cordial in such feavers as are accompanied with want of sleep Mithridate Page 106. in the Latin Book The Colledg Take of Mirrh Saffron Agrick Ginger Cinnamon Spicknard Frankinsence Treacle Mustard seeds of each ten drachms the seeds of Hart-wort Opobalsamum or Oyl of Nutmegs by expression Schenanth Stoechas Costus Galbanum Turpentine long Pepper Castorium Juyce of Hypocistis 〈◊〉 Calamitis Opopanax Indian leaf or for want of it Mace of each one ounce Cassia Lignea Poly mountain white Pepper Scordium the seeds of Carrots of Creet Carpobalsamum or Cubebs Troch Cypheos Bdellium of each seven drachms Celtick Spicknard Gum Arabick Macedonian Parsly seed Opium Cardamoms the less Fennel seed Gentian red Rose Leaves Dittany of Creet of each five drachms Annis seeds Asarabacca Orris Acorus the greater Valerian Sagapen of each three drachms Meum Acacia the bellies of Scinks the tops of St. Johns Wort of each two drachms and an half Malaga wine so much as is sufficient to dissolve the Juyces and Gums clarified honey the trebble weight of all the Wine excepted make them into an Electuary according to Art Culpeper A. I have not time to search whether there be any difference between Damocrates and the Colledg It was also corrected afterwards by Bartholomew Maranta Also diverse Authors have spent more time about this and Venis Treacle both of them being terrible messes of Altogether in reducing them into Classes than ever they did in saying their prayers Also Andromacus hath another sort os Methridate It may be it is that usually called with us Venis Mithridate but because the Electuary is very chargable to be made and cannot be made but in great quantities and only that here prescribed is to be gotten or at least easily to be gotten I am willing to spare my pains in any further search A. It is good against poyson and such as have done themselves wrong by taking filthy Medicines it provokes sweat it helps continual watrings of the stomach ulcers in the body consumptions weakness of the limbs rids the body of cold humors and diseases coming of cold it remedles cold infirmities of the brain and stopping of the passage of the sences viz. hearing seeing smelling c. by cold it expels wind helps the chollick provokes 〈◊〉 to ones victuals it helps ulcers in the bladder if Galen say true as also difficulty of Urine it casts out the dead child and helps such women as cannot conccive by reason of cold it is an admirable remedy for melancholly and all diseases of the body coming through cold it would fill a whol sheep of paper to reckon them all up particularly You may take a scruple or half a drachm in the morning and follow your business two drachms will make you sweat yea one dram if your body be weak for then two drams may be dangerous because of its heat how to order your self in sweating you were taught before if you have forgot where look the Table at latter end Phylonium Persicum Page 107. in the Latin Book The Colledg Take of white Pepper the seeds of white Henbane of each two drachms Opium Earth of Lemnos of each ten drachms 〈◊〉 Hematitis Saffron of each five drachms Castorium Indian Spicknard Euphorbium prepared Pellitary of Spain Pearls Amber Zedoary Alicampane Troch Ramach of each a drachm Camphire a scruple with their trebble waight in Honey-Roses make it into an Electuary according to art Culpeper A. All the difference is Mesue appoints Honey whose commendations of it is this It stops blood flowing from any part of the body the immoderate flowing of the terms in women the hemorrhoyds in men spitting of blood bloody fluxes and is profitable for such women as are subject to miscarry See the next Receipt A. Now they have made the quantity the same with Mesue before I think they followed Wicker Phylonium Romanum Page 107. in the Latin Book The Colledg Take of white Pepper White Henbane seeds of each five drachms Opium two drachms and an halfe Cassia Lignea a drachm and an halfe the seeds of Smallage a drachm Parsly of Macedonia Fennel Carrots of Creet of each two scruples and five grains Saffron a scruple and an half Indian Spicknard Pellitory of Spain Zedoary fisteen grains Cinnamon a drachm and an halfe Euphorbium prepared Mirrh Castorium of each a drachm with their trebble waight in clarified Honey make it into an Electuary Culpeper A. It is a most exquisite thing to ease vehement and deadly pains in what part of the body soever they be whether internal or external that vehemency of pain will bring a feaver and a feaver death no man well in his wits will deny therefore in such diseases which cause vehemency of pain as Chollicks the Stone Strangury c. this may be given ordered by the discretion of an able brain for it conduceth little to the cure to mitigate the extremity of pain until convenient remedy may be had as men pump water out before they can stop the hole in a leaking vessel As for other vertues which Authors say this Electuary hath I shall pass them by resting confident that other remedies may be found out for them in this Book as effectual and less dangerous and because the former Electuary is not much unlike to this in some particulars take the same caution in that also I would not have the vulgar meddle with this nor the former Phylonium Magistrale Page 108. in the Latin Book The Colledg Take of Opium four ounces Benjamin Mirrh Mummy of each halfe an ounce Spirit of Wine as much as is sufficient to make it into an Opiate Culpeper A I hold their Laudanum to be a better Midicine for this being exceeding dangerous for an unskilful man to meddle withal I let it alone yet am not ignorant what good it might do to such whose wounds have brought them into a frenzy if given by an able hand 〈◊〉 de Ovo Pag. 108 in the Latin Book Or Electuary of Eggs The Colledg Take a Hens Egge new laid and the white being taken out by a small hole fill up the void place with Saffron leaving the yolk in then the hole being stopped rost it in ashes till the shell begin to look black take dilligent heed the Saffron burn not for then is the whole Medicine spoiled then the matter being taken out dry if so that it may be beaten into pouder and ad to it as much Pouder of white Mustard Seed as it waighs Then take the Roots of white Dittany and Tormentil of each two drachms Mirrh Harts horn Petasitis roots of each one dram the roots of Angellica and Burnet Juniper berries 〈◊〉 Camphire of each halfe an ounce mix them all together in a mortar then ad Venis Treacle the waight of them all stir them about with a pestle three hours together putting in so much Syrup of Lemmons as is enough to make it into an Electuary according to art Culpeper A. A drachm of it given at a time is as
more delightfull or at least less burdensom in such a case the Table of Vertues at the latter end will universally furnish you with the generality of both Simples and Compounds apropriated to the Disease You may make the mixtures of them in what form you please only for your better instruction at present accept of these few Rules 1. Consider That all Diseases are cured by their contraries but all parts of the Body maintained by their likes Then if heat be the cause of the Disease give the cold Medicine apropriated to it if Wind see how many Medicines apropriated to that Disease expel Wind and use them 〈◊〉 〈…〉 for if your Brain be over heated and you use such Medicines as cool the Heart or Liver you may make mad work 3. The distilled Water of any Herb you would take for a disease is a sit mixture for the Syrup of the same Herb or to make any 〈◊〉 into a Drink if you affect such liquid Medicines best if you have not the distilled water make use of the Decoction 4. Diseases that lie in parts of the Body remot from the Stomach and Bowels it is in vain to think to carry away the cause at once and therefore you had best do it by degrees Pills and such like Medicines which are hard in Body are fittest for such a business because they are longest before they digest 5. Use no strong Medicines if weak will serve the turn you had better take one too weak by half than too strong in the least 6. Consider the Natural temper of the part of the Body afflicted and maintain it in that else you extinguish Nature as the Heart is hot the Brain cold or at least the coldest part of the Body 7. Observe this general Rule That such Medicins as are hot in the first degree are most habitual to our Bodies because they are just of the heat of our Blood 8. All opening Medicines and such as provoke Urine or the Terms or break the Stone may most conveniently be given in white wine because white Wine os it self is of an opening Nature and clenseth the Reins gallantly 9. Let all such Medicines as are taken to stop fluxes or 〈◊〉 be taken before meat about an hour before more or less that so they may strengthen the digestion and retentive faculty before the Food come into the Stomach But such as are subject to vomit up their meat let them take such Medicines as stay vomiting presently after meat at the conclusion of their Meals that so they may close up the mouth of the stomach and that is the reason why usually men eat a 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 after meat because by its