go in our bodies after the same rate as they do in the world Urine is form'd in the bladder like rain in the second region of the air and as the rain proceeds from Vapours that arise from the earth and being condens'd produce clouds so urine is producâ—d from exhalations arising from the aliments that find their passage into the bladder Others relate that Heraclitus put this question to the Physicians whether it were possible to press the bowels of any one so as to get out all the water that was contain'd in them which the Physitians affirming to be impossible he expos'd himself naked to the Sun and afterwards manag'd himself in the Stable as is related above the consequence of which was that he was devour'd by Dogs as he lay in the dung being so weak that he was not able to help himself In short others have deliver'd this story otherwise and affirm that Heraclitus was cur'd of this swelling and dy'd long after this of another distemper The most remarkable opinion he held I mean that relates to Philosophy was this that Fire was the beginning of all things that every thing came from Fire and that every thing is done by Fire We shall have occasion hereafter to make some reflections upon this opinion He is reported to be the author of this Sentence (b) Vide Atâ—eâ—â—um that there were no such blockheads and fools in the world as Grammarians except Physicians Democritus was born in the 77th Olympiad He applied himself to Physick as he did to all other Sciences and was so desirous to become learn'd that he spent all his patrimony in travelling to see the most celebrated and famous men abroad He had been in Egypt Persia Babylon and the Indies where he convers'd with Philosophers Geometricians Physicians Priests Magicians and Gymnosophists Diogenes Laertius has given us the Titles of several Books written by Demceritus concerning Philosophy in general and Geometry He likewise compos'd some about Physick in particular the first is intitul'd Of the nature of man or of the Flesh which in all probability is the same that we find under the same title among the works of Hippocrates He writ another Treatise about Plagues which is cited by Aul ' Gellius under this title Of the plague and pestilential diseases A third treated of Prognostics a fourth of Diet or the method of regulating nourishment a fifth of the Causes of distempers and of things that were proper or contrary to the body by considering the time In some other Books he endeavour'd to find out the causes of Seeds of Trees of Fruits and of Animals There is in short another which is intituled (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seâ— the Chapter of Theophratius lib. 4. about the Stone that is to say according to the Chymists about the Philosophers Stone Some Greek Books that treat of Chymistry are still remaining which carry his name and are many-scripts in the Library of the Louvre But learn'd men look upon them to be spurious as we shall see more largely hereafter Pliny likewise cites in abundance of places Democritus â—s Books concerning Plants in which he seems to have principally considerâ—d their Magical or Supernatural Virtues Democritus says this Author who was more devoted to the Magicians than any one since Pythagoras relates more incredible and monstrous Stories than even he did The Reader may consult the 17th Chapter of the 24th Book of Pliny to see more of this Among other things we may find there a remedy or composition to have sine Children This composition is made of Pine-apples bruisâ—d with honey myrrh saffron and palm-tree wine adding to this a drug or simple call'd by him Theombrotion and milk According to this Authorâ—s direction a man must drink of this immediately before he goes to his Wife and she likewise must drink of it as soon as she is derivered and all the while she suckles her Child Pliny speaks in the same place of an herb which Democritus call'd by a Greek name that signifies (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bashful and contracts its leaves when a man touches it Throphrastus likewise makes mention of this plant which is the same with what we now call the sensitive plant which is very well well known If there was no more superstition or Magick in the other places of Democritus than there is in this Pliny wrong'd him when he accusâ—d him of it But t is evident from what this Author adds that the Books of Democritus were full of these trifles and Tatian a Christian Rhetorician and disciple of Justin Martyr has likewise observ'd that Democritus writ nothing but fabulous stuff (c) Lib. 11. cap. 3. Columella cites two Books of Democritus one of which was intitul'd of Agriculture and the other of things that have an Antipathy to one another One may judge of the contents of this latter Book by the following citation Democritus says Columella affirms that Caterpillars and other insects that destroy the greens in gardens dâ—e immediately if a woman that has her menses walks two or three â—â—â—ns over the bods with her fâ—â—t baâ—â— and â—air disheveled But it must be observ'd that the same Columella (f) 〈…〉 elsewhere tells us that the Books that in his time were attributed to Democritus were written by one Dolus or Bolus Mendesius an Egyptian and who perhaps is the same with him whom (g) Lib â— c. 7. Galen calls Horus Mendesius (h) 〈…〉 Celius Aurelianus makes mention of two other Books that went under Democritus's name but he look'd upon them to be spurious One treated of Convulsive diseases and the other of the Elephantiasis In the former of these Books we meet with a remedy against madness which consisted in a decoction 〈◊〉 Origarum that was to be drunk out of a round â—up fashionâ—d like a Bowl In the second he advises to bleed those that are infected with an Elephantiasis and give them of a certain herb which he does not name We shall conceive a more advantageous Idea of Democritus by what remains to be told of him The same thing in a manner happen'd to this Philosopher which befel Heraclitus He retir'd like him to a solitary place that he might be more at liberty but there was this remarkable difference between them that whereas the former wept continually at the follies of mankind the other laught incessantly (i) See the Letters at the end of Hippocrates's works This strange behaviour made his Countrymen of Abdera take him for a fool so they sent to Hippocrates desiring him to come and cure him This Physician arriving there found him employâ—d in dissecting of Animals and enquiring the reason of it he told him 't was to discover the effect of folly which he lookt upon to be the cause of the bile By this Hippocrates discover'd that the world was exceedingly mistaken in their opinion of him and after a long conversation wherein among other things Democritus told
Flatib all that incommodes Man but this is too general He thought that the blood in good condition nourished and that it was the fountain of the vital heat that it caus'd a fresh colour and good health That the yellow Bile preserv'd the body in its natural state hindering the small Vessels and secret Passages from being stopp'd and keeping open the Drain of the Excrements He thought it actuated the Senses and help'd to the concoction of the Aliment The black Bile was a sort of Ground which serv'd as a support and foundation for other humours The Flegm servâ—d to supple and facilitate the motion of the Nerves Membranes Cartilages Joints and Tongue and other Parts Besides the four first qualities which Hippocrates attributed to the Humours as moisture driness heat and cold it is apparent that he believed they had or might have abundance of others which all had their use and were never hurtful but when one prevailed over the rest or was separated from them Take his own words (e) De prisâ— Med. lib. 2. in the Chapter of Alcmaeon The Ancients says he did not believe that the dry the cold the hot or the moist nor any other like quality incommoded a Man but that whatever exceeded or prevailed of any of these qualities and which Nature cou'd not overcome was that which incommoded the Man and that which they endeavoured to take away or correct so of the sweet the most sweet was the strongest as of the bitter or sowre that which was most bitter and most sowre in short the highest degree of every thing These are says Hippocrates the latest discoveries of the Ancients in the body of Man and which were hurtful There are really in our bodies bitter sweet sowre salt rough and insipid and abundance of others which have different faculties according to their quantity or quality These different qualities are insensible and do not hurt so long as they are in due mixture but if these humours separate and lodge apart then their qualities become at once both sensible and inconvenient From what Hippocrates has here said we may gather that he did not suppose the Matters we have spoken of to act only by what the Philosophers callâ—d first qualities so far from that that he says a little after That 't is not the hot that is of any mighty power but the sowre the insipid c. whether within a Man or without a Man whether in regard of what he cats or what he drinks or what he applies outwardly in what manner soever concluding that of all the faculties there are none less active than heat and cold What we have said of the separation of the humours from one another relate to what Hippocrates says in divers places that the humours move This motion which is the cause of several distempers expresses sometimes by a term it signifies (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impeâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—dine incenli a Fury like that of some Animals that grow Lustful at certain times There are other passages by which Hippocrates seems to impute Diseases (g) Lib. de affectâ— nib lib 〈◊〉 de Morb. to two of these humours only the Bile and Pituita as they offer'd either in quantity or quality or place But as he speaks elsewhere of two sorts of Bile these two humours may be split into three and with the blood make four (h) Lib. 4. de Morb. In some other passages he adds a fifth which is Water of which he supposes the Spleen to be the Spring as the Liver and the Brain are of the Blood the Bile and the Pituita Some of his Commentators make this Water the same with the Melancholy to which Hippocrates seems to substitute it I cannot see how to reconcile their opinion with the Idea he had of that humour he look'd upon 't as we have said before as a sort of Lee of the rest of the humours which will by no means agree with water Nor are they nearer their point for making two sorts of Melancholy one of which we have been speaking and another which ought rather to be call'd black Bile which is only the yellow Bile turn'd black as he supposed by being over-heated and burnt this having nothing in common with water The only support of the opinion in question is that he says in the same passage that this water is the heaviest of all the humours I see no reason why we shou'd not object that this is another System (i) It is ascrib'd to Polyblus his Son-iâ—-â—aw See Book 4. Ch. 1. since it has been always suspected that Hippocrates was not the Author of that Book This water might be something like what Hippocrates elsewhere calls Ichor by which he meant any sort of clear thin Liquor form'd in the body of a Man whether sound or unsound So he calls by this name what runs from a malignant Vlcer and speaks in several places of sharp and bilious Ichors and burning Ichors (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We find yet a third System of the Causes of Diseases in another book Intituled Of Winds or Spirits which is mixâ—d with the Works of Hippocrates but most suppose it not to be his The Author of this book uses sometimes the word Wind sometimes Spirit with this difference That the latter signifies the Spirits or Air and Wind inclosed in the body but the former the Wind without from whence nevertheless he derives that within by means of the Air drawn by respiration and the Air contain'd in the Food we take This book upon reading seems to be one of the most rational and coherent of all Hippocrates's Works He looks upon the Air and the Spirits to be the true Causes of health and of diseases even in preference to the humours which here are only collateral Causes as the Spirits mix with ' em But this later opinion may be reconcil'd with that which we have before allow'd to be Hippocrates's concerning the effects of the humours only alledging that all that has been attributed to them in relation to health or sickness supposes an impulse of the Spirits as the first movers and that therefore Hippocrates nam'd them as we have said before that which gives the motion There is according to Hippocrates as great a variety of external Causes of health and diseases as there is of things without the body of Man which may act upon him as there is of diversity in his Conduct and of accidents in the course of his Life From this Hypothesis it is plain that Health and Sickness in general depend upon the following Causes On the Air which surrounds us what we eat and drink sleep watching exercise what goes out of our bodies and what is kept in and upon the Passions In this number likewise are rank'd those foreign bodies which occur and are sometimes useful yet may often dissolve cut or break the union of the Parts of ours Poisons and venemous
