in the 37. Aphorisme of his second booke where he saieth after this sort Qui corpore bene se habent hos purgare periculosū est that is it is dangerous purging of those that be in perfect health Also because euery purging medicine hath vertue to drawe one peculier homour there is good heede and care to be taken that such a medicine be ministred as hath vertue to drawe out the humour abounding and none other or else in stead of much good that of it selfe it would doe if it were conueniently ministred it may contraryewise doe exceading great hurte and woorke many inconueniences to the body And accordinge to to the saying of Hipocrates in the last Aphorisme of his firste book◠in this maner Si qualia oportet purgari purgentur cōfert et facile ferunt si contra difficulter that is yf such things be purged as ought to be it profiteth and may easily be suffered but if it be contrarywise it hurteth and may scarcely bee borne Therefore there ought diligent care and heed to be taken in the receiuing of a purgation that it be ministred by a skilfull Phisition that hath certainly found out what humour it is that aboundeth But alas the greatest number of the cōmon sort of people do hould an opinion that if they may haue a medicine for a little money which will poruoke them often to the stoole what humour soeuer it be and purgeth out they are safe ynough howe be it I would wish them hereafter alwaies to haue in minde this saying of the most excellent Phisition Hipocrates in the xxxii Aphorisme of the first booke Deiectiones non multitudine sunt estimandae sed si talia deijciantur qualia conueniunt that is Egestions are not to bee esteamed for their great quantitie but if such bad humours be purged out as they ought to be that is such vicious corrupt humours as doe abound and bee superfluous in mans bodye then is the bodie quieted for a long time after if it be dieted as aforesaid There be diuers thinges chiefly to be considered of by euerye Phisition before such time as he doe minister any Purgation to the sicke person as the qualitie and quantitie of the humour the strength of him or her that is sicke the age the time of the yeare and lastly the disease The qualitie of the homour is greatly to be considered that thereby he may perfectly knowe what kinde of humour is to be euacuate purged out for it must be onely that which troubleth the bodie with superfluous aboundance thereof As if great aboundance of fleame doe molest and trouble the bodie then hee must of necessitie minister a medicine whiche purgeth fleame and so likewise for all other humours what soeuer abounding in any part of the bodie Also he that doth vndertake the ministring of any medicine ought to haue great respect to the strength of the sicke or diseased person for if he be very weake and feeble there ought no purgation at all to be ministred vnto him because all maner of purgations doe both weaken nature diminish strength and the stronger the sicke person is the more he is weakened thereby Let all men therefore beware of vehement strong purgations least they put their liues in hazard danger By the age of the Patient the Phisition is put in minde that children and old men ought not to receiue any Purgations except maruailous great necessitie doe require it The time of the yeare is not to be neglected for there be some times of the yeare wherein Purgations ought not to be ministred as in Sommer and especially during the time of the Dogge daies as they are most commonly called and also during all the time that the Sunne is in Leo for then is nature burnt vp and made soe weake withall that she is not able to suffer the force and violence of a Purgation but the Spring time is the most meetest and principalest time in all the yeare for the taking of Purgations because it is then temperate Last of all the Phisition ought diligently to behould contemplate the disease that he knowing certainly what kind of disease it is may the more better finde out of what humour it is caused As for example Yf the Phisition do perceiue y◠disease to be a tertian Feuer straightway he knoweth that it is caused of great aboundance of choller and therefore he must of necessitie minister a meete medicine to purge choller withall and so likewise in all other diseases Note likewise that if there be none of the impediments aboue named a Purgation is good to be ministred to all such as haue aboundance of euill iuice or corrupt humours in the body for it draweth out all the bad humours that doe molest y◠body and thereby doth restore it to his owne state againe But if a Purgatiō be rashly ministred eyther to one that needeth it not or at an inconuenient time or that it be such a medicine as draweth no◠out the humour which then aboundeth or if the medicine be vehement and very strong it will surely put the Patient in great daunger of his life These thinges therefore ought to be well taken heede of by all menne lest they catch great hurt when