sowrness and binding it closeth the mouth of the stomach thereby staying belching and vomiting 10. In taking Purges be very carefull and that you may be so observe these Rules 1. Consider what the humor offending is and let the Medicine be such as purgeth that humor else will you weaken Nature not the Disease 2. Take notice if the humor you would purge out be thin then gentle Medicines will serve the turn but if it be tough and viscous take such Medicines as are cutting and opening the night before you would take the Purge 3. In purging tough humors sorbear as much as may be such Medicines as leave a binding quality behind them 4. Have a care of taking Purges when your Body is astringent your best way is first to open it by a Clyster 5. In taking opening Medicines you may safely take them at night eating but a light supper three or four hours before and the next morning drinking a draught of warm Posset-drink and you need not fear to go about your business In this manner you may take Lenitive Electuary Diacatholicon Pulp of Cassia and the like gentle Electuaries as also all Pills that have neither Diagrydium nor Colocynthis in them But all violent Purges require a due ordering of the Body such ought to be taken in the morning after you are up and not to sleep after them before they have done working at least before night two hours after you have taken them drink a draught of warm Posset-drink or Broath and six hours after eat a bit of Mutton often walking about the Chamber let there be a good fire in the Chamber and stir not out of the Chamber till the Purge have done working or not till next day Lastly Take sweating Medicines when you are in bed covered warm and in the time of your sweating drink Posset-drink as hot as you can drink it if you sweat for a Feaver boyl Sorrel and red Sage in your Posset-drink sweat an hour or longer if your strength will permit then the chamber being kept very warm shift your self all but your Head about which the Cap which you sweat in being still kept on wrap a Napkin very hot to repell the vapors back I confess these or many of these Directions may be found in one place of the Book or other and I delight as little to write tautology as another but the Printer desiring they should be put here and I considering it might make for the publick good inserted them if notwithstanding any will be so mad to do themselves a mischief the fault is not mine The TRANSLATORS PREFACE to the Catalogue of SIMPLES BEfore I begin the Catalogue I thought good to premise a few words to the Reader 1. Let him have a care he mistake not one thing for another viz. Herbs for Roots or either of them for Flowers If he cast but his eye up to the top of the Page he shall there see which it is 2. Let a due time be observed cases of necessity excepted in gathering all Simples for which take these few Rules The time to gather all roots is before the hearb run up to seed for then they are softest as you may see by Radishes carrots parsneps c. the roots of which you may perceive hard when they run up to seed and not because the sap is then in the root as the vulgar hold for if the sap rose and fell as they hold then the root must grow in winter only as the branches do in Summer which experience will shew to be falce for the root grows only in Summer as the branches doe you see what a wooden Docter Tradition is Would not this make every one endevour to Study a reason for what he doeth and see how our forefathers have been lead by the noses by Tradition The truth is it is the Sun is the author of life and growth to the wholl Creation he was ordained of God for that end when he comes on this side of the Equator the trees spring when he passeth to the south side of the Equator they loose their verdant color and growth also till the revolution of time bring his presence to revive them but enough of this in this place Herbs are to be gathered when they are fullest of juyce which is before thy
plain nor an Epistle stuffed as full of Flattery as an Egg is full of meat which I hate to give and you to receive and God hates it in whomsoever he finds it it is sufficient to you and infinite joy to me that your Works declare to the World what you are even in these times when rich Pluto is accounted a better Phylosopher than learned Plato when Godliness is not accounted great Gain as it was in better times than now are but Gain is accounted great Godliness I had Reasons enough to make me bold to dedicate it to you as namely That Ingenuity of your Spirit your excellent Endeavors for the publick Good that admirable Constancy which Honor it self could not choak so that your Splendor like other Justices in Office with you has not gone out like a Candle and left a stinking snuff behind though it hath pleased God to place you in Authority in such an Age that calleth Vertue Vice and Vice Vertue that calleth Good Evil and Evil Good that strike at the Devil and hit Christ in his Saints To whom rather these things considered should I dedicate these my weak Labors than to your self to whom God hath given the Knowledg to discern Vertue from Vice to love the one and hate the other according to that excellent Speech of Plato Oh Knowledg how would men love thee if they did but know thee for as Health is the Conservation of the Body so is Knowledg the Conservation of the Mind which is too too much absconded the more is the pity from the eyes of this languishing Nation and calls aloud for a Cure for as Plato saith in another place If Vertue could take upon her a bodily shape she would be so beautiful as men would be in love with her also if Vice could take upon her a Bodily shape she would be such an ugly beast all men would loath and disdain her for if Drunkards have so many Apish and beastly postures what would Drunkenness it self have which is the Author of them all if that could appear in a visible form This I know you are well versed in the love of a Real Common-wealth may be read in you even through a pair of Spectacles glassed with an inch board this was another argument moving me to dedicate this Book to you which tends towards the furtherance of a Common-wealth and the pulling down a Monopoly extreamly prejudicial yet scarce discernable I must be brief because it is brevity you delight in therefore to use many words I account it needless your kind acceptance of this Book I shall account such a favor as is never to be forgotten The God of Heaven and Earth which hath hitherto preserved your Body in so many dangers and difficulties which you have passed and your Spirit pure in these back-sliding Times still be your Guide and preserve your Spirit Soul and Body untill the time of your Change shall come and present you blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom God hath loved you and washed you from your sins in his Blood So praies Sir Your Worships most humble Servant NICH. CULPEPER A Premonitory Epistle TO THE READER Courteous READER THose things which God did make first in the Beginning without means He now preserveth by Means and therefore He hath placed Nature in the World which by Motion acts in all things according to the quality of the thing acted upon as Fire acts upon Wood to make a fire to warm one by or the like therefore as the Cause of Diseases is to be understood to be Natural so is their Cures also to be effected in a Natural way and if you do but consider the whol Universe as one united Body and Man an Epitomy of this Body it will seem strange to none but Mad-men and Fools that the Stars should have influence upon the Body of Man considering he being an Epitomy of the Creation must needs have a Celestial World within himself for to wind the strings a little higher If there be a Trinity in the Deity which is denied but by none but Ranters then must there be a Trinity also in all his Works if there be a Unity in the God-head there must needs be a Unity in all his Works and a dependancy between them and not that God made the Creation to hang together like Ropes of Sand so God made but one world and yet in this one World a Trinity first Elementary which is lowest Secondly Celestial which is next above that Thirdly Intellectual which is highest in degree and happy yea thrice happy is he that attains to it if then Man be capable of the Intellectual World as having an Epitomy of that in himself whereby he knows that there is a God and that God made this World and Governeth it now he hath made it that there are Angels and that he bath an immortal Spirit in himself which causeth him to hope and expect immortality If he have an Epitomy of the Elementary World in himself whereby he searcheth and seeks after the Vertues of Elementary Bodies and the various mixtures of Natural things their Causes Effects Times Fashions Events and how they are produced by the Elements must he not also by the same rule have an Epitomy of the Celestial World within himself by which he searcheth out the Motion and Course of the Celestial Bodies and what their influence is upon the Elements and Elementary Bodies he that denies this let him also deny that the whol world was made for man that so the world may see what he is it is palpable to those that fear God and are conversant either in his Word or in his Works that every inferior world is Governed by its superior and receives influence from it God Himself the only First-being the Maker and Disposer of all things Governs the Celestial World by the Intellectual namely the Angels He governs the Elementary World and all Elementary Bodies by the Celestial World namely the Stars and that 's the reason the influence ' of the Stars reacheth not to the Mind or Rational part of Man because it is an Epitomy of the Intellectual world which is a superior to them but because there is now some Dispute about it I should have said Cavelling by such as would fain have their own Knaveries hidden and therfore they would fain have the Stars made to stop Bottles or else for the Angels to play at bowls with when they had nothing else to do but not rule the Elementary world no by no means We shall prove they rule over the Elementary world first by Scripture secondly by Reason First by Scripture I beseech you read in the first place Genesis 1. 14 15 16 17 18. verses And God said let there be lights in the Firmament of the Heaven to divide the Day from the Night and let them be for SIGNS and for SEASONS and for DAIES and YEARS And let them be for Lights in the Firmament of the