into the lungs (c) Gell. llb. 17. cap. 11. Macrob. lib. 17 cap. 15. which made one of the Ancients say that Plato gave posterity occasion to laugh by meddling with that which was not his business But he that said this did not consider that Hippocrates and other Physicians before spoken of were themselves of this opinion and that Plato apparently spoke only after them This Philosopher imagined also another part or sort of soul which desired not only meat and drink and all that was necessary for the body but which was the Principle of all appetites or desire in general This soul was posted between the Diaphragm and the Navel it was quartered in the lowest part and farthest from the head that it might not by its agitations and commotions disturb the reasonable soul which is the best part of us in its meditations and thoughts for the common good These troubles or disturbances of the inferiour soul were excited by Phantasms or Images presented to it by the liver the liver having been polishâ—d and made shining that it might reflect the Images which were communicated to it to produce trouble tranquility or pleasure in the inferiour soul according as the liver is it self troubled by the bitterness of the Bile or sedate and calm thro' the predomination of sweet Juices opposed to the Bile Besides what we have already said of the heart and of the soul lodged there Plato held this further concerning it The heart says he which is at the same time (d) Viâ—â— Pag. the source of the veins and of the bloud which (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See pag. whirls rapidly in all parts of the body is set (f) See pag as a Centinel or Serjeant that when the Choler is inflamed at the command of the Reason upon the account of some injustice committed either without or within by the desire or passions presently all that is sensibly in the body disposes it self by opening all its pores to hear its menaces and obey its commands The opinion of this Philosopher concerning the manner of respiration is no less peculiar He believed that there was no vacuum in the world but that the Air which escaped out of the Lungs and Mouth in respiration meeting that which surrounds the body without pushes it so that it forces it to enter thro' the pores of the skin and flesh and to insinuate it self into the most remote parts of the body till it fills the place which the other left after which making the same way out again by the Pores it forces that without to enter by the mouth into the lungs in inspiration We see by this that Plato confounded transpiration with respiration pretending that both one and t'other were performed together as it were by two semicircles As for the flesh he thought it compounded of water fire and earth and a certain sort of sharp leaven biting and salt These are some of Plato's thoughts of a humane body in its natural state As for the causes of its destruction which are diseases old age and death he supposed in the first place that the bodies which are about ours disolv'd and melt it continually after which every substance which gets loose or exhales returns to the principle from whence it was drawn he supposes in the second place that the blood which is according to him a fluid matter form'd of the Aliments by a peculiar artifice of nature which cuts and reduces them into small pieces by means of (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fire which rises in our stomach after the air or breath He supposed that this blood whose redness was an evident token of the impression of this fire served to nourish the flesh and generally the whole body and to fill up the vacant spaces of it as it were by a sort of watering or general inundation This being supposed he maintained that while we were young this bloud abounding in all parts not only supply'd what was dissipated or diminished of the flesh which as was said was perpetual but after having fill'd up what was wanting it furnish'd matter of increase to the mass of the body from hence it is that in our youth we grow and become larger but when we are advanced in years more of the substance of our body is spent than the bloud can supply or restore therefore we diminish by degrees Those principles also of which our bodies consists which Plato calls Triangles which in our youth were stronger than those of which the Aliments were compounded reducing them easily to a substance like themselves become disunited and relaxed by having so long endured the shock of other triangles this causes old age which is followed by death especially where the triangles whereof the spinal marrow consists are dissolv'd and disunited so that the bands by which the soul was fasten'd to it are intirely broken and let it loose As for diseases which attack us in all ages and precipitate the usual time of death he suppos'd that our bodies being composed of the four Elements before named the disorders of these Elements were the chief causes of them These disorders consisted in the excess or deficiency of any of these Elements when they did not preserve the proportion of their first mixture or when they changed place leaving their own place for another To explain himself more particularly he adds that the fire exceeding produced continual and burning fevers that if the air over-ballanced it produced quotidian intermitting Fevers If the Water Tertian Fevers and if Earth Quartanes The Earth being the heaviest of all the Elements must have quadruple the time to move it self in that the fire has and the rest of the Elements in proportion Plato did not confine himself to these generals only but proceeded to the particular explication of the changes that befall our bodies in relation to the bloud and humours which are the immediate causes of distempers While the bloud says he maintains its natural state it serves to nourish the body and to preserve health But when the flesh begins to corrupt or to melt and dissolve the humour which comes from it entring into the veins carries this corruption along with it and changing the bloud in several manners turns it from red to yellow and bitter or sower or salt so that that which was pure Bloud becomes part Bile and Phlegm or Serosities What we call Bile says Plato is particularly produced from the dissolution of the old flesh it is an humour that assumes divers forms and is very changeable both as to colour and taste but it is chiefly distinguished into two sorts the yellow Bile which is bitter and the black Bile which is sowre and pricking As for the Phlegm and Serosities or Water Plato seems to confound them or to make but one sort of humour of them The Phlegm according to him is produced from the new flesh and the serosities or waters which are designed by the particular names of sweat
or tears are only the phlegm melted or dissolved In another place he seems to confound the phlegm and serosities with the Bile when he says that what we call sowre phlegm is the same thing with the serosity of the black Bile But in the explication of the effects of these humours he restrains himself to the two principal which are (h) See Pag. the Bile and the Phlegm and he acknowledges that these two juices by their mixture with the blood are the causes of all distempers When the Bile evaporates outwards or discharges it self upon the skin it causes divers sorts of humours attended with inflamations which the Greeks call'd (i) See Pag. Phlegmons but when it is confin'd within it produces all sorts of (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burning diseases The Bile is especially hurtful when it is mixed with the blood it breaks the orders of the Fibres which are according to him small threads scatterd thro' the blood that it might be neither too clear nor too thick to the end that on the one side it should not evaporate and on the other might always move easily in the veins This Bile continuing its havock after having broken the fibres of the blood pierces to the spinal marrow and destroys the links of the soul before spoken of unless the body that is to say all the flesh melting or dissolving breaks its force When this happens the Bile being overcome and obliged to depart the body throws it self thro' the veins upon the lower belly and the stomach from whence it is discharged by stool and vomiting like those that flie out of a Town in an uproar and cause in their passage Diarrhaea's and Dysenteries and other discharges which prove often healthful The sweet or insipid phlegm occasions Tumours and some impurities of the skin and when it mixes with some little bladders of the Air it is then call'd (l) A sort of Dropsie in Hippocrates See Pag. white Phlegm If this Phlegm mixes with the black Bile and penetrates into the receptacles of the brain it causes the Epilepsie or Falling-sickness The sowre or salt Phlegm is the cause of all diseases comprehended under the name of Catarrhs or Rheums and brings disorder and pain upon what part soever it falls We must here take notice of the Idea which Plato had of the Matrix or its properties and some of its diseases (m) See Pag. the Matrix says he is an Animal which longs impatiently to conceive and if it be long disappointed of bearing Fruit is is enraged and runs up and down the whole Body and stopping the passages of their Air it takes away respiration and causes great uneasiness and an Anfinite number of Diseases These were the sentiments of Plato upon the causes of diseases upon all which we shall not trouble our selves to make reflections We shall confine our selves only to what he says concerning the Acidity and saltness of the humours it being of importance to our History to take notice of it because of the several Systems that have been since built upon that foundation Hippocrates had before spoken of the sowre and the salt but he has mention'd them only upon the account of their effect without shewing their Original which Plato seems to have discover'd and therein to have made an improvement upon him We may observe first that the Philosopher speaks of an Acidity and saltness which is nâ—turally in the body in a slate of health Such is the sowrness and sweetness of the flesh which he says consists of Water Fire and Earth and besides that a sowre salt leaven as has been already