they hope for some great profite But if a Purgation be discreetly ministred to him that hath need of it in due time and by an apt and meet medicine which is of that force and abillitie to drawe out the abounding humours in sufficient quantitie then doth the medicine purchase most singuler great commodties to the body for it euacuateth and emptieth out all the chiefest causes of the diseases and sicknesses eyther present or els to come being ingendred of any superfluous or corrupt humour as are most commonly Feuers tercians quartaines quotidians or Fluxes and are caused of rawe humours or sharpe choller Dropsies Goutes Palsies Litargies and diuers other c. Note also that before a Purgation be ministred there ought a medicine to be taken which should prepare the body make it apt to purge and therefore it is called a preparatiue it is geuen for two causes eyther to deuide extenuat make them grosse and clammy humours that they may be ready to flowe out when the medicine draweth them or else it is geuen to open and vnstoppe the conduits vessels of the body by which the Purgation must drawe the superfluous humour to it And this is that which Hipocrates doth counsaile in the first Aphorisme of his second booke where he saith Corpora cum quisque purgare voluerit opportet fluuia facere that is when any man will purge the body he must make it flowing by opening and vnopening of the vessels The most meetest time of al to receiue a Purgation is in the morning for then are all the digestions perfectly finished and the stomacke is without meate There is also great heede to be taken in what signe the moone is in before such time
A Rich Store-house or Treasury for the Diseased Wherein are many approued Medicines for diuers and sundry Diseases which haue been long hidden and not come to light before this time Now set foorth for the great benefit and comfort of the poorer sort of people that are not of abillitie to go to the Physitions Rebus aduersis constans AT LONDON Printed for Thomas Purfoot and Raph Blower Ann. 1596. ¶ To the Right Honorable Thomas Skinner Lord Mayor of the City of London IT hath been and is right Honorable a lawdable custome in this Citie that at the entring of any Lord Maior into his Office not onely his familiar friends and acquaintance but also of euery fraternitie some selected men should present his Lordship with one gift or other Whereby they do not only congratulate with him his late increase of honor but also those presents are as tokens or earnest pence of their yeelding dutie and obedience vnto his Lordship during his office In like sort I my selfe though one of the poorest yet a Citizen and none of the least in humble obedience and dutifull good meaning towardes your honor am imboldened to present your Lordship with this Booke intituled A rich Store-house or Treasury for the Diseased A Booke Right Honorable very necessary and conuenient to bee vsed of the poorer sorte of people for the preseruation of their health that are not of abilitie to go to the Phisitions and I assuring my selfe that your Lordship will vouchsafe to be a protector of the poore peoples profit and good both in health and wealth the same comming by chaunce into my hands haue thought it good to publish it vnder your honorable name whose Authority may best countenance the same and whose curteous admittance shall be a sufficient guerdon of my dutifull good meaning heerein If my worth were greater my dutie would shew greater in the meane time as it is it is bound to your Lordship To whome I wish long life still lengthened with all happinesse Your Lordships in all duty Raph Blower ⧠DIVERS SVNDRYE GOOD Instructions Rules for all such as are the true Practisers of Phisick and Chirurgerie which are very meete and conuenient to be obserued and knowne vnto them And also concerning Bloud-letting Purging and of the vse and commoditie that often times commeth thereof FOR AS MVCH as Health is profitable and pleasant to all men since that all men do continually wish and pray eyther for the restitution or coÌ„tinuance of the same and how that it is the propertie of nature onely to fighte and striue against diseases and also that the Phisition is but the minister and seruant of nature either to apply such thinges to her as may be vsed to distroy the disease withall or els by taking away the greatest parte of the same matter which causeth and mainteyneth the sickenes and therefore it is very meete necessarie for euery Phisition before such time as he doe minister any thinge at all to the sick person diligentlie to learne and to search out perfectly the principall cause of the disease in the which â—â—be be ignorant it is more by good fortune then by any cunning or skill that he doe euer cure any disease at all For how is it possible to helpe nature with that which she hath neede of â— except it be first knowne what she needeth which none can knowe except the cause of the disease be