Rest-Harrow so called because it makes Oxen stand still when they are ploughing The Roots are hot and dry in the third degree it breaks the Stone viz. the bark of it the Root it self according to Pliny helps the Falling-sickness according to Mathiolus helps Ruptures you may take half a dram at a time Ostrutij Masterwort given once before under the name of Imperitoria But I have somthing else to do than to write one thing twice as they did Pastinatae Sativae silvestris Garden and wild Parsnips They are of a temperate quality enclining something to heat the Garden Parsnips provoke lust and nourish as much and more too than any Root ordinarily eaten the Wild are more Physical and so are usually all Wild Plants I could give reasons for it if I durst spend time and paper being cutting clensing and opening they resist the bitings of venemous beasts ease pains and stitches in the sides and are a soveraign Remedy against the Wind Chollick Pentaphyllis Of Cinkfoyl Commonly called Five-leaved or Five-fingered grass the Root is very drying but very moderately hot It is admirable against all Fluxes and stops blood flowing from any part of the body it helps infirmities of the Liver and Lungues helps putrified ulcers of the mouth the Root boyled in Vinegar is good against the Shingles and appeaseth the rage of any fretting sores You may sasely take a drachm at a time in any convenient Liquor Petacitae Of butter-bur The Roots are hot and dry in the second degree they are exceeding good in violent and pestilential Feavers they provoke the Terms expel Poyson and kill Worms Peucedani foeniculi porcini Of Sulphur-wort Hog-fennel or Hore-strange It is very good applied to the navils of Children that stick out Ruptures held in the mouth it is a present Remedy for the fits of the Mother it being tataken inwardly gives speedy deliverance to women in travail and brings away the after-birth Poeoniae maris foemellae Of Peony male and foemale They are meanly hot but more drying the male is more effectual in operation than the foemale say Authors and yet quoth Dr. Reason why should not the male be best for men and the foemale for women The Root helps women not sufficiently purged after travail it provokes the Terms and helps pains in the Belly as also in the Reins and Bladder Falling-sickness and Convulsions in children being either taken inwardly or hung about their necks You may take half a drachm at a time and less for children Phu Valerinae majoris minoris Valerian or Setwal greater and lesser They are temperately hot the greater provoke Urine and the Terms helps the Strangury staies Rhewms in the Head and takes away the pricking pains thereof The lesser resists Poyson asswageth the swelling of the Cods coming either through wind or cold helps cold taken after sweating or labor Wind Chollick outwardly it draws out thorns and cures both Wounds and Ulcers Pimpinellae c. Of Burnet It doth this good To bring forth a gallant Physical Herb. Plantaginis Of Plantane The Root is somthing dryer than the Leaf but not so cold it opens stoppages of the Liver helps the Jaundice and Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder Dioscorides affirmeth that one Root helpeth a Quotidian Ague three a Tertain and four a Quartan which though our late writers hold to be fabulous yet there may be a greater truth in it than they are aware of yet I am as loth to make Superstition a foundation to build on as any of them let Experience be Judg and then we weigh not modern Jury Men. A little bit of the Root being eaten instantly staies pains in the Head even to admiration Polypodij Of Polypodium or Fearn of the Oak It is a gallant though gentle purger of Melancholly Also in the opinion of Mesue as famous a Physitian as ever I read for a Gallenist it dries up superfluous Humors takes away swellings from the hands feet knees and joynts stitches and pains in the sides infirmities of the Spleen Rickets correct it with a few Annis seeds or Fennel seeds or a little Ginger and then the stomach will not loath it Your best way of taking it is to bruise it well and boyl it in white Wine till half be consumed you may put in much 〈◊〉 little according to strength of the Diseased it works very safely I can give no better reason why Polypodium of the Oak should be the best unless because 't is rarest it draws either very little sap from the Oak or none at all or if it did the reason were as far to seek I am of opinion that which grows on the ground is the best to evacuate Melancholly but it is more Sympathetical Poligonati sigilli Solomonis c. Of Solomons Seal Let it be no dishonor to Galen nor Dioscorides that English men have found out in late daies that these Roots may safely be given inwardly Intruth they may be excused if the difference of the climates they and we lived and now live in be but considered neither I hope will my Country men blame me for following only Dr. Experience in the vertues of this Root stamped and boyled in Wine it speedily helps being drunk I mean for it will not do the deed by looking upon it all broken bones it is of an incredible vertue that way as also being stamped and applyed to the place it soon heals all Wounds and quickly takes away the black and blew marks of blows being bruised and applied to the place and for these I am perswaded there is not a better Medicine under the Sun or as Copernicus and Kipler will have it above the Sun Porri Of Leeks They say they are hot and dry in the fourth degree they breed but ill favored nourishment at the best they spoil the eyes heat the body caus troublesom sleep and are noisom to the stomach yet are they good for something else than only to stick in Welchmens hats for the juyce of them dropped into the ears takes away the noise of them mixed with a little Viniger and snuffed up the nose it staies the bleeding of it they are better of the two boiled then raw but both waies exceeding hurtfull for Ulcers in the bladder and so are Onions and Garlick Prunellorum Silvestrium Of Slo-bush or Slo-tree I think the Colledge set this amongst the roots only for fashion sake and I did it because they did Pyrethri Salivaris c. Pelitory of Spain It is hot and dry in the foutrh degree chewed in the mouth it draws away Rewm in the Tooth-ach bruised and boiled in oyl it provokes sweat by unction inwardly taken they say it helps Pal sies and other cold effects in the brain and nerves Rhapontici Reupontick or Reubarb of Pontus It takes away windiness and weakness of stomach sighings sobbings spittings of blood diseases of the Liver and Spleen Rickets c. if you take a dram at a time it will purge a little but bind much