observed He does not say from whence this leaven comes but by his manner of expressing himself it seems not to be drawn from the common Elements but to be something different from the Water Fire and Earth which have their share apart in the formation of the flesh In the second place Plato held a saltness and sowrness which were praeternatural which are in the humours which cause diseases He seems further to deduce the sowre and salt from the same source with the natural sowre and salt that is from the flesh which corrupting and dissolving according to him infect the blood and turn it into Bile and into Phlegm But this latter sowre and salt are something different from the former tho' they come from the flesh for this is an effect of their corruption the other is the principle of the preservation But Plato not explaining himself any further thereupon neither shall we enlarge He adds a third sort of sowrness which is that of the black Bile which of bitter becomes sowre when the bitterness which is natural to it is alternated and subtilized to a certain degree It may be urged that the Greek word which we have translated (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sowre might as well signifie pointed or sharp as sowre both in this latter passage and in all those before cited The Greeks having only one word to express both meanings but 't is plain from the opposition in which Plato put this word to (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter that the former ought to be translated sowre and not pointed which is not so naturally opposed to bitter as sowre is Plato speaks elsewhere of sowrness and holds that it has its Origine from things sharp and pointed which have been subtilized or attenuated by corruption and reckons it the occasion of Fermentations and Ebullitions which arise when the gross and terrestrial humours begin to move and to swell or rise up It is observable that Plato to these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are Adjectives joyns the same Substantive that Hippocrates did which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which according to the sense of Hippocrates may be translated by the words force power faculty or virtue as well as by the words savour or taste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sapor Acidus sowre taste as Serranus translates it as for the rest Plato thought as Hippocrates did that diseases had their fixed periods for duration As the time of the life of every Animal is regulated by its lot when it comes into the world this time can néither be hastened nor delayed but by an effect of the passions which come likewise themselves by a sort of necessity So likewise diseases must of necessity have their course and we ought rather to seek to temper them and stop their progress by means of (p) See the mâ—thod of Hippocrates in acute diseases prudent diet and exercise than by medicines especially those which purge which ought never to be used but in cases of extremity otherwise of a small evil you make a great one and of a single one many By this we may see that Plato did not deviate much from the principles of Hippocrates and as he lived at the same time with him or very near it being born in the eighty eighth Olympiad 't is
What that is may be seen in the third Book I shall only add that if any man objects that I have not exhausted this rich Fund but have left much unsaid I acknowledge it But this I assure him that to the best of my Judgment I have made Hippocrates say nothing but what he really did say and that I have omitted nothing that I thought very material either in his reasonings or his method I have one word more more to add concerning the Language in which I write If I had written in Latin I might perhaps have had more Readers and the faults have been less visible at least I might have hoped for as easy pardon as abundance of other Authors that have written lately in it tho but indifferent Masters of it 'T is pure humour that made me write in French If my Book be worth the while 't will find Translators enough to make it of use to Strangers And for the French 't is sufficient if they understand me without being solicitous about the purity or politeness of the Stile which seldom falls to the share of those that are but borderers upon the Country THE HISTORY OF Physick PART I. BOOK I. The Rise and Progress of Physick from the beginning of the World to the time of the Trojan War inclusive CHAP. I. The Reasons that first put Men upon the Search after Medicine and their earliest proceedings therein COULD the Bodies of Men and other Animals persist always in their natural state without any alteration and every Part whereof they are compos'd do its duty we should enjoy a perpetual course of that which we call Health or Life But this admirable piece of Workman-ship like all the rest is submitted at length to Dissolution Not a moment paâ—â—es which makes not some change sensible or insensible The Springs which move our Bodies are fram'd of Matter so tender and so susceptible of all Foreign impressions that no long time is requir'd to wear em out and being extreamly subtil and â—ine must needs be very brittle and therefore frequently out of order nor can it possibly last long in comparison with more solid Bodies and consequently Death which finally dissolves us and the Distempers which lead to it are unavoidable Nor are we to be surprizâ—d at Dying since we have more reasonable cause of wonder that Diseases come not oftner and Death sooner which were inevitable if among the numberless Springs that actuate our Machine some were not less necessary others less nice Some like the main Spring of a VVatch give the motion and set all the rest a going Others less essential may receive great damages and stand still without stopping the motion of the whole The Errors we commit in the use of those things that are necessary for the maintenance of this Engine as Meat Drink Exercise and Rest c. which are those that usually produce the greatest alterations in the principal Parts nor even the violent impulses of other Bodies tend not always to its entire destruction nay often scarce cause a sensible disorder But if it so falls out such is the wonderful contrivance of this Machine that it can frequently shake off unassisted the Clogs that impede its motion and recover its former state or very near it for we must confess that these frequent shocks wear and destroy the Springs by insensible degrees But when this disorder rises so high that it cannot be surmounted by all the force of the Machine in its ordinary course that there is a necessity of Foreign Aid as there are about it some Bodies hurtful to and entirely destructive of it so there are others helpful and beneficial in its extremest need The Beasts under the direction of their Senses only know how to refrain and guard themselves from those and to take the benefit of these I shall not here take into consideration what is commonly reported of the Instinct of Brutes of that hereafter 'T is sufficient to take notice that Men who have Reason have not fail'd to make use of it on these occasions The kindness they have for their own Bodies has taught 'em ever since the beginning of the World to distinguish carefully between what was useful for the preservation of Life and Health and what was destructive of ' em They used their utmost endeavour to avoid the latter but finding all their caution insufficient and that it was not always in their power to avoid the Causes of Diseases their refuge was to observe nicely the conduct of those that were fallen sick Finding therefore that in their opinion such or such an Error had hasten'd the death of some and such and such Conduct the recovery of others and that then they made use of things not used in time of health to which they attributed their recovery they for the future avoided what they thought hurtful to the former and tryâ—d upon other persons in like cases those things which they thought so beneficial to the latter and being confirm'd by repeated Successes continued the use of ' em CHAP. II. Whether Med'cine came immediately from God And how the first Remedies were found out WE have seen what first induc'd Men to have recourse to Med'cine and what in general their management must needs have been on that occasion If it be ask'd Who taught Men to have recourse in their Sickness to things of which in Health they made no use Most believe that Men owe their first knowledge of this kind to Divine Inspiration immediately and by way of Revelation or Instruction The Jewish and many Christian Doctors have inferrâ—d from Genesis where t is said That God causâ—d all the Creatures to pass before Adam that he might give em Names That he at the same time receiv'd a perfect knowledge of all their qualities and of the rest of the Creation and consequently that he was not ignorant of their Medical Vertues Many yet are of another opinion Of this first Man we shall say somewhat more when we treat of the Inventors of Medicine A second Argument to prove the coelestial Origine of this Art is drawn from those passages of Ecclesiasticus * Cap. 38. Verse 1 2 c. where he says That God created the Physician and the Physick and that he hath given Science to Men and that 't is he that healeth Man c. All the ancient Pagans held their Gods to be the Authors of Medâ—cine The Art of Physick says (a) Deorum immortalium inveâ—tiâ—nâ— consecrata est Ars Medica Qâ—â—â— Tusc 3. CICERO is Sacred to the Invention of the Immortal Gods that is to say This Art was look'd on as Sacred because invented by the Gods The Author of a Piece among the Works of Galen Entituled The Physician or the Introduction tells us That the Greeks ascribâ—d the invention of Arts to the Sons of the Gods or others of their nearest Kindred who were instructed 〈◊〉 HIPPOCRATES makes God the Invenâ—â—r (b) De prise Med. They says
they became thereby so numerous that the care of distinguishing and selecting must necessarily devolve upon some particular Person whose whole and sole business and employment it became In our enquiry into the birth and beginning of Physick we must distinguish between Physick in (b) Illud satis â—â—t admoâ—cre omnia quâ—â—â—is consummarit à Natura initia duxisse aâ—t tâ—llatar Medicina quâ—â—x observatione â—â—lubrium atque 〈◊〉 contâ—arioâ—â—â—n reperta 〈◊〉 atque ut 〈◊〉 ousdam â—â—â—â—et tota â—â—â—stat experimentis Namque vuinus deligavit aliquis anâ—â—quam haec Ars esset sebrem quiete abstinentiâ non quia rationem videbat sed quia â—â—â—aletudo ipsa coeâ—erat Quintilian lib. 2. cap. 8. the Natural State as we suppose it to have been among the first Men and as it was among the Babylonians and Physick after it became an Art The first is as â—id as Mankind and has been in use in all times and all Nations that we may say wâ—â—h Pâ—â—â—â— That if some Nations have made shift without Physicians yet none ever did without Physick All the difficulty lies in assigning the time when the latter commenc'd that is when they had gather'd a sufficient collection of Observations whereon to sound Rules to know and distinguish Diseases by and Precepts for the choice and administration of Remedies and for the regulation of Living c. Whether these Rules were true or false the Precepts just or unreasonable is not the question For if it be ask'd when this Art was brought to perfection the true and ready answer is That t is yet a great way short of that The question here is When those Rules and Precepts were first laid down by which Physick became an Art When we read in history or Fable that (a) See the Chapâ—er of Esculapius the Invention of Physick is ascrib'd to this or that particular person we are not to imagine him the first that ever gave a Med'cine what has been observ'd concerning Natural Physick refutes that conceit 'T is more