegm or the Juice of the Pancreas exceed in an acid Acrimony causing a corroding Pain it may happily be mitigated and remov'd with Balsam of Sulphur made with Oil of Amber with which let the grieved part be embrocated and it will forthwith raise a very hot Effervescency which will presently cease again and remove the great Pain in a moment even to admiration After the pain is over you may apply one of the former Cataplasms or some Anodyne Ointment to comfort and by degrees restore again the membranous parts The following Linament may serve for Example Take Oils of Earth-worms Scurvigrass Linament Saint John's-wort of each one ounce Chymical Oils of Rosemary Rue of each twenty drops mix it Afterwards you may apply a Plaster of De minio cum sapona In the mean time inward means to take away the Cause and ease the pain must not be neglected If the Patient have a plethorick Body after a Stool hath been procured by a Carminative Clyster with Electuar Caryocostinum c. Let a Vein be opened Bloud drawn from the Vena poplitis or sciatica Vein hath been succesfull in the sciatica But Leeches applied to the Hemorrhoidal veins are effectual in all Gouts Two or three days after bleeding you may administer the following Pills Take of Pills Hermodactils faetidae ex Purging Pills duobus Mercur. dulcis of each one scruple mix it for two doses and give them in the Morning fasting Or you may give half a drachm or two scruples of pul Arthriticus in any convenient Vehicle But if the sick be inclining to vomit administer an Antimonial Emetick You may purge and bleed so often as you see occasion Issues near the part affected and also to raise Blisters upon the part have been found by experience to be very effectual Also bathing and sweating in nitrous or sulphurous Baths either natural or artificial are much approv'd of That which is prescrib'd in the Chapter of the Belly-ach is very effectual which may be used as is there directed I might fill a Volume with receipts against the Gout but I shall onely commend the following water or spirit to be often taken inwardly in any fit Vehicle the quantity of half a spoonfull at a time Take the Roots of Orris Angelica Saffaphras Water against the Gout of each two ounces the Tops of Ground-pine Penny-royal Sage Mother of Time the Flowers of Saint Johns-wort Chamomel Prim-roses Rosemary Lavender of each three handfulls the Berries of Bays and Juniper of each one ounce Castor two drachms let them be all cleansed bruised and infused in six quarts of Spirit of Earth-worms compound for the space of twenty four hours then distill it in an Alembick according to Art The Rheumatism is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rheumatismus ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fluo it being a distillation of Rheumatick humours not onely affecting the Joints but the adjacent parts yea sometimes the whole Body especially the Muscles Membranes and Periostium of the Thighs Legs and Hip-bones The humour is of a very malign Nature and soon causeth a Cariosity of the Bones if it be not prevented The Cause is the same with the Gout but sharper Cause 'T is seldom mortal but may be of long Progn continuance with great Pain so that the Sick cannot endure to be touched In the Cure of this Distemper Phlebotomy Cure must be often repeated and carminative Clysters often administred Foment the pained parts with stale Urine made very hot wherein Castle-sope is dissolved after which anoint with this following Take Spirit of Salt Armoniack Oils of Linament Guiacum Bricks of each two ounces in which dissolve Opium one ounce Spanish Sope four ounces