Water-cresses distilled in March the water clenseth the blood and provokes 〈◊〉 exceedingly kils worms outwardly mixed with Honey it cleers the skin of morphew and Sunburning Distil Nettles when they are in flower the water helps coughs and pains in the bowels provokes urine and breaks the stone Saxifrage water provokes urine expels wind breaks the stone clenseth the reins and bladder of gravel distil them when they are in flower The water of Pellitory of the wal opens obstructions of the Liver and Spleen by drinking an ounce of it every morning it clenseth the reins and bladder and easeth the gripings of the howels coming of wind distil it in the end of May or beginning of June Sinkfoyl water breaks the stone clenseth the reins and is of excellent use in putrified feavers distil it in May. The water of Radishes breaks the stone clenseth the reins and bladder provokes the terms and helps the yellow Jaundice Alicampane water strengthens the stomach and Lungues provokes urine and clenseth the passages of it from gravel Distil Burnet in May or June the water breaks the stone clenseth the passages of urine and is exceeding profitable in pestilential times Mugwort water distilled in May is excelleut in coughs and diseases proceeding from stoppage of the terms in women it warms the stomach and helps the dropsie Distil Peny-royal when the flowers are upon it the water heats the womb gallantly provokes the terms expels the Afterbirh cuts and casts out thick and gross humors in the breast easeth pains in the bowels and consumes flegm The water of Lovage distilled in May easeth pains in the head and tures ulcers in the womb being washed with it inwardly taken it expels wind and breaks the stone The tops of Hops when they are young being distilled the water clenseth the blood of addust and melancholly humors and therefore helps Scabs Itch and leprosie and such like diseases thence proceeding it open obstructions of the spleen helps the rickets and Hypocondriack melancholly The water of Borrage and Bugloss distilled when their flowers are upon them strengthen the heart and brain exceedingly clense the blood and takes away sadness greife and melancholly Doddar water clenseth the Liver and spleen helps the yellow jaundice Tamaris water opens the obstructions and helps the hardness of the spleen and strengthens it English Tobacco distilled the water is excellent good for such as have dropsies to drink an ounce or too every morning it helps ulcers in the mouth strengthens the Lungues and helps such as have Asthmaes The water of Dwarffe Elder hath the same effects Thus have you the vertues of enough of cold waters the use of which is for mixtures of other medicines whose operation is the same for they are very seldom given alone if you delight most in liquid medicines having regard to the disease and part of the body afflicted by it these will furnish you with where withal to make them so as will please your pallat best COMPOUNDS SPIRITS and COMPOND DISTILLED WATERS Culpeper A. BEfore I begin these I thought good to premise a few words They are all of them hot in operation and therefore not to be medled with by people of hot Constitutions when they are in health for fear of Feavers and adustion of blood but for people of cold constitutions as Melancholly and Flegmatick people If they drink of them moderately now and then for recreation due consideration being had to the part of the body which is weakest they may do them good yet in diseases of melancholly neither strong Waters nor Sack is to be drunk for they make the 〈◊〉 thin and then up to the head it flies where it fills the brain with foolish and fearful imaginations 2. Let all yong people forbear them whilst they are in health for their blood is usually hot enough without them 3. Have regard to the season of the year so shall you find them more beneficial in Summer than in in Winter because in Summer the body is alwaies coldest within and digestion weakest and that is the reason why men and women eat less in Summer than they do in Winter Thus much for people in health which drink strong waters for recreation As for the Medicinal use of them it shall be shewed at the 〈◊〉 end of every Receipt only in general they are due respect had to the humors afflicting and part of the body afflicted medicinal for diseases of cold and flegm chilliness of the spirits c. But that my Country men may not be mistaken in this I shall give them some Symptoms of each Complexion how a man may know when it exceeds its due 〈◊〉 Signs of Choller abounding Leaness of body costiveness hollow eyes anger without a cause a testy disposition yellowness of the 〈◊〉 bitterness in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pains in the 〈◊〉 the pulse 〈◊〉 and stronger 〈◊〉 ordinary the 〈◊〉 higher colourd thinner and brighter troublesom sleeps much dreaming of fire lightning anger and fighting Signs of Blood abounding The Veins are bigger or at least they seem so and fuller than ordinary the skin is red and as it were swollen pricking pains in the sides and about the temples shortness of breath headach the pulse great and full urine high coloured and thick dreams of blood c. Signs of Melancholly abounding Fearfulness without a cause fearful and 〈◊〉 imaginations the skin rough and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 want of sleep frightful dreams 〈◊〉 in the throat the pulse very weak solitariness thin 〈◊〉 urine often sighing c. Signs of Flegm abounding Sleepiness dulness slowness heaviness cowardliness forgetfulness much spitting much 〈◊〉 at the 〈◊〉 little appetite to meat and as bad 〈◊〉 the skin whiter colder and smoother than it was wont to be the pulse flow and deep the urine thick and low colored dreams of rain flouds and water c. These things thus premised I come to the matter The first the Colledg presents you with is Spiritus et Aqua Absinthii minus Composita Pag. 30. Or Spirit and Water of Wormwood the lesser Composition The Colledg Take of the Leaves of dried Wormwood two pound Annis seeds half a pound steep them in six gallons of small Wines twenty four hours then 〈◊〉 them in an Allembick 〈◊〉 to every 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 water two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sugar Let the two first pound you draw out be called Spirit of Wormwood those which follow Wormwood Water the lesser Composition Culpeper A. I like this distinction of the Colledges very well because what is first stilled out is far stronger than the rest and therefore very fitting to be kept by it self you may take which you please according as the temperature of your body either to heat or cold and the season of the yeer requires A. It hath the same vertues Wormwood hath only fitter to be used by such whose bodies are chilled by age and whose natural heat abateth You may search the Herb for the vertues it heateth the stomach and helpeth
by cold Medicines then which are hot in the first degree are such as just correspond to the Natural heat of our Bodies such as are hotter or colder are more subject to do mischeif being administred by an unskilfull hand than these are because of their contrariety to Nature whereas these are gratefull to the Body by their moderate heat Thirdly These take away weariness and help Feavers being outwardly applied because they open the pores of the Skin and by their gentle heat prepare the humors and take away those fuliginous vapors that are caused by Feavers Yet may discommodities arise by heedless giving even of these which I would have young Students in Physick to be very careful in lest they do more mischeif than they are aware of viz. It is possible by too much use of them to consume not only what is inimical in the Body but also the substance it self and the strength of the spirits whence comes faintings and sometimes death Besides by applying them to the parts of the Body they are not apropriated to or by not heeding well the complexion of the Patient or the Natural temper of the part of the Body afflicted for the Heart is hot but the Brain temperate Lastly Medicines hot in the first Degree cherisheth heat in the internall parts help Concoction breed good Blood and keep it in good temper being bred Of Medicines hot in the Second Degree HAving spoken of Medicines hot in the First Degree it follows now in order to speak of those that are hot in the Second These are something hotter than the Natural temper of a Man Their Use is for such whose Stomach is filled with moisture because their faculty is to heat and dry they take away obstructions or stoppings open the pores of the skin but not in the same manner that such do as are hot in the First Degree for they do it without force by a gentle heat concocting and expelling the humors by strengthening and helping Nature in the work but these cut tough humors and scatter them by their own force and power when Nature cannot Of Medicines hot in the Third Degree THose which attain the Third Degree of heat have the same faculties with those before mentioned but as they are hotter so are they more powerfull in their operations for they are so powerfull in heating and cutting that if unadvisedly given they cause Feavers Their Use is to cut tough and compacted humors to provoke sweat abundantly hence it comes to pass that all of them resist poyson Of Medicines hot in the Fourth Degree THose Medicines obtain the highest degree of heat which are so hot that they burn the Body of Man being outwardly applied to it and cause inflamations or raise blisters as Crowfoot Mustard-seed Onions c. Of these more hereafter Of Cooling Medicines PHysitiant have also observed Four Degrees of Coldness in Medicines which I shall briefly treat of in order Of Medicines Cold in the First Degree THose Medicines which are least cold of all obtain the First Degree of Coldness and I beseech you take notice of this That seeing our Bodies are nourished by heat and we live by heat therefore no cold Medicines are Naturally and Per se as 〈◊〉 call it friendly to the Body but what good they do our Bodies they do it per accedens viz. by removing an unnatural heat or the Body heated above its Natural temper The giving then of cold Medicines to a Man in his Natural temper the season of the year also being but moderately hot extinguisheth Natural heat in the Body of Man Yet have these a necessary Use in them too though not so frequent as Hot