probable that those to whom the Ancients gave the honour of the Invention of this Aâ—â— were Men that apply'd themselves more peâ—â—â—â—â—ly to it and distinguish'd themselves by it whether they were really the first that engagâ—d in it or that excelling in their Art their greater lustre â—â—scur'd the dim Lights of those that preceded 'em in it and seemâ—d to have made some progress in the establishment of that Art of which these compleated the System or that examining more narrowly the Subject of it that is the Body and enquiring more â—â—â—ely into the Causes of Distempers and of the Eâ—â—ects of Remedies they first began to give the Reasons of the Precepts of their Art Experience alone was sufficient for the Inventors of the first 〈◊〉 they had no need of more refin'd reasoning than common sense furnish'd every Man with The second were oblig'd to carry their speculations a little farther grounding still upon Experience only The third were oblig'd not only to Reason but to join the study of Natural Philosophy to that of Physick CHAP. IV. That Prometheus by some reputed the first Inventor of Physick is a feign'd Person The first Man the first Physician OF all those that were accounted the Inventors of Physick by the Ancients Prometheus only seems to have been an Inventor of the first sort Aeschylus introduces him speaking thus of himself You wou'd be surprizâ—d if I shouâ—d tell you all the Artisices and Subtilties that I have invented This is the principal If any one fell sick and there was no relief for him nothing that he couâ—d eat nothing that he couâ—d drink nothing to anoint him with he must perish for want of Remedies before I taught Men the use of sweetning Med'cines with which they might cure all Discases He had said before That he stole Fire from Heaven which is the infuser of all Arts that he might communicate â—em to Men That he had made them Vnderstanding and Wise That he had taught 'em to build Housek that they miâ—ht dwell no longer in Caves as they had done before To distinguish the Seasons and observe the rising and setting of the Stars To compose Letters and form Words To yoak Beasts and six 'em to the Chariot To break Horses To build Ships and make Sails He adds That he taught 'em to Divine to explain Dreams and Oracles to foretel things by the flying of Birds and the entrails of Beasts and by the Signs that appear in Heaven to dig out of the Earth Brass Iron Silver and Gold In short that all Arts came from Prometheus PROMETHEVS has been taken for the same with MAGOG from whom the Scythians derive themselves But 't is easie to shew that the Prometheus of Aeschylus and the other Poets is only an Emblem or a Prosopopeia of the Wit and Industry of Man or of his Prudence which assisted him to discover all that was useful for Life and Society I shall persue this Subject no farther I shall only take notice that if any one wou'd know who was the first Physician or Patient he shall find 'em both in the person of the first Man The same Law that subjected him to Death submitting him likewise to Diseases at least to divers infirmities inseparable from humane Nature there is no doubt to be made but that he did all he cou'd to secure himself against or free himself from ' em Sacred Writ assures us that he livâ—d long enough to have gather'd abundance of Experience but as the manner of living then was simple and uniform such at least we usually suppose it and the constitution of those primitive Men so robust and hearty that Distempers might be very rare so that 't is not likely he shou'd have had opportunity to carry Physick to any great heighth or reduce it to an Art But since the Scripture is silent in the point I shall proceed to what Pagan Antiquity has handed down to us CHAP. V. HERMES or MERCURY or THOTH the Inventor of Physick by some confounded with MOSES THE most ancient of those that have had the honour of the Invention in the second sense that is to have reduc'd it to an Art is HERMES or MERCVRY Surnam'd TRISME GASTVS suppos'd to be the same with (a) Borrich de ortu progressu Chymiae P. 63. CANAAN Son of CHAM as some learned Men think Tho' their conjecture were so far ill grounded that HERMES and CANAAN should appear to have been different persons yet they liv'd at least at the same time and HERMES must have been the elder One of the ablest (b) Monsieur Eochart in his Phaleg Criticks of this Age has provâ—d that CHRONOS or SATVRN was the same with NOAH Sancbhoniathon informs us that HERMES THOTH or TAAVTVS as the Phaenicians and Aegyptians call him was one of the Counsellors of SATVRN Diodorus Siculus says that HERMES was Secretary to OSYRIS and ISIS the most ancient King and Queen of Aegypt
Artery and the other the Vena Cava At that time all the Blood Vessels were indifferently call'd Veins and the word Artery properly signify'd the (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspera arteria or the Wind-pipe Nay Hippocrates gives the name of Veins to the Ureters and seems to bestow the same appellation upon the Nerves as we shall take notice below besides there are but few places where he formally distinguishes the Arteries from the Veins and where he calls them Arteries which may render the credit of those books or at least of those passages suspicious where this distinction is to be found The Artery adds he immediately after contains more heat than the Vena Cava and is the receptacle of the Spirits There are other Veins in the Body besides these two As for that which is reported to be the largest of all and next to the heart it runs thro the Belly and the Diaphragm and dividing itself into two streams visits either Kidney towards the Loins Above the heart this Vein divides to the right and to the left and ascending to the head distributes itself to either Temple We may continues he joyn the other Veins to this that are also very large but to speak all in a word all the Veins that are dispers'd thro the whole Body come from the Vena Cava and the Artery Here are already two opinions concerning the Origin of the Veins and Arteries There is a third likewise to be found in two several passages in Hippocrates whether in respect of the Origin of the Veins or in respect of your distribution (a) Lib. de Ossium naturâ de Natur. humanâ The largest veins of the Body are says he dispos'd after this manner There are in all four pair the first pair come out behind the head and descending down the back part of the neek on each side of the spine come to the Hips and Thighs pass on thro the Legs to the outside of each Foot For this reason in all pains of the Back and Hips bleeding in the veins of the Hams and external Ancles are of great relief the second pair coming likewise from the Head run behind the Ears down the Neck they are callâ—d the Jugulars and run within the Spine down the Loins where they divide on either side towards the Testicles and Thighs and the inside of the Hams from thence through the inward Ancles to the inside of the foot For this cause in all pains of the Testicles and Loins bleeding in the veins of the Hams and internal Ancles is very serviceable The third pair come out of the Temples and run along the Neck towards the Shoulders and Lungs from thence one turning from the right a little towards the left runs under the Breast to the Spleen and Kidneys the other likewise turning from the left to the right runs under the Breast to the Liver and Kidney And these two branches terminate in the Rectum The fourth part coming out of the fore part of the Head and Eyes run under the Lungs and the Clavicles and from thence thro the upper part of the Arm pass over the bending of the Elbow to the back of the Hands and Fingers and thence they return again thro the palm of the Hand on the inside of the Elbow and under the Arm to the Arm-pits and upon the surface of the side one to the Spleen and the other to the Liver At length both branches running over the Belly terminate in the privities To salve the contradiction between these two last passages it may be urg'd that the Book of the nature of the Bones from whence this latter is drawn is not Hippocrates's but Polybius his Son-in-Law's Neither Galen nor Erotian take notice of this Book among the works of Hippocrates They have not so much as taken notice of the name tho they seem to have explain'd certain words found in it There is a passage of (b) De Generat Anim. lib. 3. cap. 3. Aristotle wherein this Philosopher speaking of the Origin and destribution of the Veins and relating the several sentiments of the Physicians thereupon cites these very words of this Book of the nature of the Bones which we have translated and cites them as Polybius's This proof were sufficient but it removes not all the difficulty for we read the very same words in the Book of Human Nature which Galen maintains strongly to be Hippocrates's pretending to prove it by the Authority of (c) Platon Phaedr Plato who as he says has quoted a passage out of it tho others have ascrib'd this Book to Democritus Nevertheless Galen himself (d) De Hippocrat Platon decreâ— l. 6. c. 3. But Pelops Galen's Master was of another mind maintaining that Hippocrates held as himself also did that the Veins and Arteries as well as Nerves had their Origine from the Brain denies this later opinion touching the origin and destribution of the Veins to be Hippocrates's or even Polybius's but affirms that it must have been foysted surreptitiously into the Text. But this is not probable for we find the same opinion in the Book de locis in Homine There is another difficulty relating to the Book of the flesh or of the principles from whence was taken what we said in the first place that the Veins and Arteries came out of the Heart Aristotle in the afore-cited passage after having remarked that almost all the Physicians consented with Polybius to bring the veins from the Head concludes they were all in an error not knowing that they came from the Heart and not from the Head If Hippocrates be the Author of that Book of the Flesh wherein this opinion of Aristotle is plainly laid down how is it likely this Philosopher should not know it Why should he not as well have read the Writings of Hippocrates as those of Polybius From hence we may infer that this Book is no more Hippocrates's than that of the Nature of the Bones Perhaps Aristotle chose rather in this place to cite Polybius or Synnesis of Cyprus and Diogenes Apolloniates Physicians of small reputation in comparison of Hippocrates than to cite Hippocrates himself whose Name we sind but in (e) Politâ—c li. 7. cap. 4. one place of his Works and there mentioned only en passant perhaps I say he has omitted to quote him out of malice or envy Plato shew'd more honour having made honorable mention of him in several places Perhaps the Book in question was not Hippocrates's for neither do we find the Title of it in the List that Erotian gives of his Works Of the description of the HEART Amongst the Anatomical Books ascrib'd to Hippocrates there is none written with more exactness than that of the Heart which being very short we give you here the entire Translation of it The Heart says the Author of this Book is of a Pyramidal figure its colour is a deep red It is encompassed on all sides with a clos'd Membrane