first manifestly knowne vnto him soe yâ— he may minister thinges directly contrary to the cause of the same disease And therefore I doe most greatelye lamente the ignorance of the common sort of People who for the moste parte are perswaded that one medicine is sufficient for one disease not regarding that one disease may come of sundrye causes and therefore it doth necessarilie require diuers medicines as for example weaknes of the stomacke that it cannot digest well or that it hath no good Appetite is one disease which neuerthelesse may come a dozen sundrie waies at the least Therefore the cure of it cannot be alwaies with one medicine As if weakenes of the stomacke doe come of a weake distempure of it selfe onely then it must of necessitie be made hotte by some meanes but if heate be the cause of weakenes then it must needes be cooled Likewise you must moisten drynes and drye moisture But if the weakenes doe come of some superfluous humour that both abound which hath flowed into the stomacke or hath been there ingendred then must that ill humour of necessitie be purged out eyther by a vomite or els a purgation with a meeke medicine for it And if it be fleame then with a medicine that expelleth sleame But if choller be abounding there then must it be such a medicine as doth purg choller And likewise for melancholy a meete Purgation must be vsed to expell the humour But if the imbecillitie of the stomacke be caused by a distillation and Rewme that falleth out of the head into it then is the cure to be remedied in yâ— head and not in the stomacke Likewise if distempure of the liuer or spleene doe weaken the stomacke then the cure consisteth in the healing of those members and not in ministring of any thinge for the stomacke Therefore let no man thinke it sufficient for the Phisition if he knowe that a man hath such a disease as the Ague the Collick the Flix or such other like c. that then hee maye straighte way if he be skillfull minister a medicine meet for it Noe not foe but he must first search by all meanes possible the very cause it selfe of the disease which many ignorant People doe perswade themselues that a skilfull Phisition may doe in all diseases by the onely sight inspection of the Vrine But alas they are altogether deceiued and for to come to yâ— knowledg of the cause of some inward disease the Vrine profiteth nothing at all for in moste inwarde diseases of the bodye there ought as greate a regard to be had and taken to the Pulses and to the dispositions state of the Braine of him that is sick as there should be had of the Vrine Also the Egestions Sweat Spettle and other Excrements are not to be neglegted in soemuch that at some time they do declare yâ— cause of the disease and the state thereof when the Vrine doeth not shewe any thinge at all Likewise for example in a Plurisie or an inflamation of the Lunges or in a Squinancie or such like there is more to be knowne by Spettle then there is by Vrine Also in a Laske or a bloudye Flixe or in a Collicke or Iliake there is more certaintie of Iudgment to be geuen by Egestion or Ordure then there is by Vrine Which thinges those that are not altogether addicted to their owne fantasies may easely by good reason be perswaded to credite for Vrine is nothing else but the watrie and washie parte of the bloude for it is seperated
these very well together and make a Pultis of them and lay it to the place where the griefe is and this will help him Probatum est ¶ An excellent good Medicine to heale the French Pox. TAke Goacum Capium halfe a pound Salsa perilla two ounces Barke of Goacum two ounces Licquorice one ounce Annise seedes one ounce Fennell seede one ounce Seeny one ounce and of Betany Scabions Smallege Pellitory of the wall Penyroyall Harts-toong Maydenhere wild Mints or red Mints red Sage Oculus Christi Liuerwort and of the hearbe Mercury of euery one of them a good handfull cleane picked and washed and then put all these together to sleepe for the space of one whole night in three gallons of faire running Water or else in two gallons of pure white Wine and one gallon of strong Ale then take them and boyle them all together vntill it be consumed to three quarts then straine it through a fine linnen cloth and put it into a close vessell ¶ Note this that if you boyle it in water it will continue but sixe or seuen dayes but being boyled in Wine and Ale twenty dayes which is too short a space for the party which is sicke and diseased to vse it This must be drunken by the sicke person both morning and euening and at meate and you must put into euery three quartes of the water one quarter of an ounce of Coloquintida and let the party which is sicke vse it vntill such time as it hath scowred the body very well and if it do not purge well then take this Medicine following ¶ Another for the same TAke halfe an ounce of Seny a spoonefull of Annise-seedes halfe an ounce of Licquorice a spoonefull of Fenell seedes