Medicines have and that may be the reason why an All-wise God hath furnished us with far more Hot Herbs and Plants c. than Cold. Their Use is first In Nourishments that so the heat of Food may be qualified and made fit for a weak Stomach to digest and therefore are Sallets used in Summer Secondly To restrain and asswage the heat of the Bowels and to cool the Blood in Feavers Therefore if the distemper of heat be but gentle Medicines cold in the first degree will Suffice also Children and such people whose Stomachs are weak are easily hurt by cold Medicines Of Medicines Cold in the Second and Third Degrees SUch whose Stomachs are strong and Livers hot may easily bear such Medicines as are cold in the second degree and in cases of extremity find much help by them as also by such as cool in the third degree the extremity of the disease considered for by both these the unbridled heat of Choller is asswaged Also they are outwardly applied to hot swellings due consideration being had That if the Inflamation be not great use those that are less cool if the Inflamation be vehement make use of Medicines cold in the second or third degree Alwaies let the Remedy correspond to the just proportion of the Affliction Thirdly Sometimes the Spirits are moved inordinately through heat thence follows immoderate watchings if not deprivation of the Sences this also must be remedied with cold Medicines for cold stops the pores of the Skin makes the humors thick represseth Sweat and keeps up the Spirits from fainting Of Medicines Cold in the Fourth Degree LAstly The Use of Medicines cold in the Fourth Degree is To mitigate desperate and vchement Pains by stupifying the sences when no other course can be taken to save life Of the Use of which more hereafter Of Moistning Medicines THere can be no such difference found amongst Moistning Medicines that they should surpass the Second degree For seeing all Medicines are either hot or cold neither heat nor cold seeing they are extreams can consist with moisture for the one dries it up the other condensates it Philosophers therefore call Moisture and Dryness Passive qualities yet have they their operation likewise for moist Medicines lenifie and make slippery ease the Cough and help the Roughness of the Throat These operations are proper to Medicines moist in the First Degree Those which are moister take away Naturally strength help the sharpness of humors make both Blood and spirits thicker looseth the Belly and fit it for purgation The immoderate or indiscreet use of them duls the Body and makes it unfit for action Of Drying Medicines DRying Medicines have contrary faculties to these viz. To consume moisture stop fluxes and make such parts dry as are slippery they make the Body and Members firm when they are weakened by too much moisture that so they may perform their proper functions Yet although the Members be strengthened by drying medicines they have notwithstanding their own proper moisture in them which ought to be conserved and not destroyed for without it they cannot consist If then this moisture be consumed by using or rather over-use of drying Medicines the Members can neither be nourished nor yet perform their proper actions Such
Medicines as are dry in the third degree being unadvisedly given hinder the parts of the Body they are apropriated to of their nourishment and by that means brings them into a Consumption Besides There is a certain moisture in the Body of Man which is called Radical Moisture which being taken away the parts must needs die seeing natural heat and life also consists in it and this may be done by too freequent use of medicines dry in the fourth degree And it may be this was the Reason of Galen his writing That things dry in the fourth degree must of necessity burn which is an effect of heat and not of driness unless by burning Galen mean consuming the Radical moisture The Use then of drying Medicines is only to such Bodies and parts of the Body as abound with moisture in which observe these Rules 1. If the moisture be not extream let not the medicine be extream drying 2. Let it be proper to the part of the Body afflicted for if the Liver be afflicted by moisture and you go about to dry the Brain or Heart you may sooner kill than cure Thus have we briefly spoken of the first Qualities of Medicines and in the general only and but briefly because we shall alwaies touch upon them in the Exposition of the other Qualities in which you must alwaies have an eye to these Sect. 2. Of the Apropriation of Medicines to the several Parts of the Body ANtient Physitians also kept a grievous racket about this some denying any specifical vertues at all in Medicins or any congruity to certain parts of the Body but were of Opinion that such as strengthen the Head must needs strengthen the Bowels and all other parts of the Body by the same Rule because being ignorant of the influence of the Heavens they would give no Reason for the contrary and so whatsoever is obnoxious to one part of the Body must needs be obnoxious to all the rest by the same Rule Others hold them to be apropriated to the particular parts of the Body by an hidden property as they call it because their ignorance in Astronomy knew not what to make of it or how the Midicines operated and their experience testifying that they had distinct operations upon distinct parts of the Body Others have labored to find out a middle way between both these and they hold that what Medicines strengthen one part of the Body must needs in some measure strengthen all the rest yet so as that it is peculiarly apropriated to that Part of the Body which it strengthens and their reason is Because the substance of the Medicine agrees with the substance of that Part of the Body which it strengthens and every one almost that hath but wit enough to eat an Eg knows that the substance of all Parts of the Body are not alike This argument hath some weight in it though in my Opinion it falls a little too low for it is a certain truth the Sympathy and Antipathy in the Creation is the cause both of all Diseases and also of the operations of all Medicines However I may intertex my Opinion of what Physitians call hidden Qualities now and then with it yet my scope shall be to treat chiefly of this at this time till time and oppertunity together with the will of my Creator give me leave to digest what they call hidden Qualities into such a form that others may understand it as well as my self I am sickly and have no body to help me I can do things no faster than I can That the Qualities and Use of these Medicines may be found out and understood by every one and so my Country reap the benefit of my Labor they shall find them presented to their view in this Order Medicines apropriated 1. To the Head 2. To the Breast and Lungues 3. To the Heart 4. To the Stomach 5. To the Liver 6. To the Spleen 7. To the Reins and Bladder 8. To the Womb. 9. To the Joynts CHAP 1. Of Medicines apropriated to the Head BY Head is usually understood all that part of the Body which is between the top of the Crown and the uppermost joynt of the Neck yet are those Medicines properly called Cephalical which are apropriated to the Brain not to the Eyes Ears nor Teeth neither are those Medicines which are proper for the Ears proper also for the Eyes therefore my intent being to write as plain as I can I shall subdivide this Chapter into these parts Medcines apropriated 1. To the Brain 2. To the Eyes 3. To the Mouth and Nostrils 4. To the Ears 5. To the Teeth For what Medicines are apropriated to an unruly Tongue is not in my power at present to determin Of Medicines apropriated to the Brain BEfore we treat of Medicines apropriated to the Brain it is requisite that we discribe what the nature and affection of the Brain is The Brain which is the Seat of Apprehension Judgment and Memory the Original of Sence and Motion is by nature temperate and if so then you will grant me that it may easily be afflicted both by Heat and Cold and it is indeed more subject to afflictions by either of them than any other part of the Body for if it be afflicted by heat Sence and Reason is immoderately moved if by cold they languish and are dulled to pass by other symptoms which invade the Head if the Brain be altered from its proper temper Also this is peculiar to the Brain that it is delighted or offended by sinels sights and sounds but I shall meddle no further with these here because they are not Medicines Cephalical Medicines may be found out from the Affections of the Brain it self The Brain is usually oppressed with moisture in such afflictions therefore give such Medicines as very gently warm clense cut and dry but withal let them be such as are apropriated to the Head such as Physitians say by an hidden quality strengthens the Brain Again if you consider the scituation of the Brain you shal find it placed in the highest part of all the Body therefore it is easily afflicted with hot vapors this punisheth a man with watchings and head-ach as the former did with sottishness and sleepiness in such cases use such Cephalects as gently cool the Brain To make Cephalects of Narcoticks or slupifying Medicines is not my iutent for I am confident they are inimical both to Brain and Sences Of these and such Medicines also as purge the Brain I shall speak by and by To return to my purpose Some Cephalicks purge the Brain some heat it some cool it some strengthen it but how they perform this Office peculiarly to the Brain most Physitians confess they could neither comprehend by Reason nor discribe by Precepts only thus they do it by an hidden quality either by strengthening the Brain thereby defending it from Diseases or by a certain Antipathy between them and the Diseases incident to the Brain Lastly For