Animals are likewise reckon'd among these later Causes We shall not engage any further in the Causes of Distempers in particular that wou'd lead us too far out of our way And we may the more easily be dispens'd with because we shall have occasion to take notice of all that is proper here in the Article of Galen whose System is more clear and methodical than that of Hippocrates whose Principles he follows in almost every thing We shall take notice only of two things first the Relation that Hippocrates finds between some of the external and internal Causes For example he compares the four Humours with the four Ages of Man with the four Seasons of the Year and with the Climates Infancy the Spring and temperate Countries ought according to him to produce blood and by consequence more sanguine Distempers than Bilious Pituitous or Melancholick Youth Summer and hot and dry Countries produce Bile and all the maladies which spring from it Middle Age Autumn and Places of a heavy unequal Air cause Melancholy and melancholick distempers Old Age Winter and cold moist Countries produce Flegm and flegmatick Distempers He carefully examines what sorts of Food produce blood â—ile c. It treats also the effects of sleeps watchings exercise and rest and other external Causes afore-mentioned and all the benefit or mischief we may receive from them In the second place we shall take notice that of all the Causes Hippocrates makes mention of the two most general are Diet and Air which he examines with all the care possible First he has composed several books upon the subject of Diet only he has taken exact care to distinguish what is good and what is bad for the condition the Person is in And he was so much the more obliged to it because his method of Practice turn'd almost wholly upon it that is to say upon the choice of a certain Diet whether in respect of (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. de Alimento quality or (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. de Alimento quantity or time and the proper seasons of giving it as we shall see anon He consider'd also the Air very much and all that depended on it We have seen in the Lump what he thought of the four Seasons and several Climates He examined likewise what Winds ordinarily blew or extraordinarily The irregularity of the Seasons and even the rising and setting of (n) Lib. de Dâ—â—t lib. de acre c. lib. de humor lib. 4. de Morb. Aphorism 1. lib. 3. Stars or the time of certain Constellations as of the Dog-Star the North-Bear and the Pleiades as also the time of the Solstices and of the Equinoxes these days in his opinion producing great alterations in distempers of which he has not explain'd the manner From hence may be inferr'd that Hippocrates look'd upon the knowledge of Astronomy as necessary to a Physician and that he believed that the Stars had some influence over our Bodies With this agrees what he elsewhere says of the things of (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven which he numbers amongst the Causes of distempers and with what we have taken notice of before page the 9th That according to Hippocrates our health our life our death and all that respects our being depends upon things raised above us And it seems likely that he meant something like this when he talked of something (p) Prognost lib de Nat. Mulâ—ebr lib. de Morb. Sact. Divine in the Causes of distempers Some of his ancient Commentators believed that when he spoke after this manner he alluded to what was upon these occasions said by (q) What Galen means by saving That those that ascribe the Diseases to the Gods cite the Authority of those that wrote what they call Histories is hard to be undeâ—stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Poets especially Homer who attributes to the wrath of the Gods the Diseases that befal Men. But Galen is not of their mind and he has reason to give them this reprimand (r) In lib. Progn com 1. That they that Comment upon or Interpret an Author ought not to say whatever themselves think true or what they think the Author ought to have believed but what is really his opinion whether true or false Galen maintains That Hippocrates no where attributes to the Gods the Cause of Distempers and he proves that Hippocrates was not of that opinion first for the reason he gives of some Symptoms of a particular distemper which he describes and of the name he gave that distemper He call'd those which were seized by it by a name which signifies (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. deratione vict in acut stricken undoubtedly from the vulgar opinion that those that were taken with it were in some manner struck by some (t) This must be the consequence of Galen's reasoning which otherwise is worth nothing Deity as it were by Thunder But Hippocrates expresly takes notice that the Ancients gave it this name because those that died of it had after their death their sides livid and mortify'd as if they had received blows He proves it in the second place from one of the Books of Hippocrates inscrib'd De Morbo Sacro that is of the Falling-Sickness wherein the Author endeavours to root out the vulgar prejudice that the Gods sent certain Distempers among Men. These Arguments of Galen may be supported by what Hippocrates says (u) Lib. de aere aquâ locis elsewhere of a distemper peculiar to the Scythians which pass'd for Divine of which we shall speak hereafter To return to the signification of what Hippocrates call'd Divine in Diseases Galen concludes that he meant no more than the Constitution of the Atmosphere which is equivocal because the Air may be disposed in so particular a manner that we may acknowledge something in it Supernatural This Sense follow'd by some of the Modern (w) Gorâ—haeus Fernel Commentators who think that the Divine of Hippocrates depended upon the qualities of the Air but upon such qualities as they call'd occult or hidden because they had no relation with the ordinary or those which were call'd first that is hot and cold dry and moist nor with any other known quality Yet this is not the meaning of Galen in this place nor of Hippocrates himself who seems to express himself in favour of the former opinion when he says in the Book cited last save one That the Disease call'd Sacred rises from the same causes that other distempers do that is from the things which go and come or which are subject to change such as the Sun the Cold the Winds which suffer perpetual vicissitudes Now tho' these things says he be Divine we are not to imagine this disease any more Divine than the rest but all diseases ought to be look'd upon as Humane and Divine at once It may perhaps be objected That it is doubtful who is the Author of this Book
but if we observe the constant Custom of Hippocrates to take exact notice of the Seasons in which or after which the Diseases that he would describe appear'd we shall see that whatever distemper he speaks of even the Plague it self he mentions nothing but the ordinary changes of the Air as hot or cold or moist or dry For example That a rainy Spring was preceded by a moist Winter or followed by a scorching Summer that such and such Winds blew c. without saying one single word of the particular and hidden qualities of the Air which are supposed to produce extraordinary distempers 'T is true there are some passages in his Writings on which they pretend to found the occult qualities aforesaid which Galen admitted as well as the Modern Authors before cited We find there first the very word (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. de Aliment hidden Cause Galen affirms that when Hippocrates speaks of Epidemical Distempers which he says come from the Air or that which we breathe which is charged with (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Galen renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unwholsome vapour or a vapour proper to breed Diseases that this unwholsome vapour did not act according to the ordinary qualities but by an occult property absolutely inexplicable Yet I don't see that Hippocrates has explain'd himself concerning the nature of this Vapour nor the influence of the Stars or their manner of acting upon inferior Bodies tho' he supposes their action This vapour seems what he in another passage calls (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquinamenta lib. de Flat Impurities or Infections of the Air but he says not wherein this infection â—onsists We shall close what relates to the Causes of Distempers with this Remark That in the same place where Hippocrates derives all Epidemical distempers from the Air he endeavours to prove that they do not come from the Aliments like ordinary distempers where we see that according to him the Air is the most general Cause of all Diseases The Humours and Spirits being as we have seen the Causes of Health and Sickness the solid or containing Parts which are the third sort of substance in the composition of Animal Bodies must be the subject of them because they are sound or unsound according to the good or ill disposition which the humours and spirits produce in them and as the impressions made upon them by foreign bodies and those things that are without them are beneficial 〈◊〉 mischievous This consequence may be justly drawn from several passages of Hippocrates such as the two following (a) De Nat. hum When says he any of the humours is separated from the rest and lodges apart the place from whence it came must be out of order and likewise that where it is lodged in too great quantity suffers sickness and pain The second passage is this (b) Ibid. That the Diseases which come from any part of the body that is considerable are the most dangerous for says he if the disease (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must rest that is to say lâ—dge in the place where it began when a Part that is of great importance suffers the whole body must suffer We find no Train nothing prosecuted far concerning the difference of Distempers in Hippocrates all that we can gather is That the different Causes of which we have spoken and the different Parts of the Body produce as great a variety of Distempers according to this passage (d) Lib. de Aliment the differences of Diseases arise from the following things From the nourishment the heat the blood the flegm the bile and all the humours As likewise from the flesh the fat the veins the arteries the nerves the muscles the membranes the bones the brain the spinal marrow the mouth the tongue the throat the stomach the intestines the diaphragm the belly the liver the spleen the reins the bladder the womb and the skin Some of these distempers Hippocrates held to be the mortal others dangerous the rest easily curable according to the Cause from whence they sprung and the Parts upon which they fell He distinguishes likewise Diseases in several places from the time of their duration into (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acute or short and (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chronical or long this likewise is referr'd to the different Causes before-mentioned acute Diseases being caught by the bile and the blood in the flower of Mans age or in Spring time and Summer The Chronical on the contrary are produc'd by the flegm or the melancholy in old Age and in the Winter Of these distempers some are more acute than others the like of the Chronical We shall see in the sequel the duration of one as well as t'other Hippocrates distinguishes distempers likewise by the particular Places where they are prevailed whether ordinary or extraordinary The first that is those that are frequent and familiar to certain Places he call'd (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endemick Diseases and the latter which ravag'd extraordinarily sometimes in one place sometimes in another with which at certain times numbers were seized at once he call'd Epidemick that is Popular Diseases as the Plague the most terrible of all He made likewise a third oppos'd to the former which he call'd (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straggling distempers including all the different sorts of distempers which invade at any one season in a word those distempers some of one sort and some of another He distinguish'd those which were born with us or were (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hereditary from those that were contracted afterwards He made a difference likewise betwixt those of (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kindly nature and those of a malignant the first of those which are easily cured and frequently the second those which give the Physicians a great deal of trouble and are seldom overcome by all their care Of the remarkable Changes that happen in Diseases particularly of the Crises and Critical days Hippocrates made four Stages in Distempers the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beginning of the Disease its augmentation its state or heighth and its declination These last are Diseases that end happily for in others Death supplies the place of the declination In the third Stage therefore the change is most considerable for it determines the fate of the sick Person which is usually or oftenest done by means of a Crisis Hippocrates call'd Crisis that is Judgment any sudden mutation in sickness whether for the better or the worse whether health or death immediately succeed This change according to him is made by Nature at that time Absolving or Condemning a Patient To apprehend his meaning aright we must recollect his Idea of Nature which he represents as the Directress of the whole Animal Oeconomy If therefore Diseases be only a disturbance of this Oeconomy as we may