twenty Reysons of the sunne the stones picked foorth boyle these all together in quart of Water and let it boyle vntill the one halfe be consumed then straine it and put thereto one ounce and an halfe of Deaphenicon and shake it together and let the party grieued drinke thereof warme euery morning fasting This Purgation neuer maketh the body sicke neyther doth it hurt the stomacke Note also that this drinke aforesaid will heale any old vlcer if it be washed therewith and especially of that which is made both of Wine and Ale if the party be neuer so sore diseased let him purge twice or thrice with Coloquintida prepared and it will help him for euer Small Poxe ¶ A Medicine to driue out the small Poxe TAke Milke Saffron and english Honny and seeth them together and giue it to the Patient and let him be kept warme after it ¶ Another for the same TAke Dragon-water white Wine and Methridatum or Treacle of Ieane and some Vnicornes horne and seeth these together and giue them to the Patient as aforesaid Purgations TAke a pinte of white Wine and an ounce of Seâ—â—ie and a good handfull of Reisons of the sunne the stones picked out and halfe a spoonefull of Anniseedes put all these into the said white Wine to sleepe one whole night and the next morning boyle it vntill it be come to a draught and so â—et the Patient drinke it luke-warme and if you will you may put thereunto three or foure rootes of Polipodie of the â—ke This is very good Probatum est Plague and pestilence HEerein are conteyned diuers and sundry good rules and easie Medicines which are made with little charge for the poorer sort of people as well for the preseruation of all people from the Plague before infection as for the curing and ordering of them after such time as they shall be infected ¶ A preseruatiue by correcting the ayre in all houses TAke Rosemary dryed Iuniper Bay-leaues or Frankincense and cast the same vpon the coles in a chafingdish and receiue the fume or smoke thereof into your head If you will put a little Lauender or Sage that is dryed into the fire with the rest it will do much good Also to make your fires in earthen pannes rather to remoue about your Chambers then in Chimneys shall be better to correct the aires in your houses then otherwise ¶ A preseruatiue against the Plague TAke a handfull of Hearbe-grace otherwise called Rue a handfull of Elder-leaues a handfull of red Sage and a handfull of red Bramble leaues and stamp them well together and straine them through a fine linnen cloth with a quarte of white Wine then take a quantity of Case Ginger and mingle it with them and drinke a good draught thereof both morning and euening for the space of nine dayes together and by Gods grace it will preserue you ¶ An excellent good drinke to be taken euery morning for a preseruatiue against the Plague and for to auoide infection TAke a handfull of Winter-Sauery and boyle the same in a quart of good wine-Vinegar with a spoonefull of Graines being very fine beaten and put into the same then put into it a quantity of fine Suger and so drinke a good draught thereof euery morning fasting †When you must of necessitie come into any place where any infectious persons are it is good for you to smell to the roote of Angellica Gentian or Valerian and to chew any of these in your mouth ¶ A speciall preseruatiue against the Plague TAke fiue spoonefuls of wine-Vinegar three spoonefuls of faire running-Water halfe a spoonefull of Treacle of Iene and of Bolearmoniake as much as a small nut being beaten to powder and drinke this euery morning and euery euening Proued by M. Knight of Andouer Take vi leaues of Sorell and wash them with Water and Vinegar and let them lie to steepe in the said Water and Vinegar a good while then eate them fasting and keepe in your mouth and chew now or then either Stewall or the roote of Angelica or a little Cinamon for any of these is maruellous good †Medicines to be vsed after infection taken FOrasmuch as the greatest cause of the Plague doth stand rather in poyson then in any putrifaction of humors as other Agues do the chiefest way is to moue much sweating and to defend the hart by some cordiall thing Suppositarie IF the Patient be costiue and bound in his body let him take a Suppositarie made with a little boyled Honny and a little fine Powder of Salt and so take it in at the fundament and so keepe it till it moue a stoole ¶ A very good Medicine to be drunke suspecting any to haue the Plague TAke a great onyon and take foorth the core then fill it full with good Treacle of Iene and wrap the same in a paper and rost it vntill it be soft then straine the same with a little white wine Vinegar and temper it with a quantity of Suger and giue to the Patient two spoonefulls thereof to drinke fasting and if the Patient be infected with the Plague you shall perceiue it within sixe houres after the receipt of the same drinke †An excellent Medicine for the Plague TAke three or