retentive Faculty give them a little before meat if to stay Fluxes a little after meat if to stay vomiting CHAP. 5. Of Medicines apropriated to the Liver BE pleased to take these under the name of Hepaticks for that is the usual name Physitians give them and these also are of Three sorts 1. Some the Liver is delighted in 2. Others strehgthen it 3. Others help its vices The Pallat is the Seat of tast and its Office is to judg what Food is agreeable to the Stomach and what not by that is both the Quality and Quantity of Food fit for the Stomach discerned the very same Office the Meseraick Veins perform to the Liver Sometimes such Food pleaseth the Pallat which the Liver likes not but not often and therefore the Meseraick Veins resuse it and that 's thereason some few men fancy such food as makes them sick after the eating thereof 1. The Liver is delighted exceedingly with sweet things draws them greedily and digesteth them as swiftly and that 's the reason Honey is so soon turned into Choller 2. Such Medicines strengthen the Liver as being apropriated to it very gently bind for seeing the Office of the Liver is to concoct it needs some adstriction that so both the heat and the humor to be concocted may be staied that so the one slip not away nor the other be scattered Yet do not Hepatical Medicines require so great a binding faculty as Stomachicals do because the passages of the Stomach are more open than those of the Liver by which it either takes in Chyle or sends out Blood to the rest of the Body therefore Medicines which are very binding are hurtful to the Liver and either cause obstructions or hinder the distribution of the Blood or both 3. The Liver being very subject to obstructions Medicines which withstand obstructions or open them being made are truly Hepatical and they are such as cut and extenuate without any vehement heat to these we shall speak in their proper places and yet they retain a faculty both gently binding and clensing Sometimes Inflamation follows the obstruction and then must you use Hepatical Medicines which cool clense and extinuate In using these have a special care that your cooling Medicines be so tempered with heat that the digestive faculty of the Liver be not spoiled and that the Diaphragma which is very neer unto it be not so cooled that it hinder the fetching of breath And thus much for the Liver the Office of which is to concoct Chyle which is a white substance the Stomach digests the food into into Blood and distribute it by the Veins to every part of the body whereby the Body is nourished and decaying flesh restored CHAP. 6. Of Medicines apropriated to the Spleen IN the breeding of Blood are three Excrements most conspicuous viz. Urine Choller and Melancholly The proper seat of Choller is in the Gall. The Urine passeth down to the Reins or Kidneys which is all one The Spleen takes the thickest or melancholly blood to it self I hope shortly to give you the exactest piece of Anatomy now extant in your own mother tongue wherein you may as perfectly see these and all other internal operations of your Body as you can your Faces in a Looking Glass But to return This Excrement of Blood is twofold for either by excessive heat it is addust and this is that the Latins call Atra bilis or else it is thick and earthly of it self and this properly is called Melancholly humor Hence then is the nature of Splenical Medicines to be found out and by these two is the Spleen usually afflicted for Atra bilis I know not what distinct English name to give it many times causeth Madness and pure Melancholly causeth obstructions of the Bowels and tumors whereby the concoction of the Blood is viciated and Dropsies many times follow Medicines then peculiar to the Spleen must needs be twofold also some apropriated to Atra bilis others to pure Melancholly but of purging either of them I shall omit till I come to treat of Purging in a Chapter by it self 1. Such Medicines are Splenical which by cooling and moistning temper Atra bilis let not these Medicines be to cold neither for there is no such heat in Atra bilis as there is in Choller and therefore it needs no such excessive cooling amongst the number of these are such as we mentioned amongst the Cordials to repel Melancholly vapors from the Heart such temper and asswage the malice of Atra bilis 2. Those Medicines are also Splenical by which Melancholly humors are corrected and so prepared that they may the more easily be evacuated such Medicines are cutting and opening and they differ from Hepaticals in this that they are no waies binding for the Spleen being no waies addicted to concoction binding Medicines do it harm and not good 3. Sometimes the Spleen is not only obstructed but also hardned by Melancholly humors and in such cases Emolient Medicines may be well called Splenicals not such as are taken inwardly for they operate upon the Stomach and Bowels but such as are outwardly applied to the Region of the Spleen Aud although sometimes Medicines are outwardly applied to hardness of the Liver yet they differ from Splenicals because they are binding so are not Splenicals Chap. 7. Of Medicines apropriated to the Reins and Bladder THe Office of the Reins is To make a separation between the Blood and the Urin to receive this Urine thus separated from the Blood is the Bladder ordained which is of a sufficient bigness to contain it that so a man may go about his business and not be alwaies pissing Both these parts of the Body officiating about the Urin they are both usually afflicted by the vices of the Urin. The Urin is oppressed 1. By Stones 2. By Inflamation 3. By thick Humors Medicines apropriated to the Reins and Bladder are usually called Nephriticals and are Threefold some cool others cut gross humors and a third sort breaks the Stone In the Use of all these take notice That the constitution of the Reins and Bladder is such That they abhor all binding Medicines because they cause stoppage of Urine The truth is I shall speak of all these apart in so many Chapters by themselves only let it suffice here That Physitians confess some Medicines perform these by an hidden 〈◊〉 and even break the hardest Stone but no man they say because they cannot themselves can give a Reason how nor why they do it And Secondly take notice That the Reins and Bladder being subject to Inflamations endure not very hot Medicines Thirdly Because the Bladder is further remote from the Centre of the Body than the Kidnies are therefore it requires stronger Medicines than the Kidnies do lest the strength of the Medicine be spent before it be come to the part afflicted Chap. 8. Of Medicines apropriated to the Womb. THese Physitlans call Hystericals and to avoid multiplicity of words
opening the Mouths of the Vessels THese Galen thought to be hot but of thick parts and biting Let none admire that thickness should be attributed to Medicines of an opening substance seeing thickness seems rather to stop than to open For answer to this you must consider the manner of opening obstructions and of opening the mouths of the Vessels is different Obstructions require cutting Medicines by which the thickness of the matter obstructing is made thinner therefore the Medicine ought not to be thick but of thin substance that it may the better penetrate I do not mean of a thin Body like water for that causeth Obstructions rather then take them away but of thin parts viz. Making thin But those Medicines which are said to open the mouths or passages of the Vessels are of thick parts that they may not only penetrate but also strengthen the passages by which they pass therefore Galen besides heat appointed thickness of parts and sharpness or biting as Pepper bites for such a sharp heat is very effectual to penetrate and cannot stop in the least for although the Skin be easily contracted by gentle Medicines the Vessels cannot be shut but by things vehemently binding and therefore let these Medicines of thick substance be also moist for moisture cannot so forcibly bind as to stop the mouths of the Vessels The Use of opening Medicines may be easily gathered from the use of the Vessels to be opened for seeing their use is to hold Blood which sometimes offend in quantity sometimes in quality such infirmities are to be remedied by opening Medicines They are easily known by tast being sharp and piercing and bite the tongue but such as are stopping are cold and binding and contract the tongue in tasting of them CHAP. 6. Of Attenuating Medicines THe use of Attenuating Medicines is to open the