down the Torrent with the rest so that neither his Reasonings or his Observations nor his Remedies have the least mixture of this weakness so common in those Times and yet common still even amongst some Physicians We don't see that his Prognosticks had any other foundation than from the pure nature of things Itâ—s true in his Book of Dreams he talks of some Sacrifices or Ceremonies which ought to be perform'd to some certain Deities according to the nature of the Dreams we dreamt But these were only Duties which Religion necessarily engag'd Men to His good sense appear'd in another place particularly when in the same Book he solves Dreams by what has been said or done in the day time from whence he draws consequences to judge of the condition of the body according as 't is charg'd with Choler Phlegm Blood c. which he brings in as the Causes on which depends the difference of Dreams and the circumstances that accompany them We 'll speak one word more of the aversion he had to superstition in what related to Remedies and the cure of Diseases when we come to the Chapter of Purgation CHAP. V. Of the sorts of Diseases that Hippocrates knew gave names to or describ'd THE particular Diseases which are mentioned in the Writings of Hippocrates may be reducâ—d to five different Classes The first is of distempers whose names have been never chang'd and that have been known ever since to the Greek Physicians by the same names and signs as they were distinguish'd by this ancient Physician This first Class is the most considerable and contains alone a much greater number of distempers than the four following put all together The second includes those which have not preserved their names altho' they have been known and distinguish'd by the accidents which Hippocrates attributed to them I put in the third Class some distempers which he gave no name to but only a simple description of And in the fourth those that tho' they are nam'd and describ'd exactly in the Works that are allow'd to be his yet notwithstanding have not been known since that time either by their names which were grown out of use or by the description the Author gives of them The fifth and last Class is of those that have names which were no longer known and that at the same time there were no descriptions of so that we can speak almost nothing of them but by conjecture CHAP. VI. A Catalogue of the Diseases of the first Class or of those whose Greek Names are preserv'd and have always continued very near the same WE 'll rank every one of these Diseases in an Alphabetical order according to their English Names which are partly deriv'd from the Greek which we 'll put at the bottom of the page A (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ABscesse or Aposthume (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alphus a cutaneous distemper (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alopecy a disease of the head when the hair falls off or is thin in several places (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the common names to the part and its diseases Almonds diseases of this part inflamation suppuration ulceration (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anus the falling down relaxation or invertion of it Vid. Hemorrhoids inflamation of the Anus (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ancyle or Ancylosis a contraction of the Joints (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aphony loss of voice (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apthae Ulcers of the mouth (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those that were taken with this disease were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say struck v Thunder struck and Pleurisie Hippocrates also confounds sometimes Apoplexy with Palsie where he gives the first of these Names to both Discases Apoplexy a sudden privation of sense and motion Appetite loss of Appetite v. Loathing Appetite depravâ—d of those that eat earth and stones v Colour and the distemper of Women with Child (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Afterbirth retain'd (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asthma a sort of difficulty of breathing v. Dispnea (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This last word signifies the action of miscarrying Abortion (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Weasels Arms. 'T is the name that Hippocrates gives to those that have such arms Arms shorter and of a less proportion than they ought to be B (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This last word signifies also Bunch back'd BOunch-back'd (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Branchus a sort of a defluxion hoarseness (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common name to the Glands of the Groin and their Diseases Buboes swellings of the Glands in general and particularly those of the Groin Brain inflam'd v. Inflamation Brain gangren'd v. Sphacclus Brain mov'd v. commotion Brain dropsical v. Dropsie (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blood-shot of the Eyes (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A dry Blood-shot (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baldness (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corpulent The body torpid or languid (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blood vomiting of blood great loss of blood by Stool in a burning Fever Loss of blood v. Haemorrhage (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 barren Women Barrenness v. Womb. k The Bladder clos'd or stopp'd v. Vrine Tubercule of the Bladder v. Tubercule Stone of the Bladder v. Stone C (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CAchexy An ill habit of the fleshy parts of the body caus'd by the corruption and aboundance of humours (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cancer a sort of a Tumour (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An outward Cancer (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An inward Cancer (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An hereditary Cancer or that 's born with one Cancer of the Throat of the Breast of the Womb and of other parts a Cancerous Ulcer (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cardialgy pain of the Stomach Heart burning (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Carie. (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Carus a sort of a dead sleep and out of which there 's no raising the Patient (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cataphora another sort of extraordinary dead sleep (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catarrh or defluxion upon some part v. Rheum (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A salt Catarrh nitrous acrid and hot (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catarrhs that kill suddenly (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catochus A Disease in which the Patient continues inflexible with his eyes open without knowledge or motion (nn) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Carbuncle a sort of Tumour Causus v. Fever (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cholera a sudden discharge of humours upward and downward (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wet Cholera a dry Cholera Chordapsus v. Ileus (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coma a sort of a dead
sequel of the precedent ones pretends that 't is to him the obligation 's due for the same thing that is for the invention of the Art of Exercise which compleats Diet but these Books have been lookâ—d upon ever since from the time of Galen to be of anothers writing and were then attributed according to the said Galen's remark to Eurypheus Phaon Philistion Ariston or to some other Physician that livâ—d just about the same time that Hippocrates did If I durst give my opinion with the rest I shou'd say that the Books in question might be of Herodicus's writing who has pass'd by the consent of all the Ancients for the Inventor of the Gymnastick However it is the Advices of the Author of these Books in relation to the Art we are going to speak of depend upon the different times one ought to take to walk in and on the condition the person ought to be in before he does it whether it ought to be fasting or after eating somewhat in the morning or evening in the Air the Sun-shine or Shade whether he ought to be naked or cloath'd when he ought to walk slowly and when 't is necessary to run all this in respect to different ages and temperaments and with the design of bringing the body down of dissipating humours or of gaining some other advantage from it Wrestling tho' it be a violent Exercise was numbred with the rest There 's also mention made in the same place of a Play of the hands and fingers which was thought good for health and call'd Chironomie and of an Exercise which was perform'd round a sort of a Ball hung up which they call'd Corycus which they struck forward with all the strength ☞ they had with their hands You may consult the above-mentioned Mercurialis that searches to the bottom of these things And as you have seen in the Chapter concerning Herodicus that Baths were included in the Gymnastick as well as the custom of rubbing and anointing ones self youâ—ll find several directions in this Author upon all this But Galen observes in relation to Baths that they were not â—et common in the time of Hippocrates himself which he gathers from a passage of this ancient Physician where he says (a) De Diaeta in acutis That there are few Houses where you find things necessary for a convenient Bath You 'll see in the next Chapter what Hippocrates thought of Baths and the benefits that might be expected from them As to what remains seeing health does not depend solely on the good use and regular management of Diet nor on Exercise or Ease and that besides 't is of importance to be regular in other things we have mentioned before when we treated of the Causes of Health such are sleep and watchings the air and other bodies which are about us that which ought to be separated from our Bodies or retain'd there and lastly the Passions I say the preservation of our Health depending on all these Causes Hippocrates has not failâ—d to give us Rules for all To begin with those things which ought to be separated from our Bodies or there retain'd he wou'd have us take great care not to load our