obstructions of the Bowels The Bowels are obstructed or stopped by tough and viscus humors hence then it is cleer that Attenuating or Extenuating Medicines ought to be thin of substance but whether they ought all to be hot or not is some question for indeed many cold Medicines cut tough humors and open obstructions as Vinegar Endive Succory and the like I shall not enter into the Dispute here whether all cold things bind or not and therefore some hold Vinegar to be hot in it self and cool only by accedent we know Wine is hot and Vinegar is nothing but corrupted Wine and we know as well that putrifaction turns things usually into a contrary quality and besides if you ask Physitians how one Simple can perform two contrary operations they presently run into the old bush It doth it say they by a hidden quality The use of Attenuating Medicines is to open the Bowels to clense the Breast of Flegm co expel the Terms c. Your best course is first to clense the body by some gentle purge before you use Attenuating Medicines lest they seise upon the Blood and cause Feavers or other mischeifs as bad They are in tast sharp sowr or bitter yet such as being tasted dilate the tongue and contract it not Chap. 7. Of Drawing Medicines THe Opinion of Physitians is concerning these as it is concerning other Medicines viz. Some draw by a manifest quality some by a hidden and so quoth they they draw to themselves both humors and thorns or splinters that are gotten into the Flesh however this is certain they are all of them hot and of thin parts hot because the Nature of heat is to draw of thin parts that so they may penetrate to the humors that are to be drawn out Their Use is various viz. 1. That the Bowels may be disburthened of corrupt humors 2. Outwardly used by them the offending humor I should have said the Peccant humor had I written only to Scholers is called from the internal parts of the Body to the Superficies 3. By them the Crisis of a Disease is much helped forward 4. They are exceeding profitable to draw forth Poyson out of the Body 5. Parts of the Body overcooled are cured by these Medicines viz. By applying them outwardly to the place not only because they heat but also because they draw the spirits by which life and and heat are cherished to the part of the Body which is destitute of them you cannot but konw that many times parts of the Body fall away in Flesh and their strength decays as in some peoples Arms or Legs or the like the usual Reason is Because the vital Spirit decaies in those parts to which use such Plaisters or Oyntments as are attractive which is the Physical term for drawing Medicines for they do not only cherish the parts by their own proper heat but draw the Vital and Natural spirits thither whereby they are both quickned and nourished They are known almost by the same tokens that Attenuating Medicines are seeing Heat and thinness of parts is in them both they differ only in respect of quantity thinness of parts being most proper to Attenuating Medicines but Attractive Medicines are hotter Chap. 8. Of Discussive Medicines BY Discussive Medicines I intend such as the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly Physitians call them by the names of Diaphoreticks in plain English they are such Medicines as provoke Sweat or as work by insensible transpiraton which is another term they give to Sweating I quote these terms and explain them because I would not have my Country-men hood-wink'd with strange terms I am half of Opinion it is one way by which they are trained up in slavery The nature of Discussing or Sweating Medicines is almost the same with Attractive for there are no discussive Medicines but are attractive nor scarce any attractive Medicine but is in some measure or other discussing The difference then is only this That discussive Medicines is hotter than attractive and therefore nothing else need be written of their nature Their Use may be known even from their very Name for diseases that come by repletion or fulness are cured by evacuation or emptying yet neither Blood nor gross humors are to be expelled by Sweating or insensible transpiration as they call it but the one requires Blood-letting the other Purgation but Serosus or thin humors and filthy vapors and such like superfluities are to be expelled by sweat and be wary in this too for many of them work violently and violent Medicines are not rashly to be given Besides Swellings are sometimes made so hard by sweating Medicines that afterwards they can never be cured For what is Thin being by such Medicines taken away nothing but what is perfectly hard remains If you fear such a thing mix Emollients with them Again Sometimes by using Discussives the humors offending which Physitians usually call the Peccant humor is driven to some more noble part of the Body or else it draws more than it discusseth in such cases concoct and attenuate the matter offending before
hot and moist Also to provoke one to the sports of Venus we use such things as stir up the veneral faculty These are hotter than those that encrease Seed yet not so dry that they should consume the Seed Take notice of this 〈◊〉 that some things dull Venus by cold and some over power her by 〈◊〉 The one of those 〈◊〉 the Seed the other makes it torped and sluggish staies the Itching For the Seed of Man is subject to as many contingents as the Man himself is It is not my 〈◊〉 here to treat of them for such things as make Seed either thinner or thicker are not properly said to breed Seed For the time when Seed should be encreased I need say nothing unless I should say when a Man hath got a prety 〈◊〉 If the Body be vicious let it first be purged let Seed be entreased before it be provoked Biting things lessen the Seed stir up the Venerial parts to expulsion cause Itching or tickling of the 〈◊〉 therefore they are good to be used a little before the act otherwise the constant use of them consumes and 〈◊〉 the Seed Observe thus much that one and the same Medicine doth not suit with every complexion for example If the person be 〈◊〉 let the Medicine be the hotter The use of these Medicines is the propagation of Mankind for the desire of Children inches many to Copulation but the pleasure that is in the 〈◊〉 ten times more Chap. 18. Of Medicines casing Pain THere is no dispute of the story but that which causeth the disease causeth the pain as also what 〈◊〉 the disease caseth the pain Yet are those properly called 〈◊〉 which is the Physical term for such Medicines which barely regard the pain both cause and disease remaining These are temperate for heat and thin for essence For seeing they are to be applied both to hot and cold effects they ought not to vary much from temperature They something excel in heat and so they ease pain because they open the pores and loosen the skin But they also cool because they let out those hot fuliginous vapors which cause the pain Such things as case pain by 〈◊〉 are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do not take away the pain at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cause sleep or so dul the sences that they cannot 〈◊〉 it They are administred at such times when the Symptoms are so grievous that they threaten a 〈◊〉 danger than the disease is If in giving them you fear a greater fluxion will come to the part afflicted mix some things with them which are medicinal for the disease If the pain lie in the skin let the anodines beliquid the deeper it lies the more solid let them be lest their vertue be discussed before they come at the part afflicted CHAP. 19. Of Medicines breeding Flesh. THere are many things diligently to be observed in the cures of Wounds and Ulcers which incur and hinder that the cure cannot be speedily done nor the separated parts reduced to their natural state Viz. Fluxes of Bloud 〈◊〉 Hardness Pain and other things besides our present scope Our present scope is To shew how the cavity of Ulcers may be filled with Flesh Such Medicines are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sarcoticks This though it be the work of Nature yet it is helped forward with Medicines that the Bloud may be prepared that it may the easier be turned into Flesh. These are not Medicines which breed good Bloud nor which correct the intemperature of the place afflicted but which defend the Bloud and the Ulcer it self from corruption in breeding Flesh. For Nature in breeding Flesh produceth two sorts of excrements viz. serosus humors and purulentus dross Those Medicines then which clense and consume these by drying are said to breed Flesh because by their helps Nature performs that Office Also take notice that these Medicines are not so drying that they should consume the blood also as well as the Sanies nor so clensing that they should consume the Flesh with the dross Let them not then exceed the first Degree unless the Ulcer be very moist Their difference are various according to the part wounded which ought to be restored with the same Flesh. The softer then and tenderer the place is the gentler let the Medicines be Chap. 20. Of Glutinative Medicines THat is the true cure of an Ulcer which joyns the mouth of it together