selves with Excrements or keep them in too long and besides the Exercise we are speaking of which carries of one part of em and which he prescrib'd chiefly on this account he wou'd have us excite or rouze up Nature when it flagg'd and endeavour'd not to expel the rest or take off those impediments which resisted its efforts 'T was for that principally he made use of Meats proper to loosen the body and when those means were not sufficient he wou'd have us have recourse to Clysters and Suppositories The composition of Clysters for persons that were thin and emaciated consisted of Milk and oily unctuous substances which they mixâ—d with a decoction of Chick Pease but for those that were Plethorick they only made use of Salt or Sea-water You 'll see in the Chapter of Purgatives which you 'll come to presently other compositions of Clysters and other particular circumstances relating to this remedy we shall also speak there concerning Suppositories and the manner of preparing them Hippocrates also advis'd Vomitives as a great preservative against distempers which he caus'd to be taken once or twice a Month during the Winter and Spring-time The most simple of them were made of a decoction of Hyssop with an addition of a little Vinegar and Salt He made those that were of a strong and vigorous Constitution take this Liquor fasting whereas those that were thin and weakly took it after Supper But as Vomits are remedies which are used also in distempers weâ—ll speak of them likewise at the same time we do of Purgatives Coition is wholesome in Hippocrates opinion provided you consult your strength and do not pursue it to an excess which he always finds fault with upon all accounts and wouâ—d have it also avoided in relation to sleep and watching You find also in his Writings several remarks concerning good or bad Air and he makes it appear that the good or bad disposition of it does not depend solely on the difference of the Climate but on the situation of every Place in particular which in regard to this he carefully examines into not to insinuate that you ought to be too scrupulous on this point or to oblige any one to quit his Native Country or the place where one's fix'd to seek a better which would disturb Society but to let the Physicians know what sorts of distempers are apt to reign in one place more than another that they may endeavour to prevent them or make it their study to get a proper remedy and from the effects of the different situation of Places compare things in relation to Health and Sickness Lastly Hippocrates knew the good and bad effects of the Passions and wou'd have us in regard to them use a great deal of moderation CHAP. XII The Practice of Hippocrates or his manner of managing distempers General Maxims on which this practice is founded IF we reflect on what was said before of the power which Hippocrates attributed to Nature in relation to the Animal OEconomy and to Distempers in particular of which Nature according to him is the Arbiter and Judge determining them in a certain limited time and by regular movements as we remark'd when we spoke of Crises's we 'll immediately infer that this opinion must carry him so far as to be contented for the most part in being a Spectator of what the strength of Nature performs without doing any thing on his side on this occasion We shall also be confirmâ—d in this opinion if we consult the Books intituled Of Epidemical Distempers which are as it were Journals of the Practice of Hippocrates for you 'll find from thence that this ancient Physician does very often nothing more than describe the symptoms of a distemper and what has happenâ—d to the Patient day after day
even to his death or recovery without speaking of any remedy 'T is not nevertheless absolutely true that he never did it as youâ—ll see by the sequel but we must agree that he did it but very little in respect of what has been practis'd in the succeeding Ages We 'll see presently what these remedies are after we have given an abridgment of the principal Maxims on which they are founded Hippocrates said in the first place That Contraries or Opposites are the Remedies of their Opposites That is supposing that some certain things were oppos'd one to the other we ought to use them one against the other He explains this Maxim in the Aphorism where he says That evacuation cures those distempers which come from repletion and repletion those that are caus'd by evacuation So heat destroys cold and cold heat c. Secondly he said That Physick is an addition of what 's wanting and a substraction or retrenchment of what 's superfluous an Axiom which you also find explainâ—d by this That there are some juices or humours which in particular cases ought to be evacuated or drove out of the body or be dry'd up and some others that you ought to restore to the body or cause to be producâ—d there again As to the method you shou'd take in it for addition or retrenchment he gives this general caution That you ought to take care how you evacuate or fill up all at once or too quick or too much and that 't is equally dangerous to heat or cool again on a sudden or rather you ought not to do it every thing that runs to an excess being an enemy to Nature Hippocrates allow'd in the fourth place That we ought sometimes to dilate and sometimes to lock up to dilate or open the (aa) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passages by which the humours are voided naturally when they are not sufficiently open'd or when they are clos'd and on the contrary to lock up or streighten the passages that are relax'd when the juices that pass there ought not to do it or when there passes too much of them He adds That we ought sometimes to smooth and sometimes to make rough to the touch sometimes harden and sometimes soften again sometimes to make more fine or supple sometimes to thicken sometimes to excite or rouze up and at other times to stupify or take away the sence all in relation to the solid Parts of the Body or to the Humours He gives this fifth Lesson That we ought to have regard to the course the humours take from whence they come and whether they go and in consequence of that when they go where they ought not that we make them take a (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Derivare turn about or carry them another way almost like turning the course of a River Or upon other occasions that we endeavour if possible to (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revellere recal or make the same humours return back again drawing upward those which tend downward and downward those which tend upward He remarks also That we ought to carry off by convenient ways that that 's necessary to be carried off and not let the humours once evacuated enter into the Vessels again He gives also this following Instruction That when we do any thing according to Reason tho' the success be not answerable we ought not easily or too hastily alter the manner of acting as long as the Reasons we had for 't are yet good But seeing this Maxim might sometimes deceive here 's another of them that serves for a corrective or limitation We ought says our Author to mind with a great deal of attention what (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives ease and what creates pain what 's easily supported and what cannot be indured The Lesson that follows is one of the most important (b) Epidem lib. 6. We ought not said he to do any thing rashly We ought to pause or wait without doing any thing this way if you do the Patient no good at least you 'll do him no hurt In extream illness we ought in his opinion to use Remedies of the same nature that which Medicines cure not the Sword does what the Sword does not the Fire cures but what the Fire cannot cure ought to be look'd upon as incurable Lastly He cautions us not to undertake desperate Diseases which are beyond the power of Physick These are the principal and most general Maxims of the Practice of Hippocrates all which suppose this Principle which he has laid down at the beginning That Nature it self cures Diseases We shall see more of the particulars in the following Chapters as we examine the Remedies he made use of CHAP. XIII Of the Remedies which Hippocrates made use of and first of all of Diet and of a regular method of Living DIET was the first the principal and oftentimes the only Remedy that Hippocrates made use of to satisfie the greatest part of the intentions we have touch'd upon By these means he oppos'd moist to dry hot to cold he added or supply'd what was deficient and took off from what was superfluous c. and that that was to him the most considerable point he supported Nature and assisted it to overcome the cause of the Malady and in a word put it in a condition to do of it self what was necessary for the cure of Distempers The Diet of the Sick is a Remedy that is so much Hippocrates's own that he was as desirous to pass for the Author of it as of that of Persons in health which we have treated of before And the better to make it appear that it is a new remedy he says expresly That the Ancients that is to say the Physicians that were before him had writ almost nothing concerning the Diet of the Sick having omitted this point tho' it was one of the most essential parts of the Art The method we have seen Aesculapius and his Sons make use of in their management of the Sick in relation to that is a proof that Hippocrates spoke truth To his testimony we may join that of Plato's who endeavours even to justifie in this respect the conduct of these first Physicians as we remark'd in the same place So that what Pliny has said that Hippocrates was the Inventor of the (a) See above in the beginning of the Chapter concerning Hippocrates Clinick Physick may be made appear or said with a more just Title of Diaetetick Physick the name which was given to the most noble part of all the Art after the division of it some Ages after as you 'll see in its place which shews how much they depended in those ancient Times on the benefit which Patients receiv'd from a good conduct in relation to eating and drinking In Chronical distempers Hippocrates Dieted his Patients one way and in Acute another In these last which are those that require more particularly an exactness in relation to