That is a glutinative Medicine which couples together by drying and binding the sides of an Ulcer before brought together These require a greater drying faculty than the former not only to consume what flows out but what remains liquid in the flesh for liquid flesh is more subject to flow abroad than to stick together The time of using them any body may know without teaching viz. when the Ulcer is clensed and filled with Flesh and such symptoms as hinder are taken away For many times Ulcers must be kept open that the Sanies or sords that lie in them may be purged out whereas of themselves they would heal before Only beware left by too much binding you cause pain in tender parts Chap. 21. Of Scarrifying Medicines THe last part of the cure of an Ulcer is to cover it with Skin and restore the place to its prestin beauty Such Medicines the Greeks call Epulotica This also is done by things drying and binding They differ from the former thus in that they meddle with the Flesh no further than only to convert it into Skin Before you administer Epuloticks let not only the Ulcer but the places adjacent be 〈◊〉 viewed lest ill Symptoms follows Chap. 22. Of Medicines resisting Poyson SUch Medicines ' are called Alexiteria and Alexipharmaca which resist Poyson Some of these resist Poyson by Astral influence and some Physitians though but few can give a reason of it These they have sorted into three Ranks 1. Such as strengthen Nature that so it may 〈◊〉 the Poyson the easier 2. Such as oppose the Poyson by a contrary quality 3. Such as violently thrust it out of doors Such as strengthen Nature against Poyson either do it to the whol Body universally or else strengthen some particular part thereof For many times one particular part of the Body is most afflicted by the Poyson suppose the Stomach Liver Brain or any other part such as cherish and strengthen those parts being weakned may be said to resist Poyson Such as strengthen the Spirits strengthen all the Body Sometimes Poysons kill by their quality and then are they to be corrected by their contraries They which kill by cooling are to be remedied by heating and the contrary they which kill by corrhoding are to be cured by lenitives such as temper their acrimony Those which kill by Induration or Coagulation require cutting Medicines Also because all Poysons are in motion neither stay they in one till they have seised
Flegm some to Choller some to Melancholly and some to Water or serosus humors Consider this but duly and withal what mischief may accrue by giving a Medicine purging Choller in a Disease proceeding of Flegm or watry humors you may easily see without a pair of Spectacles that it cannot but weaken the Spirits exceedingly and abate Natural heat which is all Nature hath to help her self in such a case as also hinder the clarification of the Blood which is done by Choller thereby encreasing the Disease and opening a gap to let out Life and let in Death It were vain to recite what mischiefs may follow the giving of violent Purges to weak Bodies or to strong Bodies where the humor offending is not tough and viscous but fluid and easie to be carried away I shall touch upon them by and by only here you may see reason enough why I am so long upon this Subject Lastly When you perfectly know the humor offending the convenient Medicine and fit correction for it the time and manner of using it remains to be enquired into These I thought to premise by way of Caution before I come to the matter it self intended and so much the rather because people from one Generation to another have been so trained up in ignorance by Physitians who have absconded the Method of Physick from them that now like mad men oppression having almost if not altogether made them so when they all any thing they take any Purge what their next Neighbor adviseth them to right or wrong 't is no matter their wit in and consideration of the business being much at one Of the Choyce of Purging Medicines WE told you before that purging Medicines were apropriated to certain humors the redundancy or overflowing of which causeth diseases in the Body of Man of these such as proceed from Blood are not to be remedied by Purging The Humors to be purged are Four viz. Flegm Watry Humor Choller Melancholly According to the quality of these are Purging Medicines to be chosen Before I come to them give me leave to premise one word or two I shall only here quote Purging Simples because I am now upon the Simples I shall touch upon the Purging Compounds when I come unto them and if any ask why I meddle with no other Medicines than what the Colledg makes use of tell them the reason is Because the Colledg have so ordered the matter that a man can buy no other for his money The most noted qualities of Purging Medicines I shall first give you a Synopsis or Joynt-view of Purging Simples usually to be had Secondly speak as briefly as I can of their Properties Purging Simples work Gently Strongly Such as work gently either 〈◊〉 Choller As Wormwood Centaury Aloes Hops Mercury Mallows Peach leaves and flowers Damask Roses Blew Violets Cassia Fistula Citron Mirobalans Prunes Tamarinds Rhubarb Rhapontick Manna Purge Flegm As Hysop Hedg Hysop Bastard Saffron Broom flowers Elder flowers Myrobalans Bellerick Chebs and Emblicks the Seed of Bastard Saffron and Broom Jallap and Mechoacan Watry Humors The Leaves Bark and Roots of Elder and Dwarf Elder or Walwort Elder Flowers Broom Flowers Agrick Jallap Mechoacan Orris or Flower-de-luce Roots Melancholly Senna Fumitory Dodder Epithimum Indian Myrobalans Polipodium Whey Lapis Lazuli c. Violent Simples purge Choller As The Seeds of Spurge the Bark and Root of the same Scammony Elaterium Flegm and Water Elaterium Euphorbium Spurge Opopanax Sarcocolla Briony Roots Turbith Hermodactils Colocynthis Wild Cucumers Sowbread Mezereon Squils Melancholly Hellebore white and black Secondly In all these observe That such as are gentle are only to be given to delicate and tender bodies whether the body be weake naturally or caused so by sickness above all give not vomits to weak stomachs for the Fundament is ordained by nature to avoid the Excrements and not the mouth which was ordained to take in not to vomit out therefore use vomits as seldom as may be But for the Election of Purges Let such as are apropriated to flegm and Melancholly be mixed with such things as are thin in substance and of a cutting quality because these humors are tough gentle Medicines will serve to evacuate Water and Choller usually I say usually because sometimes water requires such Medicines as are of force to call them from the extream parts of the Body and such must needs be violent in operation I entreat all yong Students in Physick to be very careful in administring violent Medicines and that never without due preparation of the Body beforehand never unless the humor be so repugnant that it will not yield to gentler And oh that simple people would learn to be but so wise as to let them alone and not take them themselves the evil they may do them if not regulated by an abler brain than dwels in their skuls is certain the good very uncertain for such violent Medicines as purge Choller if immoderately taken first draw the Choller then the Flegm afterwards the Melancholly then they cuase corrosions and draw the blood Such as purge Flegm and Water violently when they have drawn that then they draw the Choller then Melancholly they then corrode and so either by excoriation or opening the mouths of the Veins bloody Fluxes also follow and many times the disease ends in the Grave and so also the immoderate Purgation of Melancholly first draws Choller I mean after the Melancholly is evacuated then Flegm and ends as the other do but I think this is enough to wise men To return If you prepare the body beforehand you will not want instructions how to do it in the COMPOUNDS then gentler Medicines will serve the turn and therefore such Medicines as purge Water ad but cutting Medicines to them and they purge Flegm And then again I desire you to take notice that such Medicines as have a binding quality in them are very hurtful to tough Flegm and Melancholly because the humors themselves being tough they make them the tougher but they are most proper for choller and putrified 〈◊〉 because the first of them often causeth Defluxions the second a loosness Again Another thing I thought good to give notice of and so much the rather because I have seen it printed in English and heard it contended for by Students in Physick yet is the conceipt very dangerous viz. That the operations of Purging Medicines may be known by their colors for say they white Medicines purge Flegm black Melancholly and yellow Choller I confess some Ancient Physitians were of this apish Opinion which in no wise holds true in the general though in some particulars it may Of the time of Purging IT was the Opinion of Hippocrates alwaies to prepare the Body with hot and cutting Syrups before the purging Medicine be given with this Proviso That the matter be not so hot that it be thrust into the Veins and cause Feavers If your Purge must be strong take some lenitive Purge or else