the Membrane of the Ear be indisposed we cannot hear for the same reason we cannot see when the Tunicle of the Eye is in the same Condition (a) De generat aninial lib. 2. cap. 6. The Nose is divided into two Channels by a Cartilage It has two veins which are joined to the Brain but they come from the Heart these go into the Channel which is the Organ of smelling as it receives the External Air and all that is diffused thro it The Flesh as we have observed already is the Organ of Feeling The Tongue of Tasting being soft and spongy and of a Nature approaching to that of the Flesh (b) Hist An. lib. 1. cap. 11. The Eye reaches into the Brain and is situated on either side under a little vein (c) Ib. cap. 9. The humour which is in the Eye which causes vision is what we call the sight (d) De Gen. An. lib. 2. cap. 6. The Eye of all the Organs of sensation has this peculiarity that it is moist and cold or that it contains a humour that is moist and cold which is not there at first or which is not at first in its perfection but is separated or distill'd from the purest part of the moisture of the Brain by the Channel that goes to the Membrane of the Brain 'T is very plain from what has been said that Aristotle allow'd the Nerves no part in the production of sensation Nor indeed could he acknowledge the Nerves or their office retaining the Idea which he had of the Brain The Diaphragme which he calls Diazoma or the Membrane which separates the lower Belly from the Breast has according to Aristotle no other business than to divide these two Cavities that the upper which is the Seat of the Soul may not be infected by the vapours which rise from the lower This is the sum of what we could collect from the writings of this Philosopher concerning Anatomy And we may observe that both he and Plato call'd indifferently by the name of Veins the Veins properly so call'd and the Arteries that they did not give the name of Artery to any thing but the Wind-pipe which they call'd (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rough or unequal in opposition to the Arteries properly so called and by the Antients named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laeves Arterlae smooth Arteries Aspera Arteria from whence we may infer that when we find in (f) See the next Vol. lib. 1. cap. of Erasistratus Hippocrates the word Artery in the sense of the Moderns that this word has been foisted in or that the Books in which 't is found are not Genuine The only place that I know of wherein Aristotle seems to give the name of Arteries to the Arteries properly so called is in his Book of the Spirit wherein he says that the Skin is compos'd of a Vein an Artery and a Nerve Of a Vein says he because the Skin yields Blood when 't is prick'd Of a Nerve because it can extend it self Of an Artery because 't is transpirable Aristotle seems here to have designed the real and true Arteries and to allot to them only Spirit according to the opinion of Praxagoras and Erasistratus of whom we shall speak hereafter which opinion perhaps they borrowed of him Perhaps also this Book was none of Aristotle's We must make one observation more concerning the Anatomy of Aristotle which is that he never dissected any thing but Brutes and that in his time they durst not Anatomize a Humane body Which he insinuates himself in these words (g) Hist An. lib. 1. cap. 16. The inward parts of mens bodies are unknown for we have nothing certain thereupon but we must judge of them by the resemblance which we suppose them to have to the parts of other Animals which answer to each of them I am surpriz'd (h) Anthropograph lib. 1. cap. 4. that Riolan should maintain the contrary and more that he should endeavour to prove it from passages of Aristotle which are nothing to the purpose but he is not the only one whose Prejudice and Bigotry for the Antients has caused to make such false steps We shall have occasion to say something more upon this subject in the first Book of the next Volume Aristotle wrote also some Books of Plants of which there are some yet remaining but he treats of them rather as a Philosopher than a Physician He was born in the ninety ninth Olympiad and he dyed the 3d year of the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad aged by this account about sixty three He was the Son of a Physician and of the family of the Asclepiades He belonged also to Physick another way which is not much for his honour (i) Diogenes Laertius Hesychius Milesius in vita Epicuri Epicurus reproaches him with having spent his patrimony while he was young in debauchery and that after he had been some time a Souldier he betook himself to selling (k) We shall consider in the sequel the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by Diogenes Laertius on this occasion of Antidotes about the Markets till Plato's School being open'd he applied himself to the study of Philosophy under him CHAP. VI. Theophrastus THeophrastus who succeeded Aristotle took upon him the management of his School and after his death did something likewise towards Physick The most considerable of his works which remain to our times are his Books of Plants But as Plants may be consider'd either as a part of Agriculture of Natural History or of Physick Theophrastus as well as Aristotle seems to consider them chiefly as a Naturalist and seems rather to have examined their Growth and Termination and the parts whereof they are composed than their Medicinal properties altho sometimes en passant he touches upon them too But he having describ'd several we shall be obligâ—d to take farther notice of him upon this account with Dioscorides There are yet some small pieces of his remaining concerning the Vertigo Swooning Sweat and the Palsie of which he treats rather as a Philosopher than a Physician that is he is inquisitive after the Causes of these Distempers only without speaking of any Remedies He says that Vertigoâ—s come when some strange spirit or superfluous moisture goes into the Head or as he expresses it about the Head whether this comes from any sort of Food as from Wine or from any other humour or from turning the Head round For adds he the place about the Brain or the Brain an usual manner of expression among the Greeks is naturally moist and when any foreign Spirit gets in it does violence after it is got in and forces the natural moisture into the veins causing it to turn round so that this Spirit has the same effect as if any body turn'd the Head round it being indifferent whether it be done inwardly or outwardly The Palsie arises from a chilness or privation and want of Spirits or
Spirit For says he the Spirit is the cause of heat and motion so that if it becomes motionless the blood or moisture necessarily grow chill And for this reason we find the Feet be numm'd and sometimes the upper parts when they are pressed by a Chair or any other way this compression stopping or interrupting the Spirit that it cannot move as usual causes the Blood to grow cold By what has been said we may see that this Philosopher suspected the Nerves on these occasions no more than Hippocrates did and was no better acquainted with their use than his Master Aristotle We have also a Book of Theophrastus of Stones wherein he treats of several sorts of Stones as well Genuine as others of their nature the manner of their formation and the places where they are found c. And as we may see by the Catalogue of his Writings he gave to some of them the same Titles that Aristotle had done before to his perhaps the singular number was substituted for the plural in the Title of the Book of Aristotle of the Stone of which before CHAP. II. Heraclides of Pontus ALmost at the same time there liv'd another Philosopher who engag'd in Physic This was Heraclides of Pontus who studied partly under Speusippus the Scholar of Plato and partly under Aristotle This Heraclides writ a Book of the cause of Diseases and another entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What he call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is without respiration was a disease in which sometimes as our Author affirms men lay thirty days without breathing as if they were dead yet the body did not corrupt We have seen before that Empedocles cured a woman of this distemper which is a sort of suffocation of the Matrix Diogenes Laertius reckons fourteen famous men of the name of Heraclides of which two were Physicians and not counting him of whom we are speaking The first who was the eighth of the fourteen was Scholar to Hicesius a Physician of whom we shall speak hereafter the second was a famous Empirick of Tarentum whose History we shall likewise give To all these Heraclides we may add Hippocrates Father and Heraclides Erithreus of whom also hereafter CHAP VIII Diocles. 'T Is time to quit the Philosophers and return a little back to re-assume the Physicians The first of this Profession after Hippocrates and his Family that made any noise in the world was Diocles Carystius whom the Athenians for that reason called the (a) Theodor. Priscians Second Hippocrates (b) Plin. lib. 20. cap. 20. Celf. Praefat. All the Antients agree that he came presently after the Father of Physick whom he succeeded very near both in time and reputation He 's suppos'd to be Author of a Letter yet extant Addressed to Antigonus King of Asia which shews that Diocles lived in his time and not in the time (c) Tiraquell de Nobil cap. 21. and after him Wolfgangus Justus in his Chronologia Medicorum Who also holds that he lived both under Darius the Son of Hystaspes and under Antigonus tho between those two Princes there passed two entire Centuries of Darius Son of Hystaspes as two modern Authors have written But the Chronological Errors which we have detected upon the occasion of the pretended Letters of Hippocrates shew that we are not to rely much upon proofs of this nature this Letter of Diocles being no less to be suspected than the others Those that place Diocles in the time of Darius Son of Hystaspes are manifestly in an errour Others have gone on the other side too low if I be not mistaken But however it be we find in this Letter rules for preservation of health which consist in foreseeing Diseases by certain signs and preventing them by certain Remedies The Body is there divided into four parts the Head the Breast the Belly and the Bladder and there are Medicines there prescrib'd to preserve these parts from their usual Distempers He prescribed Gargarisms to purge the Head and Frictions For the Breast he advises vomiting after Meals and Fasting He ordered the Belly to be kept open not by Medicine but by proper Diet such as Blites Mercury Garlick boyled the Herb Patience Colwort Broth confections with Honey For the distempers of the Bladder he appointed some Diuretick Medicines such as the Roots of Selery and Fennel boyl'd in Wine with the water of the Decoction of Daucus Smyrnium of Elder or Chiches Diocles wrote several Books of Physick which are lost Amongst the rest was one of Diseases their Causes and Cure a fragment of which is cited by (d) De Locis affect lib. 3. c. 7. Galen concerning the Disease called the Melancholick or Flatulent Disease wherein Diocles speaks thus There is a Disease whose seat is about the Stomach which some call Melancholy others Flatus or Wind in which after eating things hard of digestion men spit abundance of very clear Spittle their Belches are sowre with Wind and heat in the Hippocondria with a rumbling motion not at first but sometime after and often violent pain in the Stomach which extend in some even to the back After the Meat is perfectly digested all ceases and returns again after eating The same symptoms sometimes take a man fasting and sometimes after Meals and force him to throw his victuals undigested up again and sometimes bitter hot phlegm or so sowre as to set their Teeth an edge These distempers for the most part come in youth but come when they will they hold a long time We may suppose they that are troubled with it have too much heat in the veins which receive the nourishment from the Stomach and that the Blood which they contain is thereby thickned For it is plain that those veins are obstructed or stopt from this sensible proof that the nourishment is not distributed thro the body but remains crude upon the stomach instead of passing into the Channels which ought to recieve it and going the greatest part of it into the lower Belly it is thrown up the next day by vomit Another proof that the heat is greater than naturally it ought is not only the heat which the parties feel but the immediate relief they find by taking cold things Diocles adds that some hold that in these distempers the orifice of the Stomach which is joined to the Guts is in flamed and that this inflamation causes the obstruction and hinders the aliments from descending in due time into the Guts and that by their stop the inflation of the Stomach the heat and other symptoms before mention'd are occasioned Diocles had a peculiar opinion of Fevers We must judge says he of things which we cannot see by those which we can see we observe that external inflamations abscesses and wounds are attended by Fevers therefore when a Fever takes any body though we cannot externally discover any abscess wound or inflamation we must however believe that there is some such thing within the body His practice